I am not in twitter, but I know from friends ordem fandom there is very toxic. They have been specially hateful towards Maria's character during Hexatombe.
Most of the ordem players who receive hate from the twitter community are woman and/or queer. Maria is an asshole, yes, but so is original Jae and Remi. However, you don't see them get hated on, and Jae was played by Cellbit in Natal Macabro and Remi is played by Calígrafo. Bagi is an openly queer woman who is very brave and bold in her choices as a player (which the ordem twitter also hates), and she unapologetically does what is best for the characterization, even though she knows people will think it's not a good decision.
Also, something that must be pointed is how Remi and Maria, both canon nonbinary characters, are treated differently, because of their agab and are generally treated as "a man" and "a woman" due to the fact none of them is androginous. This kind of transphobia, alongside the misoginy already stated before, aggravates the situation. People were hoping for Maria's death in the latest episodes, and although they don't have to like Maria, they were acting like she was the only one in the team who "was making it all worse", when in early ep 9 Remi nearly killed them for basically nothing.
This goes too about how Remi's phrase for her, "no matter how rotten you were, you'll always be the flower of my garden", was mainly distorted by Maria haters to be for Jasper, even though it has nothing to do with his character. The same people often erase Maria in order to ship Labiar/Jasmi, a behaviour often seen regarding "female" characters and "yaoi" ships, taking us once again to the transphobia, binarism and misoginy part.
Aside from that, which I had to put out of the way, Maria's character fascinates me from the beggining. They were holding back in the first episodes, being the "responsible" one, but after episode 5, they changed. Not because something was affecting them, but because they got rid of the chains they had set for themself. By receiving more and more memories, they stopped playing pretend for others' sake and comfort and started being unapologetically themself.
He didn't want to be Jae. He chose to be Maria at the bell. He says such things about wanting to stay in Jae's body is (aside from possible dysphoria) because there, he felt desired, respected, heard, free from other people's expectations. He could act like he always wanted, but never had the permission to. He would do every reckless thing that came to his mind because he didn't have to worry about keeping a facade to anyone anymore.
And still, she loved that team. Even in moments of near insanity or death, it's possible to see she loved them. The reason she put on the hood was to help Remi and not leave their side. Even when they discuss about Tuco's death, even when she attacks Remi and Jasper in the war, even when she hurts Juan, even when she stabs Cindy and Lena shoots her, even when Remi hits her, even when Remi saves Eloy instead of her, she still loves them. Her love is distorted, chaotic, painful and insane, but it's, regardless, utter and unwavering love.
It's clear that Maria was so lonely before. Never showing their true feelings or thoughts to anyone, always obsessed with knowledge and immortality, always keeping it all for themself, watching people die in a hospital or in the order and not bonding with them. But they learn to love these people in the same position as they are, and, even when they remember, when they go off the rails, when they are hated in and off game, they don't care anymore about what anyone else thinks.
Their team may hate Maria, but Maria will not stop loving them because of it.
And, in their final moments, they think of Kian. Not "Kian will save me". They say "Kian will save us". At the face of certain death, knowing no one in their team will come to save them, not even Remi, they still say "us". Because, while gripping to such a thought, while alone, while dying, they still love them. It doesn't matter what others may think. They still love their team.
I think it's ironic how Maria is one of the characters who was most hated by the main fandom in this season for being unapologetically themself, for stopping wearing a mask, for doing the things they've wanted their entire life. And, honestly? I don't think Maria would be upset at all. They'd even laugh. That was why they hid their true self their entire life.
But now? They'll never bow to what others expect again. They don't care about what people may say or think about them. They'll go down, and they did go down, being only their true self.
2087
titsay
yousharknotpass
dailybridgerton
kianamaiart
