for Benjamin - sev as conciliator

Hi Benjamin. Of course there are plenty of indications that Severian is the conciliator all over the place in BOTNS. First off, there is mention of him as the Dark Sun (sev's fuliginous cloak). Agia emphasizes that he is the master of time as they approach the botanic gardens, that he could be "right around the bend of the street", or something similar. Of course he is - he's right there talking to her, and it's situational irony, as well as foreshadowing the power of the claw to reverse the passage of time and Severian's own travels. There's a ton more - at the party in Sword of the Lictor where Severian is supposed to throw the woman off the cliff, he talks about how the Conciliator could be masked at the party and not even know it, clearly talking about himself. Wolfe uses a lot of that situational irony, which I believe can be attributed to a very knowing Severian trying to hint that he is indeed the conciliator, long before we ever get Urth of the New Sun. The New Sun is the Conciliator, and Severian compares himself obsesses about light over and over again. Whatever one believes, Severian, and therefore Wolfe, certainly insinuates that he is the conciliator well before the sequel was written - but most of it relies on a kind of ironic spin. Marc Aramini

The avatar normally doesn't talk about being an avatar. It's, like, a rule or a law or whatever you want to call it.'Once privately, once formally, once publicly' is how it goes. .