the guiding light of zeon
“Banagher again looked back at the image of Christ, and the image of Zeon Deikun he saw in his textbooks overlapped with the man bleeding upon the cross.”
As atheism growth in popularity is visible even in our day, it is not surprising to imagine the nearly complete extinction of organized religion hundreds of years from now. In the science fiction setting of these novels, religion is known, yet scarcely practiced by anyone. However, the role of religion has not faded from humanity, for all humans need a “light” to guide them.
As mentioned, the practice of organized religion is practically dead; an idea of the past. After the supper meal with the Sant’s, Marida takes Banagher to a local chapel constructed at the time of the colony’s creation in order to enlighten him on the role of Zeon to the people of Zeon and Palau. Stained glass walls allow light to shine through them, candles light the figure of the Virgin Mary, and Christ is dangling from a hand crafted model of the crucifix. Considering the change in calendar from Anno Domini to Universal Century also signified the “end of the age of Christ”, the presence of this church is ancient to the characters of this story.
Marida begins to explain their trip to this location by describing the hardships of those living in the past and how God, a “light”, gave them a necessary hope in the face of such harsh lives. During the earlier years of Palau, the peasants and lower class people abandoned into such a place still looked to God for hope, but as time and generations dragged on, they needed a new light, a brighter one to look to and find peace and guidance when “the light of the sun was indistinguishable from any other star in the black sky”. Eventually people living in these distant colonies found their new light; Zeon. Whether the light people followed was right or not, its very existence is what was necessary to fight despair and live on in their cruel world, and that is why those abandoned in space followed Zeon.
As mentioned, the practice of organized religion is practically dead; an idea of the past. After the supper meal with the Sant’s, Marida takes Banagher to a local chapel constructed at the time of the colony’s creation in order to enlighten him on the role of Zeon to the people of Zeon and Palau. Stained glass walls allow light to shine through them, candles light the figure of the Virgin Mary, and Christ is dangling from a hand crafted model of the crucifix. Considering the change in calendar from Anno Domini to Universal Century also signified the “end of the age of Christ”, the presence of this church is ancient to the characters of this story.
Marida begins to explain their trip to this location by describing the hardships of those living in the past and how God, a “light”, gave them a necessary hope in the face of such harsh lives. During the earlier years of Palau, the peasants and lower class people abandoned into such a place still looked to God for hope, but as time and generations dragged on, they needed a new light, a brighter one to look to and find peace and guidance when “the light of the sun was indistinguishable from any other star in the black sky”. Eventually people living in these distant colonies found their new light; Zeon. Whether the light people followed was right or not, its very existence is what was necessary to fight despair and live on in their cruel world, and that is why those abandoned in space followed Zeon.
“Whether it’s right or not isn’t important. To them, this light is important. They needed something to fight despair and live in this world that was cruel and binding. They needed something to believe that this world still has room for change. No one can laugh at such a demand. It’s stupid not to have a physical thing to rely on and live until now—if anyone can say that, that person is either being very happy, or is living in a way where he has nothing to do with the world. That can’t be called real living." |
The light of possibility
In a flashback to a scene of Banagher’s past with his father, Cardeas, he is seen describing the “Lady and the Unicorn” tapestry’s symbolism to Banagher. While the first five tents depicted represent the five senses, the sixth tent means something more abstract:
“It was drawn because that person didn’t understand. And we think. Only humans are blessed with such ability. The unicorn that’s woven on the tapestry and the music that’s heard now show what that person felt through the human eyes and ears. That is a certain feeling the five senses can’t comprehend, a certain feeling that transcends reality…maybe that might be called an existence called god, or maybe that’s just an illusion created as a result of a human’s wish. However, as long as we believe in that existence and do something for the world, that chance will become reality.”
Cardeas interprets this into his own unique belief, the existence of an inner god; possibility. While not an unidentifiable deity, the recognition of possibility essentially transforms every individual into their own torch. The ability for any person to “transform what is immediate and create their own hope” and “the power to overcome the current reality”. It is the strong faith that anything is possible. The individuality of each human and, in turn, the nature of the individuality of each light is the origin of conflict. Even in religion, one may belong to the same faith system and higher moral laws, yet share different views and opinions; every human is their own god.
“It was drawn because that person didn’t understand. And we think. Only humans are blessed with such ability. The unicorn that’s woven on the tapestry and the music that’s heard now show what that person felt through the human eyes and ears. That is a certain feeling the five senses can’t comprehend, a certain feeling that transcends reality…maybe that might be called an existence called god, or maybe that’s just an illusion created as a result of a human’s wish. However, as long as we believe in that existence and do something for the world, that chance will become reality.”
Cardeas interprets this into his own unique belief, the existence of an inner god; possibility. While not an unidentifiable deity, the recognition of possibility essentially transforms every individual into their own torch. The ability for any person to “transform what is immediate and create their own hope” and “the power to overcome the current reality”. It is the strong faith that anything is possible. The individuality of each human and, in turn, the nature of the individuality of each light is the origin of conflict. Even in religion, one may belong to the same faith system and higher moral laws, yet share different views and opinions; every human is their own god.
Marida's Light
While it was said that light belongs to all those are human, light had a different role for Marida, an artificial human created for war and undying loyalty to her master. It was never her job to think for herself, she only accepted and followed the orders of her current master, and she believed this about herself up until the climactic finale of the 4th novel. Less than a moment before Banagher, swallowed by the Unicorn’s bloodlust, pierced her Mobile Suit’s cockpit with his blade, the two Newtypes’ souls intermingled and Banagher peered into Marida’s memories and emotions. In this journey through Marida’s past, lasting only a fraction of a second, Banagher sees what her light really was. “Light. A savage and violent light that radiated through space.” Marida and her 11 other clones, birthed to fight for Neo Zeon during the Gryps Conflict, had witnessed the death of their original master, the man who led them into battle. As the sisters, shocked and disoriented after the sudden loss of their only guidance in existence, lined up to continue battle. Marida began to think for herself. Rather than join the dray, she began to ponder thoughts such as the definition of “enemy”, whether or not she would have to fight with her master gone, the individuality of her and her sisters and their individual souls, and in doing so, became the only surviving clone of the battle. “Light. Lewd, vulgar and contemptible neon lights.” Marida was recovered in the aftermath of the battle by an unnamed person, and was unfortunately thrown into the human trafficking industry as an unwilling prostitute. Each person she was sold to became her master, her light, and she followed regardless of herself. To her, it was the same as following her original master into battle. “Light. A purifying light that burned all sins and guilt.” Marida was recovered and brought back into the hands of Neo Zeon by the Captain of the Garencieres, Suberoa Zinnerman. This man saved her from the horrors she was forced to endure and truly cared for her. He was the one that gave her the name Marida; he was the first master that saw her as a human being, rather than a hollow slave. This relates back to his aversion to her calling him “master”. In this interaction, Banagher does not only see into Marida and understand her, he calls out to her and shows her the power of the light “possibility” without the need for words. Marida realizes she is more than a simple husk of a human just as she can be free do think as she pleases. Obeying the light of another person is all she had ever known, yet as she had long since forgotten, she always had the ability to think for herself buried within her, as shown right before the death of her sisters. The psychoframe of the Unicorn still resonates with her, despite being artificial, she has a soul. “…Only humans, have gods… The ideals they want to describe, the power to approach their ideals…even artificial beings have them…” |