#NARRATIVE PARALLELS HELL YEAH

[invinciblerodent]

i decided to play just a tiny bit of my Inquisitor-as-Tav game I had lined up, and I just.... god, i love this old man

he looks so tired, and kindly, and he's a good head taller than everyone

Lae'zel is so damn tiny next to him, I think he needs to pat her head very sweetly (and then succeed a DC18 dex save to avoid getting his fingers bitten off) (it'll be worth it though, maybe it'll calm her down)

[flugame-mp3]

SEASON NINE FINALE WAS WILD. I HAVE MANY MANY THOUGHTS. WHAT JUST HAPPENED. A FUCKING ROLLER COASTER FOR SURE

[liamgallaghermpreg]

So many things about Supernatural hurt but what they did with Bela may be one of the most egregious lol

[beesantennas]

can't decide if I should make my fic ending realistic (sad. very very sad) or self-indulgent (fluff on fluff on fluff)

[david-talks-sw]

I'd say where the dissonance really starts, when it comes to the portrayal of the Jedi in more recent Star Wars stories, is the perception of what the Prequels are about.

They're not about the Jedi.

George Lucas said over and over that they're about:

How a democracy turns into a dictatorship, we see this in the background of the films, as the Republic descends into becoming the Empire.

That first theme is then paralleled with a second theme: how a good kid becomes a bad man. We see this in the more character-driven and personal exploration of Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side.

The Prequels’ focus is on Anakin and the Republic, these films are not primarily about the fall of the Jedi. In fact, I’d argue they aren’t about the Jedi at all!

And when you look at the original backstory, you’ll notice that it also primarily focuses on:

The political subplot of the Republic’s downfall and Palpatine becoming the Emperor.

Anakin’s turn and his betrayal of the Jedi. 

So, there too… the Jedi themselves aren’t really that big a part of the Prequels’ original idea. They aren't mentioned much, beyond their trying to save the Senate and getting wiped out.

The Star Wars movies aren't about the Jedi, they're about Anakin and Luke, they're about Obi-Wan and Padmé and Han and Leia, the Rebellion vs the Empire, the fall of the Republic.

They're not about Ben and Yoda and Mace and Ki-Adi and Plo Koon and Shaak Ti and Luminara.

Just like Harry Potter isn't about Dumbledore and McGonagall. Just like the Lord of the Rings isn't about Gandalf.

On a functional level, the Jedi are:

POV characters who witness the events unfold with their hands tied, they're our anchors, whose eyes we see through to see democracy crumble into dictatorship.

Embodiments/vectors of the message George Lucas wanted to get across through these movies, which is the conflict between selfishness & selflessness, greed & compassion (Sith & Jedi).

But that's about it.

However, if you ask today’s fans and Star Wars creatives, most will say the Prequels are about the fall of the Jedi Order.

This is a take shared by a big chunk of the fandom, including various filmmakers, authors, and executives involved with Star Wars, so much so that the time period the Prequel films cover has now been redubbed by Lucasfilm as the “Fall of the Jedi era”.

Which leaves us with a question... why? Why the dissonance?

My guess? It's because the Jedi are cool. They're awesome.

And deep down, they wanted the Prequels to be about the Jedi. About the Jedi Knights at their height, errant warriors like the Knights of the Round Table.

And they didn't get that. They got a bunch of diplomats serving a political institution. And that didn't make sense, right? That's not what they expected so it's bad. And it's Star Wars. It's Lucas. It can't be bad, right? So like... what were they missing?

Oh... wait... what if... that's the point? That the Jedi were supposed to be Knight Errants and being guided by the Force instead of like - ew - space ambassadors for the Republic. Yeah now it all makes sense.

The Jedi in the Prequels aren't what we wanted them to be and that's their failure! Like, it's not just that I didn't like them because they weren't likeable to me, it's that I'm not supposed to like them because the narrative totally says so--

-- it doesn't.

The Jedi preach and practice the same Buddhist values as George Lucas, mirroring what he says in interviews almost verbatim.

The relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin/Qui-Gon mirrors the dynamic between Lucas and Coppola.

The designs of the Jedi and their temple had to be toned down because they looked too bureaucratic and systemic.

This is Lucas we're talking about. "On the nose" is his middle name. He named the drug-peddling sleazebag "Elan Sleazebaggano." He ditched an elaborate introduction of General Grievous in exchange for just "the doors slide open, in walks Grievous and he's ugly."

If he had really been hell bent on framing the Jedi as elitist squares who lost their way and were mired in bureaucracy, he would've made them and the Jedi Temple look like the authorities in THX-1138.

They weren't likeable to some fans because, well, they weren't developed or shown as much as someone like Anakin. Because it's not about them. It's not their story. It's Anakin's. It's Luke's. It's their respective friends'. Or maybe it's an adversity to "perfect goody two-shoes" characters (which the Jedi are not). But hey, it's a movie for kids. Some 2-dimensionality is forgivable.

Bottom line, had more time been spent on the Jedi, had Lucas made the Prequels into a limited show and give them a whole subplot, had he decided to do away with the 30s serial dialog and let someone else write the dialog, maybe the reception might've been different.

But that's what we got. And guess what it's fine.

It's more than fine, it's fucking awesome.

I proudly and confidently say that I love the Prequels, with and without The Clone Wars.

I love my space monks, I love that they're diplomat wizards, I love that there's such a variety of them, I love that Mace is a no-bullshit guy who genuinely cares about his fellow Jedi and how screwed the Republic is, and Yoda is wise and kind but also a gremlin weirdo who'll embarass you in front of a classroom full of kids, and Ki-Adi has a penis for a head, is constantly calm and yet goes down like a champ even though they take him by surprise. I love that Shaak Ti can kung fu an army full of Magna Guards and still have the energy to charge at Grievous. I love that Obi-Wan is a sass machine who is also hilariously oblivious to the fact that he's just as terrible as Anakin.

They're awesome even if they're not perfect. They're awesome because they're not perfect.

But the movies are not really their story.

They're Anakin's. They're Luke's. They're the Republic's and the Rebellion's. And the fight against a space Nazi emperor/empire.

[boundlessentity]

Very conflicted rn. I’m glad that people are outraged at Elon’s Nazi salute and are acknowledging the Jewish voices calling this out as antisemitism. I’m glad y’all are concerned about people in power very obviously paralleling 1930s Germany.

At the same time, I’m fucking furious with all of you. For a while now, but especially the last year, Jewish people have been calling out for you to acknowledge this, to see the signs, to get upset. Antisemitism has gone through the roof. Jewish schools are getting shot at and fire bombed. Jewish business are getting graffitied. Newspapers are sharing antisemitic rhetoric blaming us for all kinds of shit. Politicians have been saying all of this exact stuff, but since there wasn’t a salute to go along with it nobody cared. Here’s the scariest part though: people are accepting this as normal.

Accepting, ignoring, and normalizing this shit is what led to the Holocaust in the first place. People talk about it as if it happened suddenly, but it didn’t. It took years to subtly ramp up the antisemitism. We asked you to care back then too, but we weren’t taken seriously. Look what happened then.

So yeah, it’s nice to see that you all care about what Elon did, but it sucks that you only listen when it suits your narrative. Let this be your wake up call. Open your eyes, get loud, get angry, and listen to your Jewish neighbors when we say that the world is going in a dangerous direction. Antisemitism is real, it’s everywhere, and it sure as hell isn’t new.

[trashyjester]

Btw, me and my friend were talking about Deadpool &(×) Wolverine bcs we both liked it a fucking lot and I'm in brainrotting and he's the only one who actually listen to me while I yap about Wade and Logan and this is what came out of it after I said that the fact that Vanessa is with someone else and Wade seems to totally respect that and he is not trying to go back with her means that they are both in new stages of their lives where they are just friends (thanks to @/charcubed for the analysis on that)

"I mean, in the ending Logan kinda acted like a wingman for Wade, telling him to talk to Vanessa, (maybe bcs he likes him but he doesn't think that he is good enough for Wade?) but yeah, Wade and Vanessa sure as hell are not back together, it's more of a "I am now at peace with you". Also Wade introducing Logan to Al had quite the romantic vibes, even though I'm not sure Logan is going to stay with him, as he said he wanted to part ways when they wasted the shawarmas (the pain I felt seeing them throwing the food...my lord lol).

But the super soft expression that Logan had while looking at Wade yapping about them and dogpool to Al makes me guess they didn't really parted ways in the end.

It's kinda left in the air. Probably left to interpretation.

It seemed like Logan wanted to go, but then you see them together and Wade introduces him to Al and they literally look like someone who is definitely gonna stay together from now on.

Wade frames it as "let's do this one last thing before you go". But Logan doesn't really have a place to go actually...

Also he's still there for the party, which I don't think happens on the same day as the Al scene.

Also also, I see a clear parallel between Logan's backstory and his current situation with Wade, in particular the whole "I didn't want them to know I wanted to stay with them", and also also also Logan said he wears his suit because it reminds him of his comrades, so the fact that it got destroyed in the finale has the clear symbolic meaning of him overcoming his grief and finally becoming part of a new group (other than being an excuse for showing off his muscles), which would also be the ending of his redemption arc, which in turn would not really sound that redemptive if he were to go back to the exact situation where he was at the beginning of the movie.

So yeah, narratively speaking, everything points to Logan and Wade staying together."

[op-dumpstertruck]

Ahh I sent that before I was done!!! Do you also have a timeline of events? I love that you jump around but it is a little confusing >~<

Oh yeah, I know, oopsie! Since I had that question a few times I'll try to give you a timeline under the cut, but I'm really not a writer:

Sanji leaves Germa as a kid, deeply insecure about being an omega. Sora tried to hide it first, but when it came out Judge was furious. It adds an extra layer of disdain he has for Sanji in this AU; but it was also the only thing that increased his value somehow, in Judges eyes. I think even as young as he was, Sanji did realise that whatever the plans were Judge might have had for him, they were.. not good at all. Omegas don't really exist on Germa, but if they do, they are seen, not heard. Even as a kid Sanji heard some really degrading, overtly sexist comments from his brothers. When he ran away, Sanji learned to hide that part of himself.

Zeff definitely knows, but he's the only one that does. Sanji is a extremly skittish kid when it comes to that, that alone has cost Zeff years of his life (he worries all the time, but they also never talk properly). Worldbuilding wise, I think male omegas are very, very rare. In the context of how the cooks talk to each other, Sanji definitely has heard a lot of very crude jokes about himself.

As old habits die hard, Sanji didn't tell the crew when he joined. With scent suppressants he easily seems like a beta - and even if they run out here and there (which he desperately tries to avoid) with all the smoking he does you can barely smell him anyway.

Zoro and Sanji happened. Neither of them expected that.

Zoro knows Sanji is an omega, probably even long before they got together, I'm not completely sure yet. He's the first one to know and is the only one that does for a long time - Kureha didn't tell Chopper on Drum Island, but he'll eventually be the next one to know.

Sanji gets pregnant (to his own horror) and has to deal with that. Because they are actually functioning quite well at this point as a couple (who would have thought) Sanji tells Zoro as soon as he suspects what's up. They find out together, but don't immediately tell the crew, since they are unsure how to proceed.

thriller bark happens and Sanji looses his mind in the aftermath for a hot minute. (he'll eventually tell the crew in the aftermath.)

close to sabody and marineford (or parallel to it) Sanji gets kidnapped. Omegas are often sold into slavery there, so the crew is on the wrong track for quite a while. As other things are happening simultaneously, and plot happens, the strawhats are sweeped up in chaos. (I might come back to those details later)

the world is made to believe that Sanji died. It is Judges doing, but the timeline plays into his hands: it fits the narrative of the navy retaliating and punishing the strawhats for both what happened at Enies-Lobby and marineford perfectly. Since the strawhats don't know about Sanjis family, they fall for it.

Kuina is born in Germas prison. Sanji does everything he can to convince Judge to keep her alive. He knows Judge has plans for him and threatens to kill himself, should Judge do anything to her. She continues to be the bargain chip through the next few years, to make Sanji to comply to do things. They don't even need to threaten Zeff here.

Sanji gets married off. It's not a happy marriage, but of big political interest for Judge. (This time, there is no one to stop the wedding.)

Kid two and three are born (I don't know their names yet).

It takes them nearly nine years, but Reiju and Sanji get Kuina out and send her on a journey to find the crew. Sanji doesn't see her for more than a year, before the strawhats are back and all hell breaks loose.

[logosbot-tm]

I'm not even a shipper but I did see a post (and several tbh) about Mumbo's death in wild life being turned into Mumbo being a rebound/replacement for Scar??? It's so weird even as a nonshipper I know Grian and Mumbo have been iconically Like That (and everybody knows it and jokes about it) for years. I'm convinced a chunk of this fanbase just skips through video

I will say that I'm not fully sure why this was sent to me, but yeah, I've seen it too. Gonna take off the shipping goggles for a hot sec.

(More below the cut...like a lot more, this ended up as a long ass ramble)

Mumbo's treatment within fandom is rather... odd, in my opinion. He gets pushed to the side a lot, he's treated as if he's pathetic (which yes, Ik that the "wet cat" thing is a joke, but when he's consistently portrayed as pathetic you start to wonder), he's treated as a replacement/rebound for Scar, Grian and his interactions are spun into being about Desert Duo (yes, I've seen this happen multiple times, its weird), disloyal, completely incompetent, and when he died he was immediately talked about as "The new canary".

Which

1) That was Jimmy's curse, why are you trying to apply it to someone else who doesn't fit?

2) No, Mumbo wasn't the first one out when the curse was first broken, that was Lizzie

Mumbo and Grian's friendship is also treated as Not As Important As Desert Duo™️. Grian being distraught about Mumbo's death? Nah, let's focus on Desert Duo being friends instead. Grian bringing Mumbo (and Skizz) back to life? Let's focus on the fact that Scar and Grian flew around together (which is cute don't get me wrong). Mumbo killing Grian after being instructed to do so? Let's talk about how this a Desert Duo parallel.

Hell, Grian and Mumbo's friendship isn't even the biggest "victim" of being twisted as only existing to further the Desert Duo narrative. The friendship that has been most affected by it (within fandom ofc), is Grian and BigB's friendship.

Which, is even odder to me. Grian and BigB have known each other for ages, Grian went and looked for BigB himself (because He Wanted To Be Secret Soulmates), Grian said in 3rd life that he didn't want to kill BigB, and the two of them have known each other for long as hell and have even travelled to Sweden together irl (wayback in like 2017).

There's a lot to say about the fandom's treatment of BigB but yeah, not what this post is about.

It's very difficult to interact with fandom content within both the Life Series and Hermitcraft nowadays. You can't escape Desert Duo or Scarian, even if you try. A lot of the time another ship tag, duo tag, or character tag ends up clogged with Desert Duo/Scarian stuff, and if you block the tag it gets filled with blacked out post saying "This post contains Scarian, do you want to see it anyway?" (<can't remember the exact wording), and often UNTAGGED Scarian/Desert Duo posts pop up in other tags, often tagged with another ship that has nothing to do with the post (<Seen this happen a few times in the Grumbo tag). The Scaridarity tag is filled with Scarian posts, which makes it hella annoying to go through/follow that tag.

And yes. Grian and Mumbo have been a duo since... 2017? 2018? Somewhere around there. They're genuinely close as all hell, having gone on a roadtrip together, and having travelled to Sweden together. They both put references to each other in their videos all the time, they have a robot son named after their (at the time) duo/ship name, and in the life series they've been on a team 2/3 times + they always base closely on Hermitcraft (more than once they've linked their bases, more than once they've had a messaging system).

But nowadays that's largely ignored/pushed to the side, and for a little while there was this odd idea about a "Grumbo divorce".

Which, yes I know it was a joke, but also...what???

On the Hermitcraft server, the Hermits doesn't interact all the time. It's literary called /Hermit/-craft. Often, this is because the Hermits are busy with their own projects, things irl, or they just don't interact. This doesn't mean that a ship is getting "divorced" or anything. Hell, it's a ship. The shipping shouldn't be your main focus when watching a video. The shipping is just something for fun.

So yeah, it was weird to see the "Grumbo divorce" jokes be made, when they're still very close, and Are Still Like That™️ about each other.

There's also this odd thing I've noticed within the fandom, where people can't let Grian and Scar do things on their own without twisting it into Scarian.

No, I promise that in the escape room video that Scar wasn't in, Grian didn't think at all about the fandom's headcanon that Scar is a vex.

All this being said, I also have to say that:

I don't hate Scarian. Does it frustrate me? Yes! Very much so.

But that's because of the fandom. I am a Scarian shipper, I enjoy Scarian, and I enjoy Desert Duo a lot. The fandom has made that experience a lot less enjoyable, because of the weird treatment of other people, because you can't escape it even if you try, because everything gets twisted into Scarian/Desert Duo all the time.

It's frustrating, because it's barely the Hermitcraft or the life series fandom anymore, it's basically the Scarian fandom.

Which, fine, I get it. Its the biggest ship, and I understand the enjoyment of it, nothing wrong with that.

But there's other people on both servers, other duos, other teams, and I promise you everything isn't about Scarian all the time.

I think that Scarian shippers/Desert Duo enjoyers mainly watch Scar's videos, with shipping goggles already on, and then they watch Grian's. They read into things that genuinely doesn't matter, all to further the narrative of Scarian. (I'm not saying everyone does this, or that they do it on purpose, but it comes across as such.)

I can't say that I haven't read too much into something because of a ship, hell, I've been here for Mumbo and Grian as a duo since before the duo even existed.

But to me it feels as if it's going a tad bit too far now.

I keep seeing more and more people get frustrated and tired of Scarian/Scarians, and I get it entirely. I see this happen from multiple corners, from multiple people.

Also, Grian and Mumbo are a duo to such an extent that the Hermits comment and joke about it, hell, even non-Hermits do that. I mean Tommyinnit straight up said "You (Grian) and Mumbo come as a pair".

I'd also like to mention the odd treatment of Grumboers from Scarian. Yes, I know that some Grumbo shippers have entered the Scarian tag just to hate on it, don't do that. Just... genuinely, don't do that, what the hell are you even doing actually.

But when Scar said that people were "Annoyed with him and Grian teaming together all the time" (Which they haven't done. They've interacted a lot, which ain't surprising. They're p good friends), there was an odd wave of posts I saw that blamed Grumboers?

I assure you, that whole thing wasn't our fault. People who've complained about that have done so in the YouTube comments, on reddit, and ofc some have done so on twitter (which is just an awful cesspool of negativity, which is why I don't use it).

It's not our fault. A lot of Grumbo shippers are also Desert Duo enjoyers/Scarian shippers. I mean, I am.

There's also this odd narrative that "Grumbo shippers never experienced this much hate when Grumbo was the biggest ship"

Which is just blatantly false.

In the past, people got hate and death threats for shipping. Didn't matter what you shipped, you got hate for it.

At the time, there was a bunch of posts, much more negatively charged than this one, where people went "This isn't the Mumbo and Grian fandom, stop treating it as such." There were a lot of posts about how Grumboers were annoying as all hell, and how we clogged tags. There were straight up hate posts being spread, often by the majority of the fandom.

Shipping with in the Hermitcraft fandom wasn't accepted at all, and Zombiecleo got bullied of off tumblr for saying that she didn't care if people were engaging in shipping.

I'm glad that shipping is accepted now, because by god it was an awful time, but don't say that "Grumbo shippers never had it this bad". We had it a lot worse. Shippers as a whole had it a lot worse. Don't pretend like it didn't happen, and don't try to act as if it's only Scarian shippers that have been hated.

In all honesty, I'm just tired of all of this. Like really tired. I'm tired of seeing everything get twisted into Scarian/Desert Duo, I'm tired of the ignorance of the fandom's past, and I'm tired of seeing hate aimed at any ship/shippers

But I do think that its time to leave the desert. It's not fun to be in the fandom anymore due to the behaviour. Sure, keep shipping, keep having fun. But for God's sake please stay in your lane, tag your things properly, and please stop trying to force Scarian/Desert Duo upon everyone.

I don't think that the hate is deserved, but everything isn't about Desert Duo.

This is most likely the only time I'll make a post like this, and I'm only making it because I'm finally fed up and tired.

Thank you for the ask.

[mimikyuno]

someone probably already made a million post about the thematic relevance of julian’s lecture to the greek clique in chapter 1 in the overall narrative, how so much of what he is saying gets mirrored at various points as the story progresses. after all, this is the lecture that made the greek clique want to perform a bacchanal.

but i just noticed this one little parallel that is making me lose my mind a bit, to be honest.

I always found it peculiar that it was bunny who answered julian here – you’d think he wouldn’t remember the latin name for the erinyes, or that someone else might have said something. yet he is very engaged right now, “his eyes dazzled”.

i think there are two main reasons why bunny is the one who mentions the furies.

the first reason relates to julian’s words before his question. from a narrative point of view, by answering, bunny gets linked to these paragraphs.

“It is a terrible thing to learn as a child that one is a being separate from all the world, that no one and no thing hurts along with one's burned tongues and skinned knees, that one's aches and pains are all one's own. Even more terrible, as we grow older, to learn that no person, no matter how beloved, can ever truly understand us.”

bunny, the one often compared to a child, already before and especially after finding out about the murder starts hurting, worrying, and quickly realizes he is the only one to feel this way. the others are not sharing in his worries. they excluded him from the successful bacchanal, henry mocked him in his diary, and no one confided in him. they hid the fact that they murdered someone from him with apparent ease. after italy, suddenly henry is all chummy with richard, and the group includes him even more – and bunny feels like no one understands him, no one is willing to. they treat him like a dumb child, and try to keep him quiet.

the second reason why I find it peculiar that bunny is the one to answer julian is to be found in julian’s segue to bunny’s answer.

the book often mentions dante, who was led through hell and purgatory by virgil. while the number of erinyes/furies is ambiguous in greek mythology, virgil, in the aeneid, mentions three: alecto (endless anger), megaera (jealous rage), and tisophone (vengeful destruction). and isn’t this the core of bunny’s behaviour prior his murder? his anger towards the rest of the group, and especially henry, at excluding him, mocking him. his jealous rage towards richard. his vengeful destruction – almost revealing what the group has done, exploding at henry, mocking charles’s drinking, deriding and belittling camilla and her relationship with charles, being cruel to francis bc of his sexuality, alienating even richard, who didn’t have much to do with any of this, by trying to expose his lies about his past and how much money he has.

in chapter 5, richard wonders how come bunny was losing his mind and turning against his friends post-murder reveal (pls ignore richard being a pretentious baby btw) and we get this amazing insight from camilla.

in julian’s own words, the erinyes/furies drove people mad by turning “up the volume of the inner monologue, magnif[ying] qualities already present to great excess, ma[king] people so much themselves that they couldn't stand it.”

and isn’t that what camilla is alluding at here? as if possessed by the furies, bunny becomes so much himself, or what he thinks the others see him as – stupid, simple, annoying, less sophisticated than the others – that he cannot bear it, no one can. it all magnifies, all that he thinks the others dislike about him, belittle him for, laugh behind his back about.

there’s also something to be said about julian asking about the erinyes/furies by their greek name and bunny answering with the roman one. when it was in rome with henry that it all started to fall apart. but yeah

[broareweabouttoviberightnow]

ok. so this is about to be a hot fuckin mess. so. I deeply apologize in advance.

one. JESUS CHRIST!! HOLY FUCK!! HEY MAN WHAT THE HELL!! so absolutely not a one of you was gonna gimme a heads up!! I just had to watch that shit n lose my goddamn MIND huh!! (kiddin kiddin love yall dearly) watchin this was real reminiscent of when I read the book for the first time which was an INSANE feelin to recapture OUGH!!

ok I DO have a few negative thoughts that im gonna get outta the way early cause I have a LOT good to say!!

I do unfortunately think the musical suffers a lot from poor pacin. so many of the songs are back to back to back with almost no dialouge or pause between which gives the story this half rushed feelin. which is a shame (even tho I love all the songs!!)

I veer back n forth between darrys characterization. I think his actor does SUCH a good time with him MOST of the time. n fact the only time I was like. hm. is when he's singin runs in the family rep n gets physical with Soda. that did not feel. right to me.

OK. enough bad!!

the narrative weavin is AOUGH SO well done good LORD I could talk FOREVER about how FASCINATIN n well done that was AOUGHHH everytime pony talks to the audience it is such a profound moment

the use of LIGHT in this show is SOO. GOD. MAN. it is SO well done.

dallas winston is. Jesus hell on wheels. he is one of the back bones of this story in a way he ain't necessarily in other iterations (ABSOLUTELY not sayin one is better then the other. after all I was a book fan first!!) but we get more context for him that we don't see in the book n movie cause those are told strictly from ponys pov. hell man. the scene where dallas finds Johnny outside n gives him the knife adds this whole new level of anguish to his suicide. he put that knife in Johnny's hands. n without him Johnny never would have killed. holy hell.

I ain't gonna talk about it again cause I already did here but. Jesus christ. soda. my baby. the way that when Johnny dies he tries to grab onto pony n pony keeps movin away? I couldn't focus on nothin else is was a HEARTWRENCHIN moment. also how he grabs darry at the end of throwin in the towel n says I need you. it's one of the only times we see soda desperate enough he reminds his brothers he's still there. he still needs to feel loved n cared for n seen.

sobbed my way through little brother n stay gold n the finale. nothin to say. no shame. next.

the set up between darry n dallas is SO intriguin to me. I was SO sat for it. I think the decision to have dallas just rolled into town a couple years ago as opposed to born n raised in tusla has so much impact on his character n how the others view him that is. just so fuckin important. darry who has always been in ponys life. who's the one who breaks his back for him. who sacrificed his dreams for his kid brother. vs dallas who rolled into town n pony immediately looked at like he hung the stars. (another delightful parallel is the idolization of Paul Newman n cool hand Luke to dallas) at the root of darrys dislike is JEALOUSY!! that he was once the one pony looked at like that!! a lot of what dallas says to darry durin there fight pricks at the fact that Dallas has been able to be all the things darry once was. aough.

sky lakota-lynch. my god. he takes such good care of johnnys character. he's so. God. man. what do I even say. how he's always rockin himself to calm down. he's got such a visceral jumpy cagey-ness to him. he's cares so fuckin much about pony man. the imagery of him n pony holdin hands n the knife between them? yeah. cool. HE WAS JUST TOO DAMN GOOD FOR GROWIN OLD. hey! I was sobbin over my laptop! rude!

MID RUMBLE WHERE PONY GOES TO HIT SOMEONE N ITS JOHNNY. OHHH. OK. KILL ME ALREADY. STUNNIN metaphor for the entire thesis of the show. right there. God.

the image at the very end of Johnny goin up to meet dallas n dallas leanin against the post. I'm SICK. good GOD. I'm gonna lose my fuckin mind.

now. a collection of lines. 'I got one of their hubcabs!!" 'do I look like Julie Andrews >:(' '544 FUCKIN PAGES' 'when you close your eyes do you see lightnin?' 'only God n the devil know what I was up to when I was 14' 'it's goldilocks n her ugly sister!!'

[puppyjt]

okay my jayessence post because they're actually so tragic. sequel to this post.

another preface: in my u, jason came to the all-caste in the lost days arc (right before issue 6 probably) as a final attempt from talia to get him to see the light basically (and ya know, not go through w utrh and killing more people). plus she knew he wouldn't be able to kill his teachers.

okay so basically. jason is brought into the all caste and absolutely no one likes him. ducra barely tolerates him. why the hell would the all-mother attempt to train a human? a human who has killed people??

he survives the cleansing and they only hate him more. they all see this homocidal human and think, this is everything the all-caste is against, the evilness of modern humanity. it goes against the traditional teachings of purity in the all caste.

essence hates him too, but it's more of a rivalary thing. her mother seems to believe in HIM more than she believes in essence, in HIS goodness, but not essence's. essence hates that, but she's also totally intrigued by this human boy.

when he begins training, she basically tutors him. they begin to talk and spend more time together, she is basically the only person in the all caste that tolerates him (apart from ducra). they bond over their relationships with their parents, being prodigies, and other things like rebirth (her being reincarnated constantly and him being brought back to life).

they begin a romantic and sexual relationship, but due to all castes puritanism, it is strictly forbidden and therefore secret. jason is also seen as ducra's son because she treats him like her own child, thus most people see jason and essence as adopted siblings (obviously they're not but they can't deny it because that would mean admitting they were in a relationship) (this comes from rh:o and that all caste member referring to them as step siblings)

to me, their relationship is very intimate. they're each others first everything. they understand each other in ways they never thought they'd be understood.

anyway, they're extremely close and essence starts to realize that she wants more out of life than just training. she hears about the world outside of the caste, and she wants to experience more than what she does just under her mothers supervision. although she still wants to fight and be a warrior of the all caste, she wants freedom too.

she goes to ducra and says, "hey i want to leave the acres and battle the untitled, i can use my connection to them to find them and end them."

ducra flips out, "no you're being stupid you're not ready. your connection to the untitled is a curse, not a blessing. i should've cleansed you a long time ago, and i was a fool for giving you that choice and allowing you to remain uncleansed."

essence is basically, "i will not succumb to your "purification", we both know im not as pure as you want me to be."

and ducra is like, yeah bitch, i know. you're fucking the human boy. he corrupted you, you've lost your innocence. and you refuse to cleanse yourself, to conform to MY standards of purity.

so ducra exiles her. kicks her out of the all caste, away from the acres. jason is devastated, but he finishes his training. then leaves the all caste and you know the rest. utrh!

now, let's talk about some parallels, contrasts and similarities between essence and jason.

-> "rebirth": essence is given a new life every time she dies. jason todd is killed and reborn in every single universe, and is pretty much implied to be unable to properly die/stay dead. they are both unable to die, there is no end to their suffering, they must keep living. they are soldiers who will fight for eternity (in their parents' war).

-> parents, rapid fire: having a parent who must be right/correct at all times (bruce because of the narrative & "batman can't be wrong", ducra because she's omniscient/knows all). the high expectations put on them. being the black sheep of their people/family. not being able to give up their "impurities" (essence literally and jason with killing) for the sake of their parent's conscience. wanting to fight their family's war but disagreeing with the methods of their parent.

-> souls/shadows: to me, essence's shadows are her soul. she has no actual soul, she hasn't been a real human in a long time. as much as i think the blood blades are fine and can work for a fun story with her and isabel, i think her smoke/shadow stuff should be her main weapon/power (at least when fighting regular stuff, while the blood blades can be used for fighting untitled).

her shadows should be the equivalent to jason's all-blades. they are both weapons using physical manifestation of their "souls."

what do/did they get out of each other?

jason showed essence freedom, rebellion, and broke the black and white view she had been taught. he showed her that life doesn't just have to be about her mother's mission, that there is a whole world outside of the all caste that she can see. he helped her realize that her powers and connection to the untitled can be used for good. he also helped her understand that killing and "immoral" acts do not define someone and that one is not evil or corrupt for committing act for the greater good (killing the untitled is not seen as really killing because they're essentially demons. killing humans is a different thing, regardless of how the human is, if they are not fully corrupt, it's not okay.)

essence showed jason rebellion too. that he can fight and kill and help people without worrying that they're innocent. that there is a way to know when someone is truly beyond saving. she also showed jason care, and intimacy that he wasn't used to. someone who would love and touch him with gentleness and without needing something from him.

they both helped each other realize that their parents way isn't the only way, and that they aren't alone in being messed up, and "impure" in the eyes of their parents. (obviously they met before jason had his confrontation with bruce, but jason knew bruce wouldn't approve of his methods already.)

anyway... i don't know if this explains them well enough, but they're very perfect in my mind (romantically or not). weird freaky looking nonhuman girl x traumatized loser human guy who has never felt the touch of a woman, save me.

i don't necessarily think they need to be in a current romantic relationship, and honestly think her and isabel would benefit from like. haunting and/or torturing him. their relationship is very much a first love kind of thing to me, but i think they still hold a lot of affection for each other and a special place in each others hearts. like they wouldn't be where they are without each other.

hope this makes sense... 😓

[sugar-crash]

🍬King Candy (Wreck-It Ralph) x (gn) Reader👑

(Picture’s not mine!)

(Request here! HAPPY BELATED HALLOWEEN!!🔑 oh yeah woo yeah oh yeah woo yeah woo yeah oh yeah oh woo woo yeah woo yeah

woo yeah woo time yeah yeah woo yea—)

- This is a hard thing for him to explain away as easily as he could with other things, for one you were the very thing he was seemingly against— A glitch—

- From another game of course but still a glitch nonetheless… So he doesn’t exactly tell anyone of your… Predicament, especially if you want to keep that to yourself considering the stigmatization of being a glitch.

- Before the incident, he comes to realize the link between your glitching and your anxiety and tries so hard to make sure most situations in his control don’t get you to that point, don’t want you to be at any level of stress so you don’t get to that point.

- But what happens when you both (more like he decides to cause… Yeah he’s an ass) finally decide to officially declare the relationship to Sugar Rush

- He knew you’d probably be angry, and a bit anxious, but not what happened— The feeling of not knowing what to do next ate him up alive at that moment to the point where he didn’t know what to do next…

- He’s used to being quick on his feet when it came to spinning a narrative, but with something like this?? How could he? So he of course calls everything off at that moment, yelling at the doughnut cops as they try to feebly protest against his order before he’s out the door in his kart to follow you.

- He can’t hide how much he cares for you at that moment, his obvious weakness for you practically screaming in his opinion as he tracks you down and comforts you— Not admitting what he did was a mistake for a while as you two talk and talk and talk until he begrudgingly relents.

- In his defense he didn’t think you’d react this badly, but he shouldn’t have expected you to have reacted positively to him doing this behind your back.

- The re-establishment of boundaries is like pulling teeth with him at this time, honestly, at any time it would be— But he must realize what he did was a complete violation of this relationship.

- It does take him time to realize the way he tackled this was godawful but you do have to give him credit, I think a part of him thought that talking it over with you would’ve caused you to panic over the paranoia of what the candy people may think of you two being a thing…

- The “ripping off the bandaid” method, something he would most certainly try to do with a situation like this. Loser.

- He’s unapologetic as all hell, something he displays throughout his appearance in the movie, but because of your importance to him, he does make a point to be there for you when it’s his fault you’re all torn out of shape and glitching all over the place.

- When you guys get back (if you’re comfortable with that), King Candy is quick to explain away your glitching as being far more “stable” in comparison to Venallope’s, therefore you should be treated properly as both King Candy’s partner and as a friend of Sugar Rush, glitch and all.

- Honestly with the candy people of Sugar Rush, I kind of see a parallel to how people are like in real life when it comes to things they consider abnormal… Take the Puritans for example, they were extreme with their attempts to get rid of sin… And people who didn’t fit the norm.

- It all ties into fear, and people like King Candy use that fear to manipulate the masses into thinking a certain way… Till it doesn’t benefit him anymore.

- Much like how the Salem Witch Trials ended, as a man of power, he may have let up on some of the stigma around being a glitch, but of course not all of it— He has to have a way to villainize Venallope after all.

- You’re his shining exception to his hate, you’re a stable glitch, something he never EVER says to your face, and he makes sure his people don’t say it either.

- He uses every trick in the book to cover his and your ass at that moment, pulling stuff right out of his ass, probably one of the most times he ever lied about something…

- That and when he got Ralph from wanting to crush him under one of those meaty paws of his to a somber hero who has to do the unforgivable for the sake of what’s good... And all that corny ass BULLSHIT.

- It isn’t exactly sunshine and rainbows beyond that either. Your outburst is something he uses as a manipulation tool later on as a thing to hold against you, it’s just second nature to him.

(Ok ykt wuwq sbcjf sbw nhiw lqwhskqr gkuwo sbwcq lqwhsckjr fjkvcjn sbwy vwqw ikqw sbhj dtrs hqs? Ok sbwy fjkv?)

[obaewankenope]

It’s wild because The Narrative was constantly all “Sam is demon-coded and Dean is Angel-coded also Dean is usually right”. Meanwhile Sam is mostly normal like 90% of the time and in the background Dean is stabbing the shit out of passerby like some kind of DnD-style murderhobo. Like, I’m supposed to believe SAM is the one constantly tempted by evil in this family? Because I sure as fuck don’t.

Fjdkrtkot anon I am HOWLING right now because YEAH THAT'S KINDA IT ISN'T IT omfg

The narrative, especially from s4, centred on Sam having 'demon blood' and being judged by the Angels as that, somehow, being The Worst Thing Ever when it wasn't even something Sam CONSENTED TO IN THE FIRST PLACE and he only 'embraced' the changes forced upon him in order to get Dean back (or just get revenge because, honestly, Sam is 10000% incapable of giving a fuck about his own life when Dean died for him and is reckless af) because Sam's whole life has been defined by him being Dean's 'little brother' and Sam is Lost™ without Dean in the world.

And then we get Dean being the 'righteous man' narrative which... If Dean is a righteous man then the moment he broke in Hell he stopped being that and instead chose to be unrighteous (which is somehow completely ignored and glossed over and yeah but he's got an Angel who favours him which means Dean is obviously the Good Brother right???? W R O N G) so, by the same metric that Sam is measured by, Dean is just as 'evil' as his little brother.

Except, of course, we THEN get the whole 'vessels' concept shoved in and for that, then Sam and Dean MUST conform to the Angels they are the vessels for.

Dean must be righteous, good, the perfect son who honours his father and is Noble.

Sam must be capricious, stubborn, disrespectful of his father, the imperfect son, the challenger, the one who will lie and manipulate and arrogantly self-assured and Wrong.

Which then makes the Free Will narrative so much fucking worse imho because Sam... Sam Sam Sam...

Sam does what he's told, follows the Plan set out by his 'father' (because Sam and Lucifer have so many parallels and struggling to submit to the commands of a father they don't understand is literally central to them both) and then wrestles control enough to RUIN EVERYTHING because Sam loves his brother, just like Lucifer loves his own siblings, but where Lucifer will still kill his own, Sam REFUSES TO.

Sam accepts the plan, finally obeys his father, but he again shows that any obedience he performs, any acceptance of his 'place' as according to others means FUCK ALL when situated against the life of Dean.

Sam loves his brother above all else, including himself, and that makes him better than any Angel, any Demon, any being because Sam has no qualms about destroying himself for his big brother.

The narrative gives us these two brothers who grew up together, raising each other, protecting one another, and trying to love and support each other in an imperfect, harsh world where their father was more absent than present. It gave us this and then presented us with a narrative foil in the form of the entire apocalypse and the Angels and God and it showed us that Sam and Dean are exactly what we should strive to be.

It throws at us the question: what matters to you more: adhering to the Will of God or loving that which is your life?

Sam and Dean are each others world. They are life to each other. One cannot exist without the other. And the show, the narrative, gives us this amazing gift of showing us that loving those who love us matters most and then it fuckin tramples on it.

Dean faces several moral quandries throughout the show, quandries that Sam faced in different ways and different scenarios, and it does Dean such a disservice because it constantly throws Dean back to the metaphorical Square One.

Dean, as the elder brother, is presented as being dutiful, as the obedient one who listens to their father and does what John expected of them. Dean is the one that, eventually, John expected to take Sam out if John wasn't there to (and isn't that fucked up, to expect a son to kill his brother and to always be both his protector and potential killer, what a way to fuck up a kid) and that sort of... expectation, that exceptionally painful obligation and duty is a horrible, cruel thing to levy upon an elder brother that loves his younger brother.

The narrative gives us that and it makes us look at it and at what John expected and it, rightly, makes us as uncomfortable as it did Dean. Then it throws some characters, like fuckin Gordon, to try and... soothe it? The whole "if our sibling becomes a monster, we have no choice, it's the merciful thing to do" when, ya know, it isn't really because, as the show then points out later: FREE WILL.

Except. Except the growth that Dean gets to experience in the narrative is shoved backwards again and again. He gets to take steps forward, to being able to exist outside the confines of what John raised him to be (a soldier, John raised a soldier, not a son, a general like Michael, a brother who he expected to be able to kill his sibling like Cain) but that growth is set in a juxtaposition with the Angels and apocalypse storyline that tries to shove Sam and Dean into the narrow constraints that the Angels have for the vessels of the two major players in Gods 'plan'.

Dean gets thrown back over and over to the starting point, to season 1 Dean who still does what dad taught 'em, thinks like dad conditioned 'em, and re-enacts how dad raised' em, because the Dean back then at least had some illusion of agency. He thought he had some control, some free will that wasn't curtailed by other, more powerful things.

The Dean of season 1 had faith in his dad and love for his brother.

Season 1 Dean was comfortable hunting monsters and ganking them because back then, it really was that simple. Monster hunts humans? Bad. Something isn't human? Monster. Simple.

As easy as basic addition.

Except.

Except it's not that simple anymore. Not after season 4. Not when Angels — the supposed good guys, the pinnacle of morality and righteousness and goodness — are shown to be flawed, damaged, even evil. Dean doesn't have an unbroken faith in his father — burned into him by the One Time he didn't listen and Sammy nearly died and sorry dad, I'll do better next time, I'll listen, I'm sorry, Sammy I'm so sorry! — and everything is messy and complicated and getting more and more complicated the longer it goes on.

So Dean falls back to a time when it wasn't complicated. When things could be and were simply black-and-white to him.

Hunting monsters. Protecting people. The family business.

And because of this, the show and the narrative make Sam and Dean look... So, so different.

Season 6 Sam, the soulless Sam, is the one that (ironically) was most like Dean and it's horrifying. It's monstrous. Because that Sam didn't care about morality, didn't care about nuance, didn't care for shades of grey. That Sam is exactly the Sam that John Winchester feared (and likely secretly wished for at times because Sam's compassion made it harder for John, and eventually Dean, to possibly 'put him down' if needed).

We get to see Dean who tries to go back to the past, to when things seemed so much simpler to him, with a Sam that emulates the things Dean wishes for and we are shown — and so is Dean — that it's not that easy. That to go back to the beginning mentality is, in itself, the most monstrous thing of all.

And then- then we get Sam with a soul back. We get Dean losing Cas who he came to care for, love, trust, have faith in because Cas is there for Dean in ways Sam can't be. And the trade off is... Messy. It's unfair. And for Dean it's harder still.

He gets his brother back and loses Cas. It's an unfair trade off and it's out of Dean's control.

So, he doubles down on trying to find control again. He does what he knows best and the softness in him, the vulnerability that only Sam — and later Cas, in his own way — was able to draw out gets locked up in a cage more secure than the one in hell. Dean makes himself colder and harsher and lets pain and trauma and grief cloak him just like their father.

Eventually, he literally gets demonified which is a hysterical bit of role-reversal for the brothers (and I'd have loved to see Sam get angelified as an extra bit of 'fuck you' because it'd have been even more poetic imho) and we see how much closer to a demon Dean has always been.

Because... Sam. Sam will do horrible things for those he loves and he'll own the consequences. He'll destroy himself for those he loves and for Dean most of all. Sam will do monstrous things and will become a monster because of his great capacity to love. It, in an ironic way, is closer to the way Angels love than anything else we see in the show because Sam extends compassion, kindness, and forgiveness to everyone (even when he doesn't personally want to). He gives so many chances to people. Heck, he even gave Lilth a choice, a chance, and although she didn't take it, he still offered it.

Dean, in contrast, is more selective and selfish in how he loves and who. He hoards his loved ones close, but he also can be so so cruel and toxic to them because he wants to keep them close and control everything so nothing can harm them. He is exacting and dictatorial in a variety of ways because Dean's love is just as bountiful as Sam's but it makes him selfish. Dean will condemn the world to avoid hurting Sam. He won't say yes no matter what because he will not be the one who kills Sam (not like that, not that way).

Dean and Sam both show how powerful love is and how, in different ways, it is also destructive.

Dean always falls back on what he knows works, time-tested, familiar patterns of behaviour and emotional expression, drilled into him by John. John who was damaged and broken by grief and rage and loss and the thirst for vengeance, revenge, and the need to understand. John who, whilst loving both his sons, resented the youngest because his wife died because of him. Logically John may have known it wasn't ever Sam's fault (and in fact, we later learn it was Mary and John's fault really, the deal that led to everything), but logic is not emotion. And that emotion absolutely affected the dynamics of their family.

Dean was Sam's pseudo-parent because John couldn't be Sam's dad the same way he was Dean's because emotionally, John couldn't move past the loss Sam's existence led to (Mary). It affected all of them and it's why, in a way, the behaviour we see from Dean post s4 is so... painful.

Because Dean starts to emulate their dad and the way John behaved and it is disgustingly obvious how toxic that behaviour was when the one doing it is Dean. And, because the show is a fuckin mess, the behaviour never really stops. Dean is so damaged, so traumatised by everything he's gone through, that he falls back on the behaviour that he grew up with and that behaviour held Sam at a distance.

It's why Sam seems so well-adjusted compared to Dean — which, tbf, Sam got to socialise with 'normal' people for a while at Stanford and Dean also raised Sam to have as many 'normal' interactions and opportunities as possible so yeah, Sam is more well-adjusted compared to Dean but it's a kinda low bar tbqh — and is partly what makes Dean reverting back to the black-and-white 'gank all monsters' mentality of John Winchester and s1 Dean so... tragic.

The show tried to portray Sam and Dean as two sides of the same coin — Sam as the rebellious, tainted younger brother: Dean as the dutiful, righteous elder brother — but the narrative itself kind of wrecked that dynamic and instead gives us two very, very damaged young men who are never given the chance to breathe, to think, to try and really heal from any of the seemingly endless amount of emotional, psychological, and spiritual wounds they gain over the duration of the sow.

The narrative, if anything, shows us that Dean was always the one most at risk of becoming a 'monster' because Dean carried upon his shoulders so much expectation, duty, and obligation, so much responsibility, that the moment he stumbled it crushed him.

Sam, in comparison, is shown to be the one who carries his own weights and shame, the guilt and the knowledge that he is the 'perfect' vessel for the devil, and who keeps shouldering more and more like Atlas because Sam... Sam is stronger than Dean. Sam is stronger because Dean put his faith in their father and had it shaken to the core of him, where Sam put his faith in Dean's love for Sam which, even at the worst points in their lives, is something Sam has always had to bolster himself with.

It's also why Dean is the only one who can (and has) hurt Sam so deeply as to leave him feeling broken. Because Sam is a little brother and all Sam ever really wanted was his big brother's approval and love — which, ironically, is what makes Sam and Lucifer perfect mirrors of each other, because Lucifer wanted the same and didn't want to be be made to love anything else more than his family, and Sam cannot love anything more than he loves Dean and doesn't pretend to, but where Sam can still love others to an endless degree, Lucifer's ability to love is a finite thing and it's why Sam, in the end, could wrestle control from a frickin archangel and throw himself into the cage because Sam loves his brother most of all.

The narrative tried so hard to make us see Sam as the dangerous one, the monster-in-waiting and Dean as the one who would do as duty demands but it failed so hard because it, as you say, made Dean seem the most unhinged of the two of them.

Ironically, if it intended to that, it did it brilliantly, but I doubt the writers were thinking that far ahead (unfortunately).

[archivedblog16]

Carmilla being opportunistic coward and a hypocrite isn't really a bad thing in theory. She's a arms dealer who doesn't want war and wants to keep her daughters safe, and YET she's solely responsible for manufacturing and selling the only items that can permakill souls all across hell with no regard to who gets their hands on them. She killed an angel to protect her daughters, but will not help fight back against them by relaying that information to anyone. Overall, Carmilla is a very self righteous person, thinking that she has the best say in any situation because she has "good motives". These are traits that could make her a compelling character whilst still having her flawed. The big problem with Carmilla is that she's never acknowledged as flawed by the story. The narrative treats her as this wise mentor figure and parallel to Vaggie. The story doesn't call out that the entire reason Heaven is having an extermination early is HER fault, and neither do any of the characters.

In a better, longer version of this story, I could see Carmilla as more of a pronounced rival to Velvette. A young, up incoming sinner/overlord looking to overturn the status quo of hell, against an older, more experienced Overlord who is trying to keep everything the same for her own self interest. Though her role was ultimately without fruit, I did like the conflict between the two in the show proper (helps that I like Respectless). Because Velvette IS correct in calling out Carmilla. Carmilla IS a self righteous person. She acts like she is better than other sinners and Overlords because she wants to protect her family, but not only does she own hundreds of sinners' souls herself (perpetuating the Overlord machine), but she's also perpetuating the market on blessed weapons, creating a power sphere of letting sinners permakill each other and other high demons. No matter how highly she thinks of herself, Carmilla is in hell just like everybody else. And I think leaning into that hypocritical, self righteous aspect of her would make her a very cool character and a good adversary for Velvette. A Sinner who became an Overlord out of necessity, who became complacent in her rule to the point where she thinks she's "too good for hell" , whilst at the same time contributing to the chaos of it in her own way like everybody else.

A true "morally gray" character.

True. You’re not wrong Anon. Her being a coward and hypocrite isn’t a bad thing, it could lead to interesting scenarios and have potential if Hazbin Hotel was a better paced show. Yeah, Carmilla never gets called out or punished for indirectly starting a war. Like you mentioned Anon, she is officially Vaggie’s mentor and gets away scott free. She’s literally chilling doing paperwork.

I’m sure we will see Carmilla and Velvette butting heads during future seasons but I will forever side with Velvette because she not only ate in the “Respectless” song but spoke major facts. Ironically enough, out of all the characters in Hazbin Hotel, Carmilla is the closest person to be “morally gray.”

[visenyaism]

hello hello . seeing as ur the adwd scholar around here. what exactly is the connection between the varamyr prologue and theon describing the dead girls + women that were hunted by ramsay as coming back as the dogs. is there even a connection. i apologise but thank u for reading this if u do <3

hell yeah there is! at least to me. So both of those are elements of what I would consider to be the central theme of a dance with dragons: the idea that the distinction between what is Right and what is Abomination is not a hard binary, but a gently sloping path that pulls you in. The boundary between the correct and the abject has dissolved because of everything that has happened in the series. (the spiral-shaped tragedy!!! the narrative bringing you around exactly back where you started and the only thing that is different is that YOU are worse!!) It’s almost winter. the world is not alive and not dead yet, but some grey clinging-on stage.

the book’s treatment of cannibalism is a big example of this: when we look at it on the outside, it’s this extreme abject societal taboo, it’s a line we do NOT cross. but for the characters in the narrative, it’s not. It’s just the thousandth moral concession that they’ve had to make to justify their own survival. The horror is in looking up and realizing that not only are you doing things that you would have sworn off as abominable, but that there was never a line to cross at all for you: it always felt justifiable. The boundary between the abject and the just is completely dissolved by circumstance.

Likewise, the boundary between what is a person and what is an animal in adwd is also just gone. We see a little bit of that with the cannibalism theme and Euron last book declaring that “men are meat.” At the start of his arc, Reek is somewhere in between a human and an animal, made that way through extreme dehumanization and violence. So I think the thing with Ramsay naming his dogs after the woman he killed is that it’s an example of the extent to which he dehumanized them. They were always just sport for him, and now they have to be sport forever because all that’s left of them after he has ripped them apart mind and body is that act of carnage. Even after they are gone, they are not at peace because through naming his gods after them Ramsay owns them forever.

I think the parallel with Varamyr is that he contextualizes his skinchanging as an act of domination, obliterating an animal’s mind in order to own its body. Which is why it is so extremely horrific when he tries to skinchange into a person. we find out he was already treating women like that, using his animals as a violent threat in order to assault them, because the important part to understand is that his violent dehumanization is not the crossing of any kind of threshold but just an extension of who he already was. Like Ramsay and his dogs, it’s a horror story about how there is no boundary between man and meat for him anymore.

TLDR: the entirety of a dance with dragons is about the collapse of the distinction between human and thing at the end of the world, which is what both of those orbit around.