#“also worldbuilding is a sin. no one cares. if you think about any of it any deeper than the mc getting together it's loredumping :)”

[here-there-were-dragons]

all modern writing advice is optimized towards creating the most digestible and marketable mass-appeal piece possible, which everyone has decided is The Only Way To Do Art Right for some reason. i hate it, i fucking hate it so much, i had to stop listening to movie and art concrit videos because it became infuriatingly clear that literally no one has opinions of their own, they're just parroting from a list of How To Make The Most Marketable Thing that they heard from other criticisms, taken as gospel of The One And Only Way To Be Right, and have put no real actual thought into it themselves.

literally all of them now just boil down to "here's how this did/didn't follow the Standard Marketability Checklist to the exact letter. also at least a third of this essay is me randomly interjecting about how much i want to suck off puss in boots 2"

Every 21st century piece of writing advice: Make us CARE about the character from page 1! Make us empathize with them! Make them interesting and different but still relatable and likable!

Every piece of classic literature: Hi. It's me. The bland everyman whose only purpose is to tell you this story. I have no actual personality. Here's the story of the time I encountered the worst people I ever met in my life. But first, ten pages of description about the place in which I met them.

[obscure-imaginations]

Some random clergy headcanons. This is most likely going to be a series, I have so much lore and worldbuilding for this band...

SFW, cut for space.

-The main ministry buildings are hidden in the mountains of Sweden. There is a single road heading down the mountain (about an hour by foot) to a Swedish village, where the locals are allied with the ministry. The locals also worship and work with the Infernals, but have chosen to remain in the village-like environment. From there, it's a two hour walk to a big city, that has no idea the village nor the clergy exist. This is for safety reasons. The ministry itself is giant, with many buildings, a farm, a ranch, an orchard, and anything else needed to be self-sustaining. Most of the ministry's power is from solar panels on the rooves, but there are many options in case of emergency.

-The primary languages spoken in the ministry are English and Swedish. Most Siblings of Sin communicate in English, Swedish is mainly used to interact with locals. However, there are an abundance on languages spoken- all the way from ancient Latin, to Afrikaans, to Navajo, to Spanish. There are also many types of sign language. If you ask around, you can certainly find enough Siblings to speak every language on the planet!

-Families have their own separate building, where there are family quarters, classrooms, its own library, and separate cycles of laundry and food. This is for safety reasons, as the main building is easy for a child to get lost in. And no one wants a kid walking in on a ritual that isn't... child-friendly. The only exceptions are ghouls (they have their own building) and children of the bloodline. For families with multiple children, if one reaches of-age, they can choose to either move into the main ministry, or wait until their sibling(s) are of age so the entire family can move. Classes for children are held in this building as well.

-When a sibling reaches age, they must choose a job to do along with their studies. They can choose a job that associates with their 'major' (whatever they study, alongside the required religious courses), or just something that needs doing, like janitorial work or farming/ranching. Ghouls aren't the only ones working hard!

-Speaking of ghouls, most ghouls have duties along the lines of Sibling work, but they also have more in-depth magical jobs. Maintaining protection magic, assisting in rituals, getting rid of negative energy, you name it. Siblings can assist, but a ghoul is required to get a full coverage.

-Not all of the ministry is human. There are a scattering of supernatural beings as well- namely werewolves. Strictly in management terms, werewolves are easiest for the upper ministry to handle. There is magic to suppress changes, if the Sibling chooses, or a place where they can transform safely. Vampires are also easy to maintain, but can be tricky. If there's a vampire with telepathy or charisma magic, it could be very easy for them to take over the clergy. Ritual 'sacrifices' are always available if someone goes rogue.

-That being said, any and every supernatural being is welcomed with open arms in the clergy. There are requirements depending on the species (such as fae being required to drop fae law), but they all have a place, as long as they can devote themselves to the Infernals and the work of the clergy.

- From the time they reach age, Papal heirs go through the regular ranks as a part of their training, from deacon to cardinal. However, unlike the other members of the ministry, only those in line for Papacy may take the title of Arch Cardinal. It’s the final step before Papacy. The highest a non-Papa member can reach is cardinal.

-Despite popular belief, pets are common in the abbey. However, they are not permitted to roam, which is why visitors think that they are banned. They are all well taken care of. There is even a ward dedicated to veterinary medicine and magic!

-Siblings have a required uniform, but there are many options for everyone to comfortable. The uniforms are solid colors of black, red, or white. Siblings are allowed to accessorize, within reason. Anything can be worn off duty. Siblings are not required to veil, but many choose to for aesthetic reasons.

-The library is extensive and has many keepers, always flitting between the shelves, tending the books and any disruptive Siblings. No one (except maybe the Papal line) is quite sure what the Keepers actually are, as no one can agree on what they look like, but they guard the knowledge dearly. No one has to worry about late fees or anything, because the book is mysterious gone from the belongings of the borrowing Sibling after the day that it's due.

-As much as the clergy hates to do it, some knowledge is restricted and kept only for the Papas. This is purely for safety reasons- the magic that is contained is dangerous.

-As you might know, the Papas are not entirely human. Their bloodline is demonic, and has a lot of supernatural genes as well, from various Prime Movers over time.

-The masks that the ghouls wear have several purposes. The masks bind the ghoul to the clergy, so no outside source can use them against the ministry. It also keeps them contained within a humanoid form- less intimidating and less destructive. On tour, the band ghouls have the most restrictive masks to keep them looking entirely human. In the clergy, however, they are allowed a bit more freedom. Claws, horns, tails, and fur are common sights among the ghouls.

[andromedaexists]

Infinity Alchemist || Kacen Callender

★★★★★

TW: ABUSE (FAMILIAL, ON PAGE), DEATH (MURDER), GUILT, GRIEF, MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS (FADE TO BLACK), VIOLENCE

I always feel like I don't know where to start with these. 9 times outta 10 I'm writing reviews right off the end of the book and this one... I have tears in my eyes. This is a 6 star book for me. Firmly. My heart hurts

I received this book as an ARC in return for an honest review. Thank you to Tor Teen and NetGalley for the ARC.

Infinity Alchemist releases in just a few weeks on Feb. 6th I believe, and I highly recommend it to anyone who will listen.

Once again calling back to any book that makes me physically feel something get an automatic five star, but this book did more than that. This book wrapped my heart in tendrils of alchemical magic and refuses to let go.

Let's start with the characters: Ash, Ramsay, Callum, and Marlowe. Ash is our POV character and in a trans POC man. He is an asshole who has a rough life, growing up in the slums with a mother who passed away not too long ago. He wants to prove himself worthy of his absent father, and will stop at nothing to do so.

Ramsay is a prodigy, the genderfluid child of known and executed terrorists hell-bent on atoning for their sins. She uses he/she pronouns, though leans more towards she/her throughout the book. She is also such an uptight prick... until she's not. I genuinely love how prickly and rude she is and how much that shows to me as an autistic mask. I just love her so much.

Callum is a black man and the youngest son of the Kendrick house, more or less the police state in book. He is kind and caring despite the heavy hand of his father and all he wants to do is heal. He wants to heal and help others, like the good man he is.

These three, oh these three. They hold my heart.

Marlowe is my obligatory redhead (listen I have to point them out when they are given to me!). She is an orphan of House Lune and becomes so integral to the story in ways I never thought possible.

Without given away too many spoilers, I want to tell yous: there is so much diversity in this cast. So much! It's beautiful!! And, AND, we get not one, but two (2) separate Rivals-to-Lovers ARCs that don't end in a love triangle, but a polycule! We also get best friends to lovers to bitter exes to lovers once again!!

As far as the worldbuilding goes, I have to say that Kacen is a master at weaving these mystical and fantastical realms together in a way that not only make sense, but feel real. I felt like I was in the higher realms with the characters, like I knew exactly what each house was and why they were there.

I have aphantasia, which means that I cannot imagine what anything ever looks like. And yet, the beautiful world descriptions put me there. They called back to things that I do know and do have experience with and built off of it. I very genuinely could see myself in the world, and that is saying a lot.

I don't think I can talk too much more about this book without bringing myself to tears again, so let's pivot to some of my favorite quotes to make y'all understand the gravity of this book:

The world became a white blur. The snow turned red. It fell to the ground, drops spreading like blots of ink. The blood dripped from Amelia's cheeks. Her smile faded as the screams began.

That's what privileged assholes like you always say.

[redacted] paused, but only for a moment. He opened the [redacted]. There was an explosion of light.

It was too late. [redacted] was already there.

It wasn't death he'd feared, he realized, but the change—the transformation that forced him to release.

This light held the vibration of energy that the physical body would translate as love.

They all created the same infinite light. They were eternal.

It was an interesting place to be caught, stuck between grief and gladness that they were gone.

Okay, I think that's all I can put without spoilers.

One thing I forgot to mention: this book is genuinely funny. Maybe it's because of the autistic mask I mentioned earlier, but the interactions between Ramsay and Ash at any given point past like 20% of the book are genuinely funny. I love Ramsay's sense of humor.

Anyways, that's all for this book! I am going to curl up in a ball and cry while I purchase a physical copy to annotate and put on my recommendations shelf. This is a story that I will be thinking about years down the line, I just know it. Ash is a part of my soul now, and I can't wait to see what he does next.

[anheliotrope]

Shallow Approaches to Transhumanism

I recently watched Rhystic Studies' video on Phyrexia. In case you aren't aware, Phyrexia is a hellscape and a faction where horrific and runaway transhumanism features heavily.

I am often disappointed by how shallow even (supposedly!) great works of art treat transhumanism. I don't think Phyrexia says much that is meaningful on the topic of transhumanism's political problems -- and I'm pretty sure that was never the goal. I don't think MTG has to be deep on this axis, people don't go to fantasy for realistic political analogues, but despite that, people are drawn to trying to suggest strong connections to real world political issues. And this always makes me focus on the inadequacies of art rather than its virtues.

We live in a world where, sans AI risk, the main threat from technology is unequal control, which will lead to the class that has control over technology dominating the class that does not -- and this process can accelerate. This social problem is rarely represented in media and it is ongoing. It is not a problem of the future, it is a problem of the present. Those who do not have access to technology are forever at the mercy of those who do. And technological progress accelerates technological progress.

More on Phyrexia

To take Phyrexia as an example of shallowness -- it has beings that are just stronger than others. The resulting hierarchy is somewhat arbitrary or fueled by fantasy worldbuilding -- it is not generated by the societal structure of Phyrexia. The concept of Phyrexia generates the social structures as needed, in order to serve the themes the artist already wanted to depict.

And a lot of these themes of technology-induced spiritual degradation are used purely because it is a popular and easy theme to approach. It has been affixed to the shared artistic consciousness of humanity though sheer repetition because it is an easy way to introduce a tension where none would otherwise exist, and to explore interesting and messed up things.

Its origins lie in two places. Religious opposition and economic fears. For that matter, I can freely admit it is delicious for Phyrexia to have religious overtones -- this embraces spiritual degradation, it's just on the nose now, but it also assimilates a desire for spirituality within that which supposedly destroys it. I think MTG fails to take this synthesis to its extreme however -- Phyrexia is never a genuine religion that just happens to be extremely messed up, but rather it is a monument to the sin of pride, ala Divine Comedy.

Phyrexia's language is vastly more developed by the creators and has its own unique beauty, but the same care isn't given to its religious worldbuilding, which remains, in most cases, just an inversion of good, failing to emphasize the alien.

Human Revolution [spoilers]

Looking at Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the endings feature a pretty insane set of choices. I am going to explain them very expediently, feel free to look them up in more detail.

Reveal the truth about what corporations have been doing with augmentation technology and let humanity decide.

Pervert the truth, blame extremists, so that skepticism of augmentation technology does not rise.

Pervert the truth, to make all of it look as just an accident that can be resolved by increased government regulation.

Destroy the mcguffin facility, never share any information to humanity, to "let them decide".

The fourth ending is so idiotic we can ignore it.

If you have any respect for your fellow humans, casually creating an extremely potent distortion of reality by falsifying evidence on such an important matter should be out of the question (2 & 3).

If you pick ending 2, Adam talks about how it is in humanity's nature to rise above its limitations. Ending 3 is like a dumbass centrist take, humanity should self improve, but we need more oversight.

Ending 1, which is, on the object level, the least morally objectionable one, triggers Adam to say some extremely opinionated shit at the end such as "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal". Technology is bad and humanity cannot be trusted with it.

The common theme in all of this is that there are never specific groups at fault or specific features of how we have set up society. It's always about the essential moral value of technology and whether humanity's nature is good enough to handle technology. It is inherently both a collectivistic view and a strongly morally essentialist view. Phyrexia investigates transhumanism from the same angle, in this respect. I could rant for two hours how extremely Christian brained this is, but I'll spare you that.

What I mean to say in the end is that the vast majority of media is completely allergic to dealing with object level problems, with specificity. It is easier to repeat existing themes than to look again at the world and investigate something more relevant to our lives.

[ethanhuntfemmefatale]

I feel like you’re the only other person in the world who is as intrigued by the ethan/claire/jim dynamic as I am. It drives me crazy! I love that ethan, who is portrayed as a pretty flawless guy (he just cares TOO much) in the later movies gets this like crazy quirk of being in love with his father figure/boss’s wife and I love that you’re not always sure how much is manipulation and how much is genuine every time they interact. Severely underrated. Anyway loved the fic!

anon i am so so glad that you loved the fic and i am so glad to hear from another person fascinated by the ethan/claire/jim fuckery. (incidentally being a fellow ethan/claire/jim interested individual entitles you automatically to friend status should you so desire)

your ask touches on some things and it's giving me the urge to rant so please forgive me cause im probably about to get very off topic. I just love your point about the way that ethan (who is so steadfastly heroic in later movies!) starts out with this massive, like, to lean into the MI1 religious imagery, sin. And that sin isn't resolved in any satisfactory way--both of the people involved die, and no one is left alive who even knows what really happened, and this makes me feel rabid to think about. (Luther saw the cheek kiss, but has no context for it, and I feel strongly that Ethan has never told him anything else about that. I really think Ethan never breathes a word to anyone about Jim, Claire or Max. Kittridge is probably the closest to being able to infer some of the details, he knows Ethan loved Jim, he knows about Max's "entrapment," but he's too much of a self-absorbed bureaucrat to give a shit.)

But back to the point about the sin. For my money, Ethan's sin is the heart of MI1. The movie tells us that Ethan's sin is being in love with Claire--but in a queer reading of the movie, it's easy to read into Ethan's interactions with Claire and Jim and infer that his real sin is being in love with both of them, a sin that Jim will never openly acknowledge, but that all three of them are aware of to some degree. Ethan's sin is also portrayed as being...not actually his fault. He doesn't participate in any of Claire's "seduction moments," although from his expression after the cheek kiss IMO you can see that he has strong feelings about them. Ethan's sin is something that is done to him, and regardless of whether or not he wants it, regardless of whether initiates or even participates, he is corrupted by the experience. He's only (to some degree) cleansed by the death of claire, jim and krieger, the only people who knew about what happened.

(one of the reasons I drew from gawain and the green knight in the end of the fic is because--beyond the parallels of jim as the lord going hunting in the woods, claire as the lady going hunting for gawain, ethan as the knight just trying to make it out alive--that's a story that deals heavily in impossible moral tests and loss of agency. And Gawain emerges from it 'fey-touched', fundamentally changed despite the fact that most of what happened to him was unwanted and unavoidable. That's how i feel about ethan at the end of MI1)

It's important to note briefly that I actually don't think of the Claire/Jim/Ethan thing as his only sin in the movie. It's the only one that's remarked on directly, but the whole thing with Max feels like it's presented too similarly to ignore. It's another situation of power differences and emotional and sexual manipulation where Ethan is put in an impossible position and emerges morally corrupted (by the rules of the movie), but victorious.

In a lot of ways, I feel like the sin itself almost serves less as an indictment of Ethan and more as a worldbuilding device. MI1 establishes the world of the IMF really vividly without showing us hardly anything about it! we don't even know what the IMF is really, it doesn't have a headquarters, we don't get to know any other teams outside of the one that dies in the beginning, but the movie renders the world of the IMF through Ethan's relationship with Claire and Jim. I've talked before about the "sea of lies." The thing that made me love MI1 so much in the first place was the specific feeling that is so beautifully evoked, of gradually realizing that everyone you have ever loved wants to use you. That's the IMF! That's spywork, baby! Ethan doesn't realize it in the beginning, but he sure figures it out by the end. it's impossible for ethan to make it out of MI1 without becoming part of the corrupt world of the IMF, the real IMF that Claire and Jim and Kittridge are in, not the fantasy of the team in the opening. (to go back to the green knight metaphor--he has to take the sash in order to live--and even though that means compromising his morals, he's blameless. Corrupt, forever, but blameless.)

despite that--ethan is not the IMF. He believes in Claire. He believes in Luther. He avoids killing. he has an honor code that he sticks to even as he gets deeper and deeper into the sea of lies. that's what makes him the guy we see in the rest of the franchise, that at arguably his most vulnerable point, his most corrupt point, he believed in the people he loved and tried not to hurt anyone. The point of the sin, to me, is that Ethan is forced into the deep end of the murkiest grey moral waters and held underneath, and in the process he sacrifices moral purity for moral integrity and makes it out alive. and the movie doesn't hate him for it. He's a hero.

lots of thoughts for this ask lmfao thank you very much anon for indulging me. and thank you for reading the fic. i am so glad you liked it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[griseldabanks]

1, 2, 7-10, 14, 17, and 23 for the Fic Writer's Ask, please?

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

Probably my Captain America fic Make Me Whole, which is about what would happen if Steve decided to save the Winter Soldier without knowing that he's Bucky. It's the kind of thing where, if you like this fic, there's a good chance you'll find some other fics of mine to your liking; if you don't like this fic, you probably won't care for most of my other writing either. And while it's the first of an ongoing series, it provides a fairly satisfactory ending in itself, if you don't want to read any more.

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

"Angst," "Alternate Universe," and "Angst & Hurt/Comfort." Yep, sounds about right! I love me a good AU, and I'm all about that angsty angsty goodness.

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

I'm pretty pleased with the worldbuilding I did for Creta in my FMA fic of skulls and secrets. I went for "vaguely Italian" for inspiration, and also researched some real-world alchemists to rework into the story I wanted to tell. One of my favorite parts of writing that fic was writing Ed speaking Cretan, which he's good at reading but terrible at speaking, so it's kind of like he's translating each word separately as he hears it rather than understanding the sentence as a whole. For example: "I myself never seeing, never asking about either was. Alchemy—too many brains for this of mine head!"

8. What song would make a great fic (to either write or read)?

From the first time I heard it, "Still Be You" by David Hodges sounded to me like a soulmate AU. I may write it someday myself (since nobody knows David Hodges, alas), but the trick is deciding exactly how the soulmate stuff works, and what characters it would be about.

9. How do you find new fic to read?

I have a backlog of fics I want to read from the past, like, ten years at least, so I'm all set XD (And what puts it on that list is usually either a recommendation from someone I trust or an author that I read one fic and liked, so I decided to go through all their other fics.

10. How do you decide what to write?

What grabs me and won't let go? What plot bunnies gnaw at me in the dark watches of the night as I try to fall asleep? What is such a good idea that it pushes past the insecurity and laziness so I end up writing it despite myself?

14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer?

You know, the first thing that popped into my head was the fic my friend @dairogo wrote subverting the "there was only one bed" trope. She's probably the only one I'd trust to do that right XD

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

Now, that would be telling ;)

Uhh...most of the ideas floating around in my head are AUs, really, and a lot of them are ones with the potential to be popular if I ever get around to writing them, like the FMA/Firefly crossover I've been wanting to do for years. But I think I'll go with a Final Fantasy X fic I actually have all planned out but just too many other things I'd rather write first. It would be called The Path to Sin, and it's based on an FFX RP I did way back in the day that fell apart with no satisfying conclusion, but then I brainstormed the rest of the story with my brother one summer. It was super fun, and basically went from "just another summoner's voyage to defeat Sin" to a really epic alternate story of how Sin could be defeated for good. I don't even remember all the details, but it would make a really epic chapterfic...unfortunately, I feel like very few people would know/care enough about FFX to bother reading it, so the motivation to actually write it is pretty low at this point ^^'

23. What’s a trope, AU, or concept you’ve never written, but would like to?

After thinking about this too much, I'm going with my answer for number 8. I've never written a soulmate AU, but I kinda want to if I can figure out a really good story for it.

Fic Writer Ask Game

[scarletooyoroi]

Alright! S'been a hot minute the AQ and it's been properly digested so to speak. Under the cut I want to go over a different spin of content in the overview, mainly what I feel like were worldbuilding plot points that met odd ends.

Naturally will have some touch of spoilers for those not caught up.

The first thing I want to dive on is the issues that we were teased about Fontaine having.

First example being.

This was one starting example, but there was a few more NPCs and Liben's accounts that told of Fontaine's infrastructure. Now we could angle this as these researchers thinking extremely long term, yet, the realm of Fontaine itself never gives any visual or quest based storytelling of this account. If anything, there seems to be a craze trend with both robotics and the issues regarding the primordial sea.

To me that always just scratched the thought of this being a storybeat that ultimately needs attention. That said, we've virtually got none of that in response. The initial energy issues weren't even an issue as the newly established power source of Indemnitium (which we've never seen even be USED for the town, only Pneuma/Ousia has been utilized) didn't have no concerns what so ever. On top of that, we've learned from Focalors that a mere, minuscule fraction alone was enough to power Fontaine.

So okay, cool, with the granted direction and it's eventual demise, even though it's come at the VERY end of the AQ, that could lead to some future Fontaine stories for this route, right?

Well, no, for again the potential energy issue that needs to be regulated is then magically hoisted up by Nevuilette's hand. His Hydro authority granted him immediate generation, upkeep and control of Pneuma/Ousia energies. Which I mean.. is fine. That said, what to make of all the prior region teasing? Why are the humans there even bothering when technically, there should be no signs of downfall to warrant this concern? As it looks we've seen no measure of heavy pollution at all there either.

In return it gave me the impression that Fontaine's environment might've had a vastly different outlook before. Moreso a deeper look into aspects of pollution, purity and having to make good on caring for the land.

Sliding over to the next!

Another aspect of Fontaine it felt like we were going to get depth in was this, how there was this supposed shadow war between new and old generation Oceanids. Egerias idea of love and unity, Focalor's..??? We never really learned what she did to warrant this distaste, since her plan was moreso focused on just getting the Heavenly Principle's plan situated. Did the Oceanids even know about her existence? Was the distaste aimed at Furina?

There's also the new generation Oceanids in question. Was it the Hydro Phantasms that warranted this issue, or was it the Oceanids that followed the desires in becoming human? The latter feels difficult in being the case as we've seen no rhyme, reason or sign of Oceanid humanity even bothering with them, it's all in their own lives.

While the Hydro Phantasms can still be up for contention, we've rarely met any of them focused on this task. They're either wild spirits or in cases of the Veluriyam mirage, phantasms that wanted to keep the wishes of travelers there alive.

Being a longer time player, this is where many of the storytelling issues didn't end up-- bad (at least too bad to me), rather, it's a really weird note of them just shuffling some past ideas under the rug and calling it a day. I honestly don't think we're going to find any ground on them, given the gradual changes of their story overtime.

These were the big two about Fontaine that I really needed to get out there. With themes such as 'Purity' being a key part of it's story, this felt really weird to just topple on the wayside like this. Instead, it looks like it switched Egeria's sin of human creation instead.

Have you noticed any particulars yourself? Stuff like this fascinates me so I'd love to hear it.

damn you really out here readin' a lot.

[fipindustries]

-of three

yuuuuuup, i think this is where i tap out, whatever was the comic i originally fell in love with this is no longer it, hasnt been for a long while.

in a sense it was kind of inevitable, if this comic intended to last any serious ammount of time and try to tackle a serious kind of story it couldnt stay as the wacky, histrionic, horny and chaotic extravaganza of cool body horror and funny silly characters it was when it began.

the later, more angsty, more complex, more... can i even say "grounded"? let's say heavy parts of the story were just not doing it for me, though not through any fault of their own, i should clarify. is just simply not something im in the mood for anymore.

i think something changed in me, in my temperament, in my tastes, in who i am. i think i lost the taste for highly dense, highly complex convoluted stories with thousands of characters and moving pieces and giant ambitious worldbuilding and deep lore. or maybe is not that i lost the taste for them, is that ive already involved myself in far too many of them. i am currently reading one piece, kill six billion demons, gunnerkrigg court, the locked tomb series, as well as watching dungeon meshi, yellowjackets and a bunch of other shows. maybe my head has just ran out of ram to keep all of those things straight in my head and still care and be invested in all of them simultanously.

or maybe feast for a king is just a little TOO damn chaotic and its cast a little TOO crowded with people and its timeline a little TOO convoluted. to be honest, after a while keeping track of it all felt more like homework than anything else, and after hitting a certain scale you kind of start hitting powercreep induced nihilism. like, between the five different types of hekatonks, the queen worms and the king worms, the kings seeds, whatever celadon is, cyborg powers, heart worlds, double hearted mandragoras, the weeds, hybrids, clones, mutants, gods??? it really feels like just about anything goes. death is kind of meaningless in this world, powerlevels are kind of meaningless, what is possible or impossible is kind of meaningless, we have shapeshifters and possessing bodies, and mind control, and astral projection, and ghosts, and time travel. anything can be anything anywhere all the time, it just becomes meaningless. insipid. there is no up or down.

on top of that the morality of any given character is so fucked and the scale of the horrors and sins commited in this story are so overwrought that i also fail to be morally invested on anything? are there good guys? bad guys? is there even a right or wrong here anymore? i know there are characters i nominally like, but i dont even know what version of that character do i sympathize with really, do i really like this character or do i like what who they were 500 years ago? or maybe i only liked someone else pretending to be that character, or maybe i dont like the character i like the worm they became after they were eaten by worms, etc etc and so on and so forth.

i just lost the plot. it got away from me.

i think you can be highly chaotic and ambitious in one or two things when executing your story. either worldbuilding, or the order of storytelling, or characterization, or morality, or nature of the cast. but not all of them all at once.

still, i do not want to leave this with a bitter taste in my mouth. i do still highly respect this strange beautiful beast for what it is and for what it tries to be. i wouldnt want it to be anything else. its just too strange not to like. im glad something like this exists. and by golly did it give me some great moments. let me say that again. it gave me some amazing moments, some truly magical experiences that i never got from anything else. and just for those incredible scenes and characters i will always have a corner in my heart where embers will burn dedicated to it. i dont think its flaws take away from the good i got and i would still enthusiastically recomend this to anyone who is mildly curious and has way more patience than i do

it was truly a feast, in all senses of of the word, and i had my fill of it.

[librathefangirl]

Hey Libra! 👋

First of all I love your blog! And that icon makes me happy every time I see it :D

Second of all this is actually the THIRD time I’ve tried to type this ask. 😂😅 first time I was nervous. Then Tumblr deleted the second one seconds ago because it’s bad luck day I guess. The curse of the broken headphones is spreading. It killed my laptop charger an hour ago and is now directly deleting my writing. Is the universe trying to send me a sign? Luckily, I am not listening. Though I do tremble in fear

I am writing a SDS demon analysis essay inspired by zorria’s post that’s been circling around about Tristian and Io. I wanted to ask you if you’d like to give a special guest / character / concept mention that you'd like to see me ramble on about! I’ll research pretty much anything.

So far for writing topics we have: zeldris, cursed by light, ethics of our least favorite tryant parents and the consequences, the supreme dirty specifically making me concerned for the future of the goddess clan for 90 minutes, Elizabeth’s holy war shenanigans, and Jenna and Zaneri making me question the druids.

If you would like to submit a Thought to the “thinking about demons and what nakaba’s wild writing actually means for the worldbuilding” train please do!

None of our SDS mutuals have responded to me about this yet, so in the meantimeeee I'm writing a Pre Holy War fic because time to write my first fanfiction I guess! First two chapters are done and end on cliffhangers, inspired by your latest SDS fic which I love.

Featuring! TC Meliodas’s Questionable battle strategy, Zeldris being a literal brat (child Zel!) but a very smart one, the Ten Commandments doing their job well for once but behind the Demon King’s back, Fraudrin being forced into the role of NPC, the predecessors of the Six Knights of Black being even worse at their job than the ones the Sins best in prisoners of the sky, and the lack of goddess characters forcing me to come up with one on the spot. She has a randomly generalized name and her fate is undecided.

If you would like to submit a Thought to that as well, I'm all ears. In any case you and the mutuals can expect something interesting from me soon I guess.

Thanks for reading if you end up reading this. I have no idea now many asks you get on a daily basis.

Have a wonderful day!

Hey!! 👋 (I've been trying to answer this ask all day but I'm also helping my sister take care for my nephew who's sick at the moment and it's like I swear there were more hours in the day??)

Anyway! Glad you're enjoying my chaos ;) And the icon - that's exactly why I picked it! I just love that scene (no matter how brief it is) and always replay it so I can watch that smile again (so soft! so happy!) So I thought, hey why not make it so I get to see it everyday?

Oh no, not the Curse of the Broke Headphones! 😂 It really must be spreading tho. My standard video viewing program on my computer (that I prefer to use for my videos) just works like... 1 out of 10 times, for the past few days. No clue why. Kudos to you for being persistent! If you hadn't, I wouldn't have gotten this fun ask 😊 I feel you on the nerves though. I think I've only ever sent 1 ask. And that was to thank for hosting a whump event. And I know saying there's no need to be nervous is pretty pointless (because if you're like me you're gonna be nervous anyway) but just know you can write whatever to me. No judgement!

Okay. So, that essay sounds sooo interesting! And I... don't have anything specific in mind at the moment. (Like always, somebody asks me what's my thoughts on Topic are and I'm like... *cricket sounds*). But seriously, all those topics so far sound really good and interesting. Man, the SDS demons really are Something to think about, aren't they? Honestly, the demons, the goddesses, the first holy war are all so fascinating to think about. (And definitely something I wish had gotten explored more in canon). Like, take the goddess clan in that era for example (admittedly not something I think about as much as the demons but) and the SD's role in the war. Like obviously, as seen in Cursed by Light, she didn't want the holy war to end, wanting to keep her "game" and the balance between light and dark, but at the same time we have people like Ludociel, who is dead-set on not only ending the war but destroying all the demons. Actually, this goes for the DK and the demons too! Neither the Supreme Deity nor the Demon King wanted the holy war to end, yet had their best soldiers fighting tooth and nail to end it. It's just interesting to think about, how did their thought process work? The archangels and the Ten Commandments are their elite troops, right? And - what, they didn't actually expect them to win? Like what would have happened if one side had figured out a way to win that didn't include the disappearances of both demons and goddesses? So much to think about.

Oh! First fanfic, yay! I remember my first fanfic - or actually I don't. But I remember my first fanfic that I posted (not sure if that's the first I wrote or not). It was for Lab Rats over on FF.net back in 2016. (Oh, man, just typing that out made me feel old. Have I really been writing fanfics (on-and-off) for almost 7 years now?). To the surprise of absolutely no one it was angsty and family-centric.

And yeah, gotta write those cliffhangers ;) Happy to be of service (inspiration)! To share some excitement from my end as well, I am currently (as in as soon as I'm done typing this answer) working on chapter 2. So, hopefully I'll (finally) have that up soon!

Okay, let me tell you something: that fic sounds absolutely amazing! So many good things included. You've definitely got me intrigued already! And I feel you on the goddess character. I can't tell you how many times while writing my fics I've been like wait I need a goddess/demon character for this. And they need a name and an identity?? Not to mention the time I had to come up with a name for an entire dragon species. Thank god for name generators 😂 Usually I just generate names until I find one I like and then maybe change it a bit (like for the dragons where I swapped two letters around because I liked it better that way) or just take whatever name pops up in my head (that's sort of what I did for Mel's sister in my Dragon Meliodas AU; I took a name that popped up in my head and switched it up a bit to be more similar to Zeldris' for maximum angst). One time I even went: you know what, this goddess is a minor character, that's gonna flee the scene of the crime almost immediately and isn't really the point of the story, and then just didn't bother give her a name at all 😅 Actually! I'm in this spot right now too. I still haven't named my demon character in When the Past Comes Crashing, but it's okay so far. He's still an unknown mysterious demon to the readers, so I have time to figure it out 😂 😅

Anyway. Excited to see whatever you come up with! Also, this is like the fourth(?) ask I've gotten. Ever. So, yeah, there's always room in my inbox (or dm if you prefer) to come yell, rant or just chat with me about SDS, fics, or anything you want to 😊

Thank you for this amazing ask! And I hope you have a wonderful day as well!

[serenephenix]

So, I think enough time has passed to maybe tentatively look at Trigun Stampede in relation to the manga and some issues with the pacing that I did notice over the course of the past weeks, especially considering the story elements that have been shuffled around for the most recent episode.

For anyone here to have a good time and cry in tears of agony about this show: Power to you and have fun! Anything you don't wanna read is under the cut!

Also, massive spoilers ahead for the Trigun manga if you haven't finished it yet!

First of all, Trigun Stampede brings a lot of good things to the table, like the score that really sets the mood and breathes life into the scenes, to the almost looney-tooney animation elements that really give it some of the charm the manga has, the gorgeous flashback sequence we got today, the incredible effect of twisting the music/visuals just as Wolfwood's body and mind get twisted in the experiment, as well some worldbuilding that had only been hinted at in the manga.

I really like Trigun Stampede but it is, unfortunately, produced at a time where the market has deluded itself into thinking that less than 20 episodes is the best option for marketability and that it will cut them losses if they need to cancel any show for any inane reason.

The parts that I want to focus on here, is the decision to have Livio introduced this early into the series and the... let's call it "lack of understandable motivations" behind his attack on Vash on the Sand Steamer.

I was curious to see why exactly Livio would appear here in the first place.

In the manga, Livio only appeared after it became clear that Wolfwood had defected and deceived Knives, the Gung-Ho Guns and the Eye of Michael. He was sent to eliminate Wolfwood and lessen the risk of him interfering with Knives' plans in any remarkable manner.

And what had made the encounter between Wolfwood and Livio heart-breaking in the first place, was that Wolfwood for his part had believed him to be safe back at the orphanage, away from all the bloodshed and monstrosity.

To Nick, it had almost been a sort of cruel, twisted punishment for his perceived sins - one of the reasons why he then tried to confront Livio all by himself in his last battle.

And in that context, Livio's appearance in the story and his impact makes a lot of sense.

Him being on the Sand Steamer now and attacking Vash, makes little to no sense on the other hand, unless the Eye of Michael itself has been torn up into two factions - one that follows Knives every command and one that thinks that Vash is too great of a risk to the heralded promised day and want him eliminated.

I hope they do explain it a bit more in the future because right now, it doesn't add up.

I also have to admit that, what Stampede has not yet been able to really establish and drive home to the audience, is how much of a vindictive and downright sadistic pleasure some of the Gung-Ho Guns take in making others suffer for the heck of it. How little they care about humanity and are willing and even excited at causing as much collateral damage as possible.

While the church sub-plot puts a lot of actions into perspective for Stampede and makes it easier to explain why characters like Rollo come into being and can ease new viewers into understanding Legato's mindset - at this point - they will not have any perspective on how much the Gung-Ho Guns just love to mess with people because they can. Because Knives has put them in a position to do so.

Because, as someone who knows the manga, I know that Legato has no qualms in extending Vash's journey even against Knives' wishes, because nothing brought Legato more pleasure than seeing the man in Knives way suffer over and over. That became apparent from the very first moment they both had their first exchange in the manga.

An insight into Legato's motivations that we did not get from the short dialogue between him and Wolfwood (although I must say that I really enjoyed the twist of Wolfwood having this kind of very personal beef with the man).

As a newbie, I'd have no idea what even is going on anymore except for the part with Wolfwood and Livio (on a surface level).

Heck, when Legato and Zazie showed up, I was sure they were there to collect Livio because he had acted upon Razlo's wishes to find a worthy opponent. The episode could have, very honestly, done well without them. It was already packed full.

I'm also somewhat saddened by the fact that they cut away the whole plot about the Sand Steamer and Kaite. For me, at least, it was an important part of establishing that, despite what we saw in the manga so far, the people on this planet are complex characters driven by all sorts of motivations and that they can have a change of heart. It made them all more human to be honest.

And it would have been fun to actually have Wolfwood and Vash interact with him. If it had played out in a similar manner, with Vash ending up drugged, it would have been a rather interesting thing to see him and Wolfwood arguing about how he is taking way too many needless risks.... but I digress.

So, I'm still excited for the next episode but I hope, deep in my bones, that they not just... not address any of this.

[sokokoko]

I will not answer or reblog anything that asks for money/has to do with donations. Please understand 🙏 Any messages I receive about such things will be presumed to be a bot and deleted.

‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❝ 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 ❞・ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ︵‿

/ ❝𝑰'𝒎 𝑺𝒐𝒌𝒐❞ /

/❝𝑰'𝒎 𝒂 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍❞/

/ ❝𝑰 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒎𝒆❞/

/❝𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅, 𝑰 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆, 𝑰 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘❞/

/❝𝑰'𝒎 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐❞/

/❝𝑴𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒅𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏❞/

♡✨𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈; 𝒍𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔✨♡

I should probably mention my alt is @all-eyes-no-dragon because you will see me use it some places

𓁹 Insta 𓁹

❀ 25/03 birthday ❀

𓁹 purple is my favourite colour 𓁹

❀ I once also went by Nova ❀

If I write something stupid, feel free to poke holes in it! Thinking is hard 🥲

Also! If you feel like it, I would love an @ if you use any of my word prompts or writing prompts. It's not required, I'm just genuinely intrigued as to what you might've written. Only if you want to share though 💜

Down, down, down to read my stuff ⬇️

Resources:

✎ Writing piece classifications

Definitions and more. Ever wonder how many words it is to be considered a novel? What is a novelette? What is the average word count for different types of genres? What's the word count of a drabble? I got you.

✎ Really good name website: behindthename

❀ Look at: #writing prompts or #writing prompt in this account for a few ideas to spark inspiration in that wonderful Brian of yours

❀ In #whispers you'll see things I think all writers should get to hear

❀ #word of the sometimes is random words that I challenge you to write something based off

❀ #qfmn is random out of context things pulled from my notes (quotes from my notes)

❀ #​random honesty is just that.

❀ #writing quotes is pretty deep as well. You'll find some wisdom nuggets by searching this!

My Personal Works:

✎ All the stories I want to write from A-Z

A vast majority are only concepts, characters and worldbuilding. I can count the number of stories I've fully outlined on one hand. Some stories I am holding off writing as I one day hope to make them into comics.

🎆 The PPU (Paranormal Powers Universe) 🎆

✎ Universe layout + descriptions

Stories:

✩ After School Guardians

✩ Dreamer

✩ Nighttime Live!

✩ The Boy Who Grew Wings

✩ Keepers Of The Sun

✩ Lovers Of The Moon

✩ Gateway To The Stars

✩ Children Of The Clock

✩ Made In Mechania

✩ Wisteria's World

✩ The Bee & The Boy

✩ An Alien's Observations

✩ Hand Me The Moon

I'll update this list with more recent, better works at some point, currently going through a period where I don't have time to.

✎ The Raven & The Dove

Completed novelette. 13 chapters, 10.8k words and my only finished story, discounting a cringe 8 chapter short story I wrote when I was 12. Am I proud of this? It's not my magnum opus, that's for sure. I wrote this in 2 months. However, I'm happy that I finished a story and hope to write many more in future.

Summary:

Shadowed by a civilian woman who knows of his profession and yet doesn't care, the assassin for hire known as "The Raven" can't help but act more human.

When the woman, Hannah, worms her way deeper and deeper into the wretched life he lives, The Raven wishes that he was strong enough to turn her away. But his infatuation and her damned persistence won't let him.

As the two spiral deeper down a path of no return, The Raven has to wonder, “Who’s ruin will this lead to?”

His own? Or Hannah’s?

🪻 One Shots 🪻

✎ He, The Whisper (Dreamer adjacent)

POV of a character I don't plan on giving a POV in the actual book. Secondary main character of "Dreamer" and a powerful entity stripped of his original rank. This one shot goes through his thoughts as he's trapped in the Nightmare Realm. 200 words.

✎ Synth-ia, Sin-thia

Quick crack about Zinthia from After School Guardians meeting her original concept who was made by me as a young child. 994 words.

✎ The Storm Called Death

Vivian from The Frost Prince's Paramour? feeling cold and angry for 195 words. This is only significant because there's a curse on him that causes him to always be cold and will eventually freeze him to death. The only thing that can stave it off is human contact but his family want him to die so he's forbidden from being touched. Otherwise, this is just him having a pity party.

✎ A Pane-ful Scene

The newer, better piece I wrote for The Frost Prince's Paramour?

✎ Horology

730 words. Father Time stops time because he's disgusted with mortals but the birth and commands of some entities born outside his reach scares him into letting the timestream flow once again. Based off of a line I wrote for a companion piece song to Nighttime Live!

"Once upon a time seven powers arose

Born to a land where time itself froze

The Netherworld let out a quake

Father Time began to shake

In fear of what his God could make"

✎ Monster Knows Best

A young Kai from Pyre & Frost talks about the monster that lives with him in his house. Murder is mentioned and covered up. 374 words.

✎ purple; out of reach

What the colour purple means to Shadow, a Boogeyman from "After School Guardians" who was born wrong. 290 words.

[bonesandthebees]

tommy! their argument/ talk here is rlly sweet, tommy blaming himself and wilbur comforting him is just aaaaaaaa, bonding!!!!

wait is there gonna be murder? ah yes, this ball will be very exciting lol

'you'll be safe again, i promise' :D

'he would have to learn to bear the weight of his own sins' whoa. go for it man, if you're sure about this. your dad might be willing to do just about anything for the people he cares about, but you don't have to follow him if it makes you scared -> corruption time

oh wow toxic quackity and schlatt. this could easily be them talking about the assassination attempt on tommy, that's clearly what quackity is talking about, but is schlatt the one behind this? he doesn't seem like the type to be that careless about the letter. he might also have something else planned. too bad he might just die tonight

ooooooo the difference in how he thinks of the ferronnière contrasting with the cane - they both represent his relationship to Phil, but the ferronnière is one of power and position whereas the cane, whilst lovely, is one that induces pity but was given out of love. oh these are gonna be important later i can feel it

oh niki's outfit! everyone's outfits! i can tell the research that went into it - i am now incredibly curious about this worldbuilding, aahhhh i love it

ohoho! the decision to trust niki with this or tommy? niki would obviously be the strategic choice, with her ruthlessness and care for wilbur she'd help in a heartbeat, but tommy is one of trust and kindness. his choice of tommy really says a lot -> trusting someone with the knowledge of the darkest parts of yourself, and after the vulnerability of that wilderness survival adventure, this'll go a long way for their relationship

but tommy!!!!! he so young!!!!! oh this is gonna weigh hard on him. but wow does the tommy charm help out lmaoooooo

the ferronnière during the poisoning. the symbolismmmm

phil pov! oh, so the poisoning was also just training wheels - a show of trust but the knowledge that wil can't go all the way just yet and doing the murder for him. i love how cold-hearted he is - :D

love how crimeboys had such a sweet bonding moment/conversation and figured out how to communicate only for things to get so messy later on

"you don't have to follow him if it makes you scared" you underestimate how badly wilbur does not want to see phil's disappointed face

hmm well you can't say for sure that's what quackity and schlatt were discussing when wilbur overheard their conversation. but there certainly are issues in their dynamic. also, love how everyone keeps saying schlatt wouldn't be that careless about the letter. I think you guys might be overestimating schlatt a bit.

yesssss I love the differing symbolism between the cane and the ferronnière and how they show the different aspects of wilbur's relationship with his father

literally spent so long brainstorming the outfit ideas for the ball there is SO much thought that goes into those things. I'm glad you like it :D

the thing about wilbur trusting tommy over niki though that's really sad is that wilbur and niki have been best friends since they were children. niki has never given wilbur any reason not to trust her. she's never told his secrets or betrayed him in any way. they've been incredibly loyal to one another for over a decade now. he's literally only known tommy a few months. of course going through a near death experience with someone can really boost how much you trust them, but if l'mannes had never happened, wilbur would still firmly be trusting niki and only niki with that stuff

tommy is 13 and has to help murder a man he does NOT need that pressure. but he's great at improv!

I mean technically the poisoning worked, if ponk didn't figure out what kind of poison they used then schlatt would've died anyway. it just wasn't convenient to wait that long. but yes, it was basically training wheels. wilbur learned how to murder :)

[ketsuarting]

This post is both beautiful and horrid so let me add on some things:

Sinners not being allowed in other parts of hell is most likely because of the same reason why heaven gets to come down once a year and slaughter them

Their king doesn't give a shit about his subjects.

Lucifer is top honcho in hell, because he is the strongest. He can literally, magic shit into existence, something we don't see any of the other sins do. Beelzebub is explicitly shown to need 'honey', Asmodeus is directly called the 'weakest of the sins' and Mammon clearly thinks there is a point in extorting others, so clearly he is no wealth of infinite energy. We don't know about Sloth, Wrath and envy (Belphagor, Satan, and...?) but PRESUMABLY they're in a similar boat.

The only thing that is keeping Lucifer from ruling hell is that he has neither drive nor a need to. He can just show up and snap his finger and voila, things are as he desires.

(just that he has no desires except for being close to his daughter, while still respecting her autonomy. Sadly cannot be snapped into existence)

Lucifer has no interest in fighting for his denizens. He has no interest in saving them from the exorcist and he probably just gave a disinterested nod when someone asked him to ban the sinners from the other rings.

Because the Sinners suck ass ✨

They do!!!

Hell, the reason why Lucifer is even IN the pride ring is because LILITH probably wanted to be there. She gave a shit! We don't know if it was out of solidarity or compassion or because she saw potential, but she CARED.

Lucifer is shown to be a recluse, while Lilith incited revolt.

The Happy Hotel is Charlie trying to prove herself to her people. To show, Hey! I am here for you! I WANT to be a good Princess for you! I want to pick up the slack that my parents left, Lucifer with his incompetence/apathy as a ruler and Lilith with her disapperance.

Presumably she CAN go to other rings, but those don't need her. They have their Sins that manage them. Mammon is generally well liked in his ring! Bee is considered a party queen! Asmodeus CLEARLY cares about his Ring.

Also: While Hazbin Hotel is not super novel with how it represents Hell (Rings, 7 deadly sins, lots of borrowed names and creatures and themes), it clearly refuses to follow any other established canon to the T and makes a point of diverging.

(the seven deadly sins not being actual 'sins of depravity', there being 7 and not 9 rings, not limbo or climbing up and down, etc etc)

That being said; at the end of the day this is a story and while it's nice to have cohesive worldbuilding, this isn't a Dark Souls game. This is a stage to make the furries have cool dialogue and fun scenes. I know a lot of people think this is automatically 'lazy writing', but you can also absolutely OVER ENGINEER THE PLOT. And these shows already do that. I am thankful they stopped before completely over complicating the lore.

(recently started watching this show with my mom and she has a really hard time following the plot because it's SO MUCH INFORMATION that you have to absorb. I have to constantly explain story beats because the show, to a degree, assumes that you have at least a passing interest in Bible fanfiction. Mind you, this doesn't make the show bad, she still enjoy the jokes, but what a lot of people critique the show for are actually very much NEEDED SHORTCUTS to make the show ACESSIBLE TO NEW VIEWERS. Not everyone wants to be an obsessed Superfan. I know. The horror. I don't understand it either.)

Having all the sinners in one ring helps condense the story. Having the happy hotel help streamlining character interactions. Having Charlie be overtly optimistic makes this show enjoyable instead of a Fuckfest of sadness and angst.

About people saying that sinners only existing on the top ring Pride in Hellavu Boss/Hazbin Hotel is lazy writing and makes no sense

I have been seeing people say that it makes no sense that sinners only exist at the top ring because in Dante’s Inferno each sinner would go to the sin circle that ruled their life. It’s worth noting that this is not Dante’s Inferno, and pointing out what happed in Dante’s Inferno and how it was supposed to work does not change the fact that taking inspiration from a story does not mean they are obligated to fallow it in a way that makes sense to you. Like the Bible, Lucifer did not in fact marry the folklore first human woman that came before Eve and became the first Demon. Nor did he have a Daughter with her.

And yes the fact that there are six other circles but their has to be an extermination every year because only Hell born can leave the top makes no sense. Because it’s not supposed to. Its more telling that their is shady stuff going on.

The vary first thing I noticed about the theme park was that if it were not for the imps running around you would think it was earth. The bluish green sky even looked like the regular earth sky you could even tell it was daytime. Hazbin Hotel everything was dark and vary packed. The second thing I noticed about the theme park, their was elbow room it wasn’t packed.

But why wouldn’t they go to the circle of the sin they were most guilty for in life because that’s how the punishment goes? Well does Lucifer care about punishing? Doesn’t anyone think it’s strange that the sinners only real torment is each other? Other then having to share space with ass holes they are pretty much free to do whatever. They even own businesses. Its like Lucifer does not actually give a shit what they did. Here’s a better question why should he care?

Thinking about it, in between Lucifer rebelling against God, being cast out and damed, I am missing the part where he agreed to be the dumping ground of the evil monsters, selfish Jackasses, or just troubled people who were just not really pure enough for heaven to want.

So why would he make the Hell born, his actual citizens, share space with creatures he wanted nothing to do with?

[punemy-spotted]

Coming Soon: I Swear it is Sweet

There are stories, whispered in the wind and the burbling of brooks. Stories of women with scales like sunfire and voices sweeter than honey. Stories of ancient blessings if you are careful and fanged endings if you are not.

Forgotten stories.

But all stories were true, once.

Pairing: Soft-Dark!Robb Stark x Naiad!Reader

Warnings: Rape/Non-Con Elements; Dub Con, Mild Body Horror; Tessa’s Perpetual Disappointment With Game of Thrones; Absolute Disregard for Canon; Human/Animal Sacrifice; Possessive/Obsessive Characters; Soft-Dark!Robb Stark; Non-Consensual Transformation; It’s Game of Thrones

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOUR CONSUMPTION OF MEDIA IS YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY AND IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THE CONTENT THAT IS BEING PRESENTED, DO NOT READ IT.

Not beta-read, these sins belong to me and me alone.

All of my work is 18+ Only, Minors DO NOT INTERACT. I do not consent to my work being posted anywhere besides Tumblr or Ao3 and I post my work there myself. Do not copy, translate, or repost any of my content.

Notes: I blame and thank @brandycranby for encouraging me to write this. Yes this is a Game of Thrones AU in which the Starks sit on the Iron Throne in the wake of what is still going to be called Robert’s Rebellion because I’m Lazy. Robert Baratheon is Hand of the King and the rest of the the worldbuilding will come in the future.

Reader is also from Dorne, but like… not quite.

Preview below the cut!

It’s late, when you see him by the riverbank. Too late at night for men of sense to be out near muddy shores where an errant foot might lead to an uncomfortable end in a shallow pool of mud. The man before you, nervously affixed to the dim moonlight to guide his vision, is seemingly unaware of such conventional wisdom.

You watch him with cautious eyes, gleaming yellow in what little silver filters from above. Like the rest of his people, heart and mind occupied by more mundane fears, he does not notice you. Not at first, not even as he seeks you out.

Dark waters have been your home for longer than you can remember, longer than you have been here in these icy ones. Dim as the night is, the stars and watchful moon above are enough for you, enough to see the things mortal men rarely notice. The silver beam of moonlight a halo around a shadow-painted form, glad warm in furs. The furrow of a brow made heavy with though, memories of youthful play buried under new responsibility. You know your wolf to be… handsome, even when he was a pup, but those were memories of a tadpole, when others lived to remind you of the ways of men.

Are you here? His voice is as you remember it and different all at once, deepened with age and made innocent with hope, seeking and wishing all at once, as if he’d rather be disappointed and find you not at all, find you a rumor complained about in naught more than a hushed whisper and a cautionary bedtime story.

You could let that be. Could allow him to leave, leave thinking you a nothing, a myth and a dismissal, leave him to tell those who complained about your presence that you were no such thing.

You could.

You could punish him for the forgetting, leave his memories confused with the things your once and only friend left behind in the wake of the growing a princeling must do.

You could.

[peaceisadirtyword]

Heathen (Ivar/Edlynn)

A/N: Hello♥️ as I promised, here’s the first chapter of the new series I’m writing. The idea came to me when I was rewatching Vikings and then I planned it while rewatching The Last Kingdom. So I started writing it, doing a bit of worldbuilding to introduce some original characters and here I am. It’s set on season 6B (I'm changing things, so it will not follow the show’s storyline). And I was really excited to write the mature version of Ivar, so I’m sorry if he seems a bit out of character. This chapter might be a bit boring, but it serves as an introduction. I hope you enjoy it, thank you for reading🥰 I will post a new chapter every Thursday at 21:00 (CET). 

Warnings: mentions of violence and war, talk of arranged marriage, alcohol... Well, it’s Vikings😅

Words: 4197 

Summary

gif belongs to @therealcalicali 

"I've heard the pagans are back" 

Edlynn raised her head. She sat next to the window, and had spent most of the time looking at the rain falling outside as she leant her head against the wall. It had been raining a lot those days. The beautiful cloth she was trying to practice her embroidery on was already forgotten and abandoned on her lap, a bit dirty with blood from all those times she had poked her finger with the needle.

The queen looked nervous when one of the girls in the room mentioned the northmen. Edlynn had also heard her father and even the king himself talking about it, whispering and with a frown, like men do when they talk about a very serious matter. They had already evacuated some of the towns near the coast, but no one really told her what was happening. 

"We must trust on our men and on God" she smiled at her "They will protect England, they always have" 

"I heard the king is thinking about evacuating the city too" other of the girls whined "What if they find us?" 

"They won't, my dear" the queen looked uncomfortable "I don't know about the plans my husband has, he won't discuss them with me, but I'm sure he'll do what is best for our people" 

Edlynn bit her lip. Queen Elsewith was nervous, she had seen her ordering the servants to start packing slowly, in case everyone had to leave the town. And there were whispers and an uneasiness that everyone had noticed. 

Next to her, her friend Mildrith leant in to speak softly. 

"I hope we can see the heathens from up close this time" she giggled. 

Edlynn had to hold back a smile. For some reason, Mildrith had a fascination for the northmen that called themselves vikings, even if everyone else was scared of them. She had been infatuated with a viking boy that worked on the lands King Alfred had given to the northmen some time ago. Even if neither Mildrith nor Edlynn had been allowed to visit those lands, King Alfred invited some of the settlers to dine in his own home sometimes, to secure the good relations with them. The boy and Mildrith had had a short but intense romance that Edlynn helped to hide from her family and the king, and since then she had been obsessed with learning about their culture. 

Edlynn could understand why, their ways and their traditions were different from the ones she had grown up with, and anyone with a bit of curiosity in them would want to know more. But no one let her learn about their Gods or they beliefs, for it was a sin. 

"I don't think we will" she shook her head and spoke softly "The King won't let them"

"Maybe they will be invited for a feast" Mildrith bit her lip, excited "And we can see them. They say they're are the same ones that took York" 

"We should go and pray" one of the women in the room stood up, interrupting Edlynn as she was about to answer her friend "For the safety of our country and our king, ask God to protect us"

Some of the women muttered in agreement, and soon the room filled with the noise of everyone standing and walking to the door. But before she could even stand, the queen approached. Quickly, Mildrith and her bowed their heads at Queen Elsewith respectfully. 

"Edlynn, I'd like to talk to you for a moment, if you will" 

She nodded slowly, and Mildrith excused herself after widening her eyes. 

"Yes, queen Elsewith?" 

"I just wanted to see if you were alright, Edlynn, these days I've barely seen you" 

She bit her lip again. The queen was always nice and kind to her, but it was still the queen and she couldn't act like close friends with her. And she definitely couldn't speak her mind freely. 

"Yes, I'm fine" she smiled softly "These days I wasn't feeling too well, I... Spent some time in my chambers just resting" 

"I was worried about you, you disappeared just after your engagement to Lord Edmund, and as I've also been there, I thought maybe I could help" 

The engagement. She had tried her best not to think about it the past few days. Even if Edlynn knew since she was born that she'd have to marry a stranger, it was still awkward to meet a man during a small feast that was announced as her future husband just half an hour later. 

In any case, she was still lucky, Lord Edmund was handsome, young and, as far as everyone knew, nice. Edlynn wasn't that upset about it, but it was still overwhelming, and the fact that she'd have to abandon the court, her friends -oh, what would she do without Mildrith?- and her family to go and live in a stranger's home saddened her. 

"Lord Edmund is a very good man that I can't wait to get to know better, and I feel honored and lucky that he chose me to be his wife" Edlynn repeated the words that Hilda, the nun that raised her after her mother's death, had made her learn in preparation for this moment. 

Elsewith smiled sadly at the young girl. It was a woman's duty, but she saw a lot of herself on Edlynn and she knew she must have been scared and nervous, even if she understood it. But Edlynn had always been a proper and obedient lady and, like many other women in her position, learnt to hide her true feelings. She'd never do anything that went against her father and the King's wishes.

"The king would never have let him ask for your hand in marriage if he didn't know he's a good man, a good warrior and a good Christian" the queen reassured her "He loves your family a lot and just wishes a good life for you"

"I know, my queen, and I will always be thankful to him and to you for how much kindness you've shown me and my family" 

Her smile widened. 

"I also wanted to talk to you about Mildrith" Elsewith sighed and started walking to the door "She really shouldn't go around talking about how she'd like to meet a northman, it's... Not proper"

"I know" muttered Edlynn, following her "I'll talk to her" 

She nodded, and just before exiting the room, Elsewith took her hand and squeezed it softly. In some way, she had always considered Edlynn her friend. 

"Remember you can come and talk to me any time you need" the queen smiled again "Women understand each other much better than men" 

"I will" she nodded "Thank you, my queen" Edlynn bowed her head again before Queen Elsewith turned around, walking to the nearest chapel escorted by two of the guards. 

__________________________________________

King Alfred threw a feast to celebrate the engagement. Usually, this kind of things weren't celebrated that much, but Edlynn's father, Lord Eldred, had been close to King Aethelwulf and was close to King Alfred,  becoming one of his most trusted men after his mother's death. Besides, Alfred and Edlynn grew up together and even if with time the both of them had learnt to keep their relationship purely formal, he still had a soft spot for her. 

Edlynn's sister had been married to a lord from Mercia and her brother was a proud member of King Alfred's personal guard. Now it was her turn to make the family proud by doing her duty and what she had been born to: Stand next to her soon-to-be-husband and smile politely at strangers that couldn't care less about her and her happiness but that queued to wish the both of them a happy marriage. 

Even if she knew that was what she was supposed to do, it was still boring. 

"The king has told me you enjoy reading" Lord Edmund, sitting next to her, was the one that started the conversation after talking with the king and her father about war. 

Edlynn was surprised when he spoke to her. It was the first time the two of them talked. She wasn't very talkative, at least not at the beginning, and didn't really expect more from him than the usual formalities. She had seen marriages like this many times, and didn't really expected him to acknowledge her much in public.

"I do" she smiled politely. 

"It's nice, what kind of things you like to read?" 

"Mostly, about history" she bit her lip nervously "I find the Romans particularly interesting" 

Lord Edmund nodded. 

"I will make sure that you have enough to read back in my castle" he said softly "And don't be afraid of asking for anything that you need or want to feel comfortable" 

That surprised Edlynn even more. He smiled at her confused face and his grey eyes fixed on hers. 'At least he has pretty eyes' she thought. Maybe their children would inherit his grey eyes and not her brown ones. For some reason, she didn't feel that overwhelmed by the thought of a young child with his grey eyes and her auburn hair.

"I knew you were special since I saw you, when I first arrived here to take an oath to King Alfred after my father's death, that's why I asked your father for your hand in marriage, and I'm pleased to know there's much more about you behind your beauty" 

His words were so sweet, and one lock of his bright black hair fell next to his face, giving him an attractive look that made Edlynn understand why many women had been glaring at her since the engagement was announced. 

"You flatter me, my lord" she tried your best to sound confident "I appreciate your kindness, thank you" 

From the corner of her eye, she could see her father and Hilda, the nun, watching her. Edlynn straightened her back and kept talking to Lord Edmund, feeling a strange emptiness inside her. 

____________________________________

Ivar knew taking England wouldn't be easy, but it would definitely be easier if he was leading the entire army. 

King Harald had the last word, and even if he trusted him enough to let him think about the strategies, it wasn't the same. Ivar made a flawless plan, he thought about every single detail, and he knew exactly what the english would do. It wasn't too hard. 

"So, King Alfred is evacuating the city" Harald emptied his drink, taking another piece of meat before his deep blue eyes fixed on Ivar, who ate in silence next to his brother. Hvitserk ignored them, focusing on the food on his plate "Should we take it?"

Ivar raised an eyebrow and swallowed the food before taking his cup to drink some more ale. 

"We need to defeat Alfred first, we can't do much with just the city"

Harald shrugged. 

"Defeating him in battle won't change much either, we need to gain some more ground" 

Ivar hummed, nodding. 

"I agree, and we should try and find something that gives us some kind of advantage over them, because we are outnumbered and we can't defeat them just by winning battles, they can assemble another army faster than us" 

"And? You're the strategist here, Ivar" Harald chuckled. In some way, he was happy to have the youngest Ragnarsson back on his side.

"We need to find something that makes them surrender to our terms and buys us some time" Ivar raised an eyebrow. 

"Like a hostage?" Hvitserk raised his head for the first time since the food arrived. He let Ivar do the talk, and stuck to fighting. 

Ivar smirked at his brother. 

"Exactly. A hostage, dear brother" 

"I don't think that a couple of soldiers captured in battle will make them surrender to our terms" Harald shrugged again "We'd need someone else, someone like..."

"The queen" 

The king raised an eyebrow at him, while Ivar smiled softly.

"Christian women don't go to battle, and we can't try and break into their camp, there will be too many guards"

"Exactly, so we need to find a moment in which the men are occupied with something else, something like..."

"A battle" Hvitserk chuckled. 

Ivar nodded winking at his brother.

"So you mean to kidnap the queen during the battle" Harald nodded slowly "It could work"

"The queen won't be far from the battlefield, and there won't be so many guards" Ivar shrugged, taking another bite from his plate. 

"We could go and meet them on a battlefield, I already explored some of the lands around here and I think it would be easier to attract them to the woods" Ivar nibbled one of the ribs "Then, we ambush them, and keep them distracted enough time to sneak into their camp and take the queen"

"And then?" Harald looked interested. Sometimes, he found Ivar's mind fascinating.

"Then we negotiate" he shrugged "We just want some land, right? The queen in exchange for that land, I think it's a fair exchange, then, when we have the land, some resources and a place to settle down, we can continue fighting, because we will be stronger" 

"But he could betray us after he gets his queen back" Hvitserk raised an eyebrow. 

"I know Alfred, he won't" Ivar shook his head "Not as long as he thinks we're willing to stop the raids and the invasion if we get the land" 

"So we lie to him" Harald pointed, and Ivar nodded slowly. 

"But first" he raised an eyebrow "We need the queen"

_________________________________

 The beds on the camp were uncomfortable. Edlynn didn't complain, though, knowing everyone had bigger problems than worrying about her not getting any sleep. 

Just two days after the engagement feast, king Alfred ordered to evacuate the city. The northmen were too close, and it was too dangerous, it was the only explanation she got when her father bursted into the chambers and ordered to pack only the necessary. Edlynn barely saw him since then, as he and Edward, her brother, would ride with the king when everyone was moving and didn't leave the king's tent when they camped, too busy with battle plans and strategies. Queen Elsewith was also with them, and Edlynn's betrothed, Lord Edmund, too. Betrothed... It still sounded too irreal. At least, he rode next to the carriage she traveled in. 

Mildrith was the only one that found the entire thing exciting. Edlynn often found her wandering outside the camp, and didn't mind how many times she begged her to stay in the tent, Mildrith wouldn't listen. 

Edlynn could sneak a couple of books inside of her trunk, hidden between some dresses, and it was the only entertainment she had. 

"They say tomorrow there will be a battle" Mildrith muttered as she watched some of the soldiers training. It was raining and the both of them stayed inside of the tent, just at the entrance so Edlynn could read and Mildrith could watch the people around. 

"The King and our men will be victorious" Edlynn repeated what Hilda said every time she mentioned the war "We have God on our side"

Mildrith frowned, as she always did when she heard that phrase, which was the only thing everyone seemed to say these days.

"I'm not so sure about that, Lynn" she muttered "They are smart and their Gods are fierce, they say that they're lead by the same one that took York" she lowered her tone "Ivar the Boneless" 

Her friend raised an eyebrow, the name was familiar. 

"Why do they call him boneless?" 

"Because he can't walk" Mildrith shrugged like it was obvious "They say he crawls around like a snake, and that he's fierce and vicious... Some even say he's the Devil incarnated" 

Edlynn rolled her eyes.

"Those are tales, Mildrith, he's just a man" she chuckled "A cruel one, a heathen, but just a man, he's just like you and me" 

"Some women say he's handsome too" she giggled. 

"Have they seen him?" 

"Yes, in York, they said he's cruel but beautiful, just looking at him felt like a sin" 

Edlynn closed her book. 

"You shouldn't go around saying these things, Mildrith, anyone would think you're in love with that heathen"

She laughed out loud, making some of the soldiers near them turn to look at her. 

"I'm not in love with him, I don't know him" she shrugged "But I'd like to see him, at least once" 

Edlynn rolled her eyes again, shaking her head before going back to the book.

__________________________________

Edlynn didn't know how to feel when she saw the men leaving. King Alfred said goodbye to his queen and Edlynn hugged her father and brother. Even Lord Edmund kissed the back of her hand and bowed his head with a gentle smile on his lips. She didn't know how to react, as she never had to say goodbye to the men when they left to battle. Should I cry? Smile? She tried her best to imitate queen Elsewith. 

"Pray for us" her father kissed Edlynn's forehead softly for the last time before getting on his horse "And may God be with us" 

She nodded slowly and kept silent as they left the camp. 

After a couple of minutes in silence, the queen walked towards her, making Edlynn nervous. Will she scold me for not doing this well? 

"Edlynn, I'd like you to join me in my tent to pray for the safe return of the king and his men"

She looked around. Some of the women looked at her, probably jealous of seeing she had the queen's favor and thinking that was the reason why she had been betrothed to Lord Edmund. 

"Of course" Edlynn nodded her head respectfully, ignoring them.

The queen smiled brightly at her, relieved to hear her agreeing. She had a bad feeling about this new war, and worried about her husband, but  also hoped to find some kind of peace on the tent. 

"You can go, there's food and wine, I'll go talk to the priest first, and then I'll join you"

Edlynn nodded with a small smile. Her eyes found Hilda's, who smiled proudly at the young girl she loved so much. Mildrith waited until the queen had walked away and then approached her friend. 

"What's with you and the queen?" 

Edlynn shrugged. 

"I suppose she's just trying to be nice, after all she understands what's like to be betrothed to someone you don't know" 

"Oh" Mildrith bit her lip, almost like she had forgotten Edlynn was about to marry a stranger "Yes, it makes sense... Anyway, be careful, people will start thinking you're trying to win the queen's favor" 

Edlynn glanced to a group of women from the court, who looked at the both of them and whispered. 

"I'll go to the queen's tent now" she decided to ignore it "Join me later? We could go to the river and maybe bathe" 

Anything to avoid thinking about the battle that was probably going to take place soon. 

Mildrith nodded with a smile and waved at her as she approached the tent. The guards bowed their heads respectfully and moved to let her enter. It was much bigger than the tent Edlynn shared with Hilda, and the bed looked much comfortable than the one they had given to her. The bedding was soft and warm, and made her sigh in jealousy as her eyes wandered around the tent. 

There was a table with some food and wine on it, and Edlynn's mouth watered as she realized she still hadn't eaten. In front of the bed, there was a table with a cross and a few candles, which was where she supposed both the king and the queen said their prayers. 

Edlynn glanced at the entrance to make sure no one entered and quickly grabbed a grape from one of the bronze plates and turned around to savor it. She loved grapes, and the best ones could only be found at the king's table. 

But as she glanced down to hide her face in case the queen entered, Edlynn noticed something on the rug that covered the floor of the tent. Frowning, and wondering why there was a dark spot just before her, she bended down to examine it, widening her eyes when she realized it was blood. There wasn't just one spot, but a trail that disappeared behind a curtain, and suddenly she realized something else. 

The guards didn't ask who I was before letting me in. 

Before Edlynn could even react, someone grabbed her from behind, putting their hands on her mouth to stifle the scream that left her throat. She writhed and fought, but there was two of them, too strong for her. Suddenly, she heard a whisper on a foreign language and then an intense pain on the back of her head as one of the two men hit the back of her head with the handle of his sword before there was only darkness. 

________________________________

Ivar was proud. Once again, he ensured a clear victory over the saxons with a flawless plan, and he demonstrated he still was the brilliant strategist everyone admired. Even Harald looked impressed to see that the risky plan to defeat King Alfred's army had been successful. Ivar seemed to read the young king's mind perfectly, and if everything had gone well with the other part of the plan, they'd have a queen waiting for them in the camp that would make things even easier for them. Hvitserk also looked satisfied, having missed the adrenaline of the battlefield and the satisfaction of killing too much. Harald admitted he was wary of those two, with Ivar's sharp mind and Hvitserk's skills in battle, they were nearly unbeatable. 

Thanks Odin any of them had given any signs of wanting the crown of Norway Harald had fought so hard to get. But he still didn't trust Ivar completely. 

But now they had a common cause, and he hoped that controlling some lands in England would satisfy Ivar's hunger for power. 

"So..." Ivar didn't speak until he had finished two horns of ale. The intensity of the battle, standing for so long and walking with the crutches left him exhausted "Do we have a queen or not?" 

The men that had just entered the tent, still wearing the saxon's armor, bowed their heads before speaking. 

"We do" one of them smiled victoriously "She's unconscious, but guarded, we had to hit her to bring her here" 

Hvitserk raised an eyebrow. Ivar had made very clear that he didn't want the queen harmed. Not yet at least, he had said with a chuckle the night before, Alfred won't surrender to our terms if we harm her. 

"She's fine, though" the other man glared at his companion "It was just a small blow on the head" 

Harald nodded, ignoring the stern glare Ivar sent their way. 

"Try and wake her up" the king ordered "We'll talk to her before feasting and resting" 

The men bowed again and left. Harald then turned to look at the brothers. In some way, it hurt to see them so close again, reminding him of his own brother, who had also been his most loyal friend. The Ragnarssons didn't have the best relationship, but he noticed they looked much closer since they went back to Kattegat after being with the Rus. He didn't know what had happened there between them, but now he was sure no one could get between them. He envied them for that. 

Now they seemed to be having a conversation in silence, with just some stares and grimaces. 

"Your plan worked" he said out loud, looking at Ivar. The youngest son of Ragnar shot him a cocky smile. 

"Of course it worked, saxons are predictable" he shrugged "And Alfred won't dare to attack us when we have his queen" his eyes shone with pride. 

"I wonder if she's pretty" Hvitserk muttered with a dreamy smile as he chewed on a piece of bread. Harald smirked at that, he understood the feeling of coming back from battle and feeling the need to have a woman after filling his belly with warm food and cold drinks. It helped to relax. 

Ivar rolled his eyes. He was never as interested in women as his brothers were, and the few times he actually was with women had ended in disaster. So he couldn't understand the obsession. 

"She's a christian, so probably not" he shrugged "Anyway, that's the last thing we should worry about" 

"There are beautiful christian women out there, little brother" Hvitserk chuckled, amused by his brother's annoyance. 

"They're weak" he narrowed his eyes "They are always scared, they don't fight and they don't have the spirit and the courage of viking women"

"How many christian women have you met, Ivar?" Harald laughed. 

Ivar frowned. He had had too much contact with christians for his liking.

"Anyway" he scowled, annoyed, as he stood up leaning on his crutch "Let's go, we have a queen to meet".

__________________________________

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[hamliet]

Unless a Grain of Wheat Falls and It Dies...

Or, why I am pretty optimistic about the fates of Jean, Connie, Gabi, and all titanized people this chapter, which is also an excuse for me to talk about SnK’s allusions to Russian literature. 

There are strikingly parallel ideas The Brothers Karamazov and Attack on Titan, as well as parallel plot points and imagery to the point where if it isn’t deliberate, it’s uncanny. (NB: before people yell at me about comparing a Japanese and Russian work, Isayama has used Russian names since the start of SnK--Shiganshina is a Russian name.) In particular, there are narrative allusions to a portion of the novel known as “The Grand Inquisitor,” which is a short story within a novel. The central thesis of “The Grand Inquisitor” is as follows: 

nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom. 

This parable is told within the story by Ivan Karamazov, a character whose intellectuality is his gift and his curse. He tells his brother Alyosha that the motivation for creating this parable is precisely the evils done to children (oh look, a major SnK theme) and specifically cites an example which was unfortunately taken from real life in Russia and which Isayama has an uncanny parallel:

I want to see with my own eyes the hind lie down with the lion and the victim rise up and embrace his murderer. I want to be there when every one suddenly understands what it has all been for. All the religions of the world are built on this longing, and I am a believer. But then there are the children, and what am I to do about them? That's a question I can't answer... If all must suffer to pay for the eternal harmony, what have children to do with it, tell me, please? ... if it is really true that they must share responsibility for all their fathers' crimes, such a truth is not of this world and is beyond my comprehension. Some jester will say, perhaps, that the child would have grown up and have sinned, but you see he didn't grow up, he was torn to pieces by the dogs, at eight years old...

... How are you going to atone for them? Is it possible? ... What do I care for a hell for oppressors? What good can hell do, since those children have already been tortured? ... I want to forgive. I want to embrace. I don't want more suffering. And if the sufferings of children go to swell the sum of sufferings which was necessary to pay for truth, then I protest that the truth is not worth such a price. ... too high a price is asked for harmony; it's beyond our means to pay so much to enter on it... It's not God that I don't accept, Alyosha, only I most respectfully return Him the ticket.”

The actual parable of “The Grand Inquisitor” is Ivan’s answer to Alyosha’s question about Ivan’s lines above. Ivan tells a story about how freedom is actually what dooms humanity: it is the curse. (Alyosha does not believe this.) Jesus comes back to earth and is promptly arrested, because his existence and return threaten the wellbeing of society. To be happy, one cannot be free, but one or two strong people in society should be free and bear the burden for everyone else (you can see the parallels to King Fritz/the Reisses). 

Nothing is more seductive for man than his freedom of conscience, but nothing is a greater cause of suffering... all his life he loved humanity, and suddenly his eyes were opened, and he saw that it is no great moral blessedness to attain perfection and freedom, if at the same time one gains the conviction that millions of God's creatures have been created as a mockery, that they will never be capable of using their freedom...

This is SnK’s thesis: to be free, there will be suffering. It is part of human nature, and yet to not have it is to be lost. But SnK, despite its explorations of human darkness and monstrosity, has a higher view of humanity than does Ivan. SnK’s view is more alongside Alyosha’s, who says what is honestly the truth about not just the Reisses, but Eren now:

"Who are these keepers of the mystery who have taken some curse upon themselves for the happiness of mankind? .... It's simple lust of power, of filthy earthly gain, of domination—something like a universal serfdom with them as masters—that's all they stand for.”

Mikasa is akin to the Christ figure in the story, akin to Alyosha: Christ is constantly asked to speak, asked to act, and he does not until the very last moment, when he kisses the Grand Inquisitor on the lips. After the story is over, Alyosha then does likewise to Ivan. 

Not to mention when Alyosha worries about Ivan’s mental state, he then answers with this:

“Listen, Alyosha,” Ivan began in a resolute voice, “if I am really able to care for the sticky little leaves I shall only love them, remembering you. It's enough for me that you are somewhere here, and I shan't lose my desire for life yet.”

A simple leaf can save a life. A leaf can save the world. A leaf, grown from a tree that started as a seed falling to the ground, dead, only to grow life from that death. Alyosha himself notes SnK’s central thesis of chapter 137 in the (very long) novel’s final pages:

...some good, sacred memory, preserved from childhood, is perhaps the best education. If a man carries many such memories with him into life, he is safe to the end of his days, and if one has only one good memory left in one's heart, even that may sometime be the means of saving us.

There’s a lot more to this, but this is the epigraph to The Brothers Karamazov, the central thesis of the entire novel:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." -John 12:24

Suffering can grow great fruit in an individual life, and by giving something up, by even death, something beautiful can come. Through cruelty, you can find life. 

This is not just a long-running theme in SnK, but a pattern in its plot. Often those who surrender then receive exactly what they had surrendered (but admittedly, not always, like Erwin). 

Mikasa accepted Eren’s loss, and got him back.

Mikasa let Armin go, and got him back.

Falco gave up hope of survival, and got another chance: 

Hange was going to die alone, feeling guilty for having failed her comrades, but saw everyone again, and they told her well done: 

Historia gave up being free, but now we know she will be.

Levi gave up on his revenge, and then got it. Annie thought she would never see her dad again, but she did. For Mikasa, accepting that she has to kill the boy she loves coincides not just with her acceptance of her love, but with the acceptance and knowledge that he loves her:

It always comes with sacrifice, increasingly hard sacrifice, but usually the seeds that are dropped grow and bloom. 

This chapter, everyone surrendered their hearts. They let their dreams fall to the ground, and I honestly think the story will allow it to plant life. Yes, the world as a whole is saved and that is enough to make thematic sense, but it works even better if the very people who were titanized this chapter also bloom again. They chose to trust Mikasa, Levi, Falco, and Pieck to finish the task.

The characters giving up their lives only to get them back make sense, and give Mikasa’s sacrifice of Eren. For Mikasa, Eren was her world, and she gave it up when she had lost everyone else. She had nothing left, and she still did it. I would hope she’d be narratively rewarded beyond just the world being saved, because Mikasa has always been motivated by her personal relationships.

Moving on from Mikasa: Connie’s mom has been kept alive and the concept of turning mindless titans back to humans was already brought up specifically in relation to her:

Connie giving up on his mother a dozenish chapters ago only to get her back now--not through sacrificing a child, but through saving the entire world--would fit the themes and patterns of SnK.

Thirdly, Gabi should not die. She’s Eren with positive development, and cannot meet the same end. Even people who are skeptical of every titan being saved seem to agree that she’ll be fine. It’s possible she’s the only one saved, but imo, not likely. 

See, the only shifter characters who are going to have the option of self-sacrifice are Falco and maaaaaybe Armin. The others look like they’re about to die right here and now, never mind choosing someone to save: the mindless titans are ripping at their napes. Armin also looks to be in bad shape. 

Yet Armin cannot narratively commit suicide; two chapters ago he was still screaming at himself for being useless and thinking he would be better off dead. He’s already tried the heroic sacrifice, too, so why would it work this time around? It does not work for his arc. Falco dying for Gabi was the plan without any freedom from the titan curse; it’s more powerful if ending the curse changes things, rather than forcing him to make the same choice that Reiner has always been trying to make: a heroic suicide. It could happen; it’s just not as narratively strong.

As for whether the worldbuilding rules, we know that mindless titans are not truly dead nor entirely mindless; they just don’t have freedom. Ymir’s case of getting herself back after decades shows that they aren’t quite dead or absorbed. They still have consciousness that can be awoken; Ymir described it as being in a long “nightmare.” Dina still went looking for Grisha. Connie’s mom remembered and recognized Connie, telling him “welcome home.” There is plenty of evidence that there are parts of these people that are still in there even if they are forced to become monsters (oh hey, it’s an Eren parallel; he was conscious of it and had choices while mindless titans do not, but the parallel remains).