(urth) Grand Unified Theory

[Lee Berman]

Well, I'll try to present my Grand Unified Theory or spill my GUT as it were.
It isn't that profound or unique and I doubt it will serve anyone else as an
epiphany. But perhaps it can be slightly helpful to someone.
 
In trying to figure out BotNS, and its accessories I eventually came to think that the 
mysteries might be too impenetrable on their own and it might be more productive to try to 
understand Gene Wolfe and how he works. I think I have read ever bio and interview available, 
most of them several times. I think his personal history is an important bit of information 
in understanding some of the things in his books. His current family situation is important 
for understanding certain things in his later books.
 
Anyway, what I was really looking for was not my own Grand Unified Theory but Gene Wolfe's. 
If I could understand how he viewed the world then his books might make more sense. He seems 
to be a person who has an amazingly broad knowledge in the physical sciences, anthropology, 
Western literature, mythology, religion and is a very religious person himself.
 
If he were to attempt to form his own GUT which would tie all his knowledge and beliefs of
the world together what would it look like? From his interviews I think it is something
like this:
 
Q. Why is there so much congruence and convergence in the themes of ancient religions and
early Judeo-Christianity? Multiple gods with animalistic natures, giants, shapechangers, etc.
 
A. People in the olden days were just as smart and insightful as we are. Chances are they 
were all seeing something real which gave rise to the similarities in early religions. The 
gods, monsters and magic of the olden days was based on something people saw then which we 
are not seeing today.
 
Q. Why do we not see the same mythological inspirations that our ancestors saw?
 
A. They have been cleansed (though perhaps not fully) from the world by two Judeo-Christian
events, Judeo= Flood.  Christian= Savior.
 
The Garden of Eden seems to depict forest-dwelling human beings who don't use fire or tools or 
wear clothing. Anthropology tells us we have ancestors who fit that description. The Original
Sin story seems to suggest that these simple human beings were brought out of their idyllic
existence through the actions and temptations of non-human intelligence.
 
Trying to retain a  scientific view, there were no other extant intelligent species on earth
so the source of this non-human intelligence must be extra-terrestrial. Aliens. That's what we'd 
call them anyway. Back then they were called gods, angels, monsters, demons, fallen angels, 
giants, vampires nephilim, etc. etc.
 
Some were relatively good to the simple primates species they found on earth, introducing them to 
various forms of knowledge and technology. Others were bad, seeking to dominate and enslave us 
and even interbreed with us.
 
Interbreeding with humans is a common theme in mythology (even in the Bible) but it doesn't sound 
scientifically possible. But, a very common theme in ancient mythologies is that the gods/demons
are  shapechangers. If such a shape change was accompanied by a DNA change then interbreeding 
becomes possible- with the proviso, as noted in 5HoC, that a shapechanger would not be identical to
its model as it would want to retain the ability to change shape. Thus the DNA of a shapechanging
alien imitating a human would not be purely human but contain impurities.
 
I suppose there are more details, but that's basically it. I get the sense that this is Gene Wolfe's 
view of what happened in the ancient world. And I find that by keeping it in mind I can make sense
of pretty much everything, including dreams and stories and plays, in BotNS. It helps with Long and 
Short Sun also and others also.
 
Thus I find the question of origin easy to answer when it is observed that there seems to be megatherian
creatures on Blue and on Urth.  Urth is a human planet, which has been invaded and corrupted by aliens. So
megatherians originated on Blue and, most likely, other planets.