Lady Echo: A Character Analysis
Before we dive in, there's something about me you should know. I'm a TV Tropes truther. That site is my Bible. If a piece of media interests me, then you'd better believe I have visited its TV Tropes page.
And because of that, Echo in particular is a character I've been meaning to talk about for a while now, because I get the feeling people tend to overlook what I feel is the true core of her character at the end of season 3.
As you can see, while other tropes go more into detail about her true motivations behind betraying Oropo, that part of her character ends up being reduced to being a Woman Scorned, and while that certainly applies here, I really don't think that's the trope that best encapsulates her character and her decisions at the end of the season.
A Woman Scorned is essentially any woman who has been wronged by the person she loves and seeks revenge or has at least expressed great anger. And it can go from being cheated on by a partner, or simply being rejected by their love interest and not taking it well. And both heroic and villainous characters can be the ones to break her heart. In fact, Arpagone too would be an example of this trope, as even if her feelings for Ruel are still there, most of her actions are motivated by the pain she feels for his decision to choose money over her.
As you can see, this all fits with Echo's actions and feelings at the end of season 3, but it's very general overall. Which is why, in my humble opinion, Echo is a better example of Love Forgives All but Lust.
This trope is essentially a deconstruction of tropes centred around the appeal bad boys have for women. The thing about women falling for bad boys is that those women tend to know they're bad news, and beyond a desire to be the ones to change them, the real reason that interest is born is because they're attracted to the idea of the bad boy being a jerk to everyone, but them. Love Forgives All but Lust is what happens when the woman is rudely awakened from that delusion.
In other words, when they realise not even they are safe from their partner's worst actions. And what is the best way to have a woman feel betrayed to the point of seeking revenge? Unfaithfulness.
Sure, they will forgive their partner if it turns out he's a serial killer, but if he cheats? Then he's the one who's dead.
And example of Love Forgives All but Lust is when the police is trying to get a mafioso's wife/girlfriend to testify against her lover, but she refuses to cooperate... until she discovers her husband/boyfriend has a lover, then she'll do everything to bring him down.
If you think about it, this is essentially what happened between Echo and Oropo after he revealed he only ever "loved" Amalia. Even if Echo is a much more active player in Oropo's machinations than simply being aware of them, having helped him carry over his plans for centuries as his second-in-command.
After he kissed Amalia and claimed Echo never meant anything to him compared to her, that's when Echo totally lost it. And her subsequent actions are a direct result of his betrayal. It never had anything to do with Echo seeing the error of her ways, as we all know.
Think about it, it wasn't until Oropo chose Amalia over her, after everything they had ever been through, that Echo truly struck. Once it became apparent her lover didn't care for her nearly as much as she cared for him, that's when Echo revealed his true plans: to destroy the gods, he must destroy the World of Twelve and deprive them of followers. In other words, he was willing to commit mass genocide for the sake of his dream.
Moreoever, the fact that she got to reveal the true extent of his plans at all already highlights that only she knew about them. All along, Echo knew what Oropo was planning, the consequences of his dreams, and she never once stopped believing in his cause. Their conversation in episode 6 even going as far as explaining Echo already believed in him and supported his dreams before ever falling for him, meaning she can't even excuse her actions by saying her feelings blinded her. Because she was perfectly aware of Oropo's plans all along.
And yet, that didn't stop her from loving him. If anything, it was only another reason she fell in love with him.
No, it wasn't until Oropo broke her heart that she ever went against him.
If you ask me, this all reads as Echo not minding Oropo's most questionable tendencies because she was convinced she was exempt from ever being at the receiving end of his worst actions. After all, she had been by his side the longest, witnessing how he got rid of demigods that failed to meet his standards or were no longer useful (going with what the show claims, I haven't read Ogrest's manga). It wasn't until he kissed Amalia and shoved her aside that Echo realised not even she was safe from him.
And it was because Oropo had had no qualms to screw her over that Echo decided it was her turn to screw him over. And hence, she revealed his plans to the Brotherhood of the Forgotten, not because she'd seen the error of her ways, but because Oropo had hurt her and she wanted to make him bleed in turn.
In the end, Echo's actions weren't fuelled solely by revenge or even jealousy, they were fuelled by the bitter realisation that she never meant as much to Oropo as he meant to her. It was about realising he had no qualms hurting her, not about how he had no qualms hurting anyone else.
It was about Echo not being enough for Oropo.
And for me, that's why Echo is a better example of Love Forgives All but Lust.
68 notes
·
View notes
I'm rewatching the episodes in French and Dathura hasn't made a reappearance has she? She just up and vanished.
Sorry to keep you waiting. First I had to take some screenshots and then my laptop's battery was always on the verge of giving out, so I couldn't just sit down and answer sooner.
But honestly, yeah! I actually wanted to point that out too!
Compared to the rest of the Brotherhood of the Forgotten, Dathura's disappearance is just plain weird. I watched an interview where Tot revealed that, unlike what the Kickstarter trailer might suggest, the demigods wouldn't really play a major role in season 4. And honestly, that's fair. Given the show is about the Brotherhood or the Tofu and, more importantly, they had just learned their purpose in life ended up being their being manipulated by a megalomaniac with daddy issues, realistically, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with action for a while either.
There's of course the fact that each of them asked to be sent to completely different locations and had very different goals. For example, Coqueline, Kali, and Sipho just wanted to pick up the pieces of what Oropo and especially Echo started and live as a family. And despite both of them ending up in Bonta, Ush wanted nothing to do with Black Bump.
Which makes Dathura's disappearance from the main plot all that weirder. Because she is about the only demigoddes who has any business participating in the main plot by virtue of her actually being there.
Seriously, once again, the Sadida Kingdom is at the very centre of everything. They're the Nécromes main, or at least first, target. And yet, there is no sign of Dathura helping out as the powerful demigoddess she is despite her accepting Amalia's invitation to live in the kingdom and even going as far as remaining by her side the entirety of the third episode.
She was never even introduced to Armand and Aurora despite both of them being there when Amalia returned with her. Made all the more jarring by the fact that she remained by the princess' side even as she mourned her father's death and the next day (?) she just...vanishes with no explanation?
Seriously, out of all of the members of the Forgotten, the two with the most reason to have a bigger role in season 4 are Dathura and Ush. The former because she is supposed to be living there at the time of the Nécromes' attack, and the latter because he was the one who informed Joris of what was going on.
In Ush's case I can understand he decides to stay on the sidelines since he isn't exactly a hero, he mostly just does his own thing. But Dathura's disappearance can be very jarring.
What, did she awkwardly leave Amalia to mourn her father while she went to check in on Ogrest?
Oh, well. The season's been great so far and I don't really have any trouble with this. It's just weird, it's all.
63 notes
·
View notes
Ush Galesh
I feel like ppl don’t often realize how tall ush is like
He is straight up Tiny
And that’s his adult form from the last season
How tall is this bb
I may just love cats way too much esp black cats but I wanna just Pick Him Up and Hug That Tiny Cat Man
Give the kitty a head pat
117 notes
·
View notes
I'M CRAZY. I'M CRAZY. I'M INSANE.
Ok so firstly, we all know that Kerubim and Atcham and Ush keep their memories of past lives. It's kind of silly to assume otherwise considering it's canon, and has been canon for years. (I say in the voice that implies i've been in 5 twitter fights about this with people who don't know about dofus MMO ecaflip lore.)
But i WAS afraid they'd keep it ambiguous for casual fans, by having Atch and Keke call Joris "dad" all the time again. I'm glad they're utilizing more of Joris's petnames besides "dad" this time around.
BUT I DID NOT EXPECT THEM TO CALL JORIS "JOJO", LIKE IN THE PAST? Especially when he expressed that he's too "grown up" for it in the movie. I guess Joris came around to it eventually?
Kerubim says it so protectively. He loves his son so much. I can't do this anymore.,..
Just... somethingsomething... the inherent tragedy of living with your parents for 600 years of codependency, them using all the same childish petnames they've always used for you, and living in the same exact childhood room. While being an adult man.
He can't leave the nest. He's grown into the nest, and now it's a part of him and his innards. He'll never be free.
On a less serious note JORIS PLUSHIE ENJOYER AGENDA IS REAL?!??!? HE DOES LOVE PLUSHES?!?!? HE HAS MULTIPLE OF THEM IN HIS SHITTY MESSY ADHD-NEST OF A BEDROOM. LMAO. ALSO THE MULTIPLE PILLOWS. I CAN'T.
idk how fandom still takes his "ough im so uptight, im so Cool and serious" façade so seriously still. He's worn a cute apron in the manga. He said "yugo me and my family can't stop losing dofus. you HAVE to take it from me." in the ova. he broke into ush's home to free his torture victims in the remington comic and said "Okie dokie" to them as he was freeing them. He was late to the battle with Nox. He is NOT a cool or serious guy. He's a messy dumb bitch with a very well-maintained façade of coolness at best.
..This is so unserious, i can't.
101 notes
·
View notes