#She just keeps losing herself! The winged lion plays her like a puppet and she is his perfect doll! So full of conviction! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ernmark · 7 years

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An old lion, a dragon, and a stolen crown

The story of Andromeda and the Dragon’s Den is a heavy parallel to the events in this season. I’ve talked about it before, particularly in the context of Juno being Andromeda. So let’s look at the rest of this allegory.

“Andromeda!” said Leo, the lion-chief. “Our portal opens in one short hour, and then only for a few minutes… but if you want to use it, you’ll have to pay. On that peak lives the Dragon, Draco, with all his treasure. Bring me a treasure from Draco’s hoard and you will have your way home!”

“You’ve done it!” roared Chief Leo. “My, this crown truly befits the Chief of the Kings of the Jungle! Now, Andromeda, I shall show you to your portal home!”

And that is exactly the plot that’s played out during the first half of this season.

In exchange for bringing the old lion his crown, Juno is offered a way to get what he always wanted-- to Do Good, to save the city, to be the good person that he strives so hard to be.

Never mind that the crown was stolen, or that he didn’t actually need it-- Ramses O’Flaherty was unbelievably powerful to begin with, Mayor or not, just like Chief Leo was already the leader of the lions.

JUNO: Maybe, but some giants are taller than others.

RAMSES: And I’m certainly the tallest.

Following this pattern, I’m guessing we can expect to see the second half of the story play out in the rest of this season:

But just as Andromeda was about to enter the portal back home, she heard the beating of terrible wings. “Draco!” the lions screamed. “The dragon is attacking!”

“You warned me, Andromeda, but I did not listen,” said Chief Leo. “Go on! Go through your portal home! Draco will rage, and the lions will pay for my greed.”

Andromeda looked at her portal. Home was within reach. Polaris at last. But a hero heeds the call.

I’m thinking that Ramses’ carefully-planned agenda is going to go bad in a big way, and it’s going to put all of Hyperion City in jeopardy. He’ll accept culpability for his actions, maybe even offer Juno a way to escape before things get really bad.

But Juno, big damn hero that he is, won’t accept that.

Who is the dragon?

Ordinarily I would suggest that Pilot Pereyra is the dragon in this scenario-- after all, they were the one who was previously wearing the stolen crown. But Pilot is out of the picture, and I think we’re dealing with something bigger than a single person.

And I think that Ramses has named his dragon for himself in Kitty-Cat Caper:

The thieves will never take away our sunrise, and they will never take away our city. They can scare us, they can rob us, they can kill us, but Hyperion City is our city, and we will take it back again.

So join me. Vote Ramses O’Flaherty for Mayor of Hyperion City, and we will take our city back from the criminals who have claimed it for their—

Speaking of KCC, a few names keep getting dropped. By Juno himself:

I headed back to the office and let myself feel sorry for about half a bottle. I knew what I needed. And I also knew it was going to cost me one of two things: either more creds than I’d ever seen in one place before…or a favor.

But from who? The Prince of Mars? Saffron Pharma had been in the toilet since Anthony DiMaggio got flushed. Valles Vicky? That was a one-way road to a ten-year contract cleaning her dirt. Cecil Kanagawa? No thanks; I was already down one eye, and losing an arm, leg, and brain lobe to match didn’t sound so appealing.

By Ramses:

JUNO: Got to say, Mr. O’Flaherty, you’re not exactly my typical clientele.

RAMSES: Oh, I wouldn’t say that. The Kanagawas, the DiMaggios, Valles Vicky… you might like to think of yourself as the hard-knock David scrapping against the galaxy’s Goliaths, Detective Steel, but you’ve been on the giants’ payroll for years.

And three times by Rita:

RITA: Well, you got Cassandra Kanagawa off Mars, didn’t you?

JUNO: That was you.

RITA: Yeah! Pretty little kitty. She’s a Shangoan Mini-Leopard. Galactic Cat Lovers Quarterly says they’re real popular with high-powered businesspeople these days: Drake Draco, Min Kanagawa, Maia King—

JUNO: What were those names again?

RITA: Huh? Oh. Drake Draco, Min Kanagawa, Maia King—

Drake Draco is a name we haven’t heard before, and that was setting off alarms in my head even before I made the Dragon’s Den connection; expect more of them. In the meantime, though, that’s an awful lot of times to mention the criminal class of Hyperion City in general, and the Kanagawa family in particular.

Min Kanagawa has recently gained control of the crime family, she’s had Cassie (and the murder starlet show) stolen out from under her nose, and Cecil (and by extension Min herself) owns Hoosegow, which is exactly the kind of arrangement that Ramses has been talking about eliminating.

I also wouldn’t put it past Min to have been close friends with Maia King (as fellow cat lovers) and Pilot Pereyra (as fellow mobsters)-- attempting to murder one friend and actually murdering the other could put you on anybody’s shit list.

She’d make a great arc villain, considering she and Ramses are both masters of keeping their own hands clean while employing countless puppets and catspaws. Any showdown between the two of them would be amazing to watch.

My one problem is that it doesn’t quite fit the narrative of Andromeda and the Dragon’s Den. Min's too smart and too careful to endanger the entire city in a Draco-style fit of rage, though I suppose she can be pushed to it.

Could this Drake Draco person be who we’re looking for?

Could it be a coalition of criminals who have something to lose?

Or could it be something else entirely?

Only time will tell, travelers.

#the penumbra podcast #penumbra meta

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