tesk - Case in point: the Prophecy

Case in point: the Prophecy

 

 

Prophecies, as we know from Greek tragedies and garbage-lit, are very tricky. They are self-fulfilling, too. If they are helped. And boy they are...

 

What a prophecy needs to kick in, is someone to overhear it. Prophecies have that undeniable power to make even the smartest character look like an idiot and behave like an idiot (not to mention think like an idiot), plot induced stupidity is probably the most lethal weapon one could use against the enemies. Characters do not forget about the prophecy. Or rather, they do, until it’s not necessary for the author to hide the existence of the prophecy. But when the tricky little thingy is outed, everyone realizes that characters (who know about the p-thing) have acted in accordance with the prophecy *all the time*, even if sub-consciously. So, congratulations, prophecy.

 

In all honesty, I would have never expected one of *these* to „grace“ the Narutoverse. Spoilers ahead.

 

I actually chose to write about this for I’m a sucker for predictive analysis. There are other issues I’d gladly address, but they lack the moment of novelty.

 

It is a consensus among the fans that like in other recent trash that some gullible souls have bothered to put together into books, we are dealing with the tactics of Obvious Misleading in NARUTO as well.

Obvious Misleading is often used, but it does fail, sadly enough. Always. Misleading of any kind isn’t supposed to be obvious, and yet...

Everyone and their cat has already figured out that while the chivalrous Jiraiya and his frog-pals considered Pein the prophecy-kid, the real prophecy-kid is Naruto (who does not, attention please! have his father’s surname). The mystery, why any of the protagonists actually took the p-thing seriously, is explained via PIS. If Jiraiya weren’t injected with a huge dose of Plot Induced Stupidity, we probably wouldn’t have got the God-development (not that we’d have lost all that much...).

 

[ I am fairly certain that after his almost credible speech about economic world-domination AL decided to have a little tete-a-tete with Hidan and explained to the latter that it was all about killing and pain. Lots of pain and suffering (he didn’t have to dwell on the details, meaning, he didn’t have to tell Hidan that it wasn’t about physical pain, but about emo-pain). But this should remain a secret, ’k? In the name of great Jashin *wink-wink-nudge-nudge*. Ah well. I digress.]

 

Either way there are other ways one could take the story from now on. I will probably update this essay frequently.

At the moment one of the future possibilities is that yes, indeed, Naruto will be even more predictable than ever and prove himself to be the prophecy-hero of doom after everyone (Jiraiya) thought it was Pein. Not that there is any significance to him being one. Kyuubi’s chakra being divided into two was an interesting twist itself. The plot gains absolutely *nothing* from the prophecy-link (supposedly?) between Naruto and Pein. It also undermines the message that we were sent before – there is no fate. Until we were told about the blasted p-thing, Narutoverse was supposed to be a world of self-made men, one of them being Naruto. But screw that (or maybe not. Wait for this one).

 

Then we have a possibility that hasn’t occured to any great number of fans. Who’s to say that the prophecy-kid has to reach a certain age. Who’s to say that he/she is supposed to be alive at this point of the story? Yes, I am obviously talking about Minato, the 4th.

If giving a child the power of the 9-tails isn’t noteworthy, then I don’t know what is. He could have refused to seal the demon. Yet, he chose to seal it and thus, created stability for at least a decade. It is clear now that at least one Uchiha (or perhaps all the elders?) summoned Kyuubi and it was probably meant to be sealed into one of them (perhaps someone wasn’t wrong in assuming he was *intended* to be more special than Naruto....). But things went awry.

 

At this, I am not surprised. Long ago I found it suspicious (to say the least) that while having an entire clan of potential kyuubi-suppressors, Konoha had to sacrifice their kage just to seal the demon. And for once I wasn’t wrong. Question remains, though, how did he find out who was responsible for the fiasco? It was probably his former team-mate that gave him hints (figure out who I’m talking about. This is no place to dwell on this particular theory).

 

I would very much appreciate if the p-thing would lose it’s importance and turn out to be just a joke (that rather un-funnily will cost a few people their lives, probably). But I can’t hope for such a marvellous thing to happen in Kishimoto’s manga.

 

Or perhaps...? So let’s hope for a minute that Kishimoto did NOT intend to screw everything he had written previously.

There is no doubt that Uzumaki Naruto will save the day in the end (even if losing his life in the process) and Pein won’t look credible at all. Well, the last one would be easier done if he had looked credible at any point in the manga and since he hasn’t, well, Kishimoto has just signed a Sisyphean task.

However, it would look more effective if Pein actually was the prophecy-kid and Naruto remained the under-dog until the very end and STILL proved his superiority. Loser beats the prophecy-prodigy. When we put this possibility in the context of previous Narutoverse morals and general hard work idealization, it does make sense. It would even stress the point that under-dogs do not *need* idiotic plot devices to prove their awesomeness.

In the light of 382:  It is entirely possible that Kishimoto can make the new ideals (because we have them now. I just got owned, the rant above about what Naruto needs or doesn't need isn't quite adequate anymore) of the series work, but it shouldn't be expected that anyone is ever going to hear again about the promises that Naruto made to Haku or Hinata/Neji. And the underdog theme has been thrown into the rubbish-bin as well.