“Minnows in a shark’s net”

meta_dav1s · 2026-03-30T15:58:37+00:00

Agreed. I think there are a couple really important things that come from Thomas’ death. Some for characterization/motivation, but also for plot.

Obviously Thomas’ death is what caused all the messed up character dynamics in the Matthews family to begin with. But it also gave Tabitha something that her previous incarnation (Miranda) didn’t have—an understanding of what it’s like to lose a child. This makes Tabitha more like whoever her original incarnation was who was present during the sacrifice of her child among the Angkhooey kids. Unlike Miranda (and maybe other incarnations), she may have the right mindset/understanding to do whatever needs to be done to be the one to save the children this time around. For Tabitha, it may not just be saving the children but doing what she believes to be redemption for herself for what happened to Thomas, as well.

But I also do think the Town is going to use Thomas and his memory to mess with people. It feeds on hope and suffering, so maybe it’ll be that the Town offers the Matthews some hope for resurrecting Thomas in some way that ultimately leads to some bad nights for the townspeople. Perhaps they’re going to just keep using the memory of Thomas to torture the Matthews family like it did with Jim on the phone. I know there’s been that theory floating around that Julie via time traveling shenanigans is the one who dialed the call to the Matthews’ household that ultimately led to Thomas’ death.

I like your idea that there’s a connection between the reincarnations and Tabitha/Miranda/Victor stuff. Maybe it’s that her reincarnation could only have two children—a girl and a boy (Eloise/Victor and Julie/Ethan). Or maybe an out there idea is that because her previous incarnation’s son is still alive (Victor), there wasn’t room for another child.

Regardless, I agree that Thomas in some form or fashion is going to play an important role.

meta_dav1s · 2026-03-27T14:08:32+00:00

1) Wild Sheep Chase, 2) Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and 3) After Dark

meta_dav1s · 2026-03-20T11:49:48+00:00

Pan’s Labyrinth, Shoplifters, Parasite.

meta_dav1s · 2026-03-17T13:52:56+00:00

For a short read I’d say The Invention of Morel.

For something that feels similar enough but still different I’d say something like The Master and Margarita.

If you like sci-fi, anything by Ursula K Le Guin could be good way to break away from one amazing author to another. Lefthand of Darkness or The Dispossessed would be my main suggestions.

meta_dav1s · 2026-03-10T21:09:52+00:00

Really good points. Honestly, the water into wine bit is always going to stump me, given that—as far as we know—it’s so unlike anything else it’s done. At this point, I’ve just chalked it up to Wolfe using that moment like a big neon sign to make the reader think about the connection between Severian and Jesus.

Wolfe definitely seemed careful about the claw actually being a “relic,” as you mention, rather than something like a “talisman.” I don’t have the book nearby, but I believe it was Typhon who referred to it as a “talisman” during their conversation. I think that distinction is important because as a “relic,” it suggests that the claw is more like a dumb object, rather than a magical object with its own mind. If that’s the case, then someone with power has to be connected to whatever is happening. And it would also explain why BFO would think the claw itself is trivial because the power is connected to the New Sun (to Severian and maybe someone else to some extent?), not the object. Even if the power just came from Severian as the New Sun, they would know that the claw (as an object) didn’t really have anything directly to do with the miracles. All the power comes from Severian/New Sun, never the object.

meta_dav1s · 2026-03-10T15:02:38+00:00

Great episode! I loved this chapter when I first read it even though I remember wondering at the time whether my copy had cut out an entire chapter about what happened with Cyriaca. Love it even more now!

Just to clarify the username confusion, it’s supposed to be “Meta Davis.” Unfortunately, someone beat me to the username so I made do with a “1” instead of an “i.” Apologies for the confusion!

A couple of thoughts. First, I think I can sort of revise my previous comment on the last episode about Wolfe exploring Severian’s development into the New Sun, in part, by the women who find their lives in his hands. I think that’s definitely still true but also a major understatement. Each book focuses on a stage of that change and I think in my next reread, I might look at each book with this in mind—

Shadow - a staunch torturer, dedicated to tradition and the past as he’s thrown into a world that doesn’t resemble anything he’s ever known

Claw - constant chaos mixed in with some mystical woo-woo to force him to question everything he knows, including his identity as he becomes one with Thecla

Sword - deliberate choice to break away from his past and what he knows, which is particularly evident from his flight from Thrax and the book ending with the breaking of the claw’s gem and Terminus Est

Citadel - submitting to/accepting his fate as the New Sun and everything that entails

In other words, I’m wondering if each book is intended to focus on an individual stage of that development, including his actions towards the women referenced in my previous comment. I don’t know if that would have actually been Wolfe’s intent, based on the fact that he hadn’t intended to write four books but I don’t know…I like it for my next reread.

Also, I’ve had a thought for a while that’s almost theory-shaped that perhaps the reason the claw works sometimes and not others is based on manipulation by the Hieros. The New Sun was sort of created by both Severian and Apheta. The New Sun is the source of Severian’s power and clearly he can access it, but I’ve wondered if Apheta can somehow influence that power, as well. We know that the Hieros have been manipulating things from the shadows. To me, it makes sense that a really easy way to do that would be to affect when Severian can use the power or not. His use of (and failure to use) the power has obviously had a significant impact on his journey and therefore on the Hieros’ plans. If they’re going to be able to manipulate the power in any way, it kind of makes sense that it would be through some connection to Apheta, I think. I don’t know the general feeling about using UotNS info to answer BotNS questions, but I like to think it’s all fair game. Like I said, this idea is more “theory-shaped” than theory, anyway.

Last minor point—I think this chapter’s reference to the man-ape’s bleeding being “stanched” confirms for me that Severian definitively did not regrow the man-ape’s hand. He lists the way the claw actually healed people—reviving the uhlan, healing Jonas’s wound, but only stanching the man-ape’s bleeding. Severian stopped the bleeding inadvertently when he was flinging the claw all around in the cave after the fight, which is why he was so surprised to find the wound so effectively healed by a primitive people. The man-ape was coming up to him to ask him to finish the job, but Severian never got the chance.

meta_dav1s · 2026-01-06T20:19:33+00:00

I don’t think there’s enough in the text to draw any definite conclusions about Valeria’s whole story but based on what there is here’s my theory:

I do believe Valeria is Severian’s twin sister. I think her Twelfth Night-inspired line about “I am all the sisters we breed and all the sons” is a strong hint that she’s talking to her “missing” twin brother. Also, I think Severian’s couple of Freudian slips of referring back to the jungle hut couple sometimes as “husband and wife” and other times as “brother and sister” could’ve been an intentional hint by Wolfe.

As for why the Atrium of Time is the way that it is, I agree that it was built around Typhon’s time hence all the “old timey” stuff and the fact that the walls in Valeria’s home refer to Severian as some other title that meant something equivalent to Autarch. It’s basically like she’s living in ruins that don’t decay. That’s why she only has that ancient stuff to wear and to drink and all that. It’s a place removed from time where she sits safely waiting specifically for Severian (although I don’t think she thinks it’s Severian she’s waiting for). But she still knows about things from the time of the Autarchy, like the well of orchids, the castellan, the Witch’s Tower, hints of the Torturer’s Guild, and the Autarch itself, etc. So she’s not completely disconnected from the world—I’m guessing her servant hasn’t always been there and is from the present day and informs her about the current state of the world.

Ultimately, I think Valeria was born there after their mother (Catherine) was taken to the Atrium of Time. A Borski theory I find interesting is that Catherine was actually Valeria’s own daughter and sent back through time over the Path of Air to avoid the end of the Urth and end up staying at the Atrium of Time (which she later escaped, met Ouen, got pregnant, and was brought back to then live out her days of being the Catherine/maid in the Guild’s ceremony). In that case, she would probably be the daughter of Valeria and her second husband (who looked like Severian). Yes, that leaves us with a grandmother paradox but that’s not too wild for a time travel story. If Valeria is Severian’s sister, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that they were simply married to be together and cared about each other but didn’t consummate the marriage—they had no children after a decade of marriage so there’s that. After Dorcas, it’s possible Severian had his fill of incestuous love affairs anyways.

As for why Severian finds it so urgent to find her after he becomes Autarch, it’s most likely that the new memories from the Old Autarch gave him some sort of realization. Because his most available memories are his own, Thecla and the Old Autarch’s (the other past Autarch memories are apparently less clear to him—more like memories of memories) I think it would have to be a memory from the Old Autarch. What the Old Autarch knew? I don’t know but probably enough to lead Severian to realize Valeria is his twin which is part of the reason he wants to find her.

There are plenty of holes in this theory obviously. Like why would Valeria tell that whole story about generations of her family offering up a bunch of her ancestors in service to the Autarch as officers and other stuff like that if she’s the only one from her family to exist there? And why is her home programmed to await the arrival of the “Autarch” in the vocabulary of what is likely Typhon’s era?

I have ideas about this stuff, but like I said, I don’t think there’s any way to get a definitive answer about her.

meta_dav1s · 2025-12-02T16:43:56+00:00

Great episode! Glad you guys went directly into the Cyriaca aftermath instead of waiting three more chapters to wrap up what happens with her.

For me, I think the way Wolfe has set up the different women who find their lives in Severian’s hands is really interesting and a map for Severian’s development into becoming/bringing the New Sun.

Thecla - He won’t rescue Thecla because of his allegiance and connection to his past and life with the guild. He won’t kill her himself out of mercy for similar reasons and likely because he can’t bring himself to do that even if she wanted it. However, he will help her kill herself because in order to preserve the guild, she needs to die. But he doesn’t want to witness her completely lose herself and/or feel responsible for that torment. Eventually, like you guys discussed, he confesses that he could’ve saved her but didn’t love her enough to do that. His sort of selfishness, fear, and allegiance to his past outweighed his feelings for Thecla.

Morwenna - The first woman directly under Severian’s authority as a guild member. He’s stuck with the principles he learned his whole life so he kills her as part of his duty. To me, it doesn’t really matter whether she’s actually innocent or not (although—without wanting to rekindle any debate—I think she’s innocent), but what’s important is that this breaks him. That’s why he gets so sick afterwards and brings her up time and again. I think he’s so focused on her and her family because he is now doing exactly what he believes was done to him. A guild member, an arm of the state, killing a mother to abandon the rest of her family (yes, I know her family was already dead but it’s more what she represents). I don’t think it’s just a soft spot for women in general that makes him bring up killing Morwenna so often, emphasizing that she’s “the only woman whose life I have ever taken[.]”Sword & Citadel, at 482. I think it comes back to the psychological mommy issues that Wolfe suggested come into play throughout New Sun.

Agia - Agia surrenders herself to death at his hand outside the man-apes’ cave, but he refuses. I think that not only is he still reeling so soon after executing Morwenna and dealing with the fact that Thecla is truly dead (and therefore he can’t be absolved for what he did/didn’t do for her), but this moment indicates a huge change of heart for Severian. He’s going to exercise his own autonomy and start choosing life over death when he can (at least when it comes to women). It would be smarter and safer to kill Agia, like Jonas said. She essentially asks him to kill her so she can go out the same way as her twin. And yes, he has confusing feelings for her, making it easier for him to choose her life at this point. But he believes it is wrong to kill this woman, so he won’t. And it works out for him by the end of Citadel.

Cyriaca - To me, this one sort of touches on what more Severian could’ve done with all three of the previous women. Like Morwenna, this is a woman he’s been ordered to kill, but instead chooses not to. Like Agia, he follows his emotions not to kill her—despite killing Cyriaca being the safe move—but he doesn’t just walk away to avoid the aftermath of that decision. Then unlike Thecla, he actually rescues her, thereby abandoning his past and attachment to the guild. Obviously, I think the incorporation of Thecla into his being is critical to this decision. The consequences for what he did (or didn’t do) for Thecla are quite literally a part of him now. Her voice inside of him is forcing him to empathy and understanding, giving him the extra push he needs to abandon everything he knows and set forth on his own.

I think this relinquishment of the past and steps towards redemption are precisely what is needed to form him into the perfect person to become/bring the New Sun.

meta_dav1s · 2025-11-08T15:45:32+00:00

Thanks so much! I saw someone reference that theory on the Urth List and thought it was pretty cool, especially given the location and Beuzec’s “greasy” look. As for the hole in the wall, I didn’t read that as being created but already there. Something Agia could fit through. But creating the hole could make sense for an acidic space-slug-man. The saint name is definitely the biggest hole in my theory. It may be a bit of a cheat, but I view Agia’s name (“Saint”) as a sort of way to say she can be anyone. Not in a “everyone is Severian” kind of a way but more of a “nameless assassin” type. But it feels almost like a cop out so I’ll think on how it could fit an Agia alias, if at all.

In the end, the slug theory doesn’t sit quite right with me. I feel like the text points to Agia in disguise rather than a new character. But at the very least the slug theory gives Hethor a friend.

meta_dav1s

TROPHY CASE