Nausicaa: Difference between revisions

In the last volume of the graphic novel, it turns out that all of the population in Nausicaä's world was genetically engineered to adapt to the polluted world - humans, birds and mammals to a somewhat lesser extent than insects. The humans did this to themselves in order to live through the impending centuries of "dead air and foul water" after the Seven Days of Fire. The Sea of Corruption is in fact a man-made entity that purifies the water and the air, slowly but surely. As it is, there are areas deep inside the Sea of Corruption where the regeneration is complete, however the air there is so pure that it is deadly to the current human population (which, again, is genetically engineered to survive in a toxic environment).

Nausicaä's dilemma as she destroys the crypt of Shuwa is whether this reparation of environmental damage should or not be monitored by those who started it. The Guardian of the Crypt tells her that the regeneration is all planned out, complete with the technology that will make humans able to walk the regenerated Earth once again, undoing the original changes to both the world and its inhabitants. Nausicaä denies the "light" and destroys the Guardian, stating that this "programmed evolution" is against the very nature of man, just as the "perfectly harmonious and peaceful life" that's supposed to begin after the regeneration is complete.