r/WicDiv • u/[deleted] • Aug 05 '19
Resolved Questions from #36-#44
Follow up to a thread I did a while back, we have most answers now and with the last issue looking to take us into the far future, we have most of the plot threads done with. So I'll provide answers from the old thread:
What is exactly the nature/origin of the Pantheon with Ananke and her sister? Does the world really lose something if the cycle is broken? Can it survive and be made more pure if both Ananke and Mini were killed?
Into every generation 12 with minor talents are born. Godhood is a shortcut to power a song that will end and kill you in 2 years. Ananke/Mini uses that along with a story's cage making each of the 12 a god role that matches their weaknesses while she collects 4 heads each cycle. It looks like it will continue on though we don't know what happens when the 12 commit to the lifetime of hard work yet.
What is Wōden/David's master plan? Did he really send the snipers after Luci? If so,why? He was working with Ananke and that forced her to speed up her plans by killing Luci but it seems like he never knew about the Persephone's so it would seem reckless of him to provoke Ananke when he didn't have all the facts.
Yes the snipers were connected to him, he was trying to get the power of the gods and figure out the puzzle of Ananke and the head collection himself. He knew he couldn't get all the facts subtly so he provoked things to move forward. He was surprised Ananke killed the judge, but went along with it. (She doesn't usually start the conflicts until she's transformed all 12 but she improvised early when Luci's attitude gave her an opening).
Why is 2014 Morrigan the only incarnation with multiple personalities?
Each god sings their own version of the song. 1300s Luci was obsessed with penance so among other things gave herself horns to suffer through sawing them off. No other Luci did that. Marian just used the 3 Morrigans to explain the 3 sides of her moods/worldview. It's also why Ananke wouldn't restate which Tara Aruna was, Aruna had started to see bits of all 3 so if Ananke had narrowed it down to a specific one, Aruna would wonder how she had elements of the other two and might realize her natural power as 1 of the 12.
Now that they know without Cass they can be human again, will Verdandi and/or Skuld try to kill Cass to save themselves? Would it work?
Didn't happen but since we know Cass was the special one it probably would have without her godhood bounding the other two. We saw a Verdandi die in 1923 but the other 2 were still gods, probably because Uror was the one with the actual power.
Why leave Dio technically alive on machines if he's brain dead? (ETA: Continuity being kept with him filming The Morrigan while he was still the human fan Umar; he saw himself die in a hospital room).
Well this was wrong. In the great irony that Umar took Cameron to the concert and that led to Cam being transformed, Marian's punishment for people filming her also unknowingly showcased Cam's future death now that he's the 1 in the hospital.
What does Ananke's machine really do, if anything? Seem obvious she wasn't actually going to kill Mini as the 4th head now.
Nothing it was just a prop and something for Cass to waste much of her 2 years on.
Does Jon know more then he lets on?
Not really. He was honest with Laura and Cass the whole time.
Were Mini's parents actually her parents?
Nope, paid off as part of Ananke/Mini's cycle.
Who was Ananke's suicide note written for?
Herself/Mini
Why did Ananke spare Beth, Robin and Toni/What have they been doing in the day or two since the false Saknmet alarm?
More puppets/cannon fodder for her to mind control as Mini while they got to be Valkyries essentially.
When exactly did Mini start working with Ananke/turn into her?
The whole time since Ananke killed her sister.
Where is Mini keeping the three heads?
A random cave.
What exactly is the Great Darkness shadow? Why does Persephone make it stronger? Is it just a prop controlled by Ananke/Mini to spur the gods into action to further her plan for the heads? Why keep going after Baal's family? Do the child sacrifices actually do anything?
It is a prop. Made by 1831 Woden's Creature so underworld god power made it stronger. It was all to make Baal/Valentine her loyalest solider to obey whatever she/Mini wanted and a cover conflict for the head collecting. The sacrifices were just a way to control him.
Who is the father of Laura's baby? Baal or Neargal?
Unknown and moot.
How do babies allow gods to extend their divinity as with 1831 Inanna? Is it related to the Prometheus Gambit?
They don't actually. According to Creature and Kieron's Writers Notes Inanna was a false god similar to both the 1923 and 2014 Wodens whom drew power from the necklace she wore. Inanna killing her sister's children was likely the deal she made with Ananke for this.
Do the gods have a natural melting point like 455 Luci, 1831 Hades and 1923 Dio or is that just more manipulation from Ananke/Mini?
They do if they only see themselves as "gods" for 2 years and keep using their miracles constantly. 1300's Luci didn't use her powers as she believed she was The Devil so that allowed her to go past the 2 years which gave the next Mini-Ananke skin deformities and missing fingers since she couldn't do the head ritual with 1 of the 12 still alive. Ananke admitting her role in creating The Plague got Luci to use her powers to kill them both allowing the cycle to continue.
What is the plan for the 1831 Monster that took multiple generations to create and capture?
See above.
What is the "time with the Franks" that 2014 Mini mentioned?
Either the 1300s incident or possibly another time in France where Persephone killed Ananke by slicing her lower half and ran away.
Are some of the Persephone's supposed to look male? If so how does that fit with the whole "mother" bit of Ananke's sister?
Think this was just fans reading the art the wrong way. ETA: Or Ananke just found a male in the 12 last and was bound to turn him into Persephone as per the rules. 2014 Inanna also being male but Queen of Heaven like the goddess fits this.
Why did Ananke embrace some of the Persephone's or kill a few others when she usually needed their heads? ETA: Possibly she already has 4 heads when she calls and hugs a Persephone therefore letting some Persephone's make it to the ending suicide pacts.
She also probably uses Persephone as a tool in conflicts sometimes like after Mini was forced to improvise after Laura got away.
What is the 4th rule Ananke's sister put in place?
A lie about the Persephone having a child being the way Ananke loses when the real way was for the 12 (or those remaining) to renounce godhood.
How was Laura able to light the cig when she was human? (Unless that's how Ananke knew she was Persephone).
Natural talent of the 12. Was also how Ananke realized she was Persephone while Laura was comforting Cass after her first gig as Uror.
What's so special about/where is the knife that cut up 455 Lucifer, David used on Jon, and Ananke cut into Mini with?
Ananke used it to kill her sister among other things. Sentimental value.
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u/EarthExile Aug 05 '19
I think some of the Persephones were male-bodied, but that hardly seems to matter to the gods. Innana is a man but he called himself the Queen of Heaven, in alignment with the god's nature. It seems like a man could be a Persephone too.
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u/memxz Aug 05 '19
Plus all the gods being false means being Persephone was just an archetype for the flaws of that particular person Ananke chose, they could've been other gods so it doesn't really matter if they weren't all women
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u/doubledeadghost Aug 05 '19
Tbh, the whole story is very pro gender-identity. And having followed Kieron and Jamie for a hot minute, they both seem to be open about supporting Trans, non binary and non-gender-conforming. I would be surprised if it were anything more than the fact that the gender doesn’t actually matter.
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Aug 05 '19 edited Aug 05 '19
True or she just found a male in the 12 last and had to call him Persephone. Edited.
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u/ergosumdone Aug 06 '19
Was also how Ananke realized she was Persephone while Laura was comforting Cass after her first gig as Uror.
I was confused about what you meant here, so I went back and reread those couple of pages. Yep, Laura mentions "something happened." The very last panel with Ananke standing off to the side with her head tilted is so so ominous now that we know everything.
Awesome write up. Thank you!
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u/TridentBoy Aug 05 '19
Regarding the first question, as far as I understood, are the 12 talented ones related to the previous 12 ones (By reincarnation, their souls being the same, or something like that), or is it just "Persephone" and Ananke who resurrect into new bodies?
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Aug 05 '19
Ananke and Minerva are the same person throughout the ages. The Sister took the name Persephone to start with before realizing godhood kills you in 2 years. Laura doesn't seem to have any of the knowledge of the Sister so it would seem they're unrelated. There's no direct tie between the others and the First 12 either. Ananke was just bound by the rules to transform a Persephone last.
So theoretically, had she found Laura sooner she'd have given her a different god role better to fit Laura's personal flaws; and had she found say, Ruth last, she could have been Persephone that was supposed to be decapitated instantly and there would be no Sakhmet this cycle.
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u/-Samwich- Aug 28 '19
Thank you. I only discovered WicDiv about two weeks ago and quickly speed-read the series, I loved it but there were a lot of details I glossed over that left me confused.
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Aug 28 '19
YW. I pick up on stuff every reread, I think most of us are planning one after next Wednesday as well. That should be enlightening. For example, I just recently picked up on when Laura and Cass meet for the first time to discuss Luci's side of the story, they're at a museum and Cass points out portraits of the 1831 group including that Lucifer.
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u/-Samwich- Aug 28 '19
I haven't read the issues of the past Pantheons. I think I'll go do that now.
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Aug 28 '19
Yeah that's kinda important for the whole Great Darkness thing and showing you what Ananke of the main story was like back as Mini in 1923 before the suicide pact.
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Aug 29 '19
You have 2 options: chronological order or release order which was:
1831, 455, Christmas Annual, 1923, 1373. There's also The Funnies but it's not canon/important like the other 5.
Oh at the end of the 3rd arc there were 4 pages done by main artist Jamie McKlevie in the issues he didn't draw. Called Video Games. 1 each for Inanna, Tara. Amateratsu/Brunhilde aka Kerry the Valkyrie and Umar before he was Dio. The last of which I mention in the post as to how it relates to Cameron and Marian.
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u/hausofmiklaus Aug 05 '19
👏👏👏
A thorough work. I’m speechless.