(urth) Which character from BotNS do you identify with most?

[DAVID STOCKHOFF]

Possibly, the lure of gaining all that information---as well as the access codes that make one the autarch---ensure that anyone who murders the incumbent (if he knows about it) would succeed him even if he had no intent to do so, thus preserving the succession. A hired assassin could become autarch instead of his employer.

This could also explain a huge number of autarchs who ruled for only weeks or months.

--- On Mon, 8/2/10, Paul B <pb.stuff at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Paul B <pb.stuff at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: (urth) Which character from BotNS do you identify with most?
To: "The Urth Mailing List" <urth at lists.urth.net>
Date: Monday, August 2, 2010, 3:14 PM

As for choosing a role, Autarch is a pretty obviously pleasant one it seems.  Especially if one is more of a "caretaker" Autarch rather than one who goes to trial at Yesod.  A "self-ruler", as it were, with pretty much absolute freedom and future-tech luxury, with at worst some potential assassins to contend with.

Which actually raises a curious point: is it purely by chance that no Autarch has ever been killed before passing on the contents of his brain?  It would seem like an assassin would kill him too quickly for the Autarch to explain the rather unexpected task his killer faces.


Paul

On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 2:32 PM, Jack Smith <jack.smith.1946 at gmail.com> wrote:

I think I always identify with the main character of a novel, especially if the main character is also the narrator.   But identifying with Severian is too obvious and boring.   So I'll answer a slightly different question:  "Which character would you like to be, if you could choose to live on Urth?"


I would want to be Dr. Talos.  He gets to exercise his creativity by writing and staging his play.  He lives on his own terms and by his own wits.  Baldanders may be his master, but Talos is a valuable expert, not a lackey.   On the other hand, he's not really human...


Best wishes,Jack


On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 11:14 AM, Ryan Dunn <ryan at liftingfaces.com> wrote:


Courtesy Josh, but an exercise to consider, and got me to thinking...



"Which character in TBoTNS do you identify with and why?"



I'll go first. I most identify with DROTTE, because I have functioned as a leader most of my life, from being the oldest child in a single-parent family to creative directing teams of people as a professional and everywhere in-between. But of course there are other leaders in this story, and I'm not prepared to identify with Severian that much. And Vodalus is above my pay grade.





So I consider my style of leadership more akin to Drotte's, meaning a good balance of sarcasm and honesty, and a knack of garnering an understated respect from those around and beneath you.



...ryan

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-- 
Best wishes,
Jack



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