(urth) Agia's Weapons

[David Stockhoff]

On 12/20/2011 11:31 AM, Lee Berman wrote:
>> David Stockhoff: But intuitively, I agree that if there is a Pelerine blade in a shop (I
>> note it had an "ivy-root handle" if that helps), it came from a Pelerine we know. Do
>> Agilus/Agia ever say where they got the shop from? I recall they do but not what they said.
>
> IIRC, it was bequeathed to A&  A by their mother. This tends to implies she is dead. But if
> Cyriaca is their mother and just living far away, there is a second meaning to "bequeath"
> which refers to passing on possessions by the living. Thanks for reminding me of the ivy-
> root handle. Previously I had no idea what significance that might have. Since the discussions
> in here of the past year or two, I am wondering if it is a (very) tangential reference to our
> friend Dionysus. Ivy is a sort of vine.

Sure!

I may have a problem with the use of "bequeath," however. It was once 
common to give away all your possessions upon joining an order. Wouldn't 
she have done this at that time, rather than when she left the 
Pelerines? The misericorde would then be unexplained, since at that time 
it was not yet in her possession. But perhaps she went back after to 
sell her habit and accoutrements.

Also, once you bequeath, there are no takebacks. She'd have to know her 
children are dead to plan on going back to the shop.
>
>> but what does this explain except to connect some loose threads? it seems incidental---it
>> doesn't explain Agia herself, or Cyriaca.
>
> For me, it does. Because pursuing this line of thought ties both Agia and Cyriaca directly to
> Father Inire. And, within my F.I. theory, he (as demiurge) is connected to absolutely everything
> in this story.

Sure. It's not that I don't want to see loose ends tied up....
>
>
>> If there had been palace intrigue, wouldn't the body have been dangerous evidence implicating
>> members of a conspiracy? Agia as assassin avoids those questions, since no one would have known
>> she was there.
>
> Interesting points I hadn't considered. For me, Agia as the replacement for Vodalus and Father
> Inire became cliff hangers, when UotNS was added to the story. We see Valeria when Severian
> returns to House Absolute on Flood Day but where is Inire? Perhaps right where we last "saw" him
> in CotA: strategizing and intriguing, using his acquired assassin and autarchal enemy, Agia.


If Inire wanted Valeria dead, she'd be dead, I would think. But the 
death of both Autarchs would have been difficult to plan!
>
>> I wonder about her apparent ability to get past locked doors. But then, no one at court would know
>> the words for secret doors in the throne room.
> There is one guy who would....


Fair enough.
>
>> Does Inire have no control over his own bastard children [and grandchildren]?
>
> Oh, I think he is obsessed with them, following them around, tracking them, manipulating them, playing
> them against each other. I think he controls Agia as Hethor through most of the story, as her humble
> sex-entranced slave. Inire's letter suggests he has persuasive powers over Agia but doesn't reveal what
> they are. Either way, that letter inextricably links Agia to Inire. And I've mentioned that I think
> Cyriaca's uncle is Father Inire, largely due to his apparently exclusive (aside from Malrubius) knowlege
> of the cosmic history of humanity.
>
> Rudesind is explicit in admitting that his meetings with Severian were not accidental but staged by Inire.
> I suspect the same is true for meetings with Agia, the Old Boatman, Dorcas, Talos and Baldanders,
> The Cumaean, The Old Autarch, the Old Leech, probably even Typhon. 		 	   		

Yes, interesting. But was Agia not rather in control of Hethor?