(urth) Father Inire Theory cont.

[Lee Berman]

>Dan'l D. Oakes- Um. That he isn't helping Valeria doesn't necessarily mean that he's
>not on Urth.
 
It does to me. You could guess that he is up in Ascia or something. But Ascia is not shown to us,
thus it exists outside the Labyrinth. Not an option. In my view Father Inire can be in three
possible places, the places we are shown: The Commonwealth, The Ship or Yesod. If he ain't in the Commonwealth....
 
 
>Jeff Wilson- when Sev signs off to board The Ship, he speculates that Inire will not long survive the 
>coming of the New Sun due to his extreme old age. Since Severian is expecting the New Sun to come as 
>shortly as a few years, the fifty year interval that ends in the thrown room with all the other parties 
>assembled suggests that Inire's just plain dead.
 
If you trust that Severian understands Father Inire. Which I don't (or perhaps I don't trust that Severian
is telling us all he knows of him). Let's not forget Baldanders. He tells us that such angelic beings as 
hierodules die like dogs after a score of years or something like that. Not very respectful of angels. Perhaps 
to be expected from a guy who aspires to be a giant, seabound monstrosity/demon. But not fully to be believed,
by me either.
 
I find the mythological subtext regarding angels, fallen or not,  to be far more interesting and inspirational than 
the words of these unreliable guys regarding such important characters as Father Inire and B, F and O. 
 
"Well, he got old and just died somewhere and we don't see it and nobody talks about it and Severian never finds 
the grave, even though he finds his own".
 
Jeff, if that works for you, cool. I'm absolutely not arguing it shouldn't. But for me it doesn't work.  Not in this
tightly constructed BotNS Labyrinth. Not for an important character.  For me, we HAVE to see Father Inire again just 
as surely as Severian HAD to end up in the Matachin Tower again.  We see the story infolds upon itself like that over 
and over. If we don't see Father Inire again I feel compelled to look for him. If there is such a giant loose end left 
hanging out of the maze I feel Gene Wolfe is inviting me to tie it up.