#but i'll have to rewatch eps 6 & 7 for those to crystallize into coherence

[wynought]

So, just like my previous post on the First Stoat's names let's look into the new information we found out in the latest episode (Burrow's End episode 8 spoilers under the cut)

So let's get the most important thing out of the way first, cause there's a lot to go through here: Obviously, Phoebe also means light - the name originates from the Ancient Greek word φοῖβος (phoibos) for "pure", "bright", "radiant" etc.

The word itself was used as an epithet for the sibling deities Apollo (god of, among other things, sun and prophecy) and Artemis (goddess of, among other things, the moon, wild animals, and the hunt). They inherit this name from their grandmother, the Titaness Phoebe who is associated by proxy with the moon and prophecy, but not actually a deity of anything. For her, it seems to be mostly a name, while it is used more akin to a title for her grandchildren.

In honour of Phoebe the Titan, one of the moons of Saturn has been named after her. It is called an irregular satellite, meaning it follows an eccentric, distant orbit which also happens to be retrograde (aka it moves opposite to the rotation of the body it orbits). With a diameter of 213km Phoebe is the most massive of Saturn's irregular satellites, and the second largest retrograde satellite in the Solar System (after Neptune's moon Triton).

There is a Phoebe mentioned in the Bible (New Testament, Paul's Epistle to the Romans). She is described as a deacon (apparently the only woman named as a deacon in the Bible) and Paul speaks highly of her - from skimming the Wikipedia article on the biblical Phoebe this part seems to be some kind of letter of recommendation. It is unclear, what community Paul intends to recommend her to, but some scholars seem to believe that she was, in fact, the emissary who delivered Paul's epistle to Rome in the first place.

(Incidentally, the aforementioned Wikipedia article mentions that the Catholic Church puts her feast day on September 3rd which is my birthday, and my chosen name is Paul, which has nothing to do with this meta, but I just found it funny.)

Anyways. There is also a species of bird called Phoebe in the tyrant flycatcher family (aka Tyrannidae); they live on insects and originally got their scientific name from being loudly territorial and aggressive. And since we, apparently, don't have enough things called Phoebe yet, there's also a genus of evergreen laurels called Phoebe.

To me, this paints a vivid picture: A Titan specifically known for being the progenitor of the Sun and Moon deities, somebody associated with prophecy ("She'll come back" comes to mind as a pertinent prophecy we have on her right now). Phoebe is, of course, the only female First Stoat we have encountered so far. I have a few unformed thoughts on the whole 'emissary' bit (which is, arguably, the piece of information with the least solid grounds presented here; but still, why is Phoebe gone from Last Bast in the first place? Is she an emissary sent by the First Stoats to somewhere else/the humans? How did the First Stoats conquer Warren Peace originally - they didn't just do that on their own, maybe they are the 'emissaries' sent there to actively sabotage the plant?).

The one thing I am certain of, is that First Stoat Phoebe is going to be just as territorial and aggressive as her Tyrannidae namesakes, if not more so.