do i have strong negative feelings towards celine because of the way she raised rumi and trained huntrix and messed them all up? yes. do i understand that she was probably trained the same way and is an immensely complex character? also yes.
y'all ask for complex women and then can't handle them when they come. yes, celine really messed up the girls and that's not something to just be ignored or glazed over. but understanding that there's more to her is so important.
I totally understand why people react the way they do to Celine. At the same time I’m absolutely losing it 100% of the time for Celine as a character.
Because if we’re being real, Rumi represents an incredible threat, potentially endangering billions of people if the Honmoon protecting the entire globe is accurate. She’s shown to have an unusual ability to shotgun blast the Honmoon with her voice in a way we don’t even really see from the Saja Boys who are actively trying to tear it down.
Reminder that Celine had no way of knowing what Rumi would grow up to be, or what kind of danger she may represent as she aged. Reminder that Celine has a responsibility that extends far, far beyond herself and her own interests.
With this in mind Celine keeping Rumi alive after she realizes she’s a demon is batshit insane. Imagine the guilt of not being able to go through with killing a child, then the horror of realizing that you even feel guilty about that. Loop on repeat. The woman’s brain was probably a torment nexus for 20+ years.
Of course we can assume that Celine is simply a monster who is keeping Rumi alive out of some misplaced guilt… OR… There is a far more interesting alternative.
Celine has only one thing left: Rumi, her best friend’s child and her daughter in everything but name. Acknowledging that Rumi is a demon puts Celine in an impossible position. Rumi is too dangerous to live. She is too precious to die. So Celine lies to herself in every way she can, because the alternative would destroy them both.
Then Rumi shows up in the middle of the Honmoon tearing apart at the seams and asks Celine to kill her as if she would ever be able to make that choice. As if Celine hasn’t actively taken every measure to deny that choice every day of Rumi’s life. As if Celine doesn’t love Rumi. That’s what Celine’s child believes that she is capable of doing.
I’m not saying every choice the woman made was justified but goddamn I wouldn’t have been at my best either.
I think all the time about Celine just endlessly erasing her lines in the sand. Compromising and compromising and compromising because she can’t do it! She won’t!
I think a lot about the fucking tragedy of Rumi believing she’s disposable enough to put down like a rabid dog.
Meanwhile Celine is throwing away all dignity and all her principles, scrambling for any shred of hope. She sees herself as being weak for this. She sees herself exactly as we see her in that scene - a cringing, pathetic coward. My personal theory is that if Celine were close enough to fall under the Saja Boys spell she would hear: Even your own child sees what you are.
Like I’m endlessly chasing my own tail about Celine loving so hard that she breaks herself with it.
