u/winddagger7

After seeing Imu's flashbacks to the Void Century, and learning that he was once friends with Joyboy, it highlighted that Imu is someone who is totally consumed by regret. I got those vibes from him, even before his face reveal, when we saw how he spends most of his time alone with his flowers, with a portrait of Lili nearby.

He puts on a face of a terrifying shadow that rules over a brutal regime, and seeks power for its own sake, but beneath the mask is someone who was happiest with a former friend, Joyboy. When he asked Cobra about how Lili's letter was signed, he seemed to have suspected she had the "D." in her name, but he couldn't bring himself to say definitively it was true. It's almost like he didn't want to face the truth that she betrayed him, even though he already knew it.

After seeing this side of Imu, I had a shower thought. Imu reminds me a lot of a very, very famous pop culture icon, and I'm honestly surprised I never thought of it sooner.

>!Of all the characters you could possibly compare him to, Imu reminds me the most of Darth Vader.!<

>!Imu wears a "mask" of immense dark power while brutally killing anyone who opposes his empire. At first glance, his main goal seems to be entirely in line with the regime he leads, but the truth is more complicated than that. Because under all that hatred for the people is a deep-rooted sorrow, and a yearning for a better time. !<

>!While I think the general comparisons between Imu and Vader are probably accurate, I hesitate to make any specific predictions about how Imu's backstory will play out based on my observation. That being said, I wonder if there could be further parallels we could see. Maybe Imu's Abyss powers were something he wanted to use for good at one point, but he was ultimately corrupted by it, like Anakin with the dark side. That would explain why Joyboy and Lili both left him, and why he struggles to understand why they did so, since he thought they would feel the same.!<

Like I said, this was more or less a shower thought I had recently, but I thought it was interesting to point out the parallels.