On Emet-Selch, Golems and מת vs. אמת
Contemplating various things here and there has made me wonder if the writers of FFXIV considered Jewish history and lore when writing and naming Emet-Selch.
If you translate Emet-Selch''s name, the 'Emet' part in Hebrew, אמת, means 'truth.' Selch doesn't directly equate to a word, but I've read things saying it could be 'shelkha' (your) or 'selach' (forgiveness). So you would either have "forgive the truth" or "your truth."
That's telling enough for our erstwhile frenemy, but then you get to other places the word 'emet' appears in Jewish lore: golems. There's a lot to be said about golems and I am not always particularly happy with the name being used in video games and fantasy, but the word means something different now than it originally did and stories change over time and all. So we're not going to get into that here. What we are going to talk about is how a mainstay in a lot of golem lore is that they have the word 'emet' inscribed on their foreheads or on their chests. What if you need to deactivate the golem, temporarily or permanently? You take away the first letter, the א (yes, remember in Hebrew one reads right to left, so that is the first letter of the world) and that gives you 'met', מת, Which means 'dead.'
The golem in many stories, like the Golem of Prague, started out as a protector and defender, but eventually caused so much carnage he had to be stopped. So roll that over in your mind again: Emet-Selch is the Convocation member in charge of the underworld. He later has a 'third eye' on his forehead, sort of like a golem mark. In Shadowbringers he seems to vacillate between cruelty and protectiveness. And, we learn in Endwalker, he missing a very crucial part of his memories that were deliberately taken away.
End result...the Hades/Emet-Selch in Elpis becomes an Ascian who commits countless acts of mass murder and other atrocities. Truth turns to death. At the end of Shadowbringers, the Warrior of Light and Scions have no choice but to stop him.
I don't know if it's deliberate on the part of the FFXIV writers, but given how deeply they seem to delve into lore, I wouldn't doubt it.
Given the English naming conventions of the smaller sin eaters as 'Forgiven X', I've always had the feeling that Emet-Selch was named that because it translates fairly well into 'Forgiven Truth' or 'Forgiving Truth'.
Which suits his role in the story down to the ground.
But this is a bloody good post and I encourage all my followers who have finished ShB and EW to read it!
...!!!!!
Thank you so much for bringing up this amazing observation. Translating his name to Forgiven Truth makes so much sense in the context of Shadowbringers. Also, the whole deal with the sin eaters is that they have been distorted into something extremely different than the people or animals they once were. They may have been kind and peaceful when alive, but when infected by that much light, they become very dangerous entities who kill others and take their aether to survive. Given what happens to Emet-Selch, it's an apt comparison. The grouchy but well meaning man in Elpis who tends to the underworld becomes a fearsome Ascian who commits atrocities and tries to kill others and rejoin entire planets to survive. He also tries to recruit the Warrior of Light/Darkness to his cause as a monstrous light warden, in the same way the sin eaters infect others to essentially 'recruit' them. ooh, this is good. Thank you again for reblogging with these thoughts!
