From: Michael Andre-Driussi <mantis@sirius.com>
Subject: Re: (whorl) Conjectures [SPOILER]
Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2001 19:01:10 

Matt asked a lot of questions, and I guess I'm on the desk right now (but
maybe we should all agree to make Adam the official answer-man?):

>(1) Is Horn's black sword from Green and his dream journeys in any way
>related to Severian's "Terminus Est"?

Only in the sense that "Terminus Est" is a carnificial sword, and on Urth,
Horn's sword is seen as looking like a carnificial sword by the soldiers of
the Old Citadel.

>(3) Do the events in Book of the New Sun actually happen after BotLS and
>BotSS? In RttW, Horn/Silk appears to dream travel to other places in the
>same time period as he is (he meets Sinew at the right age, etc.). I don't
>think that he's time traveling, and if he meets Severian as a young boy,
>then that means Severian's story happens after BotLS and BotSS. Earlier
>somebody was theorizing that Severian became Tartaros, but I don't think
>that's possible if all of Severian's adventures took place after the BotLS
>and BotSS.
>

Yes, the events of THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN happen after BOTLS and BOTSS.
The events of THE URTH OF THE NEW SUN go further back in time at points (to
the age of Monarch Typhon, for one; to the time of Apu-Punchau for
another), where they pre-date TBOTLS/TBOTSS.

>(5) What does the following passage mean:
>"It was the magnetism that drew others to him that caused his embryo to be
>put aboard the lander. That was the work of Pas's scientists, as Pig's
>size and strength were. (Recalling the Red Sun Whorl that it became, I
>cannot but wonder whether it did not sacrifice too much for us.)" (RttW p.
>96)
>
>The phrase in the parentheses really mystifies me. What does the first
>"it" refer to? What became the Red Sun Whorl? Is he merely talking about
>Urth itself? Is he talking about Silk's embryo? Is he talking about Pig's
>size and strength? Is he talking about the work of Pas's scientists? I
>just don't get it.
>
>And what is the second "it" referring to? What sacrificed too much for us?
>I assume he is referring to the first "it" as well, which means I still
>don't have a clue.

The "it" (first and second in parentheses) is Earth, which was stripped
bare (and whose sun was crippled, if you will go so far) by
space-exploration programs like the one which launched the Whorl, and
through this sacrifice became "Urth" aka the Red Sun Whorl.

=mantis=

Sirius Fiction
Catalog and errata sheet at http://www.sirius.com/~mantis/



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