Essayin' cause i can.
Jan. 26th, 2011 01:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unrecumbentSo, Lucifer in Aather. With a side of Rui's speshul musings on canon because why not.
Let me start by saying that in my interpretation of canon, Lucifer is not actually evil. Yes, he's satan. Yes, he's the ex-ruler of Hell. Yes, he is an enormous dick. Yes, getting involved with him goes badly for pretty much everyone. But he's not evil by nature. Let me explain.
The entire source of Lucifer's existential angst, bitchery, and basically everything he does is this: Yahweh made him, and Yahweh is an omniscient Maker; therefore there is no such thing as free will. Why is this a problem? Because Lucifer is Samael, and Samael Morningstar is the archangel who is the divine manifestation of Yahweh's will. Samael and Michael Demiurgos, the divine manifestation of Yahweh's power, are the two most powerful beings in Yahweh's universe, excepting only Yahweh himself. He is very literally a creature of will, and willpower on that level can only come with an extreme sense of self.
tl;dr Lucifer is the Divine Will, and thus the Divine Ego. Except the Divine Ego is restrained by the omniscience of his creator, which means everything that he does and that happens to him inside Yahweh's creation is both already known and out of his control. This pisses Lucifer off something fierce.
Add this to the fact that angels in the Sandman/Lucifer universe are fairly assholish in nature (seriously, there's only one actually nice one in the whole thing) and you get Lucifer. He's arrogant and unsympathetic and unyielding and self-absorbed because that's what will is. Will doesn't have time for insignificant things, and Lucifer has, in general, no interest in things that don't further his agenda, and no use for anything that isn't sufficiently interesting. And he is a big believer in letting people make their own decisions, although he has no problem setting them on the path to ruin if it suits his purposes. But there are exceptions. It's hard to deny that he looks out for Elaine, even if it's also because having her around is useful to him, and he lets Mazikeen have her own way even though he could order/force her to obey his will.
So now that everyone is super bored, Lucifer in Aather. He is an angel! He doesn't know this, but actually that doesn't matter very much, because he comes ready-built with a certain set of traits. His nature doesn't really change much, he just gets more life experience. He does know that he's a special snowflake for real, which just confirms his...natural inclination to believing he's a special snowflake. In canon, it's supportable, he really is that good. In Aather, not so much.
He has no fear. Zero. He is not in any way afraid of or cowed by the personae, and has no real comprehension of the idea that things like the dawn/dusk monsters could be in any way hazardous to him. He feels pain and grasps that it is uncomfortable and that his body could perhaps become disabled, but the import of that has in no way set in. Even with memories, there is basically nothing at all in Lucifer's experience to indicate that pain and injury are significant indicators of impairment. (SPOILERS: This is a dude who took out his own heart, shoved it in a box, temporarily replaced it with the heart of some dead guy and then went out and had a duel in which the fake heart was ripped out of his chest bare-handed. Then he went and had a conversation with some dudes while his heart was in a box and there was still a fist-hole in his chest. And that was when he wasn't fully seated in his powers. Basically, he is stone cold badass.) Death will probably not change this, just lead him to not press those particular buttons anymore, so to speak.
His empathy skills are lacking! This is an angel thing. He is only interested in interesting people--ones who do strange things, have strange powers, don't accept the status quo, etc etc. People who are just nice and go with things are not interesting, and he has zero reaction to being thanked or praised for doing what he was told. He's doing his job because it benefits him to do so, not because he really cares about the personal welfare of most of Aather. It is possible to get him to actually...care...kinda. But it is difficult! He is much more likely to do it in Aather than in canon, though. There are at least people who have a shot.
He doesn't lie. In canon Michael says that the fact that Lucifer keeps his promises isn't a virtue, but the problem with it isn't that promises aren't kept, it's that people have this idea that he's looking out for their welfare. He does what he says he will to the letter, not the spirit people assume. This is a general problem when dealing with gods, really.
That belief in free will? Really important. Lucifer's version of caring is giving the people around him free will. This means he doesn't stop people from doing shit that will fuck them up unless that in turn may fuck his plans or if saving them will further his goals.
...and then I lost track of this essay, so maybe I'll come up with a coherent ending later. ANYWAY Lucifer is an asshole \o/
Let me start by saying that in my interpretation of canon, Lucifer is not actually evil. Yes, he's satan. Yes, he's the ex-ruler of Hell. Yes, he is an enormous dick. Yes, getting involved with him goes badly for pretty much everyone. But he's not evil by nature. Let me explain.
The entire source of Lucifer's existential angst, bitchery, and basically everything he does is this: Yahweh made him, and Yahweh is an omniscient Maker; therefore there is no such thing as free will. Why is this a problem? Because Lucifer is Samael, and Samael Morningstar is the archangel who is the divine manifestation of Yahweh's will. Samael and Michael Demiurgos, the divine manifestation of Yahweh's power, are the two most powerful beings in Yahweh's universe, excepting only Yahweh himself. He is very literally a creature of will, and willpower on that level can only come with an extreme sense of self.
tl;dr Lucifer is the Divine Will, and thus the Divine Ego. Except the Divine Ego is restrained by the omniscience of his creator, which means everything that he does and that happens to him inside Yahweh's creation is both already known and out of his control. This pisses Lucifer off something fierce.
Add this to the fact that angels in the Sandman/Lucifer universe are fairly assholish in nature (seriously, there's only one actually nice one in the whole thing) and you get Lucifer. He's arrogant and unsympathetic and unyielding and self-absorbed because that's what will is. Will doesn't have time for insignificant things, and Lucifer has, in general, no interest in things that don't further his agenda, and no use for anything that isn't sufficiently interesting. And he is a big believer in letting people make their own decisions, although he has no problem setting them on the path to ruin if it suits his purposes. But there are exceptions. It's hard to deny that he looks out for Elaine, even if it's also because having her around is useful to him, and he lets Mazikeen have her own way even though he could order/force her to obey his will.
So now that everyone is super bored, Lucifer in Aather. He is an angel! He doesn't know this, but actually that doesn't matter very much, because he comes ready-built with a certain set of traits. His nature doesn't really change much, he just gets more life experience. He does know that he's a special snowflake for real, which just confirms his...natural inclination to believing he's a special snowflake. In canon, it's supportable, he really is that good. In Aather, not so much.
He has no fear. Zero. He is not in any way afraid of or cowed by the personae, and has no real comprehension of the idea that things like the dawn/dusk monsters could be in any way hazardous to him. He feels pain and grasps that it is uncomfortable and that his body could perhaps become disabled, but the import of that has in no way set in. Even with memories, there is basically nothing at all in Lucifer's experience to indicate that pain and injury are significant indicators of impairment. (SPOILERS: This is a dude who took out his own heart, shoved it in a box, temporarily replaced it with the heart of some dead guy and then went out and had a duel in which the fake heart was ripped out of his chest bare-handed. Then he went and had a conversation with some dudes while his heart was in a box and there was still a fist-hole in his chest. And that was when he wasn't fully seated in his powers. Basically, he is stone cold badass.) Death will probably not change this, just lead him to not press those particular buttons anymore, so to speak.
His empathy skills are lacking! This is an angel thing. He is only interested in interesting people--ones who do strange things, have strange powers, don't accept the status quo, etc etc. People who are just nice and go with things are not interesting, and he has zero reaction to being thanked or praised for doing what he was told. He's doing his job because it benefits him to do so, not because he really cares about the personal welfare of most of Aather. It is possible to get him to actually...care...kinda. But it is difficult! He is much more likely to do it in Aather than in canon, though. There are at least people who have a shot.
He doesn't lie. In canon Michael says that the fact that Lucifer keeps his promises isn't a virtue, but the problem with it isn't that promises aren't kept, it's that people have this idea that he's looking out for their welfare. He does what he says he will to the letter, not the spirit people assume. This is a general problem when dealing with gods, really.
That belief in free will? Really important. Lucifer's version of caring is giving the people around him free will. This means he doesn't stop people from doing shit that will fuck them up unless that in turn may fuck his plans or if saving them will further his goals.
...and then I lost track of this essay, so maybe I'll come up with a coherent ending later. ANYWAY Lucifer is an asshole \o/