#So after this one all the further posts will be using 3 or less reference photos!

[dailyverse-smash-or-pass]

First contestant of Dailyverse Smash or pass we have: Mr. Won't Wouldn't!! (@normal-album-daily)

For anyone unfamiliar with or have forgotten what he looks like, just like how I forgot myself in 2012-! here is what he looks like!:

Propaganda: Won't Wouldn't is sex incarnate

[turtlesandfrogs]

So, someone asked:

And truthfully, I have so much advice that it needs to be it's own post.

First off, let's set some background information: I have ADHD. I have really bad ADHD*, and that has an impact on executive functioning and thus the amount of work that can be accomplished during work time. HOWEVER! You do not have to have ADHD for this advice to be relevant for you. Often accommodations for one group end up working well for others, so just, like, keep that in mind, ok?

On ward!

Step 1: Have you met your mammalian needs? That is, have you had food (type of food matters, make sure you get some good protein, fats, carbs, and vegetables in you. You will not last long on coffee and a bag of candy), water, physical exercise, and ample sleep**? We are animals. We have to have these needs met, or we will not be functioning well. This is the ground work, the foundation of the ability to Do Stuff.

Addendum for those with executive functioning disorders (ADHD, ASD, probably others, I'm not an expert in mental disorders!): You need to make space in your life, EVERY DAY for things you enjoy. Do not limit them to "rewards" for after the task is done- you need things to be happy about in order maintain your mental well-being. Without happy-making things, you get depressed (well, a lot of us are co-morbid and need to keep an eye on that any way), and when you're depressed, you will not be functioning well. Depression literally robs you of energy. Doing things that make you happy is just as foundational as eating, drinking, and sleeping. Time with friends and loved ones, time with hyperfixations and special interests, hobbies, etc. You NEED them. They are prerequisite, not reward!

Step 2. Do physical activities daily. The more physical activity you do, the more you'll be able to do. Yes, there is a point at which it becomes too much, or a person tries to do too much too soon, but for the majority of modern humans in the US, increasing your physical activity will increase your energy levels and endurance. It also does good things for your brain (increased focus, increased learning ability, increased positive mood, etc). Find some activities that you enjoy- walking around the neighborhood and identifying plants and birds? SCA? Dancing? Stretching? Swimming? Biking? DDR? Pushups? Find something that you enjoy doing and can fit into your daily life. Also try to find things that strengthen muscles, maintain flexibility, and train balance.

Step 3. Reduce Cognitive load- and plan to do it before you start. The less you have to think about while you're working, the better. Thinking takes energy, and when you're working on a thing***, you want your energy to be going to that thing. Some things that may help:

Listening to music

Having a piece of paper where you write down any thoughts of things you need to do that aren't the thing you're doing right now.

Putting your phone on Do Not Disturb

Meditating first, so you can write down all those "AAAA! I need to do that!!!" thoughts on that paper mentioned earlier before you even try to work. I find that every time I try to meditate they all come bubbling up, so it's a great way to get them all written down first so they won't be distracting you while you're trying to work on your chosen task.

Set a timer, so that you're not thinking about how long it's been or if you need to stop and do something else.

Do some prep work before working to make the working easier. Like, are you cleaning out a doom room? Grab the garbage, recycling, and empty containers you need first. Are you writing a paper? Grab your snacks and hot beverages, and references, and have a plan for your break times before you sit down to write.

Step 4. Access what you need/want to do. Make a list. Look at the list. Do any of those things feel overwhelming? You need to address that:

can you break the tasks into smaller tasks?

do some of the tasks need preparatory work? Write that down on your list too

does a task have a hard part that is blocking you from progress? Can you do that first thing while you're at max energy? Can you break down that part into smaller parts? Can you get someone else to do it? Can you do it, and then schedule a break?

Step 5. Keep your 'Why' in mind. Why are you doing it? What is the core motivation, the driving force? Eg, "I'm cleaning my room because I feel better when my space is clear and organized, and it's a gift to my future self". Or maybe, "I'm writing this paper because (this topic interests me) or (because I want to get a good grade in this class and do well in school so that I can get a job that will support me in the future)". Some times it's not obvious at first why exactly you're doing a thing, but if you dig, there's probably a solid reason that is meaningful to you in there somewhere (even if it's just, like, avoiding late fees or something). If not, maybe don't do the thing?

Step 6. Take breaks. Breaks are legally mandated, at a minimum of 10 minutes every 2 hours where I am, but everywhere I've worked (except when I was a teacher) gave people 15 minutes every 2 hours. You know why? Because you get back from break with more energy. You also make less mistakes when you take regular rest breaks. You work more efficiently, and can work for longer if you take restful breaks. Just, like, don't do something that's taxing in the same way as the work you're doing. In other words, if you're writing, don't go read more things, get up and walk around the building instead. If you're doing physical labor, sit your tired bones down and consider looking at things that make you laugh or bring you joy.

Step 7. As you work, acknowledge to yourself your accomplishments, and celebrate them. The harder the thing is (or the harder it was to get started), the more important this is. You're training your brain to associate doing the work you want to do with good feelings. You are not that much more complex than a dog or pigeon. If you are mean to yourself, for example by thinking "dang, that was all? What's wrong with me that it took me 3 weeks/6 months/2 years to get started?" then you are effectively punishing yourself. Even a small tweak like "Dang, that's all? That's way easier than I thought it would be! Go me! I'm so glad that's over and I'm no longer suffering through procrastination!" makes a huge difference. Don't be mean to yourself.

Further suggestions:

8. If you have a hard time starting, use some ADHD strategies:

Tell yourself that you only have to work for 5 minutes (or 10, if that feels very doable), and then you can take a break. Set a timer, and at 5 minutes, check in with yourself. How are you doing? If you're doing good and want to keep going, do a quick stretching break, mentally praise yourself, and then get back to it. If not, stop, take a break and assess what you can do to make it better. Then get back to it.

Count down from 10 and start.

Bribe yourself: When I'm done, I'm going to take a hot bath. When I'm done, I'm going to go for a walk. When I'm done, I'm going to spend $300 dollars on houseplants. When I'm done, I'm going to ask for a hug. When I'm done, I'm going to play 6 hours of that new game. You know, what ever is reasonable and fits the scale of the project.

Get a body double/work buddy. They don't have to help you, they are just there, working on their own thing. For some reason this helps a lot of people.

Think about how much future-you will appreciate present-you for doing this task.

Take a second and write about the problem, why it's hard to start. Is there something else even more pressing that you need to take care of first? Have you not met all of your needs? Is there some element that you're avoiding thinking about for some reason? Can you address it?

9. Role play an effective person. Or a person that's good at the thing you want to do. Think of someone, ideally someone you know, who is good at the thing, and pretend you're them. Maybe someone you're slightly jealous of because of their ability to do the thing. What would they do? What would it look like? How would they feel internally while doing it? Just pretend you're them and look at the work through their eyes for a little bit.

10. Do you have sensory issues? Is your body comfortable? Are your clothes clean and nice feeling? Do you need to take a shower (or just wipe relevant bits with a wet washcloth)? Are the lights bright/dim enough? Is the air fresh or does it feel stuffy and stagnant? Are you hungry/sad/thirsty/tired/overwhelmed/etc? Can you address any of those factors?

11. Use usually negative personality traits. I'm not saying this is for everyone, but for some of us, it may be a useful tool when used cautiously. For example, I am a person who has a lot of anger. Obviously I have worked very hard to get better at managing my anger and reducing the sum total of hours I spend angry. HOWEVER, I am so good at cleaning when I'm furious. S,o maybe I pick a thing that I know will make me angry, and I think about it for a while, and then I have a lot more energy to clean the room.

12. Use positive personality traits. I also really enjoy making people happy. So sometimes if it's not enough to motivate me, I think about how happy whatever work will make someone else. That's probably the better, healthier option.

13. Are you trying to do too much? I want you to take an assessment of yourself and your energy and endurance levels. Think of what would use up 100% of your energy and endurance for the day. Got it? Ok, good. Now, don't let yourself go over 80%. At the max. Reduce your task list and responsibilities until you can comfortably get everything done with 60 to 80% of your energy and endurance. Why? Because if you're running at 100% all of the time, what happens when you can't? Because if you're running at 100% all the time, you will burn out. Because if you're running at 100% all of the time, if a small disaster happens, so much will collapse because you won't be able to do it all.

Because you're a human, and you deserve leisure time and rest and relaxation. Because you're a human, and you NEED leisure time and rest and relaxation.

14. Being mean, harsh, disapproving, and demanding of yourself is counter productive and WILL NOT work in the long term. Being kind, creating chances for you to learn new things, being grateful to your past-self, and giving yourself the things you need to be happy and healthy will.

* enough that the physiatrist commented on it, but I was home schooled until I went to college, and thus had no idea what ADHD was or that I had it until year two of my masters degree in teaching. I didn't get formally diagnosed until 29.

**ample sleep, here defined as allotting enough time to sleep that you wake up before your alarm clock on a regular basis. Not like, once a week you sleep in for however many hours in an attempt to make up for the rest of the week. No, I mean allotting enough time EVERY NIGHT that you wake up before your alarm 90% of the time. It doesn't count if you're waking up because of anxiety or pain. I would hope that you're addressing those as much as you possibly can.

*** please nobody think that when I say "working" that I mean jobs/working for other people. When I say "working" I mean literally any activity that you don't find yourself doing automatically and without thought. I love plants- taking care of them is still work. I love food- making it is still work. I love sharing information- compiling it in a format that is intelligible to others is still work.

[littlest-bugz]

The Collective You

[one system's brief advice about accepting the idea of the collective you]

One of the best pieces of system advice started from a tumblr post and was elaborated by my DID specialist. I can't find the original tumblr post that started it, so I'm making a little post of my own <3 Share the knowledge. and also hope that someone can link the original post lol.

When I was REALLY going through it™ with my first diagnosis w/ DID, and a lack of integration, all of my alters felt like separate individuals, some of us feeling as distanced as a coworker or a stranger altogether. We were just getting a grasp on internal communication between all of our subsystems, and it was rough. We felt so entirely differentiated that we were our own people trapped in one body. While I don't really care about what language you use, all alters in CDDs are a part of one person [there's only one body and brain]- the collective you.

So obvs, I'm scrolling tumblr like the chronically online doomscroller that I am, and I see this post that goes along the line of not knowing who you are, but knowing you are 'you', regardless of who you are [referring to alters]. And it said something like "we're all me enough to pick up our meds"- something like that. iirc it was a half light hearted, half advice post, but that was really good advice for me. I kind of internalized it after I processed it in therapy. It's actually why I have started to love parts language lately tbh.

After further processing this idea in therapy, Identity Confusion stopped mattering in the grand scheme of things. I focused less on worrying about who I was, and just focused on the fact that I'm me. Just like the post I saw- We are all me. The example of all being me enough to pick up my medications just applied, like, everywhere. Even when it came down to the smallest things- with coping with other symptoms too.

Oh? I don't like coffee right now? I guess I should switch to something else. [differentiated alters]

Oh? I have barely any drawing skills right now? Okay, really sucks but I can work on something else and come back to it later. [skill variance between alters]

Oh? I have to go to a doctor's appointment? I know I'll forget that- Gotta write a list, and put it up on the board so I remember. [day to day amnesia]

You know what happened? My dissociation got better! Not immediately or entirely, obviously, and my memory [re amnesia] still sucks, but that's part of the disorder- plus other disorders that I have. This idea of the collective you is something that I think is really beneficial to all CDD systems, especially during the mid to later stages of recovery.

I, admittedly, credit most of my healing to conversations I have had with my DID specialist. Especially since, without her, I wouldn't have been able to process this idea of the collective me further, but the conversation wouldn't have been started if I hadn't seen that post on tumblr. This was a budding concept with us due to the separation we had. It helped with integration. GRANTED... Not every alter got the memo, obviously, but It's something that I'm still working on. Of course, being me comes with the prerequisite that I am a person with DID, and that I am made up of multiple parts.

Now for the piece of advice I got from my therapist- Though it requires a certain level of knowledge of your own system, such as a list of alters and some identifying info [fav drinks, fav colors, those type of things]. Look at the list of your alters wherever it may be. Just whatever you use for logging your system members. Look for the commonalities between alters. There will be at least some commonalities.

For example; A good 45% of us like bunnies, 45% like cats, and 10% have a liking for other kinds of animals. Using this information, I can pretty much deduce that 1. the collective me loves animals and 2. the collective me likes cats and bunnies especially.

Another example; I looked through our simplyplural, which has a favorite color thing [in ours at least]. By looking through the list, I figured out 1. wow I like literally all colors- my fav color is rainbows and 2. I especially like pink and light blue.

More examples; the list.. THE LIST... I looked through it and saw that a good 90% of us like MONSTER ENERGY DRINKS- of varying flavors, but the common denominator was Ultra Strawberry Dreams, but all of us like [or tolerate] water as a preferred drink. From there I can come to the conclusion that I prefer water over anything else and that I have a problem with monster [being light hearted but I genuinely do].

I hope you get the idea I'm going for. I used this process for nearly every aspect of our collective identity, though some had to genuinely be voted on, such as our LGBTQIA+ labels [offline, we just call ourself queer, but that's.. aside the point LMAO].

Obviously, there are going to be outliers- Having DID comes with the fun [/s] aspect of alters being differentiated from each other in some capacity. Example for the monster energy one- We have a handful of alters that HATE energy drinks- even just fizzy drinks in general. There's one guy who will only drink Black Coffee and water- nothing else. He's the guy who is always hiding away our monsters in the way back of the fridge, but guess what!! He's me!! The part of me that doesn't want me to ruin my health over energy drinks. The part of me that knows I deserve better than my unhealthy habits.

Getting to know the collective you is just like learning about your system! It is not inherently different than figuring out what an alters dislikes or likes are. The idea of The Collective You shouldn't feel scary or anxiety inducing- if it is, you may want to confront those feelings with a therapist if you have access to one. Every CDD system is the collective [or, well, system] of one fragmented individual- That is a studied and objective fact. I wanted to give advice from one recovering system to another.

No, this will not work for everyone, every system is different, but I'm hoping this post finds the right audience in knowing that it's worth a shot to try this!

[luxfuxxvii]

my theories on Bilbo Baggins - Post Quest

why is Bilbo's house a mess????? im 90% certain that it was not normally so messy???? at least not back then??????? WHATS THE REASON???? well i have a few theories (ignore the fact that i should be watching instead of making this post)

excuse me while i get to the third chapter, I have to double check this shit before i share any theories. [this is where I start progressing in the movie]

okay the doorway isnt.

ITS NOT!!!!

DOUBLE CONFIRMED ITS NOT!!!!

Okay so in An Unexpected Journey, we start the story with Bilbo as an old man, the day of his 111st birthday. Idk if you guys can see, or have noticed, but his house is a right mess. There's cheese dropped on the carpet, crumbs on the floor, papers everywhere (like me too Bilbo, i know thats a writer thing, but it just needs to be mentioned in order to further the argument), countless books stacked high instead of actually put away, dirty dishes, mail hes ignoring, etc. Now, if you get further into the movie where the dwarves are all coming in, you'll see that it didn't USED to be so unkempt. In fact it was relatively neat.

So why isn't it tidy post-quest???? well. well. my friends. my theories, that I've decided are all true, include:

1. old age. he got old. it hurts to clean. yeah that'll do it. pick a joint, pick a bone, pick any set of tendons, theyre going to hurt.

2. the ring definitely made him less aware, less mindful. it takes up all his time by fucking with his mind and worsening his-

3. GRIEF!!!!! HOLY SHIT THE GRIEF!!!!!! Guys, his house was ransacked at the end of the quest. Y'know what that means???? All evidence of the dwarves is gone. All of it. The furniture wasn't in the same spots as they were the night the dwarves came. And if you're a rearranging adhder you know for a fact that the placement of your furniture holds memories. THIS POOR MAN HAS NOTHING LEFT OF THEM ASIDE FROM ahem I digress. he is simply too sad to keep track of his home like he used to. he does not have the energy, the will- he has all the time in the world but he needs that to be spent on something else, anything else.

4. this. this. you guys. this also leads into grief. yknow how the dwarves completely obliterated the state of his home???? "mud trod on the carpet, they've pillaged the pantry, im not even gonna tell you what they've done to the bathroom, theyve all but destroyed the plumbing. I dont understand what they're doing in my house!" so basically. the only thing. the only thing he has left of them. is the mess. thats it. thats all. just the mess. AHHHHHHHHH-

5. he is definitely not the same hobbit as the one who left the shire. i think maybe in the aftermath, after finally returning home, he adopted many traits of the company in order to preserve their memory. this is a very real thing guys. you lose someone, and you pick up the habits you most remember them by. thats just how grief works. it is a subconscious thing that you cant always control, at least not without help. dont get me wrong, hes still very obviously a hobbit, but you dont come out of a year long adventure in the company of 13 rowdy dwarves unchanged.

6. this could actually be what Frodo was referring to when he said that "You know, people are beginning to wonder about you, uncle. They think youre becoming ... odd." "Odd?" "Unsociable." the state of his house COULD just be that he is withdrawing from Frodo, from neighbors, from friends, etc. his mind is a thousand miles away, thinking of a distant mountain-- certainly hes not worried about the state of his kitchen when he could be going BACK.

this all basically narrows down to Bilbo's grief. but I just had to point it out.

Personally, I'm never going to use this information in my fics because i believe in HAPPY endings, thank you very much. however, this NEEDS to be shared with the people who are braver than me and are actually willing to write something so gut wrenchingly depressing.

[hellyrossum]

bits of r.u.r. that remind me of severance (or are otherwise interesting)

r.u.r., also known as rossum's universal robots, is a czech play from the early 1920s that i first heard of years ago. it's notable in the canon of science fiction for introducing the word "robot" to the english language, derived from the czech word "robota" meaning "servitude / forced labor". it's a play about artificial life made to be workers, and what happens when those workers rebel against their masters. and it features a woman named helena.

that's how the play was recently brought to the forefront of my mind. between the releases of s2 eps 2 and 3, i was looking up the meaning of the name helena and other people/characters who have been given that name, in search of any potential inspirations for severance's helena having been named as such. when i found this play's helena, helena glory, the bit of context i read seemed so insane a coincidence that i decided to read the full play (thank you project gutenberg), in case of any other connections. and, well.

(this is going to be less a proper analysis of the play than a summary that highlights particular sections/ideas. if you're a fan of severance's capitalism critique and philosophical exploration of what makes someone worthy of being considered a person, i highly recommend reading / listening to / watching r.u.r. for yourself!)

backstory for the play: the og mr. rossum invented a substance that could serve as the building blocks of artificial life. he wanted to pursue the further development of this artificial life for philosophical reasons, to see if humanity could effectively replace god, but his nephew took over and was only interested in using them to get rich. by the time of the play proper, robots are used all over the world as cheap labor.

in act 1, a young woman named helena glory goes to a factory that makes and "employs" robots. helena is the daughter of an industry titan, but she reveals that she's here as representative of the Humanity League, a group that wants to liberate the robots. (you see why reading just this on the wikipedia page caught my brain on fire, right. the double life of it all.)

at the factory, helena proves to be not actually that knowledgeable about the robots; her initial response to seeing one, a secretary named stella, is to insist she must be human because she's too lifelike, and then when the managers of the company come in she assumes that they must also be robots (and makes her case to them for their own liberation), only to learn they're not. harry domin, the chief manager, told her that the employees and officials are robots, but then (after they all have a laugh at her expense) he says of course the managers aren't; a robot could never. bosseshumans are still necessary, as the top of the hierarchy, telling the workersrobots what to do. (but isn't the fact that managers could be confused for robots telling in itself? looks at people's early theories about cobel and milchick. and miss huang.)

the six men all insist that the robots are simply tools/machines, but helena belives they have souls — or, if not, then they should get to have them. this is the philosophical conflict that essentially fuels the rest of the play, and so here is where i start posting screenshots.

guys. is this not. the literal philosophy behind creating innies (as workers, at least). you make a worker who only knows work, will forever only know work, and they will only think of work (right?).

there's something very lumon to me about this bit also:

(i'm not going to screenshot it but. would you believe me if i said shortly after this there's a reference to pineapples.)

and then. the bit where a certain someone's name started blaring in my head.

i don't even need to say it. you're thinking of her too, aren't you.

immediately after this we learn that the head scientist is currently working on developing pain nerves for the robots, which is. so normal. so normal to build the experience of pain into your artificial workers so they don't gum up your production line with their injuries. so they learn how to behave correctly. so normal.

in the interest of not including every moment of the play in this post, we'll skip ahead to when the act ends: dormin says he's fallen in love with helena and traps her into an engagement with him, saying that if she doesn't accept his proposal on the spot, one of the other five men will have her. yeah. as it turns out, this story is not only about how workers are treated like property/resources, but also how women are. another thing it has in common with severance :)

in fact, if that last plot point has you thinking about some disturbing implications that were brought to the forefront in the latest severance episode (s2ep9), you are not alone. neither are you alone if it has you thinking of s2ep7. put a pin in that.

now for act 2, we skip ahead 10 years and find ourselves in domin's home, on an island. the men are waiting for a certain ship to arrive at the harbor that will be their ticket to safety. see, after years of the robots becoming more and more central to the economy — and the military — the robots have, who could've guessed, started a world-wide revolution. the ship will be the men and helena's arc, so to speak; a safe place for them to wait out the violence.

(they plan to take control back from the robots, in the end, and part of those plans includes making them "national" robots instead of "universal" ones, essentially designing different races of them, for the sake of creating divisions between them. which is pretty on-the-nose social commentary... and also reminiscent of the way lumon seeded fear and resentment between the different severed departments.)

helena has not yet been informed of any of this. we see her have this very noteworthy (imo) exchange with her nurse nana:

but then she reads the news and learns not only of the uprisings and assassinations, but also that, in the past week, not a single human being has been born. importantly, even as some of the robots have somehow developed human emotions and the desire for self-determination, the one thing that has kept them distinguishable from humans is their inability to reproduce; they require the manuscript from the original rossum to be able to make more of themselves. the manuscript that helena, upon realizing that humans have stopped having kids precisely because the robots are making them superfluous, burns.

before that, though, she speaks with one of the in-house robots, radius, who's been having "episodes" of destroying things.

this convo, in addition to making me foam at the mouth, establishes something very important that we later learn is true of the robot revolution as a whole. the robots don't want to coexist as equals with humans; they want to conquer humanity. they carry the human's belief in domination and seek to pay back the cruelty that has been shown to them in kind.

("What I want is for her to wake up while the life drains out of her and to know it was me who did it.")

[screenshot from much later but to prove the point:]

speaking of that cruelty. some more lumon ass testing floor as shit:

DR. GALL: [...] do you know, I don’t believe the rascal is a Robot at all any longer. HELENA: Doctor, has Radius a soul? DR. GALL: (Over to couch) He’s got something nasty.

and it's after that that helena thinks to ask about dr. gall's other experiment, and i drop the bomb i've kept hidden from you all:

yup :) there's an innierobot helena too :) modeled after the real one :) "If you were to wake up only for a moment you would kill me for having made you.” yeah. yeah she would. yeah.

here is where i remind you of the pin we put in the men all treating human helena as property, no more a person than the robot workers. of the similarities to the subtext of jame and helena-helly's dynamic in s2ep9, and of dr. mauer and gemma in s2ep7. this man who (like every other guy in the play) is infatuated with helena made a version of her who's literally property. he experimented on her. he continues to monitor her. he sees her as braindead and useless, but lovely. she's a failure.

there's a lot of interesting stuff that happens / is discussed in the next act and a half but i'm going to try to stick to highlights. tl;dr the robots raid the island; domin laments that he was trying to create a world where man was free of labor with the robots (to which i say: there are plenty in history who've said they're acting to free all of mankind from drudgery by assigning that drudgery to a group they consider nonpersons); he has a vision of exactly how he and his friends are going to die(???); and then dr. gall confesses:

DR. GALL: I changed the character of the Robots. I changed the way of making them. Just a few details about their bodies. Chiefly—chiefly, their—their irritability. [...] I was transforming them into human beings.

(remember that helly r core line about the soul? does it first show itself with the gnashing of teeth?)

the thing is, he did not have this idea on his own. helena (human helena) asked him to do it.

perhaps it was a noble pursuit, from a certain point of view. but you could also argue that it wasn't, that she only wanted it for selfish reasons — for the robots to understand and accept humanity, out of fear of what they would do otherwise — not for the sake of broadening their own horizons and possibilities. (remember that it's been ten years since her activist days, and now she lives in a house where multiple robots are "employed" as servants.) i'd say it's reminiscent of milchick's attempted reforms in season 2, in a way.

it also makes me think about the end of s2ep9; how mark, devon and (presumably) cobel are betting on innie mark understanding and helping them with saving gemma without really taking his own wants and agency into account. same applies to reghabi; for all her talk in s1ep6 of mark having brought his innie into this world for his own convenience, she sure doesn't do anything in s2 to advocate for getting innie mark's consent for the reintegration procedure or just. considering what his perspective on this will be.

of course, since helena, human as she is, is still considered property by the men around her, they don't ask her perspective either when deciding how they'll deal with the robots at their door — and when she points it out, her husband calls her a child. and yet, the men go on to say this:

queen of the final human empire, eh. queen in name only, most likely, right. that doesn't sound familiar at all :)

we're basically at the end now, i promise. the act closes with the robots breaking in and all the humans getting killed — not just the ones we know, but all humans on earth. all minus one: alquist, formerly the rossum company's builder (the closest of all the men to a standard worker).

we see in the final act that he's been put by the robots to the task of recreating the formula for producing more robots, more artificial life, and has had no success. in desperation, the robots volunteer to let alquist dissect them to find the answers, but he recognizes their fear of death and can't bring himself to do it.

(compare this fear of death evident in the robot leader flinching away from alquist even after he volunteers himself for dissection to this bit from all the way in act 1 (which reminds me in an agonizing way of mark and ms. casey's convo in s1ep8):

DOMIN: You see, Miss Glory, the Robots have no interest in life. They have no enjoyments. They are less than so much grass.

one of the robots chastizes alquist for his failure, for not being as "strong" as them. he falls asleep. and then, two different robots enter the scene. one we know, one we don't. they speak of the beauty of the sunrise; and an abandoned cottage they found with two dogs who licked their hands; and each other. they laugh.

laughter makes you human, or is at least a sign of humanity. finding humor, joy in something other than your purpose. (thinks about helena laughing at helly's coupon-cutting joke. thinks about helena letting herself laugh out loud at the dieter story.)

now, here is where we return to that pinned point one final time.

thankfully, helena is spared. primus offers himself in her place, which moves helena to tears. she then offers to go instead of primus, threatening to kill herself otherwise. to which primus responds:

and that's the end.

... so. it's not like anyone at lumon (minus maybe possibly milchick?) is just going to let mark and [gemma] [helly-helena] leave together. certainly dr. mauer, or jame eagan, wouldn't be so magnanimous.

maybe this is more a vision of the end of the series as currently only exists in dan erikson's head than of the finale we're getting in a few days. or maybe it's nothing to severance at all.

but. i have heard what that final shot of ep10 is going to be. and for those who know... do you see it? how it's both an echo and the opposite?

that's going to be my final word on this play for now, because i spent nearly my full work shift on this and i suspect i'm nearing my word count. i hope you severance fans got something out of this*, even though it was more summarizing and pointing at things than active analysis. tl;dr you should read / watch / listen to rossum's universal robots

*specifically @kendrysaneela since you asked for this. hope you enjoyed :)

[duxbelisarius]

Back to the Dance Part Five: Dragon Warfare

Thanks once again for reading; if this is your first time seeing this series, check out the Master Post for the previous installments!

Part Five covers the same ground as Part 3 in the previous series, but once again I hope to add more and better information to examining dragons and their role in warfare. Much like with sea power in the Dance, I made the mistake of throwing out a very basic definition of air power and focusing solely on numbers and tactics, when the subject called for a much broader examination. George has referred to dragons as the most devastating weapon in his world, and their power is taken for granted thanks to their role in the Targaryen unification of the Seven Kingdoms; completing my series on the First Dornish War and reading further into the books has brought me to a different conclusion. Rather than focusing purely on the Dance, I will also assess the use of dragons in past wars and the extent to which they actually changed warfare in any meaningful way. While there are theoretical models that could allow us to understand the use of dragons in war, and which will be discussed here, they face a major obstacle in that the affect of the dragons on the setting varies wildly. Those that have already read the original analysis and the Dorne series should have some idea of what I'm talking about, but the only thing consistent about the dragons is their inconsistency!

i. Sound and fury, signifying nothing

Few events in the Dance better encapsulate these inconsistencies than Aegon and Baela's duel over Dragonstone. The first problem to note, one I mentioned throughout the original series, is that of dragon senses: When Luke and Arrax arrive at Storm's End, we're told that "Vhagar sensed his coming first" and woke with a roar as Luke began his descent. This appeared in The Princess and the Queen in 2013 and again in F&B in 2018, the latter also giving us Rhaena's visit to Storm's End in 54 AC, where Vermithor "scented the approach of another dragon" and raised his head from where he slept to roar, moments before Rhaena made her descent. We're given no specifics as to how Vhagar 'sensed' Arrax's presence, but she did so despite the ongoing storm and in both cases the dragons senses availed them despite being asleep. Needless to say the dragons in the Dance never display this level of situational awareness again; in the case of Aegon and Baela, no one on Dragonstone is aware of Sunfyre's presence save Aegon's allies, while Moondancer easily surprise Sunfyre.

The battle itself makes no sense whatsoever, and actively contradicts previous dragon battles. TWOIAF tells us that "Moondancer was much smaller than Sunfyre, but also much swifter and far more nimble," and F&B calls her "very quick" whereas Sunfyre "though much larger, still struggled with a malformed wing and had taken fresh wounds from Grey Ghost." We'll discuss Sunfyre's issues soon enough, but Moondancer's problem is her size in comparison to what she achieves in battle. F&B tells us "she was no larger than a warhorse, and weighed less," while also claiming she could have easily out flown the Cannibal as she was younger and faster. It is suggested throughout F&B that smaller dragons may have advantages over larger ones: regarding Luke's death over Shipbreaker Bay, Gyldan claims that "had the sky been calm, Prince Lucerys might have been able to outfly his pursuer, for Arrax was younger and swifter," while Meleys is called "as swift a dragon as Westeros had ever seen, easily outpacing Caraxes and Vhagar" after Alyssa Targaryen claimed her. We're told that Meleys "might have had some chance" against Vhagar alone at Rook's rest, though Vhagar's disadvantage at least makes sense out of all these instances, owing to her great size combined with her age. We know that dragons become more sluggish in old age, as with Vhagar and Balerion who were both over a century old when they died, though Balerion's injuries and confinement to the dragonpit were also a factor.

The problem with this 'smaller=faster' idea is that magic has to play a role in dragon flight, for the simple fact that the large dragons in the series would be unable to fly otherwise. That much is obvious with dragons being explicitly magical creatures, but there's only so far one can push this size and weight 'de-buff' before it becomes self-defeating. More importantly, there are plenty of birds, bats, and other flying organisms in our world that can fly faster and/or are more nimble than their larger peers, but this due differences in physiology and wing morphology between species. We know of only one 'species' of dragon in George's world, and while they may age and grow at different rates we have no evidence of drastic differences in physiology, with Caraxes' 'noodle neck' being a HOTD-only addition. Moondancer might have a maneuverability advantage thanks to Sunfyre's damaged wing, but she's still just a smaller and younger version of what Sunfyre, with all the disadvantages that entails. Her shorter limbs mean she has less wing surface than Sunfyre, so flapping them will displace less air and generate less thrust, while lesser wing surface also limits her soaring and gliding abilities.

She might be able to flap her wings faster, but this raises another problem: energy. George is very clear in his "Here There Be Dragons" blog post that dragons require sustenance in order to live, stressing that "dragons need food. They need water too, but they have no gills. They need to breathe. ... If held underwater too long, they would drown, just like any other land animal." While George has never really been specific about how much food a dragon needs, and even I wouldn't take logistics that far in this world since it would overcomplicate the story, if dragons can become lazy (see Syrax, Meleys) and grow slower in old age (see Vhagar, Balerion), this alongside their need for food, water, and air means they require energy. Moondancer's energy requirements would be less than Sunfyre's owing to her size, but her energy reserves would also be smaller; it thus makes little sense for Moondancer to be running circles around Sunfyre, despite having flown with Baela for less than six months and never farther than the distance between Driftmark and Dragonstone.

Moondancer's capabilities are out of place with her size and dragon biology, while the other dragon battles in F&B suggest smaller size and youth offer no significant advantages in battle. The most significant example is the lone dragon v dragon battle prior to the Dance, Maegor and Aegon the Uncrowned's clash over the God's Eye, which appeared in The Sons of the Dragon the year before F&B was published. Despite Aegon's dragon Quicksilver being far younger than Balerion and one-quarter his size, we're told she "was no match for the older, fiercer dragon," while Rhaena's Dreamfyre "was younger and smaller than Quicksilver, and certainly no true threat to Balerion the Black Dread." Despite Arrax being far younger than Vhagar and one-fifth her size, Gyldan only suggests Luke "might" have out flown Aemond in better weather; the same goes for the younger, smaller Meleys at Rook's Rest, who "might" have stood a chance against Vhagar alone. Even though F&B calls Sunfyre "a splendid beast, though young," while Meleys "remained fearsome when roused" but had "grown lazy;" while Sunfyre was small enough for Meleys to fit her jaws around his neck, it still took Vhagar's intervention to save Aegon and Sunfyre from death, with victory once again going to the larger, older dragon. Caraxes is much younger than Vhagar and half her size during the Dance, but Daemon refuses to face Vhagar without Nettles and Sheepstealer until he's left with no other choice, and the battle that follows ends in the deaths of both parties. Finally there's Second Tumbleton, where despite Vermithor being riderless and faced with the much younger Seasmoke who was a third his size, we're told "Vermithor's age and weight were too much for Seasmoke to contend with" when the two finally came to blows, and only Tessarion's intervention prevents Addam and Seasmoke from being killed immediately.

The dragon battles we're shown indicate that the best a younger, smaller dragon could do was survive through the aid of another dragon (Rook's Rest) or meet their death alongside their foe (Second Tumbleton), with the only 'solo kill' being a suicide attack (God's Eye, 130 AC). By comparison, the far smaller Moondancer outperforms Seasmoke, Caraxes, and Sunfyre at Rook's Rest in her battle with Sunfyre, only losing the fight when Sunfyre blinds her and cannibalizes her on the ground, with Sunfyre dying of his wounds within the year. Moreover, whereas Addam's broken body is recovered at Tumbleton (more on that in a later part), Daemon's is never found, and Aegon suffers horrific injuries at Rook's Rest which permanently disable him and sideline him for almost a year, Baela comes out of her duel with no meaningful injuries to speak of. The only dragon battle we have that indicates a dragon's youth and smaller size give it advantages, is the one battle where these qualities are emphasized twice for one of the dragons involved by F&B and a third time if we count TWOIAF, almost like the author is assuring us it was possible despite all evidence being to the contrary.

Sunfyre's presence in the battle also raises problems: The intent seems to be that Sunfyre's size is a challenge which is offset by his damaged wing and previous wounds, but this cannot be squared with what we're told about his injuries. Aside from his new, unhealed wounds from Grey Ghost and his older, healed wounds inflicted by Lord Mooton's men at Rook's Rest, F&B says his broken wing healed at an an ugly angle and was weak, with Sunfyre being unable to soar nor remain in the air long and struggling to fly even short distances. If this is the case, then we not only have to ask how Baela and Moondancer performed so well, but how Sunfyre was able to fly at all. We know Sunfyre remained at Rook's Rest due to his injuries in the battle but moved to Crackclaw Point some time after, before eventually making his way to Dragonstone. Using ADWD's map of the south as a reference, the shortest distance between Crackclaw and Dragonstone looks to be at least half the length of the Gullet, while Atlas of Ice and Fire's map scale suggests the distance is 40-50 miles or about half that of the Gullet again. Using the figures for dragon speed employed in the original analysis, Sunfyre's speed is probably closer to 35 mph than 50 (56 km/h vs 80.5), and it would probably take an hour for Sunfyre to fly from Crackclaw to Dragonstone by the shortest route. Considering the Brunes and Crabbs living further north had stories about him, and taking into account his injured wing, it almost certainly would have been longer than that.

While this begs the question of how Sunfyre made the crossing without anyone being aware of it, the more important question is how he made it to Dragonstone at all if he could not soar, let alone how he made his way up Crackclaw Point from Rook's Rest. Soaring is a method used by soaring birds and soaring aircraft (i.e. gliders) to fly without powered thrust (i.e. flapping wings or an engine), using wind currents and thermals to remain aloft. Since wing flapping requires using one's muscles and thus consumes energy and invites fatigue, soaring is crucial for long distance travel and remaining airborne for extended periods. If Sunfyre can only fly by flapping his wings, which would be awkward and painful due to one being damaged and weak, this drastically reduces his range and time he can spend in the air as well as his ability to find food to maintain his energy and heal. The battle over Dragonstone thus makes no sense from either dragon's perspective: If it was consistent with the track record of smaller, younger dragons in battle, then Moondancer and Baela should have stood no chance against Sunfyre, but were it consistent with how Sunfyre's injuries are described, he would not have been on Dragonstone at all.

In order to have a scene pitting Baela against Aegon, most of the prior set-up regarding dragons is completely scrapped, though the duel manages to get worse. It turns out that Baela takes after her old man in more ways than one, as both pass-up golden opportunities to kill their foe and end the fight quickly. As I mentioned in Part 3 of the original analysis, F&B's account of the Battle above the God's Eye has Daemon and Caraxes divebomb Aemond and Vhagar from above, with Caraxes sinking his teeth into Vhagar's neck while Daemon leaps from his back to plunge Darksister into Aemond's sapphire eye. Since this attack takes Aemond completely by surprise, we have to ask what was stopping Daemon from diving at a different angle and tearing Aemond in two, or melting him in his saddle, in which case he could have used the sun's glare to blind Aemond or strike from his blind side. This would have removed the threat of Aemond, and if Vhagar became violent like Vermithor did sans rider, then surely Caraxes' youth and smaller size would have allowed Daemon to prevail? They could even try blinding her, like Sunfyre did to Moondancer! There was no reason for Daemon and Caraxes to die save for the plot demanding it, and a similar situation plays out between Aegon and Baela, as Moondancer "raked the larger dragon from above, opening a long smoking wound down his back and tearing at his injured wing." Since George seems to have forgotten this fact, it's worth noting that dragonriders ride on the backs of their dragons, meaning Baela and Moondancer had ample opportunity to cut down Aegon or blast him with fire from above but did not. With Aegon dead, Baela and Moondancer are free to finish off the stricken and riderless Sunfyre, while Aegon's death means the war is already won.

Setting two characters up to win easily and having them both fumble the bag for seemingly no reason is bad enough, but it's the way Aegon and Baela's duel ends that really takes the cake. I noted in Part 12 of the original analysis that it makes no sense for Aegon to land on his feet after falling 20 feet without being killed or paralyzed, but Baela's fate is even more egregious. Sunfyre would had to have struck Moondancer's face with his flames in order to blind her, after she wounded his back and turned to attack again, making it certain that she was attacked head-on. This is confirmed by the fact that after they collide mid-air, Moondancer sinks her teeth into Sunfyre's neck while Sunfyre claws at her underbelly. Keeping in mind again that dragonriders ride on the backs of their dragons, Sunfyre's "furnace blast of golden flame so bright it lit the yard below like a second sun" would not have terminated at Moondancer's face, but continued some ways along her neck. If Moondancer was no larger than a warhorse, there's no way Baela could have avoided taking this blast directly to her upper body; even if she lay face down against Moondancer's neck, the back of her head, neck, and upper body would still be exposed to dragon fire.

Lest we forget, a single "lance of swirling dark flame" from a much younger and far smaller Drogon was all it took to melt Kraznys mo Nakloz's eyes and set his beard ablaze in Dany III of ASOS. Baela's injuries from Sunfyre's breathe alone should be horrifically disfiguring if not outright fatal, but things still get worse somehow: We're told that Moondancer remained trapped beneath Sunfyre all the way down to the ground, and Baela stays with her before finding the strength to undo her chains and escape Moondancer's death throws. Once again, dragonriders ride on their dragons backs: if Baela stayed there all the way to the ground, she could not survive hitting the ground with the weight of Moondancer and Sunfyre on top of her. The idea that Marston Waters rushes Baela to the maester and saves her life is completely ridiculous, as is the fact we have no indication of any long term injuries or negative consequences that Baela experiences as a result of the battle. Considering Aegon II's horrific injuries at Rook's Rest, the brutal deaths of Aegon the Uncrowned, Lucerys, and Addam, and the fact that Daeron and Daemon's bodies were never found, Baela being repeatedly exposed to extreme danger and only losing her dragon as a result is just embarrassing.

ii. There is no there there

The affect of dragons on the wars of the Freehold and House Targaryen is similarly inconsistent, being subordinated to narrative priorities more than anything else. The earliest wars we know of that involve dragons are the Ghiscari Wars, between the Valyrian Freehold and Old Ghis during the former's rise to prominence. Aside from the few references we get in ASOS and ADWD, the most detailed information we have of these five wars comes from TWOIAF. Despite involving dragons, our impression of these wars is broadly consistent with Bronze Age/Iron Age/Classical warfare; the influences of the Punic Wars are also obvious, with Old Ghis in Carthage's role as the older, wealthier empire while Valyria's agrarian economy and elective government are clearly inspired by the Roman Republic, although the Ghiscari "Lock Step Legions" are clearly based off Rome's armies. Our most detailed information indicates the Sarnori were involved in the Second through Fourth wars, while the fighting extended to the Basilisk Isles and Sothoryos during the Third and Fourth wars, and the Fifth war ended with the conquest of Old Ghis and it's populations enslavement. Dragons are mentioned in the context of the Third and Fifth wars, but we have to assume from Valyria's own legends and histories that the dragons were present at the founding of the Freehold and thus took part in the first two wars. Excluding the first two wars, we're still left us with three conflicts of unknown length between a dragonless state and one that had them them, with no indications of the Ghiscari being assisted by magic of any kind.

We then have the wars with the Rhoynar, of which eight are named though not all would have involved the dragons of the 'forty families,' as some of these were between the Rhoynar and Valyria's colonies. The Rhoynar being known practitioners of water magic also helps, as the Second Spice War which ended a decade prior to Nymeria's arrival in Dorne sees largescale use of water magic to counteract dragon fire, and we're even told that Rhoynar archers brought down two dragons and wounded a third. This all helps explain why the Rhoynar could go toe-to-toe against the Valyrians for a time, but it raises some serious questions: As I noted in Part 1 of the Dorne series, we have little actual evidence suggesting that water mages played a role in the Martell conquest, so how can this absence be explained? More importantly, how did the magic or technology that allowed those archers to fell dragons not transfer to Westeros with Nymeria's refugees? With the Second Spice War in particular being a proper fantasy war with magic used by both sides, we again must ask how Old Ghis managed to contend with the Freehold?

We have greater problems when we come to Westeros and the use of dragons in the Conquest, the Dance, the rebellions against Maegor, and the early Dornish Wars. Between the Freehold's very existence, Nymeria's exodus, the arrival of the Velaryons, Celtigars, and Targaryens, the Conquerors prior visits to the mainland, and Aegon's destruction of the Volantene fleet during Pentos and Tyrosh's war with Volantis (a war in which Argillac Durrandon also fought), the Seven Kingdoms should be well aware of the existence of dragons and their fearsome potential. Despite this, the majority of Westeros opposes the conquerors with conventional military forces as if there were no dragons at all, the only exceptions being Dorne, the Hightowers, and the supporters of Edmyn Tully. Of course the Targaryens defeat them all handily, but not before 'playing down' to their opponents: Rhaenys and Meraxes burn the lords Errol, Fell, and Buckler out of the Kingswood near the Wendwater, but only after ambushing Orys Baratheon's forces crossing the river and cutting down almost a thousand men, while her intervention in the Last Storm comes only after Orys' army is on the brink of defeat; Visenya burns the Arryn fleet and flies to the Eyrie to force it's surrender, but only after Daemon Velaryon is killed and two-thirds of his fleet is sunk or captured.

Aegon aids Orys directly in their one-sided victory over the Mootons and Darklyns, and wins another victory on the south shore of the God's Eye; he goes on to annihilate House Hoare at Harrenhal, but not before Harren's sons successfully attack his army from behind at the 'Wailing Willows' after crossing the lake with muffled oars, while Harren's sons and their longships are only burned as they return across the lake. That Aegon attacks them out of the morning sky indicates they attacked his army at night, but this still requires Aegon, Balerion, and the entire army to be completely unaware of the longships approaching them, despite the possibility of fire, moon, and starlight assisting their vision. When the Targaryens defeat the Lannister and Gardener host at the Field of Fire, their dragons take to the sky only after the Targaryen center is "shattered" by Mern's charge, although Targaryen losses are somehow less than a hundred men and Visenya is wounded in one arm by an arrow. These defeats should have been avoidable thanks to the dragons, but even the victories are 'close run' affairs when they should not have been. The Conquerors seemingly allow the battles to be fought, rather than crushing their foes immediately and sparing the lives of their own troops.

I won't go into to great detail on the First Dornish War since that already has an entire series, but the trend identified above is very much at play in that war. Although Dornish victory is credited to their 'guerrilla' strategy and avoiding the dragons, in reality the Dornish defeat their foes with open attacks that are never at risk of interference from the dragons, as these are always absent and never intervene despite no reason for this being the case (see Part 5 for the most blatant example of this in 10 AC). The war with the first Vulture King likewise takes place without any concerns of Maegor or Visenya intervening, but when we come to Jaehaerys' reign, the Dornish are suddenly obliging enough to attack openly and allow themselves to be defeated. Morion Martell even convinces his own lords and a host of pirates to provide troops and ships for an invasion of the Stormlands, despite the Targaryens having five large dragons at their disposal. The rebellions against Maegor are more of the same: while we might dismiss the Faith Militant's army at the Great Fork as religious zealots, this cannot be done for Aegon the Uncrowned's army at the God's Eye, which followed a young, unpopular prince and first time dragonrider despite the potential of facing Maegor and Balerion.

This impression of the dragons and their affect is reinforced by the Dance; there are many examples to draw from, but the best for me comes from comparing Tessarion and Tyraxes. When Jace arrives at the Eyrie and obtains the support of Jeyne Arryn, she requests dragonriders as part of the conditions for her support, and Joffrey and Tyraxes are sent there prior to the 'Red Sowing.' They can't have spent more than a few months in the Vale, given that Rhaenyra took King's Landing in mid-February or early March of 130 AC and sent for Joffrey soon after, while it was late 129 AC when Jace sent him there. Even then, we're told the forces of the Vale were marshalling not long after Jace returned to Dragonstone, so even the mere promise of Tyraxes seems to have been more than sufficient. Tyraxes was younger than Arrax, who was one-fifth the size of Vhagar in 129 AC, and was small enough that the Shepherd's mob could hack him to death when they stormed the Dragonpit (albeit the larger Syrax is also hacked to death).

By comparison, Tessarion was a third the size of Vermithor in 130 AC, with Vermithor being the largest dragon alive after Vhagar. Her manner of death is also significant, as Bill Burley shoots her three times in one eye at 200 yards (c.183 meters) following Second Tumbleton. While this was outside the range of her fire, we know that even Silverwing was attacked with polearms during the battle, and killing Tessarion with such weapons would not have required attacking her head-on. Considering that when Lord Mooton's men retook Rook's Rest, they inflicted grievous wounds to Sunfyre with their polearms which only enraged him, this suggests Tessarion was similar to Sunfyre in size and certainly larger than Vermax, Arrax, and Tyraxes. We know she didn't hatch from a 'cradle egg' because Daeron bonded with her when he was six, and they were presumably flying by the time he went to Oldtown at age twelve. Despite this, her size and presence have no affect on the beginning of the Dance in the Reach; Ormund Hightower even appears to forget that she's there, since he writes to King's Landing soon after Rook's Rest that "we have need of your dragons" in order to subdue the Blacks. Daeron's eleventh hour appearance at the Battle of the Honeywine is on par with how dragons were employed by the Conquerors, showing up only when their armies were on the brink of defeat or had already suffered defeat. The Blacks in the Reach begin surrendering soon after due to Tessarion's threat, only for this to reverse when Ormund suddenly must besiege Longtable and so cannot aid Maelor and Ser Rickard Thorne.

iii. Dragons and Air Power

The paradoxical affect of the dragons creates obvious problems for viewing them with any kind of theoretical lens: On the one hand, they are shown to be tremendously lethal and capable of affecting the decisions of military leaders (to quote Elmo Tully, "A dragon in one's courtyard does wonders to resolve one's doubts"); on the other hand, we're also shown this does not deter armies from massing and fighting them openly, suggesting they have no affect on decision-making at all. The dragons are not governed by 'Watsonian' factors, i.e. what can they do in their world, but by 'Doylistic' ones, i.e. what does the writer need them to do. When it comes to classifying their role in warfare, their ability to fly, strike at targets on land and at sea, and attack and observe from above means they have much in common with aircraft and air power. That being said, their individual lethality, invulnerability at great size, and generally small numbers lend themselves to comparison with battleships and sea power, and both approaches have value.

Whereas the first powered flight in our history took place in 1903, and large scale militarization of aircraft took another decade with the First World War, dragons have been used in war for millennia following the rise of Valyria after the Long Night. Despite this, the First Dornish War is the only example we have of an enemy combatant avoiding open combat with the dragons, though once again this owes more to how the war is written than to how the Dornish actually fight. This is significant since, as Phil Haun notes in Tactical Air Power and the Vietnam War:

Observing the battlefield from above reduces the vertical surface obstructions, which restrict the horizontal line of sight for ground forces. From above, air forces can locate and destroy massed armies in the open and on the move. (Haun, Tactical Air Power, 30)

Being observed is a serious disadvantage already, since it makes surprise impossible depending on how well the enemy can track your movements; combined with the ability to deliver attacks at range with their fire breathe, this gives dragons a major asymmetry to exploit against conventional force.

While it's true that military aircraft have a greater array of weapons with greater ranges than dragon fire, currently and historically, are available in greater numbers, and possess communications systems which give them flexibility in striking targets as small or large units (we'll come back to this point later), dragons also possess serious advantages. For starters, Dragons while dragons must eat, drink, and heal injuries, the means to do so are more readily available than an aircraft, which can run out of fuel, suffer mechanical issues, and exhaust their ammunition. Dragons are living creatures aided by magic, meaning they can derive their energy from sources in nature and heal injuries themselves, while we haven't encountered any cases of dragons 'running out' of fire. The greatest advantage by far is the absence of any real countermeasures for dragons, outside using magic or other dragons against them, when compared to military aircraft. Phil Haun notes that the threat of concerted air attacks forces armies to disperse their units and use concealment (camouflage, night movements, bad weather) to avoid detection, but modern and contemporary armies are not totally defenseless: In almost eight years during the Vietnam War, combat and non-combat losses cost the United States over 9000 fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, with anti-aircraft artillery likely accounting for the bulk of combat losses as opposed to surface-to-air missiles and enemy aircraft (Haun, Tactical Air Power, 32; 7).

By comparison, while we know that small dragons are vulnerable to arrows, bolts, and melee weapons, and dragons of Vermax's size and likely Tessarion and Sunfyre's are vulnerable to bolt-throwing artillery like scorpions and ballistae, all the evidence we have from the books suggests that dragons larger than this are, for all intents and purposes, invulnerable. Although F&B twice invokes the scorpion that killed Meraxes at Hellholt, telling us that Morion Martell's fleet was armed, "with massive scorpions of the sort that felled Meraxes," while at Rook's Rest "scorpions were cranked upward to loose iron bolts of the sort that had once felled Meraxes in Dorne," in both instances it appears forgotten that Meraxes was killed by a bolt through the eye. The fact Meleys is said to be struck with a score of bolts at Rook's Rest which only angered her is a clear indication that the size of the projectile or the power of it's launcher will do nothing unless a lucky shot can hit the eye and penetrate the skull. The only other method of neutralizing a large dragon seems to be by killing it's rider, a far smaller and constantly moving target, though penetrating the skull via the soft palate with a hit in the mouth could also potentially work.

It's also important to note that Meleys was larger than Sunfyre but almost certainly smaller than Vhagar in 129 AC, having been smaller than Caraxes and Vhagar in 75 AC. This means that a dragon doesn't need to be massive like Balerion, Vhagar, or Vermithor to be effectively invulnerable to projectiles, while even wounding or killing smaller dragons would be a serious issue. For starters, the low velocity of tension and torsion-fired projectiles compared to bullets and shells makes them very poor 'anti-aircraft artillery' in a setting like this, while an unstable platform like a ship would also make them very difficult to use to defend fleets against dragon attacks. These factors make it very unlikely that wars and rebellions against the Freehold and Targaryens would be the large, grand affairs that George portrays in F&B and TWOIAF. If anything they'd be closer to the First Dornish War than the Dance, especially since I noted in Part 5 of the Dorne series that battle-avoidance strategies were common in Medieval warfare. Since dragons are a threat to armies in the open, but only the largest of them can defeat fortifications, opponents would likely rely on castles and other fortifications to stymie advances, using raids and small engagements to attrite their foe while resorting to large engagements only when dragons were known to be elsewhere. This wouldn't guarantee success against the dragons, but it would show that their capabilities and reputation have an actual affect on warfare in the setting.

iv. Dragons, Sea Power, and Corbett

While the association of dragons with air power seems obvious, their limited numbers combined with their destructiveness naturally draws comparisons with battleships and sea power, which brings us back to the theories of Alfred Thayer Mahan (See Part Four). This will be something of a response to "Battleship Doctrine and the Dance of the Dragons" by Thomas Brodey, from his blog Tragedy and Farce; I recommend checking out Tom's blog for great ASOIAF content, although I take issue with some of what he says in this post. While his choice of framework isn't necessarily wrong, his choice of Mahan's theories on the pursuit of battle and his assessment of the Blacks use of their dragons has flaws that need to be addressed.

We've already covered the basics of Mahanian sea power and naval strategy, while Brodey provides a basic rundown of Mahan's view of battle:

Mahan’s argument, therefore, was simple. Any fleet who seriously intended to win a naval war had to collect the biggest, baddest warships in one place, and use them to crush the main enemy fleet. The first and foremost job of the battleships was to eliminate the enemy battleships.

This is broadly correct, but it's also clear that Mahan's ideas of concentration of force in pursuit of battle evolved during his literary career; per Kevin McCranie's Mahan, Corbett, and the Foundations of Naval Strategic Thought, Mahan wrote in 1911 that for the "close concentration of direct contact," a fleet should not be "packed like herrings, but so disposed that all parts were in mutual supporting distance, ready to move when needed," likening it to a fan "that opens and shuts" (McCranie, Mahan, Corbett, 143). This sets dragons apart from the ship-of-the-line or battleships as much as it sets them apart from combat aircraft, because of their small numbers and the limited communications of this setting. Aircraft could avail themselves of radios and radar to coordinate their efforts and locate targets whilst in the air, while capital ships had auxiliary vessels and eventually wireless telegraphy, radios, and radar to assist them in supporting each other over great distances. Unless a dragonrider has a fellow rider to deliver them messages while airborne, they must return to the ground to receive information via raven or messenger; despite being able to cover great distances in a relatively short time, unless already concentrated together as a unit the dragons cannot utilize 'elastic concentration' as can be done with air and sea power.

It's here that we must introduce Mahan's British contemporary, Sir Julian Stafford Corbett (1854-1922), whose views on battle and concentration of force are not hugely different from Mahan's, but are arguably better suited for understanding dragon warfare. McCranie, who does an excellent job of exploring the writings and theories of the two men (see this book review from War on the Rocks for a cliff notes rundown), finds that Mahan and Corbett's views of naval warfare and sea power were largely complementary. Whereas Mahan was a naval officer who sought to persuade the US to cultivate it's own sea power as an emerging player on the world stage, Corbett was a lawyer and novelist whose interest in the Elizabethan era and friendship with esteemed naval historian John Knox Laughton led him to become an intellectual and historian of British and general naval history. Corbett's audience was thus the statesmen and naval officers of the hegemonic naval power, and he became highly regarded in Royal Navy and British government circles; he compiled the Royal Navy's three volume history of the First World War prior to his death, while his 1911 publication Some Principles of Maritime Strategy is as important as Mahan's Influence series for understanding modern naval thought.

Corbett's approach to battle and it's place in naval strategy was among the few cases of divergence between him and Mahan. While Corbett's understanding of 'elastic concentration' was similar to that of Mahan, he understood that it could work both ways: just as it enabled a dispersed fleet to concentrate for a battle, it also enabled a concentrated fleet to avoid a battle or a dispersed one to concentrate and retreat from an area in good order. Corbett stressed concentration of effort as opposed to force, since concentrating force "tends to simplify problems for [the] enemy," whereas "concentration of effort without actual concentration of force tends to confuse him [because it] does not reveal your intentions" (McCranie, Mahan, Corbett, 146). This is where I think Brodey's reliance on Mahan is seriously flawed, as his later arguments about dragon warfare are derived from Mahan's conclusions about the British and French fleets in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars:

To prove his point, Mahan drew on the wars between Britain and France in the 18th century. Time and time again, he said, the French split up their capital ships, “subordinating the action of the fleet to so-called particular operations” achieving minor objectives in multiple locations instead of winning one great decisive battle. The British, however, would concentrate their forces and crush the French main fleet, completely reversing any small advantage the French had gained from its “particular operations.”

'Particular operations' was the title Mahan gave to instances where a fleet pursued the ulterior object (the 'mission at hand' or the object of the campaign) over the primary object, which was to oppose the enemy's fleet (Ibid., 147). While Corbett used different terminology, he also saw opposing the enemy fleet as the primary object but differed from Mahan's linear approach, which placed attaining the primary object before the ulterior object.

In Corbett's view, the fact that people live on the land meant that most wars would be fought over objectives there; chasing the primary object to the exclusion of the ulterior was unlikely to end a war any sooner, especially if pursuing the enemy fleet meant neglecting important ulterior objects. Solely pursuing the primary object also risked leaving one's own commerce and lines of communication at risk, while the enemy's fleet could still avoid battle or even concentrate against you (Ibid., 147-149). Instead of a linear approach, Corbett's concentration of effort approach called for the fleet to support actions against an ulterior object, the loss of which would force the enemy to risk battle or else forfeit the object and imperil their conduct of the war. Whether or not one agrees with Mahan's conclusions about the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, I argue that Corbett's approach makes more sense when it comes to the Dance.

One of the main issues with Brodey's assessment of dragons in the Dance, especially regarding the Blacks, is that he makes a numbers error at the outset. His graph of dragon numbers during the Dance gives an accurate total for the outset of 6 Black dragons vs 4 Green dragons, but he then approves of Bartimos Celtigar's suggestion to attack immediately since "our nine must surely overwhelm his four." This 9 to 4 figure includes the riderless Seasmoke, Vermithor, and Silverwing, while the actual numbers of 6 to 4 are not enough to justify sending every dragon the Blacks have against King's Landing, especially since two of those four Green dragons are Vhagar and Dreamfyre. The actual ratio is more like 5 to 3, since Daeron is at Oldtown and Rhaenyra is in no fit state to give battle mentally, physically, or emotionally after the loss of her child, her father's death, and the Greens usurpation. Given Joffrey and Tyraxes' age and inexperience, as Rhaenyra refuses to send him as a messenger with his brothers while Jace sends him to the Vale in part to keep him away from the fighting, one could say it's closer to 4 to 3. This means that Celtigar's plan is nowhere near the guaranteed success it appears to be, and while the reasons given in F&B aren't quite as detailed as those just listed, Rhaenyra and Daemon's decision to forego an immediate attack on the capital is entirely justified.

With that option off the table, it's only natural that the Blacks would use their dragons to pursue ulterior objects, sending out Daemon, Rhaenys, Jace, and Luke while Rhaenyra and Joffrey remained on Dragonstone. Of these missions, the only one that represents a misuse of the dragons is Rhaenys, with the Gullet blockade being unworkable. Otherwise Daemon secures a foothold in the Riverlands at Harrenhal and Jace brokers alliances with the Vale and the North; the only setback is Luke's death which causes a setback for Rhaenyra's condition and leaves the Blacks with only 4 dragons, of which only 3 are at Dragonstone. Blood and Cheese in turn removes Helaena from the Greens line-up, leaving them with just 3 dragons total and only 2 at King's Landing, though one of those dragons is Vhagar. The Rook's Rest campaign makes complete sense from Corbett's perspective, as the Greens use their dragons to pursue an ulterior object by bringing the Crownlands houses to heel, which creates an opportunity to pursue the primary object when Rhaenys comes to the aid of Lord Staunton. We've already noted that Sunfyre's youth and smaller size count for little in battle despite suggestions to the contrary, but the only other thing that doesn't make sense is when F&B tells us the Black Council was first made aware of Aegon's offensive by Staunton's raven, and that Rhaenys arrives at Rook's Rest nine days after Staunton sends his raven.

Rook's Rest leaves the Blacks and Greens with only 4 and 2 dragons respectively, with Caraxes and Tessarion still being in separate theaters; Joffrey and Tyraxes are sent to the Vale shortly before the Red Sowing which reduces the difference to 3 to 2, but the Sowing eliminates this parity by giving the Blacks 8 dragons against the Greens 2, 6 to 1 excluding Caraxes, Tyraxes, and Tessarion. Brodey criticizes the Blacks decision to attack King's Landing while Vhagar was absent, but this forgets that the original plan was just that: Jace sought to attack King's Landing with all their dragons and the Velaryon fleet, overwhelming Aemond and in the process achieving their primary and ulterior objects at once. Had Jace and Corlys Velaryon not been caught off guard so embarrassingly at the Gullet, they would have been able to annihilate the Triarchy fleet and then proceed against King's Landing. Instead, Jace's death and the loss of almost a third of the Velaryon fleet buys the Greens time to formulate their own strategy, with Aemond and Cole going after Daemon in the Riverlands while Daeron begins restoring their position in the Reach.

It's the Fall of King's Landing and the events that follow where the Blacks use of their dragons really falls off. For starters, since Aemond and Cole were en route to Harrenhal when Daemon left to fly to Dragonstone, there was no reason why Daemon could not have headed back towards the Riverlands with the dragonseeds, leaving Rhaenyra at Dragonstone with the Velaryon fleet. Daemon's 5 dragons would have been more than enough to defeat Aemond and Vhagar and destroy Cole's army, even if they did take casualties in the process. From there they could help the Riverlords annihilate the Westerlands army before joining Rhaenyra to attack King's Landing, or take the capital first and then move against Jason Lannister. Even if they stuck with the plan and committed all their dragons against King's Landing while leaving Aemond to take Harrenhal, there's still no reason they could not have then gone after Aemond and Daeron once King's Landing had fallen. As I pointed out in Part 9 of the original series, there's a period of almost a month if not more after the Fall of King's Landing when the Blacks are essentially doing nothing, and Daeron's forces are allowed to march all the way to Tumbleton unhindered while Aemond torches the Riverlands and parts of the Vale to his heart's content (while somehow doing no meaningful damage whatsoever).

When we look at the last major dragon battles of the war, the God's Eye and both Tumbletons, we again see that Corbett's approach is vindicated. The retaking of Harrenhal combined with defeat and death of Criston Cole leaves Aemond no ulterior object to defend or pursue, and he essentially wages a private war while Daemon and Nettles fail to track him down despite Vhagar's age and size. As long as Aemond was free to avoid battle, he could do so indefinitely, leaving Daemon with no other choice but to offer battle to Aemond alone. On the other hand, Daeron's advance on Tumbleton necessitated sending Ulf and Hugh to defend the town, with battle only being avoided by their betrayal. The continued presence of the dragonriders at the town subsequently allowed Addam to engage them at Second Tumbleton, demonstrating the need for an ulterior object to be at stake in order to ensure an engagement between dragonriders. Had the Riverlord army not been sent to Tumbleton in the first place and been able to cooperate with Daemon and Nettles, it's possible they could have tried an advance against the Westerlands to draw Aemond out for battle. The failure to deal with Daeron first rules out this option, although the Manderlys and the Vale should have had forces in King's Landing according to F&B (again, see Part 9 of the original series). While there are theoretical approaches that can help us understand how the dragons are used in war, like so much else in the Dance they are ultimately at the mercy of the writing, and this leaves much to be desired.

v. Conclusions

The 'fix-its' section here will be longer than for previous parts, though obviously we'll be saving the actual combat and employment of the dragons for when we discuss strategy. Although it's too late for this to be implemented, the only real 'fix-its' I can think of to 'nerf' the dragons is to give them back their soft underbelly weakness from legend and myth, and to make them smaller in general or at least have large dragons of Balerion's size be much rarer. The only 'nerfs' I can think of that might be applicable in-universe at this point would be to emphasize weather and in particular the weather gage in dragon combat. The weather gage refers to a concept from the Age of Sail in which a ship accrues advantage from being upwind of another vessel, since having the wind at it's back allows it to maneuver more easily. In this instance it would refer to the presence of the wind affecting a dragon's abilities in combat, whether the wind is against it and hampering it's flight or affecting the strength and direction of it's flames.

We have some indications that this might be the case in F&B: When the wind and rain in blowing into the faces of the Targaryen forces at 'the Last Storm,' Rhaenys and Meraxes intervene on the ground and not in the sky; the Conquerors gave battle upwind of the Gardener-Lannister host at the Field of Fire, ensuring their dragons flames would blow into the enemy ranks; when Maegor fights the Faith Militant at the Great Fork, the rain is said to have dampened Balerion's flames even though this was not enough to spare Maegor's enemies; as mentioned already, the storm over Shipbreaker Bay allegedly prevented Luke and Arrax from outflying Vhagar, though this weather apparently had no affect on the older, slower dragon; finally, we know from Alysanne and Jace's visits to the north that dragons dislike the cold, with Silverwing hissing and snapping at the wind despite it being summer with the Wall even weeping, while Vermax was 'ill-tempered' owing to the snow, ice, and cold.

Adverse weather conditions could dissuade dragons from flying or reduce their range, as well as reduce the effectiveness of their dragon fire, while low visibility could hamper their ability to locate and engage enemy units. There is a problem with this last point however: while we might assume that poor weather and low-light conditions would reduce the dragonrider's ability to perceive and locate objects, there is reason to doubt this. We're told explicitly that Jaehaerys hunted the second Vulture King from above in 61 AC and that he guided Rogar Baratheon and Simon Dondarrion's men, "moving them about as once he had moved toy armies in the chambers of the Painted Table." Even if the king's exploits were being exaggerated, we know from the Dance that Daeron was able to scout ahead of Ormund's host and warn him of the Black's movements, while TWOIAF tells us that Braavos was chosen by it's founders because "the frequent fogs would help to hide the refugees from the eyes of dragonriders passing overhead." We unfortunately have limited knowledge as yet of how the dragon bond functions in practice, but evidence does exist indicating that the limits of the rider's own senses may be mitigated in some way.

In concluding our discussion of dragons and dragon warfare, it's important we remember that dragons were not originally part of the initial ASOIAF story, a fact which George brings up in his dragons blog post, and in his 2022 interview with Kevin Smith among other places. When his friend and fellow author Phyllis Eisenstein read the first chapters, George was toying with the Targaryens being pyromancers whose psionic powers allowed them to control fire, but the decision to go with dragons is one that I and probably most readers would agree with. We can see with hindsight that adding unquestionably high fantasy creatures to a setting that is more a low fantasy or at least 'low-magic' with elements of historical fiction, has the potential to create problems. Even so, AGOT starts us out in a world where the existence of magic is questioned by many, which allows George to introduce it via a slow burn following the hatching of Dany's eggs in the final chapter and escalating from there.

The historical presence of dragons was acknowledged, but this worldbuilding did not greatly impinge on the story, especially since George's 'gardener' style meant much of it was done from the ground up. The series was originally intended as a trilogy, so it makes sense that the kernels of historical information scattered throughout the books were not necessarily envisioned systematically. This would change when TWOIAF was greenlit one month shy of a year after AFFC was published; because it was written as an in-world history/chronicle and George wanted to flesh out the broader world for his readers, it was unavoidable that George would have to reckon with the historical 'stakes' he'd already put down in his story while increasing the scale of his worldbuilding dramatically. Unfortunately, the light shone on the history of Planetos by TWOIAF and it's successors makes the dragons stick out like a sore thumb, while the 'low magic' setting and established historical facts like Dorne's successful 'guerrilla' struggle against the Conquerors meant that those fighting the dragons were deprived of plausible methods of resistance. I don't envy George at all when it comes to having to write Dany's dragons into the events of the final books, as he certainly can't avail himself of the strategies employed in F&B.

That wraps our third part discussing warfare in the Dance; we've covered warfare on the ground, at sea, and now from dragon back, which means we can finally talk about strategy and the events of the Dance itself. We just have one more stop to make, involving the most enigmatic and mysterious figure of the Dance and the role he may or may not have played in it's events. Stay tuned for Part Six: "Larys Strong, the Man who sold the World?'

[asher-agere]

Wahhh!! I hate to ask after I just askd smth bu!!! You mentined tachi as a baby or toddlr age so.. what are your rhoughts om baby tachi!! /nf take ur time!! Ty ash!!

- @itzrycey <3 !!!

Hehe it’s no worries at all! I honestly haven’t written much for him whoa…

Baby Tachihara

⋅˚₊‧ 𐙚 ‧₊˚ ⋅

⚡︎ Tachihara usually regresses somewhere between 1-5! For this request I’m specifically focusing in on when he regress to like 1-3 though! Similar to how I write Dazai I think Tachihara’s regression age shifted over time! However it’s the opposite of Dazai in the sense that Tachihara shifted to regress younger. I think when he was just with the Hunting Dogs he was more of a toddler regressor, and as he joined the Mafia and grew closer to them than the Hunting Dogs he started regressing younger as his constant guilt and overall yucky feelings pushed him down further

⚡︎ I came up with this headcanon for a post currently held captive in my drafts, Tachihara in like canon uses his bandage to switch mindsets, bandage on is Mafia mindset and bandage off is Hunting Dogs! And so. I was thinking. Putting on a cute kids bandaid can be a huge trigger for his little headspace! It’s a good way to get him to drop in a positive way, though he will complain taking off his Mafia one he was previously wearing hurts. But it’s worth it! Just give him a little Paw Patrol bandaid and he’ll be a happy little guy within like a half an hour

⚡︎ Definitely a nonverbal little one. He’s one where he’s capable of talking? But he doesn’t want to for multiple reasons. For one his voice sounds all grownup ish and it makes him feel less small. But also he’s just a very nervous baby! He doesn’t want to say anything wrong, the best solution is to just not talk right? It’s just more comfortable for him that way, he’ll find alternative ways to communicate! Just talking feels the most likely to go wrong

⚡︎ Tachihara definitely has toys he associates with all the Hunting Dog members! I think Teruko gets a little dog plushy (An angry one), Fukuchi gets an action figure of some kind, Jōno gets one of those like timer toys? Where the stuff in it goes in cool patterns, and Tetchō is represented as a toy food set! Tachihara really misses the Hunting Dogs even if he truly does feel more comfortable with the Mafia, he’s very protective over the toys representing his old group

⚡︎ Loves drawing! I’ll never understand why on his wiki it says he likes pencils but it’s such a good excuse to say he likes drawing when he’s tiny… He draws a lot of stuff that doesn’t seem to go well together initially because it all represents something in a strange way. Think like his toys representing the Hunting Dogs! Also he. Eats crayons. No I will not elaborate, I don’t think any elaboration is needed, crayons taste good and his favorite flavor is green or red

⚡︎ Most of his time is spent watching cartoons! All snuggled up with a cozy blanket and a plushy! His all time favorite show is Paw Patrol. It’s like made for him! Dogs fighting crime? That’s like literally a Hunting Dogs reference guys… I think his favorite would be Chase! Mainly because of the uniform honestly… It makes him look so cool! Little Tachihara definitely compares his own uniform to Chase’s

⚡︎ I don’t think Tachihara would have much little gear! Not out of negative feelings or inability to get it, he just prefers to only have a select few things with strong emotional attachments. For example if someone buys him something or he gets something to commemorate a memory! He also wouldn’t like an abundance of gifts because he likes his select few things that feel really special to him! He doesn’t want any of his stuff feeling left out. He would definitely hate having a lot of plushies because he can’t hug them all equally at once and won’t that make them sad? ˙◠˙

⋅˚₊‧ 𐙚 ‧₊˚ ⋅

Time to get back on track with posting stuff! Uhm I watched “When Marnie was There” and. I’m sorry I thought they were gonna end up dating and even knowing the plot twist I still think Anna had a crush before she knew

[DNI ID: A white box with an orange border. Tachihara to the left and a bandaid on the bottom right corner. Orange text reads “DNI if your blog isn’t child safe. I will block NSFW accounts” End ID]

[dcdreamblog]

Question.

I have heard people assert that the current bearer of the heroic identy of the Guardian is a clone of the original. I have also seen photos of The Guardian working with the Titans, and...he's very clearly a Black man.

So, um. I have questions, because you would think the newspapers back in the '30s would have... mentioned this, especially given how he was reported to have campaigned hard to ease ethnic tensions in the poorer parts of Depression-era Metropolis, denouncing those who exploited or exacerbated those tensions as being friends of crime and enemies of America's ideals even before the War started?

Ok so, we're crossing a lot of streams here and I want to you to know that that's normal. These sorts of things are opaque and confusing and that is why we HAVE people like my in the first place. You are thinking of 3 different men right now. In order:

Guardian I, AKA James Jacob "Jim" Harper

(Sketch of Harper and his wards the "Newsboy Legion" signed by the legendary pop artist and correspondent Jack Kirby)

Harper was indeed born and raised as an orphan in the Metropolis neighborhood known as Suicide Slum (the name has stuck but I can tell you, in the 21st century it's as clean and safe as the rest of Metropolis, mostly to Black Lightning's credit). During the depression it was infamous for a reason, flush with organized crime, poverty and corruption.

Harper originally attempted to serve his community as a police officer but found that the police department was half or more of what was wrong with the neighborhood in the first place. After being assaulted by some gangsters he cobbled a costume together from a nearby shop (which he still paid for, incidentally). Bursting into a nearby pool hall his attackers frequented, he actually ended up busting open a rather high profile kidnapping case.

Eventually he became the legal guardian of a group of young delinquents called the Newsboy Legion and helped to turn them toward the path of righteousness. He joined up with the All Star Squadron early, served with distinction during and after the war. (We have an exhibit here all about him, the costume and shield are reproductions of course because both are still in use more or less, even if they weren't they're rightfully in the hands of his next of kin)

He was cloned under vile circumstances by the equally vile Project Cadmus, who were up to all kinds of immoral and unethical genetic experiments. When Harper attempted to put a stop to it, he was killed by Cadmus' head of security.

The murder was uncovered and prosecuted through the combined work of Superboy, the clone of Harper and Cadmus' secretly enslaved workforce the Genomorphs. Who are a subject all of their own but, if any should be reading this, I hope you are thriving.

The cloned Harper is still active as a superhero in the modern day. One can assume under an assumed name but variants of "Jim Harper" wouldn't jump out at people even if he was going by it day to day. Out of respect for his privacy I'm not going to speculate any further into his personal life, one can assume he has been through MORE than enough.

Now the other man you spoke about is VERY mysterious indeed...

(The 3rd Guardian alongside Bumblebee in battle against The Ant, unknown photographer, posted online) You are right in that he is very clearly a black man and that is basically ALL I can say about him. He seems to come and go, always in the company of the Teen Titans, is in some manner of romantic relationship to mainstay member Bumblebee and he just up and vanishes for long stretches of time. (This was put together by clips captured of them in combat. Referring to Bumblebee as "baby", "dear" or "my girl". And being referred to as "babe", "lover" and "man of mine")

Theories, of course, abound with the most popular one being that he is the romantic partner/husband/whatever of Bumblebee in their civilian identities and while not a superhero by trade he will take up this identity when needed. A "friend of the family" I guess you could say who hops in when the Titans need an extra pair of hands.

He's competent in combat and seems to be trusted implicitly by the Titans themselves so who the hell am I to judge?

[seventh-district]

Dying Star

In the back of your mind, you recall something you once heard, something about light, and time, and distance. Space. Something about... how you can still see a star that's already burnt out, because its light hasn't reached earth yet. The ghost of a star that's already died. Only still perceptible thanks to time, and distance.

You remember Sam's words, once whispered to you on this very roof.

"Whatever your choice is... I'm not gonna live forever. I made that decision a long time ago."

You think about dead stars.

You think about time.

- - - - - - -

Sam’s words have been weighing heavy on your mind ever since you discussed your shared future and the various forms it could take. You didn’t realize just how heavy they were until it all came spilling out of your tired mind on a late night spent together beneath the stars.

Pairing: Sam x Darlin' / Reader

Word Count: 4,053

Contains: [angst] [a dash of humor] [a hint of chubby!Sam bc i like 'em strong and soft] [crying] [cuddling (dub-con cuddles with Quinn in the past & consensual ones with Sam in the present)] [emotional hurt/comfort] [implied/referenced dub-con sex (nothing graphic) (in the past between Darlin' and Quinn to be specific) (refer to my Ao3 notes for further explanation)] [mentioned Quinn] [not quite Dissociation i guess but Darlin' does zone-out/get lost in thought more than once] [pet names (Darlin' (obvs.) and honey)] [Reader is Darlin'] [Sam wears a cowboy hat bc i said so] [some passive suicidality from Sam if you squint (hell, maybe you don't even have to squint)]

A/Ns: Well, well, well, here I am, the person who said they wouldn't write any Redactedverse fanfic. I recently felt a mighty need to expand upon the blurb I wrote in this post, and I'm braving my fandom anxiety by sharing it here. pls be nice 2 me abt it

Timeline-wise, this fic takes place sometime after the ‘Talking About the Future With Your Vampire Mate’ audio but sometime before their presumed eventual departure from the house that William gave Sam, given that they've already had the 'turning' discussion but are still on the same roof in this fic.

This is a songfic, inspired by and quoting verses from 3 songs. Those being:

‘Dying Star’ by Ashnikko feat. Ethel Cain

‘Fix What You Didn’t Break’ by Nate Smith

‘No Plan’ by Hozier

The roof of Sam’s house is far from a ‘cushy’ place to relax. But as you lie here next to him under the stars, a knowledge settles within you that you wouldn’t trade the rough shingles beneath you for the softest mattress in the world. Not if it meant there’d be anyone other than him lying next to you.

Some people might counter that it’s an easy thing for you to say, given the number of nights you’ve thrown a balled-up shirt onto one end of a worn-out couch and called it a bed. But some people don’t know you as well as they think they do.

You’ve known luxury. Quinn might’ve been just as content taking his fill on a seedy motel bed as he was wrapped in silks at a Hilton, but he knew how to play up the luxe when it served him to do so. And in the early days as he worked to lure you in, it did. Plush sheets and expensive drinks helped to soften the preordained blows and dull the imminent pain that your nights with him held.

Once you’d latched onto the bait though, he let the act drop one piece at a time, like props collapsing on a stage. After all, what was the point in all of those frivolities when you both knew what you really came to him for? It wasn’t to be wined and dined, it wasn’t to be dressed up and shown off, and it wasn’t even to be slowly stripped of it all, laid out across the rolling clouds of a pillowy mattress.

It was to be used. Tranced. Restrained. Bitten. Drank from. Choked. Hit. Edged. Denied. Made to writhe and whine and bleed and plead. Plead for more, for less, for nothing, for anything. Anything to quiet your mind and fill the ever-expanding void inside you where you suspect love was supposed to live.

That’s what you both really wanted.

At least, that’s what you told him you wanted.

That’s what you told yourself.

You only got what you asked for.

To your right, Sam stirs, stretching gently with a yawn. The soft noise he releases as he does so reminds you of where you are, and you trace back through your thoughts to find how you got so lost.

…Right. Luxury.

While your relationship with Quinn certainly changed over time, you never forgot what it felt like in the beginning. 

You remember nights laid next to him, body sore, mind quiet. Quinn’s idea of aftercare was lacking to say the least, but you had nothing better to compare it to at the time, and you’d take what you could get. At least your head felt empty, and the bed was soft. Exhaustion would pull you under soon enough.

The mattress, sheets, and pillows enveloping you were likely worth more than you even made that past month. ...Or several. You found that display of luxury hard to be impressed by though, when it wasn’t the type of comfort you’d been seeking.

As Quinn shifted in his presumed sleep, pulling you in tighter, you didn’t fight it. You found yourself unwilling to fight anything he did, like his mere presence was enough to drain the fight right out of you. You told yourself that you were okay with that. Because you wanted it.

Lying there with your head on his bare chest, you took a deep breath and told yourself that you liked the stench of cheap cologne, poorly masking the cigarettes and alcohol on his breath. You silently told yourself that you liked everything. You liked the pain that he chased with hints of pleasure. You liked the loss of power, the way you couldn’t fight back if you wanted to once he looked you in the eyes. You liked all the things he said, no matter how much the truth might hurt.

He was right, you supposed. Your desires, the things you craved, the depravity that you so enjoyed, wasn’t normal. It was uncommon, unusual, and in the eyes of some, unfathomable. To possess such dark desires, there must be something truly broken inside you.

How lucky you were, to have found someone willing to indulge you. Someone that could give you everything you wanted, and be so kind as to keep it a secret too. He promised that word of the things he did to you, the things you let him do, would never get out. You remember the way he held your hand as he told you, falling for the guise of sincerity in his eyes. You remember his warm smile, and his razor sharp teeth.

You remember seeing that exact same smile on his face through one-way glass as he sat across from Sam and told him everything.

You stood in that room and thought back to those nights of luxury. To the feeling of his nails ghosting over the freshly healed punctures in your neck. To the way he held you against him. You remember laying there, lifeless, feeling like prey playing dead. Afraid to move, afraid to disturb him. But why? He hadn’t threatened you. He never told you that you had to stay. He never said that you couldn’t move, or pull away. So why did you feel that way?

As you stood, helplessly witnessing hours of his slander in that interrogation room, you understood. Your rose-tinted glasses had long since shattered, and you saw that smile for what it was. It was the smile of a man playing a dangerous game, brimming with satisfaction, thinking he’d won.

The radio near you begins to crackle, static obscuring the hosts voice as they announce the upcoming song. Sam doesn’t even open his eyes, just raises a hand and reaches out, blindly adjusting the antenna of the old device.

You’ve teased him for holding onto it for so long, as he is wont to do with damn near all of his possessions. But as you watch him deftly extend and angle the antenna with practiced care, the response he once gave you proves itself true once again.

“I don’t wanna replace it, Darlin’. It’s not broken. It just needs someone who knows how to make it sing again.”

The static clears, and music flows through the radio’s old speakers once more.

You watch Sam return his hand to its prior position beneath his head, acting as a makeshift pillow of his own. The way he’s lying has his hat pushed forward, and it’d be doing a damn good job of shielding his face from the sun if it weren’t somewhere around midnight at the moment. Still, it suits him somehow, despite its lack of any practicality. All he’s missing is a stalk of wheat between his teeth and a tree to lean against and he’d be the spitting image of the cowboy he swears he isn’t.

His other hand rests on the soft curve of his stomach, rising and falling again as he breathes. He’s the image of peace in moments like these, and you’re drawn to it like a moth to flame. Maybe one of these days you’ll find some of your own, but for now you’re more than content to bask in his.

As you admire him, he takes a slow, deep breath and you mirror it on instinct. The grounding practice helps you leave your mind and return to your body, if just for a moment. In doing so, you realize just how tense your ruminations have made you.

You relax your hands, releasing the blanket beneath you from your iron grip. You brush your palms over it, worried that you’ve torn the fabric once you realize that your nails had halfway shifted to claws. You don’t fret much over damage to your own possessions, but this blanket is Sam’s and you’d hate to ruin it. Though, you suppose he doesn’t prize it too much or he wouldn’t have laid it out here across the roof in the first place.

“If I buy somethin’ it’s because I wanna use it. Now quit frettin’ and get over here.” You recall what he told you earlier as he patted the blanket next to him in invitation, and you smile.

Doing a small stretch of your own, you release the tension in your shoulders, turning your attention back to the stars above you. For a while, you let the soft music wash over your tired mind.

“I asked him not to kill me politely. He drained my magic core, bottled up at the source. I washed up on the sea glass shores. I’m nobody's captive.”

In spite of your best efforts to relax, you’re still subconsciously futzing with the loose threads of the old blanket beneath you.

You’re made aware of it when Sam reaches a hand down, gently laying it over yours and effectively stilling your anxious motion.

“Burning like a dying star, invasive weeds rooted in my heart, set in a crooked trajectory. The journey here was hard, I was almost pulled apart. Trying to leave his orbit took what’s left of me.”

You flip your hand over beneath his so you can hold it properly, lacing your fingers together.

For reasons beyond your understanding, emotion tightens your throat, the threat of tears pooling in your eyes.

…You must be more tired than you thought.

As minutes pass and one song fades into another, your gaze dances across the blurry, scattered points of light in the dark sky.

“You were the star in the pitch black, shine the way on the way back. Out of nowhere, answered all my prayers.”

Sam’s always been so much better at identifying stars and finding constellations. But as the music plays, you begin to see one of your own.

“Picked up the towel that I threw in, took in a heart that was ruined. Showed me the past ain’t a tattoo, loved me even when you didn’t have to.”

“Sam.” You squeeze his hand to get his attention.

He squeezes back in acknowledgment. “Hm?”

“I want you to look at something.” You swallow back the emotion that tries to seep into your voice, but it catches his attention all the same.

He leans up and lifts his hat from his head, setting it aside near the radio. He then reaches to turn a dial back, lowering the music’s volume to give you his full attention.

You release his hand, raising yours up as he turns back to face you. You don’t say anything at first, nearly too lost in your own mind to realize you need to actually voice your developing thoughts.

"What—what're you pointin' at Darlin'?"

Your hazy focus is trained on the brightest star visible in your line of sight, arm stretched out to the sky above you. "That really bright one, to the... to the left."

Sam does his best to follow your less-than-specific directions of 'to the left', your pointed finger doing little to help given the difference in perspective. Luckily, after all these years, he knows this stretch of night sky like the back of his hand, so it isn't hard to locate the brightest one. Ghosting his fingers up along your exposed wrist where your sleeve had slipped back, he takes your hand in his again and brings it back down to earth. "Okay, yeah, I see it now. What about it though?"

"That's you." You say, matter-of-factly.

"That's me?" He questions, humor in his tone.

"Mhm." You nod with finality, blinking slow.

Sam considers the odd statement for a moment before gently correcting you. "I'm uh, I'm pretty sure that's Sirius, actually."

You scoff. "I am being serious."

Sam stifles a laugh. "No—no I mean—like... what's another name for it... Oh, it's also called the Dog Star."

"C'mon Sam, at least call it the Wolf Star if you're trying to turn this around on me..."

He shakes his head and readies himself to explain further, but you cut him off before he can start. "But no. No, this isn't about me. That's you."

He decides to play along, finding something endearing in your overtired nonsense. "Okay... then would'ja be so kind as to explain to this confused old man just how, or why that star is me?"

Your frown is audible in your voice as you latch onto the wrong part of his sentence. "You're not old, Sam. ...Do I need to tell Asher to kick the jokes down a notch?"

He smiles at your over-protectivity. "There'll be no need for that, now. Was just a joke, honey, I promise."

You huff, but begrudgingly shift focus back to the prior topic. "It's... I dunno. It's just you, Sam. It's... bright. Light. Something warm, out there in the cold dark. Standing out amongst all the rest. Calling to me, stealing my attention.”

Sam’s brow furrows as you continue to explain, realization setting in that you really are being serious.

“I... I didn't come out here looking for it, but there it is. ...And there you were. In the dark. The only bright thing I'd seen in... fuck, in years. Years of chasing fleeting warmth, tripping over myself in the pitch black, falling into... places and people that I shouldn't have. You were the light in that darkness. Even there, at Wonderworld, surrounded by the ghost of him. Your warmth, your presence, your aura—even with all of your walls up, you outshone it. Your warmth didn't hurt. I didn't have to squint when I looked at you. You weren't the blinding sun. You were the brightest star I'd ever seen. You guided me home."

In the back of your mind, you recall something you once heard, something about light, and time, and distance. Space. Something about... how you can still see a star that's already burnt out, because its light hasn't reached earth yet. The ghost of a star that's already died. Only still perceptible thanks to time, and distance.

You remember Sam's words, once whispered to you on this very roof.

"Whatever your choice is... I'm not gonna live forever. I made that decision a long time ago."

You think about dead stars.

You think about time.

"...-lin'? Darlin'?" Sam's calloused hand squeezes yours tight, his urgent tone pulling you out of your thoughts. "There you are. Think I lost ya' for a minute there... you good?"

You look up at Sam, concern creasing his features, faint shadows cast across his face from the light of the dying stars above him.

You reach out, pulling him down into you. He falters for a moment at the sudden proximity, but quickly embraces you in turn. Burying your face into his collar, Sam's concern grows when he feels it saturate with tears. A human might struggle to hear your words, muffled against the thick flannel, but his hearing catches them just fine.

"Don't burn out too quickly. Please. I still need you here. I don't—I don't wanna be left in the dark again. Please, please Sam. Don't leave me here. I'm not selfish enough to ask you for forever, but please. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet."

The words feel like a weight being lifted from your shoulders, but with it comes a flood of emotion they’d been holding back. You cry harder into him, and as much as it pains Sam to witness, he lets you feel it, for as long as you need.

Your fear of losing him manifests itself physically, nails curling and sharpening again. When he feels them prick his skin through the fabric of his shirt, he calls your name but doesn’t pull away. Instead, he leans further down into you, letting his weight ground you. “Darlin’, I am right here. I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

As you eventually cry yourself out, enough wherewithal returns to you to realize that you should probably release the poor man from your grasp, and the awkward position you pulled him into. When he pulls away enough to see your face, you notice a string of snot running from your nose to his shirt collar. Quickly batting it away out of embarrassment, you cringe, voice thick as you apologize. “Eugh, gross. Uh… sorry. About that.”

He shakes his head, laughing good-naturedly as you wipe at your nose with your jacket sleeve. “It’s completely fine, honey. After all, I’ve been covered in plenty of your, uh… various fluids before. When you come from my line of work, this is child’s play.”

He leans to his right, reaching back and pulling—of all things—a handkerchief from his jeans’ left back pocket. You laugh at his words, and at the sight, but with how congested you are it turns into more of a hacking cough than anything. Accepting his offering, you blow your nose into the black patterned fabric.

As soon as you can speak somewhat clearly, you can’t stop the teasing remark that slips out of you, gesturing with the wad of fabric in your hand. “You know, you really aren’t beating the cowboy allegations with stuff like this.”

He rolls his eyes but his soft smile remains. “It’s a practical thing to have on me, ‘allegations’ be damned.”

You shake your head with a smile of your own, but don’t disagree. As you’re visibly unsure what to do with the dirtied fabric, he takes it from you, setting it aside. “I’ll toss it in the wash when we go back inside. Along with my shirt, and…” He eyes you for a moment. “…that jacket of yours too, given how long you’ve probably been wearin’ it.”

Normally you’d argue that it hasn’t been that long, but come to think of it, you actually can’t recall when you last washed the thing.

Reaching up and rubbing your temples, you already regret your crying fit as a headache begins to set in. “Fuck, Sam... I’m sorry for… whatever that just was. I don’t know what came over me.”

His expression falls into something serious again. “You never need to apologize for feeling. And it certainly seems like… you needed to feel that.”

You nod quietly, but don’t elaborate, prompting him to question you gently. “Darlin’. What was that about? The—the askin’ me not to leave. Are you… afraid that I’m gonna leave you?”

You close your eyes, weighing out your response. “…Not in the sense that you’ll break up with me or something, no.”

His gaze narrows and his head tilts as he rolls your answer over in his mind. “If it ain’t that, then—” He remembers how you mentioned ‘forever’ and cuts himself off as the puzzle pieces start coming together. “Oh. …Oh, Darlin’, no.”

You open your eyes to watch as he shifts from leaning next to you, moving to sit up beside you. “Is this about what I told you, when we sat up here and had our uh… turning discussion?”

You hate to admit it, but you nod in confirmation. “…It’s your choice, Sam, and I never want to take that away from you. I shouldn’t have said what I just did, I—I don’t want to make you feel guilty, or like you have to stick around for my sake. But I’d be lying to you if I said it hasn’t been playing on my mind. The thought of you… leaving. Like that.”

He reaches up, running a hand through his hair. “I… think I maybe should’ve been a bit more clear, when I said that. Because I wasn’t talking about any time soon. I didn’t want to give you the false impression that I plan on sticking around for centuries, but… I also wasn’t trying to imply that I’ve got plans to do it next week either.”

You bolt upright, voice cracking. “Next week?! I sure as shit hope not!” You grab your head, pain flaring and suddenly dizzy from the quick shift in position.

He places a hand on your shoulder to steady you. “I’m not, honey, I’m not. Did you catch the rest of my sentence? I’ve got no plans to leave this world any time soon. I promise.”

You groan, head pounding. “I heard you, I did, I just—fuck, I don’t even wanna think about you leaving so soon. Here I am, stressing, thinking I’ve only got—I don’t know—some odd years left with you, and…” You sigh, trailing off.

Sam stays quiet for a minute, letting the crickets sing.

Eventually, he interrupts their chorus. “…Can I get closer to you?”

You nod. “…Please.”

He closes the gap between you, carefully wrapping a strong arm around your curled shoulders. “You’ve got way more than a couple years. I promise you that.” Your tension begins to ease a bit as he clarifies. “You… you’ve helped me find a life that I actually feel like livin’ again, for the first time in a long time. And I want to experience it with you for as long as I can.”

“…Really?” Your voice sounds so small, so unsure, so… unlike you when you question him that he wants to kick himself in his own ass for the role he unintentionally played in making you feel this way.

“Yes. Really. I mean—” His voice takes on an edge of humor. “If you decide to set your sights on the year 3,000…” He shakes his head. “I don’t know about that. But as far as the 21st century is concerned? …I think I’d like to see it through. For as long as you’re there to see it with me.”

His words cause fresh tears to well up in your eyes, and you sniff in an attempt to hold them back. The sound catches his attention, and he leans forward, thumbing across your warm cheek. “…I’m makin’ you cry again…”

You shake your head, clearing your throat. “No—No, it’s okay. It’s good. They’re… they’re good. It’s… relief.”

He breathes out a relieved sigh of his own. “Yeah?”

You nod, leaning into him. “Yeah.”

As you rest against each other, breathing in the cool night air, you nudge him with your shoulder. “Can we… lay back? For a bit?”

He squeezes your arm in gentle confirmation. “Of course.”

He twists and reaches back to straighten the wrinkled blanket beneath you, before laying out across it himself. The radio crackles as he turns the volume back up a bit. Watching him with tired eyes, you smile at the sight of him patting his chest in habitual invitation.

“Sit in and watch the sunlight fade. Honey, enjoy, it’s gettin’ late. There’s no plan. There’s no hand on the reign. As Mack explained, there will be darkness again.”

Curling up against his side and laying your head on his chest, you release a heavy sigh when his hand comes up to rest on your shoulder. As his fingers press rhythmically into the tense muscle beneath them, you breathe in his scent. Black coffee and wildflower honey… he smells like home.

“Your secret is safe with me, and if secrets were like seeds, when I’m lyin’ under marble, marvel at flowers you’ll have made.”

You reach your hand out across his broad chest, slipping beneath his open flannel and sliding down to rest on his waist. He sighs, relaxing further beneath your touch.

“My heart is thrilled by the still of your hand. That’s how I know now that you understand.”

Yeah, you’ll take this over ‘luxury’ any damn day.

“There’s no plan. There’s no race to be run.”

Laying there with him, listening to the low hum of the radio, the moment grows so comfortable that you almost hesitate to break it.

“The harder the pain, honey, the sweeter the song.”

“…Sam?” You whisper into the night.

His hand sweeps across your back before returning to your shoulder. “I’m here, Darlin’.”

“There’s no plan. There’s no kingdom to come.”

You smile. “I… I’d like to be there, to be here, to see it through with you, too.”

It takes him a moment to recall exactly what you’re referring to, but when it hits him he hums a low understanding tone, clearly pleased. “Then let’s see where it takes us, yeah?”

“But I’ll be your man if you got love to get done.”

He presses a soft kiss to your temple. “We’ve got plenty a’ time.”

A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. You can find my extensive notes and commentary on this fic right here on Ao3. My Sam & Darlin' Playlist My Sam Playlist My Darlin' Playlist My Sam & Darlin' Moodboard My Sam Moodboard My Darlin' Moodboard Header Image Credit: Gage Smith on Unsplash

[wittyrogue]

we all like to joke that zevran's failed contract in origins has lost the crows an entire country but in this essay i will tell you how actually crows are afraid to go further south than the free marches because the black shadow will get them.

lets set the scene: early 9:30 dragon, a hit goes out on two grey wardens from the "ruler" of ferelden. zevran wins the bid and effectively disappears. two grey wardens are still seen out and about. taliesen is later sent to clean it up and also disappears.

their fates, canonically, are "unknown" (per world of thedas, vol. 2 pg 96, screen capped at the bottom of the post for reference).

grandmaster eoman arainai (zevran's master and the one who ordered rinna killed) is killed four months after the blight ends. four other members of house arainai are also killed over the next three years (9:30-33 dragon), taking house arainai from being the house with the eighth talon to obscurity.

grandmaster runn and grandmaster availa are also killed (honestly unclear if they're house arainai or not, but we'll run with them being eoman's replacements 1 and 2), likely around 9:33 or at the latest, 9:34 dragon.

at some point, zevran makes some friends and seems to have worked to fill the ranks of those rising within the crows with those who are similar in his mindset--those that have been cheated out of well earned coin, driven into hiding, or silenced in one way or another, slowly building a rising generation of crows less keen on the old house structure way of doing things.

during this time, whenever zevran is discovered in antiva, he's chased out by the crows, who get as far as rivain or the free marches and then those crows go missing--the implication here being that they chase zevran, only to at some point have the chase twisted and end up killed by zevran's own blade.

also at some point, zevran is caught in a trap by the crows, who continued to hunt him "for the honor of antivan crows" aka a crow never breaks a contract (though at this point claiming zevran as a crow seems like a clerical oversight).

in case you were wondering: - crows: 1 - zevran: 3 grandmasters, 5 assassins (rank or higher), innumerable rank and file lured south

by 9:35 dragon, the guildmaster of rialto has been killed and two guildmasters are said to be in zevran's pocket. first caveat: unclear if this is widespread to all of the crows, or limited to just house arainai. second caveat: guildmaster and grandmaster seem to be used interchangeably? which is mildly frustrating but it is what it is. this is also assumed to do with zevran's escape from wherever they were keeping him captive.

relative radio silence from the maker's perfect boy until 9:40 dragon when he sends an "oops i did it again ;)" letter to leliana apologizing for killing a crow hired to do inquisition business. for the record, this crow is doing business in hercinia at the time, which is in the free marches. this exchange speaks to a pattern of continuing the crow killing business, specifically those going south to the free marches.

now we're up to the current year and lucanis and harding have our oh so charming exchange below (emphasis mine):

Harding: Lucanis, you've never really been to Ferelden? But I thought you traveled all over!

Lucanis: The Crows don't take many contracts there. Not since the Fifth Blight.

Harding: I heard Teyrn Loghain hired Crows in his fight over the throne.

Lucanis: And that's why we don't work there anymore.

Harding: So the Crows don't work in Ferelden anymore because of Loghain? Why, exactly?

Lucanis: House Arainai embarrassed themselves so badly on that job, the Crows buried six different Eighth Talons.

Harding: You're... you're saying they actually die of embarrassment.

Lucanis: Some of them weren't dead at the time. But they got it eventually.

hey scroll up for a second, back to the part where i told you the crows vs zevran tally.

ok come back. thanks.

now at least one of those six #confirmed kills of zevran's is grandmaster eoman arainai, the eighth talon. clearly being a grandmaster and a talon are not conflicting roles. i'd gather, actually, that being grandmaster of the house holding a talon position makes you the talon as well. so zevran's killed at least three arainai talons (eoman, runn, availa). if we put house arainai in rialto, that makes a fourth in 9:35 dragon during zevran's escape from imprisonment for four dead talons, just between 9:30 and 9:35 dragon. i really think in the following handful of years, zevran can do two more. as a treat.

all this to say--in this dialogue with harding, lucanis is putting on his professional customer service voice and saying that no, they just don't really like working in fereldan all that much.

please don't look at the line of dead crows that starts in the free marches.

please ignore the pile of dead eighth talons.

please stop looking at house arainai.

honestly, i think there's a solid argument to be made that zevran's hunting of crows affected a widespread change in his generation of rank and file crows, to the benefit of any follow-on generations. it was mentioned a little how zevran was gathering allies, even paying off guildmasters, and i think it's seen in the fact that arainai hasn't prospered and crows like teia even exist at all.

references under the cut.

[a-bit-predictable]

making a new post to reply to this comment because i ended up with a lot more to say beyond the, by intention, limited scope of the original one (link), which was about caitlyn's action that scene in 2x03 paralleling to vi's in 1x03. and i didn't want it to go to waste in the replies lol.

so yeah, this mess of a ramble goes out to all my fellow caitlyn analysis enthusiasts who care about nuance!

first, regarding the subject matter of my original post that this reply references:

i genuinely don't see how cait's incident of hitting vi was framed as any less terrible than vi's hitting powder??? to me it was an obvious, intentional, direct parallel - down to the top-down shots of powder & vi from those scenes being literally framed exactly the same way. if we're talking about the reactions following the incidents, even vi's guilt through the entire show was focused on abandoning her little sister, not the hit itself. and with drastically different circumstances surrounding each incident by two very different characters, how caitlyn & vi handle/show their guilt is practically incomparable. i'm not sure what other sort of "framing" is at play here.

i also don't see how the age difference would make vi forget what that low moment felt like or make it more excusable/forgivable (teenagers are still people and growing up doesn't mean we can magically expect or demand perfect emotional control)... nor do i see how having privilege either negates or invalidates unprecedented levels of grief in a person's life. you cannot quantify pain. emotion is still emotion and it's relative to your own lived experience and no one else's, no matter your social or economic background. privilege is not at play when caitlyn acts out against a perceived, personal betrayal by vi and an accusation that she is exactly like her enemy. it of course IS at play throughout her revenge mission before and after that moment (see later paragraphs). and it's EXTREMELY unfortunate and awful that she used that power getting directly involved leading a strike team mission when she was already in a very unhealthy state of mind going in, all of which only further exacerbated that hatred and twisted perspective. but it's STILL worth making an effort to understand (not excuse, that's a completely different word) the reasons she was invested in the first place: (1) guilt she didn't take the shot which she already had motivation to take and would have prevented her mother's death moments later; and (2) a deeply ingrained sense of responsibility to her city to deliver "justice" and give them a sense of safety from what they deem to be terrorism (keyword: deem).

as for her other actions against zaunites, i specifically did not mention them in the original post because of their weight and because i wanted to exclusively address one specific action that involved interpersonal conflict with another character. but since we're here now:

speaking strictly about the grey and nothing else for a moment, i struggle not to feel like people are overstating the strike team's use of it. it was, literally, a morally grey tactic and an unfair advantage, but it was also calculated and strategic and used by a group of 5 people targeting specific dangerous locations with chem baron/shimmer gang activity (a fictitious extreme, i'm not equating this to irl gangs) while extracting leads from them to find jinx. even in 2x02, they used it at an abandoned arcade on an abandoned street (that vi knew well) with almost no one around. they did NOT just go around willingly targeting uninvolved civilians in populated areas with it. yeah, the 2x03 opening montage was all fast-paced action and meant to set a dark tone, but what is and isn't depicted in it still matters.

all of these details align with caitlyn's intended 3 goals stated at the end of 2x01, where she pushes for the strike team as a lesser evil compared to the full scale invasion everyone else wanted, something in which "innocents will be caught in the crossfire," her own quote in 2x01. there is also no indication or depiction afterwards, in the 2x04 montage or otherwise, of her using the grey on civilians throughout the period of martial law (which involved other forms of brutality that are still fucked up and i shouldn't need to further bloat this post with). the grey only ever makes a return in localized use on the battlefield in 2x09 - again, not civilians, but soldiers of an imperialist nation.

all of that being said, caitlyn IS complex and she's NOT at all innocent. calculated or not, she makes a lot of harmful decisions and moral sacrifices in pursuit of personal vengeance, leading to actions that (unlike the other comic-book-type villainy in this show) heavily resemble issues that hit close to home in the real world and evoke real, valid emotion. but at the end of the day we're talking about a fictional character written with a deeper purpose and message about letting go of the cycle of hatred. despite her guilt not being VISCERALLY obvious via outward on-screen emotion like some people wanted (that's not the type of person she is), she's still shown in both dialogue and actions to understand and regret her ("our") crimes, post-time-skip from 2x04 and beyond. and sure, yes, she deserves to spend the rest of her life atoning and working her privilege to do good. both her speech and final scene with vi at the end of 2x09 indicate that intention, just in a non-literal, literary way (because this is a work of fiction and not a court room).

to be crystal clear, and i am NOT one of the people unwilling to "admit that the character has done terrible things." i hate that shit too. but i am also not interested in tunnelvision-ing bad actions or ignoring the nuance of caitlyn's underlying nature, motivations, and intentions for the sake of virtue signaling when her character is a great lesson on how quickly good intentions and heart can become corrupted. the problem i have is when people just don't care to look closer or dig deeper into a carefully constructed character and would rather tie her up in a neat little villainous bow with the worst labels and accusations and try to guilt people over it...

because of course that's way easier than acknowledging what is clearly novels' worth of layered complexity, and it feels better to hate a character in totality from some moral high-ground than to feel conflicted about them, right?

[true-colors-zine]

F.A.Q*

I never participated in a zine before, what exactly are you expecting a “finished piece” to look like?

For artists, it depends on the artist and their style. For some it may mean fully rendered figures and backgrounds. For others it may mean a simpler background and colors. Everyone is going to have a different definition of “finished”. You want it to be presentable and nice to look at, not something you threw together without much thought. Try to think of what movie posters might look like, or phone/desktop wallpapers.

For authors, you can either contribute a poem or a micro short story under 180 words. Your story should be edited at least once for spelling and grammar errors. Your story should be self-contained, a.k.a. a one-shot, with a beginning, middle, and resolution. There will be beta-readers available in a specific channel on discord, so if you need help and don’t want to ask anyone directly, you could always shoot a message there and someone will know to help.

If you’re not sure what your “best example” work is, you can include a link to your blog/online portfolio (wherever you post) and we’ll take a look.

What do you mean a “light in the darkness”? Can you explain the theme a little more?

When we say “light in the darkness” we are in part referring to the True Colors scene in Trolls 1 (hence the title). It was a moment of hopelessness that became one of community, love, and resilience. We are asking for contributors to show (or tell) us scenes where the characters find courage to overcome pain and hardship. How did they overcome this problem? Why did they? Did they take action or focus on finding joy in little things? This theme is a little more specific yet abstract because there are many ways to answer these questions. If you have any further questions or want to run your idea by us please let us know!

If I’m a merch artist, does my work have to follow the theme too?

No, since things like keychains, phone wallpapers, and stickers usually are relatively small spaces we’re not expecting merch art to follow the theme. You can if you like but it’s not required.

What if I want to change my idea partway through the creation period?

If you get partway through your piece and decide on changing it to something totally new, please notify the mods first. Given that there are 3 months to work on your piece this will likely be allowed but you will have less time to finish it. To avoid this, we recommend really thinking over your idea early on, and if problems do arise you can use the #wip-feedback channel to get help.

Can I change from writing to art or art to writing after the creation period started?

Unfortunately, once you are accepted as either an author or artist, you are locked into that position. If you are someone who likes to make both art and fanfic, please take your time in deciding what you would like to focus on for the zine and apply at a later date.

How should I format my canvas/file so it’s print-ready?

First, make sure your canvas is set to the right color profile and size for print. If this is your first time illustrating for print, we recommend using CMYK while working instead of RGB. The color palette is more limited than RGB, but it will be a more accurate representation of what the physical page will look like. This image will be used for both the print zine and digital zine. If you are more comfortable with the process and want the digital zine file to have the more vibrant RGB colors, it is recommended to work in RGB first, save a copy of the file, then convert to CMYK and make adjustments as needed.

(Note: Merch Artists working on digital media, such as wallpapers or lineart-only coloring pages, do not need to convert to CMYK. RGB only is fine.)

For size, the finished zine will be 5x7 inches, or 1575x2175 pixels, however you will need to set your canvas size to 5.25x7.25 inches (an extra .125 or 1/8 inch all around) to include bleed, or area on 3 of 4 sides that is likely to be trimmed off in the printing process. You will want to make sure nothing too important in your design is along the edge/in the bleed area or it could get cut off! The 4th side will be where the page is bound into the book, this is called the “gutter” and is hard to see details right up to the edge. This also applies to artists doing a 2-page spread, only instead of being cut off the edge, keep in mind that anything in the middle/gutter will be hard to see. We will make sure to have a template available so all our page artists can see an example of what to expect. In general just keep important details away from the edge and you’ll be fine! Lastly, make sure your file is set to a MINIMUM of 300 dpi (dots per inch). Lower dpi’s make images look blurry or pixelated.

Page artists/authors can find a template HERE

Merch artists van find guidelines for their specific item HERE

Once you have a finished design, you want to make sure to save it as a PNG file before submitting. You can submit your file either via sharing a Google Docs link, sending through email, or sending through DM on Discord to the appropriate mod.

Can I sign/watermark my art before I submit?

Yes, you are welcome to sign your artwork anyway you normally do (if you do). However all creators will be listed on a credits page with their name and page(s) of their work, so you don’t have to worry about unsigned artwork not being credited. If you do decide to sign your artwork, we simply ask that you do so in a way that doesn’t interfere with the overall presentation. For example, a signature that is too big, a signature that blocks an excessive amount of details, or a watermark pattern that makes the image difficult to understand.

Do I have to use my real name for the credits page? What if I just want to use my online handle?

We will never ask for sensitive information, and that may mean the real or full name for some people. All we ask is some way to credit you. This can be your first name only, a nickname, or an online handle from any of your accounts (i.e. Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter/X, etc.). We will also include the primary account name/address for any creator who wishes to include one. For example, a piece could be credited like: Jane Doe, Jane, JD, Jbug, jbug @ tumblr, or any other combination. This goes the same for fanfic authors, although you will also be credited under the title of your fic.

Are alternate universe settings (AUs) allowed?

Alternate universes are absolutely allowed! However we do ask our creators to be mindful of how much the average viewer may know about them and work accordingly. For example, an au that needs a lot of explanation and previous knowledge may be a bit confusing, but more simple or self-explanatory aus (like human-aus or role-swap aus) should be fine.

Are original characters (OCs) allowed?

We ask that creators focus on canon characters in their piece, but ocs are allowed to be included. OCs are welcome as side characters, as in a fanfic, or in backgrounds of artworks for example. This is to avoid confusion for anyone who may view the zine but isn’t familiar with the multitude of fan-created characters.

Will there be delivery restrictions? If so, which countries will you not ship to?

Unfortunately, yes. We will be unable to deliver to countries experiencing a postal service disruption (find more information and a list of countries here: https://about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts/international/ )

For other international locations it depends on what the import laws and fees are, as well as what the postage would be. For example, the UK (excluding Northern Ireland) has a complicated import tax situation that at this time we are unable to comply with. When it comes to postage, we don’t expect anyone would want to pay the same amount of their item on shipping. For now we aren’t including locations with exceptionally high postage as somewhere we will ship to. (Think 20-30$USD for postage to ship a similarly priced bundle. Yuck!)

However, as long as your location is not experiencing shipping disruptions and we are able to ship while following your country’s import rules, and you are willing to pay postage, we will gladly look into shipping to your location, even if it is not immediately available when our shop opens. If you are curious about a specific country, please message us off-anon so that we can reply privately.

*This list will be updated as necessary

[section-69]

I’ve noticed that Crais gets compared a lot to Captain Ahab, and as a Moby Dick lover I’m fascinated by that – especially because my first (and enduring) thought for a monomaniacal literary character comparison was Inspector Javert of Les Mis fame. This was gonna be the full post but I got invested - so invested that it became 1500 words of just analysing the Ahab thing - so instead here’s part one of my Which Famous Character Is Crais literary analysis for all 10 of the Farscape fans who follow me (love you babes <3)

Okay, Ahab first. I mean, immediately it’s pretty obvious – madman chases leviathan, that’s like the one thing everyone knows about Moby Dick in the first place. Going further, this is in response to the object of pursuit having taken something from him, and getting revenge for that trumps all orders from his superiors to do his actual job rather than following this obsession to the ends of the earth / the charted territories. I say "something", but Ahab loses his leg while Crais loses his brother – in this reading, losing Tauvo was like losing a limb. Both will lose everything they’ve worked for to avenge that loss (well, Crais repeatedly claims that the Peacekeeper High Command would forgive him when he presented them with a recaptured and pregnant Moya, but… frankly, I don’t believe that he believes that. I’ll go over that later – point being, he Does lose everything), both gain absolutely nothing from the attempt. Such is revenge. Where this gets interesting for me is how both characters interpret this revenge as being more than a surface level thing.

The first thing you need to understand about Moby Dick is that the whale is not just a whale, because the whale is God. The whale is the face of God, the whale is a representation of what God takes from us and what we take from God, you can kill a whale because God lets you but you can’t kill This whale because this whale is God, and also because you’re in a narrative and this isn’t the way it was written, by God or by Herman Melville (you should read Moby Dick, by the way.) Where this is relevant to us, is that Ahab knows this. Ahab isn’t just trying to kill the whale that ate his leg – he’s trying to kill God. Also he doesn’t believe in God and will prove it by killing this fucking whale. Also he’s a Satanist and positions himself against God through that lens. If this doesn’t make any sense it’s because Ahab, crucially, is mad, and also because Moby Dick is a web of human contradictions so as to represent God and whales as things too large to be understood except in small, digestible parts that can never quite make up the whole. My point here (other than convincing you to read Moby Dick) is that Ahab is an “ungodly god-like man” and that his revenge is about all three of those qualities. If his revenge wasn’t really about his leg, it was about why God would let a man like him (more on that later) lose it.

Crais is, in comparison, rather grounded (there are a couple of moments where he seems aware that he's in a narrative, referring to his later reversal with John, but that's after the point in the story where Ahab would have died, so I'll discount it for now). He acknowledges that losing Tauvo wasn’t really what he was hunting anyone down for – it was about his career. Does this mean his career is his God? A forced convert, now ex-communicated… to me, this paints him as a reverse Ahab – a man trying to regain his religion by capturing, not killing, a heathen whale. Which brings me onto my next Why-Crais-Isn’t-Ahab point:

This Isn’t Just About Moya.

It’s also about John. And Aeryn, and himself, but they’re not why Tauvo died. Does that make John God, in this metaphor? I mean, Crais is definitely less concerned with John than Scorpius is, but… well, that’s not exactly difficult. It’s about his career, he tells John, more than it’s about his brother, but given all the circumstances revealed in the first Maldis episode, I’m not sure how different those are. “I realized I’d became more concerned with my own image and career” what image? What career? Those of a guy who fills his quarters with severed heads and a throne – do we ever meet that Crais? I can’t help but read it like Scorpius reads it – as a way of compensating for a lack of power. He creates Talyn to prove that someone like him (back to that Ahab point) can do something no one else ever has. He’s trying to create and prove his sense of self here.

Okay, merging points time. Where I was going with that Ahab thing earlier, and what I see as a crucial difference between their approaches to power, is that Ahab is – and meaningfully – white. This is important in Moby Dick, because so is the whale. Now, that sounds like either a reach or a bad joke if you’ve not read Moby Dick, so I’ll quote: “It was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me […] there yet lurks an elusive something in the innermost idea of this hue, which strikes more of panic to the soul than that redness with affrights the blood. […] Therefore, in his other moods, symbolize whatever grand or gracious thing he will by whiteness, no man can deny that in its profoundest idealized significance it calls up a peculiar apparition to the soul.” This chapter talks about whiteness as being both noble and terrifying – it talks about the white man having “ideal mastership over every dusky tribe”, in the context of a book constantly saying things like “a man can be honest in any sort of skin,” “better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian,” whose most prominent character of colour is a nobleman and the narrator’s “bosom friend”, and where none of the harpooneers (the third highest ranking members of the crew, after captain and mates) are white. As I’ve said, book of intentional contradictions, and complicated politics – it mostly wants you to think about it. The whiteness is both God (in all His horrors) and Atheism (in all of Ahab’s), Ahab and the Whale. Ahab is a man in a position of social power, who always has been, seeing his mortality threatened for the first time and going mad. He enlists a crew of socially disadvantaged (many poor, many not-white, all ill-informed) seamen on a suicide mission, tempting them with money and glory they’d struggle to find elsewhere. In Alasdair Gray’s words (you should also read Lanark), “They are brave, skilful, and obedient, they chase the whale round the world and get themselves all drowned together: all but the storyteller. He describes the world flowing on as if they had never existed. There are no women or children in this book, apart from a little black boy whom they accidentally drive mad.” Ahab is the arrogance of the white man, personified, weaponised, and he drags this crew down when he sinks.

Which brings me back to Bialar Crais and the overwhelmingly white crew he commands for the overwhelmingly white fascist army he was pressganged into joining. If Crais is as monomaniacal as Ahab, it’s because he has to be. He was born and raised outside of Peacekeeper control, and tasked with protecting his younger brother from them, something which involved not just protecting himself, but Distinguishing himself and gaining the relative freedom and comfort a Captain can command. It’s crucial to why I’m going to compare him to Javert (in a following essay because this is 1200 words now) – this is a non-white character in a violent white institution, whose brutality is exaggerated as a form of self-preservation. Where Ahab lashes out at God having lost the control his birth afforded him, Crais lashes out at the society, the army, the self he was forced to embody, having lost the reason he was hanging heads on his walls in the first place. Maybe that’s what he means when he says it stopped being about his brother and became about his image – when Tauvo died, he had to actively choose whether to keep doing this, because it would be comfortable to keep his position, or to go back to who he’d not been allowed to be since childhood. If he’s not thinking about the lives of his crew, it’s because they might be the first to turn on him. If he considers them disposable, it’s not because they command less social standing, but because they’re willing soldiers of empire.

Crais is The Other where Ahab is The Norm, separated by birth from whatever you can metaphorically call God here rather than by circumstance. They’re alike in that they’re insane guys chasing something called a leviathan, but thematically, if anything, they’re reverse images. I intended to make this post an advice rather than an admonition but holy fuck why is it 1500 words long – I’ll tell anyone who’s willing to read another of these why he’s Javert actually when it isn't 3am. In conclusion, I love him, and there's something wrong with me (I think unrelated).

[moniericreative]

Goro Akechi: A Mask of Lies

Part 2 of my multi-post series: "The Universally Hated Futaba Line: Biased Opinion to Throw Out, or a Valid Point Taken Too Literally?"

The posts will be in the following order: Part 1: Clarifying the meaning of the line (Link) Part 2: A Mask of Lies (this post) Part 3: A Mask of Heroism (Link) Please check out the first post of the series for more context, as it'll help explain the direction I'm going in when discussing this subject. With that out of the way, enjoy part 2!

Alright, to recap in case folks are seeing this post first: In the last post, we discussed the meaning of the game's usage of "fake" regarding Akechi and Robin Hood. In it, we hopefully clarified that it is not referring to Robin Hood the persona as a "fake," but rather that it's merely one of Akechi's "masks" in public. A "persona" in every sense of the word, that he merely takes off and swaps out with Loki when he deems it necessary. Rather akin to Joker and his own array of personas. In these next two posts however, I would like to explore the meaning behind this particular mask. Or rather, the different nuances behind it. Out of all possible mythological figures to awaken to, why Robin Hood specifically? There are no fake personas after all (at least as far as P5 is concerned). They're a manifestation born from the hearts of these individuals, representing their inner rebellion. So it's not as if Akechi just chose Robin Hood as a persona on a whim. There's even the P5R Mementos Reports Vol. 3 that explains that he awoke to both Robin Hood and Loki simultaneously as well (which, ouch, his poor fucking face) to further solidify this.

Sooo... What're the two things Robin Hood as a figure is generally known for? Trickery against vile individuals in power, and being a hero to the less fortunate. For this post, we'll be exploring the former. His "Mask of Lies."

Let us discuss: The Game

One aspect about the Detective Prince that gets heavily underdiscussed at best, and outright ignored at worst, is how subtle, resourceful, and crafty he truly is, and nothing shows that remarkably well like Sae's Palace; The Casino of Envy itself.

Of all of the Phantom Thieves, Akechi's the sole member who understands a rigged system when he sees one, and instead of brute-forcing a solution, or accepting the system as it is and hoping integrity will win out... He instead cheats it.

Rather than toss out seeming trash, he keeps a literal card and a plan close to his chest that ends up being the very thing the group needs to succeed, after Shadow Sae tries to use her own underhanded methods to bar their path.

All while the other Thieves were completely unaware of what he was truly doing until he gave the step-by-step explanation.

Sure, he could've just told the others. But we've seen plenty of times through almost all of the thieves (Joker included) that they have a tendency to be too honest, and end up getting caught in their own lies. We also have him spinning Makoto's rather forward plan to use him as "police intel" around on the group with his own proof of blackmail on them, giving him an upper hand on the fly. Regardless of how much both sides know about each other, the Thieves by that point don't have anything tangible on him and his crimes as proof, and are stuck improvising as best they can afterwards (which works in their favor despite how much could've gone wrong).

Then lastly, there's how he interacts with others. Akechi's way of phrasing is very specifically vague, where he doesn't give details outright on what he plans to do. At most, he'll use double-entendres or metaphors (in both languages actually) in lieu of any direct response, which tends to fly right over several characters' heads (Shido especially), but are obvious hints when you know what to look for. Or he'll flat out give non-answers such as "soon" or "sometime after (blank)," and leave it at that. Just enough of an answer to satisfy without revealing anything.

Let us discuss: P5: The Animation

Akechi has at least one noticeable moment in the anime: (Episode 13 · Dreams and Desires)

In it, Yusuke's confidant takes a slight turn as Akechi looks into Kawanabe, an art dealer hoping to invest in him.

Rather than tackle the investigation through standard protocol, which he rightfully explains he can't for the following reason:

He instead convinces Joker to help him with it. Either Akechi himself is spying on meetings to gain intel about Kawanebe:

Or he's asking Joker for assistance on gaining intel (and eventually enough evidence to launch an investigation) as a third party unaffiliated with the police:

Let us discuss: Mementos Mission

Yes, the absolutely amazing Cross-Dressing Joker bit.

Yet again, it's another case (tied to a much larger one) that Akechi's asked Joker for his assistance with. This time, though, they're trying to get information from two possible suspects.

What does Akechi do?

He not only insists Joker needs a disguise in order to tag along on an official police investigation,

But he leaves getting information out of the more suspicious wife to Joker, as he has a knack for getting people to open up, while he himself distracts the husband whom they clearly weren't going to get anything out of. ... And he absolutely doesn't let Joker live it down.

"Surely these examples could all be tied to Loki, the "trickster god" himself, and not Robin Hood, right? He has both personas after all."

To that I say... Can it?

The thing about the Detective Prince is the way he lies. Throughout most of these examples, and including his interviews in the game, they all have one thing in common:

He's an expert at white lies, lying by omission, and subtle deflection when he can manage it.

He isn't really shown to deceive anyone to the extent of an outright bluff or disinformation (i.e. making up an entire elaborate story that he'd be fumbling the logistics of just to remember.) He lies to an extent of showing/wording the truth in a manner acceptable for a situation (i.e. focusing on how the Thieves' methods could be used for harm, much like what he himself is doing, or the below text messages), or he withholds information entirely and lets others assume for themselves, and rolls with the narrative they come up with without correcting them until they realize their mistake. (Credit to @Megaderping and @Vashtijoy respectively for these screenshots)

(Credit to Faz on YouTube for allowing us to also see this masterclass of a Mementos Request that unfortunately got cut as well)

He often weaponizes the truth in order to put himself into a better position, and to knock those against him down. He takes full advantage of other people's lack of context to set them up for either a downfall, or a very harsh reality check that he believes is much deserved. By the time of Third Semester, where Robin Hood is absent and Loki's at the forefront however, Akechi stops doing this. (Rest assured, despite just saying that, we will discuss that Mementos Request further in "Mask of Heroism." It takes place in Third Sem and ultimately got cut for a reason, but because of the nature of the request itself, which lines up pretty well with both nuances, I'm putting it here too.) He becomes straight-forward and blunt. A majority of the information/opinions he has, he gives willingly to others of his own volition, often coming to Joker rather quickly with them than waiting for Joker to come to him. Anything that strays too close to personal however (his post-Engine Room status or feelings about his happiness), he doesn't smoothly steer the topic away anymore. He just slams the door shut on it with an "I'm no obligated to tell you." Credit to @hifugoro for even making an observation about his base game VS third sem sprites as well to add to this (it's such a good post)

Needless to say, this is all a pretty consistent aspect of him across several official mediums. The sincere, righteous Detective Prince persona is, like the characters put it, very much fake. It is a palatable image Akechi puts up to the general public; to be "wanted" for once by other people.

To be a symbol of justice in the eyes of others. Rather much like a superhero in a way. Funny given how Robin Hood's design is inspired by them too... But perhaps there's more to that than solely for aesthetics and nostalgia? To use another recent example of a beloved superhero: Think of All Might from My Hero Academia. He does the exact same thing as well; project an image of himself to the public as a "Symbol of Peace," even if that's no longer who he can live up to anymore. While All Might's not a secret hitman like Akechi is, MHA does a decent job explaining that the public needs something to look to in times of uncertainty. Without it, chaos ensues as people sink further into lost despair. And in Persona 5, that is very much the case. Shido's entire political campaign is to paint himself as a "beacon of prosperity and justice" to the entire country, especially in the wake of the chaos he himself is causing behind the scenes. As Shido's pawn, Akechi does the exact same thing, especially in his war against the Phantom Thieves. Constantly sow seeds of doubts in their motives and methods, paint himself as an altruistic detective of justice, then reap the rewards when the Thieves get framed for a murder. They both use this "Symbol of Justice" as a mask. A tool for their respective goals. While Akechi's goals are more well-meaning than Shido's are, it doesn't change the fact that this is all a charade he puts up for the public. Without the mask, he's a "cursed, unwanted child" who would've never been able to reach Japan's upper echelon to exact his justice on Shido. Without the Detective Prince, Akechi is nothing. ... Or is he?

(To be continued in Part 3: A Mask of Heroism)

[timeagainreviews]

The Eve of Season Two

Usually, when a new season of Doctor Who is about to start, I like to get myself back into the swing of things by writing an article about a previous story. I was planning on writing about the Fifth Doctor story “Frontios,” and had even gotten a few paragraphs in, but this new season kinda snuck up on me. No, I didn’t somehow miss the influx of trailers and promotional material. Time simply got the best of me. I used to count the days leading up to a new season of Doctor Who like a kid waiting for Christmas (and the Christmas special of Doctor Who). Now, mind you, I did just buy my first house and have been very busy. Also, the world is on fire, so there’s that. So what’s the deal, then? Have I lost my enthusiasm for Doctor Who? Not hardly. But recent years have left me wary to feel excitement. 

If you followed season one along with me last year, you’ll know I was pleased by the uptick in quality. But over time, it hasn’t felt like much of an improvement beyond an uptick. Season one was not without its flaws, but perhaps its greatest flaw was a persistent feeling of desperation. They desperately wanted to rope in new viewers. They desperately wanted to reinvent the show. And the one thing about desperation that we can all agree on is that it stinks. I kept saying I wish they would chill the fuck out. It gives the impression that the pressure of Disney money brings with it an obligation to perform. To compete with the big dogs like Marvel, who themselves are now trying to compete with their glory days. Is the Marvel formula the one that built a 62-year-old television icon? Or are they the ones currently struggling to fill theatres? I didn’t start watching Doctor Who because it was like Marvel. However, I may have started watching Loki because it was like Doctor Who. 

So I’m back for my own obligatory performance with my pre-season preamble. This month, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of modern Doctor Who, or “NuWho,” as it has often been referred to. This is not to be mistaken for “New NuWho,” aka “Doctor Who (2023-),” as listed on IMDb, which is post-modern Doctor Who. It’s weird to be celebrating 20 years at the beginning of season two. The last time I felt this way was in 2017 when Twin Peaks aired its third season after a hiatus of 25 years. As Dale Cooper said, “What year is this?” Or as the Doctor said- “Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey.” So throw on your party hats, timetravllers, because we’re out to celebrate and prognosticate about the second season of Post-Modern Who!

RTDisney

Oh hey, look how clever I am. Really though, I am lumping RTD in with the House of Mouse because Russell seems pretty set on courting Mickey this year. This isn’t a criticism, I admire the hustle, Russell. And it’s not as though Davies has put all of his eggs in one basket. While there has been no confirmation of a season 3 on Disney’s behalf, Davies seems committed to put on a show in any venue. Even further, Doctor Who will persist outside of venues in different mediums like comics, books, audios, and fan art. It will never die, but even still, it’s nice to see Davies’ commitment to keeping us Whovians flush with new episodes of Doctor Who.

While I admire RTD, I am also glad to see him stepping back a bit from writing. Much of season one felt like it was rushing out of the door with its keys and no time for breakfast. Hopefully, season two will see him relax a bit and find his groove. Opening the writing to other writers will hopefully take some things off of his plate. Judging by the slick trailers we’ve been getting, it would appear that the entire production crew is playing less catch-up this year and that’s a relief. I did find it a bit strange that season two began production before season one had even aired. You would think they would have waited for the fan reaction before jumping straight into production. As I told my friend Taryn, it’s like jumping off a building before looking for stairs. While they probably foresaw the usual shitlord fallout, there were real criticisms lobbied in earnest by people looking to have a good time. Was this some weird thing in the contract? Does it speak to RTD’s hubris? Or maybe he’s just that confident in season two. It would be nice if it turns out to be the latter. As I said, the trailers look good. And judging by the rumours of hiatus, it had better be good.

New Writers

I won’t dwell on this one for very long as I covered it a bit above. But perhaps the element of season two, of which I am the most excited, is the prospect of brand-new Doctor Who writers. Now, I won’t pretend to know anything about most of these new writers. My poet friend, Anathema, did get pretty excited over Inua Ellams, so that’s something. I am, however, familiar with Juno Dawson because she wrote the best Thirteenth Doctor story- “The Good Doctor.” Yes, I am uncultured trash who only knows writers if they’ve written for Doctor Who. I also pay attention to her because, like me, she’s trans. Leave it to a trans woman to write the best story where a character who has lived most of her lives as a man is suddenly navigating time and space as a woman. Chibnall always gave me the impression that he was trying to be “progressive” by making it nbd that the Doctor is now a woman. But as Dawson proved, it’s actually super interesting and worth exploring.

A trans woman succeeding at telling trans stories is all the proof you need that a more diverse writers room will complement a more diverse cast. I’m extremely excited to see a black Doctor told from the perspective of black writers. This is exactly the sort of story Doctor Who enables us to tell, even if an unfortunate portion of the fandom is yet to catch on. Doctor Who isn’t just a story; it’s a metatextual conversation about stories. Its methods of shorthand are its mythology. The need to get through a door birthed the iconic sonic screwdriver. The need to replace an actor birthed regeneration. Doctor Who lends itself to change and exploration. Seeing the show through a more diverse lens is in its very nature. Change, my dear. And it seems not a moment too soon.

Moving to Saturday Mornings

Original graphic by Rob Demers

Many of you are too young to remember a time when cartoons weren’t readily available 24-7. But I do. When I was a child, if you wanted to see a cartoon in the evening, it was either the Simpsons or a terribly sad special where Charlie Brown’s friend gets lukemia. Instead, cartoons were reserved for the daytime and the oh-so-glorious weekly block of television known as Saturday Morning Cartoons. Friends, it was a cultural phenomenon for a kid growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Sure, I attended Sunday school, but my real church was on Saturday mornings. My siblings and I in over-sized t-shirts and big bowls of tooth-destroying cereal, riding a sugar high to the X-Men theme song. It was a part of me that had laid dormant all these years. That is, until RTD announced that Doctor Who would be trading its asinine midnight release for a very CBEEBies Saturday morning slot.

In truth, my initial reaction to the news wasn’t a wave of nostalgia but one of disbelief. Can they really not let the UK have the Saturday evening start time it deserves? It smacked of Disney interference once again, and it still does. However, I have decided to make the best of it and treat it like Saturday morning cartoons. I imagine the episode “Lux,” will lend itself to that feeling particularly well. What I mean, though, is that I plan to embrace the time and try and rekindle a bit of that little kid wonder. I’m gonna wear my PJs and prepare a bowl of cereal. I might even bookend it with some classic episodes of Saturday morning cartoons. I’m turning Doctor Who into a little ritual, and I plan to lean into that as I review new episodes.

Varada Seethu as Belinda Chandra

It’s rare when a companion is announced that I actually know the actor beforehand. I knew of Matt Lucas. End of list. Well, until now, and no, I don’t just mean because she was already in Doctor Who. Like many of us, my introduction to Varada was Andor. Perhaps it’s because she played a badass lesbian rebel, or maybe it was her acting, but I was very pleased by the announcement. While Cinta Kaz has very little screentime in Andor, she stood out. Like Ncuti Gatwa, when she was on screen, my eyes were drawn to her. Some people just have that mystique about them. I fully intend to bill the BBC for the corrective eye surgery I’ll need trying to follow the two of them on the same screen. 

I’m also excited to see a more reluctant companion, an idea which we’ve seen very little of in modern Doctor Who, save for Bride Donna, Rory Williams, or Danny Pink. But this feels closer to early Ian and Barbara stories where they were taken on a journey whether they liked it or not. I’m also glad that it appears they’re dropping the whole impossible girl shit altogether. RTD tried to subvert that by making Ruby Sunday’s mum “some lady,” but made the fatal mistake of punishing the audience for being made to care in the first place. Did you give a damn who Ruby’s mum was? Me neither. The real subversion is to ignore those types of storylines completely, you know, like Doctor Who used to do all of the time. Maybe there is enough drama in the simple fact that a companion is a person being taken out of the comforts of the own place and time. Call me crazy, but that’s still a pretty cool idea, all these years later.

Ruby Sunday and Her Boyfriend or Whatever

I’ve heard rumours that Ruby’s boyfriend is a big character. I don’t really give a shit. I hope Carla gets redemption after that dogshit finale where she did nothing and then left. I hope Ruby uh… continues to be Ruby. Whoever that is.

Mrs Flood

I’m going to break tradition here and say I don’t think Mrs Flood is the Rani. Watch this be the one time it is the Rani. I’ll take that hit if that’s what it takes. However, I will say that it’s fairly obvious that she is a villain. She appears to be in every episode like Susan Triad was last season, so hopefully, they stick the landing a bit better this time around. Anita Dobson seems to have a lot of fun with the character, so hopefully it’s more than “some lady,” like Susan Triad and Ruby’s mum were.

Something I find interesting is how Mrs Flood addresses the audience. Wait…I got it. Floods are deadly pools of water, and Mrs Flood breaks the fourth wall. Mrs Flood is Deadpool! Calling it now. I really gave that one maximum effort. For real, though, her nods to the audience have some speculating that she is related to the land of fiction. I could see it. They’ve opened the Whoniverse to the pantheon, after all. While I like the fantasy aspect of adding magic to Doctor Who, I have wondered if it’s not some trick being played on the Doctor by Mrs Flood. Perhaps the fantasy elements are just aspects of the land of fiction.

In the back of my mind, I sometimes wonder if RTD isn’t trying to neutralise the Doctor’s origin stories as fictitious. The Timeless Child storyline has been controversial at best. I’m wondering if the Doctor’s life isn’t being rewritten in some way. It’s a neat theory, but one I don’t see them doing. Truthfully, I think they’re overcomplicating things. They could explain the many disparities in the show’s history as fluctuations in the time stream from centuries of time travel. It’s that easy. Davros walks again because the Doctor stepped on a butterfly. If it’s enough to turn Ruby into a flower lizard, it’s enough to turn the Doctor into a Timeless Child or half-human on his mother's side.

The Pantheon

We’ve met the Toymaker, the Maestro, and Sutekh. Will we meet more members of the Pantheon this season? Will we see anyone from the Trickster’s Brigade? We’ve seen Mr Ring-a-Ding, a character of which I am particularly excited for (and not just because he's voiced by Alan Cumming). Perhaps he’s part of the Pantheon or related in some way. I know RTD has said he is moving away from classic villains, so we may get all-new characters coming next. But as we know, RTD lies. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Intergalactic Song Contest wasn’t related to the Gods of Ragnarok. 

Harriet Arbinger referred to the Mara as “the God of Beasts,” which makes me wonder if they might be related to the giant African spider in the trailer. I know Anansi is a thing, but I don’t recall any depictions of Anansi being evil. Though we’ve only seen the giant spider, it could be benevolent or have misunderstood motives. My knowledge of African folklore is beholden to various Wiki rabbit holes throughout the years, but I believe Anansi can be a bit of a trickster, so who knows? Either way, it’s very awesome. I’ve wanted to see them do some stories in Africa for ages. It's about time.

------------------------------------

And that’s all, friends. There isn’t anything more substantive to talk about. Other than maybe Ncuti, and my only comment is that I still have the utmost confidence in his abilities. He’ll knock it out of the park again. We’re so close to new Doctor Who that all we really need to do is go to bed and wake up in the morning. So don’t sleep in! I’ll be there with my jammies and my big bowl of cereal. We’ll meet again in my review of “The Robot Revolution.” 

[ineffable-baker-street]

Metatron's Evil Plan

Starting with Gabriel's trial. Metatron said, "No speeches Gabriel you're not going to Hell.

He then adds "which there isn't."

It would obviously be an issue if Heaven were to be viewed as problematic and out of control, with fallen angels left, right and centre. So they tried to manage Gabriel, make it so he just faded from his place of power, but he outsmarted them. And suddenly there were two former high-up's down on earth, and we all saw just how desperate they were to get Gabriel back. It's clearly A Concern.

So unfortunately Gabriel has escaped from their clutches, with a Prince of Hell no less.

Very much not a good look. So Heaven needs to act and it needs to be now. Mere minutes after Gabriel and Beelzebub leave together, Metatron is on earth.

Then he goes to the coffee shop. He asks Nina, "Do people ever ask for Death?" and the subtitles were capitalised which I do think further supports my point. We already know that seeing Death is a bad omen, since at the end of Season One right after they saw him they were both dragged away to their would-be permanent discorporations.

There is also something to be said for the mirroring of the first season and second season. I've seen theories, as well as noticed myself that many things line up. I can't find the post that laid a lot of things out but here's a few that I've noticed.

The mention of Death in the final episode, right before something bad happens (they both get taken to be punished/Aziraphale leaves Earth.)

Aziraphale and Crowley both holding someone's hands with the person in between them (Adam in S1E6 and Jimbriel in season 2, episode one or two i can't remember which)

The Nightingale reference. Pretty obvious, but ending the season on that song holds significance. I think most people have seen the theory that that's a message from Aziraphale, but I won't go into that here or this will never end.

The nightingales plus the plans to go to the Ritz being gone I think is definitely symbolic of the fact that they've lost something. Again, an obvious option, but it's an important place for them, so the fact they had similar plans, that were then interrupted, reflects Season One while also telling us that things are clearly not going to be good.

But then you also consider that it's perhaps exactly what the Metatron wanted all along, for Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship of love and trust to completely fall away, symbolised by the hopes of dining at the Ritz disappearing.

Therefore I think a pretty reasonable conclusion from the mention of Death - and the parallels with last season - from someone as sinister as the Metatron is that something is going to happen to most likely both of them. Metatron is also almost surprised that people never ask for death, as it is "so predictable." There was definite intention in that scene, and makes me wonder if he thinks whatever he's trying to make happen will make them wish for death?

This next point is a big one. At first you might think its coincidental but if you go back and watch the scene I think you'll be convinced. When the Metatron enters the bookshop, the lamps with the candle looking bulbs and the glass decorations jingle and move. I can't find a good GIF to show it but if you rewatch I promise you'll notice it. And yes, since the door has just closed and there's potential wind they might move for a few seconds, but they continue moving the entire time Metatron is in the bookshop. This scene goes on for approximately 2.5 - 3 minutes, definitely too long for them to be moving. But, I suppose you never know, could be coincidental. Until he leaves the shop with Aziraphale. They move more vigorously on his way out, but by the time (about three seconds) Crowley walks towards the window to watch them go, they've completely stopped moving. Not a coincidence. Metatron has some sort of energy that's powerful, or influential enough, that it cause material objects to move vigorously when he's near them. They didn't even move nearly as much when literal demons entered the shop, at the beginning of episode six.

Considering the fact that those lamps were completely conjured by Aziraphale for his ball, I have a strong suspicion he's particularly influential over magical objects... or magical things (entities) in general. (This is important later)

Metatron also says, "just you and me, Aziraphale, eh?" which is honestly something that sounds more like enemies facing off in a battle, than friends going out for a chat. It's like when a murderer is alone with their victim, and while Az and Metatron are talking there are no witnesses. I definitely think this is foreshadowing for next season when Aziraphale has to face off with the Metatron.

When they're leaving the shop the Metatron is all lovely smiles while Aziraphale is looking, and he seems a bit like a harmless old man, but as soon as Azi's back is turned he gives Crowley the most hateful, sinister, conniving glare, with [tense music playing] according to the subtitles and also my ears. He is up to something. This is a very strong piece of evidence that the Metatron Does Not Like Crowley.

He tells Aziraphale, "you are just the angel for the job." It could be an ordinary thing to say, but no I don't think so. I think the Metatron has been carefully considering this for quite some time, and I think this is all about Crowley. He says there are "huge plans afoot, enormous projects," and he's so careful to be extremely vague, while talking Aziraphale up. Then he uses a tactic knows will work, which is playing with Aziraphale's heart and using Crowley.

"I've been looking back over a number of your previous exploits, and I see that in quite a few of them you formed a de facto partnership with the demon Crowley."

He has done meticulous research, and it's made clear earlier that he hates Crowley. But, he knows that Aziraphale loves Crowley, and that he wouldnt be able to resist the chance to try and do what he thinks is the right thing. Metatron mentioned that he was a 'Prince of Heaven' and that it could be seen as an 'institutional problem'. Well Heaven can't really been seen to have problems can it? And Crowley has been doing whatever he pleases for six thousand years, not on the side of Heaven or Hell, and I think that they're sick of it. He's already 'corrupted' one angel, who knows what's next? They don't want someone to hold that kind of knowledge and power over them, and Crowley holds a far greater knowledge of earth than any of the rest of them do.

And so the Metatron offers Aziraphale something he knows he won't refuse:

And I have to ask, why, why would he ever have Crowley reinstated to "full angelic status?" Two seconds ago he just described him as a demon?? The answer is that he wouldn't. Somehow I don't think heaven makes a habit of restoring fallen angels. He has a master plan, and that involves getting to Crowley, which means getting Aziraphale out of the way. Eventually I think they'll attempt to use them against each other, but the first thing for them to do was gain some control over Crowley. The Metatron had offered for Crowley to come to Heaven, which does of course provide easy access to him and if Crowley had chosen to do that it probably would've worked for them. But I think the Metatron was counting on Crowley not wanting to go back, and that Aziraphale suggesting it would even drive a wedge through their relationship (which it did).

And now Aziraphale is off somewhere busy working, they aren't speaking to each other and Crowley is alone on earth, no one is going to notice if something happens to him or he goes missing.

Aziraphale also really isn't that special to Heaven, he's just another angel, and one who doesn't always do as he's told, which begs the question of why Metatron would make a whole trip to earth, just to give him Gabriel's job. It could go to pretty much anyone honestly. So when Metatron says 'The Job,' I'm certain he does not mean taking over Gabriel's position. He means the job of getting demon Crowley back in order and control, so he stops causing problems for Heaven. Because wherever there's a problem, Crowley is at the centre of it.

Finally. Aziraphale's insane smile in the elevator.

DO YOU SEE HOW CREEPY THAT IS?? It's so off putting, and given he's just effectively broken up with Crowley you wouldn't expect him to be too cheerful. That is the least genuine smile I have ever seen, like it does not even look like Aziraphale anymore. At first I thought it was just him trying to make himself feel okay about everything, and it technically could be, but I'm not convinced of that. There's obviously the theory that Metatron put something in Aziraphale's coffee, but I just don't buy that (no hate to the theory ofc, definitely still a possibility). It's so simple, so human, and this brings me to my point about Metatron having influence over objects, particularly magical ones, and potentially entities as well. I think it is far more likely that Metatron is either brainwashing Aziraphale or simply has an element of control over him, but isn't entirely controlling him. Could be persuasive power, which he uses to influence Aziraphale, but technically if Az fought really hard he could fight him off. My mind influence theory is supported on multiple occassions, where Aziraphale seems to want to change his mind, or act a certain way, and then suddenly snaps back to acting like everything is okay. Examples of that are:

- Aziraphale straight up says he doesnt want to go to Heaven. He tries to play it off as a bit of a joke but he looked pretty damn serious when he says it. He looks so doubtful, but between then and speaking to Crowley, his attitude does a complete 180 flip

- "Well obviously you said no to Hell, you're the bad guys." Aziraphale would NEVER say that if his mind was completely his own. He has spent almost their entire existence saying that Crowley is nice and good and kind. He doesn't think for a moment that Crowley is grouped in with Hell anymore, but that's certainly what the Metatron would think

- Metatron walks in right after Crowley leaves and isn't at all surprised by the fact that Crowley refused, more evidence that it was what he'd hoped and planned for. "Ah well always did want to go his own way. Always asking damn fool questions too." Which is a tiny bit of further background into fallen angel Crowley.

- When Aziraphale is heavily considering changing his mind, Metatron keeps talking as though Aziraphale is saying different words. "It should be in safe hands." "Anything you need to take with you?" He's suddenly really pushing Aziraphale, even though he said there was no need to answer right away.

And that is all I have for you!! If anyone has anything to add I would LOVE to hear, this is my theory, definitely not the only possibility but I do think it's a candidate. Please let me know if there's any major points I've missed, I'm sure there probably is 🤍

@a-hearts-a-heavy-burden let me know what you think!!