On Geryon
Originally Posted on: 9-6-2024
Contains Spoilers for Kamen Rider Gotchard. Originally posted on tumblr. Alternately titled "Time for that unhinged Geryon essay I promised:"
I’ve posted about it before, but now with the finale out and with the final confrontation between Hotaro and Geryon, I’m just thinking again about the thematic aspects of Geryon once again. And how he and his obsession with turning the world into gold is meant to symbolize wanting things to stay the same.
While Hotaro and the others wish to move things forward and change the future.
And that is one of the main themes of this show: To push forwards, reach your dreams, and change the future. And how you can only do both of those things by moving forward.
Geryon talks about turning worthless things into gold “is the true goal of alchemy”. While with Hotaro, Rinne, and others being an alchemist is about using alchemy to bring happiness into the world. Which is a vastly different goal than the original historic reason behind the origin of alchemy.
To Geryon, Hotaro’s dream, and the concept of having dreams itself is a pointless endeavor. As well as a sign of weakness. What really matters to him is to create something with what he thinks has real “worth”, by using what is one of the original purposes of alchemy and probably the most well known: turning base metals into gold.
Also gold is classified as a noble metal. Which is interesting to think about the name of that classification when you see Geryon seeing gold and turning the whole world into gold is something that actually has “worth”, compared to bringing happiness into the world. Or to create a world where humans and chemies can coexist.
With that: it also can be read that Geryon is an alchemist purist too. Rejecting the notion the of idea Alchemy should be used to bring happiness to others, which is a much newer ideal compared to turning base metals into gold.
This is not “the true goal of alchemy” or “what alchemy is for” after all, two things he says throughout the course of the show.
Another theme in this show is the next generation being the hope to bring change for the future.
But Geryon being part of the adults of the cast fully rejects what Hotaro and the others are standing for. Compared to Minato, Kyoka, and Fuga who are behind guiding the next generation to help them bring the change they strive to achieve. The three of them say as much in various points of the show.
Which is just something I find really interesting to think about.
Lastly: this entire speech from Hotaro during the final battle also really stuck out to me when watching it the first time. And is a perfect display of the themes present in the show:
Gold is eternal, Geryon says as much in Episode 49. To create a world of gold is to keep things exactly the same as they were. Nothing can change, time is at a standstill.
But that is not what is needed for the betterment of the world. What is needed is to keep pushing onwards, and to try and grasp our dreams, and change the future.
His motivation and end goal is extremely simple, but it just works so well thematically for this show and the messages it wants to tell. He is a perfect foil to Hotaro and is an excellent villain to me because of how his motivation completely contrasts Hotaro’s. It’s a really good use of the original purpose of alchemy!
The best way I can describe Geryon as a villain is “simple but effective”.
Sometimes you don’t need a super complex motivation to have an effective antagonist for your story. It all depends on what you want to tell. And just from a thematic standpoint, Geryon just works as a villain for the story and messages of Gotchard.