How Deryk Solved the Problem of the Ancients
When we talk about the Myths of the Realm finale, I think many of us went in expecting how the story would end.
We knew the Twelve were former Ancients from Venatās faction. We knew they were getting ready to pass the torch to mankind. Heck, we even knew Deryk was Oschon.
But despite the predictability of the story, I think Myths highlighted a nagging problem Ancient society was plagued with and never could get over: the inability to enjoy life simply for what it was.
When we think about it, the Ancients based their lives on their work and purpose. Once that purpose was done, death awaited. We saw it in Ancient society with the Elpis arc. We saw it with the Ascians, like Emet-Selch and Elidibus and their speeches on duty. We also saw it with the Twelve, who after all these millennia of guiding mankind to stand on their own feet again, decided to call it quits and return to the Star.
Work becomes life, according to the Ancients, and once that work is done, what life is there left to live?
But then Oschon came along.
Like the rest of the Twelve, Oschon (or Deryk, as he called himself) was like the other Ancients. His work was wrapping up, and after a final test for mankind, he was going to return to the Star with his friends like the other Ancients before him. But unlike the rest of the Twelve, rather than observing and keeping communication to a minimum with mankind, he reached out and became one of them - joining their travels, breaking bread at the table, listening to their hopes and dreams.
Though still at work, he got to do something the other Twelve had little chance to do - see the newly created world not from the eyes of a protective deity, but of a man. And when he allowed himself to glimpse a life outside of his work, it awakened a desire to remain. While the other Eleven returned to the Star, Oschon decided to stay, embracing Derykās identity and finally taking the time to simply enjoy the world and people heād spent lifetimes protecting.
In short, Oschon learned a lesson the Ancients ignored - how to see the beauty of life outside of work.
Though the Ancients werenāt wrong in celebrating their purposes and finding joy in what they did, we saw in the Elpis arc and Hermes how damaging it was to make life solely about work. Would Hermes have been as distraught in taking Fandanielās seat knowing it didnāt mean the end of his mentor? Could the Eleven have gotten to know their people had they stayed, and thus find new purpose in the world they helped shape? Menphina says in her final battle, āLetās delight in the simple things,ā but does she really allow herself to?
No. Instead, itās Oschon, the wandererā¦the loner. The one who really wasnāt supposed to be around people much, but chose them over his purpose as an Ancient anyways. And despite still having love for the Eleven, he allowed himself to do something no other Ancient (except perhaps Elidibus) could do: remember the Ancient world, but still embrace the new.
