The Iconic Imagery Of Revelations By Neil Gaiman

For all the sociopolitical impact that the Bible has had on humanity across the centuries, many aspects of the narratives included within the texts are inaccessible to the modern audience, who are disconnected from the context necessary for true understanding of the stories. There is an element of interpretation and hypothesis when attempting to comprehend the bible from a thousand-year distant perspective. What makes Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens so effective is that it takes the iconic imagery of Revelations and translates it into a modern perspective to properly convey the pathos and moral as it would have affected the reader at the time it was written. Both are powerful stories of the fall of humanity, the death of the

The first is a crowned rider on a white horse, representing conquest; the second is a red horse with a sword wielding rider representing war; the third, a black horse with a rider holding scales representing famine; and the final, a pale horse carrying death through plague. These figures, iconic in their repeated iterations and references, are the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Their summoning precludes the end of the world and the culling of a fourth of the population. Their purpose and names- translated into War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death by centuries of cultural interpretation- are common villain influences in modern media. However, in the context of Revelations, their presence does not imply evil. Rather, they are a tool by which Christ destroys sinners and cleanses the Earth. While they inflict violence and death, they are not in any sense portrayed as antagonistic or something to be opposed to. This violence seems antithetical to the rest of the New Testament, which generally is focused on the forgiveness of sin and love of others- Revelations seems to portray more of a God of Hebrew Bible origin, with harsh punishments and retribution for those that go against them. This tie back to the beginning of the Bible and ostensibly the beginning of the world narratively creates a cycle, a complete loop that ties up the story of God with a satisfying