Soh's mask is described as representing the relationship with Yoshiro. (X)
Soh is a bit of a special character, and the design of their mask represents their relationship with Yoshiro.
It might a lore thing, with Soh being a former Maiden.
But the very first Soh might not have been a Maiden. So...
It's reminiscent of a knight helmet. A protector.
Her mask is also...a little lupine, don't you think?
The way it extends down is reminiscent of a snout. The arches are ears.
Or...a fox?
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| I still think this fox looks like Soh lol |
The Maiden here drops the fox mask, the scene preceding this is Soh's passive surrender of her mask to Yoshiro. (why did I write it like this? Yoshiro just touched her face and the mask came off...)
If these two like foxes, it would be the cutest thing.
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| In this capture, it looks like she has white ears |
She's also got a fox-like beauty to her, with Yoshiro being more deer or kitten. A doe-eyed feline beauty, as the girls might say.
But I think the mask embodies many animals. Or, Cursed Soh's does.
Soh potentially being associated with a wolf deity( let's say wolf symbol) is interesting because she's coupled with a Maiden whom she leads to her 'death' while being called 'ancestor' by said Maiden. (Red Riding Hood?)
The Maiden is a human sacrifice the Messenger protects and guides to the summit.
Soh was once a Yoshiro. A 'wolf' who was once a Maiden.
Wolves and Maidens are two sides of the same coin and are one in the same. It is the the desire to consume and to be consumed. But this is digressing.
This isn't a wolf who eats the Maiden. It's a wolf who protects the Maiden whose body is being occupied by a Deity.
So, the wolf is actually knight. The knight is a symbol of the tamed beast, one made virtuous by using their strength for a higher and better cause. For protection of another, not for destruction or selfish causes.
The knight is the higher and the beast is the lower. They're the same, in the end. After all, isn't the wolf known for its devotion, compassion and love for family? Its protective nature? But these traits need often need catalysts to emerge within the individual.
A common theme is how a beast becomes domesticated by a Maiden. When you see a knight and a Maiden, it's similar. Although the Maiden represents God in such emblems. Sophia, the wisdom of God. It's why the Holy Grail comes with the Grail Maiden. The idea of the divine residing within the Maiden or being represented by her. The knight becomes a true knight through service to the Divine, and he will eventually come to see the Divine in everything.
This is why Jesus mentions the son of God 'serves' mankind and why the idea of the mystic serving others is brought up when discussing the ideas of God and man's true identity.
The beastly wolf is the darker side of the knight. Cursed Soh, who yearns to tear apart the Maiden. To revert to a simple beast.
So, knight and wolf are like hot and cold. Where on the spectrum are you?