Towards the end of Umberto Eco’s book Baudolino, the Huns attack the border of Prester John’s Kingdom. History sources locate the Huns in Central Asia; thus, the Kingdom must have been South of it, probably Ethiopia. One Wikipedia source describes the Huns as having “sort of a shapeless lump, not a head, with pin-holes rather than eyes.” That’s kind of apocalyptic, isn’t it?
In my movie adaptation, the Kingdom is called the Realm of the Universal Religion, a place of heavenly harmony, somewhere in Myanmar. Only the Mongols could have invaded it, coming from the North. I did not want though this part of the story rooted in geography or history, but in fantasy. And that’s how I arrived at the opportunity to suggest the dichotomy between Apocalyptic and Heavenly. Who is Apocalyptic in the religious context? The people of Magog, led by Gog. What would they attack? The Heavenly Realm.