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Book of the New Sun: Difference between revisions
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** Also ''GURPS New Sun,'' the RPG, which includes a lot of background hints.
* [[Animated Armor]]: Sidero in ''Urth of the New Sun''. He is not happy when Severian wears him.
* [[Artificial Human]]: {{spoiler|Jonas}}. Also, {{spoiler|Dr. Talos}} turns out to be {{spoiler|Baldanders'}} homunculus. {{spoiler|Master Malrubius}} in his post-death appearances is this as well.
* [[Back From the Dead]]: {{spoiler|Dorcas}} and several others, including {{spoiler|Severian himself, in all probability}} thanks to the Claw of the Conciliator. Also {{spoiler|Dr. Talos}}, if we're to assume, as it's implied, that Severian hit him a little too hard and broke his neck during their previous meeting.
* [[Banana Republic]]: If you believe that the story is set in future-South America, then the massive inequalities of its feudal system is just a futuristic spin on this trope.
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* [[Genius Bruiser]] - {{spoiler|Baldanders}}.
* [[Gentle Giant]] - Subverted. Baldanders appears to fit the archetype, but is actually {{spoiler|an [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist|Omnidisciplinary]] [[Mad Scientist]] who will eventually, it is implied, ascend ''at least'' to [[A God Am I|demi-godhood]]}}.
** Note that while he's a giant {{spoiler|already, he's not even close to full-grown. He will get big enough to have to live in the water eventually, among the Undines and other giant-types too big to walk on land, which as the comment above states, seem to have eerie abilities - there's a throwaway reference to them swimming between the stars.}}
* [[Handsome Lech]]: While he does experience [[Character Development]], Severian has a really hard time relating women in terms other than their physical attractiveness. While Severian states outright that he himself is not at all attractive, [[Unreliable Narrator|he isn't necessarily reliable on that topic]].
* [[Homage]]: Many of the shorter stories encountered throughout the main text contain more or less obvious parallels to real-life mythology and literature. One is quite clearly the first chapter of [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''[[The Jungle Book (novel)|The Jungle Book]]'', mashed up with the myth of Romulus and Remus and an American Thanksgiving story.
* [[Have We Met Yet?]] - Played straight and inverted ''at the same time''. The Hierodules are constantly moving backwards in time, while Severian moves through time normally - hence, his last meeting with them in ''Urth of the New Sun'' is their first meeting with him.
** See also: [[Merlin Sickness]]
* [[Have I Mentioned I Am Sexually Active Today?]] - Severian does like to talk about his love life a bit much...
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** Severian's throwaway asides about Jolenta suggest a figure that goes right past [[Curves in All the Right Places]] to extremes that border on [[Gonk]].
* [[Innocent Inaccurate]]: Severian combines this with being a straight [[Unreliable Narrator]]. He's more of the former in describing the world he lives in (e.g. his description of a photo of the moon landing), but is more like the latter in describing his own life.
* [[Istanbul (Not Constantinople)]]: As suggested in [http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/sample.html?id=469 the ''[[GURPS]'' game]], the Commonwealth where Severian lives is in South America (Buenos Aires is often suggested as the location of Nessus), the [[People's Republic of Tyranny|Ascians]] are the former United States of America, and the Xanthic peoples are Asian.
** Maybe not just the United States. The Ascians are north of the equator, and apparently not part of the same continent as the Commonwealth, but that could include Mexico and Central America as well. (Considering how cold Severian's area is, much of the US is probably too frigid to live in.) Note that the word "Ascian" is derived from Greek and means 'without a shadow'; it's an extremely archaic term for inhabitants of the tropics (where the sun is directly overhead at noon twice a year, thus the only place where a person can stand in full direct sunlight and cast no shadow). The idea is that the common people realize the Ascians are coming from the north, but believe them to come from northern South America near the Equator rather than an entirely different continent.
** However, Wolfe himself has pointed out that one-to-one matchups of places is largely not going to work, as the novels are {{spoiler|set ''so far'' in the future that the sun is turning red, and continental drift would make places unrecognizable.}}
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** [[Unreliable Narrator|Maybe]]. Of all the things Severian might not be accurate about, his own appearance is high on the list, as frequently occurs in real life. Also, since nobody among the common people seem to have ever heard of the Torturer's Guild, as far as they're concerned he's just a wandering headsman; not really a savory occupation, but still, a professional one and an arm of the law.
** Plus, because he's such an [[Unreliable Narrator]], he might have lied about every single sexual encounter he has in the entire series.
** ...which is a popular fan theory. The idea is that in Urth, male sexual promiscuity incredibly rampant. In order to establish himself as a badass Severian lied about most (if not all) his sexual encounters (which vary wildly in depiction.)
* [[Language of Truth]]: The very [[Nineteen Eighty-Four|"newspeak"]] like language of the Ascians. Possibly more of a [[Language Equals Thought]].
** Subverted by Loyal To The Group Of Seventeen's story.
* [[Les Yay]] - Implied between Dorcas and Jolenta during Severian's absence.
* [[The Library of Babel]]: Master Ultan's Library
* [[Literary Agent Hypothesis]]: Each volume ends with a note from Gene Wolfe on the 'translation,' often with mentions of how frustratingly unclear Severian sometimes is.
* [[Mad Scientist]] - {{spoiler|Baldanders}}.
* [[Magic Feather]] - The Claw of the Conciliator. Probably.
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* [[Ms. Fanservice]] - Jolenta is a deconstruction. Her carefully (and sometimes painfully) maintained figure is a source of inconvenience, and people ''hate'' her for being so attractive even as they lust after her. Jonas is the only one who truly and unconditionally loves her for herself.
** Jonas has a habit of making "as the Actress said to the Bishop" like comments; they're not always bawdy though.
* [[Our Angels Are Different]] - if they're not aliens.
* [[Our Monsters Are Different]] - Just about every possible variety.
* [[Passing the Torch]] - {{spoiler|The Autarch}} to {{spoiler|Severian}}.
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