Stolas, Yuno Gasai, and Delusional Attachments
Heeeyyyy everyone. Apologies for not being online in a while. I know I have been rather slow with this next essay, but in my defense I have been very embarrassed with the direction I want to take it. So I beg everyone to listen before judging me for making a connection between Yuno Gasai and Stolas. PLEASE HEAR ME OUT I PROMISE I AM SMART!
Trigger Warnings: Mentions of abuse, Yanderes, Mentions of Svicide
Moving on I will be discussing the delusional attatchments Stolas has through the lens of my top kin, Yuno Gasai. (I'm not being edgy, I just have abandonment issues, please hear me out, I am smart)
For anyone new to who Yuno Gasai is, she is a yandere (AGAIN HEAR MY ASS OUT BEFORE YA'LL GO, SIT YOUR ASS DOWN AND STOP SCROLLING). Yuno's story revolves around her being unable to cope with the abuse she struggles with.
As a child Yuno had parents who were both incredibly abusive to her. Anytime Yuno misbehaved or wasn't perfect she was locked in a dog kennel and starved. In an alternate timeline we learn the starvation is so bad that she starts eating the tatami mats on the floor.
Yuno due to her abuse randomly attaches herself to Yuki, hanging onto a promise that he'll marry her. Yuki was clearly joking with her, but Yuno clings to that promise in the future, to the point she is willing to take out anyone and everyone or destroy whole timelines to be with him.
Yuno's attachment to Yuki is sort of random, but means so much to her that she is willing to go through hellfire and brimstone to get him even if it means retraumatizing herself over and over again.
Question 1: How does Yuno relate to Stolas?
As a child, we know Stolas struggles in a world that doesn't care about his free will. He has no parental support. His life has been decided for him and there is no escape from his fate. His life and story has been written for him with no consent or change of his own.
Stolas doesn't have a choice.
He sees Blitz once, in a sense of perceived freedom and ability to choose his life.
Think of the princesses from Mulan 2. They think the lives of other girls in their country is free and exciting, when actually their fates are sadly so familiar.
They have this idea of what these girls perceived freedom is like, when most girls in China at that time dealt with similar marital arrangements as the princesses as we see in Mulan 1.
Yuno herself is stuck in a situation where she cannot escape her abusers and imprints her happy ending on Yuki as a mental escape from her situation.
Yuno becomes desperate to protect her relationship with Yuki, a connection she made by herself. Yuno in the series refers to Yuki as: "It's like I'm trapped in a pit and he's my rope ladder." He's her only hope and way out of her situation. The only solace she has in the terrible world she is in.
For Stolas, Blitz functions in the exact same way. For twenty five years, he dreamt about Blitz. Wanted to be with him. Wanted to be loved by him. Even if all of it was built on a single day of friendship and delusion alone.
However, there is a quote that Yuno says that I believe relates to Stolas and Blitz's dynamic that means a lot to me as a Stolas and Yuno kinnie:
"I was practically dead, but you gave me a future."
When we meet Stolas, he is incredibly depressed. Socially he is an outcast thanks to Stella's behaviors to ostracize him from everyone else. From what we know the man has no friends outside of his daughter, Vassago, and Blitz.
His life is constant torment and pain. Everyday is just another day closer to Octavia turning 18 and him finally being able to enact the thoughts he has probably had for years now. Everything in his world was bleak and then...
Suddenly the world had color again.
And since this exact moment... Stolas had a future. He was practically dead before Blitz came into his life and took him on this world wind tour of the ups and downs of life to be where he is now.
Finding this love in his life again meant finding hope again, learning to love again... learning that the future can truly be bright if he took his fate by the reigns and made his own destiny. That his life did not have to end at being a decent father and husband, but being more.
"Maybe the future is bad. But there is a future beyond that, right?" - Yuno
That sure the future could be awful and he may never fully escape Stella's abuse or his position in society, but there was a future beyond the one that was destined for him.
That no matter how bad things got, the future, the hope for something more managed to sustain and keep Stolas alive. For his future and for Octavia.
Question 2: What does Yuno's Mental State tell us About Stolas?
If you have stuck around till Question 2 I am truly grateful. I know this essay is a tad convoluted, but I truly thank you.
Moving on, Yuno's and Yuki's relationship starts as a sort of transaction due to them being in a Hunger Games style battle to become a god. Yuno is good at killing, and Yuki gives her affection. Pretty cut and dry deal.
"I may only be good for killing people, and maybe I am completely unappealing to you, but I thought you will love me when this was all over."
Even if Yuki didn't love Yuno in the moment, she believed that fulfilling any task and duty, being his weapon, that maybe, just maybe he'd love her when everything was over. That when it was all said and done they'd finally become one.
Very similarly, Stolas believed that despite everything being a transaction and work based that maybe, just maybe if he flirted enough or gave into whatever Blitz wanted that maybe, just maybe Blitz would love Stolas.
Both characters believe whole heartedly their worth is in what they can provide instead of who they are. Sadly both characters abusive dynamics instilled this idea in them.
If Yuno was well behaved her parents didn't starve her and they'd love her.
If Stolas was a good husband, Stella might not treat him like shit.
Everything has been transaction based for so long that they don't know how else a relationship is supposed to start. This all seems to be so normal.
Allowing themselves to be used so they can satisfy others.
Question 3: What lengths is Stolas willing to go?
In Future Diary, Yuno is willing to go through hell and back for Yuki. Her body, life, and choices all working to serve him. May sound a bit fucked, but that's how she feels she can get him to love her. That if she is just good enough then maybe, he'll love her.
Later on, through a couple plot twists, Yuno finally realizes how selfish she is being and ends her life, giving Yuki her place as god and finally resting as a result of years of agony and misery. Not for herself, but for Yuki and Yuki alone.
Stolas while his life may have been bleak, him and Blitz butt heads, and they somewhat broke up after The Full Moon episode, he would willingly, any day of the week put his life on the line for Blitz.
Over and over he will stoop to his knees to fix the gap between them. No matter how many times he has to kneel for Blitz he'd do it anyway, for him. Because it is Blitz.
It doesn't matter how much pain, hurt, or agony he goes through.
Even when Prince Charming didn't come to save him at his lowest point.
He never stops being the one solace and hope he has in life.
That regardless of the past and hurt, Blitz is his rope ladder.
So how can he not take the blame,
put everything on the line,
for the one person he loves most.
Paint himself as the villain for the sake of the one he loves.
Take the blame where he doesn't have to,
Take a punishment that is beneath him...
"I will die for Yukki, and even in death I will chase after Yuki."
It doesn't matter what context, what timeline, what world... all that matters is it was Blitz and he needed to be saved.
So he did everything he could to protect him, even if it meant putting his life on the line.
Countless times during Future Diary, even when Yuki fails to protect Yuno, she always sticks beside him no matter what. No matter the problems, no matter how shitty he treats her, that is her man.
For Stolas, it is the same. Despite the problems, issues, arguments, and poor communication... that's his man. He will stick beside him through hellfire and brimstone.
If anyone has a problem with it?
Well they have to go through him. And he'll put everything on the line without a second thought.
Even when he knows he doesn't deserve it...
When in every context he knows it does not benefit him nor save himself...
That's the man he loves, and he'll do whatever it takes to protect him every time.
While it may seem unconventional of me to bring a yandere into this entire mess, I wanted to share with you all why I love Stolas so much and what makes him so special to me.
It isn't just about how he loves Blitz, but the lengths and depths he is willing to go for him even when it doesn't serve himself.
When I was young and dealing with the world crashing around me, like Yuno I clung to the idea of a happy ending. This idea that Prince/Princess/Prin Charming would save me from my desperate situation and rescue me.
Anytime I had thought I found that love, I'd protect it to the point it was delusional and I stayed in toxic relationships because it felt like this was the one thing I had that was mines and I'd be damned if I lost it.
Stolas of all characters I've seen was willing to fight for his happiness till the end and didn't care how it would change or uproot his life.
He willingly puts everything on the line regardless of everything and I genuinely feel like it isn't talked about enough.
While this all could be my desperate attempt to make people finally sympathize by putting people into my perspective as a Stolas kin- I just- can't help but feel like this is something consistently left out.
The amount of effort this man puts into this relationship is consistently left out the conversation.
As someone who is Stolas, who fought through hellfire and brimstone, the abusive and chaotic worlds we inhabit force us to cling to any type of hope we can have. It gives us strength where there is none left. It gives us faith in something.
Stolas while a victim of abuse- is so incredibly strong in his own merit. He's resilient, a fighter, and most importantly full of never-ending love and forgiveness that in his situation and background should not be likely.
He came out of his situation stronger because of it.
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Also major credits to: raywhitfield92
We had a small conversation in a comment section that inspired this entire essay and when they said "People also fear to realise, a victim of abuse 100% latches onto a person who finally gives them some meaning/compliment/love, he latches onto Blitz because of his trauma and when he's with him he feels better 'your my light'" It really hit me like a truck and made me remember how I am. So thank you again! As I promised, I wanted to credit you and I didn't want to forget!
Daily Reminder: This is an 18+ Account! I prefer only interacting w/ people my age! Please respect that!
Thank you for your time, loves!
