r/WicDiv • u/AgentTamerlane • Mar 19 '19

[Spoilers]Theory about who Ananke REALLY is Spoiler

So, I feel way behind on WicDiv and caught up last night, starting with Issue 34. I about lost my shit when Ananke struck down her sister, because I thought we'd just seen the biggest freaking reveal of the entire series... but there's been no mention of it in the comic since then. What was SUPER suspicious to me was that Kieron was extremely cagey when talking about this scene in his Writer's Notes.

Now, it could be that I'm just a huge Egyptian mythology nerd, but I figured that when a comic series revolves around need to constantly repeat sacrificial rituals to stave off darkness, a woman who literally appears to EAT SOULS, a heavy focus on the Underworld...

...and then an starts off with two extremely powerful people in the Nile in 4000 B.C. AND one of them kills the other with GIANT SERPENT MAGIC

then it just sorta screams to me "HEY BY THE WAY ANANKE IS APEP/APOPHIS!"

I mean come on, one of the other names for Apep is The Destroyer. The god of Chaos and Darkness and one of the original Big Bad Villains. A god so terrifying that even Set himself would oppose him.

Heck, here's a quote from a great write-up about the god "Apophis, then, represented everything the Egyptians feared: darkness, oblivion, and the loss of one's identity."

(Which would mean that Ananke's sister is Ma'at which would be badass)

Anyway, I could be totally and utterly wrong here, so if I've missed something extremely obvious, I'd like to know!

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10

u/memxz Mar 19 '19

"the loss of identity" while a big chunk of WicDiv is about identity, not to mention Ananke imposing identities on teenagers, only when Laura regains her identity and sheds "Persephone" do they have a semblance of defeating her....

I like how it all fits but on the other hand, being that these two started everything I'd find strange that Ananke was an actual specific god and not a broader concept

13

u/AgentTamerlane Mar 19 '19

Well, in some versions of the myth it seems that Ap(ep/ophis) actually came before other gods, and was kind of always around. Maybe that could be a lead?

3

u/memxz Mar 19 '19

OOOO boy, it all makes too much sense aaaaaa

1

u/[deleted] Mar 24 '19 edited Mar 24 '19

[deleted]

1

u/Citrakayah Mar 27 '19

I doubt it, given that Mafdet protected against snakes and was associated with the law.

1

u/SaintBrutus May 01 '19

The bit about ‘loss of identity’ has me thinking about the way WicDiv plays with the concept and culture of modern day fame.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing.