History Headscratchers / BlackLagoon

** The somewhat short version is that Roberta's situation serves as the catalyzing agent for a number of Roanapur's latent-yet-constantly-boiling-under-the-surface tensions between criminal factions to hit the very tense edge of a boiling point. Roberta drives herself insane in order for a suicidal chance to take out the US special forces because their bombing of, and meddling in, the affairs of South American drug cartels and [=FARCs=] resulted in the death of her beloved benefactor. Garcia and Fabiola come to stop her and save both her life and her "Roberta" personality and place in their house. Boss Chang of the Chinese Triads realises that this going down in Roanapur is, both on its own and due to the instability it will cause in the knife-edge balanced environment, going to light up the proverbial powder-keg. Likewise, if Roberta kills the American team IN Roanapur, then the city will face the retribution and armed intervention of the US Government which it has enjoyed freedom from since coming into existence. As seen later, he also wisely realises it will give Balalaika/Hotel Moscow a clandestine chance in the resulting chaos to finally strike out and destroy the incredibly tense armistice that exists between the Russians and the Chinese, who have been battling for years for total dominance in the city. On top of that, the CIA, personified by Eda, is pissed at the Special Forces (specifically "Grey Fox") for stealing and putting their own plans into action in the field, and because they threaten her division's position. Therefor, they attempt to play the field from the background anonymously, helping Chang, Roberta, and Rock. Ah, Rock. He's in the toughest position of them all, because Chang, representing the controlling faction(s) of Roanapur, drafts him to monitor, analyze, and somehow control Garcia, Fabiola, Roberta if possible, and the ENTIRE situation at large in order to make sure that Roanapur doesn't descend into the critical mass meltdown of chaos, anarchy, and self-destruction. It should be noted that neither Chang nor anyone else really thinks Rock is capable of this, and expect to take advantage of the situation in their own ways. Rock spends a long, sleepless, painful time drafting out ALL the possible motivations, interactions, and outcomes of every single choice that the involved parties can make...and then attempts, over the course of the Arc, not so much to control, but to steer, co-opt, predict, and coerce all the involved players such that the entire unholy mess is defused as cleanly as Humanly possible without getting himself or the others killed. For these purposes, other than contacting and controlling all the involved parties, he drafts Revy, Shenhua, Sawyer, and Rotton (as well as working with Garcia and Fabiola, and later involving Benny and Dutch). Things go sort of according to his plan, which surprises the hell out of a lot of people, continuing the grand tradition of Rock earning a lot of respect points from high places and his fellow workers, whilst forcing Revy to acknowledge he's finding his own place in the "world of darkness" to which she was sure he didn't belong.

** The somewhat short version is that Roberta's situation serves as the catalyzing agent for a number of Roanapur's latent-yet-constantly-boiling-under-the-surface tensions between criminal factions to hit the very tense edge of a boiling point. Roberta drives herself insane in order for a suicidal chance to take out the US special forces because their bombing of, and meddling in, the affairs of South American drug cartels and FARCs resulted in the death of her beloved benefactor. Garcia and Fabiola come to stop her and save both her life and her "Roberta" personality and place in their house. Boss Chang of the Chinese Triads realises that this going down in Roanapur is, both on its own and due to the instability it will cause in the knife-edge balanced environment, going to light up the proverbial powder-keg. Likeise, if Roberta kills the American team IN Roanapur, then the city will face the retribution and armed intervention of the US Government which it has enjoyed freedom from since coming into existence. As seen later, he also wisely realises it will give Balalaika/Hotel Moscow a clandestine chance in the resulting chaos to finally strike out and destroy the incredibly tense armistice that exists between the Russians and the Chinese, who have been battling for years for total dominance in the city. On top of that, the CIA, personified by Eda, is pissed at the Special Forces (specifically "Grey Fox") for stealing and putting their own plans into action in the field, and because they threaten her division's position. Therefor, they attempt to play the field from the background anonymously, helping Chang, Roberta, and Rock. Ah, Rock. He's in the toughest position of them all, because Chang, representing the controlling faction(s) of Roanapur, drafts him to monitor, analyze, and somehow control Garcia, Fabiola, Roberta if possible, and the ENTIRE situation at large in order to make sure that Roanapur doesn't descend into the critical mass meltdown of chaos, anarchy, and self-destruction. It should be noted that neither Chang nor anyone else really thinks Rock is capable of this, and expect to take advantage of the situation in their own ways. Rock spends a long, sleepless, painful time drafting out ALL the possible motivations, interactions, and outcomes of every single choice that the involved parties can make...and then attempts, over the course of the Arc, not so much to control, but to steer, co-opt, predict, and coerce all the involved players such that the entire unholy mess is defused as cleanly as Humanly possible without getting himself or the others killed. For these purposes, other than contacting and controlling all the involved parties, he drafts Revy, Shenhua, Sawyer, and Rotton (as well as working with Garcia and Fabiola, and later involving Benny and Dutch). Things go sort of according to his plan, which surprises the hell out of a lot of people, continuing the grand tradition of Rock earning a lot of respect points from high places and his fellow workers, whilst forcing Revy to acknowledge he's finding his own place in the "world of darkness" to which she was sure he didn't belong.

** Actually she killed 9 of them out of 18. It's not important about lone badass, but she was made like one, and there was no reason to change that. There are many things in the manga which OVA haven't covered, and those things make a difference. For example: in the manga she attack them from their blind spots, from behind, hanging from the tree ..., she avoided direct confrontation with them.

[[folder:Roberta's villainy]]

* Why is Roberta considered a villain in El baile de la muerte arc?
** Because if she massacres an American black ops unit in Roanapur, it would fuck up the lives of everyone living there.
** So, let me get this straight. She's in place filled with criminals, and she's considered villain. Like seriously? You have a good person (Roberta) against the bad ones, and she's a villain? Then, I must be the only person who thinks she's not a villain.
** Did you just call Roberta ''a good person''?
** Yes I did. In my books she's a good person. You sound surprised, I wonder what is your definition of good person?
** So you'd rather Roanapur gets blown up. You'd rather Rock, Revy, Benny, Dutch, Chang, Balalaika, and Bao get arrested by the U.S. government. You'd rather we don't have a story after this arc. Okay then. Carry on.
** Yeah, things don't go like that (many things in that arc are said without reason), still that doesn't make Roberta a bad person, but have fun. But, we exactly don't have a "story" for about three years. There are only, how much, 11 chapters (The Wired Red Wild Card) since El baile de la muerte. Hardly a story, mostly a recap. I'm walking away.
** The problem with Roberta is that she goes full DisproportionateRetribution mode, and by the end is pretty much a kill-crazy psychopath (one who scares the daylights out of ''her own friends''). Even if Roberta's motives could be considered "sympathetic", the brutally violent extremes she takes quickly outweigh whatever justifications she had - and as [[DefectorFromDecadence somebody who deserted from the FARC when she realized they flew against their own revolutionary ideals]], she should know full and well that, sometimes, [[WellIntentionedExtremist the ends do NOT justify the means]]...
** Well, I have my opinion, and you have yours. In the end, I still don't think she's a villain. The real question is, what are the others in the world of Black Lagoon? But all in all, it's good to hear the opinions of others.
** Remember that while a character's morality may correlate with their role in the story, that doesn't imply causation. {{Hero Antagonist}}s exist for a reason.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Revy's last name]]

* I'm one of the biggest Revy fans but I haven't found any source material stating her last name is in fact Lee (and I have looked). Yes Black Lagoon wiki says so but even that's a fansite. Did I miss some huge reveal by Hireo himself. Or do people in general assume all Chinese are Lee?
[[/folder]]

*** Well, the initial plan WAS to just tell Garcia to go to Roberta after she shot up all the Colombians, but since both sides caught onto Lagoon Company escaping (and since Roberta was still firmly in "[[RevengeBeforeReason Murder everybody responsible for Garcia's kidnapping regardless of whether they'd hand him over or not]]"), holding onto the kid as a human shield (and a chance [[MoneyDearBoy to hopefully wring SOME cash out of the hopeless clusterfuck]]) became the best option for Lagoon Company.

*** Well, first off, the "unnamed soldier" was a [[ColdSniper SNIPER]] who blew off Hansel's leg and arm, after he was lured into an ambush by Balalika. Second, the old man who shot Gretel was supposed to be her getaway driver (after Gretel paid off Lagoon Company to help her escape Roanapur), but was paid off by Balalika to kill Gretel instead, without Gretel (or Lagoon Company, for that matter) realizing it. In both cases, Hansel and Gretel were effectively blind-sided by ambushes they couldn't see (in Hansel's case, [[SanityHasAdvantages his insanity making him not realize Balalika sitting in an open courtyard had to be a trap]], and in Gretel's case, being trustworthy of a stranger [[BoomHeadshot and only realizing his betrayal the second he planted a slug through her head]]).

*** The problem with Roberta is that she goes full DisproportionateRetribution mode, and by the end is pretty much a kill-crazy psychopath (one who scares the daylights out of ''her own friends''). Even if Roberta's motives could be considered "sympathetic", the brutally violent extremes she takes quickly outweigh whatever justifications she had - and as [[DefectorFromDecadence somebody who deserted from the FARC when she realized they flew against their own revolutionary ideals]], she should know full and well that, sometimes, [[WellIntentionedExtremist the ends do NOT justify the means]]...
*** Well, I have my opinion, and you have yours. In the end, I still don't think she's a villain. The real question is, what are the others in the world of Black Lagoon? But all in all, it's good to hear the opinions of others.

*** Well, first off, the "unnamed soldier" was a [[ColdSniper SNIPER]] who blew off Hansel's leg and arm, after he was lured into an ambush by Balalika. Second, the old man who shot Gretel was supposed to be her getaway driver (after Gretel paid off Lagoon Company to help her escape Roanapur), but was paid by Balalika to kill Gretel instead. In both cases, Hansel and Gretel were effectively blind-sided by ambushes they couldn't see (in Hansel's case, [[SanityHasItsAdvantages insanity not realizing Balalika sitting in an open courtyard had to be a trap]], and in Gretel's case, being trustworthy of a stranger [[BoomHeadshot and only realizing their betrayal when he planted a slug through her head]])

** Possibly because, since they knew Roberta was a servant of the Lovelace family ([[TheDreaded and knew just what she was capable of]] [[RetiredMonster back when she was a full-on member of the FARC]]), somebody got the bright idea that sending Garcia halfway around the world would prevent Roberta from coming after him. [[TheDeterminator Needless to say, they're proven wrong]].