Unparalleled Innocence - An Angry Analysis (and Fanon Criticism) By The Conduit

Unparalleled Innocence - An Angry Analysis (and fanon criticism) by The Conduit

(under cut due to being a long post)

I like to label myself "the #1 UI fan and the only person who really gets them" for… probably obvious reasons at this point. My interpretation of them is wildly different from almost everyone else's "mean gossip girl" interpretation of them, which - frankly, in my and some other people's opinion - results fron fandom misogyny due to gossiping's status as a stereotypically feminine trait. When a character's gender is unconfirmed, people default to referring to a character by masculine terms, and oftentimes get angry when the character in question is revealed to be anything else. (See: Seven Red Suns.) However, due to (misogynistic) stereotypes, the overwhelmingly common fanon interpretation of Unparalleled Innocence is a mean gossip girl, as mentioned prior.

I was not exempt from interpreting them as that until I actually began to look into the way they're treated by canon.

Unparalleled Innocence will be referred to as they/them in this essay, due to chatlog Iterators vagueposting about them using they/them pronouns and due to them lacking official confirmation on gender identity in both vanilla and Downpour.

One of the most significant mentions of UI, at least in the context of this essay, is the Shaded Citadel pearl. At the time of the pearl's writing (1514.008)[1], UI is likely still in construction or has only recently been constructed, placing them very, very close to whenever the mass ascension took place (before 1591.290). Unparalleled Innocence never has a line of dialogue in a single broadcast or broadcast pearl, and their characterization can only be inferred by the way other Iterators talk about and treat them.

UI is excluded from the discussion about Erratic Pulse, quite possibly suggesting alienation or distrust in UI by the local group for one reason or another.[2: Sky Islands 3] (Seven Red Suns is also excluded, but that's a result of them being heavily implied to not be a part of the same local group as the rest of the main cast. See: Citation 3) While discussing the leaking of Five Pebbles' rot, the idea that UI is mean is only a theory of Chasing Wind's (hence: "I suppose"), and not explicit fact.[3]

The most likely conclusion is that Unparalleled Innocence is a closed-off individual who doesn't realize the harm their actions bring to others, and is treated as much meaner by fellow Iterators than they actually are. Based on Gazing Stars' and Secluded Instinct's dialogue, it's entirely possible that UI might have leaked the rot images in a valiant attempt to notify others that Five Pebbles wasn't in a great state. They could've wanted to help to try and redeem whatever poor reputation had led to them being considered potentially mean by CW, but messed it up entirely.

Unparalleled Innocence came close to the sunset of their creators. They were abandoned by the so-called "noble benefactors." They were young, and didn't know how to handle it. This also plays in the favor of the idea that one of Rain World's themes is about empathy and understanding[4] - and in this case, it would be the lack of either.

And the fandom continues to mistreat them, just as they are by their fellow Iterators.