Day 17: A Hope in Hell

Hope is an essential ingredient even in hell.

I’m not someone who reads or watches a lot of fantasy. In fact, I just finished the first fantasy novel I can remember reading in years. I enjoyed listening to The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow because it hit on so many themes I appreciate, i.e., strong women, suffragists, library research and librarians, and a lesbian relationship thrown in for good measure. I’ll admit that I didn’t understand some of it and some of it didn’t interest me all that much, but I read it anyway.

My wife absolutely loved the book, but she’s a witch fan from way back, so that’s understandable. Because we don’t read a lot of the same books, it was nice to finally have one we could talk about together.

I also have to admit that parts of the book will stick with me. I especially enjoyed learning that the reason women’s clothes haven’t historically had pockets was to prevent us from keeping ingredients for spells in them. Whether that’s true or not I don’t know, but I like imagining that it was.

However, one fantasy novel a year (or ten), suits me just fine. So, when author friend, Karen A. Chase (KarenaChase.com) wrote to me this week about the “A Hope in Hell” fight scene from the film adaptation of a dark fantasy series, The Sandman, I was skeptical that it would hold anything of interest to me. Nevertheless, what she said about it intrigued me:

Whenever I think about hope, I think of this great “fight scene” between Lucifer and the Sandman from Neil Gaiman’s series. It shows how much light hope has, and how much hate and hurt it can conquer.

Because Karen, who I have great respect for, sent the video, and is clearly inspired by it, I forced myself to watch it. It’s a four-and-a-half-minute clip, which seemed to me like an eternity. But I kept at it (two minutes in I figured Karen owed me one!). However, at the almost-three-minute mark, I was rewarded. The final ninety minutes are thought-provoking and well worth the journey, and I’ll admit, it required the three-minute setup to be so effective.

If you think this is not your cup of team, I encourage you to watch it anyway. It’s an opportunity to, like I did, expose yourself to wisdom coming from a source you might not typically experience—part of diversifying our lives.

Now that you’ve seen this clip, you might even decide to watch the whole movie. I’m still not planning on it, but I’m grateful to The Sandman (and Karen!) to have a new way to think about the purpose of hope—even in hell.

Today’s Reflection

How would you answer the Sandman’s question, “What power would hell have if those imprisoned here weren’t able to dream?”

How do dreams keep you hopeful? What images did this scene conjure up for you? If you’re so inclined, draw your image of “hope in hell.”

With hope in my heart,

Annette