And All the Powers of Hell!
My beautiful and talented wife reports, that, at long last, the final installment of her essay Defending the Wood Perilous. She may, in time, write more on the subject, but this is the culmination of the original theme.
https://ljagilamplighterwright.substack.com/p/and-all-the-powers-of-hell
Who is the greatest peril of all?
Who is the danger who, more than any other, has managed to convince the modern world not to be afraid of him?
Who has done such a good job of publicly de-clawing himself that he has convinced us that he does not exist?
The Devil.
If we truly wish to Defend the Wood Perilous, to put heart back into heroes and soul back into stories, we have to give the Devil his due by restoring to him his perilousness.
He is the most dangerous destructive being in the universe—and yet most modern people chuckle if his name is mentioned. This is a far greater con than the Spider and the Tiger. This is the greatest con ever pulled.
I thought this next part was going to be hard. Then I read of a real-life visit to Hell, and I realized… to restore the true majesty and depravity of the Devil, all we need to do is break his spell.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
