(urth) Typhon's nature

[Lee Berman]

>David Stockhoff: Is it possible that Sev's observation that Typhon grips his mind 

>like a vise is simply invalid?...Is Typhon's power merely that he can convince 
>people he has powers?

 

I don't think so. Again, I will invoke Typhon's namesake, the Mandragora. For me

the connection between these characters is nearly undeniable and I find the 

prospect of Severian being delusional about both their mental powers to be a very

bleak one in regard to the enjoyment of the story.

 

Moreover I get the sense that Wolfe's message in this and other works is more that

there is a real component to that we consider magic or mystical or spiritual

rather than the opposite, that being that all mystical and spiritual items are merely 

tricks to fool the weak-minded.

 

>David Stockhoff: Does anyone have any opinion on whether or how Abaia and Erebus rule 
>without resorting to ESP powers?

 

I have a nagging feeling the text does make some mention of Abaia controlling humanity

purely through the power of his thought, but I can't pin the passage down.

 

Anyway, we are explicitly shown another way these guys (and their angelic analog, 

Tzadkiel) control and influence humanity, which is through the use of agents. Some

are human, like Ascians, Purn and Severian. Some are more than human, though less than 

the great powers- beings like Barbatus and Famulimus and Apheta and (I think) Inire and 

the Cumaean.  Some agents are human sized and shaped but are produced by being 

pinched off from the gigantic bodies of the greater being- characters like Juturna and

Idas, Tinkerbell and (I think) Seawrack.

 

I don't think we are meant to know the origin of Typhon but his name and Severian's 

description of his powers have always suggested to me that he is more than just a 

regular human who is simply a good talker.