of course, there are many things to discuss about the spear cuts through water and its many dynamics amongst the characters but the one that continues to leave an itch in my brain is the dynamic between jun and the first terror.
there’s just something about being a bad man and yet having undeniable love for your sons. every single one of them despite them being numerous. though none that he loved more than jun. and it’s not just stated explicitly in the text, but it is shown.
when jun fled with the empress, all the red peacocks had an inkling that the thief was jun. but not the first terror. he was willing to believe the ‘best’ of his son’s character until the very end. perhaps maybe there was a small gnawing at his instincts but he ignored it. because he loved jun!
keema was only able to grab that moment of weakness to cut off the first terror’s head because once the mask was ripped off jun’s face, the thought of his son being the very same man he had been chasing across the country rendered the first terror vulnerable and open to attack. he literally told keema that it is so very rare that he loses a battle.
his head was literally kept in a jar that jun refused to open for an entire day and he still had faith that his son would come back to him.
even when his head was sewn back on, he offered jun his forgiveness and acceptance and it was genuine. even when jun rejected this offer, he still told him he was going to save him. because he loved his son. even as luubu used his word to force jun to kill his father, saam ossa was ready to die by his son’s hand. if luubu’s plan had gone through, the first terror’s last words to jun -no, his very last words, full stop- would have literally been “there is nothing to forgive”.
there’s no denying that jun loved this father as well, even though of course a part of him hated the man for moulding him into the red peacock he was. the love was so evident: after all, he didn’t throw his father’s head in the thousands to forever be lost despite the opportunity. with a blade in his hand and luubu’s influence and manipulation in his ear, jun still didn’t want to kill his father, he didn’t want his father to die! he literally had to forcibly stop himself from crying after his father’s death, and scolded himself for feeling bad that he was gone and the fact that he truly missed him.
oh complex relationships between parent and child, how i love you!
