Spoiler: SOMEONE UPLOADED IT OK, saw that cover before, still looking ominous. Do they still need to have 'seemingly killed by Ananke' in the intros... Aww, Ammy went to Cass first. NICE splash page.Laura is going all viny horrorterror, Morri is mobbing Sakhmet, and Baal is punching down Baph. This must've hurt a lot of fingers. Supervillain speech. Woden, really. Also why does the machine need all that business if she's just using a knife - and it looks like she's just shallowly cutting her arm, too... Oh god dmmit. Nice, Baal. ...and Ananke has spent too much time away from the world to think of what it's like being them. "...er, you killed her family, lady" Oh hey actual Greek I think? NICE, BAAL ....and. oh boy.
Spoiler: Livewrite 'because you're the grown up' mfw I remembered she's just 17, of course she's scared out of her goddamn mind. NIPPLE GUNS?? Woden, no. It's not even as sexy as Whirl. I like the party swarm tho. Also Woden's plausible deniability sideswap. Time for the grown-up to offer a grown-up solution, I see. I feel really bad for Baal. He's just doing what he thinks is right, he's got no idea he's being played. OH MY GOD that is a really slow death Ananke is giving Minerva. What the fuck. Yup, Ananke is burned out and bitter. But really, it's always the drugs and sex because she forces that on the Pantheon, keeps them dumb and complacent. Oh, Laura. :c THAT WAS BRUTAL. Organsplosion. Like Laura seems to be going off the deep end here but the thing that gets me is Ananke drove her to that point, and then blamed her for it. She's destructive, she's a destroyer, but destruction can be a good thing, destruction can be growth. We dunno how past Persephones went down but Laura is NOT THEM. She doesn't remember any of that. She's got her own reasons for doing things, even as she's sailing on the river of her divinity. Laura- Persephone was brutal to Ananke there and it's probably going to cause a lot of problems. But leaving Ananke alive could also lead to problems. It's complicated and messy.
Spoiler: Machine theory Ananke needed Minerva's energy, right? So I think the huge bizarre machine was for harvesting that energy, rather than for doing the killing. Also, she was carving runes into Minerva's arms, by the look of it, so I think that wasn't what was meant to kill her either, that was just meant to make the energy flow in the right direction, and then when it was done she'd have stabbed her or exploded her head or some other delightful thing like that. Also, irrelevant to the machine, but holy shit Persephone is hot when she's mad.
Spoiler: TWATD 1831 special It probably says something about the villain rep she's built that my first thought was that Ananke murdered the babies. Second thought was that maybe divinity fucks babies up in the womb, third thought genetic disorder, fourth though Inanna killed them. But Inanna's got no more reason to be jealous of Woden. Her own story sort of implied she's Ananke's catspaw in the way modern!Woden is, though, so even though I'm 90% Ananke killed those kids she might not have done so directly...
Yeah, their names weren't in there. Are they references to historical figures? Spoiler: 1831 special I wonder if modernWoden is hiding frankenWoden. It's also interesting that at least one god in each cycle seems to be a fake one set up by Ananke, empowered but only in a horrible deal with her. Does that mean there's always a 'thirteenth' that Ananke needs to snuff right quick to avoid suspicion, or is Persephone a break in the cycle?
There's references to who they are, subtle-like! If you want to be spoiled on them: Spoiler So: 1) Lucifer - Lord George Byron 2) Inanna - Claire Claremont 3) The Morrigan - Percy Shelley 4) Woden - Mary Shelley 5) Hades - John Keats 6) 'The Angel of Soho', Urizen, Enitharmon, Orc - William Blake 7) The Norns - The Brontë Sisters 8) Morpheus - Samuel Taylor Coleridge 9) Thoth - Edgar Allen Poe (Thoth the Raven, nevermore) 10) Hestia - Jane Austen 11) Perun - Alexander Pushkin You'll notice we're missing lucky number 12. References are here and here. Spoilers for the end of the chapter.
Thanks! I suspected that was what was going on - especially with the ending - but I'm not familiar enough with who was contemporary to who to make all the connections. Spoiler So, I wasn't sure if the Bronte sisters are actually supposed to be the Norns. They're certainly a trio because otherwise it'd be 13, not 11, but there's a ton of triune deities in world mythology, and not narrowing it down to goddesses probably widens it even more. Also, I'd find it hilarious if William Blake incarnated as Nergal. Maybe Nergal does this all the fucking time. EDIT: Spoiler Also sort of curious if Ananke figured out what Woden did and, if so, she incarnated modern!Woden as her lackey as a punishment only she would understand? She's that sort of cruel.
I call them the Norns because they have the same lettering style as the Norns, as per the writer notes! Also I love all the silly references. Thoth the Raven (nevermore), 'Look on my works and hope', Hestiausten being consumed by a pride of suitors... eta: my read on the gods is that Ananke doesn't have any control over who shows up. My best idea is that, basically - every person has a certain level of affinity to a god, mostly pretty poor, but building up over 90 years. Ananke's job is to find the 12 people with the highest affinity for a god and sort of - push them into fully incarnating? Since there's so many gods there's no real risk of getting two Wodens or Minervas. The reason Cameron got in was that his affinity to Nergal was juuust about high enough to be 'probably in the top twelve, I guess.' Technically she could amplify anyone, since everyone's got some level of affinity, but she only takes the top couple for, idk, ritual reasons, that's how she's always done it.
okay but also.... Spoiler: an theory. this touches on stuff from issues 12-17 and prior, so. uh. WARNED ARE YOU all right but....Laura is Persephone, even though there are supposedly only twelve gods reincarnated each time. which leads me to question: are there actually only twelve? is there a magical thirteenth each time who needs to be killed upon discovery or Bad Things? are there more than twelve gods reincarnated, and Ananke just sort of picks and chooses who she wants to awaken this time? I mean, it's not like the gods can be the only people out there who die young, but of course that would also be dependent on if the gods die in two years regardless of being awoken, or if they live long and happy lives without being awoken and only get the death sentence if they wake up. I'd wager the latter, seeing as how the gods we're shown in the last incarnation don't just straight-up die--they kill each other. so my current theory is that either all the gods are reincarnated each cycle and Ananke picks who she wants to awaken, or that they aren't really gods at all but simply mortals who Ananke chooses based on certain qualities and then bestows power on. but either of these would then beg the question.....why did Ananke wake a thirteenth god at all if there should only be twelve awoken ones? I suppose, since she immediately killed/went to kill Persephone, it's possible she just wanted to awaken Laura to get her out of the way so Laura would stop investigating things. and straight-up murdering Laura might not look so good to the public or the other gods, and wouldn't fit with the "Baphomet is killing other gods" because Laura would've been a human. anyway. right now I'm leaning towards the first thing--all the gods are reincarnated, but Ananke picks who she wants to awaken, because otherwise I think the transformation sequences would be more....well, I don't know, ambiguous? I mean, each god seems to have their own transformation sequence tied to the god they're becoming, so it would make sense for them to already be the god and just need to be awoken rather than Ananke bestowing powers on them and then telling them they're one particular god. especially since that would mean Ananke would need to have the knowledge of legit every existing god ever. at the same time, the gods don't have memories of their past lives, even when awoken. you'd think if they were reincarnated for true, they'd remember something, but as far as it's been stated, they don't. and also, there's some hints that they may not actually be gods--Ananke does say she's not entirely sure. but then I'm also not sure I should be trusting Ananke right now. one thing's for sure, though: Ananke's....something. I don't know what to call her. she's not a mortal. she has powers. but I don't know what she is. I mean, if we're not really sure the kids are gods, then who's to say she's a god? shrug. just thoughts.
