(urth) Agia's Weapons

[Larry Miller]

Did anyone ever consider that the unnamed assassin in the House
Absolute be Miles?

On 12/19/11, David Stockhoff <dstockhoff at verizon.net> wrote:
> On 12/19/2011 2:33 PM, Lee Berman wrote:
>> 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.
>
>
> True. Doesn't fit the rest, but a weapon is a weapon when you need one.
>
> Or are you simply suggesting it came from a Pelerine, not that Agia is one?
>
>>
>>
>>
>> 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.
>
>
> It's true that we are never told the identity of the assassin. We do
> know that he is male (or so Severian assumes., not being around to find
> out), so presumably he's not Agia, but he could be of the Vodalarii
> (Agiarii?). Note that he was a "master swordsman."
>
>
>>
>>
>>
>> 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.
>
>
> If Agia has followed Severian through Thrax, she could have picked up
> the weapon there. One difficulty is explaining how Agia learned to use
> it, but it has already been shown that she is a weapons expert.
>
> Better look up that hair color reference!
>
>>
>>
>>
>> 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.
>
>
> Right, presumably it resembles the Southeast Asian "tiger's claw," a
> simple, concealable assassin's weapon. Your description is likely.
>>
>>
>>
>> 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.
>
> I think that's a leap, because no connection from Sorcerers to Beasts
> has been made. Plausible, just not shown.
>
> However, we do know of at least these three links to the sorcerers
> (athame, lucivee, juripari). If Erebus and Abaia follow the model of
> Cthulhu and his human slaves, I'd expect to see sorcerers and assassins
> working for him.
>
>
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