His Divine Shadow
quote:
Originally posted by BlackCloud:
[b]Now, I have to ponder this: Kai can’t take the key to the Lexx because a living key must pass to a living host. But, the essence can pass to the nonliving? Or, is what’s left of Kai’s brain enough for it to survive? Then, again, this essence isn’t actually a ‘living’ thing, like humans, plants, or aliens, is it? Because, I believe it also said at one point that it passed ‘some’ of its essence. Wouldn’t that imply it could piecemeal its essence around? Clearly this essence inhabited both the GigaShadow and Kai, at the same time! Kai picked up some of the essence when he smushed the brain and the GigaShadow got some of the essence from Yottskry. So, this obviously convoluted reasoning leaves me with the Order destroyed, HDS killed(body and brain), and the essence…? Mutated when Vigo did the transfer of Mantrid’s life force into the vessel? Perhaps, part of it still on the planetoid? Either way, the planetoid was destroyed when the Light Universe was destroyed and Xev stomped on what was left of the Mantrid-vessel. So, unless the Beans pull a Bug Ex Machina, no more Divine Shadow. Bummer. [img]http://www.sadgeezer.com/ubb/frown.gif[/img][/b]
HDS has, it seems, always been able to distribute small chunks of His essence. In IWHS, f’rinstance, some of His essence is used to control his body on the LEXX, while also remaining in the brain he removed.
Also, Kai states in “Mantrid” that he only received a small part of HDS’ essence, so that he was not actually the next incarnation of HDS, but received “His agenda, the creation of a living insect (or words to that effect).” Which means that only a fraction of HDS’ essence was passed on to the Giga Shadow’s offspring (which is never considered in the episode to be another insect manifestation of HDS, but merely another living insect). Since the insect was still living and attempting to kill *after* the transference, there had to be some fraction of insect essence remaining in the insect in question, meaning that Mantrid absorbed an even *smaller* fraction of said essence. HDS in all of His incarnations, regarded Himself as an insect cloaked in human form, retaining His sense of Self. Mantrid, conversely, considers himself to be a completely new being, part human, part machine and part insect, perhaps due to the relatively small amount of insect essence he has inherited through the transference (if you compare the visuals of Mantrid’s essence to the essence emanating from the insect’s organ, they’re about equal in amount, giving the MantridBot about 50-50 shares of both).
So, from what I can gather, the being known as HDS is dead. Most of the essence that comprised His being has been destroyed by the time the Mantridbot leaves his planet and kills Vigo. The beings that contained small portions of His essence can’t really be considered incarnations of HDS, since they resemble more closely the body that the crew battled on the LEXX in IWHS: flesh machines used to further His agenda. Kai, being dead, is easily controlled by the small amount of essence he receives, and the insect, being dormant and lacking *any* essence is easily controlled as well. Mantrid becomes a combination of insect and human because he is alive, and his own essence is vital in asserting his own identity, rather than becoming a mere host. Note that in IWHS that Lex’s character, though not cleansed and still alive, is able to receive the total portion of HDS’ essence, and HDS is only *slightly* altered under the influence of Lex’s character’s essence. He still retains his concept of Self as HDS, while Mantrid, who only receives a portion, does not.
But, as Dennis Miller says, “That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.”
–Aleck