(no subject)
HAI THAR. The previous rant posted here just reminded me just how BADLY I wanted to rant about 411. Because, boy, there's a lot of blind rage I've been surpressing for the past, I dunno, YEAR or so about this.
I know, I never rant unless something irks me really, REALLY bad.
But hey, this is a rant comm, and that means I get to rant! FINALLY some therapy I don't have to pay for!
Let me begin by saying 411 is my favorite Kingdom Hearts pairing. I write a fair amount of fanfiction for it, I try and write it well and in-character and I'm aware that I don't always succeed. My general thought is fanfiction=/= srs bsns, but I like to practice my writing, and hey, in my personal opinion, Marluxia and Vexen KICK ASS, both as characters themselves and as a pairing.
I know the general feel in KHFFR is that '411 is weeeird it doesn't make seeense' (or at least that's the vibe I've been getting). I'm quite aware that it went from crack to canon almost overnight. I'm aware that they don't LIKE each other. So let me take a few deep breaths and then go into what I think of as the real theory behind 411 and the bastardized version the fanbrats have taken ahold of.
411 In a Nutshell:
Now, I know that actual lines of dialogue have been fuddled up with the addition of Re:CoM, so just so we're all clear, I'm going primarily by CoM because the actual character struggles are much more prominent and, yanno, it has the prior claim.
So we have Marluxia, a conniving upstart who's found favor with Xemnas for some reason or another and is heading the Castle Oblivion project. We have Vexen, one of the original Nobodies, who seems to have fallen substantially in the ranks. If you all remember the flashback in KHII that showed the Nobodies and their different chair heights, you'll note that Marluxia had one of the taller chairs while Vexen's was lowest, the best indication of their actual ranks within the Organization. Vexen does not believe that Marluxia has any place ordering him around- Marluxia is not a scientist (we assume) and is not as experienced of a Nobody as Vexen. What's more, it's blatently obvious that Marluxia does not prioritize the Organization's interests above his own. Marluxia is a danger to the Organization, and he is put in command of Oblivion, taking orders directly from Xemnas while plotting a coup against him. Hence we have the clash of personality and interests- Marluxia wants to take over the Organization and is willing to use any means, back-stabbing, rank pulling, and manipulation to say the lest, to get what he wants; Vexen, while it's hard to say exactly how 'loyal' he is to Xemnas and the Organization, does not want Marluxia in power and certainly doesn't think that an arrogant neophyte like him has any place ordering elders around.
Now, in a canonical setting, 411 has the POSSIBILITY to work. It does not have the same undertones that AkuRoku or LexZex has, but there are clues that can be looked at in the conversation Marluxia and Vexen have before Vexen faces Sora, which I'll cover in a moment. 411, taken logically, is not like AkuRoku or other popular pairings where the participants seem to like each other- 411 rests on the fact that Marluxia and Vexen HATE each other. It is a relationship about power and dominance- which on one extreme is ignored completely and on the other end is the rapistseme!Marluxia and woobieuke!Vexen. Both characters want to assume control over the other- not only for their ego's sake, but as a matter of ensuring the safety of their persons and their agendas. An obvious and logical way to look at it is that 1) Marluxia claims power in Oblivion as its leader 2) Vexen refuses to acknowledge him as the person in charge 3) Marluxia recognizes Vexen as a potential threat in that he challenges Marluxia's authority and 4) decides to subdue him by means of blackmail, psychological torture, humiliation, and possibly rape. Notice that for this basic outline to work, there doesn't have to be a sexual encounter involved- but taking a look at Vexen as a character, one might assume that something like sexual assult is something that would traumatize him, which might make him less of a threat (or possibly make him even MORE dangerous because before it was just politics but NOW IT'S PERSONAL). Therefore, in a canonical situation, Marluxia assulting Vexen is a way of subduing Vexen and asserting his own power- it's a means to an end, not an end itself.
The conversation that Marluxia and Vexen have in Chain of Memories leads to some interesting points which lead to the possible existence of a relationship, though not a healthy or normal one. For starters, Vexen is STILL challenging Marluxia's authority, despite anything that has been happening to him pre-game. This lends itself to my "Vexen DOES have a spine" theory, discussed later.
What interests me most in the discussion is how well Marluxia can play on Vexen's fears. Despite whatever may have happened between them, Vexen still has quite a lot of fight in him- but Marluxia has an ace that probably is the only reason Vexen hasn't run him through with an icicle: Xemnas. By simply mentioning that the Riku-Replica failure will have to be repported to the Superior, Vexen suddenly looses his defiance and becomes compliant, actually BEGGING him not to go through with the threat and even agreeing to fufil orders from Marluxia that he doesn't understand (eliminating Sora). Vexen STILL HAS A SPINE but also has something called 'self-preservation'. He's not afraid of Marluxia like Marluxia wants him to be, but Marluxia can MAKE him afraid by proxy- wrath of Marluxia=wrath of Xemnas, and for whatever
reason, Vexen fears Xemnas' wrath.
411 Fanon interpretations
Lately we've been seeing the two extremes I've mentioned, SuperSweetFluff and OMG RAEP. We're looking for something...more intelligent. But please allow me to vent my frustrations because, as the above has proven, I care about 411 and I put a lot of time and effort into getting correct and logical dynamics.
The Fluff version is what I think of as the 'canon be dammed' version. This is where Marluxia and Vexen inexplicably get along, and have twu luv. Let me make this clear: 411 MAKES SENSE WHEN IT'S DYSFUNCTIONAL. Now, I'm not saying that, after perhaps a long, long, while of some form of a 'relationship' they wouldn't be able to hate each other a little less and maybe agree on a few things, but if they're not going to be cavity-inducing lovebirds. The entire reason I READ 411, the only reason I LIKE it is because of the dynamics of the characters. In this version, the dynamics are chucked for mindless fluff in your typical 'romance yaoi fanfic: insert characters [here]'.
On the other hand, there's the rapist/victim relationship that seems to be so popular in fanfiction these days. This also chucks out the dynamics, but in a different way. Here the premise of the relationship is based entirely on sex, with little or none of the underlying conflicts. This is where we see Marluxia as the sex-craved maniac and Vexen as the fragile and pathetic little victim. This version is slightly closer to the more 'realistic' 411, but it's still a cutout fic, not tailored to the personalities or situations of the characters.
That's all, folks