Quotes are a Chekhov’s Gun: Duo
From Episode Zero to Episode 02: The Gundam Deathscythe
“It’s pretty obvious to anyone that you’re the bad guy here,” Duo declares smugly after sending a bullet to Heero’s arm to ‘save’ Relena.
It’s a playful albeit rare intro speech for someone who takes up the role of a knight in priest clothes and jodhpurs shining armor in a situation like this. Maybe he’s already there before Relena arrives. Perhaps he notices how Relena approaches Heero, and then sees how Heero looks at her and says her name. But once Heero pulls out a gun, he is quick to think, “Ah, yep, bad guy.” But why broadcast it, like it needs to be validated?
I know seeing someone being held at gunpoint and witnessing the horrors of wars are very different, but I’d like to think Duo’s view on battles have also touched his beliefs about other things, like in something smaller like this.
In his Episode Zero, the young Duo doesn’t believe there are good guys or bad guys in battles. Identifying the sides is pointless because all he knows is that war is the reason why there are many orphans like him and that it’s a reason he has witnessed so many deaths (which subsequently makes him believe in a God of Death or Shinigami instead of a God. “I’ve seen a lot of dead people but no miracles,” he says.)
In AC 188, a group of rebels take shelter in the Maxwell church, where Duo is staying after being adopted by Father Maxwell and Sister Helen. The rebels express their need to have at least one mobile suit so they can fight for their freedom and prevent the Alliance’s occupation. After the rebels hurt Father Maxwell and Sister Helen for “confusing people with talk of peace”, Duo says he’ll steal an MS so they would leave the church. He thinks, “Everyone hates war just the other day! Why go start another one?! If you want a war so much, then why don’t you jerks go fight each other and leave us alone?!”
He succeeds in stealing an MS, but when he returns he finds what would later be known as the “Maxwell Church Tragedy”: the Alliance has reduced the church to rubble, Father Maxwell is dead, and Sister Helen is alive just long enough to die in his arms. The incident is said to claim 245(?) lives.
After that—when he participates in Operation Meteor—I’m pretty certain he gets confused a lot. We’re doing the right thing, right? They’re the bad guys, yes? Am I a good guy? IS THAT GUY A BAD GUY?
Which, interestingly, are quite similar to the questions many viewers are asking themselves while watching the series. The pilots are basically terrorists, are they really who we should be rooting for? Are we supposed to hate OZ when they have their own valid points too? Which side should we be cheering for, WHEN EVERYONE REALLY WANTS PEACE but just has different ways of trying to achieve it?
Because I’m a dork with a penchant for overthinking, I’m assuming that the scene in the beginning is symbolic for the whole show. Remember that when Duo saves Relena from being shot, she jumps defensively in front of Heero, demanding Duo what he is shooting Heero for. This baffles Duo to no end, thinking, “How come I ended up being the bad guy here?”
Like what I said before, this is and will always be one of the beautiful intricacies of Gundam Wing: there are no cookie-cutter heroes or clear-cut villains in it. It makes the audience think. It teaches them to appreciate the characters because they’re more like humans—complex, flawed, a mixture of good and bad, capable of growth—instead of because they’re obviously portrayed as the “good guys”. :)
