Too Lazy to Think of a Title

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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
kob131
haltraveler

I think I’ve cracked the primary conflict of the Atlas arc: James and Ruby are each other’s foils. They’re too similar to have ever been able to work together.

Both of them have placed the burden on themselves to be the sole hero who has the plan to save the day and neither of them are ready to accept that they don’t need to do it alone, that they can share the load with people they trust. When Salem arrives, neither of them have a real plan. Instead they act on impulse because they feel like everyone is counting on them to be the one who has a plan to win. But their differing backgrounds mean that same impulse takes them in very different directions. 

James is the pinnacle of the Atlesian man. He has been raised and trained to see strength as the willingness to sever all sentiment and accept any sacrifice in service to his kingdom. When he sees a situation with no clear solution, his impulse is strength. Save Atlas no matter the cost. 

Ruby was raised on fairy tales and the memory of a mother who seemed to have come straight from one of those stories. To her, a hero is someone who always saves everyone, who can find a way out of any situation without compromising their morals. When she sees the same situation as James, her impulse is hope. We CAN find a way to save everyone, we HAVE TO or I’m a failure.

While neither of these are particularly grounded viewpoints, I do think Ruby is more in the right because she’s reacting to James’s stubbornness more than instigating the conflict herself, and she’s at least trying to do the right thing. That impulsiveness leaves her desperate and floundering to actually find a solution which I think makes some people feel that “Ironwood at least had a plan”. 

But James’s “plan” is equally impulsive and short-sighted. He immediately jumps to “run away without finishing the evacuation” without actually making any effort to figure out if he has time to do something more. And we see in V8 there was in fact time to send a distress call and probably to evacuate at least much more of Mantle. But James can’t allow himself the time to think things through. Everyone needs him to have A Plan!  Never mind that it’d probably only buy him a few months at most while cutting him off from all allies and material resources.

kob131

You. You get it.

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