Magui
Scooby
ANGEL'S TATTOO
First - I totally dismiss the possibility angelus never saw his own tattoo. I dismiss it because I hardly think he would ever do anything "just because." He's not that type of guy, and he certainly has the reputation to support that.
So now, here we go...
First of all, we go back to the episodes "becoming 1" of btvs, and "Somnambulist" and "Darla" of ats. why these - remember these eps and what certain aspects of them they were all about and you'll see in a sec.
Some of angelus' character is that he saw himself superior than other beings. humans, demons, vampires...doesn't matter. he was never one to accept any kind of authority or to be told what to do. He never bothered with himself to make others, even his victims, feel beneath him, but rather he made them see him as something greater and more powerful than they, than anything ever. he always regarded to himself as stronger, greater...more than anyone or anything. "He will not view his victims as subhuman, rather it's himself that he views as something other than human, more than human, a superior species." - Kate. I think it was very accurate. in fact, one of the reasons I loved "somnambulist" so much was because of how they dug into and portrayed Angelus' character.
And of these things is god. On every chance he got, angelus mocked god. God was what (especially in his time, and note - Liam was raised a catholic Irishman) people saw as salvation, where people found hope, to whom they prayed when they needed help, when they needed saving. God is something people see as greater than they, greater and more powerful than anything. That one like Angelus would accept there is something out there that is above himself, greater than he? No. (side note - god's symbol - the cross, the symbol of Jesus Christ - it is a very powerful weapon against evil of many kinds, not only vampires (remember that possessed kid in ats season 1?). something that possesses the power to weaken angelus - again, god). So, either he did that by invading a convent and murdering the priest,
or the fact he chose the day Drusilla took her holy orders to turn her into a vampire...or the little line of "god is watching you", that could be classified as a completely irrelative slip or could be something very relative - to the fact he regarded himself as god. Also - the way of killing he taught Penn - "this is about mocking god" - coming from Angel himself. remember?
Anyway, now this brings us to the origin of the symbol on his back. I start with the 'a', because as far as I can see, it has the shortest explanation. 'A' stands simply for 'Angelus' - his name. I could be wrong (hey, there was a time when I even thought the tattoo as a whole could mean nothing special), but it just seems...right to me, I guess. also - the 'a' is a Celtic 'a'. it's an ancient Irish Celtic scrip. which also means - the tattoo was done in Ireland, that's for sure, more than probably by an artist with a Celtic/Gaelic origin (again - why - the shape of the 'a').
After that, we go to the animal. on first sight, the animal straddling the large 'a' appears to be an ancient Celtic design for the griffin. It really looks like the Celtic griffin, even somewhat like the Celtic dragon, therefore can be justly mistaken for it. but that's not what it is. It is, in fact, a lion - it's a 100% certainty. this particular design of a lion comes from 'the book of Kells'. this is an ancient religious book, written in the 14xx hundreds, by Columban monks from a monastery on the (Irish) island of Iona. it was obtained by an Irish monastery in the late 16th century (way enough time for the manuscript to become a significant part of the Irish culture by the time Liam was born and educated and certainly enough time before angelus was "born"). The book, almost completely illustrated, contains the transcriptions of the 4 gospels - Matthew was the angel, Mark the lion, Luke the bull, and John the eagle. I don't know if there is any significance to the fact angelus picked the lion out of the three to include it in the tattoo (for instance, how come he just didn't take the angel?). I don't know if there was an implication to the gospel mark by this move, because as much as I know (and read when I researched the tattoo), there is nothing that can possibly connect these 2 individuals. And still - side note - there maybe was a reason for the lion (with no connection whatsoever to the gospel himself) - to the Catholics in early Ireland (or maybe not just there), the design of the lion represented the power of Christ (=of god) => no wonder it would be set next to the first letter of angelus' name. furthermore, the lion (as an animal for the Celts (they strongly believed in animals as gods and charms in their pagan stage)) means the following - strength, elusiveness, leadership, willpower, invincibility. I don't think the word coincidence is anywhere in order here. But - outside all that - the lion is the symbol of Judas (or his tribe, but does it really matter? maybe it does - Mark belonged to the same tribe, the Judah, after all). he was the one who betrayed Christ, who, according to the new testament, sold him to the Jews. Judas betrayed god. To put the cards on the table - he saw himself, judging by the act of betrayal alone, as superior over Jesus Christ. or maybe not, maybe that's far fetched, but if he allowed himself that act of betrayal, he didn't exactly think as highly of Jesus as he should have. Sticking a knife in the son-of-god's back - again coincidence? Don't think so.
Remembered the story of when Mark and his father, Aristobulus, were walking by the Jordan and met a lion and lioness, which were bent on destroying them. Aristobulus told Mark to escape, but Mark called on God and they were saved (Severus, in the History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria). That was interesting, but seemed to have quite the
wrong sort of ending to represent the son who destroyed the father, which I must admit had been my starting point.
Then I wondered whether the symbolism is with Mark as one of the Evangelists, rather than Mark per se, bearing in mind the 'mocking God' scenario so clearly stated in 'Somnambulist' as i said before.
We know that the Master intended Angel to sit at his right hand after the Apocalypse, even though we have yet to see anything about Angel's relationship with the Master after he and Darla left. we also know that the Book of Revelations(4:7)speaks of four creatures.
Suppose that we continue the 'mocking God' theme,and think that the Master might have wanted his own four 'evangelists'. might the tattoo,then, not reflect that idea, marking a blasphemous set of supporters for the Master's throne.and might there have been (or be) another three vampires out there marked with the bull, the man and the eagle?a sign of Angel's status within the order and of his relationship with the Master? of his promised dark future? And a mockery of the visions in Revelations and Ezekiel, of the Evangelists, and of God's throne? And, incidentally, branding him with a sign of his servitude to the Master.
what if he had been marked as one of the four supporters of the throne of the Anti-God, and might give him a power that he doesn't yet know he has, for good or evil.?
First - I totally dismiss the possibility angelus never saw his own tattoo. I dismiss it because I hardly think he would ever do anything "just because." He's not that type of guy, and he certainly has the reputation to support that.
So now, here we go...
First of all, we go back to the episodes "becoming 1" of btvs, and "Somnambulist" and "Darla" of ats. why these - remember these eps and what certain aspects of them they were all about and you'll see in a sec.
Some of angelus' character is that he saw himself superior than other beings. humans, demons, vampires...doesn't matter. he was never one to accept any kind of authority or to be told what to do. He never bothered with himself to make others, even his victims, feel beneath him, but rather he made them see him as something greater and more powerful than they, than anything ever. he always regarded to himself as stronger, greater...more than anyone or anything. "He will not view his victims as subhuman, rather it's himself that he views as something other than human, more than human, a superior species." - Kate. I think it was very accurate. in fact, one of the reasons I loved "somnambulist" so much was because of how they dug into and portrayed Angelus' character.
And of these things is god. On every chance he got, angelus mocked god. God was what (especially in his time, and note - Liam was raised a catholic Irishman) people saw as salvation, where people found hope, to whom they prayed when they needed help, when they needed saving. God is something people see as greater than they, greater and more powerful than anything. That one like Angelus would accept there is something out there that is above himself, greater than he? No. (side note - god's symbol - the cross, the symbol of Jesus Christ - it is a very powerful weapon against evil of many kinds, not only vampires (remember that possessed kid in ats season 1?). something that possesses the power to weaken angelus - again, god). So, either he did that by invading a convent and murdering the priest,
or the fact he chose the day Drusilla took her holy orders to turn her into a vampire...or the little line of "god is watching you", that could be classified as a completely irrelative slip or could be something very relative - to the fact he regarded himself as god. Also - the way of killing he taught Penn - "this is about mocking god" - coming from Angel himself. remember?
Anyway, now this brings us to the origin of the symbol on his back. I start with the 'a', because as far as I can see, it has the shortest explanation. 'A' stands simply for 'Angelus' - his name. I could be wrong (hey, there was a time when I even thought the tattoo as a whole could mean nothing special), but it just seems...right to me, I guess. also - the 'a' is a Celtic 'a'. it's an ancient Irish Celtic scrip. which also means - the tattoo was done in Ireland, that's for sure, more than probably by an artist with a Celtic/Gaelic origin (again - why - the shape of the 'a').
After that, we go to the animal. on first sight, the animal straddling the large 'a' appears to be an ancient Celtic design for the griffin. It really looks like the Celtic griffin, even somewhat like the Celtic dragon, therefore can be justly mistaken for it. but that's not what it is. It is, in fact, a lion - it's a 100% certainty. this particular design of a lion comes from 'the book of Kells'. this is an ancient religious book, written in the 14xx hundreds, by Columban monks from a monastery on the (Irish) island of Iona. it was obtained by an Irish monastery in the late 16th century (way enough time for the manuscript to become a significant part of the Irish culture by the time Liam was born and educated and certainly enough time before angelus was "born"). The book, almost completely illustrated, contains the transcriptions of the 4 gospels - Matthew was the angel, Mark the lion, Luke the bull, and John the eagle. I don't know if there is any significance to the fact angelus picked the lion out of the three to include it in the tattoo (for instance, how come he just didn't take the angel?). I don't know if there was an implication to the gospel mark by this move, because as much as I know (and read when I researched the tattoo), there is nothing that can possibly connect these 2 individuals. And still - side note - there maybe was a reason for the lion (with no connection whatsoever to the gospel himself) - to the Catholics in early Ireland (or maybe not just there), the design of the lion represented the power of Christ (=of god) => no wonder it would be set next to the first letter of angelus' name. furthermore, the lion (as an animal for the Celts (they strongly believed in animals as gods and charms in their pagan stage)) means the following - strength, elusiveness, leadership, willpower, invincibility. I don't think the word coincidence is anywhere in order here. But - outside all that - the lion is the symbol of Judas (or his tribe, but does it really matter? maybe it does - Mark belonged to the same tribe, the Judah, after all). he was the one who betrayed Christ, who, according to the new testament, sold him to the Jews. Judas betrayed god. To put the cards on the table - he saw himself, judging by the act of betrayal alone, as superior over Jesus Christ. or maybe not, maybe that's far fetched, but if he allowed himself that act of betrayal, he didn't exactly think as highly of Jesus as he should have. Sticking a knife in the son-of-god's back - again coincidence? Don't think so.
Remembered the story of when Mark and his father, Aristobulus, were walking by the Jordan and met a lion and lioness, which were bent on destroying them. Aristobulus told Mark to escape, but Mark called on God and they were saved (Severus, in the History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria). That was interesting, but seemed to have quite the
wrong sort of ending to represent the son who destroyed the father, which I must admit had been my starting point.
Then I wondered whether the symbolism is with Mark as one of the Evangelists, rather than Mark per se, bearing in mind the 'mocking God' scenario so clearly stated in 'Somnambulist' as i said before.
We know that the Master intended Angel to sit at his right hand after the Apocalypse, even though we have yet to see anything about Angel's relationship with the Master after he and Darla left. we also know that the Book of Revelations(4:7)speaks of four creatures.
Suppose that we continue the 'mocking God' theme,and think that the Master might have wanted his own four 'evangelists'. might the tattoo,then, not reflect that idea, marking a blasphemous set of supporters for the Master's throne.and might there have been (or be) another three vampires out there marked with the bull, the man and the eagle?a sign of Angel's status within the order and of his relationship with the Master? of his promised dark future? And a mockery of the visions in Revelations and Ezekiel, of the Evangelists, and of God's throne? And, incidentally, branding him with a sign of his servitude to the Master.
what if he had been marked as one of the four supporters of the throne of the Anti-God, and might give him a power that he doesn't yet know he has, for good or evil.?
