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minakotricksterworld · 6 years

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Source: Volatile-Tifa

(Warnings: Spoilers, mention of torture, some cussing and sexism)

Stephanie Brown is one of those characters a lot don’t know about and those who do, they either love or hate her. To me, she’s a character that has some serious disservice in the DC verse, a character that was seriously shat on and pushed around.

Introduced in Detective Comics #647 in June of 1992, Stephanie would transform from Spoiler, to Robin and eventually to Batgirl before the New 52 series took off.

Stephanie started her life of crime-fighting as a normal girl, one with a C-rated villain for a father and an addict for a mother. Her father, the Cluemaster, wasn’t the best father figure and even used Stephanie to manipulate others, or disregarded her safety. Suggesting that abuse wasn’t far off and there is even a point in the comic where we’re shown that he locked Stephanie in a closet simply to get her “out of the way”.

(This scene is later in the comics)

Once her father was out of jail, he claimed to go straight and narrow, but Steph knew better and began tracking her father, showing quite an aptitude to trailing after him and other criminals, using gadgets to hear his plan. She sent clues in to the police, but when they couldn’t seem to put the simple pieces together, she donned the costume and called her self “Spoiler”.

Eventually, Batman and Robin would be called in to help with these clues and they began to suspect Cluemaster, who faked his death to throw them off his trail. They saw Spoiler and believed she might have had something to do with it, Robin chased her and unmasked her until she escaped with taking a brick to his face. From there, with the backing of their super computer, ability to get into files, records and with their high end gadgets, they figured out who she was and Tim Drake, the Robin at this time, went to check her out.

Eventually, she worked with the caped duo to get her father in the final plan of robbing a million dollars at the mall. Her father was ready to kill her until Batman revealed her identity to him… And then Stephanie seemed ready to kill her dad, until Batman talked her out of it.

And you would think, from there, might as well take a kid under one’s wing and train them, especially after Stephanie was noticed constantly going out and stopping crime.

Nope.

Stephanie is a normal girl, self-taught, self-made, with no money backing her and just rolling with what she learns on the streets. Unlike others in the Batman verse, like Jason, Dick or Time, Stephanie set out on her own and didn’t have a mentor or teacher showing her the ropes. Eventually, with Tim’s growing attraction to her, he began teaching her a few things and gave her some gadgets (the high end ones and not Steph’s made ones) did Stephanie get more showing in the comics. She eventually met Batgirl, Cassandra Cain, and slowly a friendship began to build up.

To where Stephanie would teach Cass how to read and write, while Cass would teach Stephanie some moves on how to fight.

Stephanie, despite these two, was often treated like the unwanted step-child amongst the vigilantes of Gotham. Batman would constantly try and tell her that Steph didn’t belong in this life, despite her constantly doing it and still doing it - which was brave, considering. Barbra Gordon, Oracle, reluctantly let her in the Watchtower because of her association with Batgirl, Cass, and Tim. Dinah and Helena, Birds of Prey, would be the most encouraging of Steph - saying she was good and had what it took, that she had talent, but neither were willing to take her on as a student. And whenever Batman told them to stop training her, they would.

Though, Black Canary did make Stephanie her apprentice in Robin comic #80.

Steph had feelings for Tim, possibly the first real boy she loved, but he was with someone else and it never went far until he broke it off with her and they pursued a relationship. But Stephanie was never going to learn Tim’s identity due to his loyalty to Batman… Stephanie accepted it, as she would given her background.

She has a history of a mother who is an enabler, a criminal, abusive father and this all can translate to a lot of possible neglect in her younger years. Not to mention there is a part where Stephanie reveals she had a babysitter that was a sexual predator, who ended up disappearing. She shows to have daddy issues because of the abandonment in her father and seems, unwisely, to look to Batman to be a father figure (Look at all Robins and Barbra, they all look to him as a father-figure) and seeks acceptance.

Before she and Tim were together, Stephanie had a boyfriend she slept with during the throes of depression, not outright stated by implied. She ended up pregnant and a boyfriend who leaves her, putting her life of crime on hold.

A lot of people give Stephanie a lot of shit to just stop crime fighting and raising her baby, which is stupid. With her own issues and a father who used her to further his own gains - what would have stopped him from using the baby? And further more, people expect that Stephanie should have just raised her child, but Spoiler had enemies and an education to pursue. She wanted to raise her baby, but understood that right now she couldn’t be a mother to the child.

It made Stephanie was like other girls, who had sex and got pregnant, but had to make her decisions. She chose not to terminate the pregnancy and let the child get adopted - a smart choice since young mothers, statistically, end up on welfare. But the point of this whole thing was plot for the writers, because you never hear of the kid after. Tim, as ‘Alvin’ helped Steph by going to birth classes with her and ended up there for her during the delivery, holding the baby. She was upfront with him about this pregnancy and her decisions. Yet a lot of people took this as her being a slutty, sleazy girl who betrayed Tim. Um, Tim had a gf while he was developing feelings for Steph. And he was shown kissing on other girls, some who even knew his real identity, yet Stephanie - the girl he had feelings for - didn’t know who he was and believed, wrongly, that she wasn’t good enough for him.

Found in this comic on the date where the two go to a convention. (Couldn’t find the actual image in my quick search, but it is there if you want to look for yourself.) The growing issue of Tim’s identity would fester between the two, along with the suspicion of there being other girls. Which is a legit worry for any other girl, but in the comics DC decided to try and depict Steph as a waspish, clingy, demanding girlfriend. Then Batman decides to step in and tell Steph Robin’s real name, but not his own. Key pieces here.

Tim gets upset and Stephanie is just wondering what the hell she did wrong. Which she did nothing wrong, but here it is, she’s at fault somehow for knowing more than she should… which is frankly bs, but makes sense for DC.

It is important to note that TIm is mostly angry with Batman here, but Stephanie seems to be steam-rolled in with the scene.

So Tim goes off to be normal….

Stephanie has been trying to get Batman’s approval for ages, of trying to be accepted entirely by this group of people and the most compliments she ever gets seems to be from the Arrow crew (which one might think, hey, these guys say I have potential and are willing to train me (Dinah, I consider, part Arrow crew)).

After these events, Tim’s father finds out he is Robin and grounds him, thus stopping Tim from being Robin. Stephanie breaks into the Bat Cave (who else can say that… besides every other villain out there) with a homemade Robin costume and asks to be Robin. She knows about Tim and every other time in the DC verse they always bring in some blue-eyed, black haired boy to be Robin. Because Batman needs a Robin, currently he’s without and you would think this would be a break away from this usual thing he has going (I’m questioning if it’s a kink, blue-eyed, black haired boys with good looks) and could give Batman new dynamics, new challenges.

Nope. DC said, nah, she’s going to be Robin and Batman will give her hope, give her the one archaic rule he never gave any other Robin, “Follow my rules to the T or you’re out.” Never in the history of any Robin has he ever given them that rule, not even Jason Todd and he was considered the wild-canon Robin.

Steph threw her all into training and did everything Batman wanted until that ONE. TIME. When she thought he was in danger and she wanted to save his life. Batman was just Batman to Steph… this WAS WRONG. He is known as a control freak... which makes a lot of things he does later dumb. He took her on as a sidekick (more on this later) a position of trust. Yet Stephanie wasn’t told who Batman was behind the mask, she wasn’t let in on a lot of or any of his plans and most of the training given to her was through others mostly.

So, she acted, wanting to save him and he said she didn’t have what it took. He is even smiling while saying he gave her a “fair shot” which doesn’t really seem accurate when you go back and look at his training of every other Robin previously. Tells her she doesn’t measure up… which, with his psychological profiling background, you would think he would know not to say to a child that has experienced the neglect she has had in the past.

Steph was willing to take blame, she screwed up - despite her intentions. Like all Robins have, especially Dick and Jason when starting out. He expects this to be the last… and instead this lead to a desperate girl to pull off something to show that he was wrong, that she was worth having this title and a chance.

Tim later reflects how humbling it was to be easy replaced by Steph as Robin and Willingham, the writer, puts a slight jab in his writing basically saying Steph was always looking for Batman’s validation of her.

Stephanie enacted a plan, something that Batman had around the cave to stop all the gangs once and for all. The plan needed a Matches Malone, an alter ego used by Batman. Steph didn’t know that. She was a sidekick and taken on with no real trust, with no real guidance and this left a lot of fans to believe that he only gave her the position to make Tim jealous.

Even Alfred seems to believe that this is all in the intent to just make Tim jealous - though I am sad to see that the guy has no faith in Steph and everything Batman says makes sense, but Alfred knows Batman better than himself. He knows all the ins and outs of that mind and he can get to the heart of it. So while the creators are finally having Batman parrot all the things that make sense to train Steph, if not as Robin than to legit train her, it is bittersweet with those intentions right there. So it makes you go back to that archaic rule and that scene above where he “fires” her, making one believe that yup, he had no real intention of keeping her on as Robin.

But the biggest tell, she didn’t know Batman was Bruce Wayne. She might have known Alfred, but all she knew him as was Batman’s butler and they didn’t get along at the start. To be fair they both were coming from opposite ends, he saw Tim being hurt and Stephanie was, pretty much, a stranger muscling in. Steph just saw another person who believed she didn’t have what it took.

Anyway, during the events of War games, Stephanie gets caught by the Black Mask. If anyone knows that guy, they know he is a sexist villain who enjoys torturing his victims. He grabbed Steph and was torturing to find out who Batman was, but here she is - she didn’t know and it’s flaunted to her,

He uses a drill on Stephanie, a tool of penetration to bring home the ultimate violation. Women, to him, are nothing more than figures, sex toys, to be used and in the kitchen. Steph being a blonde, bombshell, crime fighter must have really tickled his fancy…. I won’t go into other forms of the torture that we, readers, are lead to believe that happened. If anyone has read Detective Comics of Batman then you know the scenes, or behind the scenes, are quite gruesome. Stephanie had been tortured for days, while the events are taking place elsewhere, for information she wasn’t told. Somehow we’re being sold that Stephanie being a sidekick, not being told information, was a good thing. Yet this is clearly DC’s thing of trying to make the War Games, a filler, crossover arc they do, seem more important…

Eventually, Stephanie gets out and is taken to Leslie Thompson’s clinic, an ally of Batman where we are given this scene:

Stephanie even begins to question if he really ever made her Robin, or was it to get back at Tim… You know, since /clearly/ Tim quit just to piss him off or something. Batman tells her yes, yes she is. She was always a Robin… Remember here that Batman lies and has often lied to people. And Stephanie dies.

Everyone is upset, Dick asks Bruce what are they really doing. Tim comes back and doesn't have any in panel screen time mourning her, but will (way later #spoilers) go nuts over the death of others… Leslie goes to Africa after an argument with (she let Steph die, a pacifest also screwed up by DC here) Batman and how he lets children fights his battles.

Tim becomes Robin again, using Steph’s death as justification to continue fighting crime.

It might seem sweet, and I’m going back to the whole, Batman knows how to lie to people here…

Jason Todd was erected a memorial in the Bat Cave.

Stephanie never got one. Further cementing the fact that Batman never really considered Stephanie a Robin, neither did the writers.

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/07/15/“some-kind-of-gang-war-in-gotham”-and-“spoiler-was-gonna-die”/

Stephanie as Robin, according to one of the writers, was simply a trick.

The events leading up from Steph transferring to Robin was all a big ploy by DC to make War Games interesting, to kill a character off (Stephanie) to make it more important and to give Tim dramatic growth… in essence, DC began butching a character to make her a dumb plot point.

B-fucking-S.

The fandom must have thought so, because they wrote Steph saving Cass as a ghost.

They wrote Batman going to Africa to confront Leslie:

He called her an enemy of the Batman.

And in the end… the fandom must of been strong enough because Stephanie is alive and Leslie faked her death, taking Stephanie to Africa to recover…

And somehow Batman knew it all long, or 'suspected' it.

Really? He went to Africa, Stephanie was there and for a detective, considered the best and enjoys outsmarting everyone (Control freak tendencies)... He still called Leslie an enemy? This was, clearly, DC bull trying to cover their own sexism and asses on Stephanie Brown’s treatment by Batman and co. She’s alive and, despite everything else from above, he somehow knew she was alive.

Way to go, doesn’t make sense and having Batman try and backtrack and cover his own shit just made him seem that much more of an asshole. He /suspected/ and that was why Steph was never going to get a memorial… yeah, we know the truth guys. Basically DC said this: “Let’s make a character, someone who is bright, spunky and everything opposite of Batman - probably should be from Krypton due to all the optimism she fucking has, but screw it. She’s going to be self-taught, self-made and we’re going to shit on her. The bat clan have money, connections, training and technology… clearly they’re superior and know better than this blonde girl who still laughs and smiles despite the other shitty things going on in her life. Let’s make a character who is going to constantly fight crime, do her despite what others ‘claim’ and have them flaunt they know everything about her. Let’s get her pregnant, a stereotype of girls with daddy issue, give up the baby and never bring it up again besides her dying scene - which we planned. Let’s make a character who constantly strives and is told she isn’t good enough, that she doesn’t amount to what she wants to be. Let’s give her a peek into being accepted and take it from her in one fell swoop. Let’s make a character who can relate to the people, who is one of the people and make her feel like an outsider. Let’s take this character and make her a sidekick, a position of trust, of learning and let’s pretty much ignore all those things and give her the kick. Let’s make a character we clearly don’t give two shits about because everything we wanted from her was to be a love interest, a sacrifice and the eventual sexist image of a woman seeking more than her role in life, her role against statistics.

And say fuck her.”

I didn’t include everything in this post, I did a general back story and brief development on Stephanie here, but she’s a character I am passionate about and I believe, like a lot of female characters in stories and comics, had potential. A shit ton and that it was basically only shined upon for the sake of other’s story, but then thrown out when convenience set in. Stephanie Brown is an underrated character and if you don’t like her, that’s fine, but she’s the Eggplant Waffle-loving heroine I want and need in my life. She’s too real for others, but she’s a ‘real’ character I would love to see more of… and I’m hoping the rebirth series delivers.

#stephanie brown #spoiler #batgirl #robin #batman #detective comics #sexism #torture #mentions of torture #character development #dc comics #amazing women

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capblacksails · 6 years

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It’s always complicated *cries*

Post-Canon. Silver-centered. John Silver is a lost man after having lost Madi. He goes to the only person he knows who understands his loss. And (un)surprisingly, here starts a journey full of love… (In short : It's +20 years of love(s). It's past hurts, and growth. It's tying Black Sails to Treasure Island, somehow. Includes also THE two scenes we've been robbed of in 4x10: James/John and Madi/John) (James/Thomas, James/John, John/Madi(past), James/Miranda/Thomas(past), Thomas&John). If this fic was BS soundtrack: It would be ‘Funeral At Sea’ I guess?

Read it all : FFnet / AO3

From the embers of the shadows in our pasts (a phoenix will rise)

Excerpts from this part (VII):

I realize loving me and Miranda was easy. Loving Madi was easy. You love me, you loved Miranda, you loved Madi, and he loved Madi, *because*. But you two? You love each other, *despite*; and that must be a difficult way to love indeed.

Nothing can erase the words I said, just like nothing can erase the words he didn't say. How could he not tell me, my Thomas? If he loved me? How could he not tell me you were alive right when he knew it? I asked him, once, something meaningful; for me at least. I had told him everything; *you* - where I came from. But when I asked him about his past? He eluded it. And I accepted it. But I don't think I could forgive him - not about this - if I was to ask him, and he refused to answer again.

VII.

They are playing Tarot. John is winning, until Thomas succeeds in turning it all around by chance at the last round. John's surprised face at Thomas's victorious smirk is nothing but endearing; James has to laugh, even feels like bumping his fist in John's shoulder for good measure - but doesn't. Instead, he turns towards Thomas, still smiling: "You lucky cheat. You owe him a rematch." They end up agreeing for the next evening and after some more little chat John takes his leave, wishing them good night.

James is surprised by the intensity in Thomas's gaze when he turns back to him after having closed the door.

"I know you hope he'll leave one day. But I refuse to believe you would try to force his hand about it. Am I wrong?"

James is puzzled at the turn the conversation takes. But if one asks, the other answers. It's always been like that, between them; an unspoken rule they long ago committed each other too. James retakes his seat next to Thomas.

"I would never indeed. He's not strong enough yet to face whatever - whoever - might be waiting for him outside. But why do you think this is something we should discuss right now?"

"When you finally started using each other names, I thought you both had finally reached some understanding... But it's been months, and your name still always fall from his lips like a question... So I wonder... Do you think he's going to stay long still, if he believes he's unwanted?"

"What do you mean, Thomas? Unwanted? I... I love him. He knows that."

James's hesitation has been the shortest, and Thomas feels trusted at the finally spoken out loud admission; even if nothing of it is new knowledge, and even if Thomas had made transparent long ago to James that he knows.

"He does, indeed. But I think you're still missing the point."

"Which is?"

"That he might think that you do not *want* to love him."

"What are you talking about?"

"You never touch him."

James freezes, and Thomas pushes his point.

"I see it, you know. When you feel like laying a hand on his shoulder, like when he arrived. You always refrain. And you just did it again. You orbite around him though - most often at his lost leg side, to be able to stop a fall; but you switch just ahead of him, within reach at his good leg side, if the path is muddy, or steep, or whenever he looks tired - always willing to lend him a shoulder to lean on, if he needs extra support to lift himself up. And the wondrous thing is: he does take your shoulder, most of the times. Even though he always insists he's all right whenever someone shows concern; even though he even gets agited, if he thinks he's showing any sign of weakness; even though he doesn't want to be taken care of. He trusts you that much. Not to feel diminished, if it's you helping him. But your contact is limited to you helping, so how do you think he might come to feel about such a fact?"

"I never thought..."

"Maybe he never wondered about it before. I assume you had to appear distant in general - to keep people from getting close, because you didn't want to get hurt again; and maybe he thought that was the way you were anyway ... But since he's here? He can see that you are naturally affectionate, James. Not only with me; with everyone else. The way you held onto Edward, even after his wound was patched up? Just yesterday when you patted Christopher on the shoulder?"

"That kid just lost his eldest. That he's a guard doesn't mean- You of all people-"

"-That's not the point. The point is you literally touch anyone but him. And it might have consequences you do not wish for, so I thought I should mention it, in case you weren't aware-"

James seems cornered. "I am aware of it, Thomas." Thomas is now the one surprised, and James sighs. "It's just... I never felt he would welcome it."

Thomas doesn't need long pondering about the revelation, and lays a hand above James's hand reassuringly.

"What are you saying? That you do not believe that he *does* love you to start with? I know you didn't love yourself when you met him - do you somehow refuse to comprehend that he could see through it all and love you anyway? Or do you mean that he doesn't *want* to love you either? I know there is so much luggage, between you two... I realize loving me and Miranda was easy. Loving Madi was easy. You love me, you loved Miranda, you loved Madi, and he loved Madi, *because*. But you two? You love each other, *despite*; and that must be a difficult way to love indeed."

James actually takes some time to answer, but Thomas knows the answer will be honest, as always.

"It's both, I think." James sags backwards in his chair, helplessly running his hands once down his own face as he sighs. "You agree that it can't be healthy, at least."

Says the one who refused to move on for over 10 years even though thinking I was dead?

Thomas is not cruel and will not say this, though. He just argues back the point, as gently as possible.

"I realize it might feel disputable; but how can you doubt that it is true, either way? Why do you think he came here for, if not-?"

"He came here because he thought I might put him out of his misery." The undeniable anger there is still palpable in his tone, and James closes his eyes to calm it back down.

"Oh... He told you."

James is now looking at him as if stabbed in the back. "You knew?"

"No, James, I didn't. But I'm not surprised. You weren't around when he arrived. To put it mildly: he was tensed. Of course, the moment you came in, and obviously meant him no harm, it disappeared; so you couldn't know. But I could tell the diference."

James doesn't look betrayed anymore, and Thomas plays his next card.

"Besides. Is it not what you tried too? Putting yourself into harm's way, over and over? Provoking even greater risks, any time you had just survived whatever you had been tempting fate with?"

Thomas can't help though but hear anger building this time in his voice at the words, and cuts himself short with a sigh.

"At least, he gave you a chance to save him; coming to you, instead of provoking the first drunken sod he could have easily found if he had tried to. Would you rather have he had?"

James is now nothing but appalled. "No. Of course not."

"Then let it rest, James. He was in no state of thinking clearly, if he ever truly did believe it. And he might not have been aware that what he thought he wanted wasn't entirely what he actually wanted to start with... Anyway, why do you think he's still here for, then?"

James's gaze drops.

"He came here also because he trusted me to understand his loss, and help. And as I took him in instead of- he knows I love him enough, wanting or not, to accept it and help him."

James finds his eyes again.

"But I lost any right for more long ago. I told him Madi- I told him something unforgivable, Thomas."

There's despair in James's voice now, and Thomas can't help but inch forward soothingly.

"Did he tell you? That it was unforgivable?"

"No."

"So how can you know that it was?"

And James inches forward too, drawn to Thomas as he opens his soul to him, voice unflenching yet soft as he drops, well, a bomb.

"Because some wounds are bound to fester. Nothing can erase the words I said, just like nothing can erase the words he didn't say."

And Thomas hears exactly what James is saying.

"Oh my... He's right."

How painful it must be, for the both of you. You love him, while wishing you wouldn't, because you actually think he probably doesn't. And he loves you - he so obviously does - while thinking you do too, but doesn't want to, and he is right...

Thomas tries to understand: "You told me you-"

"I know what I said. And I do want to believe him. It's either believe him or hate him and I... Yet still..." James takes one of his hands between his own, kissing it once gently before keeping holding it like it is the most precious thing in the world. "How could he not tell me, my Thomas? If he loved me? How could he not tell me you were alive right when he knew it?"

And Thomas aches. But Thomas isn't the one able to soothe that wound.

"Well, I am not the one able to answer that question, am I?"

Honestly? Do you ever actually TALK to each other?

There's a flash of something akin to fear in James's eyes, and Thomas knows this is the heart of the problem.

"You won't ask him though..."

It is not a question, because Thomas doesn't want James to feel like he owes him to explain. James explains though.

"I asked him, once, something meaningful; for me at least. I had told him everything; *you* - where I came from. But when I asked him about his past? He eluded it. And I accepted it. But I don't think I could forgive him - not about this - if I was to ask him, and he refused to answer again."

Thomas brings his free hand to their joined hands too, and squeezes.

"Then don't. But if you want to help him? Find a way to have him understand that he's allowed to say your name, at the least..."

They keep holding hands in silence for a while.

"I am sorry, my Thomas."

James's eyes are nothing but soft now, and unquestionably full of love, and Thomas understands James is now adressing Thomas's anger about his spiralling towards his own destruction tendency while they were apart; something he might never have realized, if he hadn't been himself confronted with it recently.

"Don't be. I love you. And I won't ever have you apologize for loving me."

Know no shame.

"Tell me you know that I love you. And that I *want* to love you."

"I do, my James."

I see it any time you look at me. I hear it any time you say my name. I feel it any time you touch me. I taste it any time you kiss me. I even smell it, any time-

And then Thomas kisses him, reverently, and James just lets his love(r) wash that new guilt away...

I realize I might have them use each other's names a lot (and believe me, I deleted some already)... But they were denied this simple thing for so long :( I think they can't help but reveal in the fact that they can, now? Let me know if it's still too heavy?

(And just so you know: there are by now always 3 chairs by James and Thomas's table, so that John wouldn't need to bring his chair any time they played/talked/whatever...)

Also, you have no ideas how much I SCREAMED while writing this. Will I ever grow past James and Thomas unconditional accepting love for each other and their forever supporting each other ? Will I ever grow past James and John dys/misfunctional past errors loaded love for each other and their never talking about it ? *heavy sigh*

#black sails #james flint #captain flint #silverflint #long john silver #john silver #thomas hamilton #flinthamilton #from the embers of the shadows in our pasts a phoenix will rise #my two pieces of eight #fanfic #text

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askprinceakechi · 7 years

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OOC Anthy/Akechi comparison

Wooooooo boi, I’m sorry this took so long. I actually rewatched the entire Black Rose arc and end of series before I wrote this so I could have it fresh in my mind. If only I had an easier time seeing all the Akechi scenes too.

Thank you both for your intrest! Also I havn’t seen Evangelion in so long but please, Anon!!! I would love to hear their comparisons as well, please send them to me!!!! @reversalsun

I’m gonna preface this by saying this is not a “Akechi has done nothing wrong” post. Akechi has done many things wrong. Akechi has done some truly terrible shit. I do believe Akechi to be a tragic figure however and more so a product of a lot of shitty things. Despite this being, like, way too long this is only the bare bones of my analysis of both Akechi. Hahahaaaa, if you want more on Akechi and how I in particular view him and his bs lemme know. Though some will be coming out with asks on the blog depending what people ask. I’m so sorry I’m incredibly long winded, this is like, 5+ pages omg. Good luck reading all of this losers.

ALSO THIS IS LIKE ALL SPOILERS. YOU PROBABLY SHOULDN’T READ IT UNLESS YOU’VE COMPLETED AT LEAST SHIDO’S PALACE. BETTER YET THE TRUE ENDING TO THE GAME.

The major similarity between Anthy and Akechi however is their position of power. Or rather, their lack of power. Both have crumpled under a much more powerful thumb. Anthy, who accepts her role and who even fears life outside of it; while Akechi has turned a blind eye to it. He’s not dumb, Akechi knows he is being used but he seems to view himself from an underdog position. He thinks it’s all just a matter of time until he can flip the script and turn it around on Shido. Akechi only accepts this power being held over him as a temporary thing, hell even something as part of his plan. No matter how untrue it is. Anthy knows she is being used as well, but rather than take it as a temporary thing she has accepted this as her role in life. It is all she knows.

They both work through so many layers of masks. Neither Anthy or Akechi seem fond of revealing their true face. The only time Utena ever sees Anthy’s bare face are few and far between, most notably the time Anthy attempts to commit suicide and at the very end of the series after Utena tears open her coffin. Otherwise her true self is concealed behind a pleasant and demure face, only hints of herself showing through when she chooses or cracks a bit. Akechi is very much the same (hell he gets referred to as the “pleasant boy”). His mask is almost as unshakeable as Anthy’s, only she has had forever to perfect it while Akechi is only human. Akechi seems to have quite a few different faces. One of the public, one for ‘acquaintances’ and one for “””” friends””””, under that his true self very much like a matryoshka doll. They don’t like to say what they mean; their words are picked deliberately and often have double meanings that need to be dissected. Or, all they say is fluff. Soft pleasantries that are used for very little other than to pacify or distract from their true selves. Anthy and Akechi are both very manipulative especially when it comes to defending their true selves from any more hurt.

They’re both used to pain to their masks. This is pain they know well, it’s expected, familiar, a demon they know as well as a lover. It still hurts but something they know how to handle it, and so they guard their true selves viciously. The only way they could truly feel the pain again would be from an injury to their true self. Thus, no one gets to know who they are. To know their true self would be to open up their only weakness. To know their true self would be an ultimate show of trust. Anthy gets hers, Akechi, starts but ultimately does not.

Their tragedies also both started at a young age. Anthy starting even before she sacrificed herself to the crowd to protect her brother. Akechi’s started from birth and came to a head when he lost his mother. Both were only children when their path of misfortune was laid out for them, and both took the terrible path with stride.

Anthy gave up her freedom, took on the mantel of rose bride and succumbs to the swords of human hatred in an ouroboros cycle as many times as Akio demands it of her. She is a puppet of Akio, a puppet of end of the world, a puppet of adolescence and a puppet of her own fear. She lets all of this own her.

Akechi gave up everything in hopes of revenge, respect, and a will to actually be wanted. Akechi has to be, what? 17 in the game? Assuming it was the first, and assuming the whole thing with Wakaba happened roughly two years ago Akechi’s final turn down his path of ruin truly started at 14-15. Still deep in his adolescence, still a child in just about every respect. Akechi hands over all authority he had as a person to a monster like Shido before he ever had the chance to really understand what that meant. He put the puppet strings on himself and gave them to Shido thinking it was all part of his own plan for revenge. He was a child betting in an adult’s game and rather than the adults protecting him they ensured his ruin. Once he had established what he was capable of and the world of the Metaverse to Shido he had sealed his fate. There is no way a man like Shido would ever willingly give up that sort of power. Akechi was trapped to doing his bidding or to die, and he knew that. However, his own pride his want to be acknowledged kept him from just killing Shido himself. It would be a hallow victory if Shido died without ever knowing his crimes and without ever knowing who it was who bested him.

Just as Anthy had ensured her own imprisonment to Akio. After all she was the only perceived way for him to regain the power he had as Dios. She was the only one willing and capable of being skewered by the swords of human hatred and letting Akio get off completely undamaged. She was the only way to get Dios back after she had sealed him away for his own protection. Akio wouldn’t willingly let her go. Not that it was something he ever had to worry about before the end of the series. Anthy wouldn’t leave him without her own revolution.

Both were keys to the power of those who were using them and both were unable or unwilling to leave their abusive situation.

A part in which he differs from Anthy but I still find it important to mention.

Akechi truly has been a puppet all along, of Shido and more importantly of Yaldabaoth. He, who, just like Akira had been had picked by a god to lead these lives is given the absolute worst draw. Because, unlike Akira, Akechi suffered all through it alone. Akira has the Phantom Thieves, he has his confidants and most importantly he has Morgana. Akira got a guide though the world of the Metaverse and someone to teach him the ins and outs of how the heart worked. What would possibly kill someone.

As far as we know Akechi got none of this. Akechi traversed the Metaverse alone and a bit of a head canon from myself it was a form of escapism for him. Suddenly Akechi was special. He had a power no one else ever could have, he had a world that he alone could enter and that he could control. After being such a lonely child, after losing everything and everyone and being an unwanted being from the beginning he could be special. Not to mention he get a persona with that, either Robin Hood or Loki or even both at once. Yes, they are a part of him, a reflection of who he is but in the same breath it was a voice that wasn’t his, and a mind that wasn’t truly his. He was no longer alone.

We are not told exactly what happened with Wakaba. We don’t know if Akechi knew that killing her shadow would kill her in real life as well. We don’t know if he was just trying to enact a change of heart just like the Phantom Thieves would later do. We just don’t know. As a personal head canon, I don’t think he knew. I think he was trying to prove he could affect her as a way of showing his power to Shido and he ended up killing her. Without searching out whoever the person whose shadow he killed he wouldn’t have a way of knowing beforehand that it actually killed them in the real world. Or, perhaps he never fought those types of shadows in the first place. Another thing left up to speculation.

“If it cannot break out of its shell, the chick will die without ever being born.” “We are the chick” “The world is our egg” “If we don’t crack the world’s shell, we will die without ever truly being born”

A line that refers to actually, everyone. Every person is a chick stuck in their shell and until they are ready to pass from adolescence to adult they are unable to break their shell. Seriously one of the only straight forward lines that exist in the series.

Anthy is stuck in her shell. She is doomed to die again and again because she refuses to break out. In the end, the world is an allusion to their passage from adolescence to adult. She refuses to grow up and rather is willing to stay in the school with Akio, and continue to be the rose bride for all eternity out of fear and love. She is scared of the outside world, and yet, no one can break the shell but her.

The same goes for Akechi. His own fear, his own wants, desires and hurt keep him from growing as a person. They keep him from breaking out of his own shell and rather he rots, he festers in his egg and is doomed to die. He’s stuck in his own adolescence and the mistakes he made as a child because he won’t crack his shell to breathe. He’s also scared of the world outside of his plans, out of what he knows. Another head canon of mine is that Akechi has no clue what he would do with his life if his plans succeeded. If he killed Shido, if he made him acknowledge Akechi as the one who bested him and as his son. He has very little will and drive outside of that, he’s lost another reason he has put off his plans for so long.

Anthy near the end of the series thanks Utena for letting someone like her. Someone hallow and empty with no heart have a taste of true friendship. Although, at this point she follows Akio still she is regretful about how this all has turned out, and is upset how she has hurt and betrayed Utena.

Akechi gets a small taste of this as well. Although the Phantom Thieves never trusted him fully he was still on the team. Akechi still got to feel what it was like to be on a team with his peers and even laments that “If he had only met (Akira) a few years earlier…”. He got a taste for friendship and comradery and what his life could have been had he just had friends.

Another point I bring up is Anthy stabbing Utena at the end of the series and Akechi shooting Akira.

The reason Anthy stabs Utena is up to speculation. If it was because this is what Akio told her to do, if she really is evil (She isn’t), but the theory I like best is Anthy does it out of fear. Hope is a scary thing to someone who has been in a position like Anthy’s. She sees Utena fighting Akio and finds hope in her. She sees a chance of Utena actually beating Akio and is frightened of her hope. If she does win then, what does that mean for Anthy? Would she get to leave? Would the Rose Bride no longer be needed? Would Akio die? Would Dios really come back? What about the swords of human hatred? Would they attack Utena instead of her? She has no way of knowing. No one has ever come as far, ever actually cared for her, or was her friend like Utena was. She stabs Utena out of fear of the unknown and misplaced kindness. Better one sword from a friend and some harsh words than taking on all the world’s hatred.

Akechi has wildly different reasons for shooting Akira. First being he was told to. This was part of the plan that Shido and himself had worked out. The second being that Akira was in his way. The Phantom Thieves were poised to be able to take out Shido before he ever could enact his full plan. He couldn’t let that happen because (head canon) everything he had done up until then, every murder, all the blood on his hands, would be for nothing if Shido didn’t know it was Akechi who killed him. Third (Also head canon) his own fear of the unknown, of the future has him wanting to protect Shido in an odd way. Shido is terrible and he hates him, he wants him dead. He however is also the only one blocking Akechi from the future.

I swear I’m almost to the end of this.

The adolescence of Utena, and Revolutionary girl Utena the titles are both huge points to the story itself. In the end Utena is a story about growing up. It’s a story about breaking the cycles of abuse. It’s a story about the how no one can save you but yourself but how someone else can spark that revolution inside of you. It’s a story about how revolution doesn’t have to be this huge world ending thing, but rather the revolution inside a single person. In the end Anthy realizes all of this. Utena doesn’t become the Prince because the Prince is dead. It’s an outdated and childish concept that is seeped deeply in toxic ideals of staying the way things have always been. The Prince is about staying in your adolescence and playing pretend that a magic castle would grant you power, would grant your ‘revolution’. Utena realizes this too.

Utena isn’t the one who pulls Anthy out of her coffin because just like the egg no one can pull you out of it but yourself. However, Utena showed Anthy the way out and she showed Anthy that the cover can be removed. Utena sparked the revolution in Anthy’s heart and in the end Anthy climbs out of her coffin by herself. Anthy breaks the shell of her own egg. She herself is the revolution so desperately coveted. She leaves the school, she leaves Akio, she leaves behind her chains of The Rose Bride and becomes her own person. She has grown up.

Just like Anthy, Akechi has a revolution sparked in his own heart as well. In the end, when the Phantom Thieves showed him kindness despite seeing who he truly is. Despite knowing all his crimes, they still show him mercy. They don’t abandon him and they don’t try to kill him when he has been defeated. He begins to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Had it not been for the Cognitive! Akechi showing up I truly believed Akechi would have had a revolution as well. In the end, Akechi had a chance to go back to his old ways. He could have just shot Akira like Shido and Cognitive! Akechi wanted him to. He could have given himself that second chance to keep going so that /he/ could be the one to kill Shido. Like he had always planned.

He doesn’t.

Rather he sacrifices himself to save the Phantom Thieves. This is his revolution no matter how small. This is his start at redemption even if it is cut short by death. Akechi climbed out of that coffin, he broke out of that shell, and though he was met with death he threw off his shackles with the help of the Phantom Thieves. Akechi finally had a taste of freedom.

*FINGER GUNS AWAY* I’m tired now

#OOC #Character study #mun talks #Goro Akechi #Utena parody #i mean kinda #dude holy shit please be gentle on me #I'm on so many painkillers #I just got out of surgery eariler today #I hope this actually makes sense #and isn't just a jumble of words cause i'm out of it #spoilers #p5 spoilers #persona 5 spoilers #utena spoilers

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