h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The unkillable demon doesn't need to be killed he can be supressed and his demonic soul immortalised in an eveil cats mask...or possibly something which holds slightly more scope for vivid imagery and rhythmic pentameters...I guess the latters probably slightly more suitable unless you're dedicating the poem to Buffy The Vampire Slayer which seems highly unlikely all things considered...well I say 'all' obviously not *all* things because that would be pure foolishness and I'd be here for weeks but possibly one or two things considered...actually maybe more one thing considered but it was an attempt...

Btw if you live in a blue world does that mean you have a blue little house with blue little windows?

Errr just thought that I ought to mention that that was in reference to your trouble with the paradoxical ending in your poem just in case you thought I'd gone insane or something

Yes, I know what you mean with the unkillable demon bit.

The mask idea wouldn't quite work out as it's set in a traditional heaven/hell landscape - where there are no demon traps, boxes or things like that about. Just people. So the solution to the problem has to be how a person, without any weapons, can kill an unkillable demon. It's annoying, isn't it?

Thanks for the suggestion, though, my Buffy fan friend.

When you say they have no weapons does that include household appliances? Just a thought because if toasters can burn bread so well imagine what they could do to a big demony thing

Anyway assuming that the person trying to kill the unkillable demon is a flowery, nice sort of person representing the heaven element and also assuming that the unkillable demon is actually a bad thing then errr...I guess...ummm...unless... *concentrates really hard and draws on all knowledge ever gathered, discards irrelevancies about Pingu, marshmellows and ducks, realises there's only one option* ...you have to have a battle of souls, evidently the demons will be impure and evil whereas the other person's will be virtuous and kind which means that amid much swirly patterns and flashes of white light...sorry that's Buffy again...which means that the two can battle it out and the pure soul will engulf the eveil one, releasing all his power into the hellish surroundings and he frazzles and vapourises...or some sort of ending less influenced by 20th century Sci-fi

Have you read Paradise Lost by Milton? That'd possibly help...can't say I've read it yet but I studied the symbolism of Blade Runner for two years and apparently it's very inspirational...Paradise Lost that is not Blade Runner, that only ever inspired me to go to sleep

Yes, it's a very Miltonesque, Paradise Lost-like environment. No toasters, nothing in the slightest way representative of modern life or anything that would ever in any way appear in any possible episode of Buffy.
The main trouble is that the nymphs (who are the angel equivalent) are pure and Perfect, and because they are Pure and Perfect are incapable of intending harm to any other being, such as the Demon, and so cannot fight. To fight would be like getting an ant to be the planet Jupiter. An ant cannot be the planet Jupiter, and a nymph cannot kill or fight a demon. It is impossible.

There is nothing remotely sci-fi about this poem. It is more classical.

Do the nymphs have to intentionally kill the demon, wouldn't they be killing the demons evil which is an entirely different matter? If they really do have the purest of souls it wouldn't matter as they would overcome whatever evil was put in their way...f'rinstance even if a nurse was off duty they'd still help a sick child if they saw one, it's the same kind of thing, virtue will always overpower evil no matter how many demons try to block it...at least that's the way it always happens in classical mythology

And in case you wondered I wasn't saying that it did have any reference to science fiction, I said that 'I' was referring to science fiction. Through your descriptions it's evidently a classical poem which is why I recommended Paradise Lost rather than Blade Runner...although admittedly I'd never recommend Blade Runner to anyone but that's an entirely different matter...

Do the nymphs have to intentionally kill the demon, wouldn't they be killing the demons evil which is an entirely different matter? If they really do have the purest of souls it wouldn't matter as they would overcome whatever evil was put in their way...f'rinstance even if a nurse was off duty they'd still help a sick child if they saw one, it's the same kind of thing, virtue will always overpower evil no matter how many demons try to block it...at least that's the way it always happens in classical mythology

And in case you wondered I wasn't saying that it did have any reference to science fiction, I said that 'I' was referring to science fiction. Through your descriptions it's evidently a classical poem which is why I recommended Paradise Lost rather than Blade Runner...although admittedly I'd never recommend Blade Runner to anyone but that's an entirely different matter...

I like Blade Runner - nothing happens, it's great.

Luckily the nymphs don't have to kill the Demon, but there is a human who has to oppose the demon on his own because the nymphs cannot.
But the demon, though, is pure evil - so you cannot destroy his evil within without destroying him.

If you're forced to spend two years studying a film where absolutely nothing of interest happens but which is alleged to be full of fascinating events and then sit a three hour exam on it you tend to like it less...in fact you'd be suprised at how much you can grow to dislike it

The human doesn't need the nymphs to defeat the demon because he will have the differentiation of humanity and virtue which will succeed over the demons pure evil as all demons hate niceness and kittens.

If you kill the demon's evil then you're not killing the demon itself, you're killing the essence of demon (Kind of like vanilla essence but probably less tasty in cakes). The demon would then return to the original figure it was before it became possessed thus the evil would be dead, the demons body would be alive and thankful to the human and everyone would be able to go home for a nice cup of tea and a game of chess (which according to Blade Runner is a highly symbolic thing )...

I can understand what you mean about being opver-familiar. Directors cut, or both, or normal?

The main trouble with the Demon v Mortal fight is that a Mortal is flawed and human, weak and impure. The Demon is pure evil, perfect in an evil way, and incapable of dying. He has all the advantages. The demon isn't possessed - he has always been evil. He has always existed. He is immortal, never beginning, never ending. There was never a before possesion as he was always a demon, and never possessed by evil as he was always evil.

It's a very biblical approach, the demon is the equivalent of Satan - he cannot be made clean.

It was the Directors Cut that I did the final exam on but I had to study both so that I could see how vital the unicorns were to overall understanding...hmm

It doesn't really matter if the mortal is impure and weak, they still have humanity which is the one thing the demon doesn't so this has to be the way to outsmart him. If the demon is pure evil he can be conquered with human emotions which he won't have and so will weaken him.

Also if he is the equivalent of Satan then he must have once been less evil due to the whole fallen angel thing.

In my heaven/hell situation, emotions aren't just felt by humans, but they have weakened versions of the emotions that exist. The angels feel Love, humans merely love, the demons feel Hate, humans only hate. Afterall, they are alive too, they are merely Immortal and stronger than humans, who are mortal. Emotions themselves cannot fight a demon as the demon himself has stronger emotions than a human, but only negative ones. And because he is a demon, he is incapable of experiencing positive emotions, and Love can do nothing against Hate.

He is an equivalent to Satan but only in certain ways - he didn't fall, and was always Pure Evil. There can never have been any good in him as he is Evil, and Evil can never have been Good.

I hope you don't mind me arguing so much - I appreciate your help, and it helps me think - but I need to keep my creation in the way that I imagined it to keep it consistant!