#project wraith

PROJECT LAMIA

As before, Project Lamia is Mona and her power has something to do with shapeshifting. At least, Friedkin mentions a shapeshifter and we see Mona change shapes. We see her throughout season one - likely - as the squeeze toy, and as a clown in Amanda’s vision. When she teleports Dirk, we see her in human shape with bright green eyes, just like the clown toy (sometimes - when the eyes aren’t blue).

But why “Lamia”?

Lamia was a figure in Greek mythology. Hera killed or stole all Lamia’s children and cursed her to become a child-eating monster herself. Alternatively, Lamia goes mad with grief and devours other children out of envy, becoming a monster in the process. Lamia is cursed with an inability to close her eyes so that she always has to obsess over the image of her dead children, so Zeus gives her the ability to remove her eyes, which in turn gives her the gift of prophecy. The myth of the Lamia monster has been used for centuries to scare children.

But why did Blackwing give Mona the name Project Lamia? I think it’s because of her curse to bear witness. I think part of Mona’s power is the ability to take a form and witness, but not being able to actually do anything other than witness when she takes on a different form. The squeaky toy literally cannot close its eyes, and the other forms she takes are all rather inconsequential. The only time we actually see her do something important is when she throws the water on Dirk, and that’s when she looks human. This is also reflected in the symbol for Lamia: a circle representing an eye looking out over the world.

PROJECT CARMAN

Carman is a figure from Celtic mythology, an evil Greek warrior-witch who invaded Ireland with her three sons, bringers of death and destruction. Their names are Dub (darkness), Dothur (evil) and Dian (violence). She used her powers to destroy all the crops in Ireland while her sons destroyed everything else in their path. They were then challenged by four others: the god of poetry (Ai Mac Ollamain), a white sorceress (Bé Chuille), a satirist (Cridhinbheal) and a magician (Lugh Laebach), who used their magical powers against Carman’s three sons and banished them from Ireland for as long as the land was surrounded by water. Bé Chuille then used a spell to subdue her magic and Carman was imprisoned, after which she died of longing and was buried among oak trees. At the sight of her burial place a fair was held every three years during the harvest festival. If the festival failed to be held, it meant famine for all of Ireland.

We don’t know who Project Carman is, but there is a theory here that she is linked to the Cardenas’ because of the name and the being buried among oak trees. The question that is important to me, however, is why would Blackwing give a subject this name? Major themes with Carman seem to be her being the cause of famine, and the trail of destruction left by her sons.

As far as the symbol for Carman goes, I don’t have any firm theories. As far as I can tell, the square as a symbol stands for the material world. The two overlapping squares could mean two overlapping material worlds - which, if we go with the Cardenas theory, could hint to a house within a house - or we could see them as forming a third square which could reference the three brothers in the myth. It could also be a reference to theories of dualism.

PROJECT MIRU

Miru is a figure from Polynesian mythology and I could find very little information about her. She is a death goddess or a demonic goddess who lives in the nether world, Avaiki. Avaiki is the ‘root of the world’ from which the rest of the earth was created. Miru intoxicates either the souls of dead people or just men with kava, then cooks them in her ever-burning oven and devours them.

So we have Miru’s ever-burning oven and intoxicating people with kava, a drink made from the kava plant. Kava has sedative, anesthetic and euphoriant qualities which makes me think that maybe this is part of her power - being able to influence how others feel or making other people experience things.

As far as the symbol for Miru goes, it seems to be a combination of the alchemical symbols for sun and earth:

It could also simply be a figure, indicated by the dot, in the middle of the earth, like Miru in the nether world.

PROJECT VESTA

Vesta is a Roman mythological figure. She is the goddess of hearth, home who rejected the advances of both Apollo and Neptune and begged Jupiter to allow her to remain forever a virgin. When he agreed, Vesta took care of his home and hearth out of thanks. She is rarely depicted as a human, but is often personified by her ever-burning flame or as the fire stick that lights the hearthfire. In Rome there was a perpetual fire tended to by Vestal Virgins, and its extinction at any time other than the Roman new year meant disaster for Rome.

Her symbol very much matches the myth. A Greek historian said: “And they regard the fire as consecrated to Vesta, because that goddess, being the Earth and occupying the central position in the universe, kindles the celestial fires from herself.”

So themes for Vesta are fire, home, and the connection between heaven/sky and earth.

Worth noting: there is also the Vesta family of asteroids, including 4 Vesta, which is the brightest asteroid visible from Earth.

PROJECT WRAITH So wraith is originally a Scots word for a ghost, spectre or apparition, though it can also be an omen of sorts, or a wisp or faint trace of something. I have a lot of trouble coming up with what this could be in terms of Blackwing because it could be so many things and I can’t come up with a good explanation for the symbol either. The only thing is that it’s one of few symbols with a hexagon, the others being Orthrus, Golem and Phoenix [which Amanda sees a vision of maybe?], and the hexagon is a symbol that shows up very prominently in both The Mage and Triangle Badevil’s tattoos.

PROJECT GETUS

Getus is another very tough one, mostly because I could find nothing for ‘Getus’. There is Cetus, an ancient Greek sea monster or large fish or whale. The sea monsters slain by Perseus and Heracles are referred to as cetus. Cetus are viewed as bad omens to sailors, bringers of misfortune or great storms.

The symbol for Getus is very similar to the all seeing eye or eye of providence.

I have no theories for Project Getus, though the interrupted triangle reminds me of the spirit of something bigger being part of the middle. Like shark kitten. Yeah, Project Getus is shark kitten.