#botis

[vanesawye]

marmalade (2024) | come back down

[gayboysteve]

Mutual Obsession

[6-satans-book-club-6]

The Goetia Devils by Rev Cain

[gabbycallan]

The Ars Goetia project returns.

[sprout-writes-stuff]

I was daydreaming on the train yesterday and this happened

Baron climbed not only onto the bed but onto Otis's lap. He'd been reading a book while Baron was getting ready for bed. Baron took it from him and placed it on the nightstand, making sure to bookmark his page first.

Otis's hands fell naturally to Baron's hips and Baron's started on Otis's biceps before moving up to his shoulders as he took in Otis's shirtless chest.

"I wanted to ask you something," Otis said, his words pulling Baron's gaze to his face. Some people would be a little nervous when someone said that to them but all he saw on Baron's face was trust and a little curiosity.

"Would you come with me?" Otis realized he was the nervous one. Baron tilted his head in question -fuck, he's adorable- with a slight furrow of the brow and a pout. "To Jamaica."

"I get to meet your mama?" Baron's smile was like the sun. "You really want me to?"

"I really do. Ever since I told her about you she keeps asking when I'm gonna bring you over. I think she's almost as obsessed with you as I am."

Otis used his forearms to pull Baron closer, wrapping his arms tight around his waist. Baron started nuzzling him and placing little kisses wherever he could. Again, adorable.

"Is that a yes then?"

Baron pulled back to look Otis in the eye when he nodded his answer, and then leaned back in to kiss him properly

[hotluncheddie]

the thing is tho

baron maybe exists even less so than marmalade. they both exist in joy kerry’s character but he is neither wholly. he is someone else. but someone who believes everything from both of them i think.

he maybe went through it all as they did, maybe not, maybe just fabricated it on pieces of his moral code and information he gathered.

[mintaikk]

Theorizing about Ars Goetia Demons: Botis

Was struggling with who the snake guy was and then I found this post saying it could be Botis, so now I'm making my silly little Goetia theories again, woooh!

Botis/Otis is a demon that appeared in The Lesser Key of Solomon who is depicted as a viper.

He rules of 60 legions of demons and can tell the past & future, as well as stop fights between foes. If we're right about the court episode, he'd be good to be there because he can stop any potential fights.

Other Goetia demons that were with Vassago

Sitri

Malphus

Caim

[incognitomoustache]

...ok, I can't help myself. Time to talk a bit about the Helluva Boss trailer for the remainder of season 2. Or well, about the Ars Goetia

Confirmation that not all goetia are birds! speaking of, it's revealed that the parrot-looking guy is Vassago (said by Adrealphus). And I deeply suspect that two of the other goetia in this screenshot are Raum and Sytry.

(note: there is nothing to say that the Ars Goetia in the Hellaverse will be all that similar to how they are described in demonology, but I think it's fun to speculate/compare regardless).

Vassago

(also Vasago, Usagoo)

Vassago is in demonology a Prince of Hell that is described to be "just and true in all his doings" and generally good natured (...for a demon. By human standards that would make him neutral more than anything).

"He can be persuaded to tell the magician of events past and future, can discover hidden and lost things"

What he is supposed to look like seems a bit unclear, but some versions I've found are:

Vassago appears as an aged man riding a crocodile and carrying on his right wrist a Goshawk. His eyes are hollow and see into other dimensions, but he is blind in this dimension.

or this:

"Vassago is known to appear in a beautiful form, often resembling a child or a young man. [...] His child-like appearance underscores his role as a seeker of truth, reminding us of the innocence and curiosity inherent in children."

....which seems kind of irrelevant as far as his appearance in HB goes lol.

Raum

art by Buzz-Bomb (also here) (took me way too long to find the artist. Fandom wikis, please source your art!!)

P.S. this art piece doesn't technically seem to have been intended to be Raum, but it seems to fit the description of him

Raum is a Great Earl of Hell and is generally depicted as a crow.

"Raum steals treasures out of kings' houses, carrying them where he wishes, destroys cities and dignities of men and it is said to have great dispraise for dignities."

feels a bit ironic, since he's a noble himself. Especially in the context of HB lol

Sitri/Sytry

(also Bitru)

He is depicted as a humanoid lepoard with griffin wings ....wouldn't that just be eagle wings?

"He can force men and women to love one another and make them appear naked if the conjurer desires. He can also reveal the secrets of women, often mocking them."

There are other cat-themed goetia, but since this one has spots of a kind as well as wings, Sytry seems the most likely candidate – even if they have caracal-looking ears.

speaking of HB, it looks like Mammon is also at this meeting or whatever.

Which could mean that not everyone present actually are goetia, but it still feels likely that the others we see here are imo.

Edit:

The snake might be Botis?

He first appears in the form of an ugly viper but at the command of the summoner he can assume the form of a man with great teeth and two horns, carrying a sharp bright sword in his hand.

Edit 2:

And the grumpy looking bird on the far left might be Murmur?

Some authors portray him simply as a vulture.

though again....I feel like the designs in HB don't exactly always correlate to the ones in demonology lol.

[theabyssalorange]

OC-Tober Day 8: Retro

[gilgalahad]

[lacunasbalustrade]

this guy has character

[gayboysteve]

It makes such perfect sense to view Marmalade as a manifestation of her wild youth whereas "Baron" is the simple dreamer she wishes she could've been. His being naive and his misusage of words are SO important. He's the person that could've been. And then the "Baron" we see after leaving the prison is the grounded mature version of both mixed together- calculating but also kind, a man but also a woman. Marmalade created Baron to protect her from her trauma and to control her more wild impulses; while in kinda Baron created Marmalade to protect his inner softness that wasn't able to be beaten out of them by a cruel life. "I just want to be with my one and only. She's my girl to protect."

And Baron is talking about themselves. She is her own protector. He has his own plan for justice. Not just for himself, not even just for their mother, but for other abused kids who were failed by a corrupt system and other old people who were failed by an entirely different corrupt system. (Both are represented by the same CEO.) To do so he must let that part out of herself again- that rage-filled impulsive girl stunted by her abuse. It's not a coincidence she appears just after Baron gets news about his mother's medication rising. She is his protector as much as he is hers.

It's important that Baron describes Marmalade as his dream girl to Otis. It's just not the kind of dream that Otis interprets. She basically "arrives" ( maladaptive coping mechanisms reemerging) to plan out the heist. It isn't just that Baron is the person Marmalade wishes she could've been in another life (naive and kind and part of a community), it's that while Marmalade is also a representation of their wild youthfulness she is also now the person that the present "Baron" (recently presented with the rising cost of his mother's medication and medical bills) wishes he could embody again despite having grown out of it because of his loving mother's influence.

I think it's very important that the almost sex scene after they get the masks but right before Mama Eda "dies" is shot almost like a horror sequence with discordant music and quick flashes of Marmalade on top of Baron in their respective masks. This happened just after the heist of the thrift shop where they stole the masks, Marmalade pistol-whipping the cashier before fleeing. An old woman staring up at Baron in fear on her knees.

Whether this is the reality of how this played out (with obviously just Marmalade there) is unimportant. Baron and Marmalade are the same person and when she looks into that mask and sees herself she's horrified at what she's capable of, the kind of harm she can inflict even when her intentions are at the end of the day pure of heart. That her letting back in her past negative impulses makes her a worse person than she is as the adult "Baron" who has repressed his trauma but matured because of their loving relationship with their mother.

Mama Eda's "death" comes quickly after and Marmalade's culpability is called into question narratively. She increasingly answers that she doesn't know what happened and that she was in the other room. She wasn't present. Nor was Baron. This, I think stems from Marmalade's manifestation of her guilt over Mama Eda being in a home where they can't actually care for her directly- and as a manifestation of any potential fears he might have at the idea of attempting to do so. As well, it's just a very real fear of her mother's inevitable death, especially as the heist has already commenced and now the final act is in motion.

If her plan fails then he won't be there for Mama Eda. There won't be anyone there to deliver the pills she (and others need) and thus if the plan fails then any deterioration in her mama's health is her fault. Her culpability for the plan. For not being there. For being in another room when/if/should the time quickly come.

Which is why I think the confrontation between "Baron" and Marmalade is so important. It isn't Baron being unable to trust Marmalade it's Marmalade being unable to trust herself. Trust in her plan and so the two sides of herself stand against each other in a kind of opposition. Self-blame and doubt, rage all in response to the fear she feels at the final leg of the plan.

It's important that this is the last time that we see Marmalade as she appears in the physical manifestation of "Baron's" story. The music goes dreamlike and ethereal as they speak. "You are the man of my fucking dreams. I love you like I've never loved anyone and I've never been loved."

Marmalade is speaking to herself. The version of the man that she's become and the person she is now; it's representative of Marmalade reconciling his past trauma while preparing for the final play in her plan- enacting revenge against those that caused her trauma. Marmalade as the wild youth she was before meeting Mama Eda was someone who never felt like she was loved, and that part of herself is now looking at the grown version of her that loves her back and accepts herself for all her faults. Her parting words are, "Dream big or don't dream at all".

And then we're thrust into the action from the start of the story with "Baron" getting arrested. And so she has now fully become one with herself. Both facets of her life are on the same page, reconciliation of the self. Acknowledgment of that trauma and the plan to enact in order to move on from it.

And then the final piece in her puzzle- Otis. She obviously had been keeping tabs on him. The comment about keeping his hair long because of a show he watched about Rastafarians tells us that he already knew about Otis' mother being from Jamaica. Baron had to sell Otis on Marmalade, he had to make Otis fall in love with her and trust what Baron was telling him was true about their love for each other. Baron needed to truly love Marmalade in order for the story to sell and the plan to work. And by embodying that she finally learned to fully love and accept herself.

"I just want to be with my one and only. She's my girl to protect."

[xirayn]

Baron and Otis

[plottkin]

Karekore LINE stickers

[goodbuttaken]

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[your-local-femboy-bitch]

Me & my goth dad.