(urth) Father Inire Theory

[Lee Berman]

>M. ben Witz: Wait a sec. I JUST finished NewSun again and I can not remember the 
>old boatman in any other scenes besides the near drowning at the beginning and when 
>we meet him on the Lake of Birds.
 
That's an interest post to me Witz. Most do not think the boatman at the drowning is
the Boatman at the Lake of Birds. I think Borski suggests that the "drowning" old boatman
is Maxellindis' "Uncle", who is also a boatman, because they both speak of undines. Actually
all three of these boatmen speak of undines. I wrote it as Maxellindis' "Uncle" because 
Severian suspects it isn't really her uncle. Thus we have at least two of the boatmen showing
a creepy fascination for pubescent young women (some calculate Dorcas' age at 13-14 for her
first birth). So maybe add "creepy poppet fascination" to "monkeys", "old and bent" and "obscured 
eyes" as marks of a shapeshifter.
 
 
Anyway, at the end of CotA, Severian gets off the Samru and takes a jaunt through the crumbled
ruins of old Nessus. He finds Dorcas, apparently in silent grief at the bier of the old boatman
from the Lake of Birds. So we don't actually see him die but he is, in appearance, dead.
 
 
>Ryan Dunn-He is Father Inire and yet not, to my knowledge, a priest. Anyone for Inire as Increate?
 
Heh! Actually my theory addresses the issue of "Father" Inire in two ways:
 
1. Inire can be paired with The Cumaean in a number of diffent ways (her abode, their alien nature, etc)
She is also called The Mother. So perhaps the pairing is related to Inire's appelation of Father.

2. I see flimsy evidence (which only makes sense added together) that Inire, using his longevity, has
managed to get busy with a number of women in Severian's family tree when they were young girls. This
included Dorcas (as Fechin), Cyriaca (as her cosmicly knowledgable "uncle"), and Agia (as Hethor). 
Perhaps Inire (which can be Latin for "sexual penetration") gets his title of Father by siring a 
few members of Severian's family.