#also I say all that because by god look at all the fallen angels references in the lyrics of shadowbringers and to the edge

[remma-demma]

Do you think Hydaelyn kept track of Azem’s soul as it got reincarnated over the eons, searching for the face she knew from Elpis, growing weary as the centuries and millennia passed? That each time she gave them her blessing she got slowly weaker and weaker, until your Wol was born and she knew her time would soon be over but yours was just beginning.

I just think it’s nice that not only are we her favorite because we’re Azem, but because we’re this particular reincarnation of Azem that she knows and has been looking forward to.

[cedarxwing]

Faust allusions in Hannibal

"I believe that Hannibal Lecter is as close as you can come to the devil, to Satan. He's the fallen angel. His motives are not banal reasons, like childhood abuse or junkie parents. It's in his genes. He finds life is most beautiful on the threshold to death, and that is something that is much closer to the fallen angel than it is to a psychopath." - Mads Mikkelsen on Hannibal as the Devil

I'm not a Faust expert or anything, but I've been balls deep in Wikipedia for the last week and here are my findings:

Super Short Summary of Faust:

Faust is an old scholar dissatisfied with life. One day Mephistopheles (the Devil) shows up and offers him a deal including unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The particulars of the deal vary by version:

Original Faustbuch: Mephisto offers 24 years of service, and then Faust must serve him forever in hell.

Goethe: Mephisto will serve Faust until he experiences a moment of perfect satisfaction, after which he'll be dragged to hell. (Mephisto also makes a secondary bet with God that he can tempt Faust away from righteousness and into damnation.)

Gounod's opera: Mephisto turns Faust young again and wins him the beautiful Marguerite's heart. He also offers knowledge and power, but the story is more about Marguerite.

In most versions, Faust is damned to Hell at the end. In Goethe's version, Faust finds his moment of perfect satisfaction, but Mephisto doesn't succeed in tempting Faust into sin, so Faust ends up going to Heaven.

Explicit References

I won't list all the times the script refers to Hannibal as the Devil, but they're fun to look for. :)

The first explicit reference to Faust is in Sorbet (1x07), when Gounod's Le veau d'or plays while Hannibal gathers meat for his dinner party. This aria is Mephisto's manifesto on human nature:

"The calf of gold is the victor over the gods! In its derisory (absurde) glory, The abject monster insults heaven! It contemplates, oh weird frenzy! At his feet the human race, Hurling itself about, iron in hand, In blood and in the mire, Where gleams the burning metal, And satan leads the dance"

People are slaves to greed and easily tempted away from their morals--a nice description of Hannibal's perspective on humanity and his favorite pastime. I also like the implication that the rude people in his Rolodex are damned souls that he's come to reap.

This is a quote from Hannibal Rising when Hannibal watches Faust at the Opera Garnier with Lady Murasaki and the Paris Police Commissioner (which, wow, this chapter is practically Phantom of the Opera fanfiction). It's funny, because at that point in the novel, Hannibal is more Faust than Mephisto, so he's contemptuous of himself. Later, once he's undergone some, ahem, character development, the book quotes Goethe:

"I'd yield myself to the Devil instantly, Did it not happen that myself am he!"

This is probably the origin of the "Hannibal is the Devil" interpretation.

Also, I just want to point out that it's not particularly unique to be contemptuous of Gounod's Faust. He's a skeevy old man who fucks up his own life and everyone else's out of boredom, which is very human and relatable, but not very likable! We're all Fausts who are contemptuous of Faust, just like we're all rooting for Hannibal and contemptuous of Chilton.

Another quote from Goethe. Faust says this line while complaining that he has to choose between a simple/familiar/earthly life and a life unbound by earthly limitations (x). The double meaning of this line perfectly sums up Dolarhyde's predicament. He gave up a normal life to experience something otherworldly, and now he's fighting against the Red Dragon to save Reba.

This line also summarizes the temptation Hannibal dangles in front of Will. "Don't you crave change, Will?" A moment of perfect satisfaction, after which his soul will forever belong to Hannibal. This moment comes to pass when they kill Dolarhyde and go off the cliff, a metaphorical fall from Heaven (better explained here: x).

Not to get too lost in the weeds, but I would argue that killing Dolarhyde wasn't really a sin (maybe it was a sin to let those prison guards die, but killing Dolarhyde was self-defense and he was a serial killer for Pete's sake), so Hannibal lost his bet with God (Jack), and Will (Faust) is going to heaven after all, just like in Goethe's version. Maybe this idea would've been explored in Season 4, who knows.

Faustian Bargains

Once you strike a bargain with Hannibal, your soul belongs to him, and he can collect it at any time. The whole show is a series of people falling for this trap (except for Will, to Hannibal's never-ending frustration).

Some characters go to Hannibal seeking "otherworldly knowledge" while others are motivated by material greed. Gideon wants to know the Ripper and pays the price. Chilton and Sutcliffe commiserate with Hannibal in their medical malpractice and are punished accordingly. In Digestivo, Alana/Margot accept Hannibal's offer to take the fall for Mason's murder (and also get Mason's sperm) so they can inherit the Verger fortune.

The Faustian bargain motif is most apparent in Season 3, when Hannibal starts making characters explicitly ask for his help:

And, of course, the bargain Hannibal waited three seasons to strike:

Bedelia is the purest manifestation of this. She makes not one but two deals with Hannibal. The first was to help her get away with murder. The second was to take her "behind the veil" in Florence, where she acquires otherworldly knowledge and experiences. This is framed as "lucid greed" on her part, and maybe not just greed for knowledge, depending on how much she made off her lectures about being Lydia Fell! Hannibal spends Season 3a trying to get her to "participate" and makes some headway before his plans are derailed. She gets her come-uppance in the post-credits scene.

Finally, the most heartbreaking deal Hannibal makes:

Abigail's soul belongs to Hannibal as soon as she accepts this offer. In Mizumono, she willingly goes to her fate. :(

(Again, I'm not an expert, so if I got anything wrong please correct me!!)

[cari-canes]

I recently reread Frankenstein after watching the Underverse Series and BOY do I have thoughts. I’m going to separate them into a few posts over a few days because it would actually be an essay if I put it all down in one post.

For now - I’ll leave quotes that I found most impactful from Frankenstein (and other gothic horror/horror) stories with a few of the characters from the Underverse Series.

Also - sorry for the bad grammar. I’m typing this on my phone at like midnight.

Ink: Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it. (Frankenstein - Mary Shelley)

Obviously, Ink or Cross would be “the monster”. I think it’s even more fitting that although the “monster” never really has a name in the book, Mary Shelley did reference him as “Adam” in her earlier version. The “first born” creation. I think it’s very fitting, especially as Ink’s role, how his cannon role was formed, and what his new “goal” in the multiverse is.

Cross: I do know that for the sympathy of one living being, I would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other. (Frankenstein - Mary Shelley)

OR

I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel. (Frankenstein - Mary Shelley)

For Cross’ quote, I actually had a difficult time choosing which fit him better, so I went with both. Cross being one of XGasters creations who “breaks free” is just amazing. XGaster was so focused on perfection and trying to make his timeline perfect that he completely abandoned his creations in the meantime. This causes Cross to meet Ink, Dream, and eventually Nightmare and start his own reign of terror.

Dust/Killer: The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone. (Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson)

A different book for the two killers felt fitting, especially considering Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - at its core - is about addiction and loss. (It’s also a murder mystery but that’s besides the point). Both kill everyone in order to prevent another Gen*cide, but in doing so, allow themselves to be completely alone. (I’m also obsessed with the religious imagery but that’s another ramble for another day.)

Nightmare: To the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. (Moby Dick - Herman Melville)

Obviously, Nightmare was going to be Captain Ahab from Moby Dick. He’s chasing a goal that’s frankly, nearly impossible. He let the corruption completely take over him “for hates sake”. (I also think this is something Nightmare would actually say in cannon).

Error: Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm. (Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson)

For Error, I had a very difficult time finding just one quote. He has so many complex layers to his character, especially in his own cannon. But I eventually landed on the Jekyll and Hyde quote, as I felt it resonated more with him. No matter what could or could not happen, he always has the antivoid to return to. The story of Jekyll and Hyde being about addiction and loneliness only made that point clearer for me, especially with the duality of man potentially paralleling the duality of Errors own psyche.

Fresh: Human madness is oftentimes a cunning and most feline thing. When you think it fled, it may have but become transfigured into some still subtler form. (Moby Dick - Herman Melville)

I think this is pretty self explanatory for Fresh.

Dream: When falsehood can look so like the truth, who can assure themselves of certain happiness? (Frankenstein - Mary Shelley)

Finally, Dream. He spent so long thinking that he was the one who killed his own brother, that the ‘truth’ was so painful that he couldn’t necessarily come to terms with it. His brother no longer exists and is instead consumed entirely by the corruption.

I think using gothic novels as a starting point, the Underverse - or at least the Undertale Multiverse could become a fascinating story about the connections between creation and creator, dark and light, and the pursuit of an unattainable goal.

[txttletale]

bundletober #13: blazing hymn

alright i've fallen behind on bundletober (the series of blog posts where i review and talk about a ttrpg i got in a bundle every day) and am hoping to make up the difference by putting out two entries today. this is the first one, and i'm looking at the mecha-piloting, synthetic-armour wearing, blaspheming-against-God-and-his-angels game blazing hymn by peach garden games.

now sadly this game is not a lyric/blackout poetry game about rewriting church hymns to be about gay sex. someone should make that btw. no it's just about wearing highly advanced battlesuits powered by the song of your heart to kill aliens with weapons of pure energy. which is about as cool.

first off, the layout of this game is unique and stylish. there are hexagons everywhere:

the game puts sparse splashes of dreamy pastel colours amid a constantly shifting set of black and white hexagons. it gives the book a visual identity that is at once both visually distinct and also changing massively from page to page. it's a really cool way to mix things up and keep you wanting to turn the page if just to keep seeing what the next one even looks like.

what's the game about? simple. angels have come to earth to destroy it badly. with the power of song, young people can power specially designed battlesuits, called Hymnals, that when not activated collapse down into crystal necklaces. it's a pretty anime concept--the game is pretty open about being inspired by Evangelion and Symphogear, neither of which i've actually seen--but it's cool as hell. the aesthetics of the layout really help bring the aesthetics of the game itself, of technology and ethereal mysticism merged into one thing, to life.

the game uses a pretty simple three-stat system where you build dice pools with a state relevant to an action and can get a full success, mixed success, or failure, depending on what you roll. your characters have two resources, Health, which is what it sounds like, and Gain, which is essentially magical power. because you can swap Health for Gain and Gain for Health at a 1-1 ratio with no restrictions, i'm not really sure why they're separate things--seems like a missed opportunity to not only simplify the mechanics but also create a strong mechanical narrative element by making Gain the only thing that keeps you going--once your song is silenced, you're out.

to create a character, you pick from one of six unit classes--here's where i'd describe the six classes, but honestly, they don't quite feel distinct enough. a lot of the powers you can pick for each hymnal class feel very similar, or are outright overlapping in a lot of cases. this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the descriptions of the hymnals, while trying to clarify their combat roles, all end up seeming to repeat themselves or say contradictory things. i think some direct ties between those descriptions and their mechanics would have helped--i'd find it a lot easier to remember that, for example, the 05 Xyston type "brutal in combat" if that flavour text was followed by a direct reference to one or more of its abilities. they do all have pretty different stats--which, in a game with a very simple and elegant combat system, means i'm confident they play very differently once you hit the table. but just looking at them, as a prospective player, i struggle to tell the difference.

i don't have that problem with the next character creation mechanic, though, which is choosing the songs you sing to power your hymnal. each song, as well as a thematically appropriate set of stat boosts, also prompts a pair of revealing character questions. they're the kind of mechanic that i want to get my hands on because they make it fun to create characters, giving real mechanical expression to the emotional fundamentals of who they are.

the combat system itself seems really, really good. it's astoundingly simple--you're encouraged to use a map, but there's no fiddly grid or distance tracking, just the ability to move between being Close, Near, or Far from an enemy. it keeps the numbers low to keep it getting silly and doesn't bother with any of the unecessary bookkeeping and fiddliness that plagues TTRPG combat as a whole. no initiative, no separate turns--there's a 'player' turn and a GM turn, and during the GM turn the GM picks from enemy's listed actions until they've done two for each player. players can use their abilities on the GM turn, and the game encourages the GM to take enemy actions that wil lforce them to--so nobody's ever standing around twiddling their thumbs waiting for the whole table to rotate back to them, and having a lot of enemies doesn't mean the players listen to the GM talk for fifteen minutes.

there's two unique mechanics that i think are very interesting-- Civilians and Condemnation. Civilians are--well, exactly what they sound like. on their turn, players can use an action to evacutate up to 5 of them. this extremely small and simple mechanic is fucking genius. so many games tell you they're about saving innocent people, but yet the only mechanical verbs you have to interact with anyone are violent ones. as elaine scarry says in the body in pain:

so in a way i think blazing hymn puts its money where its mouth is in a way very few combat rpgs with emancipatory or heroic aspirations bother. angels are said to attack populated areas--you're sent to preserve life as well as destroy the enemy. it makes the game feel fundamentally different, like despite the questionable ethics of hymnals (after all, they only work on young people, who then have to be sent into deadly combat situations) there is something heroic you can do.

the second cool mechanic is condemnation, a reality-warping toxin that angels use to destroy the places they're sent to. this rocks because it adds a ticking timer to the battlefield, a passive threat that forces the player characters to be proactive. if condemnation gets too high, not only is the fight going to get harder, but civilians are going to die en masse. it's a great piece of game design that gives the GM a great lever to pull for pacing and urgency.

i also really like that one of the steps of the GM turn is to 'change the situation', whether that means something happens in the narrative or something on the map changes (a train arriving is the example the book gives) or more angels attack. in general, one of my biggest complaitns about d&d is that unless a DM takes it upon themselves to design additional mechanics and encounters outside of anything the game actually gives them, combat inevitably turns into two lines of people hitting each other with sticks until one of them dies. i love dynamic, progressing combat, combat where the stakes change moment to moment. and blazing hymn delivers.

anything else? oh yeah, the angel designs are cool as fuck.

god damn. anyway despite a few minor issues with the hymnals themselves, the core of blazing hymnal is fucking good, a nice tight and razor-sharp combat system wrapped up in pulsing pastel crystalline aesthetics. if you like cool anime fights and like having the rules to back it up but hate complexity, crunch, and tedium, this might be the perfect game for you. it's certainly given me a lot of cool design ideas to take foreward into my own projects.

blazing hymn is available for purchase as a digital download through itch.io

[chaifootsteps]

Wanted to pop-in with a little correction about Lucifer wanting to usurp God, being prideful, temping Adam and Eve, falling, the works.

Biblically speaking, that's actually conflating 3 separate characters who not only aren't even the same entity, none of them are the same species.

Lucifer was not a fallen angel, but rather a human. An incredibly prideful human who saw himself as above others and at the level of the heavens (as many kings and pharaohs did in those days, seeing themselves as manifestations of the divine), but a human nonetheless. The king of Babylon, to be precise. Remember that point in The Prince of Egypt where Rameses says "I am the morning and the evening star, if I say day will be night it shall be written"? Same basic idea. Pharaohs and kings in those days saw themselves as commanding a divine right over others. Lucifer was just a particularly cruel one who didn't treat his people with respect.

From Isaiah 14, verses 3 through 20:

3 On the day the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you, 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended! 5 The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers, 6 which in anger struck down peoples with unceasing blows, and in fury subdued nations with relentless aggression. 7 All the lands are at rest and at peace; they break into singing. 8 Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon gloat over you and say, “Now that you have been laid low, no one comes to cut us down.” 9 The realm of the dead below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you— all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones— all those who were kings over the nations. 10 They will all respond, they will say to you, “You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us.” 11 All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you. 12 How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”(edited)

15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. 16 Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, 17 the man who made the world a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?” 18 All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb. 19 But you are cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch; you are covered with the slain, with those pierced by the sword, those who descend to the stones of the pit. Like a corpse trampled underfoot, 20 you will not join them in burial, for you have destroyed your land and killed your people.

The metaphor of a “star” is used in referring prophetically to the Davidic kings of Judah (Nu 24:17), and if you look into Bible history, the Babylonian dynasty for a time did rise above these Judean kings by conquest of Jerusalem. A similar prophecy in Daniel chapter 8 describes the small “horn” of some future power as trampling down certain stars of “the army of the heavens” and moving against the Prince of the army and his sanctuary (Da 8:9-13)". So human kings being seen as stars was a rather common metaphor.

Satan was an angel who was God's prosecuting attorney in Job, who fell from Heaven in the New Testament for unknown reasons, likely because by the New Testament God was getting out of his "I control all good and evil and demand you slaughter these nonbelievers to show my power" phase, so there needed to be another to be the new evil with God being seen as all good. And when Satan did fall, he was cast down to Earth, not Hell. He wasn't cast down to Hell until Revelation (by which point centuries from Genesis Satan and the serpent were seen as the same by that time), but Revelation was just an acid-trip of a metaphor for Christian persecution under the Roman Empire anyway.

And the serpent? In Genesis it was just a crafty serpent who was described as being "the craftiest out of all the beasts of the field the Lord God had made". And it was declared in the Genesis story as being cursed to slither on the ground, likely as a way of explaining why snakes slither and have vestigial legs.

There's plenty of interesting things you could do with Lucifer, Satan, and the serpent. Make them all the same guy. Make them all different. Make Lucifer Satan's jealous rival who wants to usurp him in Hell and has the serpent as a talking animal sidekick. There's a lot you can do with it.

But Lucifer should be prideful. Whether you go with him being a human, an angel, the devil, something, his pride his always consistent. Or should be. You'd think it would be in Viv's universe, since he's the King of the Pride Ring.

Except he's just... not. So why did Viv even make him the King of Pride in the first place if he doesn't have a prideful bone in his body. He's more like P. T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman than anything else.

Man, I'm as agnostic as they come but Biblical lore is nuts. So many opportunities and Viv ran with approximately none of them.

[rotten-c0rps3]

•𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝙼𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛•

Masc list

Updated: May 27th

A list of my male/masc monster characters. I will be adding more in the future. I will do Character x reader with them, so don’t be afraid to request if one catches your eye!

Creatures added: (2) angels, (2) shapeshifting parasites, (1) zombie, (1) siren,

Ｈａｌｏ

Species: Angel

Gender: Male (but only once he got down to Earth, Angels don’t have genders in Heaven)

He/They/It (Couldn’t care less about what people refer to him as, just doesn’t want to be perceived as feminine)

Backstory: Nobody told Halo it’d be quite so… lonely being on Earth. I mean, up in Heaven, Halo knew everyone. Thats how Heaven was, basically one big office building in the clouds, full of friends. Now, even though being a “fallen Angel” isn’t as bad as humans described it, it’s still pretty sucky. Maybe he’ll find some human to keep him company. Why would the other Angels care? He’ll just say he’s doing his job up close!

Personally: You thought Angels would be interesting? Ha! Nah, just kidding. He’s interesting, just has some boring interests and hobbies. If a causal guy isn’t for you, Halo isn’t either! He’s quite chill once to get to know him, it’s up to you if that’s a good thing. Also, he might be chill, but he’d give you nothing than utter devotion. He will expect the same back from you.

Looks: Well, picture the most beautiful man you can. Then erase that from your mind, because Angel beauty is so much more intense. That being said, he’s a little scary in his Angel form. He’s as white as the moon, with only three fingers on each hand and skin the texture of soft sandpaper. He was no head, a ball of bright light where it would be. Despite his brightness, his light doesn’t hurt human eyes. A single blue eye sits in where the center of the light seems to be. He’s not often in this form, unless at home.

Human form: Halo has very short, black curly hair. He’s pale, with the complexion of the moon, but not sickly looking. He does have two eyes in this form, but his left eye is heavily damaged-looking. This happened because when he transformed for the first time, his one eye had trouble splitting correctly and made one of his eyes bonk looking. He’s beauty beyond your comprehension, but he dresses like a loser.

Likes: Human food, TV, sleeping, taking baths, his Angel colleagues, when God gives him easy tasks, being in his angel form, cherry slushy, platonic intimacy, babies, praise,

Dislikes: Rude people, perverts, eccentric religious people, people being able to tell he’s an angel, not being able to watch TV, being forced to be fine with the fact he’ll never be a parent (specifically a mother) because he’s an angel and they don’t reproduce (I smell angst 😼),

Relationships: Doc (Colleague, great friends), Lili (Colleague, quite close)

Doc

Species: Angel

Gender: Male (But only after getting to Earth since Angels don’t really have a gender in Heaven)

He/Him (Uses pronouns as a way to “blend in with humans,” doesn’t really care)

Backstory: After hearing his fellow Angel friend Halo got put on Human-Watching duty, he quickly made a deal with God to go down to Earth with his buddy. Doc is a prepared man, too prepared most would probably say. So, before his little vacation down to Earth, he made sure to read all the info on humans he could find in Heaven. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a lot, and most was out-dated too. The only interesting thing he learned about was human doctors, which he may or may not of named himself after. Maybe a certain human could teach him some new things?

Personally: Truly a loser, but in a totally hot way! A little bit obnoxious about the things he likes. Total “glass half-full” and “Life is beautiful” type guy. If you don’t want a man who’ll obsess over everything he likes, including you, Doc might not be for you.

Looks: He never really leaves his house, ONLY because he’s strictly against changing out of his Angel form. A lean, clean man. Decently hairy, but well dressed and mannered. Usually dressed formally. Despite his Angel form being on the human-looking side, it is very easy to tell he isn’t human. This is because where his face should be, is a large mouth. Kinky, if you’re into that.

Likes: Reading, human medical supplies, the idea of human doctors, history, the way medicine tastes, surgery supplies, sharp things, blood, pain, human emotions, seeing human organs in books, learning about human anatomy, human touch, hygiene, the idea of soulmates,

Dislikes: Accidentally drooling on things, when people are angry at him, when people are scared of him, having to leave his Angel form, rude people, ignorance,

Relationships: Halo (Colleague, great friends), Lili (Colleague, friendly acquaintances)

Percy

Species: Shapeshifting parasite (Made up parasite names are “Happy Tick”, “Paradise Parasite”, and “Pleasure Pinworm”)

Gender: Male (Fluid, can present as anything it wants)

He/it (Presents as male to blend in with humans but “it” would be more accurate to what he is)

Backstory: Once upon a time, a man and a parasite, mimicking a woman, fell in love. Then, they had three beautiful, healthy children. Er… wait, sorry, no. That’s incorrect. Sometime a few decades ago, a parasite found its way into a male host. Then, three little parasites were born from their mother’s corpse, living inside their host father’s stomach. They had their very first meal, eating their way out of the male human before devouring him entirely. (Read Luis’ backstory for more) Sadly, one little parasite only got the scraps. Because of its early malnutrition, whenever it goes into a human form, it never looks quite right. But, you’d love him regardless of looks, right?

Personality: It’s hard to say whether starvation gave Percy his… eccentric personality, or if that’s just how he is. It’s hard to say, mostly because he’s the only one of his specific type of parasite. Percy is a lot of things. Creepily always happy, easy to find annoying, easily excitable, easily harmful, easily manipulated, easily teachable. There are no words I could put to describe the boyfriend Percy would be, but he wouldn’t be a very good one. At least not without a lot of teaching and punishments first. If you like kinky things that specifically have to do with your blood, you’ll like Percy. If you like guys who’ll be on their knees begging one moment and then bitting the hell out of you the next, you’ll like Percy.

Looks: In his natural state, one he’s really only in when inside a host, he’s basically a big glob of black goop.

Human form: Tall, inhumanly so. His limbs are just slightly too long for his body. Percy is sickly pale and uncomfortably thin. He smiles almost all the time, which would be cute if he didn’t look like a rabid dog when he smiles. He has long oily looking black “hair”. His “skin” is impenetrable, making him basically unable to be hurt. This, however, makes it so he does not at all understand human pain.

Likes: Drinking blood in a definitely not erotic way, seeing blood, tasting blood, smelling blood, blood. Also inflicting pain, not because he’s a bad guy, but because he genuinely doesn’t understand it and just likes peoples reactions to it.

Dislikes: Being starved, not having a host, his sister most times, being bullied, when humans can tell he’s not human, when humans don’t enjoy the pain he gives them, not understanding things, not knowing things, being compared to vampires,

Relationships: Luis (Brother, decent relationship), Sylvia (Sister, strained),

𝕃𝕦𝕚𝕤

Species: Shapeshifting Parasite (Made up names are “Fluster Flies”, “Love Bug”, and “Kissing Bug”)

Gender: Male (As close to cis as a genderless parasite can get)

He/she (Unlike his sister, he could not give two fucks about what people see him as)

Backstory: (Read Percy’s backstory for more) Growing up, the three parasite siblings were the human equivalent to orphans. Their species was made to be like this, of course. But that fact didn’t make their life easier. The siblings had to do all sorts of terrible things. Such as, steal, scam, assault, kill, kill, kill… Okay.. in their defense, a parasites gotta eat something! It was merciful to spare all those people having to live as unwilling hosts.

Personally: Unlike his… certainly interesting brother and strict sister, Luis is much calmer. He’s quiet, but that’s just because he’s used to blending into the background of his siblings. Very causal, but not with dating. Dating is serious for a parasite, it means they have to be willing to let their faulty humanity slip in front of their host. Luis is ready for commitment, let’s hope you are too.

Looks: Nobody knows what his parasite form looks like. Human form looks nothing like siblings because of their species differences. About average height, looks pretty short next to Sylvia and Percy, though. Luis is the most meaty out of the three, mostly because he’s the best at catching hosts. The guy is pretty cute, especially for a parasite. Especially next to Percy. Agh, anyways. He usually keeps his hair pretty short, also unlike the other two. Definitely more human-like compared to Percy.

Likes: When his siblings don’t fight, when Sylvia’s in a good mood, the relationships human siblings typically have, feeding on people’s lust, feeding on people’s human emotions, being alone, being outside, being compared to vampires,

Dislikes: Crowds, touchy people, fights, blood, perverts, being poor, having to kill for food, his “father”, death,

Relationships: Percy (Sibling, fine relationship), Sylvia (Sister, neutral relationship),

𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐰𝐧

Species: Zombie

Gender: Nonbinary (Doesn’t understand human gender but is fine with whatever he’s seen as)

He/she/they (Doesn’t really care)

Backstory: Long ago, a woman found out she had the misery of never being able to have children. Fortunately, she knew a little magic. When about twelve men and women died, Shawn was born, sewn from their flesh and filled with salt to slow the process of decay. Unfortunately, since his “birth”, his mother was killed for her actions and he’s now slowly rotting away. Maybe you and him could go dig up his mother’s old spell book.

Personality: Shawn was once as happy as a kid could be. He danced, and sung, and did everything a normal kid would. Then his mother died. He was left alone for years. He’s been adopted by a new caregiver, but he’s not the same. He’s quiet, he’s a shut-in. Maybe you could bring some of his happiness back.

Looks: Shawn is pretty handsome, for sewn together corpses anyway. His hair is choppy and different colors, ranging from blonde to black. Since his mother’s death, no one has been able to treat him properly to slow the process of rot, so he’s missing his right leg. He has a wheelchair, although he much prefers to use his crutches.

Likes: His mother, animals, being alone, the forest, nature, old houses that smell a little weird, TV, reading, art, poetry, old things, cooking, cleaning, helping out,

Dislikes: Insects, rotting, death, having to rely on other people, old people, being forgotten, the people his mother killed, the people who killed his mother,

Relationships: Jane (Caregiver, neutral), Linsey Abigail (Mother, very close)

Gᵣₐₙₜ

Species: Siren

Gender: Cis male

He/him (Lol he’s one of the few actually cis characters I have)

Backstory: Grant was like any other siren. Growing up with no parents, he had no one to lead him. He had to watch humans just to figure out how to live! This, perhaps, is what gave him a superiority complex of thinking of himself like a god. Man or god, Grant is terrible. A true fixer-upper, if you will.

Personality: Although Grant is selfish, apathetic, and quite frankly stupid, the title of “Grant the God if Greed” he gave himself is quite appropriate. He ain’t no god, but he loves to be greedy. It’s really sad, though. Being so heartless means no one likes him, and that means he’s alone all the time. Maybe he’d share his riches with you, but you gotta at least entertain his pathetic ass first.

Looks: You know the human tale of half-fish, half-human? Well, that is true for mermaids and mermen, but not sirens. Sirens are pretty human, actually. Well, except the gills, and discolored skin, and fins, and fish tail sticking out of their backside. For a siren, Grant is pretty human looking. Which helps when he has to blend in to steal. He has rich, golden eyes and choppy brown hair. He’s not a young siren, so don’t expect Prince Charming. His clothes are usually dirty, and no amount of stolen jewelry he wears covers that.

Likes: Eating fish, stealing from pirates, getting away with stealing, jewelry, being viewed as superior, shiny things, gold, the ocean, his cave, his treasure, how simple and fragile humans are, raw meat,

Dislikes: When his plans backfire, getting hurt, humans finding out he’s not human, being out of water too long, when it’s mermaid breeding season, mermaid/mermen,

Relationships: None (He’s a loser)

[ineffablydelighted]

[How exploring the Ineffable Husbands' dynamic in Good Omens can help us figure out what the show/book is all about, Part 1/?]

Also called: This human has, apparently, too much time on her hands and will be trying to Effable the Ineffable for [...] hours.

Ah, Hello! 👋

I'm ineffably delighted to meet you all! 😇

Let's cut to the chase and bear with me as we try together to analyze further the subject of the day:

Aziraphale is in love with Crowley and I am pretty sure he is aware of that fact BUT 

[yes, there is a "but", do not erase me from the Book of Life just yet, let me explain first, homie 🥺] 

I do not believe he can comprehend WHY he is just yet, and what that would mean for him in terms of... well... EVERYTHING he ever stood for.

It will also be the perfect roots to answer the biggest question yet :

What is Good Omens all about, exactly?

[Yeah, it's a tough one. When I say "bear with me", I really insist on the fact that it will be LONG. I will try my best to make it fun to read and to allow some "natural breaks" but know that I would appreciate your unshared attention if you're willing to give it to me. 😇]

Although, would you have the chance to ask him about it (probably looking at a cup of tea as we would all do in Earthy fashion), Aziraphale would have somewhat of an answer to give you, probably in the range of:

"Because, deep down, Crowley is the nicest being I've ever known."

Is it false? No, Crowley IS nice. Swaggeringly nice, occasionally unhinged, but still. Nice.

And that is somewhat the core of the... "problem" for our soon-to-be Supreme Archangel [Yep, the pain is still fresh, thanks for asking, you're welcome for reminding you 😭👍] because, as much as Crowley learned nuances due to past experiences (Falling being, most likely, the most traumatic one,) Aziraphale remains bound to think in absolutes. And everything relates to THIS perfect meme right there:

[Whoever you are, person/entity who has done that, you have forever my utmost gratitude and respect]

I'm far from bringing anything new to the table here, but to Aziraphale, Crowley should NOT have fallen in the first place. Because of how nice he is. Crowley IS an angel, to him. In fact, I'll go even further by stating that, to Aziraphale,

Crowley is more of an Angel than ANY Angel in the "Main Office."

Let's present our other contestants, shall we?

When he ruled, Gabriel was an absolute a** and had an ego the size of, idk, at least A DOZEN GALAXIES. He made Aziraphale feel like... well... poop most of the time they interacted.

That is why, in S2 when Gabriel/Jim tells him "I love you", Aziraphale, even being and considering himself a "creature of love", happens to be utterly unable to either reciprocate or take the compliment. At this moment, later enhanced when he reminds himself of the Job case, he realizes he is able to feel, if not hatred, NOT love NOR admiration for somebody he should somewhat consider a role model.

That is very important for Aziraphale's present and future character development, especially considering Gabriel/Jim's own fate, so please keep that in mind.

Michael? Oh God, Same if not worse: too condescending and ambitious in the wrong way to inspire anything nice to anybody.

Sandalphon just does what they are told but can totally throw a punch if necessary.

Uriel is mostly cold, occasionally cruel, and can also be physically threatening.

[I love the actress, though. Gloria Obianyo deserves a Ph.D. in Resting Bitch Facing for her performance in Good Omens alone and I'm here for it.]

S2 Saraqael seems to be more layered but has also been hurtful to Aziraphale (especially when she ironized that he couldn't possibly be the 25-Lazarii-magnitude-miracle caster).

Overall, S1 Aziraphale refers to the "Main Office" Angels as "BAD ANGELS!" after their hostile encounter. We could see from his face he would have wanted to use harsher words but couldn't get past his forgiving, decent nature.

Before we talk any furfur-ther [Am I proud of this so-called pun? A-BSOLUTELEH 😎🤭], let's add a really important stone/layer to our favorite Angel's thinking: to him, it is simple maths:

GOOD = RIGHT, BAD = WRONG

And let's save it for later, shall we?

[Killgrave dear is just here to remind you you can take a break anytime to drink a glass of Talisker if you'd like, or, more so, if HE'd like. Also because that character is THE best David Tennant role on television - 10th Doctor being the worthy third, I let you guess which character is our second now - and I might have wanted to use this gif just to be able to say that, who knows? *whispers* Mysssteryyyy...]

Anyway.

To a being like Aziraphale, who mostly thinks in dichotomy, being an Angel requires one main requirement: being GOOD.

[Buy a farrrrrm and be good! Not just "pretendy" good but. properly. GOOD! - NO, I couldn't find the gif and YES, I'm mad about it, but since I'm also unable to make one myself, I'll just shut it.]

That is why he refers to the Main Office Archangels as simply being BAD.

At that moment, they had been mean to him, threatening, and, by doing so, they became somewhat active in Hell's Armageddon project. Making them "bad" angels, but, more so:

Bad at BEING Angels.

Aziraphale, on the other hand, is, at heart, the penultimate goody-two-shoes: he does feel bad about himself whenever he does something bad/wrong such as lying (it has started to change, and I'll nuance that statement another time, but you get the grip).

He is constantly scared he might fall whenever he somewhat defies God's will or the idea he built in his head of what an Angel should be(have).

But have you paid attention to how his "Angelmates" NEVER seem to CARE about their own displays of, let's say "unconventional characteristics" for what should be the highest "Representatives of the sole concept of Good"?

Have you ever seen Gabriel or Michael being self-conscious about their narcissism and condescending tendencies? Uriel about their coldness? Saraqael about their sarcastic nature? Any of them about their use of violence? Of course not! They seem to be perfectly fine with it!

They own their characteristics, good AND bad.

Aziraphale does not.

Aziraphale is... soft. Even if he, at times, expresses regrets to be just that, he also applies it to his Angelic nature.

You know who else is soft?

Crowley.

Crowley is soft because he cannot kill children and takes it upon himself to LITERALLY DEFY BOTH GOD AND SATAN'S WILL TO SAVE SAID CHILDREN, including two annoying ones [especially the one who DARED to hit on Aziraphale but that is a topic for another day]

[MASSIVE Bildad the Shuhite fangirl here, consider yourselves warned.]

Crowley is soft because he cannot even kill GOATS.

Defying both God's and Satan's will to save kids? Yeah, eventually, okay.

Defying God's and Satan's will to save goats? Man, that's so effingly. more. powerful.

[Oh, look! A bird flying, normal thingy, nothing to see here, buh-bye!]

Crowley is soft because he proposes/"tempts" Aziraphale to "eat a spot of lunch", especially whenever his Angel experiences stress.

We have barely seen him eat, which might indicate he does not have such a strong taste for it personally. He only goes to the Ritz to enjoy Aziraphale's company and to watch him happily eat scrumptious, comforting foods.

[Okay, also because it morphed into a proper kink at some point but that is NOT today's subject, so stop trying to make me deviate from it! 😣]

Oh, and, before you bring that up, no, the alcohol motive is not relevant since he can, in all probability have a glass of Talisker in ANY sort of pub/restaurant in London.

[As a proper peated whisky lover who happens to be French, let me tell you this is NOT the case in my country and I'm super duper jealous of you, lads.]

Crowley is soft because he takes care of both Gabriel and Aziraphale's bookshop, even if it is clear he loathes the first and expressingly said he would not be a bookseller "even at gunpoint."

And, by "taking care of", know that I MEAN IT: he kept an eye on Jim, didn't wake him up when he heard him snore, answered any question he had, no matter how seemingly stupid they were [Even if Crowley, of all beings, cannot be anything but a raging "There is no stupid question, only stupid answers" representative] and offered him hot cocoa. As for the Booksho-P[uhhhhh *exhales in asthma*], he attempted to repair Jim's messy ordering twice and meticulously rearranged the place after ✨the Ball✨

[What do you mean, "he also Killgraved him into jumping out of the window?" HE ALSO STOPPED HIM FROM DOING SO, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. #NotBiasedInTheSlghtestIndividual]

Crowley is soft because he shares his Bentley with Aziraphale. Which is a VERY. BIG. DEAL. considering it was, at the time, HIS LAST ONE AND ONLY PRIZED POSSESSION.

[Should I mention that the Bentley FALLS IN LOVE with Aziraphale or is debating on whether or not that falls into the Oedipian complex territory off-topic? Yes, I'll see myself out.]

Crowley is soft because he rescues Aziraphale on countless occasions, even though, 99% of the time, that is pretty much unnecessary.

For real, guys: if Aziraphale had been discorporated in the course of his 6000+ years on Earth at any other given moment BUT on the eve of THE WAR with a capital "W", nobody in Heaven would have flinched.

[I do have a theory, though: maybe being re-incorporated takes quite a long time, which would have meant too many years apart from each other, hence the growing Damsel in Distress kink in Aziraphale, idk THAT IS NOT TODAY's SUBJECT, OKAY?!]

Also, Crowley is soft because "doing that makes him so happy".

Do you know who is supposedly "so happy" to save living things, aka GOD'S CREATIONS? Angels.

Crowley is soft because he rescues Aziraphale even when it is ACTUALLY ENDANGERING for both of them

He risked: his life, his pretty comfortable position "he carved out for himself", both his Earthy and Infernal homes sort of speak, AND EVEN HIS CAR to save his Angel's bottom/help him out in the direst situations (like stopping time to stop SATAN HIMSELF.)

[Also his past/present/future existence altogether, but the Bentley is more important, as I'm sure we'll all agree.]

[That is a Class A Protective/Helpful Husband, right there.]

Crowley is soft because he encourages Aziraphale to follow his passion for ✨prestidigitation✨

Even though he is pretty... amateurish at it. Not only does he encourage him, but he also HELPS him when he accepts to be his dashing assistant on stage.

[Yes, he does tell S1 Aziraphale to stop doing magic because he "has no idea how demeaning that is" but I'm pretty sure it was BECAUSE of S2 1941's events. Also, #WeStan1941Crowley here.]

Crowley is soft because he works pretty hard to make two humans he barely knows fall in love.

Yes, he also does it to cover his and Aziraphale's 25-Lazarii-magnitude-miracle lie BUT don't tell me his amazed expression when he thought he was about to witness Nina and Maggie actually falling for each other was not the purest, sincerest of all.

Finally, even if I could come up with more examples,

Crowley is soft because he saved Aziraphale's books JUST because he KNEW and CARED that Aziraphale CARED about said books.

That also, in Michael Sheen's very own opinion [as stated by Neil Gaiman in S1 GO DVD commentary], shared by many fans, and myself very much included, marks the moment

Aziraphale falls in love with Crowley.

[I DARE you to tell me THIS is NOT THE LOOK OF LOVE PERSONIFIED, go on, fight meh.]

So. WHY did it happen at that moment in particular? Well, because, first of all:

As a proper Jane Austen fan, Aziraphale is a slow burner.

Also, to him, an actual Angel, love is everywhere, so differentiating one love from another might be more difficult for somebody who can feel it whether or not it is even their own.

BUT [have you started getting used to my "but"s yet or should I harass you some more?] Let's go back in time to see how every previous encounter (that we know of) led to that pinnacle, shall we?

[Oh and, YES, this sort of essay will be long, and NO, I had no idea how much it would be when I started writing it, and still haven't, tbh 🤷‍♀️]

During part 2, we will also dive a little bit deeper into what Good Omens is all about.

[Yeah... I figured we would all need a break at this point.]

More on that later, then!

Hope I kept your interest at a reasonable peak. See you soon, Angels ❤

Need help to find the rest of this analysis? I've got you covered! Follow me, Angel 😇

Previous - Beginning (you're here) - Next

[beebopboom]

Always an Angel, Never a Man

Intro post - where we discussed some more Wizard of Oz parallels and some of the title sequence

Now though we are going to dive deeper in the character that is the Metatron, and for that we are going to be going into The Book of Enoch and who he is as an angel - at least for this part

Background info

I've said this before but I’ll reiterate here - yes I know that Neil has said…somewhere that the Metatron has always been an angel in reference to someone asking about Enoch - but I don't think we can throw all the books away especially when it seems ideas have been pulled from them.

This actually started out as a question of whether or not the Metatron had come down to Earth and paraded around as Enoch to further his agenda - and well, it was a start.

So for the most part there seems to be two explanations for the origins of the Metatron - one: he was always an angel - two: he was the human, Enoch who was then turned into the Metatron. Each of these versions vary from religion to religion but for the most part that’s the gist of it

ha yeah right you know me time for probably unnecessary long explanations to the best of my ability

Disclaimer (I guess): These explanations are not going to stick to just one religion and are going to be summaries to the best of my ability - summaries are the devil how tf do people do this all the time

Also this is quite long - it took me about ten minutes to read through

The Metatron

The Voice of God, King of Angels, Prince of Divine Presence, Prince of the World, Prince of the Countenance, lesser YHWH, Angel of the Veil

Just some of the titles that have been attributed to the archangel known as Metatron - the list could go on

Created before or along side fellow archangels - including Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel - he is considered to be above them and the one they defer to. He sits at the hand of God as their scribe and is one of the few angels able to see beyond the veil God sits behind, able to look upon and hear God. He is said to have immense Power and Wisdom

His main job is to write down the good deeds of both Heaven and the Earth and record those in the Book of Life. He is said to have connections to both the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life therefore having a special interface between the two realms, physical and celestial - he is a bridge between God and humanity. He is a patron angel of children, giving them the knowledge they had not received and can be said to have been the angel who led the people of Israel through the wilderness. He is in charge of guiding the souls ascending to Heaven.

He is often attributed to roles God, Jesus, and even the Archangel Michael has had - to the point where there is a story of Rabbi Elisha calling out that there were two powers in Heaven and the Metatron is punished by 60 fiery lashes and unable to sit in Gods presence again for not correcting the assumption

Which leads us to the other origin story for him and that is-

Enoch

Now he has one mention in the Bible in the book of Genesis and it is only to say he no longer walks among men because God took him. This then spawned the Book of Enoch - which is really three books. Among other stories that I will get into later - it is the story of a man that was so righteous God took him so he didn’t experience death and made him an angel with all the same roles as we just went over.

This book covers things such as the concepts of fallen angels, a Messiah, Resurrection, the Final Judgement, and a heavenly kingdom on earth

………we aren't going to talk about the Nephilim

But there are these angels called the Watchers who have banded together and turned away from God. Enoch is shown the destruction and knowledge these angels have put upon humanity and shown the four archangels and their task to go about fixing the Earth. Enoch is then tasked with telling the Watchers that they shall have no peace or forgiveness for sin. He then goes on to see the universe - the Earth, the cosmos, and both Heaven and Hell - guided by angels. He sees the fiery pit that is where the Fallen are held and the river where all the dead souls await Judgement. He is shown the cornerstone of Earth and the pillars(mountains) of Heaven, and on the highest one sits the throne of God. He is told the secrets of the stars and is shown the hierarchy of Angels. 

He goes on a few journeys through the Heavens and eventually turned into the angel Metatron - which some would say this is a reversal of the Fall of Man, where Enoch is given that “spark" back. Upon reaching the 6th sphere of Heaven the angels call out to God asking why he has been brought to Heaven and God answered that he was righteous and worth the rest of the people - this is placed in flood times I forgot to mention

But why is any of this important? Well we are working with around 10 minutes of screentime people - crumbs I tell you, crumbs.

What really got this going though was Metatron saying this when referring to his outfit and corporation

"This calls for much less attention, though”

This implies the Metatron knows how to blend in - with humans and angels……and demons

But particularly with humans - further proven with the line

"I've ingested things in my time, you know”

Whether or not this is true he is really pushing this in front of Aziraphale and Crowley - clothes and food wonder why - it’s almost like it’s reminiscent of another conversation, one between Aziraphale and Gabriel back in season one at the Sushi restaurant.

Anyway though - the Metatron may not have had the transformation from Enoch but the story is still relevant to who he is as a character - it’s actually a great combination of the two

In season one he only appears as a floating head but I want to start with right before he appears

Four lights come down and four pointed stars start to appear

The thing is I think these are meant to represent our archangel council

The number four and its connection to the Metatron has been sitting in the back of my head for a while now - it's a common grouping in good omens with the horsepeople, the them, the angels, and the demons - but I think it's also a call back to Enoch and the four archangels that guided him, here me out - I mean it’s four colored lights surrounded by stars cmon

The only one missing is Raphael. In season one he is replaced with Sandalphon - who has a special connection to the Metatron with a similar origin story as Enoch and is said to be his twin brother. In season two he is replaced with Saraqael who is also mentioned in the Book of Enoch, one of the only places to do so.

This council though is the last stop before reaching the Metatron - so they have to come first. Four angels at the trial and four (active) angels when he appears in the bookshop. Sensing a theme of needing four angels.

Aziraphale then asks if he is God which is quickly corrected by the Metatron saying he is only the voice and to speak to him is to speak to God which then Aziraphale calls him a presidential spokesperson - and yeah that all tracks for what we know to be his role, just no mention of the other things he is in charge of

Which let’s take a quick break to point out that the Metatron is supposed to guide souls into Heaven - Heaven is very much empty, where are you taking them our dark clothed angel hmmm?

Season two though we really get a look into his character

In the trial we get to see a bunch of floating heads and yet his is still different, as he has no body. He is still concealed with no corporation - behind that curtain

Now we have two instances of this both in Heaven and Earth - not something we see with anyone else who all have a corporation to move about - besides when Aziraphale gets discorporated but even then he is still shown with his whole see-through body. So here is that special interface playing out - his way of showing his position off and maintaining an air of mystery

An interesting thing to note during his speech is him saying that for one prince of heaven to be cast down to hell makes for a good story - in the habit of telling stories about fallen angels there Metatron?

Now we’ve analyzed the coffee shop scene to death and I don’t particularly have anything to add so we are just going to keep truckin

But the bookshop - the bookshop tells us so much.

He walks in and hardly anyone recognizes him - only Crowley and Saraqael. And this makes sense, he’s in a corporal form - out from behind the curtain. The thing that made him special, that put him above other archangels - he’s removed it. They’ve probably never felt his full essence and it’s not like it’s going to set off alarm bells when they are the same rank as you, essentially. Then Crowley describes him in terms he knew Aziraphale (and others) would recognize - finally cluing everyone in 

But why Crowley and Saraqael? What makes them special?

I’ll admit I don’t have a clear answer for Saraqael - for why they are different. Only a theory that they are one of the angels that he has keeping an eye on the angelic deeds he was told to keep track of - perhaps even the corporations that are being used, when one is needed and whatnot

Crowley though is a Fallen Angel - the series goes through great lengths to stress this point - this term. You may remember that this is the term used in Enoch to describe the Watchers. The group of angels that turned away from God and Enoch then had to inform them of their fate.

It’s been sprinkled in throughout the series that Crowley only ever asked those “damn fool” questions and went his “own way” with hints that those questions were never asked to God. Which leaves the Metatron. The Metatron who Crowley has seen.

"Oh I know you. Last time I saw you, you were a big, floating giant head, mind.”

The last time implying there was a Before - before the beginning perhaps.

So let’s say God gives this criteria of what qualifies as a rebelling angel which then the Metatron is supposed to carry out the acts of punishment - except he’s an angelic scribe not a fighter so he gives this confrontation job to fellow archangels, let’s say Michael, and tells them this what God told them to do, while he works on the way to make it actually stick - through the Book of Life and finally activating the threat of this book by crossing the angels out causing them to lose their names, their status, their place in paradise

and then comes in this pretty high ranking angel, a prince perhaps, asking these questions that just happen to fit into this criteria but different in the way that they don’t want it all to end and you still turn him away

(I’m probably going to do a whole other thing about the connection between Crowley and the Metatron but for the sake of not derailing this post even more I’m just going to move on)

The Book of Life - The Metatron is said to be the angel that writes in it - records all the names of the beings doing good deeds in both Heaven and Earth. He hears all, sees all, and he’s going through past exploits. And yet has only just recently made a move - he truly is a King

He immediately calls Michael out for their “you’ll be erased from existence” spew saying they don’t have the authority for that and sending them away - implying he does have the authority and he’s here to offer a way for that not to happen**

And here on out we get to see some interesting characteristics. The Metatron has always been one to offer shallow praise - even back in season one - and he is shown to be openly revered and feared. He has this all seeing - big brother affect on all the angels. He is said to see everything it’s only a matter of what and when he chooses to use it. And use it well he does - he’s manipulative with praise and interest, with the knowledge he reveals. He is also in the nature to wind them up and watch them go. I’d say this is a twisted take on the Patron Angel of Children. 

So when you take out the parts of those two versions of Metatron’s backstory that we know are not canon to Good Omens and mush it all together - this could be a narrative that comes out

But I want to take a quick dip back into his clothes before rounding this off. He is dressed in darker colors, usually associated with demons, there is just no way to ignore this. An angel with duality written into their clothes - An angel that can go into Hell - An angel that is supposed to guide souls to Heaven and yet there are none but there is an overflow in Hell - An angel that created the back channels.

Now hear me out - I know we are heading into a crack theory area.

Back in season one when Michael brings forward the pictures of Aziraphale and Crowley they say they got them from the Earth observational files - something that the Metatron would be in charge of as the angel tasked with the Book of Life - and ask Gabriel to use the back channels already knowing they were going to.

Michael is the only angel we really see have any connection to these back channels, through the phone and actually going down to Hell. Michael is also very quick to take up the Supreme Archangel spot without explicit permission, a role apparently the Metatron is able to assign. It almost like the Metatron has given them special permission before….

Why would Metatron have use for those back channels though? Well gotta put those human souls somewhere, not that he particularly wants to deal the predictable and dim humans - and why not make sure all plans are running smoothly for the inevitable next War.

There is also this concept called the Humbling of the Metatron - has it already happened or is that where we are heading? All I know is we have a lying***, manipulative, exploitative Angel on our hands

and I truly think that he has made his moves and revealed his cards - it’s only putting it all together

**I really don’t think the Metatron has access to this book like he is foretold to have, like he acts like he does - at least not anymore

***When he orders the coffee he asks for a dash of almond syrup but when telling Aziraphale he says a hefty jiggle - such a weird thing to lie about there Metatron

————————————————————————

This series is mainly just going to be exploring the character that is The Metatron with pretty much every route possible. I’m not trying to say which is the correct conclusion because this character could really go in any direction. This is just for fun. I tired to get all the religious stuff as correct as possible but there is always the room for error, things I’ve missed, etc

but anyway for the next part we are going to dive into another big influence over our series and characters, as Crowley calls them - Occult Forces.

part 2 is out!!

[hikennosabo]

#tristampparty day 8, episode 8: our home

okay i was very busy (read: distracted) today so i'm posting this late but LET'S GOOOO

let's start out with some psychic damage targeting me personally 👍 my heart hurts so much already

thinking about how both young vash and nai relate to food... they have opposite needs, but it must be an isolating experience for both of them. nai is different from vash and rem, vash is different from nai and other plants... they're both in between humans and plants without really belonging to either.

nai specifically, though... he doesn't seem happy that rem made him food, but it might be equally isolating if he was the only one who didn't get served food... so it's awkward either way. rem did the best she could.

what if i died right now

the geranium on the table... is it... i wonder... if rem put it there for tesla...

LOOK AT HIM HES SO HAPPY AND HE LOVES HIS MOM SO MUCH :((((((((

i don't know what it is but something about the footprints is getting to me, man. the way that nai's go on ahead of vash...

is it the composition maybe. nai's footprints leading down to the bottom of the frame... down... fallen angel... etc etc am i just making things up- no i'm right. i'm right.

brad is the one who noticed vash... even though he acted pretty hostile to him for a while after... he's the one who saved him... i wonder if that's some of the reason for his hostility? like if vash did turn out to be dangerous brad would have been the one responsible... idk

also brad is voiced by junichi suwabe my beloved

this has gotta be an orange original, right? we never learn how plants are made in the manga...

"sinners"... i've heard that word before... wait a sec...

here!! the EoM broadcast right at the start of episode 5!! what does it mean...

why would scientists call themselves Sinners, as like a formal(?) group name(??) is it because they know they're playing god by studying plants? i wonder about the radio program, too. here it could simply be referring to humanity as a whole, but then why the capital S? conrad is the one who ties this all together... the "team leader," huh...

"plant research," huh...

(insert "she should've been at the club" joke here)

much to think about. lying about nai being dead yes but. not the only thing he's keeping from them. "just one" more independent?

brad is so mean sometimes, lol... tbh i think they really nailed his personality. his role in the story and his relationship with vash are both very different than in the manga but he's still recognizably brad, and i think that's cool. it shows orange really understands the core of his character.

it's probably natural that this is the first question she asks, but it's also kind of mean... not on purpose ofc, but it probably hurts a lot for him to be asked that, especially now...

also vash isn't eating again. his unhealthy relationship with food... not eating as a form of self-harm... when we got reminded just at the beginning of this episode that it's something he needs to do. i remember reading a meta post a while back about his relationship with food but idk if i have it in me to try and find it right now...

once again glad i can watch this in hd so i can notice that vash covers his ears when luida says this hahahahahaha (<- in pain)

we see the one on the left the most so we need to look at the other family photos for a second. they're so cute what the heck... rem's big smile in the bottom right one... and i see both vash and nai are right-handed... *jots that down*

wasn't there a theory post about vash's number tally on the walls. i don't remember what it said.

she asked "who did this" so she knew it wasn't something like a computer error. Did She Know.

ohhh sister i'm so sorry but no they will not be

this is such a blink-and-you-miss-it, but brad shielding vash from this guy is really sweet. because as we've seen the other residents of the ship haven't exactly been nice to vash. brad's been mean too but he's just... a tsundere, really.

sorry this post lacks substance, there is probably a lot more to say but my brain just isn't working at full capacity and i need to go to bed

mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah. up until now the only clear, non-obstructed shots of nai's face were from when he was a little kid. he's still young here, and the shot itself is pretty dark, but here he is... the boy...

next episode is going to kill me dead! goodnight

[sporesgalaxy]

hi. quastion. i experience religious based delusions that sometimes get made worse when i watch stuff thats about religion (mostly christianity) or has religious undertones/subtext/Whatever (i.e. i cant watch good omens bc itd Do Things to me), if i was interested in getting into trigun should i be careful about this.

Okay so it varies between 1998, Stampede, and Maximum (the manga). Mostly: Yes do be careful. Less so with the animes, though? Sorta? But it depends on your threshhold, which I don't know. Details about each below

•••

Trigun (1998 anime): One major character carries around a giant cross shaped gun all the time. He is a preist, but this is played for laughs mostly; he describes it as a "trade" and seems to just be trying to use confessional as an excuse to raise money for an orphanage. At one point he very truly genuinely prays to God in desperation, and on a few other occassions he offhandedly says Christian ritual phrases. In a flashback, some symbolic parallels are drawn to the Garden of Eden although no characters make the comparison. As far as I can remember, no serious supernatural things occur that are genuinely attributed to Christian entities. It is primarily sci-fi focused. The Angel imagery is very limited, as we only see a battery being one time and it is...not super well drawn. They are mostly offscreen. Vash and Knives' transformations are limited to one arm each. The arm appears to have angelic-looking beings on it when transformed, but they look more like statues than genuine living creatures.

Okay Im goin off of memory here so if I missed anything people should feel free to comment etc.

So you didn't mention if it's holy or unholy stuff or both that sets you off, but I'll mention that none of the Trigun adaptations have demons in them. Demons ARE referred to metaphorically, but no literal demons or truly demon-like supernatural entities appear. The monsters are all explicitly man-made, excluding the alien bugs, but those are just bugs not demons. Anyways. Knives is often likened visually to a fallen angel, but not a demon.

Trigun Stampede (newer anime): Cross gun guy is still there, but his devotion to God is depicted as even less genuine (mostly unacknowledged). This one also uses stereotypical religious cult tropes. We hear someone on the radio preach about doomsday in Christian-like terms, and Knives is addressed by his followers as a messiah. There is one instance where a child sacrifice dies, and it miraculously changes the weather; the cult responsible seems like an offshoot of Christianity. Knives and Vash are referred to by their caretaker as angels sent by God in a flashback. There are angel-like wings sprouted by Vash and Knives in the finale. The Angel-like battery beings look much more like normal non-holy aliens in this one.

Trigun Maximum (the manga): the MOST Christian. Cross Gun guy is still there. Has his desperate genuine prayer to God moment. The battery beings look VERY much like Angels, are likened to angels by characters repeatedly with what reads as genuine reverence, and they have incredibly strong, miraculous-seeming supernatural powers that we see demonstrated multiple times. These beings are stated to have been created by humans somehow, but they are often treated as miraculous and inscrutable by humans in the present because the science that created them has been lost. Even in flashbacks, it is implied that these beings are not fully understood by human scientists, giving their apparent "miraculousness" more weight. There is a scene where Vash is extremely depressed, watchingna sermon in a church, and he wonders how God could ever forgive him. The angel imagery in the finale is cranked up to 11, as many supernatural ohenomena are caused by the angel-like battery beings, as well as Knives and Vash in angelic winged forms.

[thesherrinfordfacility]

Absolute crack notes from the Book of Enoch (Metatron) but the 'Aziraphale was meant to fall' theory and how AWCW might tie into that invokes it for me. With all the discussions about scapegoats and how Aziraphale is responsible for introducing War to humans. Christianity normally holds that the Fall happened long before humans were created, but Enoch presents a different origin for fallen angels and the sins of man: the "fallen angel" Azazel (a name you might recognize from the two goats story in Leviticus) is said to be blamed for all evil in the world, because he teaches mankind how to make weapons and instructs them in the arts of warfare and magic. Man wasn't capable of sinning before Azazel and his cohorts taught them wickedness. As punishment for this, God sends the Archangel Raphael to bind Azazel and imprison him until the Day of Judgement, upon which he'll be cast into a "lake of fire". This definitely means nothing but also it's really funny to me.

on the contrary i think it means a heck of a lot, anon!!!✨ the scapegoat story is literally like a chicken on a spinning rotisserie in my brain 24/7, im so sure that it is going to play some kind of part in explaining aziraphale and crowley's background.

i have read leviticus 16 so many times and still no clearer on azazel, because i think (?) it has been interpreted in so many ways, but the main ones ive gleaned are either:

meaning the literal place where the scapegoat was sent to wander, which is more in-keeping with the original passage from leviticus itself, or

meaning it was for the fallen angel azazel, as seen in book of enoch?

so if we look to the second option in apochrypha, book of daniel makes reference to the watchers as a particular type of angel. enoch goes on to describe that there were good and bad watchers. azazel as a fallen angel taught warfare to the humans, and enoch includes them as one of the 20 bad watcher leaders (along with kokabiel and baraqiel, interestingly), and also according to enoch, as you say, bound azazel and cast him into the desert:

10:4: And again the Lord said to Raphael: 'Bind Azâzêl hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dûdâêl, and cast him therein.

5: And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see light.

6: And on the day of the great judgement he shall be cast into the fire.

7: And heal the earth which the angels have corrupted, and proclaim the healing of the earth, that they may heal the plague, and that all the children of men may not perish through all the secret things that the Watchers have disclosed and have taught their sons.

8: And the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azâzêl: to him ascribe all sin.

and here we cycle back round to the scapegoat again. now, whether or not this literally happens in GO is up for speculation, but i personally think it's unlikely. that being said, i think something similar could happen. let's somewhat hc this:

aziraphale tells AWCW about the plans for the stars, makes crowley start asking questions

aziraphale cautions against it, but AWCW plows on anyway the moron (affectionate) - but symbolically protects aziraphale from repercussions as shown by him shielding him from the shooting stars (thanks again to 🌙anon for this!!!)

AWCW is spurred on by lucifer et al., and is implicated in the more nefarious rhetoric being spouted by satan

aziraphale is similarly brought into this, insomuch that perhaps AWCW refuses to say who started to make him ask questions and thus protects aziraphale OR aziraphale is in fact implicated for his own part but not as harshly - instead, AWCW is punished heavily and can't quite protect aziraphale despite best efforts

(this would also echo two things - the potential "aziraphale was/is/will be raphael" theory, and the verse in enoch 10:4 that he was the one to 'cast AWCW out')

the fall, and potential memory wipe of it?

aziraphale is 'punished' for his own part by being assigned to eden, cast out somewhat from heaven, but not made to suffer the fall (harking back, for me, to aziraphale being the goat that is cast into the wilderness as described in leviticus - not AWCW who was offered up as the goat for god; both goats forming the complete sacrificial offering although only one is killed)

aziraphale inadvertently introduces the concept of war and destruction to humanity in giving away the sword, which crowley seems to applaud/be impressed by

yada yada GO narrative, right up until aziraphale returning to heaven (which then would echo the islamic call that azazel in fact repented, and was returned to heaven - 🌙anon may correct me?)

and when the day of judgement finally happens presumably in s3... aziraphale is given the ultimatum to cast crowley "into fire", in order to rid humanity of all the sin on earth (looking to enoch 10:7-8 here)?

lastly, going back to the whole aziraphale-and-crowley-were-meant-to-be-the-same-person-originally thing... what if they symbolically were in fact just that? both azazel and raphael, and neither of them also, maybe not literally the same angel split in two, but literally mirrors of each other in their narrative?

there are so many loopholes and missing detail in this, i know - and it probably doesn't make a lick of sense, to boot - but this possibility is so exciting for me!!!✨

[male--byleth]

valkyrie should sing more ali project songs. miwaku geki and sei shounen yuugi aren't enough for me anymore I NEED MORE !!

I'm so excited for the upcoming yuukyou seishunka cover w/akatsuki BUT ITS JUST MAKES ME THINK OF MORE SONGS THAT I WANT COVERS OF TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Such as the openings for the anime Rozen Maiden the group did, that anime is LITERALLY perfect, all about dolls and them wanting to reach perfection.

The first seasons song and its second seasons song would fit perfectly. The special's song style doesn't fit as well as the previous ones but this songs lyrics are my favorite out of all of them so I figure I'd still mention it. There is also the remake's opening and although that songs bangs, the lyrics are NOT Valkyrie-like and that is all I shall say.

Also should point out of this picture of the main singer holding a doll of one of the characters in the anime... Sure looks familiar huh....

There is also the other ending for Code Geass (the anime that used yuukyou seishunka) made by Ali project, found here. I apologize for the lack of English lyrics, a translation can be found here.

The lyrics aren't exactly spot on with Valkyrie since the imagery uh, shows more of a nurturing role than something that rules b/c they are powerful. But some of the lyrics such as:

"The world of man is ogreish; what might justice be?"

-

"The mudra of revelation; what might truth be?"

And my favorite,

"O, you chosen princes

Battle: that is your celebratory throne"

When I see this lyric, I connect it to the "princes" being Shu and Mika attempting to take back their throne from fine in Yumenosaki (the battle being their performances).

Even the more motherly lines I mentioned, though not the... exact wording I think Valkyrie would take, but the idea of Valkyrie being an all knowing entity, its beauty impossible to match.

"Ah, I am the beautiful omniscience

The loving mother who birthed you"

-

"Ah, I am the beautifully elegant virtue

The mother's love that nourishes you"

The next song I want to mention is the opening for the anime Kamichama Karin. I've never watched it but from a quick synopsis read, it's about a middle schooler who finds out she can transform into a goddess. Ali project has a pattern with their older songs lyrics if you haven't noticed, they all revolve around all mighty power or have some gothic themes.

The song focuses with the singer being a "goddess" and the listener being a "devil". The goddess talks of all the evil in the world and that it is impossible for the listener to ever reach heaven.

"The wings of a butterfly

Or even the saliva of the angels

Won't take you

to an unseen paradise"

(me when butterfly imagery)

"My body splits apart

And I’ll reunite with a fragment in heaven

We’re demigods"

I LOVEEEE this line. When related to Valkyrie, interpreting this lyric as the goddess being the group itself, as if it is an entity (as it has been referred to in canon before). Valkyrie splits into two parts and they meet again in heaven as demigods.

I will admit though. Part of the reason I want this song covered is because I would love to hear Shu and Mika sing the lyrics Darling and Honey. I would like that very much :) it's time for Shu to say darling, isn't it?

Now for the last song I'll talk about, A Declaration of War Against Fallen Heaven.

Based of the title, you probably see where I'm going with this. There is so much in this song that you can point out my god.

"Our true selves, unknown to anyone,

are the ones capable of changing this dwindled world."

I'm not sure if analysing is even worth it.

"Resist! Even if we writhe in pain from repeated defeats,

onto the scars covering our bodies, let's engrave our dreams.

In order prevent our present memories from being buried,

we must head towards tomorrow."

Just READ it.

"Holding on to our elegant frailty,

can it be that we're merely botched dolls

from God's work of artistic creation?"

Ali Project really liked dolls huh?

"Fight! Our confluent cries will be our oath.

The strength we have brought together

is even more sacred than love."

This has Raisanka vibes. Actually no every Ali Project song has Raisanka vibes I'm not gonna lie.

For honorable mentions: Kotodama reminds me of Ex-Valkyrie tons. The bands most popular song, Kyomu Desen, and the anime is used for does relate to dolls which is always a plus.

Here is a playlist of all the songs I mentioned plus some other other songs that I didn't mention but still love!

I'm SOOOOOOOO happy for the upcoming cover song, I truly do love both the game and this group dearly and seeing them come together again after years is a wish come true!!!! Thank you for reading if you did ^^ I appreciate you

[mask131]

Dante’s Hell: The bottom of Hell

Before moving on to the next parts of Dante’s Hell, I want to insist on something I haven’t clearly spelled out before… But in the poem it is make clear that Hell, the Christian Hell depicted by Dante, is the same dimension as the Greco-Roman Underworld. When Theseus and Hercules went into the Underworld, they actually just went into Hell – but a Hell that didn’t have yet all of the sinners it has now since, before Christ’s death, all souls went to Limbo and the other circles were empty, or merely filled with the mythological creatures we get to see in Inferno (Furies, Medusa, Cerberus, etc…).

 XV) The Giants

As our duo arrives at the end of the Eighth Circle, through the murky mist and thick darkness Dante identifies what looks to him like the great towers of a city… Only for Virgil to inform him that these are not towers, but Giants, who stand in the “Well” that is between the Eighth and Ninth Circle – their feet resting at the bottom of Hell and their bodies appearing at the border of the Eighth from the navel upward. Now, what does Dante means by “Giant”? Well, he uses this term to cover both the Greco-Roman “giants” (Giants and other affiliated big-sized monsters “sons of the earth”) and the Biblical “giants” (in the Biblical myth, it is believed that there were giants that existed in the early times of Earth, mostly but not all wiped out by the Great Flood), united here in their “evilness”, as both were seen as hostile, monstrous, destructive species that had to be wiped out. In Dante’s own words, it is because, unlike other “natural” giants like elephants or whales, which just had “brute force” and great size, these Giants had too the gift of “intellect” and an “evil will”, which made them true threats.

The first giant they meet belongs to the “Biblical giant” category – it is Nimrod, the man responsible for the creation of the Babel Tower, and the resulting divine punishment of not two men speaking the same language on Earth. Nimrod has a special punishment in this pit: he is now doomed to speak nonsensical gibberish no one understands, while not understanding the words anyone says – as a reference to the outcome of the Babel Tower. Whenever he is angry, all he can do is blow in some horn he wears around his neck, which causes a great, loud noise. The second giant the duo encounters is Ephialtes from pagan myths, who, for his “rebellion against the almighty Jove and the gods” is now bound with heavy chains twisting his limbs so that he may not move anymore – Virgil mentions Briareus is also suffering from the same punishment. The thing to understand here is that Dante (the author) creates a parallel between the Biblical and Pagan Giants: both are seen as figures that rebelled against a form of divinity and were punished for it. Dante identifies Nimrod’s Babel Tower, a rebellion against the God of the Ancient Testament, with the Gigantomachy and the various Giant rebellions against Jupiter/Jove, ruler of the Roman gods (and while Virgil name-drops the “gods” in plural, there is a clear focus on Jupiter/Jove, making him somewhat the Roman incarnation of the one the Hebrew would call their God). It is another attempt to unite the Inferno’s rivalling sources, Biblical and pagan traditions, with this very prominent concept of the Greco-Romans as being “proto-Christians”.

PLUS, Dante also places a high focus on the motivation of this rebellion: arrogance. Nimrod’s actions, with the Babel Tower, are highlighted as “prideful”, and the Babel Tower stays one of the most famous Biblical fables tied to “the pride before the fall” ; and similarly, Ephialtes’ rebellion against Jove is said to have been born out of an arrogance making him try to match Jove’s power. This all is meaningful in two ways… One, this makes the Giants aligned with the various fallen angels of Hell – who rebelled against God and were punished for it – especially with Lucifer/Satan, THE embodiment of rebellious pride and vicious arrogance, that is located right beyond the Well of Giants. In fact, many people have pointed out that Dante (the character) mistaking the giants for a “city with great towers” is meant to evoke the Walls of Dis, with their great towers, and filled by the various fallen angels and demons. Second, this shows that despite Dante stopping the “seven deadly sins” list at the Walls of Dis, seemingly forgetting the last two vices – he actually still has them in Hell. It is just that Envy and Pride are widespread among the various sins of Malice, and here the Giants embody these two vices perfectly well.

Virgil finally reaches the third giant and the one he wanted to see in the first place: one that can “speak and is not chained”, unlike the previous two, Antaeus (who is apparently in a similar situation to Tityus and Typhon. Virgil says  that these giants are not chained because they did not participate in the “rebellion of the sons of the earth”, aka Greek Giants, against the gods/Jupiter, but still went to Hell for their other various crimes – however, if you know your Greek myth, you know Typhon definitively would be chained… But Dante had a very medieval grasp of the ancient myths, through the prism of both exclusive access to the Roman texts and massive Christian readings of all these texts – so a very… bizarre grasp (the same one that makes him identify Briareus as “having rebelled against the gods during the Gigantomachy”, for some reason).  After bribing Antaeus with some flattery (Virgil promising that Dante will spread the giant’s fame and glory on earth, again some sin of pride here), the giant agrees to take them in his hands and lower them through the dark abyss that is the Pit/Well of Giants, so that they may end up in the ninth and last Circle of Hell…

XVI) The Ninth Circle: Treachery

We have arrived at the last of the Circles of Hell. The Ninth Circle. The smallest of them all, but reserved for the worst of sinners. We are at the bottom of Hell, where the devil dwells. Here, all the rivers of Hell pour into one giant lake, the Lake Cocytus (which IS the Ninth Circle, the same way the Styx marshes ARE the Fifth Circle). Cocytus is however constantly frozen due to the low temperatures and high, cold winds of the area – so you walk on ice rather than earth. This was Dante’s own little play on the very popular and widespread conception of Hell as a place of eternal fire and constant burning – a belief as much in actual Christian religion than in folk customs and popular art. He did play this concept fully with the City of Dis and other places of Hell – but for the very heart of the infernal realm, he decided to do a full reverse and rather have a land of eternal coldness and painful ice. An ice even said to be “more like glass” than actual ice, due to how it doesn’t crack or breaks in any place – it is a perfectly smooth, translucid “endless plain” of glass-like ice. And this ice is the punishment of the sinners, as they are stuck in it, unable to move, suffering the consequences of the extremely low temperatures and freezing winds.

And what is the sin of these damned souls? Treachery. Now treachery is similar to Fraud, in that it is the act of deceiving, tricking, cheating, lying, falsifying, stealing, etc, etc… BUT there is a big difference that Dante is clear about. Fraud is basically deceit towards people that did not place their trust in you. A thief steals from persons he doesn’t know ; a maker of false-money cheats out a system, etc etc… But Treachery, however, is what happens when you commit fraud on someone who expressly placed their faith and trust in you. It is betrayal, and for Dante it is the worst form of evil a man can commit, because while Fraud destroys the “bond of love” that is “natural” and innate between two members of the same species, here two humans, Treachery destroys a special, “extra” bond of trust and love that is not natural but rather made between two specific individuals – and thus to be cherished much more than the simple natural trust between two humans.

Similarly to the Seventh Circle, the Ninth Circle is divided into four “rings”, each of them covering a different form of treachery and betrayal depending on who was the victim of it – the outer ring being the “least worst” treachery, the inner ring the “worst of the worst”. Keep in mind that through this travel, Dante throws in some heavy commentaries about the own civil war, political struggles and social betrayals he witnesses and live through in his life, and putting this into context explains the specific hierarchy he makes here. The outer ring is called “Caina” (after Cain, who killed his brother) and is dedicated to those who were traitors to their family – they are plunged waist-deep into the ice, their upper-body bowing against the strong winds, their teeth constantly chattering. The second ring is Antenora (named after Antenor, the Trojan warrior who betrayed his city to the Greeks during the Trojan war), where the sinners are plunged neck-deep into the ice, their faces “purple with cold”, for they were traitors to their country, their city, or their political party.

The third ring is called Ptolomea (after Ptolemy who killed his father-in-law and brothers-in-law to a feast and killed them ; or maybe after Ptolemy XII for the murder of Pompey) – it is where the traitors to their guests, who broke the sacred law of hospitality, are sent. Only their face pokes out of the ice, constantly stuck contemplating the dark void above the circle, and the harsh winds making their tears turn into ice right into their eyes… Interestingly, by speaking with one of the shades there, the Pilgrim/Wanderer learns that Ptolomea (or Tolomea) is a specific zone of Hell where the souls can end up BEFORE their natural death (evoked here as the work of Atropos, one of the three Moirai/Parcae) – indeed, if someone ends up betraying by breaking the sacred vow of hospitality, sometimes their living souls ends up in Ptolomea while a demon from Hell goes to the surface and inhabits the body of the betrayer… As for the final, inner Ring, it is Judecca, named after Judas – the Ring of those who betrayed their lords, their benefactors and their saviors, punished by being completely frozen into the ice, unable to move. Some are parallel to the surface, other perpendicular with their head or feet up, some even have their bodies “curved” like bows... As all their love in its warmth and life had been destroyed in life, they are now frozen, mute and immobile in eternal coldness, forever…

 XVII) Lucifer

We’ve arrived. The very center of the Ninth Ring, the bottom of Hell. We have arrived… to the one call Dis, Satan or Lucifer. We have arrived to the one who’s fall created this crater that is called “Hell”. We have arrived to the Devil himself.

And… he isn’t sitting on a throne. He is actually stuck in the ice of Cocytus, like the other sinners here. He is stuck in the ice up to his chest, of such an enormous size that even the Giants of the Well could barely match the length of one of his arms, and all the wild, violent, freezing winds of the Ninth Circle, those same ones that keep the ice from returning to water? They are caused by Lucifer’s wings – six huge wings, similar to those of a bat (a parody of the six feathered wings of the seraphim, the supposed highest choir of angels) ; six wings that he constantly flaps around in hope of releasing himself from Cocytus, to no avail. It is something Dante really wanted people to focus on, and his own interpretation of the Christian Devil – he isn’t a king of Hell, he isn’t a true ruler of demons, Hell isn’t his private domain he can do with as he wants. We saw previously in the poem that most of the structure of Hell was ordered by the will and power of God, not by the Devil… Because the Devil was actually the first sinner sent in Hell, the first prisoner of the infernal realm. He is damned, like all of the others, and suffering for his betrayal of God. Dante particularly highly that by showing that Satan is actually constantly weeping… It is “his” Hell yes, as in his eternal punishment, not his “domain”.

Dante also added a very specific and unique aspect to his Devil. “Once the most fair” of all angels, now turned into a “foul” monster by his fall, Dante decided to have the Devil sport three faces on his head, each one a different color: one in the front, bright red, one above his right shoulder, colored a blend of yellow and white, and one other the left shoulder, the color of “the skin of those who live below the river Nile” (aka black). The decision to have Lucifer wear three faces is very clearly a way to show him as a perversion of the Holy Trinity, Christianity’s interpretation of God as manifesting simultaneously through three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The choice of three different colors for the faces has been a subject of debate for a very long time: what would be the meaning of this? Some interpreted these faces as embodying the fundamental sins and manifestations of evil (for example some read it as a manifestation of Aristotle’s tripartite evil as being made of Incontinence, Malice and Bestiality – Dante reused the first two for his Hell hierarchy, and while he mentioned the third category through Virgil’s word, it never appeared in the Circles of Hell) ; other rather chose to see the three faces of Satan as representing the three known continent and human populations at the time (the black face for Africa, made evident by the “Nile” remark ; the pale-yellow face for Asia, and the bright red face for Europe). But the most agreed on and popular theory rather points out that, if the three faces are a parody of the Holy Trinity, then each color must reflect a perversion of the three main features of God. Since God is All-Knowing, the keeper of truth and the highest wisdom in the universe, one face of the Devil represents pure ignorance (black) ; since God is all powerful to the point of omnipotence, a second face represents impotence (the yellowish white) ; and since God is the strongest and purest form of love to exist, the last face represents pure and undiluted hatred (red).

The Devil cannot actually speak because his mouths are full – in each of them is a sinner, that the Devil constantly bites, chews, munches and rips apart, not with his teeth but also with his claws. And the bloody saliva that drips onto the Devil’s chin from this final torture mixes with his tears as they drop to the icy ground of the Cocytus… Who are these sinners? Well none others than the worst traitors of all time, the very embodiment of Treachery itself! On one side you have Judas, aka the one that betrayed the Christ and led to his death – it does make sense that in a Christian Hell he would be seen as the worst of the worst, having betrayed basically God Himself… And on the other side you have Brutus and Cassius. You know, Brutus and Cassius. The guys who plotted to have Julius Caesar murdered. Now you might be wondering: wait, why is the betrayal of Julius Caesar on the same foot as the betraying of Jesus? And if you have been paying attention, you just need to remember what Dante’s mindset is. To take back an image which has been shared a lot on the Internet – Dante was a massive Ancient Rome fanboy. This is why he reused a lot of Ancient Roman literature and legends to create his Hell, and why so many figures of Roman history appear in his Divine Comedy. But to simplify this as just one’s man obsession would be a mistake, because the truth is that it was one NATION’s obsession. We are at the end of the Middle-Ages, at the early times of the Renaissance – an era where the Greco-Roman Antiquity will be “rediscovered” and heralded, among other things, as a golden age of humanity ; but we are especially here in medieval/Renaissance ITALY, which already out of national pride had considered the Roman Empire as THE golden age of Italy, back when it was the greatest and most influential power on Earth, and all Italians glorify this long gone past, or strive to return to it. And Julius Caesar, as the “first of the Roman Emperors” (he wasn’t ACTUALLY an Emperor but he was on his way to become one in all but name, and it was in his honor that the next, actual first emperor of Rome called himself “Caesar”, and that all of the other Emperors also called themselves this), was heralded as a great national and cultural hero, as one of the noblest and best men of Italy AND the founder of the greatest empire and best civilization to have ever been.  Dante here depicts the worst betrayals of history, on both a religious level (Jesus’ betrayal) and historical/civilizational one. This is doubled – well, tripled by two other things to consider. One, Dante’s personal conviction – having lived in a time of civil war and perpetual conflict between independent City-States, Dante hated to see a self-divided, self-destroying Italy, and glorified Ancient Rome as the “great united Italy”. The betrayal of Caesar led to, at least to his knowledge, big first “real” civil war that split Italy and the whole Roman nation into pieces – the civil wars concerned with Caesar’s succession. As such, he considered Brutus and Cassius as the first to have “broken” an unified and pacified powerful Italy. Plus, there is also a Christian conviction here – f you don’t know, the Roman Empire was one of the first nations to convert themselves to Christianity and make it an official, public religion. In fact, it was thanks to the Roman Empire’s conversion to Christianity that the religion could spread so fast so quickly, and it was thanks to the Empire that the very Christian Church rose up as an institution (and it was also because of the split of the Empire that the religion divided itself between Catholic and Orthodox). As a result, in the Christian mindset of the Middle-Ages and the Renaissance, the Roman Empire was seen as the first true Christian nation, and as having been formed by God’s will precisely as a tool and mean to spread Christianity across the known world. There is a whole logic in Christian cultures of the Roman Empire being a proof and manifestation of Providence, and the Roman Emperors having been tolerated or created by God in preparation for the arrival of the true heads of the Church – which is quite funny, because it is a paradoxical logic that also recognized how the fall of the Roman Empire was something also needed and ordered by God’s Will and Providence, due to them needing to pay for their pagan ways, their antagonistic role in Jesus’ time, and the whole thing of being the main persecutors of Christianity for a very long time… It is one of the many paradoxes of Christian culture, but let’s skip it over – let’s just say that for the Christian mindset of the time, the Roman Empire’s formation was seen as something approved and pushed forward by God himself, and as history of the time agrees, Caesar would have been the first Emperor and form the Roman Empire, if not for his brutal and tragic murder – which means, these traitors were seen as also killing a man appointed by God to do a very important and holy task favoring humanity, thus the parallel between Jesus and Caesar…

 XVIII) Getting out of Hell

Okay, so… our duo got the very end of Hell. Now… where do they go? In Dante’s guided tour through the afterlifes, the next destination is Purgatory, but how to escape Hell? Do they have to go all the way back? No!

You see, when the Devil fell on earth from Heaven, it formed a crater, right? It was because earth itself was so reviled and disgusted by the presence of the Devil it “fled” away as much as it could… And so where did all of this “fled earth” went to, as the big crater formed itself? To the other side of the world, where it formed a mountain paralleling the conic form of Hell. And this mountain, the “twin sister” of Hell, became Purgatory, a way to ascend from Earth to Heaven. So Purgatory is found at the exact opposite point on the Earth’s globe to Hell. And due to the formation of one creating the other, there are actually cracks into the very Earth that inter-connect the two – so Dante and Virgil merely crawls through one of these earth-cracks around Lucifer’s falling ground, to them cross throughout the globe to Purgatory.

There is only one thing… these cracks are where Lucifer fell. Aka, they are basically around Lucifer’s body. It is the fact his body got stuck into the earth that caused them. So… to reach them and travel through them, Dante and Virgil actually have to climb down Lucifer’s very own body. Doing so proves itself quite easy however, because Lucifer has a very hairy, almost furry body, and so they can cling onto the Devil’s fur to climb down and down into the Earth… and then up and up. Dante (the author) has a lot of fun playing with the physics of the world as they were thought at the time, and so while at first they go down, towards the center of the Earth, where gravity becomes stronger and stronger, Dante (the character) quickly says to Virgil “Hey wait… We are going back up! We are going backwards! We are in the wrong direction!”, only for Virgil to explain that no, they are going the right way. It is just that the center of the Earth, which is also the gravitational point of the planet, is located around where the Devil’s hips are, so by crossing this, the gravity reverses and so does human perception. While, from the flanks to the waist of the Devil, Dante had the feeling he was climbing down, starting with the Devil’s thigh, he now feels like he is climbing up, and he does – climbing up to the surface, to the other hemisphere, to Purgatory…

[itwoodbeprefect]

911 season 7 episode 2:

we know this man waving a gun around and shooting people is eeeeevil because he says lady captain.

mr. cruise director has the dongle! because he's eeeeevil too. or at least stupid

fjdk i was expecting them to pull a "i'm not a medical doctor" with how this guy was acting, but no, he IS a gp, it's just that for the drama we need bobby to have to tackle this alone

asshole driver: "are you important? do you matter?" fjkdfd. cool it with the existential questions, my guy

"you come at me again, i'll have your badge." "i'm not a police officer." "a- and you won't be anymore either!" smooth save! well done! also love that when chimney says he's not police we see him just turning away from giving hen a confused Look. besties!

ah, of course we need to give hen a guilt complex over a choice she makes as captain.

having a firefighter be in charge of taking care of your gunshot wound is really...... gambling with your life! ba-dum tss!

bobby answering to "are you happy?" with "yeah. yeah, i am." somewhat bafflingly had me close to tearing up. god, i love that for him.

said "nooo" out loud when machine room man followed the cable and opened the door. the poor guy did not deserve that :(

anyway, a bomb! if only starsky and hutch had been on this boat doing tense homoerotic bomb collection in weirdly long sweaty scenes, this could all have been prevented

not at ALL the point here (everything is sad and awkward in understandable ways, i'm not getting into it), but this is such a gorgeous jacket

guy who desperately wants his chips cashed out: "did we hit an iceberg or something?" fjdkfd. do you think they ever play titanic in cruise ship movie theaters, or is that a subtly banned sort of movie? also, second titanic reference in two episodes, together with the comment athena's therapist made! can we get three?

i know the wife guy trope has fallen out of favor, but. bobby is doing it very well.

SO annoying that athena doesn't pick up her phone while she's on a sinking cruise ship taking on duties that the injured captain can't perform. >:(

fdjkf i love that karen is absolutely right when she tells hen that athena and bobby's cruise is going to be totally fine and there's nothing to worry about, except this is the world of People Who Are Involved In Big Giant Emergencies Every Two Weeks, so hen, in worrying way too much, is the one who's actually right. these two episodes are just married couples with one partner WAY overreacting in a way that turns out to be Correct. if things keep going this way in a few more seasons they might start to figure out they're main characters.

now bobby is WET and still looking for his wife. the universe just doesn't want to give this man the normal sweet honeymoon he was trying to have.

"where is she?" "saving the ship." "of course she is." tired wet middle aged golden retriever man considers wishing his wife were a little less heroic: part [insert number here].

fjdkfd. hen on her hunch going straight to the 911 call center, my god.

"you wanted an activity we could do together." taking a wild guess, i'd say this wasn't on bobby's list, but at least you've got some nice mood lighting

they ARE getting me with the bobby/athena scene here. they absolutely are.

also. i can't not think about due south mountie on the bounty at least a little bit. truly impossible not to do that

fjdkfd. always nice if you're a fictional character who does terrible things and then gets a very dramatic chance to prove you're maybe also an okay person

the chief going "YOU can't find their cruise ship?" seems like a deeply correct sort of response to me

fjdjfkdjk. hen looking shocked and upset when the chief tells her that the los angeles fire department isn't responsible for actively looking for ships that haven't sent out any sign of distress and are in an area they're not responsible for in the middle of the ocean, which is also not the fire department's usual sort of thing... that's very funny, very 911.

"i really don't feel like being second-guessed right now" says hen, while following a slightly insane hunch that could cost her her job and probably deserves a little second-guessing. or one-and-a-half-guessing, at least. love you so much, hen, but the only reason this will work out is because you've got writers behind you.

fdjkfdjkfdfd. of COURSE a man had to drop onto the (very pretty!) skylight after the boat turns upside down. we can't be told about a goofy thing athena fears because it happened in a tv movie and then NOT have that pay off at the end of the next episode! wonderful, i love it, this is huge dramatic 911 nonsense at its best. <3

[chaifootsteps]

I just looked at all the new photos

Val with 2 guns-yep that script leak of him comparing them to dicks is probably true (also why is there a poster of himself with guns wtf??)

Vox in front of those TV screens-Jesus dude, my fucking eyes hurt looking at the clash of blue, white, and red

Charlie with drawings-Inside Every Demon is a Rainbow?? She gonna sing that or make a reference to it?

Angel and Husk singing-I don't know what it is, but Angel looks particularly off here.

"Vaggie"-I think her head looks too big/ she looks pretty off. I also had a headcanon she went to Hell because she murdered a r*pist or something. But she's a fallen angel now??? Can't wait to see this bullshit 💀 (also not sure if it's been pointed out but-*female angels named after women's genitals="Vaggie/Vagatha" 😐

Cherri-Why did they post her in her default pose? (Also I'm so sorry to Kendraws, fuck Viv for stealing her design from you)

Charlie/Rosie/Alastor-Where the fuck are your shadows??? This looks so fucking off and stilted?? (Same goes for that shot of Charlie in front of the bar)

Charlie/Alastor-God this should awaken something in me but it doesn't. This shot looks so bad dude. His face/mouth looks so off.

Carmella Carmine and two demons-This shot probably looks the fucking worst. Jesus, just look at how weird this looks.

Angel Dust on the bed-Wtf is this blank expression?? What did they do to you, Angel?? Also him sitting and flipping someone off-thats a weird shot too. I can't explain it but he just looks fucking weird.

Vaggie/Charlie pointing at her-their heads looks so fucking weird dude. Especially Vaggie's. Looks too weird.

Charlie/Lucifer-others are saying this too, but he looks (and sounds) like Charlie's older brother and not her father. Also... too much red. Why is he coated in fucking red???

The only shots I like?

Sir Pen, Vaggie hanging off the boat, Alastor w/horns/talking at his radio station, Niffty, the shot of the whole gang, Angel next to Niffty (his facial expression looks good here).

Dude... what the fuck is this. 4+ years of this?? I hope fans come to their senses and realize that these Same Face Syndrome Characters, overabundance of reds/pinks/whites, nauseating colors and camera work, animation errors, and garbage writing (based off script leaks) were not worth it, and all the money they spend on Amazon or merch, is not fucking worth it.

Guaranteed Viv spent most of the money on her precious Broadway actors to skimp on the animation (probably paid out of her own pocket too) THE THING SHE CLAIMS TO CARE AND LOVE THE MOST ABOUT.

Ashley, Michael, and everyone else, you guys dodged a massive bullet. I can't wait for this soulless train wreck to get mocked mercilessly online and Viv throws the biggest fit of her life, ruining her career.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/hazbin-hotel-first-look-images-225924646.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHIjNqT0Jl_o-7-J3SHfddhr6J3nY3tqTd0ZdFImOs5jWYkh8qBlletTxbblu_dCrlewlryngDHkWqH33Cjhfx2Y7jGg_o2zb7cLstBTafmLx9rQxYQjcZC7FzDiwcFdZTA5VtQXeiCuOFtqohyXx6_0LcwqBQMDFwpPW5qC8scX

That moment can't come soon enough.

[aeoki]

Seven Bridges - Epilogue 2

Location: Tanabata Stage Characters: Hitsugi

Hitsugi: It’s an area I’m interested in and I personally want to know some things, so I’m looking into it. I’m investigating things that people want to pretend never happened, things people are trying to hide; in order words, they’re things that are like the occult.

It’s the sort of occult stories that the adults would scoff at – There’s this sort of story amongst the Seven Mysteries of Yumenosaki.

A long, long time ago…

There was an amazing and superior idol.

He was like a god.

That idol temporarily worked as a teacher at a school created for idols and by idols – at Yumenosaki Academy.

They say it was to train his successor or to develop his own idol philosophy? His own idol theory?

Or they say he was there to plant those things into the minds of children. There are a lot of reasons people came up with for why he was there.

The idol who became a teacher found an unpolished gem that could be an amazing idol like him, or even better.

The two of them loved idols and were obsessed with them, so they studied and practised hard every single day in order to be the best idol out there.

It was an irreplaceable time of youth for them both.

But several tragedies would cause their youth to end in ruin.

The idol was like an angel that god kept polishing and polishing, but they ultimately lost their life at the hands of a conspiracy afterwards.

The stage where their youth was set – Yumenosaki – sunk underground due to the ground sinking on one occasion.

It seems it caused a lot of damage. It’s a disaster just like any other, after all. Some people said they suffered minimal losses for something that was on the receiving end of “god’s wrath”, though.

That’s right. It was a local disaster and everything else but Yumenosaki was completely fine.

The information has been controlled to the point you could call it unnatural, so almost none of the locals remember the incident.

In any case, the soil piled up on top of the old Yumenosaki school building that’s sunk underground, acting like a lid and a hill was created.

Then, a new school was built on top of that strong foundation.

That’s the current Yumenosaki.

Of course, the “old school” that sunk underground was forgotten along with the sorrow. For ages and ages.

The only remnant was the cenotaph built on the surface. It’s one of the Seven Mysteries of Yumenosaki, The Odd Cenotaph.

There’s this message written in Latin on it:

“Mourn our star that has fallen to the earth.”

I didn’t understand what it meant at the beginning. I misunderstood and thought a meteorite had fallen onto the area.

I thought a huge meteorite fell here and a lot of people died, so they built a cenotaph for that. There are those sorts of legends about this region, after all.

But, for some reason, I had a feeling the star they mentioned referred to an idol. The idol that was like an angel – one who was loved by god.

That was the monument god erected for the idol he loved. On the outside, it was covered up by saying it was built for the victims of the disaster.

Maybe it’s a grave erected for the person they loved the most.

There were rumours that say the spirits of the dead are seen visiting the cenotaph on a regular basis, although it’s stopped now.

There is incense lit and there are obvious traces that a memorial service was held for someone.

That’s also very intriguing, though! Ghosts that visit graves! It sounds suspicious and I love it!

…Afterwards, there were a slew of sad incidents that happened at Yumenosaki. Apparently, there were students who jumped off the rooftop as their dreams didn’t come true.

The cenotaph was then used to grieve idols whose souls were broken into pieces.

Most of the students now don’t know about the disaster that happened in the past and they don’t think the cenotaph was built because of that.

The disaster – the tragedy – became a complete fairy tale from ages past.

The cenotaph simply became a sign of bad luck, just like how the people who committed suicide at Yumenosaki were something etched into their dark past, the management behind the academy started seeing it as an eyesore.

That’s why they got rid of it, attaching a lot of reasons behind it.

Sweep the troubles under the carpet and turn a blind eye to the dreadful things…

But maybe that was what’s “correct”. If they put away the things they don’t like into the deep reaches of the darkness…

As long as new generations emerge and the times change, then it will really disappear without a trace.

It’s better that bad things don’t exist in this world.

But, you know, Senpai… I don’t like that. Ghosts shouldn’t be something that’s scary and creepy.

A disaster happened. A tragedy happened. But there must have been a lot of glorious things in the past that we should love.

It’s sad to lump everything together and treat it as if it never happened. 

That’s why I’ll collect “those things” that have been turned into ominous ghosts – the things that make people squeeze their noses shut and look away. I’ll treasure them.

That’s my promise to my sister when she was alive.

And that’s what I genuinely want to do.

…Oh, sorry for talking about things that are hard to understand. They’ve got nothing to do with you, huh.

I’m sorry for being bad at talking! Basically, what I’m trying to say is, uhh, the thing that takes on the form of the cenotaph was bound to be destroyed someday!

It was bound to be destroyed without any ill intentions behind it, like what happened this time!

But there are things that were left behind, even if they’re fleeting like ghosts…

I’ll collect those things and remember them.

But I’m not smart and don’t have much confidence in my memory.

So I want to tell a lot of people and have them remember it too. In order to make that happen, I had to get to work while you were asleep, Anzu-senpai. I’m sorry.

If they get angry with you later, you can just tell them it was all my fault, okay?

But, depending on it turns out, that Narukami person might feel a bit better about it all.

I hope that’s the case. After all, that’ll mean I also helped a little to protect the thing that you were trying to protect, Anzu-senpai.

It’ll mean I was able to repay you, even just a little.

It makes me feel like I’ve done something slightly significant as your ally – as your fellow “producer”.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ← Previous Chapter ᠂ ⚘ ˚⊹˚ ⚘ ᠂  Next Chapter →