~Kubo loves to use parallels in his story telling. Let's look at one parallel I noticed this time during my current reread of the manga.
So first, let's look at this conversation between Ichigo and Orihime that I went over in more detail in this post.
Pay special attention to her words in the panels below. Remember, she already knew about Rukia's situation from Urahara to some degree! From the conversation, we can gather that Ichigo filled Orihime in with more details, obviously not knowing she already knew.
We see her initial reaction at hearing the story from Ichigo here. She's expressing doubt that Ichigo should rescue her.
Kubo even chose to give us a cinematic look here, where her face is shadowed and we don't see her eyes...
And it's such an odd thing to say when someone says "Rukia was arrested and taken back to the soul society to be put to death." and her reaction is "Will you take her away from her family and friends and bring her back here?" ... you mean the same family and friends that are going to execute her?
But look - as soon as Ichigo's face shows shock, Orihime does a 180 and pivots!
Even Ichigo is confused by her sudden shift in demeanor.
Masking....
Masking..
And you can see, the whole 180 was an act. She drops her mask as soon as he turns away. Her smile fades. She approaches Ichigo about this as a way to establish why she is going to the Soul Society in the first place (because she can't just tell Ichigo it's because of him. She barely knows him!).
The doubt she was sowing in the beginning was for what? Who would benefit from Rukia not coming back? Who was feeling jealousy for how close Rukia was to Ichigo?
Now, let's compare that to the panels below - where Rukia does something similar to Orihime...
We see Rukia's initial reaction - very matter of fact, depressed, resigned to her fate. Someone who's given up hope. You see Renji is upset that he isn't getting his typical reaction from her and is saddened by her response. He's not used to seeing her so hopeless...
So what does Rukia do?
She does a complete 180 herself! She changes her demeanor, teasing Renji about his eyebrows, getting him out of feeling sadness for her. She acts as if she is considering escaping, which we know she is not.
She goads Renji until he becomes annoyed, effectively shifting his emotion from sadness to the more useful emotion of anger.
She literally winces when he slams the door.
And just like Orihime, as soon as Renji's gone, her mask drops.
So what are these two conversations paralleling exactly?
Both Orihime and Rukia mask in these conversations by switching their demeanor suddenly
Both Orihime and Rukia are able to pick up on the emotions of the Ichigo / Renji respectively
Both Orihime and Rukia drop their masks as soon as the other party is gone
In what ways are they different? Well, in one of the most SIGNFICANT ways. Their motive - the why behind their shift.
Orihime's motive was selfish. When she masked and shifted her demeanor, who's benefit was that for? Hers. It helped her establish a reason for why she was going to Soul Society under the guise of "her friend Rukia". It helped her talk to Ichigo directly when she's had so little direct conversations with him at this point. If her motive had truly been to uplift Ichigo, she would have approached him from the beginning. "I know everything from Urahara. I have powers now and I'm training to work on them so I can help you rescue my friend Rukia." but that's not what she did...
Rukia's motive was selfless. When she masked, it was for Renji's benefit. Pure and simple. She wasn't trying to get him to do anything. She didn't ask him to help her escape or to appeal to Central 46 for her or convince her brother to change his mind. No. What did she do? Joked about escaping to give the impression that she wasn't giving up. She teased him about his eyebrows to distract him. She had Renji focus on something other than her impending death. Lightened his mood so he could leave without feeling utter despair that she had accepted her fate. It was for HIS benefit, purely.
There are multiple parallels with Rukia and Orihime in particular. This is just one. But it's an obvious one. It shows the true nature underneath these characters.
And just for clarification, I'm not saying this makes Orihime inherently evil or makes Rukia a saint. Both of them have their flaws and qualities that shine. But Kubo specifically wrote them to parallel one another in this way.
so it’s fenhanders week, and today’s theme is to explore when these three knew they were all supposed to be together. This is, uh, not that exactly, but close. Have an Inquisition-era drabble for the Reconcile ot3, in which Leliana is pining after her Warden and Hawke waxes nostalgic about the boys.
“I’m sorry, I wish I had more to offer you,” Jicosa Hawke says, sea-bright eyes wide and sincere. “You know I don’t know Bris well. I never knew any of my extended family really, not until Kirkwall. And we’ve corresponded recently, as much as one can when neither of us stay in one place for long, but I’ve still yet to actually meet her.”
“Yes, I did not really expect news, I confess,” Leliana says, folding her hands on the table between them. “I merely wanted…” she falls silent, studying this woman who is the cousin of her love, trying, trying, to see Briseis Amell in Jicosa Hawke. But Hawke does not have her love’s rosebud lips and or dark hair; her eyes are more blue than green. And to look at the facial tattoos Leliana’s sources tell her are a memento from Hawke’s time as a soldier, or the solid strength of her, biceps like small tree trunks and a greataxe on her back that rivals the one Bull carries for size, to look the Champion of Kirkwall in the eye and not shrink from her gaze, it is impossible to believe this woman could have ever been as innocent or gentle or soft as the Hero Leliana fell in love with a decade ago.
They have been apart too long, if Leliana is desperate enough to search Hawke’s face so for just a trace of her love.
“Ahh,” Hawke says with sudden understanding. “Here you are having to put up with my ugly mug when it’s Bris you really want.” She shakes her head, laughing lightly, then lifts her glass of Varric’s especially terrible ale and sips. “I’m afraid I’m not nearly so interesting as my more illustrious cousin.”
“I doubt very much Varric would agree with you,” Leliana says, offering a smile in return. She clicks her tongue. “It’s no matter. I had word from my love not long ago. Why don’t you tell me about yourself, instead?”
“What would you like to know?” Hawke asks. She lifts both brows. “People usually ask about Anders, or my duel with the Arishok.”
There is little, of course, that Leliana does not know, and she finds herself considering a more private, and perhaps rude, question.
“The lonely romantic in me is especially interested in prying into your relationships,” Leliana confesses. “You are – with Anders and Fenris?”
Hawke nods, her expression softening.
“What’s that like, being with two people? How did you know that was what was right, for all of you?”
Hawke snorts loudly. “You mean, how did that happen?” She shakes her head. “There was a lot of Suffering involved, I can tell you that much.” She punctuates the word ‘suffering’ with a jerk of her chin, a hint of exasperation in her voice. “Anders was fairly certain I was actually in love with Fenris for the first few years we were together. And I wasn’t – I’m not very good about these things.” She presses her lips together. “I’m sorry, I’m really the worst person to ask for the story, because I am actually a terrible storyteller. Varric used to cut me off before any of Kirkwall’s denizens could ask me about my exploits, because I always told it wrong somehow.”
“I don’t mind,” Leliana says. “I suspect the Hawke of your experience is rather a different creature than the Hawke in Varric’s stories.”
“That is maybe the truest thing I’ve heard all night,” Hawke laughs. She runs her fingers around the lip of her glass. “The truth is, we never really worked without Fenris. Anders and I – we’re too hard, on our own. So much of Anders is his cause, and I thought for a long time that he would just see how much I cared for him by the way I stood by him in that. But he spent so many years in fear of the templars using anyone he loved against him, hiding what he felt, that what he needed was someone who was open and vocal with their affection, and that’s always been hard for me. But not for Fenris. He needed time, to be ready to be with anyone, but when he was? He was so adamant about what he felt, what he wanted. I didn’t realize how badly we both needed that until Fenris.”
Leliana thinks of how many long nights of flirting under the stars it took before her Warden realized she was sincere in her affections. Briseis had shied away from admitting she returned Leliana’s feelings until the streets of Denerim were ablaze and they were minutes from a final battle with the archdemon.
Leliana smiles. Perhaps Briseis Amell and Jicosa Hawke are not so dissimilar after all.
