#The Shan Family

[exiledjedi1]

"I never needed to beat you, I only had to let you think you were invincible."

Here's Satele Shan for you all. I love her character so much and she reminds me of a more mature version of Bastila.

[lurkingshan]

Grandpa: *explains the futility of punishment-based justice, encourages Home to go back to his friends and make things right, and begins explaining why their family has always been hated*

Me: Yassss grandpa, now just land the point about your family’s mistakes and accountability to the people you’ve harme—

Grandpa: IT’S BECAUSE WE’RE CURSED!! YOU HAVE TO BREAK THE CURSE!!!

[avitha]

Party with @heyhopperart

Did a little Halloween crossover with my Mulan/Shang fam and Grace's Mulan/Shan Yu one! Her art is so cute and she's SO SWEET! Please give her blog a visit!! This has been so much fun!!! You guys probably know my Mulan/Shang daughter, Jin Na. Meet Heyhopper's kids, Temujin, Enkhsaikhan, and Tsetseg <3

[villainsandvictimsalliance]

What I wanted them to say was...

... You can be a hero.

[heyhopperart]

🖤 Mob boss Daddy 🖤

[19daysmemes]

Typical family behavior

[jesuistrefatugie]

I'm saying this now

Theron Shan inherited his Bi Diaster vibes from Revan and not Basitlia. "Republic Hero(?) With A Questionable Relationships With A (Former)Sith" is what he inherited from Basitlia.

This includes Satele too.

[haniebnie]

// i'm not calling you a ghost

// just stop haunting me

[reconstructionlegacy]

Ngani Zho Coerced Custody Of Theron

[Zho] had told the Jedi Council and the leaders of the Republic military that he had sent Satele on a vital mission— something he could not speak of for fear of endangering her life. Given Master Zho’s impeccable reputation, none had questioned him. Now, however, the mission was over. It was time for her to return; the Republic had fought too long without their champion. The Sith Empire’s relentless advance had gone too far. She could no longer ignore the Republic’s need. [...] “You promised you would take him,” Satele said softly, gazing down into the child’s wide, wondering eyes. “I will,” Ngani assured her. “If that’s still what you want.” “What I want has nothing to do with it,” she muttered as she reluctantly handed the child back to her Master. [...] As he took the child from her arms, the moment of greatest joy she would ever know ended.

— Star Wars: The Old Republic: Annihilation

BACKGROUND

Ngani Zho trained, according to Lost Suns (admittedly according to Zho the manipulator), Satele Shan, Syo Bakarn, Jaric Kaedan, and Bela Kiwiiks. Obviously, that is not possible for full Padawans, and Satele was under Kao Cen Darach's mentorship in the first trailer (and then he died), so my theory here is that Zho stepped in to "foster" mentor at least some of these promising young Jedi (and gain influence with them).

WHAT HAPPENED

Zho was somehow trusted by the Council (maybe because he partially trained a third of them). Satele became pregnant, went to Zho for advice, and rather than saying "let's talk to the Council, the normal Jedi support structure, which trusts me," he said "I will cover this up. For you." Like a favour.

He said to the Council that she was on a mission, which put a time limit on the 'plan' ("Always with the plan, aren't you?" Zho asks Theron in Lost Suns). By lying to the Council on her behalf, he made it impossible to go to them for support, or at the least heavily implied to Satele that her pregnancy was somehow wrong or shameful.

By isolating Satele from everyone but himself, and putting a time limit on her seclusion, he arranged for her to have no real choice but to give him custody of Theron. (The scion of a powerful bloodline... and possibly even blackmail material against the future Grand Master.)

Then, having secured the custody of Theron, he proceeded to isolate him as he had isolated Satele, and thoroughly abuse him. This is detailed in Lost Suns, and I will not detail it here; suffice to say it began at the earliest when Theron was five, and Theron's life was endangered by Zho, who abandoned Theron upon realizing he was not Force-sensitive.

(SOME OF) THE AFTERMATH

Years later, when Theron is an SIS officer, under convoluted plot circumstances (that is: the plot of Lost Suns), he reencounters Zho. Zho takes another young person, Teff'ith, under his wing, which Theron is unhappy about. (Teff'ith asks Theron, who has used the term 'childhood trauma' about Zho by this point, and will later elaborate with horrific detail that I, once more, decline to repeat, "Scared of him?". Theron says 'no' - you know, like a liar. Anyway -)

(My theory is that Zho was Star Cabal, Revanite, or both, and wanted complete control of the training of the Blood Of Revan... but fuck knows why he did any of this. Your guess is as good as mine.)

I do think, in the text, Zho's treatment of Theron is framed as abhorrent, especially given the cited and open trauma and abuse. There is also a line in Annihilation about him glaring at Satele in a way that reminds me of Theron's textual panic attack when Satele mentions Zho to him elsewhere in the book. Given this, I think it is an entirely reasonable conclusion, even ignoring the fact that he is baby-stealing Jedi georg, the only Jedi known to have actually stolen a baby, that he mistreated Satele, too.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

At any rate - Ngani Zho coerced Satele into giving him custody of Theron. Theron does not know this, and assumes Satele chose freely to gave him up.

We can't know what her decision would have been, because she didn't truly get to make one. She may have chosen to give Theron up. She may not have. But as it was, as it happened, she did not have a genuine choice.

TL;DR: Tie-in material makes it quite clear that Ngani Zho, the "Master Zho" in one of Theron's combat lines, coerced Satele into giving the infant Theron into his custody. This was terrible for everyone involved, except Zho.

[uselessalexis165]

randomly remembered more parents that make me wish my parents were as good as them

[lurkingshan]

Oh I loved this sequence with Wang admitting his loneliness and Tian realizing his choice to maintain distance to hide his feelings is actually doing harm. Someone needs to hug that boy and I nominate Tian.

[19dayz]

He Tian: You mad at me or something?

Mo Guan Shan: I don’t know. Did you do something to make me mad? Because then I am, but if you didn’t then I am not.

He Tian: I didn’t do anything.

Mo Guan Shan: Then I am not mad.

He Tian: *Walks away*

Mo Guan Shan: I am mad.

Jian Yi: …?

[villainsandvictimsalliance]

Ok, I’m arguing with someone about the Todoroki family, and like I get there maybe some responsibility on Rei’s shoulders as a parent. However, they’re saying Rei was abusive towards Enji, that she abused him and her being aggressive and constantly yelling is what changed him. They said he was a victim turned abuser, and that his family emotionally abused him. Did Rei abuse him? Was he emotionally abused by his family? Like the situation was a spiral I guess but in no way did it give off that he was the victim of the family situation???

Tell them to reread the manga. In the best way possible, really. I probably have to reread the manga too because I don't remember all that well the whole Todofam drama, but here I go:

Long post, beware!!!!! ;)

For what I know, Enji's trauma started with the death of his father. That's what motivated him to become a hero. After that, he got blinded by his perfectionism and his jealousy towards All Might.

The only reason the Todofam exists is because Enji wanted a child with both fire and ice quirks. That's why he proposed to Rei. The Himuras were very old-fashioned, in the sense that they didn't even like their members marrying outside of the family so as to not stain their names. Their quirks got weaker with time, they started losing money and influence. That's when Enji arrived: he'd give money to the Himuras if Rei were to marry him.

Now, Rei's trauma comes from her family and the ways of the Himuras. Her trauma didn't start with Enji, but it surely intensified with it.

Attempting to create a quirks through arranged marriages is a dangerous dangerous thing to do. We see a doctor telling that to both Enji and Rei. They were aware of that. The problem with the union of Enji and Rei is that, even if there was love at the beginning —even if— it depended solely on the quirks of the children. A man who willingly pushes away his children because they don't have the quirk he wants and that forces their mother to raise them alone— that's not a good husband or father, you know?

Rei was there to provide him with children and to take care of them. It sounds more like she was an employee than her wife. It was abuse right from the start, okay?

Rei did what he asked. Birthed his children and took care of them. She was submissive at first. Went along with his plans. You know the drill.

When it was revealed that Touya's body couldn't handle the heat of his flames, that's when things got ugly. They knew the risk, it shouldn't have been a surprise. At that point, Enji had put a lot of pressure and expectations on little Touya. He filled the kid's head with lies, made Touya value himself only by his dad's expectations. Touya was born for one reason alone and he had been living for it and it was killing him.

Rei saw that. Enji saw that.

Both tried to do damage control and backtrack, but Touya was too smart. While they told Touya he could live his life as something else than the hero his father wanted, he knew that it made him a failure in their eyes. The stress of destroying her children's lives got to both Rei and Enji. It wasn't something intangible. It was their son burning alive right before their eyes. It was their son telling Rei the truth of her marriage to her face.

Let's be honest here, Rei was one step away from being a slave. She married Enji to save her family and damned children in the process.

I think in order to properly understand Rei's role in the whole drama, you need to consider certain cultural aspects. Like how women are viewed in Japan, what is expected from them once they get married, the power a husband has over his wife, how women get economically trapped by men in relationships all the time... I'm not an expert on those aspects, but it's worth mentioning them.

Now, back to Rei and Enji.

Rei started "fighting" Enji after Touya was fully deemed a failure. You can see that she didn't like the idea of another child, especially because it'd be terrible for Touya's wellbeing. It'd confirm he was not enough. Still, she went along with Enji's plan. It was not a happy house. Enji was acting more and more aggressively, Rei was more and more nervous. Shouto was born and Touya tried to kill him— he didn't want to be replaced, he did not want to lose his place at home.

It started building. what happened to Touya was not confined to Sekoto Peak. It was years in the making, that tragedy. I can only imagine how Rei felt when she got the news. She had begged her son to stay, but her submissive role couldn't save him. It wouldn't be enough.

Touya dies. Enji spirals.

Horikoshi is careful to draw Rei terrified. She tells ugly truths to Enji's face. Is that abuse? Is it abuse if a woman who's being treated like an employee and who had to watch her husband traumatize their kids screams at said man? We know that Enji was physically abusive with Shouto and that he even went against Rei, which made Shout stand up to him to stop him from hurting his mom.

The only reason why Rei had a mental breakdown (freaking diagnosed) is because the very eyes of Enji were enough to make her shake and want to defend herself physically.

It's obvious she was scared for her life. It's even more obvious she was convinced he would hurt her. She was terrified of her own children 'cause they looked like him.

Rei was definitely not the best mother. She didn't deserve to reach that level of abuse, tho.

What made Endeavor be like that is the violence of the society he grew up in and his very own competitiveness and low self-esteem. Then the consequences of his own actions. For All Might and Deku to feel like they need to protect Shouto from Endeavor? For Rei to rather be in a mental hospital than at home? For Touya to go back and decide he didn't want to be alive?

He is textually treated like a villain in the manga. At least at first.

Even if Rei confronting Enji caused him some psychological damage, it's the same as saying that a criminal got physiological trauma from committing his crimes. Saying Rei was the one who made him like that is awful victim blaming.

Enji created all those situations himself. I guess that's why Rei reminds him at the hospitals that he doesn't get to play the "poor me" role, when they all have been dealing with the hurt of what happened to their family.

Later, Endeavor acknowledges it himself. He takes responsibility for it, stops feeling pity for himself and decides to do something about it. Namely, puts his life on the line to solve the issue with the Todorokis. You know how fire is known for its purifying properties? You can say that the Todofam burning together gave them a second chance, somehow.

Their resolution involved Rei taking an active role in saving Touya (same with Fuyumi and Natsuo), while Enji put himself at the service of the son he always ignored and mistreated. I didn't write it, it was all Horikoshi.

So again, kindly tell the other person to reread the manga and then you both can engage in that discussion again. As it is, I doubt it'd reach any productive term.

Hope this answer satisfies you, anon!!!!!

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

Evening Rain (Wu Yonggang & Wu Yigong, 1980)

[zhoudadudugongjin]

Forever unwell about male characters getting left literally holding a baby that isn't theirs. It's one of my favourite tropes.