In my neck of the woods, the first signs of Spring are emerging. I noticed some of my daffodils beginning to poke out of the ground which makes me happy! Between that and the recent Cinderella-inspired Bridgerton season, I find myself once again wanting to read fairy tales. Thus, I decided to look into the fairy tale and myth tropes found in the Dyeland/Asteriana stories. Unlike with previous iterations of this, I'm going to dive a bit more into the why of invoking these tropes. I hope you enjoy and I'd love to hear about your favorite fairy tale or myth!
God bless,
Jenni
But before we get to the tropes... some news!
I already shared this on the GoogleGroup and meant to share it in the last newsletter but forgot. So just passing along that while I was meandering around one of my favorite sites, Internet Archive, I found this:
https://archive.org/details/TheNerd1989Pilot/The+Nerd+(1989+Pilot).mp4
It's a pilot that John Dye was in several years before TBAA. It was never picked up but still kinda fun to watch. Given it's age, the quality isn't the best but I still recommend it.
Then shortly thereafter, I found this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-VbXWgIQaw&list=PL0t8t0jwd8iwI3-vbgJF3rdEhiGbeVkhA&index=9
Full disclosure, I haven't yet watched this one. Like The Nerd, it was a pilot that wasn't picked up to series and, again, the quality is quite bad. But at this point, I'm just really glad whenever anything "new" of John's surfaces. This was especially exciting since until very recently, I had no idea this existed because I don't think it was on his IMDB page for a long time.
Anyway, if you watch either, I hope you enjoy them!
Finally, this news is probably far less exciting for everyone else but quite a big deal to me. I found a new editing program to use for updating the Encyclopedia! For years, I've been putting up with repeated freezes, weird formatting, and more. Now there's none of that when I go to update! I don't think the switch caused any issues but if you're ever perusing it and notice anything amiss, please let me know.
Thank you!
Animorphism- Joshua is the king of this although at least two other characters also have this ability. Crowley can turn into a snake at will. And there's definitely more to Karl's bird friend Tawera. If you read "In the Garden," you may have put together who she really is. I'm kinda setting Crowley aside at this point. He can turn into a snake purely because he does both in the biblical and Good Omens canons. But for Joshua and Tawera, there are deeper reasons. For Tawera and, in many cases, for Joshua; they'll use their animal forms when the concerned human would be more comfortable that way. A perfect example is Joshua appearing to Salma as Zmaray the lion in "Chrysalis." As a survivor of human trafficking, the male form of a virtual stranger wouldn't be particularly comforting. A friendly lion? That Salma can deal with. In a similar vein, after rescuing Isolde from her rapist, Joshua transforms into an albatross to draw Marco's attention to an unconscious Isolde. I think we can understand that Marco would feel a lot more at ease about seeing a bird near his abused beloved versus a man. But sometimes Joshua just wants to be physically present but in a manner that's not disruptive or distracting. We see that in "The Butterfly." Joshua wants to lend his comfort to JenniAnn but Andrew was doing a great job of comforting her. Joshua showing up in a white robe would have, understandably, tore JenniAnn's attention away from Andrew and that was an important bonding moment for them.
Beauty Equals Goodness- I think this is fairly well subverted. I mean a lot of the angels are very good looking. But some of them are also quite average looking. And then there's Joshua. Beauty being in the eye of the beholder, some people do find him attractive. But general consensus is that he is not stereotypically handsome. And therein lies the issue: culturally dictated beauty standards. Personally, I think Vincent is quite dashing. (Yes, I'm biased towards my ideal TV dad.) But Beauty and the Beast had several instances of people screaming and gasping because of his looks. And I'll grant that he'd be startling to behold initially. But I still think he's very handsome in his own way. So while I'll happily read about Snow White being the fairest in all the land and whatnot, this trope fails on two fronts for me. 1. Someone could be generally considered unattractive and be the kindest, most righteous person around and 2. We can't even agree on who is pretty/handsome/hot/whatever. Hence subverting it.
Curse- There are no real curses in the stories... but that doesn't mean someone can't threaten one. In "A Thousand Years," Crowley, in the form of a hag, threatens to curse Gwen's
husband with
never-ending fire and vermin if he doesn't release Gwen's body
and baby Liliwen to Jamie. The threat and some demonic
special effects are enough to get Broderick to concede. I
don't have a whole lot to say about this one except that this
scene is one of the most fairy tale-inspired scenes in anything
I've written. I love me a magical hag.Deal with the Devil- I think this is more common in folklore versus fairy tales but who knows! I've certainly not read all fairy tales. I don't think that's possible. Anyway... This is generally the way Satan snares his fellow demons. After Ed's iwi is decimated by diseases brought in by the colonizers, Satan via Iggy uses his desire for revenge to get him to turn away from God. And it works... for a time. The same sorta thing happened with Eben. And I would imagine it would have with Takoda, too, if Wahkan hadn't been so on top of things. I think what's scary about this trope as it's used in the stories and even in TBAA is that usually what the devil is initially offering isn't inherently bad. Okay, so revenge isn't great. But justice is. And to Ed and Eben, what was on offer seemed like justice. And obviously romance and motherhood can be beautiful things. So Satan offering both to Monica in "Netherlands" doesn't immediately raise alarms. I don't know that I believe deals with the devil are an actual, literal thing. But I think we can all fall into a trap of making little moral concessions for the sake of expediency or to dull our pain. And only later does the cost become obvious.
Death by Childbirth- Not nearly as common in the stories as in fairy tales. This is largely due to most of the stories being set in the modern day... which is not to say we don't have our own deficits in maternal care. But we definitely have a lot more on offer than folks did centuries back. Sadly, this is Gwen's fate in "A Thousand Years." Vincent also spends a good chunk of his life at least suspecting his mother died giving birth to him. This ends up not being the case when Cora is found to be very much alive. My stories have fantastical elements, of course. But I like for them to be rooted in reality. So I would never want to risk playing into anyone's fear of childbirth by making it seem more common than it is just for drama.
Due to the Dead- Perhaps not surprising for a series of stories involving an angel of death, the Friends take this quite seriously. I also think they take their cues from Joshua. I always thought it was strange how in the Gospels, Jesus seems to elevate anointing him in preparation for burial above tending to the poor. And then more and more people I loved started to die. I can't pretend to know what the historical Yeshua meant. But I can guess. Caring for the poor is vitally important. But when someone dies, you generally only have a concrete amount of time to tend to their body. And that *is* important, not only as it shows respect to the dead but also because I think mourning rituals are vital to our mental health. I'm sure many of us have experienced losses that were never formally and communally grieved due to COVID restrictions. (To be clear, I was in support of said restrictions but it would be a lie to say they didn't have unfortunate side effects as necessary as they were.) And that was painful. It's also one of the many reasons ambiguous grief as in when someone is missing is so difficult. So the Friends take funeral prep very seriously. In "Chava," Tiva gently guides JenniAnn through preparing Chava's body for burial. In "Immortality," when Josef discovers that Daisy's father is his descendant, he locates his body and pays for a proper service and burial. In "A Thousand Years," one of the ways Andrew and JenniAnn begin to make peace with the horrifying visions the demons left her with is using that information to locate a missing woman's body so her family can have closure. During COVID, many of the Friends helped Andrew to make custom coffins so those lost were buried in something that evoked who they were. In "Origins," Catherine flies to Ireland to ensure Cora's ashes are put to rest where her husband, Lor, is buried. So, yeah, they take giving the dead their due pretty seriously.
Heir Club for Men- This isn't an issue in Asteriana, in part owing to there being an excess of land. When Andrew and JenniAnn depart, it's certainly not a given that Max will inherit Willowveil. I'm not sure how exactly that will work but it's certainly not a firstborn son gets everything situation. Likely whomever is living with Andrew and JenniAnn to help out in their old age simply stays there and keeps it as the family home. But that's not to say this trope has no impact. Had Isra and Salma had a brother, things might have gone very differently for them. Sticking within that family, while the villainous Uncle and wider community want Isra's firstborn to be a son, she and Behnam are very happy to have their daughter, Aiyla. The closest thing to a monarchy in the stories is the Tunnels. But even there, gender is of no significance. Prior to her returning to Dyeland/Asteriana, the presumption was that JenniAnn/Psyche would eventually take on Vincent's role as his lone heir. Her being a girl and adopted of sorts were both immaterial. Thankfully, Jacob showed up so now, once again, Vincent has an heir. But still the fact that he's adopted is of no significance (Vincent having also been adopted) and all would remain the same even if Jacob was Jacinda. It's not even a real thing. I think Vincent, and Father before him, just realized that it was comforting to the people to have some sort of unbroken line of succession within the Tunnel leadership. But it certainly wasn't the case that there was going to be rioting in the tunnels and fights over who would take Vincent's place on the Council had he not selected an heir. And since JenniAnn/Psyche is still on the Council, once Vincent is gone, the Tunnels will get the benefit of input from both of the children he and Catherine raised. All this to say, a formal succession system doesn't currently exist in any corner of the stories and remnants are only there out of a desire for consistency and comfort.
Honorary Uncle- Yeah so I'm kinda backtracking on this... I think, initially, the Friends thought they would all be aunts and uncles to each other's children. But the more I thought
about it...
and thus the more they thought about it... they're reserving
those titles for people who are, either genetically or by
adoption, truly aunts and uncles. I think they realize the
chances of their children intermarrying is quite high. So
why make it more weird by your aunt and uncle becoming your
parents-in-law? Liam and Belle, however, are still gonna
have to deal with that since they continued to use aunt and
uncle for the others' parents given Andrew and Monica regard
themselves as siblings and Vincent and Catherine adopted both
children as their grandchildren. Oh well! Liminal Beings- A lot of the characters could classify as liminal beings in one sense or another. Joshua is both man and God. He is an immortal who has died. He is all-powerful and inconspicuous. And so on. JenniAnn, especially growing up, was very much the "Child of Two Worlds" type just as, in the TV show, Vincent once described Catherine as "a woman of both worlds." Both have strong ties to the Tunnels and yet also have lives in the world Above. I think at this point, both have made peace with that and have struck a good balance. But it was definitely trying at times as they didn't fit neatly in either world for a good while. The angels with human anam caras also count, I think. Just as one example, Andrew is an immortal angel but lives a life that more closely resembles a mortal man at this point. He has a romantic partner, children, a household to finance and run, etc. I think we're all liminal beings to some extent. We all have identities that we have to hold together and balance out.
Rule of Three- Honestly, I could probably take any number and find numerous references for it. But it's especially easy with three. Whenever I need an apartment number or something, especially where Joshua is involved, expect 333. Incidentally, it's not just me. In the TBAA episode "A House Divided," Andrew's apartment number is also 333. For much of the show's run, there were three main angels. There were three named AODs. So it's not surprising the Rule of Three appears in the stories. I think my favorite original example, new as it is, is the Big Three; Marty, Sandy, and Lailah. They are the three original angels and do, to some extent, mirror the Trinity. Marty is the Father: in control, (nearly) all-knowing, ordered, quicker to anger than his siblings, maintains a strong sense of righteousness... all while being very loving. Sandy is the Son: gentle, a peacemaker, artistic... and, yes, also loving. And, finally, Lailah is the Holy Spirit: most mysterious, the still, small voice of reason and truth, the most ethereal of the three... and, you guessed it, loving. There's also the three-week rule which is no longer particularly relevant since Andrew and JenniAnn live together now. But I assume it's still in effect. Joshua's monogram also has three letters: the J(oshua), the D(avidson), and the C(hrist). I don't know that I have a whole lot of depth to say. I think the Rule of Three is just a foregone conclusion when you're doing Christian fiction.
Swiss-Army Tears- In "On a Hill Far Away," we learn that Joshua's blood mixed with Marty's tears for him create the flowers which turn out to be the cure for vampirism. Vampires are very ancient and numerous cultural traditions include them or beings very like them. But I am most familiar with the European Christian variant wherein holy water and crosses have power. So it made sense to me that the cure would somehow link back to Joshua. But the cure simply being Joshua's blood seemed too simple and predictable. So going back to that idea of liminality, I liked the idea that the cure would be the result of two realities colliding. Vampires are neither fully mortal nor immortal. They are humans and yet animalistic. And so on. So I liked the cure being the mix of mortal blood (Yeshua's) and immortal tears (Marty's), the plan of the Creator literally watered by the tears of the first created being. The cure is earthly flowers created by heavenly beings. It's one of the few aspects of the stories that feels really mythic to me. We have so much folklore and myth explaining how land formations and such came to be. But in the stories, sure Creation is ordered by God... but by through things like evolution and tectonic plates. It was nice to have something that was the direct result of a miracle.
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