(urth) The Sorcerer's House Questions (*Major Spoilers*)

[James Crossley]

Glad to see people taking on the interpretive task already.  I finished the
book a couple days ago, and as with all Wolfe's books, there are obviously
layers below the surface.  I feel like I have a handle on the second-order
mysteries of the plot, but haven't yet given thought to the third- (or
fourth?) level.  Eager to hear more notions, half-baked or otherwise.

James 

On 3/19/10 7:46 PM, "Gwern Branwen" <gwern0 at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 5:42 PM, Matthew Keeley
<matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> Just finished reading the new book; it seems a lot clearer than AEG,
> but,

I did notice Wolfe explained more of the onomastics than usual.

>
> (spoilers commence)
> 1. Goldwurm's Tower ­ Apparently the previous owner was
> named Ambrosius;
> this seems likely to be a reference to Ambrose, often named
> as Merlin's
> tutor. In other versions, Merlin is called "Merlin Ambrosius".
> And I believe
> there's a legend that Merlin died "three times" ­ broke his
> neck, drowned,
> and something else. The information is somewhat hard to find
> online; later I
> shall consult some of my Arthurian books.

I wonder how much
> we could possibly deduce about Goldwurm. We aren't
told a heck of a lot, after
> all.

Here's one off-the-wall suggestion: at the end, Baxter is hailed as
> a
son and rival sorcerer. Presumably the rivalry would be a friendly
one. A
> similar scenario might obtain with the other pair of twins: one
is the master
> and the other the apprentice. But the apprentice may yet
seek to murder the
> master (we're told that he's the master of 'cold'
rage which strikes days,
> weeks, or years later). Perhaps Goldwurm &
Ambrosius were yet another pair of
> twins? That would further explain
why Goldwurm thought he could easily find
> the numen-object: twins have
special insight into each other's
> preferences.

Here's another off-the-wall suggestion: Ambrosius is Ted. Enough
> of
the mundane characters turn out to be special that we should be
suspicious
> of the others. The numen of Ambrosius was hidden in a ring
hidden in a fish (a
> la Koschei the Deathless hiding his heart inside a
duck inside a rabbit
> inside...), and came to Bax as a fellow sorcerer
through the operation of the
> tri-thingy. This explains the ring. The
shared sorcerous similarity is why
> Doris thinks they're unspeakably
alike, and may also explain why Ted's ghost
> wants them together.

> 2. Goldwurm again ­ In what object did he deposit his
> numen?
> 3. I think we can all agree that George didn't really write the last
> letter
> and that Bax is going to take his place. Winker follows "George", for
> one
> thing. And "George" seems to know a lot about Victorian fiction, the
> subject
> of one of Bax's degrees. So why is the real George absent? Did Bax
> kill him?
> Or did George run off to faerie to try and take command, as he
> said he would
> do in an earlier letter?

I think it's just as indicated: Bax
> killed George, liberating George's
wife from her loveless marriage and getting
> her married to the 'right
twin'. After several years - time enough to exhaust
> the interest of
the mansion, and 'level up' as a sorcerer, and time enough for
> age to
start bothering Bax, he departs.

> 4. What did Ted's ghost leave
> Doris? Could Ted be another Zwart pseudonym?
> 5. Bax very quickly starts
> calling his putative butler "old Nick", one of
> the devil's classic
> nicknames. He doesn't seem to notice, but maybe his
> subconscious is warning
> him not to trust the man? Was there a "real" Nick
> before he was replaced by
> Zwart?

He would've had to replace the dog too, no?

> 6. Under what
> conditions can Toby and Winkle transform? Can't just be a full
> moon.

I have
> a hunch it has to do with the mushroom ring.

> 7. What's Musashi ­ a
> historical figure ­ doing in faerie? Is this an
> idealized archetypal Musashi
> as opposed to the historic one?

I think this is Wolfe just continuing his
> distant interest in Japan;
as someone who was very interested in Japan,
> Wolfe's mentions ring
hollow. He gets some things right: a fox spirit like
> Winker would be
affiliated with
> Inari
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inari_%28mythology%29) and would
> usually
manifest as a beautiful young woman. But others are new to me (the
> Fox
Sword?) and some seem just wrong - why is Musashi the author of _*A*
Book
> of Five Rings_? It's usually 'The' Book of Five Rings or 'Book of
Five Rings'
> period. And the 3 reasons given that Musashi would refrain
from fighting Bax
> are either tired American jokes ('The world's
greatest swordsman doesn't fear
> the world's second best, but the
world's worst, because he has no idea what
> that idiot will do') or
unconvincing. Further, the facefox shouldn't be any
> color but white if
it's a servant of Inari. (eg. in Hiroshige's woodblock
> prints ending
the _One Hundred Famous Views of Edo_, there are scores of
> foxes
gathered at an Inari shrine - each pure white.)

And I notice that the
> stereotypical Chinese/Japanese lallating accents
are *still* there. Maybe next
> time...

> 8. What's with the dwarf?

I haven't the slightest idea. He appears
> gratuitous, Dickens aside.
Maybe he's meant to illustrate the avaricious
> amoral nature of Faerie?

I've been pondering a theory that perhaps we have
> the good twin/bad
twin reversed, and that Bax really is evil, and likewise
> his
corresponding twin bother, and that the dwarf is so depraved & evil
that
> his capture & confinement is meant to be a signal that the
capturing &
> confining brother is actually good. But this doesn't seem
to work at all.

>
> 9. The "compiler" states that the letters may be out of order.... Are there
>
> any that are clearly in the wrong place in the narrative?
> -Matt

My problem
> is that I naturally expect letters to arrive out of order,
key letters to be
> missing, and long delays between replies, so just
about any ordering seems
> plausible to me and nothing cries out as
fake.

> Was Ambrosius Mr. Black's
> son? In some legends Merlin Ambrosius is the son
> of the devil (or at least a
> demon of some sort). One of Zwart's aliases is
> "old Nick", an old name for
> Satan? Is Mr. Black really a devil? Or does he
> just have the accoutrements
> of one?

I'm inclined to think that he's not literally a devil: Wolfe makes
> fun
of that during dinner. And Black seems ambivalent, and somewhat
> evil
(doesn't intervene to prevent multiple murders, creates and unleashes
a
> vampire, etc.), but not as malevolent as a real devil.

That's not to say he
> may not be a Faust-like figure - Lupine sold her
soul, so there must be souls
> and entities to sell souls to.

----

One thing I didn't quite follow was the
> finances: when Bax explains
that the legacy was exhausted entirely, forcing
> him to seek a job,
doesn't that imply that it's all gone? Then why does he so
> prominently
depend on checks coming in the first couple letters?

--
> 
gwern
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