Inside “The Lion of God” - Nikki (Preface)
I enjoyed the HBO Series “The Last of Us”. One thing I liked was after each episode the director’s and writer’s of the series offered insights into the making of each episode.
I think I will take a shot at doing the same for this “Lion of God” series.
So let’s take a look. “INSIDE The Lion of God”.
Inside “The Lion of God” — Preface
Creator’s Commentary
I wrote what eventually became the Preface to The Lion of God more than eight years ago. At the time, I had an entirely different storyline in mind. But that story eventually died on the vine, so I squirreled the piece away.
And there it sat.
About midway through writing this eight-part series, I realized I needed to begin with a backstory. The reader needed to know the history.
So I went digging through my iPhone Notes. And there it was.
The Preface.
I polished it up a bit. Renamed the angels. Gave it a little more color. But roughly 90% of what you read today was written eight years ago, inspired by the death of a family pet.
RIP, Allie.
The War in Heaven
The story begins with a passage from the Book of Revelation, which introduces one of the central subplots running throughout The Lion of God.
There was a great war in Heaven.
Lucifer and his angels fought against Michael and his angels. Lucifer was defeated, and he and his followers were cast out of Heaven and down to Earth.
That setting alone tells us quite a story.
It even establishes a point in the backstory timeline—after Creation, but before the fall of Adam and Eve.
And yet it leaves so many questions unanswered.
How? Why?
The Preface doesn’t attempt to answer those questions. Instead, it focuses on the consequences.
Good vs. Evil. Spiritual warfare.
“Things would never be the same.”
“Trust was lost forever.”
The Wounds We Carry
Against that backdrop, we meet Ariel.
An immortal being who, in just a few words, reveals the source of the pain that has haunted him for more than 10,000 years.
I wanted Ariel to reflect something that exists in all of us.
He is broken. He is haunted by his past.
And in remarkably few words, Ariel tells us something we already know.
Pain can follow us our entire lives.
Especially pain inflicted by someone who should have loved us.
That kind of pain can damage your soul.
My father and his sister experienced that kind of pain. It haunted them both. So I drew from that history to describe Ariel’s pain.
Ariel was betrayed by someone he admired, respected, and loved. A friend. A brother. Someone he trusted.
And that betrayal left a wound that even 10,000 years could not heal.
That’s one half of the pain he carries.
The Failure He Cannot Forgive
The other half is his own perceived failure.
Ariel believes he failed Michael. More importantly, he believes he failed God.
He doesn’t simply regret what happened. He has allowed that moment to define who he believes he is.
Unworthy. Unworthy of his position.
Unworthy of God’s love.
One of the kindest men I ever knew was a man named Mr. Jessie.
He was the most Christlike man I ever met. But he wanted nothing to do with church or God. He was a Korean War veteran who never got over the things he saw and the things he did. That pain stayed with him his entire adult life.
He felt unworthy of God’s consideration. A part of him was broken.
Ariel carries that same kind of pain. That same sense of unworthiness. That same self loathing.
When Ariel is reassigned as a guardian, he interprets it as punishment.
But here’s something important.
God never actually tells Ariel he’s being punished. That’s the conclusion Ariel reaches on his own.
And for 10,000 years, that’s the story he’s been telling himself.
He is just a guardian now.
A fallen warrior, condemned in his own mind to spend eternity paying for a moment of hesitation, a betrayal, and what he believes was an unforgivable mistake.
But is that really how God sees him?
Or is that simply how Ariel sees himself?
Cowboy Up
One last point. Notice at the end of the Preface what Ariel does.
“He swallowed those emotions and set his mind toward today's tasks.”
All that pain. All that emotion. All that past. And what do we do? We push it down. We swallow it. And eventually it swallows us.
Why I Wanted to Tell This Story
That’s the heart of the Preface.
Ariel is an angel, an immortal being who has witnessed things beyond human imagination. But his pain is remarkably human.
We carry wounds from people we loved. We replay our mistakes.
We question our worth.
And sometimes, we convince ourselves that the trials we are experiencing, are the punishment we deserve.
Even when no one has said so.
Ariel has spent 10,000 years believing a story about himself.
And perhaps the greatest tragedy is that he may have been wrong all along.
This is all of us.
And THAT is why I wanted to tell this story.
“The Lion of God”.