From: "Chris" 
Subject: Re: (urth) Two Ships
Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 17:27:00 +0000

>Crush suggested:
> > > The only way I can think to salvage this theory is to say that
> > > Severian's ship was *first* the Whorl, retrofitted over time to
> > > eventually become Severian's ship. In that case, the time-line
> > > problems disappear and all the problems in technology can be
> > > explained by the passage of time. This is a less elegant solution
> > > than you were looking for since it doesn't explain "the cargo".
> > > But IMO it resolves some nasty snarls.
> > >
> >
> > Don doesn't think this is likely.  However, Silk did leave for the
> > Whorl at the end of RttW and it went on it's merry way to who knows
> > where.  Maybe it went to Yesod.  If Silk is Typhon redeemed then this
> > makes an interesting circle.  Hmmm.
> >
>Crush responds:
>Well, of course its unlikely. Its a cumbersome theory whose main benefit is
>that it explains the Whorl's existence in view of the captain's claim that
>there is only *one* ship. Not one "true" ship -- one ship. Of course, there
>are more cumbersome theories that I hold true, and two other options -- 
>that
>the captain was wrong or that Wolfe messed up (the most likely explanation)
>  and both seem like cheating to me.

Civet throws in:
Or, perhaps Tzadkiel's Ship is the archetypal ship (or the ideal form of 
"shipness" if you want to go Platonic). Tzadkiel himself seems to operate in 
the symbolic/angelic realm. It seems to make more sense than interpreting it 
in a strictly physical way (and the transition from Yesod to Briah is 
debatably a metaphysical one in the first place).

It also, now that I think about it, has a certain logic of its own. 
Tzadkiel's Ship seems to visit Urth during even the most primitive periods 
of technology or sophistication of the natives. Why? Well, strictly speaking 
of it as a freighter, there's no good reason I can think of. Instead, we can 
say that Tzadkiel's Ship visits all these eras because *it has to, by 
nature* - because all ships are the Ship.

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