(urth) Tzadkiel's form

[Marc Aramini]

Changed my mind about the mine thing. The man apes serve the autarch and
guard his treasure there, as the pandours in the wall at the Piteous Gate
do, built as defense against the persumptious "throwing black beans in the
sea" lady from offworld, as Jonas was getting at before they were so rudely
interrupted.

Severian asks Jonas about BOTH events after his return from the mine at
Saltus, and asks how man sized soldiers could ever fight enormous beasts.
The chains clanking in the dark, though they evoke a binding, could also be
the chains which move an enormous mechanical thing, like the walking tower
which Severian sees in chapter XXI or thereabouts in Citadel (don't have
the book with me right now). In the next chapter the Autarch shows up on a
giant elephantine steed and the footsteps make Sev think of the thing he
awoke in the cave near Saltus. The footsteps are of a beast bound to the
autarch's will in that chapter, and perhaps the proximity to the giant
tower and the fact that the man-apes, the pandours at the wall, and the
cave as a treasure  horde of the autarch, even though it seems to indicate
a binding, is in fact a hidden last line of defense that allows the autarch
to fight the giants with something beyond man-sized soldiers.  Thus, it is
Baldanders'  nightmare because it will serve Severian and the Autarch.
Perhaps his closed lipped reticence to discuss the gate and the mine
involve the security measures of the Autarch, something he is reluctant to
go over in detail. (First Sev sees the man-apes as enemies - perhaps all of
the powers that the autarch binds to himself have this slightly inimical
quality to them).

Also, in hindsight it is pretty clear Jahi is supposed to be Juturna ... at
one point in the play she metafictionally says something to the effect, "in
real life I'm bigger than everyone!" I don't know how that didn't
consciously register with me before.  So the talk of the demons to the
autarch reveals Juturna's motivations and mission.




On Mon, Sep 15, 2014 at 11:13 AM, Lee <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote:

> >Marc Aramini: That thing under the mine might very well be one of these
>
> >Abaia/Erebus/Arioch creatures stirred to wakefulness. The toothy
> description
>
> >of the cave formation really does match Baldander's dream pretty well. I
> agree
>
> >there is very little distinction between all these guys as they appear in
> the text.
>
>
> I think we are on the same page.
>
>
> >Undines are associated with Night in that first scene through Juturna's
> interference.
>
> >Whether she is actually related to the Lilith like Jahi in Eschatology
> and Genesis is less
>
> >clear.
>
>
> Jahi is a demon and Wolfe specifically refers to Juturna as a demon in
> UotNS so I assume
>
> that (and the female gender and temptress role) is your basis of
> connection. Given the
>
> Biblical nature of demons, I think it is a fair guess to assume they are
> of the same ilk.
>
>
> Here is a tummy-turner: Jahi and The Contessa Carina  are played by the
> same actress,
>
> Jolenta (echo of Juturna?). The Contessa is later in UotNS (on the Path Of
> Air) linked to
>
> Severian's mother Catherine. Does that suggest anything about Severian's
> ancestry?
>
>
> That speculation aside, I find a not so speculative  connection between
> the fanged demon
>
>  Jahi, played by a busty redhead in BotNS and the vampiric Jahlee who
> takes the form of a
>
> busty redhead in Short Sun. I definitely think Wolfe is using SilkHorn and
> his retinue's travels
>
>  to Urth to say something about the nature of Severian's unusual and
> mysterious family tree.
>
>
> (two of Borski's prime candidates for "Severa" are hinted at in those
> Silkhorn travels, Merryn
>
> the witch and Jolenta, via Jahi and Jahlee.)
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