#whereas with rhys he felt like he had a chance (which yeah technically he did since its a whole choice and whatnot)

[krotiation]

I can’t stop thinking about the parallels between Angel and Rhys

Not only were both of them pretty damn young, Rhys being closer to Angel’s age than Jack’s, but they also used to seek some type of validation from Jack – Angel wanting her father’s love and attention and Rhys wanting his hero’s approval and praise

And Jack used that among other reasons to control them, starting off with promises to have their backs and telling them they’re a “team”

Before he isolated them, continuing to keep Angel locked up (not just “for her own safety” but also for everyone else’s, essentially telling her she’s a danger and that if anything were to happen it would be her and Jack’s fault) and convincing Rhys he couldn’t trust Fiona and co unless he wanted to end up dead or screwed over

Until they eventually tried to break free from Jack which he responded to by attempting to guilt trip them

Both of them also just went through a lot of pain just to get away from Jack; Angel literally asked you to help her commit suicide, screaming in agony as you destroyed the injectors to kill her. Rhys ripped all his cybernetics out, clearly in pain and almost dying from blood loss afterwards

And Jack’s reaction to all of this was very similar as well. He literally pleads with them to stop yet still not acknowledging his own wrongs, telling Angel that he will forgive her, once again deflecting all accountability onto her

In Rhys' case Jack begs for his life which is really interesting because when he is about to die in bl2 he doesn’t. Instead he goes on a long, angry rant spitting insults and yelling until you kill him

Jack is naturally manipulative, sure, but the way he manipulates his enemies vs the people close to him is so different and I feel like Angel and Rhys being treated similarly despite having very different relationships with him shows that 1) yes, Jack actually did care for Rhys somewhat and he really did consider his rejection a deep betrayal and 2) history always repeated itself for Jack and he never wanted to acknowledge it. Instead, he tried to reel them back into his control by making them out to be the bad guys

Basically, I’m insane and I would give anything to see Rhys and Angel interact and talk about their experiences with Jack. Also, they both have chair related trauma. Chair-ed trauma, if you will

#ive been wanting to make a post about this for soooooo long #but im glad i didnt until now because i didnt even think about the different ways jack acted during both his death scenes until today #which yeah you can make the argument that he was huffing and puffing in bl2 because he knew he was gonna die no matter what #whereas with rhys he felt like he had a chance (which yeah technically he did since its a whole choice and whatnot) #but still. its just very interesting and i WILL overanalyze it #borderlands #borderlands 2 #tales from the borderlands #handsome jack #angel the siren #rhys strongfork #txt #there are probably more comparisons to be made but this post is long enough kjsdghjdkhg