Keeper Of The Seeds - Tumblr Posts
Mad Max: Fury Road AU Headcanons
Basically, the entire War Rig group doesn't die and Imperator Furiosa and Max Rockatansky are now platonic best friends who sometimes argue over important decisions and key things happening in and outside of the Citadel because they're now both co-leaders of their massive desert fortress. The pair also act as somewhat stern but caring parental figures and fierce battle mentors to The Splendid Angharad, Capable, The Dag, Toast the Knowing, Cheedo the Fragile, and Nux.
But Max is still deeply nomadic by nature, and so he sometimes goes on long and dangerous scouting or scavenging journeys by himself while Furiosa handles the daily affairs of the Citadel (with one of her major decisions exiling any and all those who were still loyal to Immortan Joe into the Wasteland), and this arrangement suits them both well.
Whenever Max returns from his solo missions after long stretches of time, the Five Wives and Nux never fail to ambush him in excitement and pump him for details of his adventures outside the community. If Max is in a particularly good mood (meaning, he is not plagued by visions of his dead child), he'll bring home assorted gifts for his surrogate family such as trinkets and clothes he found in abandoned towns and villages. Never one for sentiment, Furiosa simply fills Max in on what has happened in the Citadel in his absences while drinking Aqua Cola (oh sorry—water) together.
The Splendid Angharad gives birth to a healthy son whom she names Frax (a combination of Max and Furiosa's names) and asks Max and Furiosa to be the godparents (which they both accept and declare her child as the heir to the Citadel), with the rest of the Wives acting as very doting and patient babysitters. Despite her hatred for her child’s biological father that she feels will never fade away over time, Splendid does not hold such negativity against her son and vows to love Frax unconditionally and — when he is old enough to learn the ways of their post-apocalyptic world — to teach him how to treat women with respect and integrity. Angharad also takes it upon herself to be a guidance counselor of sorts to the liberated females who were used as milk factories by Immortan Joe, and she finds personal catharsis in having a group of women to help with the emotional healing process aside from the Wives.
Capable and Nux agree to take their relationship at a very slow pace considering what they each have been through in their lives. With the Wives in unified agreement to become useful members of their small community, Capable decides that she wants to become a vehicle mechanic so she can learn how to fix and repair the various forms of land transport in the Citadel, and so Furiosa asks Nux to teach her the tricks of their trade. Living up to her moniker, Capable picks up the lessons quickly and loves that she gets to spend a lot of time with Nux while also learning about how all the mechanical stuff works in their desert home.
Toast the Knowing desires to follow Furiosa's footsteps and become an Imperator just like her, and so she undergoes intensive training overseen by Valkyrie and the rest of the Vuvalini, who are also accepting any interested young women within the Citadel to learn how to become protectors and defenders of their reformed oasis kingdom.
Cheedo the Fragile and The Dag have always been the closest to each other and they have both opted to choose peaceful duties within the Citadel in order to deal with the traumatic events they have endured under Immortan Joe's abusive rule. Inspired by the Keeper of the Seeds, the Dag spends her time tending to the lush crops growing atop the rock towers of her desert home while Cheedo — being the youngest of the Wives — becomes an educator for the Citadel's War Pups and other young children with the assistance of the Wives' elderly governess, Miss Giddy.
With the help of the Vuvalini's Keeper of the Seeds who has transformed the Citadel into a fertile oasis, Nux's health is restored through potent natural medicine and says goodbye to his deadly twin tumors, Larry and Barry (surgically removed by a now reformed Organic Mechanic), so he can live a full life and have his happy ending with Capable. Despite having a newfound worldview thanks to Max, Furiosa, and the Wives, Nux still loves certain aspects of being a War Boy like driving and fixing cars and doing tasks that are within his skill set in the garage caves of the Citadel. And yes, he now adorably seeks approval from both Max and Furiosa, even though it sometimes grates on their nerves.
The War Rig Family And The Vuvalini Take A Moment Of Reflection At The Edge Of The Plains Of Silence
Things I Loved About This Scene:
In contrast to the fast-paced night chase scene, this nocturnal scenario is quieter and more introspective as it shows the War Rig Family and The Vuvalini communing in relative peace underneath the stars and looking out at the Plains of Silence. I loved how this moment allowed me to take a decent breather from all the nail-bitingly intense action set pieces that preceded this lovely scene. Looking at this setting from outside of its original context, you'd think that they were out having a nice and peaceful time camping al fresco in the desert, where the only thing missing was a blazing campfire and everyone roasting marshmallows while singing happy folk songs.
There are three distinct conversations happening in this scene and all of them really resonated to me. First was Toast and Cheedo talking with the Vuvalini about the shining satellite they saw orbiting high above in space. The elder biker grannies reminisce on how satellites used to transmit signals around the world and relay TV shows to people and the younger girls respond that their caretaker, Miss Giddy, used to talk about things like satellites during their captivity back in the Citadel. I find it poignant that even in Miss Giddy's absence, there are intelligent women like her within the Vuvalini to share knowledge of the past upon the younger generation like Cheedo and Toast.
The second conversation involves The Dag and the Keeper of the Seeds. First, the two women talk about the Dag's fears that her unborn child might turn out to be a boy that will grow up to be ugly (inside and out) just like his bastard father. The elder green thumb assures her of the possibility that the Dag might give birth to a girl as opposed to a boy. The Dag then expresses her disappointment that the Vuvalini would resort to violence given her initial impression that their tribe was supposedly calm and peaceful. In response, the Seed Keeper explains and justifies the unfortunate necessity of their actions in order to preserve an ecological rebirth for the largely poisoned world represented by the seeds she keeps in her leather apothecary bag. It is at this very moment that the Dag begins to see that there is indeed a possibility that the world she knows can really change for the better when left in the hands of those who prefer to nurture with positive intentions rather than to destroy with negative reasons.
The third conversation revolves around Max and Furiosa at the fringes near the War Rig. The two drift-compatible warriors discuss their chances for survival knowing that the once-thriving Green Place is now an eerie dead space sparsely populated by the Swamp Crows. Furiosa discloses to Max that her tribe is willing to risk a lengthy motorcycle caravan across the Plains of Silence in the hopes of arriving at a fertile and habitable location where they could not be reached by Immortan Joe and his ally forces. She extends her offer to Max, saying that he and Nux are welcome to join given how they have proven themselves trustworthy in helping her ferry The Wives to safety. But rather than accepting her invitation, Max gently turns her down by saying that he can find his own way. This broke my heart quite a bit because when you see Furiosa's unhappy facial reaction to Max's rejection, you can clearly see that she was hoping he would join them given how effective they both worked as a defensive team to protect their young charges. Huge shoutout to the Max/Furiosa shippers out there when this moment happened!
There were other small moments in this entire scene that I loved apart from the three major conversations. Obviously, that brief shot of Nux and Capable cuddling in the War Rig's lookout station is a total keeper. I would have liked to see a fourth discussion that involves the two of them, but I guess since they already had a "paradigm shift moment" earlier in the film at the same location, the filmmakers decided to keep their appearance in this scene relatively simple. I can only hope that in the home video release, there might be a deleted scene of Nux and Capable talking again at night high up on the War Rig (if only to please me and the Nuxable shippers out there).
What else? Oh yes, I really loved the subtle color details in this scene. Like, the only bits of color you can discern among the beautiful shades of blue are the yellow flame illuminating Capable and Nux and the vivid green plant growing inside an animal skull. Also a very brief (if largely shadowed) glimpse of Capable's red hair since she was the closest to the lantern.
The subtle details I noticed in this scene also extends to the costumes. The Dag now wears her platinum blonde tresses with some cool hair accessories and she's also sporting a utility belt around her waist. Cheedo can also be seen sporting the colorful striped headscarf that she continues to wear even during the climactic race back to the Citadel.
Speaking of Cheedo, this was the rare instance where I noticed that she isn't with the Dag. Normally, you would see them both together in the same way that Angharad (bless her soul so much) was always with Capable early in the second act of the film. Though it's great to see Cheedo together with Toast among the other members of the Vuvalini, it was a bit disorienting for me to notice this after several viewings given how the film naturally paired her with the Dag, especially after realizing that their relationship was actually cemented as a result of the Dag trying to protect the virginal Cheedo from being raped for the first time by Immortan Joe in the official Vertigo prequel comic.
The Vuvalini + Paper Planes (x)