Petrova Doppelgängers and Femininity
I'm not sure if the show runners and the writers intended to do this, but the Petrova doppelgängers are deeply entrenched in femininity. The one thing that all doppelgängers have in common is that they are always the sufferers. That they are powerful but only because they can be used. And that is exactly how the world has used women for centuries.
Amara’s cast in stone for two thousand years, being the anchor to the other side, her power used to hold up the so called supernatural purgatory. Tatia’s love is twisted, her blood is used to turn the men she loved into monsters. She had a child, presumably from a man who either left her or died. And then she’s killed by the lover turned monster for her blood. Katherine’s child is ripped from her, and when she tries to start a new life, she’s shown a beautiful, romantic future with a lord before it’s ripped away from her too. Before she sees her whole family slain. Elena is entrenched in grief and trauma, her loss is like Katherine’s, but where Katherine’s happened in a single night, Elena’s happened over three years.
Over and over again, the doppelgängers are used for the two most personal things - their blood and their womb. Having children that they can’t raise.
Amara falls in love with a man far more powerful than her and is condemned to an eternity of suffering and punishment for her crime.
Tatia is blamed for coming between two brothers and killed for her crime.
Katherine has her child ripped from her arms, seeing her daughter only once before she’s gone forever. She goes to England and dreams of a perfect life, emboldened by Klaus and his ‘romantic’ pursuit of her. Probably sees dreams of being a lady and a wife and a mother, for she’s a mother without her child.
But when she realises that these are just her dreams and tries to take control of her situation, she’s punished and has to see her entire family dead. Punished because she did not accept death and suffering. It’s telling as well, the way she’s portrayed on the show, the femme fatale, the ‘sexy’ one, the whore to Elena’s Madonna.
The only one who gets sent to hell for her sins.
Elena sees her parents die, Elena’s stuck between two brothers who love her face and her body and her compliance more than they love her. Who loses her aunt despite giving into Klaus and then becomes his human blood bag. Who keeps trying to save Stefan until he breaks her spirit, who keeps trying to save Damon despite how he takes away her right to grieve.
Amara, Tatia, Katherine and Elena are all sufferers. They suffer for their blood and their bodies and their wombs. They scream and are turned into victims, monster teeth in their throats, and iv lines in their veins and their blood turned to stone.
They are a representation of the most fundamental ways in which women suffer. Through their blood and their wombs and their hearts.
They are not powerful beings, yet their blood and suffering is of use to others.
And yet, they persevere. Amara who chooses her own death, and Tatia who had willingly given her blood to save Elijah. Katherine who takes her death in her own hands and lives. Refuses to suffer. Elena who plays the game and uses everything at her disposal to save everyone she can around her.
Just as all women do.
They all play a game that’s been rigged against them since the beginning.
They are one whose blood enables the existence of vampires and hybrids. Without the doppelgängers, there would be no vampires, there would be no originals, and no hybrids. Their blood is what sustains two entire species.
And so, in one way or the other, they win.
@sevensistersofsussex @amandamonroe @feralcherry @qvnthesia @jennifersminds
85 notes
·
View notes
@ladamedemartel liked the starter call // accepting
amara had been alone for what she supposed was a small amount of time. time, a concept that was so strange, now that she was -actively- a part of it again. it was perhaps the reason why she could not estimate how long she already had been in this windowless room. a room that appeared to be somewhere underground {a new prison?}.
besides, 'alone' was the wrong term. amara wasn't alone, there were still the whispers but they appeared to be far away. almost like they couldn't find her - for now. a shudder went down her spine at the thought that they will eventually catch up. that they'll find her, that they'll pester and hurt her again. but no matter where she would flee to, they will always find her eventually. they are drawn to her. she cannot escape her task. if only this state would finally end…
amara snapped out of her endless thoughts when she heard a sound that was too close than to originate from the whispers. it echoed through the room, causing the brunette to withdraw as far as her chains allowed. the door of the room where she was held opened, and other than expected, a woman appeared.
brown eyes flickered restlessly across the person, this time sure that she wasn't a ghost. ghosts don't use doors.
"who are you?"
43 notes
·
View notes