Digimon (1999) Revisted - Etemon Arc

While Digimon Adventures (1999)’s Devimon Arc feels weighed down by the purpose for which it was created, it acts as the essential groundwork for everything that is to come. With it all laid out, the characters and world built to a degree they can be understood, the series gets a chance to focus in and expand on elements of its choosing.

That’s exactly what happens here. The Devimon Arc works as the broad strokes of what this series can be, but it isn’t until now that we begin to really see the details start to be painted in.

So, let’s find out how this plays out by take a look at episodes 14-20, the Etemon Arc.

(Note: all references to specific names will refer to the dub of the series. Dubs are my personal preference, and this is the version that I grew up with.)

Recap

With Devimon defeated, the Digidestined are met by a hologram of Gennai, an old man with a quest to give them. He tells them that they must cross the ocean to the continent of Server, where they will have to find tags and crests to reach a new level and defeat the evil Digimon that are there.

On the way to Server the children find the tags, and upon reaching the continent itself they start the search for the crests. As their search begins, they’re met by Etemon, who wants to cover the continent with his dark network.

Tai is the first to get a crest and forces Greymon to digivolve, which results so horribly it terrifies both him and Agumon out of ever wanting to even become Greymon again.

After Tai and Agumon work through their troubles, Izzy discovers more about how this world works and interacts with their own, leading to Tai becoming careless. When Tai learns that regardless of what they are in this world, he can still die here, fear paralyzes him, allowing Sora and Biyomon to be captured.

Tai works through his fear, and in doing so activates the power of his crest. Greymon digivolves to MetalGreymon, giving him the power to defeat Etemon! This creates a portal that sucks in Tai and Metalgreymon, ending the arc with them both in the human world.

The Transition and Setting a Goal

The Etemon Arc kicks off with episode 14, “Departure for a New Continent”, which acts as a smooth transition from one arc to the next.

The episode begins exactly where the previous had ended, with Gennai appearing as a hologram, congratulating the children for defeating Devimon. He is set up as a mysterious mentor figure, claiming to be both human and not, and that he has been around since before the beginning and until after the end.

Basically, Gennai has popped up to give the Digidestined their first active goal of the series. The entirety of the first arc had the children in a reactionary situation. They were pulled into the Digital World, and so they try to find a way home. They were attacked by various Digimon, and so they need to fight back (culminating with Devimon). Even all their partner Digimon reaching champion level was in reaction to the children being in danger. Here they are being tasked with adventuring to a new continent, where they must find tags and crests in order to have their Digimon reach the ultimate level.

When Genai leaves, the whole situation becomes a debate between the children, again because this the first time they are given a real choice rather than purely reacting to what happens to them. While some think they need to pursue this new goal, others argue that it is reckless. Joe, for one, says that after all their time on File Island they know it so well that sticking around is the safest thing to do.

It isn’t until the partner Digimon all come forward to say that they want to reach a higher level to protect the children that everyone comes to an agreement. And this is already an interesting choice, having the Digimon be the deciding factor rather than any of the children. They are given real agency in this moment rather than simply being there as protectors.

When the group begins work to travel to this new land, we get the first of two sendoffs to the first arc. They struggle to build a raft for themselves to cross the ocean, but several of the friendly Digimon they met in their travels come by to help them out. This ends with the children sailing off, waving goodbye to File Island and the good Digimon who live there.

The next sendoff doubles as a baton pass to the next arc. On their journey over the ocean, the Digidestined are met by two good Digimon corrupted by black gears, a staple of the Devimon arc. They free the Digimon from this final corruption left over from Devimon and are rewarded by both a faster ride to Server as well as being shown the location of their tags.

One last remnant of Devimon is destroyed before they can fully move on and complete the first of their new goals.

The Connection from Child to Digimon

Apart from the more active goal in this arc, the next biggest change is the revelation that they bond between the children and their respective Digimon is more symbiotic than it originally seemed.

While in the Devimon Arc we see that the Digimon cannot digivolve without a specific child in proximity to them, they are generally shown in a one sided partnership. The Digimon protects the human and gets stronger in order to better do their job.

This arc changes that relationship, first by calling it into question.

After Tai finds his crest, the group brainstorm over how the Digimon have been made to digivolve in the past. The main factors they come up with are that the Digimon must be well fed, and the Digidestined must be in danger. When Tai acts on this, Agumon does reach an ultimate level form, but in doing so he becomes evil and loses all control of himself.

In the very next episode, “The Crest of Sincerity”, Gennai pops up again and Tai asks how this has happened. Gennai says that they need to find all the crests to help them work together in perfect harmony. He also suggests that this wouldn’t have happened if Tai knew how to take care of his Digimon properly.

This suggestion hits all the Digimon hard, having them start to question how they are treated. They thought they were treated well, but was SkullGreymon proof that they are wrong? Even the children wonder if they have been less their great to their new friends.

In “The Piximon Cometh” the group runs into Piximon, who we’re told is famous for his ability to train others. At first, he seems to contradict Gennai, scolding the Digimon for ever needing the children’s protection rather than purely acting as protectors themselves. Later, when it comes to the training he puts them through, it is for all of them, not just the Digimon. There is never a time where he singles the Digimon out as the ones who need it, in fact, he makes sure that Tai and Agumon go together to work through their problems.

By the time we reach the end of the arc, one of the partner Digimon reach their proper ultimate level form for the first time. It isn’t out of a need to protect the children but brought on by the power of a particular positive emotion of that child, funneled through their crest and tag.

The Digidestined are made far more active participants in their adventure when it comes to the Etemon arc, first by deciding to agree to a goal, but then by being shown that it is through their actions and relationship that their Digimon gain more power. It isn’t a situation of simply having bodyguards, the Digimon end up far closer to being a manifestation of the power of their own feelings.

Bonds are made deeper, and in doing so, the characters are given a chance to grow, one more so than others.

Courage Vs. Cockiness

If it wasn’t clear from the recap, nearly this entire arc makes Tai the main focus as far as character development. Where the first arc was weighed down by having to introduce every one of its fourteen main characters, this one takes advantage of all that groundwork by letting most of them spend their time more in the background to dive much deeper into a single one of them.

In their first episode on Server, “The Dark Network of Etemon”, the group is introduced to Etemon. He instantly proves himself to be too powerful for any of them to take on at their current level. In this same episode, while they run away from Etemon, Tai finds his crest.

It comes out in this arc that Tai’s crest is the crest of courage (though, this reveal is something that will be talked about more in the next arc). This means that when he finally activates it, the power comes from a show of courage from Tai. What makes this interesting is that the same actions that cause his crest to light up, and cause Greymon to digivolve to ultimate, are done twice with different results.

Right after Tai gets his crest, having just had to run away from Etemon because of his immense strength, Tai decides he must have Agumon digivolve at any cost. This is in “The Arrival of SkullGreymon”, and as mentioned above, this is where they decide that having a Digimon fed and their partner in danger is enough to force it to happen. So, Tai does just that.

Tai forces Agumon to eat all the food until he is well passed bloated and everyone else is left hungry. When a fight breaks out, Tai charges into a dangerous position, not because he has to for any reason, but purely out of the knowledge that it could force Greymon to digivolve. This whole situation works, and but when SkullGreymon emerges he is too chaotic and begins fighting all his friends.

This whole situation has both Tai and Agumon spiraling for the next few episodes. They are both terrified of him even becoming Greymon again because of it. In “The Piximon Cometh”, they are sent into a kind of spiritual journey into a memory of Tai’s childhood, back to when he was learning to ride a bike. It is a memory that teaches them both that even when you get hurt, the only way you can improve is by trying again.

It isn’t a coincidence that Tai and Agumon are put in a situation where they must push past their fears in this arc that ends with Tai activating his crest of courage. But, they haven’t done enough yet to fully get there.

The following episode, “The Prisoner of the Pyramid”, has Izzy reveal his theories on what exactly the Digital World is. Tai’s big takeaway from this lore drop becomes the belief that nothing here matters, they aren’t real, so they can’t actually get hurt or die. This leads to him spending the entire episode acting recklessly, even messing with Etemon in ways that if he were to be caught the whole group would be screwed.

This biggest moment of this recklessness is when Tai and his group come upon an electrified wall with one hidden weak spot. Touching anywhere but the weak spot in the wall could mean instant death. The moment Izzy points to where he thinks it is, Tai walks through without a second thought. Later in the episode, they come across the wall again, and if not for Joe holding Tai back, he would have rushed through the wrong part. It is here Tai really takes in what Izzy is saying, consequences do matter, dying here will kill him in the human world. Tai becomes paralyzed by fear, Joe’s let him go, but he can’t bring himself to do anything.

Tai is forced to deal with the consequences of his fear in that it led to Sora and Biyomon being captured. In the next episode, “The Earthquake of MetalGreymon”, Tai learns to conquer those fears and show real courage. This plays out in two moments that parallel his early acts but with new motivation behind them.

First, a group of them enter the pyramid once again, and one by one people are pulled away, leading to Tai being all alone when he comes across the electrified wall. The first time he saw it, he didn’t believe in consequences and so his cockiness led to him casually moving through. The second time he saw it, he understood what it could do to him and he couldn’t even get close to it, let alone attempt to get through its weak spot. This third time becomes about him being all alone, terrified of what could happen if he touches the wrong part, but knowing that the only way to save Sora is to push through his fear. Only when he does this does his crest of courage light up for the first time.

After leaving the pyramid, Etemon ends up coming out bigger and stronger than ever. Tai and Greymon rush toward him in a moment that almost mirrors Tai rushing in in “The Arrival of SkullGreymon”, but this is different. Tai is not putting himself in danger needlessly in order to force Greymon to digivolve. This time, he is running in beside Greymon, and doing it to protect his friends. Tai is showing courage by seeing something terrifying, something impossible, and rushing in anyway because he sees no other way to help everyone. And, it works. Tai’s already glowing crest and tag push Greymon to digivolve again, but this time into MetalGreymon, who retains full control over himself and has enough power to defeat Etemon.

Because of the way Tai is made the focus in this arc, the whole creation of MetalGreymon is given more weight. Tai fails repeatedly, but he learns from his mistakes. And in these failures, and how they are presented in new context by the end of the act, the show gives more nuance to what it means to be courageous vs just being cocky.

Expanding the Lore

Tai may be the focus of this arc, but when it comes to dropping lore, Izzy is the character to turn to. That being said, even the new lore is brought up in order to further Tai’s development.

Izzy had theories in the past about the effects that particular glyphs and computer code have on the Digital World. Even Tentomon’s first time digivolving came out of Izzy messing with code on his laptop. But it is the Etemon Arc when Izzy solidifies and shares these theories with the rest of the group.

This all starts when Izzy gets an e-mail in “The Prisoner of the Pyramid” and the group stumbles upon a cave filled with similar glyphs to what Izzy has come across before. This is the first time he shows everyone else that messing with these kinds of glyphs on the walls act like changing code in a computer program. In this case, doing it turned on lights in the cave. But he takes it a step further this time around.

While Izzy fills everyone in on what we have learned in his past episodes, he adds onto his theories. This leads to his belief that none of the humans are in their real bodies, but are instead physical embodiments of computer code, and that their actual bodies are still in the human world. He goes so far as to say that their need to eat or use the washroom is purely in their own heads, and so if they stop thinking they need these things, they should stop feeling the need.

Furthermore, he relays how this world and the human world are connected. He brings up globes of Earth and the Digital World, each with their digital networks laid across them. When the two overlap, the networks line up completely. This leads Izzy to believing that the entirety of this world is the digital network of the human world made physical. Not only that, but it means that everything that happens in one world can have a direct effect on the other.

All this exposition has immediate implications when Izzy realizes that the fact that they are all digital means he should be able to move them across the continent. Basically, he takes the cave they are currently in and by using the address of the e-mail he was sent, he has the cave now open up just outside of where the e-mail came from. The entire world can be shifted by Izzy just playing around on his laptop.

There is a degree to which this whole implication should probably turn Izzy into a god-like figure in this world, with the ability to affect anything in it with a few keystrokes on his laptop, but it is never taken that far.

Etemon’s Villainy

Coming to Etemon himself, he is a very different kind of villain for this series. He is sandwiched between two embodiments of pure evil, and yet he is a rock-and-roll playing monkey who talks with an Elvis impersonation.

It seems like a large part of his placement in the show is to construct a different type of villain. Even his evil scheme of presumably taking over the digital world isn’t about corrupting Digimon to work for him, but rather to gain power through surveillance. The dark network he is creating seems to be more about monitoring Server than creating a direct control.

Where Devimon was treated in a way that showed him as menacing through how scary he can be, Etemon never comes off that way. Rather, he is often seen bouncing around like a monkey, having a tantrum.

This even comes through in the designs of Etemon vs Devimon.

Devimon is almost entirely black, with horns and tattered wings. His disproportionately long arms create a more monstrous silhouette even with his generally human shape. And then there is the way he is designed to look like he is wearing leather pants with short metal spikes poking out of them and belts all over him, giving him a real heavy metal kind of vibe.

Etemon contrasts this by being orange and white. He has no clothes but does have a Monzaemon (a teddy bear) that he has on his side at all times. He is a monkey in sunglasses and an earring, with the only thing giving him a remotely menacing appearance being the stitches on his arm and tail. Even most of his attacks involve playing guitar or singing, rather than anything that might be seen as scary,

None of this is meant to be negatively judging Etemon, in fact, it makes him a standout villain even while having the shortest arc. While many villains in this season are built on concepts of horror, Etemon is allowed to present his evil in a way that is much goofier.

I think it is fitting that his arc is the one that decides to give a single character so much focus. While Etemon is undeniably a treat, it is one of pure strength. His plan might become an issue if it came to fruition, but he doesn’t ever seem competent enough for that to be a real possibility. Because of this, he is able both hunt the children, creating opportunities for Tai’s development, while not taking very much time away from Tai himself.

It also seems worth pointing out that both Etemon and Devimon have their final fights with the Digidestined after taking in the power from their respective plots for domination. Devimon absorbs all the black gears on File Island, and Etemon falls into the pit of his dark network.

Etemon holds an interesting position as a villain. While he comes off as goofy as, say, Jesse and James from Pokemon, he is also clearly defined as a much bigger threat. With everything we see, it seems as though the only reason the children aren’t defeated immediately by him is because his dark network is constantly malfunctioning.

And that brings us to the story of what he did to Datamon…

The Psychological Horror of Datamon

Datamon becomes a secondary villain to this arc for the final two episodes. He may not last long, but his backstory turns him from a calculated, maniacal, Digimon out for revenge, to an incredibly tortured individual.

What Datamon tells us about his past, and why he wants to defeat Etemon, is that at some point before now the two of them fought. We don’t know why; we just know it happened. This fight leads to Datamon being broken, nearly all his memory circuits destroyed, except for the ones reminding him of this fight.

After the fight, Datamon is imprisoned and forced to help Etemon construct his dark network. With the state of his broken mind, all Datamon can think about the entire time he is trapped here is that fight and being smashed to pieces. What would most likely be considered the worst moment of his life, is the only thing he can say for sure ever happened to him. All this is made even worse by his only memory being one where he is victimized by the same Digimon who is now his warden, forcing him to work.

At this point it seems worth questioning, why did Datamon fight Etemon the first time? Were they villainous rivals even from the beginning, or was Datamon originally fighting for the side of good but has now been driven deranged by what was done to his mind?

Datamon’s first plan (which will be addressed soon) fails, but all he knows is his hatred of Etemon, so he resorts to a far more drastic one. Datamon unleashes the centre of Etemon’s dark network, a pit that anything that is sucked inside will be destroyed forever. He has so little to live for, as far as he can remember, that he is willing to end his own life if it means succeeding in his revenge.

In these two episodes we get essentially the entire life of Datamon, going back as far as he can remember. Everything that happens earlier takes place in a time that is completely lost to him because of the way he was beaten. While he is without a doubt a villain in these episodes, the question of who he would be if the first fight never took place creates a terrible picture of a Digimon tortured by his own lack of sense of who he really is. Or, possibly, so consumed by a singular moment in his life that who he was is no longer a part of himself at all.

Could a Copy Control Biyomon?

The final part about this arc that I want to talk about is a section that becomes completely speculative.

Datamon’s plan for defeating Etemon is to kidnap Sora and Biyomon, create a digital clone of Sora, and use this clone to digivolve Biyomon to a high enough level to win the fight for him. Tai rushes in, saves Sora’s life, and frees both her and Biyomon before Datamon can attempt anything beyond making the clone. So, without any evidence given in this scene at all, would his plan have worked?

Back in the Devimon arc there is an episode in which Tentomon and Mimi are separated from Palmon and Izzy. Although both Mimi and Izzy still had digivices, because the children and their partner Digimon are mis-matched, neither one can digivolve until the group comes together again. This leads to three possibilities of what is necessary for their digivolution:

1) The digivice is paired only to a particular Digimon.

2) The Digimon can only be connected to their particular partner, regardless of the digivice.

3) Both the digivice and partner are connected to the particular Digimon.

While the second possibility won’t hold much weight in this topic (because Datamon unquestionably has the right digivice), the first can be crucial to it. If all it takes is a human being in possession of the right digivice, then there is no reason to believe that this plan of won’t work.

Thanks to Izzy’s explanations about all of the children being digital copies of themselves while being in the Digital World, there is a real possibility that Datamon’s clone should be entirely identical to the digital copy of Sora that has been working with Biyomon since the beginning. If this is the case, does this this mean that the third possible necessity for digivolution can be met? This is where the answer becomes far less clear…

The main factor that complicates this, is question of what exactly constitutes this connection between a child and their Digimon. If it is a connection to their physical form is some way (ie: Biyomon’s data is linked to Sora’s in some way), then Datamon’s clone should suffice. But if it an emotional connection, then this comes down to how deep Datamon’s cloning goes.

We see the Clone Sora standing there, looking perfectly like Sora except for a dead look in her eyes, but we never see her speak or move. As far as we know, she could be an empty shell, or she could simply be under the control of Datamon in a way where she can only show any personality or intelligence if he commands her to. Because of this ambiguity, it is impossible to say if any kind of emotional connection could even be possible.

There is also the question of Biyomon’s knowledge of Clone Sora being a fake. Biyomon is in the room, she can understand on an intellectual level that Clone Sora isn’t real. Does this knowledge affect their connection? Or is it a case where regardless of what she knows, she has a biological connection to both versions of Sora?

Here is my best guess, looking at only the evidence given to us in these first two arcs of the series: Clone Sora could be used to get Biyomon to digivolve into Birdramon, but the next level becomes a whole other question.

From everything shown in the Devimon arc, the Digimon reaching champion level is essentially brought on by an adrenaline rush when their partner is in trouble. This is at least true of their first time, and it seems to be easier in subsequent times. While the digivice is a key to making this happen, the human partner doesn’t seem to need to do anything more than be present. Theoretically, this digital clone should be made up of the same data that makes up the real Sora, and we know that data is all that the real Sora is in this world.

Where Datamon’s plan probably falls apart is in having Birdramon digivolve any further, while still retaining control. As shown with MetalGreymon, it is only a heightened act of the crest’s specific positive emotion that gives the Digimon the power to reach their true ultimate level. The fact that we don’t see any evidence at all of Clone Sora possessing any emotion at all, let alone the ability to demonstrate the right one in a real enough way, makes this possibility incredibly unlikely.

That being said, we see early in this arc that it can still be possible, but without very nice results. When Tai acts in a way that forces energy into Greymon but doesn’t properly activate his crest, Greymon does still reach ultimate. The fact that SkullGreymon was completely uncontrollable is probably not something that Datamon would be concerned about, as his only goal is defeating Etemon, regardless of anything else.

So, in the end, it does seem like Datamon’s plan, in theory (purely based on speculation around what we’ve seen so far), could have succeeded to an extent. Though, how autonomous Clone Sora is capable of acting could change everything about how this would turn out.

Conclusions

Digimon Adventure (1999)’s Etemon Arc is one that takes full advantage of the setup that took place before it. It uses the ways in which elements are already established to focus in and dig much deeper into things such as Tai’s development rather than spreading its time amongst the entire crowd.

While the focus on Tai can come off as a disservice to its others characters, in the end it is the time spent focused on him that will give more meaning to each of the others as their crests begin to activate. The difficulty and time spent on one character’s crest activation, and character development that led to it being possible, means that we’re seeing just how big of a deal it is when it finally happens. This will become a key concept for the series as the rest of the Digidestined try to have their own Digimon reach the ultimate level.

The cliffhanger to this arc is also bigger this time around. Where the Devimon arc ended on the implication of stronger enemies on a new land and a moment of Gennai’s first appearance, this one ends with Tai getting the thing he has wanted since episode one: he is back home. The fact that Koromon is with him, and that none of the others seem to have come along, all create questions about what can be next.

What does it mean that a Digimon is in the human world? Is Tai done now that he is back home? What will the others do without him? Only one way to find out!

Next up: Myotismon.