(urth) Ymar

[Andrew Mason]

Gerry Quinn wrote:

  In BotNS, (unless you include Frog!) there is no
> indication that Ymar was the first Autarch, or was contemporaneous with
> Typhon.  Nor does his contemporeity with Typhon seem to inform us of
> anything; indeed I personally think it hurts the story in some ways.

More than that:it seems actually inconsistent with some things in the
text. In connection with the antechamber, we are told that _before
Ymar_ the autarch himself used to judge crimes committed in the
grounds of the House Absolute. Malrubius says that Ymar was the _last_
Autarch, before Severian's predecessor, to take the test. (Technically
'last' can include 'only', but it would be very deceptive. Possibly
Malrubius is deceptive, but I see no reason for him to deceive about
that.)

Also, Typhon seems to be dated several  chiliads earlier, by
Severian's remark about the Conciliator, that he disappeared several
chiliads ago, and by Cyriaca's story - I think she says that the book,
which mentions Typhon, is itself several chiliads old. Also by the
time it would take to shape all the mountains into figures of
Autarchs. Ymar, I think, isn't dated in the text,but in an interview
given at the time Wolfe put him just a chiliad before Severian - where
in the now canonical dating Typhon seems to be as well, causing much
confusion.

Besides that, there's the fact that Ymar is a known historical figure,
whereas Typhon is forgotten.

 I
> suspect that Wolfe, after he had started on UotNS, decided it would be
> 'lame' for Severian not to meet Ymar, and wrote it in then.

I think it may be a bit more than that. Very likely, Wolfe already
knew that Ymar had been a torturer, which is why he reformed the guild
- thus prefiguring Severian's own life. Palaemon says two torturers
had previously left the guild to take up appointments elsewhere; he
himself turns out to be one; who is the other? Very possibly Ymar. But
this is one of the things that is not made clear enough in BOTNS, and
therefore Wolfe brings Ymar into _Urth_ to clarify the matter.