#also noticed that Ed and Mei are drawn very similarly and shaded the same way

[clonerightsagenda]

I don't think I ever noticed this parallel until this time around, but both the Xingese royalty are asked a terrible favor by someone lying immobilized and dying on the ground because they're the only one who can do it.

Buccaneer asks Ling to keep the gate closed. I don't remember his reaction in the show, but in the comic there is a several panel hesitation where his expression looks like he understands exactly what he is being asked to do - kill a bunch of people whose main crime is staying loyal to their leader in a situation they don't fully understand, the same thing that just left one of his own people dead at his feet. I joke about him being the 15 year old down with murder but he does not look happy about it. And then of course Mei is asked by Al to use her alkahestry - something intended for medical use, to help people - to send him back through the portal, potentially killing him if Ed can't get him back, and she's in tears.

In both scenes they're asked for a favor and told this is something only they can do. Big asks for children who didn't mean to get involved in the affairs of this country, but they are there to claim a philosopher's stone, even if Mei voices qualms about the ethics. You want to rule? You want to use something terrible because you believe it's the best way to protect people? Then here, do this other terrible thing. In that sense it's the same ask they've been getting their entire lives. The people we love need protection. No one else can do this. Only you. Now live with it.