Not really directed at anything specifically, more just based on things Iâve heard from friends and what they say others are talking about. Just needed to get this off my chest.
So⌠âSyrenâ airs, and Chat Noir gets upset by a secret that is neither Plaggâs nor Ladybugâs to tell. Both the fandom and the show/writers think he is right for doing this, even as he threatens to quit while Paris drowns if not told the secret. He is ultimately rewarded in the end with the secret because, according to one of the writers, âChat was correct and deserved to know.â
Later down the line, âTruthâ gets a synopsis.
It hasnât aired, it simply gets a synopsis (I must also add that a previous synopsis in the same season had been wrong).
Based on said synopsis, the fandom gets riled up about Luka supposedly being upset by a secret Marinette is keeping (her identity), going on about how he âdoesnât have a right to Marinetteâs secret,â âis being extremely entitled,â and âdoesnât deserve to know Marinetteâs identity,â as it is âMarinetteâs rightâ to tell whoever she wants.
In truth, the actual episode features Luka struggling and fighting against the akuma, because he actually believes that he is not, in fact, entitled to Marinetteâs secret, wanting her to share it rather than it being forced out of her. He is then âpunishedâ for this when the show has the couple break up due to Marinette believing that sheâs not allowed to have a boyfriend, all thanks to her secrets. Nevertheless, Luka maintains his previous stance and wants Marinette to tell him things whenever sheâs ready to do so.
âGang of Secretsâ airs two episodes later, featuring the exact opposite philosophy. Over the phone, Marinetteâs friends claim that they want her to talk with them when sheâs ready, only to barrel into her room minutes later and insist that she talk to them. She refuses, kicking them out, and they get akumatized without resistance in order to force her to tell them her secret. After the fact, without so much as an on-screen apology from them, Marinette folds and talks about (some of) her problems. This also features another âwhenever youâre readyâ from Alix that may or may not be a simple joke given how the group laughs at it. Once all but Alya and Marinette are left in the room, Marinette has a mental breakdown and gives Alya her most precious secret: her identity as Ladybug.
Upon this episode airing, the fandom is upset at Marinette, not for telling her secret, but for not telling Chat Noir her secret instead of Alya, because Chat deserved her secret. This is also after âChat Blanc,â where Marinette is aware that âher love with Chatâ and Chat knowing her identity nearly led to the end of the world, and it is later confirmed in âSentibubblerâ that Marinette has actual trauma over the moment, never made aware of the specific mistake Chat made (i.e: keeping his knowledge of her identity a secret) that caused the issue in the first place, thus leaving her with all of the blame as the timeline is scrubbed away and Adrien is left with no actual lesson, even from Bunnix who couldâve chided him for his priority on love over safety. Chat received no consequences for this (not remembering his time as an akuma) and was even rewarded for his erased-from-time decisions as Ladybug laid her head on his shoulder, happy to have him back after the nightmare sheâd lived where everyone was dead because her partner prioritized dating her over telling her that he knew her identity, despite her repeated stressing that no one must know.
(âGlaciatorâ also follows this formula, forcing Ladybug to apologize first and then having her blush when Chat kisses her cheek after heâd put up a huff mid-battle, while Marinette is blamed both for Andreâs akumatization and not going to a date that she didnât promise to go to.)
Cut to some time later, when âCrocoduelâ airs. Marinette, believing that she only causes problems for Luka and that he would rather be away from his own birthday party than be around the girl who âbroke his heartâ and âgot him akumatized twiceâ (the first time being Silencer, something that apparently she, Alya, and the show blame her for), asks Juleka in private to make sure Luka isnât present at the party. She later apologizes for this, admitting that she was unreasonable in her request.
The fandom proceeds to go off on Marinette, stating that she is selfish and that Luka âdeserves better.â This is in direct contrast to episodes that feature Marinette/Ladybug apparently slighting Adrien/Chat (according to the fandom), where rejection is not wished on the ship itself, but rather a desire that Marinette/Ladybug apologize to Adrien/Chat and repent for her sins so that he can be happy and they can get together.
Interestingly enough, complete radio silence is given on the friends who had forced Marinette to go to the event in the first place (and also had supposed âwhenever youâre readyâ development in âGang of Secretsâ), not consulting with Luka on the matter nor considering what either would want, and only asking for Julekaâs permission in what is essentially an afterthought (having made plans without her input first). This is made doubly âinterestingâ by the fact that the action of said friends is what leads to the supposed âend of Lukanette,â with them officially confirming becoming friends.
Finally, cut to the most recent episode (at the time of writing this), âWishmaker.â In this episode, through two different instances of Second Chance, Luka discovers the identities of both Ladybug and Chat Noir, shocked and later saddened by both revelations. When asked by Ladybug, he makes the decision to not tell her that he knows anything, though the current reason for this is unknown.
The fandom, once again, goes up in arms. They are upset by Lukaâs lie (to a hero who he now knows is extremely stressed about her future and needs little else to worry about) regardless of whatever the reason may or may not be revealed to be. This is a far cry from the âgolden boyâ Adrien Agreste, who has not only lied (whether by omission or otherwise) on multiple occasions (âCopycat,â âMiraculous New York,â and âChat Blancâ), but when Ladybugâs identity was put into his hands (the hands of a permanent hero who has one of the two exact miraculouses wanted by Hawk Moth), he chose not to say anything so he could date her.
Neither had a magical charm to protect them while one of them had a rabbit hero to erase his actions as if that removes what he wouldâve done if given the chance, while Ladybug is left with the guilt and trauma. Both were told that identities are precious, and one lies for reasons riddled with ambiguity while the other lies in order to date the person who has already rejected one side of himself. One is a âthreatâ to the endgame ship and is either sympathized with or criticized depending on what will make his own ship look worse (and whose likeability seems to coincide by how âthreateningâ he is and what importance he receives in comparison to his âcompetitionâ), while the other is part of the endgame ship and is treated accordingly by the show and fanbase, his actions defended and validated while the blame falls on the other side of his ship.
In the end, Marinette and Luka are dealt an equally bad hand, and both are dealing with consequences of Adrienâs actions. Adrien had gotten to peacefully date âLadybugâ in a removed timeline because he selfishly kept a secret (and, again, was ultimately rewarded for it), while Marinette suffered dating Luka because she selflessly kept a secret (leading to him being akuamtized and her to nearly have a mental breakdown). Luka, meanwhile, who has had a track record of being incredibly selfless and having a history of always keeping Marinetteâs feelings/best interests in mind, now knows both Ladybug and Chat Noirâs identities, and the latter being because Chat Noir let himself get hit by the akumaâs powers in the first place.
Yet itâs Luka who gets heat, and Marinette who gets heat, while Adrien isnât even so much as on the back burner.
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