Thread by @YuuRei20

Vil Facts Part 6 of 22: Epel (pt 1) #twstcharacterfacts

Vil’s first interaction with Epel is when Epel—deciding to be preemptively aggressive to keep from being bullied like he was back home—insults Vil by saying he is “feeble like a woman”.

On the NA-server these comments--

--(and Vil calling Epel “adorable”) were changed.

Vil beats Epel in a magicless, physical fight and explains, “In this school, the rule is that the weak obey the strong…since you lost, you will do as I say.”

Vil insists on Epel--

--improving his appearance, his impolite way of speaking and his attitude, saying “if you want to voice a grievance, you’ll have to beat me in a fight first.”

This interaction forms the foundation for the relationship between the two, where Vil--

--devotes himself to fixing Epel’s outdated, misogynistic mentality and Epel is forced to comply until the day he is able to fight Vil and win.

We see Vil correct Epel’s table manners, make Epel say that his favorite food is macarons (when it is not)--

--correct his speech patterns and beat Ace, Deuce and Grim in a fight when they attempt to stand up for Epel.

During Book 5 Vil insists on transforming Epel into “the poison apple that brings (Neige) down”, but Epel is reluctant to perform “girly twisting motions”.

Vil admonishes Epel for gendering movements, saying, “The whole idea of boys being ashamed of doing effeminate dance moves is so last century” and that he expects Epel to get over his “antiquated notions of things being ‘boyish’ or ‘girly’.”

Epel argues that--

--he wants to be big, strong and tough, and Vil says, “You speak of being ‘charming’ and being ‘strong’ as though the two are mutually exclusive, when in fact both of them are equally valid forms of power…If you want to be yourself, then become strong and beautiful first.”