#Herself the Elf

[amymebberson]

80’s fairy toy gals! (And Poochie!)

The last great era of fluffy sparkly pinkness. Much love to Jem & She-Ra of course, but I wanted to make a piece just for the cute little fairytale girls.

Cherry Merry Muffin, Herself the Elf, Shimmers Clover and Dapples, Crystal Starr, Rainbow Brite, Megan & Sundance (MLP), Rose Petal, Lady Lovely Locks, Poochie, Strawberry Shortcake & Brown-eyed Susan(Charmkins)

[secretcherimaybe]

[littlefluffbutt]

Since I had extra Rose Petal place outfits I thought it’d be fun to compare 80′s/90′s small dolls!

Left -Right: Party Pleaser Orange Blossom from Strawberry Shortcake, MLP Molly, Moonbeam (who is a custom Bitsy from Moondreamers), Snowdrop from Herself the Elf, Iris from Rose Petal Place, Sunnie (who is a custom Crystal Starr from Moondreamers). MLP Megan, Fallon from Princess Gwenevere (or Starla) and the Jewel Riders, and Barbie’s sister Stacie.

Surprisingly Strawberry Shortcake dolls have fairly slim/small torsos but their large feet and hands would not fit through the bathing suits. Orange Blossom looks adorable in Petal Pushers! Snowdrop has a pear shaped torso heh. You can easily put on the clothes but everything’s too big; same goes for the Hasbro’s little girl body.

Sunnie can also fit into everything but her torso is too short for most things to hang right. She’s rocking Petal Pushers though! Megan can wear Petal Pushers and the nightgown but I couldn’t get the bathing suit to go past her knees and the leotard was so tight I couldn’t feed her arms through the holes for fear of ripping it. Fallon can only wear the skirts/pants; I really love this skirt on her! Stacie can just barely wear the tutu (her butt’s completely uncovered lol)

Also learned some new things- while Molly and Bitsy/Blinky share the same body (the only difference is their belly buttons: Moondreamers have star ones!) they don’t have the same face sculpts. Megan and the older girl Moondreamers do NOT share the same body which I had assumed they did all these years!

Hope you enjoyed this little comparison jaunt:)

[asparklethatisblue]

Honestly, Astarion kind of loves getting to be comfortable and intimate without even touching. How often does one get a personal music performance after all?

Doesn’t mean those two can’t also be insufferable about their relationship while they’re at it

[blood-starved-beast]

Big fan of how Farcille as a ship is undercut by Marcille's issues with aging/death and her own elven biases and Falin's issues with undercutting her own autonomy to mask and the challenges faced by trying to break away from that mindset. Especially how these two facets of these characters ultimately serve as a blockage for the development of a legitimate romantic relationship. It's an interesting development in a ship that by-and-by is pretty vanilla all things considered (dark magic aside). The fact that Ryoko Kui portays that level of complexity in this relationship not only highlights her mastery of character development and worldbuilding but also is a great example of how something "vanilla" can be made complex or interesting if done in a way that is interesting.

[middle-earth-mythopoeia]

You know what's insane? Cate Blanchett was 30 when she played Galadriel in LOTR. But also...no she wasn't! That is NOT a 30-year-old mortal woman. That is an 8,000-year-old Elf born in the Years of the Trees.

[trappedinafantasy37]

There is something in particular that we need to discuss in regards to the ending Minthara gets with an embraced Durge that is unique to Minthara. Hopefully by now, we are all aware that at some point, it was planned that Minthara would be pregnant by the end of the game and Larian cut this. Sadly, I do not have a pickaxe in the datamine so I do not know the full conditions of what would trigger it (ie, I do not know if it was meant to be a Durge specific pregnancy).

However, if you embrace Bhaal and talk to Fel you can ask him if Bhaal will allow you to spare your romance partner. Here is what he will say in general:

And here is what he has to say about Minthara specifically:

^ These lines of dialogue have been in the game for a while and are still accessible as of Patch 7.

The only clear thing that we get from this line is that Bhaal most certainly does like Minthara and approves of her (and she is the only companion Bhaal likes). He also seems to be very well aware of her fertility and sees it as a major benefit. And Bhaal very much would like Durge to use Minthara to breed and raise the next generation of Bhaalspawn. The only thing that is rather vague is whether or not Minthara is currently pregnant with Baby Durge. I mean, it would be wild if she was considering that Daedra is female and doesn't have the "right equipment." I mean, anything is possible when it comes to Bhaalspawn and reproduction. But I am going to go with the headcanon that Daedra can indeed get Minthara pregnant if she really wanted and this is good enough for me! My evil drow lesbians deserve the right to make evil drow babies together!

I also had a mutual express to me their confusion as to why Bhaal would have Durge kill Minthara if Bhaal does like her and may potentially be pregnant with Baby Durge. Bhaal is the definition of chaotic stupid. Not everything that he does makes any logical or rational sense. Bhaal's wet dream is for everything to die, specifically through murder. He does not care if that death is an inconvenience or will backfire, he just wants death and murder because he's fucking dumb (comparatively, Lolth and Shar are good examples of what it means to be a murderous god and be smart about it). I also want to note that Durge killing Minthara, or any of the romance partners, is not Bhaal forcing Durge, but Durge willfully choosing to do so. As Fel said, Bhaal is giving Durge the choice to spare their romance partner, but they do not have to do so. At least, not right now and it seems like Bhaal would prefer that they keep their romance partner alive specifically to make babies.

As stupid as Bhaal may be, he is at least smart enough to have backup plans and contingencies. This is why he created his own horde of Bhaalspawn and why every Bhaalspawn has the instinctive desire to breed. I can do a separate mini post about this to go into the lore of it if people want, but what you really need to know is that Bhaal essentially cannibalizes his own children. Every time a Bhaalspawn dies, a piece of their divinity gets returned to him and it makes him more powerful. So Bhaalspawn want to make more of themselves, and then kill each other because the more Bhaalspawn that die, the more powerful Bhaal becomes. Every single Bhaalspawn is born to die.

So, how does this all relate to Minthara and her baby? Well, her baby would be a Bhaalspawn, but not just any Bhaalspawn, they would be mini Dark Urge. A mini Dark Urge Bhaalspawn who would inevitably be driven to kill Durge one day, and maybe even Minthara since Bhaalspawn have a nasty habit of killing their parents. Most importantly, this baby is meant to be a backup plan, Durge's contingency. Bhaal does not care if a Bhaalspawn dies, because their death empowers him. Bhaal may have his favorites, but he does not need to like his child in order for them to carry out his prime directive of kill everything. Although he was pissed that Orin attacked Durge and usurped them and he does not like Orin, Bhaal still rose her to Chosen because Orin would still be able to carry out his plan of murdering the world. When Durge returns, Bhaal gets super happy because Durge has the greatest potential to fulfill his dream, but Bhaal still requires that Durge earn the title of Chosen once more.

On the precipice of doomsday, Durge has two choices for Minthara, kill her first, or kill her last. No matter what choice Durge makes, they intend to kill her one day as that is what Bhaal's ultimate goal is and Minthara was never going to be an exception, even if Bhaal does like her and may be carrying his grandbaby. The blood eclipse that we do see in the embrace Durge ending is not reality just yet, but a premonition of what would happen if Durge keeps things up. It's a vision of what Bhaal wants Durge to accomplish. Since it is not yet reality, it is possible that Durge could fail and could be killed by other factors. If Durge dies or fails, then Baby Durge would be their backup if Durge chose to spare Minthara. Or, Baby Durge may be the reason why Durge failed because they were drawn together as all Bhaalspawn are and are destined to kill one another.

No matter what choice Durge makes in regards to Minthara's fate, it still benefits Durge and Bhaal in the end. As I mentioned earlier, Bhaal may pick favorites but he does not give a shit if his favorite babies die as he still benefits from all of his babies dying. So him liking Minthara and her being the perfect broodmare was never going to spare her either. At the end of the day, she will have to die in order for Bhaal to jerk off to his wet dream.

Choosing to kill their romance partner right now or later is all Durge's choice to make, not Bhaal's. Sadly, the game only gives you two choices in regards to your romance partner. There is no third option to have them walk alongside Durge during all of this. Ironically, Minthara and Ascended Astarion are the two companions that I think would stand by Durge as they murdered the world and they would gladly murder the world with Durge. But, that was not the choice Larian gave us and that is a major L.

Depending on the choice that you make, you can roleplay the reason that you want and Minthara has a unique RP aspect as she may be pregnant. And Minthara being pregnant with a future Bhaalspawn is excellent RP material. And it need not be because Durge is a callous asshole who never loved Minthara and was only using her as some people are perceiving it to be. Just because Durge will inevitably kill her does not mean that they did not love her or never loved her.

[ambrosiagourmet]

I couldn’t find a good way to work this into the main post, but I want to also say… I have to imagine it was cathartic for Kabru to hear Mithrun talk bluntly about his past self & call himself an asshole. Kabru tries to simplify him into a very stereotypical Perfect Elven Warrior and Mithrun is just like. No. Lmao. And it’s even specifically the extremely ingrained cultural standards that he points to as shitty.

Like… growing up surrounded by a culture that can’t stop singing it’s own praises, when you can see the harm they are going… I dunno, it’s gotta be great to have someone finally turn to you and be like “yeah I was supposedly the perfect elf and I sucked”

[ciderjacks]

I am always thinking about Marcilles whole deal as a half elf. How she was closer to her tall man father, how she genuinely seems to dislike Elven society and culture, how most of her friends are shorter lived races. Yet in her own identity, she leans into being an elf and you don’t even learn about her tallman half until the other elves clock her.

[mechagic]

Marcille is trans, but since she's half elf and was mostly surrounded by elves she didn't really have to transition that much, since you know elves are very fem

Every time someone tells her "hey you look masculine" she would just say that it came from her human father's side (if shes comfortable saying that) or that the lion decided to fuck her over one last time (as a joke)

Extra ramblings in the tags bc why not 👍

[possamble]

do you have any particular thoughts regarding marcille being a half-elf? its interesting to me considering the fact that she seems self-conscious about being a half-elf, but denies it when its brought up

i remember marcille looking visibly uncomfortable over laios simply asking her how old she is, which i think the only reason she might feel nervous about this is because it might reveal her as a half-elf to him.

she's never corrected anybody whose called her an elf either.

never mind the circumstances of the reveal, in which thistle goes on about how half-elves are inferior and accusing her of wanting to become full blooded elf, she seemed particularly upset like he struck a nerve-

i wish the half-elf thing was built upon more. also, underrated marcille line:

okay so i revisited this sequence just to make sure I could back myself up and it's just... man. there's a lot going on.

the first reaction we get from Marcille is this huge panel that takes up half of the page

she is viscerally affected. flushing to the tips of her ears with the intensity of it. and we see it again, a few pages later

so it might seem like she's embarrassed about it and lying to herself, but... I really think it's just that Thistle is accidentally hitting sore spots. If you really look at what he says to get these reactions

"you'll live out your entire life [...] and die that way too"

"a hundred years from now, nobody will be there"

Hear me out. I think, if he stuck to harping on about her inferiority without bringing up how terrifyingly long-lived she is, she wouldn't have been as bothered. But right now, Thistle is accidentally hitting all the marks on Marcille's deepest fears-- and this is after the Winged Lion promised her that her dreams could come true in an extremely vulnerable moment, so it also hits her slightly guilty conscience as well.

I do truly believe that Marcille isn't bothered about being a half-elf the way that people assume she'd be bothered by it. To her, the biggest problem with being a half-elf is that it's isolating.

On one hand, it's not hard to imagine why she'd distance herself from elves in the west. A lot of them can clock her as a half-elf on sight, unlike other races, and therefore she's always branded with this weird stigma of being Othered -- I would even say that she considers herself lucky for being born outside of elven culture instead of having to grow up in it. I mean, just... look at the way elves talk about her.

Skipping past the uncomfortable implication of what 'not tolerating the existence' of half-elves would actually entail, this is incredibly fucking annoying. You can see why she wouldn't want to be around elves much. You see a lot of Marcille reacting badly here, but honestly, almost all of it can be attributed to her freaking out that her bluff completely failed. She's honestly more paying attention to Izutsumi's footsteps and trying to coordinate an opportunity to escape.

And in the end, you see her built-up frustration at being asked if she wants to be a full-blooded elf like 2-3 times in a row.

Yeah, yeah, "the lady doth protest too much," and all. But we know Marcille. We know that she's a lot more embarrassed and horrendously unconvincing when she's being prodded about something she's actually self-conscious about.

Moving onto the flipside of things, it might seem weird that she "pretends" to be a full elf around other races, but it's not really that strange if you think about it. Again, people are weird about her being infertile or whatever, and a lots of them don't even know much about what sets half-elves apart from everyone else. I mean, look at how uncomfortable Laios is just asking her about it

and look at how exasperated and resigned she looks

And like... she's right. Where would that come up in normal conversation? Why would she go out of her way to tell them? She's functionally a normal elf to other races anyway -- got the ears, the abnormally long "childhood", and the huge mana capacity. Unless it's directly relevant or important for people to know, I don't think it's all that strange or indicative of insecurity that she prefers not to bother with it.

(This combined with her sense of being an "outsider" to elf culture also explains why she thinks elf superiority is embarrassing. She sees the way elves treat short-lived races from the "outsider" perspective nonetheless, and thinks it's obnoxious; especially more so because she usually has to play the elf around short-lived races and deal with the reputation of arrogance that elves have built up.)

The sad thing is, this all means that... she doesn't actually fit in anywhere. She doesn't like going out West much because of how elves treat her. But she's also an outsider in the continents she was born in, treated like this exotic long-lived alien choosing to live among short-lived races for some reason. She is always an outsider, the Other, no matter where she goes. Add in the fact that she'll live longer than literally anyone she knows, and it's honestly kind of heartbreaking.

And I think that's the crux of it. Marcille really doesn't act like she's at all self-conscious about being a half-elf because of any feelings of inferiority or being half-made or whatever. She considers herself a perfectly legitimate being and might even, in some ways, consider herself superior to normal elves because she's not blind with elf supremacy or whatever. (And whatever "elven biases" she displays, all of them are born more out of the fact that she's kind of bad at conceptualizing how other races age and mature compared to herself, not that she actually considers herself better or more mature simply for being an elf.)

I think that whatever self-consciousness Marcille has about being a half-elf is, instead, related to terror and loneliness. The reminder that it ensures she'll never truly belong anywhere for the rest of her very long life. The reminder that, in truth, even she's not actually sure how old she is by other races' standards (hence the discomfort when asked how old she is). She doesn't want to not be a half elf, or be a full elf or full tall-man-- in her ideal world, she's still a half-elf. She just gets to live out her life at the same pace with the people she loves and doesn't have to say goodbye again and again and again until she dies.

and one last very important panel, right after Mithrun tells her that all her desires would be devoured

In her ideal world, she's still a half-elf and reality magically starts marching at her pace. But failing that, the second best thing is that she's still a half-elf-- but one who is able to accept reality and let go of her fear.

(But the rest of the story pans out the way it does because, to Marcille, taking reality apart and reshaping it was less scary than simply and fully reconciling with it.)

[dalishborne]

keeper's day off :')

[secretcherimaybe]

[baconmoop]

Something that just popped in my head that I've never thought of before:

If Lup hadn't died pre-voidfishing, wouldn't she have been even worse than Davenport?

Like, at least Dav kept his name. Lucretia erased everyone's memories of her, surely she'd be a completely blank canvas. Did Lucretia not think of that? Was she so sure that Lup was already dead that it didn't matter? Or did she think she'd be fine in the middle of nowhere, completely devoid of memory?

Sure, Davenport was the way he was because 'his life was the mission' or whatever. But Lucretia must have redacted so much to make sure Taako didn't remember his sister. There can't have been much left.

(Anyway someone write the fic please thank you)

[lelianasbong]

playing tabris as a lesbian and having everyone around you insist that you marry a man so that you can be considered an adult by your community ("unmarried, you're a child forever") is so shit... there is literally no way to refuse. nothing you can say or do. even if you protest the entire time, your pleas fall on deaf ears - your father, your cousins, your hahren, your neighbors, your betrothed.

i think it's realistic that the elves in the alienage behave this way (bc of the way dragon age chose to go about their elf genetics and the pressure they face to preserve their culture in the face of human oppression) but that doesn't make compulsory heterosexuality less soul-crushing for gay people in that community.

if duncan hadn't recruited tabris, she would've been forced to marry nelaros and presumably expected to be intimate with him and have his babies at some point UGH i'm gonna throw up.

[kathinkapng]

Some doodles I did in my sketchbook today ☺️💖 You could say that I was on a roll <33

They're DnD OCs: Misaki (the changeling) is my player chara and Mere (the water genasi) is my friend's NPC!

Also, I am adding some older doodles of these two down below because I wanna have them in one place: