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hmm, okay, coming back to this after having had a while to research some things and skim all the canon content again, lol. [member=8309]ereshkigal[/member] [member=3656]anastasia n.r.[/member] [member=2951]enkidu[/member] [member=8346]gilgamesh[/member] you guys might want to think about this too? i mean surely we all have, with there being SEVEN level 5 espers (and what with each of them having such a fascinating character and incredible development) it's kind of inevitable, honestly. every toaru fan is bound to have this conversation sooner or later, for better or worse. i'll just give my two cents on it here because i can.
naturally, i'm referring to the level 5 - seven deadly sins debate. off the top of one's head, most people tend to do it like this:
01) accelerator (one way road) - sloth
02) kakine teitoku (dark matter) - envy
03) misaka mikoto (railgun) - pride
04) mugino shizuri (meltdowner) - greed
05) shokuhou misaki (mental out) - gluttony
06) aihana etsu (number six - theories claim him/her/them to be aogami pierce, but personally i disagree as there's now some pretty solid evidence against this) - lust
07) sogiita gunha (attack crash) - wrath
now, while these do make sense, i do think it's a bit of a shallower/more of a surface interpretation of it, as it's going by some of their most obvious traits? not that it's necessarily a bad thing, but i saw this a different way. i'll list the way i think it should be, and give at least some brief explanations of course lmao. i'm fully prepared to back up what i say, people can't just make up random toaru theories with no evidence lol, no one's going to accept that.
i know it's done a lot and might be overdone, associating the seven level 5s with the seven deadly sins (and the heavenly virtues - it's really important not to forget those too) simply because the number fits. but i do REALLY like the idea of pairing them up with these.
if you've studied christian tradition, you'd be familiar with the fact that there's actually an ordering of deadly sins by severity, and in my opinion, it seems to follow the ordering of toaru's seven level 5 espers. to be honest, no one seems to be able to agree on what that ordering is, but my personal say on it is that it should somewhat reflect the stages of evolutionary development, from reproduction (lust) to consumption (gluttony) to recuperation (sloth) as the more biological drives; to materialism (greed) to defense/justice (wrath) as more societal yearnings; to equivalence (envy) to ego (pride) as more individualistic desires.
and of course, each of the seven deadly sins also have a corresponding heavenly virtue that acts as the opposite face of the coin of that sin, with either a cap on excessiveness or an inversion from selfishness to selflessness. so IF the sins/virtues are truly representative of the seven level 5s, then i believe that the sin representing their fixation and the corresponding virtue representing their resolution should match, as that would indicate that the character flaw/forte is ingrained into their narrative/themes/powers/attributes.
FINALLY, there's also a rather obscure final deadly sin that's said to underlie them all, and i'll cover that at the very end of this.
07) SOGIITA GUNHA┊STRONGEST GEMSTONE ESPER┊LUST vs. CHASTITY
[x] in terms of power, the theme of naturalism implicated in LUST reflects the theme of naturalism prevalent in the position of "strongest gemstone" and the varied, incomprehensible powerset he harbors. it's sort of like winning the gene pool lottery, in a way.
[x] i think it counts for something that, while #7 doesn't run around trying to bed everyone, he does run around trying to assist everyone. LUST isn't explicitly sexual, as much as it is following your natural instincts and drives to make your mark/create your legacy upon the world and gain a sense of pleasure and fulfillment while you're doing so, which is essentially the core of his character.
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06) AIHANA ETSU┊NUMBER SIX┊GLUTTONY vs. TEMPERANCE
[x] we know literally next to nothing about him/her/them, even though it's been over fifteen years now, lmao. supposedly (and according to kamachi himself) aihana etsu is their true name, but i wouldn't even be so sure of that, given how much they seem to like fabricating information about themselves, to the point where aihana would even go so far as to assist others in assuming their identity for their own purposes, irregardless of what their intentions are. who are you, really.
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05) SHOKUHOU MISAKI┊MENTAL OUT, TOKIWADAI'S QUEEN┊SLOTH vs. DILIGENCE
[x] the nature of her power fundamentally reflects this sin/virtue. the very essence of the mental out ability is letting others do the work for her, truly reflective of SLOTH.
[x] additionally, she's honestly extremely shit at athletics and definitely the least active of the known level 5s. she dislikes public appearances and, with her faction, always steps aside to let the #3 handle the publicity.
[x] however, despite initial appearances, the #5 is surprisingly DILIGENT and responsible in regards to her power, and also remarkably dedicated when matters concern someone she genuinely cares about.
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04) MUGINO SHIZURI┊MELTDOWNER┊GREED vs. CHARITY
[x] in terms of background, the #4 is shown to to be an ojou-sama, having a butler and designed to look like a model. her ability involves electron superposition, which is like having your cake and eating too, which is reflective of GREED.
[x] before she turns, she's basically a social darwinist who objectified her underlings/subordinates, only finding value in their practical utility — disposing of them as soon as they're defunct, and making clear that the members of ITEM were replaceable.
[x] after she turns, she becomes a much more CHARITABLE person and something of a big sister figure to ITEM. she cooks for everyone and even buys hamazura and takitsubo a decked-out apartment... even if she and kinuhata are squatters there.
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03) MISAKA MIKOTO┊RAILGUN, TOKIWADAI'S ACE┊WRATH vs. PATIENCE
[x] in regards to her power, lightning is often associated with divine wrath, and her EM field could easily be related to being tsundere. it's a defense mechanism, which is what WRATH is at its core. her hair-trigger temper seems to come out of her defensiveness regarding her insecurities.
[x] the flip side of WRATH is having a strong sense of justice, something misaka has in spades, prevalent in how she is constantly getting caught up in JUDGEMENT business. and now — her current status, you could argue, is a result of her wanting so desperately to feel justified. she's frustrated that kamijou seems so much further ahead, and seems to lack the PATIENCE to go along with the power development curriculum or further explore the versatility of her own ability, leading to her to willingness to utilise darker, far more dangerous methods to gain raw power — such as the AAA.
[x] but in spite of all that, misaka is also noted as being the most PATIENT and approachable of the level 5s. she's a big sis type who loves to be relied on, and PATIENCE also reflects her position as a level 5 who earned that spot through loads of hard work. (subverted later with the parameters list being a thing, but it's true that she was the only one of the seven that started at level 1, and had to claw her way to the top through her own blood, sweat, and tears — she wasn't born with any natural talent for it as the others were.)
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02) KAKINE TEITOKU┊DARK MATTER, THE SPARE PLAN┊ENVY vs. KINDNESS
[x] simply in terms of ability, dark matter replicates known matter, even if it isn't the same. in a sense, (kakine's) "inorganic" dark matter ENVIES (accelerator's) "organic" known matter.
[x] in regards to OG dark matter, ENVY seems to be almost the entire core of his character. nearly every action he takes is centered around the #1. the theme of ENVY is prevalent even after the OG kakine kicks the bucket. rensa #29 mocks the dark matter ability for not being able to hold a candle to accelerator. honestly, it seems as though the #2 is doomed to be compared to the #1 regardless of which version of him is in control. (it's quite pitiable if you think about it.)
[x] regarding the flip side, beetle 05 is said to represent the KIND side of OG kakine's personality, embodying his final order "to protect the residents of the city from all anticipated dangerous elements". in a sense, KINDNESS is beetle 05's very essence — the lingering hint of the KIND side OG Kakine was hinted to possess long ago.
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01) ACCELERATOR┊THE ONE-WAY ROAD, THE MAIN PLAN┊PRIDE vs. HUMILITY
[x] in terms of his ability, reflection adds a theme of detachment from surroundings and redirection adds a theme of rebelling against nature, both associated with PRIDE. furthermore, the core of the PRIDE-HUMILITY shift comes from understanding and even-handedly accepting that circumstances shape a character, similar to understanding the mechanics that underlie vector interactions. this also ties into his character, as being one who can understand why a villain does the things they do, but cannot condone them for it, though he does become more forgiving as the series progresses.
[x] in terms of character themes and personality, at first glance, accelerator seemed to have dropped the whole arrogance thing. but upon a closer look, it seems as though he never took actual PRIDE in his position as #1 and his boasts were more of a resigned deterrence tactic than anything. he always freely admitted his shortcomings from an objective standpoint. but regardless, while he doesn't have a thing about egotistical PRIDE, he does have a big thing about shame, which underlies his entire character arc. to quote uncle iroh from a:tla, "pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source". despite being #1, he isn't really PRIDEFUL in himself or his abilities. however, he is extremely PRIDEFUL in his standards/ideals. he doesn't compromise his standards or sugarcoat his criticism for anyone, not even for himself. the reason he idealises last order and kamijou touma so much, is because they're actually able to live up to his ideal of wholesomeness.
[x] it's important to note how both of the times he brings forth his white wings are through epiphanies about HUMILITY. in toaru majutsu no index: old testament's volume 22, he admits he wants to be with last order, letting go of his PRIDE of being a "perfect villain", and in toaru majutsu no index: new testament's volume 10, he admits that he can't follow kamijou's path, but acknowledges that it's no reason for him to feel inferior, thereby letting go of his shame for not being an ideal hero.
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so there i've covered what i think of the seven level 5s being associated with the seven deadly sins/seven heavenly virtues... for now. there's still limited information, a LOT of stuff i didn't mention because i just don't have to time to go searching and bring up every. single. example. but this'll do for now, lol.
however, i did mention that there is technically
one more sin and
corresponding virtue that underlie the seven sins/virtues everyone's so familiar with:
00)
THEORETICAL #0
LEVEL 5┊
DARK SIDE OF ACADEMY CITY┊
DESPAIR vs. HOPE
[x] in the series, there is the mention of a hypothetical of a #0 level 5 at some point. for the sake of symbolism, i'll use this theoretical #0 to represent the dark side of academy city.
[x] there's no denying the fact that pretty much all the level 5s have a few screws loose (that's... actually a bit of a gross understatement in some instances, but whatever), but in nearly all cases, this only seems to come about through delving too deeply into the dark side. #5 (shokuhou) mentions that she doesn't trust anyone whose mind she can't read seemingly in part due to the whole "dolly" incident. #4 (mugino) seemed to care about her subordinates until she marveled at the darkness upon learning of the "level 6 shift", and got too obsessed with the feud between the dark side factions. #3 (misaka) begins her descent by believing there's no means of improvement through wholesome means due to the dark side's cold calculations. #2 (kakine) seems to loathe the #1 because of his right to negotiate directly with the dark side, and therefore does everything in his power to thwart his attempts at escaping it. #1's (accelerator's) whole thing about shame seems to come from the gaslighting he'd endured at the hands of the dark side, and his relationship with the darkness can be likened to an abusive relationship with academy city as a whole. in all these cases, the dark side of the city contributes to the level 5s' resignation to their own insanity, even if they
know it's wrong. all of the level 5s show redeeming qualities, but in spite of this, they have all seemed to have compromised them at some point out of disillusionment.
DESPAIR underlies
all other deadly sins, because if you truly believe trying to better yourself is futile, then what is there to stop you from sinking even further?
[x] as for
HOPE, many villains, even crowley himself, freely admit that they actually crave the righteousness of
I.B., despite knowingly and unapologetically being pieces of shit who ruins things for everyone. additionally,
HOPE is probably the closest to the concept of "true will" (of aleister crowley's thelema) out of the 7+1 heavenly virtues.
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