As they cross the Lake of Birds, Hildegrin says that some call it that because many birds are found dead in the water. However he thinks it’s just because there are so many birds found at the Garden of Everlasting Sleep. He comments, “But she’s a good friend to birds, Death is. Wherever there’s dead men and quiet, you’ll find a good many birds, that’s been my experience.” Severian agrees, recalling the thrushes in the necropolis. All this took place in dark and fog. I saw it, but for the most part the men were no more than ambient shadows—as the woman with the heart-shaped face had been. Yet something touched me. Perhaps it was Vodalus's willingness to die to protect her that made the woman seem precious to me; certainly it was that willingness that kindled my admiration for him. Many times since then, when I have stood upon a shaky platform in some marketplace square with Terminus Est at rest before me and a miserable vagrant kneeling at my feet, when I have heard in hissing whispers the hate of the crowd and sensed what was far less welcome, the admiration of those who find an unclean joy in pains and deaths not their own, I have recalled Vodalus at the graveside, and raised my own blade half pretending that when it fell I would be striking for him.

The third was the leader Drotte had spoken with outside the gate. "Who are you?" he called to Vodalus, "and what power of Erebus 's gives you the right to come here and do something like this?" Agia says they must depart because the descending sun will soon strike the City Wall, which is the signal for the guards to close the gates to the City and for the dueling to commence. If a duellist is not on the fields by the time the sun is fully below the City Wall, he is assumed to have refused satisfaction and can be freely assaulted anywhere by the armiger or hired assassins.This occasions Severian to recall a tale of Father Inire he heard from Thecla. When she was 13, she had a friend Domnina who looked several years younger. She says that there are two large mirrors in the Hall of Meaning which are 3-4 ells wide (10 to 13 feet) and extend to the ceiling. Thecla and Domnina enjoyed playing there because their images were infinitely multiplied. One day Father Inire approached them; he was wearing iridescent robes (having colors like the rainbow) that faded into gray and was only slightly taller than them. He told them to be wary because there was an imp hiding in the mirror who creeps into the eyes of those who look at it. Domnina asked if he was shaped like a gleaming tear and Father Inire said that was someone else. But he offered to take her to his “presence chamber” tomorrow to show him to Domnina. vinsentient on It’s No Fun To Be Alone: Communicating With Cryptids in The Shape of Water 3 hours ago When finally Thecla is put to torture, Severian takes pity on her and helps her commit suicide, by smuggling a knife into her cell, thus breaking an oath to his guild. Severian laughs at this twisted logic and says he is not such a fool. Agia drops her gown and clasps Severian, declaring her love for him but then also reaching into his sabretache. Severian forcefully thrusts her away and her head strikes the wall; she slides down the wall weeping. He believes she was trying to steal the letter intended for the archon of Thrax but Agilus says she was after the coins in the sabretache. Severian leads her out into the hall and gives her a coin.

As they wander deep into the Jungle Garden, Severian hears a screaming “from some red world still unconquered by thought” and asks what it is. Agia believes it is a distant smilodon (saber-toothed cat), either far off in the garden or “perhaps the distance is of time.” Although she cannot explain it and says some things are unanswerable, the chambers appear open to the sky and are much larger on the inside than they appear at first. “I warned you that the rooms open out, and that you might find that disturbing. It is also said that the walls of these places are specula, whose reflective power creates the appearance of vast space.” Cool Sword: Terminus Est, an executioner's blade given to Severian when he is exiled. It has a hollow filled with mercury in the blade that causes the center of weight of the blade to shift when swung. It's taller than Severian, who is said to be tall himself. Big Badass Battle Sequence: Citadel gives us the Third Battle of Orithiya, a huge meat grinder of a battle between the hordes of Ascia and legions of the Commonwealth, which Severian finds himself right on the front lines of. It's implied by Severian that it's just the latest of a series of inconclusive battles between the two factions over the same valley, highlighting how pointless the Forever War is. The Shadow of the Torturer is a fantasy novel by American writer Gene Wolfe, published by Simon & Schuster in May 1980. [2] It is the first of four volumes in The Book of the New Sun [1] which Wolfe had completed in draft before The Shadow of the Torturer was published. It relates the story of Severian, an apprentice Seeker for Truth and Penitence (the guild of torturers), from his youth through his expulsion from the guild and subsequent journey out of his home city of Nessus. I looked down the street. Lanterns swung there among the fog-muffled sounds of feet and voices. I would have hidden, but Roche held me, saying, "Wait, I see pikes."He stumbled, as I have said. In that instant I believe my whole life teetered in the scales with his. Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth All this took place in dark and fog. I saw it, but for the most part the men were no more than ambient shadows - as the woman with the heart-shaped face had been. Yet something touched me. Perhaps it was Vodalus's willingness to die to protect her that made the woman seem precious to me; certainly it was that willingness that kindled my admiration for him. Many times since then, when I have stood upon a shaky platform in some market-town square with Terminus Est at rest before me and a miserable vagrant kneeling at my feet, when I have heard in hissing whispers the hate of the crowd and sensed what was far less welcome, the admiration of those who find an unclean joy in pains and deaths not their own, I have recalled Vodalus at the graveside, and raised my own blade half pretending that when it fell I would be striking for him.

You see," the heavy man said, "just as I told you, Liege, Madame, nineteen times of a score there's nothin' to it. We've only to get her over the wall now." Severian the future narrator pauses in his recitation to wonder aloud if he is providing too much detail for these scenes. But he has “spent weary days in reading the histories of my predecessors” (prior Autarchs) and they consist of abridged accounts which are open to multiple interpretations of motivations and causes. He philosophizes that one’s actions are influenced by both external and internal forces. The external is embodied in “those figures who wait beyond the void of death…Rightly we feel our lives guided by them, and rightly too we feel how little we matter to them, the builders of the unimaginable, the fighters of wars beyond the totality of existence.” However there are forces within us equally great – like Severian’s unexplainable desire for the shopkeeper’s daughter. Those forces “waken within us and we are ridden like beasts, though the rider is but some hitherto unguessed part of ourselves.” The flanking volunteers ran toward him, but he had held onto his weapon. I saw the bright blade flash up, though its owner was still on the ground. I remember thinking what a fine thing it would have been to have had such a sword on the day Drotte became captain of apprentices, and then likening Vodalus to myself. The plot is distinctly non-linear and postmodern in many ways and will not hold your hand or explain what is happening for better or worse. The benefits of this are that you are immediately immersed in Severian's head and his working knowledge of the world around him.

Severian is told to leave the lazaret after the doctor confirms he is healthy because his garb and sword are upsetting the other patients. A magistrate from the Hall of Justice finds Severian and tells his services as carnifex will be needed tomorrow to execute a man who has killed nine people. After securing overnight quarters for himself and Dorcas, Severian visits the prisoner per his guild’s customs. He sees a naked woman (who he is surprised to see is Agia) sobbing beside a chained naked man who she names as Agilus. Their faces are mirrors of each other and does not understand how this can be, until Agilus explains, “It was Agia in the shop. In the Septentrion costume. She came in through the rear entrance while I was speaking to you, and I made a sign to her when you wouldn’t even talk of selling the sword.” Agia then explains that the sword was made by Jovinian and was worth ten times their shop. In the old times, the lords of this world feared no one but their own people, and to defend themselves against them built a great fortress on a hilltop to the north of the city...Many of the people were angry at the building of that citadel, holding it to be their right to slay their lords without hindrance if they so desired.”