History Analysis / Claymore

* By deliberately putting on her old uniform before this battle and meeting them face-to-face, Miria signals to the younger warriors that she is one of them, unlike their handlers. In-group solidarity is a powerful force, but insufficient on its own in this case, because the Organization deliberately weakens it by making warriors kill their own (those who Awaken).

When the warriors regain consciousness, they are understandably confused, but in the absence of a clear ''call to action'' from Miria (who has just been incapacitated by Raftela), they instead seem to follow that from their Organization handlers -- namely, to finish Miria off. At this point, however, Miria has already arrayed two out of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influence:_Science_and_Practice Cialdini's six "weapons of influence"]] in her defense, ''reciprocation'' and ''liking'':

* By deliberately putting on her old uniform before this battle, Miria signals to the younger warriors that she is like them; by gracefully defeating them in fair combat, meanwhile, she also shows respect for them as {{Worthy Opponent}}s. The combined result of these actions is that, even if only subconsciously, the warriors grow to like her more than their own handlers.

The handlers' deploy two "weapon of influence" in support of their appeal: ''commitment/consistency'' ("you have always followed our orders, so follow this one, too") and ''authority'' ("we are your superiors, so obey our order"). The former is the second-strongest of the six (after reciprocation), but as we will see in just a bit, its effectiveness has been sabotaged unbeknownst to them, leaving only authority on their side. In terms of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_Raven%27s_bases_of_power French and Raven's bases of power]], the handlers' appeal relies upon their ''legitimate power'' within the Organization's hierarchy ("we are officers, you are grunts, therefore you should obey our orders").

Miria, on the other hand, has ''three'' of the six influence weapons arrayed against the Organization: while the warriors have mostly invalidated ''reciprocation'' (by paying off their debt to Miria by letting her live earlier), they are now bound by ''commitment and consistency'' (even though their handlers have not realized it until now, they have ''already'' rebelled against their orders when they defied spared Miria -- openly rallying under her banner is just an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment escalation of commitment]]). Plus, the ''social proof'' (because everyone has been complicit in not-killing Miria earlier, going through with it now would go against the collective grain) and ''liking'' are still on her side.

Miria's appeal additionally relies on not one but three bases of power: ''expert'', ''referent'', and ''reward''. The expert power claim is perhaps the most straightforward: as mentioned earlier, Miria has established her combat superiority, so there is no question that she is really good at killing people. Referent power is also obvious: during the earlier battle, Miria went to great pains (literally) to show her respect and care for the younger warriors -- and was reciprocated by them, creating a relationship of tentative trust that she can now draw upon. Miria's reward power is perhaps the most subtle, because at first glance, she doesn't actually offer anything to the warriors. However, her implicit offer, following from everything she has done up to this point, is a change in leadership -- from that by their handlers who don't view, let alone value, them as humans, to that by a fellow warrior who has treated them with every ounce or respect and care.

In summary, while Deneve is absolutely right that the strategy Miria chose to convert Clarice's generation to her cause was extremely risky, it was also, in retrospect, a helluva shrewd political move.

As undeniably cool as the scene of Miria's return from the (seemingly) dead is, the psychology behind why the ''entire'' warrior contingent chose to follow her into rebelling against the Organization is even more fascinating. After all, it's not like Clarice's generation in particular has faced worse abuse than any of the previous ones -- so why them? The answer has less to do with the warriors themselves than with Miria's skilled manipulation of their (ultimately) human psychology.

The warriors' conversion takes place in two steps/phases (although Miria probably hoped it would only take one): The initial battle culminating in Miria's defeat, and her return to call for rebellion. Phase one begins when Miria engages the warriors in what they believe to be a life-or-death battle: while they strike with a lethal intent, giving her implicit justification to retaliate in kind, she instead deliberately attacks to subdue. By single-handedly incapacitating the entire contingent in fair combat, she establishes a very particular social relationship between them and herself, where:
* She has a clear combat superiority over even the single-digits of the current generation.
* The warriors now owe their lives to her, because even though they gave her every justification to end them and she had ample opportunity to do so, she took considerable risks to spare every last one of them.

When the warriors regain consciousness, they are understandably confused, but in the absence of a clear ''call to action'' from Miria (who has just been incapacitated by Raftela), they instead visibly submit to that of their Organization handlers -- namely, to finish Miria off. At this point, however, Miria has already arrayed two out of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influence:_Science_and_Practice Cialdini's six "weapons of influence"]] in her defense, ''reciprocation'' and ''liking'':

* As noted above, all of the warriors who were ordered to kill her owe their lives to her benevolence and skill. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocity_(social_psychology) Reciprocity]] is the strongest "weapon of influence", and in this case, it demands of the warriors to spare Miria's life in return.
* By deliberately putting on her old uniform before this battle, Miria signals to the younger warriors that she is like them, while by gracefully defeating them in fair combat, she shows respect for them as {{Worthy Opponent}}s. The combined result of these actions is that, even if only on the subconscious level, the warriors grow to like her more than their own handlers.

When the unnamed warrior strikes at Miria and deliberately misses the vital part, another of Cialdini's weapons is deployed against the Organization's orders (albeit without Miria's conscious effort): ''social proof''. When other warriors see that one of them sabotages their superiors' will, it becomes the new norm, and the rest follow because it is easier than making the first step. And so the warrior's compromise between the authority's verbal orders and Miria's nonverbal persuasion is to maim, but not kill her.

When Miria comes back from the "dead", the first thing she does is to deliver her overdue call to action -- that the younger warriors rebel against the Organization. Because of earlier events, she does not need to put any more effort into it. In fact, had Raftela not prevented her from delivering her appeal to the warriors before they came to, the rebellion would have probably started even earlier, but by doing that, the Organization ultimately only strengthened Miria's pull. In somewhat formalized terms, there are three parties involved: Miria (an ''agent'' of influence), the Organization handlers (also agents), and the warriors (''[[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/patient#Noun patients]]'' of influence).

* The warriors are faced with two directly contradictory appeals and must make a decision on which one to follow.

The handlers' deploy two "weapon of influence" in support of their appeal: ''commitment/consistency'' ("you have always followed our orders, so follow this one, too") and ''authority'' ("we are your superiors, so obey our order"). The former is the second-strongest of the six (after reciprocation), but as we will see in just a bit, its effectiveness is already thoroughly sabotaged, leaving only authority on their side. In terms of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_Raven%27s_bases_of_power French and Raven's bases of power]], the handlers prop their appeal up with their ''legitimate power'' within the Organization's hierarchy ("we are officers, you are grunts, therefore you should obey our orders").

Miria, on the other hand, has ''three'' of the six influence weapons arrayed against the Organization: while the warriors have mostly removed ''reciprocation'' from the equation (by paying off their debt to Miria by letting her live earlier), they are now bound by ''commitment and consistency'' (even though their handlers have not realized it yet, they have ''already'' rebelled against their orders when they defied them and spared Miria -- openly rallying under her banner is just an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment escalation of commitment]] from there). Plus, the ''social proof'' (because everyone has been complicit in not-killing Miria earlier, going through with it now would go against the collective grain) and ''liking'' are still on her side.

Miria's appeal is additionally propped up by three bases of power: ''expert'', ''referent'', and ''reward''. The expert power claim is perhaps the most straightforward: as mentioned earlier, Miria has established her combat superiority, so there is no question that she is really good at killing people. Referent power is also obvious: during the earlier battle, Miria went to great pains (literally) to show her respect and care for the younger warriors -- and was reciprocated by them, creating a relationship of tentative trust that she can now draw upon. Miria's reward power is perhaps the most subtle, because at first glance, she doesn't actually offer anything to the warriors. However, her implicit offer, following from everything she has done up to this point, is a change in leadership -- from that of their handlers who don't view, let alone value, them as humans, to that of a fellow warrior who has treated them with every ounce or respect and care.

In summary, while Deneve is absolutely right that Miria's chosen strategy to convert Clarice's generation to her rebel cause was extremely risky and almost ended in an utter disaster for the Ghosts, it was also, in retrospect, a helluva shrewd political move on her part.