#Good Grace Good God

[ymoon01]

Kamala had the entire circus, (Hollywood.)

Trump had Jesus Christ.

Kamala had the elite by her side.

Trump had the creator & founder by his, the one and only, God almighty.

[vaguely-concerned]

I understand and agree with a lot of the frustrations about the shortcomings of Inquisition as a story. but sometimes when I hear people complain about the chosen one narrative in it I do want to just be like... you know it's a deconstruction of the concept more than anything, right. the inquisitor isn't actually chosen by anything except stumbling into the wrong (right?) room at the right (wrong?) time because they like, heard a noise or whatever. or if you think they are chosen, as many do in-universe, that's something you have to take on faith, the maker-or-whoever moves in mysterious ways indeed-style. the Inquisitor isn't actually a Destined Chosen One, they're a Just Some Guy in a fancy hat, self-delusions of grandeur to taste as you'd prefer.

a running thread that goes through all of the personal quests of the companions is the concept of a comforting lie vs. an uncomfortable truth, upholding old corrupt structures vs. disrupting them, and the role of faith in navigating that. (blackwall the warden vs. thom rainier the liar and murderer. hissrad vs. the iron bull, or is that the other way around? cassandra and the seekers -- do we tell the truth about what we find, even if it means dismantling the old order of the world? and so on.) and your inquisitor IS at the same time a comforting lie (a necessary one, in dark times? the game seems to ask) and an uncomfortable truth (we are the result of random fickle chance, no protective hand is held over the universe, it's on us to make a better world because the maker sure as hell won't lift a divine finger to help anyone, should he against all odds exist). faith wielded for political power... where's the point that it crosses the line into ugliness? is it before it even begins? what's the alternative? will anyone listen to the truth, if you tell it?

interesting how you also get a mix of companion agency in this -- you have characters like dorian who ALWAYS choose one side of the comforting lie vs. uncomfortable truth dichotomy. he will always make up his own mind to go back to tevinter and try to dismantle the corruption of the old system no matter what you say, or how you try to influence him. meanwhile iron bull is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum -- so psychologically trapped and mangled, caught in an impossible spiritual catch-22, that his sense of identity is left entirely to you and your mercy. you cannot change dorian in any way that matters; you can be his friend or not, support him or not, but he is whole no matter what. you are given incredible and potentially destructive-to-him power over bull's soul. it's really cool (and heartbreaking) to think about.

this is a game about how history will eat you even while you're still alive, and shape you into whatever image it pleases to serve it, and for all your incredible power right now you are powerless in the face of the gravitational force of time -- of more than time, of History. you won't recognize yourself in what History will make of you, because you belong to it now. you don't belong to yourself anymore and you never will again. the further you were from what it needs from you to begin with, the more you will find yourself distorted in its funhouse mirror. (why hello there inquisitor ameridan, same hat!)

and to me this is so much the core of what Dragon Age is about right from the Origins days -- how and by whom history gets written, the inherent unreliable narration of it all. I hope you like stories, Inquisitor. You are one now.

I do think it's probably still the weakest of the games narratively, and it's hampered by its structure and bloated systems. but I also find it disingenous to say that there's nothing deeper or actually interesting going on with it, thematically. if you're willing to engage with it there is Some Real Shit going on under the high fantasy-tinted surface.

[jollyveesworld]

Jesus still loves you when you don't understand what He's doing, when you're tired of waiting, if you struggle with your mental health, if you haven't spent time with Him today, if you struggle to love yourself even if you have nothing left to give. He still loves you.

[shorthaltsjester]

when people think delilah just completely takes over and laudna has no control. when people think jester is just an uwu child who has been manipulated by every man she’s met. when people think vex is an empty husk of daddy issues without her brother by her side. when people think fjord is an arrogant asshole who doesn’t pay attention to the party around him. when people think scanlan saying that vox machina doesn’t care about him is an accurate assessment.

[ju-liczka]

Someone has to scrub this old fart.

[ae-cha08]

Unconditional love is a gift from God that surpasses our understanding. It is a love that knows no bounds, that remains steadfast through every season of life. 💙

[angel-in-your-basement]

A reminder for those who frequent nsfw Tumblr: most people on here do not want you to add comments to their posts. If you have a hot idea to add, great! Make your own post. If you want to add comments like “omg need”, “so hot”, etc., great! Put that shit in the tags. If you want to flirt with OP, cool, but nsfw blog does not equal consent, and most people prefer asks if they even want that kind of interaction. People have different preferences to this, but that’s the general etiquette. That, and having the common sense to not start objectifying people you don’t know or have consent from.

[deoidesign]

I'm so mad that post was misinformation because there is actually an EXTREMELY important conversation to have about the production schedules artists are forced into. There's no need for exaggeration, the conditions are bad.

I work for webtoon. My publication schedule is weekly. While publishing I'm required 10-15 pages a week. Fully colored.

This means I'm finishing a 150 page fully colored graphic novel every 10-15 weeks.

When my comic is not updating, I am not getting paid. Any time writing, editing, or off is out of my own pocket. I don't get healthcare. They do not provide any assistants. They expect me to promote myself; they chose to deprioritize me before I even launched and gave me an end date half a year in. I never had a chance.

And this is the industry standard! Every company has artists forced into crunch hours, overtime, and burnout. Artists are literally dying early due to it. So many of my friends can't afford to go to the doctor.

It's unsustainable and untenable, and it's also the expectation our audiences have.

If we want to have this conversation, there's plenty of conversation to be had with the realities of the situation. It's bad as is.

[patron-saint-of-lesbeans]

Please pray for all those going to the March for Life this week, that they put their trust in God and not in princes.

[briar-oses]

khunbam kissy doodle that i haven't posted here yet😗

[sango-blep]

idk this just kind of happened..

[klanced]

“Keith is not a tsundere he just sucks” you know and understand more than a simple mortal mind could ever dream

i feel like a quintessential part of understanding keith's character is realizing that he is generally okay at socializing with people (he just doesn't like dealing with strangers), but there is something very specific about lance that makes keith fumble every single interaction they have

[julientel]

No matter what we do, the answer is you And I will be here for the ride Yes, I will be here for the ride

mortal Grace ending still makes me think about sad things

[jollyveesworld]

God's grace carried me here and by His grace, I will continue to believe and persevere.

[somewhereincairparavel]

Literally where do people get the idea that Jason was full of himself and that he thought he was better than Percy? This is legit brought up in so many 'why-i-hate-jason-grace" arguments it just screams lack of reading comprehension and obvious Percy bias saltiness. Like just say you are bitter that Jason is written as percy's equal and that you want Percy to have nobody rival him 💀

Never once in his povs did he ever think about how much better he was, on the contrary it's just him not feeling good enough about himself. He and Percy NEVER said anything bad about eachother.

His and Percy's rival is just a joke between two powerful demigods who have rival dads, that's literally it. Even if Jason did indeed think he's better, so what about it? What's the big deal?

he has worked hard and accomplished great things, so he has like, every right to be confident in his power, stop acting like hes all weak and inferior when he canonically killed a titan with like his bare fucking hands till the point Krios swore vengeance on him. No he's not "weak" or morally inferior to Percy as a person. You are merely trying to cope. Not to mention the way people judge a character's worth SOLEY based on their abilities is a huge red flag in itself, but that's a discussion for another time.

he shouldve canonically had more achievments and power than he originally got in the books as a son of jupiter. but rick made Percy too OP and fumbled jason for the sake of keeping percy's spotlight intact. Has it ever dawned on people that Percy is shown to have cool abilities like bending tears but Jason is never shown to have abilities like controlling lungs? Yeah, that's authors privilege for ya.

Y'all put Percy in an obnoxiously high pedestal and that's not a good thing. It diminishes his flaws and makes him appear so saint like and Gary Stu even though he's not. the fact that ppl get so sensitive over their rivalry and try to belittle jason by making up scenarios (like claiming jason thinks he's superior and shit) and go around saying that to ppl to reduce his value DESPITE being well aware that he has like enough hate already, is so insanely petty. BOTH Jason and Percy deserve equal amounts of respect.

God forbid a teenage boy say he's better than the other as a joke, he's such a terrible, stuck up, and shitty person who deserved death for that, isn't he?

[my-pjo-stuff]

Okay hear me out, has anyone ever thought of dark/possessive Camp Halfblood x brainwashed Luke ?

‘Cause like, I HAVE and it’s been giving me brainworms.

Camp Halfblood is all but filled with a bunch of heavily traumatized and most likely love and attention starved demigods. So it wouldn't be too weird to say that they could have easily gotten overly attached to Luke.

How couldn't they have? He was pretty much everything most of these kids wished for in a caretaker. Caring, strong, gentle, smart, responsible- Luke was all of that to camp.

And then he betrayed them. He got up and left, just like that. That must have fucked up some of them, right?

Luke was supposed to be theirs.

The one person they could always rely on. And now he’s just gone? Vanished? Betrayed them because he wants to overthrow the gods?

Unacceptable.

Simply unacceptable.

Luke is supposed to be theirs.

And no one else's.

Anyway, fast forward to TTC where Thalia has Luke at spearpoint- instead of begging for his life Annabeth begs for his capture.

Luke’s actually a bit more injured from the fight here than he was in canon, so he doesn't immediately attempt to start a fight again, giving Annabeth and Thalia time to talk.

Thalia of course argues against it at first. But Annabeth insists. Saying that camp found a way to make sure Luke would never leave them again.

But first they’d need to capture him.

Against all odds, Thalia obliges after a while. And with Luke weakened from the fight he doesn't even have the power to really fight as he’s taken captive.

He’s brought back to camp by Annabeth while Percy and Thalia go to talk to the gods.

Now that’s where the REAL dark stuff starts.

Because the camp still wants Luke. Just not the Luke he is right NOW. They want the old Luke.

The caring Luke.

The Luke who was always there for them.

The Luke who’d never even think of leaving them.

And what do you do when you want a specific version of a person back? Easy, you make them that specific version of themselves.

Yeah, they are pulling the brainwashing.

That guy’s mind is SCREWED with.

Luke’s basically turned into a declawed cat.

He doesn't remember who Kronos is. Neither does he remember ever betraying them in the first place. Memories of the world outside of camp are fuzzy at best.

Luke’s being put in a sort of daze. Constantly blissed out and happy. All he really cares about anymore is lounging around with other campers. Talking, cuddling, doing anything really.

He doesn't even have the mind anymore to really fight against it. The campers made sure of that.

The other campers justify it by saying that Luke’s much happier like this. They HAD to do this to him. Luke is theirs, even if he’s too blind to see it on his own.

The gods allowed it to happen with Hermes heavily vouching for it (it’s better than Luke possibly dying otherwise in his eyes)

Better have him be at camp than with Kronos, no? Not to mention that having the leader of Kronos' forces back at camp might demoralize the enemy forces.

They also see it as a sort of punishment. Luke being stuck at the place be betrayed and wanted to leave to desperately. Forced to serve as the plaything to the children of the gods He wanted to overthrow. Unable to ever even think of leaving again.

There were rules of course. He wasn’t allowed to hold any weapons anymore. Neither was Luke allowed to ever hold any position of power like Counselor or Sword Instructor ever again.

But that was fine.

Camp didn't care.

They made Luke a lot more affectionate. More domestic. He didn't need to fight anyway.

All he needed to be was their Luke.

Everyone's perfect, loving older brother.

And now that they finally have him back, they’d make sure he’d never leave them again.