#Analysis

[the-mercurial-star-o-vesper]

TF2 COMIC THEORY (and Spoilers)

What, did Zephaniah Mann do?

Look, if there's one thing I know about Valve Lore, is that its really hidden, really coded, and TF2 has been fucking TEASING for decades now.

And as far as I'm concerned...

We know who the mystery man in the rip is... That's Gray Mann, the missing brother. Gods knows he's been teased enough over the years.

But here, I'm interested in...

[ Spoilers below ]

... Where the stinger occurs.

Zephy is not an only child.

Because his brother is Silas Mann, the Headless Horseless Mann. Owner of a mansion, haunting that very mansion. Shown in the first picture posted. They ran "Zephaniah Mann and Sons, Quarterly Munitions" Together.

Its a tradition for Mann sons to kill the other siblings. Its why there was such a rivalry between the Mann twins (erm, Triplets).

Our Admin apparently knew already, was already observing the situation...

She was waiting.

What, did Zephaniah Mann do?

Why does the administrator hate him so much?

Does it have something to do with a little girl...

... Who can't remember how her parents died.

The man in the picture wears a Towering Pillar of Hats. While that's just the TF2 Timeline Aesthetic... there is another significant element.

Its in Coal Town, surrounded by Hales. While its the "Booths" hat, it was around, clearly, before Bilious was a baby--in Barnabas Time.

Zephaniah and Sons would become Mann Co, after being given to Barnabas.

What, did Zephaniah Mann do?

Easy.

He murdered the Administrator's father, Silas Mann, and her mother, out of "Tradition", and then claimed that HE was an ONLY CHILD like the selfish self-centered bastard he is.

And Our Administrator ensured, even through vengeance that lasted centuries, to a point where she didn't even remember why she started, that it would Never Continue.

Vengeance of a little girl who lost her parents.

Arguably, in comic lore, the torn picture isn't exactly accurate anymore.

Because that Gray Mann in the center, and our Mann Twins didn't even know there was a Gray Mann, and in fact, most of the people in the picture didn't even know about him. And if they took a picture, then clearly, someone would've known.

So its more than likely, a portrait or lore symbollic only. Only meant for the fans, to know what we're looking for and Who, about the time of the first Halloween Events.

( Look it took decades to get all the comics, mate, its not gonna be a craft masterpiece. We get what we get. )

[screaming-in-the-corner]

Something you need to remember is that journalistic photographers are still artists at heart. When you are providing a source of information that is to be seen as "the truth" you are going to frame things to look a certain way.

You will publish the ones that look like what you want. The framing of Luigi Mangione's transportation is incredibly evocative of paintings of Jesus being arrested. It also (not so) coincidentally is often the framing of a hero being captured for the greater good.

This is ON PURPOSE. Do not discredit the artist by calling it a mistake. This was on purpose. The artist supports him and is framing him as a hero.

No matter how much corporate news may attempt to drown out the support for Mangione, artists always have the ear of the people. A picture is worth a thousand words, isn't it?

[raayllum]

thinking about how the white streak his corrupted self has in 6x05 is different than the one Callum ends up with. The one in 7x05 seems to be modelled more after what he would've heard Ezran describe or be prone to picture on Claudia:

If you love them... Rayla, Ezran, all of them, you'll do anything to save them. Even if you have to sacrifice your sense of right and wrong. If you love her, you'll be the you who can save her.

And to Callum, this means sacrificing a form of his relationship with Rayla ("I can't. Don't you get it? Rayla loves me, this version of me. She believes in me") and by proxy a life together by sacrificing himself, and doing it alone; lifting the burden off her shoulders by getting Runaan to do it instead. What he found instead was a Rayla willing to work to save his life (her initial protests) and to trust and work in tandem with him: even in this, he wasn't alone, even if it would hurt both of them so incredibly much ("we will..."). He can do this, and she can know he would do this, and he's still and will always be Her Heart.

However, the second significant harm was witnessed and Callum needed help, Rayla abandoned Runaan's bow and ran to him, despite the fact the spell or conflict wasn't resolved or over.

Ezran even recognizes how: "We were ready to sacrifice it all. Everything. You and me, Callum, Rayla... we almost gave up everything we are." (And I'll have a more in depth meta about Callum and whether that's true / his sense of identity as of S7 once I've processed more of it, because jc.) And what he received on the other side of it was veritable proof that they are together in all things (even if it wasn't in the way we quite expected), that she trusts him unconditionally and will always have his back, and that he doesn't have to worry about becoming someone she doesn't love or recognize, because that's not possible.

She loves every part of him, even the part(s) he hates and has grown to accept will always be a permanent part of him.

[theprinceofflies]

Ok so obviously the Sonic movies always have large themes of having a family. Specifically a found family.

In the third movie (spoilers please scroll if you don’t want to see this) Sonic asks Robotnik if he thinks the doctor would be a good person if he had a family.

Robotnik responds with his orphan speech and how he has no family members alive. He also makes a small mention about how no one is romantically interested but he mentions bio family first.

But Sonic isn’t talking about bio family. We’ve never seen Sonic with his bio family in the movies. His family has always been non relatives. He had Longclaw as a mother figure and now Tom and Maddy are his parents with Tails and Knuckles being his brothers.

Again found family.

When Robotnik finds out his grandfather is alive he jumps right into the idea that he could have a family. Eventually Gerald betrays Ivo and he’s forced to accept that he will never have the chance with his bio family to be his family.

In the end he relizes or maybe accepts that he, like Sonic, has found companionship.

Stone is the one person throughout the movies who has supported him and cared about him. Whether you want to read this as romantic or not it’s still extremely found family.

Extra: I think it’s interesting how the good guys are all part of this big family while the bad guys are always alone.

Knuckles was alone and was technically the villain until he found a friend in Sonic.

The same with Shadow. He is focused on getting revenge for a family he lost but then once again finds companionship in Sonic.

Gerald is good until he loses that family and decides to blow up the earth

Lastly Robotnik is evil and has no one. In the first two movies he’s usually alone. Stone was written in for pretty much the sole reason of making sure Robotnik wasn’t just talking to the air. As he becomes the hero in the end he also accepts that companionship Stone has brought him

[rokonrrc2]

Learn More

Rereading the Lord of the Rings series recently, and it's so fascinating to me how much the series is a denial of the typical juvenile power-fantasy that is associated with the fantasy genre.

Like, the power-fantasy is the temptation the Ring uses against people It tempts Boromir with becoming the "one true king" that could save his people with fantastic power. It tempts Sam with being the savior of Middle Earth and turning the ruin that is Mordor into a great garden. It tempts Gandalf and Galadriel with being the messianic figure of legend who brings salvation to Middle Earth and great glory to herself.

The things the Ring tempts people with are becoming the typical protagonists of fantasy stories that we expect to see. and over and over we see that accepting that role, that fantasy of being the benevolent all-powerful hero, is a bad thing. LotR is about how power, even power wielded with benevolent intent, is corrupting.

And its so fascinating how so much of modern fantasy buys into the very fantasy LotR denies. Most modern fantasy is about being that Heroic power-fantasy. About good amassing power to rival evil. But LotR dares not to. It dares to be honest that there is no world where anyone amasses that power and remains good.

I guess that's one of the reasons its so compelling.

[astrowarr]

YES :D THE PEOPLE WANT YOUR HALF FINISHED WIP PLEASE SHARE IT!!!

(or at least I want it. no pressure!)

aye aye captain. i'm a man of the people. here is the wip.. i have up to grian's session 4 analyzed.. right now it's just a bunch of bullet points but

[theoutcastrogue]

We all love happy endings, I love happy endings. But also, there's a reason why "Medea" and "Romeo and Juliet" and other works – tragedies – resonate, 2,000, 3,000 years later. We like art like that because it makes you feel so intensely that you learn about the human heart."

— Liam O'Brien, 4-Sided Dive Episode 30

[raayllum]

Anyway I did my 2nd watch of the season after sleeping / with the end in mind and it totally worked for me, especially with the understanding that there is 30% of the story left (and thereby Callum and Rayla's arcs aren't Over and room for more growth/plot had to be left open) and watching with the ending in mind.

I'm not upset that this is where Arc 2 ends, in some ways because it's sort of like season 2 of Avatar where Zuko doesn't join the Gaang in their 2nd arc (book two) because from a character basis he really wasn't Ready to do that / they had more story to tell, so I don't think with what they're doing it would've made sense to rush it in TDP. Nor do I think any of the previous set up for other outcomes (i.e. possession fight, salvation, etc) were wasted. Merely that TDP likes to do layer upon layer, and also have foreshadowing come back once (so you think you're safe) and then twice. I also don't think that Arc 2 resolved all the threads (i.e. Rayllum and greater good conflict / Aaravos & Callum) and ended them, and instead nudged them forwards in interesting ways for continued future exploration. I'll probably write more about the specifics later if this post doesn't get unwieldy or condensed with them for now.

In the meantime, these were things that I found really clicked for me on my 2nd watch through for S7 and with Arc 2 in general:

1) Arc 2's overarching focus on the Archdragons / the finale resolution with it.

We had a focus every season on at least one of the archdragons, with Zubeia (S4-S7), Luna Tenebris mentions (S4-S6), Rex Igenous (S4), Domina Profundis (S5), Sol Regem (S5-S6), and Avizandum mentions (S4-S5).

With that in mind, while I'm sure Aaravos' intentions was for no one to know of his plans ahead of time (7x01)... his actions also led to Callum and co. making connections to all the other Archdragons that they could pull on to bring everyone back to Lux Aurea, and Aaravos could destroy them (with no real consequence to himself, as his spirit was now free and his body could reform), taking a massive swing at the Cosmic Council's grand order that'd been enforced by the archdragons. He said the elves and dragons would fall hard... and now the dragons have, with the Cosmic Council being next (and thinking that the real focus on the Cosmic Council would be predominantly in arc 3 was, I believe, the general fandom consensus anyway).

AARAVOS: Now this is familiar, isn't it? Hasn't this all happened before? Arrogant fools. Again and again you make the same mistakes. (7x09)

Suitably, though, the Archdragons sacrifice themselves to protect all of Xadia, making amends for past / previous actions in their own way (narratively). They upheld the Cosmic Order, and then chose to break it.

Now, Aaravos will be returning to a world where there are no archdragons, and the only thing that can destroy his mortal form again would be the Nova Blade or some dark magic spell to take his spirit (but more on that later).

This also caps off S7 being about the destruction caused by one Archdragon (Sol Regem) and then the salvation through sacrifice from the other four as the finale. It comes full circle, but without repeating the cycle.

It also seems like the Nova Blade hasn't actually ever been used, as Aaravos states in 7x07:

She could have used the blade to destroy me, but chose instead to help imprison me. To spare me.

Or if it has, it still has a massive consequence that Zubeia is familiar with (the wielderdies if it's used to kill someone?), given that she is worried when Zym (and Ez wielding the sword) appears, intending to use it:

I'll also talk a bit more about why I think Aaravos designed 7x09 to be a win-win scenario for him no matter what when I get to Callum's section, but in the meantime...

2) Rayla's arc

Listen, y'all know I wanted Rayla to save Callum, like a lot, and thought there was a good chance she would if he was possessed again. However, neither of those things happened (also circumstances were crazy) and it was built up throughout the seasons, as well as in S7:

RAYLA: We can't save everyone, Soren. There's too much at stake. (4x05) RAYLA: But I can't help you yet... because right now, the world needs me. Callum and Ezran need me. There's a great evil returning to Xadia and we have to stop it, at any cost. (5x01) RAYLA: It hurts me to know they're trapped like this. It's agonizing. But our mission comes first. The world is in danger, and you can trust me to stay focused. (5x04) RAYLA: No, Callum. I want to help my parents, but I won't let it bias me. (6x01)

The season 7 setup is most prominently seen in S7 during Rayla's trial, in which she emphasizes that the assassins' deaths were not in vain due to the subsequent impact on the world as a whole, and in how their assassin pledges were upheld in their own way:

Life is precious. life is valuable. We take it, but we do not take it lightly. All of your lives were taken. But your sacrifices, they weren't for nothing. Callisto, you pledged your breath for freedom and we freed ourselves from an awful, pointless war. Andromeda, you pledged your eyes for truth. And we found the truth, a truth that changed the world. Skor, you pledged your strength for honour, and now humans and elves have finally begun to treat each other with honour again. And... Ram. You pledged your blood for justice. But what is justice? The king died that night. A life for a life. Is that justice? How much suffering is enough to paid for the mistakes we've made? I don't have the answers. But I'll carry you with me, all of you, forever.

So it made sense for her assassin oath to come back in some manner ("My heart for Xadia"). She had to honour her team's sacrifices by being willing to make her own (killing Callum and herself by symbolic extension), partially because her and Callum's "ride or die" dynamic had become a "ride and die" dynamic": this was his plan and his choice, and the alternative was to let him succumb to a fate worse than death AND to let Aaravos destroy the world through his hands.

And I get why this feels kind of backwards, because on the one hand, it seems like Rayla made a lot of progress, even questioning the validity of her own suffering for mistakes she / choices others have made, which is Huge!

And yet she's willing to suffer, and sacrifice Callum. The paying the price motif is even brought back in Aaravos' dialogue with the archdragons ("And what will your sacrifices buy?"). So what gives?

Well, I think in a lot of ways Arc 2 was Rayla learning to accept and ask for help (S5-S6), that she wasn't alone (S4, S7), and working to come back every time she leaves (S4) but... still being prepared to leave:

and still with sharing or acknowledging her own burdens not being her instinct.

There's a reason we all went "Rayla refusing to sacrifice Callum would be Character Development" after all. I also think it's quasi-similar to Rayla leaving after S3. She had a lot of opportunities to learn that she didn't have to do everything alone in arc 1, but those lessons didn't stick; in a similar fashion, Rayla had opportunities throughout arc 2 to learn that she doesn't always have to sacrifice something, but with Callum being increasingly sacrificial... Those lessons were there, but didn't stick. The other side of her sacrifice arc is not resolved.

With that in mind, I wanna talk about our favourite dorky mage, and then maybe arc 3.

3) Aaravos' Grand Plan & Callum's Corruption

This is a little hard to parse out just because we don't know what Aaravos' next step / goal was in bringing about Eternal Night (presumably to get the attention of the Cosmic Council, but who knows). That said, a few things I'm chewing on:

Aaravos, as previously discussed, found the most effective way to rid the world of (presumably) every Archdragon other than Zym

Aaravos, for whatever reason, wanted Ezran to have the Nova Blade, which Aanya even sets up for us in 7x09

Aaravos knew all along that Callum would turn to dark magic to take him down.

AARAVOS: Very soon, your brother will embrace dark magic to save those he loves. EZRAN: I suppose you've seen that written in the stars? AARAVOS: I have seen it written in his eyes. (7x07)

Furthermore, he wanted to have Callum be corrupted again, gave him the apple in 7x01 as the first attempt. The apple corruption was lampshaded with "Is there anything I can do to help?" + identity/name motif. Aaravos was actively goading him into dark magic in 7x09, even when he knew there was an assassin ready to kill Callum (Runaan), and smiling even when Callum began the spell (once Rayla had stepped in).

As of S7, Callum has been called (and not disputed being at least partially) a dark mage, used Viren's staff and now has it in his possession (and we still don't know why it was never supposed to be used again), and has a white streak. The willingness to go that far "has always been a part of" him and is now permanently reflected in his character design.

Secondly, we know that Aaravos' game with his pawns is not over, due to the secrets of the cube being ongoing (but confirmation in 7x09 that it indeed points towards Elarion) and due to framing with Claudia.

While I did consider that maybe Callum's pawn intro imagery had come back around in the conversation in 7x06 featuring the cube so heavily (!!) and then Callum choosing to do dark magic to stop Aaravos and save everyone as his destiny ("The one I write myself")... He's still corrupted, Aaravos is still going to come back in 7 years with Callum as a vessel, and the Key to the Book (metaphorically to literally the Book of Destiny) is still unresolved.

TLDR; think about how much it'd Hurt in a Good Way for Callum and Rayla to both know she would've sacrificed him for the greater good (fulfilling her end of foreshadowing from 6x03) only to be smacked in the face that Callum refuses to sacrifice her in Arc 3 with the other side of his ("if you ever have to choose between me and the greater good...").

The fact that the Cube canonically points towards Elarion, which feature stories about "a fair exchange of beloved for beloved" after a season in which Aaravos mandates "Your beloved is an assassin who cannot kill" is just the cherry on top. It also means that both Callum and Rayla have accordingly hit the 50-75% wavelength of their arc(s), with us now having a definitive basis for her being willing to that sets up more clearly her being not willing to in the future, the circumstances we'd need for a possession fight re-established, and the cube beat still on the table because the cube itself is still waiting to be plot relevant.

Rayla always follows Callum's lead ("Say the word and I'll go back into that tower with you") and reflects him ("Who told you that?" "You did") and the lessons he teaches her about love. He'll pave the way, and she'll follow, and then their arcs will come to a close.

We just had to get here first.

Conclusion??

Anyway I hope you enjoyed, I want to do a bigger Arc 3 predictions post (the ruby project, Evrkynd, Claudia, Harrow, etc.) sometime soon, but I hope in the meantime this brought some potentially needed assurance, excitement, or another perspective to consider.

[vashvana]

[Dun meshi manga spoilers!] do you guys ever think about how Thistle is the perfect parallel and amalgamation of every major character in dun meshi. Everything he did was to protect his brother, his best friend, just like how Laios went to all these extreme lengths to save Falin. However, he lost himself to the better of his fears and to the madness of the dungeon/lion, just like Marcille. Senshi watched his family die, helpless to do anything and Thistle, who spent all of his upbringing, serving Freinag, could do nothing when he suddenly died. Chilchuck has a strained relationship with his family because he lacked emotional availability, and Thistle’s family relationship was ruined because of his lack of emotional control. Izutsumi grew up without a family until the others, and as far as we know, Thistle probably grew up in a similar situation as to her before being taken into the kingdom. I believe this to be true considering he was literally just brought in one day as a bought servant, so he was probably in some kind of similar trafficking situation to Izutsumi beforehand. I 🩵🩵🩵 Thistle guys

[comically-blu]

Bill Cipher’s Favorite Humans Club (even including the former favs)

explanation below (TBOB & a little Journal 3 Special Edition spoilers) ⬇️

From rereading TBOB & the invisible ink pages in the Journal 3 special edition, turns out Bill did have a few humans he was close with before Ford: Modoc the Wise (the Shaman) & Xgqrthx the Unpronounceable. Pharaoh & Trembley doesn’t exactly count as close here .3.

The Shaman & Bill

Shaman probably would be ranked a little high in Bill’s standards, even when he immediately dumped Bill with a banishment spell & made the murals after finding out Bill’s intent. Sure seems similar to how Bill and Ford’s relationship was, especially the drugs bit. (Having hallucinogenic grass w/ Shaman vs. getting wasted w/ Ford in the mindscape).

The Wizard & Bill

Like Mabel, Bill sure likes a chaos in a genius. But Xy’ would be ranked really low for what he did to cause himself to be killed by Bill.

Ford is the Favorite

The difference between the Shaman, the Wizard, and Ford is that Bill just decided to keep Ford alive. Bill most likely killed the Shaman, according to the “survived a shaman’s curse” and met a “gruesome end” bit. Then there’s Xy’ humiliating Bill to being a cosmic trick to impress his ex and the king that he killed him off in a rage. He even cursed the medieval age with nightmares!

Then, there’s Bill with Ford— Maybe the most closest that Bill has with any humans and his Hench-maniacs. Altering Ford’s vision to see Euclidean colors, offering to give a tattoo in Euclidean language, opening up about the last atom of his home dimension, keeping Ford alive, turning Ford into gold & many more… Ford is definitely the biggest favorite

Either way, “Brilliant, morally ambig-uous, and romantically challenged?” Bill said himself, Bill certainly has a type!

[riptidefromzoe]

I think something we should acknowledge more often in percabeth is that Percy is a feminine character and Annabeth is a Masculine character; and not in the ‘haha Annabeth wears the pants in the relationship🤣’ way but in the Percy is very unintentionally feminine coded and Annabeth is very unintentionally masculine coded and how that affects their characters and their relationship way. I mean just look at the way percabeth for example treat Nico; Percy acts very motherly and maternal towards him whilst Annabeth acts very fatherly and paternal towards him. Like come on guys Feminine!Percy and Masculine!Annabeth are real and I promise they won’t hurt you😭

[tmtquickcomics]

Soooo, when noticing this I noticed something else.

Alot of the fandom has theorized the Sins are ranked and/or have status or power based on the placements of their rings. Crimson's comment on Oz being 'the weakest Sin' being used to support this theory. With the rings going from strongest to weakest from top to bottom.

While I personally theorize that none of the Sins are necessarily stronger or weaker than each other. They just have different strengths and weaknesses. There is evidence that says that there may be power ranking based on their Ring placements but with the lower rings being more powerful.

Not including Pride in this, lets look at those who live in each ring, their environments, and how they're viewed.

Wrath: Origin of the Imps

Their environment is desolate and harsh. Not a lot of infrastructure or signs of leisure. Imps are viewed as the lowest class. They're working class and are the 'poor'. They're also treated poorly.

They're also implied to have no natural magic and/or a small amount of magic. We've seen Crimson make a death clock and the one imp at looloo land lighting his finger on fire. But these could be explained away by the use of magical artifacts or possibly being a hybrid.

No signs that Imps would have any innate reason to go to Earth.

Gluttony: Origin of the Hellhounds

Their environment is lush and bountiful, but seems to be over grown and potently hostile (carnivorous plants). Has infrastructure, but from what we see seems to be in pockets. One of the lowest classes, but seems to flip flop a little if they're above or below Imps. They're not represented as being poor, but they are a working/guard class that are also treated like property. They don't seem to be treated poorly, but they're not given a lot of respect.

They don't appear to have a lot of magic, but they do have magic based on what we've seen with Loona. She can create a human disguise with no obvious signs of a artifact, she has tracking abilities, and heightened senses. I also theorize hellhounds having a slight connection to magic is why IMP had her being the one using the book all the time.

Signs that Hellhounds would have job related/situational reasons to go to Earth.

Greed: Origin of the Jester Demons (and maybe the -Loan- Sharks)

Greed is a little harder to talk about. We haven't interacted with the jester demons a lot and I'm not sure if the sharks are from Greed or Envy. So it's inconclusive. We don't know if they have magic or not.

Best guess is that Jester demons are a entertainment class, and are a mid class. Not treated poor or lesser like Imps and Hellhounds, but don't seem to be in positions of authority, power, or respect.

What we do know is Mammon and thusly the greed ring runs the banks. Mammon is rich, but people living in his ring are all over the map. Some places seem decent enough to live in, but there's also major areas of pollution.

Like I said Greed seems to be mid.

And as a side note: We've only seen Mammon truly interact with Oz, and Mammon backs down and back downs quick every time Oz gets pissed at him. If Oz was actually physically/magically weaker than Mam I doubt he'd back down the way he does.

Lust: Origin of the Succubi (and implied the Ars Goetias)

infrastructure. infrastructure everywhere! Dismissing the pros and cons of not having any nature near by. The Lust ring is the first one to show that not just the ruler has riches, but the people do as well. The ring is well kept and clean. Appears to be very safe to live in. the Succubi also look to be the first group to not have a singular assigned purpose. They seem to have the freedom to choose what they do from regular type jobs, factory work, or being a pop star. They're treated well.

They poses magic and have the ability to fly.

They travel to Earth regularly to help spread lust.

Envy: Origin of Sirens and Fester Demons

We haven't seen Envy yet but between Hazbin, Helluva, and meta content It's the richest of all the Rings. Most fans have assumed that Levi and Oz are inventors with Oz focusing more on things connected to pleasure and Levi being more branched out. It's also been implied that nearly anything high end luxury are made in the Envry ring. Sirens and Festers are the higher class. On par with the Succubi, and possibly higher class on a more consistent basis.

They clearly have a fair amount of magic and abilities.

We don't know the full extent of it, but we know Fester demons have a roll on Earth and it's an easy conclusion that Siren also have a roll on Earth.

Sloth: Origin of the Baphomets

Haven't seen much this group, but we do know their ring is similar to lust and envy. It's clean and well built. The ring is wealthy and houses and can profit off medical needs and relaxation centers. We haven't seen them treated bad or good outside of Blitz. But Blitz is... Blitz.

Don't know if they have magic, but it is implied with the addition of their ever burning candles.

Don't know if the baphomets go to Earth, but we do know demons can go to Earth on behalf of the Sloth ring. As seen with Barb.

Bottom line is:

the top two rings house the poorest and worst treated hell borns

Greed is the middle ring and is mid with living conditions and treatment.

Bottom three rings appear to be wealthy, higher class, maintained, and well treated.

So if the Rings do mirror the abilities and/or power of their patron Sins, the bottom rings are more well off.

[themattress]

The Dragon Prince's Biggest Flaw

Now that I've finished Season 7 (the end of the Mystery of Aaravos arc and quite possibly the series if they don't get a three season renewal), I once again must reaffirm the biggest albatross around The Dragon Prince's neck. It's not the lore and worldbuilding so reliant on side material, or the never-ending Avatar: The Last Airbender references, or the inconsistent animation quality, or the tonal whiplashes, or the sketchy pacing that results from all seasons being only 9 episodes long. It's the fact that while most of the heroes are likable enough, their conflicts aren't as interesting or satisfying as the villains' at best, and their goals and beliefs are downright not preferable to the villains' at worst. And this season highlighted that again!

Callum doesn't end up going dark or dying despite all the build-up, Rayla gets closure with her biological parents and then gets to have her adoptive parents back and status back and doesn't end up needing to kill Callum, Ezran is pulled back from his tyrannical path by Aanya and forgives those he was angry at, Runaan is among those forgiven and gets to find out he didn't kill King Harrow after all, Soren doesn't have to find out troubling truths of his past or confront the mother who abandoned him or have to kill his sister, Terry keeps his innocence and doesn't have to be burdened by Claudia dying, Lujanne doesn't die, and Janai doesn't end up needing to make the hard choice of executing her brother. The only sacrifice made by a hero is by Zubela, who at least gets to be with her husband in death and tell her son she loves him before dying, with said son appearing to be just fine afterward. Ezran practically boasts about how nobody had to sacrifice anything in the end despite having prepared to!

Meanwhile, Claudia loses her innocence, her brother, much of her mental health, her leg, her biological father, her boyfriend, her adoptive father, and if I'm reading it right even her humanity. Viren gave up everything to atone for his sins and died a painful and lonely death as he reiterated that he's "a servant", as if his problem was that he didn't "know his place" and dared to want more rather than his actual heinous actions in the pursuit of what he thought was justified. Aaravos lost his biological daughter, spent countless years crying over it, spent countless more years imprisoned, and now he has been temporarily killed and separated from his adoptive daughter in the process. (Oh, and Karim was squished to death, but fuck that guy). The villains actually lose things, they actually have to make sacrifices to achieve what they want! This makes them more compelling than the heroes, even if their aims aren't always on the morally up and up...but this season screws up that caveat as well!

Not only is Aaravos' plan at worst something that will create hardships that are perfectly endurable, but at best it's something morally justified because it strips power from a cosmic order that we have been shown is corrupt, composed of self-righteous bigots who will execute a child for daring to share magic with a race they deem inferior and unworthy of it. While the heroes want to create a better world, their solution doesn't address the root causes for the problems in any meaningful way. It's supposed to be framed as them acknowledging the hurt but moving on from in rather than let it bind them to the past, but that only works with the Karim plotline. Aaravos not moving beyond his hurt isn't binding him to the past, it's making him fight for a future where such cosmic atrocities can't be inflicted again...and more to the point, it's making him fight for a reality where his child's unjust execution isn't rendered meaningless. He refuses to accept "bad shit happens and we all just have to move on" when the ones making the bad shit happen move on without paying a damn consequence for their actions. And he isn't even a hypocrite about it: he knows he's also doing bad shit, and that's why he plans to die at the end! He can be with his daughter and his victims can have justice.

Meanwhile, this season is full of heroes also doing bad shit that they justify as for the best, with the difference being they have no self-awareness about it and, as said before, pay no sacrifices for it. From Callum trying to use dark magic and commit the very kind of vile act Viren was demonized for, to Rayla betraying her allies by breaking a rightfully convicted criminal out of prison, to Ezran going full Oppenheimer with the creation of a dangerous new weapon....and, perhaps worst of all, Soren, Terry and co. magically disguising Lujanne as Claudia's long-lost mother in an attempt to trick her into standing down from helping Aaravos. Yes, to get her away from Aaravos they resorted to something far more underhanded and manipulative than anything Aaravos ever tried with her. Why should I root for these guys!?

Honestly, I think if there is one scene that perfectly encapsulates the problem, it's Terry's big Heel Face Turn moment. Aaravos tells Terry the whole dark truth with the explicit purpose of helping him grow and helping him and Claudia be a better couple by putting them on equal ground with one another. And the words he says to Terry in this scene are absolutely correct:

"The true heart is a gift of childhood. For a few wonder-filled years, we each have innocent eyes to experience the world's beauty, in a simple way. Terrestrius, you were lucky. You held that innocent want for longer than most. I have seen generations of humans and elves accept the darkness that lurks in all of us beside the light. There is no black and white, only shades of gray. We must all carry complexity. But please, believe me: that there is beauty in this burden. Your heart will be a little heavier, but now there will be no more half-truths, Terrestrius. We will do what must be done."

All of this is right! Note that Aaravos isn't saying you have to discard your inner child or the good qualities it grants you completely. He is simply saying the truth that you cannot stay in a childlike state of being forever, you must also be willing to acknowledge and accept the darker parts of the world, of human nature, of yourself. If not, you can't do what you must.

But rather than do that and work through things with Claudia, Terry totally backtracks on his pledge last season that he'll never leave her and will always stand with her, all because he is scared of having to grow up and lose his innocence, to take the black with the white and see things in shades of gray, to work toward something bigger than himself that requires him to step outside his comfort zone. And it all feels so phony and unjustified, for three reasons:

- 1. First of all, he killed a man. Does anybody else remember that? He killed Ibis from behind in his third appearance in order to protect Claudia. After that he helped take and hold Soren as a hostage, steal a map from a dragon's tooth, and actively assist in releasing Aaravos despite even his own apprehensions about it. Claudia killing Sir Sparklepuff didn't seem to phase him all that much either. So the notion that he still has his innocence in tact and hasn't lost it already feels like narrative gaslighting. The breaking point being Claudia lying to him and using him (even though just talking to her deeply about it would reveal that Aaravos told her to, since again his plan was to break his innocence once it served its purpose so that he and Claudia could be equals in a better relationship) makes him feel selfish, especially given that he knows about Claudia's abandonment issues and how it will feel if another loved one walks out on her, this time after having sworn not to do so and even staying with her after she left him specifically to avoid this scenario! I'm having trouble feeling sympathy for him here.

- 2. Secondly, even if we accept his decision to leave, why couldn't he just stay on his own and take care of the birds? I mean, he could have stayed with Aaravos and Claudia and just taken the birds with him, but if he really felt he needed to split, why join their enemies? Why go out of his way to side with the people working against Claudia just as Soren had done, once again making her feel betrayed in the process? The justification that he's doing it with the assurance that Claudia won't be harmed doesn't hold water, since one of his new buddies almost kills her later and then shortly after that Soren starts talking about how she's too far gone and may need to die. Did I mention that both of those happen after they try to deceive Claudia with a fake version of her long-lost mother? Which leads to the third and final point...

- 3. Yeah, instead of just going and finding his and Claudia's mother even if it made him uncomfortable, Soren, along with Terry, Corvus, Lujanne and Allen, decided to use a magic spell to disguise Lujanne as her and have her play out an emotional reunion with a vulnerable Claudia in order to manipulate her into leaving Aaravos. When leaving her, Terry said to Claudia "You didn't trust me to make my own choice! You used me! It's not how you treat someone you love...it's not how you treat any person! And if I let you treat me that way, I'm not sure I can really be me anymore!" Yet here he is, not trusting Claudia to make her own choice and using her despite loving her. Is THAT you, Terry? Or have you changed into someone you don't even like, which was your reasoning for not staying with Claudia? Either way, you've blown up your entire rationale. You're just as morally gray as Aaravos and Claudia, except unlike them you lack the maturity to own it, preferring to stay a man-child.

And that's the show's fatal flaw in a nutshell. It wants to be morally complex, except it also doesn't want the heroes to actually embrace their own moral complexity and suffer the consequences that comes with it, which ends up turning them into pious hypocrites who can't acknowledge their hypocrisy or that the villains might have a point with what they're seeking to achieve, who breeze through the show unscathed while the villains actually have to suffer for fighting for what they believe in. It wants to be Avatar: The Last Airbender, but instead it's as if Monk Gyatso was revealed to still be alive and reunited with Aang, if Katara got closure with her mother's spirit, if Yue attempted to sacrifice herself but then the problem is solved differently so she gets to live happily ever after with Sokka, or if Zuko got his scar healed....by Azula no less, who then still goes on to suffer a mental breakdown anyway. Actually, let me rephrase it: she suffers a mental breakdown after she gets scarred herself!

If a third arc happens, I'll watch it if I hear good things about it. But until then....

[the-gay-archivist]

season 2 has even mooooore like her masking ohohohohoho And she figets a looooooot with objects

I don't entirely think they're intentional but the fact there's a pattern delights me. Like especially the accidental rudeness. Like sometimes she just says the most out of pocket shit despite such a professional person when working.

It may be just character acting, I'll check during my next rewatch

caitlyn kiramman + autistic traits

(insp.)

[h3artw0rms]

So the gift Powder received from Ekko was a necklace with a blue peony.

And you know me from my Vi and Caitlyn post so of course I'll look up what the flower language of that means and it's the following:

And if you look closely, you can see the profile faces of Ekko and Powder in between the petals

In this reality, the two can't be together, as he wasn't HER Ekko. But Powder still means the world to him.