Physical form(s) of the archangels

[Opera]

I was wondering if the archangels have a physical form and if so, what each archangel physical form is?

I'm tempted to think that they have one, seeing how they are labeled female or male and seeing how they interact with each other and with their creations. But maybe they haven't a particular form? I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if they were able to take other forms as it is seen in many mythological stories around the world.

 

[WarKirby]

Hyborem and Sabathiel are archangels, aren't they?

You can see their form

oh, and basium too.


The form of Mulcarn is visible in Age of Ice, and Auric Ascended. Sucellus is seen in a still during the opening sequence of AOI

 

[Opera]

Well, I was referring to the "gods", Sucellus, Amatheon, Agares and all. I think I got confused with "angel" and "archangel".

Indeed, Sabathiel, Grigori, Basium and Hyborem all have physical forms. I've seen that. However, I haven't seen forms for their gods.

The form of Mulcarn is visible in Age of Ice, and Auric Ascended. Sucellus is seen in a still during the opening sequence of AOI

I didn't know that. I'll check

 

[Kael]

The god descriptions are pretty rare. There is a written description of Agares in the Beltane Cycle, there is a physical description of Ceridwen in Tebryn's pedia entry. But if these are the gods true forms or just the form they selected to appear in at that moment is anyones guess.

 

[Zugvogel]

By the way there are also quite a few descriptions of the gods in the story of Mamon's Fall Kael posted in the "Mammon - what is he god for"-thread (Should still be on page 1).

 

[MagisterCultuum]

One archangel - Splendor - appears in the pedia only in the form of a blue and yellow bird, but I doubt that is the "true form," if a true form even exists.

 

[Nikis-Knight]

Mulcarn and Agares are described in Mulcarn's AoI entry, and I believe there is a scene of Sucellus and Mulcarn fighting in the intro there, though if Sucellus still looks the same post resurection is a good question.

 

[dyx]

While they certainly can change shapes, they are mostly described in their angelic, human resembling, form, so I guess that's the way they look. I think if they had a different "true form" or none at all, they would vary more, each having their own preference.
And after all they created Gabella and Nemed's second wife after their own appearance, didn't they? Or rather Aeron(?) did, which is not that much a different thing.

 

[Trieste]

I've always had the impression that gods (archangels) only have a physical form if it reflects their sphere. So Sucellus could shapeshift, but she couldn't take the form of an undead, because it doesn't reflect the idea of life. The gods have limits on their shapeshifting power because they have limits to what they can think based on their sphere, and their thoughts affect creation.[citation needed]

Because of their different precepts some gods would be able to change forms a lot more than others: Amathon, Sucellus, Dagda, Oghma, Sirona, and Nantosuelta could probably change into a lot of things but prefer to influence others. Junil takes a form he's decided on already based on a set of circumstances he's already thought about. Lugus wouldn't appear often as anything but the sun or a blinding flash of light. I've always thought of him kinda like the any middle eastern god where he appears and he's just god. He couldn't ever be stealthy. The rest of the gods seem to have a lot of options except for Mulcarn and Danalin (maybe Arawn who knows with him). Esus could be anything any anyone.

 

[TheJopa]

I've always had the impression that gods (archangels) only have a physical form if it reflects their sphere. So Sucellus could shapeshift, but she couldn't take the form of an undead, because it doesn't reflect the idea of life. The gods have limits on their shapeshifting power because they have limits to what they can think based on their sphere, and their thoughts affect creation.[citation needed]

Because of their different precepts some gods would be able to change forms a lot more than others: Amathon, Sucellus, Dagda, Oghma, Sirona, and Nantosuelta could probably change into a lot of things but prefer to influence others. Junil takes a form he's decided on already based on a set of circumstances he's already thought about. Lugus wouldn't appear often as anything but the sun or a blinding flash of light. I've always thought of him kinda like the any middle eastern god where he appears and he's just god. He couldn't ever be stealthy. The rest of the gods seem to have a lot of options except for Mulcarn and Danalin (maybe Arawn who knows with him). Esus could be anything any anyone.

I agree, I was about to write something like that

 

[MagisterCultuum]

First, Sucellus is male, so your pronoun is wrong.


Arthendain's pedia entry mentions Sucellus dwelling in Erebus in an incorporeal, presumably invisible form. When he first returned to Erebus he certainly was reunited with his body though.

While AoI shows him as half deer, if I recall (I'm not on my computer to check now) the Beltaine cycle seems to describe him more as a presence that inhabits all of his forest, and can be manifested through vines or pretty much anything natural instead of as a half stag. I imagine him as more human looking when he became god of life, possibly with phoenix-like wings.


I prefer to think that the form a god takes is mostly defined through the observer's perception rather than through definitive physical quantities, and so varies based on the observer's personality and state of mind (which a god could of course significantly effect). The "standard" form a god might take is just based on how he is generally perceived. In Erebus, the physical is but a manifestation of the metaphysical. Things are not really objective there, and what seems to be objective reality is actually just a unification of numerous subjective views. It is the nature of Dagda's sphere that forces (nearly) everyone's subjective views of reality to be unified into a single "objective" experience. I tend to think that when Gabella perceived the god's quarrel over her in so many different ways at once it was because there was not yet a human population with a collective consciousness to give definitive form to reality. All her perceptions of the event were valid, because tradition and society could not deem one better than the other.

 

[Trieste]

My bad on Sucellus.

I think that Erebus is an objective reality, because the demons can't manipulate it like the can hell. Dagda's influence is one way to explain this but Erebus being an objective reality is another. When was just one person in the world, Gabella, to perceive the gods, she'd be more likely to have one idea of what they should be; many forms would have to wait till there are many minds and differing ideas of what the gods are.