The Gathering Darkness (the Connor series) - Dirk B. (Page 56 of 57)

"The Staff of Christ." It goes back to Ps 23 hence it hides things well.

Tentative new wording for the 4th version of Connor :-)

The Holy Spirit revealed the youth is to gather together as many humans from every corner of the Earth as will heed his call to change their sinful ways before the Day of the Lord, so they may be spared from an eternity in the Lake of Fire.
Just as a shepherd’s staff is an extension of its bearer’s hand, the youth is an extension of the Lord’s hand, with frequent active communion between them. Through their unique bond, Christ will share important guidance and memories with the boy, and through him, express God’s will, pour forth his mercy, and gather the lost.
The youth will serve, in essence, as the living Staff of Christ, wielded directly by the Lord to bring forth a final opportunity for repentance by all."

I like a combined cross + staff, especially for Connor, but he won't start wearing it until the day he appears on the balcony at St. Peter's after conquering the Vatican. Maybe an upright staff with a crossbar on it. I also have a use for 666. At the end of book 2, the protagonists try to retake the Vatican with God's help, which includes Him branding all the traitorous Church leaders there with 666 on their foreheads. :-)

That's if I was writing a novel that tells the Revelation story. My story is based on (derived from?) Revelation but does not attempt to retell the exact same story (it's been done many times). For one thing, which interpretation of Revelation would I follow if I were to retell it? There are probably hundreds of interpretations (I own twelve of them myself, lol, from my original research). The predominant Catholic interpretation is that Revelation is a story about spiritual "warfare" and Christ's ultimate victory over evil. I do know that they generally do not believe in a real, final battle at Armageddon, which is why my final battle of book 3 will be different (Connor's forces vs Satan's forces), though still at Armageddon. Also, I was told, no "actual" war in Heaven when I once asked when in the biblical timeline it occurred. Similarly, I doubt Catholics believe in a real mark of the Beast for everyone on Earth except the martyrs. For one thing, it's simply not practical on a planet with almost 10B people. One interpretation suggested the mark was smartphones (held up to the head) and smartwatches (on the hand/wrist), as if everyone on Earth had those devices. Depending on which interpretation of Revelation you go with, things also don't happen in the order they appear in the book.

So, depending on your beliefs, things can happen out of order or don't happen at all.

Since my story is based on Revelation, I use many important elements of the Book of Revelation, but I adjust them (somewhat) to serve my plot (my interpretation, lol), without going off the deep end, except for the fact that the Antichrist ultimately ends up as the hero of the story, but that's not evident until the end of the trilogy. I end my trilogy roughly the same way as the Bible (the righteous go to Heaven, everyone else goes into the Lake of Fire, which teleports them to other worlds, from which they can never return, so they're in the lake forever). See how I did that, while still following Revelation? :-)

As for 666, since Connor overcomes his genetic enslavement to Satan halfway through book 2, there will be no opportunity for him to implement the mark of the Beast. Nor would he, since he's "Christ" not the Antichrist. So, God uses it while taking back the Vatican to mark the traitors with 666 on their foreheads. Those are the true followers of the beast, so it makes sense that at least they would be marked. You should see what God does with the corporeals (demons) at the Vatican. :-)

On a related note, I can't recall, did you read my Groundhog Day short story? It's a (revised) entry for the do-over contest about Satan's fate more or less how it will happen in the trilogy.

666 in my story is used by God to punish the traitors who invaded holy ground (the Vatican), as opposed to the AC's marking of other humans.

Since Connor is pretending to be Christ until mid book two and then bails on Satan by overcoming his genetic enslavement right after that, he'll never actually implement the mark. However, he will pretend to plan it in the latter half of book two to keep Satan from finding out that Connor is no longer under "parental control." :-)

The traitors were willing followers of the AC, so it seems reasonable that at least they should receive the mark. They then have to worry about someone discovering that they're marked as evil by God.

It's really not that different than if the Allies had tattooed prisoner numbers into the skin of German war criminals after WW2. It would have been a fitting added punishment for those eventually released back into society, especially those who served at Auschwitz and other death camps.

Much as it would be nice to name the first book (or the trilogy) the Hand of God or perhaps the Right Hand of God (assuming I refer to Connor that way rather than the Staff of God), both of those names have been used a million times already. It would be great to be able to use one of those names as a title since it's a much more fitting name to use for someone as important as the Hand of God, assuming that's who Connor is. :-)

The Hand of God Cometh has never been used as a title.
Neither has Cometh the Hand of God.

Some thoughts:
I like the Staff of God because you can mix it with the cross and because of Psalm 23.

I like the Hand of God because it gives you a wide range of uses. The Hand of God welcomes you home to the real church. But if God is upset then it becomes the Fist of God and He can Punch and Slap you around. That poor guy got a Holy Hit.

The Right Hand of God, that you mentioned, is good, too.

Is the Hands of God any better? Or the Holy Hands of God? Or the Holy Hand of God?

Can he become the Hands and Staff of God or is that too clumsy?

Put a new tattoo, 333, on the hand which stands for the trinity.

The Holy One is less than ideal as a title for a thriller. Doable? Yes, certainly... but seems like it'll hobble itsxelf

Slight change of plans. I made the mistake of asking Gemini to critique the idea of Connor as the "Right Hand of God." It totally blew the idea out of the water. Lots of serious potential objections from Christian readers, who would almost certainly think of Christ as the "Right Hand of God." It seems much happier with "The Lord's Shepherd," and gave a whole bunch of reasons why that should be more palatable to my target audience. Connor could then transition from calling himself "The Lord's Shepherd" at the end of book 1 to just "The Shepherd" early in book two, which is most definitely him calling himself Christ.

I could call the series "Chronicles of the Lord's Shepherd." At least that title refers to Connor, even if only indirectly, rather than Satan. Although the "Lord's Shepherd" gets a ridiculous number of false hits on Amazon due to titles like "The Lord is my Shepherd," the Chronicles title is unique and only brings back a few false hits.

Still not a true fan of "The Advent Chronicles" (from my previous post), so I'm leaning toward Chronicles.

"The Advent Chronicles" is pretty good. Why not?
"The Glorious Advent Chronicles" - yuck.
"Chronicles of the Lord's End Times"
"Connor's Chronicles" An alliteration!

The Lesser King
Better suited to LOTR
The Lord's Shepherd
kind of screams 1940 salvation / lost sheep Baptist reprisal

Backing away from the choices for a moment, you might be handcuffing yourself on titles by trying to join up Connor. A more accessible foray treats a wider sample of characters.
Here are the premise questions in the version I read.
a) Search ( a-1) For Christ in Connor. (a-2) for abducted child
b) Choice. eg Antonio vs lover or Campagna vs alcohol. Both of these might traditionally be considered wrong, so choice= 7 deadly sins.
c) AC. This term is the elephant in the room that will be challenging to use in a unique title
If I do not err, the above three are the central themes.If so, may I offer:
Connor versus the AC
Of course this could be considered deceptive, but more so than anything else? Most laymen assume Return of the Jedi is about Luke.
Scion of the Endtimes
kinda bland. I'd initially thought of Child of the Endtimes, but I bet that's been done to death.
Seven deadly choices series
This one is a lot of work, but doable over three books.
Don't use any of these... I'm just brainstorm examples of detaching from the MC