#moroi

Vampire Academy

Yes, Rose dismantling the Dhampir system, or at the very least seeing a singular concrete change in the system, absolutely would have been a better ending for Vampire Academy than the half baked, out of no were murder mystery that we got in The Last Sacrifice. As much as I love VA the end was so, so disappointing to me. It felt rushed. Hell I remember going What the fuck even was the "last sacrifice"? Nothing was lost. Frankly, besides Lissa being queen and the bond being broken, everything was pretty much exactly the same as the start of the story. It honestly felt like Richelle had given up on the story she had been building.

From the very first book we establish just how poorly the Dhampirs are treated by the Moroi. The Moroi literally only believe they should exist as assets to them, and the Dhampirs are so desperate to not die off they buy into this narrative. Think about how easily Viktor exploited Rose, a child he'd known her entire life, as a means to an end. Despite the Moroi being fully capable of protecting themselves with their MAGICAL POWERS, Tasha and Christian are considered freaks for even suggesting it. Most Dhampirs are born from a Dhampir mother not a father. The Moroi women won't lower themselves by having a Dhampir baby, but Moroi men will use the Dhampir women as a sexual outlet. The Moroi don't respect the Dhampir. Hell even Rose and Lissa's relationship highlights just how unfair this dynamic is. Rose lived her life for Lissa. She was her protector, her confidant, her food source. Shit Rose even took the insanity from Lissa. What did she get in return from Lissa? (Yes I know Lissa resurrected Rose this is just to highlight the grander Moroi issue) The series spent 5 books highlighting the injustices Dhampirs face. How they die young, how their women are systematically abused, and the lack of freedom to do what they want in life without shame. This isn't subtext these are active conversations, and arch's through the story. Then they have the age law passed, and you see how, universally, Dhampirs are against it. I honestly thought when Rose was framed for Tatianna's murder it was going to be a catalyst for the Dhampirs to start acting out, to push back against this system. Yet the Dhampirs are sidelined to focus on the family laws for Royal Moroi????? It was truly ridiculous. We don't even see change in Bloodlines, just small references that focus on the Moroi council. Rose was exploited by the Moroi in literally every single way imaginable, and the books were building to her realizing the problem with it. Yet, it's all ignored for her to focus all her energy on making sure Lissa was elected queen. (Yea, she was spurred on by trying to stop the age law, but it really came back to the fact Rose viewed Lissa like a deity) The story set up a revolutionary change for the Dhampirs, but it was cut because Richelle couldn't commit to acknowledging how all Moroi, especially Lissa, were flawed when it came to the Dhampirs.

Also onto your second point, that it would be too complicated for a YA novel. Richelle didn't shy away from other really heavy, complicated topics. Bloodlines is literally focused on indoctrination, and cult deconstruction. The latter half of Blood Promise is an allegory for intimate partner abuse. Also remember that The Hunger Games are YA novels. Avatar the Last Airbender is a children's show. Media being for a younger audience does not mean it cannot cover and deal with complex, and dark topics.

The difference between The Hunger Games and Vampire Academy is that district residents understand that they are being treated unfairly, while many dhampirs don’t realize it (or do realize it but do nothing) and continue dying for ungrateful moroi. Plutarch asked Haymitch in Sunrise on the Reaping why they allow the Capitol to treat them like this. It’s the same with dhampirs: for the survival of their race (and I don’t even understand why they need it if they are literally born to die), they allow the moroi to treat them like this. Of course, they are influenced by propaganda and believe this is their only and “correct” option, but the problem is that nothing changes and nothing gets resolved.

Damn it, even in the first book Rose slightly realizes how unfair this all is, but of course it leads nowhere and the system stays exactly the same! Some royal moroi literally wanted to use compulsion on dhampirs so they would fight for them, and dhampirs still just accept it! I don’t remember if any guardians besides Rose and Dimitri learned about this proposal, but even those two continue serving the moroi!

This is not a criticism of the characters (at least not of Rose — after all, Dimitri is older and should understand better), but of the author. Why, why did Richelle Mead do this? Why couldn’t the series end with a dhampir revolution instead of this?

Someone said she didn’t have the courage to do it, because then she would have had to admit that all moroi (and Lissa in particular) behave selfishly and cruelly toward dhampirs. Maybe that’s true. Maybe it’s because the original plan was for 5 books, but then Richelle Mead was offered to expand it into a six-book series and write another spin-off (namely Bloodlines). I think she had already lost interest in Rose and Vampire Academy, which is why everything feels unfinished, rushed, and underdeveloped.

*(continues from part 1 - part 2 - part 3)

Last time I'm doing this, since there aren't interesting characters left. Well, you can tell me if there's anyone you think I could add, and I'll consider it since there's still space in this batch (doesn't mean I will add it for sure).

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61. Mask shop guy: Zankoku 残酷

It means "cruel", a name more than fitting for this jerk ò_ó.

62. Konoha woman: Kurumi

She was the lady that Konohamaru transformed into after meeting Naruto. No special meaning on her name, just a random one that I felt suited her.

63. Village headman: Gorou

He was the chief of the village that bandit leader Baji abused. Seiyuu's name.

64. Headman's granddaughter: Seiko

This little girl was kidnapped as a safety hostage. Also seiyuu's name.

65. Kumogakure's head ninja: Sagishi 詐欺師

The kanji translate as "fraudster" or "swindler", for obvious reasons.

66. Land of Rice Fields daimyō: Yasui Damasare

This name is actually a single word in Japanese. Damasareyasui refers to a person that's naive and gullible, which this man totally was for believing Orochimaru.

67. Wind minister: Hōdōkan 報道官

For a long time I've believed there was some kind of mistranslation about this man. He, a daimyō? No chance, he doesn't look the part. All daimyō wear that fan-style hat, but this one looks lots closer to the Fire daimyō's counselors. I think he was actually meant to be a spokesperson, so that's what I've called him as.

68. Yuukimaru's mother: Mokuren 木蓮

Also supposed to be Yagura's lover (the fourth mizukage). Since both Guren and Yuukimaru had all this theme about white and red flowers, I named her after another that can be pink or purple.

69. Land of Vegetables minister: Hyourihiko 表裏彦

The adjective hyouri is how you call a two-faced person in Japanese (literally "front and back"). The -hiko is just a common suffix for male names.

70. Momiji's grandmother: Meishin 迷信

She could find hidden water using less-than-scientific ways, hence her name means "superstition".

71. Land of Sea fishmonger: Uobe 魚部

It means "fish club/department".

72. Land of Sea woman: Moguri 潜り

This woman's husband was spirited away while they were fishing near the cursed island. Moguri is one of several words to refer to a diver.

73. Shiore's teammates: Batsu and Tsumi

Named after their tags, batsu (the masked one) means "punishment" and tsumi (the bald one) means "crime".

74. Moroi's subordinate: Kedarui 気だるい

Unsure if this was correctly translated... but it's supposed to mean "demotivated". Just look at his face!

75. Onoki's bodyguard: Koubutsu 鉱物

Since he comes from the Land of Earth (ground, soil, whatever), I gave him a related name to that theme. It means "mineral".

*(the character was requested by @cherrybombshh)

76. Chubby hostess: Shokubi 薔薇

You know, Japanese is quite an entertaining language when you get the gist of it XDDD.

This poor lady was made fun of by Jiraiya due to being overweight, hence I wanted to give her a beautiful name to compensate. And what's the most universally loved flower ever? Roses, which you call bara in Japanese (薔薇).

Now, thing is... among the different readings of its kanji, the first one can coincidentally be read as shoku, which normally would mean "meal" (though that would be a totally different kanji).