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edenslice · 6 months

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aziraphale and crowley share a lot of parallels to jesus and judas, if you think about it real hard.

i mean.

i've talked about this before but crowley shares so many parallels to jesus; serpent of eden, lamb of god. perpetuator of original sin, died for humanity's sins. both having intricate scapegoat symbolism tied to their characters, crowley's affinity for goats (seen during the ark and the job minisode). alpha and omega—crowley with the first woman and being the reason why judgement was cast on humanity, jesus with the last man and being the reason why judgement is lifted. condemned for something they cannot control; crowley's curious nature that got him expelled from the kingdom of heaven and jesus' divine bloodline that marked him for inescapable painful death the moment he was conceived. god forsaking them during the most crucial points of their lives.

and, likewise, aziraphale also shares many parallels to judas. in my honest opinion. judas's betrayal of jesus fully believing his and his beloved's pain will be worth it, that it will save everyone, that rome will leave his people alone if he sacrifice the messiah—aziraphale's betrayal of crowley fully believing his and the demon's pain will be worth it in the end because his sacrifice will change heaven once and for all. both being wrong, and both never having the chance to explain nor articulate how grandiose their love is until it was too late. how judas acted as a foil to jesus and often drove him insane, and how a crucial part of aziraphale's ineffable dance with crowley is his refusal and denial.

jesus had asked judas to kill him, and then demanded more of him by asking him to live, to live despite committing the worst sin, to live despite betraying himself and the truth of his love.

and yet he loves him anyway.

crowley grabbed aziraphale by his lapels and kissed him, asked him to stay, that if he leaves for heaven there will be no crowley. no nightingales. no good wine and good books and simple goodness, something that heaven can't even afford. crowley had asked aziraphale to kill him, then asked him to live despite it—killing what was supposed to be quiet and gentle and romantic in a desperate attempt to prevent aziraphale from doing what was good.

and yet he forgives him anyway.

#i passed out and woke up with this all typed out....had to get it out of my system #good omens #good omens meta #ineffable husbands #crowley #aziraphale #jcs #jesus christ #judas iscariot #chriscariot #← pspspsps chariot shippers cmere i need more of u ppl in my dash #flukscribbles

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asitrita · 2 months

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Thoughts on the Donquixote's crucifixion.

Since today is Good Friday I felt like sharing this piece of interpretation of Donquixote family's "crucifixion". Throughout the series and Doflamingo's life I think we can see some symbolism, paralelism, or just vague allusions and hints to his nature being similar to that of the Antichrist (opposite of Christ) or the idea of Doflamingo as Lucifer or a fallen angel (we see something akin to The Last Supper with his "family", including his own personal "Judas" sitting at his left; his ideology of being the rightful king to rule the world, yet not being willing to sacrifiece himself for anyone, but actually expecting everybody else to sacrifice themselves for him; his agent-of-chaos personality; the entire idea that he is almost a devine creature that fell from Heaven to Hell, stripped of his rightful power, status, and legitimate possition above humans, betrayed by his own family and blood; the nickname "Heavenly Demon", etc.). However, I believe the moment in his life he comes to incarnate all these topics comes just after his and his family's crucifixion, or just right after the very moment he lashes out against the rabbid mob awakening and loosing his haki. Just seconds before we have this image:

Here we have Homing, whom we know is a good man, in the middle, at the centre of the scene. Rocinante is to his right hand side, and Doflamingo is to his left. As you might know, Jesus Christ was crucified together with two more people, often refered to as the good thief (traditionally named Dimas/Dismas), and the bad thief (traditionally named Gestas). The good thief was crucified at the right hand side of Jesus, while the bad thief was cricified at his left. Maybe I am looking to much into it, and I'm pretty sure someone else must have already realised this, but I can't help to notice the paralelisms and similarities. In this scene, while all Homing is concerened with is the safety of his children and doesn't mind begging and humiliating himself to try to get the mob to free them, to the point he asks the enraged mob to forgive his children, for they were only little kids, Doflamingo's anger gets the best of him and he lashes out at the crowd, not asking nor begging them to put him down, but threatening to kill them all for their actions, all while blaming his father for all his surffering and his family tragic fate. No forgiveness, no acceptance, but defiance and a promise of vicious and bloody revenge for his father and the craze mob's wrong-doings. Homing was willing to take in all the hate, die for the sins his kind had committed over the centuries, if only to appease the mob and get them to spare his children. He was willing to die for them (and he eventually did, though not in the best way possible, tbh), he was a good person and this scene perfectly shows that, despite his naiveté and the tragic and dire consequences of his actions, he acted out of the goodness of his heart. Doflamingo would not even lower himself to the point of asking for mercy, not before humans he believed were below him. We all know how the story goes, how Doflamingo and Rocinante turned out to be complete different people, with the whole good vs evil motive they have going on. Again, I'm probably digging too much into it, but I just like the Rosi/Dismas, Doffy/Gestas and Homing/Christ paralelism. More so considering how Homing will eventually willingly die for his kids' future, which sounds kinda biblical given we are all God's sons and daughters, and he (Jesus, God's son, God himself) died for us (even if in Homing's case he did die for nothing, as Doffy will not be accepted back among his kind); and how, just after Homing's (Jesus) death, it will be Doffy who becomes, in a way, the symbol of the fallen angel, of the gone-wrong-Jesus, of the anti-Christ, almost Satan himself (ruling the underworld, as his father's heresy took the throne above away from him). He replaces his father as the semi-Biblical almost Christ-like figure, but in a reversed, twisted and sick way.

Crucifixion by Giovanni Donato

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dorsey-divine · 6 months

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(This is an artistic exercise, corrections on precise theology or correct theological interpretation- re: the bible is not always literal- are not welcome or needed, but your own theological fascinations/brain worms are most certainly wanted and welcome.)

I was raised catholic, and that deeply affects my art and the way I perceive other's art. Because of this I think about divinity, its nature, its place in the world, angels, and the nature of free will in the Bible quite often. Specifically how for several major characters (yes, characters, the bible is a book that at best is a heavy fictionalized version of certain real events and people) free will doesn't truly exist.

Did Lucifer really have a choice? Was his rebellion from God his own will or was it part of God's plan for the world? The structure of Christianity (and most Abrahamic faiths) requires God to have an enemy, a corrupter of His perfect design, so that the terrible actions of others can be justified under the worldview of the faith. God is omniscient, He knew that Lucifer would rebel and be cast down, and He needed that to happen so there would be an enemy deity, someone to blame. Was Lucifer meant to rebel? And God is all-powerful, he could destroy Lucifer, but he doesn't. So that he can continue to be the enemy and corrupt humanity? So God is never to blame?

Did Eve disobey God when she ate the fruit of knowledge, or was that still God's own plan? Why was the tree even in the garden in the first place? There's a whole world outside Eden. How did the snake enter the garden at all, if its purpose was to tempt? Surely a loving god would protect their creations from something that could harm them. Did God allow the snake in to test Eve, did He put it in the garden on purpose? Did He set humanity up to fail so that we would worship His greatness forever, always beneath Him? Groveling for his forgiveness and light from our first breath? For Christian doctrine to work humanity needs to be unclean, and for us to be unclean there must be an impetus. Did Eve truly disobey, or was the command not to eat the fruit a façade to cover up God's true intention? If He created everything, then He created sin. And why does Eve's sin taint us all? Why must we be at fault for sins not our own? Were they sins at all?

Mary was born without original sin in her soul because she was always meant to be the mother of God. Always. Gabriel came down from Heaven to ask her if it was what she wanted, but she was already chosen, her 'yes' meant nothing more than her 'no' would've. Could she have said no at all? The narrative is controlled by men, how can we know if her words are her own? What chance does the will of a teenage girl have against the Almighty God? The author of reality. And God could remove Eve's actions from all of us, but He doesn't, why? How can a loving God make that decree? How can a loving God give a mother her child and plan to take them away? How can he kill a child before their parents?

Judas is like Lucifer. Jesus Christ must be crucified in order for Him to take on and cleanse the sins of humanity, and to be crucified He must be betrayed. Jesus knows Judas will betray Him, he knew all along, for the Father and the Son are one in the same. Did Judas ever truly have a choice to follow Christ's teachings, or was his path already chosen for him, and was he forced along the road by fate's invisible hand? Did Jesus ever try to stray his friend from that path? Did Christ's infinite love fall short for Judas? In the face of the 'grand plan'? Did God lead him into sin and eternal damnation for the 'greater good' of humanity? Was he always meant to be the sacrificial lamb? Who truly died for humanity then? Jesus rose after three days and resides in paradise, but Judas remains in Hell forever because of the God he was meant to put faith in.

Did any of them have free will, or were they just playing their assigned parts? Like marionettes on strings, dancing and singing to a tune that is meant to look like one of their own creations. Were their lives forfeit for God to place himself on a cosmic throne? Are ours?

#writing #catholic trauma #religious trauma #christianity #bible study #character study #lucifer #mother mary #virgin mary #catholic #judas iscariot #catholiscism

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levmada · 5 months

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PLEASE tell us about Jesus-Judas / Levi-Zeke comparisons im a sucker for biblical parallels 🧍

(part 1 technically)

UGH THANK U YES!!!!!

this is so interesting to me because there are more parallels than one may initially think - cuz there’s no overt reason for this connection to biblical canon other than connections to other religions in aot guess? (i.e., norse myth and yggdrasil ((the tree of life aka the paths tree)))

there are 3 suggestions why judas betrayed jesus. 1, possessed by demons, 2, money/flattery since jesus was already wanted by roman police (judas was a thief and a conman), and/or 3, difference in belief.

1 - demons aren't relevant, unless we're talking metaphors perhaps.

2 - as long as levi died that was good enough for zeke (the reason he left levi for the mindless titans)😭tho the biggest reason zeke resented him was simply because he kept failing to kill him.

3 - is IT. in biblical canon, the reason judas betrayed jesus was basically because - although they both wanted to make israel an independent kingdom from rome - judas thought jesus was going about it the wrong way by preaching diplomacy/refraining from waging war/not using deceit to orchestrate a coup and such.

it's the same, except neither zeke nor levi wanted to preserve the eldian empire (necessarily). zeke wanted to wipe it out, levi wanted to bring peace - but not by any means necessary. levi didn't agree with the rumbling. zeke on the other hand wanted all eldians to die if not sooner through eren's rumbling, then later.

zeke would betray levi because he found it foolish how he (and the scouts) thought they had any chance of getting peace through diplomacy (a relative to jesus' way); zeke also found all life worthless, while for levi it's the opposite; zeke would commit reprehensible acts of trickery/malice/indiscriminate murder to get peace his way, while levi of course was a “hero” and thought similar to jesus, save for the fact that levi would do those things as long as it contributed towards the peace the scouts sought (see: season 3p1)

the practical reason jesus chose judas to be one of his disciples was to be the treasurer who’d operate their “common purse”. this might be a reach, but you could say zeke played a similar role as a pawn or token for the rumbling (from levi and the scouts' perspective).

and this makes sense, because the reality is jesus chose judas because he knew he’d go on to betray him, and that was fine because it would lead to humanity’s redemption (the crucifixion).

levi didn’t know of course. but it’d be unrealistic to think levi didn't consider betrayal as a possibility knowing he didn't trust zeke to help eldia or the scouts. later on, he was guarding him under the plan of cutting zeke up and feeding him to a titan to preserve his royal blood (after the messengers told levi about eren's escape). aka, an end to the rumbling. aka, humanity's redemption.

but zeke's betrayal would lead to humanity's redemption anyway (the alliance battling eren and ending the titan curse).

zeke betrays levi. except levi doesn't take the betrayal as jesus did and fought to capture him. then took sadistic pleasure in torturing him with plans for zeke to die a slow painful death soaked in his own filth (by getting eaten by a titan).

yelena would go on to rhetorically ask levi much later - as his turn for that reconciliation/sin confession time in the forest the night before - “violence is the one thing you can’t take away from humanity. isn’t that right, captain?”

levi represents many things, including the best of what humanity has to offer (ie, its compassion, its resilience). so yelena is asking that literally in response to the fighting at the harbor, but it should mean in terms of levi's character too.

but, in the world of aot you can’t call levi’s propensity towards violence a sin, in fact it's a huge facet of his strength.

BUT levi began to become everything his old self saw as a weak person with thinking about the past (ie in the forest levi thinking back on his last convo with erwin, which couldn't have been for the first time); giving in to emotion and hesitating (levi hesitated to kill titan varus, seeing varus' face in his titan and generally wondering if all of them were still in there. this almost killed him); in general losing control of his emotions (levi being reckless by torturing zeke in the cart apparently not expecting zeke would do anything to escape, including set off the thunderspear. levi is smart. it's more likely to me he did see the possibility, but he wasn't thinking because he gave into hatred).

and that's exactly the thing. levi's "violence" is to mean his violence used because of blind hatred, violence to be cruel.

BUT THIS IS THE PARALLEL

levi doesn't mirror jesus exactly, he's just a man. BUT levi DOES MIRROR THE LEADER OF THE LEVITES

jacob (levi’s father and the father of the kingdom of israel) said: “Simeon and Levi are brothers—their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel!” (genesis 49)

simeon would go on to lead a different tribe, but their sins are the same. simeon is best known for mass-murdering a bunch of a people because the prince of those people raped his sister.

THIS IS SO INTERESTING!!! because this is adjacent to zeke as well. in s3, zeke took pleasure in killing the scouts (w/ erwin's last charge), but he doesn't hate the scouts necessarily; he hates his father, and his father stood for the same thing the scouts do, and a large reason zeke hates his father is because (zeke thinks) he brainwashed eren into the same belief. zeke hates the "prince", thus zeke hates the people of the prince who "raped his sister" - violated his brother's mind.

LEVI REPRESENTS THE SAVIOR FIGURE JESUS IS BUT AS A HUMAN HE SINS AND HIS SIN WAS THE SAME AS LEVI OF THE BIBLE!!!

AND ZEKE REPRESENTS THE THEIF AND BETRAYER JUDAS DOES

THEY SHARE THE SAME BASIC GOAL OF PEACE, AND THOUGH THEY'RE DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED, WHAT MAKES THEIR “BROTHERHOOD” IS THEIR CRUEL VIOLENCE.

it's important yelena of all people asks levi that question whether she knows it or not, because she sees zeke as the savior of the world. whether zeke is the best of humanity or levi is, their violence is impossible to remove. (which, of course, is a major theme of aot.)

in israel, kissing was a way to greet someone (especially someone you know) and to identify jesus to the authorities, judas kissed him. a really treacherous “fuck you” to their brotherhood.

in the same way, zeke would turn levi’s comrades into titans. zeke both didn’t expect levi to survive this (like judas giving jesus to the roman authorities), and this forced levi to kill his comrades.

this in particular is like that kiss because: the meaning of his comrades lives, alive and dead, is what levi cares the most about at this point. zeke not only "imprisons" them but forces levi to kill them or die doing so.

lastly, judas would go on to commit suicide after jesus’ death. he (literally) throws away a large part of what he wanted being his money. being that greed and sin in the name of money defines judas, which is at the same time a necessity, makes me think this represents zeke's reason for fighting (sterilizing the eldians). he still believes in his plan at the end, but he gives it up.

what's different from biblical canon is that "jesus" isn't sacrificed by the enemy for humanity's redemption, but "judas" is killed by "jesus" for humanity's redemption.

furthermore though, because zeke is only human + represents judas, his death not only redeems humanity and its sins in helping to end the titan curse, but redeems himself and his own sins as well.

and who else is more fitting to execute the redemption other than the savior?

#sorry i couldnt shut the fuck up #part of this is probably reaching but thats my tale🙏#levi ackerman #zeke yeager #zeke aot #levi aot #levi snk #captain levi #zeke jaeger #aot meta #aot canon #snk fandom #attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #aot anime #aot zeke #snk zeke #levi rivaille #rivaille ackerman

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onetrainscifi · 30 days

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Miscellaneous Mel Thoughts

Realized I needed a place to put all of my various and sundry thoughts about Melanie re: religion, her backstory, relationship with Wilford, etc. Under the cut!

-Hallucination!Wilford watches Melanie sleep. All of Melanie's hallucinations are rooted in unfinished business, they give her what she wants-she wants Alex to understand her, she wants to apologize to Layton-but in Wilford's case...what does she want from him? Well, according to Melanie's hallucinations, she wants him to watch her sleep, to talk to her, to know that she did what she thinks was right, to call her 'my dear', to have someone who actually questions her and make her come back to reality, to have him almost justify her decision to leave her. Melanie doesn't want to be the smartest person in the world, she wants to have someone who is an equal-and she gets that in Wilford, which would be great if he wasn't mildly insane. Hallucination!Wilford even tries to help Melanie legitimize why the female scientist (Melanie) would have killed her husband (Wilford) even though they had a daughter (Alex)-'Maybe he got sick' 'She and the other fellow knew he was a goner. Every day he lingered on was another day he was consuming food they needed.' 'So she put him out of his misery.' 'Shot to the head. She sacrificed him, Melanie, like you did to me.' 'She made the right decision.' 'I knew you'd say that'-but the scientist couldn't eat her husband. Melanie can't eat Wilford (3x10) and Wilford, try as he might, can't eat Melanie, either (3x04). But you could argue they've been eating each other since they met each other-Melanie turning hard and cruel but not enough to lose her humanity, Wilford softening but not enough to change his nature. They'll never bloody their hands with the others blood, either, because that is not something either of them are worthy of-they never directly try to kill each other, because they can't. Because if one of them had the others blood on their hands then that would be something unforgivable.

-Melanie Cavill doesn't exist without Joseph Wilford because she dies in the Freeze, but Joseph Wilford doesn't exist without Melanie Cavill, either, because the train never exists. No one's insane enough to give Wilford a chance, not even the other rich people, but a seventeen year old farm girl from PA has nothing to lose. And no one pays attention to Melanie Cavill, either, besides a hopeless rich man

-Also Mel and Wilford and 'always an angel, never a god' and 'god loves you, but not enough to save you' and 'you believe me like a god, I'll destroy you like I am' because they're both gods-Wilford is God and Melanie is Jesus, but Melanie is also God and Wilford is Jesus, but Melanie is Jesus and Wilford is Judas and Melanie is Judas but Wilford is Jesus. They know everything about each other-they shared everything, clothes and meals and tools and books and people and a closet and space. Wilford was the first person Melanie ever trusted enough to let into her space, and Melanie was the first person Wilford trusted that understood him, that didn't think he was insane. For so many years they were inseparable-Audrey used to say they were conjoined at the hip, that she shared a boyfriend with Melanie-but now, the only one allowed to separate one from the other is one of them. Melanie can leave Wilford behind, but she'll never escape him-his name's on the wall and stuck in her heart. Wilford can leave Melanie behind, but he'll never get rid of her-her hands touched every part of the train and every part of him.

-Original sinners makes me want to eat dirt because it implies that either Melanie was made from the rib of Layton or Layton was made from the rib of Melanie, I think it has to be that Melanie was made from the rib of Layton (Melanie as we know her by s3 was made from the rib of Layton, he was her catalyst) but Wilford tempting Melanie as the snake tempted Eve, telling her that things could be better and she could save everyone, and Melanie proceeding to tempt Layton and that unleashing sin upon the world

-If anyone ever tried to separate Mel and Wilford they'd both go insane-they don't even take it well when one of them separates them from the other. They're not the same people but they are, deep inside, because no one else gets them like the other does

-If humans hadn't sucked and climate change was reversed, would Mel and Wilford have ever had a chance at a happy ending?

-Melanie also has such an intense backstory as of s2 because what do you MEAN she was 17 when she met Wilford. Like before s1 I was completely normal about them because I thought they just met in grad school or whatever and they were maybe friends, maybe just boss and employee but after 2x01 with the whole Wilford all but rescued her at 17 no wonder she's such a mess

-If they hadn't done the whole Melanie met him at 17 thing I would probably still be just as insane but her character makes a LOT more sense after that. Like of course she tried to deny his behavior until the very end, Ben had to be the one to push her to leave him

-Melanie from s1 makes so much more sense when you put it into perspective that she's known Wilford for around 30 years at that point too. If you don't know that she met him at 17 then her character is a commentary on how quickly humanity devolves in a situation like that, and how grief can unravel someone, capitalism fucks us all over, etc. But the second that it got revealed that he met her at 17 it's like oh wow so she was a poor kid in PA and Wilford took advantage of how she needed to get out of there, and she just never recovered from that experience or anything that happened after

-Wilford thought he was helping her like how Jigsaw thinks he helps people-sure by the end of it all you've gone through these traumatic experiences but you have a different lease on life now/you're out of the shitty situation you were in

-I also think it's interesting how pilot!Melanie's dad was referenced as abusive and that she had a husband (but no daughter) when canon Melanie seems to have a fine relationship with her parents (which I strongly doubt but we don't know enough for me to argue that) and she has both Alex and Wilford

-Also (and I have a lot of thoughts about this topic specifically) it's very interesting that they chose 17 to be the age where Mel met Wilford, because having lived in a poorer part of MD (a state flooded with military and navy people), 17 is often when the intense recruiting from military/defense people starts to happen so it's interesting that that's when Wilford started to show interest in Melanie

-I don't ever see Melanie as having been replaced. I'm not really sure why but I always think Audrey was just kind of added on to that weird little relationship. Wilford would never let Melanie have enough freedom to fully replace her in any aspect

-I think Wilford Industries had a presence in the defense world and I think Melanie never could leave. Wilford would let her physically leave, sure, but if Wilford Industries holds her security clearance, he can make sure she never does anything of high value again

-I still think he very much had control over her up until Departure honestly her whole worldview was shaped by him from before her frontal lobe was even fully formed

-I want to know more about Mel's parents cause pilot Mel's dad is abusive, canon Mel was at least trying to save her parents but also very few normal parents are going to say yes sure seventeen year old daughter you can go off with this strange older British man

-Also there's something to be found in that Wilford doesn't threaten Melanie's life. Wilford knows that Melanie lacks self-preservation and doesn't care about her own life, so he has to go for her family to get a reaction out of her. Or Melanie knows that he knows he can't leave her for dead because that would destroy him emotionally

-As far as I can remember I don't think Wilford ever directly threatens Melanie's life actually it is always either her family or the train

-I think her and Ben joked about it, but when Ben finally pulled the trigger her focus was more on her family than make sure Wilford was truly 100% dead, and I think that gave her nightmares because she KNEW (thought she did) that her family was dead, but maybe Wilford wasn't, and was it worth it to leave Alex behind

-Wilford is so interesting because he does really value Melanie above everything else it seems which is weird. I feel like deep down somewhere Wilford admires Melanie for still thinking she could be a good person. Wilford knows he's not a good person. He doesn't try to delude himself that he is, either, because good is so boring. Melanie still thinks she could really try to be a good person and make up for everything she did, which Wilford finds amazing. If those two were left to their own devices they probably would cannibalize each other. Melanie still thinks that people could be good even when they've proven that they aren't multiple times. And I think that's why he didn't truly protest the track scaler thing. Because Melanie looked at him like she knows he's a good person deep down, and maybe he could be fixed like she was (lol she was not). Wilford believes that all people are bad in some way besides Melanie. Melanie looks at him like he can be a good person, and he knows Melanie tries to be a good person, so for him she's one of the only people to be in that grey area. Melanie thinks Wilford could still be good. Wilford thinks that even with Melanie's worst actions, she still did them for what she saw as the betterment of humanity, making her a good person

-Melanie and Wilford have very complicated relationships with each other and also a complicated relationship overall

-Wilford is the president of both the anti-Melanie club and the pro-Melanie club

-I think Wilford cares about Alex because she was part of Melanie. Melanie will always come before Alex, and Audrey might even come before Alex, but Alex is only up there because of Melanie. If Alex hadn't pursued engineering I don't even think he would have cared about giving her back to Melanie. If it was between him, Mel, and Alex, he would sacrifice Alex. Unfortunately for him, Mel would never speak to him again

-Wilford was there for her during all of those times and he showed that he really does care for her, and Ben can show he cares for her too, but it's still different in some way

-I always consider Mel and Wilford to be one half of each other which is part of why their relationship is such a mess. Mel sees Wilford as part of her, Wilford sees Mel as part of him. Ben and Mel don't have that problem, they just have normal people relationship problems

-If Melanie went to therapy and learned that not everything is her fault, she'd probably be about a million times less insane

#snowpiercer #snowpiercer tnt #melanie cavill #wilford snowpiercer #bennett knox #i will add on to this later. do not worry.

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zanna-ho-zanna-hey · 1 month

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Happy Easter!! It is finished

I didn't even intend to post anything but I was trying to keep my mind off A Man and opened tumblr and was like oh it's easter and i have a JCS blog

it's kinda crazy how a very dramatized production of Jesus' life actually got me closer to God and is a small part of why this is the most important day of the year to me. it helped me to humanize jesus and feel his pain.

That's something my pastor talks a lot about now, he sometimes brings up how when jesus was being whipped it was historically probably with one of those whips with nine strands and with rocks or something sharp tied to the ends, and how it tore out his flesh. And how when he was on the cross he had to pull himself up by the nails in his wrists in order to breathe and was drowning in fluid in his lungs.

He went through so much suffering that people in western culture are mostly desensitized to, ya know? You hear like conservitive evangelical people out there like "Jesus died on the cross for your sins!!! >:{ you need to repent!!" and we're like yeah you freak whatever

But having an understanding of it and thinking about the context it's like really this one man s u f f e r e d and was tortured and then died and while he was dead he suffered on an astronomical level he, a being that was always directly connected to God, suffered through being severed from God and who knows what else. Literally just for me. Or for you. like he would have done it if only one person had ever lived, and that was the person who killed him. He did it specifically for Judas. because he loves me and he loves you and he loves Judas and he just wants to be with us.

and the show really let me humanize Judas too. As a kid you think of him as some cartoon villain but he was Jesus' friend and he loved him. And the whole time Jesus knew what was gonna happen but he didn't treat him any differently he loved him in return. Judas is literally me

I'm not even tryna preach just reflecting on today i guess

#jesus christ superstar #easter

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nijjhar · 5 months

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Proofs of the VB of Jesus - 2:- Why the Angel gave the name "YahShua"? F... Proofs of the VB of Jesus - 2:- Why the Angel gave the name "YahShua"? First Proof Son of Yahweh. https://youtu.be/kV7dmMcuu40 Here is the article on Hajj for Peaceful Living as the Sons of Man:- http://www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/faithfat.pdf Also, here it would be important to mention that circumcision is the tribal mark of Abraham to his Real son Isaac and not to Ishmael or the Gentiles. But the Temple Priests started to increase the number of Jews outwardly through circumcision whether you are a son of Isaac or not – Gen 17 is highly corrupted. Angel Stephen, the first Administrator of the Church of God baptised the Jewish men of age in the name of Abraham as John, the Baptist, pointed out this malpractice of circumcising the Gentiles but the Temple Priests/Rabbis did not want to close down their business. Rabbis used to go long distances to catch prey and then they would put a millstone of rituals around his neck that they could not carry. So, you can see the corruption in Judaism who wanted to make Gentiles Jews through the rituals outwardly of appearances and not inwardly of heart. Today, the circumcised Mohammedans, the fake sons of Isaac/Abraham created by them in the Mosques, are going to kill them. Thus, you cannot blame a third person but yourself. Second coming of Jesus, Satguru = Christ Nanak Says; ”DADA DOSS NA DEEJIYE; DOSS KARMI APNIAN (Do not blame a third person). JO MAE KIYA; SO MAE PAYA; DOSS NAA DI JIYAE AWAR JINNAH (Whatever I did sow, the same I have harvested. So, you cannot blame a third person)”. Here is a link, why John, the Baptist called the Temple Priests, the Brood of Vipers?:- http://www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/vipers.htm In Jesus, we have been moved from the brick-built Synagogues made by human hands for the Rabbi, a Priest of Moses or a moral teacher of the moral laws of Moses Matt 13v52, to the individual Temples of God made by the Lord of Nature Yahweh, the Potter where the Christ, our Royal Priest, the Innerman, greater than John, the Baptist, Prophet Elijah (my god is Yahweh), is sitting in our hearts that leads our life to Salvation, the resurrection, through Preaching the Gospel called Drinking the Blood of Christ. Thus, with Christ in our hearts, we are solitary and capable of seeking the Narrow Gate and entering into the Royal Vineyard of our Father where the True Vine Christ Jesus has been Planted by our Father for us, the Virgin Brides, to Graft to have our Daily Bread of Life, the Juicy Flesh of Jesus. This Royal Vineyard has a Narrow and low Gate for the solitary and through the grace of our Father, you find this Gate and enter. In Jesus, we have the Fellowship of the Royal Priests and those who still employ Hireling Dog-Collared Priests, Judas Iscariots thieves working for money in Sheep’s clothing worse than the Priests of Moses – Matt. 12v43-45 - For prayer and fasting, the old rituals in Moses to demiurge Yahweh; they are Antichrists annulling the Sacrifice of Jesus as the Lamb of God. Technical help is needed. YouTube video on this topic:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_WAd75DTFY The Seed of Terrorism was planted by the satanic people of the Judah tribe 2000 years ago and it has grown to a full-fledged Huge Tree for them to harvest. http://www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/chosenreal.htm END TIME GOSPEL TRUTH – FREE LECTURES AND SEMINARS www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/GistEndGospel.htm Other:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/Nobility.htm http://www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/tenlights.htm http://www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/JattIslam.htm PROOFS OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH OF JESUS: - www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/bojes.htm https://youtu.be/FQ9TyEEZcDQ There were no WMD in Iraq and these Blasphemer USA and Western nations destroyed his peaceful country. https://youtu.be/NIB8q3YiQZs The Udege tribal Son of Man Super Hitler Putin speaks the truth versus the great blasphemers of the USA and the West. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not forgivable and Putin will punish them very hard. https://youtu.be/WCjpz-_w0y0 Thus, everyone is to give his account to God and you cannot blame anyone else than yourself for not waking up to the Golden Occasion. Just wean off the Milk, and the Scriptures and go for the refreshing Meat of Jesus for your Daily Bread of Life. Then, put on your Cross and enjoy the Blood of Christ by Preaching the Gospel from the Rooftops. This is America - Israel in Disguise:- Grim American Jewish Reaper waving sickle to kill more in Venezuela as they did in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, etc. www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/GrimReaper.htm My ebook by Kindle. ASIN: B01AVLC9WO Private Bitter Gospel Truth videos:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/nobility.htm www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/Rest.htm Any helper to finish my Books:- ONE GOD ONE FAITH:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/bookfin.pdf and in Punjabi KAKHH OHLAE LAKHH:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/pdbook.pdf Very informative Channel:- Punjab Siyan. John's baptism:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/johnsig.pdf Trinity:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/trinity.pdf

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christianengineers · 1 year

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IprayministryCanada/ChristianEngineer ONE YEAR BIBLE 2023 2Samuel 1 - 2Samuel 24 "FATHER FORGIVE THEM" Jesus Prayed For His Enemies BibleVerse: Luke 23:34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. - Luke 23:34 (NIV) READ:Luke 23:26-34 OR Whole Chapter Let's Pray Holy Father in Heaven, forgive us our sins for we do not know what we're doing. Jesus asked You to forgive His enemies who crucified Him. He prayed on the cross in agony, “Father, forgive them,” - Luke 23:34 In praying “Father, forgive them,” Jesus revealed His infinite mercy to forgive repentant sinners - Matthew 18:14;2Peter 3:9;1John 1:9 Jesus was fulfilling the Bible prophecy: “He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” - Isaiah 53:12 Jesus loved His enemies and obeyed the Father's will to die for sinners. "He was wounded for our transgressions, -- And by His stripes we are healed." - Isaiah 53:5 Jesus prayed for His enemies to put into practice the principle of His Sermon on the Mount: "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." - Matthew 5:43–44 They didn’t know that they were killing the Son of God - 1Corinthians 2:8 Help us Father to forgive our enemies and to always pray for them. May we not betray Jesus as Judas. - Mathew 26:15 May we never deny Jesus as Peter. - Matthew 26:34 Jesus was fully human and fully devine. He cried, "It is finished" - John 19:30 And died in pain as a human. Fully devine, Jesus was resurrected from death. "He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." - Matthew 28:6 Jesus is the only “one mediator between God and mankind” - 1Timothy 2:5 Thank You Father for forgiving our sins through the death of Your only Son Jesus. Amen. --- WPW5AP23 PrayerEngineer https://www.instagram.com/p/Cqt4AGEOKf8/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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hallowedblock07 · 3 years

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Controversial: If Jesus had to die for humanities Sins in a painful, horrible way in God’s name, then why is Judas, the guy who made it possible, demonised? God was the one who needed Jesus to die in agony, and Judas did that for him. Why do people depict him in the ninth circle of hell with SATAN???

#Keep in mind that Satan also doesn't really deserve to be down there either but alas #the thing is:#God knows everything #he knows that Judas is gonna tell the romans about Jesus #and he knows Jesus has to die to forgive humanity from being descended from the apple couple #(adam and eve are the apple couple fight me)#he could have easily just made the romans find Jesus before Judas told on him #im willing to bet he just wanted a scapegoat for killing jesus #like #God is cool until you read into the bible and find out he killed the world because angels developed an interest in humans and had kids.#these were nephilim #he didnt like them #he flooded the world #everyone but noah. atrahasis. another noah. a few other dudes and their families died #including the angels and the angel baby giants #duuuude how could you?#christians really pick and choose which God they worship. Would you trust a mass murderer even if they said they changed? not really

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bookofjudith · 2 years

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Plssss post the good friday meta analysis i think everyone else gave up the internet my dash is dead

don't worry everyone will be back on sunday

also. u asked for it. pls know that this is half ironic and half extremely literary bc the bible as a literary work fascinates me endlessly and also bc i have a real soft spot for the virgin mary and also judas iscariot. like a really big soft spot.

re: Mary and Good Friday, my meta mostly revolves the tragedy and utter nonsensical violence that comes with a mother watching her son be killed. on a purely human level, that's what it is: a mother watching her son be brutally murdered in front of an audience. and by itself, that is so. it is so!

but then we can add on the element that mary was (if we take the bible at its word) 14 and unmarried when she became pregnant with Jesus and was told she was carrying the Messiah. A Messiah meant to free her people. And Mary raises this boy as her flesh and blood for his entire childhood. Loves him as a mother loves her son, and perhaps on some level, she knows that he does not belong to her, but he does belong to her people. and at least he is destined for greatness! To lead her people out of oppression, a Moses, a David!

and what does she get instead? watching her only son cry out to a father who does not answer as he suffocates on a cross instead. Something about the absolute betrayal she must have felt- towards her son, for leaving, but also towards the Father who promised kinghood and only gave pain, instead. Just something about mary as a pained, widowed, childless middle aged woman, while simultaneously being a 14 year old holding the son of man in her arms. quite specifically those florence lyrics: "with your big heart/you praise god above/but how's that working out for you, honey?/ do you feel loved?"

re: judas iscariot. don't get me started. I watched the last days of judas iscariot and have never been the same. Judas is only fulfilling his role. Someone had to betray Jesus, or he wouldn't have died. Someone had to do it. Someone had to be Judas. It could have been Peter or Paul or Matthew, but then they would have been Judas! It is as much Judas' "fault" as it is Jesus' 'fault' for dying. He's as human as the rest of the apostles, but he's the only one not allowed the same forgiveness. So he betrays his master, as his master always knows he will, as free will is only as free as God allows it to be, and then he has to go and hang himself over guilt for an action that HAD to happen. As much as Jesus is the sacrifical lamb, Judas is quite literally humanity's scapegoat. Because Jesus had to die for the rest of us to be saved, and someone had to cause that to happen, and that someone is Judas. Basically what I'm saying in an increasingly roundabout way is that I am a Judas Iscariot Apologist.

#ok im done now and also remember u asked for it #good friday #religion cw #suicide mention cw #i should start tagging these #judas iscariot #virgin mary

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seadem-on · 3 years

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“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied”.

- the Gospel of Luke, 6:20-21

Your probably too long to read, incomplete and obscure introduction to the themes of loneliness and forgiveness in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (including religious references).

Image there just for cuteness. Let’s go!

1) Loneliness

Tuco is a tragically lonely character. The layers on which this loneliness is played out are multiple. Not only he is cast away from his family - having deserted it - and morally from religion - as his priest brother points out he has done nothing “outside evil” - and from the law-ruled society - being Tuco a literal outlaw, with a long rap sheet to testify for it - but also he is spiritually outside of God’s grace - “while I wait for the Lord to remember me” he says to his brother Pablo.

He does seek out company - he tries to reintroduce himself in his family at the monastery, when he meets his brother again after 9 years. The scene with his brother draws a parallel between Tuco and the “Prodigal son” of Jesus’ parable, who left his family for a life of sin. His angered brother Pablo cannot understand the reason why he came to visit and underlines the evil he has done. The scene does not only show the derangedness of traditional familial relations; it also expresses a strong anticlerical statement showing how far the Church is from putting into practice the original spirit of brotherly love and solidarity.

He has no one on his side. No God - when Tuco says that God is on his side something happens that contradicts his statement. No brother - being rejected by Pablo. No friend - being betrayed by Blondie at the beginning of their partnership.

The symbol of loneliness and lack of human connection is the desert. The torture of Blondie at the hands of Tuco takes place in the desert. The film itself begins with a long shot of a desert landscape which is immediately filled by a gigantic close-up on the face of a killer. In this desert we are immediately welcomed by a threatening figure: it is really the only kind of humanity that can be found there - ruthless and keen to murder.

Tuco is deeply violent too. He is a murderer, a torturer, a thief, a criminal. He is the lowest a man can get. And he is fully aware of his own nature. The image of the dog wandering at the beginning of the film in the ghost town embodies the way Tuco moves in the world - belonging to none, hungry, constantly threatened, constantly looking for company and food. He is in fact chased by the afore mentioned killer but manages to escape.

Though it is never stated outright, Tuco’s real quest is to find a friend. But in the kind of world painted by Leone “friend” is someone who can potentially turn on you. A danger. Society (food sharing, family) is embued with violence and threats. One has to put up a facade to hide their weakness and survive.

But this desire is persistent in Tuco. Through his lies he states it to Blondie: he needs to know that “even for a tramp like him there is always a bowl of soup”. He needs to know that there is someone out there that can fulfill this hunger for company. Someone who does not point out his sins like his brother does. Someone who loves him for who he is - a tramp, a criminal, a bastard, a sinner.

2) Presence

“Were you gonna die alone?”

Is there anything more absurd than loving your enemy? After all that Tuco has done to him, Blondie - the archetypal rebel - makes a disruptive gesture. He kindly offers Tuco the cigar passing it from his mouth thus symbolically offering himself.

The cigar is a part of Blondie, as we cannot imagine his character without it. Furthermore he is literally taking it from his mouth, as if sharing with Tuco a part of himself.

The parallel with the wafer of the eucharist is evident as the gesture - and its orality - symbolically represents union and community. From this moment on Blondie and Tuco form a partnership which is hard to break - that draws them back together when they are apart - a kind of connection that does not entail money. Furthermore, the wafer in the eucharist is the body of Christ - offered “to wash away humanity’s sins”. This meaning is carried out to the end of the film. “He who eats the body of Christ does not die”.

Blondie reaffirms his offering himself multiple times. When he reunites with Tuco, Blondie tells him to kill Angel Eyes and his henchmen, and then joins him in the fight, asking him mockingly “were you gonna die alone?”. He makes it clear he is on Tuco’s side, and actively supports him.

Finally during the last showdown Blondie offers him protection - right when Tuco is at his weakest. Blondie’s gaze and nod in his direction calm and steady Tuco.

This goes to close Tuco’s quest to find a friend; a competitor, a rival, and enemy who also is on his side when needed.

Blondie’s actions are aimed at mending the relationship with Tuco with forgiveness and love - making Blondie the bearer of a “love thy enemy” message. And this is clearer if we look at the parallels between Blondie and Christ: he is tortured, (almost) dies and comes back to life, loves the one who hurt him, and protects him (see citation at the beginning of the post).

Blondie is even seen occupying the same position as a statue of Christ - see image below.

By this I do not mean he is painted as a superior being - actually it is the opposite. I mean more simply that as a character he carries a worldview embued with forgiveness, kindness, and love. He still is a criminal - but he is capable to feel tenderness despite his violent actions. Both he and Tuco show this “duplicity”, or ambiguousness. Moreover, in the film he and Tuco switch roles at different times - sometimes Blondie embodies Christ, as the “innocent” victim, whereas at the end Tuco takes on the position of Christ (and of course to they respectively embody Judas too, betraying each other for gold). That goes to show how thin the line is between victim and perpetrator, how there is both good and bad in our our nature.

Looking at the symbolicism again, Angel Eyes (whose name is originally Sentenza) embodies judgement, which opposes forgiveness. Tuco can finally escape judgement and death thanks to the presence and forgiveness of Blondie.

Also ultimately it is not Blondie who acts alone and saves Tuco. He lets Tuco take his decision. He lets Tuco make the choice to shoot first - choice which is possible since Tuco trusts that Blondie has his back. Tuco is freeing himself from the violence ridden world choosing partnership, trusting another person.

The most absurd thing of it all is that Blondie - the unbound rebel, the embodiment of individualistic self interest, and most of all the victim of Tuco’s torture - actively chooses to be by his side. This choice is disruptive in many ways. First, it is an act of tenderness in a world ruled by violence. Secondly, their partnership allows Tuco to find a haven out of the systems of religion, law and society that have excluded him. And ultimately it saves Tuco from death as a form of punishment for his crimes (forgiveness vs. Judgement).

#the good the bad and the ugly #gbu meta #clint eastwood #eli wallach #sergio leone #spaghetti western #the dollars trilogy #tuco ramirez #il buono il brutto il cattivo

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ayzrules · 3 years

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✶ 𝐇𝐗𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐒: 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 & 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒, 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 & 𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 Long story short, I have been thinking about this for wayyyyy too long now and wanted to get some ~thoughts~ & analysis written down! This post is going to be...fairly long, lol. Apologies in advance :D

Also, if you can’t see the last gif (the one for ‘holy’), click here. Tumblr keeps fucking up the image when i try to upload it :////

This post is probably going to be about 2/3 yorknew & phantom troupe/kurapika focused, 1/3 chimera ants, maybe with some references to other arcs (including manga-only arcs) mixed in. so, ofc, tons of spoilers ahead! also, i realize that my blog theme is hard to read (and i’m p sure clicking ‘keep reading’ sends you to the og post itself), so i’m linking the post w/ full text copy/pasted in on my art backup side blog (which has a more legible font) here.

✶ 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 I’m sure absolutely nobody is surprised with me starting here - there is just. SO. MUCH. DEATH. in hxh. & right from the start, one thing I noticed that togashi really emphasized was the #4 and its connection to death. in japanese, chinese, and im p sure some other asian cultures the number 4 is pronounced like the word for death so it’s associated with death in general, and boy oh boy does the ‘deadly number 4′ thing show up E V E R Y W H E R E. we get to the hunter exam, and hisoka is applicant #44. kurapika is #404. i didn’t notice it at first, but this was so intentional holy shit. togashi is NOT SUBTLE.

So pika & hisoka are, right off the bat, associated with death. okay. and then there are even more clues to drive the point home: hisoka is member #4 in the phantom troupe, kurapika’s birthday is april 4th (aka 4/4). 100% not a coincidence (!!). with hisoka, it’s pretty obvious why togashi’s throwing all this death 444444 stuff around - dude is a psycho murder pedo clown, literally gets off on killing people (and there’s also the fact that judas sits 4th from the left in the last supper painting, and he’s sort of the judas equivalent for the phantom troupe). with kurapika, though, it’s a bit more subtle and woven deeper into his characterization, which i LOVE. togashi puts the mans in blue & gold & white (traditionally ‘pure’ or ‘heavenly’ colors), makes him so fucking kind & so good-hearted.....when he’s not relentlessly pursuing his revenge, ofc. more on this in the next section, but pika = death. togashi has made that v v v clear.

Backtracking a bit to hisoka, though, I also just wanted to point out the 4 is death symbolism in the fortunes too (GOD i love the fortunes): in one translation, he’s the false fourth moon, and in the og japanese (i think), he’s the false hare (4th in the lunar zodiac or w/e it’s called. i don’t know the japanese cultural influences here, but in the chinese legend that established the zodiac animals, they race across the heavenly river & the top 12 animals got zodiac slots. the hare finished 4th, so it’s #4 in the cycle).

And just as a final note, Tserriednich is the fourth prince of the kakin empire, and also another dude who has a hard-on for murder & other gory shit. again: togashi is not subtle with this, lmfao

✶ 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐘, 𝐔𝐍𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐘 As probably everyone who’s gotten to yorknew knows, togashi is so 0 fucks given when he wants to be. I mean there’s the whole thing where he just. took New York and decided, Yorknew. LMFAO, but also, he made the main antag of that arc be named chrollo lucilfer, sit around in a ruined church, have a reversed cross coat, pale & dark-haired/dark-eyed, generally dressed in dark colors, very terrible murder guy. liiiike......chrollo x devil symbolism game is 1000/10 at this point lmaooo

And i know absolutely nothing about christianity in general, but pt/kurapika & yorknew arc is just so full of christian imagery/symbolism! one thing that i L O O O O O O V E though is how togashi really blurs the traditional christian-coded good/evil, holy/damned boundaries.

Back to kurapika: he wears gold and blue, his coloring is very stereotypically ‘angelic’, he’s precious and good and kind. his chains are all about ~judgment~ and ~healing~ - some of the chains are also in literal cross shapes, aren’t they? And the chain dagger in his own heart...the imagery is very startlingly similar to the immaculate heart of mary, where the swords stabbing thru the heart apparently represent seven sorrows. IDK much about this stuff other than the visual similarities; literally had to google ‘daggers through heart christianity?’ to even get the name of that thing LOL. anyway, at first, it seems like togashi establishes him as the ‘angel’, the ‘good’, the ‘holy’ in the angel/devil, good/evil, holy/damned dichotomy between him and chrollo.

But that’s not the end of the story. his entire storyline is driven by a huuuuuuuge giant desire for vengeance, first of all, and then there’s the scarlet eyes, which canonically are seen as demonic/cursed/what have you (according to one of the movies or smth? where they show pika as a 10 y/o?), and then we also have red eyes in modern culture being associated w pretty much the same thing (vampires, anyone?). the fight scene with uvo has everything in b&w besides the blood on his face & his red eyes & the moon (<<< more fortune foreshadowing & symbolism, i love to see it), and there are tonssss of scenes where he has to suppress his rage. so all of that is obviously not very angelic of him i would say LOL. in fact, what i find super interesting is that the scarlet/red eyes (which are ‘demonic’) is actually the driving factor behind his super powerful nen abilities; this ties in so well with the fortunes & death associations imo! the fortunes call him the ‘death-bringer’ in one translation, or ‘half-angel, half-death’, so that’s one side of pika = red eyes = death, but there’s also the fact that emperor time is literally draining his life force. so pika = death for both himself and others namely the pt, question mark?

Now for chrollo: togashi’s devil symbolism is EXTREMELY overt with him, but i love the subtler jesus references too. the church thing, obviously, and the st. peters cross which is cuz st peter respected jesus too much & didn’t think he was worthy to die in the same way as him (or something like that, i am the most atheist person in the world & hxh is literally my entire christian education pls) but is also used as an anti-christianity symbol these days. bandit’s secret looks like a bible, lbr, and mans has a cross tattoo.

Other things beyond visuals - 12 spiders, 12 apostles; hisoka’s betrayal, where member #4 can be thought to correspond to judas sitting 4th from left at last supper. and this miiiiight be a bit of a stretch, but i think the meteor city being the place of origin may also play into the blurred line between angel/devil and holy/damned here; meteors are defined as space rocks that are in earth’s atmosphere, becoming incandescent in the process. meteorites are for the kinds that actually reach the ground. and idk, lucifer was cast out of heaven / sky too right? so i think there might be some subtle fallen angel imagery/symbolism playing into the pt as well

✶ 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 (𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒) Last section yay! i don’t have as much to say about this, besides when i was making chimera ant arc edits & realized that there might have been some subtle gon/meruem parallels???

So obviously, everyone knows that line killua says to gon - “you are light” - and then i was just remembering that meruem’s name means.... “light that illuminates all” (!!!!). maybe it’s a coincidence, but knowing togashi, i’m leaning towards nahhhh. there HAS TO be some kinda meaning there (!!).

Going back to the events of the chimera ant arc....ooh boy. let’s see: gon is optimistic & hopeful even in the face of kite potentially being dead, killua says he’s light, they find kite & dude is fucked up, gon is pissed. gets all angry & ~dark~, especially during the palace invasion when he’s staring pitou down as she fixes up komugi. then the actual fight against pitou: more darkness, more anger, but through it all there’s still light, namely his jajanken being very orange & fiery lookin.....and that final sequence, where he puts all his possible nen he’d ever have into his ~final form~ or wahtever & turns into a male version of true form!bisky but dressed in a crop top & short-shorts (i am SCARRED, btw. s c a r r e d !). there’s just huuuge flashes of light as that’s going on, and it reminded me of supernovas or dying stars when i was thinking about it, where the star is like, collapsing under its own weight? & burning thru its own fuel, until there’s nothing left except a dwarf or black hole or what have you. one final, extremely deadly burst of light & energy before death.

On the meruem side of things: born into a dark cave, exhibits a traditionally evil/cruel/wicked/whatever personality/traits so that has ppl associating him with darkness. then he gets to know komugi, starts to appreciate other aspects of humanity, seems like he could have actually turned into a decent person who doesn’t want to eat everyone - so that’s a ‘path to light’, maybe? - and then the extermination team yeets themselves into the palace, netero takes him out to bumfuck nowhere, they fight. netero’s fighting is just ALL light, from his giant ass golden 100-type guanyin bodhisattva to the poor man’s rose. again, there’s the sense of finality to it all, in a similar vein to dying stars: netero comes in determined to kill meruem no matter what, and we all know netero doesn’t flake. then we see netero get destroyed after the zero hand, and he triggers the rose, and everything is burning & on fire before the flames are put out and all turns dark again.

But wait!!! pouf & youpi revive meruem and all he does is play gungi with komugi, even with the poison of the rose. he eventually dies, and the gungi pieces in that final shot of them together (i am BAWLING just thinking about it holy shit) has one that’s all white, one that’s a black ring and white inside. i assume all white is for komugi, who has never done ANYTHING wrong in her LIFE, so i like to think that the 2nd one is for meruem - born “into darkness”, literally & figuratively, but he turns something like ‘good’ by the end. it’s interesting how togashi has sort of gone for a bit of a subversion here: the hero going from light to darkness, and the main antag from darkness to light.

✶ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 AahhhhHHHHHhhh so if you read all the way down here through my LONG rambles, tysm! i would LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear what other people think about all this, and i’ve FOR SURE missed tons and tons of stuff - chimera ants is just. SO MUCH. and i don’t know it as well as yorknew eeek.

I’m not sure if i’m really ~knowledgeable~ in any other areas relating to hxh, so this might be the only one of these that i do, but i definitely think about some of this - esp all the religious symbolism & #4 stuff - a ton! so in the meantime, if it’s of any interest, i’m just going to shamelessly plug my hxh x religious beliefs/superstitions edit series :D lots of love to all!!!

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something-in-the-seas · 3 years

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Please explain more how Delta is Bioshock's Jesus.

If Infinite is a criticism of WASPS and right-wing fundamental Baptists, Bioshock 2 has some pretty subtle digs at the Catholic Church through the Rapture Family. The Family is without a doubt based on the Catholic Church, most notably in Siren Alley: the shrines, the relics, the stained glass windows Eleanor mentions in a diary, the layout of the church, etc.

Non believers of the Family are tortured to death, and have to either convert or die. Children like the Big Sisters are used as soldiers. Y’know who else tortured a lot of non-Catholics and used children to fight wars? You already know the answer to this. Joan of Arc anybody? In fact, there was a whole distratrous crusade led by a child brainwashed by his local priest to believe he was appointed by heaven to receive the Holy Sepulchre.

Eleanor talks of Lamb having a beautiful tea set. In fact, compared to literally everyone else in Rapture, Lamb is doing quite well due to the devotion of her followers. The Rapture Family church is quite elaborate and beautiful compared to other more run down areas, with gold shrines, beautiful paintings, and unseen stained glass windows. It’s no where near the level of the Vatican, but much like it, there was absolutely manipulation involved to get all this built. The Catholic Church invoked indulgences, the chance to basically pay to win out of purgatory, and the money was used to build what you see at St. Peter’s Basillica.

So, where does Delta fall into this? How is Delta the closest thing to Jesus? Let’s get the obvious out of the way: he is betrayed, tortured, dies, and then rises from the dead. Good Delta also loves and protects children. Okay, we addressed that, let’s get to the meat.

Delta is not even considered a human being by society. His humanity was literally stripped away from by the authorities of Rapture. He is not just an outcast but a monster. Yet, he encompasses the teachings of the Family better than Lamb. Lamb talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk. Look at how she abandoned Gil to rot. Delta doesn’t need to speak he just acts. Here is Lamb talking about a rebellious son:

I do not hate you, Delta. Indeed, I care for you in equal measure to any other sentient creature. But I cannot sacrifice a thousand of my children for one rebellious son.

Now onto the Bible:

Then Jesus told them this parable:

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

There is a theme of 3’s in both Bioshock 2 and in the New Testament, specifically about redemption. Including the Parable of the Lost Sheep, there are three parables Jesus tells about redemption after he is criticized for eating with sinners: The Lost Coin and The Prodigal Son.

The Lost Coin is pretty basic. It’s about an impoverished woman who loses a coin and searches her house in the dark to find it. When she does, she invites her friends and family over to celebrate it.

Now, The Prodigal Son is when things get pretty interesting. Stanley is compared to Judas Iscariot. He may be this for Lamb, but I don’t think so for Delta, as Judas was never really forgiven for his betrayal. At least, not according to the Catholic Chuch. There is, however, a resemblance of Stanley to the story of The Prodigal Son. Stanley is given power and wealth, squanders it, hurts a lot of people along the way including Delta and Eleanor, and then begs for his life.

Lamb, when seeing this says this:

Subject Delta, I have known for years of Stanley's betrayal here, and had forgiven him. But in compromising Eleanor now ... he seals his fate. You see, it was Stanley who turned you in to Ryan. He is responsible for what you have become. The security booth is open now ... you may have your revenge.

Even Eleanor intervenes and seems to be pushing for Delta to kill Stanley. However, if Delta decides to spare Stanley, we see this statue in Outer Persephone

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

So, finally what of Sinclair? Well, Sinclair is pretty special because he’s “the Peter.” He’s Delta’s rock, his only friend down here, but he’s got a shady past. He’s not completely upfront and has betrayed Delta. He doesn’t admit this, though, until after the third determinant character in the finale of the game when Delta is captured. Peter, who denies ever knowing Jesus, does this three times after Jesus is arrested.

Peter dies similarly to Jesus and is a martyr. He’s tortured and crucified. How does Sinclair die? He’s tortured and converted into an Alpha Series just like Delta.

#bioshock #bioshock 2 #augustus sinclair #subject delta #eleanor lamb #stanley poole #grace holloway #gil alexander #sofia lamb #Bioshock 2 is absolutely a critique of the Catholic Church #the only non determinant character is a heretical priest

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