#Am Not doing good therefore i will commit crimes

[misstycloud]

Imagine yandere vampire hunter finding out he married one of the creatures he vowed to destroy. The very monster he dedicated his entire life to kill.

“…no..i-it can’t be..” his voice was barely a whisper, but you heard it loud and clear as if he was right next to you.

You stood still in the darkness, your face was a mask of indifference. If you hadn’t been blinking he would have mistook you for a statue. It appeared you’d been careless and let yourself be seen- by him no less. You could still feel the warmth of the blood dripping down you chin; a curtain of red fell down the front of your dress and stained it.

“Please tell me this isn’t real..” your husband let his eyes wander to the soon-lifeless body laying not far away. Small puffs of air was seen coming for the person, indicating they were not yet dead. The disgusting sound of gurgling in one’s own blood sent a shiver down his spine. His eyes met yours, searching for any sort of confirmation that everything was indeed a figment of his imagination.

“It is, I’m afraid.” You said.

He let out a devestatd choke, muttering ‘no’ over and over while shaking his head, clearly in denial.

You reminded yourself not to show any emotion and stepped forward. “I will not lie to you and therefor I will utter the clear truth in front of you. I am a vampire.”

“No, no you’re not.” He refused to believe it. If it had been his friend, he would prioritise duty before friendship. If it was his brother, he would do the same. Even if it was his own parents, he would die before letting insensible things such as emotions to come in the way of doing what is right. But this was different. It was you. It can’t be you. It could never be you.

But it was. Clearly. The evidence- the body- was right in front of him, unblinking and unmoving.

“You cannot look away from what is in front of you-“

“Stop saying that!” He suddenly shouted, surprising you with the sudden change in tone. “You can’t be one of….them.” He expressed in great repulsion.

Despite knowing how evil your kind is, you still though of yourself as quite good- well, as good as you can be when you’re a blood sucking, murderous creature of the night. So your husbands disdain awoke some sort of defensiveness in you.

“Wel, I am. And I have been for a while now.”

He seemed to think for a moment. Then he asked, “how long? How long have you been a…a vampire?” He furrowed his brow at the end, not believing he’d ever connect ‘you’ and the word ‘vampire’ in his life.

“36 years. Not as long as some others, but it should still count as something.”

“Oh god..”

It meant that you were one since the start- no before- your marriage. Was he truly that blind? Had love taken such hold of him that he could no longer do his job properly?

How many vampires had he killed during you union? All that while simultaneously being wed to one himself. While loving one, caring for one and even making passionate love to one. It was like some fucked-up punishment tailor-made for him.

He knew what he had to do.

The first tear fell down his cheek, betraying his stern expression and showcasing his endless sorrow. “You are evil,” he raised his crossbow, “and now you have to be judged for your crimes.” How ironic of him to talk about committing crimes of slaughter as if he wasn’t doing exactly the same. He wasn’t stupid, not all immortals were pure darkness, it wasn’t that simple. They do what they have to in order to survive. Only some killed more than they had to. Still, it didn’t change the fact that they all need to be destroyed.

Your eyes widened when he pointed the weapon straight at you. You expected this. Of course he would kill you. However, a part of you could not stop from hoping he wouldn’t think of you as a monster. That perhaps you’d finally find somewhere you can call home and be accepted for what you are. It was a naive dream. Weren’t you his wife before you were a monster? Apparently not, because an arrow shot at you at incredible speed. It hit you in the arm and you cried out in pain.

While you had physical advantages, it doesn’t mean you are immune to pain.

Ripping it out, you studied the black liquid staining it. Your husband swore and immediately prepared to launch another. You felt your fangs grow in length and you hissed at him. Throwing yourself at him the two of you rolled around on the floor, each trying to restrain the other. You managed to get ahold of his crossbow and threw it away form his reach.

Your husband quickly dug into his pockets to grab a dagger, and tried to stab you. Luckily you stopped him in time, fighting him with your vampiric strength. You had to give it to him, he was surprisingly strong for a human. Despite you having supernatural gifts, he was definitely a match and you had a hard time holding you down. If it was any other situation you would have been impressed and rather seduced by his sheer strength, unfortunately this was not a good situation for you.

You leaned down, planning to bite him, but his fast reflexes let him use his free arm to keep you at a distance. He was now on the floor with you straddling him and trying with all your might to end his life.

Your husband knocked your heads together which was the distraction he needed to kick you off of him. You clenched you forehead in pain and backed away. But there was no more time to dwell on that pain, because it was minor compared to what you felt next. Agony was in your side, accompanied by the dagger you had previously defended yourself against.

Your lover was close. Enough for you to feel his breath, and enough for you to see tears running down his regretful face.

“Why was it you?”

Whether he referred to you being a vampire or you being the one he married, you did not know. It hardly mattered anyway.

In a way, you did love your husband. It was probably not in the normal spousal way but it was there. Maybe if you weren’t a blood-sucker you two would have been truly happy together. Too bad fate had other plans. Even though it was true that you were probably evil, you wanted to live. And despite the one threatening your existence was none other than the man who’d showed you the devotion and love you thought you’d never find again, this was not where you wanted it to end.

With a shriek, you used all your power to push him as hard as you could. He flew backwards into the wall. You supposed he’d fainted from the force since he wasn’t making any move to get up. You clutched your side and groaned. You had to get out of there; somewhere safe.

You stumbled to the window and put your foot on the ledge. The dagger he’d stabbed you with must be silver, otherwise it wouldn’t have made as much damage. The wound in your side burned and sizzled with pain. You had no idea if your body would be able to fully heal you in time for when you need blood again- or even at all.

“Ugh….”

You heard a cough from behind you. It was your dearest. He must be sturdier than he looks to have woken up so quickly. He had rolled over to lay on his stomach and had his arms pathetically stretched in your direction.

“D-don’t go.”

You scoffed at his audacity. “What, so you can finally finish me off?”

He whimpered pathetically, “ N-no, I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have done that- why did I do that?” The last part appeared to be a criticism on himself. Nevertheless he continued, “please, I won’t do it again. I was wrong, you’re not evil I know that, I don’t know why I said that. I’m so sorry, please..”

A frown adorned your face. “It’s okay. I’m not evil, but I know I’m far from good- I’m not that delusional.” Then you turned back to the view of the outside world.

“Wait, no-“

“I have to go. I really mean it when I say this, ‘thank you for all these years together, they have been the happiest days I am now able to remember’.

“My love, don’t-“

You ignored his pleas as you jumped from the window. You landed in the dirt outside. You looked back at the house which you’d just escaped from and as you prepared to run off to another town and build up a new life (until you’d eventually have to run again) you listened to the scream of the man who’d been your husband for six years.

What was he screaming? What else if not your name.

-

[wowgrim]

As someone who was living in Europe and the US during the apartheid era, I'm honestly trying to remember, and failing to remember, a single time I heard any activists in Europe or the United States call for completely dismantling South Africa as a country because it was committing crimes against humanity.

South Africa became a nation in 1910. When it started apartheid in 1948, it was about 38 years old. By the time apartheid was dissolved, around 1991, it was ~71 years old. Under international law, apartheid is a crime against humanity, and the South African government committed other crimes against humanity, as well.

The international campaign against apartheid focused on delegitimizing South Africa's white supremacist government and supporting the development of democracy in South Africa. It did not call for South Africa's dissolution or destruction.

Why am I thinking about this?

I keep seeing US and European leftists accuse Israel of crimes against humanity and then argue that Israel must therefore be dissolved. Besides, many of these people say, modern Israel has only been independent for 77 years, so it's not really valid as a country because it hasn't been around that long.

Even though South Africa had been around for much less time during the entire anti-apartheid movement, there was not a significant contingent of Europeans and Americans arguing that the international community should just dissolve South Africa because it hadn't been around that long.

Do I think these arguments for dissolving Israel are made in good faith? No, maybe, and yes. I don't think the people who originally came up with these arguments did so in good faith. I think those people don't like the idea of a country with a largely Jewish population, because they don't like the idea of Jews. I think those people would want Israel to disappear no matter what it did.

But I think a lot of the people who repeat these ideas somehow think they're valid, legitimate arguments rooted in logic and not prejudice.

So for anyone who considers themselves pro-Palestinian and thinks that necessitates the dissolution of Israel, I'd ask you to think about why you consider that to even be an option. It's a highly unusual demand for the international community to make. What makes Israel different from any other country whose government may have done unethical things?

[menop033]

My favorite crimes Barbara Gordon has committed

Full disclosure, I am considering only New Earth Babs because the other versions are simply inferior. I will ignore the typical masked adventurer crimes she did as Batgirl, like assault, breaking and entering, trespassing, obstructing justice and vigilantism. I will also not really consider the very classic Oracle shenanigans like hacking, accessing some databases she probably shouldn't, stealing from rich criminals to fund her own (kinda criminal) operation, invading privacy and literally doing illegal spy work with Birds of Prey. Because those are boring and I want something that's not just another Tuesday. So, in no particular order:

Changing the light on traffic lights

Stupid and small but I love it. Very iconic and very Barbara-like.

+Extra Helena who has very logical and understandable qualms about Oracle's power and influence

[Birds of Prey (1999) #58]

Blackmailing Catwoman into returning stolen paintings

And threatening to send her money to charities. Catwoman begrudgingly obliged.

I am not too sure about what happened leading to that moment. That comic didn't have a particularly strong story. I think Selina stole them while Barbara was still Batgirl?

Either way, the ending is pretty memorable for me. Ultimate irony - threatening her into returning stolen goods by stealing funds from her.

[Birds of Prey: Catwoman/Oracle]

Making a deal with Gotham City's emergency services

and then using the tech she implemented to override the control of the vehicles when needed. Or, when she wants to. This one instance was because Steph just got shot in the head and didn't really want to end up in an ER where her mother worked, exposing her (third) secret identity. It worked out so yay?

[Batgirl (2009) #6]

Sort of kidnapping Wendy Harris

To be fair, she did it because Calculator, Oracle's arch nemesis and Wendy's father, was endangering her and she did it to protect her but a little more explanation couldn't hurt. But that wouldn't be Barbara without her genial tendency to keep everyone but herself in the dark. I guess she really did keep Wendy in the dark. In the basement.

[Batgirl (2009) #11]

Political corruption

We never get to learn what exactly she did. She just said that many leaders owe her their positions. it sure as hell doesn't sound legal. World-wide corruption? Why not. Entirely too much power for one person to hold. 10/10

Also, I bet you that those power grids aren't exactly controlled legally.

[Birds of Prey (1999) #103]

Blowing up a government facility and getting rid of some evidence

Well, Cass decided to break into a government facility and free a terrorist to prove a point that everyone can change. And in doing so she left them some photo, video and DNA evidence.

Oracle therefore later sent her back there to destroy it, blowing the building up in the process. Oh and she also presumably helped the guy get fake documents but that's not 100% confirmed (Cass said that it's from her friends as she gave them to him).

She really cares about her not-quite-daughter <3

[Batgirl (2000) #17]

Her father/uncle (the Gordon family was kind of a mess after Crisis) might be the commissioner of Gotham but she clearly doesn't respect the law in the slightest. They love eachother, of course, they just don't share the same views on the law.

I simply enjoy how unhinged her methods sometimes usually are and we need to recognise that. Also, while we are at it, get rid of Prime Earth Barbara's characterisation and bring back the competent and sarcastic control-freak.

[sapphiresaphics]

I am SO FUCKING SICK of this being used as an excuse. There’s this NASTY pervasive policing in media by some “fans” who believe that you can’t like or enjoy a character unless they’re completely morally PURE. They believe that any negative thing a character does MUST be met with equal retribution and/or punishment, or else that means the media in question is CONDONING or SUPPORTING the actions of said character.

Caitlyn, along with every other character in Arcane, is a morally grey character. Meaning they do good things and they do bad things and you’re supposed to have the capacity not to forgive the bad but to be able to understand the reasons behind their actions and see things from a perspective that is not purely black and white. Understanding Caitlyn’s actions doesn’t mean you condone/forgive them, but it also doesn’t mean you condemn her for them either.

Caitlyn does some bad things in her position of power, but she’s not a fascist. Fascism is a far right-wing authoritarian belief. But Caitlyn never show signs of being right-wing. She doesn’t believe in the ideology of fascism and she actively works against the system she’s been put in charge of when she can. She doesn’t use the deep dark prisons in Stillwater where Vi was held, she refuses to lock people up without cause, and she has no interest in amassing power. She has one goal: Get Jinx. That’s it. And she uses the power that was GIVEN TO HER BY THE GOVERNMENT to try and enact that goal. And importantly when that goal is met/exhausted, she RETURNS POWER BACK TO THE GOVERNMENT. Which is what a military leader IS SUPPOSED TO DO under Martial Law.

But these moral police “fans” just see that she did bad things and therefore she is bad too. Simple as that. And anyone who tries to bring CONTEXT and NUANCE into a show that heavily relies on CONTEXT and NUANCE gets blamed for approving of “war crimes” and defending “classism.” And no�� that’s not how media literacy WORKS you pompous asshole!

It’s extraordinarily frustrating that fascism as a term has no clear definition, because that allows these moral police assholes to label anything they don’t like under the fascism umbrella. It makes trying to discuss Caitlyn and her arc really difficult because they just shut down all discussion with “she committed war crimes” and they never even bother to try and look into the story beyond that extremely surface level reading.

[wonderjanga]

Cardboard.

Billy has a lot of free time on his hands. He doesn’t go to school, his job as the Whiz Kid doesn’t take more than a couple hours, and he has no parental supervision. So what does he do with his time? He gets crafty.

Billy: *making something with cardboard, sitting on the steps of the rundown apartment building he lives in*

Crackhead: *also sitting on the steps, yapping about whatever to Billy*

Billy: *listening to him as he works*

Ms. Bambi: *also also sitting on the steps, but next to Billy to make sure he doesn’t get kidnapped or something by the crackhead. Is also smoking*

Crackhead: *pauses mid story to look “What’re you making there, kiddo?” *eyes the cardboard*

Billy: “A Gucci bag.” *super focused on making the bag out of cardboard. Is using a rusty pocketknife to make details too*

*silence*

Crackhead: *bursts out laughing*

Billy: *looks up from his work* “Wha- What’re you laughing at?!???”

Ms. Bambi: *stifling laughs* “Bill, you’re not actually making a Gucci bag, are you?”

Billy: “So what if I am?! I’m gonna make it, I’m gonna sell it for 50 dollars, and then I’m gonna have food money for the week.”

Crackhead and Ms. Bambi: *shares a look before looking at Billy, holding back more laughter* “Kid…”

Billy: “What?! You don’t believe me? Trust me! I’ll come back with my money and then I’ll rub it in your faces!” *storms off with his cardboard*

Crackhead: “Sure, kid. Sure!”

Later…

Billy: *putting the finishing touches on his cardboard bag with some paints he found in a dumpster* “Alright… Done!” *lets it dry for a bit*

Even More Later…

Billy: *throws the bag in his pocket dimension when he thinks it’s done and heads outside and transforms into Marvel*

Marvel: *flies to New York and then detransforms in an alleyway*

Billy: *pulls the bag out of his pocket dimension and sits on the side of the road, advertising his bag to people who pass by*

Passerby: “What a cute bag! How much is it?”

Billy: *perks up* “50 dollars, ma’am.”

Passerby: “Fifty dollars… Hmm…” *fishes through her purse* “Darn it. I only have two twenties-”

Billy: “That’s fine!” *grabs the money from her and hands the bag to her* “Thanks a lot, ma’am!” *runs off*

Later, when he saw the crackhead again, he did a money spread on his arm. Though it was kinda pathetic because he only had two bills. It got his point across:

Crackhead: *completely bewildered* “You actually sold it?!??”

Also, Billy had no idea he was counterfeiting and therefore committing a crime.

Then, there was another time Billy got bored enough. It was during the summer when he was sweating his butt off in his little apartment. It was then the idea came to him. Sunglasses. Whenever the window was shining light right into his eyes? Sunglasses. Whenever the sun was too bright outside? Sunglasses. Looking classy? Sunglasses. They were the perfect solution in Billy’s bored, mind. So he got to work, making them, with cardboard of course. He used some tacks to keep the pieces together and he used some cut up, colored film he found in the back of a store for the lenses.

Safe to say Billy was proud of himself for making it. They looked good in his unprofessional opinion!

Unfortunately though, he couldn’t see through the film he used for the lenses. Major bummer but whatever. He just chose the wear the sunglasses on his head like a fashion accessory.

Billy: *just finished up with his broadcast and happens to pass by Mr. Morris*

Mr. Morris: “Billy, are those sunglasses on your head?”

Billy: “Yeah?”

Mr. Morris: “Wha… Where did you get them?”

Billy: “I made them.”

Mr. Morris: “They’re… Really, really nice.” *sounds like he’s struggling to say it, but is happy to see Billy being a kid*

Billy: *blinding smile* “Thanks!”

Then, there was another time Billy got bored. This was during the winter and he was freezing so badly he swore he was turning into a Billy flavored popsicle. So, he decided to make a shelter inside of his shelter. That’s right folks. He, with the help of Cap, made a cardboard house in his little apartment.

Billy: “Freddy you should definitely come over. I have the coolest thing at my place.”

Freddy: “What is it?”

Billy: “You’ll see.”

Freddy: “Cryptic. I like that.”

Later…

Billy: “Tada!” *does jazz hands as he gestures to the cardboard house*

Freddy: “Is that a house?”

Billy: “Yeah!”

Freddy: “Wha… Wha… It even has windows!” *points the windows* (The windows are made of the same film that was used for the sunglasses)

Billy: “Yeah!!”

Freddy: “This is awesome!”

Billy: “Yeah!!!”

They proceeded to mess around in the cardboard house for the rest of the day. They’re like 9 years old in this, guys. Let them be kiddos.

Then there’s the rainy seasons. Billy doesn’t have an umbrella so he might as well make one, or a couple. He has to remake it every time it gets wet. See, he found a metal cane he uses as the handle. He only really remakes the part that actually blocks rain.

Billy: *steps into Whiz Radio with his cardboard umbrella*

Coworker: “Is that your umbrella?” *sounds concerned*

Billy: “Yes…?”

Coworker: “Do you not have an actual umbrella?”

Billy: “This is my actual umbrella.”

Coworker: “Huh.” *slightly dumbfounded*

When Billy was done with his show, that coworker went up to him and gave him an actual umbrella. Like one of those clear ones.

Then, there was the cardboard statue of tawny. Billy made the tiger pose for hours.

Billy: “Tawny, I’ve told you already. You’ve gotta stay still!”

Tawky Tawny: “Yes, yes.” *rolls eyes*

When Billy was done, he looked so proud to present it to Tawny. The tiger keeps it in a safe place at all times. Well, until that fateful day, at least.

Billy: “You sat on it?!”

Tawky Tawny: “Yes, my apologies.” *hangs head in shame*

Billy: *stares* “Tawny, it’s fine. I’m honestly just happy you actually kept it.” *smile*

[thepersonperson]

Sukuna’s Loneliness Part 5 (Sukuna Did Nothing Wrong in the Heian Era, Probably)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Some notes before we start.

1) Big content warning for in depth discussion of historical slavery and the exploitation of minority groups.

2) I will be mainly using the TCB scans for the manga because of their accessibility. 

3) Raws are from Mangareader(.)to.

(Click images for captions/citations.)

Preface

This is another case of me making everyone suffer the consequences of my fic research. I finally got my hands on 100+ page THESIS on the lives of the lower class in ancient Japan that references multiple peer-reviewed sources. This is my holy grail. Please read all of it. (Thank you Mr. Breann M Goosmann!) Whenever I quote something, I am quoting this source. Most of what I'm summarizing is directly from this source.

Gege may have failed to write a proper backstory for Sukuna, but one was clearly set up using the actual history of that time. So I'm here to infer what's in those gaps using this document.

The Class System in Ancient Japan

During the Heian Era (794–1185) a social caste system called Ritsuryō (you can read more about its application here). The upper class was called 良民 or Ryōmin (good people) and the lower class was called 賤民 Senmin (low people).

The kanji 民 (Min) used for both of these classes can be translated as citizen instead of person. The Wiki page I linked uses the citizen translation. I have decided to change that to people because of 3rd group of people excluded from this system: The 非人 or Hinin (non-people).

Ryōmin included court nobility, citizens, professions that served the court, and tradesmen.

Senmin included servants and slaves.

Hinin included criminals, the deformed/disabled, and those working professions considered "unclean."

The most notable thing about this class system is the mobility between Ryōmin and Senmin. Committing crimes, selling oneself into slavery, aging, paying off debts, and doing good work allowed people to rise or fall from the ranks accordingly. Hinin, however, were confined to their class for the most part because many were viewed as innately "unclean".

Ironically, the best way to understand how this class system functioned is to understand what being "unclean" meant to it.

Uncleanliness (Kegare)

穢れ (Kegare) is a term that can be translated as the following: uncleanliness, defilement, pollution, impure.

晴れ (Hare) is a term considered the opposite for Kegare and can be translated as the following: to clear up, clear skies/sunny, renew, dispel, sacred, pure.

Both of these terms largely inform of how ancient Japan functioned and evolved over time. And though not a black and white dichotomy, it can be generally understood that society was organized in a way to minimize Kegare.

What's interesting about Kegare specifically is its complexity and its impermanence. Rather than being something only bad people have, anyone could acquire and dispel it through the proper rituals.

From the Kojiki, a Shinto document compiled before the introduction of Buddhism, and therefore before the Heian, separates Kegare into 2 categories:

1) Touch Kegare: Defilement through the physical contact with something unclean such as bodily fluids and the dead.

2) Transgression Kegare: Defilement through sinful actions.

"These versions of pollution appear as transient, exorcised relatively simply through misogi (cleansing ritual), seclusion from society, or expulsion of disorder causing elements."

This understanding of Kegare then evolved with the introduction of Buddhism to Japan. (This began in the Nara Era and extended well into the Heian.)

"As Jacqueline Stone explains in her study of deathbed rites and rituals, someone who had become enlightened was considered to have a “pure” mind, while those with a deluded mind were said to have a “defiled” mind. Monastic Buddhists also followed their own codes of “pure” conduct such as refraining from the eating of meat and killing of animals."

The old Shinto understandings of Kegare still carried over with the physical avoidment of unclean things such as dead bodies and blood. However, Buddhism introduced the idea that certain groups of people were innately impure. This includes the Hinin who were uniquely ostracized by this system.

"Hinin, like all outcast groups were bound to their “defiled” status. However, unlike other outcasts, they were also cast as blasphemers of Buddhist doctrine afflicted with karmic illness."

But despite being seen as this innately impure, the religious institutions were closest to them. Of the few places in society willing to tolerate and deal with Kegare, they offered outcasts "positions" where they could beg, display themselves as what happens to people who don't follow religious doctrine, and help with jobs considered "unclean". Since outcasts were considered permanently defiled for the duration of that life, they could touch impure things such as the dead, the sick, and blood on behalf of those avoiding temporary Kegare.

This is exploitation point blank. And though this suggests outcasts had some agency when it came to their survival, it doesn't remove the systemic coercion driving their situation.

Please keep this in mind as I explain why Sukuna did nothing wrong.

Sukuna is Hinin

Though there is plenty of debate on what makes someone Hinin, the general consensus is the following:

"All agree that hinin were considered defiled by others in society and looked at with some contempt. One medieval reference book called the Chiribukuro explains that hinin and other outcast groups “are alike in that they are shunned by human society.”"

But when trying to define Hinin more narrowly, this is the result:

"the term hinin indicated a very specific group of social outcasts isolated from the community and cast aside due to disease or deformation. In his description of hinin, Nagahara explains that those referred to as “kojiki-hinin” were of the lowest social class, physically isolated from their families and communities and therefore excluded from society and economic activities in the medieval period."

Sounds like Sukuna, right?

Sukuna does not refer to himself as Hinin of course, but he does call himself 忌み子 (Imigo).

To quote myself from Part 1, Imigo can be translated as "Abominable Child", "Unwanted Child", or "Shunned Child." None of these translations in my opinion get across how severe Imigo is. It's closer to meaning "child who should've never been born". Like the child's very existence is an affront to god. (If you play Elden Ring the Omen are called Imigo in Japanese for this reason.)

And since we know that Sukuna is canonically a conjoined twin, aka someone with a visible deformity, this all indicates he was considered afflicted with a "karmic illness" that would classify him as Hinin.

This means that from birth, Sukuna was designated as fundamentally unclean and non-human. Within that society, there was no route he could take to remove himself from this uncleanliness and be seen as human.

The following views of Hinin were considered controversial for their time (during the Kamakura Era aka right after the Heian):

"Although Nichiren believed in the karmic nature of certain diseases, he also understood that this kind of disease was not a hindrance to salvation."

"Undoubtedly, Eison envisioned hinin as the physical representation of the Bodhisattva Monju and advocated that compassion and charity were the appropriate response to karmic illness."

And since these controversial views of *checks notes* considering Hinin worthy of compassion and salvation were documented after the Heian, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume Hinin had less advocates during the Heian.

In other words, Sukuna could not exist within human society without being shunned or exploited. The manga itself suggests this has always been the case.

As you can see Sukuna is absolutely miserable performing a ritual someone of this lower class would be responsible for overseeing. All while the people he is helping regard him with disgust. (By the way there is a purification ritual in Nara called Yamayaki that involves burning an entire mountainside. Something Sukuna's flames would be very good at.)

This is also from the same chapter where he's assaulted by Yorozu who assumes he's lonely because he's strong. She's wrong about this. Just like Kashimo who assumes Sukuna cares little for love for the same reasons he does.

Love from one person is worthless when compared to the nonstop ostracization that comes from institutional discrimination. At most, love can offer relief from that pain. It does not eliminate it. I'm saying this as a minority myself. I love my friends dearly and they love me as well, but I still wake up and go about my day with the soul-crushing knowledge that most wish for me to not exist.

Sukuna is not lonely because he's not loved. Uraume clearly does. It's that for circumstances beyond his control, he has been excluded from human society and forced to constantly be around people who exploit him for the very traits they scorn.

Sukuna pretty much confirms this himself when he talks to Mahito.

And you know what? Sukuna deciding to kill all the people exploiting him is completely justified. (Imo, he can even kill the non-sorcerers that discriminate against him as a treat.)

The Cannibalism was Justified too, for the most part.

Another thing to note about Sukuna. He was born starving and he died starving.

Famines and natural disaster were frequent and extremely hard on the commoner population during the Heian. The fact Sukuna was born starving indicates he was of lower birth to begin with since nobility hoarded the resources to avoid starvation for themselves.

One way for commoners dealt with famine was via foraging. We actually see Sukuna doing that when he meets Uraume.

Now there are several very interesting things we learn from this.

1) Sukuna hunts and eats elk/deer. Something massively taboo for the time. Especially since deer were considered sacred animals back then and even to this day.

2) He appears to wander around and owns very little. This is further in line with him being Hinin per the following:

"Clearly, welcome could be revoked at any time, which meant that hinin had to be prepared to leave any location at any given moment. This mobile lifestyle also meant that hinin could only afford to carry essential daily items, such as cooking utensils and begging bowls. The image also reveals that the hinin were never officially invited to stay in that particular area. Instead, they sought out their own locations to set up communities."

3) Despite Uraume being alive and fresh human meat, Sukuna does not immediately see them as food. Nor does he attack them. This, combined with him not taking the dead villagers for eating and preparing deer/elk instead, suggests that cannibalism is not the default for him.

Back to famines, it's also not unheard of for people to resort to cannibalism during them. The logic is simple: An outcast with no support network eats humans to survive.

And given the frequency of death from natural disasters of this time, there’s a real chance he never had to hunt humans in the first place. As Hinin, handling the dead is one of the few jobs he’s allowed to do. So it’s possible the worst thing he did was desecrate corpses in the name of scavenging.

Furthermore, if Sukuna is considered a non-human, is it even cannibalism to begin with? Is a hungry animal evil for eating a human?

I may consider Sukuna human because I refuse to partake in his dehumanization, but it needs to be understood that in the context of the JJK's story, there is not a single character that refers to Sukuna as a human. He's not even referred to as a man. He's either a curse, a monster, or at the very end, a sorcerer. Sukuna has been so dehumanized by others that he himself identifies as a "curse". This is also separate from "cursed spirit", leaving him in his own unique category of non-human.

Sukuna may not see eating other people as acts of cannibalism. After all, they are the ones who decided he was non-human at birth. (And since he is taboo, eating the deer/elk can’t make him more taboo than he already is.)

The following is an excerpt discussing the dehumanization of the starving:

"This strange image is from the Scroll of Hungry Ghosts and the huge emaciated creature depicted is just one of many of the numerous depictions of hungry ghosts or gaki. Invisible to humans, the gaki depicted are the spirits of greedy or jealous individuals karmically punished for their covetous thoughts with perpetual hunger for bodily excretions such as urine or feces."

"The protrusions of the stomach, the red-tinted hair, as well as the greying of the skin, are all genuine symptoms of starvation. In this light, our image appears significantly different. Instead of an invisible monster attacking a man, we have a disfigured and suffering human reaching out for humanity."

The phenomenon of hair during red or blond from starvation is called Kwashiorkor. Gege may be color blind, but Sukuna being depicted with pink or blond hair appears to be deliberate and in line with Kwashiorkor.

Sukuna was probably framed.

The only crimes Sukuna is accused of by Jujutsu Society is murder and cannibalism. As demonstrated by the previous section, there could be a pretty good reason for the cannibalism. But what about the murder?

Another thing that should be noted about Sukuna is how his destruction is largely retaliatory in the modern era. Every kill or kill attempt is made as a response to a challenge that was directed at him first.

When Sukuna first incarnates, Megumi says this to him:

Yuji may be Megumi's target, but remember that Kegare spreads through touch. Sukuna coming into contact with Yuji has made them both unclean. In other words, Sukuna has been informed that in this life, 1,000 years later, where he has yet to do any harm (Those comments about the women, children, and massacre are still sus, but they could've been about the Merger.), he will be attacked by sorcerers no matter what. It's not unreasonable for him to then attack them on sight.

But even when he does that, most of them survive until Shinjuku. During the culling games, Sukuna kills only 2 sorcerers—Ryu and Yorozu. Ryu is given a chance to walk away, but he doesn't. Uro flees and is spared. Yorozu is the sole person Sukuna seeks out to kill and that’s just for his Gojo plans.

And in that month Sukuna has before the showdown with Gojo? Nothing happens. He kills no one and just lounges around. Eating his own corpse is the only cannibalism. He absolutely could have eaten Tsumiki’s body to further crush Megumi’s soul, but he doesn’t.

Then when it comes to the actual showdown, Sukuna kills 3 sorcerers total. It's also very telling that after Sukuna is dead...no one blames him for what happened. They blame Kenjaku, hell even Gojo, but Sukuna isn't mentioned once. Higuruma is convinced that Sukuna was playing around. Kusakabe agrees that Sukuna’s manner of play isn't what they’re super worried about, it's Kenjaku.

The worst thing Sukuna does is Shibuya and that too has nuance to it. The twins aren't killed for fun. Sukuna punishes them for making demands of him. The citizens of Shibuya? Collateral from dealing with Jogo and Mahoraga. (He only really kills Haruta for the sake of it. And let's be real, he deserved that.)

And though the Shibuya civilian deaths are an objectively bad thing Sukuna has done, the fact they are not intentional gives credence to the idea that Sukuna didn't really target them in the past either. This suggests that the "murders" Sukuna did in the Heian were likely retaliation against people challenging him or trying to subjugate him. In other words, self defense.

And if he did wipe out a village, it was probably collateral. But that's kind of the thing. Did Sukuna even kill innocents by accident? The only confirmed kills of the Heian are those of the Subjugation and Military Squads. You know, people who may have attacked him for simply being "unclean".

Who am I kidding he absolutely was attacked for being “unclean”. This is how Angel talks about Sukuna and the incarnated.

She doesn’t care about saving the lives of innocents, all that matters to her are things that she deems evil are purged. Sukuna to Angel is ontologically evil and doesn’t deserve to exist. She targets him more than other incarnated players while ignoring Kenjaku who is responsible for this mess in the first place. She also quite literally did something she deemed wrong and evil so she could follow him into the future and make sure he died. (Move over Gojo Satoru we've got a new minority hunter.)

But it’s not like her attitude is new. Jujutsu Society is notorious for trying to kill things they deem "bad" such as Yuji and Yuta. The striking thing about the wanted executions of these literal children is that the higher ups giving the command make other sorcerers do it for them. Going back to the ideas of Kegare—spilling blood and touching corpses makes one impure so the outcasts are to deal with it. This is the logic driving their decision to coerce Yuta into a binding vow to kill Yuji.

("No matter how many cursed spirits you kill, it's proof of nothing!" <Please take note of how Yuta's good deeds do nothing to earn the higher ups' favor because he's seen as inherently evil.)

Yuta is essentially scapegoated through this manipulation and Yuji initially treats him like an enemy. In the same way characters like Kusakabe blame Gojo for refusing to execute Yuji. Despite the higher ups being responsible for the system functioning this way, the people they’re manipulating bear the brunt of responsibility to other characters.

Who's to say Sukuna isn't also a victim of this scapegoating? His power is comparable to a natural disaster. It would be very easy to blame one on him. After all, the higher ups of the Heian, the Fujiwaras, did exactly that to Uro.

Uro’s situation is much worse than Yuta’s however. She is a military slave. This distinction of military slave is important because unlike domestic slaves, they were allowed to rise through the ranks and be given awards despite their status.

And since Uro is a Sukuna parallel, there is a pretty good chance he was a slave at some point during the Heian.

Slavery in the Heian

A little detail I left out when discussing famine in the Heian. The asymmetrical wealth distribution was so severe during this time that commoners would sell themselves into slavery in hopes of not starving to death.

An example from the Kamakura Era (after the Heian):

"As the article shows, during the three years of the Kangi famine (1229-1232) and several recovery years following, various common people sold themselves, their relatives, and their retainers into slavery in exchange for sustenance. Not only would an amount be given to the seller, but also presumably whoever now owned the sold individual would be responsible for feeding and providing shelter for that individual. In this way, the common populations of Japan created a strategy for survival. There was no certainty that a new owner would fulfill this obligation, but the promise of reprieve from daily struggles was impetus enough for the sale."

Another example from the same era:

"A didactic tale from 1283 tells the story of a small family consisting of a mother and son, who after experiencing severe famine, came to the realization they would soon starve to death. In the hope of saving his mother, the young boy offers to sell himself into bondage, and although the mother disagrees, he goes ahead with the plan."

Yes this is as bad as it sounds, but there is one thing I would like to get out of the way—this slave system did not function anything like the chattel slavery during colonialism. Strangely enough, these slaves had some rights they could fight their owners in court over. They could pay off debts and be set free. They were allowed to be married and have children with those outside of their class. They were not kept in cages or in chains like animals. (Silver linings! /s)

The term used for these slaves was 奴婢 (Nuhi) which roughly translates to “bonded person”. This is more in the contractual sense rather than the physical sense since most were slaves by contract or debt.

This kind of sounds like something binding vows could do, right? Well binding vows share no kanji with Nuhi using 縛り(Shibari) instead. However, Sukuna introduces the concept of binding vows with chains and a handshake.

Sukuna was also born unwanted to a starving mother during a time when starving people sold themselves or their relatives into slavery to survive. This can mean a lot of things for his upbringing and none of them are pleasant.

Here is a summary of what jobs Nuhi did:

"As stated previously, wealthy households frequently obtained slaves and assigned them to various domestic tasks. However, sources further illuminate trafficking of women into the sex trade of Kamakura Japan."

If you noticed, Sukuna's Cursed Technique is perfect for this. He can chop up veggies, butcher fish, till farmland, slash and burn farmland, light fires, and every other non-violent thing a knife and fire can be used for. If he wasn't exploited for exorcising curses, he absolutely would've been exploited for domestic tasks.

And to get to much more depressing line of work Sukuna could've been subjected to as a child, I'd like to discuss why someone as masculine as him would be associated with women's work in the first place.

The Treatment of Women in Ancient Japan

"In Japan prior to the Heian and Kamakura periods, women played prominent roles in religious activities as miko, which was akin to a female medium or female shaman...Since miko functioned as a sacred and integral part in religious communities, issues of impurity did not appear to be an issue. Instead, it was Buddhist ideas that linked the female form to impurity."

With the introduction of Buddhism, women began to be seen as innately impure due to the blood and fluids associated with childbirth and mensuration.

"In the Heian period, Buddhist temples such as such as Enryakuji and Tōdaiji, began barring women from entering the premises due to their defiled nature."

"prominent Buddhist discourse painted women as innately defiled and therefore unable to achieve enlightenment in their own female bodies."

"To be born as an innately defiled female was considered a karmic punishment for past actions."

Though not ostracized as much as outcasts, women were seen as innately unclean in a similar vein to Sukuna. Women were expelled from religious institutions but not the courts, while outcasts were tolerated by religious institutions and barred from the courts. (The courts and temples operated independently of each other, which is why it was possible for noble women to hold power despite being designated as unclean.)

A few months ago I made a joke about this panel:

"Sukuna’s two options were helping Uraume transition or becoming a girl himself."

This is still mostly a joke, but I do think Sukuna identifies more with women than with men. Not that Sukuna is a girl, but that he relates to them and their struggles better. (Keep in mind he does wear a women's yukata and a men's obi at the same time as Yujikuna.)

It's important to note is that this mystery woman here wears the clothes of a Miko or Shrine Maiden/Priestess—the main group of women that was displaced and persecuted because of the new religious doctrine. And like every other group without a proper social safety net, selling themselves into slavery became a survival strategy. They did have other options of course. In the case of Asobi, the Priestess that used to serve the courts, turned to entertainment and sex work after their exclusion.

"Either riding in boats or setting up shop on busy routes to the capital and religious sites, Goodwin argues that these performers were part of independent, possibly female-run organizations, which were not stigmatized until the later part of the Kamakura period. However, as Wakita Haruko has examined, at least some women involved in sexual entertainment were female indentured servants, serving as security on a loan issued by their parents."

In this way, the exact identity of the Miko in Sukuna's path may not matter. She might be a representation of those who accepted their exclusion and did their best to survive on society's terms. If the South choice is meant to represent returning to who Sukuna used to be, then it can also mean the types of struggles Mikos faced are his as well.

However, there was a temple that continued to accept women as followers—the Muroji Temple in Nara. Interestingly enough, this temple contains an inner sanctuary devoted to the founder of Shingon Buddhism, the type of Buddhism Tengen brought over. The mountain this temple is located on is also associated with a dragon spirit. Since there is historical precedent of at least one temple accepting a group of people seen as innately impure, a place like this may have also been a sanctuary for Sukuna.

With the information we have, it's not really possible to know exactly what awful thing happened to Sukuna. The most important takeaway from this is that the suffering he experienced was systemic. He didn't get unlucky with a few ignorant and bad people. This was the direct result of the Heian class system dehumanizing people. In other words, his choices were severely limited.

Sukuna's Other Choice

Going North with Uraume appears to be very similar what he did back in the Heian—taking in an abandoned child and looking after them. What makes this choice slightly different this time around is that the class system that oppressed him no longer exists in the modern era. Yes, he’ll absolutely face discrimination for being deformed, but the complete denial of his humanity at every turn for his appearance is gone. He won’t be treated as untouchable and inherently evil. Legally speaking, he has drastically more rights. Violence won’t be his only option moving up in the world.

I will always loathe that Sukuna had to die to obtain this. And that the “reformed” modern Jujutsu Society refuses to acknowledge the systemic failures of their institution. Kusakabe makes it very clear he still believes the immediate extermination of anything deemed “evil” is a valid way to go about things, even if it means the death of a child…as long as he doesn’t have to do it. (Hence him blaming Gojo for it, just like the higher ups.) After the fight, everyone passes blame around, absolves themselves of any wrongdoing, and decides no one is really at fault.

There were people at fault for this. There are institutions at fault for this. But their failure to confront those things directly is probably why Sukuna rejected Yuji’s offer so viciously. Instead of trying to understand Sukuna on his own terms, Yuji showed him the value of a simple life he was never allowed to have, then told him to die or go back into the cage.

Yuji offered Sukuna pity but no autonomy, which is exactly the way Hinin were treated by the religious institutions of old.

"However, Hosokawa argues that even in veneration of hinin as representations of Manjusri, Buddhist monks continue to discriminate against this outcast group and further perpetuate their low position in society. Hosokawa explains that although activity involved in charitable works towards hinin, Eison cared little about the salvation of hinin because he saw outcasts as divine only within the context of the ritual of assembly. Therefore, all charitable works directed at hinin were merely ceremonial. Hosokawa advocates the view that Eison believed hinin lacked ‘nature,’ meaning they were unable to study or practice Buddhism. Essentially, without nature, they had no ability to escape the cycle of re-birth through the study of Buddhism."

Sukuna even thinks of modern sorcerers like the ones of old. Why would he ever want to return to that?

His goals are simple; eat, play, and pass time until his dies. That’s not really evil now is it? But the people attacking him don’t know that. None of them ever stopped to asked because they assume him existing freely will bring evil.

But what does Sukuna do when he’s given a month-long truce a body he completely controls? He does what every minority group does when they are no longer being actively oppresed—he rests. He doesn’t go around killing or tormenting for fun. With his newfound freedom he secludes himself and lounges.

The fight in Shinjuku is essentially a group of well-meaning people from a corrupt institution beating an outcast that was ostracized by it into submission. Albeit for very good reasons.

Why did this fight change his mind?

If Sukuna is basically reliving past trauma via the Shinjuku fight, why did he decide this group of sorcerers was worth listening to? The simple answer of course is he lost to them. Sukuna believes the strong impose their will and the weak follow suit.

I don’t think that’s quite right. Sukuna used to be weak too. He was a child once. He used to controlled by others stronger than him. By his own logic he should’ve stayed like that, but he trained to get stronger and eventually rebelled.

Since Sukuna is a known liar and hides his feelings under several layers of repression, I’m inclined to believe this statement is also smokescreen. And after reading the Uraume Epilogue I am certain of this. But for now let’s revisit the Shinjuku fight, starting from the battle that made me realize Sukuna is indeed a pathetic sopping wet cat underneath it all—Sukuna vs Gojo.

Sukuna vs Gojo

Something fans picked up on during this fight was how Gojo dogwalked Sukuna when it came to Hand to Hand (H2H) combat. During their fight, Sukuna fails to land a single punch on Gojo’s face. It takes Yuta possessing Gojo’s body and fumbling around in it for Sukuna to finally punch that face. But it’s not just Gojo he sucks at with H2H combat. It’s everyone. Here is a compilation of Sukuna getting hit in the head or face.

This seems to conflict with Sukuna’s ability to learn anything visually. He sees someone do something and he can copy it immediately. This contradiction can be explained by him being Hinin.

Sukuna was considered an untouchable. Educated people were of a higher class and believed unclean things like him were to be avoided at all costs. This means that whatever education Sukuna obtained for himself was always at a distance. Aka watch and copy. And since H2H is mostly taught through body to body contact, Sukuna wasn’t allowed a proper sparing partner outside of the attempts to kill him.

In Part 2, I go over Sukuna’s fraud allegations for his copying of Gojo in particular. This is what lead me to realize that Sukuna spent 6 months plotting to kill a guy he met for 10 seconds. This insane level of pre-planning is also shaped by him being Hinin.

We know for a fact that Sukuna hunts deer/elk and that it’s safe to assume he driven to this because of his Hinin status. If you know anything about hunting, it’s that most of it is playing psychological mind games with creatures that are somehow complete geniuses despite having 2 brain cells. You don’t chase after a deer with a gun, you become obsessed with them. You study every little habit of theirs; when they hunger, what they eat, and where they defecate. Using this information, you set up the bait and wait in hiding for the perfect opportunity to kill them.

This is pretty much what Sukuna does to Gojo. He’s got a hunter’s obsession with him. In Part 4, I explain how this obsession might actually be unhinged courtship, but I don’t lay out why Gojo of all people seemingly means this much to Sukuna. This too can be explained by him being Hinin.

I’ve said it over and over, Gojo and Sukuna are twin flames. They are the strongest, isolated, dehumanized, exploited, self-taught, and really bad at showing affection. Part of this obsession is driven by Sukuna seeing himself in Gojo. He's being ordered around by others weaker than him in the same way Sukuna used to be.

But take note of this “I owe you a debt.” It’s easy to assume he means payback for punching him in the face. However…Gojo did actually do Sukuna a massive favor. He suspended his execution, even if it was primarily to save Yuji.

As I discussed before, Kegare was infectious. You touch something unclean and you become unclean yourself. By laws of Jujutsu Society and by social stigma around Kegare, Sukuna made Yuji equally as impure as himself. And Gojo went screw that, I’m going to look after you. He gave Yuji direct lessons, made sure all his basic needs were met, and treated him like a human. Behind everyone’s backs he hid the final finger, intending to let Yuji live for the duration of his natural life.

To Sukuna, Gojo is someone who would have taken him in and advocated for his humanity under different circumstances. Gojo is someone Sukuna would’ve loved to have as a teacher. And so he copies him. He learns and improves his own sorcery as if Gojo had intentionally taught him.

Through the Shinjuku fight, his experiences within Yuji, and Megumi’s memories, Sukuna gets a taste of what could’ve been. With Megumi in particular, he also gets to see what it’s like to be raised by someone who actually cares. Though not intentional, this is how Gojo teaches Sukuna love. This is why when Sukuna looks at Gojo, he thinks about love.

Sukuna choosing to go with Uraume is him copying Gojo one last time. After seeing that even if you’re isolated, exploited, and miserable, there’s still fulfillment in using your power to make sure someone else doesn’t go through what you did. It may not remove all that pain, but it makes it easier.

And bringing back Kegare’s opposite Hare (晴れ). The kanji used are in the Appare Da (天晴れだ) when Sukuna tells Gojo, “You cleared my skies.” (The Da at the end of this statement means it was pretty heartfelt too.) With this additional context, I think it can be taken to also mean that Gojo made Sukuna feel like he wasn’t impure.

Sukuna vs Yuji

Yuji and Megumi are the ones who ultimately make Sukuna realize that it's worth pursing guardianship regardless of marital status or blood relation. They are the two of Gojo’s students/children that are directly compared to Uraume.

Yuji who is also the same as Sukuna, fills the role of Gojo when he first chooses to look after Megumi. When he prevents Megumi from being sold by his father. Sukuna has seen both versions of this memory.

Since Sukuna is a twin to Wasuke and they are also the same, JJK 265 is Yuji showing Sukuna an entire alternate universe of the normal life he could've lived if he had been seen as human.

And even if he can’t ever be seen as human or live normally, Megumi tells him it’s ok to be improper and cherish someone anyways.

None of these 3 realize how greatly they’ve affected Sukuna. He barely admits to it even in death. But Sukuna had secretly wanted this from the start. The cracks started showing when he first tried to teach Megumi in his special little tsundere shark way.

There's also something to be said about Uraume making it to adulthood in a time where famine was rampant and parents would sell their children into slavery just to eat. Their cursed technique manifested around the age of 6, just like Megumi. The fact they survived means Sukuna was already doing a pretty good job as their guardian.

Other Things this Changes

I'm also looking at Sukuna's fondness towards Jogo in a whole new light. I thought that Jogo wanting nothing of him was the main reason he was favored. But there's more to it that that. It’s that he regards Sukuna’s life as inherently valuable. Jogo believes in a world where Sukuna has the right to exist as he is and how he wants. No one will try to control him or condemn him for something he had no say in.

He also stands out in his devotion to curses of any background. Mahito basically looks like a human, Choso and his brothers are half human, Sukuna is fully human, and Jogo accepts them all no questions asked. He’s willing to fight for people who exist differently than himself.

There's also that added “wanting to be seen as human” element. Jogo’s world is one where Sukuna would finally be seen as human. It’s the same logic that drove Choso to side with the Disaster Curses. He knew how difficult human society would make the lives of his brothers (both of which have 2 faces like conjoined twins), so he chose to fight for a world where that kind of discrimination no longer existed. (Which is why it's really sad he died and no one mourned him properly.)

And yes we can condemn the mass slaughter of humans as the wrong way to go about this. But the core problem is that Jujutsu Society branded them as taboo and in need of extermination or containment. They were driven into a corner and believed violence was the only way out. The only reason Choso was able to change was other sorcerers giving him a chance despite the hurt he caused. Something Sukuna didn't get outside of the offer to be caged.

Am I being too lenient with Sukuna here?

Absolutely. I am extremely biased.

To me at least, the type of "evil" Sukuna is has a lot nuance. It is very significant that someone as strong as him, who could basically do whatever he wanted (theoretically), took one willing servant in a time where slavery was widely practiced. (If you read the linked document, it's kind of up for debate how legal slavery was at the time.) It's also significant that the Heian crimes he was accused of were limited to cannibalism and murder. He's clearly got rules about his evilness and I really like that about him. I wanted to find the logic driving them and I think I've finally struck gold.

This didn't fit anywhere nicely. But consider the following:

"Earthly sins, on the other hand, were those that only affected individuals or forbidden actions, such as rape or cutting living flesh."

Sukuna's CT cuts living flesh. His very CT was considered impure in the Heian. The flames however, are more aligned with purification. It's just a neat little thing that shows Sukuna's duality imo.

He's also really good at archery. And though this is likely because his flame CT is a bow, he probably got good at it to hunt deer/elk on top of temple duties. (Just another way he enjoys corrupting the divine.)

But please remember, the only reason I've done all of this is because of Umineko's...

Without love, it cannot be seen.

[khruschevshoe]

How Behind-the Scenes Issues Affected the Writing of Doctor Who (Both Good and Bad)

Doctor Who is such a fascinating show to look at from a Watsonian v. Doylist perspective. Like, entirely just from an episode writing point of view:

Twice Upon A Time feels so slow and meandering and even boring in places because Chris Chibnall didn't want to start his run as showrunner and Steven Moffat didn't want the show to lose the coveted Christmas timeslot (ironic, I know) so he bumped the Twelfth Doctor's regeneration from the end of The Doctor Falls (where it makes sense) to the end of the Christmas special

Boom Town (my beloved) only exists because originally there was going to be an episode in its spot explaining that Rose had been molded to be the Doctor's perfect companion (by the Doctor, gross) and the writer didn't have the time to commit to the show

The ending of Last Christmas feels like one inside-a-dream too many because originally Jenna Coleman was questioning whether she was going to leave the show or not and the ending was rewritten after the first readthrough when she decided she wanted to stay for another season

The first five episodes of Season 7 feel like each one takes place in a different genre because that's literally how Steven Moffat pitched it to the writers; for example, A Town Called Mercy was literally pitched as "Doctor Who does a Western"

Not so much a weird one but one I find cool: Eleven's first words and Thirteen's first words were literally written by Moffat and Chibnall respectively, as they were brought in to write the first words of the first Doctors of their runs so as to make it cohesive

The reason why Fourteen isn't wearing Thirteen's clothes when he regenerates is because Jodie Whittaker is much shorter than David Tennant and Russell T. Davies didn't want it to look like he was making fun of the genderfluidity of the Doctor (still think he made the wrong decision, but eh)

Wilfred Mott isn't in the Runaway Bride and Donna's father isn't in Partners in Crime because the actor who played Donna's father, Howard Attfield, died after filming several scenes for Partners In Crime, leading to the character of "Stan Mott" from Voyage of the Damned being written into Partners In Crime as Donna's grandfather

Astrid Peth doesn't die in the original drafts of Voyage of the Damned, but Russell T. Davies wrote what is generally considered one of the most emotional deaths in Doctor Who just because he wanted Kylie Minogue to be able to focus on her music career

Originally Oxygen was written as a prequel to Mummy on the Orient Express, where a corporate representative appeared on a monitor. Said representative was fired for his fumbling of the station and would later live on as the company computer, Gus

During Season 11, Chris Chibnall had to do some major rewrites for many of the one-off episodes, therefore The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos ended up being a first draft that made it to screen. He later admitted it was his least favorite episode of the series

And this is only a fraction of what I found in terms of major behind-the-scenes writing reasons. Though I am still totally willing to critique the product that made it to our screens, finding out the reasons behind some of the more badly written episodes of the show really made me feel sympathy for every showrunner of the show as well as appreciate a lot of the good episodes that ended up here despite the short production schedule/unexpected problems (once again, Boom Town my beloved AND everyone's favorite companion Wilfred Mott only exist because of unforseen problems). Absolutely bonkers, isn't it?

[postcardsfromheapside]

Seeing the post again about the dialogue you can get if you bring Neve to the final battle, I really appreciate the nuance VG adds to difficult situations.

You can care about someone deeply, even love them - platonically, familially, romantically - and profoundly disagree with what they are doing to the point of thinking drastic actions need to be taken.

You can acknowledge that someone has committed crimes against you, your friends, or entire populations, and still believe they deserve a chance to try again.

You can recognize the trauma that you experienced in your past, that changed you utterly, and decide (in the limited scope of a video game) how to honor it and move forward.

You can be diametrically opposed with someone on multiple fronts (as Solas and Neve are), and recognize that you share some important values, and that they are not enough.

You make alliances with factions with whom you might not share most, or even some, of your values - some you might even find reprehensible - because your overarching problem is so important that you have to put your differences aside until the emergency is dealt with.

There have been more articulate posts around a few of these points, but what I want to drive at is that Veilguard refuses to fall into purity traps or “good vs evil” storytelling.

Character interpretation recently on social media (in general, not limited to DA) often runs along the lines of: "I am a good person, and I wouldn't like a bad character, therefore if I find myself attracted to a 'bad' character, they must secretly be good." And Veilguard refuses to play this game. Those baddies did it all, and they weren't sorry for it. Whether you can stomach their reasons is up to you.

I think it's why people get confused by the Crows. Are they supposed to be good? Or bad? It's not that simple, and the game is NOT holding your hand and telling you which one.

We like black & white answers, and Veilguard gives us none. That's true to life. There often - maybe usually - aren't clear answers. I love the very open-ended epilogue, where we're free to imagine how Thedas moves forward (there's a great post here detailing possibilities and the current state of things).

That liminality is where growth happens.

[licncourt]

allegorical vampirism and slavery in IWTV

A couple people made comments about what I said regarding the parallels between vampirism and slavery/how they interplay in the story when I mentioned it in another post so I wanted to talk about it a little here! Adding a disclaimer though for non-followers that I am a fan of the books, so please don't take this to say otherwise!

There's a lot of crazy stuff in the beginning of IWTV, but the ideas of systemic violence and parasitism really permeate all of it. The parallels in how slaveowners like Louis and Lestat live in the human sense is very reminiscent of how vampires literally drain the life from their victims to continue. The implication here is that there's no cost too great to sustain a vampire and that vampires have a certain inherent superiority over humans (this is believed explicitly by a majority vampires in the series). There's even something to be said for the sexualized (usually non-consensual obviously) nature of vampire feeding bearing a striking resemblance to the sexual exploitation of enslaved people on many plantations.

Of course, the usual conversation about Louis' hypocrisy plays in here most prominently as we see his ridiculously selective concern and morality, leeching off the forced labor of enslaved people while refusing to feed on humans out of his own concept of mercy and goodness. Clearly he has no real problem with surviving on death and exploitation, which is why it's shocking but not surprising when he reveals the "aesthetic" nature of his objections during the interview. Even he recognizes that his moral complaints were contrarian and performative, more about resisting Lestat's control than genuine care for victims.

He's remarkably and sickeningly blasé about the whole matter, and as hard as it is to read, the way he talks about his perpetuation of chattel slavery is what I would expect. He seems to find it mildly regrettable, but ultimately a reflection of the times and of circumstance, implicitly passing off the blame for his actions. It mirrors a lot of vampire rhetoric, most of the main characters in the series seeming to simply agree that It Is What It Is and say Well, What Can You Do? Louis represents the mundane evil of slavery and of vampirism, the integration of something so horrific and unspeakable into the workings of everyday life with flimsy justifications and token moralizing on peripheral matters that obscure the violent reality of the situation.

The privilege Louis was born into really shows here. He doesn't seem to outwardly relish his position as master, but not because he sees it as morally wrong, only because he sees it as natural, as his birthright in much the same way we see vampires excuse any harm they cause as just vampire nature, therefore nothing to be concerned about. Radically normal even. The only really crimes that really matter occur between vampires in the same way that the only crimes that really mattered in the Antebellum South were those committed between white people, especially wealthy white people. We see Louis get away with all kinds of bad behavior after Paul's death because he's a wealthy white man, so he can be as drunk and disorderly as he likes, even if it crosses the line into violence. Vampires operate similarly, power equaling a license to do as one pleases because who can stop you?

While Louis is, for obvious reasons, the primary focus of the discussion around slavery in IWTV, it's important to note how Lestat plays into this too in his own way. Not only is he not innocent or merely allowing it to happen passively around him, he engages with it quickly and in a rather Draconian manner when the opportunity presents itself. Lestat approaches his interactions with the enslaved people on the plantation much the same way he approaches vampirism itself, as a means to subjugate others and affirm his own power and control over his situation. He relishes them similarly too, finally On Top after being under the heel of others for so long.

He behaves like the stereotypical school bully who was abused at home, punching down as soon as the opportunity presents itself. He immediately takes the role of an enforcer of sorts for Louis, both by request and of his own volition. In one scene, Louis mentions (sickeningly casually I should add) that he requested Lestat use his position as "a white master" to quell unrest among the enslaved people on the plantation before a riot and Lestat does so happily, even saying something similar to Louis on other occasions. In another, Lestat takes it upon himself to "mercilessly beat" a slave for lingering too long near where their coffins are kept. The behavior is egregious, both the acts themselves and the unbothered way that Louis relays it to Daniel, but maybe that easy acceptance of cruelty is necessary for vampires. Would they be able to continue living the way they do if they acknowledged this sort of reality for what it is?

The final thing I want to add is the way the context of slavery plays off of the dynamic between Louis and Lestat personally in IWTV. There's a certain dark irony to the way Louis, the slaveowner and one primarily responsible for enslavement on the plantation, reacts to his new power dynamic with Lestat. The way he chafes at Lestat's grip on him is almost comical in contrast, and while it's not stated explicitly, it seems that a large portion of the reason stems from his belief that he's inherently at the top of the food chain and that this is a disruption of the natural order he clings to so strongly. He's not poor, he's not a woman, he's not black, he's not even a mere mortal anymore, so what right does anyone have to control him the way he controls others (who in his mind should expect it)? And even then, it's nowhere near comparable. He lives in the definition of a gilded cage with Lestat, not autonomous certainly, but absolutely languishing over a tiny fraction of what others endure at his own hand.

Their microcosm of vampire life feels even more frivolous by comparison, two men of equal standing in all the important ways bickering eternally over the technicalities of emasculation, philosophy, and disrespect. Still though, Claudia points out to Louis that in her opinion, Lestat "made a slave of him" and Louis doesn't say this explicitly, but that simple comparison seems to be the breaking point in him opening his mind to the allowance of Lestat's murder. Even the suggestion of such a thing, that he's been made not just a fool or an accomplice or someone’s bitch, but a slave, flips a switch in him visibly. And that tells us just about everything we need to know.

[prettyliftybaby]

L!fting masterpost from an intermediate lyfter

Will try to keep this short! Please excuse my English 🩷 1. Not because they say it's easy, will it be easy. (Unless it's like d0llar store, will expand more on that though!) ''W@lm@rt is easy!'' ''XYZ is easy!'' DO NOT ALWAYS BELIEVE THEM!! A lot of stores vary widely by location. Just because the w@lm@rt closeby is easy, does not mean the one even 3 minutes away will be easy aswell. This applies for all stores. And... 2. Easy =/= free for all and place for sloppiness. I does not matter if it is a $store. There is never any place for sloppiness in committing a crime. WE ARE CRIMINALS!! Do not forget that! Just because you can walk out, and we don't have LP nor can we chase you, if you l!ft sloppily and we catch you, we are obliged to tell on you, and the cameras will find footage of you, and your face, even if you are wearing a disguise, will be spread to other locations, trust me. 3. Even if cameras are not monitored, doesn't mean you can do whatever.

Cameras still serve a purpose. In malls. security guards mostly watches parking lot, entrance, etc. In mall, most (not all) does not monitor camera. But all have the access to the footage, which is being actively recorded 24/7, therefore saved. USE SLEIGHT OF HAND AND FIND BLINDSPOTS! 4. Practice at hoe. Sleight of hand, research it. Record yourself, time yourself even. Find concealing methods and try, try try until it is smooth! 5. Do not get inspiration from the fuckass TV show ''Trinkets''. HORRIBLE SHOW!!! I hate it so bad. The bitch gets on my nerves. Anyways. Don't shove things in your backpack, and actually, don't opt for backpacks when concealing, they are so suspicious! And, in a store, don't walk quickly to your item and rush to the dressing room to untag it?? Be normal??? Hello????? 6. Be normal Do NOT underestimate this! I know it is common advice but trust me. You're literally just there to shop, just in a unique way! For this, what helped honestly was rejection therapy, even unrelated to l!fting, weirdly enough! But, no one will look at you if you just act normal (unless you waddle out because you have 78 lip oils in your ssa.) As a store associate, I'm just focused on doing my job, chatting with my coworkers, looking good in front of my boss and counting down the hours until I am home! In order to get ''sussed'' by a normal sale associates, you would need to attract attention. Most of us don't have shoplifters on our minds. 7. Don't be sexy. (??? weird but works!) Now, this very hard for me because I am so sexy and hot and bootylicious. BUT I have read a story where men were being pervs and staring at girls, and then noticed that they were lyfting???? And anyways, you want to look plain and forgettable, it'll help blend it alot.

8. Have an excuse. Do not go down the ''But, I have children to feed!!'' excuse route when you have 4 lacy bombshells bras on at a time! For example, what I did at s3ph0r@, I came in, wanting to do an exchange. I had a N4RS foundation in a s3ph0ra bag. I put another N4RS foundation in my bag. I then went to the register, and kindly asked for an exchange of the same product, since it had spilled (I transferred like half of it to another container... oops!!!). My excuse if I got caught? It was going to be that I thought I would need to take the wanted product myself and exchange it with the ruined product, and I forgot about the wanted product in my bag! I hope that makes sense! Anyways just have a valid, reasonable, non over explained excuse!!!

9. DO NOT GET GREEDY!!!! DO NOT TAKE RISKS!! Remember, once again, you are committing a crime. If you remember, I had to show my breasts to a security guard to get me and my friend out of trouble, because she got greedy. She was not even a repeat l!fter! Still love her though. But, don't take items that are too bulky either if you know you can't pull it off. And only get what you CAME IN FOR. No impulse l!fts! Make a list of what you need! The more you take, the more likely you are to get caught, and the more likely you will have harsher consequences if you do. 10. Take breaks You shouldn't be itching to borrow. It shouldn't be on your mind all day. You shouldn't use it as a coping mechanism. You'll regret it. Breathe, make some tea, sit down and enjoy nature. Lyfting is a harmful coping mechanism, and you can get addicted as well. 11. Have money on you, but no ID. If you get caught, no money = premeditated theft, which is worse than impulse theft. 12. Don't brag about l!fting.

The more people know, the more they might tell on you. Or, when you go shopping, they might joke about it loudly and make you sussed out. Or, they will dare you to l!ft, and under pressure you'll l!ft something you don't need and get caught. Or, they'll ask you to teach them, and their slip up is gonna cost both of your freedoms!!! Or, they'll tell other people who will do all of the above. ORRRR they will make it harder to l!ft because more l!fting = more security measures added by company. 13. You will get MAJOR CONSEQUENCES if you l!ft from small businesses. And you will deserve it! Cops and shop owners will be more harsh! You might get beat or a gun pulled on you. 14. Have signature concealing methods. Research some, practice them and keep them in your arsenal!

15. Don't l!ft near you. What if you need to go back? Also, they might have your info from credit/debit cards, or licsence plates, and will identify you much more easily. 16. Just because you do/don'ttalk to SA doesn't mean you won't get sussed... Just be normal! Plenty of people think ''Oh, but I talked to an employee!'' means that you're innocent.. No my love! Do you need help? Ask for it! Don't? Kindly decline! And, after they ask you and you decline, don't immediately walk away from the section you were browsing from, it looks suspicious. 17. Don't lyft in groups... ESPECIALLY if you look like teens. Come on!!! That is such a red flag! And don't start giggling and taking off your backpack and shoving things... 18. Don't be afraid to ask me questions! I love you all my sweeties! xoxo! (will also be adding furthermore in the future)

[spacerockfloater]

hi! i noticed you learnt about what ryan condal said regarding blood and cheese. it was…something. i would like to know your thoughts on the matter. though it would be completely understandable if you need sometime to gather them together or if you would rather not at all! thank you and bye!

Hello beloved, thank you so much for asking me! I’d love to share my opinion!

If anyone’s wondering, @rhaenelle is referring to this interview where Ryan Condal essentially says he believes that Blood & Cheese’s brutality and heinousness was exaggerated by the Greens in a propagandistic attempt to convince their subjects that Rhaenyra and Daemon are the worst villains ever born, hence why he toned the event down; to show us what he thinks is the accurate version of Jaehaerys’ murder.

Now, I am aware that Condal had already warned us that HOTD was going to be a feminist retelling of the events of F&B, which practically means that his plan has always been to whitewash the everlasting fuck out of Rhaenyra. So what do I think about this?

Well, for starters, I think that Ryan Condal is an excellent businessman. He knows what kind of tropes are going to make the audience engage with his show. He understands that people need a hero to cheer for and a villain to hate, therefore he removed the moral ambiguity from all of the characters and divided them into two categories: the Blacks, enlightened revolutionaries full of passion, deserving of admiration and correct in everything they do, and the Greens, pious fools with a moral superiority complex who are stack in the ways of the past and commit despicable crimes. The average viewer does not possess the intelligence to comprehend that both parties have their good and bad moments, and that they’re both correct in fighting for what each believes is rightfully theirs. Simultaneously, he benefits from the modern trends that want women in media to take revenge when they are wronged and emerge as triumphant girlbosses, because of course a white upper class woman’s suffering in a western world (or Westeros) society has everything to do with her gender and nothing to do with her personality or decisions (even if this works solely for Rhaenyra, because Alicent seems to be held accountable for every single one of her actions). Finally, it is obvious that Condal is trying to appease disgruntled Daenerys fans, so he has rebuilt Rhaenyra into this tortured martyr that wishes to change the world for the better in an attempt to make her resemble her great granddaughter six times removed.

For all of these reasons, I find it very logical that he is going out of his way to minimise the tragedy the Greens experience. It just doesn’t make Rhaenyra look good and honestly, who wants that? The producers saw how unhappy Danny’s stans were when they made her lose her shit; they’re not going to make the same mistake twice. They don’t want their show to tank like the last season of GOT did, so they’ll do everything in their power to keep the audience happy. And it’s working! What’s the last thing Condal says in this clip? “You kinda start rooting for [Blood and Cheese]!” and boy oh boy, the TB stans sure do! Literally hundreds of memes that rejoiced at Jaehaerys’ death were posted on X this week, with tens of thousands of likes. But when Lucerys died, it was presented as the most foul thing to ever happen in the ASOIAF universe. It is the TB supporters that dictate which child murder is good and which is bad, and that decision usually depends on which child came out Rhaenyra’s womb, not let’s say, the fact that one kid was a toddler that could barely walk, while the other was a teenager that laughed at the disabled person he mutilated himself.

It’s all just marketing

That being said, I want to clarify that I understand why Condal and the HOTD producers do what they do, but being a good entrepreneur does not necessarily make you a literary genius. Now, I’m not gonna explain why stripping Rhaenyra off of every character trait that made her interesting is a bad decision and that in their attempt to remove the blame from her so that they can elevate her as this righteous patron of feminism, they’re accidentally removing all of her agency and turning her simply into a victim, because I have a whole blog dedicated to that. But let’s just say that presenting Rhaenyra as this sexually liberated idol that’s incapable of evil, when in fact she’s an entitled aristocrat who’s completely at the mercy of men around her, from her father to her husbuncle, is the most performative activism move ever pulled in recent TV history, as well as pushing the narrative that Alicent suffers from internalised misogyny because duh, a woman can only be good and a feminist if she supports Rhaenyra, not when she pursues her own interests.

Ultimately, I think we just have to accept that this show is not meant for TG fans. We are not going to find any satisfaction in it. Everything that was unique and admirable about the Greens in the book has vanished. Their family dynamic is fucked up, Alicent’s children hate her, Aegon and Halaena cannot stand one another, Alicent is constantly a victim and never someone that chases her own ambitions, Halaena is very vague, Aemond appears to be more angsty than angry, Aegon is a stupid rapist, Jaehaerys’ death was turned into a mockery, Alicole was weaponised in order to make us shit on Alicent and Criston even more and so on. This show barely caters to us because we’re not making them any money.

The reason that there are more TB than TG stans is because (I’m gonna get so much fucking hate for this) most people who watch TV are fucking morons. I swear, when F&B came out 6 years ago, no one gave a flying fuck about Rhaenyra, because we all understood that everyone involved in the Dance of the Dragons was fucked up in their own way and that the message of this story, just like the general message of ASOIAF, is that nobody deserves to sit on that fucking throne. We were all in agreement about that. But then this fucking show came along and all the oblivious simpletons that swallowed whatever the producers shoved down their throats, grabbed the book and decided that “Woah, this book is obviously a critique on patriarchy and Rhaenyra is obviously the victim of the story”! As if GRRM, the man who said that he doesn’t sit down and think “Oh, I’m going to write a woman now” but instead he believes women to be people just like men, with complex personalities, would ever do that. And they just can’t believe that it is possible for book!Rhaenyra to be an evil racist classist full of entitlement! Surely it must be because the Greens are rewriting history! There’s no way GRRM, the man that created Cersei fucking Lannister, would ever make a female character that’s vicious and crazy just because she feels like it! Y’all need to sit down for a moment. I say this as a radical feminist that supports the 4B movement: you’re projecting your own ideas onto George’s work. Not all the media we consume has to reflect our ideologies, but if you think that it has to, then this book isn’t the anti misogynistic masterpiece you wish it was.

Like, when it comes to F&B, I am firmly anti Targaryen and did not wish for any side to win. I wanted them all wiped out to be honest. But when it comes to HOTD, I’m TG basically out of spite at this point.

All in all, I just think that things are going to go downhill for us from this point on. They’ll just keep glorifying the Blacks until the very end.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

hiii, i am writing my first book/novel. its highlighting d***th, romance, mystery, politics, pretty questionable characters w revenge, thriller and lots of women n power play. its my first book and im not that educated about such themes. but this rough plot i have in my mind is so beautiful that underperforming this excellent trope would be a shame....ive never written before so could you please what to do to actually write this kinda theme to my heart's satisfaction. I've never written a freaking chap before and now im really lost

Writing Ideas: Revenge Tropes

some tropes related to revenge, thriller, women, and power play

Afterlife Avenger: This trope involves the circumstance where a character explicitly still chooses to pursue conflicts against whatever's left of their hated target long after they've passed.

Best Served Cold: Named for the French (or Sicilian, or Klingon, or drow, depending on who you ask) proverb, "Revenge is a dish best served cold." At least in the case of drow, it also means one can have well-planned revenge and drive them mad with fear as a bonus.

Crusading Widow: The death or murder of their significant other motivates the character to seek revenge.

Defeat as Backstory: A protagonist (or some other character's backstory) in a story begins by having been defeated either before the story began, or early on in the story (often in a prologue).

Dying Curse: With his dying breath, a character wishes ill fortune upon his killers, or some other personal enemy.

Pay Evil unto Evil: In real life, the sort of thinking behind this trope is called "retributive justice".

Revenge Through Corruption: Instead of inflicting physical harm, the villain attacks the mind and soul.

Villain-by-Proxy Fallacy: When someone goes after not only a crime's perpetrator, but those who supplied the perpetrator or were otherwise marginally connected to it, whether or not the people involved had anything to do with the actual crime.

Woman Scorned: A woman who's been dumped, cheated on, or otherwise done wrong by her significant other (or, in some cases, merely thinks she's been).

Examples

Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo, probably the greatest revenge story of all time.

In the original version of Beauty and the Beast, the Prince's widowed mother goes off to fight a war and leaves a wicked fairy to help him rule. When the Prince comes of age, she tries to seduce him and turns him into a Beast when he refuses her advances.

In Moby-Dick, Captain Ahab makes it clear throughout the book that he'll pursue Moby Dick to, into, through, and out of Hell, and even then he still won't be satisfied until the whale suffers forever for its slight against him.

Crime and Punishment: One of the antagonists of the novel, Porfiry, works as a police officer and interrogator, which usually would qualify as a good-aligned job. As you further witness this officer's tactics in catching criminals, you see him commit to bribery, thievery, death-threats, and psychological torture to force an admission. Furthermore, he seems to actually enjoy it, toying with amateur criminals like a cat torturing a wounded mouse. The justification, of course, being that the victim of this was a murderer, and therefore deserves it.

George R. R. Martin's Fire & Blood: After the war, Lady Joanna Lannister has a beef to pick with the Greyjoys, who've taken up raiding the coast, including killing a few Lannisters. She decides the best course of action is go to the Iron Islands and kill every man, woman and child she can find. She just settles for burning a lot of things and abducting one Greyjoy, gelding him and turning him into her fool.

Feyd Rautha Harkonnen receives a Dying Curse in Dune. After killing a combat slave in the arena, his opponent's final words are "One day one of us will get you." Given that this fighter is not just a slave, but one of the soldiers from the army of the Harkonnen's blood enemies, the Atreides, this may be prophetic.

In A Song of Ice and Fire, Arya Stark's conflation of justice and personal vengeance leads her to Villain-by-Proxy Fallacy. While many of people on her death list certainly deserve to be brought to justice, such as the Tickler for torture and Weese for abuse, others were merely acting on orders, such as the Hound, doing their jobs or are just guilty by association. Cersei Lannister is on her death list for being involved in the execution of Ned Stark, but Cersei wasn't complicit in that activity, and even spoke out against it. Same with Ilyn Payne, who was just doing his job as the royal executioner. The real mastermind of Ned's death, Littlefinger, is not on the list. Meryn Trant is on the list for killing Syrio Forel, but there isn't any evidence to confirm the crime. Polliver and Dunsen are on the list for flimsy reasons, like stealing. She has Chiswyck murdered for the crime of not being as funny as he thinks he is (granted, Chiswyck was joking about a gang rape, but that isn't the reason Arya cites as his crime). The conflation of justice and vengeance, and how that conflation leads to this trope, is one of the key themes of the entire story.

Queen Dido in The Aeneid, who prophesies that her and Aeneas's people will meet again in war (the Punic Wars — her future, Virgil's past). Particularly tragic in that it's made fairly obvious that he'd have stayed with her if he'd had the choice.

Sidney Sheldon's The Best Laid Plans: Leslie Stewart plots to ruin the career of Oliver Russell when he leaves her at the altar to marry a woman whose father promises to further his political career.

The Hunger Games: The Pay Evil Unto Evil trope is discussed all the way through Mockingjay, and reaches its culmination when President Coin suggests either executing all Capitol citizens or forcing their children into the Games.

Source ⚜ More: References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

Hi, here are some tropes I found related to the themes you described. You can find more in the source linked above. Study how it is portrayed in different types of media, and in your favourite films/books, to gain inspiration for your own story. You can take the rough idea/plot you already have, and try to incorporate techniques and tropes used by other authors, but then deviate from borrowing those ideas when your story starts to flow naturally. All the best with your writing!

[apollophanes]

Spiritual Pollution in Hellenic Polytheism

In Helpol, we have three concepts known as lyma, miasma, and agos.

To some, humans are seen as naturally pure beings, but because we are living mortal creatures, spiritual dirt can cling to us and make us impure.

Here, I will discuss these three types of pollution

(Disclaimer: Some of this information comes from my own personal interpretations, and therefore may not apply to the beliefs of everyone)

Lyma

Lyma means "something to be washed away". Itis generally just physical dirt. It isn't much of a big deal when it comes to spiritual matters. However, it is still best to be free of it when approaching the gods.

Miasma

This is where things get complicated.

Miasma is essentially general spiritual pollution. Miasma is something that is completely unavoidable and should not be shamed (well, depending on the cause). Miasma is mainly caused by things related to life and death. This includes sex, childbirth, visiting a cemetery, blood, sexual fluids, etc.

However, miasma has different degrees of severity. More severe miasma comes from acts such as rape, hubris, murder, etc.

Miasma also spreads from people to people. If you walk past someone on the street who just came back from a funeral, their miasma will cling to you as well. This also highlights how unavoidable miasma is. But usually, this kind of indirect miasma is not as bad.

We are not allowed to approach the gods in a state of miasma. Luckily, miasma is not difficult to get rid off (excluding the more severe cases listed above).

All you need to do is wash your hands.

If you get a cut on your leg, the blood is miasmic and therefore you can't approach the gods. But all you need to do is wait for the bleeding to stop, wash away the blood, wash your hands, and then you're good to go.

There is a debate I once had on whether miasma prevents us from praying, giving offerings, and participating in festivals. To me, the answer is yes, but not with prayers. Let me explain why.

In a very simplified description of a certain myth, Orestes killed his mother. This caused him to enter a state of severe miasma and a state of agos (which I will explain later). Long story short, he prayed and asked Apollon to help purify him, in return for a grand offering later on. Apollon heard the prayer and came to help purify Orestes.

In this example, we see that Orestes was still able to pray to Apollon in the worst state of miasma, but promised to give offerings later on.

This implies that prayer is not an issue with miasma.

Here is another example: You don't need to wash your hands when talking to someone, but you should wash your hands if you want to give that person food.

In a similar way, in my opinion, you don't need to wash your hands for a casual prayer, but you should wash them before giving an offering. Although, I also prefer not to pray when I know I am in a miasmic state.

However, this is my own interpretation and others may have different views.

There are other ways to cleanse miasma such as khernips, incense, and scapegoats.

Ocean water is also said to cleanse miasma extremely well.

Agos

Agos is a cursed state and is the most extreme form of spiritual pollution. However, agos is not easy to get.

If you commit a horrible act such as murder, you will be in a state of extreme miasma. However, when the gods notice your crime and get enraged (keep in mind that it is usually not that easy to anger the gods), the miasma evolves into agos.

Miasma is a naturally occurring thing, but agos only comes from the wrath of the gods.

Agos is difficult to remove and is a pretty big deal.

Luckily, you don't need to worry about agos unless you're a horrible person who commits heinous acts.

Aaaand that is my interpretation of spiritual pollution in Helpol. I hope this post can be helpful to you!

Blessed be!

[sadistic-kiss]

🐺House of Alphas🐺

(Jujutsu Kaisen Omegaverse )

Summary: Waking up in a world that was not your own was problematic enough. Being the villainess was another. However, the possessive alphas might take the cake.

Disclaimer: Angsty but I ain’t Gege

Omega!Reader x Alpha!Sukuna x Alpha!Gojo x Alpha!Toji x Alpha!Nanami x Alpha!Getou

Chapter 68: AM

~

...

Yoshinubu's mouth gapped like a fish, “Y-you DARE SLAP ME!?” He stood as light magic erupted all around him causing the chapel to be filled with a powerful gust of wind. The man was radiating light as his eyes glowed.

You squinted, the bright rays were so blinding that it hurt to stare into it. As if you were being hit with the most powerful high beams.

“AN ATTACK ON ME IS AN ATTACK ON THE HOLY LIGHT! I AM THE LIGHT! I AM ALL THAT IS HOLY! YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED!”

A beam of light was shot at you, and you gasped in shock, the ball consumed your vision, and all you could think of was how bad it was going to hurt, preparing for the pain.

But within a split second something blocked the light but the impact still hit.

“Ah!” You cried as you were sent flying, crashing into the double doors and then sliding upon the pathway. The whirlwind of it all had you spiraling in dizziness, but you shook your head to get yourself back to reality.

“Ngh…” Gojo let out a little groan as he sat upon his elbows, he had taken the blast for you, his infinity barrier sizzling as blood peaked upon the corner of his lip.

“Gojo!” You moved, already healing him as the furious priest came walking through the doors.

Onlookers were running to see what was happening, shocked by the spectacle.

“If YOU won’t tame your brat then I will.” The priest held up both his hands as he prepared another attack. The light gathered above him as he readied a giant ball of light.

“Don’t you dare!” Gojo sat up with snarling lips.

“What the hell is going on?!” Nanami, Toji, and Sukuna came sliding into the scene. Your blonde stood between you and the priest while Sukuna got ready to fight. Toji bent down next to you, covering you from any danger.

They didn't know what was going on but all they knew was they had to protect you.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!” Nanami shouted seeing as the priests hadn't lowered his attack.

Yoshinobu hissed, ball still blazing with anger but he spoke his reasoning for attacking you, “Your omega has SPIT at the light, disrespecting all that we hold dear!”

Ok, first off this man was really on some other shit. Must be snorting the equivalent of crack in this world. It was gross how he embodied himself as the light. He views himself as greater than anyone here as if he were a god. He thinks therefore he is.

“It doesn’t have to be like this!” Yaga tried to reason behind the priests.

Utahime surprisingly tried to help as well, “Grand priest our prime alphas should handle their omega!”

Nanami raised his hand, taking a deep breath, you could hear the tenseness of his voice, “I do not know what our omega has done but allow US to deal with her.”

“She is ours to punish- not yours!” Sukuna growled out.

You were silent, watching everything unfold. You weren’t sure if you were about to fight or if Nanami could negotiate with the priest to allow you to be handled by their hands. You had committed a crime, and despite it just being a slap you had broken a law, but Tengen did it feel so good to slap that ass hole. Now you just hoped you didn't doom everyone. Gojo and Toji made sure to block you with their bodies, while Sukuna paced around, ready to strike anyone who dared to go for you. You had just noticed Getou was slinking in the shadows, prepared for a surprise attack.

It was a silent battlefield, eyes darting around in fear. It felt like hours went by but it was only but mere seconds.

Tweedle dee and Tweedle dumb joined the party, looking between everyone in bewilderment, “Good heavens! What is going on?!”

Nanami spoke without bringing his eyes away from the old priest, “Our omega has caused a disturbance, and as her alphas, we will deal her punishment. It is up to us to correct her when she misbehaves. Being as she doesn’t know how the world works she does not understand so let us correct her.”

The grand priest growled as he threw his hands down, his ball of light dispersing in a flash. He pointed a crooked finger at Nanami, “I expect a proper punishment to be dealt. I don’t think I need to tell you that if she were anyone else her actions would have bought her a life sentence or death.”

“Like I said… we will handle it, and make sure it never happens again.” Nanami repeated sternly.

The older man tossed his head, dismissing you all.

Nanami turned and marched toward you with a cold stone face. Your stomach dropped as he knelt and yanked you up by your upper arm.

“N-Nanami im sorry-“

“Be silent.” Nanami growled at you with a snap of his teeth.

...

~Read More~

[ktcznsky]

I'm sorry if my blog has become very politicized, but considering that my favourite game is about the Cold War and that my biggest interest so far is history, it's very difficult to disassociate these topics from politics. I don't care what political ideology you think I follow, it's something I don't plan to share in the near future.

Having explained that, I'm going to explain why I hate Adler and anything related to the CIA, therefore, why I am worry that a part of this fandom is becoming an endless tangle of disinformation about the Cold War and the washing of the CIA's image. It's not a blog specifically made to discredit anyone, rather I think it's a good introduction for anyone who is a fan of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and wants to have more historical context about the plot, and also about my opinion about it.

All the information that I will share here was taken both from books that I own, and from articles on the subject.

Also English is not my first language so probably you will see many grammatical errors and most of the information I'm going to reference will be in Spanish.

No, I don't have the excuse that it's just a game when obviously the story of this one is inclined to a very specific position. It's not like it's a non-politicized game like Minecraft would be. The main plot of the game is about a group hired by the CIA to stop a secret organization operated mostly by Soviets that wants to take down the West, in this way, the Americans illegally infiltrate several countries and commit crimes within them. That in itself sounds super-political and morally questionable.

To me, Adler is the image of everything America wants in a model citizen; a man, white, blond, soldier and loyal to the country. It's literally America turned into a man. His morality is obviously questionable, but the fact that he is so loyal to the CIA even knowing what the organization does make to me a very negative point of the character. Both the U.S. government and its intelligence and defense agencies are imperialist and do not care about anything in order not to admit defeat. This is something we could notice with the beginning of the Vietnam War in 1955.

The only reason I can find the fact that most of you ignore, do not know or normalize all this information is because of the CIA and FBI program where they have spent decades investing millions of dollars to control, recruit and finance university professors from all over the world, both within their own borders and abroad. You can find more detailed information about this in the book entitled "Spy Schools: How the CIA, the FBI and Foreign Intelligence Exploit America's Universities". I, on the other hand, will summarize it as best I can; In recent years, schools have become a disturbing line of fire for espionage, trying to recruit allies and gain access to sensitive military hardware. The FBI and CIA look for their sources in international students and faculty with close connections to government, business, and technology. Even a former Pentagon agent admitted that professors, graduates and even students are coveted by all sides, and that universities are the best places to "recruit" and that they favor intelligence work. This type of relationship between the academic and intelligence worlds translates into more or less rigged conferences, a perfect environment for recruitment. Sending their own agents or organizing everything from the shadows, from private companies, since they do not want the name of the CIA to appear anywhere. In some cases, they organize "fake" meetings with the sole motive of reaching a potential defector from an enemy country. Conferences in academia are very important because it is where these "intellectuals" exchange information. If any of that information is rigged to swing to what one organization wants, it results in many of the people who attended the conference believing what they say and then doling this information out to their students or co-workers. This basically translates into the fact that they have been rigging the teachings promoted by dozens or hundreds of teachers around the world for decades. Teachings that you or I can easily receive in the present, past or future. This program is not something that died at the end of the Cold War, but resurfaced more strongly than before after 9/11.

Returning to the subject of the Vietnam War. Vietnam was the most humiliating defeat the United States had against a communist country, but within the game they tried to make it look like the United States was winning, even more, making it appear that what they were doing within a territory that they invaded was correct (although obviously what we saw were memories of Adler implanted inside Bell's head and not as such canon, but in other games of the Black Ops saga we can see the same, since other characters such as Woods, Mason and Hudson were also in Vietnam). In this case, what Hanoi Hannah said in her broadcast in South Vietnam for the American troops were truths, and not just propaganda to lower morale. It really was like that. U.S. troops in South Vietnam were ill-informed of the development of the war. The high command did not communicate the truth to them, many of them believed they were winning, when in fact they were not. They died in vain for a country that does not care about the integrity of its citizens.

"Nothing is more confused than to be ordered into a war to die or to be maimed for life without the faintest idea of what’s going on.", was one of the things Hanoi Hannah said in her broadcasts.

The United States could not win the war and still dragged it out for 20 years because of its pride, reputation and money. The Vietnam War lasted from November 1, 1955, to April 30, 1975. War is good business and the United States knows it, there is a reason why it has been at war with low-income countries for decades. The most recent have been against Libya, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. We can see a pattern in these four countries.

And another thing to note, the Vietnamese army did not have as many resources as the Americans did. Most of them were not even capable of war. They were people who were trying to defend their territory. The Viet Cong army was made up mostly of peasants. The United States invaded their crops and they had no choice but to defend themselves. An example of this was the Mỹ Lai massacre, a war crime that consisted of the mass murder of civilians by U.S. troops. Vietnam represented the high point of the struggle for national liberation of the colonial peoples. I'm very sorry, but I can't defend or want characters related to something like that. My morals prevent me from doing so.

Vietnam since long before the war was an oppressed and colonized country. Its conquest began in 1859 and ended in 1888, being renamed French Indochina, along with Cambodia and Laos. I'm not going to explain the whole history of Vietnam because that would be too long, but you just need to know that the anti-colonial movement in Vietnam had been expanding since long before 1930. Communist expansion in Vietnam was the only way they had to free themselves from imperialism and the only reason the U.S. intervened during the revolution was because they wanted to prevent communist expansion in Southeast Asia. Dude, are you going to tell me that instead of being happy that a people is achieving independence, you go and ally yourself with the French colonizers and create a fucking war against them just because you don't like that what motivated them to the revolution was communism? Call me crazy, but I'm totally against it.

If you go to Google and search for the definition of the MK Ultra you will get this:

Project MK Ultra, sometimes referred to as the CIA's mind control program, is the code name given to a secret and illegal program designed and executed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency for experimentation on human beings, without their proper consent.

It was a CIA project, it was not something they didn't know about or chose to ignore. It was something financed by them, and for what? To ruin people's lives? Because this project ruined the lives of many people. Not only of the victims, but also of the relatives. The CIA only cares about winning, no matter the methods, the consent, the integrity of its citizens, nothing.

I'll attach a video analyzing and explaining what happened to the survivors of the project in case you don't want to read more than you should:

Even Theodore Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, was part of this project, but not as a victim, but as one of the researchers within the project. In his manifesto we can highlight that one of the breaking points for him was due to the project.

From the beginning of the CIA, these were built on disinformation and sabotage. There are thousands and thousands of declassified documents about the CIA involved in a myriad of things that, if they really wanted to protect peace, to overthrow imperialism and fascism, they would not have done. Such as the hunt and murder of Monika Ertl or their involvement in the execution of Che Guevara. That although Che Guevara was not the best person in the world, we must admit that he understood what the people of South America were going through and only wanted the liberation of the oppressed peoples, as Fidel Castro wanted with his Cuban people. Che Guevara was an enemy of imperialism and the United States is supposed to have been too. And as for the assassination attempts on Fidel Castro, in which Frank Woods said he was involved in one of these in an in-game dialogue, it's something I can't understand either. Can someone explain to me if they see more than 600 assassination attempts on a man who only wanted the liberation and improvement of his people as normal? Fidel Castro was not even a communist at the beginning of the revolution. The CIA portrayed him as a communist dictator when it was the fault of the United States that Castro "proclaimed" himself a communist. Literally the only reason Fidel Castro said his revolution was a socialist revolution is because the U.S. ran over him to do it. Fidel never believed entirely in ideology. He was an opportunist and saw in communism an opportunity to defeat the United States with the help of other socialist powers. The one who really believed in the ideology was Che Guevara, assassinated with the help of the CIA on October 9, 1967 in Bolivia when he tried to start a revolution, in which we remember that Bolivia was being oppressed at that time. Many of Cuba's communist policies were implemented by Che, not Fidel. And Cuba's current situation is not even Fidel's fault, but the United States and its embargo operation that began in 1958. The only reason Cuba didn't end up the way it is now much earlier was because of the Soviet Union and its aid to Cuba. Castro did everything possible to keep his people free, but the United States prevented it in every possible way.

I don't think Adler is a Nazi just because he worked in the CIA, but there is a very big possibility that he collaborated with Nazis during his service in the CIA, since in 2001 the CIA published 10.000 documents acknowledging how the Americans "reconverted" without hesitation a whole series of agents who served Adolf Hitler for the espionage offensive generated during the Cold War. Which makes me think that it would not be strange if one of the dozens of researchers within the multiple laboratories spread throughout the United States of the MK Ultra project had been a Nazi, although this has not been confirmed, since many of the research documents were destroyed by order of the director of the CIA in 1973.

If you live in Spain you will know the famous case of Otto Skorzeny, who went into exile in Spain and lived there comfortably while organizing for the CIA the Carlos V Legion, an army of renegades and veterans of the Third Reich ready to assault the USSR. There are many theories that the CIA had a lot to do with the politics of Spain and the terrorism experienced between the 70s and 90s, although clearly this is not entirely confirmed.

These are not even isolated cases. It's not as if the CIA just did it once, there are thousands and thousands of cases, and there are still thousands and thousands of undeclassified documents that God knows they will contain.

After all this rambling, I am going to attach some of the human rights violations that the CIA has committed since the founding of its organization.

Clandestine detention centers (Black Sites), war crimes and extraordinary surrender. They sent prisoners to be tortured by other governments. Admitted by Bush in 2006. In this case, the destruction of the CIA interrogation videos in 2005 also occurred. There were many tapes in which they applied "enhanced interrogation techniques," a euphemism for torture. In 2007, Red Cross investigators concluded in a secret report that interrogation methods applied to al-Qaeda members could lead to the Bush administration officials who approved this being accused of war crimes. Extraordinary rendition is the process by which a prisoner is clandestinely transferred from the place where he was captured to an interrogation center in a country not subject to the restrictions of U.S. law.

Police training for countries with problems of terrorism and drug trafficking. The training and equipping of this police included Iran, Vietnam, Brazil, and other countries; those who were involved in torture, murder, and suppression of legitimate political activity. The training was provided to the so-called anti-communist regimes, regardless of whether or not they were dictatorships. The CIA's training included topics such as counterinsurgency techniques, the use of weapons and communist ideology. This also meant, in practice, the increased control that the armed forces of the host countries exercised over the police. The relationship between ICITAP, OPDAT and the CIA. ICITAP was being used by the CIA to recruit agents from among foreign law enforcement officials. Difficulties in determining costs and scope of assistance.

MK Ultra. On April 13, 1953, Allen Welsh Dulles, who was then director of the CIA, launched the program called MK Ultra, under the leadership of Sidney Gottlieb. Their goal was the development of drugs for mind control. The experiments were conducted on living humans, often without their knowledge or consent. In 1964, the name of the project, known from that date as MK SEARCH, was changed. In 1973, the records of the MK Ultra project were deliberately destroyed on the orders of Richard Helms, who was then director of the CIA. Because of such destruction, it has proved difficult and in many cases impossible to have complete information on the more than 150 separately funded research subprojects sponsored by MK Ultra and other CIA programs.

Targeted killings. It is the crime that a state organization or institution commits against an individual, in a premeditated manner, outside of legal proceedings or the battlefield and often after the development of intelligence actions. The CIA has admitted to knowing, providing support or being involved in assassination attempts or assassinations actually committed, of foreign political leaders such as Fidel Castro, Patrice Lumumba, Ngo Dinh Diem, Abd al-Karim Qasim or Rafael Trujillo. In this case it applies to the example I gave earlier of Monika Ertl. There are a lot of names attached to this point that I prefer to omit, as there are too many and it would be impossible for me to add them all.

As a final part, I want to add the issue of late capitalism in post-Soviet countries. This is a little-known topic, as the problems of non-Western countries are often very little known and poorly informed, and were overshadowed by many other events during that time.

As a way of summing it up a lot, late capitalism is a term popularized by the Belgian Marxist Ernest Mandel, although it was first used by Werner Sombart in 1902. This term describes the stage of capitalism characterized by the expansion of the process of accumulation(increase in machinery, plants, education, training, professional development, experience, etc.), internationalization(division of a company's production processes into different countries to lower costs, gain market, have better supply or better state policies in favor of transnational corporations) and centralization of capital(wealth is concentrated in a small group of capitalists), the introduction of automation in production and the reduction of the turnover time of capital. This for post-Soviet countries was mostly chaos, since the economy and the people could not keep up with this industrialization, since late capitalism not only affected the capital of the country, but also colonized the economic, social, education, art, science, history, architecture and etc. sphere of the population.

The fall of the Soviet Union was a misfortune for many and a victory for others. The euphoria that some of the ex-Soviet countries once had when the Soviet Union fell, ended up turning into pessimism and misfortune, since many of these supposedly promising countries ended up becoming anti-liberal and even authoritarian governments.

While the countries of Eastern Europe are, in fact, richer today than they were in 1989, achieving that situation entailed immense economic suffering and social dislocation: the transition to capitalism generated the largest and longest-lasting economic collapse to affect any region of the world in modern history. It should also be remembered that in 1989, the Soviet Union was going through an economic and social crisis, so the assessment is not very fair. For this reason, we should not always rely on assessments based on simple measures, we must also understand the context within countries during the aforementioned times. During this transition, more than 10 Eastern European countries suffered an increase in poverty never experienced before, even when they were part of the Soviet Union they had never suffered anything like it. 45% of the population lived on the threshold of extreme poverty on less than 5€ a day.

Inequality of income and wealth skyrocketed, resulting in the transition, a very marked division between social classes. It would be one thing to plunge into extreme poverty for the first time, but it's quite another to suffer it while watching people around you living with wealth never seen before.

On top of all this, emigration, alcohol consumption, death and crime rates (both homicides, suicides, heart disease and etc.) skyrocketed in these countries. Fertility also plummeted. Many Eastern European countries experienced demographic declines similar to, or even greater than, those experienced by countries involved in major wars. It was undoubtedly unprecedented.

Have you ever read a sentence similar to he have sadness in his eyes you can only find in East European gay porn? This peculiar phrase to describe a specific type of look in men comes because of this, the late capitalism in these countries and the desperate need of many people (in this case young men) to earn money and get ahead. This is a very good example of the desperate situation that all these countries were going through at that time. You can find more information about this in this article that I am going to attach:

And this is where you are going to ask me; What do I want to get at with all this information, and, what does all this have to do with the United States? As is well known, the Cold War era was a time of espionage, sabotage and paranoia among many countries, the United States having its main focus on the Soviet Union, when it finally fell, they were the first to intervene in the countries in which it was divided to force them in one way or another to become capitalist, and more importantly, to turn all these countries against each other. The reason why today we can see that many people in these countries hate anything related to communism and the Soviets is because of the strong intervention that the United States had in them. A similar case could be found in the intervention of the United States throughout Latin America for centuries. The disinformation campaign they had in these Eastern European countries was immense and in the end, successful. My theory of why people (mostly young people) in these countries associate extreme poverty with the Soviets is because of what they suffered in the transition to capitalism, believing that this was the way they lived when the Soviet Union was still standing. Let's think that 34 years have passed since the fall of it. It could also be because of the great program of decommunization that some of these countries had, turning them in some way radically against anything related to communism. The biggest example could be the decommunization in Ukraine, where they went so far as to ban any communist symbols, historical people related to them, books and etc. Reaching the point of arresting people.

The United States intervened in these countries with tactics such as alleged humanitarian aid and admissions to international organizations because of the extreme situation they were suffering. In this way they blackmailed and bought off several governments.

I added this point to give an example that even though the Cold War ended, the United States did not stop its tactics and interventions in other countries.

As a point in the topic; between 1946 and 2000, the United States tried to influence 81 foreign elections, comparing it to other countries such as USSR/Russia, with 36 attempts to influence, we can note that the number is much higher.

In conclusion, I want to remind you that this blog is informative. I have written some of my opinions and theories, but I have done that in an easy to understand way so that you do not think that it is part of what really happened, but to imply that it is a personal opinion. I don't try to influence the opinions of others or impose my own on others. Nor did I try at any time to aggrandize the Soviet Union, excuse its actions and much less say that the characters from Perseus organization in the videogame were innocents. Rather, I try to give a broader point of view of the events that occurred at that time, focused on the United States, since as I said at the beginning, I have seen people talk in a worrying way about these issues without even fully knowing what happened and also because the country is one of the main focuses of the plot of the game. Maybe in the future I'll do another blog explaining in depth about the Soviet Union and what I think was what pushed the Perseus organization to form and do everything they did.

My biggest mistake so far is to be so naïve as to think that there are people interested in knowing history and avoiding making the same mistakes of the past or understanding in any way the context of the world around us. If we turn off the empathy switch, we will stop being human.

[krems-chair]

I'm curious, and would love to hear people's thoughts on this.

Did anyone play a human? And did the people playing humans feel overall more satisfied with the game?

Amongst people critical of Veilguard, I guess I'm trying to pinpoint how much of the frustration ties in to what race choice you make.

I know for a fact based on posts I've seen that veteran fans who played as elves had a lot of valid critiques about the lack of a dalish/city elf split as well as a seeming lack of ability to confront Solas in any meaningful way about the multitude of actions he took that severely messed up many lives (God, he is a direct cause via his creation of the lyrium dagger in severing the titans from their dreams, therefore extinguishing an entire people).

But at least there are SOME dialogue choices for elves. The dwarves themselves get less of a chance to address the crimes committed against them than the elves do. And even Harding, whose story is rooted in anger over what happened, always ends up talking to Rook about believing in second chances even if you tell her to focus on her anger. I made a post earlier in my return to tumblr saying that Solas haters deserved better, especially after it was promised that this game would be for everyone and cover the ways in which an Inquisitor's relationship with him could be (generalizing here) good or bad.

Not only did the endings not deliver on that promise, arguably the group that has the biggest reason to at the very least chew him out and get out some of that justified anger at the titans having their dreams stolen and at the very most take him out for it if that fits with their ideal story is denied the chance.

And what about that cool as hell dwarven map we never return to?? I can't be the only one excited to go back who saved the exploration for later only to realize that was it.

And of course, the poor Qunari players, who probably thought "at last! A chance to explore and refine the lore we've gotten so far that absolutely needs to be fixe...oh. look. Face-covering seldom-speaking spawnable villains. Again. Great, a binary choice for Taash in which the Qun option is clearly shaded as more harmful to them than the alternative. Groundbreaking."

I haven't played as a human yet, and I know that race choice aside there's an abundance of issues to work through, but I'm so curious about how people who played a human felt/if it was easier to ignore some of what we lost or didn't get and enjoy the things that were done less poorly.

I'm fueled entirely by curiosity at this point and it's overriding my exhaustion as I prepare to go to sleep long enough to post this, so hopefully I don't look back tomorrow morning and go "wtf was I saying."

TLDR: full deep dives into the critiques of each of the three non-human Rooks are very worth doing and I've seen some great ones, but in a more general sense I'm curious how the human Rooks felt navigating the game.

(This is also, just in case it comes across that way, me trying to yuck anyone's yum. If you liked the game, I am happy for you! But if you didn't like it, I'm interested in discussing why not :) )