[Magi reread] Night 118: The Reason for Determination
I wanted to be like, wow, Alibaba really isn't handling it well. He's the this is fine dog, lowkey, but then I looked at the center of the bed, and, like, I am very concerend about the obvious fire hazard. I suppose Alibaba has Amon, and Aladdin has magic, so they'd be able to handle it if the sheets caught fire, but man it's stressing me out, lmao.
I'm so glad Aladdin is here to kinda shake them a little. Because Sinbad's radiance indeed is way too strong.
Man, Alibaba is not handling it well, F. Also, stop! Making! Choices! For! Morgiana! Even if I think she might want to go, yeah, but let her say what she actually thinks!
Honestly, I think she wouldn't agree, actually. Aladdin said solo journey for a reason, and Morgiana is a person with deep respect for a person's agency. For obvious reasons. And she wants to go to DC, she's ready to move forward, and is only holding herself back for Alibaba more than anybody.
I will give Alibaba some sympathy here, though. It's been a bit over half a year since Balbadd fell, he lost his best friend, experiened second-hand Falling (yes, I'll keep referring to it, I think it's actually fascinating and we should play with this more), his Rukh is still a fucking mess... It's all relatively fresh, honestly. Not to mention, he grew to rely on Aladdin and Morgiana emotionally too much, which I can see as both them just being the first people who truly believed in him without wanting anything back, and filling the void after Kassim's death. I can genuinely see him fear losing them and being left all alone again. And Alibaba hates being alone.
He needs to start moving on, though. He said he wanted to do what he can for Balbadd, but he isn't really doing anything, it feels more like he's just waiting for a task - probably from Sinbad who he also grew to rely on, albeit differently, a bit more like a paren to leave the hard choices to - instead of taking any actual initiative. It makes sense, obviously, he's insecure and traumatized, but eventually you ought to stop avoiding your problems and hating yourself, and actually start doing something about it.
I was recently thinking about Alibaba's Household vs Sinbad's Household, in general, and how different they are. But didn't need to be. At this point of the story, Alibaba's well on his way to have a Household like Sinbad or any other King Vessel has - people who obey him regardless of their own wishes. Aladdin puts a stop to that, though, albeit without consciously meaning to. He acts on his own agency, sets his boundaries, and invites others to do so, notably Morgiana, as well. That's what gives them potential to be the greatest Magi-and-King duo, one made of equals where neither King follows the Magi, like Scheherazade, nor the Magi follows their King, like Judar (Yunan does neither, he gave up on everything). They're not there yet, but the seeds are. And it translates into the relationship between the King and the Household, where both sides are allowed to clash and disagree and have their own goals. They do not need to be joint at their hip fo their bond to exist. Morgiana does not need to dutifully follow Alibaba everywhere, breaking her heart and abandoning her beliefs like Ja'far does Sinbad, she does not need to be the extension of her King. She can be Morgiana who also happens to be a member of Alibaba's Household.
I believe that's the goal, at least, though I don't remember how well Ohtaka handles it. Aladdin is definitely called out on just following Alibaba around, and Morgiana sets her boundaries during the boat chapters, which I despies with burning passion holy fuck, but this is one of the few positive things I can say about it. Olba and Toto don't count, they're barely characters.
Ja'far looks so worried. And Yamraiha's so happy in contrast.
And then there's Sinbad. God I love it when we see this side of him. This selfish, greedy side. Obviously he cannot let go of him, that's his pawn, excause you all.
They both look so cute here.
I love how much Yamu just wants him to flourish! They really are sweet.
Sick visuals. And some background.
I wanted to say he's kind of unfair, but the more I think about it, the more I find myself on Alibaba's side, honestly. On the one hand, yes, he should respect Aladdin's choices, and some of his reasons are definitely on the more selfish side, but at the same time, Aladdin is an eleven years old child, and he's annoucing he's going to what might be an enemy camp all on his own. Alibaba doesn't even try to stop Aladdin from going, instead he announces he'll go with him. Yes, he doesn't want to part ways, and he's likely worried to lose Aladdin like he lost Kassim, but he's not wrong to feel this way.
And Alibaba is right, Aladdin is acting cold. He keeps the same placid smile for nearly all the panels up until now since the announcement, he seems very emotionally detached. I keep coming back to the whole Empathy vs Sympathy, but once it hit me, it really just keeps showing up. Aladdin's been keeping secrets since Solomon's Wisdom thing, it alienated him from the world, and what he's doing right now is also try to alienate Alibaba (and Morgiana) from himself (an interesting thing to come back to in the Magnostadt Arc), something which Alibaba catches onto. He has his reasons, which we know in hindsight, but in this moment he doesn't seem to truly understand how Alibaba feels, nor he tries, and so they fail to reach a proper resolution. Obviosuly Aladdin doesn't owe Alibaba a heart-to-heart and all the answers, but here he just gives absolutely nothing. Announces his goal, shares sound reasonings, and ignores the emotional impact. He is pushing Alibaba (and Morgiana) away, tries to guide them rather than communicate.
Well, what about what Alibaba wants? It's such a fascinating disagreement the deeper I think about it. While Aladdin establishes his agency here, some of his motivation turns out to revolve around taking away Alibaba's agency. It hasn't ocurred to me up until this point, but since that moment, Aibaba knows that Aladdin is another person in Alibaba's life who wants to make him into something without asking how Alibaba feels about it. Rashid wanted him to inherit the throne, Sinbad wanted him to take the crown (and become his pawn), Kassim wanted him to do what he [Kassim] wanted (and be his pawn)... Even Hakuryuu has high expecations of him. At this moment in the story the only people I can think of who don't expect god-knows-what from him are Morgiana and Kougyoku - who only counts like in quarter, because they've only had a single positive interaction so far, so why would she - and probably their enemies, because also why would they.
And Aladdin does not realize that he's doing this. He's not malicious, he's not treating Alibaba like the only option he has, he genuinely believes in Alibaba and that he can become that kind of a King. And we know that Alibaba can and will succeed. But in this moment here (and the chapter I linked), Aladdin places enormous expecations onto his shoulders, and Alibaba isn't ready to bear them.
That being said, it's not Aladdin's sole motivation. He does genuinely want to be stronger, because he wants to be able to save more people. I love that this is the conclusion he gets to after his experiences. I feel like up until this moment we didn't really see much of how Aladdin was affected by all that happened so far. He did change, but his change made him more detached from the world. And now we see that it did truly bother him that there was only so much he could do, and that he's found a potential way to fix it so that they don't lose more people.
Quite ironic that in spite of obtaining it, the one person Aladdin will be helpess to save would be Alibaba.
Aladdin, the little hypocrite that you unknowningly are. He wants them all to think for themselves, have their own agency, but at the same time he wants to turn Alibaba into a King regardless if it's something Alibaba wants.
I really like that! It makes their relationship flawed on both sides. Very, very interesting.
I looooove this. And the characters present! Sinbad, who's carefully scheming in the background and his Household which will follow every command, Hakuryuu who will hold onto his beliefs and will act very soon, Aladdin who has the answers and chooses what to do now.
Finally! Morgiana's goals get some spotlight! I was waiting for it.
Like, Morgiana usually doesn't emote a lot, so you can tell just how much it matters to her. And I really like that Masrur and Morgiana get some attention, not just a few shots of them training together. I love that Masrur can tell she's not really into it right now, and that she openly asks him about Dark Continent. And when she says It's not that simple, and he just goes yes, it it's, lmao.
But yeah, for her it's not that simple, not because it's difficult logistically, but because it'd mean she needs to part ways with Alibaba, too. Who is also already being awful at handling Aladdin leaving. She's at crossroads, she does not wish to hurt him, but she does long to see what's become of her homeland. It's been her goal since the very beginning, and it's the time for her to make her choice.
I love how Masrur warns her, and that he didn't want to say anything to avoid disappointing her the same way he was disappointed. But he still encourages her to see for herself, because, honestly, if she doesn't, she'll just wonder forever and might even come to regret not going.
Their relationship is very sweet, too.
Also, man, that emptiness.
No, but for real, where the fuck are all the Fanalis. There's a handful of them in Reim and an entire tribe beyond the Rift, but, like, where's everybody else? I know some might've just went through the Rift, but, like, it wouldn't be everybody, there has to be more of them around???
I was already thinking about how in the previous Sindria Arc Alibaba was more open to Morgiana eventually leaving to see the Dark Continent, while now he's kinda holding her back here, and, y'know, it actually makes sense for him to be more anxious with her and Aladdin leaving. He literally saw the repeat of what happened to Kassim with Dunya, and in the meantime Morgiana nearly died. It's not an excuse to try to make chocies for either her or Aladdin, but it does explain better what makes him so bothered about it all.
Anyway, I'm very glad we're remembering Goltas here.
Pff, poor Sharrkan. He wanted to drink with his pupil, but he kept dodging it until he needed to vent, lmao. And he's now ruining the vibe.
I love to see Sharrkan dropping some of the act and actually doing some mentoring here. Yeah, Alibaba shouldn't just abandon himself and follow Sinbad. He has his own country to eventually return to. Makes more sense with the SnB context - Sharrkan might act frivolous, but his love and the feeling of responsibility for Heliohapt are very real. He decided to follow Sinbad, but it wasn't an easy choice for him - it wasn't much of his choice at the beginning, to be honest. Alibaba in contrast is just throwing the towel after one (1) failure.
I really like that we've seen all three Masters mentor their pupils in these past few chapters. As in, prior to that I think we more saw them pass on skills and protect them, while here they're actually advicing them, too, helping them move forward.
It sucks, but this really is what they all need. Having somebody believe in you is great, but Alibaba needs to learn to believe in himself, not just depend on Aladdin and Morgiana's trust.
