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| “ | I remember them. I will remember all of you. I do this not out of a sense of obligation, or spite towards uncaring authorities like the Coalition or the Foundation, but out of respect. Out of kindness. To remember all those who have lived beautiful ordinary lives that were cut short due to cruelties they never deserved. I promise you this: you will not be forgotten. |
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| ~ Pangloss from "Who Remembers the Forgotten?" |
| “ | And then I met the two. Then I met humanity. I was charmed beyond belief. Such insignificant creatures, barely more than monkeys, who dared to emerge only during the day, when the Yeren slumbered. But in spite of their meager existence, they would laugh and dance and sing and weep all through their lives, which to me seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. And that pure joy in their humble existence, lacking any higher purpose or meaning, overwhelmed me and overtook my every waking thought. | „ |
| ~ From "(Don’t) Let The Fire Die" |
Pangloss, also known as the Flame, is an overarching protagonist in the SCP Foundation series. He is a benevolent god created at the very beginning of time who wandered the world seeking to aid all who lived there, mostly by bringing out the beauty of reality. He is one of the more benevolent deities in the SCP universe, helping humanity whenever he can.
Biography[]
Origin[]
The deity that would later be known as Pangloss was born alongside the Vision from the "Nothingness" that preceded all of creation. At the time Pangloss was known as the Flame and represented the beginning of all light, while the Vision, who would later be known as Saturn Deer, was his opposite, representing the end of that light. The Flame eventually created the "Heart of Flame" in order to burn more brightly, and the heart began speaking words which became reality, eventually creating all of creation and life.
After seeing these creations, the Vision visited the youngest of the newly created 37 humans, and granted that man knowledge and power, which corrupted the young man into the insane Beast of Heavens. Fearing that the beast would harm the rest of humanity, the Flame took the beast away from his brethren. Feeling sorrow for separating the poor beast from his kind, the Flame rechristened himself Pangloss and began wandering among the lifeforms of Earth, helping those in need by leaving notes from his journal. Some of these notes, which stated "Don’t let the fire die" would eventually be discovered by the SCP Foundation in the groves at the base of Mount Kazbek in Georgia, in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya and in the Indus River basin, and designated SCP-1612.
In the account of the Daevite Aldwyn, there was a flaming god, possibly Pangloss, who was worshipped by the ancient dragons. This god would later meet Adam el Asem and grant him his fire. However, this being's name had been lost through time, making it unsure if this was the same as Pangloss or not.
Helping Humanity[]
While wandering the ancient Earth during day, he witnessed a couple of primitive humans. After seeing him, the humans were terrified, but did not run and instead held each other close. Pangloss was fascinated by the love of these humans and became enamored with the race. He believed that humanity could achieve great things in the future, but as long the Yeren roamed the Earth, he thought that humanity could never have that chance. Since he didn’t thought much of the Yeren, unlike his fellow deities, Pangloss decided to grant humanity knowledge and power in form of his notes in order to overthrow the advanced Yeren. Humanity achieved this, to the point where even the memory of the Yeren was no more, but Pangloss became saddened upon witnessing the bloody wars the humans caused between themselves, but still hoped that one day humanity could find love, similar to his own love he had for them.
One day, a man named Polyakov came upon one of the notes of Pangloss, and began farming them. Pangloss found out about this and as a reward for this, Pangloss showed Polyakov the Flame of Wonder present between the world and the living beings and taught him how to use it. Polyakov use this new ability to create many wonders such as miracles and machines, becoming known as the Wonder-Maker. Eventually Polyakov would take a woman named WAN under his mantel, teaching her just as Pangloss had taught him.
During his wanderings, Pangloss created some doors which each lead to small volumes of atmosphere in which humans could survive located in the vacuum of space. This allowed individuals to witness the beauty of space and the stars and in each door Pangloss lefts notes which encouraged people to look at the beautiful stars. The Foundation would designate the anomaly surrounding these doors as SCP-1685.
Pangloss eventually arrived at the palace of the emperor of Qin, giving the emperor a note in which he wrote the languages of life and telling him about the wonders of reality. However, the emperor was uninterested about this and asked Pangloss how to achieve immortality. Pangloss answered by stating that if he did great things then he would live forever in the memory and hearts of the people. This angered the emperor who proceeded to burn Pangloss' note causing a disappointed Pangloss to leave and never to be seen again.
Following the death of the god Llao, Pangloss inscribed a note referring to Llao's tombstone. This note took the form of a log that constantly floated in the Crater Lake in which Wizard Island was located. After the Foundation found the log they designated it SCP-3310 and found out that beside the tombstone marking the location of Llao's corpse, it also said that it prevented the god from reviving himself.
Modern Times[]
In 1997, Pangloss visited the town of Daleport in New England, which was inhabited by a cult that summoned various gods and had them fought each other to death with the winner becoming the new figure of worship by the cult, and would later be designated SCP-1936 by the Foundation. While there, the malevolent gods caused a series of events during a week which led to the mutation and death of most Daleport's citizens. Pangloss felt great guilt for not being able save the poor citizens from the gods, and left apologizing notes throughout the town, mostly in public restrooms or sewn into the severed organs of the mutants. When a Foundation splatoon entered the town and began gathering surviving citizen Pangloss joined them and used his powers to keep them safe from the mutated monsters. Pangloss eventually put a spell around the town hall that would allow people to escape the town and lead the personnel to the location before undergoing some convulsions while a dupstep remix of Owl City's unreleased song "Embers" faintly played through the halls' microphones. After making sure that everyone safely fled he warned the hostile creatures the humans were under his protection.
Pangloss eventually created two sapient fishing trawlers which were in love with each other, and would later be designated SCP-1522-1 and SCP-1522-2 respectively. However, the Global Occult Coalition decided to terminate the ships causing mass disaster. Following the tragic destruction of the ships, Pangloss visited their wrecks while they were being transported to Site 6, and left a note on the deck of the vessels stating "They were happy, before the end. Not all ships have to pass in the night". Some witnesses reported his sighting, but the Foundation was unable to detain him.
On March 14th of 1999, while an MTF was chasing a werewolf in the North Grand Bend Beach, Pangloss, who had been away from Earth to help other beings, had his frog sand sculpture emerge from the ground right in front of the creature, impeding it. The MTF successfully captured the werewolf and seeing the anomalous sculpture brought it to Site-43 where it was designated SCP-7163. Three months after its containment, Pangloss telepathically spoke through it to Junior Researcher Ezekiel Hargreaves who had recently lost a family member. Pangloss advised them to a way to come to terms with their grief and improve their family relations which worked. The next year, Pangloss spoke to janitor Martin Whittle as he had been suffering from depression at the time and advised him to go to a therapist to manage his mental health. The year after, Pangloss spoke to the newly arrived Junior Researcher Parker Genrikh, giving him an advice on how to stay calm when under stressful situations.
Dougall Deering, the head of Applied Occultism, became intrigued by SCP-7163 and began studying it, discovering that it was far more ancient than initially thought and held some divine power in it. After finding some free time from his larger projects, Deering brought in Researcher and thaumatugist Udo Okorie since when she was young was able to see that past of a beach she and her family had been visiting. Although cautious, Okorie did as she was asked and attempted to look into the sculpture's origin, finding herself in Pangloss' realm where he noticed her and quickly shut her out, causing her some headache but otherwise was fine. The following year, Pangloss contacted Deering himself, and the two talked, but instead of revealing his true identity Pangloss discussed with Deering about his brother. Deering saw this little talk as enlightening and wished to talk to Pangloss another time, but soon after he perished when SCP-5243 occurred. Distraught over this loss, Okorie went up to the sculpture and wanted to know what it told to Deering, only to be met with silence as Pangloss was unable to talk to her.
On November 30th of 2021, after Okorie was lost during an expedition into the Kingdom of Alagadda and presumed deceased, Pangloss spoke to her friend and chief of security Delfina Ibanez who couldn't get over the loss and was adamant that she was still alive. Having a chance to hear SCP-7163 speak, Ibanez was equipped with SCP-2922, a method which allows humans to telepathically communicate to someone's phone, and the two talked. Pangloss tried to support her and seeing the determination in her eyes to find her lost friend, he urged her to go on her personal rescue mission and bring back Okorie to safety. Ibanez was successful in her mission, and retrieved Okorie after much hardships, and the next year Pangloss finally asked Okorie to talk with him. Pangloss comforted her over the loss of not only Deering but also of her father as well after he sacrificed himself to help her leave Corbenic. Okorie became conflicted over her nature after she learned that her biological mother was a non-human from Alagadda, but Pangloss told her that it didn't matter as she was who she wished to be and had friends who loved her regardless of anything. As Okorie wished to know about his true nature, Pangloss declined to tell her directly but believed she would be able figure it out on her own. He proceeded to explained that he had created SCP-7163 to solely support the staff at Site-43 as he saw them as wonderful individuals despite working for the Foundation, before allowing Okorie to look into the sculpture's past one more time to see him more clearly. Satisfied at finally having some closure, Okorie bid Pangloss farewell until the next time they would talk again.
Pangloss started creating a space filled with countless stars where a benevolent godly heart rested. This space could only be accessed through a large fissure in the wall of the Foundation's Site-22 that possessed a mind bending effect which allowed it to remain hidden. This fissure was eventually discovered by Daniel, a Foundation employee who after falling into crippling depression as a result of his job fell in love with Researcher Franklin Ergot which caused him further depression. Daniel went inside the space where he hid from everyone else and wept over his misery and became encased inside his own sorrow. Pangloss felt bad for him and left a message for Daniel telling him that he could stay for as long as he wished despite the space being unfinished. The personnel would later find the fissure and designate it SCP-6284.
Possible Endings[]
Strange Things Happen at Sea[]
While Pangloss was writing in his notebook on an island in the middle of the sea, he felt that something was wrong and found out that the sea had receded around the island due to SCP-169. Pangloss was not worried by this unusual event and decided to explore the tidal pools left on the seafloor. After going pass the inhabitants of the island he heard screaming and saw the residents fleeing from a giant wave approaching, which was also caused by 169. Pangloss decided to leave a note saying "The blue sea calls to me, and I answer her." before raising his arms to greet the wave only for him to be washed away.
The Stars Do Not Wait For You[]
When the reality bender known as SCP-1915 became the all destructive "Absence", Pangloss and Saturn Deer tried to stop the entity from destroying the entire Earth by confronting him outside the city of Acre, but neither of them succeeded. Pangloss tried to gather his dying flame, but was covered slowly by the desert’s sand. The Absence went on to destroy all life on earth, leaving Pangloss and a few of other immortals the only survivors.
The Kaiju Sea[]
Following LTE-0851-Cetus's attack, Pangloss was seen having a discussion with members of the Serpent's Hand about the monster and its offsprings. He stated that these Fifthist "angels" could be angels from beauty instead of creatures from the heavens, but Miss Nexus responded that the monsters were ugly.
Appearance[]
When Pangloss began protecting several Foundation personnel and Daleport civilians he was described as a radial organism made of fire. After the destruction of SCP-1522 when Pangloss visited 1522's wreckage, he was simply described as an unclear humanoid with no known details. Okorie described Pangloss as a humanoid made of bright white light that hurt to look at. In most fan arts, Pangloss is depicted as a flaming anthromorphic humanoid with antlers, but in the site he is never described as such.
Personality[]
| “ | I do not have the ability to see all of history, through the past and future. But I can see people. I can see character, wants and desires, flaws, and the qualities that make people unique from one another. I take all of that, their past experiences, and what they want for their future, and I give them advice that specifically helps them achieve their goals. I want to give them hope for their future, make them see what I see in them. | „ |
| ~ Pangloss to Delfina Ibanez through SCP-7163. |
Pangloss proved to be one of most kind hearted gods in the universe. He was extremely optimistic, to the point of being a bit of a naïve, and had nothing but love and compassion, especially towards humanity. He highly values humanity and nature, and seeks to protect them at almost all costs. However, he also seems to be a pacifist as he rarely engages into any sort of fights. Just like Mekhane he believes that humanity can achieve many great things in the future if they are in the right direction, despite witnessing the many atrocities humans committed. Pangloss greatly enjoys writing various meaningful poems, often describing the beauty of nature, life and reality. He also felt deeply bad and sad when he witnessed innocent lives being lost as a result of catastrophes caused by anomalous attacks or the Groups of Interests, and was determined to remember all the names of the poor victims who were left forgotten because of the Foundation and GOC covering everything up, since they were living beings just like him. In truth, he rejects the Veil of Secrecy, as he believes that people should experience the true beauty of the world while all of the innocent sentient anomalies should be let free. Despite this, he held no ill will to the Foundation, as he understands that most of the staff were doing what they thought was the right thing, and for that he respected them.
Powers and Abilities[]
Pangloss seemingly has powers similar to those of his fellow deities, but to what extent is unknown. He was able to create the Heart of Flame which went on to create the rest of reality, control armed robots to protect innocent people, inscribe protective runes and project fire, and create rooms somewhere in the space of the universe which allowed those who entered to witness the cosmos while not being affected by the vacuum of space. He also created a frog sculpture made out of sand through which he could telepathically communicate to people in order to give them words of advice, but could only talk to one individual once a year. When Okorie attempted to look into the past of the sculpture, she saw the past version of Pangloss the moment he created the sculpture, and in that moment he noticed her presence, suggesting that he also defies time. The mystical fire that originated as a piece of Pangloss and kept SCP-983-KO alive granted those near it immortality, as it prevented the Chŏnghæjin crew from aging and going hungry. However, he was no match for SCP-1915 in its full power, though he barely managed to stay alive.
Followers[]
Being a god-like being, Pangloss was worshiped by a few groups of people, but to a lesser degree when compared to the other gods, as people would mostly get inspired by him rather than just revere him. For example the Xia Dynasty didn't recognize Pangloss as a god rather saw him as a member of an immortal race who witnessed many wonders and held valuable wisdom. Pangloss was also a known figure to the Faeries as SCP-8400 knew his name and what he did.
Pangloss was mainly worshiped by the mythical dragonic race of the Droganians, alongside the primordial dragon of the sky Bahamut. In the Droganians' belief, after Bahamut laid the egg that would birth the dragons, Pangloss took care of it by using his fire to warm the egg, helping in the creation of their race. After Bahamut granted the newly born dragons high manna and intellect, Pangloss gave them their characteristic fires that burned inside them. Like Pangloss, the dragons would try to spread knowledge and wisdom to the other races, and during the war against the evil Queen Mab they would pray to Bahamut and Pangloss for their safety.
Another group that revered Pangloss was the historical military organization Chŏnghæjin which piloted SCP-983-KO, a humpback whale also known as Makara which as it laid dying was revived by Pangloss who gave a piece of his fire to her. Chŏnghæjin sought to take down the various "Nautical Deities" such as SCP-169 and SCP-3000 as they believed that through this they would meet Pangloss, who they knew as the Hindu god "Homa", named after an Asian ceremony involving purifying fire, in order to release them of their immortality, except for the leader Jang Bo-go who just wished to show his gratitude for saving their lives. However, Pangloss didn't have any grand plan about them, not wishing to get himself involved as he saw that Chonghaejin didn't need his help, and the Serpent's Hand opted to keep this truth hidden from the group.
SCPs associated with Pangloss[]
- SCP-1522: Two living fishing trawlers, each designated SCP-1522-1 and SCP-1522-2, manufactured in 1991 at the Parkol Marine shipyard in Whitby, United Kingdom. After being separately used for some years by other companies, the ships were set to be decommissioned, but instead were restored and gained sapience and speed. The two ships would play with each other and with some whales, but after SCP-1522-2 was injured the GOC killed it and then SCP-1522-1, though not before the former gave birth to two rowing boats.
- SCP-1612: A modified species of the soya bean plant created by Pangloss which produce small fires, designated SCP-1612-1, that despite not normally posing a threat to its surroundings burn dangerously hot and is hard to extinguish.
- SCP-1685: Doors located in areas with light pollution that led to invisible rooms with gravity in random parts of space. Pangloss created these for people to properly experience the beauty of the stars in the dark sky.
- SCP-1936: The town of Daleport in New England, which became infested by various gods and the spirits of the local residents killed by the gods after they were summoned by the Victory Society. Pangloss was one of the few benevolent gods who helped contain the situation inside the town and rescue the few remaining citizens.
- SCP-3310: A nine-meter tall tree stump floating around Crater Lake, which manifests storms, designated SCP-3310-Σ, to prevent entities, designated SCP-3310-Γ, from reaching the lake. Pangloss left this stump, which came to be known as the Old Man of the Lake, to help the Native American god Skell to keep the malevolent god Llao trapped within the lake.
- SCP-6284: A logical gap embedded within a wall of hallway A13 in Site-22's Employee Housing subcomplex, that due to its inherent logical fallacy causes people to be unable to perceived it and as a result forget it unless they ingested agnostics. It was later discovered that it led to a space, designated SCP-6284-1, filled with stars and inhabited by a heart, designated SCP-6284-2, and Foundation personnel Daniel. Pangloss started creating this space but surrendered it to Daniel to give him solace.
- SCP-7163: An indestructible frog sculpture constructed of sand dating back to 4000 BCE and carved in the back the phrase "I Will Be Here Whenever You Need Me The Most". Through this, Pangloss would telepathically communicate with a troubled staff member of Site-43 to comfort them and give them life advices to guide them through their lives, could only do so once a year.
- SCP-7629: A subterranean community located within a cavern system within the Ural Mountains populated by a dragonic humanoid race comprised of approximately 640,000 members. This race was known as the Droganians which descended from the ancient dragons and we're skilled in thaumaturgy, philosophy, mining, studying and manipulating precious metals. Pangloss was one of the two gods worshiped by the Droganians.
- SCP-628-KO: A bronze statue with warm core depicting a man which as it ages transforms into an older version of itself to reflect that of a human, along with rust forming on its body. Pangloss created this statue as metaphor to rid yourself of foreign matter as you mature and get to know other people.
- SCP-809-KO: A dome, designated SCP-809-KO-1, covered in vines of a unknown plant species which releases a hypnotic scent that causes those near to go inside it, entering a labyrinth comprised of the same vines, but with long sharp thorns. If an individual gets pierced by one of the thorns, they would die, at which their body would be infected by the plant and be reanimated as a zombie, designated SCP-809-KO, who served to guard an enormous egg at the center of the labyrinth. According to Pangloss, this dome was created by SCP-1000 who greatly feared the egg.
- SCP-983-KO: A humpback whale which was turned into a living submarine, after having most of her inner organs, including the heart, removed and replaced with an inextinguishable flame that grants her and those near it immortality. She was later mechanical modified to act as a submarine for the Chonghaejin crew, allowing them to live inside her and travel the world. It was revealed that Pangloss was responsible for her creation, having found the whale dying in a shore and giving his flame of live to act as her soul to save her.
- SCP-1687-JP: A ruined android who was formerly a man which can produce from his only remaining organ countless seeds that can bloom into numerous species of immortal flowers, designated SCP-1687-JP-1. He did these modifications to himself in order to be forever with a nature goddess who was also a friend of Pangloss.
Trivia[]
- Unlike most gods, Pangloss is one of a few benevolent deities who values and cares about humanity, protecting them and demanding nothing in return. Fellow benevolent deities include Mekhane, Nahash and Rakmou-leusan.
- The character was named after Professor Pangloss the tutor and companion of Candide in Voltaire's satire work of the same name. In the book Pangloss is relentlessly optimistic, his famous phrase is that this world is the best of all possible worlds, in spite of the horrible things that keep happening to them. He represents the optimism of Leibnitz, with whom Voltaire disagreed on a number of subjects. Pangloss also seems to be based on Prometheus since he is associated with fire and kindness towards humanity, and SCP-1612 was originally found on Mount Kazbek where the Georgian equivalent of Prometheus, the hero Amirani was chained for punishment.
- His name Pangloss is Greek for the word "Omniglot" which stands for the ability to talk every language.
- In "About the Serpent", is revealed that Pangloss possesses knowledge about the Garden of Eden, which may or may not be SCP-2746.
- In the deleted version of SCP-5432, it was revealed that Dr. Jack Bright, and AIs Alexandra.aic, Fan.aic, Han.aic and C_ROM.exe were all components of Pangloss, being sent to a comet by their counterparts from the preceding universe in order to survive the end of the current universe and guide the life of the new universe to godhood before repeating the cycle.
- In "Where there is a Flame Someone is Bound to get Burned", a fragment of the Sea Mither described her daughter Glyden Barn as the one who would free Pangloss from a scarlet prison. In this tale Pangloss is also seemingly referred to as female.
- In "Binary Stars", Pangloss is depicted as the younger brother of Sol and SCP-179, living in a society of fellow stars, and even having Pluto as their pet.
- In "History of Behemoths", Pangloss was one of the lower lifeforms created in the early creation and subjugated by the Old Gods. Pangloss would befriend the Serpent, causing the latter to gain an appreciation for the lower lifeforms, but would be killed by Shesha, leading to a heartbroken Serpent to take down their fellow gods.
- Pangloss believed Vassago had a bright future in writing children's books.
External Links[]
- Pangloss at the SCPOneCanonProject Wiki
