today today today

[timepiececlock]

"To light a candle is to cast a shadow."
-Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea

This quote intrigued me this afternoon. In the context it's meant to comment on causes/effects of actions, to say 'if you do this, that will happen.' However, taken as a statement alone, it brings to mind all sorts of delicious philosophical-y stuff, unrelated to the context but interesting in their own right. Thoughts about balance, about the necessity of having both light and dark in any situation to succeed, about night and day.

Also, it's making me wonder about niggling fanficcy ideas. If there's an ultimate good in BtVS verse, must there be an ultimate bad? If that ultimate good is the Slayer, do vampires as a collective race constitue her polar opposite, or is their something else?

When those old shaman dudes made the first slayer, was somethign equal and opposite also created? Is there someone just like Buffy and Faith out there, a Chosen young girl running around strong and smart and fast, whose only mission is to fight good and further evil? Would it even be a girl, or would it be a boy, to further the opposites trend?

Or was the slayer created as the equal/opposite of vampires/demons?


God, I need a life.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/skylar_/]

I really like this train of thoughts.

When those old shaman dudes made the first slayer, was something equal and opposite also created?

Another thought on this: Is it possible that the equal and opposite is inside the slayer herself, considering that her origins are the very thing she is supposed to fight? Since Giles mentioned there were rogue slayers before Faith, is there a constant struggle inside the slayer herself?

Or would a turned slayer be the opposite of a slayer?

Re:

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Is it possible that the equal and opposite is inside the slayer herself

Ohh, tricksy tricksy question!

I don't think a turned slayer would constitute an opposite, because as far as we know Kendra was the first time there were two Slayers at once, and the idea of opposites would mean that the opposite was ALWAYS there somewhere, not there sometimes or there suddenly now. Also Faith is inherently a good person, as we know because she's changed her ways. Also, I think its logical to assume that any Chosen girl is inherently good inside-- that would be a requirement of being Chosen. And it's circumstances and personal flaws that lead to rogue Slayers, like in Faith's case.

[lin-lin-lucy.livejournal.com]

hey...

did you ever figure out how to change the thing that says "comment on this?" i wanna change mine...but dont know how...

Re:

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

i know you have to have a paid account. I was going to change that when I changed the overall format of my journal, which I've been putting off.

[mrthursday.livejournal.com]

There is a famous illustration from the "Occult" texts of one Eliphas Levi (stay with me, this is relevant), showing a priest making the sign of benidiction ( ablessing, at the risk of patronising) in front of a candle. The shadow cast of course resembles the horns of the devil...

In most creation myths ultimate god is often the creator or product of ultimate bad. I wonder if the demonic essence that made the slayer wasn't related to first evil in some way?

Of course we could be barking totally up the wrong tree! The Show is very Lovecraft like with regard to it's mythology so prehaps there is no balence of opposits. perhaps the only force the Shamen's could find to keep humanity safe from the demons was the darkness?

Re:

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

perhaps the only force the Shamen's could find to keep humanity safe from the demons was the darkness?

That's what I've thoguht of the show for the most part. That's what past series mythos and recent season 7 canon suggests-- that to fight a monster, they needed a warrior who possessed the same qualities as the monster. But they started with a human, because a human soul would guarantee that it was their warrior, for humans and not for their enemies.

What do you mean by Lovecraft like? I've heard the name but don't really know anything about it or what you mean by the comparison.

Re:

[mrthursday.livejournal.com]

Howard Philips Lovecraft (HPL from now on to save typing), who wrote during the pulp era of the 1920's-30's, is without a doubt one of the the most important horror authours ever. It is him we have to thank for the "modern" horror story rather than its gothic predessors..

He is mostly famous for his "Cthulhu Mythos" cycle of stories which deal with the struggle of ordinary people when they come face to face with over whelming cosmic horror.

I could rattle on about HPL forever. Really you should read some of his stuff but as far as the buffy comparision goes:

1) According to HPL, the "Great Old Ones" existed on earth (and indeed throughout the universe) before man. When man arose they vanished, but they have been trying to get a foot back into our reality ever since. This ties up with Giles introduction "..the world did not start out as a paradise".

2) No one "wins" in Lovecraft stories. The evil they fight (and evil is the wrong word really for Lovecraft villians, since there motives are unknowable) is eternal, its just a case of pushing it back, delaying the inevitable.

3) Most of the "victories" in Lovecraft Stories involve turning dark forces against themselves. Unfortunately this tends to corrupt the hero.
So a Slayer whose power is "rooted in the darkness" she fights is a quite lovecraftian concept.

Of Course Buffy is WAY more optimistic than HPL's work. I just think the mythological approach to demons having once owned the world and fighting for it back is quite lovecraftesque. Oh and the show has used the term "Old Ones" way too many times for Joss not to have been aping HPL just a bit!

Re:

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's cool. I'm intrigued now.