Long Live The Frickin Fairy King

The name is Juice 20 years old Current hyperfixation is Gloxinia Ask box is open Do feel free to analyze stuff with me Curse words are just my language sprinkles

[juiceyobsessionist]

Greetings! The name Juice!

Im 20 years old and my current hyperfixation is Gloxinia, from seven deadly sins.

I generally post analysis/headcannons and if you want MORE of what i post (with varying degrees of quality) check out my instagram

Ill be taking posts from there and putting them on here/expanding upon them.

[sweetiecherri]

Did I cook or did I burn the bacon

[overlyimmersed]

Are Fairies like bees?

I was talking with @juiceyobsessionist about headcanons and they said that since the Fairy Kings look rather different than the average Fairy they might classify as a kind of subspecies. I suggested it was more like how queen bees look different from the rest of the hive and we agreed on that.

But that got me to thinking a little deeper. Because the Fairy Kings aren't the only ones who look quite like they do, they certainly have distinguishing features, but there are other Fairies that look similar. Fairies like Elain and Gerheade. But they're princesses so maybe that just counts the same in Fairies. Still what about Fairies like Helbram? He's not born from the Sacred Tree as far as we know, he's just a Fairy.

The point is, maybe it's like in bee hives there's the queen, workers and drones. And all three types look different from each other and serve different purposes in the colony.

Of course it's not 1:1.

Fairies don't really have "work" so there's no need for "workers" and Fairies don't typically breed so there's no need for "drones". And, obviously the Fairy King doesn't serve the same literal purpose as a queen bee.

Though looking at Harlequin and Diane, you could have fooled me ;P

The Fairy King's job is to protect the Fairy King's Forest, the Fountain of Youth(while it was a thing) and the Fairy Clan as a whole.

The average Fairy would be like the workers? Or maybe it's more like drones since they don't really have much a social purpose, beyond existing as a population.(Again, not 1:1)

And then there's third kind of Fairy. The kind like Helbram and a number of other Fairies we see in the Fairy King's Forest. They have a more human-like appearance and seem to be stronger than average Fairies, but are still smaller and weaker than fully grown Fairy Kings. Perhaps these are meant to be sort of like soldiers in ant colonies.

Something I've observed is that between Fairy examples we've seen from various locations(The Fairy King's Forest, Benwick, Echo Gorge, and Alpa Forest) The Fairy King's Forest has the lowest percentage of "drone" Fairies. Though that wasn't always so. Prior to Helbram's "human incident" there were a lot more of this smaller, weaker type of Fairy. And the other locations listed have few, or even zero "soldier" type Fairies observable.(Data on this is provided by animated sources wherever possible. If an animate source is not available the manga is used. Note that factors regarding Fairy physical traits is harder to parse and compare, and has reduced consistency in the manga. This is why animated sources are favored.)

I don't know that any of this actually has anything to do with social structure. Since Fairy don't really seem to have that for the most part. But it's interesting to see the physical differences and wonder about why those differences exist.

[overlyimmersed]

Headcanons/inferences about the Fairy Race from 7DS/nnt

🌱 They're vegetarian. Meaning they can't digest actual flesh. We see Harlequin eat things that have eggs and/or milk in them, but he always hesitates when offered actual meat. And whenever all the guys go out hunting, King either gathers fruit or...sleeps xD

🌿 They're born from oversized versions of regular plant buds.

🌱 They're naked when they're born just like everyone else. You may not think I need to headcanon that, but some people headcanon that they're born clothed like Never Fairies. Which is fine, just not the one I subscribe to.

🌿 All of their clothes are just open in the back or backless for their wings. I know the manga and anime don't reflect this thought at all, but I can't really figure out how their wings work otherwise.

🌱 And about their wings! Basically cartilaginous joints that form on their shoulder blades as they mature. That's why it would make that horrible sound when they get ripped off, like the sound a dislocating shoulder makes. Gross...

🌿 Fairies live forever. I know now the wiki says they have a definitive lifespan, but when I first joined the fandom, in 2022, it said something different. And I just actually think this makes more sense. See this post for my reasoning.

🌱 Fairies don't really practice any sort of formal agriculture. They mostly just get whatever they need from around them.

🌿 Fairies can compliment each other's wings, but it's weird if another race does it.

🌱 Fairies with round ears are needed to make babies. They can do it with other races and even other Fairies with pointed ears, but at least 1 of the Fairies in the pairing has to have naturally round ears for babies to happen.

🌿 Fairies don't really have architecture the way humans would think of it. They make their homes in tree hollows.

🌱 The Fairy King's Forest grows all sorts of plants that aren't native to Britannia. Not just things native to the Fairy Realm, but plants from other regions of the Human Realm too. Regardless of things like climate and grow zones.

🌿 The Fairy King's Forest does shift through the four seasons as if it were a temperate zone, but because of all the magic the plants don't really die in the winter. The color of foliage and what's in bloom changes from season to season.

🌱 Most Fairies are aroace. The majority of the Fairy Clan aren't interested in romance at all and are just really close friends. Even fewer have any interest in sex and the ones that do are only interested in it if it's with someone they're in love with.

🌿 Most Fairies are ambidextrous. Some do favor right or left, but it's less common.

🌱 Gloxinia and Dahlia have scales on their wings like a moth or butterfly, that's what gives them that irridecent, rainbowy quality. Still don't know why Harlequin is different though :p (credit to @juiceyobsessionist for this idea)

[juiceyobsessionist]

OH MY GOD I GOT @ okay okay!

Expanding upon that last one here:

SO assuming @overlyimmersed idea of the anatomy of fairy wings is true, then i think the scales would make the most sense.

Fairy wings would be cartilage, a layer of skin with carlitage veins, and then the scales.

The scales would be layed on top of the skin layer, and the cartilage veins would have some small scales on them still.

ALSO the scales would probably be some kind of modified keratin. Shiny as well.

Basically im saying that hes got butterfly anatomy. If you touch his wings they woyld actually feel pretty dusty due to the scales.

And because the scales would be able to relfect light (again thanks to overlyimmersed for pointing tbat out), hence what gives dahlia and gloxinia's wings that weird srainbowy shift look. Its not ACTUALLY shiftinh volor, their scales just reflect light.

[juiceyobsessionist]

Alright today is drole day. Ive been putting it off long enough, my boy deserves an anaylsis.

And what better thing to analyze than his betrayal of stigma? I think in cannon it kind of gets swept under the rug a little bit, especially because gloxinias circumstances were so much more brutal and violent.

More under the cut

So lets start at the beginning. Origins of drole, if you will. We know he was born kind of mishappen, with boulder like arms, blue skin, abnormal height, and an 'evil eye'.

For those who have forgotten thos is what drole looked like AS A CHILD.

And to be entirely fair to the giants, if i saw a 6'4 buff toddler with four arms walking around who could read my mind and asses how strong i was, i think i'd be pretty freaked out too.

However, knowing what we know from the giant clan (with them being warriors who fight to the death), i think depending on the severity of how badly they picked on him, its very likely that drole would have had to fight to the death at a young age. This is not entirely CERTAIN keep in mind, because we saw matrona did train diane despite her being an outcast, so perhaps drole had somebody like that? Or perhaps they just chose to ignore him? Either way it was made abundently clear the other giants did NOT like drole until after he became king, and even then they only liked him BECAUSE he could kick their asses. Not because they liked him for him.

So with that being established, lets back up for a small moment.

Drole is born and kind of outcasted from giants. He probably doesnt have the greatest self esteem at this point. But then at some point he learns to kick peoples asses. And its only after hes kicked peoples asses do people ACTUALLY respect him. So at a very young age hes learned that the only thing hes good for is fighting and violence.

When he joined stigma, it was because of his fighting skills. Not because they thought he was a cool dude. He was there because he could fight.

So when zeldris kicked his ass and proceeded to call him ugly for like, five full minutes, he was already playing on droles insecurities. Drole very likely did not like the way he looked, AND he had just gotten his pride crushed.

It wasnt just a petty fleeting 'oh i liked this thing and now somebody is better at it than me'

I think it was more along the lines of: 'this is the only thing i have ever valued about myself/ people have only accepted me for, and now its gotten taken away'

It wasnt just pride that zeldris crushed. I do believe he accidentally smushed whatever self esteem drole HAD at that point. Calling him ugly for five minutes straight did not help.

And after that zeldris did something that i found very interesting. He turned it around, offering drole a place of belonging. Now, to a person whose always been outcasted because of his looks, this had to have been at least a somewhat appealing concept. And drole did not want to die.

I know the show kind of frames him as a coward for that, but like?? To be FAIR if i got beat up, insulted, then the dude was like 'join my gang or die' i think id join the goddamn gang.

Another point the show makes is diane running away. Which i think is a good lesson, but BAD sitation to employ that lesson in.

Why?

Because thats ZELDRIS THE FUCKING EXECUTIONER.

Do you guys really think somebody with EXECUTIONER in the title is going to let drole get away?? Not only that, but drole is 84 feet tall. Where the FUCK is that man going to run too?? If he digs a hole, zeldris could likely just blast thru the ground. Or wait until he comes out. If he just gets up and runs, well?? Zeldris was a lot faster than him.

I think the only reason diane was able to get away as drole, was because the time goddess spell took her back before zeldris could actually follow her.

I firmly believe that if drole had run, he would have died.

So i think it was a good leason to teach droles prideful ass, but not against somebody like zeldris, who could easily follow.

Basically what im getting at is drole was trapped. Yes, joining the demon clan was cowardly, but i do think it was absolutly understandable as to WHY he did it.

Infact, i propose that the reason drole wore that atrocious bag over his head:

(damn tumblr killed the quality on that picture)

Was because he was so ashamed of himself he couldnt show his face.

Again, remember, giants believe that dying for a cause is the MOST honorable thing you can do. These values were probably reinforced by drole himself. So the fact that he went back against his own core values was probably very distressing for him. So distressing that he put a garbage bag on his head, then kidnapped a teenager and trauma dumped on her to cope.

Yk, some people like knit sweaters to cope, but whatever works i guess.

Anyways the point of this whole thing is that while i dont really think drole was correct in his actions to join the ten commandments, i do think its far more understandable than the show tried to frame it.

[juiceyobsessionist]

You just came in here and immediately dropped a six page essay you did for class. Respect! I loveee analysis and lore and have some stuff scattered around my blog as well. It's nice to meet another!!!

And let me say I'm happy to see a dedicated gloxinia fan, he deserves it.

Listen i wasnt orignally gonna post the essay, but ykw?? Fuck it. There was not enough in depth character anaylsis of gloxinia so i did my own. Feeding myself with this content.

Very nice to meet you too!

Gloxinia DOES deserve more content ngl, and because theres like two and a half people left in the fandom, i figured

I might as well post the things im thinking about. Feed the other two people.

[juiceyobsessionist]

My first contribution to this fandom is this six page essay i wrote on gloxinias morality for ethics class.

More under the cut

Gloxinia of Repose is a character from the Netflix show The Seven Deadly Sins, and ultimately one of the more interesting characters within the show. Gloxinia’s morality is a warped and twisted version of consequentialism. Gloxinia serves as a minor antagonist through the series, though in the end he ends up as something akin to a ‘hero’. However, due to the nicheness of the show itself, some background information is vital to understanding Gloxinia’s complexly twisted morality.

The setting of The Seven Deadly Sins is a vaguely medieval time period, with a fantasy genre. Gloxinia is part of a gang labeled The Ten Commandments whose goal is to take over the land of Britannia. Opposing The Ten Commandments is a group called The Seven Deadly Sins.

It’s a rather simple ‘good versus evil’ fight, with The Ten Commandments generally having some twisted morality and a dislike for most of the other races.

However, Gloxinia was something of an odd character. He was not outright bloodthirsty. He was sadistic and childishly cruel, yes. He seemed to prioritize fun over actually doing his job properly, and was willing to put on a big performance rather than fighting with all his might. Most notably, Gloxinia had a particularly pessimistic view of the world and seemed to have some sort of grudge against humans. He even went so far as to call them a “Vial repugnant race”. To add to this, he also was shown to be rather lazy and self centered. The only person he was actively nice to was his friend Drole. Every other person who allied with the humans, he attempted to kill in the most fun way possible and was shown to get rather annoyed when people strayed from his little ‘game’.

Then, he did a quick switch up. He stopped being awful after he helped to kill his ex friend, Meliodas. All through the fight scene with Meliodas, Gloxinia could be seen actively feeling bad. This scene is extremely important, because it proves that Gloxinia is not sociopathic. He does have some sort of twisted morality behind him.

Then, after that, he switches and decides to help out The Seven Deadly Sins, giving Harlequin and Diane a large portion of his own power to do so. He discovers his dead sister was still alive, and ends up sacrificing himself in order to let The Sins escape from the demon Chandler, and to attempt to make up for all of his wrong doings. He ends up dying rather quickly, but he seems content with his choices, as he did die with a smile on his face.

Through all of this, he also has his friend Drole right by his side. The two even end up dying together. Drole and his sister were his favorite people, and Gloxinia was not ever shy in showing that. He would heal Drole with a very limited healing ability, and the loss of his sister incited a 3,000 year long mental breakdown. This mental breakdown is where his crueler persona developed, and it’s what caused Gloxinia to join The Ten Commandments to begin with.

Yet, despite his clear adoration for his friends, he did not extend the same kindness to Meliodas. He actively helped kill Meliodas, and while Gloxinia clearly felt bad for Meliodas that did not stop his horrible actions. So the question is: Why? Why was Gloxinia willing to pick and choose which of his friends he killed off? Why was he willing to heal Drole, and go on a warpath for his sister Gerheade, yet he could not even find it in himself to spare his other friend? They all seemed just as close from the few interactions we saw. So what on Earth made Gloxinia willing to pick and choose between his friends? Well, the answer is simple. Gloxinia is a consequentialist, and he believed killing Meliodas was for the greater good.

According to Russ Shafer, author of The Fundamentals of Ethics, fifth edition, “If you have a choice between two options and the first is less good than the second, then the first can’t possibly be right.” This is a good way to sum up the entire thought process of consequentialism. The whole moral theory is based upon doing whatever good possible (Shafer-Landau). It is about minimizing damage and picking the best option from the wreckage, even in a bad situation (Shafer-Landau).

However, consequentialism is not without its issues. It is a rather easy morality to sway if you have the wrong ideals. As put by Alvin I. Goldman, author of RELIABILISM, VERITISM, AND EPISTEMIC CONSEQUENTIALISM, “Consider Judith Thomson's (1976) example of a transplant surgeon who encounters a patient during a routine check-up and decides to chop him up, take his organs, and transplant them in five other patients, each in need of one of those organs. From a teleological point of view, this action is good, perhaps even right. Greater overall happiness will be promoted by this action than by simply attending to the original patient and letting those in need of organ transplants die (Goldman).” As Goldman puts it in this quotation, prioritizing the needs of the many is not always necessarily ethical.

Now, this relates to Gloxinia and his moralities quite easily. He felt Meliodas was a threat. Meliodas had been branded a traitor to the demon race and The Ten Commandments were supposed to kill Meliodas and free the rest of the demon race from the seal.

Gloxinia had always been the type to weigh his options carefully. To try and choose the least harmful path, or the path that did the most good, as consequentialists tend to do. It is important to note that after being betrayed by a group of humans, Gloxinia saw humans as evil at this point. This is absolutely integral to his character, and the choices he makes. He chooses to try and kill Meliodas, one of his oldest and only friends, because Meliodas sided with the humans.

To Gloxinia, killing off all of the evil humans who tried to kill his sister was a good thing. Humans were a disgusting race which he despised. It only made sense for him to try for genocide. Meliodas was an obstacle to him at that point, and Gloxinia, in the truest consequentialist fashion, chose to help kill Meliodas. Gloxinia was clearly not happy about it, indicating that this decision was not one chosen lightly. This was something that made him consider his own moralities, and ultimately choose to attempt to do something that felt less wrong to him. Which is where helping Harlequin and Diane came into play.

He ended up helping them figure out how to be more powerful, while also informing them on the events that led the demon race to be sealed to begin with, as well as the events that led him to ultimately become a Commandment.

It would be a crime to speak on all of this, and leave out the most important event of Gloxinia’s life. An event that he based his entire morality off of, and the one that led Gloxinia to being a Commandment. His sister's death.

This whole event happened because he trusted a group of humans. The humans ended up betraying him and cutting off his sister's legs, her eye, and half of her wings. One human defected from the group and tried to save Gerheade, but Gloxinia spotted the human holding what he assumed was her mangled corpse and murdered the human. Then, Gloxinia went on to continue killing humans. As many as he could find. Zeldris found him and offered to let him join The Ten Commandments.

This was the greatest showing of his consequentialist nature showing through. To Gloxinia, killing off humans was for the greater good. The action may not have been fun, but it was something that had to be done. Or the humans may go around doing the same to others. While Gloxinia certainly did have fun with it, he still was doing it willingly.

What Gloxinia experiences when he changes sides and decides to kill humans is actually referred to as moral disengagement. Which, according to Helet Botha, author of Existentialist Perspectives on the Problem and Prevention of Moral Disengagement is “ Moral disengagement was originally conceived of as a psychological process—a set of cognitive mechanisms—whereby an individual becomes capable of dissociating with their internal moral standards and thus behaving unethically without feeling distress (see also Newman et al., 2020) (Botha).” This is how Gloxinia was able to do such a quick switch from liking humans to hating them.

Some people may attempt to argue that his morality could possibly be psychological egoism. A good way to sum it up is by Di Carlo Emiliano, author of Antecedents of Deviant Behavior: Psychological and Non-Psychological Factors and Ethical Justifications, “According to the homo economicus assumption, the human being is a self-serving individual only interested in maximizing its utility function (Jensen & Meckling, 1976) (Carlo Emiliano).” In other words, humans are selfish. They put themselves first, for better or worse. And considering how Gloxinia attempts to commit genocide against humans due to his own trauma, it may certainly see that way.

There’s no denying that everything Gloxinia did was tinged with a bit of selfishness. He killed, he separated families. Broke apart entire generations all because he decided he hated something. His sister turned out to be alive after all, and he apparently just left her there. He certainly thought she was dead, but that does not change the fact that it was selfish. Not only that, but a lot of Gloxinia’s dialogue would lead you to believe that he truely and genuinely believes that all humans are selfish. And he absolutely does. Which is why he goes out and kills the humans he’s killed.

“Is it appropriate to sacrifice one person to save many?” Is the question asked by Yoshiyuki Takimoto, author of Verification of the Japanese Version of Greene’s Moral Dilemma Task’s Validity and Reliability. This question is a great example of consequentialism, and Gloxinia’s overall mortality. He is willing to sacrifice one person to save many. And in the end, he sacrificed himself to try and slow down the demon Chandler. He lost and died. It was his way of bringing good out of all of the bad he had caused. The ultimate sacrifice.

So, with all of this being said, it’s quite clear that Gloxinia of Repose from the Netflix show The Seven Deadly Sins had a consequentialist morality. He constantly weighed the pros and cons of his own actions, was deliberate in the way he approached things, and consistently did his best to try and bring true goodness. Even though it was a very flawed and scary stance to take- genocide just really isn’t the correct answer for most problems. He still took this stance with the idea that what he was doing was absolutely and entirely good. And in the end, in an attempt to make things right, he sacrificed his own life. He died for his morality, his viewpoints, and to protect the very friends he tried to kill.

Bibliography

Shafer-Landau, R. (n.d.). The Fundamentals of Ethics (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Goldman, A. I. (2015). RELIABILISM, VERITISM, AND EPISTEMIC CONSEQUENTIALISM. Episteme,

.10th Anniversary of Episteme, 12(2), 131-143.

https://doi.org/10.1017/epi.2015.25

Di, C. E. (2022). Antecedents of Deviant Behavior: Psychological and Non-Psychological Factors and Ethical Justifications. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 34(2), 169-191. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-021-09387-x

Di, C. E. (2022). Antecedents of Deviant Behavior: Psychological and Non-Psychological Factors and Ethical Justifications. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 34(2), 169-191. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-021-09387-x

Takimoto, Y., & Yasumura, A. (2023). Verification of the Japanese Version of Greene’s Moral Dilemma Task’s Validity and Reliability. Psych, 5(1), 224. https://doi.org/10.3390/psych5010017