#metaltango analysis

[agonycrossbow]

basically, we know exactly three things about Krauser's past:

he trained Leon

he loved his men but couldn't protect them, and then couldn't even die alongside them, and he feels incredible guilt over that

Leon says that he had a code of honor that he kept to, and the game outright says that he used to be a good guy

none of that

literally NONE OF IT

even hints that Krauser was an abuser. in fact, it paints a total opposite picture.

Krauser is a dark omen of what Leon could become under the right conditions, because he was also someone who believed wholeheartedly in the institutions that were supposed to support him, in the rule of authority and law, and in the chain of command -- all things that Leon believed in in RE2.

and just like Leon in RE2, he had all of that ripped out from under him in the harshest way possible.

but unlike Leon, Krauser didn't have a Sherry Birkin to protect. he was left completely and utterly alone. abandoned. and born from that trauma was a desperation to never have that happen to him again, which is why he goes out seeking power to protect himself with.

if Leon had had everything stripped away from him the way that Krauser had, who's to say that he wouldn't have become a villain himself? he certainly had justification for it, after all that'd happened to him.

and the game harps on this a few different times. Krauser says to Leon that they're two sides of the same coin. he also has a line: "I know your every move. you learned them from me." the implication here is that Leon is still walking down that path. he's not out of those woods yet. if he doesn't save Ashley... then what?

so go back and rewind now.

rewind to Leon being fresh out of RE2 and all of the horrible shit that happened to him and being placed under command of this man who's at least ten years his senior but still believes in all of the things that betrayed Leon in Raccoon City. that was probably a pretty powerful revelation for him, and -- knowing what we know about Leon -- it was something that he would've wanted to emulate. Krauser was a strong man who took no bullshit from anyone, but he still had things that he believed in. that's exactly the kind of person that Leon would want to be.

and like. Krauser couldn't have trained Leon with the efficacy that he did if Leon didn't trust him completely. like yeah, Leon ran missions with his unit, but their trainings were one-on-one affairs. if Leon didn't trust him, he wouldn't have been able to learn shit from him. and since Leon went into this relationship not being able to trust himself, even, after RE2, to be able to trust someone else to that extent is a Big Fucking Deal, actually.

like.

Leon doesn't want to fight Krauser in RE4make. and he certainly doesn't want to kill him. even after Krauser kills Luis, Leon's still trying to talk it out with him. because he loves this man. Krauser believed in him when he didn't even believe in himself, and Krauser's teachings are what kept him going this long.

and on the flipside of things, Krauser looked at Leon and saw nigh-limitless potential stuck inside of a man who was too broken to see it. the one thing that held Leon back was his own distrust of himself, and so it became Krauser's goal to build that confidence in him back up in order to unlock that potential. and to be a part of something like that -- to have that kind of effect on another human being's life -- that's some really powerful shit, too.

but then Operation Javier happens. and Leon lives, when all of Krauser's other men die. how do you cope with something like that? unfortunately, Krauser didn't.

so metaltango is like... at least for me...

it's a mentor/student relationship that's far more personal than that. Leon looks up to Krauser, sure, and Krauser has a vested interest in helping Leon become the best version of himself that he can, but... it's more than that. both of them saw pieces of themselves in each other. both of them drew hope from one another. but then that hope in both of them died, leaving them with nowhere else to go but spiraling towards certain destruction. the story between Leon and Krauser is a tragedy, but that tragedy wasn't born from abuse. it was born from the trust and hope and love that was lost between them.

[grilde1chesse]

thinking about how krauser knows leon like nobody else & therefore hurts him like no one else can.

thinking about how in the script krauser guided leon’s hand into his chest, how he went out content and proud, rather than bitter or scared. he wanted to die by leon’s hand, encouraged it even.

thinking about how he calls leon by his name rather than boy scout or rookie, how leon’s face was the last he’d ever see, and how he was perfectly content with that. how leon called him major one last time, both showing their respect for each other that had previously been buried under their pride.

thinking about how leon can’t even look at krauser when killing him, plunging the knife into his chest with a quivering lip and eyes squeezed shut. thinking about how he looks at himself in the blade afterwards, unable to keep eye contact with his own reflection and visibly holding back tears.

“Do... what you have to do. That's right.

I trained you well... Leon”

[leon-kennedys-boytoy]

If I had a nickel for every time resident evil had a guy who

Slicked back his platinum blonde hair

Took special interest in the training of a subordinate of his

Ended up betraying said subordinate only to return to fight them later

Still talked obsessively about the person even though they were now enemies

Taunted them by basically complimenting them during the fight

Ended up taking their shirt off before the fight ended

I’d have 2 nickels. Which isn’t a lot BUT ISNT IT WEIRD THAT IT HAPPENED TWICE ??????

[leon-stupid-kennedy]

Leon truly did not care about Krauser at all originally.

I've talked about some of the differences between original and remake Operation Javier before, since then I've thought more about the ending and it's dawned on me just how little Leon cared about Krauser. (This doesn't conflict with anything in my first post, it's just an addition that didn't occur to me until more recently.) Comparing his "relationship" with Krauser to everyone else that meant something to him in DSC, it's clear that Krauser was not someone he was at all emotionally attached to. Krauser was obsessed with Leon from the start, every thought he had during that mission connected to Leon, he thought that they had some sort of weird bond and Leon was attached to him too, when that's very clearly not the case.

Looking at Memories of a Lost City… Leon quickly becomes attached to everyone. Claire's instantly his ride or die partner, he wants to help her find her brother and get out of the city. They encounter Sherry, she runs away from them. Leon is hell bent on finding and rescuing this little girl he doesn't know and saw for like 2 seconds, to the extent he kicks a damn door down when Sherry crawls through an opening too big for him to go through. (Of course Claire was also hell bent on helping Sherry too, this post is just focused on Leon.) Ada is incredibly sketchy and doesn't want Leon's help, but Leon's instantly attached and wants to follow and help her, although he does prioritize Sherry over Ada and chooses to look for Sherry instead of Ada when forced to make a decision.

And of course after making it out of Raccoon City, Leon is willing to stay behind with Sherry so that Claire is free to keep looking for her missing brother… Then ends up agreeing to be a government slave in order to keep Sherry safe. He's willing to sacrifice so much for someone he barely knows.

Moving on to Game of Oblivion, which is the strongest part of my argument and has the most direct comparisons to make to how Operation Javier ends. We learn that Leon's selflessness didn't stop at him becoming a government agent for Sherry, he also used that position to help Claire and Chris. He had never met Chris before, and yet one of his first thoughts was apparently "I now have access to resources that can help me find Chris Redfield, the missing brother of the girl I knew for a day." He is able to find Chris, only to learn he can't tell Claire because now she's missing. Naturally, he just starts trying to locate Claire next. Citing the relevant Game of Oblivion Leon narration (emphasis mine):

Once Chris disappeared from the Mansion incident he was near impossible to track down. But using my newfound position in the government, I eventually discovered his location. I would have contacted his sister, but she was a ghost herself. So I turned my search over to Claire then, and eventually learned of her confinement on Rockfort Island. I shared this information with Chris. And he asked me to arrange a rescue mission before he set off on his own to find her.

The big takeaway here is that when someone Leon cares about, either directly like Claire or even indirectly with Chris, goes missing, he does not rest. He does everything in his power to find them. (Honestly, I think he also would have put extensive effort into finding Ada again if she hadn't faked her death.)

And he did nothing when Krauser disappeared! From the cutscene The Return, the normal good ending OJ cutscene (emphasis mine):

Manuela was later taken into custody by the U.S. government. She was put under strict surveillance... But so far there have been no reports of any changes to her body. Krauser's arm never fully healed and he was forced to leave the army. Where he went, no one knows.

Why did Manuela never lose her conscience? Was it something genetic? Or was she sustained by this land that's so rich with life? The virus continues to grow. Altering its form, strengthening perpetually. until the day it can be destroyed... In our bodies... in our souls.

Krauser went missing after the mission. Just like Chris was missing, and Claire was missing. But unlike with Claire and Chris, Leon just doesn't care. At all. Doesn't care enough to try to find Krauser, despite the fact he'll chase after and track down people he barely knows. Doesn't care enough to even speculate what may have happened to Krauser. He does not care. He's far more concerned about the mysteries of Manuela's infection than he is about Krauser's fate. He knows that Manuela is alive and well, and he's still more concerned and curious about her than he is Krauser, who for all he knows could very well be dead in a ditch somewhere.

If Leon had remotely cared about Krauser, I would have expected his ending narration to have something more like "Krauser's arm never fully healed, and he was forced to leave the army. After that, he mysteriously disappeared without a trace. I used every resource at my disposal to try to find him, but came up empty handed. To this day, no one knows where he went or what happened to him." The fact he didn't say anything like that, just briefly mentioned the fact Krauser disappeared before continuing to talk about Manuela, is very telling. Operation Javier and being partnered with Leon was a pivotal moment in Krauser's life, that mission was life changing for him, he was forever changed by it. But for Leon? Operation Javier was just another mission. It wasn't special. It didn't change the trajectory of his life. Krauser wasn't special, Krauser was just another random stranger he was forced to work with for a day.

I guess I'll close this with a thought I've had regarding original vs remake OJ recently… Despite genuinely preferring the DSC RE2 retelling to RE2R and having fun with OJ, I used to think that the remake Krauser/Leon mentor/rookie-actually a strong bond that wasn't one sided thing was better than the original dynamic. Krauser was creepy and obsessed with Leon, but Leon also admired Krauser and looked up to him as his mentor. But the deeper I get into the original dynamic and analyze it, the more it grows on me… Leon actually being in a position of power over Krauser but mostly treating him like an equal, Krauser clearly thinking he's more experienced than Leon and should be in charge, the fact Krauser rearranged his entire life because of Leon and was obsessed while Leon pretty much just moved on after the mission and forgot about him, there's plenty of compelling stuff there. It's not the long-term, more two-sided mentor and student relationship the remake presents, there's not really room to insert any type of shipping, logistically speaking (at least not anything mutual– Krauser was weirdly obsessed and definitely would have been down for some sex, but 1. Leon would not be interested and 2. The fact they were only around each other for a single mission, and weren't just alone together, they had Manuela with them, they wouldn't have had an opportunity even if Leon was interested.) compared to the longer term relationship the remake presents, but that doesn't mean there's nothing there worth exploring!

[colesabi]

Ok I’m back on my obsession with these flashback scenes.

I have been staring at these scenes over and over, and forwarding and rewinding so many times but this particular scene has got me in a chokehold. This has got to be VERY early in his training because LOOK AT HOW LEON IS HOLDING THAT KNIFE!!! His grip is weak, he’s holding it upright and the wrist placement is almost limp. It’s especially in such stark contrast to Krauser’s technique.

It truly makes me wonder how many times Leon got his ass handed to him in training. Also, those are real knifes, they ain’t no training/fake knives. Leon has got to be littered in scars.

[rainierest]

I feel like to Krauser, power represents safety. He would do anything to feel safe again after operation Javier. But he doesn’t realize that he never will. He’s selfish and doesn’t care if he hurts others to get to this goal, as he is unsure how he can live in a world where there is no safety no matter how powerful you are. He thinks he is unsafe because he is weak, (inferior) and doesn’t realize safety is never guaranteed. Leon by contrast has never felt safe for a moment in his life. Krauser views Leon as naive but leon is aware the government is using him and doesn’t care about him. He is just working for them to protect Sherry and access their resources. Krauser thought being a soldier meant something, and can’t handle that it meant nothing and that his whole squad died for no reason other than the government is corrupt. He also internalizes the idea that his injury makes him worthless and weak. He is willing to do anything for a way out. Krauser thinks leon is naive and still works for government because he doesn’t realize that they won’t protect him and that he needs power to be safe: LEON KNOWS THEYLL THROW HIM OUT THE SECOND HE STOPS BEING USEFUL. But he has to do the right thing. He then doesn’t understand why krauser can’t do the right thing, he doesn’t realize that krauser is still caught up in the betrayal and trauma. Krauser thought he was a part of something important. And he was abandoned and left to die with a bunch of people he was close to and they DID DIE. And he couldn’t do anything and felt he should have been able to protect them. He thinks it was HIS FAULT. But he also knows it was the governments fault and hates them. This is not to remove the selfishness from his actions he is deeply selfish and self centered and will do anything to get ahead. This is why he seeks power instead of revenge. He just also cares very much about the people he worked with imo and is extremely mad both they and him were thrown out. Since leon works for the government he sees him as part of the problem and also sees leon as representative of his failures/what he wasn’t able to achieve. He sees leon as his replacement and unwilling to see the truth.

TLDR: to krauser power = safety and Leon is naive for not seeking power, to Leon power = corruption and safety does not exist and krauser has corrupted himself in his desire to be safe which is in itself a naive thing to want.

[sapphire-weapon]

Not that anon but I want ur metaltango explanation 👀

ok well

I'm pretty high, so gomen if this is incoherent.

basically, we know exactly three things about Krauser's past:

he trained Leon

he loved his men but couldn't protect them, and then couldn't even die alongside them, and he feels incredible guilt over that

Leon says that he had a code of honor that he kept to, and the game outright says that he used to be a good guy

none of that

literally NONE OF IT

even hints that Krauser was an abuser. in fact, it paints a total opposite picture.

Krauser is a dark omen of what Leon could become under the right conditions, because he was also someone who believed wholeheartedly in the institutions that were supposed to support him, in the rule of authority and law, and in the chain of command -- all things that Leon believed in in RE2.

and just like Leon in RE2, he had all of that ripped out from under him in the harshest way possible.

but unlike Leon, Krauser didn't have a Sherry Birkin to protect. he was left completely and utterly alone. abandoned. and born from that trauma was a desperation to never have that happen to him again, which is why he goes out seeking power to protect himself with.

if Leon had had everything stripped away from him the way that Krauser had, who's to say that he wouldn't have become a villain himself? he certainly had justification for it, after all that'd happened to him.

and the game harps on this a few different times. Krauser says to Leon that they're two sides of the same coin. he also has a line: "I know your every move. you learned them from me." the implication here is that Leon is still walking down that path. he's not out of those woods yet. if he doesn't save Ashley... then what?

so go back and rewind now.

rewind to Leon being fresh out of RE2 and all of the horrible shit that happened to him and being placed under command of this man who's at least ten years his senior but still believes in all of the things that betrayed Leon in Raccoon City. that was probably a pretty powerful revelation for him, and -- knowing what we know about Leon -- it was something that he would've wanted to emulate. Krauser was a strong man who took no bullshit from anyone, but he still had things that he believed in. that's exactly the kind of person that Leon would want to be.

and like. Krauser couldn't have trained Leon with the efficacy that he did if Leon didn't trust him completely. like yeah, Leon ran missions with his unit, but their trainings were one-on-one affairs. if Leon didn't trust him, he wouldn't have been able to learn shit from him. and since Leon went into this relationship not being able to trust himself, even, after RE2, to be able to trust someone else to that extent is a Big Fucking Deal, actually.

like.

Leon doesn't want to fight Krauser in RE4make. and he certainly doesn't want to kill him. even after Krauser kills Luis, Leon's still trying to talk it out with him. because he loves this man. Krauser believed in him when he didn't even believe in himself, and Krauser's teachings are what kept him going this long.

and on the flipside of things, Krauser looked at Leon and saw nigh-limitless potential stuck inside of a man who was too broken to see it. the one thing that held Leon back was his own distrust of himself, and so it became Krauser's goal to build that confidence in him back up in order to unlock that potential. and to be a part of something like that -- to have that kind of effect on another human being's life -- that's some really powerful shit, too.

but then Operation Javier happens. and Leon lives, when all of Krauser's other men die. how do you cope with something like that? unfortunately, Krauser didn't.

so metaltango is like... at least for me...

it's a mentor/student relationship that's far more personal than that. Leon looks up to Krauser, sure, and Krauser has a vested interest in helping Leon become the best version of himself that he can, but... it's more than that. both of them saw pieces of themselves in each other. both of them drew hope from one another. but then that hope in both of them died, leaving them with nowhere else to go but spiraling towards certain destruction. the story between Leon and Krauser is a tragedy, but that tragedy wasn't born from abuse. it was born from the trust and hope and love that was lost between them.

my brain is melting

i hope any of this is making sense

[twoturtlesinabathtub]

Howdy, beloved mutuals and future new friends. Longtime buddy of mine @crowofstarlight is organizing a Weskennedy Week event in May and June of this year, and I'd like to take this opportunity to promote the Discord server behind the event! I'm going to gush for a second, so please bear with me haha.

The server is fun and pretty chill. It's dead dove friendly—it's its own, separate section that does not bleed into non-DDDNE channels—and you need to choose specific roles to gain access to said channels.

While the server is Leon/Wesker-centric, there are channels for non-Weskennedy RE pairings, as well! I've seen people discussing and drawing/writing about Chreon, Serennedy, Chrisker, Weskrauser, Metaltango, Aeon, etc. As long as the server's focal point is Weskennedy, plenty of other pairings are open for discussion, celebration, and putting our babygirls into Situations, romantic, platonic, or otherwise.

At the end of the day, it's just what I want from a server: welcoming, relaxed, and stimulating. We're here to engage in tomfoolery and critical analysis alike.

If you're even slightly curious about it, please feel free to dm me with questions, even if we aren't mutuals/buddies (yet)! I've already made some good friends there. I know joining new servers and putting yourself out there can be intimidating, but if you're even slightly interested in checking it out, I highly recommend it. Note: You are in no way obligated to participate in fanwork events—we're here to have fun at the end of the day, not give ourselves unnecessary stress.

Seeya over there 🖤💙

[theggning]

Okay I've had a deep analysis/examination of RE4R Krauser and his boss fight and motivations stuck in my craw for months now. If I write up a meta post on it would people actually be interested and read it y/n (I'm not saying it's gonna be supporting metaltango but I'm also gonna say I have no better explanation for certain...... things)

[stridingseer]

Does anyone have a video of the chinese dub for Krauser’s fights (looking for both because I wish to analyze them and study the changes like a bug) Wanna do an English vs Chinese comparison

[agonycrossbow]

Hello

So i have a rather specific question. Seeing as you multi ship, i wanted to ask how do you personally do it? I ask because i feel like there's this sort of invalidation when it comes to shipping one character with more than one person you see they'd have a significant and intimate relationship.

For example i ship Leon with Ashley because of how i experienced the game and connected with them, but also because your analysis here about them provided some great insights and a very interesting perspective that i hadn't thought about before. The thing is though, i also wanna ship Leon with other characters but i always feel like I'd be missing something or doing something wrong because it's like there's some sort of insecurity that lies and i hate it. Bad.

So how do you do it? Mind sharing some advice because I'd really appreciate it. Again, sorry because the question is really specific 🙏

I imagine Leon's affection less like a pie chart and more like a timeline.

And then, over in the OG timeline, you've also got:

LMAO

So, if, for you, it's like, "It makes me feel like I'm making him unfaithful" -- well, no, actually, because these are all happening at different times. Luis overlaps with Ashley, but the whole point of that relationship is that Luis has to die for it to become significant in the first place. And Jill overlaps with Chris in OG, but OG Leon is also kind of a whore, so like ??? LMAO

Like, when I'm thinking of metaltango, it doesn't conflict with my eagleone thoughts because... Leon and Ashley haven't met yet. She's not part of the equation. I'm not looking at that period of Leon's life. And even when I'm looking at Leon and Krauser's interactions during RE4make, I know that the love is already lost. metaltango is, at its core, a story about things having fallen apart.

Like shipping both cleon and chreon probably seems weird because Leon's just going down the family tree, but -- at the time that I ship him with Claire, he doesn't even know Chris yet. Never met the man, never had a conversation. And by the time Chris does come into Leon's life as having been significant, Claire has really faded into the background.

All of these relationships make Leon who he is. There is no good faith argument that you can make to say that Ashley is more significant to Leon than Chris, or that Chris is more significant to Leon than Krauser. He needs all three of them. He just needs them at different points of his life for different reasons.

Ashley is a canonical romance. However comma, she is not more important than Krauser, who picked Leon up from his absolute lowest point and supported him for years when he had no one else and didn't even believe in himself. On the flipside, he's also not more important than her, who actually healed all of those wounds that Krauser only just kept closed and prevented from bleeding out. And neither of them are more important than Chris, who has to pick up the pieces when both Krauser and Ashley are gone.

And that's what's really at the heart of multishipping. It's not about the ships, per se -- it's about the character. I focus on Leon as a character, and I see the people and events that are significant to his growth -- and because I can see that, I can very easily see how he could get romantic and/or sexual feels for any one of these characters.

[sapphire-weapon]

Resident Evil meta analysis master post

This is a comprehensive list of what I consider to be my most important meta analysis posts -- but they're not my only posts about it. Check out my #meta analysis tag for more.

General Meta:

Resident Evil 4 Remake's story is structured like the plot of a romance novel

One of RE4make's major themes is "the power/meaning of being part of a team (or not)"

Why playing the games is vital to writing meta analysis

Character Meta:

Leon:

Leon was never in STRATCOM

Leon's wiki page is filled with lies and bullshit

The premise behind fandom's understanding of Leon's character is flawed and absurd

Map of Leon's double-negative change arc in RE2make followed by his positive change arc in RE4make

Leon is "The Protector" archetype

RE4 Leon is still mentally/emotionally 21

OG Leon is a whore who's lonely and fucking hates himself

"This time, it has to be different..." is in reference to Leon's faith in humanity (and also himself)

Ada:

Map of Ada's positive change arc in RE4make

The purpose of having Ada witness the "For Luis" scene

Remake Ada is as selfish character

Ada gets rejected by both Wesker and Leon in Remake

Ashley:

Map of Ashley's positive change arc in RE4make

Ship Meta:

Aeon (Ada/Leon):

The Aeon-hater's guide to understanding OG Aeon

Unpacking the tram scene in RE2make

Separate Ways killed Aeon in the Remake timeline (and here's how)

EagleOne (Ashley/Leon):

Breaking down the Dining Hall conversation (eagleone is canon)

Allegorically romantic moments between Leon and Ashley: • The pep talk scene • The balcony scene • The suppressant scene

Chreon (Chris/Leon):

No one loves Leon Kennedy as much as Chris Redfield does

MetalTango (Krauser/Leon):

Remake Krauser was not an abuser and Leon loved him

Weskada (Wesker/Ada):

A case for OG-verse Weskada

[sapphire-weapon]

BROOO!!!

I love your analysis so much it’s so detailed and I love reading it because it makes e happy to see other people who looked at the small things in the game lol

You’re totally right on Ada being selfish I love her but she uses Leon much that’s it’s hard to call them a romance where you know both parties don’t really benefit it from it (emotional wise) and the boat scene even shows that while Ada holds affection towards Leon it’s nothing more than sexual and physical attraction (on both parties but I wanna lean toward Ada a little more Leon was down bad) they never knew each other

I would love to hear your thoughts on Krauser and Leon relationship I seen a lot on here about it but in my personal opinion they at least did something once

Thank u friendo<3

And it's hard to call them a romance because Leon and Ada are not a romance in the remake-verse. They're just straight up not. Leon was never down bad; he was just a virgin in RE2make who didn't know how to handle a hot, older, more experienced lady giving him attention. When he tells her he never trusted her, he meant it.

I should really do an analysis of the tram scene in RE2make, because there's so much going on there on so many different levels. But the most important thing that happens in it is Ada asks Leon if he trusts her, and he never, ever answers her. He deflects her question with one of his own, and then he never goes back to it.

Ada is thirsty as fuck for Leon in RE4make. He would've laid back and let her have at it in RE2make, but she didn't want him carnally back then. But he has no interest anymore in RE4make, so now she's out of luck.

Anyone who tries to tell you differently is having their perception clouded from OG.

Anyway.

I could give my metaltango thoughts, but @theggning is the resident metaltango expert. She and I hold pretty much the same opinions on it, but she'll be way more in-depth and articulate about it. If you mosey on over to her ask box, I'm sure she'd be happy to regale u for hours.

[agonycrossbow]

Tags Directory

For anything you might want to find.

Resident Evil

General

#OG RE analysis 

#RE canon reference

#RE development history

#RE shitposts 

#remake RE analysis

#resident evil fandom commentary

#resident evil headcanons 

#resident evil meta  

Characters

#ada characterization

#ashley characterization

#chris headcanons

#leon characterization

#leon headcanons

#leon's hair is fucking brown

Ships

#aeon analysis

#chreon analysis

#cleon headcanons 

#eagleone analysis

#eagleone headcanons

#metaltango analysis

#serrennedy analysis  

#weskada analysis

Screencaps/Fanart/Gifsets

#chreon fanart

#cleon fanart 

#cleon photosets  

#eagleone fanart

#eagleone photosets  

#fairytale mod

#RE art

#RE gifs 

Writing

#character arcs

#story themes

#writing reference