Erfworld 78, Page 72

[Girl Wonder]

And, unlike Miho, we have no proof that Wanda has manipulated anyone. Miho reveled in it, even bragged about it if memory serves. We don't see Wanda doing that, thus we are unsure she IS manipulating Jillian.

The posts in defense of Wanda's character and behavior to date are reminding me more and more of the old 'Belkar is not evil!' posts from the Order of the Stick. The more the evidence piles up that Wanda is cruel, abusive, and manipulative, the more the claims that she is 'not at all any of those things and here's why' get more and more strained. In OOTS, even after Mr. Burlew came out and said definitively that 'Belkar's evil... get over it', the debate trundled on for a while.

I doubt we will get any such confirmation from Mr. Balder about Wanda. After all, breaking the fourth wall is -not- a convention of Erfworld the way it is in OOTS, but barring that, I can only wonder how far the arguments that Wanda is, in reality, none of the things she has been specifically depicted as being will continue to stretch credulity.

In an era where definitive statements often immediately get picked apart by many who seldom offer any assertive statements of their own for similar inspection, I shall hazard to make three. Posited:

Wanda is cruel.
Wanda is abusive.
Wanda is manipulative.

I can stand by those statements and defend them against all comers with examples from the comic. She is not a nice person, no matter how much anyone might want her to be. Even if she DID have some secret, noble agenda, or felt true love for Jillian (and I do not, currently give much weight to either of those) it does not prevent any of the above statements from being any less true.

Moreover, I would offer that continuing to argue the three statements above is largely a waste of posting energy that could be better spent in examining where the character may go from here. Wanda is all of those things, but, clearly, we are at a pivotal moment for that character (just as we were with Jillian a few posts ago), and whatever Wanda IS or WAS, she is at a point in which she is very likely able to move in a new direction, and perhaps better herself. Is it likely? I do not know. I think so. And I have posted that I hope it happens at least twice before. Were Wanda a real person, I would greatly hope that she could, for the sake of herself and those around her, grow beyond what she has been up until now, and I would even help her if I saw indications of her trying to move in that direction. But if it happened, it would be because she found it within herself to become so, and -not- because I or anyone else found a way to excuse it.

That's my compassion for her. And it is entirely devoid of pity.