#hand getsture

[giffypudding]

Shoo!

[therealsaintscully]

[TJLC] Distracted by AGRA (or the many hints about personification of death in The Six Thatchers)

PLEASE CONSIDER THIS A WORK IN PROGRESS. IT’S NOT PERFECT BUT  I HAVE SOME GOOD IDEAS HERE, I THINK, SO KEEPING IT FOR NOW.

A FEW DISCLAIMERS: - I’m not a native English speaker and this wasn’t betad, so excuse the less-than-perfect English (although you’re about to find out what native language actually is). - I’m very new in the fandom and in reading/writing meta, this would be my second meta post tbh, so excuse the amateurism. - Everything I’m about to write here is based on very quick and easy Google searches. I’m BY NO MEANS AN ACADEMIC! I’m not well versed enough in any form of literary analysis to claim more than that, but perhaps this post will be a breeding ground for new ideas. If you are an academic and you find these interesting - please go ahead and expand on them. - Lastly, this may have been picked up before by other meta writers and if so - I’m not aware of it, as I’m quite new to this fandom.

tl;dr: The Six Thatchers seems to be full of hints about the personification of death and cultural/religious representations of it, in a way that may even hint that that Mary = death, and/or that Moftiss were very preoccupied with the idea while writing it. It should be noted that I find these tidbits interesting in the context of well-established TJLC theories I’ve been reading up on a lot lately, namely EMP and M-Theory. I found these details interesting in the context of reading TST as something that’s happening in Sherlock’s MP as he’s dying and suspecting that Mary is dangerous and perhaps even linked to Moriarty.

AGRA > Samarra > The Four Angels of Death

As these things always go, I’ve been re-watching episodes while researching my WIP fic ‘Turned’. I have this new habit these days of only listening, instead of actually watching the episode in search of a fresh perspective. This time I was blown away, once again, by Sherlock and Mycroft’s conversation about AGRA. It’s a VERY odd conversation considering the topic, and what caught my ear this time was Mycroft mechanically reciting facts about the city of Agra. Why Agra, I asked? What’s so important about it? Nothing, the way I see it. One search led to another and I looked up Samarra, thinking perhaps I’ll find some connection between the two cities, but couldn’t.

The search for Samarra and the parable about it led me to the Appointment in Samarra wiki page, which mentions that the title of the book comes from a retelling of an ancient Mesopotamian tale by W. Somerset Maugham (the source of the next quote is here):

"The Appointment in Samarra" (as retold by W. Somerset Maugham [1933])

The speaker is Death

There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate.  I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threating getsture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise.  I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

There is also a very interesting study guide link from this website, which asks some very interesting questions about tale, such as Maugham’s decision to make Death a non-omniscient narrator of this tale, as well as a woman. I’ll return to Death being referred to as a woman later. However, since I have no expertise in literary readings, I’ll leave it to others who might be to add some more here.

More below the cut:

The version of the story in TST is a bit different; the servant is absent from the tale; it is instead the merchant who has the nighttime appointment with Death in Samarra after being startled to see Death that morning in the Baghdad market. (This note was taking from a wikipedia entry about another - apparently-  very deterministic play by Maugham, Shepey.)

Anyway, the Appointment in Samarra wikipedia mentions that Maugham’s story comes from a much older version recorded in the Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah 53a.

The Talmud is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism. I’m a Hebrew speaking Jew, though an atheist one who isn’t well-read in religious texts at all, but I was intrigued enough to look up the Hebrew Talmud version of the text (in fact it’s originall in Aramaic, but wikipedia offers a Hebrew tranlsation). A quick Google search led me to the wikipedia page about the personification of death, and that’s when things got interesting.

Under the section about the grim reaper in Judaism, a story from the Talmud is mentioned, which seems to be another version of the Appointment in Samarra story. Here’s the story, translated by Google Translate, because I couldn’t find an English version:

The Babylonian Talmud tells of a sage, Rabbi Bibi, the son of Abiy, whose angel of death was often in his company. Rabbi Bibi heard the angel of death ask his emissary to name a woman named Miriam (Mary) who was a hair dresser (the future mother of Jesus). The messenger of death accidentally killed another woman named Miriam (Mary) who was a teacher. The angel of death said to his messenger: "I asked you to kill Miriam the barber and not Miriam the teacher." The messenger of death replied: Then I will bring Miriam the teacher back to life and bring before you Miriam the barber. The angel of death said to him: If you have already brought Miriam the teacher, leave her with me along with the rest of the dead. The angel of death asked his messenger: How did you manage to kill the teacher Miriam even though it was not her time to die? The messenger of death replied: She was killed before an opportunity to kill her - she was fiddling with the stove with ember in her hand to clean the stove. Inadvertently she caused a burn in her leg - and when a person was harmed and his determination of his time to die was undermined - so I had a chance to kill prematurely. The sage, Rabbi Bibi, asked the angel of death: Do you have permission to kill people before their pre-determined time has come? The angel of death answered, "Yes, for it is written, 'There is no one who has perished without judgment.' 

(According to wikipedia, this story is taken from תלמוד בבלי, מסכת חגיגה, דף ד, עמוד ב – דף ה, עמוד א).

AGR(A?M?)

Alright, I said, two Marys, escaping death but then meeting it eventually. It happens.

But as I read on… that Hebrew wikipedia page mentions another personification of death, the angel of death Azarel. Azarel has three ‘colleagues’ (e.g archangel) in Islam (and in some variations, they also exist in Judaism and Christianity): Jibrail (Gabriel), Israfil, commonly thought of as the counterpart of the Judeo-Christian archangel Raphael, and Mīkhā'īl (Michael).

So wait, that’s -- that’s Azarel, Gabriel, Raphael... as in AGR(A)?  Whoa.  That fourth angel mentioned in Islam is Michael - which doesn’t hold up with AGRA - but could that be a coincidence? We’re told two things about BBCSh’s AGRA, but we can’t really know they’re actually true. The first one is that Mary claims it’s her initials, which we later learn is possibly not true - John gets mad realizing it’s another lie. The other thing is that Mary claims to be ‘R’, for Rosamund, but we can’t be sure about that either. However, another cool detail: in Christianity, Raphael is generally associated with an unnamed angel mentioned in the Gospel of John, who stirs the water at the healing pool of Bethesda. Yes - I know, the M really doesn’t fit there, but M really is a character that stands out in the BBCSH universe, doesn’t it?

Moving on to more cultural references of the personification of death the Hebrew wikipedia page offers, note that I haven’t read the first and it’s been years since I watched the second:

Death with Interruptions

In Death with Interruptions by José Saramago, they mention, death is a woman, and she falls in love with one of her future victims. She decides to spare his life: Every time death sends him his letter [notifying him of his imminent death], it gets returned. Death discovers that, without reason, this man has mistakenly not been killed. Although originally intending merely to analyse this man and discover why he is unique, death eventually becomes infatuated with him, so much so that she takes on human form to meet him. Upon visiting the cellist, she plans to personally give him the letter; instead, she falls in love with him, and, by doing so, she becomes even more human-like.

Chess and The Seventh Seal

Another reference is the film The Seventh Seal, about a knight returning from a crusade, and discovers his land his ravaged by plague. The knight encounters Death, whom he challenges to a chess match, believing he can survive as long as the game continues. Does that remind you of any particular promo pics?

What I find interesting in all these references, is that they all seem to deal with questions regarding ‘dealing with death’ that, in the context of EMP for example, can be seen as Sherlock ‘running simulations’ (or asking philosophical questions) on how to deal with his current situations:

- ‘Do you have permission to kill people before their pre-determined time has come’? (Can people time die before their pre-determined time? Can people escape pre-determined death?)

- Can you interrupt death with love? Was Mary supposed to kill John, fell in love with him and thus his death was postponed? Is John still in danger?

- What can one do to postpone death - perhaps challenging it to a game, hoping for survival as you distract it?

Tagging other meta readers/writers who I think might enjoy this ; let me know if you don’t - I won’t tag you again): @sarahthecoat​​, @devoursjohnlock​​ @inevitably-johnlocked​​ @possiblyimbiassed​​ @waitedforgarridebs​​ @tjlcisthenewsexy​​  @loudest-subtext-in-tv​​ @therealsaintscully​ 

[niks-archive]

"Oh! Yes, here." Sergey turned to show her off, and Margot posed, prim and perfect, then hopped into another pose, and another.

"Her name is Margot, she's an albino crow. She's very smart, see? Margot, lamp." Margot took off, flying in a smooth arc and landing neatly on the switch to turn the lamp beside the couch on. "Dim." She took off again, flying near the door and carefully pushing a little slider by the light switch, dimming the lights. "A little less, Margot." She turned them back up partway, "Good girl! Come here." She landed on his arm again and he produced a little packet from his pocket, opening it and giving Margot a treat.

"She only obeys people she likes, and it generally takes her a little bit to make up her mind whether she likes you or not, but I'm sure she won't hate you at least. Go to Papa, now." Sergey urged Margot, who took off and landed on Oleg's shoulder. Oleg tilted his head, and Margot started to preen his hair, making him chuckle as he worked on putting away groceries. Sergey helped, and halfway through Margot hopped down Oleg's arm to have fun rustling the bags. When they finished, Margot flew to Sergey and settled on his arm, staring at Katya as Sergey ate a few skittles.

"Oh, this is Katya. We like Katya." He getstured to her with the first statement, Margot following, then looking back to his face with the second, watching as Sergey gave her a calm smile. She spent a moment interpreting the smile, then hopped onto the couch and towards Katya, standing prim and proper on the edge nearest her, head tilted up. Sergey chuckled.

"She wants a treat. Here." He handed Katya his little packet of treats, "Start with just one. If she's still asking in a minute you can give her another. Are you sure you don't want your skittles back?" He assumed that nerves had ruined her appetite but it was best to ask.

miscellaneous-muses​:

“We’re not making you do anything. This is an offer, you aren’t trapped.” Oleg pointed out. Sergey watched her stumble, shoulders tense as he was ready to dart forward and catch her, but she managed, so instead he darted behind to steal her skittles before shutting the car door.

“Righto, this way. Katya, do you want the rest of your skittles or can I have them?” He held them up, arms laden with groceries as he walked past her, raising an eyebrow.

Oleg followed, keeping an eye on Katya to make sure she didn’t stumble again. He had nothing to say, busy quietly adding Katya to the list of people he would follow around like a grim shadow in case they wanted or needed anything.

The house was somewhat large, and seemed expensive- an odd place for a couple of criminals in hiding to reside. Sergey simply couldn’t stand a poor residence, and he had his money from the collapsed Holt industries. Oleg couldn’t say he minded, especially since they did in fact have a bunker outside the city (which was very nice as well, Sergey just didn’t appreciate the lack of windows) they could move to if they thought they were at risk of being found.

“Say, my love, I’ve been thinking of another panel of weapons. And a loveseat.” Sergey said, idly watching the clouds as he waited at the doorstep for Katya and Oleg to catch up. Oleg approached, unlocking and opening the door.

“That sounds nice. Have you picked out specifics?”

“Not yet. I wanted your input.” Sergey watched Oleg open the door and went in, setting down the groceries. Margot flew up at him suddenly from the hall and he gave a soft laugh, raising an arm for her to settle on.

“I’ll look at options later.” Oleg smiled fondly at the sight.

Fear seized her heart, for a moment, as Oleg called her bluff. She settled easily, though, when he didn’t tell her to try her luck with the streets or orphanages. She should feel some fondness, here, in that she was right about Oleg being too soft to say such things.

It was yet another thing he had in common with her father.

But Katya only felt bitter. She didn’t like his pointing out that, as coerced as this felt, she did accept their offer of her own volition.

So, again, she responded with a prim sniff. Katya was none the wiser to either Oleg or Sergey watching her so closely and with such care. It was hard to think of vultures as guardians. She followed after Sergey, shrugging as she said, “I don’t care; you can have them.”

She actually did want them; she just didn’t want to seem anymore needy than she already was. Katya kept standing straighter than she normally would—more proper, more standoffish.

As Oleg and Sergey continued to banter (Katya wasn’t sure they knew any other way to speak to each other), she scrutinized their home. Its grandiosity didn’t confuse her. She had a commander for a father, and a lead scientist for a mother—she had never known a small house. Its comeliness did, however, confuse her. She was certain that outlaws like them would have either have to live in a cellar or an equally gloomy place. Maybe an emptied mass grave? That seemed like a place the Plauge Doctor would live in.

Or, at least, the Plague Doctor she’s always known.

She had another unintentionally pointed question brewing somewhere in her head. It was something about whether Sergey had piles of dead bodies at this house, too. That’s when Margot fluttered into her realm of existence, though, and Katya gawked.

She kept her distance, keeping to the front steps, but in spite of her hesitancy, she still gasped a quiet voice of awe, “I didn’t know you had a bird..”