Mythological parallels the Beforans (or other characters of your choice) have?
Okay. Okay. This is an incredibly fun question. I’m going to focus on one character in particular here-
Mituna Captor as a Cassandra parallel.
Content Warning: Mentions of Sexual Assault.
Mituna Captor, Heir of Doom, was, at a time, an incredibly powerful prophet. One of the main things we know about his character during his own session and prior to his brain trauma was his remarkable abilities regarding sensing and predicting Doom... But that there was a catch to this.
Despite his abilities, he was never listened to.
Mituna Captor, Prophet of Doom, even with his notably outstandingly accurate predictions, was not once listened to by his fellow session members. Not with regard to anything simple, nor to any huge, unknown threat attempting to fell their entire session.
This sounds awfully similar to the mythological prophet Cassandra.
In Greek Mythology, Cassandra was a priestess of Apollo who was given the gift of true prophetic abilities- all predictions she made and spoke were, in every way, completely accurate- but, later, was cursed so that her abilities, her prophecies, were never once believed, no matter who she told or what she said.
The reason behind her being given the Gift of Prophecy by Apollo, only to be later cursed with no one believing her, varies from writer to writer- though the main reasons were on the basis of refusal of Sexual Favors or Love. In some versions of Cassandra’s myth, Apollo gave her the Gift of Prophecy as a means of enticement for her to love him. In others, he was giving it to her as a means of exchange- Prophetic abilities in exchange for favors, and obedience.
In any interpretation, the general reading of the situation of our Tragic figure Cassandra is she was cursed for having agency. She is not a liar, she is not a despicable person, and she did not deserve the hand she was dealt. She was a human woman who should have the ability to choose what she does or does not do with her life and body. She did not owe Apollo anything. Apollo was acting like a selfish brat for not getting exactly what he wanted.
The Curse of Prophecy was a source of endless pain and frustration for her. Her word never believed, she was seen as a madwoman and a liar. She was deemed totally insane and not worth listening to by everyone surrounding her- no matter what she said, and no matter if her prophecies were proven true or not. She was treated like a mental patient for her abilities, locked away in a chamber and guarded, as if she were dangerous.
Whenever she attempted to warn others of anything, she was met with insults and verbal abuse- a prime example being her attempts to warn Troy about the Trojan Horse. In frustration, she took an axe in one hand and a burning torch in the other, and ran towards it, attempting to destroy it herself and reveal the soldiers hiding within it.
The Trojans stopped her. They never once believed her. This lead to the fall of Troy.
Once Troy fell, she took shelter in a Temple of Athena, embracing a statue of her as a means of attempting to gain her protection.
... Cassandra was then abducted by a man of the name of Ajax the Lesser, and brutally raped by him. She had clung so tightly, though, to the statue of Athena- a common symbol of the protection of women at the time- that Ajax the Lesser ripped it from its stand as he dragged poor Cassandra away.
It was a triple act of defilement- two counts of defilement of the temple, with the removal of Athena’s statue from it’s stand and the assault taking place within it’s confines, and a defilement of Cassandra. It was horrible.
The poor woman’s suffering never ended. Not once could she ever catch a break. Her tale, in all of its horrible glory, is renowned within the spheres of Greek Tragedy.
... But doesn’t all of that sound awfully familiar to you?
Too bad the prophet Cassandra want born in modern times with millennials and gen z because everyone thinks that they’re nobody and so we’d all believe her.
