I don’t get the Ikaris hate but then this happened to Wanda in AOU in the beginning too. I see him as an anti hero if nothing else. After all Ajak is also a villain by that logic since she had helped the celestials from millions of years and destroyed how many planets willingly? Maybe if she hadn’t told him her have loved the humans as she did but because she did he pulled away gave up the love of his life so it was obvious he wasn’t just gonna be okay with her changing her mind 🤷🏻♀️
I still have so much to say about Ikaris, so this is an insanely long reply. Sorry, this probably isn’t what you were looking for.
I mean, I get the hate, I do. Ikaris betrayed his family and he hurt them, it’s justifiable to hate him I guess. But it’s still annoying to see people act like he didn’t have any motivations for what he did. Before Ajak told him about the emergence we see him just as carefree and happy as the rest of them. We see him do things like marry the love of his life at a human ceremony, or protect the little girl in Babylon and speak to her in her own language as a way to assure her she’s safe. Before Ajak tells him everything, he’s actively engaging in human activities and speaking with humans. Ignorance is bliss, and Ikaris clearly had the same level of empathy and compassion as the rest of the eternals before he knew the truth. But one of Ikaris’s core traits is his devout faith. He trusts Arisham, believes in Arisham, follows his mission devoutly because he’s assured in his purpose on earth. Then Ajak tells him his true purpose, and his worldview must have shattered entirely. He has to reconstruct his entire understanding of his faith and his purpose. And he has to do it alone, because he loves his family far too much to make them suffer the same pain that he does when he learns the truth. And then he sits with that pain and confusion for years, all while having to watch Sersi fall further in love with humanity and the world around her. So he pulls away. He’s loyal, and trusts Arisham. He’s a good soldier, it’s part of his identity. His family has broken apart, the world continues to change and evolve around him, and he no longer has the purpose he thought he did. So he clings to the one thing that remains true, he is a soldier, he is a protector of his family and of the celestial that grows stronger with each passing year. And overtime, that one truth becomes the only thing he has. Ajak was trying to free him by telling him the truth, because Ikaris has always been far too dedicated to his mission and she thought if she told him why they were really there that Ikaris wouldn’t feel as though only the mission mattered. What she failed to realize is that Ikaris needed the stability of the mission, he needed one thing to always hold firmly to. And yes, that one thing could have been his love for Sersi or his family, but even that was always at risk of changing. The more Sersi fell in love with humanity, the more her and Ikaris’s relationship changed.
But he never would have told her the truth, he loved her far too much to have her endure that pain. So he leaves, which ultimately isolates him further. He shuts down. He has to have a reason for abandoning the woman he loves or else it’s all pointless, and he wouldn’t have been able to process that, so he pins all of his faith on Arisham. He believes in the end everything he’s sacrificing for the mission will pay off. Maybe on the next world he won’t have to know the truth, maybe he and Sersi can fall in love again and Ikaris could stay by her side the way he wanted to. But he has to get through the emergence first.
And then Ajak changes her mind. She never factors in the burden that she placed on Ikaris, and Ikaris is upset because he’s given up everything to keep Ajak’s secret and now she wants him to change in a heartbeat. Ikaris is good, and loyal, and committed to his duty. He follows orders because he was created to do so. And I’m sure that when Ajak changes her mind, he realizes just how much of a pawn he is in the grand scheme of things. Just moved around the board and expected to follow orders, his own wants and wishes never mattering. Because here Ajak is, just telling him they’re going to stop the emergence and tell the other eternals the truth, and it’s spoken like a fact. How Ikaris feels in that moment doesn’t matter, it’s never factored in, and I’m sure he must have been hurt by that. To keep the truth for so long, never telling the others because he didn’t want to hurt them, and here Ajak is saying she’s going to tell them anyway, doesn’t matter how Ikaris feels about it. And if Ajak truly loved him, wouldn’t she have cared about how he felt? Wouldn’t she have talked to him about how knowing the truth has hurt him? Can’t she see he’s in pain and alone because he’s been following her orders this whole time? Doesn’t she care?
And here’s where the doubt creeps in. Maybe Ajak never loved him at all. He’s a good soldier, that cornerstone of his identity that he’s been clinging to is the very thing that makes him expendable in the end. He’s a good soldier and he follows orders, and so why would he go against Ajak? Why would Ajak think he was capable of betraying her? Ikaris feels that maybe he was never loved at all, not in the way she loved the others. And how could Ajak love him? He’s become a robot after all. Not like the others, no attachments, no life, nothing that makes him feel human. How could Ajak love something as heartless as him? And of course, how could she love him once he gives into that heartlessness, and does something that’s unforgivable?
In the end, he’s the perfect soldier. It’s all he’s ever really been.
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