My Warrior is...Barbara Thorson
My warrior is Barbara Thorson the protagonist of the 2017 film "I Kill Giants" (dir. by Anders Walter). She also defines to me what it means to be a magician.
The first thing you may notice upon seeing this image of young Barbara Thorson is the rabbit ears, and generally speaking the awkward attire.
Barbara is a social outcast in her school, with no friends until the British girl Sophia shows up... She gets picked on, but she doesn't pay any due to the tyranny of her peers, or that of the counseling system of her school, which regards her as needing special attention.
A warrior has her belief, whatever articles of faith by which she carries on. Whatever sacred lines she draws in the sand each and every time the tide backs down. For the heroic few, this could be the principle of protecting the weak: protecting those who cannot protect themselves.
In Barbara's case, she protects her seaside town from ancient elemental giants, probably the height of skyscrapers. No one will believe that what she's up to is anything other than fantasy or even delusion. But Barbara is not deterred.
Carlos Castaneda writes: "Only as a warrior can one survive the path of knowledge." Barbara protects the people of her town from forces they cannot see. She does this because she has walked the path of knowledge, and she in true warrior spirit has taken responsibility for what she has found out.
Carlos Castaneda writes: "A warrior trusts his personal power whether it is small or it is immense." Even as a teenager with a lot of "personal issues" at home and at school, Barbara always believes in herself as Protector of the Town, and she never loses heart. She's outside setting traps for giants everyday; everyday she's inside perfecting her potions (which she puts in the traps)...
...and speaking magic into her mythical warhammer Koveleski, which it turns out is just a paper cut-out of a hammer that she keeps inside a sparkly pink carry-along. Or is it?
Everything Barbara does is befitting of a warrior and a magician. But it is a true testament to her humanity that she befriends the curious Sophia, despite her tendencies to operate as a lone wolf.
Their relationship sustains ups and downs as the movie progresses, but over time Barbara shows Sophia the different things she does to defend against the giants.
Sophia is there by the ocean during an incoming storm when Barbara faces off with a giant that has come to swallow up her town. The giant takes up Barbara and speaks to her. She strikes him down with Koveleski, as seen in the image above. Then she is swallowed up by the sea.
Barbara does survive, and so does the town.
After summer break, Sophia tells the entire class that Barbara killed a giant all by herself. This is one of those truly redemptive moments in cinema, very poignant, and a good note to end the movie on.
To conclude, a magician is someone who attends to the unseen world of spirits. A warrior is someone who risks his life to defend his beliefs and values. Barbara is both.
Both require impeccably, humility, and strength. Barbara has all three of those traits.
My warrior is Barbara Thorson.
#foundation #warrior #burnsteem25 #tales