Dance Macabre Explained

Dance Macabre explained

NdA: !!This text contains Los Angeles ritual spoilers!!

Do you remember that at the end of the Dance Macabre video, it says "the beginning"?

What if I told you that it was indeed the beginning, not of Ghost's lore, but of the actual dance macabre itself? Skipping the historical context, the "Dance of the Maccabees" is a biblical story where seven brothers (the Maccabees), condemned to death, disappeared one by one before dying in a certain rhythm that resembled a dance. Like every biblical story, it has been depicted and painted on various occasions, such as in Paris in the early 1400s, along the walls of the "Cemetery of the Innocents." Here we witness a transliteration from Latin to French that coined the word "macabre."

But why am I going on about this? First and foremost, it's because of the bloodline. Technically, Primo, Secondo, Terzo, and presumably even Copia himself are brothers. In the video, when Nihil becomes the pope, the words "the beginning" appear because that's the exact moment when the dance macabre begins, where we see the various brothers enter and exit the stage in a rhythmic manner (every 2 years). So, what does this have to do with yesterday's ritual?

Yesterday, while Copia was singing Twenties, skeletons came on stage and danced alongside the living (the audience) and the ghouls (other creatures from hell). This happened because, symbolically, the dance macabre spares no one. In Catholicism, when referring to Judgment Day, it is said that the dead come to take away the living, which is why artistic representations include people of all ages and social classes. At the end of the song, the skeletons left, only to come back again for Dance Macabre itself, where they lifted Copia, who completely surrendered to them, relaxed, without resistance.

This is, in fact, a "Momento Mori." A reminder of the impending death, the brevity of life. Copia doesn't fight the skeletons; he doesn't try to escape. He allows himself to be lifted. He accepts that he is dying, and indeed, during the ritual, he himself says, "This is the end of an era."

It's not the end of Ghost, but of the Impera. It has reached its end; death has already knocked on his door, as seen in the official lore videos.

However, I nod to those who wholeheartedly believed that Copia would become the Antichrist. While all the symbolism we've seen so far speaks of the imminent departure of Papa Emeritus IV, we are formal this time, as I mentioned earlier; this symbolism is used by Catholics not only to refer to death but also to Judgment Day.

The Day of Judgment, or the Apocalypse, is accompanied by the arrival of the Antichrist, signaling the imminent end of the world (in this case, the skeletons were dancing with the audience because they were there for them). For completeness, the coming of the Son of Satan, the Antichrist, accompanies the Parousia, which is the coming of the Son of God, Christ, in a battle between good and evil that, despite ending with Christ's triumph, leads to the end of the world.

In other words, we too could be part of the Dance Macabre without even knowing it.