Eagle Vision, Hikaru and some very strange MKR symbolism
@aldebaranarfeiniel
@theblueescapist
Writing this hurt my brain. So, let’s dive in.
This is how Cephiro looks.
It took me embarrassingly long to realize that Cephiro sounds like... Sefirot.
Cephiro, as the very name suggests, is apparently based on Sefirot, a Kabbalistic tree of life, which is a system depicting the flow of macrocosmic and microcosmic life energy.
There is a flow of energy from top to bottom, from divine to material, and vice versa. This is another esoteric representation of the same thing:
And here are our girls with the same symbols!
Fuu (Solar, masculine energy)
Hikaru (Solar and Lunar, masculine and feminine energy combined)
Umi (Lunar feminine energy)
While the three pillars specifically are an Abrahamic esoteric symbol, the Kabbalistic tree of life as an energy flow system exists in numerous religions and beliefs, pagan and modern alike. One of them, which you all know because it’s all across popular culture, is of special interest to us.
Notice the eagle at the top (ethereal, divine, intellectual) and snake/scorpion (physical, instinctual, passionate) at the bottom! The most famous representation of this symbol is depicted in the zodiac sign of Scorpio, and its dual nature containing both scorpion and eagle.
Eagle Vision obviously stands for an eagle, but just look at Hikaru. Her braid looks like a scorpion.
The Eagle-Scorpion dual nature of the zodiac sign, once translated to its esoteric/Kabbalistic parallel, depicts the same energy flow that moves up and down those pillars and Sefirot, travelling between spiritual and material planes. Scorpion represents the lower nature, the physical, the body, the earth, the passion, the personal. Eagle is its higher manifestation, all things intellectual, sophisticated, unearthly, ethereal and collective. Scorpion needs the eagle to extend it upwards, to help it grow, to spiritualize it. Eagle, on the other side, needs the scorpion to earth it, to give a physical, mundane manifestation to something that is otherwise purely spiritual. In other words, they complete one another. Divine redeems material, material redeems divine. Most importantly, they are just different manifestations of the same thing!
In my headcanon, Eagle and Hikaru are really the same person - they are not just drawn to each other, they are each other. She is from Earth, and he is like her counterpart from the astral universe of Cephiro. They are both initially chosen to be pillars because they are just different ends of the same axis.
She greatly admires him and looks up to him, wishing to be like him. He, on the other side, learns from her to exist. He elevates her, her self-esteem, her self-love. He brings out the higher in her. She in return teaches him precisely what scorpions symbolically teach eagles: to value personal happiness over blind, selfless sacrifice for sake of collective, greater good.
Another interesting thing is Emeraude, and how she connects to these two. This is going to be a bit hardcore, but bear with me. In the following picture, she is situated between two pillars.
It’s a clear reference to this, High Priestess Tarot card:
The explanation of the symbolism is as follows:
You've most likely encountered the High Priestess before, but in other forms - she can be seen in the archetypes of Persephone, Artemis, Isis and many more. When you encounter her, you will see her sitting on a cubic stone between the two pillars at Solomon’s Temple, Jachin, and Boaz. Jachin (right) is generally referred to as the Pillar of Establishment and Boaz (left) is the Pillar of Strength. The pillars also depict the duality of nature; masculine and feminine, good and evil, negative and positive.
The High Priestess's location between the two suggests that it is her responsibility to serve as a mediator between the depths of the reality. She is the third pillar - the path between. She believes that both pillars are equal and there is knowledge to be learned in both worlds. You will also notice that she wears the crown of Isis which can mean that she is a believer of magic.”
So, the ideal pillar excludes neither physical nor divine, neither personal nor collective notions. This is where Emeraude fucks up big time. By going all self-sacrificial and giving up her personal happiness, the cosmic balance was disturbed.
This is the Indo-European tree of life (again, a pagan counterpart of Sefirot system and those pillars). Configuration is always the same: eagle god at the top and snakes/scorpions at the bottom. But notice how there’s a captive girl at the base of the tree - just like Emeraude, who is a prisoner of the world tree. This is a very common motif in Indo-European mythology: there is a maiden, sometimes a divine pair, divine twins or primordial lovers, who are situated at the base of the world tree, the axis mundi, the cosmic pillar, awaiting redemption, sort of like Adam and Eve. They are respectively dormant masculine and feminine energies that need to be released from their latent, imprisoned nature. The girl would then symbolize dormant feminine energy that needs to be given a proper place in the hearts of people. As long as she is imprisoned and unredeemed, she is also absent from the hearts of people. Masculine energy symbolizes spiritual and collective qualities, feminine earthly and personal. This really fits with the theme of her selflessness and inability to put her own happiness in front of other people’s.
Funnily enough, in Indo-European mythology, there are many folk songs that tell about this captive prisoner/maiden at the bottom who ritually calls forth an eagle from the top of the tree to descend and redeem them. (This is an incredibly interesting blend of Christian/Gnostic and pagan beliefs, as you are probably noticing redemption theme here).
This is just what Emeraude does. She calls forth these legendary warriors who are said to be able to redeem and free her from her tragic fate. But it’s not quite Eagle Vision who saves her as a new pillar, isn’t it? It’s Hikaru, an earthling. Remember, eagle is a symbol of spirituality, of selflessness, all higher qualities. Emeraude doesn’t need to learn selflessness, because that’s what got her in trouble in the first place - she needed to learn to value her personal feelings, to be selfish. That’s why she isn’t saved by Eagle who is equally selfless.
She is saved by Hikaru from physical realm (Earth). Here material redeems divine, not the other way round! Emeraude who is all divine, self-sacrifical and Christ-like is freed from imprisonment by Hikaru who basically teaches her through Eagle that, hey, it’s okay to be selfish, to want to be happy. So, magic knights are absolving her of her own self-denying divinity - which is a pretty darn cool theme.
What’s interesting here is that both Hikaru and Eagle are like symbolic expressions or emanations of Emeraude’s tragic fate in a way. If Emeraude and Zagato symbolize that dormant, imprisoned energy, a love that was never properly consummated and given a place, then Hikaru, Eagle and Lantis are their extensions, their second chance. Lantis is Zagato. Hikaru and Eagle are both Emeraude. Hikaru is that fire and conviction that Emeraude should have had, and Eagle Vision is a resolution of her conflict - he is the Emeraude who finally learns not to self-sacrifice.
I just fucking love to think of Eagle Vision as an expression or emanation of Emeraude. He is totally moved by her feminine energy.
