Character Presence
Normalized intensity across 136 chapters. Each row row-normalized to its own peak so faint characters don't disappear.
Genematria cross-series analysis · 136 chapters · 4 volumes · 10 tracked terms
Normalized intensity across 136 chapters. Each row row-normalized to its own peak so faint characters don't disappear.
5-chapter rolling mean. Shows who is present and the shape of their departure.
Memory/forgetting (gold), Cold/frost/ice (blue), Guild/torturer identity (slate). Three independent axes of the narrative.
The tetralogy's argument in one image. Pink fill = chapters where the sun exceeds the narrator. Watch what happens in Citadel.
All 10 tracked terms overlaid. The Sword void is visible as a trough across all lines simultaneously.
| Vodalus: 60 → 96 → 7 → 73 | More present in Claw than Shadow. The second book processes him — Severian thinks about him constantly without him being on stage. |
| The Sword Void | Every character line crashes in Book 3. Severian is alone in the mountains. The data shows it as near-total blackout. |
| Guild: 190 → 41 → 24 → 84 | Severian sheds guild identity through Claw and Sword. The Citadel rebound: he doesn't return to the guild — the guild role returns to him. |
| Memory is ambient, not climactic | The gold line holds nearly flat across all four books. One exception: a trough in mid-Sword when he's just surviving. Wolfe's restraint. |
| Sun: 72 → 94 → 82 → 108 | Rises toward Citadel. The mission becomes more explicit as Severian approaches it. The ending was always the subject. |
| Thecla never goes dark | Dead after Book 1, but her name persists across all four books at roughly consistent frequency. The alzabo guaranteed her. She lives in his speech. |
| Dorcas: 128 → 153 → 79 → 38 | Center of gravity in Books 1–2, fades through 3, nearly gone in 4. Her release at the end of Sword is literal in the counts. |