History WMG / WitchBlade

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<<|WildMassGuessing|>>

[[WMG: Karna (from {{Mahabharata}}) has one of these.]]%%Tropers/TBeholder

Sun God gave his baby Karna "armor and earrings" -- an Older Than Earth artifact fished out of the primal Chaos. This gift was irremovable by any means accessible to mortals, made him [[MadeOfIron highly resistant]] to both normal damage and "[[HolyHandGrenade Celestial]] [[{{Hellfire}} Weapons]]", but didn't impair in any way his growth from baby to impressive warrior. The earrings -- with gem(s)? -- gave Karna his name, but the armor is mentioned only when he needs it. On the warriors' tournament, it was "hey, who's that guy in cool armor?", but people on streets or in his stepfather's stables didn't gawk at a strange boy always walking around wrapped in shiny metal for no apparent reason and didn't spread rumors through all the lands. Karna was considered the single most dangerous man on the whole battlefield, even though there were a few [[TheAce absurdly]] [[OldMaster powerful]] [[TheObiWan mentors]] on the same side, and several other godlings and one ''avatar of a deity'' on another; Indra thought other guys (otherwise the best warriors ever) still has no chance to bring down Karna until he managed to remove this artifact. The armor-and-earrings ("kavach kundal") were found, given, and removed ''always together, as two parts of one thing''. DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything already?

<<|WildMassGuessing|>>

If the host species happen to be ''Homo sapiens sapiens'', this approach easily leads to the conclusion: aggressive females with [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean outstanding hormonal balance]] and [[BuxomIsBetter corresponding figure]] are the best hosts to protect, and they always need some action.

[[WMG: Karna (from {{Mahabharata}}) has one of these.]]
[[hottip:*:by TBeholder]] ...and may be the main inspiration. See for yourself:\\

[[WMG: The "Witchblade" is a reptilian biomeme.]]
[[hottip:*:by {{between3and20}}]] It's well known that snakes shed their skins. It is also common for them to eat their shed skins afterward. Reptiles may even eat their eggs shortly after hatching from them.\\

In some species, the young are born in large clutches of eggs, but then fight and kill each other until only a few, particularly strong specimens remain. This could be the case here, or perhaps the "savagery of the skin" requires a particular trigger to activate, a mixture of adrenaline and sex hormones. In either case, the armor, while hard, is made of compounds that easily dissolve in the baby's stomach. The are able to absorb the nutrients and even some of the "instinct" contained in the primitive braincells. (Perhaps the symbiote layer is synthesized from the dead mate, but that sort of squick is a PoisonOakEpilepticTree.) Anyway, the biochemistry is simple enough to be almost universal. With the right host, the skin can even be employed by a member of a different species.
* The most biologically necessary reason to return a host into its normal shape is that, otherwise, symbiont species could gradually breed out the best potential host traits, which would be self-destructive. On the contrary, stimulation (in sensible limits) of a chosen host's reproductive behaviour means spreading of all traits that make better hosts.

[[WMG: Witchblade's emotional and mental side effect is mostly an alien way of productive coexistence with the humanity. ]]
[[hottip:*:by TBeholder]] Let's see it from an alien [=PoV=]?\\
You are a sentient ([[StarfishAliens sort of]]) defensive symbiont -- it's your main purpose in this life -- stranded among potential host species but not understanding them well. Attempts to interact telepathically have mixed results, as these creatures aren't adapted to this; the only sure thing is "its mind is a mess". They are rather violent, and you suspect many are downright insane; but you still have no way to judge. Few peers around you are in the same trouble and have wildly different ideas about the situation. Now, the task is to get good hosts to live with, not to harm whole species by counter-natural choice (one just doesn't do this to the species one depends upon).

What to do? The species in question reproduces sexually and, as such, are supposed to select what is good to keep. And you are a good tele-empath, so when there's no clue for a choice, use ''their own'' instincts: watch their peers' reactions, see any correlations, react accordingly. Simple enough. It may be intentional or instinctive; the result is the same.

Then if the species happens to be ''Homo sapiens sapiens,'' with this strategy, you'll quickly end up convinced that aggressive females with [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean outstanding hormonal balance]] are the best hosts you can choose to protect. And that they always need some action.
* There was also a late-canonical theory about "MaleGaze" of Witchblade, but come on, it's made of holes. It's not clear what it could find in creatures so absurdly different... and if it would, the symbiont isn't ''outside'' to ogle its host to begin with.

[[WMG: Rihoko is a wielder.]]
[[hottip:*:by TBeholder]] There are lots of questions, with a single answer:

''Why did the Witchblade use [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique insanely overloaded]] [[KamehameHadoken raw power outbursts]]?'' Two little armies powered by Blackboxes - so what? Witchblade never did that before or after, whatever the hell its wielders faced. So why won't it choose a fight -- or at least fighting retreat? It would make sense, ''if'' it protected something else which would burden it in a fight but would survive this blast. But ''what''? Rihoko? Why it should care about one potential (even potentially good) wielder more than its current wielders? If it so treasured Rihoko as a potential host, why was it just gone in the ending? Why didn't it wait? If it valued her ''above itself'', all this would make sense... but why?

''Species that reproduce rarely and have few offspring tend to care for that offspring. It's simply biologically sensible behaviour, and so it applies to aliens''. And "they live" means "they reproduce". The Original comics have some other creatures of this kind, and they even have some offspring, and so it's canon-wise. The irony is that Masane acted more in harmony with her symbiont than she thought, having the same purpose all along; Masane protected "her" child, and Witchblade protected its own.

''Why did these iWeapons and [=ExCons=] waver around Rihoko as if unsure whether she's a target?'' There was a signal, but it was too weak and strange. The same thing that let Masane run straight to Rihoko when needed like to a homing beacon and later transferred [[TearJerker that last "good-bye"]]. Masane wasn't a telepath; but Witchblade has some tele-empathy (apparently used to choose its new host) and sensed its bionic derivatives, so it should be able to locate its own child.

Conclusion: Rihoko got a symbiont right before TheTokyoFireball, but likely after Witchblade was attached to Masane. It was far too late to worry that Rihoko will inherit Witchblade. She already had its child "implanted" just before the catastrophe. It just "slept" for years, much like Witchblade after the kaboom -- either as a part of its lifecycle, because Riko was too little, or after the same flash.

[[WMG: Masane ''is'' the Witchblade.]]