i have this weird, almost observational fascination with noel’s body and the way it functions (or rather, the way he allows it to function) as a kind of punching bag for events and people alike. breaking his foot at work, then both wrists at the same time, the kidney infection he had as a child, his arthritis now, his rotting teeth, the car accidents, his complicated relationship with food and his fluctuating weight. the way he constantly points out how short he is, how small his feet are, how skinny he is – which is a very, very unusual thing for a man to do. calling himself the “ugly” brother, saying he doesn’t enjoy taking an active role in sex, being violently beaten and humiliated by his father, becoming the main target during stage attacks, enduring liam’s physical and verbal abuse.
what interests me is how he seems to accept all of this as an intrinsic part of himself, almost in a self-belittling way. as though his body is somehow destined to absorb damage, to attract it, to carry it. almost like he believes he’s meant for it.
I’m sorry it’s ridiculous. He wasn’t “enduring” Liam’s abuse, he was a cunt to him too ffs, talk shit about him privately and publicly, beat him with cricket bat and all. And Noel is 5 years older than him so for long time he had physical and psychological advantage over Liam. Noel also was the boss of the band so he had also financial control over Liam too
And rotting teeth is just him abusing drugs too much, not some kind of martyrdom. His fluctuating weight over his life is absolutely normal thing for anyone, his ed is completely your headcanon. He has now normal weight of man of his age
Liam has hashimoto that almost ruined his voice, very painful arthritis in his hips, has eczema since the time he was a baby and I don’t write posts like this because, again, it’s ridiculous lmao
i had a feeling a comment like this would come sooner or later.
i’ve never argued that liam was somehow exempt from physical suffering or trauma simply because certain things happened to noel, nor have i ever claimed that liam was the sole or even the main reason their relationship became so dysfunctional. quite the opposite, actually. i think noel could be incredibly cruel, and i do believe he carries a huge amount of responsibility – perhaps even most of it – for the unhealthy dynamics that have existed between them for decades. but i also think it’s undeniable that, especially towards the end of oasis, liam was physically and verbally abusive towards noel. we need to stop pretending otherwise. those are words that noel himself has repeatedly used to describe his brother’s behaviour, and frankly, who am i to contradict his own account of what he experienced?
that doesn’t mean noel was incapable of starting fights or engaging in physical confrontations himself. i’ve never claimed that either. but as far as the cricket bat incident goes, it seems pretty clear to me that noel’s reaction came in response to liam’s aggression, the chaos he was creating, and the threatening atmosphere he had already escalated.
i think two things can be true at once: liam was deeply hurt by noel in many, many ways, and noel was also subjected to behaviour from liam that was genuinely violent and destructive (we all need to stop acting like it wasn’t). acknowledging one reality doesn’t erase the other.
does noel have faults? absolutely. loads of them. i’ve never denied that, and i don’t think i’ve ever portrayed him as some kind of innocent victim who bears no responsibility for the way their bound developed. but my original post was never about blame, or about the wrong things noel has done throughout his life. it was about the things that have happened to his body, as i explicitly said: things inflicted by other people, by circumstances, and, yes, sometimes by himself as well.
because yes, drug abuse and a complicated relationship with food are also forms of bodily self-destruction. i was simply pointing out an observable pattern and wondering how noel himself might perceive it all. that’s it. (and, for the record, i never said he had an ed. like… at all?)
so, with all due respect, i don’t really understand the point of your reblog, because it addresses something different from what i was actually talking about. my post wasn’t about about which brother was worse, or who hurt whom more (i’ve made plenty of posts about that already, if you’re interested). it was specifically about noel, his body, and the things his body has endured. bringing liam into a discussion about noel’s relationship with his own physical self honestly doesn’t make much sense to me in this context. and i think it’s equally misleading to take this post as evidence that i somehow believe noel is the sole victim within their dynamic, because that is very much not my position.
and also, it feels a bit strange that i even have to say this, but this is a tumblr post, not a peer-reviewed paper. it’s my interpretation of a public figure based on the things he’s said and done over the years. i’m not claiming to possess some ultimate truth about him.
thank you.
