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selfshipstuff · 2 months ago

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Time to discuss magic in toa. This isn’t too spoilery but I’ve still tagged it as just in case.

So each wizard (or witch) has a different colour for their magic, which is great in fights and stuff but also I think give us a little insight into their character. Obvs this is head canon but I like a bit of colour theory and stuff so why not:

The Arcane Order-

The arcane order look like they represent primal forces. So Skrael is ice and a bit of wind (think Boreas), Bellroc is fire and Nari is nature.

Skrael Ice Blue: ice is symbolic of coldness, being aloof, mixed with the blue it can give off a childish nature (shown by him chuckling at Steve). It’s also associated with intensity and narcissism which I think is very fitting for Skrael. He’s a very intense ice mage.

Bellroc lava/flame red: fire is associated with hot bloodedness, a temper which Bellroc seems to have more of compared to the others. Red is the colour of danger, war and determination. Bellroc is the more upfront attacker. The engager and it shows in their magic.

Nari Forest Green: Forests are associated with nature but also spirtualism. Nari is quite unusual and as said in the show can feel all spirits. It reminds me a little of the swamp episode in atla. The colour is also associated with balance, which was something Nari wanted. She may feel that the decimation of humans creates an imbalance in terms of her spirituality. One association of forest green that I find interesting is persistence. And looking back over wizards. Nari is persistent in the persuit of her goals and her ideals. She keeps running from the order because she thinks they’re wrong.

The ‘good’ guys-

I get to be a bit more in depth with these guys since we’ve had them and explored them longer.

Claire violet: our new sorcerer in training. I quite like Claire. She’s been thematically purple for a while and it suits her quite a bit. Purples are famously associated with nobility (due to being an expensive dye to make), and in a sense Claire is nobility by the loosest terms. Her mother is a councilwoman, very important in Arcadia and would be a modern equivalent to nobility. She’s also powerful. Douxie and Morgana both consider Claire powerful in terms of magic but her inner strength is just as good. She leaves her home to go with Jim, perseveres when her brother goes missing and keeps fighting for the side of good. Violet is associated with ambition as well. Ambition in tv has become sort of a bad thing but Claire is ambitious, she does well in school, sets goals for herself and follows through to accomplish them. Brother in the Darklands? Okay I’m going to save him.

Morgana golden yellow: ah Morgana, our sort of redeemed sorceress. Credit where credit is due she really did just want peace. Ironically yellows are associated with happy emotions such as joy. Which would make sense if we’re thinking about the Morgana with Gwen. A joy for just the two of them. Gold obviously is associated with wealth and excess. She’s royalty, sister of the king. Of course she’s wealthy. But gold is also extravagance. And although Morgana doesn’t seem the type to attend vanity fairs and parties she does like her flashy magic. Conjuring in large numbers, appearing in flashes of light. Angor Rot. She indulges in her magic. An often overlooked association with gold is intellect. Morgana is extremely intelligent. She thinks things through, her plans last years. She managed to accomplish her goals through careful planning and had the intelligence to see where Arthur’s war was going.

Merlin lime green: Merlin is a character I feel conflicted about. He did care about people but those he cared about seemed to suffer terrible fates, not to mention how verbally abusive he is to Douxie. Similar to Nari, lime green is for nature and balance. Merlin does seem to have a respect for living things but it can be overridden by balance. Merlin works for the greater good and only the greater good. With the exception of choosing to save Douxie. Lime green is also associated with confidence which is Merlin. He’s confident in his plans and ideas. He doesn’t think he can get things wrong. Wizards don’t make mistakes indeed. Ironically greens are also associated with stability. Which in a sense yes he provided stability. Douxie got a home, Camelot is implied to be kept safe by his magic protecting the denzins, Arthur got a powerful sword to keep peace. Plus all the merlin is one of the most famous wizards ever. He’s someone people know they can go to to fix things. Even if he only wants to work for the greater good.

Douxie sky blue: my sweet summer child, too pure for this world. I love Douxie’s magic. The way he uses it is cool. Douxie gets creative with the way he uses spells and tools. Which strikes me as a very fun but also free way to use magic (traits associated with the sky). And Douxie seems to value freedom a fair bit. Like when he let the lady of the lake go just because it wasn’t right or when he tells Claire that her magic is her own. His blue is in many ways opposing to Skrael’s. The traits are truth, reliability and wisdom. Douxie is for the most part a pretty honest guy. He’s pulled some scams but he doesn’t withhold the truth about Jim, or blame others for the messes he makes. He’s very reliable, despite Merlin acting like he’s a bane on his life. Douxie encourages people, acts as support and does what he needs to. Wisdom is a little harder to pin on Douxie. I mean for 900 years old he’s intelligent but he doesn’t seem to have that sage wisdom I normal think about when someone says wise. But he is. He’s used all of his past experience and understanding to guide him. He does think things through to the point where he’s fully aware taking on two full powered wizards is going to kill him.

#pfo: morgana #fo: douxie

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selfshipstuff · 2 months ago

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Five, and the effects of Reginald Hargreeves’ parenting

So like, I see a lot of posts around talking about the effects Hargreeves had on all the kids, the abuse they went through, and who they turned out to be, but a lot of the time when they get to Five this gets somewhat overshadowed by his experiences in the apocalypse, since that’s what he’s shown to have PTSD over, and is generally on the forefront of Five’s mind

But the effects of Five’s childhood are hugely evident in his character for me (potentially bc I’ve been through similar, just to a lesser extent), so I wanna go into them more

Here’s the thing - kids can’t help but want approval from their parents, even kids like Five. He can mask it in whatever he likes, but as a kid, Five was hugely dependent on Hargreeves’ approval. It’s more insidious than with most children, too, because when Reginald Hargreeves is involved, gaining his approval means avoiding his wrath - something you definitely don’t want to face.

You see this all the time in kids with parents who have too high standards, even if the parents are considerably more gentle than Sir Reginald - the kids who can achieve to that standard become obsessed with it, turn it into their whole identity, while the kids who can’t stop trying at all. And this harms both, because the underachievers feel like they’ll never amount to anything, and the overachievers become paranoid, knowing they’re one bad day away from becoming like the underachievers - the people they’ve been taught their whole life are the worst possible thing to be - so they try even harder to make sure that never happens.

The overachievers in the Hargreeves family are Luther, Diego, and Five, the underachievers are Klaus and Vanya (Allison and Ben it’s hard to tell, maybe they managed to avoid this or maybe it just manifests in different ways), and this constantly affects all of their relationships with each other.

Reginald actively encouraged this discrepancy as well, because it made it easier to control them. The underachievers don’t try anything because they believe they have no power. The overachievers won’t try anything because one word of disapproval from Reginald and they lose that status, and with it their entire sense of identity and self worth. They can’t band together either, because the underachievers think they amount to nothing, the underachievers don’t trust the overachievers because they maintain the same standards, the overachievers don’t trust each other because they’re all competing for the same status, and the overachievers don’t listen to the underachievers because they believe the lie that the underachievers can’t do anything. It’s a terrifyingly effective strategy.

There’s yet another layer with the Hargreeves kids, though, and that’s their numbers. This was another deliberate move on the part of Sir Reginald, because a hierarchy only adds to this dynamic.

Number one was superior to number two, who was superior to number three, and so on. It’s not a coincidence that the overachievers tend to be higher up on the scale, and the underachievers lower. It’s easier to excel when you believe you can do it, harder when you think you can’t. And the further down the hierarchy you are, the more you’re held to the standard of the ones above you.

So now we get to Five in particular, because Five is a special case - an overachiever very low on the hierarchy. He was constantly held to the standard of numbers 1-4, but Five could actually outperform them. And this was encouraged by their father - Reginald would have realised early on that telling Five he wasn’t capable wouldn’t have worked, because Five had proof he was, it would have only made him more rebellious (see: the reason he ran off in the first place).

So instead he creates an air of superiority in Five that’s highly conditional and dependent on him. Five isn’t like his siblings. Five can do better. Five gets praise. Which doesn’t seem harmful until you realise, Five has to do better. Five doesn’t have the option of an off day. Five has built his entire identity around being the best, because as a young child that was the only way he got anything close to the love and attention he needed, and as soon as he fails to outperform his siblings, he’s going to lose that forever.

(It also probably contributed to a lot of that cocky attitude - if he ever did have a moment of weakness, he couldn’t let anyone see, or it would discredit him, so he covers it up with the whole devil may care thing)

It’s pretty obvious in Five’s reactions to things that the siblings he got along with best were Ben and Vanya - 6 and 7. I don’t think it was a conscious decision to be closer to the two lower on the hierarchy than him, but I also don’t think it’s a coincidence either - after all, he’s never going to be held to their standard like he is the other four. With anyone above him in the ranking, there would have been a tension in their relationship, the knowledge that they were being compared, and Five would have to be constantly on guard for that. Around Ben and Vanya, he can actually breathe, and that makes it a lot easier for him to appreciate the qualities they have as people.

There’s two moments in this season where Five’s siblings genuinely get under his skin, and force him from exasperated to defensive, and both of them are hugely telling of this. The first is when Luther tells him “You think you’re better than us, you always have. But the truth is, you’re just as messed up as the rest of us.”

Luther’s completely right, but there’s two things here Five can’t handle hearing. Even after 45 years alone in the apocalypse, this is a core part of his identity he can’t shake. One is “you think you’re better than us”, the implication that that’s not true. The other is “you’re just as messed up as the rest of us”, making Five confront the realisation that he has flaws. Five responds “I don’t think I’m better than you, Number One. I know I am.”

He even refers to Luther by number, the only time in the series he ever does this to anyone. It’s a deliberate jab, a way to remind Luther than even though he was supposedly number one, Five still managed to outperform him. It’s honestly a really childish move, because it’s Five frantically scrambling to get back on a pedestal he’s been on his whole life - and not a very stable one either, if one comment from Luther can bring it down. Five believes he’s perfect, infallible, because he can’t live with himself if he’s not.

The second time comes from the same root but the other direction - his conversation with Klaus in episode 9. Klaus calls him an apocalypse addict, comparing the two of them, and Five internally freaks the fuck out, because of all the siblings he can’t handle being similar to, Klaus is the top of that list. If Luther was the golden boy Five constantly had to compete against, Klaus is the dumpster fire that serves to remind Five this is what he can never become.

Klaus, of course, is just a person, and has many good qualities, but Five was never trained to see them. Five was trained to see Klaus as a failure, a disappointment, someone it was better to be dead than to be like. (He may be nearly double the age of the rest of his siblings, but alone in the apocalypse isn’t an ideal ground for reexamining your relationships with people, and Five still has so much growing up to do.)

Of all of them, Five is the most willing to push boundaries with his powers, to explore new realms of what he can and can’t do, and that’s also an effect of this - where the others were a lot more controlled or restricted, Five was encouraged to adapt, to be more powerful, to take risks, and Hargreeves probably allowed him more leeway than the others (again, fuelling that sense of superiority), as long as it provided results (and there’s the paranoia part, the risks Five took needed to pay off, he didn’t have any other option)

Credit to Five though, because the time travel scene was all him. Reginald’s influence should have been enough to keep him from running off like that, but Five had a strong enough will to ignore it.

I think this is the mistake the Handler made as well. The Temps Commission employs people easy to manipulate, and a childhood of abuse followed by a lifetime of solitude sounds like the perfect breeding ground for such a person. If she just wanted Five she could have retrieved him at any age, after all, but she waits 45 years. His skills weren’t increasing that much in that time, not more than they would have been working for the Commission. It was just that the longer he was alone, the easier he was to control.

But neither Hargreeves nor the Handler really anticipated just how stubborn and steadfast Five can be. He’s affected by his childhood, yes, it forms the core of who he is as a person, but he’s smart, and he found a way around it - picking a goal and sticking to it no matter what. Klaus was right, in a way, about him being an addict of the apocalypse, Five gets dangerous tunnel vision with a task in mind. He literally admits to Hazel that not once (in 45 years, with precious few distractions) did he think about what he would do after he stopped the apocalypse, focused only on doing it. He doesn’t let anything else through, and that can be a detriment sometimes (not telling his siblings about the shrapnel wound and nearly dying because they were close to his goal), but when someone’s trying to manipulate you, it’s a huge advantage. (It’s also a huge advantage when trying to survive in the apocalypse, you don’t stop, you don’t doubt yourself, you don’t question what you are and aren’t willing to do, you just do it and move on)

He broke through Hargreeves’ control by focusing on learning to time travel, and he’s unaffected by the Handler’s attempts to do the same with his one goal of getting back and saving his family. She doesn’t understand it either, because all she sees are his other traits - his pragmatism, his intelligence, his dissatisfaction with his own body image, and thinks if she can make him look how he wants to look (“we’re all looking for happy”), that’ll be enough to let his natural affinity for Commission work take over. She vastly underestimates his dedication.

(And also just his love for his siblings, like, I’m framing this potentially too much as a “he does this so he can’t be manipulated” decision, and there is some truth to that, but if that were solely the case he’d only be focused on stopping the apocalypse. No, Five cares so much about his siblings that he’s willing to compromise with them on nearly everything, even though stubbornness is kind of his thing, and even though he’s been trained to believe they’re lesser than him. He seriously debates letting the apocalypse happen if it’ll save them. The reason they get under his skin (when other people underestimating him don’t nearly as much), is because some part of him genuinely values their opinion. Five says he’s not looking for happy, but I don’t think that’s true - it’s just that happy for him isn’t made of personal gain, but rather finding a place in his family he doesn’t have to fight for)

#ss: reigning champion of going through it

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