Comments | pellucid: Fic: Infinite Regress (The Origin Stories Remix) [BSG, for bsg

pellucid

Fic: Infinite Regress (The Origin Stories Remix) [BSG, for bsg_remix]

Jul 14, 2009 13:44

Title: Infinite Regress (The Origin Stories Remix)
Author: pellucid
Summary: She was a prophet, and prophets are always special.
Characters: Pythia, Athena (the Lord of Kobol)
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Beta Thanks: gabolange, as always!
Author Notes: 1600 words. A remix of Twilight of the Idols by nnaylime, written for bsg_remix (2009). Originally posted here; I'm ( Read more... )

bsg fic, bsg, fic

Comments 6

(The comment has been removed)

pellucid July 14 2009, 19:59:42 UTC

Once again, I'll say thank you! ;)

I always found the idea of Kobol and whatever happened there to be one of the most fascinating and compelling parts of the show. I was so convinced, back when I (stupidly, as it turned out) thought that the endgame of the mytharc was actually going to make sense, that it would all come back to the lynchpin of Kobol and Athena and the Book of Pythia, that "Home, part 2" was the thematically pivotal episode of the series. Well, shows what I get for thinking, I suppose, but in some ways I'm just as glad they didn't touch it because by not touching it they didn't turn it into something disappointing, and now I still get to play in this playground ( ... )

fallingtowers July 14 2009, 20:34:25 UTC

Just like grav_ity says above, the goddess Athena is also kind of dear to me, and I'm delighted to stumble upon a version of her in a mytharc fic. I like your vague and taunting exploration of prophecy and patterns and predestination far better than the stupid "it's God's will and don't ask any questions" revelation in canon, and your hints at "the outlines of truth", at the necessity and simultaneous incompleteness of metaphor are far more satisfying.

pellucid July 14 2009, 22:01:52 UTC

Thank you! I'm glad the idea of questions without answers appeals to you, as well. That's sort of the heart of faith, isn't it? The invitation to ask questions--always to keep exploring--but the realization that there probably aren't answers to the questions, at least not in any kind of definitive way. Up to a point, I thought the show did such a good job walking that line, and then, well...best not to speak of it. Ultimately, I'm rather glad they left the Lords of Kobol alone, I think; it seemed like rather a gaping hole (I had been so convinced for so long that it all would come back to Kobol), but at least they weren't ruined and I can still play with them like this.

beccatoria July 14 2009, 21:01:45 UTC

How startlingly beautiful. I am in mourning for Pythia, for Athena.

I am in love with the quiet, unceremonious blurring of lines between mortal and god. While the technical idea that the Lords of Kobol might themselves have been Cylon from a previous cycle of time (or...something Other) is not new to me, somehow it was never as clear to me as it is now that for all I love what BSG does to the boundaries of human and machine, I wish it had done the same to the boundaries of mortal and divine. And now you have done it, elegantly and painfully.

Thanks for reposting this. It's wonderful.

pellucid July 14 2009, 22:12:16 UTC

Thank you! I'm so glad this struck a chord with you.

The idea of the Lords of Kobol as Cylon (or...something Other--I like the way you put that!) has been a small pet theory of mine since Sharon's "Athena, whoever or whatever she really was" back in "Home, part 2." And as I mentioned above to grav_ity, I always thought (well, up until I cast aside all my expectations) that Kobol would have to be the thematic centre of the mytharc--that everything would come back to what happened there, to the prophecies and the opera house and all that. Not in a "now you have all the answers" way, but in a way that respected the thematic centrality that that part of the story appeared to have for so long. I was, of course, tremendously disappointed, though ultimately, given how bad the storytelling was in the end, I think I'm glad they just stayed away from the Lords of Kobol, because I would hate for them to have been screwed up. Now, at least, I can still play with them this way!

for all I love what BSG does to the boundaries of human and machine, I wish ( ... )

beccatoria July 15 2009, 19:19:16 UTC

You make a really interesting point there. BSG definitely discussed the Cylon/Human relationship as parent/child with the divine as something quite different and competing between the two. While TSCC uses religion specifically to discuss the creation of a living machine, with the parent/child divisions being quite firmly separated along lines of species (Sarah and John Connor, Weaver and John Henry).

Along one line, that makes sense since (again until the very weird ending) BSG was more specifically trying to forge a biological and familiar connection between human and machine; to describe us as solely their creator-gods might have been interesting in terms of theology but equally could cause the worry that we then wouldn't see the lines between us blurring so impossibly. However, the more I think about it, the more a shame I think this is because it completely could have been about that. The Opera House again - life/death, human/cylon. But also creator/created=god/human? D'Anna looks on her creators there, certainly. And it ( ... )