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Overanalyzing Anime
Blog Owner & Lead Writer
Spoilers follow.
Everyone has family drama. Maybe it's as simple as your mother grounding you for something that your little brother did, or perhaps your family has issues with your uncle because he's loves his whisky a little too much, or, maybe, - just maybe - your father is attempting to obtain God-like powers so that he can successfully complete his life-long dream of wiping out half of all life in the universe. Like I said, everyone has family drama; let's not judge. For this segment we're going to focus on, perhaps, the most complex relationship within the MCU - the one between Gamora and her "father," Thanos.
Let's start by taking a look at their relationship in the first Guardians of the Galaxy. While the two never share a scene together, the significance of their relationship is perhaps the most prominent theme for Gamora throughout the movie; in fact, were it not for her father sending her to retrieve the Orb (Power Stone), she would have never met the other members of the Guardians. In addition to that, it also winds up getting her into a fair amount of trouble - not only did her reputation lead to her being arrested, but it also almost led to her death when she and the other Guardians were taken to the Klyn.
“Whatever nightmares the future holds, are dreams compared to what’s behind me.”
The most interesting aspect about her character is that, despite her having done his bidding for so long, she absolutely detests her father - but, perhaps even more importantly, she's fearful of him. Having worked with him for so long, she's seen what he's capable of and the lengths he's willing to go to amass more power. Because of that fact, Gamora trained to become the fiercest warrior amongst her "siblings," thus ensuring she did not face her "father's" wrath. That being said, it's during the events of GOTG that she's finally reached her limit and, instead of handing the Orb over to Thanos and Ronan, decides that she must betray them both and flee.
Interestingly enough, when we view the situation from Thanos's perspective - during the conversation he has with Ronan - he doesn't seem concerned by his daughter betrayl in the slightest. In fact, he seems far more irritated by Ronan's blunders than that of his own daughter. He also refers to Gamora as his "favorite daughter" during the exchange and claims that Ronan "alienated" her, as opposed to her simply running away.
It's interesting to see Thanos hold her in such regard, especially knowing that she has such disdain for him. It really serves to illustrate the juxtaposition in how the two felt about one another; with her being both fearful and hateful of him, while he respected her enough to give her the benefit of the doubt after she had clearly betrayed him, choosing instead to place the blame on Ronan. Honestly, looking back at it, the act was actually very paternal. Ronan came to him explaining that she had done something wrong and he basically replied with, "my daughter would never do something like that." But, you know, in his own 'Thanos' way.
Moving on to Guardians Vol. 2, we get more insight on Gamora and Nebula's life with Thanos. While the Titan doesn't appear in this movie, his presence is still felt through Nebula, who is hellbent on killing both Gamora and their "father." One of the more intimate moments comes from Nebula, who gives us more insight on how aggressive both Thanos and Gamora were during her childhood.
“You were the one who wanted to win. And I just wanted a sister! You were all I had, but you were the one who needed to win. Thanos pulled my eye from my head, and my brain from my skull, and my arm from my body.. because of you.”
The quote gives us a deeper understanding of both Gamora and Thanos; Gamora in the fact that she always sought to win, and Thanos for how cruel he could be to those who lost. Now, while we can appreciate the fact that Gamora only fought so hard to avoid being punished by their "father," it doesn't change the fact that Nebula had to suffer in her place. This isn't meant to diminish Gamora's character in any way because, at the end of the day, Thanos was the one who inflicted these unimaginable horrors on his "daughter," Nebula. Gamora was fighting to survive, while Thanos was just being cruel.
Now, we move to Infinity War, where the culmination of their pasts crescendos into, perhaps, the most emotionally powerful subplot of the movie.
We start in the past, where we see Thanos ravaging a planet through use of the Chitaruri, similarly to the way Loki attacked New York in the first Avengers movie. While his forces gathers the planet's citizens to prepare them for the culling, Thanos takes notice of a young girl who he claims is a, "great fighter." He then proceeds to lead her away from the impending carnage, letting her play with a double-edged knife instead, as half of her people are exterminated. He even gently pulls her attention back to the knife when she tries to turn and get a glimpse at what's occurring behind her.
Interestingly enough, this is our very first glimpse of Thanos and Gamora together, ever. While we know their connection has been a vital part of their stories thus far, up until this point we had never seen them occupy the same scene. Not only that, but it's the first time we've ever seen Thanos behave so.. compassionately. He's sweet, and charming, and his moment with her completely juxtaposes the carnage that was occurring behind them. What's even more interesting is the fact that this action doesn't deviate too much from who he is, as he didn't choose her because she was cute or innocent, but instead because he felt that she could fight. It's honestly an incredible scene.
From there we move to Knowhere, where Gamora and Thanos reunite for the first time in several years. In this emotionally charged scene we see Gamora catch her "father" off-guard, managing to deliver a fatal blow with the same knife he had given her the day he found her. As he slumps to the ground, we watch as Gamora falls to her knees, tears pouring down her face as she mourns the man who tormented her for so long. While one could assume that these are tears of joy - having finally rid him for her life (and the universe) once and for all - I feel that it's fairly obvious that she's in distress.
What makes this scene so interesting is the fact that whenever any other character has had to kill someone close to them - such as a relative - we never see that kind of emotion. Stark killed his God-Father(?) in the first Iron Man movie, Peter killed his father in Guardians Vol. 2, Thor killed his sister in Ragnarok, and T’Challa killed his cousin in Black Panther; and, in none of those instance did we see any of them mourn for the loss of their family in the same way Gamora weeped for Thanos. We've only ever seen heroes mourn for those they loved, such as Steve Rogers for Peggy in Civil War and Drax (through Mantis) for his family in Guardians Vol. 2. Gamora's response was much more akin to Steve and Drax then any of the other aforementioned heroes, which leads me to believe despite her overwhelming hatred for him, she still loved him.
More so, (after we realize it was all an illusion created by the Reality stone) we see Thanos place Gamora in a potentially dangerous situation as Peter holds a gun to her, intending to keep his promise of killing her if ever she was taken captive. Thanos tells Peter to kill Gamora, but when Peter decides to pull the trigger, a flurry of bubbles leaves his gun, in lieu of a energy blast. While we were led to believe that Thanos was placing her in a dangerous situation, I don't believe that he would have ever allowed any harm to befall her.
While one could definitely make the argument that this was less out of love and more because he needed information from her, I can’t help but feel that, regardless of whether or not he needed information from her, there was no way that he would have allowed her to be killed. And I believe that this is due to the fact that - in his own disturbed way - he truly does love her.
Moving away from this scene, the next time we see the two is at his throne, where he brings Gamora something to eat and she angrily throws it at his throne, claiming that she always hated it; to which he replies that he'd still hoped that one day she'd sit in it. Their entire exchange is interesting in the sense that it reinforces and reflects both of their attitudes from the original GOTG movie; her, filled with rage towards her "father," and him, showing her leniency.
“You’re insane.”
“Little one, it’s a simple calculus. This universe is finite in its resources. Finite. If life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist. It needs correcting.”
It goes ever further than that, as he, for the first time, really gives us an understanding of what his plan is, and why he feels that it's the best thing for the universe. While she is angry about his actions on her home planet, he sees the benefits of it, stating, "children born have known nothing but full bellies and clear skies."
He also goes on to remind her that there was a time when she understood his way of thinking; when she used to fight by his side for the singular goal of wiping out half of the universe. When he refers to her as his "daughter" she rejects it and claims that everything she hates about herself she learned from him. He replies by claiming that all that he's done for her, and to her, has resulted in her being the fiercest woman in the galaxy.
The entire exchange is so entertaining because they're both so filled with emotion; she's filled with rage as she's forced to recall her time with him, while he's solemn in his plea for her to return to his side. Not only that, but they're both so resolute in their beliefs; her in the fact that she ran away and tried to kill him, and him in the fact that he wishes to wipe out half the universe. It's interesting watching them go back and forth in regard to what they feel is right.
Interestingly enough, while Thanos is compassionate in this scene, we finally get an opportunity to see the cruelty that was alluded to in Guardians Vol. 2, as we are reintroduced to Nebula, who is suspended in the air, her body being stretched and pulled apart. Thanos has demanded that Gamora provide the whereabouts of the Soul Stone, and when she refuses, he begins to inflict more pain on Nebula by stretching her joints further apart. Gamora can't bear to watch her sister in agony, and so she gives Thanos the information he desires.
This is huge in regard to Gamora's growth as a character since leaving her father. The, once strenuous, relationship with her sister has improved considerably. While she would once numb herself to the pain Thanos inflicted on Nebula, she couldn't bring herself to behave that way any longer. She loves her sister, and would rather risk Thanos gaining another Infinity Stone than see her tortured any longer. She loves her, and doesn't want any harm to befall her.
Which brings us to our last topic. Vormir. I can't stress this enough, but, if by chance you've made it this far and haven't seen the movie, I would really recommend waiting until after you've seen it before continuing.
Still here? Well, let's go.
“All my life I dreamed of a day, a moment, when you got what you deserved. And I was always so disappointed. But now, you kill and torture and you call it mercy. The universe has judged you. You asked it for a prize and it told you no. You failed. And do you wanna know why? Because you love nothing. No one. Really, tears?They are not for him.”
The next scene takes place on Vormir, where Gamora and Thanos have just discovered that, in order to obtain the Soul Stone, an individual must sacrifice the thing that they love the most. What's interesting about this scene is that Gamora, almost immediately, begins laughing; stating that after all the atrocities he's committed, he's forced to deal with the fact that he can never have the prize he seeks because there is nothing that he loves.
This is the first instance we see just how fundamentally wrong she is about how Thanos feels about her. For so long she's told us how cruel he was, and how much she hated him for that cruelty. For so long she thought the worst of him for all his evil acts - for killing half of her people for reasons she did not feel were valid. For so long she thought him incapable of loving anything aside from, perhaps, his own sinister ambitions. But she was wrong. He does love someone. One person. Her.
As he turns to her, tears in his eyes, we see just how painful this is, because while we've seen hate and vitriol from her over the past few years, we've only ever seen leniency and compassion from him (in regard to Gamora). He's shown on multiple occasions that he cares about her well being, and that he takes pride in knowing he helped her become such a fierce woman. It was even his hope that she might one day take his throne as her own. He even goes so far as to tell her that, “I ignored my destiny once, I can not do that again. Even for you. I'm sorry Gamora.”
Even still, as he approaches her, she tells him that, “this isn’t love,” and perhaps she’s right. Perhaps Thanos is not someone who's capable of feeling genuine love, and that their relationship borders more on the obsessive, such as it did in the comics in regard to Death - albeit paternally, not romantically. It is possible, but I don’t think that's the case. While they don’t share many scenes wherein they are alone, I have to say that in their moments together Thanos is almost a completely different person, and it appears that no one, other than Gamora, gets to see that side of him.
I’m not claiming that the relationship between the two is anything other than toxic, but it is very interesting. Despite all that they’ve done to one another, they still can’t help but love each another in their own ways. It's the reason why they both wept as they attempted to take the others life - because it was something that was so unimaginably difficult for them both. In fact, after taking her life, Thanos mentions multiple times just how difficult the experience has been for him - with one of his final scenes being between he and a young Gamora in which he states that he lost everything to attain this goal.
“Daughter.”
”Did you do it?”
”Yes.”
”What did it cost?”
“Everything.”
But, what are your thoughts on the relationship between Gamora and Thanos? Would you like to learn more about it in the next Avengers film? Or did you not care for this particular aspect of the story? Let me know in the comments!
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