Good Omens...And Bad: Prophecy in Theory and Practice, Class Nine

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Monday, November 6, First Period

In addition to the usual arrangement of tea and pastries, there is also a stack of handouts on the table, which Aziraphale draws attention to once the class is in session.

"Before we begin, I want to first give you some information regarding our upcoming field trip. These handouts include important details about our flights and hotel arrangements, so please be sure to read them, and let me know after class if you have any questions. I'll also need to know if any of you will not be able to join us for the trip."

LECTURE: "Prophecies cover a wide range of subjects, from weather to victory or defeat in battle to births and deaths. The central character of The Scottish Play receives numerous prophecies regarding his future and his death. The Greek mythological figure Cassandra made pronouncements regarding the Trojan War. The Judeo-Christian bible is filled with prophetic statements covering everything from wars to the births of future leaders.

Although divination can give us information regarding such mundane issues as what sort of harvest can be expected this year, the most notable predictions center on people, usually individuals. These individuals are often of particular interest to the social group that the prophecy is created for.

Nearly every culture has a story about a "Chosen One", a person who will perform a specific task which is held in high importance by that culture. Sometimes this "Chosen One" is prophecied to be a leader, to accomplish some heroic task that will result in an improvement in the lives of his or her people. Sometimes, the "Chosen One" is seen as a villain, who will bring about the ruin of a leader or a social group through his or her actions. Or both even, depending on your point of view."

DISCUSSION: Can the "Chosen One" of a prophecy choose not to be Chosen? In other words, does being the object of a prophecy take away one's Free Will, one's ability to make one's own destiny? Does a prophecy force a destiny on you, or can you choose to take a different path?

HOMEWORK: Write a brief essay on the pros and cons of being the object of a prophecy. How could it benefit the person Chosen, how could that person's being Chosen benefit others? Inversely, how could being the Chosen of a prophecy turn out to be more of a curse than a blessing?

Syllabus
Class Roster
Classes Linkdrop

[ooc: Please wait for OCD threads are up.]

Comments

Sign In

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Insert name here.

Re: Sign In

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

S.T. Anders

Re: Sign In

[joxertehmighty.livejournal.com]

Joxer

Discussion

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Can the "Chosen One" of a prophecy choose not to be Chosen? In other words, does being the object of a prophecy take away one's Free Will, one's ability to make one's own destiny? Does a prophecy force a destiny on you, or can you choose to take a different path?

Re: Discussion

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders could probably have contributed something to the discussion, but he was quietly headdesking over the field trip details on the handout.

Re: Discussion

[daemonridden.livejournal.com]

Lyra considered the question. As a "Chosen One" herself, she had a skewed vision of things. Eventually she raised her hand.

"Sir, what you're talking about hinges on the fact that everyone, or at least the Chosen One, knows about it. I've... heard of a prophecy where it could only come true if the subject didn't know about it in advance. Would that be a truer prophecy, then?"

Re: Discussion

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia sincerely hoped that the Chosen One could choose not to be chosen, since, thanks to what had happened to Angel last year, she happened to know that she was one.

And avoiding Rambaldi would definitely be good.

Re: Discussion

[lovelymissbrown.livejournal.com]

Lavender raised her hand. "Does it have to be one or the other?"

Re: Discussion

[sensethevisions]

Phoebe was thinking very carefully about the discussion question and she started writing out her answer in her notebook so she was clear.

Re: Discussion

[strongestgirl.livejournal.com]

"Mr. Phale? If a prophesy states that a Chosen One has a certain mark or identifying factor would any body with that mark or whatever do?"

Re: Discussion

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

Dawn frowned as she thought of Buffy. "No, I don't think you can choose not to be Chosen. It doesn't take away your free will, but it does take away a lot of your choices. And it does force a destiny...but that doesn't mean that the prophecy's not subject to a little bit of interpretation."

Re: Discussion

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

JOhn crossed his arms. Oh, this'll suck. No matter what, the Chosen One will always be chosen, but he didn't know how to verbalise it.

Turn in Your Homework

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Turn in your homework from the previous class (http://community.livejournal.com/fandomhigh/1082389.html#cutid1).

Re: Turn in Your Homework

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders turned in a slightly rambly paper about several prophetic figures from Colonial history, all of whom seemed to have met pretty undesirable ends -- unsurprisingly, his conclusion was that he definitely wouldn't have wanted to be in their places. Particularly because most of them had existed before the advent of modern Pyramid.

Re: Turn in Your Homework

[demonbelthazor]

Bel wrote about the Seer and how she served the Source of All Evil.

He also mentioned a new up-and-coming Seer who looked a lot like Cordelia and wore substantially less clothing.

Re: Turn in Your Homework

[daemonridden.livejournal.com]

Lyra turned in an essay on Cassandra, and how she would emphatically not want to switch places with her, thank you very much. Not even for money. And a sundae. She hadn't quite got the hang of footnotes yet, though.

Re: Turn in Your Homework

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia's essay was on Milo Rambaldi, since she'd been meaning to research him for some time, anyway. It was rather lengthy and thoroughly detailed, thanks to her having spent most of her time since the last class in the clinic without much else to do. It ended with a debate on the merits of being able to decide to make the prophesies even weirder and harder to interpret and the drawbacks of being a medieval Italian asshat.

Re: Turn in Your Homework

[lovelymissbrown.livejournal.com]

Lavender turned in an overly long essay on Cassandra Trelawney and how she was unsure if she would trade places with her.

Re: Turn in Your Homework

[sensethevisions]

Phoebe turned in a long paper about the Oracle of Delphi.

Re: Turn in Your Homework

[oatmanspatient.livejournal.com]

Marty turned in his homework which was filled with handwavy goodness!

Re: Turn in Your Homework

[strongestgirl.livejournal.com]

Pippi writes a paper about the Oracle at Delphi in the play Oedipus Rex. Pippi supposes it would be a boring but pleasant life, though it would likely be vexing to have all these stupid people asking questions they don't actually want the answers to all the time.

Re: Turn in Your Homework

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

John handwaved his homework.

Talk Amongst Yourselves

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Still a fireball-free thread.

Talk to the Professor

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

During class, or as he's headed out to his office hours. (This would be the place to let him know that you're not going to Las Vegas with the class.)

OOC

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

I have a horrible horrible cold. I'm crawling back into bed for a while, so I'll be back later to catch tags.