(urth) So who is the child in Baldander's bed? [was: Juturna, the Missing Sister]

Jack Smith jack.smith.1946 at gmail.com
Thu Jul 29 02:18:14 PDT 2010


Severian uses the word "catamite" and so something must suggest a sexual
element to him.  But I like the idea that the child is Baldander's son (or
his Number Five).


On Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 4:11 AM, Gerry Quinn <gerryq at indigo.ie> wrote:

> From: "Jerry Friedman" <jerry_friedman at yahoo.com>
>
>> From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com>
>>
>>  On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 12:36 PM, Ryan Dunn <ryan at liftingfaces.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> is it definitely a catamite? or is that theoretical as well?
>>>>
>>>
>>> That's Severian's interpretation of what he sees. He could, I suppose,
>>> be wrong...
>>>
>>
>> People keep saying this, but Severian tells us twice that he doubts the
>> boy is a
>> catamite.  At least so far.
>>
>
> So who/what is he?  The only other possibility I can think of is that he is
> Baldander's son.  I have tended to assume that Baldanders started out as a
> normal man until he started modifying himself, but we also know that the
> modifications have extreme effects such as mental instability evinced as
> moodiness and violent rages.  So the fact that the child appears to be
> retarded doesn't necessarily mean anything. Perhaps Baldanders has started
> the modifications earlier on his son/replacement, or perhaps Baldanders
> started like this too.
>
> On the other hand, Talos seems to go wandering the world after Baldanders
> takes up an aquatic lifestyle - if the child is Baldanders' one might expect
> him to stay and look after it.  But it may well be that the local villagers
> burned the castle down and disposed of everything there.  (Not for the first
> time.)
>
> - Gerry Quinn
>
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-- 
Best wishes,
Jack
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