#I'm a sucker for Chosen One narratives too

[realtacuardach]

One of my favorite takes on Frodo, and why I value him so much as a character: unlike so many central characters in fantasy, he was not a Chosen One.

Instead, he was the One who Chose, and that made all the difference.

[foibles-fables]

I have a question. How did you come to the wonderful conclusion that Aloy and Talanah would be a good couple? I can see the appeal in it, but I'd rather hear it from you

[CRACKS KNUCKLES] Watch me try to stay as concise as I can with this post, hahaha.

First thing I'll say is--I'm an absolute sucker for a strong-based friends to lovers ship. The loyalty, the devotion, the knowing each other before and after the world changes them and every stage between, the slow strengthening of feelings, the contending with blurred boundaries, the oh moment, the it was this all along, the I have always been here and so have you and so we will, the settling into even deeper contentment with the other, hoo boy I can go on and on. I especially like it when it comes in a sapphic flavor of the Burdened Chosen One and their Tender, Caring, Supportive Best Friend.

[looks directly at camera]

So you can already see where I'm coming from, here. But--truly, for me--it comes down to 1) the similarities AND innate differences in their life stories/situations and 2) their interactions in HZD. A combined one-two punch that crushed my windpipe and stole my lunch money.

I'm a sucker for a friends to lovers ship, and I'm also a sucker for a ship with compelling parallels. What interests me most about the Aloy/Talanah dynamic is that they're narrative mirrors, but foils in situation. Both are highly-skilled hunters; both driven by their fixation on a parental figure (either avenging or uncovering); both lost their father (figure) to a cruelty much too large for them, with their fathers' shared desire for them to survive; both inheriting new titles (Sunhawk, Alpha Prime) and shouldering the burdens of their deceased parental figure; both proving their place and worth in the world as based on, in Talanah's words, more than the nature of their birth alone; I could keep going. (Don't tempt me.) But here Aloy was an outcast, while Talanah is from one of the noblest houses of her tribe--the difference of change from without versus change from within, and all the ways in which both are complicated. So narrative mirrors coming from opposing situations--how does that make them alike, and how does it make them different? How does it change they way they navigated through the world, and how does it change the way they would navigate one another?

I also love to point out the fact that Talanah is the perfect example of what Rost was trying to demonstrate to Aloy in his final lesson. The strength to stand alone and to make a stand. Her dedication to a selfless cause--ambition not for her own sake, but to restore her family's legacy, and to change her culture. GOD. My fingers are going numb just thinking about it.

What I'm trying to say is that Talanah is in a unique position to see and empathize with the burden Aloy feels post-HZD, and I'm not sure I'll ever forgive the writers for not capitalizing on that during the pivotal time of HFW. Carrying on of your parent's legacy is not easy, and even if Talanah doesn't know it by weight, she knows it by shape. Importantly, to me--Talanah understands--she's lived analogous experiences to Aloy's--but she's also different enough to challenge her. In fact, it goes both ways. There's a mutuality to the way that they make up for what the other has maybe lacked--puzzle pieces instead of cognate shapes, or the same image repeated twice, amplifying itself. There's harmony where there could just be volume.

That got away from me, so I'll just keep on going with how their interactions in HZD fishhooked me. I made a post the other day about Aloy's joy in the Redmaw victory, and that's a major part of it. The rest is just--the sense of ease and understanding that comes out in all of their conversations? And how Talanah always and consistently from the beginning sees Aloy as Aloy, not a Seeker, not a savior, not an oddity, just based on her own merit alone? How she heard Aloy give herself a name--Aloy despite the Nora--says she'll remember it, and then does, TWICE? Every smile she brings out of Aloy, every moment of bare genuineness between them, that giggle from Aloy post-quest? And don't get me started on the "you made this possible, Aloy" parallel. Don't even let me think about "you'll always have a special home here, if you want it." It'll end badly for all of us, category 10 blorbo emergency.

But it's not only what Talanah can offer Aloy (a deep bond of loyalty and fondness, a sense of belongingness, the simple fact of being seen as exactly how you yourself want to be seen)--Aloy gives back to Talanah as well!! Much more deeply than just helping her earn the Sunhawk title and restoring her family's legacy. Think about their pre-Alight conversation: "I won't stand aside while one of mine fights alone. Not again." Aloy has become one of Talanah's--a person who has lost everyone dear to her. Something that must be absolutely terrifying (see my post-HZD Lanah characterization, lmao) but still worth fighting for.

I was lucky enough to read the entire Sunhawk comic directly after the credits rolled on HZD, and that again just blew me out of the water with how much sense they make. The fact that Talanah was the only one to see Aloy leave makes my brain wanna come gushing out of my ears. And how they just--keep running into one another (more on this in the next paragraph). But perhaps the most important comic moment is Talanah's affirmation of "you don't owe me anything" after Aloy apologizes for leaving. That right there is respect to Aloy's agency and personhood (versus instrumentality!!) and the burden Talanah can sense she's under. She trusts Aloy to have told her what was up, if she had wanted her to know. And trusts that whatever she is doing must be important. Even if it's been difficult to be without her, Talanah knows she can't ask Aloy for more than what she is or what she can give.

(that's not to say Talanah isn't hurt. I think she still is--and projects a lot of that hurt and attachment onto another woodsy hermit--but that's a topic for a different post. You can trust and accept something like this while still being hurt by it.)

You asked how I came to the conclusion of THEM, so I haven't really included HFW in this analysis (I was clearly a goner from HZD), but it's there too. The way Aloy just happens to find out Talanah is nearby after her entire worldview is cracked open at Latopolis, how seeking her out and finding her seems to just make things okay again despite everything? (again, the constant finding of each other.) The fondness of their reunion? "It feels good to hunt by your side again"? The easy way they settle into old comfortable patterns of conversation? The tone of You love him, don't you and Really??? and Come here.? It's just all there screaming at me. I can't.

I just. I love them so much. It's so clear to me how they already have helped and can continue to help each other grow. Especially now that the series has placed them in yet another paralleled situation post-HBS. From where I see it, they've been dancing around each other since the beginning. And the way they've both sought things with others (ALSO EACH HAVING PARALLELS TO THE OTHER) only to walk away makes me wanna go absolutely feral. I can very, very clearly see this playing out into an what was I looking for when there was you moment and it might actually be the thing that makes me perish

I'm so sorry if this was totally incoherent. I've got a lot of feelings about this ship and I'm gonna continue to make them your problem.

[raptorrobot]

Can we know a bit about your inspiration behind Icarus, if you don't mind? He just seems so well thought out and interesting and I would love to know!

oh boy. strap in. you've opened the floodgates

a couple months after i got into ultrakill, i found myself really really liking the trends of the (currently) two canon prime souls; human figures in greek mythology that have a twist in their story that reverses part of the narrative of their mythological counterparts. i.e, minos being a benevolent and kind king in ultrakill as opposed to mythological minos being cruel and uncaring -- and ultrakill sisyphus relishing in his punishment and using it to his advantage rather than suffering in eternal torment as mythological sisyphus does. i LOVED the concepts going on there, and wanted to play with it myself.

out of all the more well known human figures in greek mythology, i found myself most intrigued by the idea of making an icarus prime work. what convinced me to commit to it was the poem rewriting icarus, which served as a MASSIVE inspiration for his character (and a line of which is present in violent sun's fic summary as a little shoutout !).

the first ever character decision i made for icarus was that the 'twist' to his story would be him setting his wings ablaze on his own volition rather than it being a mistake at the fault of his hubris. there's something so insanely visceral and intriguing about that concept and it locked me the fuck in.

the part about him being an archangel prior to becoming a prime soul stemmed from wanting to integrate the other aspects of mythological icarus into this icarus' story. most of his major character beats are semi-vague metaphor for it;

• being promoted from virtue to archangel: flying too close to the sun

• being killed and his soul condemned to hell: falling from the sky

i still wanted to remain as close to canon ultrakill lore as possible (in which archangels do not have souls, and therefore cannot become prime) so i made my own little loophole to get around it with him being a chosen 'experiment' of sorts to promote a human souled virtue into an archangel. it's not perfect, but i like to think that it works well enough !

his relationship with gabriel is literally entirely self indulgence. icarus could've worked perfectly fine as a character on his own with no connection to gabriel, but man.. i'm a simple girl who is a sucker for weird religious guilt-centric pining where neither party knows how to deal with what they're feeling. i always knew that gabe would be the one to kill him (another trend with the canon prime souls that i wanted to follow), and i wanted a way to make it HURT. deep connection that gets broken through few choice actions is always a fun outlet for that.

i also just thought it would be kinda sweet if gabriel took this timid little archangel under his wing cuz he felt bad for him and then started actually liking him !! and i enjoyed the idea of exploring how gabe differentiates kindness as acted by the word of god and kindness acted upon from his own will, and how that would carry over to how he feels about icarus. i could write a whole fucking essay on the complexities of how i wrote their relationship but i will spare you all of that (for now)

this is only scratching the surface really, there's SO much more that inspired his character and story from music to one-note bits that evolved into genuine character beats. i consider icarus one of my finest creations and i'm glad that some of you care enough about him to let me share that passion with you <3

[wastrelwoods]

XI - Change one thing about a scene - how do you think it alters the narrative? How do the people in it react?

MAN this question is almost too good I'm a real sucker for a moment of diverging canon and my brain loves to stroll as far down these meander paths as possible and never return. SO. At great risk of stumbling into one that gets me too invested and then it's a fic idea...

...HM I think the pure chance of the coin flip in Takiawase is calling to me. It's such a chain of dominoes! Hannibal administers naloxone and saves Bella -> Jack is in the hospital visiting her, so Beverly can't bring her evidence about the switched kidneys to Jack -> Hannibal is also at the hospital and Beverly hears about it, so she breaks into his home, finds his basement -> Hannibal returns at the opportune time to confront and murder her.

Does any of that happen if the coin lands on the other side? I imagine if he'd chosen not to intercede and save Bella, Hannibal might think to make a tableau out of her death. It would be an apt way to both wound Jack and, in his mind, honor her. Jack would worry and send out search parties despite probably understanding that she had left to go die somewhere he wouldn't see it happen. He would pray to see her again and Hannibal would be able to answer that prayer with some dish he brought Jack to console him in his grief, and then by revealing her body as a grand artwork - possibly the one that exonerates Will? but I also don't think he fully resolves to do that until Will tries to have him murdered.

That Jack would be in his office and Beverly could bring her theorizing with Will to him might alter those plans - but I think the more narratively compelling idea might be that it doesn't. No fun for Hannibal to get caught so early on in the game! Maybe Jack tells her it's an interesting theory and encourages her in his subtle way to get the hard evidence and come back, because he doesn't know if he's willing to believe it yet. She doesn't have the same opportunity to pick the lock and play while the cat's away, so maybe she lives a little longer. Maybe Beverly gets used instead of Miriam Lass to help frame Chilton later on, I dunno. That's more my incredulity with the Lazarus Situation of Miriam staying alive in cold storage for three years if there's a more readily available way to make that plot point work. If I spin out too much further I will be here ALL week ok. ok. That's something. That's a self-contained idea

[headcanons to sound off every hour ask meme]

[thatqueercookie]

Got tagged by @luckshiptoshore (I've got the same first two as you)

8 shows to get to know me!

1. What We Do In The Shadows. This show really does have it all. A queer vampire polycule. A couple that's been together for 300 years and is still in love. The absolute BEST will-they-won't-they on television bar none. Guillermo's character arc is the best growth I've seen in a character in some time. It's hella sexy at all times. Everyone is so perfectly flawed and complicated. This show has inspired me to write more fanfiction than any show ever has! Also it's HILARIOUS, and tragic.

2. Our Flag Means Death. This is the sweetest purest love story and reminds me that no matter what you hate about yourself, or what others hate about you, there is someone out there who will love you for all those things! The representation is off the charts in this show and my love for every single babygirl member of the crew is immense. The only downside in the fandom is the discourse about Izzy. Like seriously, just let him be a part of the narrative. He's fun to hate and he's fun to play with in crack fic/art.

3. Doctor Who. This show will always and forever pretty much be my religion. The messages of love and intelligence over brute force and cynicism are so great. And the message that every single soul in the universe MATTERS and is important and unique and beautiful. And these messages are delivered through a gender fluid intergalactic nerdy tour guide with an infectious sense of WONDER for everything who takes you through time and space battling fascism and capitalism in a mess of camp effects and plot holes. I have seen all the classic and new series and I'm working my way through the Big Finish audios and EDA books.

4. The X-Files. Probably one of the best shows the small screen has ever seen. It's scary, it's suspenseful, it's funny, it's romantic, it's smart. It has simultaneously the longest non-sexual, emotionally intimate marriage AND the ultimate sexual slowburn. I could (and have) watch every episode a million times and enjoy them just as much every time.

5. Star Trek. I love every iteration of Star Trek, but The Original Series is my absolute favorite. It just gives me so much hope for the future. That someday, after all the human race's growing pains, after all the war and the racism, sexism, and homo/transphobia, after the greed and the poverty and pollution, we'll LEARN. We can be better. We'll explore and we won't explore to conquer or assimilate; we'll explore to learn about life and it's complexities and become even better versions of ourselves. And the friendship and sense of family on the Enterprise is just so beautiful. Also Kirk/Spock are the best definition of soulmates I've ever seen. The alien cultures within the world of Star Trek are just so well built and thought out (much better than in Star Wars). As an anthropology major, this FACINATES me.

6. Good Omens. The longest truest love story you have ever seen and one of the only (alleged) representations of romantic asexuality I have ever seen. Aziraphale and Crowley, an angel that doesn't fit in in heaven and a demon that doesn't fit in in hell but they fit with EACH OTHER and they love earth so dearly. It's humanism vs. religion and we win.

7. BBC Ghosts. I'm a sucker for the found family trope and this show does it so well. They're FORCED to become found family because there is literally no way for them to leave. All the ghosts are such nuanced (and autistic) characters and Mike is the best husband. He's so supportive of his wife and her crazy ghosts. BTW the U.S. version can go suck eggs in hell.

8. Willow. A return to the fun fantasy genre and the power of love and friendship that doesn't take itself too seriously. It's also a sapphic's dream! A demi-masc princess and her lady knight in a love story that kiss in the very fist episode? YES PLEASE! And Elora may be the chosen one but she sure does suck at it at first, and I LOVE that about her! The chosen one shouldn't be a perfect magic user, they should need to learn like anyone else. And THRAXUS BOORMAN!!!! Witty, slutty, leggy, longhaired, bisexual scoundrel who deserves to be in every single fucking scene! BUT RIGHT NOW IT'S ON THE KNIFES EDGE OF CANCELLATION SO GO SUPPORT IT ON DISNEY+ RIGHT NOW!

tagging: @someguywife , @indashadows , @glitter-mouse , @blakbonnet @bootlegsun , @nandorisms

[darthkvznblogs]

What do you think of “For the Future”? Was it worth the wait or what?

I loved it! I think I might've enjoyed Thanks to Them a little bit more - I'm a sucker for those creepy small town vibes and the Hexsquad hanging out on our world was a delight - but it's a very close thing.

I don't really have it in me today to do a big review or anything, but here's some thoughts:

-I don't wanna jinx it, but this episode did reassure me a bit that the series won't end with the realms separated. I've been feeling pretty anxious about that since Amphibia ended - I think it was thematically appropriate for that show, and it was a beautiful send-off, but at the end of the day, I like happy endings more than I care about narratives and themes. I think it'd just be senselessly cruel at this point for TOH to end a similar way - emphasis on senseless.

-Stringbean looks like a Neopet, and I mean that in the best possible way xD (I think Luz is too young to have been a Neopet kid in canon, but I very much appreciate the vibes). It's funny; this show has repeatedly fought against the idea that Luz is any sort of chosen one, but barring the Bat Queen herself, Stringbean is the most unique, chosen-one-y Palisman yet. I don't mind it, though, I think she's perfect for Luz, and the scene where she finally hatches is one of the best scenes in a show filled to the brim with excellent scenes.

-How the heck does Palisman magic work

-Seriously though, as a fic writer I really need to know! I saw that blast, that was like...Eda-at-her-prime level power! As a magic-less human! I'm gonna have to make sense of this and put together some rules for the Kverse...

-I have to appreciate how, every single time Belos appears on screen, he becomes significantly more disturbing and somehow tops his own evil. It's just impressive how horrible he is. (side-note, what do you think he smells like? I'm thinking rotting flesh and stagnant water, with a hint of burnt wood)

-I didn't not ship Huntlow before but yeah, I get it now. I'm fully on board, that was cute as heck. Lumity remains the cutest, though, such great moments in this special.

-I might've preferred the Hexsquad's antics in the human world, but Camila reacting to the Isles? Some of the best parts of the episode, that was so freakin' funny.

-I do think Kikimora kinda outstayed her welcome as a threat; she's at her best when she's annoying but easily trounced. It's not a huge deal, but it kinda felt like she should've been defeated as soon as the kids reunited. She kinda doesn't deserve to be so dangerous lol

There's probably more, but those are my comments right off the bat. If you have any specific questions, let me know!

I'm really looking forward to the finale! There's a lot of stuff to get closure on, and I have no idea how they'll do that in under an hour, but I have faith that they'll stick the landing. Very excited!

[yoshiyakiryu-archive]

I don't think Joshua in KHDDD was as ooc as people like to make him out to be, and reducing him to all troublemaker all the time is a flattening of the overarching narrative themes in TWEWY. I'm not saying this as a "Josh is good actually," because if Josh was a perfect little angel (ha!) he wouldn't be head honcho of Deathgame Murderpuzzle Furryfest. I'm saying he's got layers. Like Shrek.

He's in an entirely different situation with an entirely different set of goals from the main story of TWEWY. Instead of attempting to prove the people in his jurisdiction unworthy by driving an antisocial emo to murder, he's trying to save four specific teenagers who by all rights should have had all their soul components recycled back into the great cosmic vat of creative ability.

Xehanort, for whatever reason, is jeopardizing this goal. They've mutually put each other down as a threat, and you see Joshua and Riku sizing each other up until Joshua's got Riku down as Useful And Kind Of A Sucker and Riku's got Joshua down as Horribly Suspicious But Probably Not An Immediate Threat. Even Sora takes one look at him and goes Oh, There's Something Really Wrong With You, and has to be reassured by Neku that Josh is a friend.

It's not like Joshua's even really pleasant or socially ept, just more cautious and vulnerable. Caring about people does that. That's the whole problem.

He's leveraging the grand Kingdom Hearts tradition of pointing Sora (and Riku) at the problem until it's beaten into submission, and if he gives them some advice along the way, well, he helped people in TWEWY too, he likes solving problems, and he stands to lose nothing from giving them some ammunition against their shared enemy.

He's awkward and snarky, hesitates about relying on others, doesn't know where he stands with Neku and so opts to simply avoid him, probably because he doesn't do apologies or have the capacity for whatever big emotions he expects Neku's going to demand out of him when they get around to that talk because connections mean he's setting himself up for pain and he's not there yet, and he falls back on condescension when Sora gets too close to confronting him about Feelings.

He's found something to care about for himself, as Joshua, not the role he's chosen to play. And no, it's not ooc for him to care about them either, we see that he cares about them in the original game to the point Hanekoma is warning him off meddling in their lives, and what's more selfish than dropping an entire city to cling to the remnants of four dead kids he won't even talk to?

He's still stacking the deck, if there's one strategy Joshua can always fall back on, it's outright cheating, and no better way to go about it than to have Sora and Riku do it for him. He's out of his element, in a position where he has to do something that comes horribly unnaturally to him. Of course he's going to act different than when he's in a situation he's orchestrated entirely for a completely different goal. He needs help, and the best manipulation left to him is honesty. That's terrifying.

[verobatto]

Destiel Chronicles

Vol. LXXV

It was a love story from the very beginning.

So Proud Of Him

(12x01)

Hi everyone!! We reached season 12 with these Chronicles and I'm so happy for that!

Hope you enjoy this season because it had a good amount of Destiel on it. *Coughing* Mixtape *Coughing*

This time I will talk about 12x01.

That's True Love

When Dean is trying to explain to Mary that he's her son, and she's back from death, he makes this travel through his own memories about what John had told him the first time their parents met. And because in his memories, he puts that as a story of one huge true love, he repeats it to her. This is the perfection of what a love story should go.

DEAN Dad told me. March 23, 1972, you walked out of a movie theater – Slaughterhouse-Five. You loved it, and you bumped into a big Marine and you knocked him flat on his ass. You were embarrassed, and he laughed it off, said you could make it up to him with a cup of coffee. So, you went to, uh, Mulroney's and you talked and he was cute and he knew the words to every Zeppelin song, so when he asked you for your number, you gave it to him, even though you knew your dad would be pissed. That was the night that – that you met –

We already know about the parallel with the Mixtape here, as a foreshadow of what Dean will give to Cas, for him, Led Zeppelin is a big part of a great love story. But... There's something more too... That maybe Dean feels identify when he compares his parents first meeting with his own with Castiel.

We are obviously talking about LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT between Mary and John, even if we know Heaven had made that match, the mechanism was at first sight. With this in mind , we just need to recall Dean and Cas first meeting in the barn. Obviously, Dean saw the sparkles, and the hot guy, with intense energy and intense gaze, looking at him deeply, he had a love at first sight his own, right?

He names John as a big Marine and Mary knocked him flat in his ass. Okay, so remember Cas is a soldier, right? A huge, big Chrysler Building height soldier.

'And you talked and he was cute' Okay, this is much about Dean's idea of what love at first sight means, or John told him his mother thought he was cute, which... IDK. But... You talked and he was cute, is like you talked and you fell for him, is more related to Dean's experience about Cas. Cas is cute. The more he met him, the more the thought the angel was cute. And no one can't tell me otherwise.

And when he says Mary gave John her number even against her father's wishes, this is expressing Dean's inner fears of what he feels for another man (Castiel) could be rejected by his righteous father. Even so, he developed these feelings. Even so, he will be presenting this angel/man, the love of his life, later this episode to Mary.

But it talks too about Sacred Oath, a very heavy topic in Castiel's heart, and a very recurrent topic in this season and the incoming seasons too. The forbidden love for Dean.

Mom, he's my angel

This is one of my fav scenes from season 12, the moment in which Dean Winchester presents Castiel to his mother.

Gif credit @some-people-call-it-tragic

Before this we have a beautiful Destiel hug, because Cas was thinking Dean was dead, so when he saw him alive, he gave him this warm and full of emotions hug, in which Dean melts and smile, it looked so domestic, and perfect, and intimate that Mary made that grimace of "WTF?"

And then we had the flustered son trying to mocking his angel because is very difficult to present the love of your life to your mom, trying not to show her how much in love you are? Yes, i'm a sucker for this head canon hahahaha.

And Cas' face is like Uh-Oh my mother in law hahahaha, they made an excellent work here.

I can swear than when Mary said "Angels are watching over you," to baby Dean that time, she wasn't talking about this kind of watching 😏.

Let me just talk about this moment here...

Gif credit @kingofthecrxssroads ���

Gif set credit @destielintheimpala

Just because is perfect, the list and smirk on Mary's face gave Dean the idea of what she's thinking about, and he gets flustered, and why is he eying Cas? Because he's there, when her mother is recalling sex in the Impala, because, hell yes, baby can effort a hot sex scene between two lovers right? More than be awkward because he's trying not to think in his parents having sex in Baby, but, maybe the so many times he had imagined having sex with his angel there... Okay just let me dream, okay? Is my meta I can allow myself to do that. Hahahaahahah.

Out Of Place

This episode opens the door to the parallel between Mary Winchester and Castiel. Both of them share the fact that they feel out of place in where they're.

Mary because she comes back after 33 years, finding that the life she was living was a lie, and her two sons are now adults, and their actions had repercussions on their present. So she's out of time, and out of place.

With Cas, we will hear him say he doesn't know where he belongs yet, but then we will have Dean saying twice 'Let's go home's to him, the first time in episode 12x12, when Cas almost dies, and the second one in episode 13x06, when Cas comes back from the Empty. Even so, Cas will feel he belongs to a family assuming his role as a father with Jack.

Colors and Foreshadows (Visual Narrative)

And because this is Dabb era, we will be full of visual Narrative, with the image of Virgen Mary and Christ, we have the symbolic representation of Mary Winchester and Jack.

The wardrobe colors chosen for Lucifer's victims are a clue of the end of the season. There was a family, dressed on red (rage and toxic Dean) and there was a woman dead dressed on Pink (Happiness). Maybe showing us Lucifer will kill Cas.

Gif credit @some-people-call-it-tragic

Remember when Dean was talking about his mom and dad first meeting and he mentioned Mary thought John was cute? Well... Let me show you where they made a stop to drink something before keeping searching for Sam...

And because this is Dabb, and we know he loves to use scenario and symbolism, the fruit berry in urban dictionary means CUTE AND COOL GUY. A BERRY GUY. And who's the first we see there? Right. Castiel. So. There you go. Just putting the puzzle pieces together.

We will see a lot of people stabbed by the back, and the knife coming out from the front of the chest (heart), like we saw in this episode when Mary Winchester killed Mrs. Watts.

We saw how the only way to break Sam is through his brilliant mind, Bevelle knew it and used it, and gave us a foreshadow of "inside the mind" we will recurrently see in season 14 with the whole AUMichael!Dean topic.

To Conclude:

The first episode from season 12 have a lot of clues and foreshadow for Dabb era, and a huge introduction of Dean's idea of romance (Led Zeppelin/Mixtape) and hints of Castiel's death and Dean's possession by AUMichael.

Hope you like this first introduction to season 12, see you in the next meta!

Tagging @magnificent-winged-beast @emblue-sparks @weird-dorky-little-deana @michyribeiro @whyjm @legendary-destiel @a-bit-of-influence @thatwitchydestielfan @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover @lykanyouko @evvvissticante @savannadarkbaby @dea-stiel @poorreputation @bre95611 @thewolfathedoor @charlottemanchmal @neii3n @deathswaywardson @followyourenergy @dean-is-bi-till-i-die @hekatelilith-blog @avidbkwrm @anarchiana @dickpuncher365 @vampyrosa @authorsararayne @anonymoustitans @mybonsai1976 @love-neve-dies @dustythewind @wayward-winchester67 @angelwithashotgunandtrenchcoat @trashblackrainbow @deeutdutdutdoh @destiel-shipper-11 @larrem88 @charmedbycastiel @ran-savant @little-crazy-misha-minion @samoosetheshipper

@shadows-and-padlocked-hearts @mishtho @dancingtuesdaymorning @nerditoutwithbooks @mikennacac73 @justmeand-myinsight @idontwantpeopletoknowmyname @teddybeardoctor @pepevons @helevetica @isthisdestiel @dizzypinwheel @jawnlockwinchester @horsez2 @qanelyytha

@imjustkipping @destielle @agusvedder @spnsmile @shippsblog @robot-feels @superlock-in-the-tardis @superduckbatrebel @nickelkit @anon-non2

If you want to be added or removed from this list, just let me know.

Buenos Aires, August 18th 2020 5:07 PM

[eyecicles]

🌻 i know what i'm hoping for but everything you have to say about this series is interesting anyway so please, go off

Almost every single panel with Near in it is interesting in some way and mainly because of all the little details Obata adds to them. But what you’ll realise, if you do what I do, is that Near arranges his toys in a pretty particular manner. Not only does he own a lot of transformers and other toys that very clearly represent “good” (like his policemen) vs “evil” (the Grim Reaper), he also plays with them that way. It looks indeed very black-and-white, childish even - But the think is, his views are far from that. I think his views on justice and moral are pretty mature, especially when you compare them to other characters, haha.

And I recently realised that he makes an extremely interesting contrast to Mikami. Narrative wise, they largely are there to act in the stead of their respective “idols” (L and Light, but I use to term “idol” very loosely, since Near’s feelings about L are probably mixed), so it makes sense to compare them to each other. (Mikami was chosen by Light, which, I think, makes him very different from Misa who’s technically the second Kira like Near would be the second L)

Notice how there are superheroes in the background too. But Mikami has studied the law, he’s a prosecutor, and if you simply look at him and then Near, you’d think that his views about justice should be way more layered, mature, and complex than Near’s, who visually shows us what he thinks of Kira with this ugly finger puppet:

Which seems incredibly childish.

In truth, Mikami seems to be the one who’s emotionally stunted. His extreme views got more extreme as he got older, he’s mistrustful in an almost paranoid way, and he’s quick to write people off who disagree with him about his world views. Both he and Near are quite isolated also, but for very different reasons.

But even more interesting is what the Kira case represents for them; Light killed Near’s idol/role model and, in a way, his role in the story is about vengeance. Mikami’s role, though, is that of a devoted Kira worshiper; for him, Light represents a saviour, someone who will deliver the world from all evil.

And yet Near seems to not actually like L. Maybe he was disappointed in him, but whatever he thought of him; he still saw it has his duty to solve the case. Mikami, on the other hand, sees Light as a literal god, haha.

Their contrast is also in their appearances: Near looks very childlike, he wears something resembling a pyjama all the time, while Mikami looks very mature and proper, Near has white hair and a fair character design in general, while Mikami’s hair and general clothing style is dark, etc. I don’t think that was intentional, but it’s still nice.

Anyway, we don’t know for sure how Mikami died in the end, but I find the thought of Near using and killing Mikami very intriguing for that reason too; it would mean he used Mikami to get rid of both the heads that made “Kira” at the time. Light’s and Mikami’s similarities worked against them in the end, while Near, in my mind, gradually deviated from L. (There’s a lot to be said about Near in chapter 109 too, but that’s for another time)

Light and L were so in sync & different as they were similar, while Near’s and Mikami’s views of justice are like day and night. And now I should write something about Mello vs Kiyomi.

As I said, most of it was probably unintentionally written that way, but I’m a sucker for contrasting key characters (and, imo, Near and Mikami are the most interesting second arc characters).

[rimouskis]

very much agree with all your gideon comments, I read it a few months ago and was left feeling so that’s it??? for all the reasons you stated. I also just finished queen of attolia but didn’t love the twist as much as you - that book is still soooo good (loved it, prefer it over the thief even tho that one is great too bc I love all the machinations and stuff we get to see) and I still like the actual moment when the twist is revealed (I yelled), but would you mind talking a little bit more about why the twist worked for you and why you felt like it made everything make sense? Particularly why you felt like you didn’t want more information/inklings before that moment bc I felt like I kinda would have liked more (like in the first book)

I would loooove to talk about TQoA, yes, of course. spoilers below~

first to validate your gideon feelings: I had the same thought. that's it? I think the "marketing" (which refers to what I was hearing from other readers, not what the publisher was doing) was honestly mismatched with the actual book. alas!

as for the queen's thief books: I actually don't care for the thief as much! I view it very much as "book you have to read so you can get to the good stuff (the second book)". I've never reread it, though maybe I should.

I think what made the Big Romance Reveal work in TQoA is a combination of factors

1 - Gen and Irene have intense feelings for each other based on what happens in the first 50 pages of the book. From the get-go we think we know what their beef is and the ways in which their characters will relate to each other throughout the rest of the book. we see Gen grieving his hand/career and then deciding to live with it. (and then later we understand that it's more than him just deciding to overcome the loss of a limb: like, I think we're supposed to gather that Gen is determined and WILL find a way to get what he wants. then, later, seeing the lengths at which he's willing to go to pursue Irene (he becomes THE KING and he never WANTED TO BE A KING AAAA! BUT HE ACCEPTED IT BECAUSE IT MEANT PURSUING THE WOMAN OF HIS DESIRES!)

[as you can probably gather, I'm a sucker for romance, so it really helps me swallow characterization choices. oh he's in love? and willing to go to the brink of EVERYTHING for it? sign me up] 2 - Whalen Turner is, imo, a brilliant political drama writer. She kept me engaged and interested, and seeing Attolia and Eddis go head to head was deeply satisfying to me as a reader. Something that didn't work for me in Gideon was that I didn't give a damn about the quest for lyctorhood (and I didn't feel that gideon did, either) and I didn't think the Whodunit murders of the house nobles were that compelling.

The war between Attolia and Eddis could definitely get dense, and that's why I'm glad I listened to the audiobook (I was able to do other tasks or walk/run while listening), but I still think MWT is very gifted at creating clever traps for characters to use on each other. Attolia and Eddis being ruthless and and pragmatic and cruel and POWERFUL as they went toe-to-toe was just great fun in my eyes, so I was engaged as Gen set the pieces up for his conquest of Attolia, Queen and Nation.

Also, like.. Attolia and Eddis are warring over Gen. That's cool. That's fun. I am deeply a sucker for Chosen One/Special Boy narratives (hi sid) and this is that exact dynamic set on fire. EDDIS STARTED A WAR FOR HIM 😭 SHE LOVES HIM 😭 and as the book goes on we learn more and more about how much Gen means to Eddis and to his country, and how his complicated relationship with the gods informs his character, and how much he MATTERS.

and as we go along in the narrative, we see all the political machinations at play (or we don't, and they're very cleverly revealed to us later) and we understand that these characters have political roles to play but also have personal lives and thoughts and beliefs that they must keep close to their chest. like, Attolia's grief over cutting off Gen's hand (she tosses and turns in her bed, she sleeps poorly, she's distracted) is reasonably brushed off earlier on in the narrative as "young queen wrestles with the war she just started, also she just insulted the gods"... but when The Reveal Comes, it's like: oh fuck he was in love with her. and on some level, she knew it.

3 - I knew there was more coming. like, I very much view TQoA as a book that is about the war over Gen and it's Gen's greatest heist. the book isn't about his relationship with Attolia, and we get that in book 3 (which I also love desperately). the book is about Gen's mastery as thief (HE STOLE HER!!!! HE STOLE HER AND HE STOLE HER COUNTRY! I love Gen so much)

and as we spend the novel learning about how much he matters to this world (which we didn't get as much of in book 1), we also spend the novel seeing him adapt to the worst thing that's ever happened to him: he got his fucking hand cut off! his whole purpose is as thief! and we see him wrestle with that grief... but unbeknownst to us that grief is also fueled by the fact that the woman he loved did it to him. and it's like... that emotion was already there, and we watched him process it and decide how to proceed, and it all made sense WITHOUT The Reveal.

it's just that The Reveal made it all better to me. it was realizing that the slow-burn of the romance was in the rearview mirror, and going OH FUCK and needing to reread it instantly. all the emotional journeys in TQoA make sense without the reveal, I just think the reveal means they pack twice the emotional punch. and I didn't need a "EXPLAIN YOURSELF RIGHT NOW!" moment because I was able to just pick up the third book and dig into the ugly mess of "Gen and Attolia actually have to deal with being married to each other." great fun!

-

so... I think all these are viable points, but I want to note that my instant buy-in when it comes to romance totally played a part too. I just love it. it's my favorite genre. learning there was an ultimate high-stakes slow-burn happening the whole time was like being given a chocolate bar and opening it to find solid gold.

that isn't the case for everyone! I just think TQoA really nailed what I love in a story!

[hesperie-s]

Just to pile on here (because holy shit, I haven't seen an AU I was actually excited about in years), it may also contribute to why Azula is a prodigy while Ozai is just kind of...okay? (Relative to the rest of the ATLA cast, anyway.)

There's nothing that I can remember from the series indicating that bending prowess is heritable, but in the comics it's shown that Ursa was forced to be Ozai's wife to join the Fire Nation royal family with the line of the Avatar. Maybe that line was supposed to come through Iroh and not Ozai. Maybe Azulon figured that out too late.

(I'm a sucker for subverted Chosen One narratives, so sue me.)

for the ask game: would love to know your take on my crack-but-not-really-if-you-talk-to-me-long-enough theory that azula is actually iroh's daughter, not ozai's

Oh man, I have been thinking about this one since it landed in my inbox and…good lord the potential. It could go so many different ways, almost all of them terrible! So I’m just gonna pick one that spins out from post-canon.

Five Fun Facts:

Borrowing some things from The Search comics, Zuko pulls Azula out of the asylum so he can use her help to find his mom, they find the letters, etc. Things proceed and in this version, Ursa’s choice to forget her children was because losing her memory and getting a new face was the price extracted to save her life from a fatal wound. Ursa trusted Someone that it would be better if she were alive if things went wrong so she could save her kids again. Someone has Very Bad Judgement. Or just is a dick.

Ursa reveals that Zuko is 100% Ozai’s. And then drops the bombshell that Azula 100% isn’t. Neither sibling takes this well.

Zuko gets mad at Iroh. Everyone expects Azula to also get mad/try to murder Iroh.  Azula instead has kind of shut down. She chased the approval of her father for so long and oh, the irony is that she lost that race before she even left the starting line. “Congrats, Zuzu. You were the one who had my father’s approval.” Add to this the fact that Kiyi would exist, and…welp, both bio parents “replaced” her.

I think this might lead to Azula just…fucking off to Somewhere Else. She’s just Completely Done. This might happen before Iroh finds out, just to add extra angst and guilt, as a treat. Someone gets to go on a life-changing field trip. Actually, multiple someones.

It’s quite possible Azulon and/or Lu Ten knew or suspected. Which means the real reason Azulon refused Ozai is because Iroh still had an heir. (He would have been planning on forcing Ursa to confirm this after Zuko was dead by Ozai’s hand. Thus really making him learn “the pain”.) If Lu Ten suspected, he would have made it a point to spend time with his baby cousin/probably sister. He’d also be yelling at Iroh SO VERY MUCH from the Spirit World.

[sadgirlsbookclub]

I just finished reading Heartbreaker by Claudia Dey, and I have a lot of feelings about it. I've been trying to go around and check out what other people have thought, and it's honestly hilarious how mixed the reviews are! Largely, it seems either loved or hated, and it comes down to Dey's style: a frantic, circular, carefully chaotic style that propels a narrative of trauma, poverty, isolation, and perseverance. Major complaints are that it's hard to follow, it jumps around, and the dialogue is too unreal. These are all true, but they are also all exactly what I love in a book, so -- at the level of storytelling, I loved Heartbreaker. For instance, this slice of wisdom from a dog:

"We are what we have lost, I countered. Here was a way of thinking we could tear apart together. Thinking that reminded us we were alive, and what an inconsistent experience that was proving to be. We are what we have lost, I offered again."

I loved the vagueness of the Territory, of teenage blood being the Territory's main export, of the nicknames, of everything life is forced to become in extreme isolation and at the mercy of a world that has largely forgotten them. But I also feel extremely sensitive to the fact that there are, right now, in Canada in 2019, extremely remote communities that are facing extreme poverty and isolation and, in the case of First Nations reserves and communities, have been largely forgotten by a government that forced them there in the first place. Still, one reviewer writes: "Readers are perhaps used to encountering an intentional community as outlandish as the one Dey describes, but in the form of a cult." Is it so outlandish to imagine a community where milk costs $10 per carton, though? Have you visited Nunavut?

Dey's bio states that she's worked as a cook in lumber camps across Northern Ontario, and it feels to me that the conditions of Heartbreaker's Territory are possibly drawn from--and likely exaggerated--her experience in those camps. Heartbreaker portrays a community that is only a moderately exaggerated version of life for many people in Canada (mostly Indigenous communities), but I don't feel that's acknowledged, either within the story or in the media surrounding it, and instead it's further portrayed as outlandish with the Territory's backstory: a cult drives as far North as they can to start a civilization. A choice, a lifestyle. A consequence of their own actions.

I was especially sensitive to the narratives of suicide in the book. Isolation and poverty lead to suicide, there's no question about that. But it's worked into the story as something shameful, something the community doesn't talk about, something that just happens sometimes. I couldn't help but think of Wapekeka First Nation, which just a few years ago had to declare a state of emergency over a wave of youth suicides in their community. Including a sub-plot that revolves around a small group of suicides in an isolated Northern community is not outlandish, is not unrealistic, is not dystopic; portraying suicide as just something that happens here is, in my mind, horrific, and perpetuates the notion that life is sometimes just unlivable, and there's nothing we can really do about it.

I felt like this book had the potential to be a striking and powerful force of literature. I think maybe it is a striking and powerful force of literature. It is so heavy, it is so dark in the pit of your stomach, it is cutting out a beating heart and asking you to hold it, feel it beat, feel that way life can crush you in its small and large unkindnesses. I fell in love with Dey's writing. I am a sucker for writing that feels like the inside of my body. But I'm worried about the reception: I'm worried about how people are reading this book and thinking, Wow this is so implausible! Can you imagine this! Wow, those wacky cult leaders! Because it is not implausible, it is damn near happening right now, and they have largely not chosen that life. There is more truth in this novel than people seem to think. It is true that you can't bury bodies when the ground is frozen. It is true that milk costs $10 a carton.

I want this book to ask us to tear apart together, but I worry that it just invites us to watch something else tear apart, something we believe to be a fiction, only fiction.

[veliseraptor]

If Lise recommends it, i've thought, than it may be good - so i've looked up the Wheel of Time series. But i find the premise offputting, since it's a magic world in which i couldn't use any magic at all. But since the plot seems dull (it does, from just the premise,) then it must be the characters that you like, i'm thinking. So, the question is - which characters do you find sympathetic there, and why?

well, I personally do not find the plot dull - I’m a sucker for epic scope narratives, and while on the surface Wheel of Time is very “good vs. evil, one big battle for the end” there are a lot of ways in which it’s...more complicated than that? and also expands way beyond that to encompass all of these other stories and narratives and things happening. I mean, there are fourteen books before the actual Last Battle, and things happen in those fourteen books. 

but that aside - yeah, probably it is mostly the characters, because I’m always most drawn to the characters in basically any story. and my faves here, though this is of necessity an abbreviated list (because there are a lot of characters, and my reread has made me very “I love everyone in this bar”) are:

Rand al��Thor: my depressed fuckup child. I wrote recently about why I like Rand so much even though on the face of it he’s the Big Damn Hero, which isn’t usually the type I’m drawn to, and it’s because he’s also a Big Damn Mess who fucks up a lot of the time, is very far from perfect, and really fucking suffers along the way. Like, there’s a lot in Rand’s story about the price of being a Chosen One, and a whole bunch of other stuff I find really interesting. 

Tuon: problematic fave Tuon, who is, like, probably one of the ultimate in problematic faves but I love her so much. She’s canny and sharp and very, very capable, I love her pragmatism and determination. She’s also one of the very interesting characters I’m planning on talking about in a future essay on cultural relativism in this series.

Min Farshaw: like, there’s certainly criticism to be leveled against Min about the fact that the vast majority of her arc is about her relationship to Rand, and that’s entirely fair, but I love her. She’s down to earth but also incredibly smart (she develops a taste for fuckin dense philosophy, which I kind of love), she’s perceptive (and not just because of her foretelling abilities) and just has a great big heart. love her

Egwene al’Vere: I wasn’t a big Egwene fan on my first read - didn’t hate her like a lot of people do, but didn’t love her either - and this reread has made me really love Egwene. She has a lot of qualities that are often seen as negative ones - she’s ambitious, for one, and that’s very apparent from early on, and she absolutely has a ruthless streak that also becomes apparent early. But she takes those supposedly negative qualities and boy does she make hay out of them. I still am meaning to write an essay about the way Egwene and Rand’s development parallels and contrasts against each other - the three male ta’veren get a lot of attention as “main characters” but I think overlooking Egwene especially as a very main character is a mistake.

Mat Cauthon: he’s very “trickster cad” trope on the face of it but what I like about Mat is that, like so many of the characters in this series who have a base trope, he transcends it. I almost used for his Onion headline “Man Beginning to Realize He Stands For Something” and I definitely think that’s some of Mat’s arc - he spends a lot of time trying to avoid his responsibilities but when they fall into his lap he picks them up and deals with them. And he deals with them really well, too. It’d be very easy for Mat to be a stock scoundrel type character but he is a lot more complicated than that.

Nynaeve al’Meara: Nynaeve “I will fight the whole goddamn world to get what I want” al’Meara, accept no substitutes. Another one I didn’t appreciate enough until this reread, Nynaeve is just...a delight. She’s determined, stubborn, a little temperamental and very hard-headed, and I love her. She’s a healer, but again she’s not limited to just being that. 

but also Aviendha, and Moiraine, and a whole bunch of Forsaken - I love a lot of characters in this series, is what I’m saying. 

Wheel of Time has its flaws, certainly, but if I’ve realized anything in this reread it’s that I still really love this series. maybe it’s just my nostalgia goggles. but maybe also it isn’t.