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Feb. 11th, 2021 10:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feotakahariI'm still reading Heaven Official's Blessing. I just got a horrifying answer to a longstanding question: what does it take to change fate in this setting?
Gods in this setting are born as mortals and ascend through their deeds. The water god's little brother had the potential to be a god in his own right, but he was hunted from birth by a spirit that systematically ruins the lives of people with great potential, feeding on their despair. The water god failed in all efforts to trick or defeat this spirit. His brother's fate couldn't be defied. But it could be redirected.
The water god found another man who had the potential to be a god, and through a dark ritual, he swapped the man's fate with his brother's. That man's career was ruined, he was falsely imprisoned, his loved ones died in miserable ways, and in the end, he committed murder-suicide against everyone who had wronged him. Everyone except the water god, whose involvement remained unknown. So it was that the water god's brother escaped the wicked spirit, and ascended as the god of wind.
People can't defy fate, but they can choose what to do in the face of it. The wind god had to be kept ignorant, because he wouldn't be capable of accepting that others were sacrificed for his sake. He just found out, and he's giving up his own divinity. From what I understand of the metaphysics involved, I don't think he's changing fate here. No one else will become more fortunate because he gave up his position. It was simply the only thing he could do, as the person he was.
I have no idea where this is going, but I can't wait to find out.
Gods in this setting are born as mortals and ascend through their deeds. The water god's little brother had the potential to be a god in his own right, but he was hunted from birth by a spirit that systematically ruins the lives of people with great potential, feeding on their despair. The water god failed in all efforts to trick or defeat this spirit. His brother's fate couldn't be defied. But it could be redirected.
The water god found another man who had the potential to be a god, and through a dark ritual, he swapped the man's fate with his brother's. That man's career was ruined, he was falsely imprisoned, his loved ones died in miserable ways, and in the end, he committed murder-suicide against everyone who had wronged him. Everyone except the water god, whose involvement remained unknown. So it was that the water god's brother escaped the wicked spirit, and ascended as the god of wind.
People can't defy fate, but they can choose what to do in the face of it. The wind god had to be kept ignorant, because he wouldn't be capable of accepting that others were sacrificed for his sake. He just found out, and he's giving up his own divinity. From what I understand of the metaphysics involved, I don't think he's changing fate here. No one else will become more fortunate because he gave up his position. It was simply the only thing he could do, as the person he was.
I have no idea where this is going, but I can't wait to find out.
