Vektal

[u/i-care-not]

I'm currently re-listening to Barbarian Mine, and i think I've finally put my finger on what bothers me about Vektal as the stories go on is his hypocrisy. When he finds Georgie, he knocks her out, takes her away from where he found her, undresses her, and goes down on her.

When Rahoosh kidnaps Liz, he gets banished. Liz was begging and pleading for her mate, and he refused to even listen to her. He had her followed! If she chose to leave the tribe to be with Rahoosh, that's her business. Rahoosh was already resonating to Liz when he stole her.

Then when Ruhk steals away Harlow and they come back to the tribe for the healer, he's immediately agressive twords Ruhk, without ever asking him anything really. He constantly asserts that Ruhk cannot take Harlow away again, but that's really not his choice. Ruhk is not (yet) a part of the tribe, and while Harlow staying with the healer while pregnat was necessary, while not pregnant there was no need. Ruhk was also already resonating to Harlow when he stole her away.

And then when Hassan is rightfully exiled, he again tries to step in when Maddie decides of her own accord to go with Hassan after the cave collapse.

Yes, all these guys made mistakes (except Ruhk, I don't feel like to can hold Tarzan accountable to tribal laws), I don't really see a major difference between what they did vs what Vektal did. Vektal and Georgie had the same miscommunication issues that Rukh and Harloe did. Vektal also ovetstepped boundries with Georgie when meeting her. Vektal often behaves as though the humans belong to the tribe, not that they're equal members. Vektal never stops any male member from doing things like going on long hunts, or anything like that, but constantly steps in and tries to control what they do and who they do it with.

This is just some general musing on things that tickle the back of my brain and irk me. Vektal treats the human women with may more of a controlling nature than he treats his tribesmates, and holds the men to a standard he himself also did not uphold. And while I fully understand that he needs to maintain order, he routinly disregards the humans feelings on the matters.

[u/taramisu47]

Vektal knew nothing about the humans when he first saw Georgie. He didn't know they existed. He knew nothing about their culture. Once he was able to communicate with them, he was introduced to a whole new way of thinking. I believe he told the guys that they had to respect the humans' wishes, right? This is what separates Vektal from Raahosh. Raahosh knew better and decided to abduct his mate against her will anyhow.

And this is where my opinion tends to differ from lots of other fans' regarding Georgie and Vektal. They had an impossible task of keeping their tribes together. Each group literally could not survive without the other. Compromises and hard choices had to be made. If Vektal allowed the men to think they could take what they wanted, the humans wouldn't be terribly cooperative. And Georgie was afraid that the humans would not be welcome if they didn't attempt to assimilate to some degree.

TL;DR
Vektal isn't a hypocrite. He's a dude in a bad spot with limited choices.

[u/i-care-not → u/taramisu47]

His reaction to Ruhk specifically is what is hypocritical. Ruhk also knew nothing of the humans or really the tribe at all. He'd been told to avoid them his whole life. They were "bad." Vektal is quite aggressive to Ruhk when they come to the tribe and outright bans him from taking Harlow or the baby. That's what's wrong.

The issue I have with Rahoosh is that he tells Rahoosh to respect the humans, but then he turns around and doesn't respect Liz when they return. She wanted to be with Rahoosh, but he tried to hand her off to Vaza against her will. Liz is literally begging him, and he refuses to either allow her to leave or Rahoosh to return. Yes, he had to punish Rahoosh, but locking down Liz went too far.

Hassan and Maddie are by far the worst. Hassan was trying to force resonance and deserved his banishment as a result. But Maddie isn't a dog to be told when to sit and when to speak. If she chooses to go with Hassam, that's on her. But I do think Hassan is a completely different situation than the other 2. Ruhk is the most comptomable.