can we have more of the paragon of pride? his self absorbed swag has bewitched me
Okay so I'm glad people like Pride because he's actually very dear and personal to me. š Unfortunately Pride isn't really his own character and that's kind of the point of him. I can't say his likes or dislikes because he doesn't have them he's just an emotional manifestation. Who has to grip with he can't be real unless Chyrus falls.
The Paragon of Pride started out because I didn't like how Chyrus and Lysonia's confrontation worked. Blizzard did not really do a good job of showing the virtue of Humility. This is because the word 'pride' is used too broadly in English.
In the discussion of Pride as one of the Seven Deadly Sins or an opposite to the Heavenly Virtues pride is called superbia. This generally translates into the 'negatives' of pride such as arrogance, vanity and rudeness. While superbus is more proud in the good sense, to be proud of something, superb, excellent. But because they can be used for their opposites it all gets lumped under the word 'pride.'
And I didn't like this in Blizzards writing. Because they wrote it as 'being proud is inherently bad' considering Chyrus was like 'I have no pride, I'm above pride.' Which isn't a good thing. If you have no pride you only have self suffering.
Now I have NPD, I call myself a narcissist. And it took me a while to realize this is how I wrote Chyrus and Pride. Because with NPD, pride is survival. Pride exists to protect Chyrus at his own insecurities. But he's also a trauma response. His only goal is to protect Chyrus and if that means berating and yelling everyone else into submission then he will do so. Pride cannot differ a valid criticism to a threat.
Chyrus however has. And honestly him saying 'I've worked eons to be the embodiment of my principles.' In the context of dealing with NPD very much got to me. Chyrus knows how to cope, how to not be destructive. How to hold Pride back. But it took him centuries to learn this. He doesn't hate Pride because he knows Pride is just trying to protect him in his own way.
Another thing I feel was slept on in that questline that takes a whole new sense when NPD is brought in. Is that Chyrus' sword is named Compassion.
Now with NPD generally a key part is not feeling empathy (I myself don't feel empathy to humans. Weirdly to objects?) and it is annoying that people value empathy so highly. Empathy is nothing, people who are 'empaths' can be the worst people you meet. Compassion, is what people mean when they say 'humans should have empathy'.
Chyrus has no empathy. This does not change who he is. He still knows how to help people without empathy. He has a want to help people because he knows morally that's good. He shows Compassion.
There is an intentional symbolic nature I write about Compassion. Compassion was Mercia's sword, she is the one who helped Chyrus with his NPD. Compassion running out of anima and being discarded by Chyrus, allowed Pride to manifest, yet he was saved when the sword was recharged. Pride carries his own copy of Compassion, but it has no name. Compassion is what Chyrus uses to 'kill' Pride and return him back to Chyrus.
Even after all this Pride still lives inside Chyrus. They are one and the same because Humility is a balance between pride and degradation. And sometimes that little narcissist shines through.
