I think I've posted about this before but I think a lot of the dissonance that people feel about Maria/Bleminshine in her events is tied to Maria Nearl and perhaps maybe a slight misreading of the text of that event. Maria Nearl is all about Maria taking up the mantle of being a competition knight and taking part in the Kazimierz Major. I think a lot of people were looking at that event to have a happy ending to it, that Maria would be rewarded for her effort, and honestly I'm glad it didn't. It doesn't have a happy ending for Maria because the signs were always there that it wasn't going to have one.
The part that ultimately stands out about Maria during this event is that you don't get a particularly good idea for who Maria the Knight actually is. A lot of time is spent talking about the difference between the ideal knight and how the campaign knights are now, but Maria doesn't really have ideals she is following. She wasn't someone who wanted to be a competition knight previously. She goes to take up the mantle because she feels that she needs to in order to preserve their family's standing and reputation.
Maria is constantly chasing after Margaret. The meteoric rise and sudden disappearance of her older sister essentially transforms Margaret into an almost deific figure. She follows Margaret's ideals as a knight, not because she's actually thought about them and chosen them to be her own, but because it's what her sister would do. Maria as a competition knight is a hollow version of Margaret, and a hollow version of Magaret is both a boon to many in Kazimierz (as seen by the incredible number of sponsorship offers she is given) but also a thread to those in power. Even a hollow version of Margaret can be followed, as evidenced by Zofia.
But the story repeatedly pokes holes in the fabric even as it holds the hope that maybe a tattered piece of cloth will be able to last against the brutal forces of Kazimierz. Mylnar points out, quite correctly, that the Nearl family losing their knighthood status wouldn't matter. He doesn't care about what the Kazimierz government thinks the Nearl's family claim to knighthood, and realistically, a lot of the people around the Nearl family don't either. Magaret almost surely wouldn't.
She's not prepared for the Major, and she doesn't really know anything about it either. She saw her sister do a once in a lifetime performance of beating the Major without a lot of experience and figured she could also do that, and it ultimately shows in what happens during each fight. Against Olmer Ingra she loses and only doesn't lose any points because he passes out immediately afterwards.
Against the Plastic Knight, she only wins when she uses her engineering knowledge and realizes that there is a major vulnerability in his armor; at that exact point her strategy changes to lasting as long as possible. She does not have the skill or experience to deal with the Plastic Knight in a direct fight of skill, and she was getting outflanked easily before hand, so she switches to surviving as long as possible.
Against Tytus, he tires himself out because he takes his time not to defeat Maria, but to drive home how much she is not like Margaret, and in part, because he is basically taking his revenge on losing to Margaret on Maria. Tytus is not just stronger than Maria, he is demonstrably so. There isn't a world where the amount of training that Maria did would allow her to be on the same level as Tytus. If Tytus had committed to simply beating her, he would have done so easily.
Maria doesn't win her fights cleanly, she doesn't win because she has a clear upper hand. She survives in two fights due to being incredibly stubborn and able to keep herself on the brink of collapse, and in one fight, she wins because of her engineering skills. This is actually important.
Maria is not a knight, she's an engineer. She's happier as an engineer. This is ultimately who Maria is, it's where her passion lies, it's why the first thing we see from Maria in her event is her fixing a car. Ultimately, Maria isn't a knight, at least not to the same extent as her sister is. She cannot be her sister, and maybe she could be like her sister if she put in the effort over years and gained the experience. It's something that she herself realizes towards the end of the event.
Maria's folly in this event is trying to be Margaret, chasing after Margaret for herself and to help her family. When Margaret actually does return, Maria knows that she isn't needed as a competition knight anymore and drops out of the Major. This is something that the story has been pointing us towards the entirety of the last event. Maria stops being herself and starts trying to be someone else because she feels that she needs to. Arknights as a story really cares about identity, and this is another one of those events which show it.
anyways enough yapping have fun i guess
blakekathryn
ellievsbear
snowghoul
dailybridgerton
gracieabrams
romaincrisis
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
theartofmadeline
