#(tagged for those that don’t want to know this stuff)

[trevisos]

i think some of the trouble i’m having with figuring magpie out is that i initially planned them to live in a world where elves are oppressed and the crows are an organization that trains children to kill so rigorously that many die before becoming proper assassins and until ~10 years ago the majority of mages lived locked in towers because the general population found them too frightening to live freely and bioware kind of smoothed out many of these edges in veilguard and now i don’t have like. any of those hooks i expected to have to anchor magpie as a Person In The World. i mean granted the mage thing was always going to be less of a big deal bc ik the culture around mages in antiva was different even when the circles Did exist but the other stuff i like… idk i guess i didn’t Expect the whole elven oppression thing to be so smoothed over and sanitized. but it’s barely mentioned?? bellara straight up was like “will people dislike elves after this?” as if they don’t already? the shadow dragons are fighting slavery in tevinter, a thing that has historically happened Mostly To Elves, and yet that’s never mentioned directly. as an elf rook i never get to have an opinion on being an elf in minrathous. i don’t Get to tell bellara that they already hate us. i recognize it was prob wishful thinking but i had hoped we could play a smidge more with the dynamic of being a city elf contending not only with the fact that the elven gods you’ve never worshipped are real but also that they’re Evil. instead every other character talks to magpie as if these are her gods too and they’re not!! they never were! but there’s never really an option to outright say that! the only chance i’ve had so far to say they’re not my gods was worded as if i rejected them for being tyrants with no option to acknowledge that i’ve NEVER worshipped them?? as if city elves no longer exist to bioware when like. to Me that was the most interesting part of elves!

and obvs i figured the crows would be humanized a little more but it really does feel like everyone there has Chosen to be an assassin and could leave if they wanted. the fledgling jacobus is treated with like. kid gloves by both heir And the two talons present which is not exactly consistent with Training So Grueling It Kills Children? this is a much less big deal for many reasons (including that there is definitely a certain Lens the crows are allowing you to see them through as an outsider (and/or because you have outsiders with you for a crow rook) that may easily conceal many of the realities of the org. and also bc it’s just not a big deal) but it is still kind of baffling to come up against when i came into the game as zevranlover69

[myfairkatiecat]

Okay I’m going to say it, some of y’all treat the KOTLC tag like it’s a tumblr community instead of an organization system that gathers together everything people post and tag as KOTLC

[northern-embrace]

Out of sick curiosity, I read some stuff under the tag “anti sansa stans” and was astonished… look, I wasn’t surprised at all they see Sansa (and Elia and Alicent too 😑) were seen as passive women that were meek or helpless. Of course they grouped Daenerys, Arya, Val and Ygritte as fierce “warrior women” that took what they want.

I wonder how many of them ever really think hard about the situations Sansa and Elia and Alicent were put in. They all did their duty and were put there by their families and then placed in a hostile court, surrounded by many so-called knights controlled by their husbands/bethroted. They weren’t taught how to fight. So what? Like, there’s some weird pride or pleasure somehow saying they deserved to be treated disrespectfully and abused just bc they can’t hold a dagger (or own 3 dragons 🙄).

You can like the warrior women without having to disparage the ones who may not want that path. And all women deserve safety.

What astonished me was also that somehow liking Sansa (and her “traditional feminine role”) was somehow approving of patriarchy and the systems that these women were under: arranged marriages and birthing sons. Or that liking Sansa meant WE, Sansa stans, were the misogynists.

*shakes head*

There’s nothing wrong with girls who just want to sing and dream of romance and marriage or if their ambitions are to be a good wife and mother. There’s nothing wrong with liking sewing and singing and “gentle” arts.

It’s ok if they don’t want to fight or don’t know how to fight. There’s nothing wrong with them for enduring suffering or being helpless in the face of danger or not knowing what to do in situations over their heads. There’s nothing wrong if they bow their heads or submit under cruelty. And a lot of what actually goes on becomes internal for their situations and can’t voice their true feelings.

Find their characters boring? Fine. Can’t see yourself acting like them? Fine.

Sneering down on them? Hmmm, why? Like, why aim the hate at these “weak” or “passive” characters.

Also why must liking warrior-like or fierce women mean the other ways women live is somehow lacking or unacceptable (this works vice versa too btw, just adore the myriad ways women live!!!)

And as for those women specifically named:

Val and Ygritte are in a society where men regularly kidnap women. They normalize this and survival of the fittest is part of their very culture. Ygritte despises “weakness” and readily, easily chooses violence when she doesn’t get her way. Val is actually interesting in that she CAN be political and understand fighting isn’t the only solution— that said, she is constantly being fit into a “princess” role and uses it AND same time, being a warrior is not enough she becomes a potential political hostage.

Arya’s such a young character, she’s fierce and yes asshole adults like Septa Mordane comparing her to Sansa constantly absolutely scarred her. We never got a chance to see her reconcile her highborn status with adulthood. She gets compared to Lyanna— who was also willful and we saw what happened to her. (Not that Lyanna was at fault and we’ll never know her willingness to go with Rhaegar, but her fate is also there to remind readers consequences happen to highborn ladies (and their families) that want to escape their fate.)

Dany. Submission or death by dragonfire. Also, her power partly comes from her Dothraki army who pillage and rape. She takes a cut profit from slavery. So not really a symbol for empowering women.

Brienne is the most knightly, true warrior out there. And all these chivalric knights and highborn lords sneer at her for it. Even though she’s the heiress and legitimate daughter (so she should be considered a catch) of a powerful lord.

It’s not an easy path to be a warrior (hell that’s probably true for smallfolk farm boys in Westeros, but at least they won’t be looked at weirdly as a spirited girl would be).

It’s not an accessible path for a lot of women.

“Sansa Stark is everything misogynists hate in women and everything women are taught to hate in themselves.”

— @lianabrooks

[cashweasel]

Got tagged by @lilyoffandoms and @sosolenoo to share a wip 💓

I believe the term wip applies to something a person intends to finish so 😂 idk KDJSKSJSK but here’s a little self indulgent sketch of the best homies

Tagging @night-triumphantt @rjschoicesstuff @nerdferatum @erixadraws @oh-so-youre-a-nerd and basically everyone lol

[first-man-adams-blog]

With Season 5 of TDP now out…I want to share my findings (the last one was found by a friend) with proof that Aaravos is meant to be “complicated”, not “evil” Still a long-game villain, but not evil like Zubeia claims and that the heroes believe and like the show seems to be ignoring or forgetting isn’t the case…until the final episode maybe.

In order of which these interviews and tweets were found:

If this ends up not being the case in season 6 or even the final season…well, this is my evidence for why I hoped otherwise. Multiple times in interviews Aaravos was called complicated and/or something positive by one or both of the creators. So, it’s what I hope and expect to see in season 6 or something.

Bonus:

Someone very important to him is mentioned to be on the map of one of the novel versions of the seasons. This at least shows he actually might not be a boring “looks down his nose at others no matter how they treat him first” and apathetic kind of villain…

No matter what the show does to either scrap these decisions or redo them, I am going to continue to write him how they described here in my work. Except not as a villain because he isn’t in a situation that he would have that role on this blog.

How I write him: A complicated person with a very complicated history and motivation, and someone that is not truly evil or heartless as he’s been said to be by people in his world. That’s the angle of this blog and if you don’t like it, this is the warning and invitation to move on.

—

Sources:

Weirdly enough the interviews and QnA’s from the first three screenshots are missing. Probably taken down either by request of the show (no proof so I’m just speculating) or they took it down for other reasons maybe. But here is the link to the second Forbes article, which includes a video version of the full interview:

View it before it’s gone if you’re a fellow TDP fan that watched up to season 4 because you wanted to see what the co-creator meant by ‘complicated, not evil’ and ‘matter of perspective’

Maybe season 6 will finally give us the full story, being the season named “Star” after that arcanum…but I’m getting tired of being led on like this. I would guess a lot of you are too.

At least the one episode he was in (the last episode), he was his usual self. Still sassy and teasing, with an ominous undertone given the situation and everything.

EDIT: I found the other interview I was going to link, the one with the title “Aaravos is more ‘complicated’ in season 3 than you think”. It was by a different website than I thought, that being Inverse and not Forbes.

I reblogged this post with the link if anyone wants to read the full article.

[lelianaslefthand]

streets are saying bioware is going crazy with spoilers rn

[imogenkol]

screw it. like/comment on this post if you’d like to be tagged in future nsft oc content ❤️‍🔥

[hinakyuu]

warning: gonna be an asshole real quick. (also my opinion is my own, i don’t speak for anyone else, etc. )

ok but we have so many dynamics here within our own team. real, strong bonds. plus uhh proximity? idk why there are ppl with a foot in both sides solely due to fictional ships. like i’ll make it easy for u. if u don’t know who to root for and are “conflicted” then just go ahead and root for the other team. after the behavior they displayed today if that hasn’t made up ur mind then maybe i don’t want even half of ur support for my team

[evorathesylvurr]

This is the yan doodle, or a yoodle as my roommate calls it. Feel free to use this as a reaction image (i have already used it to ask her to please reconsider stuff using this)

Also yes this is the Ayin grip meme

[waywardstation]

Oi. Oi.

I'm just drop gonna this here. Not to bring down the mood but just as a plea.

For those of you participating in Mantit Monday, TAG YOUR STUFF ACCORDINGLY!!

Few people on my feed have expressed being uncomfortable with this tradition and have been unable to block it because not everyone is tagging their stuff sufficiently.

I personally think it's awesome. So much skilled artwork has come across my feed. But the last thing I want is for this wonderful thing to be seen as a pain in the tuckus for our fellow fandom members.

Be Kind, Keep Your Tagging In Mind.

--Warden Anon

Thank you for the reminder!!! PLEASE TAG YOUR WORKS FOR IT!!

We’ve discussed this in the discord and made sure we’re all using the same tag so that it CAN be blocked. But there are also people participating who are not in the discord not using them, who I’m sure are simply just unaware of this and don’t mean anything by it. This issue was actually brought up yesterday because we’re aware not everyone wants to see it ^^;

So again, if you’re participating in it, please use the tag #submas mantit monday so that it can be blocked for people who don’t want to see it!! Thank you!!!

I think this Monday was my last mantit Monday anyways. I’ve run out of ideas for it. ^^;

[akito-shinonome-daily]

➥ ps: tuesdays will probably be ask game day if it happens since that’s my day off (or wednesday if you’re in one of the more eastern time zones)

[whenthegoldrays]

sigh

[ava-of-shenanigans]

Anyway, since I’m here translating random stuff that I like, here’s “the blood is the life!” in Middle Egyptian:

Snfw pw ʿnḫ!

I decided while making this that I really like the idea of Renfield being casually familiar with a bunch of ancient/long dead languages? Like, I don’t think he’d actually be able to speak Middle Egyptian or anything like it, but I think he’d be able to recognize the hieroglyphs and maybe a few specific words or symbols or pieces of iconography. Maybe he’d use the glyphs as part of some sort of cipher, and that’s part of why Seward has a hard time understanding his diary when he steals it from him.

[skid-the-mighty-poet]

[megaraptormenace]

Once again screaming to the void that menstruation has nothing to do with femininity. Some men got the goods to do it, some women don’t.

[zishu-arts]

god okay actually i might take a small break from “give all the best to you” fic because it’s starting to burn me out, not sure for how long but hopefully it’ll pass

sorry guys !!!