OMG I love this! The doppelgänger are just so fascinating! And you're absolutley right, working together they would be unstoppable, but by nature of who they are of course they are going to clash.
*HOW GREAT is the anchor thing? It's not just that doppelgangers are sociological objects, it's that they're molded in the image of a woman who was literally turned into a statue.
Yes! Omg a literal madonna statue of a woman who was turned into an object by those who surround her.
He didn’t need to start out with hard power to be dangerous, because he and the world around him believed that he was entitled to get hard power. The female Petrova line doesn’t have that recourse, and so they’ve had to become even wilier.
I think it's very interesting that becoming a vampire is a hindrance to doppelgänger mojo for the Petrova's in a way that it isn't for the Silas doppelgängers. Like you said hard power is seen as something that men are just entitled to, whereas a women possessing hard power is seen unatural and wrong (which is bullshit obviously). It fits in with the way the doppelgängers are meant to be the masculine and feminine ideal, becoming a vamp is simply a move towards traditional masculinity, wheareas for women it is seen as a betrayel of femininity because it takes away the illusion of someone who needs saving (and that is a huge part of the Petrova appeal). Obviously even as vamps the Petrova's are still miles ahead of the general population in terms of manipulative finesse, but there is a difference between the success rate of human Elena or newly human Katherine and vamp!Elena or vamp!Kat.
It fits in with the way the doppelgängers are meant to be the masculine and feminine ideal, becoming a vamp is simply a move towards traditional masculinity
Oh, this is a great point.
wheareas for women it is seen as a betrayel of femininity because it takes away the illusion of someone who needs saving (and that is a huge part of the Petrova appeal).
I really love how the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" expectations for female characters - Elena in particular, but this happens a lot - end up getting called out with the vamping of the doppelganger. We've had it unmistakably waved in our faces that she got targeted for her relative physical frailty before, and now we're seeing how she really does get socially punished for her new self-sufficiency.
*HOW GREAT is the anchor thing? It's not just that doppelgangers are sociological objects, it's that they're molded in the image of a woman who was literally turned into a statue.
Yes! Omg a literal madonna statue of a woman who was turned into an object by those who surround her.
He didn’t need to start out with hard power to be dangerous, because he and the world around him believed that he was entitled to get hard power. The female Petrova line doesn’t have that recourse, and so they’ve had to become even wilier.
I think it's very interesting that becoming a vampire is a hindrance to doppelgänger mojo for the Petrova's in a way that it isn't for the Silas doppelgängers. Like you said hard power is seen as something that men are just entitled to, whereas a women possessing hard power is seen unatural and wrong (which is bullshit obviously). It fits in with the way the doppelgängers are meant to be the masculine and feminine ideal, becoming a vamp is simply a move towards traditional masculinity, wheareas for women it is seen as a betrayel of femininity because it takes away the illusion of someone who needs saving (and that is a huge part of the Petrova appeal). Obviously even as vamps the Petrova's are still miles ahead of the general population in terms of manipulative finesse, but there is a difference between the success rate of human Elena or newly human Katherine and vamp!Elena or vamp!Kat.
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Oh, this is a great point.
wheareas for women it is seen as a betrayel of femininity because it takes away the illusion of someone who needs saving (and that is a huge part of the Petrova appeal).
I really love how the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" expectations for female characters - Elena in particular, but this happens a lot - end up getting called out with the vamping of the doppelganger. We've had it unmistakably waved in our faces that she got targeted for her relative physical frailty before, and now we're seeing how she really does get socially punished for her new self-sufficiency.
Reply
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