Authority - Tumblr Posts
What Rafal's Physical and Immaterial Coolness Could Represent
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As a forewarning, this post is more... observational and has less of a singular, hard-hitting point to it. (Also, see Conan Gray's "Fight or Flight" song for reference, as, most of this post occurred to me in relation to that very song, if you interpret parts of it as representing Rafal's internal monologue on the subject of Rhian's substitutes during Rise.)
Also, this is a long post, so it's going under a cut.
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Why is Rafal's immediate response to personal hurt avoidance of all things? Isn't that kind of a heightened, overly instinctive, clearly "uncool" reaction to have?
And yet, strangely, we still classify it as in character for him. His leaving was, arguably, the most iconic and true-to-self thing he did across both prequels. So, I want to ask: why is that?
That he just up and left seems apathetic and could be construed as part of his cold, cool nature, of course, but still—when we look at what his reaction truly is: he chose flight.
(Flight as opposed to the alternative fight, freeze, or fawn responses.)
FLIGHT! Like, can you believe it? This man, who's so headstrong and willing to stare down anything, chose flight. Let that revelation sink in. (Maybe this is more obvious than I think, but I can't believe I hadn't thought of this weird discrepancy before. Flight!)
Anyway, to explain Rafal's reaction to (potentially) having been emotionally hurt by his argument and corresponding bet with Rhian at the start, I'm going to reference a theory from an old post, as it has suddenly become relevant once again.
In short, the idea is about how Rhian's expressions of authority are personal while Rafal's are nearly always impersonal. Rhian is a master of social dynamics, considering how deftly he lies in Fall to gain favor from others and influence their views of him. And, this makes sense because he once cared so much about how he was perceived, as we take into account his original self-consciousness and his high-minded, conscionable tendencies from Rise. He is the one who wields interpersonal power as Rafal, correspondingly, wields impersonal (often more tangible and brutish) power.
If anyone would like more elaboration, here's an excerpt from that old post:
The strange thing is, in Fall, Rafal admits to having conceded a lot of the time to Rhian in the past, in the face of smaller, pettier arguments, a trend which also represents his yielding to Rhian's (supposedly nonexistent) authority in the early days. That tendency seems self-contradictory of Rafal, but perhaps, even Rafal's authority is situational. He's capable of exercising it over everything and world, but not over his own brother. He can't rein Rhian, the inevitable force, the "fatal" (to invoke both death and "fate") tides of change, the Prime Mover, in. Meanwhile, Rhian is the inverse of that. Rhian cannot exercise authority over everything and the world, but he can do so over his own brother. Besides, Rafal, often by sorcery or by outright manhandling, manipulates and exerts his physicality over others and his environment while Rhian rarely does. And yet, Rafal (from what I remember) never so much as lays a hand on Rhian during Rise (in Fall, everything changes and escalates). I don't yet know why this is, but I think this observation is true most of the time. At least, I haven't thought of any exceptions yet. The working hypothesis I have is that Rhian (being the brother who chose to stay in the comfort and limited confines of the home, according to the Bettelheim text's ideas) only initially felt comfortable to do anything there. To act, and exercise his authority in an intimate, narrow, personal way. By contrast, Rafal (the more worldly, well-traveled, and inconstant brother) wants to gain independence from their stifling "home" life, under the Storian, and, as a result, upon his return, could've felt like a stranger in his own home and with Rhian (who's also changed in his brother's absence regardless). Thus, while Rafal can certainly exercise his authority impersonally, he doesn't feel at ease exercising authority over the familiar because it could be too close for comfort, too unsettling, unsettlingly different and the same, like he can't shed the disbelonging that drove him out of the fairy-tale construct of the "home" as a safe, childhood refuge in the first place—when Rhian first questioned his very core purpose and Evil's existence.
Thus, again, Rafal's ability to wield power is, without exception (I think), always impersonal.
The closest he comes to Rhian's brand of power, which involves acting on a smaller scale or more on an individual, one-to-one level and being intimate, are his interactions with Hook and Midas. And, despite those seductive instances, Rhian is still the master of all the smaller scale exploits, like with Hephaestus and the Pirate Captain rescuing him from the Doom Room where he'd been "abandoned," whenever these acts are in fact intentional.
Yes, Rafal possibly unwittingly, by being more open with his victims, has broader appeal, but that side of him isn't all pure strategy, done with intentionality. Part of it is just how he is. Rhian, unlike his brother, strikes at something inside people that doesn't just rely on scare tactics and classic, one-dimensional intimidation. In Fall, he gains a creepiness factor and the ability to lie convincingly, importantly, without blushing.
Also, I want to commentate a little on Rafal's novel instance of blushing during Fall, which was quite unlike his usual self.
First, here's some context about physical coolness, the socially-perceived "cool factor," and how blushing can only ever be sincere and is valuable because it is involuntary from Quiet by Susan Cain:
I suspect Fall aimed to establish Rafal as more "trustworthy," and as more subject to having humility thrust upon him, than he had been in Rise, when he had previously been insurmountable.
Yet then, after that "invulnerable," unaffected precedent he set about himself, he started blushing, signaling that he suddenly began to care, and that the opposite was true of Rhian as Rhian changed throughout Fall and became more immune to his old, constant feelings of shame that originally must've formed his moral compass.
Also, Rafal gets more points towards being an actual sociopath! He just partially lost his former, low-reactive temperament when he turned "Good."
One other thought of note:
Has anyone ever headcanoned Rafal as having an avoidant attachment style? To complement that, Rhian would probably have an anxious attachment style.
Essentially, the traits of these attachment styles are Rafal and Rhian personified.
Rafal:
Rhian:
When Academy reopens all our officers will look like above who is Tactical Master and Instructors in addition to doing their patrol duties has rank of Inspector with extensive street experience also means Force's command structure changes previous officers and recruiters are to be enhanced to this new level which include staff at Academy too but several technical developments have delay proposed start of upgrade such as our recently negotiated deal with State Government to take operational responsibility for 1 of largest prisons established, No it is not nice easy place with street criminals but high security for hardened serial offenders with long sentences who did violent crimes and murder We said to Gov that can rehab these people into full obedience of law and useful members of society but never said how it will be done and they were afraid to ask just knew whatever it was will be good for everyone involved so are to deploy new staff soon replacing what exist now
Despite human exterior Our Guards are identical to Ultimate Man underneath (see July 15 post) and we do know that inmates will definitely not like how these New Guards perform assigned tasks to meet rehab claims but soon realise men have relentless intentions to break them and cause as much mental damages as possible so will obey anyone in authority totally without question (only how) while we see prison as input for Academy and storage site of its outcomes thus are to move it there along with full scale hospital including emergency services plus to conduct research into developing new products for Force enlistment
Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.
“We are so perverted by an education which from infancy seeks to kill in us the spirit of revolt, and to develop that of submission to authority; we are so perverted by this existence under the ferule of a law, which regulates every event in life — our birth, our education, our development, our love, our friendship — that, if this state of things continues, we shall lose all initiative, all habit of thinking for ourselves. Our society seems no longer able to understand that it is possible to exist otherwise than under the reign of law…” — Pyotr Kropotkin: Law and Authority
and the wall was soft and breathing under the touch of his hand.
Schematype
(Original Handmade Book Art Collage: 3 Elements)
Authority
Let me clear up a common misconception:
Being in a position of authority DOES NOT mean that you are always right. It means that you have proven yourself to be less wrong than the rest of us on a regular basis, and that we trust you with responsibilities where being wrong can be hazardous.
Authority is a position of power, yes, but it comes with a price: making sure we stay organized and don't fail. Since failure could possibly mean death, we expect you to be right most of the time. Just because we expect it of you, however, does not mean you are right automatically.
If you are wrong - and, being human, you will be wrong - it is our responsibility to show you. You will be called out because of it in front of everyone you have influence over, and it is your responsibility to say "I'm sorry," rather than "you're all wrong and I'm right." In fact, if you say such a thing, or show it by your actions, we will probably remove you from your position of power, because we can't trust you to be less wrong than the rest of us anymore.
Yet with all this responsibility packed into this job description, authority is still a highly sought-after position of pride and power instead of humility (for God knows why). The humility part of it keeps you level-headed so you don't make rash decisions that are most likely wrong.
I'm not trying to say that you can't afford to be wrong. What I am trying to say is that you shouldn't expect to be right. Keep your head in the game so we don't have to deal with you being wrong and arrogant.
I hate the phrase ‘respect isn’t given, it’s earned’, because it’s often used by people whose understanding of respect is fundamentally wrong. Respect means treating someone like a person, but there are way too many people out there who think that respect means treating someone like an authority. This has led to a culture of people who say ‘respect isn’t given, it’s earned’, but what they mean is, ‘If you do not submit to my whims without question, I will not treat you like a person.’
Venus in the 10th house culture?
👛Being well-liked by authority figures.👛Talented at making and maintaining contacts.👛Wanting to achieve a harmonious social status.👛Attracted to older and more established individuals.👛Keeping up with fashion and foreseeing new trends.