epel felmier is one of those characters people either completely misunderstand or flatten into something heās not
and iām gonna say this first so no one starts arguing in circles
not in a cartoon villain way, but in the way he associates femininity with weakness and something to escape from. and yeah, that is misogyny. it doesnāt come from nowhere, but that doesnāt make it not there
because for epel, femininity was never a choice, it was something forced onto him because of how naturally it came to him
he grew up valuing strength in a very real, physical way. hard work, endurance, being able to stand your ground. he biked miles to school, he fought back when he was bullied, he didnāt just sit there and take it
and then he gets put into pomefiore, where suddenly everything about him is reshaped into something soft, polished, and controlled
and thatās where the disconnect starts
people love to reduce him to a twink with a country accent or, somehow worse, a misogynistic femboy which completely ignores the fact that he doesnāt enjoy being seen as feminine in the first place
that perception isnāt something he embraces, itās something thatās been forced onto him over and over again
so of course he pushes back
but instead of just rejecting the expectations placed on him, he starts rejecting what those expectations are tied to. softness, beauty, elegance. femininity becomes the thing he fights against, instead of the system forcing it onto him
and thatās where his character gets messy
because epel isnāt just angry at how people treat him, heās angry at what they see when they look at him
every āyouāre cuteā or āyouāre prettyā isnāt a compliment to him, it feels like being dismissed. like people are choosing not to take him seriously
he clings to strength, aggression, anything that proves he isnāt what people keep boxing him into. not because those things are inherently better, but because theyāre the only things that feel like theyāll get him respect
and respect is what he actually wants
he doesnāt want admiration, he doesnāt want praise, he just wants respect
and that ties directly into his roots, which people also ignore way too much
epel takes pride in where he came from. his hometown, his family, the way he was raised. that part of him never goes away, even when heās surrounded by pomefioreās expectations
itās the reason he studies potionology with a goal in mind. heās not just there to fit into vilās world or chase beauty for the sake of it, he wants to create something useful, something that helps his home
he has direction, he has purpose
which is also why i canāt fully agree with the idea that he should just follow the path vil sets for him
vil does care about him, but that care comes with a very specific vision of what epel āshouldā be. more refined, more controlled, more aligned with pomefioreās standards
and sometimes that justā¦ doesnāt fit
it feels less like helping epel grow into himself and more like shaping him into something else entirely
and yeah, that tension is important to his character, itās where a lot of his duality comes from
but it also shows how often epel is put in situations where he has to trade pieces of himself just to be accepted
heās stuck between two worlds
one that raised him to be loud, strong, and real
and one that rewards him for being quiet, pretty, and controlled
and neither side fully lets him exist without conditions
so of course heās angry
of course he rejects the things he feels are being used to confine him
that doesnāt make him shallow, and it definitely doesnāt make him weak
it makes him someone whoās been forced into an identity that doesnāt fit and is fighting, sometimes badly, to break out of it
epel isnāt trying to be admired
heās trying to be taken seriously
and heās still figuring out how to do that without losing himself in the process
(yall PLEASE donāt execute me for not postingšš itās finals week rn)
titsay
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