Khatun’s Link To The House On Nob Hill
Of the many themes in “Duino Elegies,” one of the most prominent is the limitation of humankind’s fractured consciousness, also a consistent theme throughout “The OA.” In these ten poems, Rilke describes a terrifying, transient, inconceivable beauty represented by otherworldly angels, but he describes them in a secular, mystical manner rather than the typical Christian fashion. Sound familiar? The first line of the first poem signifies humanity’s intense despair in relation to how the limitation of humankind on earth renders them unable to communicate with the angels. Enter OA, who’s been cited multiple times throughout the series as being a medium, of sorts, to the earthly world.
Rilke describes the beauty as, “nothing but the beginning of terror which we are barely able to endure and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.” This sounds an awful lot like whatever lies on the other side of the rose mirror. Perhaps the “worthy” are these terrifying of which angels Rilke speaks, one of the only ones able to withtake the revelations of this vast beauty at the end of the puzzle that is the house on Nob Hill.
OAs Ambiguity
In one Part I iteration, Khatun sits amidst floating galaxies, referencing the nephilim in biblical mythology. In another iteration, she appears in a hut, referencing the Baba Yaga, a witch who kidnaps and eats children and is the grandmother of the devil, a staple of Russian folklore. Interestingly, Marling was reading Vasilisa, an old Russian fairytale, while she was writing Part I, about a young girl who must utilize her inherent goodness and wit to get what she wants from Baba Yaga. Due to the fact that OAs birthfather, Roman, also has German, braille writing on his face, reading, “five empty ones,” it has even been speculated that Khatun could be OAs birthmother, which would Roman’s connection to the metaphysical much deeper than we initially thought.
Could Khatun’s intentions be impure? Her interactions with OA have only led her to her now-intertwined path with Hap, the man responsible for, arguably, ruining her life. Furthermore, the visual motif of the wolf sweatshirt OA wears in Part I consistently evokes Veles, the Slavic god of the underworld, or the devil, who is often symbolized by a wolf and associated with snakes, another recurring visual motif on “The OA.” Chapter One of Part II’s title, “Angel of Death,” and Rilke’s description of these angelic beings as “terrifying,” only broadens this theory.
If OA has indeed been swayed by dark, interdimensional forces up until this point in time, that doesn’t mean she would necessarily become an antagonist. She’s still learning about herself and what she is capable of, and that free will is an integral factor of interdimensional travel. Perhaps she needs a push in the right direction. There’s also the likelihood that Khatun is neither benevolent nor malevolent, but merely somebody with whom one can barter to get what they need at a price (i.e. Khatun taking OAs vision during her first NDE in Part I), as in the aforementioned Vasilisa fairytale.
C.U.R.I. & Hap’s Infiltration
In Q Symphony, each level achieved equates to real money earned in the form of a new, virtual currency named Ether. Q Symphony was designed to use real money, in the form of a new, untraceable virtual currency named Ether, to lure its users to the house on Nob Hill so that Hap and Ruskin, who runs a research facility named C.U.R.I., can figure out what it is. At C.U.R.I., Ruskin analyzes the dreams of each user for patterns, noticing three: A tunnel the size of a coffin, a curved, double sided staircase, and a rose, stain glass window. Only one place in the world has all three of these things: a home on Nob Hill in San Francisco. This is an example of how excellent use of setting can push plot forward within a story.
Old Night
Eventually, Karim’s investigation leads him to Nina Azarova, who, inexplicably, owns the house on Nob Hill through a Russian trust. Upon encountering OA, he lends a helping hand and breaks her out of the Treasure Island clinic. When Karim and OAs C.U.R.I. investigation finally leads them to the house, they must enter through a secret entrance. OA wears the same dress seen on the woman in Karim’s recurring nightmare and, somehow, has a flashback to his nightmare upon first putting on the dress.
Old Night is a completely nonsensical, yet nonetheless intriguing, character introduced in the most matter of factly of ways. Marling and Batmanglij want us to take this bizarre character as seriously as possible. Old Night is result of Brit’s fascination with octopuses, their archaic intelligence, and how human beings underestimate animals’ intelligence. Octopus’s’ brain network lies within their tentacles, not their heads. So, they “think-move,” without sending thoughts from a central location. Depicting a way that human beings could communicate with this species that operates on a different intelligence and communication system was paramount to them.
As viewers, we’ve leaned into our suspension of disbelief up to this point in “The OA,” so the two visionaries are asking you to suspend that disbelief a just a tad further for Old Night. While Karim searches for the back entrance to the house, OA as Nina participates in a ritual involving a giant, telepathic octopus, Old Night, submerged in a tank of water on a stage, who latches its tentacles onto OAs arms as she’s strapped to a chair in front of a live audience. Keep in mind that Nina, the owner of this entire plot of land, actively participates in this “performance,” which is a result of Nina, the character’s, recurring dreams with octopuses.
Not only does Old Night immediately recognize that it isn’t Nina, but he specifically refers to her as OA, not even Prairie. “Greet them. They love Nina, here. Tell them not to be afraid. Nina calls me ‘Old Night.’ Will you translate to the audience for me as I think through you? My brothers and sisters in the sea think that communicating with you is a waste of time. But I hold hope for your species. Nina has been my medium to connect me to you. But tonight, we cannot have the performance as usual. Tonight, I have the rare opportunity to converse with The OA. Say it. Say it out loud for him to hear you…tell them you are an angel.”
According to Batmanglij, Old Night has been doing these performances night after night, waiting to encounter OAs consciousness in order to give her an NDE, so that she can catch a glimpse of the future.
