You Forgot the Mayo

texasdreamer01:

crimson-memory:

texasdreamer01:

crimson-memory:

thesoulwithinthepuzzle:

Marik’s Tattoo by ~Aerisonus

#Let’s play: #Who has the best headcanons for Ishtar family tattoo?

Ehhh… All right, I’ll take a swing.

While the Ishtar family scar isn’t the same as the Tablet of Memories in the museum, they bear a resemblance to one another. I have a suspicion that at one time, the Ishtar family didn’t live underground for all those 3000 years. My take on the markings are this:

A prediction was made by Priestess Isis using the Millennium Necklace, that the Pharaoh would return, and he would need to see the Tablet of Memories, which would help unlock the door to his memories. The problem? The prediction also included the fact that he might not be born in Egypt, and in order to find him, his loyalists would have to cross many lands to find him.

Wellll… that Tablet is a pretty hefty deal. So how else could they unlock his memories without it? “Hey,” says Tomb Guardian #6, “why don’t we write it on papyrus?”

Brilliant! Except for the fact that you can lose a piece of paper or have it stolen. So what about hauling around a small, clay or stone tablet? Neh, too heavy, and if some angry dude breaks it like Moses breaking the Commandments, we’re screwed.

“What about scarification?” suggests Tomb Guardian #15. “That way, it can’t be stolen. It can’t be broken. And if the person goes missing, there’s far more imperative to find them rather than a missing object.”

Badda-bing! The Tomb Keeper Scary Scarification Ritual was devised. However, the drawback to this ritual (aside from the mind-numbing pain and the risk of dying as a direct result) is that it is so very permanent. And if someone sees the markings who isn’t supposed to - say for example a devil-fearing Christian - they’re going to identify the carrier as a non-Christian or non-Muslim, and we all know what happens to the pagans…

After years of persecution, the Ishtars retreated from the world at large. They maintain the ritual scarification, using it as a right of passage for the firstborn male leader to the clan and as a sacrifice to show their loyalty to their king.

This is just the abridged version of my headcanon. I could ramble on.

No, no, please do.

Really? -blinkblink- Well, if you insist!

Another part of my headcanon regarding the Ishtar Heir and the Ritual ties in to their belief that they’re descended from the priests who cared for the Millennium Items, such as Mahad and subsequently Mana. A young man is chosen to be the Heir because he is a part of that promise that Mahad made to protect the Pharaoh, even after his death.

Now I don’t know if Mahad ever had children. No one does (except for Takahashi). But if I were the leader of the Ishtars, I would legitimize the Ritual by claiming 1) I’m descended from the high priests, 2) Because I’m a descendent, I am also a high priest and must fulfill priestly obligations, and 3) One of my obligations is to shed my blood for my Pharaoh, just like Mahad shed his blood for Pharaoh.

I also think that, according to this headcanon, this is why Daddy Ishtar is so virulently against making Rishid his heir. It’s all about the blood! You have to be related to the priests or else you’re “not the real deal” in the least insulting way and in the worst, “impure and unclean.”

Well fuck me sideways, that makes sense!

(And is being promptly filed away for reference. ^o^)

^ All very interesting