#Cardo Nabo

[amalgamasreal]

Suletta (left) and Eri's (right) childhood's, how different they were. - by Mobile Suit Gundam The Witch From Mercury illustrator Marie Tagashira

Source

I love this little bit here:

[daisukoth]

Some art that I've yet to see posted here 1 2 3 4

[rose-matcha-latte]

So how old is Prospera?

We don’t have a date for this picture, but she looks a lot like Suletta. So let’s say that Elnora is around 17 years old in this picture.

We know the prologue takes place in 101 AS and Eri is 4 years old by then.

So if we assume that Elnora got pregnant shortly after this picture, she would be 21 years old by the time of the Vandis Incident.

But by 101 AS, Cardo’s hair has become fully gray (and her eyebrows dissapeared), so it has to be much longer than just 4 years.

To me Elnora looks about 30 years old, but let’s set her minimum age to be 21 based on our first assumption.

So that means Prospera is an absolute minimum of 42 years old as of 122 AS, but imo is more likely to be in her late 40s to early 50s.

In summary and in conclusion, Prospera sexy.

[g-witchsulettaneedsahug]

Been wanting to scream about this for a while now, figured now is a good as ever time to do so.

So Gundam: Witch From Mercury really leans heavily into the whole witches and witchcraft theme, which is interesting for a sci-fi show. Not to say that they don't do it gloriously tho and in this post I will be pointing towards some of the symbolism that I noticed in the show.

The series starts with the first witch we see inside a Gundam Mobile Suit, none other then our dearest Elnora Samaya, also now known as Prospera Mercury. During the prologue, before anything else, we see her and once she exists the dark of the cockpit its revealed that she has fiery, blood red hair.

(Source: prologue G-witch)

Historically, witchcraft has been associated with red heads because of the many prejeduces against them. Red heads are a minority who have been associated with a lot interesting figure, from Judas who betrayed Jesus to the depictions of Lilith. This has given redheads a negative connotations in the Western World.

Next we see that the head researcher leading this project on GUND-format is also a woman, an older woman at that. Dr Cardo Nabo is the visionary leading this project, dedicated to the cause of making the GUND-format work in conjunction with humanity, in order to improve their lives and perserve their future. She knows that humanity, if it wishes to expand further into space and continuenits next steps into exploration and living outside of Earth, will need technology in order to aid their bodies in order to survive and thrive.

Older women involved in a form of medicine is an other motif in witchcraft and witch stereotypes. Witches were often involved in medicine and care. Cardo is the italian way of refering to a thistle, a purple green prickly flower that was said tp have medicinal properties in the middle ages.

(Source: Prologue G-witch)

During this prologue and later in the show it is revealed that the reason why the Vanadis Institute, of which Dr. Nabo was the head of, was doing resesrch into the GUND-format in conjunction with Mobile Suits because that was the primary way to get access to money for further research. Military funding through Ochs-Earth, an Earthian military company, would allow the Institute to further their goals and to show the viability of the GUND-format.

However, they encountered difficulties during their research. Mobile Suits are far larger and more difficult to control then prostethic limbs. The higher the permet score used by an individual to control more of the suit, the more the chance of death grows. Anything higher then score 3 caused deaths to the user because of, presumably, a data overload caused by the Permet link.

This caused a lot of ethical debates and strife, presumably, where the GUND-format was cast into a dangerous and even inhuman light because of its potential to not just kill others but also the users themselves. This led to the eventual forceful suspension of the project by the council, during which Cathedra used the Dominicus Forces to attack and kill all those present on Fólkvangr, the asteroid where the Vanadis Institute was located. Those present on Fólkvangr were both staff of the institute as well as their family. Everyone who was involved or related to the development of the GUND-format were killed in what is essentially a witch hunt.

Fólkvangr is an other reference to witchcraft, as in Norse Mythology this is a heavenly field in the afterlife ruled over by Freyja, a goddess of many things including magic (to see and influence the future). An other name for Freyja is Vanadís. Once again, this is a reference to paganism and witchcraft within the G-Witch universe thats quite obvious. Ochs also may or may not be a reference to the Old English word for "Oak" (not too sure about that one), if this is indeed true then this may be a reference to Thor, god of Thunder and Lightening as well as a warrior. I considered connecting oaks to Yggdrasil, the world tree, but that is an Ash tree, not an oak.

During the discussion in which the Mobile Suit council werebdeciding the fate of further development of Gundam Mobile Suits, Delling came forth and said that they had to "Wield the hammer of witches" in order to put a stop to the development of Gundams. The "hammer of the witches" is a reference to the Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th century guide on hunting and persecuting witches.

During his speech at the conference, he also calls the fact that gundams kill not only other soldiers but also their wielders a curse, once again a reference to witches. Prior to saying this he also says however that humans should kill humans, instead of humans being killed by just technology (really simplifying this) but essentially what he is saying is that the Gundams killing their wielders is unnatural and goes against the normal way of things.

(Source: Prologue G-witch)

The irony of this is also the name of these organisations. Cathedra is a literal reference to the throne upon which a bishop sits, Dominicus means "of the Lord/Lord's". Both are a reference towards christianity and its opposition to both withcraft and paganism.

Now we have established whom exactly this show calls "Witches", these are the people involved in the manufacturing, research, development and piloting of the GUND-format and Mobile Suits using said format, be it for medicinal or war uses. If you are associated or sympathize with the use of this technology, you are considered "a witch".

Putting this into context, we can now also look at the name "Witch From Mercury". Who does this refer to? I've seen people argue that this might be Aerial or Prospera, but I sincerely disagree. As of the knowledge we have come to learn of in both the short novel as well as everything from episode 16/season 2 episode 4 onwards, we can assume that Suletta was the only one actually raised on Mercury and who feels any connection to the planet at all. Suletta, as both a pilot of a Mobile Suit using the GUND-format as well as the daughter of a witch (Elnora/Prospera), is a witch.

(Source: G-witch teaser announcement)

Now onto my FAVOURITE part: the 2nd ED Red Birthmark. Oh boi this baby has some of the more blatant witch references, I absolutely love it ngl. Starting with the name itself, historically one of the methods to hunt for witches was to check for birthmarks/skin marks. Having strange birthmarkings or an insensitive patch of skin was basically proof enough of you being a witch, again a part of the witch hunt theme.

The song, which I am convinced is from Miorine's perspective (tho maybe/perhaps Aerial, tho thats a small maybe), makes references to seeing into the future, not liking whats in it and changing destiny yourself. Once again, these are themes of clairvoyance, the sort of magic Freyja is associated with (aka Vanadís). Witches were often said to be able to look into the future and change things as well.

Next we have the visual parts if the ED. I'm sure we all ate utterly in love with.

From 0:44 to 1:00 we have this beautiful sequence of Suletta dancing and conducting GUN-bits.

First Suletta creates a stylized version of the Triple Goddess Symbol, a well known pagan icon amongst both witchcraft practitioners as well as wiccans. The symbol contains 3 moons in different phases; waxing, full and waning. The symbol represents the 3 phases of the goddess; the maiden, the mother and the crone. This is both the life lifecycle of a girl as well as the eay that wisdom is often bestowed upon a person, from the elderly to the adults to the children. You could even argue that this could represent Dr. Nabo, Elnora/Prospera and Suletta.

(Source: G-witch 2nd ED)

Following this we have 5 Suletta's dancing together in which one can assume is a circle dance. Circle dances bave historically been associated with both witches, pagans and cultists. Something ritualistic.

Anyway I'm tired now but there are like way more witchcraft references in the whole show that I can't get into right now cause I'm tired lmao. Anyway have fun with the above, peace.

[roguemaki]

Another chunk of the Commemorative Book Scanlation finished… Pages 072-085 (the second half of the cast section) are done.

A little over halfway done with the book... all that remains is the last section: Staff

[lordsmaf]

Random thought but considering the GUND format was created to combat the physical side effects that come with living in outer space we really don’t see a lot of affected people outside of the prologue.

[war-is-bad-girls]

Related events by @sun_4x3

source 1 source 2

Page 1 Suletta: Oh?! Have you seen the promo video, Mom? I feel a little ashamed... Prospera: What's so embarrassing? Isn't it a good video? S: Really, really? Miorine watched it with a very stiff expression, and said something about there still being green screen visible... P: That girl probably said that because she wanted to do better. But as your mom, I think it's great.

Page 2 P: Saving lives with Gundam technology... S: Right?! That's what Miorine worked so hard to figure out! Still yelling, "I will take full responsibility!" Ms. Miorine is really amazing! P: Oh, so this is showing off your bride? S: ...

Page 3 S: Is it true that it's common for two girls to get married? P: It's very normal. In the past, my mother had friends like that. Why'd you ask so suddenly? What's wrong? S: When I first talked about setting up a company, I really didn't know what would happen. It's Ms. Miorine who really brings us together. I've achieved a lot of things I thought I couldn't do.

Page 4 S: And I'm the groom of such a powerful person. It all feels so unreal. P: What are you talking about? Ms. Miorine, the reason you all work so hard, isn't it because the groom is Suletta? Don't worry about it. Why don't you tell your thoughts to her? S: Huh. I will.

[paxesoterica]

[retro-friki]

A call back to this scene would've been nice...

[sulettaofficial]

More fan theory/spoilers/thoughts for The Witch from Mercury

Okay I feel like this is obvious but

The prologue showed a lot of augmentation/cybernetics being used as a way to adapt to space (and it looked like just general medical help). (Disclaimer: It's been a minute since I've watched the prologue and I should do that again).

In episode 5 Elan says that enhanced people are "created", so they're probably chock full of cybernetics. I guess they could be vat grown clones, but considering he mentions their faces being stolen from others and the amount of cybernetics in the prologue, I'm guessing enhanced people are anywhere from 90% cybernetics to 50/50 cybernetics/flesh. Elan also does the same "glow" thing that Aerial does when she activates (y'know, those red colored lines), which I'm assuming whatever Permet is. So at the very least enhanced people probably have permet in them.

A lot of media that deals with cybernetic enhancement tend to have an element/theme of discrimination and "what it means to be human". Newtypes (which are sort of psychically enhanced, though naturally) are generally discriminated against by oldtypes (ergo, Gundam has always had these themes to some extent). On top of that, while the prologue seemed to show a lot of people with enhancements, there was a conflict over the GUND Format technology. Including Cardo justifying the use of GUND to her executioners by saying that humanity needs GUND to adapt to space. TL;DR Gundam has themes of discrimination between those who are considered "Normal" and those who are considered "Abnormal", and The Witch from Mercury seems to be focusing more on cybernetics as opposed to being psychic.

Finally, it looks like the use of cybernetics and augmentation is considered to be abnormal in G Witch. Instead of people using the GUND Format like Cardo intended, it's instead anywhere from outlawed to only used for those with grievous injuries (e.g. dismemberment).

I think that in future episodes (especially if I'm right about Suletta), we're going to see more themes around discrimination against enhancements and "what it means to be human."

Again, this is probably obvious since Gundam has done this before, and it usually starts once a major character is revealed to be in the discriminated group. But I wanted to get my thoughts out there!

[amalgamasreal]

Celebrating Teacher's Day with Cardo-Sensei - by bang_ul_tomato

Source

[daisukoth]

"22 episodes and prologue. Suletta and Elnora testing their respective aircraft. Miorine, who believes in Suletta and instructs her to increase her score, and Dr. Cardo, who worries about Elnora and stops her. These two pairs are in connection of refrain."

more parallels to Miorine and Cardo in this episode, but now there are direct parallels to Suletta and Elnora too...

Its sad to think about, the daughter that Prospera rejected is growing up to be a lot like she did when she was younger

[rose-matcha-latte]

love how she brings up her dead husband first, but for some reason calls cardo her "beloved mentor"

i mean we knew from the start but this is so funny

[kurayamineko]

[qqchurch]

sudden realization in that mindspace while half-asleep:

the GUND-format tech that's used in conjunction with GUND-Arms/Gundams always seem to posit that only the sole pilot is needed for it's use and perhaps that might be the end goal of Cardo Nabo in pursuing transhumanism to make humans fully compatible to space

the problem is that a single person often isn't enough when piloting a mobile suit with GUND-format, the datastorm from trying to manipulate tons of machinery with your own mind is too overwhelming

Cardo Nabo touched on a solution with the original Lfrith prototype with what was likely some form of AI hidden inside Permet Layers to act as a go-between for the pilot and datastorms they might experience and this is likely what resulted in the shenanigans that's happening now (circa S2E2)

but there could be an alternative solution for bearing the load of the datastorms while piloting Gundams, one that might be a little familiar when thinking of "giant robots synchronized with a human mind"

THAT'S RIGHT BABY IF YOU CAN'T RUN WITH ONE PILOT, YOU GET TWO!!! DRIFT fucking COMPATIBILITY!!!

(this idea is brought to you by: the mental image of Suletta and Miorine syncing up together in another Gundam to defeat a rogue Aerial wielding the full power of Quiet Zero)

[lordsmaf]

Okay, I don’t really like doing a lot of guessing and theories on my tumblr but Suletta not recognizing Cardo IS definitely making me think the “Suletta’s a clone” theories have some merit after all. Then again it’s entirely possible that she was, ya know, four years old and just don’t remember her.