#will vandom

Later, to comfort her, Himerish tells her

Those "deepest fears" that Will faced were that the other Guardians lose trust in her and shun her, and that Matt breaks up with her cause he cant stand the burden of knowing about her calling. What strikes me is that these images of something that Will fears the most of all, the lost trust and friendship within the team and being left completely alone, are literally what happened to Himerish in the 4th arc.

Maybe the sight of his destinny just plainly gave Will these ideas also in the first plan, but I believe it shows that the banishment was not just loss of power, but something quite personal to Himerish (as added to the fact of losing every certainty and being left alone with amnesia). But, you know, I even think the two parts of Will's painful imagery find different parallels in his life.

So, firstly:

The Guardians seem to be mirroring the council

They are Will's friends, but they are related to her calling, and no matter what, she has to stand a little above them and lead them - similarly to Himoracle, who calls people in the council his friends, but he is clearly divided from their folk, as the boss always is. But you know, remember the evil creature always lies to you.

Cornelia really appears like the leader of the shunning in the visions (the portrayal is quite hardcore, Cornelia might take offence tbh), but in reality it is her who first speaks out her worry for Will to Himerish in this issue, in a lovely moment, where the Guardians also happen to express that they do trust Will - and that is clearly an intention, an opposite mirror to the visions, denying anything that Phobos claimed

(I admit I'm still with Cornelia and her unconvinced face in the last panel about Hime being like just let Will be tortured she'll make it)

I even believe that Cornelia mirrors Endarno - there are quite open hints to that! Will possibly fears that Cornelia wishes to be the leader instead of her, like fake Endarno did in Kandrakar (although it's mostly Irma who says that). Consider! The conflict is deliberately reinforced by Phobos/fake Endarno by giving Cornelia that time-stopping pendant, so the two fake impressions of lost trust and friendship are created by the same person. It is a lovely detail that Hime's last sentence is a direct reference to what Endarno told Hime in their first meeting, expressing a great deal of faith in him.

Council of Kandrakar always tends to appear kinda clueless and opinionless, but I believe this parallel means that those guys did not abandon Himerish truly - and like, we are sure that Endarno didn't (and Yan Lin and Tibor of course). Cornelia explicitly states she doesn't wish to be the leader in issue 42 when she and Will have an important talk. This, however, also includes her telling Will what the problem is - and Will actually accepts this constructive criticism. It is a really nice scene between all the arguments.

Parallelly, it is just a fact that a lot of what Hime was kicked out for was not so untrue - he had a great deal of flaws that the council was frustrated with. Cornelia's speech totally sounds like she was listing Himerish's flaws, and possibly the flaws in the whole system of Oracleship. It is only when Hime realises his mistakes that he can be accepted back by the council - but, of course, also when the council kind of thinks things through and realises their big ass fail. It goes both ways in both cases.

In the end, there was always a problem, but it was the evil entity, who tried to persuade you that it was a dead end, that it was hate and not solvable frustration among friends. Life lesson, really.

Now you know what. The part of the visions where Matt breaks up with Will. You know who I think Matt mirrors? I guess my mutuals already have a suspicion, but I really think it is so - yeah, I mean Matt mirrors Yarr.

If you believe in Hime/Yarr or not, it seems clear that Yarr represents Hime's human existence, living in relation with a world and as a part of it. Similarly, Matt embodies this to Will, someone she loves in her ordinary life - someone she keeps her secret from. It is a secret up until this very arc, when Cedric attacks them on their date in issue 40 and Will has to reveal her powers (let's ignore the later retcon of Matt coming from Kandrakar ok). Before this, she tries to keep a life with Matt as if untouched by her task, but it is not possible in the end. Thereafter, she fears that he will not be able to deal with it and will abandon her, as the visions show.

And behold. Himerish also avoids telling Yarr about his Kandrakarian past (issue 43), he even seems to fear opening up -

...but to keep the secret is not possible in the end. And when it is revealed without his intention, he looks quite unhappy

I think Will's and Hime's reasons are different, simply put, fear of being a burden and shame, respectively, but the structure is same. (And Will fears her failure also in other contexts.)

Btw I really don't know if Cedrube was already planned by this point, but it is kind of funny that it is Orube who brings the revelation here, and Cedric does so with Will and Matt.

But Matt doesn't abandon Will, of course, he even stands up to Cedric and saves her in a moment of emergency - well, because -

ok sorry. But truth is that despite whatever Himerish may have feared, as he felt like a piece of crap, Yarr also reacts in shock, but without judgement. And he actually also immediately helps, as he gives Himerish advice, which allows him to correct his mistakes and help the Guardians to defeat Phobos.

Matt also, like Cornelia and the Guardians, gets a scene where his actions mirror and oppose his fake self in Will's tragic visions.

Immediately after this ugly vision and Will's short discussion with Phobos, the story switches to "meanwhile in Heatherfield", to a Matt, who worries about Will being inexplicably absent. He meets Susan Vandom, and as aware of the possible reason, he makes up an excuse to help Will, again.

Now I really really need to point out some visual stuff. And textual. Look at the fake Matt vs. the real Matt.

Isn't it nice how Matt explicitly states that he is always happy to help her out? And not feeling like it is a burden, as opposed to Will's fears? We all know comics WillMatt have very many problems, but this is a nice answer to Will's anxiety.

Like the comics literally did the meme pattern lol, see like

Fake Matt: I can't do this anymore...

Meanwhile, in Heatherfield: I'm always happy to help her out!

But now, pls look again at those two Matts, and then pls pls look at Phobendarno in the Will torturing scene, and, yes, at Yarr in 42nd issue, where he helps Hime by the lake

can you see it? I mean can you see it????

There is a damn colour parallelism!!!! The fake Matt has a cool-coloured clothes with a red shawl, just like Phobos in the moment - implying that this is not reality, this is only Phobos and his deception. The real, good Matt is wearing a red sweatshirt, with a sort of lighter strip over his chest. I don't even have to say who that reminds me of, eh. Like Yarr, the real Matt is there to help out in a crisis.

In other words, I can't.

Lastly, I must say that the fake Matt's beard kind of reminds of Yarr's (especially of young Yarr in his memories).

That kind of breaks the opposition, I guess, but I think it is just difficult to do anything with real Matt's famous teenage goatee (and fake Matt and young Yarr may have been closer in age).

We could also note that Phobos tries to force Will to give up a great part of herself, while Yarr encourages Himerish to gradually rediscover both parts of his life.

We could also ask why Yarr parallels Will's boyfriend. Right..? :) :) :)

But what is undoubtable is that both Will and Himerish/Oracle were greatly touched by their tasks and feared that those tasks would isolate them and break their bonds, through their own failure or through the burden that comes with the role. In reality, though, they were not alone, they had close people, who not only did not abandon them, but sought to support them in their deal.

In the final scenes, when Will is still with Phobos, Hime is with the real Endarno, and, unwittingly, they both use their magic at the same time and so cooperate to put the real and fake in their place. They have to stand up to their fears - represented by Phobos convincing Will there's no hope and she'll end up alone, and Endarno being really depressed and hopeless like Hime was before Yarr helped out - and they have to make the change themselves, to overcome the fear and believe in their friends again.

Nice, eh :)