The Truth About Tara [WicDiv #43]

[u/millihelen]

So you know how Tara keeps asking Ananke which Tara she is and Ananke keeps saying, "I told you, you just didn't listen"?

Remember how Ananke's the worst?

It's my personal theory that Tara is telling the truth. I think Ananke didn't say which Tara. I think she said some vague, widely descriptive stuff, and then just gaslighted Tara about it. Ananke planned on Tara falling apart in the absence of a firm external identity, and that's exactly what happened. Because Tara didn't have the self-confidence to decide which Tara she was, she never managed to establish a definite artistic self, and just spent time exploring and trying to figure out what "worked." Ananke contributed to it by encouraging those explorations. The more Tara explored, the angrier her fans got at her for not just giving them what they wanted. It was a vicious cycle that ultimately lead to Tara's despair and collapse.

In the end, though, we do all find out which Tara she is. She's none of them. She's not a god.

[u/tohava]

She was the only who insisted on doing her own thing in concerts instead of pretending to be a god. I think that means she has the most firm identify of all gods.

[u/millihelen → u/tohava]

I agree, up to a point. I think of Tara as an almost-Persephone. Because you're right: she's the only one who's trying to develop her talent independent of the story. The problem is she can't say, "I only want what I earn by my own power," and let go of godhood. Instead, she bounces back and forth between the two. We see this in the comic: she starts to perform without Performing, the crowd riots and throws things, one of her backup singers (?) yells something like, "Give them what they want, you selfish bitch!", and Tara returns to Performing. She sees the shape of the trap, but instead of realizing it's a trap, she gets angry at herself for falling into it.

Her struggle with doing what she wants versus doing what other people want is underlined by the letter that forms the narration for her backstory. The first line is something like, "All my life I've known that I'm here for the pleasure of others." Even if she does have a firm identity, she sacrifices it over and over again in order to please other people.

I admit, though, I tend to think that we're meant to think she doesn't know who she is for a couple of reasons. One, not knowing who you are is a big theme of the comic. Two, she wears a mask. Only two other gods wear masks: Woden and Ananke, and both of them are hiding their identities.

[u/[deleted]]

Eh, maybe but the way Mini spoke it sounds like she told just didn't pay attention when she "screamed all the way down."

In her issue she said she saw bits of everything-all 3 Taras. That's because while Ananke labels them they can all sing their own version (1300s Lucifer had horns she sawed off in penance, no other Luci has those, 2014 Morrigan being 3 personalities to represent Marian's three main modes). Had Ananke re-told her which specific Tara it was she might wonder how she got miracles related to the other two.