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hotdemonsummer · 3 years

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Obey Me! and Angelology and Demonology

alternatively titled Lets Get Into Lucifer

This is yet another long, long post about the lore of Obey Me! from the perspective of historical and theological angelology, and demonology or the study of angels and demons respectively, because I think it’s neat. I also talk way too much. I’m scared to check the word count on this.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on anything, and certainly not on religion. I just like comparative theology. Also, spoilers for lesson 43/44.

What is an angel? And what, in turn, is a demon? It depends on who you ask. All religions that have angels have a general consensus that they are spiritual beings, intermediaries of some kind of higher power. Demons, on the other hand, are much more vague beyond general malevolence toward humanity. Any connection between the two is entirely dependent on the culture and religion in question. Some have angels but not demons, and many have vice versa.

There’s generally four kinds of spirits that are considered demons:

Dead people with extremely bad vibes (think mogwai, yuurei, and other revenants)

Neutral-to-malevolent energy, physical form optional (think djinni or yokai)

Cult subjects (including foreign gods and ancestor worship)

Corrupted angels (either fallen or Nephilim)

The word demon comes from the Greek δαίμων, or daimon, but the concept of a demon is much older than the Greeks. The original daimon had none of the malevolent, evil associations that we now think of. Instead, daimon just described a kind of powerful spiritual entity (for example, δαίμων is the term Euripides uses for the new god Dionysus in The Bacchae). What we think of as demons now didn’t exist in Greek culture, and the negative associations came when the Tanakh was translated from Hebrew to Greek, but even then shedim aren’t identical to the contemporary depiction of demons that we see in Obey Me!, which, like everything else in Western society, came about through the domination of Christianity.

Shedim, the precursor to the Christian demon, was more or less a term for false gods, a title for the various Levantine pagan gods (see: origin of Beelzebub, Belphegor, and pretty much every demon that starts with Bel- or Bal-).

Obey Me! pretty much canonizes Type 2 and Type 4 demons, with characters like Diavolo, Barbatos, and Satan as Type 2 and the other brothers as Type 4. Historically, Beelzebub and Belphegor are Type 3 (Beelzebub and Belphegor being Levantine gods), Mammon being Type 2 (a general personification of Wealth, although Milton did write him as a Type 4 in Paradise Lost) and Asmodeus being somewhere in between Type 2 and 3 (being heavily derived from a Zoroastrian daeva of wrath). Lucifer is, historically, the only consistently Type 4 demon.

I don’t think I have to explain what a fallen angel is to any OM! fan. But I will.

Let’s talk about these guys. We’re all familiar with Satan’s weird complex about Lucifer, and I’m sure we’re all equally familiar with how Satan and Lucifer are terms used interchangeably for whatever being is The Big Bad of Hell. However, they’re not synonymous.

Satan derives from the same Proto-Semitic root as shayatan, which... should be pretty obvious, but nonetheless has a pretty analogous role as a tempter of men in the Abrahamic religions. Beyond that “tempter of men” title, though, the actual details of what Satan is is incredibly varied, including whether or not “Satan” is a name or a title. In Christianity, the view of Satan as an extremely powerful and evil corrupter of man, wholly opposed to God, came around the Middle Ages, when witchcraft hysteria spread.

Lucifer, on the other hand, is simultaneously a figure originating in Christianity and much, much older than it. The term of course means “light-bringer”, and is heavily associated with the morning star, aka the planet Venus. To make a very long story short, many Mesopotamian, Levantine, and Mediterranean cultures saw the lowering of Venus toward the horizon at night and thought, “hey, thats a pretty neat image!” and created stories about heavenly beings falling toward the earth. Of course, they didn’t use the ‘term’ Lucifer, that’s Latin, and came from the Vulgate Bible.

The term Lucifer does not exclusively refer to The Evil Fallen Angel™ in Christian texts (some very sacred things like the Exsultet explicitly refer to Jesus as Lucifer), but it sure is the most popular interpretation. In works like Paradise Lost or the Divine Comedy, the general idea is that the angel Lucifer rebelled against God in some way and was cast out of Heaven, then becoming Satan, and thus the two are one and the same.

(inb4 some Quora-type chews me out for accuracy’s sake, the “lucifer” mentioned in Isaiah 14:12 refers not to any angel, but to a Babylonian king. The whole fallen angel thing, much like the beatitudes or Bethlehem or Christmas, is a fusion of pagan influences.)

In other words, Lucifer is always and has always been a fallen angel. Satan, on the other hand, doesn’t have those connections to angelhood, and the two figures have an undeniable connection despite their clear individual differences. Sound familiar?

The next question is then what kind of angel is Lucifer anyway? to which you might be thinking, wait, there are different kinds? Yes, holy shit, there are so many kinds of angels and very little consensus on what they are. In terms of Christian angelology (because again, Lucifer is a uniquely Christian/derivative Christian figure unless you exclude Leland’s Aradia which I don’t because lbr they were Italian anyways), most hierarchies are based on the work of this guy:

This man has the incredibly succinct name of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, and sometime in the 5th century he wrote a book called De Coelesti Hierarchia. It orders the *WTNV voice* hierarchy of angels into three levels called spheres, and each sphere has three sub-levels called choirs. Many, but not all, of the choirs are adopted from various Jewish angelic hierarchies. If you thought that it was just angels and then archangels were, like, the middle management version of angels then you are very wrong. I’m sorry that television lied.

You know who also lied? Tumblr dot com and any post that implies that the true form of angels is a big wheel with a bunch of eyes. That is, in fact, a descriptor for only one kind of angel: ophanim, or thrones. The depiction of angels runs the gamut from winged humanoids to multi-winged humanoids with multiple animal heads to burning snakes to vague heavenly mist.

Archangels and angels are the eighth and ninth lowest choirs of angels, respectively. Angels, or malakhim, are the default messengers of God and the choir from which guardian angels come from. Generally, if someone claims to have a message from God delivered to them, it will be an angel doing it. If it’s really important, it’ll be an archangel. Everyone else literally has more important things to do. No one’s getting visions from dominions.

Lucifer’s (the theological one) actual designation is kind of a mystery. Depending on the text, Lucifer has been described as a seraph (the highest), a cherub (the second highest), or an archangel (the eighth). According to Thomas Aquinas:

Lucifer, chief of the sinning angels, was probably the highest of all the angels. But there are some who think that Lucifer was highest only among the rebel angels.

Not very helpful, but hey. The question remains: what kind of angel is Lucifer, and this time I mean our Lucifer.

We know that Michael, just like his namesake, is an archangel. We also know that (SPOILERS) Simeon, unlike his namesake, is an archangel as well (Simeon is a saint, not an angel.) Lucifer likely was at their level, if not higher.

However, Lucifer was also a six-winged angel, a depiction generally reserved for seraphim (and cherubim, but far less frequently).

Moreover, in terms of role, an angellic Lucifer fits well with that of the powers, the sixth choir. Powers are in charge of moving the heavenly bodies, and are depicted as powerful warriors dressed in beautiful armor. It's fitting for a being so closely tied to the morning star to be a power, after all.

So, with all that considered, what is Lucifer?

Well, he’s a seraph (or saraph, technically). Why? Because Simeon is somehow a seraph and an archangel (I have already written too much to unpack that bullshit), and Mammon was a throne (remember those wheels with eyes?) and Beel was a cherub and therefore Lucifer had to be higher than both of them (interestingly big brother Mammon is in a lower choir than little brother Beel). This makes Michael kind of, well... weird, given the archangels’ low rank.

Some like to differentiate between archangel the eighth choir and Archangel, with a capital A, as a term for any high-ranking angel. While this is likely what Solmare is doing, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that this has zero basis in any religious text whatsoever and is solely done for the convenience of not remembering anything besides angel and archangel. Which is like, fine, but I’m a pedantic jerk who I found claims to the contrary while researching and I felt the need to correct that.

Anyways, the more you know.

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me theories #obey me demonology #obey me angelology #obey me lucifer #my theories #YEEHAW that was a lot. my god #anyways besties dont let this flop

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bidrums · 5 years

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Religious Imagery in AHS Apocalypse from someone with a weird sense of humor that involves grape soda for some reason

BIG DISCLAIMER: Any and all views expressed here are my opinion and do not reflect the actual beliefs and operations of religions and their subsets. If I ever say anything incorrect, then please let me know and I will correct myself. This is not meant to be used as concrete evidence of any religion’s workings and should be used as the opinions of bidrums dot tumblr dot com. Also, the views of this blogger are entirely their own and should not be used to attack said blogger for using their First Amendment right of expressing their opinion. This is not an attack on AHS, Ryan Murphy, or any real persons or beliefs. Frustration does not equal open hate.

This has been a PSA because some people apparently can’t take an opinion without an essay before said opinion covering every base on how it’s potentially problematic instead of just leaving people the fuck alone.

Okay, so I would like to say something right off the bat that many people don’t know and that inadvertently caused my 10th grade chemistry class to think I was a Satanist for a few months (I’ll tell that story another time):

AN UPSIDE DOWN CROSS IS NOT A FUCKING SATANIC CROSS IT IS A CHRISTIAN CROSS THAT IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM LOOKS LIKE THE LEVIATHAN CROSS- THE ACTUAL SATANIC CROSS ACCORDING TO A QUICK GOOGLE SEARCH (Tumblr won’t let me post pictures of the two but look them up sorry for the lack of pictures)

One looks way more like a dick

If you need a quick way to distinguish the two, remember that the Satanic cross is the fancy one that looks like a dick okay I’ll stop with that

Why does this bother me so much? Well, I am a Christian, and I was taught from a young age (and when I say young, I mean 5) that crosses look different and some of them represent people other than Jesus.

So Peter- one of the most famous of the Twelve- was sentenced to be crucified like Jesus. Which he was surprisingly chill with, apart from the detail of the cross itself. He said that he was not worthy to be crucified in the same way Jesus was, so put tin a different position. The Romans obliged and put him upside down, which is arguably a much worse position to be crucified in (look up what being crucified will do to your body to understand how sick it actually is- part of what hurt so much was that they put the nails right next to the funny boy so the slightest movement would hit it).

Peter had some serious balls.

I fully understand why people would think an upside down cross would be more Satanic than Saint-like. It makes perfect sense, actually. If a regular cross represents Jesus, then wouldn’t flipping it upside down be a way of disrespecting God, and by extension be more Satanic? It’s actually pretty sound logic. That’s another part of why it’s annoying to see it aligned with Satan, since to me it’s really awesome how something that’s seemingly disrespectful actually came out of a deep, passionate, respect and admiration.

Now, because the fact that Satanic crosses are super phallic fancy isn’t exactly common knowledge, I won’t be openly annoyed at Ryan and crew for going with it.

Or, at least, I wouldn’t.

Because they obviously understand some religious imagery and what it actually means.

Another common misbelief is that 666 is the number of the Devil.

Again, it comes from. a logical place. 7 is the Biblical number of Perfection, and 6 by extension is less than perfection. That paired with the fact that in the book of Revelation, 666 is associated with the Apocalypse will lead to the conclusion that it’s the number of the Devil.

But it isn’t!

And Ryan acknowledges that multiple times!

Revelation 13:16-18– “He required everyone- small and great, rich and poor, free and slave- to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name. Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man (in some versions, “of humanity”). His number is 666 (or in some versions, “616″).”

This is referring to the Beast from the Earth, commonly believed to be the Antichrist. Funnily enough, in Episode 6, Vivien quotes a passage about a beast, but it’s the Beast from the Sea:

“Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns. And written on each head were the names that blasphemed God. This beast looked like a leopard, but it had the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion! And the dragon gave the beast his own power and throw and great authority.”- Revelation 13:1-2, Vivien’s quote.

“Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth. He had two horns like those of a lamb, but he spoke with the voice of a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast. And he required all the earth and its people to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.”- Revelation 13:11-12, the one with 666.

Yeah, it’s a bit confusing and honestly I’m making a bit of a big deal of this seeing as almost everyone I’ve known has mixed up the two but in this case it’s not being overdramatic so much as being annoyed.

Why?

Because Ryan did enough research to know that 666 is more commonly associated with the Antichrist and not Satan, and that it’s called the number/mark of the Beast, and even got a Bible passage to quote but used one referring to the wrong Beast and still uses upside down crosses to represent Satan!

Okay, in this episode I honestly wondered if he was using it to show how clueless the Satanists are but nope, it’s Satan. And my headache grew because he obviously does his research, but he relies on lazy cliches to drive some of the plot forward, and that just devalues the genuinely clever religious references. And it’s disappointing because there’s some genuinely clever parts that are great, but the way they’re written and presented and paired with the misinformation devalues everything and lessens their impact and also confuses everyone!

Wow that was a really bad way to segway into the last point sorry guys

So the scene in the forest is actually really clever and here’s why:

I’m not the first person to make this comparison, but the forest scene heavily invokes a parallel to Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.

I haven’t seen the Exorcist, so don’t expect me to even come close to whatever that was. I also burst out laughing when he said, “Are you my father?” to the goat because 1) Black Phillip from the VVitch anyone? and 2) it sounded like the Dr. Seuss book “Are you my Mother?” and I couldn’t.

But the temptation part was really interesting and clever, I think.

Just a quick recap of the story in case anyone isn’t familiar with it: Jesus goes out into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights and doesn’t eat or drink anything for that duration (fun fact: that’s what Lent represents and why we give something(s) up). After the 40 days and nights, Old Scratch shows up and is like, “Yo, I got bread that you need to live.” and Jesus says, “Remember where it’s written that man doesn’t live by just great but also the word of God? I’m good.” Then Lucy takes him to a high point in the world and goes, “You worship me and it’s yours” and Jesus goes, “No thanks.” Then they go to a super high point right next to a populated city and Satan says, “If you jump, God has promised that his Son will have the protection of Angels and will not be hurt. Prove that’s legit.” and at this point Jesus gets fed up and says, “Yeah, but Dad also said that he won’t be tested for some vanity project, so get lost!” Satan leaves, then some Angels come and give Jesus food and refreshments and help him recover from the self-imposed starvation.

I think that scene in the forest was Michael being tempted by God, as a parallel to this.

It’s weirdly edited and confusing and not that great, but that’s what I think it was and thought it was while watching it.

Let’s break it down: Michael is in the woods for 4 days without food or water. He is then tempted with grape soda and an apple- food needed to live that he hasn’t had for a time period that’s a multiple of 4. Then he has people who admired him talking to him/confronting him/expressing their admiration for him because of who he is- the adoration and attention received by his powerful nature. An Angel-like figure approaches and expresses Heavenly affections- God sending his Angel to the one being tempted, as was promised. Finally, animals associated with the Devil show up- the temptation is over, and the spiritual guardians show up.

It’s a subtle callback to it, but it does check out. Writing like this is what annoys me when lazy writing happens because Ryan and crew obviously know what they’re doing and referencing, but they can’t be bothered to even find new ways to subvert the cliches while keeping the gross sacrifice parts.

Anyways, that’s my rant on this. Thanks for reading!

#ahs apocalypse #ahs spoilers #ahs #ryan murphy #michael langdon #disappointed but not surprised #religious imagery #religious symbolism

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voltronseatbelts · 6 years

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this essay doesn’t have a proper intro bc it’s actually just a bunch of brainstorming while writing on 750words dot com but it’s basically about how voltron treats romance and relationships in the show and how certain fans are treated outside of the show, specifically the teenage demographic. just voltron fan culture in general.

can't believe that voltron ended after six seasons! this is so sad. alexa play the form voltron sequence.

i don't know what to type since i should write like an actual 750 words but i only have like thirty minutes to do so and uuuh i'm not sure what to write. i'm not sure if i want to write prose after watching voltron season seven lmao. wow can't believe i finally watched voltron season seven and keith is straight.

actually that's definitely not the only thing i took from season seven, but it's the one i'm thinking about right now because uh i fucking predicted keith an axca?? uh paralelles???? that's not how u spell that. it's comedic. what i'm saying is i predicted keith and axca and even so they have barely any chemistry and season 7 episode whatever the fuck is like the first time they even had a conversation. what i'm saying is that i'm kind of floored that the romance truly is kind of half-assed in this show.

and i get it! i get it! this is definitely a show about war and it's impact. it's less about individual characters and their romantic relationships (especially that) and more about whatever the fuck atlas and their thick thighs are. u know? i understand that constructing meaningful relationships is kind of thrown to the wayside and not as important as like everything else. and to some extent i agree like romantic relationships aren't everything, and they're definitely not the first thing i think of when i'm constructing my own stories. from an original creator point of view, i understand it. in clearer waters, it's not about the romance as much as it is about power structures, pollution, and whatever else is important. but from a fan point of view (and like also kind of an original creator point of view?) the romantic relationships leave me unfulfilled. i'm wanting. and that's not necessarily a good thing, bc i'm NOT wanting lance and allura and axca and keith, because neither of them are... how do u say.... that well written.

what was i talking about today? in a show about war, about mecha, about something that feels so disconnected from my life (because space u know), romantic relationships in a western culture are a point of connection for the audience, especially an audience composed of teenagers. maybe the creators of VLD didn't expect teenagers (specifically teenage girls, a lot of them part of the LGBT+ community, but i can't be sure without official statistics. my perspective as one of them probably skews the demographic in my eyes). a story about romance isn't one they wanted to tell -- i can see it clearly by how they handle the romances. u know, throwing them in in the last few seasons as just a little bit of an afterthought. with an audience like teenage girls, who are definitely a touch stone for the values of western culture (being the dominant target for a western show like VLD), romantic relationships and general relationships are going to be an important point of interest. space and war is cool and interesting, but the different types of relationships -- familial, romantic, platonic -- are the real stars of the show in my eyes, and in the eyes of a demographic like teenage girls, for whom romance and relationships dominate. it's in high school culture, pop culture, and media and entertainment. whether that's nature or nurture is not the argument right now (altho if i may, i think it's nurture); the point is that that's the CULTURE. and that's why fans of VLD are in such an uproar over relationships and friendships that in many ways aren't satisfying or in character. because while the show is about war, ultimately what's important to a very vocal part of the fan base is the relationships between characters.

another point i can make about that is that in the beginning of the show, seasons 1-3, that WAS important to the show, too. the enormous cast wasn't built up yet, so there was plenty of time to fill, and that time was filled by constructing those meaningful relationships. when the cast grew, the bigger purpose of the show was emphasized -- whether because war was what the show was about all along or whether the cast became too big to focus on individual characters for longer than 1.5 seconds, i don't know. what i mean is that as the show progresses, relationships become less meaningful and the war message more meaningful, and the shift is jarring enough to be noticed. so, uh, i noticed. a lot.

another thing to touch on... is the response of the crew, cast, and others to the uproar over characters and relationships. lol. obviously, again, teenagers (again mostly girls and a lot of the time LGBT+) are an extremely vocal part of the fan base because of our easy use of the internet and its online communities and our social natures. and we've already established that for this demographic characters and relationships are important -- because they're a reflection of the tumultuous time in a teenager's romantic and social life, because they're touchstones of connection in a show that discusses pretty alien subjects. when the crew and cast and others respond in kind with dismay and defense, i think they kind of lose that connection to the fan base. it's a little ridiculous, and i've seen it all before. time and time again, teenage girls are dismissed as a demographic; wanted for their revenue, but ignored in the true nature of their complexity and ability to i dunno function in society.

the writer's room of voltron is all men, all a little older. lauren montgomery is the only woman. it's safe to say that the crew of voltron are a little out of touch with the demographic of teenage girls. actually, fucking everyone is. i've written a goddamn expos about this in my speech and debate club! here, let me find a part of it. i'm gonna quote myself from senior year of high school, bc this is a subject i've thought about a LOT. this expos as a whole is about the psychology and impacts of fans -- this section comparing football fans and one direction fans.

"Well, despite the stark similarities, fan groups are given intense stereotypes and tend to be treated disparately, mostly based on two factors, gender and age. Let’s not beat around the bush here: the factor is sexism. Jackie Stacey, the author of Star Gazing: Hollywood Cinema and Female Spectatorship, analyzes the beginnings of movie fan culture in the 1910’s, depicting fans as an archetype of a “hysterical, starstruck teenage girl”, an image that has actually been around since Ancient Egypt all the way to Freud. Since then, the stereotype has perpetrated through all of pop culture. Think about it, when I began this speech, my mention of One Direction and Harry Styles’ hair style created an immediate emotion of disdain. Football fans have stereotypes too: supportive, confident, and loyal, according to the many NFL fan websites and their commentators. As teen girls, a marginalized group and stereotype, the things we often love - boy bands, pop stars, reality TV - are perceived as less important, and we are looked at as more crazy and obsessive than our equally obsessive football loving men counterparts. It’s the teen girl epidemic: though we are a cornerstone of modern media and economics, our fanaticism is more consistently deprecated than others. But who are we kidding? We both love watching cute men run around in tight pants."

sorry that's a long quote, but i think it's important! and i think it applies here! our interests are perceived as less important, and when our interests coincide with the interests of OTHER more important demographics -- 5-8 y.o. children, 30 y.o. men who watched DOTU – our perspectives are viewed as less important. Hysterical. And our means of communication, e.g. social media like tumblr, and methods of communication, e.g. scream-typing and general teenage culture, don’t do anything to legitimize the teenage girl perspective in the eyes of the creators.

it's probably maybe kind of not this deep. JDS and LM and crew wanted to write a story about war and mecha; they didn't know that their story would resonate so much with the teenage girl demographic, and they didn't know how to deal with that when it came time for their show to turn to it's true purpose and the teenage girls were like "hey wait a minute what about the magic of friendship?" and because we all know how teenage girls are treated, we all know the outcome of this... we can see it in the negative responses to season seven and fucking kacxa, which sounds like my cat barfing in the next room. i kid, but i don't.

anyway, i don't know how to conclude this and i'm so tired because i watched season seven 1.5 times today as well as the pilot, the conjuring, and 28 minutes of boss baby. what i'm saying is that relationships aren't the point of the show and that's cool, but keith and axca literally had like one conversation and now she's in love with his flippy hair, and my first reaction was "not this straight shit again". ah, max, u never learn. it's always the straight shit.

i'm negating my own points by not drawing them into a proper conclusion but i think u can extrapolate what i'm saying. also, when atlas's legs split into two i cried for five minutes. why doesn't atlas have feet. why are mecha so ugly. why doesn't anyone hug lance. He’s been sad since season 4 and it hasn’t been resolved yet. Someone should hug lance.

Oh my fucking god I HAVEN’T EVEN TALKED ABOUT ADAM AND SHIRO. WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? I can’t even think about that right now i’m so mad and everyone else has already talked about that so just trust me adam and shiro are a part of this conversation too. Bc guess what LGBT+ fans are another marginalized demographic wanted for revenue and not perspective! Lol.

#voltron #voltron season seven #vld spoilers #vld s7 #vld s7 spoilers #idk what to tag #it's about 1.7k but read it trust me

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