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Severian is the narrator and main character of Gene Wolfe's four-volume novel ''The Book of the New Sun'', as well as its sequel, ''The Urth of the New Sun''. He is a Journeyman of the Seekers for Truth and Penitence (a Guild of torturers) who is exiled after showing mercy to one of his clients. Severian claims to have perfect memory (his eidetic memory is stated as a fact by Gene Wolfe in ''Shadows of the New Sun''). In spite of this, some critics and analysis claim him to be an unreliable narrator. == Severian's life == At the opening of the novel, Severian saves the life of Vodalus, an outlaw who is fighting to restore Urth to its former glory. As a reward, Vodalus gives Severian a gold coin, which Severian treasures from then on. He later learns that the golden coin is fake. Dr Talos hands Severian a similar coin and tells him it is fake; Severian compares the coin to the coin Vodalus gave him, and notices they are the same (pg. 395, Citadel). Throughout the rest of his youth, Severian idolizes Vodalus and seeks to join him. Severian starts the novel as an apprentice but shortly becomes the captain of apprentices, and later a Journeyman in the Guild of Torturers. As a boy, he rescues a dog named Triskele, which leads him through secret tunnels to a courtyard belonging to an "exultant" (aristocratic) family, where he meets a girl named Valeria. While still captain of apprentices, Severian meets and befriends the Chatelaine Thecla, a woman who is part of the Autarch's court who has been imprisoned because her sister had become the consort of Vodalus. Thecla is to be treated with special care, and since she takes a liking to Severian, asks that he sit with her for a while each day. Severian eventually falls in love with Thecla. When Thecla is tortured, Severian is moved by love and pity, and sneaks a knife into her cell, allowing her to take her own life and end her suffering. Severian is briefly imprisoned, but it is decided that his life is to be spared, and (after being given the sword Terminus Est) he is sent to be the Lictor of Thrax, a city in the north. He is also allowed to keep his Torturer's cloak, which is ''fuligin, '' "the color that is darker than black." As he exits the Necropolis he must pass through the city of Nessus. As he does this, he meets Dorcas and Agia, two women who play a vital role in his life during the narration of the novel (see below). He also obtains the Claw of the Conciliator, a gem with apparently supernatural powers that Severian is attempting to return to its rightful owners, the Pelerines. He frequently encounters and occasionally travels with a troupe of actors composed of Dr. Talos; a giant, Baldanders; and a beautiful woman, Jolenta. Dr. Talos appears to be the leader of the group but is later revealed to be a Homunculus created by Baldanders to be his doctor and servant. Baldander's Gigantism is later revealed to be Self-experimentation designed to increase his intelligence and longevity so he may better understand alien technology. During his travels, he meets with Vodalus and agrees to join his insurrection. At a feast that evening, Severian ingests a portion of Thecla's recovered body together with a drug taken from an (apparently alien) creature called an alzabo, a ritual that conveys to him Thecla's memories. Part of her personality and presence occasionally emerge and some characters seem to recognize, or sense, Thecla when they look at him. Travelling further, Severian visits the House Absolute, the throne of the commonwealth's Autarch, and is persuaded by the Autarch to change sides and act as a spy on Vodalus' cause. When Dorcas and Severian reach Thrax, he thrives as the city's Lictor for a while. However, he once again shows mercy (allowing a woman to escape rather than strangling her to death) and is forced again to flee, leaving Dorcas behind. He climbs a series of high mountains and rescues a small boy also named Severian from an alzabo, which turns out to be a giant hyena-like animal that speaks with the voices of dead people it has eaten. The boy is later killed by a trap set up by Typhon, the former dictator of Urth. Severian accidentally revives Typhon from suspended animation and then kills him. In additional travels, he eventually becomes a mercenary in the north and is seriously injured. During his convalescence he encounters the Ascian language before venturing out once again. Towards the end of the final volume of Book of the New Sun, he encounters the Autarch himself a second time (having met him once already during his previous visit to the House Absolute). When the Autarch is critically injured, Severian eats the forebrain of the Autarch with alzabo extract, inheriting the throne and all the memories of his predecessors. Severian marries Valeria and apparently rules for quite some time before leaving Urth to seek a new sun, as some of his predecessors as Autarch had tried (and failed) to do; these events are covered in the follow-up novel "Urth of the New Sun," a corollary piece further detailing Severian's travels, offering much insight into some abstruse events in the 4 part "Book of the New Sun." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Severian」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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