#I'm not gonna judge in the end the game is definitely transformative enough for it to be a whole another thing

[kjzx]

Ion like the fact the new armor is obscuring the face... like it resembles Skelly so Guts becoming bad is not where I'm getting at, but, you know, I wonder if this is gonna affect his sense of self or something

[omegangrins]

[Kingsmen 3: The Golden Service] Harry Hart turns "villain"

TL;DR: The Lepidopterist is the *perfect* name for a "colorfull" megalomaniac who's trying to save the world via villainy.

I've allways had a nagging feeling that Colin Firth's Harry Hart is destined to become a villain. Like Valentine and Poppy, our Hart will break.

Why do I think this? Let's start simple:

1) "I always felt that the old Bond films were only as good as the villain. As a child, I rather fancied a future as a colorful megalomaniac."

Now you could take it as face value veiled metaphor in their cat and mouse game. A game recognize game moment. Though when you look at it from a character angle, it is rather apparent that Galahad is not lying here. Look at the giddy nature in which they both talk about the subject. Almost lost in a moment of childhood nostalgia. Neither man is lying. So if Valentine tried to save the world like his younger self wanted, then it stands to reason that Harry has that childhood dream himself.

Harry even has a flair for the dramatic already. "Manners maketh man" is all about him causing a dignified scene to teach a lesson to all watching. In the Freebird church scene, you can see it BEFORE he starts fighting because of Valentine's machine.

Feels like a simple "I'm going to the bathroom" or "I'm hot and need to breath outside for moment" would have sufficed and gotten him out of there without hassle from the crazy Baptist and he KNEW that but didn't care. Arthur implies this subversiveness in their conversations about choosing candidates. Then there's the *way* in which he kills everyone there. Not just defense or trying to kill quickly but lots of slow, painful, and fucked up deaths. The killing is Valentine but the style is ALL Harry. It's part of the reasons he's disgusted. Not the enjoyment, but the ease with which he turned so gleefully. That slow motion fade in smile in the middle is proof of this. Harry *wanted* to punish those people the same way Valentine did. That's proven by what he says at the start. (Don't blame him either, just character commenting. Fuck those people.) Part of me thinks the Freebird is playing in *HIS* head. He's a bird freed by blood.

2) The Lepidopterist

I know the clip is from Venture Bros but it's meant to show how two "good guys" became bad. Kinda the perfect coincidence. But I digress... it was a shameless plug to #SavetheVentureBros. 😎😙😍

The hobbyist collecting of insects, fauna/flora, and what-have-yous has looooong been a trope of "colorful megalomaniacs".

Then there's the added bonus that The Lepidopterist sounds like the *perfect* name for a Bond villain.

Butterflies even symbolize death and rebirth and the violence inherent in transforming something for the better.

Is Harry's butterflies a set-up foreshadowing to his coming transformation from "hero" to "villain"?

"I doubt whether I'd work for anyone who drowns their employees. I want to go home. I want my butterfly collection. I want to see Mother."

3) As we know, all the best villains are ones we sympathize with and understand WHY they do what they do. Valentine was trying to solve over-population and save what he could of the species so it wouldn't happen again. Poppy wanted drugs to be legal, partially for vanity reasons but mainly for anger at global government hypocrisies (the same governments which had their heads blown up for trying to kill humanity for their own gain). Wouldn't it fit perfectly for Harry Hart to have seen the horrors inflicted by the world governments and the corruption of not only Statesmen, but his beloved Kingsmen themselves, and say "No more." What's he gonna feel when he finds out Arthur sold the Kingsmen's soul and got him killed? How long has the "shoot the dog" exercise been in practice? Why is trying to drown someone thought of as a reasonable way to help them? Does the rot go to the core? All things any reasonable person would ask after being shot for an organization that was just blown up by a drug dealer.

"When I was shot, can you guess what the last thing was that flashed through my mind? It was absolutely nothing. I had no ties. No bittersweet memories. I was leaving nothing behind. Never experienced companionship, never been in love. And in that moment, all I felt was loneliness and regret."

Who's to say what he would do or the methods he would take, but villains are merely people casting shadows in the way of the light.

4) I put this last because it's more pun than the others and because I only realized it while writing their names out loud. Valentine. Poppy. Hart. A valentine is love, poppies symbolize death, and a heart combines both (a Hart is also the name for an adult male deer over the age of five but I'm not British enough to understand what the fuck that has to do with anything.) There's also Richmond Valentine/Rich Man Love (Rich dude saving the world). Poppy Adams/ Poppy of the Earth (Death of the World). And finally Harry Hart/Harry Heart. An attacking heart. Yeah, that's the old definition of "harry". To harass. (Or Power Ruler of the Five Year Old Male Deer. This isn't an exact science 🙃 ). Honestly, as I write these out, the puns become the hardest piece of proof for me. Brits love a good wordplay foreshadowing.

"... this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

AND what else do they have in common? They're all things associated with the color red. And what's red?

BLOOD.

Sorry, couldn't resist the touch of drama. 🤣

P.S. I know it's not really related but I also subscribe to the Poppy is a former Statesmen theory as well.

Making this an even more thematic connection. Good guys gone villain because of shitty situations.

Edits

5) HE'S WEARING AN EYEPATCH!!! How autistic am I that I missed that in my explanation. Eyepatches just seem that normal to me but they're like the ultimate villain accessory. Unless you're a pirate.

6) /u/Bespoke3 pointed out how the one thing keeping this from happening is Eggsy and Harry's relationship, and I contended that it was true. While making an interesting movie, you need a sufficient reason for those two to be on opposite ends of each other. And in rambling through comments, I found it. This is why you write shit outloud:

It's Princess Tilde!

The first movie showed that world leaders would gladly sell their souls to save themselves, Princess Tilde being one of the few exceptions. The second showed that even after those figureheads exploded (see what I did there 🤣), there was still terrible people left in charge making even worse decisions.

What if Harry's plan is to attack all of the "leaders" of the world as a way to show people they have the power to govern themselves. This would put Princess Tilde, and moreso her family, directly in the line of fire and force Eggsy's hand to intervene and choose.

Save the girl or save the world.

7) As /u/baddestmofointhe209 pointed out, Harry *was* shot in the head. That kind of thing does tend to mess with people after the fact. Maybe turning villain isn't such a stretch. Not evil, but morally grey.

7) As /u/baddestmofointhe209 pointed out, Harry *was* shot in the head. That kind of thing does tend to mess with people after the fact. Maybe turning villain isn't such a stretch. Not evil, but morally grey.

8) My wife was telling me about how Colin Firth has allways wanted to play the villain too.

"Whenever you take on playing a villain, he has to cease to be a villain to you. If you judge this man by his time, he's doing very little wrong."

“I’d never rule out a part in Doctor Who or Torchwood – especially Doctor Who, I’d also love to play a villain like Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes."

9) Thanks to some pushback from /u/The-Reddit-Giraffe, I decided to Google Kingsmen 3 rumors and stumbled on this little nugget about it, and specifically the Harry/Eggsy relationship:

"I'm really not allowed to say anything, but there is a script. It's a really neat idea."

Outside of it telling the finale of Eggsy and Harry Hart's story, we don't know all that much about the plot for the third movie.

"People will either freak out in a good way, or freak out in a bad way, but they will freak out," Vaughn teased. "We're literally finishing the script off as I speak – but they go on a journey that, if anyone sees it coming, then I'll give up."

To which I would like to thank YOU. This is why I love being shown how I could be wrong. I can't help but feel like this is EXACTLY what they're talking about. You don't have a script finished that fast if you didn't already know where you were going with the first two.

It HAS to end like this. Now I can't see any other way. Maybe The Rock is the Big Bad they have to team up to stop at the end but I will say with 99% confidence that Harry Hart will turn rogue for the first 2/3 of the movie.

10) This wouldn't be the first time I was right about something like this either.

[macaroni-rascal]

i'm terrible at prompts but will happily send one if it gets your writing going-always love what you share! if this strikes your interest, how about a sentence prompt of “oh sorry, were you sleeping?”

Oh I like this prompt – be prepared to see Ginny’s petty side. Also more of drunk/hungover Mike, cause why not?

(Also, I apparently have a thing with jealous/idiotic Mike doing dumb stuff, then Ginny getting angry – I love angst, what can I say?)

(cross posted on ao3)

Mike wakes up in the worst way possible.

Normally, he will awaken slowly and calmly holding Ginny in his arms. He can nuzzle into her and briefly forget about what he needs to do that day; maybe slide an arm down between her legs and start the day right.

Instead, he was sleeping blissfully in dream land when Uptown Funk started playing at a truly ear splitting level right next to his face. His eyes pop open and he sits up quickly like a jolt.

Immediately, his temples begin to pound out a rhythm that is both worse than the song and exacerbated by the it; he can’t think, he can’t do anything besides close his eyes and put his hands over his face, hoping his dream turned into a nightmare.

Blessedly, the music stops.

“Oh sorry, were you sleeping?”

Her voice rings out innocent and deceiving, the question is very obviously rhetorical because she is holding the portable speakers that are usually for the pool area in her hands. Not to mention the tight smile on her lips.

“Jesus, what gives, rookie?” He rubs his hands over his face and tries to orient himself, blink away the spots in front of his eyes and swallow away the horrible taste in his mouth.

“Do you remember anything from last night?”

Mike isn’t sure if this one is meant to be rhetorical, but in any case his brain is working at a slug. He’s having trouble thinking of anything besides advil and water.

He groans and flops down to the pillow, pulling the blanket over his face, hoping whatever is wrong will just go away if Ginny can’t see him. He’s fooling himself and he knows it, but he’s still going to give it his best college try.

“I’m going to take that as a no,” Ginny says, and the next thing he knows she’s ripping the blanket off of him and throwing it on the floor next to the bed. He whimpers a little, fully believing that he’s done nothing at all to deserve this, he just wants silence and darkness, more sleep, then food, then he’ll see about being a functional human being.

“Then please, allow me to remind you,” he squints and sees she has the remote for the TV in her hand. She turns, presses a button and a news story starts playing.

He’s cognizant enough to know he should definitely pay attention, hopefully this will illuminate why his usually sweet and loving girlfriend has transformed into an expert in torture.

Mike’s eyes focus on the TV, its blurry for a few seconds before it comes into focus and he blinks a few times again to orient himself.

What you’re watching here, folks, is San Diego Padres catcher Mike Lawson seemingly intoxicated, being forcefully removed from a night club after an altercation with another club go-er.

The voice-over explains this as he watches an unsteady camera video of himself, looking very drunk and quite belligerent, being dragged out of the club. Salvi on one side of him and Dusty on the other. Well, no wonder she’s pissed, he made a complete ass of himself.

But that’s not all folks.

Uh oh.

Indeed, the reason behind the altercation is what has everyone talking about the veteran catcher. According to multiple sources inside the club, Mike Lawson became enraged when another patron approached Ginny Baker. Sources say Lawson repeatedly yelled for the man to “leave his girlfriend alone”.

He goes stock still at the reporter’s account, the night rushing back to him like a bad flashback. Mike remembers the drunk idiot who wouldn’t stop leering at Ginny, yelling at her about how she was too beautiful to be playing baseball and that he could take care of her. He sees Ginny’s pinched face, hears her asking him to ignore him, feels her hand on his arm trying to pull him back when he started walking towards him.

Mike remembers only wanting to talk the guy down, despite his own drunk state, he knew not to get physical with the guy. Unfortunately, the asshole took Mike approaching him as a threat and tried to punch him. Mike remembers briefly thinking he thought his drunk bar brawl days were long over before he ended up putting the dude in a head lock; he recalls being dragged away and forced out of club. Everything after that gets hazy and even more embarrassing.

He groans and hangs his head, shame insulating every pore.

They’d agreed to keep it low profile until he retired in a few months for the sake of everyone. This is not good.

Representatives from both Ginny Baker and Mike Lawson have been contacted for a comment but are remaining cagey and declining to comment. It will certainly be an interesting game at Petco on Monday, that’s no doubt about that.

Ginny lifts the remote and turns the TV off, spins slowly to face him, her face hard and expectant.

He’s got nothing.

There is no explanation for his actions besides blind idiocy and lack of forethought. Mike cannot believe he’s fucked up this bad. Despite his pounding headache, he knows this will eventually blow over and thing will be okay, but he didn’t want to have the last stretch of his career go like this, he didn’t want to make Ginny’s life impossible, or distract the team from playing the best season they could.

“You remember now?” She prompts again, arching an eyebrow and tilting her head to the side.

When he doesn’t answer, she barrels on.

“I turned my phone off, yours too. They’ve been buzzing constantly since the first news cycle of the story. Everyone wants to know if its true, Amelia is probably going to be breaking down the door soon, and I don’t even want to know what colour Oscar’s face is turning,” she says all this in one breath, looking at him like she’s not expecting anything from him besides for him to sit there and be ranted at.

He gets it.

In all honesty, he wants to rant at himself, go back in time and tell himself to listen to Ginny when she asked him to leave it alone. He knew better, he knows better, but the mix of Ginny’s clear discomfort, the alcohol, and the asshole’s degrading comments just made something snap.

He’ll maintain he only got into it with the guy out of self-defense, but he did put himself in that position, so he knows it doesn’t mean much. Intentions don’t matter in situations like this, actions do, and he acted like a complete fucking idiot.

“I’m so sorry, Ginny, I–,” There’s nothing at all he can say that will make it better, he wants to apologize more, explain why he did what he did, explain that he wont do it again, not that it will carry much weight now.

Mike thinks Ginny is less angry and more scared judging by her posture and how her hands are shaking ever so slightly. Certainly, there is anger there but he reads fear more than anything.

“We are going to get through this, I refuse to let my idiocy effect your career, okay?” The pain in his head, while still pounding, has lessened some and he ignores his thirst for the time being; there are more pressings things to deal with, namely getting that look off of Ginny’s face.

Her posture doesn’t become any less stiff, if anything she curls more fully into herself and looks away from him.

That wont do.

“Hey, Baker, look at me,” he waits patiently until her eyes meet his, “this will blow over. You have every right to be worried, and pissed at me, but I swear things will be okay. I can say I was just really drunk and it was a big mistake if you want, or I can tell the whole world how much I love you. However you want to deal with this, that is what we will do,” Mike watches as she slowly unfurls, dropping her arms to her sides and hanging her head.

“You can play Uptown Funk directly into my ear again, if you want?” Thankfully, his meager attempt at lightening the mood works and Ginny snorts at him.

“No, I think you’ve had enough,” she smiles at him a little, its not full or bright, but its there and he takes it as a good sign.

She comes and sits by him on the bed, sniffing once before turning and burring her head into the nook between his shoulder and neck that was almost certainly made for her.

His gut tightens as she cries silently into him. Mike never, ever, wants to hurt her and he’s not going to forgive himself easily for this. He is also never going to drink tequila again.

“We’re going to be okay, right?” She asks, her voice muffled slightly from where she’s still nuzzled into him.

“Of course we’re gonna be okay, rook,” he wraps both arms around her as best he can, pulling her close, “that was never a question.”

She digs her fingers into his skin and holds on tight, letting out a tremulous breath. He heaves himself over the side of the bed to grab the blanket and wraps them up.

“Mike…,” she starts, trailing off.

He knows she’ll want to try and start to deal with the mess he made, but he has other ideas.

“C’mon, everyone who wants a comment can deal for a while, they don’t have any right to our business anyway. Let’s sleep, the world can wait.”

They snuggle into the blankets, but then Ginny sits up and reaches over to the bedside table and passes him a glass of water. He looks at it somewhat surprised before downing the whole thing.

“I knew you’d be thirsty. I was mad, but I wasn’t that mad,” she smiles at him, taking back the glass once its empty and placing it back on the table.

They are going to be just fine.