Satan From Orbit

[http://users.livejournal.com/_debbiechan_/]

Cruising along LJ today I saw a couple people wondering what the title of Kubo's latest chapter could possibly refer to.

Oooh, ooh! *raises hand* I know this one.

When I first read the title, I thought I know this song, isn't it HEAVY METAL?  Nope, "Satan From Orbit" tunes didn't start spinning in this old head--and I know my 80s rock like I know my English lit sooooo it was Milton who I thought of next, because in Paradise Lost, Satan is the hero in a journey from Heaven to Hell. As a character Satan spends some time literally orbiting the planets and being snakey, a la Nnoitra (I know everyone's predicting a snake release from our dear Spoony but I honestly hope the guy's dead. If not, like I was telling a friend, his release could be anything from an egg-timer to a SOUP LADLE. No telling with Kubo these days).

I mention Milton not just because I'm on a literary nerd buzz since the call for fandom papers from Transformative Works and Cultures but because Kubo-sensei really is playing hardball with the religious imagery.  Paradise Lost is a satirical work full of religious motifs and Satan is its sympathetic protagonist. Yeah, Satan.....

Kenpachi? Nnoitra? Now which one could be Satan? Milton's Satan is the literary forerunner of the Byronic hero--the original "mad, bad, and dangerous to know" type. His story frames the issues of free will, predestination, and what's WRONG with the universe.

I dunno. I was reminded of Aizen's complaint that the throne in heaven had been empty for too long. Milton's Heaven, like Kubo's Soul Society, is a strict hierarchal government, while Hell, not unlike Hueco Mundo, is a place where rebels rule.

As it happens, my husband is on a Milton kick at the moment (he's teaching Hobbes--Milton's Paradise Lost is supposed to be critique of Hobbes' Leviathan). Honest to G-D, there was a print-out  article in the house recently called "Satan From Orbit" that I remembered seeing next to Max's motorcycle magazines.  After I realized that Bleach was long past the Grimmjow fight and I didn't need to be looking up old glam-rock lyrics anymore, I just HAD to have this essay. It wasn't around. I googled for it and when I asked the husband for his log-in identification to the Milton Quarterly, he said, "don't tell me.... this has something to do with Bleach?"

Yeah.

Maybe I need a vacation more than Kubo does.

Comments

[citharadraconis.livejournal.com]

The Paradise Lost thing fits eerily well, now that you mention it. The battle of two supernatural/immortal beings makes me think of the confrontation of Satan and Michael during the clash in book 6. Nnoitra's arrogance is like Satan's, never having been conquered and supremely confident; on the other hand, Kenpachi is also the Satan figure in his challenge to a high-ranking servant of God (the hierarchy of Hueco Mundo is like that of the angels).

In the battle, Satan and Michael exchange threats, Satan boasting: "Nor think thou with wind / Of airy threats to awe whom yet with deeds / Thou canst not." ("You can't cut me," anyone?) Satan has been pushed back before by a blow from Abdiel, but it didn't manage to cut him. Michael proceeds to cut through Satan's sword and slice him through the right side: "Then Satan first knew pain." I'm probably way overanalyzing, but that sounds like Nnoitra and Kenpachi all over. If the analysis is correct, the Nnoitra fans should rejoice--Satan is gravely injured and humiliated, but not killed, at the close of this encounter.

[citharadraconis.livejournal.com]

Also, "Satan from Orbit" sounds like it could refer to the casting down of Satan from the spheres of Heaven, which would mean Nnoitra = Satan. Or to Satan descending from his orbit of the Earth in book 9 to enter the serpent and lay siege to Paradise, in which case...that would be Kenpachi, I guess, since he's the one invading Hueco Mundo. Hmm.

okay I'll shut up now I swear

[citharadraconis.livejournal.com]

Though I see what you mean about Soul Society being the hierarchical one. HM's hierarchy is a flawed copy of SS's, as Hell's is a reflection of Heaven's.