how come a blacksmith can receive that sort of acclaim before me
this one interaction in the prologue has been scratching at my brain and i need to write about it
when you first meet damon, he is pretty cold towards everybody, especially those whose talents are less prestigious. after the class trial he had that whole speech about how the title of ultimate doesn't mean anything because everyone else's ultimates were just pointless hobbies etc etc.
when you first meet ingrid, she's very kind and trusting, her first line in the prologue being What's this? More friends? and she initially believes this whole thing is really just a surprise excursion instead of a kidnapping. she's a blacksmith, which is a skill largely being replaced by technology, and therefore in people's eyes widely seen as not useful.
now, given that ingrid more or less completely opposes damon's beliefs, you would think that damon would write her off completely. irrelevant talent, hopelessly naive, a recipe for disaster, right?
WRONG
(Line during Ingrid's introduction in the prologue:)
Against modern machines, it's true I'm not an equal match...
Because...I think I'm better than them! [...] If my creation touches the heart, it's better than anything made by machine - imperfections be damned!
And Damon's response to this is: (blue signifying thoughts not spoken aloud)
Better than machines, huh? People have always told me my skills were impressive, but I'm yet to be compared to a computer or something. How come a blacksmith can receive that sort of acclaim before me?
but LOOK CLOSELY:
-> Ingrid never mentioned being compared to a computer by anybody else, just that she believes she's better than a computer
-> Ingrid never mentioned acclaim
-> Ingrid only mentioned her own confidence to touch hearts with her work
Ingrid's completely confident in what she can do, even as it's heavily implied that her skill is rapidly becoming obsolete. Yet the debater, having a skill that is much much less likely to be replaced, is the insecure one here. And isn't it odd that a debater of all people, whose skill is literally to touch people's hearts to convince them to agree with them, would feel what looks like jealousy over a statement like this coming from someone with such a 'pointless hobby'? Interesting.
