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Chapter 74

RIN OF ARC

TikTok has struck once more. Taking an extremely complex character and reducing them to a singular stereotype. The most recent victim? Fang Runin.

I feel like alot of her actions are being misinterpreted as "Yay girlboss girl power" when in reality a lot of the things she does are driven by a few things.

A. Fear and desperation.

Rin didnt do all of that studying for Sinegard because she wanted to prove herself to be the best. It was out of pure fear and desperation of being sold and married off to some skeezy old man. Her choice of Sinegard among all the schools she could have chosen was also proof of this. Sinegard was far, and it would be a guaranteed way to make it far away from her current situation. Personally, I also believe that her choice in getting rid of her uterus was also one of those types of choices. Rin did not want to fall behind more than she already has, so, possibly out of fear and desperatio,n she got rid of it.

B. Pure recklessness.

As much as I love Rin she can also be very bullheaded, but it is a quality that I do like in her. Fighting a privileged kid (Nezha) when she's already looked down upon due to her skin and lack of social standing was incredibly stupid and risky. The odds are stacked against her, and it shows throughout her entire time at Sinegard, and a lot of these actions are made out of pure impulse. The same goes for her words AND actions. Mouthing off to the professors and Atlan is a bold move, but it's HER.

C. The innate need to prove herself.

Against her better judgment, Rin tends to go along with plans (mostly pertaining to Atlan) just to prove herself to him because she looks up to him. Despite the multitude of warnings she was given, she needs to prove herself so badly to Atlan that she will do nearly anything he asks of her.

A lot of the time Rin feels like she has no choice but to act out in these matters, not because she's some sort of girlboss go-getter, but because she is a terrified GIRL in the middle of a war. I emphasize the girl because she is a girl. This is a CHILD having to make tough decisions outside of a war planning room. Her willingness to go to extremes against the enemy and do nearly anything to destroy them is also an interesting thing I want to talk about.

We've seen throughout the book that a lot of what was taught to Rin about the history is wrong. Reducing the enemy to monsters and not people helps Rin make these harsh decisions. Of course, it didnt start out that way. Rin, at first, was very apprehensive about causing harm and did so out of fear of "if it's not them, it's me." But by the end of the book, she gets into a fiery argument with Kitay about her basically losing her humanity and wiping out the enemy, or rather, who she perceives as the enemy, as innocents were caught in the crossfire.

This isnt some power move on her part; this is the direct result of everything that has gone on in Rin's life up to this point. The training, the torture, the trauma of losing friends all made her the way she is right now.

They reveal a way of thinking that only works if you’ve never experienced discrimination where gender and ethnicity overlap. Identity is not something you can rank(‽) You are not ethnic first and woman second you are a woman of that people, and violence is enacted through both at once

The text itself contradicts the fandom take. At the beginning of the book, Rin doesn’t know she is Speerly. The conflict that defines her life is gendered violence she is about to be forced into marriage. Her body and future are controlled because she is a woman, long before her ancestry is revealed

Genocide does not erase gender,it weaponizes it. Marriage, reproduction, and ownership of women’s bodies are central tools of post genocide oppression. Saying “Speerly first” ignores that Rin’s womanhood is exactly why she is vulnerable, why the violence against her takes the form it does, and why she is treated differently from Altan