Have you ever seen a character come back to life after his sacrifice? Do you think that it's impossible to have a good return without cheapening the sacrifice? In fact it is really possible to have a great return by making sure the repercussions of the sacrifice are there. The rebuilding of Clembot is a great example as kept the impact of the sacrifice intact in addition to making sure that it's not the exact same Clembot.
During the Team Flare arc, Clembot sacrificed itself to destroy Xerosic's machine which was controlling Zygarde. The sacrifice scene was beautiful as we get to see Clemont press the button and say goodbye to his loyal invention and friend. The decision of Clemont is a huge part of the sacrifice. Later on Clembot was rebuild which created a lot of buzz online as many fans feared that it might have undermined the tearjerking sacrifice of Clembot.
Why does it matter?
A good sacrifice is more than just watching the character on-screen for the last time. The impact of the sacrifice on the other characters is as important if not more as that's the way the audience can know the void left by the sacrificed character and how important they were. That makes the resurrection a bit tough to execute properly as it can cheapen the sacrifice of the character by erasing the consequence of the sacrifice.
The best way to resurrect a character is to make sure the consequences of the sacrifice are still there. Even when the character is brought back, the cost of the sacrifice is still there. Clembot's return nicely accomplished that.
How does Clembot's return compare?
After the Team Flare arc, Clemont rebuilt Clembot most likely with the same parts of the previous Clembot. But he was unable to restore Clembot's memory. This made all of Clembot's progress go away. So he had to start from scratch. So right of the bat, we can notice the consequence of the sacrifice. During it's first gym battle, we saw him struggle and learn.
Moreover the original Clembot showed true emotions at times. So the new Clembot also had a long way to go and form it's personality that the original one had formed. So the impact of the loss are there and it's not coming back. Clemont has to guide Clembot from the scratch.
If you are still not convinced and think after a few months the new Clembot will reach the level of the old one, I want to ask you a question, 'Will that be enough to call this Clembot the same Clembot?'
Clembot's return explained through a real life thought experiment
You might be familiar with 'The Ship of Theseus' thought experiment. This experiment has got a lot of new attention thanks to the Marvel Show, WandaVision. Basically, it deals with an ancient ship. Theseus had a ship which was used for years and went through a lot of wear and tear. So slowly he replaced all the planks of the ship with new planks. So as a result the ship had no original material left.
Again another ship was made with the planks of the previous ship. So now the second ship had all original material. So the question arrived, 'which is the true ship of theseus?' The second ship has all original material but the first ship was once the original ship.
According to English philosopher John Locke, the identity of something/someone is formed by its consciousness (memory) rather than the substance of either body or soul. In fact the things we witness and experience play a vital role in shaping us and the way we view the world. So in that sense if all of your cells are gradually replaced with new cells it's still you because you have your memories. Again if you were born in a different part of the world or in a different time period, chances are you would view the world in a completely different way than you do now. It should be noted that knowledge of memory and having an emotional experience of a memory are two different things.
So what does this say about the new Clembot? In that sense no, it's not the same Clembot. It's like the second ship. It's made of possibly all the parts of the original Clembot but it doesn't have the memory of the original and it won't exactly experience everything that happened with the original. So basically it's a different Clembot in a similar looking body.
Related
There is no denying that, Clembot's sacrifice was a great moment in the Pokémon anime history that will be remembered by the fans for a long time. Even though Clemont rebuild Clembot, it will never be the same Clembot. It may become better than the original Clembot but it will never be the original Clembot. The original Clembot sacrificed itself to save the world and the new Clembot isn't trying to take that honor away from it.
0 Comments