Why Astrid Deserved Better
Yeah, almost everyone in the Gone Fandom has some words to say about this gal, and itâs my turn. Buckle up kiddos.
The first thing that I think many, many people forget is in the ending of Gone (Book 1 not the series), is that Astrid tells Sam that she has a power, too. She can see a stream of light, if I remember correctly Astrid compares it to a meteor or comet. She says she has no idea what it means, she alludes that it could mean importance, and that Sam is the biggest and brightest sheâs seen.Â
Personally I believe that this is Astridâs âbar systemâ, if this was to be a foil to Dianaâs powers, then it could have been great. In case you donât know a character foil means, itâs two characters that are opposites of each other. Sam and Caine are foils, Drake and Edilio, I personally believe that Lana and Quinn are foils to each other (I might write another post about this entire topic later).
So, Astrid is a foil to Diana, makes sense, both start out as the main male characterâs love interest, Michael Grant tries (and fails) to explore them to be more than a girlfriend. A character that could also be Astridâs foil is Orc. Orc is described as a monster, drunk, and âevilâ. Astrid is described as smart, beautiful, and religious. The foil continues when Astrid and Orc switch views on religion.
But the problem is everyone, including Michael Grant and Astrid herself is that they forget about her strange powers. If this was suppose to be her âbarsâ, then Sam could have used to find more moofs, and maybe the freaks on Zilâs side of town in Lies.Â
Letâs say hypothetically Michael Grant regretted his decision to give Astrid powers. I see no reason why Astrid couldnât have been use as a spy to go to Zil (or even betray Sam and actually join Zilâs side). Letâs explain. Astrid supposedly has no powers, sheâs 15, sheâs taking care of an autistic 4 year old in an apocalypse setting. A stressed girl who everyone seeks the answers from dealing with guilt of her brother, and is facing a religious crisis. She starts to have incredibility âimportantâ fights with her boyfriend, her only support system who is also losing control.Â
Most people in this situation would drop their little brother off at the leaderâs, and join someone else. Fear leads to people accepting the easiest problem. Astrid being scared of her brother (whether hurting him, letting her parents down by not keeping his schedule, or his powers), being angry at Sam, blaming the person/people in charge for not taking care of Hunter in Hunger (she was one of the only people to help, another thing that may have questioned her faith).Â
Why shouldnât she seek the easiest answer, especially if her religion is being tested, and she decides itâs not worth it. In the original, she does decide that religion is not worth it.Â
This turn of events would turn Astrid into SAMâs foil. Astrid and Sam both on opposite sides fighting for what they think is going to either protect them or people they care about. The second thing, on the Moofâs side there are normals, too. Edilio, Quinn, Albert, a low bar moof joining the human krew? Itâs what happened in history, the whites blame the blacks, the blacks blame the Asians. Astrid (supposedly a 2 bar), joining the Human Krew especially if theyâre taking the KKK route and saying âgood Christians believe this bs.â
Astrid, trying to prove to herself that her religion will come through for her if she has faith joining to prove to God that she still believes.Â
Other options that could this AU could cause: Samâs guilt of fighting with Astrid, feelings of betrayal by Edilio, Dekka, Quinn, Lana (and maybe Mary, Dahra) especially if this is in Lies, Hunter.Â
In the original series, Astrid was meant to be a main character, the protagonistâs love interest, but she wasnât. She turned into a secondary character. Her character arc went into a circle, from a smart, beautiful, religious girl to starving, privilege-checked, and hunter. In the middle of Light she went back to Sam. She is in charge of the black crawling up the Dome.Â
She is thrown into the role of smart, beautiful girl all over again. Not worth it. Astrid DESERVED BETTER. Sheâs a âmainâ character that doesnât go through a character arc once. Edilioâs happened behind the scenes (everyone talks about how Edilio deserved more book time, but no one talked about Astrid). Quinnâs happens in Hunger, starting as a guilty conscience from the Thanksgiving Battle, to the main source of food in Perdido Beach.Â
Diana has three character arcs! One of the reasons why she is the best character in the Gone Series. Astrid has some of the most âscreen timeâ but nothing to show for it. No reason to root for her to improve. Astrid replacing Zil and becoming one of the main focuses of the series to discuss the nuances of fear and the effects of fear/racism? (Zil and Human Krew seem to be a point of racism, why not have a perfectly sane looking girl come in and show that anyone can be racist, hmmmmmm?) An Amazing Idea.
But this is the man who only has one half-assed villain, a villain that was all built-up and no reward, and the explanation for everything in this series is âaliens.â Maybe Iâm asking to much.Â
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