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

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

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

Bel, however, was grinning madly. "Something wrong?" he asked innocently.

Anders stopped headdesking long enough to shoot a halfhearted glare at Bel. "Room assignments." He felt that was all that really needed to be said.

Bel smirked. "All the better for me to keep an eye on you," he said.

*smites LJ comment notification*

"What, do I look like I need a frakking babysitter or something?" Anders demanded.

[OOC: Rargh. Likewise.]

"Well, the last time you left the island you ended up in jail," Bel pointed out helpfully.

Anders didn't feel like arguing that point, because to be honest he didn't really have a counter-argument anyway. "If keeping an eye on me makes you happy," he said dryly.

"I've been to Vegas once or twice before," Bel said. He slapped Anders on the back. "C'mon, I'll show you a good time."

Anders grunted a little at the slap but shrugged. "Yeah, okay, fine. You're the one with the experience, so this weekend I'm all yours."

"Excellent," Bel said. "There's a show I really wanna see. We're gonna have a great time together."

"A show, huh?" Anders leaned forward on his forearms and raised an eyebrow. "How do you know I'm gonna like it?"

Bel looked around. "I'll let it be a surprise," he said. "Don't want Phale or Wilson stopping us, now, do we?"

The eyebrow went up a little higher, and Anders smirked. "So basically I have to trust you."

"What's the matter?" Bel said, leaning in closer. "You don't trust me?"

"I do," Anders said quickly, then, deciding he might as well be honest, added, "mostly. Sometimes I'm not so sure." Look, the teasing and the (as far as he could tell) mindgames made it a little tricky, okay?

"Then trust me now," Bel said. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Boy, was that a loaded question.

"Nothing that ends up with both of us in jail, I hope," Anders agreed. After a fairly long moment of deliberation. Or speculative distraction, maybe. He reached over and slapped Bel lightly on the shoulder. "Fine, I'll trust you on this one."

Re: Discussion

demonbelthazor - 2006-11-06 20:51 (UTC) - Expand

cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com - 2006-11-06 21:20 (UTC) - Expand

demonbelthazor - 2006-11-06 21:29 (UTC) - Expand

cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com - 2006-11-06 21:35 (UTC) - Expand

demonbelthazor - 2006-11-06 21:47 (UTC) - Expand

cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com - 2006-11-06 22:20 (UTC) - Expand

Shooting an amused glance toward Bel and Anders, Aziraphale waited for a lull in the conversation and then said, "Mr Anders, Mr Belthazor, would the two of you like to share your views on the discussion topic?"

Bel blinked. "Umm...what was the question again?"

Aziraphale suppressed a chuckle. "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?"

Bel winced. Not a topic he liked to think about, given certain destinies that were supposed to be in store for himself. "You can certainly try," he said. "But it may not work."

"If it was a destiny I didn't like, and I knew about it, I'd do everything I could think of to change it," mumbled Anders, who was completely unaware of said certain destinies in store for Bel.

"Good point, Mr Belthazor," Aziraphale agreed. "It is possible that, no matter what a person does, his or her actions will further the prophecy toward its objective. On the other hand, Miss Brown raised an excellent point in relation to that idea: that even taking up the role, but choosing how one goes about fulfilling a prophecy can alter the outcome. Do you agree with her?"

Turning to Anders, he added, "What if it was impossible to escape taking on the prophecied role, no matter what you did? Would it be enough to, as Miss Brown stated, work within the prophecy to bring about a change?"

"Guess it depends on whether you can avoid fate or not," Bel said. "I mean, if you can't, then nothing you do is going to change the prophecy."

"I guess," Anders said slowly, in response to Aziraphale's question. "If I was stuck with the destiny, I might be thinking differently than I am right now. So it's hard to say. But I might think of things differently, then, than the person who made the prophecy. And maybe their take on what I should be doing, or how I should be doing it, is different than mine. So yeah, maybe working within it might be enough."