Val the Moofia Boss
Well-known member
So I'm watching Princess Mononoke again (courtesy of Netflix), and a shower thought has struck me.
Doesn't the existence of amputation as a medical procedure effectively crash and burn a good chunk of its plot?
He could, but IIRC Ashitaka' village seemed to be doomed. Ashitaka was the last young man from there. If he had no arm, he wouldn't be able to effectively protect the village, which would probably be a bad thing given that they seem to live in a time of turmoil. The village could be easily overrun by robbers. Without his arm, Ashitaka also becomes a dependent... in a village where he is the last young man. Harvesting their crops and hunting food would become extremely difficult. The young women of the village are probably going to be absorbed into other clans and villages anyway. So even if Ashitaka got his arm amputated, his village isn't going to last long and he's going to have to go somewhere else, and other people might not be so keen on housing and feeding a one-armed man. So trying to excise the corruption is a good plan for him.