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YMMV items associated with the epic
- Alternative Character Interpretation:
- It's well-known as a source for mountains of literary criticism and a host of Alternative Character Interpretations. Many think the poem makes a better case for Satan than God. William Blake famously wrote that, "The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true poet and of the Devils' party without knowing it." Most critics acknowledge that this was not Milton's intent, but some assert that his intent isn't the point. The multitude of different ways to read it are undoubtedly part of the appeal for scholars and literature buffs alike — it helps that this opens limitless doors for reasonable argument. They could read the sequel but speculation is more fun.
- The preambles of Satan's revolt are not shown on page but narrated by Archangel Raphael to Adam. It is entirely possible to believe Raphael is an Unreliable Narrator who is giving a slanted version of the facts, given that its portrayal of them is sometimes weird when it comes to their motivations and personalities. In his narration, it takes over a minute for Satan to switch from being politely discontent with God's politics (reasonably justified, to some degree, by God's favoritism towards the Son) to ferociously declaring open war with the goal to dethrone Him (a leap intuitive if one knows how the story ends, but abrupt and shocking as it is told), when nothing had evidenced this desire on him in the first place. The rebel angels are also portrayed as gullible, one-dimensional villains, as they barely need to be encouraged by Satan to rebel against God (except a single angel, Abdiel, who stays at God's side), in contrast to the opening chapters on the book where they are shown to have a realistically diverse mass of opinions.
- Common Knowledge: Not only among the general public but even among professional literary critics, Paradise Lost is predominantly known as the book where "Satan is the good guy." For the general public, this may be the only thing they "know" about the work. While what Satan says is at times stirring and convincing, it's only possible to see him as a "hero" if one only listens to what he says and completely ignores what he actually does.
- Do Not Do This Cool Thing: Quite possibly the Ur-Example. The poem is written with the explicit intent to "justify the ways of God", but most readers come away finding the charismatic, eloquent portrayal of Satan to be more appealing than the portrayal of God or the angels.
- Draco in Leather Pants: Satan's conflicted, stirring speeches and soliloquies are some of the best writing in the book, causing him to have a legion of fans. William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelley, the latter a very staunch atheist, suggested that Satan was the real hero of Paradise Lost, and Satan has developed one of the most loyal Alternative Character Interpretations in literature.
- Evil Is Cool: The poem's iteration of Satan is one of the most iconic examples in fiction due to his charisma and skill with words, to the point where many have argued Milton may have subconsciously been Rooting for the Empire.
- First Installment Wins: Paradise Regained, the sequel, is about the Devil's temptation of Christ. It's shorter and not nearly as popular or critically acclaimed.
- Funny Moment:
- Following Adam and Eve's celebratory sex after eating the fruit, Adam blames Eve for their current predicament, and they end up not speaking to each other for the rest of the day.
- While Raphael answers any question Adam has about the War in Heaven and the universe, he gets very flustered when they get on the subject of how angels express their love for each other.
- Hard-to-Adapt Work: An epic poem told in Anachronic Order featuring the War in Heaven, taking place in Heaven, Hell, and the Garden of Eden, with God, Jesus, Satan, and various angels and demons as main characters. It's no surprise that no one has bothered to try putting this on the screen.
- Misaimed Fandom: Satan has one of the most loyal.
- Moment of Awesome: Gabriel facing down Satan in the garden, Michael cutting Satan's legs off, the angels responding to the rebels' war machine by dropping a mountain on it, Abdiel's "Kirk Summation" speech in Book 5, and finally, the Son smiting all of Satan's forces single-handedly, causing the demons to throw themselves into Hell.
- Nightmare Fuel: Satan gave birth to Sin out of his head; she was, at least to Satan, beautiful enough to have sex with; after they were all thrown into Hell, she gave birth to Satan's child, Death; he, in turn, ran after and raped his mother; the resulting birth tore up Sin's lower parts so badly that her legs are now a snaky tail, which is not surprising because the babies were all hellhounds. The beasts continually chase around her, barking and snapping at each other, and regularly crawl back into her womb, gnawing on her intestines from the inside, then claw their way back out.
- Sequelitis: Its sequel, Paradise Regained, is held in much lesser regard, being reduced to an appendix, if even that, in modern editions of Paradise Lost.
- Squick: Satan gets his daughter pregnant, and then their son rapes her. The resulting children, Hell Hounds, crawl back inside her when approached, gnawing at her entrails from inside.
- Strawman Has a Point: Satan argues against God by invoking democracy, free speech and egalitarianism, casting God's authority in the light of a dictatorship. This subject matter hit close to home for Milton, who was an outspoken critic of earthly censorship and autocracy.
- Tear Jerker: The Bittersweet Ending.
- Unintentionally Sympathetic: Satan depicts himself in the story with the tropes of a tragic hero, clearly intending to present himself in a sympathetic light in his fall from grace. Whether the author, John Milton, intended this is up for debate. He obviously didn't expect some readers to see Satan as "the real hero" of the story. Despite it all, many readers take Satan's speeches at face value and see God as a capricious and arrogant tyrant, and view Satan as the hero for standing up for "equality" and "freedom."
- Values Dissonance: "What?" you say. "Seventeenth century religious fiction features Values Dissonance? No way!"
- Milton's portrayal of Eve is certainly a product of its time, yet also Fair for Its Day.
- When it was first published, the notion of Adam and Eve having sex before tasting the fruit was nearly unheard of, resulting in an in-universe rationalization that sex itself is not evil. After they eat the fruit, they have lustful sex, which Milton argues is the true sinful nature of the act.
The Heavy Metal band Paradise Lost
YMMV items associated with this band
- Fanon Discontinuity: Many fans disregard the band's synthrock era. Nick Holmes and Greg Mackintosh seem to think so too.
- That said, Holmes and Mackintosh's side project Host re-explores the sound from "Host", which shows they aren't against the synth rock itself, just the way their synth rock albums as Paradise Lost turned out.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Despite being a British band, Paradise Lost are considerably more popular in mainland Europe.
- Signature Song: "As I Die".
- Tear Jerker: The video for "Honesty in Death", heavily inspired by The Road, features a man in a post-apocalyptic world being followed by a boy, having flashbacks to his life before the end, where he cheated on his wife and walked out on her. At the end, despite the boy's pleading, full of regret, he hangs himself.
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: This is par for the course with a band that changes its sound pretty much every album.
The Visual Novel Paradise Lost by Takashi Masada
YMMV items associated with this visual novel
- Sequel Displacement: Despite being the first entry in the Shinza Bansho series it is hardly known to even exist even by series fans and is completely overshadowed by Dies Irae.
