The Significance of Holding Hands in Superfish (and Familial Relationships in Obscaria)
Please refer to this post for a background of all known information regarding witches.
In his comic, Superfish, pegl0 uses small moments like this to highlight how different Obscaria is from the human world. In just one frame featuring DJ as a child, enjoying a happy and safe time with his family, it manages to show how familial relationships are meant to be.
Superfish’s reaction to this frame, and his general reaction to the simple action of holding hands, says a lot about the state of familial relationships in witch culture.
Everything about this raises numerous questions that all rest upon one basic conundrum: are witches biologically wired to be the way they are, or has their society systemically preserved these qualities and eradicated all those who are different?
What do you think? Find more information enclosed below. I welcome all discussion and opinions, and you may send a message, an anonymous question, or comment upon the post itself.
Do witches even have “family” as a concept? There are implications that suggest that witches may reproduce in ways that aren’t natural so much as artificial. Is that why witches seem to lack a protective instinct to care for their own? They find torture gratuitous, including when it is inflicted upon their children.
If witches do reproduce normally, do families function more as stewardships? What is the political framework they rely upon? Since witch names function more as titles, are children simply created and assigned to different “families” based on their abilities? Witches seem to want willing and obedient servants, which would explain why disciplinary action involves torture and submission. “Parents” would want their “children” to respect their position as being at the bottom of the familial hierarchy, and to prove themselves as worthy by surviving in harsh conditions.
Superfish is aware enough of the concept of romantic relationships, that it is implied they exist at least in some form in Obscaria. If so, do they function more like contracts based on attraction or power, rather than any genuine feelings?
Moreover, what is it about Superfish that makes him different? He clearly is unlike other witches in this regard—he finds such simple contact meaningful. He wants to be a part of a family.
Is this something that is innate to him, an anomaly present since birth?
Or is it something he learnt through knowing someone else? Someone who was not a part of witch culture, and thus provided a completely different perspective?
If this is something innate to him, does this mean there are/have been other witches with similar feelings on the matter, who have perhaps been systemically eradicated? Was this why torture was inflicted upon him? Because he represents a previous regime that is no longer functional?
[This is NOT a place for debate, there is NOT a correct answer and anyone trying to insist that there is one correct answer will be ignored or blocked. Try to keep this a discussion, because this is a nuanced topic.]
So a question that regularly occurs in our system as a not-necessary but thought and contemplation is "Does it still count as gaslighting if the individual in question has a medical memory issue of their own and their gaslighting-behavior stems from a genuine belief that they are correct"
In this question, we are assuing the person in question hits all the main gaslighting behaviors - making you sound crazy, poking "holes" in your own experiencing, calling to question your own mental health and conditions that might make you doubt your own experiences etc - but they are doing so because they genuinely think you are making it up / lying.
Additional follow up for those with memory issues / an unreliable memory of their own, how would you feel if someone had claimed your behavior - when defending your version of the memory - was "gaslighting"?
I mainly ask this to see how others approach the topic. Our family all has people with varying reasons for very poor memories and warped memories - primarily due to a long history of dissociation and dissociative amnesia on both ends as well as other brain/physiological issues.
This actually doesn't have too much personal weight to our trauma processing at this point since we have our own opinions that we are firm on - but that is how we have approached and processed it. I'm curious what others might think.
I have created the most interesting thing for PO3/OOTS but I’m still unsure about spoilers. Do you guys prefer to have all my cards or I show some but keep many to myself? Or no spoilers at all?
