Hello everyone. I have a few topics/questions that have come up as I watch that I've been dying to go into in-depth discussions and hearing everyone else's opinions on. Some might be more plot holes/continuity errors but I'll try to avoid those. Or they could actually be interpreted as legitimate story plots worthy of conjecture. I by no means want to dissect and disrespect the story, I just have some unresolved issues/am curious/never get tired of talking Being Human & Hal!
So, the first one I'm going to ask about is
The Trinity and The Ritual.
Here is my interpretation of the events as per S5E1 and S5E6:
In 1918 Hal came to the conclusion (somehow) that the Devil himself was inciting the WW/Vampire conflict and was responsible for WWI among the humans. He tells Lady Catherine and she wants a ritual to "symbolize the union" between the two clans. But Emile comes up with a Ritual that will actually allow them to trap and kill the Devil. It's botched because Hal didn't use his own blood, Emile, LC and an unknown vamp die, so the Devil is only trapped. Fast forward 2013, ritual again first time, Hal botches it by (admittedly accidentally) knocking the flask out of Alex's hand. Ritual 2nd time, they don't die, they trap the Devil & stake him "proper dead" and they become human... but they were in a dream.
Some questions/concerns/curiosities I have:
How did Hal find out it was the Devil? He tells Crumb he wasn't sure he believed in the Devil until he met him.
Does the ritual really kill all the participants? I'm skeptical on this and my first impressions were that the only reason Emile & Lady Catherine DID die were that Hal didn't use his blood. Emile says "damn you Hal, now it's not a true Trinity" - I don't see Emile knowingly risking his life. Hal pleads with Emile "help her she doesn't have much time", and so that leads me to believe he didn't know ahead of time of the death clause. But LC says "How can I expect one of my men to do what I would not." So did she know about the certainty of death? Or was she merely saying she would never endanger her men? That's my thought.
Trinity - Hal says "our curses come from the Devil, so the ritual must be performed by a vampire, werewolf and ghost" Ummm... I didn't realize ghosts were as a result of a curse?
True Trinity - why didn't the unknown vampire's death count. It was still a vampire, werewolf and ghost that were involved.
Ritual- I still contend that Ghosts cannot drink! And they show the blood passing through just like any other food/drink. So I think Emile got the ritual details wrong anyway.
I had my own crazy theory of what had to go down for them to defeat the Devil. But I don't know if anyone wants to hear it.
Discuss...
-- Edited by whimsyfox on Tuesday 1st of October 2013 07:49:08 AM
__________________
papillon... pamplemousse... bibliothèque... un baiser A lilt in his voice. Every sentence like music... #kisskisskiss A terrible beauty is born. Love me some #Jacksass
Crazy theories are always fun, whimsy, so please do share.
I think Hal must have known some big risk was involved. There has to be some price in ridding the earth of the Devil for all time. So he takes the precaution of using another's blood. The others must have assumed the same - some big risk - so Catherine took the risk herself. And I think the unknown vampire's death didn't count because he wasn't part of the official ritual.
Ghosts being part of the curse is a bit weird. Vampires and werewolves don't get over their curses just because they deal with unfinished business. I'd have thought ghosts curse themselves perhaps ... I think this is just a bit woolly really.
And it seems ghosts can drink as long as they're drinking something as part of a supernatural ceremony!
__________________
"Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong."
I was just talking about this with my best Being Human mate and I have some theories, but I'm still at work and can't type that much now. I'll try to come play later! Talk among yourselves... ;)
__________________
You can do this. You can do this. You can do this.
it's supernatural and therefore defies the laws of the universe and also logic. in my opinion.
Agree with UJs analysis regarding the ritual, and I like we don't know
how Hal thought it was the devil. There is lots we don't know and understand about Hal and that makes me happy as do the ambiguities..i prefer not to deconstruct, the escapism is left pure for me that way, but appreciate that others do (so not judging!)
My take on the curse/ghosts thing is that they are tortured souls, in the BH universe a ghost/soul has a door when their unfinished business is complete, until that time they remain in suspended animation - i guess it is not totally linguistically correct but I do get the 'curse' thing about this being a non ideal state for a ghostie!
I'm not a big deconstructor, either, but I enjoy a nice discussion from time to time. I don't like to look too far behind the curtain, though. That steals a bit of the magic for me. ;)
But I think the best part of the way Being Human ended is that everyone can be right. Everyone's headcanon is okay! :D
__________________
You can do this. You can do this. You can do this.
This hurts my brain. I thought that, that Emille and Lady Catherine only die because Hal cheated on the ritual. Isn't that the case again when the future trinity do it too though? aren't we supposed to wonder if they did die or not?
-- Edited by HalGal on Saturday 5th of October 2013 09:21:55 AM
__________________
My name is Ciara and I've been on the Kia-Ora!!!! :D
Perhaps if the ritual is done right, then no one, except the Devil, dies. Instead, they just get stuck in an alternative universe because the devil set up the environment for the ritual anyway. (How the Devil was able to do that, since the three of them did do the ritual properly, is the loophole).
The issue with the ritual is that three natural enemies have to unite to perform it, and as such they don't trust each other and so assume the others wont do it right so no one does it right, or one of them decides to grab the opportunity to take out a couple of the enemy so messes it up on purpose.
__________________
"Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong."
Oh whimsy - I've been trying so hard to resist this.....but, well - here goes!
As you said - Hal told Crumb that he didn't believe in the devil until he met him - so when he told Lady Catherine that they were 'at war with the devil' we have to assume that he had some sort of ulterior motive (what?....well, that's speculation for another thread!). He certainly didn't show any respect for Emile's 'arts' - he introduced him as "dead wizard". So I suspect that he never really had any expectations of the ritual - he certainly looked pretty gobsmacked when the devil showed up! But I guess he would make the assumption that it was the devil, because that's who Emile was summoning.
As far as I'm concerned, Hal, Tom and Alex never wake up from the devil's 'dream' in the studio (the fact that Hal knocks the phial out of Alex's hand, and it smashes is one of the reasons I think that) - so everything that happens in the final ritual is dictated by the devil - the only time we actually see the ritual is in ep1, when it is explained to Hal that the blood ritual will trap the devil in the 'maniac's body'.....to which he replies 'and then we kill him'. This suggests that the ritual was never expected to actually kill the devil...just trap him in mortal form, and destroy his power, so that he could then be killed. So when Emile says that Hal not using his own blood won't destroy the devil, but merely weaken him.....I think he's refering to the devil's power, not his 'life'. The fact that hal didn't use his own blood is the reason that the devil is able to escape. I guess if he had used his own blood, the devil would have become truely powerless and mortal and would eventually have just died of old age!
It was important for Hal to use his own blood, because the other vampire wasn't part of the pact. And, although I don't think Hal had any expectations of the ritual.....and didn't expect it to kill him (I don't think the others really had any idea what would happen - they wouldn't have expected to be able to kill the devil if they had thought they would all die. My take is that it was probably because Hal cheated - just because Hatch told tom and alex that they would die doesn't mean that it's true!) But I can imagine that Hal would use someone else's blood, rather than letting his own....because he could - why do it himself if he could get somebody else to? In contradiction to Lady Catherine who wouldn't consider asking somebody else....whether there were risks involved or not.
Is being a ghost a curse from the devil? Well.....I'd never thought of that from the BH perspective - but I guess from a christian, biblical point of view, not being able to pass over into the afterlife would be considered a curse.....and curses tend to come from the devil!
Final point! I don't have any issues with the fact that the blood would pass through a ghost. It's a ritual....it's all symbolic, and, as a ghost has no blood to mingle with the werewolf and vampire offerings then I can accept that the gesture of the ghost 'drinking' the others would complete the circle - it ritualistically demonstrates a symbolic unity!
I'm done!
But I'd love to hear your 'crazy theory' whimsy.......
fifi, thanks for reminding me the ritual is to trap the Devil in the body. I never understood why the Devil didn't leave Rook before they killed him. D'oh! I assumed, because it was all faked by the Devil anyway, that it not making sense to me was therefore a clue! D'oh indeed.
__________________
"Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong."
Whew, I need to come back, lots of thoughtful goodness here to peruse. Will do tomorrow.
__________________
papillon... pamplemousse... bibliothèque... un baiser A lilt in his voice. Every sentence like music... #kisskisskiss A terrible beauty is born. Love me some #Jacksass
in my opinion. 
