Trese: Was Datu Talagbusao Really Evil?

Modern views of “pagan” war gods are often very negative, but were these characters really that evil?

Trese

In Trese, a Filipino comic and Netflix adaptation by the same name, we see a number of characters from Filipino folk lore. I’m glad that the Philippines is producing more media. I’m also glad that it’s being marketed for overseas consumption as well. It has its faults, but it is a great beginning and I hope to see additional content from the Philippines.

Spoiler Warning

Don’t read any further unless you’re at least caught up on the first season of Trese, or the equivalent spot in the comics. I’ll be jumping right into points that will give away important details of the story.

Talagbusao in Trese

The central protagonist in the first season of Trese was Talagbusao. In many ways, he was responsible for a lot of the issues that Trese faced, and almost all of the events in season one led up to his return. He is a war god, and it appears at least that his ultimate goal is simply the total destruction of rebirth of the world.

One thing that really caught my attention was just how much of a jerk Talagbusao was. He had no problem with eating his own sons in order to remain in the material world. But I have to wonder exactly how cold and uncaring this being really was, within the original folk tradition.

The Christian War God

While Talagbusao was a bit of an asshole in Trese, I can’t say that he even holds a candle to the atrocities committed by the Christian war god, YHWH. Not only did this god drown everyone because they didn’t like where things were headed, but he punishes those who do not believe in him for all eternity. The bible admits that YHWH is a god of war, and that he will lie. I really can’t see this being as being in any way better, or even that it is painted in a better light by Christian texts.

It’s just that the Christian war god is on the side of the Christians. Datu Talagbusao would have been on the side of the Filipinos. And thus, he would be an enemy to the Christian colonizers. It seems likely that Talagbusao wasn’t always seen as such an evil being, and simply was simply an impartial god representing humanity’s thirst for war.

The Filipino Yawa

It wouldn’t be the first time that Christians turned a pagan deity into an evil being. The very imagery used to depict the devil in part came from pagan deities. Even within Filipino tradition, there’s clear evidence of Christians altering the perception of benevolent, or at least non-malevolent deities.

“Yawa” is a curse word used in Bisaya. Yawa is an evil deity, at least in modern Filipino mythology. However, that was not always the case. The much older account of Yawa’s story can be found in the Hinilawod. The Hinilawod is an epic poem that was originally transmitted orally within the Bisayas. According to the epic, Nagmalitong Yawa was a goddess and third wife to Burung Saragnayan, the Keeper of Light. She was an important figure representing powerful magic used by shamans, the babaylan.

Interestingly, since Yawa was originally not evil, perhaps it would be a good idea to stop using it as an offensive word. But trying to rehabilitate such an abused meme could be impossible. Still, it would be interesting to se a revitalization of the older versions of these folk characters, without the heavy influence of Christianity painting them as evil.

Talagbusao in Filipino Culture

Perhaps one of the most frustrating issues I found when trying to do research for this article is that there really just isn’t enough scholarly work done on the topic of Filipino folk tradition. The only piece that I found that mentions “Talagbusao,” without referencing the mythology created by Trese, a Japanese paper that I unfortunately cannot read. But at the very least, the abstract gives some interesting details.

According to the abstract, the concept of Talagbusao comes from the northcentral Mindanao region of the Philippines. The talagbusao are not a single entity in Bukidnon mythology. Instead, they are violent spirits. However, these violent spirits are not evil. They are simply weapons, and the people that invite these spirits into themselves become weapons. They both protect the community from outsiders, and create the threat of disorder within it, and thus need to be kept in check by a datu.

The Real Evil in Trese

The great thing about Trese, as far as I’m concerned, is that as much as characters like Talagbusao were destructive and violent, we can see that the truly evil ones within the show were humans. It was humanity that allowed Talagbusao to return to the mortal world. It was humanity’s passion for power and violence that truly led to most of the issues within the story.

Overall, I’m glad that Trese is bringing increased interest in Filipino culture. However, the mythology developed in the series differs considerably from traditional folk beliefs. That’s not unusual in and of itself. Entertainment often makes adjustments to create unique and interesting stories.

The problem is that there simply isn’t that much information about Filipino folk belief available. Anthropologists are going to need to spend a lot of time interviewing smaller indigenous groups within the region, and catalogue the remains of this once vibrant culture, so that it can be remembered and revitalized.

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