(urth) Resurrections

[David Stockhoff]

Exactly. In mythological terms, there are visible signs that someone 
will become a god, because such is the nature of godhood. That's how 
gods can be born and yet still be gods---a narrative problem the Greeks 
constantly had to fudge because they had no concept of time travel.

Artifacts associated with gods, such as Apollo's lyre, Diana's bow, etc. 
would become holy, but not terribly useful to anyone other than their 
owner. (At least the Claw doesn't kill anyone who tries to use it.)

John Watkins wrote:
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 12:43 PM, Ryan Dunn <ryan at liftingfaces.com 
> <mailto:ryan at liftingfaces.com>> wrote:
>
>
>
>      
>     Lee,
>
>     Aren't we supposed to get the vibe that "the power was in Severian
>     all the time, he just didn't know it?"
>
>     Meaning pharmacon or not, claw or not, he had these powers. I
>     thought that was demonstrated with Triskele in a very clear way.
>     Severian does strive at length to attribute powers to the claw,
>     but that is a bit of a loophole that suggests it was Severian, not
>     any other talisman/affectation, that beholds the power.
>
>     So the question would be, where do HIS powers come from? Is it
>     part of him being a 2nd iteration of himself? The first having
>     gained access to the corridors of time, gone back to become
>     Conciliator, and the Severian we follow being a product of prior
>     Severian achievements?
>
>  
>  
> My understanding.
>  
> Severian's superpowers come from the White Fountain.  In Yesod, 
> another universe entirely, the Autarch Severian is deemed worthy of 
> linkage with the Fountain.  The Fountain, which was always already 
> linked with Severian in Yesod time, enters Briah sufficiently early so 
> that its light reaches Urth at or around the time of Apu Punchau.  The 
> Autarch Severian, on the other hand, is returned to Briah during 
> Typhon's time.
>  
> Severian always has some measure of superpowers when he is within the 
> "broadcast range" of the influence of the Fountain, which coincides 
> with the light of the Fountain.
>  
> Thus young Severian, who has not yet become the Autarch in his 
> personal timeline, has superpowers--the light is hitting him, and with 
> it whatever influence gives him personal powers.  He is limited in 
> using those powers because he doesn't know about them.
>  
> Late in Citadel, the superpowered Severian cuts himself on a thorn.  
> His blood transmits some measure of his power to the thorn.  He keeps 
> it as a memorial of the Claw, a similar-looking thorn he once carried.
>  
> After travelling to Yesod and being bound to the Fountain in his 
> personal timeline, he becomes aware of his powers and is far more 
> adept with them, even to the degree that his is more apt to use them 
> unconsciously.
>  
> Super Severian gives someone his bled-on thorn in Typhon's era.  It is 
> a treasured relic that becomes the Claw.  Later on in Briah's 
> timeline, but earlier in Sev's personal timeline, he acquires the 
> Claw, only powerful because of its linkage to the Sev who exists in 
> Sev's future and Briah's past.  Because the Claw has some measure of 
> power on its own, and because Sev has superpowers, it acts as a 
> channel or focus for his powers--he doesn't know he has powers but he 
> believes it does.  So he sometimes tries to use its powers, which is 
> really him using his powers and incidentally making the Claw glow, but 
> he's not quite sure of how it works.
>  
>
>     ...ryan
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