#I love a complicated and morally dark grey character

[sing-me-under]

I know I’m like six years late to the party, but I have yet to come across a post talking about how Viren was 100% ready to give his own life for Harrow to live despite his initial reservations.

[siarven]

I made this for cara but thought I should use it to FINALLY make a proper pinned post on here! (image descriptions in alt text)

Hello everyone (:

I thought I'd use this to properly re-introduce myself. These days I have a lot going on irl, so I'm not as interactive on here as I used to be. However, I love making new friends and getting to know their projects :D Some of my most important friends are from here, even if most of them are no longer active on writeblr (we have migrated to discord), so if you think we'd vibe pls shoot me a message!!

What you can expect:

Started out as an artblr, then turned into a writeblr, now it's mostly me collecting inspiration, art and writing references, with some infrequent original writing wip/art posts ✴︎ — more info about tags and writing below the cut — ✴︎

✴︎ — #queer tag - I reblog a lot of queer related posts, particularly about aro/ace and gender related topics

✴︎ — #inspirational - art, writing, photography, nature/environmental issues related topics, history, paleontology, archaeology; things I find inspiring and fascinating :D

✴︎ — i love all of the creatures, fictional or real, but less in a "cute videos" and more in a "I love how our world works" type way. I worked at a wildlife sanctuary for a year after school and learned a lot there. one day i will be the forever home for an old cat nobody else wants

✴︎ — sometimes I still post art and or writing, though I guess there'll be more art on Cara if you wanna follow me there (less AI threat)

✴︎ — i study concept art, work as a freelance illustrator, and am currently working on my MA thesis project "Fragments of the Infinite"

✴︎ — my main wip novel (Dream's Shadow) is probably finally getting close to being Finished. Feels somewhat surreal. idk if it's even worth querying it because it really doesn't fit into the current publishing world but it's not actually finished yet anyway so... we can worry about that later

✴︎ — very into fantasy with cool worldbuilding in particular. don't much care for elves/dwarves/.. fantasy preindustrial england type worlds, but dungeon meshi is my current obsession so if it's deeply developed and interesting enough I don't really mind :)

✴︎ — hopepunk my most beloved! i do love when characters get put through the wringer to get to their hopeful ending though. Sometimes, things are tragic in a bittersweet way, and that is okay too

✴︎ — deeply nuanced, complicated, messy morally grey characters driving the narrative

I am open to tag games, but will probably only manage to respond to like 10% of them... it's not you, it's me

Always open for DMs or asks <3

I try to tag everything as well as I can, if i forget, ask to tag <3

If you're into TMA, I have a podcast/TMA blog @moth-song-archives; my rambling animals/shitposts/memes/other fandoms/... blog is @lirhin, and I have a dedicated art blog @siarvenart

a hopepunk dark fantasy story with creepy/horror elements set in another world; small scope that transitions into epic fantasy later on

Status: draft 6.5 completed at 141k; currently mini-beta round. First in a trilogy

✴︎ —1st, 2nd and 3rd person limited, present tense ✴︎ — hopepunk, sibling dynamics, dysfunctional family, power of kindness & love, platonic love, queer characters, queer-embracing worldbuilding, mental & physical trauma, light & dark, secrets, tragedy, lies, betrayal, loss of innocence, holding on & letting go, cute creatures, (in)humanity, trees, religion & belief, growing up, monsters, dreams, nightmares.

When Ava and her parents arrive at the hospital, they find her older brother Ben in a deeply unnatural coma - and nobody can tell them what happened. Despite the magical abilities of the Asim Healers, there seems to be no way to save him. But then, why do they still keep him alive? As Ava slowly learns the magnitude of how terrible Ben's situation (and impossible his future) truly are, she finds herself embroiled in a larger conflict, ready to hook its claws into her as well. And the one person she cares about most - who always had her back - is gone. So despite everything, there's only really one choice: Find out how to save him and try anyways.

the travel journal of a young scientist, documenting the cultures, places, people and creatures she encounters on the way (art/text)

Status: storyboard/script 2nd draft completed; beta feedback

✴︎ —1st person present ✴︎ — 66 double pages of art accompanied by ~10k text ✴︎ — hopepunk, (body) horror, religion & belief, nihilism vs making your own meaning, platonic love, queer characters, queer-embracing worldbuilding, transitioning with magical body horror means, mental & physical trauma, light & dark, deep worldbuilding, eldritch monsters, loss of innocence, SO MANY creatures

Features: a tidally locked planet orbited by 5 moons and populated by giant eldritch monsters; two trans aroace main characters; body horror; so much art; the most gratuitous worldbuilding project; character driven narrative

When the fifth moon hatches during Thorn's own naming ritual, making her one of 2 people who saw it happen, she knows she's been chosen. But back at home, nobody believes what she saw, choosing to instead take the moon's disappearance as a sign of celebration as it mirrors religious scriptures. So Thorn sets out to find physical proof, and uses the opportunity to document her travels. She doesn't know that her view of the world will be thoroughly challenged, but she also doesn't know about the friends she'll make <3

I have various other wips, some of them are linked in my header. I'll return to them at some point, but these 2 are my current projects for 2024:)

[dippedinmelancholy]

I've been watching a lot of ACOTAR videos/reading a lot of posts, a lot of lurking without saying much and I just want to say -

This fandom is so gross, honestly. If you don't like a character, that's fine. If you connect with Feyre for whatever reason, fine. If you you resonate with Mor because she's complicated, fine.

But the people you're talking to are REAL. The people you are insulting, the people you're telling to unalive themselves, they are REAL. Your comments leave long lasting impressions.

It's absolutely disgusting the things people feel comfortable and proud of saying to other people. For some of you, I hope earnestly you find healing for whatever is causing you to treat others this way. As popular as ACOTAR is, I really think how the fandom acts and how the characters are framed is why they will never be viewed as earnestly powerful fantasy novels rather than just faerie smut. It's not the presence of sexual scenes. It's how fans act, it's how they speak, and it's how favorite characters (Largely Feyre and the IC, lets be real) can only be framed as perfect victims rather than complex people with reasonings for their fuck ups and processing. This framing is done by SJM and fans, and I find it really distasteful. Every person who really loves Nesta constantly has to defend ourselves for liking this "monster", preface every thing we like about her with "not justifying her wrongs, I know she was not kind". Yet no matter how kind a Nesta fan is, you will have people coming to tell them that if they like Nesta, they're a monster, they're abusive and they hope someone unalives them in the end. Today I literally read Nesta fan post where someone just said Nesta was inspirational that you could overcome darkness within your soul even when none of your family understands. In response, a Feyre fan responded telling them they hoped someone curb stomped her cunt. GET SOME HELP. YOU ARE HORRIBLE. YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. This series will never be taken seriously. You're all high school bullies all over again. It's fucking exhausting. To everyone, regardless of who you like in a fandom - You're not a monster for what characters you enjoy. You can enjoy a morally grey or evil character for what they bring to a story and not be morally corrupt. Take space for yourself and take advantage of the block button. People are monsters. Do better.

[sophsicle]

Hi soph! I hope you're doing well! I've been wondering, who's your favorite Mauraders era character and why? And how about from the golden trio era?

Sending you lots of love <3

my favourite marauders character is Sirius, but James is a very very very close second. if we're being honest, james/sirius is my favourite thing about the marauders so they're basically a package deal in my mind. but if i am being FORCED to choose i will inevitably choose Sirius

and why? i love sirius and james because we so rarely get platonic love that rivals romantic love and i feel like they really do that, and there is something about their devotion to one another that verges on unhealthy, that will do whatever the other one asks no matter what it is that i am absolutely OBSESSED with, and i've said this before but i think sirius is attracted to James's light and James is attracted to Sirius's dark and there is something so ooey gooey about it all

but sirius specifically it's cause i feel like he is a properly morally grey character, he is selfish and reckless and overflowing with flaws and also has this huge heart and is incredibly brave and strong and that is very intriguing to me golden trio is kinda a similar answer tbh it's fred and george, george and fred, i love them with my whole heart, they are my light, my life, my joy, they are so funny and so protective and such good brothers ugh i just want more of them tbh, not enough fred and george content in this fandom i say

in a way those two characters really stick out, they're very chaotic good, they complicate the Weasley family dynamic, but i also think they're undervalued in terms of how much they really do take care of Harry canonically, like from day one they are out here fighting for him, walking beside him in the halls, arguing with Oliver Wood, creating distractions for him when he needs to talk to Sirius, they just have such strong wills and such fierce love and i am so enamoured with all of it

[sammyunhinged]

Why I am excited for tsats…

We watched Annabeth see the dark side of Percy in Tartarus and become frightened of what he can do and what he could become. But within an hour of Will and Nico teaming up, Will saw Nico let a man die and still fell in love with him. I think this makes Will a much more complicated character than a lot of people give him credit to be. He’s not just a healer or literal sunshine embodied. He’s strong and brave and already hardened by war. He understands that sometimes someone’s death is for the greater good—to create the best circumstances for the community to heal. Will is drawn to the shadow that is Nico, not frightened by it.

That is because Will is not purely Nico’s opposite. He’s his complement. The concepts of light and darkness do not exist without the other.

The beginning of their relationship allows Rick and Mark to write this dark, morally grey, unhinged character the way he has always been without complicating or interfering with his relationship. Will won’t be discovering anything about Nico that scares him. Nico doesn’t have a “dark side” like Percy does, he is meant to be an embodiment of darkness already.

[blindmagdalena]

Intro Post

hello! i'm amy. i write fic and meta about Homelander. sometimes i make gifs and take requests fic requests are currently closed 🖤 while i welcome everyone and love answering asks, there are a handful of topics that come up that i'm not interested or comfortable in engaging with, including: chatbot/AI, stormfront, butchlander, marvel crossovers, age regression/play, eating disorders.

Links / Tags

AO3 | WIP List | personal blog | fallout/the ghoul thirst sideblog

all my writing | homelander x reader | homelander headcanons homelander meta | nsfw thoughts | asks | my gifs

several of the tags below only have one or two posts, but i'm interested in writing more/expanding on those posts & this is my way of keeping track of them.

touch starved verse | drinks & drugs | soulmate au pregnancy | dadlander | silly fics | fluff | voice kink | perfume dark fic/yandere homelander | uniform kink | sick fic sub!homelander | depowered homelander

Fanfiction Directory

Eat Your Ego, Honey ( x original character ) ( AO3 ) Bit By Bit We Fall In Love (AO3 ficlet/drabble compilation) Monsterlander Mania ( monster!HL x reader ) You Get Me Closer to God ( AO3 ) Angel Homelander Trick & Treat ( AO3 ) Headless Homelander Ruiner ( AO3 ) ( male reader version ) Incubus Homelander The Cuckoo's Nest ( AO3 ) Siren Homelander The Drug In Me is You ( AO3 ) Vampire Homelander All That Glitters ( AO3 ) Dragon Homelander

Don't Fret Precious (I'm Here) ( AO3 ) ( x morally grey reader )

Guilty Pleasures ( AO3 ) ( x plus size!reader )

Center Stage in a Gilded Cage | CH2 | CH3 CH 4 ( AO3 ) ( x reader )

Hide and Seek ( AO3 ) ( x reader )

The Athenaeum Portrait ( AO3 ) ( x reader )

Say It ( AO3 ) (x reader)

The Breakup | You Let Me Complicate You ( AO3 ) ( x reader, dark fic )

A Prayer In Perfect Piety ( AO3 ) ( x plus size!reader )

How It Feels To Chew 5 Gum ( AO3 ) ( x reader )

The Dark of Sleep ( AO3 ) ( x reader, lactation )

Hunger ( AO3 ) ( x reader )

Devotion ( AO3 ) ( x reader )

The Horror Was For Love ( AO3 ) ( x reader )

The Fall ( AO3 ) (temporarily depowered HL x reader )

A Troublesome Transition ( AO3 ) ( x reader )

Customer Service | Resignation ( x reader ) First Time's the Charm ( x virgin reader ) Truly, Madly, Deeply ( AO3 ) ( x reader ) Domestic Bliss ( sequel to ^ )

To Love is to Devour ( x reader, cannibalism ) All of a Sudden, There You Are ( AO3 ) ( x reader ) Make This Heart a Home ( AO3 ) ( x reader ) White Noise ( AO3 ) ( x reader ) How Easy You Are To Need ( AO3 ) ( x reader ) Complete Me ( Sublander, bottomlander ) (x reader) Overwhelm Me ( Sublander ) ( x reader ) Internal Affairs ( Sublander x Madelyn Stillwell )

Pocket Rocket ( micro!Homelander x Madelyn Stillwell)

[completeoveranalysis]

[1]

*appreciative gay sounds*

Ooooooh!

See now this fucks. 

It’s a bit of a treat to get a cover like this that’s so BEAUTIFUL and DELICATE and actually include characters not directly involved in the plot anymore. It’s like BONUS ART: Fai and Kamui in a tender and deadly gothic vampire embrace for no particular reason :D 

And we LOVE to see it!

I love the fragile looking archway behind them. It looks very Art Nouveau (I say, guessing. Please correct me) and the pose between Fai and Kamui could EASILY be on a romance novel. And in fact it SHOULD be!

We get some stunning visual contrasts, like the dark sweep of Kamui’s cape looking demonic in nature, like bat wings - which, like, vampire - but the thin white arch behind him ALSO spreads out behind him like it could be wings. Or even better, it forms more of a halo - a complete circle above his head in thin white lines. The contrast in the angelic and the demonic really speak to his role in the narrative a couple of times over; he protected Acid Tokyo but purely out of self interest; he's a dick to everyone, which is frowned upon, but he does it to protect Subaru, which is understandable; he killed Syaoran but he saved Fai; even the act of saving Fai was technically a bad thing, turning him into a vampire, but it was the only way he would stay alive, which was what we wanted! 

That contrast continues into Fai’s pose here as well. He’s within the circle of Kamui’s arms, which is traditionally a place of affection or protection, but here it’s almost predatory with Fai as the prey. There's a clear indication of danger laced throughout every inch of it. Kamui’s nails stretch out in front of Fai in a way that COULD be protective, but also form a cage he will never be able to escape from, and the nail of his index finger trails SO CLOSE to Fai’s throat it could kill him with a slight twitch. The nails of his left hand also trail across the wing of his coat, becoming the traditional veins that you would see in bat wings and completing the metaphor of the monstrous. Fai, too, plays with this dichotomy - his head is tilted upwards towards Kamui, neck exposed, in a pose natural for a lover, or for someone giving access to their neck, like the vampire’s victim he is. The clear shadow across his neck (The ONLY shadow in the cover) shows just how close he is to harm, indicates the exact danger this pose puts him in, and yet we can also see him clutching at Kamui’s arm - not hard but gently, coaxing, guiding. Then again the closer I look I think the line of Kamui’s arm is actually a little bit further to the left, which might indicate that Fai is actually holding his waist, which is even more intimate again. 

All in all it’s FANTASTIC, it’s GORGEOUS, I want this as a gothic creepy tapestry I hang in a castle somewhere while lightning strikes somewhere in the distance.

Oh and the splash text, where is that.

The flowing blood whispered

even if you'll defy your own destiny

protect that person --

Which slams home the theme on BOTH of these two - how much of their own intended fate they sacrifice for the people they choose to devote themselves to. But, when combined with the art, just how much this devotion and protection can actually add it's own inherent form of danger, even if they aren't aware. Kamui's protectiveness of Subaru is HARDLY balanced after all, and Fai's devotion to Sakura leads his curse to killing her. Then again, you could easily say the same thing for Sakura, who chose to put herself INTO that danger DELIBERATELY to save the people she cared for.

And so the complicated feelings and consequences that come from "protecting" someone continue to swirl around in the moral grey.

[agirlandherquill]

One to Five

thought i'd try something new tonight and come up with my own tag game!

rules: follow the prompts, change one if you'd like, and tell the lovely world of writeblr a little something about your wip! answers to the prompts can be in the form of quotes or anything you'd like!

I'm using Ruin's Reprisal for this,

One Word To Describe Your WIP - Revenge,

Two Lines That Are Your Favourite - "You made me feel.", "The Exilza had come to the palace with nothing but a dream - She left it, with everything.",

Three Times You've Wanted To Cry While Writing - Without giving too much away; one of the scenes involves a letter (writing that was rough), writing my final line and ending the cycle of the story, for now at least (that final full stop was something else), Writing the moment when Fenley realised he had something, when he had emotions, and that he wasn't a lifeless shadow, that character transformation was really enjoyable to write,

Four Feelings From Your Characters - "Her heart shattered", "He roared, and he lunged", "For the first time, he smiled at someone. To someone. For someone.", "They won. Victory was theirs.",

Five Tropes Featured - Morally Grey Character(s) not sure if it's a trope per say but it's a thing I love in literature, Enemies to Lovers - for my WIP this one's complicated, but in the end, it fits, Heist - I've never really read any heist books, mainly movies, but in my mind it's still a trope, Slow Burn (personal favourite), and finally Light and Dark,

now for tags - i'm going to make this an open tag!

[partywithponies]

I love you morally grey girlbossess I love you villainesses with tragic backstories I love you villainesses WITHOUT tragic backstories who do it for fun I love you bratty little girls I love you mean girls I love you bitchy women I love you complicated women I love you women with dark pasts I love you female characters who did bad things but for a greater good I love you obsessed women and mentally unstable women I love you tragic heroines I love you flawed female characters <3

[superb-fruit-pigeon]

Ok I have more Nimona thoughts. NIMONA MOVIE AND COMIC SPOILERS BELOW!!!

I don’t think it should have been for kids. I think they should have marketed it more towards teens and young adults. Nimona is a story about queer wrath. About anger and bitterness and finding the love and hope and community in and despite that. All three main characters are morally grey. They have killed. They have made mistakes. Their relationships are complicated.

I just feel like… I as a queer adult want more queer stories that arent happy. That have that anger against the system without the perfect happy ending. Nimona felt cathartic because of that. As a trans person, i really loved how Nimona hid aspects of herself to make her look more palatable and weak. I feel that as someone who constantly has to downplay my transness for my own safety. Seeing her struggle and snap and get ANGRY at the institution that wants to weaponize her just meant a lot to the story. Its messy its raw! Its not perfect.

Nimona is a story of betrayal and trauma and getting the courage to fight back. The ending where nimona parts ways with ballister shows that sometimes relationships that mean a lot still have to end. That the power of friendship doesn’t fix all your problems, and that doesn’t mean you should stop loving. That doesn’t make those relationships meaningless. Its really hard to get a clear moral message from nimona because its so complex emotionally. And I just feel like you need the on screen murders and the blood and the betrayal and the bar scene in all its broken ribs, shattered glass, and bloody-nosed glory.

That darkness and complexity makes the story unique and interesting and the movie just felt so sanitized by comparison. Nimona is innocent in this adaptation. She talks a big game but she hasn’t killed a soul. ambrosius cut ballister’s arm because he was trained to, not out of anger and jealousy. Ballister is doe eyed and hopeful, not a jaded and complex person with years of loneliness and villainy under his belt. It just changes the dynamics so much that it feels so… empty. Not nearly as punk or raw or scary or sad or complicated.

I just want the wrath and the anger and the bitterness. I want the messy. I want to see them overcome that. And sometimes fall to it. I want to see how painfully human this story is. How nimona is both the scared little girl and the terrifying dragon.

P.S: the movie is still good and worth the watch please watch it and support this really cool queer media! The animation is awesome and its very sweet and emotional. And if you disagree with my crazy rant thats totally ok I know a lot of people really really love this adaptation and that is valid.

[bellasmumblingsandmusings]

TV Tropes Challenge!

Tell me about your fic using the MANY MANY tropes found at https://tvtropes.org/ I don't think I have seen this done before but I am tagging this as a game for @bardic-inspo @roguishcat @delightfulastariontreat @nyx-knox @bloodinwine @spagyricqueen WARNING!!! Potential Spoilers for What Could Have Been:

After the cut!

Tropes for Sima and Astarion's Relationship:

Sour Knight: Sima embodies this trope as she is morally grey, jaded, and a fiercely independent character who navigates her relationship with Astarion with a mix of affection and defiance.

Dark and Troubled Past: Both Sima and Astarion have experienced trauma that shapes their present behavior. Sima's upbringing with a courtesan mother and Astarion's past under Cazador are essential to their character arcs.

Belligerent Sexual Tension: Their relationship is filled with a push-pull dynamic, constantly shifting between intense desire and intense conflict.

Broken Bird: Both Sima and Astarion fit this trope in different ways. They are scarred by their pasts and navigate their trauma through their complicated relationship.

Bratty Submissive: While Sima never fully adheres to this trope, elements of it come through in her dynamic with Astarion, especially given her defiance against his attempts at control.

The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: This is a possible angle for Astarion after his Ascension, using his newfound power to bury the pain of his past but risking the loss of his more complex emotions.

Tropes for Story:

Earn Your Happy Ending: The story is about the long and difficult path Sima and Astarion take to find any semblance of happiness, requiring personal growth, forgiveness, and hard choices.

Trauma Conga Line: The story puts its characters through intense emotional and physical trials that they must navigate to achieve growth or change.

Power Dynamic: A constant theme in their relationship, especially after Astarion's Ascension, where issues of autonomy, control, and dominance are at the forefront.

Emotional Transformation: Instead of a literal rebirth, this focuses on Sima's evolving state of mind. She has to adapt and transform herself emotionally to survive in an environment where her past skills and attitudes are challenged, symbolizing a 'rebirth' of her inner self rather than any physical change.

Hope Spot: Moments where it seems like Sima and Astarion might find a healthy balance in their relationship, only for it to crumble, requiring more introspection and development.

Morality Pet: Sima serves as a "morality pet" for Astarion in a twisted sense, being one of the few people he shows vulnerability to, even if it is often tainted with possessiveness.

Tropes for Themes:

The Atoner: Astarion, in some respects, aims to seek redemption for the things he's done post-Ascension, but his journey is marred by his internal conflicts and darker urges.

Love Hurts: A trope that defines their relationship—a deep, consuming connection that brings both intense passion and equally intense pain.

The Hedonist: Astarion embodies this trope after his Ascension, indulging in power, control, and pleasures without the same constraints he had as a spawn.

Not So Different: Both Sima and Astarion reflect this trope, each wrestling with their own darkness and the need for control or power, but from different perspectives.

Driven to Villainy: Astarion’s Ascension and his decisions post-Ascension can be seen as this trope. He isn’t a straightforward villain, but he makes increasingly questionable choices due to his obsession with power.

Together in Death: This is a future foreshadowing trope if Sima and Astarion’s story ultimately ends in a form of twisted union, whether literal or metaphorical.

[wishesofeternity]

Daemon Targaryen rant, incoming

(Warning: it’s really long)

To begin, this is how Daemon Targaryen is introduced in the story:

“Over the centuries, House Targaryen has produced both great men and monsters. Prince Daemon was both. In his day there was not a man so admired, so beloved, and so reviled in all Westeros. He was made of light and darkness in equal parts. To some he was a hero, to others the blackest of villains.”

The problem with this sort of narrative is that is conflates morality with fundamental human nature. The latter is the capacity for good and evil, and the ability to choose, that exists in every human being. However, it means absolutely nothing without morality, which is defined as a system of values or principles of conduct, and is used to understand the extent to which an action is right or wrong. Grey morality is the blurring of those lines, where motives and contexts are so complex that you cannot pin down whether an action or a person is purely good or purely bad.

Daemon Targaryen, like every other character, possesses the capacity for good and evil and the ability to choose. But morally? Daemon was a child groomer and a pedophile who had physical relations with his teenage niece and a 17-year old girl (he was 50 at the time), and enjoyed sampling young virgins at brothels. He was a warmonger and war criminal who began a conquest of the Stepstones, taking all but two islands, ensuring that the people there "learned to fear" his dragon, before abandoning the entire thing because he got bored. He was a child murderer responsible for the brutal murder of a 6-year old boy and the threat of rape to a 6-year old girl. He encouraged the continuation of the Dance and vengeance against his enemies, dismissing his Hand's proposal for peace. He had the selfishness of Aegon IV, the brutality of Maegor, and the tyranny of Aerys II. And that’s just scratching the surface of the things he did, both before and during the Dance. This man was not morally grey. He was not “light and darkness in equal parts”, because that implies a moral balance or moral complexity which does not exist. He had the innate capability to do both good and evil, yes. No one is denying that he could potentially be a decent person, or potentially make better choices. That is true of every human being. But the fact remains that Daemon was repeatedly and consistently awful throughout the overwhelming majority of his life, to the detriment of the people close to him and Westeros as a whole. Nor does he have a Tragic Backstory(tm) to contextualize his actions: he was a prince born to the most powerful family in the continent with an immense amount of privilege that allowed him to get away with virtually everything. Daemon isn't "morally grey", he's just an entitled asshole who does what he wants and suffers absolutely no consequences for it. There's nothing particularly complex or compelling about that.

I think there is also a conflation of grey morality with unpredictability. Daemon was unpredictable, with his sudden elopements and kickstarting of wars and general mercuriality. The moral complexity of this, however, depends on his motives, and none of his are particularly complicated or difficult to morally pin down: he is primarily and consistently motivated by self-interest. If they happen to benefit others, it’s purely coincidental, and always secondary. Unpredictability does not automatically make someone morally grey, and it certainly doesn’t with Daemon.

(And since lots of people have brought this up, I would also like to point out that love is not inherently virtuous. Kevan Lannister loved his family, does that balance out the cause he served and make him morally grey? The Greens also loved each other and fought for each other till the bitter end, does that mean they should be excused in a similar manner? And contrary to what people believe, Daemon has not been explicitly or singularly loving to any family member in canon except for Laena Velaryon, which was more convenient than purposeful. Was he a good father? Maybe, but nothing in the text emphasizes or denies anything. I would also like to point out that his last act in life was literally to abandon Rhaenyra and his children to settle a personal score, directly leading to her downfall and two of his children’s imprisonment. I don’t understand how people bring up his “love” for his family as his redeeming factor at all).

If the narrative had leaned into his awfulness, he could have potentially been a fun villain. But ultimately, the problem lies in the fact that while Daemon is constantly shown to be an all-around terrible person, the narrative repeatedly paints him as someone who is both a monster and a great man, and who is made up of both light and darkness "in equal parts". Thus, all his atrocities are absorbed into a narrative mythos of glorified grey morality rather than outright condemned. In order for him to be a truly morally complex character, a balance needed to be maintained, and in this case, it was simultaneously one-sided and non-existent.

Basically, GRRM’s version of grey morality is deeply flawed. This one in particular was a classic example of telling rather than showing, and a classic example of an author having a particular characterization in mind but executing it very differently in the text, because Daemon is nowhere near as complex or as compelling as GRRM or his stans seem to believe he is.

It is also necessary to remember that Daemon is one of GRRM’s all-time favourite Targaryens, which explains quite a bit of my frustration regarding the way he’s written. Namely, it explains why the narrative of the Dance was single-handedly ruined by the prioritization of Daemon and Daemon's storyline at the expense of virtually every other character.

His wives are all overshadowed by him and primarily defined by their relationship with him. Rhea Royce is an unfeatured non-entity who exists solely for him to hate, and conveniently dies in time for him to remarry. Laena is a beautiful, fiery, perfect companion who dies tragically young and in a conveniently gendered manner, once again in time for him to remarry. Rhaenyra is sidelined and eclipsed in her own war and her own story in favor of him. Nor should we forget his lovers: more time is spent describing Nettles and Mysaria’s relationships with Daemon than actually telling us more about them as individuals. Once he’s out of the picture for good, the former completely retreats from civilization, and the latter is gruesomely murdered by his enemies. Once again, all I can say is: Convenient.

Perhaps the most damning aspect of this blatant favoritism is how Daemon is turned into the essential protagonist of the Dance of the Dragons. He is the “wonder and terror of his age”, with a legendary sword and a famous, fearsome dragon. He is the one driving the events that lead to the Dance and the events of the Dance itself; thus, he completely usurps Rhaenyra, the actual claimant of the throne. While she is being dismissed by their enemies, he is singled out as the most dangerous threat. While she is being berated for refusing to risk herself or her sons in battle and thus costing her allies their lives, he secures a spectacular and bloodless victory by taking over Harrenhal. While she collapses after hearing of the death of her son, he promises vengeance and enacts Blood and Cheese, kickstarting the war for good. While she is unable to maintain control of the city, driving her reign to the ground and dying an ultimately defeated and gruesome death, he achieves a final triumph by killing his enemy and leaves the singers wondering if he ever died at all, while his abandonment of her and role in her downfall is not emphasized in the slightest. Nor is Rhaenyra allowed a single moment of singular glory: her takeover of King’s Landing is explicitly with him by her side, and culminates in his crowning of her. And I really cannot say this enough: none of this is propaganda or based solely on in-universe sexism. It is simply GRRM’S clear narrative bias that favors Daemon at Rhaenyra’s expense. The misogyny of it all is embarrassing.

Narratively, the Greens suffer the most from this. All of them are caricatures meant to oppose the Blacks rather than individual characters in their own right. While this is evident with every single one of them (particularly Aegon II, the other claimant of the throne, and Alicent, the most important woman on her side), nowhere is the bias more evident than the manner in which the narrative depicts Daemon compared to his nephew, Aemond Targaryen. Both of them are clearly meant to be narrative parallels: second sons, dangerous swordsmen, the heavy-hitting wildcards of the war, one of them claiming Visenya’s dragon and the other one possessing Visenya’s sword. Both of them committed heinous atrocities on equal proportion, the only difference being that Daemon lived longer and thus had the time to commit more. Yet the way they are portrayed could not be more different: Aemond is rightfully depicted as war criminal and a murderer, and is both one-dimensional and over-the-top in his awfulness; Daemon, on the other hand, has far more pagetime, is explored in far more detail, and has all his crimes contextualized as part of his glorified and non-existent “grey morality”. (And while this is not a direct criticism, it’s also a little weird that while Aemond is justifiably called Kinslayer, Daemon is not, despite the fact that he was responsible the death of his young grand-nephew, a suspect for the death of his good-brother, and the eventual killer of Aemond himself.) The narrative rightfully condemns one while painting the other as someone who was “made of light and darkness in equal parts”. The bias is very, very evident.

This culminates in Daemon’s final scene: The Battle above the God’s Eye. I get the symbolism: he killed a younger allegory of himself, Satan slayed his son, the vicious circle has ended, etc, etc. It makes symbolic sense. But the fact remains that this gives Daemon a final triumph and narrative glorification that he of all people did not deserve, that no other player of the Dance received. This is emphasized by the way the duel was described: two important people fought, two important people died, and yet it was called “Prince Daemon’s last battle”, which really tells you all you need to know. The duel was meant for Daemon; Aemond existed solely to be his mirror and his final opponent.

(I’d also like to point out that a 50-year old man challenging his barely 20-year old nephew and winning against him is nowhere near as glorious or awe-inspiring as the book or its fans make it out to seem, but is in fact one of the most pathetically embarrassing things I've ever read about. I also don’t think it was realistic at all, and would have made more symbolic and literal sense for both of them to mutually kill the other. But that would result in GRRM’s favourite character getting the equal end of the stick for once, which is probably why it didn't happen)

Basically - Daemon Targaryen was the Gary Stu of his age, and I despise everything about him

[wolfpants]

precious metal: chapter 1/5

Hurrah! It's finally here! I will be posting chapters on a once to twice weekly basis. The fic is complete, there are 5 chapters in total. Please mind the tags! Thank you so much to @getawayfox @thehoneybeet and @tackytigerfic for helping me with this in its first and new iteration, for encouraging me to get it over the line and share it with everyone! I'm super excited about this story.

precious metal | M

Ron/Harry, Draco/Ron, Draco/Harry

Tags: EWE, POV Ron, Curse-Breaker Criminal Ron, Unspeakable Harry, Shop Assistant and Herbologist Draco, Grey Morality, Minor Draco/Astoria (sort of), platonic relationships, FWB, sexual content, complicated relationships, Harry Potter is bad at feelings, treasure hunting, cursed house, mystery, pining, Scottish folklore, minor character death, kidnapping themes, fist fights, blood/injury, magical bond, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers to friends, not really a romance, but it has romance in it, hopeful ending

Precious metal awaits in an abandoned, cursed cottage on the Isle of Jura. Ron’s illegal hunting ring is on it, but disaster strikes when he runs into a jumpy and suspicious Draco Malfoy, camped out where the treasure is hidden. What happens when they accidentally unleash a bond curse when both of them harbour feelings for the same man?

A classic, non-fairytale story of he loves him, but he loves the other one, but the other one doesn’t know who he loves.

-

Bill wakes Ron from his stupor when he throws the hefty case file onto his desk.

“Jura,” Bill says. His hair is wet. Outside, rain batters the neighbouring rooftops, bounces against the office windows. London is grey and swimming in it.

Ron rubs his eyes. He’s been dreaming of a pint at the Niffler since lunchtime. 

“The Muggle whisky?” he asks, turning the file right side up, brushing his fingertips against damp spots bleeding against the paper. He flips it open.

“The Scottish island.” Bill sits down across from Ron, scratching his fingers through the thick, dark red hair on his jaw, grown to disguise the scar that cuts his face in two. “Gold,” he adds. “Lots of it.” He clears his throat. “Possibly. Probably.”

-

read chapter one of Precious Metal on ao3

[greenerteacups]

JKR cannot be serious when she says she doesn't understand the appeal of draco.

draco is rich, famous, stylish, toxic, intelligent and physically attractive. he is in with the villains and is given a storyline that frames him as a morally grey/wounded character. these are some of the most popular romantic chatacter traits in literature history.

but i think it's indicative of a broader problem in JKR's writing: too many of her themes are either totally black or totally white. too many of her characters are either completely good or completely evil. and it leaves her with her finger well off the pulse. the vast majority of successful authors wouldn't write a character like draco malfoy and wonder why so many people think he's a smoke show.

JKR believes that the girlies find draco hot because there's a desperation to unearth a heart of gold beneath his dark glmour when, in fact, his intrinsically dubious morals are what's often so appealing and interesting about him as both a character and as a love interest.

broadly agree with you here. the original books are kind of a classic children's book conflict that then gets mapped onto the "morally grey" plot of a war, where people are demanded to make hard calls and bad choices, which results in a huge difference in complexity between the protagonists and the antagonists. draco's one of the few characters who straddles that line in any capacity, and i don't even really think it's intentional; i think, just as snape disappears in book 4, draco disappears after book 6 and becomes somewhat irrelevant because the plot doesn't have space for his role anymore. so he ends becoming complicated... kind of on accident.

small caveats: the stylish part seems to be mostly drawn from the films (furry hat wearing KING) and the intelligence part is sort of inferred from the amount of work it must have taken to finagle his bullying plots/the Vanishing Cabinet. we don't ever learn how malfoy does in school! it's not something that harry seems to be aware of — he's in N.E.W.T. level classes and seems to do fine on his O.W.L.s, but his level of intellect is indicated from other things.

this video essay I think does a great job picking out what's canon and what's fanon about draco's character, and I think the author hits a really good balance between not being a fan/shipper/rose-colored lenses type and also not unnecessarily going after people who are. it's a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it gets the general principles right.

[ifyouknowmenahyoudontt]

canon sucks in the sense that there should be more characters of color than we can count on our fingers, more canonically queer characters, more disabled or neurodivergent characters. not everyone should be cishet, white, and neurotypical. ( and the "erm but actually dumbledore was gay and hermione was black!" bullshit doesn't satisfy this ) and i applaud the old fans for getting over the old faceclaims ( aaron taylor johnson, andrew garfield, ben barnes... i salute the many edits of them ) and the new age fandom for keeping up the poc headcanons!!

canon sucks in the sense that while we can have complex characters, morally grey leaning dark characters, those characters should not try to be slotted into "good or bad." those characters shouldn't have very brief redemptions that suddenly make them heroes and epic good guys after entire books of assholery and even bigotry. two guesses as to who i'm talking about here!

canon does not suck in the "my favorite character may have maybe a sentence of plot relevance doesn't get enough attention, so i'm going to ignore all the canon things that point to them being a bigot and instead woobify them and try to make them more important than they actually were" way.

like, fanon regulus black my ABHORRED. while he wasn't abused himself, was canonically the favorite of his parents because he aligned with their ideals, it's interesting to explore sirius' complicated thoughts on his little brother. one that many mistreated and abused older siblings have when it comes to their younger- could i have done more, could i have saved him, changed him, etc. but acting like regulus wouldn't have hated his guts and wanted sirius dead, literally became a death eater and fully agreed with voldemort's ideals?? did we read the same books?

and canon does not suck in the "i'm going to take these cool complex characters and dumb them down to a single personality trait or stereotype, and pretend they're not a complex person with flaws" way.

like, i love james and sirius, literally my favorite characters! they were not always the good guys. canonically, even if he turned out to be an exponentially worse person, they were the villains in someone's story. they used to be bullies, just for the sake of it. they used to be asshole teenage boys with big egos and privilege ( both coming from wealthy pureblood households ). and they don't have to use that privilege AGAINST anyone! they obviously wouldn't, both of them are considered "blood traitors" for a reason ( james marrying a muggleborn and sirius even associating with james and lily and remus ).

it's so much more interesting to explore how they would have been as privileged little dickheads in the 70s in the midst of war, rather than "sunshine himbo james" and "femboy twink sirius" ( or if we wanna go back to old fandom shit, "sexy, lady-killer, has fucked everyone and their mom sirius" ). i also just hate "big sexy strict alpha remus," i can stand him being sarcastic because it's funny but i can't with people who take away his shyness and kindness. give us quiet bookworm remus back PLEASSEEE

even peter, and i used to be a victim of this as well- THEY LIKED HIM! peter was a marauder, he was part of the group, he was their best friend too. i understand people who try to erase him altogether just out of hating him, but those who pretend that james, sirius, and remus didn't care for him are just wrong. it's okay to not like a character, but don't rewrite canon in a way that fully fucks up the story. peter's betrayal sucked from all angles, because he was their friend too.

and reading what you and multiple other people have said about lily is so right, she gets the "jealous straight girl that wants james but HATES REGULUS for stealing jamie!!" treatment, or is just cast out altogether. like, sorry, who did harry get his striking green eyes from? who brought him into the goddamn world? james sure as hell didn't do it alone, and last i checked, regulus was dead by then if we wanna be real about it.

this turned out to be an insane rant, SO sorry, but hp is my special interest and i LOVE the marauders era just as much as i love the golden trio era. they're interesting to explore as characters, ESPECIALLY james, in the same way a lot of people like rose quartz from steven universe? he's spoken about as this infamous, talented, really good dude who died protecting his wife and son and helped bring upon the savior of the wizarding world. but he was also like a huge asshole when he was in school, and harry probably would have hated to meet james and sirius from back then! but people dumb all of them down in the marauders era works just because we don't get explicit descriptions or tellings of what they were like. and it's so annoying!!

i strongly agree with this.

tbh regulus being one of the most popular character speaks a lot about this fandom. bigotry is a broad term and those who criticize JKR (rightfully tho) but go on again to do that to women? or the poc? hypocritical

and the fanon remus thing pisses me off so bad because the point of his character was that he was a soft and sensitive person contrasting with his “condition”!!!! he was human!!!!!!

i agree w this sm

[solariaswitch]

Can you imagine Icy having a redemption arc (in an au/canon divergence maybe)? If yes, then what would it be like?

I've thought a lot about this lately because of a little writing project I've been doing and to tell you the truth, I don't think there isn't a simple answer here.

If we're looking at an AU or a canon divergence, then of course, anything can happen and the only limits are what the author wants to do. But if we're looking at Icy's character, I think it's doubtful whether there could be a full redemption. To begin with, I don't think Icy could or would want to turn truly 'good'. At best, I can see her turn into a more morally grey character, sometimes aiding the winx and sometimes aiding the villain, but all according to her personal motivations and not according to some motive of the greater good.

Icy's really complicated, which I've discovered as I've been trying to write her point of view. It's implied that she's been indoctrinated from a very young age to do the bidding of the ancestral witches and serve the 'forces of darkness' as she calls them. This has shaped her whole personality, more or less. She loves power, she doesn't mind hurting people, in fact she seems to find it rather amusing. Completely reversing behaviour that is so deep rooted is more or less impossible. It can be improved upon, for sure, but reversed? Unlikely.

The most likely scenario for redemption I can see is her fighting for her autonomy back. A lot of the time, Icy is merely a pawn to someone else's plans. Icy's motivations are largely tied to her personal desires and ambitions. So in case of redemption, I think this would involve her interests clashing with the greater villains she's aligned herself with. These clashes may lead her to reconsider her loyalty to the forces of darkness, as she realizes that her own interests aren't being fully served by her association with them.

Another potential path for redemption could be emotional connections with the good guys. Icy can clearly form strong friendships and experience love, she loves her sisters, she has several crushes and flirts with various characters throughout the series. Perhaps a friendship or a bond that transcends the black-and-white notions of good and evil could humanize her and expose her to alternative perspectives.