(urth) Black hole timing, "punishment" etc

[thalassocrat at nym.hush.com]

On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:19:38 +1000 Dave Tallman 
<davetallman at msn.com> wrote:

>>
>All right, how about this explanation? The old man in Casdoe's 
>house
>(Sword  XV)  says "That was the brightest day I've ever seen. The 
>sun had
>new life to him, the way a man will when he was sick yesterday and 

>will be
>sick tomorrow, but today he walks around and laughs so that if a 
>stranger
>was to come he'd think there was nothing wrong... They always say 
>in prayers
>that the New Sun will be too bright to look at... But that day I 
>learned it
>was all true..."
>
>If the sun's output was variable within the old man's lifetime, it 

>might
>also have been in Severian's. Then Sev might not find it 
>remarkable to see a
>bright day at times. Most of the days he spent as Conciliator were 

>cloudy,
>anyway.

Sure, it's possible. And it could be that Roy's interpretation is 
correct & the black hole event did happen in Typhon's time. I don't 
think there's enough info given to really settle this definitively. 
In the end, I don't think it's that important. On either reading, 
the notion of a punishment or restraint doesn't make any sense to 
me, except as preparation for the genocide to come.

>
>By the way, have you noticed how the life of Ymar the Almost Just 
>parallels
>the life of Severian? He's an apprentice torturer who becomes 
>autarch, and
>his career is jump-started by miraculous intervention. He 
>underwent the
>trial, too. 

Absolutely! It's one of those things that can make you go crazy, 
trying to figure out if Ymar and Sev are actually related somehow 
or other.