Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2003 11:58:00 +0000 (GMT)
From: Josh Geller 
Subject: Re: (urth) FW: Severian as New Sun(Brandon Mason)



On Sat, 5 Apr 2003, Matt DeLuca wrote:

> 	1)What is the New Sun?

> 	I have only read the series twice, but I was always under the
> interpretation that the New Sun is the NEW SUN itself ( that is, the old
>  sun with the white fountain placed in it, thus making it new) and also
> it is Severian, who is called the New Sun because he brought it.

And it is a specific avatar, that is a specific human manifestation of
celestial forces.

> 	2)What are his talents/abilities?

> 	Well, there are many that are listed within the text of Urth of the New
>  Sun.  I suppose some would say that he has the ability to be able to
> work miracles.

All of his miracles have to do with time and his peculiar relationship
with time.

  But I think that there are probably many more things
> that Severian can do that are not listed within the text, using the
> power of the white fountain.  I would go so far as to say that he
> probably has the ability (whether he uses it or not) to be able to do
> anything that he wants.

It doesn't say that he does. Perhaps he can only do certain things at
certain times.

> 	3)Is there any specific prophecy?
>
> 	Hmmm...I don't have the text with me right now, but I don't think so.
> The only prophecy that there may be about the New Sun or Conciliator is
> the one that Severian would have spread on his own (about himself) in
> his brief period of teaching in Urth of the New Sun (in the past.)  I
> have always assumed that he probably time traveled even more after the
> telling of the tale in his memoirs and probably even after he wrote the
> memoirs themselves.  He does say somewhere in Urth of the New Sun after
> the incident at the Chowder Pot that he thought he saw himself out in
> the hall with the men that tried to restrain Zama.  What I am getting at
>  is I have a feeling that Severian might have went back into time and
> spread the word about himself so that people would know what to expect.

Perhaps. Or there might be different Severians from different time tracks,
or something even more exotic.

> 	4)What is the Claw?
>
> 	The Claw of the Conciliator is the thorn that Severian picked up from
> the rose bush when he was walking along the beach of Ocean.  In Urth of
> the Sun when he is sent back to Typhon's time after his capture he gives
>  that same thorn from the rose bush to one of Typhon's soldiers.  This
> thorn somehow ends up in the hands of the Pelerines, and is what
> Severian later finds in the distant future when he crashes into their
> temple and tries to return it to them.

Technically speaking, the Claw is a relic of the Conciliator.

> 	5)What is the New Sun supposed to do?

> 	The New Sun as Severian or the New Sun as the New Sun itself?  Severian
>  is called the New Sun because he was the one to bring it, but if you
> are talking of the other meaning (the New Sun as the New Sun) it is
> supposed to bring a cleansing to Urth and restore the old sun's light.

Or destroy the World, depending on your point of view.

> I've always thought the prophecy about the New Sun is somewhat like the
> prophecy of Anakin in Star Wars Episode I and II, no one really knows if
>  the coming of the New Sun will be good or bad.

Or like the prophecy or Christ in the Apokalypsis.

> 	6)How does Severian do it?

> 	I know I might not be totally answering this question (as you might
> want a specific) but in Urth of the Sun it is explained that Severian
> will (mind the paraphrase) "just know" how to do it.  Its something that
>  is innate within him, and I believe that Tzadkiel placed the knowledge
> of how to bring the white fountain closer (or the ability to do so) in
> Severian when he resurrected him as an eidolon.  re-read the section in
> Urth of the Sun after Severian falls through the ship (and dies) and I
> think that is where he gains the knowledge.

Perhaps.

> 	7)What is the mystery of the guild?

>                       [...] Severian reveals is that, "torturers
>  OBEY."

This is how they justify spending their lives doing horrible things.

I suppose it is also indicative/predictive of Severian's relationship with
God.

> 	8)How can Severian use the Claw in books before Urth of the New Sun?

> 	I think it is explained in Urth of the New Sun that he is drawing off
> of future power (which is actually rooted in the past.)

The White Fountain is traveling towards the Old Sun even then.

> 	9)Any info on the Pancreator?

> 	At the end of Urth of the Sun, Severian's friends the Heirodules
> explain to him that who he calls the Pancreator (or maybe it is the
> Increate, not sure,) they call "God."  So the Pancreator is God, right?
>   I was always under the assumption (and I am probably wrong about this
> as well) that the Pancreator = God, the Conciliator is a Jesus figure,
> and the Increate represented the Holy Spirit.

The Conciliator is a manifestation of the mystical Body of Christ, the
other two the other two members of the Trinity.



















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