#PARALLELS/CYCLES/SYMBOLISM/FORESHADOWING

[fix-me-sixteen]

op’s tags are so important

Oh and president coin. The absolute statement of having her be the one killed and snow dying by choking on his own blood. The narrative clarity of it all.

[jessmalia]

I rewatched The Avatar and the Fire Lord a few days ago, and god, what a good episode. Revealing that Zuko is a descendant of both Sozin and Roku was a genius move (and that's not even getting into the Zuko/Aang parallels of it all). But there's something the show doesn't seem to think of, and that I haven't seen anyone in the fandom discuss either — the fact that Zuko isn't the only one descendant from both these men. Azula is, too.

The conclusion of this story that Iroh presents to Zuko at the end of the episode is that he alone — because of his lineage from both men the war was started from — is uniquely capable of cleansing the sins of his family and the fire nation and bringing peace to the world. But, the thing is, there's two sides of this conflict, and therefor two sides to its legacy. The external and the personal. The legacy of the external is the war, but the legacy of the personal is the sibling rivalries that kept repeating through generations of the royal family.

Though Roku and Sozin were not actually related, they were childhood friends as close as siblings and fucking shared a birthday, so the symbolism works. We know very little about Azulon's childhood or if he even had any direct sibling rivalries like this at all, but from what I can find on his wiki page, we know that Sozin favoured him over "other family" (I'm assuming his siblings). What we know very well, however, is what happened in the next generation between Iroh and Ozai. We know Azulon favoured Iroh over Ozai, and that this likely is the initial source of their hatred for each other, which resulted in perhaps the worst sibling rivalry of them all (what with the indirect patricide and throne stealing).

Then we go on to Zuko and Azula, whose upbringing kept going in the same patterns, but the key difference is them being the first ones to both be descendant from the men who started it all. If Zuko having this lineage makes him uniquely capable of ending the cycle of war in his country and restoring balance to the world, shouldn't that mean that both he and Azula having this lineage makes them uniquely capable of ending the cycle of brutal sibling rivalries and restoring balance to their family?

This conclusion I've presented seems to fit perfectly with the lesson Aang draws from the same story as well:

"Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right? If anything, their story proves that anyone's capable of great good and great evil. Everyone, even the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation, have to be treated like they're worth giving a chance."

I know this is supposed to be foreshadowing to Aang refusing to kill Ozai later, but I can't help but think it's even more applicable to fourteen year old Azula. It's really so ironic that the show runners thought Azula deserved what she got when their own show seems to be telling them that Zuko mending his relationship with her is what he ultimately should've done.

But, then again... that does sort of make her the perfect tragedy.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Early thoughts about that ending scene. That picture of texas beside the door ? And then it kinda looming between buck and eddie on the couch? Kinda crazy

Hey Nonnie I have so many thoughts but

My brain is just playing Eddie dancing on a loop and I haven’t been able to get anything done all day - I am not complaining though he can dance on a loop in my brain all he wants 😎😂

But yes the Texas looming between them in the background was pretty interesting - it was of course there all of last season - foreshadowing Chris leaving with Helena and Ramon and also Eddie’s own ‘lone star stat-us’ (sorry couldn’t resist the pun 🤣).

The fact they’ve kept it there is very likely as a reminder of where Chris is, but it can also be foreshadowing a uncomming trip to Texas for Eddie (and maybe Buck we’ll have to see on that front) either to bring Chris home or to confront his parents and to get Chris to talk to him properly to begin to resolve their issues.

I’m interested in the two pictures on the table below the Texas picture though - one - the rectangular one is of Chris and Eddie - and it’s from season 2 - I can make out Eddie’s s2 hair! The round blue one though I can’t make out enough to be sure but I’m currently flip flopping between it being Shannon or a baby picture of Chris.

My personal preference would be that it’s Shannon because putting her between buck and Eddie and with a bright blue background and in a round picture is really interesting. That blue is a buck blue. Circles are a symbol of unity and the cycle of life - birth life and death - and also rebirth. They are also symbolic of inner peace.

So if it is a picture of Shannon there are several layers to draw on - firstly the idea that Eddie will find inner peace when it comes to shannon - and by extension she too will be a peace. The cycle of life and the rebirth aspect is especially interesting - the idea that Eddie can be reborn after Shannon - find himself and make himself whole. And finally there is the more subtle play on the paralleling of buck and Shannon and the idea that unity is achieved through that buck Shannon parallel.

Of course if it’s Chris then we get much of the same symbolism only with a slant towards Eddie and Chris finding resolution inner peace and unity - and that buck will play a part in that in some form.

I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts as my brain returns to normal operations - but hopefully those thoughts are a good starter for 10!

[fix-me-sixteen]

it is i, @the-way-astray, this is my main. that blog's still where all the interesting stuff is. i am trying to take this blog more seriously, but before i can, i have to clear out all my likes. so it may take a while.

hello, i'm stria, i use she/her pronouns. what else is there to say to about me. oh. i love the number sixteen.

banner and profile picture are both art of fitz vacker from kotlc by @/lemontarto (once again, thank you so much, absolutely devouring your style)

assorted tags i'll use, for my various purposes:

#insane post: posts that make me insane (basically analysis/meta)

#good post: posts with a good take

#wholesome post

#lh post: funny/chaotic posts

#useful post: post with useful advice

#fandom post: a post about fandom behavior in general

#story post: posts about a person's backstory, stories, or information in general

#inapplicable post: posts that don't apply to me/i disagree with but i like them/think they're good so i want them on my blog anyway

#interactive post

fandom tags formatted #[media] and character tags formatted #[character's first name] [character's last name] and #[media] [character's first name]

#SIXTEEN MENTION: a post that mentions the number sixteen

#four mention: a post that mentions the number four (which i love too)

#FAVORITE

#stria's parental issues: i vent about my parents. sorry y'all

#stria speaks: i speak (aka my own original post and not a reblog)

#legends: for posts about awesome famous people

#recommendations: usually books, sometimes other media

#polls

#animals (#cats, #snakes, #dogs, etc.)

#tumblr things

#art

#music

#writing

#news

#personal

#political

#my secret fandom: stuff about my other main's media

#PARALLELS/CYCLES/SYMBOLISM/FORESHADOWING: a post containing any one of those literary devices (usually thg)

other random shit about me:

main fandom is kotlc, i have an entire sideblog dedicated to it (@the-way-astray). if i really love something from there, i'll reblog it here. however, i also have a shit ton of posts about other fandoms saved that i need to reblog somewhere so. expect other fandoms, soon, too.

because of the mess i am now stuck in*, i don't use the like feature of tumblr anymore. it just gets too hectic for me, because when i enjoy a post, that usually means i want to be able to find it again, which is frustratingly not possible with the like feature. if i enjoy your post, it's pretty much going to be only reblogs. if i like your post, it was an accident. sorry. honestly tumblr should just hide the button from me so i don't have the temptation anymore.

i cannot reblog a post without saying something in the tags. as i said above, when i enjoy a post, i want to be able to find it again. so that's usually the reason.

i swear and use all-caps with no warning. if you desperately want that to change, tell me.

*if you aren't aware, i spent basically an entire week just cleaning out the likes of my old main because there were too many, and i still have hundreds more to sort through, it's part of the reason why i made this new main, so i'd have a place to put all my non-kotlc related liked posts.

[ilynpilled]

Gonna get into this in more depth, honing in on a specific part of the color symbolism post. This Cat quote in AGoT, where the moonlight changes Jaime’s golden armor and hair to silver, and turns his crimson cloak to a black one, might be very heavy foreshadowing:

yet she knew it was him. “Even at a distance, Ser Jaime Lannister was unmistakable. The moonlight had silvered his armor and the gold of his hair, and turned his crimson cloak to black.

The moonlight is so interesting to me. We know the moon can represent phases and change. The moon is emphasized in I believe three very key moments in Jaime’s story:

This is the first one, in Jaime II, before he loses his hand:

The night was strangely peaceful. The half-moon sat overhead in a black felt sky, surrounded by stars. Off in the distance, some wolves were howling. One of their horses whickered nervously. There was no other sound. The war has not touched this place, Jaime thought. He was glad to be here, glad to be alive, glad to be on his way back to Cersei.

It is a half-moon, I think this is a phase before a key transitional period. It is self explanatory how he is feeling here in specific. He has a clear purpose, the one thing he orients his life around (when he is not busy dissociating, doing passive suicidal ideation or seeking a chivalric death): Cersei. This is about to all crumble and change.

Then, we get a parallel passage, the one were Jaime’s drastic shift happens, after he is crippled:

Jaime lay on his back afterward, staring at the night sky, trying not to feel the pain that snaked up his right arm every time he moved it. The night was strangely beautiful. The moon was a graceful crescent, and it seemed as though he had never seen so many stars. The King's Crown was at the zenith, and he could see the Stallion rearing, and there the Swan. The Moonmaid, shy as ever, was half-hidden behind a pine tree. Why would the stars want to look down on such as me?

I talked about this before: the crescent moon can symbolize, in Celtic mythology specifically: phases, growth, and potential. Jaime is about to change drastically. It is about cycles: life & death. We can assume that it is waning if we go by the half-moon established from before. The Jaime we have come to know dies so Jaime can be reborn in the narrative. Then, in the next paragraph, Brienne stops him from passive suicide, so that rebirth can actually happen (the bath scene).

Then we have another half-moon, at the end of his ADwD chapter:

Jaime shook his head. "It would be a bloody business, and for what? These people have done us no harm. We'll shelter in the houses, but I'll have no stealing. We have our own provisions." As a half-moon crept up the sky, they staked their horses out in the village commons and supped on salted mutton, dried apples, and hard cheese. Jaime ate sparingly and shared a skin of wine with Peck and Hos the hostage.

This is another phase. This is his huge Tywin anti-parallel, what happens before he follows Brienne. It is a half-way point in his new story. Another key transition.

With the symbolism that is being followed through, it makes so much sense that it is the moonlight that foreshadows his change in AGoT.

Then we have the passage that suggests that as Jaime continues his story, he will get nearer to the blank white shield at the bottom of his page, distancing himself from the gold lion on the crimson shield at the top:

When he was done, more than three-quarters of his page still remained to be filled between the gold lion on the crimson shield on top and the blank white shield at the bottom. Ser Gerold Hightower had begun his history, and Ser Barristan Selmy had continued it, but the rest Jaime Lannister would need to write for himself. He could write whatever he chose, henceforth. Whatever he chose . . .

Then we actually see part of the foreshadowing from AGoT come to be. His gold hair starts turning silver. He is becoming pale and bloodless, as opposed to crimson & gold:

"Gold? Or silver?" Cersei plucked a hair from beneath his chin and held it up. It was grey. "All the color is draining out of you, brother. You've become a ghost of what you were, a pale crippled thing. And so bloodless, always in white." She flicked the hair away. "I prefer you garbed in crimson and gold."

The white part is also reinforced by Brienne as well:

She did as he bid her. "The white cloak . . ."

". . . is new, but I'm sure I'll soil it soon enough."

“That wasn't . . . I was about to say that it becomes you.”

My overall conclusion is the same I think, I just wanted to zoom in on this part because I think it is so meticulously delineated. I think the black cloak part could probably related to the NW atp, but I also think what I mentioned regarding greyness in that other post applies as well.

[butch--dean]

I just watched your amv, and can I just come on here and say how talented you are? The symbolism, the PARALLELS! The parallels at the beginning with Dean and Mary + Mary and Jessica were definitely my favorites, almost reminded me of a song quote I heard not too long ago. “The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself” I think! The song you also chose to edit to had a nice vibe as well, because it didn’t clash with the story being told and it just provided a nice background! The different ways you used foreshadowing, alluding to what’s to come, how different stories almost keep repeating themselves, it’s fantastic!

Create more amvs, even if only a few people share them, because trust when I say they’ll always be people out there who’ll click watch no matter how many views it has. ❤️❤️

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 thank you so much this was such a sweet message to receive!!!!!!! Really truly I appreciate this so much ♥️♥️

That quote is so real - it is always repeating! And I feel like that is one of the core tenants of the show, yknow? Like - they were doomed to repeat history from the very start. Mary was doomed, Jessica was doomed for her involvement, Dean and Sam and cas and everyone was always doomed. They had no hope of breaking free of the cycle while Chuck was still in charge!!!

Anyway thank you again for sending such a kind note 😭 I’m so glad you enjoyed it and cared enough to share your thoughts with me!!!

edited to add: here's the amv anon is talking about <3

[samanthahirr]

Oooh, 7 or 20 for the writer meta asks, please! 💜

Thank you so much for this ask, Ani! Fun Meta Asks for Writers

#7 - What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?

Oooo, this is a tough one! I did quite a bit of thinking about this topic at the turn of the year. After a lot of soul-searching, I’ve determined what I think my strengths are as a writer: I know what makes a satisfying story/plot, I can deliver strong pacing and structure and parallels and themes. I bring the unreliable narrators and surprises, and all the side characters in my stories have their own motivations. I work hard to develop tension and conflict and believable characterizations. 

But what’s probably most-distinctive about my writing “style” is economy. I sketch an environment with a couple adjectives and then move on. I drizzle in exposition only when it’s needed/relevant. I don’t stray down side-alley tangents or linger in descriptions and introspection; I keep the story moving. And my writing is (deceptively) straight-forward: similes are rare, and my prose is direct as opposed to poetic. But just because it’s direct doesn’t mean the narrator is impartial in his observations, or being honest with himself (cough * Off the Books * cough).

Also, my spelling & grammar are always ON POINT.

Would others agree? Fuck, I have no idea. Some yes, some no. Shout-out to all the readers who have commented on my believable characterizations and intense planning/plotting! Shout-out to all the readers who were swayed by my unreliable narrators’ opinionated perception of their world and ended up hating characters I didn’t mean to be hated! Shout-out to all the readers who missed my foreshadowing or didn’t understand the theme! All of these comments inspire me to try harder with the next story.

#20 - Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

I love this meta question so much! What a great opportunity to peek behind the curtain of the fics I’ve most-loved to write! A few months ago I posted a 30k hurt/comfort-and-pining story called Please Ask (for Help), and I’m really proud of the choice I made for the romance arc and the late additions I made to the story outline to develop it.

The story is set over 10 days, in which Q gets struck by an SUV on his cycling commute, and Bond cuts a mission short so he can support Q during his first week of post-surgery convalescence. Bond is already in love with Q since well-before the fic starts, and he spends those 10 days of intimate care-taking secretly pining for Q, determined to conceal his feelings from his injured coworker. 

I started writing the fic with a brisk, shallow approach to the pining, sticking solely to the present-day, taking it for granted that James Bond was simply in love. (I thought it would be a 15k story. Hah!) I wrote the opening scene of the fic, and Bond thinks to himself, “Four months ago, James would have voiced every filthy double entendre that crossed his mind.” And when I wrote that line, I knew it was a keeper…and also that I would have to eventually produce an answer for what happened “four months ago,” which meant another phase of brainstorming!

Clearly, four months ago was the moment Bond realized he was in love with Q, but what spurred Bond’s realization? Was it something dramatic—an action scene or a kidnapping or a brilliant rescue? Did Bond get jealous of Q dating someone else? Did he catch Q naked, or did Q put another agent in their place with devastating sarcasm, or did Q do something that reminded Bond of Vesper? So many classic tropes I considered. But this was going to be a quiet, soft story about building trust and embracing vulnerability, so I didn’t want anything dramatic or sudden or violent fueling the romance. 

Instead, I chose to base Bond’s love on Q’s fallibility; Q’s characterization changed to that of a man too young for his promotion, who puts up an arrogant front of unimpeachable competence around his coworkers as a defense mechanism—an aloof act so convincing that Bond didn’t even consider Q a friend for the first months of their acquaintance. Not until Bond glimpsed Q’s weaknesses, a few rare moments of embarrassment that made Q feel like a real person to Bond. Over the course of the story, I interjected four short memories, each building the backstory of what it was about Q that made Bond fall for him: Q laughing at himself over a wrong answer at a pub quiz; Q asleep and drooling at his desk; Q distractedly pouring salt into his tea instead of sugar; and Q so engrossed in his work that he doesn’t realize he’s wearing his jumper inside-out. All moments when Bond got to see the real Q behind his proud work facade, made Bond want to shield Q from embarrassment, and made Bond recognize Q as someone human and worth adoring.

So I wanted to highlight those four memories in this meta post because they add a rich history to Bond’s feelings, and it’s easy to miss some of them amid the stresses of Bond’s present-day care-taking and Q’s physical challenges. And Q’s fallibility as the source of Bond’s love juxtaposes really nicely with Q’s initial resentment and humiliation at being so helpless and vulnerable in front of 007 post-accident—a delicious irony I used to torture Bond repeatedly! But over the course of Q’s convalescence, Q grows comfortable being vulnerable in front of Bond (as Q never would have been at work), illustrating how Q’s feelings for Bond are developing. And I really love how that soft emotional story line plays out in the fic, supporting the convalescence arc and building to the inevitable get-together. 

[curiosity-killed]

Lang Qianqiu deserves more love goddammit: a post, unfortunately

This brought to you by the wonderful @veliseraptor & @/yuer on Twitter but also mostly out of spite and the fact that it’s preventing me from writing a very dumb poke-the-bear post abt the entire weird social media culture around The Minors

As always ✨SPOILERS!! SPOILERS EVERYWHERE✨

So first off: when I hit the scene where lqq confronts xl and screams “I will never be like you” I sat up in bed, did a little shimmy of delight, and hissed “fuck yes” at like 2 AM so. Now you have a preview of wtf this train wreck will be

1 ) lqq is a good character

We don’t get a ton of time with lqq because tgcf is 87 side characters running across stage with The Most Interesting Concept constantly one-upping each other before vanishing. But what we do get is, I think, enough to make a pretty compelling story: Lang Qianqiu is a kind and generous prince who is also the sole survivor of the bloody massacre of his entire family, committed by the people dearest to him (both in his belief that Gusohi Fangxin did it and in the reality of An Le’s involvement), who goes on to peacefully lead his fractious nation into a peaceful reign before he ascends as a powerful enough (aka beloved and worshipped enough) god to be ranked among the top heavenly generals. That’s like. Pretty fucking classic protagonist vibes right there.

And, as usual with mxtx’s characters, we get a lot more than this lovely little backstory. In his interactions in canon, lqq is capable of great grief and anger; he is willing to sacrifice himself if it means avenging his murdered family; and he simultaneously holds both great hatred and great respect for his old teacher. And, of course, he winds up raising and taking care of his enemy’s son which shows a remarkable depth of compassion and emotional messiness that I find terribly compelling. He struggles with a simplistic view of justice that is supported by lies told to “protect” him and that is uprooted by the truth and forces him to try to make sense of the world without the guardrails that others installed around him (looking at you mister fangxin sir).

Also I’m stealing my own tweets bc I’m Right but:

*pulls up single barstool to lqq is a good character table* I think it’s interesting & Says Things abt the continued relationship btwn lqq & xl that lqq *didn’t* recognize xl, implying that he left fangxin’s mask in place even when he went to kill him

Like here is the man who killed his family & best friend, who left him abandoned in bloodshed on his 17th bday—& here is also the man who saved his life, who taught him, who lqq looked up to & wanted to be like

Even when lqq *does* recognize xl, he still has so much respect for him paired with that hatred that it’s honestly rlly tragic? Like man. There’s so much grief in lqq’s repeated demands for a duel & insisting it’s fine if xl kills him as long as he doesn’t hold back

*pats lqq pompom* this bb is so sad. And so much more like his teacher than either of them seem to realize or necessarily want

Despite being a pretty minor character, lqq gets a lot of complexity and nuance! Look at this child trying to be grown up while desperately turning to his old master for guidance and “the truth”! Look at him! Be sad!!

2 ) lqq is an excellent parallel to xl

Okay stealing my own tweet again don’t look at me I yell the same shit everywhere

Xl didn’t want lqq to become like him (self-sacrificing, vengeful, alone) but lqq not only became alone, chasing vengeance, & willing to sacrifice himself for revenge—he also became kind, open-minded, & remorseful!! & he still clearly respects xl @ novel end 🙃🙃

We all know hc’s “they’re not very alike at all” and yeah sure baby go support your man but narratively, there’s a lot of importance given to cycles, parallels, and foils in mxtx’s writing and most explicitly (compared to mdzs, haven’t read svss) in tgcf. For example, *gestures at beefleaf, gestures at Xianle Trio vs Wuyogn Crew, gestures at Xie Lian & Jun Wu’s whole uh. Deal.* And while I’d argue xl and lqq are part of a triumvirate rather than a pair, we’re not including mister three-face in this conversation so just looking at xl and lqq:

Both adored and sheltered crown princes

Both taught by a guoshi who was seeking to prevent the repetition of their own tragedies and in their efforts, lied/omitted information and failed to protect their charge from tragedy

Both were betrayed* by their closest friends

Both are the last living members of their respective royal families

Both caught the interest of supernatural beings from a young age

Etc etc I’m getting v bored and distracted writing this so moving on

Most importantly to me, we have their betrayal by a very close and adored mentor and how they react. The confrontation I mention at the start of this shitshow is really imo one of the most important scenes in the novel because it a) illustrates the differences in xl and Jun Wu and b) sort of gives you a preview of how xl ultimately wins

So a) Jun Wu and Xie Lian both take a talented, marked-for ascension young prince under their wing. Jun Wu sees himself in the boy and obsesses over shaping him into Jun Wu’s own image in the belief that this will make him the perfect heir. Jun Wu pushes his chosen heir into situations where Xie Lian is repeatedly harmed in an effort to show that the common people are fickle and cruel and don’t deserve his compassion and care.

Meanwhile, Xie Lian is reluctantly roped into mentoring his prince due to his inability to stand aside when he feels he could do something to prevent hurt or injustice befalling another (simultaneously his great strength and great weakness! God I love him). Xie Lian tries to teach his student to believe in and care for the common people and not to sacrifice himself (see: flashback convo re:taking the force of the sword strike into his own body).

When Xie Lian refuses to bend in the shape Jun Wu demands, Jun Wu bashes his head into the wall. When Lang Qianqiu cries “I will never be like you!”, Xie Lian laughs and says “Good!”.

B) this of course feeds directly into foreshadowing! Like Lang Qianqiu’s bold words, xl ultimately refuses to become like his mentor and remains defiant even when it would stop him from being hurt. Xl beats lqq and says so what if I tricked you, so what if I lied, I still won. Naturally, xl beats Jun Wu not through standard swordplay but by using a trick he learned while forced to busk and wander the earth alone and unlucky for centuries.

…okay so I have fully forgotten what I was actually saying here! Anyway!

Like Xie Lian, Lang Qianqiu spends a time consumed with the need for vengeance, hunting his enemy and rejecting the heavens. And like Xie Lian, he winds up caring for his enemy’s “son” and trying to both comfort him and maintain what’s left of Qi Rong’s life force despite having previously been hellbent on destroying him—bc he sees the impact it has on another person. In the end, he even gives a gift to Xie Lian—his mentor, his role model, and the one who killed his father—that was once given to him as a symbol of unexpected kindness. Sound familiar?

But, importantly, and contradictory to what I have been yelling abt but whatever it’s 12:30 am, Lang Qianqiu is not a direct mirror of Xie Lian but a closing of a vital loop in the story. Lqq is very similar to xl (I will die on this hill!! Only I won’t bc I’m stronger than y’all and will keep swinging these pots and pans) but bc xl tries to do better and keep lqq from suffering the way xl has, lqq is able to have a gentler and more optimistic path forward. He’s proof that even a small act of kindness or even kindness to only one person still matters and has a ripple effect that can’t be seen when you’re in the middle of it—a thread started with xl giving the coral pearl to Lang Ying and closed with Lang Qianqiu returning the pearl to Xie Lian.

So I have no idea if any of this is coherent or compelling but I meant to be asleep two hours ago and the points are:

A) Lang Qianqiu is good actually

B) parallels!!!

C) look ive already started another wip about Lang Qianqiu and Xie Lian and I didn’t want this but no one else wrote it so now I have to so pls just accept this as a warning

*sort of air quotes around this for Xie Lian bc frankly Mu Qing was right & Xie Lian kicked feng xin out BUT on the other hand, it was experienced as a betrayal and we also again have all of Jun Wu’s shit so it evens out

[female-eren]

Okay you asked for snk opinions and here is my hot take.

Not to give Isayama any credit because I'm 90% sure he didn't do it on purpose but I actually found Ymir's connection to Mikasa and her ending pretty powerful as a message about abuse and escaping from abuse. Ymir was a fearful and nervous child who was given unthinkable power to destroy others and when Fritz enslaved her she had known literally nothing else, so my take on the whole "she was in love with the king" plot is just that she was an impressionable child groomed by a much older man who only saw her as what she could do for him. Fritz was a monster but because she had been beside him for so long she rationalised it.

So for Mikasa deciding that the man SHE loves has gone too far and become a monster and she needs to leave him and let him die to be the catalyst for Ymir realising she'd been trapped in that cycle was really cool to me, for her to see Mikasa's example and realise she could just let Fritz die, thus ending the titan line because Maria Rose and Sina were never forced to take her power.

It's like, it's almost impossible to convince women in abusive situations to "just leave", you just have to support them and show them there's a way. And every time a woman realises she needs to leave and manages to escape its a force for good in the world. Idk tb completely h I may be misremembering half the ending but that's what I took from my reading of it and it's how I like to think about it

I'm glad you see that connection and like it, because I don't. I get what you're saying about women in abusive situations but to me it just doesn't... cut it. Like first of all I feel there's too much in Eren and Mikasa's relationship that I just don't get. I'm not at all convinced they really love each other. There's no foreshadowing of what's going to happen. Mikasa has been way too uninvolved with the story for me to believe the Founder chose her, or that Mikasa is so important. She's a secondary character and for example Armin had more importance and relevance in the story. He drove the plot several times. Mikasa is just always... there, but completely reliant on other people to drive the story forward.

There aren't enough parallels between Ymir the Founder and Mikasa in the actual story for me to buy the ending. In fact, I would say both through actual symbolism in the show and the plot itself Ymir the Founder and Historia are way more connected, and the parallels between them are much more present. I might actually make a post about this in the future because I find it interesting.

I also didn't like the "love was the point all along" way of ending this story. It felt rushed and cliché, especially since this story was never about love in the first place. It never grew to become about love, the narrative was never about love. So I just don't buy it.

I also don't understand what the ending actually says about Ymir the Founder. You see, my interpretation was always that she was of course brainwashed, and after her death the "individual" stuck in the paths was not really a person anymore, just an idea. Ymir was gone, her identity erased and what was left was just the opposition between oppressive duty and desire for freedom. I actually like the idea of Ymir strongly influencing Eren, exerting her will over him so to speak. Not consciously of course but I loved the idea that her desire for freedom was so strong it sort of echoed through time and reflected itself in Eren.

But with the ending... Was she conscious the whole time? How else could she have "chosen" Mikasa? Was she conscious, wanted to be free of King Fritz, but couldn't for whatever reason?

Anyway I need to get off the bus so I might continue in a reblog, or discuss this further if you or anyone has thoughts

[heart-stomper]

Embracing the Fall, Why Anne will Fall in the Season 3 Finale

Three stars burning bright / Come from beyond to expel the night / Should they fight or embrace the fall / Their choice will determine all

Time to talk about Reunion and True Colors. Starting with the parallels between Sprig and Sasha, Grime and Marcy, and Andrias and Anne, and how their choices reflect who they are.

Anne had the Plantars by her side, but failed save Sasha. While Andrias was alone, but managed to toss out Sprig.

Sasha chose to fall to in order to protect her friend. While Andrias chose to drop Sprig in order to hurt his(Sprig’s) friends.

Grime saves Sasha. And Marcy saves Sprig.

But Grime solidifies the rift between Anne and Sasha, and only saves her due to his personal connection with her. While Marcy saves Sprig to reunite him with his family, whether or not Anne will forgive her. 

Antagonist Parallels, & the Cycle of The Plantars

Polly and Sprig both have moments where one of the antagonists (Andrias and Sasha respectively) try to kill them. Keep in mind that Anne tries to kill both Sasha and Andrias in True Colors, and that both girls have tried to off one of their biggest foils. (Grimesy if you see MarMar RUN.)

Like Andrias does to Sprig, Hop Pop is dangled over the edge by Grime. However, Grime is the one who falls.

Sprig has his own “grab the calamity box” heroic moment when he confronts Sasha. Him standing up to her serves the same purpose as Polly growing legs: showing how the Plantars have Anne’s back. 

Which means, Hop Pop might get a fake out with one of the season 3 antagonists, perhaps Anne (or one of the other girls) pretending to be loyal to the bad guys. Hop Pop will also play a pivotal role in momentarily impeding the antagonists plot. With Polly being the one who incites the final “fall”... perhaps by choosing to jump.

Refusing to Fight and Embracing the Fall 

Because you weren’t just a jerk. You also inspired us.

- Anne, The Third Temple

The companions have a lot of meanings worth exploring but I’ll just address the most relevant one to this analysis: that the girls companions give you insight into what they need to “embrace” to “repel the night”. Sasha needs the humility to let go and listen, Marcy needs to take responsibility and stop hiding, and Anne... Anne needs to be persistent about what she wants from herself and others, instead of sending mixed signals and giving in.

The power of tears, AKA love. With this bit of (what I’m assuming is foreshadowing), it’s time to talk about Anne and The Night.

The Night will be the antagonist of season 3. They are a metaphor for our darkest instincts, corrupted intentions, and our toxicity. Of our arrogance, irresponsibility, and desire to give up. The girls have a choice: continue to fight like those before them(Andrias and his friends), or embrace the fall(accept positive change). Sasha’s fall was night, Marcy’s was dusk/dawn, and Anne’s will be day. Specifically it will be the daylight that “casts out the night”, the moment all three stars burn brightest: together. The Beginning.

Symbolically, The Night can never truly be defeated because your best intentions will always be capable of harm. They’re a part of you. It’s only through shining a light on yourself and refusing to look away, through trust, time, and honesty with yourself and with those around you, that you’re capable of holding it at bay. The Night is a relationship broken. It fails to acknowledge and grow with those around it. Anne can’t defeat it alone, but she also won’t submit to it by letting it corrupt her like Andrias did.

Andrias & The Night will manage to regain the calamity powers. Anne might even die. Because what repels the night comes from beyond, perhaps in more ways than one. If Andrias turns to revenge because of the betrayal his friends? Anne will do everything she can to save her friends. She loves them. She won’t give up on them, no matter what. Not because she’s a pushover, not because she’d forgive them if they refused to change, but because she refuses to hurt them, and won’t allow herself to be consumed by hatred. Even if things look hopeless and impossible. Having the humility, responsibility, and persistence to reconcile is the only way to repel The Night. The cycle of toxicity can only be stopped if everyone is willing to embrace the fall.

So, Anne falls.

[shreddedleopard]

Thoughts on chapter 137, and why it makes complete sense and cements the themes and lessons of Attack on Titan.

I have so many thoughts, I just want to word vomit them out at a million miles an hour, but I’ll try to do this in some sort of order and not my usual chaotic mess.

Attack on Titan is about family and belonging, and THIS is the dream that Ymir was drunk on. This is ‘that scenery.’

Ymir, the founder, just wants to belong somewhere. With someone. She wants to be loved and valued as a person, not as a slave; not as someone who merely fulfils a role. In the latest chapter, Zeke explains how he failed to understand her, but Eren did.

Look at Eren’s words to Ymir in this moment, several chapters earlier:

All Ymir has ever wanted is to be held. To be loved like a person. To feel that connection because of who she is, not the role she fulfils.

Eren understands this, in contrast to Zeke, who once again tries to impose her role upon her:

Ymir has been hanging around in paths all this time, unable to fully die and let her consciousness pass on to the next world, because she needs to find this thing that she’s been searching for since the start of the story.

It’s not just about romantic love. It’s about connection. That sense of being understood and belonging with someone else, whether that be romantically, platonically, as family ... we keep seeing the same theme brought up throughout the entire manga.

Who else is a character that constantly searches for the same thing? Mikasa.

She has so many parallels and yet also opposites with Ymir. Ymir is told she is a slave, she obeys the king, that is her role. And she accepts it. Because she believes that it’s the only way to find happiness; to find this belonging she’s been craving. However, unlike Ymir, who does not truly love the king, I believe that Mikasa does truly love Eren - what form that takes doesn’t necessarily matter to me at this point. It’s just about connection.

Whether Eren feels the same, tragically for him, doesn’t matter. Because Eren knows he is destined to be the one to end the cycle of hatred and free Ymir. And that will ultimately cost him his life. That is why, when Zeke asks him what he will do about Mikas’s affections - which have nothing to do with her bloodline and everything to do with him - Eren cannot answer. That choice has sadly been taken from him.

When Eren asks Mikasa what she is to him, I think he genuinely wants to know at that point. I think he cares about her so deeply and wants to know she feels the same way, and it’s not just about him being ‘her saviour’. But as we’ve seen before, Eren cannot afford to stop for too long and dwell in the moment, because he must push on towards freedom - the freedom of Ymir and the Eldian people from the curse of the Titans.

This brings his conversation around the table with Armin, Mikasa and Gabi into a whole new light. Eren insults his friends in an attempt to push them away from him - because he knows he won’t be around to live that ‘long, happy life’ with them. So instead, he wants to push them to confront their feelings in the arms of others. He pushes Armin to really consider what Annie means to him, and for Mikasa, I believe that Eren intends her to perhaps look towards Jean, who is truly willing to give her the love she has always sought from Eren. Because again, so tragically, Eren will not be around to provide that for her - regardless of whether it’s something he wants or not. His own wishes no longer matter on the path he has been set upon.

Back to Ymir. Eren tells her, he will put an end to this world:

He doesn’t mean the human world; the living world. He means the world of paths, where Ymir is trapped, unable to let go of the souls of dead Eldians, because she’s still searching for that connection she craves so much. Her paths world is an attempt to quell that feeling of loneliness she’s been plagued with, but ironically, she’s more lonely than ever, stuck there, serving the bloodline she’s created from a place of misery and duty, rather than love.

The rumbling and the destruction of Marley is a very tragic consequence of what Eren has to do to put an end to the curse of the Titans. He’s searched for another way to no avail; we’ve seen his remorse when he apologises to Halil or Ramsey in chapter 131:

I think the anger and devastation that’s unleashed in the rumbling, is a result of the hurt and mistreatment both Eren and Ymir have felt at points in their lives.

Eren understands that to destroy the paths realm, first this devastation is necessary, because he’s seen it in his future memories, despite the conflicting feelings it’s evoked from him - he doesn’t really want to destroy humanity outside of the walls, but his own future is telling him that he must and he will. But it’s not Eren’s emotions that drive this initial destruction - it is Ymir’s. These emotions are no different in nature than the ones that Eren felt in response to Armin’s childhood bullies - that sense of unfairness and need to lash out at oppressors - but tragically, unlike Eren who in that moment of intense, irrational emotion had only his fists to vent and release, Ymir is in possession of one of the most terrible and destructive weapons there is - hordes of colossal Titans. And in that moment where Eren finally gives her that validation she has been searching for, and allows her that feeling of release from the duty she’s felt she needed to fulfil for thousands of years, Ymir releases that frustration and anger too and sends them walking.

This theme of the oppressor and oppressed switching places in an endless cycle of revenge and stealing from others what has been stolen from you is a theme that we see repeated throughout not only the AOT manga, but also soundtrack and additional content too.

Eren was right that it would be Armin that saves humanity - because Armin is the one that makes the connection in paths - he understands what is being shown to him with the leaf - and tragically, it actually highlights how, even up until the very end, Eren and Armin knew each other very well. Eren trusted Armin to make sense of what he’s had to do - even if it’s only Ymir that he understands, because while Eren is the one to give Ymir her freedom and unleash this terrible devastation, Armin is the one who must stop it.

But how does this idea of family and connection tie in to the rest of the events in the chapter, and wider manga, and what’s up with Historia’s pregnancy? And how is paths going to be destroyed, if the rumbling has been stopped and Ymir is free, but the Titans are still around?

This is where the rest of our cast fit in - namely Zeke, Levi, Historia and Reiner. If my theory is correct.

Eren gave Ymir the validation she needed and that sense of connection, freeing her from her role, and this bought that final bit of time needed for Historia to give birth to her child. Why is Historia’s child important? Because it is the ‘new dawn’ we’ve seen foreshadowed repeatedly throughout the series. The birth of a new history. And this comes in the form of a new bloodline, no longer infected with ‘parasite’ of the founding Titan.

Unlike Ymir’s bloodline, which stemmed from a place of duty and slavery - as she was ordered by the king to take ‘his seed’, and carried the parasite of the creature that bound to her within the depths of the tree, creating the paths realm and an almost purgatory type space free of death or heaven or earth or anything, Historia’s bloodline will be ‘cleaned’ because of the genes of the child’s father. And not only this, it will be born out of a moment of love and connection, rather than duty. This new combination will make it impossible for a child of the royal bloodline to become a Titan. There will be no coordinate - no link for Ymir from her paths realm to the living world, because the last link to her bloodline - a Titan with royal blood - will no longer exist.

This really brings home the gravity of the moment where Levi cuts Zeke down - he’s the last of the royal Titans, but the reader knows Historia’s baby is about to be born - will they inherit the Titan, and the cycle will re-start?

They will not. The cycle will be broken with them, because - and here’s where it gets wild - Historia’s child is not a Fritz, or a Reiss - they are an Ackerman. They physically cannot turn.

Why does all this fit in symbolically? Let me draw your attention to the genre of Seikaikei.

Attack on Titan uses this idea with our two Ackermans.

We have both endings. Eren and Mikasa, our bittersweet ending, where Eren ultimately chooses the fate of humanity over his relationships with Mikasa and Armin, and Levi, who, in a moment of selfishness, allows himself to put aside his role for a night - probably at the railroad banquet, where he was supposed to be making sure the likes of Eren and Yelena were kept apart - and indulges in this connection that he’s formed with Historia. You can read my 10 reasons post if you want to for why the heck I would think these two would form a deep bond - it’s all there in the Uprising Arc. They have been the same as Ymir - yearning for a sense of love and connection, but bound by roles neither of them asked for or particularly wanted - reluctant heroes comes to mind. Remember how freckled Ymir’s parting wish was for Historia to live for herself?

The result is an accidental pregnancy which, ironically enough, is what is going to annihilate the curse of the Titans and save the world. How poetic that the Titans will not be ‘driven out’ by hate, violence, and destruction, but instead by love, connection and new life.

Remember Kenny and Uri’s miracle?

Kenny and Uri’s chapter, ‘Friends’, was exactly halfway back into the manga. History moves in repeating cycles in AOT, and we see things change slightly each time, on this journey to freedom. At this point, the Ackermans and royals were one step away from where they needed to get to in order to build this paradise - and Levi and Historia complete the cycle by becoming ‘lovers,’ tragically, the thing that Eren and Mikasa could not become, because Eren had to undertake the rumbling and be the one to free Ymir from her sorrow and loneliness. She can make the choice now - will she fight to be reborn as Historia’s child - fight for dominance with the Ackerman bloodline - or will she concede, finally laid to rest because the cycle has been broken by two people that love one another, just like the couple Ymir saw long ago and wished for.

Remember how Eren asked Zeke whether the ackermans act the way they do from a place of duty or genuine feelings? He needed to check it was the real deal that would break the curse, and finally lay Ymir to rest peacefully, after 2,000 years of hatred and searching. She will see that her descendant, Historia, finally has what she always dreamed of. That idea of dreams pushing us onwards - Ymir’s dream is realised through Historia and Levi.

As for the parasite itself? I believe Reiner will be the one to lock it in a Crystal prison with himself, deep underground.

A new dawn will come, and a new world will be built from the ashes of the old.

[sadlizardlesbian]

Heyo, just dropping in as a RG shipper about your post asking about the nature of the ship when factoring in Oz to give my own take on the matter (though I'm sure you've received a lot of varying takes on the subject already)

From my perspective, Oz's presence and the merge being a problem/obstacle for Rosegarden is kind of the point, I think. The two developing feelings for one another but obviously being aware of how Oz/The Merge complicates things and makes a romantic relationship between them a disastrous or impossible idea (depending on your interpretation).

But... despite the circumstances Ruby and Oscar still having feelings for each other anyway? and not being able to act on or express them because it's too risky? (because Oz is present/Oscar will eventually lose himself) I mean, that's a classic recipe for some good old fashioned pining and star crossed lovers, right? Nothing explicitly romantic happening of course, like kissing or going on dates, because these poor two kids wouldn't have that luxury. Just a lot of angst and pining. Furtive glances, almost but not quite hand holding, being overly worried and protective of the other, resigned confessions of love that they believe isn't possible and have to repress (which given Ruby's mentality and denying her own emotional wants/needs seems even more likely) or keep tucked away, you know. All that stuff.

Ruby sees Oscar as his own person. Oscar wants to be his own person. Oz wants Oscar to be his own person, even if it's hammered home that the merge and Oscar losing his identity is inevitable. Volume 8 having Oscar confide in Oz that he doesn't want the merge to happen and Oz (who has experienced the reincarnation/merging process for centuries) agreeing with him that he doesn't either, just confirms that Oscar's fears are justified.

The idea that if Ruby and Oscar both had romantic feelings for one another and wanted to be together, then Ruby, if she was in love with Oscar, would want him to remain, yknow, Oscar, so she could be with him. So naturally she'd want to save him from his fate. The only way the merge/reincarnation cycle could be broken is if Oz's soul is laid to rest, which will only happen when Ozma's task of uniting humanity and summoning the Gods with the relics and convincing them of humanity's worth is complete.

And we already know Ruby and everyone will likely end up putting an end to the conflict between Salem/Ozma once and for all and end up confronting the Gods. Gathering the relics, inspiring and uniting humanity, they're already trying to do all that right now.

Rosegarden potentially adds another layer to it though, because it gives Ruby a personal incentive to end the conflict, to break the cycle and confront the Gods, not just because she's a sefless hero who wants everyone to get their happy ending, which she very much already is, but also because they'd be something she wanted for herself, too.

And wouldn't it be awfully poetic, coming full circle like that with Ruby, our main hero? When all of this began with Salem, our main villain, confronting the Gods because she wanted Ozma back? The difference of course that Ozma was dead and should be left to rest, while Oscar is alive and should be allowed to live his own life. Salem learning to be more selfless, Ruby learning to be more selfish.

And when you factor in that Rosegarden has a lot of symbolism, (Sun/Moon and Silver/Gold duality, complimentary Red/Green colour schemes) allusions, (The Little Prince and the Rose, Princess Ozma and Dorothy, The Warrior in the Woods) oppositional arcs (the Willing Hero/Reluctant Hero, Hope/Fear) tying the two together, and we've seen the two challenging one another and confiding their fears and doubts in one another, (the Dojo scene in v5, the Ironwood conflict in v7) being supportive and protective of one another, and a growing sense of respect and admiration, on top of parallels to canon ships like Bumbleby... There's a lot of set up and foreshadowing that makes it difficult to overlook or dismiss, and it seems to have the potential to really work within the narrative.

Thanks for sending this ask! It actually has a few different viewpoints from other replies I’ve received. Most people have said that oz is not really in the question, at least until the merging, so I appreciate you letting take on that being a source of conflict. I do actually adore Ruby and Oscar’s dynamic in the show, so seeing yours (and all the other replies) to the original post I made has been quite enlightening. Even if I still don’t necessarily ship rosegarden, I get it more now, so thank you and thank you to all the others who responded!

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Pax! It's wbw and I can't remember if you normally do it but here's my question to you: are there any popular pieces of media in your world? A book EVERYONE seems to know about, a song that gets played all the fuckin time, etc. Tell me about it! What made it so popular?

(Also yes I still have that One Ask you gave me last week I'm trying very hard to answer I haven't forgotten lmao)

Hi!! Happy WBW!! No worries on the delay, life happens and I don't mind waiting!! :D

I haven't thought much about in-universe media other than a couple very specific things for Millennium Saga, and one (1) semi-religious folktale with relevance for Whispers.

The first, like, fictional story that comes up in-book (for TMS) is a show that Gab is performing at the theater/circus. Flame, Ink, Glass is what I called it, but all I really know about it is that Gab's part as the secondary lead involved some acrobatics suspended in silk? And his role was probably the love interest? Storyline-wise, I have nothing.

But the tale of Tieling's journey as Chosen is an oft-repeated thing, usually backed by music. It's not totally accurate because it did not, in fact, end the way it's always presented but it is the way people are taught about who he is/what he did/what the world used to be like. And it's also a handy exposition tool for me, the author, to use for grander worldbuilding things that are deeply relevant but not immediately on the characters' minds. (e.g. the Millennium Cycle, which is a background thing that the characters know about but don't think will impact their lives at all until it's suddenly and terrifyingly relevant near the end of book one and throughout the rest of the series.)

Other than that, I've only got a couple things referenced here and there, like an in-world book called The Seasworn mentioned in Echoseers, and The Ballad of Echowind, which is a song from Tieling + Arthur's youth. Both of which are less world build-y and more symbolic (the synopsis of The Seasworn is essentially foreshadowing for a plot that kicks off in Goddess-Touched, and the Ballad mirrors Tieling + Arthur's romance, even down to romantic devotion being the downfall of the knight and the fault of the one he protects).

The folktale for Whispers, though, is actually also a short I posted back in *checks date* November of 2020. And I don't like it quite as much now as I did back then, but hey, if I end up using it in the book I'll have the chance/reason to edit it.

You can read it here, if you like - it's essentially the legend of how the sun came to be, and why people call it Hio in Emarye. It's a bit more relevant to Whispers, in particular, because the last name Greyheart is kind of equivalent in in-world media to, say, naming a character some variation of Cain, in that you're expected to kinda know the symbolism and that the character will likely fall into a very specific archetype. For Greyheart, that archetype is a tragic ending usually brought about by the consequences of digging too deep into matters not their own, and happening just before their paradise is reached.

... Needless to say, that story is also very relevant to the fact that one of the characters' aliases is Ivan Greyheart, not only because he sees what he is now as a tragic fall from what could have been, but because of my own plans for his arc.

But yeah! TL;DR: most of the in-world media I've got for the Ehlverse is legends/folktales that serve to parallel the plot of the real-life books, and anything else is set dressing for Gab's acrobat career and Dusk's bookworm habits.

Thank you for the ask!! And again, absolutely no worries with the delay on my question from last week - I have my fair share of months-old asks in my box right now, too 😅

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Okay so I mentioned in my costume meta about Chris in water cycle tee but that my look at it got a bit long. well this is the separate post for it. - I love this tee - yes I did some more hunting and found the tee - not on sale anymore, but I managed to find the full picture of the graphic which is the most important thing. 

We don’t see the full image during the scene, but wardrobe wouldn’t know that, so it’s always fair to assume that there is meaning in the whole image. All of the print t-shirts Chris wears are significant - they foreshadow so much. We’ve already seen him in tees foreshadowing, for example both his and Eddie break downs were signalled through his slippery slope shirt (the idea of something snowballing and one thing leading to another i.e Chris’s breakdown contributing to Eddies own) and the shirt with the little embroidered surfers he wore at Bucks party just before the tsunami in 3x01 foreshadowed them riding out a wave, not to mention all of the dinosaur and space themed tees and pyjamas. 

This one is no exception - in fact there is a fair amount on this tee that is making me think! There is the obvious - the circular nature of the water cycle and the idea of things coming full circle. But there is also the idea that you can only have sun if you are prepared to accept the clouds and the rain that are the suns by products. This tee also shows snow - rain in a different form - which once its fallen is often considered transformative and beautiful. Snow can also be seen as cold and depressing (especially if it is where you are not used to getting it) but the t-shirt also suggests that the sun melts that snow and returns it to water - becoming a river and flowing into the sea. 

This is yet another example of water being hinted at in season 5, and the idea that water returns to the sea when we’ve had Buck being reminded of the tsunami as his ‘greatest hit’ at the beginning of the season. not to mention that there is a shark hanging out in the ocean on the tee after we’ve had a shark rescue featuring prominently in the episode before.

The little pine trees are very reminiscent of the snow covered one Chris wore when he smashed the gingerbread house in 5x10(which was foreshadowing the accident that led Eddie to decide to leave the 118) as is the little house we see and the fact that the arrow is pointing directly at it.

Then there is a waterfall. There is a couple of things about waterfalls that has me thinking. Firstly its the play on words - it doesn’t say waterfall - it says waterfalls - like water falls from the sky as rain etc. then there is the fact that waterfalls are a vital part of a healthy water system  - they purify and oxygenate water in the most efficient way - creating nutrients and supporting a healthy ecosystem. there is also the human health benefits of waterfalls - its been scientifically proven that waterfalls are calming - they help to release negative ions in the body - reducing stress. they have long been a symbol of letting go but also play into the idea of being adaptable and if we think about dream meanings then the waterfall represents the ability to shift identity, changing and growing - usually stemming from an emotional experience or seismic change in ones circumstances (sums up Eddie pretty well doesn’t it!). 

Basically the graphic on this tee is connecting several of the threads that we’ve seen playing out over season 5 connected to Eddie and his story arc!

The other thing that waterfall made me think of - the parallel with 1x01 (thanks @copyninjakura for helping with the episode number when I couldn’t remember) So this actually got away from me a bit and turned into something beyond my initial plan to point out a fun little potential parallels and well, I’ve gone full clown here, but I don’t care and I had fun and I do think its a bit relevant!!!

Athena; All right. No heroics. Don’t go chasing waterfalls.

Buck; I don’t know what that means

Athena; Nobody thought you would.

There are a couple of things about this scene and those 3 lines that has made me convinced it has been chosen by the writers room to come back into play this season (as we seem to be paralleling S3 and 1 hard iso far!) and have therefore gained new meanings. This whole scene is the moment that Athena begins to understand and appreciate Buck, its the moment when he gains her respect so its already important in the grand scheme of things. ‘no heroics’ - hello to the belief that Athena has at that moment that Buck has a very healthy hero complex and that its reckless. And when we have an episode titled hero complex in season 5 - the season when we’ve already had a call back to S1 Buck and his struggle with losing someone on the job - that you can’t save them all (it s a very hero like mentality; to think that you can save everyone!) with I am very 

Sure at the time the line ‘don’t go chasing waterfalls’ was a fun reference to pop culture that Buck would be too young to understand, but like ‘No heroics’ it also plays into who Athena this Buck is at that point in time - that he willingly goes chasing waterfalls - which is reckless and can get you killed (think of people taking risks, seeking adrenaline by riding waterfalls!) and again plays into the hero complex idea.

The thing is though - Buck is the one that finds the solution - he literally makes a waterfall to solve the problem and stop the bad guy from getting away. If you look at that scene as a whole - it actually has a fair few parallels with what we’ve been seeing in s5. Theres dispatch (Abby) being on the phone - preventing the situation from getting worse by providing information to Petey so he can ‘escape’ - only its a trap - parallels rather nicely with 5x11 and the speed rescue - Eddie being on the phone providing information that helps with the rescue (because it would’ve blown up before everyone was safe if he hadn’t) 

There’s the family of three moving into a new house - starting a new chapter of their life (especially as its implied they moved from out of the area), then when the trouble starts the kid leaves the relative safety of her bedroom. She’s scared and her parents not being present parallel with Christopher calling Buck for help when he’s scared and Eddie isn’t ‘present’ not to mention the locked doors - girl is locked in a closet and can’t get out while Chris is locked out of the room and can’t get in and the fact that both kids are on their phone getting help!!

And finally we have the role Buck plays in the rescue - he is in civies, but he’s in the fire truck (4x13 parallel), he is the one who spots the bike that helps them locate the right house, he knows there is something going on inside, but he just stays outside and observes - relaying information and letting the cogs in his brain turn. When he is then faced with needing to step in and help Buck grabs Emma (the mom) before she can get into the house and into the path of danger, but he also comes up with the solution - he doesn’t chase the waterfall - he makes the waterfall. Knocking Petey off his bike and stopping his getaway in its tracks (don’t even get me started on the Buck and Athena and bikes and stopping parallels that would need to be a whole other post!!). 

Season 5 Buck had spotted the problems Eddie was going through (the bike) and we see him observing Eddie and making comments to push him a little but not actively getting involved because he knew it wasn’t his place at that time (observing and collecting information) then he does chose to step in and offer advice - (the Ana of it all) but continues watching - He sees where Eddie is at - sees the warning signs of breakdown coming (you don’t have to pretend with me Eddie) but doesn’t have a solution at that moment (Petey making his initial get away on the bike before turning around because the roads s blocked) but as soon as the breakdown happens and he can step in (petey firing at Athena) he is there to support and he figures it out (uses the water canon) -  getting Eddie and Chris what they need - he makes them the waterfall that will enable them to re oxygenate and create a healthy thriving eco system (that he is an integral part of)

Then finally there is the tie into 5x14 and Buck misunderstanding the assignment paralleling with him not understanding the meaning of ‘don’t go chasing waterfalls’. He took that line and used it to his advantage - he connected the dots and made the waterfall instead of chasing it. just as he probably didn’t misunderstand the assignment, he connected some dots and used the assignment to his advantage - he made Eddie (and probably Christopher) smile - those moments of light heartedness are everything when you’re as low as Eddie - they can give you the little lift you need to keep on climbing the mountain - Buck understood the assignment perfectly!

[beautifulterriblequeen]

B2:S - Chapter 3

Much of this series will be about the differences and additions in the novel version, and how they contribute to my understanding of story canon. But there will be character appreciation, the odd theory and headcanon, and suchlike as well.

Here be Lujanne, Callum, Rayla, Ezran, Bait, and Soren goodness!

Spoilers for Book Two: Sky below.

Lujanne having excellent fitness for all her walking around the Moon Nexus, and she's so energetic that Callum has trouble keeping up with her! She seems like those active grandmas who almost never stop moving, who have a lifelong supply of endless stamina. It makes me wonder if Lujanne will need that level of fitness for some upcoming conflict.

Callum feeling really hungry over not eating grubs and then still deciding he'd rather be hungry. It makes me wonder all over again how Lujanne got to the point where she eats grubs, considering that other Moonshadow elves we know of back in the Silvergrove don't. I still love my hc that the giant leech ate all of Lujanne's moonberry bushes and she's taking her revenge. Whatever's going on there, Callum is definitely not at that point yet.

When Lujanne asks Callum how he knows she's real, he thinks to himself that he'd put up with just about anything from someone who was going to teach him magic. That's a great parallel and foreshadowing for Viren's student/master relationship with Aaravos! And it's telling that neither student gets exactly what they hoped to get. Lujanne doesn't actively teach Callum any spells, because she believes he can't learn Moon magic at all. Aaravos does offer Viren power, but it takes him to some very dark places - literally and figuratively - and the cost is terribly high.

Callum sees a moon shape among the ruins, and Lujanne explains that the Moonhenge layout is an intricate rune that uses the structures themselves as part of its symbols and power. That's apparently a thing even with ordinary Moonshadow villages like Hollow Wood in the east, which is the coolest idea I've seen in a while: city planning as magic runes!

Yes, that's the same shape as the pendants Ethari made for himself and Runaan. Protection? Home? Feelsiness? A sense of safety and belongnig for all cycles and seasons?

Wonder what this Moonhenge rune stands for, then, and how much of this landscape is included in that rune. I bet it's more than we think!

But it makes sense now, how toppling the stone pillars would disable the spell the druids would cast to connect with the Moon Nexus lake. Breaking the infrastructure of the Moonhenge breaks the rune.

There's a physical sensation involved with the visuals that Historia Viventem brings up! When that one ghostly druid walked through Callum, he felt icy cold. Like in ghost stories. I really wonder about what exactly Historia Viventem is doing when it activates. It shows truth, "what really happened here?", so it must have some kind of time-related element, maybe tied to how the moon always repeats the same cycles or something. But it also seems to draw on the spirits of any living people involved in the flashback, because Callum could physically feel that wispy shape passing through him. So very interesting!

Orrr... is that all wrong, and there's something else at work with this spell than time? Maybe the world beyond life and death can act as an imprint of the things that have happened in the living world, and the spell that Lujanne (and later Callum) casts taps into that place, with perfect recall. I'm looking really hard at the sentence that says "dozens of translucent elf ghosts" and "phantom Moonhenge" and "lost in their own world" here.

Lujanne says more here than in the show about the world beyond life and death, being her mysterious Moonshadow-mage self. She says that "beyond" and "between" might both apply to where this other plane of existence is, and she doesn't much care which. With all the relativity swirling around this place, and not much in the way of empiricism, it's sounding like perhaps multiple conflicting ideas might actually coexist in such a place, allowing more ideas to fit there than we might normally believe is possible. Which is a fascinating bit of worldbuilding. Basically, every headcanon anyone has ever had about the Moon Nexus could all be true at the same time, for all we know.

Oh oh oh, Callum coming in soft with a secret wish! He takes one look at the Moonhenge and immediately thinks of finding a way to see his mom again! Poor boy, my heart! I'd say that could be another interesting parallel with Viren, but then, who wouldn't hold that sentiment?

Oh my, is this another breath of life into Ye Olde Ley Lines headcanon? Lujanne mentioning the Nexuses again, so soon after talking about the runic design of the entire Moonhenge, makes me wonder if the six nexuses are in fact giant runes. On Earth, the places where ley lines cross are called nexuses, and there are those who believe those points got marked with ancient structures, like Stonehenge and many many others. If Xadia were crossed with magical lines which naturally formed nexus points where they met, and if powerful magical runes were built across those entire areas, well. That would be cool beans, fams. Can I smack a map of Xadia and release a spell like Luz Noceda does? Because ngl that is my first instinct here.

Lujanne has got to be missing some grandkids to spoil, right? The way she's always whipping out cake and ice cream for Callum, and she's so grandma-ish about it. Headcanon about her being Runaan's mom aside, she is canonically lonely and she's very sweet to Allen and Ellis and I think she's missing whatever family she once had in the past. She may never get to have that family back, so she's finding a new one among the humans who live nearby, and I think that's sweet. Found family isn't just for the young.

But Ellis is straight up gonna be her fave, I bet, because she didn't turn up her nose at Lujanne's illusion food!

Ezran and Bait have a lot more to their relationship than was visible in the show, and I'm so excited by it! Ez can tell by looking at Bait's colors that he's not truly jealous of Zym, even if he's really grumpy about the dragonling taking up his favorite human's time.

And Ez thinking a lot about his dad and the things he's taught him. They're soft leadership material, and I love that so much! "Pick your battles" and the importance of encouragement. Ahh, my heart. Ezran, you're going to be such a good king.

But wait a second: both times that Bait gets extra grumpy in Zym's first training session, Ezran has just mentioned something about flying. Guys, I think Bait wishes he could fly, really badly. And that's his biggest problem with Zym, and with Ezran teaching Zym to fly, instead of Bait who doesn't have wings so. Bait is so old that his secrets have secrets, and I'm really curious how flying fits into them now!

Rayla, Dramatic Assassin: "I need to patrol for dark forces." That's what Lujanne called the source of the purple wisps that found them. I wonder if that's an official term all Moonshadows know, or if Rayla is just taking her cue from a veteran Moon mage. And I wonder how far Rayla is falling into the apparent pattern of "one mage, one assassin", since she does spend a lot of her time patrolling without being asked.

When Callum tells Lujanne that he was bad at prince stuff, and she asks if he didn't give up and got good at those things anyway, it's an opportunity for Callum to embrace subverting his parents' expectations in favor of seeking his own path, which is a primary theme of the show. But Lujanne is a couple generations older than Callum, at the very least, and I have to wonder what her upbringing was like. Is her version of success the one she took? Was she bad at magic once too, but she persisted? She is very soft and doesn't want to kill anyone.

Maybe Lujanne had dreams of doing something else with her life, but she felt she had to pursue the destiny that others handed to her, so she studied magic as hard as she could, and she did get good at it, but using it to defend Xadia from humans is not what she wanted to do with her life. Whether there's a parallel between her and Ethari on that point, there's one between Callum and Ethari, I think. How much of your life are you willing to let others direct for you?

LISTEN I WAS DYING AT THE EAR BREAD SCENE OKAY

This is my new favorite Soren and Claudia moment ever. Soren loves him his bread, okay. Even as earplugs for Claudia's sleep ocarina tune. The fact that it's "super effective" makes me think of a Pokemon defense. The fact that he learned it at camp, where he also learned about Moonshadow Madness, is hilarious. Later on, Corvus doesn't know Soren by name, but I still love the idea of Corvus being a kind of Strider-esque camp instructor, filling the ears of his young charges with all kinds of useful tactics like ear bread for magic spell songs (which actually seemed to work as intended), and warnings about the enemy elves' blood-themed tactics (which may or may not come back around in BH)

I thought they were gonna go in a kind of deep direction when Soren still wanted his ear bread back, but then he just. Eats them. Just noms them. I love this kid. Give Soren all the bread!

[telehxhtrash]

I can't fucking stop thinking about Koala Man's speech, and how it probably parallels Gon's situation and foreshadows his future character development.

Koala Man's speech talks about how he used to be a hitman, got reborn as an ant and got stuck in the same cycle again : having to kill people. His entire speech focuses on how life is a cycle that repeats the same pattern, and that his rebirth put him in the same situations again, but that he wants to change. Something inside him is telling him that he has to break the cycle. That he has to stop repeating the same pattern, stop doing the same mistakes. He has to be different.

Koala Man's speech boils down to him emphasizing that he realized he wasn't reborn to repeat the same mistakes and that he wants to break the pattern. He feels like he has to change.

Right after this speech conveniently enters Gon. Gon, who got reborn too, apologizes to Kite and promises to do things different next time. He promises he'll break the pattern.

I think the most interesting thing is that Koala Man's speech highlights the idea of "repeating the same cycle" and doing things over again, which.... Definitely applies to Gon.

Gon is back on Whale Island, back to the start, back to square one. He has no more nen and Killua left his side. He's literally back to the same spot he was at the beginning of the manga. 

But it's a second chance, a clean start, the occasion to start anew and fix all the wrongs he made. 

And with Koala Man's speech in mind, and the fact that Gon was reborn and is back to literal square one, back to the start of something new, with more journeys yet to come.... It's making me believe that, just like the panel above says, Gon might have to do things all over again, go through the same events again, hit the same milestones again but in a way that will showcase that he's willing to break the pattern and that he's trying to change. Because something is telling him he has to stop repeating the same mistakes.

The fact that Gon is literally back to the same place he was in chapter 1 of the manga really makes me think that the events that will come next will parallel what Gon already went through. In my very, very subjective opinion, I think it will also revolve around the lesson that Gon learned : that he found something more important along the way. That the true meaning of his journey lies in the people he met and the family he found, and that now, he will act in a way that shows he’s learned this valuable lesson.

With that in mind, I feel like there are multiple big milestones surrounding this that Gon might have to go through again, but that will be done differently this time.

• Meeting Killua again, but this time, it's a clean start, they won't repeat the same mistakes of co-dependency, they'll try their best to have a healthy relationship because they learned from their past mistakes.

• Promising to stay together under the night sky, and maybe, this time something will be different, something that will make them both realize that this time they'll do everything to keep that goal in mind. (meteor shower confession?)

• The honeymoon phase paralleling Greed Island, where everything is fine and Killua and Gon's relationship is blossoming and they're both happy together, but maybe this time, they'll truly be happy and there'll be no underlying sense of pressure and self sacrifice.

• The tragic de*th of a loved one, paralleling Chimera Ant Arc and Gon losing Kite. I already wrote a short post about this, but I truly, truly believe that this is the reason Gotoh d*ed. I believe this time, it won't be Gon going through the same thing, but Killua. And I think they'll face it together, in a way that will showcase that they both learned from their past mistakes, and that they're changing and growing, together.

• And finally, a scene paralleling Gon sitting on the World Tree with Ging, but just as Ging emphasized that time that there were things more important laying in Gon's little detours, this scene might be rightened by having Gon sitting on top of the World Tree with the little detours - his found family, rather than the unsatisfying goal he was chasing - Ging.

Having all of Gon's milestones paralleled in a way that reflects his growth would be amazing symbolism, and with Koala Man's speech clearly paralleling Gon's situation, I really, really think that Gon is meant to follow the same journey all over again, but with the intent of changing.

To further comfort me in my belief, there's this amazing meta post that highlights that HxH's story is probably built like a Möbius strip, an infinite loop, and it makes sense considering that the Möbius strip is a big part of the Dark Continent lore. 

That post highlights that basically every main character in the manga is back to where we first saw them : Gon is back on Whale Island, Kurapika & Leorio are on a boat, Killua once again defied his family and ran away with Alluka.... The current arc is also a parallel of the Hunter Exam : a literal battle royale, where people have to fight to de*th to earn a title. 

HxH seems to repeat itself but enter a new cycle, and it would make sense for the future arcs to reflect the past cycle and parallel past situations. And like Koala Man emphasized... A new cycle can be broken. If you have to go through the same events again, it means that you have to change. It means that you have to break the pattern. And I believe this will apply mostly to Gon, but all of the main 4 might go through the same main similar events they already went through. With Koala Man highlighting the idea of hitting rock bottom, being reborn, faced with the same situations and choosing to act differently, why not push the interpretation a little more ?

• Gon has already been reborn, and might be faced with situations where he showcases he's not self destructive anymore.

• Killua has already been reborn too, when he ripped out the needle and walked away from Gon, and he might be faced with a situation where he can showcase he's not self-sacrificing anymore.

• Gon and Killua might have to face the de*th of a loved one together.

• Kurapika still has to hit rock bottom and be reborn, but once he is, he might have to face the Phantom Troupe again (just like in YN arc) and choose to not follow the path of revenge this time and move on in a healthy way.

• Leorio also has yet to hit rock bottom, and he might have to witness the de*th of a loved one, just like when Pietro d*ed. But if Kurapika is literally reborn, he might choose to break the pattern and swear to do whatever it takes to actively keep an eye on him (even though Kurapika wouldn’t look for revenge anymore).

I guess my point is, with HxH's story reflecting a cycle, all the characters back to square one and the current arc reflecting the Hunter Exam - emphasized by the Möbius Strip lore -, and Koala Man's speech emphasizing on doing things over and over again until you choose to change.... I'm deeply convinced that Gon will go through the same milestones, the same parallel situations that will display his will to change, heal and grow. 

I also think this idea can be applied to Kurapika, Leorio and Killua. Them being put through the same cycle but breaking the pattern of repetition would represent how much they've grown and how much they're willing to change. Parallel situations but with slightly different turn of events would be a wonderful way to show how they're healing from trauma. 

Because yes, the cycle is repeating, but they can break it.

(ty to Nix for explaining to me what Koala Man’s speech was about !!!)