(urth) Father Inire as giant vegetable

[Gerry Quinn]

From: Lee Berman 

> The whole idea of Father Inire appearing in numerous guises is essentially
> a holistic one anyway. Like the old woman in the optical illusion you either
> see it as a whole or don't see it at all. You can't get it through incrementally
> adding small pieces of the picture with this sort of debating.
Well, since you say I never come up with the sort of ideas you like, here’s the solution to how Father Inire can be lots of people.  Note how there is no actual shapeshifting in the standard sense in BotNS.  Tzadkiel and the sea monsters can bud off small pieces of themselves, but Father Inire is a little guy who certainly couldn’t do that.  So the Father Inire we see must be the bud of some gigantic creature, and once you realise that it’s obvious where he comes from.
Father Inire is the Botanic Gardens!  We are told repeatedly how he (that is to say the Talos-like ‘bud’ that prowls the corridors of the House Absolute) is associated with them and has placed magics there, arranged the placing of certain parts, grown vicious deadly averns, etc.  And the Botanic Gardens are right in the centre of the Commonwealth, hiding in plain sight.  From there, little humanoid pieces scurry away, becoming artists, spies, and viziers.  Many of the suspicious characters you have noted such as the boatman and Inire himself are associated with the place.  And the Green Man is an obvious clue: this bud for some reason had not completed its disguise when it was captured in Saltus, and deprived of sunlight, it was unable to do so.
The Gardens battle the sea monsters Abaia, Erebus et al, similarly gigantic creatures living under the sea.  The Wall of Nessus needs no further explanation –  the Gardens ordered its construction for their own protection.
Needless to say, a flooded but sunny world will be welcomed equally by both vegetables and fish.  So while the Gardens and the sea monsters battle without quarter for the allegiance of mankind, both support Severian in his quest to bring the New Sun.
I wish I knew something of Gene Wolfe’s food preferences, so I could guess which side he truly supports in the cosmic struggle between vegetables and fish that is at the heart of any sane interpretation of BotNS.
- Gerry Quinn
 
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