jokergirl129

I designed myself a self indulgent DSOD Kaiba Vox standee! And I got a sample in the making

I realized that this wasn’t the first time we’ve seen an angel do that to someone.

Lucifer did it too.

Lucifer isnt just any angel, He and the 7 virtues are the children of Speaker which is why they are the most powerful, but also because this is their family's way of being affectionate.

If true, Charlie is Speaker's Granddaughter.

I made a very similar post, (linked here) and I will be reusing many of the photos, but I thought I’d create something a little more detailed.

We’ve seen different types of angels in Heaven, but here is a summary of them that I’ve observed. Some are confirmed, others are my best guesses based off of Biblical lore. Here we go!

—————————————-

1.) Seraphim

Seraphim are some of the highest-ranked and most powerful angels in Heaven. They act as the top leadership.

In Biblical lore, they are considered the angels closest to God. They represent purity, intense passion for God, and divine light. They are said to surround God’s throne, proclaiming His holiness.

They typically have three main sets of wings- six wings in total. While Sera and Emily are confirmed Seraphim, Lucifer is not. However, given his six wings and his sheer angelic power, it makes me believe he is also a Seraphim in the Hellaverse.

2.) Virtues

As confirmed by the S2 subtitles, these are Virtues.

In Biblical lore, they are the Fifth Choir of angels and primarily associated with channeling divine strength, performing miracles, and governing elements and the natural world. (Perhaps that is why they resemble colorful insects.)

3.) Dominions

Dominions are also mentioned in the S2 subtitles, but it’s harder to match their voices. But going off their description in Biblical lore, (beings who carry golden staves to symbolize their authority), I believe these angels are the Dominions.

In Biblical lore, Dominions are described as being the fourth highest-ranked angels, serving as angelic lords who regulate duties of lower angels. They govern the universe, ensure the execution of God’s will, and enforce divine law.

4.) Powers

In Biblical lore, Powers are the Sixth Choir of angels who are said to be warrior spirits who defend humanity and the cosmos against evil. They also ensure the movement of heavenly bodies and sometimes act as history-keepers.

They are described as wearing helmets and armor- these guys look like they are wearing helmets, and they have constellations in their cloaks (which would fit into the cosmic theme). That leads me to believe these are Powers.

5.) Thrones

In Biblical lore, Thrones (or Orphanim) are the third-highest ranked angels in the Heavenly hierarchy. They are considered very wise, explaining the wisdom of divine missions. They are also tasked with dispensing God’s divine judgement and maintaining cosmic harmony.

They are also described as fiery, multi-eyed rings/wheels, so it’s a no-brainer that this guy is a Throne.

6.) Archangels

Adam is apparently an archangel. In Biblical lore, an archangel is a high-ranking angel who is trusted with important tasks from God- protecting humanity, fighting against evil, delivering significant messages, etc.

However, some sources place archangels as just above normal, average angels- which leads me to believe that in the realm of the Hellaverse, an archangel is a military rank meant for powerful souls- sometimes Heavenborn, sometimes not. Adam was once human, but he’s obviously different from average Winners.

(If Michael, Gabriel, and other famous archangels exist in the Hellaverse, are they still archangels or are they something else, such as Seraphim? As of now, we do not know.)

7.) Exorcists

Exorcists are warrior angels that make up Heaven's Exorcist Army. It has been stated they are not descendants of Adam, so they are Heavenborn. They all appear to be female.

They don’t have a direct Biblical counterpart, but they are similar to the Zabaniyah (Islamic angels tasked with punishing Sinners in Hell) and Angels of Punishment (angels from the Book of Enoch that act as jailers and tormentors for fallen angels and their offspring).

8.) Cherubs

Cherubs are interesting, because Biblically speaking they refer to the Cherubim- the second-highest order of angels just under the Seraphim, and are depicted as having four wings and four faces (human, lion, ox, and an eagle).

However, in the show they seem follow the more popular depiction of cherubs- tiny, child-like angels that are said to represent innocence. (In the Divine Comedy, they are called Putti.)

It is unknown what the role they play in Heaven in the Hellaverse, but it can be assumed they fill a similar serving role like imps- though some protect humans on Earth, like those in C.H.E.R.U.B.

9.) Winners

Virtuous souls who died on Earth and received their eternal reward in Heaven. (Or former Sinners from Hell who achieved redemption and ascended to Heaven.)

Apparently they are all hot.

And last but not least…

10.) The Speaker of God

She’s interesting. She has six wings, but I don’t think she’s a typical Seraphim.

She is a phoenix-like angel who outranks the Seraphim. Most importantly, she acts as God's representative in Heaven, and speaks on God's behalf to the angels. Vivziepop has stated she does not want to truly depict God because she considers the concept of God to be ethereal and beyond comprehension. The Speaker is the closest we will ever get to seeing God as she is God's representative.

AO3 BADGES, GET YOUR A03 BADGES HERE

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve. 

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

We rolled out a significant change to how notes work on reblogs, and the reaction has been strong. We're not going to pretend otherwise. 

First things first: We're reversing the change. Your feedback in comments, emails, and especially reblogs, made clear that the rollout created problems we need to address before moving forward. We also should have communicated this differently from the start, and we didn't.

We still believe there's a better version of how reblogs can work. One that gives every voice in a chain the credit it deserves. But we want to get there with you.

In the coming days we'll share more on how we plan to do that,  including ways to work directly with some of you on this and future changes before they ship.

I'm the OP. I'm making this post. If you like, comment, reblog (without comment) on this post, then I'm the one who will see all those notes in my activity page.

However...

If you reblog (with comment), I will get a notification that you did that, but any likes/comments/reblogs (without comment) you get on that reblog will only be shown to you. As OP I won't see them.

If someone adds a reblog (with comment) to your reblog...as OP I won't see that. I won't see any of those notes in my activity page.

Basically, if someone with a large following makes a comment, then they will get all the notes and OP will see nothing. If OP has said something silly because they're, y'know, 21 and it happens, and then someone reblogs it onto the dash of someone with a large following who then dunks on them for fun? OP doesn't see it, doesn't get notes for it, but they're gonna get the harrassment for it in their inbox.

If I, someone with a 5 digit follower count, reblog something to correct misinformation on Ancient Egypt, then OP will never see it unless it was on the original post, but I will continue to get notes on that post even though it's not my post. If I reblog fanart, or just art in general, with a comment like 'Oh this is so lovely!' then OP will not see any of the notes from people reblogging it from me. They'll only see my reblog. So it's possible for an art post by someone else to have 200 notes for them, but 9000 for someone who reblogs it with a comment, and the OP artist will have no idea it's been seen by that many people.

It's killing blow to the community we've built here, by someone higher up who doesn't understand that being able to see all the comments and reblogs is what makes this site the place I keep coming back to.

That's what sucks.

You can access it here.

Please.

She isnt willing to use to her negative emotions to connect with them. Only her positive emotions.

What I mean is, Charlie is unwilling to share any of her pain, her flaws, or any of the personal suffering she's went through in life and only tries to appeal to people through kindness and happiness. But that makes others unwilling to share their real feelings with her because it comes off as her being shallow and not having any "real" problems.

There are two perfect examples of this in the show itself:

In both these instances, Charlie is SUPPOSED to be letting out a REAL part of herself to the group. And in both instances, she gives a superficial, shallow answer. Not because she doesn't have something more deep to GIVE, we KNOW she does. But because she doesn't want to give the impression she doesn't have a handle on herself, she sticks to an easy non-personal answer. Now, admittedly, with the trust falls, MOST of the answers weren't actually something vulnerable, but since Charlie is the one running the hotel, you think she'd want to lead by example. But she can't here. Because deep down, she's SCARED of actually opening up to her friends. Doesn't want to drop her negative emotions on them. Same with the venting circle. She could CHOOSE to vent about the deaths of Razzle or her mom not calling her. But she ISN'T. Because she doesn't want to expose herself like that.

And I'm sure, to her, that seems smart. Act like everything is okay, and people will think you can help them....but its the opposite. Instead she comes off to people as shallow. As not having "real problems." After all, if the worst she has to vent about is a Koala at the zoo, how can she help someone with REAL issues both in life AND death?

And some might say "But Charlie CAN'T understand things Sinners go through because she isn't one." And...No. She CAN'T. But she can understand the major emotions they all feel. She can understand failure.

Understand feeling helpless and powerless.

Understand having regrets

Understand feeling alone in Hell

And most all, understand the pain the extermiantions cause and how terrible it feels to be unable to do anything about them:

To paraphrase @aspoonofsugar , Yes, Charlie can't understand the Microcosm of a sinners pain (Drug addiction, death, gambling addiction, their soul being owned etc) but she can understand the Macrocosm of emotions all sinners feel (Shame, regret, self loathing, guilt, anger at other) and she COULD connect with them THAT way.

But she doesnt. And thats partially just because she doesn't fully grasp how negative emotions CAN connect people. Just look at Vox. Yes, he used Sinners anger and sadness at the exterminations to nearly cause a war....but he DID manage to make a large number of sinners start working together and connecting over their pain and loss over the extermiantions. And Charlie isn't incapable of that. She clearly feels a ton of pain and anguish over them. But she'd never express that publicly out of fear of seeming....not WEAK, but....incapable. Like, during her interview while she talks about the exterminations being bad and makes a mention of how much it hurts to see it comes off a bit like a celebrity talking about a disaster they were running a charity fore. They "care" but don't really "care." And thats because she's trying to....present herself a certain way to the public. And then her trying to act all excited and bubbly about her hotel just gives the impression she's kinda airheaded or isnt THAT serious. When we KNOW she cares. THIS is how she was in her last scene

Morose. Heartbroken. Looking like she desperately needs a cigarette to take a long hit off after EVERYTHING she just witnessed. That's something im sure EVERY sinner could connect with feeling. Imagine if THAT'S how she came to news station and gave her speech. Just let out all the raw emotion she had inside during her talk about the hotel. Sure, people might still see it as crazy, but its less "Ha-ha, the princess is delusional" to "Ouch, the princess is....really desperate to try, huh?" Maybe it'd even get her SOME support. But she wouldn't do that because Charlie doesn't UNDERSTAND how negative feelings can help connect people.

If someone told her "someone else feels lonely and you should talk to them about how you used to feel lonely", she might question why. She'd think that would only make them feel worse and she should just try to make them feel less lonely. Charlie needs to understand that showing or telling others you experience the same negative emotions as them, even if not in the same way as them, can make them not only feel better but see you as someone they can talk to about things because they KNOW you experienced similar feelings. People don't need to go through the same things to have felt similar emotions. But Charlie ONLY tries reaching out to or connecting with sinners using positive emotions instead of the more negative ones that both sides can more relate to.

Ummm... Guys, this is my au about the sport of skating?

Of course, it has no plot, because everyone can come up with a convenient plot for themselves! ⛸️✨

🧊 | Ready-made characters with the final design, mini descriptions :

⛸️ | Character Design Concepts :

❄ | Coaches and sponsors(and others)

+ my fan character on the TADC, but in my Au!:

Falling in love is both poison and medicine for him.

Guys, YES, I was inspired by Metal Family and I’m a big fan of this project.

Also, the text on the newspaper in the first slide is actual lore, but I’ll only publish it on Telegram (both in Russian and in English).

And the comic without text can also only be found on Telegram

TW : blood

Just a bunch of sketches. I had a large audio list and initially there were more scenes, but I got stuck on it for too long and got lazy.

@sm-baby

@hootbon

A character analysis of Sera from Hazbin Hotel and Why I defend her (Even though she is in the wrong)

So... where to even begin?

I suppose some transparency first.

I make it no secret within the fandom that Sera is one of my favorite characters from the show; everything from her design to the amazing vocal and singing performances her voice actress, Patina Miller, provides for her appeals so much to me; ask any of my friends in the Hellaverse fandom and they'll all tell you how much I "Simp for this Seraphim"TM. and I regret nothing!

That being said!

Sera is among one of THE most divisive characters among the fanbase of the Hellaverse (Hazbin Hotel+Helluva Boss) and I feel that many misunderstand her character or view her in a way that isn't entirely what the story wants or is trying to depict her as.

So, before we continue.

Quick Summary:

To catch folks up on who Sera is and her role in Hazbin Hotel; Sera is the head Seraphim of Heaven within the Hellaverse, (The Seraphim in Judeo-Christian Lore are regarded as the highest order of the hosts of Heaven itself, 2nd only to God and/or Jesus) and while we do not know the exact hierarchy of Heaven within the show itself at the moment, we do see Sera as the public figurehead of Heaven.

However, while she may be the figurehead we are exposed to the most, we are given some clues in supplementary material that reveals how, apart from God, Sera does work under someone else who is above her in the hierarchy, that being the Speaker of God; possibly Metatron.

During the events of Hazbin Hotel Season One Episode 6 "Welcome to Heaven" Charlie Morningstar, the main protagonist, tries to appeal to Heaven directly after her first meeting with Adam to get her hotel project underway to help reform Sinners failed resulting in the Exterminations of Sinners going from their originally planned once a year schedule to now being committed every 6 months.

She makes a her case after showing Heaven's court the progress of one of the Hotel's current patrons, Angeldust, with him showing many signs of still genuinely holding onto some virtues and morals that supposedly allow human souls to enter Heaven, especially when Adam himself wrote down what were supposedly 3 rules that he thinks got him into Heaven, of which Angel technically fulfilled.

Charlie made one last attempt to plea to Sera during the episode's music number "You didn't know" to try and win her over, with Emily (Sera's younger sister) also pleading with Sera to be open to this, but before anything could go further, chaos erupted in Heaven's court thanks to Lute and Adam leading to the Exterminations, which had been kept a secret to everyone (save for Sera, Adam, and the Exorcists), causing a division among the hosts of Heaven.

Emily then berates Sera for her involvement and cover up of the exterminations and calls her out on the hypocrisy being displayed as Angeldust showed redeeming qualities, yet he wasn't allowed in Heaven nor is she willing to give him a chance to redeem himself.

Not helped that no one, not even Sera, knows HOW souls are sorted, making Emily see that her sister, the person she looked up to. was complacent in killing these souls and denying them a chance to redeem.

After things had calmed down and all was said and done, Sera sadly still rejected the notion of Sinners being able to be redeemed and did not question how souls are even sorted to begin with, choosing instead to trust that the system in which souls are sorted is doing what it's supposed to, later expressing her fear to Emily adter the trial ended, that if they do question things, that if they do not do what they can to protect the souls they have in heaven, it could lead to the same damnation which befell Lucifer.

However, as Season One came to an end, Sera was visibly shaken when she saw another Sinner, Sir Pentious, who was among Charlie's tenants show up fully redeemed (he was thought to have been exterminated when he battled Adam).

So, with things summarized, let's look into:

How people reacted to Sera's Character after S1.

This first impression that some viewers had of Sera during Season One ranged from folks being skeptical, distrusting, or just seeing her as a malicious tyrant who pretends to be noble and well intentioned.

some even going so far as to say that if she got the chance, she'd personally send Emily down to Hell herself with a smile on her face for questioning Heaven or would just let Emily be banished and not put up a fight for her.

and I think that these views of her are not accurate to her character in the way that the show portrays her in both how she is written, the way her dialogue is worded out and spoken, and her character animation.

Which is why I want to try and walk folks through these things regarding Sera:

How the story portrays her in S1.

The Positives and Negatives of her Character

And what I think the future holds for her

A clue that may support this thread

So, with this long prologue out of the way:

How does the story portray Sera?

let's start with understanding Sera's role in it.

and to do that I need to first explain:

The difference between an ANTAGONIST and a VILLAIN.

An Antagonist is someone who narratively is in opposition of the story's Protagonist, this can range to their actions being malicious or benign.

Example: The Protagonist seeks to stop a villain's master plan, but is being stopped by their friend, their friend in this case is acting as an Antagonist as their goal is to prevent the protagonist from achieving their own, possibly because of a moral reason or because if the protagonist quest and actions may affect other people negatively, or even the friend being mind controlled.

If a character opposes the protagonist, that is an antagonist

A Villain is someone who commits evil acts with malicious intent against the Protagonist and others.

Example: The Protagonist seeks to bring a villain to justice and the villain is doing everything in their power to stop that from happening whether it is to harm the protagonist, harm their friends, anything goes, and they do it with no regrets or remorse and take joy in their evil actions.

While an Antagonist CAN be a villain and vice versa, they are NOT synonymous with each other. In other words, being an Antagonist does not automatically mean the character is a villain.

Just like how being the Protagonist does not make you a good person (example of this is Bardock from DBZ, who is the protagonist of his own story, but said story shows that he takes joy in the work he does which involves killing people and not being remorseful)

Sera, even though she is opposing Charlie's goal with the Hotel, is NOT a villain; and the reason is because of how she is portrayed in the show.

During the prologue of S1 Ep1, we are visually shown that when the decree of "Heaven making a heartless decision" is made leading to the beginning of the Exterminations, we get THIS Silhouette of Sera

In it, we see Sera's expressions of sadness and remorse as she puts her head down with her eyes showing remorse, as if this decision weighed heavy on her mind and was a reluctant choice, maybe even implying that it was a choice she is ashamed of.

Compare this with that of Adam's silhouette where he is grinning evilly and you can see that he looks more in line with an actual villain compared to Sera.

This is our first indication that Sera may not have been on board with or even liked the idea of the Exterminations, which also gets supported in Ep6 when she speaks with Adam and Lute regarding Charlie coming to Heaven.

This moment establishes that her priority is KEEPING HEAVEN SAFE, because while we the audience have spent time in hell and got to know the cast and see their positive traits that show Hell isn't completely filled with evil, no one in heaven, even Sera, knows this.

To everyone in Heaven and on Earth, Hell is "The Bad Place" where bad people go and Heaven is where only good exists and the souls Heaven does have are who Sera is trying to protect, not out of some fanatical belief where she is doing this to keep Hell's Denizen's in their place, or is "expanding territory" or even having wishing to commit some "Holy Crusade" to destroy all Evil, if that was the case, why do it now especially since, given Lute's words to Charlie in Ep1, that the Hellborn are granted a pardon?

Instead, she's fearing an apparent "unrest" and "uprising" from Sinners, which she tells us so herself...TWICE:

Something I also want to point out too with this moment is that we get an interesting piece of information from Sera:

She mentions to Adam and Lute that when they failed to "control the demon's unrest and now Lucifer is involved" she specifically mentions Lucifer getting involved.

I find this interesting because...why wouldn't Lucifer be involved?

We know the Exterminations were kept secret in Heaven, but why is she worried if Lucifer gets involved? what does his involvement change? because wouldn't she expect him to be aware of this? kinda hard to not be when you see a bunch of angels come down and start poking people with their sharp soul killing weapons!

it makes no sense why she'd be worried if Lucifer got involved when he would have been anyway given that the exterminations are kinda publicly known throughout the Pride ring (where Sinners are kept) and possibly all of hell, did she try to keep this a secret even from him or is there something else we don't know yet?

My only answer for this is that Sera fears his involvement might escalate things and turn "unrest" and "uprising" into full on war.

But then again, I do wonder if Adam is not sharing details with Sera like on HOW he and the Exorcists are doing the Exterminations, but these are questions we'll have to wait and see if the show dives deeper on this, though, keep this in mind as things develop within the show.

So we've just gone over on some of Sera's dialogue, let's look a bit into how the Animation itself portrays Sera, because this is an animated work, character animation is a key important detail in how characters are portrayed and can give clues and information without it being given through exposition.

I've said before elsewhere that the crew at SpindleHorse are an amazing team because of how they utilize the art of animation in ways that animation is supposed to be used to help convey things the story is trying to show the audience.

one example I've talked about on bluesky was how the team knows how to show the audience how much of a couple Charlie and Vaggie are THROUGH BODY LANGUAGE, the love language they show each other through subtle gestures like smiling, placing their hands together, or Charlie kissing Vaggie's eye-patch affectionately, all visual ques that says more than words could and doesn't spoon feed information to the audience.

and the show does this with other characters, Sera included, as I mentioned above with Sera's silhouette from Ep1, we have other examples like the ones below that show while Sera at the end of S1 Ep 6 that she unfortunately rules against the Hotel and the idea of Sinners being capable of redeeming themselves the entire Court Scene gives us expressions from her that shows and tells us what we can infer about Sera's character and how she's feeling about all this.

If she was truly malicious against Charlie she would not be giving these expressions that convey sadness in her eyes, she isn't looking at Charlie like she finds her annoying or that she's bored of hearing "this hellspawn rambling on about things she doesn't know", she's hearing someone pour their heart out and make a plea to her, a plea that, in Sera's POV for whatever the reason, she can't allow herself to open up to and go against what is supposedly how the way things are, and trust me we're gonna get to that later, so put a 📌 on this.

But it is clear before the court got out of hand that Sera was not showing disdain for the idea of the Hotel or even Charlie, at worst, she viewed Charlie's attempts as "Misguided"

And I want to point out she specifically calls Charlie "Misguided" as harsh as that may sound; it isn't as bad as it might come off from a first impression because there are worse ways she could have labelled Charlie.

Looking at this from Sera's side, she's seeing Charlie's actions as misguided because while Charlie's intention is to try and help her people and even try to benefit Heaven by sending more souls to it, would this help that she offers to both her people and Heaven cause any sort of problems for the souls in heaven down the line?

Remember her priority is to protect Heaven's souls, which she believes the system that sorts out souls was put there for a reason and is trusting that and at the moment she doesn't have any guarantee that a sinner's soul is able to be redeemed as it hasn't been done before, so what is there for Sera to go off of that she can trust?

Sera could have called Charlie foolish, stupid, childish, idiotic, delusional, or any other demeaning label other than "Misguided" which specifically shows she understands Charlie's intentions, but again because there is no guarantee or anything that supports the idea of redemption at the time, she isn't able to trust that Charlie's plan can work, and many fans have also said that Charlie herself does not know how things work and have even called her the same be it "Naïve" or "Misguided" despite how well intentioned and loving she is to her people (case in point, the situation with how she handled things with Angeldust in S1 Ep4, her intentions were good but she was misguided in her attempt to help Angel and only made things worse for him, which she did learn from)

Another example is that even though Sera rejects the Hotel and such, when Adam mocked Charlie and gleefully said he would destroy the hotel first on their way to perform the next Extermination, Sera showed visible disapproval and anger to Adam, calling his actions "uncalled for".

But now it's time to go to that 📌 I mentioned earlier folks cause while the show does visually humanize Sera as well as through her dialogue, we need to talk about:

Sera's Faults

See, If Sera disapproves of Adam's callousness towards Charlie, showed some level of understanding of Charlie's intentions to the point where she allowed Charlie to make her case to the hosts of Heaven then why, oh god, WHY is she still going through with the exterminations and not second-guessing Adam's character?

Because Sera is BLINDLY trusting in what she is led to believe is how things should be and yes, you heard me right, i specifically say LED to believe because:

Sera may be the head seraphim, but as you read earlier in the thread, she has people who are above her in the chain of command outside of God.

and the reason she doesn't question Adam's character is because:

Like...babe, I love yea...

But this right here shows she is trusting the fact that just because Adam was the first human soul in heaven, that he MUST be good...right? his behavior and actions are all just how humans are supposed to be...right?

But while her blind faith is an issue, there is also a REASON for this and one that helps show her in a more sympathetic light, because of how relatable it is.

see compared to someone like Lute who is FANATICALLY loyal to Heaven's way of doing things and takes great pride and joy in doing her work (murdering people).

Sera's reasons for following comes from a place of FEAR

Not a fear for herself, her position, or anything selfish but fear for the souls in Heaven and trying to ensure their safety.

and most especially her fear of what could happen to her loved ones, of what could happen...to Emily.

If anyone was in her position, one that demands the weight of leadership and responsibilities to care for and look after others, could they truly ask themselves if they had to choose between their loved ones and people they don't know, who they've been brought up to believe are evil, would they not also choose their loved ones to protect?

"Heavy is the head that wears the crown" - a saying that is but one descriptor for Sera and her position.

But if Sera is working under someone, what if that someone is using Sera's fear with knowing what happened to Lucifer, possibly even witnessing that fall herself, and pushes that thought that this same fate can befall Emily all to keep her in line or at least keep her from questioning without her knowing all in the name of a "Greater God" that it is "God's Will" when it could be a manipulation to ensure no one else gets out of line the way Lucifer did?

I'm reminded of a quote from John Coffey in the Green Mile film:

Context: John Coffey says this line as he tells Paul (Tom Hanks) about how a child murderer that was an inmate at the Green mile, used the love that two sisters had for each other, by making them think they were protecting the other when in fact, to keep them silent, he told them that if one of them screams he would kill the other sister and vice versa.

and for some reason I can't help but feel this also may apply to Sera, what if, and humor me on this folks, what if Sera's love for Emily and even Heaven's souls, but especially Emily is being used against her to fuel her fears?

It wouldn't be entirely impossible for this to be a factor since it does happen even in the real world, losing the people you love (especially in religious families) and thinking they might be condemned to eternal suffering is a very relatable fear to have and one that can drive people to do misguided deeds in the name of keeping those loved ones safe.

You can both HEAR and SEE that fear in Sera's eyes, her words, and expressions when she speaks with Emily.

Which, given how we've brought up his name a few times already, brings me to someone who I think parallels Sera.

That being Hell's Greatest Dad himself; Lucifer.

For all we have seen Lucifer do, the love, adoration, and pride he has for his daughter, and the lengths he went to, to protect her and fight with her for her dream after they made amends.

prior to all of this, we learn in his debut episode (S1ep5 "Dad Beat Dad") and even back in Ep1 that Lucifer holds a resentment towards Sinners.

but as his arc within that same episode showed, he is also very similar in his position to Sera.

that being:

-Complacent with the Exterminations.

-Allowed Exterminations to go on; so long as his loved one (Charlie) was protected

-Refused to help Charlie with her dream of making the Hotel work and help Sinners redeem themselves

-Believed that Sinners did not want, nor had the ability, to find redemption.

The only difference atm is that Sera hasn't had time to go through the development that Lucifer did in his debut, which is understandable given how short S1 is and S2 is set to be more focused on Heaven, so while Lucifer was a one-two-punch in his character arc, Sera feels like a slow burn, which I'll go more into later on.

now, taking Lucifer into account we need to see things from Sera's POV as we know she is well aware of how Lucifer was made into an example of what will happen if you question and go against Heaven, and seeing what happened to him and thinking it could happen to Emily terrifies Sera and its why she's pushing back on the idea of the Hotel and letting former Sinners have access to Heaven.

Heck the show visually communicates a parallel between both Lucifer and Sera in these two shots, both of them wishing only to protect their loved ones at any cost and are afraid of what Heaven can and will do to them.

For Lucifer he allowed the Exterminations to go on so long as Charlie was pardoned, and while he was also against the hotel it was out of fear of what Heaven would do to Charlie either breaking her spirit or breaking her body.

For Sera, she wants to protect Emily from potentially suffering Lucifer's fate, especially since for all we know Emily wasn't born when Lucifer was still in Heaven and protect Heaven from any possibly threat and is allowing the exterminations to happen under the assumption that it is protecting heaven from a real threat.

and i want to note that Sera doesn't talk about Lucifer's fall as if she's trying to scare Emily into submitting, if anything SERA sounds like SHE is the one who was traumatized, and her words to Emily sounds more like she is begging rather than commanding.

Another comparison I also made was between Sera and Charlie herself;

Both Sera and Charlie have noble intentions, that being the protection of their people and loved ones.

but they also share the same flaw, that being that while their intentions are noble, both of them have no idea how things really work so that they can make the changes needed.

the key difference is that Charlie is willing to find other answers, while Sera is to afraid to look for other options. sad but true.

the reason i bring up this parallel is due to the fact that while Charlie and Sera's intentions are good, they are essentially walking in blind as their actions will have a domino effect that may bring negative consequences down the line.

For Sera, Adam is dead, and Hell now knows Heaven's forces can be killed, which could lead to the very uprising she was trying to avoid and if so, it will lead to Heaven and her superiors coming down even harder and possibly making things worse.

For Charlie, She wants to redeem her people so they can enjoy heaven and not fear extermination, but she doesn't know HOW and even then she isn't giving her people a reason to want to try to be redeemed.

the only ones who did willingly join was Angeldust but even then it was mostly to get out of his living situation with Valentino and had initially mocked the Hotel before trying to give it a sincere try and Pentious joined because he hit rock bottom only giving the hotel a try after his spy mission failed and Charlie offered him sincere friendship a place he can belong; but that's 2 souls out of the thousands in Pride Ring and not everyone is like Angel and Pentious as we saw with folks like Mimzy and even Alastor, who supports the Hotel, supposedly, out of a sick twisted desire to just see souls cling to false hope and watch them fall again.

Charlie's victory over the Exorcists becoming public also backfire hard and ends up discouraging Sinners to want to redeem themselves because, why change who they are when they can stay as they are and fight back?

And if they choose instead to not seek redemption, they'll only grow to become more and more the very threat Sera fears

We CANNOT assume that Sera's fear of Hell having Sinners who would uprise is entirely unfounded.

Or did we forget about the Vees and how once they learned it was possible to kill an Angel, their first recourse was to gather the Overlords and go to war against Heaven?

Sinners like the Vees fully embrace their sinfulness and embody the worst traits of humanity.

Imagine if you will, what if the way for Sinners to gain Redemption happened differently instead of going the route that led Sir Pentious to redemption, which was possibly through personal sacrifice and self-improvement.

What if Charlie did get support from Sera and Heaven?

What if the Hotel gets made and Charlie thinks the path to redemption is from any of the lessons she tried teaching that we saw in S1 and receives Heaven's blessing by having Sinners go through Charlie's courses and then once they pass or are deemed to have completed them are allowed in Heaven?

and through this system, a sinner ends up cheating their way into Heaven.

As we saw with Pentious in the beginning, he was faking his attempts to redeem himself and acted as a spy for the Vees all for his own personal gain of being recognized as an Overlord and if Pentious could do it, anyone else could do it if it meant going to heaven and living int he lap of luxury.

"One bad apple can spoil the bunch"

a quote that i'm pretty sure we can agree on is a possible outcome if a sinner finds a way to get into Heaven without truly repenting and atoning.

and that's not even including what other Overlords could do, especially ones like Alastor.

So, while Sera's choice to allow the Exterminations was a bad choice and let me make it clear that it was very much a bad choice, when her other choice should have been to work with Charlie to find another way.

you can't really say that she is doing things out of hatred towards Sinners or, again, that her fears are entirely unfounded.

But her letting her fears control her is also contributing to the problem getting worse and I believe this is her character arc.

and that leads us to the final segment:

What I think will be Sera's arc in S2 onward.

I want to first share a music video with a song written and sung by the amazing milkymelodies which looks into a possible outcome where Sera reflects on her past actions and recognizes that, as the title of the song says "Heaven is Changing" that maybe there is no need to fear this change that is taking place and to hope once more.

It is honestly a beautiful piece of music and art that shows a part of Sera we could see in S2 onward in regard to her coming to see she was wrong and that redemption is possible and to open her heart and take a leap of faith.

A Theory I have for Sera in S2 is that while she will be shocked at Pentious's redemption, through Emily and her willingness to accept Pentious, she will let him remain and see how things play out, all the while Sera will try to come to terms with this development as she may think that this sudden change might very well be "God's Will" or something positive and possibly let go of her fears and in doing so try to keep Lute, who we know holds a deep hatred for Charlie and her friends, from exposing Pentious and thus expose to the other souls about the exterminations and cause fear and panic to come over the populous.

This in turn will frustrate Lute who will slowly lose faith in Sera and work to undermine her and remove Pentious, Possibly even go straight to "The Speaker of God" to convince them that Sera is letting a potential threat roam in Heaven rather than returning Pentious to Hell.

Ultimately the very threat Sera wanted to fight against would come from within and from one she put her trust in.

This would lead to Sera undergoing something similar to what Stolas underwent in Healluva Boss S2 Ep11 Mastermind

Sera, after trying to keep order and having let go of her fears and accepting Pentious, is now being undermined by Lute as Heaven somehow becomes aware of Pentious's ascension to Heaven and Adam's death at the hands of Charlie and her allies, as well as Hell now gaining confidence in fighting back against Heaven.

Sera is first brought to a meeting with the Speaker of God who tells Sera to send Pentious back to Hell and while Sera pleads for his case, she is put back in line and reminded of what will happen to her, or Emily, if she disobeys.

We'll be led to believe Sera may go through with this and send Pentious back to hell, but in a critical moment, Sera disobeys and sends Pentious and Emily to Hell, not as punishment, but to warn Charlie and the others of Lute's return as she is being backed by The Speaker of God and they plan to send in another, BIGGER, Extermination force.

For disobeying, Sera is brought before Heaven's Court to be judged, The Speaker of God now in Sera's position and Sera now having to defend her actions and is now in the same position Charlie was in.

and much like Charlie, despite Sera's pleas to the heavenly court who may have sided with the Hotel, her cries fall on deaf ears, as Lute throws Sera under the bus to get what she wants (revenge) and is doing what she can to justify Sera being incompetent and should be removed from Heaven.

Sera will undergo the same kind of fate that befell Stolas as she is stripped of her title, Rank, and powers and is banished to Hell, now labelled as a traitor, Heaven's souls now being lead to believe she was working with Lucifer and was some kind of double agent, really going for Red Scare vibes.

Heaven's higher ups not feeling concerned with any warning Sera or Emily may give to Charlie and the others will matter.

Lute who in turn now falls under The Speaker's command (maybe even The Seven Holy Virtues) as they now seek to "fix" everything and make things as they once were, and given that Abel is revealed to be in this season, it's more than likely Abel will play a role in this, possibly being a neutral party as they don't know what to do and may in fact, be the kind of good natured person who is a people pleaser, wishing to help Lute because he doesn't have the full story, is being told Sera is a traitor and that Pentious did all this and he is being molded to take his father's place.

Sera meanwhile now will experience Hell and may very well see the work Charlie is trying to do and if all this does come to pass somehow in some way, Sera will meet with the Sinners she once dismissed and come to see that she was wrong to not offer them the chance to redeem as her and Emily are now refugees in Hell, now fully becoming allies with Charlie to help and atone for the part she played in the Exterminations, perhaps even possibly mending any relations she had with Lucifer. I get the feeling those two were close friends before his fall.

This is also why I strongly believe too that Emily is a key player in Sera's arc, Emily is the one who holds the virtues of Heaven in high regard, who believes in all that they stand for and wants people to be treated fairly.

Her fiery passion helps her to not be afraid and maybe, just maybe, she may help inspire Sera to overcome her fears and that if the time ever same for Sera to make a choice, her love for Emily will override her fear of punishment and she may in fact place her faith and hope in Emily.

Just like Charlie inspired her father to move past his fears and doubts and to try and hope once more.

Final Thoughts

While Sera's character isn't perfect, while she was complacent with the exterminations, my point of this thread was to hopefully show that Sera is much more than what first impressions from the fanbase may have gotten of her character.

Part of me feels there some, not all, but some viewers are initially biased against her, because she is a being from Heaven and is the current face and authority of Heaven and how Heaven is associated in the real world with a religion that has been used to persecute others, despite the religion teaching otherwise.

this along with her impression having her be complacent has lead to her being seen more as an enemy, a villain, and a monster.

but as I hoped I demonstrated in this, there is a difference between what the story shows her as versus what people's perception of her is and that Sera is far more humanized than some may think.

my hope with this thread and analysis is to help people see Sera in a better light, by all means be cautious, but don't fall into the same trap she did by making a judgement based on surface level showcasing of her character.

Which is oddly similar to how she doesn't know Angeldust's character only from a few showings of who he is, making both good and bad choices.

we the audience are also in that same situation, only seeing small fragments of her character, with more yet to come.

even though Sera at the moment has not been able to show her potential for atonement or redemption, I think we owe it to ourselves to give her and even others like her, the chance to show us that potential and not close our hearts to the possibility that she may make good on it instead of treating her like she is an irredeemable villain.

The shows core themes are about redemption, empathy, and trying to be better in spite of any flaws we have and that redemption is possible FOR EVERYONE. Just like a certain person tried showing humanity once and died for that.

The Hellaverse has shown us that flawed people can change for the better, that flaws don't define us, that we should strive to reforge relationships if both are willing and try to mend fences.

and that while no character is fully innocent, they also aren't entirely guilty or hold more blame than others, save for anyone who openly showed how vile they are (The Vees, Adam, Lute, Stella, Mammon, Etc.)

so, if we as fans truly do wish to embody the values, morals, and ethics of the shows and characters we love from this universe and learn from them.

I won't hide the fact that when S1's trailer first aired I fully expected and liked the idea of "Evil Sera", that she was some kind of holier than thou self-righteous being that saw that anything remotely evil and sinful must be purged in holy fire who would eventually be defeated.

But then the show aired, I saw her character, and I saw something more to her, not some fanatical or delusional villain seeing themselves as righteous, definitely not like the Heavenly beings I saw as the villains in other media like CW's Supernatural.

but something oddly...human, something that shows a different side of her that isn't evil, but is...lost, tragic, and even...misguided.

and while Viv and the writers can absolutely go any route they want with her that would show her as someone who gives into her fears and would side with the villains, I'm willing to believe that like with so many characters, Viv and the others will bring nuance to her character and try to find a way to have her arc be her balancing herself out so that she overcomes her fears and changes for the better, not being someone who is entirely manipulated, not someone who does things because they're self righteous.

and I'm at least planning to see Sera's character arc through and will not condemn her as irredeemable, at least not until the show itself proves otherwise.

The reason I am so strong in this position, why I am taking a stance and putting so much effort to write this long thread (and to anyone still reading this up to now thank you) on why I defend Sera, despite hearing strong and valid arguments from fellow fans and friends within the Hellaverse fandom about her and get told constantly about her faults and her complacency...

Is because of this:

Back on Twitter and then once again on BluSky, I made a post where I had analyzed and described how Emily, Sera, Adam, and Lute each represented a different group of people who practice religion.

Adam represented those who are toxic within religious groups and use their religion to justify discriminating against others.

Lute represented the Fanatical people in religion, how some are so devoted to their faith they will never question it and will harm those who they preserve as a threat to it.

Emily represented the new generation of believers who are progressive, who do not follow blindly and are more open and accepting of others while doing their best to uphold the virtues and practices of their faith.

and then there's Sera, who I described as representing people who are Traditionalists in religion, specifically the kind who do not question and adhere to the strict teachings out of fear of negative consequences.

Because some religions, as i mentioned earlier, do have those who use the faith to instill fear of eternal damnation for not following that religions doctrine and this fear that is instilled into some is not only fear for their own souls, but the souls of their loved ones, which is why some are hesitant to change or question, if anything they are a prisoner without them knowing it, a prisoner of their own fears.

and guess who liked this post BOTH TIMES:

Yeap, Viv herself liked it

and while she hasn't commented or replied to either posts (understandable because doing so is too much of a risk at giving away spoilers) this to me is something that I am holding onto as a clue that may justify my stance with Sera which may in fact be Viv's intention with her, even if her plans for HOW Sera's development goes doesn't match with what my theory is.

In Conclusion

Sera isn't innocent, her complacency is an issue and S2 may be the make-or-break moment for her, because she will have to make a choice and an important one that will shape her fate and the fates of her loved ones.

But flaws and all, I will give her the chance to do better, I won't renounce sympathy or empathy towards her and her position, but that's about as much good will as i can give her. whatever comes from the story, it will be her choices moving forward that we should judge, if we can do that for Lucifer, we can do it for Sera.

I'll still have faith that she can change for the better and be the person that Emily said she admired.

To be the kind of person Heaven needs along with Emily or at least be the last piece of Heaven's old order that supports the future so that something better can come from her time.

Only time will tell.

The Amazing ... Circus!!

"The Greatest Travelling Circus!"

Finally finished the designs for this AU!! Some of them may be subject to change but this is how they're looking for now!