Aro Haven Savers 5/6: AroAllo Mara [Cross] Haven 4x13 The Lighthouse to 5x13 Chosen
Aro meta: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9982589/chapters/39076075
- trying to dismiss Audrey and Nathan's love for each other (what you feel for Audrey isn't real/ did she love you as much as you loved her?)
-Nathan:'are you even capable of love'
-“I kinda love you, Duke” and William knowing that Mara didn't love him as much as he did her
- Although there are some unfortunate implications with Mara being aromantic and Audrey being aro-spec. Like she's more worthy after she does experience romantic love/attraction. But I guess it is kinda acknowledged as an iffy choice by Charlotte.
*Next to Audrey, Mara is the clearest character because she was around for a whole season. Mara, as the base personality, seems the most aromantic, so unlike with Lucy and Sarah were there isn’t enough material, I would consider Mara ‘fully’ aromantic, a so-called no-attraction aromantic instead of using aro as an umbrella term. She definitely likes sex and experiences sexual attraction and is good at manipulate people with it.
Of course, that’s kinda iffy considering she’s a villain, who kills people and uses people, including sexually. Like, yeah she’s done horrible things, sometimes for no reason, although the version we know does have a good reason to be as messed up as she is (having your personality wiped and overlayed for 500 years will do that to a person). Not to mention the Audrey split also affected her. But she was also unapologetic about who she is and she was a fun character. And I prefer my villains to do things for their own purposes and if your show centers on a horrible punishment the crime better it the crime and with her it did.
Enough about her overall character, let’s get back to the aro thing. It’s possible she did care about William, and she did find him funny but she didn’t seem to actually love him. She liked what William was willing to do for her but she didn’t share his feelings.
With Nathan, there was certain attraction, she liked his body and would have liked to manipulate him through sex and kissing and the attraction and feelings he has for Audrey but even though Nathan was a mess, he wasn’t enough of a mess to do that, and in fact he manipulated her back by treating her like Audrey to get Audrey back. After it becomes clear to her that Nathan wont be manipulated like that she loses interest in him. Their relationship ends up becoming antagonistic.
Then there’s Duke, who she straight up manipulated and used, even if she might have cared about him in a vague way. Even though she talks about how they would have made a good team and she’s sorry for using him, she can only say she ‘kinda loves’ him. That’s pretty aro, excluding all the terrible things she did.
She doesn’t end up getting to interact with other women much at all. there’s the woman she kills to get her outfit and she does seem to enjoy Vickie and Jody as products of her gifts, but there’s not enough to consider whether she was attracted to women. She does talk about bi!Veronica in a mocking tone so, who knows. (I am glad they didn’t go into a semi-incesty interest in Audrey)
So, finally, I think the reason I like the idea that all the overlays are some type of aromantic, is to deal with the vague aro coding in Mara that is kinda ugly, left on it’s own. because love is such an important part of the overlays’ narratives, and Mara seems aro and not fitting in her own world, while the overlays are ‘better’ and especially with Audrey, more ‘worthy’. And the whole ‘kill the one you love the most’ thing, for Mara I guess that was supposed to be William but I also like the idea that it doesn’t just mean romantic love every time, which we know is possible from Lucy’s cycle So, yeah, I like to view her as aromantic, even if it’s not necessarily the best rep wise.
