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Illena character analysis

The unrighteousness of the Hierarchy took Illena's fragile state of mind and twisted her into a monster. And while we can understand her cruel actions and such she should still be held accountae as she is deserving of the consequences. Narratively, She is not a sympathetic character but instead a pitiful character due to how she is presented in the story

But to provide some background, the high rankers dictating the lives of people beneath them reinforced the idea that power is everything to the mid tiers and that if you have it you're better than anyone who is weaker than you and are allowed to do what you want to them basically, that's part of the why the mid tiers bully the low rankers so much, because that sort of thing is justifiable in their world due to the hierachy.

But they aren't just doing it because they believe that they deserve it, it's deeper than that. The mid tiers want to be respected and or atleast acknowledged/taken seriously for the strength that they possess, just like the high tiers. And with that being said, there are things that the mid tiers cannot do in society because they're simply not strong enough, and because of they're forced to conform to what the high rankers tell them. The mid tiers quite literally hate that they have to listen to the high rankers because they will suffer the consequences and get beat up if they dont. Point is, they're just picking on the lower tiers to feel good about themselves and vent their frustrations in a system where power is everything. Illena is no exception

But she practically sees a former god tier acting all high and mighty/condescending when they've literally been rendered powerless, and notice that they are now attempting to take the moral high ground since that they're the one being discriminated against after losing everything. High tiers wanted mid tiers to know their place but cannot accept their own if they're not in a position of power, that is what Illena learns here.

think about it, all of a sudden they neglect the entire structure of the system and consider beating up low tiers as an injustice when they did not care about what happened to them at all when they were on top of the food chain where she perpetuated the same caste system because it was once beneficial for her. And that seriously pisses off Illena because to her this must mean that Sera still thinks that she's better than them even without any abilities because she decides to fight back/retaliate, perceiving the mid tiers as week (protecting other low tiers in the process and more importantly acting as if she still owns them by telling them what to do and getting into their business, as Illena has said)

And Illena doesnt just kidnap Sera to get back at her specifically, but all of the high tiers in a sense, their arrogance entitlement, etc etc only using Seraphina as an outlet for all of their pent up frustration and hurt. She didn't even see them as an individual, but just another high tier, as we see when Illena addresses Sera using words such as "you guys" "her kind" "them".

Illena basically just wanted to hammer in notion that the high tiers were nothing without their powers to get rid of that same high tier like mindset ingrained in Sera's head to establish her place in the hierarchy as the most worthless and incompetent student in Wellston. All she wanted was for Seraphina to learn her place and act her rank accordingly. Because as a cripple she's worthless, and she should act/be treated as such. For in this society power is everything, and high tiers were the ones who ebstablised this with their Hierachy. Seeing Seraphina acting like she was better than them was unacceptable after everything the high tiers perpetuated

Which we can see here

In this instance, Illena wanted Sera to admit that they were better than her and that she was beneath them

And so, when she refuses. Illena gets pissed off because of her stubbornness, this is when the others step up and tell her that what she's doing is excessive.

Here Krolik implies that they should let Sera go, and this isn't what he tjinks but everyone else present too, as seen as other mid tiers stand by his side. But I am not saying that they felt remorse for Sera necessarily, but felt that torturing her was unnecessary and that if they kept her hostage/continued abusing her they would be severely punished once they're eventually caught, and that just isn't worth it to them as they know that beating her up will ultimately change nothing in the long run, anyway. They just wanted to get back at her for what she did... But not like this

Basically, they want Illena to accept that they don't need confirmation to know that they're better than her, it's a given seeing as Sera's a cripple, having no value/worth. She should just give up...

But she's refuses.....out of pride, insecurity. Needing reassurance, a sense of superiority above someone that was better than them for so long as she is offended by their hypocrisy and double standards

..Anyways when Arlo catches them and calls them disgusting, Illena calls him out for valuing a cripple above the rest of them when they were stronger than her, as following the structure of his hierarchy he shouldn't even care. Usually he would just ignore them anyway. And while it is debateble on whether or not Arlo would do anything if it was someone he didnt know the fact that Illena genuinely believed that he wouldn't step in only reinforces how bad the system really is where no one expects a high tiers to help someone beneath them when they're in trouble. She also said that the high tiers dictate the lives of the people beneath them because they were born gifted and get specials privilege because of it, just because they are stronger than everyone else. And Illena is frustrated that they have to listen to the high tiers, because they're punished if they don't comply, to her it's unfair. The high tiers did whatever they wanted with the mid tiers because they were above them, so the mid tiers should be able to do whatever they want with Sera as she is beneath *them*.

But Arlo just ignores her, and this reinforces her belief that the royals dont care about the feelings/opinions of anyone beneath them since it doesn't matter what lower tiers think because the high tankers will always be stronger, meaing they dont have to listen to shit(The lions do not concern themselves with the opinions of the sheep). And that pisses her off. In that moment, she disregards his rank. Pushing past her fear and trying to sucker punch that bitch. As the only way to get your point across in this world is through violence….but the realization that she can't do shit begins to sink in once she receives reflective damage from his barrier, serving as a reminder that no matter what they really can't do anything, because they're not strong enough. Turns out her little stunt was nothing but a meaningless attempt to change the status quo, this hits Illena hard. And she just accepts that she will probably be expelled

And with all of that said Illena might've been a hypocrital bitch but she still had a valid point.And if anything her being a hypocrite only reinforced how bad the system is at hand as well. Simply put, Illena represents the struggles of being a mid tier and sheds light on their mentality and what they deem jusifiable as a result of their system. She also provides insight on the damaging us vs them mentality and actually had a point in her rant to the high tiers. She had actual depth to her actions other than just being an asshole and had something of importance to say

I like her as a character study. I think her motivations are pretty realistic in context of the world she lives in. She's an product of her environment that shaped her into becoming this bully who resents the higher ups because of their privellege.

And that my friend, is why I like Illena as a character from a narrative standpoint

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I agree with the parallels between tenko and eri but I remain resolute that Tenko is long gone and can't be saved at this point. If he was taken in by someone whom did properly teach him right from wrong as a child yes but Shigaraki is an adult that was raised to seek nothing but destruction and has committed many many murders at this point. People seem to ignore the fact that person might not want to be saved. 1/2

Eri is a child with very little agency of her own, but Shigaraki is an adult who can make conscious decisions of his own. I think either deku will save shigaraki by putting him out of his misery or shigaraki will show deku that he cant save everyone 2/2

Thank you for sending me this ask anon! Once again you’re free to have your own opinions, I just hope you’ll join me for a discusssion of ideas. 

Let’s choose to focus on this idea you have that Shigaraki is “Someone who is long gone”, because I believe the story establishes the opposite. I agree in fiction there are villains that need to be defeated rather than saved. The reason I am arguing that Shigaraki can be saved is not because I peresonally want him to be, or I believe he’s owed it, but because those ideas are present in the text itself. 

Shigaraki is a Villain who Fights other Villains

The reason Shigaraki is constantly facing off against other villains, is to make the comparison between them. To show that there are villains who unlike Shigaraki, are set in their ways and not capable of learning from their actions. These villains are past the point of no return in a way that Shigaraki isn’t because his arc is structured differently. Shigaraki is a character that experiences positive growths, whereas these villains are characters that experience negative growth and spiral out of control. 

The reason Shigaraki is constantly compared to other villains is to show that he is not the same as them, because he can do better. 

Keep reading

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Do you mind expending on your headcanon of Azula being fundamentally a good person?

It's a new perspective I hadn't considered yet.

The thing with Azula is that the perspective of her as a bad person is largely a result of protagonist-centered morality. From the perspective of the Gaang she’s a villain, and therefor she’s presented to the audience as a bad person.

Except if you stop viewing her as The Antagonist, and instead just view her as a teenager raised in an environment of extreme propaganda and parental abuse, she stops being a villain and starts being a person trying her best to do the right thing. She just has been raised with a warped idea of what “the right thing” is. 

She believes that serving the Fire Lord, and by extension the Fire Nation, is fundamentally moral. She’s a dyed-in-the-wool patriot. We as the audience know that the Fire Nation is on the wrong side of this conflict, but then people take that a step further and decide that any actions taken in support of the Fire Nation are wrong (at least, when Azula does them). 

But if you reject the idea that supporting the Fire Nation means someone must be fundamentally evil (which is necessary to accept the redemption of Iroh and Zuko) then there really isn’t a whole lot of reason to think Azula is a bad person. She fights the Gaang, but it’s a war and they’re the enemy. She conquers Ba Sing Se, but it’s a war and she does it without bloodshed. She almost kills Aang, but it’s a war and he’s a walking WMD on a mission to kill her father. 

Azula can certainly be mean, but so can Zuko, and nobody suggests that he’s fundamentally a terrible person. There’s absolutely no reason to think Azula wouldn’t change her behavior if given the kind of mentorship that Zuko got.  

And none of this even gets into the fact that she’s raised by an abusive father, or the psychological impacts of being a child soldier, both of which make it even harder to look at Azula’s actions and conclude that she’s fundamentally a bad person. Not to mention the huge issue with declaring a fourteen-year-old to be irredeemably evil. Nobody is finished developing and maturing at age fourteen. If Iroh can have a redemption as a fully-grown adult and former warmongering general, then surely we can accept that a kid is capable of growth.

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Azula was not power hungry

A common misconception about Azula is that she was power hungry. But she wasn’t. Everything she did, she did for her father and for the Fire Nation. When she conquered Ba Sing Se, she said, “The Fire Nation has conquered Ba Sing Se” not “I have conquered Ba Sing Se.” She categorized it as a group effort. She definitely thought that she’d make a better Fire Lord than Zuko, but she didn’t actually want to be Fire Lord. If she did, she wouldn’t have brought Zuko home as a hero instead of as a prisoner. Azula seemed perfectly okay with Zuko being the new heir to the throne. All Azula desperately wanted was her father’s approval and affection, and she also was terrified of ending up like Zuko (the disfavored child of Ozai).

She also did what she genuinely thought was best for the Fire Nation. Azula did like to be in control in most situations but she wasn’t after a greater power, like being Fire Lord. She only wanted the throne at the very end because it was all she had left. She no longer had her father, friends, mother, or even Zuko. Azula was terribly unhappy when Ozai gave her the Fire Lord title instead of allowing her to come with him to destroy the Earth Kingdom. As messed up as it is, destroying the Earth Kingdom was Azula’s idea of father-daughter bonding time. At her core, what Azula craved the most was real unconditional love, not power.

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