(urth) The Apu-Punchau Eclipse

[thalassocrat at nym.hush.com]

On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:45:56 +1000 b sharp 
<bsharporflat at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
>But I still retain a sense I could be right. Something just seems 
>missing if Severian only twice uses his power
>to affect nature in a cataclysmic way.  Nobody, certainly not 
>Severian, seems capable of accurately 
>predicting when, where and how his power will manifest itself from 

>his personal being. He might have his 
>full powers always.  In the afterward, Wolfe notes that a 
>"thoughtful" reader can figure out what caused the
>eclipse. Most seem to take him at his literal word and think about 

>the ship. But I always saw that notation
>as being a bit sarcastic, meaning that very little thought is 
>needed to figure out what large body could be 
>used to cause a solar eclipse. 

It's certainly worth thinking about non-Ship explanations. 

The Apu Punchauan villagers surely think that Sev has done a magic 
dance and chant routine to banish the sun, then bring it back. It'd 
be neat if somehow they were correct. It would also be neat if he 
somehow is responsible for wounding the Old Sun as well as 
bringing/being the New Sun. 

I've mused over whether Sev could have caused the black hole at 
this point, maybe by drawing power from it and causing ummm some 
kind of core collapse or something [waving hands], but I don't see 
anything in the text to make the idea work.



In the narrative you have Sev doing his little charade and dance 
routine, which the people surely see as him doing a magic dance to 
banish the sun, then bring it back.