#Cliff scene

[your-stranger-halfblood-things]

Will doesn't know what happened to Mike on the cliff. All he heard was that El saved him from bullies. He probably thinks this means that El likes Mike, and he beats himself up over it

Really, El just wanted more Eggos and found Mike being forced off a cliff, so she saved him. For the Eggos. Nothing else

And Mike was just like, "hmmm, I didn't die."

And Will never actually knew what happened on the cliff, but he thinks that Mike likes El because of it. But really the whole time, Mike was looking for Will because he's his best friend and he loves him

[harrier-du-blog]

There are so many good things about the cliff scene, and I love everything about it, but the thing that really REALLY gets me every time is the way that they cling to each other. Will’s hand, clenching the shoulder of Hannibal’s shirt, pulling him closer, putting his head on Hannibal’s chest. Hannibal, looking up as if he’s never felt anything so sweet in his life before resting his head against Will’s, tangling his fingers in Will’s shirt at his side. Hannibal rubbing his cheek against Will’s hair. The way Hannibal looks when Will loops his arm around the back of his neck. Everything about it is incredibly tender and it GETS me

[helpmeimblorboing]

I will wait...

[mydnyteraven]

So I have this theory that I haven’t told anybody because I haven’t find the right time for this

But I theorize that she knows these words because he says them in his sleep, and possibly maybe unconscious Ody is comforted by these phrases, because in his dreams (nightmares) his friends and mom are saying them to him.

Calypso is using what he has said in his sleep to attempt to talk him down.

"Ody, get away from the ledge" - Eurylochus called Odysseus "Ody" too

"I'll stay in your heart" - Same thing Anticlea sang to Odysseus

"Stay in my open arms" - And Polites too

Calypso I know you're trying to calm Odysseus but are you realizing you're literally pushing him further to jump 🙃

[lune-moon-nuit]

My thoughts on the clues to Mike's depression throughout the series and the cliff scene

I find it fascinating how they don’t explicitly state that Mike is suffering from depression, nor do they depict clichéd scenes of depression—like someone lying in bed with dark circles under their eyes, crying, and so on. Instead, they subtly convey it through small clues embedded in the dialogue. It’s so subtle that you might not even notice it. For example, in Season 2, during his argument with his parents over his toys at dinner, it’s mentioned that Mike has spent the entire year exhibiting problematic behavior at school—graffiti on the walls, bad conduct, etc. His parents even say that they’ve been patient, but this is the "hundredth time" (obviously exaggerated) that they’ve let his “nonsense” slide out of empathy. This implies that he has been acting out in turbulent and difficult ways repeatedly and consistently throughout the year, which is one of the most obvious symptoms of depression, emotional issues, or a disorder in children.

I also noticed during the dinner scene with his parents, when his mom brought up the graffiti incident in the school bathroom and Mike defended himself by saying, “Everyone does graffiti,” his dad sarcastically replied, “If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?” This line eerily echoes the cliff scene from Season 1, where Mike quite literally let himself fall off a cliff—and he did it for more than one reason. Sparing Dustin’s baby teeth was merely the pretext. This 12-year-old boy, already on the edge emotionally, was pushed (with the bullies threatening Dustin’s teeth) to fall off the cliff, but that was just the final straw. This boy was already depressed enough that a single drop more was enough to break him, and he let himself fall deliberately.

The cliff scene, in fact, is the clearest and loudest sign that Mike was depressed. It’s also one of those clichéd “depressed people” moments that people have in mind, but even this was downplayed with, “He did it because he wanted to save Dustin—what a loyal friend, such a hero at his young age!”

(I deliberately arranged the gifs in chronological order, one after the other, to highlight Mike's facial expressions, his movements, but most importantly, the details that prove he thought before letting himself fall, before taking that step into the void—that it was, once again, deliberate. I emphasize this point because the general audience has minimized this scene far too much, forgotten it, or completely failed to grasp its gravity by reducing it to a heroic act.

We can clearly see that Mike turned around to look at Dustin, who was begging him not to do it, insisting that he could live just fine without his baby teeth. Even Troy's friend hesitated, saying it was going too far. So Mike, hearing all of this, could have refused and fought back. Only Troy was determined to make Mike go through with it, meaning it was essentially three against one. Three against one—they could have clearly turned the situation around and escaped.

And for those who insist, "But Troy was threatening Dustin with a knife": Mike had far more to gain by attacking Troy to protect Dustin than by jumping off a cliff. He had no way of knowing what Troy would do to Dustin after he jumped. What guaranteed Troy wouldn’t harm Dustin even after Mike sacrificed himself? Their only real chance of survival—for both of them—was to fight back or try to reason with Troy, especially since Troy’s own friend had already recognized they were crossing a line.

But no—Mike believed he was worth less than Dustin’s baby teeth. He believed Dustin would suffer more without his teeth than without Mike. Not even the thought of his family and friends was enough to spark any instinct for self-preservation. El (who was their only lead to finding Will) had disappeared, and despite the hope of finding Will alive, Mike had seen what he thought was Will’s corpse pulled from the same quarry where he was told to jump; he came to Will’s funeral, rumors spread in the town that Will had been the victim of a hate crime for being gay—or had jumped off the cliff for the same reason.

Mike had been bullied his entire life, and now his bullies were physically pushing him toward death—the same bully who had intentionally hurled homophobic slurs about Will in front of Mike after his disappearance. I think there are more reasons for Mike’s depression at this young age that will hopefully be explored in Season 5 through Vecna’s revelations, giving us further insight into his inner struggles.

Under Dustin’s relentless pleas, Mike stared into the void. The camera zoomed in on his face, capturing his inner conflict—something far too many people who have faced dark thoughts can recognize (and I can personally confirm this). He weighed the pros and cons: “If I jump, everything will finally stop. But if I jump, I’ll inflict pain and guilt on the people I love.” I’m not saying this is exactly what went through his mind, but it’s a possibility—it’s what crossed my mind more than once when I was at rock bottom in my depression.

After weighing his options, he made his decision, despite Dustin’s desperate begging. Thankfully, El saved his life.)

-I'm sorry I didn't expect my personal emotions to override my analysis. I want to clarify that my thoughts and observations do not mean that everything I say is true. It's just my opinions based on my observations and my way of analyzing with logic based on my knowledge of psychology, my own experiences and the language of cinema and screenwriting. Please don't invalidate my feelings or blaming me to diagnose him I just give my opinions I'm not God or the Duffers- :)

So yes, this echo is deliberate and ties directly back to the theme, further confirming Mike’s depressive state, which has been present since the very beginning. It’s been hiding in plain sight but has gone unnoticed by most people because the clues are subtle and buried among “bigger” topics.

Additionally, in Season 2, it’s quite evident in the writing that Mike is deeply affected by the traumas of Season 1, particularly his survivor’s guilt regarding El. But what’s truly interesting is that there’s an even subtler clue in Season 4 suggesting that Mike is still dealing with depression: when Dustin mentions in the first episode that Mike got a C in Spanish. At first glance, this line seems insignificant, but it’s there for a reason. The writers clearly wanted us to know that Mike’s grades have started slipping this season. The same Mike who is knowledgeable in physics, the same Mike who is a nerd passionate about science and logic.

Now, it’s entirely possible to have a weak spot and struggle with one subject—like being bad at Spanish while excelling in others. (I can relate; I was so terrible at Spanish that my teachers were at their wit’s end.) However, the detail that changes everything is a line spoken just a few minutes earlier. While Mike is heating his bread and his mother asks him not to come home too late after the Hellfire Club campaign, his father sarcastically remarks, “More like the high school dropout club,” implying that Mike’s declining grades are tied to his involvement in the club. With these two lines, it becomes clear that Mike’s grades are dropping, and this has been noticed by both his parents and his best friend. And a drop in academic performance is another common sign of depression in children and teenagers.

(He exudes so much joy of life, look at him lmao)

I didn't plan on writing this much, feel free to give your opinion on the topic :)

[skipppppy]

I made a matching piece for Dipper 💫🌲

[ash-and-starlight]

Sokka splashed a line of water through his path. The fire fizzled. Zuko’s eyebrow raised, then he forged on. The path zigzagged out of the constellation, hopped eastwards through the galaxy’s north. Hiss. Hiss. Sokka met him each time with a streak of water. Zuko pressed on, building rhythm with each star he joined up.

The Mercy of Magpies Chapter 4 out now!!

as always written by thee @ranilla-bean and betaed by @faux-fires

Chapter Post || Cover || Map and Characters || Ch2 || Ch 3.1 || Ch. 3.2

[ileftapieceofmysoulwithyou]

omg I need a Hannibal finale scene rewrite with Harry & Voldemort right now!

tomarry × hannibal au! 🫀

[bizarrelittlemew]

they were gonna get stitched hitched 😭

(source)

[needanaccount2readarcaneposts]

listen to me. every time i see these images i simply start laughing.

i have never been able to take anything less seriously in my entire life.

what do you mean they took jinx's morality pet scrappy-doo child sidekick and went, "yes, let's give this practically-still-a-toddler a dramatic slow motion run and action movie jump-slide into a tragi-heroic suicide."

did one of the writers get absolutely eyeball-meltingly high and watch that avengers movie where one of them melodramatically suicides off a cliff to save the other one and then wake up the next morning with no memory of the movie but going, "GUYS you're not gonna believe what an AMAZING idea came to me in a dream."

[everyones-least-favorite-bard]

(based on the Fool from the Rider-Waite tarot deck)

[your-stranger-halfblood-things]

I decided Mike has a fear of heights, which makes the cliff scene even more meaningful

[wasabi-gumdrop]

oh

i am. unwell.

[the-crooked-library]

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Ellen’s sex scene with Thomas is weird, unsexy, frantic, fully clothed and disturbing, while Ellen’s sex scene with Orlok, literal corpse, is slow, detailed, sensual, and they are both naked. The juxtaposition.

exaaactlyyyy!! it's about the INTIMACY

regardless of how desperate both Ellen and Thomas may be to conform to their socially acceptable marriage (they're both distinctly queercoded, Ellen wants passion, Thomas cannot give it, both of them see each other as a duty), they still do not and cannot understand each other. Ellen, who comes from a wealthy but abusive home, cannot imagine prioritizing material success over love and connection; Thomas, who self-deprecatingly refers to himself as a "pauper," cannot imagine ostracizing himself so completely from the society that very easily jeopardizes the livelihood of anyone non-conforming. There is a distinct lack of intimacy between them, only partially breached by anger and confrontation; which is, indeed, illustrated by their fully clothed, aggressive scene. It is more of an argument than sex.

Ellen's death-wedding with Orlok is entirely different - as you said, slow, sensual, reverent; it centers their closeness above all. They cling to one another, both overcome with emotion (self-professed inability to love be damned), perfect living skin against rotting flesh; the visual implication here is that there is, quite literally, nothing between them. They know each other entirely, the flaws, the beauty, and that understanding is more important than their own life or death.

One is a sex scene that is actually a fight, the other is a lovemaking disguised as murder, and I am obsessed

[rottingraisins]

reality doesn’t stay still, when the winds blow from the south

[clairesbeauchamp]

giftober 2024 • day 5: angelic

would an angel... do this?