Azrael and other Angel stuff
So, I have no idea what story the nun was referencing in the church.
However, I do know Azrael is the name of the Archangel of Death (see Gustav Davidson's "A Dictionary of Angels.") - a good summary is on the ever-noble Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azrael
The name translates as "He Who God Helps." Interesting, because I see Dana's purpose in this episode to be symbolic religiously.
She was finally able to die because of a selfless act of taking the bomb away and not killing others.
Of note: the end of the Christmas film "It's a Wonderful Life", when Jimmy Stewart's character says "When you hear a bell ring, an angel gets its wings." This meaning that an angel has done a good deed and can now gain wings.
The church bell rang at the end of the episode...
Maybe the story can be found somewhere in the Apocrypha. There are lots of ancient (esoterical) texts which are not considered as biblical canon and therefore mostly unknown to those who are not dedicated to researching them. Or they just made it up, which would be a bit disappointing.
Last edited by rh; 03-19-2011 at 07:24 AM.
It's so weird because when LOST was on I kept wondering if Richard Albert would ever be referenced to Azrael/Azreil, but I knew of the story through Anne Rice's spin on it, "Servant of the Bones", as it is one of my favorite books.
From Wiki
Servant of the Bones is an autobiographical account of the creation and subsequent existence of a genie, Azriel. It is a story told as a fireside chat and includes historical accounts of Azriel's life as a displaced Jew/rich merchant's son in Babylon at the time of its conquest by Cyrus the Persian. There are also glimpses of life in ancient Miletus, in Strasbourg during a pogrom, and New York City of the 1990s.
Throughout the novel, Azriel is struggling to understand whether he is a ghost, a demon, or an angel. He is trying to understand why his god has denied him the Stairway to Heaven by allowing him to be made into an immortal spirit who is bound to the gold-encased bones of his mortal body. As a genie, he must obey the Master of those bones (whoever has them at the moment) and become the Master's Servant, whether for good or evil. Thus the title, Servant of the Bones.
Azriel is telling the story of his transformation into and subsequent existence as an immortal genii who is forced to obey the Master who calls him. Over centuries, Azriel becomes less obedient to the Masters and a warning is placed on the casket of his bones that he is not to be summoned lest his evil be loosed upon the undeserving world.
After many centuries of rest, Azriel finds himself awake and in New York City, a dazed witness to the murder of a young woman, Esther Belkin. He becomes inexplicably obsessed with the desire to avenge her death and to find out who called him into the physical world in time to see Esther die but not in time to save her. This quest leads him to the girl's stepfather, Gregory Belkin, who would pay any price to fulfill his messianic dream via his immense worldwide religious organization, the Temple of the Mind of God.
As his quest approaches its climax, he risks his supernatural powers to forestall an attempt to destroy the world thus redeeming what was denied him for so long: his own eternal human
I think this whole ordeal with the soul and possible reincarnted existences is not just about Dana Gray, but about Peter and the First People, as I think there origins and possible green universe may be a play on "Caprica"
Also, depending on their over all agenda, the Observers could be viewed as "angels" too...
Last edited by TheOtherMe; 03-19-2011 at 02:17 PM.
Fringe gets religion: Azriel & Samael, Fallen Angels
It has been suggested in an earlier thread that "Sam Weiss" is a reference to Samael
which made a lot of sense to me (more than my own parallel to "Samwise Gamgee" anyway")Originally Posted by TheOtherMe
Sam Weiss is a good call guys!
Because it could be a reference to Biblical Samuel:
Samael (Hebrew: סמאל) (also Sammael, perhaps "Venom of God") is an important archangel in Talmudic and post-Talmudic lore, a figure who is accuser, seducer and destroyer, and has been regarded as both good and evil. It is said that he was the guardian angel of Esau and a patron of the empire of Rome.
Now we have an eplicit reference to Azrael, who is not an ambivalent figure in Jewish lore, but a bad one. He also appears in the Koran, prominently, as the messenger/facilitator of death, and (less prominently) has a similar role in Catholicism.
Also noteworthy in this episode is a mystical religious turn by Walter, first time I can remember him talking about the divine.
And this does have some resonance with what I observed last week, about the "Old Testament Prophet" feeling of the painting of the green guy behind Olivia.
Yeah! I def see this going there, but even death and falling in other religions, philosophies, theologies...
"Unearthed" gave us a sense of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
and the Frankenstein references takes us to Greek god, Prometheus.
Then Peter's favorite book, the philosophy of 'Killing Buddha' is almost empirical, as it is the idea of not believing in the words or beliefs of others, but that a person must find their own answers to their own questions, suggesting personal experience is a must for Peter in his own belief system.
In Peter's case, he is trying to fight the concept of "Fate". (or Karma-strings-entanglements) I think the hardships of Peter and Olivia's relationship lie in the fact that Peter doesn't really know or understand himself yet...I think he has been running from it his whole life and that something is going to happen with this...
"Open your eyes, son, or someone will do it for you."
Peter has done many occupations, some of which I think would require talent (ability) or practice...IMO I think Peter is tied to a spirit of the first people, because the essence (soul/spirit)of the person may be the helm of their technology.
I am not saying that Peter is, or is not locked into a fate, but rather that may be reasons (engineered by people) that Peter is tied to something.
I think the above observations regarding 'fate' are interesting in view of the overall show.
Was Olivia fated to be a soldier for our universe? Is she challenging fate or ultimately just accepting her assigned role? Is this of her own free will?
I do agree that Peter seems to be searching for himself (and by extension) his own purpose. I like that he is definitely not about to leave everything to 'fate.'
But, in the context of the show, is 'fate' really free for the characters to choose? Observers can save girls from plane crashes, can presage the choices characters will be faced with (and then manipulate them); a time-traveling scientist can operate outside of 'fate' and 'destiny' - but still choose his own destiny...or did he?; probabilities of choices' outcomes can be calculated to engineer a specific outcome using a bell-point pen...
I wonder how much free will and individual choice really effect the outcomes for our characters?
I personally think because of what September was conveying in "The Firefly, about knowing futures, but not knowing 'this one's', suggests that it is more like "Star Trek", then perhaps the physics presented in" LOST". It would suggest that anyone can engineer an out come, so I think even though there are patterns with in the universes, I think there is still oppertunity for anyone to attempt to take control of it, but like with Christine Hollis, there has to be 'exchanges' in variables to be made to keep balance. On another note if we take fate as faith, then going back to "6B", then who's to say that the entanglement of LOVE can not also save the day? But I still think that the universe is not as locked in, as Bell makes it.
But then again, does the universes have to really have be "balanced"??
Last edited by TheOtherMe; 03-20-2011 at 07:39 AM.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks