(urth) Short Sun blog review

Lee Berman severiansola at hotmail.com
Tue Sep 21 11:11:57 PDT 2010



>Dan'l- Typhon is not "still alive" when Severian meets him; he is either dead or 
>in some sort of suspended animation.
 
>Jack Smith- Isn't Typhon dead when found by Severian, who then resurrects him?   Typhon
>seems to have dried out after lying on the cold, dry mountain for 1000 or 2000 years.
 
Sorry, I should have been more clear. I was not speaking of that encounter. I was speaking
of the encounter in UotNS where Severian meets living monarch, Typhon, still strapped to
his couch, presumably because Piaton still has some voluntary control over his muscles.
 
I am interested in people's thoughts. I think maybe there is some presumption that The Whorl 
was sent right around the time of this encounter? Perhaps, as the blog suggests, it was meant 
to serve as a sort of Ark to preserve humanity in the face of impending destruction. (if so I 
can agree that Typhon and his ilk look upon humanity as Noah did his passengers, as animals)
 
My not fully developed alternate idea would be more along the lines that Blue (and/or maybe Green)
is a sort of home planet for Typhon and his parasite family. Perhaps the Whorl served as a way to 
send an excellent host species back the the Motherland for breeding and exploitation. (humans being
a much better prospect than those pesky, advanced Neighbors).
 
If so, The whorl could have been sent much earlier than the final days of Typhon's reign. Good
question on whether time dilation was invoked so that 300 years of Whorl time equals 1000+ years of
time on Urth.
 
When people on Blue dream-travel to Urth, is there evidence either way that time travel is or isn't
involved? Is it possible or likely that Silkhorn lives in the same exact time as young Severian? 		 	   		  


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