#They should become emperor

[fumitori-forced-me]

I finally drew our favorite emperor, FUMIKADO!!

[where-the-stars-collide]

An analysis of Emperors Geta & Caracalla from “Gladiator II”

(*SPOILERS AHEAD!!*)

Hands down they were two of the most interesting characters from this movie and they deserved more screentime but thanks to the complete script and the actors' incredible performances we can gather a lot about their personality as individuals and dynamic as brothers.

Emperor Geta

The released script has confirmed that Geta was the first to be born and we had already kinda guessed it because of the way he behaved and how other characters used to address him for important matters.

He also had a more calculating and observant nature in comparison to his brother and he was certainly calmer. Nevertheless he was power hungry, slightly unhinged, hedonistic, selfish, naive, short-sighted and uncaring and blind about his people needs. The interesting thing is that he seemed genuinely hurt by Acacius' and Lucilla's betrayal which means that he genuinely wanted their respect and loyalty.

In the script there is a deleted scene where Geta and Caracalla asked from Lucilla to adopt them as her sons, which was a common practice back then to strengthen the bloodline. The Emperors knew that they had no right to the throne, so they made this offer to Lucilla, a daughter of a well-respected Caesar. It was a clear political move, especially from Geta's part (for Caracalla it's also something else which I will get into later).

Geta was a person that despite his cruelty he craved loyalty, admiration and respect. He wanted to be loved by his people but he didn't understand that he also had to take care of them. By mercilessly continuing his conquests he had deprived the people of food. Still he tried to gain that respect by controlling Lucilla just like he said in the script “He who controls the lady of Rome controls the people”.

When the riots began after Acacius' death, Geta seemed to have reached a point of desperation and was even seen hiding his face on a curtain and crying.

His relationship with his brother was both complex and immensely interesting. In a deleted scene they can be seen bickering and arguing and it is explicitly said that they were like this every day. But there was also love from both ends and Geta seemed to genuinely worry about his brother's health. When they were children Geta used his own body as a shield to protect Caracalla from their father's blows which clearly suggests that they had an abusive childhood and ever since then he had always protected him. It's also most certain that he didn't want Caracalla's health problems to become known in the empire and when Acacius' betrayal was revealed Geta was the one that calmed Caracalla's outburst which can also mean that this wasn't his first time restraining him. It was also interesting that when Geta lashed out at Caracalla and threw wine at his brother's face he seemed to be regretful after the anger slowly left him.

All those arguments that happened every day never made Geta love his brother less and even voiced his great concern for him to Macrinus about how he gets worse every day. Caracalla could be even slowly dying from his various diseases and Geta felt helpless.

When Caracalla attacked him the script said that Geta wasn't entirely surprised because he had experienced these kind of moods before. Therefore it's not improbable for Caracalla to have physically attacked Geta in the past. Even at that moment the latter seemed to reach his brother and almost made him change his mind but Macrinus showed up and ended everything.

Geta was really having a huge burden on his shoulders: His responsibilities as a ruler which he proved unable to fulfill and his role as a big brother who had to protect and care for his little brother. A role which he also failed because he underestimated Caracalla's insecurities and put his trust on the wrong person.

Emperor Caracalla

Caracalla was the one that had completely lost his sanity thanks to his various illnesses. The script has confirmed that he suffered from syphilis and lead poisoning and that's a lethal combination. And yes, both diseases can affect the brain:

Caracalla was shown to be impulsive, unpredictable, short-tempered, bloodthirsty and was neither clever nor perceptive as shown when he displayed joy at Lucius for killing his champion after loudly refusing the Emperors' mercy (an outrageous act at the time) and his inability to understand Macrinus' schemes and lies.

He was naive and behaved in a childlike manner which was unbecoming of an Emperor. He was also very hedonistic and seemed more absorbed into enjoying the pleasures and luxuries of his position (sex, food, drink etc.). He, furthermore, appeared to be even more promiscuous than his brother having both male and female concubines around him. In a deleted scene he was seen going with his brother and their concubines to their bedrooms which means they fucked in the same room and shared their concubines. Caracalla invited even Macrinus to their bed to show them his “might”. Even Geta was like "bro chill".

I found his relationship with Lucilla interesting. Apparently he appeared to have a special interest for her:

Lucilla could know this since she tried to reason with him not to kill Acacius and when she was ready to be thrown into the arena herself, he was hesitant to do it and even asked Macrinus if this was necessary (If you ask me he was ready to hit that milf)

But that doesn't mean that he also didn't feel jealousy and anger for the love that the Roman people had for her. In his own words “We give them everything. What has she given them?”. Poor Caracalla didn't understand that his unpopularity came from the way his father took the throne while Lucilla was the daughter of a beloved Caesar. He certainly wasn't the brightest in the room since he failed to comprehend that his disinterest for the people made him unpopular thanks to his famous movie line “They can eat war!”.

His monkey, Dondus, was his comfort animal. He loved and cared for it. It was his companion and friend. It brought him joy and in return he spoiled it with food, clothes and even the seat of the First Consul. He was highly protective of it and, in a deleted scene, he even shouted at Geta for the latter's treatment of it.

But his relationship with his brother was the most engaging one. Apparently Caracalla was having delusions about Geta. He claimed that he tried to kill him by asphyxiating him in the womb with the umbilicus (something that is probably unlikely since it's impossible to remember something like this) and that he always lies to him. It's more possible that the diseases had heavily affected his brain and made him forget or alter things. The script even calls it "dementia" which is something really sad to have at such a young age.

Caracalla felt inferior to his brother and he never had anything that was completely his. He suffered from insecurities and when he presented himself as Emperor to the Senate he said: “Now I am the only one. I was the true us, and he was the false me. We were always "we", all our lives, but now I am only I, me, alone”. (Which is a badass line and we got robbed but that's a talk for another day)

When he cut his brother's hand and smiled I believe he did as if to say "look he bleeds" and probably because he felt relief in finally hurting him the way his brother "hurt" him all that time. But in the end he couldn't do it. He couldn't kill his brother and showed not only hesitation but also got teary-eyed by Geta's words. If Macrinus wasn't there to help, Geta would be able to reason with him.

But it's kind of peculiar how he claimed that “My hand held the blade, but my Father's hand guided mine. I was the puppet, dancing on his string” (rip to another amazing quote) even though their father was abusive. We can only blame this to his insanity.

Sadly, Caracalla seemed to worsen mentally after his brother's death as the script also said.

He couldn't even remember what he had done.

And something else which also points to his insecurity is the throne which he picked to sit on the final game:

In his final moments he felt the same way Geta did: helpless and afraid.

Died alone on his brother's throne.

(special shoutout to Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger. They were given so little screentime and yet they delivered thanks to their incredible work 🛐)

[isdalinarhot]

me signing up for my science fiction and fantasy class last fall: lmaooo imagine if i got to write an essay about my cosmere hot takes for this class. of course this could never happen because the cosmere is Books For Reading For Fun and not Books For Reading For School

the syllabus: during week 10 we will be reading hugo award winning novella The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson

me:

[ifyourereadingthisblinktwice]

just finished the poppy war trilogy what the FUCK WAS THATTTT

[danielnelsen]

well that's just a lie

[grand-theft-carbohydrates]

hmm liu bang being a verified member of the baby-tosser's club is not as cut and dried as i thought, apparently it's only mentioned in xiang yu's biography but is omitted in his. that's a conflict of interest if i've ever seen it. that being said, u gotta admit nothing about han gaozu make this seem at all out of character for him.

[seaweedstarshine]

RIP Krakoa 🌹 I can’t lie I’ve been kinda behind since midway through Fall of X I’m gonna catch up before my first SDCC this summer but I hear Vulcan didn’t see much action anyway. Anyway my hand slipped and I found myself looking into the eyes of my canonically psychotic son the best Summers brother who’s never done anything wrong in his entire life, (he’s done lotsa wrong things but I love him more for it)

[littlegalerion]

Okay, but why is nobody talking about this response and how genuinely upset he seemed? Not hostile, just like his biggest crush rejected him but he's a big boy and he can suck it up?

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

au where the day of unity isn't until decades later and luz never comes to the boiling isles. willow somehow still gets transferred to the plant track and gets really good at her craft. amity never learns that bullying is bad, actually and they never reconciled in school.

and years later, blight industries is the most affluent company on the isles. odalia continues to be allergic to letting amity, who is her only child at this point to not run away from home the moment they turned 18 and cut all contact, associate with witches of "lower social standing."

so eventually when odalia tells amity that she's going to find her a nice respectable spouse amity just rolls her eyes and goes with it. maybe its some other heir to a big company. maybe it's a captain from the emperor's coven. maybe it's even the golden guard, if hunter managed to survive that long.

and then eventually she finds out that her mother has been trying to get her a date with PLANT COVEN HEAD WILLOW PARK

you've seen the countless amity x hunter miserable arranged marriage aus get ready for the amillow friends to enemies to arranged marriage to friends again to lovers 50k slowburn

[dbphantom]

I can only dream of seeing a fraction of the discourse that happens on OP tumblr

[sculptambitio]

/ When I get back home !!! (TRUST(?) I'll do a very quick summarized description of my muses here, like what type of themes each character deals with at their core, some key personality traits etc; something so that it'll make it easier to know the vibes each one has without needing to know any J.ojo lore

[sketchingdemonss]

my mild take, i did not care for xblood

[alicedrawslesmis]

do you think this is symbolic of something

[siensapsap]

The whiplash I got when the Emperor was trying to convince me he isn't that bad, only to immediately tell me he just feeds on the people society won't miss, will never be replicated.

[skitskatdacat63]

I've not talked deeply about all these people, but tried to summarize a bit, though I do recognize this is, of course, inane to anyone not in my circle skkflgl. I blame this on @suzuki-ecstar because she said she'd overthrow Seb for Mark...

*people like Lewis, Max, and Charles exist in this AU, but they're in different kingdoms, so they're not really up for this role. Though I think I could make an argument for Max. But y’know involved in the story, but not directly, just at the edges as they have their own things going on.

[blood-starved-beast]

~~~~DO NOT REBLOG~~~~

Not to be that person but I've been reading some critiques of totk and how it handles imperialism (and perpetuates pro-imperialist sentiment), and it makes me feel like I'm standing on the sidelines tapping my foot anxiously cause while I agree with the general argument cause yes it does in fact have pro-imperialist sentiment it fails to point out that it comes from Japan. Japan with its own history of imperialism and imperialism apologism specifically. So it's very close to but slightly off mark and makes me frustrated. Especially since this is not the only time Nintendo has inserted pro-imperialist sentiment (looking at you Po/kemon legends:arce/us) and How You Are Not Immune to Propaganda (@ Nintendo devs).

But I refuse to speak of it in detail as I am not Japanese, I am not Asian, and I'm too unqualified (both temporally with relation to my studies and also not in-depth enough) to speak on the subject.

So I'll just sit here. Leg stimming anxiously like I have restless leg syndrome cause yeah I completely agree but I would normally go about explaining why in a slightly different direction but alas I should not and will not.

The only, only thing I will say though, if to make this post relevant to anyone reading this, is that people need to understand that one has to approach Hyrule through the lens that it is created by a Japanese company. The Hyrule religion is based on the Japanese state religion and specifically inspired by the kind that emerged after the Meiji Revolution. This is pertinent to understanding the Hylia lore and Zelda and why the monarchy is Like That, and why it keeps popping up again and again and why they refuse to move away from that model. And this directly ties into the Japanese pro-imperialist sentiment we see in these games.