#also this is actually why wolfwood wears black and red

[nanomooselet]

My Brother's Keeper (III)

So, what's the big difference between Knives and Wolfwood that leads to such disaster? Why, it's the same as the difference between Vash and Meryl. The one which meant Zazie singled out Meryl despite her relative powerlessness.

Agency.

And more than that.

Wolfwood has been forced to represent Knives. But he has far more in common with Vash - similarities which, unfortunately, extend to both being victims of Knives's abuse.

The Eye of Michael took Wolfwood from his home because he did well on a test he couldn't have consented to, chemically mutilated him, hurt him when he tried to escape, mocked and belittled him, and used Livio as a hostage to coerce him into being their hatchet-man. Now everything that was ever good in his world depends on him doing what they want, and he can't trust them to keep their word on that anymore.

Hell, Nick's place in the Hopeland Orphanage (earmarked as a storehouse for potential EOM subjects), being likely born S+ chemically compatible, even being orphaned young and poor (and thus being taken in by an orphanage) all meant he was denied a say in his future, long before he was even aware he had one. Almost every major event in his life has been dictated by things he couldn't control, and by now he's resigned to it, just as Vash is resigned to shouldering blame and punishment for everything that Knives does (supposedly) because of him. Wolfwood's been made into the Punisher, and the Punisher is a weapon. He is wielded by another, as Vash is himself often used and fought over.

When in the position of putting aside punishment to protect what they love most, Wolfwood discards his weapon/shield to take the agony of sacrifice upon himself, just as Vash has always done.

Knives, though... Okay. Fair warning. I've seen it said that Vash "maintains the status quo" while Knives "fights for the oppressed". Now, Knives really is one of my favourites; I wouldn't have examined him so closely if he wasn't. But I don't even remotely share that assessment of the situation.

(And if this seems an excessive amount of attempted placation, I can only say that I'm a long-term BioWare fan who frankly never liked or trusted Garrus Vakarian or Anders, so being skittish about voicing criticism of the fandom boyfriend has become a habit.)

Orange were far, far nicer than I would have been when they said Knives isn't a villain. Or rather, I think when they said they prefer "nuance and complexity" to boiling a character down to merely "villain", that was taken to be a much more positive description of Knives than they intended it to be. They did give Knives nuanced and complex motivations. But they do not mean he is truthful, objective, rational, or morally superior to his victims.

I don't think Knives is the blade and liberator of the downtrodden he names himself. Not even of the Plants. He's something more horrifying and more hateful.

Knives, you see, actively seeks out power. He's motivated above all by a desire for authority, superiority, dominance and control. There are a lot of shots where he stands above - particularly above Vash, who's often kneeling before him. His followers call him "lord". Conrad tells Legato they need forgiveness from Wolfwood, but the one he actually begs for it is Knives. That's exactly what Knives wants. It means he's strong.

To Knives, possessing power and being in power means he's right. He's safe. He can't be controlled as long as he is in control (he cannot be victim as long as he is perpetrator). He's the shadow ruler of the most powerful and wealthy of the seven cities, which practices eugenicist control of its population. He controls the July military police, who carry missile launchers, drive armoured vehicles, and are pointedly demonstrated to be both brutal and deeply corrupt. He steals (or "liberates from oppression") Plants from remote communities like Jeneora Rock, which even before he arrived had no clean drinking water, while July is explicitly described as having a "monopoly" on the sale and distribution of water-producing Plants (they also manufacture and sell weapons). He deliberately sows misinformation and lies to (among other things) persecute and exert control over his brother, who is thus branded a dangerous fugitive and subject to constant violence and pursuit. He founded a religion that glorifies death and preys upon even those like the Windmill Village, who didn't rely on Plants for anything and yet were driven away or slaughtered to the last.

After Knives crashed the ships, he took it on himself to build a new system. This one installed him in a position to exploit the disadvantaged and powerless, these disgusting parasites, for his own ends. All the while making plans to wipe them out - because as he conceptualises the world, it will make what he loves (what belongs to him) as safe and as pure and as perfect as himself. He made himself into a weapon that only he will ever wield. And he wields himself against those who have no way to meaningfully fight back, who have no way even to understand what it is that he so despises them for.

Knives never makes sacrifices. He demands them. Someone else always has to take the blame. Someone else always has to suffer the consequences. Often that someone is Vash, often it's the other Plants, often it's humans - and always it's Rem, even though Rem is dead and has been for a century and a half.

It can't be Knives. He's never to blame. Yet everything that Knives has become, he's chosen to be. Still he refuses to accept any responsibility or compromise, anything that might lead to him being vulnerable. Even as those he claims to protect are ruined as a result of his negligence and cruelty.

Not wanting to kill anyone… that's just a coward's idealism. Even a kid could tell you that. Folks only get to live 'cause other people die. That's the world we live in. I don't have the luxury of being afraid to make tough decisions. I have to choose in order to protect the things that are dear to me.

Very nice speech, beautifully staged and affecting (also though Wolfwood is delivering it to Vash, it's for the benefit of Meryl, as she checks the derringer is loaded, trying to keep her hands steady). But… what choice besides killing has there been for Wolfwood? He took Livio in as his brother and all that did was make Livio a target as well.

It was Vash who actually gave him a choice.

No, what's coming out of Wolfwood's mouth is dogma of the Eye of Michael. Wolfwood is doing what Knives would do, will do, has done from the very start and has spent every moment of his life furiously trying to justify ever since: paying in blood for the safety of him and his, telling himself it's the only way.

What makes Wolfwood different from Knives in this instance is that he actually bothered listening when Vash talked, then trusted him at least to try and do what he could. And that means the justification, for Wolfwood, is falling pitifully short. He owes everything to Vash's kindness. He knows Vash isn't naïve, or a coward, or childish, or weak. Vash embodies a hope he's never known before in his life, and Wolfwood can no longer convince himself surrendering to despair and complacency is the right thing to do. Not if there's a choice.

He doesn't believe there is one. Belief isn't for him. He's no priest. He's just an undertaker.

But given that, if that's what he is, then... maybe…

There's no way to return his humanity./That monster was not the kid you knew.

You don't, by any chance, think you can make up with Millions Knives, do you?/When you get to Knives, you aren't stupid enough to think you two can just talk this thing out, are ya?

Do you think sacrificing yourself will make everyone happy?/Think sacrificing yourself will make us little guys happy?

Wolfwood... Wolfwood knows. What Vash can't accept. What Knives really is. Has personally been subject to Knives's handiwork, been Knives's instrument going to and fro on the earth, and walking up and down in it. You know what? This time, Knives should be the one to make a sacrifice. After a lifetime of spouting bullshit and ruling absolute over a world that because of him, demands either sacrifice or death, it might finally be his turn. If Wolfwood can convince Vash to make him take it.

But of all the fucking times for Vash to dig in his fucking heels, of course it had to be over this.

(Part I)

(Part II)

(Part IV)

(Part V)

(Part VI)

(Part VII)