IGJ: altar scene Spoiler

Jim Jordan · 29 Dec 2000, 09:10 · from whorl-v0012.mbox · original

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From: Jim Jordan <jbjordan at gnt.net>
Subject: Re: (whorl) IGJ: altar scene *Spoiler*
Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2000 09:10:35
Message-ID: <whorl-v0012-0072 at digest.urth.net>
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Query:
>>Severian uses "I" and "we", the IGJ passage uses "he" and "them", so,
have I=20
>>unurthed evidence that Severian is The Outsider?

Reply:
>I see what you mean, but I think "them" refers to the Outsider and the
>rather large baletiger that helps Horn. Severian talks a lot about "the
>Increate" and "the Pancreator" in very much the terms of a man talking
>about a deity, and that's who the Outsider is, I'm sure.

Also:

No. Severian is not the Outsider, but an agent thereof. When Severian is
"we" it is because, being the Conciliator, he has the gift/curse of
actually bringing back to life, in some sense, anyone he takes into
himself. That's a symbol of the way the sacrament works in the Church,
uniting believers not only to Christ as an individual, but also to all the
other people in the Church (the bread represents both Jesus and all of his
"body"). Thus, when Severian eats Thecla, he not only gets her memories for
a brief time, like everyone else, but she actually comes to life inside of
him, and is with him from then on. In the same way, he eats all the
preceding Autarchs, and they are all alive inside him. But he is NOT the
Outsider/Increate/Pancreator.
	Additionally, I suggest that the baletiger that helps Horn in his
encounter with the Outsider should be linked to Blake's tyger, who like the
lamb he is compared with, is a symbol of Christ.=20

Nutria


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