The Silent Types and religion

[Lunah]

Haha, you said boned.
Ok, Lunah's immaturity aside:

Quatre is an incredibly strong character, but only emotionally and empathatically. In actual strength, he really is the physical weakest among a group of incredibly powerful boys.

But that's beside the point. Out of all of them he is the most religious, I think.

Also, I would like to argue in Wufei's favor. This is a case of 'never living it down'.
He is not a sexist! He only says 'woman' to Noin that one time on the battlefield before he knew her name.
and he calls Sally weak, but he also calls himself weak. And if Im not mistaken, Confucianism is more governmet oriented, andhs almost the opposite: whoever he legions with depends on what benefits him and only him. He joined the Mariemeia army because he thought it was better for his future, pretty different from Confucianism. I think Wufei can't be labeled by those specific ones - in fact, he's almost Shinto, which is Japanese.

[twilistarr]

I agree with what everyone seems to be saying thus far, that the depiction of religion all has to do with your background and I would like to add on that it may also have to do with religious experience as well. I do not think that this is a natural part of Trowa and Heero's personas.

Quatre and Wufei probably were brought up in the religion they seem to be apart of or practice in the series and even though Duo did not have a family to influence a religious upbringing but he did have the orphanage at the Maxwell Church. (Even though it can be debated upon as to whether he even practices this religion or defies it with his alias of 'Shinigami') Trowa and Heero may not really have had this influence on them considering Doctor J was so busy training Heero to win the war and Trowa was on his own with mercenaries who only cared about getting a job done. There were probably also no experience to make them even consider a religion either, but whats more this is all hearsay.

Course the whole other thing that makes this whole conversation iffy it the factor of choice. You can chose to practice a religion whether you have the experiences/background or not. Maybe Heero and Trowa just chose not to observe a religion.

[Lunah]

Heero and Trowa would probably reject the religions even if they were introduced to it, imho.

[iceya]

Depends - there are a LOT of very highly religious soldiers, and for very good reasons... It's very emotionally traumatizing to most humans to be in war, and I doubt Heero and Trowa are counted amongst those that are just fucked up in the head and like to blow things up.

[Lunah]

Oh, no, absolutely not. Nothing to do with their soldierlyness. It's to do with their personalities. They don't think about something that's not immediately related to them. Neither of them try to find the deeper meaning in anything, and they'd never think about the meaning of life or whether there is something greater than themselves. They just don't think about that. They're practical and could care less about the greater.

[linkworshiper]

Heero starts thinking about the greater good because of Relena, actually. You might call her his religion if you are going to go that route, because he idolizes her and her ideals, and operates 90% of the time to protect what she represents to him. Heero spends a lot of time thinking about the order of the universe and why this or that thing has to be a particular way; think back to the report he does for school near the beginning of the series... he goes on for nearly three minutes about the nature of mankind. He's a pretty deep guy, IMO.

Wufei would never, ever in a thousand million years, ever be Shinto. It is infuriating enough people keep referring to the sword he uses as a katana, another Japanese thing no self-respecting traditionalist Chinese would be caught dead holding. For the record, Confucianism is not really a practice related to government so much as it is related to discipline. It focuses more on the orderliness of things, and the upholding of the law, yes, but I don't think you can simplify it so much as to say that Wufei does not adhere to it because he joined up with Mariemeia. If anything, that should suggest that he DOES, considering that such a school of thought is, like most eastern religions, focused on the betterment of self, not environment.

Also, for the record, it is stated in Episode Zero that the reason Wufei doesn't like seeing women on the battlefield is because it reminds him of his wife's death and that he doesn't want to see any more girls killed in such a way.

[Lunah]

^ That. The wife part for Wufei. And he doesn't say 'woman' all the time, poor bastard!



Ahhh shhh. He's definitely Shinto Buddhist. because Confucianism is about the greater good of all the people, not the individual, while Wufei pretty much always works for himself and what he thinks makes sense. He doesn't follow anyone else's beliefs or desires and is very singular. So I can't see him as Confucianist.

[linkworshiper]

He absolutely would not be anything Japanese though. You must understand the tension between these two countries, and Wufei is waaaaaaay too traditionalist for that. Besides, Confucianism is not about the greater good of all people, but the betterment of self for the betterment of all. Ideally, if everyone followed Confucius's school of thought, then the world would be a better place. It is a philosophy based in personal morality, similar to Buddhism.

[Lunah]

If Wufei followed Confucianism, he'd be kind and forgiving, one of the principles of it. Which he, to say the least, is not. He's not even forgiving to himself. He did not respect his wife while she was alive (although now he does, I will readily admit), and the last word that could be applied to him is gentleman. Which is necessary for Confucianism.

[zethsaire]

>.> <.< Again with the not knowing much about religions, but it was stated earlier in this forum that Wufei could be moving towards a Taoist state of mind. I think the war is the hardest on Wufei...and his beliefs are most challenged. At first he has no interest in war, as a scholar, and mocks his wife and all her talk about justice. After her death he goes into space to fight for justice and for his people.
He is deeply shaken at several different points in the series; after his defeat by Trieze, and also after he kills Trieze, and after the destruction of his colony and people. I think when he joins Maremia's army, he's a very confused young man, and is trying to find his way. This could apply to religion as well; I'm not sure that Wufei really knows what he believes, and unlike Heero, has not found someone like Relena to base his ideals upon.

Oh, and link...what would you call Wufei's sword? Is it just a "sword"? Or do the chinese have a special class of weapon, like the arabs have scimitars, and the japanese katanas? (I'm really trying to understand Wufei more...since I'm supposed to cosplay him.)

[Lunah]

Omg if you cosplay him, definitely post pictures.

[linkworshiper]

No one who follows a particular principle is going to follow it exactly to a T. I think Taoism is a bit too spiritual for Wufei, which is why I think he would adhere to a more practical code like Confucianism. I completely agree about Wufei not having someone to base his ideals on as Heero does with Relena, which is why I think Wufei is so all over the map as to what he specifically believes. I think when he and Heero fight at the end of Endless Waltz, it's a bit of a smack in the face for him when he finally realizes what it is that motivates Heero, who is also someone who once thought he was bred only to fight. (I think that Trowa has a similar curiosity about Heero and what drives him, but is a little bit more together than Wufei.)

There are two main styles of Chinese swordmaking, but I believe the one Wufei uses would be classified as a dao (the other being a straight sword like Mugen's or that in Crouching Tiger). Like everything else Chinese, the specifics boil down to dynasty.

[Lunah]

I think Wufei is just mimicking his wife.


Which means the real question is, what was SHE?

[zethsaire]

I will indeed post pictures. I...actually have some if you want me to post them, but it's like girl wufei cuz it was really last minute and I didn't have a chest wrap. At Ikasu, I'm actually dying my hair and wrapping the girls so i look more like him.

[windwraith]

the pictuers i've seen that most look like the sword WuFei uses is the Taijiquan Saber though i've seen it referred to as a Taiji broadsword as well. but that is just my guess. there is even a style of Taijiquan called 'Wu' i don't know much about marshall arts but i thought it ironic.