#i don’t think Rumi can truly be a hero with their pathway unless they open themself up

[freakinflipflop]

Been thinking about Apotheosis because of course I am, but about Rumi specifically and their obsession with perfection and how it interacts with their love and care for humanity. Bc on the one hand, he feels so strongly that he has to look perfect, he has to repair his injuries and make a good impression and say the right things. But on the other hand, she’s continually so interested in the well-being of others, to the point where it can cause problems- she insists on saving the people in the blights, refuses to land the killing blow, showed Peter care just bc they knew of him from their visions, and repeatedly states that her main goal is to make the world better for people. And also like the bar scene at the very beginning! He’s trying to lift up and inspire people through telling hopeful tales!

But then you see the interaction between the perfectionism and the goal of making a better world for everyone, and how they weave into something that feels more questionable. Rumi gathering followers purposefully in any way possible. Rumi putting the marks on people’s hands to show that they’re still alive, which on the one hand has the side effect of causing people to think they’re dead, but on the other, more serious hand, leaves, as far as they’re aware, a permanent mark on that person’s body to show they believe in him. The intention to go save other worlds and make them better. The fact that he’ll lie and hide things about himself from Peter and Thanatos bc he wants to upkeep the perfect image, even in front of people he cares for.

Rumi is so interesting to me because although he wants power, he is very strongly aware of his goal with that power, and I genuinely believe that the power won’t corrupt him. What I DO believe is that Rumi will be so caught up in her need to have others see her as perfect that she won’t notice when her uses of power greatly overstep where she should be using them. She wants to help people, and I believe that she will; however, when she does, it will be as a benevolent but untouchable god, and not as a hero of the people.