#lunt

You can absolutely play to the concept comedically, I think there is something inherently funny in shipping a hero with a villain (your mileage may vary.) But for me what draws me to actually writing fic is the angst potential of loving or lusting after someone who is ideologically opposed to you. I think, and reasonable people are free to disagree with my opinion, that Ethan as a character harbors dark thoughts and feelings, but for several reasons lets them go. 1) He understands that there are consequence in giving into his impulsive anger (see: MI3 when he dangles Owen Davian from a fucking plane, which directly results in his own wife getting kidnapped) The idea that Ethan could never turn is something that floats around in the fandom, and while it’s true to say Ethan would never turn (it’s just something imbued into his character by now) I think we don’t explore the “why” of that enough. Ethan has a support system, where Lane does not.

Ethan’s team, whoever they happen to be in any movie, are central to how Ethan interacts with the world he’s always trying to save. Ethan loses his entire team in the first film and that informs every decision he makes for the rest of his life. He wants out of the IMF, but he keeps getting pulled back in. He loses his team, his wife, his protégé and ultimately his ability to live a normal civilian life. But Luther, and Benji and whoever happens to stay on his team, he cares about them, they are his family. We don’t view his prioritizing of his family as selfish, because that’s what people perceive is a normal thing to do. But that prioritization always comes at the cost of the mission. Rogue Nation and Fallout lean into this heavily. Ethan, if properly provoked, he will do impulsive or selfish things (even if those selfish things also happen to benefit other people). The caveat to that is that his friends are able to pull him back, or at least call him out and warn him from going too far on their behalf.

Also, Ethan has a history of rogue behavior that even if it is in the service of the “greater good”, is the justification that the villains of the last three films ultimately rely on for their own actions. So, while we the audience understand Ethan to be the good guy, in universe this is the exact reason all these spy organizations fear/distrust Ethan.

Comparatively speaking, Ethan is more well-adjusted than Solomon Lane, because despite the things he goes through, he doesn’t let his crisis of faith ever deter him from doing what he thinks is right. In contrast, Lane lets his anger drive him into letting the world burn. His anger is destructive, but it serves his purpose of enacting revenge. But he is much more detached emotionally, and there are multiple ways to interpret Lane as a character, but I see him as someone who doesn’t want to admit he may have emotions. Which is understandable as again, he was also a former field agent. The reason he keeps Ilsa around is that he sees potential in her, potential to see the world as he sees it. Vinter speaks at Ethan, asking aloud: “What does he see in you, I wonder?”.  While Vinter may not see what Lane is looking for in Ethan, the fact that Lane doesn’t order his outright death is telling, at least to Vinter. (Although that is not enough to stop Vinter from trying regardless.)

There are parts of the script that where cut out of the final film that makes this dynamic more obvious, rather than the subtext it is in the narrative. And while, when analyzing their dynamic I can only rely on what makes it into the final product, the fact that Lane wants to “corrupt/torture/seduce” Ethan has always been intended. However one chooses to read that is up to the viewer, especially because this interpretation of their dynamic relies on subtext.

I think, personally, it’s interesting to explore this dynamic as basically like this: Lane: Aren’t you tired of Being Nice, don’t you just want to go apeshit?

Ethan:

it's about the ideological conflict, and the begrudging understanding. Lane and Ethan function as narrative foils for each other, where they could have turned out as each other, had circumstances been different. “The Same thing that’s wrong with me is wrong with you (Derogatory)”