© Anna-Karin 2001
Sometimes people attach themselves to a particular story, be it Beauty and the Beast, Puss in Boots or Star Trek, because something in the story appeals to them. The story tells me something about myself and how I see the world. It makes me see something in myself that I hadn't seen before.
I'd like to call this phenomenon "personal mythology."
Personal because it only makes sense to that particular individual, mythology because it's a story about how he/she sees the world.
The Prophecy trilogy are parts of my personal mythology.
The first time I saw the Prophecy, I found that I was cheering for Gabriel. At first I thought it was because I'm a fan of Christopher Walken. When I began to think closer about that I realized that the reason I almost identified myself with the archangel was because I once had been very much like him.
That was in my teens, from age 16 to 19. I was a very angry teenager, who percieved the world as my enemy, with some exceptions that I saw as my allies. And like Gabriel I was very arrogant, never thinking that I might be wrong, that I was always right. Never did I think about the people I might hurt by my arrorgance.
What happened to Gabriel in the end of Prophecy 2 happened to me as well. He was taken down to earth, litterally, and so was I, in a more metaphorical sense. I got a huge yelling-at from someone I respected very much, and it felt just like getting something sharp through the heart.
And just like Gabriel I spent a period very humbled, while I thought about what I had to do next. He was a bagman, I was just very very humbled.
This was years ago, but I can still remeber it as if it happened just yesterday, and still feel the pain of realizing exactly where I had been wrong, why I was wrong and who I had hurt. Looking back I think of this as an important part of my maturing into an adult person. But it makes it no less hard to live with.
In Prophecy 3 Gabriel has lived as a human for maybe twenty years. He has grown old, and more experienced. He likes humans a bit better now, and has even learned how to drive.
I could identify myself with this new development of the character.
But he still carry the same pain inside as I do. He never wanted to destroy Heaven, and I never wanted to hurt anyone. It just happened.
I wonder what's going to happen with him once he gets back to Heaven. Will he be forgiven by his peers, or will they hold it against him for a very, very long time.
Will he be mentoring Danayel, or will he start a democracy movement in order to make angels at least equal with humans?