"The Grim Reaper Won't Come When You're Ready For Him"

I love this quote in the same way most dudes love the idea of a bleed-out spot. The difference is that in the bleed-out fantasy there's a sense of a deserved, earned death after a long struggle whereas this evokes Death turning away and saying, "fuck you, you can't cheat fate." That's the straightforward reading at least.

There's no way to succinctly describe how monumental this scene is without rambling for hours about the 50 year media franchise that grew out of the 1979 Gundam anime series or the meta-narrative of the principal writer's relationship with the fans, the studio, his depression and trauma, and the ouroboros of war and peace. This scene is the culmination of character arcs that took place over three whole TV shows and another movie.

Hathaway is a scarred child. He may be the leader of a terrorist organization trying to bring down a corrupt political apparatus, but he is at heart a child. He is the literal child of a war hero who, despite being a strong leader and father figure to multiple other war heroes in the fight against fascism, was a failure in both raising his son and institutionalizing change in a government that grew to be even worse than the enemies they fought. He is the figurative child of two ideologies: the hopeful belief in the possibility of human understanding from Amuro, the hero of the '79 series, and the violent nihilism inherited from Char, Amuro's rival. He is a child because he's psychosexually traumatized from being responsible for the death of his boyhood love, Quess, and he cannot escape his childish urges even in adulthood.

Hathaway curses Amuro for being naïve believing that you could reform a corrupt system from the inside. Hathaway curses Char for corrupting and stealing Quess away. Now he is haunted by all three of their ghosts.

So here we have it, Hathaway is being anointed as another titular Gundam pilot, a symbol that's been used previously to fight authoritarianism and fascism but in a reversal where he's using it against the systems it used to defend. But can he survive? Does he have the strength to carry out the violence that he sees is needed for justice? His life flashed before his eyes and he is taunted by a new flame, one that reminds him of Quess. Can he do the right thing or will his soul be weighed down by gravity and be distracted by his human desires and limitations? He thinks he has freed himself and is ready to face down death until the ghost of Amuro returns once again and tells him, "The grim reaper won't come for you when you're ready for him."

The universe has other things in store for Hathaway. It is not his time to die in this tin can. He has a much bigger part to play in all this and he knows it. But will it align with his goals?