Consider the unnatural height and alien-influenced appearance of Exultants, whose numbers include Thecla, Vodalus, and Thea.

Light Feminine Dark Feminine: Severian spends a large part of the first book alongside Agia (dark-haired, scheming, seductive: the dark feminine) and Dorcas (blonde, friendly, vulnerable: the light feminine). Other than the Torturers, there are the librarians and animal trainers, as well as one of witches, who rather than being solely magical, they appear to have a spy network.Severian accompanies a new prisoner (Marcellina) to a cell adjoining Thecla’s, who still hopes to be released soon. The Torturer's Guild seems to be a warped version of the Catholic priesthood, as they still think about Saint Catherine in terms of a patron saint and torture is thought of as a messed up version of Confession. He also at one point finds an actual dog (or, at least an animal equivalent to a modern-day dog) nearly or possibly actually dead and nurtures it back to health. 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. Humanity has exhausted all the resources of the planet and can no longer support any level of technology higher than medieval.

Severian drinks heavily, goes to bed and awakes in a small cell (presumably carried there by his comrades). Warfare Regression: Played with - frontline soldiers of the Commonwealth are armed with slings, crossbows, and lances. Pet the Dog: Severian is usually pragmatic and self-interested to the point of sociopathy, but every so often he'll do something that implies that he does have a heart. Severian secures the avern with the help of a man named Hildegrin, who he recognizes as a companion of Vodalus from the night they met in the necropolis.g. his description of a photo of the moon landing), but is more like the latter in describing his own life. Although he loves the guild he also hates it "because it seemed to me inefficient and ineffectual, serving a power that was not only ineffectual but also remote.

Talos and Baldanders, who are almost ready to perform the play they had invited Severian to that morning. Given the nature of the story, it's not entirely clear whether this is just Agilus' personal nutty belief, or if this is a philosophy that a significant number of people subscribes to and that Severian just wasn't aware of due to his secluded upbringing.Genetic Memory: Severian, after ingesting alzabo gland extract and eating part of Thecla, inherits her memories. Another scene makes reference to the planet Mars being renamed "Present" at some point, and one character can't believe a language existed where the words for "gift" and "now" were the same. On the flip side, he also at one point encounters a woman who matter-of-factly tells him that men are motivated solely by lust for power, whether they want to admit that or not. Mathematician's Answer: Severian asks the Green Man where he will find Agia, and gets told "above ground.