#Gavin is not as evil as people make him out to be

[reedeemable]

I know and I fucking love it!

i love when i remember gavin is gen z like yesss girl we hate ai fuck them robots slay

also yes lets fuck the robots

[overthinkingtaleblr]

Bad news I’m thinking about the League of Legends au I started again.

I’m probably giving Gavin a pirate story.

[ot3]

Just curious, what’s your opinions on Kristoph and Phoenix? I see you reblog ship posts about them sometimes and I’m really curious about your opinions on their dynamic both inside and outside of ship stuff, because I didn’t really know how to interpret Kristoph in particular. I think he’s one of the worse villains in AA tbh, it’s been a while so I may be misremembering, but I just didn’t… get that much substance from him?

kristoph is certainly a really hard character for me to fully develop an opinion on in isolation. i think the only area where i'm capable of saying anything about him i can back up with significant references to the text is in regard to his relationship with phoenix, because that's where the meat of his character interactions are. and more broadly because as a #phoenixhead my primary means of looking at the entire franchise is how things relate to phoenix. if you'd like to read about my interpretation of phoenix and kristoph's relationship more specifically i've got a post on that subject here. i think it's a character dynamic that has a TON going for it relative to the screentime if you're able to disregard fanon and look directly at what's in the text.

but more on kristoph individually

kristoph suffers from the same thing that all of aa4's major characters and plotlines do: not getting another game. there was clearly more to the gavin brothers' story we didn't get and will never get, and knowing that there's Something there we have absolutely no means of predicting or unraveling makes it hard to theorize. he kind of exists in a quantum state for me where i can see a ton of alternate perspectives on his character's complexities and just buy whichever one i'm feeling at a given moment. i personally wouldn't say he lacks substance because every interaction he has with any other character is, imo, very compelling and gives me a lot to chew on. but he's a character that's all questions and no real conclusions for sure.

i don't think he's a cackling machiavellian serial abuser. i think hes easily the kind of person who has the capacity to be emotionally abusive and manipulative to the people closest to him without being Pure Evil. because we have so little on him it's very easy to portray kristoph as the kind of sinister that provides whatever OP's favorite flavor of angst is. and i'm certainly no exception to that; i just happen to be a person who is into maybe some subtler flavors.

he's both one of ace attorney's most calculated villains, with poisoning vera's nailpolish being an incredibly cold maneuver that suggests a lot of foresight, and one of ace attorney's most brutal murderers, capable of getting aggressive enough in a moment to bludgeon a man to death with a bottle. i think kristoph can be understood as a character whose primary motivation is control, both over himself and others. there's that critical line in turnabout succession where he tells klavier he's out of control, and klavier says "whos control? mine, or yours?" his reputation is built on his ability to stay calm under pressure, and his ability to stay calm under pressure is built on his tendencies to preemptively engineer situations in his favor. the stuff with phoenix and the gramarye case represents what we can presume to be the biggest failure of his career.

i think this puts him very much in line with AA1's main villains. people like to compare him to dahlia a lot for obvious reasons and there's some fun to be had there but i think it lets people overlook how well he ties into AA1. redd white controlled the press and controlled the judges to get away with his blackmail ring. von karma controlled the witnesses to engineer his perfect cases. damon gant controlled the police and the evidence, and then controlled lana to control the prosecution. although those were all one-case villains i think kristoph justifies his larger scope in aa4 by the significant and longstanding personal connections he has to the rest of the main cast. kristoph represents the mirror image of those AA1 villains; aa1 shows the way the deck is stacked against the defense. kristoph shows what it looks like when someone tries to stack it in the other direction

i think kristoph plays an important part in the larger franchise by showing what corruption looks like from the defense's bench, and how this corruption takes a different cadence when it lacks the systemic power that the villains like gant had. i think his cold, calculated approach to defense works well as a foil to the type of defending we saw from phoenix who is all heart and charges in head first. i think apollo works well representing a sort of compromise between the two, being a little bit shrewder than phoenix but no less earnest. i think klavier, then, as a prosecutor who is much less aggressive than the previous 3 both personally and professional serves to further invert the expectations set by the trilogy in a way that's really satisfying.

is kristoph missing some pretty critical backstory that i would love to see? yeah. absolutely. but i think when you look at him as a story device rather than an underdeveloped character he adds a tonnnnn to the series. that said, i will die wondering.

[nyarumitsu]

i'm incredibly weak for the unhealthy family/siblings dynamic that's anything but black and white. i love it when there are actually happy memories and moments the family can look back to which make the heartbreak of learning that Your Family Sucks even more depressing because they weren't always like that. something in them changed for the worst.

i love this when i apply it to the von karma family especially when it comes to manfred, who i believe was actually not too bad of a father until over time he just started getting more and more cruel and withdrawn from himself and his children. but, i also want to apply it to kristoph... we know nothing about him and klavier, we know nothing about their family. but still, anyone with two eyes could tell that klavier respected and idolized his older brother.

he grew his hair out to look like his, and was genuinely looking forward to his first ever trial against him. he always listened to kristoph and never really felt the need to go against him until turnabout succession. this could probably read as manipulation from kristoph's side and probably is not gonna lie, but i'd love to believe that kristoph really was a great older brother. that the only person who could ever have space in his crooked heart would be his younger brother, klavier.

which would just make it all the more devastating that klavier has to face the reality that yeah, his older brother sucks. he's a criminal. he's a murderer. he used him as a means to get rid of this other attorney he had a massive hatred for. but, his brother loved him. which makes it WORSE!!!

i love paralleling the von karmas and the gavins because, they've been fooled for so long. it just wouldn't occur to them so easily that these people they looked up to were actually Evil Brutal Murderers. and that's how the world views them as. the world will view manfred von karma as an evil murderer with no remorse for killing his adopted kid's biological father and an incredibly corrupt prosecutor. the world will view kristoph gavin as an evil murderer with no remorse for disbarring phoenix wright and getting rid of anyone who gets in his.

but miles, franziska, and klavier will always know of the times and little moments of when they weren't those people. and when they couldn't possibly have been that kind of person. they know that, somehow, they were loved by these people. that in those cruel hearts they have, they still somehow made space for them.

[tuerescringe]

D.A.M.N Crew Headcanons:

(inspired by me and my friends)

- Lasko does this bit where he fully freaks out for like 2 seconds max and then acts completely normal and like nothing happened. He especially does this in very quiet and serene moments.

- Damien has one specific class that he despises and will, no matter what, always mention how much he hates it at least once a day.

- Huxley has a specific time frame where he will laugh at everything and anything and in these moments of hysteria he will send whatever he finds funny to the gc. Nothing he sends is funny the morning after.

- If someone mentions drawing an original character, Gavin will always respond with “Draw them naked.”

- When watching a movie together, Damien and Freelancer GRIP each other by the arm whenever something exciting happens. That or when they find a character attractive.

- Freelancer and Huxley both LOVE to make jokes about very mundane things. Shit like responding with “Me in the morning.” whenever someone says something along the lines of “I got up.” or “I feel awake.”

- Damien giggles whenever he thinks of doing something particularly evil.

- Almost everyone in the crew participates in the group wide bit of leaning in for a kiss whenever they say the same thing as each other at the same time, or when they find out they have a mutual interest/hobby. The only one who doesn’t participate is Lasko. If anyone leans in towards him he starts screaming.

- Everyone in the crew sends Damien pictures of angry cats with the caption “you.”

- Freelancer regularly describes things as “sloppy”, everyone else hates it.

- Everyone in the crew shares vocal stims

- Sometimes Huxley will randomly announce “GUYS GROUP HOWL.” Everyone will in fact howl.

- Damien is constantly harassed by the crew about his lack of whimsy.

- Gavin has a very consistent bit where he responds to pictures of caverns, jagged holes, ect. with “my pussy tbh.”

- Freelancer is referred to as “my friend who is 25” because they faked their age on the internet as a child. They were 11.

- Freelancer made a discord server for the crew and gave everyone the “kitten” role. Everyone hates it.

- Damien plays Valorant and it makes him so incredibly toxic. It is the only game that does that.

- Lasko’s stomach cannot handle SHIT. He will be running to the bathroom no matter what he eats.

- Freelancer had a very strict “no kissing at the academy until after 8 in the morning” rule.

- The crew loves taking pictures of Lasko’s forehead.

- “One must imagine Sisyphus ___” is an ongoing joke in the crew.

- LASKO IS SO SO SWEATY.

- Lasko also purposely touched people with his cold, sweaty, clammy hands. Everyone always screams.

- There is one professor in the academy that everyone in the crew either has a crush on or is fascinated by.

- Huxley’s mothers keep sending him little ceramic frogs. No they will not be stopping.

- Sometimes Freelancer jokingly goes “y’know what. I don’t even love you anymore.” In which Gavin responds with “thats not even truuUUEEEEEEEE” in an absolutely devastated tone.

- Everyone in the crew is obsessed with the name “Scuntle Bingoid” and names every object or animal some sort of variation of it.

[kickthecan-revolution]

So there's going to be a lot of rambly posts from me. Feel free to skip.

One other insight I have today is how big of a difference between self-flagellation and humility. A massive Grand Canyon of difference. Humility makes it easier to read and listen to hard truths and there's a kind of liberation within it that isn't about the sender of the message, but the message itself and how it resonates. I've always treated Tumblr like a journal, people reading it isn't something I initially think about, though I like validation just like anyone else. I guess that's why there's always so many typos in what I write, I do it quickly, spilling whatever I am thinking or feeling into the entry, rarely even going back and reading it again. But the people do matter, you all are a big part of my offline thought and I take what you say seriously.

One thing I'm reading on repeat today is the danger of separation. I see the "if you voted for Trump, remove yourself from my life". The 4B movement. To me, these are both symptoms of panic where the easiest and safest thing to do is make the world smaller and more secure. I had a moment like that yesterday, the contractor who is helping me with Alki told my sister what an impassioned Trump supporter he is and how thankful he is that he won. I instantly wanted to fire him, I didn't want him anywhere near my house. And then quickly after that, I thought about how kind he is in so many ways, how much he loves my sister and how complicated his life is - he's shy, not confident with others and would likely not rate super high on the IQ scale. He's a lot of things but I felt repulsed to let him into my house, and then I was grossed out by my reaction.

So really, how much of my rage is grounded in empathy and what parts aren't. What am I really afraid of? Yes, I'm afraid of a cancer reoccurrence and not being able to get health care and there's no way I will never not be able to afford insurance. I own two homes - my fear isn't grounded in reality. I'm not as vulnerable. I'm scared of evil and a lot of the evil in Conservative Christianity, in white men and women freaks me out, so I know I am reacting to that being in control of a lot. Trying to be honest about all of this is the only path out of it.

I also live in a State where gay marriage was just embedded into our State constitution and we voted for Harris but we're just fine with imprisoned people working for nothing and we didn't pass minimum wage. And now Gavin Newsom is picking a fight with Trump when our state wants to penalize shoplifters more who are literally stealing to survive from companies that primarily care about shareholder value, mine included. So what is liberalism anyway? What is a "Blue" state? If you really read, a lot of Trump supporters voted because they can't afford groceries. And why wouldn't you blame people in charge for that. I door dash a lot of food and eat it over a couple of days, I waste less that way but I'm cooking more and bought some stuff to make a bolognese sauce. The ground beef was THIRTY DOLLARS for 1.5lbs. I can afford it - what about people who can't? Does anyone understand a tariff? I'd venture a guess that just as many Harris supporters don't understand how it works and how we'll pay for it as Trump supporters.

I feel pretty powerful in my hatred. It keeps me safe. It also keeps me pretty deluded. This is a lot to unpack and the loss is big enough where these insights won't be fleeting.

[6-atlas-6]

Why do we all collectively never talk about Vega in depth (Imp! or not). Like he's so understanding and patient for no reason. He's genuinely so caring as well even if it's just for specific people

Examples

"I want to see you. Not that name badge you wear. Not that facade you drape yourself in." - getting closer to a sadistic demon

"As if I'd join up in their ranks after their treatment of you, and all the other demon department officers" - under a sadistic demons care

"is that department of yours hellbent on stripping you of everything that makes you a demon? How much else of yourself have you had to abandon to fit in with them? Well, thank you for sharing this true part of yourself with me" - under a sadistic demons care

Let's also talk about how sad he is as a character in general, or at least the potential he has to be a sad character

"You remain the only person in that god forsaken containment facility that expressed anything toward me other than resentment, fear, or disgust." - under a sadistic demons care

Notice how he called Warden a person.

I feel like it's been recognized how incubi (Gavin specifically) are used to not experiencing actual love because they are seen for what they feed off of and nothing else, but Vega is mentioned to be in the exact same situation and barely anyone talks about it.

He mentions multiple times how he's shocked when someone isn't afraid of him or immediately hates him. I feel like it's glossed over because he doesn't seem too upset by it, but if you really pay attention he definitely is. Both of his listeners in the normal universe and in the imperium have one thing in common, and that is that they were both generally unafraid of Vega, and did not hate him right off the bat which seems to be important to Vega and the reason why he liked them in the first place.

ALSO notice how in the imperium and I'm the normal universe Vega gives his listeners an excuse for being with him that both involve blaming him for everything? Even though he (presumably) dislikes being hated by everyone he has no problems with his listeners making him out to be the bad guy in a situation. I don't care what you think about Vega or his relationship with warden, that is caring for someone at its finest.

"I am born of cruelty but that isn't all I am" - this line may have been from the imperium but I think it suits both versions of him so well

‼️ Disclaimer: I am not defending his prior actions but I am begging people to stop characterizing him as just some evil villain when he has so much more depth to him.

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

since i’d already played the original trilogy approximately seven million times in french, i finally got round to playing french apollo justice instead. just finished it and hoooo boy was this localisation just as interesting

just like in the og trilogy, the entire thing now takes place in france (presumably paris, though they didn’t specify in this one). at least there aren’t earthquakes this time so it doesn’t feel quite as surreal.

apollo’s “i’m fine!” catchphrase is now “tout va bien !” which means “everything’s fine!”

some of the names have been translated again. for example, trucy is now called “Vérité” which not only is the french form of the english name “Verity”, but it also is the literal french word for “truth”, which gives some dialogues a double meaning whenever they’re discussing the truth. “Vous dites... la vérité... Apollo Justice... ?”

they did not change lamiroir’s name. they did however change machi tobaye to “Tomas Kashkash”, make of that what you will

in the first case, phoenix and kristoph use formal pronouns when addressing each other in court, and informal pronouns outside of court, which is fun. by the final case they’re exclusively using formal pronouns since their friendship has pretty much ended. (it’s a similar case with klavier and daryan, who switch to formal pronouns when they’re trying to be serious/professional and when their friendship starts to splinter.) (apollo and trucy use informal pronouns on each other pretty much the whole way through.)

trucy says “Mééééééé !” a lot

she also calls apollo “Pollo”

wocky kitaki (”Willy” in french) is my fricking favourite oh my god. he speaks in such verlan-ified slang i had to painstakingly decipher every single thing he said. i love him. when he said “sakom” i felt that ��✊ he’s nigh-incomprehensible just like he was in the english version. absolute king.

in order to make wocky so iconic they apparently had to sacrifice klavier though, because in this version he is english. ENGLISH. AS IN, FROM ENGLAND. usually the french localisation takes its cues from the english version so i thought they’d keep him german, and then when he started calling people “miss” instead of “Fräulein” i thought maybe they’d made him american, like he was in the original japanese version, but NO IT TURNS OUT HE’S JUST ENGLISH??? LIKE FROM ENGLAND????? U WOT M8 JOLLY GOOD OLD CHAP CHEWSDAY INNIT????? I’M FROM ENGLAND, THIS IS THROWING ME OFF TOO MUCH

and they didn’t even commit to the englishification!! he barely says any english stuff at all! he sometimes says “miss” or “mister” and that’s... about it? he doesn’t even have any “Achtung, baby!” equivalent!! he calls apollo “M. Grand Front” which yeah means basically the same thing as herr forehead but it’s entirely in french so what’s the point?? god if you were gonna curse him by making him from freaking england then at least go all the way?? at least his “Objection !” sounds cool i guess...

and his name is “Konrad” in this version. that’s fine because “clavier” means “keyboard” in french (like the thing you type on) so i get that it would have sounded silly. but imo they should have gone in the opposite direction and picked a random english word to name him then. they should have named him Stapler or something. why’d they give him a normal name. he is Stapler Gavin in my heart

ema calls him “minet pailleté” btw which yeah pretty much just means glimmerous fop. (she studied in england too in this version WHY THE FRICK IS EVERYONE ENGLISH)

there were some fun french puns, such as calling phoenix apollo’s “mentor” (french for “mentor”, if you couldn’t guess) and then calling him “menteur” which means liar and sounds very similar

“I killed a man named “Smith” with a bottle because I am an evil human being.”

[teddyniffler]

Matt, forever being mistaken or symbolised as Satanic, when he's just the leader of the Five.

Matt's power just makes us sick

We can't really blame poor Mrs Green here. Imagine an 8 year old boy telling you a creepy account on how his parents were going to die today. You would be a little alarmed that such a young child has such things in his head, but you'd never take him seriously... until the police turn up at your house with the exact same account he told you. Then you'd be terrified too of this black-haired, blue-eyed boy. It would make anyone sick to their stomach. Poor Matt, even at 8 people were scared of him.

Everyone move out of the way of the scary Gatekeeper.

If you recall, Matt had already blown up the old chandelier during lunch a few days earlier. Then, in the heat of the moment, he threatened Gavin with his powers again. At this moment in the book, Matt had used his precognition power to get everyone to safety, but everyone is scared of him.

Cold church and flickering candles. A satanic presence enters the church.

But it's just Matt, well, an echo of him. I have always wondered about this scene, if it really was linked to The Old Ones rather than an innocent encounter with Matthew Freeman himself. Scarlett was the only member of the Five still alone at this point and desperately waiting for the other Five to find her. Was this an innocent echo of Matt, brought on by her longing to meet the others, or was it the Old Ones—the cold being the clue? Either way, it makes Matt look eerie with the flickering candles and noiseless steps.

The devil boy

Did these soldiers forget the horrific things they’ve just done to Matt and the other people? Seeing Matt use his powers, knowing he knew it would end human life, was a turning point for his characte; However you can’t call him a devil boy when you yourself are committing worse acts of evil.

[controversial-blorbo-bracket]

Controversial Character Tournament Round 2: Kristoph Gavin from Ace Attorney vs Tom Paris from Star Trek: Voyager

(remember that these characters are fictional and your fellow tumblr users are real. i will block you if you harass others in the notes, please consider sending your unhinged harassment to my inbox instead)

Propaganda under the cut, may contain spoilers:

Kristoph Gavin:

LOVE: - "[Major apollo justice spoilers] Listen listen listen, you ever just, commission fake evidence someone will slip the defense just so you can tip off your brother (the prosecution) so you can get that defense attorney disbarred? Dyou ever then just spend 7 years being that guys best friend, confidant and dinner buddy??? To the point where when you kill his daughters birth father you're his defense but you're secretly trying to fail. And dyou leave the fans wondering if this was 4D chess to ruin the man he accidentally got obssessed with or because the poisoning he orchestrated years prior was SO well done he never got found out and he kinda wants credit for it??? Anyways. You ever think about how he's got a skull shaped scar on his hand that never gets explained, or that he has connections to TWO of the main characters, nay THREE, BUT THIS NEVER GETS EXPLORED BCUZ THE GAME JUST DOESNT HAVE THAT MUCH STORAGE???? He's undoubtedly a fucked up little fancy man, and ace attorney fans either don't care about him or Hate him or Love him or love to hate him." HATE: - "Ruined the life of MY blorbo (Phoenix Wright) 👎👎👎 Also literally just evil for no reason. Wakes up every day and decided to be the worst version of himself. I can respect the choice to wear nail polish tho. I hate him but a lot of people in the fandom like him (carnally) so whatever" - "Gosh I hate this man so much but it's so much fun to do it. Ruined at least one life and killed at least three people because...idk egotistical control freak? Then proceeded to hang around the guy whose life he ruined like a weird psychological experiment for 7 years before deciding to frame him for murder. Look at those smug glasses. I hate him"

Tom Paris:

HATE: - "he's a whiny little nepo baby that's finally facing serious repercussions and then circumstances make him be the pilot of the ship. and he doesn't deserve b'elanna. also he has weird lizard babies with the captain one episode. yuck."

[workingforitallthetime]

i recently watched roadhouse (the jake gyllenhaal version) and it is very silly and very enjoyable, and i would like an au.

seamus’s grandfather dies and leaves him a bar in the florida keys. seamus immediately receives a massive offer to purchase the bar from a powerful local businessman, but he’s somehow reluctant to let the place go. he and gavin make a trip to the keys to check the place out.

they’re not as close as they used to be; they’re both at a crossroads in their respective lives; etc. they go fishing. the water is impossibly blue. something about seeing seamus in his element, here at the end of the world, florida but not really the florida that used to be theirs together, stirs something for gavin. “i think you should make a go of it,” he tells seamus, and seamus says “i will if you’ll help,” which is kind of what gavin was hoping he’d say.

the bar’s a disaster. accounts in disarray, hassles from the health department, a rough crowd that keeps getting out of hand. seamus gets increasing offers from the guy who’s pressuring him to sell. but now this is his and gavin’s place, and every morning they sit in the sun and have coffee on the deck of the dilapidated houseboat they’ve rented. seamus feels like he’s starting to find himself and maybe starting to find gavin too, and he’s not selling this bar.

gavin’s the one who takes the drastic step of offering a princely salary to a morally dubious former mma fighter to come be their bouncer. they’re about to lose their insurance if they can’t curb the violence at the bar. ryan leonard is vehemently not interested but after some sparkling banter with gavin he decides he’s in.

as leno settles into life in the keys and starts kicking ass at the bar, he encounters gabe (a doctor at the local hospital where leno keeps showing up with the wounded in the aftermath of bar fights). he takes gabe to dinner. they flirt. there’s sparks.

leno also encounters will, who leno thinks has some innocuous job in tourism. unbeknownst to leno, will is the son of the local business magnate who has his eye on the bar and is behind the campaign of violence that’s pressuring seamus to sell to him. if leno was aware of this he would not have started fucking will, but too late now.

leno beats up a series of thugs sent by will’s father to cause chaos at the bar. their identities are not important but they are all played by random nhl people whose behavior i loathe (trouba, mackinnon, marchand, wilson, etc.) one of them gets eaten by a crocodile. maybe they all do, because this is my story and i can have jacob trouba eaten by a crocodile as a treat.

also the tkachuks are involved but in a fun way. like, leno breaks up a fight but it’s matthew and brady fighting each other and somehow they all end up pals.

in the movie there’s one “villain” who’s the trump card of violence that the business magnate brings to town bc he’s supposed to be the only person who can take out leno. i put villain in quotes bc this character is played by conor mcgregor, and he’s a lot of fun and you are kind of rooting for him even as he and leno are fighting each other to the death. in my story this character is played by matt rempe.

there’s a climactic scene on the water with a boat chase and an exploding yacht and gabe is taken hostage by the evil interests. when leno comes to save gabe, will greets him on the deck of the yacht and that’s the big reveal that he’s the son of the evil business owner.

idk how that love triangle resolves, but the rule is that snakes don’t get happy endings, so the happy ending is leno exploding the yacht and leaving a chest of the bad guy’s money at the bar for gavin and seamus and the two of them kiss and live happily ever after. in the final scene the bar is repaired and thriving and they’re both working there wearing t-shirts that say roadhouse on the back.

[aydaptic]

I imagine that being a Gavin fan when the dbh fandom was in its early stages must have been exhausting. I've been scrolling through dbh blogs, just to catch up on what I've missed out on and occasionally I'll come across posts like "if you like Gavin you're [insert stupid insult here]" or "Gavin is the personification of evil and if you even watch a single scene with him in it without feeling hatred, then you're [insert another stupid insult here]"

Following you, I've realised that Gavin is honestly not a bad guy. Yeah, he's not the most positive/friendly guy in the world but that doesn't make him evil. The only time we've seen him in a bad light is when he's interacting with something he does not like ex. androids, hank (both of which he has valid reasons for not liking). When he's not with either of them, he's pretty alright. Even Neil has said that if you met Gavin in a bar or something, he, at the very least, would be polite to you.

I know it's been said before but people can dislike Gavin (everyone is entitled to disliking who they want) but looking back, I believe that the hatred he received was so unnecessary.

If any of those people could have just looked beyond "he hurt my fave/disliking him for moral points", they would have seen that too.

This is why I'm happy that reed900 became so popular. Not only because it showed that there were people who wanted to delve deeper into Gavin's character but it also created a huge headache for everyone who hated him.

As someone who has been a Gav fan since launch day -- May 25th, 2018 -- I can confirm that it was indeed exhausting. I admit I'm biased, though. It was worse for me for reasons I'll get into down below.

There's still a lot of undeserved vitriol towards him posted on the regular, but my having muted 90% of the fandom makes it not nearly as noticeable. Ofc I can't avoid them all bc the amount of shit he gets always slips through the net. His haters are that obsessed with him (...which is not only pathetic but hilarious as well.)

Several ppl have told me that I was the one who made them see the layers involved when it comes to Gav. Hearing that warms my heart. It makes me feel like I'm doing something useful in this fandom.

As for my personal bias, I've been told multiple times by multiple ppl that I remind them of Gav. It made me realize that's one of the main reasons why I defend the guy. If you don't like Gav, you wouldn't like me, so I -- in the beginning -- took the hatred for him personally. Thus it was extra exhausting to have negativity constantly aimed at me (in theory) as an individual.

I feel the same way he does. I'm pissed at Hank and wouldn't stay quiet knowing that he gets special treatment from Fowler. I dislike Con and would try to stop him in The Interrogation/Last Chance, Connor. I dislike AI. I wouldn't believe androids were alive. I'm terrified of losing my livelihood, etc. I could make a list with dozens of things he and I have in common (even the smallest/unusual things like being unable to wink with one eye bc I can't do that either, lol.)

I share your amusement on his haters having to deal with not only Gav's popularity, but also Reed900. I'd say that's karma.

[iridescentoracle]

The Klavier Problems Post

so. i talked about a bunch of things in that post i made earlier about how to fix apollo justice (the game though also the character) including all the little things i would do but the two big changes i think are needed to fundamentally fix this game are 1) making apollo’s inscrutable asshole mentor a separate character from phoenix wright 2) make klavier gavin an actual goddamn person.

and i talked about #1 at length last time, so here’s the post about #2.

so, klavier gavin. i keep trying to come up with metaphors that don’t feel too clunky to actually use in a sentence and not being satisfied but to me he is several pieces of cardboard lovingly painted and assembled to make roughly half the shape of a person, held together by three staples and a prayer. what’s there is great! it’s just. not an entire character.

conceptually he’s fantastic. an actually nice and helpful prosecutor? WILD. absolute galaxy brain development. who knew you could have one of those. an apparently nice and helpful prosecutor who has ties to the game’s main villain and so might be playing the long game, leaving the audience and potentially protagonist suspicious and unsettled the whole time, only to eventually prove himself genuinely a good person when things get desperate? excellent twisty fun, and provides obvious and delightful room for things to get interesting and complex.

and even in practice, there’s parts of that that are genuinely executed well! there’s at least a half-dozen points over the course of 4-2 and 4-3 where he clearly knows what’s really going on and gives apollo the opportunity to figure it out/prove it when he could’ve just gone for an easy win. he actually plays way more fair than literally any other prosecutor so far up to and including edgeworth in the matt engarde case! he’s way more forthcoming with info during investigation segments than anyone else would’ve been, both directly and by providing access to crime scenes apollo was otherwise blocked from, and i swear during the first trial especially he, like, hand-fed apollo the win. that’s FASCINATING and so so different from anything we’ve seen before, i love it.

the problem is… kind of the everything else? or like, that there isn’t anything else. he’s set up to be this massively complex character who actually has by far the most difficult/horrible time over the course of the game, and the writers just… forgot to actually put the complexity in.

he’s got all the pieces of an amazing character—this consummate performer who’s always putting on a show, perpetually performing who he wants to be and how he wants his audience to see him, hiding his true feelings from everyone around him, that’s great, that’s always a good time. someone genuinely good-hearted and honest who truly believes in justice and doing the right thing and playing fair so sincerely and completely that they can’t even see that the people they love are secretly evil? again, that’s great! i love that! that’s so compelling!!

but like. [padme amidala meme voice] okay so he’s a consummate performer who hides all his feelings. he does have actual feelings, though, right? okay so he’s genuinely sincerely good and honest and kind and would pick justice and truth over letting his loved ones get away with murder if forced to make that choice? again, he does have feelings about that, though, right? that’s not an easy choice to make?

and while i do love the introduction of a prosecutor who plays fair and is nice and friendly instead of [literally every other prosecutor in the entire series both before and after this game], it’s really fucking weird how chill he is about interacting with apollo and trucy. like. really fucking weird. why are they all so normal about each other? why is klavier so chill about helping his brother’s ex-employee who proved his brother was a murderer and the daughter of the man his brother framed for said murder? like. even if he’s all Professional™ to the point of managing to hide whatever he must be feeling just about his brother being a convicted murderer, how how HOW is he so normal whenever he’s interacting with apollo and trucy. it’s WEIRD it should be SO WEIRD where is the tension??

even more weirdly, why isn’t apollo weird about interacting with klavier gavin, in turn? even if we want to assume klavier is Just That Good at maintaining his persona, apollo is not a professional musician and doesn’t seem like a very good actor. he should feel extremely weird about this guy and he just… does not seem to. for that matter, trucy should feel weird too! that doesn’t need to be something the game actually digs into, it could be implied in passing that she’s also doing the performance thing and hiding all her actual emotions in favor of showing a carefully crafted persona to the world and that she only shows what she’s actually feeling to phoenix, in private, but NOPE not even vague implications in that direction really, she’s just. actually totally normal around klavier gavin and is a huge fan of the gavinners somehow??

but the weirdness (or rather, baffling lack thereof) doesn’t end with apollo and trucy.

again, not wanting to talk about/show how he feels about his brother for most of the game totally makes sense, he’s a consummate performer with a well-practiced facade etc etc, he isn’t even in 4-1 so by the time we meet him he’s already had time to practice being His Normal Professional Self. he’s got this. in my hypothetical rewrite he’s got this slightly less around apollo and trucy specifically because of their very specific personal connections but if we hear him talking to ema or to other people he’s definitely got this.

but in canon he literally finds out during a trial that one of his bandmates/good friends is also a murderer and a smuggler and was the one responsible for setting his guitar on fire which he was SUPER upset about earlier in the case, and his reaction to daryan’s confession is… playing air guitar and saying “you’re not in the band anymore btw.” there’s a couple minutes in the last case where he’s like “oh shit my brother committed a LOT more crimes than i thought actually” before he goes back to not caring. like, setting aside his expression bc limited number of sprites etc etc, based specifically on the actual dialogue he’s clearly distressed about the possibility of kristoph having been responsible for poisoning vera, apollo openly says “but you clearly think it is possible,” and then klavier is like “eh fuck it, i knew something awful was going on, yeah let’s make my brother testify” and… that’s it. air guitar time. kristoph spends half his time on the stand insulting/manipulating klavier/attempting to undermine klavier’s confidence in himself and it’s clearly working! until suddenly klavier’s like “haha yeah no it’s all good.” in the credits scene he compares the trial in which he found out his brother had attempted to kill at least three different people and he himself was partially complicit in kristoph being convicted, positively, to a rock concert.

like. there’s maintaining a professional facade and then there’s that.

he deserves to be so goddamn compelling. but like. in practice he’s not even a person. why doesn’t he CARE. why doesn’t he care kristoph is a murderer. why doesn’t he care apollo proved it. why doesn’t he care daryan is a murderer. why doesn’t he care kristoph is a murderer again, and also forged evidence and used klavier to ruin someone’s career and presumably would’ve used the forged evidence himself to win under false pretenses in klavier’s first case if he had the chance and and and. why doesn’t he care in the next game that his mentor got murdered. let him be a person with interiority i am begging.

but like. this is what i keep coming back to. i could fix it. i could fix him. not in the “oh i could fix him” generally-dating-related sense. more like the opposite of that actually. i could make him psychologically MUCH worse. but as a character he would actually be good.

it should’ve been such an amazing dramatic reveal/twist in the last case when the scope of kristoph gavin’s crimes begin to be revealed and klavier stays true. all game, he’s too nice and too helpful and apollo and trucy feel more than a little awkward interacting with him even though he’s always perfectly polite to them despite little hints of something darker underneath, moments when his perfect facade falters. he should keep apollo/the player off balance and unsure what to think of him, and we should suspect that he’s just as bad as kristoph but playing the long game even better.

and we get to the final case and realize kristoph gavin has been behind everything and at first klavier acts like he doesn’t believe it, and we brace ourselves for klavier to show his true colors and push the judge to end cross-examination and let kristoph get off scot-free even though we know he’s behind everything and we know klavier knows—

and then he doesn’t.

he hasn’t known all along, he wasn’t in on it, he’d adamantly repressed any suspicions he’d had all those years—so the gradual reveal that kristoph was behind everything is completely devastating, not least because he has to learn and process it all on the stand in front of everyone (not least both apollo and kristoph himself), and so the evidence builds, and finally, klavier has a whole entire breakdown of his own, that’s if anything longer and more dramatic than kristoph’s

and then he collects himself, and he apologizes, and he helps us win the case.

like

that would be

so goddamn compelling

and i genuinely don’t understand why that’s not what the game gave us. we were so close to getting that, why did he just brush it off? why didn’t he care?

so in the secret good version in my head, that’s what happens.

there should be differences in how he’s written outside the courtroom, too, though. like i said before, in canon, apollo-and-klavier and trucy-and-klavier should feel extremely fucking weird about interacting with each other and be varying levels of good at hiding it but none of them should be perfect, and i think it’s a major writing/characterization flaw that none of that is true. in this version, though, the situation is a little different: trucy could still potentially be a little weird around klavier gavin bc he’s kind of part of why her original dad abandoned her (and vice versa), but she doesn’t actually have to be.

because here’s the thing: in this au, klavier hasn’t done anything to phoenix at all except (if he didn’t take the whole seven years off for his band—which, given that he did still get someone disbarred thanks to his brother’s tip and probably still had weird feelings to repress about that, he might have!) potentially face him sometimes in court (where, as in canon, he’s an entirely fair and reasonable opponent who doesn’t resort to anything beyond lighthearted insults and is an extremely graceful loser, and in general is an absolutely delightful change of pace from the paynes or who-have-you), and while he is part of why trucy’s original dad left, that was as much (as far as she knows) the fault of shadi’s defense attorney for forging evidence instead of proving him innocent fair and square, and if her dad had actually cared he could’ve come back for her eventually, so while she probably isn’t sure about klavier right at first regardless, i think it would be plausible for her to not have any sort of a grudge by the time the game actually happens?

conversely, though, if phoenix stays a defense attorney he and edgeworth definitely get married within, like, a year, tops. so while trucy might not be weird about klavier, at least by the time the plot of the game kicks off, he’s kind of nervous around her, just like. not bc of the zak gramarye trial. because one of her dads is his boss.

but then that just makes any conversation trucy-and-apollo have with klavier that much more fun bc as far as trucy’s concerned, here’s that cool prosecutor who’s one of the nicest people she knows from her dads’ jobs! while klavier is slightly terrified but in a normal polite kind of way, and meanwhile trucy and apollo have their canon pseudo-siblings-because-they-don’t-know-they’re-biological-siblings dynamic, and finally klavier and apollo interacting is every bit as fucked up and tense as they should be about each other in canon bc oh my god you’re why my brother was exposed as a murderer and got sent to jail / oh god you’re my evil ex-boss’s younger brother, and how the hell do you talk to someone like that? because that’s what their dynamic should have been in canon and frankly we were robbed

nyquildriver: klavier being polite and helpful but obviously taken off guard frequently by these two would be so entertaining nyquildriver: it gives us the tension that we want while not being like, bizarre about it and resorting to like. flirtation? that feels weirdly like pandering nyquildriver: although klavier disguising his uneasiness with flirtation? that would be an interesting choice iridescentoracle: YES i actually love the idea of klavier flirting reflexively as like. a defense mechanism. when he’s stressed and doesn’t know how to respond he leans harder into the rockstar persona which includes flirting with everyone whether he remotely means it or not. it fits into what we do see of klavier in canon so well but like. turns him into more of a real person?

nyquildriver: honestly the pieces are there! they just didn't arrange them into a complete picture of a person, argh nyquildriver: after their first meeting apollo: what the fuck was that trucy: was he… into you? apollo: I don't think he was, which is why that was weird as hell??? nyquildriver: trucy's favorite running joke now is klavier flirting with apollo like he's a fan nyquildriver: she buys gavinners merch to plant on apollo/his things on the off chance that klavier sees it because the reaction should be hysterical nyquildriver: and that is worth giving up her allowance for however many years

iridescentoracle: god. and the like, deeply comedic irony that of literally everyone in the world who he could have this awkward and specific a relationship with, it just happens to be the one guy who can tell he absolutely does not actually mean the flirting and is perpetually accompanied by his sister who can also tell iridescentoracle: like, if apollo was ANYONE ELSE he might be able to actually pull off using Flirty Rockstar Klavier Gavin as a façade to get through interactions convincingly normally. but unfortunately, nyquildriver: and it would be a great way to keep the player off guard and suspicious of him too!

[mariacallous]

(J. Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — The City Council in Oakland, California, unanimously passed a resolution on Monday night calling for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, after listening to hours of intense and sometimes violently anti-Israel comments.

“It was the most antisemitic room I have ever been in,” said Tye Gregory, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area, who lives in Oakland.

The council meeting exploded into public view on Tuesday after Yashar Ali, the social media influencer, posted a highlights reel of some of the comments, in which speakers accused Israel of killing its own people on Oct. 7, defended Hamas as a legitimate protest group and compared defending Israel to a man who beats his wife.

The people in the video were among the more than 250 people who offered public comment during the special meeting devoted to the resolution, which lasted for six hours.

Among those commenting on the video was California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who tweeted, “Hamas is a terrorist organization. They must be called out for what they are: evil.”

The Oakland council resolution focused on a permanent ceasefire, which Israel and many of its supporters oppose because it would leave Hamas in power in Gaza. The measure also condemned a recent spike in antisemitism and Islamophobia, acknowledged the “long history” behind the current war and called for more humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza.

But it did not include a condemnation of Hamas. An effort by a Jewish council member, Dan Kalb, to amend the resolution to acknowledge Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and condemn the terrorist group for its “repression and violence” against both Palestinians and Israelis failed, in a 2-6 vote. One councilmember, Treva Reid, joined Kalb in voting for the amended version, saying she actually supported the unamended resolution but would not allow Kalb to “stand alone.”

“I’m very disappointed in my colleagues except for Treva,” Kalb said on Tuesday. He said the idea of passing a war-related resolution without mentioning the Hamas massacre that started the war didn’t make sense to him.

“Let’s condemn all domestic and international terrorist organizations — who can be against that?” Kalb said.

Kalb and Gregory said they would remember the hostile atmosphere inside the council chambers.

“What we voted on was not the rhetoric at the microphone,” Kalb said. “A substantial number of people were trying to justify or rationalize the Hamas mass murder on Oct. 7. To me, that is so fringe and unconscionable and ridiculous.”

People who tried to legitimize the terrorist attack “should be embarrassed,” he added. “That is just nuts.”

Before the meeting started, the JCRC held a vigil in front of City Hall for the estimated 240 people in Israel who were taken hostage on Oct. 7. (As of Wednesday, Hamas had released more than 90 hostages as part of a truce deal.) About 50 people attended the vigil, while a slightly larger group of protesters across the plaza shouted and chanted to try to drown it out.

Carroll Fife, the council member who wrote the ceasefire resolution, said at Monday’s meeting that the document went through four drafts in a purposeful effort to “depoliticize” the language and focus on peace, without condemning Israel or Hamas.

“It attempted to bring the sides together,” she said at the meeting. “I want Jewish children to live as much as I want Palestinian children to live.” Fife added that she needed to acknowledge the “disproportionate deaths on one side.” According to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry, about 15,000 Palestinians have died in the war; the figure does not differentiate between militants and civilians. Israel’s death toll stands at around 1,200 people killed on Oct. 7, most of them civilians, and about 70 soldiers who have died in Gaza since the ground invasion began late last month.

Kalb publicly thanked Fife for her “sincere effort to craft and support a resolution that doesn’t have the hot-button and problematic language that had weighed down other resolutions in other places.” But he said not mentioning Oct. 7 is “sending the wrong message and an embarrassing message.”

The city clerk noted that 86% of 1,254 people who weighed in on the issue online supported the resolution without any amendments.

The scores of anti-Israeli speakers who rejected amending the resolution ranged from passionate advocates for Palestinian children to conspiracy theorists to hardcore anti-Zionists who openly supported Hamas’ attack on Israel.

John Reimann, who lost his bid as a socialist candidate for Oakland mayor last year, compared Israel to a “wife beater” who complains when the wife fights back.

One Hamas supporter described Israel as a “genocidal settler colonial state” that needs to be “completely dismantled.” Others repeatedly described Hamas as a “resistance organization” and “not a terrorist” one.

“It’s a contradiction to be pro-humanity and pro-Israel,” one woman said.

Dozens of people who identified themselves as Jewish spoke at the council meeting, with many announcing they were anti-Zionist. Kalb said Israel supporters were “outnumbered.”

Anti-Zionist Jews wore “Not in our name” T-shirts and referenced the Holocaust in their opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza.

“I know the price of silence,” said one woman. “Never again means never again for anyone.”

Seated in the audience, Gregory said he repeatedly heard people referencing “white Hitler” to describe Jews who condemn Hamas and heard others saying that “antisemitism isn’t real.”

“I don’t expect maturity from these antisemites,” he said. “But it was disappointing the city council couldn’t rein in it.”

The council “failed to call out the antisemitism” in the chamber, Gregory said. “They tolerated it.”

The San Francisco-based Arab Resource and Organizing Center, which Gregory called a “pro-terrorism organization,” handed out scripts to speakers that “justified and glorified Hamas,” he said. Gregory added that JCRC had been cautious in the past about describing AROC as supporting terrorists. “Not anymore,” he said.

Councilmembers repeatedly told audience members to stop booing when Israel supporters were speaking. Speakers who mentioned Hamas raping Israeli women on Oct. 7 — an ascendant topic of advocacy given the relative silence by UN Women about allegations of sexual violence against Israelis — were loudly booed.

One pro-Israel speaker said she was deeply saddened by the “slurs and lies” against Israel and Jews.

Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, who is Jewish, used her time “in the spirit of bringing us back to our common humanity” by sharing the story of Isaac and Ishmael from the Bible. “Let them live, these two children of Abraham. So may it be,” she said.

Gregory spoke at the meeting in favor of Kalb’s amended resolution.

“I am proud to be a gay Jewish Zionist, and that means that I believe Jews have a right to our indigenous homeland. And that is not in contradiction to Palestinians having that same indigenous right,” he said. “Hamas is a terrorist organization that seeks the annihilation of Israel. This resolution must be amended to acknowledge the atrocities of Hamas and include its removal from power in Gaza.”

Even though Kalb’s effort to amend the resolution failed, he said he chose to vote in favor of the resolution because the final version didn’t include the “horrible, inaccurate, divisive language” that he’s seen from other local bodies such as the Richmond City Council, the Oakland Education Association and the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee.

Gregory said the city council’s resolution would have no impact on foreign policy but would help to spread a “culture of antisemitism” in Oakland.

“They should focus on policing and housing and education issues,” he said, “and not the most intractable foreign policy issue we have on the planet.”

[beevean]

🗝️ favorite antagonist?

I'm assuming from AA since we share the fandom :)

I love Dahlia. In a series where most villains are people in power, and we escalated from legendary prosecutors to chiefs of police to TV celebrities that hire assassins to international spies to straight up queens... Dahlia is just a normal woman. A woman so consumed by bitterness against everyone in her life that she spreads misery wherever she goes. A woman so determined to get her way that she cheated death out of spite. A woman who, in her sloppiness to cover up after herself, killed her step-sister, manipulated her "boyfriend" to kill himself on the stand, poisoned another man into a coma, traumatized her cousin, killed her ex to make him shut up, nearly poisoned her new boyfriend out of annoyance, and nearly killed her other cousin in the body of her mother/her own aunt. It's not like Von Karma or Ga'ran whose actions got the biggest consequences due to their reach: Dahlia simply would not stop. And this is not accounting for all the emotional cruelty she displays, like reveling in the idea that Maya might have killed herself because it makes Phoenix suffer. She's not a magnificent bastard the likes of von Karma and Kristoph Gavin, but her sheer hatred makes her a memorable foe.

AA uses the "sweet woman is secretly a bitch" trope a lot, ever since April May. But Dahlia goes above and beyond because she is genuinely scary. Yeah her spirit form is one of the creepiest moments in the OG trilogy, but this sprite alone

gives me chills. You know she is seething, but you don't see a thing, she's standing there, unmoving. It's worse than her white death glare, or her sneer.

And she has some badass lines too, like "And my profession? Permanently retired". (she apparently died a painful death, too...) Or man, how her first testimony in 3-5 after she revealed herself has her theme! And speaking of which, Distant Traces of Beauty is a beautiful piece that conveys so many emotions depending on the context! It sounds both sweet and empty. How do you do that?

Her design is 10/10 too. Her giant moe eyes look almost uncanny with how big and black they are (going by her original sprite, not the HD one). She's so pink and frilly, but her sash is floating, which is both unnatural and makes her look like a butterfly (I think they used this concept again for Nahyuta, but they could make it flutter for him lol). The red hair is... admittedly a bit of a tired trope to indicate an evil character lol, but considering that her entire family is made of black-haired people and some brunettes, it makes you wonder if she deliberately dyed her hair to distance herself from her mother's clan, that person who deemed her worthless...

also I just love this animation. it's neat. T&T has some great spritework.

Ah, I could go on. I love her. Fucked up evil woman with a tragic past that doesn't even begin to excuse all the awful things she has done 🥰 she deserved being roasted into oblivion 🥰

oh yeah simon keyes is also a fave of mine for similar reasons as to dahlia, except he didn't even personally hurt anyone. a king

[ae-neon]

Reading Throne of Glass (25-30)

Recap

Celaena has undergone a few Tests and while she's been able to maintain a middle place, she is beginning to worry about the difficulty of winning.

Her relationships with both Chaol and Dorian are progressing and Nehemia has insisted that she and Celaena meet up often to teach each other their languages.

She was excluded from the Samhuinn feast but found a secret tunnel in her room and followed it out to an escape route near the ocean. She chooses to stay and finish the competition to guarantee her freedom rather than run and be hated and hunted.

She returns to her room but...

Chapter 25

Celaena dreams she's back in the tunnels and takes a turn she avoided irl. She's lured along by the smell of roses which she's smelt irl in her room before. She's led to the tomb of some old king and queen.

There are wyrdmarks everywhere. Celaena figures out the tombs belong to Gavin and Elena the first king and queen of Ardalan from thousands of years ago. Elena was half Fae? (King Brannon's daughter, who is her mom, why is she half Fae will that matter?)

Elena Galathynius Havilliard. I see.

There's a legendary sword wielded by a human king who married an elf a Fae princess who was the daughter of an elf a Fae king of a forest kingdom.

The sword is called Damaris and hasn't rusted despite sitting there for a thousand years and it was used to slay the Dark Lord Erawan.

I feel some Tolkien inspo. Not a bad thing. Not even really an avoidable thing honestly. Just saying what I'm seeing.

The ghost of Elena tells Celaena that the gargoyles on the clock tower guard the portals between worlds (???)

“Something evil dwells in this castle, something wicked enough to make the stars quake. Its malice echoes into all worlds,” the queen went on. “You must stop it. Forget your friendships, forget your debts and oaths. Destroy it, before it is too late, before a portal is ripped open so wide that there can be no undoing it."

Elena gives Celaena an amulet for protection.

But—if there was a threat like that, then not only her life was at risk. And while she’d be more than happy if some dark force somehow destroyed Cain, Perrington, the king, and Kaltain Rompier, if Nehemia, or even Chaol and Dorian, were somehow harmed . . .

LEAVE KALTAIN ALONE YOU FUCKING PSYCHO??

Chapter 26

Another competitor is found dead. At this rate the competition should last half the time. The body was half eaten and Celaena jokes it was probably Cain.

She made herself grin at him. “Cain is the most likely candidate. You’re from Anielle—you should know more than anyone how they are in the White Fang Mountains.”

I get her not liking the man but her prejudice against these people is so wild???

After hearing the growls and inhuman sounds in her dream that wasn't a dream, she thinks whatever evil Elena was warning her about ate the dead competitor

She passes the body on her way to the library. Most of the organs are gone and someone had written wyrdmarks in blood on the wall.

Dorian and Chaol are sparring, they go back and forth about finding each other visiting Celaena's room in the middle of the night.

“Any word from your father?” Chaol asked in a voice that indicated he knew something was amiss. “I wonder where he went off to.”

Seeing as how Chaol supposedly sent word to the king, you'd think he knew 😑

Dorian’s blood went a bit cold. “You think they’ll try to kill Celaena?”

“I added some extra guards around her rooms.” “To protect her, or to keep her in?” (...) “What difference does it make?” Chaol said quietly. “You don’t seem to care either way. You’ll visit her no matter what I say, and the guards won’t stop you because you’re the prince.” There was something so defeated, so bitter, underlying the captain’s words that Dorian, for a heartbeat, felt badly.

Ouch. Poor Chaol.

Chapter 27

Late that afternoon, Celaena stared at the ebony clock tower. It grew darker and darker, as if it somehow absorbed the sun’s dying rays. On top of it, the gargoyles remained stationary. They hadn’t moved. Not even a finger. The Guardians, Elena had called them. But Guardians to what?

To the portals??

Nehemia warns Celaena to leave the wyrdmarks alone

Yulemas and the final duel are two months away

Does that mean Eyllwe is near the equator? If there's not snow in Eyllwe why is there snow in Ardalan? That the very least it should be quite hot in Ardalan most of the time, they literally border each other.

“Smeared?” Nehemia said, her voice dropping into a hush. “Not splattered?” SJM makes a point that Celaena isn't fluent in Eyllwe but this level of word use is expert??

Celaena and Nehemia get confronted by Cain, he reveals he knows everything about who Celaena is though Nehemia doesn't understand because it's in the common tongue. Nehemia looks out for Celaena and they walk away without making a scene.

Later, Chaol and Dorian are watching Celaena train. Dorian gets jealous of Celaena being close with Nox Owen.

Days later Celaena and Chaol are in the library and she's looking for information on the wyrdmarks

“No. Yes. It’s interesting: some theories suggest the Mother Goddess is just a spirit from one of these other worlds, and that she strayed through something called a Wyrdgate and found Erilea in need of form and life.”

(...)

“There’s an idea that before the Goddess arrived, there was life—an ancient civilization, but somehow, they disappeared. Perhaps through that Wyrdgate thing. Ruins exist—ruins too old to be of Fae making.”

Is this the same Mother of the acotar universe? Did she just go around creating worlds and starting religions?

Shouldn't Chaol be investigating the gruesome serial murders happening in the castle rather than guarding Celaena in the library?? Almost like he's the Captain of the Royal Guard or something

[wyrdgates] were both real and invisible things. Humans could not see them, but they could be summoned and accessed using the Wyrdmarks. They opened into other realms, some of them good, some of them bad. Things could come through from the other side and slither into Erilea.

Maybe the clock tower is a marker for a gate or something

It was a large black volume entitled The Walking Dead in tarnished silver letters. Lolol what the heck is this

Celaena reads from the black book that smells like soil and is giving her chills and spooky stuff starts to happen. She's hearing things. I like these horror elements and I wish sjm would lean into it

There was a scraping noise somewhere beneath her feet—close, as if someone were running a fingernail along the ceiling below. Celaena slammed the book shut and stepped away from the table. The hair on her arms rose, and she almost stumbled into the nearest table as she waited for something—a hand; a wing; a gaping, fanged mouth—to appear and grab her.

It was ...Chaol trying to ...scare her? Um what??

Chapter 28

Celaena is trying to play pool and failing and Dorian manages to sneak up on her again. One might think he was the world's greatest assassin.

Dorian is great at pool and Celaena isn't, I see where this is going.

Though it was the oldest and most shameless trick in the book, he reached over her and put his hand on top of the one that gripped the cue. He then positioned the fingers of her other hand on the wood before lightly gripping her wrist. To Dorian’s dismay, his face became warm. His eyes shifted to her, and, to his relief, he found that she was as red as he, if not more so.

After that we get a montage of them playing pool, eating cake and chatting the night away.

I get what sjm is doing, page time is limited - or at least it once was before everyone and their mom started publishing 800 page tomes of fantasy romance - but this isn't actually showing, it's telling.

We see Celaena's connection to Chaol, we can track the changes and levels of intimacy in their conversations from one to the next but again with Dorian it's a lot of "trust me" writing.

It's better from Dorian's pov because he notes things about her and genuinely wants to know more. But Celaena's pov is just "wow, Dorian is hot, wanna kiss him"

Chapter 29

Another Test, essentially just duels.

Context; Some random makes a remark about Celaena and Nox Owen defends her and it starts a little scuffle

Pelor, who had been lingering nearby, retreated a few steps. Smart move.

Added this just to highlight my fave. Pelor for the win.

Celaena loses her temper and absolutely owns the random dude in a spar without unsheathing her sword.

Kaltain Rompier POV

Across the castle, Kaltain Rompier clapped lightly as a troupe of acrobats finished their tumbling. The performance had stopped at last. She didn’t feel inclined to watch peasants bouncing about in bright colors for hours, but Queen Georgina enjoyed it, and had invited her to sit beside the throne today.

What if I told you Kaltain was against the exploitation of the working class lol

Kaltain is being bewitched. She suffers insane nightmares and migraines and swears she hears a voice in her head.

Kaltain and Georgina gossiping, I love them

“What a pity. I had hoped that you of all people would know. You’re such a clever girl, Kaltain.” “Thank you, Your Majesty. You are too kind.” “Nonsense. I’m an excellent judge of character; I knew how extraordinary you were the moment you entered the court.

Exactlyyy

Kaltain manages to get it out of Georgina that the Queen thinks Kaltain's beauty and wealth more than make up her lack in status - enough to even earn her approval to aim for Dorian.

Chapter 30

“You’re not focusing.” “Yes, I am!” Celaena said through her teeth, pulling the bowstring back even farther. “Then go ahead,” Chaol said, pointing to a distant target along the far wall of the abandoned hallway. An outrageous distance for anyone—except her. “Let’s see you make that.” She rolled her eyes and straightened her spine a bit. The bowstring quivered in her hand, and she lifted the tip of her arrow slightly. “You’re going to hit the left wall,” he said, crossing his arms. “I’m going to hit you in the head if you don’t shut up.” She turned her head to meet his gaze. His brows rose, and, still staring at him, she smiled wickedly as she blindly fired the arrow. The whiz of the arrow’s flight filled the stone hallway before the faint, dull thud of impact. But they remained gazing at each other.

See how different the Chaol x Celaena moments are? The reader is allowed to feel the chemistry for themselves.

It's suddenly 3 weeks since the last competitor's murder so a little over one month left until Yulemas and the final duel

Celaena tells Chaol that Cain knows who she is but they are interrupted to be told another body has been found. It's the random guy that she beat in the sparring Test.

At the crime scene Celaena turns into Sherlock Holmes despite her job not requiring this level of skill and Chaol turns into someone born yesterday with no deductive reasoning despite having been the lead investigator for all murders up until now.

we love breaking the worldbuilding to make our self-insert character look cool

Later, Dorian catches her unaware for the third time. He might as well be his dad's Champion

"(...) But what a miserable day it was! The pups are mutts, and—” He put his head in his hands. “Pups?” “One of my bitches gave birth to a litter of mongrels. Before, they were too young to tell. But now . . . Well, I’d hoped for purebreds.” “Are we speaking of dogs or of women?” “Which would you prefer?” He gave her an impish grin.

...

Celaena's connection to music is further reinforcing the idea that Rhysand is the main character in acotar. SJM cannot help her self-centred writing and I think that slipped from one favourite to the next.

Also makes me think about Dorian as her endgame the way Feyre is Rhysand's.

This is one of the best Dorian and Celaena moments so far. He genuinely wants to know more about her but Celaena has so many secrets she's keeping not from him but from herself - she's locked her past away and she's terrified of opening that box.

He looked at the window and the snow that swirled beyond. “I’m not married,” he said softly, “because I can’t stomach the idea of marrying a woman inferior to me in mind and spirit. It would mean the death of my soul.”

Dorian, you're pretty and I like you but you're on thin fucking ice. Again, Rhysand is just Dorian in a black tunic. The whole "my equal thing" is exhibit E

Celaena drags him for it as she should but not for viewing other women as inferior to him obviously because she's sjm...

You deserve to be laughed at for such foolish thoughts! I spoke from my soul; you speak only from selfishness.” (Celaena) “You’re remarkably judgmental.” (Dorian) “What’s the point in having a mind if you don’t use it to make judgments?” (Celaena) “What’s the point in having a heart if you don’t use it to spare others from the harsh judgments of your mind?” (Dorian) “Oh, well said, Your Highness!” He stared at her sullenly. “Come now. I didn’t wound you that severely.” (Celaena) “You’ve attempted to ruin my dreams and ideals. I get enough from my mother as it is. You’re just being cruel.” (Dorian) “I’m being practical. There’s a difference. And you’re the Crown Prince of Adarlan. You’re in a position where it’s possible for you to change Erilea for the better. You could help create a world where true love isn’t needed to secure a happy ending.” (Celaena)

Nice exchange, good dialogue.

He looked at his hand, still touching hers. “Where did you get that ring?” She contracted her hand into a fist as she pulled it away from him. The amethyst in her ring glowed in the firelight. “It was a gift.” “From whom?” “That’s none of your concern.” He shrugged, though she knew better than to tell him who’d really given it to her—rather, she knew Chaol wouldn’t want Dorian to know. “I’d like to know who’s been giving rings to my Champion.” The way the collar of his black jacket lay across his neck made her unable to sit still. She wanted to touch him, to trace the line between his tan skin and the golden lining of the fabric.

Hahaha, why did we ever get rid of love triangles? I'm kinda enjoying this

Skip to another day and Chaol is watching Duke Perrington and noting the weird expressions that pass over his face every now and then.

Perrington’s eyes fell upon the black ring on his left hand and darkened, as if his pupils had expanded to encompass all of each eye. Then it was gone—his eyes returned to normal. Chaol looked to Kaltain. Had she noticed the odd change?

He later thinks Perrington was watching him right back.

----

Overall still okay with little peaks and dips here and there.

Already rewrite ideas begin to fill my mind about how the core 4 could have been better set up but I'll leave stuff like that for after I've finished this first book at least.