(urth) Newbie - a theory and some questions.

[Andrew Kertesz]

Hello everyone,

I’m a student from Australia, and I’ve just discovered this mailing list 
after a holiday well spent on a Gene Wolfe binge: I devoured the BotNS in a 
few days after Christmas, and was – to put it mildly – awed. I promptly 
ordered UotNS, Long Sun, and Short Sun.

At the moment, I’m nearly through a “refresher” re-reading of the BotNS, in 
anticipation of starting UotNS (the rest of the books waiting in a pile on 
my floor), and I’ve come to you with a few questions that have been nagging 
me. In exchange, however, I thought I’d offer a theory that I’ve developed 
during my second reading.

First, my theory – one that revolves around the issue of Agilus’ mask. It’s 
nothing groundbreaking, and forgive me if this one has already been floated, 
but I’m comparatively new to this ;)

We know that the Cacogens are not a single, unified, race – for example, the 
Heirodules Ossipago, Barbatus and Famulimus are described, in Sword of the 
Lictor, as quite different from one annother:

“One, if he had been truly a human being, would have been short and stout. 
The other two were a good head taller than I, as tall as exultants… The 
masks all three wore gave them the faces of refined men of middle age, 
thoughtful and poised; but I was aware that the eyes that looked out through 
the slits in the masks of the two taller figures were larger than human 
eyes, and that the shorter figure had no eyes at all, so that only darkness 
was visible there.”

There are other references in the series which refer to the Cacogens as 
“races from beyond the stars” – none of which I can find on a quick flip 
through.

If we accept that the Cacogens are not identical, or even unified, then why 
not assume that Agilus is a member of another “race” of Cacogen? It is 
possible that he differs from the three Heirodules (in that his disguise is 
more efficient, his motives more opaque, and his nature less trustworthy), 
yet is in other ways, similar to them. Like Ossipago et. al, he wears a 
series of masks (as the "black ribbon" indicates). However, he appears to 
wear his masks in a different fashion…

The Heirodules wear, firstly, a “human” mask, which conceals a monstrous 
mask, which, in turn, conceals their true (super) humanity. On the other 
hand, when Severian fist meets Agilus, the shopkeeper wears a death’s mask, 
which conceals a face identical to Agia’s.

A pattern could be imposed on this:

The Heirodules wear:
1)Human mask
2)Inhuman mask
3)Human face

Agilus wears:
1)Inhuman mask
2)Human mask
3)?

I think that Agilus’ “Agia” face conceals his true, inhuman face – and, in 
this way, he is an inverse of the Heirodules - an anti-Heirodule, if you 
will. In keeping with this, his role in the narrative seems to be a negative 
one, or at least antagonistic.

I don’t know how one could expand on this theory though… Is Agilus openly 
against the New Sun (it seems like his sister is – but is she a Cacogen 
too?) or is he merely a bystander who becomes caught up in the story? I’m 
not sure, but I think the general conceit of the theory is neat, at least.

Ok, so on to my questions:

1)	Is the boatman who sails the Gyoll (he helped rescue Severian from 
drowning in Shadow of the Torturer and, later, ferried Severian to Dorcas’s 
house in Citadel of the Autarch) Jonas? His speech patterns suggest so, as 
do some of his comments – but if so, who is his “niece”, who rides with him 
in Citadel?

2)	Who/what is Erebus? I was never very clear on this.

3)	Is Abia an alien, or was it once an “enhanced” human, like its 
handmaidens and Baldanders?

If any of these are answered in UotNS, Long, or Short, a simple "wait and 
see" is all that is required.

Well, that’s enough for now – I hope my theory is somewhat constructive, and 
that you guys can help me with these niggling questions.

Finally, and most importantly - pleased to meet you!

Sincerely,
Andrew Kertesz