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Day 17: Leader

So, since I already did an entire WoT on Wills leadership, I will, instead, focus on two other leaders we see throughout the series. More specifically: two rulers.

And the question whether Elyon is truly an improvement over Phobos.

Let's look at Phobos as a ruler: he's disinterested, and in the comics, disinformed. Cartoon!Phobos seems to actually try at some points, while in the comics, he just l leaves Meridian to itself.

In both installments, Meridian seems to be wet, dark and cold under his rule, which is explained by him leeching power. Interestingly, this also seems to be the dominant problem of his rule. Crops die, people go hungry and cold, wet seeps into buildings...and this all stops when Elyon takes the throne, making lives better.

But looking at just her rule...she gets transferred to Meridian on Halloween, which is her birthday, and is crowned Queen shortly after. In the Elyon special, on her birthday, so at least a year later, she hasn't even learned the names of the council members or how to read the clock.

That doesn't exactly scream investment to me. As is the case for the lesson in writing we see her get before Caleb is returned to Meridian, which she's hostile about, too.

Then, there's her refusal to hand over the crown when Endarno asks for it, before she even sees him and finds him to be giving off suspicious signs.

So, do I think she's as bad as Phobos? Yes and no. I do not think she's as bad as the Phobos described in the comics, the insane psychopath who hungers for power. But I do think she's a bit egotistical and childish, and I think she is, in fact, just as bad as the Phobos I headcanon, being more of a bad ruler, not a bad person, with the difference being upbringing and her resulting world view, which is much more optimistic, kind and run by a desire to help. Because I think she does want to help, she just doesn't have the maturity and self sacrifice ruling an entire queendom demands.

Now, do I feel this is represented cleverly in the taking vs giving of magical energy and subsequent state of Meridian? Maybe. But I like taking another approach to that:

Because an uncontrolled influx of energy is just as bad. Just look outside if you want to know how heating up an entire planet too much sucks.

And the same goes for life. Because not only people, live stock and crops are alive, but so are weeds, parasites and predators.

Is this something Elyon is doing wrong? Probably.

But I, personally, would have gone for a different approach: have Elyon and Phobos be like Yin and Yang, their powers something they were born with rather than a calculated decision. Usually, princes remain quiet and seated, and stay in Meridian along the queens, so it does not become a problem and no one ever noticed how the queen's giving powers demand a cycling of the power back to herself. But with Phobos and Elyon split, the damage a single one of them does becomes apparent. Maybe a responsible leader could rule without the balancing power, but these two idiots with zero self control need each other for that.

Apart from this theorizing, I just feel Elyon should get an arc on having to take responsibility or sharing it with someone more suited, maybe becoming more of a figure head to a qualified council. Maybe she could even find herself realizing she was too quick in judging Phobos and this might be her incentive for deciding to attempt giving him a chance at redemption.

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