Thank you very much! They do have such a fascinating relationship. Couldn't agree with you more about how the way the story falls in order so well and Scar being catalysted by other people's stories. (He's become more and more of a favourite with me as well for every re-read, together with Marcoh.)
The emotion here is tangible, and contrasts vividly with the quieter, faaaar more restrained "bookend" scenes in the Ishval arc (Riza and Ed, Knox and Al+Mei+Lan Fan).
Great observation. Arakawa's pace is amazing. And I also thought it very cool that the lead-up directly to the flashback chiefly has the various Amestrians (plus Mei and Lan Fan listening) in it, but the flashback itself both starts and ends with Scar. And then the same framing follows reversed before we return to his present self in time.
I'm also really curious about how much of his own backstory Scar shared at this point, and how that could have gone down, just...dialogue-wise. He's not the most talkative person anyways, and it seems as though this situation would only have exacerbated that, but he obviously said SOMETHING.
Maybe his recollections overwhelmed him at some point, which still wasn't one of the most dramatic points, and he let something about himself slip and Marcoh asked about it, with Scar giving a really brief and curt answer?
Absolutely, Marcoh's POV is interesting too even though he doesn't go anything like the same struggle Scar does. Even though it looks like he's surrendering his agency to Scar, I think you can also say that he's in fact taking his first two step to reclaiming it here and the pre-flashback scene, after the Homunculi had taken it away completely. Choosing to reveal himself and asking Scar to kill him was the first step, which he assumed would be the last thing he'd ever do. He'd have died more or less on his own terms rather than keep living and contributing to the enemy's plans or dooming a good number of innocent people to death again.
Then, as I noted above in another comment, it's intriguing that Scar, despite Marcoh's total surrender, takes the trouble to *ask* him if he can help find out what Scar's brother meant, not ordering. And he doesn't announce he'll break him out until after he's got his answer. Marcoh taking him serious and consider his response before doing so is his second tiny step to getting his own agency back, and I think it's crucial that he does it at Scar's invitation. Scar may only be seeing him as his enemy that he can use, as he'll say to Mei and Yoki later, but he still wants on some level a partner who can think for himself, not a lackey who'll agree to anything. Which is smart of him!
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The emotion here is tangible, and contrasts vividly with the quieter, faaaar more restrained "bookend" scenes in the Ishval arc (Riza and Ed, Knox and Al+Mei+Lan Fan).
Great observation. Arakawa's pace is amazing. And I also thought it very cool that the lead-up directly to the flashback chiefly has the various Amestrians (plus Mei and Lan Fan listening) in it, but the flashback itself both starts and ends with Scar. And then the same framing follows reversed before we return to his present self in time.
I'm also really curious about how much of his own backstory Scar shared at this point, and how that could have gone down, just...dialogue-wise. He's not the most talkative person anyways, and it seems as though this situation would only have exacerbated that, but he obviously said SOMETHING.
Maybe his recollections overwhelmed him at some point, which still wasn't one of the most dramatic points, and he let something about himself slip and Marcoh asked about it, with Scar giving a really brief and curt answer?
Absolutely, Marcoh's POV is interesting too even though he doesn't go anything like the same struggle Scar does. Even though it looks like he's surrendering his agency to Scar, I think you can also say that he's in fact taking his first two step to reclaiming it here and the pre-flashback scene, after the Homunculi had taken it away completely. Choosing to reveal himself and asking Scar to kill him was the first step, which he assumed would be the last thing he'd ever do. He'd have died more or less on his own terms rather than keep living and contributing to the enemy's plans or dooming a good number of innocent people to death again.
Then, as I noted above in another comment, it's intriguing that Scar, despite Marcoh's total surrender, takes the trouble to *ask* him if he can help find out what Scar's brother meant, not ordering. And he doesn't announce he'll break him out until after he's got his answer. Marcoh taking him serious and consider his response before doing so is his second tiny step to getting his own agency back, and I think it's crucial that he does it at Scar's invitation. Scar may only be seeing him as his enemy that he can use, as he'll say to Mei and Yoki later, but he still wants on some level a partner who can think for himself, not a lackey who'll agree to anything. Which is smart of him!