Interesting thing about Vlad Jr/Maria in Classic. Although Maria never appears to explicitly reciprocate Vlad Jr.’s romantic interest, the paradoxical relationship between destiny/choice, using the medium of discourse that is romantic love, perfectly portrays the values of Maria’s utopian ending, where ”antibodies collide,” and seemingly paradoxical and even internecine systems can coexist.
Vlad Jr.’s romantic feelings exist in stark contrast to Khan/Capella’s lack of romantic feelings for one another. Khan/Capella are also revealed by Vlad Jr. in Changeling route to actually have been arranged since early childhood, while Vlad Jr. and Maria are not. This contrast between these mirrored siblings pairs highlights the conundrum. In a world where particular fates are predestined by the structure of the game (Doylist), where Mistresses are understood to foretell or even put into action a fate (Watsonian), what even is love? How can you tell if your fellow puppet loves you, or if they’re just being given the role of the lover? Can you love someone when you’re arranged to marry them regardless? Or does love inherently require choice and agency? Both sibling pairs seem to point to the latter being true (despite Burakh’s attitude towards love and duty).
Vlad Jr. clearly chooses to love. But if you leave him alive, Maria will marry him regardless. In addition, the power of a Mistress is founded upon their procreative ability, both in the mystical sense (as explained by Nina) but also the base physical sense (Katerina being maligned for her infertility—her inability to influence the mystical exists in conjunction with her reproductive failure). This follows the theme of a generational changing of the guard—all the leadership passes on in all endings. And yet: the fact Vlad’s the single “Utopian” that is capable of dying and therefore not ending up Maria’s future signifies Maria’s implied power of choice, which has been rested in the hands of the Bachelor/player (as all the Mistress’s agency in Classic exists in the player going along with their manipulations and keeping their Bound followers alive). She does not actually *need* to marry and procreate with him to achieve her ending. Paradoxically, she becomes a legitimate Mistress without the expectation of physical procreation. This misogynistic mythos/system of gendered power coexists with Vlad/Maria’s free will to choose (or deny, or do away with) love. Conversely, Capella swears she will never love Khan, but their union is destined and necessary to the Termite future according to Capella.
