Both She-Ra and The Princesses of Power (2018) and Genshin Impact (2020) depict characters that struggle with expectations placed upon them by others. In She-Ra the characters Catra, Glimmer and Adora showcase varying degrees of expectation placed upon them and ability to cope with said expectations. In Genshin Impact the characters of Jean and Nahida similarly struggle to cope with expectations forced onto them.
In She-Ra, Adora’s – the main character’s – central struggle revolves around taking on the mantle of being She-Ra – a line of mythical heroes from thousands of years ago – and how that impacts her relationships and later her ability to function. It is important to note that Adora was very young when she was told that she was going to be She-Ra, and that even before that she had expectations on her to be a great military leader from birth. Living her life under constant heavy expectations leads her to develop an intensely self-sacrificial attitude, where she doesn’t view herself as a person with needs, but more as a tool to get things done.
In season 5 of the show, the expectations placed on Adora worsen due to the discovery of the failures of Adora’s predecessor, Mara, who left Adora with a job half done and the stakes of the end of the world. This culminates in the finale of the season, where due to the pressure of the expectations placed upon her and the price of failure Adora struggles to maintain the form of She-Ra, which paradoxically leaves her unable to perform the task. Ultimately, the only way Adora can achieve her task is due to Catra’s words where she lets her know that she can want to do things for herself.
The character of Glimmer is similar in the way that she has a massive role to fill but this affects her in different ways. She’s set to inherit the throne and does so during the duration of the show. Due to the expectations placed upon her when she became queen, Glimmer went through a rapid personality change, which really affected her relationships with everyone around her. She is shown to struggle with the burden of being queen and becomes dramatically hostile to the people around her, this leads to a complete severing of her relationship with her two closest friends, which she doesn’t regain until late season 5. Glimmer’s struggle is more outwardly obvious than Adora’s, showing the difference in their upbringings, and how Adora has already accepted the fact that she is going to have these expectations placed upon her, but Glimmer’s never had to deal with them before.
Finally, Catra can be considered the opposite in her development, as her struggle stems from the fact that everyone around her expects the worst of her, and when Adora leaves she gives in and forces herself into that role. As a result, Catra falls into an intense spiral of worsening behaviour, causing negative reactions from people, which then causes her behaviour to worsen further. This leaves her completely isolated at the beginning of season 5, and only when she is removed from people expecting the worst of her does she start to improve. Unlike Adora and Glimmer, Catra applies herself to the role of the villain in Adora’s story, becoming increasingly cruel to people who show her nothing but love, she does this due to the expectations to not only by a leader in The Horde (the shows main villainous faction) but to be the enemy of Adora, a role she created for herself in response to Adora’s perceived betrayal.In conclusion, I think She-Ra has good representations of expectations as a burden, showing how it can affect characters in varying different ways.
Alternatively, in Genshin Impact the game’s protagonist does have a lot of expectations placed on them to solve the problems of the inhabitants of Teyvat – the fictional world the game takes place in – though this only ever becomes an issue when it conflicts with their personal goals. The character of Nahida is one of the seven gods of Teyvat, and thus is the divine figurehead of her people, as she is the god of wisdom she is expected to have vast knowledge on all things. However, Nahida is only 500 years old – insignificantly young for a god – and the previous god of wisdom, Greater Lord Rukkahadevata, has died and left a gaping hole in the nation of Sumeru, the nation Nahida inherits. The Sumeru government greatly reject Nahida, as they are grieving the loss of their god and place great importance on wisdom and knowledge, which Nahida does not yet possess. Therefore, Nahida is completely unable to live up to the expectations of her people, and as a result they imprison her, leaving Nahida to feel like an utter failure – this is even reflected in how they address her as “Lesser Lord Kusanali”.
The other prominent character in Genshin Impact that struggles with the burden of expectations is Jean Gunnhildr, the Acting Grand Master of Mondstadt. Mondstadt is the first region you visit in the game, and you quickly learn that their Grand Master, Varka, left on an expedition along with 80% of the Knights of Favonius – Mondstadt’s protectors and leaders – leaving his subordinate, Jean, to run the country in his absence. Varka not only left Jean with the expectation to run the country while he is away, but to do so with the Knights of Favonius at only 20% manpower, and with no guidance from senior staff, as almost all of them accompanied him on his expedition.
However, this was not the first time Jean had had lofty expectations placed upon her by others – she’d had them put upon her since birth due to being a Gunnhildr. The Gunnhildr’s are one of the three prestigious families of Mondstadt and are the most highly regarded out of them due to their long-lasting ties with the knights, and the fact that one of their ancestors helped to crown their god. As a family they are seen as protectors of Mondstadt, exemplifying this is the fact that Gunnhildr children are taught to say “For Mondstadt, as always” before they are taught the names of their parents. As a result, Jean – the heir to this clan – has never known a life without expectations.
The progression of Jean’s life has only seen the expectations of her grow, the most obvious example of this was when she was given the title of “Lion of The South” at age of 15. This is a sacred title passed down throughout the Knights of Favonius, given sparsely and only to those who are believed to “have the potential to lead”.
All of these expectations placed upon Jean lead her to view everyone’s problems – no matter how small – as her own, and feel that she constantly has to be making herself useful, otherwise she isn’t doing enough and is letting everyone down. This mindset has caused her to become distant with everyone in her life, as she constantly puts work and citizen’s menial problems before her personal relationships, leaving her completely isolated, as people give up on trying to become close to her. It also leaves her with a very unhealthy work life balance, where more often than not she only stops working past 2am and is shown to collapse from overexerting herself in the game.
To summarise, I think Genshin Impact has an effective representation of portraying the emotional struggle of burdening expectations being placed upon characters.
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