(urth) Dionysus

[James Wynn]

> Also, if a Neighbour replaced Horn in the pit, how did he know Krait 
> would come?  If Krait (character list: the inhuma who was adopted by 
> Horn) hadn't come, it seems he would have lain there for ever and died 
> - died again, according to your theory.

I'll answer this, however, one might as well speculate what are the odds 
Krait (very coincidentally ensouled by Horn's son) would find Horn in 
that pit after he had lain "unconscious" there for three days? Does 
Krait KNOW he is, in a sense, Sinew? Understanding that Dorcas is 
Severian's grandmother did not answer every open question about Sev's 
lineage. I'm don't claim that simply understanding that the Rajan's 
spirit is a Neighbor--the greenbuck Horn was hunting when he died--that 
every question regarding the Book of the Short Sun will be resolved. 
Believing that Horn did NOT die in the pit has its own unresolved 
mysteries.

> Unless the Neighbour had planned it all with Krait (and their 
> conversation seems to make it doubtful) why would the Neighbour engage 
> in such a pointless exercise, effectively killing his own spirit for 
> no good reason?

First and foremost, there is no evidence that the Neighbor was animated 
by a specific *plan* in resurrecting Horn. He did what he did out of 
guilt for causing Horn's death. After that, after he becomes HORN, he is 
driven to complete Horn's mission to expiate his sense of guilt. I know 
of no point where the Rajan records mentally working out: "I have to get 
Silk's body back to New Viron to complete Horn's mission." But that is 
just what the Rajan does--animated by the spirit inside him.

As for "killing his own spirit",  consider the example of Mani. The 
Neighbor, in greenbuck-form is a spiritual being like the humans and 
inhumi during dream-travel, He was not in any danger of "killing his 
spirit". His body is surely sleeping safely somewhere, and if you deny 
that the Neighbors have such bodies, then they are still spiritual 
beings. If HORN had not been able to escape the pit, then Horn's body 
MIGHT have faced such damage that the Neighbor would have to abandon it, 
OR maybe not. It is clear that the Rajan, in Silk's body, doesn't really 
need food --or not not much-- until Spring. Although HORN was very 
thirsty, it is quite possible he could have survived easily until the 
next rain. Given time and unknown Neighborly powers, he might very well 
have been expected to escape the pit by other means.

At this point, you can deduce some of my answers to the questions, 
"Didn't the Neighbor know that? So, how could he allow himself to be 
'tamed' by Krait?" No, there is no reason that Neighbor would have known 
that he would face such a horrific thirst when he resurrected Horn's 
body. Because of a) what I explain in *Point 1* and b) a Neighbor-Human 
union had never happened before as far as we know. Nor would the 
Neighbor have been subconsciously steeled by the fact that if Horn's 
body died, he himself would live on. From the moment of his 
resurrection, his intent was to live on and complete Horn's mission. Had 
he been perfectly willing for Horn's body to die, he would not have 
resurrected it in the first place.

/Therefore my heart is glad and my _tongue_ rejoices; my body also will 
rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave [or hades], 
nor will you let your Holy One _see decay_ . [from the Hebrew 
'shachath', literally//, "leave him in the pit"]. ~ Psalm 16:9-10 
(well-known Messianic prophecy)/

Finally, recall the corollary to Veil's Law (tFHoC). If it was the 
Neighbor's intent to BE Horn..that Horn not have died (and that appears 
to appears to be his prime motivation for most of his story)... then he 
must deny--consciously-- his Neighbor-nature. He would never speak of 
the Neighbors with certitude, because Horn would not have that 
knowledge. Horn in the pit is like V.R.T in his jail cell. But then, he 
might not have all knowledge about Neighbors and their history because 
such knowledge might not be universally known by all Neighbors.

u+16b9

PS This discussion brings to mind an old song:

/"He weren't no universal principle. He weren't no universal mind.
He weren't no New Romantic snowing us that love is blind.
He never told us that he was invincible. He never sold us on his X-ray eyes.
Never came off like some extraterrestrial hanging out in human disguise.
Flesh and blood. He weren't no phantom.
Flesh and blood. He weren't no ghost."/
~ Steve Scott, "Flesh and Blood"
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