B.P.R.D. Universal Machine... soooo confused...

[Trusty Mutsi]

*SPOILERS*
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I have been LOVING this series (got it during the last digital sale), but I'm very confused by the ending of Universal Machine.

What was the King Solomon ring Kate cut off the Marquis' fingers? The significance was lost on me. Did the Marquis use it to enslave the demon to rebuild his castle? If so, what's that have to do with the Pope lifting a curse with his ring?

[Septaryeth]

*SPOILERS*
I have been LOVING this series (got it during the last digital sale), but I'm very confused by the ending of Universal Machine.

What was the King Solomon ring Kate cut off the Marquis' fingers? The significance was lost on me. Did the Marquis use it to enslave the demon to rebuild his castle? If so, what's that have to do with the Pope lifting a curse with his ring?

You're pretty much on the right spot.
Basically the ring gives its owner authority over demons and demonic power.
Both King Solomon and Pope used the ring to build structures. Pope also used it to lift the curse the infamous Marquis placed on the village years ago.
The Marquis somehow survived and became immortal, which might not be so surprising given his vast knowledge of the supernatural.

Although it is still uncertain how it was lost from the Pope and fall into the Marquis' hands,
(given his status as the ultimate collector and negotiator he may have strike a deal to obtain it),
the Marquis used the ring to enslave demons, and supposedly using their power to expand his collections, or just for the vanity of it..

[Trusty Mutsi]

You're pretty much on the right spot.
Basically the ring gives its owner authority over demons and demonic power.
Both King Solomon and Pope used the ring to build structures. Pope also used it to lift the curse the infamous Marquis placed on the village years ago.
The Marquis somehow survived and became immortal, which might not be so surprising given his vast knowledge of the supernatural.

Although it is still uncertain how it was lost from the Pope and fall into the Marquis' hands,
(given his status as the ultimate collector and negotiator he may have strike a deal to obtain it),
the Marquis used the ring to enslave demons, and supposedly using their power to expand his collections, or just for the vanity of it..

Awesome! Thanks.

I got all the Mignolaverse books at the last digital sale, and Hellboy was very hit or miss with me. Amazing art, some good character moments, but too often getting weird and hard to understand what's going on. I was worried I wasted my money until I got to the B.P.R.D. stuff. LOVE Arcudi's writing, and Guy Davis' art. GREAT character stuff.

[Joker]

I've never thought Hellboy was hard to understand. You have to just enjoy it for what it is in that moment and let the pieces fall into place later.

[Skinkie]

I know what he's saying, my first time through Hellboy a lot of the ambiguous stuff threw me a bit. Future rereads would help me put more together and the series gets stronger each time through

[Thomas UK]

I have been LOVING this series (got it during the last digital sale), but I'm very confused by the ending of Universal Machine.

What was the King Solomon ring Kate cut off the Marquis' fingers? The significance was lost on me. Did the Marquis use it to enslave the demon to rebuild his castle? If so, what's that have to do with the Pope lifting a curse with his ring?

Sometimes the stories reference real magical/mythical lore as well, in this case King Soloman is a figure in mysticism famous for capturing demons and making them work for him,his seal (which was on the ring in 'Universal machine') is widely used in magical rites and ceremony surrounding 'goetia' or demon/angel summoning. As a famous scholar on demonology, Kate would have easily noticed the ring's significance and be able to join the dots, as she herself remarked.