#Trying to fix things doesn't erase those said things

[theographos]

They all became what everyone said they couldn't be. All except Toby that is...

Once again i'm sharing my Trollhunter propaganda onto my loved ones, and by that I mean trapping them in the same room as me and forcing them to watch the show. (with consent) And this time, it's my bestie who has to go through that. And as I rewatch the show, I think about what I see and compare it to the rest of the franchise.

Jim, despite everyone and himself telling him he couldn't, became the Trollhunter in his very own way.

Claire, despite Morgana saying otherwise, became the new owner of the Shadowstaff in her very own way.

Blinky, despite Vendell and overall the whole Troll market telling him otherwise, became the mentor of a brilliant Trollhunter in his very own way.

AAARRRGGHH!!!, despite the Gumms Gumms and Queen Ursuna saying otherwise, became a fighter for the right cause and left his role as Gunmar's spawn for good. Or in other words, he learned how to be a fighter in his very own way

Toby, despite the plot telling him otherwise, became a hero fitting the common standards of heroism in medias and a hero fitting the Tales of Arcadia's standards.

But wait... Toby's character development doesn't really make sense with the rest of the main characters now, does it ?

No it has nothing to do with the fact that Toby is a "fleshbag"

So I already discussed on how the screenwriters could have given a more interesting role for Toby in another post, but I didn't deeply explained why in terms of storytelling.

First and foremost, no I do not think that Tobias would have been better if he wasn't a human, this post is more because I believe that Aliens and Toby lack "plot important" features (except for the movie) (waiting a whole franchise to give that kind of feature to a character or an important specie in your story isn't something we should acclaim). So I thought of ways to kill one bird with two stone, and give plot-interesting features to both the race and the character. Plus I think it's more interesting to think of solutions that fits the already established universe, and then think of solutions that fits my way of writing stories.

Second of all, yes the human bestfriend of a character can be wonderfully done, like in Teen Wolf for example. From the start we meet Scott McCall, the main character, and his bestfriend Stiles Stilinski. Throughout the whole show they are exposed to supernatural phenomenon, the entirety of the cast becomes linked to the supernatural world either by being hunters or by being a supernatural being. Everyone except Stiles.

And despite being human and a comic relief character, he is relevant to the plot. He is the "detective" of the group, he is always the one noticing strange things and finding a solution to the current threat they're dealing with. He is also incredibly funny, voluntarily or not, and the screenwriters take their sweet times showing how hard the plot is taking a toll on the characters through Stiles. Which means we see him having panic attacks, doubts, nightmares, etc.

And guess what ? He is the fan's favorite character ! In the last season, when Stiles's actor couldn't be more present due to an injury, it showed. You could feel the lack of Stiles in most the scenes, and the bestest parts were the scenes in which he appeared, also because they came up with an excuse to explain why Stiles isn't as much present as before.

But that excuse is so well done that when you see Stiles again, you're not only relieved to see him well, but also very interested because suddenly the plot drives forward so quickly. If you take away Stiles, the plot isn't going anywhere (because he was the one investigating most of the supernatural threats), and even the serie isn't that interesting anymore : it's less funny, less human and even.

Heck, the plot wouldn't even exist without Stiles ! In the beginning of the show Stiles takes the main character in the woods because they're looking for a dead body (dumb teenager idea)(his dad is the sheriff so it's not that weird). And in those woods, the main character ends up lost, gets bitten by a werewolf and the story starts.

So yes, a human bestfriend can be interesting in the story in an emotional point of view, he can be relevant to the plot and have an interesting dynamic within the main group.

Dreamworks isn't good with "bestfriend" characters

Trollhunters is in many ways similar to How to Train your Dragon. While Hiccup is trying to protect dragons following his own morals even if they differs from the rest of his village, Jim is trying to protect trolls following his own morals even if differs with the rules of Trollhunting. Of course both franchise have their own identity, and not everything is similar to the other. But they do share the fact that they're both animated by Dreamworks.

Yet I see one major problem that the HTTYD franchise had who's also present in ToA : The bestfriend character has nothing more than a "helping hand" kind of role. Astrid is interesting and has plot relevance, just like Claire, but they're more the love interest kind of person. Stoik, Valka and sometimes Gobber have plot relevance as Hiccup's parent figures and/or mentor, kind of like Blinky, Strickler and Barbara. I think I could compare AAARRRGGHH!!! with the dragons in some way. He has a link with the main bad guys of the show, just like the dragons (dragons and dragon hunters) he has that loveable side like the dragons and big fighting skills like them. (I'm not saying that AAARRRGGHH!!! is similar to an animal, i'm saying that his role plot-wise is similar in some ways to the role of the dragons in HTTYD)

But when we take a look at Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Fishlegs, even if they have distinctive character traits from one another and some sort of character development in some episodes of the shows, in terms of plot their role are basically "well the main character cannot do everything on his own, plus we need humor". Some episodes are based around them, just like for Toby, but no villains are directly linked to them, no plot points are directly linked to them. They're only in the plot because they are the friends of the one who's relevant to the story, whether it's the dragons, Hiccup or the rest of the Trollhunter team.

Toby, just like Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Fishlegs is a supporting character. Yes he has helped a lot but more because they needed a third hand more than because they needed his specific competences. And no Warhammer isn't what I can call a competence, since Jim's status as a trollhunter works with and without his weapon, and Claire's shadow magic has been awaken by the shadowstaff and even when it ends up being broken into pieces, she is still relevant without her weapon.

Warhammer was something that Toby wanted a lot, couldn't use, so they put a curse on it to kill two bird with one stone. The biggest competence that he had so far in Trollhunter was his dental problems. Without that, they wouldn't have meet Gladys the changeling or they wouldn't have found the Janus order. Because the rest of the time it's just luck. Luck isn't a competence, it's literally just luck.

In terms of a fighting team, Toby doesn't have a distinctive role.

Jim is the front fighter. He is the one that is going to go straight to the enemy.

Claire is the mage, even if she knows how to fight, her main feature in combat scenes is her magic.

AAARRRGGHH!!! is a tank. He is strong and big, and is able to take on bigger enemies and take a lot of damage upon him.

Blinky is a councellor, he might not be the best at fighting but he will be able to come up with a strategy based off his knowledge as an historian, and also serve as some sort of therapist and moral compass, giving back faith and the will to fight to his comrades.

I have a hard time understanding Toby's role is this team (combat-wise) other than "the helping hand". The moral compass is already occupied by Blinky, he is hardly a tank since AAARRRGGHH!!! can take upon the offensive and defensive aspects of that role. He cannot be the "troll-nerd" one who knows everything about troll culture since Claire and Blinky already take upon that role. The best I could come up with is either the one who deals with humans, even if when it happens it's always more or less accidental and he is not comfortable in those situations (or not good, like when they had to exchange the formula with Vendell's staff), or again a helping hand, a sort of plus one in case there are a lot of ennemies or everyone else has a task and that problem must be taken care of right now.

That's why I proposed that he could be a healer. Not a very good one, since that would just make the team invicible (most of the times their difficulty comes from injuries or being tired, if you have a character that can fully help those problems there is not a lot of hardships).

Truthfully I have a hard time thinking of an actual role he could have within the team. Because being the "plus one" is already the role of the Creepslayerz.

It has to fit with the serie's message

Like I said in the introduction a recurring theme for the main characters is that people around them do not believe they are fit to become what they're supposed to be or what they want to be. A some sort "against all odds they managed to become [insert role]" if you'd like.

As I have established before Tobias is more of a "helping hand" kind of role, and no one has ever kept Toby from being a helping hand other than him. (Meanwhile every other main characters in Trollhunters doubt themselves because of everyone telling them to do so.)

The only thing he has been kept from doing by other characters (especially the villain) is to be the hero. He is only a human with nothing else, he can help but he can't make a difference on his own. But if we continue to follow the story's theme, he would need to become a hero in his very own way. To claim that title and to use it in a way that is most definetly his, whether with his own competence or his own moral compass.

Toby doesn't have that, since he became trollhunter after Jim, after Jim proved that humans can be trollhunters. He would only be repeating Jim's story with some differences, but the struggles would be the exact same. Meanwhile Claire is having her very own difficulty because she has her very own role as a hero. Her struggles are similar, but not completely the same.

See, when I talked about alien!toby it was because it was easy to tell yourself that aliens might not recognize Toby as one of their own, which could create some sort of "you want to be like us but you'll never be, you're just a human/too bad at it". It's also easy to imagine Toby having trouble with that part of him, either physically or mentally. After all he always thought he was a human, learning that you're part alien is a whole pre-written identity crisis.

And yes even his sacrifice at the end of RotT doesn't really fit the story's themes. Yes Toby saved the world in his own way, but what I don't like about it is the fact that he is considered a hero because he sacrificed himself.

He is not a hero because of who he is, he is a hero because of what he has lost. This is a one time kind of heroism, because as you might guess you do not come back from the dead every so often. I am not saying that he shouldn't have sacrificed himself, i'm saying that every main character became a hero before trying to sacrifice themselves. You saw a big part of their competences before that, but like I said Toby doesn't have particular competences in the show.

It still fits the theme "don't think, become" of the show, but if we look on the plot from afar it means that Jim had to fight to become a hero, Claire had to fight to become a hero, same for AAARRRGGHH!!!, Blinky had to lead to become a hero and Toby had to die.

This is quite a horrible thought don't you think ? That the only way for one of the main character to be fully recognized as a hero in the plot is to die. It worked in some shows, especially for morally grey characters, but throughout this whole post I showed you how Toby had nothing meaningful given to him, and the only thing he always had was ripped from him.

This is not something carefully planned, it's just that they did not cared.

Nothing in the whole franchise justify the tragedy that is Tobias's character arc. Changelings became heroes, Gumm gumms can be heroes, humans too, except for Toby.

Toby is left with crumbs. No magical ancient weapon, just a warhammer that doesn't even have a story worth mentionning in the show. No cool and original duty, just the one that his bestfriend had and who decided to give it to him to make him happy. A big act of heroism, that only Jim will ever remember because this happened in another timeline.

His role as trollhunter, his warhammer, his role as "protector of arcadia" at the end of Trollhunters, even his dynamic in the group is merely a pat on the head in hopes that it will make him shut up and comply. And while some characters are beautiful tragedies, Tobias is not an intentional one. If it was one, you would have seen it coming. If it truly was meant to be a tragedy, the writers would have dropped signs, they would have portrayed it in a particular way.

Even if they lacked time in the later seasons of Trollhunters and Wizards, they had time in 3Below. They had 2 seasons to give anything to Toby, whether tragical or magical.

But they didn't, so nothing shows that they intentionally did it. I even think that they did realize what they had done at some point, and their only way to arrange things was to make him die so that he could finally be a hero.

A hero that only one character will ever remember in the show, because they couldn't even give him that glory, it had to be reaped away from him in one way or another. Because at the end of RotT, in terms of timeline, it never happened, or at least it didn't happen yet.

In conclusion to all of that, I will repeat what I have said a thousand times in this post : Toby wasn't done justice with this movie. He didn't have the ending he deserved, and his story arc in my opinion isn't really a story arc. It's more like him complying and shutting up about his situation because he was given something that looks shiny, but holds no real importance nor deep meaning (or some twisted meaning).

The writers did not want to include Toby in the plot for most of the franchise, and when they did it was in the only way they knew of : something that looks shiny and cool but is in reality just a way to shut everyone up and move on.

[lemotmo]

I didn't even realize some of this.

Q. You liked Sick Day though, you said so yourself. So I'm a little confused to see you criticize it because that doesn't fit with liking an episode. I kind of feel like you're not going to be okay with certain people getting the spotlight over others and so you should just say that. Buck gets plenty of focus. He's not being ignored.

A. I did like the episode. I have been open about that. But I have also been open about the cartoonish level villain being a bit OTT for me and the glaring absence of Eddie. You can critique something you like. Finding fault doesn't erase enjoyment. I get why they did both things. It's not a 'who done it' storyline. They didn't want to waste time having people try to figure out who the villain is so they made it so obvious it was a little cartoonish in execution. I have also said that I think we were supposed to notice Eddie's absence, I believe that was the point. That doesn't erase the fact that he should have been there.

I haven't really framed any of these replies around Buck but since you brought him up, I will explain. Buck hasn't had a storyline since the lightning strike in the back half of season 6. He has had no real storyline focus since then. He has been on and has been involved in other storylines but he hasn't had a storyline of focus since the lightning strike. His bi awakening doesn't count because that was told in one half of one episode. That's not a storyline. Then they stuck him in a relationship with an actor Oliver clearly doesn't get along with, an issue that seems to be a cast wide thing at this point with that particular actor. So they kept Buck in the relationship in name only and showed very little context of said relationship because the point of that particular relationship had nothing to do with that actual relationship. The point of that relationship was to kick off the Buddie storyline which Tim, inexplicably, decided to tell alongside this god awful Vertigo storyline for Eddie. A storyline that has now been dragged out a full year and a half. That's a problem for both Buck and Eddie as characters. The Eddie storyline has been going on for almost 18 months at this point and we still have no clear resolution. Because it was a poorly constructed storyline from the very beginning. It was a bad original story idea that has been dragged on to the point of nauseating for all involved. And I give Tim credit for trying to fix it but taking 18 months to fix it is inexcusable, especially since it's still requiring Eddie to be separate from the rest of the main cast.

In those 18 months how much screen time has been devoted to multiple Bobby storylines? He resigned from the 118. Took a consultation role on HotShots, a storyline Tim dragged out over 5 freaking episodes btw, got involved with the cartel and lost his home. Came face to face with his estranged mother. Went on a cruise that sank, and helped his wife land a plane. That's 6 different storylines told while Eddie is still going through the Vertigo bullshit. Seven now if you count what's coming as a result of Sick Day and Lab Rats. How about Athena? She had the same cruise ship mishap. The same cartel burned my house down storyline. Revisited her past with an inmate transfer that led to her being in the plane Bobby had to help her land. She had the crazy rookie racist cop partner storyline. The shipping cart vigilante, only one episode but it was more than half the freaking episode. The 911 serial killer Maddie kidnapping storyline. That's six separate storylines for Athena, again all while Eddie's one plot is still unresolved. It's lazy. I understand that the Eddie/Christopher storyline could not and should not have been resolved over the course of one episode but there's been plenty of storytime to devote to it; Tim just used way too much of that time on the same two characters, or on nonsensical Brad bullshit, and that's a legitimate problem at this point.

Dragging the storyline out for so long has made Buck stagnant as well. I understand why they're telling the Buddie storyline the way they are. The problem is we get an episode or two of momentum and then we completely lose that momentum to spend time on episodes like this biohazard stuff, which is in no way more important than your character driven episodes. Yes episodes like this have value and merit, but they should be timed appropriately within the season. This event was not. And we also now have proof that the audience didn't like Eddie not being involved. So it wasn't a decision that was beneficial to the show over all. Pointing that out is not an unfair criticism. It's an ensemble show. Spending a year and half on multiple storylines for two main characters at the cost of real and necessary movement in one single storyline for 3 other main characters (Eddie, Buck and Christopher) is flat out bad storytelling.

Thank you Nonny! 😁

I never quite looked at it from this point of view, but Ali has a point here.

Maybe it's time for Bobby and Athena to spend some time decorating their new house, so the focus can go to Eddie, Buck, Madney + baby and Henren for a change.

Just a thought. 🤷‍♀️

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[goodolddumbbanana]

Emo uncle Nexus au.

An redemption Nexus au where Nexus (now kinda sane) lives with Sun and Moon in the new dimension.

To sum up, Nexus consumed The wither Storm in the dimension Sun and Moon locked him in, regained his sanity, went trauma dumped and tried to kill Sun and Moon again.

But the thing is, he kinda doesn't want to kill them anymore because he has a lot of time alone to resent and rage and getting his pride beating down to realise oh whoa, nothing actually matters and now he is just tired.

Nexus just wants to make one big Fuck you on Sun and Moon face (mainly Sun) and then he would go and live his own life. (He still has voices in his head and manipulated him but they get weaker now because he is much stronger)

Anyway, it was a messy fight when there was a lot of shouting and screaming but not enough magic and star energy fighting.

In the end, they managed to make up with Nexus run like a stray and Sun often messaged him (he tried to delete it but then ended up dead and kept these messages anyway) and left food at Nexus's doorbell like treating his cat.

Their tension eventually reduced low enough to the point Nexus actually showed up in Sun and Moon house and robbed their Fridge occasionally.

He likes the fresh out of jailed cousin that the parents don't want to talk with in Thank giving Day. He is still very emo. And insane. He just doesn't want to try to murder people much anymore and he stays inside Sun and Moon house so Moon and Solar and Monty can find some cure for his Wither Storm power.

Relationship

He and Moon: They despise each other. The only reason Moon doesn't kick Nexus out of his house and Nexus doesn't try to slit Moon throat is because they have one goal in common: Getting rid of the link between Nexus and Sun.

They actually very much like twins with their mindset almost in the same wave length. (They even laughed with each other one time when they pranked the Sun and Solar together.) And those thoughts horrified them. Nexus is Moon's little brother Moon never wants to have.

Nexus and Sun: This is the most dysfunctional siblings relationship in the house. Their meeting can immediately switch from screaming and yelling and almost choking each other to death to cooking and talking normally.

Sure they care about each other enough to the point Nexus shows up for dinner and Sun trusts Nexus to fix his body as sometimes but all the rage and resentment and pain from both sides couldn't erase say one or two.

Nexus can throw the most horrible death threat to Sun and Sun will back it with the level of the same shade.

(They are fighting for the video game control. Sun wins. P/s no children are around)

Nexus: When the voices said they wanted me to send you into the deepest darkest of their place, so you would claw your head out and go insane like me, I should agree!!

Sun: Well mister emo shithead, I regret to let you live too!!

Nexus: Bitch!!

Sun: Bastard!

Nexus: YOUR MOTHER! Wait we don't have a mother. YOUR FATHER!!

Sun: We have the same father, ass!!

Nexus: Well then YOUR BROTHER!!!

Sun: *gasp* You take that back!!!

Nexus: Or else what?? You gonna kill me?? Newsflash!! It didn't stick!!!

Sun:...

Nexus:...

Nexus:... Too far?

Sun: Too far.

Nexus: Want to eat my popcorn?

Sun: Sure.

Moon and Solar are very concerned whenever they see their two interact. (It's just their language of love but no one can understand it)

Nexus and Solar: Very much awkward. Very very awkward. Nexus kinda feels betrayed by Solar because he becomes best friends with Moon very quickly and Solar still resents Nexus for being Nexus.

Nexus and Earth: They haven't talked properly yet. A lot of guilt and not enough space to talk.

[lethby]

What's wrong with lesson 16 (everything)

A list by yours truly, who is about to collapse if she doesn't vent about it (TW: opinion lmao)

⍣ ೋ The time-travel shit

LITERALLY WHY

It creates so many problems and plot holes that could easily be avoided for no reason.

We leave everyone behind and it's never even addressed?? THEY'RE WAITING FOR US???

Barbatos, supposedly the one that cares about balance and timelines, just goes "well you're stuck here and I literally erased the other MC, good ending :D"

He told her "don't run into anyone" and she decides FIRST THING to head where all the noise is coming from, not trying to hide at all

⍣ ೋ No consequences whatsoever

It's awesome to know no one cared about MC dying

Sure, she's "alive" now, but everyone moved on so quickly??? Even Mammon, who was in the verge of a meltdown.

And it's all because we're Lilith's descendant how convenient

Even Belphie, our murderer who has hated humans for MILLENNIA, had a major switch up at this

Also, the brothers begin to completely disregard MC by treating her like Lilith

Look I understand, it's your dead sister and you miss her, BUT MC IS NOT HER. SHE IS HER OWN GODDAMN PERSON

But the worst part is... MC IS SO DAMN CHILL ABOUT IT

Even if she technically isn't the one who died, you'd expect some kind of uneasiness coming from her, SPECIALLY AROUND BELPHIE

Words can't express how much I hate it

⍣ ೋ Solution

I'm gonna make the devs a favor and fix their game

REVIVAL

MC JUST REVIVES FOR WHATEVER REASON (Lilith's will, the last remnants of her powers, Barbatos' precautions...)

Now you don't have to worry about too many plot holes, focusing on just one timeline

Also this allows her to remember her death, making her trauma more intense and veridical

I know it sounds crazy but if they could pull off lesson 16, they can pull this off

Make the brothers indecisive

They got their little brother back, but at what cost?

Everything is fine now, right? But it's not. MC is not "fine"

Make them conflicted between taking MC's side and comforting her but also welcoming Belphie and make up

MAKE MC UNCOMFORTABLE

I can't stress enough how important this part is

Give her TIME to evolve, develop as a character, and understand her feelings

She wouldn't want to be around Belphie, at all

She might not even wanna be around the others, seeing as they treat her like nothing happened

Make her upset, confused, feel like she doesn't belong, ANYTHING

MAKE HER GO THROUGH THE STAGES OF GRIEF

In fact, if you want to make her relationship with Belphie nourish, you can do that too by not just hey lol I killed you but I'm good now

Make her have nightmares

That's it

Make Belphie notice the dark circles under her eyes and the way she avoids him, then discover she has nightmares

The "now" Belphie could feel guilty

He might try to comfort her, only for her to shy away in response

Seeing as his apologies don't work this early into the trauma, he could enter her dreams and chase those nightmares away, every night, sacrificing his own sleep

THAT is a dynamic I want to see, personally

This could have been done with or without the time-travel, btw

In the time-travel, though, I was also missing some grieving from MC

Remember when I said to make the brothers conflicted? Make MC suffer more too

She wants to go back to her time, her universe, her family. They're waiting for her

But she also doesn't want to leave behind these demons, which have just found peace and happiness after a long time

Here's the catch, No matter what she chooses, she's forced to live her life regretting whatever decision she makes, since she can't make everyone happy and one side must suffer inevitably

An MC going through a heavy trauma and eventually (and slowly) overcoming it would just click with so many players

⍣ ೋ Conclusion

To me, the game didn't fully explore the feelings that going through that experience would bring for everyone, even if the idea itself was interesting. No, more like it didn't WANT to. Making MC go through all that would mean a lot of character development for a big amount of characters and little romance, which is what the game is about.

However, if you can't make that sacrifice, don't settle your game in a world rich in lore. And honestly, with all the explanations and back stories, I don't think obey me! is lacking on that. More so that, even if they were fully capable, they didn't want to go through all the trouble. Remember we're coming from an already fucked up scenario that took a lot of chapters.

Finally, this is just my opinion based on my experience. Of course, you don't have to agree with me in any way.

I have to say, that was relaxing lmaoo

Anyways, since I really like this idea and I've seen several people do it, I'm gonna make my own fanfic exploring how I think lesson 16 would have turned out realistically, hope you stay tuned!

Lethby ༊*·˚

[hypexion]

At the end of The Reality War, the Doctor rewrites Belinda's timeline without her consent to make her into the mother of Poppy. I think this is badly written and quite sexist. I'm sorry, but there's probably no way to suddenly flatten out a character into "mother" without it being those two things.

But what if, actually, Belinda was actually a mother all along, and the Doctor fixed the timeline?

Well if that's true, the writing is even worse, and it's more sexist. Hooray! Also: there's a bonus horrifying implication.

I'm going to start with the quality of writing angle first, because that's the main thing that initially aggravated me about the "Belinda was always a mother" theory. To be blunt, there is simply no strong textual evidence for it. Nobody was posting theories that Belinda had a child before The Reality War, because there was no reason to think that. If the evidence can only be found post-hoc, as random pieces of subtext, then it hasn't been presented well. And since Belinda being a mother all along should be a signifigant aspect of her character (if only in a negative space kind of way), then it needs to be presented at that level.

While it's certainly tempting to claim that the audience is stupid and Just Doesn't Get it, there's a point where that stops working. If the intention is that Belinda was a mother, then wasn't, then the Doctor fixed things, for most viewers that was not conveyed. The most common reading is that Belinda wasn't a mother, and then the Doctor rewrote her timeline to make her one. If the theory is true, then the series as presented utterly failed to make that clear. You cannot hinge this kind of thing on random background details and the running gag of "mavity". You actually have to build it into the text.

The Well presented the perfect opportunity for this. Aliss' motivation is to return home to her daughter. Belinda has absolutely zero reaction to this. Sure, she wants to help Aliss, but that's clearly motivated by her generally being a good person. Even a single line of Belinda bringing up Aliss' daughter as a reason not to leave her behind would be far more than the entire season actually gives.

The Story & The Engine provides a similar chance. Now, "Belinda sees Poppy for no good reason" does not count as foreshadowing for what happens in Wish World or The Reality War. It definitely doesn't suggest that Poppy is Belinda's secretly erased from reality daughter. But what The Story & The Engine does have is Abena, who has a less than happy relationship with her father. A child seperated from a parent by the parent's own choice. And again, this passes without comment from Belinda. It would only need one or two lines when Belinda is talking with Abena about what Anansi did. A reaction along the lines of "I would never do that to my daughter (pause) I mean, if I had a daughter" would be enough. Especially if the first part is said conversationally, and the second part as if Belinda is trying to reassure herself that such a thing is true.

Of course, this analysis mostly gets eaten by the Occam's Razor of "the obvious reading is true, there was no original Belinda is a mother timeline". Communication is key, and if the "original mother timeline" theory is true, it's only a theory because it was so poorly communicated.

So that's the writing angle. But the theory also amplifies the existing sexist resolution to be more sexist.

By positioning the timeline where Belinda is a mother as the correct timeline, the theory implicitly states that the non-mother Belinda is incorrect. You can word it however you want, but the theory is saying "a correct woman is a mother". This is an uncharitable reading, but the theory is an uncharitable sexist reading of Belinda's chatacter, so I will continue.

The extended problem is that the theoy also implies that motherhood is the only legitimate reason that Belinda would not want to travel with the Doctor. That her insistence on wanting to return to a specific time is only valid if she has a child waiting for her. Which is simply not true. Going missing, even for a few days, runs the risk of derailing Belinda's life. "My evil ex-boyfriend sent robots to kidnap me to another planet" is not a reasonable sounding excuse for missing work. But if the Doctor has a time machine, her problem is seemingly solve - he can drop her back the next morning, and her life continues seamlessly where it left off.

As an aside, there is nothing wrong with Belinda being a mother. If The Robot Revolution had ended with her saying "No, you need to bring me back to the day I left because my daughter is waiting for me", that would have been a fine character hook. Once you start throwing in extra timelines and suggesting Belinda as a mother is better off in everyway, that's when things get dodgy.

Anyhow, I promised a horrifying implication. So, it's suggested a few times in The Reality War that the reason the Doctor and Belinda's wish child is Poppy the space baby is due to the Doctor's (and maybe Ruby's) memories of the space babies. But if Belinda had a child in an "original" timeline, that child wouldn't be Poppy. Because Poppy is only there because of the Doctor.

So Belinda's real child was erased from reality.

And the Doctor didn't save Belinda's child. He saved his own, effectively overwriting yet another person's life to achieve it.

Belinda won't know the difference? Well that's alright then.

[abysshare]

I feel like this needs to be said but i feel like I'll just be talking to a brick wall for the billionth time.

The ableism of disabled villains in fandom is so beyond tiring. Its bad enough when a grey or protag character gets it.

Today I'll be using Curly from Mouthwashing and William Afton from FNAF as an example.

Curly, isn't really a grey character. Maybe more of a protag, but since we play as Jimmy for most of it, he is kind of an antag. But for this post i will be putting him as a protag. Which reminder.

Protag doesn't mean good guy exactly.

Anyway.

Captain Curly is a burn survivor as well as a disabled man, with no skin, no hands or feet, and is left with one eye. The damage is pretty bad, and the Nurse ( Anya ) has done the best she could with what she had, which is pretty damn good considering all things.

How does the fandom treat him? Its a mixed bag but of course. Ableism.

They either give him "dog buttons", or infantalize him, coquette-ify him, erase the situation just because "its easier" or whatever else. And then theres some people who genuinely try by getting him to a proper hospital so Anya or another doctor can try and fix what they can, as well as give him an AAC device or a wheelchair, so on and so forth.

Its either shit as unfortunately expected or good enough that makes people genuinely do research or call out ableism.

Now lets look at William Afton. A villain, murderer, mad scientist and so forth. For this post I'll be strictly talking about The Fourth Closet William Afton and Burntrap.

For those who are not into FNAF. The Fourth Closet is a seperate timeline from the games, an AU. And Burntrap is TECHNICALLY not William now, but when Security Breach came out, we didn't know this.

A bit more backstory for those who do not know. William has an Animatronic suit that he can go into to perform or kill, but it has these things called springlocks. If something happens, they can go off and hurt and eventually kill him.

Moving on.

William Afton is a Springlock Victim ( and even though no fire happens in the book before the ending of The Fourth Closet, i would argue and say he does indeed have burn scars as well in the graphic novel ) aka ragged Metal throughout his skin.

As Burntrap, he is a metal burned skeleton with leftovers of Springtrap/Scraptrap with burnt flesh.

How does the fandom treat both versions of him?

As Burntrap: some people like him, some don't. Its purely because at the first reveal we all thought it was William himself somehow even though he is supposed to be dead-dead for real. His design CAN be cool, scary and great in the right spotlight.

However.....

Most people took the "haha peepaw" route of memes. Some being ageist and some being ableist. Making him a senile old man in a wheelchair or a walker with Vanny being his caretaker. Most of the time throwing him down the stairs or beating him with his mobility aid or threatening to. Sometimes they would also draw him in diapers with poop in it.

Utterly disgusting, ageist and ableist behavior all because this is a villain.

How do they treat TFC version of William? Well.... i don't see much of him to be frank. But either its coquette-ifying him ( which is just as gross as coquette-ifying Curly ), genuinely calling him pretty or being absolutely being ableist/rancid, or removing his scars all together.

What is the point I'm getting at?

If its a villain, like William, to Darth Vader to Hordak from the She Ra remake, to Belos from TOH.......

They get mocked for their disabilities because abled folks ( and even some disabled folks ) thinks the Villain or whoever deserves it as punishment.

But these same people will turn around and infantilize and baby, or dogify or coquetteify "good guy" disabled characters.

I haven't seen this in the Arcane fandom, while i don't doubt people have been ableist to Jinx, Silco or Viktor , at least it isn't as "loud".

Ableism isn't cute or funny. And while i UNDERSTAND these are characters- and that they are not real.

It HURTs real people.

And I'm talking as a disabled chronic pain person, so don't even start with me.

Ableists and shit will be deleted, ty.

Edit ( 12 / 9 / 2024 ): to add to this, i still see people making jokes, especially to make self shippers feel bad ( those who self ship with springtrap ), about how William most likely passed human fluids and gasses as he died-

Yeah. News flash: you do that no matter how you die. Even later in a casket as you're rotting away.

Now.. the act of him doing that as he dies isn't ableist within itself. But the fact that these people using the bit of him urinating and defecating himself as a joke Is ableist as there are folks with disabilities that can't control it, and there is no shame in that.

Also if you're trying to say "Springtrap smells like literal shit". Consider people already know this and either ignore that ( which is valid ) or yk. Have their insert take Springtrap home and clean him up and fix him.

Or have Springtrap clean himself up ( i imagine he does by the time he become Scraptrap, as best as he can anyway ).

.

As for Curly, i am seeing a lot of Videos that are finally talking about it. Thank the gods, moon, whatever.

Mouthwashing is one of those things you really don't need to ship anyone with anyone ( if you must i highly suggest making an oc because thats awesome ).

On top of that though I'm still seeing ableist art of Curly and probably will for awhile 😮‍💨

[skele-doll]

At its very core, communism cannot be trans inclusive. Communism wants to dismantle sex stereotypes and embrace reality while also dismantling capitalism and helping to bring equality. However, the trans ideology supports sex stereotypes and profits off of making the vulnerable hurt even more than they already do. Let me explain; gender dysphoria is a product of the patriarchy, it tells women they need to look a certain way in order to date men and be accepted into society. They pump insecurity into little girls heads and sell them products that promise to fix that insecurity which creates unethical profit. But what happens when women and girls grow tired of having to go to surgical extents to be "womanly"? What happens when they realize that this idea of "woman" was created by a man? They try to opt out of it by of course 'becoming' a man because feminism is said to make you "bitter", "masculine", "evil", and they see the way feminists get treated for being feminist. When you identify as trans, you immediately get told that you will feel as horrible as you already do forever if you don't get the surgeries and go on to take testosterone to also look the part. Those who dont get the surgeries and dress it constantly get 'misgendered' and treated like a normal woman which further fucks with their mood. What they dont tell you is to seek out therapy. Why? Because the surgeries, pills, topicals, shots, new wardrobe and binders, makeup to look like a man, voice training, and treatments for the side effects all cost hella money and spending hella money makes the rich get richer. you could argue; "but anon! under communism wont the people take up making those things themselves?" and i'd say yes, but not everything human made is a good thing. just because you can make it doesn't mean you should as that wont get rid of its impact and history within capitalism. "reclaiming" it wont take back the health complications and dead de-trans people, it wont erase the fact that gender affirming surgeries were an invention by a Nazi and transness is built on oppressive stereotypes either.

[grapejuicebrat]

my worst

PAIRING: bbf!rafe cameron x reader

SUMMARY: the more you try to fix him, the more you make it worse.

WORD COUNT: 1380

NOTES: based on this.

my masterlist

maybe it was a bad idea. maybe he was a bad idea.

maybe fucking your brother’s best friend wasn’t such a good idea. maybe falling in love with him wasn’t a good idea either. letting rafe ruin your life wasn’t a good idea but at the end of the day you loved him and trusted him. rafe was everything to you.

he was your protector and your lover. someone who could hide you from the rest of the world, who would hug you and tell you that everything will be okay and you would believe him without a doubt. because you were sure - rafe loved you. and you loved rafe.

actually it was something you wanted to believe in. that your secret relationship were not so fucked up from the very beginning. you closed your eyes when rafe was stalking you and gaslighting. didn’t hear anything when rafe told you to stop talking to your friends. didn’t say anything when you saw rafe snorting a line. because he’s a man, he is smarter than you. you don’t get to decide anything for him.

and now, three years later you were ready to write a letter to rafe. of course you could call him or text him but it wasn’t the same. you wanted to imagine how rafe would sit in his royal bedroom looking at this letter, rereading every word. remembering how you said every damn thing years ago. how you begged him to quit doing drugs. how you begged him to be a family with you. and he just shrugged, not believing that it was something he wanted to have.

and now rafe would give everything so he could just have you in his arms again.

“hey, rafe.

how are you doing? i want to believe that everything is okay. i asked topper a few times about you but he refuses even saying your name. and honestly i don’t judge him. i don’t have a right to judge me, you know? actually i was surprised that he didn’t stop talking to me after he found about our thing. but that’s not the point why i am writing this letter. don’t worry.

i had a lot of time to think. and you know what? finally i have some brave to tell you those things and finally let you go. i don’t know if you have someone beside you, and i tried my best not to reach out for you and don’t ask somebody about your love life. you know, just want to respect you and your private life because now i have no right to ask you about this since we are nobody to each other.

(and no, i can’t say that we are still friends. because we are not)

i wasn't crazy falling hard for you.

i’m used to liars, used to men using me, but you know what I'm not used to? you. you’re a different whole kind of pain. you're the type of pain that rips my vocal chords that I can't even scream. you're the type to dry my tears that 1 can't even cry.you’re the type that when I feel the slightest content, your memory stabs me in the heart. so yah, I'll take the liars, the manipulators, those men who objectify me over you because you... you made me love you with every intention of destroying the foundation i walk on just to watch me fall and stumble trying to come out of this alive.

I wish I could fix everything people broke in you. I wish I could erase every person who came into your life and left holes in your heart. I wish there was a way for me to rewind your past and erase every painful memory that made your life a little darker. I wish I had the power to go inside your heart and bring it back to what it used to be.I wish there was a way to go inside your heart and make it brave again. I wish I could just cleanse your heart and rid it of all the mess, all the chaos and all the heartbreaks. I wish I could show you the kind of love you've been missing but Rafe I've learned that love doesn't work that way and healing doesn't happen unless you feel it deep inside your soul.I learned that another human being can't tell you how you should feel or who you should love or what kind of heart you should have.

Love is the only force you can't fight even if you know you're going to lose and I wish I had the power to fight with you but darling that's one battle you're going to have to fight on your own. Because I'm also still healing. I'm still working on myself.

I'm still trying to bring my old heart back. And I'm still trying to find a way to fix everything people broke in me. I'm still trying to heal the wounds inside my heart. I'm still trying to be brave again. To trust again. To love again.And sometimes I wish there was a way for me to stay without losing myself. Sometimes I wish my journey was simple and linear so I can easily turn a blind eye to reality. To the facts that I know too well. To the struggles that I'm still trying to get through.But here I am, still trying to mend the broken pieces. Still trying to make sense of my journey and still very cautious because I'm not ready to break my own heart again.Because darling I've learned that just like can't force you to change your heart or the way you love, I can't force mine to change either. I've learned that if I can't help you heal, I have to let you go. I've learned that I need to heal myself first.

In 20 years, when my daughter asks me who my first love was, I'll think of you.

I will think of nights spent talking until the sun came up. I will think of the way your smile lit up my heart. I will think of the lessons you taught me, both before and after your broke my heart.

And I will look down at my daughter and tell her your name, I'll tell her how much I loved you, how dangerous it is to love somebody that much, how I had to learn to put myself back together again once you left.

I could tell her this funny story when I fell in love with my stalker. And how you stole my panties all the time. You thought I didn’t notice? Silly you. I just didn’t want this to end. I guess I always liked you. And I was attracted to you. I confess I’ve already been a little bit fucked up. That’s why everything was good at first.

Someday we will forget all about this. I will forget how you looked at me and I will stop dreaming about you every single night, wishing for you to come back. You will forget the way I laughed at every little thing you said and how I was different; happier, with you. We will be too far away from each other and we will have forgotten everything.

Someday, what we had wouldn't matter anymore, and I will never cry for you again.

But for now, I hope i’ll meet in any other life where we would be happy. And we’ll have a family of our own home. Like we’ve dreamed. But I don’t know, maybe it was just my dream and you didn’t want all of this. Sorry, if I said anything harmful.

We were never meant for each other. But I'm glad that even for a sheer moment It felt like we were.

But you made a mistake in your letter. Maybe you were meant to be. You and Rafe met in a wrong time. Right place.

i think i’ll rewrite it but anyways i hope you liked it! share your thoughts and add share your asks to my inbox i’ll gladly answer to them!

if you would like to be added to my taglist leave a comment or let me know by sending me in my ask!

oh and let me know if you want me to write more about their relationship before the break up!

taglist: @ivy-34

[bananasfosterparent]

The difference in AA is his soul being irreversibly gone. That is the point and this is what Larians writers have been hinting at and this is what irks people about AA. The oversexualisation and erasure of his trauma, effectively erasing him as a person. I know we're talking about a fictional character, but if we're gonna go off on the topic, saying something "doesn't matter" is just a cop-out. Astarion didn't need to be "fixed" to the point of emotional lobotomy.

I don't think it's wrong to like or prefer him, but I think it's valid to have opinion on the matter, much like you have yours.

I started to apologize for the length of this, but honestly, since you sent the message, I'm going to respond to every part of it. I'm not sorry for the rambling lol

"The difference in AA is his soul being irreversibly gone."

Okay, show me the quote/scene/dialog in-game where this canonly is said and confirmed? Where does it say the ritual will ever touch his soul or any part of the game talks about his literal soul?

And if by soul you mean the "lose who you are inside" as a metaphor, that's still a matter of opinion and not actually canonly what happens. Astarion is still himself. The "changes" in his personality are shifts to simply adjust to the company he is around. He's essentially code switching.

That is the point and this is what Larians writers have been hinting at and this is what irks people about AA.

Got it. So the point of Astarion's romance is for Larian to write a singular story that has one ending you're "supposed" to enjoy with a "morally good" conclusion, and one ending that's fun and sexy, but "supposed" to be a cautionary warning of how things "shouldn't go". Because that makes sense for a "choose your own adventure" game and that's why the romance stops with AA as soon as you ascend him, and he enslaves and compels your character and you can't continue the romance with him--OH WAIT.

The oversexualisation and erasure of his trauma, effectively erasing him as a person

"The oversexualization".... So you know my Tav's personal motivations and why she chose to ascend him? And you're confident you know I made the roleplay decisions I made because you know it centers entirely and solely around it being to sexualize him?

Interesting.

Because that couldn't be further from the truth. My Tav has an entire story for why she chose to ascend him and it has nothing to do with how sexy it makes him. And it was a story I came up with well before I knew about any of this "sexualization" concept. And as a player, I didn't ascend him because I wanted a sexy vampire. I went into his romance blind and had no idea what would happen when I did it. I ascended him because it narratively made sense for my character and their relationship. But even then, if I wanted a sexy vampire, why is that a bad thing? He's not real.

And I find it so ironic that a lot of spawn fans who are anti-AA only enjoy AA for the sexual parts of that ending. Yet, we're the ones "oversexualizing" him lol

As for "erasure of his trauma"... where do I even start? What does that even mean? lol I'm not gonna lie. You sound young or unaware, but believe it or not, in real life there is more than one way to deal with trauma. And dealing with it in a way you don't agree with doesn't erase the trauma or mean the person is pretending it never happened. Ascended Astarion very much addresses his trauma and exercises a different form of healing.

In a fantasy world, you can actually explore those other options and have the outcome work FOR you, even if it wouldn't in real life. Accepting your fate and trying to align yourself with "morally good" choices is certainly not a bad thing and one way to go. In real life, that's what I agree with, as a Christian and believer in Christ. But Faerun doesn't have a Jesus. They don't have the same real world ideas of morals. They have their own gods, their own history, their own moral perspective outside of our world. Bringing in (your perspective of) our real world morals is a valid way to roleplay, but it's not the "only correct" way to roleplay.

There is the route of overthrowing what was meant to control and destroy you, and taking control of it yourself. Taking what was meant to be against you and making it work for you instead. For me, that's what Astarion's ascension means.

A smaller example of this is if you give Astarion Gandrel's crossbrow to use.

This weapon was designed to work against vampire spawn. It allows for its user to possibly inflict Turn Undead on enemies and gives them advantage in a fight against monster types. And yet, Astarion can wield it and use it effectively. He can take what was created to hurt and destroy him and use it to work for him.

Ascension can be the exact same thing. It's not a matter of which opinion of ascension is morally right. It's a matter of which decision on ascension is right for your Tav and their story with Astarion.

...saying something "doesn't matter" is just a cop-out.

Can you show me where I said "something" "doesn't matter"? Cause it wasn't in any of my recent posts. Are you referring to one of my older ones?

Not only do I not know what part of what post you're referring to, BUT I also don't know what I was talking about, if I even said "something" doesn't matter. I don't know what that "something" is.

Astarion didn't need to be "fixed" to the point of emotional lobotomy.

I'm glad we agree on something. I've seen people claim ascension is "fixing" him (because it eliminates the negative traits of vampirism) and therefore it's weird to call anti-AA spawn fans "fixers". But the difference is trying to change(fix) his morals and view of the world to reflect a "good" worldview (the spawn ending) VS trying to change (fix) his circumstances and lack of control (helping his ascend).

AA fans do not want to change his personality or his mental/emotional state. We want to change his circumstances so that he has a place to be able to make those decisions on his own. And for most of us, Ascension provides that perspective.

Spawn fans want the same thing. But the approach is more to convince him from the inside out that he can make those decisions without ascension. And that's also true. But not more valid or the only way.

But his personality does not change in either ending. In one (spawn ending), he is able to find freedom in just being free of Cazedor and exist the way he always has with a newfound confidence and peace.

In another, he is able to find freedom in taking the helm himself, and holding all the cards to be the one on top. He finds confidence in having the power and being able to wield it, without fear of anything he's had to fear with the negatives of vampirism.

But in both, he is still the same person. He still gets joy out of the same things (killing people, having/causing/observing bloodshed, and causing some chaos), he still has the same personality. The difference is in his circumstances and how he presents himself.

I don't think it's wrong to like or prefer him, but I think it's valid to have opinion on the matter, much like you have yours.

You don't mean that. Because if you did, you wouldn't have a reason to send this anon message in the first place. You wouldn't care enough. It wouldn't matter. You wouldn't have this opinion. You would be able to see value in both endings and respect the positive perspective of ascension even if you don't understand it, without arguing headcanon points like "his soul is irreversibly gone".

Your entire message is literally you trying to tell me it's wrong to like him and that the opinion I have of him is invalid and wrong. I already respect your opinion on both sides of him. Because it's your right to how you roleplay and see him. If you respect mine, you're doing a really awful job at showing it.

Regardless, if that is your intention or not. That's what sending this message says. If you really want to say you respect AA fans for enjoying AA, then stop sending AA fans messages like this and either completely avoid AA and the fans or refrain from trying to argue against it. We can discuss it and not agree while also respecting each other's roleplay choices.

This is not a wrong vs right conversation. It's a "what's your preference?" conversation. Spawn vs Ascended should be like "what's your favorite Pokemon type?"

The sooner that is realized, the better off this fandom will be.

[dammit-tazmuir]

2 things. First, do you also get the sense that Nona’s eating problems had been getting worse by the time of NtN? There are a couple lines like how they had discovered she could be plied with fruit (but then does not want to eat the fruit) and how she used to like pikelets. And in the HtN epilogue (presumably somewhat earlier) she’s eating the fish (iirc) so willingly that it gets her in trouble. Is this something other people have pointed out already?

2, do we think Nona eating dirt etc was her soul trying to return to a planet? This one is more of a stretch. John eats dirt shortly before giving Alecto a body, so there’s that, but Nona also eats erasers, which… maybe it’s a texture thing but I feel like conceptually an eraser is closer to food than it is to dirt.

hope it’s okay to put random theory asks in your inbox?? I really like reading your analysis posts.

It is ABSOLUTELY always more than okay to send me asks!! I love excuses to talk about things and people caring enough about my thoughts specifically to ask me brings me immense joy.

So my main take on Nona's eating habits is that they aren't entirely Nona. NONA very much WANTS to eat, or at least, her body is hungry even if she doesn't fully consciously process that sensation. Arguably, there could even be a subconscious desire to Consume, through permeability of the soul and/or trying to replace the things taken from her, etc.

But the thing is it's Harrow's body with Harrow's senses, and Harrow is violently allergic to Flavors. 😔 Unpleasant sensations aren't immediately offputting to Nona, like she enjoys the jellyfish stings, but some feelings she gets averse to after a while, like she hates being pinched. She might like something at first but eventually Harrow's body gives her enough negative feedback that she's like, mmmmm, maybe not...

That said, I do think the sand and wood and graphite and rubber are partly because of Texture, partly because those flavors are milder or different enough that Harrow's body doesn't have a "trained" response for processing them already, and partly her craving Nature. Dirt and rocks and trees and tree sap are comforting in the same way being in salt water is comforting, in an adjacent way to her thinking they're very sexy flowers. (The fact that fruits don't work like they used to but were ever on the Good List kinda works for this too.)

I could definitely see it getting worse over time, though. On one hand, she's getting close to the verge of remembering, and on the other, Harrow's body is gradually degrading, so negative symptoms might get stronger in a psychosomatic way: the body turning on and up all alarms going THIS IS BAD, FIX IT DAMMIT. Poor baby...

[willalove75]

Alcina's New Maid Pt. 19 Lady Dimitrescu x Reader

Summary: In the aftermath of the meeting Alcina is feeling guilty and you try and ease her pain.

Warnings: 18+ minors DNI.

Tags: Some angst, some fluff

Notes: Part 19! I know things have been HELLA angsty lately but I promise the next few chapters I have planned will be fun and fluffy and perhaps even a little bit smutty😏💕 We'll be putting all of that angst to bed for a bit!

A/N: If you picked up the mildly obscure Toy Story reference, I love you hahah I'll link the reference at the end for those who missed it!

Click here for the rest of the series

Gif source

Alcina's tears slowed and eventually stopped flowing. When she felt your fingers in her hair still and heard your breaths even out she relaxed a little knowing you were asleep. She stayed there for a little longer, with her head resting on your chest, listening to your heartbeat as you slept. The steady beat of your heart and your gentle breaths relaxed her as the guilt ate away at her.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but she finally lifted her head from your chest and your fingers slid out of her ebony curls and onto the bed next to you. Removing the gauze that was on your neck wound, she winced when she looked at it again. The bleeding had stopped for the most part, only trickles of blood still flowing from it. You definitely needed stitches. The longer Alcina looked at the wound the more her hands trembled - she would never be able to stitch you up like this. She tried her best to keep her hands steady but the harder she tried, the more they trembled and the more frustrated she became.

A knock on the door pulled her attention away from her hands and your neck.

"Mother?" Bela said as she opened the door.

"Yes?"

"Aunt Donna, Angie and Uncle Heisenberg are here for you."

Alcina grumbles and brings her fingers to the bridge of her nose.

"Alright, I'll be there in a moment."

"Do you need help with anything?"

Alcina pulls the fresh gauze away again to confirm you're still bleeding. Sighing in defeat, she turns to her daughter.

"Can you take over and continue to apply pressure to her neck?"

"Is she okay?" Bela asks, walking closer to the bed.

"Yes, she's asleep. Please try and not wake her. I am going to freshen myself up before going downstairs."

Bela sits on the edge of the bed and holds the gauze against your neck as Alcina makes her way into the bathroom. After a few minutes Alcina comes out in a new, clean dress. Her hair is fixed and her makeup is flawless. If Bela didn't see her mother so upset herself she never would have thought that she had been crying so hard. All evidence of her breakdown has been erased.

"I shall be back in a little while with Donna. She is going to need stitches and I am going to have Donna do it while she's here. If anything changes, do not hesitate to come get me."

"Yes mother."

Alcina ducks out of the door and Bela hears her footsteps getting further and further away.

Less than five minutes later Daniela appears in the bedroom next to Bela.

"How is she?" Daniela asks with worry in her eyes.

"She's okay. She's asleep so don't wake her Dani - Dani!" Bela hisses as Daniela crawls onto the bed and lays down next to you.

"Shh! And you're worried about me waking her up!" Daniela whispers which elicits an eye roll from Bela. "How's her neck?"

Bela removes the gauze and examines it before applying pressure to it again.

"It's still bleeding a little, she's definitely going to need stitches. Mom said she's going to have Donna do it before she leaves. But it's going to leave a nasty scar."

"Do you think mom will put the healing salve on it?"

"No, she only used it last time out of desperation. Mother doesn't want to expose her to the mold unless she absolutely has to."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Where's Cass? Still in the dungeon?"

"Yeah, she's been throwing things around in there all day. I think she even took a maid who had been misbehaving down there."

"Yikes."

Daniela's eyes wander over your sleeping figure, the bandages on your chest, the dried blood caked to your skin, the wound Bela was covering. She pouts and lays her head on the pillow next to you, gently moving your hair out of your face as you slept.

Alcina makes her way downstairs into one of the sitting rooms. As soon as she ducks through the door she sees her hat floating across the floor.

"Look I'm the dragon lady!" Angie's voice screeches from underneath the hat. "Roar! I'm so big and scary! Fear me!"

"Give me that." Alcina says, swiping the hat from Angie's head.

"Ugh, you're such a buzzkill, Godzilla!"

Alcina growls at Angie who runs towards Donna and climbs into her lap. She dusts off her hat and places it on one of the tables.

"How's the kid?" Karl says.

"Alive, no thanks to you." She snaps.

"What the fuck? Why the fuck is this shit my fault?!"

"You said you would protect her! Both of you said you would protect her and you did nothing!" Alcina yells.

"We were waiting for you to fucking do something you gigantic psychopath!"

"What was I supposed to do?! If I made another move Miranda would have killed her on the spot! There was nothing I could do!"

"And you don't think that crazy bird bitch wouldn't have snapped her neck with one hand if we did anything?! Plus it's not our fault you can't fucking control yourself you bloodthirsty bitch!"

Angie cackles. "Yeah! Get her!"

They meet in the middle of the room and are toe-to-toe, glaring at each other. Angie jumps off of Donna's lap and jumps around the two of them.

"How dare you!"

"This is the last time I try and do you any fucking favors!"

"Good because you couldn't even do the one thing you said you would! You unreliable greaseball!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Angie chants.

"Listen here you fucking cun-"

"Karl, Alcina, that is enough." Donna says, standing from her seat.

"Donna do not get in my way because I am as equally as angry at you right now." Alcina hisses.

"Alcina, please. Karl, sit down!" She says, pulling him the collar and throwing him into a chair.

"Hey!" He yells.

"Be quiet." Donna snaps before turning towards Alcina. "Alcina, please. What did you want us to do? There was nothing we could have done that wouldn't have put her life at further risk. Like Karl said, Miranda could have easily snapped her neck with one hand or when she had her caught up in the vines. We were powerless."

"What about the rest of the time?! When she was fighting against those vines! I did what I could but Miranda had me restrained! The both of you just stood there doing nothing!"

"Alcina, that's not true-"

"Then what the hell were you doing?!" Alcina screams, causing Donna to flinch and begin trembling.

"Will you stop fucking screaming at her?!" Heisenberg yells, getting in between the two of them. "Your temper is just as fucking short as you are gigantic. For your fucking information, we wanted to help. The minute Miranda wrapped you up we went to step in but Miranda eyeballed the two of us and had her vines pointed right at us. If we made any moves we would have been even more useless because we would have been fucking strung up on the ceiling by our ankles."

"Alcina, we wanted to help, we tried. There was nothing we could do that wouldn't have risked her life or made the situation worse."

Alcina lets out a shout of frustration before turning around and grabbing a nearby chair and throwing it into the wall, the chair shattering into splinters on impact. Her chest is heaving and her hands are balled into fists at her side. They begin to tremble as she struggles to keep her composure and not break down in front of everyone.

She was the matriarch of the castle, the one who never showed emotion - aside from anger. It was bad enough Donna had seen her in such a state multiple times over the last few months. It was worse that Karl witnessed her acting tender towards you. It would be a cold day in hell when she lets herself cry in front of them, Karl especially.

Hot tears sting her eyes as she struggles to keep herself together. It was easier thinking they just stood there and did nothing, at least then she was able to blame someone else. But after learning that they tried, and even worse, knowing that they were right in their suspicion that Miranda would have killed you if they stepped in to help, Alcina had no one else to blame for your pain but herself.

She broke her promise to keep you safe - again.

The realization hits her like a truck. Letting out a pained cry, she throws a table against the wall, it's pieces falling amongst the rubble from the chair.

Alcina squeezes her eyes shut, wiling the tears to go away. They threaten to roll down her cheeks but she grits her teeth and pushes everything she's feeling down with all of her strength.

You begin to wake up, feeling the sensation of tiny fingers running through your hair.

"She's waking up." You hear a familiar voice say.

"Hmm?" You mumble.

Turning your head towards the sound, you let out a small whimper from the pain at your neck.

"Easy, easy, don't move your head too much." The voice says.

Opening your eyes, you're met with a small pair of golden eyes with red strands of hair falling in front of them on one side.

"Daniela?"

"Yes, micuțo, I'm here." (Little one)

"Where's Alcina?" You ask, your eyes barely able to stay open.

"Karl, Donna and Angie are here, she went to talk to them." Bela says.

"Oh, okay." Your brows furrow as you feel the pressure of the gauze against your neck. "Fuck that hurts."

"I'm sure it does. When mom gets back Donna is going to stitch you up and we'll give you something for the pain, okay?"

"Okay."

"Go back to sleep micuțo, you need to rest." Daniela says, caressing your hair.

Your eyes close and you're swept away by sleep once more.

Not long after Alcina, Donna, Angie and Karl enter the room. Alcina didn't want an audience but Karl was being as stubborn as ever and Angie of course goes wherever Donna goes.

Sitting on the edge of the bed - taking over from Bela - Alcina runs her fingers through your hair.

"Draga, draga wake up." She says, her voice as comforting as a warm breeze. "Come on, iubirea mea. You have to wake up."

Your eyes flutter open and are met with Alcina's glowing golden eyes.

"There you go. Just like that, come now, you have to wake up."

"Alcina?"

"Yes love, it's me. I'm here." She says as she strokes your cheek with the back of her fingers. "Donna and Karl are here."

"I'm here too!" Angie screams.

Alcina shoots the doll a glare and turns her attention back to you.

"You need stitches, Donna is going to administer them, alright?"

"Okay."

Alcina moves to the other side of the bed after shooing Bela and Daniela out of the room. Angie and Karl stand on the outskirts of Alcina's chambers while Donna stitches up your wound. The entire time you're being stitched up, Alcina is sitting next to you on the bed, holding your hand and caressing it with her thumb. The stitches weren't exactly painful, but the wound itself was. Every so often a rogue tear would roll down your cheek and Alcina would quickly wipe it away, shushing you and comforting you.

When Donna was finished she gave her work one more once-over before nodding at Alcina.

"Try not to move your neck too much to avoid popping any stitches." Donna says. "You can remove them in a weeks time."

"Thank you, Donna." Alcina says.

"Of course. I'm glad to see you're okay, Y/N." Donna says to you.

"Thank you."

Angie climbs up onto the bed and stands on your chest, staring at your face. It's not that Angie weighs much, but it's still uncomfortable having anything standing on your chest right now.

"Will you get off of her." Alcina says, pushing Angie off of your chest.

"Hey! Watch it!" Angie argues before shooting a glare at Alcina, who returns the look. Staring at you once more Angie tilts her head at you. "You know, I was only kidding when I called you her new blood bag! But I guess I was right all along!" She says with an ear piercing cackle.

Alcina's eyes grow wide and angry at the doll and Donna quickly scoops her up and ushers her out of the door.

"Hey! Donna! What the hell?!" She manages to yell before Donna closes the door on her. "Oh come on! I was only kidding!" Angie's muffled voice calls from the other side of the door.

Karl walks up to the edge of the bed and looks down at you.

"How're ya feelin, kid?"

"Never better."

Karl chuckles and pulls something out of his waistband. "Here, found this on the floor of the chapel. It's pretty fucked up to toss a brand new gift, especially something as perfectly hand-crafted as this, onto a dirty chapel floor." He says with a wink before handing you the dagger he gifted you earlier in the day.

"Huh, sorry. I figured since it came from you it was used to laying around in trash." You quip.

Karl bursts into laughter and pats your shoulder. "Yeah, she'll be fine." He says to Alcina.

Alcina's eyes are trained on the dagger in your hand as it lays on your chest. Her eyes glued to the dried blood caked into the Dimitrescu coat of arms engraving. Nearly the entire engraving was now the rusted color of dried blood - your blood. Her heart clenches as she relives watching Miranda drag her nail down your chest.

"Hello? Earth to Alcina?" Karl says, snapping her out of her trance. "There's no way you're bloodthirsty already. You already took half of her shit!" He says.

Alcina's eyes shoot up to Karl and they narrow at him dangerously. She lets out a low growl and Karl puts his hands up.

"Jesus, I'm just kidding. That stick up your ass must me a mile long."

"Is there anything else you need or are you going to continue to bother us like the pest you are and keep her from resting?" Alcina snaps.

"Alright, alright. No need to get your parachute-sized panties in a bunch. I'm leaving, I'm leaving. Catch ya later, kid." He says to you with a tip of his hat and leaves the room. Donna nods to the two of you and follows him out, closing the door behind them.

You carefully turn towards Alcina, trying to be mindful of the stitches in your neck and she has a far away look in her eyes.

"Hey," you say, placing your hand over hers. "What's wrong?"

Alcina snaps out it and looks down at you.

"Nothing, I am fine." She says before taking the dagger from your hand and getting up to put it away.

As she walks towards the vanity where the leg holster is, she runs her thumb over the bloodied coat of arms. She didn't even realize she stopped moving until she felt something grab at her thigh.

Looking down, she sees you standing next to her with your arms wrapped around her leg.

"Draga, you need to be in bed and rest!" She says, putting the dagger down and turning her attention to you.

"I know, but you're not okay. I can see it in your eyes. Talk to me, Alci. Please."

"Come, you have to get back in bed."

"Can I at least shower and put on clean clothes?"

Looking down at you and realizing that you're still covered in dried blood and dirty, bloody clothing. Alcina sighs in defeat and agrees.

After a quick shower and some fresh pajamas, you lay down on the new sheets Alcina had a maid put on the bed while you were cleaning yourself up - exchanging them for the bloodied sheets you were once laying on.

You wanted to talk to Alcina, to find out what was wrong. Well, you're pretty sure you knew what was wrong given everything that happened but the moment your head hit the pillow a current of sleep pulled you under.

The next few days were a blur. Alcina was constantly coming and going from her chambers, checking in on you nearly every hour. All of the physical trauma that happened to your body seemed to catch up with you. Not only were you absolutely exhausted, your neck was bruised and swollen from Miranda's hand and the vines. You realized quickly after you woke up the next morning you could barely speak, to which Alcina muttered to herself "I had a feeling this would happen." and promptly had a maid bring you hot tea and soft foods.

Each day that passed Alcina seemed to be withdrawing into herself more and more. A familiar fear began to creep into your chest. Last time she became withdrawn she broke your heart into a thousand pieces, you were worried she was heading down that path again. You so desperately wanted to talk to her but you physically couldn't. So you tried to communicate your feelings physically. Kissing her, holding her hand whenever she sat near you, cuddling into her as close as you possibly could at night. You were happy that she was reciprocating your advances but something in her eyes still made her seem so far away.

On the fifth night, your voice was finally on the mend. It was raspy as hell, but at least you were able to speak.

Alcina was laying next to you reading a book. Her reading glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. You wiggled under her arm and cuddled into her, resting your head on her breast. She looked down at you and chuckled and adjusted her arm so you were comfortable. Wrapping your arm around her waist, your fingers drew abstract shapes across the silk of her nightgown. You couldn't help but look up at her and admire her beauty.

It was so rare for anyone to see her like this. With her hair down, no makeup, laying in just a nightgown with her reading glasses on. You could clearly see the laugh lines that adorned her perfect lips, even though their signature red rouge was absent. They still looked as full as ever. The crows feet in the corners of her eyes perfectly complimented her laugh lines. You could see every scar and stretchmark that adorned her neck, chest and face - no doubt most of them coming from the rapid growth she endured after getting the cadou. You wondered how many of them she carried over from her previous life and how many of them were new. She was effortlessly beautiful, yet something lurked in her eyes that made you believe that she never once looked at herself that way.

"You do know it's rude to stare, right, draga?" She says, her eyes not leaving her book.

"People stare at artwork all the time and that's considered a compliment." You rasped.

Alcina smirked and rolled her eyes before they landed on you. "Is there something I can do for you?" She asks, closing her book.

"Nuh-uh. I'm just looking at the most beautiful person I've ever laid eyes on."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, draga mea." She says before leaning down and placing a kiss on your lips. "How are you feeling? Do you need anything?"

"No I'm good, I'm fine. How are you?"

"Me? There's no need to worry about me." She pulls the covers off of her and moves to stand up but you hold onto her, keeping her in place.

"But I am worried about you."

"Don't. Let me up, I am going to put my book away."

You release her from your grip with a sigh and watch her as she returns her book to the bookshelf and places her glasses on the vanity.

"I can't help it. I haven't been able to talk to you for almost a week. We haven't even been able to talk about what happened."

"We will have plenty of time to discuss what happened. What's important now is that you rest your voice and continue healing."

"Alcina, please. You're pulling away again. You've been doing it all week. It's starting to worry me. Please just talk to me."

Alcina places her hands on her vanity and looks down.

"I don't know what it is you want me to say."

"Anything, say anything. Tell me how you're feeling, let me know what you're thinking, anything." Alcina stands there, unmoving and silent. "Alcina please, it scares me when you get like this. Please let me help." You try your best to keep your voice steady but it still shakes. Alcina closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

"I don't want to burden you, you have enough to deal with draga."

"It's not a burden, you are never a burden. I'm more worried about you than anything else right now. Please, just talk to me. You promised you would talk to me."

She hangs her head and digs her nails into her palms. After taking a minute to collect her thoughts she finally speaks. "I'm afraid, draga." She says and looks up at you through the mirror.

"Afraid of what?"

"Afraid of myself, afraid of losing control again. I nearly killed you. I was completely out of control." Even from this distance you can see her eyes start to gloss over.

"But you didn't."

"But I very easily could have. That side of me, it is dangerous. It is horrific and monstrous-"

"Don't say that about yourself-"

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" She shouts as she turns towards you. "That side of me is nothing compared to what you've seen. It is ugly and horrifying and no one other than Mother Miranda has seen it in it's entirety. That was the first time anyone aside from my girls have even seen my wings! Those ugly, awful-"

"Alcina, they were beautiful."

"No they are not."

"They are to me."

"Nothing about that side of me is beautiful, draga. Nothing."

"Why are you so afraid of it?"

"Because I have no control over it! You saw what happened, I heard you begging and screaming to let you go and there wasn't a single thing I was able to do! It was like my mind was trapped in a body I had no control over."

Suddenly it felt like a bucket of cold water was thrown over you. You knew Alcina wasn't in control, but you thought that a different conscious took over and hers went dormant. But she heard you begging for your life. You were right, Mother Miranda wanted her to kill you. She wanted Alcina to be imprisoned as she watched you die in her arms.

"You heard me?"

"Yes. And when I'm in that state there is nothing I can do to stop myself." She wraps her arms around herself and looks down at the ground. "That's why I was so afraid when she told me to feed from you."

"Because she knows you're not in control. She wanted you to watch what you did to me but not be able to stop it."

"Precisely."

You move over and pat the empty side of the bed, silently asking Alcina to join you again. She stands there for a moment, her arms still wrapped around herself, almost as if she's afraid to get too close to you. "Come on." You say as you wave her over. Eventually she sighs and lays back down in bed. Being mindful of your stitches, you curl into her and lay your head on her shoulder.

"But you stopped. You weren't in control but you stopped." You said.

"I don't know what you did to stop me but I can never guarantee that will happen again. You were lucky. We were lucky that monster stopped."

"Alcina, please."

"I don't know what else you want me to call it, it's a monster."

"What does it look like, your full form?"

"Like a dragon of sorts."

"Of sorts?"

"It's hard to explain."

"Okay, then call it a dragon, not a monster. For me, please?"

Alcina looks into your pleading eyes and rolls hers. "I will try."

"Thank you. Do you want to know how I got you to stop?"

"Yes."

"As you were feeding from me I remembered Cassandra saying that fear makes blood taste sweeter. I realized every time I felt fearful, the bite would get worse. So I relaxed myself in your arms and stroked your cheek. I asked you to please stop, that it was enough. Just when I thought I had failed and that I was going to die, you slowed down and stopped."

"I am so sorry, draga." She says as she wipes a few tears away and kisses the top of your head.

"But the most interesting thing happened after you stopped."

"What was that?"

"Even though your eyes were completely white, you looked afraid when you looked down at me in your arms and saw what happened. Was that the dragon, or was that you?"

Alcina leans her head back for a moment to think. She closes her eyes and her brows furrow.

"I think it was both of us. I was screaming, trying to get it to stop. Then it realized what it had done and I felt it's fear."

"Do you remember what happened afterwards?"

"When that mon-" you shoot her a look and she huffs. "when that dragon takes over my memory becomes hazy, so I don't remember everything clearly."

"You nuzzled me and whimpered."

"What?"

"Yeah, you nuzzled me and I heard you let out a whimper like a sad puppy. Then Mother Miranda took a step towards us and you growled at her. She took another step forward and you stepped backwards and then you full on snarled at her."

"Did I really?" Alcina asks with a look of surprise on her face.

"Yeah. Why? What's wrong?"

"It only ever responded to Mother Miranda. She was the only one that was ever able to control it." She says with a faraway look in her eye. Shaking her head, she looks back down at you. "Sorry, please continue."

"It's okay. After that you kneeled on the ground and covered us with your wings. Your mouth went to move towards my neck and I stopped you. I wasn't sure if you were going to try and feed again but instead you nuzzled me again and started purring, like really loudly. Louder than I've ever heard before."

A faint blush dusts Alcina's cheeks and she looks away as if she's embarrassed. "I'm sorry." She mumbles.

"What? Alcina, there's absolutely nothing to apologize for, especially for that." You say as you guide her chin back towards you. "Honestly? I liked it. It made me feel safe. Even when you do it and it's a faint purr, its comforting."

"I suppose that, thing, and I are more connected than I would care to admit. We are one in a way."

"That's why I don't want you to hate it or talk badly about it. It's part of who you are, and everything about you is beautiful and worthy of love."

Alcina's breath stalls in her chest and she looks deep into your eyes with wonder. "You are truly fascinating. You never cease to amaze me, draga mea." She whispers, as if she's talking to herself.

You sit up and bring your lips to meet hers in a gentle, passionate kiss. "I love everything about you. Everything that you are, Alcina. Always." You whisper against her lips before she kisses you again.

When your lips part you rest your head in the crook of her neck and she runs her fingers through your hair.

"Did anything else happen?" She asks.

"Well when I realized you weren't going to feed again, I let you move back towards the bite mark you started licking it and cleaning it."

"That I do faintly remember. Right before I came back, correct?"

"Yeah, you placed a kiss on it and when you pulled back the white in your eyes faded back to your usual gold."

"That's right. I do remember that. That's why Mother Miranda had that incredulous look on her face. Because the mon-"

"Alcina." You interrupt.

"Sorry, I've been calling it that for nearly 60 years, it's going to take some time to break that habit." She says defensively. "Anyway, she had that look on her face because the dragon disobeyed her, it rejected her and chose you."

"Man that must have pissed her off."

"It very likely had."

"Do you think she'll leave me alone now?"

"I hope so, draga mea. Mother Miranda is a woman of her word. She promised she would leave you alone from now on."

"She said that last time."

"Technically, she said she would respect my property."

"Is that not the same thing?"

"For Mother Miranda, no. But she swore to leave you alone so I can only hope she keeps her word."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

You stifle a yawn and Alcina chuckles and kisses you on the forehead.

"Sleep, draga." She says as she slides down under the covers and wraps her arms around you. "You need rest. And you need to rest your voice. You only just got it back and I fear that the length of our conversation will set you back in your recovery."

"It would be worth it. I missed talking to you. And we needed to talk."

"That we did, iubirea mea." She says as she nuzzles into your hair. "I missed talking to you too. Now go to sleep."

Alcina kisses the shell of your ear and you fall asleep feeling her warm breath cascading over you.

Of course, the conversation the two of you had did indeed set your recovery back because you woke up without a voice again and didn't get it back for another two days.

Finally your week of recovery has gone by and Alcina was able to remove the stitches from your neck wound. She tried to hide her grimace at the scar but you saw the look on her face. Insisting on seeing it for yourself, you couldn't help but make the same face at first. Your reaction to it, even though it was involuntary, broke Alcina's heart and you could see it all over her face. You did your best to reassure her that it wasn't that bad and that it would fade some in time, but the both of you knew that it would still leave a very noticeable scar.

Feeling the guilt radiate off of her, you led her to the bed and had her lay down with you. Curling into her as tightly as possible, the two of you laid like that for hours, trying to let the aftermath of the meeting fade from your minds. The both of you still had a lot of thoughts and feelings to work out, but as you laid in each others arms, nothing else in the world mattered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C25l1SkYzb0

"Look I'm the dragon lady!" Angie's voice screeches from underneath the hat. "Roar! I'm so big and scary! Fear me!"

"Give me that." Alcina says, swiping the hat from Angie's head.

[katyspersonal]

If you were curious, this song basically sums up everything of why I find Radagon sympathetic (timeline being sometime after the Twins were born)

(Attaching Youtube one with the lyrics just in case)

This is a beautiful song! And no, I agree with your vision that Radagon was not unfeeling nor "divorce selfie" meme when he left Rennala and his children! It is really funny to do all the divorce jokes and exaggerate how much of a bitch he can be for the comedic effect, I love this kind of cruel humour! xD

But in the end, Rennala did charm him enough to opt out for marriage and erasing his war crimes in Liurnia from the collective memory, instead of conquering the continent and erasing Carians instead, right? 🤔 He most likely can and did love her and his children, but he is bound with the problems of divinity as much as Marika if not more, right? Marika is just the latest carrier of Elden Ring, so, Greater Will's vision and Golden Order is just her iteration of it, when previously it were Ancient Dragons!

^^^ @izunias-meme-hole I am bringing your ask to answer here too because I went on this topic's territory here! :p

But Radagon didn't make the Golden Order "manifest" like this, he is Golden Order! His Japanese title is literally 黄金律, ラダゴン ((the) Golden Order, Radagon). His existence is a combination of the divinity and power Marika was given, where Two Fingers were guiding her and her own biases, principles and other things that give Golden Order its "current imperfection"! Let alone the fact that Marika is the dominant alter!

They were both dealing with "caged divinity"! But whereas Marika had the courage to kill herself (or get as close to it as possible, leaving it to Hewg and whoever he helps to maybe find the way to finish this), Radagon clearly liked living more :p And it is hard to blame him because whereas long long time ago Marika was just a traumatised Shaman woman that wished to make a better world where what happened to her village could not happen again, Radagon never existed as such! The divinity and this "better world" is all there was to him!

^^^ All three Mending Runes we get change the Golden Order, and it is no wonder that he is fighting us! At the first glance you'd think it makes no sense; why, if we just want to fix it? Something he himself wanted to do?

But like.. this is the point. :p He is like this because Golden Order is like this. It is not that he is protecting his power and the right to keep oppressing this or that kind of folks like any real world corrupt authority would! He goes beyond, a blend of a 'person' and of a 'concept', and is protecting his existence! Of course he doesn't want to be mended by someone except himself, because then it won't be HIM anymore! It is not that Those Who Live in Death should be condemned or anything- he probably doesn't even have an idea they exist since they appeared after Shattering! It is that Golden Order exists because Death was sealed, and he would get theseus-ship'd if that (or anything else) was changed! As if a law of nature was given the sentence and self-comprehension! I mean it: you won't wish on your worst enemy to be in Marika's OR in his situation!

Greater Will would be content with any Order, it simply created life but wants it to have a coherent form as opposed to primordial chaos!

And it seems like it abandoned everyone over Elden Ring being shattered! I pictured it as Marika shattering the "phone" between the world and itself, but it could've also been a gradual process! Like it seeing that no matter what the new Order doesn't rise from the ruins, nor the former one gets fixed. Maybe it just said "well THIS attempt at creating life with actual rules was a failure, I'll go try again, bye you weeaboo shits" fsdhfdsh The theory about us being an experiment, and a failed one at that that was abandoned by god/gods/aliens/whatever lingers somewhere amongst humanity, and here you can see it manifest.

Nonetheless 1) you'd expect the Two Fingers, its grandchild, to still remember its wishes and wish the same thing and 2) Greater Will possibly was still there long before the Shattering to do this:

I fucking love the "Sorry Rennala, I found someone better than you: myself" jokes and use them at any given chance fhhds But I am just saying, on the serious note, I do not actually think this IS what happened :p. If anything, Marika would be the one to want to hold the Golden Order as close to herself as possible, so it would be kept pure and in contact with the Greater Will like herself! I am considering the idea that she saw something similar to Goldmask's insight, except instead of drastically removing the 'person' from equation (at the time!) she wanted it to be "closer to the stars" for the lack of better term! Back then, maybe it looked like that way, it would never go corrupt, never fail her. After all, regrets and decision to destroy it only came after Godwyn was killed!

And in both cases, it was someone else who wanted Radagon to leave, and nothing really suggests that he was happy or indifferent doing so! He remade the sword Rennala gifted to him to symbolise the change, but nothing says which emotions were behind that process! It could've been any of them, and all interpretations are fair! He had duty to manifest the way things worked even more so than Marika, who at least GOT to live a normal human life long ago, but it doesn't mean he didn't care about how much pain he caused to Rennala in following that duty! On the other hand, bitter irony is that Radagon actually got to live a normal life - with Rennala and the kids! And just like Marika, he experienced leaving it behind to do "bigger" things. It is sad that the cruelty of caged divinity repeated even in her other self! ��

____________________

I've side-tracked in validating a more sympathetic reading of him (I just have a dark, immature humour that sometimes poisons my perception of the character on the first glance XD)! There is sadness about him. His one REAL sin is lacking the same courage Marika had, to die so the new, better era begins, but even then this "choice" is made for him when Elden Beast takes his motionless body as its weapon! The territorial aggressions, as well as principles of the Golden Order, are "fault" of Marika's personality as a 'god no better than humans' (which is FAIR), Two Fingers that gave her ideas via broken telephone, and maybe Greater Will in some capacity! "The roots were rotten", so Radagon could also only be rotten!

+ I also think that Radagon came into existence because Marika got cursed during the War with the Giants ( x )! Think of one breaking in two as "defence mechanism", because losing the God itself could not be afforded, however cursing the Order of this God was "fair game"! Marika is a tool of Greater Will to make the order, any order, so the tool could not be ruined yet the tool's creation (the Order) could! So, what if now it is only 90% perfect? Remnants of it are Ulcerated Tree Spirits breathing fire, despite being just malformed Minor Erdtrees! I have a theory that the same happened with Trina, as Miquella came into contact with Frenzied Flame but losing an Empyrean could not be afforded! That comes from the fact this sleep power is conceptual opposite of FF, as well as Torrent having burnt marks, his summon ring already having its part 'drained', him fearing the Abyssal Woods and Miquella being shown to ride in him the Shadow Realm before! It is a long one but you can see where I am going with this!

[cyten0]

A Symphony In Crimson

The End of A World

𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞𝄞

Your name is Siffrin.

And you should never have existed.

But you are about to fix that.

▲ “Hey Sif. Nervous?”

You nod. This isn’t going to be easy.

After defeating the king, you started to look more into your home, as best as you could. Made counter wishes, dug up tomes, EVERYTHING.

And what you found shocked you. Your home wasn’t just forgotten. It was erased. You, and everything from there, are living typos in the script.

And it shows, if you look too long. Why you'd have such expensive clothing when living out of a seaside cabin. Why a child knew how to pilot a boat across open waters. Why no one helped you as a child, as you still barely existed at all. Why the star door in the house never actually had a question on it, just the idea of one. Why even after screaming yourself to death, your home's name couldn't be said, as there was nothing to scream.

As time went on, you found more and more. The inability to find any traces of the religion or culture beyond the surface. The technology falling apart into a useless mess if you try and take it apart. People sharing with you what tiny bits of history you've recovered almost exactly, with no deviation.

It took years after to find out what did it. You wanted to see if it was possible to do it again, in order to fix it. And by freak chance, it turned out you were the only one alive who could.

The last heir to a throne that doesn't exist.

◉ “Oh, I’m sure it’ll be fine! We’ve got everything planned out!”

Mirabelle sits at the dining table, cheerful. She’s really flourished since Dormont. Grew more confidant. Assured. The picture of the Revolutionary Housemaiden the tales came to paint her as.

𝄞 “Are you all. SURE. You are still Okay with this?”

✿ “Course Frin, especially myself! I know what’ll happen, but crab it.”

They are still cooking up food for you all. Biggest meal they’ve ever made, to fit the occasion. They’ve learned SO MANY recipes, that it took them a solid WEEK to figure out what to include, settling for at least only what can fit on the table. Fritters are, of course, included.

Bonnie has grown up into a fine adult. That wishcraft-made red hair and eyes looks good on them! They did mention they liked that you both match now.

𝄞 “I know, but still…”

✿ “Look, I know I’m gonna die, but it’ll only be for a bit! You just better meet back up with kid me as soon as you can, got it? And give them a list of my best recipes, while you’re at it!”

◆ “And let MY younger self know to get a Shattering cane earlier, OR ELSE. If I find out you knew about my leg and did NOTHING, I know I won’t be merciful.”

Odile meanders her way to the table. Last 20ish years plus the action at Dormont have not been kind to her, but she manages anyways. She struggles to walk, but you know if you tried helping her to the table she would still beat you senseless.

▲ “Yeah, you don't want to provoke the wrath of Odile!... Don't worry Sif, I know you won't have to. Still, Excited for my younger self to get to play with Fashion designs from your homeland. You better find me quick!"

He gives you a kiss. Hehe! It's been nice, being with him. Your bonding earrings turned out so pretty. As is everything else he's made since. He's been keeping you safe and sound, comfortable in your shared home.

◆ “That said, just to double check. I grabbed a sales report of that ‘bodycraft aid’. Even with the virus’s greatly reduced efficiency, the amount it’s distributed more then makes up for it.”

Right. It took ages to dig up that old virus, and while it’s baseline form as utterly horrifying, things changed when you realized it made those affected closer to the Universe, or specifically the Arcana. The Fool was very clear they are NOT the universe, just a part of it.

You had to reduce the Viruses effects SIGNIFICANTLY, but it still ended up as a net increase. And actually beneficial for people! Greatly eases healing crafts and of course, body craft!

◉ “On my front, think I’ve got blessings across the world, so we should be good on that front!”

Mirabelle used some of their savior popularity and leveraged rumors of their blessing to help seed star-stuff around the world. It DOES help crop growth, reduce disease, and increase peoples craft! People just accepted it was a divine blessing, and got to enjoy the perks. And since You and Bonnie were keeping yourselves safe, nobody knew about the caveat.

✿ “So, Fool, think it’s enough?”

The strange figure appears next to them on their command. A long tattered cloak, held closed with thousands of hands. A single, Red, floating eye for their face. A pale rose in one hand, and a walking staff in the other.

(✸) “For our own purposes? Not quite enough, but that is fine. It will still bring us closer together. We shall live again, if for but a moment. And with that time we shall be stitched ever so slightly tighter. May-hap next time shall be the last we need.”

It feels bad, but. You’ve done all you can. Short of causing an actual apocalypse, this is the best you can do for them.

Sure, everyone will die, but it’ll barely last a minute before they are all back. And none of them will remember. Odile even made sure it’d be painless, JUST in case. Enough they might not even realize they died at all if they do remember. Most importantly, It'll get all the Arcana summoned, and with that you can make things overall better.

(✸) “However, with your plan in mind, it should be enough for your own desires. It will not be easy, Lost King, even knowing your skill with time. We hope you are ready.”

✿ “Sure, but food first! I’m gonna enjoy my ‘last’ meal.”

The fool looks you all over, as you eat. It's hard to read them, but they seem... Happy?

(✸) “To think such a peaceful method of this was possible… And to fix our mistakes from before... We are grateful. And sorry, for the trouble.”

𝄞 “If it brings back my home, that’s enough. Consider us even.”

You all enjoy your meal. The Fool even shapes themselves into a human form to enjoy a little, on Bonnie's request.

You are glad for this. But, you know...

You’re going to miss them, for however long it takes to find your way back.

>>>

With full stomachs, and everyone ready, you all head to the room you set up. The view of the stars above, devices planted against the walls, specialized patterns to channel craft in the EXACT way you need it.

The Universe is watching. Time to heal a star.

Odile starts up the setup to make the needed modifications to the summoning rituals. Isabeau helps her out, running the numbers and double checking everything.

You stand in the center of the circle.

▲ “I think that’s everything! We’re ready as we’re gonna be.”

◆ “Indeed. Now remember, Siffrin, minimal changes! If this goes wrong, we need to leave the world mostly intact so we can meet up, get notes from you, and try again. And so you don’t unwrite yourself entirely, since you’ll be the only one to remember. Only act when you’re sure it’ll work.”

𝄞 “Gotcha! Alright, let’s do this.”

You lift your hand, and unleash the power in your blood. Rapidly, as quick as you can, you pull out each part! 3, 4, 5. One by one, you feel reality quake as you continue, but the setup holds strong. 18, 19, 20-

✿ “Hrg! YEP! That’s My cue! Okay, Painless sacrifice thing doesn’t work on me, That’s crabbing fun. Fair, I guess.”

You watch as Bonnie starts to dissolve into floating blood, as Judgment exacts their price. You nearly stop then and there, you don’t want to-!

✿ “I’ll be fine Frin! Finish it!”

You… You breathe In. And Out.

You call upon The World.

⋆｡°✩ “BY OUR HAND THE WORLD SHALL BE SACRIFICED” ✩°｡⋆

⋆｡°✩ “BY OUR HAND IT SHALL BE MADE ANEW” ✩°｡⋆

⋆｡°✩ “FOR WHAT DO YOU WISH FROM THIS WORLD” ✩°｡⋆

Alright. The curtains rise, time for your cue.

𝄞 “I wish for my home to be returned, and to have the life I was denied.”

⋆｡°✩ “A DIFFICULT REQUEST” ✩°｡⋆

𝄞 “But I know the path.”

⋆｡°✩ “THEN LEAD AND WE SHALL FOLLOW” ✩°｡⋆

You feel yourself get pulled into it’s embrace, to see things from it’s view.

As reality opens wide before you, you begin your journey.

First, you must reach when the island was lost.

《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《

You rewind all the way through your life, to when you washed up on Vaugarde. Following the path your paradoxical existence lends.

The Arcana are weakened, by reaching outside the Fool’s gate. But you’ve ensured they can, and that's enough.

Now. It must be here.

You start to look into yourself, resting on the coast. You peel back the threads around you, finding traces and bits of the island. Digging, digging.

THERE.

The gate of the old summoning. The point mere seconds after they faded away the first time. But the gate is there.

You leap through.

﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀

You are in an echo of the old world. A world that still has color. A world that still has your home.

Right at it’s end. But you don’t care about that.

No, you passed through via the gate. A gate unbound by time. Even if you've been weakened further, HERE is where you can make changes that MATTER.

You need to start at the beginning. See where it went wrong.

《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《《

You stare at the scene. A power-mad king, standing over the corpses of two. One you saw briefly before, performing the final summoning.

The other… is already dead. A woman with lightless hair like your own.

And the king, laughing above them, just started the cycle.

What to do. What to do. How can you fix things from here? You still have enough power to work miracles, but...

The fallen man’s quest started here, from what you presume is vengeance. But her life is already gone, you can’t bring her back. Even if you did, it wouldn’t stop this mad king. You can see in his eyes that if you leave him alive, he’ll ruin your home before you can live in it.

But with the blessing, you can’t kill him. Despite, right now, being essentially the being giving it to him, the nature of your time manipulation would make it too tricky. You need another angle...

Wait. What is.

You feel. Yourself. Nearby.

...Her womb. She… Is this your mother?

Your existence really is very tenuous. Perhaps this man’s subconscious hope on remaking the world is all that made you live. The only reason you live at all being a father's hope to see their unborn child. The only thread of truth in the Lie that was your life, held together by patchwork, coming apart if stared at too long.

Focus. Your other self is barely alive. And will die soon.

But. That might be your key.

You reach into this faint echo of you. And using them as the final thread, you-

《《《《《《

One week. You could only manage one week, with all you have. You are barely here at all.

But. That. Should be. Enough.

You search. Where is that man. The man who killed her. The man who started this all. The man who took EVERYTHING from you. From EVERYONE that stepped foot on this land!!!

You find him. He doesn’t have the blessing yet.

Perfect.

You pull your dagger from your hip. And with the last bit of your strength…

Dead.

The thread you made pulls taught, as all of reality spirals inwards towards this one single moment, dragging everything across the thread of time, inverting existence upon itself, blending both realities together in one cacophonous instant.

And you.

Fade from consciousness.

>>>>>>>>

You… you awaken. Where?….

A. Crib. A child’s crib.

You. You must be…

Did you merge with your other self?

...You did wish to have your life, you suppose.

HAH. Oh stars, this is gonna be WEIRD!!

But. Okay. It’s fine.

This means you're in the best position to make sure it doesn't happen again. That you don't lose this home again. It's fine.

You’re about 50 years late but. You got it.

Good luck Siffrin. You have a childhood to live.

[blurredfloweryblood]

something that makes me super sick when i think of moral orel, is the Love episode from season 2.

now, we all know that it is a reenactment of how both protestant and catholic beliefs, within their own bigotry and convoluted punishment, wouldn't be accepting of their savior, because love, goes against everything they teach. they teach pain. simple, and direct.

It's the forced betrayal that makes me cry, everytime.

Judas gave Jesus over to the hands of his demise, didn't he?

And who, exactly, gives Bartholomew over to the growls of the pillars that tower over the giggles of kids that have experienced joy, secretly, about the wonder of receiving love, in such a simple way?

When they have been denied the touch of their father's hand, denied the heart of their mother, and sit down the cold desks, forced to parrot beliefs that they swallow. They are kids, yet. Weeds that are being held by the roots. Grow, grow.

Just not too much.

And who better to teach the lesson, than the one that's always wrecking everything? shaking the words said at church and shoving them back at their faces, outrageous, smiling sunshine that has spread love like a disease.

And for Orel? It's the first time he had a friend, a special being that looks him back, and loves him. Stephanie is warm, but he can't always venture back to her, without being afraid of chasing her away.

And then there's Bartholomew, who chases back, let's himself be held by Orel. And for the first time, for the first time, he can feel someone else's heartbeat close to his, and know, a sliver of happiness among what he has to dig out. Because he has to earn the hand that feeds. He has to earn the place where he won't get love, just rotten spoils of whatever people want to leave behind, after adoring God, and hating him at the same time.

And so. He cradles Bartholomew. And he just doesn't understand. He is kind. And warm, and sweet. And the few moments feel like what could've been a lifetime of something akin to affection.

Orel just doesn't get it. He clutches Bartholomew tight, sobbing, looking at the faces of the people who he trusts the most, the smiles that he has seen before, and now, they are tight.

Like they were sawn on. Undoing themselves, with the outstretched hands twitching, and the frowns coming and going. Just give Bartholomew away! Just give him away! They know best, they do!

But he just. Can't. It doesn't feel right. It feels like they are trying to cut something out of his chest, and he knows that they will never give it back. Something inside of him writhes in pain, and says, don't do it. don't do it. don't. don't. don't. don't. don't.

Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. You can do anything else! Help clean the church, receive a thousand of your father's burning belt lashings, and be scrubbed bloody with your mother's least favorite product.

You can do anything! And he's good. He's good! He is good! And if he isn't, Bartholomew can learn! He is really smart, if they teach him, he will follow!

Or well. Let him hold him close a little more. One second. Five minutes. 6 days. 7 months. Five years. The rest of his lifetime. Just let him have him. Don't take him away. Let him have him. Orel has been good! And if he hasn't, and he has tainted something, broken a rule, he will fix it! Just don't take Bartholomew away!

But his father gets near, and Orel's arms weaken the hug. He doesn't know why, but. If they tell him, then, it, it has to be the right thing, right? If they ask him to give them Bartholomew, it's because they know best?

And they make him Judas. He gives his dear Bartholomew away. Shaky hands, grim face. They make him betray him. And betray himself.

Whatever Orel had felt those days had been squashed down. Stomped on. As if it was an ugly bug on someone's window. Something that absolutely needs to be erased after being dragged and smeared.

He goes home and feels like he wants to puke his heart out. His mind. His bones. He doesn't want to cry, but he can't help it. God forgive him, he just loves him so much. And loving couldn't be such a disgrace, could it?

Mom said that animals have no souls. But everytime he finds himself remembering how Bartholomew stared, Orel would swear on God he saw stars, and something deep, deep. It could've been a soul.

And even if he made the mistake of saying he had a sould, couldn't God grant him this small chance, of seeing him again?

Dear God. It's Orel Puppington. I pray every night, and think of you every day. My life is yours God! And I know you cannot grant wishes, but if you could, wouldn't you give Bartholomew a soul? He is good! And loyal! You could teach him lots and lots of things!

He will make you happy too! So, please, won't you give him a soul? It doesn't have to be big. Just a tiny one will do. Just. Please.

I don't want him to fade. Let him exist somewhere else. Even if it has to be without me.

[master-jarrus]

I'm trapped by my napping son and I saw a post about Lloyd's age and I decided I'm going to talk about it but I am not reblogging that post because this turned into a rant and I don't want them to think I'm attacking them or anything

.

So number 1 thing: I'm 80% sure the creators have gone back and forth on where Lloyd's mental age was at after the tomorrows tea (the other 20% is the lack of desire to go hunting for evidence because that would require a lot of time and focus)

.

Now Lloyd's age is complicated not just because of the tea but also because of the time traveling and the retconning (<- this one in particular is what really messes everything up)

So Lloyd was for sure physically aged up by the tea. Now he does act different but to me it has always felt like a kid trying to act older than they are

It felt like he was trying to act how he thought was expected of him now that he was older. Not taking the comic book is prime example of this.

But it can be argued there is no way for his mental age not to be affected. Physical change affects the brain too. Yeah sure magic is involved but his brain would've developed more too. Which affects his mental age and hormones, no way around it.

The only hint that maybe magic might've left his mental age in tact by acting like hormone blockers is how long it takes for his voice to drop and therefore implied delayed puberty

Now what I think is that he is still mentally younger than his body but he will catch up to it because his brain was affected. I think season 8 is when his mental age at least very close to catching up to his body

But then you have the time travel complicating things.

So we are discounting Wu's time traveling because we don't know how it impacts Lloyd and that would just be pure speculation

The Ninja's and Garmadon's time traveling though which was right after Lloyd had the tea is really interesting though

It technically erased the existence of the golden weapons (like I said it's complicated, I'm just getting into the things that affect Lloyd's age)

So that should've erased the mega weapon resurrecting the grundle and therefore Lloyd wouldn't have used the tomorrows tea and still be around 9 years old

But when they came back he was still aged up.

In fact it seems like everyone but Garmadon and the OG 4 had false memories implanted about the events affected by the golden weapons

So to Lloyd he did live those 5ish years

So then his mental age would be caught up right?

I don't know. He still acts like he is just trying to match how he thinks someone his physical age would be expected to act

There is the whole thing with them saying with it just being like amnesia for that gap so that would settle it and make it so his mental age matches his body

But then comes the retcon complicating things even further

They have retconned the og and nya to still be teens even though in rebooted they were adults with teaching jobs and implied to be young adults until season 8

I remember someone was asking either doc or tommy on twitter (I'm not hunting down the tweet I don't even have twitter/x) if the tea aged Lloyd up to be the same age as the ninja. He said they were old enough for things to be weird

That means at least a 3 year age gap (when you're an adult 3 years is normal but like a 14 year old and a 17 year old? That's weird)

But in order for them to be teens that whole time they would've had to have been like 13 on

Which means Lloyd would've been 5 when he discovered he was the green ninja and that obviously doesn't make sense

Even with my theory of the people of ninjago having long life spans they wouldn't still be consider teens because it would no longer have the teen ending for the age they couldn't have been teenagers the whole time

So the only way that comment would still work is if Lloyd didn't age mentally (it's still iffy but it mostly fixes the plot hole)

.

In the end pretty much both sides are dismissible as "just headcanons" as the one person had said about the opposing view to Lloyd's age

[melanielocke]

Arcane meta: Singed's views on humanity

I found it interesting that when Singed encourages Viktor to use Vander to become immortal, his reasoning is "to complete your work, to save us from ourselves". We see at the same time that Singed does not truly care about this, as he is in the astral plane touching his daughter's coffin: he really only cares about her. He just believes this is what'll convince Viktor, and after Viktor gets shot and Ambessa attacks and he gives up on humanity, this does become Viktor's plan. Viktor says "the doctor was right", presumably about this.

I think Singed knew Viktor well enough to know that he didn't care about personal gain, wouldn't be tempted by whatever Ambessa could offer him, and did not approve of her warmongering. He never even mentions Ambessa when trying to convince Viktor, probably because it wouldn't work. Singed has only one goal here, convince Viktor to use Vander to stabilize himself so he can use that to revive his daughter (not 100% sure how Singed made it work exactly, but Viktor becoming the arcane Herald seems to have been a necessity).

But Viktor at this point is not yet convinced that all of humanity is bad and people need to be saved from themselves. He's only healing people who come to him for help, and he's kind of picking and choosing what parts of humanity to erase out of a misguided sense of compassion, because emotions cause suffering so by removing those he thinks he's helping. Only after Ambessa's and Jayce's attacks does he conclude humans are not capable of making the right choices, that Viktor has to force his evolution on them, that only by doing this humanity can be saved, which is sort of what Singed implied.

Singed probably recognizes this altruism within Viktor, that he's developing a savior complex, and the prospect of saving more people is the only thing that would tempt him. But the way he phrases it implies a very negative view of humanity as a whole. He could have said, "hey Viktor, you're dying from magic overuse and you'll run out soon. But if you sacrifice Vander you'll be immortal and have endless magic so you can keep healing people indefinitely." But no, he tells Viktor he can save people from themselves.

Other statements that I think are in line with this are when he tells Ambessa no beast is more savage than man. And no one in power is innocent. And people do things other deem unspeakable for love. This last statement is, of course, about himself, but he broadens it. He's not the only one who does unspeakable things for love.

And I think all this boils down to a view of humanity that is very similar to where Viktor ends up. Humanity is inherently flawed, corrupt, guided by emotions that makes them do terrible things. The difference is, Viktor sees this as a problem he needs to fix so everyone can live and peace and no one suffers ever again, whereas Singed doesn't really care. If anything, this view justifies his own actions. What he's doing is what humans in general do: commit atrocities for love. It's in his nature, so why he should he do anything else? Other people simply do not have the scientific genius to see this through, but he does, so he should.

And while Singed is definitely using Viktor so he can bring his daughter back, I do think Singed also cares about him. He's not opposed to Viktor's plans. He probably didn't realize it would kill everyone, him included, but the idea of Viktor saving humanity from itself was fine to him. Not because he cared so much about this, but he does have a soft spot for Viktor and is a supportive dad, and if his mad scientist kid wants to become god to alter humanity to erase all these cruel tendencies and save everyone, then sure, why not?