#I can't believe I made a Soren joke

[milevenstancyendgame]

Who else wants to drag out (or should I say drag-on?) and savour watching Tdp season 6 for as long as possible?

My goal is a week, but I probably won't succeed. xD

[glowingbadger]

Glad to hear your life is getting a little more stable, and congrats on the 2k!

I almost made a Dio joke here but what I'm looking for is M, W, and Y for our dear darling Soren. The Tactician Fucker is still unrepentant, sorry not sorry. >;3c

Ty ty!! And of course, Soren, my special man! I adore that miserable bastard so, so much.

Alphabet prompts - Soren (FE 9/10)

M (motivation), W (wild card), Y (yearning)

NSFW 18+

Motivation: Soren is a profoundly tough one to crack on this front, and at first, it seems like his desire for you is completely random and unpredictable. With time, however, you'll realize that it's moments of raw emotion that get to him most. When he's emotionally agitated or "riled up," sometimes getting to lose himself in your body and your pleasure is the only way he can make the noise in his head stop and find some semblance of peace. Trying to "seduce" him while he's focused or otherwise busy will always end in failure- but the moment he's done with his work for the day and needs to find that peace and blow off some steam, he can't help falling into your arms.

Wild card: I know that because he's so often paired with Ike and we look at Soren with the yaoi goggles on, it's tempting to see him as a classic pouty bottom in bed- and while I certainly don't see him as a Daddy Dom by any means, I do firmly believe he's quite capable of voicing his desires once he's comfortable and truly trusts his lover. A man as blunt as Soren isn't going to shy away from telling you if he wants a certain position, and will definitely tell you when he wants to hear you moan louder or see you look him in the eyes as you cum. It's not domineering- just straightforward.

Yearning: As alluded to in the 'motivation' bit, very mixed bag here. Soren doesn't allow himself the distraction of lustful longing very often, but that certainly doesn't mean he won't find his thoughts wandering when his eyes accidentally linger on you for longer than he'd intended. His idle fantasies can become quite lurid, in fact, but he'll dismiss them readily to focus on the task at hand. That said, as previously mentioned, there's just about nothing better for him as stress relief than getting to bury himself in you and drown in your mutual pleasure at the end of the night.

[thesparringpanther]

The Dragon Prince Book 4 Review:

Just writing down my longer thoughts. It's not like this show will be back this year anyway so.

Pros:

Janaya. My crops were watered. I love delving into Janai's character a bit and showcasing her trials and tribulations as the Sunfire Queen, along with the social dynamic of marrying a human. It's cute seeing Amaya support Janai through her troubles too. I was really hoping the show would showcase the troubles of humans and Elves integrating on a larger scale and not just end with "humans and Sunfire Elves are cool now, let's focus on the 5 other tribes that hate humans" and I'm glad they delivered.

Magefam, but more importantly, Claudia, stole the show. She has stepped up in her villainy and while (thankfully) kept her immaturity and, it's fun to see her slowly become crueler as well. The new spells she used were really good and really made her a threat to the cast and a joy to watch. Also they gave her a different outlook outside of trying to keep her family together (because daddy issues can only take you so far) with her actually believing Aaravos, whereas Viren was always just using him for power.

Terry, full stop. My fear was that Terry would have nothing to him and be an obvious Soren replacement, but, Terry has no real need to impress Viren and somewhat impresses Viren by just being himself. It's a breath of fresh air for the Magefam dynamic, because Soren couldn't impress Viren without becoming someone he's not, and Claudia is his spitting image as a mage, albeit sillier, so even at her worst he'll still love her. Its both heartwarming and heartbreaking that Terry has a closer bond with Viren than Season 1 Soren did (I don't think he likes either BUT he's groaning less with Terry).

It's fun seeing Viren essentially go "Are we the baddies?" to Claudia, who at the very least has murdered people by now.

Ezran has grown so much its unreal. Its very prominent in the 2nd episode with Ezran really wanting to have a whole "and then we all held hands and forgot we've been trying to murder each other for centuries" energy for Zubeia & Zym, it amounts to what a 10-year old's expectation of resolving such a deep-seated conflict, but then stepping up and acknowledging that what he was doing was unrealistic, you cannot just forget about the pain and the damage and the loss and pretend nothing bad happened to strive for peace, you have to remember all of those negative emotions and still strive for peace anyways because you will inevitably just keep causing that same pain for future generations. That boy was raised right.

Rex Igneous is so good. Love the way he was bored of visitors and tore down Avizandum. To me he feels like he's indifferent to humans, whereas Avizandum, Sol Regem, and Zubeia probably were anti-human. Makes me wonder how the Tideblood & Moonshadow Archdragon will act.

Sad that Aaravos had to leave the show for a while to hype his return but him making fun of all the heroes before smashing his own mirror is soooooooo worth it. He knows how important presentation is for villains. I do wonder if that means that Aaravos' consciousness was transferred to Sir Sparklepuff and he didn't want the heroes to wonder why he's braindead in that mirror.

Cons:

I mean I could go on an episode-to-episode basis but uh:

The entire season feels like a first draft, which is disappointing after waiting for 3 years. Overall it's a downgrade compared to Seasons 2 and 3, and at times even worse than Season 1. There are still things I enjoyed but honestly this is the show's worst outing.

The pacing, particularly the Drakewood episodes, are cramped. It doesn't breathe. Character interactions that SHOULD have happened here (Callum & Rayla, Soren & Viren) but didn't because we had other things to address. I get it, but you can't repeat the emotions that could follow Soren after being abandoned by Rayla and captured, stripped of his armor, berated by Claudia that everyone else is treating him like a joke, meeting his dad that makes him feel small and unwanted. Especially when this will be the nicest Viren will ever be in all 7 seasons. I can only hope it was a deleted scene and moved later on so the words can sink in.

Soren being missing and possibly dead or gravely hurt should have raised the stakes and tension for the original Dragang. Instead it feels like a complete afterthought by the start of the next episode.

Rayla.....oof. Disappointing on all accounts. For such a setup of her going on a revenge quest (in a show where revenge quests just cause even more damage) by abandoning her newfound family it's anti-climactic. It's a good thing that they didn't have Rayla come back with info, since that would justify that it was a good thing Rayla left. Most of this season felt like Rayla tagging along for the ride rather than Rayla being one of the main characters.

Maybe it didn't click for me, but, like, alot of the Rayllum scenes didn't have the bite that comes with your ex coming back into your life after ghosting you. There was no emotional catharsis for both. Ultimately their breakup and reunion did not fix any flaw either of them had, so it is functionally meaningless.

Culturally insensitive Amaya works. Culturally insensitive Amaya that is the fiance of the Sunfire Queen does not. The plot makes more sense coming from an Amaya that's either recently dating Janai or pining for her and has recently begun living in the Lux Aurea camps, but it looks like she's been living with Sunfire Elves since the end of Season 3? Not knowing their mourning ritual when this was done en masse following the Fall of Lux Aurea when she was quite literally there? Engaged to the Sunfire Queen? Make it make sense. I'm also not expecting that Amaya should be well-researched into Sunfire culture eithrr, but there needs to be a balance in what Amaya should know and what she shouldn't.

Really disappointed that the other human kingdoms didn't exist this season. Both in the case that Ezran can now do what he wants instead of having to balance between leading a Kingdom and adventuring with Callum & Rayla (which was cool to spin in Book 2 and 3), but also that I think it would be important to highlight that there are just as many factions of humans as there are of elves. Just because 1 kingdom is cool with Elves and Dragons doesn't mean the rest are. Granted the humans seem to be more unified than the Elves, as no other Elves are helping the Sunfire Elves rebuild, so maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. But I still think Ezran should be making policies ALONG with the rest of the Kingdoms rather than just Katollis like how Viren was doing it, even if the end result will just be Ezran running off again.

The season finale is both anticlimactic and confusing, and neither are in a good way. Are the Dragang supposed to end the season without the map so they have to chase the Magefam first? Is that why Rex threw a huge temper tantrum last minute? Why does his trust of the Dragang stay at 0 even after Zubeia calms him down? Is the plot of the show (fate of the world) hinging on the cast not wanting to disturb Rex again? HUH?

[polyglottishthings]

I appreciate your input about this and that you took the time to offer some clarity to me. I'm actually blown away that a writer from the show has responded to me! As a hard of hearing person I was so happy to see a D/deaf character in a show that was a real character and not just the butt of someone's joke. But something I'm noticing in this post is that almost everyone who's responded has sort of missed the reason I made this post, maybe because I wasn't very explicit in my reasoning for making it.

If you see the other conversations I've had with people on this post you'll know I'm no expert in ASL, and the things i noticed about it in this show were from my perspective as someone with a basic understanding who can make it by with the use of finger spelling.

Let me preface these thoughts by saying - being HOH from a young age I met a lot of people who were blown away that I could do a lot of the things hearing people can do, so it was so refreshing to see Amaya have an actual life and a place in her community. But, in my experience, people tend to expect deaf people to be quiet/mute, inexpressive, helpless, and incapable of taking care of themselves. That's why I was thrown off by her not mouthing her words or making a lot of facial expressions - most of the deaf and HOH people I know are more expressive facially and physically than the hearing people I know! But once again the fact that her character was deaf at all was a huge deal to me and I screamed (happy scream) when she was introduced.

That said, the reason I made this post was because the portrayal of disabilities in this show didn't feel very authentic to me. There is also a blind character in the show whose blindness doesn't seem to affect him at all, and there's not really an explanation as to why? He just functions as if he were able to see. I chose to believe he had a connection with the wind currents that helped him find his way around lol, but I don't think that was canonically expressed by him.

I also get that it's a fantasy series and it's a show and doesn't have to be a reflection of reality. But with that in mind about Villads, and the way that Claudia and Soren reacted when Soren was acutely disabled after a battle injury, these things about Amaya felt off to me. Soren's and Villads's disabilities only seemed to serve a narrative purpose, so I was glad Amaya's deafness remained a consistent part of her character. But the comments I made about ASL were not really a criticism of the interpreting that was done for the show, so much as a comment about how her deafness and use of sign language interact.

What I was really trying to say by pointing those things out is that her deafness, and how her deafness affected her and the people around her, didn't feel authentic to me, not that her ASL was bad/weird.

I completely get that it takes a lot of work to make a show, even if I can't conceptualize the extent of it or what's it really like. I can guess that making a disabled character is probably difficult when it's not an experience shared by someone who writes the show, too, but I would think the multitudes of working parts and things to keep track of would be true of any show. Even with that in mind, as a viewer rather than a writer of shows, I know it is possible to portray a disabled character accurately without making it the focal point of their existence in the show (Toph ATLA is by far the best example I have of this).

Anyway, it's SO MUCH better to have attempted a deaf character and slightly missed the mark than to have never made one at all. Like I said, I was really happy she existed, if slightly bugged by the things I noticed that felt off to me. It's also entirely possible other hoh or D/deaf people would feel differently about it, cause I'm just one person! This is by far not a community opinion and realistically, I think Amaya may be a groundbreaking character wrt to deaf people being included in shows.

I liked a lot of things about the Dragon Prince and i loved that they included a deaf character at all but imo they did it so wrong because

1. She NEVER mouths her words as she signs, and her signing feels flat and unexpressive. Sign language relies heavily on facial expressiveness alongside the way you sign, so it just looks like she's speaking very flatly all the time

2. She never once has trouble understanding people when reading their lips. It's true that a lot of people are amazing at reading lips and can get by pretty well by doing so, but no one is 100% all the time, and when you consider that she encounters both humans and elves with different spoken accents, it's LIKELY she would misread their lips at some point. There's a lot of comedic potential missed here, on top of the fact that it's just inaccurate.

3. She is finger spelling out everyone's names!! It's one thing when she's just met them and doesn't know much about them or hasn't given them a sign name/learned their sign name, but at the beginning of the show she spells out "Callum" instead of using his sign name. Since she seems pretty close to them, wouldn't she have given both of her nephews a sign name at some point?? I want to believe it's because the creators knew not everyone has/gives sign names....but given the context of this post....i just can't see that...

4. There are a few scenes where she hears something behind her, or when people are speaking behind her and she apparently hears them. I think this one bothers me the most, because the writers have basically made her deafness disappear for the sake of...what? Convenience? Not having to reimagine the scene? It's sad because scenes where this happens would be so much more authentic if you could see how scary it was for her not to understand wtf these people were talking about, or how she has found ways to stay aware of her surroundings despite not being able to hear them.

5. Along with the previous thing, her interpreter stands behind her WAY too much. Like, how is he reading her signs when she's in front of him or vice versa? Making the interpreter not able to view her/her not able to view him is basically excluding them from each other's conversations. You know how, when you're in a group conversation, if you miss what one person says, you aren't REALLY included in what rest of the people are saying? Yeah, that stills holds true with deafness.

A lot of this is just REALLY basic stuff because I don't even sign much and am not fully deaf and I picked up on it, so it leads me to think that the creators of the show just. Didn't ask a Deaf person for their insight? I mean they could've at least just Googled "Deaf people have sign language conversation" lmao

[berri-hopefulspouse]

"Soren, would you like to go first?" Ren never really expected themselves to be before an officiant- let alone for this reason...But, for some reason, they weren't afraid. Not exactly, not in the way they thought they would be. Nodding, they look back to Makoto- after keeping in yet another internal little squeak- and give a soft sigh and a little smile...They were ready for this.

"When we first met...and I mean, truly, deeply first met... I felt almost drawn to you. You said it yourself; we had always had some kind of connection, one that goes beyond time, space...probably even ourselves as we are currently. I always felt drawn to you then, to be close to you- but I could never exactly pinpoint what it was...yet, here we are now. Years later, and we're both still here. Both still...okay. I'll be the first one to say it- shit isn't perfect-" That gets a bit of a chuckle from themselves, "-But we're here...and we're alive. And we have the groundwork for a new beginning."

With a little shaky, nervous sigh, they bite their lower lip and manage to maintain eye contact with Makoto, "...I know I can't always be there when you need me- and I know I can't promise things will be perfect. But I can promise- can vow to you- that I'll be doing my best, each and everyday. Doing my best to improve, to get better, to learn new things, and to love you. Each, and everyday. Always, and forever. You mean the world to me, and to whatever secrets that we may share in the future..." Theres a smirk, and already Makoto knows what's coming, "I'll never tell a single soul. That's a promise, and my vow to you...I'll always, always cherish you."

Despite their light joke, there were tears in their eyes, barely held together through their strict will alone. Makoto wasn't much better- in fact he had to let go of their hand once or twice to wipe at his own eyes, before letting out a soft laugh of surprise himself. Still, after looking to the officiant himself- and getting a small nod- he proceeded to speak himself.

"Ren, first of all, how dare you make me cry like that-" That got a laugh out of the two of them, as well as the small gathering of people who had decided to attend that day, "-Still, still...There's so many things I could say...So many things I want to say- and it wouldn't truly be enough. You're so many things- you've done so much for me and for those around you...and yet, you never stop pursuing to help everyone around you. Everyone except yourself." Despite himself, he rests a hand gently on their cheek to reassure them, to calm them down a bit.

"I thought I knew who I was- someone who didn't quite stick out in the crowd, who was just...well, average at everything I did. And I thought I was okay with that... But uh..." He chuckled nervously, "Turns out that's just self esteem issues, I suppose. You never stopped believing in me- back then and all the way up until now. No matter what we faced, you had full faith in me that it'd be alright. I've always had a more optimistic attitude...and you always struggled to maintain one, but you still were always there for me. You say you weren't- but I assure you, even if you couldn't physically help in some way...I knew you were there for me, in spirit."

He shakes his head a bit, "I guess this is a roundabout way of saying...I'm proud of you. You've taught me so much, and grown so much more than from when we first met. You stand tall- well, really short in your case-" A little joke that earned him a gentle subtle kick with their shoe- causing him to laugh, "-You stand tall in the face of everything you've been through. Each day you keep moving forward, despite what lingers over you...And for that reason alone, I'm so proud of you. You always tell me that I saved you, that I've done so much for you...and while I can't always believe that's true, I can promise you that I'll be there whenever I can. You deserve to have someone who can protect you, and well- if it's me...I guess I really can't argue with that. I love you, Soren...with everything I am. You're my hope, and my proof that my Ultimate Luck truly isn't just a throwaway Ultimate...It's proof that I really am lucky to have you in my life. I swear, I'll never leave you- if you'll allow me to stay in your life...and that I'll always do my best to protect you, and cherish what we have. Always. My love for you is no secret."

He was trying to keep his voice from shaking, truly he was- but while his tone held certainty, his nervousness was equally as palpable in his tone. It was also not much of a secret that, simply put- he had completely did that on the fly, rather than plan it out. All the same, it looked like his words got through to them- the tears they were trying to keep back having started to fall from their cheeks. Leaning into the palm of his hand that still rested on their cheek, they nuzzled into it for comfort before pulling back to let his hand free- a smile on their face the whole while. At least he knew he didn't royally screw that up.

Still, thereafter came the rings- the one thing Makoto knew for certain. Ren may have been the one to do most of the planning- Mostly in part due to Makoto knowing full and well they were better at all of this than he could ever really hope to be- but he was the one who picked what the wedding bands would be. He didn't let Ren see what they were, wanting to get their reaction above anything else. He did his own first, slipping the ring carefully onto their ring finger- trying to quell the slightly anxious tremble of his own hands. He couldn't help being nervous.

The ring itself was simple in nature, but it's meanings would show themselves to those two alone. Theirs particularly had an outer layer of silver- steel, particularly- with moonstone in the middle. Carved into it, were a few small things. A moon and some stars, a reminder of the promise ring they got the both of them and a light comparison to his own band. A small little heart, that had a little ruby heart gemstone in the middle, as it was their birthstone. Lastly, on the underside of the ring, was engraved a few simple words; 'You are my luck, and my hope.'

His was similar of course, rather instead a shade of gold rather than silver with sun and cloud engravings on his own, and an sapphire heart rather than a ruby one. On the underside of his, was something that he heard them say to him once or twice- something that stuck with him, something he observed as they, in turn, slipped the band onto his ring finger.

'You're the reason I believe in my empathy.'

He watched Ren's reaction, though, as their expression shifted from the soft counterance they had previously to curiosity. Then, to thought- likely tuning out the officiant in favor of observing the ring- and finally acknowledgement, gaze snapping back up to meet Makoto's as the tears that had started to slow down only picked right back up. He could faintly notice them mouth something along the lines of 'You fucking dork,' as the officiant had continued to speak, their facade of pride crumbling down with their tears.

The two had been so busy reveling in their own little world for a few moments, that neither had even noticed that the officiant had been asking a question. Makoto, naturally, snapped out of it first in time for him to recognize his name being said.

"S-sorry, what was that?" And, promptly, his question snapped Ren back out of their own stupor, blushing a bit in embarassment. Makoto wished he wasn't in the same flustered state. Thankfully it got a bit of chuckles out of everyone else, and the officiant repeated himself.

"Do you, Makoto Naegi, take Soren to be your spouse?"

"Oh!" Well, if he wasn't red before hand, he definitely was now, "I...I do." ...But he still wouldn't hesitate with his answer, not for a moment.

It got a bit of a giggle out of Ren. At least they were amused at how flustered he was- but he knew full well it was a double edged sword.

"Soren, do you take Makoto to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

Despite watching their cheeks turn a bright red- called it- and noticing their breath bitch a bit, their resolve didn't falter in the slightest.

"I do, now and forever."

Makoto couldn't help but smile at that, the nervous expression he adorned softening into adoration. He could be nervous, sure, but right then and there? With that smile they had on? He could feel nothing but pure, unadulterated love. He didn't notice when the officiant was asking if anyone had any objections- he didn't notice when no one had said anything, or that everyone was staring intently at the two, all he could really notice was them.

He only snapped out of it once more when he heard the Officiant speak once more.

"Then it is my great honor to pronounce you as husband and spouse!" The officiant look to the two with a little grin, "You may now kiss, if so desired."

About halfway through that sentence however, impatient as they were- Ren had quickly grabbed Makoto to yank the brunette into their shorter embrace. Yelping a bit in surprise- it instead dissolved into a little laugh as Ren mumbled a short and cheeky, 'Hey', to Makoto- only before pressing a shy kiss to him. He didn't hesitate to reciprocate, a hand gently combing past the flower crown veil to instead thread his fingers through their hair. Only then did they relax a bit, pressing back with a bit more decor for a few moments before drawing away a bit.

"Hello to you, too, Mx. Naegi," Makoto lightly teased, despite being out of breath. Watching their face equally flush a bright red, but light up with delight, he ignored the small uproar of his friends and family- instead laughing to himself before being ambushed in another kiss from his now-spouse. Despite it all, they made it to this point...New Years Eve- now New Years day...Now, officially, married. To the two, it was clear as day...

What a great way to start a new year.

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

Tossing some comments of my own in here since that's just what me and randomnameless do together lel.

I think Lehran is just apologizing for the agony Misaha lived through, just as a general apology and for not being there for her. The problem imo isn't whether he participated in the lie, but the fact that he stayed out of it completely and didn't try one way or another to change things. It's not his fault per se, but I think he's apologizing for his absence in her life and his lack of action overall.

As for why laguz lose their powers, I think the writers were trying to make something bad exist in the world outside of the villains, kind of like a thing you can't change and just have to accept is the reality of nature. It's not really a good thing to fit into the Tellius games when they preach things of an opposite nature, and really, I think that aspect of the games is so out there that I mostly ignore it while enjoying the games. It's just so left field for those games, and especially when those games are actually well written. It feels more like an attempt to make something bad happen for the sake of conflict but not really thinking it through fully.

Regarding the whole "returning to one race" concept, I think if you consider general species growth that that just isn't possible. Evolution probably would be the best thing to consider for why laguz lose their powers and why they can't ever truly return to being the one race they all came from. Once something has evolved, it can't go back to being what it was, because if it tries, it'll just be something still different. It may resemble the original thing, but it won't be an exact copy because the evolution already changed it and it adapted it from there.

Since laguz naturally feel something "off" about the Branded, I think that's why Dheginsea made the decree in the first place. It backfired, but I don't think he meant to do it with ill intent. At the very least, he did acknowledge his mistake after he's defeated during Endgame 3. Actually, I think he realized it a while before, but the lie had gone on for so long that he couldn't change the public perception of it anymore. By the time he realized he was wrong, there was no way he could fix what was started, so he kept up the lie because... it was that - tell people what they already believed - or try to be honest and face the backlash of potential conflict that he was wholly trying to avoid in the first place.

Ike can't solve the issue, which is why, imo, he's never really brought into it. We get his view on it from his A support with Soren in PoR, but that's all he can really offer for his side of things. He can't stop the fact that laguz will lose their power if they breed with a beorc (joke read: Ranulf and Ike are going to herald the new era of gay laguz/beorc relations bc laguz can't lose their powers that way!!!). It's not something he can solve, and ultimately nobody can actually "solve" it as it's something that just... happened during evolution, as neither goddess created that turn of events.

Like you said, I don't think there really is a solution. You could consider it a tragedy of sorts, but as you mentioned, it just feels a bit off and misplaced in this particular set of games. I fully understand that it's a tragedy and nobody can truly be blamed for it, but for the sake of a written story in a JRPG, it doesn't follow the message of the story or cause any reasonable conflict. Rather, it's a conflict that completely argues against the message of the game. Maybe that was intentional, but the specific chosen conflict just feels to me like it doesn't work.

Now, of course, maybe that would be reasonable in any other situation... but unfortunately it's a message about race, which is a very real topic and conflict. It's not a fantasy conflict that needs magic to be resolved. It's a real conflict just based in a fantasy setting, but then has a message in the middle of the good messages that's like ??? It kind of denies the rest of the games' messages.

I don't think the writers actually meant for it to be such a huge oopsie, but that's why I say it probably wasn't totally thought through. I think the message of that was supposed to be, regardless of these facts we all still accept each other, but obviously it's still a huge ??? because no matter what, even if everyone does accept each other, the laguz parents are still naturally, physically punished.

As for what your anon said, I do think it's meant to be ironic in that Dheginsea tried to protect a race at the cost of another... and very ironically, effectively denied the existence of his own grandson, regardless of the fact that he didn't actually know his grandson. Considering Kurthnaga finds out about his nephew at the end of RD if all the conditions are met, I'd like to think that irony isn't lost to Kurthnaga and that he'll make more of an effort for the Branded going forward.

The reason people weren't taught about Branded is because they feared that the beorc would take that as their proof of superiority and the laguz could have ended up being oppressed. Some laguz may have even thought they deserved it and that that was simply the way things were supposed to be, but Dheginsea wanted to avoid that because no, the laguz aren't a lesser species, but people may start to think so if they learned about the Branded.

So, like you said anon, he had to deny the existence of a race to save a larger race. It's not right, but there was no good, real solution to the problem. Either the laguz are at risk, and probably the Branded too by being half bloods... or only the Branded would be denied. In other words, he had to decide if two races would be denied or if only one would be. Obviously for minorities it's horrible and it's not right, but I think in Dheginsea's mind he simply had no right answer and tried to go with what he thought was better for a majority of living people. Maybe, yes, it would've been better to admit the truth and just do damage control from there, but that's only hindsight for him. He can never know the truth because he made a decision at the time that he later regretted.

Dheginsea's part I think was part of the tragedy... but the overall message imo is just a big oopsie and a huge oversight on how bad that message really looks when you consider what Tellius is about. I sometimes prefer to just ignore that aspect of the story in my own little happy headcanon world and such because it's a bonkers concept in a world of attempted acceptance, but yeah... it exists, it's just really opposite of what Tellius is supposed to stand for.

That is racist of Dheginsea. Othering the children who aren’t responsible for their parents choices and demonizing them so they have no place to go, and so those children end up with resentment to the Laguz for the way they’re othered and treat. Not to mention it wouldn’t stop Laguz from willingly being with a Beorc despite the consequences, which further leads to both sides hating the other. Of course the narrative of how both sides wrote history to say they alone are descended from the Zunanma rather than admit both are closely related sub species itself furthers the othering as well, as it means there’s no reason to view the other species as deserving to exist when they’re the Goddess chosen people.

I think Dheginsea at least meant well, but he never truly considered the idea that his actions to preserve his species at the cost of a new species(as that’s what the Branded are) caused the same problems he feared for an even smaller minority.

No pbs anon!

That's why I really really really hate the Tellius situation, it's a "divide by 0" equation where no matter what, some people will be screwed at the end.

And that's the issue!

Of course protecting a minority from being persecuted is an obvious step on a path to protect everyone - but it's the ultimate railroad dilemna where you have to choose who is going to be rolled over.

Sadly I've tried to find the chapter from which the Misaha quotes were ripped off on SF but it's not from the endgame?

It's those lines :

"Misaha: All of the apostles have borne this brand. It is our greatest secret. The senators must never know. Because of this brand, I thought that I had been born of some great sin. It plagued me always. Guilt tore at me every day as I hid my mark from my people, deceiving them constantly about my true nature. Lehran: Oh, child...how can I apologize to you? Misaha: And yet, now that I’ve met you, I understand. There is no shame in my heritage. None at all. I will not live in hiding. I will reveal to the world that I am one of the Branded. They must see there is no shame in who I am."

Misaha thinks she was born from a "great" sin because of her brand, most likely hearing the stories of Deghinsea about brandeds being "parentless" children and "sins against the goddess".

But why is Lehran apologising here?

Is he apologising because he participated in that lie, or more twisted- Lehran apologises because if Misaha has a brand and cannot pass as a beorc in Begnion, it's because of "him" for not being a beorc? Is Lehran actually apologising for being born a laguz?? For befriending Altina and getting their first kid?

Granted, when Lehran has his breakdown because of chaotic energies before making the decision to erase both Laguz and Beorcs, it goes like this :

Dheginsea: “You, who have lost your birthright?”

Misaha: “And yet, now that I’ve met you, I understand. There is no shame in my heritage. None at all.”

Ashera: “In deference to you, I will place my faith in your kind one last time.”

Altina: “You… are the gentlest soul of them all, my sweet Lehran…”

Lehran: “Why? Why did I lose my power? Why? Why was my tribe stolen? Why, why, why?”

More than 800 years later, Lehran is still "not over with" losing his powers. Lehran who is kind and gentle, but who wants to help - loses his birthright, he cannot fulfill his promise to Ashera anymore - thus cannot help - his descendant is proud to be, well, his descendant - but he cannot help/save her (as if he had the possibility anyways!) because he lost his powers - and Deghinsea who inadvertently (I think Deg had no malicious intent here) reminds him that he is powerless...

Imo, it encapsulates everything - there is nothing wrong about Laguz and Beorc accepting each other, but why the fuck Laguz lose their powers? ?

As for the lie in itself and crossbreeding...

What do you mean by "weren't taught properly"?

That's precisely the point of that lie, the truth, if taught to the world, would be unearable for both Laguz and, to a lesser extent, Beorcs. Like, telling the truth to Laguz? "Don't fuck Beorcs or you will end up losing your abilities forever" ? But for Beorcs it's just "you're free to fuck Laguz, you'll create another being with superpowers and cripple the laguz that way!"

(also, I think it is most likely taught around, there's the joke UST between Elincia and Tibarn, and Bastian cockblocks Tibarn because they remember this tale?)

Yes, each side think they are the ones who descend from the Zunama - instead of learning the truth of how they "both" descend from the Zunama, but if both sides try to return to, idk, Zunama roots and the original "we were both one" myth, well, one side loses all of its powers, while the other get away scot-free.

So, are they that "closely related" as sub-species as they are supposed to be, in one species "dies" when it breeds with the other? We know they are, as they both descend from the same "ancestor/species", but the result of the two breeding says the inverse.

Of course the lie wouldn't stop Laguz and Beorcs who like each other a lot to live together and get kids, but the Branded's sheer existence, regardless of Deghinsea's words and edicts, is something of an anathema to Laguz, as we see with Vika and Miccy's base convo :

Micaiah: You always run away from me… Did I do something to offend you? Vika: No, I’m so sorry. I can’t explain why this happens. I get so jumpy around you. There’s just… something about you. Micaiah: Oh… Vika: Oh, but please don’t be sad! It’s not you. It’s me. I get… confused… sometimes. I really admire you, and then I get a bizarre feeling, and… Micaiah: It’s all right. Sorry to bother you. Vika: …No. Wait. Micaiah: Hm? Vika: I want to overcome this. I don’t like that I feel I must avoid you for some inexplicable reason.

Why Laguz, in general, feel Branded are people "they must avoid"?

Is it because to Laguz, even subconsciously, a branded's existence means one of them "died"? Or in a more metaphysical sense, because Brandeds herald the end of the Laguz race (because if more brandeds are born, it means more laguz "die" ?)

Misaha didn't only want to end injustices and racism against the Branded, she wanted to stop racism in Begnion against Laguz (thus by proxy, against Brandeds).

In conclusion, Deginshea's lie created discriminations against Brandeds, but I think it's more nuanced than a general "to protect one race he put another under the bus".

When Soren goes :

Hate… That I could understand. This was denial. They made me feel like I wasn’t supposed to exist at all. That my simply being alive was an affront to the world.

It's painful to read, because no one should ever think they shouldn't have been born, or their mere existence is "an affront to the world".

Tibarn puts it this way, talking about "an old song" :

It is said that the goddesses forbid laguz and beorc to procreate. If a couple breaks the taboo, the punishment is dealt to the laguz parent. She or he loses the power of the laguz and becomes something that does not belong to either species.

Deghinsea created the "taboo" and the decree, but he wasn't the one who created the "punishment".

Heck, the punishment is the reason why the "taboo" was created, to reduce the number of "punished" people, but also, and maybe, to find a reason why those "punishments" are given?

The sitation becomes unbearable : we have people who are shunned hated and at times even killed for "existing", and we have people who "die"/lose their abilities/are "punished" automatically when the first people mentionned start to exist (iirc Almedha lost her powers when she became pregnant).

For what it's worth, per Nasir, both Beorcs and Laguz came to accept the concept of Deginshea's decree :

Nasir: Even so, the taboo was broken several times over the next few decades. Usually no child was conceived, but when there was, it was swiftly covered up. The parents soon learned what it meant to bear a child who possessed both laguz and beorc blood. After they learned of the consequences, none of these parents ever rejected the edict forbidding it.

Of course comes the obvious question of did anyone even thought about asking a Branded their opinion on that decree ? Miccy is part of that conversation too, and reacts when "honor killings" of brandeds are mentionned.

But afaik, we don't have Miccy's pov about that edict - after this conversation - and the game sure as hell doesn't want her to talk to Lehran (all of his convos are reserved for Sanaki!) - whose fault is it that Lehran lost his powers, thus direct line to the goddess, thus will to live? Hers because she was born (or her ancestor's)? His, for loving Altina? Whose fault is it that Brandeds are shunned? Deghinsea, who made that decree, or Laguz in general who can sense what they are and see through them the extinction of their race, or an unfair "punishment" from whoever ?

As always, with complicated questions, Ike is nowhere to be seen, but even without Ike, what would be the best solution?

Of course, stop persecuting and denying the existence of Brandeds would be a good start.

And then?

When Laguz and Beorcs will argue againt about something stupid, reject coexistence because, to Beorcs, Laguz are beings that "stop existing" as soon as they shag? And to Laguz, who will feel cosmically "cheated" because they are the only ones who receive "punishment" from miscegenation, to the point of thinking maybe Beorcs are really the superior race?

It's why Lehran's tale is so sad, he wanted coexistence but was punished for it by his very own world - why did he lose his powers?

What kind of solution can be found in a world that pushes for equality between races, but also reveals when they coexist, only one race is "punished"?

That's why I mentioned the divide by 0 equation -

The Tellius equation has no solutions.

[bloodgulchblog]

[extremely dusty and tired finish the fight joke goes here]

Alright we're under the cut again, I can talk about how I don't entirely hate someone trying to break a Spartan out of their conditioning/coping mechanisms and it going very messy and bad.

It's very blunt and stupid and TV and full of Jimmy, but I wish regular Halo would try to touch this in a firm way. I hate when I have to nod to the TV for doing something the main canon just has not been permitted.

Anyway. Kai tries to get him to stand down but he refuses, she slams him around a bit and keeps trying to get him to stop. Jimmy talks about how they all really died (figuratively) as children, how they've never had their own lives/choices and where does the Spartan end and you begin?

At the end he's just baiting her to do it and an order's an order and he eyes the security camera significantly, Kai hits him and he's down and out as she leaves.

It might be one of the better scenes in the show for me because Kai's character arc is basically the only thing I care about anymore, but also I always feel manipulated and irritated whenever something comes close to being good for me in this thing.

Parangosky and Ackerson, watching this on the monitor, believe Jimmy's dead. It's okay, Parangosky and Ackerson. We have subtext and I'm not that lucky.

Ackerson tries to express maybe the tiniest iota of guilt but lol that's not really happening here, Parangosky asks him if he's religious and he's like "not really" and she's all "you're fine then :)."

Meanwhile. MYSTERIOUS TRANSMISSION INCOMING FROM-

BLUE WOMAN ALERT

Cortana talks to Parangosky and Jimmy Rings at the same time.

Jimmy is sort of dazed and defeated, but when she mentions she's on the same ship as Makee and the guy who killed Vannak, he rallies. Cortana starts opening doors to help guide him to where the keystone is so he can go touch it.

She tells Parangosky everything she has for Covenant intel and Parangosky says thanks, Cortana, good job. Now go back to watching them and telling us useful things until you can't anymore.

Cool cool cool.

Does that mean it's time to go check on Halsey and Kwan again?

Yes.

Guess who's here?

Miranda is here!

Anyway I can safely throw out anything I thought might've possibly been interesting this season because Miranda's just in charge of doing some kind of corrections to Halsey's old Forerunner research. I had thought they might retain her being put in charge of the Spartan part of things from last season, but I guess it's 100% Ackerson.

God that would've been even slightly cool, so of course they didn't do it.

Mysterious portal-shaped thing that we don't get to learn about yet.

We also get like 5 seconds with Laera and Soren in an unknown area Soren refers to as "Thermopylae" and then they have to leave because someone's coming.

We don't get to find out fucking anything about it, I'm sure it's for next episode. There is still a remote chance of more child soldiers but let's be real I don't know what the fuck these guys are doing anymore and I also do not actually care.

Let's go see Kai and Ackerson again.

Kai confronts Ackerson about the altered training simulation and he says what I already said: he made the ending easier to give the trainees hope because that's the most important thing and that will make them capable or something.

Kai's like oh, like you did at Reach?

Then she calls up her reach simulation, and calls Ackerson out on abandoning the Spartans at Reach without their armor (which is something Jimmy told her during that big conversation I couldn't screencap the entire thing of.)

Ackerson calls what happened at Reach inevitable, and also indicates that he knows Kai did not kill Jimmy for real on the cameras and that he's sent "black ops" to finish what she couldn't.

Cut to bloody Jimmy staggering around while Cortana opens doors for him and closes other doors just in time to stop bullets.

Anyway, with Makee.

The Priest is holding Makee responsible for that weird transmission that just went out. Also, he found her secret flashdrive full of blue woman.

Makee is like "oh fuck" and pretty sure Arby's is gonna sword her to death.

....But then he's like TRUE BELIEVERS WILL STAND WITH ME AND EVERYONE ELSE WILL DIE and this shit happens.

He starts fighting EVERYONE while Makee crawls off.

She touches the rock.

Jimmy touches the other rock.

ROLL CREDITS EVERYBODY.

AREN'T YOU GLAD THAT THEY GOT A SECOND SEASON OF HALO TV SHOW????

I have no jokes for you this morning.

S2E06.

We start off with a group of Spartan-IIIs engaged in a simulation training exercise to board and take down a Covenant ship.

We find out that it's a training simulation because they get pulled out of the dumb VR zoom call technology from last season (y'all remember that? I barely did) and Kai tells them how they fucked up and that they need to be more like a swarm of bees when they're in space to not get shot.

Insanely, one of these trainees is apparently Perez.

We also get a ton of these in-helmet face shots I hate.

While Halsey and the Gang have been busy on Aleria, Spartan-III is.... proceeding with a bunch of adults who survived Reach.

Apparently.

I feel like anyone reading this post has been here long enough to understand my annoyance without my efforts to belabor the point. Maybe I'll get agitated enough to make a whole post out of it later.

But this also feels like the kind of thing a writer does when they've heavily foreshadowed something (the Kessler subplot, whatever the fuck was up with Ackerson having a dead sister clone) but want to make you think you didn't see it coming, so I am expecting we are not out of the child soldier woods yet.

You know how it is.

The children yearn for the child soldier woods.

Anyway, there's a ~thing~ with her and Kai where Kai clearly doesn't like her and Kai's like "I don't have a problem with you I have a problem with failure" while Perez is all YOU'RE JUST MAD YOU WEREN'T THERE AT REACH.

Anyway there's this fucking amazing line after Perez says she "knows what she signed up for."

Then, we cut to Parangosky and Twinkerson having a conversation about ONI (sorry, THE ONI), tea, stories, and empire because of course.

But actually, the point of the conversation is that Parangosky has heard someone snuck a ship through their security protocols and landed nearby, and also she has heard from a source that Halsey is probably alive.

And was seen traveling with a huge scarred man on a ship of the same description.

God dammit, roll the title sequence.

I've survived the first 10 minutes without needing to spit 30 images at you so you can understand my anguish, so maybe things are looking up.

Sort of.

For now.

God I need to fucking know how bad the Spartan-IIIs actually are because this is already so stupid.

Luckily, Halo show is going to leave that Jimmy Rings teaser alone for now. Hop over to Kai and Ackerson.

Kai has been using the VR zoom call software to make herself more miserable about how she wasn't at the battle of Reach by simming herself there, and Ackerson is calling her out on it. She believes her whole team is dead and she's having a very bad time.

She is not confident about the Spartan-III trainees. She says they're not Spartans.

Ackerson is like lol well that's your problem, they are Spartans...

10/10 #1 best boss of the year award.

OKAY NOW we get to go see Halsey and the gang, who are of course on Onyx.

Halsey casually does not explain her plan. Kwan wanders off into the woods and starts hallucinating the spooky woman again while Soren and Jimmy talk about how Onyx is a ~mysterious planet~ with ONI history or something, and how Laera and Soren want to go find/rescue Kessler.

Kessler is somewhere in that building, they think.

Security forces show up and they fight armorless Jimmy in the snow in a scene that Paramount Halo probably thinks looks cool but I just thought looked very silly.

Kwan follows her vision and jumps down a well, which we find out has weird Forerunner Stuff at the bottom and Halsey is already there.

Halsey apparently used to work here 20 years ago.

The funniest thing about the sequence is she credits meeting Kwan specifically for how Jimmy Rings stopped behaving "like a Spartan," which feels super un-earned because of how quickly season 1 separated these characters and how little they ultimately actually seemed to mean to one another. Kwan is about as bewildered as I am with it.

Then, we have THE MOST HILARIOUS SEQUENCE IN THE SHOW TO ME SO FAR.

Okay.

Setting the stage for you.

Lovingly fighting with how tumblr won't let me upload two videos in one post.

Remember this cutscene with me, how they show us the Arbiter's punishment, how it feels to watch that.

Remember it? Love it? Good.

Here's what we get in Halo TV Show.

[EDIT: tumblr had its chance to host this but I think it thinks it's content matched, porn, or both. So. Youtube.]

The prosecution is wheezing. The prosecution rests.

(And by that I mean I should probably go eat something besides bad tv show for breakfast.)