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Do you think that in the time between finding the bodies and finding Viktors book, that five was holding out hope that Ben was still alive? Or maybe thinking that Ben caused the apocalypse somehow?
#Like his body wasn't there#I mean neither is viktors but he would have assumed he wasn't in the fight at all#the umbrella academy season 2 spoilers#Tua#five hargreeves#ben hargreeves
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freakuna
#jjk#jujutsu kaisen#ryomen sukuna#jjk sukuna#artists on tumblr#fanart#my art#art#jjk fanart#niftysaurus#this was sitting in my drafts forever#i've been so busy...#anyways sukuna!!! missed him#last chapter wasn't real#his hands are a little big#but in my defense i only realised this after i rendered most of it#like i drew the body hands and bg on the same layer#and then realised my mistake#better luck next time??
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phone a friend♥️
danny is a god and poor tim is trying so hard to ignore his family talking about the wedding
Tim watches Danny as the other boy gestures wildly to the art around them. It's surprising to know that Danny has never been to a art museum, claiming the small town he was from never had one.
Oh, they had small art shows and a few street markets, but nothing official like a building dedicated to art. Their teacher had announced to the class a semi-famous water color painter's work was going to be on exhibit a week ago.
She offered extra credit to anyone who would go and write a report about their experience.
Very few people cared, seeing as a majority of the student body of Gotham would go to art auctions at least once a week. Tim had been among those that didn't plan on attending, seeing as his grade were adequate enough, and he's been to the art museum often with Damian.
Then he glanced at the desk next to him, watching frost slowly form around Danny's hands as the boy read about the museum. A few seconds later, he stuffed the flyer into his backpack, the sound of snickering from further down telling Tim that some of the more annoying classmates saw how fascinated Danny was.
Knowing him, Danny would probably act like it was lame if only to save face with his classmates who didn't accept or deserve him. The frost vanished, replaced with a soft echo in Danny's voice as he muttered about how he didn't think he could afford to waste money on a museum ticket.
Tim likely wasn't supposed to hear that. He picks up the flyer, considering it with an pair of great importance, just long enough for Danny to realize that Tim was doing so before gesturing at it.
"That sounds cool. Easy extra credit. Do you want to go with me, Danny?" Tim found himself asking. Danny's entire face lit up, frost forming around the windows near him in beautifual snowflack shapes.
Thank goodness the two sat so far back in the classroom, and the winter was well underway. No one would question the frost in this environment.
That's how he found himself, wandering around the Gotham art museum with an overly hyper meta on a cold winter Saturday. They sold hot chocolate at the entrance- with strict instructions to not go beyond the ropes- and he took sips as Danny oh and ah at everything.
He tried really hard to ignore his family, who were following them room by room just outside Danny's range. They weren't even in disguises! The idiots were walking around as the Waynes but were moving in a way that made it impossible for them to "accidentally" bump into Tim and Danny.
This kind of behavior he expects from his siblings, maybe Bruce due to Danny's meta powers, but Alfred? Why had Alfred forsaken him so?
"Tim, look at this piece!" Danny calls, pointing to a very dramatic interpretation of the Black Plague in the form of a grim reaper towering over a cowering village.
Tim shoot the doorway a glare, catching the flash of one of Jason's wavings hands before he joins Danny infront of the rope. He's eyes take in every detail, every stroke, a bit breathless by how alive the paiting is.
"It's gorgeous." Tim breathes, eyes lingering on a figure atop a hill in the background. The figure has enough details that it's obvious he is also part of the story, not just the setting.
Despite his commoner clothing, he looked like an angel among the humans. The figure looked up at the grim reaper, his white hair flowing in the wind, and a gentle glow surrounding him.
His expression was remorseful but accepting of what was happening, and his beauty was almost inhuman as he watched the reaper bring the village to its knees. Tim swears he looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place the face due to its near-human features; there was just something more to it.
Tim points towards him. "I think that's supposed to be life."
Danny's eyes lock onto the glowing boy before choking on his drink. Alarm Tim pats his back as Danny coughs through the liquid. "Dude are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" Danny wheezes "Just fine. Um, when was this painted?"
There is a plaque right underneath the painting with the art detail. He squints at it before reading out loud: "Black Death's Shadow. Painted in 1886 by an unknown Goth artist. It's said that the artist was painting a story passed down through the generations of the survivors of a small village saved by the King."
Danny wheezes harder. "Wow that's crazy. It's really pretty. What-um what style would this be called? Need to write that essay for Mrs. X. "
"It looks like romanticism," Tim responded, leaning in the closer, chest now over the velvet ropes. He squits harder at the glowing figure, trying to figure out who it reminded him of. The artist was talented, but maybe they weren't able to capture the charater well based off of stories?
"Wow so cool," Danny said in a strained voice. He turns to look at his companion and is about to ask if something is wrong when a quick spark races across his shoulder blades. Surprised by the sensation, Tim jerks his shoulders, feeling as if though someone had shocked him.
He quickly glances around with his eyes, ensuring not to turn his head and witness other guests flinching at the tiny spark. A few are also looking around confused.
Did everyone just experience static electricity? At the same time? With no one touching metal or other conductors? How could that be?
Danny doesn't seem to notice Tim's puzzelment because he is staring at the painted white hair boy with a forced smile. "Why do you think this is Life?"
"Lots of things," Tim responds, tilting his head slowly to try and gather more information without tipping off whatever caused that charge. "Mostly the glow and inhuman features."
Another shock, a few people wince and another few laugh, but this time Tim saw a flash of soft sparks race across Danny's left hand, and his mouth makes a small o in realization.
Danny's meta powers were causing the static shocks. But what emotion was causing this?
"Inhuman?" Danny stammered, more sparks zapping across his hands but not strong enough that Tim could feel them.
"Yeah, he's inhumanly beautiful," Tim answered, watching in real-time as Danny's cheeks turned rosy while the sparks stopped. His hair started to fall out slowly, indicating happiness and slight bashfulness. He was acting like Tim had called him beautiful—not that he wasn't. Danny was fairly good-looking.
Huh.
Tim truned back to the painting compare it's feacture to the boy next to him and then it clicked.
Danny was the glowing boy in the painting, or more likely when using his powers. Cass did say Danny reminded her of Captain Marvel.
Now, the question remained: Was it just his powers, or was Danny physically present the day this was painted? Even further than that, was Danny there the day the painting's inspiration had happened, five hundred years before the artist painted the tale?
Was Danny unaware he was in the painting?
"Um, we should move on, yeah? I think I want to check out some of the sculptures?" Danny sputtered while tugging on Tim's hand. Without letting go his classmate dragged him out of the painting exhibits in brisk speed walk.
He definitely knows that was him. Tim thought, watching Danny's back as he let himself be led away. Does that mean I was wrong about him being a meta? Is Danny a god or god adjacent?
Meanwhile, the rest of the Waynes are crowding around the doorway of the painting hall, watching Tim and his not-human boyfriend practically run away.
"They are so cute together" Dick cooed, gestureing at where Tim seemed to not be able to take his eyes off the other. "I mean look at Tim. He's mesmerized!"
"What were they looking at?" Bruce questions, stepping into the room and standing before the painting that had Danny freezing up. "Why did this cause such a strong reaction?"
"Obviously, Father, it was due to how weak-willed Drake's courtship is. He didn't even attempt to hold Fenton's hand. Coward," Damian snips at his side, while Jason and the rest quickly follow after Tim. "I could never. I held Jon's hand the second he agreed to a romantic outing-"
"What?"
"What?"
The pair stared at each other in utter silence before Damian coughed. "We should make haste to follow Drake, least we lose him. Come along Father"
"Damian, come back here. Explain what you just said. Damian!"
#dcxdpdabbles#dc x dp crossover#Phone a friend#Part 2#Tim already been watching Danny's body language#The Waynes are treating his life like daytime tv#Jon/Damian#Dead tired#That was Danny in the past. The grim reaper wasn't the black death it was a ghost#On a mission for CW
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Holy blemishes
(Mel is my main D&D guy from @luposlipaphobya's campaign, Val Cardinal !)
#dungeons and dragons#queer art#traditional art#aasimar#trans art#scars#my art#val cardinal#some mélisande scars for you in this fine evening !! don't worry they all mysteriously healed#i don't even think he actually got all of them on his body at the same time... they healed beforehand#the star-shaped ones are the magic missiles that killed him#the long ones on his shoulder blades are his wings#and the criss-cross is actually a plan of the city that wasn't like... scarred into the skin as much as#pushed from underneath#so his party members could go find his corpse in a random alleyway :))) isn't that nice !!#anyway i can't resist some scars ahahah it'd been a while since i'd coloured some ! glad to feel like i've still got it ahah
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Shen Yuan getting transported into pidw isn't "the system punishing him for being a lazy internet hater," but instead representative of "step 1 of the creative process: getting so mad at something you decide to go write your own fucking book" in this essay I will
#svsss#scum villian self saving system#shen qingqiu#shen yuan#the fact that people think scum villain#-a series that examines and criticizes common tropes in fiction-#is somehow against criticism or being a little hater is wild to me#especially since shen qingqiu never gets punished for being a hater#heck- he's still a little hater by the end of the series#he mostly gets punished for treating life like a play and like he and the people around him are characters#(or in other words- he suffers for denying his own wants and emotions and his own sense of empathy)#I think some of y'all underestimate how much writing/art is inspired by creaters being little haters#like example off the top of my head-#the author of Iron Widow has been pretty vocal about the book being inspired by their hatred of Darling in the Franxx#I think my interpretation of Shen Yuan's transmigration is also supported by the fact that this series is an examines writing processes#side note- though i understand why people say Shen Yuan is lazy and think its a valid take it still doesnt sit right with me#i am probably biased because my own experiences with chronic pain and depression and isolation#but ya- i dont think Shen Yuan is lazy so much as he is deeply lonely and feels purposeless after denying parts of himself for 20ish years#like yall remember the online fandom boom from covid right?#being stuck completely alone in bed while feeling like shit for 20 days straight does shit to your brain#the fact that no one came to check on him + he wasn't exactly upset about leaving anyone behind supports the isolation interpretation too#+in the skinner demon arc he describes his life of being a faker/inability to stop being a faker now that he's Shen Qingqiu#as “so bland he's tempted to throw salt on himself” and “all he could do is lay around and wait for death” (<-paraphrasing)#bro wants to be doing stuff but is stuck in paralysis from repeatedly following scrips made by other people#another point on “Shen Yuan isn’t lazy” is just the sheer amount of studying that man does#also he did graduate college- how lazy can he really be#he doesnt know what hes doing but he at least tries to actively train his students#and he actually works on improving his own cultivation + spends quite a bit of time preping the mushroom body thing#+he's experiencing bouts of debilitating chronic pain throughout all this#but ya tldr: Shen Yuan's transmigration is an encouragement to write and not a punishment and also i dont think its fair to call him lazy
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deranged picnic
#obsessed with how this game manages to maintain a consistent utterly unhinged vibe for its entire runtime.#this scene is immediately followed by him receiving a letter from his girlfriend saying she's breaking up with him.#he gets the letter from an eldritch abomination in the form of his mentor's face on the body of dead dog as it turns into magic dust.#also his gf broke up with him because he wasn't returning any of her messages while he was being tortured in a dungeon for four years.#which is actually how he finds out it's been four years. he's been under the impression that it's been like. 2 weeks lol#the guy on the left is perfectly alive and monologuing the whole time.#and he happens to be the same guy that made clones of himself and went on a crusade to eat chunks of the protagonist's hair.#sighh..... crisis core my beloved........#(derogatory)#my art <3#ffvii#crisis core#oh god i forgot his scar. nobody look. don't look. you don't see shit.
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are you guys seeing this shit
#ouoohgh the parallels#like they knew right#they knew from the start these two are just the same guy ideologically speaking#because they ARE the same guy#just one got assigned a talent and the other didnt#and guess what#the guy who got the talent still doesnt think he is talented enough and resents himself#becoming a mouthpiece for the academy's harmful ideology#because its still the only worth he sees in himself#and its also the coping mechanism to him being cursed by god#which is also attributed to his talent!#vs#the guy that literally did sell himself body and soul for the academy#in order to achieve a talent#and the monkey finger curled inwards#and he became a disconnected test subject#that probably wasn't even built to last#and he on top of that was used as a bargaining chip to cause the apocalypse#like isn't that basically the good luck/bad luck cycle?#anyway#he's just like him fr fr#apoca.log#danganronpa#danganposting#sdr2#hajime hinata#nagito komaeda
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Remember: The burning sensation is part of the process.
#Mouthwashing#blood#body horror#Emphasizing here that this is in reference to a media and character and not a cry for help on my end.#Mouthwashing is one of those games that tickles my brain and checks all the boxes for my niche interests -#-but it wasn't something that got the silly comic part in my cortex firing up. My analysis brain is eating well though!#What said...It is impossible for me to see this scene and not say out loud: “Me in the middle of my work day".#While there is a lot more going on with curly I personally resonated a lot with his struggles with burnout.#Burnout feels like mouthwash to me. That you keep rinsing out your mouth trying to get rid of the rotting smell#but it's just surface level solutions. The real cure requires something far more significant to actually make a difference.#The job 'is hard' and 'everyone struggles'. It's part of the process right? You're tired? Anxious? Depressed? Us too! Chin up!#Actually I resonated with a lot of things within Curly (this is a curly positive space - he's not perfect. He's just human).#One thing being his desire to see the good in people and believe in their potential.#Because here's the thing. Some people truly do just need someone in their corner who stands by them so they can grow and improve.#And some people will take advantage of your kindness. You focus so much on their humanity while you stop being a person to them.#The horrifically toxic relationship persists because Curly tries to see the bigger picture and believes in the good within.#Anyone who has lived through constantly trying to reframe the hurt as something else knows-#-just how many excuses your brain will make to avoid cognitive dissonance. It's human psychology.#Jimmy sucks so bad. But we the audience have the privilege of not having years of baggage associating him in our minds as 'friend'.
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When River Song says that the TARDIS makes the trademark noise because the Doctor leaves the parking brake on, it implies one of two possibilities:
1. The writer hasn't watched any Classic Who, and was unaware every single TARDIS we see - including the Master's and a Timelord who's name I forget whose BODY makes the noise as he's popping in to talk to the Doctor - makes that trademark noise
2. The writer has seen Classic Who and all timelords as a collective drive their TARDISes with the parking brake on because they like the noise, which says some hilarious things about Time Lord society
Edit:
BEHOLD. A Time Lord who left his parking brake on! Don't ask where his parking brake is
#doctor who#revival who#classic who#im like 300% sure other people have said this#but i cracked up watching the master materialize with a horse trailer#and the old dude who warned the doctor about the master wasn't even in a tardis and he did the fade in and out with his body#which was hilarious!!#and i could only think of this part
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Vox pulled back with a mischievous smirk. “Like what you see?” he teased before he really looked at Valentino’s expression. His smile faded the longer he watched Valentino wrestle with his own disgust. Even through Valentino’s drug, Vox felt ashamed. He tried to make himself smaller, leaning away from Valentino as he wrapped his arms around his unnatural body. “Course you don’t,” he muttered, trying to play it off as a joke and failing miserably. He glanced around the floor for his sweater. “I mean, who would?”
Not the exact scene from today's A Gentle Touch update, but the second Vox's body was described, I knew I HAD TO draw it.
Poor touch starved baby is so ashamed of it😭💔 And Val didn't help... BUT WHEN HE & ALASTOR MAKE UP Q__Q (This IS a radiostatic fic, don't let the staticmoth fool you) PS: Here's another fanart I did for the same fic
#hazbin hotel#hazbin hotel vox#radiostatic#staticradio#voxal#my art#vox can basically turn off his skin - how awesome is that#well it would be if this wasn't horrible whump for him#EVENTUALLY MY LOVE#JUST HANG ON UNTIL THE FIXIT LIKE THE REST OF US dsjgndsgnsdg#tw body horror#ETA: since it's been revealed in a later chapter that Vox's heart is biological not mechanical#I updated the art
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Hello! If you are still taking prompts, literally anything from your flower soulmate au for Zutara 👀💜🌸
Aahhh this took quite a while but I had too many thoughts and ideas for what to draw
I went ahead and made another comic and I'm just gonna ramble for a bit qlfjlqkwqk
I think I mentioned this before, but Katara didn't like her soulmark flowers for a quite some time because they remind her too much of painful memories and her inability to protect those dear to her. So for the longest time she would pick them off her face and pretend they weren't there. It wasn't til she worked things out with Zuko that she started to accept the flowers as a part of her and she didn't feel the need to pick them anymore
#zutara#zuko#katara#atla#soulmark au#my art#art requests#katara's flowers remind her of kya's death because right before she sees her mother's dead body she witnesses how hydrangeas erupted from#the crown of hakoda's head and immediately wither away and ever since then she just associates soulmark flowers with that awful memory#when she gets the flowers on her face that don't go away it's like having a constant reminder of that memory#and a constant reminder of how she wasn't able to protect not just her mother but her soulmate as well#so the flowers make her feel like she's powerless and helpless#it's like a wound that never heals!!!#the eglantine roses are a symbol for a wound to heal!!!#the way she feels about the flowers kinda sorta parallels how zuko feels about his scar#the last comic i drew for this au it was katara's scarred hands reaching for zuko's scarred face#but this time it's zuko's flowered hands reaching for the flowers on katara's face#idk i just think that's kinda neat
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I think we should acknowledge the fact that when kai comes back from the nether-space, dude is probably not gonna be okay both mentally and physically
like, being trapped in a place like the nether-space that has so many identical shapes everywhere, basically a maze that has no way out, with no food or water for what seems like a few weeks will definitely drain him by alot. plus, if he also fights the forbidden five while in there, he'll just drain himself even more. there is no way he's gonna come back out of there without atleast being a bit tired physically and mentally
#ninjago#ninjago dragons rising#ninjago kai#nether space#levi's ted talks#I hope they acknowledge that in the show itself even if it's lightly done#like there's no way he's gonna come back out of there the way he was before he was thrown in as a sacrifice#also. it calls for great kai angst 👍#like- imagine finally getting your brother back#finally getting your mentor back#but he's not the same as before#he wasn't as energetic as before. not as happy as before. he's not *himself*. and is very tired out from everything that had happened#they got him back- but only his body#and the road to getting the kai they knew back will be a long one
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// Fortesa Latifi, The Truth About Grief //
#web weaving#we need to talk more about how Odin took away Thor's natural born Asgardian abilities on a whim#leaving him in a mortal body without the strength he's had his whole life#with no one he knew in a world he was unfamiliar with#like sure it worked out conveniently and he gained friends instantly but#the fact that Mjolnir was his weapon and he could *no longer lift it*#not really knowing of the enchantment put on it but also... that was THOR'S weapon#it was thrown in the backwater to face the same disgrace Thor got#do you wonder if Thor thought this meant his banishment was permanent#even before Loki visited him#do you think going from a coronation to being told he didn't deserve it dealt him enough damage for him to reconsider everything#do you think being out from the shade of Odin's favouritism for mere few days caused him grief#even though he wasn't sure quite what he did wrong#even though he was following the footsteps of his father#do you think it bothers Thor once he's worthy again that the enchantment is still on Mjolnir#that even though he's regained his status and strength it's at Odin's behest and can be revoked again if he wants
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Without the arm, the tattoos, and the hair, is Johnny Silverhand even Johnny anymore?
I was hugely inspired by @psuedoendotrizine and @totentnz's posts (1, 2) <3333 thank you for keeping me hyperfixated 👁👁
#au where johnny comes back but in a cloned body#maybe he'll go by robert again?#also i now realize that this looks like the sad keanu meme ☠️ it wasn't on purpose i swear#anyway the hydrangea hologram is from V and no one is gonna convince me otherwise!!!#someday i'll draw clone!Johnny getting his hair dyed lol#keanu reeves#johnny silverhand#cyberpunk 2077#cyberpunk 2077 fanart#cp77#cp2077#silverv#my art#digital art#bishiart
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"Do you have a man named Juan visiting your home this night? Tell him his brother would speak with him."
#i love toxic yaoi and galaxy brained rare ships#do you think they've explored each other's bodies?#micheletto be like if i can't rawdog my master who i'm in love with then i'll do his bro[GUNSHOT] [CAR CRASH] [FLAT LINE]#like i don't care you cannot convince me that the tension wasn't intentional i rest my case#the intense staring juan is giving to micheletto ohhhhh#honestly everyone wanna bang each other in this show#two dudes who both have homoerotic tension with cesare lol#the borgias#theborgiasedit#perioddramaedit#david oakes#cinemapix#tvarchive#sean harris#micheletto corella#juan borgia#tvedit#filmgifs#smallscreensource#by jen
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You know what, fuck it, I have to speak my truth! (this is gonna be a rant, so anyone who actually likes assassin's creed revelations and/or the secret crusade, be warned or maybe don't read this at all)
remember how altaïr talks to king richard at the end of ac1, and richard is like "[humans] come into the world kicking and screaming, violent and unstable. it is what we are. we cannot help ourselves."? and how altaïr answers "no. we are what we choose to be." and how that ACTUALLY has meaning bc he himself was "violent and unstable" at the beginning of the game but he has learned and is now CHOOSING to be a better person who cares about others and humanity at large? remember how his calmness and gentleness was something that he ACQUIRED over the course of the story?
and remember how in revelations they then suddenly had a PRE-AC1 altaïr say about the first of his targets "no man should pass from this world without knowing some kindness." and be all wise and calm and collected during a nice little chat with al mualim, who suddenly acts all fatherly? (like, this is suddenly supposed to be a positive relationship? what??)
also, during the confession the target says to altair: "you put too much faith in the hearts of men, altaïr. [...] humans are weak, base, and petty." and altaïr answers: "no. our creed is evidence to the contrary." KJASJFJDKL???? like, it’s almost insulting how close this exchange is to the one with richard. you know, the one that was actually earned after a whole game of character development. like WTF??? cool congrats now that development means nothing. like, apparently that was just altaïr reverting BACK to being the exemplary assassin who understands and believes in the creed that he was apparently just born as. (i also hate how having a young inexperienced altaïr saying this implies that altaïr's faith in humanity is a sign of naivete instead of a sign of the wisdom he has gained after being confronted with counter arguments for a whole game, and also something that distinguishes the assassins from the templars who use humanity's supposed wickedness to justify controlling them like in AC1, but whatever)
altaïr’s development in AC1 mattered BECAUSE he is not NATURALLY a good person, it actually said something about humanity's capacity for both bad AND good and how humans don't have to be forced to be good through mind control bc they can by their own free will choose to be better when taught how and when allowed the freedom to grow. but no. apparently altaïr has just always been calm, wise and gentle. and he just sort of forgot about that during AC1 bc…. ? bc of adha?? bc of abbas???
oh don’t get me started on the whole abbas thing. (it doesnt even make sense that abbas is so hung up about his father and "his family’s honor", like what about the whole point of al mualim not allowing parents to be close to their children bc it would make them weak? like, my dude, you’re not supposed to HAVE any family aside from the brotherhood)
they used the throwaway character that had like 5 lines and made him into altaïr’s main antagonist in revelations… like, abbas wasn’t supposed to be this ONE dude who had personal beef with altaïr, he was just supposed to show how while altaïr’s revered by many, a lot of his brothers also hate him, bc 1) altaïr is a shitty person at this point and 2) bc there’s no real feeling of community and family in this version of the brotherhood, but just a pervasive sense of competition and jealousy — these assassins don’t care about their goal of safeguarding humanity bc they’re too hung up on petty squabbles and divided by rivalries (you know, the things that made malik hate altaïr even before solomon’s temple and that he overcomes in the end which enables him to forgive and to reconcile with altaïr so they can work together and stop al mualim? (you ever just think about "we are one. as we share the glory of our victories, so too should we share the pain of our defeat. in this way we grow closer. we grow stronger." and cry? bc i do. all the time. malik, the man that you are))
and now abbas is altaïr’s childhood best friend turned lifelong enemy?? like, bowden bent over backwards to come up with an explanation for why altaïr is an arrogant ass at the beginning of AC1, when the explanation is right there: he was raised to kill without asking questions and was constantly praised for how good he is at murder, which resulted in him becoming arrogant and disregarding human life. like, it doesn’t have to be some shakespearean family feud type shit. and guess what, this "simple" explanation actually plays into the story’s themes, who’da thunk!
(like, abbas might not have been a "fleshed out" character in AC1, but he had a specific function and now that function is gone. mr bowden, mr mcdevitt, you know characters are allowed to simply exist to tell us something about their worlds and the systems they live in and sometimes that’s more important and also more interesting than having every single character have a detailed backstory to explain all their behaviors, right?)
with all of this revelations loses all nuance in regards to the levantine brotherhood and also the creed in general. like, altaïr being a master assassin at the beginning despite being a terrible person and not actually understanding the creed is a criticism of the brotherhood and the creed itself. like, it said something about the order that someone like altaïr was able to get that high in rank, simply bc he's good at killing, which also tells us what is considered important in the al mualim era assassin order. when you make altaïr’s arrogance the result of his personal conflicts instead of how we was raised by a brotherhood that only valued one's ability to kill, you lose that characterization of the assassin order itself!
and by suddenly making al mualim a semi good "father figure" you also downplay his manipulation of not only altaïr but all those under his care. (altaïr says something about al mualim being "as a father" to him exactly twice in the codex, but he doesn’t mean by that that he WAS a father to him, what he means is that he was the CLOSEST THING he had bc HE DID NOT HAVE PARENTS, not because his mother died in childbirth and his father was executed when he was young btw, BUT BECAUSE IT WASN’T ALLOWED, like his parents actually lived but weren’t allowed to be close to him, he says he came to view al mualim’s "weak and dishonest" love as enough and even better BECAUSE HE HAD NOTHING ELSE, BECAUSE AL MUALIM ISOLATED HIS ASSASSINS FROM THEIR FAMILIES. al mualim "loved" him bc he was good at killing people for him! hm, i wonder if this could be trying to say anything about cults and indoctrination and the inherent contradiction in fighting for peace and free will by taking children away from their parents and raising them to become killers?? like, altaïr wasn't ~the special orphan boy~ taken in by al mualim bc his father died a hero's death, it was "the way of the order" to have al mualim be the closest thing to a parental figure for everyone to ensure absolute loyalty! altaïr saying al mualim was like his father is not supposed to make you go "oh, he must have actually been a good guy for altaïr to consider him a father", it should make you go "oh that's kinda fucked up that he considers the dude who made him into a killing machine and who manipulated him a sort of father figure"!)
and then in revelations they suddenly portray that relationship as positive and healthy??? like, it would be one thing to give it some nuance by delving into the psychology behind al mualim’s "love" and maybe showing how al mualim did care about altair in a complicated, fraught sort of way (like, you know, there’s a lot of interesting things you could say about al mualim at several points addressing altaïr as "my child" in AC1 and how that parallels Garnier referring to the people he drugged and abused as his "children", and what that says about how the templars view the people who they say they want to save and in whose best interests they supposedly act (in any case, al mualim doesn’t use that phrase because he has any real parental feelings but rather to patronize and to invalidate any objections, like in a "mother knows best" way))
but they even fucking DARE to parallel that relationship with that of altaïr and darim in revelations, by having the reflection in the puddle of darim hugging altaïr showing altaïr hugging al mualim…. like their relationship wasn’t inherently abusive but just tragically cut short because al mualim was just "corrupted by the apple"… like WHAT???? so it’s not the very real problems like grooming, manipulation and indoctrination and the hierarchical structure of the brotherhood itself (all of which are antithetical to the assassin ideology), it was just the evil apple all along. great. that’s DEFINITELY a lot more interesting.
god im sorry i really dont want to spread negativity but this is driving me INSANE. like, somebody please tell me im not crazy bc i feel like somehow most of the fandom is in agreement that revelations and the secret crusade have better storytelling and characterization than ac1.
SPEAKING OF WHICH, can we talk about how, even IF we completely ignore AC1 and treat revelations altaïr as his own character…. the narrative still doesn’t really work?
basically, the whole point of his story in rev is that "he gave his whole life to the brotherhood", this obsession led to him not using his time with his family which has him ending up dying alone in a dark library and this in turn makes ezio reevaluate his life choices…. except. he doesn’t? neglect? his family? or whatever? like, his devotion to the assassins is sort of painted as this tragic flaw that leads to a lonely death bc it supposedly comes at the cost of his family, but… his wife has joined the assassins, (at least) one of his sons is in the brotherhood and even when he goes to protect the assassins against the mongols, he takes his family with him (except for the son who stays behind bc he has a family of his own and who, ironically, ends up dying bc of that)… like, you can’t describe altaïr as a good husband and father in the database and have his son tell him that "everything that is good in me began with you, father" when they say goodbye, and then want to make us believe that he put his family behind the brotherhood and that that is a character flaw that leads to his tragedy.
because you HAVE to have a character’s tragedy be the result of a character flaw. like. that is how tragedies work. otherwise it just becomes tragedy for the sake of tragedy which is… boring bc it has no purpose. and we know it is SUPPOSED to have purpose bc ezIO FUCKING QUITS BEING AN ASSASSIN AFTER WITNESSING IT!
it’s like they want to have their cake and eat it, too — they didn’t want to actually make altaïr a bad husband/father, but still wanted to make his life a tragedy where he loses his family which is why instead they outsource all responsibility to abbas who now has to be the reason for ALL the deaths.
like, they try to make at least maria’s death kind of sort of the result of altaïr’s rashness or whatever but like… these guys KILLED THEIR SON and TOLD HIM THAT ALTAÏR HAD ORDERED HIS DEATH. like, altaïr losing it in response to that is not rash, it’s fucking logical and justified! if anything the scene made me angry at maria for trying to stop him. like, GIRL, he was YOUR son too??? but god forbid we give female characters actual real emotions, she has to fill the role of "voice of reason who dies for altaïr’s man pain" i fucking guess.
like, it’s this weird mix where his tragedy is simultaneously painted as his own fault but also not really bc abbas is the one responsible for all the shit that happens. it just… it just doesn’t really go together.
the only way to make his story make sense narratively and to give it actual purpose is by looking at it in the context of ezio’s story, bc the things he sees in altaïr’s memories are supposed to be a revelation (ha!) to ezio specifically. and i guess that’s maybe the crux of it all — altaïr’s story in revelations was conceived of first and foremost to support ezio’s story and development. which is probably also why many people maybe don’t notice bc, having skipped ac1 and started with ac2, the majority of people mostly care only about ezio and only really appreciate altaïr’s story in as far as it serves to push ezio forward. (tho i’ve also seen a few people say that ezio is also written kind of weird in rev, but i’ve never really been an ezio girly myself so i can’t speak to the truth of that)
like, altaïr dying alone in the library doesn’t really have to make sense for his character, i guess, bc it’s only really supposed to be a cautionary tale for ezio.
so, i guess, for once, they actually had a MAN dying for another man’s character development, which is pretty woke actually. ubisoft, i take everything back jksdsfjhgdsahfhsdhfghfdsgjhsdgjh
#assassins creed#ac1#altair ibn la'ahad#malik al-sayf#ezio auditore#asscreed#rant#long post#this is killing me#i even started rereading the secret crusade bc i thought maybe i remember it being worse than it is#but honestly its the opposite#even just the fact that in the secret crusade altair always says some last sentence after his targets' confessions#has me so irrationally angry aksjdfh#like over sibrands body he says something like 'may death be merciful' or something#like? did they want that to be like requiescat in pace or something???#like aside from the fact that altair WOULD NOT FUCKING SAY THESE THINGS#it also just destroys the tension built up by the target's last words#like... i do think it was very much on purpose that the target always had the last word in the confessions#sigh whatever its just a stupid video game from over 15 years ago who cares#(me. i care. unfortunately. i wish i didn't. send help please.)#also the fact that bowden just completely fucked up arabic naming conventions with the whole “umar/darim ibn la'ahad” thing#(which is kind of an achievement considering that wasn't too great in ac1 to begin with)#tho bc of that they kind of inadvertantly ended up implying that roshan is altairs ancestor which i actually kind of like lol#anyways sorry for this giant wall of text#this is probably (definitely) the longest post i've ever made lmsadjf#but i do think i've gotten most of it off my chest.... maybe#maybe ill add stuff if i come across something else that makes me angry lol#sorry i know i promised an essay and instead delivered a rant#i just dont think i have the capacity to actually structure my thoughts any better kajdsf
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