Second Death - Blog Posts

The Two Crow Roads and Second Death

Neil Gaiman “Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one.” They also look at you funny when you request 2 copies of the same book through the inter-library loan. Even funnier looks when you insist on a hardback and paperback copy.

My quest inspired by @crowleysbookshop for the differences between versions of The Crow Road ended with: 1) two different publishers (Scribner vs. Abacus) and 2) different cover work artists. So not allot. If there is a difference, I missed it.

But there's double-meaning of Crow Road.

Crow Road is a street in Glasgow.

Crow Road is also a metaphor for death.

Two Crow Roads. Two Deaths. A second death.

Photo credit: @daria-meoi

Second Death

The phrase "second death" appears 4 times in the Bible, specifically the Book of Revelation. The one Nanny Ashtoreth and Brother Francis read to Warlock.

There's a first physical death. You've shuffled off this mortal coil and gone to meet your maker.

The second death is a reference to an eternal separation from God for non-believers and a swim in the Lake of Fire. Where bad folks go when they die.

A traditional interpretation is that the "lake of fire" and the "second death" are symbolic of eternal pain, pain of loss and perhaps pain of the senses, as punishment for wickedness.

Revelation 20:11-15

“Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

If I read that right those who experience this death are all those whose names have been removed from the Book of Life.

There's Hemingway's quote, "Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. In some ways men can be immortal." Is that also a Book of Life reference? The power of a name.

I don't understand the Book of Life yet. It's just something you scare cherubs with. I've seen some great meta from @beebopboom on it and the Guardian of the Eastern Gate.

Photo credit @fuckyeahgoodomens

I'm still wondering about these seats. Left Crow Road has rabbit seated. Rabbits are a Fibonacci reference. Then the empty seat. Then second Crow Road with Elspeth's hat over the back.

Why is there an empty seat?

Is it for Death?

A missing book? A book between two deaths. That seat is for the Book of Life.