Pike/Quetzal, and other ?s

Kieran Cleary · 09 Apr 1997, 14:55 · from whorl-v0004.mbox · original

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From: "Kieran Cleary" <kcleary at tinet.ie>
Subject: Re: (whorl) Pike/Quetzal, and other ?s
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 1997 14:55:04 +0000
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[Posted from WHORL, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

Hi Vance:

I have to say I agree with you re Pike/Quetzal: I don't find the=20
previous explanations satisfactory, while not having a better one=20
myself! Many people have referred to Quetzal as a shape-shifter,=20
though the only shapes we see him assume are that of the serpent and=20
old man. Sometimes it reads as if the serpent has donned the shell of=20
a human body (in fact, I don't see any other way since I don't=20
consider Q a Shape-shifter) which he can discard and resume at will.=20
It's also in bad shape: Q has to continually touch it up with powder=20
to make it appear alive.
On my first reading, I wildly thought that this body was originally=20
Pike's and that somehow, a la Marble/Rose, some sort of Q/Pike=20
convergence was happening. The timeline doesn't really bear this out:=20
Q was Prolocutor for many years while Pike was alive. I presume,=20
though, that 33 years before Silk arrived at Sun Street, that Q=20
looked 33 years younger. Perhaps he needed to acquire an older body=20
to avoid questions about his continued youthfulness (i.e. the kinds=20
of questions that Loris, Lemur et al had to answer). Just a thought,=20
though. Be ruthless!

As for your questions, roughly as far as I recollect:

1. I think that Rose sometimes imagined herself as Echidna, and the=20
daughter referred to in that passage was actually Scylla.
2. The White Headed One was given to Blood by Musk. Blood clipped its=20
wings and put it on the roof, where it "forgot that it couldn't fly"=20
in the fight with Silk and fell to its death.
3. Not really sure: I think that Urus was once part of Spider's knot and=20
told Saba where to find Auk & co. when they were abducted and taken=20
to the airship.

alga:

FWIW I also agree completely that, at least at some level, the=20
Outsider passages refer to Severian, who at this time is also the New=20
Sun zooming towards Urth, who can manipulate Severian's Urthly body=20
like a puppet from great distances. If we're seeking some kind of=20
consistent explanation of how Severian is affecting affairs on the=20
Long Sun, then I think that's probably it. The Increate in tBotNS=20
isn't a personal god: there is a complicated hierarchy of beings who=20
serve the Increate in the temporal universe. In no case does the=20
Increate explicitly intervene in  human affairs, relying instead on=20
the holy slaves to interact with humans.=20

Lasrach

Lasrach
____________________________________________________________
Kieran Cleary
Senior Research Engineer
North West Labs
Finisklin Industrial Estate
Sligo
Republic of Ireland

Tel. +353 71 69441
Fax. +353 71 69451
email kcleary at nwlabs.com
___________________________________________________________

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