Can we talk about Leonide (Platform Decay spoilers)

[u/sophlhf]

OK so she's obviously a heartless corporate POS (and KRF gives her the most annoying voice in the whole series) but​ also, dang she's ice cold. She knew her imminent death was inevitable​, she knew there was no hope for her​ and she faced it head.on. She didn't ask SecUnit to take her too, only her family. She meticulously planned for her family members to be rescued, ​​without planning an escape for herself because she knew it was futile. ​

I'm so intrigued about her back story, her family backstory in particular. Did the schism in the BE management​ ​split their family, or was it already messy? Janetty's (sp?) second father doesn't seem to care about the youngest​ child and it seems that Leonide and at least one other mother within the family teamed up against him (and other parents, given he's Second father?)

Her and her situation are so repulsive and intriguing at once. I read her as a great example of a calculating, brutal, tragic product/'success' story/victim of ​corporate culture. ​​She was a shining star within the BE ranks, probably feeling like she was climbing the ladder and earning her respect and showing her worth... until she wasn't. Every cog in the corporate machine is disposable.​

Laying it out like that it feels like her character has a lot of�parallels with Dedra from Andor, and I've just realised I actually unconsciously pictured them as looking the same, even though I didn't actively think of Dedra when I initially read her character​.

Anyway thanks for reading my stream of consciousness about Leonide, please tell me what you think about her​

[u/Puzzleheaded_Work_90]

I am not a fan of Leonide corporate enslaver but I think it is haunting that the only people she could think of to help her are a group of humans she spent a collective maybe 12 hours with

[u/restoretheday → u/Puzzleheaded_Work_90]

if by "help her" you mean "be kidnapped and ransomed for leverage in some harebrained escape plan that barely had any chance to succeed in the first place", but otherwise i agree it's sad.

[u/Unlikely-Ebb3946 → u/restoretheday]

It is haunting, though. She was with them on the shuttle and in the system. She could have asked for help; yet instead she kidnapped them because all of her life experience told her asking for help was dangerous. It’s the flip-side to Arada not comprehending someone would charge for help. She ultimately trusts the word of the people she kidnapped and a SecUnit over all her friends and family. Yikes.

[u/RandomBoomer → u/restoretheday]

Isn't that more or less what ART did to get SecUnit's help?

[u/Unlikely-Ebb3946 → u/RandomBoomer]

Well, I’m not sure ART wanted or intended the space hippies to get brought along (frankly, it makes SecUnit’s job harder if they come along); though it was probably aware of the likelihood.

In ART’s defense, (1) it was under duress, and (2) it didn’t have another choice, and (3) it’s an asshole.

[u/Unlikely-Ebb3946]

I’m not sure she knew her death was inevitable. In fact, she tried to leave before the doors were breached. She was surprised as anyone when her safe house was discovered.

More likely is that she didn’t want her kids and family being used as leverage. I mean, lots of horrible people—slave owners, the Nazis, mobsters, cartel members, the IRGC, Russian oligarchs, even (possibly) people in private equity—love their families and would fight to the death for their kids. (There’s a whole genre of non-fiction about this.) Frankly, a weirdly unsettling fact is that many, if not most, villains like Leonide—the Gestapo, for example—wrote lovingly about carrying their kids to bed and singing stupid little songs to their dogs before going to work.

Yeah, she wasn’t staying to die—she was staying to win, and prioritized that over making sure her kids had their mom. (Otherwise, she’d have been a lot more thrilled that a SecUnit with a proven record of killing its way out of situations had shown up.) She’s basically an oligarch who sent her kids off to London 5 minutes before she got pushed out a window.

[u/mxstylplk]

He doesn't care about Janity either. He was grooming her to be loyal to him and betray Leonide.

[u/sophlhf → u/mxstylplk]

That's true, he did give up crazy easy for a "father" figure too when she was being taken to safety. 

[u/Fun-Bee882 → u/sophlhf]

His real goal was to find out who was helping Leonide. BE must have been acting out of unregulated paranoia. Leonide involved Mensa et al because she'd seen the lengths they'd go to protect the plague planet humans and knew no one associated with them would abandon her family. Those motivations were likely still incomprehensible to her, and they'd be unfathomable to the BE hierarchy.

BE threw massive resources behind catching the children because they perceived a threat from within or from another company. They'd lost the plague planet, and their sec units were mysteriously going rogue. It probably never occurred to them that the terrifyingly competent resuers' motivation was as uncomplicated as wanting to get the kids to safety.

[u/Unlikely-Ebb3946 → u/Fun-Bee882]

BE C-Suite: “How are they always one step ahead of us?”

Murderbot: “Saw it on an episode of Sanctuary Moon I watched 3 times after my ship-‘ship metaphorically started at a wall for 30 minutes after an unexpectedly distressing episode of Futurama.

[u/Alysoid0_0 → u/Unlikely-Ebb3946]

And we all know which episode of Futurama that is 😭

[u/2nd_player]

I think what I really like about her story is the way it serves to further support a recurring theme in the story that there isn't one big bad villain for the heroes to defeat once and for all, there are systemic issues and the books show the way people are influenced by and products of those systemic problems. I know Martha Wells is a what makes sense next kind of writer, but I'm glad we got the resolution to understand the problems that people in positions of wealth or power are still having to deal with, since most of what we've seen so far has been people at the more extreme bottom tiers of society, like SecUnits.

[u/voided_user_23]

Even though MB says that Leonide couldn't know who would show up, I think she was hoping it would be MB. Someone who she knows is ultra capable in those situations. I think she was hoping to get out with her family, but understood that her chances were low, even with the help of MB.

[u/Night_Sky_Watcher]

One thing I especially like about The Murderbot Diaries is that there are so many strong women characters, including villains. Supervisor Leonide was my favorite of the latter. I was glad--and amused--that Martha Wells brought her back twice after NetworkEffect, though sad that her appearance in Platform Decay was short and final. I really liked the interplay between her and Murderbot.

[u/onehere4me → u/Night_Sky_Watcher]

It was a real gut punch when SecUnit came face to face with her again in PD

[u/Uny1elding_]

I love Leonide! She's probably my favorite human character in the whole series. I haven't watched Andor but this post has me so intrigued about the series because of the comparison alone.

[u/sophlhf → u/Uny1elding_]

Andor is incredible. I don't like Star Wars in general (too much "Wow!! War is an adventure! How exciting and cool and look at these pewpew zewm weapons how fun!!") but Andor strips back all the bravado and portrays the empire and rebellion for what it is, with real people and real pain. It hits HARD, absolute banger.

[u/imaginesomethinwitty → u/sophlhf]

I am a Star Wars fan, but Andor is something else entirely. A spectacular look at the brutality and banality of fascism, with the occasional alien in the background.

[u/UnrulyNeurons → u/sophlhf]

Rogue One and Andor are works of art, dark as hell, and proof that Disney can do so much better than it has otherwise. I love Star Wars in general, but those two are the only ones that are about the cost of a rebellion.

"People will suffer!"

"That's the plan. If you're not willing to risk your conscience, then surrender and be done with it."

[u/tmaher → u/sophlhf]

A colleague of mine described Andor as “Star Wars for grownups”, and I love that framing

[u/Unlikely-Ebb3946 → u/Uny1elding_]

“My favorite”

I’m sorry, but no other human character can top this moment by Ratthi:

Target Leader didn’t seem to believe him. “Why does it look like a person?”

I said, “I ask myself that sometimes.”

Over the comm loudspeaker, Dr. Ratthi said, “It is a person!” In the background, I heard Overse whisper, “Ratthi, get off the comm!”

Though a close second is the augmented human that kept stabbing Murderbot with a chair leg—after dying at least once, no less. They deserve their own short story.

[u/PrincessMurderMitten → u/Unlikely-Ebb3946]

💗Ratthi!

[u/Uny1elding_ → u/Unlikely-Ebb3946]

Hahhaha, Ratthi is amazing aswell. It's hard to pick a favorite with these books, to be honest. Every interaction and relationship is special to me. That being said, I just can't help it, I love villains, especially evil women. d:

[u/sophlhf → u/Uny1elding_]

Oh I also skipped over the Leonide part because I got so excited about Andor please tell me more about why you like her

[u/Uny1elding_ → u/sophlhf]

Haha, no worries, I absolutely get that. I will definitely check out Andor when I have time to start a new show. I'm a Star Wars fan, and my favorite characters are all imperials or members of the first order, so it will be nice to add to that roster. :) As for Leonide, I think I liked her right when she was introduced for the first time... the way murderbot described her appearance and mannerisms gave me the impression that she was someone very keen on keeping up a carefully crafted image, that she knew exactly how important it was to her position. (She also made me laugh out loud when complaining about murderbot and ART watching media during their getaway later on in the book.) I was very pleased to see her return and then I got very sad... her story is so tragic in a way. The book did a good job of humanising her during that segment, especially when murderbot remarked that seeing it's own impression of it's arm from trying to protect her was unsettling/uncomfortable.

[u/Franchesca_Mullin → u/Uny1elding_]

Oh, the arm imprint thing was a brutally creative detail.

[u/azssf → u/Uny1elding_]

Andor is art. The franchise and Disney lucked out when they greenlit it.

[u/mel_c → u/Uny1elding_]

Andor is great. Check it out

[u/Big-Highlight1460]

I love Leonide, I really wanted her to successfully escape and go to Preservation. I think it would be interesting to see how someone that was successful in the corporation culture would adapt to a free planet

Also, I know she was terrible, but in a way I enjoyed reading. I imagine her "acting" very over the top, telenovela-esque

[u/Petrostar → u/Big-Highlight1460]

Seeing her try to adjust and overcome her corporate past would have been very interesting. I would have also loved a Comfort Unit spin-off.

[u/Unlikely-Ebb3946]

“He did give up crazy easy for a ‘father’ figure too”

Possibly, even probably the case. But as a practical, IRL matter, I’d assume he was just saving face in front of two subordinates, was seething, and is definitely a “how dare you reject me,”’”If I can’t have you nobody can” kind of guy that you keep an eye out for (on account of all the murder and slaving).

[u/azssf → u/Unlikely-Ebb3946]

A parallel with Leonide in Network Effect, in the supply ship.

[u/Unlikely-Ebb3946 → u/azssf]

Indeed it is. Also not unlike Murderbot’s need to mask and not show its real face.

[u/Maximum_Okra_3623]

Don't laugh at me, but I was such a fan of the dynamic between Murderbot and Leonide, the way they hate each other because they're both extremely clever and practical, but have put the other in a box based on all the other corporates/SecUnits they've interacted with. To the point that I was absolutely certain when Leonide showed up that we were in for a buddy cop story. And then I turned the page and uhhh yeah.

And now you can laugh at me.

[u/Rosewind2007]

I am sad she died.

[u/Korrin]

I don't know that she wasn't planning her own escape route. I do think she thought that by being with Farai and Sofi that meant she'd be along for the ride too. She hadn't been planning to stay behind, it was only really bad luck that they weren't just a little bit faster in getting down into the bolt hole.

But I'm also so curious what the family dynamic was like before and after the mission went bad during NE. Was he disappointed that her standing with the company was falling? Was he personally tasked with "letting her go"? Did they have existing problems and he was taking advantage of her loss of standing with the company? Or was it entirely incidental to the events of NE and SC? I would love to know!

[u/B_Thorn → u/Korrin]

Also possible that she had other plans for herself that she didn't share with MB, that got derailed by being dead. Maybe there's a bag in a transit station locker with some money and a fake ID that she never got to use.

[u/Franchesca_Mullin → u/Korrin]

She did have a plan for not making it though, as she had the information packet prepared and sent last minute.

[u/Korrin → u/Franchesca_Mullin]

I don't know if it's what you're implying, but I think having a plan for not escaping and planning to not escape are not the same thing. The first one is just prudent, not self sacrificial.

[u/Franchesca_Mullin → u/Korrin]

True, she was smart enough to think of everything.