THE COLOR OF INDIGO

Purple, in particular the cooler shades of indigo or violet (in contrast to the slightly more common pinks and fuschias), is one of the rarest colors in nature. You might see it in patches during a sunset, or chance upon it in some flowers, but there's always been something strikingly unusual about it. It's almost surreal, too vibrant for this world of greens, browns, and oranges, closer to the sharp blue of the sky than anything terrestrial. It's a color so rarely found that to wear it, for a long time, was a sign of extravagant wealth.

-1. DEATH-

Purple is a color of death. One of the places you may see it in nature is as an especially vibrant, striking color animals use as a signal of their poisonous qualities to any predator which might eat it. This may be why it's always been associated, in my mind at least (and I think many others), with poison! I suppose grapes are safe, but otherwise I wouldn't want to eat or drink many things purple.

-2. ROYAL-

This is where it gets interesting. Because purple colors are so rare in the wild, purple dye was itself exceedingly rare, and thus exceedingly expensive. The only people who could wear it were those in power, kings and bishops, who had the money and resources to obtain the color and the confidence to then flaunt it as a symbol of their uniquely high place in society. This association is still in place.

-3. ALIEN-

Maybe this one is more personal, but because of this rarity, its place as a deterrant in nature, and its use as a signifier of unique power in society, there's something 'alien' or 'other' about the color to me. It denotes a sort of otherworldly significance, whether that's in a spiritual sense or a literal sense. The furthest planets out go from blue to purple, and the deepest spiritual truths manifest themselves in a glowing violet shade.

-TIE-

Death. Royal. Alien. Let's connect these three ideas together - purple exists at some of the far reaches of our perception, the coolest color before it wraps back around to warmth in pink hues, and the most unusual of them all, an uncanny mixture of red and blue - blood and water, dirt and sky - granted special powers through this strangeness. Why do monarchs dress themselves in the same colors as poison animals? Will you die if you touch them? Well, perhaps so, as disrespect could result in your execution. If aliens appeared, would they be purple in appearance? Only if they had something to teach us.

RED --- BLUE
\    /
PURPLE

Poison hurts us on the most direct level, physical. Monarchs hurt us on a deeper, more abstract level, societal. Spiritual truths can hurt us on a fundamental, existential level, if we're not prepared for them. These three things all have the potential to hurt us, but one is not like the others. Let's tie these together as a trinity.

DEATH --- ROYAL
\    /
ALIEN

Death is red, the color of blood and (sometimes) the color of earth. It's warm, violent, and striking. Royal is blue, a much colder color, the color your body takes after death. It's more impersonal, but every bit as deadly. Much like how purple is unlike red or blue, Alien is unlike Death or Royal. Alien is beyond these mortal and physical understandings and worries, and - as how purple transcends the common physicalities of red and blue - Alien transcends the common mortalities of Death and Royal. It can heal, rather than harm.

-TIE-

What would it mean to be all three at once? Well, for our trinity of colors, it would result in a brown mush. Too much! Our trinity of concepts is different, as you could potentially become all three at once. You might already be the first two in one, as all rulers in their own way embody death - they hand out death as easily as life, and control the lives and futures of their people in the palm of their hand. No one man should have all that power! And yet, they do, and so red blood is spilled, and blue corpses are buried. What kind of man would willingly drape themselves in such a violent color, a color not just of poison but of extravagance? How much blood must be spilt for each drop of purple in the robes of a king or a bishop? It matters not. What does this do to your brain? Much like how the purple of a poisonous animal clues you into its danger, so too does the purple of a monarch clue you into its danger. Do not touch me, heathen, or you shall perish. It is a color of death.

What would adding in that third element make you? A cult leader, of course.

BLOOD --- POWER
\    /
CULTS

-TIE-

There is one man who embodies all these concepts we have talked about. A man soaked in blood, mad with power, and leading his own cult. A man who worships death, who craves royalty, and who is utterly alien to humanity. A man who swallows the red earth, the blue sky, and drapes himself in purple robes. You know who he is already, don't you?

Are you excited to meet him?

Or do you know him?

Are you him?

-END-

[from Matt's eyes]

Maine! Maine! You have to-!