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the book of the new sun - Who is Little Severian?


In The Book of the New Sun, the protagonist meets a little boy who bears the same name as him: Severian, usually called "little Severian" in the book to disambiguate.


Little Severian seems to just be a boy who happens to have the same name. It doesn't seem to be a very rare name; it's even mentioned that it's one of those names that come in pairs, where a brother and sister will be called Severian and Severa, which is the case with Little Severian (and perhaps even "big" Severian, who doesn't know his family). Little Severian has a family and seems to just be a normal kid.


In Urth of the New Sun, however, Severian has this enigmatic line:




I felt as real as I ever have; and when I searched among my memories, I found Valeria there still, and Thecla and old Autarch, and the boy Severian (who had been Severian only).



By this time in the narrative, we know that



Severian has traveled back and forth in time, and even possibly encountered himself in the inn where he was attacked by the zombie. Is Little Severian himself as a child?



How can that be, when Severian has apparently figured out his mother's identity, and Little Severian has another mother (Casdoe)?



Perhaps I was too distant from myself, from the Severian of bone and flesh borne by Catherine in a cell of the oubliette under the Matachin Tower.




Who is this boy really? What is his relation to "big" Severian?



And why can't Severian resurrect him?





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