The source of all that is evil - study on theories revolving around Michèle
Michèle Malebranche is indeed one of the Sound Hrizon’s biggest mysteries. Little to nothing is known about her, as details about her are extremely vague, yet no one can deny her presence either. This has opened a world of possibilities for Laurants to see this Madam in hundred of different ways, but most of them seem to be aligning just the same. Under the cut I'll be going through several problems that have surfaced several times within several theories.
The context of this post holds little to no theory of mine. This is not a post to defend any theory of mine, or to compete with any theory on tumblr. This is simply a study in theories and how they work when logic, and knowledge on how stories work, is applied to them.
These theories started first as pretty tame, still leaning on some sort of proof in the lyrics, but after that it suddenly became a free ground. For even the slightest of reasons, Michèle was pointed out to be almost every character that has appeared. There have been theories that the world of SH is her creation (which I will not deny, it’s interesting theory), but then it has been taken a step forward: characters she writes are self inserts, and she does this to create chaos. She is the culprit in every mystery SH has. Michèle Malebrache is not only a murderer, but a manipulating witch that only seeks to create as much misery in as many horizons as possible.
While these theories might seem cool, they have several similar problems. Here are some myths, and some busting.
More complex you make it, the better it becomes.
Usually theories surrounding Michèle have been made extremely complex. This is usually a result from a weak basis theory, that has holes on it. To cover those holes, another theory has been created to cover for it, and this goes on and on until the theory is extremely complex, needlessly so. These theories are usually justified by saying, that Revo is a troll and likes to confuse us, when actually, Revo is trying to tell you a story.
Stories withing songs can't usually be too complex, as they differ from other mediums. It differs from books, which allow hundreds of pages. In a song, where you don't have the luxury of having all those pages to use, but only the length of the song, every detail matters. Every word, sentence, sound effect and so on are there to guide you through the story.
There is a reason why it's often said that the most simplest answer is usually the right one. Revo's work is complex in it's own right, but this complex doesn't necessarily mean hard to understand, and needlessly detailed. Overly complex isn't that smart, what's smart, is how simple pieces you can create such a well working and wonderful puzzle.
Every proof you need for your theory is within the lyrics. If it isn't, I suspect you simply wandered too far. Making your theory overly complex doesn't make it any smarter. Better the proof, the more water proof is your theory.
No rules apply.
For theory to exsist and live, it needs proof to allow room for discussion. For discussion and theories to exsist, the fantasy world needs rules. Just like in Harry Potter-series, magic just doesn't happen, there are rules surrounding the use of magic. Once these rules disappear, the world itself looses its ground and this way no one can believe in it anymore, making the actual story worthless.
A reader would get extremely frustrated if a character, that has ended up in a though spot, suddenly figures out magic spell out of nowhere to escape the situation. There is no real danger or conflict, when audience realizes no rules apply, and escape is always guaranteed, simple, and painfully easy and cheap. This is why worlds have rules, and reader/watcher is introduced to these rules early on in every story.
But when it comes to Michèle, the rules that have been introduced to us, have not been exactly clear. This allows room for anyone creating a theory to also create backdoors and escapes. Michèle is seen as an omnipotent witch woman, who can do what ever the hell she likes, where ever, whenever. "It's magic, you don't have to explain it." It's an easy way out for any writer or theorist. It creates an illusion that some basis for the theory exist, when there is absolutely no proof what so ever. This kind of loop holes are perfectly fine in fanfiction, comics, roleplay, you name it, but if you want to create a theory and discuss it, when it comes to theories based on magic and not the rules, the conversations are one sided and short.
Things like these kill characters. They make them one sided, omnipotent. No character is perfect and unbeatable god that can do how ever they like. They wreck the story out of balance, and no actual story exists anymore, as there is nothing to stop them. Some theories on Michèle seem to forget this, claiming that she can do everything, and forgetting to explain why exactly she couldn't do other things. Rules only seem to apply, when they are convenient.
You have succumbed the witch and forgotten logic and reason, when it isn't convenient, creating a fantasy around things that never were said.
If Michèle is god with all the power within the SH Kingdom, we can end the discussion there. She did everything. Logic is dead, long live magic.
Mary Sue lives once more.
Other theories claim her to be a self insert, writer of every story, yet every character in each one. Theories of Michèle being the writer has been before, but these theories take it to the extreme, once again killing characters as they go.
These theories are ok, but once again, have little to no basis, and extreme consequences. Once you claim one character is all the character individuality disappears. Everything once again loses it's point. Michèle is simply playing alone with hand puppets with no sense or purpose.
And once again, little to no theories bother to explain why she would do this. Other theories claim, that Michèle is this character X, but then she isn't character Y, for no reasons explained. This problem is extremely similar to the "No rules apply"-one, and is another discussion killer.
The witch is everywhere.
There are only few appearances actually confirmed: her own songs, and the Roman album. While the colour red does appear here and there, and is seen as the colour that represents Malebranche, every mention of colour red can not be considered as concrete proof of her presence.
Colour red is not trademarked by Michèle and can symbolize several things and give us a certain ideas of a character that is said to wear such colour. It is impossible to dedicate one colour to one character, especially when it's colour that has as much symbolic meaning as red does. Michèle isn't a colour, she is a character, and she has other characteristics beyond that colour.
Also Revo does put melodies that are recognized as Michèle's here and there, but these are mostly easter eggs for fans to find, rather than connections, unless they are within the same album. People can hear Stardust in Moira, but it doesn’t mean Stardust-ko is running around the temples, right?
This works for lyrics too, we know exactly what “the boy takes the black sword” means and to what song it is referring to, but it doesn’t mean that the person who originally had that action would walk up to the scene and ask why you are stealing their sword. There repeated phrases are both easter eggs and symbols that fans can read and recognize, and help the read the story, but not invitation to connect two horizons on such loose basis as two similar words and no other proof what so ever.
One and only evil.
Last but not least. As Michèle has been claimed to be the god, she has also considered to be all that is evil, the culprit, and behind everything bad and tragic in SH Kingdom.
To see Michèle as the only source of evil is extremely naive image of the world. Revo mixes fantasy and reality in his stories, he has a wide variety of villains, and several have their motivations and reasons to act like they do. They want wealth, power, they want to survive. Just like in the real world, not one is purely evil for the sake of being evil, and every villain is the hero of their own story. To claim that Michèle manipulates, posses, or is several of these characters to twist the world how she likes, suggest that no evil would exist, if Michèle wouldn't. A world where there would be no Michèle, everyone would have what they need, no one would hate anyone and everyone would be living in peace, making the message to be something like this:
If we rid the world of this one evil, world will find peace.
And that is simply not how the world works. It's childish and optimistic at best, but world is much more complex and complicated than that.
Conclusion.
Once we abandon the rules and logic that the lyrics give us, we lose the reason to discuss about them, and end up killing a character that is wonderful how she is, and complex in her own right. Instead of wondering what exactly happened to her in the lyrics, or what is this cage she tries to escape, we keep on creating fantasies that have little to no basis. Discussion is impossible under these circumstances.
You are free to imagine her as you like, you are free to create your own logic. You are allowed to disagree with others, and you can discuss and accept the fact someone disagrees with you, and still keep on discussing. But I hope this text opened up some weak spots in several theories going around tumblr to allow for better discussion and understanding the medium that is music that tells a story, and story creation, and how it works. You are free to send me asks to send me questions, improvement suggestions, your disagreement, etc. As this post contains over 1000 words, mistakes are bound to happen.
Thank you, and have a good day.
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