#weapon taker

[qweaenr]

ELSWORD - Raven Cromwell -

“Have I helped a little for the peace of this world...?”

[sa1008va]

[overanalyzingelswordiswhatido]

In defense of Rage Hearts

Okay. This post is exactly the reason I actually even made this blog. And that's because I've seen a multitude of people saying Nova Imperator should be Raven's canon route. I will preface this by saying I haven't played Raven very far and Furious Blade route is the only one I'm even somewhat decent with, so my analysis is based on what I can gather from Raven's various wiki pages. But based on my analysis, that's because on the surface Nova Imperator seems to be the most stable of the three. He decides to use his arm as a tool and he's described as being a cool headed tactician. And on top of that he actively decides not to lose himself to his trauma. And those are very good things. The problem comes in... three parts??? I've identified.

First off, since this is the simpler part of the problem, he is willing to sacrifice himself for victory. He is willing to throw himself away if it means the goals of the El Search Party will be achieved. He's willing to sacrifice "his own body to deal more damage to the enemy". That is incredibly self destructive and a good look at his mental state. Sure. He's a cool headed tactician. But it's because he's not worried about dying. If his death would mean the other members of the search party were okay then he would do it in a heartbeat. And that seems okay to us because of the narratives we're given throughout fiction of someone that is that self sacrificing being praised as a hero. But it's not our willingness to die that signifies the strength of our will or the strength of our bonds. It's our willingness to fight so that we can live to keep them intact. And once you look at Raven with that in mind, it becomes clear that Nova Imperator... doesn't actually have a lot to live for. He's willing to die to protect them because if he dies protecting them then he won't have to watch more people he cares about die.

Second, Nova Imperator views the things that happened in his past as mistakes. But, based what I've managed to gather on his backstory, the things that happened were either completely outside of his control, or because of decisions he made with the knowledge he had AT THE TIME. Of course they look like mistakes now that he knows the full situation (hindsight is always 20/20 after all), but he didn't know then. He made the best decisions he could with what he knew at the time, so everything that went wrong WASN'T HIS FAULT. The things that happened in the past were not mistakes but Nova Imperator still views them as such. He hasn't come to accept that he did the best he could with what he had at the time.

The third part of the problem is honestly the most complicated. And part of it is a trend I noticed with the various routes I personally would classify as dark. Two trends actually. The first trend is a tendency for self destruction, which I detailed for Raven specifically in the first part of this analysis. The second is a fixation on some point in the past (that often leads directly to the self destruction but that's an analysis for another day). For Diabolic Esper it's obvious. Even for a character like Crimson Avenger or Battle Seraph it's pretty obvious. But for Nova Imperator it really isn't. So much so, I didn't initially classify him as a dark job path. But the wiki page quote for Weapon Taker really kinda... was the kick off for this analysis.

"I will remain the Raven that I was to begin with. As long as I am alive, the Crow Mercinaries will never die out; I am back and I will show you the Crow Mercinaries restored to its former glory. For them... I will once again dawn the uniform of the Crow Mercinaries..."

That sounds really nice doesn't it? Like that sounds amazing. The problem with that is he isn't the Raven he was before. He CAN'T be. Something as traumatic as what he went through changes people. Whether we want it to or not, whether we can accept it or not, trauma WILL change us. Raven, despite being a fictional character is no different and the narrative shows us that. But Nova Imperator route Raven refuses to allow those changes.

This is where my defense of Rage Hearts comes in. Because, after analyzing the canon paths for each character I've noticed a trend with them as well. The canon paths are the most stable and, for those characters with past trauma, the ones on their way to recovery. Whether they're on the road to starting it or on the road to achieving it depends on the character. Yes. Rage Hearts is an angry man. Yes. He feeds his arm with hatred and a desire for revenge and all of those ugly ugly dark emotions. Yes. That is not comfortable to witness. BUT, as someone who has witnessed many a recovery from trauma in my family, and being someone dealing with my own, those ugly ugly dark emotions? They need to be felt and they need to be expressed and dealt with and worked through. THAT is often the first step to recovery. By the time he reaches Rage Hearts, according to his wiki, he has accepted his arm not just as a tool, as something for him to use, but as a part of his body just as much as his flesh and blood arm is. And it's when he does that that the power of the arm finally comes under his control. If we wanna talk metaphors here, its when Raven accepts his arm that HE calms down. Yeah, it takes Raven five years to do it but all things considered, I'd say that wasn't that long a time span at all. And it's very important to me that the character placed into a father like role by the story of Elsword, is one that is on his own road to recovery.

[elsnark]

✧Sourcream

[overanalyzingelswordiswhatido]

Elsword Headcanons #15

Rena views most of the El Search Party as children, even as they grow older, simply because her lifespan is longer than most of theirs. The only two exceptions are Ciel and Raven who she views as adults. Grand Archer realizes that even if she continues to see them as kids the world will view them as adults at some point and they've decided to take on responsibilities most adults can't handle. She's careful not to baby them or protect them too much. Wind Sneaker thinks they deserve a chance to be children, even if the world is falling apart around them and is very protective, even to the point of enabling their individual bubbles. Night Watcher has to be willing and able to do whatever it takes to stop quite a few members of her El Search Party, so she is much less gentle with them than the other two are with their respective search party.

Raven is perfectly reasonable unless he's trying to impress someone he likes at which point he can do really stupid shit. Like take the level of dumbass you would expect from someone trying to impress their crush and ratchet that up to about 5,000 and that is the level of dumbass Raven achieves.

[overanalyzingelswordiswhatido]

What do you think would happen if Seris (Raven's dead fiance) was alive? Or maybe if Seris came back as an enemy? I've been wondering about this a long time.

I haven't played Raven very far, so this is all just based on what I can gather from the wiki and what little I have played. That being said if Seris lived, Raven would not have even been met by the El Search Party until Velder. Also, she absolutely would've joined the El Search Party. In fact, I think it would've been her idea. From what I've gathered of Raven's backstory, he seemed quite comfortable with the status quo and keeping to himself. I don't think he would've joined the El Search Party as immediately as he did, seeing his duty to Velder as being more important. But I think Seris totally would've dragged her husband into joining the El Search Party. She seems very adventurous from what I can gather. And she also totally would've adopted ALL of them alongside Raven and Rena. The El Search Party would've had TWO moms and a dad.

If Seris returned as a villain though, that would be some sweet, sweet angst. In order for her to be a villain however, I would say something, or someone would've had to convince her that she had reason to hate the El Search Party, Raven, or both. Now that someone could be Owen, Nasod mind control similar to Raven, demons or Henir (probably through Henir's Order), or some combination. Personally, I think the combination would be most plausible, since Seris seemed very strong willed to me. I think it would take a lot to wear her down to the point where she's actually a VILLAIN as opposed to simply turning her back. After Owen's betrayal I don't think he would be able to do much but make her doubt in the back of her mind, likely as they're tying to bust Raven outta prison. And while mind control is cool and all, I don't see that as true villainy since she has no choice in the matter. However, that sort of thing is very damaging. And both demons and Henir have been shown on multiple occasions to be able to latch onto any shred of negativity in a person and twist and use it to their advantage. Let's assume the El Search Party managed to miss Seris somehow on Altera, or King Nasod sent her elsewhere to keep an eye out for any demon activity. Considering the fact that trauma to that extent changes people, it could be possible that Seris could be convinced that destroying the world and starting over would be the best option after everything she's been through. Henir would be more interesting than the demons tbh, as it opens up a lot more possible story points.

[overanalyzingelswordiswhatido]

as someone that was really into disturbed in like. 2014 the line 'Raven sounds like David Draiman from Disturbed' killed me in one hit and now raven singing Avarice wont leave my head, thanks

You're welcome? When I wrote that I was thinking more along the lines of like, Darkness or Sound of Silence but Avarice is a good one too.

[incorrectelswordquotes]

Weapon Taker: I wonder what's on the program today *turns on TV*

Lunatic Psyker, starring in a reality show: y'all mind if i beat my son?

Weapon Taker: *turns TV off*