Hear me out. You probably have ideas already, but hear me out! Conquest's fragile partner is someone who has mechanical skill and can fix his arm when it gets damaged.
i do have ideas already but this is a GOOD addition... Conquest sticks around her in the beginning because she's useful to him - i was thinking she'd be a healer of some kind, but her being able to fix his arm when it gets damaged is an extra bonus... I like this, I'm keeping it in the design, thank u :3c
Asking the same question on two fronts here. What did you think of the "I'm so lonely" speech they gave Conquest in the show and if she heard it at all, what does Eleanor think of it?
Not gonna answer the Eleanor half of this question right now bc I have another ask about it, and I'm compiling all the questions about the finale and that have comic spoilers in them to post in one big post (so I can hide the spoilers). So that'll be out eventually. I'll talk about my own thoughts on Conquest and his monologue though (:
Rambling below the cut as always. I talk about his personality from the comics, but I don't mention any story spoilers. Just a warning in case people want to avoid any mention of the comics at all.
First and foremost I'd like to say that I love Conquest (: I liked him a lot in the comics when he was just seen as purely a killing machine who didn't have any other facets to his character, so I was super surprised to watch the finale and see that they fleshed him out a lot more by going into his personality and inner thoughts. I loved the added characterization. The monologue was crazy, in a good way.
I think it's a fascinating change. Not only was his monologue new to me, but also the little heart bubble scene in space, too.
I've seen a few posts where people talked about a hypothetical Conquest reformation, or headcanons for if he had a human partner, and they always talk about how he would struggle to be gentle because he's so used to never holding back... but I actually have to strongly disagree on that. Largely in part to the blood heart in space scene. It was funny (especially how surprised/confused Mark was for it lmfao), but I also thought it was him 'proving' what he would later say about how he's capable of so much more. Such a big man with immense strength in his body the likes of which nobody on Earth will ever be able to achieve, with a metal arm that we don't know if he's capable of feeling through or not, but we see him being gentle and delicate enough to mold a freezing bubble into a specific shape. He uses both his flesh and blood hand and his metal prosthetic to do so, neither of which he seems to struggle with at all. He's just being a bit goofy and enjoying his time messing with Mark before he gets back into the fight, but it also shows that he has such an immense amount of discipline over his strength. Showing us that he's capable of holding back, of moving slowly and being gentle despite his reputation of being a hurricane or a killing machine. Sorry if I'm just reading way too into something that doesn't matter that much, I thought that scene was neat..
It's interesting to see that he only tells his true feelings of isolation and yearning for companionship to someone who he fully believes is going to be dead soon. He even leans down and whispers it in his ear to make extra sure nobody else could possibly hear it. Like he thinks the only time he can ever be honest about how miserable his life is, is when the person who knows of his secret won't live long enough to tell anyone else. We can see that Viltrumites are clearly very similar to humans in a lot of ways, both physically (despite significantly different strength and durability levels, they still have the same organs and body shape) but also mentally and emotionally. Viltrumites are capable of feeling the full range of emotions that we do as human beings, and it's fascinating that they prove this by showing us that even the seemingly heartless, sociopathic, bloodthirsty killing machine Conquest... actually has his own thoughts about his status as a weapon to be used. Negative thoughts, at that. He doesn't want to be just a tool that gets pointed at the Empire's enemies, with no regard to what he wants out of his own life. So much so that I think violence is the only way he really knows how to connect to others at this point, like all the conversations he has with Mark in the midst of their battle. Picking him back up when he falls, giving him encouragement - yes all of these are because he wants the fight to continue, but I think it's also because the fight is the only time he can 'act friendly' with someone.
I've always been more drawn to morally grey characters like Cecil, or to characters who fit the "made to be a living weapon" trope like Conquest. I love seeing how him being made into a weapon has affected him mentally and socially. Considering how Viltrumites age slower as they get older, with his appearance that means he's got to be, what, several thousand years old? I wonder how much of it was spent in isolation, both physically when he's away on jobs to other worlds where there's no one to speak to, and emotionally because even when he is back on his homeworld or on the Viltrumite warship with his own people, they still don't speak to or interact with him outside of giving him orders. His line of "they send me from planet to planet" made me think that he's always on missions, as if his people are in a hurry to get rid of him. Out of sight, out of mind and all that.
It's clear that Viltrumites are all raised in a harsh environment full of propaganda for their great Empire, and I'm sure any hint of disobedience is punished severely to squash it out of any other Viltrumite, too. Nolan mentions this with Cecil briefly when he says that they don't have "disobedient kids" on his homeworld (to which Cecil rightfully says it's a good thing Mark is more human than Viltrumite lol). This all leads me to believe that the idea of Conquest being something other than what he's been told to become - this mindless animal who lives only to kill and torment others - has genuinely never even crossed his mind. Why would he ever think about disobeying? Betraying the Empire? He doesn't give a shit about them, it's not like loyalty is what's driving him to stay - he just doesn't realize he could leave it. It's never registered in his mind as a possibility at all. It's all very tragic, I think.
I'm not the kind of person to disregard when a character does horrible things just because I like them, though. I just absolutely love it when you get to see why the character turned out the way they are, what drove them to be like that. In the comics we don't learn more about him or his motivations, he's just a mindless beast because it's what the story needed at the time. In the show, he's a mindless beast because it's the only thing he can be with the circumstances he's in. Something something, that one quote about how if a person is only ever treated like a monster, then they'll realize that a monster is the only thing they can be. I think that encapsulates Conquest's inner turmoil pretty well.
However, that isn't to say I think he's just some innocent old man who wants to knit sweaters and shit. Like I said, I try not to disregard when characters do terrible things - and we all know Conquest has done some horrifically evil deeds in the name of the Viltrum Empire. He clearly enjoys fighting and bloodlust, and although I believe that one of the main reasons he enjoys taunting his enemies so much is because it's one of the only times he gets to interact with others outside of being given a command, it's still obvious that he's a guy who likes the violence of it all. Which is why, at the end of the day, I think he's never going to get a reformation like Nolan is getting.
It's not because I think he's incapable of changing, or that he can't put his penchant for violence to better uses - it's just that I don't think the show would ever go in that direction with his character. Something about "out with the old, in with the new", and Conquest is very much 'the old' in this scenario.
Although I have a small bit of hope of being surprised with what they do with him, since they've already changed him quite a bit from his comics personality... I guess we'll find out eventually!
