#Theological epic

[blueheartbookclub]

"Epic Majesty: John Milton's 'Paradise Lost' and the Theological Tapestry of the Human Condition"

John Milton's "Paradise Lost" stands as an unparalleled epic that delves into the cosmic realms of theology, morality, and the human experience. Published in 1667, this monumental work continues to resonate across centuries, offering readers an expansive canvas upon which the grand tapestry of creation, rebellion, and redemption unfolds. The title itself evokes the poignant irony of a paradise lost and the intricate theological explorations that define Milton's magnum opus.

The narrative centers on the biblical tale of the Fall of Man, tracing the events from Satan's rebellion in Heaven to Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's blank verse is a majestic river of language, a flowing current that navigates through the celestial and terrestrial landscapes with a divine eloquence. The poetic richness and rhythmic cadence of Milton's verses contribute to the epic grandeur of the work, elevating it to the status of one of the greatest literary achievements in the English language.

At the heart of "Paradise Lost" lies the enigmatic figure of Satan, a rebellious angel whose defiance of God sets in motion the cosmic drama. Milton's portrayal of Satan is complex and multifaceted, challenging readers to grapple with questions of free will, pride, and the nature of evil. The character of Satan becomes a tragic figure, a charismatic and flawed entity whose rebellion is fueled by a misguided sense of autonomy.

Milton's exploration of Adam and Eve, the first human couple, adds another layer to the theological discourse. Their innocence, fallibility, and subsequent expulsion from Eden become symbolic of the broader human experience—caught between the desire for knowledge and the consequences of disobedience. The interplay between free will, temptation, and the inevitability of divine judgment forms the thematic backbone of the narrative.

"Paradise Lost" also engages with profound theological questions, reflecting Milton's own Puritan convictions and his dissent against the hierarchical structure of the Church of England. The work contemplates the nature of God, the problem of evil, and the redemptive power of divine grace. Milton's theological stance, however, remains dynamic, allowing for diverse interpretations and sparking scholarly debates on the nuances of his religious beliefs.

The epic's enduring appeal lies not only in its theological depth but also in its universal themes that transcend religious boundaries. Milton's exploration of the human condition—its aspirations, flaws, and the perennial struggle between good and evil—resonates with readers across cultures and time periods. "Paradise Lost" serves as a testament to the enduring power of literature to grapple with fundamental questions of existence.

In conclusion, John Milton's "Paradise Lost" is a literary colossus that stands at the intersection of theology, philosophy, and literature. The title encapsulates the essence of the narrative—an epic portrayal of the cosmic struggle between divine order and human agency. Milton's poetic brilliance and profound exploration of theological themes ensure that "Paradise Lost" remains an ever-relevant masterpiece that invites readers to ponder the complexities of the human condition and the timeless quest for meaning in a world marked by both paradise and loss.

John Milton's "Paradise Lost" is available in Amazon in paperback 16.99$ and hardcover 24.99$ editions.

Number of pages: 469

Language: English

Rating: 9/10                                           

Link of the book!

Review By: King's Cat

[blueheartbooks]

"Epic Majesty: John Milton's 'Paradise Lost' and the Theological Tapestry of the Human Condition"

John Milton's "Paradise Lost" stands as an unparalleled epic that delves into the cosmic realms of theology, morality, and the human experience. Published in 1667, this monumental work continues to resonate across centuries, offering readers an expansive canvas upon which the grand tapestry of creation, rebellion, and redemption unfolds. The title itself evokes the poignant irony of a paradise lost and the intricate theological explorations that define Milton's magnum opus.

The narrative centers on the biblical tale of the Fall of Man, tracing the events from Satan's rebellion in Heaven to Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's blank verse is a majestic river of language, a flowing current that navigates through the celestial and terrestrial landscapes with a divine eloquence. The poetic richness and rhythmic cadence of Milton's verses contribute to the epic grandeur of the work, elevating it to the status of one of the greatest literary achievements in the English language.

At the heart of "Paradise Lost" lies the enigmatic figure of Satan, a rebellious angel whose defiance of God sets in motion the cosmic drama. Milton's portrayal of Satan is complex and multifaceted, challenging readers to grapple with questions of free will, pride, and the nature of evil. The character of Satan becomes a tragic figure, a charismatic and flawed entity whose rebellion is fueled by a misguided sense of autonomy.

Milton's exploration of Adam and Eve, the first human couple, adds another layer to the theological discourse. Their innocence, fallibility, and subsequent expulsion from Eden become symbolic of the broader human experience—caught between the desire for knowledge and the consequences of disobedience. The interplay between free will, temptation, and the inevitability of divine judgment forms the thematic backbone of the narrative.

"Paradise Lost" also engages with profound theological questions, reflecting Milton's own Puritan convictions and his dissent against the hierarchical structure of the Church of England. The work contemplates the nature of God, the problem of evil, and the redemptive power of divine grace. Milton's theological stance, however, remains dynamic, allowing for diverse interpretations and sparking scholarly debates on the nuances of his religious beliefs.

The epic's enduring appeal lies not only in its theological depth but also in its universal themes that transcend religious boundaries. Milton's exploration of the human condition—its aspirations, flaws, and the perennial struggle between good and evil—resonates with readers across cultures and time periods. "Paradise Lost" serves as a testament to the enduring power of literature to grapple with fundamental questions of existence.

In conclusion, John Milton's "Paradise Lost" is a literary colossus that stands at the intersection of theology, philosophy, and literature. The title encapsulates the essence of the narrative—an epic portrayal of the cosmic struggle between divine order and human agency. Milton's poetic brilliance and profound exploration of theological themes ensure that "Paradise Lost" remains an ever-relevant masterpiece that invites readers to ponder the complexities of the human condition and the timeless quest for meaning in a world marked by both paradise and loss.

John Milton's "Paradise Lost" is available in Amazon in paperback 16.99$ and hardcover 24.99$ editions.

Number of pages: 469

Language: English

Rating: 9/10                                           

Link of the book!

Review By: King's Cat

[prokopetz]

Not posting this as a reblog because I don't want to screw with somebody else's notes, but the whole "theological implications of Tolkien's orcs" business has some interesting history behind it.

In brief, a big part of why the Lord of the Rings Extended Universe™ is so cagey about what orcs are and where they come from is that later in his life, Tolkien came to believe that orcs as he'd depicted them were problematic – albeit not because of, you know, all the grotesque racial caricature.

Rather, he'd come to the conclusion that the idea of an inherently evil sapient species – a species that's incapable of seeking salvation – was incompatible with Christian ethics. Basically, it's one of those "used the wrong formula and got the right answer" situations.

In his notes and letters, Tolkien played around with several potential solutions to this problem. (Though contrary to the assertions of certain self-proclaimed Tolkien scholars, there's no evidence that he ever seriously planned to re-write his previous works to incorporate these ideas.) In one proposal, orcs are incarnated demons, and "killing" them simply returns them to their naturally immaterial state; in another, orcs are a sort of fleshy automaton remotely operated by the will of Sauron, essentially anticipating the idea of drone warfare.

Of course, this is all just historical trivia; any criticism of The Lord of the Rings must be directed at the books that were actually published, not the books we imagine might have been published if Tolkien had spent a few more years thinking through the implications of what he was writing. However, the direction of his thoughts on the matter is striking for two reasons:

Tolkien's orc conundrum is very nearly word for the word the problem that many contemporary fantasy authors are grappling with fifty years later. They want epic battles with morally clean heroes, and they're running up against exactly the same difficulty that Tolkien himself did – i.e., that describing a human-like species who are ontologically okay to kill is an impossible task.

After all the work he put into solving this impossible problem, one of Tolkien's proposals was literally just "what if they're not really killing the orcs, they're just sending them to the Shadow Realm?"

[anniflamma]

This isn't a question, but rather a love letter to your art<3.

Thanks to you, I've started enjoying Greek mythology and the Bible again (I mean from a point of artistic, mythological, historical, and theological analysis; my status with any kind of religion is being agnostic XD).

And I already enjoyed Epic the Musical, but I really love the designs you make, how you empathize with the symbolism and lore of the Gods when designing them, and how you make Odysseus so human with his crude expressions that makes me empathize with him (And he's one of the characters I hated the most from Greek mythology lol)

And then there’s your art about the bible, I have to admit that I tend to avoid the biblical religion because of the weight it still has on our daily lives, the damage it has done from the past to this day, and how they deny it with current hypocrisy (I live in Spain, there the official religion is catholic), but your lgbt drawings have really encouraged me to open the bible and see it from an objective and neutral point of view, and just enjoy it as another book and not as something I’m forced to follow.

Also I didn’t know there was so much LGBT content in the bible XD Seriously, thank you so much, if you had a patreon, I would pay you for the amount of happiness and culture you have given me (^///^)

By the way, reading your posts I found out that you recently experienced an internet drama that has become so popular lately. I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry that both you and that poor artist had to go through this, that human hypocrisy has no limits or shame, and that I agree with everything you say. Just because we like a character or an author doesn't mean we agree with their crimes or ideologies.

I hope you have a nice day<3

Hi! I’m sorry it took me a while to respond! I mean it, I’ve read this over and over, and it makes me so happy. I’ve been thinking about how to respond, but sometimes it's hard to get it out into words.

It makes me so happy that my biggest interests make others interested in it too. Heck, when people ask questions, I get all giddy!

Talking about biblical/christian saints, greek myths, history, different cultural views and changes was kind of the whole point of why I started this tumblr blog. I have so many drafts filled with random info about LGBTQ+ saints..... Now… I post mostly thirsty drawings of greek gods with hairy chests... T.T

And I sympathize a lot when it comes to religious trauma. I consider myself lucky in these matters, my mom is Catholic, and she has her views that I don’t agree with and hurtful. Yet she still supports me in her way and watching my bible retelling animatics, everytime I post a new bible animatic, she writes me: "What have you done to Daniel..."

I also have my hurts and anger towards hypocrisies too, and I guess this is my way of countering that?

LGBT content in the Bible is something that really fascinates me. I think it's important to keep in mind that people from about 2,500 years ago had very different views when it came to gender and sex compared to how we see it today. In a way, the Bible does have strict social gender expectations, and if you didn’t fit in, then you weren’t considered part of that gender. But at the same time, it acknowledges that your sex. I think it’s in the Talmud were it discusses the fact that, throughout the Bible, there were about eight genders:

Zachar: male.

Nekevah: female.

Androgynos: having both male and female characteristics.

Tumtum: lacking sexual characteristics.

Aylonit hamah: identified as female at birth but later naturally developed male characteristics.

Aylonit adam: identified as female at birth but later developed male characteristics through human intervention.

Saris hamah: identified as male at birth but later naturally developed female characteristics.

Saris adam: identified as male at birth but later developed female characteristics through human intervention.

Some scholars even believe that Abraham and Sarah were Tumtum. A Tumtum is not considered to be very distinct but rather flexible between male and female sex/gender—"sometimes he is a man, and sometimes he is a woman." The simple fact that God said Abraham had a womb and from it, he would have children. Some say that this is why he is a Tumtum, while some historical linguists argue that ancient Hebrew didn’t have the vocabulary for male genitalia yet. Both arguments are valid, and I like them both!

There’s tons of stuff I could bring up—Joseph with his princess dress, Naomi and Ruth, David and Jonathan, and the discussions around whether Daniel was a Saris Hamah or a Saris Adam. We know he was called a saris, but we’re just not sure which. And then there's Jael, whose story is filled with a lot of phallic symbolism, and even her name is very gender-neutral.

I think I’m going to end here. I could yap about these things forever! But thank you again taking your time writing to me and I hope you also have a nice day! <3

[olis-inkwell-symposium]

As I develop my Pantheon and world of Sonoric Sorcery, I created a detailed guide for…

Geographical Creation by Divine Influences

Purpose and Cosmic Intentions

Start by determining the underlying reasons for the gods’ involvement in geographical creation. Did they shape the world to foster life, establish realms for their divine power, or create natural barriers for protection or punishment?

Establish how the divine will interacts with the world—whether it’s nurturing or harsh, collaborative among deities or singularly tyrannical.

Pantheon Influence and Divine Roles

Outline which gods or celestial beings are responsible for specific parts of the world. A god of oceans might have sculpted the vast seas, while a god of fire could be the origin of volcanic regions.

Clarify if these divine creators acted alone, in alliances, or through conflicts. Introduce rivalries where a god of order creates plains and structured landscapes while a chaotic deity disrupts them with jagged mountains and whirlpools.

Creation Myths and Narratives

Craft epic stories that detail the moments of creation. These myths might include dramatic events, such as titanic battles that split continents, tears shed by a mourning goddess creating lakes, or the laughter of a trickster god forming rolling hills.

Ensure these stories are not just tales but have religious and cultural significance, with ceremonies or pilgrimages tied to these narratives.

Unique Divine Marks on the Landscape

Highlight distinct features that could only be formed by gods. This might include:

Sacred Mountains: Peaks imbued with divine energy, often home to shrines or ancient temples.

Enchanted Forests: Woodlands blessed or cursed by gods, filled with mystical creatures or shifting paths.

Celestial Rivers: Waterways said to carry pieces of stardust, linking the mortal world to celestial realms.

Mythic Abysses: Deep chasms rumored to be gateways to the underworld or places of divine punishment.

Mortal Interaction with Divine Geographies

Explain how mortals view and interact with these divine creations. Do they see them as blessings or threats?

Are there rituals or traditions based around sacred lakes, healing springs, or cursed wastelands? Define the taboos or reverence attached to certain areas.

Divine Errors and Cataclysms

Introduce instances where divine actions caused unintended destruction or shifts. For example, an angry god might have triggered earthquakes that reshaped the terrain or split civilizations apart.

These cataclysms could be seen as divine retribution or warnings, shaping not just the land but the evolution of societies and their beliefs.

Cross-Pantheon Influence

Determine if the world’s geography shows the influence of multiple pantheons or opposing divine forces.

This can create places where magical energies clash or merge, resulting in areas that defy natural laws, such as floating islands, frozen deserts, or fire-fueled glaciers.

Residual Divine Power and Resources

Discuss the remnants of divine creation in the form of powerful minerals, crystals, or herbs that mortals seek for their magic or technological advancements.

These elements might carry divine essence, offering great power but at potential costs to those who use them.

Geopolitical and Theological Influence

Describe how these divine creations influence politics and power dynamics. For example, a city might be built around a sacred waterfall said to have healing properties, making it a pilgrimage site that brings wealth and influence.

Other civilizations might go to war to control such places, viewing them as conduits of divine favor.

Mystery and Forbidden Zones

Leave space for unexplored or forbidden areas said to be shaped by gods whose motives are unknown or feared.

These could be deserts filled with mirages, haunted forests, or towering monoliths etched with inscriptions no mortal has been able to decipher.

This template provides the framework to enrich your world with divine geographies, turning the physical landscape into a character itself, imbued with history, power, and profound cultural meaning.

tag list ; @slenders1ckn3ss @lucistarsfire @mai2themai @fond-illusion @p00lverinecentral

[norbezjones]

Bez Reviews Independent Books 5: The Last Bread Mage

Hey everyone!  I wanna do little reviews/writeups for the independently-published books I find on itch.io, and so, here I am.  I want to review one book every month or two (or quicker, if I’m lucky); it’ll get me reading more, and get authors who often go without feedback some thoughts on their work!  I think it’ll be cool for everyone!

If you want your book reviewed, the only requirement I have is that it’s hosted on itch.io.  Even if itch is just one of many places you can get the book, I want to review books that have a home there at least.  Feel free to get in touch with me with your books—I’m @NorbezJones on Twitter (I refuse to call it X), Bluesky, Pillowfort, Threads, Instagram, and Tumblr; I’m norbez2.0 on Discord.

Looking forward to seeing your books! <3

__________

After I reviewed M. Kirin’s Memory Leak, Kirin ( @maxkirin ) contacted me and asked if I wanted a review copy of another one of their books, The Last Bread Mage!  I said yes, and here we are!  So to make it plain as possible: I was giving a free copy of this book in order to review it.  However, that does not sway my opinion of the book either way, and my opinions are 100% my own.

So, what’s The Last Bread Mage about?  Well, in a fantasy world, the end times have arrived.  A red mage named Fel manages to survive the destruction of his magic school, and he finds a saint named Amara, who insists they must go to The Pinnacle, the center of the world.  Along their journey, they find a knight named Virgen and a thief named Dormi.  The four journey to the center of the world using the help of Fel’s magic, and when they get there, they make a surprising discovery.

There are almost 30 chapters, and between each chapter is a mini-chapter that describes something that ended off the previous chapter and/or will start off the next chapter.  This “something” can be an object, a person, a piece of worldbuilding, anything really.  These mini-chapters are a cool idea and add a lot to making the world feel real.

So, I won’t bury the lead: I liked this book a whole lot.  I really, really love it.  And not because I got it for free—like I said, that does not affect my opinion, and I honestly wish I could go back in time and spend money on this.  I’m going to make this review as in-depth as possible to make up for the fact that barely anybody has read this fucking amazing book.  I have criticisms, obviously, but overall, this book is a 10/10 from me.

It reminded me of the thick sci-fi & fantasy epics I read to pass time in the hospital (to be clear, that is a compliment), immersing myself in deep worlds with rich characters between the pages.  I wish I’d had The Last Bread Mage during my last trip to inpatient.  I’m glad I have it now, at least.

Also, it’s one of those books that the more you read it, the more the meaning of the cover becomes clear & changes.  The last time that happened was with Still Life With Woodpecker, and it was pretty cool to see it happening here.

You might be asking, “Why is it called The Last Bread Mage?”  This is because Fel is the last red mage, and “bread mage” is another name for “red mage” due to the fact that red mages make bread for hungry people.  They basically use their magic to bend the rules of the universe using the three basic components all things are made of: texture, fiber, & substance.  By mixing & matching these basic materials, they can turn one thing into an entirely different thing, like when Fel renders the bars of a cell into bread.  They use up energy when they do that though, so they can’t do it forever—after all, even magic-users are only human.

The magic system in this book is very interesting, and makes for some very unique ways for Fel to get him & his friends out of the perils they end up facing.  It also soon leads to theological implications, because red mages’ magic changes the logic of the universe set by God.  However, God can only “see” the basic components all things are made of, so since a transmuted item retains the same basic materials, in God’s eyes, nothing has changed.  These theological implications are explored in various ways and go in many directions I didn’t expect, like when Fel uses his powers to make him & his friends not exist in the eyes of God.

There are also times where Fel’s powers go awry, though, through no fault of his own.  Basically, the apocalypse occurring in the world is causing the world’s logic to fall apart, drowning continents and making fantastical creatures appear that previously only existed in fiction.  This means that the logic behind Fel’s powers sometimes fails him, such as when he tries to make a doorway for him & Amara to escape down the block from a threat, but when they go through that doorway, they’ve been transported halfway across the world.

By making the story about the logic of the universe and how it can be exploited or make what should go right go wrong, the book carries a consistent throughline throughout the whole thing, even & especially when Fel does his most shocking action near the end of the story.  It’s a very admirable feat.

Speaking of the ending, I do want to talk about that.  If you don’t want to be spoiled, skip to the “SPOILERS END HERE” line.

**SPOILERS START HERE**

When Fel and his friends reach The Pinnacle, they meet a few other folks there—and they meet God.  I wasn’t sure if God was going to end up being real or not, but there it is, fretting as the world comes to an end.  It’s revealed that God made the world in an effort to make order out of chaos, but chaos keeps seeping through, no matter what it does.  It has ended & restarted the world many, many, many times, always bringing back The Chosen Four (Amara & three others named Lumbre, Huesos, & Frio) and The Fated Four (Fel [true name: Felicidad], Virgen [true name: Virtud], Dormi [true name: Domino (a name Dormi finds “fucking stupid”) & Beatrix [true name: Hambre])

Beatrix is a very interesting character.  In this lifetime, she was the butcher in the prison Dormi was locked up in, ruthlessly killing many of Dormi’s friends.  But she regrets being that person, thought she had to make herself into what she now realizes is a monster.  Her & Dormi’s reflection is shown in this passage:

“Dormi and Beatrix‌—‌who had been incredibly lost until this point‌—‌found themselves looking at one another. They thought about the life they’d led and wondered how different things would’ve been had they switched places. It humbled Beatrix, for she had been taught to hate the people of Gritlan, and it scared Dormi, for they were terrified of the butcher they might’ve become.”

The eight of them are always created when a new cycle begins.  Amara remembers every single cycle, every single timeline that has ever existed.  So does God, of course.  And now, it’s time for the world to end for a new cycle to begin.

The Chosen Four all carry pieces of The Worldly Egg, from which a new cycle of the world will hatch.  They take out their pieces, the egg forms—but God doesn’t hatch it.  Instead, God admits to them that it is tired of change, of chaos.  It longs for predictability, and wants this all to end.  It wants this to be the last cycle to ever exist.

Of course, everyone else protests.  So, God asks them all to vote whether this should be the last cycle of the world.  God votes Yea, as it is tired of doing this over & over again.  Everyone else votes, until finally, Fel has to be the tiebreaker. 

But instead of voting, Fel takes the The Worldly Egg and rends it, crunching it down to its most basic materials and absorbing them into himself.  In doing so, Fel absorbs everything existing into himself—the world, his friends, even God—and becomes the new creator of the universe.  The Prince of Absolute Chaos.

He creates a new cycle, brings his friends back.  God is reborn as a child, and as a being who has never had a name, it asks Fel to have his—to be named Felicidad.  Fel says yes, as long as, “[Y]ou must promise me to honor the name by living a life full of joy, laughter, and smiles.  Do you promise?”

The previous God thinks about it—after all, life could be full of “joy, laughter, and smiles” or it can be full of “misery and misfortune”.  In the end, it promises Fel it will uphold the name, and the book ends on that final exchange.

I teared up quite a bit as I read through the ending, and even going back to find quotes for this review made me tear up again.  Saving your friends, saving the world, and even saving God—there’s something very beautiful in that, I think.

I also love how Kirin was able to bring aspects of his Mexican culture into the book, by making all of the true names that of “the first language” within the book’s universe (Spanish).  It’s a nice little touch and I think it’s neat.

**SPOILERS END HERE**

Now for my criticisms.  Like Adrian in Memory Leak, Fel is referred to as “the young man” quite a lot.  Sometimes this happens multiple times in the same paragraph.  This seems to be in an effort to avoid using pronouns instead, but sometimes, it’s better to just say “he”, as someone who also has this problem in eir writing (thanks, OCD [literally, not a figure of speech]!).

That’s basically my only nitpick.  I wish I had more to criticize honestly, but I really don’t.  Good problems to have.

In conclusion, I’ve never been angrier that a book isn’t popular than when I finished this one.  Where are the Tumblr shitposts and multiple pieces of fanart for this book?  I’m so mad lmao!  Also, I imagine I will have that feeling quite a bit as I continue this book review series.

I want to leave off with these words that Amara says to Fel, because I think they’re beautiful:

“‘The only thing worth a damn in this world is being the best versions of ourselves. What does that look like to you, sweet Fel? What does the best version of you look like? It may seem far away, unreachable at the best of times, but you should reach out for this impossible ideal. Be the truest version of yourself. That’s the only thing we can do. Everything else? My dear, everything else is a gamble.’”

So true, bestie.  Amen.

[centrally-unplanned]

The ending for political-theological epic sex fantasy RPGMaker game The Last Sovereign dropped recently - congrats to the dev Sierra Lee, I think this game was a decade in the making. I thought overall it was good, it had this vast "million moving parts" plot to the finale that worked really well. Final boss fights were too easy though, like if you are going to be this Final Fantasy about everything you can at least Kefka these guys up or something.

But anyway, it was good until apparently a hidden variable in my file dropped below its threshold which auto-locked me into a bad ending no matter my choices. This variable (the "entity cohesion" of a supporting character) is not mentioned in the slightest in any dialogue, or planning, or progression, you do not "observe" that it is reaching dangerously low levels and need to counteract it. At no point during the finale section would I even begin to know (outside of googling source-code-derived walkthroughs ofc) how to backtrack and fix the problem. This is just baffling bad game design, I am sorry buddy! Remove this, or integrate it into the actual plot. Make it a sidestory epilogue moment or a bonus fight with that supporting character, something. Just...fix it.

Obviously I just edited the entity cohesion variable in my own safe file to be above the threshold and continued on. Why would I play the game again with a spreadsheet of hidden variable modifiers and just make arbitrary choices that boost it up? That isn't fun!

Anyway as always this is my rant blog, I think this game was really good - I did just edit my save file and move on after all, it isn't hard. The epilogue still isn't done yet so I am still saving "full thoughts" for that, if I ever write them. We all make mistakes, particularly in a game this big.

[succubusfuccubus]

Feel like I’m the only vampire chronicles fan who loves the new iwtv series

“Book Louis was white!!!”

He was a slave owner and while Anne Rice contextualizes it real well—she doesn’t try to soften the subject matter, she doesn’t try the “he was nice to his slaves” book Louis is like “yeah I was a slave owner, it was fucked up” —still I feel no attachment to white Louis. It was not the most interesting thing about him.

Anne Rice was weird about any POC in her books. It’s still a white centric narrative, the main cast of vampires is white. Boring. Black Louis is much more interesting. A Black vampire navigating his immortality among a society hostile to his kin is so much more captivating.

Many of the main vampires in her series get a book dedicated to them where they explain their origins, their experience with immortality and their philosophies. Except...the vampires that get their own narrative are white. I would love to see an Ancient Black vampire that was kicking before any racism as it is now was invented. I wanna know their perspective, I wanna see them philosophize.

“Vampires can’t have sex!!”

Later in the books they invent vampire viagra—also cry harder im glad they’re fucking and sucking

“Book Claudia was supposed to be turned at 5 Years old. Book Claudia would kill to be a teenager even!! This Claudia almost looks like an adult!”

Teenagers definitely aren’t adults. Imagine being on the Cusp of adulthood and then you are paused mid puberty unable to develop any further. That would be maddening She looks like a young girl trying very hard to dress older than she is. Also it would be rough getting an actual 5 year old to act her part. Also there's some weird pedophile shit in the books, I'm glad we're writing that part out.

“Anne rice would be rolling in her grave”

Let her roll. Anne rice hated any adaptation—she was a control freak. Look up “interrogating the text from the wrong perspective” it’s her melt down in response to bad Amazon reviews on her vampire chronicles’ “Blood Canticle”

She didn’t even respect her own canon. She retcons it multiple times. In the end she retcons the origin of vampires (which had been established in books 2 and 3) and made it the product of an alien parasite. All bcuz some took a sudden interest in science fiction, she just had to turn it into science fiction

This series is not a masterpiece, it becomes pulp fiction by book 4, almost every book opens up like a personal vlog, Lestat is her Mary sue and also self insert. There is gay ghost sex that turns out to be incest. Actually there is so much incest, ntm the pedophilia it becomes almost unreadable.

God and the Devil are ex bfs that are in a millennia long theological and philosophical debate, also the Devil tries to recruit Lestat as the prince of hell and he drinks Jesus's blood. But several books later, just kidding, that wasn't the Devil that was just a spirit fucking around with Lestat.

The second to last book is called Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis--there are bird-reptile aliens pissed off about the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs and want to eradicate mammals bcuz in every other universe reptiles are the dominant-sentient species.

There is nothing sacred about the original, this is not Beowolf or the Epic of Gilgamesh--this is Anne rice and her self-insert blorbo getting into scrapes. When adapting a piece of fiction the most important thing is preserving the Themes--which the show is doing superbly. What truly matters is that every character in Anne Rice's show is bisexual and polyamorous and a disaster.

If you're that upset about Louis being Black and Armand being Muslim you're just racist and either in denial or you know full well.

[judaismandsuch]

A Small Note on Gilgamesh (and arguments based on parallels)

So, I saw a post that briefly refrenced the simalarities between the flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the story of Noah.

Now, I am not going to recount the 2, because... I don't want to, but suffice to say the similarities are not simply surface level, but are fairly significant.

Now, I have seen that used as a 'GOTCHA' for Judaism/the bible. "This story clearly predates Judaism, so the religion is clearly bulshit."- though not exactly phrased that way- is the thrust of the argument.

I want to address *exactly* how stupid that argument is/give several counter arguments that exist with a quarter ounce of thought.

Assuming that Judaism *is* correct in it's entirety, and that therefore the story of Noah actually occurred as written, then of fucking course another culture in the area would have a near identical version of story! It happened! It's collective history! It would be weird if they didn't!

There was a major flood in the area, it permeated the collective unconscious and, due to base cultural similarities, both cultures independently developed there own similar myths.

The flood story was incredibly common across all cultures in the area, and when G-d was creating the mythological history if it was ignored people would have rejected the creation myth, so HaShem took the most popular one (Gilgamesh version) re-adjusted it to fit the morals and lessons that were desired, and put it in.

It is a portion of Jewish theological doctrine (not a necessary aspect, but a popular view) that G-d went to each people and offered them the Torah, but it was rejected by all but the Israelites. If this occured, the ancient Babylonians would have heard the Noah story, and then re-jigged it to match their beliefs in the epic of Gilgamesh.

The dating of Israelites and/or the creation of the bible is off. So the 'historical analysis' of the bible puts the creation of Breishit at around 500 BCE*, but the Exodus at around 14th c. BCE (usually), Assuming that the Jewish view of the creation of the Torah is correct, it would be written at 14th c. BCE as well. The oldest copy of the Gilgamesh flood myth is 1640 BCE, toss in a touch of wiggle room, and you could have Gilgamesh written post exposure to Israelite nation.

Abraham is dated to about 1800 BCE, if HaShem told him the flood story, there would have been more than enough time for him to tell it to others, and for it to make its way to Assyria.

Now, basically all of these do depend on one running with the pre-supposition that Judaism is actually G-d given (or at least willing to accept that for the sake of the argument), which I feel is kinda ok in an argument about whether or not a religion is full of crap. After all, if you refuse to accept any argument with 'the religion is to some degree true' as a premise, no argument about its validity can function.

But I am not endorsing any of these arguments per se, rather I am giving them to show how stupid using another religions flood myth to discredit Judaism is.

The same form of argument goes for a lot of the caananite religion based 'gotchas' that people have tbh.

*k I'll be honest, the arguments about the bibles age and authorship bug me *so* much. They all feel preseneted in a 'if you disagree with this you're a fucking religious nut job' kind of way, and really run with 'lack of physical evidence before such and such a date', which... its a book, written on hide. How much did you expect to survive in an agrarian society almost constantly at war which went through multiple periods of straight up ignoring it and reverting to paganism? Like, they would have pushed them more recent if the dead sea scrolls hadn't been found! I know it's a tad fundamentalist of me, but damn those arguments annoy me.

[zeherili-ankhein]

Did Homer really write The Iliad and Odyssey - Indo European origins and the Mahabharata - YouTube

This is the video btw. Also i love this guy. you can learn a lot of mythological and theological evolution and comparisons from him

I just finished watching it sjdhdhdg

I JUST FOUND HIM TODAY

And I heard the Native American Orpheus tale today 😭

Definitely gonna see more of his videos now

Also the line “Greek epics aren't really Greek killed me" lol that's kinda funny tbh TvT

[tez144]

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)- Review

Planet of the Apes keeps evolving for the better.

Planet of the Apes is my all-time favourite franchise. It’s not hyperbole to say my excitement and expectations were at absolute peak for the 10th Apes film. And it didn’t disappoint.

Director Wes Ball puts out a banger of a film that is character driver, emotional, and has a clear focus on the story that is being told. Compared to the previous 3 films (Rise, Dawn & War) which were world-changing epic events, this is a smaller scale story that also does a fantastic job at world building, and tackling larger concepts of community, society and extreme theological diversity. This is filmmaking at its best; the motion-capture and CGI is outstanding, the score is iconic POTA and every actor, whether ape or human, hit their marks and give it 100%.

The story is centred around young chimpanzee Noa who is a member of the Eagle Clan, a community of Apes who keep and train eagles. The Eagle Clan are remote and have no contact nor much knowledge of the history of the wider world. As Noa goes on his adventure and learns of the world and their history, including the great ape Caesar, the audience does as well. It’s a great way to introduce the characters, allow us to form a connection with them, and learn where the Ape society and where the world has progressed to. It also allows it as an entry point into the story and world for anyone who hasn’t seen the previous films, which can be a difficult task for the 4th instalment of a film series (or 10th overall).

Kingdom picks up “many generations later” after the events in War. That wording itself says a lot about the world we are being introduced to. Time is no longer measured in years, or centuries. The human concept of time has been lost and is measured in a societal construct of generations.

I picked up many easter eggs from the previous films, ranging from replicating scenes, props and sounds. I’m sure I’ll pick up more on a second viewing. If you know the POTA lore and timeline(s), these easter eggs keep the film in the guidelines, whether it be Ape customs or specific moments we see in the future, as its moving towards the time-period set in the original 1968 film. Are these just fun easter eggs, or am I reading too much into them being a POTA nerd? Probably the latter.

I have a couple of nitpicks about how small parts of the story don’t quite connect, but that is very minor. Another point to note is the first teaser trailer made it sound like Noa had visions of the future “when I sleep, I see strange things...not memories. New things. I see everything”. This whole story line has been cut from the movie. I’d be very curious to see that version of the film.

I could talk about this movie for hours, but I’ll hold back. Go and see it.

4.5 / 5 - Apes continue to be strong.

- Stay up to date on all my latest content on my Facebook page, Film & Flask.

[cuprohastes]

Dave The Human vs. Religion

The question of religion had come up, as it does.

Dave The Human, female Tsin muttered something at a high pitch at her tablet and Dave the human, formerly Dave the Atrix, formerly also Dave the Human performed some epic side-eye.

Gondy was filling in for the Atrix member of the group, still slightly scarred from having her helmet smacked hard enough to split during the recent disintegration of the station due to Von Neumann's Space squid.

Raxy, her Little Guy was stuffing his face in a way that you don't normally see on an Atrix that size. This suggested to the Daves that the Little Guy was shortly going to be upskilling, getting certified and getting referred to as female...

Given Atrix really just looked at the whole gender thing and opted out, and the whole male/female thing was labelling for other people's benefit, the Daves formed an unspoken and instant agreement that helping Raxy bulk up was their new hobby.

For two people from radically different biologies and cultures, the Daves were staggeringly similar as though some cosmic author had created them with the same voice.

Tsin Dave waggled the tablet. "Homeworld want to make sure everyone's complying with off-world best practices. They want to ensure that we're... ugh: 'Maintaining tradition in line with oof-world guidance'" she grumped.

"First I'm a heretic and a sky-demon and now they want to make sure I'm the right sort and not making you lot think less of us with my wicked deviant ways."

Gondy paused, as did Rax.

"graaaaak?" Rax said, around one of the mysterious and never explained purple bread rolls.

Meta-note about the purple bread rolls: They're actually Ube potato bread rolls. They're steamed in the Caffeteria. The food services are very aware that everyone who encounters them assumes they're a food from some other species culture. It's the little things that make the day to day fun.

"You never heard about that?" Dave The human said. "Oh well hum..."

Dave the Human gave his buddy full points on her mastery of colloquialism and settled in.

"So there's this legend that many years ago the People - 's us - had an idyllic land, and the concept of evil was unknown. Then one day, Sky Demons, jealous of our ways and our purity of soul absolutely pounded the knekp out of the place and only those of us in the Great Underground Halls, who were devout enough survived. And since that day, to leave the ground is to attract the attention of the Sky Demons."

Gondy raised a claw.

"Boats are OK. Water is theologically still ground."

Gondy put her claw down.

Dave the human said, "That sounds like..."

Dave The Human answered, "Nope, it was Orbital Bombardment. Nation-on nation. The shelters were built because it was a strong possibility that things would get all... ker-blammy."

"Yeesh!"

"Yeah. And the religious angle kind of got shuffled in as this agreement that when everyone got out, nobody wanted to be dancing around pointing claws at other countries and trying to blame them, while it was everyone's fault. Can't really blame them but for a thousand odd years that was the official line."

Gondy said "Wow! I never knew that!"

Dave The Human nodded. "Yeah yeah, it's been pretty common knowledge for a century or so, but still, when we got back into space after the Wallandernoooks showed up to trade, it was a major, major problem and uh well, leaving the Homeworld means you're a Heretic and in league with the Sky Demons according to the Dogma soooo..."

"Huh. And that means...?"

"Not much. Kind of lightly excommunicated. Not really welcome back home where things are a little more traditional. But y'know. No biggie. We're all colonists out here anyway, and we still get Homeworld support. It's just we also have to get audited that we're not giving Homeworld a bad name." She paused and took a long drink of mekp. "Aaaaand this time they want to know if we have a shrine to show you filthy heathens that we're still the number one proper pious type heretical sky demons. F.M.L."

Gondy, Rax and Dave pondered this.

"Gondy... what do Atrix believe in?" Asked Dave the Human.

"Graaak."

"Yeah, Rax, I guess 'some places are lucky' covers it. You know.... good moss, cool rocks, just got a good vibe. The sort of place you can drop a bunch of... what do you call them? Possums."

Dave the Human choked on his water. "Possums?!"

"Grak." Commented Rax and Gondy pulled her tablet out and poked. "Yeah... human smalls." She said, holding up a picture of a possum mis-labelled as an infant human.

"Huh. You guys are adorable when you're young" cooed Dave The Human, who Dave previously rated as about as maternal as a meat grinder.

Dave let it go for now, suspecting this would yield hilarious dividends at some future time, and turned back to Dave the Tsin.

"Ok, this is shaping up to be another wacky hi-jink. What's the gig?

"Gotta build a shrine."

"Any shrine?"

"Pretty much. It's got to be location appropriate. Y'know. The god of the place. To show we're uh... friendly to the local divinities? On theological good terms?"

"OK but... we're all godless atheists, apart form the ones who aren't. Who are you going to build a shrine to?

"Yeah that's kind of it. I mean I don't want to be the grit under anyone's scales..."

"Ohhhh," said Gondy, "Oh oh! Rax, call Garf! I have an idea..."

Several weeks later, the Tsin named Walks-between-Waves arrived as part of the Tsin welfare and general ambassadorial circuit.

O'Patel and Big Ma performed the proper greetings and paperwork, and Dave presented herself.

Walks-Between-Waves ("Just call me Waves") walked up and declaimed, "Heretic, and blasphemer. You bones will never lie with the ancestors, and your meat will rot. You and the demons you dwell with are denied! Cast out as the foul beasts you are. How are you doing? Well I hope?"

Dave bowed, small hands together, big ones outstretched.

"Oh yeah. They're all very nice here." She said. "Did they change the words of the castigation?"

"Oh, no, but some of it needed translating for human language a little," Waves said and added, "such a fun language! Quite the fad back home. And since you're hmm, officially human, I couldn't resist. Now, I believe you have something to show?"

O'Patel looked bemused and said sotto voce to Big Ma, "I think this is going to go well!"

Dave led Waves to the common area where, true enough, there was a shrine. It was made of old pieces of the station recovered from it's partial disassembly. 3D printed and painted panels along the sides showed Tsin, Atrix and Humans, helping each other climb up the sides, to the top of the shrine where someone had creatively frosted some glass and lit it with shifting lights to suggest something exciting and pleasant waited. The thing dripped with moss and a small water feature played down from the back into a shallow bowl of stones.

"Ah!" Said Waves. "Very impressive. Going for extra credit?"

"No..." said Dave. "It's a group effort. Once we started, everyone wanted to help. Especially after we found a small god for the Station that everyone liked... Their name is Arepo."

[yamayuandadu]

I don't know how well versed in Canaanite or Phoenician stuff, but if so, what's the deal with Tanit? Did she originate in Ashtart, or was a separate goddess? I keep finding a lot of conflicting information on her, and the fact that she's associated with supposed child-sacrifice means a lot of the stuff I find on her has an air of sensationalism

I won’t claim it’s a major interest (recall that the only strictly Canaanite deity whose wiki page I wrote is Baalat Gebal) but I think I can help. However, bear in mind there might be significant gaps in my knowledge esp. regarding the various colonies across the Ibernian peninsula, Sardinia etc.

Saying anything firm about Tanit is not exactly easy since virtually all attestations of her are brief dedicatory inscriptions, theophoric names, toponyms (ex. Aqtanit, Aitanit, Kfar Tanit) and symbolic representations. No hymns, no myths, no theological speculation, not even much in the way of sources hinting at how her cult was organized. Such a body of evidence doesn’t let one do much beyond concluding she certainly was an actively worshiped deity.

There are multiple proposals regarding her name but as far as I am aware most if not all come from authors whose methods leave a lot to be desired, so I’ll leave that out. It’s really not possible to say much beyond the fact she was clearly regarded as the tutelary goddess of Carthage. There is also evidence for some degree of worship in Sidon from the sixth century BCE onward, Kition from the fifth (references to a group of devotees, theophoric names) and in the Mount Lebanon range (a single Carthaginian inscription mentions “Tanit in Lebanon”; see Spencer L. Allen, The Splintered Divine, p. 243-244 and 302). The only connection between Tanit and another deity we can be sure about is that with Baal Hammon, presumably her spouse. It’s best reflected in her epithet “Face of Baal”, found almost exclusively in sources from Carthage, the main exception being two attestations from Constantine in Algeria. What exactly this title entails is difficult to tell, though (The Splintered Divine, p. 242-243). An interesting Neo-Punic inscription pairs Tanit with Kronos, which would indicate the author was familiar with the interpretatio graeca of Baal Hammon, which goes back at least to Sophocles’ times (The Splintered Divine, p. 57).

Out of necessity the rest of the response will largely focus on explaining who Tanit certainly wasn’t. 

For starters, she definitely was not Ashtart in any shape or form. Aren M. Wilson-Wright in Athtart. The Transmission and Transformation of a Goddess in the Late Bronze Age (the book isn’t open access, but you can find the dissertation it was based on here) points out that authors seeking to prove they’re related treat data from different locations and time periods as fully interchangeable, without taking into account deities change across time (p. 7). 

Ultimately the only real argument comes from a text discovered during the excavations in Sarepta dated to the sixth century BCE. It contains the compound name “Tanit-Astarte” (The Splintered Divine, p. 241). The problem is that the two were clearly viewed as distinct in Carthage, as evidenced by roughly contemporary sources. (The Splintered Divine, p. 244). 

Allen notes we might be dealing with a situation like Tanit being worshiped alongside Astarte and the double name designating her as an “associate” of sorts, or that similarly as in the case of Neo-Assyrian compound theonyms the double name indicates a form of Tanit with Astarte’s attributes, like how “Ashur-Enlil” was a designation of Ashur as the king of the gods and not an indication he was merged with Enlil (The Splintered Divine, p. 241).

Even with Ashtart out of the picture, the dreadful specter of interchangeability of goddesses refuses to leave the room, though. There’s an even more nonsensical proposal, namely that Tanit is, somehow, Asherah. We have Frank Moore Cross of Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic to blame for this one. As outlined by Steve A. Wiggins in A Reassessment of Asherah With Further Considerations of the Goddess (p. 131), subsequent publications making the same claim just rely on Cross, with no new material added. The equation is utterly baseless since it depends on assigning symbols to “Asherah” (really to Ugaritic Athirat) based on the pure vibes school of scholarship. Alleged leonine connections rest entirely on the deeply puzzling equation with the sparsely attested Qudshu (or however we’re romanizing her name this week), conclusively proven to be an Egyptian invention (see Christiane Zivie Coche, Foreign Deities in Egypt, pages 4-5) and thus irrelevant to this discussion.

It’s worth noting the only reason why forced attempts are made every now and then is that since Q. appears once - on a now lost stela, lol - with Anat and Ashtart - she CLEARLY must be a northern goddess of equal standing which somehow means Athirat (hardly attested outside Ugarit, and even then, Shapash, Nikkal, Pidray, the collective Kotharat are all equally if not better attested…). So, in other words: the Tanit link here was built on multiple levels of unsound foundations.

[tmarshconnors]

Botticelli’s Map of Hell

Our modern vision of hell is deeply rooted in the literary and artistic works of the past, with one of the most significant contributions being Sandro Botticelli’s Map of Hell. This masterpiece, created approximately 700 years ago, offers a visual representation of the infernal realms as imagined by Dante Alighieri in his epic poem, "The Divine Comedy." The symbiotic relationship between Dante's literary creation and Botticelli's artistic interpretation has profoundly influenced how we perceive hell even today.

Dante Alighieri, an Italian poet, writer, and philosopher, penned "The Divine Comedy" in the early 14th century. The poem is divided into three parts: Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise). In Inferno, Dante embarks on a harrowing journey through the nine circles of hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. Each circle represents a different sin and its corresponding punishment, meticulously detailed by Dante’s vivid imagination and profound theological insights.

Dante’s vision of hell was revolutionary. It combined classical mythology, Christian theology, and medieval philosophy, creating a complex and terrifying afterlife landscape. His work not only reflected the religious beliefs of his time but also influenced future generations' understanding of sin, punishment, and the moral consequences of earthly actions.

About 150 years after Dante’s death, Sandro Botticelli, a renowned Renaissance painter, undertook the ambitious project of illustrating "The Divine Comedy." Among his works, the Map of Hell stands out as a detailed and haunting depiction of Dante’s infernal realms. Botticelli’s illustration, created around 1480, serves as a visual guide to the intricate and layered structure of hell described by Dante.

Botticelli’s Map of Hell is a parchment drawing that meticulously outlines the descending circles of hell, each with its unique torments and sinners. The precision and detail in Botticelli’s work capture the essence of Dante’s narrative, making the abstract horrors of hell more tangible and accessible to the viewers. His ability to convey the emotional and physical anguish of the damned souls adds a visceral quality to Dante’s literary vision.

The collaboration between Dante’s literary genius and Botticelli’s artistic mastery has had a lasting impact on our cultural and religious conception of hell. Even today, many of the common images and ideas associated with hell—such as fire and brimstone, eternal torment, and the hierarchical structure of punishments—can be traced back to Dante’s Inferno and Botticelli’s Map of Hell.

Modern depictions of hell in literature, art, and popular culture often draw inspiration from these medieval works. Whether in horror films, graphic novels, or theological discussions, the influence of Dante and Botticelli is unmistakable. Their portrayal of hell as a place of moral reckoning and divine justice continues to resonate with contemporary audiences, reflecting enduring questions about sin, punishment, and redemption.

Sandro Botticelli’s Map of Hell, based on Dante Alighieri’s "The Divine Comedy," remains a cornerstone of our understanding of the infernal realms. The interplay between Dante’s poetic vision and Botticelli’s artistic interpretation has shaped our collective imagination, defining hell for over seven centuries. As we continue to explore and reinterpret these works, their profound impact on our perception of the afterlife endures, reminding us of the power of art and literature to shape our deepest beliefs and fears.

[mask131]

For my last Helluva Boss celebration I made a whole series of posts about the Nine Circles of Hell in Dante’s Inferno (see a few reblogs below). For my new Helluva Boss celebration, I wanted to take a look at various literary depictions of the seven deadly sins as personifications. This post was originally prepared to celebrate Mammon’s Magnificent Musical, but given the release of “Look My Way”, it will still work even though I post it quite late.

When it comes to looking at classic embodiments of the deadly sins, I want to begin with one of the “modern, non-Antique epics” that marked the history of literature, like the Orlando Furioso or Paradise Lost. I want to take a look today at Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, the great British epic of the 16th-17th centuries, a medieval-romance-like set of stories depicting the adventures of allegorical knights fighting allegorical monsters. The poem is filled with characters embodying various vices and virtues – the very heroes of the story are a set of knights acting as the champions of the various Christian virtues (the Redcross Knight is the champion of Holiness, as an avatar of saint Georges the patron of England ; Guyon, first of the Faerie Queen’s knights, is the champion of Temperance ; Britomart, the woman-knight, is the champion of Chastity, Artegal is the champion of Justice, etc, etc.) ; while the villains are very unsubtle in their nature (a female demon named Ate is assisted by Duessa – deceit – and spreads discord among friends ; a lonely man named Despair convinces the hero to kill himself, etc, etc.)

But today I want to focus on a specific episode of the epic’s first book. An episode usually known as the “House of Pride” and where the main hero (the Red-Cross Knight, the protagonist of the epic’s first book) encounters the embodiments of the seven deadly sins.

For a bit of context, the depiction of the seven deadly sins here is meant to parallel and counter-exemplify two other parts of the poem. On one side, the House of Pride is later opposed by the “House of Holiness” where the Redcross-Knight is helped, healed and cared for by a lady named Caelia, who has three daughters, Fidelia, Speranza and Charissa. This is all supposed to embody the Christian concept of the “three theological virtues”, the three virtues that come from God – Faith, Hope and Charity, born of “The Sky/The Heavens”. On the other side, the House of Pride and its queen are meant to mirror the titular Faerie Queene of the poem, Queen Gloriana – a very flattering fictional portrait of Elisabeth the First, but also the embodiment of “Glory” as her name says. Aka the positive, well-deserved and non-sinful twin of the viceful Pride – here embodied by the dreaded lady Lucifera.

Lady Lucifera is, it comes to no surprise, the owner and ruler of the House of Pride. The other deadly are all male, and act as both her counselors and her court wizards (being called alternatively “sage counselors” and “old wizards”). This all fits within the accepted idea that pride is not just the most dangerous and “important” of the seven deadly sins, it is also their root and their “superior”. In many metaphors, it is translated by pride being seen as the “king” or “mother” of the other deadly sins: in the Faerie Queene, she is their ruler, their queen. But, in an interesting twist, Spenser establishes a true relationship of co-dependency between the sins: the other six might be Pride’s servants… but they are still her advisors, counselors, and they are later literally seen pulling her chariot, clearly showing that while Pride leads them and gives them order, without the other sins, Pride would literally go nowhere.

But let us return to Lucifera before looking at her “old wizards”. Lucifera is obviously named after Lucifer, the figure of the fallen angel that became a devil, if not THE devil, for thinking of himself as better than humanity, and ultimately rebelling against God and trying to cast Him down. Lucifer is commonly seen as THE demon embodying pride – and Spenser also loves to throw various references to the mythological origins of Lucifer, as his name meaning “light-bearer” is due to how, in Greco-Roman mythology, Lucifer was the spirit of the Morning Star, announcing dawn. Here, Lucifera is constantly described as “bright” or as “shining”, and when she leaves her castle on her chariot, she is explicitly compared to “Aurora in her purple pall” coming out from the east of the world – aka, Eos, the Greek goddess of Dawn. Not only that, but the excessive “shine” and almost blinding light that is emitted by the lady of Pride is also put in parallel to the light of Phaeton. Remember Phaeton? The human who thought he could drive the chariot of Helios/Phoebus, the god of the sun? And who in the process almost destroyed the earth, and had to be killed by being thrown out of the sky with a fire-bolt? Another example of pride punished, and one explicitly meant to mirror Lucifer’s own fall from Heaven. But this woman is not a fallen angel, no: rather she is described as an actual goddess, “daughter of grisly Pluto and sad Proserpina, queen of Hell”. So, she is a deity, but part of the grim, sinister, chthonian gods of death, and she is a princess true, but a princess of the Underworld (aka Hell, since the two are treated as one and the same, and Pluto/Proserpina gained demonic connotations by this time). Already we have here a Pride that is explicitly rooted in death and the afterlife, in darkness, oblivion and rot – we are in the same logic as the “vanities” and the “memento mori”, the lesson that ultimately nothing is eternal, and vanity is a folly because all beautiful faces will end up as a skull.

However Spenser cleverly also prepares us, by this mythological references, to the presentation of what Lucifera’s behavior and crimes are. Because Lucifera is not one of those “vain fools” who think of themselves as beautiful when they are not – on the contrary. Lucifera is immensely beautiful, and even if it wasn’t for her beauty, she sits in an array of immense luxury, wearing the most refined and outstanding clothes and dazzling jewelries you can imagine. Lucifera is a truly admirable figure – quite literally since it is said that knights and lords from all four corners of the world come to her palace to admire her. The twist lies in HOW she behaves and acts. Because Lucifera does not care for her many guests, hosts and admirers, treating them with only scorn and disdain – breaking the basic law of hospitality and the rules of courtly behavior by her immense selfishness. Her many admirers and courtiers are said to constantly make themselves prettier, shinier, more noble and more appealing, attracting, charming, all in the hope of pleasing her – but she does not care at all for all their effort, and probably does not even notice them. When great knights and lords offer themselves to her, she does thank them… But in a disdainful way, and with very brief words, and only because they promised to spread words of her fame and glory and beauty. She is said to hate everything that is “low” (which is why, out of allegorical joke, she always sits on a high throne and makes sure she is above everyone else) – but given she thinks of everything outside of herself as “low”, she ends up hating everybody. She only looks at two things – either her hand-mirror (because her own reflection brings her “great delight and joy”), either the heavens. Again, due to a hatred of “anything low” and a desire to only have the highest, tallest and grandest things – but also because she rejects her own chthonian, underworld-roots. Indeed, while she is the daughter of Pluto and Proserpina (Hades and Persephone), she rather places herself on the same level (and sometimes above) as Jove (aka Zeus). Zeus/Jove, Eos/Aurora, and Phaeton: Lucifera dreams and fashions herself after the celestial beings of the sky and of light, when in truth she is a chthonian entity of death, earth and darkness.

Not only that, but she fashions herself a queen when she is not… Remember when I said that she was the daughter of Pluto and Proserpina, king and queen of Hell? It makes her a princess alright… An eternal princess, since her parents are immortal gods and thus will never pass any crown onto her. But Lucifera, devoured by ambition and arrogance, HAD to be a queen. So what did she do? She went onto earth and there obtained a crown… “with wrong and tyranny”. She literally stole and took by force a crown that was not hers, usurped a territory and made herself the sole and absolute ruler of it. Not only is she a false ruler with no actual right to sit on the throne, but she even went as far as to usurp a domain that had no relationship to her parents, lineage or world – daughter of the principles of death and the underworld, she decided to make herself a queen of the livings onto earth’s surface… Even worse, she is not a good queen, because according to Spenser, beyond being a “tyrant”, she does not rule with “laws” but with “policies”. And in the language of the time, “policies” are here to mean “cunning and crafty devices”. She is a tyrant who not only brutally seized a crown and usurped a thrown, but on top of that establishes her rule through cunning, trickery and unlawful behavior (it is not surprise that here, her counsel is explicitly described as being formed of “six wizards” – they are not men of the law, they are not men of politics or courtiers, they are not men of war or economy, they are wizards and sorcerers, forming a government of magic tricks and deceiving enchantments). As a visual touch to denote the evilness and danger inherent to her superb appearance: at her feet, lies a dragon, that forms a “hideous trayne” to her glorious, shining, sparkling and luxurious dress.

[There is also a “gentle husher” that works for queen Lucifera, and notably always prepare her passage before she goes anywhere, obviously called Vanity, but there isn’t much to say here since he is a one-line reference]

Just as important as Lucifera herself is the palace she lives within and rules from: the House of Pride, which is the architectural twin of Lucifera, and the inanimate embodiment of the sin of Pride (and of all sins and vices in general). The House of Pride is described as a great and grandly palace, all filled with luxuries, all shining and bright… It is covered in gold! Or rather… it is foiled in golds. The walls of the palace were covered in a thin layer of gold to hide the actual material in which the castle was made – a very rough and very poor material. Great and high walls that impress everyone by their size – but which are made of bricks without mortar, and are thus very easy to destroy. The palace is thought of as grandiose because it has many hallways and numerous towers and a LOT of rooms – but its foundations are actually very weak, since the castle was built… on a “sandy hill”. A hill of sand that is very unstable and regularly collapses – threatening the entire palace, which “shakes with every strong wind”. Finally, while everybody amasses themselves and awaits by the front of the palace, its backrooms and back-parts, those not seen from the path leading to the House, are noted to all be old ruins… but “painted cunningly” to hide their own decrepitude. You could say that Vanity, the “gentle husher”, is an extension of the House of Pride itself – since it all depicts the sin of vanity itself. A great care of appearances and an obsession with beauty forcing one to hide the truth, to fight foolishly and senselessly the effects of time or one’s true nature, all to create a deceptive idea of an ideal self that never truly existed. More generally, the House of Pride represents the very trap that is a sin, or a vice in general – it is the House of Evil if you want. It is grandiose, immense, beautiful, shining, with all sorts of riches and treasures… But it is built out of poor materials, it offers no real protection or comfort, its riches are only skin-deep (or wallpaper-deep), and it is overall an unstable structure that is already a half-ruin. The danger of the House is made even more explicit by the large road that leads to it – a large pathway that many people take to go to the House, but that very few people use to leave… And when Lucifera leaves her castle on her chariot, and goes down the road, the protagonist can suddenly see what paves the way and that he missed before – the things the wheels of Lucifera’s chariot gleefully crushes. The bones and skulls of all those that “went astray” and went by the House of Pride…

The dual of nature of the House and Lucifera (who represent the two sides of pride – Lucifera is scorn, disdain, ambition and arrogance, while the House is vanity and vainglory, Lucifera is the “superbia” pride while the House is the “vanagloria” pride) is even reflected in a sort of bizarre “competition” that is sets between the two. Indeed, when we see Lucifera sitting on her throne… The poet sarcastically describes how both the throne and the queen on it shine brightly, and they glitter and sparkle so much as if “the blaze of the glorious throne” and the blaze of the queen herself tried to “dim each other”. Pride will always be the most envious and jealous of itself…

After spending some times inside the House, we follow Lucifera as she leaves her castle and takes her coach by the road. The coach is just as luxurious and glittering and blazing as the House and the queen, since it is all of “gold and garlands”. And again, we have explicit mythological comparisons: Lucifera, with all those flowers around her, make her look like “Flora in her prime”… But she actually tries to imitate and surpass another goddess – Juno, aka Hera, queen of the gods and the heavens. The parallel is even reinforced by the presence of peacock feathers on the chariot. “Argus’ eyes”, on one side, the mythological emblems of Juno/Hera… But also the common symbol of vanity and pride, the peacock being considered THE bird of this sin.

And if it was not clear enough that this was an EVIL queen, the coachman of Lucifera, the one holding the whip… Is said to be none other than Satan himself. Aka THE actual Christian Devil, THE Great Fiend himself who gleefully leads queen Lucifera wherever she wants to go. And whips the six other sins to ride faster… Because, as I said before – Lucifera’s chariot is not pulled by horses… But by her six “sage counsellors/old wizards”, aka the other deadly sins. However, since this post is already getting quite long, I’ll keep them for another time.

[ariel-seagull-wings]

@themousefromfantasyland

The Devil to Pay in the Backlands (Portuguese: Grande Sertão: Veredas, "Great Backlands: Paths"; also translated as The Great Backlands and Their Paths) is a novel published in 1956 by the Brazilian writer João Guimarães Rosa.

The original title refers to the veredas, which are small paths through wetlands usually located at higher altitudes characterized by the presence of grasses and buritizais, groups of the buriti palm-tree (Mauritia flexuosa), that criss-cross the Sertão region in northern Minas Gerais as a labyrinthine net where an outsider can easily get lost, and where there is no single way to a certain place, since all paths interconnect in such a way that any road can lead anywhere. The English title refers to a later episode in the book involving an attempt to make a deal with the Devil. 

Guimarães Rosa—a doctor, diplomat, polyglot, and writer—first emerged with Sagarana (1946; Eng. trans. Sagarana), a haunting collection of stories about the people of the sertão (backlands) of Minas Gerais state. An erudite, Guimarães Rosa used language that incorporated elements of oral tradition and was imbued with neologisms, inverted syntax, and lexical transformations.

A “universal regionalist” owing to his empathetic treatment of the theological and metaphysical experiences of his humble and marginal characters, he produced among his crowning achievements the stories in Primeiras estórias (1962; “First Stories”; Eng. trans. The Third Bank of the River, and Other Stories), a collection of hopeful epiphanies, and Grande sertão: veredas (1956; “Great Backlands: Paths”; Eng. trans. The Devil to Pay in the Backlands), his 600-page epic on honour, courage, love, and treachery that takes the form of a first-person monologue by a backlands outlaw who makes a pact with the Devil to gain revenge.