(urth) Severian and Valeria sitting in a tree

[Jeff Wilson]

On 8/18/2010 8:36 AM, António Pedro Marques wrote:
> - What's Severian's attraction to Valeria? He met her when both were
> reasonably young. Then years pass and suddenly upon becoming Autarch he
> realises he must go get her. Why?

There are several reasons: he still feels a fondness for her, having met 
her under unusual circumstances on his final juvenile adventure. She is 
a connection to a simpler time, his last hurrah without adult 
responsibility.

They met as near-peers, both obscure servants of the Autarchy. Valeria's 
technically an armigette of a landed family while Severian has no 
pedigree at all, but his guild still actively serves while her outfit 
hasn't been called upon in generations. They are apparently peers in age 
as well.

Severian met and knew her before his infamy and ascenscion, so he knows 
she did not seek to spend time with him for those reasons. This is an 
important advantage she has in that it rules out her being a golddigger 
or a plotter, or otherwise seeking to exploit their relationship, at 
least initially. (Alas, Claudius and Messalina...)

Severian remarks on how he never desires a woman more than when he 
cannot have her - their considerable separation counts here. Then there 
his reflection that love and lust are intertwined, since men love women 
for giving themselves to them, even if it is only in their minds; so 
after months or years of unconsumated separation and months of 
fantasizing on his un-conjugal travels, his crush on his original 
adolescent sweetheart might be very strong indeed.

And there is her dark hair and light skin that Severian overtly finds 
attractive, and if the metal trim on her dress is zippers up the sides, 
that doesn't hurt either.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
IEEE Student Chapter Blog at
< http://ieeetamut.org >