#Ever thought about how Mokuba is Seto's hikari?

[worldendercharles]

these three boys can fit so so many dynamics and themes and metaphors and symbolism and narrative tragedy and love in themī

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In Defense Of Seto Kaiba..... From Someone Who Used To Hate Seto Kaiba

@youfancymemaddearie said she'd hear me out on why Kaiba isn't The Actual Worst, so for this I'm mostly only going to be using the material I'm personally familiar with because things like context and translations and stuff could get warped otherwise, wich means roughly the first half of the dubbed anime, but I might pull other things here and there that I feel like I know well enough to have a grasp on via things like wikipedia and other meta (it's a long story as to why I never finished the anime so I won't bother getting into it here)

The manga, being a separate canon, is going to be pretty much ignored for this, except for one breif instance where I feel it's necessary to compare something from it to how the anime did it

So, the thing is, for most of my life as a YGO fan (15+ years as of 2018), I bordered between a really weird love and hate of Seto Kaiba, I loved him the way that I love a good villain, the way I love Hannibal Lecter let's say, he's entertaining and I always liked having him on the screen but as a person I really hated him, because.. why wouldn't I? He's an absolute dick to everyone around him with the exception of Mokuba, and even Mokuba doesn't exactly get the cuddly treatment most of the time, he spends the beginning of the series toeing the line between outright villain and anti-hero, and the amount of low-blows he hits and lack of care he has for people who are trying to help him- or people in general- is pretty terrible, atleast... that's how he's presented on the surface and that's how I felt for close to fifteen years

And then I started writing him and the little bastard forced me to change my opinion

Firstly, it's established from the beginning that Seto's actions in stealing Grandpa Muto's card and tearing it up (not to mention giving him a heartattack) aren't entirely his own, Seto had an evil possessing him at the time that, wile manifested from his own feelings, was no less a different entity, it took him over, just like Marik's dark self took him over, it's well-established in YGO that you can be so overcome with pain and anger and negativity that an entirely different spirit manifests and takes over your mind, a process that- wile reversible if caught early enough- is really something that can only be reversed by magic, like a shadow game or a mind crush

Since this is the thing that Atem removed from Seto's mind in episode one....

The actions he took prior to being mind-wiped can't be held entirely against him, as he was not consciously in control of what he was doing at the time, much like the actions of Yami Marik can't be held entirely against Hikari Marik, you can sure as hell blame Marik himself for alot of the things he did during Battle City, but things like the duels against Mai, Joey, and Atem, wherein it was blatantly clear that it was his evil half in control and his good half didn't have access to the controls (made even more obvious by the Yami Duel wherein both spirits had to sacrifice parts of their lighter selves/hosts for losing life points) are impossible to hold entirely against him

We also see that everything is Not Ok after the mind-crush, given that Seto passes up the chance to do his all-time favorite things (dueling, winning, and showing off) on the grandest scale yet when he decides to skip Duelist Kingdom, he claims it's because he doesn't know how to handle being defeated, and wile that may be partly true, it's pretty canonical that it was because of the mind crush (why else would they bring that hideous glob of evil around to duel Yugi/Atem once more?)

And, here's where the manga reference comes in, when you take into account that in the manga, he was in a six-month long coma after the mind-crush- and, mind you (ha), Duelist Kingdom is the turning point where the manga's canon starts to get closer to the anime's- it's really hard to believe that Seto's existential crisis is based on losing and not based on having evil forcefully removed from his soul by an ancient Egyptian spirit who's out to have a good time and was really feeling attacked at the moment

There's really no convenient place to inject backstory, so I'll do it here in the hopes of flowing more easily into the rest of Duelist Kingdom

Seto has been taking care of Mokuba since they were extremely young, he's essentially more like a father to him than a brother, and he had to learn early on to defend him - and that meant getting rougher, getting tougher, getting meaner, and when it came to Gozaburo- who's just about as abusive as one can get and really puts the word "pressure" to good use- that meanness has to amplify, it's made clear that Gozaburo wouldn't tolerate anything less than perfection and ruthlessness and if that was how Seto had to survive, that was how he had to survive, he spent most of his formative years under that kind of hand so naturally he was forced to form that way....

But as someone pointed out in another post somewhere, we can see by how well adapted Mokuba is just how much Seto has taken on in protecting him from that kind of corruption and evil, Gozaburo never really wanted Mokuba around so the pressure he put on him compared to Seto was definitely minimal... but that doesn't mean he wasn't just as abusive, and the fact that Mokuba spent the majority of his life with no parents of any kind and has relied pretty much solely on Seto as a parental figure- both in the way of necessities like food and shelter, as well as for emotional health- and yet has come out of it as a generally upbeat, positive, gentle person, really shows that Seto has to be doing something right, otherwise, it doesn't make alot of sense for Mokuba to have no shreds of bitterness, resentment, or negativity in him (again, going by the anime only) And further, to show the outstandingly deep devotion he does for Seto- utterly unwavering and full of not only loyalty, but genuine love and affection- proves that Seto has done something right somewhere, Mokuba never shows a single ounce of fear or hesitation towards him and never gives a second thought to hugging him, following him around, or getting involved in his personal affairs, if Seto had ever given him reason to be afraid of him (IE: abusing him or simply not stepping up to protect him when Gozaburo was abusing him) I find it really hard to believe that Mokuba would act so completely care-free with doing things that Seto may find unpleasant

Mokuba is Seto's entire world, he flat out tells Yugi that Mokuba is "everything to him", not money or power or success- Mokuba, wich is already something that speaks volumes about who he is as a person, and the extremes he goes to in order to protect Mokuba are .... pretty fucking extreme

When I was a kid, I thought that the "attack my Blue Eyes and you might just kill me" stunt he pulls on the rooftop at Pegasus' castle was a really filthy trick and was probably my primary reason for hating him as much as I did- and let's be honest, it IS a filthy option to resort to.... but as an adult, I understand it now, and can't place blame on him for feeling so completely backed into a corner, he wasn't trying to trick Atem, he was being sincere, I mean.... filthy and sincere... but still sincere

He would rather die than lose his brother, he was so desperate that he was ready to let someone kill him/commit suicide because he was out of options, and in that perspective, it's alot easier to understand why he did what he did, I don't excuse it, but I do understand it, and really, when it really boils down to things, can anyone say that they'd sooner let the only person in the entire world that they love die, for someone who they don't even like? The true crime of this entire thing isn't really that Seto was desperate enough to resort to suicide and emotional manipulation to win.... it's that he and Atem were both so stubborn and downright stupid that neither of them thought to actually communicate about why Seto needed to win in the first place, despite him saying repeatedly that he needed to save his brother and Atem saying repeatedly that he needed to save "his" grandfather, neither of them paused long enough to say "... We have a common goal, let's work together, or at the very least, come to a compromise" before resorting to such desperation, no one on this planet can seriously tell me that Atem wouldn't have jumped at the offer to save Mokuba if Seto had presented it to him, though, to be fair, I'll never understand why he didn't just offer to save Mokuba along with Grandpa in the first place (plot convenience really)

Although communication is an enormous problem with Seto and is one of the main reasons why he's always such a complete prick, he has a tendency to talk in code and to cover up what he means with what words he chooses to use, most likely because he A. Wasn't exposed to other children between the ages of 8-14 and before that most of his exposure was negative, and B. Was taught brutally that even the tiniest sign of compassion or understanding is weakness, and even the tiniest weakness is going to get you severely punished, he was already closed off to people during his stay at the orphanage, this just cemented that experience further

(And as a quick note, he acquired a company at 14-years-old, he was still a baby and running this God foresaken thing by himself, had no parental figure, still raising his brother ALONE, and let's also talk about how this 14-year-old BABY turned a weapons manufacturing company into a gaming company in less than two years, as he was sixteen during episode one of Duel Monsters)

To mention also: When faced with the fact that his company, that he had worked so extremely hard for, and that means so much to him, was being sold to Pegasus and he was being kicked out, where was his focus? Still on Mokuba, his brother was ALWAYS the absolute forefront of his focus during the entire Duelist Kingdom arc and his company played a very small second fiddle in comparison, I'm not sure if he even brought up the company more than once or twice during the entire arc, that's ... a little shocking all things considered

Additionally, despite how cold, untrusting, egotistical, and downright mean he can be, he outright thanks Yugi for rescuing Mokuba- twice- within the first season, once after Duelist Kingdom and once after Legendary Heros, that's kind of an enormous thing as Seto doesn't hand out gratitude easily.... though, speaking of gratitude we definitely have to confront the Joey-shaped elephant in the room

The way he treats Joey early on IS deplorable, he doesn't exactly treat any member of the Nerd Herd well, but things are especially prickly with Joey, and I'm unclear of the reasons for that- I don't think canon ever gives one- but I think of all of Seto Kaiba's ill moments, the way he treats Joey all the way up to late Battle City is without a doubt what I cringe at the most, he early on drives Joey so low into the ground that it gives him NIGHTMARES and is so ruthlessly horrible to him during that first encounter at Duelist Kingdom that I think, to date, it's the Kaiba thing I cringe at the most, I definitely don't excuse that behavior, and it burns me up like a firey demon when he refuses to thank Joey for being the one who ACTUALLY saved Mokuba, yet turns around and thanks Yugi instead, I'm also not exactly pleased with the fact that he tried to keep Joey out of his tournament but I really chalk that up mostly to Joey not having anything Seto wants and not being a duelist he respects vs outright cruelty, remember that for Seto, Battle City is ALL about getting the god cards and drawing out rare hunters, Red Eyes is Joey's rarest card but Seto never seems particularly impressed by it, and that coupled with him not respecting Joey's skills- as he believes he rode Yugi's coat tails through Duelist Kingdom- makes some sense as to why he wouldn't want him participating (outside of just disliking him) it would be counterproductive

The thing is, Seto DOES slowly shift out of "I legitimately hate your guts and am going to make sure you know it" and into "I'm going to pick on you because it's fun when you fight back and it's just how we communicate now", Battle City is a big turning point in my personal opinion, the second time Joey and Seto duel is still full of terribly mean words but the vibe is very different, from where I'm sitting, it feels alot more like an "I'm pulling your hair because I like you" type of thing and alot less like outright bullying for the sake of bullying, the fact that Joey doesn't take any of it to heart and just fights mean quip with mean quip the entire time is solid proof to me that the relationship is just mutual antagonism now and not so much outright bullying

Speaking of Battle City... there's alot of growth for Seto there, he works with Yugi and Atem frequently, at times by force (to save Mokuba) but at times because he wants to, he agreed to help Atem find the rest of the nerd herd before getting any word that Mokuba was taken because he wanted a duel for Atem's Slyfer card... even though all logic dictates that they probably would have faced eachother during the finals anyway and there is was literally no reason for Seto to follow him around begging for a duel like a five-year-old except for A. Impatience (not untrue) and/or B. Just .... wanting to, he could have so easily said "Find your own freinds, I'll get that Slyfer in the finals either from you or whoever beats you" but instead he spends his valuable time and energy tracking down Joey via his duel disk, and after all is said and done and Mokuba is safe...... he still helps Atem, he claims it's because he doesn't like owing people but that's never prompted him to go out of his way for Yugi and the others before (post Duelist Kingdom and Legendary Heros, Mokuba is the one who lets Yugi use the arena at Kaiba Land for his duel with Rebecca, here Seto has built up two favors that he owes and yet never says a word or makes an attempt to return them, so why does "owing" someone push him to keep helping Atem in Battle City when it didn't before? Either his "I don't like owing people" philosophy is new- wich is still charector growth- or he just wanted a reasonable excuse to keep helping Atem because he knew it was the right thing to do) Speaking of the right thing to do, when they DO track down Joey and Tea`, Seto is... surprisingly inactive during the duel, he has plenty of perfect opportunities to stop the duel somehow, and, if he was REALLY feeling cruel, to just outright steal Slyfer (wich Atem tossed aside when he started the duel) and get rid of both Atem and Joey by interrupting and making the anchor sink, yet he carefully keeps his distance until the timing is right for him to save Tea` because he doesn't want ANY of them to get hurt, not the rival he can't defeat, not the "third rate duelist" he supposedly hates, and not even someone (Tea`) who he barely knows

This is the same guy who gave an old man a heart-attack and used it as blackmail in episode one

Additionally, Seto immediately leaves after saving the day, that all-important duel that Atem owed him that he had FINALLY won? It didn't happen, Seto was still nagging him about it even after saving Mokuba, yet when it came time for Atem to FINALLY pay up he just..... walked off and said "nah see ya' in the finals", maybe he knew how exhausted Atem was and didn't want to duel him at half-power, maybe he was personally too tired to bother with it (although dueling to Seto seems to work the same way twenty-five cups of coffee does to a normal person so I doubt this) or maybe he just didn't feel like making Atem come through on his deal anymore, it doesn't really matter, it's all growth

And let me also point out that Atem wouldn't even have Slyfer if Seto hadn't given him a freaking pep talk in order to win it, Seto could have just as easily waited for Atem to lose and then dueled the mime for Slyfer- and that probably would have been smarter honestly, since Atem is the only one who has a history of defeating him- and yet.... he chooses to put energy into helping Atem instead

I feel like it's kind of understated that in the Battle City finals, Seto actually has a doctor and an infirmary on board the blimp, he claims that anyone who can't handle dueling at high altitudes and with raging winds isn't worth his time so what is the doctor and full medical bay doing there then? If he was that worried about Mokuba alone he would have had a much easier time just telling him not to go above deck, and if it was about law suits I tend to believe he wouldn't have people dueling on top of a freaking blimp in the first place, so he either anticipated Marik's shadowy shenanigans coming up (wich is a POOL of charector development on alot of different levels) or he anticipated accidents, people getting air sick, issues with the high altitude and what not, and figured that he'd better be completely prepared even for things like that wich are relatively small and not really needing of the tricked out medical bay (he had atleast one LIFE SUPPORT machine in there so obviously it went above and beyond just a first aid kit) Also, I know I said I was using the dub for this, but it's come to my attention that in the sub Seto is alot less of a jerk than he is in the dub about landing the blimp- originally, the ONLY problem is that the controls are screwy from the Noah incident (wich, by the way, is an enormous Thing all on it's own about Seto all on it's own, it's basically a showcase of Wow Was His Childhood Fucked Up, Let's Rub It In, and it's made clear just how impacted he was by his father and his father's company throughout, from the importance of his duel with Lecter being weapons-themed to his final duel with Guzaburo and saying "I won't be burried by you Guzaburo", giving up his chance to defeat Noah because he refused to hurt Mokuba, and the gem of telling Mokuba that everything he's done has been for him and a better future for them) and speaking of moments where the dub fucked up, I find another important gem during mid-Battle City when Tea` mentions that Seto actually lowered the price of duel disks "so everyone can play", that sounds alot less like a strict businessman and alot more like someone who just wants to offer kids the same escapism that he had when he was their age to me, a similar motivation I'm sure to why he opens up Kaiba Land

This is sadly where my "I'm greatly familiar with this material" knowledge comes to an end, as I only saw roughly half of the Orichalicos arc and that was too long ago for me to remember most of the small details in (plus I tend to kind of ... try to wipe that arc off the books considering that I find it to be a butchery of.. alot of things..)

Seto Kaiba is a complicated charector, he's very prickly and definitely an asshole- that's not in question- but I think he's really a very soft person when you peel back the initial layer, he's very good-hearted at his core, he just has an incredibly hard time expressing that- and for VERY understandable reasons, for all of his selfishness and egotism, he pours absolutely everything about himself into protecting his brother and gives alot of himself to trying to make things better for people (turning a weapons company into a gaming company may have been his dream but it was also an outlandishly hard task to accomplish and one that ultimately was better for the world, for example) there are moments where this all shines through but he tapes masks of coldness and insults and dueling metaphors over top of it because he just sincerely doesn't know how else to handle things, he IS, after all, still a 16-year-old child when the series begins, and I think he's only 18-19 at most when it ends, in the grand scheme of life, he's still practically a baby and has been thrust into so much adulthood that most 40-year-olds would have jumped ship already, he takes on the responsibility of his brother and his company and being a half-ass decent person (in so far as, you know, not blowing up the world or anything) without ever once complaining about it or trying to shrug it off or giving it ANYTHING but his all, and when you earn his trust and respect (as Atem and Yugi do) you get alot of loyalty and trust back- the shenanigans he goes through that he doesn't explicitly have to are good showings of this, and all of the ruthlessness his shows are purely survival instincts at their highest, he's had his company nearly taken away from him FOUR. TIMES. between Duelist Kingdom and the Orichalicos arc, FOUR. SEPERATE. TIMES. and I have an outstandingly difficult time believing that those were the first or last times that some crusty old men thought that a teenage C.E.O. would be easy prey to steal a multi-billion dollar company from, he's probably been white-knuckling that company since the day he took it over and I don't see that ending any time in the near future