Thought about our resident stalker with a crush a bit today while pushing an alt through STB.
Most people, myself previously included, consider him a flat, one dimensional villan. And the more I thought about that, the more I realized he's actually pretty interesting. Psychopaths are only one dimensional "for the evulz" edgelords if you give them nothing but moments where they're just evil for the sake of it, with no rhyme or reason behind their actions. Aka, pre-Shb Ascians.
Zenos as a psychopath is perfectly fine, and I do think he's got enough going for him to avoid being completely one-dimensional.
He does evil immoral shit not necessarily because he likes being evil, but he has no capacity for anything close to empathy whatsoever. He doesn't see people as people, more like tools that can talk. He also has a pathological need for stimulation through fighting others. The problem is that most people can't actually go toe to toe with him, which leads to a hunt that ends too soon.
For Yotsuyu, her cruelties were driven by revenge and also being completely fucked up by her horrifically abusive family. She enjoyed their suffering and breaking their minds. She sees people as people, and wants to torture them mercilessly. This is why she doesn't just march over and start murdering Romans right off the bat - she wants to play with them first. Find what makes them tick, and slowly chip away at it, tormenting them with what makes them human.
For Zenos on the other hand....slaughtering his way through a battlefield is essentially the equivalent of an overpowered nolifer slaughtering his way through weaker players in a PVP game. He lives for the battle and the "hunt". The people he kills are sentient dopamine pills that wear off the moment they're dead, so he goes to find the next pill. And the next. And the next.
As Lucia said, he lives for war, and war alone, and if you're not strong enough to stand against him, you're nothing to him. You're boring.
Interestingly for a character written the way he is, he's also shown to give credit where credit is due to people under him if they're as ruthless, determined, and bloodthirsty as him. Where everyone else wanted to dismiss Fordola as a "savage", he gave her a pretty high rank and also listened to what she had to say and took her advice. I was happy to see he's at least intelligent, if still a monster.
His intelligence is also evidenced by the fact that he's playing Doma like a fiddle. Make things miserable, but not to the absolute brink of despair - subservient mindless zombies aren't useful or interesting. But by doing just enough to raise tensions high and making them angrier and more desperate, they'll eventually send out their strongest players for him to fight, which is ultimately what he wants. People who can match his strength. A pill that gives a stronger, longer lasting rush.
In general, the people he's "nicest" to are Fordola and the Warrior of Light. I believe this is because at the end of the day, Zenos does genuinely want people around him who share his fucked up desire for bloodshed and/or power level. "Friends", or at least, extensions of himself. He could have kept the Resonant ability for himself, but he "gifted" it to Fordola. Yes, it was likely more of a "this tool is willing to be sharpened so yes let's" gesture, but again, he specifically gave her an ability he knew she could likely handle to make her more powerful. Aka, more like him.
He even says as much that the first time he's ever actually felt anything close to true joy was when he fought us. So he's now got a single minded goal, and that's to go find the WOL, and set things in motion for an eternal battle with the one person who can match him in strength. His true "friend". During his monologue before we "kill" him for the first time, he draws not-so-untrue comparisons between us and him, and even plays on our doubts/possible beliefs that being a killer is all we are. Also, should we actually respond positively to him, he's happier than a kid at Christmas.
Finally, his motivation at the end of the day is to make of the world a battleground for just him and his "friend". He doesn't just want power - he wants both of us to have ALL the power, become gods, ect. There are no complicated plans for world domination, no political meddling, and no in depth future ideas. It's just him and his friend, forever battling as the most powerful beings on the planet, and that's it. Any collateral damage, potential consequences - none of those are even a whisper of a thought for him.
We're his first friend, ever, and he will do anything to make sure it stays that way.
This was a lot of rambling, and I'm sorry for it. Once I really started thinking about it, I just felt I had to get my thoughts out. Maybe it'll help others to give him a bit more of a chance whenever he's back in focus. I'm excited to see what they plan to do with him.
submitted by /u/QuantumDrej
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...
Most people, myself previously included, consider him a flat, one dimensional villan. And the more I thought about that, the more I realized he's actually pretty interesting. Psychopaths are only one dimensional "for the evulz" edgelords if you give them nothing but moments where they're just evil for the sake of it, with no rhyme or reason behind their actions. Aka, pre-Shb Ascians.
Zenos as a psychopath is perfectly fine, and I do think he's got enough going for him to avoid being completely one-dimensional.
He does evil immoral shit not necessarily because he likes being evil, but he has no capacity for anything close to empathy whatsoever. He doesn't see people as people, more like tools that can talk. He also has a pathological need for stimulation through fighting others. The problem is that most people can't actually go toe to toe with him, which leads to a hunt that ends too soon.
For Yotsuyu, her cruelties were driven by revenge and also being completely fucked up by her horrifically abusive family. She enjoyed their suffering and breaking their minds. She sees people as people, and wants to torture them mercilessly. This is why she doesn't just march over and start murdering Romans right off the bat - she wants to play with them first. Find what makes them tick, and slowly chip away at it, tormenting them with what makes them human.
For Zenos on the other hand....slaughtering his way through a battlefield is essentially the equivalent of an overpowered nolifer slaughtering his way through weaker players in a PVP game. He lives for the battle and the "hunt". The people he kills are sentient dopamine pills that wear off the moment they're dead, so he goes to find the next pill. And the next. And the next.
As Lucia said, he lives for war, and war alone, and if you're not strong enough to stand against him, you're nothing to him. You're boring.
Interestingly for a character written the way he is, he's also shown to give credit where credit is due to people under him if they're as ruthless, determined, and bloodthirsty as him. Where everyone else wanted to dismiss Fordola as a "savage", he gave her a pretty high rank and also listened to what she had to say and took her advice. I was happy to see he's at least intelligent, if still a monster.
His intelligence is also evidenced by the fact that he's playing Doma like a fiddle. Make things miserable, but not to the absolute brink of despair - subservient mindless zombies aren't useful or interesting. But by doing just enough to raise tensions high and making them angrier and more desperate, they'll eventually send out their strongest players for him to fight, which is ultimately what he wants. People who can match his strength. A pill that gives a stronger, longer lasting rush.
In general, the people he's "nicest" to are Fordola and the Warrior of Light. I believe this is because at the end of the day, Zenos does genuinely want people around him who share his fucked up desire for bloodshed and/or power level. "Friends", or at least, extensions of himself. He could have kept the Resonant ability for himself, but he "gifted" it to Fordola. Yes, it was likely more of a "this tool is willing to be sharpened so yes let's" gesture, but again, he specifically gave her an ability he knew she could likely handle to make her more powerful. Aka, more like him.
He even says as much that the first time he's ever actually felt anything close to true joy was when he fought us. So he's now got a single minded goal, and that's to go find the WOL, and set things in motion for an eternal battle with the one person who can match him in strength. His true "friend". During his monologue before we "kill" him for the first time, he draws not-so-untrue comparisons between us and him, and even plays on our doubts/possible beliefs that being a killer is all we are. Also, should we actually respond positively to him, he's happier than a kid at Christmas.
Finally, his motivation at the end of the day is to make of the world a battleground for just him and his "friend". He doesn't just want power - he wants both of us to have ALL the power, become gods, ect. There are no complicated plans for world domination, no political meddling, and no in depth future ideas. It's just him and his friend, forever battling as the most powerful beings on the planet, and that's it. Any collateral damage, potential consequences - none of those are even a whisper of a thought for him.
We're his first friend, ever, and he will do anything to make sure it stays that way.
This was a lot of rambling, and I'm sorry for it. Once I really started thinking about it, I just felt I had to get my thoughts out. Maybe it'll help others to give him a bit more of a chance whenever he's back in focus. I'm excited to see what they plan to do with him.
submitted by /u/QuantumDrej
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...