neptunesglaive

THE VIGILANTE - Justice. Ironically, Justice wasn't my first option for Vigil. Mostly because my first assumptions would be something like Determination or Bravery, but at the same time I knew that he could be justice but just wasn't sure. But with enough thinking, I find it fits him. In a sense. Vigil wasn't born with a purpose or role compared to everyone else. When he woke up, he was a blank slate. Someone who didn't belong anywhere, hiding himself in the shadows watching life unfold in a world he felt he couldn't exactly enter because he had no place in it.

To wake up like that, any other person would've let their lack of identity consume them, but for Vigil, he gradually built one for himself. With some kindness by a bard, and the warmth of a tavern and its music — and the many years after that, it built his identity that doesn't stem or center around fame or recognition. It was one that focused on correcting the wrongs he saw in the one place he wants to call home.

Because I feel like something that constantly alludes a much younger Vigil often in the early days of his vigilantism, is why these puppets would treat their home like this. To be so hateful, and callous, doing harm upon one another. Vigil saw a flawed kingdom and thought, "Someone has to intervene." With the willingness to give himself an identity, he became that someone.

And that's justice to me!! That,, quality of knowing and deciding what deserves to be protected and what deserves to be challenged in a rigid, corrupt world.

Okay, this isn't to say it's an ACTIVE inspiration but Robin hood is very reminiscent of Vigil no? Because Vigil clearly enjoys what he does and the life he lives because I always feel like for someone that insists in hiding himself in the shadows and making himself unknowable, he thrives when he allows himself those moments to enter in the light and let himself be known and then dissapearing to what he feels is the one place he can be, the unknown.

Characters like Robin hood aren't exactly remembered for following every rule, it's because he broke them to protect ordinary people. He isn't exactly following and enforcing the kingdom's laws and rules, but moreso following his own sense of fairness and what he sees as right. And I love Vigil for that because hes so SAD in that sense </3 he watched and observed the world from the sidelines and beams, understanding its flaws and purposefully crafted a persona dedicated to opposing those flaws.

THE INTERLOPER - Perseverance. This was so ROUGH to pick because I was genuinely lost with Eden, if it were him Pre-Crownus, It'd be much easier because BAM!! easy kindness soul!! But present Eden? Guh,, but I feel like, all things considered. Perseverance could be closest. While his trauma, instability and former self is still important to his story, it doesn't define him. Because Eden's character to me sort of revolves around that theme of someone who's constantly been stripped of his identity piece by piece and somehow still wanting to live.

I think it's why he's so sad, because ultimately Eden's greatest quality is this peacefulness. He had that beautiful simplicity that fitted someone that lived as The Acolyte, because he found happiness in an ordinary existence. And it was stolen from him by Crownus. That loss of autonomy becomes the defining wound in his life and it sucks so bad because even when the king fell, the people around him don't see a victim, but saw an accomplice to the king's tyranny.

I.. don't really want to call it perseverance because Eden was forced to undergo and endure the treatment of his imprisonment within the dungeon. His eyes were taken, hands bound, chain stuck to his neck and forced to stay in the same room he was apprehended only to be left in absolute darkness and silence. Nearly all of his senses taken from him. So much time, too many years in that awful room until the acolyte who found joy in the gardens and hymns was reduced to surviving each day to keep his sanity. I really don't wanna say perseverance, but it is what it is.

And I find it ironic how,, contrasting his ability is to himself. Eden's ability relies on inhabiting other puppets and creatures, yet his greatest battle is reclaiming ownership over his own life and finding structure and balance once more. That is some perseverance shit right there!! And sad. Eden's strength isn't bravery or patience, but just.. endurance. And it's crazy for me to think because he genuinely has reason to stop believing in people, every reason to surrender and let his mind consume him, but some part of him still continues reaching for warmth. Even if it was born from desperation, he's still reaching because he just doesn't want to go back to that cold.

Sometimes perseverance isn't,, someone emerging from a battlefield with confidence but rather forced to crawl, beaten and terrified and still hoping that somehow, in someway there's still light beyond the darkness. (Okay Eden is blind but you get it right.)

THE DEVIL - Integrity. EASIEST Integrity soul slap on I've ever had this guy is so Integrity he integrits Integrity did I mention the word Integrity already!!! I think it's well and clear that Luci is willing to play as The Devil, but only how he sees and shapes it to be and not what everyone expects of him. All throughout his existence he's confronted with this simple idea that, "You are the devil, therefore you must be cruel, conniving, deceitful and hateful." And he denies all of that by living through his own principles instead.

He performs, he smiles, he moves with grace and bargains with his wares, befriends the common folk puppets and allows his own actions to speak for themselves. It took him many years to build himself to be the person he is today, and while I describe him as confident and self-assured, it took much work to be so.

BESIDES I think it's plenty obvious that Integrity isn't just honesty but pure authenticity to one's self despite the pressure to be something else. Luci could have easily leaned into the role people put him in, it would have been easier too! It's easier to incite fear than wonder, yet he constantly tries to reshape the image of the demon into something more joyful. His performances are DELIBERATE in the way he isn't trying to create terror but wonder and awe. Fire becomes spectacle than destruction. His role being used to create inspiration than fear.

I'm gonna yap so hard about this but his love for the performing arts really adds onto this because usually performance is often pretending to be someone else. Yet for Luci, it's the opposite where the stage is where he'll be closest to feeling alive and himself. He uses the devilish front as an opportunity to create beauty, his tricks, his expertise in the arts, extravagant wears, his theatrical flair — they are NOT disguises or a costume. They're his way of genuine expression and passion.

LIKE okay I know he hides his face behidn a mask but sometimes I like to think he isn't hiding behind it but rather using it to reveal himself through art more honestly than most people or puppets will ever do with their faces uncovered.

It's why I'm so fond of him and find him my greatest creation yet because he probably defies a lot of what people, both ic and irl would think him to be. If I showed others a picture of him they'd probably assume he's a manipulative, graceful liar yandere etc etc HLLHLH but thats not the case!!!

Titles dont define character!! Beauty can still exist even when people expect terror!!! I love Luci so much because he celebrates art, beauty, curiosity, performance, craftsmanship and GENUINE human connection. It's why Im so thankful and adore characters like Eva that celebrate and see his efforts, because it's the brightest and most exhilirating feeling to be seen and known and understood. Very little has he felt that privilage.

It's also why I think he adores and loves people that has that appreciation for the arts. And I find him so sad in that regard because he's trying constantly.

The greatest mistake one can make is mistaking masks for identity, and his greatest performance is to show others that the Devil standing before them is kinder than any king they'll ever trust. OOPS Crownus burn mb!! LHLHLH

Ily Luci who doesn't fight against malice and prejudice but rather lives with simple authenticity that little by little makes people and puppets question their beliefs instead. I love Luci. Powerpoint end.

THE ANGEL - Patience. GUHH Angel makes me sad sometimes, but okay locking in - One would think Kindness is the natural answer for Angel. Because. Well. Theyre an Angel!! And a lot of the sequences I've ever shown them, they aren't and have never been cruel and demeaning. But I like to think Patience fits them more than anything else because I see them as a puppet that's been deliberately suppressed by their role.

A lot of Angel follows that certain theme where they don't approach others, but rather others approach them. They don't seek companionship, but rather quietly accepts it wheneever it's offered. They don't fight against their circumstances, they've learned to just.. exist within them. I like that the Angel contrasts Luci because their life is defined not by action but stillness.

Sure patience is "being able to wait and be.. patient." but I think patience can also be seen in the sense of having the ability to quietly endure a reality that cannot be changed without it poisoning your heart. I see The Angel as a lonely, lonely creature. Ill use lonely for a third time because theyre lonely. Yet they've never become bitter because of it.

They aren't isolated because they're antisocial or hate puppets but rather.. they're distant because they were MADE distant. They've been put onto pedestals both literally and metaphorically until nobody even remembers there's a person underneath that golden mask anymore. Like Luci, Angel could have become someone that seethed and despised others for that but instead they become grateful for even the SMALLEST amount of company and kindness.

And I think another theme that defines Angel is that.. pursuit and the pains of perfection. Perfection is usually revered for people to work hard for because it grants admiration but for the Angel it's become their imprisonment. I think I've already given some warning for spoilers but they're body has been greatly modified to fit their role back then. When you see the drawings of their body dark and without a shell, before that - when they still had it intact, I imagine Angel's puppet vessel was greatly beautiful. If I could draw it I imagined it to be one of the FEW puppet shells that had golden embellishments and designs to really nail in that Angel aesthetic.

Truthfully the wings and halo attached to their body aren't theirs either, but rather added in to really.. whack in that persona. Every procedure and action performed onto them stripped another piece of their personhood. When I say their silent, it isn't natural. Their posture isn't natural and their own existence within the kingdom isn't really their own. But people see it as normal because the Angel pretends it is as well.

Every aspect of the Angel has ben curated to make them less of an individual and more of the symbol of their role: The Angel. I would have picked Kindness and would have done so if it weren't for the fact that after some thinking, kindness is usually more.. active than that yknow? Kindness is reaching out to comfort, protect and heal but the Angel doesn't really get to do that. They're just present like the moon or a lighthouse.

It's why I love angels because in some interpretatons, theyre memorable because they comfort people by simply existing. That their presence is all the reassurance you need. You're about to do something that terrifies you and think "My guardian Angel is with me" and its enough to bring you comfort and strength.

Okay this is getting longer than it has to be but im sorry theres just LEVELS to the angel that i've yet to share but I think it's obvious that they're that sort of puppet that's been denied to having any want because angels should want very little. And that's so fucked up because wants aren't evil!! It's the literal bare minimum of individuality and personhood!!! But the Angel's been taught that all of these are luxuries unbefitting for them.

And due to the many years they've lived, they likely believe it not because it's true, but because no one has HENRY taught them otherwise. OKAY one last but another theme I want to explore Angel is them,, sort of just discovering themselves since they haven't been given the opportunity to develop an identity.

The person behind "The Angel" hasn't been allowed to fully exist yet. But please believe me that waiting and being patient isn't surrender because for me, Patience is hope stretched across time. It's that quiet hope that someday it will all change even if it can't today. There's not much Patience appreciation but I just want to say I love the Angel because I've always held on to that one thought that "Someday it will get better" and used it as a way of comfort.

That, despite everything they've been denied, The Angel still hasn't stopped hoping that one day someone will reach up towards them with an open hand and invite them to come down from their pedestal.

THE DAMSEL - Hate. Am I allowed to say Hate? It's kind of hard to associate Caelen and Medic with any of the soul traits considering the characters they are, especially Caelen </3 and I find the Hate soul would be very fitting for someone like him.

To put it straight, a lot of my puppets are perfectly capable of violence, but violence alone isn't like, the defining trait of hate in my opinion but rather where someone's just,, so consumed by resentment that their worldview is just so warped by the belief the world owes them something it refused to give. Being hate filled isn't just lashing out but also when it hollows you out within.

oh my gatos I could go in so much more depth but the chapter two puppet's lore isn't as polished as the chapter one gang and my esplenation of why Caelen could be a soul of hate WOULD be so much more deeper if I can reveal a few details but I cant GRUMBLES!!!

but I think what really planted that seed of hatred is when he realizes after ears of enduring having nothing, he became aware that he could have had a better life, and has been unfairly denied of it. And it sorta just built that mindset where if the world won't willingly give things to him, then he'll simply take them over time.

WHICH IS SO SHIT because to clarify, Caelen does not WANT to become the Damsel. He did not take the role because he wanted to take her place but rather saw it as something that could be useful to him. Even when he finally acquires her face, it doesn't really solve that emptiness in him yet. I also feel like taking and killing the damsel was a spur of the moment decision made out of genuine anger and hatred rather than having the plan of "I could use it as a mask"

he HATED the original damsel that much!!! and his cruelty is so purposeful it's hard to see him as,, redeemable.

THE MEDIC - Determination. Okay I know I said hate could fit Medic but I sort of figured it didn't fit him since,, he's not all that hatefilled. I mean sure he feels it sometimes but it definitely doesn't define him like Caelen. Which is ironic because Medic sort of,, constructed this persona of himself to justify who he became. Yeah he's cruel because he convinced himself that cruelty is something ordinary and it has to be if you wanted to live as a Bounty Hunter during Crownus' reign.

For me,, while determination can fall under the same vein as dedication, it can also fall under obsession. Ever since becoming the bounty hunter, Medic's worldview narrowed until efficiency became everything. Every hobby, every interest, every skill revolved around becoming better at tracking, fighting and killing (Because your competition is ROUGH.) And even as he pivotted to become the Medic, his obsessive nature manifested to something else where anatomy replaced weaponry (The weaponry's still there, he still loves his wares.)

Surgery replaced execution, prey becomes patient but the hunter never really dissappears.

Determination's good!! But I find it a neutral trait that can either go uphill or downhill, because to me Determination is defined by an overwhelming refusal to stop pursuing something. Determination as a quality doesnt really care if your goal is noble or horrific, it justt cares if you can see it through. (Points at genocide route. And how it requires you to kill EVERY Monster. It literally gives you every chance to not do that because its so,, taxing and tedious but you still work relentlessly for it.)

UGHHH Im hesitant about this part because again points at the fact I've yet to share lore of Caelen and medic and this detiall would elevate this SOOO BAD BUT I CANT </3 so ill have to like,,, word it carefully from you but I find his insistence on seeing himself as a monster a good tie in to this. Because it stems in Medic in general hating,, medic and also him using it as a sort of,, coping mechanism?

Calling Medic the monster allows him to avoid confrontingg his former self entirely and lets him do his task as needed. Because Monsters are cruel, and monsters kill. If he's a monster, then he can kill. Monsters don't need to question themselves because that's simply their nature. It's his own way of avoiding guilt, so instead of wrestling with his morality, he just rewrites and rewires how he views his own identity.

okay Im losing it Im losing it I wanna start namedropping so badly but that's fine Ill just use another way. Censoring it completely from you suck on that!!! But I find Medic sad in that way it bleeds into how his victims react to him. Most people crave validation while Medic rejects it. When someone sees him cute, attractive, or anything fundamentally human, it threatens the identity he's painstakingly constructed. Suddenly that,, divide he's created between ███████ and Medic begins to break and it creates that frightening thought where maybe, if someone can still see humanity in him then perhaps ███████ didn't dissapear from him at all. And I imagine that would shake him because that means every cruel thing he's done wasn't the work of a monster but the work of a person.

I THINK WHATS FUNNY is that Medic could have at LEAST tried to redeem himself to a degree when he was made as a medic, the chance was right THERE. He wouldnt be obligated and forced as Crownus' bounty hunter anymore. But no, he simply redirects his fixation. He's still surrounded by bodies, still covered in blood and learning the flesh. The purpose has changed but the fascination remains the same yk?

Holy fucking yap. I'm. So tired and sleepiful and I will apologize for any spelling mistakes HAHA, i've been working on this ask in the span of these days and caelen + medic were all I had left, I needed to lock in NOW AND HAD THIS SHARED IM SO HAPPIFUL AND PROUD OF HTIS </3

But also so sleepy WAHAWH. Admittedly Im most unsure about Caelen and Medic since the sleepiness was gen getting to me when I was at their parts so Ill edit any parts tomorrow.

Im unsure whos part I love more, but I LOVEDDD Going in depth for Vigil and Luci most I think. I love Vigil. But I also love Luci, I love them both. My dark haired beauties.

I look at Caelen and Duchess' parts and I know they're glaring at me. Keeping this short and sweet since im so tireful </3 Happy reading!!!

An aware colonizer and a deliberate manipulator, not a misled teacher

Alma always knew exactly what she was doing. She knew what she wanted and what she was willing to do to achieve it. She wanted her school, no matter the cost (as she says quite literally in the game). It’s true, she didn’t know that Mercer was going to massacre the Sarentu. But she was still willing to take students for her school without theirs or their parents’ consent.

This is perfectly, directly demonstrated in the conversation between her and Mercer, in the flashback scene in which they are going to the Sarentu moot:

Alma: We’re just talking to them, do we need this many soldiers?

Mercer: This is our last chance. They’re too primitive to understand what we can do for their children.

Alma: It’s for the children.

Mercer: Exactly. Just think what we can achieve. Finally.

Alma (nodding): We’re helping them. They’ll see it... in time.

THIS exactly is what sums up the person that she is. She may not have predicted Mercer’s massacre, but she still went to the moot with the purpose of taking those children no matter what. Notice how she doesn’t contradict Mercer when he calls the Na’vi “too primitive to understand what we can do to their children”, but on the contrary she agrees with his statement? Because the core of what she believes is this: humans are superior and therefore need to impose their better ways of life on the lesser and uncivilized Na’vi; these people are too stupid to understand anyway, so it’s acceptable for humans to steal their children and forcefully assimilate them in their own culture because they’re superior anyway. One day, years after they have kidnapped their kids, the Na’vi’s primitive minds will come to understand that and recognize humans as superior, and thanks to their now successfully-brainwashed children, humans will get to subjugate them as well.

A project like TAP isn’t the basis for cultural exchange, it’s the basis for cultural erasure and the assimilation of Indigenous children. TAP was LITERALLY a residential school. If you think there could ever be a “good intention” behind this, then you are a despicable person. Alma knows this. She simply hides it behind a self-righteous facade of generosity and allyship. The fact that she genuinely believes that this is a way to help the Na’vi is irrelevant: it doesn’t change the “human-superiority” complex of her beliefs, it doesn’t change the fact that she made a literal residential school. It is explicitly called “residential” in-game, and it can’t be interpreted differently. This is what “residential school” means. Alma was raised on Earth, where Indigenous people still exist, where residential schools existed. Where do you think they—both the creators of AFOP and Alma and Mercer—got their inspiration from? It was always intentional.

Mercer and Alma started working together for a reason. They shared a dream, and that dream was always going to be built on the blood and the stolen freedom of Indigenous Na’vi and their children. There was never a single half good intention about this project. This is literally a story about children surviving residential school and reclaiming their Indigenous culture. We’re not supposed to sympathize with the colonizers who did this. The point of the story is to empathize with the Indigenous survivors of genocide and colonization.

Believing that you are doing something good—when you are actually doing tremendous harm—only because of your self-righteous superiority complex, and actually doing something good, are not the same thing. And the fact that Alma believes that by doing this she is actually helping the Na’vi makes her a even worse person. There is such a deep arrogance and, most importantly, danger to this mindset. At least a person like Mercer is honest: he’s horrible, hates the Na’vi and he’s proud of it. Alma, however, tries to hide it in a pathetic and disgusting attempt at feeling morally superior to people like him, tricking herself and the others around her into believing she’s actually a decent person, while her only goal is to achieve the recognition she thinks rightfully belongs to her and simultaneously erase her so-called “guilt”.

If she actually cared about the Sarentu children like both she and some people in the fandom claim she did, she would have not left them to rot in cryo for 16 years. She could have gone back to check if they were alive at any point during that time. She chose not to. She robbed them of their entire lives for the sole reason that she was too hypocritical to face her actions and failure, because that’s what this really is about. She never actually believed she did something wrong, her only shame came from the fact that she didn’t get the recognition she always strived for. If you don’t take my word for it:

And even once she was forced to go rescue them, she still continued to lie to them and made them believe they had been abandoned by their clan. She kept the lie up when she could at least have told them that the Sarentu were dead. And we know that this was deeply painful for the Sarentu. Ri’nela, for instance, revealed in an audio log that not knowing what happened to their clan was draining her. But of course, Alma continuously (and without hesitation or remorse) preferred to shatter the Sarentu’s feelings and mental peace in order to protect herself and avoid facing her “guilt”. When the Resistance relocated to the Clouded Forest, she made them believe the Kame’tire were untrustworthy. She could have simply said nothing, but no, she had to reinforce the lies to make herself look better, to pose as the Sarentu’s sole guide once again.

That woman had absolutely no shame for what she did and only admitted the truth once she was forced to do so. Even when she goes back to wake up the Sarentu, we can find out in a note that her priority is still TAP: “TAP is just a tomb for our dead dreams. Or maybe not. Just maybe.” Still, after almost two decades in which she could have self-reflected a bit, she says loud and clear that she doesn’t care in the slightest about the kids (she never even mentions them), like she’s proved over and over again, but only about her little colonialist assimilation project.

After the Sarentu are rescued and brought to the Resistance, she says in her note:

“I think they're all doing fine. Learning. Flourishing. Thanks to us. We made the right choice.”

We made the right choice. She’s the one who kidnapped them, who later abandoned them, who willingly left them to rot for 16 years, yet she’s their savior. That’s how she sees herself. The Sarentu are finally free since they were first stolen, but she was the one who did the good thing; the choice, their lives, they belong to her, never mind the fact that she was the one who stole them in the first place. She takes everything from them, then gives some of it back, ignoring the irreparable damage she has done, and expects to be considered a savior. This is textbook abuse and manipulation.

Later, if it wasn’t for Anufi recognizing her, she never would have told the truth. Again, the only thing she ever does for the Sarentu—that is, simply informing them of the truth they were owed—she does because she is forced to do so by external forces. Even the only actual good thing she does in general, creating the Resistance, she does after TAP is gone, not because she realizes she’s done something bad, that she’s part of something evil and wants to separate herself from it, but because, again, she is forced to. If it wasn’t for the Omatikaya and the other clans rebelling, if it wasn’t that humans lost Pandora, she would have never left TAP. Not much of a resistance on her side then, right? She may have founded it—again, after she was forced by the circumstances, not because she was moved by authentic and sincere motives, and she’s able to do so only by lying about her project and actions—but it was the other members that made it a Resistance, not her.

Forceful cultural assimilation, not cultural exchange

I now want to go back for a moment to the first dialogue we saw, when Mercer says “this is our last chance”, referring to the Sarentu moot and finding students for their school. Interesting, right? I wonder why they were unable to find willing students. In Alma’s videolog we find at TAP-Con1, she says:

“We’ve gone as far as we can with the Kame’tire. […] We just have to make them see what benefits it could bring to the Na’vi, to share cultures and outlooks. We have so much to teach each other. So much to give to the Na’vi. […] (about the Sarentu) I’m so excited to meet them and welcome the children to our school.”

We just have to make them see what benefits it could bring to the Na’vi. We have so much to teach each other. So much to give to the Na’vi. And here it is again, the reason why she was always nothing more than absolutely evil. At first she tries to make it look like their intent is actually exchanging cultures between equals, but then immediately states her true ideology: it’s the humans who can help the primitive Na’vi, not the other way around. This idea that “superior”, “sophisticated” societies need to share their so-called wonders and teach their ways to the “lesser”, “primitive” and “uncivilized” (Indigenous) people is beyond revolting. Again, this is NOT cultural exchange. There is absolutely NOTHING the Na’vi would have gained from interacting with their colonizers like that. Like Aha’ri said, “why would the Na’vi want to have alliances with you?”.

We just have to make them, Alma also says. The Na’vi are never taken into consideration as actual intelligent people with their own will, they are never meant to be part of the conversation: they are too stupid, so we just have to force our culture onto them. But it’s okay! We’re the superior and civilized ones, so we’re actually doing them a favor. I’m so excited to meet them and welcome the children to our school. Once again, the Na’vi’s will doesn’t matter. She doesn’t say nor imply anything about actually having a discussion with them. The Kame’tire said no, but they just HAVE to have their school, so they’re gonna “welcome the children” one way or another. From the note I mentioned earlier:

“We all had to make sacrifices. Some... they made the ultimate sacrifice. But the science, the progress. Yeah, we did what we thought was right to make TAP a reality.”

She admits very clearly (and very casually) that she doesn’t care in the least about the lives she and Mercer purposefully destroyed. It was a sacrifice she (and Mercer) decided had the authority to make for “the science and the progress”. Even decades after the massacre, this is what the lives of the Sarentu still are in her eyes: a necessary and justifiable sacrifice. Alma always knew this. Not in the back of her mind, not subconsciously. Stealing the children was something she was always willing to do, because in her mind it’s a good thing, in her mind they have the right to do it. And that makes her abhorrent.

I’m gonna leave a screenshot of one of her notes. I don’t think I need to add anything, she speaks for herself perfectly.

TAP-Con1

As I said at the beginning of this post, Alma was never a misled victim, she was TAP’s co-founder, and that obviously includes TAP-Con1. That means that she not only was aware of everything that was going on in that place, but that she was behind it. She was behind the children being kept in cages, washed with disinfectant, being left to sleep and live like prisoners. They were little children, the oldest being SIX, forced to be analyzed in a laboratory (and gods know what else they did to them).

From an interaction at the lab of TAP-Con1, Tamtey says: “Blood samples. Some of us cried everytime.” And Alma was behind it. Even if, for some reason, we want to believe she wasn’t, she still allowed it. If you seriously think that she, the co-founder, did not have any executive power over the project she literally made, and that she was just subjugated to Mercer’s will, you are fooling yourself. This is true for both TAP-Con1 and TAP.

Nor explained the point so perfectly when he said: “You didn’t do a thing to stop Mercer. The wounds he gave us, you gave as well.” She was behind the fear, the abuse, the torture just as much as Mercer and Harding were. Again, she was never just a teacher—that was a fake role she willingly chose to don to victimize herself, minimize her blame and avoid her responsibility in the colonialist and genocidal crimes she committed—and the game spells it out for us very clearly. Ignoring this is a choice.

Completely irredeemable

What I find one of the worst traits of Alma’s character and the way she is written is that she never actually tried to repent or to earn the Sarentu’s forgiveness. She did absolutely NOTHING to earn back her place into their lives or into the resistance. It’s not just that, in my opinion, there is nothing she could do to truly redeem herself. What I find irritating above all is the fact that she just assumed she was given a free pass for everything. At the end of the main game, she even has the audacity to think that she and the Sarentu can move forward together and “be a family again”. Except they were never one, they were never on the same side. It’s frustrating that she still refuses to see that. The alleged self-reflection she does and the self-awareness she has gained are superficial and performative, and this is proof of this. She doesn’t hold herself accountable like she claims she does, she still does not see the damage she has done, she still does not see how wicked her actions and intentions always were. She still sees herself as a victim. But this is no excuse for the audience to consider her as such.

After her avatar dies and she is forced to admit the truth about the Sarentu massacre, there is a side quest called “Penance” in which Alma, Ri’nela and Tamtey gather to bury it. You may think after her confession—which she made seem spontaneous but was actually forced by Anufi and Nor—Alma actually feels remorse like she claims she does; you may think she finally now understands the gravity of what she did to the Sarentu, that finally she will act honestly and be ready to face the consequences to her actions. But no. Once again, her only focus is herself. Instead of humbly coming to the Sarentu, she whines about how she doesn’t feel comfortable in her own body (because she got too attached to her Na’vi cosplay which she chose to use for decades to deceive herself and the Sarentu). When Tamtey points out that the avatar was never the real Alma, she still speaks as that mask was her true self, she still believes that she was actually one of them, one of the people she personally abducted, oppressed and colonized.

And Ri’nela is having none of it. “Did it make your sins easier to bear? Playing make believe?” This is exactly it. Alma posed as one of the Na’vi, one of the Sarentu, actually tricking herself into believing she was one of them, because this way she didn’t have to face the person she really was all along. This way it was easier to pretend she was in the right, that she was manipulated by Mercer, that she was his victim just as much as the Sarentu were. But as I explained earlier, this doesn’t make her misled, this doesn’t make her a person with good intentions; it just makes her a hypocritical and heinous person.

This is why, to me, Alma is completely irredeemable. Not only because there’s no action good enough to repair the atrocities she was responsible for, but because she would actually had to feel genuine remorse to start a redemption arc. As she made abundantly clear through her words and actions, as she continuously proved up until the last dlc, this is not the case. And I’ll even say this: a person like Alma is utterly incapable of feeling true remorse. There will always be a part of her that believes herself to be partly a victim, a person who just wanted the best but was ultimately misled. This is what I consider one of the worst, most loathsome and dangerous traits of her character.

Alma’s (unacceptable) absolution

This is why the Sky Breaker and the From the Ashes dlcs left a sour aftertaste in my mouth. Because everyone failed to truly hold Alma accountable for her actions, and on the contrary, moved on and acted like nothing ever happened. I’m going to discuss the Sky Breaker first.

After the valkyrie attack, when everyone is gathered to discuss what happened, Mokasa (why was he allowed to be there in the first place is a mystery) is bitching about the humans, and Sa'ney rightfully calls him out on his hypocrisy. At this point, Alma (again, why the hell is she here?) intervenes and says:

“Does he not deserve the same as me? I share the same blame. But… I’ve been allowed to move forward.”

Does he not deserve the same as me? Yes, yes he does. That’s the point. I share the same blame. Do you, Alma? Do you really? Don’t get me wrong, I hate Mokasa. Leading the RDA to the Sarentu, blaming Anufi, lying to his own clan for decades… I don’t think I need to explain. However, I find it interesting how people point the finger at Mokasa so naturally, but don’t give Alma the same treatment. Let’s examine them and their actions.

Again, there’s no need for me to explain why everything Mokasa did was horrible and unjustifiable. But let’s take a look at why he did it. He says it in the main game: “it was their children or ours”. As cruel and horrible as that sounds (because it is), it’s also true. It’s clear Mokasa was aware of the humans’ intentions from the beginning: he knew they were gonna steal Na’vi children regardless, and he ensured those children wouldn’t be Kame’tire. Was he right? Of course not. There is NO excuse for what he did. He should have warned Anufi and the Sarentu, he should have not torn apart his clan to hide his secret… but it’s still a completely different motivation. Alma is a human and an oppressor who wanted to steal children for her own personal ambition; Mokasa, an Indigenous man, did evil and inexcusable things because he thought that was the only way to protect his clan and their children from their colonizers. The outcome, the goal even, is the same: the sacrifice of the Sarentu and their children. Yet what drives Mokasa and Alma to allow this atrocity cannot be judged equally.

But I’ve been allowed to move forward. Here is where my problem lies. Because has Alma been allowed to move forward? Has she really? By whom? While the members of the Resistance naturally felt betrayed by her too, they shouldn’t be the ones who have a say in this, because they’re not the ones whose lives were destroyed at her hands. The only ones who get to have a say in this are the Sarentu. Didn’t seem to me that they forgave her; they only made clear they wanted and needed to go their own way. They very clearly separated themselves from her. Alma simply assumed she was given a free pass for everything even though she didn’t do a single thing to repent for her actions, and acted like dissociation equaled forgiveness.

I have conflicted feelings about Mokasa’s so-called redemption, and I’m not sure what were the game’s intentions regarding him as opposed to Alma. But what is certain is that Alma deserved to pay the consequences of her actions. Mokasa was rightfully banished from the clan. A similar punishment could’ve—and should’ve—been given to Alma as well (perhaps banishment as jailing/seclusion in an isolated lab), because ignoring her is not enough. She deserved and needed to pay the consequences of what she did. Yes, Nor caused her death, both of her avatar and her real self, but death is not absolution. Killing her avatar was absolutely necessary, but what Nor did by doing so (and he 100% had every right) was revealing the real Alma, it was stripping her from the possibility to keep deceiving everyone, especially the Sarentu; it was not, however, the punishment she needed to face.

This is why I find the conclusion of her arc extremely disappointing and most importantly, abrupt. I am not at all sorry that she died; I do, however, have a problem with how they handled her death, and more specifically, her arc prior to it. My main issue regarding her journey from the revelation of her crimes in the main game to her death in From the Ashes, is that both the narrative and the characters in the story fail to truly hold Alma accountable for her actions. As I said earlier, some sort of punishment—any sort of punishment—was absolutely necessary for Alma. Automatically absolving her of every sin and using her death as absolution, or a means to let her escape from her responsibilities (like they ended up doing) is not acceptable. In my opinion, it’s very possible they didn’t know how to handle her arc, they couldn’t be bothered to find an apt punishment and ending for her, so they resorted to this. I do say this solely because of my personal feelings about Alma, but because I think that dismissing her crimes and failing to treat and condemn her like the villain she is, is extremely detrimental and reductive to her character.

Conclusion