URTH |
From: Geoff Alex Cohen <gac@cs.duke.edu> Subject: (urth) Severian's family Date: Mon, 30 Jun 1997 10:16:55 [Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other works] > From: "Kevin McGuire" <kmcguire@itw.com> > > While I'm here, though, could someone clue me in on what pointers > there are to the identity of Severian's mother and sister? I started a rough draft of this, at http://www.cs.duke.edu/~gac/Wolfe/family.html. Overview: we know Severian has a sister, because Severian/Severa is a set of names you give to twins. We know what happens to male children who are born to prisoners; female children go to the witches. So Severian's sister is a witch, of his age. My guess (and Wolfe confirmed this in the chat) is Merryn, the Cumaean's companion at the very end of _Claw_. Mother: Well, Ouen names her Katharine at the end of _Citadel_ and says she was given to the torturers (which matches our theory for Severian's origin). We do meet one woman in the Guild's care named Katharine... Geoff