I honestly don't have faith in things like those either. Though that specifically is less of an intrinsic inability and more general learned attitude from life experiences of "any time I've ever tried to trust in anything or anyone they've just invariably let me down".
And ethics are an entirely different ball of wax from faith or spirtuality. Sometimes related, sure, but not the same thing.
Like, my ethics are definitely influenced by my Catholic upbringing, but it's because those specific things continued to make logical sense in relation to my life experiences even after I gave up on trying to believe in God. (In turn there are some aspects I felt didn't make logical sense and so I dropped them in favor of more congruent ideas.)
The Death of Ra was already an amazing bit, but hearing about it again this week almost brought me to tears.
All the info about Fanatic's origin doesn't really change my picture of her, but it's definitely interesting with regard to Apostate, and I'm going to have to send in a few questions about him before next week!
In the 'oh this is totally like' corner, the first thing I thought of was Demon: The Fallen, where all the pcs have basically the same origin as Fanatic, except that their version involves actual literal Hell.
I was thinking DTC too but in that game the person remembers a lot about their host, like the English Angel of Death still loves her husband, and that gangster still loves his daughter. Fanatic has no connection to her previous life , she's like a changeling or ironically possession , where there is something new making the decision now
So, given the information from this episode, should we then consider Possession as a potential power source? And, concurrent with that, what ramifications would possession have for the human/host body have in being possessed?
I LOVE that game. I didn't really connect the dots to it like you did, but I can see your reasoning.
It was interesting to hear about Fanatic's reaction to her sword being broken, and how it boiled down to "Aw man! Well, it IS just a sword made by humans… And hey, now it's an axe! I can use it to chop things!"
On a side-note, I think Adam and Christopher did a great job with that end explination, and it was a fantastic episode as always.
This made me smile. Because its true for so many JRPGs. Playing Breath of Fire now, I can't remember if the final boss is a god but the rest of the series you end up fighting a god or goddess of some kind.
I agree that they did a good job with her origin and the episode as a whole. They also did a great job not giving too much of future episodes away both for Apostate and the Prime Wardens.
Some of my questions that I don't believe were answered was does she have limits on her power? And what did Guise do to deserve being Final Dived, or maybe what didn't he do?
I actually just submitted a question for the Apostate/The Host episode to ask just this sort of question and how such possession would interact with a living host–i.e. is there a fight for dominance vs. symbiosis.
Finally got through it. I'm thoroughly enjoying these…
I love what they did with her and how her story progresses. Definitely an example of a highly-powered individual, so the stories have to be more personal to really have any stakes.
I'm not going to get into the belief discussion here, though. I think that belief is a very personal thing, and we all have to process it however we have to process it, and doing so sufficiently in post form is nearly impossible. It's definitely something I enjoy discussing in person, however…
(I think I was not the "Russell" that asked that final question, but I suppose I might have asked it back when they first put out the form. Doesn't sound like something I would ask, though… )
I wonder how fanatic's situation differs from Ra ,was the first Ra a spirit of fire who thought he was the God of the Sun? If Fanatic dies does her sword turn into an artefact that turns the next wielded into an angel of the Lord ?
I got the impression that Ra knew exactly what he was: a being of substantial power who was not literally a "god" but deserved to be treated as one back in the old days. Not sure about the Ennead, but he seems to know perfectly well that worshipping him isn't appropriate in the modern era.
That's a valid Host question, since we know a Host entity can be contained in a physical object (the Idolater's cross). Ask it for the Apostate episode!
I would hesitate to call Posession a power source based off of Fanatic and Apostate.
To begin with, they aren't possessed, by which I mean the main entity driving the body does not have a second personality they are subsuming. Both the girl who was named Helena and whatever corpse Apostate pulled up were just bags of meat at the time. Technically a possession in terms of "the spirit is possessing the body" but not possession in terms of a situation like Dark Visionary which is a little more classical in its presentation.
Secondly, the possession of the body is not the source of the power. They both have power due to their nature as spirits, and all of their powers flow from their existence as spirits. Apostate possesses a body more because that is a more convienent way to interact with Fanatic than because he needed to possess a body to wield his power, at least in my interpretation of events. Fanatic's power is not because she has a mortal body, but because she is a Spirit of the Host.
Now, Idolater and The Seer interct with Host spirits in very different ways, so it is possible that the possession of a mortal body, with a mortal soul, by a spirit of the Host could lend power, but it is not something we have seen and itwould be just as unique as Fanatic becoming "Stuck" in her body like she did, since generally these spirits possess someone to incite an emotion and then leave, they don't tend to linger long.
Consider then, the following definition of 'possession':
3. the state of being controlled by a demon or spirit.
"they prayed for protection against demonic possession"
the state of being completely under the influence of an idea or emotion.
"fear took possession of my soul"
Within this context, Fanatic's power comes entirely from the Host Spirit of Judgment overtaking her physical form, allowing that Host Spirit to manifest power on the physical plane.
Idolator, would work within the same context, though the form of "possession" comes from his imprisoned Host Spirit of Faith. He's drawn a spirit here from The Host plane and utilizes its power which, in other forms, would be inaccessible. His staff may be the thing that's possessed, instead of him, but he's wielding otherwise inaccessible power.
The thing is, there's not a person being possessed there. I believe Christopher and Adam said the spirit was entirely bound to the physical form, after pre-Helena died. So the power comes entirely from the spirit. Fanatic is its physical form.
So, there's this great video out there of a meeting between Carl Sagan and the Dalai Lama. Sagan asks (paraphrasing), "if there arose scientific evidence that reincarnation did not take place, what would your reaction be?"
The Dalai Lama's response was immediate: "Oh, then we would stop believing in reincarnation." His response was so sudden and so certain that Sagan looks visibly surprised.
Anyway - I find that exchange provides an interesting window on the faith vs evidence issue. The way I see it, faith can fill in the gaps. But our inductive determination of what reality is does not change, no matter what we believe. Unless we're Fanatic! ;)
The difference is that she isn't being controlled by a demon of spirit. She is a Spirit of Judgement. Trapped inside a flesh shell, mixed with it somehow, but that is like saying your soul is currently posessing your body. It could be "technically" true, but it does not fall under what we generally consder possession because possession is generally done by something that does not intrinsically own the bdy. Helena/Fanatic is the only owner of that body.
I agree that her having a physical body definetly informs the way she uses her power and the types of things she can do, but the source of that power is still her very nature as a spirit, not the fact that she is flesh and blood.
Man, I love the Dalai Lama.
It wasn't Sagan I saw talking to him, but he's been having scientists teach his monks about the universe even to this day, and going on record to state that the evidence they find of the universe takes precedence over the ancient religious writings in terms of "truth of reality" is just mind blowing to me. He's willing to synthesize science and religion, and so very, very few major religious leaders are willing to do that. He is truly a great man.
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