#Stan FOUGHT to be a part of this family

[what-am-i-doing-in-this-fandom]

STOP I'm thinking about the part in Gravity Falls where Stan shows up with freshly bought (stolen) light bulbs only to see Ford screwing a new one in surrounded by family.

And OH my GOD. AGH.

Stan gets a little (ir)rationally upset about this because... It's.. Guys,,,

Stan perceives it as Ford once again easily receiving the praise and love of their family when he had to fight tooth and nail to receive even half of it.... I'm not well ✋😔

[gay-dorito-dust]

wahhhh reading that hurts me 😭 could you please write a part 2 where they all find out that it was bill who possessed reader?

Tag list: @babypeapoddd @i-am-tiredd @sly-thou-pookie @x-seyaa @sweetlumpkinseedlin @kawaii1369 @roo024 @lightmaren

Part 1 right here

‘What?’ Ford asked.

Bill cackled. ‘For someone as smart as you sixer, you sure are stupid as not to notice the obvious signs of whenever I’m possessing someone. I mean out of everyone you should know better.’

Ford clenches his jaw. All this time he had thought you had betrayed him when in actually you had been loyal to him and his family, up until he and his brother ostracised you even more then you already were for the past thirty years. He made you feel like shit, and he could tell that Stanley felt the same amount of guilt as he clenched his fists in silent anger; Ford then levels Bill with a glare. ‘You possessed y/n! My assistant!’ He roared at his once muse.

Bill only chuckles. ‘Correction!WAS your assistant Stanford! And pushed you through the portal whilst wearing the face is someone you cared for,’ Bill then gasps as he looked at the guilt ridden faces of the Pines Family and feeling the joy bubble up in his triangular body, the look of defeat and realisation was all too sweet, ‘Oh wait! Someone you once cared for before throwing them out like they were nothing to you, not once letting them the space to explain what had happened and how I tricked them into making a deal with me.’ He finished by pretending to wipe a tear from his one eye after cackling some more at the hilarity of the situation.

Humans loved to cause more problems within problems they didn’t fully handle properly as they stockpiled on top of each other, giving him the leeway to get what he wants without issue or confrontation from the pathetic family.

Possessing you during a brotherly squabble was perfect! Ford had cut all ties with him and decided to call upon his idiotic brother- as though that would’ve ever worked in any timeline- to help hide his work but when things didn’t go Ford’s way, they fought. You were trying to stop the fight and bill took advantage of that by claiming he could help you stop the fight, fat chance, he was going to make it worse and leave you to be his scapegoat! It was a brilliant plan to make up for multiple set backs thanks to Ford’s sudden realisation of his hermit tendencies, everything was out in place for the ultimate betrayal by the hands of Ford’s assistant; you!

Bill found that Tragedy was at its finest when the betrayal comes from someone you love and it did.

‘They didn’t-‘ Ford began.

‘Say anything?’ Bill interrupts, causing Ford and Stan to glare at him as the demon cackle as he got in close to their shared triangle shaped prison, staring them down with his one eye, unblinking. ‘You and your piece of shit brother over here didn’t even let them speak! Never less believe them when they were telling the truth!’ He roared, ‘and now you don’t know whether they’re even alive so that you can apologise to them!’

Mabel slams against the bars of hers and dippers prison. ‘they’re alive!’ She shouts and Bill now looks at her, amused.

‘How can you be so sure shooting star? For all you know they could be dead, cursing your grunkles names as they die with an unsatisfying end.’ Bill mocked her as she falters in her resolve, he was right, how could she be certain that you were alive when Gravity Falls was literally on fire and demons from another dimension were running amok? She couldn’t and that’s what upset her the most.

‘Because we know our great aunt/uncle better than you bill and we know they’re alive!’ Dipper pips up this time as he laid a reassuring hand on his sister’s shoulder, smiling at her as she smiled back at him in thanks for having her back. Bill looks at the twins, hating their optimism and hope that you were okay and decided to destroy this by reaching into thin air and producing a realistic illusion of your unmoving body before them.

‘Are you so sure now pine tree? They don’t look very much alive to me!’ Bill exclaims as Mabel, Dipper, Stan and Ford could only look up the body that Bill claimed was yours in disbelief and shock. This couldn’t be how it ended, could it? They still had to apologise to you after all for everything and make it up to you however you wished!

‘No, no this is some foul trick of yours bill!’ Ford screamed as he threw himself against the bars, forcing himself not to cry at the sight of your body while seething with rage and a need to avenge your supposed death. ‘You sick son of a bitch!’ Stanley joined in as he felt even more useless than ever, he felt the most guilt out of everyone as his eyes seemed to refused to move from your supposed body. You couldn’t be dead, he refused to believe such bullshit lies, you were still alive and fighting with the rest of them! He knew it, deep down in his heart he knew it to be true!

‘No.’ Mabel cried as she tried to reach out to you as Dipper held her while silently crying himself, vowing to take down bill now more than ever as he tugged his hat down to cover his eyes. You were the most encouraging person he’s ever met and now you were gone, you asked him and Mabel to trust you when contemplating to stay with Stan, and they did believe and they never regretted doing so because you were right! You were always right and yet in the end you died thinking they hated you more than anything; which wasn’t true! Far from it and now…now they can’t make it up to you, they had lost their chance.

Bill had won over the pines family once again.

[demigods-posts]

we stan power couples that go dark together. yes, i mean percabeth. yes, i mean percy and annabeth crying as they comfort each other through violent nightmares about terrors from the two wars they fought in and their treck through the deepest part of hell. yes, i mean percy and annabeth fighting with so much rage in their bones that they're both banned from playing capture the flag. yes, i mean percy and annabeth slowly but surely descending into madness with each funeral they attend. yes, i mean percy and annabeth having to sit through an intervention with their closests friends and family regarding their concern for their well being. yes, i mean percy and annabeth reaching the point of no return. i need it. i need it. i need it.

[kanmom51]

My thoughts today

So, I've woken up to a full blast shitshow on SM.

JM's dad being attacked, along with JM, of course, because you can't have a good hate fest without attacking JM as well.

Bam's IG account turning into a battle field, JK and Bam being attacked in comments. This followed by counter attacks of JM and his family.

Hashtag posts for and against one or the other.

And by saying attacks I'm stating it really lightly.

I am not going to share any of the messages, but the level of discussion is low. The lowest of the low. Hateful vile comments.

I am literally disgusted by it all.

I could act surprised but I'm not.

SM has become a hate filled cess pool.

And sadly Army is no different.

I did have some hope that them enlisting together and being away for the 18 months might lead to a bit of a fandom cleanse, but sadly that did not seem to happen.

There are parts of this fandom that I wish would just go away. Hop on their magic carpets and literally piss off. Their lack of understanding of what BTS stand for is astounding to me. The way they supposedly love JK or JM and at the same time ignore everything that person is about and what they stand for. The way they lash out in the most hateful vile manor at the one person their favourite had told us and shown us they are the closest to (to say the least). The one person that their fave chose to spend their 18 months of military service together with. The only one out of the whole band. Not influenced to. Not forced to. A choice both of them made.

These people need to wake up from their delusional day dreams and get a life, get a job, get a hobby, anything that will keep them away from their keyboard. If they think for one second that their faves don't see this, they are totally deluded. Do they actually think that JK or JM are sitting there going: "Yay, my adorable fans fought my fights, battled my battles, I love them so much for calling JK/JM all those derogative terms. I love them so much I can marry them"?

Either the answer to that would be yes, and to that I would say:

Or they are just such a vile hateful human being that they just can't help themselves. They don't care what their fave would think about their comments or posts. They don't care what their fave thinks or feels about the person they are commenting about. All they care about is hearing themselves spout all that hate. I'm sure they sit at home feeling ever so proud of themselves after calling JM $#%@ or JK ^&%#. Ever so proud. To them I say:

And for those that answer a hateful vile comment with a counter just as hateful and vile comment I have this to say:

You really think this is what you fave would want? This unleashed disgusting hate towards the person they love?

In whichever delusional world you are living, and as much as you want to deny that your fave is queer and in a long term relationship with the other, he is undeniably, at THE VERY LEAST, a super super close friend (yeah-nah, he's much more than that...) with the person you chose to so viciously attack.

And how do we do better?

Don't engage.

Report and block.

And if you can't help yourself and feel the urge to engage, never go down to their level. Never attack another member (because you might think that lashing out at the member they stan will hit them hardest). And the reason I will suggest, once again, not to engage, is because it will be like writing on ice. You might feel better for addressing it, but it most definitely won't change their mind and at the same time it will give them the traffic they so badly want.

With that, I will take my leave.

Let's try to flood sm with loving posts for JK and JM, flushing out all this hate from our timelines.

Love y'all.

💜💜

175 days to go.

[sillysalmonn101]

Caitlyn’s “redemption arc” felt incredibly cheap.

There are a few points that Caitlyn stans love to parrot that I’d like to bring up, the first of them being that Caitlyn betrayed Ambessa. While that’s true, the audience is given no indication that it’s because she felt bad. Why does she do it? We don’t know. Is it because she realized her wrongdoings to Zaun? Because her love for Vi overpowered her subservience to Ambessa? Because she suddenly realized that Ambessa was manipulating her?

Yes, Caitlyn led the charge against Noxus but it felt cheap for two reasons:

1.) She recruited the Zaunites of which she gassed, imprisoned, and used police brutality on to fight a war that they had no control nor power in.

2.) She did not fight for Zaun. She fought Noxus because it threatened Piltover — Zaun is nothing but an extension of Piltover in and outside of the show. Her redemption for her treatment of Zaun is…fighting against a nation that was threatening Piltover? Every scene of the battle between Noxus and Piltover takes place in Piltover, and yes, the audience can assume that Zaun would be negatively affected under Noxian rule, but that’s not fighting for Zaun. It would have been leagues more impactful had Caitlyn done something to fight specifically for Zaun, had she helped ONLY Zaun and not Zaun and Piltover.

“But Caitlyn gave her seat on the council to Sevika!!” Firstly, at no point in either seasons does Caitlyn even SUGGEST that she wants to be on the council — in fact, she actively avoids what her mother did in the first season by working as an enforcer. Secondly, that isn’t Caitlyn working to fix what she did to Zaun, that’s Caitlyn dumping all of the responsibility of Piltover making reparations onto Sevika. Moreover, Sevika is one person on a non-democratically elected council that decides things by majority vote — even if Sevika is on the council, the possibility of Piltover ever attempting to help Zaun is next to none.

Even her interpersonal relationships feel cheap. She doesn’t do anything to reconcile with Vi. Sure, she works with Jinx — but she would have betrayed Ambessa anyway. She doesn’t betray Ambessa for Vi, nor does she work with Jinx for Vi; her hatred is still placed at a higher level than her love and morals. She doesn’t ever go into Zaun again — her ending with Vi is that her and Vi live in her mansion in Piltover, completely alienating Vi of her culture and remaining family. Even after she’s supposedly redeemed, she still seems to view Vi as “one of the good ones”, as an exclusion to the larger part of Zaun’s population. She never has to change her views on Zaun or its people, and never has to experience it again.

Sure, she let Jinx go. But instead of comforting her grieving girlfriend, she flirts and jokes with her instead. Even Vi initiating the sex was gross, because Caitlyn could have brought Vi to her bedroom — I know I would have, no matter how desperate or horny I was. Yes, it’s good that they’re explicit lesbian representation, but that doesn’t make them GOOD lesbian representation.

Caitlyn’s redemption arc felt cheap but not unintentional. The writers of Arcane were very deliberate in writing season two the way they did. Caitlyn was redeemed by the narrative, and she was always going to be, so why should she even try at righting her wrongs? Her entire redemption arc felt like an apology that she strayed from the ways of Piltover and not reparations for her horrible actions.

[amalthea-13]

Got my nightcore blasting in one ear and still mad about Mastermind so I'mma just info dump here. If you are a Blitz Stan or Defender please understand I do love Blitz, he's honestly one of my favorite characters and Stolitz is my comfort ship. However, disliking things he does doesn't mean I don't like him. I can feel frustrated or struggle with things he does. A complex character makes you feel complex things so it just is a testament to the writers on this show doing a good job with their cast and writing them perfectly. So before going on a rant defending Blitz, just hear me out.

I'll be honest I did not like how quickly Blitz turned lovey-dovey after the trial. The shit hit me like a fuckin chancla to the head and gave me whiplash. The reason I have this issue with Mastermind is purely because it felt so- unfair. Stolas has been struggling to feel validated and seen by Blitz for SO long. I mean that man gave him an Asmodean Crystal, fought to treat him with respect by changing many of his behaviors from S1 to S2, no longer teasing him or calling him pet names. He goes to hell and back multiple times, nearly being killed by Striker and couldn't even get a solid text back from Blitz.

However, the MINUTE he lays his life down, loses his daughter, and gives up any sense of a decent reputation suddenly Blitz gives a fuck. Losing his home, his powers, his family, EVERYTHING, and suddenly Blitz cares about what Stolas wants or needs. It genuinely makes me wanna rattle him around and yell:

"YOU COULD HAVE BEEN HEALTHY AND NICE TO HIM BUT YOU WAIT TILL HES CHRONICALLY DEPRESSED!?"

Like fuck me dude, but he never cared for Stolas before. He consistently dismisses his humanity by cognitively distancing himself from Stolas by just boiling every part of him down to his wealth, stripping him of any and all humanity he remains to have.

Suddenly when Stolas is a husk of his former self and his depression can no longer be hidden by magic or pills, suddenly Blitz cares. I just- I don't know if it's'cause of my own personal trauma, but I hate when people wait till you are at your lowest to give a fuck.

How much more did Stolas have to give for him to care? Or did it have to be his own life? My issue with this part is it perpetuates that Blitz can ONLY humanize those he hurts if they are sad and miserable like him. That the only time you can be loved or seen by him is when you are sad and pathetic, beneath himself. I really hope ya'll are picking up what I'm putting down because I am BEGGING ya'll to stick with me.

Blitz still has his family, his life, his friends, but Stolas has none of those things and SUDDENLY Blitz is further interested in him. Now that he has some pseudo-surperiority- he finds him attractive? He's interested? He wants a deeper relationship?

You can't tell me that doesn't feel so- so backwards right?

Like yeah, wait till the sweet owl man looks like THIS. Oh, yeah, ain't that just fuckin attractive? He's miserable and tried to OFF himself, but no, no that's healthy. It's fine, Amalthea, it's fine that this is the SUDDEN moment Blitz cares. That suddenly he gives a fuck. /sarc

Don't get me started on the fact that before he got to know Stolas he was COMPLETELY fine wrecking a perfectly good (from the exterior) home without considering Octavia, despite being a fucking father himself.

Blitz waits till Stolas is miserable to actually show him an OUNCE of humanity or love or reciprocity.

Yet everyone excuses ALL of his behaviors and problems on his trauma and the pain he has been through, but those same people will call Stolas a deadbeat and terrible person just because he is an awful flirt and a literal DV victim recovering from being COMPLETELY repressed due to the fact that the system that gives him his wealth has worked against him to the point he has no autonomy.

No one seems to ever get why I'm so angry and it's just because- these two have so much potential to work, but at every corner Blitz will make the shittiest decisions and the fandom writes it off as trauma or hurt or whatever, but god forbid Stolas mess up IN SEASON 1 he has to pay for it in Season 2 and be burned at the stake yet while burning at the damn stake the only person he wants to care or worry for him ONLY cares when he is actually set on fucking fire, not bothering to douse the flames or care when he wasn't about to get burned.

I love Blitz, I really, really do, but Mastermind reframed so many of his behaviors for me and made me step back purely because I realized he REALLY does not care unless he can have a false sense of superiority to someone.

I initially said both Stolas and Blitz were at fault for the Full Moon episode, but rewatching the argument I fully blame and fault Blitz for the arguement. Sure Stolas wasn't perfect, but instead of I dunno yelling at the owl man, why don't you- I dunno ASK HIM FOR A MOMENT???

People act like Blitz is some 16 yo teenager, but no thats an ALMOST 40 YEAR OLD MAN WHO CHOOSES TO POORLY COMMUNICATE. He literally could have been uncomfortable and said; "Stolas, this is a lot to process... can I have some time to think? I just- this is a lot."

Stolas wouldn't have forced him to stay! He was willingly letting him go! Blitz complains about the class differences between them but when he tries to fix it suddenly it is a fucking problem?

"But Amalthea, Stolas was hanging his livelihood over his head. He was abusing his power."

See I'd validate that argument and agree with it- IF IT WASN'T ALSO STOLAS'S LIVELIHOOD THE FUCK???? That grimoire was just as important to Stolas as it was to Blitz, more so since it gave him his STATUS, but he WILLINGLY sacrificed all that for Blitz.

Stolas did his due diligence to protect BOTH of them, but yet there is STILL a problem?!

"Stolas made him believe it was just sex between them!!!"

You wanna try again? Do you REALLY want to believe Blitz is so oblivious to this man's advances?

Then explain why he knew Stolas would accept a date to Ozzies. O_O. If Stolas was really just some "ditzy blue blood" to Blitz why would he get dolled up and ready for a date with some measly imp? Why would a Goetic Prince go in public with an imp?

Unless Blitz was FUCKING aware he'd've accepted because he feels so deeply for Blitz. He's so desperately in love he'd do anything to be around him again. Blitz KNEW what he was doing. He KNEW Stolas felt this way, he just chose to be dense and overlook it until it benefited him.

Blitz's insecurities blind a lot of you to the fact he is a CALCULATED and SMART man. Sure, he is a dork who makes us laugh, but he's a CALCULATED dork.

Also I hate to bring up how these two sweetpeas met, but WHO BIT WHO? Who SLEPT WITH WHO WHILE DRUNK?

"But Stolas was flirting with him! He wanted Blitz to sleep with him!"

Yes and no. Initially when Stolas flirts and realizes Blitz wants to sleep with him, he immediately says NO and steps away!

See that kids, that's called a headshake, which means what? Let's all guess now?

NO! IT MEANS NO!

I hate to drive my point this far home, I REALLY do.

Another layer of this is ALL the advances are made my Blitz after Stolas says no.

"Amalthea it's hell! What are you on about morals and consent!?"

Literally because in this situation Blitz had the power. He had the ability to walk away, but started all of this just for his buisness and despite how it all started, Stolas supported him through it all.

It is also before Blitz knows about the abuse and knowing Stolas is a father, still chose to homewreck a family even after Stolas said no.

My point in all of this- anger and frustration is that Stolas has put up with so much of Blitz's BS and stupidity, but only now is Blitz concerned. Only now he gives a damn.

You break into a mans home, sleep with him, rob him, then ruin his life, but you only feel bad when he's lost everything? Sure, that's cool. That's awesome. That's totally fine. /sarc

... this arguement is always hard for me to make, because i just have to watch Stolas be traumatized over, and over, and over and he is always still so sweet and loving to a fucking prick of a man.

Rant over, Amalthea out.

However if you have questions, my ask box is open loves.🩷

Edit 1: While you all can comment, I strongly encourage utilizing my ask box. Moving on I understand ppl may disagree with me. That is okay you're a beautiful individual with your own thoughts and opinions which is fine by me. However please refrain from insulting my intelligence. You can always block me, doesn't hurt my feelings anyway.

[blorger]

(possibly) controversial opinion time: I honestly think that Draco wouldn't have been able to cast the Cruciatus on Harry when they fought in Myrtle's bathroom .

I admit freely that I'm an unrepentant Draco stan and therefore have rose tinted glasses permanently on when it comes to anything that involves him, 'tis but one of the burdens I have to carry in this wretched life, yet when I originally came upon this conclusion I believed I was being somewhat objective in my assessment.

To check if my theory holds as much water as I've always believed it does, I went looking through canon for clues. During my investigation I stumbled upon one confusing factoid after another so obviously I had to go and write this rambling essay about it; feast your eyes on this,

PART 1: THE CURSE

The Cruciatus curse, cast through the use of the word crucio (latin for "torture")* is considered to be one of the wizarding world's worst curses and is fittingly prohibited by law and placed in the "unforgivable" class together with Imperio and Avada Kedavra.

We first learn of its existence in book 4, thanks to a helpful demonstration courtesy of Barty Crouch jr. (cosplaying as Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody) as part of his Defense Against the Dark Arts class. It's quite fitting that he's the one to make this introduction as Barty is what you'd call an expert. As a matter of fact, most of the information we receive on the Cruciatus curse comes by way of two veritable crucio savants, the aforementioned Barty Crouch jr. and Bellatrix Lestrange. As far as reliability goes, I'd say these two are truly top notch since they went to Azkaban for their use of that very curse in what is perhaps the most notable instance of Cruciatus in the books; I'm talking, of course, of the mind-breaking torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom.

The Longbottoms no doubt give us a very big indication of what happens to people subjected to the curse, even though theirs is an extreme case that doesn't reflect the average victim. Let us start our investigation into the Cruciatus with Harry's case instead since, in his dual role role as protagonist and main pov in the books , he can provide us with a firsthand account of the curse's effects. To quote Harry:

(from GoF, courtesy of Voldemort)

Fake Moody puts it plainly when he explains crucio's purpose as

(from GoF, Harry's first class with Barty is Eventful)

Fittingly for a universe where intent is perhaps the strongest component of any spell, the Cruciatus curse requires the caster to be in a very specific frame of mind. To quote Bellatrix:

(from OotP, Bella kinds takes it upon herself to teach Harry about magic)

and I'm inclined to take her word on account of both her experience in the field and the fact that she is never contradicted.

Getting back to the ABCs of crucio, I will now take a brief moment to describe the effects of prolonged Cruciatus use through what we learn from its effects on Frank and Alice Longbottom.

The Longbottoms' condition is never explained to us in detail, all we have to go by comes to us by way of casual utterances from their friends, family and colleagues. Moody (the real one this time) gives us a very succinct recap on how we're supposed to feel about what happened to them:

(from OotP, Moody does a brief "where are they now?" on the OG members of the Order)

But what is this terrible condition that leads many characters to feel as though the Longbottoms life is not worth living?

They are mentally ill. That's it.

(seriously)

To quote Dumbledore:

(from GoF, Dumbledore divulges information that is not his to share)

This is treated like a Brave and Noble sacrifice, as they were tortured for an unusually long time because they refused to give informations on Voldemort's whereabouts to their tortures (the fact that they didn't have said information is treated as irrelevant)**. As Augusta Longbottom puts it:

(from OotP, spoiler alert: Augusta doesn't behave like she's proud)

The Longbottoms are called "insane" and "mad" by various characters so we can somewhat extrapolate from that that Cruciatus overuse leads to cognitive impairments of some kind. The medical consensus seems to be that the damage done to them, whatever it is, is irreparable as they are kept in the Janus Thickey ward, the wizarding equivalent of an insane asylum***.

Since the use of Cruciatus leaves no physical signs and its only outcome manifests itself as unmeasurable pain on the target's part, it is often theorised that the Cruciatus works by acting on the victims' pain receptors. This, of course, is just speculation but the books do seem to indicate something to this effect.

*= brief latin intermission

"cruciatus" in not a conjugation of the verb "crucio" in the active form (as in "I'm torturing someone"). It is, however, a conjugation in the passive form (as in "i'm being tortured") and can be more or less translated to I/you/he/she/it am being tortured or I/you/he/she/it was being tortured or I/you/he/she/it will be tortured (so, like, the opposite of what you should name a torture curse).

"Crucio" IS a conjugation in the active form and it translates roughly to "I torture", though it's not the tense I'd use if I were to issue a torture command (like, I'd use the imperative, you know?)

latin intermission over

**= as an aside, the narrative glosses over the fact that Frank and Alice were tortured for basically no reason and there was nothing they could have done to avoid their fate; we are supposed to view this as a noble sacrifice instead of the senseless tragedy it is and that grinds my gears greatly. Also, why does everyone seem so sure that this is what happened? As Dumbledore puts it, the post-torture Longbottoms were viewed as unreliable so we don't know this from them since they weren't even able to tell aurors who the culprits were and there had to be an investigation to find them. From what we can gleam by wading through Dumbledore's pensieve memories, the Lestranges + Barty weren't exactly cooperative with the investigation so, again, why is everyone so sure of what happened?

***= I used the (outdated and tasteless) term "insane asylum" intentionally since the Thickey ward doesn't look to be in any way shape or form similar to mental wards, psychiatric hospitals or halfway houses; from the little we do see the magical world doesn't seem to be terribly up to date on mental health as a whole and I shudder to think what jkr herself thinks on the matter.

PART 2: SUCCESSFULLY CAST CRUCIOS

SInce its introduction during Goblet of Fire, we see and/or hear of the Cruciatus curse being successfully cast 12 times. Those are:

5 TIMES IN BOOK 4

done by Fake Moody on a spider (for illustrative purposes)

done by Voldemort on Peter (as seen by Harry in a dream, as punishment for incompetence)

done by the Imperiused Victor Krum on Cedric Diggory (during the third task of the triwizard tournament, courtesy of Barty jr)

done by Voldemort on Avery (right after his resurrection at the cemetery, punishment for the twin sins of disobedience and general unfaithfulness)

done by Voldemort on Harry (toying with Harry at the cemetery)

1 TIME IN BOOK 5

[Voldemort performs crucio on Sirius in the vision that brings Harry to the dept. of mysteries but since that doesn't actually happen I'm not counting it ]

done by Bellatrix Lestrange on Neville (at the dept. of Mysteries, for funsies)

6 TIMES IN BOOK 7

[Aberforth recounts being crucio'd by Grindlewald decades before over a disagreement but I'm not counting it, just like I didn't count the crucio-ing of the Longbottoms, because it happens before book 1 and isn't even witnessed by Harry indirectly]

done by Draco on Thorfin Rowle (as witnessed by Harry in a vision, done under threat of crucio)

done by unknown Deatheaters on the Tonkses (happens off-page with the aim of getting information on Harry's whereabouts)*

done by Bellatrix on Hermione (at Malfoy Manor, with the aim of getting information on the sword of Gryffindor)

done by Voldemort on Ollivander (happens off-page, with the aim of getting information on wandlore)

done by Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle on various Hogwarts students ( several instances condensed into one for lack of information, as recounted by Neville)

done by Harry on Amycus Carrow (during the battle of Hogwarts, because he spat in McGonagall's face)**

*= one would think that, since this event parallels the crucio-ing of the Longbottoms, it'd get more attention, and yet the event is told to us by Remus in a throwaway line.

**= I'm not even going into the OOC-ness of this moment. Plenty of people, far more eloquent than me, have written about the perversion of Harry's character that this moment represents, also I truly lack the words to describe my rage at this scene.

PART 3: UNSUCCESSFULLY CAST CRUCIOS

During the events of the books we witness almost as many unsuccessful Cruciatus undertakings as we do successful ones. These attempts are:

by Dolores Umbridge on Harry, for funsies (INTERRUPTED)

by Harry on Bellatrix Lestrange, in revenge for Sirius's death (INEFFECTIVE)

by Bellatrix on Harry immediately following his attempt (DODGED)

by Draco on Harry in Myrtle's bathroom, as part of the escalation of their fight (INCOMPLETE CASTING)

by Harry on Severus Snape following Dumbledore's death (BLOCKED)

by Amycus Carrow on Ginny, creepily* (DODGED)

by Vincent Crabbe on Harry in the room of hidden things (MISSED)

by Voldemort on "dead" Harry, to humiliate his corpse (INEFFECTIVE)

Taking the instances where the curse was dodged aside, I would like to focus on the occasions where the curse was ineffective.

Harry and Bellatrix's instance tells us a lot about the mechanisms of the curse as Bellatrix takes time out of her busy schedule to school Harry on the intricacies of torture. Harry has at this point in time just witnessed Sirius's murder and is being taunted and goaded by Bellatrix; this is how his emotional state at the time of casting is described:

Instead of the desired effect, however, the curse merely topples her.

Hatred, it seems, is not the emotion required to successfully cast a Cruciatus. As Bellatrix states immediately afterwards, the spell requires a degree of sadism on the caster's part.

The other mention of a failed casting comes right at the end of the books, when Voldemort crucios Harry's "corpse". The spell, just like in the instance described above, merely knocks Harry about, to the delight of onlookers. This is greatly implied to be because the wand Voldemort is using - the elder wand- recognises Harry as its true master and is therefore unwilling to truly harm him; In this case it's not the caster's will that is lacking but the wand's.

To close out this section, I would like to highlight Umbridge's attempt: after having captured Harry &co. in her office, she decides it's the perfect time to threaten unforgivables. As Harry stares defiantly at her, Umbridge states

and, relishing in the anticipation, she goes about deciding where to cast until she's successfully distracted by Hermione. This is notable since it's the only instance in the books where a caster implies the possibility of somehow directing the curse. Umbridge is described as moving her wand over Harry's body and trying to decide on the most painful spot possible; since no-one else ever mentions the possibility of concentrating the Cruciatus on a particular body part it's unclear wether this is actually possible or if Umbridge is just an inexperienced torturer.

*= Amycus's words as he casts crucio are "you can't dance forever, pretty" since Ginny has been successfully evading him so far. I'm pointing this out because of the grossness on jkr's part of using attempted torture as an opportunity for telling us that Ginny is smoking hot. Also, in a "look how the tables have turned" moment, Amycus will, in a year's time, become Harry's only crucio victim

PART 4: INCONSISTENCIES

In going through the previous lists, a few inconsistencies appear:

Even though we've been told that intent is paramount when attempting the Cruciatus, an imperiused Viktor Krum is able to successfully cast the curse in book 4. In the same vein, Draco is able to crucio Thorfin Rowle even though he is shown to be unwilling to do so; somehow, being ordered or otherwise compelled fulfils the criteria of casting the Cruciatus. Harry, as he witnesses the scene form Voldemort's pov, recounts that

Even if we take into account the fact that Voldemort, who is directing the operation, is more than willing to crucio Rowle, neither Draco or (possibly) his wand are so why is he successful? How can one force oneself to crucio his fellow men if their will is lacking? This remains unclear.

Now we come to Draco and Harry's failed castings of the Cruciatus in book 6:

Draco is in the heat of battle as he duels Harry after he's been caught crying in Myrtle's bathroom (the horror), the scene is described as fast-paced and hectic:

Notice how Draco is able to get two thirds of the word out before he is hit by Harry's curse. Let's compare that with Harry's attempt on Snape, as he runs away from Hogwarts in the immediate aftermath of Dumbledore's "murder" (aka suicide by underling):

Notice how Harry is able to get an even smaller fraction of the word "crucio" out of his mouth than Draco yet somehow his curse was already partway formed and visible, twice: there needed to be something tangible in order for the curse to be blocked by Snape, and not only did he succeed but he was also able to parry it. This is in direct contrast to Draco, who was saying the incantation with no visible effect. The inconsistency remains even if we take into account the possibility that one's ability to cast nonverbally could come into play, since Draco, during the bathroom duel, had just demonstrated his ability to cast without speaking not one minute before:

Both Harry and Draco are shown casting non-verbally to great effect, even though under the strain of battle, yet only one of them is able to physicalise the curse when need be.

[I'm not even going to go into the ridiculousness of Harry somehow being able to shout a four syllable word in the time it takes Draco to get one half of a two syllable word out. Just know that the logistics of the scene are not well fleshed out.]

PART 5: CONCLUSION

Even after going through all the books with a fine tooth comb I continue to find myself rock solid in my belief that Draco's crucio wouldn't have been in the least bit effective. Not only is there a lack of physical evidence of his intent, like there is with Harry in the same book, but I truly do not believe that Draco was in the right frame of mind.

Even taking Draco's demonstrable aversion to physical violence aside, there is no indication that Draco was anything other than furious at the time of the sectumsempra incident, which makes his situation similar to Harry's failed casting in book 5.

The books tell us plainly that rage alone is not sufficient to cast the Cruciatus and we are shown by Draco's only actual crucio (and also Krum's) that at least someone needs to be in the right frame of mind in order for the curse to succeed, even if it's just the person directing the proceedings.

Of course, all of this is just speculation. Don't take my word as fact and feel free to come to your own conclusions, this essay mostly exists to demonstrate why I believe what I believe, though I hope it was an enjoyable read nonetheless.

xoxo

[julihlaufey]

Pages From Your Diary (Stanford Pines x You)

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒊𝒛𝒛𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒔𝒐 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆.

⁠*⁠.⁠✧ ʷᵃʳⁿᶦⁿᵍˢ: ᵗʰᵉ ᶜʰᵃʳᵃᶜᵗᵉʳ ᵘˢᵉˢ ᶠᵉᵐᶦⁿᶦⁿᵉ ᵖʳᵒⁿᵒᵘⁿˢ ᵃⁿᵈ ʳᵉᶠᵉʳˢ ᵗᵒ ʰᵉʳˢᵉˡᶠ ᵃˢ "ᵗʰᵉ ᵍᶦʳˡ". ᵇᵒᵈʸ ᵘⁿˢᵖᵉᶜᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ.

⁠• ᵗʰᶦˢ ᶦˢ ᵒⁿᵉ ᵒᶠ ᵐʸ ᶠᶦʳˢᵗ ʷᵒʳᵏˢ ᶦⁿ ᵉⁿᵍˡᶦˢʰ. ᵉⁿᵍˡᶦˢʰ ᶦˢ ⁿᵒᵗ ᵐʸ ᶠᶦʳˢᵗ ˡᵃⁿᵍᵘᵃᵍᵉ, ᵇᵘᵗ ᶦ'ᵐ ᵗʳʸᶦⁿᵍ ᵗᵒ ᶦᵐᵖʳᵒᵛᵉ. ♡

• ⚠️ ᵗʰᵉ ʷʳᶦᵗᶦⁿᵍ ᶦˢ ᵃᵇᵒᵘᵗ ᵐʸ ᵒᶜ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ᵗʰᵉ ᵍʳᵃᵛᶦᵗʸ ᶠᵃˡˡˢ ᵘⁿᶦᵛᵉʳˢᵉ. ʰᵉʳ ᵃᵍᵉ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵖʳᵒᶠᵉˢˢᶦᵒⁿ ᵃʳᵉ ᵐᵉⁿᵗᶦᵒⁿᵉᵈ, ᶦ'ᵐ ˢᵒʳʳʸ ᵃᵇᵒᵘᵗ ᵗʰᵃᵗꜝ

The rain in Gravity Falls always sounded different. The drops always seemed thicker and the mood was definitely striking, but comforting. Her hands held the small box trembling.

Her feet slowly climbed the stairs out of fear or anxiety. Rainy weather meant family movie night. And of course Mabel and Dipper argued for a few minutes with her and Stan over which flavor to order, as if they couldn't order one of each.

Ford, for his part, had been in the room for a few hours and even though after last summer, he and his family were already closer, her, as an employee and friend of Stan and the children, wasn't that close to the scientist.

And of course, the one chosen to climb step by step and bring you some of the chosen pizza, was her.

She enters the room, stopping at the door. The room was cozy, calm and serene. She already knew it from the time Dipper and Mabel fought to change rooms. But she didn't think that cleaning it would make it so inviting.

Her eyes stopped on Stanford, sitting in his chair. His desk is full of papers, calculations and notes. He seemed to be busy and she didn't want to disturb him.

Clearing her throat, she enters with the small pizza box in hands. He glances over at her, raising an eyebrow in mild surprise. He had seen her around but never spoke much. The girl seemed friendly, but she had Stanley's quirks.

She did well in sales, fooled tourists like no one else and was as close to the twins as his brother.

He sets his pen down, folding his hands. — Hmm.. Hello! — Ford tried to be friendly with a small, disconcerting smile.

During the summer, they lived in the same house and had not even exchanged three words before. — Did you... need something?

— I... No, nothing! The... Kids ordered pizza and... And I figured that even if... You were busy, it wasn't fair to go without a slice. — She says, placing a small pizza box with three slices on top of his table, a little embarrassed. Her eyes didn't meet Ford's.

The hot face, kind of uncomfortable. Stanford couldn't help but chuckle slightly, amused a bit that she seemed so shy. He glances down at the pizza, then back at her.

— Hm. I appreciate it, then. — He stands, going over to the other side of the table and pulling out the chair next to him as an invitation for her to sit. — Take a seat, if you want. I'm just doing some calculations.

The girl blushed slightly. She was fascinated by the calculations Ford made that she could never do. A little surprised, shy and embarrassed by the invitation, but she could not refuse. She sat down, looking at the papers thrown and scattered on the table.— About... What is it? — She asked, afraid If was being nosy.

He smirked a bit, sitting back down in his chair. He grabs a slice of the pizza, then looks over at her as he takes a bite. They had gotten the flavor right.

— The multiverse, the possibilities of every single dimension and what could be. I'm working on a theorem to calculate every single dimension in this universe. Or at least, I'm trying to.

He grabs his notebook, pushing it over to her. It was filled with equations, scribbles, diagrams, and notes about different dimensions Ford had been to in the past.

— See? There are countless possibilities that I haven't even visited. That we didn't even consider could be real.

The girl couldn't help but smile. Stan's brother spoke so excitedly about his research and travels. He didn't even seem to have been affected by such events. Or if he had been, he was at least proud of having known so many strange worlds and creatures.

She looks curiously at the notes and calculations. — The part about dimensions is fascinating. — She says without looking at him.

— I mean, the whole diary is, but parts like "The Oracle" or "Casino Dimensions" are fascinating. — Although Ford thought only Dipper had read his diary, the girl spoke with fascination about his works.

Stanford can't help but find her enthusiasm endearing. Her excitement was somewhat infectious, making him smile in awe as he stopped the bite in the middle. — You've... Read my journal? — He inquired, a hint of surprise in his tone, but not enough to be an accusation.

The girl blushes violently again, looking at the eldest and quickly looking away. — Well... I read them. Not that Dipper or Stan know that I picked them up to read. But... Everyone was talking about "The Author" and I got curious. I devoured them in one night! — She said, laughing a little.

Of course it wasn't just curiosity. She loved it.

She loved his work. She read carefully the love he put into each line. Reading those diaries during the twins' vacation and after Ford added his experiences in the multiverse was fascinating.

Ford chuckled, smiling at her embarrassment. Part of him was surprised that nobody knew about her reading the journal. How had they not noticed?

— Hmm. I'll have to keep a better eye on my journal then. I usually just let Dipper borrow it. — He teased, resting his chin on his hand as he glanced at her.

She looked at him scared like a student who got a scolding from his favorite teacher. — I-I won't steal them again! Not that I stole them the first time, I just... I was just curious and no one comes into the tree house I built so... — She paused for a moment. She was acting like an idiot and hadn't even realized it until her eyes met Stanford's, who was resting his face on his hand and had an amused look on his face. — Damn, it wasn't the best first impression, was it?

Amused by her panicked tone and the expression she made, Ford snickered. He shook his head, waving his hand a bit to dismiss her flustering. — No, no, it's alright. I don't blame you for being curious. I'm more surprised that Stan and Dipper didn't catch you stealing the journal, if I'm being honest.

— Well... Let's just say Dipper was more difficult. — She said laughing. — But when he fell asleep drooling on the floor at four in the morning, it worked out. He spent the entire summer trapped and fascinated by the diary. I think you have a number one fan.

She laughed again, looking away. Dipper was fixated on the journal. But her? She was his number one fan, even though no one knew it.

— Dipper is definitely my biggest fan. At this rate, he probably dreams of my research. — He joked, looking over at her slightly.

However, he was clearly able to discern the fact that she, somehow, admired him as much as Dipper did. Though he didn't say that out loud. There was some charm in it.

She nodded, amused by his sense of humor. Stanford was more amazing and engaging than she thought. — You have no idea! One day Dipper woke up and filled the coffee table with theories about encrypted codes. It was even a little funny to see him think he dreamed up the right translations. Your encryptions were extremely difficult to decipher in two nights.

Ford chuckled softly, able to imagine that scenario unfolding. Dipper always took the journals so seriously sometimes, it was both amusing and endearing. He loved the kids passion. — Two nights... — He thought, raising an eyebrow as she spoke. His gaze glanced down at the table for a moment, as he then looked back up at her.

— You... Translated all the codes in the journal... In two nights? Just like that? No help from anyone?

She blushed violently again. She became extremely embarrassed and anxious when he praised her or was surprised by her accomplishments. It was like being a dumb, out-of-control teenager again.

— W-well, I couldn't keep the journals during the day and there seemed to be so many interesting things in those encryptions.

Pines smiled as he listened to her reply, able to notice the blush and how anxious she was. He was rather surprised. She was clearly intelligent, a little on the timid side, but incredibly smart. He chuckled a bit, tilting his head slightly.

— How old are you? — He inquired, raising an eyebrow as his gaze lingered on her for a moment.

— Twenty. I work at the cabin in the summers, since Stan offered me a paid room when I got to town.

He raised an eyebrow, a small look of surprise on his face. Twenty? She was much younger than he was expecting. He was shocked that Stan offered her a room on the condition that she work for him at the cabin. Then again, Stan didn't seem picky when it came to making a quick buck.

— I see... How... How long have you worked for Stan then?

She laughed a little for the reaction. — Since I was seventeen. I study history in the neighboring town. He's always been very kind to me. When the twins arrived, we were already... Good friends.

Stanford chuckled, smiling. Of course Stan wasn't picky on his hires. Even Wendy didn't even have to go through a whole interview or anything either. However, that information was a bit interesting to Ford. She was studying history? It was an interesting choice of profession for a young girl. He had to wonder, though...

— History, huh? Why do you like history so much?

Pines kept his eyes concentrated. His pizza had already cooled down, if it were coffee it would already be out of the question to drink. The girl was fascinating and he didn't understand why.

She seemed to be like them, she got along well with Stan, or the twins. However, something in her conversation made him feel like he wasn't alone.

— Aah... It's nice to be able to study about periods we didn't live in. I mean, Gravity Falls is an event. But being in a major historical landmark that people will study and talk about for years?! — She said enthusiastically, completely forgetting the panic and nervousness she felt around Stan's brother.

Ford laughed, raising an eyebrow and smiling at her little outburst of excitement. He found it rather endearing, her enthusiasm and passion for history. She was a little quirky here and there, but she seemed sweet and genuinely kind.

— You're... Passionate about history. I take it you want to go into archaeology? Or museum work?

— Archaeology. — The girl smiled. She hadn't met Ford a few minutes ago. Was blushing just from seeing him. And now was disturbing his work. Shyness knocked on her door with a kick.

— I-I'm sorry, I said too much for someone who just came to bring a pizza.

Ford continued to smile, a hint of amusement in his eyes as he watched her bluster and blush. It didn't take a mind reader to see that she had a small little crush. And if Ford was being honest.. He wasn't entirely opposed to the idea of her being that interested in him.

— No, no, I repeat, It's alright. Don't worry about interrupting. Archaeology... Interesting choice.

— Yeah... I think Gravity Falls is... The perfect place for that!— She said in a calm tone.

The raindrops were falling harder outside. The feeling of agitation. Very different from what the girl felt now. Her body was relaxed, calm and comfortable. When she entered, the room seemed the most comfortable thing in the cabin.

The smell of books and freshly changed sheets. Now, her mind was lost telling about her knowledge and days in Gravity Falls to a scientist who had already seen much more than these trees and woods.

Stanford's gaze remained locked on hers, as if her knowledge of archaeology and the best waffle in town were more interesting than the various worlds he'd visited. And indeed, they were.

To him, at that moment. Pines was sure he had just found something that inspired and impressed him more than anything else than Gravity Falls had ever introduced him to before.

And he couldn't be more excited to write about it in his journal.

I hope you enjoyed it! I'm always open to constructive criticism and ways to make writing in English more fluid and natural! ♡

Credit spacers: @zigrethsnotebook

Thank you so much for being so nice and remembering me!

[fourteentrout]

Acotar Hot Take Time (Again)

Rhys' whole "Everything I love has a tendency to be taken away from me" thing is often lauded as one of the most sentimental, empathetic lines from the book. rhys stans seem genuinely moved by it, even now that more books in the series have come out.

and I think...it's kind of bullshit?

not that people find the sentiment in it, you can like what you like, but the actual claim itself is bullshit.

rhys lost his mother, father, and sister, and I will not deny that it was tragic and traumatizing. by extension, he lost his close friend Tamlin because of his betrayal.

but like...what else? Now that he's been living in his Court after UTM and everyone has moved on from his Evil Guy schtick, tell me, what "everything" is he talking about? He protected velaris, which seems to be the only territory in the Night Court he really cares about. Even when it was attacked, he was able to renew it with seemingly no struggle. he has his entire original inner circle. this guy has like. 5 houses. his Court is intact and thriving (at least, the part of it he cares the most about).

Yes, he was separated from his family for 49 years, but he didn't LOSE them. they were there the whole time, they were there when he got back.

but like, it would be even more obvious if we had an example of someone in the series who ACTUALLY lost everything, right? with no one to compare his experiences to, maybe it really DOES seem like everything he loves has a tendency to be taken from him.

Oh wait. there is an example. Tamlin.

Tamlin lost the exact same things at the same time as Rhys: his immediate family, and his best friend.

But where rhys' loss kind of stagnated, Tamlin's continued once the curse was placed on his Court. His sentries, his friends, sacrificed themselves to help him, to the point where he literally had to stop them from going out because he was overwhelmed with the grief of losing his friends over and over for seemingly NO REASON (as they weren't getting anywhere with the curse. To him, they were giving up their lives for a lost cause.) and unlike with seemingly every member of the Night Court, these guys weren't magically coming back to life. By the time Feyre gets to Spring, the only close remaining friend Tamlin has is Lucien.

And guess what? he lost him, too! feyre left him, and she was valid in doing so, but she TORE HIS COURT APART in the process. she literally fucked with the minds of his new sentries to get them to not trust him, and to get him to not trust them. hell, she made it so he didn't trust the one friend he had left. he fought in the war and his court fell into disrepair because all of his guards LEFT. even after they fought by his side. that's how lasting feyre's impression on the Court was.

Spring was literally abandoned.

So like...let's compare. Rhys has: Cassian, his general and brother, Azriel, his spymaster and brother, Mor, his cousin and third, Amren, his second, Feyre, his mate, wife, and High Lady, Nyx, his son, and his City of Starlight.

He doesn't have: The illyrian and darkbringer troops that died in the war (though there's not much mention of them, save for the illyrians. both nations seem to be pretty removed from Rhys' mind as it is), his mother, his father, and his sister (all of which remain unnamed??? for some reason???), and Tamlin

Tamlin has: maybe some citizens left?? we don't really know. alis?? she went back to the summer court, if I remember correctly, but I could be wrong.

Tamlin doesn't have: Feyre (who, mind you, he already lost once before when he literally watched her die), Lucien (parted ways), Rhys (parted ways), Andras (deceased), all of the unnamed sentries that died during Amarantha's reign, his literal current, living guards (parted ways), his unnamed mother, father, and brothers (all deceased), any kind of love interest (nevermind a mate) (just straight up nonexistent), hell, he even lost Ianthe (deceased). she deserved it, but to him, for the longest time she was just his childhood friend that he TRUSTED. so first he lost her to her own treachery, and then she literally died, presumably without him ever being able to properly confront the fact that she wasn't who he'd thought before she was murdered. he lost troops in the war, and then he lost the living ones to the effects of feyre's destruction of their trust. by Silver Flames, he literally has NOTHING.

I don't know. just knowing all that and re-reading Rhys' line about getting the things he loves taken from him makes me...kind of think that SJM doesn't really know the meaning of having everything taken from someone. cause to me, it really looks like Rhys has...a LOT. like yes, he's experienced loss, but when you have someone like Tamlin, whose Court as far as we know is ABANDONED, it kind of negates the argument before it can even be made.

[year2000electronics]

Ford is such a fascinately flawed character, If he not keep in check he unintentionally brings ruin to everyone around him.

this is literally how i feel talking about ford. ^

because dont get me wrong at many times i am a ford defender when people slander him for the wrong reasons, but also a lot of the time i will be like "YOUR HONOUR HE DID THAT SHIT AND I THINK HE WAS HOT WHEN HE DID IT" and then at other times i will be like "YOUR HONOUR HE DID THAT SHIT AND ISNT IT AMAZING THAT SUCH A COMPLEX AND FLAWED CHARACTER IS NOT DEMONIZED AND VILLAINIZED BY THE NARRATIVE BUT INSTEAD GIVEN A CHANCE TO GROW". so a lot of the time i just end up walking in circles rotating him a lot because i end up wanting to play devils advocate from like literally every angle of "so how much harm did ford do Really"

but i think when you look at ford in the show, hes a very interesting character, specifically because he's this very "loadbearing" character. he's the author, so he has to be the driving force behind the mystery, but he also has to have met and have ended things badly with mcgucket, so we have their falling-out as a tease to the mystery. we need him to cause conflict in the show thanks to his arrival, so he'll do some unlikable things like punch stan and demand his house back and offer dipper the apprenticeship. but he cant be TOO unlikeable because this is a member of the family stan has fought for 30 years to get back, and he also needs to be integrated as Officially A Pines in the VERY limited time we have with him on screen. not only that, but you have to explain his entire backstory in one episode where he harms and is mean to a character who has had two seasons' worth of love behind him SEVERAL TIMES. but you also need to make us feel for him, and you have to make stan's part of the conflict sting too. and THEN! ON TOP! OF ALL! THAT! YOU ALSO NEED TO PAY-OFF THE SETUP YOU HAD OF BILL CIPHER AND THE AUTHOR'S MYSTERIOUS RELATIONSHIP!

and so a lot of the time what i end up thinking is yes, ford is flawed. yes, he can be really callous and unfeeling at times. but i think because he's constantly needing to carry like 10 different plot elements on his back at once, constantly needing to drive conflict along, he ends up being really divisive to people- especially since he has no time to just goof off like everyone else!

so i circle back to this idea of ford as the "ruin-bringer". i think about that wording most meticulously. because that walks this VERY delicate line between saying something about fords character, his flaws, his backstory, and dipping right into "omg lets blame ford for EVERYTHINGGG!" but you think a lot about ford and his self-isolation and his EGO and the way he lifts himself above others both out of pride and out of shame.

ford is almost doing that to himself, really. making himself this common denominator black hole that people keep getting sucked into. because he is of the opinion that there are Special People who need to rise above, he ends up either isolating himself or isolating others to Join Him on the Path. and obviously that in and of itself is a gesture of companionship, of reaching out, because he says "i see the same greatness in you that i do myself"! but of course there IS no secret hidden greatness! so its all inherently flawed! you cant be rising above simply because youre "special" and you "deserve it"! but "special" is the only thing ford knows how to be!

ford is deeply hurting i guess. he seems deeply hurt the way that stan does to me, where everything he does just BLEEDS his trauma. you can see it staining everything. stan's need for companionship and ford's self-isolation. ford's hurting and he needs a healthy outlet but he has a path of destruction in his wake. and that just makes it so much crazier

[petertoddgrayson]

Romantic bonds can exist in found family situations. Teen Titans is a found family too, and yet Dick and Kory, Gar and Raven, Roy, Wally and Donna all dated at some point (Even Dick shared the same sentiment when he gave a little speech to Kory who's about to join the JLA).

Babs is like that goddaughter/very close family friend who gets invited in family events. She's part of the "family", but her position is ambiguous. She's more like an older sister to Steph, Jason and Damian, a friend to Tim, a mother to Cass and a very close friend slash lover to Dick. She sees Bruce as a godfather or a coach while Selina as her peer.

Barbara's situation is weird because she plays a differing dynamics with each member of the Batfam. And while she makes a great love interest to Dick, pairing her with other members is downright weird and in some cases, incestous.

**Barbara was never Bruce' surrogate daughter**. Anyone who had a proper reading (and comprehension) from PreCrisis to present run knows that. Barbara never saw Bruce as a parent figure, **was never implied nor explicitly stated**. Bruce saw her as a **family** but **not as a daughter**.

Barbara operated as Batgirl for a period of time before meeting, and later, partnering with Bruce and joining the Batfamily. Heck she even fought him over who gets to have Dick as a sidekick. It only got slightly changed in N52 and recent run since Babs got deaged but still the same concept.

**In short Batgirl was a bat chatacter who wasn't part of the batfam until she became one.**

People who propagandize DickBabs as incest are one of the following:

1. Diehard DK shipper with no proper knowledge about Barbara's standing in the Batfam other than regurgitated out of context rants made by people on Tumblr and Twitter.

2. Diehard DK shipper who knows and understands her dynamics with the Batfam but still chooses to spread misinformation by capitalizing on the kind of people I mentioned above.

3. Stans who do not understand how loose and dynamic the concept of family is.

4. Stans with double standards but doesn't know it.

5. Stans with double and are aware of it but are in a deep state of indenial.

6. Casual Titans fans who got pulled into comic reading by the movies and have no proper understanding of Dick and Barbara's relationship outside the lens of imbittered shippers.

[sixerstanley]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE I'M TEARING INTO YOUR BLOG LIKE OLD NEWSPAPER

BECAUSE STAN WOULD ABSOLUTELY LIE. He knows who Mabel is, he can tell from the shape of her eyes and the tangles in her hair that she's Shermie's granddaughter, he knows even before the twins arrive at Ford's creepy cabin that they're family. But he knows if the kids know anything about him it's because he was a grifter that wasn't worth the bullet in his head. And he doesn't wanna be rejected again, he's tired of it, so he's vague with who he is and Mabel's smart - she can tell Stan is Ford's spitting image but also Stan's young so she assumes he's Ford's son and doesn't bring it up to spare his feelings.

But then she starts looking in the journal Dipper pilfered, and starts figuring out who this 'S' is that Ford keeps shit talking (that man made a bulleted list of how much he doesn't like Stanley, he said 'Perhaps he can yet prove his use to me', I need to lovingly deck that man)

She's very confused and no one is telling her the truth, she's gonna snap.

Dipper would be so betrayed, what do you MEAN you left your twin to die on the streets. Dipper who fought a giant robot with his bare hands for his twin would never and is offended his idol did

anon i literally cant get over how ur brain works you are so so smart.

oughhhhh i really love all of this. mabel assuming stan's his son and that's already sad as FUCK so she doesn't mention it but she notices she never sees pictures of a son or a wife in the shack. and like, people experience grief in different ways but she does find that at least a bit odd.

god when she finds out...shes going to be SO MAD at ford. its not entirely logical on her part but shes so UPSET that the ghost she befriended and who is rough around the edges--a harsh, hard, sarcastic exterior to shield the soft, gummy center--but a genuinely good guy, was seemingly abandoned by his brother. his twin

and i think you're absolutely right about dipper, i could see a really big conflict between him and ford, the guy he put on a pedestal

[rise-my-angel]

those targ stans comparing Rhaenyra's strong boys to Jon are the absolute worst

Like, on one hand, I do see why people defend them. It wasn't their fault they were born to such unfavourable circumstances. Its not easy to grow up being conflicted about who you really are, and as much as Rhaenyra loves them, its clear she does not prioritize them over herself.

But theres more problems then that. The biggest point against them is the incident with Aemond. First of all, I don't condone the actions of Aemond when grown up since he is certainly unhinged, but here he was what? 10? 12? Somewhere around that age, and he felt he needed to claim Vhagar, the biggest dragon, after her riders death because that was the only way he felt he had to prove his worth in this family. For kids who are not sure if they were bastards, the Strong boys have never indicated once that they felt that desperate to prove something for their place in a family. Aemond telling his mother that him losing an eye is alright because he "gained a dragon" is heartbreaking. He thought losing his eye to claim a dragon was the only way to prove himself. When have the Strong boys ever indicated they felt that desperate?

Secondly is the attack itself. Aemond was alone and ganged up on. He was attacked by multiple people at once whom clearly brought items to attack him with, and him calling them bastards should not have illicted that violent of a responce. It is NOT normal to wound someone so bad they lose an eye during a fight between young boys.

Without knowing Myachs face yet, Robert phrased it best when the worst that happened was Joffery got bit in the arm by a wolf the size of a dog. "Damn it, children fight. It's over." But Cersei escalates this by propgating Jofferys lies and publically paints Arya out to be a wild animal. And we all knew then that Joffery was in the wrong in a much less serious situation (unless your Myach).

But here, the wounded child, was the one the other kids attacked themselves, and then allowed their mother to take charge and demand he be tortured. She accuses Aemond of starting a fight they know they instigated, and then allowed their mother to demand torture for a boy saying something that was already a rumour.

We all look at the adults in that situation but the Strong Boys mutilated Aemond and then allowed their mother to lie about what happened and demand torture for something he merely said in anger.

Now part of the issue is that Jace and Luke especially have essentially, no real individual character. Much like Baela and Rhaena's lack of character development, they are mostly a duo who dont stand on their own. Season 2 will change that for Jace obviously, but all we have seen of the boys in the most prominent scenes with them is a willingness to use aggression and allow their mother to violently lie for them to cover up their own wrongdoings.

Other then being bastards, the Strong Boys have literally no comparison to Jon Snow. They were called and raised as highborns. Those boys were literally involved in inheritance debates. They have massive privileges every other highborn does.

Jon grew up a known bastard and that literally dictated his entire life as lesser then the siblings he grew up with. He is nothing like them because he fought for everything he has and it's still nothing compared to what those boys were given for absolutely nothing.

Also, Jon never cut another boys eye out in a fight when they called him a bastard. Literally the first time we see him get that violent is trying to stab Ser Alliser, and that was for insulting his fathers honour after said father was arrested for a treason Jon knows is likely untrue.

Jace hopefully will have better development this season, but as it stands, he and Luke both were the kinds of people who wouldve spat down on the likes of Jon Snow.

And those bad traits come from where else but Rhaenyra herself. I don't support shitting on them because theyre bastards but most people who don't like Team Black get painted as bastardphobic regardless. Its a weak argument to disavow giving by looking at real critiques, and just going "oh youre just supporting treating bastards badly why should i listen to you"

As if people like me literally aren't massive Jon Snow defenders, who support Jon staying a Snow and being proud of who he is rather then him feeling like he needs a truename to be of value.

I mean people get angry just seeing them being called the Strong boys. Like use your eyes, people. They look just fucking like Harwin theres not a single drop of Laenor anywhere near those kids apperances.

I'm not trying to just diss the Strong boys, unlike what some fans will paint any criticisms as. Its all just really messy. You just cannot discuss them without Team Black throwing a tantrum.

[gwynrieldreams]

It just striked me so hard how boring Elriel is as a ship.

Or maybe it's because of what Elriels have invisioned. Elain is apparantly already very happy and content in the night court. Her family, the IC is with her and so is her second family, Azriel and the wraiths. Her and Azriel are already in love and the only thing that stands in their way of their ultimate happily ever after are 2 redheads. One who would accept rejection and the other who's literally just minding her own business.

Then there's the fact that apparantly you.. aren't allowed to be cold to Elain? No, you have to be very nice and soft with her! The wraiths are good enough to be friends with her cause they'd never challenge her, unlike Vassa and Jurian.

No Elain absolutely never did anything wrong! She's perfect and very powerful!

- they've made fun of gwynriel cause Azriel wasn't already so trusting with Gwyn in the bonus chapter. Laughing that he doesn't consider her a friend.. like??? Yeah?? Why would I want them to be already in love? Lmao it's not the end of the world that they aren't close?? It makes perfect sense that they aren't. I actually prefer it that way.

Same with Elucien. Because they aren't close it means it's a lost cause! Elain isn't comfortable with Lucien! (even though we don't know why and Lucien hasn't done anything to make her feel that way).

Maybe it's just cause they want Gwyn and Lucien out of their way, which is why those 2 could never win in their eyes no matter what. Azriel thinking nothing beyond sexual fantasies is fine and understandable but how dare Lucien breath the same air as Elain?! He's abusive! How dare he stay away 7 courts away from her?! He doesn't care about her!

Idk. I'm just not interested in reading a book about a girl who has everything she wants and everyone loves her and her obstacles very easy to overcome. Why does Elain's love interest have be a complete simp? Elriels can't even take the smallest inconvenience. Lucien giving her gifts on Winter solstice is enough to traumatize them I guess.

I want to read Gwynriel's whole progress. I can take Azriel being harsh or not trusting to her sometimes. I'm cool with it. I want them to go from 0% to 100% in a full book, ON PAGE. I want them to challange each other.

It's all over the place but I hope you get what I'm trying to say..

To be fair, I get why some people want to read a story about defying fate and god and say fuck to all of that, I will follow my heart BUT I don't think they will find that sort of thing in SJM's books, let alone in elriel.

Azriel, like the rest of the ic, puts her in a box. He constantly unknowingly contradicts her wishes during acosf. Elain wants to scry for the Trove, Azriel doesn't want her to. Elain doesn't want to be fought over, Azriel wants to fight for her. Azriel contemplating killing her mate just because he assumed she's not interested WITHOUT EVER DISCUSSING IT WITH HER! (I love Az but he made me so mad in this part). Even in acowar nobody acknowledged her part in killing Hybern, but Lucien. Lucien has done nothing but respect her wishes.

I've already made a post about it but I will shortly explain why elriel doesn't make sense to me. Their "romance" could end in like 5 chapters. Elain rejects Lucien, Lucien accepts it, they live happily ever after. There is not going to be any Blood Duel between them because if it did then sb would have to die. SJM can't kill her characters. Even if she did though, who would lead the next vassien book that all elriels like to claim will happen? If there's no conflict and everything is perfect how is that a good story? What would be the logic in making Lucien the villain in the elriel book and in the next we'd have to fall in love with him through Vassa's eyes?

The irony is that her stans also fight over her and baby her like no other. As if she so fragile, she will break if she faces any kind of inconvenience. I'm sorry to be the one to tell them but Elain in her book will probably go through shit -like any other mc- because that's what makes a good story. If you want to read about Elain frolicking in flower fields and baking go read a fanfic.

Let's not forget Azriel is never going to reject his mate. Gwyn and Az are perfect for each other in so many ways.

"He didn't consider her a friend, but..." First of all this happened in the Winter Solstice, when they barely knew each other. Second, I thought it was a wink wink monent as in he hasn't "friendzoned" her, so maybe they can be friends or sth more(?) I definitely wouldn't want to be best bros with the guy I liked. I don't know if SJM will go with the friends to lovers route, I wouldn't mind it. I'd personally prefer if they had more like a rivalry, constantly challenging and teasing each other (maybe because that's how I flirt 😅 but I also think that's more SJM's style).

[bonnieisaway]

Hi Bonnie, do you have any thoughts about Dai Bo?

do you guys know the sheer dopamine hit i get everytime i'm asked shit like this. like just the fact people want to hear my thoughts enough that people go out of their way to unprompted ask me about it. drugs could not simulate this emotion

i love dai bo :3 certified hardest character to explain to any person i'm introducing to the show fr

ok but fr though i feel like his appearance lets a lot of people forget about how deep his character is and how well written he is. because he's written fucking gloriously and he is shaped by his tramua perfectly. a lot of characters in this show have to confront this sort of cycle of violence and dai bo's is more familial and generational than most other character's. he only fought for his friend's son. and he fought so hard to break the cycle. like he's the most beautiful example of breaking the cycle of violence.

SPECIFICALLY with the scene with king pheasant where he's ready to straight up kill that bitch until he looks over and sees xiao fei. and he realizes that xiao fei does not need to see this. xiao fei will not be shaped the way dai bo was, and the cycle WILL stop with dai bo. and this scene is mirrored when xiao fei and seven are going to hurt king pheasant, where dai bo tells them to leave him alone. where dai bo fights to stop the cycle.

and the way his hatred for humans is shaped by seven. how seven is the perfect person for dai bo to have ever met. the best way to prove to dai bo that humanity has good, has beauty in it; this is a man who remembers NOTHING. not even his own name. if you're watching the show in chinese, he doesn't even speak the same dialect as everybody else around him. and this factory-reset, lump of clay of a person with nothing but his own instincts is so kind and trusting. that's how dai bo learns humans can be good so quickly. not just because seven was so kind and forgiving, but because dai bo realizes seven was inherently BUILT that way. that it was his NATURE itself.

and i love the way he clings to this, too; not even just this version of seven but seven himself. because it's subtle at first, because dai bo is not the kind of person who confronts emotions, but it's noticeable. i have an old post where i pointed it out before he confirmed it in season four; when seven is so amazed and stricken by the view of xuanwu, dai bo instantly dismisses and diminishes it, dai bo is constantly upset when seven leaves without him, dai bo is desperately clinging to the seven he knows and is terrified of seven being forced to return to that cycle of violence that he escaped from.

because like, of course he is! dai bo fought for his friend's son to escape that cycle. so to see this man, who he absolutely sees as his own son, have to return to the cycle of violence, let alone for dai bo's sake, of course it destroys him. of course he wants to cling to him and try and dissuade him; who cares about everybody else, as long as you're home and safe. xuanwu not only symbolizes a home far disconnected from dai bo to seven but in dai bo's eyes it's another massive perpetuator of a violent war. i mean he makes that clear when he explains xuanwu and stan - they are the ones fighting the war, we are the normal, smaller, common folk caught in the middle; shelter yourselves and enjoy your small life here.

but violence is neverending, isn't it? even when dai bo destroyed the chicken farm and the fighting ring, what happened? king pheasant found another perpetuator for his vice in stan. another hamster wheel of violence to spin, a super solider of propoganda and murder. something so much bigger than both of them. but dai bo has to accept that seven is an integral part of this 'bigger than them' bit when it comes to xuanwu. that he has to let go of this idea of an obedient, normal, casual seven. just like accepting your son isn't your little boy anymore, that's a grown man. and aside from the metaphor itself seven is actually at the perfect age for this. seven meets dai bo when he's about 19 and fairly skinny and small, and it's mentioned/implied he's grown a bit since meeting dai bo and we know he's 21 in season four.

anyways i love dai bo. i feel like he's underrated and we need to talk about him more. although sometimes i wanna ask the director like, why specifically dai bo and xiao fei were chickens. was there a meaning or a reason or do you think it was just cause they thought it was funny and also what does this implicate about chickens and pidgeons as a whole in this universe

[frostfloweragainlol-alias-juno]

Some Jill lore!

Tecnically to them, the “first” encounter with the pine family really seemed the first to them

But actually, it wasn’t. At least not in regards to Stan

Jill is Bill’s twin, they are the “weaker” twin as aren’t as powerful as their brother, not even when they had all their power.

They used to be extremely close but all changed when Bill caused the destruction of their home universe. They had a falling out and went their separate ways

After many years of wondering (and getting banned from) in different universes, they eventually stumbled upon Stan’s ( the only reason they were even able to step in the reality of the universe was through a temporary portal as a last resort. They were being chased out of the dimension after getting banned from it)

They grew very fond of the dimension and not long after, met Stanley

In a rather unconventional way

Their first meeting consisted in Jill dragging and unconscious Stan out of a frozen lake after he got in truble with a gang

It took a bit for him to trust them but they quickly became close, more than friends, helping each other out if either needed it, whatever the reason (Jill is also banned from 32 states. And from trains)

Then Stan recived the postcard from Ford and they parted ways with the promise of meeting again someday . He tried to convince them to come with, but Jill didnt want to screw up or make more difficult the possibility for Stan to reconcile with his twin.

But not only this

They had recived too a message from their brother

Bill wanted them to help start wierdmaggeddon, he wanted them to join but They refused as they had grown attached to the dimension.

They fought and during the fight Bill accidentally damaged their form (the cracks), causing them not only to have amnesia for a long time but also effectively depriving them of their immortality (that’s why their human form ages like a normal human. They now have the life expectancy of a normal person as well) and weakening further their powers (they tire out pretty quickly from using them too). They also cannot speak with their own voice due to the damage, resorting on using radio waves to communicate.

They ran away and, Not having anyone or anything to help them remember, they still haven’t recovered all their memories

They feel guilty they couldn’t remember stan and therefore couldn’t be there for him after they heard all that went down. But they’re glad they remember him now, and that they got to know the rest of his family too.

(And then they end up together!

Im cringe but im free/j/lh)

One last random fact , Jill has nicknames for the Pine family

Stanley: Lee, 8-ball (codename they used, Jill’s was Smiler)+ others

Stanford: Fords

Mabel/Dipper: little star (the one time the twins called Jill Gruntie/Grunkle, after a lot they knew them ofc, Jill legit sobbed)

Bonus: Bill’s nickname is “Billy”