Hunter: the Parenting episode 6 spoilers below.
Alright, so what the fuck is this thing?
I have some theories that I want to discuss.
This scene has the not-space marines of the Gladius Dei praying to repel Stig, which results in him being bound by magic threads and this messed-up image of Jesus on the cross appearing. However, Stig is eventually able to overpower the Gladius Dei with his own faith in Gaia. So why is Jesus so distorted and corrupted?
The power the Gladius Dei was using in this scene is most likely True Faith. This is a type of Numina, a power even normal humans can use. True Faith is manifested by someone who utterly devotes themselves to unshakable faith is something. This can be faith in anything, but in practice, it is almost always religious in nature. Even amongst the religious, the kind of utter devotion that manifests True Faith is rare. Most True Faith powers are defensive in nature and focus on binding, abjuring, or repelling the supernatural, as seen with Stig being bound. Another possibility is that the Gladius Dei are using sorcery, which is a type of magic usable by non-mages that is very rigid in its applications. Many sorcerous traditions are based around religion, but I think that True Faith is more likely in this scene for a few reasons.
So what's up with Jesus? His image here is distorted in a number of ways. The cross looks like a weird tree instead of something artificial, Jesus isn't crucified, his face is shadowed with a sword going through his head and out of his mouth, and he has a tentacle coming out of his side and wrapping around him. There's a lot of symbolism here. The sword through the mouth references a passage from the Book of Revelation (which one of the Gladius Dei references earlier in the episode) and the wound in his side references one of the Roman guards stabbing him with a spear to make sure he's dead. The tentacle is almost certainly a reference to the Wyrm given that this story arc is were Werewolf: the Apocalypse focused and the Wyrm-worshiping megacorporation Pentex is involved. Pentex has infiltrated the Coalition and is corrupting it from within. They also supplied the anti-Delirium drugs. Pentex is known for corrupting customers by putting Banes, spirits of the Wyrm, in its products. O'Tollys from the Door and Boy episode is another Pextex front that does the same thing with fast food. I think it's likely that Pentex is using Banes in the anti-Delirium drugs, at least in the creation if not directly in the product, which they are almost certainly using to further corrupt the Coalition. The worm coming out of Jesus likely represents Wyrm corruption in the Gladius Dei and the Coalition as a whole. However, I don't think this is entirely the Wyrm's fault.
Going back to my suspicion that the Galdius Dei were using True Faith, I think the distortion of Jesus is at least partly because of how the Galdius Dei treat their religion. We saw in this and the Coalition episode that the grunts don't exactly have a good understanding of their faith, what with them being Catholics who didn't realize the rapture is not part of their dogma. They are also violent, hateful, greedy, and proud of it. They revel in continuing the terrorism and destruction of the Inquisition. Jesus, on the other hand, was famously a pretty nice guy who was all about forgiveness, love, and peace. I think part of the reason that the Jesus image they summon is so messed up is because it represents how the Gladius Dei are distorting their religion and using it as justification to be violent and hateful. They reject the teachings of the god they worship, so of course their image of that god is distorted. The Wyrm is likely using the disconnect between Jesus and the Gladius Dei to further infiltrate and corrupt them, but I don't think it is responsible for the Gladius Dei's beliefs. I think they got that way all on their own and the Wyrm is piggybacking on what they started. The post-credits scene where one of the marines ends up in purgatory might also be a hint to this being the intention of the writers (as well as a continuation of the running gag with the other dead characters). Being a member of the Catholic Church, we can safely assume this guy meets the Catholic criteria to go to heaven, baptism, communion, etc, but because he went so far from what Jesus said, he is a sinner and needs to be cleansed in purgatory first.
Anyway, that's my theory based on my knowledge of WoD lore. I'd be interested in any other theories people have.
