#(though In that case a 'good' character who was revealed to actually be a major villain in disguise who was already sorta established)

[acerikus]

the funny thing is. i ALSO went into the game already knowing The Twist but i FORGOT like almost instantly. so i was squinting at loop trying to figure out their deal forgetting i was already told by my wonderful mutuals on tumblr dot com. it was great

SFFSHDFHFHHDSGGDHF THAT'S AMAZING

I don't think I'll be able to forget exactly but I still have the timing and exact specific and the how of the whole thing to see and learn about and I'm excited

[shyve3]

Deacon Anaylsis

Once again, I'm joining the fandom in yet another post about character analysis! Idk how I feel about posting my fanart at the moment because it's all traditional art, but i'll get to posting that too...someday.

Please bear with me if you're a major Deacon simp like I am or just someone who likes reading character analyses, because it's so much longer than I expected. I have never written so much in my life, holy shit. (EDIT: I probably have. But this is 3000 words. so it's a lot!)

Also: everything I say in this post is just my interpretation of his character. I've littered a few headcanons here and there. And while some of this may sound harsh, I swear I'm not trying to demean him in any way. I love him because I relate to him, so half of this is me calling out my behavior as well, just indirectly :3

Let's start at the beginning.

We see Deacon as Chase's cousin, who's frankly an annoying, nerdy older brother figure in Chase's eyes. He's always *cough* studying *cough* and most definitely not reading hopeless-romantic-fairytale-books-where-there's-a-random-hero-saving-the-damsel-in-distress. I remember when I first saw him, I thought he was the most pathetic dude ever. In a good way of course. But, eventually my opinion of him built up to be a lot more complex.

We see a glimpse of his ACTUAL character in Chapter 10, when he first goes with Chase and Grandpa Ralph to meet Aunt Myra. His mom, Beth, is seen to be pretty strict towards Deacon. She immediately points out the fact that his shirt isn't tucked in and Deacon's dad immediately goes to ask Chase if he has a job before even saying HI! (Can we get a hi, hello, how are you doing???)

His parents are on the stricter side, and we can see how it affects him in many ways:

Deacon is always dressed in super "nerdy" clothes: button ups, slacks(?) if that's what you call them, plain sweaters. He doesn't really get to express himself to them, and his mom most probably still buys his clothes. (He's literally 20! A young adult!) Ouch.

He's scared to stand up to them for the right reasons. Even though his parents are kinda harsh on everyone Deacon doesn't really retaliate back. That type of strictness towards kids can make them a so-called loser who's extremely awkward and can't stand up for himself. It's evident with how Deacon reacts towards his parents, immediately getting shot down the second he tries to say anything.

Deacon working to be a doctor. Even though it's not what he wants, he goes along with their wishes. After all, people would kill to have as much money as his family. He is humble and grateful, which I think is so important in helper archetypes. He understands their reasoning, that they just want him to be successful, even if it goes against what he wants emotionally: freedom.

Even though Deacon HATES the fact that he's the helper, because it's what he's been doing his whole life, he is still on the journey to learn that being the helper isn't always the bad thing.

Helping others doesn't mean you can't be the hero: Deacon has this secret fantasy of being the hero and proving himself to people: it's why he always consumes media related to "saving" someone (like Ship of Sorrows or any other of his romance novels he reads.)

It kinda also ties into why he's such a hopeless romantic. While it seems funny how he's always dreaming of women and saving them and what-not, it reveals a big truth about his character:

He's pretty f'ing lonely. Most people who look for romantic partners in literally anyone (like Deacon idolizing every single GIRL he meets), are usually lonely. He just wants the comfort in knowing, "yay, I finally proved myself to someone!"

I truly believe that he's asexual or somewhere along the aro/ace spectrum for this reason. His "crushes" on women are truly because of his hero complex, idolizing saving them rather than real love. It's silly, but real. I think he's just experiencing a horrible case of limerence with any woman he meets. (That, and I NEVER see him crushing on real life women. We also don't get a chance to see him with women in real life, but ya know. Anyways, this is just a HC.)

When he first started going into books with Chase, he was extremely excited to be a part of something. His fantasy to prove himself the hero became true: for two seconds.

He feels like his role was a "lame sidekick." Bronze was kinda salty to Deacon's closed off attitude, leading to a little miscommunication between them. (As Punko confirmed, in Toffee Break he purposely sent Deacon into a story with an outfit that didn't include underwear. He must've been reallll salty!) Deacon constantly dodges his role, and he's not ready to be a helper, both in real life and in books.

Deacon's self-worth kinda gets worse when they first go into Toffee Break, getting into the way of his story-going adventures. I love how narratonin is such a journey that really relies on emotional intelligence. It's also the reason he struggles to make it through Toffee Break.

He hates when people point out how his help isn't enough and isn't working, even when it's the smallest indication or a tiny jab. Deacon and Chase start arguing about how Deacon's help wasn't "enough", and it digs at him worse than Chase expected. He's extremely sensitive.

"Toffee Break" stressed him out immensely because of the fact that he learned that he didn't actually know how to help out in the story. He struggled with the fact that this story was extremely counter-intuitive.

Usually, his help consisted of careful strategic planning, like what to say around his parents, making sure they are satisified with whatever he does or says, and also hiding the fact that he's not actually interested in the career path his parents chose for him...

Now, his help consists of adhering to the story and what the heroine does. He has to follow behind her (Chase, in this case), and whatever random path she goes down, something that he's never done.

Buddy makes a second dig at him after his squabble with Chase, saying "Guess no one needed your help", to which he says, "Yeah. Guess you're right." and leaves immediately after. While I love them as a duo, their indifference to each others' characters is what makes them so hard to get along with each other.

I talked about in my Buddy analysis how Buddy takes pride in his role as a villainess, something that probably took him months or even years of discipline. Even though he's closed-minded to "changing the story" like Deacon, what sets them apart is his passion for his archetype in stories. In the beginning, Deacon is inexperienced in embracing his role as a helper and it’s what holds him back. That combined with his lack of knowledge of deviating from the story (much like what Buddy suffered with) was double damage. It's one thing to not be able to deviate from the story, but you can make up for it with your passion to a role despite being "confined" to your role. That's something Deacon needs to learn to have.

After leaving the story, he confides in Bronze with how he's always had everything laid out for him by his parents (proving my point to what I said earlier: That type of parenting changes a kid forever. And he's stuck with a closed-off mindset.) After he comes back into the story, he's feeling a little better about his role, and he's able to realize that sometimes, the best thing to do in life is to wing it. After all, you don't get schooling on how to be the helper, sorry Deacon. While he felt like his life and attitude towards helping others was "laid out", he subconsciously learned how to help others in the way they wanted him to.

After this arc, Chase and Deacon bond a lot more over stories and how to go about hunting for narratonin. Deacon's helper role represents him a lot in real life, and he's the voice of reason to Chase's energetic and spontaneous personality. They balance each other out perfectly, spontaneity with reasoning. Basically, they're the perfect storybook duo with Deacon's book-smart and Chase's street-smarts blending together.

I'm pretty sure I saw this in another analysis, but I'm adding it as well because it's such a good point. (EDIT: I can't find who posted it. PLEASE comment so I can tag you...!)

Deacon plays an important role outside of stories as well. In Cinderella Boy, we get a lot of Chase's insights of his life and traits from, who else but DEACON! He's literally a storyteller.

In Dreams by Day, he tells Silver (and us) about Chase's projection habit, which is extremely hilarious. But it's also an indicator of his personality and his little quirks that "Deacon got used to."

He's also a BIG lore dropper for Chase's life. After all, how would we know about Chase's dad, his mom, his selflessness, his quirks and personality that make him a true heroine?

The two keys also play important roles to him outside of stories.

Bronze is essentially telling him all the time: "No Deacon. Being a helper doesn't mean you neglect your own needs to help others. It means putting yourself first and taking the time to reflect on what you really want and THEN throwing yourself at the oppurtunity to help others. And also, stop being a huge people pleaser. I'm salty enough to know that you're a helper because you feel the overwhelming urge to forget about your own needs because you've been taught to put others first." Also the way that Bronze jokes on Deacon's rigid and insecure perspective of things is also kinda funny. While Bronze is mainly joking, he's also saying: "Dude. Are you serious? You have a life and emotions too!"

Silver also helps him. While the heroine key wouldn't seem like the wise advisor, she's wise emotionally. She always looks on the bright side, and after Deacon tells her that "People fail all the time", she says that hoping and wishing sometimes is enough. Passion is enough for someone to succeed. She is optimistic and believes in everyone, much like Chase. these words make Deacon feel better about himself. Surrounded by Silver and Chase will do that to ya! Leave it to a key and your cousin who's also extremely right about believing in yourself to make your life a little brighter. I believe in ya, Deacon!

He goes through a little bit of a mishaps during the Sick Day arc, getting a little too carried away. Once again, he wants to be the hero, and what better way to do it in one of his storybooks? He's also kinda upset about the fact that he's "always working hard for someone else", basically stuck in a moment of self pity. And so, he thinks, extremely in-the-moment: "hey! I should be the hero right now!" and so he does what Chase does: deviates from the story.

Except, he doesn't make it work. With the helper, deviating from the story doesn't go the same way it does with the heroine. This isn't to say that Deacon shouldn't be deviating from the story: it's just more-so how he goes about it. With the helper key, deviating from the story is a lot more risky. You can deviate from the story, just make sure it works with the plot. (and no, don't try to change your role in the story when it’s not subconsciously happening…Sorry Deacon, it won't work.) With the heroine, she can deviate from the story because her role kinda depends on it. She GETS what she wants, because most fairytales and stories GIVE the heroine luck.

Deacon's hero complex got to him again. He followed his fantasies and it backfired, and it's why deviating from the story just in a frenzy of praying you can change your role doesn't work. (It's also extremely unexpected that Buddy has to be the hero of Sick Day, saving both Deacon and Chase. But that's a whole other spiel to go off of...Someone pick it up from here.)

Buddy starts to play a more important role in Deacon's life, something I'll continue to talk about later on in this anaylsis!

The most important lines are "Maybe for once, I wanted to be the hero!" and to which Buddy says, "A real hero takes on his role because he has to. Not because he wants to. There are times we must be the hero, and many times where we need to be a helper."

Basically, he's clowning on Deacon for glamorizing the role of a hero. The whole idea of the hero archetype of the media in general is fed into the magic-guy-saves-the-world, ignoring the fact that heroes do their role for a purpose, a REASON. Not to get a wish. Again, this is another thing he must come to understand. Deacon's a rational guy, but when it comes to proving himself to others, he's an idiot. Once again, his wretched hero complex!

Even after the entire Sick Day arc, he still wants to be put in the spotlight and looks for some way to prove that he's cooler or better in some way, which is kinda funny.

In All that Glitters, Deacon isn't too big of a focus but we can sorta see him piecing together the shift in Chase and Buddy's relationship.

Stargoth are getting closer, and he's kinda smart so he goes, "Wait a minute. Their relationship is mutual. But they're too dumb to realize it." and he senses that shift. With the advice he's been following all his life, which is to think "realistically", he tells Chase to be careful about telling and not telling Buddy things.

As much as they could just tell Buddy about Prunella, to make sure he doesn't get his feelings like he did when he found out about the helper key, Deacon realizes what's more important. He knows Ex-Libris would most probably punish Buddy for getting another key-holder for another key that went missing. Therefore, he encourages Chase not to tell him, but he feels extremely guilty for it.

Also another detail I didn't really talk and I just noticed as I went to read "All That Glitters" was how Deacon has an obsession with horses. Once again, he wants to "change" the horses with his heroic complex that he has despite having the helper key. (Funny, yet goes along with his character perfectly. He really is something.)

The Honor Among Thieves arc is another important aspect that also ties in with Stargoth and Deacon’s perspective of it. He SEES things. He sees stupidity and these dumb pining idiots fighting with each other. Being the voice of reason, he's absolutely fed up with their bickering and their antics at this point. It's also accidentally hypocritical of him:

He's always the guy to get carried away with fantasies of meeting fictional women who he proves himself to. Yet, when he sees Chase absolutely losing it at Buddy's *cough* *hotness* he is SO done. When it comes to Stargoth, Deacon's fitting into the role as a helper perfectly. C'mon! At least it's not a fictional character, DEACON! /j I don't blame him as a very sapphic Cinderella boy stan...

At the end of Honor Among Thieves, they manage to give the story its happy ending despite the crazy antics and curveballs thrown at them. Good job for Deacon being able to deviate from the story AND help Chase. It's a win-win!

He also essentially tells Chase at the end to not feel bad about the fact that they hid Prunella and Goldie from him, because they had reasons to. Even though they would hurt Buddy emotionally, they could physically keep him safe from what would happen if they DID tell Buddy. And of course, Chase goes to sniff the hoodie right after, saying "You ever feel really wrong even when you're doing the right thing?" *cough gay* *but also foreshadowing. Yikes, Deacon. You were right for directing Chase, but it backfired after he found out :(*

The Book of Deacon is the closest we get to seeing Deacon's perspective. And there's many things I have to say about that episode:

First, the dry texts he sends to his mom. He is so tired of being the helper, and while he's writing out the notecards for the stories? Ow, double damage. He's tired of being the helper once again, constantly shifting back and forth between feeling better about himself and his role as a helper, both in stories and in real life, to having it constantly shut down the next second. The texts with his mom confirm, once again, he feels pressured and forced to help other people. That definitely doesn't help him feel better about himself.

The fact that he TOOK the hero key to go into a book as a hero: he's trying so hard to change his path again, only to feel better about himself. His fantasies and desires to be a hero are what help him avoid the role of a helper...

It's also kinda insane as many people have noted that he immediately resorts to CRUSHING on silver in the book. Dude, that's a key! But it also plays into his stupidity and hopeless-romantic character. No, I'm not saying him NOT EVEN SNAPPING OUT OF IT AND ALMOST ASKING OUT A KEY was justified. Just that he is SO irrational when it comes to chasing after women (whether it be fictional or out of his league, like literally. Girl, that's a KEY!), completely forgetting about everything else. After all, it's why he's so unsuited to being a hero when he forces himself to be one.

He comes to the realization that he HATES being a hero. Now THIS is the first token of acceptance we see him getting towards the helper role. This is where he fully accepts his role. He doesn't really like having a set path for himself. While it's probably because of how he hates set paths, possibly hinting to him standing up for himself later on...

He decides to help Chase in Requiem of Blood and Moonlight (finally, and without any sorta self-doubt or worry.) First, he starts with taking him into the story, and a part of him is happy with seeing that Chase is happy with it as well. It's so adorable seeing Deacon actually accept his role, and it's so attractive I SWEAR! Like oh my gosh, he's finally loving himself more!

Buttt it kinda backfires when he disregards Deacon's info on the story and warnings altogether. His help and usual voice of reason is useless to Chase, who is a gay IDIOT (see, there's a pattern here: love fantasizing about relationships that you'll never have makes you stupid.) Now we're faced with the question: what is Deacon's role now?

And that's where Buddy steps in.

Deacon and Buddy bond with their mutual desire to end the story, and they do this by taking on other roles. Even though Buddy's the villainess, he won't hesitate to fit into other roles in the story, and ends up being kinda like the helper. "The keys can take advantage of certain...loopholes." Similarly, Deacon is kinda the hero of the story now, without it being forced. (See Deacon? You can't force yourself to be the hero! Now, you HAVE to be one :) )

Deacon unknowingly becomes the hero after fighting off the wolves when he's locked outside the castle in this arc.

He steps into the scene of Buddy and Chase trying to tackle down Lucifier in the book. It's a parallel to Honor Among Thieves where Deacon was the one helping.

This story is the first story where we see him bonding with Buddy and unknowingly being the Hero without boasting about it nor making a big deal out of it! I'm so impressed.

To sum it up, I think Deacon's a character with a big hero complex built on his insecurities and he's so keen on proving himself to others. His insecurities come from his parents and rigid mindset that you must be realistic even if it's not what you want. The fact that he's so insecure also makes him a hopeless romantic, searching for unattainable standards of romance. He has a hard time accepting the fact that he can help others while also making room for himself, but he's growing to stand up for himself, not just others. My guy is going places! He serves as a voice of reason to Chase, even though sometimes he has to be reasoned with...And his role in stories changes when he isn't busy wishing for it. And, he's extremely book smart, slowly building up street smarts with the help of Chase and Silver as well.

Anyway, that's all the anaylsis I have on him so far.

I can't wait to see what advice he'll have for Chase after Buddy found out about Prunella and the Hero Key.

I just know next arc is going to be ROUGH. Praying for everyone's mental stability! (Can't guarantee we'll get any though.)

[xhikatsu]

Topaz's Awareness

I feel like people don’t give Topaz enough credit on how aware she is about her surrounding… It is easy to think she just blindly believes the IPC is good, or that Jade means well based on what she states. But there’s some nuances that shows her thinking is far more complex than that.

For example, just in her character stories alone, she goes against IPC rules in what she doesn’t believe in. This is shown through her rebellious behavior of purposely failing the business formality exam, or going around the rule regarding pets.

She didn’t agree and found it won’t harm her if she didn’t listen exactly to those rules according to her contract. She also tries to beef up her reasoning by proving it won’t hinder her capabilities to get her job done, making it harder to question her “exclusion” to said rules.

In a way, despite being stuck in a lifelong contract, she seems to try and go around the system as much as possible to operate the way she believes instead of blindly following the rules set.

For someone who was molded at a young age, you would think she wouldn’t be this rebellious. Especially if she truly did think that the IPC is ultimately good (added: which she actually has never out rightly stated). It’s more like she believes you can do good in the company, and she tries to take advantage of it to try and do that.

There’s only so much she can do at the end of the day, as the IPC clearly has specific conditions and goals in mind she still has to follow. However, she tries her best to examine all parties involved and present a solution that tries to make majority happy or satisfied.

This showed quite a bit in her approach with Jarilo VI. She did start off rather roughly with her initially engagement. Though she backs off to be able to assess the planet, trying to find evidence and proof for the IPC to say they can get a better deal because they have more value.

During her talk with Svarog as well, she states that she went out of her way to do extra research on seeing if planets could recover on their own from a Stellaron, indicating the possibility of not needing the IPC’s help.

For someone who claims that the IPC can help, this little action of hers shows that she doesn’t necessarily agree with the company’s method and would rather them recover on their own without the deal as long as they have proof to backup the claim.

If the planet is able to recover on their own, why sign a deal with the IPC and possibly be put on a lifelong contract like her? Topaz goes out of her way to try and find proof that they can recover on their own. However, she states her results were all negative about that search.

Going into the end of the Jarilo VI’s case when Bronya reveals the Engine of Creation, Topaz genuinely takes into consideration that the planet has a chance to recover without the IPC, giving them her full support by even taking a demotion to her position to ensure they don’t sign a deal.

This only occurred though because the planet appealed to Topaz’s rational/logical (added: risk-averse) side with proof, something she seems to value when making decisions. Without proof, she can’t take the words at face value and treats it as a note to maybe consider with some skepticism.

Now, this leads to her dynamic with Jade. Her voice lines about her does hold her in high regards, but most of it talks about her business skills and support she can provide (with a hefty price). (Added: Note that this is only EN TL, which is inaccurate as in CN, she actually refers to Jade as a benefactor and not “nobility”.)

In a logical and business standpoint, Jade’s skills are widely known and similar to Topaz’s style of getting things done efficiently. Especially as her student of sorts, she takes her teachings of business but places her own twist to it by adding in her kindness as a factor.

However, despite seeming to “idolize” Jade’s achievements and skills, Topaz has made points to show that she is aware Jade is not exactly who she tries to present herself to be as. In 2.3, she reminds her team to not call Jade “big boss”, saying they would get punished if so.

It hints that she is aware that there’s more to Jade than what she shows, especially knowing that Jade didn’t want Topaz to see her negotiate with the Family after learning how greedy they were to try and push the IPC out.

It was further hinted as well that despite seemingly knowing Jade for a decent amount of time and even being mentored by her, Topaz creates this “distance” with Jade when interacting with her. She would stay very formal ironically to her, calling her “Madam Jade” instead of "Miss Jade" until told not to.

Even when Jade insists that they are equals and there’s no need for such titles, Topaz still mentions that Jade is her senior. Even during their other talks, Topaz seems to try and strictly keep their topics to business, seemingly a bit cautious when Jade brings up Aventurine.

This is really seen specifically when Jade mentions Topaz’s trust in him. She seems to divert the topic to her logical business reason to why she would bet her cornerstone in this mission. But the minute Jade seems to casually speak about Aventurine, Topaz tries to go back to business.

It shows that Topaz is mindful with how she should behave in front of Jade, not wanting to divulge more into personal topics and strictly staying professional. This hints that she is aware of Jade’s manipulation and tries to extract what she learns from her.

What I mean is, she takes Jade’s teaching with value in a business sense. She clearly remembers her lessons and how to approach negotiation well. However, she doesn’t follow all of it by heart, changing it according to what she believes in and how she adds kindness to it.

She does value what she can learn from Jade, as it helps her strive and excel in her goal of helping others. But she navigates cautiously and seems to keep her guard up when gaining knowledge. It’s similar to Aventurine where he knows about Jade, but values what he can gain from her.

This doesn’t even go into the Keeping Up with Star Rail trailer where Topaz was co-hosting. She has always been good at analyzing and assessing. But it’s interesting she mentions not to test Jade, even hinting she was close to being “swallowed” by the abyss while looking nervous…

Ultimately, I just think Topaz is far more complex than she presents herself to be. I really don’t think she is that blinded as her words make her out to be, and her actions do seem to be contradicting to that as well.

This is just how I’ve come to interpret her behavior as I found it really off despite her words. She makes for an interesting character to analyze.

Original Date of Posting on Twt/X: Jul 3, 2024

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hey Raven, hope your doing well. I was rewatching book 5 and something struck me. Crowly stills does his thing to get yuu/mc to host the NRC tribe at Ramshackle. But compare to previous chapters hes seems a little nicer, i guess? He offering renovations and upgrades ( a positive), instead of just threatening to cut yuu's food budget or something (a negative).

Where im going with this is, do you think Crowley may have felt a tiny tinge for his (in) action in book 4? Or atleast, realized he actually screwed up. He did give Yuu in case of an emergency.... and promptly ignored it (or just turned it off) when he went on break. He likely had to have heard what happened over the break...an likely saw his missed calls and put 2 and 2 together. Sure he may not feel bad enough to apologize (at least openly), but he does seem to make himself scarce early in b5. That could just be him being, well, the headmage. Maybe he's just not sure how to deal with MC or how they'd react to seeing him? So instead of threatening Yuu, he offers them something instead? Idk, maybe im reaching. Crowley relationship with Yuu is complicated. I do like to believe he has some empathy or regret (or maybe he just has more respect for yuu by b5?) After everything up to that point

Like i said, i may be reaching here. Wanted to get your input. Sorry for the long ask. Have a good one :)

In many fandom depictions of Crowley, he often serves as Yuu's guardian who is incompetent but well-meaning. I'm also guilty of doing this, Crowley is considered my OC's father figure (even if my OC isn't a Yuu). That's how we choose to engage with the characters and the world that we love! However, I don't believe that Crowley has that sort of tenderness for Yuu in canon, whether at the start or as their relationship develops over the course of the main story. Now, that's not to say that I think Crowley is cold or hateful towards Yuu. Far from it! He does care for them, but in the same way that a teacher might care about nurturing their students and preparing them for the world beyond graduation. Crowley demonstrates a similar attitude towards other NRC students, with one very clear example being in his Raven Jacket vignettes. In those stories, he likens his students to apple trees that he raises and nurtures, hoping that one day they might bear fruit. He does not particularly grant Yuu special treatment unless it's a scenario where he wants them to do a favor for him. (Though here I would also argue he does the same for other students when he wants them to resolve an issue in his place, which happens frequently in event stories; in Fairy Gala, he warns the boys they'll be held back if classes cannot proceed due to the wacky weather. In Ghost Marriage, Crowley shames the boys for not expressing interest in rescuing Idia, etc.)

I also want to set the record straight regarding how exactly Crowley gets Yuu to comply with his requests. Reviewing all avaliable books in the main story, Crowley rarely outright threatens Yuu if they refuse to help him:

Prologue — Crowley does not initially ask anything of Yuu, but he does provide them a temporary home and food until they can sort something out. During Yuu's stay, they are meant to do handiwork to earn their keep. However, Crowley tries to expel them after their involvement in breaking what is considered a precious chandelier. In this case, his anger is somewhat justified but it's still the one major example of Crowley leveraging something to force Yuu to act in a way that he desires. The thing is, it's revealed in chapter 19 that Crowley did not believe Yuu could acquire the magestone he asked for and was all set to finalize the expulsion papers. So really, he wasn't serious at all in giving Yuu a chance to redeem themselves and was going to expel Yuu anyway (until they happened to prove their "usefulness"). Whether this counts as an example of Crowley "threatening" Yuu, then, is up to individual interpretation.

Book 1 — Crowley makes no specific request to Yuu. He shows up late in the book and suggests to the frustrated Adeuce that they fight Riddle to claim his seat as dorm leader, but does not tell Yuu to do anything in this situation. Recall that it was Ace that marched up to Ramshackle's front door and demanded that he be allowed to stay overnight; Crowley had no part in that.

Book 2 — In 2-7, Crowley asks Yuu to investigate the strange string of accidents that has befallen the students set to play in the upcoming inter-dorm magift/spelldrive tournament. There is a part where Crowley says he "never promised to cover living expenses". You, as Yuu, have the option to ask him "Is that a threat...?" to which Crowley never properly responds. Interpret that how you wish. He then offers Grim and Yuu a chance to participate in said tournament if they succeed, seeing as they lacked the 7 players needed to form a team. Crowley even says he will find 5 other players to fill in their missing team seats for them.

Book 3 — Here in 3-6, Crowley never actually threatens to cut off food. Instead, he is trying to earn pity from Yuu by guilt tripping them and emphasizing that he, the headmaster, is so busy with his tasks (like finding Yuu a way home) and will provide them with the funds they need regardless because he is so very kind. He's trying to tug at their heartstrings by pointing out the things he selflessly does for them, so they feel obligated to do something for him in return. Once Yuu agrees to help, he lavishes them with praise and says it is "expected" of someone he personally chose.

But!! I want to add that in the Episode of Octavinelle manga, this same scene is depicted as Crowley threatening to cut their food budget. I'm not sure if this is just a different interpretation (since Yuuta seems to prepare more food than is usually implied in the game; this would explain why their food costs go up significantly) or if Crowley truly was also threatening to cut the budget in the game.

Book 4 — Crowley makes a reasonable request in 4-2; he asks Yuu and Grim to tend to the fire fairies over winter break since it's a task no one else will be present to handle. In exchange, he says he will give them a banquet of tasty foods (which is not an empty promise; in 4-39, the Ramshackle Ghosts tell Yuu and Grim that the headmaster has left them with a ton of food as thanks.

Book 5 — Crowley appears in 5-21 asking that Yuu allow the NRC Tribe to stay at Ramshackle for their month-long training camp. He explains that Vil and Rook are willing to give up their share of the prize money if Yuu agrees to these terms. It is then that Crowley adds that he will help with renovation too, most likely to sweeten the deal with his word.

Book 6 — Crowley does not ask anything of Yuu. He does, however, call in STYX in 6-2 because he becomes concerned about the threat that Grim poses after consuming multiple crystallized blots. After Grim is taken, Crowley instructs Yuu in 6-4 to wait until Grim has recovered and been evaluated by a third party to speak with him again.

Book 7 — Crowley makes no specific requests to Yuu.

You can see in almost all instances that Crowley uses a variety of tactics to get his students to do what he wants them to. He bribes, shames/guilts them, points out very real consequences if the problem at hand is not resolved, and, yes, occasionally makes what can be interpreted as a vague threat. Despite this, the fact remains that he was always nice, not just post-book 4 (in fact, Crowley was also nice during book 4). I don't see the circumstances as "anything before or during book 4 is him being negative and threatening to punish Yuu and anything after book 4 is him being kind and positive to Yuu". In most cases with Yuu, he is offering them something they would want. His go-to strategy isn't threats, it tends to be the promise of a reward.

I wouldn't tie any of Crowley's actions to feeling a sense of remorse or guilt on his own part. While it's true we don't really get to see inside of his head, from what we see of him... this man is utterly shameless. He's willing to resort to emotional manipulation to convince literal children to solve problems that he, the powerful mage and adult, should be dealing with. What's more, he praises himself for Yuu's competence and willingness to step up. That's him placing a lot of faith in his students, and I don't think he feels any guilt in doing this. Why else would he send them into dangerous situations over and over again? He must, to some extent, believe they can already handle themselves just fine, otherwise he's creating tons of legal liabilities for himself by purposefully throwing children of tons of affluent families into the line of fire. Besides, he's a highly skilled mage himself--if any true, TRUE danger were to befall them, surely he could save the day himself. My thought is that he has sort of a "tough love" approach where he tosses his students into the fires and sees how they get out of it in one piece, but it's just presented in a "devil-may-care" way because of his lackadaisical attitude.

Regarding book 4, I personally see Crowley giving his cell phone number as just a means to provide reassurance to Grim and Yuu, since they (especially Grim) are protesting about him seemingly leaving on vacation. It's an empty gesture so he can have his getaway without much of a fuss; I totally believe that Crowley did not ever intend to answer his phone. When he returns in book 5, he's already asking another favor of Yuu, so I get the sense he isn't really bothered by what happened. I would even say that Crowley still has several major appearances in book 5, not that he has made himself scarcer. He appears to ask the favor, appears again to evaluate their performance, and then a third time at the cultural festival to speak with the headmaster of RSA. Crowley gets plenty of screen time here, much more then in books 6 and 7. If he truly felt bad or actively wanted to avoid Yuu, he could easily just tell other students (ie Vil) or even school staff (ghosts, teachers, etc.) to relay the deal for him.

Again, I want to be clear: THIS IS NOT CROWLEY BASHING. The only thing I am expressing in this post is that while I do love this bird-brained goober and think he cares for his students, I don't believe it's done in the conventional sense you're thinking of. Crowley can be selfish and callous and throw his students into danger, and that's okay! Sometimes we want to love a useless man who's trying his best, even if his best is pretty lousy/j

Whew, that was a lot of brain dumping! I hope I properly responded to all your thoughts and that you found this read semi-entertaining~

[spotlightlowlife]

ep 6, heaven haz no benefits

Charlie once again proved her silliness.

No surprise there, I'll get to that..

In heaven we meet a rather sensible bunch in the angels, some approachable, some friendly, some very wary, a good mixed bag. Dude bro Adam is there but clearly able to tone himself down in more professional settings and it's clear he isn't in charge, so at this point it why not attempt to tackle the subject matter of exterminations?

We didn't meet anyone who spoke of their fear of hell overpowering heaven, nor anybody with any particular authority other than Adam. We met Sera, someone who up kept professionalism whilst being empathetic, fair and making it clear that her hands are tied.

Adam is also revealed to be the first person in heaven. Why I wonder? Will the significant biblical figure Abel be addressed at some point?

Like Lucifer in the last episode, Adam was needed to take the story to the next level, however Adam in very few words and scenes has become a character who really outshines Lucifer and his downgraded to understudy daughter. He is the true powerful innovator, a creator since he's technically the parent of sinners and now he's revealed to be the one with the most say out if this little bunch of angels, even though Lucifer had difference with his kind back when Adam was man? He even outclasses fellow 'moved up in the world' Alastor, whose plotting and mystery amongst a load of subplots doesn't stand out.

Adam is more action and get up and go.

Why is it that the across both shows the villains writers try so hard to have the audience hate with their crass attitudes and supposed counterproduction, turn out to be are the characters who are crafted the best and able to move the plot somewhere else? Intentional or ironic.

So, silly Charlie.

As expected, she sung, that's fine.

In a little scene, a whole other scene to the song, one that lasted but a few seconds, Charlie presented her case that sinners can display decency, only her case was observing Angeldust stand up to Valentino in real time on screen.

What part of this was a 'heavenly' act?

Why did Charlie think it was a good idea to encourage the sinners to enjoy themselves whilst she goes out? She essentially let the teenagers throw the house party. Why not ask them to behave themselves because she's going to heaven to fight their corner?

Still, this was the most she did to sell her pitch, springboard off another characters progressive scene for a moment. This scene could have presented a good argument of how exactly she was going to help sinners with their PRESENT situations, let alone whatever bought them to help in the first place.

What did she have to do with Angeldust bickering with Valentino? Is she going to go back and be supportive of Angel now having it spelt out to her his situation and how he feels about it?

Is Charlie going to leave heaven tougher with a leveled up perception and new approaches?

Doubtful, because yet again her time got dominated and she now has more major things to worry about, like her hotel being under attack.

Good thing Charlie and the residents have Vaggie at their side, who dispite having a little spat with an angel and getting a backstory, I actually managed to forget she accompanied Charlie to heaven.

Vaggie actually got a big reveal that was hinted at in a previous episode..

She's an angel, a fallen one, and that's that really, we aren't allowed the time to tackle this information and it's almost safe to say it certainly won't matter to Charlie.

Emily the cutesy angel who's whole personality was she agrees with Charlie was so forgettable that I near forgot her too had it not been for the rewatch? She's just as idealistic, just as youthful, vibrant and out of grown folks business as Charlie, she also has well meaning wise elders to answer to, she can't do anything without them giving a go ahead. They're so alike yet that's easy to put forward in them just mirroring eachother, only they have next to no chemistry yet still just blend into one. Considering heaven can watch the antics of hell on 'TV', even down to the goings on in Charlie's hotel, Emily could have been a fan, she could have approached Charlie with a whole host of things she observed, what she agreed with, what she would have done had it been her, they could have made friends on the spot and atleast tried to cook up a way to keep in touch, which may be an underhanded way of getting around their restrictions, but no, they were just there in the room together.

This character served to let us know that Charlie has an ally on the other side, along with one from the other side, shame this angel had even less chemistry with Vaggie, all things considered.

Decent episode, like 5 it was definitely needed to pick this series up, no thanks to any leading character.

Again, another ep with no gifs, the wik page hasn't been updated neither. Where are these rabid fans where it actually matters?

[markantonys]

Ngl I lowkey ship Adar and Elrond 🫶 (he's not Maglor right)

i'm right there with you!! they were already two of my favorite characters individually, and then they came together and their interactions were so powerful. adar/galadriel and adar/elrond are two interesting good flavors of a hero/villain ship: the former is a version where they have a lot in common and in a weird way can understand each other like no one else can, and the latter is a version where they are very very different and could both challenge each other to grow (elrond's early-season stance that nothing good can ever come from a bad creator would face a reckoning if he fell for adar and became Orc Stepdad, and as for adar, if he fell for elrond, well, then he would embark on redemption immediately because elrond being disappointed in you would be the literal most painful thing anyone could experience, i would kill myself if elrond was disappointed in me)

i know Literally Nothing about tolkien stuff, but i think i heard that maglor is elrond's stepdad?? in which case i also hope adar is not him haha but this raises an interesting point that i've been thinking about while reading all the Who Is Adar speculation! said point being: if adar is going to be revealed in the show to be a specific elf from the lore, the only option is celeborn. because no one else would mean anything to the general audience aka like 95% of viewers.

now, i don't really think adar is celeborn. i think that within the canon of the show he'll only ever be an OC and they'll never specify who he was pre-morgoth. or at most they might drop some kind of easter egg that would allow lore experts to definitively connect him with a certain elf from the lore, but without making a big Reveal out of it or spelling it out explicitly. and either way, people are having fun speculating who he could be and i'm all for that, knock yourselves out! but if we're envisioning an actual scene in the show where they go "drumroll please............adar is actually so-and-so!" it could only be either a) a specific named elf the general audience would be instantly familiar with (which i can't think of any examples of since there are no other Universally Known elves like elrond, galadriel, and arwen), because if they drop a specific name and it's not instantly recognizable to the majority of the audience, the drumroll would fall super flat.

or b) an elf who has a close connection with another character we already know AND, ideally, who was mentioned already in the show. they could be like "drumroll please..........adar is actually elrond's stepdad! or gil-galad's brother!" and the general audience would be like "oh! okay. uhh since when did elrond have a stepdad or gil-galad a brother though?" but if it was "drumroll please...........adar is actually galadriel's missing husband!" then the general audience would go wild because we already knew she had a husband who disappeared and we've been wondering what might've happened to him. (okay a lot of people who watched s1 2 years ago have probably forgotten all about that haha but at least a good chunk of us would go wild! and the rest would soon follow once they'd gotten their memories jogged.)

anyway! i got so off-topic djfkg but i've seen so many lore-knowers speculating about adar's elf identity that i thought it might interest some of you to see a show-only perspective on The Only Adar Identity They Could Reveal That Would Be Interesting To Us General Audiences. but i still think it's very unlikely he's celeborn and he will simply never be specifically identified in the show!

[ddarker-dreams]

Patiently waiting for your thoughts on Fontaine’s new archon quest 🫡

oh man. i do have some thoughts to share.

(warning for spoilers to those who haven't played through the latest archon quest)!

OKAY, so — overall? i enjoyed it. the fortress of meropide section felt a little tedious at times, i'm begging mihoyo to abandon those awful 'stealth' 'gameplay' sections. aside from that though, i was always interested enough to keep moving ahead. i especially like how they wrote navia. the story of her and her father got me emotionally invested in her as a character, i actually teared up at one point.

i was glad they avoided their infamous 'introduce a character and have them betray you' shtick. idk if that was a quota they had to reach before and that's why they did it so often, but in any case, it made for a refreshing change. the reveal of fontaine's history, the serial disappearances, focalors and furina; there were lots of intriguing story beats. furina's story might somehow be one of the saddest in genshin yet?? the execution of the reveal and the final conversation between focalors and neuvillette packed a strong emotional punch.

onto my gripes...

childe. why. why'd they do my man like that. the buildup was so interesting! the cutscene where he helps neuvillette subdue the space whale had me frothing at the mouth. him in his foul legacy armor ... his leitmotif playing... him growling and grunting.... oh, how happy i was, naïve thing that i am. i was a bit confused how they dedicated a total of three seconds to traveler and the floating fiend going 'oh wow there's childe ig.' like ??? at this point in the story, i thought they were sorta buddies??

the space whale's execution confused me. i expected it to be deeply tied to fontaine's past, or at the very least give some abyss bread crumbs, but it just kinda flopped around and stuff. the fight was cool, don't get me wrong. but the whole 'yeah this whale is some dude's pet lol' bit just felt odd. i get that they want to prove the Big Important Name Fella is suuuper important and suuuper strong but c'mon. at least make the space whale a creation that ran rampant or something.

i could've forgiven the space whale shenanigans if we got a nice conversation with childe at the end. how did he feel in the abyss? was he fighting the whale to keep the people of fontaine safe, out of bloodlust, or something in between? what was it like seeing skirk again? how much time felt like it passed when he was in whale abyss prison? does his vision resonate with him properly again?

instead, we just get a few throwaway lines that he's back in snezhnaya healing up. did they run out of budget to book his VA?? i get they have to be selective with lore drops, but there are so many ways around that.

my last major gripe is how they went about furina's character quest. maybe i'm just an oversensitive weenie (i definitely am), but the traveler and flying creature's interactions with furina... i was physically grimacing. how did they seriously think it was a good idea to ask the person who has been tormented by acting for 500 years to give the stage another shot? imo, it would've been fine if they tried that, furina rejected them, and everything played out about the same. but those bits where traveler + the imp kept pressuring furina felt so weeeeeeird. i genuinely didn't want to click the dialogue options. if this was framed differently, that would've also been fine, but it's kinda a 'haha :3 epic paimon says teehee te nandayo reddit gold' light.

tl;dr i liked the overall experience but someone needs to delete paimon from the game + treat their characters as more than a punchline.

[dangerously-human]

The lovely @softboiledwonderland tagged me to do this fanfic writier interview - thank you, sweet friend!

How many works do you have on AO3?

119 (but it's actually a bit higher... shh, we'll see after Yuletide author reveals)

What's your total AO3 word count?

242,116 (jeez louise, since when?!)

Your top 5 stories by kudos/likes:

Woke Up in a Safe House Singing (Lockwood & Co)

One More (Grishaverse)

Those Binary Stars (Endeavour)

Here's a Safe Place to Lay Your Heart Down (Lockwood & Co)

Never Hesitate at the Threshold (Lockwood & Co)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! Sometimes I'm very slow at it, whether because I'm trying to think of something interesting to say in reply, or because I'm feeling a little uncertain about what I've posted and need to give it space to breathe before I think about it again - but I really, really appreciate comments and I love the social nature of storytelling and community-building in fandom, so I do make my best effort to always reply.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Now, this is an interesting question, because while I have written some pretty angsty things here and there (I've even done non-canonical major character death), my endings are usually happy or at least hopeful. The exception is drabbles, where I'm usually capturing a single emotion/moment in time. So I'll answer this with (If You Make It Out Alive) Hold That Bloody Head Up High, which is a dream rehashing of Alina killing the Darkling, and really dives into the angst of her mixed feelings and the incredible influence he continues to wield over her even in death. Honestly, it's one of my favorites, and I'm forever bummed it didn't get the appreciation it deserves.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I do delight in a sugary-sweet fluffy ending, it must be said, so a lot of my works could qualify! I'm going to say Here's a Safe Place to Lay Your Heart Down, whether you could the ending as the post-fight dancing in the kitchen with shared earbuds, or the practically skipping home with an engagement ring.

Do you write crossovers?

I haven't to date, and I doubt I will, it's not really my jam. But who knows, an idea could surprise me.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I've gotten a few weird comments, but can't say I've ever gotten outright hate, which I appreciate!

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Absolutely not.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes, weirdly enough, recently. I decided to ignore it and hope it was a case of accidental convergence on extremely similar ideas and phrasing.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Never had anyone even ask. I think it would be kind of cool, although honestly the inbuilt browser auto-translate has done well enough for me in reading other people's works, so idk how necessary it would be, if that makes sense? Like obviously that's not nearly as good as a true translation, but people certainly don't have to be fluent in English to read what I write, is what I'm getting at.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have not, and I doubt I'd be very good at it - I'm simultaneously very possessive over my creative endeavors and not very good at speaking up for what I want (though I'm learning). It would have to be someone I really trust and already think similarly to, if I were ever going to try it.

What's your all-time favorite ship?

This is horrifyingly difficult to answer, yeesh. I'm going to say John/Aeryn from Farscape, but know that I could give dozens of answers and they'd probably all be equally true.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Nothing that I've actually started posting to AO3. Some of those may take me a lifetime to finish (*cough* Take His Hand), but finish them I will! But I do have a couple WIPs languishing in Scrivener that I'm not sure I'll ever complete. The Endeavour spy AU comes to mind, and one or two Community projects... Sometimes I just have to rework them to a smaller scale and that has to be enough, instead of capturing the entire idea I set out with.

What are your writing strengths?

Introspection, layered dialogue, symbolism, poetic language

What are your writing weaknesses?

Plot (argh), transitions and actually addressing the spaces between what I find interesting or important, pacing (probably related to previous), remembering to describe things - I think my descriptions are lovely when I add them, but I rarely visualize while I write or read, so I don't tend to write for those who do

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

It can work, but I think a lot of authors overdo it. I haven't done it myself (that I can remember, anyway), but my Spanish is good enough that I could if it fit the story.

Actually, wait, I lied - I definitely have, for this year's Rare Pair Exchange assignment, Lingua Franca. Little bit of messy Spanish dialogue, and technically some French, but a single phrase hardly counts.

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

I keep meaning to write some Broadchurch gen... Maybe one day.

What's your favorite fic you've written?

Extremely difficult question to answer. Those Binary Stars is always going to be one of my greatest accomplishments, but to pick something a bit more recent, I'd say Woke Up in a Safe House Singing.

Tag, you're it (with no pressure): @itripandfallalot, @menina89, and @fairytale-lights <3

[aiura-stan]

2-17

Ah, the Toritsuka chapter. I actually kind of love his introduction. If only he hadn’t been such a slimeball. But then again, that would undermine the entire purpose of his character.

XD Master Saiki.

This once again reminds me of Mob Psycho. I can’t help but wonder if the two series influenced each other, both being highly successful comedies about vastly overpowered psychic teenagers and their journey to self discovery. I do wonder sometimes why Mob Psycho was so much more successful than Saiki k, at least here in the States. Maybe they *are* equally popular in Japan, but that’s not the case if the internet fandom is anything to judge by (Mob Psycho is much, much more popular. There’s so much more fanart, if you search for it using the Japanese words and fan slang.)

I do enjoy both Aiura and Toritsuka using their powers, each of them ostensibly unimpressive compared to his but both about the only major supernatural abilities he lacks, to find out about him. Lovely situational irony.

Ghosts gather to see Psy users… has anyone ever discussed that this might be the cause of Saiki’s bad luck? But ghosts are by nature well-intentioned according to Toritsuka, so you would think he would have much better than average luck… hmm

Or maybe evil spirits are a thing, and not discussed in the manga for one reason or another. Maybe because they are not human ghosts but Yokai, another kind of spirit.

I do love that Toritsuka comes into the whole thing knowing exactly how many powers saiki has and just how powerful he is, but Toritsuka isn’t put off by it in the least (rather the opposite.) It obviously throws Saiki off. He even seems intrigued… at first. Until Toritsuka reveals his motivations unhesitatingly. He may know everything about Saiki’s powers, but obviously knows nothing of his personality.

From the events of PSIowdown later on in the comic regarding demonic possession and literally stealing people’s bodies, I like the implication that Toritsuka could probably learn other powers… if he was even remotely motivated to do so. So he probably could banish ghosts, if only he’d stop thinking about tits for half a second. I mean, he did learn possession channeling in the first place, for the sole purpose of picking up girls.

this brings up the question, does Toritsuka have relatives? where are they? We never see them. I mean, everyone has relatives, but where are Toritsuka’s real parents? What about his grandparents?

still a really funny panel. Yes half of Toritsuka perv jokes aren’t funny, but this one is perfect.

one thing that I do like about Saiki k is it makes an effort to demonstrate that looks can be deceiving. You have a character like Toritsuka who has pure, clear eyes and good looks (headband aside) who by all social indicators should be a paragon of society, who turns out to be a total creep within 5 minutes of meeting him, and then you have people like what’s the teachers name Iguchi sensei who turns out to be a really good person, even though he looks like a pervert. I think you see this a little with all of the characters, Saiki included. His words never quite match his actions; he looks like a surly average kid but he’s secretly extraordinary and of course very kind.

And Aiura, someone with seemingly low regard for social rules, who by all rights should have a reputation as the school slut, and a failure for her grades, is one of the strongest characters and has a lot of integrity. People respect her for her powers and her self confidence. She’s not who she appears to be either. Even someone like Kurumi turns “monstrous” when her ire is provoked. It gives these characters a layer of complexity that so many gag characters just don’t have, and that’s what sets it apart.

I do wonder if what Saiki says is true. Can’t they be taught? I imagine not. Maybe Toritsuka could approximate something similar to x-ray vision with his own abilities if he was dedicated and studied how he might expand his powers.

despite all of that he still invites Toritsuka over again? Japanese politeness, even from Saiki who has no respect for the kind of person that Toritsuka is? Or maybe it’s a quirk of translation. Let me see.

Okay, to me it looks more like, “yeah, yeah, go home already.” (hai, hai, kae-ta kae—) So, more of a dismissal than an acknowledgement.

Another underutilized power… come on now this is so useable in ship fics. And gen fics too. Saiki would make an entertaining detective character.

Also, if Saiki experiences all five senses live, does that mean…?

XD old man ass. hahaha

end of 2-17💫

[golden-flute]

TDP S7 Spoilers

I lack the capacity and the energy to articulate all my thoughts about the final season of The Dragon Prince in any meaningful way, but here are some highlights of my thoughts, in no particular order:

SPOILERS AND RAMBLINGS BELOW.

Runaan is officially back in business, baby! This was the slowest burn to get one of my favorite characters back, but I ate up every scene with him in it, particularly his reunion with Ethari, and how much of a dad he was in his other scenes. 11/10, no notes.

Allen picked Runaan up like he was a doll, lol. I snorted at that part.

Ethari is so gorgeous, I kept staring at him every time he was on screen. Love the new hairstyle. And his and Runaan's reunion, have I mentioned that?

I'm actually kind of surprised that nothing happened with Soren and Corvus. I thought at least Corvus might confess his feelings, even if Soren didn't reciprocate. I don't know if I wasn't reading into it right, but I got some major pining vibes in S6 from Corvus.

I KNEW HARROW WAS THE FUCKING BIRD. Omg, they waited until the end of the show to reveal that?!?

Which leads me to my next point. I know Aaron Ehasz has teased that he wants to make another show based in Xadia, and absolutely none of the characters felt like their entire stories had been satisfactorily closed by the end. Are we actually getting more, or is Aaron Ehasz just setting things up, just in case Netflix agrees to greenlight more?

Claudia's story didn't conclude at all. Neither did Aaravos'. He kept saying "If you kill me, I'll be back in seven years," and they didly-done killed him. So...??? Seven-year time-skip??? I would enjoy seeing these characters aged up again.

UM HELLO DANTE BASCO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? Playing another dragon, I see. <3

LET AMAYA CURSE IN THE TIME SKIP. JUSTICE FOR AMAYA'S POTTY MOUTH.

BYE KARIM. I hated him, and it wasn't just that he was an irredeemable POS, it was that he was so fucking annoying as a character. He was like a cockroach. Every time he came back for another season, I just sighed. I wish they would have gotten rid of him sooner. He didn't DO anything different, or anything worth coming back over and over again. There was nothing to add to his story, and it was super boring. I wish they would have killed him in a season or two, because then part of Janai's arc could have been how to mourn someone whom you had a complicated relationship with. Anyway, thank you for your service, Aaravos, you glorious bastard. And with such... flair, lol.

Rayllum was super adorable, as per usual. Loved it, no notes.

Stella using her portals to straight up decapitate that one dark beast??? Um???? I was legitimately like O_O

I'll be honest, I was kind of taken off guard by Ezran's reaction to Runaan's presence in ep 1. I did appreciate that he sort of failed to walk his own talk about forgiveness, and how it can be hard when you're facing the actual person who killed your family, but boy, I was not expecting the sudden 180 from him! I am glad, though, that in the end, he didn't give an outright, tearful forgiveness or anything. I genuinely think he offered his tentative forgiveness only because his love for Rayla was stronger than his hatred for Runaan. And that's so real. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. There are complicated feelings there, and they did a good job of showing that you can forgive without forgetting. And Ezran has always been this voice of calm and peace--it was interesting to explore some darker themes from him.

I was so glad to see Terry play a larger role this season! He's always been Claudia's yes-man, but in this one, he was actually calling the shots himself, and it was fabulous. His and Soren's bro moments were wholesome goodness I didn't know I needed.

Goodbye, Arch Dragons. :(

I wonder what happened to Amaya's elf interpreter friend. I can't remember their name, but I didn't even see them in the crowd at Everkind. Hope they're well!

Phoe-Phoe's back!! And Lujanne's up!

Oh, we never saw Ellis and Ava again. Huh.

That whole thing with Soren and Claudia's mom (Lyssa)... I do wish there had been more there. It was interesting to hear Soren's decision that he didn't want to see her, but still carried her picture on his person. And I'm glad they didn't force him to reconnect with her--not every estranged parent-child relationship has to be something salvageable, and TDP has always been a show I trust to represent realistic relationships, be they objectively positive, negative, or in between. But I do wish we'd had time to linger with him on that decision, maybe have a conversation between him and Corvus about it. Lyssa's presence, or lack thereof, was such a big part of season 6, it just felt like there wasn't much closure there, even if it was a conversation. Perhaps they're leaving that exploration open for a second show?

Avizandum returning was pretty cool. RIP Zubeia, though, she was awesome.

The Novum Blade was cool, but... they didn't really do much with it. Is that another "tuck away for the future" thing, mayhaps? Anyway, that's enough for now. All-in-all, I think S6 was my favorite season, followed by S3, but I think it was mostly because I felt like more questions were asked than answered by the end of S7. But hopefully, that means we might get more Dragon Prince content in the future! I wouldn't be opposed to that!

[serenescribe]

Poll: Help me pick my next TWST longfic! [FINISHED]

Hello everyone!

As most of you may know, I am quite the avid longfic writer. However, university's been slowing me down a lot, so I've been unable to write as quickly as before. So why not poll some of my fic ideas and let you all decide?

I'll include some brief, rambling summaries of the options below the cut! The poll will run for seven days, and the winner will be the longfic I focus on next! (That isn't to say I won't write other things since inspiration is fickle and some of these are semi-completed, but for the most case, my priority will be whatever wins!)

[Summaries under the cut!]

i. Bad Things Happen Bingo: Locked in a Freezer Epel-focused! I originally started working on this in April but shelved it because I was more focused on writing Diasomnia. That and I also did not look forward to writing Rook... Still, the benefit of this option is that It's already 2/3 finished, with the first two chapters done, so it would be done a lot faster. I'd feel pretty keen on finishing it sooner if there was interest expressed.

ii. Bad Things Happen Bingo: Barely Conscious Silver-focused! A bad end AU of the Fairy Gala remix event... and that's about all I can say about it. Compared to the other options, it wouldn't be as long, so I could see it being done faster. It would not have a definitive conclusion, being a bad end of an event, but if you like Silver suffering, this is the one for you!

iii. Bad Things Happen Bingo: On the Run Sebek-focused, along with the first years! I originally wanted to write this for Halloween this year, but quickly shelved that idea due to realising how much Uni sapped my energy. This is one of the two options here that would be rated Mature, along with warnings of Major Character Death. It was meant to be a Halloween fic, after all.

iv. Bad Things Happen Bingo: This Is For Your Own Good Silver and Lilia-focused. What can I say about this AU without revealing too much...? This is the other option that would be rated Mature. It gets truly fucked up and dark in the latter half, and bad things truly does happen. It would also be one of the longest fics in the BTHB series, as I'm envisioning two very long chapters. All the same, this is arguably the idea I'm most excited to write. So if that means anything to you (trust in my tastes, perhaps?) you might want to consider voting for this!

v. Bad Things Happen Bingo: Hope Is Scary Silver-focused, though Lilia comes in later. This is arguably the least developed of all the ideas here, however it was a really good idea that Olive thought up and gave me permission to write. A lot of Silver suffering in this one! And being alone. The prompt is literally about losing all hope and not wanting to hope again in case it gets dashed.

vi. Reverse Containment Breach AU: Starchild Lilia and Silver-focused. This is based on Olive's Reverse Containment Breach AU, of which I'd previously written a ficlet for here with Malleus and Sebek. Think something SCP-esque with an organisation studying strange subjects. Head Researcher Lilia Vanrouge stumbles upon a boy who fell from space one night, and that's when everything slowly goes off the rails. I actually finished about 1/3 of this? So it's partially started.

vii. PMMM AU: Lilia Longfic Lilia and Silver-focused. What it says on the tin. Mica and I's PMMM AU, which isn't 1:1 with canon but Lilia takes the role of Homura, and Silver as Madoka. Time loops and general suffering and angst. If you know how Madoka plays out, you know how this one's going to go.

[woodchipp]

A CRITIQUE OF OMORI, PART 6: UNORIGINALITY

NOTE: Reader discretion is advised. By clicking on “Keep reading”, you willingly choose to continue reading the post.

This is more of a "bonus" post. It is not as important as the other five posts before it and is more of a rant than anything.

Even though just calling OMORI "another quirky Earthbound-inspired RPG about depression" would be rather reductive, OMORI is painfully derivative at its core. For a game renowned for pushing the envelope for what indie RPGs can do, it's actually rather unimpressive. In terms of story, the game it bears the most resemblance to is - surprisingly enough - Silent Hill 2, with the similarities being... suspicious.

The male protagonist (James; Sunny) kills his female loved one (Mary; Mari), represses the memory of doing so and convinces himself she's still alive (James comes to Silent Hill in hopes of finding Mary after allegedly receiving a letter from her; Sunny conjures an imaginary fantasyland where Mari is still alive). The only major difference is that James killed Mary consciously while Sunny killed Mari accidentally.

Tying into the previous point, OMORI establishes that Mari died 4 years ago prior to the events of the game because of an external circumstance Sunny had no control over (suicide) to hide the fact that Sunny killed her, exactly the same way SH2 establishes that Mary died 3 years ago prior to the events of the game due to an external circumstance James had no control over (terminal illness) to hide the fact that James killed her.

As the screenshots at the top of the post show, both James and Sunny are established as generally reticent characters who don't outwardly emote much but are described by other characters (Mary in James' case, Sunny's friends in Sunny's case) as kind and sweet.

Silent Hill 2's Mary is James' kind, gentle and seemingly perfect wife who used to play the piano and dearly loved her husband; near the end of the game, it is implied that she verbally abused James during her final days, with said abuse partially being the reason he killed her. Similarly, OMORI's Mari is Sunny's kind, gentle and seemingly perfect older sister who used to play the piano and dearly loved her younger brother; near the end of the game, it is revealed that she harshly berated Sunny, with said upbraiding partially being the reason Sunny shoved her down the stairs.

Furthermore, inspecting the piano in the Lakeview Hotel has James briefly reminisce that he loved to hear Mary play the piano even though she wasn't very good at it; during the final memory of Memory Lane, Basil mentions that Sunny always sits in the room with Mari while she's practicing the piano.

The plot of Silent Hill 2 focuses on James' surreal trek through the town as his subconscious (represented via the Otherworld, Pyramid Head and the monsters) tries to get him to face the fact that he committed a murder. Similarly, the plot of OMORI focuses on Sunny's surreal trek through his imaginary fantasyland as his subconscious (represented via Black Space, Stranger, Something and its variants) tries to get him to face the fact that he committed manslaughter.

The recurring fog in Headspace represents the lack of mental clarity, as the game itself spells out to you. Do I even need to say anything here?

The main antagonistic forces of Silent Hill 2 are the symbolic embodiment of James' guilt that also serves as a constant reminder of his wrongdoing (Pyramid Head) and the personification of James' wish-fulfillment delusions that is meant to distract him from learning the truth (Maria). Similarly, the main antagonistic forces of OMORI are the symbolic embodiment of Sunny's guilt that also serves as a constant reminder of his wrongdoing (Something) and the personification of Sunny's wish-fulfillment delusions that is meant to prevent him from learning the truth (Omori)

Both James and Sunny/Omori are forced to descend into an eldritch location representing their subconscious - the Labyrinth and Black Space respectively - in the second half of their respective games. OMORI even has you enter Black Space by jumping through a hole in the floor!

The revelation that Sunny killed Mari directly precedes OMORI's penultimate boss fight against Basil, just like the revelation that James killed Mary precedes Silent Hill 2's penultimate boss fight against the twin Pyramid Heads. Additionally, the Truth segment's long walk to the tree where the final photo lies is reminiscent of the long hallway James has to go through before confronting the final boss.

Silent Hill 2's "Maria" ending shows James ultimately embracing his delusions by accepting Maria as Mary's replacement to avoid facing up to his guilt; similarly, the ending of OMORI's Hikikomori route shows Sunny embracing his delusions to avoid facing up to his guilt by staying in Headspace forever.

Of course, to insinuate Omocat stole Silent Hill 2's entire plot would be too absurd of an accusation, but the similarities were too glaring for me to ignore. Make of them what you will.

Silent Hill 2 isn't the only game OMORI heavily resembles. Aside from the very obvious "inspiration" the game takes from Yume Nikki, many of the things this game tries to do have been already done in some form (oftentimes better) by other indie RPGs and video games in general that were released before it.

Headspace is Earthbound's Magicant made into a whole game. The major difference is that Magicant is actually relevant to the story in both of the games it's featured in. By the way, don't Daddy Longlegs' appearance and his function in the plot seem strikingly familiar?

Omori stands down and vanishes at the end of the final boss fight after Sunny plays the recital he and Mari were meant to play, just like Giegue stands down and calls off the invasion of Earth after Ninten and his team sing the lullaby his adoptive mother, Maria, used to sing to him during the climax of Earthbound Beginnings.

OFF and Ib have already featured hand-drawn aesthetics all the way back in 2008 and 2012 respectively; in Ib, it also was a crucial part of the story and the gameplay instead of simply being an aesthetic choice.

Something and the variants of it you fight throughout the game seem to be made out of clay, an aesthetic choice the two Hylics games have already featured.

Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass has already featured the exact same "kid uses sugar-coated dream world to cope with hardship in his life" general premise, the hardship in question being terminal cancer in Jimmy's case. It also had Jimmy fight his fears, heights and spiders included. The final boss, the Pulsating Mass itself, tries to break Jimmy by taking the appearance of his family and verbally abusing him, with Jimmy getting the special "Heartbroken" status effect, just like Omori tries to break Sunny by reminding him that his friends loved Mari and he killed her while inflicting the special "Afraid" emotion on him. On top of that, JatPM features Jimmy facing off against the personification of his self-loathing too!

The LISA games have already featured OMORI's initial premise of "brother grieves his sister's suicide and has to deal with his own severe mental issues along the way". The major difference is that Lisa's suicide is a suicide caused by her father's sexual abuse instead of being a contrived cover-up planned and executed by a 12-year-old.

Truth be told, I'd have been genuinely glad to overlook such minutiae if the game's story was actually compelling or gripping. It isn't.

OMORI's story fails to be complex and compelling for a multitude of reasons. The main protagonist is dull, doesn't have much impact on the plot and comes off as more unpleasant than intended, the main characters in general are fleshed out poorly and their personalities are spelled out to the player multiple times rather than shown, the supposedly soul-crushing plot twist makes no sense under scrutiny, and the game is rife with unfortunate implications regarding the topic of mental illness, which it relies on to make the plot interesting. The emotions OMORI tries to evoke don't feel earned either, and come off as more of a "smokescreen" to divert the player's attention from the plot's lack of substance.

After all, in this game, the Feels are always more of a priority than the Reals.

[flightfoot]

Do you think that Master Fu had any role in the amount of times Marinette lied throughout the show? At 14 someone can still be susceptible to an adult's influence, so I thought that maybe the fact that it was him who taught her that lying is okay as long as it's for some kind of "greater good" (like in the identities' case, "it's okay to hide your identity from your loved ones because otherwise you'd be putting them in danger") was a big reason why she never completely unlearned that lesson and still lied in the finale, even if she saw already how much lying about things can backfire on her.

(That's without taking into account the fact that it was basically Gabriel's dying wish and she must've recognized the merit in it, even if he asked that of her for selfish reasons.)

Of course, that still doesn't make what she did right, but I feel like it would make her choice more understandable...? She never really questioned Master Fu's teachings as a whole, after all. I was really curious to hear your thoughts on this though!

I'm gonna disagree on this. For one thing, Fu was only a factor in seasons 2 and 3, Marinette didn't know he was Guardian until Volpina/The Collector. She was lying about secret identity stuff long before that point, though she started telling more nonessential lies from season 2 onwards.

I made a post going through the transcripts of every episode and noting down all her nonessential lies if you need a fuller picture.

He doesn't ever really tell her that she should lie - in fact, her first lie of season 2 is lying TO HIM - the most he does is ask her to keep his existence secret, and she actually pushes back on that in Syren and gets him to talk to Chat Noir. Given his lack of presence in season 4 onwards, I don't think Fu's influence is much of a factor at this point.

Gabriel's dying wish being for Adrien to remember him as a good father is a much greater factor in her decision to lie I think, along with her other stated reasoning of not wanting Adrien to suffer from the cruel truth. Marinette's told lies to spare others' feelings before, like when she made a weak excuse to ditch planting trees with the girls in Party Crasher so she could investigate what the boys were up to. She's also made major decisions' on others behalf because she thought that would lead to better outcomes than letting them make those decisions for themselves, like in Ephemeral when she lied and manipulated Chat Noir into unknowingly revealing his identity to a third party so that Su Han would get off hers and Chat's back about no one knowing his identity. Her lying in the finale is consistent with her character, and I don't think it has much to do with Fu, that feels like it's making him into a scapegoat, since there's not much evidence to point towards his teaching and philosophies leading to these sorts of decisions on her part.

[freezegirl]

Hi! Deadpool here, call me Wade. What's it like at the increeeeedibly secular Sky U? My step-daughter (she doesn't know she's my step-daughter) is entertaining the totally style-crampin' Xavier's for her mutant future which-- okay, I get it, best school for well off white folk, but come on.

If any minor character can have a brand new life at this university, it's gotta be the bomb-dot-com, right?

new money, revelled, reviled / @disneybucks

"sky high as well as sky u was founded by theodore stronghold and his wife ann-marie but nowadays, principal penthesilea powers runs the show - you may or may not know her as powerhouse. turns into a comet. turns into a lot of other astronomical objects, too. each with their own innate power set. hence, powerhouse. she's kind of like our wonder woman." and easily khione's favorite person.

"my parents actually wanted to send me to xavier's, believe it or not. i had to sell them on sky high and sky u. don't ask me how i did it. to this day, i still don't know. i'm glad i managed, though."

actually, she does. she did it by appearing on her mom's reality tv show: the famous lives of superhero wives, now streaming on netflix and paramount plus and hulu and a plethora of other streaming services (that do not delete their ip off of said platforms)!

he's actually her favorite and everyone is always so surprised when she reveals that. he's right up there, right next to cloak and dagger because she loves a good duo with contrasting powers, as well as rogue because, well, she knows what it's like when you hurt people when you touch them. and storm because she's storm. khione doesn't trust anyone who doesn't like storm. it's just on principle, you know?

"i would ask how it's possible that she's unaware about being your stepdaughter when she's your stepdaughter, but i'll finish the sales pitch first before we dive into that: so, our p.e. teacher is named tommy boomowski, alias sonic boom. everyone just calls him boomer, though, 'cause that's what he is. his voice is loud but other than that, he's pretty harmless. a bit of a himbo, really. um, we've got professor jeannie elast - stretches herself too thin all the time." is that a power pun? yes. "rumor has it she's got a crush on boomer but she hasn't given us a yes or a no so i'd have to get back to you on that."

maybe she should have drawn him a flow-chart. "then there's mister medulla, he's basically our xavier. except he does mad science. i don't think mister xavier does mad science. mad science is really fun, actually. it's just the lessons on telepathy that trip me up all the time." that is to say, khione's good at making sure her environment doesn't get turned into a winter wonderland but keeping out telepaths? (even when it's an exercise in class?) that's something else entirely, and what it is is headache inducing.

her friends will probably not believe her when she tells them this. which reminds her that she's gotta ask for a selfie before this conversation's over. (not an autograph, those can be faked. though, these days, there's a whole bunch of things people can fake. selfies included.)

"there's this one youtuber i follow - not a figure skater, for once, just one of those uplift-y people - and she was like: we're all major characters of our own life or something like that and i know that's a cheese-fest and a half but i also don't think she's wrong about that. not really." which is the warmest, gentlest and the most pointed way of saying: hey, don't be like that, calling someone a minor character is not the compliment you think it is. that's a lot, coming from this hydro-cryokinetic.

"in the interest of being totally honest because i think that your stepdaughter who doesn't know she's your stepdaughter needs to know the ins and outs before she commits - not every student will be cool." case in point: gwen grayson. "just last week, i turned one of my classmates into an icicle on the school lawn. again. he was being inappropriate. also, they're still working on updating the mental health part of the curriculum so you're screwed if you get, say, kidnapped by barron battle---" ethan bank. "---or katie baxter." khione herself. "so she's gotta have a good support system in place."

then, the coldest girl in maxville gives the merc with the mouth a warm smile and says, sincerely: "i think she's got that covered, though."

[winns-stuff]

LO RANT:

I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that Persephone really got intimate with someone despite her sexual trauma and we just glossed over it like it did not matter. I don’t see how anyone could be satisfied or okay with this shit since the situation was a huge plot point for years, not months, YEARS. Yet the time when it finally came up to it everything was rushed and never spoken about again, like Persephone’s trauma is important and I don’t can’t understand how no one ever questioned that.

Like I keep saying in these damn rants, Hades has a plethora of explanations for his trauma and whole dedicated chapters towards Kronos and being eaten. Everything he does ties back to it and it’s clear that this affected him in a major way since we were able to actually see how different he was after the fact. We know so much shit about the Kronos situation yet we barely know bits and pieces about Persephone’s trauma and that gets on my fucking nerves, am I asking anyone to be descriptive? No. Am I asking anyone to speak on it every other chapter? No, but what I am asking is why didn’t it actually matter. The assault felt like it was only there to establish a bad guy, it also felt like it was only there to make Hades a knight in shining armor to save Persephone mainly because nothing she did up until then made any fucking sense. Something terribly traumatic happened to you and you’re telling me you’re going to tell that very personal and vulnerable piece of information to a guy from a party you got absolutely wasted at, ended up in his home, almost got attacked by his dog, and was offered to have sex with him over the slightest bit of shoulders revealing themselves. That’s absolutely manufactured, it doesn’t even make sense in the story at all which makes me feel like it was set up just so Persephone would have a reason to talk to Hades.

Which I personally feel is really fucked up, why did anyone think it was a good idea to have her assault be the reason why they’re made for each other? Persephone could’ve called him for literally anything else to build their friendship since she already was under the impression that they were friends, I don’t understand why she would trust him of all people when he was literally trying to get in her pants out of nowhere. And then every single thing tied to Apollo and her trauma in later chapters always somehow involved Hades, FOR NO REASON. It’s been established that she has a completely different support team that doesn’t even include Hades yet he’s the main one always there whenever she “needs to be rescued”, there’s no way that this wasn’t used as a fucking ploy to push these two together. It’s obvious that Hades isn’t a great person at all, like genuinely fuck the whole “he’s not perfect but he’s trying :(“ thing he’s just irredeemably bad, and by the looks of it he would never be a good husband or partner for Persephone so Rachel had to do something to cover that up and like everything with Hades it was ultimately the bare minimum.

It’s just so fucked up to me. You can’t even deny it either because there are dozens of stories (romance) where the main character has something absolutely traumatic done to them and the love interest just so happens to be there to “fix” them or “save” in this case. It’s very popular and I’m not saying that it’s always all bad, the way that you execute the trauma and the way that your characters interact with it are what makes it either really bad or really good. With Lore Olympus though, it had to be the worst case of this honestly because not only did you rush the healing process just so they could screw each other smoothly but you also made a complete mockery of it. I’m sure there’s a bunch of people who relate to Persephone’s story and I don’t want to knock them nor am I criticizing them and I understand that not all survivors are going to react the same, there’s millions of people on this Earth and since we’re not clones of each other we’re always going to share major differences, but this is just so incredibly bad. You have Persephone literally resting in the bed that she got assaulted in with a man, you have this man touching her and invading her personal space multiple times without asking days after this happened, and you have a man that you need to comfort while you tell him your own trauma. You see how none of this makes sense? I know not all survivors react the same I know it and I feel bad for even pointing this out but at the same time you’re going to be affected by stuff like this.

This was days after it happened everyone, days. Not weeks, not months, not years, not decades, and not even centuries. Days after Persephone experienced a huge violation of her body in her own room and she does not worry or think about it once when she’s with Hades. This stuff does not just go away, trauma never goes away because what’s done is done sadly your brain and body has already been affected and you may not be able to revert back to the person you were before. Of course there’s ways to make your trauma less prominent and less of a problem for your everyday life whether it be medically assigned pills, therapy visits, and other supportive resources that specialize in things such as that but it’s never just going to disappear from your life entirely. It’s going to follow you like a dark cloud and it’s going to control your every move especially when it’s just happened, it’s a massive impact on a person no matter how big or small which is why stuff like this needs to be taken more seriously. So many people expect you to get over it and forget about it but you can’t because it’s not something that you can forget so easily, it’s draining and it’s consuming and sometimes it’s very isolating. Which is why I appreciated the therapist episode since it really does showcase just how daily it can be and how it just molds itself apart of your everyday life but sadly I know it’s very clearly just trying to appease readers’ concerns about Persephone’s trauma being forgotten which makes me have another problem to talk about.

How am I supposed to believe that Persephone was struggling with this stuff almost everyday when there’s nothing alluding to that fact. Persephone rarely has any symptoms or experiences the effects of trauma unless Hades can be involved somehow, her trauma is only important and valid when the story can use it for romance and I think that’s again, very fucked up. You don’t see Hades’ trauma only being brought up so Persephone can fix them, he just says them and we can see how even though it’s been centuries he’s still dealing with the long term affects but you don’t see the story using it as a ploy to get them together (mainly), no one’s using Hades being swallowed up by his own father as a kid as some cute moment for Persephone to take him to dinner or something this treatment only happens to Persephone. If her trauma can’t be cute in some way then it’s not going to be shown and it’s again, very insulting.

Anyways, I will end this rant here yet I will never not be upset at the fact that Rachel only made Persephone “heal” just so she could give us the most unnatural intimate scenes ever. Endgame for them was just having sex and I think it’s so incredibly mind boggling that we’re supposed to look at this in a romantic sense, nothing about this is romantic and it’s very obvious that this was just used as “drama” which should’ve never been the case in the first place.

[rawliverandgoronspice]

I absolutely love your analysis of the gerudo and Ganondorf because they put into words what bothers me about how TOTK portrays Ganondorf. That being they remove his agency as a character in favor of having some great evil against the good guys.

[Major story spoilers ahead for the end of the game]

At the end of the game, when you’ve defeated Ganondorf, he swallows the secret stone and becomes a dragon, like Zelda, fully knowing the consequences of what happens when that happens. And it’s just kinda left me with a bitter taste in my mouth? In the context of the story it makes sense, he’s portrayed as a egomaniac who just wants to destroy Hyrule. But compared to other versions of him, this one just feels more openly biased against him and the gerudo, with no reason or justification other than “he’s evil, hate him.” As far as I can tell… They never really show us that he’s done anything horrible or deserving of being feared before the show of fealty cutscene, other than not submit to Hyrule, attack them once, and generally have bad vibes. It feels forced how much they want us to hate him and the people who follow him. I’m not saying character in video games always have to be nuanced or complex but comparing like, Wind Waker Ganondorf next to TOTK Ganondorf…. 🙃 Waste of an excellent design imo.

Heyyy sorry for being a billion years late with this ask!! I was busy finishing the game!!! among other things!!! Thank you so much for your kind words, I'm super happy it resonated with you in that way!

I mean, the whole draconification plot beat doesn't really work for me. Like yeah, sure it's sad that Zelda is now a giant dragon and it's cool to have her soaring above your head while you have no idea where she actually is (a situation that isn't nearly tapped into enough in the narrative imo, like it gets obvious way too fast if you happen upon the wrong memory, etc), and I actually think the whole sequence of you removing the Master Sword from her head was the best scene in the entire game in terms of mood and emotions --even THOUGH it would have been so much better with a stronger story and stronger stakes-- BUT. How does that build up thematically?

I think what doesn't work for the Zelda side of this plot point (I'll get to Ganon next) is that... she doesn't make that choice. It's not like she's being tempted by an easy way out and decides to sacrifice herself for the sake of Hyrule or Link or whoever: she has no choice in the matter. Her powers activate (?? somehow? once and never again also, talk about dropped plot threads), she finds herself in the past, is the passive witness to a bunch of shit that only tangientially relates to her --it's like she's visiting estranged family in a foreign country and watch their drama awkwardly before being dragged into it against her will even though she was just trying to renew her passport and get back home (if there had been any callback to her relationship with her father it would have landed better, but it's just completely ignored so vOv). Then her relatives all die or corrupt or something, and she still can't get back home. What is she meant to do besides draconify? Grow old and die in the past? What would that accomplish?? Her adventures in the past are just basically about solving a shrine puzzle with a particularly weird solution --but the game treats it like a huge sacrifice when it's basically her only way out, and she lost absolutely nothing making that sacrifice (and then she... cries about the weird family drama? sure. Honestly I think it would have worked better if the tears were Rauru's, it's his bullshit everyone is dealing with right? He's the one who feels broken and aggrieved by the whole thing.)

So, if we ignore the draconification precedent builds up to zero thing thematically beyond cheap drama that reveals nothing about neither the characters nor the world, I think Ganondorf's case is a little more compelling because he does make a choice here: dying as he tries to achieve his weird lofty goals (and fail), or postpone his victory eternally by sacrificing his objectives but reject death and defeat --while also barring himself from victory. In a better crafted story, this could be utterly excellent and it feels very Ganondorf to me. BUT, my beef with that plot beat isn't that he chooses the second option, making him kinda active for the first time in the entire game (and makes an appropriate hideous smile: *loved* this second one, the first one didn't land for me but this one really captures the ecstatic insanity and transcendance and desperate madness of the act --I have nothing against Ganondorf offputting smiles and cackles when they feel earned, and the Sonia one just... doesn't to me, it just feels like weird rigging and mesh deformation choices getting out of control).

My problem is that his existence as a dragon contradicts everything we knew about dragons before --both for him and for Zelda. I thought the big issue with draconification was that you'd lose yourself to the act entirely, and would become this sort of organic landmark of infinite power and eternal life but without will to act on your precedent goals and understanding of yourself. But the second the big man becomes an evil dragon, suddenly Zelda zips in to the rescue (apparently remembering who you are? understanding she's meant to fight Ganondorf? I mean, this kind of works emotionally as a climactic ending and the power of love or whatever, again it would have worked better in a better story), and Ganondorf is still very much into destroying the world as well as you and Zelda.

Also, he's very definitively mortal (and he has the stone on his head again? And so if you destroy it you destroy his immortality? why???)

So... What I dislike here is the suggestion that he was somehow so evil and rotten and bad that all of these rare moments of interesting worldbuilding and ambivalence gets completely swallowed in the bossfight logic, making his choice (and Zelda's) completely meaningless in retrospect.

also: let Zelda remain a dragon you cowards, that way Hyrule gets any sort of chance to escape and reimagine its horrying eternal monarchy instead of re-establishing it even harder than before!!!