#aeonix

now, let's move on to some more garden of eden symbolism. I said this in part 2 of my analysis of the lucifer imagery:

there is also something to be said about him being adam and eve as well: being tempted by the tree of knowledge ( ena / order ) and the whole paradox that entails as the tree of knowledge is the pinnacle of free will and choice. without the tree, free will and choice would not exist. so, sunday is both the tempter ( lucifer ) and the tempted ( adam and eve / humanity ).

while i still stand behind this, i also want to say that gopher is without a doubt also the "tempter" but more in the role as the actual snake, who is deceptive and manipulative, guiding sunday to eat the "forbidden fruit" that sunday perceived to be the right choice. i would like to also rectify that the tree of knowledge and the apple aren't necessarily a free will vs choice thing, while it is that, it's also that the apple / forbidden fruit is more symbolic of the sins and evil thoughts that humanity acquired through eating it.

also on the topic of bitch ass gopher, gopher wood was used to make noah's ark which, of course, makes a lot of sense in terms of the whole penacony plot. in terms of more miscellaneous christian imagery, we have:

the dove ( obviously. also sunday representing the dove and being in a caged, as well as the dove falling to earth at the end )

them being angels in general, most reminiscent of seraphims / seraphs because they're the highest in the hierarchy of angels in the order of angels in the bible, and also "the closest to God and lead worship in heaven by singing endless praises to him" as said by the wikipedia article. the case can also be made for them being symbolic of archangels too since they most closely resemble them

also on the topic of archangels, my sunday's real name being gabriel, as in the archangel who announces the birth of jesus to mary and also is commonly referred to as the "voice of god", which can also be seen in sunday using the harmony voice and during his time as a confessor ( which, again, more christian symbolism with the whole confessional thing ).

his name just literally being sunday, after the day of rest and worship for christians ( as well as a bunch of other stuff )

next, we'll get into some of the specific things he says. at the end of 2.0 he says something like "it's not yet time. I will mete out punishment when the day comes" which is reminiscent of judgement day in the bible. he also talks about leading the vanguard of sorts against the evil and the sword and bow of his god, which also makes me think of archangels again, and specifically micheal because he's most often depicted as the warrior of the angels, and he usually has a sword.

sunday also mentions "107,336 notes" or people within the order, and I believe gopher says this to acheron too. weird number just to throw out right ? well, it's probably actually a reference to psalm 107, which is basically praising god for granting the people peace and bringing them from a desolate land into one of safety and about god humbling the strong to protect the weak. as for the "336" it's probably referring to psalm 33.6 which in the new international version reads:

by the word of the lord the heavens were made,   their starry host by the breath of his mouth. he gathers the waters of the sea into jars;    he puts the deep into storehouses. let all the earth fear the lord;     let all the people of the world revere him. for he spoke, and it came to be;     he commanded, and it stood firm.

this again goes back to what i said about praising god for his mercy and creating the world and giving the people water and all that. the whole creation aspect reminds me A LOT of the "white gentleman" drink that was sunday's during that jazz event in 2.2. it's honestly too much to quote because this is already amazingly long, but i talk about it more here.

before i talk about all the religious symbolism, let's take a quick intermission to talk about some of the other symbolism he has:

while the thorns probably more strongly resonates as being connected to jesus and all that, robin is also seen holding rose petals in the had i not seen the sun artwork, so it could be symbolic of them being different parts of the same rose as well

in the boss fight, he has an ability called im anfang war die kraft, which is a reference to goethe's faust which means "in the beginning there was power" which then begins im anfang war die tat which translates to "in the beginning was the act"

there's also a lot more references and symbolism regarding faust, but since I haven't read it and can't explain nearly as well as this person did, I'll just link this reddit thread that goes into detail about it

which leads us perfectly into all the other imagery in sunday's boss battle ! first though, i have to mention the past, present, and future mannequin things that we see in the different odes. not much to really say here except it mirrors the transition of the family finding order / god, but the mention of the prisoner's newfound freedom in this "scorched earth" in act 1 ode to prisoner reminds me a lot of the "desolate land" referred to in the bible verse form earlier which, yeah, makes sense. also just the nonbelievers being punished in an unforgiving and barren land, which leads to them eventually finding a new master within god in the present, and then accepting the unified order in the future. this makes me want to talk about the connections between ena and gaiathra so badly because the "satisfied" emotion has the eye behind ena in the artwork's eye color which so happens to be aventurine's too but that's a story for another day. update: the past, present, and future puppet fight being referred to as "the eternal comedy" in the divergent / simulated universe could be a reference to dante's divine comedy as well. this is something i already take inspiration from for sunday, but the biblical symbolism is ( as you can guess ) is quite strong there too. perhaps each puppet represents inferno ( hell ), purgatorio ( purgatory ), and paradiso ( heaven ) respectively ?

anyways, onto the actual boss stuff. "dominicus" the name of the choirmaster that sunday inhabited, means "lordly", "belonging to god" or "of the master" and the latin phrase "dies dominicus" means day of the lord. i haven't played honkai impact 3rd, but apparently, the harmonious choir's theater and its role of the puppet master mirrors the herrscher of dominance, so, that's cool. anyways, there is of course the creation of adam reference in the 3rd boss phase when he touches ena's hand, and of course his 7 days of creation mirrors the actual 7 days of creation in the bible ( just with different... things in each day )