User blog:ThePenultimateLoreNerd/Comrade Maxim - R.I.P

First of all, Hi, my first post. Second, I have recently re-read Metro 2033 for the 4th Time, and am now reading Metro 2034 for the 2nd time, and im still in love with both of them as I was the first time. However, reading Metro 2034 and analysing the two books for a moment has lead me to a horrible realisation. When Arytom is captured by the Facists and then rescued by the Revolotionaires (On the map as Trotskyists), we are introduced to the very unique characters of the Revolution, one of which is Asian, and one of which is black, both of whome belong to a race Artyom has never seen before. Despite the fact Arytom, by this point in the novel, has seen a fair number of station and so a fair number of people, we know he hasnt seen anyone of said races judging by his reaction to their appearances, and how viidly they are described in the Novel due to Arytom not being old enough to know all the different races and nationalities of Earth. Maxim, The black revolutionary, is unique, deccribed as having dark skin with a flat nose, but reletivly unimportant in the plotline of Metro 2033.

When they leave Artyom, they say they are heading for their base at  Avtozavodskaya. Flash forward to 2034, where Hunter, Homer and Sasha arrive at the very same station, and Hunter executes three men of which, threaten to shoot Homer and Sasha. When Hunter rips the gas masks of the dead men, he gets triggered by the fact one of them has dark black skin. What is also worth noting, is that the face of the man is described as "dark, glossy skin, thick lips and a broad, flat nose". Baring in mind how rare it is presumed Black people are in the Metro, does it not seem incredibly likely that this very dead man, was once the brave Comrade Maxim that helped rescue Artyom from the noose at Pushkinskaya? I think so. And yes, he was involved in the threatening of Sasha to leave the station before they shoot, but even then, do we really ever get the full story on what Sasha's father had done? And what of the other men? What if the cheery Comrade Bonsai, or the Brave Commisar Rusakov, were the other two men?

I know what you might be thinking. Why are they so important? Yes they saved Artyom, but they might have been bad people fighting a good fight? Some of you reading this might just think, Who cares? The reason I find this fact so intrueging is because it is very possible Dmitry Glukovsky added this slight detail on purpose, so that someone might notice it and recognise that not only does Hunter kill with such ease, but he does not consider the men he is killing. For me personally, recognising Comrade Maxim (by the way, Hunter, Homer and Sasha take the motorized trolley, of which the Revoluttionaries used in the Metro 2033 novel) as one of the victims of Hunters hand cannon makes more of an impression on me about Hunter than it does before, because this character, although breifly seen, was part of a small group Artyom was very much friends with, and it breaks my dark heart to think that he was flat out murdered because of Sasha's reputation, because it means if the Revolutionaries were to crop up in the future, Maxim, and maybe the others, would be robbed of a cheerful meeting with Arytom should the groups meet again.

I hope I made some of you think reading this, and if not, well I hope you enjoyed my rantings regardless, I just really needed to share this fact. Thank you

-ThePenultimateLoreNerd