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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=severiansola@hotmail.com
href="mailto:severiansola@hotmail.com">Lee Berman</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="font-color: black"><STRONG></STRONG> </DIV></DIV></DIV>
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The whole idea of Father Inire appearing in numerous guises is
essentially<BR></DIV>
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<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">a
holistic one anyway. Like the old woman in the optical illusion you
either<BR></DIV>
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<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">see
it as a whole or don't see it at all. You can't get it through
incrementally<BR></DIV>
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<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">adding
small pieces of the picture with this sort of debating.</DIV></DIV>
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style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; TEXT-DECORATION: "> </DIV></DIV>
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<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; TEXT-DECORATION: ">Well,
since you say I never come up with the sort of ideas you like, here’s the
solution to how Father Inire can be lots of people. Note how there is no
actual shapeshifting in the standard sense in BotNS. Tzadkiel and the sea
monsters can bud off small pieces of themselves, but Father Inire is a little
guy who certainly couldn’t do that. So the Father Inire we see must be the
bud of some gigantic creature, and once you realise that it’s obvious where he
comes from.</DIV></DIV>
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<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; TEXT-DECORATION: ">Father
Inire is the Botanic Gardens! We are told repeatedly how he (that is to
say the Talos-like ‘bud’ that prowls the corridors of the House Absolute) is
associated with them and has placed magics there, arranged the placing of
certain parts, grown vicious deadly averns, etc. And the Botanic Gardens
are right in the centre of the Commonwealth, hiding in plain sight. From
there, little humanoid pieces scurry away, becoming artists, spies, and
viziers. Many of the suspicious characters you have noted such as the
boatman and Inire himself are associated with the place. And the Green Man
is an obvious clue: this bud for some reason had not completed its disguise when
it was captured in Saltus, and deprived of sunlight, it was unable to do
so.</DIV></DIV>
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<DIV
style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; TEXT-DECORATION: "> </DIV></DIV>
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<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; TEXT-DECORATION: ">The
Gardens battle the sea monsters Abaia, Erebus et al, similarly gigantic
creatures living under the sea. The Wall of Nessus needs no further
explanation – the Gardens ordered its construction for their own
protection.</DIV></DIV>
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style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; TEXT-DECORATION: "> </DIV></DIV>
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<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; TEXT-DECORATION: ">Needless
to say, a flooded but sunny world will be welcomed equally by both vegetables
and fish. So while the Gardens and the sea monsters battle without quarter
for the allegiance of mankind, both support Severian in his quest to bring the
New Sun.</DIV></DIV>
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style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; TEXT-DECORATION: "> </DIV></DIV>
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<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; TEXT-DECORATION: ">I wish I
knew something of Gene Wolfe’s food preferences, so I could guess which side he
truly supports in the cosmic struggle between vegetables and fish that is at the
heart of any sane interpretation of BotNS.</DIV></DIV>
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style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; TEXT-DECORATION: "> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; TEXT-DECORATION: ">- Gerry
Quinn</DIV></DIV>
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