Finally got around to seeing GotG2 again, and kept an eye out for things I missed the first time. My question is: where the hell did Yondu get all those military ribbons they placed on his pyre?
I doubt the Kree gave accolades to their slaves and even if they did I sincerely doubt he would have kept them. And we know he joined the Ravagers immediately after being freed, so it’s not like he had a brief stint in the military or anything.
I figure they’re either stolen (in which case I’m curious why they’d be worthy of making it on the pyre, which otherwise included only things Yondu had cared about), or he was awarded them for participating in military conflicts while a Ravager. The Ravagers don’t strike me as mercenaries in that sense, but I suppose it’s possible if the reward justifies the risk (as in the case of them agreeing to fight Ronan in exchange for the orb).
I’ve been wondering the same thing myself, and I’ll be damned if I can figure it out. And the placement of the awards and insignia over his face and throat seems too ritualized and deliberate to be random shinies he’s stolen over the years (since they are obviously not shiny or have any obvious monetary value).
The only theory I’ve come up with is that the Ravagers themselves have kind of a pseudo-militaristic award system for honoring service, and the medals on Yondu’s pyre are from his pre-exile days. Like, they’ve got the whole sort of Viking funeral ‘horns and colors of Ogord’ thing, so there’s clearly some kind of ritual already embedded in Ravager customs, albeit of a somewhat more mystical nature…