Striker as an Extension of Stella's Abuse
I know we're all having fun discussing the new teaser clip for season 3, from Stolas's outfit to the obvious C-PTSD he has that might affect his sex life, but I want to discuss something I've been thinking about for a while. Stella and her abuse of Stolas is the albatross around our favorite birdie boy's neck.
Stolas does not talk about Stella. Everything we learn about Stella is from scenes she's in, not from him telling others about her. We, the audience, don't even learn about the ongoing abuse until the start of season 2. We're introduced to Striker as an extension of Stella's anger at how Stolas has humiliated her. Despite her screaming and violently destroying Stolas's plants at the start of Loo Loo Land, her abusive behavior is implied to be a reaction to Stolas's cheating. This through line continues to the end of Harvest Moon.
Striker is introduced as mostly a threat on his own. In Harvest Moon, we learn he's been hired by someone to kill Stolas, that he's very proud of his skills to kill the most powerful in Hell, and that he doesn't think very highly of those same people. Turns out, he's also being paid by a Goetia. Striker is not the independent threat he was introduced as. He is directly linked to a bigger threat in the story - Stella.
The Circus reveals Stella's abusive behavior was not isolated to Stolas's cheating, but that she has always behaved that way and then some. It is heavily implied she mentally, emotionally, physically, and possibly sexually abused him for the entirety of their almost twenty year marriage. This re-frames Striker not just as a tool of a woman scorned by her cheating husband, but as an extension of the abuse she's heaped on her husband for defying her.
To Stolas, Striker is a symbol of the disdain imps have for his class, a disdain he's seen in Blitz. What Striker really represents is the reach of his abuser. Stolas might be out of the house, but Stella can still reach him. He's safer, but he's not free. Stella is a vindictive, cruel woman who wants her husband dead, not because he hurt her emotionally, but because he humiliated her and then had the gall to escape her wrath. Even her brother struggles to control her capricious temper. If Striker is removed from the story, Stella is still free to hunt her poor ex-husband down.
What does this mean for Stolas? He has to face the abuse he suffered at Stella's hands. That's not going to be easy. Stolas has never been in a situation where he could ask for help. The Goetia placed an expectation upon him to remain this powerful, impassive royal, a facade he attempted to maintain. He spent his whole life told his nerdy, louder, sweeter qualities were "unbecoming." The idea that he could tell someone he was suffering under domestic violence probably never occurred to him. That's not even discussing the stigma male domestic violence survivors face in general. The shame he must feel that he, a Great Prince of Hell, couldn't stop his own wife from abusing him must be immense. Shame that is unwarranted. That's not how abuse works, but he doesn't know that. Stolas doesn't know that his upbringing made him the perfect target for Stella. Stolas doesn't have the self worth to know that he didn't deserve anything she put him through.
To heal, he's going to have to talk about it. The great irony, his status as a domestic violence survivor might help close the class gap between him and Blitz more. It's something shockingly universal, and something Blitz (and Moxxie) can even relate to. Stolas not talking about his marriage is one of the reasons why he didn't talk to Octavia about the divorce (which I will argue is his biggest mistake so far). He's going to have to pull up his big boy pants, take a deep breath, and tell someone because the longer it festers, the harder it's going to be. Stolas is going to have to face his history of abuse if he wants to be a good partner to Blitz and better father to Octavia.
Will that solve Stella trying to kill him? Having a company of bad asses in his corner doesn't hurt, but getting their informed support will also help lessen her power. They will help him work through the shame at what she did to him, his feelings that he deserved it (because you know he has those), and be there to give him a hug on a bad day.
Striker is the symbol of Stolas's years long abuse at the hands of Stella. He knows she sent Striker, and knows that if she didn't call off the hit, he would be dead. His class differences might be causing friction, but it's not the sucking chest wound at the core of his problems.
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