From: "Ian Smith" <doctoriancsmith@hotmail.com>
Subject: (whorl) Re: RTTW (SPOILERS)
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 19:53:33 

Just finished RTTWand heartily confused at the ending.  Will someone who is
more able please alleviate my stupidity by explaining exactly what happened
in that last scene with Remora, esp. what the 'Hyacinth' passage from the
writings indicated?

Having read the posts, I also have a couple more pennies-worth of my own to
stick in:

From Nacre's post:

"I would never have used it while
> Nettle was alive", confused me, Jahlee
> didn't kill Nettle, did she?  Didn't
> Nettle go with Silk and Marble?
>
> [snip]

For the most part, I agree with David DiGiacomo's
answers.  For the question above, though, I'd suggest
that it's another example of Horn's and Silk's mem-
ories mixing.  "It" is the azoth, if I recall correctly (I
don't have the book here to check); he says "Nettle"
but means, I think, Hyacinth.  Note, if you will, that
this error is the opposite of the ones he was making
at the beginning of OBW; at that time, Hyacinth's
name often appeared when he meant Nettle, but by
this point, the substitutions have entirely reversed
themselves."

I checked back, and it's the method of communicating with the Mother which
the narrator "would never have used while Nettle was alive".  At the time of
reading I presumed he was speaking in the past tense because he was
convinced he was about to die (or at least 'cease to exist') and so would
never get to use it.  However, presumably Silk subsequently did, as Seawrack
then appears pretty quickly afterward.

And from cephalothorax:
"> "I would never have used it while Nettle was alive",
> confused me, Jahlee didn't kill Nettle, did she?
> Didn't Nettle go with Silk and Marble?

No and No."

I understood Nettle DID sail with the rest back to Pajorocou, which is why
Nettle is "making her own"[goodbyes] whilst Horn/Silk is talking to Daisy
[p411] and why Daisy hopes "he and his eerie young woman, Nettle the old
sibyl, and their bird [are] on course upon a greater sea" [p412].  Of
course, as I've already admitted I don't understand the end, I could just be
plain wrong...

and another from cephelothorax:

"Persnickety: Are we really meant to believe that
 Severian, who writes about Master Ash, and the Green
Man, and being a white fountain hundreds of years
before he's born is going to consider "Horn" too much
of a stretch for his readers to believe because he's
got the love-vibe and walks through walls?"

On this I'm no more certain, but I got the distinct impression that the
apprentice Severian was under the impression that Horn / Silk's spirit  was
actually Malrubius' ghost (hence his comment to Gurloes about Oreb), which
of course does get mentioned frequently throughout TBOTNS( & he certainly
pairs Malrubius with Triskele a fair bit).  Whether Wolfe has managed the
phenomenal task of tying the ends up, we won't know until someone has the
energy to re-read TBOTNS looking for them.  Surely such a thing is
impossible, but I'm trying not to make the mistake of under-estimating
Wolfe...

Ian





I

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