Those are all very good points! I may very well be wrong and she could be someone else, but I still think we can’t rely on 2D concepts to dismiss the theory. A lot of villains change from the conceptual change—and though these may be minute—they do make a big difference. Prior to season two, I saw a large portion of the fandom dismiss the notion of Gabriel being Hawkmoth simply because of a difference in jaw shape and skin tone.
The biggest thing to remember is Mayura needs to get the miraculous from Gabriel. It’s in his possession and there’s no way around it. The Agreste mansion is heavily fortified and with all sorts of security and cameras. We’ve seen the additional layer of security on Gabriel’s possessions as well—he’s simply too controlling and paranoid to be careless with a spare miraculous/the grimoire. The only person who can access everything without question or suspicion would be Nathalie. Even if she hasn’t been given the safe code for some reason, we’ve seen her in Gabriel’s presence while unlocking it in the Collector, she could easily bypass it.
Could Gabriel simply give it to someone else? Yes, he could. But I doubt that would happen as well. He trusts very few people and wouldn’t be careless with such a powerful tool. He would also compromise his identity, and after everything he’s done to conceal it, I doubt he would risk it. Nathalie is already aware and up to speed with the situation/his motives.
As for the name Mayura not being French, we need to take into consideration that conceptually it was supposed to be Le Paon. Ladybug and Queen B aren’t french names either, despite the fact their wielders are. I think Zag is simply is trying to be a bit more creative—hence why all the new heroes aren’t simply given the French names for the animals they represent. Paon is also a masculine word in French, which could be why it was changed to alleviate confusion.
With all that being said, I wish Mayura was a WOC of Indian descent! If that happens to be the case it’s wonderful for representation, but not very good from a storytelling perspective. Adding a character last minute with no previous tie to the story doesn’t make sense—and it feels like they laid all the groundwork for Nathalie to take the mantle. I could be wrong though!
Thanks for the response! I personally think Gabriel and Hawkmoth look very similar, but I see your point. Concerning the names, english is a very international language, and I know from experience that a lot of europeans will incoporate english words as slang, but I can’t deny that there is a possibility that Natalie just has a big interest in hinduism maybe.
I actually like the idea of Natalie kinda of dethroning Gabriel and becoming the new big bad; it could make for some interesting stuff, but I personally still believe that Mayura is going to be indian
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