#��sin eating” was a thing that happened where someone would consume ritual foods to take on the sins of a recently deceased person

[trauma-bot]

sin eater

[kennypurrson]

Sins and Virtues

An idea I had where the brothers battle between their sin and the corresponding virtue. This is the first time writing for obey me!, enjoy reading!

Lucifer

Lucifer put his brothers before him. He showed them affection and put their needs before his. The protective eldest, slowly moved away from this after the fall. Humility easily corrupted into Pride. While he still cares for his brothers, he does not show it. It comes out more as him being very overbearing and possessive over his younger siblings. He does not show much care towards them other than making sure everything is alright with them. He became more self-absorbed, making sure he was held higher than the others. That he was the best and everyone knew. His pride ruins relationships and can stop him from starting new ones or deepening the relationship. He holds his reputation highly, and it isn’t something to be messed with. He’d do anything to protect it, even if this means hurting others. Controlling and calculated, he watches over as the eldest, making sure things are proper with his brothers. It takes a lot for his pride to be pushed aside and the small amount of humility left in him to shine through. He would only do this for someone he holds close and you are lucky if this is you get to see that from him. Which you seem  to be the only one he’s shown humility to. He puts you first, thinking of you before he does himself. He lets his guard down and shows the softer side from long ago to you. He doesn’t care about his reputation, only how to gain your respect and affection. While he does want to be the only one to have you, pride flaring up each time he sees you with one of his brothers, he doesn’t let you see that side of him. He won’t let it tarnish his reputation and everything he’s built with you and gaining your trust. Pride is hard for him to ignore and can’t help it, but around you it’s a little easier for the virtue to take over again.

Mammon

Before being known as the money hungry and always in debt brother, Mammon was known for his generosity. He never held onto things, only keeping them for a short period of time before handing them off to someone in need. His actions were noble and gave whatever he could. Charity quickly got eaten by greed once in the Devildom. The demon now hoards anything with an expensive price tag. He’s always looking for the next way to gain something of value and keep it for himself or sell it for a high price. He’s easily blinded by green that he doesn’t always notice when he’s being bribed or falling for a trap. He takes every bet placed in front of him, trying to beat the odds in front of him and come home with a large prize. Until you bring out the charity in him again. Something about you makes him want to give everything up. He rather find ways to give you small gifts or anything you’d ask for. Mammon is not one for giving into his feelings for someone, always pushing them away and ignoring them. Yet with you he’s greedy for your affection only. He forgets everything else around him when it comes to you. He wants to do everything to gain your heart and wants to give you everything. You make him a better person, someone that’s more than just wanting wealth, someone who can be more than scum that his brothers drag through the mud.

Leviathan

Envy easily fills the third eldest brother. He becomes consumed by it the moment he reaches the Devildom. Envy takes over and easily makes him hostile towards anyone who has more than him and something he wants. Until you show up. While his envy got the better of him against you, that was before he knew you. Before you began to hang out with the otaku. Around you his envy faded, and kindness showed. The virtue attributed with admiration. He didn’t envy you, he admired you for everything you are. He offered friendship and showed you compassion when alone with you. Around his brothers envy quickly came back. If he saw you around one of them the sin took over making him extremely envious that they had your time instead of him. Working to bring out the virtue in Leviathan will take time, and you are willing and ready. You enjoy the kind and caring Levi that only you get to see. 

Satan

Satan didn’t have the same upbringing as his brothers. He was never a former angel as he was born a demon from Lucifer’s wrath. The demon when enraged lashes out harsh and unforgiving. Wrath consumes him and has little care for those who are hurt in the process. Oddly around you that anger subsides. He doesn’t understand but when around you he leans into being the voice of reason more than letting himself get worked up and resort to a more violent manner. It's easier to forgive someone when you are around him, to show mercy to those who have wronged him. He does not understand the change but the virtue of patience begins to take over the wrath that is held in his heart. His relationships with Lucifer grows, something he never thought would happen, from your involvement.  While he still will be vengeful and spiteful, his wrath isn’t as strong as it was before you came.

Asmodeus 

The once pure and pious angel slowly fell to lust. His change being the slowest of his brothers. He held his morals high but after spending more and more time around the demons in the Devildom, he gave into the desires. The demon now cared only for his looks and beauty. Putting all of his effort into making sure he would win the beauty crown. He flirts and charms anything that crosses his path, even you. Yet when his charm doesn’t work he still is a flirt, trying to gain your affections. As Asmo spends more time with you his flirtations turn more pure. Dirty lines and jokes turn into more wholesome and sweet lines. He seems to have more courage and holds back against anything lustful around you. His actions are sweeter and pure, holding you close to him or even taking your hand in his when standing close. He pampers you, using the beauty rituals he learned for himself on you. Asmodeus craves your love and affection, wanting to be adored by you. He wants a pure and loving relationship with you. You let him forget about lust and everything accompanied with it. While he does get thoughts of lust that involve you, but he never would try anything with you until you both agreed to it. He doesn’t want to push that on to you, holding a high moral with you. You bring the good out of him, he likes the person he is around you. Wishing only for romance and companionship with you, something he never thought he could achieve while a prisoner to lust.

 Beelzebub

Beel’s gluttony manifests quickly while in the Devildom. He easily gives into food. He’s always seen with something to eat or is hungry and lets that fact be known to those around him.While many only see gluttony as an obsession with food and drink, yet it is any overindulgence to the extreme. His gluttony could also be seen in the excessive amount of working out that he does. Beelzebub’s gluttony most likely manifests from the guilt he feels from Lilith's death and from thinking Belphegor won’t be able to forgive him for it. When he starts warming up to you, temperance starts to show. He learns from you to let go of the guilt and sees that his twin is back and doesn’t hold the grudge against him. He takes more care about how you and Belphie feel. He openly shares with you and later on Belphie as well. He instead cooks for you and shows his feelings through it. He focuses more on making you happy than his own fixations with food.

Belphegor

Belphegor, like his twin, falls easily into sloth. Lilith’s death causes him to fall into a deep depression that leads to being hurt and taking on another sin: wrath, taking his anger out on a “hatred” for humanity.  He’s so hurt and lost that he falls into a deep state of sloth which causes him to be lazy and lack joy. After regaining your trust, he opens up more to you. He slowly begins to come out of the depression he has lived in for so long. He begins to want to be around you more and more, as you bring joy back into his life. He’s finding love again, and doesn’t want it to leave him again. Diligence causes him to show enthusiasm towards your interests and takes more care about his work. Something about you energizes him and causes him to want to avoid the lazy lifestyle he had before getting to know you.

[regrettablewritings]

Preference: What Strange Being Are They? II

Characters: Victor Stone, Harley Quinn, Erik the Phantom, Nevada Ramirez, **Surprise Character**

Victor Stone - Simulacrum

The proper term, as he saw it, was simulacrum: An image or representation of someone or something. That was the more proper term. But in Victor’s mind, ordealed and pulled every which way but up, it meant something just as contorted as his form had become: An imitation of something else that may or may not have ever even existed. A collection of broken pieces, cobbled together to look like something familiar, all the while lacking in its qualities enough to make it abundantly clear that no, this was no longer what someone knew. Or maybe they never knew him to begin with.

In layman’s terms, Frankenstein’s monster.

Then again, he supposed the term “cyborg” was not entirely incorrect. There were, after all, traces of his organic self still present, albeit restricted to the face. But there was almost a sense of struggle in that title to him. A sense of denial. Simulacrum might have hurt, but at least, to him, it was honest.

But Silas Stone preferred to call him his son. And Victor called that ignorantly optimistic. After all: What sort of father drags his son back from the cusp of a peaceful passing, utilizing otherworldly means to reassemble him nerve by metallic nerve until he no longer resembled the boy he remembered himself being? A father too driven, Victor decided. One whose own dreams and memories had become a simulacra in and of themselves: They became so distorted, that they no longer resembled reason or reality.

And as far as Victor was concerned, he’d paid the price.

He kept to himself, reserving night time as the only time he could wander the streets of Gotham to himself — but just barely. There was only so much hiding a flimsy hoodie from his time at Gotham U could provide. But still: Technically speaking, he was safe. Monstrous, perhaps, but safe. Safe from wandering eyes, safe from judgement over what he’d lost and since become, safe from . . . Well, life. He was perfectly content living a simulation of life, in fact.

But what he wasn’t prepared or safe from was that fateful night he met you, unafraid and completely real. Well, if anything, you were real curious . . .

Harley Quinn - Succubus

Nobody talks about what happens when you starve a succubus. Mainly because the belief is that the only way to starve a succubus is to deny her, ahem, intimacy. And while this certainly wasn’t an untruth in most cases, the case that was Harley Quinn was a rather . . . unconventional one. Well, as unconventional as anything concerning a succubus could be.

For one, she had adapted her needs to better suit her environment. She had to: If she relied solely on just physical intimacy alone, she would have died long, long ago. After all, The One That Shan’t Be Named seemed to make it a point of starving her of all the resources she could possibly siphon energy from. Eventually, it came to a point where she simply had to learn how to consume energy from other means: Attention; the glances of lustful men and women; affections. Little, teeny, tiny sources that paled in comparison to the full-course meal she might’ve gotten before. But it was better than starving, and she needed to get by in this world however she could.

Not only because she quite liked some bits and pieces of this side of the veil, but also because in the end, she simply wasn’t as powerful as she once was. She still carried some of her paranormal traits with her (minor dream-walking, enhanced agility, etc), but it definitely wasn’t enough to drag her back to whence she came. Not that she wanted to.

She’d become rather fond of the den of sin that was Gotham City. And, to her own surprise, she had become rather fond of you, the poor newbie that foolishly agreed to her Craigslist ad for a new roommate. But then again, she was far more than old enough to know better; why be shocked? After all, you were so, so warm when compared to every other person she’d endured in such close proximity in the past. Much sweeter, much more . . . Deliciously innocent . . .

Erik the Phantom - Fossegrim

Fossegrims are, at least when compared to most other water spirits, rather on the benevolent side. They weren’t like sirens, using their musical gifts to lure people in to a watery grave -- at least, not normally. It was that they much preferred to enchant without malicious intent, plucking at their harp strings or sliding bows across their fiddles to produce ensorcelling sounds of the wind in the forest, the chorus of rushing water resonating in every note. It was just simply not in their nature to be especially malevolent.

At their worst, they were very particular: Even at their most agreeable, there was always a caveat of sorts.

If a fossegrim were to agree to live with a human partner, for example, he needed to have free and regular contact with a water source, lest he grow dire. And if a fossegrim were to offer his tutelage for the fiddle to someone, they would need to participate in a very particular ritual that included stolen mutton, a white he-goat, and a lot of Thursdays.

(And even if one were to succeed at this, they would be faced with a most . . . unorthodox means of being “trained”. Once again, nothing done in malice, but surely there had to be a cleaner way.)

Erik personally did not stick as strictly to these circumstances as others of his kind might -- really, he saw little point in it. After all: Who would come wandering in a watery cavern, and searching for a fossegrim’s teachings, no less! No, he had grown used to his solitude, if bitterly so. He told himself that he was more than happy to live out his naturally long life, secluded, playing beautiful pieces that would remain suffocated beneath whatever structure had gone up above his cove. He almost dared to think it a pity . . . Until one day, a visitor arrived.

And you came bearing a gift: Not a he-goat, nor stolen mutton. You hadn’t come bearing meat of any kind at all! All you carried with you as you clumsily paddled your small boat was a ring: An heirloom, old and dingy, but precious nonetheless. It was all you could offer him that equated to your desire to learn by his hand.

It perplexed the fossegrim. But it also filled him with something . . . warm. Bright, even. Pride. After all, who was he to disappoint such a humble, obedient student. . .?

Nevada Ramirez - Vampire

Vampires: Creatures of fear and woe. They lurked in the shadows, the particulars of their lore transforming about as much as they themselves could. Feeding off the fears of the common folk, draining their energy while all the while enticing their prey closer and closer still.

The transformation fit Nevada like a glove.

And, like a fashionable, leather glove befitting as his aesthetic, he wore it all with style. And perhaps a bit too much glee. Vampires, as it turned out, weren’t just day-dwelling bloodsuckers after all: The great thing about living in a city so varied as New York was that it allowed for evolution and strange mixes to occur. Nevada lucked out: He’d been vampirically sired by a strain that could eat human food, go out in daylight, weren’t effected by crucifixes, and didn’t require an invitation to enter a goddamn building.

The catches, unfortunately, were as followed: Food no longer tasted as vibrant; he could go about his day but with powers limited so drastically that he may as well have been another lowly-ass mortal; bullets were still a big no-no (unless he was the one shooting ‘em); and whether he liked it or not, he still required blood to properly get by. And as disappointed by the food situation as he was, he considered that of the blood a proportionate gain: Blood, Nevada found out, was far more varied when spiced with hormones.

His club made for a perfect den, a place where prey of all sorts could walk in, gyrate themselves into a frenzy, then come crawling over to him (the most minimum of efforts on the part of his pheromones) and offer to him their bodies without even knowing the true nature of what he wanted of them. And for a while, it worked like a charm.

Until Nevada realized he’d never quite had a taste of you, yet. You, with your wide and innocent eyes, cheeks burning whenever you saw him staring at you from the VIP section.

Sure, excitement from arousal was tasty. But the undead gang leader couldn’t help but wonder what the taste of excitement from nervousness tasted like . . .

Lucifer Morningstar - Human

They are without particularly long lives. They are born helpless and remain so much longer than most creatures on Earth do. And yet, it is amazing and strange how much humans can pack into their lives.

Take, for example, one Lucifer Morningstar: He’d changed his name from [Redacted] to better suit the image he wanted, which was that of a walking spectacle. And if his name weren’t enough, everything else he did surely was: The wealth he accrued through mysterious means; the successful nightclub on the LA strip that he owned; an immortal bed life; and a tapestry of connections he’d made by pulling favors. All topped with a devilishly handsome face to boot!

If Lucifer ever had a goal, it was to live it up and/or go to Hell in a hand basket trying.

Which was probably why he wasn’t one to shy away from hosting a little large get-together at Lux for Halloween. And by get-together, Lucifer clarified on social media: They would, in fact, be holding a seance and summoning. After all, what sexier way to embrace the taboo of darkness than to play around with the veil as though it were part of a dress-up game? It was too good an opportunity to miss out on, as any good attention-whore businessperson would tell you.

Unfortunately, for as lucky as Lucifer tended to be, he still bore upon his shoulders multiple flaws. Human flaws. Such as the flaw of not exactly doing research and providing a thorough vetting process when it came to hiring the “performer” who would be commencing the seance and summoning.

This was LA, after all: He probably could just pluck any rando off the street and get a good show out of it. He wasn’t even sure where he pulled this rando from (chances were, he was buzzed and/or high while doing so), but he couldn’t argue with the results of a crowd bewildered by the surprisingly realistic smoke effects and lights flickering. Though he had to admit: They could’ve put you in better demonic makeup for when the lights settled and you stood there, having suddenly “appeared” in the previously-drawn pentagram.

Still, you were cute enough: He supposed if he played his cards right, flirted with you in the usual Lucifer way, then perhaps his Halloween night might be filled with many tricks and treats yet! So he found himself perplexed when you continued to act confused and thrown off, even after the “performer” had finished their routine and left.

Wait, weren’t you supposed to be with them? How did you even get in here? Why do you keep asking how you got here, or if you got stuck in another person’s Hell, or -- . . . Oh. Oh, shit.

As a human, Lucifer was intent on filling his life to the brim with as much story and experiences as possible. But sometimes, there are just some things humans -- even ones like Lucifer -- shouldn’t dabble with . . .

[swellwriting]

tagged by @kabeswaters​ and @fortisfiliae​ love u both sm <3 <3

1. on a scale of 1-10, how excited are you about life right now? it fluctuates but right now -1 

2. describe yourself in a hashtag? #anxious

3. if you could do a love scene with anyone, who would it be? JAKE MOTHERFUCKING GYLLENHAAL 

4. if your life was a musical, what would the marquee say? i dont know what that is hah

5. what’s one thing people don’t know about you? i guess some people don’t know i’m type one diabetic??

6. what’s your wake up ritual? uh phone, animal crossing, fruit loops, weed

7. what’s your go to bed ritual? I watch asmr videos cuz im usually high as fuck and they knock me out lol, or i watch tiktok or pillow talk with my bf nick.

8. what’s your favorite time of day? like 9 pm?

9. your go to for having a good laugh? my boyfriend always makes me laugh no matter how angry or upset i am so i’d talk to him uwu

10. dream country to visit? FRANCe specifically Paris oui oui with my french candian bullshit

11. what’s the biggest surprise you’ve ever had? when they announced 5sos was touring with one direction and i had tickets, never screamed so loud in my LIFE

12. heels or flats/sneakers? sneakers duh

13. vintage or new? vintage babey

14. who do you want to write your obituary? ME from the great beyond, the only other person who knows me well enouhg is nick and i love him but he is very stupid.

15. style icon? uh harry styles, devon lee carlson, halsey, bella hadid, tyler the creator some normal people whos style i LOVE  from insta are rebeccaramsdale , kehllie , kikalateefff , yourgirlneens , lilxmg !

16. what are three things you cannot live without? phone, insulin, art, music

17. what’s one ingredient you put in everything? probs vanilla or hotsauce, the only two flavours.

18. what 3 people living or dead would you want to make dinner for? my dead brother DJ, kurt cobain andddd ryan dunn from jackass what a weird mix.

19. what’s your biggest fear in life? loosing my senses, loosing control, the fear that i am not actually real and ... oh spiders.

20. window or aisle seat? window 

21. what’s your current tv obsession? think its gonna be adventure time again

22. favorite app? instagram or discord so i can talk to my friends uwu

23. secret talent? i can speak french and giberish

24. most adventurous thing you’ve ever done in your life? camping i guess?

25. how would you define yourself in three words? anxious, empathetic, creative

26. favorite piece of clothing you own? my vintage star wars shirt

27. a must have clothing item that everyone should have? blank tees, good quality blank tees!!! white black grey mhmhmh

28. a superpower you would want? i’d wanna be spidergirl

29. what’s inspiring you in life right now? nothing at all :(

30. best piece of advice you’ve received? my grade six teacher telling me that i was very empathetic as i was sitting at the back of the class crying because of the movie we were watching, she told me not everyone is empathetic like i am but its okay to be soft. but not to expect that from everyone else.

31. best advice you’d give your teenage self? teenage me was a mess but not messy enough that i’d change anything. i’d just say, things get better but im currently back in the state teenage me was in so...i’d be lying. maybe that wanting to kill yourself does not count as a personality trait - and start reading comics earlier cuz u really like them.

32. a book everyone should read? i read wack books, everyone on tumblr should read fangirl tho

33. what would you like to be remembered for? something i created

34. how do you define beauty? self expression and individuality 

35. what do you love most about your body? wait people love their bodies? not everyone was severly damaged by online diet culture and thigh gap era tumblr? weird ok

36. best way to take a rest/decompress? weed or bath or a movie

37. favorite place to view art? there is an art gallery in saskatchewan that i love, i was suposed to go there this summer before corona took over :(((

38. if your life was a song, what would the title be? either something short like “mellow” or fob style like “im so anxiuos all the time and nothing ever feels real and i dont know what im doing but somehow im doing pretty good while feeling prety bad and laughing through my tears lol.” or i’d steal “teen idle” by marina and the diamonds.

39. if you could master one instrument, what would it be? guitar or piano because im lame at both.

40. if you had a tattoo, where would it be? i want two moths above my knees rn

41 dolphins or koalas? neither

42. what’s an animal that represents you? im more of a pokemon, i think id be jigglypuff

43. best gift you’ve ever received? whenever nick buys me clothes from stussy or maybe infinity on high on vinyl.

44. best gift you’ve given? i bought nick the entire sin city comic series in one giant book.

45. what’s your favorite board game? monopoly

46. what’s your favorite color? yellow

47. least favorite color? that weird pinky purple

48. diamond or pearls? pearls

49. drugstore makeup or designer? colour pop and fenty

50. pilates or yoga? yoga

51. coffee or tea? tea

52. what’s the weirdest word in the english language? pumpernickle is my fav one.

53. dark chocolate or milk chocolate? MILK

54. stairs or elevators? stairs

55. summer or winter? summer, canadian winters are brutal.

56. you are stuck on an island, you can pick one food to eat forever without getting tired of it, what would you eat? ur asking someone who has very specific comfort foods so i already do this - cheese bagel toasted with cream cheese and then toasted again to melt cheddar cheese on top. with a diet coke thats very important.

57. a dessert you don’t like? cheesecake 

58. a skill you’re working on mastering? im crazy so this is a lot but - writing , drawing and painting, polymer clay, sewing, resin art and pottery.

59. best thing to happen to you today? nothing

60. worst thing to happen to you today? the line at starbucks was too long and i had to get wendys instead, and a few other things i won’t mention.

61. best compliment you’ve ever received? whenever my mom says i remind her of my brother dj, when people say anything nice about my art or writing style. when people ask about my clothes. when my friend jess called me a “known softie” uwu

62. favorite smell? lavender

63. hugs or kisses? hugs

64. if you made a documentary, what would it be about? i’d talk about star wars for hours on end 

65. last piece of content you consumed that made you cry? of mice and men made me ball my fucking eyes out

66. lipstick or lipgloss? chapstickk

67. sweet or savory? sweet

68. girl crush? Zendaya

69. how do you know you’re in love? idk ive just always been in love with nick (since i was 15) before i even really knew what love was, i guess if the other person feels like home, you know ur doing something right.

70. a song you can listen to on repeat? nine in the afternoon by p!atd or a match into water by peirce the veil, over my head by fleetwood mac

71. if you could switch lives with someone for a day, who would it be? harry styles that mysterious fucker

72. what are you most excited for/about this time in your life? currently not looking forward to anything becase my life is super uncertain right now ha.. maybe the release of the chaos walking movie whenever that decides to happen.

tagging: i assume yall have been tagged in this already but just incase @beskarjedi @woakiees @bluemadcnna @carolinesbookworld  @theseuscmander and anyone else who wants to do this consider urself tagged.

[valisi-clark]

Qveertrash on AO3: “ Where did you get the idea of a sin-eater AU? The idea of sin-eaters is very interesting. They're like creatures that children get scared of. “ 

I’m answering this here under a cut because, of course, it’s a long ass story. The character limit on AO3 wouldn’t allow it. 

Thank you everyone who has supported The Sin-eater with your comments and questions and kudos and reads! 

It’s surprising to me, but my dad actually gave me the idea for the Sin-eater AU. About five years ago (way before I was even knew about Tumblr), I asked him what was one of the scariest/creepiest things he had ever seen as a kid. 

He told me that one of the things that scared him the most, when he was a kid, was an episode of “Night Gallery”. “Night Gallery” is the series that Rod Serling started hosting and writing after “The Twilight Zone” ended. It’s not quite as good as “The Twilight Zone” in my opinion. But there’s one episode called “The Sins of the Fathers”. 

My dad said the “The Sins of the Fathers” episode was one of the scariest things he can remember. I’ve watched it, and I agree. You can probably find the episode online for free now. Here’s a short summary of the episode: 

In times before electricity and running water, when people died, they called for the sin-eater. The sin-eater was shunned, basically exiled, and he didn’t have any social interaction with regular people. He’s unclean. But people still need him to rid the corpses of their loved ones from sin. 

The sin-eater marries a woman (how?), and he has a son. One night, a villager comes to their home and requests the sin-eater. The sin-eater’s wife says that she’ll send him. When the villager leaves, the woman goes to her young adult son and tells him that his father has died, and he has to eat for his father. But they don’t have enough money for food for the ritual. 

The woman tells her son to go to the house of the villager, steal the food, come back, and eat for his father. 

Naturally, this kid is freaked-the-fuck-out. It’s gross for one thing. Eating food near or directly off of a corpse? He does it anyway. He’s the next sin-eater. It’s his birthright. 

He goes to the house, steals the food, goes home, and eats for his father. The catch is that he’s not only eating his father’s sins. He’s eating all of the sin’s that his father ever consumed. All of the sins of the generations before him and whoever they consumed. While he’s eating, he’s also screaming. It’s unnerving and disgusting to watch. You don’t know why he’s screaming, but you can only imagine how that food tastes, what he’s seeing in front of his unfocused eyes, what he’s feeling inside of his guts every time he swallows. It’s terrifying. 

It’s also an amazing idea, and I fucking love that episode! It scares the shit out of me!

And sin-eating has been recorded as a real thing that people did. Not only in Europe, but also in Meso-America.

Here’s a quote from the short Wikipedia article about sin-eaters. This quote comes from a book called Funeral Customs, published in 1926: 

“Professor Evans of the Presbyterian College, Carmarthen, actually saw a sin-eater about the year 1825, who was then living near Llanwenog, Cardiganshire. Abhorred by the superstitious villagers as a thing unclean, the sin-eater cut himself off from all social intercourse with his fellow creatures by reason of the life he had chosen; he lived as a rule in a remote place by himself, and those who chanced to meet him avoided him as they would a leper.”

When I found these things out, I was absolutely fascinated. How is this custom so old (Meso-America), so recent (about 200 years), but I had to watch a fictional story to learn about it? Why didn’t I learn about it in Mythology and Folklore? I’ve read a lot of articles about sin-eating, but the Wikipedia page for it is so short? Have people purposely not recorded information about these people because they were so disgusted? Also, this quote says that the sin-eater chose this life? Is that something someone can actually choose? Is sin-eating the reason that we eat food after a funeral?! How does this affect my modern-day culture?!

I have so many questions about this custom and the people who lived through it. But sin-eating is still being used as a fictional character device because it’s so good! 

There are two types of sin-eaters: the kind that physically removes sin through the consumption of food and the kind that physically removes sin through some other means. 

John Coffey in The Green Mile by Stephen King is a sin-eater. I’ve read an article about that. 

When John Coffey removes the infection Paul Edgecomb, he’s technically removing the sin that accumulates in a human’s body as a flawed creature. There are sources that express the idea that sin becomes a physical ailment, sin leads to death through the accumulation of physical ailments in the body (religious texts, The Picture of Dorian Gray,  these two come to mind first). However, Stephen King steps it up a notch in The Green Mile by showing us the excrement process. When John Coffey releases that plague of black... insects? from his mouth, he’s excreting the sin that he’s eaten from someone. Therefore, he’s not storing it, and it won’t physically affect him over a period of time. Does that mean if he didn’t release it that the sin would physically affect him? Probably. Stephen King avoided that degeneration process by adding the release process. 

I’ve known for a while that I wanted to use sin-eaters in fiction, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to do it. 

At first, I imagined Erwin as a prince of a nation and Levi as the sin-eater? That crumbled so fast. Erwin’s characterization is difficult to fit into a monarchy because he’s so independent and compassionate. In strict monarchies, a prince may not even know how to dress himself. In the first plot that I thought about, the king (Erwin’s father) dies, and they call one of the royal sin-eaters. Erwin’s never seen one before. Levi shows up because the Ackermans are royal sin-eaters. But why would Erwin even be allowed to look at him? Because he’s curious?  Royal Guard Mike might agree to let Erwin look, but he’s definitely not going to agree to let Erwin build any sort of relationship with a sin-eater! That bullshit about royalty sneaking out to go see their lovers? Not a thing. A royal human is objectified. If something happens to King Erwin, the country would be in trouble, could be attacked before a new monarch is put into place. Erwin is an investment. And if he’s dependent on servants, how is he going to know how to sneak out with help? 

So I flipped it around. Make Levi royal. Make Erwin the sin-eater. Erwin fits into the sin-eater role better, but Levi doesn’t fit royalty, not unless he’s a militaristic king. The plot was complicated before I even started. So I backed off. 

I thought of the current plot a few months ago? And I sent the first chapter to @erwinsalive . She seemed to love it! And it made me happy to know that the world was so interesting to other people. She asked for more details, and I told her some of it. She made this face: ;-; 

That encouraged me to keep writing! I like that face! 

So then, I had to build the world. There were a few choices: How am I going to contain the sin-eaters? Solitary or together? I can put them behind a wall. Putting Erwin behind a wall always leads to something interesting. How are people going to recognize sin-eaters? Gloves with handcuffs built into them? But then when they escape, the gloves would be off. They aren’t going to keep people cuffed while they’re within the wall. I could separate the handcuffs, but eww... how are they going to keep their gloves clean? And it would be too easy to find a tool to remove them. That’s not enough conflict. It has to be more personal than gloves. Piercing? That could work. Levi’s knife work could come in handy if the metal is welded shut. Branding or tattooing? That’s the most traditional way to permanently mark government property, but.... then they would have to flay some of Erwin’s skin. Eww and oww. So let’s go piercing. Around the mouth area for the symbolism. Lips or tongue? Tongue. Then, if he pretends to be mute, he can hide in plain sight for a while. And also tongues... they’re great. A tongue bar with pieces that are gauged higher on either end. Then, you either have to cut the bar or cut the tongue. Done! 

Setting: Levi owns a tea shop with his Mom (dreams do come true), Fatal Sporadic Insomnia kills Kuchel (because those Ackermans don’t sleep well due to nighttime royal guard duty, and everyone knows it), Levi has to buy a sin-eater. The sin-eater is Erwin. Erwin feels guilty for even being himself. His emotionally tortured state fits into this skin. 

What about the sin-eater culture? Is Erwin’s going to have to eat his dad’s.... ugh! No, I can’t do that. It’s too sad. It’s too traumatic. I’ll never get him to rebel if I do that. I grossed myself out again.

How is sin-eating going to affect Erwin physically? In The Picture of Dorian Gray, the picture took all of Dorian Gray’s sins (a type of inanimate sin-eater), and the portrait was hideous by the end of the book. Will sin-eaters be affected? Will Erwin die young because he’s full of the sins of humanity? ..... I can’t do that. It hurt too much in canon. I’m not going to do that. He’s beautiful and healthy.

Therefore, sin-eaters aren’t real. They are a collection of unfortunate descendants of humans (immigrants) who were scammed by the government. “Eat sins for our people, and we’ll take care of you.” Over one hundred years later: “You’re fucking disgusting, and you are easily replaced and less than human. You will remain quarantined. The food we give you is now overpriced. We’ve just increased your taxes again.” 

And when I tell the story from Erwin’s point of view, you’ll see what sparked the fire of rebellion. I’m excited to write it. 

Thank you again for the wonderful question! I love talking about the writing process. I hope you find this, qveertrash! Thank you for your support!