Mysteries of the WhorlWhorl

I was thinking it might be interesting to make a list of the major mysteries (or at least controversies) about the Long Sun books. mantis did a nice (if typically oracular) one for the New Sun books in Lexicon Urthus. (Perhaps it should be posted to the Urth list, which seems a bit moribund so far.) These suggestions are in no particular order, as you will see. Some are big mysteries, some are little... * Was that Pike's ghost in the manteion, or what? * Who was Blood's father? * Who was Orpine's father? * What are Quetzal's motives? * How long has the Whorl been in the Blue/Green system? * Why did Typhon/Pas send it? * Who was Urus working for? * What were the five very great things Mint gave up? * Did Silk replace Pas in Mainframe? * Should the landers really have gone to Green? * Exactly how much of the book did Horn make up? * Is Pas dead? * What about Blood's driver, was he Willet/Hossaan? * Who was the body in the tunnel? * What was the big fish that swallowed Mamelta? * Was Hyacinth a spy? * Who was the spy in the Calde's household Siyuf boasted of? * What went on between Hyacinth and Chenille that they didn't want to talk about? * Was Silk enlightened by Severian? * Did Silk die in the pit? Why did Quetzal lie to Silk in the pit? * Is Mucor a goddess? How did she do that, anyway? * What was Silk so despondent about on the airship? * What about all that confusion between Marble and Mint in Exodus? Feel free to suggest additional mysteries. I'm certain I've missed some good ones. Also, if anyone wants an explanation of any of these (you latecomers have a lot of Archive to wade though), I'll try to provide it. -vizcacha (david_lebling at avid.com)

Reply: Item #0548146 from WHORL at LISTS.BEST.COM@INET00# viscacha, Yay! Mysteries! Lists of things! You are off to a good start, IMHO. I was thinking you might want to re-organize it by "big" and "little" mysteries, but on second thought I realized that our group could probably never reach agreement on which were either <g>, so best skip that taxonomic angle. Instead, maybe divide the mysteries up into rough topics, like "Identities" for issues of disguise, "Lineage" for issues of genetic/familial lines, et cetera? Well, maybe not--already I see some potential overlap with only two categories. Hey, it also looks like a FAQ sheet! (Rather than "frequently asked questions" maybe ours would be "frequently argued quibbles"? <g>) =mantis=

vizcacha, A few (geographical) mysteries for you: *Why is Viron, in the South, colder than Trivaguanti, in the North? (IV, p79.3). *How do mountains cast shadows if the sun is always directly overhead? (I, p91.1) *How does seeing the Lake let Chenille know that she is getting closer? Shouldn't she be able to see it before she sets out because of the curvature? (II, p144.-1) *What is meant by the term "horizon"? (II, p255.-2) =Talon=