The Snake
Thesaurus I
Ouroboros: The snake that eats its own tail, primordial symbol of time and chaos present in several ancient cultures.1
Structure : sine wave, relates to water → Hydra.2
Habitat : Similar to spiders, snakes are found in deserts and jungles, both environments that we shared for long periods of time, so it embodies a biological significance of danger, death and fear.
The hero : defeats the serpent by cutting its head.3
The pattern is the hero conquering chaos, he decodes the puzzle of the unknown and reaches beyond the borders of comfort to acquire more information for his tribe. The slaying of the dragon, the reward is often symbolized by a virgin.4
In Genesis the snake can be understood as an intermediator between Eve and Earth.
Nordic: The great sea serpent Jörmungandr.
Greek: Python was the son of Gaia, "Earth".
Egyptian: Apep is the god of chaos.
Cutting the body doesn’t work because it grows back again, stronger. In the Hydra story it takes another shift, for cutting one head makes two grow on its place.
Harry Potter; Saint George; Conan; Beowoulf; Thor; Apollo…
Even the most “modern” and “utterly alien” sci-fi cannot escape this pattern:
Dune/The Mandalorian
