Sterling Moves Onwards
Exploring Beyond the Production
In this episode, Sterling confronts the silence of his own company as Von and Hawkins are thrust out from his presence into the abyss. Sterling moves from being alone to finding company in the most unusual places, keeping the pattern of Sterling’s good nature and optimism and his move from innocence to worldly wisdom.
Jonna - first he meets a young hinfolk girl (why do I call them hinfolk and not halflings? Answer - no one with any amount of respect would indicate they are “half” of anything. D&D cannot call them “hobbits” without the Tolkien Society on their tail, so, they resorted to the other term in the book “halflings”. But of course, this doesn’t give a proper name to the furry footed, stout and short folk of curly hair and love for pipe tobacco., so therefore, hinfolk) end rant.
Jonna represents Sterling’s innocence. She is young, hospitable beyond reckoning, incredibly resilient and willing to move on to a new adventure. She refers to the colony of rats as “her friends.” Like Sterling, she has found even the lowest of creatures to become friendly toward her and indeed, anyone is a friend that is not a flesh warping demon. Jonna is saved through Sterling’s maturity and willingness to think beyond his physical needs of hunger and drive attention to the safety and goodwill of all.
Secondly, he meets Yazbro. Yazbro, by all accounts, is a human, but possesses the genetic ingredients of a devil far back in his ancestry. Since most devils have an unabashed pride in their appearance, Yazbro possesses the horns, tail and luminous eyes of his infernal ancestors. Yazbro is cunning, wise and incredibly selfish, although just as friendly as Jonna. This man represents the older Sterling that must arrive and make tough decisions in the face of danger. Yazbro also represents Sterling’s ability to have survived life so far through many near misses and escapes, a resiliency that he can only ascribe to the stars watching over him, although the story so far would suggest that more sinister forces have invested in Sterling’s survival.
We leave off with Sterling delivering Jonna to her mother and Sterling receiving the family ring of Von’s mother. In all of this motion, Sterling has still yet to discover his own mother and therefore is disconnected from the maternal presence. Sterling has indicated that he fears the constellation of the “Archer” (a masculine presence) but enjoys the blessings of the “Chalice” (a feminine presence). Also considering that Sterling was invited by Mama Leina to enjoy a meal and meet her daughter, but he had to move on according to the rest of the sojourners, we see that Sterling is bereft of this maternal relationship. However, he may realize that through Sylvia’s investment in his life, he will learn to connect to the maternal graces someday and finalize his purpose. Truly, this could only be done if he finds his birth mother.
Finally, Sterling is ironically left with Yazbro, a man whose ancestors live in hell and together they seek a way to free the sojourners from a demonic wasteland of the abyssal realm.
May your story continue!