RedemptionArcSucker

NO CAUSE LITERALLY HELIA IS ANYTHING BUT THE POET

I know it would be really easy to assume that Helia is a poet, most obviously due to him actually being a literal poet and yknow. writing poems. Add on that he is genuinely good with his words and it's like! Duh! BUT NO!! A huge part of his character is that he wants to be the poet but he isn't. Helia acts like a poet. He makes a great first impression, he watches people carefully and responds in whatever way will move the situation best, he can be bitterly truthful and secretive all at once. But while that is still part of him, it's also so, so small in comparison to how he feels inside and how he actually acts.

While I have pondered Helia being the soldier, I gravitate much more toward the King. The king archetype is all about the responsibility that you don't want, that you don't deserve, but still feeling so loyal to it that you can't get away. No matter what they truly want in life, the kings will always go back to that responsibility because it's become them, and leaving literally feels like part of them is gone. They believe they have an intense duty to that responsibility and that leaving would make them the worst person in the world. And like,,, anyone with Helia Brain knows that this is him!! It's everything he feels about Red Fountain!!

Like I said, I’ve also been thinking about it a lot and the reasons I keep coming back to the king is because of everything you’ve said hehe

The responsibility part is so so so (x500) true, but the reason I also find soldier intriguing is (again this has more to do with the past because my dumb ass has been writing an incomplete story for a billion years) is because in many ways Helia’s response to things also feels like he thinks he’s been chained to a kind of future, something he keeps coming back to over and over - essentially what you’ve said wrt him being the king, but in a more ... this is what I am trained to do, therefore I must do it way? Not that he dislikes it, the man definitely enjoys being at RF and being a hero. Maybe this has to do with my characterisation of him, but it’s kind of interesting to think of where this bifurcation of his character comes from, it’s often difficult to separate passion from duty when you’ve been in a certain environment all your life, and I think Helia pushes himself either way because to not do the thing would be to do nothing and he’s definitely not the kind of person to do nothing. All that feels vv soldier to me sometimes. You’ve completely convinced me that he’s more king, but there’s something ... tragic soldier about him, y’know? I don’t think he does any of it for the glory, anything but, but there’s also a part of him that’s driven - not wrt his actual career choices, but within whichever sphere (art or heroism), he’s impulsive, takes risks, does whatever it takes. It’s like a mechanical reenactment of the soldier-esque. 

I kid you not, I’ve been thinking about the soldier poet thing all week too and it annoys me when people say Helia is poet LIKE NO THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT

I think a lot of people immediately assume Riven's right and Helia's wrong because Riven's heart was in the right place. He wasn't acting out to be a dick; everything he did was done with the intention of doing the right thing. Which, compared to the first season, is a huge leap for Riven, especially on missions. He used to goad Sky and the others a lot, and then there was the entire escapade with Darcy. So for Riven to be So Confident about doing the Right thing, it comes off as him genuinely being correct and Helia being completely wrong, especially when the mission goes south.

But like,,, the thing is,,, the mission literally only went south because of what Riven did. That's not to say that he was Morally Wrong because he wasn't. But he was stubborn and impulsive. He wasn't thinking about the consequences or how likely they actually would've succeeded against the bad guys, he was thinking about wanting to stop them and that's it. Helia was right about them being outnumbered and overpowered, and he was right about them needing backup (the thing that literally saved Riven and Timmy when they got caught). But Riven was so consumed with wanting to act Now that he didn't stop to think about how it actually would've played out.

And I think the most important thing in this discussion, is that Riven didn't hate Helia. He still disliked and didn't trust Sky and was using Helia as a scapegoat. Literally everything he says to and about Helia is just everything he's been thinking and saying about Sky. And that's not because Sky and Helia are the same, it's because they're in similar enough positions that Riven feels uneasy about it. Like of course he doesn't trust Helia at first! He's the grandson of the headmaster and that same headmaster made him the leader of a mission when he's never been the leader with them before. It's pretty natural that Riven wouldn't immediately be on board with that.

But again, Riven didn't hate Helia for any reason that Helia himself caused. It was all about hating nepotism and classism and thinking that Helia was going to be another Sky. And it really didn't help that besides Flora, Sky was the Only person actually defending Helia.

I think it's really important to take note of how Riven treats and thinks of Helia after they make up. Riven is able to put all of it behind him and starts to genuinely respect Helia's thoughts. That would not have happened if Helia was the one who made the mistake. And I think that's clear in how Riven thinks of Sky after they "make up". Sky never apologizes for his actions nor does he ever take the blame for anything that happened with Riven. And Riven knows this!! If Helia had made such a big mistake and then never apologized for it, Riven wouldn't be as chill with him as he is later on. This is also pretty evident in how Riven starts to really like Timmy and respect him as a specialist - Timmy never did anything to him.

Ik this is a pretty small thing but the Shaab Stone arc is such good material for Rivelia as friends and as individuals. It says a lot about both of them! Riven just wants to do the right thing but he can get really impulsive about doing it. Helia wants to do the right thing but hates conflict and refuses to communicate properly with his team. They're both able to understand why the other acted the way they did and start to actually like and respect each other afterward.

It's just... good intentions do not equal good actions. Riven himself is able to admit this and he gets a lot better about thinking of an actual plan and not just rushing head first into things later on in the series. Riven's growth as a specialist and teammate is super important as it directly ties into his growth as a person! Idk it just really bothers me when people look at Riven being a stubborn and impulsive specialist and think that's Good. Even in a fictional setting, a military soldier acting like that is not a Cool Thing. And in this fictional character analysis setting, it's a very literal example of Riven needing to grow as a person (ie needing to trust others, needing to slow down and think for a minute, needing to communicate properly Without acting like a dick about it).

Flora: shh...

Tecna: it's Morse code. They're talking.

As someone who did see Flora as south asian growing up as I’m south asian myself, it is very important to actually grow up and realise what her representation as latina means. In my culture, it is normal to be very welcoming when other races dress up in south asian traditional clothing. Where I come from it’s encouraged in school even for other races to dress up in sarees for what we call Racial Harmony Day. It’s a bonding moment between us and other races where we teach them how to tie sarees and it’s nice to see them actually appreciate the culture with us instead of appropriating it like certain celebrities such as Selena Gomez/ Kim Kardhashian. Which was why back then I didn’t feel like it was wrong to draw Flora in South Asian Clothing as I’ve done before. Butttt, like you said, It is erasing her representation as a latina to take that away from her and that is something I should have realised.

And, Aisha as a south asian is an extremely important point to bring up because I’ve experienced racism myself when it comes to that topic. When we used to play winx club with the other girls in my neighbourhood (some were asian, some were white), I was always made to be Aisha because I was dark skinned. It was like by default, because I was the only dark skinned girl, i had to be Aisha. I wasn’t allowed to be Stella or Flora like I wanted to because I don’t look like them. And, there is so much racism against black people in the south asian community itself because of colourism (which seriously needs to be talked about more) that this was pretty upsetting to a child. there’s so much to unpack there because this shouldn’t be a thing amongst literal children which then goes onto adult life. It’s not only erasing identities but its also harmful stereotypes

It is so important to not take away Aisha’s , Musa’s and Flora’s ethnicities, especially for those who create Winx content. And, as for Nabu being south asian coded, I feel such a big responsibility to do something about it, because yes there is so much to explore there but he isn’t a popular character and he gets often misread as a black person.

AHH I'm just glad I haven't gotten racist anons yet akjdgh

Anyway! I completely understand! Children see themselves in characters and in a world with very little representation, them looking like us is really important. I completely understand why people wouldn't see Flora as latina (since it really doesn't Jump out at you like Musa being chinese), but I do think recognizing that and respecting it as an adult is important. I actually really liked your Flora art and if it's okay for non-south asians to wear sarees then I don't see an issue with it honestly? The winx travel a lot! Or it could be a special occasion for Aisha and Nabu's wedding yknow ajghladg Like the clothing is important but as long as we're still respecting the fact that she's Latina then her wearing a saree should be fine I think?

And with Aisha!! OGH there's so much racism that goes into letting which kid play which character and the darker skinned kids always had to play her. Like it didn't matter if they weren't black or if they were but wanted to play someone else, white kids would always make them play her :(( White kids, and often white adults, really don't understand how frustrating it is. It's one of the first "wow they really only see me for my race/ethnicity/skin color" that kids go through with other kids. No one should have to go through that :( And Aisha especially shouldn't be taken away as representation from black people like it doesn't matter that she's from Andros - she's meant to be black rep. Trying to make her anything but is just erasing the already very little rep they had in the show

And with Nabu, like again I would never be mad that a kid sees him as black instead of south asian, especially if that kid is black themselves and sees him as more rep. But as adults, we should be able to use our critical thinking skills and recognize that they intentionally designed him to Look south asian (his mother has a bindi like!!). Just because a character is dark skinned it doesn't mean they're automatically a black character (which is something that a lot of people, especially non-black people, like to think). Like I was hyper aware of asian characters in media so I'm really glad that I always saw him as asian, but there are tons of characters that I got wrong and it doesn't take a lot of effort to correct yourself.

Like @florelia12​ one of the major reasons that Flora became my favourite character was because the colour of her skin is close to mine, but ironically I never thought of her as South Asian (because of my internalised racism against myself and my ethnicity growing up, and all media telling me that whiteness is superior anyway).