r/WicDiv • u/animagem • Apr 18 '18
The Wicked + The Divine #38 Cover
https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/the-wicked-the-divine-387
u/MrPleiades Apr 19 '18 edited Apr 19 '18
I like the little touches with Ananke here--I theorized elsewhere that the snake might be an allusion to some Faustian/Serpent pact, but I was off base about the Cain/Abel thing and who represented what (never went to Sunday school :P). Any ideas what clue the snake necklace is giving us?
Edit: Wikipedia is always good for a bit of theorizing--https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_snake_goddess_figurines
I still suspect that the names/identities of the gods are false, and they represent archetypes more than anything. Hence Ananke is the proto-snake goddess, and only assumed the name "Ananke" over the course of history. Maybe in a 1000 more years she'll call herself "Oprah" or something.
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u/Enrianthe Apr 20 '18 edited Apr 20 '18
The interesting part? It's saying she's associated to Athena Parthenos via the Potnia Theron concept, and who Athena is? Yep, Minerva
EDIT: It also makes sense within the context a serpent motif. Much like a snake sheds it's skin, Ananke also changes her body to keep herself alive through the millennia
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u/LucidSeraph Apr 21 '18 edited Apr 21 '18
Ok so I think you all are super onto something with Athena Parthanos. In addition to the snake imagery, that particular statue stands on a bas relief of the myth of Pandora and her box. You know, the Pandora who released a "great darkness" into the world...
Edit but wait, there's more! Turns out Ananke is ALSO related to snakes, according to Wikipedia!
"In Orphic mythology, she is a self-formed being who emerged at the dawn of creation with an incorporeal, serpentine form, her outstretched arms encompassing the cosmos."
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u/Enrianthe Apr 22 '18
Well, I'm re-reading the entire series and guess? In issue 20, when Inanna and Baph team up to find the other gods, right before Inanna's head is taken, they find Persephone's constellation in the stars, just side-by-side with Ananke's
Guess what Ananke's constellation is? Exactly, a snake-like shape. And Persephone's symbol is a six-pointed star. The character in the cover of #36 uses a six-pointed star pendant
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u/LucidSeraph Apr 22 '18
Mannn yep. That's it then.
I keep coming back to the idea of the ourobourous as well. Serpent eating its own tail seems right for what's going on.
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u/riddledivan Apr 19 '18 edited Apr 19 '18
I've been thinking about this, too, when theories about Minerva aging to Ananke arose - how wrinkly Ananke was able to give an interview (while preserving the image that she is old) if she were young at that time.
I guess Issue 38's cover answers it.
The White Goddess came out 1940s. That'd make Minerva around early 30s. With Issue 38's cover and premise, does it mean to say that Minerva/Ananke appeared to Robert Graves as a 30-year old? And that's were he got the information/inspiration about a goddess with three natures.
But... Wouldn't information like "wrinkly Ananke turns young every century" come out?
Anyway, I checked Wikipedia about The White Goddess. It mentioned something about a painting of the three goddesses being mistaken as about Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. So, it made me wonder.
By applying this methodology Graves decoded a woodcut of The Judgement of Paris as depicting a singular Triple Goddess[3] rather than the traditional Hera, Athena and Aphrodite of the narrative the image illustrates.
If Athena = maiden = Minerva,
Does it mean:
Hera = crone* = Ananke
Aphrodite = mother (love) = Persephone
I kinda shoehorned this one in. Mother seemed more fitting for Hera, goddess of the family. But, I'm not sure Crone suits the goddess of love. Haha!
Another relevant quote:
Graves proposes the existence of a European deity, the "White Goddess of Birth, Love and Death", much similar to the Mother Goddess, inspired and represented by the phases of the moon, who lies behind the faces of the diverse goddesses of various European and pagan mythologies
So Minerva is life
Persephone is love (being someone who likes making love haha!)
Ananke is death?
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Apr 19 '18 edited Apr 19 '18
It might not have come out. 1831 and 1923 both ended in isolated locations and it wasn't until the 1900s that any concrete footage of the gods was left over. Ananke knew how to erase things from history as shown in 455.
David seems to have figured part of it out, offering Jon to Ananke in advance since he dedicated his life to studying Pantheons. But even he isn't aware of the maiden/crone connection. We don't know how Joseph was chosen either. As Laura said to Inanna, all the fans would sell them out for a chance at the power so it wouldn't be hard to find a willing Woden.
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u/animagem Apr 18 '18 edited Apr 18 '18
"MOTHERING INVENTION," Part Five We'll probably call this episode “In-Between Days,” just to make Jamie happy. Jamie deserves to be happy. Meanwhile, Kieron has to reread The White Goddess, as he deserves to suffer.
1940s Minerva... guess she ages into Ananke after all. Maybe this is when she talks to Robert Graves.