Quote:
Originally Posted by Kanon
I heard that in the LN
That makes a hell of a lot more sense than what the anime did. The change is very puzzling. |
I was really, really hoping that Raphtalia would stab the guy. It was one of those hopefully-cathartic moments, both for the character and the viewer. I also really dislike that stupid "I'll be like him if I kill him" trope. Even if you're not going to kill the bastard, there are many other ways to feel and express the idea, and choosing that particular route inevitably feels like a loss of characterization. That is, if Raphtalia is not going to kill Idol,
why would she make that choice? What part of her character decided on that route? Cheap trope is not her character, which makes the scene just a morality rubberstamp that really breaks immersion.
Having said all that, I'd like to consider that question seriously. Would Raphtalia, as developed in the story so far, kill Idol? If so, why? If not, why not? (Secondary: If she had known Rifana was dead before the confrontation, would the answer have changed?)
1) Raphtalia is part of the Shield Hero's party. Fair or not, killing Idol would have put a legitimate stamp of evilness on Naofumi's back that Mein/the church/the king/etc could have used against them, and Raphtalia wouldn't do that no matter how much she wanted her own personal revenge.
2) Something that's brought up as a joke often enough, but Raphtalia is still mentally a young girl. She's grown a lot, physically, but mentally is still a mix of adult and child. While she kills monsters easily enough, she has
always acted non-lethally against humans. As much as I personally might want Idol dead, actually deliberately killing someone is not an easy hurdle to cross; even less so for a young girl.
3) While I dislike the trope, it does hint at a certain truth, mostly from its association with Batman: Once you kill one such monster, it becomes much easier to kill the next monster, and to justify why the one after that is also a monster that needs killing. And Melromarc has shown itself to be absolutely loaded with people where the "He needed killin'" defense seems legit.
4) Raphtalia's mom and dad tried to instill in her an attitude of smiling, and staying positive, even in the toughest times. Raphtalia does not need, or want, to become an edgelord. A Raphtalia who was a murderer would not have been able to help Naofumi the way she did.
5) Speaking of... What does Raphtalia think that Naofumi would think of her if she killed this man? No matter how much Idol deserved it, if she killed him,
murdered him, can you imagine how she would feel under Naofumi's gaze? No matter how Naofumi
actually felt (and I'm certain he would have completely understood and supported her decision), it leaves behind the idea that she's now "unclean". This, I think, was the largest part of her thinking, and holding her back from acting on her impulses of the moment.
On the other hand, revenge doesn't help the dead, but it does prevent more from joining them, and Raphtalia's goal is to prevent tragedies like this from happening ever again. However,
would it help? Or would it just provide more justification for the nobility of Melromarc to believe that demi-humans are dangerous monsters who
need to be kept enslaved? This is a series that loves its consequences, and that would be a major one that logically follows.
Either way, Raphtalia was teetering on the edge of lopping off Idol's head before Naofumi spoke up. She very much wanted to kill him, but had a ton of internal conflict keeping her from finally committing.
Naofumi's comment — "Will killing him help you get closure?" — I don't think was enough to sway her choice. I think it
would have helped her get closure. It's the followup that caused her to back down: "It's not just with the sword, right? Haven't you grown stronger in other ways?" The hint of a third path — that it's not just a choice between killing him and letting him go, but that she's strong enough that her victory isn't solely reliant on her sword. That she can win
without killing him. That she can protect people without becoming a murderer. That she's in a position where she can make a difference in people's lives, and that Idol is not an obstacle to her doing so. He's not the wall she has to climb; she has
already climbed that wall, and he's behind her now.
Naofumi didn't tell her not to kill Idol, but he made her realize she didn't
have to kill Idol. And, even if I think there were probably better word choices that could have been used, I can see what she meant when she said she wouldn't be any different than him. It wasn't that she'd be a slaver and child torturer, or even a murderer; it was that she would be trapped in the narrow-minded view of self-gratification. That she wouldn't be able to see beyond what was important to
her, to what was important to all the people she cared about.
And perhaps most importantly, she'd be choosing her own path, rather than the Hero's path. It was certainly a path open to her if she wanted it — Naofumi wouldn't stop her, as he
wants her to be able to choose her own path — but it would be a selfish path. She would be acting as Raphtalia's Sword, instead of Naofumi's Sword.
~~
So, even if I personally would have preferred a blood splatter across the room, and even if I think their word choice could have used some work, I can understand why they made the choice in how they presented things as they did. Idol isn't the obstacle Raphtalia has to beat to put her past behind her. She's already stronger than that.