There's Something So Telling About How The Rain World Fandom At Large Sees The Ancients As Cruel (and

there's something so telling about how the rain world fandom at large sees the ancients as cruel (and sometimes, a suicide cult), when all we get in the canon material is how much they loved the world and savoured the mundane.

as a sidenote — i'll be talking about vanilla. downpour won't matter in this context.

the white pearls are a great example of this — a line of a verse from a poet. the vague imprint of a family portrair (imitating a specific style popular during the era it was made in). a list of someone's 71 lucky numbers. an image of a hand drawn document with beautiful calligraphy of a (in moon's opinion) dull classical poem. what could be someone's alchemical treatise. someone playing recursion games with an image of a pearl in a pearl of a pearl in a pearl and so on. a very faded image of a tall structure with banners unfurled. what might be a recipice or a shopping list of some kind. a repetitive hymn. the mention of big festicals with sky-sails. an image of five bottles standing on a surface possibly made of plants.

not to mention the pearl found in shaded citadel, where one of the memories mentioned is "watching dust suspended in a ray of sun". it's such a small mundanity and yet its mentioned all the same as eating a tasty meal and winning a debate contest and being applauded by team members.

not to mention the various other colored pearls. one with a mantra repeat 5061 times, ending with a termination verse, and the fact that many of these were usually worn together. a small text of spiritual guidance. verses written in old and intricate language. a writing in which the author wishing the recipient's crops and yields be blessed.

and yet we see them as cruel? for what? the fact they wished nothing be stuck in the cycle of life and death? that they wish even the smallest speck of microbe and the tiniest bug be able to leave their struggles behind and ascend?

ascension in itself can easily be read as a grief allegory, whether intentional or not, but much more clearly i think is just meant as acceptance. acceptance that everything is okay and you're okay and you've done everything you've wanted, so you're ready to cut your ties and ascend, because you've finished everything. i think enlightenment is being able to say "living was so fun, i've done everything i've wanted, and i'm ready to move on". all the echoes we meet are there because they're lingering on some part of their life. something they can't leave behind. something that they miss still in the inbetween. they're unable to find true enlightenment even after ascending because they can't accept moving on fully, not yet.

though, one thing of note, is this quote from moon, regarding the bright red pearl found in farm arrays;

There were some horror stories though… That if your ego was big enough, not even the Void Fluid could entirely cross you out, and a faint echo of your pompousness would grandiosely haunt the premises forever.

this implies a lot in one, obviously. but we have to remember: moon is a biased narrator, and these were only horror stories. they could have evolved from parents telling their kids to not have their heads up their own asses because otherwise they won't be able to ascend (because obviously ascension was held in extremely high regard in their religion - much like going to heaven is in christianity! how interesting! we'll circle back to this later), or many other things. if anything, from what we see, this... isn't entirely accurate, the echoes we speak to don't sound like they have a big ego. they're reminiscing on life, and parts of it that they missed and still cling onto.

of course, i can see the argument against 'wanting to ascend everything' — but in the context of rain world's lore? i don't think it's cruel. i think it's offering a helping hand. i think they just didn't want everything to struggle endlessly in the cycle of life, death, and reincarnation. and i think that makes perfect sense.

so..... why does parts of the fandom call them a "suicide cult" or say "ascension = suicide"?

i think it has a lot to do with how a lot of people aren't reading the religion and religious practices as they're meant to be viewed, and are instead viewing them in an overly christianised lens (whether consciously or subconsciously, intentionally or not), where anything that isnt "wanting to go to heaven" is a sin, and therefore bad. historically, many other religious practices have been demonised, and i'm sure this also includes their versions of "going to paradise" (when applicable) being smeared and implied to be something akin to going to hell.

(downpour really didn't help this either. i fear it only made the "ascension is and and also suicide" interpretation more prevelant in some way, but i won't get into that now.)

i get it — rain world's lore does require an ability to leave your religious bias by the door, as well as critical thinking and analysis and a hell of a lot of extrapolation from what we have.... but it feels really offputing how it's become extremely normalised to joke about how they're committing suicide by ascending, and that they're a suicide cult. both suicide and cults are an extremely sensitive and serious topic, both of which have lead to extremely bad situations.... but i digress.

the fact that many people are instantly casting shade and doubt to the ancients and calling them cruel and heartless when under it all they're just people, like us, with unique religious practices, formed by the unique world which they live in. they love the world and they want to help other living beings. they are not trying to kill everything — they simply want it all to move on, to what they may very well view as some sort of equivalent of 'paradise' (although we will never really have full context of their practices and culture, but we can make a lot of guesses).... which, really, isn't that what you'd want, too, if you thought you had a choice in the matter?