reflected light

Thanks Don. I'm glad you give some credit to my theories. In any case, there was one other bit of evidence that many dismissed out of hand - Fr. Inire's mirrors and the Big fleshy book of the autarch from Claw of the Conciliator. In the botanical gardens of Shadow of the Torturer, there is a fine scene in which Inire's mirrors are explained as "reflected light" that can reappear in random places of the universe when there is no object there to create them. As a vortex of time, perhaps the resonance with Severian allows strange light anomalies in the sky. Severian is in some small way a reflection of the light of the New Sun, and this light allows him to transcend time - and, of course, I had similar thoughts about the cessation of time when reading the opening scenes of Book of the Long Sun due to FTL time dilation. And check out the weird stuff that goes on when the Autarch opens that book, which Severian seems to think is made of his own flesh. Anyway, perhaps when Silk grabs the ball, the whorl slows down from FTL or light speed and then enters the normal time stream - perhaps his re-entry into the universe causes the brain abnormality or heightened consciousness that allows Silk a communion with the Outsider - he has re-entered time - perhaps Pas planned it so that when the ship slowed down that a cloned embryo would respond by being enlightened and unconsciously rise to power and enact the Exodus that had been foretold. Silk then becomes just another part of the program of the whorl. Pretty neat, I guess, even though I don't think Mr. Wolfe favors a completely deterministic world view such as that might present. One more thing - the first time I read that "recollect ther craws, buckie?" from Pig I thought he was asking if Silk remembered the cross of Christ from his enlightenment - I'm pretty sure his experience with the outsider involved an image of a man similar to Christ. Of course he was refering to crows, but I thought maybe it could have been one of those Joycean word plays. Since Pig is a portion of Silk, and Silk is a portion of Silk, perhaps they share that memory in common. Whatever. Have a nice day, all. Marc Aramini

the universe causes the brain abnormality or heightened consciousness that allows Silk a communion with the Outsider - he has re-entered time - perhaps Pas planned it so that when the ship slowed down that a cloned embryo would respond by being enlightened and unconsciously rise to power and enact the Exodus that had been foretold.<< It seems to me that this a case of the tail wagging the dog. Pas, rather Typhon, planned Silk's enlightenment? Typhon, Urth's baddest bad boy, had a heart-to-heart with the Outsider and arranged for the Outsider to enlighten a future clone of himself? And the Outsider went along with it? Then Typhon had a religious relapse and went back to being the beloved self that Sev knew and killed? -Roy

Marc said: "Thanks Don. I'm glad you give some credit to my theories." You're welcome. I think they're sound theories, and they're entertaining on top of that. (Of course, if they're right, Mr. Wolfe gets the credit. If they're wrong, you just have a vivid imagination :) Marc also said: "Anyway, perhaps when Silk grabs the ball, the whorl slows down from FTL or light speed and then enters the normal time stream - perhaps his re-entry into the universe causes the brain abnormality or heightened consciousness that allows Silk a communion with the Outsider - he has re-entered time - perhaps Pas planned it so that when the ship slowed down that a cloned embryo would respond by being enlightened and unconsciously rise to power and enact the Exodus that had been foretold. Silk then becomes just another part of the program of the whorl. Pretty neat, I guess, even though I don't think Mr. Wolfe favors a completely deterministic world view such as that might present." I think that the Outsider has subverted Pas' plan almost from the start, and sending the Whorl back to Ushas is the culmination, followed closely by the subversion of Typhon's clone (Silk). I felt the same as you about Pig's words to Silk. I imagine it is a play on the sound of the words to give the sentence dual meaning. The question I have is why is it where it's at in the narrative? Don