WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Raised by Wolves #1, by Aaron Guzikowski, Meghan Hetrick, Nick Filardi, and Marshall Dillon, now available digitally.
HBO's Raised by Wolves kept it obscure regarding the war between the Mithraic and the Atheists back on Earth. We know the religious cult used vicious Necromancers to raze the non-believers but it was later discovered the Atheists, in return, bombed the cult and were mostly responsible for destroying the planet.
But the origin of the war and why both parties went after each other remained unknown. That's until now, as a tie-in comic has shed some light into the Mithraic's worship of Sol and hinted at the sun god's true purpose.
In the TV series, the zealots are seen on Kepler-22b with their sun pendants, looking to kill off Mother, Father and whoever resists in the Atheist colony. In flashbacks, we saw them using Necromancers to hunt their enemies down, with the original Campion kidnapping Mother and reprogramming her to create the new society on this alien world. Still, the show stopped short of giving us a deeper history into both camps.
The comic, though, reveals that 25 years before we saw Necromancers in action and Mother being taken by Campion, in 2120 the Mithraic laid down a huge speech for their followers. In the Capital, the clerics revealed a "fifth force" was real and Sol showed it to them, presumably through worship. This led to them wanting to purify Earth for the "coming of his light" and the Necromancers were introduced as Sol's punishment. Anyone who didn't want to be baptized and convert would be incinerated.
Now, this still leaves a lot of questions as some people think the fifth force could be tied to the elements. We have earth, air, water and fire so theorists are wondering if something new was shown to the Mithraic. This would make them Sol's chosen and so speculation is that the sun god is seeking humans to hand this new version of Prometheus' fire, whatever it may be which might even transform these pockets of mankind into godlike entities themselves. Then there's the scientific deep-dive with the four fundamental forces we know being gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, and weak nuclear forces. There's said to be a fifth one according to experimental and quantum physicists: dark energy, aka quintessence, so this could be what the sci-fi story is hinting at. It can be used to alter space and time, as seen with portals being opened to other dimensions and alternate realities in the likes of Voltron: Legendary Defender, so maybe this is a doorway to a new world.
It would tie into the Mithraic prophecy of a promised land for the faithful and given that the devotees are lapping up these priests' words just before the way heats up, it seems to be paradise they're all talking about as they mention Sol's judgement on the unworthy. Either way, Sol is the light that illuminates this pathway, and the key to this door may be the "fifth force." And Sol as a guide is apparently what the Mithraic want to harness and possibly weaponize to ensure their survival and the perpetuation of their religion.
Created by Aaron Guzikowski and produced by Ridley Scott, Raised by Wolves stars Amanda Collin, Abubakar Salim, Winta McGrath, Niamh Algar, Jordan Loughran, Matias Varela, Felix Jamieson, Ethan Hazzard, Aasiya Shah, Ivy Wong and Travis Fimmel. New episodes arrive each Thursday on HBO Max.