Eli’s name meaning this Eli’s name that.
WELL HOLD ON A DAMN MINUTE I’m over here thinking about how Mitch’s name means “ gift from god “ or “ god like “ yet he thinks that he’s cursed. The name Mitchell being a variant of Michael, the Angel of healing / healing the sick, and who leads the battle against good and evil. How he follows Vic like a guardian, swore to keep him alive, even when Vic was deliberately tweaking with his nerves to keep him away, he still kept close. Keeping “ his eyes on the breakable things in life . “ Became the mc’s companion knowing fully what that meant, knowing how Victor isn’t a good person. Simply knowing what he might be thinking or having a sixth sense when somethings up, especially when Victor kept dying over and over. Even the small things, like baking Sydney a birthday cake and making sure Victor at least has something to drink despite not being hungry. That desipite everything that happened in his life he tried his best with the found family he had, and never showed anger towards Sydney. Taught her valuable lessons. Stood up to Victor and was the balm to his rage and one of his tethers to any humanity he had left. He’s the real Angel of the story.
Note : everything in this analysis was or could have been linked in a more generalized and not necessarily true theology, only as a way to try to associate or make connections with the mentioned character.
Baptism
His first death can be likened to a Baptism.
Baptism is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three times, once for each person of the Trinity.
" The baptized person emerges from a watery grave into a new life."
Baptism is a symbol of Christ’s burial and resurrection. The entrance into the water during baptism identifies Christians with Christ’s death on the cross, His burial in the tomb and His resurrection from the dead.
The parallel between Eli's first death and baptism is evident. Just as a baptized person emerges from a "water tomb" into a new life, Eli undergoes a transformation after his first death.
"signifies that "you" have died to your old self and sin, emerging as a new creation."
This means that, in the same way, Eli's death represents a passage into a new phase, where he leaves behind his previous "self", emerging as a new creation, almost like a rebirth.
“Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising from the dead as he did Christ." Colossians 2:12-14
Furthermore, there is an evident connection between sin, death, and God's gift of eternal life. As mentioned next.
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23
Three
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is the central doctrine concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
The Christian Church has celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ on a Sunday—three days after remembering his death on Good Friday. This timeline of three days is based on numerous references in the New Testament. Jesus predicted it many times, the three-day timeline matters to the biblical narrative because it is the special day on which God creates new life and activates his covenant with humanity.
three times he shot victor.
three years since they met.
three times he died ( manifesting he coming back and dying again)
" He met his gaze in the mirror and began to unbutton his shirt, exposing the scars from the bullets of Eli’s gun one by one. He ran his fingers over them, touching the three spots where he’d been shot the way a man might cross himself." Part One; Chapter XXVI , Vicious.
In the Bible, we can find more examples of the use of the number three as sacred or a persistent and symbolic repeating pattern, but I only mentioned these few situations that I found relevant or that fit the narrative of 'Vicious'.
Cross
The Cross, is the principal symbol of the Christian religion, recalling the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the redeeming benefits of his Passion and death. The cross is thus a sign both of Christ himself and of the faith of Christians. In ceremonial usage, making a sign of the cross may be, according to the context, an act of profession of faith, a prayer, a dedication, or a benediction.
"to outline the form of a cross as a Christian religious act by moving the hand from the forehead to the breast and then from one shoulder to the other, seen as representing the trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit."
The use of blood as part of a ritual is laden with symbolism.
"Wouldn’t You?” He cut deeper, through to bone, over and over, until the floor was red. Until he’d given his life to God a hundred times, and a hundred times had it given back. Until the fear and the doubt had all been bled out of him. And then he set the knife aside with shaking hands. Eli dipped his fingertips in the slick of red, crossed himself, and got back to his feet. "Part Two; Chapter IV, Vicious.
In the context of this specific text, Eli blessing himself with his own blood appears to represent a desperate quest for answers and validation from God regarding his identity and the powers he possesses.
This action can be seen as an extreme act of devotion and sacrifice. It may represent the intensity of Eli's search for a divine answer or for God's forgiveness. Making the sign of the cross with his own blood suggests that he is willing to sacrifice or suffer in search of a deeper spiritual connection or proof of divine will.
Blood, Red & White
"And by the law almost all things are made clean with blood, and without blood there is no forgiveness." Hebrews 9:22
In the Old Testament, animal sacrifices were a means of seeking forgiveness and reconciliation with God. The shedding of blood in these rituals symbolized the payment for sins.
The New Testament sees the shedding of Jesus' blood on the cross as the ultimate act of redemption. Christians believe that through His blood, believers are forgiven of their sins and reconciled with God.
And also associated with purification and cleansing.
As we know, Eli associates his murders with a distorted view of divine justice. He believes he is eliminating those people he considers unnatural or threats to society, as a purification, justifying his murders as a way of protecting the world from “villains” with extraordinary powers, this vision can be easily associated, by the way he thinks and acts throughout most of the narrative as a clear link to the Christian view of sacrifice and blood itself.
Red, associated with sacrifices, sin, power, sinfulness. can be conected with redemption and atonement. It represents the idea that through Christ's sacrifice, believers can be cleansed of their sins and find redemption, also linked to martyrdom. Martyrs who died for their faith are often depicted wearing red, symbolizing their willingness to shed their blood for their beliefs.
&
White, purity, innocence, righteousness. Associated with the idea of resurrection and new life in Christ. It signifies the hope of eternal life after death, it can also represents the state of being free from sin.
And for red and white, which are colors normally associated with the character as they continue to be described with him in the narrative or mainly associated with the vision that people have of him, with white clothes, gun and glasses being one of the easiest ways to identify him, we can see that both colors connect with sacrifice, martyrdom, purification and eternal life, which are elements present in the character and his narrative.
Name.
In the Villains series, the name theme remains, whether in a satirical way, a reference to comic books or just a way of demonstrating what a character represents.
Eliot means “The Lord is my God", “Jehovah is my God.”
With the meaning of his name I would like to close this brief summary that I tried to make about the symbolism that I could notice predominantly in the narrative of his character, from his name to the meaning of eternal life and the usual theme, we can see that Eli is a character strongly linked to religiosity and can be easily associated with various concepts of Christianity.
Final Note: Thank you if you read this far and I hope you enjoyed it.
cannot wait for victorious to come out and for victor to be hallucinating eli everywhere he goes the same way eli did with him in vengeful when he thought victor was dead because they're two sides of the same coin and one can never be without the other. even (and especially) in death.
Just finished my whirlwind reread of Strange the Dreamer + Muse of Nightmares and I'm begging Laini Taylor on bended knee to write a million billion books forever
“He had loved the library, and had felt, as a boy, as though it had a kind of sentience, and perhaps loved him back. But even if it was just walls and a roof with papers inside, it had bewitched him, and drawn him in, and given him everything he needed to become himself.”
― Laini Taylor, Strange the Dreamer.
I haven't been this obsessed with a book series in so long I'm losing it. I'm going to be feral March 4th and my BF is going to be sick of me talking about it lol.
