5

This quote is from Legends of Tomorrow Season 1, episode 3 "Blood Ties":

If you can’t kill your enemy, weaken him. If you can’t cut off his head, take his heart.

What does this mean? I thought of it as problem solving.

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

If you can’t kill your enemy, weaken him. If you can’t cut off his head, take his heart.

The sentence is from Sara Lance, aka White Canary, one of the heroes of the show.

The plot of Season 1 is to beat Vandal Savage. Remember that Vandal Savage is immortal. Precisely, he can live forever, as soon as he kills regularly (This makes sense in context) Sara's teammates Hawkman and Hawkgirl. He was born in Ancient Egypt millenia ago and since then, has lived in the shadow, to amass money, power and influence. This culminates at the beginning of the show when Rip Hunter, coming from the future, reveals that

Vandal Savage will take over the world in the 22th century.

This is not a foe that can be taken lightly and the first attempts of the heroes to take him down failed. Before the beginning of the show, it took the forces of team Flash and team Arrow to beat him (backdoor pilot of Legends of Tomorrow and cross-over of Flash season 2 and Arrow season 4).

Sara's plan is to not confront Vandal Savage directly but to gather information and undermine his power. Their first attack (in Season 1, episode 3) is to steal the money he uses to power his empire:

Rip decides to weaken Vandal Savage by going after his financial assets. Rip and Sara infiltrate Savage's bank, but are discovered by his men.

Improve this answer
2
  • It's like the Geneva Convention definition of terrorism vs. military action. If you attack the physical ability of your opponent, say by destroying a base full of tanks, that's military action. If you attack your opponents' willingness to fight, say by targeting civilians, that's terrorism.
    – Covertwalrus
    Commented Mar 29, 2022 at 3:46
  • @Covertwalrus: not here. The goal of Rip Hunter and the Legends is to take Savage's asset (financial assets in Season 1 episode 3 for example) in the same way the Western countries are trying to block Russian financial assets. In the Russian case, one could argue that this will affect Russian civilians as well, while it is not the case in Legends of Tomorrow (they try to harm him before he takes power).
    – Taladris
    Commented Mar 29, 2022 at 13:22
2

In most super hero situations it simply means kidnap Lois Lane/Mary Jane.

The traditional attack at the true weak point of a super hero is picking on those they love, attack the heart.

Improve this answer
2
  • I don't think they would attack Kendra though. She is on the team, even if she is the only person Vandal loves.
    – HiMyNameIsBob
    Commented May 3, 2021 at 20:02
  • -1. I will try to answer the question later, but the quote is from a hero of the show, not the villain.
    – Taladris
    Commented May 14, 2021 at 0:04

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.