Duo Maxwell: A dissertation on characterization and in-game interaction
First off, I'd like to note that this is inspired by, and in some respects a response to, the short essay (or so I like to look at it) on Cape and Cowl's Mello by his mun concerning his development thus far and the headcanon in use. Considering the incredibly important effects these two characters have on each other in-game, it's safe to say that important actions by one result in responses from the other, one way or another, directly or indirectly.
Secondly, I confess I am relatively new to this canon, and that I am fully aware that this is, by all respects, a notably notorious fandom in terms of, to put it bluntly and perhaps tactlessly (though I view it as necessary and accurate), ship wars, fandom rape, and plain old WTFery. However, I like to hope that despite being new to the canon, I can explain my views in a clear and sensible manner and not be thrown into such hellish flames as the fandom tends to be known for doing. This is written not necessarily for critics or curious Wing fans, but for fellow players in the game, and in a way for myself to organize my own thoughts on the character, the situation, and the muse. I try to base as much as possible on clear, precise canon only, and fill in the unknown with what I feel to be the most sensible, in-character and realistic information possible.
With the introduction over with, I'll start with an introduction and my headcanon concerning what of his past is in the dark, followed by an analysis of his mental state, and from there go on to discuss the in-game aspects of the city and his place in it, finishing with notes on character-specific interrelations.
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1. AN INTRODUCTION TO AND HEADCANON EXPLANATION TO DUO'S UNKNOWN PAST
To start my analysis I must point to where in canon I am taking him. Or rather, where after canon; according to the Episode Zero manga, the last known activity by any of the pilots occurs April 7th, After Colony 197- this is a mission they undertake (which is left open ended) in order to rescue Princess Relena from a hostage situation. My Duo is taken from early winter of After Colony 197, with the assumption that the rescue went as the Wingboys planned it to, and all returned to peace. Thus, he was living his retired, peaceful life running his salvage and shipping business between colonies as a civilian, aged approximately 17. Another note I should make is that although we have no official date of birth for Duo (aside from the year AC 180), mine has claimed February 2nd (2/2) as his "birthday", because its the sort of bad pun he would make- and Duo wouldn't go missing out on the perks of a birthday party, in my opinion. Thus, when I took him he was only a few months away from his 18th birthday.
The very earliest details of Duo's life are unknown to us. We know he was born on the Colony V08744 in the L2 colony cluster. At some point before the age of 7, he was orphaned as a result of the war between the Alliance and rebel forces on the colony. Due to the fact that Duo did not have a name- or rather, did not remember the name his parents had for him, I like to assume he was at a very young age when orphaned. He speaks rather firmly about the fact that he is a war orphan so I believe he remembers the event, and may remember some vague impressions of his parents, but beyond this he does not seem to have much of a knowledge as to his origins. I like to guess a ballpark estimate of 2-4 years old as to the time of orphanhood, however although I'm not well versed in pediatric psychiatry I believe the age at which the human brain is said to be developed enough for long-term memory is around age 3. Thus, somewhere around that time would be just enough for him to remember some of the details of his early life, but not much.
Following his becoming an orphan I believe Duo (or rather, the nameless toddler who would later in life take that name) was picked up by the gang of street urchins that we know he would run with until about age 8. While I have not personally read the source, I believe it is the Gundam Wing manga adaptation that tells the elusive story of Solo, the leader of the urchins and Duo's best friend. In what must have been early AC 187, a virus broke out on the colony, and only the rich had access to the vaccine for it. Solo, having contracted this virus, became sick and his nameless best friend attempted to steal the vaccine for him. However, although successful he was too late and Solo had died. In honor of Solo, the child named himself Duo, so that Solo would always be with him.
From this point on, we know the story of Maxwell Church. However, post-Maxwell church we come across another small hole in the story which I would like to attempt to fill. We know that following the Maxwell Church Tragedy Duo was arrested and held in an Alliance prison. However, we have no way of knowing how long he was there between that time (AC 188) and the time when he met Professor G on the moon (in AC 192). In my attempt to fill this hole, I reason that Duo spent perhaps a year, at the most two, in the Alliance cell before he either escaped (we know he is something of a master at escaping capture and getting through security systems) or was released by an apathetic Alliance that either didn't wish to care for an orphan child in their prison anymore or was no longer seen as a threat. Either way, in my mind Duo either stowed away on ships or bargained for free rides and lived through pickpocketing and theft (as he had on the streets) until he was caught by G and the Sweeper workers on the moon- perhaps he had been attempting to get to Earth. From there, we know he was working with the Sweeper Group- here he got his training as a soldier, refined his skills as a stealth agent and information miner, technology hacking and fiddling, and learned to pilot a mobile suit and various space craft. From there, we know the events of Gundam Wing.
The time between the series and Endless Waltz is a time that has had 3 separate manga attempts at explanation- the one I generally like to use is Blind Target, however for sanity's sake perhaps it might be best to leave it alone, as there isn't too much that needs to be explained as far as Duo is concerned between series and Endless Waltz. Almost the same is true concerning events between Endless Waltz and the manga story Preventer 5 at the end of Episode Zero. We know he has been working as a civilian, and occasionally vanishes to stare at the moon on the outside of the colony. I like to assume the same of events between Preventer 5 and the time I pulled him from, so without further ado, I'll move on to a very important piece of Duo, which would be his mental condition.
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2. A PSYCHOANALYSIS OF DUO MAXWELL.
To start off: Duo's name is more than that. It's a very big hint as to his true nature- a duality. He is two people at once- one could argue that it refers to himself and Solo, however I like to think it also refers to his hypocritical existence as a person.
When he was a street kid, he was, despite his condition and the hints of bitterness towards his situation, happy. He had friends who were like family (compared to the one he barely or did not at all remember), and especially Solo- a big brother, someone who he could rely on. To him, this was all he needed, and it was enough. When Solo died, it left a clearly huge impact on Duo- enough for him to decide to take on Solo's memory in his own name. Duo- two, the second. In taking this name, he was continuing Solo's legacy, in a small way, and perhaps even taking on Solo himself ("If you'll always be with me, we'll be Duo.") Needless to say, at this point in life Duo already believed in the important figure called Shinigami. Where Duo, a child in an American-populated colony, would have heard of a Japanese mythological figure of death is something I'd like to write off as simply a misunderstanding on the part of Japanese writers as to American culture- however it's completely possible to replace 'Shinigami' with 'Death' and for it to work. The Grim Reaper is a powerful image in our society- Duo may have heard whispers of it between other orphans, or just on the streets. In any case it was clearly already enmeshed into his consciousness as a child. More on Shinigami later.
Following Solo's death, the events that lead to his adoption by Father Maxwell seemed to imply that with the death of Solo, leadership of the group passed to Duo. It was here, I believe, that he first gained his experience as a strong leader that would show through later in his time as a Gundam pilot and in that, a leader for the colonies. However, when taken into Father Maxwell's care, he was thrust into a strange new environment to which he was not used to. It was here that Duo learned the love and warmth of a family- specifically, a mother. The scene in which Sister Helen gives Duo a hug- a form of motherly affection he didn't seem to understand at first, or rather was surprised by- is incredibly important in shaping who he would be as a person. It was Father Maxwell and Sister Helen that shaped him as a kind human being after losing his gang to adoptions- another thing of note, as he in a way lost his family, and in my head, I believe he almost felt betrayed by having been the only one not adopted.
This is another important note to make. Duo was adopted several times, according to dialogue in Episode Zero- however, each time he was sent back. I believe this formed in Duo a sense of being thrown away, perhaps even a phobia of such. If not for Father Maxwell and Sister Helen, his mental state- feeling unwanted, like trash on the street- would have been in far worse shape. This is why the eventual deaths of the Father and Sister had even more of a devastating impact on Duo than we can even see shown in the manga.
The deaths of Father Maxwell and Sister Helen are no doubt the pivotal moment in Duo's life where his duality gains hold and the darker portions of his psyche begin to grow. These two people were his family, the only one he had now after his gang was dissolved- and even though he already despised the war, it came and took from him again, leaving him this time with literally nothing. It is this moment I believe that Duo decided to live on in the memory of his lost 'parents', to try to be what they had wanted him to be, despite a dark rift growing in his mind. To me, it was a pull between his belief in Shinigami and his belief in God; to be what they had wanted him to be (the greatest priest in the colonies) he would have had to go on with the path of peace- the path of God. However with this loss it was impossible for him to do so- this is because his belief in Shinigami's existence was solidified.
Allow me if you will, to take a moment to branch away into the phenomena of Shinigami. Duo had grown up in a war torn colony- to him, seeing bodies littering the streets was likely a commonplace if unfortunate thing. Thus, I believe from a young age he was numbed to the imagery of death and destruction. As a matter of fact, I believe it became his proof of existence, in a way, his very being alive was enough to validate that he was: Consider from Episode Zero, in which he says more than once that it is 'only a fluke that he's still alive' and that he should do everything he can, including 'the dirty work', because he hasn't died yet. In my belief, Duo thought himself 'cursed' by Shinigami, perhaps from birth. If he was still alive, Shinigami hadn't killed him yet. As time went on and more people around him died with himself being spared, he began to believe that Shinigami followed him, killed those around him as a way to keep Duo alive. Duo began to think that Shinigami stole the life from others to keep him alive. While this isn't something directly supported by canon, it's something I feel is a good explanation for why he would so deeply believe Shinigami's existence- it existed all around him, following him even. Why shouldn't it? But this also brought a dangerous, reverent quality to his belief in Shinigami- from the point of Maxwell Church onward, he began to believe Shinigami's strength was greater than that of God, because Shinigami had killed those who God was supposed to protect. This further widened the aforementioned rift in personalities, creating one to believe in each god- Duo, who believed in god, and Duo the God of Death who believed he was doing Shinigami's work as it followed him around. More on this later.
Back to Duo's growing duality in personality. After the events of Maxwell Church, Duo was put into prison. Understandably this would have given him quite a bit of time to think about his life, his beliefs, and who he really was. It is during this time that I believe his duality of a self came to fruition, which I like to explain in layers that divide themselves into two sections:
First, there is the Duo Maxwell that most people see at first on the outside. He is goofy, a playful, kind person, and he is basically your average teenage boy. He makes jokes, he socializes, et all. This is what most people know.
Second, there is the more tenderhearted, soft and kind Duo Maxwell who is more serious but still as smile-happy as the first Duo. He is the layer that cares about people, that genuinely wants to help people, and who is one who will do anything to help those in need- he is the person Father Maxwell wanted Duo to become. This is the Duo that is capable and accepting of love of the purist kind, and while not as much of a facade as the other top-layers, if he is to love he is almost always feeling one of the other layers at the same time.
Third, there is the Duo who mixes frequently with the first- the snarky, sarcastic joker Duo Maxwell, who is a little less kind that the first two but mixes his jerk attitude in with his jokes. He's the quippity-quip deadpan snarker who amuses us so much with his quick wit and sharp tongue.
Fourth, there's the serious, soldier 02. He's the Duo that is taking part in Operation Meteor, the Duo handling the weapon, the Duo piloting Deathscythe as a soldier in a war that must be won at the cost of everything. He understands the depth of his situation, he knows what needs to be done and he does it with as much efficiency as possible.
Fifth gets alot stickier- this is the cold, Shinigami-follower Duo Maxwell, the one who kills, the one who understands it's his life or the other guy's and he's gonna save his own ass. He frequently mixes with number four and number six, and while number four gets things done with this, when combined with number six, it can be incredibly dangerous.
Six is almost the last, the second deepest, the very last defense to the center- six is the bitter, angry, rage filled child who lost everything and is angry at the world and everything that caused his life to be horrible. While he hates Shinigami he has a begrudging respect for it, either out of terror from seven or the practical five. This is the Duo that shows through when ZERO took control of him, mixed with number four and five. This is the Duo that, in-game, ripped apart Mello's ribcage in a single act of blind rage brought on by the flood of everything terrible in his life forced onto him at once by Crane (see notes later) and the Duo that slips out at dangerous times, increasingly pulled out by Mello and with increasingly self-destructive results.
Seventh and last, but not least, is the core of Duo, and this is the central piece that I think is brought out far too much by some of fandom. This is the deep, deep sadness, the vulnerable nameless Duo, who isn't really angry but just deeply, irreparably hurt and trodden down by the world and has had to build up walls and layers and covers and veils to protect himself because it hurts too much to be exposed. This is the Duo that I feel, as a player, should almost never be shown (as in, lucky if you see it twice but you really shouldn't have reason to even see it once), and if so, must ALWAYS be mixed with one of the preceding layers.
From what you can see I have listed here, you can split these into two sections- One through Three or Four (with some overlap) are the Duo that is the believer of God, the one who is carrying on the legacy of 3 dead loved ones on his back with a forced smile. You can also include seven in some way, but seven is almost a separate section altogether. Then, there is Three or Four through Seven (or Six, if what I said before is taken literally) which is Duo the God of Death, the original, the follower of Shinigami, the one who was once pure of heart but now is not, now is a duality that uses the first half as a cover and is everything that's wrong with his world. It is this Duo that, when reached, can have terrible consequences.
To this end I bring up Duo's famous motto: "I'm Duo Maxwell, who may run and hide but never tell a lie." This, I feel, is something of an ironic joke on his part. The fact is, his entire persona that he puts on is a HUGE lie, and the fact is, he's a huge liar. He's just really, really good at hiding it- and in some ways, may not believe it all himself.
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3. DUO MAXWELL IN THE CITY- AN OVERVIEW
Now that I've gotten my explanation as far as my muse and how he ticks out of the way, I can go into the game in which I play him and how he interacts with it. In Iron Man's City, Duo has been thrust into a world that predates his by what I am estimating to be At least 300 years (because we have no idea when the After Colony calendar was established, we have no way of knowing when it is in relation to AD or if AD ever existed at all in the world of Gundam Wing). Not only this, but he's a space colonist trapped on Earth. Granted, he spent plenty of time during the series on Earth, so it's not that large of an issue- but space is still his home, and without even the option to go up there, things are rather surreal for him. In addition, being back so far in the past makes most technology archaic to him- though Iron Man's tech is of course, more advanced than he'd expected.
The City is essentially a melting pot of pure problems. Most of the people there are either 'superheroes'- civilians who taught themselves to fight, become vigilantes, and fight injustices- or pure civilians, people who only just got thrust into these fighting situations. While yes, many of these people can fight, to Duo it lacks the organization he is used to as a soldier, with the added unexpected advents of things that these vigilantes, in turn, are used to (such as multi dimensional existences, supernatural phenomena, etc.). For Duo, who was expecting to retire peacefully for the remainder of his life, this is like culture shock times a thousand.
However it is the part of Duo that wishes to help people that was pulled out by the City first, and thus he immediately began to commit his efforts towards the general populace's goal to find a way to leave. This, of course, quickly became complicated by a number of issues, and a number of acquaintances that began to form. It is from these issues, and these new, radically different points of view that he began to come into contact with, that Duo began to be affected in a various serious and profound way by the City, with largely unfortunate consequences.
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4. INDIVIDUAL RELATIONSHIPS IN THE CITY
I cannot go into character relationships without first beginning with Duo's own canonmates- the full Wingboy crew is present, however this presents its own challenges considering the point in time from which each was pulled. It is important to mention that as a group, the Wingboy muns have all decided to ignore the 3 different manga that offer explanations as to events taking place between the series and Endless Waltz, and so I will leave out any mention of such. I'll go in numerical order to give quick notes on each:
1. HEERO YUY: Heero comes from a point between the end of the series and Endless Waltz- safe to assume, some time in the Spring or Summer of AC 196. With this in mind, Heero has experienced all the ups and down of the war but importantly, has not yet experienced the decision that came to a head in his battle with Wufei- how many times must he kill for peace? With this indecisiveness still present and his questioning of his leadership with the group, he and Heero have had something of a drift between them in the City, however this has also been caused by outside forces- notably Mello (to be discussed later) and Kira (Light Yagami, in conjunction with Mello), more specifically Heero's decision in how he has been investigating Kira because of Duo's relationship with Mello.
3. TROWA BARTON: The most different of all of the Wingboys, Trowa has been taken from very early in the series, between the battle at New Edwards base and the battle in Siberia in which Heero self-detonated Wing Gundam. Because of his already distant nature and how early he was taken, he is incredibly distrusting of all the other pilots (save Quatre, though he is even a little mistrustful of him) and thus he and Duo do not have a very close relationship. However, there is something of an understanding between them- at that time, Trowa was still attached, in a way, to the Heavyarms as his personal identity. Despite the Wingboys having come from towards the end of the war making a decision to protect the City from the advent of Mobile Suit technology, Trowa had commissioned a small-scale Heavyarms in secret, which Duo discovered upon investigating under suspicion. Duo, understanding having closeness with one's Gundam, shakily made an agreement with Trowa with specific conditions for secrecy and safety met. Trowa is also incredibly hostile and distrustful towards Mello, which creates another rift between these two pilots.
4. QUATRE RABARBA WINNER: The most amiable pilot and arguably with the best current relationship with Duo, Quatre was taken from the direct aftermath of his unfortunate psychotic episode building and piloting Wing Zero, from right when he and Heero left for Earth. As Quatre is the most understanding and kind of the pilots to begin with, he and Duo have had a rather easy time of it despite Quatre's insecurities resulting from his incident, and with his empathic abilities, he has been both a bane and a great source of support for Duo, who has increasingly been barreling towards mental instability in the City environment. Quatre is probably the pilot Duo trusts the most right now.
5. CHANG WUFEI: Wufei was, luckily, taken from give or take the same time as Duo. He has been working with Preventer and things have been quiet since the incident in Sanc. These two pilots are on as jokingly an 'annoy and snark' relationship as ever, though Wufei does get greatly annoyed with the state of Duo's rather messy room- but that much is to be expected, really.
In addition to the five pilots, Relena Peacecraft is also now present within the City, coming from the same point as Heero, more or less. However, because she has only very recently arrived, I cannot comment much on the relationship between her and Duo other than to say it is about the same as it was when they knew each other at her point in time, except that Duo is a little exasperated that she hasn't wizened up like she did in the last Eve Battle, yet. However, this has yet to be an issue apart from her normal stubbornness.
Now that I have discussed the status of Duo's canon relations in the City, I will go on to his important interfandom connections. I will start with arguably the most important figure to affect Duo thus far in the City (and not to a good effect), and this would be Doctor Jonathan Crane, AKA Scarecrow, of the Nolanverse Batman movie canon. The reason that I say he has affected Duo the most is due to an event which all but shattered the aforementioned layers of mental defenses I described above, in an event that affected Duo's other most important relation as well. Duo had visited Crane in order to try to bait information out of him about the Joker (also of Batman canon). In the process of this, Crane became enraged at Duo's teasing and inadvertently discovered his power by using it on Duo. (unfinished log) His power, which connects thin microfilaments like threads to the victim's nerve endings, allow him to control any nerve in the human body with some restrictions. Connecting to the synapses of Duo's brain, Crane was able to force Duo to literally, as far as the sensations his body was experiencing were concerned, relive the Maxwell Church Massacre. Unfortunately for Crane, this backfired on him- the process he used to connect to Duo's brain was also the process used to connect a pilot to the ZERO System*(see note below), which as one who has seen Gundam Wing would know, caused Duo to go into a berserk, uncontrolled state of mind when connected. The power inadvertently switched Duo's brain into thinking it was connected to the ZERO System and, overpowering Crane's ability, rejected the power, allowing Duo to violently attack Crane- who his brain told him was the enemy- and flee the area still in a rage. This unfortunately also led to Duo attacking the first figure who he came across on the street- who just happened to be Mello. Since the attack, Duo has been psychologically irreparable (or at the very least, it will take him another several years like it did after the church massacre), far more vulnerable to stress and heavy emotions, and this has caused him to be something of an emotional wreck since, especially considering his relationship with Mello to be discussed below.
As I'd like to save the difficult subject of Mello for last, the next more important figure to discuss is Anezaki Mamori of Eyeshield 21. A sweet, completely selfless girl, kind to the point of naivety, Duo sees her as what he would have been had he grown up to be what Father Maxwell wanted him to be. For this reason, he holds her in high regard, and is incredibly protective of her- absolutely terrified of the prospect of what the City could do to her, and afraid that she might fall from grace as he did. I should also note, importantly, that in regards to how Mello views her, this causes a rather irrational amount of jealousy in Duo- in the sense that Duo feel if he was like Mamori (as he was intended to be, once) then Mello might not push him away so much. Although he has somewhat romantic feelings for her, he is, in my interpretation, somewhere between oblivious and incredibly nervous and insecure when it comes to girls beyond playful flirting, and so he 'missed his chance' so to speak- she's now in something of a relationship with Matt (of Death Note), who is also Duo's friend. While perhaps a little disappointed at first, maybe a bit jealous of their stability- Duo is happy for both, especially considering the strong feelings he has garnered for the second most important influence (and still strong contender for first), which would be Mello.
Mello is an incredibly difficult subject to dissect with regards to how these two effect each other. I would recommend, honestly, first reading the discussion of Duo's influence on Mello (bottom of the entry) beforehand (and reading Mello's past might not hurt as well, as it shows many correlations in regards to their similar childhoods), so I may add my thoughts to what was said there.
For Duo, Mello causes an incredible amount of confusion, feelings of hate, deep affection, friendship, bitterness, kinship, and most importantly, slowly-growing tenderness that might be amounting to something even more, something that deeply confuses and frustrates Duo. The most important thing to note is that unlike Duo, who feels a wide gamut of emotions, Mello is close to emotionless. He feels- however the things he feels are anger, rage, bitterness, confusion, possessiveness- all destructive, malevolent things. For Duo to be slowly amounting to feelings of- I won't yet say love, but to deeply care for Mello- is a self destructive act in itself. Despite this- and knowing it full well- Duo has continued on the path towards trying to pull things out of Mello, in the hopes that perhaps he can, in a sense, ease Mello into rediscovering his suppressed emotions. A futile act, perhaps, but for reasons not quite understood to himself that result from a sense of a kindred soul, Duo has found that he cannot stop himself from wanting to do so, anyway, despite being pushed and shoved away time and time again.
It is, of course, not roses and sunshine between these two. Their relationship, if one can call it that, is (for lack of better term) fucked up. They've exchanged ranging acts of violence (both purposely and not), inexplicable softness, concern, and consideration towards each other (admittedly mostly on Duo's part, begrudgingly accepted by Mello), for lack of understanding why. In fact, Duo was willing to give up his virginity- his first kiss to boot- to Mello, despite actively not being interested in the male sex as a generality (as I do play him as straight with this one exception developed purely through character interaction), and yet try as Duo did, Mello did not in the end seem to understand what Duo was trying to in a sense communicate through that act of consent, though he did seem to make him question it. The two have such an incredibly wide range of feelings and interactions towards each other that one day they might seem worst enemies and the next, something bordering on a very unstable relationship. What is to come between them in the future is to remain unseen, as long as their interactions with each other remain so unpredictable. To Duo, the game has become less of that and more of a desperate chase to figure Mello out.
*This is only my own guess as to how exactly ZERO System works with a pilot, as to my knowledge and research, it has never been fully explained.