#* my name's not lucas north // the conscious decision to fool the world ( a study.)

[spynorth]

WILLIAM BLAKE.

I’ve said my piece on the idea that Lucas is obsessed with William Blake. Both the question of why and the answer itself are both given to the viewer through what can easily be considered an unreliable narrator. However, there is an obvious truth to the fact that Lucas does gain some inspiration from Blake’s various works. They are as follows:

- THE ANCIENT OF DAYS:

               The Ancient of Days is a design by William Blake that was associated with one of his works called Europe A Prophecy. It depicts Urizen (who in the mythology of Blake is considered the God figure. He embodies conventional reason and law) crouched in a circle. There are always clouds in the background and in his hand he holds a compass over the blackness below. There are a lot of things I could say about this artwork, a lot of opinions and translations that have been bickered about over the years, but I’m going to try to stick to the bare minimum that I need or else we’ll be here all day .. but I encourage you to look into William Blake more if you’re ever curious. He is so fun! One of my favorite research assignments from university days haha. The design itself seems unremarkable, just a tattoo on an imprisoned man - but Lucas’ tattoos all have a purpose and this one is no different. In Europe A Prophecy it is believed that Blake used the vision within his poem to depict suffering in the world brought on by the politics of 1790’s Britain. In this particular poem, Jesus and The Holy Spirit are tied to the universal man instead of the biblical tie to God The Father… an image mirrored in Milton’s Paradise Lost (which we’ll get to later. God its such a favorite). So now the question remains, why did Lucas choose this tattoo? What is its meaning? Its worth? There are many Blake works he could have chosen to depict. Why this one? Perhaps its chosen simply because he likes it, or because it seemed different and unsettling .. but I think the answer can be found in a pretty straightforward way. Lucas is imprisoned in Russia while on an espionage mission for MI5. I believe maybe he felt a little frustration ebb and ease with each prick of ink onto his skin. Much like the world in the mythology of Urien, he is suffering due to British politics. Outside of this, he also, by murdering his friend who was joining MI5, consigned himself to a prison of his own choice. A life. coincidentally,  driven by British politics. As he tells Elizabeta in series 7, episode 2:

"If you don't let me do this, they will take everything away from you. This life, this happiness, it will all be gone. I know what that's like. And there are no words to describe how terrible it is."

 He will never fully be able to live the way he wants. He has to follow a pattern initially created by the original, and real, Lucas North. I believe the quote above sums up much of what he must be feeling as the house of cards falls around him during series 9.

THE GREAT RED DRAGON AND THE WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN

              This watercolor is a depiction of the story in the book of revelation where a great dragon is said to wait to devour a pregnant woman’s soon to be delivered child. This is by far the MOST important reference to Blake in regards to my belief of Lucas’ choice to lie each and every day. There’s a lot going on in this painting, a lot of detail that add to the overall aesthetic and tension of the scene.. but I’ve always believed there to be a beautiful duality in the way that light reaches out to dark, almost touching, both part of the same dance. If you look at the image above, you can see the dragon’s limbs raised and the golden woman’s arms arcing as well, as if reaching for the sun or the dragon itself. There is duality in this as I said. Light meets dark, Good reaches for evil. Two ideas that both meld easily within the philosophy that Blake held where the two sides of man could be explained as the light and dark side of something as celestial as the moon. In A Vision of the Last Judgement, Blake states:

                                         “ … I do not consider either the just, or the wicked, to be in a supreme state, but to be, every one of them, states of the sleep which the soul may fall into in its deadly dreams of good and evil, when it leaves Paradise following the serpent. “

               The above quote strikes a huge chord within me when it comes to my beliefs over the dichotomy of John Bateman vs Lucas North and the theme of my blog in regards to a man wrestling with a guilty conscience, and a choice he is both a slave to and responsible for making with every day that he wakes up. The story of John Bateman isn’t a story of was this man good or was this man bad .. it’s just the tale of a man, lost and broken like all of us, who made a decision. Who, for a single second in time, that quiet sound of an indrawn breath, chose a path that led to the death of 17 people. After that path, he chose again. He chose to murder his best friend, to take his identity and escape to a life where he could not be held accountable for the things he did. Of course he doesn’t want to believe himself capable of such a thing. Who of us would? Who of us wouldn’t do what he proceeds to do and bury it six feet below the ground? Wouldn’t we practice a new name, a new history, a new life every time we stood in front of a mirror or while we wait at the corner for the next bus or cab, or standing in the queue waiting to check out our groceries? There is a thing I’ve learned over the years about lying… it gets easier every single time you do it. You start to grasp at images in your head, ideas. Things that were real start to fade, memories you were certain of weeks before suddenly look like you’re replaying them with your face pressed against a foggy glass window and things you memorized, made up details meant to solidify your falsehoods and half truths, are suddenly as real as if you lived them. It begins with a story, a funny anecdote meant to fall in beside the lie that your family lived by the beach. The first time it’s glossed over, just a funny bit of dialogue that has everyone laughing. I need to remember this now, you think. The memory is in their heads. They won’t forget it. You can’t either. It grows. At the next dinner party, details are added. The smell of the air, the way the saltwater burned against the scrape on your knee, that silly seagull that pecked curiously at everyone’s belongings, not afraid of any threats as long as it saw the possibility to stealing a biscuit or three. Soon you can see the seagull, can hear his cries as you kick sand and wave your arms, can hear the baby crying down the beach. There’s that taste of the lunch that came before. The cake your mum had baked especially for - wait. That’s not right. That didn’t happen? Did it? It is a truth backed by science that a person who lies frequently and eloquently and finds success with it, will not be able to withstand absorbing the lies themselves eventually. HOWEVER. You know there is a lie there. You just can no longer differentiate the two yourself.