#like--why is caduceus more okay with reciprocity via the exchanging of favors than he is with emotional reciprocity?

[yfere]

Fjord and Caduceus and the Dream

AKA, can you not write an overly long meta for once???

Well guys, I’m going to bring some of my word vomit to that post-dream conversation between Fjord and Caduceus. In particular, I’m interested in Fjord’s tendency to default to the the role of the deferential supplicant, and how that pairs with Caduceus’ tendency to default to the role of the parenting sage. They feed off of each other in very strange ways. Not bad necessarily, but strange.

I’ve noticed already in prior episodes that Caduceus has a habit of adopting an infantilizing, even controlling perspective of people at the same time he cares for them--most extremely so with Fjord. Like a kindergarten teacher, he plans on giving Fjord a sword as, in his words, a “reward” for good behavior and not falling into temptation while at sea. He says “I believe in you” as a positive encouragement to keep Fjord on the straight and narrow at Darktow. Caduceus says, at the close of Fjord’s quest and again (three times!) in this conversation, that he’s “proud of” Fjord--a fraught term, because to be “proud of” something indicates a kind of possession over the thing, and often places one in a position of superiority, someone whose pride and belief must necessarily be a kind of gift. A mentor? A parent? Hard to say. But it’s not hard to see how Caduceus’ language routinely sets up a paternalistic status barrier between himself and people like Fjord--albeit a benevolent one, where Caduceus is the source of helpful advice and comfort and encouragement, and Fjord is the guided recipient. What it isn’t though is a reciprocal relationship. It is not a relationship where they are equals on the same ground, emotionally speaking

But what’s most interesting to me is how Caduceus conceives of Fjord’s relationship to Uk’otoa in much similar terms to his own relationship with Fjord--with Uk’otoa as simply a competing influence, aiming to control Fjord. The significant difference is that Caduceus thinks and behaves himself as if he were a good supportive parent with Fjord’s best interests in mind--while Uk’otoa is in Caduceus’ mind a selfish and abusive influencer. What they share in common, however, is using the best tools at their disposal to guide Fjord in--what? Their chess match over his soul? It’s significant to me that Caduceus can’t seem to conceive of Uk’otoa having a power to manipulate that it chooses not to use. He assumes that the threatening dream was the worst it could possibly deliver, saying “I’m sure it would put greater strain and stress against you for not following its wishes if it could. But it didn’t,” and he was genuinely confused when Fjord suggested that Uk’otoa probably could make things worse for him. Also, Caduceus’ first question upon learning of Fjord’s dream was about which kind of control tactic Uk’otoa was going for--”Would you describe this as a kind of positive encouragement, or a negative reinforcement?” he asks, and it’s a pragmatic question rather than one of motiveless curiosity, for Caduceus can’t counteract the bad influence if he doesn’t know what Uk’otoa did. Importantly, when Caduceus learns that Fjord was in fact threatened, he chooses to respond himself with the tactic of positive encouragement, saying “I’m proud of you for maintaining your sense of self through all this,” i.e, for not falling into Uk’otoa’s influence. He follows this with “We’ll help you with that choice [how to handle Uk’otoa], no matter what it ends up being,” which does the work of allowing Caduceus to portray himself safely as benevolent and supportive parent while at the time time, in the context of the conversation, making it manifestly clear that his preferences do lie in Fjord breaking away from Uk’otoa. “I do think you’re on a path. I don’t necessarily think it’s the path of just being a servant to some creature,” he says, driving the point home with some extremely loaded language.

But to become a closer child to Melora? That idea Caduceus doesn’t have quite as much of a problem with, if Fjord’s heart is in the right place--that inescapable, inseparable parent-child bond which, while having two way communication, does not allow for the child to be anything more than an appreciative, admiring recipient of benevolence and guidance. It’s two way, he says, between him and Melora--yet he seems to confuse connection with reciprocity. “Everything we do is a declaration of our love, our admiration, or our denial of it,” he says, of the child-to parent relationship he thinks they all have to Nature. Though I’m sure it would offend Caduceus for someone to say this, in a way this is in fact a less reciprocal relationship he’s describing than the one Fjord shares with his patron. Fjord is under contract--do favors for Uk’otoa, and he will be rewarded in turn. Yet from what Caduceus has said, there is nothing we can give to Nature but thanks love and appreciation--we must always be children, with them, must unavoidably take of Nature’s gifts by the very fact of our existence.

But taking on this kind of a non-reciprocal relationship probably wouldn’t discourage Fjord--heavens knows he’s rarely interested in trying to put himself on equal ground with anyone or anything who tries to claim authority over him. He endorses Caduceus’ preferred role as a benevolent font of wisdom--in this conversation, Fjord asked questions and fished for advice, while for the most part Caduceus gave pronouncements and attempted to educate. Fjord never fights Caduceus saying he’s proud of him or treats it as odd--he’s touched and says “thank you,” every time. He obsesses over the status of his “favor” with Uk’otoa, and doesn’t consider the possibility of becoming a free agent on equal footing so much as he considers the possibility of subsuming himself to another “counteragent” to Uk’otoa. I find it interesting that of everyone in the M9, Fjord in his uncertainty and deference is probably the one, alongside Beau, who slots most neatly into Caduceus’ tendency to act the sage. Caleb is non-responsive to Caduceus’ efforts, Jester tries to flip the script and give Caduceus advice, and Nott finds Caduceus’ efforts on her behalf various levels of offensive. But Fjord? Fjord supports it. Seeks it out, even.