(urth) Father Inire - Hethor

[David Stockhoff]

On 10/19/2011 6:06 PM, Andrew Mason wrote:
> It seems to me that the Isangoma-Inire theory has more going for it 
> than the Isangoma-Dorcas or Inire-Dorcas theory. The difference is 
> that we have quite an elaborate backstory for Dorcas - though, to be 
> sure, not a complete one - and know more or less what she was doing in 
> the place where Severian found her, so identifying her with another 
> character would subvert what we think we know. Isangoma, by contrast, 
> is a mystery, with no other roots in the story, and has some 
> definitely puzzling features - why does he have an African name but 
> look South American? Why can he see Severian and Agia while Marie 
> cannot? This, I think, makes it not implausible that he is someone 
> else in diguise; and since Inire is known to be disguised on occasion, 
> and on one of his appearances is described as looking like Isangoma, 
> he is a likely candidate.


More precisely, looking like we imagine Isangoma might look like if he 
were wearing anything and had aged some decades, but there is something 
shamanic about both of them.