Is Bell's dark side in fact Skuld?


to megami@usagi.jrd.dec.com
from Paul Corrigan <budgie@insomnia3.dorms.utoledo.edu>
subject Is Bell's dark side in fact Skuld?
date Sun, 1 Jun 1997 17:00:30 -0500 (EST)

On Fri, 30 May 1997, Henry J. Cobb wrote:

> 
> >"Leonard Tai" <vtky@pc.jaring.my>
> >That dark side of Belldandy's is disappearing if Kosuke Fujishima's current
> >trend keeps up.
> 
> What if her dark side is getting concentrated into another form, which
> has yet to be introduced?

   Oh, but it has. That'd be Skuld.
   Many of the less pleasant qualities, especially the belligerence
(towards Urd in particular) manifested by the character of Belldandy in
the early volumes were transferred to the character of Skuld after volume
5. Basically, Skuld could do all the fighting with Urd that comedy
required; also, within the context of the story, once Skuld showed up
soebody had to be the grown-up in the house (Bell, for all practical
purposes, has had to become a mother to Skuld), and Urd and Keiichi were
clearly not mature enough to play the role. For Bell to remain as
explosive as she often was early on was neither necessary nor desirable
for dramatic purposes, and those parts of her character gradually
disappeared.
   It actually makes a great deal of sense for Skuld to be a less pleasant
manifestation of the chief elements of Bell's character. There are several
reasons for this; I'll discuss the principal two reasons briefly below:
   a. Skuld is Bell's full sister, and as such is a rationalist like her
full sister, which her interest and abilities in science and technology,
which she shares with Bell (who herself far exceeds the abilities of most
humans in engineering, though Skuld's almost certainly superior) reflect
(as opposed to the irrationalist Urd, who's more at home with magic and
the non-scientific). It's true--she's a genius, and there's probably few
scientific problems she could not solve with some effort.
   Problem: She _knows_ she's a genius, which not only leads her to
overestimate her admittedly great abilities (she did appear baffled when
her "perfect" machines don't work the first time), but also to not only
ignore the possibility of unseen consequences (e.g. Banpei-kun's "crush"
on Bell) but also to interfere in Bell's relationship with a fellow her
intelligence has judged unworthy of her--regardless of Bell's obvious
wishes, to the point where she's as much a nuisance or more as Urd, and as
such even more an obstacle to Bell's duty and the will of Kami-sama than
the half-demon her half-sister.
   b. The original Skuld of Norse myth was the most malevolent of the
Norns, frustrating the good fates pronounced by the other two sisters.
She was also said to be one of the Valkryies who carried the souls of
fallen soldiers to Asgard; those two elements coupled together made her a
dark figure indeed, a sort of angel of death, which, after all, is the
future fate of us all. One writer identified her with Hel, the goddess of
death herself.
   Fujishima's Skuld is probably not the angel of death. Belligerent,
though, she certainly is, in keeping with her reputation as a goddess of
war.
   c. One possible translation of the name Verdandi is progress
(literally, it means something like "becoming"). Skuld means "shall be,"
but more importantly suggests "should be." Present (capitalist?) progress
towards a future state of (socialist?) perfection--a suitably Marxian
notion.
   (This is what happens when an economics major thinks too hard about
this stuff...:) )
   I fancy a mature Skuld as something of the technological socialist
myself, trying to make everything perfect in heaven and earth (for she's
well intentioned, to be sure, but then so is Urd) with her mechs, as
opposed to the more liberal Bell who wishes everyone only happiness and
leaves them go, so long as they don't go near Keiichi (heck, she's said
time and again she'd go home if he didn't want her any more, no questions 
asked). The excess of self-confidence at the back of such attempts would
be her undoing, alas; the attempt to impose a vision on others has always
leaded to misery, and invariably to war, conflict and chaos. Even her
attempts to separate Bell and K1 only make Bell unhappy and K1 annoyed.
   Hm. Perhaps Skuld's the angel of death after all. I do think she's as
liable to be corrupted, or more so, than Urd (though for different 
reasons). It may be the best goddesses make the best demons. She has,
alas, shown herself with the ability and will to place herself in
opposition to God's plan if her intellect sees fit. This is not a good
sign for the future.
   Nothing has come of this in the manga, and probably nothing
will--there's no need for Fujishima to redo the "Terrrible Master Urd"
story. I have, however, seen some work done in fanfiction along these
lines (in, for instance, "Malice and Denial" where Skuld helps Mara to
kidnap Keiichi), and I find the idea fascinating.

   The ultrarationalist busybody and sometime goddess of war, a perfect
foil to the eternally reasonable, caring, peaceful Belldandy. If you would
seek Bell's dark side, look no further than Skuld.
   Which is not to say I don't like Fujishima's Skuld (on the contrary).
But she could well turn out a nasty piece of work.

> Belldandy is very ashamed of this other side so she tries to keep it
> from K1 and the "Dark Belldandy" acts sweetly so that he'll drop his
> guard long enough for her to get her pickaxe out...

   Or mallet...:)

Paul Corrigan
budgie@insomnia3.dorms.utoledo.edu
"Sometimes I can't believe we're sisters..."
"I dunno; makes perfect sense to _me_."


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