(urth) Severa

[Andrew Mason]

Lee Berman wrote:

>
>>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.

Bear in mind, though, that Wolfe said he thought everyone would get
the secret of the inhumi. He suggested the reason they didn't was that
they couldn't grasp the thought of people not preying on one another.
But I don't think that was the reason: I think that the real reason is
that it was not mysterious enough. There is a lot of stuff in the
archives with people saying 'It can't be that: it's too obvious'. But
I don't think it was ever meant to be a secret from us; it was a
secret from the people of Blue, It couldn't be stated straight out,
because the books had an in-story author who had promised to keep the
secret; but it was conveyed (in Wolfe's view, at least) as clearly as
possible.


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.

There are _some_ really deep and intriguing mysteries, written as
such, and there are also some things which puzzle us but are meant to
be obvious.  The problem is telling which are which. It may well be
the case that when Severian said 'If I have a sister she is a witch'
we were immediately meant to think 'ah, Merryn!'  Indeed, it may be
that Wolfe thought he was being over-helpful here, and that we should
have been able to to get it from the statements that girl children
brought to the torturers are given to the witches, and that 'Severian'
is a brother-sister name. If it was meant to be obvious in that way it
may not be particularly deep. I don't know that this is true, but I
don't think we can rule it out.

>
> 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?

The context of this is important. Jolenta cries out 'Doctor!' The
Cumaean says 'She seeks her lover', and Merryn replies 'Who is not
this man in fuligin, then?', i,e. 'Oh - so this man in fuligin isn't
her lover?'. So I don't think we need suppose that she is, or is
purporting to be, unaware of the significance of fuligin.  Likewise
the Cumaean's response 'He is but a torturer. She seeks a worse';
needn't be seen as simply explaining'; it's a comment on Dr Talos.
(This does not rule out the meeting's being arranged, of course.)