Tiara

**spoilers for all three books but it's not that bad**

Yin Nezha in many ways has been forced to take on the traditional role of a woman. It all began when he was sent as the sacrificial lamb to the dragon by his father, we’ll get to Vaisra later on in the essay. The point I want to make now, is that this mirrors how women have been treated, they are the people whose body we sacrifice. In this essay I will be using the examples of child birth and marriage as dangerous things women have to do under a society that is defined by patriarchy. 

Women have been used as fodder to propel society through most of history. Though childbirth is necessary for life it is an extremely risky event that leads women to permanent change in their body and in lots of cases, death. A society that is run rampant with patriarchy (in the poppy war we know Nikan is riddled with it), it is important to note that this ritual of treating girls as fodder is not a choice made by girls. Although in Nikan we can probably expect a man telling a woman to get married and have babies, patriarchy does not need such direct communication to exert this obligation over women. It works in more insidious ways than that and it’s what Yin Nezha has experienced. He is forced to take on the dragon, forced to be fodder to Mugen (was probably sit through torture, though he was rescued) and forced to keep all of this suffering bottled up. This routine infliction of suffering and hiding it away just sounds so much like what women have had to go through. 

Another way we see patriarchy crop up is when women start to fully adopt it. In lots of cases women accept society for what it is and willingly participate in marriage and child birth, they even take part in its perpetuation by pressuring their daughters, relatives, friends to partake in this ritual. Nezha displays this quality to a tee. He resides himself to his suffering because he believes it is worth it because it is all in the name of his father’s Republic. Similar to how a woman might justify her suffering because it’s all in the name of contributing to society, it’s to make a family. 

Another facet of patriarchy is how ignorant a man can be to a woman’s suffering, not only that they witness it and think they are displays of bravery. They do not see the invisible (sometimes very visible actually) strings guiding these people to enact destruction on their body to have a child or marry a man that could kill you. Sometimes all they see is a mother, coming out better on the other side because she has created life. He does not see someone who has had no choice but to destroy her body. They see this thing that was supposed to be inferior to them take on acts of courage they could only dream of. Because at the end of the day men in rampant systems of patriarchy have a choice in participating in acts of courage.

Men always have an option of choosing cowardice, they can waste their life away and yet they wouldn’t be punished as much as a woman who’d do the same. So, time and time again these people witness their mothers, sisters, friends, STRANGERS accomplishing acts of bravery they choose not to. I’m sure there are other ways women have been forced to be brave in patriarchy. I just can’t come up with some right now. 

WGetting back to Nezha, what makes him even more like a woman is that he has this man in his life who witnesses his forced acts of courage. HIS DAD YEAH. He was the one who let him subjected to the dragon, had him supervise the 7th division in Khurdalain knowing there was risk of being captured by Mugen, he was the one who made him keep this suffering all a secret, yeah we fucking hate Vaisra. 

What makes Vaisra hate the shit out of Nezha though, is even after all of this Nezha still has so much hope for the republic. He is a hopeful boy riddled with scars but a hopeful one nonetheless. Nezha wants the republic to work so bad because he wants it to work for the people so bad, it justifies his suffering. This hope Vaisra couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

Bringing this back to women again, haven’t we seen countless times women trying to find sense in a system that oppressed them greatly? This sense is seen through the laborious efforts women put into making a household. Lots of women see it as a necessary feat to keep society going. However, this unfortunately is just fawn, the forgotten third component to fight or freeze. It’s appeasing an authority that harms you just to be able to survive. 

Again I need to highlight this, men have been blind to this being a coping mechanism. This is Vaisra, he doesn’t see Nezha as someone who isn’t in control of his own autonomy, he sees a successor who overshadows him in every way possible. He sees someone who wants a better system for others despite the suffering he has faced because of it. Yes, this hopefulness might ultimately be naivety, it might break his son in the long run but when has hardship ever killed him?