it is kind of eye opening that like,, gillion is the "hero of the deep, champion of the undersea", his background is literally folk hero, and yet ... the elders weren't training him to be a *hero*. the elders were specifically training him as a soldier. just as they warped the prophecy to push gillion into prioritizing the undersea, they also completely warped the definitions of good & evil so that gillion would kill their enemies. like, this stuff has been pretty overtly implied up to this point, but it's so different to see that gillion was training was literally desensitization training. the elders have been brainwashing gillion his entire life. initially, we were led to believe that *all* of the undersea is honorable, because gillion puts SO much emphasis on tradition and honor. but no, seeing the exact training the elders put him through just further proves that a) the elders are a completely selfish force with no regards for gillion's personhood, and b) gillion is so kind and strives towards good because gillion is, in spite of it all, a good person

I’d do 50 backflips onto hot coal legos if it meant we’d get an Undersea arc when Riptide is off hiatus