May 5, 2024

Donald's (im)mortality.

Brief analysis of the character Donald from Invincible

This is a brief analysis on Donald's mortality from the Amazon Original series Invincible. If you've not watched the second season of the series, I encourage you to watch it. It's pretty damn good.

Keeping that in mind, spoiler alert.

In the end of the First Season, we see Omni-Man kill Donald, as he bombed the house they were in, to hurt Omni-Man. But after the smoke disappears, we see that Omni-Man is standing still, without a single bruise.

Cecil acknowledges Donald's sacrifice, as he's always been a loyal and good soldier. We, viewers are also primed to feel sadness, to feel the destruction that Omni-Man caused, to feel hate against him and pity the weak.

But, what happens in the second season? Donald is still alive. Well, well, what the fuck? What's even crazier is that he doesn't KNOW that he died. What is he, a clone? Maybe. He's slowly getting suspicious, things feel strange to him. Soon he discovers that he is a cyborg.

He confronts Cecil, as angry as ever, as confused as ever, unsure of his own existence and of his individuality. What the fuck happened to him? Turns out that he died over 39 times, and he's only 2% Human. His memory was consensually wiped; he thought that it's the only way he can do his job well.

Every time he died, a part of him went away with it, something like an exponential decay...

Taking the variables Donald gave,

• Died: >39 times (we'll take it to be 39)
• % Human: 2
• Average part of himself left every time he dies: $x$

That means, on an average, 10% of him goes poof every time he dies, and is replaced by mechanics/tech/etc.

Note: Please feel free to indulge on the equation and let me know if it's wrong!

We're stuck with a question: what makes you "you"?

Are you still you if your body is replaced by technology but you still have reason and choice? Are you still you if you don't know that you're already dead (as Donald didn't)? Are you still you if you are only 2% Human, but don't know that?^[1] And how do we know that we're not Donald in some way?

Is it okay to trick death? Shouldn't death remain sacred?

Is immortality a curse or a boon? If it's a boon, why did he finally choose not to do it anymore?

A lot of questions, and a lot vague answers that sleep in a corner of my mind.
What constitutes one's "being"? Is it reason, is it the decisions we make? Or is it just another flawed philosophical idea?

Well, if you find answers to some of these questions, don't panic. Just embrace the beauty of this world.

Man, I never would've thought a cartoon would be this philosophical...

Footnotes