#ismene

I love an Antigone coded character for what I hope would be VERY obvious reasons by now, but I think what drives me truly insane is an Ismene coded character. An Antigone haunts the narrative but an Ismene has to live with it. It is the duty of the antigone to die and it is the duty of the ismene to never be given the luxary. Tim Drake is the robin that can never die because, narratively, he always has to be there to pick up the pieces, and once that's done he must fade into the background once again. Kakashi's childhood is about the neccesity of dying for his duty, and then he is surrounded by shinobi better then him who die for increasingly impressive reasons, and he isn't allowed to do the same. Merlin isn't allowed to die because if he does, all memory of Arthur and Gwen and the knights and even Morgana die with him, so he must simply carry the burden of a beating heart forever. the antigone's story is tragic, yes, but it gives you catharisis. it gives you an expected and justified end. Antigone isn't a ghost that haunts the narrative, because she dies a perfect death. Ismene, the only one left alive, is doomed to haunt it in her sister's place. The cycle stops here. Despite everything including perhaps the Ismene's own efforts, the cycle stops here.