When she shouts at her to kick and punch, the Victim Wraith only cowers more. It is how she finds who we will call Victim Wraith, too - noticing that in one of the timelines, she is not doing violence, but rather suffering it. This, then, is how her powers are explained: a great sisterhood across time and space, where all the Wraiths warn and advise each other on how to best do violence and survive. When she steps into the cerulean void, she can actually see all the other hers perform all manner of martial feats, each making slightly different decisions. As it happens, Killer Wraith, as I'll refer to her, and all the other Wraiths hinted at in the cinematic, can see and speak into the other countless timelines. Visually, the most distinctive element of the already slick animation of Voidwalker is its representation of possibility. But this is not about Wraith as she is in the game. Wraith's abilities allow her to place portals or enter a mysterious void outside of the game reality, and hear disembodied voices that warn of impending danger. This character is the one Apex Legends players know as Wraith, known for attracting the kind of players who run off into the horizon hoping to become the next YouTube star, only to get blown to bits. She must become who the first woman already is. She is abused, and dehumanised by her abusers, cowering in fear and panic. Violence is and has been, as we can clearly see, often directed at her. She doesn’t know who she is, and suffers at the hands of others. The other is a frail, afraid girl, victimised by some shadowy organisation for reasons that are not clear to her. But whatever she feels, if it includes anything else, she hides behind a stoic face, and the reflective plate of her distinctive helmet. Her emotional register contains two options, those being brief flashes of rage or subdued compassion verging on disappointment. One of these women is a hardened warrior, proficient in the acrobatic, hand-to-hand combat that's common of female fighters in visual media. And while it falls into a well known, often criticised trope, it also presents an infinity of choices that are, nevertheless, an absurd binary. Apex: Stories from the Outlands - “Voidwalker” is the second of, so far, two short cinematic vignettes, meant to provide some narrative to the otherwise plot-barren battle-royale frenzy of fluid movement and chaotic gun-slinging that is Apex Legends.
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