Elements of Faith in Sky

The word faith as used here should be understood as “a system of spiritual beliefs”, I’ll be focusing particularly on beliefs in an afterlife; Sky is, after all, just another word for heaven. One simple and universal metaphor for explaining the afterlife in many cultures and languages is just that, the sky. There, among the clouds, is the throne of God (King??); and our loved ones look down upon us as stars in the night sky (Spirits). Sky carries this theme strongly through its visual metaphors.

Gnosticism/Eternal Rebirth—We die, only to be reborn again, learning new lessons and taking a ‘higher’, more perfect path each time. Isle is a liminal space, with all its boats... the ocean could be read as limbo. There’s even yonic imagery at key moments, the prairie cave and the portal of light at the end of orbit come to mind.

Judeochristian —Sky kids as angels? Winged beings of light with classic heavenly instruments: harps, horns, bells... don’t forget the halos of light emitted by shiny bois, spirits, and the high candle emote!

Shinto—this is here mostly because of the architecture in the hidden forest and after the 8player puzzle. The tree-shrines of that floor in vault also come to mind. Isn’t the Forest Elder inspired by kitsune?

Buddhism—this is mostly here because the look of many of the temples, decorative patterns, and the bells reminds me of Tibet. I know meditation (and myths of levitation as a result of having masterfully cleared ones mind) aren’t exclusive to Buddhism, but I had to mention that somewhere.

Grecoroman—This is here because of the architecture of Valley, the statues and colosseum (hero worship), and the parallels between the story of Charon, the river Styx boatman, and the story of Isle.

Norse—Crows! Vault Elder as a parallel to the all-father, having lost an eye to gain knowledge.

Yoruba—the constant use of masks and candles by the sky kids, as well as the design of the drum.

Some of these might be a stretch? I wanna note that I’m not as educated on all of these subjects as I would like to be. I’d also like to add a thank you to the theorist that put forth the parallels between Sky and Dante’s Inferno, and to invite people to contribute their own observations.

~Happy flying