(urth) Agia's Weapons

[Lee Berman]

Daniel Petersen: http://silkandhornheresy.blogspot.com/2010/06/reading-wolfe-is-dream-like-another.html

 

Nice essay, Daniel! I found the graphic intriguing as well. The dagger put me in mind

of a topic from the past which might be worth bringing up- Agia's weapons.

 

I find the description of Agia's four weapons to go beyond what would be needed for

"background color" and I've considered that they might have symbolic significance:

 

1. Agia mentions a "misericorde" sold by her shop with which she wishes she could stab

Severian. The name of this slim blade means "divine mercy" and was used to provide a

quick, painless death to mortally wounded knights on the battlefield. This sounds like

the weapon of a Pelerine to me.

 

2. Her "athame" is the warlock's blade and the occult nature of this weapons is likely

associated with her scratching of a "jurupari" image. The juripari is a S. American 

fish and mythical demon. Since both are known for using their mouth as a sort of cage, 

I think this connects Agia to the witches (Fomalhaut) and the great beasts of the Urth

such as Ouroboros.


I think the poison on that sword eventually provides a connection between her and the assassin

that Severian encounters in the Secret House on Flood Day.

 

3. The crooked dagger she carries at Casdoe's place obviously connects Agia to Thrax. Why, 

if she is from Nessus? I suspect this connects to weapon 1 and implies a family connection.

The only Pelerine we know in Thrax is Cyriaca (who plans to escape to Nessus to cook and sew).

Cyriaca is old enough to be Severian's mother but perhaps she is his aunt? Or are there cloned

versions of Catherin involved here? Either way, the physical descriptions match up nicely for

an aunt/cousin relationship to Severian, if Agia's and Aguilus' father has red hair. I think 

he does.

 

4. The "lucivee" with which Agia slaps Severian's face might be the rare case in BotNS of WOlfe 

inventing a word. I can't find a reference to it as a weapon though perhaps others can. If we go 

to the French (as for misericorde) it refers to a lynx, so I guess we can conclude it to be akin

to a cats claws weapon.

 

The lucivee attaches to the hand with a palm bar and rings for two fingers. Thus if held with a

flat palm it can be a slapping weapon. But if a fist is made, the flate blades extend between the

fingers and become (as Mantis described his vision of it to me) a "Wolverine set of claws" for 

slashing.

 

The thing is, the claws used by the Jungle Sorcerers are the same thing. Palm bar with rings, blades

for slashing. So this weapon connects Agia to them in some manner. I think it is related to Weapon

2 and also ties Agia to the demonic and occult figures on Urth who are allied with the giant beast

monsters of Urth as enemies of the New Sun.