The exception that proves the rule

Interpretation/analysis of Naoya Zen’in. We love our bastard.

Naoya’s arc.

Naoya’s role in the story.

What Naoya represent (meaning) as a character in the story.

The reception of Naoya’s character: about how his misogyny was romanticized and trap in the idea of the redemption of misogynist.

Naoya’s arc start and ends with Maki’s mother. First, let’s talk about how the narrative built the story. It’s important to understand that we can’t understand the story just reading lineally or chronologically. This is because the recent events tend to signify the past events. Read this story is an exercise of going back and forward in the time line. And this happens with Naoya’s arc, you can only truly understand Maki’s mother and her connection with Naoya in the end.

just a collective list of all da fun facts of medea I've found so far cuz shes so interesting and weird and retellings and modern medea don't do her justice, shes like a BIG hero guys. disguise statue drug cache

 "Medea, the tale goes on, fashioning a hollow image of Artemis secreted in it drugs of diverse natures, and as for herself, she anointed her hair with certain potent ointments and made it grey, and filled her face and body so full of wrinkles that all who looked upon her thought that she was surely an old woman." tricked others into thinking she was blessed by the gods "and showing herself to the king, she amazed those who gazed upon her, and they thought that a kind of Providence of the gods had transformed her old age into a maiden's youth and striking beauty" made dragons appear probably via illusions. "Also, by means of certain drugs, Medea caused shapes of the dragons to appear" asked heracles to act as a mediator  "made her way safely to Heracles in Thebes. Her reason for doing so was that Heracles had acted as a mediator in connection with the agreements​ which had been entered into in the land of the Colchians and had promised to come to her aid if she should ever find them violated" her son lived and became king "Thessalus, they say, who had escaped being murdered by his mother, was reared as a youth in Corinth and then removed to Iolcus, which was the native land of Jason; and finding on his arrival that Acastus, the son of Pelias, had recently died, he took over the throne which belonged to him by inheritance and called the people who were subject to himself Thessalians after his own name." Cured heracles of his madness "Now as for Medea, he says, on finding upon her arrival in Thebes that Heracles was possessed of a frenzy of madness and had slain his sons,​ she restored him to health by means of drugs. But since Eurystheus was pressing Heracles with his commands,​ she despaired of receiving any aid from him at the moment and sought refuge in Athens with Aegeus," Found innocent/in the right of murdering her children in court "but certain writers give the account that, when her person was demanded by Hippotes, the son of Creon, she was granted a trial and cleared of the charges he raised against her." - Diodorus Siculus

Possibly a creator for GREEK FIRE/ some other type of chemical fire weapon.

"And they had filled pots with sulphur and bitumen and the substance which the Persians call "naphtha" and the Greeks "Medea's oil," "so the flame rising little by little, fed by the oil which bears Medea's name " -Procopius, History of the Wars

cursed the people of Crete/has beef with thetis

"says that Thetis and Medea had a dispute in Thessaly as to which was the most beautiful; their judge was Idomeneus, who gave the victory to Thetis; Medea in anger said that the Cretans were always liars and in revenge she made the curse that he would never speak the truth, just as he had lied in his judgement" -Photius, Bibliotheca excerpts Being a freak in the sheets saved her.

"Alcinous at once allowed the armed ships to lead the girl away so that she could receive her punishment. The famous Queen Arete felt sympathy for Medea, and coaxed her husband, speaking thusly: "It is not pleasing to break a marriage, to disturb the nuptial bed, to extinguish the torch of love. Aphrodite, daughter of Dionaea, will become violently angry at the man or woman who undertakes such an effort

(weird speech about virginitty i cut out for length) …Alcinous absorbed this speech in his soul, and ordered that everything should be done as the queen had said" -Orphic Argonautica

Magic water powers saved the day "the Argonauts were at a loss about the passage when Triton, the son of Poseidon, appeared and guided them, to whom Medea gave a golden mixing bowl as a reward, which she had from her father's spoils. Or, being a sorceress, Medea saved the situation by using her magic to water the place where the ship was stuck, so that it was as it had been at first" john tzetzes

has winged dragons

Ovid, Metamorphoses "[Medea flees Thessalia (Thessaly) after the murder of King Pelias :] Had she [Medea] not soared away with her winged Serpents (Serpentes), she surely must have paid the price. Aloft, over the peak of shady Pelion . . . she fled, and over Othrys . . . [Until] at last, borne on her Vipers' (Vipereae) wings"

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica "[Medea] with Winged Serpents cleaves the air, dripping with murder"

discovered the herb that would resurrect her cousin "and she observed the herbs by Ossa born, the weeds on lofty Pelion, Othrys, Pindus and vast Olympus — and from here she plucked the needed roots, or there, the blossoms clipped all with a moon-curved sickle made of brass — many the wild weeds by Apidanus, as well as blue Amphrysus' banks, she chose, and not escaped Enipeus from her search; Peneian stretches and Spercheian banks all yielded what she chose: — and Boebe's shore where sway the rushes; and she plucked up grass, a secret grass, from fair Euboean fields life-giving virtues in their waving blades, as yet unknown for transformation wrought on Glaucus" -ovid

she went to persia "of Medea in Greece, and of her flight thereafter into Persia,"-Lucian: Of Pantomime, Of Dancing Invented hair dye

'The Carthaginians were the first to fit out a quadrireme, and it was built off hand by Bosporus. Medea of Colchis, the daughter of Aeetes, first devised the dyeing of the hair.- Eusebius: Preparation for the Gospel Book 10 thicc also medus got raised by charon.

"he came to Iolcus after long toil bringing the coy-eyed girl with him on his swift ship, and made her his buxom wife. And she was subject to Iason, shepherd of the people, and bare a son Medeus whom Cheiron the son of Philyra brought up in the mountains. And the will of great Zeus was fulfilled."-Hesiod: Theogony HYMN TO THE MUSES

ENGINEEERRRR????!!! (if this is the same Medea)

"For it is said that a woman, Medea, was formerly queen of those parts, who spanned the river underneath in a manner in which no river was ever bridged before; for she got stones, it is said, and copper and pitch and all that men have discovered for use in masonry under water, and she piled these up along the banks of the river. Then she diverted the stream into lakes; and as soon as the river was dry, she dug down two fathoms, and made a hollow tunnel, which she caused to debouch into the palaces on either bank like a subterranean grotto; and she roofed it on a level with the bed of the stream. The foundations were thus made stable, and also the walls of the tunnel; but as the pitch required water in order to set as hard as stone, the Euphrates was let in again on the roof while still soft, and so the junction stood solid."-Philostratus: The Life of Apollonius built a temple to venus to stop him from loving THETIS?? THE BEEF

"For it was a thing divulged abroad, concerning which Simonides made an epigram to be inscribed on the brazen image set up in that temple of Venus which is said to have been founded by Medea, when she desired the Goddess, as some affirm, to deliver her from loving her husband Jason, or, as others say, to free him from loving Thetis. The tenor of the epigram follows: For those who, fighting on their country’s side, Opposed th’ imperial Mede’s advancing tide, We, votaresses, to Cythera pray’d; Th’ indulgent power vouchsafed her timely aid, And kept the citadel of Hellas free From rude assaults of Persia’s archery." -Plutarch: Of Herodotus' Malice can cure infertility

"Aegeus also, and his whole private family, laboring under the same distemper; for Medea, having fled from Corinth, and promised Aegeus to make him, by her art, capable of having children, was living with him."-Plutarch: Life of Theseus

edit: more stuff is

"It is remembered of Medea that she lived in Corinth and stopped the famine afflicting the Corinthians by sacrificing to Demeter and the Lemnian nymphs. There Zeus fell in love with her, but Medea did not yield, turning aside the wrath of Hera. Therefore Hera promised to make her children immortal. And after they died, the Corinthians honor them, calling them Mixobarbaroi ("mixed-barbarians")." "But that Medea was loved by Sisyphus, Theopompos says." -scholia to pindar

"is also expounded . But since Medea was the queen of Corinth , Eumelus [frg. 3] Simonides also tells [frg. 48] that Medea was also immortal

"Pelias' daughter : Medea , the daughter of Peleus , persuaded her father to slaughter and roast him as if he were a younger son , she roasted an older ram and made him a lamb with the medicines " BRO WHAT THE FUCK

I’ve noticed that the discussion around Melinoe’s morality tends to focus on her proximity to the Olympians but I think there’s also something to be said about the moral grey area that witches fall under. She didn’t grow up in the House of Hades or Olympus, she grew up in the Crossroads and her perspective is influenced by the guidance of witches. And while Circe and Hecate are a little coy about their misdeeds, Medea stands out as the one who really owns the darker aspects of her craft and talks about the suffering she inflicts with pride. In contrast, Melinoe is…not pure but very invested in the idea of doing the right thing and being in the right. So there’s this contrast between them, Melinoe clings to moral justification for her task while Medea isn’t held back by moral dilemmas.

And I think part of that is because Medea pursues her craft to satisfy her own vengeful desires while Melinoe hasn’t gotten to fully explore her identity as a witch yet: They both use their craft in vengeful ways but Melinoe always has this degree of separation from the root conflict. (Nemesis gets at this idea quite a lot actually.) The titans are retaliating for things her family did long before she was born, yet Melinoe is tasked with cleaning up the mess. And when she does take time to herself, she often feels guilty about it. In contrast, Medea gets the satisfaction of personal revenge and is content to use her curses on anyone who gets on her bad side.

It’s that intent that differentiates Medea from Melinoe, I think. No matter how impressive her feats, Melinoe is ultimately a weapon wielded by someone else and lacks pure intent of her own so she often hints at feeling…morally conflicted when talking to Medea. While Medea draws her power from the “blackest of intent” , it seems like Melinoe is forcing a tough exterior, filling a role that doesn’t always come naturally to her. And she wants to know how Medea manages to pull it off so seamlessly. Medea’s “with practice!” line is funny but also, if Melinoe is going to eventually become the goddess of nightmares, maybe she will get there with practice…

I have a suspicion that her arc won’t be about “becoming the nicest person and making everyone proud” but instead, channeling her craft to achieve her own goals without seeking the approval of a higher authority or abiding by someone else's vision of the future. Not perfectly restoring the Age of Gods or the Golden Age of mortals but instead bringing about a different future. She may end up letting her compassion guide her but Prometheus doesn't call her an agent of good or evil, he calls her an agent of change. And it seems like witches in this game are portrayed as catalysts for transformation.

As her understanding of the world grows and shifts, I think it’s interesting that Medea is one of the people Melinoe looks up to and confides in. She asks Medea these very earnest questions about mortals and gods and Medea grants her a joyfully bleak perspective every time:

Medea also has this consistent tendency to disregard mortal suffering, to compare them to livestock and talk about them in terms of how poison-susceptible they are. I get the sense that Melinoe's perception of mortal weakness is influenced by these kinds of conversations:

Melinoe's understanding of the world is shaped by an interesting range of perspectives and is somewhat...shaky and incomplete for now. I think she isn't quite sure how to reconcile her more compassionate impulses and the responsibility that she's dedicated her life to:

May all your foes be damned

🖤💚💜

Medea from Hades II