From: C R Culver <CRCulver@aol.com>
Subject: (urth) Jonas and Miles, my ideas
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 21:32:18 EST


[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other works]

I've been thinking about Jonas and Miles lately. I came up with two ideas I
think are possible:

1) Severian, after the adventure at the Castle of Baldanders, is basically
friendless (his imagined Thecla doesn't count). He wonders north lonely. He
comes up a soldier who has died. The soldier, let's call him pre-Miles, has
died after some unfortunate mishap. So, Severian puts the Claw in his mouth,
and his subconscious despair and loneliness manifest themselves, the Claw
recreates the personality of Jonas in the soldier, who wakes up as Miles. It
wasn't entirely successful, as Miles isn't much of a friend (barely talks, is
aloof), although Severian tries to make one of him. Could this idea work?

2) Didn't someone say in _Citadel_ during the Ascia campaign that the
Hierodules were landing in the north? Perhaps the recently repaired Jonas came
back with them, but got killed, and when Sev revived him, the personality of
he from whom Jonas got his biological parts was the one revived. Did not we
see from the flesh-eaters' talk that any cell in the body can contain the soul
of the person (see also Master Ultan's speech in _Shadow_). This possibility
is only valid if the person killed by the landing of Jonas' craft was a
soldier, or maybe not. I dunno.

What do you think?

Christopher R. Culver <crculver@aol.com>
http://members.aol.com/crculver/index.html

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