#g-witch theory

[anthurak]

So while I’m currently still emotionally recovering from THAT, an interesting thought occurred to me.

We’ve seen this dramatic point many times before, ‘Break Her Heart to Save Her’ as TvTropes calls it. In romantic terms its where the hero/heroine is suddenly seemingly betrayed/gets their heart broken by their love-interest. Only to later discover/realize their LI was only trying to help them and/or protect them from whatever bad things are going on in some self-sacrificial way and still loves them. And then the hero/heroine has to charge off to save their LI from whatever trouble they’ve gotten themself into and reaffirm their feelings with a big love confession.

However, when we apply this framework to Witch from Mercury and to Suletta and Miorine, some interesting twists/wrinkles start showing up.

It’s pretty clear that Miorine is breaking off her engagement to Suletta in an attempt to protect her from the political machinations and manipulations of her mother. BUT, as some people have already pointed out; by cutting herself out of Suletta’s life, all Miorine has actually done is play right into Prospera’s hands and make Suletta even more reliant on her mother than ever before.

And when we factor in how Miorine isn’t just ‘the Love-Interest’ but is really more the co-protagonist of the show, I think the narrative/dramatic fallout of this episode is going to play out VERY different from how this trope normally goes:

We are NOT going to be following Suletta going through the expected depression, followed by a realization/discovery that Miorine was just trying to protect her and still loves her and then charging off to save Miorine from whatever mess she’s gotten herself into,

Instead, we are likely going to follow Miorine through a brief period of ‘this is for the best...’ rationalizing, only to be suddenly hit with an utterly MASSIVE ‘OH GOD I FUCKED UP!’ realization as she sees her plan backfire. Leading to Miorine being the one to charge off to save Suletta from the mess SHE inadvertently put the girl she loves into.

And I have to say, as someone who normally doesn’t like this trope, I would be REALLY excited to see this particular twist put on it.

[ferhog]

[stacotto]

More G-Witch Theory Time

Been doing a lot of thinking about some of Witch from Mercury's biggest unanswered questions (What happened to Eri? Who/what is Suletta? What are "internal permet systems"?) whilst thinking about what "Quiet Zero" could be. I've also been keeping up with Anthurak's theoryposting and playing a lot of Destiny 2, and I'm like 30% confident in saying this: Quiet Zero is an initiative to digitize human consciousness into new mechanical bodies.

Let's start off with the Vanadis Institute's intentions with the GUND format before everything went to hell; reinforcing the human body, which is terribly maladaptive to the conditions of space travel and habitation, seemingly up to and including replacing entire bodies from the neck down. Even real-life science agrees that yeah, we're not really built to handle life outside our planet, and need some extreme ways to simulate our reliance on gravity and proper shielding from the absolute horror show that is cosmic radiation. Remember Cardo Nabo's words; "Just as an infant has to put on clothes, humanity must don the GUND to truly go out into space."

Cue the acquisition by Ochs Earth, the applications of the tech to Mobile Suits, and the development of the Lfrith, which seems to be using some kind of neural net AI to mediate control between man and machine, but can't seem to get started, all up to the point where Ericht Samaya is linked to it (via "Internal Permet System"; seriously Sunrise, I need the lore; you explained the AV system like 10 times across the whole of IBO) after which you get a machine capable of operating with human-like grace and fidelity. That, of course, went to hell due to corporate greed masked as a concern for ethics (go figure).

Skip ahead 21 years, to the Gundam Aerial, a machine that thinks for itself, operates drone swarms with a level of fluidity and grace that goes beyond what even the most advanced AI at the time can't replicate, goes beyond what conventional analysis of permet surges can properly explain. And Prospera's data on the Aerial's network architecture is apparently key to making "Quiet Zero", whatever it is, succeed.

Simply put, I theorize that Quiet Zero, spearheaded by Delling "we shall bring the hammer down upon the Witches" Rembran may end up becoming a corrupted version of Cardo's original ideal; a way for humanity to "don the GUND", by completely abandoning their human form for mechanical shells. Of course, this doesn't explain everything, like how any of this ties into Prospera's vengeance (unless she just wants to be the one taking credit for "saving humanity", a la Clovis Bray) but G-Witch currently is defined more by what we don't know than what we do.

[kyosukeasatte]

Go forth, Tanuki and become a legend! You can (not) run and gain one now!

[anthurak]

Okay, but Miorine representing Odin and Suletta representing Fenrir has some VERY interesting, and also potentially disturbing implications.

Because during Ragnarok, Odin is prophesied to be DEVOURED by Fenrir. It’s actually a huge part of both Odin and Ragnarok as the ‘doom’ Odin is desperately trying to avoid.

Which in turn could give some dark implications as to WHY Prospera was so supportive of Miorine getting close to Suletta.

Of course, this could just as easily be leading to/meant as a twist or subversion on the prophecy of Odin and Fenrir, wherein Odin (Miorine) frees Fenrir (Suletta) herself and bonds with the creature meant to destroy her.

(and then there is the possibility of the ‘eating’ being done in a more... figurative sense if you know what I mean XD)

G Witch and Norse Mythology

I think we all know Okouchi harks to both Utena and The Tempest with the writing, but an influence that's underexplored is Norse myth. The following will be a quick mention and breakdown of these references, starting from the blatant to obscure.

Fólkvangr

Show: Hidden laboratory inside an asteroid. Under the control of the Vanadis institute and where the bloody events of the prologue occur.

Norse: Field ruled over by the goddess Freyja where half of those that die in combat go upon death, whilst the other half go to Odin in Valhalla.

Vanadis

Show: The institute which pioneered the GUND-format and gundams. They were disbanded and violently stopped in their medical and military operations.

Norse: Also known as Freyja, Vanadis is a goddess of war, fertility, and witchcraft/magic. She has dominion over Fólkvangr.

Gundams Lfrith Ur and Thorn

Show: Gundams piloted by the witches from Earth; Sophie and Norea. Sophie pilots Ur while Norea pilots Thorn.

Norse: Ūr or Uruz is a rune meaning the following-

It governs shaping and forcing fortunate circumstances creatively through will and inspiration, self-healing and maintenance of good mental and physical health, assertion of home ground, personal space, independence and freedom, strength and tenacity, courage, persistence against all odds. Uruz is a symbol of the wild bovine, a reminder that cattle were once wild creatures. Uruz represents young warriors. https://runesecrets.com/rune-meanings/uruz

Thorn or Thurisaz-

It governs destruction of enemies, curses binds and fetters, awakening the will to action, breaking resistance of blockages in body, mind and spirit, Increased potency and prowess in romantic relationships, and understanding of the division and separation of all things. Thurisaz to be described as a thorn that is most sharp, a grim and evil thing to take grip on or touch. Thurisaz is also a fertility rune in the sense that it breaks down the barren and hard, rocky realms into workable soil as to bring fruitfulness to crops and wombs. https://runesecrets.com/rune-meanings/thurisaz

These are just the ones I caught so if you see another, feel free to comment! The next will just be speculation based on my own knowledge.

Yggdrasil and Odin

It occurs to me as I drink in this image composition that it looks similar to Yggdrasil, or the world tree in Norse myth. Aerial forms the trunk/branches while the people are its leaves. Considering all the norse references thus far, it feels intentional. And I fully believe it is when you spot Miorine falling towards the base.

Her fall to the base of the 'world tree' is relevant because of this image. In Norse mythology, Odin has one eye because he sacrificed it to the Mimisbrunnr (Mimir's well located beneath Yggdrasil) in exchange for a drink of the well's water. It grants Odin wisdom and insight. It wouldn't surprise me if Mio is forced to make a similar trade during S2, either to solve a problem or make an escape. (from QZ maybe?)

I'll likely add to this if I notice anything else

[ryuki-draws]

When the company that basically owns you has a quadrillion dollars to build a Gundam and put you through 2145784 painful experiments but doesn't spend 50 additional dollars to send you to the hairdresser.

[amalgamasreal]

About Prospera/Elnora...

One interesting thing I noticed in Episode 18 is that we actually see Elnora acting truly motherly to Suletta in the episode:

That's not Eri, that's Suletta as a child, but it made me realize something: she still LOOKS like exactly Eri did before she died here. It makes me wonder if all the love she got from Prospera in her childhood stemmed from being a literal clone of the daughter she'd lost. But once Suletta started aging past this point and started looking more like a darker skinned version of Prospera in her youth:

That it really hit home that Suletta IS NOT Eri to Elnora/Prospera and that made it easier for her to distance herself and focus more on Aerial, where Erict's soul actually resides.

Or I could just be going too far into the weeds.

[slow-reader-reads-books]

Idk if anyone has made the connection, but Suletta's name is literally just "yuri" but translated and obscured through a couple language layers, right?

Like, here's my logic: Suletta is an invented name, but has two easily comprehended components: "su" and "letta". Letta is obviously related to the common French (and commonly borrowed into English) feminine diminutive ending -ette, or sometimes -lette, e.g. Colette, Lisolette, and... Suzette.

Suzette being a variant of Susan or Susanna, which is commonly abbreviated to Sue, all of which are derived from the Hebrew name Shoshana, which refers to the rose bride— I mean the rose flower, but archaically was used in reference to lily flowers!

So Suletta can be analyzed as meaning "little lily/little rose", and "yuri" in Japanese of course means "lily flower" or contextually as a genre label, fictional sapphic relationships.

So Suletta is literally the Yuri Rose Groom, case closed!

[sapphic-haymaker]

hearing that the Aerial designer for G-Witch had to remove every fun "witch" like concept they pitched for Aerial due to bandai wanting her to look just like a normal gundam makes the Broomstick Boomstick in the newest episode 10x better. (Full article here)

seems the trend of marketing meddling with gundam designs is still going strong since 1979

[alexissara]

Gwitch and Minimum Viable Queerness

Trusting companies to make queer art is always asking for heart break even when it really and deeply seems like they made some queer art. However, despite my love for Gundam: The Witch From Mercury it must be said there is plenty of issues with the show that pointed towards the direction they have gone now that we've entered the post release era.

In the magazine Gundam Ace they edited our a writer stating that Sulleta and Mio were married. They apologized for that statement ever making it in to begin with on Twitter the X gonna give to you dot bomb with this.

This obviously lead to tons of angry fans and queer folks but it wasn't like this came out of nowhere. Despite some people saying it's just "western brained losers" or something that thought there was queer bait in the Witch From Mercury there is something that queer people forget which is that most straight cis people literally have no brain cells. They espically have an inability to see sapphic relationships as real or valid.

Gundam The Witch From Mercury was explicit, more explicit than a lot of media but they intentionally excluded the three universal signifiers of romantic or sexual love from the show despite it being centered for all 24 episodes around the Sulmio engagement. These three signifiers are an "I love you" "I Love You too", a kiss, or fucking. Gundam is a toy commercial for kids so while sex is probably not on the table it isn't actually even off the table for Gundam given the series history has had off scene sex and bad stuff too like adult women trying to seduce like a 10 year old boy. So like these shows aren't afraid to do some shit. Many say that Gundam doesn't do kisses that is a lie, Z, 00, Seed, and Iron Blooded Orphans's all have done kisses. I love yous also happen across the series, the end of G Gundam has a special love attack that blows up the last boss.

This is all to say Gundam: The Witch From Mercury activated a strategy corporate media called minimum viable queerness. In order to get the gay dollar, to seem progressive, whatever it may be a company will do as little gay as they can get away with to get the gays actively invested in their art. Ultimately, their aim is to have it be blaringly obvious to queer folks but invisible to the hets. The show also did the minimum viable amount of women making sure the men had utterly meaningless fights near the end just for women to be on screen less. These fights involve men who are not either of the main two girls getting mad at each other for some kind of connection or action towards one of the girls. These take up a significant amount of the second seasons run time not to mention one of these men got a full episode devoted to him. Meanwhile the main couple of the show was away from each other for the vast majority of episodes, almost never in the same room and almost exclusively on somewhat bad terms.

In the show Sulleta is the main character but in season one she is mostly piloting against men with one fight against a pair of girls near the end. Chuchu is given sidekick pilot status and lives to the end but she doesn't get her own highlighted battle ever unlike a side side character in Guel's brother who gets a major fight against his brother weighted against the fate of quite zero and Sulleta and Ariel fighting. Which comes after Guel fought Shadiq for no reason which came after Guel fighting Sulleta again for Ariel which came after Guel trying to survive in a mech when he was stuck on earth earlier. Guel was in a mech 1 more time than Sulleta was in season 2. The two other witch girls die in their first and second time respectively of being in a gundam in season 2 and the second of the pair gets maybe a word in with our main character her whole existence and never talks to our secondary main character at all. The action is still in large part being given to men even in the woman centric series.

And in this "queer centered" story we see very explicit delectations of feelings from Guel, Shadiq, Petra and Lauda which are all heterosexual ontop of all the adult characters being hetero, implied hetero E5 with Nora dying for considering being with a man and E5 sexually harassing Sulleta. The series overwhelming overcompensates for it's queerness by aggressively pushing straightness and in particular having other main characters want our lesbians heterosexually.

This does not mean that the writers or animations didn't want to be more explicit or that they did a bad job. they did a great job but we cannot know what is Namco Bandai and what is Sunrise. We just can't but it seems given recent statements that likely Bandai was very hands on in controlling the show. Not to mention giving it's first woman lead series a much shorter run time than most other Gundam series got and intentionally closing it off from an easy sequel series despite it being the most profitable series ever for them.

It appears to me as if Namco Bandai's intention was to convert a bunch of lesbians into gundam fan and throw mild gay bait at us to keep us coming now that we converted, far less explicit than Sulleta and Mio but attempting to ride it out in good faith and have us enjoy the men shows that appealed to boys to not break their delusion that they are making a boys toy for boys. Feeding us right into more Gundam Seed is like trying to choke out any potential life and I think we're gonna see a decline in Gundam sales following Gwitch representing the betrayal of these sapphic fans but more so simply the lack of interest in the bar being lowered.

As fans of Gwitch we need to demand better, it does work, we've seen companies fix statements about Sailor Uranus and Neptune before and other similar instances. We can also make them see if they want to reach the high highs again we need the great shit we get in Gwitch but then even more that the minimum we'll let them get away with is far more than the last time.

If you enjoyed this post consider throwing me some money on Patreon to help me make actually queer art without corporations controlling my voice. I'm hoping to write a bit more about minimum viable queerness in the future but I wanted to really just talk about this while I was mad about it and get it up there. Anyway, back to the writing mines with me, hope you have a great day and go out there and be gay.

[anthurak]

Something I haven’t seen much discussion about but I think makes Lady Prospera so interesting as a character is just how we simply don’t get a good sense of just where she stands as a mother to Suletta.

Like I’ve seen a number of people theorize that at some point Prospera will drop some ‘It was all a lie’/’I never loved you’/’You were never my REAL daughter’ bombshell on Suletta and try to kill her or just abandon her. Or simply read Prospera as the shitty, manipulative parent as Delling, Jeturk, Piel and Grassley.

But the thing is, that is simply not the case. Unlike basically EVER other parent we’ve seen in a position of power, Prospera seems to display some surprisingly genuine care and affection towards Suletta. Certainly FAR more than Delling, Jerturk or any of the others.

Now it’s certainly possible that this is all some act. But if it is, Prospera has put a surprising amount of time and effort into this act.

We’ve seen multiple instances of Prospera going out of her way to check up on Suletta to see if she’s alright or putting other work on hold when Suletta calls her to talk about something. Not exactly the behavior we’d expect from someone who sees her daughter as nothing but a tool.

Now of course that’s not to say that Prospera hasn’t been SUPER shady and manipulative towards Suletta. Or that she hasn’t still been using Suletta as a pawn in her grand schemes. Rather, while it’s easy to look at Delling, Jeturk and the rest and say ‘they see their children as nothing but tool in their schemes’, with Prospera things seem to be a lot more layered, nuanced and generally complicated.

Like even as we approach the final episode of Part 1, I’d say we still CAN’T tell for sure just how exactly Prospera views Suletta. Is Prospera’s care and affection sincere, or does she truly see Suletta as nothing but a pawn?

Though if I had to guess/hope, I think the most unsettling/interesting option is essentially BOTH. That Prospera Mercury genuinely DOES love and care for Suletta, and Aerial as her daughters. Daughters that she is still using as pawns in her grand scheme for revenge.

[squareincube]

With g-witchs finale airing tomorrow let me come out of the gate swinging by saying the show will not end there lmfao. we still have sulettas unfulfilled goal of building a school on mercury, prosperas long emotional arc that has just arrived at her singleminded pursuit for revenge finally broken (and cmon youre not convincing me thats where her character ends), the space assembly league *now* coming into the picture along with peil tech, AND SULEMIOS WEDDING. most likely scenario is that were headed for a gundam 00-esque finale, with the current emotional storyline being resolved for now while more things are being set up for a prospective s2

[stacotto]

On today's episode of "Tales Series parellels I find in G-Witch", consider the following: Prospera (Mithos) preserving her not-quite-dead daughter Eri (sister/Martel), and creating Suletta (the Chosen/Colette) in order to take her place for the sake of the realization of a world without war (world without discrimination). I swear I can picture a scenario all too well of Eri momentarily possessing Suletta (perhaps even as part of Prospera's overall plan) to tell mother dearest that "No, this isn't what I wanted, please stop this madness" and retreats back into the Data Storm only for Prospera to fully go over the deep end.

[lotus-3dart]

If the theory that Notrette was actually helping out Prospera since the beginning is true...

It would be really funny if Notrette was the psycho and thats why the plan spiraled out of hand.

Elnora: Okay Notrette the plan is real simple... You seduce Delling and tank his company

Notrette: Uh-huh yeah I hear you but... *Pulls out a DVD of Neon Genesis Evangelion* have you ever heard of Human Instrumentality Project?

And thats how Quiet Zero got made

[adracat]

The Possible Significance of Notrette

Notrette Rembran is the most mysterious figure in G Witch, beating out even Prospera. We only know her from second-hand mentions and those are threadbare since it's a topic neither Miorine or Delling are keen to dredge up. She's a vast unknown but we do know one thing for certain.

She 'made' this specific breed of tomatoes. This doesn't mean she was a farmer, Mio clarifies that her mother genetically modified these specific tomatoes to taste better. So a scientist and geneticist. But why is this detail important?

Because in the second cour, we're treated to the reveal Suletta was never Eri. We naturally wonder where Suletta came from and why does she look just like Ericht Samaya, but the obvious answer would mean cloning (or Elan surgery but I doubt it tbh) We know from the Prologue Elnora is a deft pilot and engineer, but for all her talents she isn't a geneticist.

In Episode 14 we're treated to the revelation that Quiet Zero was initially Notrette's project. But how did Prospera know that and was she at one point affiliated with Notrette? This exchange seems to point in that direction. That would give Prospera access to a geneticist, of whom would be interested in her plans for Aerial aiding QZ's end goal. I wager a specific pilot would be needed to make sure Aerial could operate as planned; a pilot with Eri's brain pattern and a familial bond so A(Eri)al doesn't reject them. It would also make the symbolic significance of Suletta and tomatoes quite clever. Remember how Mio explained her mother creating them while the show focuses on Suletta feasting on one? (like a feral raccoon but that's a different problem)

In episode 12 we discover a few details about Notrette's death. Delling's words imply it was a failed operation of some sort and both couldn't escape. So Notrette sent him to live for Mio's sake. Since both her parents were involved with QZ you can safely assume this fatal incident (and maybe Prospera) are linked. Considering the brief snippets we get from Aerial in Cradle Planet, this might be the same incident causing Prospera to seek refuge on Mercury.

Take note, the youngest Suletta is stated to be is the same age as Eri was.

I'll be anticipating the rest of the season to see whether any of this is true!

[leminoh]

I doubted the vision, but I've been enlightened and now I can't go back