Melody and Macabre

Author notes

End of Melody & Macabre (Memento Mori)

Xiam

on Aug. 21, 2009

Indeed.

I had many ideas on how to do this page. I'd considered either a zoomed up or panned out
view of Melody and everyone in the snow, but someone else suggested an image of Melody
smiling. I'd sketched it out, then I saw a different recommendation, regarding an old
piece of art I did based on the series. I found it very fitting, given the subject
matter, and said "Damn the ambiguity" and drew it anyway.

See… for a while I'd played with the idea of the MM cosmology, and whether or not it
should actually be in the story (so as to keep the question of what the afterlife really
is like). I'd considered, however, that the universe is not unlike an hourglass
(referring back to the hourglass motif within each individual).

I'd assume that in the top of the Hourglass is what some could call Paradise, or Eden, or
Heaven. The Origin of all souls. In the middle-ground, the little piece where all the
sand passes through, is the world we perceive to be real. But in the bottom…

A vast desert, gleaming with the souls of the deceased. Above in the heavens, the souls
of the yet-to-pass shine like stars. And when a soul dies, it passes down like a falling
star. So was the art I drew, and so is this new page.

Despite the other bit of the suggestion - that Melody stand with him - I think the
original version with him alone is a bit more poignant, and addresses the fact that
despite what the Boogeyman may think, she was not special, any more than Samael, or Simon,
or Ace.

Remember your mortality. You are but a human, full of faults and not to challenge the
Powers that Be. Know your place, mortal, for while you revel in your victory, tomorrow
could be your last day in this world.

In short, memento mori.