YnM Blitherings/Ramblings: The Nephillim Vector and Handwaving the Head in a Vat

[matrixrefugee]

Two for one! I'm feeling generous today... Better get a drink: here be a long post...

I've had this theory from almost the moment Muraki was introduced in the anime, the first time that I watched it. I was reading the second volume of Storm Constantine's Grigori trilogy at the time as well as the Book of Enoch, so my head was buzzing with notions about amoral earth-bound angels. Thus when a certain pale fellow who dresses in white and has a regard for human life only when he wants to showed up in that scene in the church, my mind went "Wait-what... who's this guy, a Grigori?" Then there's the allegorical white feathers which sometimes are seen drifting around our boy, which puzzled me at first. Rule of Cool? Bishie Sparkles refit for a guy in his mid-to-late thirties? Later on toward the end of the series, when Muraki refers to both Tsuzuki and himself as "the true descendants of darkness", something clicked in my brain, and I thought, "Are they Nephillim?". I even riffed from this in my unfinished "Neon Enoch Evangelion", when I created the character Enniel Prussot, who started out as a combination of elements from Enniel Prussoe and Peverel Othman/Shemyaza in the Grigori Trilogy, but ended up as a (purely unintentional) near Expy of Muraki

This only increased when I read the manga and Satomi, in Volume 7, refers to Muraki as "a fallen angel". And then there's Enma-Daioh's odd comment involving Yukitaka Muraki, our boy's grandfather. I'm not sure what to make of it all, but my brain has come up with a few theories:

--Muraki's mother may have been either a Grigori or the genetic offspring of one, and I'm inclined to go with the latter. It's been implied in much of the scattered mythos about the Grigori that they may have been involved in some kind of genetic or breeding experiments involving human beings or their own Nephillim offspring, and who's to say that Yukitaka or one of his ancestors may not have made some kind of Faustian bargain with the Grigori.

--It's been speculated that vampires might be some sort of Nephillim themselves (given the reference in Enoch 6: 5 where they're described drinking the blood of men and animals; Michelle Belanger has written an article about this, which is available on the House Khepru website), so given that Muraki is described as an energy vampire in the manga, this seems to reinforce the possibility.

--It's also practically a given that Tsuzuki has demon blood of some kind (and the Grigori are sometimes interpreted as demons or neutral angels, depending on who's writing the commentary), which made me speculate he might also be a Nephillim. The Grigori Kokabiel is described as having command over 100,000 lesser spirits (possibly elementals of some kind), which brings us to Tsuzuki's command over twelve shikigami... Hm...

--Which leads us to the lunar connection with Muraki, ie. the way the moon turns blood red when he's recently killed someone or set something in motion (viz. the red moon reflected on the surface of the ocean in one shot in the first episode of the King of Swords arc, even though no one's died just yet...). This lead me to suspect he may have some connection with the Grigori Sariel, who's identified with the moon and -- hello -- with medicine. Sound familiar??

Leaving some space to prevent spoilage...

I'd had a mini-rant here, but I'd decided to cut it, since it was grumbling about other people grumbling...

Still some space for spoilage prevention...

"Bill Stickers will be prosecuted" -- actual sign on a wall in England, which gave J.R.R. Tolkien the inspiration for a goofy robber named Bill Stickers.

Muraki: "Hm, was that a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment?"

Tsuzuki: "Hey, did you catch the talking in TV Tropes bug?"

Muraki: "There's worse things one could catch..."

Tszuki: "I thought you were mad at that site because they filed you under Four Eyes No Soul?"

Muraki: "I was irritated because in my case it's Three Eyes No Soul. Are they unable to count properly on that site?"

Ref: "Shut it you two, you're taking up space..."




I've seen a few posts from people wondering how Saki's head ended up in that life-support pod in the sub-basement of Shion University, especially given that Saki was shot and apparently killed when he and Kazu-kun were about sixteen or seventeen (I have it as eighteen in carpe_ho_ras continuity). Our boy wasn't likely adept enough as a surgeon just yet (unless he's one of those teen prodigies you find all over anime), so my guess is this:

--Yukitaka Muraki (our boy's grandfather) was likely still alive, albeit not in the best of health, but still maintaining a number of connections with the medical and scientific communities.

--Saki wasn't killed outright, but was in a vegetative state, which meant that guardianship had likely transferred to Yukitaka, who didn't care much for Saki (the kid being illegitimate, and I suspect Grandfather Muraki was grooming young Kazutaka to be the rightful heir to the family fortune, etc.). This included end-of-life care, etc.

--I've theorized that Yukitaka may have been Satomi's mentor (side note: I also suspect Yukitaka was involved in the infamous Unit 731 medical experiments during World War II, given Muraki's reference to his grandfather having connections with the government). I'm somehow seeing Yukitaka forging a death certificate for Saki and then delivering the youth's comatose body to Satomi to be used however he saw fit. Thus, by the time Kazu-kun came into his inheritance a few years later, he found out his brother was arguably somewhat alive, albeit likely missing several organs/limbs.

Comments

[luna-glass-wall.livejournal.com]

Ah, Yami no Matsuei theorizing. It owns my soul.

LOVE your ideas.