Gut Instinct
FLAME'S EPISODE HAS GIVEN MY BRAIN NEW CONTENT TO DISSECT SO HERE WE GO!
Buckle up folks, this is an analysis on Flame and the evolution of his self confidence.
Flame's really good at combat, he's a pvper, it's his whole thing, fight people, fight more people, fight better people. He fights. And he's GOOD at fighting, in and out of Unstable, because he's skilled.
Flame puts a lot of emphasis on skill. Skill comes from practice, training, talent, time, but also trust. You need to trust yourself in order to be considered a master in your profession, constantly doubting your every move is a sign that you lack self-confidence. Self-confidence is very important.
Especially when it's in combat where a wrong move or mistake dictates who lives, who dies, who wins, who loses.
To be good at pvp, Flame needs to have self-confidence, he needs to be a bit arrogant, a bit cocky, because it means he trusts himself and his instincts. Instincts that keep him alive.
We see this in the beginning of Flame's perspective, when we're first introduced to him and the phrase "I'm not like other players", which is a bold, arrogant, overconfident statement. It invites a challenge, it invites people to try and prove him wrong. The worst part is Flame is right. He's not like other players, he is better. He makes insane clutches, pulls off insane saves, steam rolls everyone in his path.
It's infuriating how cool he is.
And it shows that Flame's confidence is not unfounded, it's supported by his skill, by the fact he is literally just THAT guy. His first arc, Toxic Civ, is Flame proving that he is THAT guy while under geared and outnumbered. He wins the tournament, beats Jaden, deals with small armies trying to take him down, growing more confident each time. And it's not unfounded confidence, but pride comes before the fall.
It's Skill vs. Power Arc that things take a turn. For Flame, the arc begins with him getting destroyed by Wemmbu with his nukes, suddenly throwing off his pedestal as the 'strongest' and 'immortal'. Flame lost a battle. In theory, that would absolutely destroy one's self-confidence. Same with his loss against Law that pushed him into exile. Both of those losses should, in theory, destroy one's self-confidence, especially if that one has never faced loss.
But Flame's not like other players.
Because Flame holds skill above power and prioritizes the honor and fairness of a fight, these losses aren't 'true' losses in the sense Flame was out-skilled. Instead, he was overpowered, Wemmbu with his nukes, and Lettuce with his weakness potions and netherite army. Flame didn't have proper counter measures, he was caught off guard and under geared both times. It wasn't a true show of his potential, rather a cheap move to catch him off guard. If anything it shows how skilled he is and how others have to resort to cheap tricks to beat him.
Now is Flame in denial? Probably. But, he does eventually expand his combat range by getting mentored by 4 different combat masters.
Ironically and poetically, the burst of Flame's self-confidence doesn't even come from losing a fight or anything combat related.
It comes from losing his best friend, Lomedy.
Lomedy doesn't suddenly decide to stop being friends with Flame, he realizes that he's never Flame's priority in any regard, doesn't see himself valued, doesn't see all his efforts reciprocated.
This is highlighted when Flame saves Lomedy in Merchant City after he's held hostage by the Law. After they escaped, Flame doesn't ask if Lomedy is okay, he asks if Lomedy got the red stone he asked for. Which is a bastard move, BUT Flame's never had a friend/rival/sworn brother who wasn't proficient in pvp and able to defend themselves. Flame would have never thought to ask this question because he's been surrounded by Mane, Wemmbu, Jaden, other Diamond Trims, all players who would most likely find it insulting if asked if they were okay, because of course they're okay, they're strong pvper's, they can fend for themselves. Pvper's pride I'd call it, its an insult to their skill to be underestimated, it shakes their confidence if others think they're weak. (cough Wemmbu's lack of self-esteem cough)
But not Lomedy. Lomedy's Flame's first friend that can't just fight his way out of any situation. Flame's own ego, his own confidence and himself and others, makes him lose his best friend. That's what makes Flame slowly lose confidence in himself.
Through his pvp training arc, Flame learns how to exists outside of the title 'The Strongest', and returns to fight Law not as a wanted fugitive demanding a fair fight, but a trained combatant who will show you that the fights not going to be fair. And he wins. But winning doesn't make Lomedy come back.
It was Flame stepping off his pedestal, admitting he was WRONG, that his instincts, the basis of his skill, of his identity, led him astray. That he doesn't need to always be killing people or looking for strangers' approval. Flame apologizing to Lomedy and returning his mace was a sign that Flame had humbled himself. He's still confident in his pvp skill, but he realizes that he can be wrong about others, that he's different from players in ways he hadn't realized before, that just because he would do something doesn't mean others would. His over-confidence is curbed, through his reconciliation with Lomedy and his reflection during his Training Arc.
It makes his instincts shift. Now there's hesitance. Flame isn't willing to jump the gun on judging others anymore, he's not going to state what he outright thinks because that's how he lost Lomedy. Flame's trying to be more understanding and sympathetic. Which is fantastic character development.
But there's a balance.
Flame has always trusted his gut instincts. When the rest of the server thought Wemmbu was dead, Flame denied it, because he knew Wemmbu, knew his rival wouldn't just vanish like that. Did he know why? No, but he knew Wemmbu wouldn't do that because he's a pvper like him.
Flame is REALLY good at reading other pvpers. He understands them to the point it's scary.
For example, Flame found it odd that Mistral stayed in the Mist despite there being little to no challenge. Pvper's are a certain breed of players, most roam around in search of others who will rival them, so Flame was obviously stumped why Mistral would isolate himself to such a remote area and not jump at the opportunity to fight Flame when he first entered.
And then Flowtives enters the picture, and Flame is immediately suspicious of why another talented player is also just stuck here, why he's grouping with him and Skrilley instead of going off on his own (most pvper's are either solo or join together in small groups). I know many people were suspicious of Flow when he started hanging around, and I would like to propose the idea that maybe it was obvious because it was obvious to Flame that Flow was suspicious.
Once again, Flame is scarily perspective, he can read people to a T, and he knew instantly something was up with Flow and Mistral.
So why didn't he do anything about it? Why did he wait till it was too late?
Because he hesitated, because he knows the consequences of what being wrong can lead too. He doesn't want to randomly assume that everyone is like him, so Flame's polite about it. He tries to overlook things, giving Flow the benefit of the doubt.
But deep down, your gut instinct is always right. The task is separating it from the paranoia and bias of your mind.
Flame knew Flow was suspicious. Flame knew they shouldn't be searching the ice cave, Flame knew that Flow and Mistral not having Lomedy's mace was a weird thing.
But his instincts were clouded by the mere idea that Lomedy might be dead. It makes him spiral. He throws his sword out of his inventory. HE THREW. HIS SWORD. OUT OF HIS INVENTORY.
That's rookie level mistake bad. That's what we would expect Egg to do. And Flame did it mid-fight. That kills self-confidence.
Now does Flame eventually lock in and demolishes Mistral and leave Flow with nothing but the armor of his student/friend and a burnt mace&elytra. Yes.
But he is now treading a tightrope that he's far too aware of, leaning one way and he falls back into the overconfident, cocky killer. Lean towards the other and his ignorance results in deaths that could have been prevented.
Flame began by trusting his gut, running off the thrill of a fight, and annihilating anyone who opposed him. Then he learned that being humble is a skill, that death is not a victory, and that he can be wrong. Now he has to learn how to balance instinct with restraint.
Trust your gut. You know more than you think.
Restrain yourself. Your actions always impact others.
Knowing which once to choose is a wisdom only experience and failure can grant you.
Flame's got a rough road ahead of him.
Thank you so much for reading my yap, this is incredibly long, hope you enjoyed it :).
@lost-at-534 I did it :)
