(urth) Undines

[Jeff Wilson]

On 7/19/2010 9:58 PM, Lee Berman wrote:
>
>
>> Jeff Wilson:  Or perhaps she survived through her gift of superhuman powers, similar
>> to her brother, Severian?
>
> As Severian's powers of resurrection are an echo of his ability to resurrect the sun?
> Hm, could be.

Juturna doesn't seem to have literal resurrection, though she does save 
the life of Severian after he has ceased to breathe. But maybe she was 
preventing him from discovering his water breathing gift too soon?

In short: both breathe water, both have access to the higher dimensions, 
both show up at times with anachronistic knowledge.
Both appear to be otherwise human beings who have been gifted with these 
extraodrinary powers. No other people native to Urth in the Old 
Autarch's time do these things.

They both repeatedly commit acts of mercy against the interests of their 
masters. And who else but these two, in their time, is associated with 
fountains?

> Brother Severian, eh? Well, the bizarre sexual attraction between Severian and Jururna
> might suggest a family relationship between them. Some other connections also. But, as
> has been mentioned in other threads, we don't have the proper kinship terms for beings
> related by both sexual and asexual reproduction. Daughter-brides? Half-sisters? Khaibit?
> I guess these are WOlfe's attempts to translate such terms.

I think she's just a plain jane sister, likely a twin sister, who went 
over/was given over to Abaia. She may watch over her "little" brother 
like Miriam over Moses, or she may not know of their relation, only that 
they seem drawn together for some reason; perhaps they both like to 
watch a certain star's reflection on the waters, and feel some kind of 
connection with it.

> I have always questioned if we should take their swimming between the stars
> literally, though. Island sized Tzadkiel aside, swimming through the void seems
> like a physics-defying task for a biological creature (can Inhumi realy do it, even
> for their much shorter distance between planets?)

If they have access to the fourth dimension and the Brook Madregot, that 
would seem to make it much easier to transcend the bounds of atmosphere 
and orbital mechanics, the way the Green Man uses them to transcend the 
huge gulfs of time between Severian's era and his own; at the very least 
the Green Man's is covering a day per flash in the few minutes Severian 
spends watching him run, roughly a factor of 1500:1.

> I think there might be some hints that undines ride on The Ship. We see one of them,
> Idas, on the ship with Severian. Also, when Severian enters the ship stateroom of B, F
> and O, he describes:

Idas is presumed to be an undine due to his/her gills and complexion. Do 
the other undines feature gills?

>> I am tempted to write that it appeared to be underwater, but it did not. Rather we
>> seemed immersed in some fluid that was not water, but was to some other world  what
>> water was to Urth; or perhaps that we were underwater indeed, but water so cold it
>> would have been frozen in any lake of the Commonwealth.
>
> Severian goes on to waffle, saying it was all a trick of the light. He also goes on to
> suggest that their chambers suggest to B, F and O (not really O though) that the nature of
> their chambers suggests they were descended from creatures like kelpies.
>
> A kelpie is a somewhat malevolent Celtic water horse creature which can take the form of
> a woman to lure people to their death. It seems related to nixies, mermaids, sirens etc.,
> thus establishing a possible link between hierodules and undines. Perhaps swimming between
> the stars really involves splashing around a liquidy stateroom on Tzadkiel's ship?

The Fish is the most common creature of the mirrors, perhaps they are 
uplifted from it in some way? Fish-like or seal-like anatomy would seem 
both impractical and presumptive for Yesodis, who only get to enjoy the 
islands of the outer shell after much accomplishment working among the 
internal machinery, according to Alpheta.

> On the other hand, Severian runs into an undine on Ushas who is pretty impressive in pointing
> in the direction of superhuman dimensions.

That's Juturna, herself, drawn back to the drowned Citadel.

> Perhaps they do swim between the stars using mastery
> of time? Or are they on the ship? I dunno which explanation is best. 		 	   		

It's so often the way with Wolfe, isn't it?

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
IEEE Student Chapter Blog at
< http://ieeetamut.org >