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grandistragedia · 2 months ago

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Ok so I DO know about traditional Isekai harems so I can explain a bit about how they subvert the usual tropes here, which I would like to clarify Re: zero is both a lot more and a lot less cliche than people give it credit for so a lot of the tropes are played straight just as much as they are subverted, generally speaking it's more of a balance of deconstructing and playing it straight

basically:

EMILIA is basically a mish-mash of generic light novel fantasy main heroine tropes: she is a kind, naive and happy Half-Elf wizard "princess" whom is the first person the main hero meets in his adventure, being an elf wizard is INCREDIBLY important here because in every other fantasy work being a female elf wizard pretty much permanently boxes you into the role of "love interest for the male hero" unless the princess takes that role (and she ALSO has the princess role so she's EXTRA "generic love interest), and I wanna say what I consider to be her MAIN deviation from the role: she isn't Subaru's Love interest, Subaru is HER Love interest.

to put it simply she's not the princess whose love Subaru will earn after rescuing her from the Dark lord after overcoming a thousand hardships, She's not the mage that will support the heroic Subaru in his battle against Evil who develops feelings for him along the way: She's the Hero, she's the Noble, Wise Ruler who plans to end the discrimination rampant in the kingdom, she wants to uncover the secrets of ehr past, she wants to prove herself to be her own individual and not just Satella 2.0, she's Aragorn, she's Luke, She's the Hero

She's not here to fawn over Subaru and tell him how cool he is while she supports her, Subaru is here to do that for her, HE'S the support, she earned his love after with her kindness after saving him, she's the one that battles evil while Subaru supports her while openly (and loudly) being in love with her while she's on the side half ignoring his feelings half sorta-reciprocating them (she basically treats him the way male heroes tend to treat their love interests)

this is more apparent when you realize that Emilia only starts to actually like him back when he stops trying to impress her and starts trying to actually support her, support her emotionally, support her in her goals, support her as a strategist, not just trying to be cool but being on her side, believing in her, the real her with her flaws and her virtues

this subversion is so important to re: zero that when Emi starts to act like a typical love interest it's a red flag (ie: the route were she goes insane, greed if)

even when they finally do become Lady and Knight their relationships is on completely equal terms, they fawn over how cool the other is, the try their best to help each other and be on each other's side, they're in love and it's cute

TL,DR Emilia is a subversion of main Heroines in the sense that she's actually the Hero and Subaru is her Heroine

REM

now I'm gonna be a bit brief here Rem is the PHYSYCAL EMBODIMENT of a trope called "Makeine" (Makeru=losing,Heroine) she's a the Betty to Emilia's Veronica, the black, brown or blue haried "more accesible" love interest that is DESTINED to lose to the blonde, white, sometimes red haired heroine that is more "difficult to earn" (the hair color is VERY important here), she's the childhood friend in a harem anime that loves the MC from the start and is always super nice to him and the audience REALLY roots for her so she get's really popular and then she loses so the audiences proceed to make a riot and get mad because she deserved better so the autor makes a spin off where she wins

it speaks to how trope-y Rem is that she plays this SO STRAIGHT that I can't even tell if Tappei did it on purpose to mess with us or if she just turned out like that due to fate, but to be blunt it doesn't really matter since this isn't the trope she subverts:

Rem is the embodiment of every single anime "my waifu" trope that weebs love, until she isn't.

but then she IS those tropes again, except NOT.

she's a cute, kuudere maid that is friendly to the mc alongside her flirty sister, until she kills him

SEVERAL TIMES

but then after some development of their relationship, she starts to fall in love with him very quick, she starts to admire him, to like him (all of him, flaws and all) to sacrifice herself for him, she starts to become.....his waifu.

an actual waifu, not a "real girl" like Emilia, she embodies ALL the fantasies about romance that Subaru wants to have, she's the cute fantasy monster girl that loves and supports him unconditionally, who understands him and is willing to do anything for him even while knowing all his bad qualities (her being an oni is also not a coincidence, Lum Invader from Urusei yatsura basically codified all the waifu tropes Rem embodies) every boundary that he can't cross with Emilia is a boundary that Rem wants him to cross, she idealizes him just as much as he idealizes Emilia, that whole speech Emilia gave Subaru about how he doesn't love her but the version of her inside her head could have never come from Rem's mouth, instead she gives him a speech about how much she loves the version of him inside of her head and tries to motivate him to act like the hero she thinks he is (a speech that helped at the moment but did more damage in the long run) all the things Emilia can't give him are constantly being given to him by Rem

Rem is too good to be true, a dream come to life, she's so perfect it's unhealthy, this is why it's inevitable that she ends up removed from the story.

Subaru cannot mature into the person the Emilia camp needs as long as she's around, she makes things too easy for him, her love is a crutch that must be taken away from him before he grows to dependent on it, and with her coma Rem goes from one cliche to another, she become Subaru's "Lost Lenore" she goes from the "Lum" to Subaru's "Ataru" to the "Eurydice" to his "Orpheus"

(btw Rem getting fridged for Subaru's development is the most painfully heterosexual thing in Re: zero)

And even when she "might as well be dead" Subaru continues to depend on Rem, it actually might have made it worse because now that the real Rem is gone he only has the Rem inside his memories, the version of her inside his head becomes more separate from her actual self and slowly becomes more of an abstract ideal that serves to motivate him

(SPOILERS START HERE)

and then her amnesiac self shatters that ideal violently (i haven't read the vollachia arc so I can't elaborate about this that much yet) but it basically serves as the final nail in the coffin for the old Rem and the final confirmation that Rem was too perfect to be healthy

(SPOILERS END HERE)

btw Rem IF actually contributes to the deconstruction, in order for this universe to exist two things must happen, Subaru has to be a coward and Rem has to be Selfish, by doing this they both relinquish the idealized virtues that they had in the other's head, Subaru stops being "Rem's hero" and Rem stops being "'Subaru's perfect waifu", Subaru becomes a deserter and Rem becomes just a selfish girl in love, they can now permanently indulge in their joyous "sloth" and stop trying to grow as people, at the cost of living with regret for the rest of their lives

tldr Rem subverts every Waifu trope by playing them completely straight, it's more the story itself that deconstructs her by showing her as unhealthy

CRUSCH

I'll be brief, Crusch subverts the harem tropes by not being one of Subaru's love interests.......that's it

Ok I'll be less brief, in a more cliche story she would be the third member of his harem and be the one that officially upgrades it from "love triangle" to a proper harem (her personality even fits as she foils both Rem and Emilia and fits the "lady of war" cliche) but because this is Re: zero Crusch decides that even if she could have fallen for Subaru that ship simply won't sail because she's too busy and he likes someone else, so she just doesn't become one of his Love interests (even post amnesia)

Yes I'm including Priscilla, not because I think she's seriously part of his harem but because she deconstructs some Harem cliches

Prisicilla deconstructs the "Arrogant Tsundere Oujosama" by playing it so utterly straight it loops back around to being original

She's not putting on an act, she doesn't have a nicer, softer side that the protagonist will slowly uncover as she falls in love with him (well, she does have a kinder side but she doesn't fall in love with Subaru, also bluntly speaking even her nicer side is not that nice), she's not secretly lonely or secretly unhappy, she is a Rich Bitch through and through

there is no "tsundere" about her, when she says "I hate you, you're a loser who's beneath me" she means it

even as she starts to legitimately like Subaru she still makes it utterly clear she views him as beneath her

tldr she deconstructs the Oujosama cliche by not subverting your expectations and legitimately being the spoiled, elitist snob she initially seemed to be.

I am being completely serious Reinhard is part the conversation

Reinhard subvert harem tropes by......well tbh just by existing at all

In a another story Reinhard would simply be the body Subaru is reincarnated in, not a character but simply a vessel for Subaru to live out his fantasies, here him and Subaru get to coexist and that makes their dynamic more interesting

Willhelm wishing Subaru was his grandkid is not a coincidence, by all the rules of Light Novels Subaru should be Reinhard

Without each other they are incomplete, without having Subaru's huge personality to fill him Reinhard is almost robotic, with zero ambitions and no drive to do anything beyond his duty, barely even a person, and without Reinhard's perfect body to be his vessel Subaru can't be the hero he wants to be, they need each other, they yearn to be each other, they aren't even soul mates they're just the two halves of a person who never existed

Instead they're sorta "stuck" as different people, but it also allows them to fall in love with befriend each other, Reinhard can be the pillar of strength that the insecure, weak Subaru needs and Subaru can be the pillar of mental strength that the lonely Reinhard needs

The above statement about how Emilia is the hero and Subaru the heroine applies also to him and Reinhard (which makes sense as Rein and Emi have a lot of parallels) but he also fits a different more modern love interest cliche, Reinhard is a Calamity Princess

these girls basically

the calamity princess is basically the (comparatively) modern counterpart to the generic light novel heroine thar Emilia represents , basically they were born from Highschool DxD's Rias Gremory and they were a sort of attempt at revitalizing Light novel Heroines

they are very specific to the 2010s era of light novels (and because of this they feel super dated now), they tried to make the MC's a bit less Gary stu by giving them some conflict about how uncontrollable their powers were or making them initially weak and then becoming stronger (very quickly), academic settings were mandatory, and most importantly they tried to give their main heroines more "personality"

rather than being perpetual damsels in distress or whiny sidekicks, the Calamity princess is actually supposed to be the MC's superior (or at least start as their superior), they are some one the MC is meant to strive for, to impress, to eventually Surpass, and they are defined by 5 characteristics

1)Superiority: as previously mentioned the Princess is meant to start of as someone above the MC whom he must eventually surpass, usually she's his boss, a more experienced colleague or sometimes a sort of rival before joining his side. She can't just be superior to the mc however, she must be viewed as a Superior by the world as a whole (justifying her an an objective to surpass)

2)ambition: the calamity princess has something to prove, a duty to uphold, usually in spite of her superiority she is also ostracized in some form by society at large (her heritage, a condition of her birth, inability to control her power) because of this she then sets herself a goal to prove the world wrong about her and become an important person at "insert thing here" or to defend the honor of "insert noble house here"

3) being royalty, or at least rich: this is just connected to her superiority

4) as mentioned before she is ostracized: in spite of her superiority she tends to be disliked by her fellow nobles or by the world at large due to "x reason"

5) a connection to the protagonists call to adventure: usually the calamity princess is directly involved in empowering/enabling the protagonists, she is sometimes a mentor or a rival

pretty much the only characteristic Reinhard doesn't have is not being a woman and not being the main love interest, and now you might be thinking "Isn't Emilia also a calamity princess?" and you'd be right except for the fact that the calamity princess's agency ultimately depends entirely on the protagonist (basically she's not the hero of her own story but an asset to the MC's story) and her superiority exists to make the MC look cooler when he wins her over, which is simply not true of Emilia.....but it IS true of Reinhard.

Reihard is the unachievable, perfect, redheaded superior to Subaru who makes his journey possible when he saves him, he is ostracized by everyone so the fact that Subaru is still nice to him makes him grow fond of him, Subaru constantly tries to be an equal to Reinhard

hell ayamatsu if is all about how Subaru feels inferior to Reinhard and is essentially a massive attempt at beating him at something

this being side I don't think Reinhard was made with this trope in mind, mainly because there's another Character that fits the trope better:

Theresia Van Astrea (specifically in her relationship to Willhelm) is obviously a riff on the concept, she pretty much fits almost all of the characteristics of the Calamity princess and she's even an actual redhead, she is the Superior that Willhelm constantly strived to equal all his live, she's the girl she loves, the girl he's willing to change himself for and the unobtainable shining idol who casts a shadow over her familiy, the reason why Reinhard resembles the Calamity princess is because him and Theresia have heavy parallels to each other so her archetype ends up bleeding into him a bit

it's also with her that we see the actual deconstruction of the archetype: Willhelm never manages to "earn" her, or he never feels like he does

Wilhelm is defined by his parallelisms with Subaru, he is also a "protagonist" of his own story and to be specific he actually represents the specific brand of Light Novel MC that existed alongside the Calamity princess back in the 2010s, he's not instantly good at everything and must submit himself to intense training to improve himself, he is hated by others because of his weakness and must search any opportunity to prove himself. they were sort of a mix between the usual light novel mc and shonen manga mc, they had the underdog aspect of the latter with the more quiet, self-deprecating nature of the later

so similarily his relationship with Theresia is pretty much a very classic "underdog light novel hero x calamity princess" with the caveat being that he never overcame any of his insecurities at his weakness, Theresia remained an unachievable image of perfection even when she always treated him as an equal, he neved stopped idealizing Theresia so when he loses her the self-hatred that had defined him for so long blows up, he takes it out on Heinkel, on Reinhard on all the people that remined him of her, and thereby reminded him of his failures

Subaru is the exception as he is actually a chance for Willhelm to fix his mistakes, with Subaru's help Willhelm manages to avenge his wife, with Willhelm's help Subaru's relationship with Emilia is mended and he can now start to properly court the real her, not the idealized version in his head (Which is important since Willhelm never got over the idealzied image of Theresia he had) and just as importantly Subaru's relationship with Reinhard is never plagued by the insecurities Will and Theresia's relationship was

Subaru manages to understand what the invincible hero actually needs: for someone to treat him like a human, not as an image of perfection, not as an ideal to strive for but as an 19 year old guy who can't and should not be expected to solve all the problems in the world by himself, he recognizes that his boyfriend, other half, soulmate friend has weaknesses, that he needs help covering those weaknesses, and most importantly, that it is perfectly possible for Subaru to help him cover those weaknesses (yadah, yadah, Subaru humanizes Reinhard, while Reinhard herofies Subaru, yadah yadah they make the perfect team yadah yadah, two halves of the same hero, yadah yadah THEY SHOULD KISS)

tldr.....Subaru and Reinhard are really fucking gay

ok this came out a lot less coherent than I wanted but I'm moving on to the last member

THIS HANDSOME FUCKER

Julius doesn't really subvert any "harem tropes" per se (I'm not familiar with BL harem's unfortunatelty), he's a subversion of the rival trope in the sense that his rivalry with Subaru only exists in Subaru's head

Like Julius does not reciprocate Subaru's animosity at all, he actually is kinda fond of the little bastard even though they started off in the wrong foot, like post white whale he's very clearly just fucking with him when he teases him

he spends more time saving him than indulging in any "rivalry", and by act 4 he's openly enjoying Subaru's company ("from the bottom of muy heart, your recklessness truly shocks me sometimes" *proceeds to shoot a literal rainbow laser powered by fairies*)

(SPOILERS)

any remnants of his rival status is further obliterated by the pleiades watch tower arc, they aren't even ribbing each other anymore it's just "OH THANK GOD MY BEST FRIEND STILL REMEMBERS ME, MY LIFE HASN'T ENDED"

(END OF SPOILERS)

also a lot of readers have read the constant flowery descriptions of Julius's handsomeness by Subaru as him having a crush on him but being in denial (which, fair)

on the other end Julius's constantly expressed desire to befriend Subaru and his obvious soft spot for him could be read as him liking Subaru, also his constant teasing could be read as flirting

fact remains that if Tappei were to decide that Julius likes Subaru or that Subaru has a crush on Julius and proceeded to change absolutely nothing about their relationship......it would work

tldr: Julius defies harem tropes by being a man and he defies Rival tropes by not being Subaru's rival at all and actually kinda just being a guy that's bad at flirting (or arguably he's good at it but Subaru's just dense)

this was way to damn long and took too much of my time to write but I hope whoever reads this can enjoy it

Most realistic part of re:zero is when Subaru makes jokes about his trauma that no one else can understand but he knows it’s funny

#re: zero spoilers #re:zero #tropes #characterization #character tropes #reinhard van astrea #emilia re:zero #Rem #julius juukulius #emisuba #remsuba #reinsuba #julisuba

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gourmetofglut · 1 year ago

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The Mischaracterization of Ferris: A thread analyzing Re: Zero's most misinterpreted and overlooked character.

Note: This is a re-edit of a thread I wrote on Twitter. I recently decided to start using Tumblr a bit more. Since I've also been wanting to back up most of my threads, I figured I might as well move everything here. This is the first re-edit I'll be posting on this site. It was one of my favorites to write, so I hope it's enjoyable!

Side story spoilers for the entire thread. Arc 8 spoilers in the speculation section (will be marked since so many people aren't caught up).

For novel readers of Re: Zero, Ferris stands as one of the most divisive characters in the fandom. Considering his poor utilization in the anime and his role in the story within Arc 3, it's easy to see why.

On one hand, Ferris is one of the most outwardly aggressive characters toward Subaru in Arc 3. He makes no secret of his disdain from the start and consistently throws jabs at him every opportunity he gets. This behavior can certainly leave a negative first impression.

On the other hand, Ferris is quite a fascinating character who serves an important role within the narrative of Arc 3. He doesn't let Subaru off as easy as everyone else, which is exactly what makes seeing him grow respect for Subaru satisfying.

Whichever opinion you hold, that’s mostly irrelevant today. Instead, I will be simply discussing his character and his role in the story, as well as arguing in favor of many of his merits that people overlook.

Ferris's primary role is similar to all the Royals Candidates' knights: serving as a foil for Subaru. I've explained the similarities between Subaru and the other knights before, but to sum it up as quickly as possible all 3 of them represent a version of what Subaru could be.

Reinhard is a version of what Subaru could've been if he were the typical isekai protagonist, Julius is a lot more complicated but he’s essentially what Subaru could've been if he were granted enough power to face his enemies on even ground, and Al is Subaru if he had been just a bit unlucky in where he had been sent; becoming someone who struggles to care and abuses his powers to the fullest.

Ferris is much the same, though it can be argued he parallels Subaru the hardest, except for maybe Al. The resemblance on paper between the two is uncanny. They are both physically weak men who often don't fit traditional gender roles and have the sole desire of helping a woman they love to achieve her dreams of becoming a Royal Candidate, no matter the personal costs to themselves.

To do this, they use an extraordinary power unique to them (in Subaru's case RB, and in Ferris' case his magic that is relative in power to an authority). Their need to rely on others for victory is a source of immense mental turmoil and often leaves them full of self-loathing.

They place immense value in the lives of others, even those who have or will harm them, to the point that they are willing to be harmed to help them. Seeing others casually disregard the lives of others serves as one of the things that anger them the most.

They are both prone to obsessively possessive behavior and have sometimes even directed it towards the one they love. This often leads to them getting in trouble due to their jealousy.

There are more similarities I could point out, but you get the point.

Where am I going with this though? Ferris is clearly a parallel to Subaru, but what does he represent regarding him? Put simply, I believe Ferris is meant to represent what Subaru could've been if his parents were just a bit different.

Parent and Child is one of the most crucial chapters for informing us about just the kind of person Subaru is. Perhaps the most important piece is how it helps us understand just how much of his current personality is a result of his father. Subaru not only looked up to him but actively mimicked him to achieve his goals. The pressure of the surrounding world caused him to default to trying to be his father instead of who he truly was. Subaru's parents weren't perfect. In fact, they were very flawed people. Regardless of this fact though, they are responsible for many of Subaru's positive traits.

The same is true for Ferris and his shitbag of a father. If you were to ask any novel reader what Ferris' defining trait as a character is, they would probably say anger or bitterness.

This isn't surprising, as that's how he typically acts towards everyone except Crusch and Fourier, even when it comes to friends such as Julius.

I would argue, however, that this is merely an act he defaults to when he is stressed or angry, similar to Subaru's mimicry of his own father.

During his bitter moments, such as his cold statement to Subaru as he leaves Crusch's mansion in Arc 4, Ferris is merely defaulting to what he has learned to be the best method of dealing with his stress...a method that is eerily similar to how Biehn sometimes acts in EX 1.

Whether Ferris acknowledges it or not, his attitude at his worst moments makes him come off like his father. He can be cruel, sometimes even callous. He shows intense rage when he doesn't get his way and attacks the part of his opponent that is most vulnerable.

This attitude can blind him to the point that he can even hypocritically act racist towards Emilia. Ferris' entire life has been defined by discrimination. In the face of someone he should know has faced many of the same issues, he once again acts almost exactly like his own father.

It was in the middle of a mental breakdown, but that does not excuse him just like it does not excuse Subaru.

Speaking of his parents, it's also notable how their inability to connect with Ferris parallels Naoko and Kenichi's struggles with Subaru.

Ferris' dad is a bombastic, loud man who was (once) well-respected and causes many of Ferris's issues through his actions and Ferris' emulation of him. His fatal flaw in the end was that he could not understand Ferris, similar to how Kenichi could not fully understand Subaru.

Ferris' mom, on the other hand, fully understood the distress he was under but did not have the confidence to interfere or make a change as Ferris wasted away, similar to Naoko's inability to help Subaru when he most needed it.

That's not to say Kenichi or Naoko are even a thousandth as bad as either of those two, but their struggles with their child deeply parallel each other.

Back on track though, I want to highlight a bit more of Ferris' parallels with his father using perhaps the most damning example.

This specific scene is from "The Saga of the Great Crusch-sama Begins." When faced with his mother, whom he hates so much, he attempts to stab her in the chest. Crusch gets caught in the crossfire causing Felix to freak out and unlock his water magic to save her.

What can at first be written off as just a unique origin for Ferris' water magic gets recontextualized hard in EX 1, where it's revealed his father killed his mother in the exact same method.

It's such an eerie similarity and something that I feel gets overlooked too often when discussing Ferris.

As shown in scenes like the one above, Ferris often projects this image of hatred, bitterness, and malice. It's easy to write that off as just the kind of person he is as so many often do...

...but there's obviously more to it than this. There is far more to Ferris than his mimicry of his father.

Ferris doesn't allow himself to be vulnerable very often in the story. Only when he is with Fourier and Crusch, as well as when he is in the most intense moments of crisis, does he show who he actually is. Stress is the best test of character after all.

The best example to me? His confrontation with the father he so often emulates.

If Ferris was actually as vindictive as he so often outwardly acts, how would you expect him to react to the death of a man he hated so much?

Wouldn't he taunt him? Wouldn't he make his last moments a living hell? Wouldn't he crow in pleasure at his agony? Would you be able to even blame Ferris if he made Biehn's last moments hell?

You would expect that...but that's not how he reacts. At that moment, watching as the man who tortured him so much dies an awful death, he just shows sadness. He thinks about the possibility that they could've just worked things out. He just wishes that things could be different.

Despite everything his father had done to him, despite all the rage at the world Ferris projects, the moment he is put into a scenario he likely dreamed of he can't help but feel pity that this was the only route he could take. He never wanted to hurt even Biehn of all people.

And this, I believe, is Ferris's actual defining trait underneath his persona of cynicism and bitterness: kindness and a greater love for life than perhaps anyone else in the series.

Ferris's power, as Fourier once said, is the kindest in the world. At his core, Ferris is just as kind as his power.

Think about it. Despite Ferris's words, what is the thing that upsets him most?

People who waste their lives. Whether it be Subaru, Fourier, a random Vollachian guard, or even Witch Cultists...Ferris can't bring himself to watch life be thrown away. It just hurts him, regardless of how horrible the person is.

Just like Subaru, Ferris wants to help everyone, even if it costs him so much. The pain that he feels when he is unable to do so is immeasurable, as Subaru himself states in Volume 8. He is struggling with the same realization as Subaru: saving some people is impossible.

So where will this lead? What does this have to do with the themes of the story? Well, to answer that, I’ll have to take a little diversion to talk about one of the more…difficult topics involving Ferris.

Ferris and his relationship with gender is something that I feel a lot of the fanbase is really fucking weird about. Even ignoring the pretty deep-rooted transphobia in a lot of discussions involving him (he isn't trans, but he is heavily trans-coded and there really shouldn't be so much of an issue in letting people read into that), there's a feverish desire to deny that his status as a person not conforming to gender norms matters at all. All too often, people reduce it to just a fetish or something to make jokes about.

The reason this is such a bafflingly stupid take though is because of how blatant the importance is to anyone who has read EX 1. Even Tappei himself has stated that many of the things he wants to do with Ferris could not be done without this aspect of his character.

Ferris's non-conformance is part of a promise made with Crusch. Ferris took on her femininity while Crusch took on his masculinity. It's a promise between the two that proves their devotion to one another. It's the ultimate symbol of their affection for one another.

In Aganau IF Ferris dresses and acts more masculine, precisely because his connection to Crusch no longer exists.

I'd also argue it's why he continues to dress as he does even when Crusch no longer has her memories, desperately holding onto the literal symbol of the bond between them.

However, unlike Crusch who seems to love who she is both when taking on more masculine and feminine traits, finding a balance between them; Ferris can't do the same. He sees it merely as a means to show his devotion rather than something he does for himself.

He constantly expresses that it is all for Crusch and Crusch alone. If anything he seems to resent his inability to fulfill any kind of masculine role, as shown once again in his conversation with Biehn in EX 1.

When pushed to finally unleash all his true feelings to Biehn, what does he bring up as the main reason for his resentment? His abuse? His coldness? His murder of his mother? Any of the innumerable unforgivable things Biehn has done to him?

No. Ferris points at his body. He anguishes over his skinny arms, his inability to wield a sword, his lack of muscle, and his lack of fighting prowess. He hates his lack of masculine features and how he's unable to live up to his idea of what Crusch's knight should be.

He literally sees his masculinity as something stolen from him by his father; leaving him so empty that he needed something else to fill that void.

Crusch gave him something to fill that void. Crusch gave him a way to live. Crusch filled his soul...but he still resents what he "has" to be.

Now does that mean he resents Crusch? No, of course not. But he does resent that this is the only thing he can do for her; the only person he can be. Deep down, he doesn't seem to want to be the way he is, and instead of trying to change that he gives in to despair.

He's stuck in that hatred, in that desire to meet Crusch's expectations, and in that moment where a starving child begged to be released and was finally brought into the light. In many ways, he acts like a child.

This is quite literally represented in him preventing himself from going through puberty; a symbol in many stories of transitioning from childhood to adulthood. He sees his current form as a shackle whether he realizes it or not.

Now does that mean that Ferris should disregard his femininity entirely? Throwing away the representation of his love for Crusch and something that has defined him for so long seems as self-destructive as staying stuck. What's the solution? Where is his arc going?

Well, before that, I want to cover one last thing before I have to delve into Arc 8 spoilers. There's a bit of a side tangent I want to go on.

With everything I've been able to point out up to here, it's clear that Ferris is a remarkably complex character. There's so much to read into and talk about.

So why is he so hated?

He's so similar to Subaru, possibly the most popular character in the novel fandom. Despite all the claims of him being the worst and me highlighting his character's flaws, he hasn't done anything more morally dubious than the vast majority of characters in this series, even when he was pushed to the edge. This is especially true when compared to some of the most popular characters like Subaru or Roswaal. Hell, characters even more directly belligerent than Ferris like Priscilla don't get half the hate (though Priscilla's perception has...its own issues).

Why does he get disregarded so often? Why is he often treated as shallow fetish fuel? Why is he just reduced to being an asshole in every discussion that involves him?

Well, I have a few I can point out.

The first is, most obviously, misinformation. A large portion of the novel reader base has not read Arcs 1-4 in the LN and has very warped views of some of the characters in that section of the story. Ferris is just the most blatant example.

I can't count the number of times I've heard people just blatantly lie about or exaggerate what Ferris did in Arc 3. From the "mana bomb" that has LITERALLY no basis in the text to the "brainwashing" scene treated as a comedy bit that is exaggerated to hell, people go out of their way to interpret him in the worst light possible.

Many of the people who haven't read those sections then see Ferris's ribbing of Subaru in Arc 5 and then run with those pieces of misinformation; spreading it to the point that many believe some blatant lies to be fact.

The second is simply that a lot of people in the fandom don't read the side stories. I don't particularly blame a lot of these people, as there is a lot to get through, but there are a lot of people who take advantage of this for...certain reasons.

This leads to the third point...shipping. Ferris suffers from "Die for our ship" syndrome (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DieForOurShip…). A lot of people like Crusch x Subaru and Crusch loves Ferris so that ends up being more than enough for some people to hate him.

That's not representative of even close to every Crusch x Subaru shipper, of course, it's just a notable trend that it's hard to pretend doesn't exist with some of them.

All of these factors often go hand-in-hand with the final factor: the fandom's immense double standards when it comes to certain characters.

I'm not going to go into deep detail with this as it would distract from the main point of the thread...but you know what I mean if you've interacted with the community for a significant period of time. It also doesn't help that many of the same people in this category tend to be incredibly bigoted.

Ferris isn't the only character subjected to these double standards, as characters like Emilia and Ram often face similar purposeful misinterpretations, but his frequently unfair critiques have affected his reputation negatively perhaps more than any other.

This isn't to say that this is all true for everyone who hates Ferris. There are numerous reasons you may just not be interested in his character.

However, I feel it's dishonest to pretend Ferris isn't often targeted far more than other characters for often lacking reasons.

With that out of the way, I can move on to the last thing I wanted to cover in this thread. I have established a lot here, so I want to speculate about the future.

From this point forward there are unmarked Arc 8 spoilers, so...you can't argue I wasn't careful. I don't blame you at all for leaving now and I thank you for reading my ramblings.

Are you still here? Ok, let's start.

With all of the above established, I want to return to the question of where Ferris' arc will go in the future. My belief? I think it will be something similar to what Pre-Amnesia Crusch has already realized, with Felix’s closest parallel in Subaru being close to doing the same.

Crusch, as I mentioned before, has found balance in the two aspects of her life. Throughout the story, she switches seamlessly between the two without a second thought. She is comfortable and happy with both parts of herself.

Subaru is also on a similar path. He feels most comfortable in embracing his feminine side, idealizing it through Natsumi. All his confidence is channeled into that persona, while the other two aspects of his personality (his main self who has all the self-worth of an abandoned puppy and his child self who is representative of his more masculine traits) are imbalanced.

Arc 8 seems to be going in a direction where he realizes how important all of these aspects of him are. All 3 have flaws. None of them are "complete," just pieces of the coherent whole that is Natsuki Subaru.

I believe a similar thing will happen with Ferris.

He will need to find a balance between Ferris, his feminine side that has defined him for so long, and Felix the masculine identity he craves. He needs to find a role that makes him as happy as Crusch was, accepting who he is while striving to become who he wants to be.

I don't expect that to be easy though. In fact, I think the path to get there will be immensely messy and self-destructive.

The idea of Ferris having a breakdown or lashing out has been well-foreshadowed throughout the story. He has had numerous smaller outbursts and has displayed similar problems to Arc 3 Subaru when pushed to an extreme. There's a large amount of toxicity in him that will rush out, sooner or later. It will likely take similar levels of suffering to force him to get a grip, possibly hurting Crusch in the process.

Who do I believe to be the trigger for this? My best guess is Capella.

It is quite possible Capella freed Sphinx and recreated her arms initially. Why would she do this? Why not? We're seeing firsthand how much of a monster Sphinx can be with the Sacrament of the Immortal King. Why wouldn't someone like Capella want something like that under her control?

Of course, Sphinx is almost certainly dying soon. Capella will need a replacement, and who's the only other potential user of the Sacrament? Ferris.

There's also the idea that Capella may have poisoned the Royal Family and, most importantly, Fourier. If Capella does become the main antagonist for Ferris, that could serve as motivation for him to want her dead regardless of his own reservations about killing.

Adding onto this is the fact that shapeshifting is a power with a long history of being associated with identity issues. Tappei likes making his antagonists strong narrative foils to his protagonists, so it would be interesting to contrast Ferris' identity issues with the potentially strong identity issues of Capella.

Finally, there's a lot of potential for her tragic past to parallel Ferris' past, with many implications that the Royal Family may not exactly have treated Emerada the best. The idea that the Royal Family may have locked her away is not implausible and it could make their connections even stronger.

Whatever that breakdown leads to, I expect Crusch and/or Subaru to be the one who snaps him out of it. This will likely be the catalyst that forces Ferris to find a balance. He'll need to let go of things like his self-blame over being unable to help Fourier, his internalized hatred of his current identity, his idealization of Crusch, and his need to save everyone. Ferris's love will finally allow him to grow and change into a person who is the middle ground between his desires and his true self.

After all, that's what Re: Zero is truly about: love and growth. Almost every character reflects this and, if my interpretation of Ferris is right, he could embody that theme just as much as Subaru himself does.

He could be a shining bastion of what this story is all about.

Of course, this is all just my interpretation and speculation. If you disagree with it, feel free to. I just hope I was able to make you appreciate Ferris a bit more/changed your mind on how much potential his character has.

I wish whoever is reading this a nice day!

#re zero kara hajimeru isekai seikatsu #re zero #arc 8 spoilers #ferris #re:zero #rezero

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