Rivers of Fate is the harrowing tale of a girl named Janalice, aka Jana, who is trafficked by a crime syndicate, her world shattered in the span of days, and her life turned upside down through no fault of her own. Her hardships taught her a lot of things about life, and the things she lived through made her quite tough as a person. So let’s find out what happened with Jana and if she was able to escape her abductors.
Spoiler Alert
How did Jana get abducted?
Jana was a simple girl who came from a humble background. She had grown quite close to a guy from her class, but after becoming physically intimate with him, she realized she’d made the biggest mistake of her life. She trusted that boy, which was why she couldn’t imagine that he would take advantage of her and ruin her entire life. That guy recorded their intimate moments and then later leaked the video. He had no reason for doing that; apparently, he just wanted to look cool in front of his classmates. Jana’s parents, Pedro and Lizete, didn’t know how to face society, their neighbors, or their relatives after that. They were simple churchgoing people who didn’t understand where they had gone wrong in their parenting. I believe that in that moment of crisis, they only thought of themselves, how society would look at them after the scandal and not even once did anything for their daughter. Because if they had, then they would have realized how shaken that girl was to her core. Jana’s mother decided that they needed to take some harsh steps, so she decreed their daughter would live with her sister for a few days. I don’t know how Lizete thought that in that moment, when a child needed all the support of her parents, abandoning her would be the right call. Jana’s aunt, Daiane, had a partner, Ramiro, who had his eyes on Jana from the day she walked into their house. It was just a matter of time before the lecherous man tried to abuse her. Jana had her guard up all the time, but that didn’t stop the man from trying to force himself on her. One day, Jana felt so unsafe that she left the house, and had she not done that, the man would have definitely done something to her. Jana, that day, met a girl named Dionete, a fascinating character who’d learned how to survive on the streets. Dionete’s boyfriend, Mariozinho, worked for a human trafficking syndicate. He was asked by his boss to find five White girls who could be sold to the elite buyers at a high price to make a name for themselves in the business. Mariozinho spotted Jana with Dionete one day, and he decided to abduct her. Dionete knew of a boy named Miltinho, whose sister had gone missing, and he was always seen on the streets asking people if they had come across a girl who resembled her. Jana felt that if they would have had a phone, they could have checked for his sister on a few escort service websites. Jana’s phone had been taken by her parents, and so it was decided that they would seek help from Dionete’s boyfriend. Dionete had no clue that her boyfriend would end up abducting Jana and selling her to the traffickers. Jana tried to save herself, but ultimately she was picked up by traffickers, and after that she was taken to a discreet location.
Who killed Amadeu?
Tabaco’s gang operated in Belem and the areas surrounding it, and they were basically the most dreaded gang. They were overseeing the entire operation of trafficking the girls for an influential man named Ze Elido. This person generally sold the girls to other potential buyers and escort agency owners, but before doing so, he satiated his own carnal desires. For days, he kept Jana and the other girls with him and constantly raped them. Meanwhile, Jana’s godfather, who was an ex-cop, started looking for her. Jana’s father, out of the guilt of not being able to save his daughter, took his own life. It seemed that Amadeu was the only one who did something to rescue Jana, and her parents just drowned themselves in their own misery, which didn’t actually help anybody’s cause. Ze Elido was eventually going to hand over the girl to Mayor Brazao, who, just like everybody who was a part of that chain, intended to abuse her and then put her up for auction. The auction was going to be conducted in Cayenne at a place named Coq D’Or. I believe Dionete’s murder gave Amadeu a potential lead, after which he was able to locate Jana. Amadeu first found out about the death of Dionete, who had been killed by her partner, as she had gotten to know that he was the one who had abducted Jana. Then Amadeu met Miltinho, who took her to Dionete’s partner. Amadeu used his contacts at the police station to find out more about Ze Elido and the kind of crimes he was involved in. Amadeu didn’t have any clue that even the mayor and other politicians were a part of the entire syndicate. Amadeu reached the safehouse, and after causing a ruckus, he went to meet the mayor in hopes that the man would help him out. But instead, the mayor had Amadeu killed, and he was never able to rescue Jana. But Miltinho, who had accompanied him, was able to find his sister, Luzia, who was also one of the girls in Ze Elido’s captivity. Coincidentally, Jana had met both the siblings, though at that time did not know that they were related.
What happened between Jonas and Gigante?
Prea, aka Jonas, was Tabaco’s son, while Gigante was Tabaco’s right-hand man. Jonas didn’t like how Gigante didn’t show even an ounce of respect towards him, and he also resented how he pushed the limits in every operation and took unnecessary risks to curb down his desires. It was Gigante who killed Mariangel’s family. He went there to buy alcohol, and Mariangel’s husband refused to give him any. Things got heated, and Mariangel’s husband and son were killed in the altercation. Even Gigante’s brother Joelington met his fateful end, but I don’t think that Gigante got affected by it. One time, Jonas and his gang were robbing a cargo ship when Gigante started molesting a girl. Jonas saw that, and he asked him to leave the girl and escape from there. Gigante didn’t like how he spoke to him, and he made it very clear that he did not consider him his boss. I believe Gigante felt that he was the more deserving candidate to succeed Tabaco, as Jonas lacked the tenacity needed for the job.
When Jonas and Gigante were trafficking the girls, the former saw Jana for the first time, and instantly he was smitten by her and apparently fell in love with her. Jonas wanted to keep Jana with him, but obviously Ze Elido didn’t let him do that. Tabaco was killed by Mariangel, as she wanted to avenge her family’s murder, but Jonas, for the longest time, believed that it was Gigante who was responsible for his father’s death. That widened the already existing rift between them. They both were invited to the mayor’s party, but there, too, Jonas made it very clear that he had no intentions of sorting out things with Gigante. I believe, for the kind of impulsive man Gigante was, he maintained decorum and made sure that his relationship with the mayor wasn’t spoiled. Jonas, on the other hand, just wanted to be with Jana, and he didn’t care whose ego he hurt in the process.
Why did Mariangel rescue Jana?
Mariangel most probably was a part of the communist guerilla forces who fought against the Brazilian dictatorship in the late 60s and early 70s, and because of that, she was suffering from PTSD. She had killed people, maybe a few innocent ones, too. She had seen how violence could destroy lives, thus she gave up arms and which was why she wanted to keep her son away from all those things. We saw at the beginning of Rivers of Fate how her husband wanted to take their son out shooting after he found out that he was gay, and how Mariangel vehemently opposed that decision and supported her son like a mother should. But as fate would have it, Gigante came knocking at their door, and Mariangel’s family got killed for no apparent reason. Mariangel met Amadeu when she had gone to file a police complaint against the perpetrators. Amadeu sympathized with the woman, and he was aware that the police wouldn’t help her out. Amadeu went and had a chat with Mariangel, and he told her that if the officer in charge, who happened to be his colleague back in the day, didn’t give her any information about the people who killed her family, then she had a very strong reason behind doing so. Amadeu gave Mariangel Tabaco’s address, but he also warned her how dangerous it could be to walk into the lion’s den. Mariangel and her son’s partner, ZeDo Boi, decided to go on a quest to make the perpetrators pay for their actions. Mariangel first killed Tabaco, and then she too reached the mayor’s house, where she killed Gigante after the evil man killed her son’s partner. She would have killed Jonas, too, but he told her that he did not approve of Gigante’s actions and that he, too, was trying to stop him. Mariangel let him live at that time, but then, later, she was the one who pulled the trigger on him.
Jana was taken to Cayenne, where the auction was supposed to happen. Mariangel’s plan was to break into the place and rescue Jana as she started to sympathise with Jana’s situation. Her old comrade Crisotbal was helping her in her operation. He was supposed to go as a bidder in the auction and then make the highest bid. Mariangel knew that after he won the bid, he would be allowed to take Jana to a bedroom, and from there she could make her escape. There were two unprecedented things that happened: firstly, Jonas came to take part in the bid, and he was adamant about taking Jana with him, and secondly, Jana, believing Cristobal to be a real buyer, injected him with some intoxicant, so that she could escape from there. At the end of Rivers of Fate, Mariangel shot Jonas, and she was able to rescue Jana and take her with her.
I believe that Mariangel set out to rescue Jana because the angst of losing her own family and the burning desire to take revenge on everyone involved in the trafficking business outweighed everything else for her. At times, when people cannot fight for their own cause, they begin to live for others, tying their sense of gratitude to the joys and sorrows of those around them. In fact, when Jana reached her home, she stared at that place, which used to be her safe haven. It felt as if all those childhood memories started coming back to her. But then she suddenly got struck by a realization, I believe. That place had ceased to be her home the day her parents abandoned her and sent her to stay with her aunt. Maybe she didn’t blame her parents for what happened to her, but surely she didn’t feel that same affection towards them. I don’t think she knew that her father had already passed away, and maybe she didn’t even want to know. In that moment, Jana felt a profound sense of belonging with Mariangel, a sense of security and affection that probably she had stopped feeling with her parents. Probably that was the reason why she decided to go with Mariangel and not stay at her home. She didn’t know what destiny had in store for her, but she was ready to face the changes that came her way, now more than ever. Life had been hard on Jana, but it taught her to live on her own terms.
