#like virgil guiding dante through hell

[streets-in-paradise]

My dad never speaks to me, but when he did today was just to provide the perfectly on spot comment triggering my depressive thoughts.

I'm now writing the most angsty piece of Troy fic I ever wrote instead of the request I wanted to finish.

[alisfelia]

dante and virgil in hell by william adolphe bouguereau

"o let us go, the poet cried, | for our sick souls this friendly guide | in pity comes to chase away | the fiendish night that held us sway."

[tinyconduit]

if I have to see 1 more person seriously claim that the divine comedy is fanfic I think I might start living in the woods

[god-mouths]

Scott pilgrim is a modern retelling of Dante’s Inferno, and I want to talk about it

Hi . Brought this up very briefly a while ago but i rewatched spto with friends last night and got my gears turning. I don’t usually make posts like this but It’s been on my mind and I want to share. Here we goooo. Under read more becwuse I wish not to disturb my beloved friends with a long post

First off, let’s start with theeeee obvious.

Say hello to our Dante and Beatrice.

I don’t think I need to go into this first one much, but Scott and Dante are of course the heroes(term used lightly. Scott is not a good person and honestly neither was fuckinh Dante of all people) of their respective tales, going through hell and back to win over this ethereal, “too good to be true” heavenly dream girl. Scott even dies to get her in the end, like Dante venturing down into the depths of hell, dying and then ascending to get to Beatrice. If I wanted to really stretch it I could say the dreamscape is a sort of purgatory but I don’t think there’s enough evidence for that one.

Next,

Our Virgil. What’s up, Wallace.

In the comics Wallace acts as a sort of guide to Scott. We end up seeing him less as the comic progresses, which I find lines up with Virgil having to part ways with Dante before he enters heaven. Not much to say otherwise admittedly. Love you though buddy

Now for the symbolism of hell. Since there are nine circles of hell, it obviously can’t match up one to one with the exes unless we add some of scott’s relationships to the mix, which both doesn’t make sense, causes this analysis to get stupider than it already is, and leaves some characters left over that already don’t fit in to these parallels.

Luckily, however, there are The Seven Deadly Sins. Going to be going in sin order rather than ex order here

Firstly,

MATTHEW PATEL - PRIDE

- the first boyfriend and the first sin very conveniently line up, which threw me off track because I thought the exes would go in the order of the sins. Enyways

- in the movies, comics, and shows, he is insanely flashy with how he presents himself. It’s the entrance, the dances, the expressive clothing (“that guy’s dressed as a pirate” “pirates are in this year!”, modifying Gideon’s suit to fit his color palette, the outfit he wore while kicking gideon’s ass). The theatre kid in him essentially

- taking the lead in the musical Knives and Stephen presented him with— they knew how to cater to him, because he views himself as the coolest bitch on the planet. Which honestly he kind of is but don’t tell him this

- so headstrong in his pride that he fucks up. Repeatedly. First to get killed, too cocky, spends all of gideons money “I’ve lost billions!”

- believes he’s entitled to Ramona as soon as he wins the fight against Scott

GIDEON- GREED

- I don’t feel like I have to explain this one but I will because I enjoy him greatly

- CEO, billionaire. Money money money mr rich

- literally “owns” or tries to excersize ownership Ramona in the comics and movie as if she belongs to him— with the glow, or with the chip implanted into her neck with his logo on it.

- has all of his past girlfriends cryogenically frozen. All for him none for anyone else. They should only love meeeeee.

- wants everything for himself in excess. Women, fame, money. Almost considered pride for him also but greed is more fitting

KEN AND KYLE- ENVY AND LUST

- holy shit this image has five pixels so sorry about that I’m on my phone and Google images sucks

- anyways of course they’re sharing sins

- not much to say here as they don’t show up much, and it’s easy to make the argument of envy or lust for ANY of the seven exes. These two were the hardest to figure out. Not as sure on Envy, but can definetly advocate for lust— playing around with women, thinking they were playing around with Ramona.

TODD- GLUTTONY

- this one was the easiest one for me. Like come on

- breaks vegan edge in the comics, movie, (vegan police), and show (Wallace breakup event 2 dead 5 injured)

- his whole persona revolves around food. Of course gluttony doesn’t always mean food but here it most definetly equates. Even when he’s vegan he always makes it a talking point of how superior he is to others because of this fact, only for it to blow up in his face when his enjoyment of non vegan food catches up to him.

ROXY- WRATH

- a very angry girl to be sure. Takes her emotions out using violence, attacking Ramona the first time she sees her, even though she is going out of the order of the league and supposed to be attacking Scott (although I guess that point is moot because they all think he’s dead at that point)

- “I’m bi-furious” line from the movie deserves a shout out here I think

- (completely justified) Unending rage against Ramona in the show, and scott in the comics and movies. She is PISSED.

Lastly,

LUCAS LEE- SLOTH

- also one of the easiest ones. Could have made an argument for pride (tries to prove he can land a sick ollie so hard that he dies) or greed (movie star who lives in huge mansion), but sloth ultimately fit the bill the best.

- even before we get into his reoccurring theme of “whatever” in the show, it’s pretty evident in the comics and movie that he doesn’t care enough to extend effort. He tells Scott he’ll leave him alone and say his ass got kicked if Scott gave him a twenty dollar bill, sends his stunt doubles to fight Scott in his stead.

- onto the show, he lets his stardom slip out of his fingers with his attitude, not even caring to read or memorize the script anymore (“is that why half the lines in your last film were ‘Let’s Party’?” “I uhh, read the title.” Etc). Just spends all his time messing around and skateboarding. The title of his episode is literally “Whatever”. He doesn’t give enough of a shit to care. Which. Respect I guess

Extra; the exes ARE referred to as “the seven deadly chumps” in the show.

In conclusion;

[cat-mentality]

PLS ELABORATE ON THIS [the theory on which eggs fit which sins]

OKAY BUCKLE UP ANON!!!! This is straight up tin foil hat territory, i'm just like manifesting from nothing because it is incredibly fun in my mind

For this to make a little of sense i'm going to consider Purgatory as my catholic school taught me- A place where the sinners go to repent to their sins, either for all of eternity, if the sins are too big or too terrible, or until they have been forgiven and i'm taking Dante's inferno as my guideline on how this whole thing operates.

I'm also going with the theory that Black Cucurucho was the one responsible for taking the eggs/scaring them away, maybe to make them vulnerable and fall on his trap, is my personal theory that the Black Cucurucho is literally the anti-Federation, as in order versus chaos and as such he is looking to destroy everything the Federation is building and using the egg's to do so (and also Cellbit!!! If it's not the Rebels giving him the information i bet on Black Cucurucho more than the Feds themselves).

So, basically: The eggs get kidnapped by this new strange force (not evil per say, not more than the Federation itself, but less interested in pretending not to be, like the Anfitrião in Ordem Paranormal) and they get stuck in Purgatory, who is made by 9th circles, divided by the type of sinners they are set to punish. The tickets are the passage to get into the circles, Virgil acted as Dante's guide in this case the train will be responsible for taking them from one circle (island) to the next IF they manage to complete whatever task will be set in their way.

I believe the placement of each egg (in my delulu head) has less to do with their own sins, as the Black Cucurucho is not really interested in them but rather in the suffering he can inflict on the parents using them, but in the mortal flaw he sees on their parents.

Chayenne i would put being stuck in the 1st circle, Limbo. It's the less worse of the nine as it is the place where the unbaptized and virtuous pagan stay, endlessly walking in eternal darkness.

Why you ask me?

Well Chayenne IS the son of the Angel of Death. His other father is also a being blessed by death (or cursed with life, your pick). He worships the Blood God. He is dear to the Goddess of Death herself.

What's more pagan than that?

Besides Chayenne IS virtuous himself, he is a warrior, devout to the Blood God however not for bloodlust, but for the desire of protecting those he loves and cherishes. Little Chayenne, walking endlessly searching for his siblings, praying to his fathers' goddesses to shine a light, to show him the way, to protect his siblings, but receiving nothing back as the goddesses is forbidden from interfering with the living, even the ones toying the line into her realm.

I actually changed my mind and we are putting Tallulah in the 2nd circle, Luxury. Now, we about to play loose with the definition of luxury here as this is the circle where the damned are tormented with strong winds that drag them through hell, i'm focusing not on Luxury as a carnal sin, but rather the element of desire.

And for this we are going to consider Wilbur as the parent being punished, not Philza.

Wilbur who left for fame.

Wilbur who left for months and months and months. Who lusted for the world, who wanted to be known, who wanted to be adored, who lusted after a life of his dreams.

Wilbur who in his lust for the world forgot the one person who always considered him her whole world.

Tallulah lusting after safety, lusting for a place to belong, lusting to leave a mark in the world so that it doesn't forget her, trying to grab onto anything to prove her worth and her value but now being stuck in those winds. dragged without a destination, powerless and alone.

Pomme is then in the 3rd circle, Gluttony. The 3rd circle is the circle for those who were gluttons, who over indulged, are now stuck in pits of dirty, freezing mud, tormented by Cerberus and also a storm of snow, hail and thunder.

Etoiles, always hungry for the next fight, for the next dungeon, for the next opponent.

Baghera always hungry for answers, for things she cannot have, cannot do (she wants an explanation about what happened to her, she wants to save her friends when she cannot even save herself, she desires for the world to be good and kind).

Antoine, always hungry for power, selling his soul, his family, to achieve it. Devouring faces, devouring stories, devouring lives, swallowing everything whole until he doesn't even know who he was supposed to really be.

Pierre always hungry for connection, for warmth, hungry for those he meets, trying to fill the void in his heart with the temporary warmth of another body.

Pomme hungry for adventures, hungry to prove that she is worth of love (she remembers, those first days, the distrusts, the coldness, the way they considered not taking her and she never wants to feel that cold), Pomme being stuck, helpless when she knows so very well that helplessness gets you killed, that it makes you weak and unworthy.

The 4th circle, Avarice is empty, of the eggs at least. A respite, as much as they can have in that place.

They find Ramon in the 5th circle, Wrath. Localized on the Styx, the river that cuts through the Purgatory, made of boiling water and blood, that is the place where the wrathful are locked on eternal fights on the surface of the river, on the bottom the sullen are forever stuck drowning on the things they never got to say.

Fit who lived his whole life in a desolate wasteland where fighting was the only thing he could do. Fit who knew no rest, no peace, no sound of those fighting and those dying.

Fit who fought his whole life, who is still fighting, who doesn't know how to rest, who doesn't know how to forgive, who chokes on his wrath, who forces it down his throat because he wants to be better but anger was all that he knew during most of his life.

Fit who looks at those people in their eternal battle, bleeding and making others bleed for no reason, with no end in sight, with no real purpose but to cause harm, and feels at home.

Ramon who tries so hard to be light, to support and help his father in whatever he needs, who drowns his own feelings because he doesn't want to bother others, because he wants to be the rock they can lean on, drowning at the bottom of the Styx.

Leonarda is on the 6th circle, Heresy. This is the circle where the sinners had the intention of sinning, the one destined to those who denied the existence of god, who went against the beliefs of their time, and now they lay on open graves as fire burns them.

And what is Foolish if not a non believer?

He believes in no god, no authority, no deity. He believes in himself, he believes in his family, he believes in what he thinks is right.

Oh he plays pretend of course, he smiles at the Federation, he works for them, he joins the Ordo, he participates in their reunions, but do he believe in any of them? Does he commit to one dogma over the other?

Of course not.

Foolish is a non believer. He will join the side that offers him the most, he will betray them as easily as he joined, he will jump from a place to another as long as that keeps his family safe, as long as that is what is better for them.

Foolish who sins and smiles as he does so.

Little Leonarda who believes in her Pa above everything and anything else, burning in a never ending fire. Little Leonarda who doesn't give a fuck about anything else as long as he is okay, as long as he is by her side, who would follow him into whatever mess he got himself into, who couldn't care less about other's morals or expectations, who would gladly sin as long as they are together.

Richarlyson is on the 7th circle, Violence. This circle is actually divided in three parts but i think only two would be used the Valley of the Phlegethon where the ones who were violent against others were submerged on a river of the blood of those they hurt, and the valley of the suicidal, where those who were violent against themselves became either trees, eaten by harpies or chased by hungry dogs.

And well, it's self explanatory isn't it?

Who has spilled more blood than Cellbit? Between the war, the prison and not the Island he has enough blood on his account to drown them all.

Forever? Oh there are bloodbaths in his past too. There is rage that blinds, that takes hold of him and only leaves when he is standing in the aftermath of a carnage.

Mike does not mind blood. Never has, never will.

And who hurts Pac more than he does himself? Who hates Cellbit more than he hates himself? Who blames Forever for things, more than himself?

They may turn their rage against the world, may bath it into blood, may spill it until rivers form but they drown themselves in it too.

And Richarlyson? Little boy who saw too much, who knew death and suffering too early, who lives at war with a part of himself who wants nothing but to hurt and destroy.

Finally, Dapper is on the 8th circle, Fraud. This circle has ten pits in it, each designated to a type of sinner with their own punishment, raking from being whipped by demons to being submerged into boiling tar or being dressed into shiny clothes who were as heavy as lead.

And what is BadboyHalo if not a fraud?

Who even knows who he truly is, what he truly thinks? Probably not even himself.

This is a man of many layers and many masks, a man who presents himself in any way he thinks is right regardless of what he truly feels or thinks, this is a man who will lie to anyone, including himself.

This is a man who embodies every single sin punished, who could easily be put into any of the pits. Is he not a seducer? Is he not a liar and a thief? Corrupted by his own darkness? A hypocrite, to others and to himself? Does he not sow discord, does he not give bad advice?

And isn't Dapper too much like their father? Little Dapper who lies and lies and lies, who hides behind her own masks, who is now being punished because they do not know who they truly are underneath all the masks.

And the 9th circle, the last one?

Betrayal.

Sometimes the only way to leave hell, to leave Purgatory, is to be worse than the devils.

[acutecoral]

So Purgatory is a very interesting name to call this next arc and I'm honestly excited!

As someone who enjoyed the Divine Comedy, it's giving me a lot of ideas, especially when it comes to the sort of hints we've been getting around it.

In the Divine Comedy, both Hell, Purgatory and Heaven have the theme of seven levels to them that Dante gets guided through, but we're focused on Purgatory here.

Purgatory is where souls begin their journey to be cleansed. It starts at the bottom of a mountain and in the stort of Purgatorio, Dante and Virgil work their way up through the different levels to get to the highest peak.

Each level in Purgatory is to work through and learn specific virtues in, tied in challenges that souls there must experience. Which does remind me that the hint that Quackity gave is that people will be tested to see how far they'd go.

I think that maybe people will end up getting split up through the ticket system, and must find each other and go through the challenges, to gain access to the next level. To get to that "peak of the moutain" just like Dante did, where their beloved ones are waiting for them.

But that's my thought. I'm not sure if they're gonna take the challenges from each level of Purgatory exactly from the book or even just the idea here, but I trust them. It's obviously they've been cooking for a while now.

Anyways! Onwards to Purgatory!!

[lesbiankordian]

Parallels between Bungou Stray Dogs and Divine Comedy

I believe that in the current chapters Asagiri is purposely sneaking in parallels to Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. This post will cover the similarities and possible references between bsd's current arc and that book. At first I thought the Meursault prison corresponds to Hell, but now I believe it's actually Purgatory.

Introduction

Similarities

Final thoughts

Divine Comedy (in which the author - Dante - made himself the main character) talks about one's path to breaking free from sin and their growth as a person. It's divided into three parts: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. During the first two parts, Dante's guide is Virgil (Beatrice comes at the end of Purgatory). In Hell they're going downwards, to the lower circles; in Purgatory they're going upwards, to the higher terraces.

The difference between those two places is that in Hell the souls are suffering endless tortures for their sins, meanwhile in Purgatory they're atoning for them and will eventually leave that place. Depending on what we think is more similar to what's happening in the Meursault prison, we could either interpret it as Hell or Purgatory.

As I said, I believe that it's Purgatory, as the characters are going up, starting from the lowest floor, and that journey helps them (Sigma and Dazai) to grow as a person.

When it comes to Fyodor, I'm not so sure. His goal is to get rid of the abilities, which he compares to a sin. This point acts more as an argument for the Meursault prison, or even his arc overall, to be Hell (not that it's like Hell for him, but more like that's how he thinks of the current events other characters are going through), as his idea of making the ability users free of the the sin is killing them and that's nothing like Purgatory. One could argue tho, that it is similar to the latter, because he wants to release the people from the sin, his idea how to do it and methods are just different.

His character and ability are based on Crime and Punishment and that's literally what Dante's Hell is - endless punishment for one's sins. Moreover, Fyodor sees himself as the God's subordinate and Divine Comedy talks about the souls' sufferings because of their wrongdoings to God. It also talks about Dante's path to getting closer to God (metaphorically and literally), and Fyodor thinks of himself as someone between God and the people.

This analysis won't focus on him, but I wanted to point out the (important) religious themes in both of the stories.

What's also interesting is that Dazai and Fyodor (as the most dangerous ability users) had their cells located on the lowest level - similarly to Hell, where the worst people, traitors, were at the lowest ring. Although Dazai is a traitor to the PM, I don't think he parallels those from Dante's work, as they were meant to symbolize that betrayal is bad, but Asagiri shows that what Dazai did was good for him. They correspond to them in their "lack" of humanity and various commited crimes.

Now more of the similarities!

1. Briareus

Purgatory, Canto XII; bsd chapter 98

The prison officer's nickname is "Hundred ability Briareus". In Greek mythology Briareus is one of the Hundred-Handers, who helped Zeus and the Olympians to overthrow the Titans.

Quick comparison to bsd: while bsd! Briareus gets killed by a person who's "working" for a prisoner, og Briareus eventually becomes a guard of those he was fighting against.

Briareus is also a character in Divine Comedy. He has two appearances: in Hell he's a giant inhabitating the Ninth Circle; in the first terrace of Purgatory he's one of the giants whose sin was pride. I'll focus on the latter, as it's more similar to the scene from chapter 98.

Dante's Briareus is a sympol of pride and bsd!Briareus says how powerful he is. Moreover, they're both more or less carved into the ground / wall (Dante's Briareus as a form of penance, bsd!Briareus by Chuuya's ability) of the first terrace / floor.

That would mean the Meursault prison is our Purgatory.

(more under the cut)

That scene also reminds me of the beginning of the Fifteen light novel, where Chuuya is really confident in his ability and makes fun of PM for being weak - interesting how he's the one to meet and kill Briareus (in Divine Comedy the meetings help Dante to become free of the sins). Also, the PM member from Fifteen is rather scared of Chuuya and shows him no respect, as opposed to the prison officer.

2. Flames and separation

In Canto XXVII, so almost at the end of Purgatory, Dante has to go through the flames in order to go to Paradise. Virgil can't come with him, as he's not Christian. Instead, he encourages Dante and reminds him of his free will.

In chapter 106.5 Sigma and Dazai also are in a situation involving flames, and even tho none of them actually go through them, they split up - Dazai doesn't leave the lift. Just like Dante and Virgil.

That, and the fact that a big part of Sigma's character is about being used (so not having free will) makes me believe they're paralleling Dante, making Dazai Virgil, their guide through the prison.

Sigma is in the process of finding themselves - similarly to Dante, who with the help of Virgil learns truths about love, good and bad, etc. This heavily reminds me of the conversation from chapter 105.5 about why Dazai chose them and his relationship with ADA.

Here's a comparison of their conversations:

After Dante goes through the flames and leaves Virgil, he sees the march of the Church, and Sigma may find Fyodor in the next chapters. Moreover, Beatrice says the Church is divided and sinful. The people are going into the direction of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (the tree that Eve and Adam got their apple from). Fyodor's view on the world really fits that description, take dead apple and the manifestation of his ability as an example.

3. Water

In Canto XXXI (where Beatrice is the guide) Dante goes through the waters of the river Lethe, which makes him forget his past sins. In XXXIII (the last part of Purgatory) Dante dips in Eone and becomes fully purified.

That obviously reminds me of Fyodor and Chuuya, and then Sigma and Dazai, drowning.

Chuuya - he's currently a vampire (who, because of that, might not remember his past for now - Lethe?). Both the transition to a vampire and being dipped in water have metaphorical meanings involving changing as a person. That situation, along with Dazai's words, could have helped him gain consciousness, at least for a second (you know the whole "his eyes were back to normal" thing), and "cleanse" him from the vampirism. Moreover, in his speech Dazai talked about their relationship, and the one who was by Dante's side when he went through Lethe was Beatrice, his lover. She also talked about love (Canto XXX) and Dazai's farewell was really emotional and more authentic than what he usually says. (Of course I'm not saying they're lovers, just pointing out the similarities)

Sigma - before drowning in Meursault, there was a different panel that showed them being in water. Fyodor talked there about Sigma's loneliness in this world - is Sigma's amnesia similar to Dante going through Lethe? (Or: before coming into Purgatory, Dante had to be washed, because he had to leave his worldly life behind. I think that fact corresponds to Sigma's life even more). Then we got the recent chapters where Dazai saves Sigma. I didn't find many "cleansing" themes in that scene, except for that panel, which reminds me of baptism (it cleanses the person from sins and is done with water):

What we can also get from these similarities is that Dazai doesn't necessarily have to correspond to Virgil, but also Beatrice, another guide.

4. Dreams

Throughout his journey, Dante has dreams that help him understand things better in one way or another. In one of them he sees Beatrice, who I already compared to Dazai. Atsushi "hallucinated" as well, in chapter 105. In that vision he sees Dazai who makes / motivates him to move. Atsushi's much like Dante as well - they both are on a journey to become a better version of themselves, but also idealise their mentors.

5. Ango

Just like the spirit, Ango is helping Dazai and Sigma to go through the prison (upwards). Dazai also calls him an 'angel'.

Purgatory, Canto XVII; bsd chapter 101

6. Mykola

The game Fyodor, Dazai and Sigma are playing was made by Mykola. One of the most famous works of the real Mykola Hohol is Dead souls, which some believe that he wanted it to be the Russian Divine Comedy. The book was meant to be a trilogy, but only one volume (that was meant to correspond to Dante's Hell) was created. I even found a reference to it, in which Chichikov (the main character) is compared to Dante:

That point acts more as an argument for the game to be Hell, not Purgatory, but the relatedness to Divine Comedy is there. Or maybe it's more that Mykola wants the game to be like Hell, not Purgatory - either for Fyodor or Dazai, it's supposed to end in death. The other one's experience would be like Purgatory, tho, as he'd successfully leave the prison.

Or maybe, it's his journey that he wants to be like Chichikov and Dante's (since he wants to become free). Either way, that person is supposed to go through Purgatory later.

Also, does it mean the game is going to end before it was supposed to? If it hasn't already.

edit: more similarities in the reblogs!!

To sum up, I think one character doesn't have to correspond to just one person from Divine Comedy - and vice versa. Dazai is Virgil, but at the same time Beatrice, another guide, and also has some parts of Dante - he grows and goes through the Purgatory.

We don't have only one Dante - both Sigma and Atsushi share his traits and both go through their own paths to knowing themselves better (with the help of Dazai, too).

Bram and Aya's relationship is the one where, in my opinion, the levels of danteness and virgilness are most equal. Aya is Bram's guide, literally caries him on her back, but also shows him modern technology. Bram also helps Aya and guards her. Not to mention, they're at the highest part of the airport now, which means they have gone upwards.

I argued the Meursault prison is Purgatory, but I also found some similarities to Hell. It can be that it shares both of their traits, maybe depending on a character and what's happening to them.

The question is: is Asagiri writing this arc with so many similarities to Divine Comedy on accident or on purpose? Because if it was just the themes and archetypes that were alike, I wouldn't ask this question, but some of the things I listed are too resembling of Dante's work for me, especially Briareus and what happened in the lift. Not to mention real Hohol's connection to Divine Comedy.

If you have thoughts on this subject, please share! I've spent so much time thinking about this, I don't know anymore if I've gaslighted myself into thinking Asagiri must be doing it on purpose or not (but at the same time!! the similarities!!!). Yes, Dante is way older than every bsd author, but 1) we also have Shakespeare and 2) I believe it's a reference to Divine Comedy as a book, not that he'll be a new character (it'd be so cool tho). But even if it's not Asagiri's conscious doing, the similarities are still very interesting and I enjoyed looking for them.

[torgawl]

i was a reading a bit more on purgatory and purgatorius ignis (cleansing fire), which is a concept that existed even before the notion that purgatory itself was a third other-world domain, similar to heaven and hell, when i suddenly remembered dante's la divina commedia and decided to revisit the story a little. and i found something interesting as i was scrolling through the wikipedia page.

so, purgatory is the second part of la divina commedia, following inferno, and is an allegory telling of the climb of dante up the mount of purgatory, guided by the roman poet virgil. alegorically, purgatorio represents the penitent christian life (and christianity, as we know, is one of the core themes of fontaine's archon quests that arlecchino was a part of). while describing the climb dante focuses a lot on the nature of sin, examples of vice and virtue, as well as moral issues in politics and in the church. what's interesting, though, is that the poem posits the theory that all sins arise from love – either perverted love directed towards others' harm, or deficient love, or the disordered or excessive love of good things.

why is this interesting, you ask? let me add here a few quotes before i contextualise it:

"she is a god with no love left for her people, nor do they have any left for her" - dainsleif about the cryo archon, the tsaritsa

"her royal highness the tsaritsa is actually a gentle soul. too gentle, in fact, and that's why she had to harden herself. likewise, she declared war against the whole world only because she dreams of peace. and because she made an enemy of the world, i now have a friend in you." - childe about the tsaritsa

"everyone praises her for her kindness and benevolence, but they forget that love is also a form of sin. what if she's just trying to compensate for something?" - wanderer about the tsaritsa

the tsaritsa, the cryo archon and the person arlecchino is devoted to, is theorised and hinted multiples times to be the god of love. yes, the love that is said to be the origin of sin in la divina commedia. we can also draw parallels between the idea of perverted love talked about in the poem and the relationship between arlecchino and others, for instance the kids of the house of the hearth.

arlecchino's drip marketing including an excerpt where the scene goes from a gentle warm environment, seemingly mistaken as a loving family home full of innocent looking children, that quickly shifts into a somber and dark atmosphere under her authority - the children answering instantly, without hesitation and completely obedient -, is the perfect illustration of the duality within her character. there's an obvious exploitative and manipulative system making use of the house of the hearth and the orphans under its roof, where arlecchino (as the one running the orphanage) is the provider and the kids are brought up to be dependable and further dispatched as fatui soldiers when "potential" is recognised. and we can deduce that there's ways that their education is done from a very young age so it prevents or punishes any sort of dissent, something not hard to imagine when we know from freminet that arlecchino doesn't like when the kids cry or show emotional vulnerability, something she sees as weakness, for example. but if there's this dark side to her, there's also certain attitudes that demonstrate her care for the children or even her care for the world around her. arlecchino helping freminet get closure on his mother's death, the reformation of the house of the hearth (which we know used to have a much more punishitive and strict leader before arlecchino took over) or even her devotion and deep respect towards the tsaritsa are some examples of the way she shows care for other people. now, we can theorise that these good deeds directed towards the orphans under her care are very much purposeful to better manipulate them, but i think that's exactly what the notion of perverted love in la divina commedia tries to hint at.

besides this concept, there's something else that peaked my interest in dante's poem. dante pictures purgatory as an island at the antipodes of jerusalem, pushed up, in an otherwise empty sea, by the displacement caused by the fall of satan, which left him fixed at the central point of the earth. it's a cone-shaped island that has seven terraces on which souls are cleansed from the seven deadly sins or capital vices as they ascend. at the summit is the garden of eden, from where the souls, cleansed of evil tendencies and made perfect, are taken to heaven.

as we know, arlecchino is being introduced in fontaine, her homeland, and the idea of purgatory as an island in the sea leading its way to heaven caused by the fall of a sinful being sort of reminded me of remuria. remuria was the civilization in fontaine which directly preceded the previous hydro archon egeria's rule. its downfall occurred as a result of remus' attempt to avert its predicted destruction, and in particular, by his act of sharing his power and authority — reserved only for gods — with the four human harmosts he appointed to govern his cities. remuria eventually ended up being sunken into the abyss, devouring everything including the people and remus himself. we know there's still a region in fontaine's map that wasn't yet released, so how odd would it be that the last part to be revealed in fontaine might just be the land that was once sunken? after the little note about the samsara cycles near the tower of the narzissenkreuz ordo, which referenced a cycle called remuria, i would not be surprised at all. it's also particularly funny that fontaine is directly below celestia. yes, the floating island in the sky above teyvat which is the residence of the gods, the same gods that made remuria fall. as the contemporary philosophers of our time have said, that's sus!!!

i don't want to get too ahead of myself because i don't have a theory about what's going to happen or what role arlecchino will play exactly but i don't think it would be shocking if we got to know more about remuria during her release. and still in the purgatory idea, i think the angel of death (azreal) might be an interesting parallel to make with arlecchino. azrael's role is seen as benevolent, transporting souls after death. it fits perfectly well with the idea of purgatorius ignis, that signifies transformation. in different cultural and religious contexts, fire can also symbolize destruction renewal and even rebirth so i'm very very curious to see what arlecchino's story will be like.

[segretecose]

Top 5 paintings of Dante?

5. Domenico Petarlini, Dante in Exile (1860 circa)

Not the best depiction of Dante in my honest opinion – his face looks way off –, but I love how forlorn he looks. He just went on his depression walk, holding his little book, and picked this particular spot to sit and brood. He's not even looking at the see he's so sad. What is he thinking? Is he missing Florence? Is he regretting his parasocial relationship with the Holy Roman Emperor? We'll never know. What we do know, though, is that he looks sickening in his red skin-tight leggingsboots.

4. Annibale Gatti, Dante Receives News of His Exile (1850-1858)

He is once again brooding on some non-identified hill with his trusty book in hand, when some tween hikes up to his place of refuge and tells him he has to pack up and leave – actually, it looks like they have already packed up for him. And he is so sad. The saddest boy in Florence exile. He's probably thinking that he needs to find a stick to carry that bundle like a dejected little anthropomorphic cartoon squirrel.

3. Ary Scheffer, Dante and Virgil with Paolo and Francesca (1835)

The tale of Paolo and Francesca's tragic love is a bit much for little Dante, who swoons "away as if [he] had been dying" and falls "as a dead body falls." This one is pretty self-explanatory, really. He's just... laying there.

2. Gustave Doré, Dante and Virgil in the Ninth Circle of Hell (1861)

Doré is of course a veteran Dante illustrator and I think he gets the horror and tenderness of the Comedy like nobody else. In this one, everyone's favourite poetic duo is going through the Ninth Circle, where sinners guilty of treachery are condemned to spend eternity in a frozen lake where there is no light nor warmth. There are frozen heads and a lot of gnawing going on, but Dante is not letting go of Virgil. No ma'am. He's holding on to his man as he "accidentally" kicks Guelph traitor Bocca degli Abati in the head.

1. William Bouguereau, Dante and Virgil in Hell (1850)

Thee Dante and Virgil painting for me. They're in the 10th Bolgia of the Eighth Circle – there are imposters, falsifiers, counterfeiters, etc. running and clawing and biting, surrounded by filth and disease and hell demons. Dante is once again holding on to his guide Virgil, and he's looking very intently at Gianni Schicchi the imposter and Capocchio the alchemist who are going at it... very homoerotically... mh.

[knifeeater]

Hello i'm illiterate. What does the iwtv dante inferno i need protection from the wolves post mean. I'm dumb i'm so sorry and i. Desperately need to know

hey, please don't apologize! i was worried this would be kind of unclear because i skipped over a connection in the tags: i have a pet theory of louis walking daniel through the nine circles of hell and showing him his sins along the wayside, similar to the structure of dante's inferno, louis being the ghostly guide virgil aswell as the topological space himself (sometimes i factor in armand as virgil but let's keep it simple for this purpose). there is a reference to the forest of suicides in s1, so louis as an autobiographical narrator is certainly aware of dante and we know how he loves to weave in literary devices.

this is about guilt as foreshadowing, primarily concerning louis' culpability in claudia's death. in the first two images we see louis breaking a birds wings, hoping claudia will eat them, and shortly after lestat makes a hidden reference to armand cutting off his fledling and first love nicki's hands. in the same episode lestat calls claudia a baby bird. if we read iwtv as louis consciously including those references into his narration, we can interpret this as a connection to him prompting claudia's turning, the pain she expresses of never being able to grow up and experience 'flying from the nest' as it were but being kept in a perpetual subjugated daughter state. i believe louis' feelings of guilt express themselves here in a parallel of having a hand in her wings being clipped to having, through his passivity and active alienation towards claudia in paris, a second-hand in her eventual death.

so at the deepest center of dante's hell is a frozen lake, colcytus, which is reserved for the worst sinners, the traitors: caina for traitors of kin, antenora for traitors of city and state, ptolemea for betraying hospitality and judeca after judas iscariot for betraying your lord (lol yes ik this is a medieval text). At last in the frozen bottom of hell is the devil, 'dis', lucifer who betrayed god himself.

the quote from inferno is from the ptolemea section, in which a man forever gnawing anothers head laments him and his children being incarcerated in a tower where they starved, something he references as being hunted like wolves ('i was being hunted'). he now forever rips apart his cruel jailor with 'long fangs'. colcytus overlaps in my mind pretty well with the deepest layers of louis' very christian/catholic shame - the 'murder' of his brother and 'sister' claudia, the betrayal of his community, falling in love with a bad man who's a danger to his child (x2), betraying lestat with a judas kiss and at the end lucifer himself, the fallen angel - am i the devil, am i of the devil. in colcytus a lot of references to blindness and being veiled to the meaning of your own story appear which is very interesting to narrative agency and louis' self-justification too.

then ethel cain references dante in ptolemea - claudia is the daughter of cain, the man who pressed the same blade to his brothers sternum he would later kill his lover with, the one he's never quite sure didn't have a hand in paul's death. before her 'conception' louis makes a deal with the devil. lestat the aristocrat, the wolf hunter, louis accepts his love and his motives. him taking on the page of hearts from this trickster is a moral choice concerned, as every deal with the devil is, not just with love but also power, money and influence. it is a choice which leads to claudias birth into death, her parents union born out of the dark gift, birthing a child into sin, violence and pain. what's interesting in cains text is the interchangeability of the wolf and the hunter which is one of my favorite themes in literature, one i noted in tvl aswell - lestat's stylized (himself) as a werewolf figure, an outsider, hunted, wild and uncontainable. rice was influenced surely by angela carter's writing about this kind of otherness and masochistic attraction to violence which reveals an animality in yourself - louis' favorite movie isn't 'company of wolves' for nothing. to close out this meandering connection i thought it was interesting that this lyric ends with sublime, quick burning white light - the luminous fall of lucifer morningstar is certainly a theme in louis first season story arc.

thank you for coming back on this and giving me a chance to unhinge my jaw about it, always happy to talk. 🖤

[strangefellows]

Okay this is gonna be a long post but I figured why the hell not throw my absolute fucking lunatic conspiracy board Limbus Company theory out there, because I’ve had four people tell me it makes sense when I’ve brought it up to them, so! Here we go. Theory: I believe that Dante is Ayin (a main character of the first ProjMoon game, Lobotomy Corp, for those who don’t know). There’s a metric asston of evidence in just the first few chapters alone that keeps making me lie on the floor and scream, so let me document it! 

We’re going under a cut for length, let’s get started! Heavy spoilers for Lobotomy Corporation and Ruina under here, be warned.

The Song: First of all, just looking at the lyrics to In Hell We Live, Lament has me absolutely losing my fucking mind. We’re looking at insane lines like “I walked down a path / Leading to the past / Stole from the tree's hands / A regretter's friend / The forbidden fruit” and “If you wanted me to speak / If you wanted me to think / If you wanted me to carry on our dreams / Each loop we live through / The standards inside me / Thе line I drew for me / Lowers to the earth” and “Why'd you make my voice stutter? / Why do truths never matter? / Why'd you curse me with "you're a natural born genius"?” and “Replayed thoughts / Forget me not / I'm inside the empathic light / I bite off your skin / Exposing the angels on your ribs” and just...the repeated mention of loops. The song basically reads literally like Ayin himself singing it to Carmen. (The ending song also feels suspicious lyrically as well, but I can’t pin that down as easily.)

The Prologue: Not as much here, but I find it extremely suspicious that they didn’t show us a damn thing of Dante until after he loses his head and his memories. And honestly, Faust and Vergilius going ‘your name is Dante’ feels very blatantly like a goddamn lie. An amnesiac is gonna accept whatever you tell him is his name, man. Not to mention that he’s explicitly someone very important (Vergilius says so in ch3), and clearly knows something the bad guys desperately want. Which ties to my next point.

The Bad Guys: First of all, they want the Golden Boughs, which as apparently ‘pieces of L Corp’s Singularity’, are a very nice way to say they’re probably literally pieces of Carmen somehow. Branches sure look like the central nervous system, huh. Second, one of the trio in the intro refers to their boss as a ‘her’, says she wants to do something that’s ‘not illegal, but has never been done before’, and IIRC, calls her the Serpent. Now, looking at that serpent reference alongside Carmen’s existing parallels to WhiteNight, as well as Adam and his constant talk of the forbidden fruit...you see what I’m getting at here? Who tempted Adam in the first place?

The Inferno: Now, you see, even if the big bad is somehow Carmen in some way -- similarly to how the Voice led Argalia in Ruina, perhaps? -- that doesn’t necessarily mean Ayin is Dante. HOWEVER! Look back at the Inferno itself, the poem we’re working off extremely heavily. What is the purpose for Dante’s trip to hell? Beatrice. Dante’s dead girlfriend who’s become a divine being. Literally, Beatrice sent Virgil to guide Dante through hell and limbo and shit to bring him to her, roughly speaking. So, uh, looks at the whole dead now divine gf thing. Hm. Yeah. And where is our own trip to hell taking us? Through the ruins of Lobcorp, grabbing what are more or less pieces of Carmen, and I can’t remember if it’s said outright or not but there is a heavy ass chance this trip is ending at the main facility. Which, coming full circle...

The Clock: I will politely resist making a Hokma joke. But you have to admit it’s funny. In all seriousness, though, the fact that Dante’s power is resetting -- something that the entire gameplay of Lobotomy Corp and a major aspect of the plot was built around, resetting and looping and bringing the dead back to life -- is a major sus factor. In fact, I’m just waiting for someone to say ‘death is meaningless’ if I’m not just blanking on dialogue and someone’s said it already. Not to mention, the aspect of Dante feeling the pain of the injuries/deaths he’s rewinding gives me a lot to say about the (fairly canon) interpretation of Ayin martyring himself using the loops to punish himself for what he did. Suffering how the people he’s tied to suffered, so to speak. In fact -- I wouldn’t be surprised if the clock is/was Ayin’s EGO like the Library is Angela’s. How else would it be immediately to hand to slap on his neck, and what else could possibly have been able to legitimately replace his goddamn head on such short notice?

Manager: LOOK, THIS ONE IS TENUOUS BUT WHEN ADDED TO THE PILE-- the simple fact that Dante is deliberately given the title of manager feels important, when looked at through the lens of the rest of the evidence. There’s a line at the beginning of Chapter 1 when the children Sinners start fighting where Dante goes “Should I step in? Is this the part where I exercise my authority as the manager with dignity and grace? A faint memory urges me to do something." and it feels significant.

Random additional note: The Mirror Dungeons Wellcheers event has Dante say it ‘feels familiar’ -- does it? Does it now, Dante? 

While I’m still going through the game myself - middle of ch2 - I’ve had the whole story told to me, so I know what’s up, and though there’s probably more small bits I’m missing, the major beats here are definitely enough to support my theory for sure. It feels very right and fitting.

I’m just sitting here with several tinfoil hats and my ConspiracyBoard.gif going GUYS I SWEAR, THIS MAKES SENSE and losing it silently. I hope I’m right. I mean if I’m not right I’m making an AU fic anyway, but I hope I’m right. What do y’all think?

[bitterbluenephalem]

the new Eidola album feels like it's Virgil and I'm Dante and it's guiding me through every layer of hell, but in a good way

[gregoftom]

the way these two outsiders could have been enemies but they just love each other so much they get on so well they're best friends they have each other to lean on 😭😭😭

from ep 1 greg could have been a threat to tom. but they!!! they're fucking besties! they make each other laugh and smile, in a world where people are rarely laughing and smiling. they're sooooo beautiful 🥺🥹

OUGHHHhhrrrr yeah yeah god fuck. please it's the best thing i ever seen. and yeah i always talk about that, how like. literally tg are the most genuine relationship on the show [save for conwilla, but they literally parallel it repeatedly too so], they stuck it out the entire way and [ted lasso voice] won the whole fuckin' thing. had their bumps as tom would say but came out the end even more in love than ever. taught each other. greg taught tom he was worth something, that he could stand up for himself, that he could fucking fight for himself and what he wants, cared about his well being when no one else gave a shit. tom taught greg the way of this world, mentored him, protected him when no one else would. they took each other seriously when everybody else looked down their noses at them, joked about them, insulted them, scoffed at them, and they proved them all wrong together. tom ever the virgil guided greg ever the dante through hell itself and they changed the stars at the other side and came out of it, [true] forgiveness being the final barrier before they could emerge and break through and out. they forgave each other for everything.

they do. they make each other happy. i don't think anybody else has or could make either of them that... content. i don't think anybody else could really truly forgive one another like those two have. nobody else really truly likes another as a human being, good and bad, richer or poorer, better or worse, in sickness and in health, like they do. they just........ [sighs deeply] they're so in love and they're best friends. what could be better than this.

[tyrnn]

DracariOctober #21

Well now! Dante is going to have a >very< easy time with this Virgil to guide them through the nine circles of hell! We won't even have to spend the weekend at this rate! We're growing fast now! 230.5% more every day for the rest of the month! Thank you to all those who've donated so far! This year we're supporting the South Sound Reading Foundation in honor of Mondomonger/Axelroo. Thank you for being there for me for a decade! https://www.southsoundreading.org/ This year's interactions are going to be a little spicier! We're only going to be increasing heights by a little bit per interaction, but Donations will begin to exponentially compound the results! The earlier the bigger, the better, and borkier! Voting will be for the next day's theme! Since we're supporting a Literacy Foundation this year, I'll select four possible literary worlds to draw our Derggo into at their given height! Each one will only appear once, so vote carefully! So how do we make this Dracario bigger? You can help! Right now, here's how much Interactions are worth: Likes = 940.42m Retweets = 2351.049m Voting in the Poll = 940.42m Woah, these are so small! What can we do to change that? Every $1 donated will exponentially begin to increase these values per day, compounding +0.1% per dollar. That means the earlier you donate, the more growth it will compound down the line, and if my math checks out, he could be getting pretty huge, but will they stay on Earth? Only your donations will tell! https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=H6ZB8M7EJ4QKE I will be counting Likes as Liking on Twitter or Favoriting on FurAffinity. I'd like to do more sites but I don't want to spend too much time collecting data when I could be doodling Derggo! Retweets will count both Twitter and Bluesky! Voting will count from the Twitter poll attached to the thread, or by visiting StrawPoll here: https://strawpoll.com/NPgxE4dx1Z2

Posted using PostyBirb

[tomwambsmilk]

I am now realizing I don't think I've ever really explained my Succession-Inferno analogy but it is something near and dear to my heart so. Buckle up I guess!

The whole thing is premised on the idea that Logan holds a lot of characteristics traditionally ascribed to the devil in literature. He's an excellent liar (far better than anyone else on the show), he goes out of his way to destroy relationships between other people because he can't stand it when people love others more than they love him, he presents himself as "uncle fun" to outsiders, he actively revels in sowing discord and conflict and betrayal whereas everyone else merely tolerates it. At the same time everyone around him treats him like a god. He deserves all their love, he is The Father who has created all they see, reality is manifested by his will and is simply whatever he wants it to be, he is all-knowing and all-powerful. But because their god is actually. you know. evil. the fruit of his continued power (and their continued worship of him) is nothing but misery and lies.

In Dante's Inferno, Dante goes on a journey through Hell, guided by Virgil. Virgil represents two things: the knowledge of morality necessary to understand what's happening in Hell and avoid being taken in by it, and the moral support and courage necessary to complete the journey. Dante journeys through nine circles that are meant to represent sins of increasing moral degradation. The first is limbo, who's actually just people who weren't bad at all but were never baptized and so can't go to heaven. That's where the pagan moral philosophers - including Virgil - are. After that, it's Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and finally, Treachery. The order is very intentional, and rooted the belief that the early sins (sins of the flesh) are the easiest ones to fall into and ultimately are not as serious as the others - but, they also serve as gateways to the more serious sins. Each circle has sinners being punished in ways that are metaphors for the impacts of their sins. The devil sits in the ninth circle of hell, Treachery, where everyone (including the devil himself) is frozen in ice. The devil has Brutus, Judas, and Cassius in his mouth, and he chews on them for all eternity. Everyone around him betrayed someone they had an obligation to; the worse the betrayal, the closer to the devil they are frozen. The furthest away are those who betrayed their families (Cain); then those who betrayed their countries (Antenor); those who betrayed their guests and those who sheltered in their homes (Ptolemy); and finally, those who betrayed their masters, lords, and benefactors, which includes the three in Satan's mouth.

If Logan is Succession's Satan, then two things follow. First, Waystar becomes a metaphorical Inferno, where climbing the ranks to get closer to Logan requires climbing through the circles of hell and participating in greater and greater moral degradation. I think the character this most applies to, because we actually get to see his corruption arc over the course of the show, is Tom. And his arc, I think, arguably fits with that journey into hell. Season 1 gives us Gluttony and Greed, especially in 1.06 when he takes Greg to the restaurant and gives his spiel about how great it is to be rich. We also get his general obsession with nice things and with stuff, something which the Roys don't have, and something that seems to fade in Tom as his arc progresses. Season two gives us Wrath and Violence (Safe Room etc.), and Fraud (the cruise line scandal coming out). And then finally, at the end of season 3, we get Treachery. And I find it very very interesting that immediately before committing the act of Treachery, Tom asks Greg if he wants to make a deal with devil - something which turns out to mean both a deal with Logan, but also the act of betraying Shiv. Up until this point, you could argue that Greg had been riding along on Tom's coattails on this journey-through-hell - but the line "What am I going to do with a soul anyways?" means that, for the first time, he's actively consenting to what's happening. Sure, he doesn't know what's going on - but the line itself implies that it simply does not matter to him.

The second thing that follows, though, is that while Tom and Greg and the old guard have journeyed down to where Logan is, his children have been there all along. They grew up in a world characterized by Treachery, Fraud, Violence, Wrath, Greed, and Lust. Their arcs aren't about them becoming corrupted; their arcs are about whether they can escape the corruption they've always lived in. Everyone is frozen in that same ice together, but the ways they got here were very different.

Finally, the Virgil character is very important, because he doesn't have a corollary in the Succession half of this analogy, and that highlights what none of these characters have. None of them have a strong moral compass, and even if they did, none of them have the kind of support and moral courage to resist the allure of temptation. This is far more devastating for the Roy kids, though, because they've never had the opportunity to encounter a Virgil, whereas everyone else had to pass through Limbo - where Virgil is - before they could start going through hell. Or, in other words, with Tom et al. at some point there was an active choice to reject the moral compass and reject the moral support, which the Roy kids never had. But once you reject your moral compass it's hard to get it back again, hence why the further you get from Limbo the harder it is to find your way back.

[kkglinka]

After I made the post about the name references, some fans pointed out that there was a connection with Dante's Divine Comedy as well. Super duper cliff notes version: the dead poet virgil guides dante's self-insert through the levels of hell, demonstrating various sins and their punishments, until they reach satan. From there, three saints appear, and beatrice leads dante up through purgatory and delivers him into paradise.

In this allusion, Ava is Dante, the sinner of lapsed faith. Virgil is played by Vincent, who steadily leads her astray due to his own sin of worshipping false gods. He took someone hedonistically enjoying life and helped turn her into a killer, before leading her down into the catacombs until they reached the single dark chamber where Adriel resided.

Now, two levels up from satan's chamber is where sodomites are punished. This is how severe a sin homosexual behavior is. Notice that conservative forms of christianity do not recognize queerness as a state of being, but only as a voluntary, deviant action. This includes thinking gay stuff, because catholicism includes thought crime. Whereas modern concepts of queerness recognize it as a state of being, so that denying any expression, is tantamount to denying the self entirely. It's slow motion self-destruction.

It's as the gang prepares to infiltrate the vatican that we see Beatrice start orienting toward Ava instead of her religion. Why? Because this is when Ava begins to inspire Beatrice to believe in herself, and her self is queer. This is where she also begins to veer away from self-destruction, because that's what being the OCS's perfect soldier entails.

So they reach satan's vestibule (nine levels of hell, plus this, makes ten), blow it open, and literally climb back up to leave. Now, in Inferno, the three saints Dante meets are Mary (Magdalene), Lucy (blinded for her faith), and Beatrice (a real woman dante was into, but doubling as the saint). Two of these are obvious matches, and Lucy is Lilith...who was later blinded by (misguided) faith, as in, Adriel burned her eyes out. All three characters are present for the tomb opening, but only Beatrice escorts Ava up into the mountains of switzerland.

We then get two months of Ava essentially learning to be a better person through greater restraint, basic life skills, healthy communication, etc. That would be the first parts of purgatory, after which Ava experiences greater demands on her altruism and sense of duty. Which culminates in Beatrice delivering her through the gates of...something. (It's noteworthy that the ArqTech logo resembles a trident or pitchfork).

But here's the thing, the entire time Ava is becoming a more balanced person, she leads Beatrice into breaking one vow after another. We got the ten commandments, of which Beatrice breaks roughly eight (it depends on how the list is delineated). She covets Ava when she believes Michael has her interest, she cooperates with Ava's deceptions, she steals to obey OCS orders, she killed when it wasn't necessary, she ultimately rebels against her parents' expectations, takes the lord's name in vain*, denies the existence of god, and sets Ava as her center of belief. Add whatever vows the OCS has as a religious order, such as chastity, humility, obedience, refraining from drink, etc. Which, like... *Waves a hand* She drinks, parties, gains enough pride to challenge authority, before reciprocating a kiss. In short, Beatrice goes down like a set of bowling pins.

*Taking in vain refers to vanity, not futility. So, referencing god or piousness to make yourself look good in front of others. But, it's a common take that it refers to stuff like, "god damnit, oh my god, etc".

Then Beatrice witnesses the symbolic destruction of her entire faith, as a system. Reya, who is called a god, uses what look like demons, to tear apart an alien who styled himself a god and prophet. Ava already pointed out that Jesus was likely the same type of alien, to everyone's discomfort at the time. That her religion was all a pack of fabrications with a tiny core of truth, written by men to benefit those in power. Beatrice would have internalized that she would be condemned to hell unless she bowed and scraped enough to earn god's forgiveness...and none of that self-flagellation had been necessary.

Beatrice must have understand that, when she looked at Reya, she was looking at what her religion named god. Yet, after all of her alleged sins, Reya smiled back in benevolence, without judgment. Ava, the walking definition of sinful irreverence, was readily accepted into Reya's realm. Beatrice finally escapes her prison, where she had expected to live a short, brutal life, possibly ending in damnation regardless of her best efforts. She walks away smiling because she and Lilith are the only ones who faced god and lived.