Vash And Wolfwood's Infomations From An Interview With Nightow (Trigun's Author)

Every single time I see a take that amounts to "if you write about X happening, or like fiction where X happens, you like X" I'm reminded of this one time I was at a casual friends house as a young kid. We were in her room, pretending to "be orphans" escaping from an evil orphanage and having to take care of each other and fend for ourselves. It was all very Little Orphan Annie/All Dogs Go to Heaven and based on the 80s pop media.

And this girl's mom comes in, hears what we're playing and gets all MAD and UPSET. She says that if we play act something, it's because we want it to happen. So her daughter must WANT HER TO DIE.

First off lady, we were 6 year year olds, so take it down several notches. We barely had a concept of mortality for fucks sake. She made us feel so guilty and ashamed, because she was taking our game personally.

Now I have a 5 year old. And sometimes she looks at me and says "pretend you're dead, and I have to -" Whatever it is. Some adult task she's assigned herself.

And it's just so transparently obvious that she's practicing the idea of having to do things on her own. Which is exactly what 5 year olds are supposed to do. I actually find it very flattering that the only way she can envision me not being available to help her is to be literally deceased. Otherwise, obviously, she wouldn't have to do scary hard things alone.

It's a natural coping mechanism. She's self-soothing about what would happen if I wasn't there by play-acting independence in a perfectly safe environment. She's also practicing skills she needs, and making up excuses for practicing them on her own, without taking on the responsibility of being able to do them by herself all the time yet.

Humans mentally rehearse bad this in their brains all the time. We can do that by ruminating- going over worries over and over again, which tends to lead to anxiety and helplessness and depression. Or we can do it with a sense of play- by recognizing that the fiction is fiction and we can dip our toe into these experiences and expose ourselves to bad things without actually being injured.

My daughter does not want me dead. And I don't want bad things to happen in real life. But fiction and pretend help me face the horrors of the world and think about them without collapsing or messing myself up mentally.

current gender goals

My current gender goals are somehow 1990's anime guys. I don't envy their tragic backstories, just their broad shoulders and slutty little waists.

I would like to see more discussion about the differences between fiction with dark topics that can be harmlessly enjoyed without making you a bad person and fiction that perpetuates harmful stereotypes and misinformation, because there is media out there that causes harm that way, but this doesn't mean that all media with 'bad' stuff in it is bad, you know?

I really think everyone needs to truly internalize this:

Fictional characters are objects.

They are not people. You cannot "objectify" them, because they have no personhood to be deprived of. They have no humanity to be erased. You cannot "disrespect" them, because they are not real.

I think chapter 2 of TriMax Volume 6 might just be my favorite thus far. Everything in it hinges on this one iconic scene.

This isn't the first time Wolfwood has pointed a gun at Vash's head. Maybe it won't even be the last. But it holds a bit more weight here because just a few pages ago, we saw a flashback where Wolfwood pointed his gun at someone else's head.

His hand shakes as he aims at Knives. His breath is heavy, and the memory of the Fifth Moon incident is fresh in his mind. He knows if he can just pull the trigger, he can end it here. This being of destruction will be gone, and maybe this time his fancy scientists won't be able to bring him back.

But then Knives does Plant things, and under the weight of it Wolfwood finds he just can't follow through. He fears his own death too much, and Knives will surely kill him.

When he points his gun at Vash, it's different. His hand is steady, his breath calm. The memory of everything that happened at the Dragon's Nest is fresh in his mind; just this morning he warned Meryl that she and Milly should remember that, despite his ideals, Vash is still a loose cannon that they'd do well to avoid. He thinks to himself that if he can just pull the trigger, if he can just take out the less intimidating of the brothers, then one of these monstrous twins and half of the problem will be gone.

This time, there's no crushing sensation of oppression. There's no air of fear and malice. There are no threats or memories of twisted promises. There's only a look, wary and concerned...

...but even by the time this happens, Wolfwood has already lowered his gun. He's decided not to pull the trigger, not because of an immediate threat on his life, but because... well, it's Vash.

Wolfwood surely knows that if he pulls that trigger, he catastrophically fails his mission, and whatever consequences might await him on the far side of such a failure aren't going to be anywhere near pleasant. But it doesn't seem like it's fear of Knives that makes him lower his gun. At the very, very least, Wolfwood knows no one stands a better chance at taking down Knives, but he also knows Vash. He's seen Vash's fake smiles and knows his real ones. He understands Vash's ideals despite very much not wanting to and not knowing how he could possibly accept them for himself. He's fought side by side with Vash, and been standing at his back since day 1.

And before this night is out, only a few minutes after pulling a gun on Vash, Wolfwood's right back there again, moving in tandem with Vash, being a human shield so they can accomplish Vash's goals together.

It's only when the fight comes to a close that Wolfwood realizes that's what he's been doing. He didn't put any thought into falling in step behind Vash, didn't dwell on the fact that Vash trusted and moved with him during the fight. It's only afterwards, when they stop to catch their breath, that he realizes Vash hasn't looked his way through the whole battle. That Vash didn't need to look his way through the whole battle.

Not only did Vash trust Wolfwood at his back, but he knows Wolfwood well enough to move intuitively around him, not hesitating and always understanding what Wolfwood's about to do. And at that moment, Wolfwood realizes two things:

First, that there's no way Vash didn't notice when Wolfwood pointed a gun at him. If Knives could figure it out while half dead and barely knowing Wolfwood, then Vash, who's awake, alert, and has spent plenty of time with Wolfwood, can surely figure it out.

And second, that when he's fighting back to back with Vash, nothing else really matters. All his (quite legitimate) fears about what Vash is and how dangerous he can be, about Knives, about finishing his job, about what he himself has become... they all melt away. He's where he needs to be, where he should be, and that's all there is to it.

someone give this boy some donuts plz 😭

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Okay, I found more info on the article where it says that Vash stays away from people so he doesn’t fall in love, and some highlights (translated by Google)

The discussion about the typhoon’s non-killing and anti-killing is actually not aesthetic. At first, I just thought it would be very interesting for the main character, who is obviously a strong shooter, to solve problems with a gun instead of a gun, But sure enough, when it comes to the issue of life and death, it will become heavy, and as a result, it has been confronted with the story. At the end of the confrontation, I came to a conclusion that people can hurt each other because they don’t understand each other. If they understand each other, the weight of life will become completely different. The typhoon has lived on this planet for so long, and through the interaction with people, everyone’s life is engraved in their hearts. In the end, the fact that human beings recognize, communicate and connect with each other will become a force to restrain violence, which is also the meaning of the word “family” (inside the body) in TRIGUN.

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The setting that the pastor’s appearance does not match his actual age was decided on the way. I felt it after reading the pastor’s side comics, but this setting is still great, especially when I think back to the pastor’s childish behavior in the early days, like deliberately taking chili sauce. If you pour it on the wound of the bad guy, you will feel like he is a big boy XD

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The typhoon in the ending seems to have completely black hair, but there is still a little golden part, so he will not die immediately at the end of the time.

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Typhoon finally made friends after living 150 years, will there be lovers in the future? Mr. Naito’s answer is that the typhoon has been avoiding this matter because the time axis (PLANT and human) is too different. The person who wants to fall in love with him must be quite big.

Any occasion can be an excuse to dress up. Why not wear dress pants to the mall if it makes you feel good?

take figures out of their boxes btw. sew patches on your favorite jacket. go to bed with your favorite plushes. wear the pants you usually save for special occasions. draw something cool on your wall. put a sticker on your laptop. dye your hair and pierce your lips. glass is meant to break, metal is meant to rust. items are meant to be used. that's how the world knows that somebody loved them.

In total agreement of this~

Plenty of pairings and plots I prefer in fanfiction but I still think the canon stuff is OK.

I feel fandom would get along a lot better if there was mutual understanding that liking a character, agreeing with a character, and thinking the character is well constructed/executed are all separate (if often overlapping) positions, each with their separate tastes and subjectivities. Also: character portrayals are intended to make the audience feel things; this is separate from (if often overlapping with) analyzing/appreciating their actions and role in the story.

Language Barrier

The shaman fight (both the prelims in Tokyo and the finals in the USA) have people from all over the world competing and everyone seems to speak the same language. In real life, it’s for the convenience of the readers/watchers. In universe, I can only assume that the King of Spirits has granted everyone the power to magically understand/be understood by others regardless of what language they speak. Also, maybe the Oracle Bells help tournament participants walk around without their weapons being noticed by police or border control?

Has this been mentioned somewhere in the manga or bonus material?

Conversations had while waiting for a sandsteamer.

Made for day 1 of @acetrigunweek “self-discovery/what makes us human” :)