#“she sundered a lot of people” what do u want me to do about that

[astrology-bf]

venatposting again

Spoilers for Endwalker under the cut, along with a disclaimer these are my silly thoughts. ❤️

I don't think it's remotely controversial to say that Endwalker's story is about hope. The theme song, Footfalls, has a verse about 'the Song of Hope', the final boss is the incarnation of despair, and the narrative is dominated by the contrast between the side occupied by people like Venat and G'raha Tia - whose arcs are defined by hope in the face of hopeless circumstance - with the side occupied by people like the Ancients and their chief representative within the story, Emet-Selch, who give into despair and end up destroying themselves through recklessness, violence, and apathy. Emet-Selch being the narrator of Endwalker is doubly interesting because despite living a life defined by failing to recognize the value of hope (personified in the figure of Azem, and I would recommend reading @siderealcity 's post about the astrological meaning of Azem being 'the sun' as it relates to the Convocation being their best selves for more on that) Emet-Selch nonetheless kept himself going for more than twelve thousand years by the hope of a return to the World Unsundered. And on that note... about Elpis.

In Greek mythology, 'Elpis' is the personified spirit of hope who - in Hesiod's version at least - is only gifted to humanity after all the other evils contained within Pandora's Box have been unleashed. Evils like...

"...excruciating pain. I breathe fire and torment. I birth a world of suffering to mire and plague. In one fleeting moment, lives come and go. Ever moving towards the unknown. And in that fleeting moment, they cry for the answer to the question: Why, given life, are they meant to suffer? To die?"

By the point at which Venat adopts the mantle of Hydaelyn and sunders Etheirys, the World Unsundered is already doomed. Even if the plan involving Zodiark succeeded as intended, all that would result is Etheirys ending up on an identical course to the Nibirun as seen in the Dead Ends - the society which ended with their best and brightest raising their arms to summon a deity who would lull their planet into a painless suicide. The comparison is cinematically explicit, too:

As is the point at which the Nibirun are first referenced, and Venat realizes the Ancients are already on a suicidal course:

Another thing which tends to get overlooked is the fact that the World Unsundered, on top of being a conformist dystopia based on a disregard for the value of life, had not only suicidally failed by the point we as the Warrior of Light see it - it had failed so monumentally as to nearly be responsible for the termination of life in the known universe. The Ancients are what produced someone like Hermes and then put him in a position where he was able to create a concept like Meteion, and then further put her into a position where her instinctive response was to initiate the Final Days. None of that would have happened in a society which could give people like Hermes meaning, nor one which actually treated their creations (i.e. their children) well and would have objected to the circumstances surrounding Meteion's creation and mission.

Of course what Venat did was a massive crime in the sense of the suffering it engendered and all of the history and legacy it ended up destroying, but it's an ethical problem which the narrative firmly weights in her favor. She's a lapsarian figure in the sense of being someone who facilitates humanity's fall from paradise; but (arguably) unlike Lucifer within Paradise Los, Endwalker makes the explicit case of the necessity of the fall, for sin, for humanity to be human. Compare "sin" with "fantasy":

Endwalker isn't just a story that tells its readers to hope, but also one that uses its time to tell us why it's important to do so. More than that, it reminds us that true happiness involves cognizance of the needs of others, and of the world.

Easy paths to "paradise" like hedonism (Eulmore, Allag) or fascism (Garlemald, Alexandria) don't offer real happiness because they only externalize the costs and the suffering - much as the Ancients did to Etheirys and the universe at large through Zodiark and Meteion. True happiness, within the MSQ, is found when parties reckon with their differences and come to terms as the Eorzean city-states do with folk they call beast tribes, and even after Endwalker as we see with the lessons being reiterated in Dawntrail.

Reckoning with differences invariably involves struggle, and getting through struggle requires hope: meaningful happiness, then, is one that is earned by walking towards even if the path is sometimes rocky, and after a certain point questions about the 'why' of suffering become unproductive. What Venat offered was true paradise: not "heaven", but the realization that facing life and its difficulties is in fact worth it, even if hellish within one's own mind.

You could say she rejected Zodiark's instrumentality, lol.

[relentless-endurance]

Hello, I love to encourage violence, please any of the following Choose Violence ask game questions you feel up to answering: 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, and 25!

'Isn't that basically all of them?' Yes! yes, it is. If there are any I didn't list that you wanted to answer, feel free to answer those too. I love drama, give me the chisme, peel it and feed it to me like squapes.

LIKE SQUAPES. fun fact: i have a squapes keychain on my lanyard. (alongside shoebill, Crow destiny 2 and (redacted) from Pandaemonium)

I will do xiv because. because.

answers them all because i have the day off, why not

the character everyone gets wrong

thats tough bc every character has those ppl that get them utterly wrong; I have particular beef though with the "emet was right and hydaelyn was evil" crowd because it just. it glosses over everything Emet did and acts like what Hydaelyn had to do was the worstest ever amen how dare she, when its like. Both of these characters did what they thought was necessary, but there is a gulf of difference between "I would let billions die to bring my world back" and "I sundered the star to avert a far worse disaster"

because i think people fail to realize. they were just going to keep sacrificing to Zodiark lol. (ALSO THERES ENDWALKER SPOILER STUFF as to why I will die on the hill defending my crystal mom)

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

see last ask! that was a dm a person sent me lmao. at least??? they warned me???

6. which ship fans are the most annoying?

this is going to be hilarious coming from me but i'm not much a fan of most zenoswol or emetwol shippers (in spite of enjoying the former) because the discourse surrounding it all is fucking. INSANE. and there are just ways they mischaracterize both characters that drive me fucking BONKERS. So I stay in my brainworm corner with select people and I keep emet selch as a bitter ex because its honestly a lot funnier

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

Amon/Fandaniel. Specifically the clown wearing Asahi's skinsuit and the guy from crystal tower. there is just. a vibe. about it. that i do not fucking like how the fans engage with it. i can't explain it concretely it just fucking bothers me.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

sorrows of werlyt is not gaius' redemption it is him suffering consequences of his actions. if its anything close to redemption atonement is probably a better word for it and also the wol still fuckin hates his guts you can see the faces in the cutscenes. he calls u a fried when at best ur coworkers for that.

also i'm a stormblood enjoyer till i fuckin die. this is not a discussion i had fun thats it that the message

9. worst part of canon

the fact that ARR didn't lean more into the fact that you were the WoL from 1.0, ARR's writing in general.

also in general there is more bits in the msq where i wish we could uh. bite back a little harder instead of just being a silent protagonist.

10. worst part of fanon

oh god. theres a lot. probably the uwu soft imperialism that people get up to with certain ships (esp bc certain characters canonically and categorically do NOT give a fuck about politics at all)

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Aside from the obvious female characters I will defend until i fucking die (Lyse, Minfilia, ETC.).... Maxima! I just think he's neat. like was actually being genuine as a Populares, and saw that shit was fucked and noped out. also here, have this screen shot where my crimes gave him thot boots:

13. worst blorboficiation

answered in last ask! theres 1 ur about to meet and 1 thats pandemonium relevant but yeah. bluuuuuhhhhh your milage may very

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Huh. I'm actually not super sure here besides things I've already bitched about. WAIT.

I fucking HATE when ppl have their wol who did not let go of heavensward trauma. like in that their wol didn't develop past it. especially if they're dark knights because. WHAT WAS THE POINT?

everyone handles grief differently ofc and its not a linear thing ever, but its so ?????????? to me that its like "my wol hasn't changed or let go or processed this at all".

what is the point if your character is never going to change or be affected? especially getting to shadowbringers??? thats all about grief and having a primo example of what NOT PROCESSING YOUR GRIEF does to you and can push you to?

like i'm not saying they shouldn't be affected at all, considering how much Haurchefant haunts you in the MSQ but like come on now. you've gotta move in some kind of direction.

(also smaller and pettier pet peeve: super 2edgy4me Azems. it feels so against what Azem was man, idk.)

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

my taste is flawless and impeccable and perfect. zenoswol may be the closest thing to an answer but like nah, its fucking funny.

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring

most of early ARR before waking sands

there is a bit after the first endwalker trial that i've sort of speedran on my subsequent runs, its not BAD, but it is a little jarring tonally the first time. i mildly appreciate it in hindsight because AFTER that endwalker cuts the brakes and is a semi rolling the down the hill at top speed emotionally, but it still like. please let me move on.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

alexander raids. mid as fuck honestly.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

oagh unfortunately i am a girlie who enjoys all the popular things in canon. The best answer is probably the Four Lords trial series. Its one of my favorites but people don't seem to talk about it much

23. ship you've unwillingly come around to

I actually don't have a ship that fits this. I only like like 2 of the canon/canon ships and i've always been a fan of most of the wolships that float around

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

Emet Selch. I love grandpa war crimes, he's one of my favorite characters and favorite villains ever, i have literal merch of him, but holy shit he is the reason for so much twitter discourse. which is kind of funny and on brand but also jesus christ can people please just relax and learn to mute/block people and tags aaaa

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

i don't know if this common or i just saw it a lot given my twitter algorithm but people have so. much. beef. with people who Persephone Azems. for some reason.

the reason is apparently they're most insufferable kind of straight girl shipper/emet selch fan but like aside from an occasional encounter on a wolqotd post, the two people i know/know of who actually have an Azem named Persephone are.

an mlm whose noriety comes from... being one of the biggest G'rahawol content creators/shippers

one of my lesbian friends who chose it for not shipping related reasons

and most of the time their highest crime is. an Azem named Persephone. that ships Azemet. like any genuine complaints there might be are like. not unique to this VERY NICHE SUBSET OF FANS but apparently they're sooooo common and soooo annoying.

like maybe just block and move on bc some of the complaining i see borders on being genuinely misogynistic like. its fandom pixels. RELAX.

[thefinalwitness]

hi hello i realllyy wanted to ask 18 but im not sure if it’s a boring one with how applicable it is with the WOL so I found another one too just in case \o/

15. What places hold significant meaning or memories for your OC? Do they have a positive or negative association with those places?

18. Has your OC ever had a prophecy made about them? Was it a big deal or did they ignore it? Was it straightforward or cryptic? Did it ever come to pass or did they circumvent it?

HIIIII THANK U THANK U THESE BOTH LOOK SO FUN

15. What places hold significant meaning or memories for your OC? Do they have a positive or negative association with those places?

l'aiha has a weird... how do i put this. you know when people have an attachment to something that causes more hurt to them than peace? l'aiha feels like that about the phantom amaurot. she visits it A LOT after defeating emet-selch, just to sit there and watch the simulacrums go about their daily lives. it haunts her, but she can't look away. she goes there until she and her friends are all returned to the source and everything gets a little too busy to sit around being melancholy in another reflection's fake city, and she feels strangely empty without it. almost like a lesser form of an addiction, a place she needs to go to 'feel normal', even though it just seems to cause her more pain.

she doesn't know why, but it feels like 'the key'. l'aiha suffered profound amnesia during the seventh calamity, and has no memory of her life or identity prior to it. amaurot, emet-selch going on and on and ON about this old world she used to know but forgot—it triggers this obsession in her. she wants to remember. she wants so fucking badly to remember anything at all. the memory loss hasn't bothered her since ARR, but emet-selch tears it open like an old scar, and she can't close it up again. she needs to remember. she will stare at this city with no answers for her until she remembers. only getting dragged back to the source severs her from that particular 'fix'—but at a price, cus see, what happens after 5.3 ties in WONDERFULLY with question #18. :)

18. Has your OC ever had a prophecy made about them? Was it a big deal or did they ignore it? Was it straightforward or cryptic? Did it ever come to pass or did they circumvent it?

so the answer here is "KIND OF". at the final battle with elidibus in 5.3, l'aiha feels something 'awaken' within her, prompting her to use the memory crystal she was given by hythlodaeus. what awakened was the semi-rejoined consciousness of her ancient life, artemis—azem.

and artemis is... NOT a pleasant presence for l'aiha. l'aiha finds her terrifying, finds it terrifying that every memory artemis experiences, l'aiha feels like it's her own. she finally, FINALLY is remembering what emet-selch wanted her to, and it's wrong and terrible and it scares her to fucking death. this isn't her. this IS her. this HAS to be who she was, even before the 'who she was' she was looking for; this has to be the ultimate, the 'first' who she was.

and all artemis wants, all artemis ever communicates, is that she wants l'aiha to give up. "lay down your life, and let me take up the mantle of burden in your stead." because to artemis, l'aiha is this sweet, precious, HOPELESS creature. artemis feels terribly for the sundered, because they are so full of life and love, but how, how could they EVER face what she, a full and whole ancient, couldn't? how could they ever, ever, ever withstand the final days when people bigger and fuller and More than them couldn't? she pities them. she pities l'aiha. she's like a kitten in the cold, unable to understand that no matter how she cries or searches, she will not survive this.

the "prophecy" is artemis's. "you are going to fail, just as i did. so give me your life, so that you do not have to face that failure. let me fail in your place again, so that you may embrace the peace and sanctuary of ignorance, so that it may never be broken. let me spare you."

and l'aiha is PARALYZED by it. through 5.4, through 5.5, and all the way to the moon in 6.0. she's haunted by this inevitable failure, this thing she cannot possibly do because how could she? how could she, when a soul fourteen times MORE than her couldn't? artemis has her in a chokehold and tells her it's mercy, it's kindness, it's pity. she tells her how sorry she is. she tells her she will take the pain, if only l'aiha lets her end it swiftly.

as for how the "prophecy" plays out... in the face of zodiark, in the face of everything that she believes has caused this pain artemis speaks of, l'aiha does something incredible: she does what artemis couldn't. she resists artemis's attempt to take over her body, she refuses to be spared—and she kills zodiark. she frees all the souls artemis mourns, the lives the convocation stole for an insane, doomed to fail bid to stop the sky from falling. artemis is speechless. she no longer haunts l'aiha's mind. she's there, l'aiha can feel her, but she is wordless.

she is realizing, over the course of vanaspati and then elpis, that l'aiha is not JUST a fragment of her. l'aiha is a person. every sundered soul is their own, unique person, irregardless of whose soul they were once a piece of. she realizes that l'aiha, somehow, fulfills the potential artemis couldn't. l'aiha is the light that shines through the darkness. she comes out the other side. she lives. she succeeds.

the "prophecy", the conviction with which artemis died, that the final days could not be circumvented, that the world was doomed—is shattered. l'aiha is not artemis. l'aiha is l'aiha, and she might just be able to do what artemis couldn't. the "prophecy" is one of failure, of doom, but l'aiha breaks it, and shows artemis it can be hope. it can be light. l'aiha breaks the song of oblivion that has seized artemis's heart for twelve thousand dead, silent years.

and artemis realizes that the reason she couldn't stop the final days was because SHE didn't have the hope. she didn't try until the end. she gave up. she despaired. and l'aiha won't. l'aiha will cry and mourn and scream and bleed but she will hope. she will try until there is nothing left of her to try with. she will not be spared. she will not give up. so no matter that l'aiha's soul is "smaller", no matter that l'aiha is not, physically or spiritually, what an ancient was—she is more. she is more because she dares to hope in the face of nothing but despair. she meets the potential artemis had and couldn't meet herself.

sorry i am. so so so so so insane about l'aiha and artemis in shb and enw hehehe. they're so important to me. l'aiha's journey to realizing "i am not anyone else, i am not anyone who came before, i am me, i am here now" is soooooo precious to me, and artemis finding peace in realizing that l'aiha is not lesser, is not a tiny, doomed fragment of her own failures, but is the potential that was met, is the successor, is the bird that came of the ashes, is so!!!! it's like a story about a mother and daughter to me. l'aiha is not artemis. l'aiha is l'aiha, and she will face her life in ways artemis never could, and she will succeed where artemis failed, and she will be things artemis couldn't be and WON'T be things artemis COULD be. it's. rolls around on the floor. i'm insane about it thANK U FOR THESE TWO EXTRAORDINARILY GOOD QUESTIONS ;_;

[sortasirius]

“Destiny’s Child” and the Destiny of...Them

So that was..........A Lot.

Liked A LOT about it, a lot more than a usually do with Buckleming, but uh, some issues.  Eugenie didn’t really need to bring up Busty Asian Beauties, that had gone and we didn’t need more of it.  And I hate any mention of John Winchester that is positive, whether it’s in an AU or hammering home how poor of a father he is, but other than some details, this was a wild ride that I mostly enjoyed and have a lot to talk about.  They certainly crammed a lot in there.

Starting from literally the very beginning, they’re hitting us with some sick parallels in the “Then” portion of the episode.  Listen, y’all know me.  Y’all know I am.......Not A Fan of M*g or M******l, I am, however a Rachel Miner stan, so when the “Then” started out with the pizza man and the cringy kiss from “Caged Heat” I sorta rolled my eyes but held out hope for a Rachel cameo bc I.....lov her.  But then.............”I learned that from the pizza man” is compared directly with Dean being mistaken for a pizza man?  And then eating pizza in like 20 different scenes?  Could the production be louder???????  There is, in my opinion, literally no other way to take that, that was a sequence that basically said “Dean taught Cas how to kiss” and I will not be accepting dissenting opinions at this time.

Also AU Sam and Dean were so dumb and I appreciated their stupid Fiat and the song that played when they got out of the car, thanks Amyn, I appreciate you dawg.  And then Sam and Dean explaining it to Cas?  Thanks base gods.

Cas was so fucking sassy in this ep and I......love him so much.

The idea of killing Amara is interesting, mostly because it brings her into play again, we saw in the beginning of the season that she just....doesn’t give a fuck about any of this, but the boys don’t know that, so maybe she’ll become an ally?  Idk, here’s hoping.  I miss her.

And when Cas and Dean have this exchange about the occultum:

“It was housed for hundreds of years in an ancient before it was-”

“Plundered by pirates!”

“No-”

“It was...dug up by tomb raiders!”

“No.”

“It was...seized by the king of the dead and his warlords amiclose?”

“Looted by invading mongol hoardes for trade on the black-”

“Black market, yeah I was gonna say that next, that was the next one.”

Like.....can y’all say MARRIED?  Anyway.

Danneel and Gen???  Together???  Ruby and Sister Jo????  Together???? I’m gay.

I’m SUPER interested in the convo that Jack and Cas have in the kitchen, specifically about Dean:

“Will he ever forgive me?”

“You know, Dean...he feels things more acutely than any human I’ve ever known.  So, it’s possible he could work through this.  One day he may explode, let it all out, breathe deeply and move on.”

“How long will that take?”

“I don’t know.”

Can we say PARALLELS fam??  First of all, Cas is so in tune with Dean, he knows him so well, knows how much he cares how deeply he loves.  Honestly it causes me chest pains to think about it for too long.  But Cas knows this because he just went through it, Dean “couldn’t forgive” and “couldn’t move on” until he had an Outburst in Purgatory and begged asked Cas to forgive him for how he acted.  It’s an interesting parallel because it isn’t a direct parallel: Dean was the one that asked forgiveness of Cas, not the other way around.  It’s a little detail, but at this point every little detail seems to be important down the road.

Also there were a lot of Looks between Dean and Cas and they were all soft and I gtg

And then we get the big mention: the first mention of Cas’ deal since last season.  I knew the writers wouldn’t just write this plotline off, and Cas is, “far from happy” as he says himself.  So.....not to clown.....but if getting Jack back doesn’t make him happy............what does? (I think we know)

And then Cas in the Empty, looking for Ruby, and runs into “Meg” (Rachel I missed u).  And I think it’s fascinating that the Empty appeared as Meg specifically.  The Empty knows Cas, of course, but, more specifically, the Empty knows EVERYTHING about Cas.  “I know who you love, what you fear.”  And the Empty appears to Cas as someone that he TRUSTED, not as someone that he loved.  It’s an important distinction, because if the Empty wanted to appear as something that would RATTLE Cas, it would appear as someone that he loved or hated, but he trusted Meg, that’s why it appeared to him as her.

Also, “go get her, pizza man” after that intro?  Really just hammering home that Dean is the pizza man with all the subtlety of an elephant imho.

Also Concerned Husband Dean is alive and well, he doesn’t even hesitate, he makes Jack bring Cas back immediately, important information be damned.

But before Cas leaves, Empty!Meg says something that should NOT be glossed over, about Death’s plan to defeat Chuck, “Funny thing about her plan though, she didnt say anything about needing you.”

How many times have we heard this this season?  How many times has Cas occupied the negative space?  “No one mentions Cas,” the loudness of his absence after the breakup, when he was kidnapped by Leviathan in Purgatory, not being mentioned in Billie’s plan, and now? Fret not my friends, I know so many people are worried about Cas, but Andrew Dabb is a Cas stan first and a human second, and all of these mentions or lack thereof of Cas being a part of the endgame?  It just makes him all the more important, because he’s a surprise attack, Chuck never sees him coming because he doesn’t consider him important.

And when Cas comes back and Dean calls him an idiot?  Some serious callbacks to one of the gayest episodes and one of my personal faves: “Lily Sunder has Some Regrets.”  They be married.

AU Sam and Dean were very wrong and I did not wike it and that’s that on that tbh.

So they get to the church, Sam holds the door against the hellhounds like the badass boy he is, and Dean and Cas really do just stand exactly where a couple getting married would stand, with Jack standing where the officiant would stand.  I mean.....it’s LOUD.  It’s just real LOUD in here.  Also pretty fucking ON THE NOSE that Jack stands in front of Jesus, Cas in front of Mary, and Dean in front of Joseph.  I’m not qualified to do religious iconography meta but uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh come on now.

That snake sequence...Jack’s life flashing before his eyes before he gets his soul back?  Ya boi weeps.  Buckleming had no right to write something as amazing as Jack’s snake sequence and final scene, it shouldn’t be allowed and it was not what I was expecting.

So.....there was a lot happening in this episode but, y’all know I sound like a broken record here, Dean and Cas were, once again, the overwhelming and blatant focal point.  Sure I watch with my eyes tuned to them especially, but they’re really cranking up the volume over here.  The Empty deal is back and unresolved, Cas talks to Jack about Dean’s forgiveness, Dean’s fearful when he thinks he’s lost Cas again, the fucking pizza man.  It all points one direction.