#<- no bias or subjectivity whatsoever

[oceanmoss]

my writing in arabic was much more beautiful and genuine than in english i'm so mad at myself for getting too busy to invest more in that :( but between studying and life responsibilities i really didn't have the choice. i can choose now to reconnect ig but there's fear and shame in the way :| will make a compulsory reading list on God.

[funniestjokesinfilmtournament]

WELCOME TO THE FUNNIEST JOKES IN FILM TOURNAMENT!

Decided to make a tournament poll blog because everyone seems to be doing it uh I hope I'm doing this right

Basically what it says on the tin, let us, the great minds of Tumblr, decide once and for all the objectively greatest joke ever put into the art form of cinema. I am sure our decision will be universally agreed upon with no controversy whatsoever.

I am your host, S! (He/Him, don't mind They/Them either though) I will be your referee throughout this tournament as we encounter twists and turns, upsets, and close finishes galore!

(I hope at least, that's good for engagement)

THE RULES

Submit a film joke in the ask box

Include the films name, year of release, and a thorough explanation of the joke itself and why it is hysterical. A quip, some physical comedy, a running gag, anything goes as long as it's funny! If said joke involves significant spoilers it should be prefaced with a warning. Also while films in any language can be submitted do please write the submission itself in English. Also also please attach images or gifs if possible relating to the joke, it will save me a lot of time later. While I will be somewhat lenient, I reserve the right to delete any submission that does not meet the above requirements.

Tell your friends if they'd be interested so we can get a good number of votes!

Vote for each one you think is the funniest!

BANNED FILMS

Anything released after December 31st, 2019: to avoid recency bias

All the Potterverse films: because JK Rowling is a scumbag and trans rights

Films that have dated views on certain subjects like Casablanca are allowed but genuinely malicious films like Birth of A Nation are not; I will mostly exercise my own discretion here but may put some cases up to a poll

Please don't be the reason I add any more here

I'll start when I feel I have enough submissions

One more thing: be nice. Hyperbole can be funny but actually hateful comments will not be tolerated.

Have Fun!

[extra-venomous-tentacula]

Oh, hey, quick question for the classroom. Might be silly.

So, Dumbledore made Lupin a Prefect to keep the other Marauders in check.

Which means he was very well aware of the bullying issue (how could he not be, really?).

He has also been shown to pick/not pick Prefects based on more than mere academic achievement and rule-abiding on their part, but also for more subjective reasons (such as Ron becoming a prefect as a confidence boost for the kid with five older, successful siblings, Lupin as a buffer for his friends, etc).

Now, my question is: why didn't he make Snape a Prefect, too?

It would be the logical, practical course to follow. If one is actually intentioned to put an end to the issue at hand, that is.

It would be a teachable moment for Snape, too, if you will. Being given just a little of power and confidence could've made all the difference to a kid who had no control of his circumstances whatsoever.

(And I don't want to hear "yeah but he would've taken points off unfairly, based on bias"... Draco was a Prefect, too, and did exactly that. Ron ignored the twin's antics. Points don't matter in the grand scheme of things).

Just my two cents, could honestly be wrong.

[thegreatyin]

Elaborate on your beef with Typhon

it is Extremely Petty and Extremely Personal

tldr, it's a combination of a bunch of factors:

i do not enjoy what ive seen of her kit and think it's actively boring. we do not need a 27th bosskiller. we peaked with ebenholz. we can be more creative than that. why does she need to deal so much damage and track things across the map. who let her do that

i do not enjoy her design, like, from a personal standpoint. this is just extremely messy and cluttered and bad and does not feel at all like an arknights character. this feels like if you described how ak characters dressed to a blind man and told him to go off designing one. why are her thighs out. why does she have a giant incomprehensible bow. why do her horns look like headbands instead of actual horns which exist in this world completely normally and without issue. she's just a visual mess and i cannot tell apart any part of her aside from blurring together in my mind as visual garbage. she feels like she's trying too hard to appeal to a crowd i am very much neither a part of nor member of

especially extremely pettily: i do not like lm7's arknights stuff in general. they're clearly very talented and this isn't meant to be a jab at them as a person but i really don't think they make any of their operators work. they all have the exact same moe blushing squinted face and it's both extremely jarring and extremely hard to take seriously. why is ceobe giving me bedroom eyes when she's basically an escaped looney toons character. i, personally, Do Not Enjoy It and it's an entirely subjective opinion that stops me from liking typhon even more than i already kinda didn't

arguably equally as petty, i don't like that she's basically the star of is4 in the same vein as phantom and mizuki are for their own modes? there's tons of already existing characters you could make a sami arc around. mallagan is literally right there. why do we have to get a new purple girl just for this when there's tons of operators with stories just waiting to be expanded on. im expecting some kind of explanation for this in her event when it hits global but for now it's just really bothersome to me

finally, most petty of all: her skin fucking sucks im sorry

this is mid as hell. worse than mid. this just sucks. this is the exact same visual noise i feel when i look at her base art but in full force. it's bad and very samey palette-wise when you compare it to her og form and i don't like it and i already don't like typhon so that bias certainly doesn't help. i don't like a perfectly good opportunity for mallagan to get some much-needed love with an l2d upset by some big breasted purple girl who released like yesterday comparative to is4 going live

TLDR; i think typhon is badly designed and boring and i do not like her or her weirdly emphasized tits and moe eyes. that's not to say either are strictly bad, they just do not appeal to me whatsoever and i will be skipping her banner unless her event story COMPLETELY wows me with her lore

[koysiini-keinumaan]

Käärtist Central Discord

Are you a writer/artist in the Käärijä fandom age 18+? Want a place to discuss and promote art, post WIPs and get constructive criticism? Want to connect with other creatives in the community? Then why not join Käärtist Central?

There are a few basic rules under the cut, but as stated above this is strictly for artists and writers aged 18 and up! This is for both safety and to stop the server becoming too overwhelming <3 Hope to see you there - please feel free to reblog so more people can see it!

JOIN LINK

Basic rules (please note this is not the full rules, just the basic most important ones. The others mostly regard where content should go in the server)

This server is strictly 18+. We do allow NSFW content and by joining this server you agree that you are both an adult and ok with potentially seeing such content. If you are found to be under 18 you will immediately be banned for your own safety.

This server is for artists and writers. We aim to keep numbers small and the purpose of the server focused to avoid it become too overwhelming for its members. You do not have to be actively posting your content to join - but we kindly ask that if you do not feel you fall into one of these categories you do not join the server. <3

We tolerate absolutely NO bigotry whatsoever, including racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, antisemitism, islamophobia and ableism. Engaging in this behaviour - whether in general or towards other server members, will result in a ban. Personal reclamation of slurs or derogatory language -- eg. a lesbian calling themself a dyke -- does not fall into this. Please note that the server mod is openly pro-palestine and anti-ebu/esc and its bias and treatment of artists. While the subject of the genocide in gaza and occupation of palestine is unlikely to be a topic, we ask that you leave if this is something you feel staunchly against and engage in the community elsewhere.

We also do not tolerate any harassment, bullying or making fun of anyone. This includes talking about other people behind their backs or reposting their art with the purpose of making fun of it. Engaging in this behaviour - whether in general or towards other server members, will result in a ban.

Please only provide constructive criticism and feedback if asked for in the relevant channels! And hype up your fellow creatives <3

NO AI image generation. NO NFTs.

[araneitela]

While I've had a four (five?) year old clung to my leg all afternoon, my brain had been stuck on three things tied to Kafka, of which I'll share two over here.

Her name. The more I think about and hear Kafka's name pronounced, the more I fall utterly and madly in love with it. I'm absolutely enamored with how Daman (especially, ship-bias aside) pronounces it, but also Cheryl herself, and Melissa (Silver Wolf), along with the emphasis that Adin (Sam) puts to it. There's something about it that commands such attention, but it also somehow possesses something so inherently feminine, even if the name has no roots as a name for a woman whatsoever. It's still almost exclusively used as a surname in eastern Europe, and in the excessively rare context that it's used as a first name, it's for a man. And yet, I can't shake the feminine rarity of it. It drives me crazy, actually.

Feral, I don't know how to title this. The absolute intense difference, and contrast between a woman that reaches up and wraps her arms around a man's neck when she's kissed. And the inherent intimacy of the kind of woman who never does so at all, and instead, will grasp at the front of a shirt, or of the lapel of a jacket. And it's not to pull down, or to keep him down by force, but as an additional way to connect, for him to feel the intensity of her reaction. It's about being enveloped, it's about being crowded in, and entirely and thoroughly subjecting yourself to it, allowing it to drown and overwhelm you in its entirety.

[rebuke-me]

broadway bmc critiques

this is a list of all my critiques of broadway bmc, in no particular order. this is not a post meant to hate those who are fans of Broadway bmc, because preference is subjective. I did my best to keep personal bias out of it, but some aspects are inextricable. please keep discussions civil. if you think critique will make you upset, I encourage you to skip this post.

- the writing is significantly watered down for the audience. while the original show was not a masterpiece of writing by any means, it only occasionally talks down to the audience. part of my interest in the original show was the open-ended characters. however, in the Broadway version, subtext is made into text, and that really hurts the show. most of the characters in tr had presumed depth, whereas bw wrote sync up: a song telling everyone exactly what was wrong with every character, rather than having the viewers observe it for themselves through dialogue and actions. tr already laid that foundation, it already had the character development. fans had already been analyzing the characters for years, and everyone pretty much got what they meant. bw felt, to me, like it was holding my hand through it and explaining to me every aspect of the characters.

- the writing of the new songs especially is. incredibly contrived. I've listened to the songs as I can bear (I do not like some of the voices in the songs, so I will admit to not listening to all of the songs, but I did make an attempt.) and the writing is significantly worse. while the tr songs weren't masterpieces, by any means, they were at least catchy and fun. the appeal of the bmc music is the earworm of it all, the way that it's fun and memorable. the bw versions new songs have not stuck in my head whatsoever, unlike the previous songs. loser geek whatever is another case of telling the audience rather than showing it: fans of tr already knew Jeremy was upset about being an outcast. we understood that. his decision at the end of upgrade was understandable to audiences, although usually not agreed with. an entire song with the writers literally physically telling the audience how he is feeling, in simple rhyme and a melody that doesn't stick out, wasn't necessary. a new song was intriguing, and could have fleshed out plot holes of the original show, but instead just tried shoving another square peg into a hole we had already been made aware of.

- fan pandering. this is an aspect of every media that has a large internet fan base, especially in the past ten years. while some aspects of the show may have been in the plans all along, the Broadway version feels like they were too engrossed in the fan culture. im a big proponent for creators being divorced from their fans, and the Broadway version is why. the addition of more moments implying a romantic connection between rich and michael at the end, with no discussion of character development, felt shoehorned in for the fans. Michael as a whole shifted closer to the fanon interpretation of him, rather than remaining the character from the original show, becoming more soft spoken and awkward.

- failure to add in diversity in a respectful way. (to preface this, I am a white person. if I say anything out of line in this section, I am more than willing to admit that, and would love to hear from the perspective of poc bmc fans, especially black fans.) a main critique of tr bmc in my opinion is the way it handled a lot of heavy topics, including diversity and the like. bw bmc made strides towards giving roles to non-white actors, which is always a good thing. however, the characters chosen for the diversity were made more stereotypical for being made into poc. jenna rolan became more of a stereotype of a talkative, phone obsessed black woman. Jenna is the less egregious example of this, as she has more depth. however, jake being black makes his character traits of being the child of money launderers, being violent towards others, being unhoused and physically harmed in the fire, not knowing how to "speak properly" at times and being a "player" seem more racially motivated. of course, none of these aspects of a character are bad, per se, but all combined into a character that is now black feels stereotypical.

- failure to fix some issues with tr. I am always willing to critique my own interests. while I have a preference towards tr, and a fixation on it, I will admit it has issues. notably, these include telling rather than showing (an issue that only got worse in bw), the treatment of female characters, and a variety of other issues. female characters in bw still have the same issues, as a whole. brooke is still the stereotypical blonde ditz. she does get a bit of development, but an opportunity for her to stand up for herself could have been needed in bw. christine is still little more than the love interest, and still ends up with the main character at the end, despite being meant to be a feminist, complete with patch on her jacket. the female characters rarely talk to each other about anything other than a man, or gossip, usually about men. none of them form solid friendships with no romantic ties with almost any of the male characters, either. the show costumes the characters in apparel that preaches feminism and writes a message about equality and being yourself, yet bars most character development from the female characters. this could have been rectified in bw, considering an entire song was added and scenes were rewritten, but was not.

I have other issues with the show, but those are more personal critiques with preferences, rather than in depth analysis of why I think the show is not as beloved by the fan base as a whole. those aren't going to be added here, because a lot of them don't lend any credence to my arguments, they're just personal opinions on character choices and actors.

if anything I've said in this post is incorrect, please let me know. I admit I'm not very well versed in the Broadway show, since I very much dislike it, so if any details are incorrect, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

also like. don't be a dick in the replies and tags please, that'd be nice. civil conversation and debate is okay, but attacking people for their interests is not.

[cupidzz-illness]

Hello ! Im vale, or tommy, i dont mind whatever you call me, but this is irrelevant right now. I assume that some of the users of this app would know the situation between wilbur and shelby. Before i say anything i’d just like to say, your opinion is yours and im in no place whatsoever to judge, but my opinion is based off of facts and proof instead of personal bias.

TW: Domestic abuse, mention of the word Sexual abuse and child abuse, if your uncomfortable with these subjects, please scroll !! (Im also rather new to tumblr, so idk if dms are possible here !)

[noneedtofearorhope]

Do u got any tips on learning like, legit history? I feel like I know very little about real history vs history taught to me in school. Is it worth trying to learn communist history in any big capacity?

i think most of the history we learn thru school is 'legit'. most of the bias i think comes thru what gets picked and what doesn't. idk, it's been a very long time since i was in school, so maybe it's worse now. but i feel like there are some subjects that touch on nationalist ideas and it should be obvious to take what they say with a grain of salt, to question if it's the whole story. or i guess if you come across any narratives that have a 'happily ever after' sorta vibe, uh, maybe there is some bullshit. but yeah i think even when they are feeding you nationalist bullshit it's generally still got some factual basis going on, they're just trying to twist it to make it look certain ways.

i think it's worth learning history in whatever capacity you can. but some people just aren't into it and that's fine. so don't feel you have to to qualify as a 'real communist' or w/e. i do think there can be too much focus on a sort of Team Red/Team Black sorta interest in history that happens a bit too frequently in communist circles.

as for like, how to approach it, wiki dives are a good place to start. the anarchist library has sections for various periods of history. im sure libcom has plenty of texts involving history. crimethinc does a bit of history once in a while. probably is gonna help to know a second language if you wanna get really deep in the weeds, as a lot of stuff related to the beautiful idea has happened outside the anglosphere, and no translations exist for a lot of works. can help set off a positive feedback loop, where your interest in history helps fuel your desire to learn the new language, and learning the new language helps you discover new parts of history that reignite the spark.

idk, with any luck this helps you whatsoever. good luck

[chromaji]

allthough I clearly have no bias towards demonic lads whatsoever, please talk about veil at me I Wanna Know

Veil Moment. Bullet points imminent.

They’re a huge fan of organizing and following self-made routines.

Out of everyone in the group, Veil is the most academic. They’ve got the highest grades in most subjects between the group members.

Veil’s happy to tutor! …Though unless you’re a teammate, please compensate with gold, food, comics, crafting materials, equipment, or super interesting gossip😇.

Veil is considered a teacher’s pet by some of their peers. Veil is also pretty secretive about themself. A rumor or two has spread because of this, and now there’s people who try to pester and/or bully them.

Because Michel has some uncanny ability to know when his team’s in trouble, he’s the first to find out abt Veil’s situation after siccing an evocation on someone who tried to sneak up on Veil once.

One thing leads to another, and the rest of the team looks out for Veil in their own ways, keeping people who’d try to attack or besmirch them off their back.

Veil has no idea any of this is happening. They’re just like “lalalaa—oop let me step over this body covered in burn marks and whip lashes— lalalalaa 🚶‍♂️”

Veil is just… pretty chill tbh. They try not to stress much. They don’t like to start conflicts. They like to help the team stay in a light, yet cautious mood in labyrinths.

as i was making this i realized. I think… veil has a voiceclaim. What the fuck. fogado fireemblem am i hearing your voice right now

[yooniesim]

This is not my anon but this is exactly how I feel. I've made my own mistakes but that was never why they were in the convo. They saw how badly I was suffering and swiftly took the opportunity to kick me while I was down and that's just the truth. The quick pivot into easily transitioning the anti-blackness conversation into absolving themselves and all their friends from their mistakes & various acts of bigotry by discrediting my voice in a few decisive moves was legendary. The priority & focus of the conversation was no longer about the important issue and became an almost sadistic pursuit of my "downfall". It was fucking dirty and manipulative to the point where i almost have to admire it. And emphasized to me that empathy just isn't their strong point.

We all have bias including myself and that was clearly at play here. Some of the shit I saw said about me was simply not true or completely misrepresented and I was brushed off for pointing that out in the replies. And the fact that plenty of people believed it at face value with no proof whatsoever was acceptable to them and even people that saw what really went down with their own eyes but wanted to save their own reputation with these simblrs went along with it. They even chose to believe the word of a known racist over me because it fit their narrative. Once again the vague post + wave of hate from followers method was deployed, but this time I was already at my limit before it even began. I was degraded & talked over by several white people and essentially silenced and blamed for my own violent & bigoted harassment because i hurt people's feelings on simblr and was too "annoying". I was the subject of some pretty awful shit both here & IRL to the point where I was at one of the lowest points of my life and I was basically told to eat shit for asking for time and empathy. Even after apologizing and admitting what I had done wrong, they continued to pile on and beat the dead horse because the fact of the matter is they just want me gone and ostracized & have ever since I first slighted anyone in that friend group. Which solidifies to me that another one of my mistakes was to expect any of this on simblr to be based in actual ethics or a sense of morality.

For it to be about the racefaker & anti-blackness, I didn't see 1% of the anger and name-calling towards that being from them compared to what was thrown my way & it only exploded after I had apologized for that situation and that being was long gone from simblr and kicked from my server. And it was clearly because no one was angry enough at me for their liking. "We got a racefaker in the community yeah but oh no look, that negro uses kpop gifs and was too aggressive and bitchy towards us!" Shit. As much as my reaction to the situation was never about corpsetrait & all about my own feelings and situation I was going through, which was terribly wrong of me & I still apologize for, it was clearly a similar thought process with them. And many of the posts and actions I've seen have been purely performative when you consider the nonexistent (and even mocking) reaction to what happened to me compared to the people they liked. Whereas I've spent quite a bit of time defending & trying to see other people's perspectives when I simply should've never wasted my own time or mental energy. Trust i will never make that mistake again.

I took the opportunity to apologize further and delete the channel in my server because I've seen how it was a bad idea & how it negatively affected others and me as a person, and there's nothing like being at the bottom of the barrel to humble a dumb bitch like me. But y'all better not make the mistake of thinking you're better. I know exactly what kind of chats you got, as well as the anons & messages you send, and you ain't slick nor fooling anybody taking that moral high ground. Especially while saying some of the worst things about me out the other side of your mouth. The difference between us is that I can say I was wrong, and I've never seen y'all do that once this entire time. I'm going to work on myself, and I highly advise y'all to consider the same. And if you hate me, if I annoy you, you're just going to have to block me. Because I'm not going anywhere because of you. And if you got some vile bullshit to say, I'm blocking & ignoring you. Period.

[mysticallion]

A large problem with the post-modern rejection of all things spiritual is that it tosses the baby out with the bath water. While Science (meaning the sort of collective understanding derived from the various scientific disciplines) has properly schooled the more primitive, superstitious and irrational aspects common to most ancestral religions out of the post-modern intellectual understanding of the nature of reality, in the process it has, unfortunately, also rejected the deeper psychological functions of mythology and symbolic significance, and the complimentary bodies of wisdom and knowledge derived from the internal approaches to the exploration of reality, such as the various meditation traditions.

While the clarity of Science and its accompanying technological advances have clearly added so much to our daily life, from a more general and philosophical perspective it has also unfortunately evolved into scientism—or the collective perspective and insistence that science is the only valid way of exploring, understanding, and therefore of being in relation to, reality. The point being stressed here is that this scientism is a philosophy, a belief system, a conceptual construct added on top of the basic insights and observations of science, and that this doctrine has also led to a sort of nihilistic aridity and existential dread among its many proselytizers and adherents.

This is to say, with scientism, our modern perspective has become increasingly one of objective dominance and psychological sterility, so suspicious of “subjective bias” that it essentially rejects most if not all of the interior aspects of direct, individualized (but collectively similar) experience. In so doing, complex systems of understanding, relationships and various forms of subliminal communication such as symbols and myths, so essential to actually living a dynamic and creative and fulfilling existence, have been systematically deconstructed into their basic forms and functions and histories. Meaning and purpose have thus been equated with, and therefore reduced to, mere opinion. Perhaps worst of all, this stark and lopsided perspective of philosophical and psychological objectification, this lack of giving proper value to the interior world, to subjective experience and to intuitive understanding, has resulted in widespread narcism, alienation, tribalism, and a general lack of empathy. Though manifested in many different forms, it nonetheless points to a sort of collective fear response to the emptiness and indifference that lies behind such a philosophical perspective.

For humanity to continue to evolve, not just technologically but also morally and humanistic, scientism—not science!—must be rejected as the unreasonably biased and lopsided approach it is. The interior world must once again take equal footing with the exterior in the sense of its importance. This does not mean we need to return to more primitive forms of thinking; rather, it must be understood that all experience, be it objective or subjective, individual or collective, “spiritual” or scientific—all of it is mind-made and (mostly) conceptually constructed, and therefore to subordinate or eliminate the human, interior, subjective side of investigation and direct experience makes no sense whatsoever. Understanding should not be a partial. It is all Reality.

[captainsspnanon]

The Kingsley Commentary

My rants about Kingsley, removed from the main reaction post

Putting in the obvious disclaimer that this is all my personal opinion and my interpretations of a character may not match the interpretation that you have of the character.  Feel free to think that I am wrong as much as you like!  But holy shit I needed to VENT.

With the Beau and Kingsley conversation before break

“I can see Jester, I can see Fjord, I can see Caduceus” fucking where?  I’m believing that this is fully pulled from Beau’s/Marisha’s ass, as Kingsley is all the worst parts of Molly and Lucien without having the benefit of being a fun villain.  He smarmily backtalks every line, he’s made it pretty clear that he doesn’t really like Jester or Fjord much and is heavily dismissive of them (and he’s done it loudly enough and constantly enough that it feels like the ‘i’m making a Joke TM but it’s actually true’ versus a friend just picking at each other.  Yes, I did still try to look at this aspect without bias – it’s INCREDIBLY different than when Veth and Fjord pick at each other, versus how Kingsley does.)  *watches more of the conversation* Well, there’s confirmation Kingsley doesn’t have respect for Fjord.  And I call bullshit on the respect for Jester.  Then again, I’ve lost my attempted non-bias at this point.  Kingsley ‘taking care of the crew’ is technically true, though I have no clue how much of it is actually taking care of them or just trying to undermine Fjord – cause part one made it feel 98% undermining Fjord.  Even his asking about Molly is based in “I want to be better than the other two” but in a way that feels arrogant rather than anything else.  YES THIS IS INCREDIBLY SUBJECTIVE OF ME I DON’T CARE

Plank King ending

No.  Fuck you.  I hate this ending because it is the most unearned bullshit ever.  

Percy and Vex’s ending?  Earned, because we followed their entire story through the campaign, see every step and struggle they take, and getting the Good Ending is narratively earned.  

The endings from the very end of C2, where Kingsley joins the Revelry, NOT becoming Plank King (I still can’t find how the hell this entered fan consciousness, as 141 and the wrap up never ever state it), and the rest of the Nein have quiet, normal-ish lifes?  Fucking earned to hell.  In a narrative that was NOT about the big heroes, their biggest reward was being happy.  Even the recap epilogues here which are basically the same thing as 141 are perfect.  But in 141, Kingsley becomes part of the Revelry?  Worked because it matched with his personality (and lol this two shot proves that even more) because he wants to sail and adventure (and steal and kill and be a cruel dick to people that he doesn’t give two shits about).  

Being the Plank King though?  Sitting on a throne while people just bring him treasure, and he has to essentially govern the whole Revelry (even though it’s more of a laissez-faire thing?)  That doesn’t seem to match with his character at all.  

ALSO is the fact that it’s narratively completely unearned.  A character that shows up for two full episodes and I dunno, maybe half an hour in the main campaign?  Suddenly in the ruler of a whole big plot setting from early in the campaign?  Feels like grubby grabby hands gimme the coolest ending.  Not only that, but give me a position of authority that can show up in future campaigns even though I’m still essentially a complete unknown.  Oh, and let’s not fucking forget the “I wave my hand and wipe away a big conflict from the campaign with absolutely no real resolution whatsoever aren’t I so awesome?” No, and fuck this ending forever.  I don’t care if it’s canon, I’m full on headcanoning it away because fuck that shit.  You know what this feels like?  You want to know???  It’s like if fucking Darrow of the Stubborn Stock suddenly sent Caleb a message going ‘no worries, have taken down the Cerberus Assembly, you’re fine!’ It’s not fucking EARNED.  Beau and Caleb slowly slowly slowly taking down the Assembly, or even just clearing out maybe one or two more people?  Fucking earned!  Darrow?  HOW MANY OF YOU ACTUALLY REMEMBER WHO DARROW IS???  But he’s been around for just as long as Kingsley, if not fucking longer.

I went into the two shot giving Kingsley a chance and I’ve ended up fully fucking hating him, officially what I consider to be the worst part of the entire campaign.  Probably even the worst part of ALL campaigns.

[hwatermelons]

⋆ guidelines ⋆

note: if you're an anon, please pick an emoji so you can track your request's progress on the front page!

acceptable requests <3 ⋆ i only write for ateez, but i'm also a baby stay so send me your thoughts about them too ^^ ⋆ anything sfw or mildly suggestive is ok! ⋆ i write the absolute most tooth-rotting fluff. please go ahead and request all the fluff. this is what i run on 24/7. do you need to be comforted for any reason whatsoever? your bias and i are here for you. ⋆ i can also do some crack and light angst, but fluff is my strong suit ⋆ i mainly write group and single member reacts/imagines, but feel free to get creative with your prompts and request alphabets (specify letters), MTLs, a prompt off the internet, or anything else you can think of! ⋆ a note on mental health issues/trauma comfort: if you request these, i will do my research, but there's only so much google can tell me. if you have personal experience with anything in your request, i'd really appreciate if you could specify things that comfort you or things you wish people understood, if you're alright with it. you can also dm me, your account will remain 100% anonymous and i'll post it as a reply to your anon ask :)

please do not request </3 ⋆ smut ⋆ pregnancy ⋆ aus (mafia, pirates, fantasy, reader is the 9th member, etc). subject to change, but i'm best at bf/bsf imagines right now

other notes this is my first time trying out writing imagines! (or any sort of writing, really ^^') i write pretty slowly since it's my side hobby, so for your sanity i've limited requests to 5 slots! you can check the front page to track your request.

[sealofreconciliation]

Fates: was the story as bad as people say? a response/debunk (finale part 1: Themes)

Link to original post here.

Before anyone asks, yes, the original post is enough of a shitshow to necessitate me having to split this response into multiple parts; blame u/Odovakar, not me.

> The reason why I didn't discuss themes in the main story is simple: it's subjective. Now, you might argue that everything I've said is subjective but for the main routes and DLC campaigns you've at least got to base the discussion on the script.

Wouldn't everything in this series, including discussion of themes, have to be based on the script, due to being where someone would have to get evidence for their claims from?

Also, if you're trying to argue that most, if not all, of your arguments in the main posts were written on the basis of you talking about the internal consistency of the script, which is the only thing i can gather from this line and the rest of the post; lol no. You're so far removed from that standard of discussion it's insane to even imply you were basing your analyses on that.

To give some examples, let's take a small look at the kind of “tangible”, “script-based” criticisms you made throughout the posts:

Complaining that Corrin didn't stay and ask Azura or Yukimura for more information on the Yato or the dragonstone, not because it would make sense for them to do so (it would be a massive character assassination for Corrin to do that, as a matter of fact), but because you personally wanted more of an expostion-dump on those things than the game gave (prologue); assuming developer intentions in order to accuse the game of “forgiving” Corrin of their moral wrongdoings (prologue and part 1 of Conquest); criticizing the game for the cast being “Corrin-centric” without giving any in-universe reasons as to why that's illogical or bad (prologue); criticizing the way the game was *sold*, proceeded by immediately conceding that said criticism has little to do with the game's writing and that it was only brought up due to a personal dislike of the split (ending of prologue); criticizing the Hoshidan/Nohrian siblings for talking about Corrin in their battle/defeat quotes during the route split, which MUST be personal bias against Corrin given how obvious the counter-argument of “Corrin literally just betrayed them, of course they're still going to be thinking about them and being upset about their treason a few minutes after the fact” is (part 1 of both BR and CQ); saying that Xander's obedience to Garon being more understandable if you look at it from the lens of how japanese parent/child relations work is a stupid and silly argument because Xander's from Europe, giving no evidence whatsoever that Nohr shares it's child-raising culture with that of medieval Europe (BR part 2); criticizing Corrin for not killing themselves trying to fight Hans's troops and their own for no other reason than because he found it personally distasteful for someone to let bad things happen (part 1 of CQ); criticizing Corrin and Azura for being happy that the royal families negotiated a temporary ceasefire instead of whining 24/7 about a war that hasn't started yet (part 2 of CQ); dedicating roughly a fifth of part 3 of your Conquest analysis to addressing defenses for why the Nohrian siblings, especially Xander, are loyal to Garon, with all of the responses boiling down to “yeah but we're not shown Garon being nice to his kids, therefore all the plentiful evidence people have found for why the Nohrian sibs would have a strong emotional attachment to him are automatically null and void, also them being afraid of him is invalid because the game portrays them as heroes”. Which is not only pathetic, given how much time he's had to formulate counter-arguments, but also has nothing to do with the script. (CQ part 3)

Tl;dr you should have read your own posts better before claiming they were focused on the story and/or were “tangible”.

> Pointing out that Corrin should logically ask Azura more questions about the crystal ball, for example, has a basis in something very tangible.

The only basis it has is that it's something that happens in the story and can be discussed about, in the exact same way that estabilishing a theme and discussing whether it's well-developed or supported by the plot is based on the fact that said examples show up in the story through various ways and can be discussed about; you really don't understand thematic analysis or discussion, don't you?

Also, the crystal ball point sure as fuck doesn't have a basis in logic or character consistency, if that's what you were trying to imply; Azura uses it immediately after bringing it out and it breaks as soon as it's done showing Corrin Garon's true self. It's use case is obvious, and Azura already explained who could and couldn't use it; at most, it's weird for Corrin to not ask Azura where the ball came from, but she'd already told them they couldn't talk about Valla in the outside world; assuming that they'd already guessed that it came from Valla and, as such, that it'd be a bad idea for them to talk about something so heavily related to the place when they don't know the full extent of the curse, coupled with the fact that they're going to be busy thinking about the new information they just got and contemplating the fact that they'll have to join the war in order to dethrone Garon, it's pretty reasonable for them to not ask Azura for more information about the crystal ball.

> Themes, on the other hand, seem to mean whatever is convenient for the person arguing about something.

> This is a pretty straightforward definition of what a narrative theme is and yet there's so much room for people to say basically whatever they want without technically being incorrect, and therein lies the main problem.

It means a repeated message that a story is trying to estabilish, develop and talk about. It can be estabilished by how many examples of it there are throughout a story and how relevant it is, which can be debated about by people with differing viewpoints, much like the kind of narrative analysis you've been trying to make. Someone trying to claim something is a theme in a story without any evidence to back that up is likely to be ignored, just like when someone tries to claim something happens in a story without providing any evidence to back it up. Isn't it fun to learn about a narrative concept you should have already known since grade school?

> Even so, I figured I should at least give discussing the themes of Fates a shot since using themes to defend a work is very popular because it's easy. "I think it's about this and that's fascinating to me" is simple to say and hard to dispute; the debate has by that point already devolved into vague, subjective interpretations, and even if the theme in question is only tangientally relevant, you can't convince someone to feel a certain way about something.

It doesn't seem too hard to dispute; just provide counter-arguments as to why something isn't like that, which you should be able to do if you think they're wrong with their stance.

Also, stop trying to pretend like your analyses are any different or have any more depth to them than some random fuckwit on the internet saying something is good because it made them feel good; as i've already proven, large portions of your criticisms are just cleverly-worded ways for you to say that Fates is bad because it made you feel bad.

> If you've read my previous posts you'll probably not be surprised when I say Fates doesn't handle its themes well at all. Why? Well, first, let me ask a question: what would you say Fates' themes are? Family? Anti-war? Finding the truth?

Birthright is trusting in your allies, Conquest is finding what justice is and what must be done to achieve it, Revelation is being true to oneself, and the main theme of the game overall is cooperation and setting aside differences for the sake of the greater good. You managed to go 0/4 on Fates' themes; that's morbidly impressive, i must admit.

> The theme of family is undeniably heavily pushed by trailers and really the game itself, but I'd say Fates actively works against that theme at every possible opportunity.

It was pushed by the trailers, not the game. I want you to give me a single instance of family being a theme anywhere in the game, let alone a big enough one for you to claim that it's the major theme of the game overall.

> First, the big one: Corrin can S support all the Nohrian and Hoshidan siblings, as well as their own cousin. Being able to S support every single character in the game seems to have taken priority over letting Corrin find out about the lie that they're not related to the Hoshidan siblings, as the protagonist never once reacts to this in the game. In Revelation, Corrin says nothing about this, while in Birthright, should you S support a sibling, they're just happy to be able to have sex without people raising an eyebrow.

Corrin doesn't care about their relation to the Hoshidan siblings and barely sees them as family already, which is why they don't care about the revelation. The only reason they side with Hoshido in BR is because they know Garon needs to be stopped, and are willing to side with a bunch of strangers they don't know or even particularly care about in order to do so. What does it say about a theme when it's existence is never estabilished, developed or supported by the game?

> However, that's not all there is to it. Azura routinely gets ignored by the Hoshidan siblings despite growing up with them. Even though the "betraying your family aspect" is played up a lot with Corrin no matter the route, I'm not sure Azura doing the same in Conquest even gets acknowledged outside of optional battle dialogue.

The Hoshidans don't care as much about Azura as they do Corrin, plus the “family betrayal” aspect is mostly relegated to Birthright, since the Nohrians are the ones with an actual relationship to Corrin, not the Hoshidans. The Hoshidans barely try to use the “we're your birth family” argument anywhere in Conquest, mostly guilt-tripping them for siding with Nohr in the first place, and it shows up again for a *very* short amount of time in Revelation as part of Xander and Leo's character arcs there, which is resolved by something that has nothing to do with family (Garon telling them he wants to burn Nohr).

> What does it say about a theme when a character whose backstory mirrors the protagonist's is all but excluded from it?

That said character has a different theme in order to differentiate them from the protagonist due to their being wildly different people.

> And then there's Lilith, who's *technically* Corrin's *real* half sister, but this is relegated to a snippet of a DLC campaign and is never made relevant or acknowledged outside of it.

Anankos made Lilith out of magic; this is the equivalent of claiming that a desk is someone's half-sibling because their father was a sculptor and made said desk.

> You have to pay for this information, but what does it add to any character,

It adds to Lilith's character by expanding on her motivation for protecting Corrin.

> and to repeat a similar question asked above, what does it say about a theme when it locks something like this behind a paywall?

That the theme was developed further later on in the story in paid content. These little gotchas aren't nearly as smart as you think they are.

> Speaking of not adding anything, as /u/Warlord41k put it in an earlier post of mine, the twist that Corrin's biological father is Anankos has no bearing on anything. Corrin's draconic powers are never made relevant in the main story

Their draconic powers and/or heritage are the reason they're able to drive the Vallite army and Sumeragi out of Hoshido, the reason they're able to visit Valla in Conquest, kick-starting the rest of the plot, the reason Anankos tries to corrupt them into becoming his new vessel throughout Conquest and Revelation, and is the reason why they can transform into a dragon despite the royal bloodline being so dilluted they can't even remember the last time someone could do that. It's pretty fucking important.

> This might have been to give Anankos a more sympathetic backstory, and if you're being *very* generous you could see this as Corrin's true parents not mattering and that the family you choose is the one that matters.

It's there to add tragedy to Anankos by having him have a child he's never going to be able to properly meet and that will spend the rest of their life thinking he was nothing more than some random evil dragon, along with providing an explanation for Corrin's draconic powers. Why should it be anything more than that, and why is it bad that it isn't?

> However, for that to make sense or have any sort of impact, I think Corrin themselves would have to acknowledge that fact, as well as the lack of any blood relations with the Hoshidan siblings. Corrin doesn't do that, however, and these things become mere setpieces for fanfiction authors.

Explain why Corrin not caring about their blood family needs to be spelled out to the audience to make sense (?) or have impact, and especially explain how you're not being hypocritical for making such a request and still daring to criticize Fates for apparently not having any subtlety.

> All of these points lead me to believe that when the theme of family isn't ignored, like with Azura, Lilith, and Corrin's lack of reaction to finding out the truth about not being related to the Hoshidan siblings, Fates is actively sacrificing the theme in order to appeal to certain players by allowing you to marry the siblings and Azura.

It could also mean that you took the trailers way too close to heart, internalized that as the main theme of the game, and failed to realize that pointing out the multiple ways in which the theme doesn't exist in the game proper is you debunking yourself. Just some food for thought.

> This is without getting into the utter lack of chemistry between the Hoshidan siblings in particular and how they remain strangers to Corrin in all routes, including Birthright.

Seriously, how in the actual fuck do you not realize that maybe, *just maybe*, the fact that there's little to no evidence to support family being a theme in Fates means it isn't a theme, especially when, by your own admission, Corrin's relationship to one of the two families in the game is, at best, them being respectful allies to each other, even in the route where they spend the most amount of time together? How can you write this and not realize how easy this is to debunk?

Also, nice to see you being as tangible as ever. “I don't personally see chemistry between a group of characters” is absolutely not a vague, subjective and undefined point that's going to be very hard to properly discuss, unlike estabilishing what the themes of a story are with evidence; bury the thought.

> You could argue that the important theme isn't family, but rather loyalty vs. justice in the form of Conquest and Birthright respectively, but that carries with it its own issues, chiefly that Revelation merely existing renders that theme completely moot.

Firstly, while justice is basically the reason Corrin chooses Hoshido, they choose Nohr due to a combination of not wanting to kill their own family and friends plus wanting absolute confirmation that Garon was responsible for the attack on the Hoshidan capital. If anything, i'd say that their reason for choosing Nohr is more out of hopefulness.

Secondly, Corrin's initial reason for picking a side isn't a theme of the game at all; It's Corrin's motivation for choosing their side in the first place, but they are never developed, estabilished or mentioned nearly as much as either of BR or CQ's actual themes (“trust” and “where justice lies” respectively), therefore it can't be considered a theme, or at least not a major one worth mentioning in this post.

Thirdly, why does Revelation render that moot? The Corrin from BR and CQ couldn't have known that refusing to take sides was the best option and, as such, chose either justice or hope; why does the fact that a better option existed render different thematic explorations null for a Corrin that didn't know that?

> There is a right choice to make here, but even if Anankos weren't a thing, the game is so heavily morally in favor of Hoshido that Corrin going back to Nohr *should* be portrayed as a strictly selfish and stupid choice, but the script goes out of its way to forgive the protagonist for everything they do.

I already debunked the “muh forgiveness” point in my Conquest responses more times than i care to count, so instead i'll ask you to explain what about Corrin's choice to go back to Nohr was stupid or selfish, especially when they had every reason to believe they'd be rewarded for their stellar performance, no real proof Garon wanted them dead, and a dream that they'd be able to stop the war from ever even happening by changing Nohr from the inside.

Also, how very tangible of you; “yeah, maybe the theme is something else, but they're still broken because the game doesn't portray a character as being solely stupid for following their heart instead of their head in one of the stories and a tiny minority of characters forgive them for their actions, therefore it's not about loyalty”. Not only is this a complete non-sequitur, not only does it blatantly not make any sense on it's own merits, this is very clearly based on your own personal feelings, not the story; why did you ever think it would be a good idea to try and claim that your posts are mostly based on what happens in the story at the start of these posts?

> It becomes less about loyalty and more about "Corrin can't make a wrong decision".

Going back to Nohr is the worst choice Corrin can make, but that doesn't mean they can't try to fix their mistakes or make something good out of the bad situation they put themselves in, which is the entire point of their monologue at the end. Not only is it still very much about loyalty/hope, it's also about “some choices are better than others, but that doesn't mean you can't at least try and make the best out of a bad situation even if you make a mistake”.

> I find the argument for this being a central theme interesting, because Fates is in no way more anti-war than any other entry in the series. It is astoundingly easy to include lines that the vast majority of players can agree with, like "killing is bad, peace is good", or "don't steal from poor old people", but the inclusion of such lines doesn't mean there's a deep theme there.

I don't see what it being deep or not has anything to do with it being a central theme of the game. I could write a story that had all the characters say “war is bad” every five paragraphs and never delve into the inticracies of that, and it'd still objectively be the central theme of the story. This is a massive non-sequitur.

Also, where did the “Fates is more anti-war than the other games” argument come from? You just proposed that it was a central theme of the game, not that it did so more or less than other games; is there some argument you had that i'm not privy to that would explain this bizzare leap in logic?

> Here is the problem: Conquest goes so far out of its way to forgive Corrin for their role in the war that they even get absolved from the guilt they're meant to feel by characters who've already died.

No they don't; Azura was the one to comfort Corrin and convince them to keep fighting after they had a mental breakdown after witnessing Ryoma kill himself, and Ryoma had already told them he trusted them in his dying moments. The Ryoma, Mikoto and Takumi pep talk was entirely centered on telling them to not give up now that the war's basically over, which would make their sacrifices all be in vain, along with upgrading the Yato so they could beat Takumi.

> We're told over and over again that Corrin is basically a messiah who will bring about a new era of peace, and Corrin keeps saying that they're doing this for everyone's sake. After sacrificing Hoshido and killing off the evil leadership, all problems are swept away.

Because they're going to change Nohr from the inside and bring everlasting peace by killing Garon and (accidentally) Anankos; the war was just a means to an end, not the end itself.

Besides, Hoshido would have lost the war no matter what Corrin did; they spared the nation a worse fate by at least minimizing the bloodshed. Saying that they sacrificed it is a gross misrepresentation of their motivation for joining the war.

> There's a peace treaty and Hinoka and Sakura still love Corrin and will work hard so that they can visit Hoshido whenever they like (Hinoka says she'll address "misconceptions about Nohrians").

Firstly, the Nohrians line is a fabrication from Treehouse; in the original jp, she just says she'll try to get her people to stop hating Corrin and Xander.

Secondly, prove that she succeeds at that. Someone trying to do something is not proof that they'll succeed at it, let alone something as difficult as trying to amenize tensions between victims of war and the people that conquered them; if anything, due to the tone of that conversation, it's pretty clear that Corrin's never going to be welcome in Hoshido again after what they did, which seems like a pretty big consequence to me.

Thirdly, i'm not so sure the peace treaty was by choice; Nohr just finished effortlessly bodying Hoshido while it was in it's own home turf. Hinoka probably just accepted the fact that trying to fight back at that point, or ever, given the strength of the Nohrian military, would be a terrible idea and just counted her blessings that Xander regretted the war and wanted to make amends.

> Basically, Conquest portrays the war as a necessary sacrifice for peace.

No it doesn't; Corrin joining the war was a last resort after their original plan to gain enough favor with Garon to change Nohr from the inside fell through, a plan that would have very likely worked and led to peace in a non-violent way were he not possessed and wanted nothing more than to watch the world burn. Even when they join, they don't say that the war is necessary, only that Nohr winning is a foregone conclusion and, as such, the only thing they can do to help Hoshido at this point is try and minimize the collateral damage of Nohr's victory by trying to spare as many Hoshidans as they can during the war, which they can only do if they're in a leadership position. This is a massive strawman.

> Am I saying that Fates is pro war? No. But I am saying that arguing there's a deep anti-war message is giving the game too much credit.

Again, who said anything about a central theme needing to be deep to be a central theme?

Also, Fates is lot more anti-war than you're trying to portray it as being, not that it's a major theme of the game anyway; both countries have pretty reasonable reasons for engaging in warfare (Nohr's land is infertile and they would all starve to death if they didn't do it, and Hoshido, being an isolationist paradise, doesn't care to try and understand the issues plaguing Nohr, leading to them having to defend themselves after Nohr finally goes after them directly after centuries of letting the country starve while they hoard all their plentiful resources for themselves), but the conflict is still portrayed as a terrible thing for all the people involved that's only solved by achieving a mutual understanding between the leaders of the two countries, allowing them to work together for the sake of a brighter future (which happens in all the routes).

It's still more subtext than actual text, therefore i wouldn't argue it's a major theme of the game, but there's more depth there than you're giving it credit for.

> If I were to choose a Fire Emblem game which really managed to sell the theme of war being bad it'd be Radiant Dawn, as it focuses on the plight of civilians and the losing side of a war through Daein, and demonstrates how keeping the peace even after a victory is difficult but worth the struggle through Crimea. Fates lacks any of these nuances.

Stop dickriding Radiant Dawn and talk about Fates. Those two games are so wildly different there's basically no point in comparing the two, even if this was a sensible comparison, which it isn't; if you're going to analyze a piece of fiction, do so by it's own merits, not by complaining that it's not another piece of fiction you like more when the first one probably doesn't even want to be like the second one.

> **Finding the truth**

> Like I've said, this is the argument I've seen the least, and I think there's a good reason for this. Why? Because Azura already knows everything worth knowing about the conflict. You've just got to pay for the right version and she'll let you in on the secret.

In truth, Corrin just needs to appeal to her emotionally and earn her trust in order to be let in on the secret, but yeah, “finding the truth” isn't a theme of the game in any way. Glad you could at least see it that way, unlike your other two examples.

> And really, how is this portrayed in Revelation? Corrin spends 10 chapters running around the entire continent flailing their arms around and that manages to convince their siblings to jump into an abyss with them.

Bullshit. They spend 10 chapters going around convincing people that there's more to worry about than their petty grievances, which convinces their siblings after they're given ample reason to believe in their claims and follow them; anyone can make any story in existence sound stupid when they reduce it down to such a basic level and remove so much of the nuance and context of said story.

> “Finding the truth" sounds good. It sounds deep, like you've grasped what Fates is *actually* about.

Yet again, explain why a central theme needs to be deep to be a central theme.

> It's also completely defeated by the payment model of the game so that even if it *were* expertly written, it would be seen as a cash grab to sell you the right answer as an extra DLC route which you can't buy on its own anyway.

Irrelevant; i don't give a fuck about how a piece of fiction was marketed or sold in relation to it's content, and neither would anyone actually interested in analyzing Fates purely based off it's writing. Just say that there's not enough evidence to support truth-finding being a major theme of the game and prove it with examples, of which there are plenty of, and leave it at that; there was no reason for this section to have gone on longer than it's first paragraph, and it's all the worse for trying to stretch it out like this.

> I don't think every game needs themes, or at least ones present in every facet of the story.

The vast majority of games with even the barest hint of a story have themes, and even some that don't have a story have themes explored through their gameplay.

> However, a game that does want to really convey something likely makes its message more obvious and prioritizes trying to make it resonate with the players. If players can barely even figure out what the themes of a game are, or if themes are sacrificed in favor of something more superficial, then they were never important to the game in the first place, and using themes to defend the game is giving it more credit than it's due.

It's not the game's fault that you're incapable of picking up on themes as on-the-nose as “whether or not to trust in your allies”, “what justice is”, or “staying true to yourself”, decided to make up new themes that the game never had any intention or promise of exploring, then called it badly-written for not doing what you wanted it to do.

Also, “theme didn't resonate with me/was hard for me to figure out/wasn't spelled out/wasn't important, therefore bad”; regretting your opening statement yet?

> Fire Emblem is also extremely character focused. The units have names and a unique portrait to make you care about them. Support conversations are there to deepen your understanding of the character and make you like them more. This doesn't mean Fire Emblem can't have themes, but given the way Fire Emblem is structured, the story and characters making sense takes priority.

Not necessarily; which aspects of a story take priority are entirely dependent on what the writer wants to do when writing said story. I fail to see the correlation between “characters in Fire Emblem are given depth” and “the most important thing for any FE story is the plot and characters”; this is another non-sequitur.

> I think this is an important point that is often ignored by people who value themes above all. Themes may convey something the writers want to tell you, but they are still a narrative tool.

Without themes, there wouldn't be much of a point to story-telling as a concept; it's extremely easy to argue that a thematic throughline is one of the most important aspects of a narrative, if only because of how heavily integrated it always is into a story.

> What I mean by this is, for example, the Nohrian siblings' loyalty to Garon. They seem to be loyal to someone we rarely see them interact with and never hear talk about positively. This could be boiled down to "he's their father!" which is what they say at the end of Conquest, but nothing has been done to earn that reaction; Garon is ostensibly the symbol of everything the Nohrian siblings hate about Nohr.

What the fuck does this have to do with themes? You're talking about characterization right now; the Nohrian siblings liking Garon isn't a theme, it's a fundamental aspect of their characters that drives the plot forward.

Also, Elise praises pre-game Garon as a kind and wise man in Birthright, there are multiple lines throughout all the routes of the Nohrian siblings excusing his increased temperament as his old age getting to his head, Camilla says that none of them can afford to disobey him if they want to live, and Xander tells Slime Garon to his face in Chapter 27 of Conquest that he's nothing like the man that raised him and his siblings and that he only obeyed for as long as he did because he held out hope that Garon could return to his senses one day and they could go back to being a happy family; the game beats you over the head with the fact that the Nohrian siblings are obeying him both out of sentimentality/wishful thinking and because they're not strong enough to stop him from doing what he wants. Your ignoring important story and character details to push an agenda of Fates being poorly-written isn't the game having bad writing, it's you being disingenuous.

> Leo executes two people for being blemishes on Nohr's "grand legacy" and earlier in the game talks about how often and skillfully he and the other Nohrian siblings undermine Garon's authority by limiting the damage caused by his evil orders.

The “grand legacy” line was added in the localization; JP Leo only says that it sickens him to think that someone like Zola was a part of Nohr's military, and tells Iago that he's a disgrace to Nohr, not it's legacy. Even going with the localized script, what's wrong with him thinking that Zola and Iago's cowardices are blemishes on Nohr's legacy, which would be winning battles via direct confrontations?

The undermining point is completely irrelevant; just because they disagree with Garon's actions doesn't mean they're going to dislike the man who raised them and who they have a bond with.

> I'm not saying they have to be thrilled over killing Garon, but I am saying that the game using "he's their father!" to excuse their lack of spine isn't just unearned, but also reflects poorly upon how the Nohrian siblings are characterized.

I'm incredibly curious about how much of a spine you would have if you were forced to work for an all-poweful tyrant under threat of death if you ever disobeyed even the slightest order, especially when said tyrant is someone you have a deep personal connection with.

Also, explain how it reflects poorly upon the Nohrian siblings' characterization.

> The game hasn't earned using the theme of family as an excuse,

It doesn't use the theme of family as an excuse, because it's not a theme of the game; it uses the characters' estabilished relationships and history with Garon as an excuse for why they remain loyal to him.

> and all of these theories about the mental state of the Nohrian siblings have practically zero basis in the main story.

Xander's cutscene confronting Slime Garon begs to differ, as does my rant a few paragraphs ago. Stop dismissing well-supported theories solely because they cause you to look stupid for being wrong about a game's story and characters.

> Simply put, themes shouldn't be something you use to defend a game's writing with, but rather something which enhances the overall experience. That takes skill and effort and requires prioritizing on the side of the developers.

Does it? What authority do you have on how game development works to make such a claim, especially game development as it pertains to adding themes to a story?

Also, explain why people shouldn't be allowed to care more about a theme than about the plot or characters.

> There is no hidden theme or subtle brilliance which turns everything on its head which only a handful of enlightened people can understand and appreciate; themes just weren't a priority for the developers and they didn't have the skills to pull off a thought-provoking narrative.

Funnily enough, this entire response is me proving that you fundamentally misunderstood what Fates' themes were, so yes, there unironically were hidden messages and brilliances in Fates that you simply weren’t enlightened enough to understand and appreciate. Hubris before a fall, i suppose.

[yuelun]

"Once upon a time, she said to me that humans were a weak form of life that she wished to protect with her wisdom, but as she interacted more and more with them, her opinions on them began to change. She marveled at the beautiful complexity of their spirits, the sheer splendor of all they could accomplish through their hard work and intelligence. She told us that to underestimate human potential would be to make a grave mistake. With the smallest amount of guidance, enormous power can be unleashed in them, and a human who has reached their full potential may well be her equal. Someone who could have as much to teach an adeptus as to learn from them."

This is a portrayal of Guizhong/Haagentus from miHoYo's masterpiece Genshin Impact, way too incredibly passionately loved and written by Sae. Guili Assembly fanatic, tag rambler extraordinaire, and sometimes, I do resource/theme things over at iniziare. But more so than anything else, I'm here to love on Guizhong until the day that I die. While I actively write within the days of the Guili Assembly, I have a present/modern timeline.

Some rules can be found under the read more!

The Writer / Disclaimer. Hi, hello, I'm Sae, I'm in my early thirties! Born and raised in the Netherlands, I'm a proud Frenchie at heart living in France at present. While in the GMT+1 timezone, my schedule allows me to be online at the most random of times, as I'm rather of a nocturnal creature. So don't be confused if you see me around hearting your stuff like a stalker at times that would be strange for other Europeans. I'm a little weird.

Furthermore, I bear zero affiliation to/with HoYoverse, Genshin Impact, the character of Guizhong or anything related. Any and all written and visual (excluding reblogs) material found on this blog however are, unless stated or referenced otherwise, entirely my own.

(Very) Lore Heavy. This portrayal will closely follow the events as released and shown by HoYoverse. However, I've only recently gotten into game as a whole (early 2023), so I'm still in the midst finishing the currently released content (slowly progressing through Sumeru at the time of writing), so forgive me if my knowledge about the game does not not extend to all regions; my specialty lies in Liyue for obvious reasons. And don't get me wrong, I can and will talk your ears off about it if you let me. But I digress, for this portrayal, I will take any and all released content (more in 2024 most likely, shh) and combine them into a bigger picture that is formed through rationality and sense, substantiating it with logical motivations and possible inspirations from Chinese mythology (but cautiously and selectively so).

Social Politics. I'm here to write, I don't get involved in social politics of any kind, this includes (but is not limited to): call-out and cancel culture, white knighting in the eyes of anon hate, ship wars, gatekeeping, and real life politics. This blog will venture into mature and sometimes debatable themes, if you're unsure of whether that's up your alley, you're free to hit the unfollow button whenever it suits and pleases you. No ill will! I'm incredibly big on respect, and I happily offer it to you in the same capacity as you offer it to me, it's a two way street.

Mains / Exclusives. Main partners are incredibly far and few for me. While I have long-standing friends on Tumblr whose portrayals I actively trust out of experience to mesh well with my own, they will be subjected to the same treatment as everyone else, as to avoid unfair bias. While I do not and will not tie anyone down, as I do not require the practice of mains to be reciprocated by any means whatsoever; I do insist that if you choose to return it, to give me the decency of your activity and priority, as you will receive both from me. In essence, this means that you will get priority, and along with that, your portrayal will be the one referenced in my meta (if you agree with its content, of course, but I'll inherently involve you) and in my interactions with others. My current exclusives are:

Osial: ozeanum

Shipping. I will be writing essays on this, as this is not a conclusion that I came to lightly by any means (and other popular pairings like Rambler/Guizhong will be elaborated upon), but this blog will operate within the belief that the dynamic of Morax/Guizhong to have been one of a romantic nature. That aside, I'm not interested in any shipping wars and/or debates about pairings and dynamics. We are, ultimately, here to write what we want to write and with who, regardless of substance or motivation. I don't judge what you write, and you don't have to judge what I write. Let's keep it at that!