(urth) Patera Inire

[Lee Berman]

>John Watkins: I think the correct resolution of
> this question in the New Sun universe and in Wolfe general is that
> insofar as a false religion achieves its ends it does so because it has
> been hijacked by the true religion.
 
>Jeff Wilson: Yes, that's what I was thinking, which can coexist with usual
>SF trope of the Fake Religion As a Secular Tool.....thus 
>the bad serves good, and the false proves faithful to the higher truth, 
>like Severian says over and over again.

This is all good but not (I think) answering the question which is being
asked. Perhaps we've all seen the Christian bumper sticker which reads:
"I know the Future.  God wins".  So fine, we know that. No matter the 
triumph of evil, we know God eventually uses that victory to His final ends.
Does this mean Satanists and Hindus and atheists are purposefully working toward 
Christian goals because their actions will eventually lead to God's victory?
 
The question that is posed is whether Father Inire is consciously working
toward bringing the New Sun. Of course whether the New Sun is an evil event or
not has been debated in other threads. But let's assume that the New Sun
is, ultimately, a "good" thing intended to happen by the Increate. By what
direct evidence do we know that Inire is consciously working toward making
it happen? His mirrors, his vizier-hood, his architectural exploits, his war and 
procurement of weaponry from his alien cousins, his distance from B, F and O and 
Tzadkiel etc.; none seem to suggest Inire has the direct purpose of helping Severian
bring the New Sun. He seems to be playing his own game.

This gap of purpose for Inire has left me dissatisfied and forced to seek another
interpretation of the guy. Casting him in the role of pagan god in the face
of impending Christianity ties the story together for me. Not just Inire's
governmental role but the veiled references to shapeshifting, monstrous beings,
half-man half beasts, incest, angels etc. all tied together in a nice pagan package.
 
The Greek and Roman gods were associated with their respective empires. 
Greek and Roman civilizations were the creche and nursery of a now globe-spanning
religion. If the Olympian gods were actual, real beings (as Wolfe believes they were)
would we want to say that Zeus and Hermes and Vulcan etc. spent their immortal lives
consciously working toward the goal of Christianity? That's why they promoted the
Greek and Roman empires, because they knew it would lead to Jesus? Did Pas set up
the Whorl because he knew it would lead to the ascendence of the Outsider? 
I really can't see that.
 
Likewise, while I can see Father Inire advancing the Commonwealth, it is without
purposefully working toward the New Sun. My sense is that higher powers made Inire's
Urthly efforts work for them. Bottom line, this guy isn't Typhon but he is just too 
creepy and ugly to be an angel. Perhaps the fall damaged him. Likely Inire's 
various corrupting influences are a big part of the reason a Flood is needed. 
 
FWIW, this works for me. Understood if it makes no sense to others.
 
  		 	   		  
_________________________________________________________________
The New Busy is not the old busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox.
http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_3