Justice Without a World to Receive It:
Tiné Chelc, Arakawa’s Heroes, and the Burden of Moral Clarity
Why These Points Matter (Author’s Statement)
These observations are not meant to dismiss other forms of storytelling, nor to elevate one culture’s fiction over another. Arakawa sensei’s outlook comes from a nation with centuries of recorded history, recurring cycles of rise and collapse, and a cultural memory that treats power with skepticism rather than awe. That perspective naturally produces stories where authority is questioned, victory is incomplete, and justice demands empathy as well as action.
Similarly, skepticism toward superhero narratives is not a rejection of imagination, but a reflection on context. Stories where justice is endlessly reversible, consequences are temporary(so they’re equal to nothing), and systems remain intact after catastrophe often emerge from societies that can afford such optimism. For characters like Tiné — and for the worlds Arakawa builds — justice is not symbolic. It is material, historical, and costly. Recognizing this difference deepens our understanding of why these stories feel uneasy, and why that unease is meaningful rather than cynical.
In Fate/strange Fake of the Nasuverse, Tiné Chelc stands apart from the usual Holy Grail War participants. Her choice of “False” Servant is Gilgamesh. She became his master after killing the Magus who initially summoned him, earning both his respect and interest. Her motive isn’t a personal ambition, power, or curiosity, but a quiet, devastatingly simple wish: to reclaim Snowfield for her people, and reinstate them in their rightful place as protectors of the land. As a 12-year-old Indigenous American mage, Tiné carries centuries of dispossession on her shoulders. Her goal feels morally undeniable — and yet, deeply fragile. This tension places her in unexpected conversation with the protagonists of Arakawa Hiromu’s works, who similarly confront unjust systems armed not with certainty, but with thought, doubt, and ethical restraint.
A Noble Goal in an Unyielding World
Tiné’s wish is not naïve in intention. It reflects real historical trauma: genocide, stolen land by the White colonizers, erased cultures, and promises, treaties constantly violated by the white men’s governments. Unlike many mages in the Nasuverse, she does not seek dominion over others. She seeks restoration. However, Fate/strange Fake makes clear that moral legitimacy does not equal political feasibility.
Modern states do not yield territory because justice demands it. Even when historical wrongs are acknowledged, restitution is partial, symbolic, and slow. Magic — no matter how powerful — cannot sustainably replace institutions, treaties, or global power structures. If Tiné were to “win” through supernatural force alone, her victory would likely provoke retaliation rather than reconciliation.
She has to win against Orlando Reeve, the chief of the Metropolitan police force of Snowfield. He has been working closely with Faldeus Dioland, the primary man who started the False Holy Grail War. Orlando is also the False Master of False “Caster”, Alexander Dumas. Also, he is in league with Francesca, an ancient Magus. We need to look at the man who may have a secret agenda, from all his subordinates. In addition, he represents a loathing against ancient civilizations and heroes.
This is a condemnation of the world she inhabits.
Cultural Distance and the Meaning of Stories.
“Truth, Justice, and the American way.” Is it truly the case?
From Tiné’s perspective, it is almost unthinkable that people with time, money, and safety invest their emotional energy in American superhero fantasies. It’s an irony that with this crime on American soil, superhero stories about “justice” can easily be found. Not because such stories are inherently worthless, but because they forge a world where justice is performative, symbolic, and endlessly reversible. For Tiné, injustice is not an abstract concept to be escaped through fiction; it is lived history. The idea of costumed heroes restoring order without addressing land, memory, or consequence feels alien to someone whose nation and culture were brutally persecuted away rather than dramatically “saved.” This cultural distance highlights how entertainment itself can reflect privilege — the luxury of imagining justice without having to fight for recognition in reality.
The Arakawa Parallel: Heroes Who Question Power
This is where Arakawa Hiromu’s protagonists offer a revealing comparison.
Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) and Arslan (Arslan Senki) are not heroes because they defeat evil through overwhelming strength. They are heroes because they refuse to accept inherited fabrications or lies, even when doing so leaves them vulnerable to consequences. Both learn that systems — governments, religions, empires — often perpetuate injustice not through malice alone, but through inertia and fear.
Like Tiné:
- Edward confronts a vile system that reduces human lives to fuel for a grand design.
- Arslan inherits a kingdom that is getting both awfully mutated into a warmonger, and a moment before it is turned into a barren land. So he must prevail against many opponents’ malicious mentalities to save it.
None of them believes justice can be achieved by domination alone.
Justice Without Empathy Is Hollow
Arakawa sensei repeatedly warns that justice divorced from empathy becomes indistinguishable from cruelty. In her Fullmetal Alchemist, the homunculi do not conquer humanity through brute force, or a superhuman power alone — they easily exploit fear, mistrust among tribes, nations, and emotional isolation. By turning humans against one another, they ensure that no one recognizes the true enemy until it is too late. Justice, when stripped of kindness, becomes another mechanism of control. Tiné instinctively understands this truth: reclaiming land without restoring dignity, or victory without compassion, would only reproduce the same systems that erased her people. In this sense, her moral clarity is closer to Arakawa’s heroes than to any conqueror — she knows that winning means nothing if humanity is lost along the way.
For example, when the Ishbalan Dr. Marcoh comes to the blinded Roy Mustang, brings him a philosopher’s stone that will definitely restore his eyesight, under the condition that the Amestrian military should immediately cease the occupation of the Ishbalan holy lands, restore their homeland, and allow him to stay there as a doctor. To which Colonel gladly accepts.
Power Without Structure: A Shared Tragedy
The crucial difference is age and support.
Edward and Arslan, though young, are surrounded by companions, mentors, and evolving frameworks of benevolent resistance. Tiné holds immense leverage but lacks:
- Legal legitimacy
- Political allies
- Institutional protection
- Time to grow into her role
She is a child forced into the position of an executor of history’s debt.
Arakawa’s heroes learn that the truth must be exposed before systems can change. Tiné is thrust into a scenario where she is expected to enforce justice without the tools to sustain it. This makes her situation even more fragile, tragic — and more realistic.
Justice That Cannot Be Forced
Both Arakawa sensei’s works and Fate/strange Fake reject the fantasy that justice can be imposed cleanly. Even when evil is unmasked, the cost is high, and the outcome imperfect. Victories are partial. Loss is permanent.
Tiné’s story echoes this philosophy. Her dream is not wrong — but it is too large to be fulfilled by a single event, a single war, or a single wish. At best, she can:
- Preserve memory.
- Force acknowledgment.
- Change individual hearts.
- Prevent complete erasure.
These are small victories. And yet, Arakawa repeatedly reminds us that small, honest victories are the only kind that last.
Why She Matters
Tiné Chelc is not a failed revolutionary. She is a mirror held up to the reader.
She asks:
- Why does justice require power to be heard?
- Why are children asked to carry the consequences of history?
- Why does moral clarity so often arrive without the means to act on it?
Her goal isn’t power, nor to launch wars. — However, the world gives her no safe way to dream responsibly.
Conclusion: Moral Clarity Is Not Enough — But It Is Necessary
Like Arakawa’s protagonists, Tiné embodies a quiet rebellion: the refusal to accept that the world’s cruelty is inevitable. She may not reclaim Snowfield in the way she hopes. But her presence exposes the lie that history is settled, that ownership is unquestionable, and that justice has already been served.
In stories shaped by uneasy truths, that exposure alone is an act of resistance.
Mystery| The Mystery of Black Mask: A Forgotten Connection to Silvare and the Hero-King’s Legacy.
What do you tell? Give us your comments. On good faith, not hateful.