Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-25876992-20180302045729/@comment-66185-20180430230022

Hey, there. So I've been inspired by the idea that the symbols of the Academies are the Relics, and a video on YouTube that suggested the Relic of Knowledge was based on something called the Lamp of Knowledge, a medical symbol which has an eternal flame of knowledge within. It also is the official symbol of nursing and higher education - i.e. getting new knowledge.

I decided to look up similar mythological concepts to the other Academy symbols - a laurel and double axes, a sword, and a paintbrush.

Apollo is connected to the laurel, which is related to victory or peace. To my surprise, I found out the Oracles of Delphi, or at least their cult in the Minoan civilization, was called the Labryaden, named after a double-axe. The labrys double axe was also once a symbol for Greek fascism. The labrys article on Wikipedia is very confusing, but apparently the axe is related to the labyrinth of Theseus.

There are tons of mythological swords. Excalibur comes to mind, but is more of a symbol of union than destruction. I found the tale of a flaming sword, used to guard Eden from mankind, or a world-ending flaming sword held by Surtr of Norse mythology. Germanic and Norse myths actually have tons of swords!

And as for the paintbrush - I barely found anything of mythological paintbrushing. I found an Indian folktale where a maiden fell in love with a prisoner and moved to his camp. She grew homesick, tried to return to her own camp, but overheard two blokes saying anyone who betrayed them would die. She immortalised her memory of the camp by creating a paintbrush from a branch, and used her blood to paint the picture. She chucked the brush away, causing it to create the first Indian Paintbrush flower.

It also makes sense that a paintbrush would be Atlas' symbol, due to Mantle's artistic backstory.