9.6 KiB
Unsong chapter 24: Why dost thou come to angels' eyes
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Author: u/Lord_Drol NERV*
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URL: http://unsongbook.com/chapter-24-why-dost-thou-come-to-angels-eyes/
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Score: 49
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Created: 2016-06-12T18:08:04
Post:
Comments:
u/wtfbbc [+12] (2 hours later)
OH NO NOT THE MACGUFFIN
u/Green0Photon [+5] Student in Cyoria, Minmay, and Ranvar (32 minutes later)
I am so confused.
u/None [+4] (46 minutes later)
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u/alexanderwales [+10] Time flies like an arrow (an hour later)
Seven dragons for seven demons is an acupuncture thing, but it would be a little weird for Unsong to start in on Asian traditions at this point (not that weird, but a little weird).
Revelation 12:3 describes a dragon with seven heads.
Isaiah mentions dragons multiple times, usually in conjunction with owls for some no doubt significant reason that I can't remember right now, but I don't think that's the connection either, since the dragons are never numbered.
Edit: Owls are apparently often found in ruins (is this true?) so it's a symbol of desolation. In Isaiah, "dragon" is perhaps better translated as "jackal", so it's two creatures known for being something like scavengers (the cultural spot that vultures hold today). Also "owls" is sometimes translated as "ostriches", which I find hilarious.
it shall be the habitation of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches.
u/None [+6] (13 hours later)
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
4 And his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered to devour her child as soon as it was born.
5 And she brought forth a manchild, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up unto God and to His throne.
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared by God
Wasn't there an important women who fled recently to a place, influenced heavily by god
edit//.... wait
And his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth
That t taking the angles
And she brought forth a manchild
Not a child a manchild; so a bit of a loser, someone kicked out of college and working minimum wage
her child was caught up unto God and to His throne.
He did escape to angels
But... oh my god, unsong is literally ran by the devil
u/None [+10] (an hour later)
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u/None [+14] (2 hours later)
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u/Arancaytar [+12] (13 hours later)
Reading that again, I just remembered that Ha'Ari (Harry) is also the name of a wizard. One whose last name is Potter, ie. someone who makes clay vessels.
TINACBNIEAC.
u/capsless [+1] despiser of hpmor (8 hours later)
it's been all but confirmed that the empty name is the shem hamephorash, so that spot is already taken
u/None [+4] (10 hours later)
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u/NoYouTryAnother [+3] (17 hours later)
Maybe explains Metatron's silence?
u/capsless [+5] despiser of hpmor (21 hours later)
from ch. 22:
It would take the Shem haMephorash, the true explicit Name of God, the Name which allowed the speaker to destroy and remake worlds. It was the Name that God had spoken during the Creation, the Name that would blare from the Last Trumpet[...] But it was also unplumbable by mortal cleverness. The only way to learn it was from the lips of God Himself.
The Sepher Hekhalot states that when the patriarch Enoch died, God “turned his flesh to flame, his veins to fire, his eye-lashes to bolts of lightning, his eye-balls to flaming torches, and placed him on a throne next to the throne of glory.” Then He imbued him with the Most Holy Name, and thenceforward he was called Metatron, the “Measure of the Lord”, the “Prince of the Divine Presence” and “the Lesser God”. All of these titles are blasphemous as hell to call anybody who isn’t God, and the sages speculated that Metatron had received a certain investiture, becoming a viceroy or a regent or even a sort of emanation of God into material reality. If you needed to hear something from the lips of God Himself, Metatron was the one to talk to. [...]
Six months later, he returned. When they asked if he had found Metatron, he said yes. When they asked if he had learned the Name, he said yes. When they asked for details, he said no. A few years later he died, and the details died with him. And all that time poor All Your Heart sat anchored in Puerto Penasco, doing nothing.
so the comet king says he found metatron, learnt the explicit name, but then-- does nothing? not only does he not storm hell, but he becomes despondent for a few years then dies. there are only a few possible explanations:
- the comet king is lying, and didn't find metatron after all.
- tck is lying, and metatron didn't speak to him
- tck found metatron, and then for some reason metatron broke his silence just this once and told him the explicit name, and then tck just, uh, doesn't do anything??
i mean, there are some pretty obvious flaws in these -- a lot of the book has been devoted to establishing tck as the literal messiah, or at least something close. seems unlikely that he'd lie, and equally unlikely that metatron wouldn't abide by his most defining feature. but more importantly, they're narratively unsatisfying. if the explicit name is just some random long name that makes you extra powerful -- uh. that's super boring.
so what i highly suspect happened instead, is -- tck finds metatron, approaches him, asks for the explicit name, and is met with silence. suddenly, with divine inspiration, he understands that -- not only is metatron speaking to him the explicit name, but in some sense metatron has never not been speaking the explicit name. being one of the few theistic characters in the book (“Well, I think you’re wrong. Father believes God will save us.”), the revelation that god exists only to facilitate the world (or maybe, like, the world IS god?? idk, not really enough material to go off yet) ruins him, he spirals into nihilism or depression or w/e and gives up. (to be clear, though, the exact sequence of events is just speculation, and not really central to whether or not the explicit name is empty)
this is narratively very parsimonious, is a suitably shocking twist, plays into the established features of the involved characters, etc.
and let's not forget that it's a very small transformation from the oft-repeated 'god is one' to 'god is none' ;p
[as an aside: i haven't really been following the unsong discussion, but i sort of assumed that even if this isn't true it was the conclusion that the reader was supposed to take from that passage. and then if the explicit name was revealed to NOT be empty, then that was a deliberate subversion of the reader's expectation. is this really the first time it's been brought up?]
u/Fredlage [+2] (a day later)
I read a lot of comments, both here and on the chapters' pages. You were the first I've seen proposing this theory. It's interesting.
u/None [+1] (a day later)
Seven dragonballs grant you a wish.
u/Frommerman [+2] (21 hours later)
Considering that Jane comes from Colorado, I think we can mostly confirm that she is Sohu. She probably took up Uriel's offer to increment her age a couple times.
I guess this solves the skyak mystery.
u/electrace [+3] (2 days later)
She probably took up Uriel's offer to increment her age a couple times.
And become Asian?
I mean, it's possible, but Sohu was described as having "light brown skin, dark brown eyes, braided black hair," and the fan art has her as most definitely not Asian.
It's a little bit of stretch to say "They are both from Colorado, therefore it's basically confirmed that they are the same person." Especially considering Colorado is where the CometSpawn have control, and so it's likely that there will be more than one character coming from there.
And last of all, there's no point (plot wise) for Uriel to stop her aging, and then to immediately start her aging again, unless Scott, for some reason, wanted to be intentionally deceitful.
u/Frommerman [+1] (2 days later)
Oh. Oops.
I'm dumb.
u/None [+1] (28 minutes later)
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u/redstonerodent [+3] High Council of Gallifrey (48 minutes later)
Late morning, May 12, 2017
Early morning sun...
Might be intentional?
u/chaosmosis [+1] and with strange aeons, even death may die (a day later)
It occurs to me that Scott has not yet hinged a crucial plot point on a knock-knock joke, or to my memory included one at all. This is disappointing to me.
u/None [+4] (a day later)
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u/chaosmosis [+2] and with strange aeons, even death may die (a day later)
lol sorry thanks