So I really love the idea that Abaddon’s host’s father was a good person?
But based on how he was dressed in the flashback? I dont think he was the loving soft parent people think he was.
In the 1700’s there were a few major religions among the colonists that I’m aware of. Protestant, Anglican, Quaker, and Puritan.
And while fashions were fairly similar at the time the image we saw and based on the very basic design of Abaddon’s clothing I’m leaning very heavily towards two?
The problem is Quakers didnt have established clergy, and Abaddon clearly states that the child’s father was priest of some skill. So its unlikely that the family was quaker.
(Screenshot of the priest grabbing abaddon, and a drawing of a 1700’s puritan man for comparison)
It’s more likely that Abaddon’s host was being raised puritan.
Now the Quakers had a fairly ahead of their time idea on how to raise children. Individualism was important as was encouraging interests and talents, and they believed that setting a good moral example was more important than punishment for misbehavior.
The Puritans, however, held the complete opposite view. Punishment was a very common occurrence, as was corporal punishment. Church attendance was strict, holidays were for worship not joy, children were expected to behave more like miniature adults as opposed to children for the most part. They set the example for excessively overbearing parents, and their church was very fire and brimstone.
As such, being a priest for a puritan community was a level of stress and demand that was otherwise unknown. The priest was meant to set the example for the entire town as to how to appear godly in your daily life, and his children would have been held to a similar high standard.
I dont believe in this case that his father would have been a kind and gentle man. I think he would have been a man driven nearly completely by how his congregation saw him and his family. And his son being taken by a demon would have presented an image he would not have wanted anyone to see. However, he made it a public event how he handled the demon in his childs body because he had no choice but to prove he chose god over his own flesh and blood.
That said? Could he have loved his child? Yes i think its very much the case. Children living past infancy was an accomplishment, and its likely he saw his son as someone to follow in his footsteps and continue their family legacy. But i don’t think he would have been a man who often comforted his child after nightmares.
I think his feelings would have been terribly complex about what happened to his child. I think there would have been grief, rage, devastation, shame towards his child, towards himself, guilt, righteousness in his choice of action, and this anger that some thing felt it could take his son from him. Children were not people, they were property until adulthood.
Anyway. I think Abaddon’s neat.
