Why, you might ask, are there Christ figures? As with most other cases we’ve looked at where the work engages some prior text, the short answer is that probably the writer wants to make a certain point. Perhaps the parallel deepens our sense of the character’s sacrifice if we see it as somehow similar to the greatest sacrifice we know of. Maybe it has to do with redemption, or hope, or miracle.
One of my favorite shows is called Death Note. There’s a scene where the antagonist, L, washes Light’s feet, the protagonist. It is a reference to when Jesus washed Judas’s feet before his betrayal. The scene highlighted how L was about to be cruelly betrayed by Light.
