7000 days = about 19.4 years. According to the comics, Joe gives his wives three chances to give him a male heir with no deformities. Let’s say that Furiosa got tossed in 3 years, and it took her 3-6 years to climb the ranks.
That still leaves a group of maybe 13 year old and younger War Pups who’d only ever known of Furiosa as Imperator.
Nux spoke of Joe like he’d barely ever seen him, or only from a distance, maybe through binoculars. There were two other Imperators near Joe.
What if these other Imperators were as distant and aloof? Are they also black thumbs, or do they simply delegate, or only come out for war?
We know Furiosa probably modified her War Rig herself (see: kill switches and hidden weaponry), which means she HAS to have been in the shop and garages. We know from the film that the War Pups are in the background everywhere. We know there’s no way Furiosa could have been cruel to these children given the systematic way we’re shown her empathy; we also know that there’s a systemic pattern of cruelty, deprivation, and put-downs in the general War Boy culture (’mediocre’, being un-witnessed, witheld water and general human needs, the quick way that Nux blooms under the least bit of kindness).
So think about this generation of War Boys who knows in their hindbrains that the safest place to be (both physically and emotionally) is around their Imperator. Their’s because it’s the Imperator that they see the most, in the shop. The Imperator that Joe trusts on his most dangerous runs. The Imperator that is spoken of by older War Boys like Slit with fear and awe.
Is it any wonder the way they say her name?
furiosa: den mother of the apocalypse
you know, considering that, her takeover isn’t so much a coup as a natural succession. she’s the highest ranked warrior with loyal followers.
And it didn’t even occur to her. She didn’t even want it. Didn’t realize that if she went back to the Citadel that her face would be enough.
And even more: Max realized. Went out first so that everyone else were safe, and somehow knew that they needed to see her. (Though maybe it was one of the others? Or at least, he agreed enough to implement it.)
This post has been going around again and I feel the need to give a caveat that I tried writing the language in the original post very carefully. In no way do I think that Furiosa was actively nurturing or performing traditional motherly roles, there’d be no room and no safe space for it in the toxic environment of the Citadel.
However, I do think she was probably the least bad thing in a very bad situation, and that she’d be fair if you give her fairness. The War pups would be in no position to harm her; and if they deal with her honestly, I don’t see her giving them any less credit and responsibility and fairness and thanks than she did for Max.
The way that she got Max to stand down and to help her out willingly, even gladly? Other meta have pointed out that its a skill, and like most skills have been honed. (She treated him like he had trauma, and gave him things to do to be useful, and responsible.) And I wouldn’t be surprised if she used these same skills on the War pups as well as she did her own crew.