There's a particular topic I would like to discuss, and to do that I need to unearth a piece of discourse from back in the day. That is to say, Amalia kissing Oropo and temporarily choosing him over Yugo at the end of season 3.
Why am I bringing back painful (and cringey) memories? Because I believe we've judged Amalia way too harshly over it and completely overlooked the reasons behind her behaviour.
Now, don't get me wrong. That entire conflict was very forced and poorly written. If it was wrong of Adamaï to choose some rando over his brother and friends, it was wrong of Amalia to choose another over Yugo.
Right now I can't remember if it was @laneylunen or @kokiriri who once pointed out how unfair it was of Ankama to reduce Amalia's character to a, let's say, 'morality indicator', but honestly, they both have great takes so it could have been either one of them.
The point is, they're right! During the last few episodes of season 3, Amalia was just there to tip the moral scale in favour of either Yugo or Oropo. Whoever she sided with at the time held the moral highground.
First it was Oropo because he claimed to want a better world, and then it was Yugo when it was revealed his clone/son is actually a genocidal maniac with a raging Oedipus complex.
So, yeah. All her potential as a truly humanising figure at the beginning of the season up and vanished in favour of badly written ideological drama.
So why do I insist we were too harsh on her even though I admit the entire thing was stupid?
Because even though the execution was terrible, the set-up was there from the beginning. It doesn't come out of nowhere.
Oropo essentially admitted that due to sharing Yugo's memories and feelings, making the Brotherhood of the Tofu, and especially Amalia, his has been a huge motivator for all his actions throughout his entire life. Considering we're talking about the same guy who orchestrated Ogrest's Chaos and Nox's insanity and subsequent rampage, is it really that hard to believe he manipulated everything to make Amalia choose him from the start?
So let's look at the facts, shall we?
First of all, he needed to make Amalia believe he was truly Yugo for her to ever give him the time of day. But, how could he have achieved that if he spent most of his time as a talking cloak?
The Time Trap.
I mentioned this in a previous post back in the day, but I don't think his Time Trap from season 3 was what he claimed to be—a mere way to break the Brotherhood's spirit so they'd be easier to defeat.
Rather, I think its true purpose was to make Amalia easier to manipulate.
As demonstrated when he explained to her he wouldn't take her wild beauty away (early foreshadowing of his true intentions towards her), Oropo had complete control over who aged and at what rate. And thanks to both that control and his already slow ageing, Yugo grew into a handsome, well-built young man.
Right in front of Amalia's eyes.
If you ask me, Oropo's plan all along was to have Amalia witness how Yugo would look like with an adult body so she'd recognise him in Oropo and subconsciously trust his claims when they finally met.
Then, there's Sipho.
Let's face it. Sipho infiltrating their little group doesn't do anything other than cover up Ruel's disappearance.
Other than widen the wedge between Yugo and Amalia, that is.
We can't know for sure if this was deliberate or not, but for all we know, Sipho only lent Yugo a sympathetic ear because he knew Amalia was within hearing distance and would be hurt and evasive after listening to what Yugo had to say about her.
Then comes The Sadida Temple where he focuses all of his attention on Amalia, but unlike with Yugo, he chews her out for her behaviour and outright says he doesn't even know what Yugo sees in her. Further breaking Amalia and seemingly taking her support network away form her. Essentially rendering her more vulnerable to Oropo's manipulations when he finally sends her over to him.
Because that is Sipho's true mission. To separate Amalia from the rest and bring her to Oropo.
Oropo needed Amalia to be cross with Yugo, hurt by him and by the fact that she seemingly had no one to support and understand her. He needed her to be vulnerable and desperate so she'd jump at the chance to be with him if it meant she'd get the happy ending she so desperately needed and be with whom she thought was the man she loves.
I would also like to go on a tangent that I think helps explain why Amalia was never meant to be the bad guy in this situation. And that's her role as "the other woman" in Oropo and Echo's relationship.
Now, I'm not trying to say she did nothing wrong. Her actions hurt Yugo and she is not exempt from the responsibiliy that comes with that, just like Yugo isn't entirely blameless either for hurting her.
What I am trying to say is that she was as in the dark as nearly everyone else, and the best proof of that is Echo. What I'm trying to say is that Oropo alone is responsible for hurting her.
Amalia clearly fills the role of the other woman who doesn't even know she's helping her "lover" cheat on somebody else. Which, alongside her own tumultuous and conflicting emotions, is why she originally doesn't resist Oropo. Because she doesn't know she's hurting someone else.
And why should she? Amalia might know of Echo's existence from Adamaï back in the OVA. But she never met her until that point, let alone know Echo is Oropo's devoted lover.
On the contrary, it was Oropo who intended all along to betray the woman that'd been by his side for centuries. He's the one who doubles down on his entitleness and refuses to admit what he did, everything he's ever done, was wrong and morally reprehensible.
Rather than face the consequences of his actions, Oropo spent his entire life justifying the monstrosities he caused as them being all for the sake of making the world a better place. Oropo and his followers hide behind a "the end justifies the means" mentality.
And it shows.
By contrast, as soon as she learns the truth, as soon as she realises the lengths Oropo is willing to go to achieve his goals—creating a bomb with catastrophic results, manipulating the friends who adore him, betraying and torturing his most loyal follower who loves him more than anything—, Amalia is horrified by the cruelty of it all, and turns her back on him.
Because for all her mistakes and for all she's hurting, she never wanted to hurt anyone.
The difference between the Brotherhood of the Tofu and the Brotherhood of the Forgotten is that the former actually takes responsibility for their actions, while the latter is always trying to blame someone else—namely, their parents or whoever disagrees with their ideology.
In the end, much like Echo manages to sympathise with her despite her own hurt, Amalia sees the unfairness Echo and the entire Brotherhood of the Forgotten has been treated with and tries to rebel against it.
As unfulfilling and rushed as it was, she still realises she was unfair to Yugo too and rushes to make amends. Oropo's actions and lack of empathy help her remember why she fell in love with Yugo in the first place and reaffirm that love.
To summarise, while Amalia isn't entirely faultless, deep down she's just another victim of Oropo's manipulations. In the end, the true villain was always meant to be Oropo.
