OK, so I put together a mish-mash post this morning, in which I started with an image from a magazine featuring the word Red-emption, and a picture of a Florida Panthers hockey player.
I couldn't get the fact that it was the Florida Panthers out of my mind - it just seemed like there was something to investigate here - so I decided to look into it a little over lunch. What I found was interesting enough where I even drilled down quickly to the name of the player in the picture, the Captain of the team, Aleksander Barkov.
So, this is a follow-up to my last post where I have just a few additional details to highlight. As a reminder, here is the magazine cover in question:
Florida Panthers
I started my investigation with, what else, the name.
Panthers, I remembered, might be interesting due to the cats reference. Recall, I posted some things about the Westview Wildcats several months ago, as well as the Thundercats and Lion-o's cry of "Ho!" in gathering these cats together. I am not sure all of my conclusions in those posts are still relevant, but there are some things still there, I think.
In any case, in looking up Panthers on Etymonline, its definition read: "another name for the leopard, from Old French pantere "panther" (12c.) and directly from Latin panthera, from Greek panther "panther, leopard.."
Leopard! We have seen this come up before, specifically in the context of one individual: Peter. In a post titled Why a Giraffe (OR You want Lions? We've got Lions!). I went through a strange series of thoughts that had us go from a Giraffe to a Chameleon to a Leopard, and arriving at all of this pointing to our man Thomas B. Marsh and Peter. I haven't gone back to that post in awhile, so can't speak to everything there, but I think broad strokes many things still hold.
In any case, in my thinking since that post, we have expanded Peter's identity to potentially include the surprising character of Pharazon. Thus, my mind sent to that Being, and all of the things I am currently thinking about there.
As an aside, identifying this particular Panther on the magazine cover with Pharazon-Peter makes sense of the Silver Cup. In my story, Peter is Gim-Githil, who is symbolized by the Moon and Silver. Gim-Guru, one of the other Gim G's, is symbolized by the Sun and Gold. Confusion seems to have occurred on Numenor when Gim-Githil - as Pharazon - became convinced he was actually the other Gim G, and started acting accordingly, with disastrous results.
So, part of the redemption story has a Silver Cup hoisted by the Panther, perhaps in recognition of a true identity, Being, purpose, etc. We also still have the Gold Cup, with the Ruby, then remains for Gim Guru (Holy Ghost, Faramir, etc.), at least initially, perhaps. Or maybe there is something different there. I don't know. But I do see a tie to the "Sun Moon time", and the symbolism of the Gold and Silver Keys, and the names of Gim Guru and Gim Githil.
Back to Florida...
Our connecting the Leopard-Panther with Pharazon (and by extension the Elvish Fathers among the Numenoreans) makes even more sense when we look at Florida.
Florida is Spanish and comes from a Latin word which means something like "Flowery, in bloom". Another site other than Etymonline translates it as something like "Full of Flowers". Further, Florida was originally called La Florida, which meant something like "The Place of Flowers". In addition, some historians say that Ponce de Leon (yes, Florida was discovered by a person with the last name of Leon!) named Florida after the Spanish celebration Pascua Florida, which means "Feast of Flowers", and occurs on Easter Sunday.
On Ponce de Leon really quickly. Besides having the last name Leon, which is something we have tied to Humpty Dumpty-Pharazon, Leon has infamously been tied with the Fountain of Youth (some say very inaccurately, I must say), and this his exploration and discovery of Florida was part of this search for the means to never die.
Someone else sailed west in hopes of finding the means to never die, and that was Pharazon, and his fellow Numenoreans. But besides the tie to Leon here, those translations above relative to Florida ought to ring a bell for any readers of this blog.
For Pharazon also sailed to "The Place of Flowers", which was Eressea. It was there that he came upon the Lilies, plucked them, and drank in his own Feast of Flowers (dearly bought!). These Lilies were destroyed, consumed, or something by the Numenoreans and their Wolves, in the destruction and splitting of Eressea #1 and #2.
OK, so in Florida Panthers, we have a name that translates into something like "The Place of Flowers Leopard", and this phrase is tied with Red-emption and holding a Silver Cup aloft in celebration.
This seems to speak of the Redemption of Pharazon and the Eldar Fathers, once again in Eressea and with that land now Full of Flowers. Restitution is made, and a wrong made right. Redemption in this case means a complete restoration of what had been lost and broken. A new Feast is held, maybe with some drinking from that Silver Cup, with mead from the Lilies freely given and received.
Sounds like a pretty good definition of redemption.
I do think it is telling that this name is associated with Easter, as it seems that this all falls under the redemption that Jesus has prepared, the Resurrection being the focus of Easter. To 'resurrect' means literally to "rise or appear again'.
So, I think there is a pretty good story I see in "Florida Panthers" as it relates to the redemption of these Eldar, including Pharazon-Peter.
And to think, I was really cheering for the Edmonton Oilers to win the Stanley Cup, but I am not sure what I would have done with that name. I probably would have come up with something.
Aleksander Barkov
I next looked into Aleksander Barkov.
It is a Russian name, first off, which I think might be relevant. Interestingly, although Russian by genealogy, he is Finnish, having been born and raised in Finland. This is actually where my wife and son just got back from, as a tangent, but when I hear Finland, I always think of Eressea.
Why? Well, Fin means Finwe in Elvish. It is actually a form we find in many forms of Elvish names belonging to the House of Finwe. For example, Finarfin, who has come up here and which I still owe a post on tying him back potentially to Gim Guru-Faramir, has that affixed twice in his name.
So, Finland, if I translate the Fin into Elvish, would mean "Land of Finwe". Or Eressea, I think, since that is where the Noldor - Finwe's House - were ultimately received back to following their Exile.
That little fact is interesting about this Russian name existing in the Land of Finwe, from what I see at least, but lets look at the actual name.
Aleksander is obviously Alexander, and means Defending Men or Protector of Men, primarily I think.
Barkov was a little tougher to find, since there weren't a lot of sites that went into this, and the ones I could find - like baby name or random name meaning sites - didn't seem credible. However, I believe I have found the answer, or at least an answer.
Barkov likely comes from the Russian word that is means something like Barque or Bark in English, referring specifically to a ship. So this is interesting, given that Pharazon is famous for his ship, and not just any ship, but one that was specifically referred to as having many masts. Here is part of how Pharazon's ship, Alcaronda, is described:
Many oared it was and many-masted, golden and sable; and upon it the throne of Ar-Pharazôn was set
A Barque specifically refers to a ship with 3 or more masts - or, many masted.
It might be a stretch, and I might need to look into this more to pull something more specific out, but I see something there in the name. We'll see. A ship to sail to Eressea and to Aman, and a man known as the Protector of Men, which I believe is a role that Pharazon saw himself as playing in the past, but will potentially be the role that he as Peter-returned plays in the future.
Just some additional thoughts on the symbolism of this magazine cover. It seems that I can find a direct reference to the Redemption of the Numenoreans, or at least specifically the Eldar Fathers and Pharazon among that group, as the Leopard-Giraffe sails to the Place of Flowers, corrects wrongs, both in deed and in perception, I think, and then perhaps opens the door for Men to follow, giving them protection in a land away from our own world.
I am sure I could wrap that up much tighter and clearer, but just wanted to get some things down in whatever state they are currently in my mind while I was thinking about it.
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