#* meta.

[cadejos]

Nanami was always beautiful, but it's amusing how drastically he evolved in appearance from his teen years to adulthood. I know the diegetic reason for it (needing to #conform to that corporate drone lifestyle), but that only makes his choices during HS that much more interesting

For example, his hair. While skimming late 00s Japanese hairstyle catalogues for men, I failed to find a direct inspiration for it, the way I could for the likes of Gojo and Haibara. IMO it could only be a strong indicator of his personality and interests (maybe even subcultural).

He clearly drew from his technique for the hair part as well, which would be endearing if intentional, although part of me wants to believe that it was mostly instinctual, carrying on into adulthood because once you find a comfortable way to part your hair you tend to stick to it.

Then there's the topic of his uniform. All JJ Tech uniforms get custom fits, and Nanami's has a strong silhouette. He has the wide shoulders and the cut gives his torso an almost rectangular, prominent shape. Contrast with Gojo, which is just a bit more triangular.

On the other hand, his pants are possibly the skinniest out of the whole crew, or even in general if you include the modern generation of students. This was definitely an active fashion choice. Coupled with his gloomy, angsty teenage attitude, I feel like Nanami has quite a dramatic side that is often times overlooked. Probably because, just like his fashion choices, he had to learn how to conform to societal expectations.

[jojo-schmo]

I wish I could tell the original artist that this drawing permanently changed the entire direction of my life in 2009. I want to shake their hand, look them in the eye, and admit I would not be who I am today if this drawing didn’t exist.

EDIT: Original artist is @ivynajspyder !!!!

[kismetconstellations]

Because I'm still bitter... The first time I consciously verbalized that "I hate this show", came when, as I predicted, there was absolutely no acknowledgement of Shiro having no living family on Earth, come the Atlas's "launch date" at the start of Season Eight.

We get shots of each of the Paladins interacting with their families, including Allura as a part of Lance's family, which is a sweet touch.

Then, there's a passing shot of Shiro standing alone and isolated on the Atlas's bridge that he isn't even the focus of.

I had a feeling this would be the case when, ahead of the finale of the second season, the Paladins are cheerfully reflecting on their growth and the challenges that they've overcome preceding what they believe will be their final fight with Zarkon.

Shiro, however, is dead silent, back turned to the others, and, when we do see his expression, he's stone-faced and seemingly deep in contemplation. Something that no one acknowledges, or seems to be in any way concerned about, even with Shiro's history of thoughts that he loses himself in being distinctly unpleasant ones.

When he does speak, it's to somberly offer the definitive statement, "You realize, once we defeat Zarkon, the universe won't need Voltron, anymore." The kids naturally express wanting to see their families, again, once the burden of defending the universe has been lifted from their shoulders, even if it means, for Pidge and Keith, going out and finding them.

Shiro, though, voices no such desires. He dons the Fearless Leader/Black Paladin mask and encourages his underlings that they can't fail, and that's that. Cue them looking dramatically out over the horizon before the credits roll.

One could hem and haw and offer any number of supposed explanations for the unsettling absence of any lifegoals for Shiro outside of "defeat the bad guy and defend the universe", especially viewing this scene in hindsight.

"Shiro and his long-term partner split up before the Kerberos mission. Maybe it would be awkward for Shiro to see him, again, and Shiro doesn't want to discuss that with a group of teenagers, especially as their commanding officer."

"Maybe they intended for Shiro's family to show up later and simply didn't have the time to include them, or he has a strained and/or estranged relationship with his family and wasn't too concerned with going back to them."

"He's been declared legally dead, and the cartoon made to sell toys to kids didn't want to bog their child audience's brains down with the confangled nuisances of bureaucracy."

"Maybe Shiro had no personal desire to return to Earth, and would have assisted Pidge in looking for Matt and Sam had he lived."

And, any of these would be more interesting than what we were actually given, which is nothing, because the showrunners didn't know how to and weren't equipped to handle the sheer level of complex and compounded trauma they had afflicted Shiro with. It was easier to brush it all aside, as that shot of an out of focus Shiro so deftly displays. Especially once Shiro had been killed and effectively permanently replaced as the Black Paladin, then brought back to life and retired to "boring adult" status. They killed his partner off-screen, following the dissolution of the relationship, and briefly showed Shiro mourning the loss,

and I guess that was their "emotional pathos for Shiro" quota met for the rest of the show.

After that, he was gifted his own ship and the position of Captain/Admiral aboard it to sequester him off with Sam, Iverson, Veronica, Slav, a similarly unceremoniously demoted Coran, and the rest of the side characters, under the guise of him being promoted to a position of actual significance. And, as much as I love Shiro having his own ship, and the figure he cuts in that stylish and immensely flattering Admiral coat, it shouldn't have to be said that this is both a massive insult to his character after he had the most narrative significance and pathos of anyone during the first two seasons, and a cheap, cowardly tactic employed to avoid the reality that the writers have alluded to Shiro seeing himself as having no purpose if he isn't performing a heroic duty to others, and being passively suicidal when no such duty exists.

"Don't look too closely, everyone! Let's not linger too long on this!" Otherwise, you'll realize that Shiro, in fact, has no one to support him outside of people who already have families of their own. And, "The universe won't need Voltron, anymore", was really Shiro saying, "The universe won't need me, anymore."

And, damned if the brain trusts behind this show didn't try to prove how little they needed Shiro, only for their story to fall apart at the seams after killing him, and the quality to, fittingly, take a nosedive straight into the abyss once they committed to nerfing and sidelining him while having other characters pitifully attempt to retrace steps that he had already taken, stumbling over his distinct and unforgettable bootprints.

[sealrock]

been rotating these old gals in my head all month and finally got a chance to take some gposes of them: introducing the wormwood sisters, a first of many wormwood family meta posts. incoming lore dump in no particular order under the cut

from left to right: goneril, regan, cordelia—

goneril:

a longtime member of the forum and part of sevestre albright's bibliothec faction. hard to please and dislikes most people

married to a sharlayan nobleman named albany, has two children and three grandchildren

the eldest of the sisters and thus inherited their family's fortunes and estate. the wormwoods were one of the founding members of old sharlayan and were involved in the arts and humanities

believes in sevestre's politics and beliefs, often butts heads with younger sister cordelia about it

conservative in her old age, a strict rule follower. spoils her grandchildren nonetheless and was deeply saddened when she heard news of her nephew's disappearance. didn't interact with paris as much

regan:

classical history teacher at the studium

married to a scientist named cornwall, has one child and two grandchildren

the middle sister. usually acts as an impartial party between goneril and cordelia. treated hector like the son she never had and wanted to teach paris the ways of white magicks

more magically inclined than her sisters, is known to hoard tomes and scrolls on magic. has the nickname 'the good witch of sharlayan'

also spoils her grandchildren, indulging them with gadgets and trinkets collected from the mainland

cordelia:

younger sister of goneril and regan, enjoys anything supernatural or paranormal. collects oddities and trinkets in her spare time

widow of a sharalyan researcher named burgen, mother of hector and grandmother of paris, her only beloved grandchild. had an unconventional marriage with burgen; burgen only married her for her family's wealth to fund his research projects, and they were rarely seen together. they slept in separate rooms

once a close personal friend of galuf baldesion. after her husband died, she began funding the students of baldesion as a benefactor

the most liberal member of the wormwoods in both fashion and politics, a follower of louisoix and openly speaks out against sharlayan's isolationist stance

loves both andromache and achille as her in-laws, spearheaded the campaign to bring hector home by appealing to goneril to let them become sharlayan citizens. works closely with andi and achille as they partnered up with the students of baldesion to investigate the ascians

[agentnash]

parker is like. generally not a good person. he's mean, and meaner when he's drunk ( which is most of the time ). he likes to say things specifically to get under people's skin, and he'll act like he doesn't care about anyone or anything. he cusses a lot ( mostly at people ), he's easy to anger and will always say that one thing that will hurt your feelings. and he refuses to apologize for any of it.

but he's good at his job - underneath it all, he cares about justice and wanting to do the right thing ( even if he goes about it the wrong way ). he has a soft spot for kids and is good with victims who are answering his questions. he's fiercely protective and loyal, and will bite anyone who raises a hand to the people he actually cares about.

he's just a sad and lonely alcoholic who got the shitty end of the stick, but if you can put up with him for long enough to see underneath all of his many, many, many flaws, you'll be able to see the good parts of him. it just takes time and trust.

[supurman]

+ TOPIC : // the npc profile of the krypto you will find on supurman

QUICK SUMMARY: this krypto follows an original origin story but then features a twist when clark goes to college from my own design. i do this because i feel krypto has become a underutilized and eventually forgotten beloved companion of superman. on this blog i seek to make krypto more of a character in clarks life. its HIS dog from his home planet after all. he's a good boy.

KRYPTO HC DIRECTORY: 1 ( random summary of krypto facts and hcs )

NAME: krypto ( real name ), spot ( past, secret identity), dusty ( current, secret identity ) ALIASES: krypto the super dog BELONGS TO: kal-el superman, and the house of el family FAVORITE PERSON: kal, but he loves all his el's. AGE: unsure & verse dependent., definitely older than superman by AT LEAST 4 years. doesnt show signs of aging. clark always says he's about 4 for his identities sake. OCCUPATION: live stock guardian dog, guard + attack dog ( always ), protector of metropolis ( current ), trained therapy dog to clark kent, part time guard dog for others if superman allows ( i,e green lanterns ask for krypto )

SECRET IDENTITY: dusty, the normal farm dog. as dusty kryptos high tech collar is black and shows a tag that says dusty. but when he turns into krypto the collar turns red, his tag turns into to the super insignia, and a cape pops out! even without krypto's collar can he blend in as a normal white dog who has no sense of duty and just likes to be content canine.

+ SUB TOPIC : // mannerisms....

krypto is a medium social dog who is only ever excited to see those he has a bond to. hes not overly social to meet strangers muhc preferring to stick with his people. but, he is not aggressive to random pettings from strangers which is completely fine. he more or less will just sit there. he is a friendly dog with a level head and a strong sense of duty as taught to him by superman.

IT IS IMPORTANT KNOW KRYPTO IS A DOG. unlike humans, he doesn't feel guilt to kill. krypto is trained to incapacitate but he also BITES TO KILL. more often then not he is shown in comics to go for the neck. so be sure to tell the dog first if you want him to kill or simply incapacitate. if you try to go for his family or people he is dedicated to protect often times krypto will make his own choice and that is to KILL.

+ SUB TOPIC : // powers ...

EYES: a brown-orange. a common dog eye color... WEIGHT: 157 LBS FUR: white, has a coarseness to it on his back. EARS & TAIL: pointed ears, long paddle tail... prone to happy tail. but his tail wont hurt him it can hurt others like you kicked your beside corner!

krypto is a large white dog who looks like a cross between a german shepherd and a grey wolf. he has the same gait as a grey wolf which promotes calorie efficiency and maximum endurance. when asked by normal clark says his dog is very specific unrecognized breed from his corner in kansas. this is to not make any suspicious how clark seems to always have these very similar looking dogs over the years, since dogs do die but krypto does not !

+ SUB TOPIC : // DOG BREED . . .

BREED: kryptonian shepherd. much like the german shepherd of today they are a versatile breed who can do more then what they were originally intended for. krypto has a innate strong sense of guarding his people, a gentleness with domesticated animals, a high prey and ball drive which makes him great as a working dog. kryptonian shepherds feel happy to do any job. down to the bone this breed is a working dog and seeks stimulation. intelligent. capable of being independent and figuring things out on their own.. has a good 'off ' button so they can be an active dog when needed or a calm and relaxed companion at home after a good days work.

developed on krypton. it was a popular breed that could withstand the lower temperatures the planet could endure in the winter due to the red giant sun being very cool. featuring a white double coat that sheds out in the spring. these dogs only came in white.

sent in a test rocket before the infant kal-el from krypton, krypto was meant to land on earth to accompany his infant kryptonian kal. in a sad turn of events krypto's rocket lost course so he laid suspended in space. after about 12 years krypto crash landed onto the same farm kal, now named clark, had when he was an infant. dog and boy now united they bonded quickly as the 2 only survivors of their destroyed home krypton. to krypto, the destruction of krypton meant nothing, finding his boy again meant everything.

krypto stayed with clark on the farm and just like his kryptonian the dog developed amazing powers under the yellow sun.

when clark turned 18 he sought to bring his dog with him to metropolis so he too made a secret identity for his pooch. clark learned how to train dogs himself , trained krypto, then eventually become a certified service dog so he can readily follow his boy. together, they headed off into metropolis.

over the years, krypto did develop a rebellious stage becoming quite reactive for reasons clark could only equate to not knowing how to go about his powers. the dog would scare lois, and was even aggressive to kara. he was a liability to hurt someone. however, clark always believed his dog was good and never gave up on krypto. going back to square one, clark trained krypto more to properly utilize his senses and powers and hone his focus.

now, the dog is a staple to metropolis having earned the name super dog, dog of tomorrow! his el family now goes beyond just his boy kal but to all his kids as well. life is good for a dog and his boy.

krypto helps defeat atlas and becomes metropolis's dog too ! hes just happy to be here.

rp notes ... : anyone is allowed to direct an ask at krypto, or ask for him ina thread. i am very happy to write out this very intelligent dog and make bonds with him!

puppy

[belayadeath]

ON GIVEN NAME, DIMINUTIVES AND PET NAMES: i touched a bit on this last week, but i wanted to post something a little more in-depth regarding her name and culture. while byanka mikhailovna starkova is the name she was given at birth, the anglicized form of it would be bianca mikhailovna starkova. being of soviet/russian descent, diminutives are mostly used in casual settings to express such as affection, intimacy and endearment (meaning typically only used by family, friends and/or loved ones). i decided to compile a short list of diminutives that friends and loved ones might call bianca. and though it is worth noting that she will likely not bring these up herself nor particularly encourage the use — BUT had a close friend or a partner gone out of their way to learn about her culture and the culture of her name, she would let them use it.

diminutives to use given the relationship: * bianca (neutral, short form, anglicized — the name she most commonly passes by and introduces herself with). * byanichka/byanychka, byashunya, (endearing, denoting familiarity) * byanushka, byashka (affectionate, denoting personal intimacy) typical westernised pet-names she'll allow: * bi (pron. bee), b, beebs, bibi,

[ferociiumarchive]

just a small reminder that danny is indeed 5'6

[cadejos]

ON NANAMI'S POWER LEVEL, DOMAIN EXPANSIONS, DOMAIN COUNTERS, AND HOW JUJUTSU SOCIETY PLAYS A ROLE.

This analysis originally turned viral on twitter. I'm posting it here for archival.

Nanami treated sorcery like a job and Gojo treated sorcery like a lifestyle. I've thought long and hard about why Nanami does not have certain skills (DE, Simple Domain, etc) that'd easily bump him up in terms of power, as he's already very strong. The reason is two-fold:

He never set out to do more than what he absolutely had to do. ("Moderate effort where moderate effort suffices," etc)

Information about sorcery is very gatekept and compartmentalized, because Jujutsu society sucks.

For point number 1, we are to keep in mind that Nanami is a grade one sorcerer, very much the peak of what sorcery is supposed to be outside of Special Grade work. The purpose of sorcery, up until very recently, has been about killing curses, most of which are not special grade or intelligent. The disaster curses are anomalies, and battles with Domain users were very rare until they showed up. They vastly skewed the power system. Remember that not even Naobito Zenin, the head of one of the great clans, had a Domain expansion either, and it took the work of a Domain user (Megumi) and an experienced sorcerer killer (Toji) to properly counter Dagon in his domain.

If domain battles are truly so rare, I don't really blame Nanami for not going out of his way to work on developing one, especially since Domains require an element of self-assurance that Nanami, due to trauma and disposition, was never geared toward developing.

His soul was strong enough to protect against a novice Mahito subconsciously, which is a promising start, but once Mahito grew too strong he was way out of Nanami's scope (not to mention Gege deliberately tired him over the course of Shibuya) and Nanami was more inclined to take his loss gracefully than to force himself to craft an spontaneous Domain Expansion. It's not like he really had the energy to try, either.

Overall, developing a DE for the off chance that he stumbled upon a Domain user just doesn't sound like his style. And he wouldn't do it for fun, either, because jujutsu is not fun for him, and it never has been. It's just work.

Let's say he would want to at least develop a domain counter, though. That's where point number 2 steps in. The whole reason something as fundamental as a domain counter is so rare in jujutsu is purely because jujutsu society is inherently selfish and self-serving.

If I recall correctly, SD is not something you can teach due to a binding vow tied to the technique. It has to be something you learn on your own through observation and intuition, or by joining New Shadow Style. Up until UiUi's soul swapping, there wasn't a reliable work around for this conundrum. And the other domain counters? Old, not very well known, and gatekept by the clans.

Sometimes I'm inclined to believe jujutsu sorcerers learn sorcery not because of the school system but in spite of it. Unless you're already a genius, born gifted, or willing to go an extra -- ambiguously illicit -- mile (like Kusakabe), there's not much the average sorcerer can do, and not many tools for them to learn to begin with. Nanami is presented as the baseline of what modern day good sorcery looks like; what you can achieve if you're competent, and don't have the privilege of relying on very good mentors, obscure knowledge, or ancient techniques. Even then he had an expansion technique, not something every sorcerer has, and he was capable of achieving one of the pinnacles of Jujutsu, which is the black flash; precisely because of his attitude toward jujutsu and his ability to focus when things get serious.

Maybe if given enough time to heal from his psychological wounds, and given opportunities for more black flashes, as well as a strong enough incentive, he could have circumvented a lot of problems and enlightened his way toward a DE or other such jujutsu-relevelations.

But that's speculation and not really the point of his character.

Had he been a villain though? Gege probably would've made him stronger, if his Culling Games score in JJK's draft Jujutsu Sousen is anything to go by, which is amusing.

Supplementary reading:

In regards to black flashes: a post where I go over why I think Yuuji and Nanami are especially good at them, and why I think they require conditions that are in opposition to Domain expansions.

Measuring Nanami's critical hit power: where I use a statement to further analyze and evaluate the capabilities of the Ratio Technique.

[tanyakennedy1899]

I DIDNT KNOW THOSE FIRST 2 DEFINITIONS.

[kismetconstellations]

There are so many ways that Voltron: Legendary Defender failed its characters. From the unfathomably idiotic decision to kill Allura off in the finale, to putting Coran through the pain of losing his family twice over, to all of the "jokes" at the expense of Hunk's anxiety, weight, and stomach problems.

But, to me, the most egregious example of this will forever be the numerous ways that Shiro was mistreated, even though I fully believe that most of them were unintentional and the fault of incompetence, rather than maliciousness.

I never expected a show with a TV-Y7 rating that was made to sell toys to children to address this character's extensive trauma in any meaningful way. And, perhaps there was a push behind the scenes to sideline him in order to bring Keith to the forefront, due to Keith being the head of Voltron in previous incarnations, and Shiro essentially being a Canon Foreigner created exclusively for this series.

But, when you have: - A poorly executed attempt to recreate Shiro's fight with Zarkon in the Astral Plane, void of the stunning visuals, impressively fluid fight choreography, and emotional and narrative stakes.

(Shiro fighting the show's main villain and his predecessor hand-to-hand for control of one of the most powerful weapons in the universe, vs the Paladins fighting shadowy, faceless foes that none of them- aside from Allura- have any personal connections to or conflict with, even once their identities are revealed, with long-range weapons, inside of Honerva's head.)

- Shiro, the previously "undefeated" Champion of Zarkon's gladiatorial arena and a highly trained and skilled martial artist, being slapped across the bridge of his own ship.

-Shiro's personal abuser telling him that the arm that was forcibly grafted onto his body in an attempt to turn him into a weapon for the Galra Empire is "the strongest part" of him,

Slav, an ally, echoing the sentiment and arguing that Shiro would be "even stronger with two robotic arms", and the first half of Season Seven confirming as much by depicting Shiro standing, often completely mute, on the sidelines

until he's outfitted with a new prosthetic arm. Only then is he actively allowed to participate in combat, again, and promoted to Captain of the Atlas.

-Shiro winning an intergalactic arm wrestling tournament to prove that he isn't a washed-up retiree (at the ripe old age of twenty-six), with that prosthetic.

-Said prosthetic being a mirror of his abuser's.

-No acknowledgement of Shiro's essence being transferred into the body of his clone that is down an arm. Or, how he's coping with not only not having a right arm at all, but also having been dead for a huge chunk of time, trapped inside the consciousness of the Black Lion and watching on helplessly as someone wearing his face tried to kill everyone he loves, and then resurrected to be suddenly "retired" through no choice of his own.

-Aside, of course, from an all-too lighthearted and chipper comment on routine helping him get through "being in the infinite void of the Black Lion", and a throwaway quip about how "having my consciousness transplanted from the infinity of Voltron's inner quintessence into the dead body of an evil clone of myself" has left him "a little out of sorts".

-And, Shiro not getting to kill his abuser, or even best him in combat.

Instead, he lies beaten and helpless, once again, as Keith, his replacement, takes Sendak out.

It crosses the line from clumsy writing to infuriating negligence and ineptitude.

The repeated violations of Shiro's autonomy, and what seems by all rights to be unintended ableism, even though it borders on outright disrespectful, went above and beyond any terrible writing and direction that I anticipated gritting my teeth and slogging through when I decided to finally bite the bullet and watch this show. It's utterly baffling to me that no one seemed to stop and realize that, "Hey, maybe introducing and then reinforcing the sentiment that a disabled man's prosthetic is the 'strongest part' of him, and he's effectively weak and useless without it, is a bad idea", at any point in the creative process before these episodes made it to air.

I wholeheartedly believe that as much as other characters were wronged, Voltron: Legendary Defender and its notoriously hellish fanbase that was more concerned with who these characters were having sex with than the actual plot, did not deserve Takashi Shirogane.

Shiro; a gay man, ace pilot, ambitious space explorer, and scarred trauma survivor who was abducted and forced to kill for the entertainment of his captors, subjected to unimaginable torture, and had his body modified without his knowledge or consent twice, yet never let any of his experiences, no matter how grueling or dehumanizing, stop him from being gentle, compassionate, noble, brave, self-sacrificing, and everything that epitomizes a True Hero, right to the bitter end.

[sealrock]

so this guy hit me over the head with a baseball bat looney tunes style and his place in the story is kinda funny—meet paris' former fiance, agamemnon 'aggie' tiryns. some lore in no particular order:

second son to a mining empire, good-natured but spoiled

has dalmascan and mhachi ancestry, has a natural talent for spellcraft

the tiryns are rivals of the tatlongharis thanks to a 150 year long political feud a la romeo and juliet

elder brother is a soldier for the immortal flames. his name is menelaus and they don't see each other often

was promised to paris when they were kids by the elders of their families as a marriage of convenience to end the bad blood between them

completely ignorant (or at least in denial) to paris' visible disdain of him

showered paris with gifts, praise, and public displays of loyalty and devotion

was meant to marry paris when they became adults, only for paris to run away from home to become an adventurer, and later the warrior of light

despite being rejected, aggie doesn't hold that against paris. he is probably paris' biggest supporter

can you feel the love in the air?

[exiitiosus]

let it be known that if danny takes a liking or fascination on someone ( in his rather obsessive way ). you can expect myriads of candid polaroid photos taken of them. do they know about said photos, though? not always.

[tempusde]

CANON DIVERGENCE MASTERPOST, OR: aaa if it actually cared about the narrative integrity of its title character.

this rewrite is primarily concerned with giving agatha back the agency that she did not have in her own show, and secondarily concerned with recharacterising her early behaviour into something more consistent with wv!agatha, whom my portrayal is based most strongly on. it's also long, so feel free to take what you need and leave the rest.

i assume a fairly canonical rio here. i am open to restructuring that relationship with individual writers. in this reimagining, it is every bit as toxic as was presented to us.

so to begin with - agatha's superobjective, her goal beyond simply regaining her power, is to use that power to craft a new darkhold. she is interested in reconstructing her protection from death as quickly and efficiently as she possibly can. she has researched this extensively in the past as a backup plan, just in case something like wanda maximoff should come along, and now she's ready to go to work.

now, episode by episode:

1. AGNES OF WESTVIEW is a modernised noir detective flick, not a cop show. think, like, a significantly less cool jessica jones. agnes o'connor is a private eye with a dark past, and rio is her client, bringing to her attention a murder that slowly but surely unravels her world. [this is her perception of events. however individual partners approach characterising rio within that framing is, of course, up to them.]

otherwise the episode is perfect as is, no notes. i also have no issues with e2 - in fact i think it's excellent. agatha the master manipulator, setting up her con perfectly, the way she always does, only for it to take a sharp left turn and for her to immediately adapt? brill. so, then, we pick up with jen's trial.

3. i find agatha's behaviour in this trial to be completely absurd and out of character - or at least lacking a necessary level of nuance. her panic makes perfect sense to me: she feels trapped in a situation that is entirely new to her and should not exist, but also by the same token reminds her deeply of her time in westview. the outfit she's in is one neighbour!agnes would wear. it completely tracks that she's having a Moment, but she needs to suck it up and put the mask on like we've seen her do countless times. the whining/clawing at the door/refusing to drink the wine... no lol. none of that. it's happening internally, but on the outside, she's playing at control. she's "walked the road before"; time to work the problem.

this parlays into my issues with her handling of sharon's death etc, which is my main problem spot before we get to the end.

4. episode three begins with agatha coaxing her misbegotten coven into following her into the first trial. she is positioning herself in a leadership role, rallying the troops, making herself out to be this invaluable expert. why, then, is she so callous and selfish at the top of episode four, if she sees their trust as a resource? we know why: because rio is coming, and she is attempting to make a swift escape. i don't care, though. there needs to be a balance struck here. agatha painting herself as this uncaring and cruel is essentially shooting herself in the foot. sure, she's planning to kill them all, but she is currently forced to sleep with her back to these witches - and meat shields are useful while she's still figuring out the rules of this conjured road. or, realistically, at all. there is no "mrs. hart was a bad draft pick, okay?"; she plays at remorse, but with urgency. "it's terrible and tragic but we need to go." equally, her exaggerated anger at rio doesn't serve her, and she should be aware of that. lilia and jen have made no secret of the fact that an enemy of agatha is likely to be a friend of theirs. accordingly, she plays it less furious/physically violent(? agatha what the FUCK) and more heartbroken. she's "distraught", not outraged. "don't touch me, you don't get to touch me anymore," soap opera levels of dramatic ex behaviour leaving the coven to wonder what on earth their history is, because holy shit Agatha Harkness Is Experiencing An Emotion, what did rio do to her? these changes also heighten the "betrayal" in the soundbooth, when rio forces the issue. agatha was behaving like a person with feelings, who had normal reactions to things like covenmates dying and Whatever her past with rio is - to have the rug pulled out from under that perception hits hard specifically because she cultivated it intentionally and successfully. that also creates more tension between her and rio; she had to sacrifice her own long con for the sake of exposing rio's nature, and she did it anyway.

i take negligible issue with characterisation from e4-e7. don't feel the need to change anything there, except - and this is just wildly self-indulgent - she's in the no good deed dress in e7 instead of the wicked witch fit.

into the real meat of it now.

8. agatha always intended to sacrifice billy to save her own skin, and she does not change her mind at the last minute. she drove him to murder, among other reasons (getting him off the road, creating a concrete resolution to the scarlet witch's lingering power so that all the pieces are on the board, and in some twisted way, delivering what she owes before she lets him die) to further justify it to herself. this is however complicated by several factors - more on those later. she did not bind jen. that removes agency from both of them unnecessarily - agatha "didn't know", rendering arguably the most important event of jen's life narratively meaningless. [again, it's up to individual jen players how this is written around. if you'd like, we can plot something where agatha did bind her, but i can't see it with things being what they currently are - specifically, her comments re: jen's work being important.] re: the fight. i take significant issue with the unbalanced power dynamic here, not because i think agatha should be powerful enough to actually stand a chance against death when she's going all out, but because the way it's written and choreographed, agatha is death's victim. rio cackles from on high while torturing her and agatha, after her spells fail, does nothing to attempt to turn the tide. it's only by the grace of billy maximoff, yet again, that she escapes. they need to talk to each other in this scene at several points, and this is the first. agatha needs to attempt to manipulate rio into letting her go one last time. the issue from episode one is still not resolved: agatha still does not have her power. this is not by any stretch a fair fight. did you prefer me formidable mean nothing? having done all she could, which is significantly more than we saw, that's when billy shows up. i take everything as read until "we can't fight death", because what have you been doing for centuries then, bitch???? yeah you don't have the darkhold but the two of you together???? this is what i mean about the imbalance - she's resigned. it's not a give and take, it's rio's inevitability, her cruelty in the spotlight. i know she's saying it to set up the sacrifice - to manipulate billy into being the one to die - and i think it needs to stay like that, but i just wanted to point out that it's infuriating. now. "is this how nicky died?" i have a fresh answer to that question, and it's no*.

on this blog, agatha harkness killed her own son. she did it as a mercy, and as the only way she could think of to cheat death. this does not negate the fact that she also did it because she wanted power. he was the one thing she loved most in the world, and she killed him anyway.

nicholas was born sick. he was on borrowed time from the moment she held him in her arms the first time, and she knew that. she spent his first six years of life frantically searching for a way to fix it - to keep him, to defy death, her lover, who should have been her son's other parent. she found one, she thought, in the book of the damned: she'd been curious about the darkhold since a child, but she'd never felt she could attempt it. as nicky worsened, it became paramount that she try, no matter the cost.

as i've touched on, she had never practised necromancy before, out of respect for rio and her work... but traditional healing won't work, and she knows that. if he dies in a way other than the lady death had planned for him, and agatha returns him to life with the power she will be granted by the darkhold, then surely rio has no authority over them anymore. surely her spectre won't haunt nick anymore, then. surely agatha will be able to protect him if it does - she's heard rumours that the darkhold grants immortality. a cloak. a shield.

naturally, it doesn't work.

this sets up a far more interesting choice for her in e8, when billy asks her that damnable question - because it isn't how he died, not really, but it's more of a conflict in her. it's much murkier than a straight no. nevertheless, she does not sacrifice herself. she does not give into rio's manipulations, and she does not conflate this boy for her son. her son is dead, and agatha survives. it's all she's ever done. there is a moment of her looking devastated by the comparison before composing herself, putting her mask back on, and delivering her final words to rio: i held up my end. you'd better keep yours. so saying, she walks out of that garden in full witch kit, past the people of westview, into the woods.

i leave the ending open on this intentionally, so that respective rio and billy writers can decide how they think that scene plays out without agatha there. what happens from there is unique to each dynamic and portrayal.

for agatha, though, her next step is to start in on the goal she's had this whole time: to craft a new darkhold. and her first stop, with that in mind, is the ruins of wundagore.

[supurman]

clark has superb control over his extremely sensitive muscles. with that being said i always had the idea that clark is capable of some insane level of voice mimicry within his vocal range. so to most masc voice characters out there: he can definitely copy your voice and would probably do it as a joke