Being a father...
I'm just saying don't do that
This is dangerous and illegal. Don't, okay?
- Greetings. I've come to post bail
- Oh, master Joris, again?
- ... Just take the money...
***
Poor Joris, working his ass off to take kids home from prison.
The fourth season of Wakfu hit me hard, I didn’t even expect it. The season in general and Joris as a character in particular. I reflect on him, his history and personality.
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Liveblog - Dofus, livre 1 : Julith [PART 16]
Finally, we arrive at my most favourite scene of the entire movie: The battle against Atcham. And my most favorite music, too. Seriously, if you're reading this blog, and hadn't watched the movie yet, what are you doing? At least watch this scene!
Once again, we see Bakara fighting someone who is much older than her and has been to at least a single war.
She has absolutely no element of surprise, and he enters the fight on his own terms, — attacking her from behind, because her reaction time is way worse than his.
Just as in the last confrontation, he dodges and parries her blows. Mostly dodges. He's more agile in air than Kerubim, and gets to his enemy faster. As a trade-off, Kerubim attacked more often in between parrying Julith's blows, because his nunchucks are a sort of ranged weapon.
As already said — she is absolutely no match to him.
There are many implications here: first of all, Atcham may or may not like women. Second of all, he may or may not even have preferences, despite nobody likely wanting him fr.
This info is very important for lore discussions, everyone.
This battle was him playing with her. And he removes her from the battlefield just as nonchalantly as he won.
And here is my most favourite track in the entire movie...
I think 10yo kids have a superpower that lets them detect people's insecurities. That, or he's remembering what Kerubim told him about Atcham.
Interestingly, while his swords seem to be made of wood at a first glance to a person who hasn't watched this movie 20 times like yours truly, these two shots (besides all the sparkles that'll be flying off these swords when they begin fighting...) confirm that it is, very much, not wood. He isn't afraid of accidentally killing a university student, a random idiot, and a ten-year-old.
Judging from Joris's scared-ass face, he is also quite aware of what Atcham coming here with two shiny, sharp swords (currently pointed right at his head), means.
He's putting Joris in his place, here. He's the unarmed 10-year-old. What can he do to him at worst? Cry about it? Scream?
Another part of this is that he needs Joris to come to Julith mostly unharmed, and not missing any limbs. Which will be easier, if he's scared and compliant.
Bad news for Atcham: Joris's response to being belittled is the same as his.
Because this battle goes by very fast, due to Atcham and Joris both being very agile, it is interesting to look at it on a frame-by-frame basis, to see what they're actually doing to one another.
Joris has his hand in a fist. There is a big likelihood that he wasn't grabbing her bell, but punching Atcham, and this hypothesis seems quite likely when one sees how Atcham is thrown in the air by the impact.
Just from this little moment alone, it is probably obvious to Atcham that, despite Joris's age, it will be a very annoying battle at best, and a fair one at worst. But even being aware of this doesn't give him the time to react to Joris's moves.
After being punched in the face by Joris, he drops the bell, but interestingly, despite having all the time to grab it, Joris goes straight for his sword.
He has good priorities. Even if this battle is due to his worries about Lilotte, grabbing her bell and risking losing the opportunity to grab a weapon, would be far more detrimental.
Atcham hits Joris with his head 1-2 times, similarly to the way he will hit Ush in the future. This can point to either him borrowing other classes' techniques (the classic iop headbang), or to him developing this style when he was a child (when you're small, thin, and furless, the best way to defend yourself if some older kids are pinning you down would be to hit them with your head).
Also, interestingly, while Joris aims to hit Atcham with his sword lethally, Atcham keeps parrying his hits by either aiming at Joris's sword, or hitting him with his hands/legs/head. He can't exactly risk killing Julith's kid, — despite the numerous threats.
I had always viewed this scene as Joris's true ascent to adulthood — not hiding, but grabbing a sword, a tool of killing, into his hands, for the sake of whatever family he has left.
Besides that, I also think it is the scene that truly made Atcham and Joris family, — brothers, an uncle and a nephew. Atcham would never have listened to him, much less grow to respect and love him, had Joris not fought back at his insults.
I bet when he was little, Atcham fought back too, just as feverishly. This is something he respects a lot, ad I bet that he blames himself at least a bit for not being strong enough when he was a kid. A very dog-eat-dog mentality.
(puts on tinfoil hat) If Kerubim and Joris's bond is "violence forged through pure love", and then Joris and Atcham's is "pure love forged through violence".
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Dofus: The Production - reviewing the Xa and Tot interview
pictured: 7yo Joris, 10yo Joris, 60yo Joris, and 584-585yo Joris.
Funnily enough, this interview will touch onto something already mentioned in the artbook I already reviewed.
The origins of Joris as a character.
Sadly, it is machine translated, but I think we'll understand it well enough.
Here we learn that Joris was inspired by Vivi from Final Fantasy. I am sad to report I had never played Final Fantasy, and all my knowledge of him comes from hearsay at best, but Id do find there to be some very funny and twisted parallels between Vivi and Joris, beyond their troubles with lifespans (Vivi's being extremely short, Joris's the opposite...)
Like lol. Lmao even. (laughs fondly at the memory of having drawn fanart of Kerubim and Joris cannibalising one another as symbolism for Kerubim's selfish exploitation of Joris for his own emotional needs and regrets, — and Joris growing to derive pleasure from being exploited by Kerubim, and being a willing participant in the mixture of parentification and infantilization he experiences after the 600 years of living with his dad.)
Anyway,
Joris's progression as a character being "joke character -> character Xa created to be cool and awesome in a moment of inspiration, despite Tot's brief -> he bewitches them both fully" is so funny to me.
I always found it funny that Tot doesn't really see the forest (dofus aux tresors de kerubim) for the trees (child neglect and the psychological horror of Joris Jurgen's entire existence).
Not even going to comment on not knowing what the hell "epic-burlesque" is supposed to mean.
Now we move onto my favourite part of this interview: Tot's thoughts on Joris as a character.
I'm glad he said that they've worked on his life story through multiple centuries. Gives me hope that Tot has given thought to Joris's experiences during Leorictus Sheran-Sharms silly, perhaps even whacky reign.
I want to note the word choice here, — Joris isn't mysterious, but jaded. All of his caginess and "mystique" is attributable in equal part to his distrust of others, cynicism, and exhaustion with the horrible things he has seen throughout his life.
Which would very likely include being cagy even about his class, considering the whole "huppermage gencocide" thing that happened after Leorictus Sheran-Sharm.
The thing about Joris is that it is hard to appraise him from our own point of view. I had always liked how this franchise treats immortal characters, — they are beings with feelings, who make mistakes, who have issues.
But it does not make them any less incomprehensible.
In a way, he is so compelling to me, because I find his existence terrifying — Joris is someone who started out with all these ideas of kindness and justice, but can someone who is 600 years old really uphold them?
Judging from Waven, we know the answer to this question.
I think that with Joris's character, as well as Kerubim and Atcham, one of the major themes is stagnation.
While at times their immortality, and the freedom it provides, is referred to in a bit of an "optimistic nihilism" way,
Especially with the themes and motifs referenced in Aux Tresors de Kerubim, (especially with the ending directly referencing Diane Ardant's monologue,)
It's such a painful mixture of stagnation and endless freedom. There's a horror of never being able to escape, — not from having to experience the horrors of history, not from your own childhood house.
And then there's the horror of moving on from everyone you ever loved. While Kerubim and Joris share this one, I associate it more with Kerubim simply because he is so obsessed with the stories of his youth. It feels as if what was two hundred years ago is just yesterday, to him...
While with Atcham it's just speculation and my own headcanons, the sort of immortality, stagnation related horror I associate with him is dependency. He is not the same, strong person he used to be when he was alone. If he had to go back to Brakmar after all this time, he wouldn't be able to adjust. It's like all this time has declawed him.
Joris never really knew a life outside the all-consuming relationship he has with Kerubim and Atcham, but for Atcham it's different. And with every unchanging year that passes, he settles more and more into this peaceful existence, — and if he were torn away from it, just like Joris and Kerubim, he would not be able to function.
I think that the theoretical endpoint of where Kerubim, Joris, and Atcham could end up is whatever is going between Qilby and Shinonome.
Being one another's only meaning, in a world devoid of meaning, for better or for worse. Probably for worse.
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