(urth) Severian's Family. What the text shows...

[Ryan Dunn]

I know some of you are all, "So what?" about Severian's family tree, but I happen to find it important to understanding some of the underpinnings and mysteries of Severian, if we are still only scratching the surface.

Here are some things I wanted to get off of my chest, as I am seeing some renewed questions as to whether some of the family tree speculation is/was accurate...

. .

CAS = DORCAS + SEVERIAN'S GRANDMOTHER

"'I never knew her, sieur. Cas they called her, but she died when I was young. In childbirth, my father said.' [...]

"He reached into his shirt and drew out a locket of cloisonne enamel. The pictures inside were of Dorcas in full face and profile, a Dorcas hardly younger than the Dorcas I had known."

I know someone mentioned Casdoe in some other discussion, but I wanted to put this one to bed at least. Knowing that Cas = Dorcas also proves that the boatman at the botanic was indeed Ouens father, and Dorcas's husband. Without a doubt. And based on the information to follow, Dorcas is also Ouen's mother, and since the text implies that Ouen is Severian's father, then Dorcas is also Severian's grandmother.

. .

OUEN = SEVERIAN'S FATHER

"'Do you know, Ouen, you look a bit like her.'

"The fat innkeeper had been listening more or less openly. Now he chuckled. 'He looks more like you!'

"I am afraid I turned to stare at him.

"'No offense intended, sieur, but it's true. He's a bit older, but when you were talking I saw both your faces from the side, and there isn't a patch of difference.'

"I studied Ouen again. His hair and eyes were not dark like mine, but with that coloring aside, his face might almost have been my own."

Common logic deduces this passage to indicate Ouen is Severian's father. It is possible, I suppose, to argue Ouen may be his son, if Severian exists in some older time-traveling twin of himself, though the Catherine commentary hereafter implies Severian's curiosity with those in and around the Inn of Lost Loves have to do with discovering his parents and grandparents.

I'm sticking to what I can read here, and I read an innkeep remarking that Ouen looks like an older version of Severian (hair and eye coloring aside). I also see the remark that Ouen may look a bit like Dorcas. If this is true and not  totally inaccurate, then Severian bears a passing resemblance to Dorcas as well, further tying him into her bloodline.

. .

CATHERINE = OUEN'S LOVER + SEVERIAN'S MOTHER

"'You said you never found a woman like Dorcas—like that one in your locket. Still you found a woman, I think.'

"His eyes would not meet mine. 'Several, sieur.'

"'And fathered a child.'

"'No, sieur!' He was startled. 'Never, sieur!'

"'How interesting. Were you ever in difficulties with the law?'

"'Several times, sieur.'

"'It is well to keep your voice low, but it need not be so low as that. And look at me when you speak to me. A woman you loved—or perhaps only one who loved you—a dark woman-was taken once?'

"'Once, sieur,' he said. 'Yes, sieur. Catherine was her name. It's an old-fashioned name, they tell me.' He paused and shrugged. 'There was trouble, as you say, sieur. She'd run off from some order of monials. The law got her, and I never saw her again.'"

So, presuming Ouen is Severian's father, and presuming he slept with this woman named Catherine (who found herself in trouble before running off with "some order of monials" (Pelerines?) and ending up "gotten" by the law). She was dark haired, and we have a nice passage about what happens to pregnant women who bear children while imprisoned at Matachin Tower...

"Since that time our numbers have been repaired solely from the children of those who fall into our hands. In our Matachin Tower, a certain bar of iron thrusts from a bulkhead at the height of a man's groin. Male children small enough to stand upright beneath it are nurtured as our own; and when a woman big with child is sent to us we open her and if the babe draws breath engage a wet-nurse if it be a boy. The females are rendered to the witches."

Furthermore, we have to assume this woman was pregnant and had a child, strictly based on Severian's line of questioning. His "How interesting," line is especially pointed in this regard, as though he knows more about Ouen's past than Ouen himself. Isn't it worth noting that Severian, whether through the acquisition of the memories of his forebears, or simply doing some Columbo work off-screen, has now taken an authoratative stance on a matter that puzzled him when he first encountered it back at Sanguinary Field?

One question I've had is... should we have been as privy to Ouen's past as well? Is there something in the text right there before our eyes asking to be connected to Catherine and Ouen and Dorcas?

. .

...ryan
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