Squiddot
The Falcon needs you. You don't need him!
Hi everyone! I had a short trawl through the archives and didn’t see this question posed before. Although the subject matter is quite old at this point. It concerns our favourite Danny Devito Hellraiser and his conspicuous absence in a time when all his cohorts were working hard on the material world.
During the Conviction arc we see evidence of each of the Godhand members manipulating events to create the stage for Griffith’s rebirth. The way each member was used in shaping Albion into the perfect storm of chaos reaffirmed many key themes of each member.
For example, early into the arc we see communities abandoning their villages for refuge in Albion. The cause of this mass exodus is a deadly plague sweeping through Midland, which we soon discover is intrinsically linked to the Godhand Conrad.
Thanks to Conrad’s efforts, Albion is now swarming with more people than it can properly care for. But the combined efforts of Void and Slan add even more tension to the mix. The camps are a battleground between the doctrine of the Holy See and the growing Heretical cults. During the Heretic orgy we see direct evidence that Slan is tied to this faction. Manifesting an avatar in the smoke just as Conrad had appeared in a swarm of rats in the plague–stricken towns.
Sadly, at this point in the theory we delve further in speculation. High up in the Tower of Conviction, Inquisitor Mozgus tells Farnesse of the sage imprisoned in the tower who called upon an angel. Nowadays, the theory of the wise man and Gaiseric eventually leading to the rivalry between Void and the Skullknight is one of the most popular around. And so I’ll bounce off that and say that if Void is the wise man described in Mozgus’ tale, then it stands to reason that he would have been a high ranking figure in the faith that would become the Holy See (because Mozgus is not the sort to share legends belonging to another faith). We also have the well-known similarities between the Holy See and the brand to back this up. Therefore, the Holy Iron Chain knights and the Holy See, and their part in the destruction of Albion, can be traced back to the machinations of Void.
So Griffith needs some groundwork laid down for his reincarnation. The desire for “The Falcon of Light” must ring in the minds of thousands. So in a once in a millennium event, Conrad assembles a mass of sacrifices while Void and Slan push their unknowing peons into one another, creating an atmosphere of misery so powerful that evil spirits congeal from the dead in time for a worldly reflection of the Eclipse to begin.
So where was Ubik during all of this? If any aspect of the Albion disaster was his doing, Miura was not nearly as quick to show it as he did the others. Perhaps he could be credited for creating the “key” of the event, the egg apostle. But the apostle states he was visited by “angels” suggesting it was the same collaborative effort seen in all other sacrifices. It could have been that Ubik was dealing on an international scale, arranging the Kushan invasion that had begun to sweep through Midland at that time. But this also doesn’t hold much water. The more we learned about Ganishka, the less likely it was that he had or needed any nudging to embark on his quest.
Posts have been dedicated to what exactly Ubik’s forte is, with the general consensus being human minds and temptation through trickery. After all, during both the Count and Griffith’s ceremony, Ubik is the one who digs through the persons memories. Ubiks reintroduction during the World Transformation is equally opaque, appearing hidden in a page of creatures lifted from Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights. Walter analysed the possible interpretations of this scene in his thread (http://www.skullknight.net/forum/index.php?topic=14744.msg236296#msg236296)
So, if Ubik can be assumed to be the most Psychological of the Godhand. Then it could be possible that he was responsible for the mass dream of the Falcon of Light; that gave the people of the Midland a collective wish to hold onto and eventually bring into being. Thinking about it now it’s the one answer I find the most satisfying. But I have some problems with it. For one, the act of a species-wide dream feels closer to the power of the Idea of Evil itself.
If anyone has some other Ubik-sized holes they noticed during Conviction, or just other general notes on his character please post it! And let me know if you think the mass dream sounds suitably up his alley.
During the Conviction arc we see evidence of each of the Godhand members manipulating events to create the stage for Griffith’s rebirth. The way each member was used in shaping Albion into the perfect storm of chaos reaffirmed many key themes of each member.
For example, early into the arc we see communities abandoning their villages for refuge in Albion. The cause of this mass exodus is a deadly plague sweeping through Midland, which we soon discover is intrinsically linked to the Godhand Conrad.
Thanks to Conrad’s efforts, Albion is now swarming with more people than it can properly care for. But the combined efforts of Void and Slan add even more tension to the mix. The camps are a battleground between the doctrine of the Holy See and the growing Heretical cults. During the Heretic orgy we see direct evidence that Slan is tied to this faction. Manifesting an avatar in the smoke just as Conrad had appeared in a swarm of rats in the plague–stricken towns.
Sadly, at this point in the theory we delve further in speculation. High up in the Tower of Conviction, Inquisitor Mozgus tells Farnesse of the sage imprisoned in the tower who called upon an angel. Nowadays, the theory of the wise man and Gaiseric eventually leading to the rivalry between Void and the Skullknight is one of the most popular around. And so I’ll bounce off that and say that if Void is the wise man described in Mozgus’ tale, then it stands to reason that he would have been a high ranking figure in the faith that would become the Holy See (because Mozgus is not the sort to share legends belonging to another faith). We also have the well-known similarities between the Holy See and the brand to back this up. Therefore, the Holy Iron Chain knights and the Holy See, and their part in the destruction of Albion, can be traced back to the machinations of Void.
So Griffith needs some groundwork laid down for his reincarnation. The desire for “The Falcon of Light” must ring in the minds of thousands. So in a once in a millennium event, Conrad assembles a mass of sacrifices while Void and Slan push their unknowing peons into one another, creating an atmosphere of misery so powerful that evil spirits congeal from the dead in time for a worldly reflection of the Eclipse to begin.
So where was Ubik during all of this? If any aspect of the Albion disaster was his doing, Miura was not nearly as quick to show it as he did the others. Perhaps he could be credited for creating the “key” of the event, the egg apostle. But the apostle states he was visited by “angels” suggesting it was the same collaborative effort seen in all other sacrifices. It could have been that Ubik was dealing on an international scale, arranging the Kushan invasion that had begun to sweep through Midland at that time. But this also doesn’t hold much water. The more we learned about Ganishka, the less likely it was that he had or needed any nudging to embark on his quest.
Posts have been dedicated to what exactly Ubik’s forte is, with the general consensus being human minds and temptation through trickery. After all, during both the Count and Griffith’s ceremony, Ubik is the one who digs through the persons memories. Ubiks reintroduction during the World Transformation is equally opaque, appearing hidden in a page of creatures lifted from Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights. Walter analysed the possible interpretations of this scene in his thread (http://www.skullknight.net/forum/index.php?topic=14744.msg236296#msg236296)
So, if Ubik can be assumed to be the most Psychological of the Godhand. Then it could be possible that he was responsible for the mass dream of the Falcon of Light; that gave the people of the Midland a collective wish to hold onto and eventually bring into being. Thinking about it now it’s the one answer I find the most satisfying. But I have some problems with it. For one, the act of a species-wide dream feels closer to the power of the Idea of Evil itself.
If anyone has some other Ubik-sized holes they noticed during Conviction, or just other general notes on his character please post it! And let me know if you think the mass dream sounds suitably up his alley.