[✐fan essay] a quick note about arrogance; or, malik is not a special snowflake
I should be doing homework, and I will, once I make this observation: Malik is more arrogant than Kaiba or Yami Bakura. (EDIT: My homework is done! I can post this now!)
Kaiba's arrogance stems from pride in what he's accomplished - he's been thrown away by what family he'd had left and had to struggle to overcome a terrible life with the new "family" he ended up with in its stead. So when he finally does have the power, it feels damn good to show it off - although showing it off has probably been engrained in him from the Gozaburo "become worthy of being my heir" struggle, as if he has to continue to constantly prove himself even after Gozaburo's death (and Kaiba knows this)…..but I mustn't walk too far down that path before I turn every character in YGO into my favorite character from another fandom.
Yami Bakura's arrogance stems from utter, total confidence in himself. He's one of the least conflicted characters: he knows exactly what he wants and he knows he has the savvy to get it, even if the precise best means aren't always clear. So everybody else is just funny, because they think they matter, how cute. It's probably actually more frustrating to have Malik point out something he missed in the BC duel than to lose the duel proper.
Malik…..Malik believes he is a special person not because of something he's done, but because of who he is. Malik believes he is a Special Person with a Special Destiny, even when he's turned that destiny on his head and is vowing to kill the Pharaoh instead of help him. He's still the one born for a special purpose, he is still not only an Ishtar but the head of the Ishtars. He's immensely proud of his charisma because it helps him get what he wants, and of other traits that have aided him in achieving his goals, but that all comes second to being The Special One.
I probably write him as too independent and too rebellious. Malik is not a rebel. Malik is a subverter. He'll take a given and twist it until it looks the way he wants, but he never seeks to break it entirely. (That's where he and the Thief King differ.) This flexibility, this ability to do wonders with rhetoric (and not just for his own self-justification, but to manipulate others) is really one of the most defining traits of his thought process - and it's when he can't bend things anymore, when he's run out of options, that he gets all pissy. XD And then switches to a new tactic entirely.
And that, in a nutshell, is why it's so freaking awesome that the line that culminates in snapping Malik out of his latest way of twisting things on their heads--the plan to avenge his father's death through destruction of his darker half, regardless of the consequences (and probably believing it's just)--is that crawling through the darkness towards the light "is the fate of every human being."
It's not the only thing that changes his mind or gives him belief in himself, will to live, etc. But man, I love that it's in there. XD
Kaiba's arrogance stems from pride in what he's accomplished - he's been thrown away by what family he'd had left and had to struggle to overcome a terrible life with the new "family" he ended up with in its stead. So when he finally does have the power, it feels damn good to show it off - although showing it off has probably been engrained in him from the Gozaburo "become worthy of being my heir" struggle, as if he has to continue to constantly prove himself even after Gozaburo's death (and Kaiba knows this)…..but I mustn't walk too far down that path before I turn every character in YGO into my favorite character from another fandom.
Yami Bakura's arrogance stems from utter, total confidence in himself. He's one of the least conflicted characters: he knows exactly what he wants and he knows he has the savvy to get it, even if the precise best means aren't always clear. So everybody else is just funny, because they think they matter, how cute. It's probably actually more frustrating to have Malik point out something he missed in the BC duel than to lose the duel proper.
Malik…..Malik believes he is a special person not because of something he's done, but because of who he is. Malik believes he is a Special Person with a Special Destiny, even when he's turned that destiny on his head and is vowing to kill the Pharaoh instead of help him. He's still the one born for a special purpose, he is still not only an Ishtar but the head of the Ishtars. He's immensely proud of his charisma because it helps him get what he wants, and of other traits that have aided him in achieving his goals, but that all comes second to being The Special One.
I probably write him as too independent and too rebellious. Malik is not a rebel. Malik is a subverter. He'll take a given and twist it until it looks the way he wants, but he never seeks to break it entirely. (That's where he and the Thief King differ.) This flexibility, this ability to do wonders with rhetoric (and not just for his own self-justification, but to manipulate others) is really one of the most defining traits of his thought process - and it's when he can't bend things anymore, when he's run out of options, that he gets all pissy. XD And then switches to a new tactic entirely.
And that, in a nutshell, is why it's so freaking awesome that the line that culminates in snapping Malik out of his latest way of twisting things on their heads--the plan to avenge his father's death through destruction of his darker half, regardless of the consequences (and probably believing it's just)--is that crawling through the darkness towards the light "is the fate of every human being."
It's not the only thing that changes his mind or gives him belief in himself, will to live, etc. But man, I love that it's in there. XD