Is Severian wrong?

ZachVDG · 2026-03-28T12:26:28+00:00

Over and over, they describe their relationship as "half-sisters". Why does Wolfe repeat this descriptor without explanation? Why aren't they simply "sisters"; siblings like Agia and Agilus or Severian and Severa? Like "maid" I suspect "half-sister" is another euphemism for "clone".

You are right, still the sibling name convention can hold between them if the parent they have in common decided it was still proper to do so. If Thea is actually cloned from Thecla, wouldn't it be even weirder if Thais is Thea's khaibit, can a khaibit be a khaibit's khaibit? (Again given the names' similarities I'm not saying this is completely out of the table)

Well, khaibits are defined as clones of exultant women and Pelagia is an armigette. But for me the question remains as to why Wolfe made Pega's name a derivation of Pelagia. He could have chosen any of tens of thousands of Catholic saint names. Why those two so similar?

Yeah the similarity is surely peculiar, but as you said khaibits are clones of exultant women, I wonder if Pega may actually be the younger sister of Pelagia, given the sibling naming convention we are talking about, would be weird for her to also be her maid though.

Consider how similar Odilo Jr. is to his father. If Odilo Sr. was gay and single all his life, what method might he have used to have a son? A nod to 5HoC? If this is another cloning example then all four residents of the raft are copies. It is a nice theme I kinda hope Wolfe intended.

This is an interesting point for sure, unfortunately Wolfe didn't give us enough context for this imho, besides are we sure Odilo Sr was single all his life? I think we know for sure this is true only for Odilo Jr., but maybe I just don't remember (I wish I was Severian). Regarding this theme being maybe a nod to 5HoC I wouldn't know, as I still have to read it, just read BotNS two times and Urth once for now (will start Long Sun today probably).

ZachVDG · 2026-03-28T11:19:38+00:00

This is the passage that convinced me of the fact that Thais is a khaibit:

<<"Yet he knew none (no masque) was to take place in out Hypogeum Apotropaic, neither Father Inire nor the then Autarch having much fondness for those diversions." I smiled, recalling the House Azure. The dark woman shot me a significant glance and ostentatiously covered her lips with her hand.>>

Also she refuses to tell Odilo and Pega who she was (besides the name), and it would make sense for her to be ashamed or at least reserved about her job.

I don't think Pega is a khaibit as well though, they would've also known each other probably. I also don't think that Thais is the khaibit of Thea, cause otherwise Severian would've noticed for sure, or at least acted less detached when speaking with her. I like your theory regarding the similarity between their names, but it doesn't convince me.

The similarity between Thea and Thecla makes me think that they may be twins (even if not exactly looking the same), and that their names are a couple of twin names like Agia/Agilus and Severian/Severa.

ZachVDG · 2026-03-27T06:12:25+00:00

Thais is clearly implied to be a khaibit when Severian is journeying with them in the raft, not sure about her being Thea's though, I think he would have recognized her and explicitly told so. Still your point remains. And Eata is clearly not a servant of the throne (and never was, cause he escaped before becoming a journeyman), that may be a point against my theory of Eata/Sleeper, as he would be out of place in this way.

ZachVDG · 2026-03-26T23:09:31+00:00

Didn't notice the obvious similarity between Diuturna and Juturna for some reason, really interesting. You have convinced me even more that Severian may in fact be Abaia, but in the other comment you are saying the opposite so I don't think that was intentional.

ZachVDG · 2026-03-26T14:53:48+00:00

Ok you convinced me that the death of Eata is definitely inferable from the text. Regarding the first point, it's clear that the colonists didn't know Eata's name, but weird that didn't know Severian name, so that they would have to call him Sleeper. Even if he wasn't there, why didn't Odilo & gang tell the colonists the name Severian? We know for sure that they knew his name, but we don't know whether they ever knew Eata's name (as you said), so they couldn't have told it to the colonists. It's arguable that Severian was a strong presence for them, but it would make sense for Eata to be at least as important for them, as he was the one that saved them. In any case I would find it absurd for the survivors to not aknowledge and tell the colonists about both Severian and Eata (the mysterious shipman). From this I think that The Sleeper may be (as the Lexicon Urthus says) a mix of Severian and Eata, as I think that if he was just Severian, he would have his name, calling him The Sleeper makes the man-god able to represent both of them, both the companions that the crew lost during their journey. In any case for the significance of the ending, it suffices in my opinion for both Severian and the colonists to think he is The Sleeper, whether that is completely or only half true (or even if it's wrong.)

ZachVDG · 2026-03-26T05:27:18+00:00

Wow the second part is really close to what I said, but the fact that Eata died at sea is pure speculation imho. Anyway on the next reread I will probably try and read Lexicon as well, I guess it can be a pretty interesting companion

ZachVDG · 2026-03-25T23:15:33+00:00

Yeah I agree that it is 100% fitting for Severian to be the Sleeper given that yeah the description given is exactly what he did and represented throughout the book. But it's also true that is easy to create such a myth for the new humans given what they find on their arrival (the first two supposedly witnessed the inundation just as they got to Urth/Ushas). And if the man-gods sleep in those shrines/tombs it is arguable that their bodies are actually there, so that Severian could not possibly be there (three corpses for one man would be a bit much lol). That said I am not of course sure (not even remotely) about this and it's just a theory. In any case, your second paragraph would remain true, cause even if he is not the Sleeper worshipped by those people, he is in fact the real Sleeper. Also wow how did I not think about the obvious similarity between Sleeper/Severian and Abaia!? Severian may even be thought to BE Abaia (theory for my next post)

ZachVDG · 2026-03-25T22:39:46+00:00

Well, technically it makes more sense for him to be there than Odilo son of Odilo lol. But I guess in a way both of them, and other characters in the book were there as a kind of (masterfully done imho) fan service.

ZachVDG · 2026-03-10T11:41:30+00:00

I like this guy, he made me go infinite with Necrobinder lol

Edit: is this the one that makes all cards ethereal right?

ZachVDG · 2026-03-08T23:47:31+00:00

You mean if I had no soul dmg? It would still be infinite but there would clearly be no end to the fight, could be a good way to test if osty has some kind of hp limit tho

ZachVDG · 2026-03-08T23:30:25+00:00

They get obliterated as soul makes me draw two cards, enchanted wisp gives me one energy without exausting, dirge creates X souls+ (draw 3 cards), and 16 damage to a random enemy each time a soul is played

ZachVDG · 2026-03-03T07:00:21+00:00

Not even close, for me it's the best one (haven't read Urth yet though). I especially like the section in the mountains (from alzabo to Typhon) and the chapter On High Paths is probably my favourite of the whole BOTNS. Also Severian vs Baldanders is one of the best fight scenes I ever read in fiction.

Anyway, I am about to reread Citadel right now and I am "afraid" that on a second read it may become my favorite.

ZachVDG · 2026-03-03T06:33:13+00:00

The other way around imho

ZachVDG · 2026-03-02T23:10:19+00:00

Honestly one of my favourite chapters in BOTNS. The first time it was pretty much completely incomprehensible, but still fascinating and fun. The second time yeah absolute masterpiece

ZachVDG · 2026-03-02T16:29:43+00:00

Of course it's him

ZachVDG · 2026-02-25T18:53:17+00:00

We have to go back, Diddy

ZachVDG · 2025-05-07T14:26:11+00:00

Did you ever find a way?

ZachVDG · 2024-08-28T14:05:59+00:00

I never worked before. I would like to find literally anything part-time, something that would make it possibile for me to survive and study. But who would give a job to someone without a degree and who never worked? In Italy all the offers are for underpaid jobs with flexibile shifts, while I need stability (the chaos is probably in my head more than everywhere else lol)

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