#I've basically taken a character with little to no history in a game but does technically exist in-universe and gave her more depth

[sunny-salamander]

Did a doodle of Hanako Naegi from my Danganronpa fanfic Crafting Pandora's Box!

Specifically, this is her hybrid form. Being a Magi, she has two different ones: this one, which is more human looking, and a second one that is very much not.

Fun Fact: She's specifically a Solar Magi, which is the only Magi subspecies that has has the innate magic necessary to fly in both their hybrid and full Magi forms. Solar Magi's wings look different depending on the what other magic a Magi inherently knows.

[thespianinthebackcorner]

Dreams of an Absolution Analysis!!!

ok, it's taken a bit to get around to doing this but I'm doing it now. I rarely do these so bear with me because analyses are not my Thang, so to speak. Analysis under the cut because I already know this is gonna be a long post LMAO. And for people who don't know me, I've played 0 sonic games where Silver makes a lore-relevant appearance (except for the first 5 minutes of Sonic and the Black Knight but he's not even in those 5 minutes). This is entirely what I can infer about him based on someone telling me his lore in a nutshell and reading into this song. <3 sorry if I say anything blatantly disproven by canon

So there's a pretty obvious implication that the vocals in the song are from Silver himself. That's the common consensus from what I've seen. With this in mind we can infer that the song itself is his own thoughts.

The first verse seems to be him commenting on how trivial most people's problems are in today's society. "All your troubles, are they all what they seem?" To me, that's him basically saying "you're getting worked up over nothing". And it makes sense- for Silver, who comes from a world in constant hell, getting worried over losing an item or something is really trivial. He's not quite realising that it's the safety of the modern world that allows people to be worried about stuff like that, because his own stress over the future clouds his vision a little. He doesn't realise most people don't care too much about stuff like that, because he's constantly either alone or in the company of people like Sonic and Blaze who are usually in a similar stressful situation. (He's very rarely seen in casual contexts, from what I know.) That statement is backed up by the next two lines. "Look around you, then you may realise all the preachers, all with their lies." If I were to reword it with the context I've just applied, it sounds a little like he's saying "stop worrying about trivial things and start worrying about the corrupt liars that are in power." Or something like that. He's directing the attention to what he considers a problem that affects the overall future of society. Which is a very Silver thing to do, worry about problems a little too big for a 14-year-old kid- psychokinesis powers or not- to actually help with.

The first bridge highlights a trope break that I really like about Silver- he knows the future, yes, but he's not a fortune-teller. He's working with the knowledge he has to make a hopefully positive change, but he doesn't actually know how what he does will affect the future. And he doesn't know that much about the past he's in, or even anything at all- after all, he afaik had no way of getting history education. It's like knowing something happened in the middle ages that caused all our problems here, but knowing jack all about the middle ages. The people in the present have a more informed idea of how what they do could change the past, because they know more about what's going on. Hence, "I might know of the future, but you still control the past." Only the people living in the present know if they'll be able to stick together through the hardships ("if you'll be together") and if what they really have a chance ("if we shall last").

The second verse annoys me a little (i know you're allowed to not be grammatically correct in music but still) but I'll do my best regardless. It does stump me a little, I will admit. To me, he seems to be asking if the people from the present also have regrets, and if given the chance, would they go back and fix a mistake. The exact wording he uses is faux pas, which is used to describe some incredibly embarrassing social mistake- the type to keep you up at night cringing, y'know? Which is interesting, because the first verse indicates that Silver doesn't particularly care for worrying about trivial stuff like that. In fact a good chunk of his character is often taken as disrespectful because he doesn't worry about making these kinds of mistakes as much as he should. (Considering he knows he's in the right and doesn't expect people not to believe him.) Perhaps he does worry about it and wishes he could fix mistakes of his own. Or it could be read as a curiosity towards people in the past who do worry about things like that.

After that we have another bridge that just about carries the same meaning as the first, although it does mark the beginning of the song focusing a little more on the "now" and less on the future or the past.

The chorus is the piece that I think conveys the true tragedy of Silver's character, and that tragedy is why he's my favourite. To understand the chorus we have to understand what an Absolution is. An absolution is by definition a release from someone's guilt, obligation or even punishment. In a Christian context, it tends to refer to release from sins. (Thankfully we don't have to worry about Christianity here.) If we reword the song with that in mind, we realise that what Silver dreams of is release. Over and over again he is tasked with fixing the future- iirc there's an implication somewhere that he's been reborn several times to fix it in different ways but I'm not sure about that- but every time he resets the timeline he dies, because he's not needed in a world where the future is peaceful. Thus, he never gets to live in the future he fights for. What he dreams of is the chance to not have to go back in time and fix it, to just be able to be born in a peaceful world and live his life without that pressure. He wants freedom from his metaphorical chains, from the duty that ties him down. But every time it stays the same- his dream stays a dream, and no matter how many times he saves people's lives from a broken timeline, in the end the cycle just starts back up again and he never really gets to see the fruits of his labour.

After the first chorus is where things start to get depressing. I'd almost call this song vent art in a way, considering how it almost shamelessly exposes the tragedy of Silver's character and how he feels about his constant fighting. The third verse expresses this, asking if "you" (which I am assuming is the people he knows- team sonic and all that) dream of who they could be at night, before saying that "happiness lies trapped in misery". For Silver, who as previously stated is in a constant sisyphian struggle of fixing the future and then dying without knowing if he did it right, it makes sense that he sees happiness as being surrounded by misery- he gets very few chances to be properly happy and is often depicted as a bit of a problem-finding machine with zero chill settings. He says he's an optimist, but there's some clear pessimism here, which makes me think he does get more than a little hopeless sometimes. He definitely doesn't have the most stable mental state, I'll say that.

I wouldn't normally say much about the bridge but I do want to point out how he says "and who knows what of our future, we can all try to change the past" here. The focus is now on whoever he's speaking to. He's seemingly taking himself out of the equation by referring to the fact that no one really knows how what they'll do will change things. That pessimism comes back here, to me, in these lines, as if he's saying "we can try to change the past but it could all be for nothing".

The rest of the song is repeats of the chorus and smaller lines that I can't really infer anything substantial from other than what they're directly saying. So I guess that's it. I can't even tldr this so if anyone was hoping for that... Sorry, I'm not great at summarising. Not great at analysis either and this probably doesn't even count as analysis by definition anyway. But still. Just with a basic nutshell understanding of his lore, I've managed to infer a lot from this song, so I'm curious to see what someone more experienced with Silver thinks!!! I will admit though he's been around for literally longer than I have (he debuted in 2006, maybe 5, right?) so this song has probably been analysed to death before, but I still wanted to share my thoughts. 💛Thanks for getting this far byeeeee

[loz-furbies]

Skyward Sword Zelda

Design

Now for something completely different since Zelda is a commoner this time! I think the outfit works well, it’s not too busy but it also has plenty of memorable details (I especially like the sailcloth around her shoulders) and the green and pink ribbons in her hair. And while the overall design is very different from the usual Zelda looks, the blue cloth on her waist at least reminds me of the “aprons” a little.

Mixed feelings about the white dress, the Hyrule crest collar is great, but everything else in the dress is really simple and basic so it feels a little out of place. However I like the white dress when she’s depicted with botw Zelda in her white dress, it’s a nice contrast how one has long flowy sleeves and the other has no sleeves at all.

Character

Skyward Sword Zelda has a charming and playful personality, making her super likable, and overall she really feels like an ideal girl-next-door type. As Link's childhood friend she's incredibly supportive of him, but also not above calling him out for being lazy or lightly teasing him. And she can be quite stern and gutsy when needed, as seen when she puts Groose and his cronies in place when she finds them bullying Link.

To some extent Zelda does feel a bit too much of idealised manic pixie dream girl to the more down-to-earth MC-kun that is Link. A considerable amount of her lines are spent on speaking positively of Link too, and we don't get to know much about what else she has going on in her life besides Link and the Plot.

A notable example of this is her status as a student of the knight academy, why is that not touched at all? Why was her role to give a trophy to the flight competition winner and not take part in it herself? Even if she's at a different stage from Link in her studies, shouldn't she still have something to say about their shared goal? I've seen some fans attribute the fact that she made it through a dungeon on her own to being a knight student, but I'm not giving the game credit for that.

We do get to know that she was interested in the surface even before the events of the story, and apparently has a knitting hobby judging by the items in her room. Which... okay I've been a bit too hard on her, as it's incredibly rare for any of the Zeldas to have a hobby at all and I do give SS Link points for his wood carving hobby too. It's just that so many of her lines are spent on gushing over Link so I guess I would have needed more stuff that's specific to her alone to balance that out.

Once she finds out about her role as the reborn goddess she becomes more serious and gloomy, but is still very much recognisable as the same character. Which has not been a given in the history of Zeldas with multiple personas, so good for her.

We don't get to know a lot about how regaining an unspecified amount of memories of her previous life has affected her sense of self, but I figure it has had at least some effect since she sometimes switches to first person, notably when apologising to Link about involving him in the grand anti-demise plan (which at least to me clearly isn't SS Zelda's fault). Though there's not any question if the goddess persona had somehow taken over, since the greatest line of the game "I'm still your Zelda" exists.

Ultimately while I think SS Zelda gets close to the line of being too much of a perfect fantasy waifu, she doesn't cross it and remains incredibly charming.

Role in the story

The game has a very slow beginning, where a lot of time is spent setting up Link and Zelda's relationship and ordinary life. And while the characters are the biggest draw for me in these games, I think there would have been room to condense the story a bit. Even if you really like the characters, in a video game you can reach a point where you're just hoping them to get on with it so you can actually play the game, which isn't exactly helpful if you're supposed to like the characters. But if you don't get frustrated with the slow start, Zelda is set up extremely well as someone you'd want to save.

After the setup she falls into a tornado, and the first part of the game is spent chasing after her and trying to figure out what's going on with her. You get more information about her bit by bit, so she clearly remains as the goal. Once you do catch up with her, it's after she was just rescued by Impa, who chides Link for having been too late to do anything himself. For me this worked just fine because I was really bad at the game, so her criticism was perfectly fair, but I wonder how better players felt about when the plot mandates that their perfect performance is judged to be a failure?

Eventually both Zelda and Link travel to the past, where Zelda explains herself as the reborn goddess and commits to her duty to seal Demise's curse for thousands of years, which changes the game's objective from trying to solve the mystery around her to a more clear rescue mission. Sealing herself to magic sleep is Zelda's big moment and the the game really plays it up, and to great success because that scene is beautiful. After that she doesn't really do much though, like because her darkness-sealing moment happens in the middle of the game (and chronologically before the main part of the gameplay since we're in the past here) and the grand finale darkness sealing is done by the Master Sword, there's not a lot of room for Zelda and she ends up with more of a victim role.

It is also kind of disappointing how Zelda gets damseled twice in the same game. I guess I can kind of see that since Link and Zelda's relationship is such a big part of the story, it makes sense that her life would be at risk when the stakes need to be at their stakiest, but I really wish they could have thought of something else than have her be woken up from her magical coma for five minutes before getting immediately kidnapped for the bad guys' evil resurrection ritual.

The end credits show snippets of Zelda's life after she fell to the surface, met Impa and started following her duty. Which was of course great but also a somewhat odd place to put it, and made me wonder if it was originally supposed to be shown somewhere during the story but got cut. And then they just put it in the credits since the scenes were already animated. But in any case it's nice to see more of Zelda's journey, even if strictly didn't offer any new information.

Relationships

As usual Zelda's most important relationship is with Link, and this time there even is more to it than a single line that they're childhood friends. Or they are childhood friends, and while in general I'm a big hater of this trope being so common in Japanese media, at least here it's used with a purpose, as the Goddess' master plan involved specifically preparing a hero who'd go to the ends of earth for her reborn form.

I said about Link and Zelda in Spirit Tracks that their relationship doesn't get any specific development and is more just about that they went on an adventure together and you have to imagine that they grew closer during that. Meanwhile in Skyward Sword they clearly know and care about each other as people and it's not just about like, general human empathy towards someone in trouble, which certainly makes their relationship more interesting.

So as I complained earlier, a lot of Zelda's lines are about Link. She gently teases him for being a sleepyhead, goes out of her way to arrange him time to practice for the flying competition and knows to send her loftwing to wake him up, asks his opinion on her ceremonial costume, asks him out to fly together which is totally written to look like a date, and so on. Some of her behaviour comes out as so flirty that it makes me think if she's all astonished at Link for being so oblivious. And she states multiple times that she wishes that Link will be the one to win the flying competition, so she can do the celebration ceremony with him, or how amazing he was when he managed to do that. The last point was brought up so many times that it just got really heavy handed, and I do think that some of it should have been cut, but just as it was entering actual cringe territory, an alternate explanation emerged that she actually wanted to talk about these ominous premonitions she's had, but had trouble bringing it up and was stalling for time.

Also it's just beautiful how the whole sleeping thing goes full circle, with Link being the notorious sleepyhead in the beginning, but Zelda requesting that it's Link's turn to wake her up as she's about to enter her magic sleep. Really shows that she has a lot of trust in him.

Meanwhile Link doesn't talk outside dialogue options as usual, so you don't get as much from his side, but his expressions when he looks at Zelda in many scenes tell a lot about how he cares about her.

In general their relationship skirts around being a romance but doesn't fully confirm anything (or at least that I can remember). After Link wins the flying contest, a scene where it looks like Zelda is about to kiss him is set up, but instead she pushes him off the ledge to complete the ceremony. And maybe she was just so coy about the "date" in the clouds because it was all about trying to gather courage and find a good moment to bring up a difficult topic, and Link's determined responses how he'll certainly save Zelda are totally platonic? But like, obviously a scene that teases a possible kiss is put in for a reason and the game ends with a shot of their loftwings flying together after Zelda tells about her future plans to live on the surface and asks what Link wants to do, so I'd say you need some serious anti-shipping goggles to ignore what's being implied.

Also since I brought it up for Spirit Tracks, Link and Zelda hold hands in this game too.

Impa is in the game as well in the role of Zelda's bodyguard, guide and friend, and this time offers a more meaningful relationship with her than her previous incarnations. Impa is fulfilling her job at assisting Zelda do hers, but they also clearly care about each other. We don't get to see them that much though, so their personal relationship isn't defined too well. Like Impa acts as a servant and refers to Zelda with "your grace", and Zelda just goes along with it and we don't know if she tried to establish a more equal relationship. In one of the end credits snippets we see Zelda doing this cute happy skip when she's walking with Impa and it looks like she's having fun, and these four seconds are probably their most casual scene together.

It's also really sweet when it's revealed that the old woman who helps the cast in the present timeline is actually Impa, so Zelda gets one more chance to meet her. Or it's kind of funny how they saying their goodbyes in the past but Impa reassures that they'll meet again, and after some time travel from Zelda's perspective the reunion in present time is literally just a few minutes later, and then Impa actually dies and they're separated for a second time. But obviously it was about how Impa had been hanging in there for thousands of years so she could still help Zelda and Link with their duty.

In any case Zelda and Impa's bond is clearly strong, even if we don't see the details. It also makes me think of how different this is from BotW Zelda's situation, and how things might have turned out for her if she had a mentor how knows what to do and also is emotionally supportive.

Groose primarily acts as a rival to Link, which includes being a romantic rival for Zelda's affections. He's not any threatening at it at all though since his feelings are clearly one sided, but it's not exactly clear what Zelda thinks about him. He is introduced when he has hidden Link's loftwing so that Link couldn't take part in the flying competition, and Zelda immediately jumps in to take Link's side. After that Groose's character development happens while Zelda is away, and next time they meet Groose behaves in a more respectable manner and Zelda appears to be happy to see him.

Like everyone else in Skyloft, she also has her own loftwing buddy, and much fuss is made about how everyone is soul-bonded to their bird. None of this really shows up about Zelda's relationship to her loftwing, who doesn't even get a name, though to be fair neither does Link's. In general I think the loftwings were hugely underdeveloped considering how much time you have to spend on one flying around.

Zelda also has a father with whom she actually gets to interact with, but I don't get much anything out of that except that they have a normal/good relationship.

[ladyseidr]

vanessa headcanons / portrayal notes but i'm too lazy to make her headcanon banner or even write coherent thoughts so you just get a bullet point list:

definitely a reluctant follower but as things progress she gets more. . . attached might be a strong word, but she stops hating glitch so much. this does not last once she escapes him obv

like it's literally: oh funny rabbit guy but this is a glitch i need to figure out -> okay i hate his vibe -> get out of my head i hate you -> i might as well learn to live with you -> i've completely isolated myself from all friends except you so i guess that makes you. . . almost a friend -> post-game deeply traumatizing by the violating of like. literally having her autonomy taken away from her

still carries deep guilt and resentment for the murders during moments where she's fighting back / he's not in control at all

vanessa is the only fucking character in fn.af who would genuinely seek therapy after every thing and i think she should get an award for that

researches the franchise + william af.ton in a lot of detail when The Hell Begins and is horrified but also has to deal with glitch being very fond of his very dead creator

basically, not in the suit: glitch is like an annoying little voice in her head who she has to stop herself from arguing out loud with in the supermarket

in the suit: he's like. not Literally in control but heavily, heavily, heavily influences her thoughts and actions. can make her think almost anything is the right decision

( okay it's not as simple as "in the suit" and "out of the suit," but you catch my drift. she can absolutely "come out of it" while wearing the suit, and she can def be under his control while not )

i said it before but: scene girl in high school. like, she has rainbow extensions when not under glitch's control, of course she was a scene girl

genuinely loves the glamr.ocks, despite everything

generally i don't want to go with her owning / being in complete charge of the pizza.plex because that's silly to me, but i don't have an alternative, esp because like who would it be??? i just shrug.

genuinely concerned abt gregory or any other kid who gets in, esp because she Knows What's Going On. she literally knows that she's a threat herself.

favorite animals? cats and horses

took the help wa.nted job because, like. she needed the money + she's absolutely a gamer so it seemed fun. especially because she had never played VR before

doesn't have a favorite color and will argue if you try to get her to pick. definitely enjoys bright colors, though

absolutely thought fazb.ear entertainment was full of shit from the start, but she wasn't actually that familiar with the history, so

literally will adopt gregory post-game. tries to act kind of like a big sister but never had any siblings so she's incredibly lost fdhskfashfjdlsah

introvert, but enjoys having a small, close group of friends. she ghosts them during the glitch stuff, but the ones that matter are there for her when she gets back ( and def understand when she. . . kinda explains what was going on )

although "i adopted a kid" "you w h a t " FDHFKDSHJFHS

has absolutely nothing to do with her parents, for valid reasons

completely traumatized post-game to the point that she questions whether her own thoughts are "really" hers. she seriously doubts her own sanity at times, is often scared she didn't "actually" get rid of glitch, and questions her ability ( and worthiness, given her actions under brainwashing ) to take care of herself, much less gregory

like i mention on her page, i'm open to writing any ending and don't treat one as canon on this blog. however, it should be noted that i'm not a fan of the burnt.rap ending ( fully biased by the fact that i don't like burnt.rap's existence ). that's not to say i'm not willing to write it, but i'm prob not interested in writing directly with burnt.rap himself

as also mentioned on her page, she's a lesbian, so there won't be any shipping with her and glitch or william ( or any man lmao ). if glitch still wants to be weird, that's on him, but she won't be receptive period.

loves creative stuff!! is an artist ( esp with pencils or digital, but can paint a bit ), enjoys decorating her apartment, and adores dressing up in pretty clothes!

also genuinely enjoys programming. yes, it is soured for her post-game.

will self-sabotage herself even pre-game ( eating nothing but takeout, not getting outside enough, isolating, etc ). therapy helps post-game.

[quiet-tech]

I saw the FNAF movie and didn't like it very much

I'm trying to put this old blog to use by putting down my thoughts on various media. Usually I would just send this to discord servers of my friends but now it's the universe's problem.

Of course, since now is the time that I've finally built the resolve to do this, the first thing I have to talk about is the Five Nights at Freddy's movie. Let me tell you, this was not what I expected to be talking about in 2023, but here we are.

To establish my credentials a little, I've been following the series basically since its inception, through lore/easter-egg hunting videos, as many youtube playthroughs as I could get my hands on, and of course, Matthew Patrick. By the time Pizzeria Simulator (that's FNAF 6 for those uninitiated) rolled around, I was thoroughly impressed by the overall quality of storytelling of the series, and was glad to see it reach a natural conclusion. I chose to ignore the existence of the books, spin-offs, remakes, and further sequels from Steel Wool; I had taken all I wanted from the series, and was ready to move on.

Imagine my surprise when the long-rumored movie, which I was almost sure had been canned in around 2018, was finally given a release date for 2023, 9 years after the series' debut and 6 years after I had moved on from my engagement with it. Given its rough production history (and "rough" feels like an understatement), I was only cautiously optimistic. Sure, this was a series I had at one point enjoyed, and which I thought had a genuinely compelling story to tell, but a movie this far past the expiration date for its hype seemed strange, especially as the franchise moved into new territory with Steel Wool's Security Breach.

Then, of course, the trailers. Listen, I love practical effects any day of the week, and the team's commitment to bringing the iconic animatronics to life was admirable. But, let's just say that the games spent so much effort hiding these things from you for a reason.

And, I think that's where we should start discussion of the film itself, so spoilers ahead: what does it bring to the table? After 9 years of sitting with the imagery and storytelling of FNAF, what has this movie decided to add, to embellish, to show in new lights, or to show in more gruesome, vivid detail than ever before? What does its expensive, high quality production bring to the table that the shoestring-budget games were never able to?

The answer is: basically nothing. The animatronics are just as stiff and lifeless as their jpegs in the games, the location is rendered beautifully but provides only what we already knew was there, and the acting is about on par with Scott Cawthon's own performances as the phone guy.

So, its essentially like playing that classic game all over again. What's the problem, then? The problem is that the games had their excuses: their budget, the one-man development team, and the limitations of their engine, things which the movie should've been able to avoid. But even more so than that, the games had other things to fall back on: atmosphere, effective tension-building, deep and engaging mysteries, and the innate heightening of fear that comes from being put into the situation yourself as a player. In each of these departments, the things which truly put FNAF on the map, the movie fails completely.

Now, some may complain about my wording here. "The animatronics are supposed to be a little goofy! They're not always supposed to be scary, otherwise they wouldn't really be good children's mascots!" And to that, fair point. There are moments in this film which truly highlight this aspect of the animatronic characters, where I actually bought into the idea that these were fun, engaging children's entertainers, and this is something the games never truly established. However, its when the movie flips that switch, when it tries to move into the actual horror, that it falls apart.

Like I mentioned, the practical props, as beautifully crafted as they are, simply are not filmed properly. Nothing in this movie even tries to turn the goofy cartoon character robots into something more sinister visually; no tricks of lighting or camera placement ever effectively communicate the horror of these massive death machines, and the cardboard acting of our main protagonist certainly doesn't help. When moving onscreen, they operate exclusively at a snail's pace; it's difficult to imagine them chasing a security guard down, let alone killing them once they caught up. This wouldn't be a problem if I didn't have to imagine it; the movie shows a character moving at speed exactly once, and through so many flickering lights it's impossible to tell what exactly is happening. This is a pretty consistent aspect of the film: deaths happen, but never onscreen, and the more gruesome and spine-tingling elements of the narrative like unsolved murders, a serial killer on the loose, mutilated corpses, the actual crushing power of these giant animatronics, and even what they do with their victims, are merely alluded to. The phone call audio and "game over" screen from the first game does more to establish the actual threat of Freddy and the gang than any moment of this entire film, and these characters take up a substantial portion of the screen time. There were moments watching the characters "walk" menacingly across the screen where I swear it looked like oversized toys being moved up and down by a toddler's hand offscreen. And, the only attempt to make the robots appear more "evil" by *checks notes* giving them "angry eyebrows" falls completely flat.

The one success this movie manages (again, spoilers,) is Matthew Lillard as the main antagonist. By far the most competent performance, and the actual scariest costuming and character acting in the film (which unfortunately isn't saying much), the movie of course relegates him to about 4 minutes of total screen time, and only at the very beginning and very end of the film. For a shockingly long portion of the runtime, the writing fails to clearly establish the existence of a serial murderer to be afraid of, only for one character to exposit his misdeeds and terrible power to our hero about 10 minutes before he gets his comeuppance. And that moment is well executed; that is, if you already know the story of Five Nights at Freddy's, because the movie certainly doesn't have time to build him up for his knock-down. While it makes sense to focus more on the threat posed by the animatronics in your movie about murderous animatronics, it feels almost like a waste to include Lillard's character at all, only for him to reveal his evil plans (which appear to boil down to "I like killing people" unless again, you already have the context of the game series) before dying in the same scene.

To put it all as simply as I can: this movie is exactly what you are afraid it is: a mess created by talented people with good intentions, but a mess nonetheless, hung by its own overambition and commitment to an aesthetic that just isn't scary. To be honest, it isn't even the kind of mess worth studying; it's failures are obvious and the lessons it teaches are trivial. I walked away from the theater feeling disappointment, and not much else, which is the worst kind of condemnation I can provide.

If you are a fan of this franchise, or you yourself enjoy this film, all the more power to you. I only ask that you remember that things can be better. And if you are planning to see this film; don't. Just redownload the game, it's less than half a gigabyte.

Thanks for reading this far; feel free to let me know your own thoughts if you've got any. I'll try to explain anything I haven't already.

[not-poignant]

🧐 & 🏆 for the meme game!

🧐 Do you spend much time researching for your stories?

Yes and no.

I think the main thing about me is that I spend a lot of time researching in general. I read a lot of non-fiction, and most years, I read more non-fiction than fiction. I read widely, across a lot of subjects (one year I went through a phase of just getting out books at the library on elements in the periodic table, and vulcanology, and that was it), and very eclectically.

And then I also have additional personal areas of research I have always targeted, like media studies, film studies, queer studies, some acafandom stuff, folklore and fairy tales, sex in history and being queer in history, PTSD and affect and panic disorders, environmental studies, ecology, regenerative agriculture, ecosystems, animal ethology, corvids, taxonomy, unusual animals etc. These are areas where I actually own books and have like...dedicated non-fiction bookshelves.

So because of that, I actually have a fairly broad range of eclectic (but very incomplete) knowledge, and some deeper knowledge around subjects like trauma. I don't need to research PTSD before I start writing an entire story about PTSD, because I both have it, and I have 40 books on the subject that I've read. I might quickly do a cursory search to make sure some of my knowledge is up-to-date but that's about it.

But then I also do a lot of research about random things sometimes. Like I spent two hours trying to research how deep the leaf litter in a karri forest is for a line I wanted to write in Underline the Black and I both didn't need to write the line and didn't find the answer I wanted (it was based off a fact I thought I'd learned years ago, but I couldn't corroborate it online, but nor could I disprove it, but I wasn't confident enough in the factoid to put it in). So I often do random deep dives on things like this.

Some stories require more research than others. Underline the Black broadly requires hardly any, as in, I do no research of any kind before the majority of chapters. But I did do a lot of research on hormones and hormone structures (and again, because of my personal experience with a hormone / neuroendocrine cancer, I have some knowledge on hormones in general) as like a building block for the worldbuilding. I know a lot of that off by heart now, so I don't need to go back and check that research, but that time does inform the story.

Mallory & Mount conversely has taken some research, mostly into political and criminal control structures all around the world so far. It's taken a lot of worldbuilding, but because I know a bit about biology, taxonomy, evolution, and world culture/s already, I don't necessarily need to collect as much broad knowledge, and instead deep dive instead. Like, I already know about the chemical make up of granite and where it's found and what land masses it's found in and what countries and how it's quarried. But I might need to research where you'd find pink granite and what that's been used for specifically, y'know?

Basically writing is one of the best places to spend the labour of being a non-fiction obsessed little gremlin creature who just wants to learn about nearly everything.

But honestly very little of my research actually ends up in the stories, because it's all very dry and tbh often unnecessary (no one actually needs to know how deep the leaf litter is in a karri forest), and I'm wary of infodumping. I usually try to have an 'infodumping' style character (like Temsen) to get away with it, lmao.

OH, and I've spent way too much time looking up wine and local wineries on Dr Gary's behalf, because man, I do not give a shit about wine.

The Gentle Wolf had a surprising amount of research into the duties of a barista, and into chocolate making. I'd say I watched around 20 hours of chocolate making videos for professionals, because I needed the lingo that professionals would use vs. home cooks. And I watched 'how to clean a cafe coffee maker if you're a barista' video re: learning about the daily / weekly / monthly maintenance of your machines if you're making professional coffee, lmao.

99.9999999% of it didn't make it into the story, but I felt confident that what did make it into the story would feel at least a little realistic to people who were in those fields, which is always the goal. The dream is for someone to go 'I can tell you have experience in this area because you know about X' when I actually have no experience in that area at all, lmao, and that's happened a few times now.

🏆 What's your most popular fic?

For comments, Falling Falling Stars.

For kudos, The Golden Age that Never Was (3,800)

-

From the fandom meme!

[neon-lights-stardust-nights]

Zelda S/Is? I wish to hear :>

I ship with a handful of Zelda characters, and have some feelings toward certain Links that I have a hard time pinpointing. Ganondorf has a tag here, but there's also Ghirahim, Zant, Vaati, and the Happy Mask Salesman. I also really identify with like several of the races. So! I came up with a way to satisfy all these!

Fae was original Ymir, a rogue and formless entity of pure chaos. A similar thing to the Majora's Mask manga's depiction of Majora's creation. Ymir would eventually but heads with more powerful deities, and find faerself against their priests. Unlike Majora, there was no way to contain Ymir in something as (potentially) solid and mundane as a mask. Ymir was cursed to roam the world a similar way the hero of time does, being reborn, but never being born the same way more than twice in a row. A forever changing creature still, amnesiac to faers true potential.

Ymir's first rebirth was as Fufunmi, a Minish. Fae was involved with Vaati before he went bad, and when Vaati returned to the Minnish people, re-entered a relationship with him. A rather uneventful life, that one. The cursed magic that made faer docile and mortal was its strongest, since it had no yet had the time to be worn down.

IDK how long Minish are supposed to live, but um... I like the idea they live a pretty long time. Fufunmi died some time during Four Swords, likely just before any of the actual game's events happened.

Ymir's second incarnation was as OOT generally began. As in, the history pre-game. Fae was born as Zanzo, a kokiri. It's said that Kokiri who leave die, but we've never actually seen it on screen. My personal interpretation is that they don't just like drop dead, they simply lose their semi-immortal status. So they grow up and die as other races would.

Zanzo left the forest a few years after Link was first dropped off, still a ways before he would begin his adventure. I don't have this all 100% fleshed out, but the idea is that fae knew a little more about faerself. A sense that something is distinctly wrong--as though fae had lived before, and that fae was not meant to be a forest child. Ganondorf was the one who found faer in this time, and took faer under his wing. Wanting to avoid any hiccups in the potential that fae COULD drop dead, he magic-ed faer up a special set of jewelry that basically kept a little of the Lost Wood and Kokiri Forest's magic! So Zanzo never grew up fully, but did grow up some.

OOT happened, and Zanzo got a Termina counterpart. True to the "cannot live same way twice," fae was born again as a Twili trapped in Termina. Velzin! This was partially planned, as Zanzo had taken to following The Happy Mask Salesman. Mostly because he had Majora's Mask, and Zanzo felt a strange sort of kinship with it. Obviously though, Skull Kid stole it, and was killed by Majora in the rampage (hence being split-second born in Termina as Velzin.)

All things considered, that's also uneventful. Link helps faer, gets a mask, and fae leaves with the salesman at the end. Velzin and the salesman had a certain "let me help you," "I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP," dynamic, culminating in when the salesman convinced faer to allow Link to assist. So it's not a super eventful life, compared to working as a Kokiri warrior legend alongside Ganondorf.

The only reason Ymir was still a Twili by the time of Twilight Princess was because Velzin hadn't died. In my ideal world, Velzin would have played into the plot with Ganondorf in some fun re-incarnated lovers stuff. Velzin is a much more moral person by then than Zanzo was, so there could be some real angst in Ganondorf recognizing his former partner in faer.

There are also alternate versions of Ymir. Ymir also exists throughout the Ganondorf is Sealed timeline. That's not super fleshed out at all though.

I've played with the idea of a BotW version of Ymir that is a members of the Yiga clan, or a Sheikah version of Ymir being present in later parts of Twilight Princess. The magic constraining faer to mortalality is wearing out over the ages--faers births are quickly becoming less natural, and more instantaneous.

Of course I've also debated that Ymir (while still a being of pure chaos,) created the Tetraforce. The idea is that Ymir saw the goddess' triforce, and noticed the missing piece. Never one to let anything rest in peace, Ymir filled that empty space with its own "gift," to embody mischief and other impish qualities. Power is the ability to do it, Wisdom is knowing when, and Courage is the strength to follow through. The "tetraforce"'s meer existence is an affront to this format, fitting of being created by a being of chaos.

If I do keep this as lore, then my thing is that Ymir didn't have the time to bestow it upon any mortal, so all of Ymir's incarnation's carry the tetraforce.

If anyone (or you! Specifically!) has specific questions feel free to ask! Ymir and faers many incarnations aren't 100% done by any means.

[illegiblewords]

Notes under the cut!

Been figuring out the personality and background of my Rook as I play Veilguard, initially was stressing a bit because I am obsessive about making sure player character foils supporting cast but also foils player characters from past games in the series. Think I've finally figured out the kind of dude he is lol. Listing previous to keep track. Warden-Commander Alim Surana is a quiet, somewhat serious, extremely earnest mage. His father died young due to illness and he was himself forcibly removed from his mother and their alienage as per Circle policy. Alim's mother later died herself trying to move closer, causing abandonment issues when she suddenly stopped corresponding. Alim had to assimilate to the majority human Circle, felt like he didn't fit in anywhere before becoming a Warden because he's a patchwork of places and cultures. Happens to be agnostic.

Champion Marian Hawke is a ruthless, power hungry person and a blood knight. It freaks her out that she's not more disturbed by all the gore and death she causes. This Hawke thinks she might be kind of monstrous person, cares about her select people and causes but outside that can be extremely cutthroat. She has good intentions but absolutely did want to seize influence in Kirkwall in order to address problems she saw that weren't being dealt with. Can be kind of scary. Casually Andrastrian.

Inquisitor Mahanon Lavellan is a workaholic devout Dalish elf tied to Mythal. Skilled at being a chameleon for the greater good, is extremely calculating. Has a sense of humor but also suffers from angst because of Inquisition's cultural insanity + he is horrible at delegating + people keep asking him to do shit for them. Loses faith in the elven gods and is pretty devastated about it. Strangled by the chains of command.

Rook Valerius Mercar was taken in by a Tevene commander while very young. His adoptive father gained victory over the Qunari and in the aftermath came across a frightened saarebas child. Both Valerius and his new family were shaped by the understanding that he was nearly doomed to captivity and abuse for how he was born. The Mercars have been fighting to end such practices on two fronts--at war with the Qunari and in Tevinter itself. Valerius is a pragmatist, very aware of the choices and hardships present as he works with the Shadow Dragons. He's an honest person and can be blunt, is both perceptive and decisive on the whole. He does not think of himself as a leader and is baffled when others defer to him. He subscribes to the Imperial Chantry, and while it matters to him he's not super devout. Valerius respects but does not worship Andraste, does worship The Maker, and believes magic should be used to help people.

Basically, my Rook is similar to my Warden because somewhat patchwork history but Warden was taken away from places he loved and treated like he was dangerous while Rook was brought from somewhere traumatic into somewhere he was being protected. Warden and Rook both fight for ideals but Rook appears more realistic while Warden seems more optimistic. Rook and Hawke both end up in positions of power after having very little and choose to use that power to protect those who are less fortunate than them. Hawke worries more about her own morality while Rook is very matter-of-fact with his own choices (for better or worse). My Inquisitor is hugely anxious about the expectations he faces, takes on too much, and is a smartass. Rook has wound up a little more outwardly serious but is much stabler, feels baffled that people keep deferring to him like he's in-charge, and doesn't feel guilt easily. Like... if others try to blame him for things he knows aren't his fault he doesn't question if they might be right. Just immediately calls bullshit.

Rook Valerius Mercar

[lov3nerdstuff]

Hi Kay!

I just wanted to take a moment and say how deeply moving (and overall comforting) I find your writing to be! I've gone through almost the entirety of your masterlist twice in the past month alone and have found myself returning more often to the pieces of literature/poems your reference sometimes. (Especially that one poem by Benedict Smith! I've read a few more by him because of you and they're just wonderfully lovely 💛 so I'm eternally thankful to you for including it.)

I may be wrong in assuming, but I believe you may have studied/are currently studying a degree involving literature. I hope this isn't too foreward of me but I was wandering if you have any other works of literature that you'd recommend? (I'd love to read anything you recommend from poems to plays 💛) I'm slightly embaressed to say but the works I've read are quite limited to a highschool level and since I'm currently studying Pharmacy, there are very few people who can recommend me such moving works. :)

I also feel like I should apologise for writing such a large ask, so please accept this apology as well hehe 💕🥺

Sincerely,

Bek 🌻

Hey there Bek 💚💕✨

First of all... I'm incredibly sorry for how long it took me to reply to this ask, I know you sent it weeks ago and I'm honestly just ashamed of myself for only replying now! I've been taking a bit of a Tumblr break again, or rather a break from literally everything, and I guess not having written anything in a while made me feel guilty whenever I opened Tumblr, so... All I can say for myself really is that I'm sorry you had to wait so long! Again, I never ever ignore anyone, I promise! It just sometimes takes a while for me to reply 😅🙈

Now, I'm so happy to hear that you've been enjoying my writing! 🥺🥰 Hearing that it's comforting and inspiring to you is honestly such a relief and indeed does make me happy more than I can say 💚 It's so cool that you're checking up on all the references I make aaahhh 🥺🥺🥺 I love it 😁 You're always more than welcome, love! I don't think I could stop including references to literature, culture, history and the science around it even if I tried 😅☺️

And yeah, I did study classics and newer literature as a minor for my undergrad degree 😄 But tbh I still work with literally a lot even now (I'm in grad school for media and cultural studies) even though it's technically not something I've been properly taught ☺️ I'm just a nerd who likes to learn on her own, and with media and culture you can pretty much delve into almost anything you want 😂😅🤷🏻‍♀️

Now, it's not forward at all to ask me for literature recommendations! 😁😃 I truly love recommending stuff!!! I have a few up my sleeve, even though you've probably heard of a few already, for obvious reasons: A lot of what I truly enjoyed reading was something Tom Hiddleston has worked on in one way or another! It's truly a magnificent guideline for picking new literature... Just look up the literary origins of his films/shows/plays and you will be in for quality literature most of the time! I don't think I've ever mentioned it on here, but me reading High-Rise (JG Ballard) because I heard Tom would be partaking in the film adaptation was actually what sparked my love and passion for literature!!! Yep, it's that good. Now on to the recommendations though 😁(This... got rather long):

Plays

Anything by Harold Pinter really, but for obvious reasons you'll find a lot of additionally fun stuff for Betrayal, which is lovely and truly funny if you're in on the kind of humour btw

Medea by Euripides (a classic, but I love it nonetheless... You can find translations in almost every language) ((and pls stay away from Seneca's Medea, because ugh... Euripides is far better AND the og story, as much as anyone can say that for Greek mythology)

La Bohème by Puccini (I know, this is technically an opera, but if you read the libretto it's honestly just like a play... And if you're up for it, the og story is in prose and written by Henri Murger... It's better than the opera, but oftentimes more difficult to find) ((this one is hilarious and basically explains an entire cultural subgroup in the 19th century)

Faust by Goethe (many people hate it, but I LOVE this one!!! It's also been translated into any and every language, and it's so interesting philosophically!!! It's also referenced SO freaking often literally everywhere, and the operas and ballets based on it are always my fave) ((there's technically Faust I and Faust II, but you're good to go just reading the first one)

Anything by Shakespeare, obviously... Though I do love me my Hamlet like every other literature enthusiast (Yes, I can do that one famous soliloquy in act 3 scene 1 by heart as well...)

Poetry

Again, anything Shakespeare for the win, but I LOVE the sonnets and keep a copy of them with me most of the time (Yes, I own multiple copies of the sonnets...) ((My faves are 116 and 91, but there's always so much truth to be found in there!!!))

A lot of the stuff William Blake wrote is amazing, though you have to pick carefully with him if certain religious motives aren't your thing... I love The Tyger, which is an individual poem, and the collection of works called Tyger, Tyger which does have many good ones and a few ones that are a little more on the mediocre side

Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas (I know this one by heart as well... It's beautiful, and there's a version of Hiddleston reading it on YouTube, which gives you even more goosebumps than the poem does anyway)

Invictus by William Ernest Henley (same for this one, also read by the one and only) ((I love to read this when I'm feeling down or powerless))

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot (This is another wow piece with many quotable lines and truths... I love it a lot and keep coming back to it! It's also a great example of how literary modernism tried to condense the complexity and passing of time and history into a single frame that had to be intrinsically poetical in nature... As in, this poem could've been a short story in any other period, but modernists loved to make everything a poem so here you go)

Der Zauberlehrling by Goethe (This one sucks in all English translations I’ve found, poetically speaking, but in German it’s such a fun piece! If you’ve ever seen the Disney ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ with Mickey Mouse or listened to the orchestral piece by Paul Dukas, then this poem proves very useful in truly understanding either! But again, the English translation should only be taken for informational value... The German one is also worded hilariously)

Prose

Short edited by Alan Ziegler (This is a collection of short prose forms that honestly is a must for me... I love this book to pieces and have had it for years now! It’s an international anthology, so you’ll find more and less famous authors from all around the world represented with short stories, prose poems, short essays and just curious and interesting snippets of writing! I draw a lot of inspiration from this book)

High-Rise by JG Ballard (As mentioned above, I owe this book part of my personality... I don’t think I would be the same person without having read it. It’s not necessarily full of wisdom, but if you’re interested in a different kind of portrayal of the human condition, then this is the read you need to take a look at)

The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers (This is another piece that changed my perception of literature, even though this is a more ordinary and ‘fun’-value read... It’s one of my favourite books and it’s endlessly entertaining! So if the classics are a bit heavy for you, this one is perfect for casual readers as well! Its value really does lie more in the realisation of how fun literature can be, and the freedom you have as an author... So really, I could recommend everything by Moers, his style is amazing both in the German original and in the English translation. Yes, I’ve read both.)

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (This is comedic gold, stylistic gold and generally a bloody perfect book. Also a ‘fun’-value read, but it also does a magnificent job at showing you what you can do with literature, and how well-developed characters are supposed to be written)

The Penguin Book of the Undead (Penguin Classics) edited by Scott G. Bruce (This book is basically an education on fifteen hundred years of supernatural encounters and how culture wrote, used and perceived them. You get introductory texts for different periods and social groups, explaining how and why ghost stories were written and used, followed by passages of the prime source texts (eg. ancient necromancy shown on The Odyssey). Really, this book is just for cultural history nerds)

The Earthquake in Chile by Kleist (This isn’t necessarily one of my faves, but it has helped me understand what studying literature and culture can do for you. In case anyone remembers my insistence in Wicked Game that you gotta know what a pomegranate symbolises... this novella is such an instance where this knowledge would prove useful. Generally, it gives many opportunities to think about privilege and circumstance)

The Symposium by Plato (You’ll probably not want to read the entire collection of speeches tbh... But the concepts introduced mainly here and in some of Plato’s other work are well worth looking into! For example, the ‘double being’ introduces a concept that in modern fiction is called soulmates... Just sayin’)

[shezzaspeare]

Pilot/Episode 1: Patching Things Up With Pastiche & Fanfiction

Hi, hello, and the wait is finally over! My name is Blessie, and welcome to the first episode webisode log installation I've decided to call these things an episode for now because why not also let me know what do you actually call these things episode of The Science of Fanfiction, where we take a closer look into our beloved works of fanon because we've all got plenty of time to spare till Season 5. Before I continue, I would like to thank everyone who's liked and reblogged the last few posts before this one. It means a lot for a small and growing Tumblr user like me, and your support is something I cherish more than my modules. You guys rock!

Anyways, like with most things, we have to talk about the boring and bland stuff before we proceed with the fun stuff. For today, we are going to settle the difference between a couple of things: first being the confusion between pastiche and fanfiction; then the distinctions between tropes, clichés, and stereotypes, which we'll tackle the next time. It's important for us to establish their true meanings in order for us to really understand what fanfiction truly is, even if it's merely just a work done for the fandom. I know – it's boring, it's something that shouldn't be expounded that much, but I believe that all forms of writing (unless it's plagiarised) is a work of art — and fanfiction is not something we always talk about. I hope that by the end of this, you'll learn about what they really are as much as I did. Let's begin to talk about the—

[Image ID: A flashback of John (left) and Sherlock (right) finding an elephant (not in the screen) in a room in The Sign of Three. End ID]

. . . I did say that this GIF will always have to make an appearance here, didn't I?

So, just as with Sherlock Holmes, all other works of fiction have their own pastiches and fanfiction, and many more original works out there have taken inspiration from them to create their own books. Although they've gained popular attention, this will not be possible if they did not have taken inspiration from the materials their writers had at the time.

[Image ID: Various actors as Dracula. Jeremy Brett in 'Dracula' (1978) (upper left), Adam Sandler in a voice role for 'Hotel Transylvania' (2012) (upper right), Gary Oldman in 'Dracula' (1992) (lower left), and Bela Lugosi in 'Dracula' (1933) (lower right). End ID]

For instance, Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (the second most adapted literary character, next to the consulting detective himself) has been portrayed on the screen over 200 times — from Gary Oldman to Adam Sandler — and has spawned off numerous books and pastiches of its own such as Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot'. Its cultural impact served as a basis of how we see vampires today, since some characteristics of the Count were made by Stoker himself. Stoker's creation is the brainchild of his predecessors and inspirations.

[Image ID: Vlad the Impaler (left) and a book cover of 'Carmilla' by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (right). End ID]

Other than the ongoing hysteria over dead back then and the existing vampire folklore, Stoker also took his inspirations from the published books on vampires he had at hand. He is said to have taken inspiration from Vlad the Impaler, a Romanian national hero known allegedly for having impalement as his favourite method of torture. He is also said to have been inspired by the J. Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla', a Gothic lesbian vampire novella that predates Dracula by 26 years. I could go on, but hey, we're going back to Sherlock Holmes now before I deviate any further. However, if you want to know about Dracula's literary origins, I suggest you watch Ted-ED's videos about the subject matter such as this one or this one.

Very much like Stoker, ACD didn't just conceive Holmes on his own. He took his own inspirations from what he had available at the time.

[Image ID: Dr Joseph Bell (left) and Edgar Allan Poe (right). End ID]

As we all know, ACD's biggest inspiration for Sherlock Holmes was one of his teachers at the Edinburgh University, Joseph Bell. He was famous for his powers of deduction, and he was also interested in forensic science — both characteristics which Holmes is greatly known for. He also drew inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe's sleuth, C. Auguste Dupin ('The Purloined Letter' & 'Murders in Rue Morgue'). As ACD himself has said at the 1909 Poe Centennial Dinner: "Where was the detective story until Poe breathed life into it?" Some other writers he took after are Wilkie Collins, Émile Gaboriau, and Oscar Wilde.

Now, what does this say about us Sherlockians/Holmesians (depending if you're the coloniser or the one that was colonised)? Basically, ACD laid the groundwork for us with Sherlock Holmes: his humble abode 221B that he shares with his flatmate Dr. John Watson, his adventures, memoirs, return, casebook, last vow, and all that. Now that we have this material at hand, we can now make our own versions, takes, or even original stories featuring the characters of the Canon. Our inspiration comes from ACD's Sherlock Holmes, and we now get the chance to make our very own stories/conspiracy theories about them.

As I have mentioned earlier, Sherlock Holmes is the most adapted literary character in history. He has been adapted in over 200 films, more than 750 radio adaptations, a ballet, 2 musicals; and he's become a mouse, a woman, a dog, even a bloody cucumber. On top of all that are numerous pastiches and fanfics, and finally, we have arrived at the main topic of our post!

Fanfiction and pastiche are often confused together since they have three common elements: they take after the original work, they usually use the characters in that original work, and more often than not do are they set in that same time frame/period or not long after that. The common misconception is that pastiche are printed fanfiction, which is only partly true. While pastiche is definitely fanfiction in some ways and vice versa, there are fanfictions out there that aren't necessarily classified as pastiche that have been published.

Let's get on with our definition of terms to clear up the confusion a little more. Pastiche, according to Literary Terms, is:

. . . a creative work that imitates another author or genre. It’s a way of paying respect, or honor, to great works of the past. Pastiche differs from parody in that pastiche isn’t making fun of the works it imitates – however, the tone of pastiche is often humorous.

A good example of a pastiche is Sophie Hannah's 'The Monogram Murders', which is her take from Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.

[Image ID: A book cover of 'The Monogram Murders' by Sophie Hannah. End ID.]

Although this was a commission from Christie's estate, it's still considered as a pastiche as:

It's takes after Christie's writing style;

It is set in the early years of Poirot's career (1929), which is still within the time frame that the author wrote him in;

It features Poirot and;

It pays respect to Christie in a sense that it stays true to her (Christie) characters and way of storytelling.

Meanwhile, our good and slightly unreliable friend Wikipedia defines fanfiction as:

. . . is fictional writing written by fans, commonly of an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settings, or other intellectual property from the original creator(s) as a basis for their writing. [It] ranges from a couple of sentences to an entire novel, and fans can both keep the creator's characters and settings and/or add their own. [ . . . ] [It] can be based on any fictional (and sometimes non-fictional) subject. Common bases for fanfiction include novels, movies, bands, and video games.

To avoid any copyright infringement issues if I ever use a popular fanfic in the fandom, we'll use my (unfinished and unpopular) Sherlock Wattpad fic, 'Play Pretend'. You can read it here.

[Image ID: The second self-made book cover of Blessie/shezzaspeare's 'Play Pretend'. End ID]

Why is it considered a fanfiction and not a pastiche?

It takes after an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes (BBC Sherlock) which is a TV show, not the ACD canon itself;

The author (in this case myself) uses her own writing style and does not take after the original story's style;

Although it is set well in modern-day London and after Season 4, it also features scenes decades before the actual fanfic is set and outside of London;

I added a considerable number of characters, i.e. siblings to canon characters;

I had my own take some of the canon characters' personality especially after the events of Sherrinford;

It is written by a fan – myself. It is a work of fan labour and;

It is only a work of fanon, and isn't likely going to be considered by the show as its writing style is different from the actual show.

To put it simply, you can have more freedom in a fanfiction as it does not necessarily restrict you to follow or take after the original stories. Alternate universes (AUs) such as Unilock and Teenlock are perfect examples of this thing.

So can a pastiche be classified as fanfiction? Yes.

Can a fanfiction be classified as pastiche? Not all the time.

What's the difference? While yes, they share the basics, pastiche is technically leans more onto the original work's fundamental elements whereas fanfiction is a broader range of works inspired by the original work but doesn't necessarily follow all or any of its fundamental elements.

In order for us to understand it more, I'll give another example.

[Image ID: The 'Enola Holmes' title card (upper left) and Henry Cavill as its Sherlock holmes (upper right). Underneath it is a a scene from the opening titles of BBC Sherlock (lower left) and Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in A Scandal In Belgravia. (lower right) End ID]

Most of you are familiar with these 21st-century adaptations of Holmes: the 2020 adaptation of Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes books and BBC Sherlock, which needs no further explanation – but for those who don't know, it's basically Holmes and the gang if they were alive today. I specifically chose these two as they are the ones that I believe would get my points across best. Though both are considered as wonderful pastiches with a well-rounded cast and awesome visuals, if we break them down bit by bit, we'll see which one is more of a pastiche and which one is more of a fanfic. (Yes, I know they're both screen adaptations. However, as Enola Holmes was based on the books and BBC Sherlock's fanfiction has the show's scenes written out in most fanfics, hear me out.)

They share these characteristics of a pastiche:

They feature characters from the Canon (Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, and Lestrade);

They have additional characters added by the writers (Including but not limited to Molly Hooper, Eurus Holmes, and Philip Anderson for BBC Sherlock while Enola Holmes has Lord Tewkesbury, Eudoria Holmes, and Enola herself) and;

They pay respect to the original Canon as their stories are based on the cases (BBC Sherlock) or simply what was going on around them (Enola Holmes).

They also share these characteristics of a fanfic:

They are made by enthusiasts of Sherlock Holmes (Moffat has called himself and Mark Gatiss 'Sherlock Holmes geeks', while Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes books are not just one or two but six);

They follow a common trope (we'll discuss these tropes in the following episodes) that goes on in the fandom (Sherlock's Sister & Modern AU)

They are based on a fictional subject (Sherlock Holmes);

They used characters and story elements that are copyrighted by the author/author's estate (fun fact: prior to the production of Enola Holmes, the Conan Doyle Estate filed a lawsuit against Springer & Netflix over Sherlock's emotions since he was more 'sympathetic' than he was portrayed in the Canon – this was later dismissed by both parties) and;

Their writing styles don't necessarily follow ACD's.

Despite these similarities, there are very obvious differences between the two that separates them from being a pastiche and a fanfiction.

Enola Holmes embodies pastiche more as it doesn't stray far away from the original elements of the Canon. It's still set in Victorian England. While Springer added characters of her own and definitely twisted the Canon to suit her series, she didn't necessarily place them out of the social construct that was going on around the characters. It follows ACD's writing style more as Enola Holmes' setting still remains within the Canon's original setting.

Meanwhile, we can safely say that BBC Sherlock is a work of fanfiction. While it did give us The Abominable Bride, the main series focused on Holmes and Watson in 21st-century England, which is drastically different from Victorian England. There are phones, black cabs, and cellphones — things which ACD Sherlock Holmes doesn't have. It also diverted from the Canon in the characters themselves, which is mostly seen in the names: Henry Baskerville became Henry Knight, Charles Augustus Milverton became Charles Augustus Magnussen, the H in Dr Watson's name stood for Hamish and Sherlock's full name is actually William Sherlock Scott Holmes. They also changed the personalities of some Canon characters: Mary was actually an ex-assassin, Mrs Hudson was an exotic dancer who drove a kick-ass sports car, Irene Adler is a dominatrix, to name a few. Moffat and Gatiss created a world of their own featuring the characters of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which is really what most of us fanfic writers do with Mofftiss' rendition of Holmes.

In conclusion: while pastiche and fanfiction could have been the same thing, they're actually not. There's more to them that just printed fanfiction or pastiche e-books, and we all should take some time to see and observe them in a closer perspective.

And that's it for our first episode! I hope you enjoyed it. It was a lot fun for me to write this, especially now that I'm only starting. I would also like to note that while intensive research has been done on this series, some parts of this comes from my own observation and opinion, which may vary from yours. I am very much open to criticism, as long as it is said in a polite and civil manner. I'm still young, and to be educated as I go is something that could really help me with this series.

Like and reblog this you like it. It helps out a lot. Be sure to follow me as well and the tags underneath if you want to see more of TSoF.

See you soon!

Blessie presents – The Science of Fanfiction: A Study In Sherlock (2021) • Next

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SOURCES • Pinterest, Google Images, Wikipedia, Literary Terms, Conan Doyle Estate, Definitions, The Sherlock Holmes Book, and Google

[wordybee]

#the white book scene still does not sit well with me #(and if anyone wants me to write up an essay on why that is #i will do so at the drop of a hat) - I would love you to do that, please and thank you. (I've read a few takes on why it sucked but I am always ready to hear YOUR take on a thing bc I like your brain.)

I’m sure my take isn’t unique, but I’m full of thoughts and everyone in my life has grown too wary of every conversation I have with them turning into “And Another Thing Wrong with Game of Thrones…”, so I’m gonna just leap on this opportunity granted by your curiosity, Bethany, and damn the retread ground.

Going to tuck it all under a Read More (or try to; I don’t know if Tumblr’s still buggy about Read Mores on mobile) because I, as I said, am full of thoughts.

A huge part of why I don’t like the scene is how it frames everything. Cutting out the books’ version where Jaime writes his own story and acknowledges Brienne for his safe return, then having Brienne essentially save Jaime’s honor by concluding his story with a respectfully worded cause of death, frames the relationship between Jaime and Brienne as significantly more one-sided than it should have been. In the books, there’s clear regard and admiration between the two of them and it’s relatively even. Jaime sees Brienne as a shining example of knighthood and honor and credits her as such where it matters; Brienne sees Jaime as a man of honor despite his reputation and credits him as such where it matters. It’s pretty much their whole thing after their initial ordeal together: this long-distance, chivalrous devotion in which they try to fulfill promised oaths and both of them are simultaneously the noble knight and the fair maiden, in turn defending each other’s honor and being the person whose honor needs defending. They’ve taken it upon themselves to act as shield and sword for each other, and that protectiveness is completely organic and completely balanced in its presentation.

But in the show, Brienne is reduced to Jaime’s cheerleader and the keeper of his legacy, while she herself gets no credit from him, no regard, no significance in the conclusion of his story despite having such a pivotal role in it up to the point where he abandons her. Yes, she’s been raised to Lady Commander of the Kingsguard (which I’ll get into the issues of that shortly) but in the personal and specific relationship between Jaime and Brienne, it’s knocked completely off balance. In Jaime’s last scenes, he has no dialogue about Brienne and Brienne has no role within the context of his remaining story; she isn’t mentioned in relation to him at all, even though it would make perfect sense for Tyrion, for example, to raise a huge “what the fuck” when the last he heard, Jaime was happy to sit out the rest of the war in Winterfell specifically because Brienne was there and suddenly he’s in King’s Landing, ready to die for Cersei. Meanwhile, one of Brienne’s final actions of the show is ensuring that Jaime goes down in history as a knight who died with honor despite the fact that… that was not the case. At all. Jaime died selfish, forsaking the innocents of the city and cutting all ties with everything honorable or noble about himself in order to return to his “hateful” origins and Cersei.

And maybe this is actually the way things go down in the books. I don’t know how (though I do have more theories now after thinking about this damn series far too much) but it’s possible the end of the story for Jaime really is a straight plummet from the peak of the redemption arc he’s been traveling. It’s a cynical end, but not an impossible one.

But regardless, the books at least have the balance between Jaime and Brienne up until that point, and considering that Brienne experiences something of an implied fall from grace in A Dance with Dragons, it’s not improbable that Jaime would further mirror her in his own fall, even if I can’t fully grasp the details of how Book Jaime would end where Show Jaime does. However, the loss of a huge chunk of Brienne’s ASoIaF story and editing out the respect Jaime has for her being made explicitly clear when he takes it upon himself to credit her in his own White Book entry – that all furthers the show’s depiction of Brienne as nothing more than a stepping stone in Jaime’s abysmally cynical narrative. She becomes a way for him to get his good name back after death, even though he doesn’t actually deserve it, and her value stops there.

Here’s the crux of it, though: I don’t like the White Book scene, specifically, because the show wants me to like it. It wants me to ignore all the aforementioned issues I have with the relationship imbalance between Jaime and Brienne, and the discordant show portrayal of Jaime Lannister, and it wants my appreciation for Brienne’s selfless loyalty to let that scene wipe away all my misgivings and accept it as a pretty little bow to tie up the Jaime/Brienne story. It is manipulating me through Gwendoline Christie’s superb acting, Ramin Djawadi’s heartwrenching music, and the very fact that Brienne is the one in the scene at all.

Because she was chosen for a reason, and that reason is not just because she’s the one with a connection to Jaime. She was chosen because Brienne is a Good character. In a show full of gray morality, she’s done very little to besmirch her heroic label and she’s always presented as an upright person whose actions are basically always justified and acceptable. As a result, the audience tends to agree with what Brienne does, even subconsciously – she acts as a shortcut to right and wrong that viewers can latch onto, which is not uncommon in storytelling. Excluding the last couple episodes, her opinion of Jaime follows pretty squarely with his character arc. Jaime is loathsome while Brienne finds him loathsome, pitiful while she finds him pitiful, admirable while she finds him admirable.

So, the writers have this character who is defaulted to Agreeable with audiences and they have her forgive this other character for his selfishness and betrayal, thereby making it so audiences can more easily forgive that selfishness and betrayal. Because why, exactly, did Brienne abandon Sansa Stark to a lonely rule in the North in order to serve in the southern Kingsguard? She had no actual ambition to be in the Kingsguard. She wanted to be in Renly’s Kingsguard not because she loved the title or the position, but because she loved Renly. She swore herself to Catelyn’s service not because she wanted to serve the Starks, but because she wanted to serve Lady Catelyn. Again, she swore herself to Sansa and not to King Jon or Queen Dany, because Brienne doesn’t swear to positions – she swears to people. There is no logical reason why she would go to King’s Landing to serve Bran, a king she doesn’t even really know, and leave Sansa at Winterfell.

No reason, except as a tool for the writers to use so that viewers forgive Jaime through Brienne.

In conclusion, the White Book scene is an act of manipulation that aims to polish up the writers’ complete disregard for Brienne and it uses our regard for Brienne to do so. It unbalances the careful balance of respect struck between the Jaime and Brienne characters that has been (at least subtextually, in the show) at the heart of their relationship by reframing Brienne as little more than a subplot in the “bigger” story of Jaime Lannister, and further highlights how much of Brienne’s story from the books the show tossed out because they just didn’t care – in their eyes, Brienne was nothing but a vessel for Jaime’s legacy, not a character with a legacy in her own right. And that’s why I don’t like it.

[rubberduckyrye]

god im sorry if im flooding your inbox with questions but uh got anything about ur ocs theos and richard? (sorry if i've spammed you with questions i can't tell if i've actually hit the ask button or not sometimes oof)

uhm, how about your OCs richard and theos(?)

Not the same anon but could you describe theos

I’m finally getting to these, wooo!

I’m going to mostly focus on Theos here, but if you really are curious about Richard, let me know! I just. I felt bad cause I was drawing a reference of Theos but it took a while and I couldn’t really get to Richard, sorry;;

Okay, so a little bit of history for this;

These characters are two parts of a trio that I made with @celestriakle waaaay back when we were both in the NiGHTS fandom. These characters were based off of Wizeman the Wicked, the big bad final boss of “NiGHTS into Dreams” and “NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams.” If you want to watch a let’s play of the latter (as it actually has story/a narrative to it where as the first game has only game play. Older games had their stories mostly written in the little booklets that came with the games) you can watch this here. NiGHTS is like, the OG purple gremlin child and they are such a mischievous delight. The game sadly hasn’t aged well and wasn’t like, the best of games, but I still hold it fondly to my heart and I’d say it’s got some great concepts.

Anyway! If you want just a very rough summary and not watch 5 hours of a game; Wizeman the Wicked is the self-proclaimed god of Nightmare, which resides in the Dark Ocean underneath the Dream Gate. The Dream Gate allows dreamers (called “visitors” in the game) to enter their dream worlds of paradise (or, more accurately, worlds created by the reflections of their hearts) called “Nightopia.” However, Wizeman is constantly sending his creations, “Nightmarens,” to steal fragments from the hearts of visitors (these fragments being called “Ideya,” and are Courage (Red), Purity (White), Blue (Intelligence), Growth (Green), and finally, Hope (Yellow). The Ideya of Courage allows visitors to unlock their first Nightopia, and if they can gather the remaining Ideya, they can unlock new dream worlds. In these dream worlds are little creatures called “Nightopians,” which are like… fairies, I guess, to simplify things. There’s also an owl creature that doesn’t have a clear origin, and his name is…. Owl. Real creative, I know.

Another thing–SPOILERS, IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED FOR THE NIGHTS GAME, STOP READING AND WATCH THE VIDEO AND COME BACK TO THIS–that is important to note here is the Nightmaren. There are three levels of “nightmaren”; Third levels - the weakest enemies, the ones you find wandering Nightopia that get in the way/stage enemies; Second levels, which are “boss marens” and are the Nightmarens who have taken the ideya from the protagonist visitors and are keeping it hidden in their lairs, and finally, First level Nightmaren; to which there are only two. A pair of “twins,” if you want to call them that. Reala is the first of the two; he is very loyal to his “master”, Wizeman, and is considered the general of the nightmaren army. He’s portrayed as cruel and even sadistic in a way. The second first level Nightmaren? NiGHTS themselves.

NiGHTS is a renegade Nightmaren that has rebelled against Wizeman for an obscure reason. Fans love to speculate on it, but there is no real “canon” reason, only hints that NiGHTS might be more ashamed of where they come from than they’d like to let on.

Why is this important? Because it ties in to Theos, and consequently, Richard and Cyrus–Celest’s character, though I won’t talk much about him here since that’s her muse/character so go ask her about him if you’re really that curious. Either way, I’ll note here that Theos, Richard, and Cyrus are all “parts” of Wizeman. Think of Steven Universe and “fusions”, except this was created long before Steven Universe was airing. So Wizeman is a “Fusion” of these three characters--though the three “humans” that make up Wizeman are called “The Fragments.”

Anyway! Moving on.

The initial translation of the “NiGHTS into Dreams” biography for Wizeman was mistranslated, I do believe, but it suggests that Wizeman is a “Visitor with no Ideya” and among the first intelligent life form to exist in the world of dreams. Long before I even met Celest, me and an ex friend/boyfriend (don’t ask) of mine laughed at the idea, but them we started pondering the logistics of that information, and created Theos. He worked on the original story for Theos (which I can’t remember for the life of me, it’s all been scrapped though) and I made up a design.

So for reference, here is what Wizeman the Wicked looks like.

Here is what Theos used to look like. Be warned, it’s old as shit art! Wow, this art is almost ten years old, holy shit–

And this is what Theos’ current design is, plus a very sinister looking goop monster.

The first design you see on the most modern design (the more obviously human looking form) is Theos when he was alive. His eyes are actually a dark, dark brown, but they are hazed over. I forget the technical term for it, but anyway, it left him blind. This was kind of a problem, a huge problem, for Theos--because he was born during the age of Sparta.

For those of you who don’t know, Spartans were very vicious awful, and if an infant was born with a clear deformity or disability, they were doomed to be abandoned in the wilderness and left to die. Theos was born blind, and very visibly so. However, his mother had died during child birth, and her last request was that her baby live a happy life. To honor that request, Theos’ father convinced everyone that his child was a prophet of the gods, and that his blindness was due to an ability to predict the future via his dreams. He warned that the gods would strike Sparta down with vicious rage if they killed the baby boy, and that when Theos does pass on from the realm of the humans, he will report his life back to the gods. He managed to convince them that Theos was, indeed, a prophet, and he was an exception to the rule for about eight years.

However, his father had grown resentful and hateful of his son for “killing” his wife, and making his life a living hell, so he decided that he was tired of it all and threw Theos into a river, where he drowned.

Before Theos had died, he discovered the dream gate, and discovered that he was a lucid dreamer. He created a creature he named “Owl” (yes, this gives Owl an origin story) and had all five of his Ideya before he died, thus had access to all of his Nightopias.

However, when he died, he hit his head on a rock and fell unconscious just before he drowned, and a remarkable series of events occurred.

First, his mind and soul went to the world of Dreams.

Second, his lucidity started to violently lash out, as he himself was panicking and in a lot of pain, and started to change his “body.”

Third, all of his Ideya started shattering.

With the unique circumstances of his death, Theos’ soul transfered from the waking world to the dream world just before he died, sacrificing his Ideya to stabilize his form as a “creature of dreams” instead of as “a visitor.” 

From there, after the horrid traumatic experience, Theos tried to seek comfort in his nightopias--nightopias that no longer had Ideya to support them, and thus were destroyed. Devastated by the fact that the world of dreams basically rejected his being, Theos threw himself into the Dark Ocean--the Sea of Nightmare--and was engulfed in the madness below.

This is where the fourth and crucial yet remarkable event occurred. You see, the goop monster depicted in the drawing I did is called “Dream Force.” The state of it in that picture, is when it takes on the negative thoughts and feelings of visitors, thus turning it into sludge and into “nightmare” force. This is a personal creation and headcanon of mine, but I imagine that the Dark Ocean is basically made up of “negative” Dream Force--or, Nightmare Force.

Now normally, when visitors die in a similar manner like Theos, they don’t last long in the dream world. Their souls eventually lose power and fade as they finally pass on to the next life. However, Theos was the first visitor to have “tamed” the Nightmare Force through his own lucid powers, and using the Nightmare Force as energy, he was able to survive for centuries--but at a cost. Being surrounded by nightmares, horrible, violent thoughts and feelings, and all that good stuff, only fueled the hatred and despair he felt. So, Theos grows more and more angry, hateful and resentful of the human race, wanting to be rid of it. 

That’s basically his story, tbh! I don’t really know what to do with him, though me and Celest are planning a rp-to-fic thing of the Fragments, so he might just star as a NiGHTS oc. 

Sorry this took so long to get to :’D I hope that satisfies you curiosity about Theos at least. I might do Richard another time.

Anyway! Thanks for asking~

[oumakokichi]

If you don't mind a slightly more controversial ask, I've seen some very different views on how the topic of religion was handled throughout chapter 3, especially in relation to Angie and Shinguuji. I don't have any strong opinion, but how do you feel about it?

I don’t mind trying to answer this! Actually, this is areally interesting question, and I definitely can give some opinions on it. ButI feel that it’s important for me to note that I’m not Japanese, and as Chapter3 does deal with quite a lot of both religion originating from Japan (namelyaspects of Shinto, and Buddhism which is not native to Japan but which has alwayshad a foothold there), as well as Japanese views on religion as a concept, myopinion on this particular topic should be taken with a grain of salt probably.

While I do know some historical contexts between religion inJapan from what I’ve studied in courses, I’m certainly not an expert. And Ifeel it would be unfair of me to make a judgment or sound condemning when thisparticular topic especially is notsomething Kodaka was intending to cater to a western audience with. This iscertainly something I would say an actual Japanese person would be bettersuited to talk about, since they would have much more knowledge and experiencewith religion in Japan than I myself do.

With that in mind, I’m happy to at least give my personalopinion on the matter a little bit. Spoilers for Chapter 3 will follownaturally, so anyone not caught up to that point shouldn’t read past this!

In my opinion, the portrayal of Angie’s religion as a wholewas a little…well, it’s tied to a lot of things. Religion in Japan is vastlydifferent from the very specific idea of religion that people in the west,particularly people from the United States, tend to have. While there arecertainly footholds of Christianity in Japan, most are Catholic only, and I’dwager that Protestant Christians are not very common at all beyond foreignmissionaries.

While Shinto and Buddhism are both very, very old religions whichhave been present in Japan for a long,long time, it was only really when the surge of western imperialism in theearly to mid- 1850’s hit and Japan saw the ways in which the U.S. and Europeannations carved China up like a steak that they finally decided it was in theirbest interests to open their doors to western trade and influence, lest theysuffer the same fate.

What followed marked the start of modern Japanese history aswe know it, and a long period of uncertainty and doubt between being forcedinto following the trends and cultures of the west, or trying to adherestrictly to very traditionally Japanese ideas, including everything fromfashion to weaponry to music to (you guessed it) religion. I won’t go too muchmore into the historical aspect of this, since there’d be far too much to talkabout, but basically, Japan saw a hugeinflux all at once of different religions around this time, and there came asort of marked idea of foreign religions that, to some degree, still sticksaround even in Japanese media like anime, video games, etc. to this day.

The portrayal of Angie and her religion does make me alittle…er, uncomfortable, namely because I feel it is a very Japanese take on “foreign”religion at large, and it does feel pretty stereotyped. I do like Angie quite alot, and I feel her Religious Student Council was very fun in that the conflict it offered to the group was aboutforcing them all to stay inside the school, rather than trying to force theirway out, but it’s pretty telling that the game never explicitly states whereAngie is supposed to be from, or what her religion is.

My guess is this is also a sort of result of her in-gamepersona likely being made specifically to cater to Tsumugi’s very otaku-likeways of thinking in terms of “trope” characters, including the “weird foreigngirl,” and that there is therefore a slight degree of Kodaka attempting to makecommentary on this sort of thing.

But it’s also just a side effect of lack of research andKodaka being unintentionally racist himself, because the fact of the matter isthat this dark-skinned girl gets made into the “weird, quirky, foreign islander”just because she is dark-skinned, andher religion is never specified, and also has elements mentioned at thebeginning of “blood sacrifices”…yeah, it just makes me pretty uncomfortable.Moreso considering Angie herself is probably also Japanese and might not evenbe foreign at all, but was only portrayed as such on the reality show becauseshe “looked” foreign.

As for Korekiyo, while he himself is definitely uncomfortable because of the incest factor, incrediblyenough I don’t really find the portrayal of religion with him to be theproblem. Korekiyo is extremelytraditionally Japanese: by virtue of being a cultural anthropologist, hisentire talent and life is basically dedicated to studying various cultures allacross Japan and the world over, but there’s no denying that his personal areaof expertise and interest lies with very, very traditional Japanese history.

He’s meant, as far as I can tell, to be a sort ofrepresentation of someone so enthralled and caught up in the traditions of thepast, including some left better off untouched like traditions of torture,binding, etc., that he’s sort of…uninterested in the present or future.Everything about him is concerned with things that happened in the past. Evenhis inability to move past his sister’s death without taking the lives ofothers is, in its own way, sort of commentary on the fact that he literallycannot think or live or see in the present like a normal person at all. Hisspeech habits, interests, and personal preferences all lie in the past.

And considering Korekiyo is a Japanese character written anddeveloped by actual Japanesecreators, I feel like if this is any sort of religious commentary at all, it’saimed towards Japanese religious beliefs and therefore not really something awestern fan can quite view from the same lens. Korekiyo’s spiritual beliefs inthe afterlife aren’t the problem; his problem is his creepy, inexplicable fascinationwith his sister, which for all that I still find it incredibly awful anduncomfortable that Kodaka ever slipped it into the plot, was at least nevertreated as excusable or forgivable or “funny” by the narrative.

There is plenty of room to judge Korekiyo for being ahorrible human being, even if there are aspects of his character which areinteresting on their own, or things which could have been done better with himif only Kodaka hadn’t included this kind of sloppy writing, but I really don’tfeel as if religion was the main issue with him at all.

Basically, it all comes down to the fact that I thinkChapter 3 was something of a clash between “foreign” ideologies and religion,represented by Angie and her widely spreading religious cult which left no realroom for argument and which people who refused to join were nonethelesssubjected to rules and regulations as if they were a part of it, and “nativeJapanese” ideologies and religion, represented by Korekiyo, who was too far back in the history and culturewhich he studied to look or behave rationally anymore.

It wasn’t the best-written portrayal, and there’s certainlya lot of things about it that could have been done better, but I thinkunderstanding that this is a specifically Japanese game written by a Japaneseauthor and intended, mostly, for a Japanese audience will help most people tounderstand that this was probably not intended as an attack on religion atlarge or on people who are fervently religious themselves.

I hope I was able to get my thoughts across, and I reallyhope nothing I wrote comes across as offensive or disrespectful. It’s reallynot my intention to talk over actual Japanese people, and if I at all cameacross as doing such in this, it’s okay to let me know! Thank you for askingthis question really nicely anon, and I hope I provided a decent response!