The Invisible Knight
Invis and Power Arc will forever be my Roman Empire so ima yap about them >:) Buckle up fools.
Power Arc is what I like to call Wemmbu at his best and worst, because at the end of it, he's the strongest, he's gotten his dream, he's beaten Flame, he's untouchable. But the road to power is long and hard. How many friendships crumbled, how many lives were meaninglessly lost to get there? Egg's exiled to the end, any previous friendships from Pirate Arc are destroyed, he's the most wanted man on the server, and his rivalry with Flame has become bitter. So yeah, he gets his dream, but he had to sacrifice everything else to get there.
The way he ends with Flame makes it very clear that Flame was never the true target of his conquest, he was merely in the place Wemmbu wanted. Had it been anyone else, Wemmbu would have done the same. Their rivalry becomes one sided and bitter after Wemmbu became the strongest, he's disinterested in fighting with Flame after he's achieved his goal, not because he's afraid to lose his position necessarily, but because it seems pointless. Wemmbu won, what's more to do?
We also see this in the way Wemmbu dismisses Minute's warnings about Flame never ending on a loss. Wemmbu doesn't care because a) 'Wemmbu' is dead, so not his problem anymore and b) why would he fight after he's gotten what he wanted. Wemmbu doesn't look back, he marches forward like he always has.
Wemmbu going invisible was just another way for him to avoid the consequences of blowing up Capital City and Law, another way to avoid the mantle of the strongest. Wemmbu doesn't like things that have weight to them, he dismisses heavy subjects because 'it's just a game'. It's a coping mechanism really, making everything less significant so the blow feels softer. Going invisible isn't a sign Wemmbu changed, he hasn't, he's just avoiding what he's done.
However, it was his time being invisible that changed him. Wemmbu now has to act differently, he now has to problem solve, because not everything can be solved with killing, he needs another to do it for him, or use his nukes. Of course he can't constantly be using those because that would draw too much attention, the exact opposite of what Wemmbu wants to do. So Wemmbu needs to partner up with others.
I'd say the first small change we see is when Wemmbu jumps in to fight Boosfer after he killed the random player. Why? Well it could be for a wide variety of reasons, but its more the fact Wemmbu DID it than anything else. He tried to save someone. He failed, yeah, but his actions weren't driven by wanting to destroy but to instead protect.
His role in battling Boosfer and the bandits forces him to change further. Wemmbu's used to being a heavy hitter, getting kills, and finishing the job. He can't do that while invisible. He can still be a heavy hitter, but now he has to actively be aware of how much damage he's doing, stopping before he slips up. Wemmbu is suddenly shoved into being a support, aid the others, ensure they don't die. Protect.
Wemmbu's time in Capital City is brief, but Wemmbu learned how to protect others there. Sure, he's used to protecting Egg, but Capital City made him protect strangers, players he had little affiliation with. Wemmbu protected those people out of necessity, and yet, it gave him the name of his new identity.
The Invisible Knight. Not a soldier, not a guard, a knight.
Knights are typically depicted as noble protectors in media. In reality, they were more glorified mercenaries with an optional honor code and allowed to commit crimes legally, which I feel suits Wemmbu during Invis Arc. He's a protector, but only because it's in his best interests. Wemmbu's not a good guy, he's a villain to the rest of the server, a weapon to others, but he's finally able to find a foot hold in society without the weight of his name bearing down on him, and that society dubs him a knight.
I commonly refer to Wemmbu as a war criminal. Because he is. It seems so out of place, for someone like Wemmbu to be called a knight, because he just isn't. He's not chivalrous, he's not honorable, he's just- not. And yet, when you remove the name, remove the history, Wemmbu becomes a knight.
It speaks so much to Wemmbu as a character, that he becomes a knight when the past and name are discounted, that when he's free from the burdens of his past, he becomes better and referred to something as noble as a knight.
Noble and Wemmbu do not go in the same sentence unless you are contrasting them.
And yet, Wemmbu was the Invisible Knight. No wonder Flame and Parrot could never figure out why Wemmbu faked his death, the Invisible Knight was so different from Wemmbu, and yet they were the exact same person.
Wemmbu wasn't the greatest during Invis Arc, he faked his death for all the wrong reasons, became better out of necessity, not want. But towards the end, he did become better, kinder. He spares Jaden and Boosfer. Not just that though, he gives Jaden an empire and Boosfer his mace back, defended them because it was in his best interests but also because he wanted too. He didn't have to help Jaden after he killed Boomie, he didn't have help Boosfer escape the Underworld after he did. He didn't have to. But he did.
Law Arc forced Wemmbu to become that weapon again, to be a tool in a game between kings. But in the end, he is given a choice. Spare your enemy, or kill them? And Wemmbu spares Lettuce, proves that he is capable of something besides just killing, that the Invisible Knight was part of Wemmbu, buried under the necessity to survive and need to prove himself, the Invisible Knight existed.
A knight born from a lie, yes, but a knight nevertheless.
Thank you for listening to me yap about my hyperfixation :D
