Mythic Women of BotNS

(no worries, I caught your meaning regarding Severian the first time) By this do you mean that by carrying all those memories he is the best representative of humanity? As the autarch implied in speaking of the Ascians:

I understand the logic Witz. But it is a problem for me. First, the idea of eating dead people is portrayed as "evil" when Vodalus does it. A "satanic eucharist" Wolfe called it. So why is it different when Severian does it with the Autarch? What makes one act holy and the other profane? Second, if representing all humanity in this way was the goal...Why did Severian stop. His memories were hardly a representative of ALL humanity. Shouldn't he have kept eating? Why would he possibly want to stop this holy act. Every time someone in the Commonwealth died, their body should have been brought to Severian. Only after a generation of that would I say he had enough to start representing "ALL" of humanity. Of course he'd also have to go to Ascia. And the Xanthic lands... I supposed it could be argued that Wolfe didn't think that part through. Or that the sample of maids and honey stewards and cooks was sufficient. That just doesn't work for me. For me, there is deception upon deception here. Something deeper is going on.