(urth) King Olaf the Holy

brunians at brunians.org brunians at brunians.org
Wed Jun 23 22:28:09 PDT 2010


Just in case anyone doubts lupine relevance.

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Olaf was the subject of several biographies, both hagiographies and sagas,
in the Middle Ages, and many of the historical facts concerning his reign
are disputed. The best known description is the one in Snorri Sturluson's
Heimskringla, from c. 1230. That saga cannot be taken as an accurate
source for Olaf's life, but most of the following description is based on
the narrative there (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaf_II_of_Norway).
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> On Wed, June 23, 2010 8:53 pm, Jane Delawney wrote:
>> On 23/06/10 12:38, Lee Berman wrote:
>>> There has been some debate in the past whether Severian is a "Christian
>>> figure"
>>> or a "Christ figure". A recent article in Ultan's Library reminds us
>>> Severian
>>> was marked by stigmata on the forehead after viewing Tzadkiel in the
>>> book. Now
>>> we are reminded that Severian was also pierced by a thorn. There is the
>>> desert
>>> garden and some other stuff that would seem to relate directly to Jesus
>>> and not
>>> just Christianity in general.
>>
>> By the end of BOTNS / UOTNS Sev has acquired at least two of the
>> orthodox Wounds of Christ and also a couple more long-term injuries
>> which have Christian or semi-Christian mythic associations.
>>
>> First there is the chest injury from an avern-leaf (I haven't the book
>> in front of me at the moment but I think I remember this wound being
>> described as 'the size and shape of a willow leaf' or something like,
>> rather like the wound that would be made by the blade of a Roman spear);
>> this injury is later reopened and presumably made more obvious in the
>> throne-room scene at the end of Citadel where the resurrected assassin
>> kills Valeria and injures Severian. Sev tells us that the knife reopens
>> the avern-wound.
>>
>> Then there is the 'crown of thorns' stigma which appears when he looks
>> into the face of Tzadkiel in the Mirror-book.
>>
>> The lameness, the thigh injury from an energy weapon which Sev acquires
>> in battle and which is later first healed and then reopened, seems to
>> relate to the Judean kingship ritual Robert Graves postulates in his
>> novel King Jesus (...
>>
>> There's also much emphasis on Severian's facial scarring from Agia's
>> weapon. ... .... The whole
>> subject is spooky enough already.
>>
>> regards
>>
>> JD
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>
>
>
> Good post. I can chew on that for a while.
>
>
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