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Original Tumblr Post: Theory: Legato or Wolfwood are what Tesla would have grown up to.
Theory: Legato or Wolfwood are what Tesla would have grown up to.
“What do you mean by that, my favourite, derpy lizard,” you ask. To which I say…
I thought long and hard about it, between the twins and their human followers there is one very important and blatant difference in how they have experienced their trauma. Wolfwood and Legato have been direct victims. They have personally endured torture. Vash and Knives witnessed the aftermath of such torture. They are hurt indirectly, accidentally even. Both experiences are painful and I am not making up a hierarchy about which one was hurt the most, because that’s useless.
Though, there is one big difference for me. Neither Vash nor Knives have experienced the helplessness and powerlessness that the other three have experienced. And that is what makes them who they are. Knives becomes a tyrant, always fearing losing control and ending up like Tesla. Vash becomes a people pleasing martyr that denies himself even the slightest care. But they have power. It is their decision and agency, how they use it. Sure, their trauma twists it, but they have, in theory, power to do as they like. Hell, the whole history of No-Man’s-Land is them acting how they want. Only they themselves can force them to do something, they are completely independent from outer influences, except the other. And such their sense of community, connection to others and their empathy suffers. If you are completely independent, why would you need to truly connect to anybody? (stares at Vash, but I digress)
The feelings of powerlessness and helplessness are such an important part of Legato and Wolfwood.
For Legato they are the reason why he fawns over the perfect being Knives. Knives is perfect because he is powerful. He can do whatever he wishes to and that is something Legato looks up to. But however craycray Legato is, he knows suffering. Even though it is useless in the grand scheme of things, since Knives will scorch the whole of No-Man’s-Land, he still saves those enslaved women. It would be totally out of character, if it wasn’t for the bit that he himself experienced such assaults and thus doesn’t want others to experience the same. Even if they would die anyway.
For Wolfwood, while he didn’t experience outright torture (most likely) before joining the orphanage, we get hints that his childhood before wasn’t the easiest. His feelings of powerlessness and receiving a place in the orphanage as a saving grace make him a protector. Someone who endures, so others do not have to. And that is how he endures the outright torture of the EoM. Because he experienced community and selfless help and chose to help the people he cared for likewise. Wolfwood reflects the good he has experienced, for the better and worse.
So, for me, the question is not if Tesla would be similar to one of them, but more akin to: Which experiences would make her develop in either way? Would she become more like Legato if some “Ubermensch” saved her? Or would she become more like Wolfwood, if she has the chance to experience true selflessness and community?