RuneScape Forum Archive | Seren, Zaros, Mother Nature

KingStannis5

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Introduction

This will be the first of two threads concerned with the psychophysical nature of the gods; their motives and their essential traits. It's my intention to demonstrate the hypothesis that the gods and their relation to one another is based on qualities of the universe which are alike to gendered and parent-like qualities. My focus in this project is the triangle of conflict I find between Zaros, Seren and Saradomin. This thread focusses on the relation to the former two. My theoretical leanings are aesthetically similar to Freudian influenced ideas, but should not be taken as a comment on the biological divers of the text's writers or necessarily characters; it is more a study of association and the anthropomorphic presentation of Jagex's universe. My basic premise is that Seren and Zaros are the Mother and Father figures of reality. I come to this conclusion based on their manifestation of gendered traits. They are the first life in the universe, and have the most power grip on the universe's nature. It follows that they are THE Mother and Father; their existence anthropomorphically introduces these traits into the universe, consciously attaching a gendered identity to otherwise unconscious processes. It will be clear why I say Zaros is the Father, and Seren the Mother, in my reasoning. However, I'll here define my terms: I define masculine traits as active, desire to rationally change reality, and feminine traits as a passive emotional resistance to nature's change. This follows intuitively from traditional notions of the terms applied to nature, again my reasons will become clear. I do not expect this interpretation to be initially accepted, but I'm confident there's enough evidence to warrant reasoned debate on the issue.

20-Sep-2015 00:26:53 - Last edited on 20-Sep-2015 00:34:28 by KingStannis5

KingStannis5

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Nature and the Beginning

In the beginning there was nature. “Nature” here is not merely understood as life red in tooth and claw, it's the nature of the universe the Elder Gods created. This includes Mah's creations; Zaros and Seren. It is clear from Heart of Stone, the original nature of the universe is amoral, uncaring: “Ultimately it's the way of things…. debris cast into the Abyss.”-Bikra.

Seren represents the Mother Figure of nature. She does not act out against the universe. She is that aspect of nature which symbolises life's passive difference from within to the unfeeling nature; a mother protecting her children. Therefore life defines purpose within purposeless nature, as the emotional drives of the “debris” who inhabit the universe. And Seren is the Mother Figure of life; the utter embodiment of passive emotion. The maternal drive of Seren's existence can also be supported by her relationship to her followers. She has enforced dependence on them through cursing those who do not follower her, which demonstrates her need to have a Mother-Children relationship with dependence. Furthermore, this can be interpreted as resembling the maternal desire the children not to grow up. She takes away the agency of her people through isolationist protectionism; her lands are, in a metaphysical sense, her womb.

20-Sep-2015 00:27:00 - Last edited on 20-Sep-2015 00:30:22 by KingStannis5

KingStannis5

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Zaros' purpose is oppositional to this: he introduces purpose into the universe by trying to become part of the functioning of it. He is the god of control and power, but without emotion, and as such brings purpose into the universe by being an intelligence central to its seemly meaningless events. In this respect he is an almost an Aristotelian Prime Mover, being the cause of movement in the universe. This is clear in his belief that the universe was his *birthright” and should be his to control; by desiring control over the universe Zaros became the first father figure of the universe.

However, there is an interesting dynamic here. Seren is the Maternal Being of the universe through Mah's purpose for her: “Mah was, in many ways, both my mother and my child”. However, Zaros does not seem to have a fatherly purpose in his creation. His status as a father figure relies on his binary relation to Seren: Zaros is obsessed with becoming the cause of all purpose in the universe, whereas Seren is passive to her role in the universe, demonstrated by her attitude towards Mah. This relation can be seen through their opposite attitudes to Mah; Seren accepts her created role, Zaros must rebel as he has no sacred purpose beyond being a plaything. What is clear is that the Mother Figure of nature was created as having an intrinsic, passive role in nature, the emotional manifestation of the universe's maternal invention. However, Zaros had no such specific function in the universe. Therefore he had to create his own. And as such, Zaros is driven to become a creation of purpose in his very Being.

20-Sep-2015 00:27:09 - Last edited on 20-Sep-2015 00:32:51 by KingStannis5

KingStannis5

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This is clear from what he stands for; control, plots, emptiness. His ideology is nothing but something becoming purposeful through his own actions: He is “empty”, signaling his lack of objective purpose. This is supported by the symbolism of light and dark. Light has objective existence, dark only exists as a lack of light. He must define himself against Mother Nature by redefining nature itself. If he does not, then he he passive in the same way as the Mother is passive to nature, but not given that role. Then he would be submissive to, and castrated by Mother Nature, who Seren represents. This accounts for his drive to become an Elder God; as this would allow him to completely rewrite nature, and as such no longer be forced to define his own purpose, but fulfill his need to be THE purpose.

Conclusion

Here understood, Zaros and Seren would be the overarching, polarised antagonistic forces of the universe. In this respect, the two gods share an intertextual link between such characters as the Roman gods, such as Mars and Venus. I think, if we take Jmods intentions into account of interpretation (I don't feel a need to), this parallel and others presents a plausible reason for these themes being in the text.

20-Sep-2015 00:27:16 - Last edited on 20-Sep-2015 00:35:39 by KingStannis5

KingStannis5

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In the Pagan religions, certain traits of the universe, such as conflict, and love, are deified. This is a stage in the human conscious rejection of amoral nature; warping nature into man's image. And this is what Zaros tries to do; warp the Aristotelian purpose of a mechanical universe in his image. The next stage in human history would be to reject these idols of nature, and replace an amoral reality utterly with notions of morality which cannot be detected as laws of nature. The rise of Christianity. This will be mirrored by some young god's rejection of Zaros' embodiment as an aspect of nature. By Mah's design, the Mother Figure cannot be replaced. However, The Father Figure can be, because it is not an objective fact of the universe. Therefore, other gods may wish to replace him as the Father to control Mother Nature themselves. And some young god's are no more passive to the Elder god's amoral universe than Zaros, and will overcome Mother Nature through higher pricniples, as opposed to mere conscious design. That is the focus on my next thread about Saradomin.

20-Sep-2015 00:27:24 - Last edited on 20-Sep-2015 00:37:08 by KingStannis5