Brendol's Sons
Dec. 5th, 2018 09:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lavender_sage As an addendum to my last meta (and because I cannot will myself to grade one more essay right now) isn’t it interesting that the one character–besides Finn–who manages to get out of the First Order is also the the character who actually is treated like a son by Armitage Hux’s dad?In spite of the fact that Brendol was a terrible person, in spite of the fact that his motives were probably bad, the attention and affection he showed Cardinal mean something, to Cardinal at the very least. Even at the end of the Phasma novel when he realizes how much he has been duped by the titular character, he is still defending Brendol. Armitage, despite his twisted views of human relationships, knows that his father mistreated him and hates him for it. Even with all the manipulation and brainwashing, Cardinal and Armitage feel the way they do about Brendol for legitimate reasons.
Caring for and emotionally supporting someone with bad intentions is still better for them than treating them with overt cruelty. I have to wonder if bonding with the person responsible for his welfare didn’t help Cardinal become sane and personable enough to be of interest to Vi Morandi and led to her rescuing him.I suppose you could say that maybe Cardinal already had redeeming qualities and Armitage didn’t, and maybe that’s why Brendol decided to nurture him and freeze Armitage out. That seems to be what Cardinal thinks. But it’s abuse apologism, and I’m not here for it. And of course, there are other factors to consider–like the feasibility of Cardinal being a torturer and a nice guy at the same time, for one. But it is pretty clear we are meant to see him as redeemable, but not Armitage. That he’s a nicer person than Armitage in spite of their shared past is also obvious. While it would be reductive to say that Brendol’s treatment of them is the only factor to play a role in that, that it plays a role at all is sad enough.
At the same time, I wonder what Brendol would think if he knew treating Cardinal like a son would contribute to his being Resistance pilot ex machina-ed out of the FO and treating Armitage like garbage would contribute to his being one blaster bolt away from the top position. Would he be dismayed? Impressed? Was this his intent all along? I don’t mean he intended for Cardinal to defect, obviously, but maybe he didn’t care what happened to Cardinal as long as Armitage grew up to be as vicious and power-hungry as possible.
Caring for and emotionally supporting someone with bad intentions is still better for them than treating them with overt cruelty. I have to wonder if bonding with the person responsible for his welfare didn’t help Cardinal become sane and personable enough to be of interest to Vi Morandi and led to her rescuing him.I suppose you could say that maybe Cardinal already had redeeming qualities and Armitage didn’t, and maybe that’s why Brendol decided to nurture him and freeze Armitage out. That seems to be what Cardinal thinks. But it’s abuse apologism, and I’m not here for it. And of course, there are other factors to consider–like the feasibility of Cardinal being a torturer and a nice guy at the same time, for one. But it is pretty clear we are meant to see him as redeemable, but not Armitage. That he’s a nicer person than Armitage in spite of their shared past is also obvious. While it would be reductive to say that Brendol’s treatment of them is the only factor to play a role in that, that it plays a role at all is sad enough.
At the same time, I wonder what Brendol would think if he knew treating Cardinal like a son would contribute to his being Resistance pilot ex machina-ed out of the FO and treating Armitage like garbage would contribute to his being one blaster bolt away from the top position. Would he be dismayed? Impressed? Was this his intent all along? I don’t mean he intended for Cardinal to defect, obviously, but maybe he didn’t care what happened to Cardinal as long as Armitage grew up to be as vicious and power-hungry as possible.
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Date: 2018-12-05 09:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-12-06 11:46 pm (UTC)Sorry I've not been terribly active today. One more day to go until I've finished my book, and then I'll be much more involved.
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Date: 2018-12-06 11:51 pm (UTC)Yay for finishing! That's so exciting!
I only have about three more Hux metas to repost here. There are also a couple of things from other fandoms that I just want to back up.
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Date: 2018-12-07 10:43 am (UTC)I look forward to the rest of the meta!
Would you mind if I reposted some of the long ones where we're in discussion with Filigranka and other people on Ao3? I think it would be easier than doing it here, and it would be easier to credit everyone as co-authors. (Stuff like the one I crossposted from Tumblr today, which didn't come through with any of the nested replies.)
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Date: 2018-12-08 06:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-12-08 07:30 pm (UTC)I've unfortunately only tagged the discussions you and I had as 'Hux meta' on my Tumblr, so they were the ones I could find. I found one with Filigranka, so that's in Chapter 4, but now I've got to go through the slog of examining my entire archive to try to find the rest!
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Date: 2018-12-08 08:45 pm (UTC)Lol, I think I was pretty much the same. Did I tell them it was okay? Of course I did; I'd never forget anything during finals grading week! I just forgot my SSN.
It's kind of weird seeing my Hux meta in the same location as my Hux fic. I wonder if the people who have read our stories will read our meta too. In my case, they'll be in for some surprises!
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Date: 2018-12-08 09:54 pm (UTC)It's a bit less weird for me because I posted two meta essays in my very first fandom, and then again in the one immediately before this. Sometimes there are things you can say bests by just going ahead and saying it :) Also I love reading a good bit of meta, so I hope people will be entertained anyway.