The weird thing about Medusa is that Nasu simultaneously doesn't use Ovid's version of the legend, yet he also makes her sympathetic all the same.
At least in OG F/SN both Medea and Medusa were presented as anti-heroes that, while sympathetic, had their share of skeletons in the closet. No prizes for guessing where the real waifu whitewashing started.
shit BL says
Once and always and nevermore.
I say it's weird because I'm fairly certain that before Ovid, Medusa was just a run-of-the-mill monster and not some tragic figure. I could be wrong, though.
Also, it is true that FSN did a pretty good job of making Medea and Medusa sympathetic, yet with shades of black.
I wouldn't say Hollow Ataraxia white washed them *that* much. They portrayed them in a better light, yes, but: 1. Stay Night explored the darker side of their characters well enough, to the point there wasn't much more they could do in the fandisc, and 2. whilst the framing may have changed, the darker sides of their stories still remain there and are presented a lot; at least Medusa's, with all the Sister scenes. (iirc, the H-scene had the moment where Gorgon killed the sisters, but I'm not sure if that was it.)
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Spoiler:
I mean, if casual throwaway lines like these are enough, then no Servant is whitewashed.
I feel like neither Medusa nor Medea are really whitewashed in Ataraxia.
Menwearpink already mentioned Medea, while Medusa, several times in Ataraxia, mentions her really nasty side and we get a glimpse of it with how crazily she is enjoying sadistically killing those dog thinga that were spawning in the 4 day cycle on the fourth night.
She came off as really repressing her sadistic monster side around Shirou, Sakura, and etc.
And it's clear, from what she tells Shirou in some scenes, how far some part of her may fall if she lets loose on it.
Do we really know much about Medusa as a character outside of Ovid, though? A quick Wiki search seems to indicate no. It's also interesting that the Gorgon architectural motif on temples likely predates Gorgon Medusa as a figure.
I mean she was legit just a monster in a lot of pre ovid versions, Ovid had a hateboner for authority, Maybe he was the first to do something like 'what if superman but evil'
Well, I have nothing to say 'cause everything I was going to say has been said already.
But yes, to be clear, HA did not really whitewash Medusa and Medea any more than SN already did beyond giving them more screentime in general. Even the H-scene is, ah, "special".
shit BL says
Once and always and nevermore.
I believe i's older than Ovid. Hesiod, at least, portrays her fairly sympathetically:
"[...] and the Gorgons who dwell beyond glorious Ocean in the frontier land towards Night where are the clear-voiced Hesperides, Sthenno, and Euryale, and Medusa who suffered a woeful fate: she was mortal, but the two were undying and grew not old. With her lay the Dark-haired One [Poseidon] in a soft meadow amid spring flowers. And when Perseus cut off her head, there sprang forth great Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus [...]"
Other authors also depict her as a beautiful woman, instead of a monster - though the jury is out on whether that counts as "portraying her sympathetically".
Last edited by SpoonyViking; July 24th, 2021 at 09:24 AM.
This is probably known about, but I've just encountered it for the first time, so I wanted to talk about it. At the end of the Fate route, when Shirou is dealing with Angra's effect on him and it lists a bunch of "evils of the world," the skip function is disabled. I just thought that was really neat.
i dont know if thats the right thread for that but what would you think to such a crossove r aand who knows the non fate series i am curious to hear
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Dont ship me with anyone unless i say so !
When you wake a Dragon in his Lair...