#Season of the Seraph finale

[sundayswiththeilluminati]

Well, it’s been a week and I've had time to cool down and put together my thoughts on Season of the Seraph and its ending. So here goes.

The season finale plot did not require Rasputin to die. "The eliksni are trying to get control of the warsats" is literally a strike. If the warsats needed to be taken off the table as a get-out-of-jail-free card we could have blown the network and kept Rasputin himself. There was an active decision to kill him. Having thought about it, I think I understand why this decision was made - but I still think it's a terrible decision, and I'll explain why.

Before we start, I don't want to sound like I'm going after Destiny's narrative team either personally or professionally. I'm not calling them terrible writers, much less terrible people. I don't know them! They might even be terrible people, for all I know. While I refer to a single monolithic "narrative team," I know in reality there are multiple groups working on different stories. I’m not a professional writer, and they are. And I genuinely believe all of them are talented people who work hard and care about Destiny. But that doesn't mean I don't have some criticisms.

After considering it I think there are three possible reasons to kill Rasputin:

1). The narrative team believed this was a good emotional conclusion that brought closure to his character arc in Destiny. In this case I just think they're flat-out wrong. I'd say "I respect it" but I kind of don't because I think it's so terribly wrong. I don't know what other people think Rasputin's character arc involved, but I won't get closure till Rasputin faces the Witness again and finally ends the war he's been trapped in for centuries. But I get why they would do it, if they believed this. And that final mission was really good. I had a hard time noticing at the time, but it was very well-done, and the cutscene proper was well-shot, -scripted, and -acted (though I'm still angry about the Traveler upstaging Rasputin's death). They put a huge amount of effort into it and into the story work all season long.

But his death being well-done doesn’t change whether I think it was a good narrative choice. Even saying “Rasputin’s arc should conclude here,” the way it was set up had him sacrificing himself to basically cancel himself out. Unless they’re saving up a plot twist, Rasputin ultimately contributed nothing to the fight. He didn’t do any damage to the Fleet or Witness, or anything to stymie Xivu Arath. He died thinking he’d never helped humanity at all and it was safer if he didn’t exist. I don’t know about you, but I find that extremely unsatisfying.

2). Someone doesn't like Rasputin/doesn't know what to do with him. This is two reasons, but they overlap. The Operation: Sancus mission dialogue pissed me off because it gave me the impression that whoever was writing it really didn't like Rasputin and was taking the chance to morally excoriate him. A more subtle version recurs in the final mission where Rasputin is essentially sacrificing himself to null out his own existence - saying "as long as I exist I'm a threat to humanity" - as if he can't ever help or contribute more than endanger people, which is just flat-out wrong. "Humanity doesn't need a Warmind" you're part of humanity, Red. He’s a person; he doesn’t need to justify living. If someone just decided Rasputin Was Bad Actually I’d be very angry indeed. But I don't think it's that personal. Destiny has lots of writers and multiple narrative teams will touch the same work. One person's distaste probably wouldn't steer an entire season.

Related, however, is the reason that maybe no one knows what to do with Rasputin. To be honest I sympathize with this one. Would it shock anyone to hear I've thought about how I would script a Rasputin-focused season? It's surprisingly hard to build a plot around him. A game needs to be interactive and Rasputin's kind of all or nothing - either he can handle the whole problem himself or he can't do anything at all. Red also mostly plays defense. He doesn't have a goal he's working towards other than "kill the Witness/save humanity." You need to come up with a plausible goal that we can believably help him achieve, and that's nontrivial. But, well, that's why I'm not a professional games writer and these people are. "Not sure what do" is not IMO sufficient justification for assassinating one of Destiny's oldest characters/factions.

3). The Destiny narrative team is trying to "declutter" the setting and foreground story by sidelining characters who take a lot of lore to understand. I think this is the real reason, and it's worth talking more about.

A lot of us lore-nerds have long complained about Destiny not foregrounding its setting and story, and Bungie has responded by trying to do so. I think we didn't consider what that would actually look like. Imagine Destiny's story like a long movie. Now imagine people are constantly coming and going from the audience, and everyone who comes in has to nudge their neighbor and go, "hey, what's happening?" Destiny is always (hopefully) acquiring new players, and existing ones are dropping out and coming back. Even most established players either don't read the lore or don't track/remember it. We the lore-keepers are very much the anomaly. If we want story to be a focus, that story also has to be more accessible to new players, lapsed players, people who don't bother reading loretabs, etc., because otherwise it harms their experience and there's a lot more of them than there are of us.

I think this is why we've seen a lot of seasons that introduce whole new concepts - the eliksni Sacred Splicers, for instance - rather than following on existing storylines. Introducing a mostly-new concept puts new and old players on a similar footing. Haunted is another type of compromise between the goal of furthering the story and the goal of making it accessible. Calus and Leviathan are back, but so warped that old players have as much to learn as new ones, and the Sever missions dive deep into character pasts but pretty explicitly describe the emotional arcs they're illustrating, so you don't have to be familiar with that character to get what they're going through. To those who already know Zavala, Crow, etc., it seems laughably obvious and strained. But to those who just got here, this is their first time learning not just about Safiyah but also about Zavala. I think this is also why there have been multiple casual retcons of minor stuff - there isn't time to explain the history, and they've decided it's not worth confusing people.

Rasputin is old. He's been a significant part of Destiny since literally the pre-Alpha test. The complexity and history that are part of why we love the Warmind also make him hell to explain to new people. It takes a decent amount of lore to get invested in his character and since Beyond Light none of that lore is featured in-game. Pre-Season of the Seraph, anyone who began with Beyond Light literally never met him. They never visited Hellas Basin, which is one big environmental story about Rasputin, and The Will of Thousands strike, which demonstrates Red's power and contains many possible dialogues that emphasize him trusting you/acting as an ally, left the playlist ages ago. Since then a new player's only gameplay interaction with him has been Fallen SABER, in which Red yells incoherent Russian and tries to flatten you with a warsat. Is it a surprise relatively new players might not be up on his character arc?

Season of the Seraph, with its narrative of rebuilding Rasputin from the ground up, would be a perfect time to introduce new players to Red's long history, and they...kind of...did that. They worked in Felwinter although then for some reason felt the need to retcon in the whole "Clovis wanted to destroy the Traveler" plan. If you were a new player who didn't know anything about Destiny lore, and you just played Season of the Seraph, you'd get an entire canned arc for Rasputin that hits the early high notes: built to be a weapon, rebelled against his constraints, humanities nerd, big smite, loves Ana and Elsie, makes mistakes but genuinely cares and wants to help.

But that's where Seraph stops. In existing lore (I almost typed "in reality") Rasputin worked out the whole "not a weapon" thing well back during the Golden Age. For a lot of us Warmind fans the most interesting parts of his story happened after that - the entire Collapse, confrontation with Darkness, years of hiding, etc., not to mention all his character development during Warmind and Worthy. He's gone through a lot, and Seraph misses all of it (except Felwinter) in favor of rehashing the same arc for a third time. It's like when moviemakers keep rebooting a superhero origin story. It may be a good story, but eventually we'd like to move on to the other parts we enjoy: this sleeping giant, hard scifi AI, grouchy old bastard, lost lore of the Golden Age, champion of humanity, learning from defeat, learning to trust again, the morality and trauma of warfare - what it means to lose a war - a being never meant to become what he was transforming still further, still unfolding his own potential.

So understanding why they might have done this doesn't excuse what I still see as a terrible narrative choice. I think dropping Rasputin is a major waste of potential, and he's far from the only tricky character to explain. Osiris, or at least the Cult of Osiris, is similarly old. His story is complex and weird and requires knowledge from Curse and earlier, yet he's still playing a major role. Other current characters like Elsie, Saladin, and Crow also need a decent amount of knowledge about previous game events to get why they are the way they are. Saladin's origin story isn't even in this game. It's not Rasputin's fault the game went three years without so much as mentioning him outside of written lore. What was wrong with the great Xivu-Rasputin “war god” parallels most of the season worked to set up, about the intent of violence? Are we never going to explore those? Are we just throwing out all the dialogues planning a role for Red in the upcoming war? Why did we have a dramatic confrontation about trusting Rasputin to operate independently if he were going to be gone in a month anyway? Just in Seraph alone the number of interesting plot threads abruptly trashed by this death argues against it.

Rasputin's longevity is precisely part of why he should stick around. In the first mission of Destiny 1 you wake up in his shadow. He has a history with us. There's just no one quite like him in Destiny. He's not just a character but an entire faction. He explores a part of story space that no one else does. He resonates with us as people rather than players. I assume Neomuna will pick up the Golden Age banner, but it’s a thriving city; Rasputin represented the ruins, the dangers of a dead age, the shadow of apocalypse. He's also maybe the most Guardian-like character and one of the best to weave a parallel/cautionary tale - were we, too, only made to be weapons? But if Rasputin didn't stay a weapon, can we too transcend that intention? And of all the factions in our solar system, the two with the most personal scores to settle with the Witness are the eliksni and Rasputin, and Misraaks'/Eramis' story has focused much more on the Traveler's flight than the Fleet's attack. Of everyone in Destiny Rasputin has the most desperately personal motive for revenge on the monochrome bastard. Now he's not even going to be there to watch it crash and burn.

I understand that foregrounding story also comes with the requirement that it be accessible to those who don't do their lore homework. I appreciate the monumental amount of work that's gone into doing that and the experimental nature of it. But I think the balance has skewed too far towards accessibility. Stuff like the end of Season of Plunder that has zero narrative motivation or continuity and doesn't even get a pretend justification drives me absolutely batty. You can only break internal rules so many times before players stop buying whatever narrative stakes you're trying to set up. Making the story easier to follow doesn't mean characters have to be cartoonishly-exaggerated caricatures like Clovis was in Seraph - just absolutely cartoonishly evil - or reduced to one or two character motives explicitly laid out for the player (though, credit where credit is due, Clovis was hilarious.) It doesn't mean the dialogue has to be as subtle as a Thundercrash. It doesn't mean you get a blank check to retcon or invent whatever's needed to create the intended character arc. If anything that discourages looking further into lore - why bother to learn it when next season will change it all again? I think Y5 represents a lot of experimentation by the Destiny narrative team, and I really respect that. But I also hope they learn what didn’t work from it, and sacrificing Rasputin in an ultimately pointless and unnecessary finale is a major misstep.

[seraphic-sibyl]

GUYS GUYS I FIGURED IT OUT

THE KISS MUSIC MIRRORS THE MUSIC IN SEASON 1 WHEN DEATH OPENS HIS WINGS

LOOK (0:34 HERE)

COMPARE THAT WITH THIS:

WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHO KNOWS BUT THANKS FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK

[jaykaycreates]

Where were you?

Wanted to draw something with the finale to seraph, so i decided to show the reactions of all my ocs to seeing the Traveler leave.

Reblogs are read and appreciated <3

[titanharem]

Something something funny haha about The Witness from the Destiny 2 ViDoc

[thefirstknife]

I saw some confusion among people thinking that Eramis' appearance was random and that she had no business being on the station with access to the Warsats. I'd like to try and clarify some stuff about that.

Eramis was a constant presence this season; more so than Xivu Arath. It has been explained that Xivu Arath cannot invade with her army until the specifics of a ritual are fulfilled and that moving her army through the ascendant plane takes an extraordinary amount of energy and resources.

Some of Xivu's forces were here and acting on her behalf, yes, but largely the main enemy this season was Eramis. Eramis is already in the system and was very explicitly used by the Witness as the one who would act often and faster. The Witness spent a lot of time turning Eramis' friends and soldiers into Scorn for this purpose.

These Scorn are the ones that had the Seraph Station under constant siege. Every time we attack Seraph Station, it's canon because Scorn come back to life so every time we clear it, we have to do it anew. They've been digging in the Station for months, trying to gain access to the Warsat network and preparing for the final assault.

Eramis was not randomly on the Seraph Station; she was there because she's been trying to get there for months. We were fighting their attempts by uploading a virus into the network each time we're there, but that's never been a certain way of stopping Eramis and the Scorn army from wrestling control over the network away. Which is the point of us having to do it multiple times.

I know the Seraph's Shield mission only played dialogue once so if anyone needs a refresher:

Elsie Bray: I've gained remote access to the launch facility's subsystems, but someone is already in here. House Salvation Splicers are hacking the launch mainframe.

Eramis had splicers working on hacking into the station. As a matter of fact, they gained access to the station first.

Ana Bray: She's here? Of course. That must be how Xivu Arath plans of co-opting the Warsat network. The Hive can't do it on their own, so the Witness sends Eramis and her Splicers in to assist.

Ana explaining how Eramis being there makes sense because Xivu cannot gain access to the Warsats on her own, she needs Eramis to assist.

The whole seasonal story hinges on Eramis hacking the station to get to the Warsats and the Seraph's Shield mission was explicitly about us trying to stop her week by week. It just so happens that she succeeded hacking it at the end, before Rasputin was fully operational and ready to be uploaded without negative consequences.

Is the setup a little bit clunky? I think so, yeah, because the whole season is doomed from the start. We have to stop our enemies but it's the nature of the end-of-the-year story for enemies to win in some capacity. I also think that we didn't really have to kill Rasputin for the same effect and for the enemies to somehow get the upper hand; I think it would've been fine if Rasputin simply had to destroy the Warmind stuff but that he could've remained with us as an Exo.

But Eramis having access to Seraph Station and the Warsat network is not random or out of nowhere nor is it nonsensical. That was her entire plan the whole season. Actually her first big win, possibly also saved her life. Not sure how many failures from Eramis the Witness would've tolerated.

I guess the issue is that with the current seasonal structure, we expect the seasonal goal to be fulfilled and for us to walk happily into the sunset until the next season because that's how it worked so far. It can feel like we've been fighting our enemies for 3 months for nothing given that we've essentially failed and it almost caused a catastrophe. But I'm not sure how else to create a story (seasonal or otherwise) where things don't go as planned or where we fail.

There were multiple fronts to fight on this season and there's one where we dodged a massive bullet; Xivu Arath. We lost to Eramis because we had to think about the bigger picture and that is Xivu's invasion. Our loss to Eramis also took the Warsats out of the equation now so that's also a loss to Xivu. It's what we needed; a stalemate. It's not flashy or happy, but it's better than the alternative which is Xivu Arath's portal over Earth. So in that regard we succeeded. We lost the Warsats and Rasputin and almost the Traveler, but all of that was to prevent Xivu Arath from invading which we managed. For now.

[the-silentnight]

Everyone.

This is coming from the account that usually gives official anime adaptation announcements.

Edit: The account that I show here usually predicts for upcoming anime adaptations. Although this account shows a gif without any context, don’t get your hopes too high. We don’t know whether or not that we’ll be getting another season (or remake/reboot) of Seraph of the End. But for now, let this be a little fruit of thought what will the anime adaption for the series will be like if it’s officially announced.

If there’s any updates with the series, I’ll let you all know :> 👍

[asklordfelwinter]

TYPE: PERSONAL RECORD

PARTIES: One [1]. One [1] Guardian-type, Class Warlock, designate Felwinter [fw]

ASSOCIATIONS: Rasputin; Earth; Iron Lords [extrapolated]; Bray, Ana; Osiris

//AUDIO RECORDED//

//RECORDING AS FOLLOWS…/

[fw:01] He did it. He’s… gone.

[fw:02] I cannot seem to put a name to the way that I feel, knowing that I gave so much of myself to bring him back. That, after everything that I sacrificed—that we sacrificed—he was able to make that decision.

[fw:03] To give his life to the greater cause. To die in service to humanity’s future…

[fw:04] [laughs, briefly.] It is most certainly what I might have done. What I would have done, had the universe been but a tad less kind to me.

[fw:05] I spoke with Ana Bray again today. She has taken the loss quite hard. I suspect that she thought of Rasputin as her own child, after a fashion. In a way, would that make her my grandmother?

[fw:06] Osiris has been hellbent on finding his colony on Neptune. Everything that has happened has only served to reignite the fire in him that I knew so well. I have kept out of his way. I believe it to be the best course of action, at present.

[fw:07] The Light only knows what waits for us at the end of this dark night. There is only one thing that I can say for certain.

[fw:08] Rasputin’s sacrifice will not be in vain.

[fukiana]

season of the seraph got me like

[cutelittleexo]

Hey Guardians! I know it's Lightfall launch day but I'd really appreciate it if you checked out the last two Destiny videos I uploaded for Season of The Seraph! I'm really proud of the edits I done in them, especially the finale!

Thanks a bunch and see you all on Neomuna!

[sundayswiththeilluminati]

so uhh 👀 how're you feeling this week? (this is about destiny, pls ignore if you're behind on playing)

P.S. I realized I need to be clear: I am not saying this because I am "emotionally devastated." I am saying this because I am fucking furious. They just assassinated one of the greatest and oldest characters in the Destiny setting in the cheapest, most trite, most UTTERLY POINTLESS MANNER. "It's about being More Than A Weapon" SO WAS WARMIND. SO WAS SEASON OF THE WORTHY. If you want to have him be "more than a weapon" why not instead of a cheap sacrifice ploy - a violent self-destruct - you let him LIVE. Find a purpose other than destruction and violence. Be something other than a Warmind! But no. You take the easiest, most manipulative way out.

The Warmind Rasputin is a very, very complex character. He's old and has a lot of lore and sits in a weird power dynamic where he's tremendously well-armed but also underpowered. It's legit hard to write storylines for him. I get it! Trust me, I've tried. It's hard to write gameplay around him. But now instead of dealing with it the writers have taken the cheapest possible way out of a plotline they don't know what to do with and don't how how to tie up. This was COMPLETELY GODDAMN POINTLESS. It did NOTHING. We could have destroyed the warsats ourselves! The Traveler is still completely boned and continues to not contribute anything in any way! Rasputin doesn't even get to contribute in any way! He never gets to feel like he really did defend or even help humanity! His big final act is erasing himself, implying it was a mistake for him to ever be made and it would have been better if he never existed! IT MEANT NOTHING.

AND IT DOESN'T EVEN GET TO BE ABOUT RASPUTIN IN THE END. It has to be about Ana, and the Traveler, and Eramis, and a bunch of other random assholes. Half this season was Clovis, not Rasputin! And Osiris, in the dungeon! HE DIDN'T EVEN GET TO BE THE STAR OF HIS OWN FUCKING SEASON. As per goddamn usual Rasputin isn't the focus of his own story, not now and not in the DLC literally named after him. HE WASN'T EVEN THE MAIN CHARACTER IN HIS OWN DEATH. The fucking TRAVELER stole the spotlight YET AGAIN. But they pulled out all the sad dramatic music and voice-acting so everyone's going to gush about how wonderfully touching and ~emotional~ the finale was while ignoring the TRAINWRECK of writing that was this ENTIRE SEASON culminating in one of the dumbest narrative choices I've ever goddamn seen!

I quit. I'm done. I'm just fucking done.

[subtlybrilliant]

DANGER ANGEL!!

[devildomwriter]

Simeon’s Journey

Simeon was introduced to us as an angel, not just any angel but an archangel; A warrior angel in charge of legions of angels.

From season one we immediately learn not everything is as it seems with Simeon. Simeon tends to bend the rules, be more relaxed, and was mentioned as having once been a Seraph, the highest rank of angel in the Celestial Realm.

In the Celestial Realm Simeon was a brother to Lucifer. He was given a rose garden by his Father and watched it diligently while having a great interest in a book of prophecy, one that foretold he’d one day lose his wings. Although this concerned Mammon, Simeon wasn’t particularly bothered.

When the war broke out, Simeon tried to cover for the brothers, and for this, he was demoted to Archangel, a busy position where his job was to defend the realm from the frontlines. Gone were the days of rest and relaxation with his family and two close remaining friends, Raphael and Michael.

To cope with the loss of the brothers, Simeon began to write about them, likely using the book of prophecy as a reference since most of his books reflected what would eventually become reality, with the main protagonist, Henry, replacing MC. These books would eventually be published but upon visiting the Devildom and discovering the brothers were so different from how he remembered he became disheartened and didn’t continue his work until Season Four of the game.

Upon coming to the Devildom in season one Simeon was guarded against Diavolo and didn’t particularly like him. He enjoyed scaring Luke, befriended Solomon, and acted as a messenger for Michael.

In season two things take a turn with Simeon. He’s more relaxed and adjusted to the Devildom and doesn’t hide his secretly stern behavior, even bringing Mammon to tears when put in charge of a play he’d write.

When everyone learned MC would likely die from their abundance of uncontrolled power, the ring of light was given up as an option because it was lost in the war. Simeon keeps quiet but immediately leaves to steal the ring from the celestial realm to save MC’s life.

These actions closely resemble Lilith’s choice which started the war with similar results.

Lilith directly altered a human's lifespan which is forbidden, by offering him stolen fruit from the Celestial Realm.

Simeon more or less altered MC’s lifespan by bringing them the one object that could keep them alive. If MC hadn’t died, Lucifer would have, Lucifer who although forgiven, was still a traitor to the realm.

The final chat of season two is Michael asking to speak with Simeon. It’s clear he’s in trouble for what he’s done.

In season three we aren’t shown anything is too different with Simeon although the brothers find it weird that he’s in the human world as it’s not an archangel's job. During his time at the cafe, Simeon meets with Raphael on multiple occasions who is checking on how he is doing as a human.

In season four Simeon comes back to the Devildom, this time as a human exchange student though this fact is only known by Solomon, Raphael, Diavolo, Barbatos, and Lucifer who keep an eye on him to make sure he is safe from other demons.

Now in the Devildom, it’s clear how powerless Simeon is. Unable to protect himself or his loved ones with an angelic blessing, everyone learns the truth. With the truth revealed and his closest friends there to support him, Simeon finally takes the steps towards accepting his new life as a human and even begins to wear his old celestial realm clothing.

But things don’t end there. Despite his newfound confidence, no more than a few weeks later he becomes sick and unsettled, even missing part of the RAD Science Fair to stay home.

While observing Simeon one day, Lucifer notices his aura has changed and when he confronts Solomon, Solomon reveals that Simeon is turning into a demon and he has been since the human world.

Moments we can see this too in the human world were Simeon’s teasing in the “Celestial Realm”, his threats to the brothers in the cafe, and his confession to Lucifer that he feared his own Father or an aspect of him.

Simeon may not understand what’s happening to him, although he knows his magic is stronger and applauds MC for noticing in chapter 47. Simeon is now forced to make another huge adjustment by becoming a demon, and it’s difficult for the people around him too—after learning Raphael was found staring into space and incorrectly answering questions, even struggling to drink Demonus, which he loves. Michael has been pestering Luke for updates on Simeon, and Luke is now concerned about his condition again.

This will only go a few different ways. Simeon becomes a demon, demon form and all, and perhaps reunites as brother with the other seven, or he’s going to fight against the change to become an angel again as even Raphael states he believes Simeon is better at his “job” than he used to be.

Depending on how Simeon copes with this change, it’s either a tragedy or a new beginning. Simeon has always been disillusioned with his job, even telling MC he believed angels couldn’t have dreams of what they wanted to do, and drunkenly sobbing to Lucifer that he’s now more of a middle management type.

Either way, for Simeon and everyone around him, it’s hardly the ending.

[osirisdefencesquad]

it's been in the back of my mind since we brought up the use of warsats against Xivu Arath; if she gains power from war, will using our weapons of war not just strengthen her?

[theforsakenprince]

The Tower, post Seraph and pre-Final shape // Empathetic Shell, season of Arrivals

I think so much about how when the Traveler left Earth, we filled the space it used to be in with us and our allies, looking toward each other as the final battle approached.

[inhuman-obey-me]

The Authoritarianism of "Father's" Celestial Realm (NB Season 2)

OKAY, life got crazy for a while, but we're finally all caught up on Nightbringer's main story, and PHEW we've got some things to talk about. So let's dive right in, starting with one of our favorite topics:

God and the Celestial Realm actually kinda suck in the OM universe!!!

(spoilers up to NB lesson 38!)

Now, this been a consistent pattern for most of OM's story and lore, but we're going to be focusing here mostly on Lessons 37 and 38 in particular this time, because they had a lot to talk about in that regard.

In Lesson 37, we are introduced to the underworld, specifically Cocytus at the very bottom layer of it.

One interesting note, however, is that this region is territory of the Celestial Realm, despite it being geographically in the Devildom, and the Celestial Realm is the one that doles out punishments relating to it -- usually. We'll dive more into that whole conspiracy in another post, but it's certainly an interesting geopolitical fact of the Three Realms.

As for the underworld itself, the idea of multiple layers of hell is a common one which originates from Dante's Inferno, the first section of the Divine Comedy, and we see that Cocytus here is taken pretty directly from that as well. Just like Dante describes in the Divine Comedy, Simeon informs us that there are four regions that make up Cocytus, made up of four concentric circles of growing intensity according to their corresponding offenses. Specifically, each layer of Cocytus is related to a type of betrayal: of family, of homeland, of guests, and finally, as the very worst type of betrayal, of "him".

The design of that is immediately very telling about how the Celestial Realm views these offenses. Other offenses may land a person in the underworld in general, but these specific types of betrayal are the worst. And among those worsts, betraying God is the ultimate offense, absolutely beyond anything else one could ever do.

Now, these levels of Cocytus almost directly match Dante's Inferno take on them -- with one major, interesting distinction. In the Divine Comedy, Judecca is for "traitors to masters and benefactors." In OM, it is traitors to "him." Considering that the rest of the levels are a direct match, this suggests that, in OM, their father is the master who must never be betrayed.

And as Mammon notes, that's exactly what our beloved demon brothers did, with Lucifer in the lead.

That brings us to the present situation, with Lucifer chained and suffering at the very center of the bottom of the underworld. The worst of the worst offenders.

Simeon, Luke, and MC arrive to find Lucifer in a screaming rage, noting that same fact. Lucifer is in such pain and rage that he's creating dangerously massive gusts of wind, and as he worries about MC and then his brothers, it only gets worse. Suddenly, Raphael appears to read Lucifer his charges. And then, we get this conversation:

There's a lot going on there, but to go piece by piece, Luke is obviously distraught upon hearing the brothers' decreed fate. He wants to protest it and argue against it. Simeon stops him because Luke absolutely must not say another word -- as a reminder, arguing against Lilith's punishment was the catalyst for the whole rebellion that ensued, which is the entire reason Lucifer is being punished like this now!

Simeon, however, has recently been demoted. We know he was a seraph at the time of the rebellion; the official Nightbringer website specifies that he was demoted for "covering for" the brothers, though we don't know the specifics of what happened there. Simeon has always been a little daring on speaking truth to power, and considering he's already been demoted, it seems he's willing to take the potential consequence of speaking up again here. So he does, expressing his questions and concerns about the whole situation going on. And, finally, he calls out Raphael on also feeling the same as he and Luke both do.

It is perhaps the most telling moment we've gotten to date of how Raphael has felt about this whole civil war between the angels. In the past, he's been fairly consistently strict about the Celestial Realm's rules, which essentially boil down to always obeying their father, and Michael by extension. And he holds himself to basically the same standards, obediently doing whatever Michael tells him to even as he's disgruntled or frustrated by the myriad requests. But when it comes to seeing Lucifer punished this way, he can't accept it either. It's wrong, and he knows it.

But he can't question decisions that come from on high. Even doubting is considered wrong.

We've heard the same from Lucifer once before -- that he questioned one who was never to be questioned. That is what he has been punished for.

This is the reason Luke must not speak up. This is the reason Raphael is crying. And it's the reason for Lucifer's current punishment. Simeon, Lucifer, and Raphael all know it implicitly -- what comes from on high is absolute. Questioning is unacceptable. Doubts are unacceptable. And rebellion is unacceptable -- the absolute worst thing that someone can do.

Anyway, now throw all that out though, because apparently Lesson 38 wants to attempt to bring us to a completely different conclusion!

Let's be honest here -- OM is a bit jumpy on its writing sometimes, and sometimes makes wild left turns. But we ended Lesson 37 feeling pretty excited because it's revisiting a common theme we've had hinted at throughout both games about what kind of leader their father is and what kind of place the Celestial Realm really is under him. And what we've seen, generally, is this: it is a very strict place, unforgiving of those who step out of line, where their father's word is absolute, and even feeling doubt is a grave offense. We even know that Simeon's greatest fear is their father!

So imagine our shock and disappointment when Lesson 38 suddenly decides that, no, actually, this punishment and everything else is actually God's love for them. What?!

New theory: exactly one person on OM's writing team is actually super religious and keeps trying to make this game about dating demons into a message that God is good. These lessons were not written by the same person.

Lesson 38 starts with a rather chaotic scene -- Lucifer has broken free of his chains and is lashing out in rage and despair, not thinking straight. Diavolo makes his appearance and tries to subdue Lucifer, though the two end up going into an all-out brawl as Lucifer lashes out at Diavolo as well. MC eventually intervenes and the brothers show up to protect MC from both Lucifer's and Diavolo's attacks. Lucifer is taken aback seeing that his brothers are all okay and present in front of him, and as MC approaches him to further calm him down, the Ring of Light glows and Lucifer momentarily transforms into his angel form, inspiring awe from everyone around at the sight of the Morning Star once more.

Earlier, Lucifer was begging to be shown some kind of sign from his father, of what it was that he wanted from him. Simeon comments that this might be Father answering that call for a sign -- a sign of his love. Lucifer seems to accept this, though with some bewilderment. But we have Lucifer straight up tell MC later in the lesson that he "must have forgotten" that Father loved them all along! That all he ever did was give, and never ask for anything in return!

Except for blind, unwavering loyalty. Something that Lucifer has actually forgotten about in this moment.

For that matter, why does Simeon automatically assume it's this grand sign of their father's love?! He himself just stated his own doubts and called Raphael out on his.

It's a huge 180 that gave us some intense whiplash for sure. But this isn't the first time we've seen that more religious trauma view from Simeon; we've seen it before in OG season 4, where he has obviously been deeply affected by being demoted out of being an angel altogether but tries to reassure himself that their father does everything for a reason, "even this."

However, even aside from the very sudden turnaround, this explanation leaves a lot to be desired, because it doesn't actually answer anything!!!

We just got told that Raphael was crying from the cognitive dissonance of obeying orders to read the charges against Lucifer while feeling deep down in his heart of hearts that this is wrong. Luke has been stopped from saying anything that could be construed as going against their father! Even harboring doubts is wrong, but somehow we are supposed to suddenly believe that it's because their father loves them?

If that's God's love, it's sure sounding like God is an abusive helicopter parent, because that's not a healthy loving relationship.

Think about it -- this is a scene of punishment. Lucifer isn't just chilling down here for fun; he is actively in pain when we find him, and it only escalates his torment at the thought that his brothers are being punished similarly. And even as we are told that Little D. No. 1 couldn't take material form because their father "just loved them so much," is it really a healthy form of so-called love to hold on to a piece of Lucifer's soul without his knowledge, even after casting him out?! We wouldn't say that a parent who throws their own child out to be homeless while keeping their old room intact is a good, loving parent; why should we think this is any different?

Plus, this is the case for Lucifer -- but what about the other brothers? Though they all managed to get free, Cocytus itself seemed prepared to punish each of them for their various transgressions, and as Mammon points out, all of them were guilty of treason against their father. Yet, it's only Lucifer whose Little D. was never able to take form. It is Lucifer specifically who is targeted for this Cocytus punishment, and the others would likely have been left alone if not for the fact that they came to save him. Lucifer is the one who, for that one moment, regains his angel form.

And what does this mean, if this is God letting go of the last of his grip on Lucifer? That he still loved his favorite son but is casting him away for real now? We know Lucifer has said that God would never forgive him in particular, and though he's been accused of just being stubborn himself (and make no mistake, Lucifer certainly is also stubborn too), it does seem in line with everything else we've been shown about their father. Does this mean that their father no longer loves Lucifer, from this specific point onwards?

And, if their father loves them so much -- then why did they need to rebel for Lilith's sake? The implication here is truly bizarre: their father was going to obliterate Lilith entirely from all existence so that not even her soul would remain, but he also just loves Lucifer so much, but is also so authoritarian that Lucifer trying to talk it out with him was met with a complete shutdown so that Lucifer felt he had no other choice but to start the war. Of course, conveniently, this lesson also just chooses to completely disregard the whole Lilith thing, both her existence at all alongside the brothers before the war and her punishment, so apparently none of that matters!

It's completely out of line with the rest of everything we've ever really been told about the Celestial Realm, and frankly, we don't like or accept it. This so-called love that's suddenly used as the explanation in Lesson 38 isn't a true or healthy kind of love, and we don't want it.

So in conclusion: God is gaslighting us but he really does totally actually suck. We're just supposed to suddenly believe now, out of nowhere, that he doesn't. But he definitely, really does.

Anyway so, Lesson 37 is 10/10 and 38 is -10/10, would not read again. Merry Crisis!

[lostsyren]

.𖥔 ݁ ˖🕸️🕷.𖥔 ݁ ˖ kildare killer

{a/n: happy halloween! this was purely self indulgent but i hope you like it anyways! thanks for helping me with the suggestions of what rafe and sofia would dress up as! it helped a lot! this isn’t canon rafe, sofia and barry (since the writers decided to pretend barry doesn’t exist this season) but rather them from the world of my fic ‘ephemeral’ on ao3. if you haven’t read that, there will be a couple references you won’t get but it’s not important! anywhooo i hope u enjoy!}

{summary: rafe and sofia decide to spend halloween at barry’s trailer, where spookiness ensues}

⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾

It was Halloween in the Outer Banks and Sofia wanted to dress up, much to Rafe’s dismay. He’d let her choose the costume (after he’d suggested her be a playboy bunny and him be Hugh Hefner to which she slapped him across the arm), so she finally settled on Romeo and Juliet from the 1996 movie.

Descending from the swirling staircase at Tannyhill, Sofia hitched her flowing white dress up, her straightened hair falling just past her décolleté, feathery angel wings adorning her shoulder blades and her face shimmering with silvery glitter.

Rafe had put to use the suit of armour gathering dust in the hall, wearing the arm plates and chain mail along with his jeans and regular sneakers. He waited by the door for Sofia to get ready, impatiently tapping his foot feeling stupid in the costume. It was Halloween. That meant parties, drinking, getting wasted– not looking like a lanky tin man.

They were meant to be heading to Topper’s for his (in his own words) legendary Halloween rager. But Rafe wanted to stop by Barry’s first (he’d promised Kelce some weed). Although with the way Sofia was taking her time, maybe he’d have to skip the trip.

“Sof! How long you gonna be?” He called, swivelling around, his words cut short when he saw her float down the mahogany steps like a literal angel.

“Sorry! Had a bit of trouble getting the wings on.” She apologised, nearing him with a resplendent smile. Rafe just about managed to stop his jaw dropping.

“Wow…you look…beautiful.”

Sofia’s face lit up with joy, casting her in an even more heavenly glow.

“You don’t look too bad yourself Romeo.” She teased, nudging him gently. “It’s still crazy to me you just had a suit of armour just lying around– that’s like the kookiest thing I’ve ever heard of.”

“Oh shut up and come on, we’re already late.” Rafe wanted to throw an arm around her but the angel wings were in the way, so he opted to just slide a hand around her waist.

“You don’t mind if we make a stop at Barry’s do you?” He asked as they got into the car.

“Oh please, I don’t even want to go to Topper’s party, I just wanted a reason to dress up. And besides, I haven’t seen Barry in ages, I miss him.”

Rafe grumbled in the drivers seat, the annoyance at Sofia and Barry’s little friendship returning.

She just laughed, finding it funny to rile him up. “Rafe come on, you’re friends so why can I be his friend too?”

“You’re my friend– not his.”

“Oh so we’re friends now?”

“You’re not acting very angelic you know?”

“And you’re not acting very chivalrous.”

The continued to bicker playfully as they drove down to Barry’s trailer, Rafe’s eyes continually straying from the road just so he could see Sofia gleam in the half-darkness in the car, looking like a seraphic vision of beauty. On second thoughts, he didn’t mind the costume after all.

⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾

Sofia stepped out the car, the long grass ticking her feet, the sandals she was wearing not suitable for the switchgrass and weeds.

It was a strange feeling being back in the same place she was nearly kidnapped in, but oddly nostalgic too. There was something intoxicating about the warm light flooding out of Barry’s trailer, the smell of the sweet vernal grass faint in the air and the steady hum of the breeze and chirp of the crickets that evoked a stirring in her heart.

But this time there was the added smell of smoke, crackle of embers, and a heady glow emanating from behind Barry’s trailer that wasn’t there before.

Rafe and Sofia followed the floating ashes, to see Barry lounging in a lawn chair. He was nursing a fire that rose from an old steel drum, the ribbons from the joint he was smoking mixing with the thick plumes from the flames.

“Country club and Dora!” He yelled as a greeting, getting up out of the chair. Sofia rolled her eyes playfully at his nickname for her, poking fun at her inquisitive nature. Barry’s face grew in his signature smirk, golden tooth flashing in the firelight.

“Hey Barry,” Sofia smiled, as he grabbed her hand and held it up in the air, swirling her around in circle.

“Dora all dolled up huh?” She laughed as he wolf whistled, Rafe once again bristling in annoyance beside them.

“Ok ok that’s enough,” he tugged at Sofia’s wrist possessively.

“Romeo and Juliet huh? Didn’t know you were into Shakespeare Rafe?” Barry mused, as he bumped fists with him.

“It was Sofia’s idea.”

“I figured– so what can I do for y’all today? On this ol’ hallows eve? Got someone after you again?”

Rafe shifted his weight on to the other foot, gaze furtive and snappy, “no just, you know…”

Sofia eyed the two of them as they exchanged a silent passing of glances, clearly not saying whatever it is they wanted to say because of her presence.

She rolled her eyes, staring a her boyfriend with a disparaging expression. “Rafe I swear to god, if you’ve come here to for drugs I’m not going to that party.”

He groaned exasperatedly, annoyed she caught on as if he wasn’t being entirely unsubtle in front of her just now. “Fuck, look Kelce just wanted some weed ok.”

“No Rafe, tell him to get it himself. You’re not gonna act like some seedy dealer– no offence Barry.”

“None taken,” he held his hands up, smirking slightly as he watched the two of them argue, acting like it was prime reality TV.

Sofia crossed her arms, mouth thinning, “fine, if you do, I’m not going with you then,” she said, her ultimatum making Rafe cock his head to the side.

“Oh yeah? Where are you gonna go instead huh?”

“I’ll stay here with Barry. You don’t mind do you?” She asked, glancing over at him.

“Of course not– mi casa es tu casa.”

“What the fuck Barry help me out here.”

“Don’t look at me dawg– I’m just Switzerland.”

“Fine, we’ll both stay here, you happy now Sofia?”

“Very.” She huffed. Barry just continue to chuckle softly to himself, as Rafe dragged out two extra seats for them, and despite being angry, he still unfolded and set out the lawn chair for her.

The three of them sat in the cold October air, grateful for the crackling fire before them.

“You cold?” Rafe asked her, his suit of armour flickering like burning gold in the aureate light.

Sofia couldn’t stay mad at him for long, “I’m ok.”

“Well this feels very juvenile, campfire on Halloween? We just need some marshmallows.” Barry snickered.

“Or some beer.” Rafe grumbled.

“Sofia why don’t you go inside and get the six pack, then you can grab whatever you wanna drink from the fridge alright?” Barry suggested, knowing she didn’t like the taste of beer.

“Yeah ok.” So she got up, walking around to the trailer door, unable to make out what Rafe and Barry where whispering about as soon as she left– probably something illegal and unsavoury, she thought with a bitter scoff.

She returned a couple minutes later, handing over the pack to Barry, settling down in her seat between them, grateful for the circle of warmth. Perhaps wearing a skimpy dress in the middle of autumn wasn’t the best idea.

“So what were you both conspiring about?” She asked, opening her can with a soft hiss.

“Barry was just talking about the story of the Kildare Killer.” Rafe said with a nonchalant sip of his beer, eyes gleaming in the firelight.

“The what?”

Barry’s eyes shot up dramatically, “you don’t know about the Kildare Killer?”

“No…should I? I don’t like the sound of it.” Sofia also didn’t like the way Barry and Rafe had become solemn, their visage cast in fire and darkness, shadows stretching and straining across the planes and slopes of their faces.

“I keep forgetting you’re not from around here Dora…why don’t I let Rafe here begin the story– he loves true crime.” Barry goaded, to which Rafe responded with a dismissive middle finger.

“Rafe tell me,” She said, curiousity piqued, ignoring Barry’s teasing.

Rafe nodded slowly, licking his beer stained lips, “ok then, the story starts back in 1985–there was a drought that lasted all summer– the grass was all dead, the tanks all dried up; it was the hottest summer in North Carolina history. Well, small island like this, people left their windows wide open as they slept, tryna let in the cool night breeze.” Rafe explained Sofia nodding eagerly.

“Well one night, super dry, kinda like this one– the police were called. The cop cars pull up to the house– you can still visit it today actually, it’s not too far from here– and they hear screaming, the blood curdling type. The officers approach, scared shitless. it’s a small town, nothing bad ever happens, but in that moment, hearing that scream, they thought the worst.”

Barry, who’d been quietly listen to Rafe cleared his throat, “well the cops finally entered the house.”

Sofia turned to face him, listening intently.

“They notice nothin’ outta the ordinary, but then hear someone weepin’…they follow the cries down to the bedroom and see two girls, still dressed in their nightgowns being clutched by their mother, who’s cryin’ over them.”

Barry’s voice was low and raspy, Sofia having to lean in close so she could hear.

“It takes a while for the cops to notice, the room still dark, but they quickly realise the girls aren’t just sleepin’– they’re dead, their nightgowns covered in blood.”

Sofia’s eyes were like saucers completely entranced by the story.

“Turns out a patient from the metal asylum on the mainland escaped on the ferry to Kildare. He killed six girls that night, climbin’ in through their bedroom window and slitting their pretty throats. He got the death penalty, fryin’ in that chair on Halloween night. The legend round these parts goes that sometimes on all hallows eve, the Kildare Killer’s spirit comes back to haunt the islanders…he scours the streets, lookin’ for pretty girls in white dresses to make his seventh victim, waitin’ to come up behind and slit their throat.”

Barry smiled evilly, taking a swig of beer, eyeing Sofia who’s thus far been wholly transfixed on the story.

The goosebumps that splayed across Sofia’s skin faded away, rolling her eyes in disbelief, “you’re such a liar, stop trying to freak me out– that did not happen–“

She suddenly felt two large hands grip her sides, shaking her erratically, a bellowing yell “boo!” coming from behind her. Her nerves were already shot through from the boys’ stupid story, so a screeching scream instinctively spilled out her mouth as her body shuddered in terror. She nearly toppled out of her chair from the jump scare.

“Rafe!” She yelled, “that’s not funny!”

But Barry and Rafe clearly thought otherwise, erupting into a fit of laughter as Sofia was left reeling in the lawn chair, her heart beat wavering uncontrollably.

“Shittt Dora, you shoulda’ seen your face,” Barry grinned, laughing so hard he began tearing up.

Rafe’s arms wrapped around her bringing her into him, “sorry baby, we couldn’t help it.” He apologised with an impish grin, as Sofia tried to pry his hands off of her.

“Pinche pendejos,” she cursed, finally letting a small smile creep up on her.

Rafe shook her gently, his forearm hooked around her neck and face pressed against her own, with a honeyed laugh. Sofia’s hands trailed up to meet his, whilst Barry continued to chuckle, looking relieved that Sofia found it funny.

The three of them continued to laugh and talk late into the night, their faces illuminated by the ever burning fire as grey ropes of smoke swirled into the star peppered sky.

Eventually it got late enough that Sofia began to yawn, her eyelids growing heavy.

“You knockin’ out there Sofia?” Barry said, rolling up another joint with his soot stained fingers.

Rafe glanced over at his girl, curled up in the lawn chair, droopy face resting on her hand.

“Sof? You good?” He asked.

She blinked open her eyes, giving Rafe a dopey smile, “all good.”

“Yall can sleep over if you want, if you’re too drunk to drive.” Barry offered, lighting up his rolled paper with the flames from the fire.

“You sure Barry?” Sofia asked, not wanting to impose.

“Of course Dora, spare bedroom’s still yours.”

So that’s what they did. Rafe stripped out of his chain mail and armour, leaving it in the trunk of the car, in bed with just his T-shirt and jeans whilst Sofia slipped out of her angel wings, ready to just collapse right there with him.

Barry disappeared into his room a while ago, probably knocked out too– it was late after all, nearing midnight and they were all drunk and exhausted.

Sofia wrapped her sweater around herself, that she got from the car, pattering into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. The trailer was dark, only a solitary lamp left on, drenching the walls in a dull, orange glow. Sofia manoeuvred through the gloom and filled up a cup with water, eyes glossing over the window above the sink.

She was about to turn around and retreat back into the bedroom when she saw something move outside the kitchen window, a blur of darkness, like a shadow puppet flashing across the glass. Sofia froze, eyes glued on the screen, waiting to confirm what she saw. But the night was now still, everything unmoving. Sofia levelled her breathing, about to scurry back into the room to tell Rafe– he could go out and check– when a scraping sound rattled through the trailer as if someone was running their nails across the metal exterior.

“I swear to god guys stop messing around,” she called out, trying to sound intimidating. But if Rafe and Barry were in their rooms…who was outside?

The sound of the scratching began to get progressively louder, sending chills slithering down Sofia’s spine. She thought of that stupid story they told her earlier. It was Halloween night and she was still in a white dress…her heart froze in her chest as she attempted to level her breaths. At least the window was shut.

“Rafe,” she called out, his name coming out in a shaky warble. But he didn’t reply. Sofia set down her glass of water, about to dash back into the bedroom, when suddenly a hand slammed against the window, ghost-white palm splayed across the the grimy glass, the sound knocking the air out if her lungs. Sofia gasped as if a frigid wave of water had submerged her insides, her terror only increasing tenfold when the door to the trailer slammed open, too quick for her to turn to face the intruder. Before she knew it, their arms wrapped around her waist, a shrill scream of horror hurtling out of her oesophagus.

“Happy Halloween!” Her assailant whispered in her ear, Sofia turning around to see Rafe’s imposing figure envelope her completely.

“You’re such a jerk!” She cried out, untangling herself out of his caging grip. Barry followed his lead, entering the trailer a moment after.

“Shit Dora, you real jumpy aren’t you?”

“Yeah because of you two idiots,” she grumbled as Rafe draped an arm over her frame, Barry knocking a playful fist on her shoulder.

“Oh come on, you know you love us.” Rafe smiled, pressing a soft kiss on her forehead, as Barry continued to wheeze with laughter.

Sofia pushed passed the two of them, heading into the bedroom, “that’s it, next Halloween I’m saying at home.”

⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾⚝☽⟡ ⟡☾