#Molly Talk

[heroictoonz]

Here’s my pitch for season two like hear me out guys

[sluttyhenley]

Have you told all your truths? KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON dir. Martin Scorsese

[fuzzyhairedfreak]

um uh uh um. so. did anyone else used to follow Nate Stevenson's D&D campaign drawings back in the day or-

[athenasplan]

are we just going to ignore the fact that Scanlan is travelling with KEG?? like THE Keg?? early campaign 2 Keg who had a one night stand with Beau and left the morning after, leaving two badly spelled notes, one for Nott

And one for "Bo"

which in case you can't tell reads

"crossed out shit

more crossed out shit

even more crossed out shit

THANKS"

[nellasbookplanet]

I've been thinking about Mollymauk, as I'm periodically wont to do, and the fandom discussion about him as a moral compass. Because the interesting thing here is, Molly wasn’t a very moral character. He was an unrepentant scammer. He had no respect for interpersonal boundaries and would deliberately push and break them. Generally, he was an asshole. As far as actually having a strong moral stance I would say Fjord was the standout of early m9, and to some extent Beau.

But here’s the thing: almost all of early m9 thought of themselves as horrible people. Fjord had been bullied so bad growing up that he still dealt with self-hate from it, and now suffered from survivor's guilt to boot. Caleb had killed his own parents. Beau, while she hated her dad, also had internalized self-hate and on some level thought she’d been such a shitty daughter she deserved his treatment. Nott was stuck in a body she considered monstrous. Yasha had survivor's guilt and knew she’d done bad things in her blank spots. Even when they did good, they didn’t think of themselves as good. Most of them were suspicious and asocial and faced the world with the same kind of distrust they expected to be (and were experienced in being) met with. (Jester was an exception, an agent of neither good nor bad but of amoral chaos)

But Molly was different. He was outspoken about loving life and people. He wanted to spread joy, even to people he didnt know or had even met: he slipped coin into people's pockets, hid a silver in a tree just so some stranger would one day be happy to find it. He openly cared for the party early on; was one of the first to step in and help Caleb when he went catatonic in battle. Above all, Molly had rules: where everyone else would agonize over what was the right or wrong or smart thing to do, Molly loudly proclaimed we don't leave people behind, and we leave every place better than we found it.

But the thing about Molly’s rules was, they were largely a cover. While the rest of the m9 thought they were bad even as they did good, Molly thought of himself as good even as he did bad. He scammed people, but made it a good and memorable experience, therefore thinking he gave more than he took. He charmed Nott and Fjord without consent, and when confronted would claim it was to help them. Out of the group, Beau saw through this, not because she was a better person but because she was a cynic. She saw that he caused harm, just as she did, and was personally affronted that he still thought of himself as good and tried to leave people happy, whereas she deliberately left every place worse than she found it.

I see Molly as a moral compass of the group not because he was actually any more moral than them, but because they made him their template. He was joy and brightness and he died trying to save them because it was the right thing to do, and they all chose to honor him by emulating his rules more than Molly himself ever did, because to them it was more than just a cover, backed up by genuine moral thought and discussion rather than small gestures. He taught them that it was possible to be kind of a shit person and still be good, to still love yourself and others. The idealized Molly they created never existed, and finally died for good when they resurrected him in the end and were met with a stranger, who they welcomed with the same love and care they would've expected Molly to show them.

[messrmoonyy]

Molly correcting Arthur when he calls her Miss O’Shea to call her Molly. And is then brushed off/ ignored when she was trying to confide in him.

Molly correcting Dutch when he calls her Miss O’Shea to call her Molly. And this literally being one of the final things she says before she’s killed.

The way she just wants people to use her name and treat her like an actual human being rather than an object to sit and look pretty next to Dutch. To look at her and see her and listen to her.

In this essay I will-

[sweet-marigold]

They’re having a tea party!

She reminds him of another spider..

[wxywardsun]

My favorite thing in red dead redemption and red dead online is how the characters are HUMAN! Not just in the way they are,but in their appearances too! They have wrinkles,they have scars and smile lines and gray hair,the works. Sean is missing a tooth (albeit through a painful situation),one of Molly’s teeth in the front is slightly bigger than the other,Dutch has forehead wrinkles,Maggie in red dead online has a blind eye and a huge burn scar,a lot of the characters have crows feet too! They’re all SO human and I love red dead for that!! It’s a beautiful game with details that are still being found all these years later but the details in the characters by far are my favorite

[broodygaming]

C2 Spoilers

it drives me NUTS when people say that Taliesin and Matt decided together backstage to kill off Molly. It makes 0 sense and it's ??? just such an unnecessary rumor to spread. People on reddit often spout it like it's just a known fact. Like, as if Taliesin didn't famously complain about having to pull all nighters over a busy weekend to roll and conceptualize a new character cuz he had ZERO backup. As if Molly didn't JUST have a huge lore drop and was clearly building to be a major focus of the next branch of the story. As if Matt didn't have LOADS of lore and planning already done that he had to to redo and reconfigure to fit with the Tomb Takers going and exhuming Molly to continue their plans. Matt said he had this whole thing where Lucien was gonna show up in a different body and hunt down the M9 to kill Molly and take his old body back. He SAID that!

Idk why this drives me nuts. It just feels... almost disrespectful. Like. Y'all. Taliesin isn't a baby. He fucked up. It's okay. He made a dumb choice in the heat of the battle and doubled down and it got his character killed. Things escalated and there wasn't a healer and it's JUST as simple as that. Stop making shit up to justify something that only SEEMS LIKE IT'S ORDAINED because these people are talented story tellers. Blowing all the work they did to reconfigure the story and just HAND WAVING and being like "they planned it ahead of time" is just rude. If it all seems preplanned it's cuz Matt busted his patootie off and reweaved a frayed tapestry into a beautiful work. Happy accidents and all that. CMON.

[rewritingcanon]

i’ve seen relationship therapists and psychologists analyse hermione and ron’s relationship and conclude that they wouldn’t work out in the long run. they’ve argued for hermione to be with harry, krum, even DRACO (don’t understand how a counsellor can vow for canon dramione but alright) as an alternative partner for hermione since ron is “too insecure” to be with her and match her intelligent prowess or what have you.

i seriously don’t understand this sentiment. ron and hermione genuinely seem (almost) perfect to me, maybe not in the movies (a common denominator of people who don’t like romione is that they always cite evidence from the movies, since the films took a lot away from ron’s character and his growth), but definitely in the books.

looking at ron’s insecurities, a lot of people dredge his inferiority complex up to toxic masculinity primarily, when it was more explored how it was an effect of his home life (not gonna argue toxic masculinity wasn’t a factor, they’re teenagers in the 90s written by a pretty misogynistic woman so…). he was the youngest son out of how many children? all of his older brothers were brilliant in some way. bill was an extremely gifted spellcaster, charlie was gifted with magical beasts, percy’s academic score was unmatched, and fred and george (despite their trouble) were entrepreneurial inventor-geniuses. ron, on the other hand, was quite literally born a disappointment to his mother, who conceived him specifically because she wanted a daughter, whilst ginny was born her favourite (though, even then, ginny was gifted at quidditch). ron was mediocre in every sense of the word, and his two best friends were harry (one of the most famous wizards) and hermione (the smartest witch of her age yada yada). and i’ve seen people argue that harry was more welcomed by molly into the weasley household than ron ever was. this isn’t even mentioning the amount of bullshit he copped for being poor (people always downplay the blow to confidence being in poverty can have on a person who is constantly surrounded by people who not only have more, but look down on him for simply being unlucky as to not have what they do).

so yeah, ron was an envious kid, but he was that way not because he was an evil patriarchal conception but because he was lowkey neglected. and even then he was overall an extremely devoted and loyal friend to both harry and hermione, because he did genuinely love them.

there were many moments of ron standing up for hermione that was cut from the films, not as a guy who was romantically interested in her, but as a friend. ron arguing with snape for making hermione cry is one of my fav scenes in the books ru kidding me, and in the movies he AGREED with snape RU KIDDING ME. not to mention how ron was a sobbing violent mess when hermione was getting tortured in the last book, whereas he wasn’t nearly as bothered in the films. and the films cut out harry being a dick to ron about his familial concerns (in dh), so when ron left it seemed like a random dickish move over his jealousy towards harry and hermione’s relationship.

there’s also a million moments where they minimised ron’s usefulness in the books for comedic purposes (forbidden forest with aragog, troll scene, devils snare scene) so ron seems dumber than he is. like, he’s actually smart and a really good spellcaster…. in the books.

so simply by stating this most of the arguments against romione become void. “he’s too stupid/weak for her” simply not true. “he’s a terrible friend who doesn’t stand up for her” also not true. “he’s too insecure to have made a move on her,” yes, but given the context i don’t think people would freak on about ron’s upbringing, i think many would be more understanding, especially considering his growth. even if he wasn’t insecure, hermione is beyond incredible and is bound to make anyone nervous when pursuing her (not an excuse for ron to act like a dick, but it does explain a lot where the movies don’t). “they argue too much” they bump heads, none of the arguments they have are actually super damning, with the exception of ron leaving in deathly hallows.

maybe i’ve covered everything (excluding the abhorrent amount of classism that clouds people’s judgments around how they view ron when harping about how hermione deserves better? hopefully).

now, i know people won’t like me mentioning the cursed child, but i’m going to considering we actually get an insight of their life as a longterm married couple there. a lot of ron stans hated how ron was the only character that wasn’t doing something incredible. harry was head of the aurors, ginny was a famous quidditch player retired to a famous journalist, neville was a hogwarts professor, hermione was quite literally minister on magic. and ron…. ran the joke shop with george.

and i think this was almost the perfect route to go down for ron. because he was average, and was perfectly fine with just being average. hello?? that speaks leagues of growth for his character. he’s supportive of hermione’s work, he grounds her when she gets too caught up in being the literal president of wizarding society, and he still viciously defends her, minister or not. in fact, he’s proud to simply be known as hermione’s husband because he doesn’t feel the need to prove to anyone else his worth. the people he loves most know his worth, hermione never downplays or underestimates him, they are complete equals in the relationship in every single way that matters. they kept ron’s best qualities whilst making him seem more of a healed person. they work so well as a married couple without it seeming like mischaracterisation (not to mention the cursed child literally shows how those two are in love in every reality, so there quite literally can’t be a better partner for hermione or ron according to canon).

so i really don’t understand how professional relationship counsellors can go online and denounce it. probs because they only watched the movies, but it’s 2023 and ron stans should not STILL be fighting for their lives trying to defend him from people who simply don’t consume media with as much depth (which is fine, but one should clarify if they’re talking about the movies because i’ve seen people state they’re talking about the hp BOOKS when it’s simply just…. the films). anyways. romione on top, thanks to coming to my ted talk.

[drachen-katze]

I could not be McCoy. Like. Bro was best friends with Kirk in the academy and Kirk got him out of the lowest point in his life. He saved him by forcing him into Starfleet. And I hate to say it, but I think for a good long while it probably hurt to see and know that while Kirk was his best friend, Kirk became most definitely closer to Spock. And Bones is okay with that, he knows there’s nothing to be done about it, but I still think it stings him sometimes. Like he’s sitting and drinking alone in his room thinking about the fact that Kirk and Spock are playing chess and Kirk is smiling at this walking computer and is so close to him after such a relatively short time

I think Jim still is and always will be Bones’ closest friend, but Bones is no longer Jim’s closest friend, and he hasn’t been ever since Spock came into the picture. And I think he should be allowed to feel hurt over that.

[imwetforyourmom]

I hate bitches who hate on matt, but then go and call him, pretty and hot and whine about how bad she needs him. like come on, bsfr

[dindjarindiaries]

WE ARE SOOOOO BACK

[furbtasticworksofart]

*bear roar sfx*

[thoughtfulchaos773]

Always connecting Tiffany and Claire

Every time, Claire is brought into the picture - they connect Tiffany.

Richie and Carmy are foils to each other. As we watch Richie overcome his past and try to find purpose, we're watching Carmy go through the same thing. So, as Tiffany is to Richie, Claire is to Carmy.

Carmy and Richie give the audience the summary of their journeys. Richie is going to find purpose after Mikey's death. While Carmy is going to find enjoyment.

But they have to overcome the past to get to their end goals.

It starts with 2x01 when Carmy is looking at the photos that Richie has spread out. There's Tiffany and Claire in the photos.

in 2x03, When Richie tells his daughter he needs a break from the past. Carmy is, in the next scene, connecting with Claire.

In 2x05 Richie reunites with Claire and instantly asks about Tiffany.

And the very next episode Richie telling Tiffany about Claire and carmy

Of course, there's more in season 3. Richie and Carmy have flashbacks of them. While Carmy avoids Claire, Richie avoids Tiffany.

Until 3x09, Carmy was still stuck calling and ending things with Claire, while Richie was on the steps of officially ending it with Tiffany by accepting the invitation to the wedding.

In season 4, that leaked argument will happen after Tiffany's wedding—because that will be Richie's end of the cycle, and it will be a test for Carmy to end his past with Claire.

Jessie and Sydney, meanwhile, show signs of being part of Richie and Carmy's future.

Jessie shows Richie that she has a purpose in what she does at Ever, and Sydney shows Carmy that their passion can also be enjoyable.

Jessi and Sydney also have similar reasons to staying inspired:

Lastly- I love Carmy and Richie watching Sydney and Jessie Work:

[pistolenprinz]

relevant images for today's fuckery; not specifically just for the red dead fandom, but it seems to be a discussion that still has not relented over the course of rdr2's emergence.

and i, a queer man, am frankly tired of cishet fans and other lgbtq+ fans alike when it comes to the harassment people get from these "word of god" fans because someone said xyz character isn't cishet