(urth) Wounds (was: Re: Corundum of the Claw)

[Son of Witz]

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.