#but since the commune was going on 20 generations the timeframes are leaning towards the first and third options

[lesbiradshaw]

OMG IKARIS APOLOGISTS RISEEEE bc yeah he turns out to be a “villain” but he was a victim like the rest of them low key😗 like he’s not irredeemable he’s just complicated don’t fight me

this post (and my tags) explains a lot of how i feel about ikaris and ikaris in comparison to all of the other eternals. i feel like the “family dynamic” among the eternals as a whole vs individually was kinda just dropped on us without any real connecting background to get us invested in it but there are certain roles i see them falling into … like, although they don’t all see each other as siblings, sprite is the youngest child, druig is giving me major middle child syndrome vibes, ajak is the mom, and ikaris is obviously the oldest child, which i feel kind of shapes his relationship with ajak So Much.

ikaris is literally like the eldest sibling who is closest to the mother but mostly because she trauma dumps on him out of loneliness from having no one else in the family to talk to and as a result, trusts him the most but also worries about him the least when he definitely NEEDS someone to be worried for him. he gets the most responsibility from her. like. think about the movie from his perspective only. after years and years of fighting with the other eternals to keep humanity safe, ikaris is finally told he’ll be able to live freely. he’ll be able to have a long and fulfilling life with sersi on earth for however long they’re there for— but no matter how long that is, the job is done as far as he knows. and THEN, he all of the sudden finds out more. he has that freedom, the bliss of ignorance taken away from him, and he is the only one of the eternals besides ajak (WHO KNOWS BECAUSE ITS HER LITERAL JOB) who is aware of this awful secret that changes everything. i totally get that ajak told him because she was having doubts, but i also feel like she told him BECAUSE she knew his response would be to try and reassure her that doing their job is the right thing. she’s seen how seriously he takes his duties— in the beginning of the movie does he not literally go up to her and say he won’t let his feelings for sersi get in the way of things? HE DOES! AJAK IS THE FIRST TO FIND OUT ABOUT HIS CRUSH! and she therefore knows that he is willing to put the job first at personal expense, and that was even before he knew that their mission was so much bigger than he was initially told.

so ajak tells him, and to be blunt, pretty much ruins any normal life he could have had after that living among humans with sersi. i’m just so?! WHYYY DID SHE TELL HIMMM. i know why but also WHYYYYYY?:?;!4$ if he had only had the CHANCE to live his life before being burdened with that knowledge … if he had connected with humans without it being tainted by this horrible secret … if he had only been able to do those things with the freedom he thought he was gonna have for like two seconds. the thing the other eternals apparently weren’t willing to think about is the fact that ikaris never got the chance they did to settle down or see the world with the same ease. that was an option for him that was taken away when ajak chose to tell him, and only him, the truth.

and like, i can’t condone murder, but also if the woman who was basically like my mother sort of ruined my relationship and life by telling me this giant secret that would devastate the entire family and then all of the sudden after 7,000 years said “hey. i know i watched you leave your soulmate behind for centuries because of the secret i chose to tell you that you had to keep otherwise you’d run the risk of ruining her life with the knowledge like i ruined yours, but i’ve changed my mind” I MIGHT WANNA KILL HER TOO ??? HELLO ??? all this “for the greater good” bullshit you’ve been fed throughout all your memories, all of those years you were expected to be the pillar of reassurance that this is the Right thing, all of that time alone …. no wonder the emergence became ikaris’s only truth. all his life, it was his only purpose, because even though he fell in love with sersi and could have had purpose with her, that was also something that he thought he couldn’t have anymore after what ajak told him. if ikaris had been told the truth with the rest of the team at the right time after he had had the chance to live his life, i genuinely do not believe any of the disagreements in the movie would have happened.

in a way i think i like ikaris because he reminds me of steve, or at least what steve could have been if he didn’t have people around to remind him that he needed to remain not a perfect solider, but a good man. ikaris WAS a perfect soldier, but that was part of the problem the other eternals had with him. being a good man … how was he supposed to gain such a human trait when he felt completely alienated from them because of what he knew? the other eternals cared only about the morality of the situation. he cared about the reality he had been centered around alone for far too long.

he’s a character with a lot of flaws and made a lot of poor choices throughout the plot (though to be fair he did try and come clean about the betrayal multiple times before the big reveal happened in front of everyone) but i don’t view the character as black and white. he’s not the villain to me! he’s an antihero. an antagonist. and my son.