Vi vs Galadriel - writing female fighters. (Arcane / Rings of Power)

This is a different sort of video to my usual content - a bit of an experiment really, to see if you guys like this sorta stuff. I absolutely love arcane, and Rings of Power might be the worst show I've ever watched. And something I love about Arcane is something I can't stand in ROP - how they handle the female fighter. So what do I like about Vi that I can't stand in Galadriel? Watch and see!

The following music was used for this media project:
Music: Relaxing Dreams by MusicLFiles

[matthewpelletier]

Its not really fair to compare Vi and Galadriel. After all, Fortiche is a multi billion dollar industry titan adapting a character from one of the most famous and popular series ever made, with decades of lore to use, and Amazon is a small, indie company adapting a character from a fairly recent property without a lot of lore or source material to draw from.

Oh snap, did I get that backwards?

[oscarstainton]

Oh my word, it's NOT even a contest!! I'm shocked by how similar their arcs are as you pointed out. I would pay for Vi to whale into Not-Galadriel while the real Galadriel watches with satisfaction.

[mackadam]

I just want to point out, most of the comparisons you made were between an adult Galadriel and a teenage Vi. Just goes to show how much more mature the writing is for Vi, even as a teenage character.

[FrozenFireMeltedICe]

I don't mind that Galadriel starts out as selfish and callous. The problem is that she doesn't grow from that at all

[bigbrainenergyguy]

I feel like the reason Galadriel is so emotionally disconnected from what's happening around her is that Amazon's writers are actively putting in effort to avoid the stereotype of women being too emotional... except y'know, when your family dies most people would cry regardless of gender. That's normal. This mindset of defying stereotypes seeps into every aspect of her character until... oops! We've created toxic masculinity. I'm serious. Think about what traits get lambasted as "toxic masculinity" and it's pretty apparent that Galadriel has most of them. She's out of touch with her emotions, she mostly uses violence to solve problems, she pushes ahead alone, she neglects the well-being of her team, etc.

On the other hand, Vi has some of these traits, but not all of them, and the ones she does have are treated as flaws. The worst part is we more often get a Galadriel than a Vi. Writers seem very concerned with giving women good role models, which really should be a good thing, but they frequently seem to believe that the key to writing these characters is to inject them with toxic traits. Captain Marvel comes to mind, but I don't watch too many movies so I'm sure you could think of more.

They even have the gall to deflect all critics as sexist. Sure, some of them are, but for God's sake you keep writing the same damn character! The fact is that Vi is able to go against gender norms and virtually everyone loves Vi. There's no excuse anymore. Stop making these bad shows and give us more of arcane.

[elijahnoble]

I think it’s funny that rings of power has become a case study on what not to do when writing a TV show

[MALICEM]

Vi is seriously one of the most Interesting characters in Western TV and mostly it's unrelated to her being physically strong or a fighter. She is presented as the sort of main character and hero of the story yet is in many ways the Antagonist to Jinx(whom the show actually revolves around) and directly or indirectly leads to her downfall and the war despite her best intentions. Jinx is the monster that Vi, the noble hero, created. even though Vi did everything she could to do the opposite, but just her nature and ignorance to what Jinx had become doomed her to push her sister away. that is such a good story to tell and runs entire different to how most Western stories are in current media. and her being a buff butch brawler wasn't the core to that interesting dynamic.

[thatotherguy]

13:25 "This cannot be excused but my god can it be understood."

THANK YOU!!! This is one point that I am constantly trying to get across to other Arcane reviewers. It was utterly unavoidable for Vi, given her characterization to that point in time.

But go back and look at Powders reaction again - the HIT isn't what hurt her. It was Vi grabbing her by the face and saying "Milo was right - you ARE a Jinx!" that is what set Powder off - and in Episode 6 Vi confirms that she knows that's the problem. "I shouldn't have said that." The punch was bad, but from the way Powder reacts it isn't the first time that Vi has punished Powder with a punch. Or at least it's not something Powder thinks is out of character for Vi. Which doesn't excuse the punch, but the actual damage is done by words and eventual abandonment.

As for Galadriel, I haven't bothered to watch that show yet. One of the good things about being a Fan and not a Content Creator is that I can skip things that I don't think I'm going to enjoy watching, and literally nothing I've seen from Rings of Power makes me think I'd enjoy anything in it. At all. So no RoP for me. What little I have seen of the show fits right in with the interpretation here - overall a failure of a character at nearly every level. She might LOOK the part of Galadriel, sorta, but that might be the only level where the character succeeds to any degree.

[xDarkestDemonx]

Buzzword motivation:
What makes the character assassination of Galadriel in RoP even more soul crushing is that the writers would have had a perfectly fine angle from the books to motivate her. In the books, Galadriel is an inherently prideful person, who, for the longest time, had the desire to have a dominion of her own. It's a flaw of hers, one that the one ring appeals to in the scene where Frodo offers it to her. That's what makes that scene so significant and the words that came after it "I passed the test. I will diminish.. and go into the west... and remain Galadriel". It means that she was able to overcome her pride and overcome that desire of ruling over others, giving her reason to go back home to Valinor, eventho that means giving up her status as a queen/lady.
And that flaw could have *easily* been used in the show to drive her forward, but instead they chose to pretty much eradicate absolutely everything about her character and make her a vessle for vengeance. And that erasure also affected her good qualities, of course. In the books, even tho she is this prideful person, she is still compassionate and caring. It does play into her pride, but she cares deeply for the people of her dominion. She protects them, which is why she initially doesn't want to help the fellowship directly. She doesn't want to risk her own people, but also doesn't want to riks losing what she's built herself, so her motives are both her flaws as well as her virtues.
Even her offer for Frodo and Sam to look into the mirror is framed as "I don't give you advice, but you might learn something useful". Which she only does at all at this point, because she symphasizes with a fellow ring bearer. First *after* she passed the test and overcame her pride, she took a more active role in helping the fellowship, giving them adive for their next destination and granting them gifts.

And all of this, compassion, sympathy, foresight and pride, all of this is completely gone in RoP. She has absolutely none of these qualities. You can argue for pride, but not the same kind she had in the books. RoP Galadriel has a self-righteous form of pride - on where she thinks that the end justifies the means. Book Galadriel is prideful in the sense that she thinks she deserves a dominion of her own, but she actually has the qualities to show for it and knows of the responsibilities that come with it. RoP doesn't give a flying damn for responsibilities or the consequences of her actions whatsoever.

And yes, people might wanna argue that "it plays before the events of the books, so maybe she has to develope these qualities first". But no. That's a very weak argument. Even if someone is still far away from "passing the test", they'd still show some of those qualities. There is absolutely no way that would seem logical or natural in which RoP Galadriel could develope and evolve into anything even remotely similar to book Galadriel.

RoP Galadriel is by the end of the day a completely different character altogether. And that's the worst part about it. If the writers really wanted to go with an angle of the protagonist spiraling downwards into being the actual bad guy (which I don't actually think they intended, it's just what happened through their crappy writing), then they should have just invented a new character for it. Not kill off a beloved and honestly very important character of the Tolkien world.

[gimmeyourrights]

The problem with Galadriel is that she's strong because she is, where Vi shines is that she is strong because of her will to protect people she cares about. It's why she goes to hell and back fighting Sevika, it's why the only time she left her guard down was when her own sister snuck up on her. Her willingness to protect people is her strength but it's also established that it is also her weakness, because she lets her guard down multiple times because of this.

[mornjnglori]

The algorithm coughed up your video to me, I just finished it and wanted to say well done!! This was a well written little video essay and did a great job comparing/contrasting some of the parallels between two characters who were written VERY differently. Keep up the great work!

[ericjohnson]

Someone else pointed out that the greatest strengths of Arcane's characters are also their greatest weaknesses. Vi is an excellent fighter, but because she put so much time and energy into learning how to fight, it's her first response to almost every problem. She hits Powder in episode 3 which drives a wedge between them and also she fights Sevika in episode 5, in front of witnesses, giving up the element of surprise to Silco.

[adagio]

I love how passionate you sound when talking about these characters, be it appreciation for Vi or pure hatred for Galadriel

[devilkingaming]

The animated characters in arcane feel infinitely more human than real life human actors.

[WolfEntertainment]

Definitely glad YouTube recommended this video to me. You did a great analysis on them both.

Vi is just such a great character due to not letting her weaknesses stop her but to help push her, as well as having two mechanized fists to punch her way through trouble. Also glad that Arcane transferred Vi's playstyle into Arcane because she is all about charging into battle and breaking down defenses while defense is to the side as a Passive ability.

[aunderiskerensky]

riot really did a number. they raised the bar pretty high. i'm glad that hollywood is getting shit on right now. they deserve it. the animation, music, story telling, backdrop, character arcs.... everything about arcane was really well done; and i was extremely skeptical. one of the best animated series i've seen in awhile, and honestly one of the best shows i've seen period. the amount of care they put into the human motion, facial expressions included. just out of this world.

[davidbarton]

I loved the video, you raised some great points. I absolutely loved Vi and didn't like Galadriel, but couldn't put my finger on why. You've done a great job spelling it out.

[fishraposo]

HOW DO YOU ONLY HAVE 114 SUBSCRIBERS? This is one of the best videos i've ever seen, I love seeing a smart woman apreciate female characters without falling for pandering. Instantly subscribed and notifications are on, keep up the great work.

[stefanzaric]

No idea what you usually make, but you got yourself a sub if you make more content like this, good work.

[noconsequence]

I love how Arcane has set such a standard for so many different aspects of media lol