Reviewer: It Was Me Signed [Report This]
Date: February 01 2024 8:01 PM Title: Melissa: Questioning Divinity

This was a really intriguing chapter. It both helped me see Melissa in a new light and confirmed for me a lot of my initial assumptions about her.

I think what's most interesting, however, is that it's clear now that Melissa, god of gods, is also creator of her own problems, and even omnipotence isn't enough for her to see it. And we see this through her interactions with various characters in this chapter.

Let's start with Carlos (as this will, by far, be the longest one). I like Carlos. He can come off a bit petulant at times, but he seems like a good kid under that normal bit of immaturity we all go through. We learned a lot about him here.

The moment that he lost faith in his mother was eye-opening for me. I had mistakenly thought that he refused to worship Melissa (because he said that), but it turns out that, while he wasn't literally praying to her, he did believe in her deep down. Him losing that belief, not because he doesn't believe his mother is a god, but because he feels like her godhood has taken her away from him was incredibly sad.

All of that teen angst and drama, his anger at almost every single thing Melissa does, it was all to hide the fact that he's scared: scared of the woman who raised him being swept away by the immense power she holds, scared of never getting to see the person his mother was ever again, and scared that the thing that has replaced his mother is evil.

Carlos lost faith because, in that moment when he looked into her eyes, he confirmed for himself that all of his fears had materialized. This wasn't his mother. She wouldn't eat people just for not worshipping her. She damn sure wouldn't sacrifice millions of lives just to make sure 30 people keep worshipping her. She wasn't that selfish. She wasn't that terrible. She wasn't that villainous.

Of course, just because that's what he saw in her eyes doesn't mean that's what was actually there. He could have easily been projecting his fears into that moment, the intensity of the situation pushing him in that direction. And, in fact, based on how this chapter played out, I think the truth is a lot more complicated than that, and he's at least partially wrong.

But I can't blame Carlos for thinking what he does. Melissa has consistently acted in a way that would seem to confirm his fears. That's why he's so paranoid that Melissa was making Vanessa pray to her or enslaving his father in the kitchen; these things display the persona she displays to the public quite well. Our goddess certainly has some vanity issues, but there's a lot more to her than that. Carlos just can't see it, and Melissa doesn't even realize that she needs to let him see it.

Then we have Vanessa. Melissa views her in much the light as people in power view those who get close to their family members just to get a rub of that celebrity, which explains her anger well enough. This isn't quite right, though. While it's true that Vanessa was using Carlos to get to her, her motivations weren't nearly as shallow as that.

it's made clear that Vanessa is desperate. She doesn't know how much time they have, but, as a believe, she knows that at some point Melissa is going to kill them for being nonbelievers. That also implies that she knows she can't convert them either. So her options are to either wait around for them to die or try and appeal to their would-be murderer for mercy.

When looked at that way, Vanessa's actions seem like the only logical course she could take. Gaining Melissa's favor presented the only possible way she could convince her to spare her parents. So yeah, Carlos was her in, but she really had no other choice here.

And completely lost on Melissa is that none of this would have happened if she didn't have such a harsh policy regarding nonbelievers in the first place.

Melissa created that desperation in Vanessa (and presumable millions of others, at least). Vanessa didn't want perks for knowing a god personally; all she wanted was for Melissa to not do what she usually does to nonbelievers, even if they're good people. That's not so bad.

But Vanessa also slept with Carlos despite not feeling that way about him, which is admittedly pretty gross. However, it sounds like this was the natural progression of the "relationship" and Vanessa was just in too deep at that point. Now Carlos is hurt, and, as I said above, Melissa's policy is what's really (albeit indirectly) to blame for that.

Finally, there's Alejandro. The man who knew Melissa was a goddess before she actually was one.

I actually really liked the scene where he questioned where Carlos was sent for punishment and Melissa's icy stare was met with a simple "Sorry, honey." At first glance, this might be viewed as the goddess intimidating her husband with her ability to smite him for questioning her, but I didn't actually take it that way. His casual apology made it feel as though this was how she would always react to things like that and that he felt the same way about that he did when she was mortal. In fact, he hasn't seemed intimidated by his wife at all throughout the story, only devoted.

Because of this type of bond they share, Alejandro is the one person she can allow herself to be vulnerable with (although her vulnerable isn't as vulnerable as the average person's vulnerable, I think. Vulnerable). He's the only person that can act as any sort of moral compass for Melissa. But he has so far only really amounted to an unwitting enabler for her.

This isn't his fault, though.

Melissa may come to him when she needs affirmation, but she's not giving him the whole picture. Obviously, she doesn't want him to know that she's eating nonbelievers (a sign that, deep down, she knows what she's doing is wrong), and she justifies any actions she takes that he doesn't understand as being beyond mortal understanding in general. In other words, he's speaking honestly when he affirms his wife and tells her what she wants (or sometimes needs, perhaps) to hear, but we're left to wonder if he would feel the same way if he knew everything.

Based on how this chapter ended, we may find that out sooner rather than later.

But I guess the larger point here is that all the things that cause Melissa to have doubt or feel shitty are things she herself has caused. Her relationship with Carlos is damaged because she has changed the way she acts without showing him the side of her that's still who she has always been. She feels conflicted between being too "soft" on Vanessa and trying to be benevolent but fails to realize that the reason she even has to consider this is her fault in the first place. And she's being wrongly affirmed by her loving husband because she doesn't want him to see a side of herself that she's probably afraid of him judging. A bit more self-awareness and trust would solve all of these problem, which, again, is ironic to say about an omnipotent being. But that's part of what made this chapter so fun.

I also wanted to commend you guys on finding a different take on worship in this genre. Worship being equated with power is a tried and true trope, and I'm not knocking those stories that have used or will use it, but it's refreshing to see something different. Of course, that trope would have made Melissa's obsession with being worshipped seem not quite so terrible to some readers, as the twist that they want worship because of a combination of euphoria and annoyance does make her look less divine and more addicted. It's also worth noting that a lot of real-world religions that emphasize worship also have lore describing some sort of sacrifice or another that the divine has been through, which, as of yet, we haven't seen from her.

Sticking with those real-world religions, I found it interesting to compare Melissa's worship doctrine with some of them. I'm more familiar with the Abrahamic religions than most, and those tend to actually share her "worship or damnation" principle. Of course, the damnation isn't nearly as immediate in those religions, but then again, we don't see their shared God popping into the mortal realm and flashing its power like Melissa and the other gods do either. So maybe that's the trade-off? These gods offer direct evidence that they are, in fact, gods, so you have less time to make your decision.

I'd also call attention to the fact that the Abrahamic religions also tend to share Melissa's policy of even good people being damned if they choose not to believe (although Christianity and Judaism seem to have an ignorance clause, which wouldn't apply here). I don't know, I just find it interesting that some people are outraged by Melissa's stance on this when it's not quite as far from reality as we would like to think. To be fair, maybe those people are as outraged about it in the real world as well.

As for the meat of the chapter, the demons were really interesting characters and the world building you guys were able to do through them was impressive. I loved their emphasis on the human gods not even looking at life outside of Earth. I've questioned how omnipotence works in this world before, and this seems to imply that it's almost like a Google-style thing: You're able to know everything, but you can only know it if you ask. Unless the gods know about life on other planets and really just don't care, but I find that hard to believe at this juncture in the story.

The demons were also partially right about Melissa. She is absolutely obsessed with worship. They're wrong about her family, though, as she clearly does love them, between putting up with Carlos's anger for longer than she would almost anyone else's and her reliance on Alejandro, as discussed above. The demons are smart, but they underestimate humanity, which is why they ultimately lost.

That moral quandary was quite the test, though. I can even see a moral argument from Melissa's perspective to choose allowing the bomb to go off over damning the 30 worshippers. After all, all the people worshipping her that were good would be rewarded with heaven while all the nonbelievers and bad people would go to hell (I'm going to ignore how we decide who's good and bad right now, as this is already pretty long). Whereas if she allowed the 30 to denounce her and damned them, 30 people who deserve heaven will instead be sent to hell. I think there's a moral argument to be made that damning 30 innocents is worse than hastening the ultimate fates of millions in order to save the souls of those 30. I'm not saying I'd make that argument, but it's there, and for someone like Melissa, it would have been a complicated decision to make if she would have had to make it.

And that one of the 30 was her son certainly complicated things too. As a mother, how many lives would you sacrifice to save your own child?

I also wanted to note here that Carlos being willing to sacrifice not only his life but his soul as well for the greater good was pretty noble of him, and it changed the way I viewed him (although not as much as that other moment I mentioned). I have to admit, when he went missing, I figured this would have ended with him begging his mother to save him and being thankful for her doing so. What actually happened was so delightfully complicated, and I have a newfound respect for him.

Overall, this was a great chapter with strong character development, moral complexities, and great fetish content (I didn't even mention that, but Melissa is hot as fuck!). It looks like each of our gods is going to be facing some sort of similar test in the coming chapters, which promises to be pretty fun if it turns out that way.

Keep up the great work, guys!

Author's Response:

Well, I must say, I was not expecting a dissertation of this magnitude when I set off to write this story, haha. I love your analysis, and I think you truly understand Melissa’s character.

Before I dive into your review, I wanted to address the powers the gods possess. The gods have immense power, but they are not omnipotent. The idea of an omnipotent god is more of an Abrahamic belief—whereas I’m going for more of a Greek-, Roman-, Nordic-god kinda level of power. Although I’m not of a fan of Greek mythology, I do like the idea of gods coming down to earth to fuck around with humanity. An omnipotent god, as a character, would be fabulously boring. Unique situations like the demons could not happen if Melissa was omnipotent. She would’ve stopped everything before it happened.

Worship. First off, yup, I’m 100% avoiding the trope that worship = powers. I hope this doesn’t sound like a cope out, but worship is something us mortals will not understand. In the interview with professor, he kinda touches on what worship is, in terms we can relate to. But more importantly, Melissa gives non-believers numerous chances to believe she’s a god. Normally by shrinking them and using powers that could only be explained by her godhood. Yet, time and time again, there are mortals that flat out refuse to believe she’s a god. She’s a god. She’s a god. Melissa can shape and bend reality and has a tremendous burden on her shoulders to wrangle the other gods, and manage the threat (that hasn’t been fully explored yet), and all she asks for in return, is for mortals to believe she’s a god. It is the ultimate insult to her, to have someone dangling from her fingers, and be like “Nah, bruv, you ain’t god.” Like, Jesus Christ, what more will it take? She’s a god. She’s a god. Melissa is not a despot and burning every copy of the Bible and Koran. She’s not destroying churches and temples. You can have all that shit—just believe she’s a god. I don’t know if I’m failing at explaining her character, but ANYONE else in her position could’ve made earth an absolute hell. I think her asking for worship is paltry compared to what she could be demanding.

Carlos. His brain is not fully developed, and his perceived problems are pretty selfish. Imagine your mother as being the goddess of the universe, and you’re bitching about people treating you differently. Yes, he’s a good kid at heart, as evident by his willingness to sacrifice himself to save millions. I don’t know if you caught this, but Carlos is taking out his frustrations with his mother—not because she did anything wrong—but he hates he lost a mother and has a goddess in her place. He’s venting his problems, but they’re appearing as attacks against his mother.

Alejandro. Supportive husband, first. Top worshiper, second. This was my mentality with his character. I also love the brief line he said, about his wife having the ability to choose any guy to be with, but she’s staying faithful to him. I mean, come on, I feel like a lesser person would’ve ditched their significant other if they ascended. Melissa is awesome.

Vanessa. People don’t do evil shit for the sake of being evil. Vanessa’s motivations were clear, maybe a little misguided, but determined. She’ll have to pay for betraying Carlos. But in the end, it might help her parents. But now the question becomes, will Melissa tolerate people deceiving her family for personal gain?

One last comment. The revelation at the end that Alejandro has been in the dark about Melissa consuming non-believers is something I’m so interested in exploring. How will Alejandro’s supportive character confront his wife? Will he fear his wife or detest her? Or both? I’m not sure yet, but it’s exciting to think about.

Sorry if I didn’t hit on all your key points. I’m always on Discord if you want to chat more about it. Thank you again for your thesis. Your comments are greatly appreciated, and I love reading about your insights and interpretations. :)

Reviewer: CapGregor Signed [Report This]
Date: January 28 2024 8:30 AM Title: Melissa: Questioning Divinity

Such a tease to introduce Converse and not have her use them, haha. Great tension this chapter, the addition of outside entities is an amazing plot point.

Author's Response:

Fuck! You made me realize I did tease that. Won't happen again :)