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kaori04 · 2 years ago

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So I saw a couple of people interacting with my old Kruk posts here and thought I would share here my writing on it. I have this one already on my twitter, so if you want you can interact with my twits there as well<3

Lets analyze the character of Sławek. He is not the main character, but he is the center of all what is happening, a trigger and a catalyst. He is the beginning of the story and also its end.

I will speak in abstract terms so that there are no major spoilers. I feel like I'm writing it only for myself, but just in case I kept spoilers outside of my writing.

What I think would be helpful in understanding Sławek's role in the story and how it helps to convey its message is to look into where his basic character's archetype lies. And I think it won't take us a lot of digging to connect him to Eumenides, which are now mainly and famously known thanks to Oresteia trilogy written by Aeschylus.

The Eumenides is the name of the last play, in which the ancient goddesses Erinys (their actual name) are following Orestes after he kills his mother, sort of driving him mad. This is very similar to what Sławek does to Kruk, for whom his childhood friend is a symbol of him losing his mind in very literal sense. Sławek is here to take full advantage of it.

If you quick google Eumenides the first thing you learn is that they are deities of vengeance. Which is imo a bit of misleading and very one-sided and shortsighted definition. Just like “Kruk” looks like a revenge story because it uses so many revenge story plot tropes, but in reality, is not exactly that, revenge narrative being only a mere surface of it.

Let's try to see a bit deeper than that. So, if we refuse to call Eumenides merely a revenge deities, what is their real essence and purpose then?

Erinys are one of the most ancient and important goddesses and their mission lies in protecting the world's harmony and order. Without them the world would cease to exist, turning into chaos.

In this moment I would like to pay your attention to the musical instrument Sławek possesses and never lets go - his harmonika. Which, of course, draws its name from the word "harmonia", "harmony".

Also note how Kruk never learns how to play harmonika despite him wanting to, because, unlike Sławek, he is an agent of chaos. We might look into why is that so later in another thread, maybe.

Let also take a closer look at his name. Sławek is a shortened name, there are a lot of names that could be shortened to Sławek. After some digging I think the one name that might be implied here is Sławomir which means "the one who gets the glory by bringing peace and order" which also very well affiliates with Eumenides who protect the order of the world. Another curious thing about the name of Sławomir is that it disappeared in XVI century to come back in XIX century. These are 3 centuries just like 3 decades that Sławek was absent in Kruk life.

Now back to Erinys. what exactly do they do to protect the world's harmony and order? They make sure that the most sacred god's laws are never violated, that's their direct responsibility. And if the laws do get violated, they feel justified to do whatever they need to do to eliminate the threat and bring harmony back into the world. This is why they are often portrayed so merciless and horrifying. Erinys don't hold their wrath back because the whole world existence is dependent on them being able to keep everyone's behavior in compliances with god's laws, so that nobody would ever think of breaking them. People should never feel like they can do whatever they want whenever they want, forgetting to pay their respects to the gods who created the world order for them.

Let us look into the series again to see why I think this is so relevant. There is one phrase that gets repeated (at least) 3 times throughout the series, meaning that the authors are giving it a special attention. It sounds exactly like that, "do whatever they want", and it is always said in reference to the main culprits of the series that Sławek aims to punish.

In the first episode, Sławek points out while speaking about his enemies: "They did whatever they wanted back then, do whatever they want now and will continue to do just that. Unless you take care of them".

In the second episode, one of the main culprits teaches his grandson his own ways, granting him permission to not listen to his mom (authority figure like the gods) and do whatever he wants."Love the chocolate? Take it then. Mom will be angry for a while but then it will pass"

The last time when we hear the phrase is in ep 5 when Kruk is talking about the culprits, repeating after Sławek from ep. 1

This "do whatever one wants and avoiding being held accountable" is the behavior Sławek wants to stop, just like Erinys. What are usually the laws that Eumenides protect? It's the most sacred laws one must obey, for an ancient Greek a crime on them would look like (wiki quote) "insolence of the young to the aged, of children to parents, of hosts to guests". For example, in the Oresteia Eumenides are haunting Orestes because he killed his mother, and killing one's parents is one of the biggest offences on god's laws one can commit.

Erinys don't haunt his mother for killing Agamemnon because he is not her older relative, but a husband. This is a crime but not that big to hold a threat to the world's order and harmony, so Erinys do not bother.

What is a crime that is considered so horrendous to be a threat to the whole world in the Kruk's universe? It is not hard to calculate, that is an assault on kids' right to be protected and kept safe (one of the main symbols of the series is a painting by Bernhard Plockhorst featuring a guardian angel and two little children close to an abyss).

Adults' duty is to love their children and provide them with everything they need for them to feel happy and secure. Once adults stop fulfilling that duty, the harmony of the whole universe is being threatened and it starts falling apart (I may talk about how it is being conveyed in the show later in another part). So it's time for Eumenides/Sławek to interfere.

At this I will stop as I feel that I conveyed my main idea and the way I interpret the character from this “archetype” point of view and looked at how characters from ancient literature might help us understand modern stories and characters. Next time I would like to continue my analysis of the show by looking closer into Kruk's character, and after that the grounds will be prepared to talk in more depth about what the whole show is really about and what its main philosophy is.

Here is also a screenshot of Sławek character holding a snow ball in Ep 5. As the seires goes closer its end, Białystok is being covered with snow, the life in it freezes. Because so many horrendous crimes in it were continued uninterrupted for so long, the assaulters never being punished, this place is now on the verge of dying. While Białystok is a metaphor for the whole world, the snow ball is a metaphor for the city. And Sławek is the one holding it in his hands.

@scspiricm @mayfairs-lunatic

tagging you all cause you were caught interacting with my other Kruk posts so I thought you might be interested to read:) I plan to do some more writing even if only for myself but any interactions would be great too, hearing someone elses thoughts who watched the show too, if, again, this is smth you might be interested in.

#Kruk. Szepty slychac po zmroku #polish tv-series #cezary Łukaszewicz

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