(urth) A new mystery ...

[David Stockhoff]

Yes, I agree. There are 2 aquastors (at least), one before Yesod and one after the Flood.

Each answer breeds new questions, however. Where/how are there 2 bodies in Apu's tomb? The aquastor escaped through a hole, leaving the dead Apu, who later came to life. That's one ...

TUotNS is the most difficult book for me, not despite the answers but because of them. Witz is right---it's better read as a ghost story.



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Message: 7
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 23:20:24 -0600
From: "Roy C. Lackey" <rclackey at stic.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) A new mystery ...
To: "The Urth Mailing List" <urth at lists.urth.net>
Message-ID: <007001c95506$dc79bbe0$50cd4a0c at rclackey>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"

David Stockhoff wrote:

> > I found the relevant passage:
> >
> > "But if Apu-Punchau is myself, what was the body I found on Tzadkiel's
> > ship?"
> > Nearly whispering, Famulimus sang, "The man whom you saw dead your
> > mother bore. Or so it seems to me from what's been said. Now I would
> > weep for her if I had tears, though not---perhaps---for you still living
> > here. What we did here for you, Severian, the mighty Tzadkiel
> > accomplished there, remembrance taking from your dead mind to build your
> > mind and you anew."
>   

Yes, which is why I said what I said. Tzadkiel is the Hierogrammate who
created the new body on the Ship. There were two bodies on the Ship. The
dead one had written the first four books. The new aquastor body Tzadkiel
made went on to become the Conciliator and Apu. After Apu got older and was
strangled, B, F & O created a new body in the tomb, which is why there were
two bodies in that tomb. The newly created body went on to write the fifth
book. The dead Apu also came back to life when the first faint light of the
white fountain reached Urth that night Sev fled the tomb, but that's another
issue.

Btw, aquastor and eidolon are interchangeable in the Urth Cycle. The former
is the more formal term, the latter is the common, just as Increate is the
learned term for what the less educated call God.

-Roy



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