Couple of Tsubasa thoughts

[katharos]

I've been re-reading some of the early volumes of Tsubasa, and it's sparked a few thoughts...

1. Crescent Moon symbols. They turn up everywhere. I'd have to go through the rest of the manga to check, but it looks like they turn up in almost every country. Yukito's and Fye's staffs both have crescent symbols, they're present in Kurogane's world, Chun'nyan's mother had one on her fan... And they're on Yuuko's shop's roof, and on the pillar's one either side of her gate. They remind me of last season's Doctor Who, and the Bad Wolf that was mentioned in every episode. I wonder if they're going to be important somehow; if the symbol has some special significance being present in so many dimensions.

2. When Sakura's wings appear in the first chapter, Fei-Wan says 'The power to pass through space and time, and that which points the way are the wings.'

It makes me wonder if the search for Sakura's feathers is less of a scavenger hunt and more of a treasure hunt; the trail the feather's leave pointing the way to the big treasure at the end. If that was the case Fei-wan wanting to help them gather the feathers makes sense.

3. There's this one page layout with Fei-wan monologuing in the best Evil Villain tradition, going on about how 'those with the power to cross the dimensions already exist,' with insets of his own soldiers crossing dimensions, Fye, Yukito, Yuuko and Mokona. And then he says 'however the power that was buried deep in the ground beneath the country of Clow exceeds them all!' And then there's an inset of the ruins and I realise there was someone missing from the crossing dimensions power line up and I go OMG! Clow is buried beneath the ruins! They're his tombstone. And now Fei-wan wants to eat absorb his body and his power! Then my brain broke.

We saw Clow divide himself into two people in CCS, but it could be argued that was just his soul, and his body was left behind. And we know that time flows differntly between the dimensions so his body could have been buried there long ago...

Comments

[rainmage.livejournal.com]

Your logic just broke my brain @____@

What if it's the King of Clow who's buried underneath. We have no idea whether he had powers or not (although it's heavily hinted in splash covers and shit), or if those supposed powers were on Clow Reed's level.

It has always bugged me how no one has ever mentioned Touya and Sakura's father's death. We heard about Fujitaka, but not the king's. Was there a death, even? We just assume he died because Touya replaced him in the throne. Maybe he just abdicated and left somewhere?

However, thinking like that could justify the dreadful "the King was Clow Reed in disguise! he went to Clow, ruled some years, had descendants, left again to his own dimension, and... er, dunno, died later and stuff" theory, and I'm not sure if I'd like that happening. It could make Clow even more of a manipulator and a Gary Stu.

Stupid ruins.

[laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com]

1. I noticed the moon thingy, yes. I'm not sure what to think about that... At first I thought moon magic had something to do with the power to travel between worlds (Yuuko, Yukito, Tomoyo, Fye), but like you mentioned, they've showed up in other places too. And there are no moons around Fei Wang, anyway.

2. I think you're right about that, and not only because Fei Wang is "helping" them collect the feathers. I never really bought that all he wants is "the power to travel between worlds", because he can already do that. Not at Yuuko's level, perhaps, but he's done it.

3. That does make some sense, you know. @_@ Like Kiri, I think it'd be great if the King of Clow was the one buried there - we don't know, maybe he had great powers too. I don't really like the "CCS!Clow is the King of Clow" theory that's going around, though. It seems needlessly complicated even for CLAMP.

[laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com]

"the King was Clow Reed in disguise! he went to Clow, ruled some years, had descendants, left again to his own dimension, and... er, dunno, died later and stuff"

Aaargh. I don't like that theory at all (not because of the Gary Stu thing, though, I think Clow is way beyond litmus test already anyway). But I've seen it in a lot of places, and I wonder where did people get the idea that there is only one version of CLow in all the worlds. There's absolutely nothing in canon that says that.

But now I remember what you said the other day about the King of Clow dying in those ruins... @_@ And that would be a great plot, I still think so.

[katharos-8.livejournal.com]

I feel proud ^.^

Sakura does mention that her father's dead - it's in Volume 4, when she tells Syaroan about the memory of her birthday party, and that Touya was a prince in it so her father must still have been alive. Just finished rereading it so 'tis fresh!

I don't like that theory either - it cheapens both their characters, somehow. And even though we hardly know anything about him, it seems pretty obvious to me that King Clow was different from Clow Reed. Clow Reed was intensley loyal to a very few people, but because of his age and his powers and his nature as both chinese and english he couldn't have been loyal to a single ruler or a single country. He must have always been slightly detached from the world. King Clow, on the other hand, was a King and he must have been deeply invested in his country, and been loyal to his abstract 'people,' instead of a tiny circle of intimates. I really can't see Clow Reed doing that, favouring one world and one country within that world over the rest. It would require a kind of patriotic blindness, an assumption that your country is more deserving than others, which Clow Reed strikes me as too clear sighted to posses but which is a good thing in a ruler, almost essential. And I can't really see Clow Reed faking it.

[katharos-8.livejournal.com]

1. Ooh, I like that thought. The moon is a symbol of change and transformation, and altered states, right?

2. *thoughtful* I don't know. We seen him send others to different worlds, but have we seen him travel to them himself?

3. It would be great! But it would seem rather odd for the monarch to be buried in the middle of an archaelogical dig... Clow Reed could have been buried there when the ruins were new - perhaps that's where the country got its plothole name? *grin*

I really don't like that theory either - see above for long rant on the subject! And yes, far too complcaited - would that make Touya and Sakura their own half-siblings? Does your father's pre-incarnation count as your grandfather and thus you'd be your own aunt and uncle or - *brain goes swirly*

[rainmage.livejournal.com]

Not in the Spanish edition, no. She just says Touya is still the heir prince, but she doesn't mention his father's current status. At all. Of course he's alive then, considering the age they (S+S) have and their new friendship, but it doesn't say he dies years later.

You think I post without triple checking my Clow facts? Silly you :P

Ooh, that's a really awesome conclusion you got there and it makes loads of sense! I've always seen Clow as a cosmopolitan, traveling around and around. The king, however, must have had to be pretty much attached to his country. I say, if he was alive when Touya became the king, he must've gone and done something related to the ruins. Maybe he was eaten by a sandstorm and was presumed dead?

[rainmage.livejournal.com]

I admit I would've liked the King is Clow theory if it had made any sense; but the thing is, it doesn't.

That's so confusing x_____x It reminds me of when I used to muse over whether CCS!Sakura was her boyfriend's ancestor or not.

[katharos-8.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... Both the official english and the Hyu translations mentions that Prince Touya=father was 'still' alive... Don't have Be With You scans on this computer to check them. Gakk. This is the disadvantage of Japanese fandoms. :(

The King of Clow must be related to the ruins somehow - know something about them, what they're for. After all, he 'looked out at the ruins... with that gentle expression of his.' Quoting from memory me/dork. And even knowing whatever it was about them he gave Fujitaka permission to excavate them - even encouraged him. So. So. I'm sure this means something but I don't know what. :p And, hmmm... I wonder if the fact that Fujitaka died while excavating the ruins is significant...?

[rainmage.livejournal.com]

That's *odd*. The Spanish translators tend to be very Hyu-compatible.

[laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, now that you mention it, I'm not sure if Fei Wang can travel himself. We only saw his arm when he killed Kurogane's mother... I wonder how that happened.