by lackadaisicallexicon

Of Alternia’s many parallels with Earth, perhaps the most blatant and striking is that between the Signless and Jesus Christ. While many of the minor details are absent, the general frame of both stories is the same; a visionary figure, viewed by many as a god (actual divinity, of course, depends on personal interpretation), who was tortured to death and whose primary symbol ended up being the instrument of torture that killed him. However, the story of the Signless has traits absent in that of Jesus that make him, as a literary figure, stand out on his own.

One of the most striking moments in the characterization of the Signless is meeting is pre-Scratch incarnation, Kankri Vantas. Kankri is absolutely intolerable—in fact, his friends have taken to calling him “The Insufferable” because of his self-righteous attitude, tendency to pontificate, and fixation on social justice issues that aren’t even relevant on Beforus. However, it’s those very traits that made the Signless an effective activist. He believed in the righteousness of his cause and refused to be silenced; Kankri is just a messiah in the wrong universe. Had he not been in the right place and time, he’d have been just as useless, which goes a long way toward humanizing the legend.

Jesus’ goal, if you can call it that, was a religious reorganization; to worship the Abrahamic God in a new way, centered around his claim of being the messiah prophesied by the Hebrews. The Signless was aiming for something more all-encompassing. He wanted to change society, based on a vision of humanistic (trollistic?) cooperation rather than a vision of the divine. The Signless’ identity as a messianic figure comes pretty much only from the source of that vision (namely, his powers as a Seer of Blood, which of course would seem divine to Alternians), and his execution, not from his actual message. The idea of a Second Signless is not one he spread. He wanted Alternia to save itself, not wait on him to save it.

Of course, the belief that he would return again panned out (unlike Jesus, who, as of today, has not turned up on our collective doorstep) in the form of Karkat, but the birth of another mutant child didn’t signal the salvation of Alternia. As soon as he reached adolescent age, the entire planet and species was destroyed. But at the very least, the Signless’ anger lives on in Karkat.

That said, I don’t think the Signless needs a cosmic legacy to be important. His is not a story of divine salvation, but rather one of voices, agency. A vision of a peaceful world—not perfect, just peaceful—was enough to shake the foundations of Alternian society. That’s an important lesson for us to remember: divinity is never the most important part of a divine message. All it takes is the idea, the words, and the world can change.