NAIDA AND RUBINA: WHAT'S BEHIND THE MASK - 31
By Gerdha & Joe7
(first article: here; previous article: here)

ANALYSIS ABOUT RUBINA

RUBINA AT ZURIL'S SERVICE

Dialogue 2 contains the key to understand the whole structure of ep72 and all the subsequent events in the episode. It also explains all the little "strange" visual details that viewers notice throughout the episode.
King Vega does not promise Rubina as a bride for Zuril. His literal Japanese sentence is: "Nozomuto araba, Rubina wo omae ni tsukawashitemo yoi". The literal translation is: "If you want, I can send Rubina to you as a servant".

According to my mother tongue stepsister translator, the use of the word "servant" means that King Vega wants Zuril have power on Rubina. In this way, she is without her real prerogatives: simply, in a word, Rubina is dethroned. Then Rubina becomes a "subordinate", subdued to Zuril. The Japanese word used is really "servant": according to japanese social rules, Zuril is authorized to give her orders and to do whatever she wants with her, including having sex. This explains Zuril's facial expression shortly after King Vega's declaration.

Anyway, let's precise: the exact Japanese word is "servant", not "slave": that is, a person who is legally free, but has the duty to obey the orders of someone. Zuril had a great passion for Rubina (this is clear in Zuril's other dialogues in the episode, not posted here), so having her as a "servant" from her father would have meant for him the great opportunity to have legally sex with her. From the moment Zuril accepts King Vega's proposal, he becomes Rubina's "owner": she is legally subordinated to him, losing all her authority as Vega Princess. However, a marriage with the Minister of Science seems to be excluded, at least as a direct consequence of King Vega's decision.

I asked myself for years for what reason King Vega gave Rubina as wife to Zuril (as I thought in the Italian version of 1978); but, even knowing now that she was actually given to Zuril as a servant (in the Original Japanese Version, VO), the question remains. After all, Rubina did not express any dangerous statements, when she contacted her father on her ship: she had not even been very angry with her father about the old lie about Duke's death. Listening to the OV, Rubina speaks with her father in a very respectful way (the language used is formal). Besides, from the point of view of the images, she appears disgruntled, not angry or upset.

Well, honestly, at our current level of knowledge, King Vega should not have had any special reasons to make a similar decision in advance to block Rubina's various initiatives as a princess. The purpose of King Vega, nevertheless, is clear: he wanted to erase any power, or authority, that Rubina could have at that time - she was the heir to the throne of Vega Empire; besides, she was an official representative of the Empire, acting on account by King Vega himself - changing her into a "second-line" figure behind Zuril.

However, in this way, King Vega would have avoided the risk that Rubina could act towards Duke Fleed as the legal representative of the Empire. The reason because of King Vega deprives her of his authority is only to prevent her from acting wrongly with Duke Fleed: I see no other reasons.

We must assume that King Vega possessed certain informations about Rubina's personality that we don't know: informations that makes him fear something. His statement to Zuril in Dialogue 2 is interesting: the problem is not the fact that Rubina knows the truth, but the feelings of her daughter.

King Vega: Dammit, Rubina has got to know that Duke Fleed is still alive! (...) If only got discovered it, would have been even better, but Rubina still loves Duke Fleed.

King Vega says that his daughter still loves Duke Fleed after 8 years. But yet, whatever happened at Planet Fleed, it must not have been so crucial to convince Rubina to get rid of her father, or at least to be not involved in his politics. If she had been in love with Duke Fleed so much, it would have been difficult to see her as a governor of Rubi, with her father's total trust.

Anyway, King Vega - who is not stupid - decides to make such a serious decision as to dethrone his only heir: then, there must be a motive of utmost importance for this decision.

Rubina suddenly abandons Rubi Planet: it is clear, from the dialogue between King Vega and Zuril, that her behavior was completely unexpected. We also know that, evidently, during 8 long years, Rubina never expressed any regrets towards Duke Fleed, because the discovery of the existence of her daughter's still alive feelings for him surprises King Vega. Not only this: Rubina flew away from Rubi without telling anyone; she went, without warning, to Skarmoon Base. Usually, it is assumed that Rubina wanted to go to the Skarmoon Base to negotiate peace with her father, but, if it is so, why would she not forewarn him of her arrival? Evidently, Rubina had some further intention, which her father believes he knows, to make the decision to reach him at the Skarmoon Base. King Vega believes that Rubina wants to do something about Duke Fleed using her role as a princess that could endanger the Empire, and that the only way to stop her is to dethrone her.

This reasoning of cause and effect has the following mental sequence in King Vega: a rebellion broke out on Rubi => Rubina will shake the uprising => Rubina has left Rubi => Rubina is coming to Skarmoon Base => Rubina has discovered that Duke Fleed is alive => Rubina still loves Duke Fleed => the situation is problematic => Rubina must be dethroned. Apparently, the reasoning of King Vega is not very logical in the conclusion, yet precisely because it seems strange - as in other cases in the anime - we must suppose that the truth is hidden elsewhere. What does fear King Vega? The answer, in my opinion, has to be sought in the general Veghian military situation. An interesting matrioska ...

Well, at least it is really strange, and also perplexing, the fact that King Vega makes his daughter servant to Zuril: a man who could be her father, being a father himself. Besides, he is known by his veghian friends as a great womanizer (Gandal mentions it in episode 72: the dialogue has not been transcribed here).

My explanation comes from the dialogue between Zuril and King Vega: Zuril knew very well the background story of the engagement between Rubina and Duke.

Zuril: The King of Fleed seemed to intend to wed Princess Rubina to Duke Fleed in order to maintain peace between the two planets.

If his words are true (and King Vega himself confirms it), the idea of the engagement started from the King of Fleed, as an attempt to avoid the invasion of the planet. Zuril was perfectly aware of this because, as Minister of Sciences, he was very interested in the Fleedian technology, so much to participate in the invasion plans.

I also suppose that the idea of gaining time to better prepare Fleed invasion by pretending to be in agreement with King of Fleed's proposal on the engagement between Duke and Rubina started with Zuril. King Vega had always shown a deep trust in Zuril, among the few subordinates who had remained around him at the time: Zuril was the smartest. Who else King Vega should have trusted to "supervise" his daughter? Considering also that Zuril knew the story behind the attack on Fleed, I think this choice was quite logical.

It should be noted that Rubina's words at the beginning of Dialogue 3 make it clear that she had already started an argument with her father about Duke Fleed, alive and on Earth:

Rubina: (fixing the map while giving her back to her father) So this means that Duke Fleed is somewhere in this archipelago, isn't he?

The reply of King Vega to his daughter's first words is included here in their literal translation, and they seem meaningless:

King Vega: But if you are so, what do you think to do with Planet Rubi?

What does it mean "so", which is like saying "in this state"? These words may very well be related to the fact that Rubina has lost her authority, being now subordinated to Zuril; she can no longer act as an official representative of Vega towards the Planet Rubi. If this interpretation is correct, Rubina is already conscious in this scene of her father's decision to give her to Zuril's orders. She knows, in short, that she has been dismissed and has no decision-making power.

Rubina has already learnt about King Vega's decision to dethrone her and to make her as Zuril's servant even before she reaches Skarmoon Base: probably, she was warned by her father via radio. In fact, when she lands, Zuril supposes to have the right to embrace her (Gandal himself is aware of it: the next dialogue confirms it), but she treats him with haughtiness, and this would have made no sense, if Rubina had not already been warned of his father's decision.

Anyway, in Dialogue 3 she was certainly already aware of it. And this will lead her to a tragic decision: the betrayal of her people. In fact, by communicating to Duke Fleed the position of Skarmoon Base, Rubina betrays not only her father, but even her people, because he gives Daisuke a strategic information that will be essential for him to finally defeat King Vega.

Rubina, in this situation, acts as if she cares nothing for her father's fate, or for her people, as well as for her royal rank. It is possible that her revelation is in fact a revenge against her father for having delivered her in the hands of Zuril, depriving her of hereditary authority.

It is noteworthy that, when Rubina leaves her father, she takes off her dress and puts on her "combat uniform". A scene shown in a few moments, a floating dress, which seems to have no meaning.

Yet it was not essential to add this scene. Instead it is present. Why? Here is my interpretation, based on the facts found on the original translation and on the visual aspects. It is a symbolic scene, to allow viewers to correctly interpret Rubina's next attitude in the episode. The deposed royal dress is the symbol of the dethronement of the princess. Rubina acts throughout the ep72 from that moment on with the sole purpose of taking revenge on her father and restoring her royal authority that he had erased. This explains well the visual scenes and the dialogues of ep72, which thus assume a consistency that otherwise is missing.

Rubina's rebellion is not so much a "positive rebellion", that is helping Duke Fleed and obtaining peace; rather, it is a real insubordination in hatred of her father. When Rubina is in front of her father, she wears her royal dress: my idea is that she was trying to impress her father, hoping that seeing her dressed as a princess would make him change his mind. But King Vega does not change his decision.

Otherwise, this dialogue would not make much sense. Does it seem impossible that Rubina can hate her father? Yes, it is a possible thing: it is a well-known psychological phenomenon. Don't forget that King Vega does something extremely outrageous to Rubina: he always treated her like a princess, he gave her his royal powers ... and, in a minute, he removes all that she considered important, everything for which she had been trained to be: a princess. Besides, King Vega delivers Rubina to the orders of Zuril, an alien (remember: Zuril IS NOT a Veghian!).

How could be her feelings, after learning this from King Vega? Rubina also explicitly demonstrates this, during ep72, showing how much angry she is about her dismissal and how much she despises Zuril. Before leaving for the Earth, she threatens to kill him.

At the meeting with Duke Fleed at the meadow, she gives orders to Zuril, as if she is still the princess of Vega: but he refuses to obey.

At the second meeting, she destroys "Spider's Web" in insubordination towards her "master".

And that first scene at the flowered grass between Zuril and Rubina doesn’t get unnoticed by Duke Fleed…giving afterwards a more logical explanation to his subsequent behavior...

(to be continued here)

HERE ALL THE ENGLISH LINKS ABOUT GRENDIZER

Edited by joe 7 - 30/4/2020, 14:40