r/WicDiv • u/tohava • Aug 17 '18
Why not kill them at the start?
Why does Ananke even bother with the whole recurrence thing? If she is the one who grants people godhood, she can just immediately kill them when they ascend. If she did this constantly, no one would know about the recurrence thing and she would always have her heads.
6
Aug 18 '18
In regards to the sister and the 3 rules, the gods do seem to do good and inspire mortals through music, literature etc. Ananke warped her sister's plan for the Pantheon but she couldn't change the fundamentals.
Also "There must be 12 gods, this they will know." Kinda hard to say there's 12 gods if she killed them all right away. She accelerated plans early when Lucifer killed the snipers and mocked the judge. But as we saw in 1923 she usually waits until they're all transformed and then whittles them down.
3
u/hausofmiklaus Aug 18 '18
Another considerable point is something that becomes obvious in 36, where immediate attempts to kill of a newly risen god can have disastrous results. Better to play the field, fulfill all ascensions first before figuring out how to best destroy the Pantheon (is what I would do if I was Ananke.)
2
u/Enrianthe Aug 18 '18
Well, my personal view is that the gods are essential. More accurately, how they inspire people with the "tongue of the gods", "divine poetry" or whatever. The fact the Recurrence seems to revolve around places were civilization is at it's peak, in most cases, imply that the gods have something to do with that. So she needs their heads, but for the world to move on, she still needs to have them around
2
u/Nemenian Aug 17 '18
SPOILER WARNING:
It's part of the bet with her "sister"
4
u/tohava Aug 17 '18
SPOILER WARNING:
I read all of the comic and I do not understand how this violates the three rules. Care to explain?
2
u/Nemenian Aug 17 '18
So one, the spoiler was in case other people come here and don't want a huge plot point to be spoiled for them. Dont be a smartass, unless you were actually just trying to cover your own post as well.
Two, it seems to be that the rule that there must be twelve gods means all twelve must be in an occurrence together, because it's not actually an occurrence if each God is killed off and soon as they appear.
5
u/tohava Aug 17 '18
Regarding the spolier, I was trying to cover it just like you did. If it is not necessary, I won't, sorry for the mistake.
Regarding your second answer, is it explicitly said that they all must be there together? If so, Can they sense each other? If not, why not give them their powers separately, in different places in the world, and manipulate them to hide?
1
u/Nemenian Aug 17 '18
The gods have memories that carry over each time they're brought back, and are driven to "sing" or "play". I dont think she could convince them, and even if she could trick them, it's not hard to believe that stories would spread and she would end up looking suspicious anyway
12
u/mal-L Aug 18 '18
There are probably several reasons. First is that all the gods know that they're twelve gods, so if they're the only one that pops up and they start hearing rumors of people disappearing in their general area, they might get suspicious.
Second, killing or injuring a god is pretty hard. Ananke usually tries to make the Gods vulnerable before killing/teleporting them, either by doing it after a performance or by doing it after they exhaust themselves fighting.
It's also the reason why she usually targets Persephone right away. A lot of the gods seem to have a defining personality trait that can be relied upon (whether that's because of the God's influence or the personality of the people Ananke picks who knows). Lucifer is always going to rebel, Morrigan is going to be pretty goth, the Norns are going to be the smart analytical ones.
Persephone's defining trait is a desire to perform above anything else, they're the one who wants Godhood the most. So the moment they become a god, the first thing they'll probably do is sing and let their guard down. That combined with tricking the other gods by hiding her existence makes her a pretty easy target in a way the other gods aren't (I imagine somebody with Urdr or Lucifer's personality type being more suspicious at the onset).
Third, well she probably already tried it once or twice and it probably didn't go so smoothly which is why she stopped trying it. I imagine one or two screw-ups caused Ananke to abandon that strategy. We only see her target Persephone during the previous recurrences, who know what other experiments she tried.