So I've been seeing some discourse around Nolan AKA Omniman's redemption circulating online, and I just wanted to weigh in and give my two cents on this topic.
Also, I know I have been radio silent for a span on this blog. Life and work were CRAZY. But I'm here now. So let's get into it.
So I was seeing some comments going around saying:
"Cut Nolan some slack."
"He been indoctrinated."
"Twenty years is not enough to erase 1000 years of conditioning. So of course it's not going to be easy."
"He wasn't born evil."
Basically all the excuses you can think of to try to "understand" and give Nolan some grace.
I even saw a topic circulating asking why people are more forgiving towards Vegeta than Nolan since Vegeta did that same if not worse than Nolan. Which I'll get into later.
And look—I get it.
But understanding why someone did something is not the same as excusing what they did.
Twenty years.
This man has been playing in erbody and his family's faces for twenty years. Let that sink in.
Debbie gave Nolan twenty years of her life. Married him. Had a son they both raised together. And this mutha fucka calls this woman who is the mother of his son, the same son he beat DAMN NEAR TO DEATH BY THE WAY, a pet. A PET.
And it took getting captured, imprisoned and beat up by his own people to realise: hmmm. I actually do love and miss my wife.
And when he does ultimately apologise to Debbie, he doubled down talking about: he still had a duty to the Viltrum empire and called his marriage to his second wife TWO MONTHS after Chicago and the mother of his second son Debbie stepped up to raise as her own a mistake.
And Nolan was like: coming here was selfish and I think I can see why.
No shit Sherlock. What did you think was going to happen when you decided to show up? Especially when you broke her heart and spat on TWENTY YEARS BRO. TWENTY. YEARS.
And people want Debbie to take him back after ALL THAT?
Genuine question: why should Debbie want to get back with the man who spat on twenty years by calling her a pet, beat their son to a bloody pulp, leave the planet and started a new family there and had to raise his second child while trying to pick herself up. This man lied and played in her face for twenty years. And you expect her to forgive him and take him back just like that? You expect people to give him some slack and grace just coz he changed sides even though a lot of people died as collateral just because he wanted to prove a point to his son that his humanity is a weakness?
Look, I understand that twenty years wasn't going to magically erase thousands of years of Viltrumite indoctrination, brainwashing and conditioning. BUT those twenty years with Debbie DID mean something to him. Those twenty years DID enough to make him question what he was taught and trained to do. That flashback when he and Debbie went to Mark's baseball game when he was a kid, the pride he had for his son when he won his game, even he himself didn't see the value in it matters.
He could have killed Mark back in season 1 and called it wrap but he DIDN'T. Instead he yelled at him saying: why are you making me do this.
Which to me now that I think about it was kinda his way of saying: please don't make me want to hurt you more or worse kill you.
I feel like his whole speech to Debbie that he had a duty to Viltrum was bullshit and a clutch that he was clinging to because to him it was easier to accept or convince himself coz he couldn't face or sit with the fact that twenty years on earth with Debbie out of 1000 on Viltrum changed him and that he didn't have to follow the Viltrumites ideology and that living a normal life watching his son grow, graduate high school, go to college and graduate, get married have start his own family was more fulfilling than colonising planets for a fascist race that didn't give a fuck about him.
Debbie said so herself: they had everything. HE had everything. I could argue that those twenty years he had with Debbie and being a father to Mark were the best years he had out of the thousand he had serving Viltrum. And sure, I agree that Nolan is still learning how to love and have empathy.
We can empathise and understand WHY Nolan is the way he is, but he still HURT PEOPLE. He HURT his family, the people who ACTUALLY cared and showed him more love than his bum ass parents or his fascist people ever did, and he STILL chose an Empire that only valued him if he was useful and serving their cause. And this is the same Empire that turned on him the moment he abandoned his mission.
He still participated in enslaving planets and genocide. His actions still had an impact on the people affected by them. Powerplex is LIVING PROOF of that.
But what about Vegeta, Mikky? He did the same, if not worse than Nolan, and the majority consider him a goated character with the best redemption arc alongside Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
You're not wrong. On paper, Vegeta and Nolan's resumes are identical: both are high-ranking members of a conquering warrior race, both treated Earth like a backyard project, and both committed casual genocide before deciding that maybe "family" is better than "intergalactic dominance."
But the difference between Nolan and Vegeta is that:
Vegeta had YEARS of character growth and development throughout the course of Dragon Ball Z, GT and Super. Nolan is STILL in the early stages of his redemption arc.
Vegeta was repeatedly humbled by Goku, Frieza, Cell and Buu. We watched the Prince of all Saiyans struggle with his ego, pride and insecurity for hundreds of episodes.
Vegeta was at least honest about his saiyan heritage. Not once (at least in my opinion) did he pretend to be a good guy or some broody prince of a race that was wiped out of existence. He never hid the atrocities or the people he killed, both under Frieza's command and on his own choice. And people tend to respect honest assholes more than narcissistic punk ass bitches who try to justify the shit they do.
HE ACTUALLY LOVES HIS FAMILY. He still chose his family even when he became Majin Vegeta. My 11-year-old ass at the time, finding out that future Trunks was their child, was gobsmacked at HOW coz I never thought Vegeta would look at Bulma and be like: she's the one. Imma hit that.
Though I would agree that in Z after trunks was born, he wasn't exactly the most involved parent and didn't really care for him and Bulma and eventually turned evil again as Majin Vegeta in the Buu saga. But that was the same arc that he hugged his son for the first time and thought about him and Bulma before he nuked himself to kill Buu.
We saw him becoming a little more invested and involved in GT when Bra came into the picture.
But where we saw his growth, redemption, and atonement flourish was in Super, where we saw his genuine love for Bulma when he crashed out and surpassed Goku just for a moment, the moment Beerus smacked Bulma across the face. And remember this man FEARED Beerus, and when he saw that purple cat put hands on his wife right in front of him and was like: Listen. I fear you. And I will bend over backwards even if it hurts my Saiyan pride. But YOU DO NOT put hands on MY WIFE and the mother of my child in my presence.
Bro even chose to skip training to be present for Bra's birth.
Unlike Nolan, he never viewed Bulma as a pet. If anything, she was more of his equal, and her short temper and brattiness are what he LOVES about her. He even admitted it to Goku, even though he said that it's a Saiyan thing for them to be attracted to hot-tempered and strong-willed women. But he really said: I love my women strong willed and independent.
I'll take that over calling his wife and the mother of his kids a pet.
What makes Vegeta's redemption arc work is that the characters AND the narrative HOLDS HIM ACCOUNTABLE AND MAKES HIM FACE THE CONSEQUENCES OF HIS ACTIONS event though he himself a victim of genocide.
Hell, I'll even throw Zuko into this discussion since his nation, his great-grandfather Sozin, was responsible for the genocide OF AN ENTIRE CULTURE just coz he wanted to eliminate the Avatar and his family and nation have been invading other nations because he got greedy.
The narrative in Dragon Ball Z uses Vegeta's pride and ego as his weakness, leading him to getting owned, his ass beat and humbled by Goku, Frieza, the Androids and Cell to make him see that his pride and ego are what are holding him back.
In Avatar: The Last Airbender, the narrative and the characters hold Zuko accountable for his part in hurting innocent people.
The GAANG didn't automatically take him in or accept him into the party just coz he said he's changed and wants to fight with them. No, no, no. They had every right to not trust. ESPECIALLY Katara after the shit he pulled at the end of season 2.
But Zuko earned their trust by helping and working with them.
He earned Aang's trust by helping him overcome his fear of fire after hurting Katara, and in turn, he learned to channel his bending through something else that's not anger and see the beauty in fire.
He earned Sokka's trust by helping him free his dad and Suki from the boiling rock.
He earned Katara's trust by helping her find the man who killed her mum and helping her process her grief.
That's why their redemptions are the best. Because the characters AND the narrative hold them accountable and make them WORK, SWEAT, and BLEED for their redemption.
Why are we making it seem like Nolan doesn't have seasons for him to grow?
It took Zuko until season 3 to grow and redeem himself after losing everything.
It took Vegeta archs and years to earn his redemption and develop.
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