#I can't give them a different reason for things and a different relationship with Viola because the whole canon relationship they do have i

[otiksimr]

Viola's backstory is such a mess that I want to get into but for the time being I wont. Because 1) it's some heavy stuff and 2) I don't think my portrayal of aforementioned heavy stuff is all that accurate or realistic.

Plus he's constantly being worked on and changed around as I figure out exactly what the hell I want this guy to be.

He's so much fun to write and plan for but that's an issue because then I write too much for him and give him too many concepts of which don't fit into the canon story, so then I create branching 'au's' for him and then I get distracted from canon and aaeuaeauea.

He's FUN and that's a PROBLEM.

At the very least the core and beginning of his backstory are pretty set in stone.

[dystopianam]

WHY in my opinion Viola's existence was planned and it is no coincidence that she is present in the beta images. (AND why for me she is NOT a random townie like some people think)

Viola is a case of character data who, although has not kept anything that can be recovered, has however (evidently) give her DNA to the NPC Seth Bui, who overwrote her data.

Seth has blue/light blue eyes, blonde hair and medium skin, all DNA that can be obtained from combining Olivia and Claudio's genetics, proof that Viola was probably their daughter or a relative.

From the beta images, unfortunately we cannot see Viola's eye color, but we can clearly see that her hair and skin match. Knowing that her eyes were really blue or light Blue (I don't remember if Claudio has blue or light blue eyes) would have further confirmed her relationship with the Montys.

Some people suspect that Viola could only be a totally random townie because the name "Viola" is present among the list of townies in a game file (but this does not justify anything because it is true that townies called Viola can be generated, but this does not mean that there can only be one Sim named Viola)

AND Now I'll explain why it's absurd in my opinion to think that she could JUST be a plotless townie:

Viola refers to the character "Viola" from Shakespeare's story "The Twelfth Night", a story from which Olivia ALSO come from.

In the story, Viola has a twin brother, Sebastian, but the two were separated as children. To make a long story short, to have better living conditions, Viola disguises herself as a man and calls herself Cesario, Olivia sees Viola disguised as a man and falls in love with her believing she is a man, but Viola loves another man.

The plot twist in the end is that Sebastian, thought to have died in the sea, suddenly reappears without an explanation and to fix things, he gets engaged to Olivia (because he is identical to his twin sister and you can't tell the difference) and Viola stays with the man she loves. The twins reunite and they are all happily ever after.

Since for some reason they apparently didn't like the idea of Mercutio and Romeo having a sister, anymore, they replaced the concept of Viola and Sebastian and "recycled" it with Beatrice and Benedick, making them twins. In the original story, Beatrice and Benedick are NOT siblings, but Beatrice is in love with Benedick.

(Beatrice and Benedick came from So Much Ado About Nothing, story from which Hero and Claudio also come)

ALSO no townies in Veronaville have Shakespearian references. They're just random sims without any plot.

[mayahafairy]

You mentioned that you love Romeo and Juliet after previously loathing the story and I was wondering if you could explain 1) what made you change your mind and 2) whether or not their relationship would have had positive effects on them had they not died, in your opinion?

Hi Anon!

I did say that right here.

As for what changed my mind I can't say exactly but all the little things that helped were, largely to do with a closer analysis of the text itself and a better understanding of the history of that time.

The first thing that changed my mind was keeping a more open mind to the theme of Fate vs Freewill and analysing the text to support this theme.

I reasoned that if Fate was a true aspect of the play then it would be logical to assume that Romeo and Juliet were always bound to meet and die, that they were like many of those soulmates who kept being hunted/were fated to meet and die. Basically, if they were indeed the pawns of fate then the timeline of their romance matches out.

Another thing that made me fall for their romance was that though all of their decisions may seem as though they're driven by lust their interactions always contain some form of purity or an indication of true love and respect if you look more closely at the text.

Take their first meeting, for example, Shakespeare is always known to compliment the people in his romances to one another through their speech; in The Twelfth Night he compliments Viola and Duke Orsino to one another by having them speak rhythmically in verse and their dialogue compliment each other using stressed and unstressed syllables. In Romeo and Juliet, the couple's first-ever conversation is one that is spoken in a shared sonnet which displays Shakespeare foreshadowing their attraction and suitability to one another. This also supports the theme of fate and the theory of soulmates as when they meet they immediately complement each other.

Additionally, when Romeo is banished and Juliet set to wed Paris she is heartbroken and refuses to give up on her marriage despite the Nurse being correct when she told Juliet that she could just get away with marrying Paris because if Romeo did show up to challenge Paris for her hand-who on earth would believe him? Especially if Juliet simply denied so outrageous an affair. Yet Juliet chose to face her worst fears to be with Romeo instead of marrying the rich, politically powerful, handsome and acceptable Paris.

And they risked everything: being disowned, homeless, penniless, turned away and scorned by their families and even death for their relationship. How stupid, right? How could they so act in a mad lustful frenzy?

These were my original thoughts, but then they would have slept together and everything separated them. It would be easy for them both to move on, set their sights on different attractive people and forget that they had ever happened. Why not? Lust is not so powerful that they would go through so much in the name of lust. Lust is not so present after it has been satisfied (at least I think) and it is fleeting. It's intense and fast and high but love is far softer, and far more permanent and Romeo and Juliet acted even when everything stood between them to be together and so I think that if it were mere lust they would both have eventually learned to turn the other cheek and forget about their previous relationship.

[bereaving]

That's true, Bly is definitely more Gothic. When I compare them with each other, I like Bly more based on story, characters and the overall feeling you get while watching 👀 but that's just my personal opinion. Hill House made me a really huge fan of the whole series. It's not just dumb horror it's a well thought through story with so many details and twists, it's perfectly done.  

Haha well he's not as interesting as Jamie so it's easy to forget about him 😉 

To his whole backstory, yeah I mean he had a traumatic childhood and it made him who he is now, but even after episode 7 I had no sympathy for him, like nothing. OJC did portray him perfectly, there's no doubt about it, but just his character and how he treated Rebecca and the kids just made me hate him and there was nothing that could change that. I have to say it was kinda hard for me to hate him because in Hill House, I loved Luke and now seeing him playing the complete opposite of that was definitely interesting 😅 

Everyone was shocked by this scene but I loved it 😂 it was just great how Viola just came and shut him off 

You have, but there's no need to stop saying it 🥰

This scene...oh my 👌 I've watched it so often and it gives me goosebumps every time I watch it again, too. That's such a good shot, the whole atmosphere was perfect. And then Dani, with so much nervousness in her voice, saying this line 🥰 the way Jamie looks at her after it and then the hand holding, makes me realize how much I love them every time 💕 

I mean, yeah, their whole story was perfect, nothing happened without a reason and that's the same with the ending. I can't say I will ever get used to it, I'd have rather liked to see them happy till the end, as cheesy as it sounds, but I just don't get the reason behind of destroying a good relationship in the most cruel way possible. And I also know that it kinda had to end like this but it caused so much struggle for me, I was so sad after watching it, I felt so empty and I know it's just a show but I was heartbroken at the end. Like really heartbroken, and even after watching it a few times I have to prepare myself for the end cause it destroys me every time. But yeah it caused a much bigger impact, thats for sure.

I can agree to everything you just said in this! And it's true, the show reminds yourself of many things in your own life even if it reminds me of sad things mostly but it's still unusual for a show to have so much impact and thats wonderful 👏 

Haha yeah I get that 😂 I, as I already said, didn't have this "wtf" moment because I knew she would be in this one too 😅 but it changes the whole look you have on the show knowing that she already was playing Nell.  

And I agree on the most fascinating sibling, for me it's also Nell for sure. I loved all of them (except Steve) but Nell was my favorite for sure 

Totally true! I don't like the whole concept of the show which makes it automatically not interesting for me. 

I mean i have seen a few gifs of Victoria here on Tumblr and she looks f*cking cute in it what makes me even hate the concept more cause if it wouldn't be like it is, I could watch Victoria's great acting again 😭 

Haha omg yes! Same here! 😂😍 I would leave everything behind just to be the one helping her out and I wouldn't care about my fear of dogs too! I mean that would be a dream come true tbh 😂 

It’s another long one, anon! :D

We stan one man in Bly and that’s Owen 😄

OJC was jarring for me, too, but by the time I watched Bly, I’d gotten wind that 1). he played Luke and 2). he was supposed to be the gardener but people were like, “it’d be weird seeing the siblings play lovers” so he was cast as Quint instead. So to see him as Luke, it was still a shock, but... a mini one.  It is also worth pointing out that if he had played Jamie... I don’t think I would be this invested in Bly.

His pre-death scene? LOL, I screamed so loud when that happened and almost threw my phone. I had an inkling based on what Rebecca said, but... good christ. It got me.

Re: the ending again Yeah, I mean, I completely understand how it feels. Personally, I can’t really say that I felt differently, particularly after the first watch - I was left empty, too, and so so shattered. Even now, if I have to go back and see clips of the ending, I still get teary-eyed. Some days I would just randomly put on I Shall Believe, or Frank Ocean’s Godspeed, and just... cry. Generally, there’s always going to be that part of us, when we see stories that resonate with us but have sad/tragic endings, that holds up for that bit of hope that they’d defy the odds and conquer whatever it is that life throws at them, That maybe this time as we see them again, they’ll prevail. But... alas.

Re: Nell Crain, this blog is her stan account, and adult Steven can kindly go away. Which, if I’m being honest, I was underwhelmed by Michiel Huisman in Hill House. I mean I saw him in Orphan Black and I remember walking away from the episode where he’s in it thinking, “oh this guy’s good.” And then I see him here and he’s just... there? Everyone made me feel and everyone had that Thing that made me relate to them easier. Not him.

Honestly with Love Quinn... I obviously do not know how batshit crazy she is, but judging from the GIFsets... she’s a chef. I’m studying to be one. Her murdering tendency and derangement aside, I just... want to go to the farmer’s market with her, buy her flowers and/or strawberries or both, and bake pies with her. 

[winterdrifting]

Lady Dahlia for the meme?

Lady Dahlia is a character I have never really given much thought of! It’s been a while since I last played Curious Village so let's see what I can come up with!

Favourite thing about them: I suppose the tragedy in her character? And with how much her existence is defined by other people she still gets kind of left alone? I mean she was literally made to replace Viola, and when that then upset the Baron, her personality was changed. And when she met and immediately terrified Flora, she was pushed away by both of them. She couldn't really fulfil the role she was made for, but continued to exist in both of their lives, if just to haunt Viola's family, or to be haunted by Viola's memories herself. She cares about Flora, a care that she had probably no choice in, and in the end of CV lets the last reason for why she even existes go, just like all the other robots let Flora go. Because she loves Flora. Because all the robots in the Village were built to love Flora. Because the village and its people were built to be left by Flora one day. The tragic difference is that one of the robots wears the face of Viola.

Least favourite thing about them: The more I think about it, the more I wish we could have gotten some more info about the relationships between the Reinholds. Like did Baron and Flora just avoid Dahlia?? The entire time?? (Now that I type it out wow that can be a parallel to Flora's fate in the series huh) And what's up with the other relatives? Are they based off of actual people too?

brOTP: Uhhh at least she has Claudia? With the way she is presented in the game I imagine she has a hard time making friends. 

OTP: I don’t ship her with anybody, but when I think about it, Baron/Dahlia could be super interesting if you focus on Baron’s inability to properly grieve (robo wife), his disregard for Dahlia's feelings (he literally calls her “a thing” and “It” I think??), and the complete control he has over her (he has already changed her personality once, theoretically he could have done so again). In a darker narrative Baron could basically insist that everythings fine, while Dahlia could have her agency programmed away at any point and only have “dreams”  left that could give her just an inkling of the truth. It sounds incredibly toxic, and would lend itself incredibly well for a horror story from Dahlia’s or Flora's perspective.

nOTP: I don’t even know if it exists but obviously Dahlia/Flora, but besides that Baron/Dahlia if the narrative that depicts it completely glosses over what makes it unhealthy I guess? 

Random headcanon: To be a perfect copy of his late wife, Baron insisted that even her imperfections are immortalised in Lady Dahlia, including things such as minor injuries or scars that never truly faded. It later leads to Flora feeling disgusted by the attention to detail (as well as other thoughts that crop up when your father builds an indistinguishable copy of a person and wondering if he would ever do the same to you without you even knowing (I really, really want to try this oneshot one day…)). It also leads to Dahlia looking at a scar in the crook of her arm. A scar that has existed for as long as she could remember. She can't remember how she got it, it's in a circular shape, not something Claudia could have caused. It doesn't really matter, she thinks, and buries unimportant dreams of exhaustion and a crying girl in the depths of her mind. It's barely visible and her shawl covers it anyway.

Unpopular opinion: I honestly don't even know the popular opinions of her. I guess I like that she is a major character who is mainly rude? A lot / most major women in the series are nice/pleasant people for the most part, so as an exception to the rule it makes her character stand out?

Song I associate with them: Uhhhhhhhh Reinhold Manor from the soundtrack?

Favourite line/ picture of them:

Honestly girl go live beyond what your creators have intended for you to be. Live your best widow life, pet your cat, do some cool robot shit.

Anyway this was fun! I wouldn't have guessed that I would write so much about Dahlia, but there is a lot that could be explored with her!