#for maximum irony

[huginsmemory]

Trigun and Christianity

In lieu of trigun Stampedes choice to make Wolfwood an undertaker instead of a priest (to, well, my disappointment), I thought it might be interesting to look at some of the Christian themes in Trigun, and then also look at why they might have decided to choose for Wolfwood to be a undertaker then a preist, and a potential reason to why Trigun has these Christian themes. Also, btw, this is chock full of manga spoilers so, beware!

To start it off... trigun is actually... pretty heavy on Christian themes. Fuck man, the main character is basically an angel, and in one of the first volumes they literally describe the plants as something divine (although they are later declared to be something humans made... But nevertheless the very clear imagery is there). Also what features very strongly is pacifism and the themes of unconditional love; Vash's refusal to kill coming from believing that going forward, anyone can change, even when he is literally being harmed or attempted to be killed by others. These themes of pacifism and unconditional love are very Christian, and Vash's actions very much centre him as a Jesus-like character. In fact, even the way that he (and knives) was born, a virgin birth, also could be seen as an allusion, as well as the way that he holds a physical form as a human while being more than human- Jesus being considered a 'son of man' while also being the son of God; ie, something in-between, something both divine and human. Knives as well is written in that angelic and divine light, although he is done so in a dark opposite of Vash, with an emphasis on his 'divinity' for imagery as he is obsessed with it. Interestingly, contrast to Knives, Vash, who goes around as a human, is multiple times called a Devil for his reputation, although he is the one that actually is virtuous... This in a way also alludes to him as a Jesus-like figure, as that Jesus was ultimately sought after by the authorities and in some places hated and even driven away by people.

12 disciples

As well, Nightow is pretty blatant that the gung ho guns, of which there are 12, is a allusion to the 12 disciples; hell, Wolfwood calls them straight up disciples when he is at Jeneora Rock. One might argue that then whether that posits Knives as a Jesus figure as that they follow Knives directions, or if one would consider Vash to be the Jesus figure, as the 12 literally seek out, and 'follow' Vash, and of which one of them literally betrays (although, technically, Wolfwoods betrayal goes both ways). However, I don't think that argument is really one that matters, as it's more of the aesthetic of Christianity that Nightow likes in this matter, not the philosophical implications.

As well, as mentioned above, Wolfwood is very Judas-coded; he gets close to Vash, only to inevitably betray him and deliver him up to his fate, while clearly being torn up about it. Vash is not surprised at all when Wolfwood tells him that he was one of the gung ho guns, and you get the sense that he knew about it all along, and knew exactly what he was walking into. Yet he still loves and forgives Wolfwood for all of it. Which... is exactly the same thing that occurs between Judas and Jesus, Jesus willingly going with Judas even though he knew what lay before him.

Wolfwood

As well, quite obviously adding to the heavy Christian themes of trigun, is that Wolfwood calls himself a priest. Although indeed it's part of his front, it's clear Wolfwood in the manga is religious, challenging and calling upon God in response to seeing the Knives born, and his response to the fifth moon incidence where he questions if it was the hand of God (which, actually, is caused by Vash's hand... again alluding to the 'divinity' of Vash and Knives). This clear religious affiliation continues through the series, such as when he is rescuing Vash from Knives, and even praying while he is on the ship with the people that helped vash.

Wolfwood also throughout the series is very clearly is morally wraught with guilt over his choices and sins... Something that's very Catholic/Christian. Hell, the fact that the punisher, the insignia of his murderous profession, is a literal heavy cross that Wolfwood carries with him, is poetic irony; he's literally carrying around the embodiment of his sins and his guilt from his profession and choices, which weighs both heavily on his physical body but also him emotionally. Wolfwood's guilt over his sins and choices comes to its climax when he's about to die when rescuing Vash from Knives, after betraying him; where he questions whether he can be forgiven for what he has done and whether he was wrong, and in response Vash saves him, declaring that he is not wrong; not wrong to go against orders, leaving his vocation of being a murderer behind, in trying to save Vash and moving forward. In declaring Wolfwood that he was not wrong, what Vash (heavily implied divine, Jesus-like character) is declaring is that Wolfwood can be forgiven for his sins, is already forgiven for his betrayal (unconditional love, anyone?), and that Wolfwood can change, that his past doesn't define him, because his future is also a blank ticket.

As well, this is followed up later by Wolfwoods confession to Vash that he hates killing:

The confession and the way he phrases it- seeing all humans as his brethren (although, in this sense he may be speaking tangentially about Livio) is something that also has Christian overtones. (Also, the way that they mention Vash sees the whole of humans as his relatives, also ties into that; except personally I'd argue that's more of a Indigenous view then a Christian, but theres plenty of things that overlap with other theologies and philosophies within the manga that aren't just characteristics of Christianity).

Redemption via acts

There's also a theme of redemption via acts, which both Wolfwood and Vash lean into heavily as a result of guilt from their 'sins', something that is very... Well, again, Christian, especially Catholic. Vash, from being unable to stop Knives and having obliterated July and just his and knives general existence, and Wolfwood from his profession, and so they both struggle with immense feelings of guilt. As a result both are very self-sacrificing; Vash very obviously so throughout the series, and Wolfwood in a quieter way, in choosing to continue to work to protect the orphanage, even though he desperately wants to escape the life he leads and hates killing people. They both don't believe they deserve to be loved because of the weight of their sins, and so they redeem themselves the only way they know how by self-sacrifice; this literally causing Wolfwoods death as he didn't reach our to Vash for help, and is evident in the way Legato looks at Vash at the end and realizes he sees a man that only sees himself as a tool and hates himself. This belief of Vash's that he doesn't deserve love/nice things is something that is also interesting, because he so aggressively pushes the 'blank ticket of the future', ie, unconditional love, while clearly being unable to apply it to himself.

Tldr: the point is, Trigun is very heavily Christian themed, both in aesthetic and philosophy, and the characterization of both Vash and Wolfwood reflect that. The show is rampant with such Christian philosophical themes as unconditional love, sin and guilt, confessions, forgiveness and redemption through self-sacrifice; for aesthetic ones, well, literal 'angels' as main characters, Wolfwood being a priest and carrying a cross, the 12 gung ho guns as 12 disciples.

Wolfwood as an Undertaker

Since Trigun is so heavily Christian themed, it makes it... well, a bit of a strange choice to pull the fact that Wolfwood is a preist out, since him as a preist further emphasizes the moral quandries within the story and the themes of sins/guilt/forgiveness and unconditional love. However, as one other post here on tumblr mentioned, stampede as an iteration of trigun is more directed towards a more modern and Japanese audience, some of which can be seen with the revamp of the character designs to make them more relatable, and I think they mentioned some specific character traits with Meryl. This re-vamping, especially one specifically for a Japanese audience might explain why Wolfwood becomes a undertaker instead of being a Christian priest. Nightow in the back panels in the manga is clearly is very enthralled with American culture- and his knowledge and love of the American genres shows pretty strongly in the themes and the setting for Trigun. In fact, the 1998 anime was better recieved in the west then in Japan, and a possible likelihood for it's higher popularity within the Americas is going to be directly because of the western audience being more familiar with the Western genre, as well as specifically, the Christian themes within the show (since western countries cultures are Christian based, even if one wasn't raised religious). As well, compared to the other typical gunslinging space western anime, Cowboy bebop, Trigun contains more Christian themes, which would make it less relatable, and less popular to the Japanese audience (of course there are many other differences in the shows, so I would be reluctant to chalk it up to just the religious themes in trigun- hell, Cowboy Bebop makes some great criticisms of capitalism that is not present in Trigun). Circling back to them revamping the show, if they are trying to make it more relatable to a Japanese audience, then removing more overly American influences, such as one of the characters literally being a Christian priest, would fit that bill quite well.

Trigun and Christianity... Why?

Also, I personally think that Nightow didn't exactly mean to make a story that is really heavily Christian themed. My sneaking suspicion from reading chapter 0, is the Nightow thought that writing a western with a main character gunslinger that is a pacifist would be a fun and interesting prospect, and then when he began to elaborate on it, he began to pull in more western (both cultural and genre wise) themes and aesthetics into the story, resulting in something that is very heavily Christian themed in the end.

EDIT: it's been raised to my attention by the lovely @trigum, that it says in the wikipedia on Nightow that he was raised buddhist and converted to Catholicism, although there is no source for that information. If so, this would, well, very obviously explain why Trigun is so heavy on Christian themes and negates the paragraph above. I'm not giving him enough credit then, my apologies Nightow!

EDIT 2:

Edit 3 (Feb 3): made a somewhat part 2, specifically looking at the phrase the 'bride of Christ'.

#trigun #trigun spoilers #trigun maximum #trigun anime #trigun 1998 #trigun stampede #wolfwood #nicholas d. wolfwood #vash the stampede #knives millions #feels wierd to write about Christianity #uh. yeah if thjs is incoherent please ignore me hah #also not to say that trigun is a very Christian bit of media but also??? it kinda is? #as ex christian the amount of guilt coming off these characters is so v me in middle school figuring out im queer #also sad about wolfwood not being a preist for both poetic irony but also. let's be honest that poetic irony is hot #also like. nightow best charcter design ever. sorry no one will be able to design a better character then trained assasin priest #who carries a huge cross machine gun and is full of guilt over his sins #and loves children #is this also tangentally vashwood #yes. ignore me #vashwood #if ur like ur writing is rambly sorry! i know a bit of it is repetitive #do i care? nope not any more #nightow slapping both vash and wolfwood: these boys can fit so much christain guilt in them

[slavhew]

worlds most normal yaoi couple

#trigun #trigun maximum #trimax #nicholas d. wolfwood #nicholas d wolfwood #vash the stampede #vashwood #vw #admin draws #fanart #source post in the caption link #yes i realize the irony of attaching a tumblr post from twitter and then posting it on tumblr again #my wrist be mad hurting and i think it shows bc i drew ww later and hes looking much crispier than vash #but i had to draw them or else i just know i wouldnt know peace #also reeeeeallly wanted to just draw these scrunglies again since its been forever and my trigun brainrot always comes back #every like 2 weeks #i just recently cleaned out and backed up my bookmarks on twitter and i jusut.went crazy stupid over all the vw art

[kradogsrats]

Running from your commitments You're running up on the price You better run, Little Hero Cuz you're running out of time

#bleh well this looked better in photoshop #also i couldn't decide what to do use for 'noblest of reasons' etc. so i went for maximum irony #the dragon prince #soren

[tizzymcwizzy]

might turn these sketches into smth else later, but for now ill post em here

#i haven't gotten to a lot of the more angel stuff in the manga but i know its there 👀 very excited #im planning on doing a lot of panel redraws before i continue reading cause my friend has to catch up so no spoilers please! #my art #trigun #trigun maximum #vash the stampede #i find it EXTREMELY funny that theres a bunch of bible verse scribbles on this sketchpage along with this vash cause i was making a #graduation cap for my church friend and she wanted a verse on it jdhshdhfjg ah the irony

[crowfaraday]

DL-6 au: 12 year old calisto yew except her name is Harp now (named after Harpochloa / caterpillar grass)

shes still part of the smuggling ring though, save her

#and then byrne adopts her for maximum irony // #everyone lives au but at what cost // #DL-6 au #DL-6 au: harp #<- shes yew but ill use that tag bc its too far removed from canon yew sdkjfhsdjh // #eye strain #aai spoilers #aai1 au

[jetsetlifemademeghost]

I will not shut up about the briliant idea that is Wolfwood.

Like, a priest carrying a giant metal cross, just like the idea of them "carrying their own cross" (Matthew 16:24). But at the same time, its a gun, that is "full of mercy", which implies that he thinks that "killing is a form of mercy", but also implies that its a form of mercy because its one of his punishment of killing, something that holds a lot of his sins that he has to carry everywhere he goes.

And the best part is, Wolfwood is not even a "Priest" to something Christian, he's a priest to a cult that "Worships" Knives. (The Eye of Michael is a cult, yes.)

(I may or may not be reaching here, but hear me out.)

#trigun #nicholas d. wolfwood #trigun stampede #trigun maximum #wolfwood gets my brain going and I like that #perks of living and growing in a religious catholic family and school #he's just a bunch of irony and I love that #rambles #wolfwood my beloved

[unopenablebox]

sorry that every time i write about biology my usual personae fall into nothing and i become Science Educator Guy, who loves paragraphs and hates ambiguity

#my capacity for irony is like really subsumable to my love of talking to people about cells #although i did manage to start a skeptical question in lab meeting yesterday with #''i'm going to be‚ like‚ SO real with you right now'' in maximum uptalk drawl #which let me tell you really kills in the right setting especially if you follow it up with some genuinely significant criticisms. #the person presenting is my friend i'm not just out here doing this to people. but it DID land and my critiques WERE trenchant. #box opener

[solowinged]

#Trigun #spoilers #trigun maximum #trimax #so I finished the manga #And I have a lot of Thoughts #So I am Coping with Haha funny silly #Just like vash he’d be proud :’) #Anyways this was brought about bc he says #‘Even if I’m alone in the world’ so #Thats why I chose this page lol the irony #Anyways #back to lying down thinking about Trigun o|-< #Vash the stampede

[eri-223]

There are still huge gaps in my Amaral/Hatch/Ogawa love triangle backstory, but considering that Quantum Break is absolutely never going to give us any more information on these characters, especially Ogawa, I am becoming increasingly obsessive over the idea that she's been an FBC agent the whole time

#control game #quantum break #figuring out dates for maximum kim-northmoor irony is hard #rotating them rotating them

[foggybear42]

just now realizing the irony(??) in me using a doctor who ringtone for my meds reminder

#idk if irony is the right word #but hopefully i got my point across #i’m literally in bed rn so my brain isn’t at maximum capacity

[ghouletteanon]

Reasons I find Ghost funny, part 4:

The lyrics in "Satan Prayer" follow the Nicean creed very closely and I've made a side by side comparison for fun.

But the creed is not a prayer, which is a common misconception even among laypeople who just recite the creed at church.

So "Satan Prayer"? Not a prayer, just a creed.

#reasons i find ghost funny #posting this on a Palm Sunday for maximum irony #the band ghost

[electrosquash]

So there's this thing where my brain develops absolutely bizarre logical systems to make sense of a mood and when the mood dissolves i can't understand how i ever got to that thought.

One of those is that i've been able to convince myself that i don't exist once.

And i've been trying to recreate that train of thought because it made my haywire moods feel justified for once. And it just doesn't work. Can you believe being frustrated about not being able to convince yourself you don't exist?

#bpd stuff #personal #this won't make sense tomorrow to me. #i don't even think this phenomenon is so much of a bpd thing. brains need sense and meaning because not standing on firm ground is scary #i feel like this is the same phenomenon that also leads to religious faith and conspiracy theories #and maybe also dreams? neurons firing wildly and the brain is grasping at straws to have them make sense #the bpd thing about this is that it's my moods which just appear and the natural inhibition mechanics not working on them #so they'll spiral to their dramatical maximum every time if i don't take care and my brain's takes escalate as well. amygdala go brrrrrrr #<- there are contradicting studies on this btw. but i'm believing in it (the irony) because medicalizing my bpd helps me control it

[arsenicpanda]

jabitha paranoia moodboard

#Riverdale #Riverdale season 6 #jabitha #I am NOT OKAY #no the last one has nothing to do with time travel but it has EVERYTHING TO DO WITH 6x05 #yes I know the irony in the relevant Booster Gold arc being titled Blue and Gold and RAS is absolutely SICK for it #like idk in which direction but he is SICK #you know I'm gonna tag the other works for maximum confusion points rip other fans #Puella Magi Madoka Magica #Booster Gold Blue and Gold #Erased #Princess Tutu #my thoughts on Riverdale let me show you them #if you get these pls dm me let's talk about our jabitha anime fears

[youngerfrankenstein]

Is it too early to guess the September special banner will be a festival about Elibe’s Eight Legends?

Like as a guess it means they can give the three Lords more alts (Hanon for Lyn, Roland for Eliwood, Durban for Hector) and then round it out with Lucius as Elimine and Athos crashing the party made to celebrate him.

Maybe not the last two but the Elibe Lords take up most of FE7’s alts.

#FEH #Young Zephiel as Hartmut could be good for maximum tragic irony too

[brainbuffering]

TL;DR : Please report any adverts or blaze posts you see that contain flashing images to tumblr.com/support 

After my blaze post about disability access in media was rejected due to reasons ungiven, I got in contact with Tumblr and pointed out their irony in rejecting my post but continuing to promote adverts that contain dangerous levels of flashing imagery, high contrast colours, and glitch effects. 

They told me to screenshot/screen record any of these adverts I saw and report them to tumblr.com/support along with the approximate date and time and the website they redirect to. 

Of course, for Photosensitive people who have been forced to witness these adverts, this sort of thing is nearly impossible. How can you have the wherewithal to report an advert whilst suffering from a seizure or migraine? 

This is where Allies come in! Please can you collect any and all adverts you see that contain flashing lights at a rate of 3 Flashes Per Second or higher/Glitch Effects/High Contrast Colours? Then, on 26th March (Epilepsy Awareness Day) I suggest that we all send these adverts in on mass! It'll help to get our point across that this is a REGULAR OCCURRENCE that affects an entire community of people, and hopefully we'll be able to enact some actual change to make this website more accessible for disabled people! 

If you are seeing this after 26th March, or worry you'll not remember to do so by then, fear not! You can send the posts to Tumblr Support year round! It's just useful to have a date to organise these things around for maximum impact.

After their rejection, Tumblr gave me a free blaze so let's see if this one gets put through! Or if they'll reject it on unknown grounds once again. 

#actually epileptic #epilepsy #tumblr #actually disabled

[the-library-alcove]

Ironic Parallels

For all that the political Left likes to claim that they're without bias or bigotry, just existing as a Jew in Leftist spaces will quickly demonstrate otherwise. And for maximum irony, the patterns of systemic antisemitism on the Left don't mirror right-wing antisemitism. Instead, they mirror right-wing racism. Imperfectly, for sure, but the parallels between how the Right treats Black people and how the Left treats Jews are striking.

Discussions of systemic bigotry are deflected with Whataboutisms so that the instigating issue isn't addressed. For African-Americans, it's often "What about Black-on-Black crime?" and similar by the Right-Wing, and for Jews, it's "What about Israel?"

Alternatively, a prominent political advocacy organization is attacked and defamed in order to again deflect and dismiss. "BLM is violent and engages in riots!" or the usual libels against ACORN, and "Israel is fascist!" or the usual libels against AIPAC and the ADL.

At the same time, prominent dead members have their words cherrypicked to make people feel good about themselves and their treatment of that group. Contrast how MLK's "I had a dream!" speech is used by the Right-Wing with how Anne Frank's "I believe that people are fundamentally good at heart" is used by the Left.

On that same theme, token members are held up to deflect accusations of systemic bias. African-American right-wingers prove that the Right Isn't Racist, and Jewish Antizionists prove that the Left isn't antisemitic--or, conversely, the extremist members of the individual group are cherrypicked to "prove" that the whole group is like them.

Furthermore, laws are proposed or passed to disrupt cultural practices; people of African descent face bias for having natural hair, while Jews routinely face people proposing banning circumcision, kosher slaughter, or the keeping of an eruv. But, you see, they can't be biased, because they know all about that group... based on what they saw on TV/Movies/Wikipedia, so they know that the group can handle these laws and rules just "fine".

The targeted group are treated as having an unfair advantage in the racial hierarchy. Consider the parallels between a right-winger complaining about Affirmative Action, and a Left-Winger saying that, since "Jews are White and therefore privileged, antisemitism isn't real discrimination."

But as soon as one shows up in a space outside of where they "belong", they're treated with suspicion until proven that they're acceptable... if ever. A POC in a store is treated as a potential thief, and a Jew in public is automatically acceptable to interrogate if they're a "Zionist".

Consider also how historical revisionism is rife as well. For POC, slavery and imperialism are erased from textbooks, as well as the backlash against Critical Race Theory, the 1619 Project and more. Meanwhile for Jews, pretty much nothing exists in educational curriculums between the start of the Diaspora (assuming it's even mentioned) and the Holocaust, which is treated as an aberration of bigotry instead of the culmination of centuries of hate. Even the admission of the real history is treated as an unforgiveable sin. Black people were never mistreated or enslaved, but were Guest Workers. Jews never came from the Levant and are Just White People From Europe.

And that's before we even get into systemic disenfranchisement. The original "ghetto" was the Jewish ghetto of Venice, and Jews are still routinely discriminated against for hiring, just as POC are.

But at the same time, everyone knows that "Blacks always play the race card" and that "Jews always accuse people of antisemitism."

And so on and so forth.

They're not perfect parallels--and I'm not saying that they are--but they are striking parallels in behavior.

__

I drafted this in April 2023, and it's been sitting in my drafts ever since, as I didn't have the courage to post it.

But given the current SURGE in Leftist Antisemitism, I somehow don't care anymore.

#leftist antisemitism #antisemitism