honor-bound: supplemental readings
Remember those memes about overanalyzing required readings in English class, and how there was no way the author would ever put that much thought into the work? Well guess who just did. Whoop-dee-do. A lot of these are probably already evident in the fic, but here's a detailed analysis into external references + my thought process for certain parts of the fic. Strap yourselves in!
Fourteen main questions, five bonus ones. There are fourteen satellites on a Wrecking Ball, plus countdowns (in this case, the countdown to Wekapipo's death) usually occur in multiples of five. Additionally, all of Wekapipo's personal thoughts are kept as bonus questions because he tends to keep his own feelings on a matter out of the way; ultimately, they don't necessarily dictate the decisions that he makes, nor the outcomes that result.
part i: "duty-bound" and "honor-bound". The repetition of these two words and phrases throughout honor-bound is completely intentional; I absolutely adore the double themes of duty (what Wekapipo is ordered to do) and honor (what Wekapipo's own conscience tells him to do) throughout his character, and I tried reflecting that throughout this fic.
part iv: "Unlucky thirteen satellites - he's dead." Again, fourteen satellites on a Wrecking Ball, one of which destroy his brother-in-law's eye (deservedly so).
part vii: "The year is 1889; you find yourself before Valentine." In his dialogue with Valentine at the beginning of the Wrecking Ball arc, Wekapipo seems to be familiar enough with Valentine to negotiate his reward, which is why I'd like to believe he first met him a couple of months beforehand.
part viii: "Mike O., who is always at the First Lady's side, but whose sobriety and politeness you take an actual liking to." I actually would have liked to add a bit more about the parallels between Mike O. and Wekapipo's former self; I just think they would've gotten along well :)
two: the entirety of answer choice A. I'd really love to go more in-depth with a dedicated analysis someday, but suffice to say that both Magenta and Wekapipo's sister had their left eye destroyed through Wekapipo's indirect actions, whereas his brother-in-law's right eye was destroyed because of Wekapipo himself. During the duel, a satellite nearly takes out Wekapipo's left eye; and this, in combination with another focus on his left eye way later leads me to believe that in Wekapipo's story arc, the left eye symbolizes good, and the right symbolizes evil. (I'm fully aware this is a slightly haphazard explanation, I'll get around to typing up a proper one with image proof later!)
part xii: answer choices A and C. This is a bit I don't see any discussion about, but I'm referencing this panel specifically:
^ is it not a little odd that Wekapipo is concerned about whether or not Magenta's status was known to anyone? This, in combination with the fact that Wekapipo knew Valentine would kill him for failing to obtain the Corpse's legs led me to interpret that Wekapipo did in fact know that Magenta was still alive, even after being shot in Michigan, and was banking on Diego to lead Magenta away from the ongoing conflict so that he wouldn't be killed by Valentine/wouldn't get in Wekapipo's way. (Just like the eye stuff, I'd really like to go a little more in-depth with this someday!)
part xiii: "A rock is to a rock." Two meanings: a. a haha funni reference to the "two" rocks during the Arabia Fats fight from Stardust Crusaders (wow, that was a while ago, huh?), and b. both Wekapipo and Diego never end up going back for Magenta, despite Magenta's fascination? devotion? towards both of them. Sorry Magenta, you've got terrible taste in partners :/
part xiii: "An apple is to an orange." I'll give Diego a little credit here; he was the one that brought Magenta out from Michigan and - probably - nursed him back to health, unlike someone. Cough cough.
part i: "A thousand things, none of them mine." derived from this famous tumblr poem, in which god asks his devoted follower to suffer.
part vi: "America calling!" derived from London Calling by The Clash and the desperate conditions the song was written in, specifically the verses "A nuclear error, but I have no fear / 'Cause London is drowning, I, I live by the river".
part vii: "HMS Oedipus" is a bit on the nose, but the Greek myth of Oedipus symbolizes the permanence of a predetermined fate. HMS is Her Majesty's Ship, the title of all British ships; apparently they were commonly named after Greek myths during this time period.
part ix: "You don't even understand the joke." A little headcanon of mine - Wekapipo doesn't laugh at Magenta's gags, partially because he's Just Like That (tm) and partially because of cultural differences being lost in translation. The fact that he probably spent some time in Europe and/or America before SBR is a fantastic opportunity to explore the immigrant experience, especially given the fact that Italians were treated pretty terribly during this time in the US :/
part xii: "Merry Christmas! Your present arrives three days late." derived from the Japanese side of the SBR minor villain fandom's fanon for the characters' death dates; Wekapipo, Magenta, and DISCO are all commonly believed to have died on 12/28. Feel free to ask me more about this, because the rabbit hole actually goes a little deeper!
part xiv: "the Port of Southampton" was one of the most popular seaports in England at the time. I headcanon that Wekapipo drifted throughout Europe for a good bit before he arrived in the US; the specific details are more ambiguous and are thus left up to the reader's imagination :)
And that's all (folks)! I wrote this part after I'd already finished the fic, so I do apologize if there's anything that I missed. Thank you so much for reading honor-bound, and a very special thank you to all that have made it this far in my ramblings!!
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