In the wake of Sen no Kiseki IV’s shocking revelation about the objectives of Ouroboros, Shirofan crafts a new theory regarding the Orpheus Final Plan, connecting the imagery of the Society’s Grandmaster to the Gate of Gehenna.
-Hellseye47
Recent titles have brought into question what the true goals of Ouroboros really are. As collecting the Sept-terrions has now been dismissed, an alternative theory must be constructed. One such idea implied by Vita and then again by Mariabell and Campanella is that they aim to guide the souls of Zemuria.
But to where? Their choice of symbolism may have given us a hint.
To begin, the lower part of the Grandmaster’s robes (as in the bit visible in every screenshot I can find posted of her) features two snakes vertically entwined to form a staff like structure. This design is called a caduceus and is a object from Greek mythology most associated with the God Hermes.
Hermes was known as a herald and messenger of the gods, a patron of liars, thieves and tricksters and embodied all those qualities. However, it is another of his roles that is relevant here, namely, that Hermes was a psychopomp. Despite the odd sounding name, a psychopomp is a being that leads souls to the afterlife. Their role is not to judge but to transport to whatever awaits after death.
The known afterlife in the series is the equivalent of hell called Gehenna which is shown as a facsimile in 3rd, and there are various things about the Grandmaster that suggest a connection between the two. First, the Grandmaster can call upon divergent laws, which have so far been shown to manifest as objects of violence; and second, there is a requirement of enforcers to have aspects of personal darkness which suggest a more hellish than heavenly bent.
The other relevant piece of Greek mythology related to the afterlife is of course the legend of Orpheus and his doomed attempt to bring his love Eurydice back from the dead. It is part of that legend that I believe is the goal of their Orpheus final plan.
However, It is a part of the legend that doesn’t get much focus–in some versions it’s skipped entirely–namely, that the gates of the underworld do not open for the living, yet Orpheus’ musical skill was so great that he even charmed an impassible gate to open and let him through.
The third showed us that Gehenna has such a gate. As Ries put it, “These gates are distorted but steadfast, serving to keep the living and the dead apart…”, and Kevin later remarks that there is nothing in the Church’s Testaments as to how to open them.
Further conjecture leads to the possibility that the Sept-Terrions are sealing the door. As the powers of each of them are removed, it breaks one of the seven seals which now leaves three left until the door opens.
Furthermore, there must be some reason why exposing the Aureole was necessary as it required a significant and specific chains of events to make happen. They cannot claim to be putting the Aureole out of unsuitable hands because it already effectively was.