#'so i didnt have to deal with the prejudice'

[creatingblackcharacters]

dia duit! i hope you are well. before i start my ask, i just wanted to say i rlly appreciate ur blog and the MASSIVE amount of work u do, its a testament to ur character and the website as a whole is better off bcs of u.

i was just wondering whether i could get input from yourself, or you followers, abt a character in a story i am writing currently. i myself am a white irish guy, and my story is set in a rural coastal village in the south west of ireland. one of two main characters is a Black woman called mary francis. her dad is a Black man from america whom her white irish mother met while working in america in her twenties, and they moved to ireland, back to the village mary's mam is from, when mary was a toddler. her dad was a professor of literature in [insert american university here], but tbh he didnt like lecturing much bcs he's not a massive fan of public speaking and so when they moved to ireland he rlly appreciated the solitude and space and time to read, and currently he works remotely for an irish university writing articles and the like. mary herself works at and runs the local newsagents, and she is the captain of the parish camogie team. she is a pov character and central to the stories conflict, which is based vaguely off the corrib gas controversy (when shell was extracting gas off the coast of a gaeltacht village, which protested the gas pipe and the onshore gas production as being dangerous to them and the wildlife, and were met with disgusting and disproportionate opposition from the gardaí (irish cops) and private security firms). mary is the head of the protest group against the company doing the mining of a strange new (unearthly) fuel found under the sea off the coast of her village.

my questions centre around 2 concerns. first is that mary is a Black woman in a small rural irish village and ofc there would be some prejudice and anti-Blackness directed towards her. however, i dont want her to be disconnected from her community and have her side of the story be a pure miseryfest while the white characters are havin a grand time. im torn between havin a realistic portrayal of the genuine struggles and racism Black people have to face in ireland, and not wanting mary to be disproportionally unhappy. altho the story deals with a lot of heavy things (environmental destruction, the impact of colonialism on the physical and emotional landscape of a place, neo capitalism, grief, etc) at the end of the day it is a fantasy story with a fair amount of escapism, and i dont want realism to come at the expense of the escapism of Black readers. i know there would be many different opinions on this ofc but i was hoping perhaps ur Black irish followers if u have any might weigh in le bhur dtoil a chairde?

the second concern is that in the real life controversy this story is (vry vry vry loosely) based off, the gardaí and private security firms used force against the protestors, which is true in my story as well, and im worried, given that mary is the head of the protest group and heavily active in protesting, there would be similarities to real life police brutality against Black people. do u have any thoughts/ideas/concerns abt this aspect of the story? as i said before, i dont want the story to be fierce traumatic for mary, and i was plannin that at protests the other protestors would make a point of protectin her and making sure she is alright and not letting the gardaí etc get near her.

thank u so much for all the effort and care that goes into running this blog, and i hope all goes well for u. sorry this ask is so long! also if anyone has any suggestions for what state/university mary's dad should be from, pls let me know bcs idk anythin abt america rlly. go n-éirí leat le gach rud atá á dhéanamh agat faoi láthair a chara <3333

Dia duit! I must admit, I respect so much that you're using Irish in this! I know that's right 😤 make me look that shit up! Thank you for introducing me to the game of camogie, that's some new level sportery. And thank you 🙏🏾

Mary Francis 🤣 yeah this is Irish, all right.

Well first, pick an HBCU!!! omg please pick an HBCU for Black Dad to graduate from, I would love that. They're organized by state on there, and granted if you don't know any states that's fine but given his background, maybe pick one with a literature program that stands out to you? Howard, Clark Atlanta, and Morehouse are easy ones too.

As for your story, well... You don't have to surround the story in her trauma. Like, there doesn't HAVE to be some overtly racist mf in her face making her life difficult. But you cannot have police violence in the story, via the police fighting against the protestors, without recognizing that yeah, there is gonna be some... Racial Context as to how we will be treated, or how her words will be translated versus if someone else had spoken them. For example, very often a Black woman and nonblack woman can say the very same thing, but only the Black woman will be deemed "aggressive" for it. So as a leader, she's gonna have to swallow stuff like that.

You mention that the other protestors recognize her position, and will try to keep her safe. That's another good example. In that, make sure you're able to convey WHY that is important. You don't have to say outright "well we've gotta protect Mary Francis because she's Black". Just a showing of the allyship in the moment, of people checking on her, of noticing when people are being more aggressive with her than they are with her nonblack and white peers- both when they're there and when she's on her own. Integrating things like that allow us as the readers to know that there are moments where her race is affecting how she's being treated. Because in real life, that's how it goes down. It's never really Stated, it's just a fact of life. Most of dealing with racism is just that; day to day microaggressive shit you have to maneuver.

And you're welcome!

[uygfiug]

1, 33 and 70 for the ✨horrible✨ ask game

1. Do you have a good relationship with your parents? No, not at all. My father avoids me most of the time, out of guilt, I think. When we all have dinner together we just pretend nothing's going on, though. I get along really well with my parent & we talk about equality & human rights & stuff a lot, but they've also put the responsibility of caring for my brother on me, and now complains to me about how they feel like they're 'neglecting' my little brother. So you know, that kinda fucks it all.

33. Do you have trust issues? Not really, but I used to & I still have a hard time opening up fully, but I do trust my friends not to secretly hate me, so that's something :) I do also have a habit of casually talking about trauma, but never the things that still really get to me :)

70. Is there anyone you would die for? Yeah :) My friends & brothers :) I have a tendency to sacrifice myself for others benefit already, so I really wouldn't be surprised if I did end up giving my life for someone. I'm trying to be better about that now, ever since I almost fainted from skipping breakfast, so my brothers could eat more & then forgetting lunch.

[firefly-fez]

As a proud promoter of ‘Morgana was right all along, actually’ rhetoric I would like to reblog this with my support and clarify what I mean

Like, yes. She was evil. She became evil. She lost a desire for justice and became fixated on vengeance and cruelty.

The reason she lost her desire for justice is so… beautiful? To me?

It’s just. She stops being obedient, stops listening to authority. The virtues of obedience depend entirely on the virtues of the authority one is obedient to, and in Morgana’s case, authority is unjust and cruel, so she’s justified to disobey. She tries to go to people that she trusts for help, telling Gaius about her dreams, but he lies to her. He literally gaslights her about her own magic, and to a lesser degree, so does Merlin. So she doesn’t listen to anyone around her. She doesn’t have support, doesn’t have community, she feels so alone and terrified that she jumps at the first chance to connect with someone who tells her the truth about her magic - Morgause. She’s so alone and isolated and desperate to not feel like she’s crazy that she’s so vulnerable and it’s the perfect recipe for someone to take advantage of her, and that’s exactly what Morgause does. She wants to bring Uther down, but she doesn’t really hnderstand what she’s doing when she is made the vessel for the curse upon Camelot, she’s alone and afraid and by some force of mercy, Merlin is helpful and kind so she trusts him… and he poisons her. He didn’t have another choice, not really. But everything she trusted failed her. She stops trusting anybody but herself. There’s no one to tell her when she’s gone too far, not anymore. Arthur has accountability around him when he makes a mistake, and that drives him to make amends when he kills out of cruelty or vengeance. Morgana doesn’t. She was persecuted in Camelot and abandoned by Gaius and made an outcast in the only home she’d ever known. She goes too far when she tries to have Uthur killed after Gwen’s father is executed and at first, she is repentant when she sees Uther’s remorse. But Uther’s mercy is fickle and few, and Morgana’s mercy to him dies alongside his mercy to others. The next time she tries to have him killed she doesn’t regret it. At first, it’s just Uther she hates. When she learns her parentage, that she has a claim to the throne of Camelot, it’s a turning point for her. She sees Camelot as rightfully hers. With so much denied to her, so much of her own safety and security denied to her, the perception of Camelot as rightfully hers changes her. She turns against Gwen as a threat to something that she, Morgana, deserves. By this point, it’s all hatred and revenge fuelling Morgana.

Arthur is a good man, but he wasn’t always. He used to be arrogant prat who killed sorcerers on his father’s orders. He saw sorcerers persecuted and stood by and watched. He turned a blind eye to suffering time and time again out of a desire to prove his worth to his father. People stood by Arthur and supported him and that helped him to change for the better.

(Merlin made mistakes, too, but he had support from people who knew who he was from the start. Lancelot and Freya knew his identity as a sorcerer and validated it, and Gaius was a moral support who understood his magic that he had from day one.)

No one did that for Morgana.

It just makes so much sense that she was driven to hatred.

Her emotional character arc is just…. *chefs kiss*

Morgana conquered Camelot twice and declared herself Queen. And what she did after that?

She killed innocent civilians. She burned their crops. She let their children starve. She tortured and killed the Knights. She tortured Gwaine by forcing him to fight for her own amusement. And then she tried to help magic users like her! ah no, she didn’t lol

I mean, i love Morgana because she’s a good villain and Katie is freaking amazing, but DON’T TELL ME she was fighting for freedom and justice 😭 Don’t tell me she was fighting for her people. She didn’t care about them.  As someone said in another post “Morgana’s quest was personal vengeance disguised as revolution”. She wanted vengeance and power, she wasn’t doing all this horrible things for revolution and for a change. Mordred KNEW she was bad, but he joined her because at some point he had something to avenge himself.

Just because you sympathize with an antagonist or villain, doesn’t mean they aren’t an antagonist or villain^^“ Morgana had good intentions in season 1 and 2, but after that? Nope!

[marmett]

i think the fallout fandom at large dont give the various groups of new vegas enough credit for what they have the potential to build in the anarchy ending. like, a lot of ppl like to focus on how they couldnt possibly find solutions to all the problems the mojave has unless they have the ncr/legion/house, but there are so many issues that the ncr and house created in the area that independent settlements are already finding their own solutions to. and just imagine how much they could get done w/o the ncr and house fucking around and making things worse.

like, westside developed an entire farming co-op! food supply issues are a major problem in the mojave. dr. hildern's idea is to raid a vault and use unstable scientific research to fix it, but westside is doing fine on their own. imagine what they could do when the ncr moves out and they can expand to take over their old fields too.

another food supply issue is w/ the early stage capitalism the ncr and mr house brought along, and the brahmin barons like heck gunderson who can fuck up the food supply chain on a whim. getting rid of ppl like that and returning to independent, community based farming would do massive good for the area, and it would possibly open up an opportunity for jacobstown to start trading w/ the rest of new vegas!

like yeah, they had issues w/ anti-mutant prejudices, but i feel like when relying on other communities becomes a necessity ppl will get over it. and westside is right there too, i dont think theyd have as big of a problem working w/ a super mutant community when mean son of a bitch is already a beloved member of their own community.

and yeah, security and protection would still be a huge problem, but westside again has shown that communities can take care of themselves! they had to deal w/ the fiends on their own bc mr. house and the ncr didnt rlly care abt them and left them to fend for themselves. novac also came up w/ their own solutions to protecting themselves w/ boone and manny. and maybe this is the optimist in me, but i think fixing supply issues will reduce the need for communities to protect themselves from other ppl.

anyway yeah. the communities in new vegas have SO much potential to build smth great. i love thinking abt it.

[funnyscienceman]

Ok but like WHYY did ubisoft have to insist with the one game a year thing. Why couldnt they let syndicate cook in the oven more. Why do they have THREE queer men in the same game and not do ANYTHING with them!!!

Like yes, yes, i get it, i get wanting to for once make a story in a fun setting where you dont have to think about real life prejudice and hardships and bigotry and just have characters be silly, i love that too. I do! And id be all for that if doing it just didnt waste a potentially banger study of the characters and the setting ;-;

Like god i go back and forth on this constantly. I already love syndicate as it is, i think it's fun and neat and the happy gaming vibes about it is core to its identity, it's just that simultaneous to that, three queer men in the same game!!!

like GOD im still miffed that there are only, like, two or three fics about this, and so far i havent found any discussion or anything of it, but oh my god how different all three of them are from each other. You could do so much just with having any of them in the same room — and they are often enough in the same room (jacob and either ned or roth at a time), but nothing's really done there!

we have roth who sees fcking nothing wrong with getting kids hurt, because he doesnt actually care about anyone or anything, he's just some fucking joker wannabe that yeah, sure, probably has some anger and resentment at society because he's a gay man in his 40s or 50s by now, but jesus fucking christ retaliation against homophobia does not equal rampant needless unproductive violence roth!!!

then we have ned, who — i mean he doesnt ever give his opinion on whether kids deserve any respect or anything but considering in every other department he's pretty much just Some Guy, it'd be fair to assume he also has the extremely average stance of 'dont fcking kill kids and dont blow up buildings for no good reason??' in the grand scheme of the templar-assassin stuff he has just about as much relevance as roth: roth was just the boss of the blighters, ned just finances the fryes by virtue of them working for him. He probably doesnt even know about it, and tbh i dont even know if he'd care??? But like i imagine roth doesnt care in the way of 'as long as you dont get in my way, it's all set dressing,' ned i imagine would be smth like 'are yall fckin serious? are you kidding me rn? i have to skirt around transphobes on a daily basis, now youre telling me there's a secret society on top of that with even worse ideas?? What the fuck???'

like uh, not caring about it as in 'I cant deal with this rn i need a nap'

HE'S JUST AN EXTREMELY REGULAR PERSON (besides the crime lord stuff) IS WHAT IM GETTING AT.

then there's jacob, who's the youngest out of these guys btw, fckin 21 good god he should be at the club not trying to disassemble systemic oppression— ANYWAY

(ned is 27-28 over the course of the game, btw; we dont actually have a solid timeline for anything, just the year, so tbh jacob could've also been 20 and not 21 yet during the game. both he and ned have late birthdays, just a month apart)

so, yknow, being extremely early 20-somethings, both frye twins just take a train to london completely on impulse and dive headfirst into undoing the templars that've had an iron grip over the city for basically as long as they've been alive, yknow, as you do; and throughout the game jacob has to deal with goddamn daddy issues and fighting with his sister and insecurity and trying to be an assassin — and that's a lot for a guy to handle!! Especially one who's still just a couple years out of being a teenager! That's a fucking lot and if the devs are right, then he hasnt even realized that he's bi yet! Not until roth fucking kisses him while jacob's got a knife in his throat for the aforementioned indiscriminate, unproductive violence!

i mean, granted, yeah there were gay undertones during sequence 8, but i have to admit my bias here because i honest to god cannot take those missions seriously. Roth fucking preaches this and that about freedom and whatnot and then im plopped into the mission and it's the most rule-heavy shit ive ever seen in my short life as an assassin's creed player. Like what the hell, those missions were atrocious. Apprently i need to detonate the bombs a specific way, i cant just shoot them from a distance, i have to hold a button crouching down right next to the bombs, and then run the hell away! I have to avoid THIS and THAT while kidnapping xyz! Like there's freddy's apprehend missions and then there's THIS.

at least with ned's missions all you have to do is get the shit and go… i'm still salty that ubisoft cut his questline because they fucking insist on releasing a game a year >:((

my battery's dying. All these guys are different flavors of queer on top of just being pretty different and pretty similar in various ways, and there's just… barely anything about it. Ned especially, since he's just a quest giver whose screentime totals to, like, 2-5 minutes. I just wish they really did more with the setting; not just the queerness and these three specifically, but like, evie, henry, the class conflict — like there are shreds of it, seeds, but there's not much before you kill starrick and credits roll :((

idk. im just gonna refresh ao3 again cjemddjekjx

[trekkele]

Hi!

I was kinda curious about something. From what I‘ve seen in the Fandom it looks like Bruce was heavily judging and talking down to Stephanie when he found out about her Teen pregnancy, and he also used her to try and make Tim jealous about having a new Robin?

Considering Bruce never even wanted a Robin/dislikes his family also being Vigilantes (even if he is simultaneously proud of them) I don’t get why he would try and lure Tim back like that.

Especially his treatment of Stephanie seems wildly out of character. He wants to help Gotham as a whole, he doesn’t judge prostitutes, desperate criminals, or anything of the like, AND specifically has a softspot for Kids and teenagers, so his behavior makes ZERO sense.

But I get that canon does what it wants and sometimes goes for shock/drama for the heck of it and writes characters in a way that is more "interesting" (it really isn’t).

So what I really wanted to know is; is this also accepted as canon in the more Bruce friendly circles? Or is it more like Bruce cutting Jasons throat with a Batarang, where it was rightfully so decided that that‘s stupid.

(was there a """good""" or """understandable""" reason Batman acted like that?)

Ok so this is actually multiple questions and i love all of them because while i hate canon’s treatment of Stephanie and Steph-and-Bruce i love the core concept of the characters - which is, how do you deal with a alternate version of yourself? (Because i will never shut up about Steph and Bruce being parallels).

So to start, you mention fandom writing Bruce as judging her teen pregnancy which i cant speak to because i avoid those fics with prejudice and i havent read/dont remember if the canon ever even deals with that - but long story short No He Would Not. It does not fit his character or his stated goals to act like that. I dont really have more to say on that because the idea is absurd to me, so its kind of lighting up ??? When i try to imagine it.

(Also Bruce absolutely had a teen pregnancy scare/scandal are you joking? Easiest way to get your hands on the billionaire babies fund.)

The “make Tim jealous for Robin” is unfortunately, true but also that era of comics is so confusing. Tim is in boarding school with Alfred, he specifically asked Stephanie to take over Robin and for Bruce to train her, Bruce finally thought he was done with baby vigilantes but no, this kid arranged for a babysitter for him … bonkers.

The thing with Steph is that she was already a vigilante. Spoiler was an independent actor for almost as long as Tim was Robin, she didnt need Batmans permission or approval to start (but lets be honest she probably wanted it.) or continue what she was doing! So the thing with Bruce being harsher during training or refusing to train her … it wouldn’t work. It didnt work. It in fact led to the eventual confrontation with Black Mask and her “death”.

Majority of the Bruce and Steph fics ive read have done some serious frankensteining with her backstory and their relationship - for good reason. A lot seem to cut the teen pregnancy storyline entirely (a fact i feel neutral about. Its interesting and adds depth to Steph, but the way we talk about teen pregnancy has changed a lot since it was written.) as well as the idea that Bruce was trying to make Tim jealous- instead its about Bruce trying to convince Steph that being a vigilante is too hard, too dangerous, and too limiting for her to continue, which is mean yeah but at least its in character, especially for post Death in the Family Bruce who just wants these dumb kids to stop taunting death.

Its unfortunate that canon basically confirms Bruce’s fears with Stephanies death and its mildy infuriating how fandom treats it.

I cant speak for all of “Bruce friendly circles” (love that btw) but thats what ive seen more of, when their relationship is even discussed. I personally prefer fics that focus on her being Spoiler, and more independent of Bruce because of it - like Robin was an internship for a position she ultimately rejected, because it wasnt something she wanted. Also Barbara being more of her Batman with Batman being support staff. If that makes sense.

Was there a “good” or “understandable” reason Bruce acted like that? Grief, fear at what could happen if he let Stephanie keep vigilanting, Steph being unwilling to operate within Robin rules after being independent, and the usual “can you please go to bed its a school night” could work if you retconn his worse moments tbh. Was there a good or understandable reason Bruce was written like that? Misogyny and the inability to conceive of a female character who doesnt need him.

Im not actually sure i answered your question so Fic recs that include those big rewrites i mentioned: Blackbird by goldkirk, First as Tragedy, Second as Farce by autumngray

[enden-k]

I'm finally free to unleash my 2.2 asks on you

Anyways, wasn't Oswald the guy that basically fucked over the Avgin? Lowkey hope that scene with boothill ended with Aven thanking him before giving him oswalds fully detailed schedule .

Also can we get Aventurine and Boothill friendship, aven could use more friends and i have a feeling they could get along once they get past the whole *gestures to the whole situation*

(Ratio: who's this and wher are you going? You're supposed to be resting.

Aven: going to kill oswald, be back soon

Ratio: what!?!?!)

yea oswaldo was the guy who led the operation to establish sovereignty on sigonia, uniting the clans etc (sigonians were split up in several clans - like the avgins and katicans - and they were all in conflict and war w each other). it was the united clans that had issues and prejudice against the avgins and katicans tho so they decided to exclude them from the sovereignty and banish them to the desert, letting the avgins govern and caring for themselves (which basically means, its not the united sigonian clans responsibility to step up into the conflicts between the avgins and katicans, leaving the avgins to their own to fend for themselves)

the avgins asked the ipc for help and protection - which the ipc then promised them - when they caught wind of the katicans planned genocide but in the end they didnt help them in the war and yea. this led to the katicans slaughtering the entire clan, safe for aven

idk what boothills deal with oswaldo is (we will find out ofc) but yea aven and he should be friends fr, aven really needs more (genuine!!!) friends (and space from the ipc!!!) sob

[blackgumball]

okay weird pull but you know how people say that taylor swift is so popular because her work is so bland. she’s uninterested in making any sort of statement or breaking any sort of mould, so her work is so palatable and widely relatable that it becomes so popular among so many people? (real quick psa im a tswift hater so i dont listen to her music, this is a recycled opinion from a more educated hater than me)

i am beginning to feel a similar way about bridgerton. its premise relies on the idea of a diverse regency england, but it becomes clearer and clearer to me every day that the show is meant for white people. all the bridgertons are white, so every love story will either be swirl or just a white relationship (shoutout to polin ig). not saying that poc dont enjoy the show (we obviously do) but there’s this vocal white audience that keeps harassing actors of colour whenever a decision is made that they dont like. or that strays from the books (which is soooo insane literally the moment they cast rege jean page your dumb cracker asses shouldve realised that the show wasnt gonna care about being book accurate ESPECIALLY since julia quinn basically said out loud that every character in her books would be racist.)

and the show Clearly isn’t interested in pushing any boundaries. look at fucking cressida cowper. given, i have no idea whether her character is going to return to the show, but the way they handled her was so muddled and fucked up that i wondered why they even bothered? they bring her in, humanise her, and then cart her off with this terrible fate. why? if anything, it made eloise and colin far less likeable (eloise, because it seemed like she didnt care about the fate of the only person who treated her with respect after she was “ruined”, and colin, because it made him seem shortsighted, naïve, self centred, and pitifully stupid). i complain because i think eloise is right. the women in this period were stifled. they were not able to study as extensively as their brothers, not able to travel by themselves, kept from sex education into their adulthood, and married off to random men (sometimes against their will, as it was for danbury, charlotte, almost cressida, and arguably daphne). you set such a sexual show in a deeply unsexy time. there’s romance in cressida escaping, being cunning and able to run. it also would’ve made the show more DRAMATIC. it straight up doesnt make sense for cressida to learn whistledown’s identity and not go immediately to the queen. why not have her escape, and let the bridgertons deal with the consequences? i don’t know. they seemed to take the stupid way out.

and then there’s the lower classes, who we rarely see outside of the women bridgerton men fuck with no/low commitment, paperboys, and printers. i’ve said before how i think it’s hideous that the lives of these women aren’t explored outside of their role as sex objects. season one at least explored the tension between anthony and sienna, who he loved but couldn’t commit to (im very glad she got out of there. im glad she respected herself enough to cut ties w him). also in season one, we see how the servants of the bridgerton house played a role in saving daphne from marrying that gross dude, but it feels like that role has vanished from subsequent seasons. maybe they know that seeing how none of the lords and ladies and other rich pricks of mayfair can’t fend for themselves is a turn off for the modern person (remember when anthony and daphne couldn’t use a stove in s1? i got the ick bad). but by ignoring this massive demographic, the show proves its disinterest in exploring the pitfalls and prejudices of the society it is set in.

its a show where women who want to escape their circumstances are villainised for their attempts and where the lives of the poor are either ignored or used to threaten the privileged. you occasionally have a sienna or a theo, but through knowing them, we are never left with the sense that society should change. they may try that next season. i know benedict is supposed to fall in love with A Poor.

i want the show to be good. i want the show to be interesting. i want all the fans who think that it can’t be good unless it’s explicitly relatable to straight white women to get over themselves (or at least go back to tswift and tsitp). i want to watch the show and not feel as though all the female characters are trapped. i want to LIKE ELOISE. some things i dislike about the show are impossible to change, but i guess i just have to hope it can be better. actually start pushing against the constraints of the genre, why not? you’re already one of the most popular shows on TV, you can risk making good television.

[jessicashome]

thoughts after tbosas movie (severe waffling!! with spoilers)

FIRST OF ALL!!!! ik like being british vs american (panem was north america) has some pronounciation differences but ive been saying their names so differently!!!! like ive been using soft As for the Anus brothers but its actually Anus so thats crazy.

next its very different to how i imagined, obviously they cut out so much (which is making me Need to read the og hunger games) but without coryos constant dialogue, i think more people are gonna fall into sympathising with him.

everything was also just so much more larger, like in my head the snake tank was as big as a fish tank not like all the snakes she was gonna drop into the games. the arena was sorta smaller than i imagined. the beam that i pictured lamina on was metal not concrete/stone. marcus :((( obvs the watches changed to screens. the origin of rat poison is different.

THE PRONOUNCIAtion OF TIGRIS!!!! and grandmaam was so much kinder than how i imagined.

i sort of wish we saw coryos inner dialogue because i feel like its a bit confusing to new people without it.

also like why r they dealing with jabber jays (dr gaul does make a brief mention but that was such a small detail thats so easy to miss).

for me seeing it as a movie solidified how evil he is because how could he do nothing seeing sejanus up there like😭. VISUALLY seeing him have a STRAIGHT face during that was heartwrenching.

from the book, i thought casca was actually so weird for having such a grudge against him but i see why now. not exactly justified but given the way he is bringing more 'life' to the games when casca's actively trying to kill them is understandable. THE WAY SNOW KILLED HIM??? crazyyy. Snow Lands On Top

hunter schafer ATE!!!!! like the "you look just like your father" omgg after she told him that she always saw hate in his eyes. shes so good. also from what i remember in the book he didnt even like his father why does he want to be like him in the movie😭😭 wish we saw his love for his mother a bit more

the way lucy's footsteps disappear LIKE BOOK CRUMBS! or like i guess it may have been mentioned in the lyrics of the folk song when she was singing but still so cool.

THE HOBB IS MASSIVE.

aLSO i think the movie goes down the route of snow being veryyy paranoid at the end. because her voice is echoing like it does at the hobb, i doubt her actual voice and singing would sound like that from the jabber jays? so was that actually her or his paranoia making things up?? yes shes actually gone (run off) but never truly gone from his life. the way he thought he shot her😭😭😭

i personally think they did love each other but snow strayed way past that line of good. dr gauls ideologies corrupted him (well like that lie about humans at their core being evil). he had his prejudices from the beginning but there were times he was good. idk he believed he was good when he was helping lucy gray but then he also had his ulterior motives for that so it made it all muddy. he says its for her but also for the money and in the end he chooses money.

anyways coriolanus snow is a bitch!!! a handsome one but still a bitch. bro went "IM SO SORRY IM SO SORRY" like what the hell u quite literally had him killed. bitchass man 🖕🖕🖕🖕

[livia-dovehallow]

Tlh feels so disconnected from the other series. It ignores so many things established already, it's like it's in its own universe. For example:

- We know Cecily's father was an alcoholic and yet none of the adults noticed Matthew's problem.

- Cecily is very active and a fighter but in tlh she's like a stay at home mom and just takes care of Alexander.

- How is it that everyone is so accepting of all the lgbt characters. Like I know shadowhunters don't follow the same social rules as mundanes do but at this point in history being gay is illegal. LIKE YOU COULD GO TO JAIL. And you're telling nobody had a problem. I feel it really undermines Alec's story. He being the first gay consul is a big deal, his fight for himself and his identity is huge and here it's like it's not even a problem for someone being gay. I know history not always improves, so you could say that people got more homophobic with time, but how. How did we go from this generation to the Circle. Like let's pretend Alexander is the Lightwood ancestor, it means Robert is his grandkid, and we know Robert's father was awful. Are you telling me Alexander, Cecily and Gabriel's child, raised a person so badly? Like how? There's no connection.

- Also, how is it so easy for Anna and Ari, and possibly Thomas and Alastair, to adopt a child. Again, it was a huge deal for Alec and Magnus to adopt Max and Rafael, but for the tlh people is this easy?

- Also, we know Alex is the first gay openly gay consul, so should we assume Charles didn't get to be consul? Or he did get to be consul and the historians erased his sexuality?

SECOND TO LAST BULLET IS A MODERATE SPOILER TO THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NOT FINISHED CHAIN OF THORNS BUT IT DIDNT MAKE SENSE TO ME TO COPY THIS ALL OVER WHEN IT'S AT THE BOTTOM SO I HOPE YOU SEE THIS WARNING OKAY SORRY

I have seen this sentiment a lot and I do agree with it. Alone (entirely detached from the rest of TSC and ignoring the fact that these characters are the children of my beloved TID characters), it's an all right series. But knowing that it is a TSC book, you're right. Ignores so many established things.

I just try to think of some of the more historically-inaccurate items as intentionally inaccurate so that TLH feels more welcoming and a better version of history than we know truly happened. However, that disconnects from TMI, as we know, because of how much prejudice Alec faced being gay. If TLH truly connected to all established events, I don't think Alec would have been so scared and felt so threatened.

(And, no, I don't think Charles ever became Consul but that's another story entirely).

Given that we know TLH familes are the ancestors of the TMI families (or most of them, at least), it just doesn't connect well. Obviously, big things could have happened between TLH and TMI that made the Lightwoods go back to being assholes for a generation (don't get me started on that either because Gideon and Gabriel would be so disappointed in them).

I get not wanting to feel tied to the family tree to create the TLH story, but CC should have stuck to what she had already established in a main series. Side books I think have more leeway of being retconned or adjusted, but not a main series, especially not the one that started it all.

So yeah, I can overlook historical inaccuracy to a pretty far extent, but stay consistent in your storytelling among the 4/5 published main series, at least. You wrote yourself into that corner; figure it out. Sigh.

TLH would have made a better series if it had been written as an NA series rather than YA and wasn't confined to a trilogy.

Cecily being reduced to a housewife angers me too much to even address it in this already long post but suffice it to say that I ignore that part of canon because Cecily Herondale-Lightwood is not a fucking housewife ksjflkjs

[aesthete-sia]

4 minutes ep 1 & 2 theories

1: tyme knew great from before:

i feel like tyme knew great even before they collided into each other. tyme is giving very much stalker vibes. he could be following great for shady reason. like den says to tyme that he never remembers patient's name but in ep2 he very clearly remembers great's full name. then him appearing to save great from title out of nowhere and that too in parking. and overall trying to be attractive in front of great.

2: tyme and ton has very similar goals:

tyme and ton are close friends. i feel like they both hold prejudices against wealthy powerful people like sriwatsombat family. both had reasons to be mad at them. so both planned to take down the family, starting with two sons, great and korn.

ton was already in relationship with korn. ton was also frustrated with korn bc korn was not returning his love. also how he didnt believe in judicial system either cuz it doesnt give enough punishment to criminal.

tyme was mad bc he was a doc. esp after listening to story of lady in room4, how gambling ruined her and her son's life (editing really looked like he was entering his villain era with the thunders and eye stare). he must have found out that sriwatsombat deals with gambling and then decide to take them down.

and then tyme started stalking great or just collecting info about family and in process fall in love with him...

3: who died?:

we see that day-4 goes like below:

Its around midnight, great and dome arrives at hospital -> tyme takes great’s case and stiches him -> next morning police is investigating -> title is hiding somewhere -> ton learns abt bro’s death -> at night tyme saves great from title and shares line id

and day-5 goes like below:

gambling company is hacked or something -> korn makes out with lady -> ton is super sad -> win meets ton -> tyme was the person who took down site

so, on day 4 midnight/early-morning, everyone was alive including dome at hospital. But then maybe even dome got to leave the hospital, then ton and title fought each other at same location and dome died. then the next morning title goes into hiding and comes out to kill great too but is unsuccessful. tyme says great that he has to meet a friend(for planning and plotting). then tyme was worried about safety of great and so he asks ton to finish off title the next night. and also bc ton was very bc of his bro's death. so he would totally do it. ton also says how judicial system is unfair and doesn’t provide enough punishment. So he decided to take matters in his own hand. Also he was very angry bc of korn. So he kills title on the night of day5.

so both tyme and ton finishes off the tasks on the night of day5.

[dez-wade]

Ok this is long, but I feel that you like to discourse, but feel free to ignore this if you want! So last night there're very interesting convos between qbad and qforever, fist let me say how badass qbad is for dying in his own terms when all the server wants his head, he protects qpac and don't let himself die to not prejudice his team. He would stay in a role in the ground until the server close to not die, qetoiles and qroier would never be able to kill him, and actually no one wanted to fight with them, green needs a kill if they want to win, cause they didn't have any kill all the day

The green passes all day doing the quests, the only thing they needed was kill someone and kill qbad twice to get the egg quest and qforever manage to do it using diplomacy, he passes 1 hour talk with qbad, who would constantly try to change the deal and even talking with the other team to try and get something better. In the end their deal were good for both teams, green would win the day and finish the egg quest and blue would get the pix with fortune and end the quest as well by killing qfit, Also is best to blue if green won cause then blue would only need one win to stay at the lead, but if red won, blue would need two wins

Qforever talk with his teammates in call, they did know that he was trying to make a deal, but since the deal were broke and remake thousands of times because of qbad, people in his team thought that it didn't worked, but in the end it did, but qforever doesn't haved the time to say "hey NOW it worked guys". Also qbagi had the same ideia in the begging of the day of try to talk with qbad if they didn't manage to kill him, were everyone agree

People are using qetoiles and qroier who wanted to win by pvp to shit on qforever and saying that he passes by qetoiles authority, with was not the case, this people don't know how green works together, and even saying that qforever broke a alliance between green and red that he didnt even knew that existed, and even if he knew why wouldn't he make what he need to end the egg quest and win? I think qfit undestand this even more, since he is the only father of ramon, for him is best to green or blue win because of the deal qfit and qbad has about dapper and ramon

Like people complaining that this event is majority pvp, and then a player that is not good at it manage to put his team at top by talking and make a deal, also there were an admin with them when qforever was killing qbad. qforever, qfit and qbad will make whatever they need to win and get their kids back, and if who make the deal was the other team it would be conside fair and super smart

Yeah, it's extremely frustrating that people keep twisting what happened. Like, okay you don't need to like but people making it as if Forever did behind Roier's and Etoiles's back and that's the reason they were so upset it's revolting because they're trying to pit them against each other and make the others look like assholes.

And also, Green and Red didn't exactly have an alliance. Etoiles was 100% willing to kill a red if he found one in the wild that day but they were all hiding behind their safe zone, and they refused to fight him when he asked. What's the point of having an alliance where you put yourself at a disadvantage? Red already got two wins before, while Green got only one. People love to talk about balance but people were fine if Red and Green were together all the time just to target Blue? How is that fair to Blue being against two teams at once?

And in the end, they didn't even kill anyone from Red and just did an exchange with BBH, not even Blue, to kill him. It's not something that will last it was just for that day.

Sometimes it seems like people really forget this is a competition with their kid on the line.

[jackienautism]

Literally hate that dedue, the only dark skin team mate you get is so sub servient to a white male character and I feel like no talks about this,

hmm you're. absolutely right. i never actually thought abt it like that before. it really DOES give off white savior type shit... i know dimitri's whole thing is trying to get dedue to FINALLY see him as an equal, but youre right. the implications of it are very... bad. esp when it couldve been ANY other character in the game, but they chose to pick the black man? esp ESP when lorenz in one of the beginning chapters says that some nobility bullshit probably is even worse than slavery? like. lets be for real

also? i never rly thought abt it until now but like. of COURSE the regions outside of fodlan (almyra, duscur, etc) all have some sort of .... conflict for lack of a better word w/ the white man from the church right? of course theres people LIKE ingrid in faerghus that disdain people of duscur due to what happened. and of course people of the alliance are weary of almyrans too. LIKE. of COURSE realistically racism is going to exist, but to have both places have such huge conflicts and be portrayed as the "Evil" towards the primarily white area is a bit ............. bad. it's bad. fire emblem needs to be better. adding one person of color per house isnt going to magically make the game's own racism disappear. doesn't matter how much "discussion" they have surrounding it either, theres still bias and prejudice seen in the game itself

like they rly gave petra an irish last name? making people doubt that brigid is most certainly inspired by polynesia? they clearly did their research when designing her, so why didnt they do more when naming? it just doesn't make any sense.

and with shamir? she's from dagda but... what IS dagda meant to be? they just say shes from a foreign place and refuse to elaborate. but i suppose that's just petty of me to bring up, its just somethign that's always bothered me

and you're right that no one really talks about it. /I/ certainly havent seen much discussion surrounding it, but then again i dont necessarily go out of my way to search for it. but yeah. it deserves to be criticized

and maybe all that i talk abt doesnt even matter or its not a big deal or whatever but like. whatever man. i sometimes just want people of color to just exist in my silly fantasy video game. without Racism and the change everyone has to go through being their like. main arc

[purrvaire]

so. this is going to be a personal post, free to skip etc

cw // grieving

today it's my granny's bday. she passed away in July - she would be 93 today - after being sick for quite sometime. and i guess im feeling it particularly bc life has been absurd and i didnt have much time for processing when it happened - i had to help mum sort out stuff before and after the funeral, uni exams of course didn't stop for me. like, i realized i have troubles dealing with it bc i gathered the courage to watch the last video mum took of her - the day before she passed - only yesterday and it hurt so bad. anyway, i don't want to wallow in painful memories so ill tell you some of the happy ones <3

me and my grandma were very close; she lived with me while i was growing up and we used to share a room; she had her quirks, mind you, my sister and her would fight a lot and, as always, i was left to placate both of them lol but the thing is, she was always ready to listen. when i came back from school, i would tell her all about my day and my friends. in the last months i needed to repeat her stuff bc her memory failed her a bit. and she helped me as far as she could with school or, when she wasn't able bc she finished school at 15, she would listen. And she was so interested in what I was learning! Istg I prepared a whole ass exam about linguistics and she wanted to hear all about it! When I had exams, she would comfort me the day before and she was the first person I would call after bc I knew she would be waiting anxiously for me to call. Actually, I had an exam at the end of July and I got the top mark (30 e lode, which I guess is A+? Idk) and I had to stop myself from calling her number, it was so automatic the routine we had.

When she could still read easily, we used to read books together; we read the Secret Garden and Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice and Anne of Green Gables - the last one was the topic of my undergraduate dissertation which I dedicated to her.

AND my old lady was such a great football fan! NO BUT SERIOUSLY she wouldn't miss a match, we supported the same team of course and she would get fond of players too LMAO the night she was hospitalised, I remember she didn't want to leave home because - and I quote - she was busy watching the Champions League. I get it from her. In fact, this year, chances are that my team could win the league after 30+ years and it's bittersweet, you know? Knowing that she isn't there to enjoy it.

Anyway, I'm typing this while I'm waiting at the hairdresser - she liked my hair long and was sad when I cut it but anyway she believed it suited me - and tomorrow I'm taking a plane to Belgium to visit a friend; I'm telling you bc I can't tell her. She was very religious - as all old southern italian ladies are - while I'm not so much anymore, but just for today I'll believe she is watching me from up there. 🤍

[cherriesandcharms]

What are your thoughts on the lack of elvish prejudice in DAV? As an elven rogue, I was pretty disappointed tbh

okay so beware spoilers below and im going to get rambly

also im assuming we're discussing the prejudice and hatred TOWARDS elves? if i got that wrong sorry for the unsolicited essay on the lack of fantasy racism lmao

im putting this below the cut bc it did get long

I will admit that this didnt cross my mind my first time through. but ur right, theres a distinct lack of "knife ear" comments. I haven't gotten far into my playthrough with my elf rook so idk how ppl react to them yet.

from what i remember there are comments from Bellara and maybe Davrin about the gods actions making things harder for elves but we dont see the evidence of this, which i would have liked to explore more

i have a couple of lore questions that i dont know the answer to that popped into my head while thinking about this:

do cities in northern thedas have alienages in the same way that the south does?

Is this something that the game doesn't show us, or do they just not exist and there is more elven integration, at least in the poorer areas we're shown (dock town in minrathous)?

with the way the class system and slavery in tevinter works, is the disdain shown towards slaves generally, regardless of race? Fenris was an elf, but his mistreatment was focused on him being a slave from what i recall

The Exalted March of the Dales was an Orlesian Chantry crusade in the south, without this kind of conflict in the north were tensions not as high between elves and other races (also potentially answering the alienages question???)?

maybe im stupid and easy to please but i can also rationalise the lack of fantasy racism with what we see in game

Factions:

the veil jumpers are lead by elves (or at least irelin and strife are our main contacts), spend all their time with elven artifacts, and primarily work in arlathan forest and are close with the dalish. makes sense we dont get racism there

the crows care more about their contracts, and again one of our main contacts (teia) is an elf, plus they're dealing with the antaam taking over the city, if ppl are gonna be racist im sure they have a target that makes more sense (sanitization of the faction attitudes is another issue)

the wardens are focused on trying to end the blight, and accept all races into their ranks anyway. i like that the first warden doesnt hate u bc of ur race but bc ur this random lunatic who strode in yelling about elven gods and distracting his wardens from fighting the blight. and then later on we're mainly dealing with Antoine, an elf (and his wife)

Lords of Fortune has Isabela and i am an isabela/merrill truther 😌(pls refer back to "stupid and easy to please") (also again, dont love the portrayal of the lords, but thats a different issue)

i feel like it makes sense that we dont get racism from the mourn watchers, theyre so respectful of the dead, i dont think u can care that much about a persons eternal rest and hate them in life

full disclosure i picked saving treviso, so in my experience the shadow dragons had bigger issues to deal with. im chill with the viper not being racist when he got blighted and is fighting a cult. but also goes back to my points about minrathous having a different way of looking at class systems

other world building points:

we dont spend a lot of time with royalty/politicians unlike in previous games. v easy to show elves being mistreated in the winter palace, or the arl of denerim's estate, but we dont get shown a lot of that in these cities

I do think it's weird that we have such a lack of bigotry to the elves with the history of the other games, and the fact that the old elven gods are tearing the world apart, it could have been explored more. however im not upset by the lack of. ambient racism

i know a big complaint that people have is that veilguard isnt as "dark" as origins, but i dont think a game needs bigotry to be a dark and confronting story

[vtori73]

Hmm, people are making a big deal about interpretations/interpreting that one scene in Dunm3shi with the succubus and La0is and doing deep dives and shit but honestly?

I think it was just mostly a funny gag scene mixed with the author turning the tables on common troupes & readers desires & thoughts when it comes to things like this. In this example, the main characters if the opposite gender will be pushed together either by the story narrative or the readers assuming they have a thing for each other so the author wanted to not only reject that kind of troupe/thinking but also do it in a comedic way.

Most people would assume there are some romantic feelings at least coming from La0is because he is a man and while I can acknowledge her looks probably are closer to his type that doesn't necessarily mean all that much considering people can have types but not be interested in a person who fits that criteria, plenty of people end up with people who aren't technically their "ideal/fav" type physically doesn't mean they find the person less attractive because of it or would want to be with someone more who does fit their "ideal" type because in the end looks really aren't everything. BUT, this is specifically a personal opinion, even more specifically it's what I WANT the scene to mean, I don't really want it to be some big deal that means something deeper and would rather it just be some funny way the author went about spitting on common tropes.

---------------

Since I'm here anyway I want to mention something I've been wanting to write down but haven't yet... While I like Dunm3shi I also have some "eh" feelings about it and I think I finally (mostly) understand why that is after reading someone's long analysis of the above scene I was talking about (that I didnt even agree with 100% but in one section it did help me understand my feeling/thoughts more on La0is/the series in general). My main thing is that while a lot of people like the series because of its more realistic look on race/racism between various races & creatures and having it actually addressed and spelled out and while I do think it does help enhance the story and build the world up more and make it more realistic I ALSO think it doesn't really at the end of the day say or do much... which I guess it doesn't HAVE to but well... let me explain my thoughts below.

But, real quick I want to add that I also find it interesting how people dont differentiate between racism & fantasy race/creature prejudice/bigotry because racism is specifically about RACE, as in skin color and something that deals with HUMANS and not different creatures/species and to conflate the two is never really a good thing because you can't really and often can lead to messy narratives that we especially find often in fantasy like settings.

Anyway, moving back to my thoughts on this, which aren't too deep but basically while I do like that aspect and that it gets addressed and pointed out moreso than regular fantasy (which I think is why I've never been a big fan of fantasy the old timey-ness mixed with that and real world racism/bigotry coming from the people who make this stuff just never sits well with me it's kind of like the phenomena of white people who wish to live in the 50s or something without thinking for one second how they would be the only ones who could/would be able to live safely in that sort of time) I also have a hard time liking what it actually does do/say with it which isn't much. Sure EVERYONE is bigoted in the world, most people in real life are too but is this REALLY ever stopped & questioned all that much? It is really challenged all that much, does anyone stop to think maybe we should be better? Sure at the end of the story things are changed due to what happens (trying to keep this spoiler free) but like... bigotry in general seems more like an aside thing, not really important and more so the whole idea of desires and how they corrupt and such and humanity or something.

This paired with a protagonist who is not just white, but a little close to what white supremacists hold up as the ideal with having blonde hair (but no blue eyes, gold color instead) who has a BIG prejudice against ALL humans due to personal experiences because he isn't like other humans and always seems like it kind of justified due to how EVERYONE, especially human, even friends, seem to react to him with the added aspect that he himself is not free of being racist/prejudiced either and doesn't seem to ever see or acknowledge it or is confronted by it really (racism/bigotry against Shiro & the mountain people specifically). With the added aspect that even different races (races aka the meaning of race in OUR world) are all the same and treated the same it seems and while we can say MAYBE racism like in our world isn't really a thing in this world or as big of a thing in this world it still is weird considering how race actually IS a big factor in the real world and how just... weird this comes off, the white boy feeling the MOST ostracized and out of place in a world of monsters and different race humans & creatures & such to the point of wanting to BE A MONSTER because monsters kill humans (okay so I failed in being spoiler free my bad)... I mean hell, one of his traveling companions is one of the most oppressed races but he doesn't desire things like La0is does.

Now I do feel like I have to add so people don't get the wrong idea tha, no, I don't hate his character or think he is evil or horrible or the worst thing ever I just acknowledge that it comes off odd is all when you analyze all of his character. Sure, he is heavily implied as not being neurotypical and is mistreated for that and can count as something he is oppressed for but plenty of others in the story are oppressed and don't end up wishing for the kinds of things he does, sure he does care about others at the end of the day but im not going to pretend he's a perfect character just because he has faced hardships due to being different. It just reminds me of all the white people in real life who go on about the one or two area of oppression they face while ignoring they still hold a lot of power in the world for being white and use that oppression they face as a shield and sword against anyone who dares criticize them. Instead of acknowledging they gain to benefit from continually perpetuating bigoted rhetoric & ideas that have long been said and done against other oppressed groups they go on the offense and stick their head in the sand wanting to desperately believe that because they are oppressed in x way means they can't possibly still be oppressors/privileged.

It's all just a little weird to me, I can't even say anything past that it just comes off a bit weird to me when I take a step back to analyze it all.

I mean, technically speaking we could say it's sort of realistic with how at least in America and similar places white men tend to be the demographic that commits the most violent acts (shootings for example) but I don't think that was exactly the authors intentions especially considering it all works out in the end and he ends up saving people and the world due to his desire to want to be a monster/his hatred against humans which is kind of funny because it wasn't even INTENTIONAL on his part it just sort of worked out which is... something. Kind of funny but still.

I really liked dunm3shi when I started it, I thought it was hilarious and was why I picked up the manga because the anime made me laugh but once I got to the end I felt meh about it and didnt really understand why and honestly at first thought it was because everything worked out in the end and i interpreted that as meaning i wasn't thrilled about a happy ending but it was actually something a bit more than that. Pair this ALSO with the fact of how white fandom is reacting to La0is and relating to him and even saying how they find all the characters to be racist in some way "realistic"... (Yeah I know I said the same thing but it wasn't the ONLY thing I said, and you'll see more of what I mean when you continue to read) really REALLY leaves a gross taste in my mouth and makes me feel like the story and La0is as a character is making these people feel more emboldened to excuse their own prejudice/racism for x reason whether it be because "uwu no one gets me because im not neurotypical," to "everyone is just like that so it's fine that I am, I don't need to improve or change at all."

Now, no, I'm not saying the story is LITERALLY doing this or even the author I'm saying that's how people are interpreting/reading it which makes me uncomfortable as not only a non-white person but also someone who ISN'T neurotypical and also isn't cis or hetero that I don't feel the way La0is feels and kind of abhor that kind of thinking and really often tends to come from rather privileged people (yes, especially white people). Sure maybe at most I feel that way against white people, MAYBE, and while some will say to me "that makes you no better," that only shows to me that you don't know enough about racism & power dynamics to have a say on this discussion because at the end of the day people hating and maybe even wanting their oppressors dead is not the same as being an actual oppressor who has the power to not only do what some may wish/fantasize about with little to no consequence but probably already has or done so in the past and actively benefits from it. I know oppression works a TAD bit differently in this world with the long lived races having more power and say in the but... I don't really think it detracts from my overall thoughts much if at all tbh.

Alright... I think that's it, I may have missed something and probably didn't explain as well as I could have but this was kind of an ADHD rant so... YEAH, it is not going to be the most organized/well explained thing, deal with it, lol.