In Which We Discuss Loving Me, Fearing Me, and Doing What I Say

This isn't about books for once, unless you want to count the Labyrinth mangas.  Instead, it's about characters who are locked in, which I think may be better presented visually.

The quote comes from Jareth, the Goblin King of the Labyrinth.  My middle name is Jareth, incidentally.  Anyway, the full line is;

"Love me, fear me, do as I say...and I will be your slave."

I like that line.  Jareth is expressing want and need and desire in the only way he is able to - through force and domination.  It's a roundabout way to do it, really.  He can't admit to wanting, or needing - he can only issue that ultimatum of a scenario - that he would do anything for someone who loved him, and reciprocated his fealty.

Jess, of the Gilmore Girls is a similar character.  I'm just watching the episode in which Rory graduates from Chilton, and when I say 'just' I mean it's paused in another tab.  Jess has been working as hard as he can; he was putting in 40+ hour weeks at work, working at Luke's and trying to keep up with his school work.  Unfortunately, his attendance let him down; despite being able to keep up, he was told he would not be allowed to graduate and needed to repeat that year.  This meant he would not be able to take Rory to prom, something she had been dreaming about.  When Luke found out - Luke being Jess' uncles and a very similar character - neither of them were able to have the heart-to-heart they desperately needed.  Jess could not obtain support, and Luke didn't realise he needed it - instead, he told him to find somewhere else to live.  Jess ran away to California, to live with his absent father.  He couldn't build up the courage to tell Rory before he left.

In this episode, Jess keeps calling Rory and remaining silent.  Eventually, she acknowledges that she knows it's him, says goodbye, and that she loved him but she's moving on.  Jess couldn't ask for this; he could only present himself and hope that some closure would be offered.  It comes from the same sort of place as equating love with putting yourself entirely in someone else's hands - something you are only willing to do if they reciprocate with love, fear, and obedience.  Jareth asks for such high stakes because that's what he's offering in return.  He expresses love through domination and need from a place of power because he isn't strong enough to show need from a place of weakness.  He cannot ask that someone accepts him only as he stands and then wait to be accepted or rejected.  He has to put himself on a throne or a pedestal first and then issue the invitation from there, as if he doesn't care what the answer will be.