Sep. 8th, 2019 03:39 pm
[meta] Old Woman Yells at Cloud
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nukawhitI've had a really stressful past couple days and just I'm Not In the Right Headspace to work on my body horror WIP so I'm just blubbering catherine/madison feels into a gdoc to de-stress. It's helping. Bethesda really gotta stop teasing with this creation club stuff (which, apparently, the DC revisit won't have any voice acting or returning voice actors, so, rip that I guess), because it's been enough to plunge me deep back into Fallout 3 feelings. In part about the aforementioned Catherine/Madison, but especially about Catherine.
Catherine deserved so much better. I'm always gonna be mad that she doesn't get mentioned in the game guide by name once, she's simply referred to as 'the scientist' that James got with and who birthed you, and that's it. No backstory. Not worth a few sentences in the game guide where nearly every other named character has something. Looking back on it, it feels super icky. It's a larger problem with fiction/post-apoc fiction and isn't exclusive to fallout, but after fallout 4, the franchise really has used up all of its 'my wife is deaaad!!!' cards. Mortality is high in the wastes! I get it! And very likely due to infection and how severe childbirth is on your body! But God, in 4 it was too much. Give me some widowed wives at least.
But in Fallout 3, yes, James speaks about what Catherine wanted often, and motivated by this weird martyrdom thing and doing everything he does for his dead wife, but what did she want? In her own words? We never hear it. James speaks for her. Three Dog speaks for her, saying that she 'had a dream' -- but I don't think Catherine would've wanted the Brotherhood to barrel in with Liberty Prime and kill everyone. I don't think she would've enjoyed her life story being used to bolster morale for themilitary industrial complex the Brotherhood of Steel. I don't think she wanted James to die, I don't think she wanted her surviving child to be an orphan. I don't think she would've wanted Madison to be intimidated and threatened by the BoS. Even for the water.
(and I obliterate the canon and ship Catherine/Madison to high heaven anyway!! feels incoming.)
It pains me is how cut up Madison is about her when you talk in Rivet City, like, end me. You can see how much she respects her, still mourns her, and if we play with the idea that maybe they were together at some point -- how Madison bites back their history. She bites it back because she knows James never even mentioned Madison to Catherine's child. She sees herself as a complication. (also: fuck james) I just need to read 278372183 million words of Catherine and Madison happy and healthy.
(which my long way of saying i'm a couple hundred words into them helping around in underworld while james is like. gone. bc reasons.)
Catherine deserved so much better. I'm always gonna be mad that she doesn't get mentioned in the game guide by name once, she's simply referred to as 'the scientist' that James got with and who birthed you, and that's it. No backstory. Not worth a few sentences in the game guide where nearly every other named character has something. Looking back on it, it feels super icky. It's a larger problem with fiction/post-apoc fiction and isn't exclusive to fallout, but after fallout 4, the franchise really has used up all of its 'my wife is deaaad!!!' cards. Mortality is high in the wastes! I get it! And very likely due to infection and how severe childbirth is on your body! But God, in 4 it was too much. Give me some widowed wives at least.
But in Fallout 3, yes, James speaks about what Catherine wanted often, and motivated by this weird martyrdom thing and doing everything he does for his dead wife, but what did she want? In her own words? We never hear it. James speaks for her. Three Dog speaks for her, saying that she 'had a dream' -- but I don't think Catherine would've wanted the Brotherhood to barrel in with Liberty Prime and kill everyone. I don't think she would've enjoyed her life story being used to bolster morale for the
(and I obliterate the canon and ship Catherine/Madison to high heaven anyway!! feels incoming.)
It pains me is how cut up Madison is about her when you talk in Rivet City, like, end me. You can see how much she respects her, still mourns her, and if we play with the idea that maybe they were together at some point -- how Madison bites back their history. She bites it back because she knows James never even mentioned Madison to Catherine's child. She sees herself as a complication. (also: fuck james) I just need to read 278372183 million words of Catherine and Madison happy and healthy.
(which my long way of saying i'm a couple hundred words into them helping around in underworld while james is like. gone. bc reasons.)
no subject
Part of the problem with Catherine only being known via James' memory of her is that he gets to turn her into a saint instead of a human being. She becomes a concept, a martyr, an icon whose name justifies everything he does, even though as you say, she probably wouldn't have liked a lot of it! And if she had, that doesn't make it right! Catherine can be wrong too. Catherine can be misguided. Catherine can be human.
What I find compelling about the relationship between Catherine and Madison--any relationship--is that I think Madison would be a lot more likely to remember Catherine as a human being than as the saintly figure James has made her into.