Dull day at work = brain goes a rambling
Feb. 11th, 2010 06:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrixrefugeeThe thought crossed my mind: what does one call a group of death gods? I used the phrase "bevy of shinigami" in an earlier entry, and it started to bug me what the proper term would be? (Yes, I obsess over things like this: it's more interesting than obsessing over bills or my alleged lack of a "love life", which I actually have, it's just not a romantic one). The phrase "a scything of reapers" came to mind, but this would likely apply best to western pyschopomps (even though the Japanese pop-culture image of the shinigami is actually borrowed from the western notion of "the Grim Reaper": the word "shinigami" apparently wasn't coined until sometime in the Meiji period). I'm still stuck as to what to call a bunch of their eastern cousins.
Another thing occurred to me, something that has popped up in a couple series featuring pyschopomps: someone mind-controlling a psychopomp. It happened in an episode of Supernatural, where Tessa the Reaper was briefly possessed, and it happens in an episode of Bleach, when one of the Bounts mind-controls one little Soul Reaper. This bugs me to no end: if something is the personification of that cosmic dynamic which indicates the cessation of life or at least a dramatic and unalterable change in how one's existence is experienced, doesn't that mean they're considerably more powerful and thus outside of being controlled by something lesser? I can go with a pyschopomp being physically restrained (the Aleister Crowley-wannabe in the first volume of the Sandman Comics tries to pull this off, and it happens a few times in Yami no Matsuei), but someone hijacking the volition of a psychopomp is likely worse than having a terrorist get their hands on a nuclear missile silo. I mean, think about that for a moment: you have a creature that can end life (however one defines that ending); I would think there is some cosmic law that prevents this from happening, in case someone goes completely Omnicidal. If you think of life in the eastern sense, ie. that everything has a spark of life in it, from humans down to the tiniest stones, can you imagine the devastation that could be caused? We're not just talking about end of the world as we know it, it could be the heat death of the universe if you had someone angry enough and destructive enough controlling said psychopomp(s). It also defines God-Moding. Which we know I despise. I guess what I'm saying is, my Willing Suspension of Disbelief stops at the idea of a mind-controlled psychopomp, since there's some major teleological High Octane Nightmare Fuel involved.
Also managed to scribble down the last of the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
centi_50 fics, though none of those will go live until after I've finished the 12 Fanfic Roses challenge. So expect a torrent of those once I finish showering you with roses (though if I don't get cracking with those, you're likely to see me dump the basket upside down over your heads, which may not be good for the Friends list).
Hm. Now I'm curious: there's two YnM crossovers which I wonder if they've been done. One with The Sandman Comics specifically the Death comics (since Death would probably glom on Hisoka and/or Tsuzuki big time: there's a creepy one featuring the Corinthian and his possible involvement with Muraki's glass eye) and one with "Dead Like Me" (though if George and Hisoka got together, they'd likely annoy the crap out of each other, since they're both snarky and a bit diffident; I imagine Mason and Tsuzuki would be the best of buddies, but I wonder how Rube and Tatsumi would get along since they're both rather meticulous). Off to go a-searching!!
Another thing occurred to me, something that has popped up in a couple series featuring pyschopomps: someone mind-controlling a psychopomp. It happened in an episode of Supernatural, where Tessa the Reaper was briefly possessed, and it happens in an episode of Bleach, when one of the Bounts mind-controls one little Soul Reaper. This bugs me to no end: if something is the personification of that cosmic dynamic which indicates the cessation of life or at least a dramatic and unalterable change in how one's existence is experienced, doesn't that mean they're considerably more powerful and thus outside of being controlled by something lesser? I can go with a pyschopomp being physically restrained (the Aleister Crowley-wannabe in the first volume of the Sandman Comics tries to pull this off, and it happens a few times in Yami no Matsuei), but someone hijacking the volition of a psychopomp is likely worse than having a terrorist get their hands on a nuclear missile silo. I mean, think about that for a moment: you have a creature that can end life (however one defines that ending); I would think there is some cosmic law that prevents this from happening, in case someone goes completely Omnicidal. If you think of life in the eastern sense, ie. that everything has a spark of life in it, from humans down to the tiniest stones, can you imagine the devastation that could be caused? We're not just talking about end of the world as we know it, it could be the heat death of the universe if you had someone angry enough and destructive enough controlling said psychopomp(s). It also defines God-Moding. Which we know I despise. I guess what I'm saying is, my Willing Suspension of Disbelief stops at the idea of a mind-controlled psychopomp, since there's some major teleological High Octane Nightmare Fuel involved.
Also managed to scribble down the last of the
centi_50 fics, though none of those will go live until after I've finished the 12 Fanfic Roses challenge. So expect a torrent of those once I finish showering you with roses (though if I don't get cracking with those, you're likely to see me dump the basket upside down over your heads, which may not be good for the Friends list).Hm. Now I'm curious: there's two YnM crossovers which I wonder if they've been done. One with The Sandman Comics specifically the Death comics (since Death would probably glom on Hisoka and/or Tsuzuki big time: there's a creepy one featuring the Corinthian and his possible involvement with Muraki's glass eye) and one with "Dead Like Me" (though if George and Hisoka got together, they'd likely annoy the crap out of each other, since they're both snarky and a bit diffident; I imagine Mason and Tsuzuki would be the best of buddies, but I wonder how Rube and Tatsumi would get along since they're both rather meticulous). Off to go a-searching!!
