Clark's choices contributed to Jonathan's death--but so did Martha's choice to ask Lionel for money, and Lex's choice to try to blackmail Jonathan, and Jonathan's choices to accept the risks of Kryptonian powers to save his son and to provoke a fight with Lionel Luthor, and his father Hirma's choice to help a stranger, and the stranger's choice to send his son to that family, etc. etc. Jonathan's death is an inevitable consequence of choices made, but it's not a *punishment* Jor-El has sent. Hooray! Someone's said it, and it's not even me! *g* I think it's as logical to say that Jonathan's own choices and the choices of those around him contribute to his death as it is to attribute blame to Clark. Yes, Clark was rash. Yes, he didn't really think about who would be taken instead. Yes, his love for Lana blinded him to Jor-El's warnings. But the trail of contributing factors to J's death was deliberately set up. And I believe both Martha and Lois are going to have residual guilt as well as Clark.
I suspect we're going to find out his motives are more benign than we've been assuming. We so are! And I think it's clear that Jor-El is *not* controlling human destiny. He has visionary access to it, not complete power over it. If you actually listen to the words he says and not the 'scary all-powerful' voice he says it in, they are quite benign. I think what is alienating about Jor-El is his emotional distance from his son. Hell, he's not the most sympathetic character, but I suspect this is more just a case of different Kryptonian customs. A case of cultural misunderstanding, I guess!
(btw I like your quick ref to [Unknown site tag] and I and our crazy campaigning about the complexities of Jor-El!)
The very fact that Jor-El showed Clark how to change things so it wasn't Lana, shows that even if he *does* have the power to 'take' a life (which I don't think he does), he was not hell-bent on making it the love of Clark's life. If he was really such a vindictive bully, he could have stonewalled when Clark came to him and given him the whole 'you need to accept your destiny' tirade. He really didn't.
no subject
Hooray! Someone's said it, and it's not even me! *g* I think it's as logical to say that Jonathan's own choices and the choices of those around him contribute to his death as it is to attribute blame to Clark. Yes, Clark was rash. Yes, he didn't really think about who would be taken instead. Yes, his love for Lana blinded him to Jor-El's warnings. But the trail of contributing factors to J's death was deliberately set up. And I believe both Martha and Lois are going to have residual guilt as well as Clark.
I suspect we're going to find out his motives are more benign than we've been assuming.
We so are! And I think it's clear that Jor-El is *not* controlling human destiny. He has visionary access to it, not complete power over it. If you actually listen to the words he says and not the 'scary all-powerful' voice he says it in, they are quite benign. I think what is alienating about Jor-El is his emotional distance from his son. Hell, he's not the most sympathetic character, but I suspect this is more just a case of different Kryptonian customs. A case of cultural misunderstanding, I guess!
(btw I like your quick ref to [Unknown site tag] and I and our crazy campaigning about the complexities of Jor-El!)
The very fact that Jor-El showed Clark how to change things so it wasn't Lana, shows that even if he *does* have the power to 'take' a life (which I don't think he does), he was not hell-bent on making it the love of Clark's life. If he was really such a vindictive bully, he could have stonewalled when Clark came to him and given him the whole 'you need to accept your destiny' tirade. He really didn't.