More SPN meta
Mar. 17th, 2009 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
My friend Emily asked me:
I guess I didn't think about this when we were introduced to Tessa originally in the second season premiere, but isn't her version of a reaper completely different than the reaper from "Don't Fear the Reaper"? I have to admit that I'm a bad fan and don't always pay attention to the subtle details of the show, but I know you do! Did they address either in her first episode or this one [Death Takes a Holiday] why she is so pretty and brings death so peacefully but the creepy old guy chases people down and scares them to death? Are there different kinds of reapers?
Which got me to thinking about why the Reaper in DFTR is presented so differently.
This is the answer I came up with:
Re: your question, when we first see Tessa in IMTOD, she looks like a scary Wraith thingy, like a ghostly skeleton (which she later tells Dean is her true form). And then she makes herself look like a beautiful girl. Dean reads in John's journal that Reapers can alter human perception, make themselves appear to humans however they'd like. So I don't think the Reaper in DFTR and Tessa are different kinds of Reapers so much as that they choose to wear different forms. The Reaper in DFTR is being forced to act by the skeevy faith healer's wife; he's essentially a prisoner and he's being forced to go against his nature and kill people whose times have not yet come. So maybe he looks and acts scary because he's pissed off.
Oh, oh, or maybe that Reaper looks and acts scary because he can only appear the way that woman *thinks* he should appear--like the form he wears is tainted by her perception of what a Reaper is/should be and by the darkness of what she is doing.
I guess I didn't think about this when we were introduced to Tessa originally in the second season premiere, but isn't her version of a reaper completely different than the reaper from "Don't Fear the Reaper"? I have to admit that I'm a bad fan and don't always pay attention to the subtle details of the show, but I know you do! Did they address either in her first episode or this one [Death Takes a Holiday] why she is so pretty and brings death so peacefully but the creepy old guy chases people down and scares them to death? Are there different kinds of reapers?
Which got me to thinking about why the Reaper in DFTR is presented so differently.
This is the answer I came up with:
Re: your question, when we first see Tessa in IMTOD, she looks like a scary Wraith thingy, like a ghostly skeleton (which she later tells Dean is her true form). And then she makes herself look like a beautiful girl. Dean reads in John's journal that Reapers can alter human perception, make themselves appear to humans however they'd like. So I don't think the Reaper in DFTR and Tessa are different kinds of Reapers so much as that they choose to wear different forms. The Reaper in DFTR is being forced to act by the skeevy faith healer's wife; he's essentially a prisoner and he's being forced to go against his nature and kill people whose times have not yet come. So maybe he looks and acts scary because he's pissed off.
Oh, oh, or maybe that Reaper looks and acts scary because he can only appear the way that woman *thinks* he should appear--like the form he wears is tainted by her perception of what a Reaper is/should be and by the darkness of what she is doing.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-17 07:33 pm (UTC)I think that yes, the 'Faith' reaper was not only angry at being held prisoner, but also warped by what um....the wife thought he should be.
:)
Your icon is OMG *fans face*
Date: 2009-03-18 03:00 pm (UTC)I really love that they were able to do some continuity with the same actress and that she didn't die. I mean, I totally get the whole "two of them against the world, lone survivors" thing the show has got going on and in many ways I like that, but I sure do wish they didn't have to gak everybody that's even remotely cool. (Oh, Pamela and Andy and Ava and Henrikson! *wails*)
Re: Your icon is OMG *fans face*
Date: 2009-03-18 03:51 pm (UTC)*clings to him*
Isn't that icon wonderful? I love it. It's by
Re: Your icon is OMG *fans face*
Date: 2009-03-18 06:30 pm (UTC)That would destroy me.
*weaves spell of protection around Bobby*
Re: Your icon is OMG *fans face*
Date: 2009-03-18 06:44 pm (UTC)Bobby is just...too....
*hands*
Too *Bobby*! We must always, always have him.
*grabs Uncle Bobby and doesn't let go*
Re: Your icon is OMG *fans face*
Date: 2009-03-18 11:28 pm (UTC)The Reaperbahn
Date: 2009-03-17 07:52 pm (UTC)After you've gone around the circle (and you'll be surprised what people come up with!) you tell them, haha, the forest is Life, the key is Love (everybody picks up the key!), the body of water is sex, and the wall is death.
My point being, that some people say, omg, the wall has an electric fence and barbed wire and rabid bears! (I said that the wall was about waist-high and I sat down on it and ate my sandwiches.) So whether or not everybody gets the Reaper they deserve, it makes sense to me that they get different Reapers.
Re: The Reaperbahn
Date: 2009-03-18 02:57 pm (UTC)I love that you eat sandwiches in the face of death. LOL
I Laugh in the Face of Danger! And Then I Run Away!
Date: 2009-03-18 03:06 pm (UTC)Re: I Laugh in the Face of Danger! And Then I Run Away!
Date: 2009-03-18 06:29 pm (UTC)Re: I Laugh in the Face of Danger! And Then I Run Away!
Date: 2009-03-18 06:32 pm (UTC)Re: I Laugh in the Face of Danger! And Then I Run Away!
Date: 2009-03-18 11:29 pm (UTC)You, FTW!
no subject
Date: 2009-03-19 04:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-19 03:53 pm (UTC)