FUN FACT OF THE DAY: if the MCU wiki is anything to go by, exiled Ravagers are denied entrance into the Ravager afterlife as well
So when Yondu gave Peter the last spacesuit he had no idea where he was going after that, or if it would be a welcoming place, or anything at all.
I think this was actually made fairly explicit in the movie. I always got that impression from Stakar’s comments about “we’re not going to do the colors for you” – it’s not merely “we won’t have a funeral when you die”, it’s the Ravager equivalent of “you’re not getting Last Rites”. And that’s one reason why Stakar’s so broken up about it; it’s not just being severed from Yondu in life, but in eternity as well.
And so, yeah, that’s totally my takeaway from the sacrifice scene: he died with no idea what was going to happen to him after death, but in the general expectation that it wouldn’t be pleasant (if it wasn’t just oblivion). And he went into that with his eyes wide open (er, literally, I guess, at the end), knowing what was going to happen to him on all levels – he knows he’s going to die, and he knows he’s given up his chance at the Ravager afterlife – and he goes and does it anyway.
I was going to reblog this meta as it was because it’s perfect and sad!!! but it’s occurred to me how actually come to think of the acting choices make it quite clear as well, once you know what you’re looking for
Like Yondu’s expression of utter terror once he’s looking away from Peter:
And Kraglin at the end. At first I thought he was just really happy to see that the Ravagers had turned up to honour their old friend-turned enemy after all, but on my secondthirdfourth infinitith viewing I realized, that’s the look of someone who’s just realized they might be reunited with someone they loved in an afterlife after all-
This damn frigging movie ;-;
And I don’t suppose that Yondu had any kind of alternate belief system to fall back on, given his background.
(Or even worse, there was whatever the Kree thought happened to their slaves after death, though I doubt he would have actively believed in that)
Okay, I’m bringing this back again because I just realized that, having grown up among the Ravagers, Peter knows this too. He probably doesn’t believe in it to any great extent by this point, but it’s still got to be there somewhere in the back of his head, especially during the funeral.
I bet it was, and I bet it was pretty hellish, that little stray thought in the back of his head going “but what if…?” He looks pretty relieved when the Ravager ships show up too, although he doesn’t have the same screaming-in-joy reaction Kraglin has. (Sean Gunn really deserves more props for that scene.) And all that’s no surprise, because even the thought of never seeing someone you loved in a possible afterlife is incredibly depressing…
…but I also wonder about the ashes-arrow at the end. Assuming it wasn’t a figment of Rocket’s imagination (and I think James Gunn said it wasn’t!) I guess that’s kind of proof, for lack of a better word, that the Ravager’s belief system is… sort of real? So Yondu is hopefully drinking, fighting and having fun in some sort of Space Valhalla right now, we can only assume…
