#Like 4x12 begins and ends at the same location

[imminent-danger-came]

Beginning of 4x12 vs the End of 4x12

When we triumph in this rebellion the people will never live in fear! We're about to change everything! And it's all because of you brother! Kid. New armor isn't going to cut it! We have to hit Azure with everything we've got! You can't just, ignore this whole part of your power because it scares you!

[frangipanilove]

The “Mary Magdalene Theory” Part Seven:

Coolers, The North Star, Bears and Beer

My “Mary Magdalene theory”is turning into quite the monster, I hereby present to you part seven (they are picture heavy posts, don’t worry)! This is going to be a direct continuation of the first six posts, so I’m afraid much of this is going to sound utterly ridiculous if you haven’t read parts one to six. But to quickly summarize it I attempt to explain how I believe that The White Trash Brunch from “Alone” is the TWD version of Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting “The Last Supper”. The painting depicts Jesus’ last meal with the Apostles the night before sacrificing himself, and to commemorate this last meal Christians perform a ritual (The Holy Communion) by eating small piece of bread, (representing “The Body of Christ”), as well as drinking a small amount of wine (representing “The Blood Of Christ”). Last time I explained how there are certain symbols that keep appearing in the show, and long story short, feet and horses represent “The Body Of Christ” which in turn represents Beth.

In this meta I will try to explain the “Blood Of Christ” part, and the way this affects Beth’s story. In the picture below you’ll find the Frosty Cola and the pigs feet in in center. The Frosty Cola from the White Trash Brunch represents the Blood of Christ, and the show utilizes this symbolism in a multitude of ways. As in parts one to six, most of what I discuss here are symbols and connections that has been subjected to intense analysis within the TD community for years. I do however believe that I can offer some new perspectives.

Let me begin by referring to a deleted scene from 4x12 “Still”, in which Beth and Daryl are walking through the woods, searching for the alcohol she suddenly decided that she needed. Beth explains how she, due to her fathers alcoholism, never drank before, she couldn’t even hold one of those red party cups, she always just had a can of soda instead. It’s a short scene, but in it she manages to mention no less than THREE of the symbols that we’ve known to be so heavy attached to her character. By having her mentioning them, the writers effectively establish a connection between her and the symbols beer, red party cups, and soda cans. I think alcohol in general, but beer specifically, represents Beth. Of course I’m not the first to notice a connection between Beth and beer/alcohol, but I will later explain exactly why I think beer/alcohol is such a potent Beth symbol, and it’s not quite the same that’s been discussed before. But I’ll get back to it.

We first see the red party cups in 4x2 “Infected”, in a scene where Beth bandages Michonne’s ankle (remember how feet represents “The Body of Christ”, as I explained in my last meta), while Judith sits on the floor, playing with red party cups. The cups are purely symbolic, and most importantly, they are red. Red means resurrection, as I explained in part one of this series of posts.

Then 4x4 “Indifference” happens, and it’s an episode so loaded with symbolism I could easily write tens of thousands of words on that episode alone (don’t worry, I won’t). But let’s hone in on the Suicide Gang in the service station that Bob and Daryl search through looking for distilled water for the batteries. Daryl calls them “douchebags”, committing suicide kumbaya style when they could have gotten out instead.

The important part here is not the fact that they committed suicide, it’s HOW they committed suicide. They drank antifreeze from red party cups! The red color symbolizes resurrection through the Mary Magdalene Easter egg symbolism that I discussed in part one. The red objects in the show represents resurrection. Sure, they committed suicide by drinking antifreeze, and yes! Suicide means death, there isn’t really any way around that.

Except there is.

They drank the antifreeze out of red party cups. Red items represents resurrection (due to the red Easter egg symbolism). The resurrection symbolism of the red objects cancel out the death symbolism of the consumption of antifreeze. Antifreeze without the “anti” ? It’s just freeze. A reference to the Frosty Cola from “Alone”. The Blood Of Christ from the symbolic Last Supper/White Trash Brunch!

The antifreeze is a coolant, and cold/cool/icy/frosty is a recurring theme that I’ve been paying attention to for quite some time. The first time it really stood out to me was in 5x10 “Them”. Again, an episode where Beth’s presence is heavily felt all the time. When they enter the barn, they find a walker in a room, and among random clutter on the floor are two blue coolers. In and of itself not highly suspicious, however when the exact same blue coolers appear in the sanctuary in 7x3 “The Cell”, I knew there was a cooler theme going on. On top of the kitchen cabinets in the room that Negan tries to tempt/torture Daryl into accepting, we find two blue coolers, identical to the ones from 5x10 “Them”.

So how are the coolers tied to Beth, and why are they relevant to TD? See, the White Trash Brunch is a parallel to the Last Supper, but not the last supper from the Bible! The last supper from the Da Vinci Code, which is a different thing, and represents something else entirely. The plot of the Da Vinci Code is that Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married, they eventually had a child, and that child carried on the blood line through history and into present day. And the Holy Grail, rather than being a chalice, a drinking vessel, is Mary Magdalene herself, whose remains rests in a secret tomb below the inverted pyramid at the Louvre. I’ve explained the significance of the greenhouses/glasshouses in TWD in earlier posts. They parallel the secret tomb below the inverted glass pyramid at the Louvre, but I won’t go into that here.

The important part is that during the White Trash Brunch/The Last Supper, they drank “Frosty Cola”. Taste that name, it’s virtually antifreeze without the “anti”. When TPTB decided to name that soft drink “Frosty Cola”, they also signaled that everything that is associated with cold, frosty, freezing, cool, coolant, ice and so forth, points back to the White Trash Brunch/Last Supper. Antifreeze, coolers, fridges (remember Jessie’s fridge with the drawing of a blond girl and a car?)...And what’s the ultimate frosty freezing thing imaginable?

North!

The North Star, that always, without exception, points north (let’s not be too rigid and start discussing the difference between The True North and the magnetic North Pole, that’s for a different time). Remember how Beth stared at the polar bear blanket in 5x9 ”WHAWGO”. Also, remember how Beth in the deleted scene from “Still” explained how she always ended up with a can of soda instead of holding those red party cups. And remember how Carl explained to Judith that the North Star was the star to identify if you’re ever lost. And finally, remember how the North Star is at the end of the Little Dipper, and that Beth represents the Little Dipper through the spoon symbolism from “Still”.

@twdmusicboxmystery has made a wonderful edit to illustrate this point:

http://twdmusicboxmystery.tumblr.com/post/143078069994/little-dipper-td-bethgreene-bethgreenelives

So, take in this polar bear from Tyreese’s death hallucination for a second. Notice how it has a red scarf tied around it’s neck:

At this point, we need to discuss bears and bear symbolism. Let me explain! There has been a lot of bear references on the show, and they have a tendency to show up alongside other important Beth symbols. Check out @twdmusicboxmystery’s master post on bear symbolism:

http://twdmusicboxmystery.tumblr.com/post/171698126634/bear-symbolism-master-post

The reason for that is that in my opinion, bears are used as symbols of the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, or the Greater Bear and the Lesser Bear. The first really significant Beth/bear connection was of course when she picked up the spoon in “Still”, the spoon representing the Little Dipper. The spoon scene, in combination with the scene where Carl talked to Judith about finding the North Star and how it’s located at the end of the Little Dipper, lay the foundation of the rest of the bear references on the show. Because even though Carl was technically right in his description of the North Star being located at the end of the Little Dipper, that’s not actually how you locate the North Star. I believe they wrote the scene like that solely to bring attention to the Little Dipper, and by doing so, connecting it to Beth’s spoon from “Still”.

That brings us to one of my absolute favorite things on the show; the Alaska license plate from 5x16 “Conquer”, that made Aaron the license plate collector so exited. At the time it seemed kind of random, but if you look closely at the license plate, you’ll discover that it has on it an illustration of the Big Dipper, as well as the North Star/Polaris. This is because the Alaska state flag includes this image, and I believe this is the reason why TPTB decided to include this particular license plate in the show. It functions as a way to illustrate how you really go about locating the North Star/Polaris. While the stars in the Little Dipper are faint and difficult to identify on the night sky, the stars of the Big Dipper are among the brightest stars on the night sky, making the Big Dipper one of the easiest constellations to identify. If you want to find the North Star, you first find the Big Dipper. Then you draw an imaginary line from the two stars at the edge of the ladle of the Dipper, and you’ll eventually find the North Star. The Alaska license plate illustrates exactly this, and that is the reason it was included in the episode.

And the reason that is so incredibly important for Beth’s story, is because locating the North Star is the first step of finding you way home when you’re lost. It’s canon, Carl said so! He told it to Judith, but Judith’s not going anywhere for a good while, that conversation was all about Beth.

Also, I can’t resist to mention Daryl’s choice of weapon in his fight with Justin in 9x2. A skillet!

It looks suspiciously like a super-big dipper to me. They could have given any weapon in the world, but they went for something that looks exactly like the Big Dipper.

The next time we encounter any significant North Star symbolism is in 7x2 “The Well”. The writing is literally on the wall in the Kingdom. We see Morgan pushing Carol in a wheelchair past some writings on the wall that reads “Hope is the North Star, let it guide you”. In part six I discussed how wheelchairs represent cars/tombs. Carol in the wheelchair parallels Beth in the car/tomb, but the North Star symbolism on the wall suggests that she made it out of the car/tomb, and will follow the North Star to find her way home. TPTB is blatantly encouraging us to let the North be our guide, and at the same time also emphasizing that the North Star represents hope. Hope is of course something we strongly associate with Beth, due to her “if you don’t have hope, then what’s the point of living” speech in 4x10 “Inmates”. Carol in the wheelchair symbolizes the tomb of Christ.

So! The North Star is located at the end of the Little Dipper, but to find it it will be far more useful to locate the Big Dipper. The Big Dipper consists of the seven brightest stars part of the constellation Ursa Major, which means Greater Bear. It goes under many different names. For those of you in the USA the name The Big Dipper will be most familiar, but in many countries in Europe it’s called “The Plough”. In Scandinavia it’s called “Karlsvogna” (referring to both “Carl’s wagon and “The Man wagon” Interestingly, in 9x1 “A New Beginning”, a plough and a wagon was given a considerable amount of screen time. For those who has read my previous metas on glasshouses with holes through the roof, you might recognize a familiar theme when Ezekiel went through the glass floor (which of course was the ceiling of the floor below, so it lines up perfectly with the glasshouse with holes through the roof theory). As he went through the glass he shouted “Save the plough!”, drawing even more attention to it, really emphasizing how important it was to save it. Now, consider the emphasis on the plough in relation to the fact that the Big Dipper (how you find the North Star) in many countries goes under the name the Plough. Consider how Ezekiel went through a glass floor while carrying the plough. How he shouted “Save it!” You might also have noticed that the wall in the downstairs area he fell into was covered in stars, confirming that there is indeed a star theme present. And ultimately, you might have noticed how a member of (the extended) TF had a close encounter with death but was saved at the last minute, much like we believe Beth was lost in a walker-related incident.

Later, when they were on their way home, they ran into unexpected difficultiesbecause a bridge had collapsed. I recommend reading up on the”Bridge” theme, here’s @twdmusicboxmystery’s master post on bridges:

http://twdmusicboxmystery.tumblr.com/post/175470337254/bridge-theory-master-post

They then encountered a horde, and lost one of their own, not by the walker bite, but rather from the kick from the horse that likely caused internal bleeding. If you’ve read part six of my Mary Magdalene theory you’ll remember how both feet and horses represent “The Body Of Christ”. Shoes are also a part of the “feet/foot” symbolism, and TPTB gave Ken a horseshoe mark on the chest and made sure it was in focus for several seconds, suggesting it has some symbolic meaning. I believe that the horseshoe mark on Ken was put there to remind us of that “The Body Of Christ” symbolism is still in play. This was further confirmed in that all of this took place next to a wagon and a plough.

And what do you know! The plough, (that represents the Big Dipper) got left behind!

I repeat; the plough, which is a different name for the Big Dipper, fell out of the wagon and got left behind! The plough represents the Big Dipper, which is how you identify the North Star. The wagon also actually represents the Big Dipper, as “Karlsvogna/Carl’s wagon” is also a different name for the Big Dipper. And a wagon is naturally symbolic of car/tomb. And I repeat, because this is important, the plough fell out of the wagon and got left behind!!!

(Judging by Maggie and Michonne’s dialogue in 9x2 they later retrieved the plough, but initially it was left behind)

So to summarize; saving the plough was of utmost importance. Ezekiel almost died for it! “The Plough” is a different name for the Big Dipper, and the Big Dipper is important because that’s how you actually locate the North Star on the night sky. The sole purpose of the Alaska license plate from 5x16 was to show how you find the North Star. And the North Star represents finding your way home! Beth finding her way home! Just like Carl explained to Judith in 6x10, and also remember how the writing on the wall in the Kingdom in 7x2 “The Well” encourages us to follow the North Star, to let it guide us, and to keep hope alive!

And now that we’ve established the importance of following North Star, I’d like to remind everyone of Ana’s severed leg in 4x4. She very obviously had a compass tattoo on her leg, TPTB was very diligent in making sure nobody missed that. They zoomed in on her tattoo multiple times, and we were to be very aware of her compass tattoo. Compasses point north.

Then, let me also remind everyone on the foot symbolism from the White Trash Brunch, how the pigs feet on the table established foot/feet as a Beth symbol, representing “The Body Of Christ”. Ana’s leg from 4x4 represents “the Body Of Christ”.

Then, we need to remember how Daryl drew attention to both the pigs feet and the Frosty Cola. All things frosty, freezing, cold, cool, coolers, coolants, polar bears represents something cold, and what could be colder than the actual north? This point is further emphasized in 4x13 “Alone”, when Sasha carries around a broken compass. Obviously this particular compass doesn’t point north because it’s broken, but Sasha stares at it, the camera focuses on it, and the next thing that happens is that we see Maggie “waking up” right next to an ice cream truck. It’s such a random sequence, it makes you think “how do they come up with this stuff”, but really, if you consider the symbolism of it all, it makes quite a lot of sense. They draw attention to the compass, it’s broken. It doesn’t point north. But then we immediately see an ice cream truck (ice cream? Cold. Represents north), and whatever the broken compass was missing in cold/north symbolism, the ice cream truck has plenty of it. And Maggie, who inexplicably decided it was a good idea to lay down to rest on the ground among the dead walkers, suddenly “comes to life”! She wakes up from the dead! North = coming back to life, find your way home after having been lost.

Now, consider again the compass on Ana’s leg. Compasses point north, always, without exception, much like the North Star always points north, always, without exception. The Frosty Cola from the White Trash Brunch represents “The Blood Of Christ”, which in turn makes Ana’s leg a combination of two major Beth symbols: the Body Of Christ and the Blood Of Christ. Feet symbolism and North symbolism in one.

And here’s the amazing part: there has actually been another incident on the show where TPTB utilizes the exact same symbolism!

Remember Boots? The mysterious figure that followed Rick and Aaron back to ASZ after their struggles to get to the food on the house boat on the walker-infested lake? Before I say anything else I want to really stress the fact that Boots followed the guys home! Boot = foot/feet symbolism, which means the Body Of Christ, which in turn represents Beth. We now know that Boots in reality was Tamiel, Jadis’ right hand, but for a while we only knew that character as “Boots”.

“Boots” had red and green wires wrapped around her ankle, and that is no accident. It is a direct callback to 4x4 “Indifference”, where Daryl explains to Bob how you start up a car. “Just use the red and green wires, it’s not rocket science”. Remember car represents the tomb of Christ as I explained in part six.

And of course, the image of “Boots” with the red and green wires around the leg is a perfect parallel to Ana’s leg with the compass tattoo. Because here’s the big thing: when TPTB chose to put such heavy emphasis on the compass, you could say that they in reality were focusing on the compass rose.

That means we can officially introduce rose symbolism into this mess, because behold! On Tamiel’s boot, what do we find, if not a compass rose!!! I believe that the Star thing on Tamiel’s boot is a compass rose! And Tamiel’s boot with the compass rose perfectly parallels Ana’s leg with the compass tattoo, and now I’d like to remind everyone that compasses point North, and following the North Star is how you find your way home, and the wonderful thing is that the compass rose on Tamiel’s boot followed Rick and Aaron home to ASZ!

And we know that’s not a coincidence, because later when Tamiel kidnapped Father Gabriel we got a shot of the back of the car driving away that was an exact parallel to when Beth were kidnapped by the Grady cops.

The compass rose on Tamiel’s boot is interesting, because we’ve actually seen it before. In 6x14 “Twice As Far”, we see a 16-pointed star on the wall in Edison’s Apothecary, where Denise, Daryl and Rosita are searching for antibiotics.

First of all, they were searching for antibiotics, it’s an exact parallel to 4x4 “Indifference”. Then Denise finds a keychain that she holds on to, the camera focuses on it quite a bit, much like in 4x4 when Bob finds a key with a screwdriver keychain. The camera focuses on it, makes us notice it. Then, as they are on their way home, Denise spots a blue cooler in a car. We know by now that coolers represents North/North Star/finding your way home/the “Blood Of Christ”. We also know that cars represents “The Tomb of Christ”.

Denise struggles to get to the cooler, she has to fight for her life to get to it, but she eventually kills the walker in the car, and is awarded with the exact can of soda she was searching for. Remember how Beth in the deleted scene from “Still” mentioned soda cans in the same sentence as the red party cups that represents resurrection. Denise overcoming her struggles and killing the walker in the car (tomb) represents Beth actually getting out of the car/tomb post-Coda. The fact that Denise later dies doesn’t change that, because that happens after she’s won over the walker. She escaped. Then something happened later, but she got herself out of the car situation. She got to the cooler, and got the can of soda. She lived.

But let’s return to the rose/star decoration on the wall, let’s return to the star on Tamiel’s boot. Remember how I in part one described how Abraham found a box of cigars in 6x6 “Always Accountable”. Remember how Tamiel put out a cigar in 7x16, while crouching behind some cars, the camera focusing on the star/rose on her boot, the star that I believe represents a compass rose. It’s a Body Of Christ/ Blood Of Christ symbolism combination, the boot representing the Body Of Christ, the compass rose represents the Blood of Christ through the cooler/coolant/Frosty Cola/North Star symbolism. And then the weird guy with the red umbrella walks by, the red umbrella representing Mary Magdalene and resurrection. It’s the same umbrella the Heapsters utilize to prevent the gates from opening, in an anti parallel to Ana’s leg keeping the gates from closing in 4x4. When TPTB chose to have Ana’s leg keeping the gate open, I think that’s symbolic of rolling away the stone that kept the tomb closed. It’s TPTB’s way of facilitating a hypothetical resurrection.

Now seems like a great time to talk about roses and rose symbolism. Of course when speaking of roses on TWD, one has got to mention the Cherokee Rose. We all remember the beautiful scene with Daryl and Carol, Daryl’s touching monologue about the Cherokee Rose legend. Daryl said that the rose was there to provide hope and strength, hope of finding missing loved ones, hope of finding Sophia. I find the “hope” part interesting because of the writing on the wall in the Kingdom.

Also, there’s the incident where Daryl spots a Cherokee Rose in 6x6 “Always Accountable”. He initially tried to escape from Dwight and the girls, however after realizing that he’d run off with Tina’s insulin he decides to return. The insulin container comes with specific instructions to keep it cold, which makes it a part of the cold/cool/frosty/ice cream/North/North Star symbolism. I also believe that the insulin is a pretty solid “Blood Of Christ” reference, as insulin is injectied in order to regulate blood sugar. Tina, who was basically unconscious at that point, “woke up”.

I believe that the North Star symbolism and the rose symbolism is one and the same. Remember Ana’s leg, with the compass (rose) tattoo. The markings on a compass, a map, a nautical chart etc. that indicates the cardinal directions as well as their intermediate points is called a compass rose. A compass rose usually have 4, 8, 16 or 32 points.

Remember how I initially mentioned that the TWD follows a template of The Da Vinci Code, rather than the Bible? In TDVC, Robert Langdon follows the Rose Line through Paris in order to locate the secret tomb of Mary Magdalene? In a TWD parallel to that, Daryl sees the Cherokee Rose, then decides to follow the rose and return the insulin to Tina. She was unconscious, but thanks to Daryl following “The Rose Line”, she gets the insulin and subsequently wakes up. The symbolism in that is significant. It’s a combination of the rose symbolism and the cold/frosty/North Star symbolism leading to a “resurrection” of sorts.

This is also the same episode where Abraham finds the box of cigars named “Dona Maria”, which is decorated with pink roses. That’s significant both because of the Cherokee Rose/North Star symbolism, but also because Tamiel later will come to act out a callback to this scene by putting out the cigar while the camera focuses on her boot with the compass rose. And for anyone who thinks the symbolism of putting out a cigar sounds scary and ominous, remember that the weird guy with the red umbrella walked by seconds later. Red represents resurrection. Red umbrella represents Mary Magdalene, who in Eastern Orthodox iconography often were depicted holding red Easter egg, representing the resurrection of Christ! To have Tamiel put out the cigar (while the camera focuses on the compass rose on her boot), and then have the red umbrella appear seconds later sort of parallels the Suicide Gang scene from 4x4. Just as the act of suicide is canceled out by the red cups they were drinking out of, Tamiel’s act of “putting out the light” is canceled out by the red umbrella that represents resurrection. And the “Antifreeze” from 4x4 without the “Anti” represents freeze/frosty/ice cream/North Star, just like the compass rose on Tamiel’s boot represents north/North Star.

Finally, let me say a few words on alcohol in general, and beer in particular on TWD. Much has been said about how alcohol represents Beth. I agree with all the existing theories on that, and I’d like to offer my interpretation of alcohol as a symbol. I’ll later do a theory on the Sirius/Dog Star symbolism and how whenever they use the word “Serious” on this show, it is code for Sirius. I know it sounds absolutely ludicrous, but I’ve systematically gone through all the the episodes after 4x1 and out and checked. There is not one single instance of anyone using the word “serious” on TWD post season 4 that cannot be tied to some sort of Beth symbolism. I dare you to find an example, I promise you that it will be tied to Beth. I’ve checked. But I won’t get into that too much here, because it belongs in a different theory, and I’ll get back to it later. But one very bright anonymous reader of @twdmusicboxmystery suggested that just like the writers use “serious” as code for “Sirius”, perhaps they use “beer” for “bear”?

!!!!!!

And I thought THAT’S BRILLIANT WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?

And I went through every “bear” reference on the show (well, most of them), and it totally fits! As we know, “bear” represents the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, or in bear terms; Greater Bear and Lesser Bear. And the North Star, as we know, is at the end of the Little Dipper/Lesser Bear.

Thank you to that very clever anon!

http://twdmusicboxmystery.tumblr.com/post/177659080279/im-thinking-beer-maybe-was-a-hint-that-actually

The beautiful part is that this connection was flat out CONFIRMED in the season 4 finale of Fear. Spoiler alert, I’ll now totally reveal what happened in the Fear season finale, stop reading if you don’t want to know.

First of all, the entire back half revolves around a character we don’t see much of, but in return we hear about him constantly; Polar Bear! I swear I’m not making this up. So in regards to Beth, we remember how she stared at a polar bear blanket in 5x10 “WHAWGO”. We’ve established that all things cold/frosty/freezing/Polaris polar bear/North Star on the show represents Beth. So, here, on Fear, is a character whose name is Polar Bear. Ok.

In an incredible parallel to the Antifreeze Suicide Gang from 4x4 “Indifference”, the “Team Family” of Fear were poisoned by Martha, the villain, who had put antifreeze in their drinking water. The antidote to antifreeze is ethanol, or to put it plainly; alcohol.

Luckily there was a truck filled with alcohol just outside the service station(!), so it seemed like they’d make it. But then walkers attacked, shooting ensued and unfortunately the ethanol truck got perforated with bullets and the ethanol leaked out.

Well that was all very unfortunate, but just when they seemed to be doomed, Morgan showed up with Jimbo’s beer truck! And there you have it. Antifreeze is poison, but without the “anti” it’s just freeze! Frosty! Ice cream! Coolers! Polar bear! North! North Star! Antifreeze is death, but if you take away the “anti” you get “freeze” which is life. It’s both stupid and wonderful all at once!

Get it? They drank beer, in Polar Bear’s service station. It saved their lives!!!

And we see that the ethanol theme continues in s9 of TWD. Apparently it is the Sancuary’s responsibility to provide ethanol fuel for the wehicles in all the communities, and it will be very interesting to follow that theme going forward.