So obviously I'm reading through War For The Throne again for a Government class, and its relation to both of the film versions in regards to Orm kind of Fascinates me a little bit.
...no it's NOT just because Orm is my little meow meow just hear me out
Preface: A lot of this is going to talk about American Interventionism as a concept-- the idea that America has, and continues to, impose its will and ideas and systems on other nations to further its own needs. This is a take coming from a white, fairly privileged, cisgender woman and an American citizen; I don't have any interest in talking over the viewpoints of non-Americans who have an interest in this story, especially those who have backgrounds that American Interventionism has specifically targeted in the past, so I really really want to encourage people to share their own perspectives in reblogs & replies, because I'm not the authority and certainly not the end-all be-all on this topic.
Anyway.
The Orm-Vulko dynamic as king and ex-advisor is kind of...central to understanding War For The Throne as a political text, and the way it's been changed or even eliminated (hey Throne of Atlantis I'll get to you later girl) really does drastically change how Atlantis/the Atlantean side is supposed to be perceived and by extension how the text treats international conflicts as a whole.
In War, the entire text revolves around the reveal that not only did Orm have nothing to do with the staged attack on the Atlanteans, but he has no desire to do so.
"We could destroy every vessel in the water. But we don't. And nothing should change that."
On the one hand, this of course comes before the attack in question that sets off the rest of the book, but on the other, when you look at the rest of the conversation around it, it's very clear that even though Orm doesn't like the surface, he's letting them be because he wants to work with Arthur, his brother who he cares about, not against him.
And the lynchpin of the whole story is that in the end, it's revealed to be Vulko who set this whole thing in motion.
We don't see Vulko and Orm interact in this book, but we see Vulko talk a lot about Orm, in a very negative (maybe not COMPLETELY unwarranted, but I don't have time to unpack how fucked up New 52's Orm relationship to Atlantis as a kingdom and legacy monarch is today), and Orm kind of just...being at peace that Vulko left Atlantean court. And when the audience is told it was Vulko All Along, what's the reason we get?
Vulko personally believes Arthur is the only ruler of Atlantis who would never attack the surface. And given Orm's persistence later in the book, I don't blame him for that being his personal opinion.
But I do think starting a war as a purely political move to unseat an unfavored political leader...is an exceptionally American story, with Vulko serving as a kind of allegory for American interventionism. Not in like a KSD Rebirth Aquaman way where she kind of just assumes the American Democratic System Is Better And Should Be Imposed On Another Country, Which Is Yikes Even If It's Fictional, but in a much more Honest Attitude about American Interventionism.
Nobody at the end of this book is happy about the outcome. Nobody. Arthur is lamenting having to take the throne. Orm is stuck in a correctional/legal system vastly removed from the one he knows, feeling abandoned by his brother despite trying to show solidarity in the end. The exposure of Atlantis to the surface didn't bring them closer; it arguably made things worse, watching surfacers go from ignorant of its existence to cautiously distrustful of both the nation as a whole and Aquaman as a hero.
As a political work, it's a shockingly honest look at American interventionism on the ground, especially for 2012.
So seeing this aspect either removed entirely or downplayed in Throne of Atlantis and Aquaman is, to me, kind of a disappointment and losing a neat facet to what is on the surface (no pun intended) a fun and engaging fantasy battle story.
...I still think Aquaman is a pretty good adaptation of it, nonetheless, but that's a post for another day.
Who the fluff am I supposed to ramble to about this??? I want to voice my thoughts but no one to do it with, plus idk... just want to express them, dont really need any verbal back and forth
