Week 4 Reading Diary: Roar of the Demon King

Reading:
Ravana: Roar of the Demon King, A graphic novel detailing Ravana's life from his own perspective, Author: Abhimanyu Singh Sisodia, Artist, Sachin Nagar

Cover of Ravana: Roar of the Demon King
Source

 

 

Ravana had some interesting origins. I didn't realize that his father was a Brahmin. I think there's an interesting dicotomy between his grandfather and father. His grandfather was the epitome of evil, and his father actually reminded me of Vishvamitra. It seems as if Ravana could have gone either way, Dharma or Adharma. He's almost an anti-hero. I spent a good part of the story rooting for him.

Ravana's wife, Mandodari, and brother, Visbhishana, are both very devote characters, and they almost seem out of place next to a lot of the actions Ravana takes. From Ravana's perspective, the gods don't seem so perfect. There seems to be a mutual disrespect.

Ravana seemed to care about his family in the Ramayan, but in this story, he really seems to have a deep caring for them. A lot of his decisions are made for the good of his family members. Of course, the story does have a pretty unreliable narrator in Ravana himself.

It seems like Ravana's story follows the hero's journey. Of course, he succumbs to temptation, but he still ends up finding Dharma in the end. That might be an interesting tool for the structure of my storybook.

It's kind of mentioned as an aside, but Ravana actually goes to the underworld and conquers it. I can't imagine Yama would be very happy with that, but there's not really any mention of the god or his reaction. That might be worth looking into. It could make for a good conflict.