The Femme Fatale Meets The Hero Lover

What happens when a femme fatale meets a hero lover? Before there was Mr. and Mrs. Smith, there was the Sudanese legend about a beautiful maiden, Sia Jatta Bari, and a hopeless romantic warrior, Mamadi Sefe Dekote.

Mamadi and Sia are not your normal romance couple. Although they somehow fit the enemies to lovers trope, they lie more on the enemies-enemies-manipulation-revenge-lovers-enemies trope. That's pretty much the plot, but of course, I don't want to leave you completely in the dark.

Here's a quick walk-through of their story: Sia is the most beautiful woman in their village. Even her knows it–and she takes pride for it. Then there goes the accomplished warrior, and 'He Who Speaks Little,' Mamadi Sefe Dekote. If Sia thinks she's beautiful, then for Mamadi, she's the most beautiful in the world! Yes, he's that in love. But then there's the conflict: Sia doesn't like him, and there's a serpent in town named Bida who gives the village a rain of gold each time he is offered a virgin. It had been a custom to offer a virgin to this serpent because he was the village's source of wealth.

Mamadi tries to win over Sia. But Sia is cold-hearted and she outright rejects him every time. Mamadi is persistent, of course. He sells his belongings and offers a bag of gold to Sia in exchange for her "sleeping with him". To Mamadi's surprise, Sia accepted the gold and agreed to sleep with him—literally, just sleep with him. When Mamadi wanted to make love to her, Sia said that it was not in the proposition. She insists that sleeping together does not equate to making love. Mamadi respected this although it frustrated him.

Later on, Sia confessed to Mamadi that she would offer herself to the serpent because their family is in financial ruin. But when the serpent was about to eat Sia, Mamadi cut off his head. The serpent cursed that the village would never again receive a rain of gold. This angered the villagers and exiled Mamadi and Sia. Because of this, the two were forced to marry and live together. But never once did Sia love Mamadi, nor did they make love. Their peak romance was when Sia complained of headache and asked Mamadi to cut off his toe and finger because it's magic that would cure her. Mamadi cut off his toe and finger without hesitation. But Sia only used this to leave Mamadi, claiming that she could not love a man with only nine fingers and toes.

Sia, still a virgin, sets off and goes on meeting other men. Mamadi, determined to get his revenge, hired a witch to make a love potion for Sia. Sia was immediately hypnotized and came back to Mamadi. This is when Mamadi was finally able to make love to Sia, not once, but to a number of times that satiated him. In the morning, when the spell had cast off, Sia walked to Mamadi's door. But before leaving, she said with grudging admiration, not looking at him. “You take a good revenge.”

Mamadi fits the hero archetype because he was admired for his courage and outstanding capabilities. He was the foremost warrior among his people, the best horseman, swordsman, and tactician. The only thing he could not win was Sia. Somehow, his pride motivated him to pursue Sia. But it's also because he's a lover archetype too. His impulsivity and irrationality was because he was madly in love with her. He was the best and smartest warrior among his people, but he fell so easily to Sia's manipulative tricks. He sold his belongings to offer her a bag of gold. When she would not sleep with him, he could not believe it true and asked her if she wanted a marriage instead. He took all his time and effort learning how to kill Bida so it would not eat Sia. When they lived together, he respected that Sia did not want to sleep with him. When Sia told him he must cut off his finger and toe to heal her headache, he did so without hesitation. Sia was his achilles heel until he learned to avenge for himself.

Sia, on the other hand is a femme fatale. She was far from a damsel distress. From the beginning, she was aware of her beauty and the power it bestowed upon her. She was independent, decisive, and brave. She did not like Mamadi so she rejects him upright no matter how he pursued her. She did not need anyone to tell her that she must offer herself to the serpent, she did in her own accord to save her family from financial ruin. Certainly, she also used her charms to her advantage because she manipulated Mamadi so many times.

The legend of Mamadi Sefe Dekote was a refreshing narrative of women empowerment. It's rare to see female characters shaped other than a damsel in distress and inferior to men. While it is novel in its representation of femme fatale character, there remains some gender stereotypes represented in archetypal situations in the story. The battle between the two sexes, and the close to enemies to lovers arch of the story is an example of such. Somehow, to prove the worth of female characters, they had to be put against the opposite sex.

It's also enraging how Sia was framed as a villian in the story in the manner of the legend's narration. It had emphasized so much on Mamadi's struggles, somehow putting him in a pitiful lense. When certainly, this is not the case. From the very beginning, Sia had outright rejected him but he pushed himself to her. In addition to this, while he may be in love, his intentions are still powered by pride and his male ego. He could have understood from the very beginning that Sia didn't want him, but he had to kill Bida and save Sia when she did not ask for saving. This is a common situation archetype in literature. Male characters always go out of their way to save female characters, or to do anything to brag their power over them even when it is not asked for.

In addition to this, there are also some symbolic archetypes in the story. The Serpent, for example, was a symbol of evil and how culture and greed (in the story, of the wealth that the Serpent gave) normalizes inhumane practices. It's shocking how the offering of virgins to the serpent is something that the villagers did not even fight against. The Serpent was also a symbol for betrayal. It had witnessed how Mamadi betrayed his villagers when he killed their source of wealth, and how he betrayed Sia by not respecting her decision.

Lastly, if something else is an archetypal situation, it's the dominance of male figures in myths, no matter how implicitly implied. The hero always goes on hurdles and has redemption in the end, and the femme fatale is framed a villain. Mamadi Sefe Dekote's story was not Mamadi's story, but somehow, it was titled after him. This story goes to show how from myths, our collective unconscious is engineered to be inherently patriarchal. Even in stories and real-life situations where women are represented, there is still internalized misogyny. Sadly, when a femme fatale meets a hero lover, her story is overshadowed.