Hope

**Hope**, also known as **Elpis**, is one of the central recurring forces in the *Divine Comedy*.

Hope was created by God to combat the powers of Evil and served as a symbol of hope and redemption for all souls in creation. It is described as the "greatest human power" in existence which provides humans and other beings with the will and determination to persevere in the darkest of times.

It would become a central element for the protagonists of the series in overcoming seemingly impossible odds, most notably Charlie in her mission to redeem sinners and pushing against all resistance.

## History

### Background

Hope was created and summoned by God to act as a powerful counterforce against Evil. In the aftermath of the Flood, many evils and unnatural disasters were conceived in the wake of the Nephilim's reign, thus God commissioned three of the greatest blacksmiths to build a vessel strong enough to hold them. It was forged, molded, and designed by the dwarves, Hephaestus, and Jophiel respectively, with the end result being the fabled Pandora's Box.

But even then the box struggled in keeping a hold of the evils, until God created and summoned the "greatest power" which was Hope. To ensure that the Evils would be kept in check, God placed Hope inside the box with the myriad of Evils as a safeguard and counterforce against them. The box contained the Evils for centuries as the Flood waters receded and the Earth was repopulated with Pandora acting as its keeper and warden.

However, when Pandora was tricked by the Evils to open the box, the world was once again ridden with hunger, fear, sadness, pain, suffering, among many others. Pandora managed to close the box, but it was too late and the evils had escaped with Hope presumably still inside. Pandora was cursed to carry the box with her throughout her immortal life and could no longer open it to release Hope in order to combat Evil. It is unknown if Hope is still inside the box or it managed to escape as well alongside the Evils though according to Epimetheus, Pandora's husband, Evil avoided Pandora despite carrying the one vessel strong enough to contain it which may indicate that Hope could still be inside.

## Trivia

* The name Elpis referenced a spirit in Greek mythology of the same name and the personified spirit of hope. Elpis was depicted as a young woman carrying flowers in her arms. Her opposite number was Moros, the spirit of hopelessness and doom.
* Hope is described by Gabriel as the greatest human power.
* It is implied that Hope and the Holy Spirit are same entity. In fact, this likely could be the case as the Holy Spirit is often depicted as a dove with the latter also being a symbol of hope.
* While Hope has no concrete form, Pandora recalls it resembling a luminous flower or swallow.
	+ Hope taking the form of a swallow references the bird being a symbol of hope in Aesop's fables and numerous other historic literature. It symbolizes hope, in part because it is among the first birds to appear at the end of winter and the start of spring.
* The phrase "abandon all hope ye who enter here" that can be found at Hell's gates stems from Evil's eternal battle against Hope especially since Evil sprung from within the dark depths beneath Hell.