The last few
decades have seen a dramatic turn away from Christianity in the West. And yet Christlike figures (those who lay
down their lives for others that they would not die; St John’s Gospel 10:11)
continue to show up as heroes in the stories of her popular arts. There are three such productions in
particular that we will look at below:
the video games Chrono Trigger (1995) and Sea of Stars
(2023) and the television show Travellers (2016-18).
Protagonists
Chrono
Trigger
This is a
flighty sci-fi/fantasy role-playing game (RPG) involving time travel and the
consequences thereof. Crono, the main character of
the game, like the God-man Jesus Christ, undergoes a self-sacrificing death and
later returns to life:
Crono possesses the archetype of the hero.
He is brave, daring and selfless. . .
. When Crono confronts Lavos in the Ocean
Palace of the Kingdom of Zeal as a result of the rescue mission,
Crono sacrifices himself to save everyone present. With the help of time
travel, his friends manage to replace him at the moment before he dies with a clone
received from the Millennial Fair in 1000 AD. thus saving his life. While the
other six playable characters have many lines of dialog, Crono's responses to
events are usually implied only through reaction and gesture, often for a
humorous effect, which wrongfully depicts him as insincere at the moment of his
resurrection, as Crono and the others confront Lavos, destroy it, and return
peace to Guardia.
Sea of
Stars
Also an
RPG. Garl is the Christ-figure in this
game. He is not the main character, but
he sacrifices himself to save the two main heroes from a powerful stroke meant
for them by the main antagonist, an alchemist named Aephorul. Garl is imminently likeable; everyone is
drawn to the selfless kindness that he exudes.
His lowliness (he is the cook amongst the company of heroes) is also
reminiscent of Christ’s humility.
Travellers
Like Chrono
Trigger, this show also involves time travelling. Teams from the future travel back in time to
stop a meteor from colliding with the earth and devasting life upon her. David is the image of Christ in this
fictional universe. He strongly
resembles Garl – imminently likeable.
There is nothing to repel anyone from him; his meekness and humility and
joy are infectious. He is a social
worker who hits the streets every day to care for the poor and forgotten,
giving even his own possessions to those he encounters. His sacrificial death comes when he ends up
at the wrong place at the wrong time in his desire to offer back-up to a
Traveller in need. Locked up alone with
a nuclear bomb, he is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation as he disarms it,
and dies soon afterwards after suffering through his painful final hours. His resurrection is affected by the jump at
the end of the series to another timeline, where he exists, whole and hale.
Antagonists
Like Christ
in the real world, these fictional representations are opposed by
satanic/Antichrist figures, usually of a technological nature, further
underscoring a desire for the authentic, good Christ. Technology, notably, is often linked in
various writings old and new with the occult.
Connor Tomlinson, a writer for The European Conservative, gives
a few recent examples:
. . .
The rest is
at https://orthodoxreflections.com/the-persistence-of-christlike-figures-in-pop-culture/.
--
Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us
sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
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