Sparkle Valley Philosophy: The Beast
Updated: Oct 5
The Beast (IT): The Force That Counterfeits Meaning
The Beast in it's rawest form is just cynicism and it's why I wrote Sparkle Valley. It distracts, works below awareness, hollows out meaning, and then like the svengali it is, masks it all as common sense.
The Beast target is everything that matters— it's meaning itself. And it's approach is insidious. It tries to replace it—with a hollow version of itself. The Beast lurks below Sparkle Valley (represented by green mist), not just opposing meaning, but actually counterfeiting it in a way.
The Real danger is imitation.
The Beast distorts meaning. Take the Smortzle, he gets possessed by the Beast. Or Ivana, and her pride. The Beast bends it, distorts it. So that pride becomes domination. And then poor Ivana’s sensitivity is bent into despair.
Or Hank's intelligence, it turns that into an obsession for control.
The Beast is a like virus that feeds on wounded parts of the self and Hank and the others are its hosts.
For example, the wounded parts of Emily—her pride, her intelligence, her sensitivity. It turns all this, this potential goodness, these life affirming attributes, into something negative. It turns it all against life. Hank, Smortzle, Ivana, all end up doing the work of the Beast.
Counterfeit Light
Blue Flower = inner spark
Inzos = force of fear that tries to smother that spark.
Beast = tries to replace that light (counterfeit it) not just douse it. So that's the new reality.
The Beast Reorganizes
It does it in the least interesting and most cynical way possible.
See Book 3 setting - desert, barren. This is the world without imagination—cynicism. And when cynicism acts like wisdom, you know the Beast is near.
It's a world where:
Everything is functional, but nothing is worth loving.
Because the ultimate goal of the Beast is always the same, and that is to stop believing. Stop feeling. Just settle for less, get on with it. And call that reality.
The Beast is Not a Creator
A final thing to keep in mind with the Beast is that it can't create. It imitates and corrupts.
The Beast's true essence in one sentence:
What happens when the enemy is not what destroys beauty, but what persuades you that beauty was actually never real?
This is Abigail's battle. And maybe ours too.
