Personification of Grief

My interpretation to grief is that it’s a kind of antivirus and a process which has to happen, if the subject does not have grief injected into them, the pain of their loss will be two overwhelming and eventually will lead to death. My character climbs onto the subject and injects Grief into the heart from the back. The Grief injection numbs the pain and suffering but as well as injecting, it also sucks out the pain from the subject; this is a slow process and depends of how bereaved the subject is. The creature slowly dies as the pain is transferred, at first the pigmentation in its skin disappears, then a layer of skin falls off from it leaving the raw cartilage body underneath, the cartilage body disintegrates and leaves a worm like parasite hanging from the back of the subject and remains attached until the subject reaches acceptance. The grief parasite eventually falls off having absorbed the pain and disintegrates.

My character is mainly constructed from cartilage; the top layer of skin is a jelly / soft rubber texture which is slightly transparent at first, once attached it comforts the subject by cradling there upper body and using its flaps of skin like a blanket, the red lumps are soft and heat up slightly. Once the top layer of skin falls off, what’s left is a slightly transparent cartridge body or shell which has the grief parasite inside it. The parasite is made of a jelly/ bile which is kept together by a very thin layer on hard skin, inside are cells which absorbs the pain transferred from the subject and replaces it with grief. The grief itself is the florescent blue substance stored on the back of the parasite which is carried and released by my character.

Grief - Five Stages

Five Stages of Grief

Grief

Glyptapanteles Wasp

After the wasp impregnates a caterpillar with its eggs, the behavior of the host caterpillar begins to radically change. First the caterpillar stops moving. Then, after the eggs hatch and the pupae crawl out of the caterpillar's body, the caterpillar involuntarily protects the pupae from attack by thrashing wildly in the presence of predators. Although the exact biochemistry used by the wasp larvae to transform an otherwise benign caterpillar into a Manchurian Candidate-like slave remains unknown, the researchers did show that the presence of a zombie caterpillar guardian performing "violent head-swings" significantly increased the survivability of the pupae. My character will impregnate grief into its host and just like the Glyptapanteles wasp, it controls the mind of the host as it goes on this personal journey.

The Turning Point

I’m finally reaching a turning point for my character; I’ve been developing two completely different directions to take my personification of grief. Originally I imagined grief as a tall gloomy character which unleashes its own depression on its victims via its presence alone; aesthetically it would be dark with features not far from a stereotypical witch, long crooked nose and saggy skin. The main characteristic of the face would be huge drooping eyes sockets which hang all the way to the floor exaggerating the exhaustion felt; the character also carries a rather frightening white mask which he places over the victim. The mask has a huge smile and represents false emotions which you show when experiencing grief, having to put on a happy face in the denial phase.

I Still believe this personification of grief is fairly good, the image in my head oozes horror and pain but seems to obvious, it’s a personification of the emotion felt rather than an embodiment of a character which gives off grief which I feel stronger about. I’ve moved towards an insect like character which appears when its subject is experiencing grief, my concept includes the five stages of grief and elements of impregnation and gestation. I want to create a character which attaches itself onto the subject, injects Grief into the heart of the subject and stays attached until the sufferer eventually reaches acceptance. It might seem quite horrific but as well as injecting grief, the character will also comfort the subject as if it’s holding on offering support, as the subject travels through the five stages of grief it will become weaker, modifying and morphing until it is no longer needed and it turns into dust and dies.