(Me on my bullshit again adding long responses to posts I hope you donât mind!!!)
I think this is a very fascinating point, and a great contrast.Â
Blake came from a loving home, and ended up being seduced by an abuser that took advantage of her. In many ways, Adam has a lot of parallels to Jacques Schnee as a man that seduced a prominent figureâs daughter to gain power. I know some people have theorized that Adam targeted Blake BECAUSE she is the daughter of Ghira Belladonna. Because her family are prominent leaders of the Faunus. After all, part of his efforts to solidify his control was ordering the assassination of her family.
Ironwood and Winter are interesting, in that it seems like the Schnee daughters both looked to him as a surrogate father figure. Heâs a âlong time family friendâ, though we donât know if that means he was friends with JACQUES or whether he was friends with the SCHNEES (ie Nicholas and Willow). He seems aware of Jacques mistreating his family, but didnât intervene beyond offering a place for the children to escape.
The problem being that Winter simply replaced one controlling environment for another, attaching to Ironwood as her new father. But I also think that Ironwood himself is someone shaped and damaged by the larger culture of his kingdom. He has become the iconic symbol of Atlas and its military culture, and Iâve wondered a lot about the post-war kingdom. We donât have EXACT ages to go from, but it would be fair to assume James is probably late 40s to maaaaybe late 50s. In other words, like Willow and Jacques he is someone that would have grown up during the kingdomâs great boom. During the era when Atlas was replacing Mantle as the capital, when the kingdom was innovating like never before and rebuilding their military, and becoming a symbol of Progress and Strength to the world.
Ironwood seems completely caught up in that narrative. He has bought entirely into Atlasâs Exceptionalism, and become the figurehead of those beliefs. Where as Nicholas Schnee represented the kingdomâs post-war boom, the growth and innovation and commitment to rebuilding and helping othersâŚ.Ironwood has become the symbol of the kingdom slowly being rotted by elitism, corruption, militarism, and authoritarianism.
It should be remembered that MANTLE STARTED THE GREAT WAR. While Salem undoubtedly manipulated events behind the scenes, Mantle was the kingdom she choose as her catâs paw. That militaristic culture was not erased by the King of Vale reforming the world governments. It simply shifted from an Authoritarian Monarchy, to a kingdom on its slow slide from Democracy to Fascism.Â
Those elements have brewed for decades, and come to fruition with Ironwoodâs raise to dictatorship. He is merely continuing the legacy of his kingdom, while clinging to the belief he is doing what Must Be Done for humanity to survive. Someone said to me that Ironwood thinks heâs in a much different series, and I think this is correct. He believes he is living in a GrimDark Hopeless Story where the hero HAS to be cruel, ruthless, and merciless for anyone to survive.Â
He thinks heâs in Dawn of the Dead, when heâs actually in Warm Bodies.Â
And Winter, godâŚ.Winter has lived through abuse. But she has always known Ironwood as someone that saved her, that gave her a home and a purpose, and made her feel valued. She saw him being kind to her sister. She has always believed in him, so this isâŚ..really a horrifying situation for her. Because she has no where else to go, as far as she knows.
This is the only path forward, and she has CONSISTENTLY been the person at his side excusing and defending his greatest mistakes.
Ghosting Qrow in the field? Well, itâs because YOU MIGHT BE COMPROMISED!
Robyn being a problem? Declare Martial Law.
Abandon Mantle to die? Well, heâs making the hard choices so WE donât have to carry that burden.
Call backup so Weiss has no choice but to leave.
Now, she is seeing him behave like her father but even more violent. And Winter has burned all her bridges, as far as she can see. She cannot go home. She cannot go with her sister.
And Iâd imagine, she still wants to save the man that once saved her from her father.Â
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