#becoming the deuteragonist lover saved him

[aspoonofsugar]

what do you think of Cherrisnake? How do you the relationship will forward in season 2 now that sir pentious is in heaven and Cherri Bomb is still in hell?

What do you think of Huskerdust? What do you think the relationship is gonna be like coming forward season 2?

Hi!

I am answering your two asks together because I think Cherrisnake and Huskerdusk may work very well as foils!

First of all, I like both ships, as I like all the canon/set up ships in hazbin and helluva :)

When it comes to Hazbin Hotel specifically, I think there are four major ships (so far):

Chaggie

Huskerdusk

Lucilith

Cherrisnake

Chaggie is obviously at the heart of the story, as Charlie is the protagonist, Vaggie the deuteragonist and their bond comments their respective developments. Angel is set up as the tritragonist so far, so obviously his ship is pretty important, as well. Lucifer and Lilith are not protagonists, but their love story is kind of the beginning of the whole conflict and they are meant to foil Chaggie, so they are gonna be important. Cherrisnake is then probably going to comment on Huskerdust specifically and to tie into the main theme of the story. Specifically, loves saves:

You're gonna fight without gloves And when that push comes to shove Yeah, you just might rise above, long as you're out for love

In general, I like that these ships are set up to all have different dynamics:

Chaggie are already a couple, but they have unhealthy aspects they need to work through

Huskerdusk are a slowburn, so we are gonna see them slowly develop feelings for each other

Lucilith are on a break, so I think we are gonna explore their problems and see them rekindle their relationship

Cherrisnake seem so far to parody some very common tropes, like enemies to lovers and star-crossed lovers, as now Cherry is in Hell and Pentious is in Heaven

After this intro, I am gonna focus on the two specific ships.

HUSKERDUSK

I agree with what @hamliet said in her meta. I think that their relationship started with Husk teaching Angel to accept he is a loser:

We're both losers, baby We're losers, it's okay to be a Coked-up, dick-suckin' ho? Baby, that's fine by me I'm a loser, honey A schmoozer and a dummy But at least I know I'm not alone You're a loser Just like me

But as the story goes on, Angel will teach Husk they can become winners. In other words, they can find redemption:

Did I hear you imply That they don't deserve death? Are they Winners? Are they Sinners? 'Cause it's cut and dry

So far, Angel has had more focus than Husk and is the one who has made more progress in his arc. Husk instead has acted as the good wise old man, but has made no personal progress and is behaving as if he accepts he can't get better. That is because both him and Angel are trapped in a contract with another demon:

It is probable that Angel is soon going to free himself, which might inspire Husk to try doing the same, as well. Or at least to try and stand up to Alastor more, especially if Alastor's actions are going to put Husk's new found family in danger (and they will). That said, both Angel and especially Husk are gonna screw up before they can be together :''')

Anyway, I like them. They are opposites. Angel is rather young, fully expresses his own sexuality to the point he uses sex for self-harm and he is heart. Husk is older, he is reserved when it comes to sexual stuff and he is mind.

CHERRISNAKE

I don't have strong predictions about the ship for the simple reason that the relationship has been explored less than others. In particular, Cherri has appeared very little and her arc has just been set up and still needs to happen. That said, I think they are gonna foil Huskerdusk simply because both Pentious and Cherri are foils of Angel.

Both Pentious and Angel are initially linked to the Vees and are the first two demons who join the hotel. Not only that, but they are opposites in the reason they join. Pentious says he is repentant (lol), but really wants to spy on Alastor. Angel instead wants to change deep down, but hides it and says he joins to have a home for free. Charlie also believes in their eventual redemption, but she messes up when it comes to why and when :''') Initially, she thinks Pentious is gonna redeem himself first and doesn't realize he is faking his interest in the hotel. Then, she argues in Heaven that Angel is making the most progress... except that Pentious is really the first to find redemption... Basically they are characters used to highlight how little Charlie understands redemption, despite her passion about it.

Both Cherri and Angel are instead addicted and prisoners of their self-destructive behaviors. Angel is dependent on drugs and trapped in an abusive relationship with Val. Cherri is instead probably a survivor to a relationship (maybe abusive???) that ended up pretty badly. Let's just say I don't think it is by chance that when Angel invites her at the hotel she insists she is fine... only to then immediately say she is gonna have sex with a stranger:

Angel Dust: There's room for everyone, and ya know… you could come crash with us too. Cherri: Okay, look, Angie, I'm glad this hotel shit is workin' for you, but you know me, bitch, I'm doin' just fine! In fact, I'm gonna fuck the next guy I see, okay? But if you need me, you know where to find me, yeah? Sir Pentious: *panting* Is Cherri still here? [Cherri walks into the sex room with another demon.] Dammit!

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing bad with casual sex, but the set up is about Cherri refusing to face her own demons, while having fun in superficial relationship. This is highlighted even more by Pentious instead trying to court her the whole evening only to be ignored in the end.

The set-up and endgame is clear... Cherri will rediscover love and a healthy bond through Pentious. However, she will first have to work on herself at the hotel to reach him. Meanwhile, Pentious will need to face himself in Heaven, without his new-found support system (which is very interesting). As a matter of fact Pentious has the potential to be a subversion/deconstruction of the redemption through death trope. Usually the redemption through death goes like this:

A character is evil, but eventually has a change of heart

They do a good deed, but die while doing so

If the story is at least decent, the sacrifice will accomplish something big and probably help the protagonist win in some way

Pentious's death is a parody of this, as he marches to risk his life and defeat Adam, but is killed without accomplishing anything and in an anti-climatic way. Except that it was his intention that mattered, so he is still redeemed. That said, here comes the thing with redemption through death... if used poorly it is a cheap way to avoid letting a character deal with the consequences of his actions. Basically they die before they can really change and be tested through their change... So, here comes the question: is Pentious redemption through death enough for him to have fully overcome the flaws that landed him into hell? Imo nope, obviously. So, he will have to keep on working on himself even in Heaven and may realize redemption is an ongoing process.

In short, if Huskerdusk is mostly about redemption as way to feel better about yourself and to find freedom again. I think that for Cherrisnake redemption might be having to work on yourself day after day until you are worthy and ready to start a happy relationship.

These are my thoughts on the two ships. Thank you for the asks!

[shsl-analyzer-guy]

Takemichi stan here, please talk more about him being a protag, I'm very intrigued.

(And also, Celeste's cat, lmao)

I have been WAITING for this ask since I dropped the tier list. Thank you. Thank you so much

So in UDG, Komaru becomes the protagonist because she's Makoto's sister, and thus, becomes Monaca's target. Well, Komaru is still Monaca's target in this UDT au too, BUT it's because she's the sister of the mastermind, not the one who killed the mastermind. This puts her as a secondary deuteragonist of the game, as Leon (the deuterag) is unsure how much she knows and if she's trustworthy or not. But that left me with an empty protagonist slot, so I thought to myself, which Captive would best fit within this au? And two options came to mind. The first was Takaaki, but I ultimately wanted the protag/Deuterag dynamic that Toko and Syo had with Komaru so I decided against it, instead opting to have him be in my au's UDT 2 and play a major role there. The other was Takemichi.

Takemichi has always been one of the captives I would've liked to see the most, and it helped here that Mondo had become the first victim in this AU's THH, so I figured that gave him enough significance right off the bat to put him in a leading role in a game about the victims' loved ones, especially considering that we know Leon and Mondo were friends prior to the games. I imagine a game in which Takemichi actually remembers Leon but Leon has no memory of him has a ton of potential to it especially. (Also, as much as I love Tokomaru and Syomaru, I wanna assert that Leon and Takemichi are gonna be entirely platonic. Maybe a QPR at most)

If there are any Takemichi lovers who've scrounged up every known piece of info about Takemichi, and any of it contradicts with my limited knowledge and assumptions, please tell me, I'd love to hear more, but as of typing this out, all my knowledge of Takemichi is

A) he's Mondo's right hand in the gang

B) he's expressly not interested in women despite a literal fanclub

And

C) he's short? Ider finding this info so this could just be an assumption based on the way they draw his face

So my line of thinking would be him pulling together an outfit and painting a biker helmet to look like a Monokuma kid, and therefore, avoid being attacked. This disguise would be a work in progress over the course of the game, coming to completion in the later chapters to introduce a sneaking mechanic. This disguise would make for a way to reveal that the helmets aren't just helmets, but tracking devices to keep track of the kids, so while you can go past the kids with the disguise, it doesn't work on the Monokumas bots because there's no sensor telling them to stop. Also, I like to think his weapon of choice would be something along the lines of a survival multi tool for map exploration, while Komaru maintains the gun and can be swapped out when specific bullets are needed for puzzles, rather than shooting being the primary progression mechanic. Leon, meanwhile, is the main fighter, wielding a metal bat to break the Monokumas when they're attacked.

Really, I'd like to delve into the story of what made Takemichi want to join a biker gang, and having his past let him connect with Nagisa. I can't help but imagine Takemichi, who joined a gang, might've done so because of pressures in his home life leading him to redefine his life and leave home, maybe even staying with the Owadas. So he might just be the right character to reach out to Nagisa and get through to him, saving him from being killed by his own robot and giving him a second chance, with him then being the one to help them through the final chapter and warn them of Monaca's interest in Komaru, though he doesn't know why.

But yeah that's what I've been thinking!

[narutakijune]

About ATLA Relationship Arcs

So, this is me, finally trying to write some meta after lurking in my little tumblr corner for months! Hi!

Although I’ve tried to tag properly, if you are a Kat*anger and just want to enjoy your favourite couple in peace, this might not be the post for you. I am not trying to bash characters but I do have a lot of critical stuff to say about the writing.

Anyway, you have been warned and here is my story about my personal first Atla experience: I watched the show this year for the first time, and after the end of Book 1 I decided to look up spoilers, because after what happened to Yue, I wanted to make sure that Zuko and Iroh would be ok. So I knew what was going to happen: Kat*ang endgame and absolutely no Zutara at all. Still, by the end of Book 3, I was convinced that I had read wrong - that there would be an epilogue with a different ending or at least that Aang would only get together with Katara post-show- in that Korra series or something - because anything else wouldn’t make sense- right?

….

After I got over my shock and surprise, I went online and found out about that decade-long aggressive passionate ship war and how even the showrunners got involved.

And then I really worried that I might have missed a few points. Apparently ”Aang and Katara were the DNA of the show”, according to the creators themselves, and “Zutara could never have happened”.

Another popular anti-ZK argument I found was: Why do you always go on about Katara and Zuko? Just look at Zuko and Aang! They are the hero/ anti-hero and each other’s foils, their relationship is much more meaningful!”

So I tried to find out what it was that I apparently couldn’t see.

(Another disclaimer: I love analysing stories (like many Zutarians apparently) and this will get long and rambly. If you get bored to tears when people start talking about “narrative structure” you will probably not like this.)

Talking about narrative structure, I do believe that, in order to let your story, your characters and their relationships really shine, a good basic structure is important. There should be a recognizable development and individual parts of the story that build upon each other and lead to consequences and change, until there is a completed arc - because it is all about the journey that takes you to a satisfying ending, right? So that’s what I tried to do, with my personal Kat*ang vs. Zutara take, I tried to look at the structure and development of their relationship arcs.

The argument that threw me off track for a while is that compared to Aang and Zuko, Zuko and Katara’s relationship is not supposed to be that relevant for the plot. After all, Zuko is the foil, the anti-hero, the deuteragonist to Aang, who is the hero protagonist.

This is all true of course. But then why is it that in every finale, Zuko’s main opponent (and later ally) is not Aang but Katara? Why is it that their sun/moon, red/blue, fire/water dichotomy is so obviously highlighted?

I think one reason why Zuko and Katara are paired off so frequently in the story - as opposite elements, as opponents and as allies - is that they BOTH are Aang’s deuteragonists. While Zuko also acts as antagonist and Aang’s foil/mirror, Katara takes over the more traditional deuteragonist role of confidant / best friend/ narrator.

Protagonist Aang is what connects them, although they are on opposite sides: Both need Aang because he represents their hope to save their world. Very simply put, Katara protects him, so he can make the world a safer place again, and Zuko wants to capture him, so he can go home and be safe again. That rivalry between them is already established in the first episode, even before they meet each other: Katara, who hopes that the Avatar will return (as she tells everyone in the intro), and Zuko, who seems to be obsessed with finding him for more sinister reasons.

And just to make sure, I am not talking here about the characters’ feelings and emotions! This is just about the abstract roles they have been assigned within the narrative.

When regarding Zutara’s special connection to Aang and their rivalry with each other, it makes absolute sense to stress their “same but different”ness as well, visually and metaphorically: Red and blue, fire and water, sun and moon, arguably Painted Lady/Blue Spirit, and, when you put into account their story arc, also Oma and Shu.

With this basis, which puts them together and sets them apart simultaneously, their relationship already becomes very dynamic and interesting, even before you consider any romantic potential.

And here’s another thing, Zuko and Katara also have their own story arc within the main plot. Although they don’t have many scenes together before Zuko joins the Gaang, when they do meet there is always a new shift in their relationship and in quite a few cases their interactions are important for the main plot as well. If you just look at their “end fights” at each book’s finale, there is an obvious and consequential build-up, like any decent story arc should have:

Book 1 starts with Zuko as the powered-up enemy and Katara as the weak newbie waterbender. Both are battling over Aang. At the end of Book 1, they are finally established as equally powerful fighters but still fundamentally different (You rise with the moon, I rise with the sun!)

In CoD at the end of Book 2 happens the next step: they realize that they are not different at all! But Aang still doesn’t represent the same for them and they end up on opposing sides of the war again.

In the Book 3 finale, when Zuko has completed his own (anti-) hero's journey and Aang represents the same “hope” for both of them, they do not only join forces: Their “same but different”- traits make them such a uniquely suited match that they are even able to save each other’s lives during their fight with Azula (who in turn happens to be Katara and Zuko’s antagonist/mirror/foil).

And in addition to their own story arc they even get an individual recurring theme, which also appears in every book whenever their relationship status changes: The lost mothers, especially Katara’s mother.

In Book 1, Katara’s necklace (the symbol of Kiya) plays not only a major part in two of Zuko’s capture attempts, it is the reason for their very first one-one one encounter in the story.

Their first friendly connection in COD in Book 2 happens because they start talking about their mothers. And in Book 3, their final reconciliation (sealed with a very cathartic hug) happens after their life-changing trip which is, of course, all about Katara’s mother.

Again, I am not even trying to analyse their characters and motivations within the story - there are many metas that have already done that much better, more detailed and with screenshots. This is just dry structure and tropes and themes. But I think people recognize and connect with a well-structured arc, even subconsciously, which is one of the reasons that makes Zutara such a compelling couple. They complete and contrast each other, their relationship dynamic constantly changes, builds up, falls apart, reconnects. Such a setup is the perfect playground for a lot of creative takes on what-ifs and alternative scenarios and of course, shipping them romantically is extremely tempting - think of all the possibilities! It’s no wonder that the Zutara fandom is still so active decades after the end of the show. And it’s also no wonder that the Zutarians are known for “over-analysing everything”. You can only over-analyse if there is anything that gives you enough food to analyse to begin with. Which brings me to

KAT*ANG

I just go right to the top and take the quote from Br*yke themselves:

Kata*ng was in the DNA of the thing from the start…. [Zutara] was just dark and intriguing.

If you read this quote and then start watching the show, I would (grudgingly) agree that:

Aang and Katara understand and complement each other really well. Aang gives her the chance to have fun and go on adventures and in turn, Katara is his fiercest supporter from the very beginning, something that he really needs after he lost all his people AND has to find out that the world thinks the war is sort of his fault. In turn, the journey to the North Pole is as important to Katara as it is to Aang, because it is her dream to learn waterbending properly. That’s what she literally says when Sokka & Co try to banish Aang: (Sokka: Where do you think you’re going? Katara: To find a waterbender. Aang is taking me to the North Pole.) In that way, they are friends who give and take equally and are equally taken care of. They even have the last Airbender/ last Southern Waterbender status that connects them. The few times they have a fight, Aang does something in the end to redeem himself (perform some heroic feat) and Katara sees that she is right to believe in him.

Aang has this very sweet crush on her and it will be very sweet and wholesome when Katara will return his feelings at the end of their adventure after he has hit puberty. On the other side, there is also some heavy shipbaiting with Zuko: I save you from the pirates. The betrothal necklace. June and her excellent shipping taste. But in the end they are enemies, they barely know each other and, come on, it would be too dark and intriguing! There is no real threat against friends to lovers Kat*ang, the soft heart of the story. It’s very straightforward and there are a lot of simple “the hero saves the day” scenes for Aang but that’s fine! It’s not really my kind of ship but that’s not the point, it works for the story they want to tell.

End of Book 1.

In my - probably harsh- opinion, everything you really need to know about the Kat*ang relationship has been told by this point. If you want to be really mean, already by Book 1, episode 3.

That explains maybe why many (not all! but many) pro-KA arguments sound as if their shippers have not watched Book 2 and 3 at all. The Book 1 synopsis also perfectly sums up Bry*ke’s quote above. But then Book 2 and 3 are still there and I don’t know what happened but it seems as if they somehow decided that the Kat*ang story does not need any new and lasting input. Maybe because they were afraid that too much new development and change would stray too far away from their original Kat*ang vision. But there are still 2 more books and more adventures and Kat*ang somehow has to be kept apart until the finale.

So the tension in their potential romance is based largely on the question whether or not Katara will return Aang’s feelings. In general I don’t have a problem with that will-she-won’t she-technique. It works well in books where the love interest is not a POV or in shows/ movies where the love interest is not one of the main characters. But Katara is not only the female lead but also arguably the narrative voice of the whole story! As a result, this kind of writing makes Katara look as if she doesn’t have any agency in their relationship, which is not surprisingly a very popular anti-KA criticism.

Additionally, since her dream - learning waterbending - has been fulfilled by the end of Book 1, the relationship work becomes a bit one-sided. Of course Aang is the hero and his journey is the heart of the story. But in order to highlight their special connection it would have helped to give Katara another personal agenda, which Aang could have supported in some way. She is still the last Southern Waterbender and he the Last Airbender but this is not really explored in the Kat*ang relationship. And her other personal agenda, her mother, is already reserved for the Zutara arc.

Instead, in Book 2 and 3 the Kat*ang story is somehow all over the place. Of course there is new conflict and a few romantic scenes as well. But obstacles are either introduced too late or just dropped when not needed anymore, conflict is not resolved and their flirty, romantic moments never lead anywhere- and if they do, they lead to more conflict that is not resolved (yes, I am looking at you, EIP Kiss!).

Take for example Katara’s very sudden argument that they cannot be together now because there is a war going on. We hear her saying that for the first time in the very last episode (EIP) before the 4-part finale. That is too late to have any impact! That she has these kinds of thoughts was never even alluded to before. Not once.

Or the pattern Aang runs away/ is flaky - Katara is upset - Aang comes back and does his hero thing - Katara is relieved. In regards to their relationship arc, nothing changes here between Book 1 and the finale, only the stakes for Aang’s heroic performances get higher.

Or Katara being the one who is able to calm Aang down when he cannot control the Avatar state (which, in my personal opinion, is neither romantic nor healthy). This is also connected to the problem with the seventh Chakra, that Aang needs to let go of his attachment for her. I will be angry forever with how they wasted this for a possible relationship development! That Aang has to decide to either do his duty or save his forever girl (because let’s be fair, he did try to let go and only ran when he had the vision of Katara in danger) - that’s a fantastic setup!

But no, it doesn’t have any real consequences for Kat*ang at all. Instead there were only half-baked attempts – Aang does lie about his failed practice with Guru Pathik but the ultimate reason why his chakra is blocked is Azula, not his decision to run. Aang does try to let go of Katara for a little bit but then Azula shoots him. Nothing in Book 3 shows any change in his feelings that could have been a result of his instant let-it-go. If anything, he gets weirdly obsessive - which could have been used as a side effect of his blocked chakra but – again, no, nothing happens.

I suspect the whole thing was just introduced to create temporary drama for poor Aang, but it is never explained why Katara holds him back, what aspect of the attachment is blocking him or what would happen if he did let her go. Maybe they tried to make a statement about how love is more important than Avatar rules – which would have been fine but it’s also never properly explored. Instead, as soon as that plot point becomes inconvenient it’s simply dropped like a random rock™.

Compare all that to the Zutara arc, where both characters’ feelings about each other are always very much in the open, and where every interaction causes lasting effects in their relationship. Yes, it is unfair to compare that to Kat*ang, because up to the end of Book 3, Zuko and Katara almost never meet, while Aang and Katara spend almost every episode together – of course they cannot do meaningful things all the time. But on the other side, with Kat*ang, there would have been a great chance to show a subtle, gradual build-up instead.

It also doesn’t help that the Zutara arc seems hellbent on sabotaging every romantic moment Aang is allowed to enjoy:

There is Kat*angs first maybe-kiss in the dark before the background of the Oma and Shu legend. But it does not lead anywhere. Instead, Zuko and Katara almost reenact the legend itself in the Book 2 finale as two real enemies to almost-friends, including a glowy rocks-backdrop and the right costume colours, just so nobody misses the message.

In Footloose The Headband, Aang and Katara have a really sweet dance together, and everybody can see how they almost intuitively know each other's moves. This could be a great hint on how well they will fight together in the finale. But is it plot-relevant? No, because the final tag team is Katara and Zuko! While Aang gets paired off with random rock™.

Then there is Aang’s riding off to battle- kiss in DotBS, which Katara is not even allowed to enjoy, because keeping her feelings vague is apparently more important than character development at this point. It is the only romantic moment that gets mentioned again, but in a way that sinks the former cute and wholesome ship into the deep ocean, and the reason is - Aang is jealous of Zuko!

If all of this was only done for the sake of shipbaiting, then it really went out of control at some point.

In the end, the showrunners still had their reasons to choose Kat*ang, maybe because that corresponded more to their own vision, and there are still enough people out there who agree with them. Which is absolutely fine! In the end, what matters most is how you personally connect to the characters and nobody needs to defend their personal taste. But the typical anti-ZK claim, that all the Zutarians with their crazy analysis and rambling meta essays are reaching and delusional and that they desperately try to construct something that isn’t there, is not only a very lazy argument but simply not true.

And I’d claim that in spite of the canon choice, Zutara is technically the better written relationship. By far.

[john-smith69]

Ranking my favorite characters of each of my favorite animes / mangas

For the record: I don't own any of the following artworks bellow. All the credit go for their own original artists

Top 10: Olivier Mira Armstrong (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Olivier Mira Armstrong (オリヴィエ・ミラ・アームストロング, Orivie Mira Āmusutorongu), also known as Major General Armstrong is the primary heir to the illustrious Armstrong family, the commanding officer charged with the protection of Amestris' northern border at Fort Briggs and the older sister of Alex Louis Armstrong. Olivier is a severe woman who has a fearsome and commanding presence where she is harsh with her subordinates and peers and coldly merciless to her enemies, the deceptively beautiful woman's schadenfreude has earned her the nickname "Ice Queen" among the Briggs soldiers. Sharp-tongued and highly combative, Olivier is no stranger to furious chastisements and bursts of fiery violence, especially toward those who fail to live up to her high standards and staunch adherence to the "survival of the fittest" philosophy.

Top 9: Mikasa Ackerman (Attack On Titan)

Mikasa Ackerman (ミカサ・アッカーマン Mikasa Akkāman) is the adoptive sister of Eren Yeager and one of the two deuteragonists of the series, along with Armin Arlert.

After her biological parents were murdered by human traffickers, Mikasa was rescued by Eren Yeager and lived with him and his parents, Grisha and Carla, before the fall of Wall Maria. Though she desires only to live a peaceful life, Mikasa entered into the military—where she is considered the best soldier among the 104th Training Corps. She later enlists in the Survey Corps to follow and protect Eren, becoming one of its greatest assets. She is currently serving as an officer (上官 Jōkan) in the Corps. Mikasa cares deeply for her friends and caretakers, seeing them as the last remnants of a family she cannot afford to lose. Mikasa also appears to have a soft spot for children, and she has a strong sense of right and wrong, doing everything she can to make her most impulsive friends to follow what she thinks is the right track. Despite that, she knows well that she cannot always sway them in decisions and makes it a point to follow them whenever they go, just so that she can be around to help out when trouble arises.

Top 8: Kamina (Gurren Lagann)

Kamina (カミナ, Kamina) was a young man from Jeeha Village, the founder and first leader of Team Gurren and deuteragonist of the first arc of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. At first glance, Kamina is boisterous, hotheaded and arrogant. He demands recognition and seems hungry for greatness, illustrated in his tendency to call himself "the Mighty Kamina" and his signature catchphrase, "Just who the Hell do you think I am?!" He is an undeterred idealist, often to the point of ignorance; Yoko has described him as "a man of unlimited stupidity." Kamina is also very perverted, declaring that the urge to stare at beautiful women is the definition of a man.

However, Kamina is also extremely determined and never lets anything keep him down for long. Even discovering that his father was dead only made him solemn for a night or two (visibly at least). He is also devoted to defending and supporting his friends and loved ones, fighting with all his strength to protect them. In turn, he is very charismatic in the heat of battle, able to inspire even the timid Simon to accomplish great feats and almost single-handedly set the foundations for Team Dai-Gurren.

Despite his often brazen and practically insane actions, Kamina is fairly insightful, as his bombast and seemingly blind confidence usually mask his true intelligence in planning and combat. He even personally admits that his bravado and fearlessness is mostly a device he uses to hide his own worries and to support others, and that he thinks people like Simon are the real heroes.

Top 7: Sebas Tian (Overlord)

Sebas Tian (セバス・チャン), alas "The Iron Butler", is the head butler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick with several manservants and other butlers under his command. He was created by Touch Me. He is also the leader of the Pleiades Six Stars.

Although he is not one of the Floor Guardians, his power closely rivals theirs. In a way, he is independent of their chain of command. He originally served as Nazarick's last line of defense alongside the Pleiades on the 9th Floor, to give time for the guild, Ainz Ooal Gown, to prepare for their final stand in the Throne Room. Like his creator, Touch Me, Sebas Tian has a great deal of personal justice. Unlike many other denizens in Nazarick, he does not completely despise humans or see them as inferior creatures. Instead, he believes that some humans are good people and it is the duty of the strong to protect the weak. However, humans with an ugly nature disgust him and he will not hesitate to kill anyone who dares to oppose Nazarick. Sebas has a stoic nature, but also tends to question his own actions whether it was right or wrong of him to do them contrary to his master's order. Not sure why he does it, Sebas does believe that Touch Me's will is what encouragingly motivates him to act the way he does and that it conflicts with the will of his current master.

Top 6: Brago (Gash Bell)

Brago (ブラゴ, Burago), alongside his partner and bookkeeper Sherry Belmont, are considered the rivals of the main characters Zatch Bell and Kiyo Takamine, even though the teams fought a relatively small amount of times. Since their first appearance, they were one of the most powerful teams in the series, and have been seen burning more spellbooks than any other one. Brago is very quiet and is rarely seen socializing with other mamodos, he is often described as being "strong and cool". He is often seen crossing his arms or sticking them in his pockets. Not much is revealed about his life or personality, other than he resents weakness and especially requiring a human's help to win the demon kingship. However, despite often complaining that Sherry is too weak to help him, he thanks her for all that she has done for him in the final battle. He is extremely strong, often defeating other mamodo teams without even requiring the use of spells; because of his strength, which was gained from undergoing special elite training, many mamodo have come to fear him as one of the strongest. Brago's specialty is Gravity Magic.

Top 5: Guts (Berserk)

Guts (ガッツ Gattsu) , renowned as the "Black Swordsman", is a former mercenary and branded wanderer who travels the world in a constant internal struggle between pursuing his own ends and protecting those dear to him.

At one time driven solely by his will to survive, Guts finds purpose in life upon joining the Band of the Falcon, greatly helping in the faction's storied successes during the Hundred-Year War as captain of the band's raiders. He eventually becomes dissatisfied with clinging on to Griffith's dream, and departs from the band in pursuit of his own. Following the horrors of the Eclipse prompted by Griffith, Guts embarks on a two-year war against the God Hand and apostles, becoming increasingly embittered on his one-track quest for retribution. He in time realizes protecting his regressed lover is more important to him, as well as something he cannot do alone, and thus seemingly abandons his quest for revenge while fostering camaraderie with his new companions. Known for his air of austerity, Guts is a gruff, cynical man holding an overall bleak outlook on life. This is a consequence of enduring waves of suffering and numerous betrayals since his youth, with nearly all highlights of his life having, in time, become lows. In spite of his guarded, brooding exterior, he shows a more easygoing, compassionate side around the people he trusts, appearing markedly less unsociable and distant, though still retaining his dry candidness. Even as his inner darkness festers deep within him and its temptation becomes increasingly harder to resist, he retains his empathy and compassion, refusing to completely discard his humanity.

Top 4: Akemi Homura (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Homura Akemi (暁美 ほむら Akemi Homura) is one of the main characters in the Puella Magi Madoka Magica series. Ever since her arrival at Mitakihara Middle School, Homura is immediately depicted as being very intelligent, athletic, distant, and cold. It is revealed in episode four that she is only like this because she has seen so much suffering during her tenure as a magical girl. Because of this, she does not want Madoka Kaname to become a magical girl and tries to do anything in order to stop her from making a wish with Kyubey, going as far as to attempt to injure and even kill the cat-like creature. Despite her cold attitude towards others, she still very much cares for Madoka, as it is her sole objective to protect her due to the countless amount of blood, sweat, and tears she has shed over her jumps in time. Despite being regarded as emotionless by Sayaka Miki, Homura is far from it. Although she does not easily show signs of remorse, sadness, or pity, it is only because she had grown used to the suffering around her, and must put up a strong front to continue fighting for her goal. Homura herself has stated that she always feels badly with each life she's unable to save or alter, but nevertheless, it does not slow her down from staying true to her main objective in saving Madoka Kaname.

Top 3: Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez (Bleach)

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez (グリムジョー・ジャガージャック, Gurimujō Jagājakku) is an Arrancar and was the Sexta (6th) Espada in Sōsuke Aizen's affiliated army. While appearing to be a laid-back individual, Grimmjow possesses a brutal, impulsive, and excessively violent personality alongside a lethally short temper. However, despite his aggression and obvious blood lust in battle, Grimmjow possesses a feral cunning and has a knack for quickly exploiting any opening his opponent reveals. In addition, he is blunt, sarcastic and quite sadistic, revealing a psychotic grin or laughing maniacally whenever he becomes excited. He is also very rude and quite disrespectful. Grimmjow uses none of the honorifics in the Japanese language, except when addressing Aizen (though he is quick to discard the formality when Aizen is not around), and refers to Orihime Inoue as woman in conversation. Grimmjow displays little respect for authority and says whatever is on his mind, regardless of whether or not it is appropriate. However, he does have some form of a code of honor, as he is unwilling to fight an injured Ichigo, bringing Orihime to heal him beforehand so that their battle will be a fair one, though he also wants to defeat Ichigo when he is at full strength.He also saves Orihime from Loly Aivirrne and Menoly Mallia, who were beating her up, to repay the debt of restoring his arm, though he immediately demands another favor afterwards.

Top 2: Kujo Jotaro (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

Jotaro Kujo (空条 承太郎 , Kūjō Jōtarō) is the protagonist of Part 3 and also appears in Parts 4-6. Jotaro is the third and most recurring JoJo of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series.

Jotaro is a delinquent who lives an ordinary life until the Joestar Family's old enemy, DIO, returns. Jotaro travels to Egypt in order to save his mother and stop the Vampire once and for all.

Wielding the incredibly powerful Star Platinum, Jotaro is the first JoJo introduced with a Stand, and is among the most well-known characters of the series. Jotaro is introduced as a rough delinquent, but he has a gentle heart, and is loyal to those he likes. He is highly perceptive, intelligent and quick-witted while keeping a perpetually cool, slightly neutral or disinterested attitude. Jotaro's most noticeable trait is his seemingly aloof nature. He is a quiet individual, often satisfied with expressing himself in short phrases. While he was shown to be mildly anxious when something unanticipated happens, Jotaro almost never goes as far as to lose his cool.

Top 1: Charlotte Katakuri (One Piece)

Charlotte Katakuri ( シャーロット・カタクリ , Shārotto Katakuri) is the second son and third child of the Charlotte Family and the elder triplet brother of Daifuku and Oven. He is also one of the Three Sweet Commanders of the Big Mom Pirates and serves as Totto Land's Minister of Flour (粉大臣, Kona Daijin), governing over Komugi Island.

Due to his actions and role, he is the secondary antagonist in the second half of the Whole Cake Island Arc. Katakuri has a very serious, no-nonsense demeanor, caring greatly about his crew and family's objectives. With his heightened Kenbunshoku Haki allowing him to see a little bit into the future and make smart judgement calls, he is dedicated to efficiently dealing with all possible threats within his vicinity, and is thus among the few Charlotte children that can be seen taking action without instructions from Big Mom herself. Katakuri is a pragmatic individual who puts efficiency above almost everything else, to the point of being considered a perfectionist. He rarely brags about his abilities, instead being rather focused on accomplishing his goals as fast as possible, intercepting and defeating his enemies in a quick, effective manner while prioritizing the elimination of threats he perceives as potentially serious, going as far as taking extra steps to ensure they are stopped in case his mother and siblings fail to do so. He is also capable of extreme brutality as shown when he pondered on how he should maim Luffy with his trident. Though ruthless to opponents, he is extremely caring towards his family and subordinates. Katakuri is also a honorable man who dislikes other people interfering with his fights. Though he considers Luffy his enemy and desires to eliminate him personally before he can become a threat, he wishes to defeat him fairly. After discovering that Flampe was the one attacking Luffy and lowering his performance in the fight, Katakuri injured himself in the same spot he injured Luffy to compensate and angrily shouted at Flampe for interfering in his fight.

[violethowler]

The Elephant in the Room

In my previous essays, I have covered how the Kingdom Hearts narrative follows Maureen Murdock’s template of the Heroine’s Journey, as well as how various characters and story elements tie in with the overarching themes of the framework. Before I can continue to dig further into other themes and archetypes, there is something I need to address first. While I have avoided directly touching on the topic in my previous essays, I have now reached the point where it is no longer possible to talk about the Heroine’s Journey in full without acknowledging the elephant in the room: 

Romance.

In ongoing serialized stories such as TV shows and video games, conversations about potential relationships in canon are often treated as inconsequential to the overall story. Something that is separate from the main plot. At worst, I have seen fans who openly center a ship in their analysis and theories be dismissed and criticized as biased - or worse, delusional. They are treated as being so obsessed with their pairing that they try to make everything about their ship and jump on any excuse to declare that it’s viable in canon. 

Among the Kingdom Hearts fandom in particular, this has often taken the form of someone trying to dismiss other fans’ hope for a ship to be canon by saying that the series is about friendship, not romance.

While friendship is absolutely an important theme in the Kingdom Hearts series, to insist that this is mutually exclusive from depicting the development of romantic relationships ignores the continued presence of canon Disney romances in almost every game in the series. In each “main” game where Sora is playable, he has directly or indirectly been involved in getting those Disney couples together in the KH universe. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility for the series to turn the tables and give some attention to his romantic interests for a change. 

A story having other major themes is not mutually exclusive from showcasing the development of a romantic relationship. There are many popular movies, shows, books, comics, and video games in which a romantic relationship plays a central role in the narrative but there are still other plotlines going on that are equally as important as the romance. This is especially true for Disney and Square Enix.

The reason why it’s impossible to fully talk about the Heroine’s Journey without acknowledging romance elements is best encapsulated by this quote from She-Ra showrunner Noelle Stevenson about her show’s endgame pairing in an i09 interview after the release of the final season:

“The show’s not a romance show. It is about a lot of things. It’s about choice, destiny, fighting, tyrants, you know, all of these other things. I grew up with so many stories—like sci-fi and fantasy—that I was so passionate about. And it would be considered no big deal to have the hero get the girl and to have a kiss at the end, without it suddenly becoming a romance or ‘Oh, the shippers got what they wanted.’ It was just a part of the story. And to actually see it be a central part of the plot and to fulfill the arcs of the characters in a way that felt satisfying. I really want to take it beyond ��Oh, the shippers got what they want.’ Like, it’s not just a ship for me. It is a plot point. It is the necessary conclusion of each character’s arc, separate and together.[1]”

While not every story known to follow the Heroine's Journey features a romance for the main protagonist, those that do make the romance an integral part of the narrative. It’s not something thrown in at the end to please shippers, but a central component of the story. Therefore, when analyzing a Heroine’s Journey story, it is vital to acknowledge and discuss textual support for potential romantic relationships in order to have a full understanding of the narrative.

Even if one is not aware of the Heroine’s Journey, Sora’s repeated interactions with Disney romances indicate that there is a high probability that he will be in a romantic relationship himself by the end of the series. Every story I know of that follows the Heroine’s Journey broadly adheres to a pattern in regards to how the romantic relationships of a main character are set up.

By examining the series through these patterns, we can narrow down who Sora’s endgame romantic partner will be. 

Because the themes and character dynamics emphasize resolving internal conflict through balance, the Heroine’s Journey lends itself extremely well to Beauty-and-the-Beast, rivals-to-lovers, and enemies-to-lovers relationship dynamics. A major component of the Heroine’s Journey is the main character learning to accept themselves, and since the Animus as a Shadow figure can represent the parts of themselves that they haven’t accepted yet, it is simpler to symbolize that self-acceptance via a romance with the Animus rather than attempting to build a separate relationship on top of the existing story framework.

For these reasons, the Animus is more often than not the main character’s endgame love interest, their feelings for each other made into critical aspects of their respective character arcs. The only Heroine’s Journey stories with romance that I know of where this wasn’t the case are ones where executive meddling resulted in the finale being rewritten to kill off the Animus despite established narrative set up for them to have a happy ending together[2], while the protagonist was either forced into a relationship with a different character or left single.

And like I said in previous essays, the one character in the series who fulfills all criteria for the Animus role within this storytelling framework…. 

Is Riku.

[Image Description: Sora supporting Riku as they walk toward the ocean on the Dark Margin at the end of Kingdom Hearts II. End Description.]

As mentioned in my earlier analysis, this narrative framework emphasizes the importance of balancing contrasting attributes, which fits in extremely well with Kingdom Hearts’ focus on balance between light and darkness. For stories that follow the Heroine’s Journey in a visual medium, that dichotomy is often incorporated into the characters’ look. Height differences are common, while their color schemes and outfits are designed to make them complement each other. Further adding to the focus on balance between light and darkness, the visuals of the story frame the romantic leads with imagery associating each one with light or darkness to create Yin-Yang symbolism when they are finally in balance. 

In Re: Chain of Memories, Vexen openly calls Riku the “Hero of Darkness[3]” as a counterpart to Sora’s role as the “Hero of Light”, and their combination attack in Kingdom Hearts II utilizes moves that reflect both elements. In the Ultimania for the original game, Tetsuya Nomura said that Riku’s look was intentionally designed to balance Sora’s[4], and the contrast between their respective color schemes is maintained in each of their new outfits. In Kingdom Hearts II and Dream Drop Distance, Riku wears white and blue, while Sora in those same games wears black and red. Two different pairs of contrasting colors. Kingdom Hearts III has them both in outfits that are primarily black and grey, but still emphasize the blue and red that have been part of their respective outfits since the first game. 

In a Heroine’s Journey, the love interest is typically an active character in the story and usually serves as the deuteragonist. This fits with Riku having been a mandatory playable character in multiple games since 2004. In addition, series producer Shinji Hashimoto said before the release of the HD 1.5 Remix collection[5] that the main focus of the series is how Sora and Riku develop both as individuals and as a pair, which fits with how the central conflict of the Heroine’s Journey revolves around the dynamic between the Protagonist and their Animus. 

A common viewpoint held by many fans of the series is that Kairi is Sora’s love interest, and it’s not hard to see why people get that impression. He has sacrificed himself to save her in two separate games now. He’s charged enemies head on in order to rescue her whenever she’s been captured. He even got down on his knees and begged for her freedom when Saix demanded he show how important she was to him. Multiple characters have talked about how special she is to him, and Roxas refers to her as “that girl he(Sora) likes.” 

However, there are multiple elements in the narrative that point to them not being the endgame romance. Kingdom Hearts III foreshadows the final shot of them sitting on the paopu together at the end of the game with Sora disappearing from the cover of the 100 Acre Wood storybook, textually framing Winnie the Pooh as a parallel to Kairi. While many fans regarded their sharing paopu fruits in the base game as the beginning of a relationship between them, he still only refers to her as a friend in Re:Mind, and even compares his bond with her to the bond between Ventus and Chirithy. 

Sora also does not treat his promises to her with the seriousness he would if they were going to end up together. The promises to return her lucky charm and to come back to her that he makes in the first game are never treated as anything urgent when he awakens in Kingdom Hearts II. Instead, he declines the opportunity to return to the islands and check in with her in favor of searching for Riku. When Kairi says in The World That Never Was that they’ll be together every day, Sora agrees, yet he was content to spend the rest of his life on the dark beach at the end of the game as long as he was with Riku. 

Meanwhile, the most consistent theme regarding Kairi in relation to the Destiny Islands trio is the idea of childhood friends drifting apart as they get older[6][7]. This is particularly highlighted in Kingdom Hearts III, with Kairi writing letters to Sora that she never sends, thereby keeping her thoughts to herself. Merlin also emphasizes this when he talks about forging new connections after Sora’s visit to 100 Acre Wood. This parallel frames the ending of Re:Mind as the two of them recognizing they’ve drifted apart and choosing to put in the effort to renew their friendship by spending time together.

On a structural level, her portrayal does not fit with how love interests are typically depicted in the Heroine’s Journey, both as an individual and in relation to the main protagonist. There is no contrast between her and Sora’s designs or roles the way there is between his and Riku’s. Her color scheme is predominantly pink, which does not have the same contrast with Sora’s red as Riku’s blue. Because she’s a Princess of Heart, there is no dark and light contrast, and the combination attack she shares with Sora in Re:Mind only utilizes light-based moves. It took 17 years after her first appearance in the series for her to be made a playable character, and even then, playing as her is not mandatory. They are never portrayed as equals, and she is not an active force in his emotional growth. 

The Heroine’s Journey was crafted for narratives revolving around identities that have been Othered by society for one reason or another. Murdock designed her template as a tool to help women deal with being shamed by society for expressing and pursuing their desires. In a similar way, LGBTQ+ people also face stigma from society for expressing and pursuing their desires. So it makes perfect sense that a framework for narratives of people overcoming internalized stigma against important parts of themselves would be ripe for stories featuring LGBTQ+ protagonists of any gender.

As mentioned in previous essays, stories that follow the Heroine’s Journey challenge the biases and blind spots of the audience. A relationship between Kairi and Sora does not challenge anything because she has largely been regarded as the endgame love interest by default since the beginning. Meanwhile, a romantic relationship between Sora and Riku challenges players to recognize heteronormativity within themselves and in the media around them. It challenges people to examine the lens through which they perceive the story and rethink how they look at what’s happening in the narrative.

In summary, the portrayal of Kairi and her bond with Sora is not consistent with how love interests are commonly depicted in the Heroine’s Journey, while the portrayal of Riku and his bond with Sora is. If Sora’s story is going to continue on this storytelling formula to the end, the structure of the Heroine’s Journey narrative leaves Riku as the only thematically viable candidate for the role of endgame love interest. 

Now, as some people bring up in conversations about Soriku, there is a potential obstacle in the form of corporate executives. It is entirely possible that Disney will drag their heels and try to force the development team to downplay or remove any open same-sex relationship the series may try to depict. They do not have a strong track record of LGBTQ+ representation that isn’t a minor character who only appears for one scene. Given that their last IP to follow the Heroine’s Journey - the Star Wars sequel trilogy - crashed and burned at the end, executive meddling is my greatest fear for this franchise.

But the thing to keep in mind is that Tetsuya Nomura is stubborn as hell. One of the reasons the long gap between Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts III was because he was holding out for permission to include Pixar movies in the game, outright refusing to start work on KH3 until they were given that go ahead[8]. If you want further proof of how stubborn he can be, this is how he described the meeting where he first pitched the series to Disney in a 2012 interview with the late president of Nintendo[9]:

Iwata: Their ideas were different from yours, naturally…

Nomura: Yes. They appeared to believe that we would make whatever they wanted us to make and came up with rather specific requests such as, "We'd like the game to feature this character." They were really excited, explaining their ideas... To be honest, though, I wasn't really interested in any of them. (laughs) 

Both: (laughter)

Iwata: You wanted to borrow Disney's characters in order to make a new game that could compete with Mario 64, and you already had a vision of what this game would look like. I suppose their ideas didn't fit in with this vision.

Nomura: They didn't, no. In the end, I actually stopped a presentation halfway through. We didn't have that much time, and it looked like it was all going to get taken up by various Disney presentations. So, I interrupted them and told them the conclusion by saying, "I won't make such games."

Talk about nerves of steel. This man basically said “we do this my way, or we don’t do it at all” TO MOTHERFORKING DISNEY, AND. HE. WON. If there is any human being with enough force of will to make the Mouse House cave in and allow the depiction of an openly LGBTQ+ relationship in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is Tetsuya Nomura.

I cannot say with 100% certainty how things will go. But everything I know about storytelling patterns and narrative structure is telling me that Kingdom Hearts is a textbook Heroine’s Journey with a romance between Sora and Riku at its core. A relationship between the protagonist and the Animus does not truly begin until the “Integration” stage at the end of the Journey, and we are rapidly approaching the point in the narrative where the two leads traditionally become aware of and acknowledge their feelings in order to be on the same page for the finale.

Sources: 

[1] “She-Ra's Noelle Stevenson Tells Us How Difficult It Was to Bring Adora and Catra Home” May 18, 2020

https://io9.gizmodo.com/she-ras-noelle-stevenson-tells-us-how-difficult-it-was-1843419358

[2] “Death of a Dark Youth, Desecration of the Animus”; December 20, 2018. https://www.teampurplelion.com/death-of-a-dark-youth/

[3] Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories. Square Enix, 2007. 

[4] “A Look Back: Kingdom Hearts Ultimania Gallery Comments Part 1″; August 30, 2019;

https://www.khinsider.com/news/A-Look-Back-KINGDOM-HEARTS-Ultimania-Gallery-Comments-Part-1-15519

[5] “How Kingdom Hearts III Will Grow Up With Its Players;” September 24, 2013.

https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/25/how-kingdom-hearts-iii-will-grow-up-with-its-players.

[6] “E3 2018: Tetsuya Nomura on If Kingdom Hearts 3 Is the End of Sora's Story”; June 14, 2018.

https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/06/14/e3-2018-tetsuya-nomura-on-if-kingdom-hearts-3-is-the-end-of-soras-story

[7] “Character’s Report Vol. 1 Translations”; Jul 16, 2014

https://www.khinsider.com/forums/index.php?threads/characters-report-vol-1-translations.195560/

[8] “Edge Magazine Features Kingdom Hearts III Cover Story”; January 9, 2019. https://www.khinsider.com/news/Edge-Magazine-Features-Kingdom-Hearts-III-Cover-Story-14331

[9] “Iwata Asks: Nintendo 3DS: Third Party Game Developers, Volume 12: Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance], Part 2: It’ll definitely be fun”; April 2012. 

https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/creators/11/1

[firelxdykatara]

*sigh* why do people keep comparing r/eylo to zutara and putting them in the same group? Were they not paying attention to the show? Did they not see Zuko's evolution?

Honestly, I really don’t know.

Like, ok, superficially, I can almost kinda get it. Angry boy with a scar on his face and the girl who could kick his ass offering to heal him? Ok, fine. Even aesthetically, red and blue, tol and smol, fine. I can sorta see it. But the instant you dig even a little bit deeper, they just… aren’t the same at all???? Not even remotely????

And, ok, I’ll admit to some measure of bias, because I don’t ship reylo and I don’t like it as a ship, nor do I want it to happen in any way in canon, but like, part of the reason Zutara works so well is that it’s not a hero/villain ship. It’s enemies-to-lovers, for sure, but the vast majority of us ship it because of Zuko’s redemption arc.

Yeah, you’ll see ‘I’ll save you from the pirates’ UST jokes, and a lot of us started shipping it back in book 1, but it was obvious from the beginning that Zuko was going to get redeemed. He may have been a villain, but he was never the villain–he was narratively placed as the secondary protagonist (deuteragonist) of the show from his very first appearance. He was given his own narrative arc that had little to do with the main plotline of Aang’s journey, because while his own journey ran parallel to the gaang, it was separate and distinct because he was on his way to his own redemption even then.

Zuko Alone, in book 2, drove this home even further. You don’t give someone who isn’t the primary protagonist of the show an episode all to themselves (literally none of the gaang shows up for even a second) unless this is a character who’s meant to have just as much narrative significance as the main cast. Zuko was always going to join the gaang, and so much zutara meta and fanfic rests on how amazing and emotionally fulfilling their relationship development was, as friends, and that it would have made so much sense for their friendship to go even further.

Reylo doesn’t have any of that.

First of all, Kylo Ren is not Zuko–not even close. Kylo has far more agency in being dark than Zuko ever did. Ben Solo had loving parents and grew up in a supportive environment. His uncle ultimately made a mistake, sure, but a) we see three versions of that particular story: the sanitized version (luke), the demonized version (kylo), and the truth, and b) kylo already had the knights of ren all ready to go and slaughter a bunch of kids.

He was already dark. You don’t go and murderdeathkill a bunch of kids and people you’d ostensibly been raised with just because you saw your uncle standing over you with a lightsaber he clearly wasn’t going to actually use unless you were already making plans to do just that. You can blame as much of it as you want on Snoke and his influence, but that would be a little like blaming Palpatine for Anakin–yeah, he gets some of the blame for manipulating the situation, but Anakin’s still the one who made the choice to kill a temple full of children and choke out his own wife. Darth Vader may have, in the end, chosen to return to the light, but that doesn’t absolve him of the evils he chose to commit.

Kylo is, tragically, in the same narrative position as Darth Vader was in the original trilogy–and Vader couldn’t even bring himself to kill his son.  But Kylo chose to kill his father. And that, incidentally, is one of the places where Zuko and Kylo are essentially diametrically opposed. Zuko turned on Uncle Iroh, yes, but he didn’t cross a line from which there was no coming back–he didn’t kill him. He, in fact, kept going to see him, trying to figure out why the choice he’d made felt so wrong when it was supposed to be everything he’d always wanted. Meanwhile, Kylo murdered his own father because he was hoping to destroy that last link to his own humanity.

And he succeeded.

Furthermore, Rey is not Katara. I love them both, so much, but they are very different people, and different characters who fulfill different narrative spaces in their own stories. In Rey’s position, Katara would probably have killed Kylo in the throne room when he turned on her after killing Snoke. Or, placing Kylo in Zuko’s place in atla, if he’d killed Hakoda (remembering that Han was the only father figure rey’d ever known)? She would have destroyed him. No fucking mercy

Katara does not forgive easily. It took Zuko not only proving that he was on the side of good (which he did multiple times, one of which he even saved her father), but specifically proving to her that he cared for her and genuinely wanted to help–by helping her gain closure for her mother’s murder. She emotionally connected with Zuko in the crystal catacombs, sure, but when he turned on her she hated him and had no intention of turning back. (Even though, from Zuko’s perspective, it wasn’t a betrayal at all–he’d made no promises, and it was his sister offering him everything he’d ever wanted. As far as he was concerned, the only person he betrayed there was his uncle, which is why it took him so long to realize just why Katara hated him so much. And even then he needed her brother’s help to figure out how to fix it.)

On the other hand, Rey was ready, willing, even eager to believe that Kylo could be returned to the light side–could become Ben again. This after he’d done something utterly unforgiving right in front of her, and tried to kill her multiple times. (Notably, at no point during Zuko and Katara’s antagonistic relationship was Zuko actually trying to kill her. He was trying to capture Aang. The worst thing he did was burn down Suki’s village, and that was largely an accident, because he was trying to get to Aang to capture him–alive.) She wanted to believe there was good in him. Katara couldn’t have cared less, throughout the first two books–and then, when confronted with the fact that Zuko had suffered something to which she could relate, she connected with him… and he turned on her. (From her perspective, she’d just reached out and offered this boy a chance to prove he’d changed… and he threw it in her face. So yeah, she took it incredibly fucking personally.)

Even now, it’s possible that if Kylo comes at Rey with some ‘I’m really light now’ story, she’ll probably want to believe him. But even if Reylo happens (and I’ll stress that I really don’t think it’s going to, and if it does I’ll probably be bitterly disappointed, but what else is new) it won’t even remotely resemble Zutara because they are, at their core, incredibly different relationships. Katara didn’t start warming up to Zuko, after that book 2 betrayal, until after he’d proven himself again and again, and helped her begin to heal from the trauma she’d suffered as a child. Furthermore, Zuko was never that evil to begin with. He was being primed for a redemption arc from the start, and he never even came close to the sort of moral event horizon Kylo pole-vaulted over when he murdered a whole bunch of students in their beds and then killed his own father.

And here’s the thing a lot of these Zuko-lite redemption arcs don’t seem to understand–it’s not a one-size-fits-all storyline. You can’t just slap Zuko’s redemption arc on any old villain, because for a redemption to work, it needs to be tailored specifically to fit the villain in question. And most villains aren’t Zuko–he was a very special kind of ‘secondary protagonist who starts out bad and gets a little bit worse before he gets better and joins the good guys’, which most villains can’t hope to match. If you want to redeem someone who’s canonically done far more atrocious acts, their redemption has to encompass the fact that not only are they getting better, but they are actively atoning for the horrible things they’ve done.

Killian Jones, from Once Upon a Time, had a redemption arc which looked nothing like Zuko’s, because he wasn’t a villain like Zuko. His redemption involved not only coming to realize that he’d been doing bad things for a very long time in search of a vengeance which was, ultimately, not what he really wanted or needed, but also making amends to the people he’d hurt over his very long life (those he still could help, at least). (Interestingly enough, that same show had a great example of a horribly botched redemption, in which we were supposed to take it on faith that the character was Good Now even though she’d never once expressed either remorse for the evil she’d committed [which was a lot more evil than Killian ever had] or a desire to make amends to those she’d wronged. In fact, come the end of the show, she still had a vault full of stolen hearts she’d never so much as made an effort to return, even though many of their owners were, ostensibly, in the same town she’d created through one of her many acts of villainy. It was… kind of strange, to say the least, to see how they could get one villain’s redemption so right and another’s so horribly wrong.)

Anyway, tl;dr: the upshot of this all is, Kylo Ren is not Zuko–he’s not even close–and Rey is not Katara. Their relationships look nothing alike, and even if Kylo is redeemed, it’s not going to look anything like Zuko’s redemption–partly because Zuko was never that bad to begin with and Kylo would have much more for which to atone, partly because their narrative journeys are so very very different–and I have never understood the comparison beyond a very surface-level reading of their character aesthetics.

[unoutan]

“Don’t run away on the first try“ Bakudeku Oneshot (2.6k)

@twinstarsweek Day 5: Festival / Tender / Recovery / Spice / First

💥Arrrg, I’m super late with the last one because, I forgot to queue it. x_x But yay (damn my past self for saving to tumblr drafts by accident!) Enjoy the Baku family feels, and Katsuki’s emotional constipation with his Deku! -Unoutan💥

Mini-summary: “I stuck my TONGUE down Deku’s THROAT AND RAN OFF, DAD!!” Jumping up to sit on the couch instead, Katsuki threw his hands in the air and screamed, “WHY WOULD I LIE AFTER SAYING THAT SHIT!?”

The beach is secluded this early morning and a trembling, but determined voice demanded with a single stomp to the sand. “Stop running from me, please…”

“I’m not running from you.” Angry denial.

“You are! You just did, and still are! Why did you kiss me and run?”

“I don’t deserve you.” Words facing the unknown future and back to the present, the hero continued denying any happiness he deserves. “After everything I did to you, everything I failed for you, I don’t, I don’t-…just forget I did anything.”

The hero’s ally and ex childhood lover stood only an arms reach away, but the distance between them felt like an eternity. Tears threatened to fall from the woman’s eyes as she stared at her man’s back. Fingers lingered on her lips, the bottom lip trembling slightly from the kiss that happened a moment ago.

Katsuki’s thumb hovered over the ‘next channel’ button for over five minutes now.

The beach where the troubled characters, both worn by their personal and hero duties, stood on the beach Deku cleaned before they went into UA. All Might accidentally let slip of that fact their second year when their second field trip involved the Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, and a week long beach-themed hero training. That’s the only reason, Katsuki stopped to watch the show.

The right side of Katsuki’s mouth twitched when the heroine character standing behind the hero reached out and touched his shoulder. Her bright red nails slid over his shoulder, down his arm, to loosely hold the man’s hand as she said, “I…don’t think you should be the only one to decide what becomes of us. We’ve known each other, bleed for each other, fought and agreed, so why are you trying to shoulder this by yourself?”

Turning around, the hero yelled, “After the shit I pulled, you’re just going to-”

“You’ve apologized to me more than once for your mistakes! And I’ve forgiven you long ago! Stop punishing yourself-”

Focused on her work, Bakugou Mitsuki didn’t notice the sound of the television fade. The voices of the action romantic drama tv show gradually lowered to a barely audible hum when the deuteragonist hero character cried and fell to his knees in front of the protagonist heroine. Sitting in the living room, Katsuki faced the television with one arm slung over the backrest, body tense when he closed his eyes and let out the longest sigh.

Wherever the scene was going in the tv show, it’s unimportant now.

Tossing the remote to the coffee table, Katsuki called out to his parents, “Hey?”

It was a surprise when the door to their home burst open suddenly. The familiar sound of Katsuki kicking off his shoes and school bag dropped to the floor was like music to their ears. The sight of keys thrown to the kitchen counter, made Mitsuki greet him happily, but paused when her son’s spiky hair bounced away to the tv. Mitsuki and Masaru’s son is home, but..something is wrong.

The Bakugou parents kept giving each other secrets looks before Katsuki finally spoke to them, but they knew they needed to give their son time to open up first. It’s been an hour since he got back, so they respectfully gave him a bit of distance, but now it’s time for that distance to disappear.

After erasing the line she over burnished into the paper of her sketchbook, thank goodness it’s just a messy sketchbook and not the final, Mitsuki answered in faux distraction. “Hmm? Yes, Katsuki? Need anything?”

“Yeah, but I need both of you nerds.” Scratching his hair wildly for a second, Katsuki hissed at his own words, before saying, “I mean, I need you both.”

Masaru locked eyes with his wife for a split second before looking back at Katsuki. Eyes wide, glasses sliding down halfway down his nose, Masaru stared at his son. Where he stood by the refrigerator, he put down his glass of water after sipping it once, and said, “Okay, kid, you can-”

He paused mid-sentence. His mind continued on saying ‘you can tell us anything, Katsuki” but that sounded too strong. Katsuki might close into himself and shell up in his room to sleep early again.

Picking up where her husband left off, Mitsuki gave a secret smile to Masaru when she spoke next. They always have each other’s back. She kept it casual, her tone even and inviting. “Lay it on us, Katsuki!”

“How did you guys…” Katsuki began quietly, too quietly. The Bakugou parents waited and Katsuki dug his nails into the couch fabric, clawing at the armrest, but not hard enough to damage. Taking a deep breath to say this as quickly as he could, Katsuki asked his parents his question, each word punching the air as he yelled, “How did you find out that you were ‘the one’ for each other?! Or whatever?! And I don’t mean the cheesy soulmatey lovey dovey crap you say all the time too! I mean serious stuff!”

The rare, hesitant words from Katsuki caught Mitsuki and Masaru’s attentions like the first little sparks and tendrils of smoke from their son’s once tiny hands.

Putting down her 2H pencil, preliminary sketch forgotten on the kitchen counter where she sat, Mitsuki stared at the back of her son’s head. “What brought this on, Katsuki?”

Their son remained silent.The back of Katsuki’s head slowly slid down to rest on the couch armrest in a drawn out groan. The groan sounded like annoyance, but Masaru knew better and walked towards the living room to almost rest his charcoal hands on the back of the couch. He caught himself before staining the couch and decided to sit on the other armrest, hand shaking Katsuki’s ankle. “Katsuki? What happened?”

Turning away from his dad, Katsuki let his head slide off the armrest to bury his face in a pillow instead. His reply was too muffled by the pillow.

This is a walking on eggshells moment that must be handled well – delicately and with an open mind. Whatever their son says, they’ll see it through and talk. Their son needs to talk more, talk to them, talk to… the boy they all know is constantly on Katsuki’s mind during good and bad times: Inko’s kid, Midoriya Izuku.

Joining her husband and son in the living room, the forgotten tv show still playing on mute with the Heroine and Hero romantically kissing each other as the sunrise rose over the ocean horizon, Mitsuki sat on the other arm rest now. A teasing smile crept onto her face when she said, “Sorry, Katsuki. Can’t hear you through that pillow.”

Face red in anger and frustration, Katsuki spun around on the couch, his UA blazer crumpling even further when he crossed his arms over his chest. He looked just like his little five year old self that used to sulk when things didn’t go the way he wanted or when he was in trouble for staying out too late with Izuku in the woods.

That’s when their son finally came out and told them in a stream of quickened words, voice dull and bored sounding, but face contradictingly scrunched like he was in pain:

“I kissed Deku today and I don’t know why. I ran here without notifying UA and almost forgot to text everyone I’m home and not dead. Now, Aizawa gave me my second detention at UA ever since first year, but I couldn’t be in the dorms tonight after I, after I- not after that!”

“I think you’re lying about one thing though-”

“I stuck my TONGUE down Deku’s THROAT AND RAN OFF, DAD!!” Jumping up to sit on the couch instead, Katsuki threw his hands in the air and screamed, “WHY WOULD I LIE AFTER SAYING THAT SHIT!?”

“No! Not that!” Shaking his hands in front of him, Masaru felt his glasses skew when he leaned forward and corrected himself. “I meant to say that I think you’re lying about not knowing why you kissed little Izuku! You know and when you accept that, the better you’ll feel, no matter what happens with Izuku!”

“WOW!” Looking up at the ceiling, praying the heavens to fall and end him, Katsuki yelled again, making his mother sigh. “WOW!”

“A-ah! Oh, I’m sorry, son! I didn’t want to put you on the spot, but-”

“Katsuki, a discussion ago you said you hated it when we talked about bullshit instead of being blunt, so here we are doing exactly that. It’s like ripping off a bandaid, yes?” Grumbling his agreement, Katsuki slouched and glared at his mother stating the truth at him. Shaking her head, Mitsuki reached out and ran her fingers through his hair when she gently suggested the next step he could take with Izuku. “Now, have you thought of calling him? He’s probably worried about you, Katsuki.”

“If I didn’t stick around to analyze Deku’s face after kissing his mouth off, I don’t think I want to talk to him about it either!!”

Masaru and Mitsuki, in unison, both retorted with another serving of truth, “But you should!”

Katsuki closed his eyes and counted down to ten. He made it to five.

Avoidance solves nothing and Katsuki yelled a short battle cry because, yes, he knows this! He knows that he needs to talk to Izuku and not avoid him like what he just did after classes today, while heading towards the dorms. He should have held Izuku, kissed him and fucking stayedddd to at least let him say something.

Katsuki remembers Izuku’s eyes though- he always remembers those green eyes always watching him with worry, admiration, and all sorts of interest - but…

He should have allowed his nerd to say something!! He should have allowed himself to say what he wished to say to Izuku’s face. Kissing Midoriya Izuku happened and there is no running from it because, he chose to do it. This is the path he chose and even if Izuku would give him a rejection…

It would fucking hurt, but…wow, he’s a coward-

“You’re not a coward - the furthest from it.” Mitsuki kissed her son’s cheek when she moved to sit at his right side.

“You’re the bravest hero we know, Katsuki, so don’t think anything of running here. You’re always welcome here. And there is always another day to face Izuku. Always. Just don’t take too long…okay?”

Katsuki would say he hates it when his parents are right, but that would be a lie.

“Yeah. I…fuck, I won’t take too long. And damn it, Deku won’t bite my head off…”

Maybe.

“He won’t, but…I’m curious,” Masaru gave his son a hesitant smile when he asked, “How did you kiss him? The way you described, with the tongue in mouth-”

“Don’t. Repeat. That.” Burying his face in his hands, Katsuki imagined the floor killing him if it turned into fire, just so he could escape the situation he put himself in. Where’s the IcyHot half n’half when you need him. Still, killing himself via floor fire is still avoidance and avoidance solves nothingggg and now he’s repeating. Stupid. “I asked him to explain his new flying kick technique near the cherry blossoms at the south side of the main building, and then he said something stupid about thanking me for my advice, then I kissed him. Ran here. That’s it.”

Taking off his glasses when he sat on Katsuki’s left side, incase they break during the struggle that is about to happen like usual, Masaru moved in first. He knows that his troubled son needed a hug right now. He caught his son’s elbow predictably aimed to his chest and leaned forward, going in close with his wife before they could get shoved away.

Grumbling and wiggling, Katsuki shows his normal level of hugging resistance. “Nope! No! You stupid old, annoying, mushy-”

“Oh just- just…here, let me - get in here, stop struggling, you Brat! Accept this!” Katsuki stopped smacking his parent’s arms when they both pulled him into smothering hug, tight and warm, but still annoying to the littlest Bakugou. “See! First steps are always the hardest!”

“Your kiss-Ow, my knee! Son, ow ow ow, Katsuki- Accept what you did! You kissed him and ran. But there’s still time! Breathe!” Hearing his father tell him to breathe, Katsuki took a big deep breath and then huffed, fight dying thanks to their tranquilizing hugs.

In a way, Katsuki knows he came home for shit like this too. Not that he’ll tell his parents that…

Eventually, Katsuki relaxed in his parent’s arms and let out a big sigh at being squished from both sides of the couch in a hug. The smell of his dad’s comforting cologne and his mother’s perfume, lulled him enough to let his burning red eyes close. His arms that were slumped to his sides soon moved to pat his parent’s shoulders. They stayed there a minute longer and then released the half-sulking boy. Subdued from his previous frustration Katsuki only rolled his eyes, cheeks burning in a blush, when his dad laughed.

“See, son? You accept our hugs, so you can openly accept your feelings for Izuku and tell him how you feel soon. You can! I believe in you. We both do.”

Flicking Katsuki’s nose, Mitsuki smiled and giggled, “We both know Izuku has a soft spot for you too, so I believe in the two of you to work this out. And your father and I will be here to support you when you do. And soon, right?”

“Don’t push it, old hag. I am this freakin’ close to sleeping in the backyard in my tent if you two continue drowning me in your sappy feelings-”

Then the doorbell rang, making the entire Bakugou family freeze and look to the door. Before Mitsuki even finished cheerfully saying, “Ohhh, I wonder who that could be,” Katsuki ran…again.

Masaru took pity on his son and made no move to stop him from running up to his room, when his wife opened the door to their home to greet Midoriya Izuku.

After thundering up the stairs, the prince reached his ivory tower and slammed the door to his chambers.

A hand held in a shy wave, Izuku’s pink face smiled up at them and respectfully greeted, “Hello, A-Auntie Mitsuki! Uncle Masaru! A-Aizawa-sensei sent me to check on Kacchan?”

The slight inclination of a question revealed uncertainty, and told Bakugou Mitsuki and Masaru that was a badly told lie. But they feigned ignorance and welcomed the young boy into their home. Masaru rubbed his hand on top of the boy’s fluffy green hair and offered him something to eat and drink. The overly polite boy denied and asked them what they expected - to see their son.

Gesturing with a thumb pointing at the stairs, Mitsuki leaned on the kitchen counter and smirked. “He’s up in his room, Izuku. Now, you two play nice, okay? I’m rooting for you.”

“Y-Yes of course, Auntie! Um, sorry. Excuse me!” Waving at them once and doing a quick, tiny bow, Izuku walked backwards, bumped his butt into the fridge while trying to escape the kitchen, and then turned to bolt up the stairs. Hand cupping his mouth, Izuku called for their son confidently..tripping only once, before standing outside his door. “Kacchan! Kacchan! I’m coming up the stai-AHH! Kacchan?”

So, Bakugou’s parents gave Midoriya Izuku their blessings and remained patient with them.

It took almost an hour, but seeing Katsuki hurriedly say something about seeing them next weekend and that they’re heading back to the dorms together, was the positive resolution they wanted. And the happy Bakugou Mitsuki and Masaru were kind enough not to draw attention to Katsuki holding his Izuku’s hand the entire time.

[daughter-of-the-prophet]

Alistair (Tv Tropes “Origins”)

Adaptation Dye-Job: Becomes increasingly red-haired in the next two stories, and red-haired and blue-eyed in the comics.

Adorkable: As Leliana comments in a conversation with him, his sense of humor, coupled with his awkwardness and nervousness around women, makes him strangely endearing and is a large part of his charm. This is one of the things that make Ilona attracted to him.

Always Save the Girl: He makes it clear he values Ilona’s life over his own. 

Amazon Chaser: Ilona knowing how to kick ass and fight with a blade is one of the things that makes Alistair attracted to her. He even fondly notes in Awakening "I married an indestructible goddess."

Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: His description of what’s wrong with Orlais at the moment during his cameo in Dragon Age II.

                 Alistair: “Oh the usual: attempted assassinations, uprisings, fancy parties with stinky cheeses..”

Battle Couple: He’s this with Ilona.

This is also combined with Royals Who Actually Do Something as he becomes King and marries her as well. 

Berserk Button: Loghain becomes this to him after his betrayal of Cailan leads to the death of all the other Grey Wardens, and Duncan in particular.

Big Eater: It’s a Grey Warden thing, apparently.

Breakout Character: He has appeared more in more Dragon Age media than any other character. Thus far he’s been in all three stories, a trilogy of comic miniseries, and the novel The Calling, where he appears as a newborn.

Broken Pedestal: Like most, he holds Loghain in high regard before the Battle of Ostagar, privately admitting that while Cailan is the King, it’s Loghain to whom they have to look for victory. Then Loghain retreats from the battle, leaving the King, the Grey Wardens, and Duncan to an ignoble death, and then blames the Wardens for regicide. From then on, Alistair has an undying hatred for the man and it becomes very personal.

Buffy Speak: Tends to lapse into this at times.

           Alistair: “You stole them, didn’t you? You’re some sort of… sneaky… witch-thief!”

Butt-Monkey: Everyone gets a turn to mock him. Even Brutus. Ilona is the only person who doesn’t treat him this way, which is possibly one of the reasons why he loves her.

Contemplate Our Navels: Morrigan accuses him of doing this while traveling to Lothering, in so many words.

Corrupt the Cutie: After meeting the woman he believed was his maternal half-sister and being treated uncharitably by her, he loses many of his squeaky-clean morals, but the loss of naive idealism makes him more understanding of his subjects when he becomes King.

Covert Pervert: He apparently spends a fair deal of his time ogling Ilona’s ass. Wynne teases him about it.

The Creon: Alistair intentionally avoids mentioning the fact that he is actually the senior Grey Warden - because he doesn't want to lead. In fact, he didn’t want to become King of Ferelden for exactly the same reason.

Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite the fact that he’s… well, Alistair, he is very much capable of holding his own in a fight, being able to take on numerically superior opponents and even dragons. 

Dare to Be Badass: Ilona invokes this in Alistair after convincing him to take the throne.

Deadpan Snarker: Like father, like son: Maric snarked just as much as him.

Deuteragonist: The secondary storyline (Ferelden's Succession Crisis) pretty much revolves around him.

Disappeared Dad: Although he understands why King Maric couldn’t acknowledge him as his illegitimate son. He is also this to his son Kieran.

Dork Knight: While Alistair is heroic, noble, and brave, he also lacks confidence and fumbles when talking to women.

Ensign Newbie: During the Korcari Wilds mission, but he soon makes it clear that he’d rather have Ilona take this role. Morrigan even lampshades it. The Darkspawn Chronicles shows what would have happened if he hadn’t been able to pass the buck. He manages to make it all the way to the Archdemon. But then it ends badly.

Entendre Failure: He’d happily hop borders with Zevran given the chance - after all, he’s never even been close to leaving Ferelden.

Evil Laugh: He has a very impressive playful one that he breaks out on a couple of occasions, such as when jokes about having a nefarious plan to make the other party members mutiny and have him take over as group leader. In a subversion, he once breaks into a cough mid-evil laugh.

The Fettered: As much as Ilona, especially when he becomes king.

First Girl Wins: Ilona was the first woman his own age he ever encountered after having been sent to the Chantry at age ten to be a Templar and then being a part of the Wardens (who, in Ferelden, had no women currently in the order until Ilona came along). Unless you count that one time in Denerim… but those women were not like Ilona.

Foil: To Zevran. Two orphaned boys who were raised communally (Alistair in a castle, Zevran in a whorehouse) who were shipped off to an organization at an early age (Alistair to the Templars, Zevran to the Crows) without their consent, which largely defined who they became as an adult (Alistair a duty-bound warrior, Zevran a loose and easy assassin). They both even have prolific (often deadpan) senses of humor. However, while Alistair is an adorkable virgin who hides his pain behind a shield of duty, honor, and lame jokes, Zevran is The Casanova who Really Gets Around and hides his pain behind a charming smile and a devil-may-care attitude.

Generation Xerox: Potentially to both of his parents. He’s a Grey Warden like his mother Fiona and becomes King of Ferelden like his father Maric. He also conceives a son out of wedlock with Morrigan, a mage like how his father conceived him out of wedlock with Fiona, an elven mage.

The Good King: Alistair turns out to be an excellent monarch, having a common touch which makes the people of Ferelden love him, and quickly learns the finer points of administration. Combined with Ilona as his queen, Ferelden ends up with one hell of a Ruling Couple.

Good People Have Good Sex: Alistair is a sweetheart, and falls for Ilona who is also loving and kind. After his first time having sex with her, Alistair comments that the Chantry sisters had him half-expecting to be struck by lightning for doing what they just did. His beloved reassures him: “Not for that performance.” Ilona also has a “girl talk” with Leliana and Morrigan, where she assures them (out of his hearing range) that he is very good in bed.

Half-Human Hybrid: The Calling reveals that Alistair’s mother is Fiona, an elven Grey Warden and lover of King Maric. This makes Alistair elf-blooded. The children of elves and humans are always born human looking. In Inquisition, Fiona herself vaguely hints at her relationship with Alistair, but never outright says it

Happily Married: To Ilona, it’s stated in the epilogue that he openly adores his wife, much to the delight of the people of Fereldan.

Henpecked Husband: In Dragon Age II, it’s made clear that Ilona is the one who wears the trousers in the relationship. It’s treated very lightheartedly, however, and when Alistair calls her “the old ball and chain,” it’s said with obvious affection.

       Alistair: "Just because she killed an Archdemon, she doesn’t scare me!“ 

      Teagan: "You just keep telling yourself that, Your Majesty”

Heroic Bastard: And a royal bastard at that. He notes he should use that line more often.

Hidden Backup Prince: He’s a bastard, and in line to the throne! His claim is apparently roughly equal to that of his half-brother the king’s widow.

Hidden Depths: After he becomes king, he turns out to be better suited to the job than he expects to be. In Dragon Age II, he demonstrates a willingness to allow fleeing mages to enter Ferelden so long as they follow the laws of the land. Meredith is annoyed that the new king does not immediately comply with her demands. In Inquisition, his codex entry notes that the people love him.

Hunk: Quite manly. Quite handsome

Hurting Hero: He rarely says it outright, but the massacre of Duncan and the other Wardens scars him pretty deeply, to the point that he harbors an intense and bitter hatred for Loghain. He’s lucky to have Ilona be there for him and to listen to him without judgment.

Idiot Hero: Morrigan and Anora both accuse him of being one. Although he has his moments, they’re never at critical junctions. He even calls himself an idiot hero at times.

          Alistair: "Look, I can’t be king. Some days I have trouble figuring out which boot goes on which foot.“

In Touch With His Feminine Side: Mostly in terms of his open, emotional personality. Alistair is very expressive of his feelings, doesn’t even try to hide his grief over the deaths of the other Wardens (often sounding on the verge of tears whenever it’s brought up), often approaches Ilona to talk about his grief, and invites her to talk about her grief as well. This annoys some of the more stoic party members (particularly Morrigan and Sten), who feel he ought to suck it up since Real Men Don't Cry, though it doesn’t deter him any. Alistair is also pretty unashamed about his less-than-manly moments, going so far as to joke with Ilona that he should wear a dress to distract the darkspawn, and mentioning a girly scream he once emitted when he first joined the Wardens

This is also a point in his favor with the romance, since Alistair gives Ilona a rose he had sentimentally picked earlier for different reasons but which now reminds him of her, wants to wait to have sex since he wants his first time with her to be special, and is very open about his budding romantic feelings toward her (even if he’s not always the most eloquent about it).

Intergenerational Friendship: With Wynne, who becomes something of a surrogate mother to him.

Irony: Alistair is a Human Templar Grey Warden. His (real) mother is an Elven Mage Grey Warden

It’s Personal: Towards Loghain for causing the deaths of the Grey Wardens and Duncan in particular.

This is also the reason why Ilona allows him to be the one to kill Loghain when she chooses to have the General be executed for his crime.

Knight in Sour Armor: Although he’s aware that Grey Wardens often must do pretty bad things for the greater good, and lives in a world that has rarely shown him any kindness, he still feels as if it’s still worth being a decent person and protector.

Knight Templar: He was training to be one, though only in job description; he flat out states that a life devoted to single-mindedly hunting down apostate mages was not for him, and it wasn’t his choice to pursue that future.

Lady and Knight: It’s more accurately Knight and Knight, but after starting a romantic relationship with Ilona, he definitely behaves like a White Knight to a Bright Lady towards her.

Lethal Chef:

When Morrigan joins the party, one of the first things he asks is “Can you cook?” Then he explains that if he has to cook, they’re all as good as dead.

Leliana later asks him in a conversation what was in the dish he made for the party’s supper the previous night. When he tells her it was a lamb and pea stew, she comments that it had a texture she doesn’t normally associate with lamb. He explains this by telling her that this is the way all Fereldans cook.

                  Alistair: "We take our ingredients, throw them into the largest pot we can find, and cook them for as long as possible until everything is a uniform grey color. As soon as it looks completely bland and unappetizing, that’s when I know it’s done.“

Love Interest: To Ilona.

Manchild: At times, his decisions are more reminiscent of a temperamental teenager than a defender of the whole land. These are often potential Jerkass moments. He also gets called a lad/boy several times.

Mr. Fanservice: He's adorkable, handsome, and a hopeless romantic. The voice doesn’t hurt either.

Nature Abhors a Virgin: While Alistair himself is pretty okay with the idea (aside from teasing), the plot is most definitely against him. In order for him to have a happy ending with Ilona, he must impregnate Morrigan by sleeping with her. Apparently, a man can be a virgin, but can’t remain one for long and can’t have just one woman in his lifetime for things to work out to his benefit.

Odd Friendship: Despite being a former Templar, he quickly strikes up a friendship with Wynne and seems closer to her than any of the other companions. This is rather understandable, as he freely admits he was terrible at being a Templar and never wanted to be one in the first place.

Orphan’s Plot Trinket: Averted - he had an amulet that use to belong to his mother, but threw it at a wall and smashed it in anger as a child after he was sent to the monastery to be trained as a Templar. Ilona later finds it in the study of Redcliffe Castle, having been glued back together by Arl Eamon and gives it to Alistair as a gift, but it has no further relevance to the story.

Parental Abandonment: Repeatedly.

Both his mother and father weren’t present in his upbringing, primarily due to reasons of death (or so he was told) and not being able to recognize him due to his illegitimacy.

After Arl Eamon married an Orlesian woman, who took an immediate disliking to him, Alistair was sent to a monastery.

And then Duncan, who was the closest thing he ever had to a real father, dies in the battle of Ostagar. If Alistair has abandonment issues, they’re not hard to understand.

The Pig Pen: According to Wynne, he smells just as bad as the dog. When he mentions being raised by flying dogs in a joking way, Ilona playfully tells him “That would explain the smell!”. This whole conversation takes a turn for the tragic once Ilona learns that Arl Eamon used to make Alistair sleep in the kennels in order to keep him out of the way; to a small extent, he actually was raised by dogs.

Properly Paranoid: To the point where some of his dialogue may well be Foreshadowing.

His suspicions that Flemeth had ulterior motives for sending Morrigan with the party are completely correct.

In DAII when he meets Hawke, he urges her to continue protecting Kirkwall; Hawke responds by asking him, “Protect Kirkwall from what, exactly?” Alistair expresses the opinion that Knight-Commander Meredith is probably the biggest threat to Kirkwall - and he’s absolutely right.

Raised by Wolves: He jokes about this to Ilona. He was raised by dogs. With wings. Who were devout Andrastians. And hated cheese. She eventually learns that Arl Eamon had him sleep with the hounds as a child, so this actually isn’t far from the truth.

Reluctant Ruler: Though he’s the senior Grey Warden, he’s not at all interested in being the party leader. Despite, or perhaps because of, his lineage, Alistair is very clear that he does not want to be a leader. Nevertheless, he is given the crown and proves to be good at the job of being king.

Rousing Speech: Gives a damn good one to the army before the battle of Denerim.

Royals Who Actually Do Something: After becoming King at the Landsmeet, he makes it perfectly clear that he’ll be on the front lines and leading the charge during the Battle of Denerim and the assault to take down the Archdemon.

Sad Clown: He sometimes uses humor to cover up his grief. Ilona isn’t fooled but completely understands and jokes along with him. None of the other party members are fooled either, and his humor is often irritating to other people; Shale says as much outright.

Shout-Out:

Seeing as the series was heavily inspired by it, Alistair is one for Jon Snow from A Song of Ice and Fire. Each one is a bastard from a respected royal family who doesn’t know who his mother is and who suffered mistreatment and neglect at the hands of their stepmother figure. Each one is offered the throne and is part of an elite group that slowly is dying out but are vital to the survival of the world in the face of the reawakening ancient evil they were created to fight.

Also, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer serving as additional inspiration, it’s possible that Alistair’s jokey mannerisms and Butt-Monkey status were based on that of Xander Harris.

His romantic relationship with Ilona is also somewhat similar to Steve Trevor’s romantic relationship with Diana in the 2017 film Wonder Woman.  Both are soldiers who fall in love with a warrior princess who can clearly kick ass and while not completely helpless are usually the ones who need saving and particularly by that said love interest.

Sibling Yin-Yang: Unlike Cailan, who merely thought himself the Warrior Prince, Alistair proves to actually be one.

Sickeningly Sweethearts: His romance with Ilona comes close to this if Wynne and Morrigan are to be believed. Wynne doesn’t seem to mind; Morrigan is another story.

Single Woman Seeks Good Man: His benevolent personality is one of the reasons why Ilona fell in love with him.

Spare to the Throne: Unfortunately, he’s a bastard, so he wasn’t raised to the task. Needless to say, he’s not happy about the idea of becoming king after being trained for something completely different and being quite forcefully assured that his illegitimate status would prevent the question.

The Talk: Wynne starts giving him one when he begins an intimate relationship with Ilona. Once he realizes what she’s going on about, he interrupts with a highly embarrassed, “Andraste’s flaming sword, I know where babies come from!” She delights in the fact that she gets him to blush.

Trademark Favorite Food: Jokingly admits to having “an unholy obsession with very fine cheeses.“ The fandom has kind of run away with this one.

Turn Out Like His Father: Oh yeah!

Undying Loyalty: Has this towards the Grey Wardens and the woman he loves.

Unexpected Virgin: As a result of growing up in the Chantry and then being recruited directly from there into Ferelden’s Grey Wardens (which currently had no female wardens until Ilona showed up). Alistair is reluctant to talk about it (for understandable reasons), so this is treated as a minor revelation during his romance with Ilona.

Warrior Prince: Unlike Cailan, he actually fits the warrior part as well as the prince.

What’s Up, King Dude?: After being made king, the epilogue potentially states that he frequents taverns, endearing him to the common folk.

The Wrongful Heir to the Throne: He sees himself as this.

Younger Than They Look: He looks and sounds to be in his mid-twenties to early thirties, but he’s actually 20-years-old at the start of the story. See Manchild above 

[alexandrasanimationblog]

Character Archetypes

Week 3 (09/10/19)

Based on Vogler’s 8 character archetypes, I’ve selected various animated characters that I believe fall into each one. There are various ways of thinking of archetypes but we will be focusing on Vogler’s interpretation of them.

The Hero

Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008)

Traits of a hero and how Aang falls into that role:

Identifiable

Aang is one of the youngest characters

Bald with arrow tattoos

Is the only Airbender

Wears bright yellow and orange monk attire through most of the series (apart from episodes that required him to wear a disguise)

The Most Active

The majority of the series follows Aang and his journey to master all four elements and defeat the Fire Lord (except for some filler episodes in which he is not the main focus or follow a different character)

Has Flaws as well as Strengths

Aang is Kind, Selfless, Wise and Powerful, however, he is also Childish, Impulsive, ruled by his emotions and somewhat Naive

Changes or Grows

Aang eventually learns to master the four elements and save the world while also growing as a person and realizing the importance of his role as the Avatar and to not be as Naive and Careless about things

Faces Death

There are many episodes in which Aang is kidnapped, imprisoned or almost killed in battle. Most notably, the last two episodes that focus on his fight against the Fire Lord

Self-Sacrifice

From the very first episode when he jeopardizes the safety of a Southern Watertribe Village, Aang sacrifices himself to save the people of the village. Throughout the show, he puts others before himself and many times his selflessness is used against him.

The Shadow

The Truth from Fullmetal Alchemist (2003-2004) and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009-2010)

Traits of a shadow and how The Truth falls into that role:

Represents the Energy of “The Dark Side”

The Truth actually falls into the category of an anti-villain. It is the divine being the guards the Gates of Truth and Alchemists are met with The Truth when they commit the ultimate sin: Human Transmutation. The Truth acts as a divine punishment and takes something precious from each Alchemist depending on their reason for attempting Human Transmutation. (e.g.: Izumi had her internal organs removed because she tried to bring her dead baby back to life) It makes good Alchemists feel guilty when they encounter individuals who committed the same sin for malicious reasons.

Needn’t be a physical being + Could be a personality trait within the hero

The Truth is a silhouette of light, surrounded by darkness but is said to represent the universe as a whole and the individual ‘truth’ of each person. Being able to enact divine punishment and to have more knowledge than humans, it is the closest thing to a ‘god’ in the series.

“Who am I? One name you might have for me is the world, or you might call me the universe, or perhaps God, or perhaps the Truth. I am All, and I am One. So, of course, this also means that I am you. I am the truth of your despair, the inescapable price of your boastfulness. And now I will bestow upon you the despair you deserve.”

-The Truth (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Threatens the hero and forces them to rise to the challenge

Our hero, Ed, wasn’t the only one affected since he and his brother attempted to bring back their dead mother together. Ed lost his leg when they realized that their attempt didn’t work and Al lost his entire body. Al nearly died as well, since his soul didn’t have a body so Ed sacrificed his arm to be able to save Al’s soul by binding it to a metal armor. Ed actually meets The Truth several times in the series and each time is determined to come back to get his and Al’s original bodies back (which he does by the end of the series).

The Shape-Shifter

M’gann M’orzz/ Megan Morse or Miss Martian from Young Justice (2010-)

Traits of a shape-shifter and how Megan falls into that role:

Changes appearance or mood

One of Megan’s abilities is to shape-shift and she uses that to her advantage during covert missions to mask her green skin. However, it should be noted that her usual appearance is also not her true form as it is friendlier to humans (just with green skin)

Can’t be trusted: brings doubt and suspense

While Megan is one of our heroes, her powers have strained her relationship with some characters. In a ‘lover’s game’ with Superboy, Megan shape-shifted into Black Canary and the moment was caught on camera. Canary was hurt and uncomfortable by the incident but forgave Megan.

In season 2, we find out that Megan and Superboy broke up because she attempted to alter his memory of him being mad at her after an argument which caused him to break things off and be suspicious of her.

Aware of ability

Megan is very aware of her abilities and uses them both in battle and for personal reasons.

Could be a love interest

She is the love interest of Superboy for the majority of the first season.

The Mentor 

Kakashi Hatake from Naruto (2002-2007) and Naruto: Shippuden (2007-2017)

Traits of a mentor and how Kakashi falls into that role:

Often a teacher or trainer

He is the captain of our main protagonist’s team. He is in charge of the two deuteragonists as well. (Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke)

Represents our ‘better self’

In many situations, Kakashi acted as the voice of reason both in battle and in general. He guides Team 7 by telling him what’s right and what’s best and always looks after them.

Often a gift-giver (but gifts must be earned)

Kakashi helped teach Naruto how to create a new technique using his Rasengan by changing the form of his chakra to be adjusted to nature. He also taught him various other things and gave him various ‘gifts’ throughout the story.

A mentor might prove an example of what not to do

Kakashi, although good-natured, has his own flaws and attempts to prevent what happened between him and his friend Obito to his students, Naruto and Sasuke. Kakashi still feels regretful over his friend’s death and does all he can to help Naruto bring Sasuke back to their Village to be changed for good.

The Herald

Chris McLean from Total Drama Island, Total Drama Action, Total Drama World Tour, Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, Total Drama All-Stars and Total Drama: Pahkitew Island (2007-2014)

Traits of a herald and how Chris falls into that role:

Call to Adventure/ Gives the hero motivation to begin the journey

Chris is the host of the reality show Total Drama and is both the one who brings (or brings back) the characters for each season and announces their challenges, rewards or punishments giving them a goal to achieve in each episode with the ultimate goal to win the prize money if they reach the very end.

May also issue a warning

Other than announcing the challenges, Chris issues the punishments and warns the players of the consequences they have to face if they lose (other than possible elimination from the game)

Heroes are often afraid of the challenges presented by the Herald

Most punishments in the series (for comedic effect) are either disgusting or dangerous so the heroes fear to lose. However, it’s safe to say that they also fear the very dangerous and/or disgusting challenges they must face to not receive punishment.

The Threshold Guardian

Karma Akabane from Assassination Classroom (2015-2016)

Traits of a threshold guardian and how Karma falls into that role:

Not usually the ‘main’ villain

While Karma is the protagonist’s (Nagisa) close friend, and ally, he is also his greatest competition and rival. He often challenges, gets in the way or makes fun of Nagisa, preventing him from reaching his full potential as an assassin. 

Might be a guard/thug/mercenary 

While class 3-E isn’t known for having the best reputation, Karma was originally expelled for his violent behavior. He is a ruthless assassin, extremely sadistic and physically strong. He is feared by his classmates at first.

Represents the ‘ordinary obstacles’ we face in our daily life

Karma is Nagisa’s friend and yet he is a bad influence and often a bully to him.

Tests the hero (makes them prove their worth)/ Can be overcome and turned into an ally

Karma is just an annoyance to Nagisa through most of the series but he eventually becomes a challenge he must overcome when they dueled to decide on whether they’ll try to kill or save their teacher. Karma was angry at Nagisa for suggesting to save their teacher and mocked and refused to listen to him. After a long battle, Nagisa chose to pin Karma down in a choke-hold. Karma had the opportunity to win the duel but gave up his chance when he saw how determined Nagisa was to have him listen to him. He eventually agrees to help save their teacher.

The Trickster

Mushu from Mulan (1998)

Traits of a trickster and how Mushu falls into that role:

Delights in breaking the rules

Mushu’s way of helping Mulan is by constantly suggesting ways for her to get better through shortcuts or by ‘acting like a brute’ therefore ‘manly’. 

Comedy sidekick + popular with the audiences

Mushu is arguably the most popular character in the movie and acts as Mulan’s sidekick and protector

Controls the hero’s ego

Mushu’s purpose is to help Mulan and actually offers her great advice in times of need 

Brings light relief to a darker story

Mulan’s story is about a woman at war but Mushu manages to make the situation lighter through his sassy one-liners willingness to support Mulan

Might be a ‘catalyst character’

While the initial reason why he decided to help Mulan was to restore his status as the family protector dragon, Mushu’s final purpose is to help Mulan survive, bring honor to her family and grow. He achieves this by the end of the movie and even gets rewarded.

The Ally

Alciel/ Shirō Ashiya from The Devil is a Part-Timer! (2013-)

Alciel is the loyal second-in-command general of Satan (Maou) and when the two get transported from their dimension to modern day Japan, he takes care of the housework and researches for ways that they can regain their powers while also trying to protect his lord from potential threats.

[violethowler]

Dark Enchantress

Following on from last week’s essay, I would like to talk about one character who has often been overlooked both in-universe and out. Someone who was a major character in the first game, but whose presence has diminished in the years since, even as subsequent games have subtly laid the groundwork for her return to prominence. 

I’m talking of course, about Maleficent. 

Because of the fact that she hasn’t been a major threat since the first game, many fans tend to overlook Maleficent in later Kingdom Hearts games and dismiss her as an unimportant distraction, or even an outright joke. Outside of Re:coded, her schemes have had no immediate impact on the overarching plot of any games, and she’s constantly overshadowed by bigger antagonists like Xehanort. 

However within the framework of the Heroine’s Journey, Maleficent fills a crucial role that has not yet been completed. To explain, I must first elaborate a bit more on the narrative archetype into which Sora and Rikus’ relationship falls: 

The character dynamic between the protagonist and their Animus in a Heroine’s Journey often follows what I have heard others informally label as a Dark Youth/Light Youth narrative[1]. There is no official name for this archetype, so I will be referring to it by the terms it was labeled as when I first learned of it. While the archetype is not exclusively used for romances, many Heroine’s Journey romances fit into this dynamic, as romantic Dark Youth/Light Youth stories tend to follow Beauty and the Beast, rivals-to-lovers, and enemies-to-lovers archetypes.

The Light Youth is most commonly the protagonist of a story, while the Dark Youth typically serves as a Shadow figure to the main character. While there have been rare instances where a Dark Youth is the protagonist of their own story, in most examples, the Dark Youth will be a deuteragonist to the Light Youth. The Dark Youth represents what their counterpart could have become had their circumstances been worse, and in a coming of age narrative they symbolize the more turbulent aspects of growing up. 

They typically begin the story as an anti-villain or tragic villain before transitioning to an anti hero or outright hero by the end, with their interactions with their light youth counterpart gradually driving them to change for the better. For all that various groups in fandom spaces will debate about whether or not a character “deserves” redemption, a well-written Dark Youth archetype is meant to teach younger audiences that no matter how many mistakes you make, it’s never too late to turn things around and do better.

Some examples of Light Youth/Dark Youth pairs include:

Belle & the Beast (Beauty & the Beast)

Aang & Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Rey & Kylo Ren (Star Wars: Episodes VII - IX) 

Lucy & Edmund Pevensie (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe)

Allura & Lotor (Voltron: Legendary Defender)

Kagome & Inuyasha (Inuyasha)

In many examples of this dynamic, the Dark Youth often spends a significant portion of the narrative under the spell of an Evil Sorcerer figure. Someone whose actions and influence create or maintain a rift between the Dark Youth and their counterpart. In order for the story to reach its climax, the Evil Sorcerer’s control over the Dark Youth must be overcome. This hold can be literal in the sense that they are physically holding the Dark Youth captive, or it can be metaphorical in the sense that their words and actions influence the Dark Youth psychologically. 

While the character that fills this role in the narrative isn’t required to be magical at all, one of the most common forms this archetype takes is the Wicked Witch (hence why I refer to it as the Evil Sorcerer). In Dark Youth/Light Youth stories that deal with themes that are relevant to real world experiences, they can often take the form of an abusive parental figure, like Fire Lord Ozai in Avatar or High Priestess Haggar in Voltron.

Thus, we come to Maleficent. Despite the fact that she hasn’t been a serious threat since the first game, her influence still lingers. She spent much of her screen time in the original game convincing Riku that Sora had abandoned him, driving him down the path to villainy. Despite working in every game since to redeem himself, her influence still casts a shadow over his interactions with Sora. While they reconciled during their reunion in Kingdom Hearts II, Sora and Riku did not meaningfully address the latter’s behavior during the first game. 

Sora’s views about “Riku” in Chain of Memories prior to the Replica reveal indicate that he believes Riku was not in control of his actions and was therefore blameless for what happened. But we as the audience know that despite being manipulated by Maleficent, Riku was in control of his actions. In order for the rift between the two to fully heal, they need to have a conversation where they talk about why Riku behaved the way he did and, in doing so, they must get to the heart of why Riku was so jealous of Sora.

As mentioned in my previous essay, the depiction of Riku and his bond with Sora across the series is consistent with how love interests in the Heroine’s Journey are portrayed. In addition to this narrative pattern, multiple textual parallels with canon Disney couples point towards Riku and Sora having romantic feelings for each other: 

In the first Kingdom Hearts, we have two prominent moments of one character calling out for another as the party flees the location of the world’s boss while it quakes around them: Aladdin calling out for Jasmine as the party flees the Cave of Wonders, and Sora calling out for Riku as the party flees Monstro’s stomach.

Kingdom Hearts II uses plot details involving Disney Princess romances to foreshadow Sora and Riku’s reunion in The World That Never Was.

Aladdin is avoiding Jasmine at the start of the first visit to Agrabah just like how Riku is avoiding Sora throughout the game as a whole. 

After being freed from Xaldin’s influence in the first visit to Beast’s Castle, the Beast is afraid to talk to Belle after how he behaved, just like how Riku didn’t want Sora to find him after how he acted in the first game. (Notably, we don’t get to see the Beast’s curse broken until *after* we’ve seen Riku no longer trapped in Ansem’s form)

Ariel is afraid that since she’s a mermaid and Eric is a human that he’ll reject her, just like how Riku didn’t want Sora to see that he’d taken on Ansem’s form. 

When Sora, Donald, and Goofy are separated from Rapunzel and Flynn in the Kingdom of Corona during Kingdom Hearts III, Goofy says that Rapunzel and Eugene will be fine as long as they’re together. The last time this phrasing was used in the series, Goofy was saying that about Sora and Riku. 

Kingdom Hearts III connects Riku’s sacrifice for Sora in the Keyblade Graveyard with Hercules diving into the River Styx to save Megara’s soul. (This is more clear in the original Japanese, as the localization translated the term taisetsu na hito [literal meaning: precious person] as “person I love most” for Hercules and “what matters” for Riku.)

In Jungian psychology, which the Heroine’s Journey is heavily influenced by, the Evil Sorcerer working to keep the romantic leads apart is symbolic of romantic/sexual interference. They represent cultural forces attempting to dictate what kind of romantic relationship is socially acceptable for people who share some aspect of the protagonist or Dark Youth’s identity. 

Maleficent got her hooks into Riku at the beginning of the series by convincing him that Sora didn’t value him or their bond. Since then, he’s gone to the opposite extreme. Instead of lashing out over his jealousy of not being the center of Sora’s attention, he bottles his feelings up. While some fans perceived his distance from Sora in recent games as him stepping back, it ‘s more accurate to say that he has resigned himself to the belief his feelings for Sora will forever be unrequited. This is best demonstrated in the Limit Cut DLC, where even after a year of multiple characters attempting to trace their connection to Sora with no results, the idea that his own bond with Sora could be important never crossed his mind until the Fairy Godmother said there was a clue in his dreams. And until Riku learns to let down his walls and admit to Sora how he feels, Maleficent will still have a hold over him. 

Despite the narrative setup for a romance between the two of them, they will not be able to get together until Riku has fully broken free of Maleficent’s influence. This is the reason why the “Healing the Wounded Masculine” stage of Murdock’s formula where the protagonist and the Animus mend the rift between them is placed very close to the end of the sequence. Freeing the Dark Youth from the Sorcerer’s influence represents their relationship with their Light counterpart triumphing over the societal forces that the Sorcerer archetype represents. Until that has been achieved, neither lead is emotionally or psychologically ready to begin a relationship.

So while Maleficent may not have been as significant a threat as she was in the beginning, she still plays a major role within the framework of Sora’s Journey, and she will continue to have a presence in the series until that role has been completed in full.

Sources:

[1] Death of a Dark Youth, Desecration of the Animus; December 20, 2018. https://www.teampurplelion.com/death-of-a-dark-youth/