Chan Wei Lik wrote: <<

>Assumptions are fine. I just want to know why you feel that Japanese phrase
implied their father was kamisama.

>>

Fair enough. Here I'll just summarize all the points that make me believe 
kamisama is their father.

First: We know that Urd, Skuld, and Belldandy all share the same father (Ch. 
35, Belldandy: "... sore ni, tsunagatte inai to itte mo hanbun dake de chichi 
wa onaji nan desu." "And, we are only half-connected, our fathers are the 
same".)

Second: We know that Urd's mother is Hild. (Ch. 134, Urd: "Ichiou watashi no 
hahaoya dakara" "After all, she is my mother.")

Third: Ch. 136, Hild's lines: "Naani? Doushite wakaretakatte koto?" "What? 
Why did I want to split up with (someone)?" The conjugation is important 
here; the implication is that Hild WANTED to split up with said person. This 
is why I believe she is not talking about her split with Urd at this point.

Ch. 136, Hild: "Anata honto ni ano hito sokkuri ne... / Sou iu tokoro 
daikirai datta wa." "You really are like that person... / That was what I 
hated about (him/her)." The proximity of this last remark with the remark 
above makes me believe that Hild is answering her own question, about why she 
split up with Urd's (and therefore Belldandy and Skuld's) father.

So far so good. Now: we know Belldandy is at least more skilled, if not more 
powerful, than Urd. " (Ch. 131, Skuld: "Oneesama no uta wa tenkaiichi nan 
dakara" "Sister's song is number one in Heaven") Urd obviously has power in 
her ancestry from Hild. Therefore, I assume that Belldandy (and Skuld for 
that matter) must have some equally impressive power in their ancestry. Since 
their mother is not Hild, I choose to assume that their father is Kamisama. 
True, this gives more power to Urd, but we already knew that Urd is 
inherently very powerful, just not skilled at using that power all the time. 
Putting Kamisama in Belldandy's direct ancestry accounts for this power 
difference/balance. It also lends a nice symmetry to things; I know symmetry 
doesn't count for anything in the way for proof, but it's a neat way of 
looking at it.

Hild also enjoys picking on Kamisama, saying things like "Kami ni kakete 
chikau wa." "I swear by God" and later "Aa, Kami yo!" "Oh, God!", making me 
think there is *personal* enmity (and perhaps some leftover affection as 
Brian Welch noted) between Hild and Kamisama.

In other words, my argument: Urd's parents = Hild and Kamisama, who then 
split. Kamisama then fathered Belldandy and Skuld with an unknown goddess.

The major sticking point and weakness in my argument is that I assume first 
of all that power is hereditary, and that second of all no god is equal in 
power to Hild except Kamisama. I think the second assumption is fairly valid. 
The first? It's arguable, but as the line goes, "that's my story and I'm 
sticking to it."

Edward Chang, Skuld no Shinpu
Founder of the Coalition Requiring Animated Peorth
"Atashi tte yappari tensai!" -- Skuld
http://nekomikodai.otakalypse.com