★ nori freakman

Oh Tessa... Tessa is no longer there.

Tw: Blood, down there full art⬇️⬇️⬇️

So I know it's common for folks to headcanon Khan was always obsessed with doors, and that obsession was more or less an arbitrary passion he had... but I can't help but feel there's a really important detail that, when considered, suggests otherwise?

@ilovekhori

welcome to the club op! glad you are now on the side of “actually looking at and understanding khan’s complexity instead of just making him the door guy and only the door guy.” and not like . the other side.

Aw thanks! Glad my post reached its an appreciative audience! I ADORE Murder Drones for its themes about trauma, how virtually all main characters experienced it and are severely impacted by it, and how they deal with it in different ways to .. various degrees of detriment for all of them really, until they hit their character growth beats (or don't and face the consequences, like J)

The pilot, though, only barely touches it when setting up the story (a great narrative choice). So when I first watched and saw Khan abandon Uzi, I felt angry at him. "Dead wife" doesn't excuse you being a complete coward, Khan! How could you!

Then, as the story progressed and more information was revealed, like I said, it put his actions into a different light; he was having a full blown trauma response and was NOT thinking clearly. That doesn't make it, like, okay or automatically forgivable, of course. Trauma doesn't work like that either--you don't get to just hurt whoever you want while hiding in your shell, and expect everyone else to keep being your friend. Everyone has choices. They can keep living in denial, or accept they've done wrong and hold themselves accountable. They can stagnate in self pity forever, or they can put the work in to do better.

I found Khan's growth was IMMENSE. It started right away! The parent teacher conference opened his eyes to just how much he didn't even KNOW his own daughter, he assumed she was doing great in class and had lots of friends! Upon finding out the opposite was true, he felt awful he hadn't noticed. He then outright rejected the very next call to his work passion ("something about his daughter being more important than building a door in this hallway"). Right then and there, he started choosing Uzi.

He made some shaky choices in episode 3; he wanted to keep Uzi away from the murder drones (but can you blame him after the distraught state he found Uzi in (ep 2), in some crazy wreckage, and nobody else with her but N, who fled the scene? Khan must've assumed N put her in danger. And I have a hunch Uzi didn't explain what happened in great excruciating detail or anything.. especially since she herself didn't know where she stood with N), and he thought he was doing her a favor by setting her up with classmates to go to prom with and, y'know, dad moment of thinking chaperoning is awesome and not like, the lamest thing anyone's parent can do ever. But he was already trying something. He wanted to do better.

He only grows upward from there though, after witnessing Uzi take her brave stand, and defend who and what she believed in. We don't see a lot of Khan for a while after that, but we do see him in episode 5 trying to express he's proud of seeing Uzi having friends over.. which were 2 murder drones. 1 who tried to kill Uzi in front of him. Who previously, Khan clearly mistrusted because before N ran away, something clearly horrible enough happened Uzi wanted to come home instead of going back with N. But in ep 3 Uzi made her choice, she chose her allies and they chose her, and so.. by ep 5 Khan had FAITH in Uzi and her choices, and just like, let 2 murder drones in his house, alone with his daughter! That's a pretty big deal!

By the end, his growth peaks! He REBUILDS Uzi's gun! That thing was TRASHED. Exploded. Who knows if it was salvageable at all or Khan rebuilt it from scratch. She was hurt he didn't believe in her (even if it had more to do with his trauma than doubting her weapon, what Uzi was left to understand was Khan didn't believe in her enough to even save her life), but he did believe in her now. Fully, without question. Rebuilding the gun was symbolic of that, sort of like the last piece of rebuilding his relationship with Uzi and, and fight (fight!!! Not hide, not shield her!) head on like she always believed in, when he failed to even defend. No more doors.

So ultimately, my poor opinion of him changed drastically, not just because I felt bad about his trauma, but he put in the hard work to change. His mistake was a wake up call, one I'm sure he thanked GOD it didn't end up being one he could never undo. And he didn't take that for granted. Did not spit in the universe's face that he didn't lose his daughter, and he got a second chance he didn't get with Nori. He put his all into it. Rocky at first, but he also learned fast from where he was fumbling and steered the hell away from the pitfalls of fucking up again.

It's crazy! I rarely end up liking parental characters who screw up like that, I'm VERY hard on them, I really don't easily forgive them or accept how the narrative attempts to redeem them (obvious personal baggage is obvious lol) but Khan earned my respect. And it IS pretty important to me understanding him as someone who.. wasn't just arbitrarily obsessed with a random thing in favor of his daughter, but it was trauma symptom. One he chose to heal from.

khan is such a genuinely fun character to explore and i’m so glad there’s more people who understand him. he’s done shitty things and he should be held accountable for what he’s done, but you also have to understand he’s genuinely trying to improve and i am so happy you get that!! i adore your ramble!

One iced latte with low-fat #nori doorman milk, please.

So I know it's common for folks to headcanon Khan was always obsessed with doors, and that obsession was more or less an arbitrary passion he had... but I can't help but feel there's a really important detail that, when considered, suggests otherwise?

@ilovekhori

welcome to the club op! glad you are now on the side of “actually looking at and understanding khan’s complexity instead of just making him the door guy and only the door guy.” and not like . the other side.

eh

Rose variants and such

@zeethenecromancer

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Khori

the biggest thing about khori is how freaky they are for each other

context: i was just born today and im trying to learn about the world i hope you can help me. whatever you say i will take to heart completely and live by for the rest of my life

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