As a continuation of a post in a different thread, and incidentally enough, the post above, I mentioned that I've been reading Foucalt's Pendulum, a lovely little book about conspiracies and the people who find themselves believing in them. I read the Illuminatus! trilogy in college, but I always had the feeling like it would make more sense if I read it while high on some excellent weed. But Umberto Eco's book is much more clearheaded, and quite immaculately researched.
The biggest takeaway I have from the book -- which I haven't quite finished -- is that coming up with one's own conspiracy theory is almost the same process as writing megacrossover fanfiction. Basically, you link two things that seem similar together and say "Sure, why not?", and then keep chaining these coinicident events from the canon together to forge a new story that answers all the questions. And, of course, include all of the cool people from history, like Jacques de Molay, the Comte de Saint Germain, and Aleister Crowley. Hey, we've got that last one in our story too! The key difference is that to make the story good, you have to occasionally say "no" and reject connections.
There were three other plot points I picked up from this crash course through esoterica and occultism:
Just be happy that out of all of the wacky theories, I've only picked up on three. Well, something else might come up, but that will wait until I add in the one character who's into theosophy in her own canon.
The biggest takeaway I have from the book -- which I haven't quite finished -- is that coming up with one's own conspiracy theory is almost the same process as writing megacrossover fanfiction. Basically, you link two things that seem similar together and say "Sure, why not?", and then keep chaining these coinicident events from the canon together to forge a new story that answers all the questions. And, of course, include all of the cool people from history, like Jacques de Molay, the Comte de Saint Germain, and Aleister Crowley. Hey, we've got that last one in our story too! The key difference is that to make the story good, you have to occasionally say "no" and reject connections.
There were three other plot points I picked up from this crash course through esoterica and occultism:
- In an early chapter, one side character mentions that, as everyone knows, the Grail, the Philosopher's Stone, and the Golden Fleece are the same object -- probably some mystic power source that allowed the Argo to fly. In the context of Fate stay/night, I give that a strong maybe?
- The characters in the book come across a document referring to the six seals -- not seven -- and construct a story around that. Six seals, six levels, what does that remind me of? Oh yes, A Certain Aleister's quest for a level 6. Maybe these esper levels only coincidentally correlate to power or ability, but actually measure metaphysical seals broken – how far they advance the Plan.
- Cabala/Kabbalah apparently has the concept of rearranging the letters of the Torah to reveal the true, hidden word of God. That among the endless permutations, the true divine meaning can be found (this kinda reminds me of Borges's Library of Babel too). Maybe the stories of the alternate universes in our setting are all this, variations of the letters of the Torah, each in search of the true meaning of existence.
Just be happy that out of all of the wacky theories, I've only picked up on three. Well, something else might come up, but that will wait until I add in the one character who's into theosophy in her own canon.
"Kitto daijoubu da yo." - Sakura Kinomoto