(urth) Severians Later Appearance (Spoilers)

[Dave Tallman]

David Stockhoff wrote:
> I didn't know Silk/Horn was Malrubius. Pray continue ...
>   
The name Malrubius occurs two times in TRTTW.  The first time, Severian 
is talking to Silk/Horn during the jump from the trial; he refers to 
Master Malrubius as another person in the past tense, "Master Malrubius 
used to make a scribe come and help him twice a week" (p. 263). Since 
this was unpaid extorted service, we can assume that was the real man 
(probably deceased).

The second time, a big heavy man (probably Master Gurloes), is about to 
beat Severian and gets interrupted by Oreb calling "Watch out! Watch 
out!". When Gurloes questions why the bird is there, Severian says, "It 
belongs to Master Malrubius, Master." Then Silk comes up and puts his 
hand on the big man's shoulder, scaring him away -- reacting as if he 
had seen a ghost.

The astral appearance of Silk/Horn is different in the two cases. In the 
latter, he looks like Silk alone (the Horn soul-part seems to have died 
after the encounter with the real Scylla). The Silk-alone projection 
looks enough like Master Malrubius that Severian mistakes him for the 
ghost of Malrubius, I believe.

The intense goodness of this Silk projection influenced Severian, I 
think. It may be why there is an encounter in BOTNS where the aquastor 
Malrubius asks him about loyalty to God.

Why the similarity of appearance between Silk and Malrubius? Well, Silk 
is a from a genetically enhanced embryo, probably a clone of someone in 
Typhon's time. So might the real Master Malrubius have been.

Can we conclude from the presence of the enlightened/good Silk helping 
Severian that God is on the side of bringing the New Sun, despite the 
destruction it caused? It would seem so.  (The person who thought it was 
a second Noah's flood has completely misread the nature of the 
catastrophes brought by the New Sun -- land sinking in some areas, 
rising in others as a result of tidal forces, along with some ocean 
level rising due to icecaps melting).