the issue with the ending of ōoku (analysis)

Recently, I received this reply on my previous analysis regarding Ōoku:

And I thought this was, in particular, important to brief over + criticism on how poorly written Ōoku was in certain aspects. I replied to the original commenter already, but I’ll be posting my thoughts as a post as well, since I think it’s VERY important to be aware about the issues with the story and it’s impact on Kama as a whole.

In direct response to the reply: “There’s a HUGE difference between people caring about Kama’s trauma versus condoning the fact Pārvatī LITERALLY retraumatized them by a second incineration, let alone the fact the whole reason Ōoku happened in the first place is because Kama was used by the gods and Pārvatī and suffered a whole universe of pain leaving them traumatized beyond belief.

The other participants in Ōoku of course aren’t obligated to help Kama though this still doesn’t excuse the fact they were perfectly okay with letting Pārvatī retraumatize them again— the WHOLE reason they became evil-aligned. It’s legitimately a huge slap in the face because it needlessly retraumatizes an already scarred victim right and is then masked with a shitty “good wins and real love is applicable to everyone but kama!11!!”.

It doesn’t acknowledge their past issues and current internal issues at all that caused all their evil doings in the first place, and this ending BARELY gives leeway for them to heal as is. Of all people, Pārvatī is the one who IS actually obligated to care about the damage she did to Kama, unintentional or not. And in the end, all she gave was a shitty “sorry”, tried to pass her blame onto Indra, and then proceeded to incinerate Kama because there’s apparently no better way of taking them down.

So no, the issue isn’t the fact Kama was defeated, because yes what they did was bad— the issue is the fact HOW they were defeated was horribly disgusting and a huge message of “screw trauma victims for retaliating against the people who caused said trauma”.”

Not touched on in the reply itself, but I also think it is important to point out that even if Ōoku wasn’t just an act of revenge against Pārvatī (as it was against all of humanity for constantly blaming Kamadeva for the failures of love), Kama STILL had the right to retaliate after all they endured— and yeah, how they retaliated was bad, but how does is that any different from what Pārvatī did to them AGAIN, let alone how all the bystanders reacted? And at the very least, Kama trying to drown the universe with their love had the motive as a solution for them constantly getting blamed for failures of love— what excuse does Pārvatī have for SPECIFICALLY choosing to incinerate them again, an experience she KNEW was so painful and what made them so resentful in the first place?? How does incinerating them a second time fix any of the ongoing issues Kama had that led them up to this point??

It doesn’t. If not, it absolutely made their issues worse— Kama was straight up intending to commit suicide before Kiara plucked them, and as said by themself— they “always end up the victim”. NOTHING in Ōoku was fixed, and the only thing that was gained was the ending, where Kiara sends Kama to heal.

To me, Ōoku reads exactly as “we will reveal all the trauma a victim went through and proceed to worsen said trauma without fixing anything”, as well as a “let’s teach the lesson of love to kama by worsening their trauma”. It’s insensitive and poorly written, and even if you don’t like Kama, Ōoku overall still has a pretty poor message no matter how intricate it was.

this is just how i imagine they interact

analysis/interpretation on the ending scene of ōoku

I wanted to get my thoughts out about FGO event Ōoku now that the event is over, I’ve got no idea how Tumblr algorithm works but hopefully someone sees this and adds their own thoughts since I’d love to have discussion on this since I’ve got MANY words about this event tbh.

The main scene I wanted to go over was the ending at least, with the small discussion Kama and Kiara have with one another— to preface this, I sort of wanted to acknowledge for a fact Ōoku is NOT without flaw and is a pretty poorly written event in certain aspects, and I 100% understand why people are frustrated about how cruel this event treats Kama!! To be honest, I think the reason why I interpret the ending scene the way I do is a desperate attempt to give myself some closure over giving Kama some healing, but I wanted to see if anyone agreed first.

Anyways, about the scene itself: when reading through the ending, I personally thought Kiara’s send-off, although obviously still some form of “punishment” and “karmic retribution” was actually motivated by a small, good-intended desire to give Kama a chance of healing at Chaldea.

I sort of wanted to point out this scene in particular, which struck me differently compared to the reactions of other characters:

As observed by other people, I think it’s pretty sucky that most other characters basically congratulated Parvati for forcing a second traumatic experience onto Kama and barely turned an eye to how cruel the usage of her Noble Phantasm actually was (I’m aware Kama needed to be taken down sooner or later since, had their plan succeeded after all, they would’ve never gotten the chance to properly heal, but I still think it’s unnecessarily cruel to throw a second painful incineration specifically led by one of the main sources of their trauma in the first place).

But there is one character who DOES point out their concern for Kama’s fate, and that’s Sessyoin Kiara herself.

Kiara, with no doubt, is a wicked woman with flawed morals— she herself makes it a point to state this and does confirm this is her own way of giving Kama “punishment”.

And yet, what strikes me as important is that Kiara is the only character to point out that Kama had brought their fate on themself— she is, as far as I’m concerned, the only character to observe their motives and morals in its truest form and vaguely attempt to connect and empathize with such a mindset. Kiara also seems to be the only one to pick up on how Kama has a burning hatred for themself in this scene, while other characters of Ōoku tend to pass Kama off as arrogant, egoistical, and haughty.

In a way, I personally believe Kiara noticing the depth behind Kama’s personality and motives is already an act that no other characters of Ōoku provide for (especially Parvati, like wtf?). It reads as a vague attempt of both sympathy and empathy to give Kama a chance to be heard, and even if it is coupled with Kiara’s narcissistic and rather sadistic behavior, I do believe Kiara made nonetheless a small attempt to give Kama a sense of understanding. There even seems to be a vague hint of concern (Kiara later states “Even I would not go that far” regarding the incineration) towards Kama’s self-destructive behavior. Given Kiara’s masochistic tendencies, I only think that line is further important that she full-on admits Kama’s self-hatred actually surpasses her own limits for self-preservation.

Kiara herself actually points out Kama, in the end, has a rather pure and benevolent soul, stating:

While this could be read as Kiara attempting to mock Kama, especially given their angry reaction after— I like to believe that deep down inside, Kiara genuinely did acknowledge the tragedy of Kama’s situation. I once again want to reiterate the fact that scarcely any other character in Ōoku offers this sympathy, and Kiara is, once more, the only person to attempt to describe and observe Kama as an empathetic victim who was mistreated cruelly all throughout.

Then, once Kiara begins the process of assimilating Kama into the servant summoning system:

Punishment or not, Chaldea is exactly an environment Kama needs to heal, and I believe Kiara herself is aware of that— of course, I don’t believe Kiara was doing this out of the goodness of her heart, but there seems to be a hint of genuine concern for Kama behind the statement of redemption and “remaining misunderstood forever”.

Without Kiara sending Kama to Chaldea, it’s possible the tired god of love may have never been able to find peace and healing— more than likely, it feels as if Kama had fully intended to drift in their universe without end, seeing themselves as nothing more than a “loser” with a pathetic personality.

Described by their bond lines, and later their interlude, the type of people Kama needs to heal is found in Ritsuka— they need someone to (metaphorically) “teach” them love, for even if they’re aware of everything about it, they have long forgotten the positive, simple, and wholesome experiences associated with love. They’re aware of its existence, just as they’re aware of the love they held for Rati and Vasanta— but no longer feel any emotional connection or feeling to love in its purest form, and that is where characters like Ritsuka come into play. Chaldea is a place where Kama can “relearn” these experiences once more, and begin their path of healing— and I genuinely believe Kiara was fully aware of this while sending Kama to Chaldea.

Would also like to point out that one of the main motifs of this event was the whole lesson behind Kasuga’s definition of love— rather than endless depravity that spoils people rotten and, as a result, condones evil and sin, love is instead found through a sense of nurturing and guidance— an act of supporting and helping a person grow without necessarily keeping shackles on their development.

Kiara’s actions here seems to be vaguely reminiscent of the love Kasuga feels for the Ōoku and the shoguns— even if she does not presently state this, she similarly desires to reach an understanding with Kama and send them on this path of healing and development. For a woman that ultimately can only love herself, I think it is still important for both of their characters that Kiara was nonetheless capable of hinting, at the very least, empathy for Kama and a desire to give them healing closure no other character in Ōoku attempts to provide.

Again, I don’t deny that Kiara did not have the purest intentions by toying with Kama at the end, and I still believe Ōoku is poorly written in this regard of unnecessarily torturing a trauma victim— but, just as Kama was built by tragedy, Kiara underwent similar— even if Kiara herself is presently aware there is no longer “good” in her and she is no longer the holy woman she once was, Kiara still nonetheless desires for good to exist— just not specifically from herself, and linking Kama with Ritsuka was an example of her trying to keep the existence of good morals. This, to me, also felt like a conclusion to Kiara’s whole practice of self-restraint throughout the event— she wants to “guide” Ritsuka into development and eventually take her down, secretly motivating for them to abstain from her, even if she still nonetheless desires to be the one to corrupt them in the end.

I’ve got a big handful of other thoughts on this event (especially as a huge Kama fan), but that’s all I’ll touch on here, since I really wanted to share at least my interpretation of the ending scene and what it meant to both Kama and Kiara. I also really want to discuss this with others, so please feel free to add on! If you don’t agree with any of this, that’s fine too, but I’d still love to hear people’s thoughts nonetheless.