#{putting the otto hater (/lh) agenda aside

[queen0fm0nsterz]

I understand what Greensea was talking about in the ask and I wholeheartedly agree: the Ferryman is quite literally praying on children who are in vulnerable positions, such as Noone and the comic kids. He is not a good person or even a neutral party by any means: he's quite the asshole.

However, something he is very good at is making it seem like he's the lesser of two evils. In Noone's case, he only conveniently swept in when she needed help (in spite of him being a part of the reason as to why she is experiencing the Nowhere in the first place) and Otto's admittedly frightening degeneration essentially scares her into the Ferryman's hands, for lack of better terms.

We experience the Ferryman alongside Noone. She doesn't have a good opinion of him, but it is true that in her eyes, he has been guiding her. Otto being very dislikeable doesn't help his case unfortunately: someone who doesn't pay attention to subtext will inevitably interpret the Ferryman as being "nicer" by default. That's the same thing that happens in the Refugee Boy's tale: the Ferryman did a horrible thing by lying to the Boy and disguising himself as his sister to trick him, but the North Wind was so aggressive in his pursuit that he ended up scaring Refugee away.

The Ferryman doesn't directly cause any physical harm to any of the children we see him interact with and that's yet another """"""""point in his favor""""""" (putting it in many quotations as it is obviously a ploy to paint him in yet an even ever so slight positive light) and, again, seems to ""rescue"" children from their direct aggressors.

... But he always waits until the kid is alone. Won't intervene unless the target is completely left to their devices. Because if there is someone else to discuss the Ferryman's intentions with, it'd be harder to convince them to follow him, right?

He only actively helps Noone in episodes 3 and 5, when she didn't have a companion to help her. He only sweeps in to rescue Humpback Girl after the confrontation with the Mirror Man is already done and the other children have left. And Refugee... we know what happened with him.

Trigger warning for sensitive topics.

The ferryman is a predator!

I hate how a few people are interpreting him as a “savior” or as somehow being the Lesser of Two evils. When he is NOT!

He stalks Noone, awaits for an opportunistic moment where she is at her most vulnerable in order to take her, then there’s his connection to the Maw, which had “kidnapping children for the elite”as an old official description.

Seriously, the whole idea behind the Maw and the Ferryman taking children to work there or worse to be “eaten” sounds so much like child trafficking. All he is missing is an old white van.

We know how awful the Nowhere is and what awaits the children who have the misfortune to get taken there, they get mistreated, forced to work/perform, eaten, killed and far worse.

The story is not a “OMG, Yesssss! Noone got away from her abuser!”

Otto is terrible, but the Ferryman is much, much worse. I just can’t see how people can see the ending as a triumph, as being better off, much less being good for Noone, when her ending is pretty much a life sentence or Horror beyond her comphresion. (A quiet acceptance of the terrible reality around her)

If anything the story is a cautionary tale about how society has failed children, how trauma breeds more trauma and how this can drive kids into far worse situations than they were originally in. All because society and the adults and what should be their net of support all failed them.

This right here. Otto and the Ferry/Candlebro may both be monsters, but Otto is still and has always been a victom of the Candle/Ferryman same as the children that were directly taken.

But CandleFerry man is getting compensation and benefits for his work. Otto just wanted his sister back.