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Ananke-spoiler "Once again, we return."

This article contains spoilers for Issue 33 of The Wicked + The Divine. Read at your own risk.

"Divinity and imminent demise have given me clarity... I've got no reason to be afraid any more. And what can you do when you're not afraid of anything? Anything you want. Anyone you want. I can be whoever I want to be. I can be whoever I am."
—Inanna[src]

Inanna is the Sumerian Goddess of love, beauty, sex, desire, war, combat, justice, political power and Queen of the Heavens, and is one of the gods of the Recurrence, symbolized by an eight-pointed star. He is known to have appeared in the 450s, 1830s and 2010s Recurrences.

History[]

Inanna's original name was Zahid. Even before the 2010s Recurrence, he was a fan of the Pantheon. He attended Ragnarock 2013 and witnessed Laura arguing with David Blake. He also liked Cassandra's writing and videos. Before his incarnation, Zahid was very shy and afraid of many things about himself. His "go-to cosplay was wallpaper". His incarnation in late 2013 freed him of fear and enabled him to be whoever he wanted to be.

Inanna once performed for a whole week in Camden, and Laura attended every one of the performances and bought a souvenir shirt. He often performed at residencies, preferring more intimate venues to large crowds.

Synopsis[]

The Faust Act[]

In the early days of his godhood, Inanna was in a relationship with Baal. However, this ended when Inanna slept with Lucifer, provoking Baal's jealousy. Baal and Inanna had another fight when Inanna protested the Pantheon's lack of action regarding Lucifer's arrest, and Baal nearly put him through a wall.

Fandemonium[]

Disturbed by Lucifer's death, Inanna performed divination on the gunmen from the interview shooting and identified them as fans of the Pantheon. He approached Laura for help with identifying them further. He later attended Fantheon and was seen arguing with Woden shortly after Woden's humiliation of Brunhilde.

In addition to working with Laura, the two became friends and he encouraged her to become more outgoing as she recovered from Lucifer's death. She eventually confided in him that she believed she was destined to be part of the Pantheon, and he comforted her. Meanwhile, his relationship with Baal remained decidedly icy.

On 3 August 2014, Inanna was attacked by Baphomet while performing, in an attempt to steal his powers. However, they ceased their fighting when they realised they were both being manipulated by Ananke. They located her at Laura's house and arrived just in time to prevent her from killing Laura, who had just transformed into Persephone. Ananke appeared to kill Inanna instead, but Baphomet and Laura managed to escape. She then framed Baphomet for Inanna's death. His death provoked an outpouring of tributes, including a song by Tara.

Imperial Phase (II)[]

However, while Inanna's body was indeed destroyed, his head appears to be alive and talking. It seems to have been transported to a mysterious cave by Ananke as part of a scheme to defeat the Great Darkness, alongside the heads of fellow ostensibly murdered gods, Lucifer and Tara. He has presumably been stuck there since his "death". In March 2015, they were visited by Minerva, who had been attempting to add Sakhmet's head to the collection, but was unable to because she had only ripped half of her head off. When Lucifer accused her of working with Ananke, she claimed that she was Ananke.

Appearance[]

Inanna was a South or West-Asian man with dark hair and purple eyes. He had a wide bleached streak in his hair, and typically wore extravagant clothing and face paint in the shape of an eight-pointed star. He tended to wear a lot of purple. When performing magic, his eyes turned black all over, with glowing white pupils with a slight tint of violet

Personality[]

Lucifer said that Inanna had a meaner streak than people realised, but he was still incredibly lovely and morally pure. He has, on occasion, been described as too nice, and was fond of hugging people. However, he has also been described as sexually "filthy" and was notorious for sleeping with lots of people (of all genders). He did not engage in monogamous relationships, and didn't understand why others weren't the same. Luci described him as an "ethical slut".

Inanna had complicated feelings about his gender. He allowed others to use male pronouns when referring to him, but also said that ""guy" is a small word". He was in a "transitional or questioning state"[3] and never managed to figure things out before he died. He can be interpreted as genderqueer.[4] In 2055, Zahid uses they/them pronouns.

Relationships[]

Baal[]

Inanna and Baal were in a relationship, but Inanna cheated on him with Lucifer, to Baal's anger. They had another falling-out when Inanna wanted to help Lucifer after her arrest, and Baal nearly put him through a wall. Baal continually refused to speak to Inanna and they never reconciled before Inanna's death. He was devastated when he was murdered and expressed his regret that he never told him he loved him.

Laura Wilson[]

Inanna admired Laura from the first time he saw her at Ragnarock. He approached her for help identifying Lucifer's assassins and they quickly became friends. His immediate response upon meeting Laura was to hug her, providing comfort for Lucifer's death. They trusted and confided in each other. When Laura became Persephone, Inanna was the first person she wanted to tell.

Powers & Abilities[]

Inanna's miracles had a pink, glittery appearance and have been shown to include:

  • Divination: He was able to perform divination to learn more about something he was touching, and could also use it to pinpoint the locations of the other gods through use of various star symbols. Although useful, it was later shown that in comparison to Urdr, Inanna's Divination is nowhere near as powerful.
  • Starlight Manipulation: During his fight against Baphomet, Inanna showcased the ability to throw his starlight as projectiles at him as weapons.
    • Starlight Travel: He was also capable of travelling through means of starlight (though in a different manner to Amaterasu) which granted him flight and the ability to teleport himself and others. This could be used for simple transportation but also employed during combat as a way of evading his opponent, causing him to dematerialize.
      • Sending: Inanna has also shown the ability to "send" physical objects using his Starlight travel. As seen where he materialized a letter into Laura's hands during his phone call.
    • Disintegration: After his fight with Baphomet, Inanna briefly showcased the ability to disintegrate objects, as seen where the cross Baphomet bound him in disintegrated into starlights.
  • Enhanced Agility: As the Goddess of war and combat Inanna was shown to be very agile when evading Baphomet/Nergal's attacks.
  • Superhuman Durability & Invulnerability: Later as revealed by Persephone, Inanna also possessed a degree of superhuman invulnerability and durability, as seen where he managed to remain completely unscathed during Baphomet's attempt at his life and ignited a huge fire explosion.
  • Amokinesis (possibility): As the Goddess of desire, love, lust and sex Inanna possess the ability to manipulate these emotions and activities in others however he wishes. So far showing this in his performances.
    • Performance: His performances inspired orgies on a large scale, something that seems to be in part related to his kind demeanor as very few dislike him. His performances cause the area around him and those involved to be engulfed in his pink aura, and the acts themselves seem entirely consensual. They are described as "sex with the volume turned up" by Baphomet.

Mythology[]

Inanna is based on the Sumerian Goddess of love, beauty, sex, desire, fertility, war, combat, justice, political power and Queen of the Heavens, Inanna. The mythological Inanna was also often represented by an eight-pointed star. One of her more notable myths is The Descent of Inanna, which chronicles her journey to the underworld and back. In this poem, she is turned into a corpse and brought back to life again. She is therefore associated with transition between the world of the living and the dead.[5] Inanna is seen as an independent and sexual goddess, even though she inhabited a highly patriarchal society. A previous version of Inanna, known as Anat, was the sister and lover of Baal in Canaanite mythology.[6]

Quotes[]

By Inanna

"I... I know this is weird, and I don't really know you but... you've been through hell. I want to hug you. Is it okay if I hug you?"
—Inanna[src]
"Everything changed after Ananke's visit..."
—Inanna[src]
"I... found something. And I don't trust the rest of my people any more. I need someone outside the circle. Someone who cares."
—Inanna[src]
"I'm the Queen of Heaven, both the morning and evening star, and so I get to do the whole divination thing. It's like hearsay from my own heart."
—Inanna[src]
"You know, I'm all crazy for cosplay, but "Christian fundamentalists" isn't exactly a hot look. Actually... let's not write it off so quickly. Hmmm. Imagine angry Darwinist/creationist sex. Hmm..."
—Inanna[src]
"I was his gateway. I took him into the underworld. I took him everywhere."
—Inanna about Baal[src]
"For six months, I was happy, I wasn't afraid and I lived life exactly how I wanted. You? You're petrified. You can kill me. You can live a little longer... doesn't mean you're any more alive."
—Inanna to Baphomet[src]
"I'd rather die than not care. My regrets are the one thing I don't regret."
—Inanna[src]

Dialogue

Laura: "What happened to "dressing inconspicuously"?"
Inanna: "This... isn't inconspicuous?"
―Laura and Inanna[src]
Inanna: "Sorry. I'm sorry. I should have asked before hugging."
Laura: "You don't have to ask me. Never ask, Inanna."
―Inanna and Laura[src]

Past Recurrences[]

450s Recurrence[]

During the 450s Recurrence, Inanna married Attila the Hun, against the wishes of Ananke. Attila was unable to survive the wedding night, killed by the force of Inanna's powers during sex. He was found the next morning with blood streaming from his nose and a smile on his face, leaving everyone wary of Inanna. Attila's death saved the Roman Empire from his attacks.

1830s Recurrence[]

Inanna appeared in the 1830s Recurrence in the form of Claire Clairmont, step-sister of Mary Shelley (Woden) and lover of Lord Byron (Lucifer). Inanna was jealous of her sister's talent and divinity, and killed Woden's babies at Ananke's command in exchange for godhood. She then began a sexual relationship with Lucifer, who had taken no notice of her as a human. Inanna travelled with Lucifer, Woden, and her brother-in-law Morrigan to Lake Geneva, where all four of them eventually met their deaths. Lucifer and Morrigan attempted to resurrect a newly-dead Hades, but instead created an entirely new Creature that immediately killed them. Woden sacrificed her life to stabilise the Creature, and Inanna was able to escape unharmed, believing herself to be out of danger. However, Ananke came after her, and removed her head at the conclusion of the Recurrence, to be used in the ritual.

Trivia[]

  • The major influence on Inanna is Prince.[7] He is also partially inspired by fandom.[8]
  • The constellations depicted when Inanna performs divination in Issue 6 are based on the symbols of the Pantheon.[7]
  • When Inanna first appears, there are purple streaks in the rain, in reference to the famous Prince song.
  • During the planning stages, Inanna was the second-to-last god Gillen added to the Pantheon.[8]
  • Kieron Gillen has stated that if he had a chance to relive his life, he would try to be more like Inanna.[8]
  • In Issue 8, Inanna says he "took [Baal] into the underworld". The mythological Inanna also famously descended into the underworld.
  • Inanna's dialogue appears in purple speech bubbles.

Appearances[]

References[]

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