#Are we going to talk about his tragedy? no?

[larkiethings]

the regency period is another one of these! I know this is more directly because of Jane Austen and her impact on English literature, but it’s another example of a 40 year period that we obsess over way more than the times before or after

My theory as to why times like this loom larger in popular consciousness is BECAUSE they were so short, and made a big cultural impact but never really got to be normalized for more than a generation. Like…if I grew up on my parents talking about how they were terrified of pirates (or honestly even aware of pirates) when they were traveling, I’d spend a lot of time thinking about oh wow what must that have been like? Not common enough to become quotidian, but with a big enough impact on people (scary) that they’ll still talk about it years later.

There are certain very specific, unsustainable periods of history.

The Golden Age of Piracy lasted from the 1650s to the 1730s, and was really three different waves of piracy that all had their own specific causes and characters. My personal favorite has always been the post-Spanish Succession period, when a bunch of sailors and privateers were left unemployed and turned en masse to piracy since those were the skills they'd picked up during the war. This supply of pirates was obviously non-renewable.

The Wild West lasted between 1865 and 1895, depending on who you ask, not even a full human lifetime. It's a very narrow band of time, and of course it wasn't sustainable, there was only so much land to colonize.

There are lots of these times of change, conquest, colonization, and war, particularly in the last three hundred years. I always think they're interesting, mostly in how quickly the course of history moves on to some other relatively more steady state.

There's a thing that speculative fiction does where it stretches specific periods out to extremes, most notably with Medieval Stasis, but I think it's far funnier when applied to these tiny slices of history that have ballooned in the public consciousness. Either it takes heroic feats of worldbuilding to make it make sense, or everyone is just sort of okay with the idea of a Golden Age of Piracy that's implied to have lasted for a millennia.

[quesocheeso]

*At this point it's your fault. Hello my friend from the other side of the darkness.*

Now this is just a funny idea.

Who do you think is shadowpeach biggest fan?

Nezha? Xiaoxing? MK? No, definitely none of them. It is actually Macaque's doctor.

Hear me out.

He is an old man who had his fair share of poor demons being taken advantage of then thrown away when they couldn't give birth to a powerful child. He loves kids and became a doctor hoping to save as many as possible or at least help the mothers.

At first he hated Wukong and tried to give Macaque a headstart for when Wukong got rid of him and the magicless baby.

But a few visits later he could clearly see how loved the baby and the mother are. Wukong would keep notes of all the things related to them and wouldn't ask twice about any type of treatment. The baby was clearly happy and the mother was very well taken care of.

And so they became his favourite couple.

Now for the fun part:

Macaque and Wukong had a fight before going to doctor and he clearly noticed:

Doctor:"Well, as far as I can see Mr. Macaque, your tests are improving smoothly however the rapid heartbeat is very concerning." (His ass is lying.)

Wukong immediately switching from angry to absolutely concerned:"What? But he's been taking his medication and eating healthy, why would he have that?"

_"I need to do more tests to be sure but just in case, was there any reason for Mr. Macaque to be stressed these past few days?"

_"We had a fight... Why? Is that why he's getting sick?"

_"That's my best guess. I do need to remind you that even though he looks fine, he can still get very sick very quickly, he is not in the safe zone yet." (Macaque has been luxuriously living in the safe zone for a while now.)

Macaque:"So what do I do? Do I need medicine for it?"

Doctor:"I'd like to avoid that if possible, we don't want to exhaust your body. Let's try talking things out first and..."

_"And what?"

_"Well, physical relations are very good to release pent-up stress. I'm just saying to keep that in mind. If you don't want that then I'll have to prescribe you some more medicine."

Wukong:"We'll try talking things out first."

Doctor:"That's wonderful to know. Please speak to the secretary about rescheduling a new appointment to check on the mother and the baby later."

Even though he lied a lot, he was still very professional and kept an eye out for his patient. But these two walked into his office without holding hands and he took it personally. It would be a tragedy in his book to let these break up.

Imagine his happiness when he knew there's another baby on the way. As the shadowpeach fan club president, he was overjoyed and made sure these two would not be one second apart during the pregnancy.

*Imagine it for a second and tell me it's not hilarious. Anyway, have a great day! I'll excuse myself into the darkness.*

Girlypop I let out the loudest ass laugh ever possible when you said Macaques doctor was these two biggest fan, brooooo that old lady HATES their asses (affectionately) lmaoooo

She’s actually the side character the next 3am comic features and I lover her to bits, she is straight to the point and close to being vulgar while at the same time trying to kick these youngsters from her office at all times, she was Macaque’s midwife for Xiaoxing’s birth, and consequently the midwife to the rest of his kids

Although I do love the concept of her grudgingly caring about the youngsters and helping them work out some of their problems, because of the type of relationship she’s seen in her days with powerful couples, and how different the monkeys are.

She did think Wukong was a dead beat dad during Macaque’s first pregnancy since he was out of the picture, but that did change when he broke into the delivery room to be there for the birth and then stuck around for everything else, specifically to make sure Macaque was alright,,,,, you know that video of the dad who keeps looking for his wife and her health through the hospital doors while his family fawns over his child, that’s Wukong fr lol

[antianakin]

Absolutely hating the "have a child to remember him by/he never got to meet his kid" trope aside, I think the problem there is trying to make us more sad/feel the tragedy of Cassian dying in Rogue One, when as you've sad, it was already tragic. All of the Rogue One crew dies never knowing if anyone actually receives the plans, let alone manages to break away from the fight to get the plans back to the Alliance. Then actually manage to destroy it. They sacrificed everything for a slim hope. I thought that's where Andor, esp S2 would go with the theme, really following up on Luthen's "I burn my deceny (life) for a future I won't get to see". Especially with deaths like the heist crew, especially Nemik, or all the prisoners who fought back and escaped on a slim hope they'd make it to shore. With Andor going to the main rebellion in s2, I would have liked to see more of the every day rebels and all the things Cassian references having to do that he wasn't proud of, all to pass the torch.

(and this isn't as big a thing, but with how much Cassian hammered in he's had to do things he didn't like/were morally gray just to help the rebellion survive in Rogue One, I expected...more from s2 Andor, of the hard choices he had to make. Besides the young soldier he kills off screen for seeing too much and leaving the Ghormans, people he admitted were doomed to fail, he doesn't really do much that either wasn't necessary for self defense or attacking hostile imperial troops. I guess that's another big downside in jumping the years so much.)

Yeah, the baby feels like it just isn't necessary to get across ANY of the things it's meant to get across. We didn't need the baby for the story to feel like it had hope and people to remember it after Cassian dies. We didn't need the baby to make the story any more tragic, either, it's already plenty tragic on its own. And we didn't need the baby to know that Bix was happy or healing or had moved on, especially since at no point had we ever heard Bix talk about wanting a family or anything like that (the one thing she states that she wants more than anything else is to WIN). So instead of feeling like this really beautifully emotional moment, it just ends up feeling both redundant and blatantly manipulative, as if that baby on its own is meant to bring up those emotions regardless of whether it was adequately set up for this character (or Cassian's) or not.

You could've maybe emphasized the idea of someone who has to survive to remember them with someone like Kleya, who is already a survivor when she didn't want to be, or Mon Mothma who is the single character on this entire show that we know is guaranteed to see the Empire fall and so the burden of remembering EVERYONE HERE might actually end up on her shoulders. That this is her burden. Cassian isn't the only messenger here, she is too.

And yes, I think that there were some missed steps in Cassian's development this season. Unlike some fans, I don't feel like the Cassian we see in Andor is so wildly different from the Cassian in Rogue One that they may as well be two different characters. I think there's a LOT of obvious similarities between the characters, and the fact that Cassian had some different motivations in season 1 wasn't an issue because that is a very necessary thing to do in order to allow the character to GROW, especially when said character already has a pre-established end characterization that the story has to get to (you can see this happen in the Kenobi show as well where he's acting wildly out of character at the beginning in order to allow him space to grow into the wiser character we know from A New Hope; it's also not dissimilar to intentionally making Anakin in TPM be a sweet young boy and not a little antichrist devil child).

But once you've established where the character has started, you then have to make sure you get them BACK to the character everyone is expecting them to become. In Cassian's case, we need to emphasize his commitment to the rebellion and just how much he's been willing to do for this cause, but also his growing ability to see some of the cracks in the organization (or that he's always known the rebellion is flawed but it just doesn't matter because the cause is more important than those flaws).

And not only do we not really get to see all of the terrible things he is willing to do for the rebellion (he is said to have killed a young soldier but he justifies it with protecting BIX, not the cause; then he abandons the mission on Ghorman because he doesn't want to be a part of helping oppress them for the cause; then he goes to assassinate Dedra and doesn't actually manage to complete that task), but he's constantly refusing orders both from Luthen and the other rebel leaders later, which makes his decisions regarding Galen and Jyn have less weight. The whole thing with him choosing to disregard orders about killing Galen because he cares about Jyn and doesn't want to kill her father is that this is UNUSUAL for him, this is a major choice he is making because he CARES about what the consequences of killing someone might be. In this moment, he is choosing Jyn over the cause, and that's supposed to be really big for Cassian. The same is true with the gathering of the volunteers for the Scarif mission because he knows the rebellion isn't going to believe her, but he DOES, he trusts her, and he's willing to let her take the lead this time. This isn't development for his character if you establish that Cassian barely follows orders anyway.

So, yeah, we missed out on Cassian's building commitment to the cause and to the rebellion, on how much he's willing to sacrifice and give up in order to do what's necessary to take out the Empire, regardless of whether he likes the order or not.

And the baby thing fits into this, too! Because this would've been a PERFECT place to really set up how committed Cassian is to this rebellion. Instead of Cassian trying to convince Bix into leaving with him and then Bix "choosing the rebellion for both of them" and just leaving him behind to go have her baby by herself because Cassian has a destiny or whatever, switch those roles. Have Bix realize she's pregnant and that's what finally convinces her that she can stay anymore and she tries to convince Cassian to leave because she can see how much he hates the things he's being asked to do and how he keeps giving up more and more pieces of himself each time it happens and she tries to tell him that she's pregnant in order to convince him and you can SEE just how much it hurts him to hear that and know that he still has to say no.

Because this is the choice he's making, this is a choice he has arguably already made but it's a choice he has to keep making every day of his life now. And the baby makes it harder, but he still chooses the rebellion because he'll ALWAYS choose the rebellion, that's who he is now, it's who he's chosen to be. The person who would have left with Bix probably died on Narkina 5. The person he is now can't go with her. Either the Empire dies or he does now.

So when you see Bix and the baby at the end, it's not this "oh man it's so tragic because Cassian never even knew and now that baby is his legacy or his hope for the future personified despite him never even knowing it existed." It's "This is so tragic because THIS WAS HIS CHOICE TO MAKE, and he dies for the cause knowing that Bix and his child are out there somewhere and he has to hope that this is enough, that giving his life to get the plans off of Scarif will be enough to help bring about the end of the Empire and make them safe." It's not impossible to fit the pregnancy into a better character arc for both Cassian AND Bix, they just... didn't do that.

[gayerthebetter]

I'm seeing so many people ask why Dip and Pip picked "so long, london" with some people even joking it's just for the name and nothing to do with the lyrics, but what if I told you that wasn't true at all (or I don't see it that way anyway lol)

First, if you have never heard the song, now is the time to pop it on and jump into my madness with me. Second thing is if you do know the song and the idea behind writing it for Taylor I want you to forget it lol, we're starting new… kind of.

See this song for both Dan and Taylor is about a break up, only the break up for Dan wasn't a romance one because in his case the break up was between him and us/youtube and how the hiatus had to happen. (now before we keep going, I just want to say that I am not saying Dan hates us or youtube, so plz no jumping to that)

Now let's jump into why that is!

"I saw in my mind fairy lights through the mist I kept calm and carried the weight of the rift"

Dan said before that he always knew II was a goodbye, that he was giving us everything he had so he could leave, for him leaving and the freedom to be himself and find out who he really was, something he said he didn't really know, was the fairy lights he could see at the end and was the thing to keep him going.

"I didn't opt in to be your odd man out I founded the club she's heard great things about I left all I knew, you left me at the house by the Heath"

Now we're onto the Youtube part, because of Dan's video we know that Youtube "loved" Dan after he came out and did use him to look good all as they told him they wanted to do all his ideas with him, ideas he said himself other people were wanting to make but that he turned down becuase he loved Youtube and wanted to work with them, ideas that he thought if he just did what they wanted they would help make real, ideas that they would all but ghost him about until they needed the next thing off him.

"I stopped CPR, after all it's no use The spirit was gone, we would never come to And I'm pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free"

Dan "stopped CPR" aka he quit youtube, he gave them everything only to see it was never going to happen so he was done with them and went off to start doing the ideas himself, first idea being his tour WAD (i hope for the show so much, i would work for free tbh)

Now let's get back to us, the fans.

"And you say I abandoned the ship But I was going down with it My white knuckle dying grip Holding tight to your quiet resentment"

Since the hiatus it was and sometimes still is very much talked about how it was Dan's fault, after all he didn't want to be "dan and phil" anymore, he didn't want to do the gaming channel even as Phil was trying to get him to do just one little video here or there, even some people were hating on his new work becuase in their eyes he "abandoned" the phandom to do that.

Only the fun and joy we got from everything they did back then wasn't always the same for Dan and Phil, with Dan even saying that back in the day people trying to find out if he was gay was retraumatizing, and how he felt like he was lying to everyone and didn't even know who he was outside of dan and phil.

We didn't know just how hard Dan was fighting to keep going, and that when he got out, the very idea of going back to the way things were was awful to him (good news is they said themselves that everything is better and more fun now, and they can just be themselves now!)

"So how much sad did you think I had, Did you think I had in me? How much tragedy? Just how low did you think I'd go? Before I'd self-implode Before I'd have to go be free"

This is once more talking about how Dan couldn't keep on going and you could also see it as how using your sadness for your art (like dan's vids) can only go so far before you're empty of anything at all, or you want to be happy and you have to let things go, sometimes your art, to do that, at least until you can work with something other then your own pain, you need to work with hope and joy and everything in you not just the bad.

"You swore that you loved me but where were the clues? I died on the altar waiting for the proof You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days And I'm just getting color back into my face I'm just mad as hell cause I loved this place"

Now you can see this both to youtube and to us, the idea of "love" but it not really being felt or shown and how dan got better but there still a sadness because he did love it all even in the bad times.

"For so long, London Had a good run A moment of warm sun But I'm not the one So long, London Stitches undone Two graves, one gun You'll find someone"

So in my mind London is youtube and the old phandom and the ways it felt with all the good and all the bad but that the best thing they ever did was leave.

(once again this is just a post I made becuase i like reading into songs way 2 much , also dan and phil had both said again and again that they loved us then and now so plz don't think i am trying to say they hate us or youtube, i really think they are having the most fun ever doing youtube like this)

[not-feeling-the-aster]

Ok so I finished Sunrise on the Reaping and I have not very positive thoughts. I get other people really liked it and that’s fine, this is just my opinion. I guess I'll reread it and see if I change my mind (or not), but for now I can say that it was my least favorite of the series, by far.

Spoilers ahead

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Honestly I was a little skeptical when they announced the movie along with the book, although I wanted to stay optimistic :(

One of the things that threw me off was the way it tells you things so directly, when the other books are more subtle. I would say it’s as if the older books gave you the puzzle pieces but you still had to make the effort to put them together, whereas this time it just gives you the solved puzzle at once.

Then there’s the narration, which at times feels underwhelming, since it doesn’t match the emotional depth some scenes require. While reading I was thinking everything felt numb, like the tension wasn’t really there. Haymitch’s reactions feel plain to me most of the time, and I get that one could argue he bottles up his feelings because it’s a traumatizing situation, that’s fair. But we’re supposed to read his thoughts, his internal turmoil, and I feel like we almost never really go past the surface. With Katniss (and even Snow) I could see more clearly their deepest thoughts, doubts and vulnerability.

Back to Haymitch, there’s also the thing with his family. They are supposed to be the most important people in his life, but there is little to no development on their relationship. Don’t tell me he loves them, show me how he cares for them, how was his upbringing, show me some memory of his childhood, how was his life when his dad was alive, how did his death affect him till nos, how does him being the older brother shapes his character. Show me how much they care for each other before the tragedy happens. Because the point is he looses them, we know it. Their bond matters, make it strong enough to linger after they’re gone.

We also have to talk about Lenore Dove. Again, we know a few things about her and how they met. We know Haymitch loves her and thinks about her a lot (maybe too much) but does she love him as much? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think she is pretending or anything, but it does seem like they are on different pages at times. My thing is, we are presented with this couple from the get go, and we are expected to root for them because they are soulmates for life and can’t live without each other, but what is their dynamic like? How do they work together? not just as Haymitch admiring her all the time. What does she like about him so much? Does she actually want to run away? Alone or with him? Does she know he fantasizes about having a family with her? Would she be okay with that?

I feel like their relationship could have worked better if they had just recently got together, they would still care for each other and missed one another, but it wouldn’t be this super serious, never-ending, magical love that’s larger than life itself. Just real, meaningful, hopeful love. Doomed, but true. That’s enough.

Regarding the theme of propaganda, I also feel like it wasn’t handled that well. I mean yeah the capitol shows and edits the games to their liking, ok. I guess what I was expecting was how propaganda was received by the people, specially in different places of Panem.

The careers were completely dumbed down this time, there was no nuance or complexity there, maybe for a tiny moment with the chocolates but that was on Haymitch so I guess it doesn’t count either.

I liked the idea of the alliance and I personally don’t mind the cameos but everyone speaking so freely of the rebellion plan was a little unserious. Plutarch for me is still the same character, I don’t consider him fundamentally rebellious, he just wants to be on the winning side and come out as unscathed as possible. Him lecturing Haymitch did annoy me a bit though, and I don't think it helped to explore the themes like it was intended.

I'm sure there's more but this are my main problems with it. I was really excited about it but well, I still love the other books so the story didn't change for me, but I'm a little worried for a possible future book now. We'll see how it goes.

Also I wanted to point out that just because you like a certain author it's okay to not like and be critical of some of their work. Like, it shouldn't be that serious, but I know some people get defensive. Each book is different, and authors are people, and they can make cool things and not so cool things, calm down with the pedestals please.

[that1notetaker]

Every once in a while I go back to my 2017 era and go back to drawing Near. I knew him before I knew I was a little neurodivergent creature like him, and it shows.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Maybe we never had a chance.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[shanklin]

Okay okay but thinking about one of the things that finally gets everyone to realize they messed up in that Relativity Falls AU being when Stan points out that for all they say Stan never visited them, they never visited him either. And maybe if they had they would have noticed something was wrong.

Selfish Shellfish AU - Masterpost

YES!!! That's about what I had in mind.

I've been thinking about Ford, Mabel and Dipper going to New Jersey to find Stan and investigate what really happened. 

Stan wouldn't just kill Filbrick and then disappear right? There must be a different explanation.

But as it turns out no one in the neighborhood is actually surprised at that turn of events.

Filbrick pulled Stan out of school and has been working him to the bone, forcing Stan to not only work at the pawn shop but also other part time jobs. No one is sure when Stan actually slept.

And the way Stan was always bruised up and injured even though he quit boxing a long time ago.

At least the bullies stopped bothering with Stan when it became clear that he wouldn't react to anything they did and just take it.

Interviewing the neighbors be like: “Oh that poor sweet boy. He would always help me carry my groceries upstairs. Good riddance that Filbrick died! He had it coming. I’ve tried to call the police on him but they just came out shaking that bastard's hands instead. Pigs, all of them. I hope he made him suffer!”

[buqbite]

it's kinda fascinating to me how welt has been "at the end of his life" for like. several decades by now. he goes on and on about how old and weary he is and how "his job is done" and his story is over but- oh wait i just realized i can phrase this in a very funny way- he's kind of sorta immortal now because he got the herrscher core back, so he's really just stuck in the epilogue for all eternity

[puhpandas]

itp doesnt touch on the 'chosen one' esque role oswald had in the game enough😭

[secondpersonpoetry]

you’ve probably already read it before, but the poem Party by Kim Addonizio really got me tonight. first thought was “oh man. yeah” and then my second thought was “how can i make this about my hockey guys somehow………..”anyway! have a good one! 

oh. oh.

​

[jonathanbyersphd]

Thinking thoughts about Joyce & Jonathan again

[dazais-guardian-angel]

I'm finding it difficult to reconcile the fact that what I've always wanted and envisioned for Nikolai and his relationship with Fyodor based on fanworks and the very very little canon information we've had to go off of so far, will very likely be very different from what we actually get.

While I understand the appeal of Fyodor taking over Nikolai's body via his blood ability, and the inherent, romantic, ironic tragedy of that — for Nikolai, the person who yearned for freedom, to meet an end by having his soul eternally trapped in the body of the person he loved the most, while Fyodor lives on in his body, never truly knowing how much he was adored by him — I would just hate the idea of that happening now? It just feels far, far too soon for Nikolai to be dead, for his character to no longer have a role or a purpose; his mind and behavior is so utterly fascinating in all its bizarre contradictions, there's so much more to explore and discover with him, he's one of BSD's most complex characters, or at least he's set up to be, and I really hope Asagiri wouldn't throw him away this soon without doing anything more with him.

I never really thought that Nikolai would be the one to end Fyodor for good, way down the line (that can only ever be Dazai's job, to me, since he's his foil), but I always imagined he'd at least have some kind of role in attempting to kill him, since that's his ultimate wish. I imagined that it would be ugly, frenzied, unhinged, desperate, Nikolai finally being forced to acknowledge the horrible truth that's always been buried within his subconscious but he's never wanted to accept: that going against all human reason and killing someone he cares so deeply for will not, in fact, simply make those feelings go away, and will instead make them unable to ignore in his despair. The realization that he'll always be chained to human emotions, to love, no matter how much he thinks he can be free of them. And then, the ensuing breakdown from that. Yes, it's extremely fanficky lmao, but that kind of drama makes sense to me for him and them. It's interesting.

There was also the angst angle of Fyodor being immortal, and Nikolai's agenda perhaps stemming from wanting to save him from that, and being able to finally free him from it in the same way he himself wants to be freed. Killing being the ultimate expression of love, not too dissimilar to Mushitarou killing Yokomizo, both putting on an act of being hateful/vengeful/hostile towards the other in order to cope with the fact that deep down they can't bear the thought of them being gone.

But then we got Fyodor's "death" here, and Nikolai's reaction to it was so unbelievably underwhelming and calm that it made me question everything I thought I knew about Asagiri's writing skills him, and what the story is going for with him. And combined with this revelation now that Fyodor is (unsurprisingly!) immortal, but specifically in the way that he can be killed but supposedly resurrects endlessly (which I really like in of itself, don't get me wrong)... it makes me question what exactly Nikolai knows, or will know, and it somewhat destroys the potential angst we could get with them in the end, or at least drastically changes it.

If Nikolai already knows Fyodor can't be killed, that means we'll never get a moment where he tries to kill him and then has to face the fact that he did the deed and it didn't make him feel freed, and he instantly regrets it. It also means we'd never get a moment where he tries to kill him and then discovers he can't truly die, and the ensuing insanity that would occur from that. It also makes me even question the legitimacy of his reaction to Fyodor's "death" here... was it so damn apathetic and lukewarm because he already knows it wasn't permanent? I mean, I'd like an explanation for it feeling so ooc, it would make me feel better about that, but I can't deny that it would be disappointing to have yet another part of this arc that was just an act and not genuine feelings....

Now, that isn't to say that it's impossible to do anything interesting with Nikolai already knowing the truth. He could be wishing to try to attain free will through the illogical pursuit of an impossible task: in this case, killing Fyodor. There's a beautiful, tragic paradox in him wishing to attempt something to gain his freedom that he and we know is impossible, especially if subconsciously he takes solace in the fact that he'd be able to kill Fyodor without actually losing him for good. If Nikolai doesn't already know, assuming he's not dead he's likely going to find out the truth soon when he next sees Fyodor alive and kicking — I can't imagine a way he wouldn't find out. In that case, we wouldn't get the aforementioned scenario where he tries to kill him and discovers it's futile, which is the most juicy to me I won't lie, but I am still fascinated by the idea of how Nikolai will respond just seeing him suddenly alive again and having to process this after having just mourned him. It's interesting to imagine how he might respond to and treat Fyodor after at last knowing how it truly felt to lose him, and realizing how much he didn't want that, and then suddenly having him back. It might cause him to finally understand that his desire for freedom is unobtainable, and cause him to spiral, and fundamentally change their relationship going forward. An eventual tragic end for him such as Fyodor taking over his body would not feel out of place to me in that case, perhaps, but still not until we've had more time to see Nikolai reflect and see his possible change in perspectives.

I don't know, I'm just rambling at this point lmao. I know very well that so much of my expectations and desires for Nikolai and Fyolai are built up from fan content over the years just because there's been nothing else to work with, and that it's unfair to judge what Asagiri decides to do with him/them based on preconceived notions. Whatever he does could still be interesting in the end, even if it's not what I initially wanted or expected, and being open to being surprised is always a good thing. At the end of the day we still know barely anything about Nikolai, so it's not completely fair for me to judge something as ooc for a character we still know so little about.

But... it's because we know so little about him and have gotten so little of him, that at the very least, I'm gonna be really upset if he does die here from being possessed by Fyodor like people are worrying about. I really don't think he will, because I'm pretty confident the helicopter pilot is the one Fyodor swapped with/resurrected in the body of as per soup's theory, and again I'm not saying it wouldn't be fitting eventually... but I really don't want it to happen now. :/ I just think Nikolai still has so much potential as a character and so much more we need to see of him before his likely inevitable and tragic demise (however it happens), so whatever Asagiri decides to do with him I just really, really hope we don't lose him so prematurely; it would honestly be such a tremendous waste imo.

[stephantom]

I’d need to watch it again to confirm this, but I’m pretty sure that Thomas Becket is the only character who independently initiates touch with Henry?

There are plenty of people whom Henry touches, and it’s almost always possessive or threatening: the villager woman in the first flashback scene, the Saxon peasant girl (and possibly the old man? I think he prods at both of them with his riding crop), Gwendolen (holding her shoulders/neck), the French prostitute (kissing, leaning over, sitting on, slapping her butt), his sons (pushing and kicking them), the bishop (strangling), his barons (clutching onto one, tapping one’s head to indicate his vapidness), and Thomas too—(clasping his shoulders when he realizes Thomas is hurt, holding his hand to put on the chancellor ring).

Interestingly, I don’t think we ever see Henry touch or be touched by his mother or his wife. There’s the moment when he grabs/kicks their needlework, and later on he knocks all the plates off the table, possibly vaguely in their direction—so there are two physical interactions which are violent but still sort of… distant? And still the direction is just Henry to them (in terms of physicality, anyway—verbally, they do initiate conversations/fights with him).

Does anyone touch Henry? There are the monks who whip him in the end, but Henry has ordered them to do it. Likewise, there’s the servant/valet/page who begins to wipe him dry in the bath scene, but again, that’s someone performing a duty. Thomas Becket though, cuts in and takes over the drying, and the dialogue tells us explicitly that he’s not expected to do this, and doesn’t have to (“You’re a nobleman—why do you play at being my valet?”) but Becket seemingly wants to do it, and he knows Henry likes how he does it: enthusiastically, confidently, warmly, and freely (“No one does it like you, Thomas”). He towels Henry’s head, helps Henry put on his boots, and then casually uses Henry’s legs to push himself up to stand.

There’s the scene in Henry’s tent, after the French prostitute has left and the two of them are sitting on the bed: Becket sort of leans in and briefly clasps Henry’s arm where it’s lying in his lap, casually and warmly.

There’s also the getaway horse ride, where Becket is holding onto Henry, arms wrapped around him, and they’re both laughing and smiling. Henry’s shirt actually falls open a little and Becket’s hand winds up on his bare torso.

And then there are the thwarted attempts at touch, after the split: the two scenes where Henry accuses Becket of not loving him. Both times, Becket moves toward Henry and reaches out to touch him, and both times, Henry moves away and tells him to keep his distance.

They’re quick little things, but if they are actually the only instances of anyone touching Henry affectionately (or even of their own volition) that we see over the course of the movie, it does support an impression of Henry as fundamentally isolated—maybe there is truth to his claim that Becket is the only person who’s ever loved him.

What’s tragic is that 1) Henry doesn’t really know how to express love himself (see: Henry expressing nothing but violence and entitlement to everyone else around him, and even to Becket for the most part), and 2) Becket’s love, albeit huge in Henry’s world, is conflicted and unfulfilling—for both of them.

Becket might be the only person who’s dared to reach out to Henry and meet him on something close to a human level, and Henry loves him for it, but why does Becket do it? Part of it may just be an instinct of Becket’s to fulfill a need where he sees one, if he can, and if it benefits him. I think it’s so interesting that Henry seems obsessed with the question of whether Thomas really loves him, when it seems the truth might be that Thomas actually doesn’t know; maybe it’s an unanswerable, even nonsensical question to him. Like, what else could he do? I don’t know. “Insofar as I was capable of love, yes I did [love you].” But the fact that his last words, unwitnessed and private, are, “Poor Henry.” Fuck me up.

Ok, that last paragraph got away from me and now I can’t stop. Tempted to draw comparisons to “Beauty and the Beast” (this is a sad version where no magical transformation happens… unless you take a particular Catholic stance and consider that both of them maybe took real solace and meaning in Thomas being made a saint and that Henry maybe found real absolution through his penance).

I also want to compare all of this to “The Lion in Winter”, where it feels like, rather than a story about one lonely monster in a castle full of people he sees as objects, it’s a whole microcosm of traumatized and power-hungry people, reaching out for power and security and love and stabbing each other in the back, over and over. (Like, of course his mother and wife and kids have complex feelings for him—some of which involve love!) I think that depiction is better and less myopic, more true to life and probably a more accurate portrait of the historical figures involved (even when it comes to Henry and Becket—Becket was of that world too, after all), but I think I’ve rambled enough about all of this, so I’m going to end this post now. I’ll just say that there’s something nevertheless appealing about the boiled-down fairytale melodrama of “no one else ever loved me but you!”

[kateis-cakeis]

rewatching bbc merlin really has me like buzzing in my mind with so many thoughts. Like I'm kinda watching it backwards atm going from S5 to S4, I think I will jump around 3, 2, and 1 but just,,,, there is so much especially in S5 that makes me !!!!!!!

Honestly, I feel like this fandom has to give the writers more credit. Like they did a damn good job, and to me, it's such a good tragedy. Especially how S5 plays out, it takes everything and just tears you down, and down, and down. It's perfect, perfect with flaws! But still perfect

[the-acid-pear]

enjoying archiving characters. taking them to the back and shooting them.