#Think about it. She's a really good manipulator from what we've seen specifically in this episode

[weremadeofbadcode]

Just caught up with tmp. I think Celia is aligned with the web.

[ethanrayne]

80s dad!stan idea?

so i've seen... a couple different AUs where Dipper and Mabel are Stan's kids, but most of them set it up in such a way that the twins grow up in Gravity Falls, and while that's a very fun vibe, I think they would be very different as people with the specific and deeply strange environment of Gravity Falls around them at an early age, and also I really like the idea of an AU that preserves the vibe of wonder and mystery of it being their first summer in town... and the first time they're really interacting with Stan. But, of course, Stan is all about family, so the only way to do that is for him not to know about them until recently.

Enter: Carla McCorkle, Stan's high school girlfriend. What little we know about her is that she loves music & dancing, that the two times we've seen her she's been dressed in bright colors (colors, btw, that we've also seen on Mabel, usually), and that she dumped Stan for Thistle Downe, a hippie who Stan was convinced (possibly erroneously) used music to manipulate her. We don't know when that was, other than presumably before Stan got kicked out (though there's some solid angst potential in it being after that, it doesn't work for what I'm cooking here), but we know that the time between Stan being kicked out and the Portal Incident is "over ten years" and "ten years" depending on which lines you take as most accurate- but most timelines for the show that I've seen put it closer to 13 years.

So it goes like this-

Carla, barely 18, pregnant with her ex's kid- maybe not actually sure the kid is Stan's and not Thistle's at this point, but she has some suspicions- hears that Stan got kicked out, that he's left the state, and decides she's absolutely not telling anybody that this might be his kid, because she's sure as shit not gonna let Stan's family near her kid- sure, Stan's a bit of a wildcard, a little hot-tempered (what was he thinking, with that stunt he pulled with Thistle's car), but he's got a good heart, and she knows his dad's a hardass, there's no way Stan deserved whatever happened there, which means there's no way his family can be trusted to treat her baby decent. (Well, maybe Stanford, she always thought he was nice- a bit odd and a bit awkward, but Stan adored his twin, so Carla figured he must be more fun when he's not trying way too hard to be polite to his brother's girlfriend about how much he'd rather be studying than talking to her. At the very least, she'd consider trusting him with this in an emergency, but she doesn't expect to need to.)

Carla, over a decade later, having a bit of a rough time and neck deep in an increasingly deteriorating marriage to and probable divorce from Thistle (to keep the twins' parents-are-divorcing angst subtext), gets a call from a cousin back home (one of the only people other than Carla and Thistle that knows exactly who the twins' dad is- the twins know it's not Thistle, but not any details beyond that, and they're curious but haven't found anything out yet. For context, I'm thinking Thistle has raised them but is a very distant and disinterested stepdad, he's very much just the guy who was there, barely willingly) telling her to check the obituaries and (for crying out loud Carla) figure out how to tell the kids, because Stanley Pines' funeral is next week.

Carla does not tell the kids (yet). Carla, being a sensible and relatively compassionate woman, sees that the contact info regarding the funeral in the obit is for Stanford Pines and immediately calls to check on him. (It's not irrational, and she's not thinking about how if she'd said something sooner, things might be different, and it definitely isn't anything to do with the tight feeling in her chest right now- and Carla is maybe just as good at lying to herself as any Pines is because she believes all of those until he answers the phone. She knows that voice- it's sharper, deeper, rougher, but she knows the sound of him, and Stanford never sounded like that, which means.... something. Mostly, it means there's still time.

"Why are you holding your own funeral?" she asks, in response to the gruff hello he'd answered the phone with.

"Who is this?" he snaps back, sounding... nervous?

"Carla. Calling to offer her condolences to her ex's brother, who must be going through a hard time right now, after his twin died, except apparently you're right there, Stanley, so answer the damn question."

"....shit.")

....the problem is this is where I can't bridge the gap between the angsty bit and the bit where the kids stay with Stan for a while, but somehow they end up there for the summer, and much of the plot of the series plays out similarly, just in the early 80s instead.

(also possibly Stan and Carla end up back together because I'm a sap and also because, let's face it, Mabel would play matchmaker.)

[butterflydm]

Additional WoT 3x04 thoughts

That was so good. Okay, now that I've gotten some sleep, some more thoughts. spoilers for the show through 3x04 and for the books through the fires of heaven

Rand's journey through the columns kinda washed it away for me at the time, but I did really love the beginning with Rand and Lan, and us getting some insight into what Rand is getting out of his training sessions with Lan, and the ways in which Lan is treating him like an adult capable of making his own choices, and Rand's reservations about any potential relationship he might have to the Aiel people.

Of course, we the audience know that Lan is still keeping Moiraine's secrets for her (including that time she let Rand and all his friends get attacked by Lanfear), but I don't think Rand ever forgets that Lan is Moiraine's Warder.

We got two transformative journeys for relationships last night and I'm glad that they gave those two moments to Rand & Aviendha near the beginning and the end of the episode, and the way that Aviendha looked at him at the end! (and how she ran away from him lol oh baby, run as hard as you can but you can't outrun wanting to bang that man like a house shingle in a storm). Her straight-up picking a fight with him at the beginning because him using a sword so close to Rhuidean reminds her that she's wearing weapons when she knows that she's been called to be a Wise One but she ran away from her duty instead of following her duty to her people! Everything that we had with Rand and Aviendha was so perfect.

And the other one, of course, being the journey that Rand and Moiraine took together. So, I mentioned last night that I do get why they didn't want Mat there... I love Mat's story in the Waste, with Rand, but Mat being there does (I am reluctantly forced to admit) undercut the specific character and relationship arcs that we are currently undergoing with Rand and that we probably need to undergo with Rand in order to get him where he needs to be with his relationships in the future. Mat being there means we need to carve out a third storyline in Rhuidean. Mat being there means that Lanfear needs to haunt him too (trying to drive him away from Rand) the way that she's haunting Egwene, or else her entire premise (I'm the Only One Who Cares About You, Rand) falls completely to pieces. Show!Mat, especially, is genuinely such an amazing friend that he completely destroys Lanfear's manipulation attempts simply by existing near Rand, and this story that they're telling, where Rand might potentially believe Lanfear when she says that no one would love him if they knew the truth about him, gets a harder shake if Mat is there trying to lift his spirits. Egwene is in the same sort of dark place that Rand is (in part because of Lanfear torturing her every night to keep her there) and Rand also has so much guilt surrounding his relationship with her, both elements that aren't there in his friendship with Mat.

So, yeah, I get it.

But I do really hope that we get our s4 (and s5+) so that we can have Mat back in Rand's storyline and making him smile again. <3

Rand and Moiraine did go on a very transformative journey, both together and separate. I loved how we see at the beginning exactly why Rand is wary with her, and yet how Moiraine can sincerely believe she has "done nothing but help him" even though we've literally seen her sit and do nothing while he and his friends were calling for help in 3x01. Their moments at Avendasora together, and Rand realizing how connected their threads have been, with her uncle being the one who set into motion the events that led to his birth on Dragonmount. And then their looks toward each other at the end of the episode. Definitely very interested to see what they will have to say to each other in 3x05!

I loved all the interactions that we saw Rand having with all the Aiel characters! That was all so good. We got some really great stuff, and it was pretty book-accurate but it was translated to screen so well. Amys-with-a-Bair-nametag was great; Melaine was great, Sevenna was great (...a sentence I would never say about book!Sevenna); Couladin was great, etc and so forth! I loved all the interactions.

The horror of the thousand-thousand futures was really well done -- to start with a future that seemed happy but that would doom the world (Moiraine a happy fishwife, smiling at Siuan) to the futures where Lanfear kills her in so many different ways. You really can feel that there's only a narrow path forward that Moiraine needs to forge. We know that we're going to get Moiraine talking to Lan about the rings (presumably in 3x05) so I'm interested to see what else she tells him that we didn't already see in the trailers. We saw so many different ways she tried to guide Rand (and they DID include the one where she and Rand became lovers, I noticed!) and so many ways it ended in death and doom.

Moiraine straight-up stealing the strongest sa'angreal in the world from the Aiel people! Definitely in character but girl, damn! And that was before she saw any of the futures, so it wasn't even her thinking that she would need it for something specific in a future vision.

And the centerpiece of the episode. Rand's journey into the past. It was so good.

I'm really glad that we got the scenes with Janduin! "Shade of my heart!" Him telling her that they'd won, desperately cupping her face but not feeling any warmth. That was so heartbreaking. Giving Rand this moment in particular was a good way for the show to lead into Rand being more deeply affected by the columns than he was in the books, because this mirrors the grief that he saw his father (Tam) go through when they lost his mother (Kari). It instantly gave him a point of connection that he could deeply relate to -- as his adoptive father loved and lost his wife too soon, his blood father loved and lost his wife too soon. Seeing and feeling how deeply his mother was loved, and how deeply his own absence was felt by his father, it gives him a starting connection to his bloodline that we're able to trace through to his previous ancestors.

The formation of Rhuidean, and seeing ancient Latra. The last of the Aes Sedai from the Age of Legends (who isn't a Forsaken trapped in a seal). Gorgeous. And we also once again the reinforcement of "shade of my heart" as an endearment.

Lewin! I saw someone calling him hobbit!Rand and, yes! There were definite hobbit vibes going on with his hair. This vision was truly the formation of the Aiel as who they are today. I am going to say, I kinda like that the show didn't feel the need to call out the moment when the Maidens first picked up the spear, because that just makes it feel more assumed that, yeah, just as some men decided to make this choice, women started deciding it too.

This whole sequence was so heartbreaking! And I definitely noticed that they made Lewin's friends reminiscent of Mat & Perrin. The scene between Lewin and his mother at the end is so much. "I had a son with a face like that once. I do not want to see it on a killer."

I feel like this specific moment in time is the one that kills so many Aiel who try to go through the columns. Learning that their entire way of life is based on breaking their oaths to be committed to peace. That what they believed was a noble thing about not touching swords is actually a last desperate attempt to hold onto any remaining honor after losing the Way of the Leaf.

Poor Jonai, struggling with the Way of the Leaf and remaining firm to it, as the Tuatha'an choose to break their ancestors' oaths and abandon their duty to safeguard what the Aes Sedai left them. I really like the connection we had with Adan his grandson being a small boy in this one, and then being Lewin's grandfather in the vision just before it. That really helped with a sense of emotional continuity. Adan's entire life was this journey to the east! Bookended by loss and violence and yet Adan never wavered in his own commitment to the Way of the Leaf.

And I had originally thought that our queer!Rand ancestor was Jonai, but I don't believe he got a name, and I think he was Jonai's grandfather. What a wonderful surprise he was. I adored his scene with Latra, and getting to see Josha do entire scenes in the Old Tongue was such a delight. Every one of the ancestors felt so sharply drawn and unique, but this one in particular really really drew me in even before we found out he was queer, though that definitely helped me feel even more connected to him <3 <3

He's so quiet and sincere and earnest. Committed to his duty and the honor that it brings him. Reminds me of Warders, in a way (with much less fighting lol), instead of the kind of generational servitude that original Aiel were in the books. And seeing how futuristic the wagons were, comparing to the wooden wagons that we see two generations later with Jonai!

And we end with Charn, speaking to Mierin and seeing the Bore, and catching a glimpse of the Dark One!

This scene was so good! We once again saw Charn's devotion and his genuine joy in his work, like we did with his descendant -- he seemed interested in what Mierin Sedai was saying about finding a source of power that anyone could use, but mentioned that he wouldn't want to use it to bring the harvest in, because he finds value and joy in doing it with his own hands.

I loved the way that the Bore looked. It really did look like a crack in reality.

And Mierin was great. She was warm and kind with Charn, but there were hints there of what would grow to consume her in the future -- her telling Charn the importance of not letting go of the ones you love... actually, Mierin, you definitely should let them go if they break up with you and marry someone else! That's definitely the point at which you should let them go!

I am very curious if Mierin will come up the next time Rand talks to Lanfear.

The journey of the tree throughout the episode! How the object of power rested inside its branches as it was small, as it waited for Latra to find it again. I really like how Latra was the one who created Rhuidean! And how devastating it must have been to her, to see what the Aiel had become, after we saw the relationship that she had with the Aiel when she was younger, during the very beginnings of the breaking of the world. And this also shows us the lifespan of how long powerful Aes Sedai could live, and how many 'normal' lives it spans.

What a brilliant episode.

[sir-adamus]

If you really think about it, Salem already lost.

Humanity is basically united because of Ruby. Even if Salem gets all four relics, the gods will see that humanity is united to fight her.

i can see why you'd come to that conclusion, but you're wrong

first off, huge underestimation of Salem's ability to manipulate and divide people - we've already seen Tyrian and Mercury recruiting the leaders of the Crown in the epilogue

and secondly, on that point - humanity isn't united against Salem. the leaders, the huntsmen and huntresses, sure. but the civilians? scared and frightened refugees having lost their homes, having to hole up in a hostile desert, whose own civilians either hate them for plundering and looting their nation until they were left with an inhospitable wasteland (Atlas and Mistral), or resent them because the King of Vale allied with them to win the war then dismantled their monarchy, instituted the current useless system and left them in the aforementioned inhospitable wasteland to fend for themselves (and then elevated Atlas into the sky like a pat on the back for better luck next time they try to take over the world). the Crown's gonna garner a lot of support just based on that, we've already seen the tensions there in the epilogue

and thirdly, Salem's not alone - even excepting the Crown for the possibility that at least some of that mess might break away (Gillian is at least reasonable and Jax has limited use without an Aura well to draw from), Salem's got Tyrian and Cinder still on side even if Mercury's wavering

because finally, remember who you're talking about. the gods are shown to be petty and vindictive assholes - they're not gonna be satisfied with 'good enough, you got 98% of what's left of humanity on side after everyone who disagreed with you was either killed or arrested.' they're gonna be pedantic, it has to be everyone. which is kind of a problem because you can't unite 100% of humanity against Salem because there's always going to be 1 human who isn't, and that's Salem herself (because yeah, she's gonna count)

Salem's immortality comes with some very specific caveats re: understanding the balance of life, and the brothers would absolutely use her 'not learning her lesson' (a lesson volume 9 establishes that even they don't fucking understand) as a reason to torch the planet and leave Salem on the chunks of rock left spinning in space afterwards

while the gods absolutely have to be summoned and dealt with (Oz doesn't get to die forever until they come back per the specific caveats of his immortality), them coming back at all is still a no-win scenario if you're playing by their rules because uniting humanity is an outright impossible thing to achieve (and achieving that impossible only nets you the reward of living under the threat of another divine tantrum)

[clydesavage-thefox147]

CW//Suggestive Content?

I don't think we realize just how dirty Janus' Spotify Playlist is. We've overlooked it so much. In this little analysis post, I wanna point out the handful of songs that show the sluttiness behind the Snake-Man because damn this playlist shows he can't keep it in his pants. You thought Remus is dirty..you haven't seen Janus...

First is "I put a spell on you" By Nina Simone. This song is believed to be about the poisonous and hypnotic throws of love. The dedication and devotion of love. Specifically a jealous love. Of wanting someone who doesn't want you. I'm not exactly sure who this could be directed to. It could be directed at Roman but I think there's another song that hints to that. Could be Virgil but again, there's another song that could be that as well. Overall a sexy song regardless, come on, it has the word Daddy in it ffs.

Second is "Evil Night Together" by Jill Tracy. This song is believed to be about seduction in the darkness of life. The art of manipulation through allure and enticement. Feeling of intimacy beyond ordinary and the unknowns of seduction. Embracing darker parts of yourself instead of holding back. This song to me seems directed at Roman and what Janus did during SvS. Enticing him with the happiness of the callback and the positive praise he's always wanted. Keeping Roman on a leash of temptation for the betterment and self-desire of Thomas achieving his goals and dreams. With lines like "Who's gonna make you a hero?" It only just further shows that.

Third is "Cabaret: Don't Tell Mama" from Cabaret, which features Liza Minnelli. This song is about a young women who has an active nightlife working as a nightclub erotic dancer and performer. She doesn't want her conservative mother finding out about her exploits so she pleads for no one to snitch. It's interesting here because Liza Minnelli is in this and Roman wanted Liza as a wedding performer..and Liza wears an outfit very similar to something Janus would wear...I think you see what I'm going for here.

Fourth is "You're a Cad" by The Bird and the Bee. This song is believed to be about a woman falling for a man, knowing he has a bad reputation. She knows this man wants to be better but she doesn't see a point in him doing so since it's never enough. Even hinting that she could be worse than him, making them perfect for one another and partners in their chaos. She taunts and teases him "Tug at your line" , "Wait by the phone", "You're reckless with my heart" all lines alluding to the fact of attraction. She could and would waste her life on someone she knows is bad for her, she doesn't care. This song is 100% directed at Virgil. With lines like "So now you want the whole world to notice that you've come around, now you expect we'll see how you're really so much better now" and "What's the point pretending that you could be a better man? Just give in since you always end up right back where you began" all hint to Janus being aware of Virgil's departure from the Dark Sides and his attempts to be better and change but he knows Virgil will always fail. Virgil in response with "Ignorance" on his own playlist shows that he thinks Janus is blind to his change. But yeah, very "loving" song towards Virge dontcha think?

And fifth and finally is "Criminal" by Fiona Apple. This song is believed to be about a woman who used her sexuality to exploit and manipulate a man. She feels regret for doing so even if it's what she had to do. This song is basically the musical equivalent of saying "I've been a naughty boy, punish me". Another song seemingly directed Roman. Showing Janus does feel bad for doing what he did to Roman despite it being for the greater good. He knew Roman was sensitive and insecure but that's how he knew to get to him for a betterment. Yes, he knew it was shitty but it had to be done. It also hints to still lingering feelings. Like "oh I'm so bad to you, a villain you say, well why don't you punish me since you like that" You could say it's also directed at Patton with a line like "I've been careless with a delicate man" but that could be Roman or Patton honestly.

So with all of that said, it seems Janus is quite the whore. I mean 2 songs directed Roman in a provocative manner. And 1 song directed Virgil. And just the overall seduction and temptation of these songs shows his slutty nature. Snakes are even common symbols for sexuality. This snake man knows how to play his deck and dick right...or dicks if you believe that lol

[yzafre]

Rise Magic Watch - Mystic Library, Operation Normal

Only two episodes this time, cause that's all I feel like watching right now. they're good ones though. To start with....

Okay, mirror images being connected to magic, or another realm, is a pretty common trope, but this is confirmation it exists here.... and makes you disappear?

Do you think Leo could portal into it, or is it specific to Mayhem's method of "poof"ing? In Portal Jacking we learned that portals generally connect two places in spacetime, so if the "netherworld" as Leo dubbed it doesn't count as normal spacetime, maybe not? But then what would that say about Mayhem's ability?

I think it could be interesting if Mayhem technically "poofed" you into/through another plane of existence, and got trapped because he collided with whatever one mirrors connect to. But there's little to no proof to support that, more of a head-canon/theory.

And then we go to the library.

Do you think there's one of these in every library around New York? Also, do we think the Mystic Library exists inside the Hidden City, or is it it's own unique pocket-space?

Because there is a lot of gravity fuckery going on here. It's very cool, but it makes the library... large. And makes it feel like it shouldn't exist in concrete space.

New magic object: a catalogue orb. I've added it to my running list. I wonder how it, like. Stores the information? Like how does it connect to the space/bookshelves/books to keep track of all the information? Some kind of ritual? Does it just... know its Space?

Raph gets to shine in the mystic department this episode - this time by throwing himself!

Very cool. It really feels like he's understanding it as more of an extension of himself, now.

And THEN.

Why, what is that? Is it circles? Is it circles-on-circles?? This time with some kind of script/characters involved? From a book called "Complete Compendium of Escape Rituals"?

Why yes, yes it is. Magic with rules that you can learn, baby! And it sure does look like what the Foot are using for their portals! That's one portal mystery down!

You do not understand the high I was riding when I saw that. I completely forgot what them getting Mayhem out of the mirror looked like.

Next is Operation Normal, where we get to meet Sunita! She's a sweetheart.

And very fashionable, huh? Anyways, when Leo said "Mikey found some invisibility paint", do you think that's a mystic paint? Mystic art supplies? Maybe could do stuff like the cosmetics/tattoo I'm assuming the Foot Leaders use for their flame effects.

Leo gets to show off a new variation of his portal power here.

First manipulation of an already-made portal! And so casual, too.

Let's see, last few things...

Sunita's brooch works the same way Big Mama's does - different color (matches the gem), but same effect.

Also - the slime explosion can do some damage.

And finally... The dark armor can be disguised. I don't think we've seen that yet? The teapot doesn't count - it looks like someone slapped a handle on that and called it a day.

This was a legit magic transformation; looks like some Hamato ancestors put more effort into hiding their part of the Dark Armor than others.

Also... Sunita felt no side-effects from this? None? After seeing what the gauntlets could do, I'm surprised she didn't get any extra abilities from these.

Anyways, shorter post, but I'm tired. See you next time!

[andbrokenmemories]

So it's weird how like. The Kennet girls are good at everything, aren't they? [pale spoilers ahead]

Like that's obvious, it's textual -- it's very textual, other characters being in something like awe over it over and over and over across the story. The girls are very good at this, and they have a deep well of power. This comes up continuously.

what's weird is thaaat a lot of the fanbase seem to like, enjoy that. Enjoy having protagonists who can play around with magic in a way Blake never ever could have. I kind of get that, I won't like shit-talk it too hard. (I do like Verona, y'know?)

But it's an interesting fact. Because Wildbow's the underdog protagonist guy! At least in action scenes, that's his whole thing! Taylor and Blake have to eat shit and die to claw their way to victory, and often those scenes work for me. And it's one of the things I think WB gets the most praise for? Like, from his established base. It's a conscious choice to not do that for Pale. He like, introduced the idea that this kind of wild practitioner would be especially powerful. He made that up for this book.

I wonder what that decision looks like -- after Ward, and Ward's issues, especially, since that seemed to be the first break from this. Underdog protagonists seem to be the default, for him; the thing he has most experience with. I've seen posts from him describing his process -- put characters against the wall without having a pre-planned out for them, so WB himself has to puzzle out exactly what they can use to make it out alive -- and he seemed to derive like... An actual enjoyment, out of it?

Yeah, there are fights in Pale where they're up against the wall... even one where, with Dire Consequences for us all, Wildbow had them lose because he couldn't see a way for them to win!

But it's not the same. I'd honestly say they usually lose because of their like, lack of full maturity -- their child soldier-y emotional rawness and uncertainty -- their lack of cohesion, as the book usually plays it. Lucy cannot stop John from joining the Contest because she can't hold her nerve against him. The girls cannot stop the murder plot from coming to fruition because they lack unity, aren't working together as a team. Emotional stuff. The girls have more tools in their box than any Wildbow protagonist before them, by far, but they can't always use them properly to get the W, for emotional reasons, for character reasons.

In theory, that's an interesting direction (maybe, possibly), and I should be relieved that Wildbow is trying something fresh. In practice... I've said I don't like Pale's fight scenes. I think Wildbow is plainly worse at this than the content of his previous works.

Part of this is seen in the Contest. Or, at least, how Wildbow Posts about it. If you can't tell, a specific WoG lives in my brain: Wildbow said once that he kept the story going past Break because he genuinely did not believe the trio could beat Maricica. I can imagine him doing his typical calculus for this, and what led him to that conclusion, maybe. For example, we've heard a lot about the ability of the Fae to manipulate stuff, aaaand to have the girls come along and undo all of that with minimal information to begin with wouuld sort of. Damage our belief in Faerie significance. Still, though -- cards on the table, here -- I think this was a Dumb and Bad choice. (It's a sidenote to this post, but I think it's very strange that, in-story the straw that breaks the camel's back is shown to be the Alabaster allowing shit to go on rather than throwing in with John, effectively a betrayer revealed moment -- a thing that, even if sorta his intention from the start, he could simply say 'aw beans i never really planned this out far enough' and just drop. for the sake of wrapping up a better story. and naturally i believe this would have been better also because it means we never would have fucking gotten White Woman Animus!! i digress. i digress.)

Maricica had weaknesses the story gave us to nibble on, and those weaknesses... are just kind of dangling threads, now? As of where I hopped off? like, guess she can't be that inexperienced with people if she became a goddess and started a cult and helped with all that red heron shit lol

So it's that thing I said, about fight scenes being more character driven. But then also, he's clearly thinking about this the same way as ever! As shown by his weird logic with framing the story going past Break as a thing he Had To Do, for Logical Reasons, or at least that weighing on the decision. a thing that is silly and i disagree with on it's face. right?

And then this shows in the sheer quantity of fight scenes -- if the girl's main limiter is internal emotional context and stuff........... uh... why are there so many fights? Why wouldnt the story naturally curve towards. having fewer fight scenes when theres no other way to square things away. that progress character arcs. whyyy do i care about fight scene 129 when i know how strong these girls are. whyyy are we fighting so many random others, and dedicating genuinely long segments of story to them, rather than montaging that shit? Getting it over with? If it has to be there at all? (for reference -- I just tried to think of a Random Pale Fight i fully don't think mattered. i selected the random like. angel summoner guy? with the fortnite constructor angel. that's a part of the musser invasion or whatever. this is a character with literally no substance, just a musser-side goon. From him entering the ongoing! fight to Lucy getting out of dodge is 4.6k words. Plague 12.7, the Mannequin fight, up to Mannequin leaving -- that's almost the entire chapter -- is 6.9k words. on the worm wiki, i saw there's a brief 'major events' summary of that chapter. i couldnt tell you the major events of the Pale chapter, of which that section of fight is like a third, maybe. lucy gets a bit more upset. lucy gets in a few quips against musser-side characters that actually matter but actually dont matter much to how that broader conflict is resolved. i guess.)

Wildbow writes any random fight the girls get into as being worth as many words as his fights in the past! the scrappy, pay-offy ones. bleh. My point in all this: you cannot simply set your protags up in the way I'm positing, here, and then continue to use the same vocabulary of every other serial anyway. it straight up doesn't work. it's exhausting. The Future is An Eternal Slaughterhouse 9000 Arc. Look, thats a criticism that boils down to 'web serials are too long'. And I'm not sure I care too much about web serials being too long! I have read longer web serials with longer fight scenes! I have written fiction with a longer average word count per chapter than Wildbow, at least during Worm! its a real criticism, but its not one im amazingly interested in personally. But the Kennet three could've had weaknesses to play around -- or at least, more weaknesses. We are in a Post-Pact world, and in this Post-Pact world, the magic in Pale really barely feels like it, uh, relies on discourse and presentation. like at all. And that seems like an option to give these characters obstacles! An option Wildbow gestures at during the Musser meta-arc!

but what struck me getting that word count comparison earlier, skimming that fight? The girls just aren't operating in that world. There's never a thought for presentation -- maybe sometimes, for a slight edge. But it never really matters, certainly not after the blue heron. They're using glamour as a workhorse tool, covering goblins in it for brief misdirects to get an edge in a fight; they're calling on the same shrine spirits over and over. They don't build up tools over a portion of story then cash them out for a satisfying win, they're just... strong. They have more items in their bags than Wildbow probably knows what to do with. Strong enough for just Lucy to dunk on any random set of practitioners, but not strong enough for the story to just skip that part, and not strong enough to just solve the plot until it's time to go fuck up Charles and end the story.

I know you could argue that I'm making this up, or that it's what some people prefer to what Pact was doing. But I just think it's not even what wildbow is good at! (and i always theorize that when wildbow is writing kind of bad, it's probably because he's not actually engaged or happy with what he's putting himself through. did he read a specific thing that made him personally excited to make the girls so versatile? I don't really know, but I don't get that vibe.)

And I have a couple of specific things I want to point out to try and prove this is like. a thing at all, to wrap up on: First, Glamour is used as this very, uh, soft magic thing, this very basic narrative tool. A pure mechanic of, like, mental states. If you're shaken, if you're uncertain, your glamour gives out on you -- if you shake your opponents, make them skittish, your glamour is better at misdirecting them. This is fiiine? But too vague for what Glamour is. Wildbow simply failed to properly present tradeoffs to one of his character's main action verbs, one that literally had those tradeoffs in Pact. And one last example to try and prove this: they dont even wear the hats and cloaks anymore duuude. Like, in my eyes: there was a very simple to read gambit being made, with the hats and masks and cloaks? You are awakening early, you will always have awoken early: You accepted an early shield against what that meant. A constructed image in place of the image of a fully-fledged adult, masking that youth; Whimsical and inherently magical, inherently wild. It's a very basic tradeoff, and one the story promises you it knows: even if they really would rather not have to go through the whole song and dance of suiting up, if it's tactically suboptimal or else they mature out of it and realise it's not for them, they will never be able to escape it -- not without giving up power. A mark accepted that cannot be given up. A mechanical restriction on their powersets to make up for some of their advantages, that also has some character relevancy. The Good Stuff.

except yeah it can. be taken off. it doesn't super matter. not really. they do plenty of magic without all the stuff on or even any of the stuff on -- it's rarely presented as an obstacle. it doesnt really matter. Because then, you see, they couldnt mature out of it and do cool stuff! it'd be. annoying. frustrating. they'd have to like. deal with changing past the natures they made for themselves. they'd have to. be characters. with character issues. that present themselves in fight scenes. you know?? what are we doing.

[inposterumcumgaudio]

Could you rant about Arthur and Sally’s relationship? It’s my favorite part of WHF and I’d love to hear your opinions about it

So before we get into Sally and Arthur specifically, I need you to understand something about how shit was. How shit still is in some places, where people are less terminally online and where there's generational ignorance.

Now you and I understand that a wide age gap in a relationship is a red flag. We've seen enough r/relationship_advice posts to know a guy who goes after young girls does so because they are easy to manipulate and mold. But we only know this thanks to the hundreds of nineteen-year-old girls posting about how mean their 30-year-old boyfriends are being to them and everyone else telling them exactly why that is.

In the world that these girls come from, the attention and admiration of an older man is quite flattering. Especially if you are a very pretty girl, but this man is telling you how smart and mature you are.

But I need to make sure this is understood too: I do not believe Mr. Hastings was grooming Sally. I don't think he was out trying to bag a teenage girl.

What I think what happened is, Sally enjoys the attention of men - older or otherwise - as she sees it as her greatest power in the world, especially since she thinks girls aren't worth her time. Arthur remembers specifically that boys would stop to watch her go by and she "always got a kick out of that". And without her mother to try to dissuade her from being so cavalier with this charm, she uses it indiscriminately with every man she meets. Including Arthur's dad.

Now Mr. Hastings should have had the good sense not to think anything of it. But again, it's a time where we don't have reddit for him to know about power imbalances in relationships. It's a time where you have to pick your partners based on geography which means even the prettiest girl has to compromise and pick the best of her options. And he's also a widower so there's not really any conflict as far as he can see since he's not married and Sally is sixteen and therefore leaving school soon which more or less makes her an adult as far as anyone thinks in the 40's.

It shouldn't have happened, but I can see how it did.

And I can see why Arthur gets so angry with her about it without ever really blaming his father for his part in it. To his thinking, she treated his father the same way she treats all her "friends" (all male "friends" because she thinks she's not like other girls) so it's no wonder Mr. Hastings took it to the logical conclusion.

And the thing is, you never actually see Sally blame Mr. Hastings either. She'll say she didn't have a choice, but she never says Mr. Hastings forced her. She doesn't blame herself either. She says sometimes things just happen whether you want them to or not. Which I think means Sally doesn't think of this situation as rape so much as a misunderstanding or, more likely, a transaction that she was only just then told what the exchange was.

Because her whole existence is transactional. She only does things for people if she can expect to call in a favor later. The way she frames it is that she had no choice because her housing hinged on pleasing Mr. Hastings. But she does indeed find somewhere to go, once Arthur finds out.

So this is the crux of conflict surrounding their relationship.

But I actually think this is tangential to their core personality flaws which would have prevented them from ever being happily together, Mr. Hastings or not. It's just the thing both of them fixate on to sabotage themselves.

They're both stuck on the vision of each other as children. And it's literally as they turn sixteen and are about to embark on adulthood when everything changes. The stakes are higher now, but because they diverged at that point, they can't really see each other beyond what role they played for each other as children.

To Sally, Arthur is her safe space because she can expect him to give her whatever she wants without expecting anything in return. He's the only guy in her world who "doesn't want just one thing" and seems to see her as more than a pretty face. She has all these memories of hiding away with Arthur somewhere and commiserating over their shared misfortunes.

Arthur, on the other hand, remembers all these same moments of deep friendship with Sally, but also remembers that "she was always so wonderful when she was there, but a girl like Sally always has so many better places to be, and better people to be with, or worse people that she prefers anyway for some reason. And sometimes she’d just hide in Percy’s old room in the attic and not come down."

He'd always played a role of convenience for her. Maybe that was okay when they were children, when a gangly dork would not get to hang around a popular pretty girl at all otherwise. But they're not in school anymore and the situation's a lot more serious, even disregarding that Arthur's feelings about Sally have matured.

Meanwhile, Sally's feelings about him really haven't. She thinks of him often, but only in terms of her missing the comfort he was when they were young. She never supposes about how he might have changed or who he might have become in her absence. To her, he exists in stasis and (if he'd just forget about the thing with his father) would be exactly the same as he ever was.

The great irony is that when they meet again, Arthur is the one who needs something. And if Sally could just have given it to him without asking for something in return first, they might have had a shot at more. Probably not a successful relationship because they are who they are, but it wouldn't have mercifully ended at her apartment door like it does.

I think it's the kiss that does it in, really.

Arthur has spent all this time playing court eunuch to her Queen of Wellington Wells, all this time with her charming every guy she comes across (including his dad) and never giving that same kind of attention to him.

And only now, when he's off on some fool's errand to make a trade with her, does she finally favor him with that kind of gesture.

He can't trust it. As frustrating as it was to be ignored as an option and as much as he always wanted it, to be acknowledged as one now? It makes him just another one of Sally's "friends" and how committed to any of them was she? It's part of the transaction.

It's really quite unfortunate that this is also the one time Sally ever wanted to do something for someone with no expectation of a returned favor, but necessarily couldn't. If she could have got the Letter of Transit for Arthur without asking him to fetch the cod liver oil, she would have. And if she could have done that, it wouldn't have been a transaction at all and then Arthur maybe could have felt secure in and special for that kiss.

It's better this way.

[toaarcan]

(please excuse my English I actually speak German) hello, huge Fiona fox fan here I have been reading lots of your rants about fiona, on how her character had lots more potential and that her relationship with scourge is heavily abusive (on which I really agree btw) and since their not many fiona fans here I just wanted to ask you since I literally have no one to talk to. In sonic the hedgehog issue 179 on page 14 sonic says a specific line dialogue that's been driving me crazy. He explains to tails that he hooked up with Fiona hoping that he would move on, but ALSO because he was still getting over Sally stating that "Fiona was there*. Which kind of feels like that even if Fiona had genuine feelings for sonic he would have been still thinking about her. Now I am really wondering could this be a reason Fiona cheated on him, since she felt again like getting burned? We never saw the process of Fiona meeting secretly with scourge, but I heavily theory that A. He could have lied to her at a lot of points and B. That just maybe he could have told her about sonic maybe not truly loving her. Either all of that is true or I'm just going crazy but what's your opinion?

Your English is better than my German, to need to apologise.

You're right about that, while Sonic says his primary motivation for getting together with Fiona was his terrible plan to help Tails, it's also pretty apparent that Fiona is a rebound girl for him. The timing of when the relationship started is much too obvious for that: He and Fiona start their relationship in Issue 155, the same one where Sally's forced marriage to Patch is announced. I have no doubt that this information stirred up all of Sonic's hurt feelings from Issue 134 and drove him toward the course of action he took.

Now, that doesn't justify what he did, what he did is still an awful thing to do to someone, but it does explain it a little better.

I don't think Fiona knew what was going on in Sonic's head during their relationship. If she did, she almost certainly would've brought that up as a point against him, instead of only referring to her traumatic backstory.

(Sidenote: I think her betrayal makes a lot more sense if you reorder some of the stories in the 170s so that Eggman's attack on Knothole comes first, and reopens all of her old wounds. Then it makes total sense for her to snap and accuse Sonic of being too weak- instead of a dumb "I think being good is weak and being evil is strong!" logic that so many shallow villains have, she actually has a point, and an obvious example, that after everything Eggman did to them, a repeat of what Robotnik did to her, the FF still let him go when they easily could've captured or killed him)

That said, I think it's likely that Fiona realised she was a rebound and this pushed her closer to accepting Scourge's advances.

I think Scourge lying to her should be taken as given. Probably about Sonic, definitely about himself. However, I don't think he knew for sure how Sonic felt, simply because Scourge doesn't understand Sonic at all, ironically enough. We can see as much from his attempt at a "One bad day" speech, he fully believes that Sonic is only a bad day away from turning out like Scourge himself did, but Sonic has arguably had a rougher life than Scourge ever did. We've seen him have plenty of bad days and never once has he turned into Scourge.

Scourge thinks everyone is worse than they actually are, in essence. I have no doubt that he presents his flawed perception of everyone to Fiona, why else would she, a character who owes her whole life to the support she's received from other people (first Nic, then the FF) suddenly turn around and declare that "You can't count on anybody?"

It's an idea that fits so little with what we know of her character and history that it more than likely came from someone else, like the known liar and manipulator she's suddenly 'romantically' entangled with.

That said, him not knowing about how Sonic felt doesn't mean he can't tell Fiona that Sonic doesn't love her. He is, after all, a liar, and likely playing to Fiona's fears and anxieties. If he realises that Fiona believes Sonic is using her as a rebound, he would absolutely have agreed with the notion despite not knowing whether it was true or not.

This is part of what frustrates me with Fiona's character: There's the pieces here to make something absolutely fantastic with her, and Archie just... didn't do that. Her existence pre-155 is largely an afterthought, from 155-171 she's "Sonic's shady girlfriend" and then post-172 she's "Scourge's girlfriend", and that's all she's allowed to be. Even her one outing as an independent villain (with her own team, because of course the character who believes you can't trust anyone has immediately gone and gotten herself another team) turns out to be setup for her getting Scourge back.

Whether you prefer her as a hero, villain, or somewhere in the middle, Fiona has enormous potential as a character, and Archie never used it.

[teaveetamer]

more on like. FE misogyny is like. Thinking about which characters are what gender and why. Like there's a reason why seteth has a daughter and not a son. There's a reason(s) why dimitris retainer is a man. Why Hubert, an underhanded and manipulative person, who nonetheless plays second fiddle to byleth (you) is a man instead of a woman. These are all very interesting decisions with a lot to think about irt gender, misogyny, narrative, and it's fuckin annoying that taking note of it is seen as evidence in itself of misogyny. Much of it has to do with female characters not allowed to be unappealing. (Tho this leads into why I enjoy Leonie for being allowed to be genuinely unappealing wrt to jeralt after remire). Reading your and Ezra's stuff on fe misogyny is really great cause I get to finally see people talking about this from like, a cultural and marketing sort of perspective.

To your last bit, anon: I think that's something a lot of people misinterpret when they read discussion of misogyny in media in general (and occasionally my posts specifically). Acknowledging that the world is kind of a fucked up place is not an endorsement of the world being a fucked up place. Arguing that pointing out misogyny is the ~true~ misogyny is like having a pipe burst in your house and insisting that every plumber who comes over to fix it is actually the cause of the leak.

Except it's not even that, because that assumes their own house is actually going to be affected by the leak. Most of these people don't have their lives affected by denying the existence of misogyny. It's more like your neighbor has a pipe burst and you're chilling in your window taking pot shots with a BB gun at every plumber who pulls up to the driveway to help fix it, then patting yourself on the back for "keeping your neighbor's pipes safe" when they all flee in terror. As your neighbor is literally sitting in six inches of water wondering why tf no one seems to be coming over to help with that pipe.

But anyway circling back to the first part of your message, yeah there are a lot of subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways the genders of characters play into stereotypes and archetypes we've come to be familiar with. There's a million examples of characters who just would not work the other way around, largely from an appeal/marketing standpoint, because of gender expectations. Sylvain the male shameless flirt is seen as a cool player but if he were a woman he'd be a slut. No one wants to marry "used goods" which is why we don't have a ton of female shameless flirt characters in FE.

A dad (Seteth) protecting their daughter (Flayn) to the degree where he'll try to screen and control the people (especially the men) she speaks to is seen as endearing and an extension of paternal duties, if a wee bit overprotective. A mother doing the same to her son would be seen as a creepy harpy engaging in emotional incest and stunting her child's natural development. Men find it humiliating when they're treated like children, but society expects women to be treated like that. That's why we don't have a whole lot of mommies with shotguns in FE.

If anything the idea of overcoming the overprotective father and being the one to usher a girl into womanhood (this sentence felt gross to type ew) is a power fantasy in itself. The fantasy of a woman being kept pure by some mechanism until a worthy person (i.e. the protagonist) is ready to claim her. There's stories through the ages of this kind of thing. Noble virgins (or devoted wifeys with husbands lost at sea) dutifully staving off waves of suitors until the right one, the worthy one, swoops in, proves their worth by some means, and sweeps her off her feet. If you think about it, that's really part and parcel of Hubert's role in the Edelgard-Byleth-Hubert trio. He's the clinger-on who the virginal woman rejects endlessly to show her purity and devotion, until her proper suitor comes. Her appeal would probably disappear like a puff of smoke if, say, she'd been FWB with Hubert for years before the story started and Byleth was just another notch in her belt.

I could probably make a whole post on that last one too tbh cuz you can point to a lot of really varied examples with the same undercurrent. Like, I'd say a story of a woman having tons of meaningless sex with people until her Worthy Man(TM) unlocks the key to her heart and opens her eyes to the beauty of making love (or whatever) follows the spirit of the trope even if it doesn't follow the letter of it. It's still a woman keeping some piece of herself (in this case her ability to form emotional attachment to the men she sleeps with) held back, exclusively to be shared with the Worthy Man(TM). What makes someone the Worthy Man(TM) can range from having the strongest bow arm to being the only one who understands the ~true~ her and makes her feel comfortable... but I'll stop here for now.

[waffleweirdo]

I finished tbf season 2! It was all around great, and I'd say overall it has been my favorite season by far!

All of the new characters were great, even if I do think Xiao Kuang Juan maybe overstayed his welcome a little bit.

Out of the new cast Lang Wu Yao and Xie Ying Luo were definitely the highlights. Lang is really cool, but also very interesting alongside Shang as his partner. Specifically their different beliefs in violence in service of the greater good. I can totally see how they'd get along and they have interesting differing opinions! Plus I'll be honest I'm a sucker for bard characters, seriously when Lang started singing the theme song it was just really cool.

Xie Ying Luo started off as a fairly simple villain, which there's nothing wrong with. Her plotting nature, and somewhat playful interactions with Shang made her enjoyable right off the bat, and in managing to steal part of the index she really proves herself as being a genuine threat. But what makes her really stand out is her overcoming the Seven Blasphemous Deaths and her search for purpose. I'm not even quite sure how to describe it, but her determination to defy it was just really impressive, and even if she was a villain her resolution with Shang felt really satisfying and was great.

Honestly I don't have a ton to say about Shang other than that he continues to be just so awesome because there are genuinely too many great moments! But the fact that he was so powerful he made crossing the wasteland of spirits easier for everyone on accident only causing himself more trouble is really funny. And my biggest takeaway from this season is his talk with Xie Ying Luo and his definition of strength. The idea that the strongest person out there is someone who can spare all their opponents and never be worried about them seeking revenge is just wonderful.

Lin Xue Ya was about the same for me this season. Getting to see his frenemies relationship with Shang cemented was nice, and seeing his usual antics is always fun (though its a bit funny that two times out of two he's sort of failed in the end when manipulating the villains, and seeing him pout is pretty funny).

The season as a whole really gave a greater focus on the sorcerous sword index which I thought was cool. Now that we've seen first hand the trouble it can cause the whole premise is really interesting to me. Essentially in a world filled with all the legendary swords and magical items that you hear about in stories there's just an insane amount of dangerous artifacts everywhere, and someone needs to make sure they don't destroy the world. Which I think is just really neat. This season did tone down the typical pulp adventure elements a bit, which I did admittedly miss at times, but overall I still really enjoy where the narrative went, and I'm excited for more!

[trainsinanime]

Netflix Tomb Raider

Right, let me try to get my thoughts a bit more sorted after watching the first episode.

Let's start with the obvious: First, I had a headache while watching this, so take everything I'm saying with a grain of salt. Second, I didn't like it very much, and this post will mainly be discussing why.

But first, let me say what I did like: I think Hayley Atwell is a great voice for Lara. I think the mansion fight was good. I think this version of Zip could potentially be fun.

With that out of the way, there are two main things: The story, and the way it's executed.

The story takes place after Shadow but mostly references the reboot game itself, tying it closely to what happened there and its characters. That means it inherits all the flaws that game had, but then it also doubles down on them. Even things that had gotten less annoying by Shadow are now fully back.

That means Lara is fully defined by her father figures and her relation to them. She's not doing any of what happens for fun, she's doing it because she hopes daddy (times two) will be proud of her. It takes only two minutes before she first hears praise from a father figure here. Nineties Lara Croft doing what she thought was right for her own reasons? Nah, can't have that. We're modern and emancipated and that means our heroine must be fully dependent on men. I am not fond of that.

This continues throughout the entire episode. Between Roth, Jonah, Zip and a random gentleman thief, Lara gets told over and over by men what to do and how to manage her emotions and heal from her trauma, and she gets chastised for any decision she makes herself. We could talk about whether that is sexist, but just as important is whether this is fun. For me, it's not.

The story also demands that we care about Lara's feelings about her dead mentor Roth, and her friendship with Jonah or Zip (but not that one random Spanish woman who was on screen only so the episode could pass the Bechdel test). Having played the games, I promise that I absolutely do not care about any of these relationships, and the show does nothing to make me care on its own terms either.

The opening features a scene where Roth insists that they steal an ancient box, and that they murder someone over it. Then he manipulates Lara into thinking that murdering this guy was absolutely necessary. The show seems to actually agree, but come on, the choice was, "let that guy kill Lara", "kill that guy" or "give that green box back to the guardians of the temple you just stole it from". You can't argue that murder was the best or only option here.

At the end of the day, the problem with the story is that I just don't care. The setup is plain old adventure story: At the start, Roth steals a thing (and Lara is also there). Some years later, someone steals it back. Lara will have to learn what that thing is and prevent disaster. Okay, but how do you make me care specifically? After all, we've seen this dozens of times. You make me care by making me care about the characters and their tribulations. Sadly, the tribulations are "sad that Roth is dead", and I cannot relate to that at all. The "all the men in my life are shouting at me telling me that I'm doing the whole being sad thing wrong" could be a nice conflict, actually, but the story doesn't see it that way. It insists that Jonah is right and Lara must learn to agree with that, instead of taking Lara's thoughts seriously.

That's the story. The other issue is the execution, and here's where I'm getting really controversial. All the reviews I've seen have praised the animation and the look of the show. And me, personally…

I just hate it. It's ugly. It's uninspired. Characters look stupid, and they're not particularly expressive, and they move in uninteresting ways through uninteresting environments. Frankly, Neo Yokio looked better than this.

Is something wrong with me that I just don't see the genius of this, or is everybody else insane? I had the exact same confusion around Netflix's Castlevania already, a show that has the same drawing style and in my opinion insufferable quippy dialogue, but everyone seemed to love that too for some reason.

Aside from looks, I also think the voice acting and dialogue aren't great. I love Hayley Atwell, "Agent Carter" is severely underrated, and I know Jonah's voice actor can deliver great stuff, he did so in the games. Both are trying their best here. But the dialogue direction seems to always be, "could you make it a bit more robotic, please?", especially for the minor characters. It doesn't help that the dialogue is just a giant heap of chlichés that we've seen over and over again. Maybe that is true to the Reboot game, but doing better was always an option.

Also, just a random aside, don't think I haven't noticed that Lara grunts and groans and expresses pain and distress all the time while the men (in particular Roth during the fight scene) generally don't. All more ways in which the job of the men is to be stoic and correct, and the job of Lara is to suffer.

All in all: I can't wait for the next reboot and for this era of Tomb Raider to be over.

[butterflydm]

2x8 - some thoughts this morning (mostly about rand)

The contrast for Rand between this and last season's finales.

Facing Ishamael alone in the dark vs alongside his friends in the light.

Going off by himself after the confrontation (with no one in Fal Dara being aware of his actions) vs being heralded by all of Falme.

Moiraine willing to kill him because she doesn't trust him not to fall to the dark vs being willing to do whatever it takes to support him because she does trust him.

And within this episode itself, we have Lanfear telling Rand she's the only one who cares about him (manipulative technique to try to keep Rand emotionally isolated and dependent on Lanfear) vs that beautiful ending of him being supported by all these people who genuinely care about him (and not the guy that he was 3000 years ago).

I loved the placement of where the heron is on Rand's palm. I always thought it was in the middle and it felt kinda awkward to me but it looked really good the way that they did it.

book spoilers through the shadow rising are below

I am sad that the /wot subreddit freaked out over Rand's power progression getting smoothed (just like they did last finale) because they were doing so much better for most of this season. Alas, sigh. /wotshow is somewhat better, at least.

But, yes, about Rand's power progression. One of the big things about book 4 is that Rand is desperate enough to learn the One Power that he is willing to use one of the Forsaken as a teacher. That means that Rand needs to not be a powerhouse badass. The books mostly handled it by powering Rand up at the end of each book and then depowering him back at the start of the next one, but a lot of that was buyer's remorse on Jordan's part, imo, as he realized he'd accidentally made Rand too strong for the next part of the story. If Rand had already had those big power moments from the books, then it would be jarring that Rand is desperate enough to let one of the Forsaken that close to him (especially after everything with Lanfear); this isn't a book so we can't get Rand's internal justifications for the choice. The viewers need to believe that Rand NEEDS Asmodean. We've seen that Rand has raw strength, but his control is shaky and he doesn't have anyone to learn from.

The show turning Rand's growth into something more steady is good, imo. Right now, even as untrained as he is, Rand can run circles around non-channelers without thinking about it (killing Turak and his entire squad), but he's unprepared for facing other channelers because he lacks finesse and control. So... he needs a teacher and Logain didn't work out.

Enter Lanfear's way of contacting Rand while not contacting him. This actually feels like a clever way to handle it -- that Lanfear might use Asmodean as her proxy to stay informed about Rand while covertly helping him out, since she's kinda in time-out right now.

Also -- I've had a thought about the plotline that Ingtar didn't get... what if it goes to someone else? Mostly, I am wondering this because Lanfear specifically said, "Light protect you, Rand al'Thor" at the end of the episode. There are none who walk so long in the dark that they cannot seek the light?

I've also had a thought about Siuan. I know there are a bunch of theories out there that basically boil down to "she wasn't acting the way she really feels in her heart" and most of them don't really do anything for me. I just don't feel like the evidence is there and Siuan's actions are reasoned out and clearly explained in the episode.

...and then we learned in this episode that Ishamael did not want Rand in Falme. Not yet.

So everything that Lanfear did in 2x7 was entirely of her own design. The only thing she did on Ishamael's behalf was deliver Mat to him. But she and Ishamael were not working together to bring Rand to Falme.

So I think that there's real potential that Ishamael has continued screwing with Siuan's dreams this season; because we can reasonably guess that he was the one who gave her the idea of Moiraine taking the Dragon to the Eye of the World, and we've seen both Ishamael and Lanfear playing around in TAR this season, and compared to the tiny bit we got about Compulsion, we have gotten a LOT of exposition about TAR and multiple scenes set there.

Rand believed that Ishamael wanted him in Falme, but he was wrong. Ishamael didn't think he was ready yet.

...but if Rand is locked up in the White Tower for months? Shielded from the One Power and helpless? Completely isolated from anyone he cares about? Maybe then making a deal with the Dark One would start looking a lot more tempting.

And all of sudden... we've got motive (Ishamael wants to break Rand emotionally), means and opportunity (TAR/dreams, which we know he has access to), which were things that were missing from the other theories that I've seen.

Briefly: the 'it was all a ruse by Siuan' theory lacks proper motive imo -- attempting to trick Rand in this way is just as likely to backfire and make him unwilling to ever trust Moiraine again and Moiraine should absolutely know that by now; and the 'Siuan is under compulsion' theory lacked proper opportunity because we saw how Siuan brushed Liandrin off in 2x6 and she's been traveling all season so Traveling or Skimming to find her in order to Compel her would be more difficult, for the same reason that Lanfear didn't Travel when she was trying to chase Rand in 2x5.

I am also thinking about how the various changes that the show made will affect some storylines in the future. Renna, Seta, and Suroth's early deaths definitely impact a storyline later on and I definitely want to unpack that at some point (did Suroth die? I will double-check when I do my rewatch).

I really want to talk about how much I deeply loved the choices they made with Mat's storyline but I think I want to do my rewatch first, because I'm pretty sure my brain blanked out for parts of it because I was so happy. Everything about Mat in this episode was just so beautiful.

But there has been so much Mat foreshadowing for Rhuidean and certain other future things that I do find it confusing when people say that the show is going to skip those things for him. Maybe the fact that Ishamael's 'past lives tea' was confirmed to be a lie will make some of those people think twice about their assumptions?

Oh! The glorious contrast of Ishamael, LTT's BFF in his past life, being the "betrayer of hope" and then Perrin giving Mat the Horn and telling him to take it to Rand, saying, "you're his only hope". That's so good, that's so tasty, I can't wait to dive into the Ishy-Mat compare-contrast.

I plan to write up a post about my thoughts about where we might go in s3, and I'll post that next week sometime. This weekend is for my rewatch and my deep dive, and I'm really looking forward to it. So much happened in the episode that I know there's a lot that I missed talking about last night.

[valer203]

Chapter 6-The Garden of Eden

It wasn't very visible behind all the fire but now that the chaos has subsided the duo saw the beauty of nature in the Gardener's gigantic greenhouse if it could even be called that at this point. Multitudes of trees full of fruits, fields of different beautiful flowers, even some crops growing in certain places. This place could be a home for dozens of people. Even some birds and some other animals decided to use it as a quiet and peaceful shelter. -Wow…that's absolutely breathtaking. Feels like a…Garden of Eden.-Detective was the first to snap out of his awe. -Oh well thank you. I'm glad you like it. I've been enchancing my garden from the moment i got my new…Gift as you said. Well right after i managed to fend of the horde at least. I even got some roots to feed the Garden from the nearest river and other places. In moderation of course. Don't be afraid to pick and eat the fruits by the way. I made sure they are edible. -Oh thank you. That's very considerate of you.-Detective immediatelly took one apple (at least it looked like an apple), thought a bit and then took the second and offered one to the Shadow.-You want some? -Oh…yeah thank you.-The Shadow was still in a bit of a shock. -Sooo i see your Gift is controlling organic matter. -Well i didn't try flesh because i'm not really knowledgable in that field but yeah pretty much i guess. -Interesting. I got what i like to call the All-Seeing Eye. I perceive everything in perfect detail and it seems i can even look into the past! Imagine that! We figured that out quite literally just before we've heard the explosion. -Huh that's quite specific. I assume you are…some kind of detective? -Bingo. It's my passion. It seems all the people with certain passions in different fields got Gifts that fit to them while the others…you know. -Yeah it's a tragedy. So many people turned into monsters in a flash. -Yeah it happened too fast. Like it was planned or something. I hope i get to figure it out someday. -I'm sure you will.-The Gardener gently pet him on his head like he wasn't a grown man but an aspiring growing child. The Detective was surprised but welcomed it since there was no ill intent and honestly speaking it was pretty comfy. -Oh and the little Shadow over there got darkness manipulation…we think. With my time seeing revelation i'm not sure these gifts are that simple anymore. -You seriously gonna call me like that in front of the others? -Yeah it's a cute nickname. Cute like you are sometimes. I like it. I think it fits you. The Shadow got a bit red hearing such blatant compliments without filters.-S-stop saying such things you weirdo! I swear it feels like you don't know how to keep quiet about anything. The Gardener chuckled in delight-Aww you are both so cute it makes me wanna hug you. You don't mind? -Yayy huggies! -Are you a child or something? -Eh we are all children. Some just don't accept it yet. And afterall what's so bad in hugs? It's just good time with no downsides.-Said the Detective already in the Gardener's embrace.-Come ooon you'll like it. And don't try to hide your red face i can still see it. -Fine! As long as it makes you shut up.-The Shadow awkwardly accepted the lovely hugs from the Gardener. -Not that bad eh? -I guess it's sigh not that bad.-The Shadow relaxed. Her breathing calmed down and in a half a minute she…was out cold sleeping like a baby in the motherly embrace of the Gardener. -Wow i haven't seen anyone fall asleep that fast. She must have stressed quite a lot or maybe there's another reason. Doesn't matter for now. She's adorable like that isn't she huh?-The Detective whispered to not wake her up. -Mhm she is indeed. -Can we stay in your garden for now? -Of course make yourself at home. I'll look out for her. -Thank you very much. The Detective stayed a bit watching the cute scene and then gone on to look around the place not forgetting to take back the journal first.

Night of March 26-27 2026: So we rested until the night to go out and decided to look around the city a bit. The infected didn't really react to a moving blob of darkness though we did need to be quiet. We then decided to get onto a big residential building to look around the neighbourhood. The door to the attic was locked and while little Shadow was breaking in the nearby apartment i decided to do my mental exercise and guess what? I discovered that i can see the goddamn past! Like straight up 4d rewind in my vision! It's insane! I wonder what else can i do? No what else can we all do? Nevermind. While we were doing that an explosion happened. The infected immediatelly started to run there and we followed suit. Turned out it was another gifted Pyromaniac attacking yet another gifted Gardener. The arsonist was obviously insane so we decided to help the Gardener. Well i immediatelly decided to go and do that. Not gonna lie i almost got incinerated and little Shadow saved me. She was…obviously pissed about me rushing in but we talked it out. I need to learn to act in a team. Anyways the Gardener turned out to be a very sweet lady who gave us shelter in her giant greenhouse that she turned into a straight up Garden of Eden. I've even seen a few animals. Her gift seems to allow her to control organic matter though she seems to use it with flora only (at least for now). I wonder if a hypothetical surgeon would use it to fleshcraft. Anyways she gave us some good hugs. Little Shadow even fell asleep in her embrace. It was SOOOO adorable! For such a serious person little Shadow sure as hell can be cute as hell. I'm currently scouting out the place. We will probably stay here for the night so that's the end of this entry for now. See ya! The Detective then proceeded to look around the place pointing out the possibility of some cool treehouses and the overall peaceful vibe of the place and then fell asleep in a good comfy place.

[lesbiansanemi]

I know i(The blood art and Masachika anon) said that'd be the last time, but I'm curious. What all would Tamayo do to manipulate her family?(Referring to the "Shed work with Masachika" part of your answer)

Hehe, welcome back! And oof.... I mean really, what wouldn't Tamayo do? She's convinced that because she loves the Kizuki, everything she does to/for them is completely necessary. She can love them better than any other parent could, and she'll do whatever she can to keep them close so she can do that

So far, we've seen her most explicit and perhaps demented manipulation with Kyojuro. There are a couple reasons for that. One of them being that he was her first genuine victim, and there was no one around to witness what she was doing (except Yushiro, who, ofc, believes Tamayo can do no wrong), no one to be like "hey this is kinda fucked up maybe hit the breaks." But also because she's still so frenzied from losing her initial human family, then Yoriichi and his family, and even Kagaya left her. She's desperate, so she's less willing to be patient and subtle with Kyojuro. A lot of the other Kizuki got precision work whereas he was kinda just hacked to pieces

Forcing him to watch Senjuro eat humans and acting as if Kyojuro's (justified and normal) discomfort and disgust with that is a rejection of his little brother, "gently" suggesting he start killing humans before he was even a demon, orchestrating him having to agree to become a demon in front of Senjuro so if he said no, again, it would seem like a rejection of his little brother, bringing him to eat Shinjuro just after he turned and before he could genuinely consciously think about and consider what he was doing, and, of course, manipulating his memories and interchanging pieces of her and Ruka so it's more difficult for Kyojuro to separate them in his memories.... Yeah. Like I said. What wouldn't she do....

Again, he got a lot of the worst of it, but some similar tactics persist. One of her most common moves is to put someone in a situation where it seems like she's giving them a choice, and it's a decision they come to on their own, when really.... they never really had a choice. We see it when she turns Kanae and Sanemi into demons, making it seem as if it is fully their choice to turn. We see it when she insists that Tanjiro stay with them in the Infinity Palace

Another one is ensuring she is always the one there when various Kizuki are at their lowest. Why did she go to comfort Shinobu after Kiyo's death instead of Kanae? Why did she go to personally find Sanemi when he went back to his childhood home? She wants and needs them to latch onto her, and being their focus and main source of comfort during moments like that is a good way to make sure that happens

There are, of course, some things that could be up to reader interpretation.... Did she wait for Gyomei's kids to die before reaching out to him on purpose? Did she tell the Kizuki they couldn't ask Mitsuri to become a demon until she was dying? Could she actually have done something to save Shizu, but simply didn't? Those are things I've purposely left very vague, and as I said, it's sort of up to the reader to decide how fucked up they want her to be and if they think she would go that far. If they think she chose some of her victims beforehand, and merely waited for them to experience tragedy for her to exploit before reaching out to them

So in regards to what I said about Masachika, he basically would have gotten some similar psychological mind fucks as other Kizuki. She just simply did not find him to be an "easy" target, nor was he someone she latched onto

Ultimately, my whole goal with Tamayo within this AU was kind of to go into a Mother as horror. It's a concept I see in media from time to time, but generally it tends to lean more towards the mother not truly loving her children, wanting to use them, or sometimes the children being the horror for the mother. Which I can enjoy these! But specifically I like and want to explore the utter horror of a mother who truly and genuinely loves her children, and even if it means hurting and controlling them, that doesn't make the love any less real to her, or the children.

Her manipulation is just one of the main ways she accomplishes that. In fact, she doesn't even view it as manipulation. It's tender love and care

Anyways, I hope that, kind of? Answers your question

[navree]

I love House Tyrell too !! ❤️❤️❤️ That’s who really knows how to play the Game of Thrones - looking at you Olenna 👀 -

Speaking of House Tyrell, don’t you think that what Margaery was accused for, I mean adultery and disloyalty because she too enjoyed the company of handsome men, was very similar to what Rhaenys was accused for? 🤔 Was the concept the same for both of them? Are they really guilty? Honestly, they seem to have many similarities - like being shrewd and maybe even manipulative politicians - and I would love to read your thoughts ❤️

There's some similarities, but not a whole lot. The main thing with the accusations against Margaery is that they're not whispers at court like it seems to have been with Rhaenys, these are legal accusations of treason. Margaery is currently waiting to be tried, in what amounts to a Westerosi court of law, for committing high treason against the king, her husband, by engaging in affairs with other men. These are allegations being made publicly and specifically with the intent to prove her guilty of a crime. In Rhaenys's case, these appear to have amounted little more to the occasional rumor, certainly never anything as formal as what Margaery's going through.

There's also the place they're in as queens when any allegations of impropriety are being made. Margaery is the wife of a king with very little authority, since Tommen is like eight years old and isn't anywhere near power right now, and she herself has no way of cementing any power the way a queen typically would, since she's sixteen and it is generally frowned upon for sixteen year olds and eight year olds to consummate a physical relationship. Rhaenys, on the other hand, had been Aegon's wife for a while, and was very clearly favored by him, and had cemented her place in his life as his preferred romantic and sexual partner in a way that was clearly visible to everyone. That's probably why there wasn't anything beyond the occasional rumor of her liking comely young men, because it wouldn't have been able to get that far with an authoritative king who wouldn't take those accusations against his wife sitting down.

So on that front, they're both in very different situations, with Margaery's being far more precarious, but the original concept is kind of the same, since the idea of "this powerful woman is actually a secret slut" is something we've seen not only throughout history, but still being done to modern female politicians and leaders today (that or calling them frigid robots).

Is Margaery guilty? Honestly, no. It's been a good while since I read AFFC, but it seems to be pretty clear that all of this was made up out of whole cloth and all orchestrated by Cersei because she wanted Margaery out of the picture in order to forestall the coming of Maggy's prophecy. She convinces people she knows to claim that Margaery was unfaithful, or that they were unfaithful with Margaery, and all of those people recant their charges. The only one who doesn't is the Blue Bard, who is very explicitly written as having been tortured into confessing to the point where he's gone mad as a result of the ordeal. No one was concocting any rumors that Margaery was unfaithful or promiscuous before Cersei decided to do her thing, and it's pretty clear not only to the reader, who has access to Cersei's thoughts, but also to a lot of the people in King's Landing, that these allegations just straight up aren't true.

Is Rhaenys guilty? A bit harder to say. Unlike ASOIAF, F&B is not a proper narrative, where you can get into people's heads and see their thoughts and motivations. It's a history book, without the access to inner monologues and closed door conversations and private accountings that a narrative with POV and characters can have. And this section of F&B is, as I've said repeatedly, really just not one that has a lot of information about the people it's talking about, and certainly never anything from their perspective. So, while we can't ever know for certain whether Rhaenys did or didn't have affairs, I'm pretty certain that she didn't. The main point of evidence just seems to be that a) she patroned singers who happened to be young, we know that her patronage had a distinct propagandist bent that was her primary motivator and b) that Aenys didn't really act like Aegon, but those rumors about Aenys are explicitly stated to have died away the second Aenys was able to bond with Quicksilver (and in general, I'm willing to cut a toddler going through a mental breakdown because his mom was very suddenly killed in action some fucking slack).

As to whether Margaery and Rhaenys are similar, maybe. They're both intelligent and they both possess a clear understanding of the political landscape, and appreciate using politics to shape how the kingdom is run as opposed to a more militant approach, and they're both well loved by the populace and appear to know how to use that to their advantage. But we don't really know all that much about Rhaenys, and meanwhile with Margaery, since we're not in her head and we view her through people who have a pretty distorted view of the world (Sansa and Cersei), so we don't necessarily have the clearest view on her either. I think Rhaenys is also just a bit more settled, she enters the history books already as a woman in her mid-twenties, where Margaery is still just a teenager, and as such has a bit more mastery over herself and the world around her than Margaery currently does.