tccartt - Tumblr blog

tccartt · 4 months ago

Text

Illyana, Kitty, and their soul

X-Men Unlimited vol. 1 no. 37, by Kaare Andrews, Dave McCraig, Mike Kunkel, Joshua Middleton, Troy Nixey, Dave Stewart, Skottie young, Pat Duke, and Randy Gentile (2002)

From the time of her early appearances in Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants, during Chris Claremont’s sixteen years as the lead writer of the X-Men franchise, Illyana Rasputina (Magik) has possessed a magical weapon identified as the Soulsword. It is a material embodiment of her soul, arranged into a metallic object with mass and volume that exists as a physical sword, but with no capacity to interact with any matter not of supernatural or cosmic origin. At the same time, her soul exists as a field of energy, indistinguishable from the magic that Illyana normally wields. The actual functionality and mechanics behind the existence of magic in Claremont’s world are left ambiguous at best, but one rule that is made abundantly perceptible is that a sorceress’ magic is either powered by or catalyzed by their soul. Illyana’s magic and her sword are, as such, the same thing merely expressed in two different ways. As her sword is an integral part of her being, she is the only person who can wield it, with a single exception: her roommate, Katherine Pryde (Kitty Pryde), pictured above.

Over the years there have been introduced further exceptions to the rule that only Illyana (and Kitty) can wield her sword–notably Dr. Doom, Darkoth, Amanda Sefton, Kurt Wagner, Witchfire, Xi'an Coy Manh, General Ulysses, and Piotr Rasputin. These exceptions were variously introduced by, and made possible by, a number of retcons that have been made since the end of Claremont’s tenure on Uncanny X-Men, New Mutants, and Excalibur, which also enter into conflict with the original description of what the Soulsword is. I will cover the three main ones briefly below, while ignoring those more recent retcons made by Brian Michael Bendis and Zeb Wells. My reason for this exclusion, simply, is that I believe that Bendis and Wells were following the structure of modern canon, where retcons to the nature of the Soulsword have become entrenched in the shared Marvel Universe over a publication period of nearly twenty-five years.

It is uncertain—so far as I can determine—as to what extent the following retcons are still within canon continuity (between certain other deviations by Bendis and Wells, as well as by Kieran Gillen, Craig Kyle, and Christopher Yost, and the nature of the recent Secret Wars vol. 4), though the substantive idea behind these retcons continues to inform stories featuring Illyana. I would also argue that, either way, they have no real bearing on the original authorial intent, nor upon whatever subtext can be gleaned from a review of the Chris Claremont run, which had introduced Illyana in issues published a decade earlier than the first retconned story. Nonetheless I have detailed them below to provide a more comprehensive retelling of what the Soulsword actually was, in part by showing what it has been changed into, so that I can better explain how it was originally meant to function as a narrative device within the text.

Excalibur vol. 1 no. 37, by Scott Lobdell, Mark Badger, Glynis Oliver, and Chris Eliopoulous (1991).

The first change to the Soulsword’s nature came from Scott Lobdell, and dealt with the potential ability of individuals other than Illyana or Kitty to wield it. Lobdell attempts to get cute with semantic loopholes, suggesting that the operating word is not wield but rather draw. Therefore, so long as Kitty or Illyana are the ones to initially draw the sword, any other person is capable of taking it from them and using it as they could. Plainly this does not make sense—prior to the Soulsword manifesting itself in the stone outside of the Excalibur lighthouse, it had never actually been drawn before. It was taking form directly from Illyana’s soul. Further, Lobdell’s script erroneously suggests that Dr. Doom read this in a spell and/or prophesy of the Darkhold, which (as I will show when I deal with how the Soulsword was made) is not actually possible.

This issue was likely the direct source of all future retcons. Lobdell treated the Soulsword as a magical artifact with destined power over Limbo, when the connection to Limbo was originally an incidental one. Illyana Rasputina was the Sorceress Supreme of Limbo, and the Soulsword was representational of her magic in totality, and therefore having it conferred authority over Limbo in her name. But this power is derived purely from Illyana herself, and is not inherent to the Soulsword as an object in the way the Lobdell seems to have believed.

Excalibur vol. 1 no. 85, by Warren Ellis, Ken Lashley, Tom Wegrzyn, Jon Babcock, and Joe Rosas (1995)

Here, in the final issue of the Warren Ellis’ Soulsword Trilogy, we take Lobdell’s retcon even further. Ellis reveals that the Soulsword has no connection to Illyana at all, and is merely an object that she briefly possessed. It furthermore confers a corrupting influence upon it’s wielder, and can be used by sorcerers as an instrument to further power by using it to murder rivals.[1] Amanda Sefton permanently breaks Kitty’s connection to the Soulsword, by casting a brief spell to bind it to herself.

An obvious connection between Ellis and Lobdell, I think, is that neither were comfortable writing magic. Lobdell was stuck trying to improvise the obvious stock elements of prophesy and sorcery, while Ellis was a dedicated science fiction writer who was likely trying to sweep away parts of Excalibur canon that he did not feel like exploring, or at least trying to convert magic to recognizable science fiction with alien metals and exotic energy fields in place of all this talk of souls.

Excalibur vol. 1 minus 1, by Ben Raab, Rob Haynes & Casey Jones, Nathan Massengill, Richard Starkings & Comicraft, and Kevin Tinsley (1997)

Ben Raab further changed the origins of the Soulsword, to that of an inherently evil weapon that was always meant for Amanda Sefton (Jimaine Szardos), with Illyana’s possession of it merely an incidental step along the way. There is some editorial logical to this decision, as Illyana was the most high profile casualty of the Legacy Virus and could not be brought back into new publications under any circumstance. Meanwhile there was an extant interest in telling more stories about Magik—and thus the obvious solution presented it self, to turn Amanda into the new Magik. Nonetheless this decision presumed to retroactively undermine all existing Illyana stories, and greatly impacted what they could do with her in the future when Marvel decided to reintroduce her to the franchise.

Nightcrawler vol. 3 no. 10, by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Darick Robertson, Rodney Ramos, Matt Milla, and Rus Wooton (2005)

Finally we see the result of all previous retcons, as first consolidated and expanded to form the modern canonical description of the Soulsword. Now the Soulsword is an ancient evil occult weapon used by sorcerers of the Winding Way (Amanda’s personal school of magic), to gain power by killing one another. It now has corrupting properties, and attracts evil to the wielder. We are told that it has had many owners throughout time (which, curiously, is contradicted on the same page), of which Illyana Rasputina was only a minor and unimportant one among the lot. It’s a far leap from the weapon that twice banished the power of the Elder Gods (once by defeating Belasco, and once by reversing the Inferno), to the point where New Mutants is virtually irreconcilable with later works.

My intention hereafter is to detail the earlier appearances of the Soulsword and to speculate as to its narrative purpose.

It is my general contention that the Illyana/Kitty relationship was intended to be read as a romantic one (without speculating as to the sexual orientation of either character, which I believe is far more ambiguous, and a place where multiple differing points of view can coexist), and that this interpretation is a natural one to develop upon second readings of the text. Such subtext was a deliberate and obvious choice on the part of the author, and one that I believe that the Soulsword represents a key piece of evidence towards.

I have seen it argued many times, over the years that I’ve been a part of the X-Men online fan community that there is no subtext, and that Kitty and Illyana (who are described variously in the text as “special friends” and “soulmates”) are merely very close friends, or are otherwise like sisters. According to this interpretation, the Soulsword goes to Kitty when Illyana loses her magic (or dies) because the strength of their friendship calls it to her. There is something to the idea that Illyana and Kitty’s relationship could be viewed as sororal—their speech patterns have at times been likened to twins, and they are one another said to have a very powerful instinctive understanding of their thoughts and feelings. I believe this is, however, meant to be seen as a reflection of the soulmate relationship, which pertains to transcendent intimacy (i.e. two bodies, one soul; to perfectly understand one another, and to be incomplete when without) rather than merely to unusual closeness. I do not believe, also, that a sororal interpretation is fully valid when observing the actual behavior of the object which should be viewed as symbolic of their relationship.

It is a sword, first and foremost, and they frequently use it to defend one another from supernatural forces of evil (including those which come from within). Drawing a sword to protect a romantic partner, or wielding one against a partner to ‘save her from herself,’ are two of the oldest and most prevalent of modern fantasy archetypes. At the same time, we frequently observe the Soulsword acting as a means of providing comfort to them in loss, and of allowing them to be together when they are apart (even when separated by death). These are not themes that are typically explored in sibling relationships, and while that would not be a barrier to Claremont exploring them anyway, I believe that the obvious inclusion of high fantasy romance archetypes was a means of discretely working around editorial restrictions (something he is documented as having made a habit of doing).

As to the idea that they are merely close friends, a romantic friendship is a possible interpretation of their relationship, in my reading, but ‘romantic’ should be the key descriptor. Being 'just very close friends’ or 'like sisters’ would not explain why Illyana’s sword would be capable of hurting Kitty. A literal interpretation of the 'soulmate’ description, however, would. If Illyana’s soul is in some way related to Kitty’s, it would make sense that it could cut her even while she remained intangible, in the same way that Kitty’s alternate selves are capable of interacting with her in the same state. Furthermore, Illyana has other close friends, and a brother, and—prior to the aforementioned retcons—they could not touch the Soulsword like Kitty could. It should also be noted that upon the first occasion in which Kitty touched the Soulsword, she and Illyana were in the very early stages of their friendship. The connection between them, whatever its implications, predates their friendship and was either forged in Limbo or has been unknowingly a part of them for their entire lives.

Keep reading

133 notes · View notes