Book of Poems

Jon thinks his rogue action is the reason his father is dead. And he was so satisfied when he sent it.

US: oh no! cass is gonna die! it was written!

WHAT.

DID.

I.

WHAT.

DID.

I.

Bullet Points, Post-1373, Pre-40

We have two months before “Okay.” Alas, “The Funnies” probably won’t give us much in the way of revelations. So let’s get some thoughts bubbling!

•The biggest mystery of “1373″ is Minerva’s non-contagious ailment. I wonder about observations that Minerva and Ananke appear to be affected in similar areas. Then again, that Ananke and Minerva have something to do with each other isn’t exactly the breakthrough we need here. Perhaps “she suffers from the lack of what she needs” implies that it’s a result of not having completed the ritual in two years’ time.

•There’s speculation about 1373 Ananke’s intent in the special, and I think it’s mostly straightforward. She needed Lucifer (and herself) dead because “all of them must be gone before the end,” including her. By the end of the issue, Minerva, with Lucifer and Ananke gone, is finally able to carry out her ritual.

•1373 Lucifer, not rejecting her godhood but instead accepting her godhood and then refusing to play the part, is perhaps closer to Laura’s breaking of the cycle than, say, Cass or Jon ever were despite their refusal to fully embrace their godly identities.

•1373 Lucifer’s longevity from refusing the use of her powers might bode well for any gods who, say, forfeit their divinity.

•The stone knife appears again, and it leaves me confused. Use of the stone knife, unless that’s its property, likely wouldn’t have consumed Lucifer. Did Ananke bank that hard on Lucifer awakening her power of fire?

•There’s that stone knife again. Will we ever learn its deal? Perhaps it’s useless, as the machine was. After all, 2014 Ananke carved up Minerva’s arms with it, and that was just further misdirection. Perhaps she lent it to David Blake so he would think the instrument with which he could behead a god was under her control. But if it was just another instrument of misdirection, “Mothering Invention” would have been a good time to cover that, no?

•@twatd have nicely illustrated that 1373 Minerva’s infection continued to be an issue well into her Ananke years.

•Speaking of twatd, they commented that World War 2 was the product of the 1923 pantheon, but I really don’t think that’s true. I think 1923 Dionysus foresaw it, and obviously a few gods put their energies towards such a thing happening, but Ananke, thinking aloud to a soon-to-be-dead Woden she had no reason to lie to, thought otherwise: “’Will the Reich you desire come? Perhaps. It is likely, even. I think Versailles alone implies another war,’ said Ananke. ‘But is it more likely because of this ritual? It is difficult to say. Metaphor is difficult. Inspiration is difficult. I don’t really care. I just needed this creature...’”

•Which leads me into my pet issue: Baal’s Great Darkness and how it’s likely 1831′s Creature, which is 1923′s Zeitgeist. I made a post about it! Read it if you haven’t. Something I didn’t mention is that Baal’s Great Darkness is likely very powerful thanks to the 1923 gods who tried to will World War 2 into being by focusing their energy into it, and also thanks to 1831 Lucifer and Morrigan for being killed by it.

•Speaking of Baal’s Great Darkness, Ananke, although she does like the telephone, has expressed a lot of  distaste about how hard civilization’s steady advancement has made her job. I made a post about her 1373 attempt to curb societal progress, a plan which spanned two recurrences. But perhaps we should begin wondering if Baal’s Great Darkness is more than a tool to keep Baal under control and on track for implosion. After all, that would be an awfully long project to control only one god. Perhaps she hopes it will run wild after he dies and can no longer stop it with his rituals. After all, it would be nice for her if civilization got roughed up enough for, say, photography to become rarer.

•Baal’s quarterly ritual is a big event the book is building to. It should happen on May 2. As his death is slated for August 9, it would be his finale.

•We’re still waiting on a resolution of Nergal’s cathedral scene. I’m not at all sure what to expect.

•Was that Cass in the hospital on Dio’s phone? Is she already trapped in her place of death? Is it just a matter of time?

•39 reminded us of Woden’s infatuation with Cass. Will that come back into play?

•Why is the young man from issue 24 on the cover?

•Does anyone else decide they want out when the learn Laura has given up her godhood? I’m wondering if Jon mulls it over. Sparks give way to fire.

•Obviously: Is Laura’s power of fire why she was able to light the cigarette in issue #5? Does it come from her breaking the cycle? Or is she something else?

We’ve known the claim has been bunk for a good long while, but let us return to Ananke’s claim that the recurrence moves civilization forward.

Now, obviously we’ve realized that these are almost certainly lies and that the recurrence has mostly been a vehicle through which Ananke continues her existence. But in issue #38, Ananke gave a curious response to Minerva.

In the same issue, it was revealed that the letter from Ananke shown in issue #28 was meant for Minerva. An early bit: “This century is all it threatened to be. It is harder than ever.”

There are more examples throughout the books, but it had long been apparent that Ananke felt that the 21st century had made her task harder than ever.

But issue #38 was the first time when she remarked that perhaps it wouldn’t keep getting harder.

Enter “1373: The Transubstantiation of Lucifer.” Yes, there are small things to learn, such as two years clearly not being an absolute rule. But the real revelation is that Ananke has intentionally wrought mass destruction upon civilization in the name of making her job easier.

All this, of course, raises the question as to what other humongous historic disasters Ananke might be party to. I’d heavily recommend thumbing through @twatd‘s 6,000 Years of Murder for ideas (my mind instantly jumps towards the Indus Valley).

Once upon a time, Ananke told Cass that we could have had men on Mars thousands of years before the rise of Rome but for The Great Dark.

Then she says that she’s the remedy to this shortcoming.

So, this makes a bit of sense.

Jackie Silver from the Discord mentioned this possibility and suddenly it all came together.

If you haven’t, begin here. In this post, I take bits from the 1831 and 1923 specials and paint pretty clear lines between 1831′s “Creature” and 1923′s “Zeitgiest.”

If you’ve seen me post, you likely know that this has become one of the things I’m most curious about regarding Wicdiv. Surely this story has some sort of greater implication.

I’ve also long noticed that between 1831 Inanna and 2013 Baal, there’s a lot of child murder that Ananke is related to. Here’s a post about that.

For some reason, I’ve never had the thought that the Zeitgeist that Ananke captured in 1923 has anything to do with “The Great Darkness.” But Ananke dropping her side project from the past two pantheons on the first member of this one would make a lot of sense, no?

Now, I can’t make a definite claim about how all this works. But to further my theory, I’ll note that 1. The “Creature,” the “Zeitgeist,” and "The Great Darkness” are all at least partly blue and 2. Woden’s three children were killed before she became the “Creature,” and now “The Great Darkness” requires child sacrifice.

At one point, I asked myself why did Ananke want to capture the Creature? Well, to use it. Duh doi.

The main lingering question is, of course, Persephone’s unique interaction with “The Great Darkness.”

Now, I’m not sure that all this is the case, but it certainly adds up rather tidily, no?

Issue 39 Bullet Points

•As illustrated in my post, once Laura temporarily ceased being the protagonist, Beth became her first stand-in. Both put their lives on the line at Highbury & Islington (check out how similar their respective four panels calling for The Morrigan are), and it’s where they meet, both having risked a lot to find divinity.

•Of course Woden knew Baal was Baal Hammon, but he appears to know of a big ritual. It’s uncertain if he knows what it entails.

•I might need to do a re-read, but it’s strange how readily Woden believes that Minerva just, out of her normal nature, is feverishly obsessed about Persephone.

•There is a surprising amount of time spent here hanging on Woden thinking about Cassandra after Minerva’s question. I suspect its usefulness as a beat will become apparent next arc, but it’s raised an eyebrow on all three of my passthroughs.

•The fourth rule is not much of a surprise. The nature of the rule itself certainly is.

•The pregnancy arc, beginning and ending in “Mothering Invention,” existing simply to confuse Ananke feels...possibly unnecessary? I’ll need to think about this.

•Did Ananke get 1831 Inanna under her thumb because Woden wanted children and Ananke wanted to put them under the impression that they couldn’t reproduce? Is this related to her (probable) trick on Baal?

•”She will sell godhood to the children, as I shared it with her.” Huh.

•“She thinks the story will save her, so she thinks a story will doom her. But the story is what carries on. There’s only one way to end a story.”

•While at some point I had mentally written off the end of “The Faust Act” as premonition of the end of “Fandemonium,” this has been difficult to reconcile with the mounting evidence that the gods aren’t gods until Ananke tells them so. It’s very satisfying to see that curious bit come back, and it’s great to see the beat that ended “The Faust Act” is even more important than we thought.

Highbury & Islington.