#sons of the serpet

[doctorstrangereview]

0144: Defenders #24

Cover Date: June 1975 On-Sale Date: March 18, 1975

We're at installment three of four of the badly dressed racists saga and we've got guest stars galore! And, all the added firepower still isn't enough! These are super-prepared racists. And away we go!

We pick up our story with the Defenders and their good buddy Yellowjacket being bound in snake things. They are the Sons of the Serpent so there are likely to be at least some snake themed things. Like so many villains, the SOTS leader gives a monologue giving away their whole plan. It takes a whole page and it's monsterous.

The Defenders react and Val is shocked that they would cause such destruction merely because of skin color. She then breaks her snake-bonds. She starts kicking snake-men butt until one of their hoods comes loose and is revealed to be a woman. Uh oh! Val's not allowed to fight women. Distracted, the "honorable" snake-dudes shoot Val in the back knocking her unconscious. The SOTS intend to take her with them so she can die first.

Back at the Sanctum Sanctorum, Clea is tending to Bruce Banner who was left behind because, frankly, the SOTS didn't know what to do with him. Val's "husband" is still there and wondering what's happening. Bruce asks Clea to contact other heroes who worked with the Defenders in the past. Clea reaches out to Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan first.

Mr. Hellstrom agrees and summons his creepy chariot to travel to the Sanctum. Next is Daredevil.

After a debate with himself, Daredevil heads to the Sanctum. Clea passes out momentarily from the strain. Bruce tries more traditional means to contact one more hero. This one for hire. Luke Cage is suspicious of Bruce's call but when he tells Luke this is about the SOTS, who are big news at the moment, he starts heading down the street to the Sanctum as well. All three guest starts manage to arrive at about the same time.

Daredevil uses his enhanced senses to "scan" the Son of Satan. Oddly enough he has two heartbeats. Perhaps Daimon is secretly a time lord?

Clea presents them with the entranced SOTS member still in the Sanctum. Back at the SOTS headquarters Doc, Nighthawk and Yellowjacket are still prisoners. Yellowjacket shrinks down to insect size to free himself. He isn't able to break Nighthawk's bonds so strikes out on his own to bring stronger members back to fix things. Turns out he can't escape because they are in a base at the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. No wonder they didn't leave any guards!

Back at the Sanctum Daimon is working his magic on the captive racist getting him to talk. Unfortunately, his dark charms don't work and the racist starts repeating nursery rhymes. Luke Cage decides to take a more direct approach and start tossing him around the room.

Before he can get anything out of him, Elena bursts into the room and announces that the SOTS are about to execute Val on live television. Her "husband" is understandably perturbed. He runs out of the room in an attempt to rescue her. The image on television is disturbing, to say the least.

The image of Val on the upside down cross about to be murdered causes Bruce to get angry and you don't like Bruce when he gets angry. Our heroes are suddenly sharing the room with the Hulk. Hulk and our guest heroes set out in style.

Like I said earlier, the SOTS are prepared. As they arrive, Daimon and Luke Cage are swallowed up by a hole in the air. Daredevil is overwhelmed by sheer numbers and clobbered by clubs, ironically. Lastly, the Hulk is rendered blind by a super bright beam. How are they going to get out of this one?

This is certainly an action backed one. It's a good lead-up to the finale next issue. Steve Gerber is writing a fairly intricate plot with lots of twists and turns. This could have been done as a series of mega battles, but instead gives us some intelligent plotting. The social commentary is still there, but not quite in the hit you over the head with it style of the earlier installments. Social commentary is important, even for the tykes.

Sadly, Doc is unconscious for the entire book. Clea fills in as best as she can. She's the one character that's portrayed as more of shrinking violet where in Doc's solo book she's a bit more badass and frequently accompanies her mentor/teacher/lover into battle. Otherwise, while lacking any character advancement, the remainder of the cast seems to be portrayed accurately.

Another good one!

[a-star-at-war-with-herself]

*sighs*

Ok, it's really time I speak once and for all. Gwyndolin's gender identity and upbringing has always been up to debate and there is actually so little material to analyse in order to understand his situation a bit better, I don't blame anyone who's always considered it just a matter of interpretation. Like, whatever you wanted to understand was fine, it was just up to you. Except there are, in my opinion, some clues that define some sort of a truth.

Before we start, huge desclaimer, though! As you may have noticed, I'm using he/him pronouns while referring to Gwyndolin and I'll keep using them in my whole dissertation, so to speak. I know some people head-canon our snake-y deity as either non-binary or transfeminine, and while I do respect it, I don't really share this head-canon, so forgive me if you find it unsettling, to read of Gwyndolin as a "he". I actually explain why I think he's a "he" in the first place, in this essay, but yeah, if you don't care or you don't feel comfortable reading this, that's fine! See you next time-

So, first of all, let's bring to our table the one thing I've heard the most when it comes to his early years: "He was raised as a daughter because of his powers related to the moon."

Now, the tricky thing about this belief is that we have an in-game description for three items — more specifically the Moonlight Robe, the Moonlight Gloves and the Moonlight Waistcloth — that tells us: "The power of the moon was strong in Gwyndolin, and thus he was raised as a daughter", and while I believe there's a mistranslation here, let's assume for now that this is actually a reason to raise your son like a girl. The thing is, I don't think it's the only one.

Lord Gwyn was a grandiose king. He was ambitious, clever, cunning: we know that he understood what the potential of humanity was and feared for his kingdom to be taken from him. He had built an empire and people followed him like he was a god; so Gwyn made humans loyal followers, too. He built New Londo, gave a shard of his soul to the Four Kings, who were humans; he created the Undead Burg and other neighboring towns for the undead aka the humans. He probably made it so that Velka overwatched humans, too. He spred a whole legend about a chosen undead who'll inherit his destiny and power, one day. He wanted humans to worship and follow him, and be controlled by him. Because most of all, he was a conservative who wanted the world to be in the palm of his hand only.

We can deduce from some in-world descriptions and a few observations that Gwyn fought a newborn civilization of demons the second a new flame, opposed to his cult, was made. Yeah, the Chaos Flame spread disease and was the primal cause of the mutations in the Swamp, but it was the Witches' territory, it wasn't supposed to be Lord Gwyn's business; and yet he fights this heresy with his knights, whose shield's description tells this story, and purges a civilization of demons that was just about to be born.

All of this to say, Gwyn was controlling, but he wasn't naive and I doubt he would ever say: "Hey, you're aligned with the moon, you know the rules! Now, wear this gown, pretty princess!"

What's the reason, then? Why was Gwyndolin raised as a girl, if not because of his powers?

Well, let's think about what Gwyndolin is in the first place: he's the last born of the king of Lordran, a boy, supposedly, and he's got snakes in place of leg— wait, he's got snakes in pLACE OF LEGS? Now, that's something a bit controversial: the wondrous Lord Gwyn, who guided his troops against the heresy of demons, the conservatory king, nephew of Allfather Lloyd of the Way of White - the god who fought the dragons has a son that descends from them.

Indeed, it's no mystery in the lore of the game, that serpets are imperfect dragons, distant relatives of the great beasts, with so little of their original powers, they even have no wings. As to why Gwyn could ever even have a half-dragon child in the first place— that's a story for another time, but it's undeniably true (also because we find ties only between the moon and Seith, throughout the game, and I'm inclined to believe that's a clue).

The point is, Gwyndolin somehow exists; so what should the almighty king do now? It's not like he can throw him away! I mean, he could have, but we have to assume he didn't for some reason, since we find that Gwyndolin's alive, in the first game. Maybe there had been pressures from, uhm, some powerful deity to keep him alive. Maybe keeping him was a sort of, uhm, punishment for having him in the first place. Ok, yeah, these are just conjectures of mine, so you don't have to believe me, but it would be cool if this was the case. It would explain why Gwyn didn't throw his son out of a window the moment he laid eyes on his snakey legs — the very proof of his hypocrisy and his failure.

There was no other way: he had to hide Gwyndolin. But Gwyndolin was his son: he was a boy, a prince, he was supposed to make his father proud in battle and join his brother in expeditions and train with his sword; Gwyn couldn't surely tell the world his son was hiding in his palace away from his people! But a daughter... oh. Oh, it'd have been much easier if a daughter, the king's last born, were to hide away. The family would have just passed as protective of their little one, everyone would have thought it sweet, how shy the young princess would be. And anyway, Gwyndolin couldn't follow his brother to war, he couldn't sacrifice himself for the sake of the crown if the Nameless King were to be in danger; what if the first born died? Would a son claim his right to the throne? But Gwyndolin, poor creature, was a monster! He had to keep his distance from the very idea that he could ever have a right to the throne. And indeed, Gwynevere has never thought of claiming her rightous crown, when the Nameless King went away: she was a princess, after all. She was married off, already, most probably against her will. Her only chance to taste some freedom was to run away under the protection of another man. But oh, what's the right of a woman in such an era? Gwyndolin's powers were such a perfect excuse to convince a child of his duty, and the boy genuinely loved his father so much, he probably hadn't the heart to refuse.

Thus, the goddess of the Dark Moon was born. Gwyndolin made sure to follow his father's wishes like a nice lady, he wore a ring that would change his very appearence, probably went through so much pain as he would show himself as someone he didn't want to be. He stayed in Anor Londo, after everyone was gone, and watched over his father's empty tomb.

But, "Hey, how do you know he was a boy who wanted to be a boy?" Well, there are some clues. He was associated with the moon his whole life, and yet when we meet him he's the Dark Sun, all of a sudden. I'm inclined to believe he chose this title himself after he realised he would have been the sole protector of the City of Gods for a pretty long time, and it probably represents who he actually wanted to be: a sun; a son. As far as I know, the first kanji of his Japanese title, 「陰の太陽」, can be translated to "shade" as well as "back", as in "behind someone's back", making it so that the whole phrase could also mean "the hidden/unseen sun". An interpretation I give to it (and one I particularly like) is that he felt like a solar ecplise: obscured by his own role as a moon. And once he starts having some confidence in his rule as king, we see him completely discard the Reversal Ring, embrace the body he was given at birth, possibly quite sure by now that his father wouldn't ever return anyway.

His robe tells us how he was born a boy, raised a girl; his behaviour strongly suggests he wished he stayed a boy. His story is quite tragic and hidden, just like he was. And again, you don't have to believe a single word I wrote if you don't like it, but I thought it right to share my vision, which I honestly find much more realistic than brushing it off as a "oh yeah, he's a moon girl from now on" kinda situation.

So was it ever explained why Gwyn decided 'my moon-aligned son must be forcibly raised a daughter because the moon is feminine' but did Not decide 'my sun-aligned daughter must be forcibly raised a son because the sun is masculine,' or is the explanation just 'Gwyn fucking sucks'