That sounds like a book to put on my list. I think Wanda's sin is Envy, not greed. Here are way too many words on the subject:
One of my issues with Wanda fans is that nearly all the evidence of her reformation is another character saying a thing about her, and the few things she has done are also countered by other on-screen actions that she does more frequently or with more enthusiasm. Loki fans have the deleted scenes from Thor and the Avengers, as well as a bunch of on-screen moments to show that while he is a mischievous little shit that values his own comfort over the well-being of others, he isn't pure evil and [since this was confirmed as canon] wouldn't have chosen the methods he used to express his very real wrath and vainglory without the influence of the tainted mind stone spear or the torture Thanos put him through. We see Loki struggle with what he is doing and show remorse for snapping at Frigga the second the words leave his mouth. Then he becomes a better person pretty much as soon as he has the chance to have a nap, some comfort food, and write a snarky play that tells his side of the story. We get none of that for Wanda. She smashed Vision through the floor a lot more enthusiastically than she flirts with him, and going just by the movies when she does flirt it is very 'me-centered' flirting that doesn't really give much to Vision. Which, sure, could be because none of these movies are romance-focused so they are just going with the flirting that also advances the plot, but I haven't seen any scenes deleted for time that contradict the tone. If we just go by what we are shown the relationship is not necessarily unhealthy [aside from when she smashes him in Civil War,] but certainly not equal. I've seen people say that her attack on Vision was a fear reaction in the heat of the moment, but what was so urgent they couldn't talk it out? Why would she pick Barton's words over Vision's when Barton just admitted he was the guy that blew up a part of the building complex she is currently living in and Vision is saying he wants to protect her?
It seems like the old lover and beloved ideal. That ideal is that the lover in the relationship will always love the other person more and the beloved does things to be desirable. It is a toxic idea to aspire to that sort of relationship or resign yourself to the idea that it is an inevitable truth that partners can't be equal in their affections, but it can work if it doesn't tip into abusive and both parties put work into the relationship. Could even be argued it is a terrible way to explain an emotional variant of dom/sub to be fair to people whose boat floats that way, but it comes across to me as a sugar daddy/gold digger situation to me. Everything is a spectrum. I worked for someone IRL who proudly explained their marriage this way and didn't like my unenthusiastic reaction to her relationship advice.
Which is a lot of words to say: I don't think the Wanda/Vision ship is seaworthy because thier imbalance is just too extreme. Sure it floats at the dock, but I wouldn't trust it to weather a storm.
The following includes some theme-related things that include things I got out of the new TV show but no actual plot spoilers for WandaVision. I think. Just talking about what was inside of her head, which we don't get much of in the earlier MCU appearances. I think if you have seen one commercial for the show then you know all the plot-specific things I reference.
Wanda isn't greedy to the point of evil, what she wants is shown very clearly in WandaVision and it isn't much. It is even rather reasonable: a comfortable home with a family and a life as a housewife like she grew up watching on American TV sitcoms. Being as fair to her as Loki fans are to him, and I am aware that there are nitpicky details to the contrary but the new TV show is very fair to her overall, her ambitions are small but she was hit so hard with despair and hopelessness while being manipulated that she used a nuke to clean up after a hurricane hit her house - it just made it all worse even if it did blast the floodwaters out of the living room. Her 'sin' is envy in my eyes, since she feels like everyone has more than her and she just deserves an equal share. Entitlement can be either greed or envy depending on the motivations, but her entitled behavior is absolutely motivated by "others have more than me" rather than "I want to have more than others do." Taken to the extreme she does, it is evil because she tramples on other people to get what she wants with no moment of "well, I feel like shit after doing/saying that" even when it is someone she loves that she just steamrolled.
The book is Arrow's Fall by Mercedes Lackey. It is the third book in the Arrows of the Queen trilogy, and is a pretty good introduction to the world of Valdermar. (I think Exile's Honor is a better starting point, personally.)
The quote (which I had backward) in full is "It seems to me that evil is a kind of ultimate greed, a greed that is so all-encompassing that it can't ever see anything lovely, rare, or precious without wanting to possess it. A greed so total that if it can't possess these things, it will destroy them rather than chance that someone else might have them. And a greed to intense that even having these things never causes it to lessen one iota - the lovely, the rare and the precious never affect it except to make it want them. ... Evil can't create, it can only copy, mar, or destroy, because it's so taken up with itself." (The ellipses are where another character breaks in to ask a question.)
I think that last bit in particular fits Wanda. She is very self-absorbed. As you mentioned, her flirting is very me-centered. You can call it envy if you want, but she is still greedy - greedy of Vision's attention, greedy for everything Tony's money can buy her, greedy for perceived 'freedom' as soon as it is implied that she doesn't already have it. You say she 'feels like...she just deserves an equal share.', but we see her taking much more than that and never giving even so much as a bit of respect to those providing what she wants (Tony - physically and financially; Vision - emotionally). She does little or nothing to earn it, she just takes. The only hint of remorse we see is her hand to her mouth after the bomb in Lagos, and the bit of dry-eyed moping after seeing what the media is saying about her where Steve comforts her with his self-righteousness. Even with that, there is never any indication that she (any of Steve's team) tried to help the people who were hurt... which doesn't speak much of genuine remorse.
And maybe whatever is shown in WandaVision (which I haven't watched) has recast her in a better light, but it sounds like it requires her to be 180° from the main storyline canon. Again, I haven't watched it, so I can't point to specifics to cite as examples, but for her and Vision to be together in a healthy relationship - especially given movie canon, she'd have to be a very different person. Which ... AU is the only thing that makes much sense at that point for me - different timeline, different dimension, whatever. In other words, not the same Wanda, so it doesn't count as redemption or restitution for movie-Wanda's actions.
Comment on Professionals
SofiaDragon on Chapter 14 Mon 12 Apr 2021 02:52PM UTC
Comment Actions
Origami_Roses on Chapter 14 Thu 15 Apr 2021 02:41PM UTC
Last Edited Thu 15 Apr 2021 02:45PM UTC
Comment Actions