I’m really split thinking about that ask where you broke down some possible options for Genos moving forward, I don’t think he’ll quit. So, in what new ways is he going to find himself broken? That post was the first time I had considered the possibly he wouldn’t ‘simply’ monsterfy, and how losing his mind would be almost more terrifying for him at this point (after seeing Garou’s return) but would either monstrous result be practically distinguishable for the audience? I have some doubts?
I don’t think he’ll quit either, but it’s nevertheless a valid possibility. If he woke up tomorrow and decided the life that was miraculously spared shouldn’t be thrown away in becoming a living weapon, it’d be perfectly understandable and there’s a decent story to be told out of it. At the end of the day, ONE’s job to himself and to us is to write a good story that serves its premises and doesn’t alienate its readership, not to give us particular outcomes.
How to depict where Genos is succinctly? Let’s try a metaphor of a mountain. Imagine yourself one, a very high one that has reportedly never been successfully climbed or even mapped -- we’re in the bad old days before satellites. It’s permanently shrouded in a dense fog that makes it impossible to tell how close to the summit one is, what its shape is, or even have an overview of the terrain around you. Because we’re in a fantasy world, in addition to all the usual hazards of mountain climbing -- the cold, the oxygen deprivation, the treacherous footing, the all-but-unclimbable approaches, rock falls, dodgy supply lines -- there are creatures wandering the slopes that savagely attack on sight. Many of them used to be people.
Everyone who has tried to date has died, or gone mad, or transformed, or turned around. There’s only one guy who has allegedly made it to the top and all he’s had to say is that he kept working even when he thought he’d die or lose his mind, and that the view is magnificent, but so lonely.
Those stark choices lie before Genos. There’s no shame in turning around. Certainly less shame than there is in lying out there, battered and exhausted. We’ve seen Garou turn back -- he nearly lost himself. But of course, Garou can do that. He can always try again, that’s the luxury of having one’s own body. With so much outside his control, if Genos turns back, it’s unlikely he’ll ever be afforded the opportunity to try again. That too is part of his reality.
There is a difference between someone lashing out because the world has stopped making sense to them and they’re scared and someone lashing out because they’ve lost all sympathy with it and want to see it burn. It’s a distinction that is very easy for us as the audience to see and appreciate. Someone on the business end of being burned alive, not so much.
Nothing is guaranteed to this character. But neither is there no hope. We’ll see.
