(urth) Pike/Oreb

[Jerry Friedman]

In view of Antonio's post, maybe I should give this a SPOILER WARNING.
 
>From: James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com>
>On 11/1/2011 12:50 PM, Dave Tallman wrote: 
>larry miller wrote
>>
>>Started reading Lake of Long Sun last night and Im totally confused about the appearance of Patera Pike and Oreb in Silks room.  I know there was some mention of this last week in a few posts but I didnt want to chime in until I read it.  Thing is I still have no clue as to what to make of it.  Anyone out there have any idea what to make of that sequence?
>> My conclusion a while back is that it wasn't actually Patera Pike he saw, but his older self astral-traveling back in time, and bringing Oreb along. The BOTSS novels show Silk using this ability quite a bit.
>>
>>I have a short article discussing that and other theories about the apparition on the Wolfe Wiki:
>>http://www.wolfewiki.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=LakeOfTheLongSun.TheHolyGhost
>>
>>
>My only discrepancy with the description of the "Silk astra-projecting through time" theory is that it attempts to explain away Silk's mis-identification of himself as Pike in that "he didn't get a clear look at the face". 
>
>I don't personally find that to be compelling. The text doesn't imply that Silk *thinks* it looked like Pike.
>If one asks, "Why did Silk mistake an older version of himself (although probably slightly altered in astral-travel) for Patera Pike?" all kinds additional plot elements suggest themselves.

For instance, is it connected with Severian's mistaking the astral Silk for Master Malrubius?  We can take Severian to be a son or clone of Patera P., but such a relationship with Master M. is a bit much for me.  Pike and Malrubius were authority figures, now dead, in regard to Silk and Severian (as I remember).  Is the idea that many people will see astral Silk that way?
 
>Also, I think the problematic time-line in tBotSS suggests that astral-travel always has a potential for time-travel.

It's certainly not the kind of thing you can rule out.  I haven't tried to look closely at the times of Silk's astral appearences as people have suggested.
 
Jerry Friedman