as admittedly tragic as rerir and tholindus were, i can't shake off the realization they were always doomed either way.
we know that the khaenri’ah’s eclipse moon dynasty was persecuting the crimson moon khaenriahs, and to the point of sysmatically killing them, so for the purposes of this essay(?), i will be treating the two as two sub enthic groups of the same people.
which is not a new thing either. all around the world and through out time, there are so many instances of the dominant group in a certain region enslaving/exerting malicious control over the smaller groups.
now of course there are levels to this. you could be a foreign minority in an empire but left alone in relative peace (like Jewish people under the Persian empire) or your people were conquered and you had follow the empires practices but other than that you were fine (the aztecs conquering their neighbors).
OR you were brought against your will into a new empire OR your own land was taken over and not only do you have to follow all those new rules but you have to ALSO give up cultural practices for new ones because yours are 'sinful' apparently. See: european-american colonization and the scramble for africa.
now the crimson moon khaenriahs used to be in power and we don't know how the the specifics of HOW they became a persecuted minority but it got to the point where their being systematically targeted and they are AWARE of it.
and in regimes like this ie nazi germany, european colonization, america especially now but since its dawn, it doesn't matter how much you appeal to the in group. It doesn't matter how much you think like them. It doesn’t matter how much put down your own people. You will ALWAYS be an outsider to them.
for example; I am a black american and i have always beeen acutely aware of how much my own government and country has historically hated me. But not everyone sees that. There are plenty of segments of the american population that think they are in with the in group. female MAGA voters, black MAGA voters, hispanic white supremeicists, immigrants that may pass for white but vocally/accent wise cannot, and gay republicans to name a select few. these people have been shown time and time again they can never be white enough for the people they so desperalty want to appease
and how tholindis was talking to that girl, a fellow crimson moon-ian whos family escaped khaeriah before the cataclysm, is EXACTLY how the above sound when they do that.
deluding themselves to the truth because the truth if where they truly stand is harder to accept. lowkey sounded like someone saying "well I never though the leopords would eat MY face!"
and, in tholindis' case, she would NEVER be enough for her own government
it didn't matter she was an offshoot and not a direct descendent. it didn't matter she didn't look crimson moon-ian
and rerir? the assassin for the government whose job was to systemically exterminate a group of people for their heritage finding out his loved one is one of those people?
lots of people like him exist in real life, married to what they believe are the 'good ones' (albeit in his case, he legitimately didn't know but was still willing to carry on his job as if she wouldn't eventually be tagarted again if he failed)
rerir's job and tholindis' heritage was ALWAYS going to hang over this relationship; they were just broken up before it could get any worse.
and the people who are giving rerir those documents on who to execute? they KNOW who she is to him. and either they didn’t care OR their hands were tied? either way, they had to appease the regime.
and just like in real life, everyone in khaenriah suffers from these systems. the people in power just hurt a little less but the average citizen hurts more.
and just like in real life, a whole nation suffers because of the actions of the government and those in power.
