![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Jor-El, Prophecy, and Destiny
I made the mistake of reading the comments on "Reckoning" on the TWOP right beofre going to sleep, and now I can't sleep because I'm arguing with them in my head! So some probably disjointed thoughts on Jor-El and destiny behind the cut; spoilers for "Reckoning."
Basically the impetus for this post was the argument made by many on TWOP that Clark had effectively killed Jonathan by "choosing" Lana over him. Now, as I said in my last entry on this episode, although I'm sure Clark *feels* that way, I don't think it's true--and not simply because I think Jonathan's own choices lead to his death. I'm starting to reconsider Jor-El's "punishment" of Clark.
I'm too tired to go searching for the actual quote, but from the many promos I remember it as "The life of someone you love will be exchanged for yours," or something like that. Now, we all read that as Jor-El punishing Clark for disobeying him. (Well, except![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bop_radar and supacat, who have been arguing for a while that Jor-El's message was more complicated than that--but I wasn't really convinced before now).
But what if Jor-El's power--to raise a human from the dead--was one of those one-time powers, like the time-travel crystal? Jor-El is not, I hope, omniscient, and can't read the future--which is why I had a hard time coming up with a benign interpretation of his prediction. But he knew that Jonathan's heart had been weakened by taking Clark's powers--and he knows (based on his experiences with Louise) that "human life is fragile, my son." Maybe he *intended* to use his one-time miraculous resurrection powers to bring back Jonathan, if necessary, but since he had to use them on Clark, he knew that at some point Clark would have to face a loss that could have been prevented if Clark had just listened to Jor-El.
That scenario works a lot better with what Jor-El had to say in this episode ("the tide of fate is impossible to stop" and "the universe will find a balance"--which seems almost like karma to me. (Btw, did anyone notice the Buddha on Lex's wall in the first scene between Lana and Lex? It was out of focus, but definitely there). The thing about karma, though, is it's a little more flexible than destiny, because the law of karma says that all of our choices--and all of everybody else's choices--have inevitable consequences, but choice still exists.
So yes, 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.
That doesn't mean Jor-El isn't orchestrating some of the choices, because he has a goal for his son, which is probably shaped by the own choices he made while he was on earth. (I wonder: did he get the choice to try to save Louise? And if so, what was the outcome of that?) And this choice Clark has made is a "trial" (did he say it was the last trial? I don't remember--and maybe he was supposed to save the time travel for something important in the future, like defeating General Zod, who I assume is coming at *some* point in the future.) But I suspect we're going to find out his motives are more benign than we've been assuming.
Ok, I'm falling asleep *as I type this*, so I'd better go to bed. I hope this is somewhat coherent!
Basically the impetus for this post was the argument made by many on TWOP that Clark had effectively killed Jonathan by "choosing" Lana over him. Now, as I said in my last entry on this episode, although I'm sure Clark *feels* that way, I don't think it's true--and not simply because I think Jonathan's own choices lead to his death. I'm starting to reconsider Jor-El's "punishment" of Clark.
I'm too tired to go searching for the actual quote, but from the many promos I remember it as "The life of someone you love will be exchanged for yours," or something like that. Now, we all read that as Jor-El punishing Clark for disobeying him. (Well, except
bop_radar and supacat, who have been arguing for a while that Jor-El's message was more complicated than that--but I wasn't really convinced before now).But what if Jor-El's power--to raise a human from the dead--was one of those one-time powers, like the time-travel crystal? Jor-El is not, I hope, omniscient, and can't read the future--which is why I had a hard time coming up with a benign interpretation of his prediction. But he knew that Jonathan's heart had been weakened by taking Clark's powers--and he knows (based on his experiences with Louise) that "human life is fragile, my son." Maybe he *intended* to use his one-time miraculous resurrection powers to bring back Jonathan, if necessary, but since he had to use them on Clark, he knew that at some point Clark would have to face a loss that could have been prevented if Clark had just listened to Jor-El.
That scenario works a lot better with what Jor-El had to say in this episode ("the tide of fate is impossible to stop" and "the universe will find a balance"--which seems almost like karma to me. (Btw, did anyone notice the Buddha on Lex's wall in the first scene between Lana and Lex? It was out of focus, but definitely there). The thing about karma, though, is it's a little more flexible than destiny, because the law of karma says that all of our choices--and all of everybody else's choices--have inevitable consequences, but choice still exists.
So yes, 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.
That doesn't mean Jor-El isn't orchestrating some of the choices, because he has a goal for his son, which is probably shaped by the own choices he made while he was on earth. (I wonder: did he get the choice to try to save Louise? And if so, what was the outcome of that?) And this choice Clark has made is a "trial" (did he say it was the last trial? I don't remember--and maybe he was supposed to save the time travel for something important in the future, like defeating General Zod, who I assume is coming at *some* point in the future.) But I suspect we're going to find out his motives are more benign than we've been assuming.
Ok, I'm falling asleep *as I type this*, so I'd better go to bed. I hope this is somewhat coherent!
no subject
Your propaganda campaign has been successful! Though actually, I wrote this and then went and rewatched a bunch of episodes from earlier in the season and I'm not 100% sure, now, of Jor-El's benign intent--in a couple of crucial scenes he's given the same dialogue that Lionel says to Lex in "Lexmas," which is a chilling parallel that can only be deliberate on the writers' part.
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.
But someone has a theory--I can't remember where I read it, in the comments on
I completely thought Jor-El wasn't manipulating things when I originally wrote this essay, but as usual after reading everyone's theories I'm now completely unsure what I think!
no subject
Jor-El and Lionel are clearly paralleled. Both sons struggle against their fathers and that struggle is instrumental in creating their future identities. The irony is that they will both follow their father's prescribed paths for them far more closely than either initially wants. Both fathers can be justifiably accused of emotional manipulation and bullying. But their purposes are not *always* as evil as the reactions of the sons indicates.
The one area where the parallel between Lionel and Jor-El doesn't hold up quite so well for me, is that Jor-El only really addresses one aspect of Clark: his Kryptonian part. Jor-El shows little or no understanding of Clark's human identity. He's probably staggered that Clark developed it! Kryptonians seem such absolutists, he is probably genuinely surprised that his son identifies so heavily as human, especially now that he has lived and died a human life. For this reason, simply because Jor-El has less access to Clark's human emotions, I think he's less destructively abusive than Lionel. (Personal opinion)
However confusion arises as to what degree Jor-El is active in punishing Clark. I maintain there is no evidence to suggest Jor-El can kill people at will and/or control destiny. If he could truly control it, he'd have Clark doing what he wanted already. It seems more like he can see the future and make predictions and can try to guide Clark but he can't control everything. His agency is limited.
The Jor-El/Lionel connection is a fascinating though ambiguous feature of this season. The theory you mentioned is an interesting one. I doubt the writers will spell it out like that. But the ambiguity is interesting. One thing speaking against that viewing would be that when Jor-El inhabited Lionel last time it was quite spectacularly obvious. But, who knows? Could just be a consistency slip-up!
no subject
I agree that he is not "controlling destiny" (though if Kryptonians have time travel technology, that does seem to make them god-like, from human standards, even though Jor-el specifically told Clark that they weren't gods.) I'm not even completely sure that he can actually forsee the future--because that assumes all choices are fixed. But he still could be manipulating people to try and achieve his desired end goal.
The Jor-El/Lionel connection is a fascinating though ambiguous feature of this season. The theory you mentioned is an interesting one. I doubt the writers will spell it out like that. But the ambiguity is interesting. One thing speaking against that viewing would be that when Jor-El inhabited Lionel last time it was quite spectacularly obvious. But, who knows? Could just be a consistency slip-up!
Well, the other thing is that it was obvious because it was *necessary* (at least when he was speaking with Clark--or are you referring to white-eyed crazy Lionel? My reading of that was it was all just part of Jor-El "rebooting" Lionel until he was ready to serve as his vessel--I'm not sure we have any evidence that Jor-El ever surrendered control of Lionel's body--and I'm sure the writers are leaving that intentionally ambiguous. (That also puts a *very* different spin on the Mionel thing--maybe Jor-El is so put out by Clark's human side he's deliberately taking revenge on his human parents. Though I don't actually think that's what's happening).
no subject
Yes, I agree the writers are leaving it intentionally ambiguous. I find it strange that the white eyes and lunacy was just temporary in the 'reboot' process. I guess I've been reading the link between Jor-El and Lionel as less total. i.e. I don't think Jor-El is wandering around in Lionel's body. Lionel seems too much like *Lionel* for that to be true. I have no evidence, but I just *feel* it's more complicated than that.
I wonder if/when we're going to get some answers on the Lionel-Jor-El connection? I really wanted to write about the bigger implications of their conflation, but I don't know when the right moment to do so is... I've been waiting for more evidence! Perhaps I should give up.
no subject