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What started as an exploration of the devil in their show, The Exorcist Minute, has grown into something much greater. Find all the original episodes of the show and more right here in The Devil's Details with Lester Ryan Clark and Kynan Dias.
Coming up on the Devil's Details, three mighty men from Faust are we
Kynan Dias:Buff as a manly man can be.
Lester Ryan Clark:Fill to the brim with manly glee. Three mighty
Kynan Dias:men from Faust. Everything is a source of fun. Good
Lester Ryan Clark:morning, Star, and welcome to another episode of the Devil's Details, a show where we dig up, decipher, dissect, and deconstruct the many forms of the devil. One of my names is Lester Ryan Clark.
Kynan Dias:And I sometimes go by Keenan Diaz.
Lester Ryan Clark:And we're just two mighty men. No. And we're just two lost souls hitchhiking down the highway to hell. Mhmm. And folks, last time you'll remember well, I don't know.
Lester Ryan Clark:Do you remember? Because we don't. In between these episodes, I've been looking on all the the the Cliffs notes and the and the what's the other one called?
Kynan Dias:A Course Hero, there's a video. Course Heroes, yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:And the Course Hero also does a text version. Right.
Kynan Dias:There's the Wikipedia. There's like people are
Lester Ryan Clark:doing animated versions of this, like with Legos and stuff Mhmm. Which was really, really helpful. But I am still trying to trying to like like hack and slash my way through this. This is the toughest thing that we have ever done, I think. And we did Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained.
Kynan Dias:I'm having fun with it, but it is that every single act so far is a whole other play. Yes. It's a whole different thing. It's like a Blackadder. Do you know Blackadder?
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, yeah, like, the basic character.
Kynan Dias:The two characters are the same. Right? Mhmm. It's always Blackadder and his servant. Right?
Kynan Dias:Mhmm. Rowan Atkinson as Blackadder. But but they're in, like, different genres even. And and jumping forward hundreds of years, and you're supposed to know, oh, it's all the same thing, but not really.
Lester Ryan Clark:It's like Ren and Stimpy where it's like they're roommates in present day Uh-huh. Or they have a house in the country or they're suddenly like they're wanted cattle wrestlers
Kynan Dias:Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:Or pirates on the high seas Yeah. But it's always Ren and Stimpy
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:And or they're working for the president or they're or they're they're astronauts and it's that's, you know, the the most famous one is like space madness, you know. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Have a poster of that from when I was in third grade. Oh my god. But still in my house framed. Yes.
Lester Ryan Clark:I loved Ren and Stimpy so much. And I go back sometimes and I, you know, I watch them because now they're all on YouTube. Mhmm. And I'm like, oh my god. My parents were white.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. What did my parents think this was? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Okay, space cadets. That's my poster that I have. Okay, space cadets. It's time to hurdle into space. And they they just look disgusting.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. And you try to tell them, oh, it it's chihuahua. Like, no, it's not. That is not a kind of
Lester Ryan Clark:I've never seen a chihuahua look like that.
Kynan Dias:Right. Sometimes whatever it is, I don't want it in my house. Yeah. So that's that's Faust and Mephistopheles. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Right. They are kind of of themselves, but they every single act has been different. And this is like the we've kind of have some supporting characters who were across acts. Like, Helen is sort of in act two and act three. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:And then now we're gonna get back to the Holy Roman Emperor who's kind of from act one, but he acts very differently. And then the the the whole idea of what's happening here is completely removed from that first act.
Lester Ryan Clark:I'm in such a a fuddle. I'm in such a fog. I can't even even remember. I was like, I know we had the the Holy Roman Emperor in Marlow's Faust.
Kynan Dias:Oh, god. Is that what I'm
Lester Ryan Clark:thinking of? No. No. No. You're you're right.
Kynan Dias:There was there was a holy Roman emperor in this house.
Lester Ryan Clark:Oh, okay. Good. Oh, god. So it was it was like, this is every every new act is, like, waking up with a hangover, and we're,
Kynan Dias:what what did we do? Yeah. Yeah. I wonder how it would be when you're watching it all together. I mean, there is that, you know, I I have I have
Lester Ryan Clark:kind of, like, dipped in to like, we're watching it in school with with my students, the the one with Bruno Ganz. Uh-huh. Right. It, like, it it it is interesting. And and maybe I think I think watching it be performed but even though no.
Lester Ryan Clark:The one with Bruno Ganz
Kynan Dias:Mhmm. Uh-huh.
Lester Ryan Clark:They have two people playing Faust. And they have two people okay. That I I can understand. Two people playing Faust. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:Bruno Ganza as the old Faust. Okay. Right? Uh-huh. And then Mephisto comes and he's like, hey.
Lester Ryan Clark:He's gonna help you get with Gretchen. You're gonna become young. And, you
Kynan Dias:know, and
Lester Ryan Clark:then it's a new actor, and we're like,
Kynan Dias:oh, okay. That's that's really cool. Right? But there's two Mephistopheles. How do you know which one you're looking anyways.
Kynan Dias:Okay. Well, yeah, I'm having a good time. So I know you're you're not because you're the one who has to do all the heavy lifting the show and figure out, like, why are we talking about this? But I am pleasantly surprised each each new act were like, what there was there was no way I could possibly have predicted what this is. So No.
Lester Ryan Clark:No. No. I I don't wanna I don't wanna put that out there. I am having a good time. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:But I'm just I'm just putting this out there in case we miss something. In in in case, you know, like, in in the annals of history, people come back and they listen to this, they're like, these people don't know what the fuck they're talking about. And they sound really, really stupid. So I just wanna I just want to Mhmm. To to preface that, and I want to, you know, to to to to stop the emails Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:And and say that is because we are really stupid.
Kynan Dias:Now, is a version in, you know, 3025 when there's been a Mad Max style post apocalyptic, you know, renaissance where they're looking back at history, and there are no copies of Faust part two anymore. Mhmm. And there are there is nothing except Lester's hard drive. So like All
Lester Ryan Clark:of the Internet has been erased.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. The podcast servers from everyone else has been destroyed. Mhmm. And this is this is what people are using to reconstruct Faust two. And, yeah, I just want you to know if you're listening to this people in the future or aliens in the future.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm. Yeah. It it is as confusing as as it sounds. We
Lester Ryan Clark:regret to inform you. We know you've already bought the costumes and the sets and everything like that. The missus Doubtfire part Right. Is not actually part
Kynan Dias:of it. That was that was us. They have a whole missus Doubtfire cult. That's their religion. They they worship Daniel as this trickster god who is both male and female, young and old, father and mother, American and Scottish Yeah.
Kynan Dias:All at once.
Lester Ryan Clark:They call it Meforce Doubtfire.
Kynan Dias:Right. And they they they worship missus Doubtfire in the hopes of keeping Miranda at bay. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes. Yeah. And it's just like the trend. It's like it's like, you know, you you know, the the those famous kind of like parables of, you know, it's like going up to a priest and be like, well, how can three be one? Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:And then, you know, this Irish priest famously, you know, plucks a shamrock and he shows it to, you know, a three leaf clover and he shows it to, you know, this this parishioner and it's like, oh, and suddenly my mind was open. That's, know, it's like, well, how can how can how can missus Doubtfire exist? How can how can how can two be one? It's like, what is that? That doesn't even make any sense.
Lester Ryan Clark:You know, father father father Hillard. Right?
Kynan Dias:Everyone's named Hillard in the future. Yeah. Brother Hillard in holiest of names. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:It's like, do not do not fret my son. God has been with us the whole time. You know, it's now now peace be with you, peace be with you. Right. And everyone just turns to each other.
Lester Ryan Clark:On page three, and everybody do a great impression of a hotdog. And they close out the service with, like, thank you all for being here. I have to go now. I have to go. I have to go.
Lester Ryan Clark:Now.
Kynan Dias:Have to go now. And yay, though I once thought I was funny, I used to think I was funny. There was a time when I found myself funny, but Mhmm. Behold, today, you have proven me wrong. Mhmm.
Kynan Dias:Amen.
Lester Ryan Clark:And I forgot the the most important part of all.
Kynan Dias:Right? Like, how the priest greets the his his fucking hello. Hello. But guess you could talk about Faust a little bit in this Faust episode.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. So what we're saying folks is none of the aliens in the future, none of that
Kynan Dias:Right. Was Faust. Everything you you knew was a lie. We apologize.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. The funniest part of Faust is not in Faust. Okay. Alright. So yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay. So we open with Faust floating down onto this jagged mountain peak. It's actually he has to be very, very careful. Right? He's he's he's he's kind of, like, floating, and it's.
Lester Ryan Clark:And he floats and I'm gonna I'm gonna float down over here. It's jagged. It's a jagged mountain.
Kynan Dias:Very jagged. Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:But he's he's riding that cloud that used to be Helen's robes. Remember that? Right? Like Helen died?
Kynan Dias:I don't remember that. Okay. Let me let me turn my pages here. Okay. Okay.
Kynan Dias:Helen died and became the heir because she's chasing after her their son.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. With a stupid name. Right?
Kynan Dias:So Euphorion thinks he can fly
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. Mhmm. Because he's been given everything in his short life on a on a silver platter, and he thinks, why why should I listen to gravity? He runs off a cliff, and he splatters on the ground, and then and then and then Helen's sad, and she's like, oh, I'm gonna I'm gonna join my son in not hell hell, but like Helen's hell. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:And so they go down there.
Kynan Dias:That's silly. Helen Helen's hell this fall on CBS. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:And right after the and and and and Faust is is left just holding holding these clothes. Right?
Kynan Dias:Right. Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. And he he sniffs them real good. Alright.
Kynan Dias:But, like, like, in between his sobs, he's like.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Mhmm. Okay. But then they become the clouds. Uh-huh.
Lester Ryan Clark:I know. And then and then he floats up into the sky and now he is descending. Right. Not in a bubble bro, but like on on this on this cloud. Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:And on this jagged mountain peak. Right? Right. Mhmm. The cloud starts to take Helen's shape in the sky.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay. But before Faust can really process this, these enormous boots just drop onto the peak out of nowhere, and Mephistopheles steps out of them, and then the boots just walk away by themselves. So I'm trying to get a visual of this. Right?
Kynan Dias:Yeah. I thought maybe boots meant something else, but you're saying they mean heavy shoes.
Lester Ryan Clark:I think they're I think they are boots. I think I like, is this is this like because he because because it's he says enormous boots, like big boots.
Kynan Dias:Oh, yeah. Yeah. This in in the William translation says a seven league boot lumbers onto the stage. So Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:Wait. Just one?
Kynan Dias:That's a hell of a boot. But but that can't be right. Boots don't belong by themselves. A seven league boot Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Wanders on. So so the actor playing Mephisto
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Is in in a giant boot, and it just kinda, like, comes hopping onto the stage.
Kynan Dias:Oh, another follows it. I'm sorry. There there are two. Okay. Okay.
Kynan Dias:Okay. Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:Was that was that hesitation in the stage direction as well?
Kynan Dias:Like, oh, wait. No. That doesn't make any There's another boot. Another boot comes out. Let me let me check something for for a second.
Lester Ryan Clark:Oh, seven league boots?
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Hey, Siri. How many feet is in a league? The league was used in ancient Rome as a unit of measurement, and it was defined as 1.5 Roman miles, 7,500 Roman feet, modern 2.2 kilometers or 1.4 miles. Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:There you go. Thank you.
Kynan Dias:Thank you, Iris. Thank
Lester Ryan Clark:you. Thank Goodbye.
Kynan Dias:We are done here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We have your thank you.
Kynan Dias:We have your headshot. Thank you. Okay. So now you know. 1.4 miles is so it's seven it's 9.8
Lester Ryan Clark:miles is a is a boot, I guess. Okay. So, yeah, seven league boots, famously, we know, like, these are these are like magic boots you put on your feet and, like, you take one step and you Yeah. You've traveled seven leagues, which is
Kynan Dias:9.8 miles. Great.
Lester Ryan Clark:Awesome. Yeah. So really, really good if you're like, you know, last stage of a video game and that's when, you know, you kill the boss and you're like, oh, boy. Like, this is like you know, or the second to last boss. Right?
Kynan Dias:Right. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:But you would get it, like, right at the last. It's like, I could've used these. I could've used
Kynan Dias:you before.
Lester Ryan Clark:The palace was so the the the final boss's palace was like so far away. Right? And you didn't have them then. No.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Okay. So Mephisopheles is in one of these boots.
Lester Ryan Clark:Why isn't he
Kynan Dias:In both of them?
Lester Ryan Clark:No. Why aren't the boots normal size? Uh-huh. And he just kinda just comes on like like like really fast.
Kynan Dias:That doesn't sound as fun. I guess not. As a pair of giant boots.
Lester Ryan Clark:As a pair of giant boots come come stomping onto the stage.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. He comes out
Lester Ryan Clark:of one of them.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm. Yeah. You're thinking oh, sorry. Go ahead.
Lester Ryan Clark:And then and then they both kind of like off the stage.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. You're you're in too much of the mind mindset of how am I going to do this. Oh, but yeah. Well, yeah. Because I gotta stage this.
Kynan Dias:This is it's opening night tomorrow. Tomorrow.
Lester Ryan Clark:And I'm Nathan Lane,
Kynan Dias:and I'm gonna lose a lot of money. We've got ones of people coming.
Lester Ryan Clark:And even though this is the producers, Pumba is my co producer. The guy who plays Pumba, I mean.
Kynan Dias:Okay. Oh, no. Not Ernie Sabella. No. Pumba.
Kynan Dias:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Actually, yeah. He's there. We're trying to make these seven lead boots work because that's what that's
Lester Ryan Clark:what's in the text and we can't go against the text of the great Goethe.
Kynan Dias:Maybe we should be following the spirit of the text.
Lester Ryan Clark:Pumba, this is this is why you're the vice producer.
Kynan Dias:Oh, sorry. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So yeah.
Kynan Dias:Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:The the boots walk away by themselves. Yes.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. These boots were made for walking?
Lester Ryan Clark:And and they do. These boots were made for walking. And then just right off the stage you hear, like right right out of right in the wings, like Mhmm. Right off stage you hear,
Kynan Dias:wow. My boots. I haven't seen these since I had to get away from that boat incident with Natalie Wood. I'm gonna keep talking about
Lester Ryan Clark:that because I know he's guilty.
Kynan Dias:Oh, wow.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay. Yeah. So the boots walk away. Right?
Kynan Dias:Okay. Anyways. Yeah. So Mephisto was barefoot then for the rest of
Lester Ryan Clark:this thing.
Kynan Dias:You can't wear boots inside your boots. That's crazy.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. So he starts going on about how
Kynan Dias:the okay. Yeah. The boot the boot psych gag is done. Yeah. That's it.
Lester Ryan Clark:Now Goethe is like, okay. Now we get serious. Right?
Kynan Dias:Right. So Mephisto Well, could like, the opening credits to Rowan and Martin's laughing are done. Yes. Okay. And then we say, well, as you know, Robert F.
Kynan Dias:Kennedy was killed yesterday, and we need to be very serious about this here. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:But, yeah. So Mephisto starts talking, he's like, you know Mhmm. The mountains were actually formed by devils coughing up sulfuric fumes from hell. Right? He's trying to make this point about how everything in the world is like backwards from what people think.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right? And also explain why devils got to be the princes of the air. I don't know how coughing up the mountains does that.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. I I it's like, I think everything is spewing up rather than than forming down.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay.
Kynan Dias:Like like so in in the traditional thought of it, right, like everyone was in heaven. All there was was heaven. Uh-huh. And then things have been coming down, and then that makes the earth, and then hell comes after that. Right?
Kynan Dias:It's like underneath it. So everything is going in the opposite direction.
Lester Ryan Clark:They really, really, really want to Mhmm. Make Christianity a pagan religion. Like, they are so like like, not just Goethe, but, like, like, like, Dante Yep. And Milton, they are they are, like this reminds me of when so, like, according to Dante Mhmm. Well, no.
Lester Ryan Clark:No. No. According to Dante, according to Virgil, because Virgil's telling telling the self insert Dante Uh-huh. He's like, oh, hell was created when Lucifer fell from heaven Right.
Kynan Dias:And he created this big hole.
Lester Ryan Clark:And oh, what happened to all the dirt that was displaced from that hole? That's Mount Purgatory. So it's like they're
Kynan Dias:trying
Lester Ryan Clark:to like this isn't Paul Bunyan. Now you might be wondering where the clouds come from or the the mountains or the rivers. Well, it you know, Satan had a cold one day and he and he sneezed so much that
Kynan Dias:the the the that's why we have the Mississippi.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right.
Kynan Dias:Right? Like, no. But Yeah. Maybe we need inherently a creation myth, and and Genesis is a Genesis is a creation myth, but it it it's not really interested in those types of questions that you have there. Or it's talking about very general which makes sense if you're trying to found a, like, a world religion or if it's the truth.
Kynan Dias:Right? Like, it's very general. It's it's very but, like, creation myths are about, like, yeah, that's look over there. That mountain, those are the boots. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Those are the giant boots that get stuck there.
Lester Ryan Clark:And and and and this was this was Mephesto's faithful dog who said he would wait for him forever. Right. And it's just this mountain shaped like a dog because it turned to stone or something like that.
Kynan Dias:Right. Right. Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:Genesis the lake that that it oversees is the dog's tears because because it was it was missing Mephisto.
Kynan Dias:Right. Right. Exactly. But Genesis, like, does that, but it is it's just like we have more important things to do. Right?
Kynan Dias:Like Yeah. We have all this, but that's like two what? Two chapters of Genesis is is the the whole creation myth. Then we've because we have to fit in Adam and and Eve and then Mhmm. And then still Noah.
Kynan Dias:Right? Like like Right. Like Genesis is not just Adam and Eve. It's Noah and then all of his begats and everybody.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. The most the most like myth y thing Mhmm. In our Genesis story is is Noah taking like the the animals two by two. Right. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Like that's the most kind of like like like story time
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mythology type thing. And everything else is like like you say, it's like, you know,
Kynan Dias:and God said, let there be light. There was. And it was good.
Lester Ryan Clark:And it's like it almost sounds like, you know, and God said, let there be light. And it was.
Kynan Dias:And it was good. Moving on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Like, what more do you need?
Kynan Dias:Yeah. So that's interesting. I hadn't really thought about that, but, yeah, maybe we need more. Maybe we need to make creation myths out of our religion because that is just more it's more fun, as you said, but more satisfying, I suppose. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Why did he save all the mosquitoes? Well, let me tell you. You know? They used to only drink sap, and then once the boat landed, the the one one mosquito Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Was like, hey. It it it really liked to listen to to to it it it liked to whisper in people's ears and and and and also, like, listen to to to people arguing and and and Shem called Ham a sack. And he was like
Kynan Dias:he was like, oh, well,
Lester Ryan Clark:that's that's what I need to do and he started drinking human blood because he thought it was it was sap. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And that's why we have blood drinking mosquitoes.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Oh, I I'm I've been up. I've been awake. Don't worry. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Well, no. That didn't like, like, that's that's kind of the the the flavor that we got here.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. That's super interesting.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay. Cool.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. But yeah. Okay. So let's see. Boots walk away with them.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Yeah. So that's that's what Mephisto's trying to do. He's like, oh, yeah. All the mountains came from so so he's being serious though.
Kynan Dias:Oh, yeah. I think He's
Lester Ryan Clark:not joking to Faust. He's like, hey. It was mountains. Like like he's saying that's what happened. The mountains are a result of the the demons coughing in hell so much that mountains were created.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. I think so. Absolutely.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay. Yeah. Even even, like, quotes the Bible to back up his claims. Mhmm. And Faust is not interested in any of it.
Lester Ryan Clark:And this is proof Mhmm. This whole thing about, like, seeking knowledge, that is some very interesting knowledge. I would be like, yes. Please tell me more. Right?
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:That's very interesting. But no. He he's like, no. No. No.
Lester Ryan Clark:I I need to get my my my quill wet.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. And a couple times, Mephisto
Lester Ryan Clark:So then, okay, Mephisto asks Faust if he has found anything in the world that he really wants. Mhmm. He thinks he thinks the answer is no, but Faust surprises him. What Faust wants is to create new land by pushing back the ocean and containing it. Sounds familiar because it is.
Lester Ryan Clark:It's it's it's that part of Genesis where God separates the water from the land. Yeah. Right? Uh-huh. And it's it's so we're back into kind of the creation myth thing.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right? Miss Mephisto's response is basically, oh, that's that's easy.
Kynan Dias:That's all you wanted? We could we could have said that, you know, months ago.
Lester Ryan Clark:You could have said that, like, seven leagues ago. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Gave you a son because I thought that would make you happy and you just want some some land. Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:Alright. Okay. Alright. Then they hear drums and military music in the distance. Mephisto explains what's going on.
Lester Ryan Clark:Remember that paper money scheme that they pulled on the emperor? Yes, that emperor. It backfired. The emperor tried to both govern and also live it up at the same time, and everything fell apart into chaos and rebellion. So Mephisto suggests that they help the emperor defeat these these rebels.
Kynan Dias:Okay. So it's again like paper money is bad and we've come back to that now to like finalize that. I so okay. So that's what
Lester Ryan Clark:you think Goethe is saying, paper money is bad?
Kynan Dias:I think so. I was reading that a lot of people of Goethe's time, if you were a learned person, it was just kind of understood that what they did in the French Revolution with this paper money was bad inherently and we shouldn't come back to that.
Lester Ryan Clark:Did they look at paper money like we look at like cryptocurrency Yeah. And
Kynan Dias:stuff? Yeah. Think that's a fair comparison. Right? And then the one place where it happened, the the economy fell apart.
Kynan Dias:But, you know, they maybe the economy fell apart because it was a crazy revolution. People forgot why they were killing each other, but they kept killing each other.
Lester Ryan Clark:I'm wondering I'm wondering if I mean, I I see that. Right? Yeah. It's like it's like people are gonna like like, once they're mad,
Kynan Dias:they're gonna forget why they're mad and they're just gonna be
Lester Ryan Clark:getting mad. Right. But I was wondering if Goethe was saying, well, no, like, paper money could be useful, but these guys, they didn't because the whole Mhmm. Argument that Mephisto was was putting on back there when he was dressed as the fool, Him him and Faust were like, hey, there's there's a a a treasure in them thar hills. There's, you know, there's golden jewels and everything like that under the earth.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. Like, we could dig that up and maybe convert that into paper money and, you know, it's like that's that can be like our our exchange. Or we can just be safe in the knowledge that it's there and make the paper money.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. That's interesting. Right? Because we yes. That's where we are today is we don't back up our money to any any set amount of materials because Right.
Kynan Dias:We we couldn't do that. There there is more there there are more dollars in the world than there are gold, if I understand this correctly. Mhmm. So, like, we our economy is bigger than there is gold.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. So we're We
Kynan Dias:couldn't do that today.
Lester Ryan Clark:We're kind of running on the illusion of of value.
Kynan Dias:It's faith, baby. Just relax. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Yeah. So some so before we before we got off of our our gold standards and our like and any kind of standard, we thought that that was impossible. But we've proven that pretty well in the past sixty, fifty years that we do not need we do not need to base our money off anything except for the collective understanding that Yeah. Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.
Lester Ryan Clark:If everybody believes in a set size and shape of bullshit, then you can have an economy or a religion or, you know.
Kynan Dias:Well, I I do yeah. I don't wanna get into it, but there there are some people who are like who are like, yeah. The the money system is bullshit and and etcetera, but it is I I I'm a firm believer in fiat currency that we shouldn't that we don't need to have it backed up. So Gotcha. I don't wanna there are some people who would stab me in a bar for saying that.
Lester Ryan Clark:It's those people who believe in Toyota currency. Am I right?
Kynan Dias:That's right.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. But yeah. Okay. So so that's that's the that's that's the thing. It's the emperor is back and he's pissed.
Lester Ryan Clark:No.
Kynan Dias:That's right.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Never no. He used he used like, he he Mhmm. He was he was swindled by this paper money idea Mhmm. Put forth by Faust and Mephisto, and now he's dealing with these rebels who are like, the yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:The the kingdom has has fallen into shambles. Right?
Kynan Dias:Right. Mhmm. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:So so they're gonna they're gonna help them. They're gonna help the emperor
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Defeat the rebels. That's right.
Kynan Dias:That's what emperors do, I suppose.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes. Right? The rebel scum. So they move down to a lower mountain range where they can see the armies in the valley below. Mephisto's confident that they can win this for the emperor using magic because magic works so well when he was helping the emperor before.
Kynan Dias:So you're saying the emperor has arranged this new place they've helped him find this new place in the valley where they could spy, you know, from high above and they could see everything.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes. Okay. Great.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. This this star above Yeah. Everything that they could they could see where they have to kill things.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes. The star that deals
Kynan Dias:death. Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:No. No. No. I think they're just in the valley, and and and Mephisto and and Faust are kind of, like, peeking over this. Remember, it's a very jagged mountain peak.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right? Right. So even when they're peeking, they're like, ow. Ow. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:But So Mephisto's confident that they can win this war for the emperor using magic, and he sweetens the deal by pointing out that if they help the emperor, Faust will probably get that shoreline he wants for his Minecraft
Kynan Dias:project. Alright.
Lester Ryan Clark:But yeah. So Faust tells Mephisto to handle, winning the battle. I like that. Okay. Great plan.
Lester Ryan Clark:You handle winning the battle.
Kynan Dias:And I will
Lester Ryan Clark:I will work on setting up this umbrella and this towel. But no, Mephisto's like, actually, you need to be the general today. I Oh. Terrible. When Faust points out that he knows nothing about war, Mephisto says not to worry.
Lester Ryan Clark:He's created this war council called the three mighty men.
Kynan Dias:I love them.
Lester Ryan Clark:And he's he's copying this from the bible where King David had three mighty warriors who helped him defeat the Philistines, but I can only see, like, very kind of, like, three stoogey, Mark's brother y, kind of like cartoony. Like, all of them are a different shape and size. You know what I mean? They
Kynan Dias:they are. Yeah. Uh-huh.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. And they all kind of like when they walk, they do that thing with their with their, you know, their elbows out, you know, and kinda like I can't it's a it's not
Kynan Dias:a visual thing, but, you know, it's like they're Like Popeye. Like, elbows don't don't do that. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:But they all do it in sync. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:So I will admit, I did not follow the career of King David after he killed that one Philistine, Goliath. And so I I just sort of assumed that he just if there was a Philistine that need to be killed, he would go and do it himself
Lester Ryan Clark:Uh-huh. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:For the rest of his life. I know he got old. He had other things to do. He's got a whole kingdom. I get that.
Kynan Dias:But, yeah, I just assumed he was always fighting them.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. With with his with his little sling, he never he never upgraded. He was just like, it worked the first time.
Kynan Dias:Right. Sure. I mean, if I was a Philistine, I would get the hell out of there.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. I would build some anti sling protections. Impossible. Yeah. My liege, here's an even bigger slinger.
Kynan Dias:No. Yeah. So so Maybe their god is the one true god. Yeah. I can't remember which show we talked about this on, whether it's Devil Details or Everything Ever All At Once.
Kynan Dias:But we talked about how Pinky and the Brain give up. Right? Like like like, as a kid, was like, okay. So Pinky and the Brain, they got foiled because Pinky pressed the wrong button at the wrong time. But the machine that they were using in that episode was was sound.
Kynan Dias:Don't they just go back and do that again? Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes.
Kynan Dias:Yes. So so that even as the kid was like, come on. Go back go back and do that. Right? But why am I talking about this?
Lester Ryan Clark:I think we were talking about, like, the the the him making, like, like, larger sling contraptions and everything like that.
Kynan Dias:Oh. Oh. Oh. Okay. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm. But so, you know, who doesn't do the the pinky and the brain thing and just give up is is the emperor.
Lester Ryan Clark:And now okay. We've gone all over the place already. Are we talking about the holy Roman emperor?
Kynan Dias:I am not talking about the holy Roman emperor. I'm talking about Darth Sidious. Darth Sidious. Yes. He he just does the exact same fucking thing Yes.
Kynan Dias:Two two more times. So he's the anti brain,
Lester Ryan Clark:I would say. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:He he he the anti brain Mhmm. Is the emperor.
Kynan Dias:Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:And his method allows him to come back after being thrown down a fucking shaft Right. Into space.
Kynan Dias:Into space into a death star that's then blown up. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:He's dead.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. But somehow.
Kynan Dias:Right. And his great plan is to build another one of those.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. Mhmm. Yep. Yeah. So that's and then and then and then the the the scene kind of like transitions like, and you just see and you just see Mephisto and he's like,
Kynan Dias:and that's the plan. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:But we did that already. No.
Kynan Dias:Can the can the holy Roman emperor be Darth Sidious?
Lester Ryan Clark:Absolutely. Okay. Good. Good. Alright.
Lester Ryan Clark:He's already fighting the rebels. Alright.
Kynan Dias:Okay. Anyway, so this is so Mephisopheles quoting the Bible to justify his plans, you know, several times in this act, which is interesting. Yeah. Not quoting the serpent or quoting, the Satan or anything like that.
Lester Ryan Clark:No. No. He's quoting like the good parts of
Kynan Dias:the bible. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Alright.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. So he's talking about these three mighty men.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right? And these guys show up. Right? And you got a young one who's who's all about violence and bloodshed. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right? A middle aged one who just wants treasure. Mhmm. And you got an old conservative one Yep. Who likes both.
Kynan Dias:No. Yeah. So the the young one is is all about like, hey, I'm brave, etcetera. Right? I'm doing this and I'm doing it for the love like Ray J.
Kynan Dias:And the middle one is like dressed really nicely and he's like, well, you know, there's a reason why we're doing this and he can he's getting this for treasure and like there's a what we're gonna do without the treasure. And the old one is kind of like, I've seen it all before and like I'm not swayed by any of those things, but I'm really really safe against, like, pain and fear. Like, I don't I don't really care about pain. I don't really care about fear.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. So I've seen it all before. Yeah. So when we say when we say conservative, we mean, like, the original meaning, not the capital c conservative.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Yeah. He's like, yeah. I'm not afraid of them. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Yeah. It's I'm not sweet by anything. Like like, I'm not afraid of death, but I'm also not like, oh, I'm willing to die for glory and I'm not willing to die for money.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. He is reserved. He is cautious. That's that's what he is. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. Right? He can take it. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:They all and they all head down the mountain together to deal with this battle.
Kynan Dias:I I love how it looks like deal with this battle.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right? You know? This is this you know, solve this little conundrum.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Yeah. And Faust is is like, he's been made the general and he's like, oh, that's terrible. I don't wanna do this at all. But but then Mephisophis immediately is like, but I I'm giving you these three guys who really are the warriors and generals and what?
Kynan Dias:They're gonna go and figure this all out themselves. So
Lester Ryan Clark:Alright. So, yeah. So so they so they're marching down there. Right? And now we have the next scene.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. And this is on a foothill. Mhmm. Right? This is not this is not the hill where the seven league boots are.
Lester Ryan Clark:That's the hill above that that we just left.
Kynan Dias:Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:That's the foothill. That's the foothill. Yes. Alright. So now we're on a foothill.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. Right? And we're down at this foothill where the emperor, the emperor, set up his command tent with his military officers and they're discussing how strong their army is. Mhmm. But the two scouts come in with some pretty bad news.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. A new hope. No. No. A lot a lot of people who should be loyal to the emperor are too scared to fight for him, And, there's this guy calling himself the anti emperor Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:Who has managed to organize all the rebels under his banner. Mhmm. The emperor decides he's going to prove what a noble leader he is by challenging this anti emperor Mhmm. To one on one combat. Alright.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay. So Alright. That's yeah. That's what we got. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:And right then, Faust shows up in armor with his three mighty men Mhmm. Offering to help the emperor when using magic. And they actually like there's like with magic. Like that's that's part of the sale. Right.
Kynan Dias:Now with magic.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. And the emperor is grateful. Does he remember Faust?
Kynan Dias:They certainly don't mention that. Yeah. It's like, hey, you. You're the one with the paper money idea. But he was like, he was that's where I was the most confused is in act one because he was he was disguised as a as a not the he wasn't disguised as the boy charioteer, was he?
Kynan Dias:Was
Lester Ryan Clark:that Mephisto. Was Plutus.
Kynan Dias:Right. He was disguised as Plutus.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right? No. That was in another oh, god.
Kynan Dias:No. No. That was in
Lester Ryan Clark:in That the masquerade thing.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Yeah. That's act one of this.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay.
Kynan Dias:And then act two is classical Valkyrgus knock, and then act three is is the Greek the Greek days. Yeah. The the Trojan War.
Lester Ryan Clark:I I think we're like off by one,
Kynan Dias:but I don't know why. There's only there's only three so far.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. This is four. Okay.
Kynan Dias:Alright. Alright. You're you're trying to skip ahead to five. You're trying to be done, but we're not. Keep pulling you back in.
Lester Ryan Clark:I just remember there was a vampire at a masked ball, and I thought that was act two.
Kynan Dias:Whatever. Whatever. Yeah. Yeah. So anyways, he's he's not like, you know, oh, hey.
Kynan Dias:You you're Plutus. Yeah. Right. He doesn't do that. You're prince Ali.
Lester Ryan Clark:Prince Abu Boo. Yeah. I know you. Alright, so we got emperor and we got anti emperor.
Kynan Dias:And Plutus.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah, anti emperor and uncle Henry.
Kynan Dias:Stop it. So he shows up with his
Lester Ryan Clark:with his three Mighty Men.
Kynan Dias:Right? Great. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Yes. Right?
Kynan Dias:Did you did you mention their names?
Lester Ryan Clark:No. I didn't.
Kynan Dias:Basher, snatcher, and grasper.
Lester Ryan Clark:Basher, snatcher, and grasper, folks.
Kynan Dias:Yes. That's how John Williams has translated it. Uh-huh. Previous translators made it maybe this is closer to the real German.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay.
Kynan Dias:Bully boy, grab quick, and hold tight.
Lester Ryan Clark:Gotcha.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Raffebold, Hadabald, Halsefest.
Lester Ryan Clark:There we go. Yeah. Raffaibold, Hassefald, Bolshevik. Yeah. There we go.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right?
Kynan Dias:Holy boy, grab quick, hold tight.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yep. That's that is that is and see, I knew they walked like that because that's how they would walk.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Right. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Right? And they get they got the, you know, like little like a piece of wheat out of out of one side of their mouth.
Kynan Dias:All three of them? Yeah. Did they do that? Did they arrange that together? Did they they make a little pack?
Kynan Dias:No. One them one of them's got dramatic walk and they're
Lester Ryan Clark:like One of them's got a got the wheat. One of them's got his hat pulled down over his eyes. Uh-huh. Right? And one of them's got a he's got a tattoo that says mom.
Lester Ryan Clark:There. That's how you know
Kynan Dias:they're tough. These are mighty men.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Mhmm. Mhmm. Right? Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:But the emperor is like, no, no, no, boys. Mhmm. I'm gonna handle this this anti emperor myself.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. I don't know why, but
Lester Ryan Clark:I I don't know why. Right? Because he has lightning powers, of course. Does he? This is yeah.
Kynan Dias:Oh, oh, Palpatine. Yes. No. It's confusing sometimes. I have to look through.
Kynan Dias:I was flipping through pages trying to find his
Lester Ryan Clark:The holy Roman emperor.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Yeah. This is a crazy play.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. It does. Yeah. This this would not be out of place.
Kynan Dias:Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:But yeah. But when when his messengers come back saying that the rebels just laughed at his challenge Mhmm. The emperor changes his tune. He orders his army to advance and says the three mighty men can join the troops.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right? Because they laughed
Kynan Dias:at him. Yeah. They didn't share their wheat.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Exactly. Right. The battle gets pretty wild. You got the three mighty men fighting alongside these these empty suits of armor.
Lester Ryan Clark:That's the other detail, right, that Mephisto has brought to life with magic, right? But then these two ravens, probably like Mephisto's spies, it's very Odin, he had two raven messengers. Right?
Kynan Dias:Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:They come and they talk to him, and he tells the emperor that they are losing, and the emperor finally swallows his pride and puts Mephisto in charge. Mhmm. Mephisto immediately starts using all sorts of tricks. Right? He has water spirits create the illusion of a flood to make the enemy run away.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. My question, they're water spirits. Yep. Why are they creating the illusion of a flood?
Kynan Dias:Is that more simple than just flooding them? Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Like, just just just create a your water spirits
Kynan Dias:create a flood. Maybe they maybe they're pacifists. They don't actually kill any of them.
Lester Ryan Clark:There we go. Right? It's that like water, like like flowing serenely down the the river just like yeah. We'll create we'll create the illusion
Kynan Dias:of of
Lester Ryan Clark:of water. Yeah. Okay. Sure. And, yeah, Mephisto keeps kinda like alternating between like pitch darkness and blinding light to Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:To confuse the army. The magic armor gets a second wind. Again, I didn't I didn't know like, I thought I thought they just had permanent wind. You know?
Kynan Dias:Yeah. My my arm was tired.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. And they start fighting like we were warriors again. Mhmm. Between all of these magical tricks, they managed to win the battle for the emperor.
Kynan Dias:Yay.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes. Right? Okay.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. And his his his army is like, I think if the emperor laughs like that, he's probably like the bad guy. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:He's dressed all in black, and he's and he and he looks like a you know, the the he looks all old and evil y and all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:So now we are in the next scene. We're in the meanwhile, this is the anti emperor's tent.
Kynan Dias:Uh-huh.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right? So two of Faust's mighty men sneak into the anti emperor's tent looking very much like Marian Pippin Mhmm. Which is which is just and and this tent is just packed with treasure and they try to grab these these little gold chests but Mhmm. Even the small ones are ridiculously heavy Right. So when so so some of the emperor's guards come in and start yelling, it's like, oh, thieves, right, at them, but the mighty men just grab what they can and carry it off, and the guards are left wondering why they didn't try to stop these guys and why these thieves seem kind of ghostly.
Lester Ryan Clark:So I guess Mephisto's still kinda helping him out with with magic. Or are the three Mighty Men like were they ghosts to begin with?
Kynan Dias:I think they're ghosts to begin with.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay.
Kynan Dias:Do they know that they're ghosts?
Lester Ryan Clark:Is that why they couldn't pick up those like small chests?
Kynan Dias:Their their
Lester Ryan Clark:hands just Maybe. Kept
Kynan Dias:Going through Frightener style. Yeah. Mhmm. Well, why and why is it only the two? It's the two older ones.
Kynan Dias:Right. Grab quick and hold tight. Right? Yeah. They leave bully boy out of it, basher.
Lester Ryan Clark:Is it is it because he's too too crass, too loud, too he's like, he's not good for stealth? Or Yeah. Usually you leave them like, you know, you separate a trio, you break up a band because you it's like, let's split up. And then we're gonna be like, meanwhile Mhmm. Bully Boy was doing this.
Kynan Dias:But we don't really No.
Lester Ryan Clark:See bully boy doing anything.
Kynan Dias:They purposely left him out of this.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Because they don't like him.
Kynan Dias:They don't like him. Yeah. He's young and beautiful. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Fuck that guy. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:So then the emperor, the emperor emperor Uh-huh. Comes in with four princes, and he's absolutely thrilled about winning the battle. Mhmm. Doesn't even care that they had to use magic to do it.
Kynan Dias:Doesn't care that he didn't do anything. He didn't go and fight the anti emperor by himself, I guess.
Lester Ryan Clark:That was the whole thing that he wanted to do. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:He's totally fine with that.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yep. Yep. And he starts handing out these these fancy titles to the princes. There's there's the arch marshal and the arch cup bearer.
Kynan Dias:Well, that's what's really interesting to me is that so he's got these four friends, and presumably, he knows them before, and they've gone and fought in this battle. Mhmm. And he's like, well, now you're gonna basically form this kingdom with me, and so you're gonna be at the lord high marshal. And then that guy's like, that was such an honor. And you're gonna be the lord chamberlain, and you're gonna take care of you know, basically, the first guy's taking care of the military.
Kynan Dias:The second guy's taking care of the treasury. And then the third guy is the lord Shenneshall, and you're gonna, like, make all the food, and you're gonna cook make parties for me and cook all my dinners for me. And this seems to be a really rapid decline in importance here. And then the fourth guy, yeah, is the lord cup bearer. Yep.
Kynan Dias:And he's gonna grow the wine and make sure that there's always wine around. Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. And that's the four equal parts of the empire.
Lester Ryan Clark:But my but my lord, what what about, like, don't I get any fiefdoms or, you know, like, I I'm I'm not like, where's my where's my legion of of soldiers? Or or
Kynan Dias:You're You're choking me. You're choking me. Where's my wine? That's my question.
Lester Ryan Clark:George c Palpatine?
Kynan Dias:Hey, Jack. Use the force. But yeah. Yeah. So so so yeah.
Kynan Dias:So so we
Lester Ryan Clark:have the archcup bearer and all and all that. And then okay. And then he gives yeah. He does give them, like, estates and authority. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. Right? As long as they remember that he's still the boss. Right? Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:It's kind of kind of kind of showing how insecure you are, but, you know, whatever.
Kynan Dias:He raises them to equal rank, but he's the best of them equally.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. Yes.
Kynan Dias:Which I guess is what the holy of the room emperor is anyways.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Some are more equal than others. But but yeah. So then then we got the chancellor archbishop. He shows up during all of this.
Lester Ryan Clark:And after the other four princes leave, he stays behind.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. And this is where I'm like, okay, I have figured out Faust part two. Right? I was like, okay, so they they've all left. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:And we haven't heard from Faust or Mephisopheles in quite some
Lester Ryan Clark:time. Sure.
Kynan Dias:And this guy shows up and he has the the ear of the emperor and he starts telling them what really has to happen. Mhmm. And so this chancellor archbishop who's gonna tell the emperor what to do, that's Mephistopheles in disguise. Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:Boy, how the tables have turned.
Kynan Dias:I finally figured out how Faust works. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:I mean, yeah, anytime there's there's there's a rubbish Uh-huh. Leader
Kynan Dias:Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:And somebody comes a new guy.
Kynan Dias:That's a new guy who we've never heard from before. Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:Suddenly and has the king's ear. It's like, my lord, have you considered
Kynan Dias:Right. This? Have you considered doing really shitty things?
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes. Right. That that, you know, like a devil would suggest?
Kynan Dias:Right. Yep. That's Mephistopheles. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm.
Kynan Dias:I win. Win the Faust badge.
Lester Ryan Clark:You win the Faust badge. Yeah. You get a little right? And now you get your own personal pan pizza.
Kynan Dias:Oh, yay.
Lester Ryan Clark:But yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay.
Kynan Dias:But so no. That's not what happens. He's just he's just a regular bishop. He's just a regular bishop. Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:He's not the Devil.
Lester Ryan Clark:You scared me for a minute. I was like, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Did I miss something?
Kynan Dias:Like Nope.
Lester Ryan Clark:But no. See, that's how this would work. I think this is why. Like, I think Goethe, like, is intentionally doing this.
Kynan Dias:I was like, oh, you think you know where this is going, Yeah. I got called out publicly on on my own podcast about how stupid I am for not getting that Forkius would be Mephistopheles.
Lester Ryan Clark:You called yourself out. I said nothing. I even had to defend. I was like, no. I I very like like, I did I did not I did not call him stupid folks.
Kynan Dias:Well, somebody did. He
Lester Ryan Clark:was Forkies.
Kynan Dias:Oh, god. Okay. So that's not what's happening here, but the archbishop is gonna say some real shitty things.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Right? So the art yeah. The archbishop is really worried because the emperor used Satan's help to win the battle. Uh-huh.
Lester Ryan Clark:And he is afraid the pope is going to find out and destroy the whole empire for being sinful. The emperor is like, I'll do anything to make up for it, which is exactly what the archbishop wanted to hear. Mhmm. He tells the emperor he needs to build this huge cathedral and give a bunch of gold to the church plus provide all the, the building materials and workers. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:The emperor agrees to everything and the archbishop wearing his chance chancellor hat
Kynan Dias:Sure.
Lester Ryan Clark:Now says he'll work out all the details. Now, man, this is scaring me because
Kynan Dias:this is such a clever kind of like trick
Lester Ryan Clark:that the archbishop chancellor is doing. Uh-huh. And I'm like, did I get it wrong? Is this mephisto? I remember I I very clearly remember that the archbishop that the chancellor and the archbishop were in a previous act when Mephisto was was posing as the fool.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. He was already a character. Right. So this is this is the same one.
Kynan Dias:And the Devil can't beat two people at the same time. No. He has all the powers of hell, but
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah.
Kynan Dias:But come on, guys. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:But an but an itty bitty living space.
Kynan Dias:Right. Yeah. Okay. So so But you you see what I'm saying. This sounds like devil talk here.
Lester Ryan Clark:This is this
Kynan Dias:is some very devil talk. Yes.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes. Right? Even posing as a man of the church, like, that's that's perfect.
Kynan Dias:That would be yeah. Right. He's posing as a Catholic and Mhmm. Goethe and his audience are are opposed to the Catholics. And so, yeah, I thought I thought this would be, yeah, like Mephistopheles taking over and showing the evils of Catholicism.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes. And he's doing things like that that Goethe would criticize the church for.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right? It's like this is this is the the Catholic's MO is just like mass wealth and power and and whatnot. And
Kynan Dias:build stuff. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:And build stuff. Yeah. Huge cathedrals and whatnot.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Make it make you make the people rely on us.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes. Yeah. Right? Mhmm. Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:So then so then we end with the archbishop reminding the emperor that he promised Faust this sounds so much like Mephisto.
Kynan Dias:Like like this guy's working, yeah, as a servant to Faust. Yes.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right? Yes. He reminds the emperor that he promised Faust control over the empire's coastline
Kynan Dias:Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:As as a feudal lord.
Kynan Dias:Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:So now the archbishop demands that the church get all the the tithes and the rents and the taxes from this land too. Mhmm. And the emperor points out, pretty annoyed, that this land doesn't even exist yet. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:It's still just ocean where Faust wants to build it, but the archbishop won't back down. Mhmm. It's almost like he knows something. It's almost like he knows that that's not going to be ocean anymore because he's gonna do it because he's Mephisto. Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:And he leaves, and the emperor is just standing there thinking he's he's probably gonna end up signing away his whole empire at this rate.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. So what was the point of this big battle that I didn't fight? Right. I won this this big battle that I didn't have to do anything for, and they're they're giving away all the land that I didn't do anything to earn.
Lester Ryan Clark:Keenan. Mhmm. I'll be sure this isn't Mephisto.
Kynan Dias:Well, there's nothing at the end where he comes out and says he's Mephistopheles, so I don't know. Again, I haven't read Act five, but I don't think it's gonna be Mephisopheles.
Lester Ryan Clark:I'm gonna be so pissed
Kynan Dias:if at the
Lester Ryan Clark:end of act five
Kynan Dias:Like,
Lester Ryan Clark:a, like a a a a chancellor slash Mhmm. Archbishop is is gonna, like, fall out of a closet, and he's all tied up, he's in his underwear. And he's like and then everyone looks at the Mhmm. The Mephisto Archbishop Chancellor and he's like, uh-oh. And then we realize that that it's been him the whole time.
Lester Ryan Clark:But we know he's not actually the real chancellor because he doesn't go,
Kynan Dias:No. That's the chamberlain. That's sorry. That's dark crystal. Thanks.
Kynan Dias:Okay. Great. Good. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:The the the chancellor goes, That's Yoda. Oh, damn it. The chancellor goes
Kynan Dias:Alright. Let's get out of this Yeah. Yeah. Before Frank Oz comes out. Oh my
Lester Ryan Clark:Chancellor Grover,
Kynan Dias:what? Okay. Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:But, yeah, folks, that's it. I I I I'm I'm I'm holding on for dear life,
Kynan Dias:yeah, folks. I'm having a great time. I I think it's such a what a weird this is the weirdest thing. And It's so weird. You know, act part one of Faust is so Mhmm.
Kynan Dias:Relatively normal. I know that, you know, that's based on a couple of source materials and
Lester Ryan Clark:It's very streamlined. It's very yeah. Yeah. It I mean, we we say it's it's based on a couple of, like, source materials. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:Because we have the actual real Johan Georg Faust. Right. And we have, you know, we have the Marlow play. Mhmm. And I'm wondering if Goethe is looking at all this.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. Right? And he's like, okay. Like, I'm gonna do the the the Gretchen part and that, you know, that kind of, like, lays out flat and or that kind of lays out nicely and, you know, all the all the pieces fit and everything like that. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:I think I think the Faust legend as it is has more puzzle pieces than the actual puzzle.
Kynan Dias:Uh-huh. Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:And so what he has done is he has completed the puzzle in Faust part one, and he's like, there it is.
Kynan Dias:That's it. That's everything.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right? And then he just looks in the box, and he's like, oh, and this is more puzzle pieces, and he's like, ah. And now he's like, okay, I think, like, dang, I didn't do the Holy Roman Emperor part in part one, I guess I gotta put it in oh, the homunculus rite, I forgot, you know, that's part of the Faust legend. Mhmm. I have to put it somewhere.
Lester Ryan Clark:And so you got Helen of Troy
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Which he didn't include in in part one. Right. Homunculus Mhmm. Like the the whole Greek Walpurgisnacht. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:The the the holy Roman emperor. Mhmm. Right? That was in Marlowe, but, like, Goethe didn't do it. And he's like, I'll show I'll show that Brit.
Lester Ryan Clark:You know? I'll have a holy Roman emperor too. You know what? I'll have
Kynan Dias:a an anti holy Roman emperor. And, yeah, we have to explain, George Lucas style, where the emperor gets his grapes.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. So hence the cup bearer. Right? Yeah. I I think that's what's going on.
Lester Ryan Clark:So I'm excited to see the end of this
Kynan Dias:Me too.
Lester Ryan Clark:As we visit act five Mhmm. Next week.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. I don't know if these Mighty Warriors, you know, the the Mighty Three, if they're if they're coming back, but unlike a lot of our other guest stars, they don't get introduced and then die by the end of the act. So I don't know what's happening with them. Yeah. So yeah.
Kynan Dias:So so
Lester Ryan Clark:we might see them or they might just be, I mean, like, made of smoke and they just might go, you know.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Either way, I am here for it.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Right? That vampire doesn't show up anymore? Like yeah. Oh.
Lester Ryan Clark:But I mean, I do know I do know somebody's gonna show up at the very, very end, Keith. Oh. Oh, okay. And I'm I'm waiting for you. I'm waiting for your reaction.
Lester Ryan Clark:It's gonna be like it's it's it's gonna be like emperor level of like, I cannot fucking believe this.
Kynan Dias:Well, jeez. And now I'm just trying to think about who it could be.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. And I don't know if you're gonna be mad Uh-huh. Or if you're gonna or if you're gonna laugh your ass off, but but, yeah, you just wait.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. At the end, Punky Brewster shows up, and she's like, remember me? Like, the name. Yeah. I kind of forget, like, what was it?
Kynan Dias:You were
Lester Ryan Clark:on right before Small Wonder.
Kynan Dias:Right. Right. Right. She was a robot. I forget what your I remember that.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. I don't remember what your deal is, but great name. There was a there
Lester Ryan Clark:was this was back when, like, they they had, like, slang, like, like, you know, punch it into the computer, she, like, actually punched the computer, and it was it was really funny. Laughed for, like, five minutes on that. Right.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. But, yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Folks, this has been another episode of the Devil's Details. I've been Lester Ryan Clark. You can summon me on all the socials as Lester Ryan Clark.
Kynan Dias:And I've been Keenan Diaz, and you can invoke me on Instagram and Letterbox as Howdy Keenan.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Find more of our shows and other really cool podcasts at truestory.fm, and drop us a message at bananaforscalemail,mail,@Gmail.com. We got our Facebook listener group, banana for scale. That's a community for all of our shows, including this one. It's a private group.
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Lester Ryan Clark:Alright, folks. Until next week. Love and hisses.