#and not just that!!! cesare literally closed himself off in s3 after he took out juan when he could've gotten closer to micheletto

[borgialucrezia]

#the fukken....the IDEA. that cesare would be dissatisfied that micheletto isn't...in juan's place??? UMMMM...#sometimes I feel like i look at things like this and am just FASCINATED by the sheer canyon in perception #that must exist between me and the interviewer when we perceive this story #it's wild to me that they would perceive cesare as putting JUAN and MICHELETTO in the SAME CATEGORY bc they manifestly AREN'T #that OBEDIENCE is something cesare even realistically EXPECTS from his blood family however much he may WANT it #from the very BEGINNING the borgias in this vision were characterized by the ambition that unified them AS WELL AS divided them #while FROM THE BEGINNING micheletto was sui generis - perfectly loyal and perfectly obedient #cesare isn't disappointed that micheletto isn't his BROTHER #micheletto isn't FAMILY at ALL bc to cesar de borgia FAMILY is quite literally a holy concept and quite literally a profane one #cesare doesn't wish that other people were his family even when they legally BECOME his family bc his family are sui generis too #a law literally unto themselves that bear no comparison with anyone #juan is cesare's brother and however much juan may frustrate him however much cesare might grow to hate him #cesare never seeks to put SOMEONE ELSE in his place bc juan is juan. blood is blood. that's why cesare had to be the one to kill him #and micheletto is not and never could be a brother bc even though he isn't a slave in name or law...he is CESARE'S #'so you need MY MICHELETTO' says cesare and never questions it. micheletto is a POSSESSION OF THE PRINCE and neither of them questions it #that's why micheletto offers the knife to cesare and begs to die when he realizes he's been played #that's why he crawls back and offers cesare one last aid before the end #and that's why in the finale that never was micheletto dies in his service #which is NEVER something that any borgia would do for cesare in that same way #bc they are not IN SERVICE to one another they are BLOOD and the way the house of borgia interprets that has NEVER been kind #FASCINATING THOUGHTS HERE. that cesare would be dissatisfied that micheletto isn't his brother. FASCINATING. can't understand it myself (via @takiki16)

(If Cesare is dissatisfied that Micheletto isn't his brother instead of Juan) "Not exactly, because Cesare and Micheletto's relationship is more or less secret, hidden. They don't know too much about each other. Well, Micheletto has absolutely no grasp of what the rest of Cesare's life is, and Cesare is very respectful of Micheletto being so secretive about himself, and I don't think he really wants to know. It's not really a friendship, because there is an idea of hierarchy, but it's not master and slave, either. It's not boss and employee. It's something very complex. It's not equal, but there is a lot of trust. While with Juan, I think it all comes from a very deep place. His brother faces different struggles and is very naive, so Cesare pushes him by teaching him lessons. He also understands how hard it must be to do that, or at least he had good intentions towards him in the beginning, with some sort of really loving brotherly undertone under all of this hard teaching." — François Arnaud