(urth) Severa

[Lee Berman]

>>Then there is Agia. There are a couple converging lines of evidence that
>> she is Severian's cousin.

 

>Gerry Quinn: What evidence?
 

It wouldn't be evidence for you, Gerry. You have spent 2 or 3 years here

demonstrating that your definition of that word is "supports my own beliefs".

Your demonstration of this skewed definition also includes taking what

all other posters call evidence and relabeling it as "rubbish" or 

"nonsense" or "ridiculous, mindless, unthoughtout, bizzare...etc. etc.". There is

no point in responding to such a request from you. Your rejoinder regarding

the ideas of others is completely predictable. The only variation in your posts

is which derrogatory term for others you will use this time.

 

>The waitress wasn’t an actress.

 

Correct. Nobody said she was. What was said was, "Jolenta was an actress", suggesting 

that is likely a stage name. You knew that. You were just playing dumb again. I

warned you that trick doesn't work already, so why try it?

 

>However, I think you have inadvertently hit on something that indicates she was never 

>a witch.

 

Heh! You made me laugh with that one, Gerry! Nothing inadvertent there. Sorry if that

takes some of the pats off your own back.  I was aware of Palaemon's explanation of the 

guild when I put the quote from the waitress in and the ambiguous nature of that clue in 

regard to her origin. As others here recognize, that statement might lend support and might 

also undercut the idea that she had been a witch.

 

Gerry, I know this idea is completely alien to you, but I am not here to promote and 

defend my own view of WOlfe's work. I am here to discuss them. So, unlike you I am 

completely willing to present all the evidence I find on a topic of discussion. I do

not deliberately exclude evidence which doesn't support my idea. See my discussion with

Jeff over Rudesind's height for an example.

 

>larry miller- Why do you think Merryn is Severa?  Just because she is a witch?  I
>think this is the biggest red herring in the book.

 

I agree, though the secret of the Inhumi is pretty close. There are a some really deep and

intriguing mysteries in WOlfe's books and to think he simply gives the complete answer to

us in an obvious way is an assumption for a different sort of WOlfe reader than you and me.

 

>> How do we know Severian's real name?


>yeah Ive thought about that too but not even Wolfe is that sneaky.

 

It doesn't matter. Even if the guild named him instead of his mother, the text still tells us

to question why they picked a brother-sister name.

 

>David stockhoff: Good eye. But a witch who recognizes a torturer outside the Citadel might not say 
>so;

 

We have some evidence regarding this- Upon their meeting, Merryn comments on "this man in fuligin".

The Cumaean explains, "he is but a torturer". Is Merryn, a Citadel resident, really so ignorant?

Perhaps.  Severian remembers running an errand for the Torturers. They apparently don't remember

him. And he is dressed as an apprentice then, not in fuligin, but why does Merryn not know what

fuligin means? I take this as evidence that the accidental nature of the seance meeting is a complete

sham. The Stone Town moves to place itself in certain travellers' paths. They know who Severian is

and wanted him there all along.

 

Further ambiguous evidence: in the appendix on social classes, Jolenta is listed as part of the 

"commonality" while Severian and other Citadel residents are listed as "servants of the throne".

But it also says servants of the throne are drawn from the commonality. Thus, the waitress is

part of the commonality due to her occupation, but there is a loophole which could allow her to

have formerly been a servant of the throne.

 

>Any idea what her coloring was before Talos transformed her?

 

She is a thin woman with straggling hair. The lack of information regarding her hair color is

interesting, as Wolfe seems later to reveal it through the odd revelation of her pubic hair

resembling a downy chick (i.e. golden).