about Karin and her loyalty to Orochimaru
I’m not sure if this has been addressed in Tumblr yet; if it has, sorry for being redundant! lol
I think this is one of those things that has always been debated when it comes to Karin’s character (and even used as fuel to bash her, in some cases). The fandom at large seems to assume that Karin is loyal to Orochimaru, due to both: Suigetsu’s earlier statements and her position as jailer of the Southern Base. Karin addressing Orochimaru with ’sama’ (in this case, ‘Lord’) has only seemed to cement this widely spread opinion.
However, those who have read the databook know things aren’t supposed to be as straight-forward as most may think:
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The third databook outright states that Karin “never felt any loyalty to Oro”; which directly contradicts Suigetsu’s earlier statements and what the manga seems to be presenting. Or does it?
When Suigetsu says that Karin is loyal to Orochimaru, he is speaking from his own impressions of her and her attitude; much like how he spoke about Juugo’s condition in the same way, only to have Karin correct him because he didn’t know the full picture.
In other words, Suigetsu is speaking based on what he has seen; and given her recent behavior, it’s easy to see where he is coming from. However, there is another thing the manga has alluded to that might explain this contradiction:
Karin is a good actress.
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She is also sly, and resourceful.
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Hence why, despite the fact that Karin does not address anyone with suffixes, I always assumed she did address Orochimaru as 'sama’ when she was face to face with him - because it would be the convenient thing to do. And I was right.
But how does she address Orochimaru when he isn’t around?
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It does not matter who she is talking to: she consistently attaches no 'sama’ to his name and addresses him solely as Orochimaru (大蛇丸) every single time she brings him up.
Moreover, if she had truly been loyal to him: isn’t it weird that Karin has never really talked about him? That she didn’t give Sasuke a hard time about killing him and actually didn’t even seem to care in the slightest, at that?
So IMO, while the manga has not confirmed nor denied the Databook’s statement, has delivered quite a few things that seem to go hand in hand with it; or at least, fit it more than the interpretation of Karin having a never-ending and genuine loyalty to Oro. Moreover, due to the reasons mentioned above, I don’t think Karin using 'sama’ to address Oro is conclusive proof of her supposed loyalty.
Granted, that’s not to say Kishi might not ret-con that bit. Anything is possible lol but for now, I honestly believe it still stands, and we might hopefully see it being addressed sometime in the future.
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