Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-6192846-20130929130231/@comment-67.67.8.132-20141226081657

Okay. I was actually encouraged to post this meta here, so I apologize for a third comment in a row. However, I can't actually edit, so. :x

the Kachess as a Ka+chess and chess metaphors will be this topic.

From the beginning, I always thought his name was a pun on the game of chess, and it made absolute sense to me. After all, from his perspective, the Lust arc is almost a chess game. You have him, a pawn, Yufina, the queen, and perhaps Elluka as the King (the piece we lose and it's all over, since I imagine all hope would be lost if she ended up bewitched). Kachess can only make specific, slow movements. He has to work past the other King's defenses. But, if he crosses the board successfully, he can become whatever piece he desires.

Meanwhile, Venomania is the King of his own side. With that in mind, his mansion becomes his side of the board in his metaphor. He rarely leaves it as a safe haven, and when he does, he ruthlessly captures other pieces--which is what you DO in chess. You don't kill the other side, merely capture, and that's what he does to the women he comes across. Kachess' goal was always to take out the opponent's King, he just had to first discern where it was and how to get at it.

Which he eventually did. And he eventually successfully navigated there, with some help from his own side's King. However, it was ultimately his careful navigation that earned him the opportunity to put the other King in checkmate. Venomania fell for a trick, thinking he'd have another piece to capture, and instead walked right into a trap.

Therefore, Kachess both ended the game and successfully navigated to the other side of the board in the same movement. Thus allowing him to become any piece he desired. In this case, a King. /o/

And that's a rough gist, though there's probably more I could go into when it's not 2AM, tho I did notice checkerboards are a common motif throughout the Lust saga... (the floor of his mansion in the PV, Haru's sleeves have the diamonds, the background in the one pic from the novel with Venomania embracing Kachess has the checkerboard pattern just to name a few, tho that may be mere coincidence.)