Latest / The Autistic Mile / The Ideal-ist: Episode 7 (Sunday)
Transcript
- Shane: Hello everyone. Welcome to the Autistic Mile. My name is Shane Gaffney, and this is episode 7 of The Ideal-ist: "Hope Is The Thing With Fetters". Yeah, that's right. This time around, I'm giving my episode an official title. And that's because this is a very special episode of The Ideal-ist. I'm definitely gonna have a lot of fun with that, if you can't already tell. Today we'll be talking about the character of Sunday from Honkai: Star Rail. Now, Sunday is a character who is unsurprisingly very popular within the Honkai: Star Rail fandom, as he is a very complex and deeply introspective character, who asks a lot of questions, and poses a lot of philosophical back and forth that really brings a special sort of charm to the story where he's a part of it. Now before we go any further, I would like to ask you a question, and it's a metaphorical question: "Why does life slumber? That may sound like a silly question at face value, but it's one that's very interesting as far as it's explored in the Honkai: Star Rail arc of Penacony, which is Sunday's home planet. As for the man himself, Sunday is the head of the Oak Family, which is the ruling party of the planet of Penacony, which is a popular intergalactic hotspot. As it's one giant luxurious hotel that allows people to explore a massive constructed dreamscape that they could basically live in. So if you catch my drift here, it basically means people can literally live in a dream. Now I will be delving into spoilers relating to Sunday and his involvement in the story. So if you want to experience the game for yourself, I would recommend you click off now. However, I should warn you that the game itself is high in storage space, so unless you have a lot of storage to actually be able to play it, then you're probably not gonna get very far. I myself wasn't able to play it for a very long time until I got a new phone which had more storage space. As a child, Sunday was unfortunately orphaned due to a natural disaster that ended up claiming the life of his mother. And since then he's been in the care of The previous head of the Oak family by the name of Gopher Wood. And Gopher Wood is a very pivotal character in Sunday's life, in that he became the main catalyst for the sort of person Sunday would become. What sort of person did he become? Well, within Honkai: Star Rail there are various Paths, which are essentially ideologies, and each path has an Aeon, which is a god representing that path. born out of humanity's ideas and desires. So for instance, if you had a lot of people who didn't want school on Monday, for example, there would be an Aeon for not having school on Mondays, etcetera. And at first, Sunday and his sister Robin were followers of the Path of Harmony, however, due to the influence of Gopher Wood, who feigned as being on the Path of Harmony, but actually had a different allegiance that he was planning to include Sunday in, he was on the Path of Order, and therein lies the linchpin of this whole thing for me, in that While Robin would sort of go off to live in Lala Land being an idol, singing songs and cheering people up all across the universe. Sunday would go on to inherit the family position and become the new head of the Oak Family. And through a life of seeing how much life beats people down and really drains away their sense of fulfillment in their lives, he too comes to adopt the beliefs of Order. And that is what I alluded to back in episode 1 with that eye symbol. Because that eye symbol, I actually have a pin right here. Well it was a pin, but the pin part fell off. However The eye symbol represents Order. And so that's the big reason why I've had that be the main symbol within all of my episodes. Because if I were to choose any Path, then I would definitely choose Order. And you may be wondering, what's the difference between Harmony and Order in Honkai: Star Rail? Well, the difference is that Harmony includes being in resonance, for lack of a better word, with nature and the way that things are. And for anyone who has watched a nature documentary, you could probably recall that nature is not always necessarily pleasant or forgiving. And that's the central lesson that Sunday comes to learn throughout his life. He ends up pinning down one specific reason for why bad things happen in the world, and that thing would happen to be "Social Darwinism", which if you don't know what that is, I'll allow you to look it up on your own time. Consider it a little homework from me to you, let's put it that way. But he sees countless times throughout generations, throughout civilizations, throughout all kinds of settings and time frames, there are always people who inherently have power, or talent, or just had the right circumstances to end up successful within their communities. And that in itself is not a bad thing. But the thing about power is that without the proper moral restraint, it can lead people into thinking that they inherently earned it, even if they did nothing to get it in the first place. And that, in turn, can lead them to act cruelly towards those who are lesser than them in their own eyes. Because they apparently didn't deserve to be in a similarly cushy position as themselves. In essence, that mindset is survival of the fittest. And obviously different people react to authority and privilege differently. Some people really own it like a champ. They really use the position they're given to become a beacon for others and really lift others up where they wouldn't be able to otherwise succeed in life without it. And with others they use it to kick people down, and maintain a status quo where they stay on top. I often see that in the real world. With corporations, and with politicians, or just people at school that pick on other people for not quote unquote fitting in well enough. So I would definitely say that I do hold similar beliefs. And Sunday's solution is not draconian in any sense. He's not there to sort of brutally enforce the law, or throw people in prison just for Jaywalking or something like that. Instead he seeks to use the Order to create a world where Circumstance will always cater to people who have the right moral character to deserve that helping hand. And I mean that in the sense that as long as you're not doing anything that's blatantly malicious or unforgivable, or you're not a lost cause, Then life will sorta cater to your wants. And that's ultimately what Penacony as a story arc is all about, because Penacony, as I said, is a dream world, so as you know, within dreams you can effectively do whatever you want, and live out things that otherwise you'd never be able to in your lifetime. And what Sunday wants would allow the whole world to become like that. Only it wouldn't allow for evil and injustice. That's the vision of Order that he seeks. And I for one deeply respect that. It makes it all the more tragic to me that the game frames him as a villain who is benevolent but misguided, in that his sister Robin, whom the game more caters towards, espouses that people should be allowed to struggle and make mistakes, or grow from unfairness and that is a fair viewpoint to an extent. But I've always looked at it as, "well, what about those who can't?" Are we really gonna bank everything on just crossing our fingers and hoping that someone will provide assistance to these people who otherwise can't succeed on their own? Wherever you fall on the spectrum here, your answer is obviously completely valid. This is all just my take on things. I just feel as someone on the spectrum, and as someone who believes in fairness, justice, and all that good stuff, that we should ideally try to balance the playing field as much as we can and really provide a fair and fulfilling life to anyone. Regardless of race, ideology, gender, or what have you. But all that philosophical stuff aside, I imagine a lot of people who are watching this might also relate to Sunday in that a lot of people code him as having OCD, which definitely seems fair to me. It's not confirmed or anything, but Sunday definitely has a very particular view of how he wants to present himself to people, and what is acceptable within his daily regiment. He refuses to leave the house unless every single crease in his vest is perfectly smoothed out. And it does genuinely cause him distress when he's in a situation that feels uncertain or untamed. So I'm sure a lot of people on the spectrum can relate to that. Some can't, but sometimes autism and OCD they go together. Overall with Sunday though, even though he was "redeemed", which by redeemed they mean he completely abandoned his principles and decided to think like the protagonists. I choose to appreciate and embrace the good qualities of his character being introduced at all. I feel that even if things didn't quite end the way you hoped they would, it's still worthwhile to be appreciative of the parts of these things that were worth your time. And Sunday as a whole really did a lot to help me articulate what I wanted out of my life to myself. And so that's why he is such a huge part of how I choose to express myself here on this show. So for that I will be forever grateful. And that's just about all I have to say on Sunday. I hope you enjoyed the video. Make sure to like and subscribe, and I will see you next time. Thank you.