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Light and Darkness
Sep. 1st, 2008 09:43 pmETA: ALL OF THIS STILL APPLIES EXCEPT FOR WHERE IT REFERENCES SCENT. AMATERASU CAN NO LONGER SMELL LIGHT AND DARKNESS IN A PERSON (UNLESS IT IS QUITE LITERALLY "THE DARKNESS" OR DEMONIC ETC.) AND THAT ABILITY HAS BEEN RETCONNED.
So it has occurred to me that Amaterasu's standards of light and darkness (in a metaphorical sense) might not be particularly clear. This is kind of a big deal, because the light and darkness in a character determines how Amaterasu is going to perceive and interact with other characters. So! Think of this as both a sort of explanation, and something of a permission meme.
Amaterasu, being the goddess of the sun and of life, has a rather particular view of light and darkness in a person. She will never refer to these things as "good" and "bad," and in fact rarely uses those terms to describe things (except maybe in a "this tastes good/bad" respect). Light and darkness are just that--light and darkness. The best way to think of it as "creation" versus "destruction." Amaterasu would therefore be described as a goddess of creation--as the sun (metaphorically) she brings life, makes things grow, etc. Yami, though it's debatable whether he could be called a god, is a force of darkness, and thus a force of destruction.
However, as a goddess, Amaterasu has a view of the "big picture," you could say. She recognizes the fact that the universe requires both creation and destruction--things are born, live, and die, and their deaths make way for new life.
Here's a metaphor for you--a rainforest. A rainforest is arguably one of the most lively and diverse ecosystems on the planet; lots of different plants and animals, all interacting and living off one another. If any of you have ever been near a jungle of some kind, you'll understand it when I say that not a single inch in a rainforest is without some kind of life. However, what some people don't know is that the only reason rainforests do so well (until people come along lol) is because the soil is constantly enriched by dying plants and organisms. This super-enriched top layer of the soil is called humus, and it is basically nothing but decaying plant and animal matter. It is absolutely essential for the rainforest's continuation. And without the rainforest itself, you don't get the humus--which is why if you cut down the rainforest, the soil quickly becomes really quite crappy and can't really sustain anything. It's cyclical--a balance, you see!
So, what was the point of that little biology lesson? Well! To Amaterasu, balance is more important than anything. Balance between life and death, creation and destruction. The world needs to be in balance or you have chaos--too much creation is just as bad as too much destruction. But this balance also needs to apply to an individual. Think of yin and yang, or of the Five Elements in Chinese mythology (wood, fire, earth, metal and water). If a person is not balanced, they can't live a complete and fulfilling life.
So, in essence, Amaterasu prefers a person to be balanced internally in terms of creation and destruction--light and darkness. If a person has slightly more "light" in them than "darkness," then that's good too, so long as the light doesn't completely overwhelm the dark.
But here it gets a bit complicated. For one thing, Amaterasu herself is slightly biased toward the lighter side of things. For another, in judging a person, she starts from the total balance. This can be a bit confusing--what I mean is, that when she says "There is a bit of darkness in you" she does not mean "You are mostly a light person with some dark." What she actually means is that "There is a bit more darkness in you than there is light." I know--it's confusing. The easiest way to think about it is just that Amaterasu is thinking from a purely balanced position, and anything that offsets that balance in terms of darkness is viewed as a negative thing.
But there's also another issue--what exactly do "light and darkness" mean in terms of a person's psychology and personality?
Well, here we have to step out of the realms of the metaphysical, otherwise we'd just confuse ourselves further. In essence, light means creation, so any sort of personality trait that could be described as "a force for creation" is seen as a "light" trait. This includes compassion, kindness, benevolence, helpfulness, understanding, enlightenment, thoughtfulness, that sort of thing. Any personality trait that could be described as "a force for destruction" is seen as a "dark" trait. This includes destructiveness (obviously), hate, anger, malevolence, indifference, wanton murder, psychopathy and sociopathy.
Even the terms "creation" and "destruction" are relative, though. You could "create" a war machine intended to kill thousands of people in one fell swoop. Would that then be considered light or dark? The answer is that it would be seen as dark. Creation does not equate creativeness. Some other terms I listed up there are similarly relative. You might ask "What if you're angry at a social system that leads to destruction in one way or another?" Or "What if you kill someone in self defense? What if you're drafted into a war you don't want to be in? What if you're in a war for a cause you do believe in against someone deemed as 'evil'?"
All of those are very good questions! And you see here also that the answers depend on more than rigid definitions of light and dark, but rather context, motive, and things like that. And in that case, it would be best to talk things out to determine how Ammy would perceive those things.
One final thing to keep in mind is where Amaterasu is coming from. The time period of Okami is arbitrary, but I generally consider it to be circa 12th century Japan. They had different values then, and Amaterasu generally shares those values. She is not some liberal Sixties flower power goddess who is all about peace and whatnot. Certainly she's about peace, but as some of you have noticed, she is not above using violence herself to accomplish what she believes in. Canonly she kills thousands and thousands of demons and has been known to reprimand people for being lazy, dishonorable or cowardly. She's a goddess of action, not of inaction. Which is why, if she perceives someone to be more dark than light, to the point that their destructiveness is a threat to others, she will try and put a stop to them.
So! The TL;DR is this--a lot of you must be wondering "What does Amaterasu think of my character?" And frankly, I'm probably wondering the same thing! The point of this post is to find out. Based on what I've just written, and what you know of your own characters, what do you think your character is? Balanced? More light than dark? More dark than light?
Leave a comment here to let me know what you think your character is, and I'll respond with what I think Amaterasu will think. If you don't agree with me, that's perfectly fine! That's the whole point of this post--things are arbitrary and relative, and with complicated things like these, it's best to discuss and talk things out. Even if you don't know whether your character is light or dark or balanced, leave a comment anyway and maybe we can come to a conclusion.
I know this has been a long and rather heavy spiel, but thanks a lot for reading and for your comments~
So it has occurred to me that Amaterasu's standards of light and darkness (in a metaphorical sense) might not be particularly clear. This is kind of a big deal, because the light and darkness in a character determines how Amaterasu is going to perceive and interact with other characters. So! Think of this as both a sort of explanation, and something of a permission meme.
Amaterasu, being the goddess of the sun and of life, has a rather particular view of light and darkness in a person. She will never refer to these things as "good" and "bad," and in fact rarely uses those terms to describe things (except maybe in a "this tastes good/bad" respect). Light and darkness are just that--light and darkness. The best way to think of it as "creation" versus "destruction." Amaterasu would therefore be described as a goddess of creation--as the sun (metaphorically) she brings life, makes things grow, etc. Yami, though it's debatable whether he could be called a god, is a force of darkness, and thus a force of destruction.
However, as a goddess, Amaterasu has a view of the "big picture," you could say. She recognizes the fact that the universe requires both creation and destruction--things are born, live, and die, and their deaths make way for new life.
Here's a metaphor for you--a rainforest. A rainforest is arguably one of the most lively and diverse ecosystems on the planet; lots of different plants and animals, all interacting and living off one another. If any of you have ever been near a jungle of some kind, you'll understand it when I say that not a single inch in a rainforest is without some kind of life. However, what some people don't know is that the only reason rainforests do so well (until people come along lol) is because the soil is constantly enriched by dying plants and organisms. This super-enriched top layer of the soil is called humus, and it is basically nothing but decaying plant and animal matter. It is absolutely essential for the rainforest's continuation. And without the rainforest itself, you don't get the humus--which is why if you cut down the rainforest, the soil quickly becomes really quite crappy and can't really sustain anything. It's cyclical--a balance, you see!
So, what was the point of that little biology lesson? Well! To Amaterasu, balance is more important than anything. Balance between life and death, creation and destruction. The world needs to be in balance or you have chaos--too much creation is just as bad as too much destruction. But this balance also needs to apply to an individual. Think of yin and yang, or of the Five Elements in Chinese mythology (wood, fire, earth, metal and water). If a person is not balanced, they can't live a complete and fulfilling life.
So, in essence, Amaterasu prefers a person to be balanced internally in terms of creation and destruction--light and darkness. If a person has slightly more "light" in them than "darkness," then that's good too, so long as the light doesn't completely overwhelm the dark.
But here it gets a bit complicated. For one thing, Amaterasu herself is slightly biased toward the lighter side of things. For another, in judging a person, she starts from the total balance. This can be a bit confusing--what I mean is, that when she says "There is a bit of darkness in you" she does not mean "You are mostly a light person with some dark." What she actually means is that "There is a bit more darkness in you than there is light." I know--it's confusing. The easiest way to think about it is just that Amaterasu is thinking from a purely balanced position, and anything that offsets that balance in terms of darkness is viewed as a negative thing.
But there's also another issue--what exactly do "light and darkness" mean in terms of a person's psychology and personality?
Well, here we have to step out of the realms of the metaphysical, otherwise we'd just confuse ourselves further. In essence, light means creation, so any sort of personality trait that could be described as "a force for creation" is seen as a "light" trait. This includes compassion, kindness, benevolence, helpfulness, understanding, enlightenment, thoughtfulness, that sort of thing. Any personality trait that could be described as "a force for destruction" is seen as a "dark" trait. This includes destructiveness (obviously), hate, anger, malevolence, indifference, wanton murder, psychopathy and sociopathy.
Even the terms "creation" and "destruction" are relative, though. You could "create" a war machine intended to kill thousands of people in one fell swoop. Would that then be considered light or dark? The answer is that it would be seen as dark. Creation does not equate creativeness. Some other terms I listed up there are similarly relative. You might ask "What if you're angry at a social system that leads to destruction in one way or another?" Or "What if you kill someone in self defense? What if you're drafted into a war you don't want to be in? What if you're in a war for a cause you do believe in against someone deemed as 'evil'?"
All of those are very good questions! And you see here also that the answers depend on more than rigid definitions of light and dark, but rather context, motive, and things like that. And in that case, it would be best to talk things out to determine how Ammy would perceive those things.
One final thing to keep in mind is where Amaterasu is coming from. The time period of Okami is arbitrary, but I generally consider it to be circa 12th century Japan. They had different values then, and Amaterasu generally shares those values. She is not some liberal Sixties flower power goddess who is all about peace and whatnot. Certainly she's about peace, but as some of you have noticed, she is not above using violence herself to accomplish what she believes in. Canonly she kills thousands and thousands of demons and has been known to reprimand people for being lazy, dishonorable or cowardly. She's a goddess of action, not of inaction. Which is why, if she perceives someone to be more dark than light, to the point that their destructiveness is a threat to others, she will try and put a stop to them.
So! The TL;DR is this--a lot of you must be wondering "What does Amaterasu think of my character?" And frankly, I'm probably wondering the same thing! The point of this post is to find out. Based on what I've just written, and what you know of your own characters, what do you think your character is? Balanced? More light than dark? More dark than light?
Leave a comment here to let me know what you think your character is, and I'll respond with what I think Amaterasu will think. If you don't agree with me, that's perfectly fine! That's the whole point of this post--things are arbitrary and relative, and with complicated things like these, it's best to discuss and talk things out. Even if you don't know whether your character is light or dark or balanced, leave a comment anyway and maybe we can come to a conclusion.
I know this has been a long and rather heavy spiel, but thanks a lot for reading and for your comments~
