Gendo Ikari and Darth Vader

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synthmachine81
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Gendo Ikari and Darth Vader

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Postby synthmachine81 » Sat Nov 25, 2017 12:47 am

Was just musing about this lately. Gendo Ikari is basically the Anti-Darth Vader when it comes to redemption. You know how people mock the fact that Vader is forgiven so easily it's ridiculous after all the fucked up things he's done, like slaughtering Padawans, being a ruthless commander to an authoritarian galactic empire, cutting off his own son's hand and the list goes on.
Gendo also does many fucked up things,
SPOILER: Show
like making a clone of his "deceased wife" and doctrinating her into becoming a submissive puppet and using her to accomplish his goals, neglecting his own son and being psychologically cruel towards him and showing basically no sympathy, and pressuring him to pilot a giant metal thing in such an authoritarian manner despite knowing it will cause him physical pain, romantically manipulating the women (arguably even his own wife) involved with the Evangelion Project in order to have full control of it
and oh boy this guy sucks. Like seriously I hate him, I get his reasons but I have zero sympathy towards him nonetheless, especially considering he's a grown adult doing this shit.
Anyway, one of the main plots of Eva is of Shinji hoping to get something out of Gendo, so they would reconcile and finally be a family again, and lots of the viewers expected that during the time it aired. And then EoE came and all of their hopes were screwed up. (Personally I think Gendo became 100% unforgivable for me after episode 18 but anyway)
But the point I'm trying to make is that while Gendo's fate can be very disappointing to those who were expecting a redemption, it is very realistic. After he saw the plan he spent years on failing catastrophically, was there really any saving point for him? Not that he was doomed from the start, but his insistence on his agenda caused his demise. No him running to Shinji and saying "I'm sorry son, let's start over" would change that (it wouldn't be physically possible anyway considering they were very far from each other but still).
Sure Shinji is also full of flaws, but let's not forget he's 14 with a very fucked up life and full of issues, but the show doesn't carve his faith on stone. However, it does for Gendo, and he represents what Shinji could become if he drowned himself in his own selfish urges.
Return of the Jedi is arguably my favourite SW movie, and while quite admirable it is for Luke still hoping that there's good on Vader for trying to empathize with his lost father figure, it is also a bit innocent. If Vader survived his fight with the Emperor, no doubt the Rebels/New Republic would have his execution as the main goal after they had set up their new government, or at least he would be permanently imprisoned for all the crimes he commited.
Even though it would have been interesting to see him having a change of heart throughout the series, I've got to say his ending is much more satisfying considering all the things he did.
I've seen so much I'm going blind and I'm brain-dead virtually.

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Re: Gendo Ikari and Darth Vader

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Postby viperzero » Sat Nov 25, 2017 12:52 am

Image

synthmachine81
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Re: Gendo Ikari and Darth Vader

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Postby synthmachine81 » Sat Nov 25, 2017 12:56 am

Hahaha love that!
I've seen so much I'm going blind and I'm brain-dead virtually.

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Re: Gendo Ikari and Darth Vader

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Postby Sachi » Sat Nov 25, 2017 1:16 am

Gendo receives a lot of empathy from people after EoE, when it's revealed he's pretty much an adult version of Shinji with all the same fears and insecurities.

As for Gendo's comparison to Vader, this is something I've actually been recently exploring for a potential fanfic. One major point of comparison is their relationship to a greater authority. Both are servants, and both have secret plans to undermine their masters. For Vader, it's Emperor Palpatine, and in Empire Strikes Back, he reveals to Luke a desire to overthrow the emperor and rule the galaxy. This suggests he's also been biding his time for a long while, waiting for an opportunity (in the comics, his plans to overthrow the Emperor develop soon after Ep IV when he learns the identity of the boy that blew up the Death Star and that Palpatine lied about his children). Meanwhile, the relationship between Gendo and Seele is much the same. Gendo is simultaneously working for and against Seele, going far enough with their plans to serve his own end, and betraying them when it matters. Both characters are cold and distant on the outside, with vulnerable hearts, and are both motivated by dead wives. Both are also masters of manipulation; Gendo goes without saying, but it should be noted how brilliantly executed Vader's plan with Cloud City and Luke went.
- Sachi

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