#Like come on guys you're making me sympathetic for the antagonists

[squidkidcelebi]

We children, we have each other, And each other is all we need.

"Sleep Well" is doing things to my brain /pos

[mutfruit-salad]

i find the way fans are already shipping cooper with lucy over her black love interest very telling of the clueless white supremacy and media illiteracy in the fandom. coop and lucy are obviously being setup as a father-daughter duo who need to learn caution/kindness from each other to survive, but these weirdos can’t have their white-man fave without a self-insert stand-in for 1 season. and the way people are glorifying cooper’s character is a load of bs - a morally greg white guy who realises he endorsed and was sympathetic to a massive war crime/political injustice… so he goes on to indiscriminately kill/hurt more people who have no idea of, nor say in the bigger picture that he was complicit in… is sooo boring and nothing new. also, giving him a biracial daughter as an accessory to show he’s Not Racist isn’t something we’ve seen half of a million fuckin times before 🤪 the way the show back-tracked on fallout’s message of blind american nationalism and militarism being a problem to It’s All Capitalism’s Fault, seemingly in reaction to the US currently endorsing and aiding in foreign war crimes, and past ones becoming common-knowledge, is horseshit on a platter.

I find the complete lack of a character for his daughter really horrifying- how she only exists to die dramatically for the sake of his sadness. It's odd because his wife is a well-established important character, yet their daughter is not allowed to be a person.

Fallout, in general, has had a habit of completely ignoring racism- presenting the prewar world as some fully integrated post racism utopia. Which is weird when the games regularly display overt anti Chinese (and broader anti Asian) sentiments in prewar logs and ads. This is a problem both the classic games AND the bethesda games have- racism has always been a touchy subject to the devs of the series and it seems like every game they've been content to ignore it, occasionally invoking it for horror or stumbling headlong into depicting it without realizing.

The way Ghoulgins regrets his past and just takes it out on everyone around him is absurd and plays into a lot of very hostile ideas the character peddles.

People shipping Ghoulgins with Lucy is baffling to me also considering he spends the entire series physically abusing her. People just don't want to acknowledge Max's existence, I have noticed. I know her and Ghoulgins get closer by the end, but it's after he's done just unspeakably cruel things to her- and you're right that it is absolutely framed as a father/daughter relationship.

I would also like to point out that the series has always criticized capitalism as well- but would generally frame it as sort of tangled up in American imperial ambition- with one feeding into the other. They were two halves of the same coin.

Vault Tec's entire existence in the classic games was selling smoke- profiting off of the extreme tension and stress of US military buildup- a process which would always inevitably end in disaster: either with Vault Tec going under or brinksmanship coming to its inevitable end.

Vault Tec (and the entire idea of luxury bunkers as a whole) WAS a critique of capitalism, and how it goes hand-in-hand with the American military industrial complex. It was selling the fear of annihilation to the populace. They didn't need to be some secretive controlling force to achieve any of this.

Making Vault Tec the sole antagonist, and the driving force of the apocalypse, is both deeply conspiratorial AND undermines the Cold War roots the series has always had- replacing the fear of American military buildup with a sort of hateful simplicity.

[bonebabbles]

Clear Sky is fine compared to this one-dimensional bullshit we made up

"Whataboutism? In MY Warrior Cats?"

It's more likely than you think.

Clear Sky continues to guilt trip his son, whine and cry when a vote doesn't go his way because his victims don't trust his newest lie, and Gray Wing walks off so we can introduced to Slash.

Slash is Evil Foreigner Villain 2. Like One Eye, the narrative function of this character is to serve as our antagonist and make Clear Sky look better in comparison.

Don't think about how Clear Sky is the most vicious character in the series with a CURRENT body count of 3 direct murders (Misty, Bumble, Rainswept Flower), nearly a dozen more under his orders, a few counts of physical assault including smacking a kitten to the ground in anger, and ongoing emotional abuse of his own child. That was all "good intentions," the writers are gonna show you what they think "REAL" evil is!

...being more openly mean about the same exact thing Clear Sky did in Book 3. Hitting a kid for questioning why they're making enemies.

But nonononono guys this is UNIQUELY BAD we swear!!!!!

You can tell because Slash doesn't insist this is for Fern's own good somehow. He's just openly twirling his mustache instead of preparing a speech about self-defense or whatever. Their weakness is that they're "ruled by fear," unlike us Clan cats who are kept together by..... something else i guess.

What ELSE do you even call it, if you're held together by the idea that there's a constant barrage of bloodthirsty foreigners you need to defend yourselves against? Or an abusive tyrant who threatens, beats, or kills you for standing up to him? Or the unfounded belief that you're constantly a hair away from starving to the point where you have to send a domestic abuse victim back to her violent husband?

What do we call that, if not fear?

Isn't "fear" the other half of that dumbfuck "All Living Creatures Are Driven By Fear Or Greed" dichotomy they wrote in the earlier books, to try and barf up some kind of excuse for why Clear Sky skinning random women alive was actually very sympathetic?

You might want to twist this story to say, "Ok well it's saying that Clear Sky USED to be this bad, but hes not now" and id tell you that you're writing fanfiction. That's just not what's on the page. It does not draw that parallel and Clear continues to be a bastard without consequence. Read the shitty arc you keep telling me is actually sooo deep.

Slash and One Eye were inherently bad people. Unlike Clear Sky who's good at coming up with excuses that sound nice.

[mrdrhenwardhykle]

since you like fictional murder then you are an irl murderer. FPS and GTA players are also murderers. Horror enthusiasts also condone murder. Only you, the “normal” one in the sea of “freaks” doesn’t. Isn’t that right?

Well alright, let's use our braincells here, okay?

When you say that I "like fictional murder" I assume that you're referring to me writing stories with darker themes.

Never ever do I myself say that I want to actually murder these characters. If you pay any lick of attention, you can catch me saying that I feel bad for characters in scenarios- and sometimes I try to push so the tragic event is avoided or seen in some sympathetic light. The basis of Foxy.exe is based on a very gore based Sonic Creepypasta called Sonic.exe, that leans more towards hopeless tales and yep you guessed it -torture porn-, but in most of my explanations of Foxy.exe I make it clear that there's ways to save these characters and that the gore will be minimal because I don't find the overuse of it necessary to the story. It's not torture porn, the concept is mostly in first person perspective, and it's about three poor souls attempting to escape an unpredictable entity. Most gore comes from the antagonist- as without an antagonist there's no story in this scenario!

Am I Pom Pom? No. Am I foXy? Also no.

When you're a proshipper, you're romanticizing, softening, and fetishizing scenarios that replicate real issues that happen. How much of an issue are killer Mascot Games? None. How much of an issue are demonic Fox entities that mark poor nightguards by getting them to play his arcade game? NONE.

But no, somehow because elements of murder are written into a story, that's comparable to someone publicly promoting grooming or rape which happens countless of times and is CONSTANTLY downplayed and not taken seriously which makes REAL PEOPLE'S lives more difficult.

When you say you want to rape something-especially if it's in the image of a child- you are saying you are wanting to rape a child. If you say that you find it cute when fictional fathers groom and touch their confused daughters, you are saying you enjoy watching innocent adults and/or children get groomed!!!!

If I said that I wanted to murder say Jeremy Fitzgerald badly, then yeah- I'd want to murder a guy- but I actually don't treat scenarios and writing like that + I don't write characters disrespectfully.

Yes, you can actually write these things into a story ***carefully*** and it would be clear that your intention is to make a cautionary and tragic point to the story. But you can also not treat it carefully and be like "This is John- he's 45 and rapes his daughter Jane on the basis, but their romance will get better ^w^" EVERYONE knows where your head's at. The audience will see and be affected with how you treat this, and YES- writing can normalize things in people's brains. Stories are literally so important to people that it doesn't just work to the point that one piece of media goes in one ear and comes out the other. People naturally stew and ponder- there's so many sources of evidence to how fictional stories affect society it's not made up.

Hope this helped!

[sepublic]

I've noticed that for three GEverse arcs, I have this 'lens character' with their own storyline parallel to the main protagonists. They're someone who's living with the main antagonist(s) when they're not out and about doing evil, and they act as a way to see this antagonist from a different angle, exploring the villain's motives, worldview, their issues, etc.

This lens character doesn't really meet the protagonists until like, the very end or climax of the story. Pretty late, at least. They might know of the protagonists and vice-versa. And they all have this parallel beat of seeing the villain as a friend and/or someone they can at least reason with, sympathize with... But inevitably, the true colors are revealed, and the lens character realizes that the two sides they're seeing, the 'good and bad' aren't contradictory; But the presence of the 'bad' kinda eliminates any relevance the 'good' might have in the end.

Because what does it matter, if you're still hurting people? Horrifically dehumanizing them? Going out of your way to be awful? You were nice to me, so you CAN be nice to others. You just won't be. How am I supposed to tolerate that?! My sympathy's dried up real fast. And so they're kind of like, the other side of an ideological argument at times. The villain is of course disappointed that the lens character doesn't see their side, and does no self-reflection in shunning them. The lens character might encounter the main protagonists later, maybe even bring them up as being right just to piss off the villain.

So there's Esther for Shogaken, a recently-deceased soul turned into a Skull Kin by him; We see how he rules his domain within the Spirit Currents, where the Skull Kin come from and operate. She does research and learns Shogaken's past, that this place of torment was supposed to be a place of healing... And despite her softening and offers to be more sympathetic, he just continues to be a mediocre, unimpressed prick, and eventually Esther realizes there's nothing she can do to change his mind; Shogaken doesn't actually want help, he just wants to do whatever he wants and take his anger out on others because it's easy.

And she gives up on the guy, especially since by the end of the day, Esther's main priority was making things better for her fellow Skull Kin; She hoped showing compassion to their tyrant might help with that, but alas, people who do that sort of thing are gonna be committed, they have to be. And when Shogaken is reduced to a skull thanks to the protagonists, he's left at the mercy of his Skull Kin, who opt to take agency into their own hands and run the place together. Shogaken is buried, just as he buried dissenting Skull Kin, with plans to eventually dig him up and keep him around in a weakened state. But for now, his once-tormented subjects let themselves be vindictive.

There's Kita for Majikus, whose mother is the warlock's sister. After years of pestering her sister into letting Kita come over, Majikus somehow pulls it off and it seems like an initial rags-to-riches, discover your hidden heritage in a magical world sort of adventure! Kita learns magic from each warlock and sees how they operate, what their motives are, etc. But she also notices more and more the atrocities that her Aunt Maj is willing to commit, how she's obsessed with creating 'order'. And there's a lot of pressure on Kita to continue that legacy when the role inevitably has to be handed on, and Kita realizes she doesn't want this power, to be special; She just wants to live her own life.

And Majikus takes this badly, with Kita beginning to understand why exactly her mother was on such bad terms, why she hesitated to let them visit. Deep down, Kita had a feeling that Majikus would kill her (exaggeration) for not living up to her expectations, for not being a tool to further her dictatorship; She isn't sure now if Majikus will actually do that, but she knows Majikus will kill a lot of innocents minding their own business. So what difference does it make? She stands up to her aunt despite being so hilariously out-classed, but her defiance does prove vital to the Monster Fighters, whom she is aware of and hopes will prevail in the end. And Ruby, later, thanks Kita personally. They may not really have 'known' each other at all up until now, but in a way they're kindred souls.

And then we have Emily Walker, whom I'll elaborate more in some future posts about her relationship with Maerco. But at this point, you probably get the idea.

Point is, I wonder if I should do something like this for the rest of the arcs; With a pattern established, it could be a lot of fun. But I also consider that it might get repetitive. But then maybe I just need to find a way to mix things up? But it might still be the same at its core, and thus still repetitive. I'll think about it, esp since I don't exactly, necessarily have pre-existing characters to choose from for this role, with the exception of at least one for the Escapees; That could be the fourth. So I might make some up, we'll see.

[3hks]

Good day! I would like to ask for some writing advice.

So, I'm writing a fantasy crime fiction about a young woman who's forced to leave her job and work for a mafia boss after she got involved with one of his rival gangs due to her older sister paying the gang to capture her (the sisters have a very hostile relationship).

The problem is, I showed a draft of my writing to my friend and they criticized me for trying to make the protagonist (the young woman) assisting a man instead of "girlbossing" her way to the top.

Perhaps the biggest complaint I got from them was me making the sister a villain despite her having sympathetic traits (also being a victim of their dad's abuse, becoming devastated over their sickly mother's death when they were young, her heartbreak after finding out her crush never liked her, etc.). Even when I argued that none of that excuses her sister's actions, they kept on insisting I give the sister a happy ending where everyone just forgives her and forgets the awful things she's done.

Hello, hello! Thank you for messaging me! I can tell that you're leaning towards a more realistic storyline while your friends want something completely different that'll make them happy.

So, with that being said, I just wouldn't listen to them.

But let's talk about your two main concerns! For starters, a solid female character doesn't have to be a total girlboss. I know that in our modern generations, it can seem like that, but the truth is there are so many other ways to achieve a firm character without them being on top. Following that, I personally don't see anything wrong with her helping a man; it doesn't rid her of her worth.

HOWEVER, if you're looking to create a "stronger" female character, look into her traits! Here are some ideas that could help:

Independence

Aware of her self-worth (Self-awareness)

Assertive

Resilience

Leadership

Courage

Willing to protect those she cares about

Secondly, there's absolutely nothing wrong with a villainess who has a sympathetic background and characteristics. As a matter of fact, those aspects add more depth to your character! If you don't want to give the antagonist her happy ending, that's completely fine because in reality, our poor actions don't get excused for a sad backstory. And realistically, it's going to be hard to just "forgive and forget" someone who paid a gang to pretty much kidnap you.

But if you're still worried about the happy versus sad ending for the sister because she could be likeable and sympathetic to the readers, just keep in mind that a little pain is what makes a story good! ;)

Thirdly, if you want someone else to proofread your story, you should probably choose someone else instead of those friends. I understand it's fun to share your works with those you like, but it's clear that you guys aren't really on the same page when it comes to your story. And if worse comes to worst, I have no qualms helping you out!

No matter what choices you make (as long as it's in reason) I'll be supporting you! Thank you so much for reaching out; I seriously appreciate it a lot and I hope this helps!

Good luck and happy writing~

3hks <3

[linkspooky]

Hello! Have you read choujin x manga by ishida sui? There are two characters in it that look similar to ui and hairu (who I love and ship so much). I've been reading it since launch and feel like it's a narrowed, more honed in version of tg in a sense? Idk how to describe it. I would love to know your thoughts or if you ever plan to read it! Love your metas and fics btw especially on jjk with mai 🥰

THank you so much for liking my fics and meta! I love mai too!

I've been reading Choujin X since the beginning, I suppose it is more honed in in the sense that it's working with a much smaller cast so it's easier to focus in on them. Though in some sense it's a lot more messy, for example by the time we were in the 30s of Tokyo Ghoul we had been introduced to a good portion of ghoul society, we learned the conflict of this world between ghouls and the CCG via the rabbit arc, we had development for Touka going from a hostile to an incredibly sympathetic character. We hd glimpses of the antagonists Amon and Mado being shown to have their human sides.

In terms of information like the rules of the world, the different factions, the greater conflict, the motivations of the antagonists we haven't been given a whole lot of information so far. So I don't really know what to make of it. To be fair this is a series where Ishida is free to update at his own pace so I think it's great he doesn't have to rush and can do things his own way.

However, I think the greatest strength so far with Choujin X is when it is able to give that more honed in character focus than Tokyo Ghoul would ever have with it's tons and tons of characters.

Choujin X is at it's most interesting to me when it is a deconstruction of protagonism.

By Protagonist I mean, a character who assumes they are the main character of a story and therefore everything revolves around them. Between Tokio and Azama you have a character who is the protagonist and doesn't want to be because he doesn't want to take responsibility for anything ever, and a character who really wants to be the protagonist and resents the hell out of the other character.

Tokio is interesting as a contrast to Azama and an anti-hero in the traditional sense (a hero with no heroic qualities and therefore a deconstruction of the traditional character in the hero myth because it makes you go wait why is that guy the main character???) because he doesn't just feel helpless and useless like Kaneki did, he is actually useless (positive trait). When he calls himself pathetic that's not low self esteem that is accurate self-esteem. Imagine being friends with someone who didn't make a single decision for yourself, who needed you to help them with everything, who always expects you to drop everything to come help them, even if you're someone you're incredibly close to it would get grating after awhile.

Choujin X picks up steam when it focuses on the rapidly dwindling friendship between Azama and Tokio, not because one of them has a tragic backstory like Naruto and Sasuke, or one of them turns evil, or they have different ideals like Xavier and Magneto. The reason their friendship is falling apart is... they both have terrible interpersonal skills. They both point their jealous and insecure shit at each other, and don't talk about it ever, until a fight breaks out.

The first time they fight Azama doesn't flash back to some traumatic childhood memory, but the few times in childhood that he could tell Tokio could have won against him if he tried harder, but Tokio gave the same excuse as always and quit without trying. Azama burns with jealousy at Tokio because he thinks Tokio could be better at him if he truly tried, but Tokio never tries hard at anything, which makes it look like Azama's effort is all worthless.

Azama is just, a whole ball of insecurities a lot of which spawn from the fact that Tokio puts Azama on a pedestal, and Azama notices that their is this imbalance in their relationship. Because their relationship is unbalanced, Azama is kind of used to always beng the superior one, the better one, and he feels pressured to live up to that expectation and prove himself. Which is why when he's in his berserk state reduced to his most fundamental emotions he fights Tokio because he's always trying to prove himself. And he's always in this precarious position where he feels like if he's not good enough he's going to lose Tokio's respect.

But it's not really Azama just having a bit of a superiority complex in regards to Tokio, Tokio is the one who put him up on that pedestal in the first place. Tokio was the one who made Azama out to be a hero, and Azama is struggling to be Tokio's hero, and he feels a huge personal loss when he feels like he's not anymore. None of which would have really happened of Tokio could have just been normal about their friendship, and had dreams and dieas of his own instead of just deciding to live off of Azama's dreams like a parasite. As I said the story is calling for Tokio to be a protagonist when he doesn't want to be, and Azama who desperately wants to be the hero of the story is denied that role.

I'm being harsh on Tokio but that's what makes him interesting. He's not calling himself pathetic because he has low self esteem, he is genuinely that pathetic. There's a reason his biggest emotional conflict seems to be... he's embarrassed everyone else is trying hard and he's not. He spends more time beating himself up and degrading himself than actually being productive. He is a very weird combination of self-centered while at the same time having no sense of self or self-esteem. Tokio is still inside of his own head, and it's usually just all about his own insecurities but he doesn't really like himself either. Generally, it's not healthy to base your entire self-esteem off of what your best friend thinks of you. Tokio's unhealthy fixation on Azama is just going to further draw a wedge between the two of them, because their friendship as it is is fundamentally unequal. Tokio is just gonna keep building up Azama's pedestal in order to dig his own self esteem lower and lower and lower, but all he's really accomplishing is creating further distance between the two of them.

[nanjokei]

hopefully we get more info about mutei, yeah. any thoughts/'meta' on reiji isoi? or any character you'd like, really, he was just the first that came to mind

im not good at making choices so you will have to ask me if there's anyone specific youre curious about!

for reiji ill just talk about both LOL. S+ and DLC spoilers untagged.

i think our reiji is an absolute genius character. the fact that the entire real climax of the game hinges on whether or not you like reiji, its honestly a great burden that i usually see flop or gets overemphasized without really giving reasons to care (or really, giving too many reasons and having it feel forced). but, if you think about it, there isn't much in the plot itself that makes caring necessary— the base game is way more sympathetic to minoru than utsugi, but it is still very late on before the moment most will finally throw their hands up and go "oh this guy has it bad" so reiji's unwavering desire to do something for him is the strongest part of his character in the latter half of the game... to the point where he sort of played the heel to get his mission over with. even at his most antagonistic, coming back from a long absence from the plot which casts more doubt to the "why" of his actions— you do kind of wanna root for reiji, even if his actions are sus at best. im almost certain the initial reaction to the woof scene is usually always "no, wait, shinano, it's not like that, fuck. why now." even though it is INCREDIBLY suspect. subsequently, reiji and atou opening up to each other a bit and placing trust in each other with shinano eventually joining in feels like a ticket home to a good ending. a good ending which doesn't come if you don't put in the work for it.

it is precisely why S route is so genius. without reiji being such a good character, being so convincing really, the setup would warrant nothing more than an eyeroll. i LOVE it. and i LOVE the usage of ave maria there. and the domino effect that ending has on the survivors. pure definition of having to earn your happy ending. it is a stunt that by all means SHOULD NOT WORK. but it DOES. i'd clock it as cheap if it was a hair out of place in the execution.

as for reiji himself as a character, i absolutely adore him, he's so cute. his personality hits all the good points of "this guy was definitely raised by a bunch of weirdos and knows nothing else". i think the purity in his motivations and overall self philosophy is *chefs kiss*. his respect for LDL both as his family and his superiors is balanced incredibly well. in the dlc, the feeling of "you're a part of the team, but adult things are adult things after all" jumps out to me. especially the way reiji's actions seem to respond "but i want to repay you, i want to be acknowledged, i want to be useful." even before 2015 he was kept in the dark about things. now, i don't know if this is on purpose on fukao's part (obviously the date is on purpose but lol) but i do choose to see reiji going off on a suicide mission to save the son of the man who raised him, who he doesn't know, as a sort of coming of age. if you only reach S route, reiji dies at 20 years old, but if you get to S+, the very next day, he turns 21. i want to think it's intentional!! seriously god-like!! its enough he dies right before his birthday to begin with, but the fact that it's like that!!! AHHHH!!! i do feel like it may be on purpose given reiji's age is obscured as "early 20s" until the very end of S+ (the note that there's a 5 year difference between shinano and reiji). after S+, reiji has become an adult, who pulled off the impossible. his graduation from just being just a very highly attuned kid, a capable adult. also the fact that he's only hung out with a bunch of weirdo adults in his whole life means the gap between him and his peers is incredibly endearing

i love reiji. he's so good!

as for reiji numero uno, it's spoilers all around, so ill put it under the cut

honestly this is less about reiji himself and more about the circumstances around him... intensely tragic character. but it really is funny. i think its funny hatsutori basically used his existence, the potential of him being useful to misumi, as a way to mobilize misumi against empyrean and theodore. now i don't think misumi is some kind of misunderstood saint (though i have a feeling by com is out we're gonna find out he's probably one of the less demonic fragments) but the fact that he clears the very low bar of telling hatsutori off for being a homicidal psycho... well it's telling i think. even then apparently reiji wasn't experimented on immediately, and was taken care of before misumi split his fragment. but still. it is a state to be in. when atou and sanemitsu find out he's not only alive but sharing a body with a man who's probably well within retirement age the fallout is gonna be BAD

his existence as a device to further the motivations of at least like 10 other characters, is fun. it's fun. i like izu. i like misumi. i'd love to see the reiji part of the body izu is occupying to come out. is he still a 10 year old boy in there or what. definitely getting the short end of the stick here

[aemiron-main]

Maybe you considered it an hate ask, even if i just pointed out that you are not really enjoying a villain character if you have to make up theories about how in reality he did nothing wrong ever. I am a Griffith apologist ( i don't know if you know the character but he's quite famous and in his story he did things that make Vecna looks like a toddler) so i know that liking a villain doesn't mean condone those acts in real life, and i hate when others suggest it. But, like i said, you are not analyzing a villain, you're making up a new different character and even if there is nothing wrong with it (this is a fandom and there is content drought) you are a little too presumptuous, always going on defensive mode if someone finds your theories a stretch.

Alright, so, you sent me two asks (and you’re the person who sent this ask), so I’m going to paste the first ask below & then respond to both.

“ you can't enjoy a villain character without making up stupid streched theories about alternative dimensions and pushing them as canon, so no, yours is not a "normal fandom behaviour" and by the way Henry is literally just some bad guy, he's basically Dark Eleven. He's not that deep, he's not Griffith from Berserk (that's a fascinating no pluridimensional villain character that can be analyzed endlessly and he is actually queercoded, henry can't relate i fear 🫢) ”

Look, anon, first of all, if any of what you’ve said was prompted by my posting tonight re: Dani, you must have missed the multiple times where I said that I don’t care about Dani’s takes on Henry or on my analysis- what I DO care about is being accused of forgiving real-life rapists based on my analysis posting about a fictional antagonist.

Also second of all re: a hate ask, I mean, what was I supposed to call it when you opened it by calling my analysis stupid?

I’m not forcing you to read my theories. I don’t care if you believe them or not- you’re the one coming into my inbox making assumptions about me and telling me my analysis is a reach.

You are making a lot of assumptions in this whole writeup. I’m not incapable of enjoying a villain- I simply have evidence to support that Henry isn’t the villain/that things are deeper than what’s presented on the surface level of the show. Hell, I’ve already said repeatedly that Henry being Vecna doesn’t change my opinion on Young Henry not being born evil, and also doesn’t prevent me with sympathizing with him or enjoying him as a character.

However, I simply don’t believe that he IS Vecna. I know lots of people on here analyze based on what they want to be true, but that certainly isn’t the case for me. I analyze based on trying to figure out what’s actually going on in the show, regardless of what I want to be happening.

If I wanted to enjoy Henry and be a full on apologist for everything Vecna’s ever done, then I would. I don’t need to invent any theories to do that. But I don’t think he’s Vecna, and I’m having fun analyzing the Edward subtext. Did it never occur to you that I’m also an Edward enthusiast in terms of enjoying “””””villain”””””” characters??? Or that I enjoy Brenner *as a well-written villain* and as a representation of abuse of power and predation and abusive systems? Which doesn’t align with the idea that I’m simply trying to invent things about Henry so that he’s not the villain. (Sure, I’m not a Brenner fan in the same way taht I’m a Henry or an Edward fan, but that’s because they’re different characters and even Vecna is more sympathetic than Brenner imo, but again, that’s part of Brenner’s character and it’s a good, effective part of it.)

And I’m absolutely normal fandom behaviour- in what world is analyzing the piece of media that a fandom is centered around not “normal fandom behaviour”? And “pushing them as canon”- you mean posting them on my own damn blog and responding to people like you who come into my inbox about it or responding to the weird rapist apologist accusations like tonight? Because I’m not pushing a single thing. And even if I was, who cares! Block me if you don’t want to see it, instead of wasting your time chastising me for interacting with media in the way I enjoy most (analysis).

Like, analysis IS the thing I enjoy most about fandom. I’m not just doing analysis so that I can try and enjoy a villain by making him not a villain- I’m doing analysis because it’s one of my favourite things to do, and because I want to try and get to the bottom of what’s actually going on in ST.

Have you actually read any of the posts? Do you have specific criticism or questions that I can address instead of vague assumptions about me?

And also, I’m not “making up” any character. Again, have you read the posts? Edward Creel is mentioned by name, on screen, with his backstory and timeline written out on screen, and then I’m extrapolating from that using literary analysis techniques (such as looking at subtext and how that subtext is conveyed by elements like repetition, parallels, intertextuality etc) & pulling that sort of evidence from the show.

I don’t just sit there and think of random things that I want to happen. If that was the case, my analyses wouldn’t be full of evidence/screenshots of the show. Even if I’m wrong about my conclusions, I’m not just pulling them out of thin air.

Your claim that I’m not analyzing anything is completely false, even if I’m completely wrong about everything, I’ve still been doing analysis, you can still look through and see what connections I made and what evidence I used to make those connections and how I came to my conclusion based on what we see in the show.

Also, I’m standing outside right now and too damn tired to talk about Griffith because that’s neither here nor there.

Also RE: Henry not being queercoded, that’s honestly a whole other post on its own, but he definitely has significant queercoding- or do you just think that the rant about hating the standard stereotypical reproduction/expectations for relationships while standing in a room full of rainbows and then going on to talk about being “broken” and sent to a lab that has very strong conversion therapy parallels (with Brenner also being extremely similar to Robert Galbraith Heath but again that’s all a big post on its own but is something I’d be happy to expand on when I’m not literally standing outside waiting for a skunk to leave the front porch so I can go inside LMAO) and being extremely paralleled to Will, one of the main gay characters, was all a coincidence?

And also, it’s interesting that you’re accusing me of being presumptuous and too defensive when you’re the one who came in here making assumptions about me and calling me stupid. Of course I’m defensive sometimes- you would be too if you were being called an idiot rapist apologist and being told that your stupid theories are stretches every other day, all from people who haven’t even taken the time to try and approach those theories with an open mind.

I’ve responded constantly and politely and non-defensively to posts that are genuine questions or genuine criticism of my theories, such as in this post. But I don’t see why I should be expected to extend that same courtesy to people who can’t even extend me the courtesy of reading the posts they’re critiquing.

[serendark]

I'm mostly just regurgitating thoughts from other posts I've seen, but it's interesting how Bill might be considered a [more] sympathetic villain now, yet is still presently irredeemable due to his personal inability to want to recognize and want to grow, something which is important for how the narrative compares and contrasts him with the Pines, including how that has evolved outside the show in additional materials such as TBOB.

Bill has a LOT of close similarities and parallels with both Ford and Stan (and Gideon, and Mabel, etc), and the way Bill describes or talks about both Stans reveals more about Bill himself. Bill, essentially, embodies a "failed outcome" of the arcs that Ford and Stan succeeded at (and Gideon, etc, I'm focusing on the Grunkles but the parallels don't end with them). Maybe in a trillion years Bill can change someday and be redeemed, but as far as the Pines family are concerned in canon, he is finished as he is and this is where the narrative gives us meaning for the contrast between him and the Pines. If anything, I think our new information on his backstory and what degree of sympathy does exist now at all are things that remind me of Robbie and Gideon a bit, but ultimately these are different characters with different roles to play, and Bill just continues to tripledown and embrace denial past where even Robbie and Gideon did.

Consider that Bill could have just been dead and gone outright, with no chance for redemption and reflection. Now, he has a chance... and is refusing it, over and over. He isn't using his second chance to grow. There's a lot of meaning in that.

I like thinking of Bill in Gravity Falls the show proper as kind of a... weird vague force of nature spooky entity thing for the Pines to directly bounce their own issues off of, less of a person or even character and more of an idea, while now after TBOB and TINAWDC, he has evolved into more of A Guy, an actual Person, to better accompany the further exploration of Ford's post-Weirdmageddon character arc as seen in Journal 3 and TBOB (Stan's arc too, but Ford's has more spotlight.) Maybe some of the magic has been lost with Bill being A Guy now, but even that makes for a fun mirror with how he has been demystified in Ford's own eyes as part of his own growth, too, which Stan reinforces. So basically both depictions of Bill are better suited for the different narrative goals of the show versus the books, and I think that's neat. Book Bill retroactively adds a lot to show Bill, while show Bill can still be enjoyed on his own and be considered an accurate Bill if you're someone who doesn't like book Bill.

Gravity Falls is about the Pines family first and foremost and how their personal issues and arcs have interacted with each other and the world around them (and often end up improving other people around them in turn). The different antagonists and conflicts they face all have different things to say about the Pines. There is hardly a creature or a person in Gravity Falls we've met that could be called evil, deserving of terrible things, or irredeemable outright. But Bill is arguably the sole entity that embraces such things the most.

Maybe there's something poetic to be said about someone like him being drawn to a place like Gravity Falls, and yet being forced to stay here was the worst thing for his self goals, anyway. Everyone else came out better after their conflicts with the Pines, except for Bill. What is it about Bill that makes him so incompatible with this space, in that sense, and how much of it comes from his own actions, worldview, trauma, and the like? Something something... I suppose Gravity Falls encourages change and reflection, so someone like Bill who was denying such things and seeking to spread essentially his own personal "Mabeland" as a global party where he's able to ignore growing.... naturally doesn't come out of Gravity Falls without some scratches from how abrasive this place is to him and how much he was unwilling to accept it and, well, give up his denial.

I'm not really sure where I was going with any of this. I just think there's a lot of interesting stuff we have to chew on about all this, and I think they've done a great job with how they've expanded on Bill, among other things. Regretfully I don't think I talked about any of this stuff in such an eloquent way as those other posts I've seen floating around and I'm not sure I really did these ideas justice, but... yeah!

Hey! You seem like a huge *Gravity Falls* fan, so I was hoping you could answer some of my biggest questions about morality in the show. Since the release of *The Book of Bill* (which I’ve read), do you think Bill could ever be redeemed or seen sympathetically? Is there a possibility for him to get better and maybe even have a happy ending?

I ask this because I see a lot of fans saying, "He's awful," or "He deserves everything coming to him a thousandfold," and "Don't sympathize with him!" But then I watch the show, and I see characters like Gideon Gleeful and Robbie who were also problematic—they did terrible things but still got happy endings.

I know Gideon went to jail, but he broke out and ultimately had a positive resolution. Robbie, for example, tried to brainwash Wendy into a romantic relationship (which is super messed up!). Even though it didn’t work, and Wendy only dated him because she thought he wrote her that song, Robbie knew what the CD was supposed to do. But instead of facing real consequences, he just went through a breakup and still ended up with a happy ending, with friends and a new girlfriend.

As for Gideon, he tried to kill Dipper, manipulate Mabel, and invade the entire town’s privacy—basically doing some of the same things Bill did. Yet, after going to jail and making a last-minute turn toward good, he still got a happy ending.

So I’m super confused. What should I be feeling? Is there a correct way to view these characters? What do you think?

Bill at his core is the personification of denial. We see in the book that the harbours some regret and hatred for what he's done to the people around him but he refuses to try and take it to heart and use it as a point to grow from. I mean, look at what he did.

He killed his entire dimension and family and yet tries to deny it was anything bad and that in fact he liberated them. He manipulated and almost destroyed Ford and yet denies ruining the friendship they had. He tried to kill Dipper and Mabel and yet acts like it was nothing. Bill is unsympathetic. He's a narcissistic sociopath who doesn't wanna admit it.

The difference with Robbie and Gideon is that they changed and grew past their issues. Robbie tbh was more so being a literal teen drama story while Gideon was made that way through his exposure to Journal 2 and how that corrupted him. Once both found a new lease on life, they were able to grow and become better.

Bill is not that. He cannot accept that he's not fine and that he's the sole survivor of his kind and has pushed everyone he knew out of his life through his own actions. We've all probably dealt with people like Bill Cipher. Be it a person, co-worker, significant other, friend, family member, etc. We've all had that person who acts full of themselves and manipulatively but in reality is suffering. But because of how they act and their refusal to do anything, you start to lose any sympathy or interest in helping or being there and just let them go. Congrats...you just escaped a toxic relationship.

As someone who has dealt with Bill Ciphers in my life like many of us probably have, it's easy to feel sympathy for him. Bill make his case out as such that you wanna feel like he deserves better. But he's a trillion year old being that has been doing the same thing over and over again and refuses to make an effort to move on and let himself accept what he did to his dimension and to people around him like Ford.

Ford on the other hand realized that and cut Bill out of his life. He's doing better now because of that and has his family by his side. Ford is an example of how to move on from such toxic situations and people and find happiness in your life again after that. Bill is the example of what happens if you can't.

Life is short. We all will die one day. We all deserve to lead a life free of people like Bill Cipher in it. The best thing we can do is follow Ford and find the people in life that make us happy and let go of Bill.

So, to answer your question, NO!

I don't think Bill Cipher can be redeemed or seen in a sympathetic way. He tried to. But he's shown even in the Theraprism that he can't. He's doomed to live forever with the shit he's done. And it's his own fault.

Bill can say he's fine but in the end...he's not. And he never will be. There is no redemption for Bill Cipher.

[juniperhillpatient]

what are your thoughts on hero!azula? do you want her to be one or do you prefer her as an antagonist?

Oooh fun question! I think that the thing about Azula is that she has the range. In canon, I would never trade her badass scary time as a villain. & tbh, even if you write her as a hero, if there's not a darker edge to Azula's character, you're not writing Azula. Heroes can be the more pragmatic, colder member of the group too & I think that will always be Azula - if she's not a little mean, what's the fun?

I do think that narratively it would make sense for her to have a redemption arc & join the gaang & become a hero. That's what happens with Zuko, Mai, & Ty Lee & the end of the series leaves the audience wanting / hoping that it can happen for her as well.

I've always been a fan of villains, anti-heroes, & morally gray characters because that's just what's most interesting to me - especially if there's something there to sympathize with, especially if in another world, they could have been a hero. Azula's character is very sympathetic - she was emotionally & mentally manipulated & brainwashed by her father & her imperialist nation & she had a mental breakdown because of how hard she was pushed & because everyone in her life abandoned or betrayed her. On top of that, everyone in a comparable role to her (Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee, Iroh) was allowed to heal & work with the good guys by the end. So, in canon what makes most sense & what I like the idea of most is for Azula to be an antagonist with a redemption arc.

Azula is a great villain though. I tend to write endless alternate universe fanfics & I have to say, one of the things I love most about starting a new story is writing mean / cruel / undeveloped Azula.

Also, there's a possibility for a regression arc in a fanfiction story that does it right. Whether post canon or in an alternate universe - what if no one helps Azula & she gets worse after her breakdown? What if something pushes her over the edge in a different way & she becomes a merciless killer? Or, what if she comes up with her own moral code (pragmatism is an important part of her mentality) & becomes an anti-hero of sorts? In canon, I'm pretty much set that a redemption & healing arc is the only satisfactory ending I can imagine for her. (It's also the story I usually write). But in fanfiction, the possibilities are endless & that's because she is such a complex character who could go in so many directions under different circumstances.

So...TLDR - the reason I love Azula is that she has the range & I love all thoughtful & well-done iterations of her character. Thank you for the ask, this was fun to think about!

[voidnoidoid]

My (very late) 3AM thoughts on the final episode of Ousama Ranking (pt 1)

I had decently high hopes for episode 23, I really did. And it (mostly) delivered! Except for one part.

To get the part I didn't like out of the way... you guys probably know what I'm talking about... I'm unhappy about the way Miranjo's redemption was carried out. Daida just goes "I know you've committed a lot of crime, heinous crime. Literal war crimes. Like straight up ordering the murder of Queen Sheena, my brother's mother, for the sake of your selfish goals. And I accept your crimes, because you suffered a lot too." Daida, bless his 12-year old heart, forgave Miranjo for her many misdeeds because of all the pain and suffering she had gone through... by choosing to MARRY her.

Whaaaaat???

There are multiple reasons why this is really weird. First of all, their previous relationship dynamic as well as their age gap. Daida is around the age of 11-14, and Miranjo is a full grown woman, possibly in her mid twenties to thirties. While Miranjo existed as the magic mirror, it was clearly established that she took on the role of a mentor, or perhaps even a maternal figure. She offered advice and counsel to Daida, and thus manipulated him into doing what she wanted according to her plan to use his body as a vessel for Bosse. She was a mentor revealed to be a manipulative traitor. Afterwards, when Daida was trapped in the unfeeling void prison of his father's mind scape, Miranjo's heart, represented by a version of herself when she was a very young child, shows herself to Daida. Daida then proceeds to care for and comfort the young Miranjo much like an older brother. There's a bit of a role reversal here. The cared for became the carer, the guided became the guide. I can somewhat understand Daida when he said to Miranjo, "You were my light in the darkness" because she influenced almost all his actions as Prince, and kept him company and prevented him from going insane in the void. However that line comes off as needlessly dramatic and is over exaggerating Miranjo's role in keeping Daida sane.

Then suddenly, their relationship is framed in a romantic context. Daida goes "im gonna marry miranjo yeah" and even princess carries her and comforts her like... DUDE she manipulated you and hurt you and everyone you love and MADE YOU DRINK YOUR DEAD DAD. How the hell did he come to the conclusion that marrying the one who singlehandedly threw his entire kingdom into chaos was the right choice??? And the worst part? All the adults in the show are okay with this. Yes, they are surprised but in the end... The big 4 are fine with it if Daida's okay. Despa gives some random speech I dont remember but is ultimately fine with the choice. Bojji is surprisingly okay with this?? And finally, Queen Hiling, who had the most violent objection to this, accepts it too. At least her reaction made the most sense. Miranjo just knelt there and cried or whatever. She's grateful yes, but she's totally ok with marrying a kid? She's not gonna like... refuse? yeah ok makes SenSE

This brings me to my second point, Miranjo is/was a shitty person who hurt many people including Daida himself. I'm not gonna list all the bad things she's done because if you're reading this, you've either finished the whole anime or making the silly choice of spoiling yourself. For the entire show, Miranjo has been built up as the big bad main antagonist. To the manga and anime's credit, they've done a great job humanising her and showing off the more sympathetic side of her character. Nevertheless it does not excuse the atrocities she committed for the sake of her selfish love for Bosse. I went from hating her completely to feeling sorry for her and liking her a little more. But does this mean that because Miranjo went through many horrible things in her childhood, that it should excuse the bad things she's done? HELL NO. The story tries to touch on this point, it acknowledges that Miranjo has done Bad Stuff, and even throws in a consequence to her actions. As payback for everything she's done, Miranjo gets the well deserved fate of having her soul ripped apart, consumed, barfed out and fixed only to have the cycle repeat for ALL ETERNITY in a blazing hell within the demon she betrayed. Not gonna lie that scene was INTENSE. And I felt bad for her, but you reap what you sow.

My main issue here, is that there is no lasting consequence for Miranjo's crimes. She is locked in that hellscape for like 15 minutes before being saved by Bojji and Daida, who straight up STOLE Despa's wish to save Ouken. Asshole move but okay. And the moment she's out everyone just forgives her at the drop of a hat and she gets her happily ever after. But to be fair she does agree to atone for the horrible things she's done and work towards making the kingdom happy instead of focusing on what she wants.

Now for my third and final point, it all feels like bad writing. The author is a great writer, but sometimes the best of us make mistakes. Sosuke Toka wanted a happy fairy tale ending for the main characters, and there's nothing wrong with that at all! I myself love happy endings. But the way he went about writing it was just wrong. He wrote a good end point but the journey there felt rushed and hamfisted in so that he could get his happy ending regardless of how nonsensical it would seem in the story. In the first place, Daida shouldn't have and probably logically would not have proposed to Miranjo that easily. He does not harbour romantic feelings to her at all, and frankly the romantic undertones of the last episode and the one before that felt wildly inappropriate in my opinion. What he still would have done is save her from her cruel fate at the hands of the demon.

I envision a scene that would go like this: After Miranjo is saved, instead of the proposal and "light in my darkness" shit, Daida goes: "Miranjo. You have hurt me, my family and put my entire country in danger. You have committed countless atrocities in the name of love for my father, the late King Bosse. But despite everything, I think you should have a second chance. Nobody deserves to go through such immense suffering. Now don't misunderstand me, I haven't forgiven you. Not yet. I want you to use this opportunity to right the wrongs you have committed, and maybe... you can find your own happiness. For yourself, and no one else." Honestly if anyone were to forgive Miranjo so early on it would probably be Bojji? That kid has too big of a heart for his own good. Daida would probably come around to it some time after his brother. The adults (excluding apeas lol) would take way longer and some may not ever forgive Miranjo at all. But hey, I prefer this ending rather than the proposal one.

Even if the proposal did happen, I would expect the adults to freak out more and object crazy hard. like "Your majesty king daida I know you are the king but YOU CANT MARRY HER WHAT IN THE FUCK MAN". Daida would not react well to that lol. How I personally would rewrite the story from here is that Hiling would come in and talk to both daida and miranjo, how she does not approve of them marrying each other, and give a similar speech like I wrote for daida earlier. Then, I would give Miranjo agency to make the choice whether to accept the proposal or not. In the anime and manga, Miranjo never really said a concrete yes or no, she just cried. But judging by her final statement it was probably a "yes". Obviously in this case I would write her to say "No." Miranjo would say something like "King Daida, I am most grateful but I do not want to marry you. I am deeply indebted to you your Highness, but please understand, I do not see you that way. I am much too old for you, it would not be right. Thank you so much for giving me a second chance. I promise you that I will devote my life to atoning for my sins, and bring happiness to the kingdom." Hiling and the others would be more accepting of this outcome imo.

Then BOOM. happy fairytale ending woohooooo. Same end, different journey, no weirdness. I don't have a problem with forgiving Miranjo, it's just that it should come later and in a more natural way.

pt 2 is gonna be about what I liked about the ending!

[jingerhead]

I just saw that post so I'm gonna ask - tell me about your OCs! But, like, only if you want to. No pressure 🖤

~ Nem

You....you wish to know about my OCs??? Are you sure you wanna open that can of worms??? ;-; Oh man uhhh I rarely talk about them so I'm not sure how well I'll do at explaining them but I will do my best!

So, the basic premise of my original story is that I made it because I don't believe it's possible that a world of magic could exist without regular people noticing it, so I wanted to kind of explore what an urban fantasy world would be like if the magical world was mixed with the human world. There's obviously a lot of tension that goes with that, because there comes a point when humans suddenly go, "oh shit, these people could wipe us out 'cause they have MAGIC. We gotta do something about that!"

To solve this problem, humans attempt to rule over magical creatures, which obviously doesn't go over very well. There's a lot of fights and constant tension between the two groups, and the biggest conflict between them is when the actual story takes place.

Another thing I wanted to do with this was write it from the POV of someone who, in any other story, would've been a side character. Someone who has no relation to the antagonist other than the antagonist did something horrible to them in the past. I also didn't want to make my main character likable at first, leaving lots of room for character development so that they could be in the end. This story has A LOT of characters, but here's a few if you're interested in meeting them!

Main: Ian Hart

Age: 22

Pronouns: He/Him

Backstory: Ian is the last known survivor from the Guardian massacres, in which all the families that had acted as 'guardians' to keep peace between humans and magical creatures were mysteriously wiped out. He lost his entire family and had to be put in this world's version of witness protection. He was given a new name and sent to a new family(since this happened when he was a child), but the Magical Regulations Office(MRO) that the previous Guardians had worked for still trained him to one day be one as they worked as quickly as they could to remake the group. Ian is convinced his family was killed by magical creatures that had been pissed about the Guardians working with the MRO. Because of this, he has a huge bias about magical creatures since he himself is human, and willingly does whatever the MRO wants him to do.

Main 2: Marilyn Jackson

Age: 23

Pronouns: she/her

Backstory: Marilyn grew up in a small suburban town with her parents, who adopted Ian Hart when she was 12 years old. Her and Ian grew up together and grew close. Marilyn is studying to become a biomedical engineer at the start of the story, but never finishes her education. She's sympathetic to a fault and has a crude sense of humor that works well with her brother's. Unlike her brother, she wants to help anyone she can, and is willing to go to whatever lengths necessary to do so, even when she doesn't know what she's doing.

Main 3: Steven Champion

Age: 23

Pronouns: he/him

Backstory: Steven is the grandson of a unicorn and son of a demon, making him a 'cross between 2 worlds'. He appears to be human, dyes his hair pink after his mother dyes her's blue. His weapon of choice are blades of any kind, his favorites being twin daggers. Steven is one of those guys that appears to be kindhearted and welcoming to all, but cross him once and you might not live to talk about it. He's extremely protective over the people he's close to, and has a great relationship with his mother and all of his relatives (except his father, who is honestly just a piece of shit).

Main 4: Andrea Eastcott

Age: 23

Pronouns: she/her

Backstory: Andrea is from a very large family, all with magical powers thanks to one of her ancestors being a 'demigod'. Her entire family are lawyers, and she was the 'oddball' that decided to not join the family business. She has huge trust issues and sometimes gets too into her own head, but is also extremely intelligent. She's the one that can create a plan in 5 seconds, has an amazing memory and is great at advocating for herself and others. She and Ian attempted a relationship, but as much as she was too in her own head, he was too in his as well. She needs someone to help bring her out and encourage her to become less of what her family wants her to be, but who she wants to be.

Main 5: Luke Avignone

Age: 22

Pronouns: he/him

Backstory: Luke is a shapeshifter, like everyone in his family. His parents weren't able to raise him, so he was raised by his grandmother from a very young age, who is a fashion designer and taught him how to cook. Luke would love to be a famous chef, is very outgoing and a complete himbo. His goal is to make the people around him happy, but is capable of being serious when the time calls for it. His favorite thing to turn into is a bear - just a giant brown bear, sometimes for no reason. He also has the biggest and most obvious crush on Andrea.

[dear-kumari]

I left this reply up without rebuttal because I thought it was self-evidently irrelevant and wouldn't get many notes, but apparently it is getting notes now, so! Cool, I guess we'll talk about it. Here's the original comment I was replying to for context.

I don't disagree that the Knights are antagonists who do bad things (though, as my original post was about, the story and I often do disagree on which things are bad and why) or that Shirahama is preaching against extremism in general. What I'm saying in my comment is that WHA's portrayal of the Knights isn't coming from a stance of All Cops Are Bastards because that simply isn't something that WHA believes. ACAB is not just a catchy slogan about how the police are too extreme sometimes. ACAB means complete moral condemnation of All Cops, no matter their personal stories or motivations, for participating in the system of policing. The "bastard" part is not just an "ehh, you're being a dick rn" sort of thing; it's meant to be extremely derogatory, even dehumanizing (see also: calling cops "pigs"), so as to not leave room for rhetoric about bad apples and whatnot. I really can't get behind the idea that the Knights' sympathetic beats are actually an integral part of framing them as Bastards when the Brimhats, the criminal class of witches, are never given a fraction of that sympathy and are routinely dehumanized by the narrative for being evil criminals. You may disagree, but I personally think that framing the criminal witches as bastards and the cop witches as sympathetic actors is kinda the opposite of ACAB!

Again, this is so self-evident to me that it almost seems silly to debate about. How do we learn Lulucy's tragic backstory? Through a full chapter dedicated to her flashback, of course. Utowin's tragic (well, mildly angsty) backstory? Full chapter flashback, obvi. You better believe that Easthies will get his full chapter(s) when the time comes. Now, for comparison, how did we learn Sasaran's tragic backstory? Do you remember, or did you just go "what tragic backstory?" because Shirahama did not think it was worth a drawn-out flashback from his POV? It was through a decontextualized two-page panel and Qifrey dragging him out to reveal his true animal form, btw, leaving us to infer that he accidentally fused with his cat as a child. That's really tragic and awful, and if he'd had a full flashback I bet it would've been heartbreaking. But WHA is not particularly interested in his interiority as a poor little meow meow who made a horrible mistake when he didn't know any better. Sasaran is a An Evil Criminal Who Hurts Kids, you see, not deserving of the same sympathy as a good, normal witch.

Did you forget the ex-Sage's tragic backstory? Did you forget his name? Because I sure did. See, in the middle of his unhinged evil rant about witch supremacy, he does mention that he's very sick and can't pay for his healthcare. We are, again, left to infer how this might explain his criminal actions; perhaps the embezzlement he was originally caught for was all going towards his medical bills. Who fucking knows, though, because this guy is immediately shut down and dehumanized by Qifrey for, you guessed it, hurting a kid.

When have the Knights been framed so decisively as monsters (Bastards)? When have they truly been condemned for hurting kids? Not only will the narrative conveniently prevent them from making good on their rare threats against kids (and honestly, does it ever feel like they'll actually wipe a main character's memory? it's a threat with no bite), but WHA will contrive excuses for the Knights' actions even when it doesn't make sense. In ch. 73, for instance, Shirahama quietly absolves Lulucy of the sin of attacking a child with an aside about how she actually didn't realize he was a young boy.

This is absurd to the point of retcon, imo. Not only did Dagda say he was a child just a chapter prior, but Lulucy has already met him! She was secretly surveilling him with the magic chair, presumably for months, while he recovered in the hospital. But Lulu is one of Shirahama's precious blorbos, so she can't be condemned for hurting Coustas. It must've just been a slip-up, a misunderstanding. See, the Knights can be too extreme, but they can also be reasoned with. Lulucy isn't a Bastard, she's a nice lady with a sad backstory.

The obvious counterpoint here is Coustas, but he doesn't really count, does he? Coco lawyers him out of the position of Criminal Witch with a legal loophole about the kind of magic he was using. She even rips off his brim to drive the point home: because he wants to help others, Coustas is not a true Brimhat. He's just a kid who was coerced into joining their side for a while and has been handily coerced back to the good side, where he'll live a nice, normal life if all goes well. His story thus far isn't about how it might be okay to be a criminal in an unjust world, but instead how some people can be saved from falling too deep into criminality. I imagine that Ininia might get the same treatment now that she's in forced proximity with a couple of nice Pointed Hats, including a Knight. It's no coincidence that the most sympathetic Brimhats thus far are two kids who can't really be held responsible for their actions. (Also I'm uhhh not really on board with how Coustas is often depicted as having a sort of crazed animalistic rage, so sympathetic backstory aside, the point about the dehumanization of criminals would still stand.)

WHA allows that the Brimhats might have a point about magic, but always maintains that their evil schemes must be stopped and that they must be condemned for their puppy-kicking ways. By comparison, the Knights are framed as misguided actors; their extreme views should be challenged, but their hearts are in the right place. Galga only attacks Dagda because he thinks he's going to hurt the kids; Lulucy is just trying to protect people like her from evil sex pests; they all spend most of the leech arc heroically defending the city against a monster, as opposed to, say, ganging up on Dagda. Even Easthies, the closest thing WHA has to a cop Bastard (a bad apple, really), gets lots of lingering sympathetic moments, especially in the chapter that this post was originally about, suggesting that he has some good reason for acting out. Whatever the story is trying to convey through the Knights, it sure as hell isn't ACAB.

When it comes to the Brimhats, is it possible that WHA wants to make a point about how we dehumanize criminals by leaning into that dehumanization at first? Maybe. I won't discount the possibility, but I also won't assume based on Shirahama's other left-leaning politics that her work couldn't possibly have a blind spot when it comes to crime and the punitive justice system. I'm also not saying that she necessarily has that blind spot just because her art does. I just think she loves her Knights Moralis blorbos and has gotten far too precious with them as a result, which is leading to writing choices that aren't particularly progressive.

I truly empathize with Shirahama’s instinct to give the sex crime enthusiasts a cathartic, lawful smackdown in both versions of ch. 49, but it’s absolutely a self-indulgent power fantasy that runs counter to the main insight of Lulucy’s backstory (i.e. that rape culture is pervasive, systemic, and propped up largely by authority figures who make light of it).  The volume version is far worse in this regard, totally shifting the narrative from “Lulucy felt disempowered by society until she became a witch cop who could legally smack predators around” to “Lulucy was saved from her predator-apologist teacher by the cool and righteous witch cops, who are immune to the corruption of rape culture for some reason.”  I don’t mind that WHA presents a fantasy world in which law enforcement follows its own rules to the letter (in truth, any police/surveillance institution with unchecked memory wipe powers wouldn’t be going around Righteously Punishing Sex Criminals so much as they would be Doing Most Of The Sex Crimes), because it usually makes very clear that the rules themselves are the problem; but this time, the audience is encouraged to indulge in the fantasy of punitive justice and to ignore the fact that criminal witches have no civil rights like it’s an episode of Law & Order SVU.

[kisant]

Annon-Guy: You're quite welcome. I'll keep that in mind. BTW, what're your thoughts on the "Richter and Me" Skit? I know Emil loves Marta, but was that supposed to imply Emil was in love with Richter despite what he said?

I've rewatched the skit, and my thoughts on it is that Emil is basically trying to make sense of his circumstances and find solutions to his current problems by drawing comparisons to the experiences his companions have already gone through. In this case, he's just heard the story of Regal and Alicia, in which Alicia turns into an exphere monster, attacks Regal, becomes a danger to innocent townspeople, and is tragically slain by her lover as a result.

So, when he listens to Regal's past, he is reminded of Richter. Why? Because Richter is a sympathetic antagonist, just like Alicia after being unwillingly turned into a monster. Richter is someone who is deeply involved in Vanguard's operations and has repeteadly tried to kill Marta and Ratatosk (and later revealed to be the true mastermind that turned Vanguard from a group of activists and rebels into a terrorist organization and a useful puppet army that would advance his own goals), but he is also the first person who was kind and encouraging towards Emil.

And he hasn't stopped being kind and encouraging towards Emil even after they have long become enemies, to the point of accepting Emil's help if he comes alone and the quest is nothing that would actually reveal Richter's true objectives.

So Emil listens to the tale of Regal and Alicia, and basically puts Richter in Alicia's role (sympathetic enemy), himself in Regal's (the person who wants to save the sympathetic enemy) and then realizes that Regal and Alicia were a romantic couple, upon which he becomes flustered and confused, because the similarities weren't a perfect match from the start. After all, Richter didn't become a "monster" unwillingly (his actions were always his own, not influenced by outside forces), he doesn't lose control of himself even after he actually ends up taking a more monstrous form, and while Emil has to face and fight Richter, he hasn't been forced to kill him in order to save innocents, and didn't seek atonement through imprisonment after the fact.

The circumstances of Regal/Alicia and Emil/Richter have some superficial similarities, but once you think deeply about it, the two situations are very different, and the most glaringly obvious point of difference is that Regal and Alicia were an established romantic couple, while Emil and Richter are not one at the point of the skit. It's a moment in which Emil realizes that he is starting to put his own foot in his mouth by not thinking through the implications of drawing comparisons between two different sets of people and situations, set up to be read a humorous.

Can the moment be read as shippy and as a reason for Emil to question whether or not he has romantic feelings for Richter rather than platonic ones? Sure, but that would veer heavily into headcanon and fanfiction territory.

Also, an interesting detail is that Emil's comparison is actually wrong. Because he's drawing similarities between himself and Regal, and Richter and Alicia. However, knowing the context of Richter's actions, he's not the tragically dead love interest, the Alicia of the situation. That would be Aster. Richter has much more in common with REGAL himself than with Alicia. The difference is that, after the tragic loss of a loved one in which they blame themselves, Regal and Richter react in opposite ways.

Regal decides to atone by renouncing his position in society, his riches and his freedom. He places restrictions in himself (he refuses to use his full power by keeping his hands bound). While Richter is the opposite. After Aster's death, Richter throws away all of his physical and moral restrictions in pursuit of revenge. He makes a deal with demons to gain enough power to kill Ratatosk. He twists Vanguard and Marta's father into his pawns. He is willing to kill an teenage girl, to enable mad scientists, to allow a demonic invasion, to destabilize goverments, to get a lot of people killed as collateral (Decus attacks on Palmacosta and the northern town, the growing tension between Sylvarant and Tethea'lla).

However, this is information that Emil does not have at the time the skit happens in the plot, and that's part of the reason the comparison quickly gets away from him.

And Emil himself may look very similar to Aster, but they are not the same person. In fact, in this comparison, Emil would actually be the Presea. Just like Presea looks like Alicia, but she’s not Alicia herself, Emil looks like Aster, but he’s not Aster.

BTW, I've received your other messages, but I may take a little longer to respond to everything :)

[songofclarity]

You're one of the very few Wen Ruohan fans I've encountered! I am super curious as to your thoughts on how your version of Wen Ruohan (polite, restrained, incredibly powerful but misled by those around him, ruthless but not outright evil) correlates with some of the novel passages about him being cruel, fond of torture, etc. (1/3)

(Passage 1) The QishanWen Sect’s leader, Wen RuoHan, had a moody, violent personality. He loved the sight of blood and sometimes took enjoyment in torturing those that offended him. Jin GuangYao was only able to capture Wen RuoHan’s interest by catering to his needs, making all sorts of cruel yet amusing devices (Passage 2) The “Fire Palace” was Wen RuoHan’s playground. It was where he collected thousands of torture devices for tormenting people (2/3)

At least for me, those passages were the basis of my reading him as being fond of torture and hurting people and such, so finding your contrary view was really cool. Is your view that those are biased descriptions, given that the novel is told from close-point-of-view for Wei Wuxian (who obviously had reason to dislike Wen Ruohan!)? Or do you incorporate those aspects into Wen Ruohan in some other way? I love your fics & meta a lot; if you don't want to answer, feel free to ignore. Thanks! (3/3)

No one is more surprised that I became a Wen RuoHan fan more than me, Anon!! Thank you for the ask, it makes me really happy that you’re curious about it and that you’re giving me an opportunity to talk about him LOL Although I do politely protest to it being called my version of Wen RuoHan...! I promise you, I'm not trying to make this characterization up out of thin air to suit my whims. The reason I've grown to like him is because I started paying closer attention to him and what I found made him rather more interesting and likeable compared to when I first read the novel with a focus on Wei WuXian and co.

MDZS is all about differentiating between what we see and what we are told. Spoken rumors vs recognized truths are important plot devices. We are told at the very start of the novel that Wei WuXian, the Yiling Patriarch, was this horrible and monstrous person who slaughtered thousands without any remorse. He was a terrible, dastardly demonic cultivator and the entire cultivation world breathes with relief now that he's gone, because what a terror that man was! How sad for his poor Shijie and Shidi that they ever met him! Mo XuanYu summons him with the explicit belief that Wei WuXian is indeed this malicious, heartless ghoul who will torture and slaughter the Mo family in cold blood for his revenge.

And what's Wei WuXian's response to that? "You've got the wrong person..." (Ch. 2, ERS).

Now, we see firsthand evidence that shows why people would think Wei WuXian is this kind of monster. We see him torture and mutilate Wen Chao, we hear about the leagues of corpses he raises to fight in the Sunshot Campaign, we see the violence that erupts both times at Qiongqi Path, and we see the massacre at Nightless City when he goes off the rails. His motivations and circumstances aside, this is the work of a villain. He’s terrifying! Taking his motivations and circumstances into account, however, I don't think anyone would accuse him of being moody and violent and loving to torture even though we see him being moody and violent and torturing his victim with a lot of malicious satisfaction. It takes a certain kind of someone to force their victim to eat their own flesh, after all.

By comparison, we never even see Wen RuoHan being violently moody or enjoying the sight of blood or even engaging in torture. I wrote several paragraphs going scene by scene that made this reply a mile long that I have cut out, because the short explanation is that what we have here are descriptions of a person we never encounter, not even when he has his son's murderer under his foot and at his mercy. By all means, like Wei WuXian to Wen Chao, Wen RuoHan is at least justified in killing Nie MingJue for killing Wen Xu. Wen RuoHan even asks to confirm that he has the right man (and would someone who likes torture and blood even care?). But then he... doesn't kill him. And then he turns down an offer to torture Nie MingJue as well. Considering Wei WuXian hunted Wen Chao down for the opportunity to torture him, Wen RuoHan not even wanting to take what is offered him on a silver platter is in direct conflict with the report that torture is his favorite pastime.

And this conflict isn’t accidental. It’s done on purpose for a specific reason.

What's interesting about those two passages you picked is that they are both post-Sunshot condemnations of Wen RuoHan's character. Wen RuoHan is very dead and unable to defend his reputation after the Sunshot Campaign. His Wen remnants are very much being tortured and abused by the Jin who sing about how they are the good guys even as they beat Wen Ning to death. Jin GuangYao has all the reasons in the world to turn Wen RuoHan from a basic antagonist into a sadistic monster in order to cover up his own crimes, because there is no rational way Jin GuangYao can possibly reconcile saying, “I had no choice” with Wen RuoHan telling him, “Do as you please” (Ch. 49, ERS).

Because those two passage you identified which characterize Wen RuoHan are provided by the only person who survived Nightless City and is given a voice: Jin GuangYao. Jin GuangYao who used and murdered Wen RuoHan for political gain in order to get fame and his father’s attention. Jin GuangYao has no reason or desire to let Wen RuoHan have a fair trial, and certainly the cultivation world is not interested in a sympathetic take of the man who led the Wen Sect.

The mural painting Jin GuangYao has done on the stairs at Koi Tower show him murdering Wen RuoHan. Note how it’s the expression on Jin GuangYao's face, and not anything to do with Wen RuoHan, that makes Wei WuXian feel uneasy. It's because the Wen Sect as a whole are demonized that the Jin Sect is able to get away with becoming far, far worse. Jin GuangYao depicts himself as a hero slaying a monster, and it is in that manner he is able to go over a decade becoming a true tyrant whose crimes dwarfed any of Wen RuoHan's misdeeds.

Rather than only listen to Jin Sect, who had a very obvious complex toward the Wen Sect, we should at least pay attention to the people who actually treated Wen RuoHan like a person rather than like a stepping stone. In which case we must look to Wen ZhuLiu!

[Wen ZhuLiu] was protecting Wen Chao under Wen RuoHan's orders. He'd never liked Wen Chao's character to begin with. Yet, there were no worst circumstances, but only worse circumstances. Wen Chao ordered him to come protect Wang LingJiao. The woman was not only shallow and conceited but also cruel at heart, gaining much dislike from him. However, no matter how much he didn't like her, he couldn't go against Wen RuoHan and Wen Chao's orders and kill her. (Ch. 58, ERS)

Look at the personalities Wen ZhuLiu does not like. Wen Chao is arrogant and lecherous. Wang LingJiao is, explicitly stated, conceited, shallow, and cruel at heart. Wen ZhuLiu dislikes Wang LingJiao so much that he would kill her if he could!

Remember that Wen ZhuLiu picked following Wen RuoHan on his own. He picked his own master because he liked him in some manner. Before the Wen Sect fell, it was hugely popular with guest cultivators and Wen RuoHan is at the center of all that. Would Wen ZhuLiu pick a heartless master who behaved like Wen Chao or Wang LingJiao? All signs point to no. So it's safe to say that:

Wen RuoHan is not arrogant or lecherous

Wen RuoHan is not conceited or shallow.

Wen RuoHan is not cruel at heart.

And if Wen RuoHan is not cruel at heart, he wouldn’t be so cruel as to enjoy torturing people like the rumors say. And I think we have more reasons to trust Wen ZhuLiu than Jin GuangYao or the Jin Sect on this.