#yahweh vs the leviathan

[shallowseeker]

Levianthan blossoms as hearts

Leviathan blossoms as the heart of creation, ugly and born of destruction

The Leviathan blossoms ARE hearts. They're three-pronged hearts. Wrapped in husks (bodies), with blood-red centers (heart/soul). Look closely, and each Levianthan blossom sports three chambers. It's reptilian, like the Leviathan sea serpents, like the heart of an (Immortal) Snake.

WARNING: Gore (Ketch's heart getting ripped out, mainly)

Like the triparted road that has become the "heart" of our narrative, the Leviathan blossom also symbolizes what's left of Team Free Will: Sam, Dean, Cas:

These are familial flowers, signifying the eternal message that family makes you stronger, but it also makes you vulnerable.

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Hearts are delicious?

Everywhere you look in season 15, Gods and Angels are consuming hearts. Hearts are a classic food of the Gods. (Nectar, ambrosia are legendary as well, and they're after nectar for their spell.) Also, in some versions of Biblical literature, it is the body of the Leviathan that God uses both to feed his chosen ones in the Wilderness and/or create Earth & Heaven.

(1) Ardat kills Ketch by taking his heart. She does this once his heart becomes strong and courageous--once he refuses to give up his friends. (2) The witch screams, "I'll grind your heart to dust." (3) Jack devours a heart.

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Leviathan flowers + the miracle of death, decay, and rebirth

So. Sprung forth from the Leviathan body of God's oldest enemy, this is the fruit that would allow them to Cage God. It's a betrayal in every sense of the word. It's using the miracle of death, decay, and rebirth against Him.

///

Cas + the little heart he saved

Even though all the other familial hearts were destroyed (reduced to ashes, in fact), Cas saved this one. He stole this little heart, and he fought for it. "Once I had the blossom, I fought." (The blossom was timed to the prayer. The blossom is, in many ways, symbolic of the prayer, too.) It's also the mixtape. He heard it.

///

Later in the episode, we cut to where the blossom is being prepared for the Mark Spell. And two lobules are mostly missing. One is entirely missing, and one is open and weeping, mortally wounded. It resembles a dissected aorta. Only one is intact.

Two hearts are being crushed by this pestle, though only the blood of one party is being spilled.

Cas has saved it, but he's doomed its happiness.

///

Even when you win, you lose

When Sam chooses not to smash the globe, Sam isn't just losing hope. He's choosing not to break Dean and Cas's hearts. Because that's what winning will do.

*looks between them, on the cusp of realizing something*

"I can't. I'm sorry, I just can't." Even when you win (war), you lose so much that it no longer feels like victory.

///

Too bad Chuck was always going to crush them. (How's that for pacifism, eh, Sam?)

Starting with those two.

Cas.

And Dean.

Note the grace-like smoke emission of the orb, as well as the meaty gruesomeness of its guts.

Kill the story by weakening its heart.

[shallowstories]

The story of the chicken and the black snake

NOTES FOR LATER:

1. Fun substitution stories: It bears a lot of similarities to the story of Zeus and the stone substitution. Zeus was supposed to be killed soas not to challenge ranking deity, who kept eating and damning any and all rival gods to his cosmic belly. Cosmic kings eat their rivals and their children in order to grow in power. The goal is to damn them to food, to becoming sources OF power, not challenges TO power.

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2. Ineffective usurper God narratives: Cas tried to muster up "godly/creative" power by following the footsteps of cosmic paidophagy. By swallowing the Purgatorial souls and Leviathans, he became the black snake, and like all aggressive gods that try to entomb power by consuming others' children, he would arouse the mother's anger and fail.

The devilishly clever mother, knowing the usurper God is not efficiently boundless as she is, and is not strong enough Void, plants and incites a battle from within. This deception is typically wrought by enticing the predator to swallow poison (or a stone or a hardboiled egg), or by imbuing the children with secret strength to allow them to violently burst forth and overpower their father. So it was with Primordial Eve, hiding her her "bomb" from within, that would tear the inefficient God asunder.

Ergo, the Leviathans are the egg, Eve/Tiamat is the chicken, and Cas was the black snake in whose corpse the hidden children would feast upon. God overcome.

It's a cheeky reference to what Yahweh/or other culture hero god did to them, exploding and feasting upon the bodies of Leviathan as world nourishment to "create the world." Castiel's sundering is symbolically "Zeus as ineffective container" (or "Kronos as ineffective container"), bursting forth in an extremely violent reversal of Yahweh's original Leviathan victory. Cas can rouse chaos. But as "Heaven/Sky only," he cannot contain it.

This is because Cas is not a creator god, so in order to Wield Power of God, he must be facilitated by joining forces with Earth or other allies (Sam, Dean, Meg; later, Kelly Kline) in order to Complete the Circle. (When Cas turns his back on allies of Hell and Crowley, he effectively dooms himself.)

Cas "Heaven" cannot complete the circle "crown" alone. It is the Love and Healing, not War-making, that allows a more complete joining with his allies. (Image by LLA).

Interestingly, SPN 12x19 The Future (above GIF) is full of circle motifs because Jack is emerging into the Universe.

Jack, on the other hand, is much, much fuzzier in terms of his abilities. He's so strong that he embodies Both Modes (Earth AND Heaven, Human AND Angel). Jack is vast and boundless; Cas is not and never has been. That's why Jack is able to become God, but Cas is one-half-of-God/needing-allies, or else an ineffective solitary "culture hero" locked in eternal narrative of warfare without any real gains.

Castiel is more effective when he shares power/burdens and joins forces with his human family. (This manifests as, "support me and stand behind me 100%" VS "fight alongside me and don't be afraid to air your disagreements." It also manifests in the hiding of key details of the fights in order to "spare" them the burden of war's ugliness.)

Unfortunately, he tends to reach to share power with fellow angels on high, like Lucifer and Chuck, and that just leads to more of the same, ineffective "bright" wars. Ironically, it is his failing to share burdens (with his own rebel angels, Crowley, sometimes even Sam and Dean) that cause his most extreme losses.

Hell, Heaven, and Earth are most powerful when linked together; and they are weakest when ripped apart. Still, that isn't enough on its own, because they need to be linked together in peace, not isolation and aggression. (This is why Heaven, Earth, and Hell do not overcome Amara. Only choosing peace and reconciliation does. And yet, even that reconciliation is incomplete, because the light and the dark become too isolated from Heaven and Earth, cascading down into Lucifer's heartbreak and Dean's loss of Heaven in season 13's speech, "You said the earth would be fine, but it's not.")

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3. Cas as culture hero: We see more power struggles at play in season 15 when Cas returns to Purgatory, where Leviathan corpses are again linked to blossoming of godly power, specifically the power to take down God (reference to the Classic Chaoskampf). Corpses of Leviathan are symbolic of Yawheh's (El's) original victory.

In Supernatural, the Leviathan were defeated/banished by the uniting of Cas and Dean against them. This is why their reconciliation is a key component of defeating God. United, perhaps they can take down God. It's why in 15x09 The Trap's deleted scene/alternate future/victory, they arrive marching in tandem, with the specter of the Double Diamond casino representing their combined pragmaticism. (However, as with all war, even when you WIN, you LOSE.)

Another interesting thing about Purgatory, though, is that Tiamat/Eve does not appear to be hunting down Dean. She's hunting down Cas, for "killing her Alphas and predatorially swallowing [her children]." Cas is characterized within the landscape as "Bright" and "Orderly," the eternal threat to her chaotic children.

Cas's characteristics of being Awake and bringing both Narrative and Meaning to The Empty also make him an eternal threat to the Cosmic Void, the Shadow. Cas imposes Limits/Order/Rebellion on the boundless forces, but he is independent enough to be flexible (unlike Death/Billie/Dean who swung too close to Order at the end of the series). These qualities liken Cas to Order and Disorder, "the spanner in the works," and he functions as The Great Escapist, which likens him more closely to the culture hero. (Which is why to so many astute viewers, Cas feels like not just A Main Character, but The Main Character.) In bringing Cas to such high highs (Superman, puppet God, angelic warrior) and such low lows (object of ridicule and scorn and emasculation), and such a wise middle of the road (renewed faith and values, finding strength IN weakness), they've accidentally transformed him to true protagonist.

Ergo with respect to Eve/Tiamat and The Empty/Void, Castiel IS the real cosmic culture hero. (Sam and Dean are culture heroes in their own right, but of Earth, so they can be heroes when aided by God/Heaven/"Equalizer" favors).

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Jack is triparted God, the same as he represents Sam and Dean and Cas. He's also the egg and the chicken and the snake.

But when you try to be all things, as Dean tried to be all things (re: his conversation with Mary in season 12), you effectively became nothing. "It's not fair!"

[lesbianalanwake]

Chaos and order in The Expanse:

Book spoilers below.

Chaos vs. order is textually present as a theme in The Expanse through religious and mythical references, and through dialogue. In the first book, Eros Station is the catalyst for the protomolecule’s spread. Eros, in his earliest Greek forms, was a primordial god born with or from Chaos, depending on the interpretation. The title of the first book, Leviathan Wakes, references a sea monster, Leviathan, defeated by Yahweh in the Tanakh, itself a reflection of an older story.

Such stories are part of a common narrative, sometimes called Chaoskampf, that is found across cultures, in myth, legend, and religion – that of a fight between a deity, usually a storm god, and a chaos monster, usually a sea monster or dragon, interpreted by some as representing the struggle between order and chaos in the cycle of creation. Other examples include the Greek Zeus vs. Typhon, the Vedic Indra vs. Vritra, and the Babylonian Marduk vs. Tiamat.

The title of the upcoming eighth book is Tiamat’s Wrath. There are several recent references to storms, namely among the Laconian ships - the Gathering Storm, the Heart of the Tempest, the Eye of the Typhoon, etc. The struggle between order and chaos is all but stated as a theme by Duarte in his conversation with Holden at the end of Persepolis Rising:

“There was no path where we left the gates alone. No future where we didn’t use the technologies and lessons we learned from them. And there wasn’t likely to be one where we didn’t face the same kind of pushback that killed the ones who came before us. There was only the way forward where we were scattershot and chaotic, or the one where we were organized, regimented, and disciplined."

Tiamat probably refers to the alien killers, the sea monster of the series, and in this scenario, Duarte has positioned himself and humanity as the storm god meant to fight the monster.

However, while the Laconian ships are named after storms, the Heart of the Tempest and the protomolecule-augmented power armor are described as looking like deep sea creatures, placing Laconia thematically closer to the metaphorical sea monster of the series. It’s also probably a nod to the inherent connection between the alien technology and said sea monster.

These are just some general observations, from which I’m going to make two leaps below:

1. The alien killers.

In Greek cosmogony, “chaos” refers to the primordial void that existed before creation, the empty space on which Earth rests, or the gap created by the separation of Earth and Sky. Notably, it is sometimes compared to water. Chaos was considered the first primordial god.

Chaos is also a component of early Greek philosophy, representing the idea of a base, primordial substrate from which all things arise, an idea that has persisted in increasingly complex forms all the way into modern physics. The way that the alien killers and their artifacts and existence are described certainly echo this, as they seem to manifest between and beyond elementary particles. Humans perceive the killers’ artifacts and presence as getting smaller and smaller, down to the basics we know and beyond. It’s described as the “true shape of reality” by Elvi, and “something deep, something profound” by Duarte.

So, if we assume that the alien killers are the chaos monster, then for the purposes of The Expanse: matter is order, and whatever lies beyond the subatomic level is chaos, thematically speaking. This lines up with the divide between relativity and quantum mechanics, two theories of physics that, for now, become incompatible with each other where the smallest facets of reality are concerned. Relativity - concerning gravity and space-time - is deterministic or, in other words, ordered. Quantum mechanics - concerning subatomic interactions - is probabilistic or, in other words, chaotic.

Meanwhile, the ring system seems to be an access point into the material universe for the alien killers. The aliens began destroying parts of their empire in an effort to stop whatever was killing them, then shut the entire ring system down. It ate ships in a way that mirrored what Elvi experienced when she went through the “bullet” that the killers left behind on Ilus, and Marco saw something “dark and sudden” within the cloud of elementary particles while the Pella was being eaten in the ring.

Therefore, we can assume that the alien killers are somehow connected to the slow zone, the ring system, and the rest of the alien technology, including the protomolecule. There are several descriptions of the protomolecule and other alien tech that call to mind sea creatures and the ocean, reinforcing this connection, and remember, Eros emerged with Chaos.

So, the first leap: I think the slow zone, which is described as needing a lot of energy to keep it from collapsing, is simply an aspect of another dimension made manifest. Theories of physics that attempt to unify the fundamental interactions, of which the classical concept of “chaos” is an early shadow, often rely on proposing extra dimensions of existence beyond four (three space, one time) in order to build a bridge between quantum mechanics and relativity. Not necessarily a place (outside of the slow zone) in the colloquial way that “dimension” is often used, but maybe some older state or structure underlying the universe (hence emitting radiation older than the Big Bang), that may provide its very foundation, similar to the Greek conception of chaos as the primordial void/foundation underneath “Earth” and as the basic substrate of reality.

My guess is that the aliens, who were clearly capable of subatomic engineering, somehow tunneled “deep” enough into the subatomic “layers” to utilize properties of this dimension. The slow zone is a manifestation of that, and their technology, like the protomolecule, can probably tap into those properties as well. And in tapping into it, the aliens accidentally invited something existing entirely within that dimension into shallower waters, so to speak. In other words, a situation meant to parallel humans digging too deep on Phoebe and unleashing the protomolecule in a foolish attempt to use it.

The investigator describes physical existence as the “fallen world,” implying that the aliens saw matter as a lesser form of being. It appears that they were reaching beyond the boundaries of matter. If they reached too high - or dug too deep - to touch some primal existence beyond even the elementary particles that we know, then maybe the “gods” of that dimension reached back to strike them down. Hubris punished by Nemesis, another very Greek thing.

(It should also be noted that the show takes the idea of going “deeper” into some metaphorical cosmic ocean even further, visually speaking. The design of the slow zone and the ring system gives the impression of going underwater, and the slow zone looks like a bubble of air. It’s easy to imagine the shadow of some dark sea monster swimming just beyond its borders.)

2. Juliette Andromeda Mao.

Andromeda was a figure in Greek myth, meant as a sacrifice to a sea monster because of her mother’s hubris. With Leviathan and Tiamat used as titles, and with Chaoskampf references and themes present in the series, an oblique reference to another sea monster might be something to pay attention to. What’s interesting is that, while Julie died because of the protomolecule, and we are made to think that the protomolecule is the sea monster in the first book, it becomes apparent later that it isn’t - at least, not the biggest monster around and not the one to be afraid of. 

Duarte is obviously destined to be eaten by his own hubris, but he’s right about one thing, and it’s that the protomolecule is probably going to be crucial to humanity not being utterly destroyed when the hornet’s nest gets kicked.

While I’ve only talked about things in terms of chaos vs. order, I think the ultimate solution is one of balance. Duarte’s idea of “order” is wrong and impossible, and the alien killers, the metaphorical chaos, are an embodiment of cosmic horror and not something to sit down to a conversation with. They are extremes of nature and of humanity, and the solution is somewhere in between them.

The alien technology can obviously tap into that “deep and profound” layer where the alien killers exist, which means that it’s an extension of that chaos, but it was built on a framework of organic material, which means that it’s an extension of the ordered reality of matter as well. The protomolecule is an aspect of that technology; it already is balance.

And the established pattern of the series where alien things are concerned is human beings - Miller, Holden, Elvi - communicating with the protomolecule and the souls within - Julie, Miller - and saving the day through that, a balance and compromise between human and alien. But the protomolecule needs a voice for that.

I don’t think the investigator will come back in a big way. I wouldn’t complain if he did, but Miller’s second death felt final and may have planted the seeds of enabling the protomolecule to, as was often repeated, exceed boundary conditions at a later point.

So, the second leap: if the protomolecule is seeking to defend against an enemy and to reach out to humanity in order to do so, it wouldn’t need an investigator this time. It would need a fighter.

Who was repeatedly described as a fighter, one who exceeded the boundary conditions of her role as a rich man’s daughter? Who was Eros, the seed crystal for the protomolecule’s evolution, whose essence would presumably still exist in its collective “consciousness”? Who would make the beginning and end mirrored and symmetrical, Andromeda not a victim left to be devoured by a sea monster because of a parent’s hubris this time, but a metaphorical god facing the true monster?

The cosmic fight is always between divine beings, and Andromeda doesn’t actually die, after all.

I don’t know if we will see a proto-Julie construct by the end, but I wouldn’t be surprised, because this:

“If you want to create a lasting, stable social order,” Duarte said, “only one person can ever be immortal.”

is just begging to be contradicted, one way or another. It makes sense, it’s symmetrical, it ties back to the chaos vs. order theme of the series, and it was even teased in Abbadon’s Gate. Why introduce the possibility of something happening, if not to explore it eventually? And, of course, there’s Miller’s prophetic line from the first book:

“And if we don’t die, then... well, that’ll be interesting.”

[bibleoverbrews]

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God Against the gods: 2. Yahweh Vs. Leviathan

https://youtu.be/3yImiw-GTPU

https://plus.google.com/111339636328834562561/posts/eU17Gd8m1Sf

[drittegeist]

       HEADCANON 003   /     ′ SEA MONSTERS AND DEAD BROTHERS ′         v2, remade.

i think we can draw two really important ( and the only ties to a mythology other than the greek ) paralels between leviathan’s story and the hebrew mythology --- his first name and the tale of his brother’s tragic death. as i didn’t like the first version of the headcanon because it was written in a hurry, i’d rather write another one to bring on not only missing points, but clarify other things.

      PART 001   /     ′ LEVIATHAN, לִוְיָתָן, LIVYATAN    ′

poseidon named the boy leviathan mainly because the monster is not only a symbol of destruction or the judaic mythos ( this factor, when it came to choosing the name, was almost non-existant ), but also a symbol of power and control. in the torah, he is described in detail through job 41:1-34: ‘behold, the hope of him is in vain; shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?’ also, in psalm 74, yahweh is said to ‘break the heads of Leviathan in pieces’ before giving his flesh to the people of the wilderness. also in psalm, but in 104, god is praised for having made all things, including Leviathan, and in isaiah 27:1, he is called the ‘tortuous serpent’ who will be killed at the end of time. the leviathan is also perceived as an enemy to israel ( against, of course, god ), and parallels with the egyptian apep and it’s contest against horus.

why does it parallel to levi’s story ?? well, he’ll be killed in the end of times, by someone who helds courage and the right blade. he went around the world, such as the monster itself --- ending up on his home, israel/freiburg, where he’d lose the battle for life. also, poseidon himself ( at least my interpretation ) is incredibly fond of hobbes’s book, leviathan, and his government idea. he wanted his son to be strong and great, such as the creature --- whose simple mention of his name would make the others tremble. unfortunately, it didn’t happen that way.

     PART 002   /     ′ THE MARK OF CAIN, THE CURSE OF FEAR    ′

as i stated in the previous post, there is a paralel between the twin brothers, leviathan and wolfgang. while, as cain, the first was more connected to the land where he lived, the place where he was raised. meanwhile, wolfgang didn’t have the same feeling --- he was born to conquer the world, to be a shepherd around the sheep of the olympians ( by that, i mean the warriors ). it’s important to state that the twins shared the same illnesses: autism, dyslexia, adhd and depression, the main difference being that the latter knew exactly ( because of the responsibility he was given from a young age ) how to act allistic enough to pass as a neurotypical, while levi had more difficulties masking everything. hence why the ‘weak vs strong’ thing has nothing with his illnesses, but more with their personalities. while wolfgang fits the son of zeus trope, leviathan is far from the percy jackson standards, and that’s what i wanted to happen. the twins were something really special, and even the moirai had talked about them before --- in their view, they’d be the ones to crash the axe in the war to come.

but, coming back to the mark of cain, it’s clear that the gods demanded a sacrifice --- just as yahweh himself had demanded the older brother. the sacrifice was, to levi, leaving his home and his foundations, losing the routine he was adapted to and needing to fight. it wasn’t accepted. he was perceived as weak, just as his mother once had been. while wolfgang, he had been accepted. he’d lead the army of the olympians, he’d be the hero. the promissed hero. during a battle, leviathan was captured, and it twisted all of the plans upside down.

during his time in buchenwald, leviathan was called in two different ways --- and none were his actual name. he suppressed, due to the heavy trauma he went through, his own memories --- all he remembered were flashes of a distant time, a distant time where he had a happy family. it was small, but it was all they had got. there, in the KZ, there was no space for happiness and love --- only pain and torture. on 1944, a new doctor arrived in the camp: his name was doctor heinz schneider, and leviathan, as a lab rat, was given to him so he could make his experiences.

but, even though common knowledge hinted that he was nothing but a regular german man, he was, indeed, a son of phobos that had left the gods. his experiences where greater than any scientific method could provide: it involved power. he knew exactly who could win that war and be the greatest hero, and it was one of the two twins. and the daemon was on his side. he knew he couldn’t kill leviathan if he didn’t put his hands in the pegasus, which was on poseidon’s side. after multiple sessions, he found out the boy’s true fear: the fear of loss. more specifically, the loss of his younger brother, the son of zeus. if he could find a way to extinguish the life of wolfgang, he’d kill leviathan in the inside.

it was during a ‘nightmare’ that everything happened --- the killing of wolfgang sulzbach ended up being seen as a natural death, mainly because there was no cut or signs of fighting, neither had he had signs of poison in his dead corpse. he bled from inside out, as if he had been bruised on the inside. this happened because, when leviathan’s soul, during one of heinz’s abusive ‘therapies’, it found wolfgang’s. the one of the latter was going back to his body after one of his many wolf dreams, and it would have if it hadn’t met with levi’s. in a hug, he killed wolfgang, his 00003 mark seeming to be alive, to be the weapon of destruction dr. heinz schneider and phobos needed. after the killing of his brother, leviathan had been marked: a ‘קַ’ was set under the drei mark, and it prevented him from being killed, such as cain’s. he isn’t immortal, he is just waiting for the right person to kill him --- the one that’ll ignore the subconscious warnings and swing the sword through his bony body. 

he’ll wait.