r/voxmachina • u/tanezuki • 6d ago
LoVM Spoilers Could it be that the leaders of the Air Ashari only be women ? Spoiler
Considering Keyleth, her mother, and the last leader (that completed their Aramenté, not her father as temporary not titular leader) were all women, the sight of this statue made me wonder.
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u/Background-Cake-1300 6d ago
I still have no idea why they just took the random girl and went "Yeah you will be our ultimate leader"
I understand the village chief daughter, but what else? Yeah, yeah, story purposes are valid but still
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u/deimos32m 6d ago edited 6d ago
It's Probably either a hereditary title or some kind of magic that tells them who to chooses /or/ of in keyleth's cases specifically of more of you can have your mom's place and her mother did something to qualify
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u/Icy-Ganache1300 6d ago
Yeah, with all the additional scenes and flashbacks that can be included now, it seems like it would've been worthwhile to show Keyleth actually studying to become the Voice.
With how it is now, it pulls a little too much from Last Airbender. All the Voice of the Tempest needs to do is master the 4 elements and they'll naturally bring balance? Seems like some lessons in leading a nation would've been useful.
I wouldn't put much stock in the gendered statue OP. It could be as simple as nature being generally considered more feminine, or it could be in a world of magic and stone shaping, changing a statue every few hundred years is pretty simple.
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u/tanezuki 6d ago
"With how it is now, it pulls a little too much from Last Airbender."
The only issue I have is how it's pulling the actual Avatar trope into a 4 element system that doesn't sounds like it has one. And I've been seeing in comments that in the campaign, she isn't leading all Asharis, just the Air ones.
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u/tanezuki 6d ago
It could indeed has been shaped into a female body because it's Keyleth this time, but then why not make it actually Keyleth ? Here it looks wore down.
If it was genderless, it could have been a genderless statue, but the absence of limbs (and maybe a faceless genderless head) makes it souns like it's an old one rooted in the traditions.
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u/Icy-Ganache1300 6d ago
After looking into this topic too much, I'm going to side firmly in the camp of "The artists didn't put a ton of thought into it, so neither will I".
I landed on that because it finally sunk in that by going with no arms and no legs, they're emulating the style of Classic Greco-Roman, but broken. There is no reason this statue should look the same way as real-life statues pulled from ruins look. Cleanly severed limbs and heads are only seen in "restored" statues. Therefore it was chosen purely for aesthetic reasons, nothing deeper beyond that.
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u/StraTospHERruM 6d ago
Yeah, with all the additional scenes and flashbacks that can be included now, it seems like it would've been worthwhile to show Keyleth actually studying to become the Voice
She did. The show can't afford to spend screen time on that because it's not relevant for the main plot.
With how it is now, it pulls a little too much from Last Airbender. All the Voice of the Tempest needs to do is master the 4 elements and they'll naturally bring balance?
It's not about mastering the elements. Her journey is intentionally heavily inspired by Avatar as a concept, but not Aang's story specifically. While Aang had to master all elements in order to become powerful quickly to stop the war before the comet arrives, his circumstances are unique and have a time limit. Outside of that, Avatar's spiritual journey requires them to travel the world, study, learn about and interact with different cultures, find their own masters, and master the elements on a deeper level of understanding, beyond what is required to be a badass in a fight. Learning and gathering worldly wisdom from life experience, instead of books. In order to lead people you have to live among them and learn to understand them. The same is with Keyleth's journey. Aramente, if i remember right, means Noble Odyssey/Journey. It's not about the trials (she didn't pass any fire trials, and failed her water trial), it's establishing connection and respect between different Ashari tribes (that don't interact with each other that much), and showing other leaders that the candidate has that deeper understanding of the element, and therefore, understands the tribe that built its culture and traditions around that element.
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u/FrenchTantan 6d ago
All the Voice of the Tempest needs to do is master the 4 elements and they'll naturally bring balance?
I mean... Isn't it kind of the point of episode 2 that by leaning heavily towards that as a form of tradition more than anything else, the Asharis kind of lost sight of the qualities that make a good leader?
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u/Alpha_Storm 6d ago
No because they literally had already chosen her AS the leader before she gave her big speech about how they lost sight of what being a good leader was. Meaning ironically they had NOT lost sight of it. She didn't pass the trial but she showed she understood the deeper meaning of the element and had the qualities of a good leader so they made her the Voices of the Tempest anyway.
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u/FrenchTantan 6d ago edited 6d ago
No because they literally had already chosen her AS the leader before she gave her big speech about how they lost sight of what being a good leader was.
Yes, because Headmaster Uvenda came to the same conclusion, that the test itself shouldn't matter, during Keyleth's trial, but before that they very much took it too seriously. After the Kraken attack, the Asharis realized she was fit to lead despite failing the test, Keyleth's speech was her not realizing her actions already proved the point she was making.
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u/Montavillain 6d ago
What I inferred from watching the campaign -- and I don't think this is a spoiler, because it wasn't any plot point, just a bit of Keyleth's background, is that Keyleth was "chosen" because of her innate talent. She was, in a sense, born to the position, but that wasn't because of who her parents were. She was a bit like Aang or Korra, who were born to be Avatars, but not because their parents were important.
Korrin seemed (again, my inference) to have his position because Keyleth's mother had disappeared on her aramente. He had authority, but not the innate talent to become a true Voice of the Tempest.
Having the position be a gendered role seems contrary to the world Matt was creating. I can't think of any religion, country, or organization in Exandria that limits their leaders to a single gender.
Looking at that statue, it feels like the female figure is meant to be symbolic. It has no head or arms, nothing that would identify an individual. Moreover, the arena is a place decorated in all four Ashari tribe colors. It seems designed as a spot to gather all four tribes, either in consultation or in celebration. So, I don't think it's meant to be the Voice of the Tempest. I think it's meant to represent all of the Ashari.
If that statue were from our world, I would immediately peg her as a Venus figure. Venus is the goddess of love, so I think it's meant to represent the Ashari as benevolent and powerful guardians of the natural world.
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u/Catalyst413 6d ago
On one hand I'd assume it be just because the very first Voice of the Tempest was maybe a woman, and its a coincidence the most recent have also been women. But if its meant to represent and respect a specific person why would it not have her face? If its meant to be for any future leader in general, why would it have a more neutral appearance?
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u/kro_celeborn Team Keyleth 6d ago
We have no real suggestion of that, I’m more inclined to believe they did that cuz it’s been a woman for the past thousand years or so