The Undertowers Podcast trapped me in a pit & forced me to talk about THE WIZARD KNIGHT. A very pleasant experience. I haven’t watched this yet so I hope didn't make a fool of myself. We talk about KNIGHT but as you'd expect, we spoil the whole thing.

https://youtu.be/eq2fXVLKbQA

LISTEN HERE and Show Notes

Severian sets Dorcas up in a cheap motel, tries to explain himself, gets lost, ends up at the house of some poor people.

For Patrons, check out the special super-duper version with secret high-quality bonus content where we talk about Wolfe's uncollected story "King Under the Mountain" .

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I have just listened to the summary of Claw. Two points:

1. I really enjoyed the cannibal sailor poem. Especially as I live in Kent and the coast between Folkestone and Deal is 90 minutes drive from me.
2. If you blokes are interested in old out of print books try https://www.gutenberg.org/. They have a vast library of old books which have been converted to digital formats. I have just done a quick search for "science fiction" and got 25 pages of results.

A bit of theorising about what is happening in The Cleansing:

The appearance of Apu Punchau and the resurrection of the Stone Town foreshadows the disappearance of the aquastors Malrubius and Triskele in the Sand Garden in The Citadel of the Autarch. The recreation of the Stone Town begins with a host of minute insects, each a hundredth the size of midges. Later, Malrubius’ flesh fades into bright dust, followed by Triskele, whose coat turns silver and blows away in the gentle breeze. This sequence leads me to believe that the recreated Stone Town, its inhabitants, and Apu Punchau are all aquastors. This suggests that the ancient Apu Punchau is not directly involved here.

The Cumaean appears to create the aquastor of Apu Punchau with the aid of a mind on Fomalhaut, 25 light years away. This mind must be similar to the ones aboard the ships of Malrubius and the Hierodules. I assume that the resurrection of the Stone Town is enabled by a process that uses quantum entanglement to operate instantaneously over stellar distances, facilitated by the Cumaean’s rod.

When Apu Punchau and Severian meet, Apu Punchau fuses into Severian. In The Urth of the New Sun, BFO explains the concept of anima to Severian: “If you write your name in the dust and retrace it with your finger, there are not two names but one.” BFO continues, “You came near your double once, you know; that was here in this poor town of stones. Then he was gone and only you remained.” In nuclear fusion, a great deal of energy is released. Similarly, when Apu Punchau and Severian fuse, enough energy is released to kill Hildegrin.

I believe that the Stone Town has a permanent link with the mind of Fomalhaut, which causes the apparent attraction of people to the Stone Town. This mind is the vivimancer mentioned in The Sword of the Lictor. Certain people were particularly drawn to the Stone Town, much like the Botanic Gardens’ ability to captivate susceptible individuals. Severian is the obvious main target of this influence.

I think this was initially set up at the Lake of Birds, probably contrived by the Cumaean and Father Inire, knowing what Severian was destined to become. Agia, Dorcas, and Hildegrin were all "chant caught" in some way to become attached to Severian:

• Dorcas immediately falls in love with Severian.
• Agia's attitude towards Severian becomes obsessive.
• Hildegrin is influenced to stalk Severian, following him to the duel, then to the evening theatre performance, and finally losing him at Piteous Gate. He is later manipulated by the Cumaean into attempting to raise Apu Punchau.

I think the purpose of this incident is to give Severian faint memories of his future, steering him away from the path of remaining a torturer/Lictor and guiding him toward becoming the New Sun.

I am curious about who the Silent Stranger with the staff is mentioned in Attractions in Sword. It could be a version of Severian. It could be Jonas returned but too early. It could also be a younger Hildegrin who becomes manipulated to follow Severian and set up the "seance".

I'll be interested in any differing opinions.

I have just listened to The Tale of the Student and His Son, pt 1. The phrase "Whale road" comes up. The first use of the phrase, that I'm aware of, comes from the epic Anglo-saxon poem Beowulf. You can see it in the introduction here: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/English/BeowulfPart1.php

Well, it's happened. Listening to the podcast has pushed me out of a decade of Reddit related silence to talk about a several years old episode, likely of satisfaction only to myself. I've read the Solar Cycle multiple times, but I'm new to the podcast, largely because young children have driven me away (temporarily) from the pleasure of volumes in my hands and towards the consolation of audiobooks and podcasts, of which ReReading Wolfe is fast becoming a favourite--with one issue.

That issue is that I often find myself clamoring--screaming--to comment, often to a silent house which would not understand my rantings if I did.

I can resist no more!

In relation to Episode 1:11 "The Feast", James and Craig posed the question: "Why did the aquastors send Severian a vision of a "living Earth" (rather than Urth) communion, and why did Malrubius check in on Severian on this night of all nights?"

My own thoughts on this is that the moment is critically symbolic, but contrary to many theories that the moment has little to do with Severian's mother (save for the fact that Severian's desires are explicitly and textually Oedipal in their influence) and everything to do with his relationship with Thecla.

The Symbolic Association Between the Maid and Thecla

This is, I imagine, fairly clear. In both instances, the association can be drawn between Thecla and St. Catherine as an unjustly killed prisoner. The surface text associations there are obvious, both are wrongly condemned and sentenced to die by the absolute monarch, but there are other associations too. Catherine dies on a wheel, whilst Thecla is sentenced to "the revolutionary": both evoking spinning--and Craig and James allude to an assumption by Wolfe in this version of the legend that the wheel would be used to spin Catherine to death). Catherine is famous for holding debates, and is the patron saint of interlocutors: the activity that Severian and Thecla enjoy frequently in her cell.

Most critically, however, Craig and James questioned the addition of the sprouting of roses from the Wheel, something that they weren't aware of otherwise occurring in the Catherine legend. They did, however, refer to the Catherine Wheel firework (perhaps the most common, modern secular association) as a key image in the overall mix--once you add a firework to the rose encrusted wheel, and the Catherine Wheel's own appearance as blooming flame, it's easy enough to draw an association with Thecla's scent of "burning roses". Severian's drunken state immediately following the Feast reinforces this too--he sees a woman in his chambers who he thinks is the Maid, and then immediately thinks he is smelling Thecla's perfume in the room. Regardless of whether or not they are actually there, Severian's mind is linking the two.

I'm not (necessarily) saying these are connections drawn deliberately by the powers that be within the text. I'm saying that symbolically, they are intended to draw the association between Thecla and the Maid, make it more potent and more redolent. It's critical, because it sets the seed for what comes next.

The Point of the Ritual

What is the point of the Guild of Torturers? Why do they behave the way they do, what are the purposes of their rituals, and why is the Feast their most holy time, the time when apprentices truly join and become torturers? There are numerous symbolic and high-minded associations we can draw, but we also have to understand that the rituals and the environment is intended, effectively, to condition young men taken as infants into believing what they do is a just and even sacred calling. Little elements from their everyday language "clients" are "committed to the Guild's care", to their isolation within the Matachin Tower, to the brutality of the apprenticeship system (Severian's own memories of the night Drotte became Captain of Apprentices, as well as what Severian and Eata do when Severian rises to the post), the rituals of masking and obedience, all of these are designed to institutionalise the work of the Torturers into what Roche describes as "a well-paid, unpopular business". You might feel that it is an important calling, you might feel it is just a job, but the structure of the Guild exists in part to ensure that its adherents feel no guilt or compunction about what they do. To the extent that it exists, it is repressed, denied, sublimated or alternatively expressed--hence we end up with Master Gurloes as an example of what a life doing this will lead to.

The ultimate promise of the Guild, the moment that marks entry into their ranks, is the promise to "Strike, and fear not." The text even is sure to have the Maid repeat it twice, so it is emphasised and understood. It acts to remove moral culpability. Catherine speaks with the voice of God, and the executioner is told that he is okay, that God has confirmed that this must be.

I could spend much more than a post talking about debates on the necessity of evil (and most critically pain, and even torture) in The Book of the New Sun in a lot of allusive ways--suffice to say that unpicking this question is at the root of what I think much of the Solar Cycle is about. Without oversimplifying, I think as a Catholic Wolfe has spent a bit of time thinking about the necessity of the Crucifixion in order to get to the Resurrection, and what that means for the parties involved. Critically though, the construction of "Strike and fear not" is not one of forgiveness necessarily, but of confirmation. The Feast tells the torturers that what they are doing in carrying out their duty is moral and right--not even justified but proper and essential. We see the echo of this training all the time in Severian's further adventures, his conversation with Dorcas during the break-up in Thrax in particular, but also in dealing with Morwenna, and even through to Urth of the New Sun. We can also tell, in the gaps in Severian's narration, that his journey is, in part, the uncoupling of his inner self from the results of that conditioning. In "The Lictor of Thrax", immediately following the death of Thecla, Severian despises himself "more than he did the Guild", a telling construction. The act of mercy he has performed fills him with shame, at first, even though as a reader it seems like one of his first benevolent acts. That dissonance is the key to the whole Book of the New Sun. The path from torturer to conciliator, if you like. That's the story.

The Purpose of the Vision

Consider a counterfactual: what happens to the Severian who never gives Thecla the knife? We know he is angry with her, for reducing him to the status of a "sweet boy", we know he has known of the possibility of her painful death during their whole relationship, to say the least. We know that his whole life has told him that it is his duty to let her die in accordance with the sentence passed on her. Even at the last, he knows some ambivalence:

"A thousand times one thought recurred: I could reenter her cell, take back the knife, and no-one would know. I would be able to live out my life in the guild*.*"

He doesn't act decisively. The tension in the moment is beautifully rendered by Wolfe, Severian's confession that follows is almost immediate, his guilt absolute. I think it's fair to say he balances precariously between two decisions, his emotions for Thecla on one side, his loyalty to the guild on the other. Something has to tip the balance.

Without Severian leaving the guild, the rest of the Book of the New Sun doesn't happen. One assumes that in such scenario, the New Sun doesn't come. So, if you were an aquastor charged with helping Severian on his way to bringing the New Sun, how might you tip matters subtly over the edge?

"No doubt I slept.* I saw the chapel, but it was not the ruin I knew. The roof was whole and high and straight, and from it there hung ruby lamps. The pews were whole and gleamed with polish; the ancient stone altar was swatched in cloth of gold. Behind the altar rose a wonderful mosaic of blue; but it was blank, as if a fragment of sky without cloud or star had been torn away and spread upon the curving wall.

I walked toward it down the aisle, and as I did so I was struck by how much lighter it was than the true sky, whose blue is nearly black even on the brightest day. Yet how much more beautiful this was! It thrilled me to look at it. I felt I was floating in air, borne up by the beauty of it, looking down upon the altar, down into the cup of crimson wine, down upon shewbread and antique knife. I smiled..."

Severian is given a vision of a real Communion. Not the corrupt ritual of the Feast, but the actual sacred moment. Instead of a debased ritual based on half-remembered facts, in service of the corruption of a noble idea, he experiences the moment as it is "meant" to be. The chapel restored, alongside the sky.

The books spend a lot of time talking about how through the examination of false things, we can find the true thing. Severian spends a lot of time thinking about both what is sacred and what is true. My argument is that this moment is essential because it demonstrates to him the falsity of Katharine's Feast, even if he doesn't know it yet. It establishes in his mind the wrongness of his environment. This is the same sequence in which he feels he has betrayed the guild by vomiting up everything it has given to him--he literally rejects the feast itself. If the Feast is intended to represent his final assumption into the guild, it is this moment that represents his division from it. It's only by separating himself from its training and philosophy that he can give mercy to Thecla, and from there be sent out of the guild and commence the story in earnest.

It's a short vision, but in that context it makes (IMO) perfect sense. It sets the tone and tenor of the whole rest of the story, and does so, with typical Wolfean aplomb, so subtly that at first you can barely sense what it's doing.

Apologies if this has already been conclusively dealt with elsewhere. But I think if I hadn't gotten it out for posterity, I might have dragged my hands to my own throat, like a victim of the Revolutionary.

*I don't actually think he slept. But then I need to get into Severian's memory and how I think that works and it's a whole other post.

Just listening to the episode from a couple of years ago about "Christmas Inn". One thing you seem to have left out in relation to the presentation of the afterlife in that story: in Dante's Comedy, the summit of Purgatory is the Garden of Eden. Christmas Inn's picture of Purgatory being an ideal but fundamentally lost Earth immediately put me in mind of that.

This is mentioned some time about the sea-beings. Is that supposed to mean that they at some point grow even bigger and that they become too heavy even for the seas?

I get that this probably is a Lovecraft-reference, but is there any idea in later books how this would work? I know this isn't exactly hard sf but maybe "inspired by real science" to some extent. So maybe there is some sort of idea how creatures large enough relate to the empty space as a more... full and compact place, due to their own much slower tempo.

I guess they already have changed their bodies to breath underwater so it isn't impossible that they adapted to breath whatever exist in empty space between the stars.

Any ideas at what point a body becomes too heavy for water, if ever, and how it would be possible to jump to outer space when someone is big enough?

Not upset, just want to know how furiously I should hit refresh on my Patreon feed.

1. How long is a month? If the moon is closer then I would guess months are shorter too. Does this matter for calculating how much time Severians travel has taken?

2. Who are the power players (Erebus, Abaia, Tzadkiel, Autharch, Increator and so on) and what do they want to accomplish, and how did they influence Severians life?

3. Why does Severian have perfect recall?

4. Why was Severian chosen?

5. What is the point of the whole existence from the Increator (or was there some higher god than him?), why these repetitions of corruption and destruction?

I've only read the Book and the Urth.

I know I’m posting a lot but I trust you folks to let me know when it’s too much.

Anyway: Autarch is definitely not synonymous with autocrat.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autarchism

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autarky

I know there’s a connection to the Autarch/Exarch rank in the Byzantine empire, but I think that’s a red herring (or maybe more accurately an incomplete translation). The Autarch rules (or helps Inire govern) a Commonwealth, not an Autarchy. So the name doesn’t refer to a government role necessarily. You can have an Autarch without a commonwealth and a commonwealth without an Autarch. You can’t have a monarchy without a monarch or a democracy without a demos.

Let’s consider two things now:

(1)Severian via marrying his grandmother is self created, making him entirely ‘self-sufficient’ in that his birth is entirely dependent on his own actions.

(2)Even jf we set aside the previous Severian theory, when Severian goes back in time at the end of Urth he founds the religion that plays a dominant role in his early life (which leads to him founding the religion in a potentially endless loop). That makes in ‘self-ruled’ in the sense that through time travel he shapes the path of his own life.

I think this is cool because the book of the new sun is ostensibly translated into the format we read by the author. Meaning that in the universe of the book, the Autarch isn’t called an ‘Autarch’ in English. He’s called something else in a language that has not yet achieved existence and ‘Autarch’ is the word the translator has chosen to convey the meaning he believes is in the text.

When Severian talks about backing into the throne of the Autarch, he’s not talking about a political role (or if you prefer he’s not talking exclusively about a political role). He’s talking about being the first self-created/self-ruled person. That strikes me as a fun Wolfian double/hidden meaning.

[columbo voice] two other semi-related things[/columbo voice]:

1.) Is it possible the fictional ‘translator’ of the book introduces mistakes that the reader is supposed correct? Do we have a situation with multiple nested unreliable narrators?

2.) Theory: the Heirodules put the autarchy together with the intention of Severian eventually becoming the autarch in the ‘self-ruled’ sense. It’s called the autarchy not because every autarch is an ‘autarch’ in the self-ruled sense, but as a sort of placeholder for the role Severian will eventually play. Severian is in this sense the first and only autarch (whose blood is like Mountain Dew code red to his subjects).

Not a huge groundbreaking theory but one I haven’t seen anywhere else that I’ve found.

When I first read Shadow I thought that the ‘ribbons’ above Agilus’ ears were from a radio earpiece (or some equivalent) that he wore to listen in on and coordinate with Agia outside.

Assuming they don’t do the scam to everyone who comes by, I figured Agia was mic’d up and hung out out side the shop and Agilus would listen in so he’d be ready for when she found a likely mark.

It’s not a theory of incredible explanatory power, it it did explain to me (assuming the communication is two way or that she has a similar device) how Agia knows when to come in and challenge Severian.

I suppose the scam could be that she comes in and challenges every customer they get, but then Agilus must be kind of crap at fleecing people if they have to do this every time because he never talks anybody out of their valuables.

Sorry if this has been addressed elsewhere, but are you guys on hiatus? Haven't heard a new episode in a long while. Anyway, thanks for making a great podcast.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia

For those not familiar, folks with prosopoagnosia or face blindness can see constituent details of a person just fine (they have no vision issues) but they can’t knit the details together into a unique face. It can apply in other contexts as well.

While I don’t think Severian literally has this condition, his capacity for detail but failure with big picture stuff a la Funes the Memorious seems to produce a similar effect.

I have a close personal friend who, along with most of their family, has prosopagnosia. In addition to having to use specific details to recognize people and having a hard time recognizing folks in different contexts, they also frequently get lost and have issues with directions even to places they’ve been before if something about the route has changed.

I think this is a more interesting solution to Severian memory ‘problems’ than that he is simply lying about his memory. Specifically I think the Drotte/Roche mixup at the beginning may be that he has a hard time telling them apart, but is eliding that fact.

LISTEN HERE and Show Notes

iSeverian takes a walking tour of Thrax. 

For Patrons, check out the special super-duper version with secret high-quality bonus content starting at 1:00:00 where we talk about Wolfe's story "The Case of the Vanishing Ghost" recently collected in 'The Dead Man and Other Horror Stories'.

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This was sent to us by listener Eponymous on email

I've been trying to figure out how to post it in the comments as a correction.

But it is just too spoilery and I'm trying to be better. So I'm just posting it here.

As background, in our Merryn discussion in the last two chapters of Claw of the Conciliator, we mentioned that animals are afraid of her just like inhumi. I didn't suggest she's an inhumi because it would suggest that Wolfe KNEW about inhumi in the 70s when he was writing The Book of the New Sun. But Eponymous sees that as a BIG miss, and I see their point. They've staked out all the relevant points. So I'm posting their response here

----------------------------------------------------

I was pretty dismayed to hear you guys gloss over the implication that Merryn might be an inhuma. For me this is about as blatant a reveal as you get from Wolfe, with Jahlee (an inhuma herself) identifying Merryn as an inhuma with no ulterior motive to do so. If you reread the last two chapters with the idea that Merryn is an inhuma it feels VERY clear that this is the case. 

Some choice quotes before the ritual that I think are revealing: 

“This is a strange evening, and there are those who ride the night air who sometimes choose to borrow a human seeming. The question is why such a power would wish to show itself to you.” - Merryn

This seems a little TOO blatant. Seems like an outright description of Inhumi. 

“Though she does not know it, and only speaks by rote like a starling in a cage.” - Cumaean

Here the Cumaean points out the nature of her charge, saying that she is essentially a mimic and there's no real thought behind her mimicry. Very inhumi-like.

Merryn had collapsed into a blackclad doll, so thin and dim that slender Dorcas seemed robust beside her. Now that intelligence no longer animated that ivory mask, I saw that it was no more than parchment over bone.

To me this is very reminiscent of Fava's death in Short Sun, where all semblance of humanity is stripped away and you're left with a sickly thin creature not quite human. In this instance Severian gets a look at an inhuma without their usual glamours. 
Even the ritual on top of the stone tower is EXACTLY like the astral projection/dream travel that is constantly performed by Silk throughout the Short Sun books, which requires an inhumi. Mechanically identical. They both require:

• an observer that was present at the desired time/place to travel to (in this case it is the observant mind residing on a distant star. In Short Sun Duko Rigoglio filled this role to travel to Urth for the first time)
• a medium who connects both inhumi and observer, and somehow uses the power of the inhumi to astral travel(in this case it's the Cumaean; Silk fills this role in Short Sun)
• an inhumi that acts as the device which makes the entire process work (Merryn in this case; Jahlee, Fava, Juganu in Short Sun).

The ritual results in the participants falling asleep, which is what happens in Claw, and being seemingly transported to a new place/time. Of course what Severian sees in this instance of astral travel is very different from what is depicted in Short Sun, but that could be due to any number of factors. The cumean's strange device she uses, the claw in Severian's boot, the extreme distance/perspective of the observer on the faraway star, or it could be the fact that Sev literally has two different overlapping perspectives of the rital sitting in his head due to his contact with Apu-Punchau. Who knows. 

Here are some quotes from these chapters that are consistent with how astral travel/dream travel work in Short Sun

The young witch nodded. “All time exists. That is the truth beyond the legends the epopts tell. If the future did not exist now, how could we journey toward it? If the past does not exist still, how could we leave it behind us? In sleep the mind is encircled by its time, which is why we so often hear the voices of the dead there, and receive intelligence of things to come. Those who, like the Mother, have learned to enter the same state while waking live surrounded by their own lives, even as the Abraxas perceives all of time as an eternal instant.”

“Is that what this woman you call the Cumaean will do, then? Enter that state, and speaking with the voice of the dead tell this man whatever it is he wishes to know?”“She cannot. She is very old, but this city was devastated whole ages before she came to be. Only her own time rings her, for that is all her mind comprehends by direct knowledge. To restore the city, we must make use of a mind that existed when it was whole.”“And is there anyone in the world that old?”

The Cumaean shook her head. “In the world? No. Yet such a mind exists. Look where I point, child, just above the clouds. The red star there is called the Fish’s Mouth, and on its one surviving world there dwells an ancient and acute mind. Merryn, take my hand, and you, Badger, take the other. Torturer, take the right hand of your sick friend, and Hildegrin’s. Your paramour must take the sick woman’s other hand, and Merryn’s … Now we are linked, men to one side, women to the other.”

Another thing that puzzled the both of you is that Merryn was referred to as 'the Cumaean's familiar' at some point. If you believe that Merryn is indeed an inhumi it makes a lot more sense why that word might have been chosen to describe her. 

Also later in Citadel Merryn shows up again in Severian's dreams, very similar to how Fava and Mora do in Short Sun. 

Anyway, that's my piece-Eponymous

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Severian starts his new job at the Vincula of Thrax.

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An article about Light and Time Travel in scientific American. Father Inire, is that you?

Light Can Travel Backward in Time (Sort Of)

I should add, what's relevant is it uses mirrors as analogy.

This has almost certainly been discussed elsewhere but....

When I first read Botns I concluded that Severian and Thecla merge so much because of his perfect (?) memory (and possibly because of their connection... Thea warns against doing it with someone you knew... but also ate away presumably).

Rereading I missed the first time around but Vodalous mentions that the hirodules will be able to tell instantly that someone has used the Alzabo... so does everyone who follows Vodalous also have permanent changes to the personality and memory?

I've not got to the end of my reread so this may be way off but I recall the Autarch and Serverian merging through a similar method, which is how the Autarch propagates himself, which further implies that everyone is impacted in this way (or there are more people with 'perfect' memory and he monitors and uses them as and when)

Any enlightenment would be appreciated.

LISTEN HERE and Show Notes

After Hildegrin reveals himself, Severian and Dorcas' encounter with the Witches continues. 

For Patrons, check out the special super-duper version with secret high-quality bonus content starting at 1:00:00 where we talk about Wolfe's uncollected story "King Rat"

Listen to a reading of “King Rat” here.

-

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Finally caught up! Just listened to the ending of The Cleansing part 2. I thought this is a good reason to write my first post in the ReReadingWolfe subreddit, instead of to the genewolfe subreddit.

The discussion on this very confusing last chapter was very good. I enjoyed it a lot, and it definitely got my mind racing a couple of times. Some remarks and ideas:

• James and Craig, I think you made a mistake in describing the fighting between Hildegrin and Severian/Apu. You seem to be saying that Severian went to fight "the second Hildegrin" at the very end. However, the text says: "Instead there were two Hildegrins, one who grappled with me, one who fought something invisible. Wildly, I threw off the first [Hildegrin] and tried to come to the aid of the second [Hildegrin]." So, Hildegrin is fighthing Apu, but Severian chooses to help Hildegrin and therefore Severian starts a fight with Apu, not with Hildegrin. This Severian/Apu fight may be the very reason for the off-stage "explosion" that kills Hildegrin.
• Before Severian steps down from the roof, there is only one Hildegrin, and there is Apu and there is Severian. When he steps down, there is some confusion. The following is speculative, but I wonder if Apu and Severian have started to intertwine from the moment that the text says: "When I rose again..." At that moment the narrator has lost sight of "Apu/the other Severian-looking character": this might indicate that the narrator is in a different position than Severian was when he was knocked to his knees. Maybe the narrator ("I") is looking already from the eyes of Apu. This might also be the reason why the other Hildegrin is fighting someting invisible. From Apu's perspective the other (future) Severian is invisible.
• Even more speculative than the previous point: the "splitting/intertwining" of Severian into/with Apu, may be linked with the fact that Severian, with Thecla inside, is already two persons in one. I'm not at all sure of the actual mechanics of all this, but I like the connection of the book's title "The claw of the Concilliator" with the very end of the book.
• Althought the two previous points are quite speculative, in my mind there is little doubt that Apu and Severian end up in a fight. Now about the cleansing. Of course, the chapter title could refer to Jolenta, but I propose that it refers to Severian/Apu. I think that Severian is cleansed by intertwining with his future (and better!) self from the past. The fact that he awakens by big drops of rain are quite symbolic in that respect. I think the line "In the final reckoning there is only love, only that divinity." shows that Severian is aware of an important spiritual truth that is new to him at this moment. He was already moving towards `his better self´, but the intertwining (concilliation?) with Apu gave an important push.
• The line "That we are capable only of being what we are remains our unforgivable sin." then plays different roles. First, I think these two important lines are Wolfe telling us something that he believes: "It is all about love. But we are fallible human beings who are very often incapable of acting purely out of love." Second, it is Severian showing growth: his understanding that it's all about love goes together with the realization that we are all fallible. More importantly, with the understanding that he himself is and has been a bad person. Personally, I see "unforgivable sin" as a direct reference to Jolenta's rape. In this sentence Severian acknowledges his guilt. And so maybe this ending here was an important part of the reason that Wolfe included the rape scene at all.

Enough for now. Curious to read the thoughts of others on these subjects.

James and Craig, keep up the good work!

I’m four years late to discovering the Rereading Wolfe podcast. I just finished the episode 1:3, it was driving me nuts but it seemed like Craig and James were right on the cusp of saying what I think are the most interesting things about the coin. Yet, they never quite said it.

The coin itself is a delightfully layered piece of symbolism, so I feel driven the elaborate on the point here.

Key facts about the coins:

1. It was given by Vodalus to Sevarian after his life was saved.
2. Coins with the face of the Autarch are given to soldiers as part of the initiation to military live.
3. The two faces of the coin are (i) Autarch (initially thought to be a face of a woman) and (ii) a flying ship (which is the same as that found in the Sevarin’s mausoleum coat of arms).
4. The coin is later revealed to be fake.
5. Sevarian later goes back to museum and confirms that the face on the coin is not of Vodalus.

Observation 1: Since Vodalus gives the coin to Sevarian, and Sevarian immediately associates it with the ceremony of being inducted into the military life, Sevarian creates the symbol of himself joining the cause of Vodalus. He imagines himself joining the cause, and feels as if he actually joined it. This is most certainly not Vodalus’ perspective, since in the immediately prior sentence Sevarian says to Vodalus that he’s already one of the Vodalarii. So this isn’t an induction to the cause - Sevarian’s already in it. Instead, Voldalus is really just giving him a cash tip for his help in the fight. But Sevarian creates the symbology of it, making it mean so much more, with significant effects down the line.

Observation 2: Sevarian thinks of himself as joining Vodalus’ army, not the army of the Autarch. If this was the true ritual, then it would not be too surprising if the coin that Vodalus gave to Sevarian did in fact have Vodalus’ face on it. In the true ceremony, the coin given to the shoulder should contains the face of the liege lord. This is the first subversion of the coin, since the coin actually has the Autarch’s face on it. This is subversion is confirmed when Sevarian goes back to look at the coin at the end of the chapter and confirms it is not Vodalus’s face on it. [When I first read it, I also assumed that the coin had Vodalus’s face on it, because that is who Sevarian thought he was swearing loyalty to.]

Observation 3: The fact that the coin is fake is often thought to be a subversion of Vodalus, since Vodalus is not really the heroic revolutionary, but a pawn of Abaia and Erebus. So Severian’s loyalty wasn’t really true. But that’s not really the true subversion.

Observation 4: Sevarian thought he was pledging loyalty to Vodalus, who gave him the coin, but he was actually more loyal to the Autarch, who’s face was actually on the coin. There’s a couple ways to see this. First because Vodalus is also a pawn of the Autarch, who manipulates him in his role as the mole in the House Absolute. Sevarian was also loyal to the “Autarch” because this was one of the inciting incidents that pushes Sevarian onto the path of becoming the Autarch himself.

I put Autarch in quotes here because I don’t mean the eunuch we meet in the House Azure. Instead I mean the “Autarch-continuum” of personhood embodied by the line of Autarch memories that exists with the goal of perfecting itself to the point when one of its members will develop to the point that it would successfully pass the test and bring the New Sun.

Observation 5: Sevarian’s specific loyalty to the cause of the “Autarch-continuum” is reinforced by the images on the coins. The first is the androgynous image of the Autarch, which foreshadows the eunuch-Autarch, but also the fact the Autarch-continuum contains both men, women and children. This is also shown by the “sigil” of the Autarch on the coin and on Sevarin’s mausoleum coat of arms - the “flying ship.” This is obviously a reference to a space ship, and more specifically, the space ship that takes Autarch to the stars in order to be tested and bring back the New Sun. This test is not just a feature of the Autarch and commonwealth, but the whole point of the Autarchy system. Accordingly, it a fitting symbol for not just an individual Autarch, but the lineage of Autarchs that is the Autarchy-continuum.

Craig and James also spoke to the idea of Wolfe’s characters telling lies that turn out to be true. But I don’t think they went far enough to emphasize this is exactly what was going on with the coin.

The coin itself basically was a lie (Vodalus was his liege), that became the truth (Sevarian served and fulfilled the purpose of the Autarchy). By dedicating himself to the lie (he’s made choices he thought was serving Vodalus), he served the truth (he put himself on the path of events that ultimately culminated in him bringing the New Sun).

LISTEN HERE and Show Notes

The séance starts at last.  And then it all goes to hell. Leaving us to ponder what really happened. But, on the upside, we have finally finished the Claw of the Conciliator. 

For Patrons, check out the special super-duper version with secret high-quality bonus content starting at 1:00:00 where we talk about Wolfe's uncollected story "The Green Wall Said"

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Questions, comments, corrections, additions, alternate theories?

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I've just been re-listening to the discussion of the meaning of the name "Matachin" way back in episode 3, and I noted something that was missing (apologies if it has come up since). I was recently looking up the Mattachine Society, an earlier American gay rights society that was founded in 1950. According to Wikipedia, the name of the society was chosen in reference to the masque tradition that likely also provides the name of Severian's tower. It was selected because (A) mattachine performers appeared in public masked, which was seen as analogous to the 'hidden' nature of homosexuals in mid-20th Century society, and (B) because of the role of the Mattaccino character in speaking truth to power. Both of these seem entirely appropriate to who the Guild of Torturers are, or how they would like to be seen.

1. The Stone Town will be cleansed of the occasionally malign spirit haunting it (Severian reabsorbs Apu Punchau so no more disappearing virgins. Yay!)

2. Hildegrin is exploded, so possibly the grave robbing in Nessus slows down/stops (if Hildegrin was the driving force on corpse eating). At the very least another malign force is washed away by Hildegrins death.

3. Witches withdraw and realize they were meddling in forces sacred and powerful (This from the footnote in Japanese translation of Claw, as mentioned in u/siriusfiction Gene Wolfe 14 Articles on His Fiction) Witches another occasionally malign force cleansed, or at least chastened, by the knowledge of what/who Apu Punchau is.

4. (Maybe most importantly) Jolenta is cleansed. “washed clean of beauty”. In her case the beauty was artificial and gained through a devil’s bargain, so Jolenta’s soul is quite literally saved by dying after being baptized/washed clean/cleansed. She regains her divine spark and frees herself from Talos’s modifications and manipulations.

LISTEN HERE and Show Notes

This is an all comments episode where we go through comments we might have missed talking about in this crazy half-year.

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For Patrons, check out the special super-duper version with secret high-quality bonus content starting at 1:00:00 where we talk about Wolfe's uncollected story "My Name Is Nancy Wood"

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Questions, comments, corrections, additions, alternate theories?

Connect with us here...

At our Patreon page (for public and patron-only content)

...or on Facebook

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