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Re: The Assembly
by Monolycus on Aug 12, 2003 - 05:06 PM
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I have to give Rogue credit for the inspiration about the Seven Deadlies. He pointed out to me these bumper stickers (which I have since seen everywhere!) that have the words "The Power of Pride" emblazoned over an American flag. He joked about the idea of making "The Power of Envy" (et cetera) bumper stickers. The more I thought about it, though, the more it seemed to me that the real joke was that it was no joke. People really have embraced the Seven Deadly Sins as guidelines for their behaviour.
Anyway, thanks for the kind words... although it was really modelled after the United Nations. If British Parliament were the model I was using, then Shiva would be suing the BBC for defamation of character.
~M.
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Missing the Point
by Monolycus on Aug 13, 2003 - 11:10 PM
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Ah, okay, I think I misread what you were saying. You thought it was apt that I assigned Iblis the rôle of Lust. Gotcha. That was an intuitive call on my part. Someone once proposed that "Original Sin" was actually sex between Adam and Eve, which would make Iblis' rôle as the Serpent that of lust in my mind. Add that to Iblis' duties to "tempt unbelievers" according to the Islamic faith, and his representation as a goat (satyr) in Semitic myth (as Azazel), and it just kind of all came together for me. I won't say that it was a perfect one-to-one analogy, but he was the one my gut told me to assign to that rôle.
I actually felt I was going further out on a limb by associating Avarice with the giantess Gulveig, which is a pet theory of mine. According to the Icelandic sagas, it was Gulveig and her two sisters (if anyone has ever found a name for her sisters, please let me know!) who caused the Winter War between the Ćsir and the Vanir, and eating Gulveig's heart has been proposed as the cause of the warping of Loki. I've also seen some author's suggest that Gulveig was waiting in the cave with the hoard of Andvari, which fits my model almost perfectly. One thing the Asa and the Vans had before the Winter War was gold (which they used to build with), but when they started hoarding and coveting, the end was near. For these reasons, I see Gulveig (which can be translated as "Gold Drink") as the spirit of Avarice.
It's possible that there are others who would be more appropriate to the rôles than the ones I assigned, and I would love to hear any suggestions or criticisms.
~M.
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