isn't Lucifer still the first Created Angel in IN? let me check... hmmm... "legend has it" that Yves was first... well, not in my world - Lucifer has to be the first, it's the fear of any firstborn, that s/he will be replaced in his/her parents' eyes when more come along... that is his motive for starting the Rebellion...
Works better anyway - I was just taking the "legend has it" as the cannon answer to "who came first", subconsiously.
Actually, the IN canon order seems to be Yves, Michael, Lucifer.
Note in Michael's description: "first created being after the ineffable Yves," or something like that.
I don't like that myself, and prefer the more traditional approach of putting Lucifer before Michael.
However, Yves doesn't bother me as much, 'cause he's not so much really an angel. (Notice his description -- how he doesn't really fit any choir.) He's just this old guy who was already there when Lucifer and Michael first came to consciousness, and he's probably the one who explained God and the Symphony to them.
I've always figured that Yves is some kind of aspect of God, filtering down into the lower heavens in a form that angels can comprehend. Notice that *he* gave the order to Gabriel to contact Muhammad, and that even Dominic doesn't oppose him directly (though Dom does grumble mightily). In that light, it's rather ironic that Michael has started to feel some hostility toward Yves; perhaps he, and not Gabriel, will actually be the one responsible for the Second Fall.
Given that the Trinity does seem to exist in IN (the canon answer to "Do you really mean to refer to the Trinity and the Holy Spirit in the discussion of 111 intervention rolls" was something like "Yup, we do," with no further explanation), the Yves-as-God theory can be fitted in with the recently discussed Eli-as-God theory pretty easily. Yves is the lower-heaven manifestation of the Father, Eli of the Son. Candidates for the Holy Spirit are more numerous: Blandine, Janus, and Gabriel all spring to mind for various reasons. Blandine works with the minds of humanity and inspires Hope, activities traditionally attributed to the good old Ghost. The Holy Spirit is described as both Wind and Fire, giving credence to the other two candidates as well. Janus doesn't hold up as well on closer analysis, though, particularly given the whole theft thing and his tie to Valefor. After reading Gabriel's description in The Marches, which mentions that at least part of her madness is due to her role as the Divine Flame of inspiration (she is essentially mainlining the Mind of God much of the time), I tend to favor her for this role.
This doesn't mean that the Archangels in question aren't individuals, by the way. The Amber-style "shadow" theory recently applied to the ethereals can come into play here; the glory of the Undivided Trinity, filtered down into the lowest heaven, resolves itself into three distinct beings. Heck, that phenomenon could even be the reason behind the whole "One God in Three Persons" concept. It's a little unorthodox, but what else in IN isn't? Or perhaps the three Archangels are individual creations like the other angels, but their Words and functions link them more tightly into the Symphony than the rest, and oblige them to act occasionally as "mouthpieces" for the Most High.
Just a theory which will probably be discredited by the canon material...but I rather like it.
On a slightly different topic, there's another good reason for Lucifer to have been created before Michael. The revelation (again, in The Marches) that Uriel was the first of the Malakim makes it logical that each of the other "firsts" of their choirs should have been somehow representative of their choir's resonance. Actually, that makes sense anyway, but the facts about Uriel support it. Perhaps the legendary "seven archangels" of lore are a reference to the first-born of the seven choirs (or their replacements upon Falling, as when Michael replaced Lucifer as head Seraph).
So who would those angels be? Here are my suggestions.
As for the Fallen:
The angelic list gives us a group of seven that includes the Big Four (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, with Michael replacing Lucifer in the Seraph slot). The other positions may have rotated more often, since lists of the "seven archangels" always seem to differ with respect to the other three.
Currently, the Seven (I envision them sitting at the head of the Seraphim Council) would be:
I also tend to envision an empty chair at the very head of the Council table. Most new saints (small "s") assume it represents God, but the Archangels will tell you (gravely) that it's Lucifer's place, set aside for him in hope of his repentance and restoration. But then, perhaps my Archangels are more sentimental than most.
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Elizabeth McCoy <arcangel@prismnet.com>
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