I've talked about this on Plurk various times and always kept saying "I'll put all of my thoughts together somewhere eventually" so here I am, actually doing that!
This is a good deal of talk about Ezalia and Yzak and how I interpret things about and between them, and what I keep in mind in my play.
So the incredibly short version of this is: Yzak obviously loves his mother, and Ezalia obviously loves her son, but … it's a little complicated. As Gundam series makes things. Especially with these two and their positions in the war vs their developments through it. I also have no idea what kind of order this is going to be in, so it might just be all over the place with thoughts.
One thing I always assumed in my play is that Yzak comes from a small family. In canon we only get him and Ezalia, but this assumption was closer to confirmed thanks to the Melancholy of Yzak drama with Yzak stating that he is WELL AWARE that he is the last son of the Jule family. Sure, this could also mean he does have more family and they're all just female, but I'm only reaching so much based on the information I have.
On the subject of family as well, this opens up a lot of things about Ezalia's family situation. Ezalia is canonically a radical on the Council - and says shit along the lines of "lmao we'll show the Naturals who this world REALLY belongs to." She's prejudiced! She doesn't like Naturals! Shooting WMDs at Earth to wipe out half of life on it to win the war against them? No big deal to her! She's also a first-generation Coordinator - which means uuuuh her own parents are Naturals? That's what first-gen means. So what the fuck is up there, I wonder! Is she one of those "I hate Naturals but obviously not my parents they're the ONLY exception" types? Did she for some reason grow up to despise them? Did she know them at all? We don't get tidbits like this sadly so alas, this is something I will never have the deets on. So I don't really play Yzak as really having any kind of handwaved offscreen grandparents or anything. I just roll with a general "not there" as much as I do with a father situation since there's nothing there in canon, either. Small family! So he just refers to it as "him and his mother" in RP in general when it comes up, with nothing more attached to it (because I don't want to add any kind of overly dramatic thing to it, lol).
One article I translated says "It seems as though Ezalia was part of the PLANT Supreme Council for as long as Yzak was old enough to remember." There's no solid timeline there for how long the Council as we know it in SEED had been in place there. But overall from this we CAN gather that Ezalia has always been at least involved in politics and such if she was able to climb the ladder to eventually get onto the Council, so Yzak definitely knows her as such and she/the Jule name has been something pretty Known in the Coordinator world as a result. I play Yzak with a general air of "of course good things were/are expected of me because of my name/who my mother is and her prestige" but that goes hand in hand with Yzak naturally being the type of person who wants to prove himself on his OWN merits and accomplishments. So sure, there's some pressure there from his family name, and some from Ezalia herself, but Yzak is the type who puts pressure on himself ANYWAY to show his own talents. So in that regard, things work out for all parties involved.
And then we enter Gundam SEED and what went down there. While Yzak himself developed into a character who was less "fuck Naturals" and fighting more to end the war and the fighting instead of "winning." And said "winning" toward the end of SEED meant "both sides trying to WMD each other" which is. Bad!! It's bad! Even Yzak was like "woah there" about that. EZALIA HOWEVER was a Zala supporter, so was in charge of the military while Zala went to man their WMD in the end, and got her ass coup'd by the neutral/not extremist people on PLANT. I assume Ezalia paid in some way for that shit with some jail time at least. And will never hold any kind of governmental position again. Yzak we know from Destiny WOULD Have been in deep shit (from civilian shuttle fuckery as well as his actions in the last episode of SEED) but Durandal intervened with the soldiers/the "younger generation" as it were. But since his actions in the last episode of SEED technically ended up being "hey, not so bad after all," that worked out for him. And for Ezalia.
Because of how things shook out, Zala/his followers and the Blue Cosmos pockets of the Alliance lost. They became the "bad guys" and the losers of that war (a good thing, but like any story, imagine AU where they won and still had control? phew) so essentially the Jule name that was once so esteemed for someone like Yzak to need to live up to … is now tarnished! Ezalia tarnished it! Dragged her family name through the mud! People probably hear "Jule" and think of her and her allegiance and actions and are like, yikes! Hear the name Jule, think oh yeah remember when that one was fine with ending half of all life on Earth with a WMD? TERRIBLE.
I assume Ezalia was lowkey okay with how things shook out where Yzak was concerned, because now Yzak is continuing to do his thing. Working with the provisional council, returning to the military, becoming a commander with his own team, working in government even after the war. So in that way Yzak can kind of "fix" the Jule name that she fucked up by being on the right side of things and working for a better future. And I assume this because of the Melancholy of Yzak drama as well, which is why I think she's so pushy in THAT for Yzak to "find a wife" because that pushing had an air of "hey maybe a few generations down we'll forget about that whole … attempted genocide thing, haHA."
So while obviously they do have the love between a mother and son, it's a little strained! Yzak himself in the Melancholy drama says "I have a lot of confidence in my patience as your son" which basically says she SURE tests that with him. Like she's glad he's alive and didn't get punished from his mistakes the first war and probably doesn't really mind that he did what he did in the last episode when he just went "no thoughts only saving Dearka and then protecting the ship he's on" since that ended up working out for him. He can fix their image! So if anything she gets the better end of that deal, since she did her time, paid the price, lost her position, but has her son there to clean up the mess in a sense, and the Melancholy drama also confirms she's still a socialite since it also mentions that she has connections and tries to get Yzak's hours at the main office changed. So that whole drama and how fucking wild she is in it does make sense when you think about how MUCH is being pushed onto Yzak, who very clearly does not like or want this, to "save" their name and become this kind of image of what she thinks it should be.
And on Yzak's side of that, despite clearly NOT wanting this whole "please stop trying to force me to meet women" thing, he is still Yzak Jule. So he does want to prove himself in battle and in the government. He does want to be respected and Noticed - not so much a family name thing as much as a HIMSELF thing. He wants his own accomplishments to be recognized and validated. So he works for that and it just so happens to line up with what Ezalia wants. Which is why there's a lot of friction in the drama, because it deals with something that is NOT lining up between them. And Yzak loves his mother! He's a mama's boy! But he does hold her to the same standards he holds himself to so doesn't hate her for the things she's done. Because he, uh, also did some war crimes, and carries those sins with no excuses for them. He knows what he did! And he bears that.
Just a mother and son with their sins and a loving but slightly strained relationship.
I might come back and add little things to this post if I think of any more talking points, but that's a big if!
Yzak & Ezalia
This is a good deal of talk about Ezalia and Yzak and how I interpret things about and between them, and what I keep in mind in my play.
So the incredibly short version of this is: Yzak obviously loves his mother, and Ezalia obviously loves her son, but … it's a little complicated. As Gundam series makes things. Especially with these two and their positions in the war vs their developments through it. I also have no idea what kind of order this is going to be in, so it might just be all over the place with thoughts.
One thing I always assumed in my play is that Yzak comes from a small family. In canon we only get him and Ezalia, but this assumption was closer to confirmed thanks to the Melancholy of Yzak drama with Yzak stating that he is WELL AWARE that he is the last son of the Jule family. Sure, this could also mean he does have more family and they're all just female, but I'm only reaching so much based on the information I have.
On the subject of family as well, this opens up a lot of things about Ezalia's family situation. Ezalia is canonically a radical on the Council - and says shit along the lines of "lmao we'll show the Naturals who this world REALLY belongs to." She's prejudiced! She doesn't like Naturals! Shooting WMDs at Earth to wipe out half of life on it to win the war against them? No big deal to her! She's also a first-generation Coordinator - which means uuuuh her own parents are Naturals? That's what first-gen means. So what the fuck is up there, I wonder! Is she one of those "I hate Naturals but obviously not my parents they're the ONLY exception" types? Did she for some reason grow up to despise them? Did she know them at all? We don't get tidbits like this sadly so alas, this is something I will never have the deets on. So I don't really play Yzak as really having any kind of handwaved offscreen grandparents or anything. I just roll with a general "not there" as much as I do with a father situation since there's nothing there in canon, either. Small family! So he just refers to it as "him and his mother" in RP in general when it comes up, with nothing more attached to it (because I don't want to add any kind of overly dramatic thing to it, lol).
One article I translated says "It seems as though Ezalia was part of the PLANT Supreme Council for as long as Yzak was old enough to remember." There's no solid timeline there for how long the Council as we know it in SEED had been in place there. But overall from this we CAN gather that Ezalia has always been at least involved in politics and such if she was able to climb the ladder to eventually get onto the Council, so Yzak definitely knows her as such and she/the Jule name has been something pretty Known in the Coordinator world as a result. I play Yzak with a general air of "of course good things were/are expected of me because of my name/who my mother is and her prestige" but that goes hand in hand with Yzak naturally being the type of person who wants to prove himself on his OWN merits and accomplishments. So sure, there's some pressure there from his family name, and some from Ezalia herself, but Yzak is the type who puts pressure on himself ANYWAY to show his own talents. So in that regard, things work out for all parties involved.
And then we enter Gundam SEED and what went down there. While Yzak himself developed into a character who was less "fuck Naturals" and fighting more to end the war and the fighting instead of "winning." And said "winning" toward the end of SEED meant "both sides trying to WMD each other" which is. Bad!! It's bad! Even Yzak was like "woah there" about that. EZALIA HOWEVER was a Zala supporter, so was in charge of the military while Zala went to man their WMD in the end, and got her ass coup'd by the neutral/not extremist people on PLANT. I assume Ezalia paid in some way for that shit with some jail time at least. And will never hold any kind of governmental position again. Yzak we know from Destiny WOULD Have been in deep shit (from civilian shuttle fuckery as well as his actions in the last episode of SEED) but Durandal intervened with the soldiers/the "younger generation" as it were. But since his actions in the last episode of SEED technically ended up being "hey, not so bad after all," that worked out for him. And for Ezalia.
Because of how things shook out, Zala/his followers and the Blue Cosmos pockets of the Alliance lost. They became the "bad guys" and the losers of that war (a good thing, but like any story, imagine AU where they won and still had control? phew) so essentially the Jule name that was once so esteemed for someone like Yzak to need to live up to … is now tarnished! Ezalia tarnished it! Dragged her family name through the mud! People probably hear "Jule" and think of her and her allegiance and actions and are like, yikes! Hear the name Jule, think oh yeah remember when that one was fine with ending half of all life on Earth with a WMD? TERRIBLE.
I assume Ezalia was lowkey okay with how things shook out where Yzak was concerned, because now Yzak is continuing to do his thing. Working with the provisional council, returning to the military, becoming a commander with his own team, working in government even after the war. So in that way Yzak can kind of "fix" the Jule name that she fucked up by being on the right side of things and working for a better future. And I assume this because of the Melancholy of Yzak drama as well, which is why I think she's so pushy in THAT for Yzak to "find a wife" because that pushing had an air of "hey maybe a few generations down we'll forget about that whole … attempted genocide thing, haHA."
So while obviously they do have the love between a mother and son, it's a little strained! Yzak himself in the Melancholy drama says "I have a lot of confidence in my patience as your son" which basically says she SURE tests that with him. Like she's glad he's alive and didn't get punished from his mistakes the first war and probably doesn't really mind that he did what he did in the last episode when he just went "no thoughts only saving Dearka and then protecting the ship he's on" since that ended up working out for him. He can fix their image! So if anything she gets the better end of that deal, since she did her time, paid the price, lost her position, but has her son there to clean up the mess in a sense, and the Melancholy drama also confirms she's still a socialite since it also mentions that she has connections and tries to get Yzak's hours at the main office changed. So that whole drama and how fucking wild she is in it does make sense when you think about how MUCH is being pushed onto Yzak, who very clearly does not like or want this, to "save" their name and become this kind of image of what she thinks it should be.
And on Yzak's side of that, despite clearly NOT wanting this whole "please stop trying to force me to meet women" thing, he is still Yzak Jule. So he does want to prove himself in battle and in the government. He does want to be respected and Noticed - not so much a family name thing as much as a HIMSELF thing. He wants his own accomplishments to be recognized and validated. So he works for that and it just so happens to line up with what Ezalia wants. Which is why there's a lot of friction in the drama, because it deals with something that is NOT lining up between them. And Yzak loves his mother! He's a mama's boy! But he does hold her to the same standards he holds himself to so doesn't hate her for the things she's done. Because he, uh, also did some war crimes, and carries those sins with no excuses for them. He knows what he did! And he bears that.
Just a mother and son with their sins and a loving but slightly strained relationship.
I might come back and add little things to this post if I think of any more talking points, but that's a big if!