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wilcze-kudly · 4 days ago

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your analyses of Lin came to mind the other day when I saw someone post about how “Lin should be able to smack Korra at least once.” And like. It’s not just one post, it seems to be a common ‘jokey’ attitude in the fandom, and…it’s really interesting how much the fandom loves Lin acting violent and aggressive towards everyone - particularly against Korra, who acts in a similar “aggressive” manner but not nearly as shitty (imo), but the fandom seems to despise her for it.

So I was wondering if you have any thoughts specifically on Lin and Korra’s relationship? Both in canon and how the fandom treats them?

Oh yeah, I think I've seen that post! I've honestly been wanting to do more Lin metas but have been holding off because back when I posted a lor of Suyin defences I got a not insignificant amount of nasty anonymous asks, and I know that Lin is beloved by the fandom so while I make my passive aggressive comment from time to time, actually dwelling on the subject is a bit of a gambit.

Honestly, it's not even that I dislike Lin. I actually enjoyed her character a fair amount when I first watched the show and was totally on board with the fandom loving this character. But eventually I got so tired of the constant takes about how everyone in Lin's life is soooo mean to her and how she never did anything wrong and she's secretly just a lil bean , she's just a biy grumpy guys.

And, oh, the jokey comments about how Lin should be allowed to smack Korra, a teen, who, in my opinion gets smacked around fairly enough in the show. Or how she should be allowed to curbstomp Tenzin, despite us knowing very little about their relationship other than the fact that Lin atatcked his house and misused her power as a police officer to terrorise his new partner. Or how Suyin, a woman who has gone through so much to change and become a better person and still keeps ger heart open for those who hurt her, should die or be killed.

Like yeah, they're jokes, but they speak to how the fandom quickly takes Lin's side in most situations, even when there is more nuance to the situation. I think taht due to tlok having such a large amount of violence and fight scenes ans perhaps due to the personality of Korra herself, the fandom has normalised Lin's aggressive and often physical behaviour. And because most of the characters are teens, Lin's immaturity as a person doesn't stick out too much.

But Lin isn't a teen, like Korra or Mako. She's a 50+ year old woman and a fucking cop at that. She should know better. I think one of my favourite questions Lin's character mames me ask is: "how long can you cling to your trauma before its your responsibility to strive to do better?".

This isn't to say that Lin is a horrible person. I'd actually say she's a pretty good person. It's obvious she cares and she can try to be empathetic when the chips are down. But her lack of emotional maturity makes it difficult for her to actually act on her feelings when not in a life or death situation.

Ultimately this is what I like about Lin as a character, her duality. A very protective and thoghtful person, who has stagnated in a shell of anger and aggression.

And I think Lin's relationship with Korra ilustrates this duality perfectly.

I do enjoy Lin and Korra's arguments due to their chemistry and the excellent voice acting. But like it is still an adult yelling at and holding an actual grudge against a 17 year old. Who is already under a huge amount of stress.

I also think that we often forget that in her tiffs with Lin, Korra often starts off with a suprising amount of calmness and grace. She often attempts to actively connect with Lin and express her point through conversation, despite this being sonething Korra markedly struggles with.

Korra : But there were some thugs threatening a helpless shopkeeper, and I had it ... Lin: [Aggressively.] Can it! You should have called the police and stayed out of the way. Korra: [Slightly pleading tone.] But I couldn't jut sit by and do nothing. It's my duty to help people. See, I'm the Avatar.

[...]

Korra: Wait, Beifong? Lin Beifong? [Excitedly.] You're Toph's daughter! Lin: [Seriously.] What of it? Korra: [A hint of amusement suppressed in her tone.] Well then, why are you treating me like a criminal? Avatar Aang and your mother were friends. They saved the world together.

Through the first season, we're lead to infer that Lin's unfounded animosity towards Korra has something to do with her grudge against Tenzin. I can see this not only due to Tenzin's association witg Korra as her teacher and the son of the previous Avatar, but also due to some similarities between Korra ans Tenzin. They're both people saddled with a major responsibility and legacy, who struggle with forming their own identity due to that legacy. Plus, the comic we got about young Tenzin is essentially 1 to 1 Korra's first day in republic city.

Side note: can we stop demonising Tenzin for leaving Lin? I'm pretty sure it's not confirmed that Tenzin left her purely because he needed to have children. And honestly if after he broke up with Lin, she damaged his home, used her posution to terrorise his new partner, and held a grudge for 11+ years, I'm honestly not to sure what to think about their relationship pre breakup. ESPECIALLY with how willy nilly tlok plays with female on male abuse. No, I'm not saying Lin is an abusor, but there may be other factors we need to consider. I mean Lin does outwardly laugh and sympathise with Korra throwing Mako's desk across the room which is the Makorra abuse moment ™️

Though I also adore the implication in B3 that Lin is also reminded of Suyin by Korra. This also is a comparison that makes sense. Korra and Su were both young, rebellious women who had to leave home to find themselves. Both had tendency to be sarcastic and were opinionated and had a habit of defying authority etc.

And I think this may be even more of a reason why Lin has such an aggresive vendetta against Korra and also why she's so controlling in the later seasons. Particularly when she gets on Korra's ass at the party and says that Korra is "nothing special" feels targeted towards Lin feeling like Suyin got special treatment.

Lin being controlling towards Korra can also be seen as her trying to compensate for when she tried to similarly control Su, but Suyin ended up defying her. (While I see a lot of people bring up parentification between Lin and Su, I'll lean more towards it being a very intense rivalry)

Either way, Korra reminds Lin of people who have hurt her and the hurt she seems to cling to in some parody of comfort in familiarity.

This is one of the most visible patterns in Lin I see. Her absolute abhorrence of changing her mindset. She holds a grudge against Tenzin for over 11 years. She holds a grudge against Su and Toph for longer than that. She is so horrifically resistant to even touching the idsa that Suyin had changed as a person. And even after her and Su make up, the moment the opportunity arrises, Lin is back to typecasting Suyin as the bad guy.

People say that Korra was too harsh in The Metal Clan when she called Lin out.

Korra : Su's right. You're never going to change. You're always gonna be a bitter, lonely woman.

And yeah, it was objectively an incredibly mean thing to say and Korra was quite out of line. But she's not wrong. We see Lin struggle with making human connections, we've deduced that her grip on the past makes her hold grudges against people she's never met. We see her be immature, aggressive and emotionally closed off. If she were a healthy individual outside of Zaofu, I would encourage her distancing herself from Suyin. But clearly whatever coping mechanism Lin has is leaving her pushing people away and treating teenagers like her peers.

Like something clearly needs to change.

And I think that's another reason why Korra and Lin are such a fun duo. Because Korra goes through so mucuhchange herself. She shanges the world, she changes the lives of her friends, she changes herself.

And that's something Lin desperately needs and yet fears all the same. This also makes it even more interesting that Aiwei, a member of the Red Lotus who embody that "change" concept was a vital part of Lin and Suyin begining to reconcile.

And I think Lin knows this, to some extent. She knows her coping mechanisms are flawed, but she doesn't want to acknowledge this. But I need to talk about Lin's babystep trail of an arc in a different post.

I was gonna say that Lin and Korra are also similar but honestly other than their tempers and tendency to terrorise their tallass ex boyfriends, there isn't much there.

I still find Lin and Korra's relationship to have some sweet moments. I loved Lin and Korra's moment of kinship afterthey both lost their bending, how gently Korra grabbed Lin after she passed out in Zaofu, how Lin helped Korra get up the stairs after she was paralysed.

I think that one of the reasons they argue so much in B3 partocularly is because they care for each other quite a bit. They just embody two polar opposites. Korra- change and danger. Lin- stagnation and protection. Of course they'll fight.

----

I don't exactly like how fandom treats Korra and Lin's relationship because it always feels ao watered down. This kinda extends to the entire Krew too. The 'Lin is like the Krew's mom' thing. Because on the jokey surface, yeah, i see it. Female authority figure who makes sure they don't get into trouble. Plus fandom has a tendency to forcefully assign cishet traditional family dynamics to found family.

But on a deeper level, acting as if Lin were a mother to the Krew is in my opinion, a bit of an insult to mothers everywhere. Because Lin acts less like an adult and more like a... slightly older teen? Which makes sense, we see that very little has changed in how Lin approaches young people since she was 22. She treats the Krew like peers, bickering with them and making snide comments, but then pulls the authority figure when she wants something. That's like the worst type of adult.

[This is ironic because my mom is actually very much like Lin and this is probably why I gave her so much of a pass when I watched tlok the first time]

Lin is a big sister/aunt figure to most of the Krew at best. Maybe except Mako but he has his own demons and is making himself a son figure whether Lin likes it or not.

But Korra is basically Lin's stand-in for her sister and they both act like it too. They act like me and my sister tbh. And Asami and Bolin barely interact with Lin anyway. There's more ground to posit Su as Bolin's potential mother figure!

Lin is a fascinating character to me, but fandom tropes have sorta ruined her for me. I came into the fandom really liking her character but ended up sorta jaded to seeing the same questionable takes about her over and over again. It just makes me see how little her potential is explored in the show. The writers failed Lin, not by not allowing her to 'win' against Su and Korra and Tenzin and whoever. They failed her by not giving her the storyline she needed. The storyline for which the main catalyst, Korra already was at the centre of the board. They half assed Lin's storyline and now literally every character who so much as looked at Lin has to pay the price.

[Ooh wow symbolism Lin glaring at Zaofu, Suyin's home, but actually glaring at her own reflection.]

I now realise that I have gone on for way too long and got hotrifically off topic, but I hope I have explained at least a few if my thoughts?

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teecupangel · 1 year ago

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Another Desmond reborn as X, but this one is as Uberto Alberti's kid. Who we don't know anything about but "family" is the reason he betrayed his friend supposedly so I'd be interesting if Desmond could try and avoid it this time around.

According to the transcription of Uberto’s database in ACII:

Now, I found a backdoor into the Templars' database server, I've been combing it for some kind of smoking gun. I found it. Apparently, Uberto's family was evicted by the Medici bank. Uberto's been aching for revenge ever since, and the Templars promised him support. Ezio's father was standing in the way AND Uberto was jealous of his influence over the Florentine government. Two birds with one stone, isn't it? It looks like Uberto used his election to the Signoria as his opportunity to strike.

Apparently, he joined the Templars because the Medici evicted his family.

If he is part of the real House Alberti, there is no mentions of any evictions in wiki nor any mention of an Uberto. The Albertis were allies of the Medici as far as I read.

Returned to Florence, in the 15th century they were first allied to the Medici against the Albizzi. Main members of the period include writer Antonio Alberti, cardinal Alberto di Giovanni Alberti and architect and Renaissance theorist Leon Battista Alberti.

But wiki did say that they “divided into different lines, who owned several houses and towers near the modern Ponte alle Grazie” and “Some of them were admitted in the Venetian nobility late in the century” so maybe Uberto’s family wasn’t one of those few fortunate Albertis to gain nobility.

So, really…

Giovanni died and dragged his two sons with him because of his ties to the Medicis.

And Desmond would point that out.

In this setup, Desmond would probably think of Uberto as a good father as he did stress he did it for his family (although another setup is that Uberto is using the whole “I’m doing it for my family” to hide his greed and thirst for power but that would be a bit boring so we’ll go down the ‘a good man wishing to avenge his family’s misfortunes’ route instead).

So Desmond would want to protect his new family (especially if he has younger siblings). When they get evicted, Desmond understood why Uberto did what he did. Maybe add in the drama of the eviction being all of a sudden or not given any warning before they were evicted during a time when Firenze was having ‘money problems’.

Desmond knew that the Templars would contact Uberto then and tried to stop Uberto from saying yes to the Templars but he’d say that this was their only choice if they wish to protect their family.

(If you really wanna drive in a conundrum, one of Desmond’s siblings or his mother falls ill during this time and the financial support the Templars gave them is what kept them from dying or maybe said mother/sibling was already ill and almost died had it not been for the Templars’ money)

In the end, Desmond tries to leave the Auditores alone but, instead, Ezio found him and started to talk to him. Desmond couldn’t help but form a bond with Ezio anyway, maybe become a close friend who doesn’t really like to be seen with others.

Ezio knows Desmond spend most of his time caring for his ailing sibling/mother, and he remembers Petruccio so he has a soft spot for Desmond.

Anyway…

Uberto still becomes a Templar and Desmond tries to undermine him, first by trying to save the decoded message that Giovanni needed but that failed because Uberto knew that Desmond was trying to stop him so he’s become more ‘suspicious’. He never scolds Desmond though and he understands what his son is doing so he tells Desmond to continue to try and stop him…

“This way… no matter which sides wins, our family will be safe.”

And Desmond realized then and there that Uberto was ready to die if it meant their family would be safe and financially secured.

In the end…

Desmond helped Giovanni, Federico and Petruccio escape by unlocking their cage and telling them that Uberto’s a Templar. Desmond begs Giovanni to not kill Uberto, that he’ll be able to make Uberto understand that they have failed and they’ll leave Firenze, hell, they’ll leave all of Italia, just…

“Please… don’t kill padre.”

Giovanni promises not to kill Uberto if they leave Firenze as soon as possible.

And Desmond is able to persuade Uberto to do just that, telling him that revenge means nothing if it would lead to his death.

Now.

The happy ending would be that Desmond and Ezio would see each other and there will be this strain in their friendship because of Uberto’s betrayal that they will slowly get past.

But…

The more angst-filled route would be…

Lorenzo wants all the conspirators of the Pazzi conspiracy to be killed and Uberto was one of them. He orders Giovanni to kill Uberto and Giovanni tried to say no, at first, only to acquiesce once Lorenzo reminded him who he was ‘allies’ with.

Desmond finds an Assassin standing in front of his father’s bleeding corpse and the darkness and his shock made it hard for him to see the Assassin clearly.

All he knows…

… was that the Assassin was wearing Ezio’s robes…

In this setup, Desmond would be torn between wanting to take vengeance or being the person to cut the noose of revenge that keeps looping and looping around all of them.

His trust in the Auditores would be destroyed and Desmond would want to believe that it wasn’t Ezio, that maybe it was Giovanni or even Federico but a part of him would whisper that it could have been Ezio. Ezio wasn’t there when Desmond begged for his father’s life.

Last time he saw Ezio, he was wearing those robes…

And Desmond can’t…

… will not kill Ezio even if a part of him wished to avenge Uberto’s death.

They had no reason to kill him.

His family had exiled themselves away from Firenze, living as normal farmers of all things.

He…

He needed to know the truth.

And, once he knows it…

That’s when he’ll decide how to end this chain of vengeance.

With blood spilled… or not.

#it’s giovanni #giovanni’s the one who killed uberto #but desmond can’t be sure #his grief and desire for answers and vengeance is messing with his eagle vision #ezio has no idea that his father killed desmond’s father #federico told him desmond saved them and talked his father out of this entire thing #ezio misses desmond #but he also knows it’s better if they don’t see each other anymore #ezio and giovanni are wearing similar robes #too similar that desmond’s vague bleed memories think they’re the same #i don’t know what else to add #uuuhhh #lorenzo is just trying to avenge the death of his brother?#i guess?#no one is absolutely evil in this one #no #desmond won’t be a templar #his hatred for the borgias would not allow that #ask and answer #assassin's creed #desmond miles #ezio auditore #fic idea: assassin's creed #teecup writes/has a plot #uberto alberti

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