"What if I Didn't Use a Sword?"

It's been a little while and this sequence is mostly giving backstory with story points to be resolved later, more so than character beats. If anything this is more character focus on Hippolyta than Diana. But, there are still some good bits here not be overlooked in this sequence. With that said, let's continue the journey with the backstory of the Amazons.

Being so desperate to begin training, Diana starts to throw out the generic responses that might be what parents want to hear before sending their kids off to the military: What if I promised to be careful, what if I didn't use a sword, I'll just use a shield. Alright, so the terms are not today's military but it still works to a certain degree.

Hippolyta tells Diana that, "Fighting does not make you a hero.", a line that is so important to the comic book genre because it can be, and has been, misinterpreted that violence solves everything. This topic is also a major part of the film as a whole, but it's nice that it's established early on by the leader of a race of warriors so that it means more than that same sentence coming from someone else.

Not having any of it, Diana still wants to fight alongside her sisters. It's not hard to see why, with the scene prior shown that while there are several people working in the market and tutors and such, everyone around her knows how to fight(or at least that is the impression given in the scene itself). Hippolyta goes for her final straw when she tells Diana about the history of the Amazons, hoping that this would show her that war is not something to look forward to or envy.

The whole beginning is basically the biblical story of creation in the Genesis account(Just substitute God for Zeus and Satan for Ares). There is one point to mention, when Hippolyta mentions Zeus, Diana gets a fascinated look in her eye, maybe recognition; more on that point later in the film. Even when Hippolyta first mentions mankind, Diana smiles hearing about their passion and strength.

It's easy to see why Diana grows up with a simplistic black and white view with this story, the biggest example of this is that just a simple influence of Ares is the only reason why mankind is vile.

Hippolyta says that the reason why the Amazons exist is to restore peace to the earth, and also says that there briefly was a peace. During the backstory, we see another time(which could be days or weeks after the audible scene) where Diana begins to sneak away to begin her training with Antiope who gives her perspective of the story Hippolyta leaves out, telling of the fact that the peace did not last.

Antiope gives Diana the gritty details that Hippolyta(understandably) does not want to reveal to her four or five year old daughter. Antiope says that the Amazons were enslaved and the fact that all of the gods died trying to defeat Ares. In some areas you can see why Hippolyta does not want Diana exposed to the reality's of: rape, enslavement, and death. All of those things seem foreign to most children of that age normally, let alone a race that has a long lifespan and are seemingly at a peace in paradise. Both views are part of making people balanced, but it's clear for Diana later on that Hippolyta had a much greater influence on her even if she wanted to be more like Antiope.

The only person we hear Hippolyta say die in the story is Zeus. Even that is a sacrificial death(again something to form Diana's character later in the film by another male figure) and shown in glory; an understandable way for a warrior culture to view death.

The island of Themyscira is told to be a safe haven, for the sake of mankind, as Ares might still finish what he started with the destruction of mankind. Then the deux ex machina of the told in the form of the sword christened "The God killer". Even with that last bit of information it does seem clear that Hippolyta is finding more ways to protect her daughter from a danger she just revealed to her with a weapon that is insurance in case he returned.

That's all for this one guys. So yes this post was mostly showing Hippolyta parenting techniques and how that affects Diana later, but they are defining points well worth mentioning. Hope you enjoyed and I'll be back soon with Diana's training sequence.