(urth) The Wizard

[Lee Berman]

>> Wolfe would not put Christians in his story by mentioning them 0 times.
 
>Dan't Danehy-Oakes: Well, he _does_ mention the Theoanthropos.
 
True, early on, vis Agia, iirc. And at that point in the story we might be
prompted to think the god in humanform referenced is Jesus Christ. But as
the story progresses I think The Conciliator becomes a more likely 
candidate in this society. On the other hand, Agia's demon symbol might 
suggest she worships a different Theoanthropos than The Conciliator. Who
might that be.....? ;- )
 
>You're right, and again Able gives his blood voluntarily, 
>making it somehow salvific.
 
I think this jibes with the contrast between Severian's feasting on Thecla,
which wolfe describes as a "diabolical eucharist" and his similar meal of
the old Autarch which is decribed more benignly.
 
>But pagan gods commonly drink the blood of their worshippers...
 
Yes, but perhaps that's what makes them pagan. They demand blood sacrifice
FROM their followers. Christ offers His blood as a sacrifice TO his 
followers.
 
In the James Jordan interview Daniel cites, Wolfe explains (in discussing Apheta)
that he thinks it is the duty of higher beings to uplift lower beings, just as
lower beings ought to worship and aspire to the level of higher beings.
 
>Daniel Petersen: All that may be allusively there in Wizard Knight, which would 
>be exactly what we've come to expect from Wolfe.  Pagan practices finding their
>'correction' and true 'fulfilment' in Christian salvation.
 
Agreed. Which is part of the reason I think a true Christ figure has yet to arrive
in the Sun Series universe rather than having appeared and departed.
 
>Antonin Scriabin: I would just point out that the Most High God seems quite absent 
>from the lower worlds and that "he" struck me as a remarkably deist being, especially 
>considering how active the "gods" of other realms interact with the worlds below them.  
>It seems that it is easy to go a world "up" or "down", but going farther than that is 
>rarer (perhaps a "two-world jump" is even impossible), so perhaps the Most High God's 
>influence is mainly in the world second from the top.

I agree. And I think this parallels the situation of The Increate in the Sun Series.
Tzadkiel seems to suggest The Increate is too lofty to interact directly with humanity
and his will is done through intermediaries such as Tzadkiel, whose will on Urth is 
done through intermediaries such as B, F and O. This is one reason I don't think The 
Outsider is The Increate. He is too close and directly involved with humanity.
 
If Gene Wolfe is a man who believes in the reality of pagan gods, then it is not such
a stretch to think he also believes in the reality of angels.  I think many modern
Christians consider their faith only through the concepts of God and Man. Perhaps Wolfe
feels there are (or has been) a hierarchy of intermediary beings between them.