#It's NOT SUBTLE LOL

[shannonsketches]

(Same anon from earlier) I meant like in totk especially it’s like he just comes out of nowhere and is just being a butt for no reason but now that I’ve though about it, yeah I’d be pretty mad if space furries just tried to claim the land too. Just wish we would’ve seen that motive, you know? Nothing against the game tho, I looooove it!

Hello Same Anon From Earlier! I also love it. I have a LOT of beef with the gameplay / mechanics priorities but I do love it lol

But I actually disagree with this, I feel like TotK gave us the most concrete on-screen context of why he did what he did!

Like, OoT is my baby, but the older games are much shorter, and much less focused on Ganondorf himself, so the in-game framing he's just introduced with the two traits of Power Hungry and Being a Dick to Children. Wind Waker was much more sympathetic, but his reason was 'I wanted their land because mine sucked', TP was 'I got executed before I could do this last time lol'

There are a lot of very subtle storytelling reasons in the context of the games, but all of them point to Ganondorf being the one who started shit with Hyrule for his own gain. Despite TotK's best efforts, it actually told us the opposite was true:

Even just between the Molduga and Fealty scenes, we explicitly learn

Rauru was pushing into Gerudo Territory (Molduga can only swim in soft sand, and couldn't be a threat to any establishment outside the desert)

Rauru repeatedly invited the Gerudo to 'be accepted into the protective embrace' of Hyrule and 'serve it faithfully' which is a wild thing to say to a sovereign nation whose only known threat is you

Rauru calls accepting his own invitation a ' welcome appeal,' which is also wild, and says it's reassuring that someone as baller as Ganondorf would make such an appeal.

Rauru acknowledged Ganondorf as a known Gerudo hero in front of his people, and told Zelda he's aware of his 'evil nature' which. Is he a hero or is he evil, R? Are his people evil too? (yes, actually, he and Hyrule do in fact consider anyone who agrees with Ganondorf evil lol) which.... their exchange may or may not imply Ganondorf killed a lot of Zonai during the war imo lmao

Further dialogue tells us explicitly that Rauru never wanted Ganondorf as an ally, he only ever wanted him under his personal surveillance (and was actively badgering him about it!!)

Then, when Ganondorf takes the stone, he says Rauru took it for granted and squandered it, and that Sonia is a victim of his arrogance -- which, depending on how you read Ganondorf, could either mean he could've squashed his enemies or solved bigger issues for his country (he most likely meant both, if other game context is applied).

And, in Mineru's retelling of the story, she literally says the Zonai came down from their land and Rauru 'used zonai knowledge to become a great leader', met a Hylian woman, gave her immense power, and together they decided to establish a kingdom. And we know from prior scenes, that their kingdom -- according to Ganondorf -- repeatedly pressured the other kingdoms to unite under Rauru's rule (and then showing us that there are massive deposits beneath those countries of an ore on which only one of those eight societies runs, and it just so happens to be the one who is demanding to be in charge of the others, despite only having two members of its society left -- and we know it happened after Gan's fealty show because there are Gerudo Heroine statues pointing to the mine, despite the Gerudo not having any need for Zonaite).

I am with you and I also wish we would see more from Ganondorf's perspective -- because he is an established hero to his people, and has been noted as such in two games now separately from his status as king (with the framing of course being that his followers, too, are Evil -- which both games proved to be a Hylian assumption that Link is able to experience differently). It would be really cool to continue the tradition of Link getting to see another side of things by letting Zelda interact with him on her own, since she most likely would've been allowed into Gerudo Town. Even if it was just an attempt to spy for Rauru, Zelda is a compassionate character, and letting her meet him and see how he is with his people would've been really cool, and probably would've offered her perspective that she would never have otherwise.

But while Nintendo's never going to do an explicitly anti-imperialism story, and I don't love Aonuma's black-and-white taste in narrative design, I do credit him with knowing everyone has different taste indeed, and this really sticks out to me from his interview in which he is discussing interpretation potential of TotK:

ALL that said, and please forgive me for rambling, IMO we saw Ganondorf's motive much more clearly than we have in prior games. Even if it isn't explicitly stated as 'this is why I did that btw' (because that would disrupt the Defeat the Evil narrative), the circumstances that are explicitly stated leading up to his decision are much more pointed than they have made room for in the past.

Personally I'm just glad they let Ganondorf be a human being with personal, logical, politically relevant reasons again and not just 'this man isn't really a man he's a literal actual demon in human shape and because he is evil incarnate his only purpose is to destroy our good and holy kingdom blessed by the one true goddess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ '

According to yesterday, it's been exactly Seventeen Years since that's happened. :')

[partlysmith]

also notice the exaggerated pallid skin the aliens had in th book

like the most politically neutered movie of all time unironically

[puppppppppy]

Bridge to turnabout doodles

[celestialalpacaron]

Jealous little brat 🥰 Angel I promise they’re just sharing intel about overlords, relax bb girl asgbswjjhwjhwhjwjw

[hrtiu]

Me until Veil Guard comes out

[the-raindeer-king]

The quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

That's how the saying goes. You never realized just how true it was until you started working as Captain John Price's assistant. It had started off innocently enough, bringing him a tea or coffee when he asked. Maybe scolding him whenever you found out he skipped lunch.

You had been baking brownies, trying out a new recipe, and you just needed someone to taste them (and maybe help you get rid of the batch if need be). So, you brought them to work, left them in a pretty box on Price's desk when you dropped off his coffee.

You certainly hadn't expected the rest of the task force to come around to your desk, begging to know why you didn't bring any for them. Turn out that not only did Price brag out your baking skills, he's refusing to share with the rest of the task force, despite the fact you had brought more than enough for all of them.

Looks like you're going to have to make more.

[danlous]

I feel like many people have a fundamental misconception of what unreliable narrator means. It's simply a narrative vehicle not a character flaw or a sign that the character is a bad person. There are also many different types of unreliable narrators in fiction. Being an unreliable narrator doesn't necessarily mean that the character is 'wrong', it definitely doesn't mean that they're wrong about everything even if some aspects in their story are inaccurate, and only some unreliable narrators actively and consciously lie. Stories that have unreliable narrators also tend to deal with perception and memory and they often don't even have one objective truth, just different versions. It reflects real life where we know human memory is highly unreliable and vague and people can interpret same events very differently

[tiniest-hands-in-all-the-land]

Carry me home

[bleaksqueak]

Solivaga Tarot - ✦ STRENGTH ✦ After a lot of thought, there was no better card that most represents our noble Reaper.

[shinynewmemories]

Listen to me Suzanne Collins did not have to give Katniss and Peeta a history before the games. She did NOT have to do that. She could have just had their story begin when Peeta's name was called. She could have had them be total strangers until the moment of the reaping.

Like: "And the boy tribute is... Peeta Mellark!" Katniss: Who's that? Or she could have made them vaguely familiar with each other! Peeta's name is called and Katniss just thinks, Oh, I know that name! He's in my class, actually. Poor boy... Anyway!

Either way, SC could have written the rest of the story exactly the same! I think many authors would have done that! Because if Peeta's purpose in the book was to be Gale's competition, to be one of the 3 corners of a love triangle, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE WAY TO DO IT!! But that's NOT how she did it because that's NOT what Peeta is.

And what is he? To Katniss, Peeta's someone who saved her and her family and received nothing in return except a beating. Peeta's someone she has had her eye on but has never worked up the courage to talk to. Peeta's someone she associates with kindness and hope. And all this before the start of the events of the book! Just because WE, the READERS, met Gale before Peeta and immediately felt a connection with him does NOT mean that was Katniss's experience! And that's what SC is trying to tell us!

To dismiss Katniss and Peeta's past as unimportant or inconsequential compared to whatever Katniss and Gale have in the present is to fundamentally misunderstand Katniss as a character and, as a result, condemn oneself to never fully understand the choices she makes in the future.

Suzanne Collins wrote it that way on purpose because she had something to say. And no one will ever be able to convince me that something wasn't "It was always going to be Peeta".

[cerulean-tea]

happy 413!! to the webcomic that changed my life 5 years ago ⭐️

[emberglowfox]

he did get those braids after all

[posalis]

challengers twitter pointed out something very cool: art's coach speaking to him in german!

the subs says "just invite her to serve." (which doesn't make any sense? and art doesn't even go to her after that lmao?) but he apparently actually says "wirf den ball etwas höher." which means "throw the ball a little higher.".

so art knows what patrick's house looks like which means he went there, he understands when his coach speaks to him in german and he's the only one who can pronounce "zweig", a german surname, the right way.

art learning german for patrick and spending holidays with him and his family is canon, i don't make the rules.

[w1lmuttart]

Enough guilt you can make a bouquet out of it

[mapledrawsarts]

Why did One kidnap Leafy, huh?

[mirensiart]

I miss albw tails, I miss it a lot…

anyway, I saw this meme and it’s them I fear