A headcanon about Vandal Savage.

[Aurora Moon]

Here's my head canon on the character.

I don't think he's actually in love with Kendra at all... I think this thing is more of a power trip for him. Although I'm sure he might confuse this power trip for love.

Think about it, what would a immortal ruler want with the world if everyone around him is mortal and keeps on dying? He might be immortal but even he wants companion-ship now and then.

But thanks to his personality, he doesn't want a equal or somebody who he can love for a long time. He just only wants to have a familiar face by his side... that's it. He just wants some immortal queen who will be completely be submissive and loyal to him but never be his equal.

To me, this isn't love. To Vandal Savage this would be just a item on his world domination checklist to check off. He has a very specific viewpoint of what it takes to be the overlord of the world. and that just happens to have a hot woman stereotypically lounging at his feet like one of those 70's posters that had the barbarian hero standing tall while the women straddled his legs.

http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/frank-frazetta-conan-the-barbarian-poster.jpg

I just get the feeling that if he ever found out that there was other immortal women out there, then Vandal Savage would no longer see Kendra as possible companionship that would help him pass the immortal years.... instead he would view Kendra the same way he saw Carter, as something to be killed and boost his powers.

The way he behaves towards Kendra isn't one of a love-struck fool... it's of a man who wants to intentionally unsettle the woman and assert his dominance over her.

[Lipzo]

I have to disagree with this as they made a point to mention that he was in love with her back in ancient Egypt which was why he killed Prince Khufu as he was jealous.

If he had of only been obsessed with her after they had become immortal then I would agree with it but as those feeling's were pre-existing then it goes against what you've said. Also let's not forget that without killing both Kendra and Carter/Khufu, then Vandal will die himself eventually as his immortality comes from the life essence of both of them. He can't continuously always kill Carter alone as if my memory serves on their origin's Kendra and Carter are only reborn once both of them die.

[Aurora Moon]

Yeah. But people fall out of love often just as they fall in love. And there's the fact that Kendra's not really immortal in the truest sense of the word... her soul is immortal but her body isn't. She can age and die. So over 4,000 years Vandal had to see how different Kendra could be each time.

They pretend like Kendra is always the same every time she gets reborn into a new body, but there's been signs that she was always a different person each time before she recovers her memories.

so to me this tells me that Savage is only in love with the IDEA of Kendra, but is not actually in love with Kendra herself.

This happens in real life too, with stalkers. They objectify the woman in question, and then they see only what they want to see in her, but never actually gets to know them as people. They build up this romance in their heads, not even realizing that it's all in their heads, and therefore completely one-sided. Then they get all upset when they find out that the woman is dating some guy that isn't them. Sometimes this leads to murder.

And sometimes this leads to a stronger obsession-- because the stalkers are told that they can't have this person. Think of it this way, Vandal being told that he can't have this person? This would just lead to obsession.... because hey, he's supposed to have everything in the entire world right? So how dare they tell him that he can't have everything he wants.

At one point this might had been love... but no longer.

[President_Luthor]

They pretend like Kendra is always the same every time she gets reborn into a new body, but there's been signs that she was always a different person each time before she recovers her memories.
so to me this tells me that Savage is only in love with the IDEA of Kendra, but is not actually in love with Kendra herself.

This happens in real life too, with stalkers. They objectify the woman in question, and then they see only what they want to see in her, but never actually gets to know them as people. They build up this romance in their heads, not even realizing that it's all in their heads, and therefore completely one-sided. Then they get all upset when they find out that the woman is dating some guy that isn't them. Sometimes this leads to murder.

And sometimes this leads to a stronger obsession-- because the stalkers are told that they can't have this person. Think of it this way, Vandal being told that he can't have this person? This would just lead to obsession.... because hey, he's supposed to have everything in the entire world right? So how dare they tell him that he can't have everything he wants.

At one point this might had been love... but no longer.

Good post! This is pretty much how I see the whole Vandal/Kendra "stalker ship" thing. Good point on Kendra being different people/personas with each reincarnation. Vandal may have once been in love with the original Kendra as she was in ancient Egypt but after centuries of being reborn over and over, she is simply not the exact same person any longer. Vandal wants to possess/lay claim to Kendra's "love" -- but her idea of love and his idea of love are like night and day.

Winn may have been holding a candle for Kara over on Supergirl for much of S1, even pining for her until he snapped out of it, manned up and put his feelings for her out on the line. There is no universe or timeline where Vandal is simply just pining for Kendra.

If it ever was love, it "died" in ancient Egypt. It's a freaky stalker obsession he has for her now.

On a related front, this is why Savage's stock as a formidable villain dropped a notch with me once they revealed he's obsessed with Hawkgirl. Like Slade and the Shado nonsense, it undercuts the bad guy's coolness IMO when hurt feelings/pulled heartstrings become a bigger factor in his heel turn to villainy than it should be.

[Sarah McLachlan's song "Possession", which actually is about a super-obsessed fan/stalker, could very well be the soundtrack for how Vandal sees Kendra. She's less a soulmate, and more as a prize that he feels he deserves or has some right to claim.]

[Aurora Moon]

[Sarah McLachlan's song "Possession", which actually is about a super-obsessed fan/stalker, could very well be the soundtrack for how Vandal sees Kendra. She's less a soulmate, and more as a prize that he feels he deserves or has some right to claim.]

Exactly. Vandal Savage might have the ability to develop amazing technology, etc... But I noticed that his mentality hasn't really evolved over time. He's still stuck in the Barbarian mindset. That in order to prove themselves as men, and to prove that they are powerful, they must be warriors with the ability conquer everything in their path. He did come from an Era where women were basically spoils of war and or prizes for winning at the conqueror game, etc.

And yes, this does kind of lessen his credibility as a villain. More so when you realize that the world is evolving away from that kind of mindset, and thus isn't tolerating that kind of mindset anymore. He's nothing but a one-note villain now, one who hasn't realized that the world moved on without him.

[malft]

As the only true immortal, and thus, ruler of everything that dies or decays; Savage didn't give the world permission to move on from him.