#I feel horrible for not being around very much

[incorrectfatui]

I was once again bored, so here‘s some of my Harbinger headcanons: this time, Harbingers doing a drinking contest

okay, so, going number by number- Pierro: Thinks he‘s too good to participate. If he does participate, he just drinks a few irish coffees, maybe a sip of whiskey, and dips before it becomes to chaotic. In Khaenri‘ah they used to primarily drink mead, but he says mead doesnt taste the same outside of Khaenri’ah. Capitano: Similar to Pierro, tries to play responsible parent while the other Harbingers drink. Gets really dissappointed when the more reasonable Harbingers get drunk, so he starts drinking out of despair. Lightweight, gets really depressed when drunk- which is good in comparison to some others… Dottore: really REALLY lightweight, but doesnt want to admit it. Segments have absolutely died of alcohol poisoning before. One of his life goals is inventing something to make him able to drink more. CANNOT for the life of him accept defeat in a drinking contest, but is always one of the first to get drunk. Ends up being REALLY hyper, before lying around sick. Columbina: Not a lightweight actually, but consumes ungodly amounts of alcohol VERY very quickly, so she ends up drunk anyways. Horrible. Scary. Even more dangerous than usual. Also very clingy, usually to the other female Harbingers or Scaramouche/Dottore. gets really hungover once she IS drunk and has to be babysat the next morning. Arlecchino: didnt have much time to drink as a teenager (had to watch over children- could technically have drank alcohol as a kid bc Crucabena dgaf, but yknow, she didnt wanna mess up a mission and DIE), so she‘s also pretty lightweight. Doesn‘t really drink much around her kids, so she’s out of practice for drinking contests. Fascinated and a little concerned by Childe‘s capability to drink, especially considering his age, but would never admit it. Tries her best not to get too drunk at the drinking contest, usually just ends up with a headache. Doesnt get hangovers, so if she‘s feeling nice (or if Pierro forces her) she‘ll help with the cleanup. Crucabena: Absolutely drinks around her children and doesnt really give a shit if they do (just really really not happy if they perform worse in the field because of it). Doesn’t get drunk easily, so she’s really just spending most of the contest egging other people (Dottore) on. Easily outdrinks Dottore, finds it really funny when he’s drunk (much to everyone elses disdain). Very functional even if she DOES get drunk. Could she be considered an alcoholic? I dont know, I‘m german, my standards regarding this are different. Pulcinella: Snezhnayan grandpa. Childe‘s idol. One of the last harbingers standing. Eventually ends up tending to Childe when he inevitably goes too far. Bro does not give a shit.

[postazkabansiriussupremacy]

How about some rlly fluffy & also smutty headcanons for being reunited with Sirius after he escapes Azkaban🫣🤭

sfw

♡ Sirius almost can’t believe it. How do you look even better in your thirties than you did during young adulthood???

♡ But seriously. You look absolutely beautiful; Sirius is stunned at how you’ve only gotten better with age

♡ Sirius has never been one for insecurity, but he definitely feels a little self conscious around you after you’ve reunited

♡ Obviously Sirius isn’t at his physical peak after Azkaban. He’s dirty, greasy, smelly, and extremely malnourished, but those things aren’t necessarily what he’s insecure about

♡ It’s also clear to him how much you’ve grown and matured over the last decade. No longer are you a young twenty year old, a rebel without a cause, nor your actions determined simply by your emotions.

♡ You’re a grown woman now. Rational, intelligent, capable, and emotionally stable. Sirius is self-aware enough to realize he’s missed out on a lot of learning and growing, but he tries to be a good man and partner for you.

♡ If you were married before he was sent to Azkaban, you’ll find that Sirius never lost his wedding band. Even after the ring no longer fit any of his fingers because he’d grown too thin, Sirius held onto it.

♡ He can’t get enough of your scent. He’d become so accustomed to the horrible stench of Azkaban and its inhabitants that he’d almost forgotten how good a person can smell.

♡ If you’re hugging, cuddling, etc, your best bet is that Sirius’s nose is going to be buried in your hair or neck. He claims he’ll never take clean scents for granted ever again

♡ It’s no secret Sirius takes loyalty very seriously; it’s one of his core values and something he takes a lot of pride in. So once he learns you never remarried or officially moved on from him? Oh, baby, he’s enchanted enamored by you.

♡ If you tell him to jump he’ll ask how high. He’ll feel he could never return the favor of your loyalty all those years while he was away, so he’ll be doing everything in his power to make up for it for the rest of his life.

♡ “Love” is not a deep enough word to describe his feelings for you

Nsfw

♡ Slow, sensual, lots of praise, and a small side of a breeding kink

♡ A decade in Azkaban has made Sirius a fan of the smaller things in life. Why rush to get to the act of penetration when he could take his sweet time instead? What’s the hurry?

♡ Foreplay is easily his favorite part of sex.

♡ “Focus on the journey, not the destination” ass

♡ He loves to make out. Whether it’s laying together in bed, dry humping, or you sat on the kitchen counter in front of him, legs wrapped around his hips

♡ Sirius just loves kissing

♡ I’ve said this before, but he has a newfound love and appreciation for oral sex. There’s nothing sweeter than his face between your legs, sloppily making out with your cunt. There’s nowhere his tongue hasn’t tasted

♡ The sheets below your ass are soaking after he’s finished. It’s hard to say if it’s majority his spit or your pussy juice

♡ Sirius loves wet head. Giving and receiving. Do not hold back on the saliva while sucking his cock. The wetter the better. Relishes in the sight and feeling of dribble spilling out of your mouth and making a mess of the bedding and his crotch

♡ Despite rebeling against the anti muggleborn rhetoric his parent’s tried to force on him, Sirius is pretty traditional otherwise. I think he wants a kid, so you’ll be hard pressed to find Sirius cumming anywhere except your cunt. On occasion he’ll even put a stop to a blow job to blow a load in your pussy rather than your mouth

[howlsofbloodhounds]

What's your opinion on Dadmare aus?

I don’t think much about Dadmare aus, or not very often. I don’t have anything against them and whenever I come across content i usually think it’s cute and like the post before moving on, but i don’t seek it out and hardly engage in it.

This is mostly because i haven’t found an interpretation of dadmare aus ive been able to get invested in, most interpretations ive come across just aren’t for me.

My biggest “issues” (but not really) with most interpretations is that nightmare is almost always portrayed as a perfect dad who can do no wrong, all the other sanses are infantilized to hell and back, and as @/signanothername said in their own post, none of the characters feel like their own people.

Their relationships to eachother and Nightmare all feel very one note and cut from the same mold most of the time. All the same reactions, all completely trust Nightmare and kiss the ground he walks on.

I don’t mind found family, but I don’t like it when the found family is shoved into little boxes and cannot differ from them.

Nightmare is 500+ years old, did not grow up with any significant parent figure in his life despite winging it on taking care of Dream, and spent his 6 early years of life being routinely abused by all the adults around him. And then he was horribly transformed and corrupted.

Why would he take on a parental role again when the last time he tried something like that he was also a child, he had no other choice, and everything went to shit despite it? Wouldn’t he also struggle like any actual parent would.

If he spent 500+ years isolated and only interacting with others when forced to, or needing something from them like negativity, wouldn’t that life experience translate into trying to care for this group of traumatized men.

And they are men. They aren’t boys. They’re adults. Unless they’re supposed to be actual children when they meet Nightmare, or one or all of them are age regressed, then I don’t see the point in infantilizing them or treating them as if they’re children. None of these guys are looking for a father figure.

Adults can be found family, there doesn’t need to be any dad or child or siblings boxes to me.

Especially not when Horror already has a brother, Killer’s concept of family dynamics is also very likey screwed to hell and back (just look at what he thinks about any relationship, there’s no such thing as “equals” in his eyes, killer in dadmare dynamics would probably just view it as another role and game he has to play and “dadmare” is his new Chara), Nightmare killed his mother and his currently trying to kill his brother after trapping him in stone for years.

Dust killed his brother and is constantly haunted by his hallucination, Cross destroyed his entire AU and also came from an entirely different AU with a completely different life from the others. (Alphys being his sister, for example. Horror having lobotomized his Alphys and Killer having likely killed and tortured his many times and Dust having murdered his.)

So tldr: I don’t mind dadmare, but it personally isn’t for me. I like found family bad sanses, but not if there’s roles assigned and not if it’s not earned.

I don’t like Nightmare being the perfect father somehow and the sanses being treated like children even though they’re 30-40+ adults and aren’t looking for a father figure.

I prefer dysfunctional found family dynamics with the bad sanses.

Also that some people aren’t likely to be overly emotionally involved or invested in these dynamics for a very long time if at all, even if he plays along as if its all a game or some elaborate test being played on him— either because he thinks he has to, or because it’s something new and he’s curious. He may even get bored of the dynamics eventually, and start asking Nightmare when it’s game over.

Which could lead to something very interesting if he realizes it was never supposed to be a game or a test.

[koralinewrites]

Could you please do a Subaru and Ayato 60 headcanons, please? I liked Laito ones a lot.

Hey! Sorry this took a WHILE- I only have Ayato’s done right now, so I’ll definitely tag you in Subaru’s when I (eventually) get his done! Hope you enjoy!

60* Ayato Headcanons

*ish

Listens to MSI

Stupid best friend vibes

“Only I can bully them” with his brothers

Hits, flicks, smacks, etc. people as a sign of affection

Favorite color is red, duh

Both can be read like a book and is good at masking, somehow-

Very smart actually

Only for things he wants to be smart about though

Borderline dyslexic

Paints his nails every now and then 

Either black or dark red

Is ALWAYS making noise, whether that be tapping his fingers, his foot, humming, anything that makes any slight noise

Speaking of humming, he always hums HIS songs

If he’s not making noise, he’s fidgeting

Fiddling with his fingers, rubbing circles into his thumbs, playing with his clothes, etc.

Very adhd coded

Though it could easily be anxiety as well

Drinks alcohol even though he can’t get drunk from it

Sometimes challenges fellow students to drinking competitions and uses that to win

During basketball, can get distracted by the cheerleaders with bigger tits if the uniforms are revealing

Wants other piercings, like on his lip or nose

Believed in Santa Claus WAY longer than he should have

Actually really likes summer and the sun

The one thing he hates about being a vampire is that the sun hurts his vision

Otherwise he’d be outside in the sun almost all day every day

Has the lightest eyes of the brothers, and they shine bright in the sun

Back to his songs, he helps his brothers write theirs every now and then

Actually somewhat good at cooking

Now… baking is a different thing

Banned from the oven by Reiji

Actually has NO sense of style (mr. one pant leg 😭)

Dresses like Adam Sandler most of the time

Very affectionate person

Always touching his S/O in some way

Holding their hand, bumping knees, hand on thigh

Stupid teenager when in love

Does whatever he can to impress them

Might get with a guy, depends on the guy

Has thought about it

Hasn’t tried it yet

Hehe time for angst-

Still has nightmares of drowning

Sometimes just the sound of water sets him off, depending on his mental state

Genuinely is really worried about Laito’s and Kanato’s mental and physical health

Knows that his trauma was just as bad as theirs, but doesn’t feel like it all the time

Picks the skin around his nails and bites them

That’s why he started to paint his nails; to stop that habit

Hates himself for not being able to help Laito (even though he was a child-)

Forgives people really easily

Even if they were absolutely horrible to him

Doesn’t try in school as a subconscious rebellion against his mother (even though she’s dead-)

Doesn’t hate his brothers at all

Sure they can be annoying

But if he had to save either his life or his brothers…

He’d pick them

Wants to be closer to his brothers than he is now

Like back when they were children

Reminisces on that time when he’s alone

Sometimes cries because of how much he misses that feeling of closeness

Has both a superiority complex and an inferiority complex

Definition of “Oh No!” by Marina and the Diamonds

[bloopitynoot]

Reading SVSSS: Chapter 16

For those who don't know, I am reading SVSSS for the first time and sharing my thoughts!

If you have not read it, there will be spoilers! Consider this a warning.

Also- if you want to follow along, I am aiming to post updates daily. You can find all the posts in the tag bloopitynoot reads SVSSS. You can also check out the intro post for context on my read.

Hello! Another day, another chapter!

I really don't have much to ramble about today, but I am back on my tea. This is a new one from the ren faire this year- vanilla chai with sugar and milk. The cup is from the same ren faire (but purchased last year).

let's go let's let's go- I am already impatient to get into this chapter.

Last chapter we ended on a cliffhanger with Luo Binghe totally unconscious- we start this chapter with Shen QIngqiu ready to rescue his man and escape!

It's really so upsetting that he is going back to trash (two bar) spiritually energy in this body when he was so used to his mushroom Unlimited Power p65

RIP Luo Binghe's skull LOL he is really being tossed around like a rag doll. SQQ needs to be more careful. p66

MXTX said forget the only one bed trope, I raise you -> There Was Only One Coffin p67

Fuck. This is actually so scary 10/10 I would pee myself if a little skeletal arm was worming it's way into the coffin I was temporarily occupying (really anything in this book's reality would make me die of fright. as an aside I was talking to my partner about this while watching MDZS donghua yesterday, in the world of cultivators I would be a dumpling stall owner. I could never with the sword training and literal corpses). pp67-68

I CANT 'extenuating circumstances'. SQQ definitely: I just HAD to kiss his cute little forehead to save our lives. p68

i'm crying LOL "a person's abdomen is supposed to be the softest spot on their body, but Luo Binghe's was uncomfortably hard against Shen Qingqiu's stomach. The farther down he pulled him, the more he was sure that Luo Binghe had an eight-pack. Was that a rock slab down there?" p70

this keeps getting worse LMAO

OOOOO Meng Mo is back! Is it weird that I kind of love this guy? He has such a cool power and is a bit of a dick, but in the best and worst of ways. Him and Airplane give similar energy and I am not mad about it. p72

oh gosh! LBH is either "fatally ill" or "close to death" p72

wait- adding to the above point. he could also be mentally very unwell :( poor buddy -> it's likely this option. p72

so even though SQQ is processing nothing , I think SQQ admitting (not naming the feeling but admitting) that he is feeling a mess of emotions about Luo Binghe is a big step for him! p73

Meng Mo seems to have a lot of feelings about LBH. I am not sure if it's just pride or what but whatever it is he is correct here, "The way this elder sees it, he (LBH) should either kill you (SQQ) or do you!" p74

PLEASE OH NO

I AM WHEEZING

+1000 Protagonist Satisfaction Points for touching LBH's "Heavenly Pillar" p76

IM DYING OH NO

WHY IS THIS EVEN A THOUGHT IF HE THINKS HE'S STRAIGHT "He couldn't exactly help Luo Binghe jerk off under these circumstances, right?!" p76 But like if not these circumstances he is cool with doing it in other circumstances???????????

oh no! SQQ blocking the blades with his bare hand for LBH p79

Dang. the Old Palace Master has been through some shit. p80

Are we getting more of Shen jiu's story??? We have Qiu Haitang here too! p81 (just as an aside because my notes did not revisit this, we do not get more of his story just weird little hints. That I hope Shang Qinghua clears up later). p81

What a terrible combo. Old Palace master is just butthurt Luo Binghe doesn't want him as a teacher or to marry his daughter and Qiu Haitang seems to be just a vile woman with a grudge against SQQ for some reason. pp82-83

Okay but as horrible as OPM is, that cultivation he's doing with his voice is kind of cool. p85

Wait. Did the Old Palace Master have a thing for Su Xiyan? This is so fucking weird for LBH and he's not even conscious pp86-87

reading further the above point got so much worse omg :(((((((((((( I'm so upset for Su Xiyun. p87

It got even worse with the implications of what it meant for Luo Binghe in that sect. That terrible terrible man deserved that horrifying death. Fuck that guy! pp 89-90

OMG SQQ, basically half dead carrying LBH, barely got away from the death flower room, and here we have Tianglang-jun back on his bullshit. p94

SQQ is in such a bad state :o pp94-95

Is this another dime??? Our demon blood piggy bank for SQQ is now at $0.40 p97

YAY! Luo Binghe is awake! (is he going to be okay mentally though??)p 99

Why is Luo Binghe so mad? Like this man just nearly died trying to get you the fuck out of there p100

Fucking finally okay, it got better LBH is realizing what SQQ did while he was unconscious pp102-103

I'm glad they cleared that up (even though there was the other added miscommunication about LBH thinking SQQ was crying when he was actually just in a fuck ton of pain). p104

I am actually so glad that the discussion was interrupted before LBH found out about the dick touching being real LOL p108

MORE DEMON BLOOD. -> SQQ's dime bank is at $0.50

How many times does this man get kidnapped?

We really ended with him being kidnapped again and with Luo Binghe being conned by his own dad. That was so rough. -500 dignity points (not really but it sure feels like it)

[ladder-ghost]

I made him more monstrous 🧍‍♂️

Size comparison to his twin sister in this form lmao

Lore dump✨ lowkey making this whole bit his actual canon cuz I can😤

In short, Connor is a changeling trope

Initially there was a human twin to Cara (sick/dying), who got swapped with Connor through a dealing between their mother and the fae near their home. Of course there’s general disdain for fae, in a know don’t speak on them type way. The twins dad is pretty iffy towards Connor because of this. He doesn’t really consider him as one of them but Connor is a mommas boy and she stay defending him so not much dad can do bout him now.

He grows up in his human form, mostly for convenience, but the relationship with his parents strains over time with his father’s growing hostility toward him and his mom kinda just, not doing anything about it. Like she’d just tell him let him yap but like, that doesn’t fix the fact that you’re unwanted in your home. Silver lining is he’s close with his sisters. But they do NOT know he’s a fae. Mom makes sure he thinks oh, it’s for the best, you know how people are, it might be uncomfy to have to keep up his form all the time but it’s better than causing a fuss. Plus it makes him fear that they’ll stop loving him and follow after their dad if they did find out, considering they’re both very much idolized by the dad.

Turning point comes where big fight happens, bro gets outed, wants to leave because at a point there’s only so much u can take and also the fear of oh shit, Cara and khipz know now. Mom tries to beg him to stay and sort it out, he refuses, she gives him the documents to the farm their grandpa left in pelican town. I’d like to imagine the grandpa has a good relationship with the fae, hence why they were willing to make a pretty non hostile deal with the mother, especially since pelican town itself is pretty rooted in magic with the Junimos and like, the wizards whole bit. So Connor probably would feel pretty comfortable moving to his old land, no animosity with grandpa he was chill.

He continues pretending to be human after moving to the farm, partly out of habit, partly out of fear of the locals reactions considering his hometowns attitude towards fae. Game plot yada yada

In terms of the gaulin myth, he’d be uncannily good at farming and fishing, especially fishing. Because haha, water bird good at fishing.

Relationship wise I choose to believe he’d grow close with Willy as like, the father he wished he got. I also like the idea of Willy and their grandpa having been pretty good friends when he ran the farm, so he probably vaguely knows about the fae shenanigans, and seeing the openness to it encourages Connor to be up front about himself for the first time really.

By nature of being at the beach often for fishing or to hang around Willy and work on the boat, babe falls head over heels for Elliott because frfr who wouldn’t🔥🔥. But in a horribly slow burn way where he wants more than the friendship they make but like, avoidance because that lingering fear of a negative reaction to being inhuman.

His sisters come to visit like, the summer in year 2 after he moves to the farm, they fix their business, and decide to stick around, so they get some cabins built to stay long term.

Willy encouraging him plus reconciling with his sisters gives him the balls to not have to hide so much, and he finally decides to reveal his full gaulin creature™️ form to Elliott. Very cute very slay, they make their relationship official not too long after

At some point he’d like, trickle reveal to everyone else. I’d like to think this big monster form is his fully fae appearance, but the last one I posted that’s like midway between this and human is what he defaults to more interchangeably with fully human, for convenience with infrastructure because big boy. I imagine he’d enjoy fishing like this though. ✨enrichment✨

[atopvisenyashill]

I don't know if you can talk about Aerea and Rhaena, their whole relationship is horrible, but a lot of the fandom tends to label her as a simple bad mother and not see beyond that.

I find their relationship very tragic largely because I think under normal circumstances, Rhaena would have been a very loving and present mother. I also think "well she's a bad mother" is very disingenous framing. For the first several years of her life As A Mom, she and her daughter are being held hostage by her insane uncle. Then, she spends the next several years trying to cope with the fact that she was maritally raped, her brother-husband was murdered, any and all power she has is derived completely from how her younger brother is feeling on that day, oh and, ya know, being a LESBIAN IN A MEDIEVAL ESQUE PERIOD. cannot stress enough that Rhaena has a lot of shit going on that impacts her ability to take care of herself let alone take care of a child. And none of that is Aerea's fault - again, Aerea's childhood is spent in an unstable, sexually abusive home where her mother is being maritally raped by the man who murdered her father, she has no freedom to decide where she wants to go because she's a hostage while simultaneously being heir to the throne, and then she's just unceremoniously sent to Dragonstone because her mother decides it must be so.

And I think Rhaena really tries to make things better for Aerea! She encourages Aerea to claim a dragon, she clearly tries to set up a sort of court on Dragonstone, but she doesn't even know her daughter much less understand what would make her happy. They've been separated for years! Rhaena herself clearly wants a break from court to just be left alone to live her life, but Aerea has spent so long being shuffled around, being a hostage, (perhaps even training as a Septa...), that of course she doesn't want to sit still. Then Rhaena gets divorced and Aerea's stepmom leaves, and there's no other children to play with, and the ladies Rhaena keeps don't know how to care for a child nor are they interested in learning.

This is an unbelievably tense and unstable first decade or so of her life! There's just very few scenarios where these two have a healthy, stable relationship due to the incredibly instability they're in the middle of. I always go back to Rhaenys at points like this - Rhaenys who claimed a grown dragon at 16, Rhaenys who taunted her husband that she'd get to the end of the world first because she'd be flying, Rhaenys who is probably the most well adjusted Targaryen we have information on. Rhaenys has a father who likely encouraged her ~headstrong ways~ and a mother who supported and loved her. Rhaenys who had cousins to play with as she learned how to socialize with others, Rhaenys who had a grandmother to teach her. Rhaenys had a stable environment to grow up in. Rhaenys had an education befitting an heiress. If Aerea had lived in a normal (ish) environment where she has two parents, aunts and uncles, cousins all around, a dragon she's allowed to claim, status that is protected by her mother and father's own status...it would be night and day! And if Rhaena had a spouse she trusted, mentors and advisors who had even a lick of sense, a brother more interested in her happiness and less interested in completely upending her claim to protect his own...again, think of Rhaenys has a mother! Think of Laena claiming a dragon before she's 12!

Rhaena isn't ~a bad mother~ anymore than Aerea is ~a bad child~ they are simply two people who lived through stressful, traumatic situations and reacted imperfectly to those situations. They had no real support system. They moved around constantly. This was never going to end well for either of them and it's not really either of their faults.

[bacchuschucklefuck]

love thinking kipperlilly spends her afterlife looking for lucy in a familiar forest

[garlic-and-vanilla]

This ask is in your inbox because my brain has apparently chosen to title you as The Illithid Understander and I feel like you might have interesting thoughts to contribute to this topic (please don’t feel obligated to respond tho!)

When I played through bg3 for the first time, what really stood out to me about the Emperor as a character was that he is full of ambiguity. Many of the questions about him, on both a personal level and on a broader level as an illithid, simply do not have concrete answers in canon. I thought that it was so neat how the writers enshrined a vessel for open dialogue regarding some of the biggest themes and questions of the game/story in a character. I thought the whole point of the Emperor’s character is that there’s no One Right Answer about: its intentions, its morality, how much it still is or isn’t Balduran, how much it is or isn’t a monster, why it cares so much about the PC, if it made the right choices, etc.

Which is why I was utterly shocked to find out that SO many people played the game and just… unquestioningly seemed to think that many of those aspects had concrete answers. That this character that, to me, was defined by ambiguity, had been determined by so many to simply be Evil.

I have my own theories about each of the questions/ambiguities listed above, of course, based on my interpretation of canon. But I see them as just that, theories and interpretation. Maybe my perception of the Emperor as a bunch of unanswered questions is just an interpretation, too, but then what was the writers’ intent? (Did my success in high school English classes make me overly confident in narrative comprehension? Lol)

I’ve read many an interesting take on the Emperor on tumblr and ao3 that seem to vibe generally with the whole It’s Supposed to Be Ambiguous thing, and I’d love to hear your take.

First of all this is so funny and I am so honored to be The Illithid Understander lmao.

Second I am very sorry I haven’t answered this sooner. Alas I am not used to ever receiving asks and just now realized I even have one. And what a wonderful message!!!

Honestly I think you fuckin nailed it my man. In a game that spends so much time and energy asking the player to think about questions like “what does it take to be a monster,” “what aspects cause a person to become monstrous,” and “when does it become worth it to become a monster” the Emperor is the ultimate answer. The non-answer. His character embodies all the questions the game wants to ask, and then doesn’t answer any of them for you.

The game shows you characters and says “this is a monster.” Ketheric Thorm is a monster, and Orin and Gortash, despite how sympathetic their backstories and motivations might be. It shows you cycles of abuse, manipulation, cult mentality, and indoctrination. The power of grief, love, fear, and ambition to lead people down monstrous paths even as they think they’re doing the right thing, or the only thing.

You as the player character directly help your companions navigate these themes. You see how they’re affected, how they struggle, what they might become if they choose to give in, and what they become if they don’t.

Do they become monsters? Do you let them? Do you encourage them?

The game shows you clearly what monsters are, and waits to see if you’ll become one yourself.

Withers asks you, “Do illithids have souls?”

He claims they don’t, initially, but that story is contradicted the moment he meets the Emperor in the High Hall, and when you meet him after undergoing ceremorphosis yourself. There’s also lore out there that says illithids do have souls— non-apostolic ones.

So far as the game is concerned, I’m not sure there’s supposed to be a solid answer to that question. I think— like you do— that it’s supposed to be ambiguous. He is not a character the game points to and says “here is a monster.”

I agree with you wholeheartedly that the Emperor is made of ambiguity. The lack of answers are my favorite thing about him. He’s a mass of unanswered questions that you look at and see the themes of the story inside.

Is the Emperor a monster just for being a mind flayer?

Is he a monster because he came to embrace the power his illithid nature brought him?

Because a friend turned on him, claimed he was lost, and he killed them in self-defense?

Because he dominated Stelmane, a situation we have no context for?

How much of his behavior is genuine? How much of Balduran remains, and how much is illithid? Does he even know himself? Does it matter?

He’s a big mystery. We simply do not know everything about his past. We don’t know how much of his behavior is real, or an act. We have to make the deliberate decision to take him at his word, or not. To trust him, or not. To love him, or not. All of this complicated by the reality that his mind and experience are alien to us (a whole other post by itself).

Ultimately, there are no answers except what we come to decide about him for ourselves.

Some people have decided that he’s evil, for various reasons, and sure, that’s certainly a way to answer the question. To end the ambiguity by deciding the Emperor is, after all, a simple monster.

But isn’t it so, so much more interesting if he isn’t?

[hoofpeet]

perpetually suffering the tortures lately

[shalom-iamcominghome]

Frame switching when you're speaking other languages is such a thing because:

English (native): Swears like a sailor (actually, a sailor is more cleaned up). Dry, sarcastic, sardonic humor

Spanish (second language): 🤓🤓🤓

Hebrew (third language): What is a swear word? What is sarcasm? I have become nice jewish boy.

Italian (fourth language): My Italian ancestors have possessed me. Mambo Italiano is the energy of the night

[bunnihearted]

🏹

[daz4i]

starting to consider the option that i may not be the worst person on earth and i actually may even be p decent. will keep you updated as i find out more information

[icewindandboringhorror]

I have found a beautiful perfect humble rock specimen that is light yellow with a weird dark yellowy brown lining, somewhat resembling a chunk of smoked gouda cheese... effervescent

[oozeandgoo-art]

stupid asshole who lives in my brain

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...