[Hoo boy, Sephiroth really has spent a lot of time thinking about this, huh. Ren carefully reads through his words and mulls over his own thoughts before sending a reply.]
I understand what you’re saying. And the scenario you’ve described does make sense.
[Someone like Kaneshiro fits this example - a drug-pushing mafia cog in a bigger conspiracy, preying on high school students but ultimately powerless without his hired goons. If those were the only types of criminals in the world, Sephiroth’s analysis would be correct.
However.]
What if this hypothetical person isn’t an average criminal, though? If they did have stronger powers than the rest of us, like some kind of mind control, for example, they wouldn’t need to “play nice.”
[He’s thinking of Akechi and the mental shutdowns he caused on Shido’s orders. Nobody had been able to guess how he was breaking minds until Akechi himself demonstrated that power in fighting the Phantom Thieves. Until then and to everyone else, it was a strange, unsolvable mystery.
The Metaverse may not exist here, but if there’s one thing Ren learned from the past year in Tokyo, it’s that the world is not as ordinary as it may seem. There’s no telling what secrets Revan may be concealing.]
This person wouldn’t necessarily need supernatural powers. Some of the most corrupt people are also really charismatic. Like politicians.
[Like Shido.
Not all politicians, of course. Some, like Yoshida, choose to use their skills for good.]
They’re really good at saying what people want to hear and getting them to do what they want. Someone like that wouldn’t need to “play nice” for very long. They’d recruit new followers pretty fast.
And that’s just talking about people. Other sorts of entities exist too, and some are really malevolent.
[He’ll wait to see if he’s dismissed out of hand before elaborating on Yaldabaoth.]
no subject
I understand what you’re saying. And the scenario you’ve described does make sense.
[Someone like Kaneshiro fits this example - a drug-pushing mafia cog in a bigger conspiracy, preying on high school students but ultimately powerless without his hired goons. If those were the only types of criminals in the world, Sephiroth’s analysis would be correct.
However.]
What if this hypothetical person isn’t an average criminal, though? If they did have stronger powers than the rest of us, like some kind of mind control, for example, they wouldn’t need to “play nice.”
[He’s thinking of Akechi and the mental shutdowns he caused on Shido’s orders. Nobody had been able to guess how he was breaking minds until Akechi himself demonstrated that power in fighting the Phantom Thieves. Until then and to everyone else, it was a strange, unsolvable mystery.
The Metaverse may not exist here, but if there’s one thing Ren learned from the past year in Tokyo, it’s that the world is not as ordinary as it may seem. There’s no telling what secrets Revan may be concealing.]
This person wouldn’t necessarily need supernatural powers. Some of the most corrupt people are also really charismatic. Like politicians.
[Like Shido.
Not all politicians, of course. Some, like Yoshida, choose to use their skills for good.]
They’re really good at saying what people want to hear and getting them to do what they want. Someone like that wouldn’t need to “play nice” for very long. They’d recruit new followers pretty fast.
And that’s just talking about people. Other sorts of entities exist too, and some are really malevolent.
[He’ll wait to see if he’s dismissed out of hand before elaborating on Yaldabaoth.]