enjoyallneednothing-blog:

moody-avocado:

Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I have written a meta, and this would be the first time that my meta is focusing on the villains, rather than the hero(es). I have seen that popular post about the Stockholm Syndrome and the three characters mentioned in the title here, however, this is not a rip-off, and I am taking a different spin on the relationship. Hope you have fun reading, leave comments, and don’t be shy to message me about this or anything else! 🙂 Oh, and, I could also probably write a whole separate meta on the villains’ narcissism/dark triad, there are whole books written on the topic, but I am trying to give a brief overview of all the aspects of the relationships, and draw all the parallels I can find.

Let’s get started! 🙂

A common denominator for

Supreme Leader Snoke (Star Wars), Mother Gothel (Tangled), and Judge Claude Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) would be the dark triad.

THE DARK TRIAD

The dark triad is a subject in psychology that deals with three traits – narcissism, machiavellianism, and psychopathy. All are conceptually distinct although empirical evidence shows them to be overlapping. They all point to a callous-manipulative interpersonal style.

• Narcissism is characterized by grandiosity, pride, egotism, and a lack of empathy.
• Machiavellianism is characterized by manipulation and exploitation of others, a cynical disregard for morality, and a focus on self-interest and deception.
• Psychopathy is characterized by continuing antisocial behavior, impulsivity, selfishness, callousness, and remorselessness.

I will elaborate on how these traits (perhaps not all of them, but most of them) manifest themselves below. 

One thing that all of these villains have done to their victims (Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, Rapunzel, and Quasimodo, respectively) was separating them from their families at a young age and then keeping them in isolation, in order to achieve selfish goals.

NARCISSISM

Apart from a certain air of grandiosity, egotism, and disregard for others, it is easy to see how pride manifests itself in the three antagonists, physically. There were two studies that determined that people with dark triad traits put more effort into their appearance. All three are vain – Snoke is dressed in a gold robe and slippers, Mother Gothel captured Rapunzel in order to remain young and beautiful forever, and Frollo adorns himself with large rings (do not get me wrong – nothing wrong with large rings, I am just talking about what they represent, in the limited character exposure we get! 😉 ).

STUNTED GROWTH, EXPLOITATION

One of the defining characteristics of these relationships is that the villain does not let their victim grow – otherwise the victim would certainly run away. While this stunting refers to the intellectual and emotional, in Rapunzel’s case, this is symbolized and presented in a literal way – Rapunzel wears a dress that is several sizes too small for her body, even though Mother Gothel does not seem to have monetary issues, and makes shopping trips. When it comes to the intellectual, Rapunzel only has three books, even though she obviously enjoys reading – she does it every morning. While Quasimodo is about 20 years old, we can see him still learning (or rather – endlessly repeating) the alphabet (Frollo: D? Quasimodo: Damnation?Frollo: E? Quasimodo: Eternal damnation!). Quazimodo is bright and he could certainly do more. Snoke somewhat stunts Kylo Ren’s intellectual growth – remember Snoke’s promise about the continuation of the training in exchange for Han Solo? – but the stunting is predominantly emotional (I will talk about the emotional aspects later).

The villains all exploit the victims – Kylo and Rapunzel possess supernatural gifts (”raw, untamed force power” – of use to Snoke for ruling the known universe, and a healing/rejuvenating power, respectively). When it comes to Judge Frollo, the exploitation is more subtle – when the archdeacon insists that Frollo mustn’t kill the malformed infant on the steps of a cathedral, Frollo says that the boy might prove to be of use one day. It is also worth mentioning that he did not spare Quasimodo out of pity, but he was “afraid for his immortal soul”.  

CREATIVITY

It is interesting to remark how Kylo Ren, Rapunzel, and Quasimodo are all creative people. Kylo Ren practices calligraphy in a universe where everything is digital, Rapunzel paints, cooks, makes music, knits and charts the stars, whereas Quasimodo sculpts figurines and buildings out of wood and paints them. In a way, this indicates that they are responsive to outer stimuli, that they deeply process the events and the world around them, meaning that they are more open, and more vulnerable to “input”. This makes them a perfect target.

FAMILY

Upon isolation, the villains take up the role of the protagonists’ parents. Since the protagonists are being stunted in their development, and do not have enough of a critical opinion about their “caretakers”, they still believe in their parental figures’ judgement when it comes to what they should and should not do (less so over time).

There is also a lot of guilt-tripping going on, making the victim feel like a burden – the villain’s narrative is always a variant of how the world wanted/wants to kill the victims, and rejects them, but the they saved them.

Frollo tells Quasimodo that his mother abandoned him, and that anyone other than Frollo would have drowned him, had they found him. In a Star Wars novel, it is said that Snoke used Ben Solo’s feeling of inadequacy for his own purposes. While I have no proof of it, I am guessing that Snoke told Ben Solo how his mother, Leia, too involved into politics (novels), and father, Han, who would often be absent, did not care about him, and are abandoning him. This makes the victim clutch to their abuser, as they do not wish to be left again.

It is important to mention the following: 

Rapunzel is in a tower, and her parents live far away.

Quasimodo is in his “cathedral sanctuary”, his mother dead, his father probably imprisoned. However, he wants to seek belonging among the people of Paris, establish a new “family”.

Kylo Ren, on the other hand, IS surrounded by people, BUT, from what I have concluded, he is “kept” secluded, something represented in his costume too, especially in The Force Awakens, where he is completely wrapped, to the point that not even a bit of his neck is showing. I also guess that, like Vader before him, he is seen as some sort of a strange wizard that no one really wants to be friends with. Instructed by Snoke, he killed his father – additionally, the deed makes it harder for him to go back home, to the Resistance, and to old friends. Snoke wanted to kill Leia, too.

LOVE INTERESTS

All the three villains try to – literally – destroy the protagonists’ romantic/sexual interests.

They convince the protagonists that their love interest is trying to exploit them and/or that their relationship is not genuine. Ironically, in the cases of Mother Gothel and Judge Claude Frollo, I think that they even think this to be at least partially true and that they may be projecting. This also implies that, as they are the ones uncovering this “truth” about the “manipulation”, and “protecting” their victims, they are the ones to be trusted as they have the protagonists’ best interests in mind.

While they are cutting off the emotional comfort and reassurance that the love interests would provide to the victims, making it easier for the victims to stand their ground and run away, I believe that they are also trying to prevent them from physical intimacy, that would help the victim transition from the child-like-state that they are in into (sexual) maturity. The villains intentionally infantilize their victims – Snoke calls Kylo Ren a child, Frollo calls Quasimodo “boy”.

SELF-ESTEEM

Another way in which the villains manipulate their victims is through ruining their self-esteem. This leaves a deep cut in the protagonists as, their whole lives, they receive both praise and insults from that ONE person (see the first paragraph in the segment “FAMILY”), whom they have respect and a certain sort of awe for. In part, they want to prove themselves, and that’s why they obey. For example, Frollo calls Quasimodo deformed, ugly, and implies that Quasimodo is intellectually inferior. Snoke mocks Kylo Ren for being emotional, sensitive, and compassionate. Mother Gothel makes plenty of remarks about Rapunzel’s “inadequacy”, including some about her appearance. The worst part is that the abusers tell their victims that that is simply the way things are, and that they are making all of those nasty comments for the victim’s own good, so no harm would come unto them. The lack of self-esteem makes it easier for fear to be instilled.

FEAR

Fear is a “great” way to manipulate victims and further isolate them. It does not take much to instill fear into Kylo Ren after the Luke Skywalker incident. It was, after all, his own uncle, who camein the night with the intent to kill him. When it comes to Quasimodo and Rapunzel, they were fed lies about the exaggerated dangers of other people and the world their whole lives. In Quasimodo’s case, the Festival of Fool’s day incident did not help.

THE GOLDEN CHILD AND THE SCAPEGOAT

A tactic that Snoke employs, as Kylo is not completely, literally, cut-off from the world (unlike Rapunzel and Quasi) is scapegoating. This is a technique that many narcissists employ (it does not fall into the diagnostic criteria for narcissism, but it is nevertheless well known). From what was briefly shown in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, we can conclude that General Hux is “the golden child” and Kylo Ren is blamed for failures whenever it serves a purpose for Snoke. This again instills a feeling of guilt and inadequacy, prompting Kylo to perform “better” next time.

IMAGINARY FRIENDS

Developing imaginary friends as a support network is a testimony to the deep loneliness that the caharacters are experiencing.

It is tragic that a twenty-year-old and a thirty-year-old are turning to stone gargoyles and a melted helmet of a dead man, respectively, for advice and support. This also shows that the trust between the victims and the perpetrators is one that is not based on trust and understanding.

Commentary:

Things turned out well in the end for Quasimodo and Rapunzel, and I hope that everything will work out for Kylo Ren/Ben Solo as well. I wish to say that he is not blameless for all that has happened so far in the sequel trilogy, but I am hoping for a redemption arc, and him breaking away from his old mindset.

Thank you for reading! Again, feel free to comment! 🙂

Disclaimer: I own nothing, entertainment and educational purposes only; I do not own any of the images or characters

The dark triad picture taken from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/you-psychopath-generation-wuss-meets-dark-triadtake-mcneilis-msc- , all credits to them; the dark triad characteristics list taken from wikipedia

Some very cool parallels – great job!!