Nons wrote:Thinking of the Harbingers themselves, what fears do you think they have to face when opening the well?
I personally see every Harbinger having been personally wronged or subjected to a form of prejudice before their fate was sealed based on their real living experience, which itself could tie into their personal fear and why people of the mortal world fear them in turn (MAJOR HEAD-CANON DISPUTE TIME):
- Baron Samedi is a Haitian Vodou "Iowa of the Dead". He's a cigar-chomping, rum-swilling, expletive-shouting party animal, but his main job is to provide proper passage for the dead into the afterlife or heal any mortal afflictions at the cost of a harmless ritual. Negative colonialist depictions of Vodou and the fears fostered therein would likely interfere with his procedures, leading to his spiritual antics going haywire and prompting banishment by the Gatekeeper. His fear could be that of ritualistic desecration and subsequent separation from his ghostly friends. What is a party without the guests, after all?
- Anne de Chantraine is the most obvious one; she was burned at the stake at a young age after nasty superstition over witches lead to heavy persecution, so ostracization and prejudice would be her big fears.
- Elizabeth Bathory is interesting: looking at her downfall in retrospect, it would seem that hers is not one of torture and bloodshed but rather, one of deceit, conspiracy and fraud because the people of Czechoslovakia at the time thought she was very strict towards her servants:
https://allthatsinteresting.com/elizabe ... true-story Perhaps Bathory would be most afraid of others spreading lies behind her back, finding herself at a loss as to who she can really trust in her life amid a sea of misinformation, a picture that wouldn't get any better as she slides slowly into seemingly obsolete old age.
- Khufu, we know probably the least about in real life, but it's safe to say that he had the Pyramids built so people could remember his legacy. The supposed "curse" being unleased after explorers raided his tomb likely scuppered his public image significantly. It could be written that he himself tried to curse them and was punished by the Gatekeeper for it, leading to the crumbling of his public image being on his own hands. A tinge of guilt/personal responsibility to go with his fear, perhaps?
- "The Beast of Gevaudan" was initially speaking, not even described as a wolf in the traditional sense, but rather as possibly a sub-adult lion escaped from a rich person's quarters (rich people do lots of irresponsible things, even in ye olde French times). Fear of the beast is simple enough and the beast's own fear of the people trying to kill it would be understandable if it were written to just be a lost and scared animal left to its own devices in a country whose farming peasantry that had never seen a lion before.
- Hellin is entirely fictional, so we can write whatever we want. I believe the child to be just that: a child. She's self-centred and highly prone to destructive tantrums (which is why people fear her as a ghost) but her fear of say, growing up would be exactly the fear that would do her in. Even the great J-Horror ghosts of Grudge and The Ring were simple children before they became spirits made of rage.