Oz Vesalius: State of the Union and What Keeps Him Sane
This will contain spoilers for the latest chapter. Kinda.
I think I’m stating the obvious when I say Oz is kind of mentally unstable. I had some idea how mentally unstable he was until I got a good glimpse at the latest chapters which provided me with some idea of what he would be like without two of his most important people and faced with a problem he cannot tackle.
So who are Oz’s most important people and why? They are Gilbert and Alice respectively, for different reasons. Take one and Oz barely holds it together. Take them both away and put him in a situation where he is forced to deal with his issues on his own and Oz literally falls apart in the worst way possible. In Chapter 41 (and Volume Five where he sees Alice’s dead body), Oz starts taking desperate measures to “fix” his world. One of the ways he chooses to fix any problem he faces is to annihilate it completely and leave no trace of its existence. That is how Oz copes with his problems when he does not have anyone to stabilize him.
It’s very hard to stress how important Gil and Alice are to Oz sometimes, because I find it hard to put it into words. Here is how I see it. Gil, to Oz, is like a pillar. It’s through Gil that Oz hasn’t lost complete faith in the world. His earlier thinking (during the time he got kidnapped by a servant he had trusted) was that no matter what good might happen, it’ll be turned upside down because that’s how the world functions. But Gil promised him otherwise and vowed to stay by his side. That promise is the one thing that Oz relies on, that’s where all his faith is derived from. He said it quite clearly too that without that promise, he rather die. Gil keeps Oz faithful, and Oz is able to hope.
Where does that put Alice? Honestly, before Alice, Oz was a stagnant character. He didn’t want anything! He didn’t strive for anything! He only did the Adult Ceremony because it was expected of him and his uncle wanted him to. So Oz just floundered in his life as the Vesalius heir. That’s when Alice came in and gave him a purpose. Oh, he’s helping Alice to find out why the Baskervilles threw him in but he also says his main reason is to help Alice regain her memories. Alice becomes Oz’s goal and he starts to strive for something. She is, quite literally, his future. His world revolves around her happiness because when she’s happy, he’s happy and his world is okay!
Currently in camp, we have Alice, no Gil and a Vincent. It’s not a winning combination in Oz’s head. He’s thrilled to have Alice back, but Alice forgot. That was an extremely harrowing moment for him because it’s one of his fears; to be forgotten, to lose the meaning of his existence, something which Alice is a big part of now. Alice forgetting ever coming to camp gave Oz a fright, something which he is repressing and repressing hard because Alice is here, Alice needs to be happy and Oz is using that reasoning to put all his own worries in a box. Gil left and that is another issue since Gil promised he wouldn’t leave without Oz and he broke that promise. Oz is not happy with that in the least and it brings up his old insecurities. Now, with Vincent in camp, all those issues are coming back to hit him with full force and he frankly has no idea what to do. He doesn’t know who to talk to. He doesn’t want to talk about them which just makes it worse and he just keeps retreating into himself, not wanting to let anyone know how he’s feeling.
In a nutshell, Oz thinks staying away and pretending to be chirpy will fix things. When it really doesn’t but he’s sticking with it before he breaks down.
Questions, thoughts, why is Oz nuts???
I think I’m stating the obvious when I say Oz is kind of mentally unstable. I had some idea how mentally unstable he was until I got a good glimpse at the latest chapters which provided me with some idea of what he would be like without two of his most important people and faced with a problem he cannot tackle.
So who are Oz’s most important people and why? They are Gilbert and Alice respectively, for different reasons. Take one and Oz barely holds it together. Take them both away and put him in a situation where he is forced to deal with his issues on his own and Oz literally falls apart in the worst way possible. In Chapter 41 (and Volume Five where he sees Alice’s dead body), Oz starts taking desperate measures to “fix” his world. One of the ways he chooses to fix any problem he faces is to annihilate it completely and leave no trace of its existence. That is how Oz copes with his problems when he does not have anyone to stabilize him.
It’s very hard to stress how important Gil and Alice are to Oz sometimes, because I find it hard to put it into words. Here is how I see it. Gil, to Oz, is like a pillar. It’s through Gil that Oz hasn’t lost complete faith in the world. His earlier thinking (during the time he got kidnapped by a servant he had trusted) was that no matter what good might happen, it’ll be turned upside down because that’s how the world functions. But Gil promised him otherwise and vowed to stay by his side. That promise is the one thing that Oz relies on, that’s where all his faith is derived from. He said it quite clearly too that without that promise, he rather die. Gil keeps Oz faithful, and Oz is able to hope.
Where does that put Alice? Honestly, before Alice, Oz was a stagnant character. He didn’t want anything! He didn’t strive for anything! He only did the Adult Ceremony because it was expected of him and his uncle wanted him to. So Oz just floundered in his life as the Vesalius heir. That’s when Alice came in and gave him a purpose. Oh, he’s helping Alice to find out why the Baskervilles threw him in but he also says his main reason is to help Alice regain her memories. Alice becomes Oz’s goal and he starts to strive for something. She is, quite literally, his future. His world revolves around her happiness because when she’s happy, he’s happy and his world is okay!
Currently in camp, we have Alice, no Gil and a Vincent. It’s not a winning combination in Oz’s head. He’s thrilled to have Alice back, but Alice forgot. That was an extremely harrowing moment for him because it’s one of his fears; to be forgotten, to lose the meaning of his existence, something which Alice is a big part of now. Alice forgetting ever coming to camp gave Oz a fright, something which he is repressing and repressing hard because Alice is here, Alice needs to be happy and Oz is using that reasoning to put all his own worries in a box. Gil left and that is another issue since Gil promised he wouldn’t leave without Oz and he broke that promise. Oz is not happy with that in the least and it brings up his old insecurities. Now, with Vincent in camp, all those issues are coming back to hit him with full force and he frankly has no idea what to do. He doesn’t know who to talk to. He doesn’t want to talk about them which just makes it worse and he just keeps retreating into himself, not wanting to let anyone know how he’s feeling.
In a nutshell, Oz thinks staying away and pretending to be chirpy will fix things. When it really doesn’t but he’s sticking with it before he breaks down.
Questions, thoughts, why is Oz nuts???