#also dw chaos isnt one of the guys gordeau derisively accuses of being gay. he only does that to men he /isnt/ attracted to.

[uten4]

Gordeau has a reluctance to use his claw unless necessary. There's basis in the story for it being a pride or fairness thing-- he loves fighting, but he dislikes group-fighting. He finds it embarrassing and awkward to look like someone who would need to rely on someone else's strength to win battles. Similarly, the claw requires no physical strength to use, has the magical effect of paralyzing his opponent, and he can just stand far away and activate it. He doesn't want to do that; he wants a fair fight!

BUT HERE'S THE OTHER THING.

His "claw" doesn't look like quite like a claw. Most popular human-looking male characters who have claws have them as a metal appendage (like Wolverine for example) or if they're nails they at least look clearly animal-like due to a fur texture or something around them.

But Gordeau just has a normal hand, with very long, purple nails. He basically has a manicure.

This builds on his character trait of having a patriarchal masculinity complex. I haven't posted about this properly yet but in the original Japanese, Gordeau has several instances of accusing men of being gay for him and acting annoyed about it, even though it's obvious (to us at least) that they're not gay and he simply wants to assert his own masculinity and straightness. That's probably the most obvious sign of his toxic masculinity, but I'm sure you could find other ones even in the English.

For instance, the fact that he's so fixated on his perceived weakness that allowed Roger to be killed by someone else, and the fact that even though he knows Wagner didn't do anything wrong, he needs to find her and beat her up anyway, just to feel like he's strong and managed to do something, anything. His reaction to emotional turmoil and self-dissatisfaction isn't to think it over carefully and act on it logically, and it certainly isn't to work on himself in a holistic way. It's to go beat the shit out of the girl who upstaged him.

SO to have such a feminine-looking weapon which he's always hiding in his pocket... It's a representation of his masculinity complex that is BAKED INTO HIS CHARACTER DESIGN! It would help him a whole lot to sometimes not do these things the hypermasculine way (avoiding the pretty purple fingernails), but he can't let himself do that. And as a result it disadvantages him in battles, just like it disadvantages him and those around him in his everyday life to not be able to focus his energy inwards (rather than toxically blaming others and internally hating himself for not being strong enough to kill his friend), and to not be able to tell his friends straight-up that he cares about them (rather than being "masculinely" stoic and letting Hilda become a Re-birth).

A little hint of "femininity" is this man's most powerful weapon, but only when he gives it a chance.

#i'm not saying that femininity is the main reason he hides the claw #it could be but i gave other good reasons. what im saying is that regardless of the reason #the fact that it IS feminine and he treats it that way is thematically SO SO SO SO SO GOOD #op #unib #under night in birth #also dw chaos isnt one of the guys gordeau derisively accuses of being gay. he only does that to men he /isnt/ attracted to. #gordeau