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serpentofslaanesh · 2 years ago

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It's not worship and service as most people assume. I take your wider point about Chaos itself, but it's not a case of most interactions with Chaos being anything like religion or worship or faith. Yes, it's easy to convey in video games for people that don't know the setting. "These guys pray to evil gods, therefore they're the bad guys." And yes, in some novels written by writers less familiar with the setting or preferring its rawer edges, it's a common Chaos trope.

And the Word Bearers? Yes. Other cases, absolutely. The majority, absolutely not. Chaos isn't a religion or a disease you catch. It's the everpresent threat of any malicious emotion allowing Something Old And Inhuman into your soul and brain from the reality behind reality. If a battlefield is bloody enough... Bloodletters will appear. If someone is completely decadent and lost in sensational pleasures... Slaanesh will pay attention to them. "Summoning" is the shallow, obvious end of the spectrum, keeping with the video game presentation we often see. It happens, of course, but it's also the obvious version of what happens. Not the only one. Look at Ahriman. He wants nothing to do with Chaos. He does horrible things, selfish things, murderous things, endlessly furthering the goals and presence of Chaos... entirely for himself. He believes he's using it and remains untouched by its control. Khârn didn't enter into any worship or agreement with Chaos. He was marked by it, and everything he does now furthers it. Abaddon doesn't pray to the Gods. He does his own thing and the Gods take heed. None of them worship the Gods. None of them willingly serve them, or would even recognise the idea of it was explained to them. Night Lords kill and kill and kill until daemons show up and swallow the planet. They don't worship Chaos or give a damn about the daemons; it's just an interesting way to commit Exterminatus for them. There's no prayer here, no worship, no service that they'd recognise.

Even if we, with the rulebooks, can say "Ultimately that action serves the Chaos Gods' agendas". Well, I like cheeseburgers. Ultimately that serves obesity and heart disease. I still do it. I've said it on the forum a few times in much greater detail, but it's not a case of organised religion or many Chaos Marines thinking Chaos rocks on toast. They're motivated by their own deals; they hate, they want vengeance, they want recognition, they want to survive. That lets Chaos into their hearts. Add it to where they had to hide in order to survive after the Scouring, and it makes a lot of sense. They're not really praying to Chaos in cults and thinking comedy/useless mutations are super-awesome. The Gods are real, and they know that. They may hate that truth, but they acknowledge it. They may be indifferent to it, but they're aware of it. And they're aware that when it comes to battle, raising an icon of Khorne in the middle of a fight comes with a risk, but it also comes with undeniable benefits. The gains outweigh the risks tenfold, especially in the short term.

Added to that, mutation isn't supposed to be "physically stupid". The point of it is that it's supposed to reflect your inner self and/or the whims of the gods, and it's supposed to make you better. It improves you, in whatever it is you focus on. It makes you better at killing, and harder to kill, which is literally all most Chaos Marines (and Space Marines...) care about. When mutation goes wrong or goes too far and loses its benefit, well, we call those Spawn. And while many Chaos Marines likely fear that fate, it doesn't happen to everyone - or even most of them - so it's not silly to see how most of them suspect they'll escape that fate. Most of them will.

Also, and this is crucial, we have the rulebooks. They don't. it's easy to say "But the Chaos Gods are laughing at them all and screwing them over", but in-universe is that really the case on the ground? The Chaos Marine who sees someone become Spawn: well, they were weak. He's not weak. He'll be more careful. He's more worthy. He won't be a slave, anyway! He's too independent. And he'll phrase his wishes very carefully so the Monkey's Paw doesn't make it all go wrong.

-- Aaron Dembski-Bowden

#ooc #dashcomm #serpentofslaanesh #(40k related but I LOVEEE this)

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loving-villanelle · 3 years ago

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I don't understand Eve's motives either. Why the denial and terrible anger towards Villanelle? Why the revenge-mission if not for Kenny? Because she feels that the 12 has hurt her too? Is she doing this so she can prove (to herself? or others?) that she is not weak, that she can play this game too and be good at it? Does all of this just excite her so much and give her life some meaning?

She also seems to be very selfish in her actions. Se doesn't want to care about anyone, using Yusuf, getting V arrested because "it might be good for ME" ect. Of course something clearly shifts when Villanelle gets shot but Eve still couldn't be honest with her and say it to her face. She looked so confused and broken when V said she was done with her but what was she expecting to happen after being so terrible towards her? So it seems like next episode Eve is finally going to have a crisis with Villanelle gone and her mission "completed". I'm praying for an honest conversation between Eve and V and for Eve to FINALLY admit what she is feeling. I feel like I'll explode if I have to wait for that until the very last episode.

The denial and anger make NO sense to me. NONE. I literally do not understand why she felt she needed to kick Villanelle out of her life. Like if she was annoyed by V masquerading as a Christian? Fine yeah, I can see it. Slap worthy? Not in my opinion. But that anger charged exchange at least makes a little sense. But then she has her arrested because she thought it would be good for her?? How? Can someone break down for me how locking her up effectively helped Eve in any way? Other than not having to deal with Villanelle stopping by for visits, which wow like can't even really wrap my brain around that one so just going to move on. The ONE thing that was helping me rationalize all this was Kenny. Eve felt she needed to do this for Kenny and couldn't afford any distractions so went to ridiculous extremes to cut Villanelle out. But now that they've debunked that, I am back to being totally and utterly confused. That's really the only thing left, right? If she's not doing this for the people the Twelve have taken from her, then it must be because she just wants to prove that she's good enough to play the game too. Which where does that leave Villaneve? Because while Villanelle wants out of the game, Eve is actively trying to win it.

Eve's actions and decisions have been pretty selfish. Yusuf tries to talk to her and Eve says I don't care, just get me my info. Villanelle becomes a pawn in her game. It took her almost losing Villanelle for her to show her anything other than hostility and even then, she can't bring herself to say something?! Villanelle could have died! If that isn't enough of a wake up call, what will be?

Eve did look upset when V left but like you said, after the two enormous acts of betrayal Villanelle experienced at her hands (after the ballroom and bridge scenes mind you which the show apparently still wants us to forget about) I don't really know what she expected either. For Villanelle to say "no biggie" and go in for the kiss? I think we're seeing how Eve took for granted Villanelle's feelings for her and her draw towards her and figured she could do all of these things and if/when she were to ever decide she wanted Villanelle in her life, V would just be there waiting.

Their only hope at this point is to have that conversation. They both have things to atone for, but yes Eve is the only one who has never openly declared her feelings and we desperately need that to happen. Whether it will happen is another story, because it seems Eve "recruits" V for her Twelve mission. I would assume some sort of shift will need to happen for Villanelle to agree, so hopefully that means a heart to heart that ends all hearts to hearts. But I've been waiting all season for something to fundamentally shift and we've only backpedaled more and more, so I don't know what to expect for them from here

#villaneve #killing eve spoilers

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razberryyum · 4 years ago

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TGCF donghua Special Episode Thoughts (SPOILERS for episode & novel!)

Favorite moment:

Of COURSE that amazing ending sequence, which is the mirror of Dianxia's backstory at the end of the first episode, except this time from Hua Cheng's point of view. Speaking of, holy mother of YUM, dear gods, Hua Cheng:

Look at this "hideous" man. I am DROOLING.

Funny thing is, I didn't even know his appearance was supposed to be a secret, that we technically hadn't seen his face yet all this time. I remember we had a super quick glimpse of him in the Banyue pit and I thought that was his reveal, that that'll be all we'll get for now and I was fine with that...that is, until this ending sequence happened and we actually see him in his entirety. My eyes will forever never be the same. What was I even thinking??? The flashes in the pit were absolutely inferior to the real thing. No comparison. He is so gorgeous; I can't WAIT for Xie Lian to meet him next season.

Second favorite moment:

What I love about this scene is first of all it features some of my favorite lines from the novel, "If you don't know what to live for, then just live for me. If you don't know the meaning of life, then take me as the meaning your life." Even though Dianxia was playing it up for dramatic effect, I loved how he crawled towards San Lang and then uttered the lines with such conviction. I LOVED the way the music reached a cresendo during his words--hell, I love the music in this entire episode, this entire show, period. I also love how bittersweet this scene is: here Dianxia is so embarrassed by his own words that he even laughs about them, dismisses them, not know just how much of an effect they had on the person he said them to, how they really did serve to motivate that person to live on, to exist, utterly for him. Not knowing at all that that person he said what he now thinks were silly words to is right in front of him. The irony!

I'm still making my way through the book so I haven't gotten to the part where all is revealed to Xie Lian yet, but I can only imagine how shocking and emotional this particular revelation would be. It'll probably be ten years before we get to see all that in the donghua, if we ever do, but I'm gonna keep on crossing my fingers and hoping.

"I swear, whether in Heaven or or on Earth, you cannot find someone more sincere than me". The subs left out the Heaven or Earth part but it's still such a good line. Love also how San Lang precedes that by trying to reach out to touch Dianxia but is like too afraid to. The donghua really captured his feelings of...I guess I'd call it timid inferiority...so well.

I have a strong suspicion what that ring is (irl, I've seen companies advertising turning ashes into diamonds as a keepsake of your loved ones...never tried it so I don't know if it's the real deal or some kind of scam) and I cannot wait to get to that revelation as well. Putting aside the potential significance of this momento, the fact that Hua Cheng left Dianxia a ring to wear around his neck is already a beautiful gesture on its own.

I already miss seeing how San Lang looks adoringly at Xie Lian. In fact, I think I'm going to miss San Lang for quite a while since next season I think we'll be mostly spending time with Hua Cheng. Not complaining at all since Hua Cheng will no doubt look at Dianxia just as adoringly, but I will miss this cute guy.

Also already missing the cuteness that is Dianxia. I love all his expressions...the way he said "San Lang" just made my heart explode. How can he be this adorable??? Really, bravo to Jiang Guangtao-laoshi, his voice actor, for such an endearing voice performance. I actually started listening to the Qiang Jin Jiu audio drama because I've become a fan. Imagine Xie Lian being super seductive all the time. That's the ear candy I'm enjoying now, even though I only understand like less than half of the plot due to my shoddy Chinese comprehension.

Proud of how San Lang didn't just lose it when Dianxia cradled his face like that. This man really has unbelievable self control.

I loved that they were chatting in bed like an old married couple. I'm sure this is a glimpse into their future married life. 😁

Besides SanLian, I know Banyue was in this episode as well, I still think she's adorable and love her voice, and I'm glad she gets to enjoy a torture-free life now (I am assuming she does).

I'm glad we got this special episode to really close out the season, but I'm still kinda confused as to why we didn't get it at the actual end of the season but rather as an odd stand alone episode like this. Obviously it picked up right where the 11th episode left off, so it would've slotted in perfectly well. I was hoping the reason they held on to it was because they were going to attach a teaser PV for the next season, but alas that wasn't the case. I wonder if they just needed more time to finish the episode. I still don't quite understand how the Chinese donghua industry works: for something seemingly as popular as TGCF, you would think they'd have good enough budget and resources to finish episodes in time and to make more than just 12 episodes. There are other donghua shows I've seen on Bilibili that have blown way past 12 episodes, so I don't understand why they have to stubbornly stick to a dozen only for something like TGCF. Or is it a danmei thing, I wonder. They just don't want to devote the time and resources to danmei shows beyond just 12 episodes? So weird. Again, VERY GRATEFUL we're getting a second season. SINCERELY praying that we get many more seasons after so that eventually they'll finish out the book. God I hope I finish reading before the donghua team finishes putting out the show.

And that brings me to: Current Reading Progress...chapter 160. Look, I'm gonna be honest, I'm just not a fan of the whole jinx demon concept or the Brocade Immortal. I know all mysteries of the week lead back to the gods and their backstory, but as CONCEPTS, I was just NOT into them so I constantly got distracted. I know MXTX-laoshi was under a LOT of pressure from both censorship and just ridiculous deadlines (I was told she had to produce a chapter a day, which is INSANE), so I feel like a douchebag for even thinking anything negative about the book...not to mention I'm only on Book 3 still so maybe all of this will be wrapped up nicely at the end. But for now, yeah, those two as ideas are a bit underwhelming and almost silly (especially the Brocade Immortal) and maybe I don't need the backstory of ALL the gods. Anyway, before anyone yells at me, there's always a chance I might change my mind about all this by the end...which I hope to get to soon. Didn't finish the book in time for this special episode which was my goal, so readjusting the goalpost back a little further...hopefully just a tad...like a few weeks, because I DO want to get to the unrelenting pain soon so that I can get through the suffering and finally to the HuaLian happily ever after ending.

#Tian Guan Ci Fu #Heaven Official's Blessing #HuaLian #SanLian #TGCF donghua

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seyaryminamoto · 3 years ago

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Hi Seyary! Hope you are doing well and congrats on the big graduation! I remember you answered a question a while ago about the characters' reaction to Azula being hurt - I was wondering what would Ursa do if she had somehow been there as the latest events unfolded?

Well, anon... well. Thank you very much for those nice wishes of yours and for the congratulations and... :'D