I keep seeing all these posts about grace being buried on Erid after he dies or getting a statue or what have you.
What if he gets turned into a diamond? What if Grace tells Adrian that humans figured out they can be cremated and have their ashes turned into diamonds? What if Grace asks Adrian to turn him into a diamond for Rocky? Rocky gets the stone set into their carapace so Grace is always with them.
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Scotland is now the first country in the UK to offer alkaline hydrolysis as a legal alternative to burial or traditional cremation.
From the article:
Scotland is making history in end-of-life care. As of this year, families there now have a third option alongside burial and traditional cremation: alkaline hydrolysis, more commonly known as water cremation. It’s already legal in the Republic of Ireland and across much of the United States, and the company leading its UK introduction is calling it the biggest change to cremation law since the practice was first regulated in 1902.
[...]
The numbers here are notable. A standard cremation produces the equivalent of roughly 320 kilograms (about 705 pounds) of carbon dioxide. Alkaline hydrolysis emits seven times less. For families weighing their environmental footprint as part of end-of-life planning, that gap is significant.
It’s worth noting that water cremation was the method chosen by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the anti-apartheid activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, when he died in 2021.
Public Health Minister Jenni Minto described the process as “an environmentally friendly alternative” to existing options, adding: “The choices people make about their remains prior to death are deeply personal, shaped by individual values, beliefs and the wishes of their families. The process will be subject to the same assurances and regulatory requirements as existing methods, giving bereaved families confidence that their loved ones are treated with care, dignity and respect.”
Three women in bright attire at cremation ceremony known as Ngaben
In Balinese Hinduism, Ngaben is not a somber or mournful funeral in the Western sense, but rather a celebratory and essential rite of passage. It is the ritual through which the physical body is returned to the five basic elements of the universe (Panca Maha Bhuta), freeing the soul (Atman) so that it can be reincarnated or achieve liberation.
Traditional Ceremonial Attire (Pakaian Adat)
The three women in are dressed in classic Balinese ceremonial clothing, which is strictly required for attending religious rituals and temple events:
Kebaya: The long-sleeved, fitted lace or fabric blouses they are wearing. While modern kebayas come in many styles, the traditional cuts worn here are typical of daily and ceremonial wear from several decades ago.
Kamen (Sarong): The patterned cloth wrapped around their lower halves.
Senteng (Sash): The essential sash tied around the waist (visible on all three women, particularly the vibrant blue and pink ones). The sash is spiritually significant, symbolising the binding of lower human impulses and showing respect when entering sacred spaces or participating in rituals.
Offerings: The woman on the left is holding a small basket or shallow bowl, typically used to carry offerings (banten) consisting of flowers, rice, and incense, which are central to every stage of the ritual.
(notes provided by Google Gemini, the AI arm of Google)
“Sometimes bodies were disinterred before they had begun to decompose fully, the flesh chopped up and thrown into bone pits, while the parts of the coffins that could be preserved were reused.”
Why is it so hard to keep the dead buried? Read our fascinating new essay from Ralph Jones here.
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I like the idea that the Followers of Fëanor cremate their fallen in honour of their Lord’s unfortunate combustion; I also like the idea that Maedhros was so aggrieved after Doriath that he set the three C’s pyre alight just by touching it.
...at all the dead, warning Modri that if the locals found this scene, they would stake their hearts and cremate them all instead of giving them regular burials. Modri is particularly upset at the idea of cremation, since it was a very uncommon practice in Europe at the time. If we are to believe the outfits and such, this is late 18th century. When Modri says he cannot allow the villagers to burn the bodies, the guy warns that Modri would be burned as well. This suggests that no matter what Modri said, they would not trust him... so, they would kill him (possibly a stake through his heart) and add him to the pile of burning corpses (or they would restrain him somehow and just add him, making him burn alive). Strigoi is a Romanian term, and there are dead strigoi as well as living ones. The corpses there could supposedly become the former, while Modri would potentially be labeled as one of the latter (which is why he would also be killed and burned by the locals). The folklore about them gave Bram Stoker a lot of material to work with, but stories of strigoi are still common in Eastern European cultures.
The guy talks about souls devoured by demons. What he says matches quite well with what Sebastian tells our earl. Those souls are removed from existence. There's no way into Heaven because they cannot even be judged. He believes in the idea of "from dust to dust" (but apparently not "from ashes to ashes"? 🤔) and thinks burial is the only proper way to honor them. Then he offers to help dig graves.
Back on the estate of his former master, Modri sits near the wheat fields (still full of ripened wheat thanks to the one wish properly granted by the demon). There's now a row of fresh graves between him and those fields. The guy stands behind him, still holding the handle of a shovel. He comes forward, places a hand on his left shoulder, and gives him a stern warning to never again yield to the devil's temptations.
Next, the guy is leaving the estate, by foot. Soon, a carriage catches up to him, and the driver offers him a ride. The guy gladly accepts, but he's surprised when he asks the destination and turns to see the driver.
Modri is in the driver's seat. His eyes are wide open as he says "Rome". The guy gives him an odd look, but that's all we see of them or their communication until they reach Italy.
Major edit: Now they are in Venice, on their way to Rome, though we don't know how long it takes for them to get there. Nor do we know what happened to the carriage or horse. It's quite possible they either sold the horse and carriage or just paid to keep them looked after at some local stables.
They've apparently just taken a gondola to a particular section of town. These are the traditional gondolas of Venice, and that is the famous Rialto Bridge, which connects two districts at the most narrow spot along the Grand Canal. Here are images of it showing roughly what it looked like back then.
From the waterway, they take some steps up to a walkway along a stone building. By the time we see them again, they are already in Rome.
There are some minor questions here; idk if it's really all that important how or what or why, but I'd personally like to know how Modri decides to go to Rome. Sure, we learn pretty soon what's in Rome, but how on earth does Modri know to go there? Is it something they talk about earlier that we are just simply not privy to? Of course, I'd also like to know if this location where they disembark is anywhere in particular within Rome. I'll see if I can find any info on it. (Edit: I give what should be the obvious answer to the first question in part 4, and the not as obvious answer to the second question is now just above ⬆️ in this post.)
I'm still confused as to why this guy sounds like he isn't just speaking with a different accent or dialect but possibly a different language, and yet... Modri has no trouble understanding and communicating with him. The speech bubbles don't suggest anything other than English is being spoken here, and that just doesn't make any sense. Perhaps it's all being shown as "English" simply because that's the language Modri is using to recount the tale. Ok... but I still have questions about that. Like: How well do they communicate with each other way back when this is actually taking place? And: How is Modri's English so fluent now; where even is his Austro-Hungarian accent? I haven't noticed it. 🧐 🤨
