(urth) Hut/Ultan's Library/Catherine

[b sharp]

Stan B. writes:
 
>Ultan is a Vodalarian and has eaten part of the corpse. He is
>hardly a great exception.  The woman was buried among the poor
>It seems she was chosen by Vodalus as a low-hanging fruit. He 
>needed to have some body to eat in order to cement the faith of
>his subordinates.  
 
Interesting ideas. I had never noticed anyone assume the fact of
Ultan as a Vodararian so casually. Ultan is asked by
Severian about the "corpse-eaters" and he replies:
 
"It is unwise to know too much about these practices, though when
I think of sharing the mind of a historian like Loman, or Hermas..."
 
Severian then sees on his face an "agony of desire". 
 
Ultan continues, "But from what I once read, you are correct, though
 I do not now recall that the book you hold treats of it.

I always took all that to mean Ultan had never indulged in corpse eating
but would like to. I guess Stan feels Ultan is lying and is actually 
quite familiar and that is the source of Severian seeing the corpse's face
in Ultan. I would agree that a nice possibility.
 
I disagree that the corpse is a random pick. First it is too much trouble
for Vodalus to get it when there would seem to be no shortage of freshly 
dead random bodies all over the Commonwealth. I think the alzabo is very dear
and they don't feast often; perhaps only once every couple years.  Moreover 
Thecla's body seems to have been kept on ice to preserve it until the feast.
As I understand it, she was picked and preserved with such care because she 
was loyal to Vodalus and he hoped to imbue this loyalty to his feasters. 
I must assume the Necropolis corpse was likewise a person loyal to Vodalus
(and I think the poorest people were buried further down, closest to the river).
 
Anyway, when I mention that the corpse must be an important person I mean
important to the story, more than in social status. That she is Catherine
isn't very easy to argue but here are the puzzle pieces I put together:
 
There is the physical resemblance and the pale gown to tie the three women
(corpse, Path of Air woman and Catherine) together as one. I suspect the cause 
of death of the corpse is choking by Allowin's necklace as that torture device
is mentioned more than it needs to be and she has a livid face. Before the 
Thecla eating feast, Vodalus' followers express hope she isn't
another lesbian. I think this suggests the Necropolis corpse was a lesbian.
 
For me, this may be the reason Catherine didn't stay with the Pelerines and perhaps didn't
stay true to some high placed marriage (I suspect Ouen was a refuge not a love interest).
I think she was tortured to death for adultery and the St. Katherine maid was drawn from
a version of her from the past each year. Part of this thinking comes from Cyriaca's
situation. She is ordered to be tortured to death, for adultery. The method: 
strangulation (Severian didn't have an Allowin's necklace in Thrax). I guess there are
family connections all through this scenario. (Catherine being sister to Cyriaca, Severian
being cousing to Agia and Agilus etc.)
 
Just my attempt to tie all these random tidbits together into some comprehensible back
story  because I have always had the feeling Wolfe doesn't really use a lot of random
tidbits in his stories.
 
 
-bsharp
 
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