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<P><BR>Greetings all. Long time Wolfe fan who recently discovered and much more recently finished perusing the archives.</P>
<P>I'd like to address an issue that was discussed in the past which is the eclipse which saves Severian from being killed by the primitive tribesmen in the early days of Urth. It seems most experts have concurred that the eclipse was caused by Tzadkiel's ship. This explanation doesn't seem plausible to me. Vast as that ship might be, I can't see how it could block the sun but not be noticible as a manufactured object. It isn't a sphere but rather a forest of masts and sails which I would think would have to be visible as shadow as it moves on and stops blocking the sun. Moreover all the descriptions of the ship suggest it wouldn't come so close to gravitational bodies such as the Urth, moon and sun. Certainly not to accomplish the simple goal of dissuading a few tribal people from committing murder, since the
hierogrammates seem to rely on agents and abilities which could accomplish the same goal so much more easily.</P>
<P>Wolfe suggests the thoughtful reader could guess what opaque body could have been used to block the sun. I feel he was being ironic in that it wouldn't take much thought at all to deduce the object used was the same one used by <U>A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court </U> and others in similar circumstance; that being the normal cause of an eclipse, the moon. In Severian's time on Urth during the Typhon era he demonstrated the unconscious ability to cause major catastrophic natural events when he was angry or faced with death, i.e. a hurricane and an earthquake. I have always felt this eclipse was a similar event, caused either by stopping the moon in orbit or the earth in rotation.</P>
<P>Now it might be argued that Severian did not have access to the power of his star/white fountain at this time. It is implied because he doesn't seem to be able to travel through the corridors of time back to a more pleasant era. But Severian does very casually note that during his stay with the primitive people he heals those who are sick, both with his learned skills and in the manner he used to cure Declan (which was done with star power). </P>
<P>I'll leave it at that for my first post and check any feedback you might have :-)<BR></P></DIV></div></html>