Axiom Verge 1 is a subversion of the classic masculine power fantasy, while Axiom Verge 2 subverts the classic feminine one.
Hear me out. First let's define both really simply. The masculine power fantasy is essentially one of becoming one's own self, and exerting their power upon the world in their name. The feminine power fantasy is one of union, nurturing and caring for another. We can further simplify these ideals into two lines. The masculine power fantasy is to kill the father. The feminine is to save the daughter.
That's the most barebones description but it's just to get us off on the right foot. Essay below the cut going into detail
In AV1 we follow Trace. All along we're set up with a simple idea, Trace must survive, grow to master his environment and his abilities, and go on to slay his foes. The Rusalki.
Wait what?
Yes, the Rusalki are a controlling force on Trace. For him to fight his way into the masculine power fantasy he must use his power to buck the control of another and choose for himself what is right. But that's not what happens. In fact, he works with them. Why?
Athetos is the final position, the ultimate masculine form of Trace. He makes clones of himself and each fail to become. They're stripped of name and identity and these "lesser selves" are now subservient only to Athetos. The Father. The Master. If Trace wishes to become a man, he must prove himself unconquerable and stand evenly with Athetos.
That's the nightmare segment. We see Trace literally chasing after an ideal self he can't keep up with. We see him become one of the failed clone monsters and experience being a puppet, it's the masculine nightmare. He is a failure, he will be subsumed, he must become his perceived ideal self.
But it's all a trap. Trace doesn't just man up and beat the toxin that's mutating him. He has help from Ophelia. See, there's been a secret this entire time in the background, have you caught it?
When Trace finds his mutated other selves, he tries to reason and they will not listen. They're caught up in the masculine narrative and there are only two ways out of it. Destroy Athetos, or change the script.
Trace, who has been nurturing and healing the Rusalki despite their power over him. Trace who has to use his understanding, and for whom a boss fight isn't glorious single combat. Trace who bears the ultimate yonic symbol in the Axiom Disruptor. Guns are generally phallic symbols but this one's design but this one disrupts (heh) the narrative symbology to a different one.
Empathy, sacrifice, and grace are often hallmarks of the feminine power fantasy. There is much to be said about whether these are healthy themes but for now, in present moment, that's often what they are. It is in showing empathy to his failed clones that he finds purpose beyond meager violence to face Athetos. It's through empathy that he connects with Elsenova and the other Rusalki who then grant him the power of making connections to defeat his foe. He sacrifices his own pride and it allows him to see the world for what it truly is rather than a playground to be remade in his image. The address disruptor may seem a tool to do just that at first, but in actuality it cannot change what has not already been changed. Most of all, he sacrifices his ultimate masculine form in Athetos, refusing to become powerful to become understanding. His method is not to subjugate his potential lesser selves and become the standout example but simply to be, in the world he is in.
Indra is taken by the hand along the path of the feminine. She comes to rescue her daughter and must work under the mercy of the Arms. A class of people who have power, and power over her as a kind of patriarchy. Indra! A world-class CEO is now a victim of a system and a culture that simply doesn't value her for what she is.
And just like Trace, the further she goes along this path the more misled she is. She is expected to sacrifice everything, even her life for her daughter. She must care for Damu and balance catering to the desires of the figuratively-masculine Amashilama.
Trace suffered being the victim of toxic masculinity. Becoming isolated and dejected and discarded. Indra becomes the victim of toxic femininity, sacrificing until there is nothing left to give. She is used for her body and her mind is a discarded, useless thing. But it is from that mind that Indra flips her own script.
She remakes her body in her image, as she likes. Have you noticed the hacking tool that makes her the master of her demesne? The phallic symbol of the ice pick? Each tool she has leads her closer to her destiny and the more she makes a name for herself the more empowered she becomes, to the point she makes her own name for herself in the world. Everything Indra is given puts her in the position of that brave and empowered masculine, even and especially, the ending.
Should I talk about how Indra's body is used so that Amalshilama can get at her real goal? The next generation of Arms. How she is literally used to produce and bequeath the next age to the patriarchal Arms? At how Indra's past self takes on the feminine role of sacrifice and fulfills the idea of motherhood by reuniting with her daughter, and how that leaves our mechanical Indra free to pursue her name? (Presumably Ophelia?)
Indra's pursuit saves her life, in a sense, and she becomes greater than the simple story she was placed into. As Trace did. As they both did and in so doing did not become victims of masculinity and femininity. In fact, all throughout their games they win by pushing past the constraints humanity would place on them.
And just. AUGH. The symbolism! The way Trace carries larva on his back being "injected into". The way Indra is given actual soldier's weaponry. The way Sudra is still until the Disruptor is picked up, almost a symbol of beginning life. The way Indra seeks a way to allow Damu to build a body and follow in her example. To literally make himself.
Yes! I have quite a few actually! I'm going to put this under the cut because its incredibly long :3
General spoiler warning for anyone who hasn't played axiom verge, you have been warned
Trace
Usually a pretty quiet guy, considers himself a people watcher
Spends his time taking in his surroundings in Sudra
Needs something in his hand at all times or else he defaults to t-rex arms
Wore glasses before he ended up in Sudra (and before he went blind), the cloning repaired his eyesight
The Bioflux Accelerator gave his eyes a slight reddish hue
Speaking of, he has a love hate relationship with those tentacles mostly because he can't conciously control them
Hates the texture of stubble so he keeps his sideburns
Chronic toe walker
Closeted ace, but biromantic
Friendly neighborhood he/they
Hates those stupid Mogra, especially when the small ones drop down from the sky
His favorite (prehistoric) animal is the anomalocaris!
Would have been a furry if it wasn't for his scientific breakthroughs, his fursona would be a red dragon (because of course it is)
Grew up with Nintendo, he likes the cult classics like Metroid and Earthbound (maybe I'm projecting a little with that)
Addicted to caffiene and it took him a while to aclimate to living without it
Skeptical of the Rusalki, but he has no other choice! What's he gonna do, disobey them and die? No thanks
Doesn't like being in Eribu, it smells funny and everything is squishy and humid... It's just gross
His favorite area is Edin, the sky is very pretty and its nice to sit down there to take a break, feel the wind
Athetos
He also isn't the original Trace, but he doesn't tell anyone (the original Trace got infected and needed to be taken care of)
Is the first clone of Trace though if that means anything to you
Essentially lives in a glorified iron lung
Breathes purified air and is suspended in a sterile fluid that renders The Pathogen inert
If he ever left it would cause him to rapidly mutate
Probably has a mech floating around somewhere that is a work in progress
The tubes connected to him also allow him to control parts of machinery and perform menial tasks to keep Mar-Uru maintained
He's incredibly bored but knows he has to wait so he has his own stalker drone
The stalker drone keeps in contact with the other bosses of Sudra, except Ukhu since he has no knowledge of her
The drone is not capable of battle and burrows when threatened
Yes there's been plenty of stalker drone deaths, rest in peace little guys
He is very aware of his fate, he only watches Trace because he knows about how he respawns
A piece of Athetos is embedded in Trace after the final fight, as his nanogates entertwined with Trace's, which is also why Elsenova put him to sleep
Vision
Vision is a result of an oddity in The Pathogen, mid-transformation he was struck down
He is a separate entity from Trace and Athetos altogether, all memories from Trace feeling like nothing but a distant past
Fate does not apply to him in the same way it applies to Trace, making him not considered an immediate threat by the Rusalki
Once defeated in his original boss form, he emerges from the husk of its body
The Pathogen causes him to have episodes where it fully takes over and causes him to become incredibly violent, its most evident when his eyes turn all white
Allegedly, he doesn't recall these episodes either
He sees the Rusalki as almost cyborg-ish creatures with features akin to ancient demons and oni, with horns and curved tusks and fangs
The other bosses of Sudra appear as other people, with their own distinct personalities and on occasion he sits with them
Ukhu is his best pal, who still looks like a vicious insect but is like a very caring and oversized pet to him
The Spitblite (Ukhu's spawn) have a general affinity for him, he's often found carrying one like a little emotional support bug
Athetos appears as an angel and Mar-Uru is like a tower to the heavens (not that Trace was particularly religious)
Vision hates Kur with a passion and avoids the mountainous exterior at all costs
Can freely travel through Breach without needing to disrupt it, and is entirely immune to the breach disruptor
The Pathogen
When afflicted it starts subtly changing aspects of memories and vision
"These things always were" as in, this person always looked this way, they were never to be trusted
Though it doesn't affect the demeanor or personality, it affects how the afflicted percieve the world and their language center, essentially making them see everyone else as the enemy
The physical mutations it causes vary wildly based on location and demeanor, some retaining more of their language center than others
Vision is a prime example as their language center appears almost wholly unaffected, but may have violent outbursts under certain triggers, suggesting The Pathogen can cause affects similar to epilepsy (it is not epilepsy by any means)
Arthropods are completely unaffected by The Pathogen, the bugs of Sudra are just territorial by nature
Sudra
It isn't actually snowing in Kur, the white material floating around is ash from nearby mountains as the internals of Kur seem to flow with ultraheated liquids
Kur is still relatively cold, and most arthropodic lifeforms tend to avoid Kur as it too cold for them to live there
Zi used to be underwater, but it naturally drained over time, the inhabitants are evolved forms of sea life that eventually spread to other areas of Sudra
Edin experiences different seasons yet it always seems to be night there, reasons unclear
The moonlight of Edin does seem to encourage plant life to grow, almost as if the sun and ash nearer to Kur is hard for plants to inhabit
The only reason Indi exists is to connect E-Kur-Mah with Absu, E-Kur-Mah is where royalty used to live
Absu is where most people used to live, and was at one point a nice place to be as well
Eribu is generally desolate and uninhabited by anything other than bugs because of its strange, living walls, great place for a secret hideout!
Eribu is thought to be the flesh of a once giant creature that still lives dormant underground
Ukkin-Na was built, and at one point was a part of Edin beforehand, probably similar in age to Edin's ruins
The original purpose of Ukkin-Na has been lost to time, as it is the oldest man-made area of Sudra
Mar-Uru is the most recent edition to the map thanks to Athetos, given the state of people give a round of applause to the robots that built this
Ukhu
Athetos has no knowledge of Ukhu's existence, and Ukhu has no ties to The Pathogen
Territorial, not usually to the point of attacking unless it is mating season and she percieves you as a threat
Threats include things that are human-sized and human-shaped
She has a weak understanding of language and intelligence comparable to a house cat or jumping spider, though not particularly curious of anything humans do
Just generally does not like humans anymore
Her nest is atop the ruins in Edin, and her boss room location she considers home
She was once considered a god-like being in ancient times and has always lived happily in Edin (she an old bug)
