#SO MANY contradictions and plot holes

[tiger-moran]

47gaslamps:

I really thought that was just a Tumblr joke because you liked the character dynamics. As to the essay... I can see the criticisms; I just don't know how you can work it into a defense of the Moriarty Crime Ring.

It was sort of half serious and half a joke I guess.

This isn’t just about ‘why they’re not really the villains’, I’ve written about all kinds of stuff - biographical stuff and character analysis, Moriarty and Death symbolism, his connection with other characters, real life influences, how Moriarty compares to Holmes and to other canonical villains, etc etc.

Also me getting kind of salty with the Sherlock Holmes fandom and how that has treated the characters and the relationship over the years

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Okay, a good amount of time has passed, and after having seen this post by @weretiger-be-my-horse , I've been turning it over and over in my brain going absolutely feral over this concept. I need to expand upon my thoughts on this idea and all the evidence there is pointing towards it, whether that be actual tangible things, or purely strong vibes I have.

First of all, full disclaimer: I did not like the season 5 finale, and how it wrapped up the DoA arc. To say that I "disliked" it is putting it extremely lightly, in fact -- I absolutely hated it, and I am still, to a degree, in disbelief that I actually even watched those 24 minutes with my own two eyes, and that it somehow wasn't a complete fever dream. While I'm not going to go in long-winded detail into all the ways that I feel like the finale almost completely bastardized all of its featured characters and destroyed any and all buildup we've had going on in this arc for 50 some chapters now, because that's not the main point of this post, I will not make any attempt to hide the fact that the theory-crafting I'm about to pose here is partly influenced and prompted by how much I hated the finale, and how much I desperately hope that it will not end up being manga canon. Therefore, if you enjoyed the finale — and that's fine! — and don't want to read any negativity about it, then I would not recommend reading any further (I mean, you've probably already left by this point, which is fair lol), While obviously it's important that I be as objective and unbiased as possible when explaining my thoughts, some of my negative feelings about the writing will be a part of this analysis, even if this isn't going to be a full-blown rant. Just know that if you proceed.

With that out of the way, let me continue.

So. In the aforementioned post, the theory presented is that the anime may be operating on an alternate timeline, and that this will become evident once we read the upcoming October chapter, wherein things will go completely differently post-chapter 110 than they do in the final episode — probably for the worse, with the s5 finale intending to lull us into a false sense of security and make us assume that everything in the manga arc finale will wrap up as smoothly and consequence-freely(? lol) as it did in the anime one. It also suggests that the Fukuchi we see at the very end that sskk are fighting came from the manga timeline, where he won, and that he used the Book to jump to a timeline where he lost, the anime one, proven by the fact that this Fukuchi is wearing a mask with the same design on it as the mask Fukuchi is wearing on the chapter 110 DoA color spread/title page.

First of all, I want to note the fact that it's not just the mask design that's the same: the entire outfit is roughly more or less the same as well. It's not completely 1-to-1, because the anime can never fully match the intricacies of Harukawa's beautiful outfit designs, and the Fukuchi in this scene has the kimono half-off because of the... super saiyan mode he's in, but most all of the main pieces of clothing are there. Any small inaccuracies could also be attributed to the fact that Harukawa probably didn't have this finalized art ready back when this episode was being made, so the animators wouldn't have had the complete design to work off of. But in general, because it's all so similar, I think we can quite confidently say that the ending episode Fukuchi is meant to be the one from this manga art.

Also, people have pointed this out, but it's worth mentioning that the mask Asagiri wore at Anime Expo in July was referencing this Fukuchi. It's not a crucial detail, but it just proves more that Asagiri is a gigantic fucking troll, and that he clearly wanted to draw attention to this Fukuchi design. It's important. He describes the mask here as made in the motif of an ellipses inside a speech bubble... could that perhaps be referencing meta aspects, like the Book?

Next, I want to talk about the even bigger elephant in the room, which to me is the most damning and undeniable piece of evidence there is of the anime operating on a completely separate timeline from the manga:

This Fucking Hand™️

As we all know, in the anime, Fyodor injures his hand when the password input device blows up, and as we all know, this does not happen in the manga. In the last episode, Dazai claims that the final nail in the coffin of his impromptu plan to kill Fyodor relied on this hand injury: because Fyodor couldn't pilot his escape helicopter himself, he would ask one of his Meursault vampires to do it for him, unaware that Bram and thus this vampire was now on the ADA's side, and said vampire could kill him while his guard was down.

Ignoring how utterly stupid and contrived this plan is when you stop and think about it for more than two seconds, the fact of the matter is that something that initially seemed like nothing more than an odd but inconsequential anime original addition ended up snowballing into being the entire reason one of the big bads was brought down. If Fyodor hadn't hurt his hand, he wouldn't have needed another pilot, and so the traitor vampire wouldn't have had an opportunity to get near him and kill him without him expecting it even though said vampire was presumably with him as they were leaving Meursault, and was probably already a traitor by then, so there was plenty opportunity for him to still die. not to mention by Chuuya's hands at literally any time he wanted to, because Chuuya was coherent the whole time. Also there's absolutely no way Dazai could have known exactly what Ranpo would do, no matter how smart he is and how much he trusts him. idk it's fucking dumb, just roll with it. Therefore, putting aside all other variables for now, we can conclude that, on the most basic level, this signifies that no hand wound = no death.

And let me tell you, this hand wound bothers me. It really, really does. Because they focus on it a LOT — they go out of their way to draw attention to it MULTIPLE TIMES, from the moment it first happens to the end of the season. Fyodor even talks about it to himself, about Dazai being able to cause him tangible, visible, bodily harm, (something that, again, as far as we've seen, has never happened in the manga). Hell, even after Fyodor's death, they're still drawing attention to it, because his right arm is all of him that survives, and Dazai picks it up and gives it to Nikolai to do his hilarious sad little gay fondling of it played completely straight even though there's nothing straight going on here at all! It's like it's a big red flashing sign at all times going "you see this injured hand? This is important. Are you picking up that it's important? Are you taking note of it?" Why is that? Obviously, it serves to give us the lore crumbs about Fyodor and "that man", but that's hardly the main, much more glaring reason, as I've already mentioned.

Fyodor doesn't hurt his hand in the manga. Fyodor won't die here in the manga. I am so dead serious by this point about this, and it's not just simply the fact that this was absolutely not at all the time for him to die, or the fact that his hand is the reason for his death in the anime in and of itself, but how much EMPHASIS they place on this, and on the hand in general. What would be the point of adding something like this, if it's not meant to alert us to the fact that it has a major impact on how the story plays out? We all know Bones: they struggle to get right and include everything that's already there in the source material; they would never go out of their way to add something this noteworthy if there wasn't a very good reason for it, if it wasn't absolutely necessary. I've seen a few people bring up the fact that Fyodor gets shot in the shoulder by Sigma and that that could lead to the same outcome in the manga, but I disagree: although he has blood on his shoulder in the manga, it seems like the bullet just grazed the top of it, because his arm and hand appears completely functional afterwards (not hanging limp by his side or anything). But that doesn't even matter, because this isn't even about the semantics/logistics of how the hand wound caused Fyodor's death because again, it's a stupid outcome, or what could serve as a substitute in the manga — thematically, this is a textbook example of the butterfly effect. Countless parallel universes exist within this series, ones where even the most minute differences lead to a majorly different outcome: this just happens to be one of them. There's no reason to think it isn't, and there's no reason to not think that the anime wants us to clue into the fact that things only went as smoothly as they did on the Meursault side because of this wound; in other words, that things will go very differently in the manga thanks to the absence of said wound. They wouldn't have added it in the first place and put such clearly deliberate emphasis on it otherwise.

Things are going to happen very differently in the manga, at least when it comes to the Meursault crew (but then, if you assume that, you then naturally assume it all will be very different). This is the only conclusion one can come to with the presentation of this anime-only wound, combined with the fact that parallel universes are a very real thing in BSD.

I'm going to go on a bit of a tangent, so bear with me. I play a lot of visual novels, and although such concepts aren't really as original now as they were a while ago, some of my favorite and some of the very best VNs out there are the ones that break the fourth wall and make the visual novel branching route format directly intertwined with the story: you know, the ones where the characters go "if only I had done things differently, maybe everything would have turned out better...!" in a wink wink nudge nudge moment, and the ones where the characters are aware of the different timelines, even, or even have the ability to gain information from their selves in said alternate timelines to influence events in their current one (I'm intentionally not naming the games I'm thinking of for the sake of spoilers, but if you know, you know lmao). It gets very meta in this regard, and this is how I started viewing BSD through the lens of ever since I first learned about Beast: like a visual novel with many branching routes, and only a few routes that feel entirely "right".

When I first read Dazai's Entrance Exam, I was struck by how unnerving the ending sequence in the abandoned hospital felt. Obviously, Kunikida's internal struggle over Sasaki's actions and motives is him still desperately clinging to his ideal world that does not exist, but the specific type of phrases he uses — "who is wrong?" "[who is] the cause of all this?" "there has to be an ideal world" "there has to be something, I'm sure of it" "There must have been something we could have done!" — and the framing of the scene in general, is eerily reminiscent of a bad ending in a visual novel, to me. There's a haunting, looming, bleak sense that a different outcome could have been achieved, if different decisions had been made, or if things outside of anyone's control had been different... and we know that this is true, because in Beast alone, Kunikida never goes through the Azure Messenger incident, because Dazai doesn't have his entrance exam. Hell, you could even consider the anime's version of the Azure Messenger arc an alternate timeline in of itself, if you really wanted to, long before we even arrive at season 5.

When it comes to Beast, this timeline has almost the opposite feeling of what I described above, that I've also encountered in visual novels: the idea of a "good route" or "good ending" that still doesn't feel quite earned, or as perfect as one would expect. Beast is presented as the "ideal" timeline purely for one sole reason: Oda is alive. It is the only timeline where he's alive, and keeping Oda alive is the ultimate goal Dazai wants to achieve, the only reason this timeline exists; therefore, disregarding all else, Beast should be the best timeline, because Oda's death is the greatest devastation in the series to date. We all want him to live, so why wouldn't the timeline where he does be the best one? And yet... of course, it isn't. Dazai is alone, and steeped in darkness and loneliness without Oda, and dies by the end of the story for Oda's continued living. Atsushi has Kyouka still, but he's suffering and more traumatized, and unable to heal while stuck in the mafia, and neither can Kyouka. Akutagawa is living a much better life in the ADA... but without his sister, and without what he has from his bond with Atsushi in canon, that isn't replicated in Beast. And Oda... Oda is alive, and he has his children and his novel, but there is a feeling that he is aimless, that something in his life is missing. He has everything he ever wanted, but all that means nothing without what he truly needs: Dazai, and his time with Dazai and Ango at the bar. In this way, things going well and us getting what we want — in this case, Oda living — goes against how it's supposed to be, the natural order, which is why it feels so hollow. In the specific visual novel I'm thinking of here as a comparison (again, shoutout if you know), there's an alternate ending that involves you inputting information you gain at the end of the game very early on in the game, wherein the protagonist now has memories of the future and is able to bypass and prevent all of the events that take place normally. This means that people who die or are hurt somehow in general are saved from that fate, and nothing bad ever occurs; everything wraps up neatly and nicely... but again, there's an undeniable, unsettling feeling of emptiness, of a victory that rings hollow, because what's the point if everything is simply handed to you easily, where's the sense of accomplishment, without any struggles to achieve said victories, or any growth along the way? How can it feel earned if one doesn't have to, in Dazai's words, "scream within the storm of uncertainty, and run with flowing blood"?

You can probably already see where I'm going with this.

This finale feels weird. Really, really weird. It feels too cheap, too simple, too unsatisfying. So much so, in fact, that for almost the entire runtime, as I was bombarded with resolution upon resolution one after another, I kept thinking "There's no way this can be real. Where's the catch? When is the "gotcha!" moment gonna happen? The "it was all a dream" reveal?". And this isn't just because I hated the writing, and that it really did feel like a fever dream watching fanfic levels of bad (actually, that's an insult to fanfic writers, tbh; they could do better) — no, it genuinely feels so incredibly fake. Even upon rewatching it and already knowing what happens, my brain still naturally keeps expecting some kinda of "sike, you THOUGHT!" moment to suddenly appear. It just.... feels "too good to be true". Dazai and Chuuya come out unscathed, and it's revealed that they were never in any real danger to begin with. Fyodor, one of our biggest threats, is dealt with supposedly for good (I say "supposedly" only because of the Jesus line, but if anything imo, I think that's just a hint that this won't be the canon ending in the manga, so in a sense he's going to "come back to life"), and Nikolai seems somewhat at peace with his death. The other biggest threat, Fukuchi, is also dealt with, and he and Fukuzawa get their final moment together of closure. Yes, Sigma is left in Meursault don't even get me started on how angry this alone makes me, and Fukuzawa loses Fukuchi, but overall, everything is portrayed in a positive light, and any negatives or losses are quickly glossed over. Everything is tied up nicely, neatly, and smoothly. ...And that is exactly what makes it feel so wrong, and hard to trust in.

I'm not sure if this will make sense, but to me, the finale is so incredibly poorly written that it almost feels.... intentional. It's so bad to the point of feeling self-aware in how bad it is, how unrealistically happy and convenient an ending it is. It had to end this neatly in order to rush to wrap up this arc for the season finale and not leave the last episode on a cliffhanger — which imo is chiefly the main reason it turned out this way, and, if this whole theory is true, Asagiri just used it to his advantage — and I'm not saying this was probably an effect Bones had in mind intentionally, I'm sure they just threw shit at the wall and went with whatever stuck, maaaaybe with some suggestions/approval from Asagiri, but the result is that you have a conclusion that contradicts so much of what was set up before and goes against so many character arcs, making some characters so out of character and even regressing in their development Dazai. I'm talking about Dazai abandoning Sigma, because he would never; hashtag #NOTMYDAZAI. Also Nikolai, Nikolai for most of that is so ooc I can't even begin to describe it oh my god. Everyone is OOC to a degree though lmao, and opens so many plot holes, to the point that it's impossible not to watch all that and get the feeling that it is subtly saying to you "did you really think it could be this easy? It feels wrong, doesn't it? It doesn't feel satisfying. It feels unearned." I find it incredibly interesting and suspicious in particular that they confirmed multiple theories people had about soukoku in Meursault: that Chuuya slowed the elevator's fall so that Dazai wouldn't die from it, that Chuuya slowed down the bullet so that it only penetrated Dazai's skin and not his skull, and that the both of them used Fyodor's camera angle to their advantage because they knew he wouldn't be able to see certain things from his view. I'm not saying that Asagiri trawled BSD twitter and tumblr after those chapters dropped for the most popular theories before the final episode was made lmao, there was no time for that (imagine though lol—), but I do think it's highly likely that he already had in mind exactly what theories would be made about these parts (I mean, the evidence for the gun scene was all there), and that Dazai rattling them off in his long monologue to Fyodor at the end is essentially him speaking to the audience and going "yeah, that's what you would predict, right? Those are the clichés, after all", much like him suggesting earlier that he can maybe bring Chuuya back to himself with a few moving words and the power of friendship, and Fyodor using the split personalities trope to fool Sigma. We expect these tropes to be true. Of course we'd fall for them, as Fyodor tells Sigma, especially if the evidence is right there. But Asagiri himself has explicitly said that he likes doing the opposite of what people expect. And so just because people predicted correctly with the three things I mentioned in this timeline... doesn't mean they'll be true in the manga's. Things happened how we wanted and expected it to, and everything turned out happily. So we can relax now, right? Everything will work out just as easily in the manga, right? Or... is the reason most of this finale feels so fake and unsettling and unsatisfying because it's meant to lull us into a false sense of security before all our heroes lose in the manga? Because deep down, we don't want an ending that's this simple, because we'd rather have a conclusion where our characters have struggled more and grown more and come out the better for it, and we know it?

After rewatching the episode a lot, and watching some other videos, and doing a lot of thinking, I am pretty confident in suspecting that the only part of this finale that is actually from manga canon, aside from Aya jumping off the building of course, is Fyodor and Nikolai's exchange after Fyodor leaves Meursault — specifically, them talking about Fyodor leaving Sigma behind, and their "new game" and Nikolai being excited at the prospect of it. This little conversation actually feels in character for them, and it's easy to tell this when contrasting it with everything that happens immediately after, wherein Fyodor is fatally stabbed, and Nikolai, completely at odds with what he was just talking about, just... stands there and watches Fyodor die while Dazai monologues lmao. I'm not sure if the helicopter is still a factor, but I would bet good money on Fyolai getting out of Meursault being manga canon, and that Dazai and Chuuya getting out as well and killing Fyodor + everything with FukuFuku, is part of the anime original ending, in order to wrap up everything positively. It makes much more sense if you think about, in reality (aka in the manga), Dazai and Chuuya still being left behind in Meursault (where they can eventually try to get Sigma), because none of it was an act and things did not go according to plan, and Fukuchi having an entirely different goal that doesn't feel so stupid and contradictory to his character, and Fukuzawa possibly dying — everyone seemingly loses, with Aya still being the last hope, perhaps by awakening her ability like we all speculated.

There's a youtuber I watch who covers BSD in-depth, despite being an anime-only (she reads the respective manga content after each season, though). Going into this finale, she knew about the fact that the anime had overtaken the manga, though she didn't know where the cutoff point was; despite that, however, she made predictions about what was from the manga so far and what was anime original, and it was almost entirely spot-on, based mostly on what she basically described as "anime original dialogue." She talked about how you can always tell when dialogue is veering into the realm of anime-original, because the sentences are very short, choppy, and slightly out of character, but generic enough to not be TOO out of character, and so that anyone can easily write said lines, even if they're not extremely familiar with the character like the original author would be. And when I heard this explanation, everything clicked — because so much of this finale has dialogue like that. The Fyolai scenes just feel peppered with it, around the lines I mentioned earlier, the Dazai dialogue does too, and ESPECIALLY shit at the end like Fukuchi and Fukuzawa exchanging the cliche death lines to end all death lines: "Are you there? I'm a little tired." "Rest up." That just isn't Bungou Stray Dogs. That isn't Asagiri. BSD is cheesy at times, yes, but it isn't like this; it's smarter. The dialogue is smarter, the explanations/plot twists are smarter, Asagiri is smarter, and the aforementioned youtuber I watched agreed. She's a pretty casual fan of the series, so if even she could pick up on these things, I think it speaks volumes.

I mentioned this briefly earlier, but this theory makes sense if you consider that this situation probably came about because of Bones wanting two seasons back-to-back when they did, and this arc being as long as it is. Season 3 aired in 2019, and I imagine Bones would have wanted season 4 in 2020, and might have then been willing to wait a bit longer for season 5 in order for more of this arc's manga chapters to come out — but then covid happened. Because of that, season 4 was delayed to 2023, creating the longest gap we've had between seasons, and I wouldn't at all be surprised if the delay made them want season 5 right together with it, after getting so far "behind", so to speak. S4 was announced in November of 2021, and roughly around that time, Asagiri was finishing up writing the plot of the DoA arc. If Bones came to him sometime in late 2021 and said they wanted two seasons now (so basically, one giant two cour season), Asagiri would know that not only of course would this arc not be finished publishing in the manga for a very long time yet, but that roughly 20ish episodes would not be enough to cover it all to the end, with this arc being longer than any arc the anime has adapted to date. Because of all this, and the arc manga chapters being nowhere near fully drawn to completion, he'd have to make a decision about what to do, and what to give Bones. Without ending season 5 on a massive cliffhanger that wouldn't be resolved for years until an eventual season 6, the only other option would be to rush towards an anime-original ending for the DoA arc.... and for Asagiri to take advantage of that, and integrate it into BSD's lore. Thereby creating a truly unique cross-media experience that utilizes the different mediums to create multiple timelines, that could make both the anime and manga interact with each other and become part of a bigger picture (not that you'd need to see both to get the full experience, mind you, just that it'd provide a little bonus if you did).... and would without a doubt be Asagiri's biggest surprise yet.

...I feel like at this point I'm starting to ramble, and my evidence become more and more incoherent and less substantial lmao, so I should probably end this post. 💀 Thank you if you've read this far, and hopefully it made some semblance of sense, despite not being structured very well; I know I promised at the start to try to be as objective as possible and curb my negative feelings, but I'm not sure how well I succeeded in that regard. If it weren't for the Fukuchi thing and the Fyodor hand thing, I probably wouldn't take how wrong and strange and bad the finale feels to me as serious evidence about it being an alternate timeline, especially since I seem to be one of the only people who actually hates all of it.... but combined with everything else, I am just so convinced of this theory being true. It started off as pure copium, but as more time has gone on, I fully, 100% believe in my bones (ha) that there is no way that finale is the same Bungou Stray Dogs I know and love, for so many reasons. It just isn't. It can't be. I know BSD better than this, I know Asagiri better than this, and I know that it's absolutely in the realm of possibility for him to cook up this whole scheme to completely blindside us with in the upcoming chapters, because that's exactly the kind of shit Mr. "Please Be Surprised!" himself would pull. If I end up being completely wrong, I guess I'm wrong, and you can laugh at me all you want then.... but I just know that ages ago people were teasing the idea of the anime operating on a different timeline from the manga, and I truly do think that only now are we finally seeing that idea come to fruition, as a setup for Asagiri going full-bore insanity with the Book in the upcoming arc(s). if I and the OP of that theory end up right, this will be the wildest time in the BSD fandom's history.

Like. I cannot even emphasize how hard they are trolling us at this point. Something is going on. Something is being cooked over there, the likes of which we've never seen before... and I don't think any of us are ready for it.

Oh yeah, and one last thing of note: both Fyodor and Nikolai here have their right arms hidden from view. Is that alluding to anything? I'm not sure. I also think that since chapter 110 was so short, next chapter will likely be 110.5 instead of 111, and if that's the case, this title spread could still technically be associated with the next chapter... wherein we might see this Fukuchi, who ends up wreaking havoc, right before he jumps to the timeline in the anime, as we see him at the end of the s5 finale.

I guess we'll find out on Tuesday.

[field-of-sungflowers]

Borrasca fuckin sucks bro its so full of plot holes

[lunee43]

Okay soooo I might get bashed for saying this but unpopular opinion coming and a rant hopefully this is a safe space;

.

.

Six hundred strike was amazing musically: unlike many I enjoyed the beginning of the song but by the end I was a bit put off because how does Odysseus, a mortal defeat a literal god, not just a god but POSEIDON god of the fricken sea and earthquakes? Like it’s a cool concept but it’s just… makes Poseidon look and seem weak then in the ocean saga. Sure Odysseus became a “monster” but he’s still a mortal, I also find the “six hundred strike” silly like Odysseus did that?…. Using a wind bag?

I enjoy the concept but the plot kinda turns it off for me (not that it’s bad please don’t bash me) Poseidon is one of the 3 major gods, I feel like Odysseus was made to be too overpowered I’d understand if there was a power boost or divine intervention. Poseidon is made to seem weak which contradicts seeing him as a threat. It strays from the original Odyssey way more in this song, and the song is very amazing though I find it silly how Poseidon was defeated and how Odysseus is way too over powered.

And let’s talk about the animation, the person who made it is so very talented but I feel it doesn’t fit, the jet pack windbag? Boss battle? Interesting but it really put me off when I listened and watched it it kinda ruined the aspects for me.

Overall in the end I feel six hundred strike had a good concept and was very great musically but I personally didn’t like the plot of Odysseus defeating Poseidon so easily I mean the man has many different powers aswell? Anyways this is just my personal opinion

Another rant: Also I loved the song “I’m not sorry for loving you” though I feel like if I even said that out loud I’d be bashed by the fandom because, yes, calypso is a bad person I know but the song is really nice and musical it doesnt mean I like the things she’s doing to Odysseus.

Another rant (apologies); I feel like everyone is too blindsided with Odysseus, a lot of people blame everyone but him a lot like he’s just a “cinnamon roll who loves his wife so much and the crew are all a-holes” because like eurylochus he also made mistakes aswell he tries to keep his crew alive abd get home but we do have to accept that this was from Greek mythology he is a flawed character aswell and I enjoy him for that. It makes the audience connect with Odysseus.

Another thing, wisdom saga— I feel Telemachus is used like a child a characterization of a child or teenager unlike the 20 year old he is. It’s a bit off putting for me. And it’s possible to make him innocent and grown such as the use of Polites. Personally he’s like an embodiment of a child and it’s weird to me because he’s a prince and will be king, shouldn’t he have some roles?

Now another thing connecting onto what I just said about “Odysseus does no wrong” ALOT of people in the fandom seem to use Eurylochus as a scapegoat for their hatred and anger to who’s at fault when it’s really the gods and fate, it’s just something the fandom has created to put the anger on why Odysseus couldn’t get home quickly, and I can understand because we look through Odysseus’s perspective throughout the musical. But personally I feel like Eurylochus gets too much hate he is sadly the scapegoat. Even the crew, but it’s saddening because they also have lives, they had family, they are mere mortals what are they to do? What would you all do in these situations if you didn’t know Odysseus’s plans and inner monologues? How would you act?

It’s honestly saddening you can’t like eurylochus without a person spewing about why they hate him, heck I’ve even seen just simple cute TikTok and art about the man but people place hatred within the comments about the character. And it’s only him, you could like Odysseus, polites, perimedies elpenor, Circe, etc. but hate Eurylochus?

<<This is all I have to rant about this is a safe space on my acc for all opinions so you can comment your own opinions, just don’t be mean to eachother>>

(I’m most likely gonna get hate or bashed sadly for having these opinions though I genuinely enjoy the musical a ton. I feel the fandoms grown a bit toxic lately.)

[dunmeshistash]

Can you think of any obvious contradictions in the lore?

For example, there are descriptions of how dungeons work, in particular that they need a Lord to prevent collapse, that seem to be written from an omniscient narrator's perspective. But that claim is clearly contradicted by Thistle finding the tomes in the Island Dungeon. Which at that point seemed to be more 'dormant' than 'collapsed'.

I don't think that part is a contradiction! There's a few dungeons in the process of collapsing that don't have Dungeon Lords so the collapse isn't immediate, Mithrun approaches the dungeon that he became a lord in thinking it was collapsed/inactive only to be pulled by the demon, I imagine Thistle's dungeon was in a similar situation.

Here's two examples of how it's described

"on the verge of collapsing" "since it's still functioning, if barely, it's believed to have a lord somewhere"

"since it hadn't had a lord for a long time, it was believed to be nearly collapsed"

So I don't think they collapse right away as was the case in the Island (that one I'm pretty sure collapsed immediately because it was spilling into the surface and the demon was defeated)

It's hard to call something in dungeon meshi a straight up plot hole cause the contradictions are in the text itself and part of the story, we learn that thing works x way only to later learn it actually works y way only to later learn even more details (I'm talking about ancient magic) so since the mismatched info is plot accurate I can't think of many contractions that don't make sense with just a bit of excuses.

The one that puzzles me the most and that I think was a retcon is what Tansu says in chapter 19 and repeats in chapter 22

He talks as if this was something unique to this dungeon? But resurrection is said to be possible in every man-made dungeon, maybe in chapter 22 he's talking about specifically the immortality curse on the residents of the golden kingdom but idk how he'd know about that? Or maybe there's something more specific to how the souls are attached to bodies in this dungeon idk that one really puzzles me

There was other stuff I felt like were retconed (but in a way that makes sense) but I don't really remember what it was right now... oh yeah the half-elves having rounder ears and Fionil being a half-elf feels like a retcon but that's not a contradiction

[inthelittlewood]

Theoretically, could c!Martyn get trapped on something like a flash drive or is his existence in the datastream more complicated than that?

That's a tricky one that I haven't quite decided on just yet.

My gut reaction wants to say "His filesize is way too big given how complex humans are, so putting him on a flash drive just wouldn't be viable" but then that opens up a ton of complications for people to say "well how does he get in to certain servers / PCs / games when bandwidth is an issue" ya know?

For now let's just leave it as a big question mark.

I've tried to avoid putting too many rulesets in place thus far to give me total creative freedom and hopefully avoid contradictions, so we have as many plot devices on offer as possible for future developments.

The easiest and most open ended answer would probably be, Martyn's core data is stored on a local drive at Doc's lab/garage and it's from there he's living vicariously through an avatar in the Datastream, something with a common place filesize etc. - but again, that's just an idea

Sorry to not give a real answer, but it's definitely something I've thought about previously so I like to share my rabbit hole thoughts lol

[waitmyturtles]

I stopped writing about Kidnap the Series about a quarter into the series because it was clearly designed to deliver the memeable romantic moments that GMMTV prioritizes these days for its number one goal, social media engagement. [And the series did this so well that many Kidnap-related social media accounts on Twitter got either banned or shadowbanned for explicit (??? get outta here, Elon) content, so the series actually did its damn thing.]

There wasn't enough plot material to actually criticize, which is my priority on this blog, so I gave my writing a rest. But: I did give the series a full watch out of deference to my insatiable stanning of the Series Y king, Ohm Pawat, and...

I'm here to say that I am not complaining about that final episode at all. I'm actually, surprisingly, happy with it!

Before I get into this, let me just first say that Kidnap didn't do something that many of the very big GMMTV series have done lately: it did not tread into disingenuous narrative waters. It didn't make thematic contradictions or leave open plot holes (Wandee Goodday), it didn't punish characters for real-life moral or ethical slips (Only Friends), it didn't jump story beats to design questionable moments without prior established emotional context (Last Twilight, 23.5).

Kidnap was sappy, very often repetitive and boring, but it wasn't offensively disingenuous, and it didn't ask its audience to hold back its understanding and expectations of how humanity generally functions. (Expect for the fact that the series had a very loose grip on the exact definition of "kidnapping," BUT ANYWAY.)

But anyway: I didn't expect the final episode to be rooted in Q's and Mhen's recoveries. And I loved that. The show didn't forget the framework in which it set up its main romance. Min is and was always a caretaker. He allowed that caretaking to obstruct his progress forward in life, whether vis à vis Nong Mhen or his Q. Both Mhen and Q asked Min to move forward from them, by the both of them taking accountability for their health, in part to allow Min to loosen his shackles (heh) on his perceived responsibilities to them.

I liked that! That was a responsible move by the show to not tilt the emotional scales in a direction that would have Min continue to take on a burden of taking care of people who, with a little help, could learn to take care of themselves.

And I'm a sucker for a therapeutic process. I'll take a quibble at the suggestion that Q "throw away" memories (since, cough cough, it could be about re-contextualizing the literal time spent and the value that an individual places on certain memories cough cough, but different strokes for different therapists), but honestly, having the entire episode framed on Q's mental health progress warmed my cockles. More mental health discussions in dramas!

I was baseline hoping for a potentially more campy or comedic take on crime and kidnapping when this show started, a kind of ironic approach that I know the acting of Ohm Pawat could take on, but that's asking a lot from a studio that's pumping out quantity over quality at the moment. I'm just very glad this show didn't end with me tilting my head to the side with question marks flying out in a thought cloud. It was, overall, a pleasant and warm watch, something worth fast-forwarding through during the holidays for the smoochy moments after one too many glasses of wine (heh heh).

And it looks like the branded pair of OhmLeng is permanent now, so I hope for a better script for these guys in the near future. Leng needs a LOT more acting classes -- but these two have chemistry in spades, and that chemistry could be used well in a better script.

[spotlightlowlife]

hell x hazbin stalling

The chances of a helluva boss and hazbin hotel crossover aren't good, most probably down to contracts with different production companies who lay claim to stories and characters, something that's common.

As far as crossovers go we have had a plain looking and speechless Fizzbot Lucifer's toy duck.

HB would offer us an almost full lineup, introducing Satan along with Bel and Lev in silence, potentially making them 'property' of this show. Though he isn't needed, there actual leader is missing.

HH would give us Lucicer, the actual leader along with his story of how this is his dimension and he still has access to heaven, but he was no leader, apparently does nothing day in day out and served to hang with his daughter and her friends.

Even if copywrite didn't factor in, what are the chances of one of the six sins showing up in Hazbin? especially since leadership over a 'lower class' is the leading characters plot though she's too 'nice' to know it and this plot is also shelved.

Also she has gone above them, to angels of heaven.

The sins and goatia are just doing there own thing. Some maintain order, some keep a business going and some, just like Lucifer and the sinners, do what they want all day. All is fine.

Issues we have are that one series tends to contradicts the other.

This 'sweet' character Charlie cared for the people of hell in the pilot and looked to deal with the 'issue of overpopulation' by redeeming sinners and to evict them out without knowing anything about heaven, she is a prime example of someone who sort of recognizes their own privilege by showing sadness and a want to help, but is there a controlling behaviour behind this or is there nothing but empathy.

Charlie is a hellborn, we really could do with seeing her interacting with those who aren't 'her people', maybe other hellborns who don't fit her plans, those less fortunate than sinners, like imps and hellhounds. We would really see how nice and powerful she really is then. She doesn't help herself by her project hinging on a famous, not so pleasant sinner who she had to bribe being the person she must redeem with no effort made in her part.

Charlie, who is also in a relationship with someone she believed to be a sinner, fits right in with the likes of Stolas who pushed himself on imp Blitzø who happened to be a popular party guy

or Ozzie who runs a public club and is shacked up with famous imp Fizz

or Bee who also has an open door policy, also 'dates down' with hellhound Vortex and also just want everyone to be 'happy'

Nobody will question Charlie on her use of power and status, or lack of, nor Bee nor Ozzie and Stolas being bottom of this privileged pack enduring a temporary punishment of being cast out for 100 years when he is immortal showed us that nothing matters, good to get some lore but this doesn't bode well for Charlie who sits at the top with no power.

IMP contributes to the 'overpopulation' or 'they're getting too powerful' story, this was the lore HH established, but we are to root for them and when they did get in trouble, it wasn't for that.

The sinners could be an excellent go between for the two series, but they're disposable extras in HB dispute being needed for business and they're not interesting enough for Charlie who 'runs' a massive hotel and hangs with her friends.

A cross over should give opportunity to address so many queries and move both stories along, it could reduce the amount of holes by solidifying that this is all one world.

What would Bilizø and Charlie think of one another?

How about Valentino and Ozzie?

Lucifer and Striker?

Vaggie, Millie and the cherubs?

On the other hand, both series could work on being more uniform in what those in power are responsible for, the good the bad and the ugly which is what you take on in pretty much any job?

[utilitycaster]

something I've noticed a lot recently - I can't say if it's a trend or just "thing I happened to start noticing" is people adding noncanonical (in fact, sometimes outright contradicting canon) horrifying details to already horrifying things and every single time it lessens the impact.

If the genre is explicitly horror, this pile-on either destroys the tension built by mystery and the unknown; or turns down the contrast so that instead of a starkly horrifying event everything turns into a dull sea of gray badness in all senses of the word. And in a work that is not specifically horror, but in which horrifying things are occurring, it results in overkill in which the viewer simply becomes numbed to how bad it is because you keep throwing detail after detail and in many cases it rips open plot holes that didn't exist in the source text by making a situation go from "subtly horrifying in a way the protagonist could ignore until it was too late" to "obviously so fucked that the protagonist now looks either like a monstrous person turning a blind eye, or the biggest idiot who ever existed."

(Note: this is actually very loosely tied to this post, funnily enough. A few examples I have in mind are people adding bigoted views to a character who never displayed them in canon, and without fail it turns the story from "oh, I see how people trusted this horrible person until they betrayed them" to "why the fuck didn't you leave the second they started with the slurs." It also often says some uncomfortable and unfortunate things about the person adding these details, namely, why did you think Mr. Gaslighting And Torture needed to also be homophobic for people to catch on to the fact that he is The Bad Guy.)

[peijizerojournal]

re: 'khaos reigns'

i have SO much to say about it lol but i'm still gathering my thoughts. all i know for sure is : even though the bar (in regards to quality of story and characterization) was on the floor, i am still, yet again, extremely disappointed !

(rant/review/spoilers below. will maybe add to this, but also maybe not. just purging some of my thoughts lol)

in a nutshell,

the way liu kang, kuai liang, cyrax, sektor and bi-han's characters were all deviously misrepresented was just appalling.

kuai liang is depicted as heartless, arrogant and temperamental. posturing as a 'grandmaster' even though he's done nothing but usurp authority by establishing a 'clan of his own' and pointing the finger at everybody but himself. lecturing cyrax about honour... pfft.

liu kang is strangely unforgiving and not very compassionate (he was literally more gracious in how he handled shang tsung/quan chi over bi-han?? like what??) not to mention his lack of urgency with dispatching of havik and rescuing geras. instead of extending some authentic benevolence to bi-han, he instead goads and chastises him after his transformation, and fails to elaborate further when they have their brief interaction regarding his hopes for a different future. the miscommunication between them -- in other words -- continues to be infuriating.

sektor doing nothing but being comically op and fawning over bi-han every three seconds is so all over the place, like they couldn't decide or couldn't find a nuanced balance in her persona (an issue with many characters, it seems...). while i thought she was the most accurately characterized out of all of these major players, her defining traits such as her obsession with the cyber initiative and boosting the lin kuei's position are not made so clear in the actual story? instead the writers chose to focus on her over-the-top, one-sided adulation toward bi-han. it makes her so hard to take seriously as a threat or as the next acting-grandmaster. another storytelling fail!

cyrax starts off the dlc defiantly, standing up for what she believes in and deciding to help the shirai ryu, yet during the rest of the story, she has no agency and just follows kuai around profusely apologizing for something she didn't even do (and kuai was relishing in that shift of power.... gross.)

and bi-han... i think that situation speaks for itself. missing chunks of the leak script and clever editing in the trailers left most of the fanbase baited and switched, and not to mention literally anything could happen next because of the lack of commitment to any of the lore and to even the timeline itself. many of the tower endings contradict much of the intro dialogue and the campaign itself. i guess by introducing alternate timelines and universes so early on, it gives the writers fair game to retcon anything and everything. which, effectively, pulvarizes any meaning for liu kang's 'new era' going forward.

i could keep ranting but, in short: 'khaos reigns' was rushed, boring, full of poor characterization and enough 'macguffins' and 'red herrings' fit for a superhero movie. so many plot holes and loose ends that weren't followed up on (like hello, what's with the hand on noob's hip? and where the hell did titan havik go at the end? was he banished? what about the kamidogu???). there were so many missed opportunities to flesh out preexisting conflicts too, and the pacing of everything from dialogue to the transitions between chapters was completely disjointed. all the characters actions were seemingly shortsighted and many of the decisions made led to nowhere and nothing really changed by the end. nobody went through any real character arc or growth, nobody knows what happened to our over-hyped 'villain of the week,' and the tower endings cancel out the dlc's true ending, essentially making all of it, and none of it, 'canonically accurate.'

it's clear whoever's writing this has no respect or insight for the source material, and is just doing whatever they want: whatever's popular, whatever sells, right? the one thing about a multiverse story is, you can keep that going forever. the possibilities are endless, and if they don't like something... it can be changed with a snap of the finger. kind of reminds me of one of supernatural's awful later seasons, or destiny 2's "shadowkeep" expansion. 'khaos reigns' comes across as a shoehorned seasonal narrative that exists solely to sell noob, cyrax and sektor and little else.

oh yeah, and the future dlc's that are sure to come.

[utdrmv-confession-box]

Transcript: I cannot help but express my disappointment in Dreamtale in particular. I can see the wonder and interesting concepts in the AU, but the narrative falls flat and feels more like a self-indulgent sansverse inclusion more than a Multiverse-oriented fanwork. While Dream and Nightmare are semi-interesting characters and aren't completely one-note, there are so many creator statements and pieces of lore that contradict who they are, what made the UNDERTALE Multiverse special, and the AU itself, such as Dream not supporting Ink's outlook on AUs yet being completely fine with the hedonistic, destructive nature of error, or Ccino's relationship with Nightmare being semi-canon, which contradicts what he's meant to be (Pure negativity)... Dreamtale lacks consistency. In addition, Dreamtale isn't native to the multiverse, yet for some reason the AU influences everyone's feelings in the UTMV? This is the same kind of parasitic logic used by ALPHATALE, one of the worst AUs to ever exist, Joku. I'm sorry, but I cannot suspend my disbelief any longer. Ask-Error and Poppy's story worked because they were RELEVANT, not intrusive... don't even get me started on the plot holes.

[jesncin]

Finally finished Young Justice S2

it was pretty good! Definitely a huge improvement from the first season even if there's a ton of plot holes and problems still, but it's clear that this season really amped the stakes in an interesting way. They took bigger swings, and sometimes that results in bigger misses. Lingering thoughts:

absolutely ludicrous of Nightwing and the other team members who were in on the "Kaldur is being a double agent" plot, to not let M'gann in on that 😭what do you MEAN you're not letting the telepath who has been mind breaking villains casually in on your Kaldur under cover plot? Ridiculous, biggest plot hole ever.

What exactly is the team's stance on M'gann mind breaking bad guys? Obviously Conner hates it, but I remember Bumblebee telling M'gann to "Brain blast him or something" so? Does the team know M'gann does this and are okay with it? Does Conner tell anyone what M'gann did to him? Aayee

lol @ M'gann saying she can only shapeshift into girls/women when she casually turns into men multiple times this season. But even when that concept was introduced they contradicted themselves in that very episode.

There's something,,, uncomfortable about the whole Arsenal plot where he ends up getting kicked out of the team. My memory's a bit foggy since I watched the episodes in chunks but- I thought Nightwing cutting Arsenal off the team was uncalled for? Like sure Arsenal panicked and got everyone captured because of it, but then he essentially single handedly (hah) saved everyone again, leading a rag tag new team to help him save his friends. Sure it was his fault that they got captured in the first place (because he was traumatized from fear of being captured again) but well. If he isn't psychologically fit to be back on the team so soon after being traumatically trapped for so long,,,why is he on the team to begin with? It gets into this uncomfy convo where the Young Justice team just kinda normalizes child soldiers to hop right back into intense crime fighting before they had a chance to recover mentally. Like he more than made up for his mistake in my opinion.

Way too many characters again! Especially by the end of the season. They really should've just focused on the cast surrounding Blue Beetle, Impulse, and Arsenal as new characters because their plots were the center of the conflict really! The Batfam members didn't have a personality and felt superfluous to the cast.

The rag tag team of meta kids were done dirty by the end! Static just joins Young Justice at the ending in a way that felt mandatory instead of natural.

I can't believe they just shipped a bunch of characters at the end again like last season lol I was caught off guard by that completely.

Waaay too much exposition, most of which felt unnatural. I know this season's plot is way more ambitious, but there could've been better ways to give us that information. Many of the episodes were just "plot is progressing" and not giving characters a chance to grow through their arcs.

Overall, I had a good time even when I was frustrated at certain plots. This is definitely not the Young Justice slump era I know is coming eventually, lol.

[nalyra-dreaming]

My two questions are about Armand bc show has been very vague about his powers to the point it looks like a huge plot hole.

Armand's mind control is canon, now in the show too. Although we were at Louis's pov and he seemed to really unaware about the man he lived for 7 decades how come Talamasca can place an agent right in front of his nose? If Rashid is human i don't know what kind of mind control training would be effective against Armand's powers. He is very territorial too, wouldn't trust anyone so easily. Did he let them plant Rashid in their house? Why? He seemed to can't read Rashid about their lunch w Raglan either. He went to toilet but he knew RJ were to come. It's really contradicting bc Daniel digs his computer all the time, chats w RJ right in front of Armand at the finale, Rashid flees. Armand seems unaware of all. This time I can't say maybe he let them either bc he was completely shocked and panicked. I don't know if they will adress Dubai further.

Considering in a recent interview Rolin said something like "You accept to look like idiot writers,so many plot holes and contradictions bc there is a bigger picture it all will play out."

What are your thoughts and theories?

As for Paris when they meet w Lestat at the tower He looks at them and says Distance bw the happy couple. How do you think he knows? Armand used the relationship to emotionally torture him, weaken him both body & heart or Lestat read coven's mind?

Okay, so I have to dig into the books here a bit :)

Given (vampire) Sam is not human (and working for the Talamasca) I don't think Rashid is human either.

No mask, the fingernails seem to me like (shortened) vampire nails. Remember, the human servants all wore masks around Daniel, and gloves. Since vampires can eat (when they want to)...

Rashid, in the books, is a vampire Marius (Armand's maker) encounters while traveling. He is one of Eudoxia's servants, Eudoxia, who ruled Constantinople. Eudoxia wanted to take Marius' charge from him - the charge being "Those Who Must Be Kept", aka Akasha and Enkil.

Now, in the books Marius kills Rashid when he goes to kill Eudoxia. However, I have a feeling that this event played out a bit differently in the show... it also seems to me that the ties Marius book canonically has with the Talamasca (Marius' maker founded them with two others, and Marius has had contact before) might also be, let's say adapted in the show.

We will see. But I do think this is the "real" real Rashid, and as such - he is older than Armand. And being older than Armand (and by quite a bit) as well as working for the Talamasca would explain him being able to lock his mind, imho. The Talamasca do teach their agents basic mind control skills, and most of their members have some kind of abilities.

Now, Rashid being connected to Raglan James as well... makes me think he is not Raglan at all (you probably saw me theorizing before he might be Marius) - but I might be wrong there. Also something we will see^^. But either way, I do not think Rashid went to the bathroom to go to the toilet (or he did and threw up the food?!), but to give Daniel some minutes with Raglan.

But I don't think any of it is a coincidence. I think that will all be part of the bigger puzzle that will unfold through the seasons. The bigger picture Rolin talks about.

As per Lestat and that tower... I don't think it happened that way. I'll die on the hill that Lestat would never be in the torture chamber part of the tower voluntarily. And yes, in the books Armand came to visit him. If Lestat really was in Paris for a while for rehearsal, then he would also know anything there was to know about Louis and Armand from the coven, because we know they like to gossip. And he probably read their minds.

But there: they come in, like this:

Louis and Armand, on one side of of the room each.

I think Lestat does not need to read their minds there, he can simply observe the body language. Louis stays as far as he can away from Armand until he wants to kill Lestat and Lestat tells him he - they - can't.

Only then Louis joins with Armand again - (supposedly) out of spite. Because that spite... is the only weapon he has then.

But, as I said - I cannot quite believe that it went this way. If we'll see how it really went? If it was closer to the book? We'll see. Maybe we will never revisit, depending on what they decide to do with s3. But there are hints in performance and acting, and... well. We might yet see^^.

[dragon-ball-meta]

why do people care so much about canon, especially in fucking DB???? Was everything post-21st world Tournament not canon, because Toriyama's OG vision changed from an adventure serial to a typical battle shonen not out of artistic desire but popularity? Did canon end when the OG run ended? Did it end when the quality dropped precipitously near the middle of the Buu arc? Does GT and Online not count because he only did character designs, same with the movies? Super doesn't count because he only gave a hack writer the broad strokes? Later seasons of Daima won't count because Toriyama passed? Minus and Jako also don't because he wrote them decades later? A good bit of it even contradicts previous canon, including the OG run, so that's a non-canon too? And ofc heroes doesn't because it's from a gatcha game?

Like this isn't Catholicism, it legit won't start a religious war if you only consider Yo Son Goku and Friends canon

Well for one, that quality dip is quite subjective, but that's beside the point. Things which are "canon" are things that are considered by the author to be the official continuation of his work by his own hand. The reason establishing a "canon" or continuities is important is for the sake of criticism and consistency. Case in point, people insisting that Toriyama violated "canon" with Minus because it contradicted the Bardock special, which was never "canon" in the first place. Or people saying his depiction of Freeza in Hell contradicted the original series based on filler scenes created solely for the anime by the animation staff. There are many later story developments that would come up that people would try to pin as "plot holes" because they contradicted things that were only included in filler or spinoff materials. So for the purpose of judging the author's work, this is important. I don't know why there's so much backlash against it, honestly. It's not like anyone's saying "oh, that's not canon, you're not allowed to read or watch that!" It's just a means of trying to help keep criticism and discourse about the show's narrative and characterization more focused on the actual narrative and characterization is all. And thus, yeah, I wouldn't hold stuff not done by Toriyama himself in nearly as high regard in that sense. That doesn't mean I won't watch or read or play it and enjoy it. And it doesn't mean anyone else shouldn't either.

[crownedwithstars]

Galadriel in the Rings of Power, Part 1: Warrior of the Plot Hole

Galadriel is perhaps one of the most difficult characters in the legendarium, and I mean difficult in a sense that there are variations as to how her story goes. Tolkien kept developing her tale until the end of his life and his last ideas about her very much contradict his initial thoughts. So what really is canon about Galadriel and what's not? Why do I think her portrayal in ROP is so bad? I would argue there are certain fixed points about her story that cannot really be altered, especially not in the way the show has done, because they actively contradict and/or create problems for how things go down in The Lord of the Rings. 

Ever since the first season aired, Galadriel being shown as a warrior has been a controversial topic. I personally think it is a very bad decision, may create plot holes for her later story, and turns her into a completely different character. IMHO it's also misogynistic, as I will argue in this post. However, I shall try to make my arguments deeper than the usual complaint about girlbossification.

I will post my arguments in a few different posts, because that should make the whole much more readable. I will use the tags #anti rop and #anti rings of power for the benefit of those who may want to filter my posts.

I try to confer my thoughts in the most objective and respectful manner possible, and ask the same of those who may wish to challenge my views. If you like Amazon Rings of Power, I have no issue with that; I only take issue with how a character I've loved for over a decade is portrayed in this show.

1. Galadriel as a warrior, as shown in ROP, has little or no basis in canon and it may even create plot holes for The Lord of the Rings.

Galadriel's early history is commonly taken as a defence of the show's portrayal. She is called Nerwen, Man-maiden, and she is tall, strong and athletic. Her intellect is also on par with the loremasters of her people (which interestingly is rarely if ever mentioned by the show or its fans). It is implied - and arguments made in defence of ROP's portrayal stress this too -- that Galadriel in her youth is not like the other women of Noldor and doesn't do feminine things, such as weaving (keep this in mind, it will be important later). The show and the fans stress the line about Galadriel wearing her hair as a crown when she partook in athletic pursuits to such a degree that it's a little bit odd - as if this proved something more than the fact that she is a sportswoman in her youth.

In other words, her being physically strong and athletic does not immediately equal martial inclination, especially when Galadriel's youth, and the time these mentions allude to, is specifically a period of peace in Valinor. So where does this idea come from? Is it because of societal norms that equal physical strength with masculinity, and (toxic) masculinity is connected with aggression and violence? This may be in our society, but why is that norm applicable to an immortal, ethereal race and their society that would have to be in many ways different? I also seem to recall that for the Elves, the difference in strength and physical ability is much lesser between the sexes than for mortals (but please correct me if I'm remembering wrong). Either way, it seems to me like the basis of Galadriel being a warrior hinges on the belief that physical activity and strength equal readiness to aggression and violence. And this is done in a show based on stories by a writer who often lets his male characters be tender with one another and showing their feelings openly: the exact opposite of toxic masculinity. 

There are other examples in the legendarium that being athletic doesn't equal martial skill/inclination. Take the character of Aredhel. She is a huntress in Valinor, which probably means that she has skill with bows and spears. Aredhel is an athlete and she is certainly brave, but she is not depicted as a warrior -- and if she were, you would think it would be alluded to during her wanderings in Beleriand. However, she takes guards with her and Maeglin presents himself as her protector when they make for Gondolin, which implies that Aredhel is not a fighter despite being an athlete in her youth. 

What about mentions of Galadriel fighting, then? Again, I acknowledge there are different versions of her story. I myself only remember a mention of her fighting at Alqualonde (please let me know if there are other mentions). Some take this as a proof that Galadriel is a warrior, but I would argue that it is not, when you look at the context. At Alqualonde, Fëanor and his supporters attack the Teleri - Galadriel's kin by her mother Eärwen. What does a brave and physically strong person do in a situation where their family and relatives are being attacked? She probably takes up arms to defend them, whether she is martially active or not. Saving a family member's life does not hinge on being a professional fighter. Tolkien also says elsewhere that Elven women did not usually take part in fighting, but they could at need wield arms. Galadriel's kin being slaughtered would be such a need. In other words, this one mention of Galadriel fighting is not evidence of her being an active warrior. Moreover, the show's portrayal seems to hinge - to my knowledge - on these few lines, when the textual evidence of Galadriel being a courtier, politician and a leader is overwhelming. The evidence of her being martially occupied except at utmost need is extremely thin, and so making her a warrior is poor writing and makes you wonder why this change was deemed so necessary by the show's creators.  

How does the show portray Galadriel's background before the show? Firstly she is apparently a lonely child who doesn't get along with other children, but gets bullied (for whatever reason) and she lashes out at them violently. The show doesn't establish any particular hobbies or interests, except for a vague pastime of playing with small toy boats (which implies some kind of creativity, but the object itself is nothing that a human child could not make) and fighting with her peers. Apparently, she also adores her brother, who is soon after revealed to die at the hands of Sauron. 

Now we come to the First Age. ROP's take on Galadriel appears to be that she is a warrior in the trenches of Beleriand, and her motive is some kind of vengeance against Morgoth for the darkening of Valinor - a generic aim that other Noldor shared, but whether Galadriel has some personal stake is not clear. She doesn't stand out with dreams or hopes or ambitions specific to her. War is apparently the only thing that ever mattered to Galadriel and she is not shown as having any other preoccupations or interests than fighting and hunting for Sauron. Whatever motives she had in canon about ruling a kingdom of her own are absent. And by the show's logic, she would have to be a warrior through this age, because in the start of the first season of ROP she is the commander of the northern armies, and I cannot imagine that role being given to her if she wasn't an experienced fighter by the end of the First Age. And if her initial motive was to fight against Morgoth, then one would expect that she was a member of one of her brothers' companies. Namely Finrod, because he (and avenging him) is her obsession in the show. However, ROP's take on Finrod's role has to be quite different from canon, because Nargothrond was not in the frontlines of Beleriand during his lifetime. If Galadriel in the First Age is specifically concerned with fighting Morgoth, then surely she would not have spent it in a hidden kingdom?

Galadriel is not mentioned as a commander of war like her brothers in the Silmarillion, and neither is she anywhere else to my knowledge. She is not mentioned as taking part in any of the numerous battles of the First Age, in fact she leaves Beleriand before the final showdown. Rather, she is in Doriath with Melian, and at some point betrothed to Celeborn. I would argue that this period is crucial for Galadriel as a character and for who she later becomes.

Doriath ruled by Melian is the blueprint for Lothlórien under Galadriel's leadership. Doriath is the hidden kingdom, the fairest dwelling of the Elves east of the sea, fencing out outsiders and standing up against the Dark Lord. It is ruled by a powerful sorceress whose influence reaches far. The queen of that realm, along with her maidens, is a skilled weaver who fills the halls of Menegroth with wondrous cloths. She is also the giver of lembas to weary travellers, and has the gift of foresight. It is notable that according to The Nature of Middle-earth, Galadriel is one of the key persons in bringing the art of making lembas and the corn required to make back to Middle-earth, and it seems likely that her long stay in the safety of Doriath allowed the new corn and the art of making it into waybread to take root. This would take time and effort that Galadriel the warrior would not have.

In other words, Doriath is where Galadriel learns and combines the skills that she later uses to help the Fellowship, and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that if Frodo and Sam did not have Galadriel's cloaks and lembas, they would not have endured all the way to Orodruin. 

If Galadriel spent the First Age fighting Morgoth's hordes, or even as a march warden of Doriath (unlikely, if she was fuelled by vengeance), she did not have time to learn the skills she needs in The Lord of the Rings to help with the quest to destroy the Ring, nor could she have had a role in establishing lembas in Middle-earth. In Doriath she would have learned the Sindarin and Silvan technologies of stealth and survival on a dangerous continent and absorbed enough influence that she too would one day rule a very similar realm. Her model of rulership is so like Melian's that it's hard to believe she would or could have exercised it without spending a long time in Doriath. She also could not have established the new corn or the making of it into lembas if she was constantly away on the battlefield.

One could also argue that the time Galadriel spent in Doriath and her link to Melian make her a viable option as a ruler for the Elves of Lothlórien. She is not just a Noldo who was born and bred in Valinor, she is also blood-related to Kinslayers. Despite this, she is still accepted as a leader by the Silvan elves and what survivors of Doriath lived in the wood. This could only be if she had taken time to learn the ways and culture of the Elves of Middle-earth in Doriath, and did not spend the whole First Age engaged in specifically Noldorin wars. 

Obviously, ROP can't use The Silmarillion, but there are still many ways that the script could work around this if the show's creators had bothered to try. Turning Galadriel into a warrior and making it clear she spent the First Age in the trenches actively denies the chance and time she needs to learn the skills that she will eventually use to help the Fellowship and to establish herself as an individual that the Elves of Middle-earth would respect and take as their ruler. You can't have it both ways. Could she have learned these things elsewhere? Perhaps the craft, but not the art and the magic, which Elven artifacts very much are about. Again we come to the fact that Doriath is the blueprint for Lothlórien and her connection to Doriath is what makes her a viable ruler; its exclusion from Galadriel's story creates too big of a problem. Also, what this change of her story actually does is downplay the importance of feminine skills and the time it takes to learn and perfect them. This is one of the many ways the show, and Galadriel's story in it, is misogynistic.

ROP!Galadriel is also portrayed as too consumed by her quest of vengeance, making it unbelievable that she would actually be interested in learning skills that don't have to do with finding Sauron. Moreover, the mentions of Galadriel being athletic and showing masculine traits are also taken from texts that Amazon does not have rights for, so it is contradictory that this bit is used to legitimise her being a warrior, and other parts where her femininity is shown, are refused because they don't fall in the sphere of what Amazon is allowed to use. Again, you can't have it both ways. 

Lastly, the change of Galadriel's backstory during the First Age raises questions about Celeborn. If she was busy being a warrior and did not spend any meaningful periods in Doriath, then when and where did she meet her husband? How did she have time to get to know him, and grow to care about him enough to want to marry him? How long were they married before he went missing? If Galadriel is this angry outcast who has a hard time getting along with others, what endeared her to Celeborn and vice versa? Here the show has the problem that will become familiar later on: compressing too many events in too little time. Between the arrival of Noldor in Middle-earth and the end of the First Age, there are less than 600 years. Moreover, according to Elven custom they did not usually marry or have children in times of war and in canon this is the reason Galadriel and Celeborn don't marry during the First Age, even though they live in Doriath away from the frontlines; so how ROP!Galadriel, preoccupied as a warrior and apparently far away from the relative peace of Doriath, could possibly get married at this time? Seemingly, Celeborn is already out of the picture at the start of the Second Age, leaving little to no time for the couple to meet one another, fall in love, get married, live any amount of time in the married state, and Celeborn to go missing.

&&&&&&&

That's it for this time. In the next post, I will share my thoughts about ROP!Galadriel's so called war trauma, whether it works in the frame that Tolkien's legendarium provides, and what are its implications considering the timeline and her position as a military officer.

[snicketstrange]

Solving the Apparent Plot Hole in SB of Netflix's ASOUE

The mystery of Esmé's sugar bowl in Netflix's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" is an endless source of speculation among fans. Kit Snicket's claim that the sugar bowl contains "sugar" that can cure the disease caused by the MM fungus has upset many, and for good reason:

The cure for the MM fungus was originally discovered by Beatrice Baudelaire, who used a hybrid apple and horseradish in her experiments. Nothing suggests that she would give special status to the resulting "sugar."

Count Olaf also seeks the sugar bowl, but he explicitly states in the TGG adaptation that he believed the MM fungus no longer existed. So why would he seek a cure for a disease he thought had been eradicated?

Horseradish alone is already highly effective in preventing death caused by the MM fungus. Sunny was infected, used horseradish, and showed no side effects or traces of the disease. This makes the definitive cure for the disease less valuable than one might think.

In truth, the only way to view Netflix's ASOUE canon as coherent is to accept the fact that Kit Snicket wasn't entirely honest about the sugar bowl's contents.

So, can we deduce what's really in Netflix's sugar bowl based on the information we have?

In Netflix's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" series, various clues are given about the mysterious contents of the sugar bowl. First, the contents are edible, evidenced by a flashback where Esmé uses the sugar bowl's contents to make tea. This same scene also reveals that the tea tasted bitter, suggesting the bitter nature of the contents. Beatrice, also present in this flashback, hints that the contents have some sort of power, adding that this power shouldn't be in the hands of one person but could be shared with many. Additionally, the contents are tangible: Quigley looks inside the sugar bowl and sees something he can't fully understand but is definitely there. Lastly, Kit Snicket, known for telling half-truths and omitting information, claims the sugar bowl contains "sugar" that cures the fatal MM fungus disease. This information, given Kit's history, may only be partially true.

So, how can these contradictions be reconciled? The crux of my theory lies in the idea that the "sugar" inside the sugar bowl is much more than it appears to be.

All signs point to there actually being sugar in the sugar bowl, likely derived from Beatrice's research with the bitter hybrid apple. What we call sugar could really be a remedy. But it can't just be a remedy for the MM fungus disease.

Firstly, Beatrice must have conducted various different experiments while on the island. After all, everything ends up on that island sooner or later. She must have used rare ingredients from shipwrecks or something that accidentally fell into the ocean somewhere to combine with her basic experiment of blending horseradish with apples. After all, the end result contains "something" that is abortive. Neither apples nor horseradish have abortive substances. This suggests that Beatrice used additional ingredients.

(This detail was first brought to my attention by TheAsh , as far as I know) She may not even know exactly what those ingredients are, as labels made of paper could easily dissolve in water.

If, by chance, in one of these experiments, it were possible to produce a unique fruit and a special type of hybrid apple, formed from a very specific formula and rare ingredients (some of which even Beatrice might not know), then maybe we're onto something. If the fruits from a single harvest had the power not just to cure the disease caused by the MM fungus... but perhaps the ability to cure all diseases! And that would be truly hard to replicate elsewhere, even by Beatrice herself.

So we might have something there. This would indeed be a great parallel to the biblical account of the tree of life, to which TE clearly refers (in a somewhat inverted manner, but still a reference). The tree of life in the Garden of Eden could make someone live forever. Beatrice's apple could cure all diseases. But this phenomenon wasn't replicated, and Beatrice knew she couldn't replicate the experiment.

In that case, to prevent the specific apples from losing their properties when they spoil, Beatrice must have made "sugar" from these apples. A type of sugar that preserved the healing properties of the fruit of life. But where would she store it? Indeed, this powder became the most valuable substance in the world.

And so, a safe, discreet (and preferably beautiful) container was needed to hold something so valuable and powerful. Esmé's sugar bowl proved suitable, as it could preserve the sugar even in case of fire and flood.

Esmé, thirsty for power, would love to be the guardian of such a substance. And of course, the sugar bowl is hers. Has she remained so beautiful and youthful over the course of 14 years by consuming a bit of this sugar over the years? Either way, after discussing with Esmé the importance of sharing the sugar bowl's contents with others, she felt obligated to steal it from Esmé.

catastrophist , this theory was for you! I hope you enjoyed reading it.