2025-06-12 0:13:54 ¶ ●

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hmmm what's your opinion on oliver banks

Oliver’s such a great character. I find his story really compelling and love how it centers around his humanity.

The first time we’re introduced to Oliver he’s portrayed as someone who’s still trying to help despite knowing that he can’t. He’s already tried to save his Father and failed, and he knows that he probably can’t save Gertrude either, but her fear stuck with him so deeply that he tried anyways.

The next time Oliver makes a big appearance is when he wakes up Jon from his coma. There it seems like a lot of his humanity has slipped as he tells Jon that himself and the other avatar’s have made their choice to embrace their patron, and now it’s Jon’s turn to either do the same or die. However, before this we get a statement that really delves into why an Avatar would feel cornered into accepting their place in among the fears.

Oliver didn’t embrace being an Avatar of death because he was evil. He gave in because he couldn’t outrun what was chasing him. He went to the most remote place on the planet and STILL couldn’t be free from the thing that was tormenting him. Then when he tried to end everything by accepting the fate he tried to divert for Gertrude and his Father, he was presumably by kept alive by The End.

It’s no wonder why he gave up and decided to embrace what was being forced upon him. I think his story is really good at exploring that question of “Why would an Avatar "want” to lose their humanity by being an Avatar?“ because it answers "It’s more complicated than that.” Which is what we see with Jon in Season 4 and 5, right after Oliver sets up that concept with his coma speech.