 SPN Meta 1: Angels and Race
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May. 20th, 2010 @ 01:42 pm 
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Dean (as in, my Dean, not Dean Winchester) and I are gradually catching up on Supernatural season 5.
I have a whoooole bunch of thoughts on various topics building up, but some of them require a bunch more consideration before posting, and my thoughts aren't entirely coherent at the moment, since I've been running a considerable fever for about a week now.
So, category one: Angels and Race. I don't have conclusions on this one, just questions so far, trying to work out if they're running a theme.
Preliminary thoughts.
It's established that the ability to be a Vessel is a bloodline thing, inherited. Which means that a given angel's vessels are probably (especially if the Cupids are working those bloodlines) going to be all the same race - and none of the vessels so far have seemed to be mixed.
It's worth noting that there's probably whole posts about Supernatural and theology that I may well write, but not right now.
So far:
Angel: Anna
Angelic Type: Unknown (Soldier category, rank: lieutenant)
Vessel: Fair skin, reddish hair - generally Northern European.
Angel: Uriel
Angelic Type: Unknown (Soldier category, rank: corporal-ish)
Vessel: African
Curious point: In Supernatural, Uriel is a fairly ordinary angel, subordinate to Anna, equal to Castiel. And the language of the angels is Enochian; and yet, it is the book of Enoch which identifies Uriel as an Archangel, but the book of Enoch is considered canonical only by the Ethiopian Orthodox church. I can't help but wonder if Uriel's vessel's ancestry descends via Ethiopia at all.
Angel: Castiel
Angelic type: Unknown (Soldier category, rank: corporal-ish)
Vessel: Light skin, dark hair - more Eastern European
Angel: Zachariah
Angelic type: *does research* Probably of the cherubim; they're generally described as having the wings and the animal attributes; the seraphim are also many-winged (and closer to God), but generally are more serpent-like in depiction of the facial elements. Zachariah says he used to be powerful, that he would walk and everyone averted their eyes; this fits either, as the seraphim and cherubim basically the first and second tiers of angels below the archangels.
Vessel: Fair skin, balding and greying, so who knows with hair; by facial features I'd put him, I don't know, kind of central European? A bit more southern, but not fully Mediterranean.
Angel: Raphael (God's Healing)
Angelic type: Archangel
Vessel: African
Angel: Gabriel (the Herald of the Mysteries: the Might of God)
Angelic type: Archangel
Vessel: Middling hair colour, light-skinned; Eastern European, maybe
Angel: Michael (Who is Like unto God)
Angelic type: Archangel
Vessel: Light skin, lightish hair (Dean) or dark hair (John), call it Western European
Angel: Lucifer (the Morning Star, the Lightbringer)
Angelic type: Archangel
Vessel: Light skin, darker hair (Sam), fair skin, blonde (Mary): Northern European?
Note: Is implied heavily that the bloodlines of the vessels of Michael and Lucifer go back to Cain and Abel. Presumably, John Winchester was descended from the line of Abel, and Mary from the line of Cain. Given John Winchester was able to be a vessel for Michael, presumably Mary could (in theory) have been a vessel for Lucifer.
So. The Vessels - so far - all seem to descend from Africa and Europe. This plays intriguingly into some theological questions, and I will, in fact, be actively disappointed if a Vessel shows up who's of Asian descent, because Asia was pretty much entirely untouched by the Judeo-Christian religions until really very recently, while the Middle East was for some centuries completely overtaken by Islam (and just as well, really, given how Christendom fell apart; who knows if the Dark Ages would have even ended if the Islamic world hadn't been holding on to science, learning and civilisation?).
Judeo-Christianity was Europe and northern Africa. It fits. (Enough that I really want Uriel's Vessel to be of at least partial Ethiopian descent.)Current Mood:  sick Current Location: Catalyst; couch
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I know not the fandom of which you speak, but for the record, there have been thriving, vibrant communities of non-Muslims in the Middle East, all along. They haven't been the boss of anything, but they've been there. A significant chunk of the Palestinian population, for example, is Christian. Lebanon is full of Christians. And there are many many Mizrahim (Arab Jews), though they nearly all live in Israel now. Both Arab Christians and Arab Jews have been incredibly devoted to their faith, and could be counted on to carry on the sort of thing you describe. Though if someone was trying to keep their lineage out of harm's way, they'd probably want to move to Europe or North Africa, this is true.
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| From: | ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) sami |
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| Date: |
May 20th, 2010 03:53 pm (UTC) |
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I know the non-Muslim communities have been there, yes, but - that's the thing.
In the Supernatural canon, angels can only walk the Earth by inhabiting the bodies of Vessels - which requires the Vessel's consent, as well. No vessel, no manifestation. The potential to be an angelic vessel is carried in the bloodline; it's unlikely that an angel will want to risk their line of vessels in areas where Judeo-Christianity is non-dominant. If nothing else, it's going to make for a terribly awkward conversation should they want to move in, if their prospective vessel is an adherent of another faith. (Edit: i.e. if they converted, which is probably harder to prevent in an area where Christianity is less dominant.) (Especially since, in Supernatural, non-Judeo-Christian gods exist, but the God the angels serve is definitely the one from the Bible. They really wouldn't want to deal with another god being possessive about their faithful.)
It's not that those communities didn't exist, I just don't think the Vessels would be left there. Too risky, and Supernatural's angels don't like risky.
Edited ( ) 2010-05-20 03:56 pm (UTC)
Which means that a given angel's vessels are probably (especially if the Cupids are working those bloodlines) going to be all the same race
I'm going to have to disagree with you there, although this is an interesting overall concept you've got here.
these bloodlines go back (one would presume) thousands of years. Any given angel would have potentially hundreds of possible vessels, of many nationalities.
It's my understanding Cupids would keep the bloodlines alive, and only worry about involving specific people when a "true" vessel, like Sam and Dean, or another person of import in the grande scheme was needed.
I don't think the angels would need to introduce themselves to their potential vessels angels, only as higher beings, or good spirits or something.
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