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<blockquote cite="mid:SNT123-W5587D39E7937B08DEB2CF7CF7F0@phx.gbl"
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<pre wrap="">Jack Smith-
Isn't Typhon dead when found by Severian, who then resurrects him? Typhon
seems to have dried out after lying on the cold, dry mountain for 1000 or 2000 years.
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<pre wrap="">
Lee-
Sorry, I should have been more clear. I was not speaking of that encounter.
I was speaking of the encounter in UotNS where Severian meets living monarch,
Typhon, still strapped to his couch, presumably because Piaton still has
some voluntary control over his muscles.
I am interested in people's thoughts. I think maybe there is some presumption
that The Whorl was sent right around the time of this encounter?
Perhaps, as the blog suggests, it was meant to serve as a sort of Ark
to preserve humanity in the face of impending destruction. (if so I can agree
that Typhon and his ilk look upon humanity as Noah did his passengers, as animals)
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From the Urth Q&A again:<br>
<p>Q: <i>What was Typhon's purpose in launching the Whorl and was
the Blue/Green [solar] system the intended destination?</i> – <br>
</p>
<p>A: Knowing Typhon as I do, he probably had at least half a dozen
purposes; but certainly one of the chief must have been
self-aggrandizement – to return human kind to the stars would be a
very great thing indeed. Yes, the Blue-Green system was the
intended destination.</p>
<br>
This answer would require some finessing given the evidence in the
Book and Urth of the New Sun that human-kind is already spread
across the heavens, that Typhon himself was born or reared
extraterrestrially, and that at some point he was still free to
leave. Perhaps he means returning Urth humanity to the stars. The
self-aggrandizement must mean he wanted to wow the humanity left on
Urth, not the humanity being sent. Because he deprecates his memory
among the colonists.<br>
<br>
There is the possibility that Wolfe never really thought hard about
why Typhon sent out the Whorl.<br>
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u+16b9<br>
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