#James the end of the fucking world

[house-of-slayterr]

Me when Nerdy White Boys 🥺:

[emmanelson]

The End Of The Fucking World (2017-2019) | 1.06 A Murder At The End of the World (2023-) | 1.01

[behindthescreamz]

jessica barden covered in blood on the set of “the end of the f***ing world” (2017)

[misstrashchan]

So. What's the opposite of a sacrifice?

With the final episode looming it's a question we've been turning in our heads, so I wanted to give my best guess/analysis as to what it might be before Jon and Muna come to tear our hearts out in the final episode.

This is the question Hayward asks Paige, and later Carpenter, and it seems to be the underlying thematic statement of the series, in response to Carpenter's exposition in the first episode of the Silt Verses that introduces us to the fundamentals of the world and system they live in:

CARPENTER:

A god must feed.

A god must be fed.

This is a fact agreed upon across every territory in the Peninsula. And so, really, the only difference between the people born to the water and the people born to the land...

...is the precise nature of the sacrifice we need to make.

There is a God for anything in their world as long as there is someone believing in it. But all Gods need human sacrifices. A god must feed. A god must be fed.

These simple rules have been used as fascinating and horrifying metaphors of our modern society, and to explore themes of faith and sacrifice throughout the story.

And so the final question the last season proposes is if we can find a way to make something better, that can exist outside of this ultimately unsustainable exploitative system and the harm it inflicts upon ourselves and the world, when it has come to define so much of the way we live and how we think. And that means figuring out the opposite of a sacrifice, if they want to kill the idea, the lie, that is at the heart of their world.

At first I thought the opposite of a sacrifice, of offering up to the gods, was about killing your gods. Starving them out. Refusing to offer up anything. And that is part of it, I think. I mean it's literally been a repeating mantra of multiple characters this season once they've reached they're breaking points. Violence in revolution as a tool to overthrow oppresive systems is sometimes needed and necessary. But what about after? What kind of future or vision for a better world can there be? There needs to be something at the heart of that movement that isn't just about violence against their opressors, because you then define yourself in relation to them.

This is even illustrated in the Many Below god Paige created having predator and prey emeshed together, a movement defined by their resistance against the predators of the world, the beasts, cannot seperate themselves to meaningfully create a better future that exists outside of that dichotomy. I think Hayward realises that even earlier in S2:

HAYWARD:

There’s a hare in the grass, half-buried and bloodied.

A barn owl has latched onto its back, its talons driving deep into the flesh of the hare.

Both animals are dead.

Familiar black stone veins protrude from the carcass of the victim, twisting like branches, driving upwards into the predator’s skin.

Hare and owl are locked together, inseparably.

The god must have struck just as the prey died.

White crocus is flowering up from the two entwined bodies.

(Unhappily)

And suddenly I begin to feel deeply afraid.

It all makes me think of a dormouse, dead in the dirt, its ribs showing. Of rabbits, teeth chattering, hungering from their cages

I kick dust up over the corpses. Nudge them aside into the long grass so they can’t be seen from the path.

Paige doesn’t need to know about this, I tell myself.

There’s no sense in worrying her. Not yet.

Which then makes sense why he's the one proposing the question of what the opposite of a sacrifice is to Paige (and Carpenter), for this very reason.

I think the answer is pretty simple and yet, like most simple truths in this world, it's forgotten and overlooked or twisted as naïve.

Preservation. The opposite of a sacrifice is preservation. To better explain this let me use an example:

If someone who cared about you tells you you're working too hard at your thankless job, sacrificing your sleep, your time, your personal relationships, your physical and mental wellbeing, far past the point considered sane, they'd tell you to stop. To make sure you take care of yourself. Instead of endlessly feeding yourself into a machine to justify your existence.

Applied to the world of the Silt Verses, it's not just self preservation and caring for yourself. It's about caring for, protecting, and preserving the lives of those around you, that is the ultimate act of rebellion and political warfare, the first steps forward towards a better world. Caring for humanity.

Whenever our characters reach a breaking point of turning against their gods, there's a common thread of wanting to save their fellow man, and realising the inadequacy of a god's ability to do that. Whether that's somebody close to them (like Faulkner and Paige):

Or humanity as a whole (VAL and Shrue):

SHRUE:

Use them, pass them on, do not forget the suffering that keeps the engines of this world turning, forget the name of your god and cherish the name of your neighbour that was swallowed up by it-

Cherish your neighbour. Be kinder to one another.

This can even go back to Carpenter's rejection of the Trawler-Man back in S1, her fury at the fact those she loved had been eaten (her family) and would continue to be eaten (Faulkner).

CARPENTER:

(Yelling to the river)

It's over between us, you twin mouthed prick!

Do you hear me?

Does that stir you from your torpor? Pry the barnacles loose from your sodden ears?

My father and mother were Gregory and Sandra Glass. My grandmother was Adalina Glass. My brother was Em.

They died for you.

Every single one of them died for you and they thought it meant something.

My name is Carpenter. And I am still alive!

I have loved you for so long. I have tried to know you for so, so much longer.

And I'm done with you. Here and now. I'm not laying down my life for you.

I'm not dying, do you hear?

The same breaking point for Faulkner at turning against his parish and finally snapping is the idea of Carpenter being offered as a sacrifice, an offering returned, begging for her to live.

I must clarify this is my own interpretation of the question and themes the story proposes. I'm

I'm not sure we'll actually get a hard answer so much as different characters offering their own answers and us as the audience encouraged to think for ourselves what it might be. I think this is what Hayward's answer might be at least, anyway, because like me he's a corny motherfucker:

If a sacrifice is the idea that the most meaningful and transformative thing you can do is to give up your life, your sense of self, to die, then the opposite of that would be to try to keep on living, and finding meaning and transformation in that, surely?

[blitheringmcgonagall]

Canon James Potter on hearing his name is linked to two ships in ao3’s top 20 ships for 2023 (no 8 and no 18):

Canon James Potter on hearing the most popular of the two is him & Sirius’ Deater baby brother Reggie:

[maybemacdc]

sometimes its just u and ur fav lil netflix show against the world

[422kit]

some art requests

saw this shirt on pinterest & my boyfriend told me to draw chris in it to match w dan

[lilcetis]

The tragedy of Jim Lake is something so close to my heart. This poor boy is shoved down a path he didn't ask for, a path he can't escape, and he goes down it willingly! He smiles and tells everyone that its his duty, his purpose, an honor to fight for people who scorn him every time he makes a mistake. He never celebrates when he defeats a foe, just washes his hands, takes a deep breath, and gets ready for the next fight. Over the course of the series you see him lose more and more of himself, of Jim, and is eventually left as The Trollhunter. He's just a legacy by the end of it, the bright eyed boy we started the show with nothing but a fond memory.

His own name isn't even his, he's a Junior.

[finnickodaair]

ALYSSA & JAMES (THE END OF THE F***ING WORLD)

[im-lastgirlonearth]

꧁•⊹٭𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚓𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚘𝚛٭⊹•꧂

[f1nalgirlz]

omfg id love to write a fic based off the plot of TEOTFW but idk if anyone even cares about that show other than me… idk if anyone would even fw that😭 it’s so good and i just CANNOT get the thought out of my headdd!! (˃̣̣̥ᴖ˂̣̣̥)

like just a super snarky reader ‘dating’ Charlie Walker and his plan the whole time was to kill them as his first victim, but over time he realizes he’s actually in love with them after he kills someone to PROTECT reader?!!! and just wants to protect them more than anything and they go on the run together??

RAHHH °՞(ᗒᗣᗕ)՞°

[boag]

Will never forget going to my ex best friend’s sweet 16 which was a costume party bc her birthday was in October and she wore Cheryl’s red Serpents jacket from Riverdale over her dress and her mom went as Toni and wore the regular black Serpents jacket . I was like do u guys know they’re a couple

[moondenss]

[lavender-romancer]

Hello I couldn’t find your request terms or anything but I was wondering if you still wrote for teotfw? If so could I request a James x reader where she’s traveling with both James and Alyssa and maybe reader gets hurt in Clive’s house before he goes and finds Alyssa? Maybe he comes onto her and she punches him? And maybe they all comfort eachother the next day or something??

Comfort

James x Reader CW: blood, death, attempted assault

”*°•.˜”*°•. ˜”*°•. ˜”*°••°*”˜.•°*”˜.•°*”˜.•°*”˜

James had always thought he was a psychopath, wanting to hurt everyone near him so he kept people at arm's length. Maybe it stemmed from his mother killing herself in front of him… it was probably that. But either way he didn't think so obsessively about killing people anymore, not since you kissed. It was very awkward and out of place plus you ran away afterwards but something changed within James from that day onwards.

"You're fucking joking," Alyssa started laughing way too loud and you nodded, staring into the dark with a blank look on your face. "You kissed him!" She yelled in-between fits of laughter.

"I'm such an idiot," you groaned and began rubbing your temples.

"You're fucking hilarious," Alyssa leant back on the bench and fell off the back of it, laughing even more.

"You daft bitch," you smiled and pulled her back onto the bench.

"How was it?" She tried to hide her smile behind her hand but you just rolled your eyes.

"It was so fucking awkward I want to shoot myself." You covered your face with your hands.

"Go on," she took her jacket off and handed it to you. "Scream into this. I always used to scream into my pillow after one interaction with Tony. It muffled it enough."

You took the jacket in your hands and folded it over a few times before putting it close to your mouth and pressing it to your face before screaming into it. You took a deep breath and gave her back the jacket.

"I need alcohol," you said with a disappointed look on your face.

"Well we can hardly afford food let alone shots so unless you're willing to go whore yourself out in the toilets. I'd focus on other things," Alyssa hit you on the back twice before standing up "Come on, we should head out."

"I'm not getting in the car now!" You half yelled half hissed.

"Oh you're so fucking dramatic, James will be weird and awkward. He's always weird and awkward. You're the one who needs to act normal." Alyssa reasoned as she walked off to find James, you sat down with a huff.

The car journey was horrifically awkward even when Alyssa would try to fill the silence as she often would, it came out as hollow. You were beginning to reconsider even being on this sort of expedition with them. After a few hours Alyssa was asleep in the backseat and even though it was about 2am you couldn't sleep with the atmosphere being like it was.

"I'm-" you started

"I wanted-" James said at the same time and you both smiled.

"I'm sorry, I ambushed you in such a… unfair way and I wanted to apologise," you looked at him as his hands tightened on the wheel, his face beautifully highlighted every few meters with the orange street lamps.

"Oh. Are you regretting it?" James asked, eyes fixed forward and you considered your answer for a bit too long. "I'll take that as an unanswered yes then." He said quietly.

You weren't sure how to bridge the knowledge gap of whether he wanted to kiss you and the fact that you did want to kiss him but didn't like making a fool of yourself. It was a lot of information for your brain to process and you'd never been good at thinking quickly unless it was a gut reaction like how you felt when you kissed him. It now felt as if it had been too long to say anything that would make it better, you turned slightly and leant your head on the window, watching the orange street lights go by.

"Fuck sake!" Alyssa's outburst woke you up with a start

"What! What is it?" You turned around, eyes wide adjusting to the morning light.

"We've run out of fucking petrol." She groaned and you sighed.

"Loud fucker," you muttered and Alyssa hit your head. "Ow!"

"We should start walking," James said, putting the car with no petrol in it into neutral and putting the handbrake on.

"We're on a flat road, why are you even doing that?" Alyssa asked with a confused look on her face.

"It might still roll back, it's road safety." James reasoned and you saw Alyssa roll her eyes in the rear view mirror making you smirk.

"Well, come on." You opened the door and started walking down the road, hands in your pockets. Even after a long nap you still felt that tightness in your chest that rose up to your throat whenever you saw James. The tightness made you feel like you wanted to cry because of the feeling of uncertainty between the two of you.

"Why are you running off?" Alyssa asked when she caught up with you.

"I think I just need some space away from him to get over all this." Your face must've looked dismally unhappy at that moment.

"Come on, it was just a kiss. It can't be that awkward between you, you're both nearly adults." Alyssa frowned and you nodded.

"It's not that. It's the feeling of rejection in all of it. After the kiss his face was fucking unreadable but it wasn't exactly happy." You looked up at the sky and took a deepth breath in. "Crushes feel so fucking adolescent but they still persist."

"I don't think I've ever had a crush on anyone so far. I like attention for a few hours and then I just want to be on my own again." Alyssa replied, looking at you.

"You don't strike me as someone who would be interested in teenage relationships." You smiled at her and she rolled her eyes.

"I almost hate that you're right. C'mon, let's cut through here, looks reyt posh." Alyssa headed towards a gap in some bushes and you stopped hands on your hips in confusion.

"A bush looks posh?" You called after her and she gave you a death stare.

"Where's she off to then?" James asked and it made you jump.

"Uh…not sure. She's um… off on a whim I think." You said quickly before following Alyssa and leaving James to look longingly at you as you walked away from him.

You walked for about 30 minutes before Alyssa spotted a large modern looking house. "Jackpot," you heard her say quietly and you couldn't think why it could possibly be one.

"How do you know?" James asked.

"Know what?" Alyssa asked, peering through one of the windows.

"He means how do you know it's safe?" You continued and James couldn't help but want to reach out to your hand.

"Post has built up, dust everywhere. I don't see why it wouldn't be." Alyssa reasoned as you followed her to the front of the house.

"Is breaking and entering a good way to lie low?" James asked and you couldn't tell if he was trying to be sarcastic or genuine.

"You worry too much." Alyssa shook her head before picking up a rock and smiling at you.

"Alyssa. Come on. You can't be-" Then she broke a window and opened the door. "Fuck sake." You muttered with a smirk.

"Who has this many pictures of himself in his own house?" Alyssa asked as the three of you stood in the front room.

"A narcissist," you replied, picking up the photo and looking at the man. "If he's the owner anyway. Otherwise it's more of a creepy shrine."

"No, it's him. His post says Koch, so does the book." James pointed to the book that was next to the photo.

"Okay, so we've established who lives here can we stop being weird please." Alyssa groaned and headed into another room as James turned to follow her, you put a hand on his shoulder.

"James, wait." You said quietly and he turned around. "I wanted to say I didn't-"

"I know I'm bad at reading people, but I'm good at observing. You're uncomfortable around me now. You don't need to keep apologising, it's okay." He couldn't seem to reach your eyes and you couldn't get the words out before he turned around and left. James looked through some cabinets before finding a video camera, he sat down on the stairs and opened it, wondering if there was some kind of home video or something. What he saw terrified him immensely, he quickly closed it and put it back in the cabinet.

You walked over to the sofa and sat down, opening the side table to find some spirits- maybe they could lift yours. When Alyssa and James came back in you had set out some vodka and rum and some shot glasses.

"It's finally time for us to get drunk with each other," you grinned and Alyssa practically bounded over to join.

"Come on James!" Alyssa called as she poured out some vodka shots.

"This is a terrible idea." He said as he sat next to you on the sofa.

"I think it could be very fun." You said picking up one of the shot glasses.

Many drinks later Alyssa was passed out asleep on the sofa, you and James were sitting together listening to the music you'd put on and playing never have I ever.

"Okay, never have I ever… punched my dad in the face." You said to him with a raised eyebrow and he almost regrettably took a shot.

"God, vodka tastes like acetone." He grimaced and you giggled. "Never have I ever slapped someone?" You sighed before taking a drink.

"That's a fucking given, me and my sister are always getting into fights like that! Another!" You exclaimed as you slammed down the shot glass and it suddenly broke in your hand "Oh shit."

"Okay, open your hand. Have you got any glass stuck?" He asked, turning your hand around to look at your palm.

"I don't think so, but I do think I might be bleeding. I fear I shall die!" You clasped your hands dramatically before wincing at the feeling of your cut hand.

"Come with me, I'm sure there's a first aid kit in the bathroom." James stood up and helped you to your feet, when you stood up you were both extremely close and you wanted nothing more than to kiss him again. But you didn't, after last time even your tipsy brain would think twice. As you sat on the toilet and James opened the first aid kit you looked up at him and how the shape of his jaw was so perfectly framed by his ears, this could be seen as an odd observation but you were tipsy so you allowed yourself to look up at him with a stupid smile.

“Why are you smiling like that?” James asked as he knelt in front of you and began disinfecting your cuts.

“You’re just so… mhmm.” You make a humming noise and put your free hand on his face which seemed to surprise him because his eyes shot up to meet yours.

“And what does, mhmm, mean?” He asked, going back to disinfecting your hand.

"You're so pretty," you leant back on the toilet and giggled, James didn't seem to know how to respond so you closed your eyes through the silence.

"There's a bed upstairs," you said as you stumbled out of the bathroom.

"You should head up," James said as he headed towards the front room.

"You should come with me-eeeeee." You pleaded and he shook his head.

"No, you need to sleep. Come on." James gestured for you to stand up and as you did you stumbled a bit and giggled before following him upstairs. James took you to a bedroom and sat you down on the bed. "Try to sleep the drunkness off. Your hand is going to ache tomorrow but it'll be okay."

"Okay," you looked up at him adoringly as James looked back at you with a slightly awkward slightly uncomfortable expression before walking out.

You lay back on the bed in a drunken happiness that your anxieties and overthinking couldn't penetrate. The feelings you had towards James didn't feel fully developed but they were definitely there and hard to ignore. In your head he had always worked best with direct expressions of feelings with minimal subtext. But just kissing him had seemed to be a foolish decision.

A few hours later James quietly came into the bedroom. You were lying on your front, a little bit of drool on the pillow under you and your hand hanging over the side as you star-fished the rest of your body. It didn't surprise him that you slept like this, unashamed of taking up space.

When you kissed him he didn't know how to react. Whether he should go with his gut reaction of pulling you into another kiss or just sort of stand there. Unfortunately he went with the latter and there was no way back from that.

He slowly lay down on the floor and looked up at your hand twitching every now and then. Even your hands looked pretty. He was so frustrated with his own brain for not responding the way he should have when you kissed him. James just wanted you to understand how he felt and that he-

A car pulled up outside and James' eyes opened wide as he heard the front door open. He shuffled under the bed and pulled his hunting knife from his ankle holster, holding it in somewhat prepared terror. He couldn't help his own fear even though he wanted to save you so desperately he was terrified of being found himself. The light turned on and he saw someone with very shiny formal shoes walk in and heard you gasp.

"How did you get in here?" The man asked in an accusatory voice, James supposed he had a right to be a bit accusatory considering you were literally sleeping in his bed.

"I-I." You stuttered but couldn't seem to get the words out.

"Shh, shh. It's okay. You just gave me a fright, if I'd know it was someone who looked like… you. I might not have been so worried." The man placed down the fire poker against the nightstand and James gulped, frozen in terror.

"I'm sorry." You whispered in a terrified voice and the man walked closer to the bed.

"That's alright. You on your own?" He asked and you quickly replied with, yes.

The man closed the door and James could only look in horror as he sat down on the bed next to you. All he could think about was the videos on the camera, the horrifying images of bondage and pain he assumed this man put other women through.

"Have you eaten my porridge too, Goldilocks?" He asked with a laugh that sent a shiver up James' spine.

"What the fuck?" You replied, almost whispering and the man tutted.

"No language like that, you're too pretty for that. Just stay still." He made some sort of movement and the bed creaked. James was waiting for when he should try to help you but what could he do? Stab this man and be a hero? What would that do?

"Please don't." You sounded as if you were about to cry.

"Don't do what?" The man asked in a condescending tone that made James even more angry. "Are you going to make this more difficult?" He asked more aggressively this time and made another movement that made the bed creak and you began protesting.

You weren't sure what was happening now, as soon as this man closed the door you panicked but whatever this was it was no longer safe.

"You don't want to make this difficult." The man threatened and you pulled your arms away from him, he lurched forward to grab them again and you punched him in the nose. "You fucking bitch!" He exclaimed with a bloody nose before jumping forward on top of you. Putting all of his weight on top of you so you could hardly breath, pinning you down with an incredible amount of force.

You were screaming at this point, screaming for James or Alyssa or just help. He put his hand over your mouth and you bit down hard, he responded to that by punching you in the ribs with his good hand and you cried out closing your eyes.

Suddenly the door flew open and a warm liquid sprayed onto your face. The pressure on your arms was gone, the weight was gone. You opened your eyes and saw James standing there with a knife in his hand and Alyssa with a large bookend, both with blood on them. The man was staggering backwards holding his throat that was gushing with blood. Dark, deep red blood sputtered out of his mouth and his throat, running down his chest and onto the floor. Then you looked at yourself, covered in the same deep red blood and you began to panic. Hyperventilating and eyes wide as you looked at this man fall to his knees and then the floor. You could only assume he was dead and could only grip the bed sheets in pure terror.

The three of you looked at each other in silence for a few seconds. Having no idea how to react to what had just happened. Alyssa was the first to move, she crouched down in front of you and she was speaking but you couldn't hear. You couldn't hear anything aside from the sound of your heartbeat in your ears. She took your hands and stood you up. Taking you to the bathroom she sat you on the toilet and took off your blood stained t-shirt. She got into the bath and all you could look at -as she used the shower to wash you- was the blood. The blood was everywhere. All over the porcelain of the bath and your hands and nails and legs and feet. It was all you could see and all you could smell.

Whilst you changed your clothes in the bathroom, Alyssa and James worked in efficient silence. Washing all of the clothes and sheets with blood on them, bleaching and cleaning the floor, wiping down every surface they had touched the whole night and generally cleaning up. The two knew how serious this situation was but talking about it was acknowledging it happened and they simply weren't ready to do that.

As morning approached the three of you were sitting outside by the pool in a line and in silence. Alyssa had a hand over yours and your other hand was held in James'. Alyssa mentioned something about getting a drink and walked inside, you took a deep breath and lay backwards on the concrete, James joined you.

"Well that was fucking insane." You said finally and James let out a strained laugh.

"That's one way to put it." He replied. "I'm sorry that happened to you. I mean when he was making you uncomfortable."

"That's one way to put it." You imitated how James had said the same sentence and looked at him with a small smile. "Why did you do what you did?" You asked, after wondering for so long.

"He was going to hurt you." James looked at you and searched your eyes for annoyance or anger, assuming he had fucked up again.

"How do you know that?" You asked.

"There were these videos I found. Of him hurting women, I didn't want it to happen to you." James squeezed your hand tighter and you moved closer to him until you were nearly nose to nose.

"I was just lucky you and Alyssa were there, even after I punched him he was still going to hurt me." You sighed and closed your eyes.

"I wouldn't let that happen." James whispered and you opened your eyes, seeing him looking at your lips.

"I wouldn't let anyone hurt you either." You whispered, stroking the back of his hand with your thumb.

The morning air was crisp, you felt a slight chill but nothing could take your attention away from what was in front of you. James leant forward slightly and kissed you softly. It was tender. Nothing like the hurried kiss you had given him two nights previous. James put a hand on your cheek and you both turned onto your side, intertwining your legs together. When you pulled apart you sat up and just hugged one another. Nothing like a bloody murder to bring two people together…

"Awh did I miss it!" Alyssa exclaimed as she came outside.

[cure-smiths-headrest]

The End of the F***ing World | I Dreamed All Day - Pablo Neruda | Road to Nowhere - Talking Heads | Twins - Robert Service | Jeff Buckley Quote | Sober to Death - Car Seat Headrest | Nervous Young Inhumans - Car Seat Headrest | The Stranger - Albert Camus | Bodys - Car Seat Headrest | A Dog Has Died - Pablo Neruda | The Gun Song (No Trigger Version) - Car Seat Headrest | Little Boy Soldiers - The Jams | The Last Supper - Julie Green | Criminal - Britney Spears | She Walks in Beauty - Lord Byron | 1 Corinthians 13:12

[undeserved-halo]

bisexual alyssa and asexual demiromantic james. if you even care.

also i can just imagine alyssa coming out to james like-

alyssa: *slams door open dramatically* i like girls. james: you’re a lesbian? alyssa: *rolls eyes* no dipshit. i’m dating you aren’t i. i’m bisexual. james: oh. okay then.

and then they just go back to whatever they were doing before