When Power Corrupts Absolutely

Saturday Stories

September 15, 2018

While Jesus was on the cross, a Roman centurion named Longinus pierced him with a lance. Many people, including non-Christians, have heard that story. What happened next was a lot more fun – the lance was imbued with magical powers because of Jesus' blood, and came to be known as "The Spear of Destiny" – and whoever wields it will have the power to conquer the world.

I love historical thrillers, like Daniel Easterman's The Spear of Destiny, because it's fun to hear stories behind the legends. There are things where we can never tell fact from fiction, the true from the false, like if the "Holy Lance" that Baldwin II of Constantinople had sold to Louis IX of France was the real thing.

A young British soldier, Gerald Underwood, found the Spear in a desert crypt during the Second World War. Since then, he has been on the run from mysterious people who will stop at nothing to get it, and they got him. His nephew Ethan, a young detective with almost supernatural resources of his own, set out to avenge his uncle. Ethan's hunt took him to Hungary and Transylvania and Romania, where the Undead had been said to roam, knowing that whoever took the Spear has come to possess powers beyond imagination.

But what if it's real? In a nonfiction book also titled The Spear of Destiny, author Trevor Ravenscroft says the world saw its power – when it was used by Hitler. Power does curious things to people. Some begin to think they have a supreme destiny, some exploit technicalities to unseat the opposition while pretending to uphold the rule of law. Hitler needed the Spear because he wanted to rule the world, and he believed he was to meant to do it because he was superior. But the Spear was taken by Patton – who won the war. It would be funny, if it weren't so tragic, that those who are hungry for power are the very ones who shouldn't have it.

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