Urth Net
Digest whorl.v011.n039
↰ answers Nicholas Gevers
· by quotation
Said Dr. Gevers:
19 quoted lines
I commented a while back on the likelihood that Horn
et al visit Urth in IGJ on the day of Severian's
swimming expedition at the start of THE SHADOW OF THE
TORTURER. Quite a few people have concurred. Some
mention has also been made of parallels between
Silk/Horn and Severian: the wielding of a numinous
black sword, the Claw-style light given to Horn by the
Neighbour on Green, the lochage concluding that Horn
is a Master of the Torturers' Guild. What I infer from
all this is that the career of Silk/Horn is the
template for Severian's career: the Hierodules and
others shape Severian's life to resemble Silk/Horn's,
because the latter's progressively benevolent pattern
will make Severian a likely bringer of the New Sun.
Silk/Horn is Severian's precursor: his arrival on
Urth, just as the action of THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN
commences, is the inspiration the higher powers need
for their successful manipulation of Severian's
timeline.
I'm not sure about the swimming expedition, though it's perfectly possible and nicely tidy. Nor does Sev's life seem to me to resemble Silk/Horn's in any real way (other than within the necessary confines of an adventure fantasy). But I am sure that Silk/Horn's visit to Urth will be remembered as a visit from the Conciliator exactly because of the parallel clues you cite. Legend will thus conflate them (unbeknownst to Sev, of course, at least so far as we know). It remains to be seen whether any further conflation will occur--it seems to me that it would be damn difficult to do in the course of a single book to come. But I love surprises.
-alga
*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.