#tragic characters

[oatsa-the-humanoid]

The homeowner helping Wireface out after his unfortunate encounter. I'm sure somewhere in his heart, the homeowner relates to this tragic man more than he'd let on.

Lost, and no one takes the time to learn how to communicate.

[neonlilium06]

VERSO (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33): a reflection on him as a character

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Bear with me because this is a very long rambling.

I would love to read your opinions and inputs on the topic in the comments!

I believe Verso to be a dichotomy incarnated, the more I find myself thinking about him as a character.

He exists in a perpetual state of identity and agency crisis, as he was made aware at some point in his life that all of his memories are fabricated, that he has never actually experienced them, and that he was created with the sole intention of resembling and replacing a deceased son in order to alleviate the pain of a mother who has lost her child in a fire. 

He has never been at peace in his whole life, and because he was made immortal, he can't even die on his own terms.

He constantly doubts whether his feelings and relationships are a product of his own, or are instead simply built upon the personality and the experiences he has inherited from the original Verso. 

He doesn't know if he's loved for who he actually is or for who he's meant to represent. 

And yet, although he isn't sure if he deserves to exist, he loves his family unconditionally (even when he sometimes doesn't agree with their actions) despite knowing that the feelings and memories linked to them aren't completely his own. 

His love for his mother, who created him as a copy of her original son, is tainted by resentment: she, his creator, is the cause of his agonizing life as a replacement, and, at the same time, he must live eternally with the guilt of being a reminder to his mother of the son she lost, preventing her from finally overcoming her child's death and moving on with her life.

Later on in the story he experiences again the feeling of being seen only as a replacement, this time through the player's lenses, as he overtakes Gustave's place in the party: he uses the same weapons as Gustave, the same outfits and even takes his role as Maelle's brotherly figure. The players initially reject Verso's arrival to the team: they want Gustave back not a "cheap" imitation, in the same way that Verso's mother wants her son to return from the dead.

Even in the game's final scenes, Maelle (or Alicia, if we refer to her by her identity outside the painting) unconsciously addresses him as if he truly was the original Verso. Painted Verso wants to live apart from his role as a substitute for the original, to forge his own identity. It is tragic that during his final moments with Maelle, he is once again denied his own personhood.

His unwanted existence as a copy is the consequence of a battle that erupted and continues between the members of the Dessendre family, who process grief, after the loss of Verso, in different ways and try to impose them on each other, ending up denying their relatives and their sentient creations in their paintings any agency or consideration.

And yet, copied Verso is the only one who shows compassion and listens to the fragment of the original Verso that remains in the canvas: what would the original Verso think of seeing his family corrupting the world he loved creating in his painting and harming each other in the process because they cannot accept his death? Wouldn't he want to avoid becoming the source of his own family's misery?

Who could understand him better than a copy of himself? With whom he shares his love for music, the memory of painting a canvas full of fantasy and the pure desire for adventure typical of a small child, his bitterness and frustration at not being able to dedicate himself to the piano in a family that venerates only the power of painting?

A central aspect of Verso's character, both the copy and to some extent the original, is that over the years he has developed, a tendency towards deception and lies to protect himself, his family, and his goal. He hides himself behind masks.

Accidentally revealing his immortality and the nature of his existence forced him in the past to end the lives of people he cared about, who suspected, rightfully so, he hid his true nature with the ill intention to betray and sabotage the mission of destroying the Paintress (Verso's mother), who they mistook as the source of their suffering.

From this point on, Verso's interactions with others became somewhat insincere. However, he still desires companionship, to connect with people, and has shown himself capable of sharing touching moments with the other expedition members who he has come to care about: wanting to elicit a smile from them, offering them a dignified place of rest for a fallen comrade, sharing and showing his passion for music or helping someone overcome their fear of swimming, among other kind gestures.

But in the end, he fears that if they come to know who he truly is or his intentions, they will oppose his goal, which, in simplified terms, involves sacrificing himself and all beings of their painted world to save his mother (and later on, his sister) from a deadly fate. Thus, his purpose is defined by both selfishness (to destroy an entire world full of sentient beings so he can finally put an end to his life) and self-sacrifice (to save his mother from a self-inflicted illusion, the painted world itself, that is slowly draining her life force and her sanity).

That's why he lies, withholds information and diverts the attention of the other characters when they get closer to the truth. He has convinced himself, after being conditioned by decades living in solitary immortality, estranged from his family, with an identity he doesn't feel is his own, and the accumulated guilt and frustration of betraying previous expeditions and failing to reach his mother through the years, that his way of fulfilling his mission is the only correct one. He is incapable of opening himself to other possibilities, of trusting his companions (even though he cares for them), of telling them the truth, and of working together to find a common solution that would allow him to avoid bearing the guilt of condemning them to their end. 

He sacrifices the painted world and forces his mother and Maelle, original Verso's sister, to leave the Canvas that serves as a refuge for them to cope with their grief. He supposedly expels them for their own good, so they can have the chance to live outside the Canvas without endangering their lives, but selfishly, he also does it to rid himself of his immortality.

The life that awaits Maelle outside the Canvas is no better than the one she has lived within it: in the outside world, her face and throat are disfigured by the fire, a fire for which she was partly responsible, a fire that took her brother, Verso, when he sacrificed himself to save her. Outside the Canvas, Maelle cannot speak, breathe, or swallow without feeling pain; her family is broken by grief and lacks the drive to confort her; her mother and sister, while they love her, they also subconsciously blame her for Verso's death; and her overprotective father has constantly threatened to destroy the Canvas where she has lived an entire new life and where she has found another family that loves her unconditionally. The world that awaits her outside is a condemnation to a life marked by disability, guilt and grief.

The only words of comfort Verso is able to offer Maelle when he casts her out of the Canvas are based on an assumption: he doesn't know if Maelle's life outside the canvas will truly improve. He can only believe and hope that his lies will ultimately prove true, that he hasn't condemned the inhabitants of the canvas and Maelle herself in exchange for a worse outcome.

The more Verso lied, the more he became trapped in a dead end. Until one day he reached a point of no return, and all that remained to do in the end is to lament that things hadn't turned out differently (even though he had the power to change things if he had shared the truth from the start) and wishing that lying, after so many years, wasn't still so painful.

He Who Guards The Truth With Lies, to protect and to control.

Thank you for reading until the end!

[autumnfuzz]

Rashta is a tagic character like Opehilia

And both are victims of patriarchy and men.

Sold as a slave by her father as a child.

Used by Alan and later got abandoned after getting pregnant by him.

Her relationship with Sovieshu matches with Ophelia and Hamlet in many ways. He was her first true love. Ophelia gave Hamlet her virginity, While Rashta pretended to be a virgin with Sovieshu, she gave Sovieshu her heart for the first time in her life. And when she found out, he doesn't really love her, that's when everything started the crumble down. That was the last thread that was holding her down to sane world. She was already inching towards madness after her first pregnancy, than being separated from her second baby (we saw her singing like a mad woman with a doll). She already lost her mind but the illusion of Sovieshu's love for her, was holding her down but when he denied of ever loving her, her world crumbled down. Both her and Ophelia suffered from erotomania, and their sexuality plays a big role in their lives.

Ophelia wasn't tormented by her father or brother like Rashta. Rashta was tormented by her former slaver owner lotteshu before and after her becoming the empress. The man that traumatized her from her first pregnancy. But Rashta followed his orders out of fear, Ophelia followed them out of obedience and trusting their judgment. Ergi kinda plays similar role to Polonius and Lesertas. Both parties using women to profit from their targeted man (Sovieshu, Hamlet).

Ergi also misguiding her, laying traps for her and ultimately playing a big role in her down fall. Ergi also somewhat carries the role of Hamlet (disdain for women and their frailty)

All of her biggest offenders and helpers were men. There was no significant woman's touch in her life. Due to patriarchy, women were portrayed as her biggest enemies supported by Lebetti's actions, noble women looking down on her and men's treatment towards because of her beauty and women feeling threatened by it.

She was isolated from women surrounding her.

And when the only woman that tried to help her (Aryan), Rashta was already driven mad, paranoid by the men in her life and she committed a horrible thing.

Her death is equally tragic like Ophelia. Ophelia's death is debated between accident and suicide. But both of their deaths were influenced by the tragedy surrounding her.

Ophelia is loved, because she's a perfect victim. She doesn't stand in the way of the protagonist like Rashta. Even though Ophelia spied on Hamlet, following her father's order, she's still loved (rightfully so).

But Rashta is hated both by the narration and readers because she's not a perfect victim and she stands in the way of protagonist.

She's not a submissive character like Ophelia, rather she bites back, lashes out, acts like the monster they created.

I'm not saying Rashta and Ophelia are same but they're both victims of patriarchy. And both faced tragic ending because of it.

(This needs broader discussion and explanation but that's for another day).

I wonder how the story would feel if it started from Rashta's childhood and ended with her death. A grey protagonist with unstable mind, a narration that doesn't excuse her behavior but doesn't vilify her either. I think if some author that has a good grasp on human nature and isn't narrow minded, can do justice to Rashta's character or a write a character inspired by her.

The author of TRE created a gem of a character named Rashta but unfortunately, Rashta was too much of a complex character for the author to handle her well. But I do give her credit for giving us Rashta

[straightasaaro]

hello Tumblr people. I'm interested in characters or historical figures who are put into the category 'patron saint of one way trips'. lots of funny thoughts about that

so please reblog or comment on this post people who fit the following criteria (i've extracted this from the two most common patron saints of one way trips, laika and simon):

They are physically going from Point A to Point B. It is not a purely metaphorical journey.

They were never supposed to return to Point A from Point B.

They had little choice in starting the journey.

also if anyone could tell me who coined the term 'patron saint of one way trips' i'd be very happy, cause I want to give them credit

[mistyiosea]

I'm watching AOT again & I just... I just love Erwin so much oh my god. he's literally so perfect & he's so beautiful. I wish he didn't have to be another tragic character. his complexity & the internal conflict he deals with is astonishing character work.

we don't talk enough about how much this man suffered. he deeply cared about his soldiers more than anything including his own life & yet so many died under his command. he had no problem making sacrifices despite sparing as many lives as he could. he had to live with the guilt of their deaths, being haunted by the ones he couldn't save & also blamed himself for his father's death until his own demise. he carried great burdens no one could begin to understand. i understand why he died but I still wish he didn't.

this man was an angelic demon in every way. still he deserves all the love & appreciation.

also look what a dork he is he's so adorable what I wouldn't give to see him smile like that again

[iwouldeathisheart]

Since I'm irresponsible and continued one piece and now I can't think about anything else, I want to talk about Ace.

There seem to be people claiming that Ace's death wasn't that sad or impactful because there wasn't any way for him to survive, or because he was rage baited and could've just escaped, and I think that those people are so close to the point yet so so far.

The reason that Ace's death is sad is because his life is a tragedy. There wasn't any other end to the story. He couldn't escape the crimes of his father and he died the son of. If he ran away it would've still happened, just at another point. Ace spent his entire life trying to be someone with his own worth, and I think that people forget that he didn't think he was worthy of living, of people caring for him, because of his crime of being born.

He didn't die as Ace - pirate at his own right, Whitebeard's 2nd devision leader, brother of Luffy. Son of Rouge. He died the son of Roger. The fact that he couldn't outrun his destiny, that it was decided before he was even born - this is why it's so sad. I thought Ace was fun in Alabasta, but the fact that his life is a tragedy, that he didn't get to live, to grow, to meet Sabo - this is what makes him interesting. Even if he became a marine or a revolutionary, he would've been executed for the crime of being born. But he wasn't. He still chose the sea while trying to distance himself from Roger. It would've always ended this way, but he tried to live the life he wanted before. Ace didn't believe that anyone truly cared for him, and he thought that he was not worthy of the war. Characters died for him, but he thought they were worth more than him, that they threw their life away. Ace found out how loved he truly is on the execution platform, and by then, this love was a burden because he didn't find himself worthy of it. So this is why it's sad, why it's tragic. Ace understood that he want to live too late, and he never got a chance to live not on borrowed time, to grow old. He didn't die because he was stupid, or because Luffy needed to grow up, he died because there is no way the marines would've let him survive. He died because his pride is all that he has. So there is no universe where Ace survives because both Ace and the marines don't think he is worthy of surviving, but at the same time, if things were a little bit different someone could've forced him to walk away and chose to live. If Luffy was a little bit stronger, if Whitebeard stopped him from going after Teach in the first place, if Sabo remembered earlier, if Garp was a better grandfather, if Shanks wasn't late.

Both of those things are true, but Ace wouldn't have been able to do it alone. He needed someone to do it for him, to drag him out of this tragic narrative, but no one could do it because the narrative decided he must die because of his blood. In a way, he was dead since the beginning, and this is why he still haunts the narrative in Wano.

Also, note that hubris is essentially characters defying the gods because of overconfidence or pride, so their pride is the reason for their downfall. Sounds familiar?

I hope my rumbling makes sense.

[lumesati]

With the Empire, there is no justice and beauty. It snatches you away, brainwashes you. Brands you. Imprints its evilness onto you. Turns you into a weapon. It traps you, surrounds you, watches you always. Imprisons your soul. Makes you constantly fight for survival in a non-survivable hostile environment. Destroys everything genuine like love so you have nothing left, but its rage and contempt. And if you become ‘dysfunctional’, it throws you away without a second glance. There is no justice and beauty with the Empire. It makes you falling endlessly in the darkness your entire miserable life.~

I always have the urge to point out to all the haters that while she is an awful person doing horrible things (which aren’t redeemable), Dedra is also a victim of the Empire who was taken to the imperial kinderblock when she was only three years old. She’ll forever be my favorite SW Andor character.~

[th30ra3k3n]

i know i was made to be a weapon. i know i cannot ask for warmth, but please. please, God, i am tired of being a knife. i do not want to be this violence anymore.