What do you think Gabriel feels for Nathalie? Contrasting their villain partnership with the way he's always disregarding everything about Adrien, it almost feels like she ranks higher than his son, although that may just be coz she is his only support/confidante. I was rewatching Felix and the way he reacted to Adrien giving his blessing made me wonder if it was so harsh coz he does recognize on some level that she is replacing Emelie, even for him, but if he admitted that to himself, then heP1
P2 would be forced to deal with the fact that what he's been doing was pointless and a mistake and he doesn't want to do that. There's probably also some layers we don't know about yet, since he keeps mentioning a promise, but his justification has always been that he's doing all this out of love and for their family and that makes it ok. If he acknowledges that's not or no longer true... Idk, it would be another parallel between him and Marinette if he was in love with his partner but in denial
I brought up in my Adrien/Nathalie character foiling analysis that Gabriel respects Nathalie's autonomy more than he does Adrien's and that this is most likely because, when given the freedom to choose, Nathalie will choose whatever will align with Gabriel's desires, while Adrien wants to make decisions for his own benefit, even when his decisions are in conflict with Gabriel's desires. Gabriel is fundamentally a selfish man. His wife's death/illness is all about him. He wants to bring her back for himself, since he certainly hasn’t consulted Adrien about it, and Adrien is not allowed to move on because Gabriel doesn't want to move on.
It's the duty of every parent to feed, clothe and care for their child to the best of their abilities, and even that Gabriel does selfishly: Adrien has to eat at home, where Gabriel can keep an eye on him, Adrien has to wear Gabriel Brand clothes to promote his father's company every moment he's out and about and Adrien is only involved in Gabriel's life as an employee, except that at least one employee gets to take liberties with Gabriel Adrien would never be allowed. Nathalie can question Gabriel, she can bring forth her own opinions without him snapping, and she can touch him without him flinching; there’s a difference in his reactions between Adrien hugging him in ‘Captain Hardrock’, and Nathalie embracing him in ‘Timetagger’. In addition, Adrien can't even pick his friends because Gabriel hasn't vetoed everything beforehand.
During the liveblog my bro and I saw a connection between Gabriel's obvious affection towards Nathalie and Adrien's obvious affection towards Marinette, my brother even coined the term "Just-a-Friend Mayura" for moments where the villain partnership read a lot more like a personal partnership than a partners in crime type of relationship. However, Gabriel might be a self-centered man, but he knows love, and I've earlier drawn parallels to Gabriel's pursuit of Emilie and Marinette's pursuit of Adrien being similarly one-sided (for now) endeavours. It is very likely that Gabriel is aware of the chemistry between him and Nathalie and is simply willfully ignoring it rather than being oblivious, just like Marinette is ignoring her feelings for Cat Noir that could challenge her dedication to Adrien.
This is why Nathalie's closed off nature is a key factor. Because Nathalie is so content to simply suffer in silence for love, Gabriel can enjoy the intimacy between them while never facing his feelings for her. Even in their villainous partnership Nathalie is much more Gabriel's partner than his kwami, Nooroo. This is because Nooroo tries to serve as the angel on Gabriel's shoulder, a balancing element. One of Nooroo's more iconic interactions with Gabriel is encouraging him to spend more time with Adrien. But Gabriel is too self-centered to seek compromise with Nooroo, or value his opinion, preferring to scare him into quieting his dissenting opinions with the threat of actually silencing him. Meanwhile, because Nathalie doesn't challenge his priorities, Gabriel relies on her a great deal, and Nathalie, in return, helps him draw together his plans.
Statistically, widowed men have a harder time mentally and emotionally than widowed women, because it's rarer for men to have a support network that could help them deal with their loss. For many married men, the wife is the only source of emotional support. As it is, Nathalie has very much become the "replacement wife" in this sense, being Gabriel's only support network in Emilie's absence. And it's so easy to love the one person who's the only constant in a life that's going through upheaval. The closeness in the Ladynoir relationship is also based on this, "You and me against the world" and all that.
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