tap in. david stirling x dudley clarke x eve mansour. and it's just eden reincarnated into people. dudley as adam, eve as eve. david as the snake. think with me, dudley making the prior 'SAS' from his missing rib (also he's intelligence, and in this hypothetical the 'higher power' would be authority above them, and them being intelligence works greatly into the 'creations of god' idea, they're not 'people-people', not soliders *angels, in this case, like david*, but they're connected to 'god'), eve with the fruit of knowledge (intelligence! the fruit could be the free french as she enlists them with the SAS, bringing them to dudley first) and david as the snake because of how the effects both of them - how he manages to touch eve in a way that doesn't feel like the rest of humanity she experienced, the rest of the garden she has known, in a way where she can't play pretend as she could've - where the feelings start mattering! (snake 'corrupting' eve) ANDD it's not out wordly said what the dynamic between adam and the snake was, but! It suggests that adam did not find it strange that a snake was speaking to him, because of his understanding of communication among animals and spirits. the way david and dudley interact suggests a similar understanding: dudley doesn't find it strange at all when david speaks back. Adam's reaction would be influenced by his relationship with God and his understanding of nature and creation. aka, dudley and his relationship with the british military and his understanding of soldiers. another reason why i think david could embody the snake is because of the story having the snake being able to question god's command, of it having craftiness around conflict, it all suggests that the snake wasn't just an animal, rather a generally more complex being that took shape of animal, and if we stick on theme of militant authority being 'god' - of angels being 'soldiers', how david has the same 'took apperance of animal' position... YUUPPP. and the theme of david's character, how we know from the get-go he doesn't like anything being done within the british military, how he's a major, how he finds authority conflicting, and wants to break away to his own progress where they get things done better. it's not exactly 1 to 1, but it's there!!! at least to me