#Turn back his vampirism because imo he doesn't like being a vampire

[coreene]

Throughout Astarion's story there is one thing I'm very sure of: he loves the sun, so much. A few examples:

1. is after the sex scene when they wake up, he is absolutely drinking up the sun. Standing in it's rays.

2. When you're in the Underdark he says he wants to go back to the surface because he misses the sun.

3. When you make it to the Lower City of Baldur's Gate he says how much colour the streets has in daylight and he looks so... happy.

For this reason alone my Tav wants to help him ascend, so he'll never have to hide away from the sun but if he does, he'll lose the part of himself that shines with joy whenever he's under the rays of sunshine.

It is such a tragedy to me that he's living joyous borrowed days under the sun and his only options are either lose himself to the corruption of power or count the days until he has to go back to living in the shadows.

[cbrownjc]

Hey :) just saw your post with your speculation about how much Eric/Daniel will be in S3. And while this isn't a definitive answer or anything, Rolin did address the question of whether or not Daniel would still play a part in the story post-s2 in this interview for the A.V. Club: https://www.avclub.com/rolin-jones-interview-with-the-vampire-season-2-finale-1851566667

I kinda feel like this means we'll see him more than just in a couple of scenes here and there, even in S3 (though he didn't specifically say "in season 3". But I feel like "still" implies this?)

Only it's difficult to judge because any present-day storyline they do with him is a big question mark since they seem to have departed from books (where he only gets turned shortly before the concert and does not part from Armand). What Armand is up to in the present-day is also a question mark imo. At least until the story converges at the concert.

I mean, I'll be real I'm also just trying to convince myself he'll be in it more because I'll miss him otherwise 🥲

Hi!

So, first I want to say that I think the two major pieces of casting that still need to be done are obviously Gabrielle and Marius. And I've long speculated that Marius is already playing a huge part in Daniel's story because I really do believe that Marius was the one to erase Daniel's memories of his past relationship with Armand.

Yes, Marius plays an important role in Lestat's life, but he plays an even bigger one in Armand and Daniel's as well, especially going by the books. In the books, Daniel lived with Marius for almost 30 years -- first healing from his mental issues, and then as companions -- before getting back together with Armand during the Prince Lestat era. All that, plus given what Rolin Jones already said about Raglan James, I don't think Justin Kirk is secretly playing Marius. So Marius still needs to be cast, and I very much expect him to be deeply involved in Armand and Daniel's storyline, going forward.

I just don't see that happening much in Season 3, however.

Because Season 3 is Lestat's story and focus, primarily. Just like Season 1 and Season 2 were mainly focused on Louis.

There is really only one episode in those two seasons where you can say Daniel was focused on -- outside of just interviewing Louis -- and that was episode 2x05. And even then, Louis factored heavily in that episode as well.

Armand and Marius play major roles in Lestat's story. Daniel doesn't. So if Daniel has any type of major storyline in Season 3, it will have to be with those two characters, IMO; as well as the Talamasca, since they were the ones to publish Daniel's book in the first place, and Rolin already said they and Raglan James will play an even bigger role in the show than they did in the books.

But without an episode count yet, I just can't see it being a huge focus. Mostly because characters like Marius still need to be fully set up and established. Also, I already think Armand is being set up to be a false Big Bad in Season 3 (since he's pretty much a villain in The Vampire Lestat), so I think whatever of Armand's POV that we get in Season 3, in the present day, will be very limited too, IMO, if we get it like we did in episode 2x03.

And yet, IMO, the only way we are looking at getting another episode like 2x05 in Season 3 is if it's told from Armand's POV. Because, again, Armand actually ties into Lestat's story, both in the past and in the present. And I think for sure that whatever Armand is up to in the present will have something to do with Daniel, as well as whatever else might be going on in the setup for Akasha rising.

Heck, if my theory is right that Marius was the one to wipe Daniel's memories of his and Armand's past relationship, Armand and Marius might have a present-day scene together, likely discussing Daniel (along with what Lestat is doing).

And yes, while Eric might still be in the top five for the call sheet going forward, that really doesn't say much IMO without knowing the Season 3 episode count. I mean, I'm sure Sam Reid was top 5 on the call sheet in Season 2, but if you look at his screen time in Episodes 2x01 and 2x02, it really wasn't much. And we didn't see him at all in episode 2x05, only heard his voice. And he didn't appear in episode 2x06 until the end.

I thought they found a way to work Lestat into the story of Season 2 very well, expanding on things from the book. But he still wasn't in the first few episodes very much.

And Daniel is even more different because he's not mentioned or referenced in The Vampire Lestat book at all.

So wrt Daniel in the present day, I'm tempering my expectations. Because yes, whatever is going on with Eric's Daniel in the present day is completely off-book. But, with every other facet of the story, the show has very much been on-book, in a rather strict way. Lestat's story is the main story of The Vampire Lestat and therefore will be for Season 3 IMO. And I think, whatever happens with Daniel in the present day is going to have to tie into that story. And that can't really happen via Daniel directly.

Louis' story is already being set up to tie into Lestat's present-day storyline directly, with his challenging all the vampires in the world to come for him if they dare. One of the reasons Lestat even became a rock star in the first place was to try and protect Louis by drawing attention to himself in an even bigger way than Louis' memoir drew attention to Louis.

But there are only two ways I see Daniel's story drawing directly to Lestat, and those are not in a way that directly has to do with Daniel. Because Lestat doesn't even know Daniel, has never met him before or interacted with him. (No I don't think they changed that from the book.)

So it's only through Armand, possibly Marius, and the Talamasca that Daniel ties into the larger story of what's going to be going on with Lestat in the present day. (Maybe a bit of Louis too, but the vampires we heard talking at the end didn't seem to be threatening Daniel, only Louis. Curious.) And, again, without an episode count yet, I just don't know how much time that focus can really get, especially when you have to set up Marius as a character; as well as probably having to set up the Talamasca even more as well; as well as maybe not revealing too soon what Armand is up to in the present day to keep his motives as mystery and have non-book readers wondering if Armand is the Big Bad villain they think he is or not.

And having to do all of this, plus laying preparation for adapting Queen of the Damned next. The book where Daniel actually does get a lot of focus.

And this also lines up with what Assad let slip about Season 4 being when we would see Armand's backstory. (Which is when QotD would start being adapted if TVL isn't split into 2 seasons like IWTV was).

And Rolin Jones flat out said people need to stop jumping ahead because Devil's Minion was "3 books ahead" of where they were now in adapting (which at the time was the 2nd half of the IWTV book), and to "slow down" about it.

So for now, I'm going to listen to RJ and just "slow down" about this.

So, in doing so, while I think we'll see Daniel in the present day in Season 3, I still don't think we'll see him much. And I think when we do, one of the episodes we'll get will probably be a stand-alone episode in the vein of episode 2x05 that focuses on what happened in the past. (Which I think will be an episode that focuses on why Daniel once woke up in a parking lot in Milwaukee not knowing how he got there). And I think for sure he'll be in the Season 3 finale. But other than that? 🤷🏾‍♀️ Again, I'm slowing down and tempering my expectations. Especially if we only get another 7-8 episode count again.

Because right now, for Season 3, Lestat's story is the main focus. Not Daniel, not Armand, and not Devil's Minion. And Daniel's character can only tie into Lestat's story via other people, which is rather limiting but can't be helped.

[lillotte17]

I just woke up, so good morning, let me see if I can string any words together in a coherent pattern. This has actually been on my mind for weeks. Slowly driving me insane.

200 years. Two. Hundred. Years. 2 HUNDRED years.

That amount of time is literally incomprehensible to us in terms of personal memories and trauma. We can barely remember anything collectively as a species for that amount of time without losing bits and pieces of it. It is more than 2/3 of the time that Astarion has been alive. Well, "alive."

I am currently in my mid thirties, it would be like if I had died when I was 7 or 8 years old and then had to try and remember everything about my personality and my family and my morality from that time period. I do remember it, of course, but a lot of it is pretty vague. A lot of things that I know happened, or that I know I did, I remember because there are other people in my life who knew me then. Astarion wasn't a child, of course, but time still has it's way with things, and there is no one in his life he knew from before he became a vampire, with the possible exception of Cazador, and he's hardly a reliable source of information. Trauma also damages memories, and he has spent more that 2/3 of his life being constantly starved and beaten, and abused in pretty much every possible way a person can be.

The main point being that it is simply not possible to make any firm assumptions about the kind of person Astarion was before he was turned. Maybe he was a horrible, power-hungry, back room dealing, lying, racist, POS trash-man who deserved what he got when that group of thugs jumped him. Maybe he was kind underneath all his bluster, and had a strong sense of justice, and he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Most likely, he was something in between. But we can't know. And Astarion probably doesn't really know anymore either.

(I firmly believe that Cazador chose him specifically to be a spawn, and possibly even orchestrated the attack on Astarion. They might not even have really been Gur. Astarion would only have Cazador to rely on for confirmation about what really happened to him that night, and having a culture of people who hunt monsters and were likely already targeting Cazador himself be the same group that murdered Astarion seems pretty mmmm convenient.)

And for all that he is a chaos gremlin, prickly rat-bastard, dumpster fire of a man, it is honestly pretty astounding (and rewarding imo) just how much growth he can have over the course of the game, which is only a few months, tops. (assuming, of course, that you are playing a good aligned Tav/Durge) But even before that, after the first night he tries to bite you, he is the one who immediately promises that he's not going to feed from innocents, with no prompting at all from the player. He doesn't ask to keep feeding from your PC, and he only drinks from you if you offer it. (unless you direct him to in a fight, I guess, lol) That feels huge to me. He has been STARVING for 200 years. Part of being a vampire is that he's always kind of starving, but he doesn't want to be a slave to that hunger any more than he wants to be a slave to anything or anyone else.

I'm not saying that he's secretly a good man deep down, but even from the start, the potential for him to be better was already there. Which is AMAZING because, as I said earlier: TWO HUNDRED YEARS.

Like, imagine that you know absolutely nothing about yourself except misery and torture and losing things, and it fucks you up, and you KNOW it's fucked you up, and you are terrified that one wrong move could send you back to the place that you just escaped from, and you still say, "I'm still not going to attack the innocent people around me for no reason, though. Sure, I might laugh if they manage to get themselves killed in an amusing way, but it's not going to be my fault."

[panlight]

Hi,

Just a question I wanted to ask about. How do you head-cannon the familial(or perhaps lack thereof) dynamics of the other major covens in twilight? eg. Egyptians, Denali, Irish etc

I was thinking about this the other day like with the Denali - Carmen and Eleazar are physically older and perhaps frozen at a more mature age but physically younger members like Kate have been around for longer and I was just intrigued by how these factors might affect their dynamic. Also with the Egyptian coven and how with them ‘generation gap’ literally takes on a whole new definition that makes one wonder if they genuinely do have a unique rapport with each other after being in close proximity for so long.

Feel free to ignore - just my little brain dump lmao. Love reading your posts and hope you keep writing!

Have a great day!

I conceptualize Eleazar and Carmen as the 'Alice and Jasper' of the Denali coven. They are a couple who join an established, venom-linked couple sometime later. The Denali sisters had their 'mother' for presumably centuries, and then existed as a trio for a long time before Eleazar and Carmen show up, so while I'm certain they did shift the dynamics somewhat, I don't see them as 'parental' in any real way. They are similar to Esme and Carlisle in personality, but that's where it ends for me. The sisters are very loyal to the memory of their mother, and they've been around too long to let anyone 'parent' them. To be fair, I feel similarly about Jasper; I don't think Esme and Carlisle 'parent' him; he's old enough to be Esme's grandfather, for one thing, but I also think he doesn't need or want the parental stuff. Affection, friendship, companionship, mentorship (re: vegetarianism), sure! "Jasper honey wash your face and put on your boots it's time for school! Did you finish all your homework?" I can't see it.

I think Eleazar is also like 'the Jasper' in the sense that he has some useful skills and knowledge from his time with the Volturi. He's not the leader -- Tanya is -- but she may rely on him for certain things, just like Carlisle can turn to Jasper for his knowledge of newborns and vampire warfare.

Beyond that I see them as adopted siblings of the original sisters and probably each have unique relationships within that framework. Maybe Irina was closer to Carmen while Tanya is closer to Eleazar or whatever.

With the Egyptians I think there is a more parental role for Amun and to a lesser extent, Kebi. Amun is Benjamin's creator and while that bond doesn't always become parental, given how young Benjamin was (15) it seems like it most naturally would in this case. I don't think Kebi necessarily sees him as a 'son' in quite the same way . . . maybe more like a step-son. He's Amun's son and she loves Amun so okay, this kid is here to stay, but I think she resents on some level that she has to 'share' Amun's affection with him. Tia is definitely IMO a daughter-in-law rather than a daughter. Amun puts up with it because it makes Benjamin happy and he wants to keep Benjamin around. But with Amun there's always that overlay of what he REALLY cares about is the power. I think he does have a lot of affection for Benjamin but it's hard to separate that from his pride at having this amazingly powerful vampiric offspring.

There is a huge generation gap though! Amun and Kebi are literally from Ancient Egypt and Benjamin and Tia are from like, early 1800s Egypt. Completely different religion, culture, language, etc. I remember finding it a little strange in that short film that they were talking about Benjamin stealing fire from Ra; it's the 1800s, Egypt had been a Muslim-majority country for several hundred years by that point. (Also 'Ra' was probably some dude Amun knew back in the day!) Interestingly, 'Tia' was a name used in Ancient Egypt. Not sure how common it was in the late 1700s/early 1800s though.

[y-rhywbeth2]

While it might be an interesting enough topic to explore, personally I don't think attachment issues are going to be much of a problem for Astarion, ultimately. This particular angst is sort of a non-issue to me. He's most likely going to have them, yes, but he will work through it.

Player: "I care for you a great deal. That's never changing." Astarion: "After all this, I've realised it's all right if it does change. If anything changes."

If you break up with him obviously he's upset, but as he tells you, he is living again and will continue to do so. He can and will dump you, and has multiple opportunities to do so and be perfectly fine on his own afterwards (assuming Cazador isn't still alive, which has nothing to do with his potential romantic attachments).

Nor does he appreciate the notion of relying on somebody for anything, including his lover. He appreciates the sentiment of wanting to keep him safe, but he's clearly irritated by the notion: "It would be nice not to have to rely on you as my great protector". He wants his freedom and his self-determination and he's going to have it.

Note that if you fail to convince him not to ascend and then try to stop him, which he perceives as robbing him of self-determination/freedom, he either tells you to "die screaming" and walks out or tries to kill you himself. No amount of approval will stop him: Your love is not more important to him than his freedom and ability to determine his own destiny. The only reason you can talk him out of it is by pointing out that he's being ruled by fear, that ascension will rob him of that and turn him into someone he hates. The fact that ascension is not on the table anymore might knock that drive back a bit while he takes the time to recalibrate and find his feet again, but I highly doubt it will stick: He didn't suffer 200 years of misery, come out the other end ready to fight, and then claw back his freedom, then decide it's time for him to reclaim his life only to sell it to somebody else, no matter the pedestal they might stand on.

If he does ascend and you leave him he gets over it in a few days. He might think of you from time to time between schemes and blood orgies, but he considers it beneath him to seek out your attention. If you turned illithid then the dev notes will happily point out that he didn't think of you or miss you at all. Possessive as he might be of his property, you're not actually that important to him compared to himself.

He tells you he will be fine without you, and if he loses you he demonstrates that he will be fine without you. He's a very self-interested person, and imo, at his core remains so when romanced (people can talk about how sweet he is with Durge all they like, but as a durgestarion enjoyer I find he's actually incredibly insensitive a lot of the time. It's a bonus. Get the feral ending and he flat out tells you your relationship is doomed because you'll remind him too much of the aspects of vampirism he hates the most and he's going to prioritise his wellbeing. Sure, he'll carry you in his heart forever and grieve your horrific ending, but he's clearly ok enough in life to go to the party, dressed up nicely, and share a toast with other people he cares about: He'll live). Selfishness is a flaw and a strength of his.

Astarion wants his partner: he doesn't need them. If he identitifes co-dependent behaviours in himself he will want to unlearn it. He sets boundaries and he expects them respected, and he will enforce them - as he does in-game. The lover is not that important in the grand scheme of things.

[invinciblerodent]

There are a lot of conversations on my dash today about why Astarion might have been chosen as such a cornerstone to the Ritual, why he got so much "special attention" (because he used to be a magistrate/noble-adjacent and Cazador liked to degrade him because of it, because he resisted the hardest and was hardest to break, because Cazador saw himself in him, etc.), and it had me thinking, so without littering all over someone else's post, I'd like to add my personal little theory:

I don't think there was a real reason to it at all.

Like, for starters... I don't think Cazador really thought of his spawn as people. Maybe in the beginning, when he turned his first, there was something almost special to it, a connection, but after already having turned thousands, someone having been at one point a magistrate, or a doctor like Dalyria, or something would, imo, be of little importance to him. The person is already his spawn, his slave, and to care at all about their past life as a person would imply that he is not fully thinking of them as just playthings at best (and cattle at worst), as implements to be used, which I kinda... don't think he's about? He doesn't seem to care beyond who or what is useful and/or entertaining to him, not even for his own niece: even her, he seemed only to care about breaking, but afterwards... didn't really seem to pay much actual attention to her, or favor her much at all. Amanita could just stay in the attic for all he cared.

By thinking of them in terms of who they once were, he'd be temporarily giving them back their personhood, even just in his head, and that to me would imply that Cazador doesn't believe his control to be unshakable and absolute, which... the dialogue to me says that he probably does. Like there's dialogue if you go to him without Astarion in the party, when he says something like "[when you don't return from this place] he will come here, because he knows nothing else"- not a shred of doubt in his mind that Astarion is still under his control, even in absentia, and will come back if only there isn't another influence (the player) to keep him from it. Because Astarion's identity to Cazador is that of a spawn, and not a person. (Really uncomfortable to think about how Cazador probably sees more of himself in the player than he did in any of the spawn, just from the way he talks to you.)

This kind of plays into the whole "morality of immortal beings" thing I've already talked about before with Mystra, that Cazador, believing himself immortal (especially as vampire ascendant, I fully buy that he thinks himself a god then), also thinks himself and his will inevitable. He doesn't conceptualize his own mortality, he's content torturing the others and staying in veritable stasis for as long as it takes, and while it annoys him that Astarion is taking a long time and would prefer it if things sped up, he's certain that he will eventually get what he is "due". The suffering of others in the meantime be damned.

I think that there was honestly no real, thought-out reason for why Astarion specifically was "chosen" to be in such a precarious position of being the "favorite-but-not-favored" of Cazador. I don't think there was a true reason for why any of the seven were chosen over the other seven thousand to be the "family"- maybe they were the most, shall we say, aesthetically pleasing ones, or the ones with talents Cazador thought would make their "hunting" easier... or just the ones to whom he, for some reason, took a shine, like one would prefer one pair of socks over another. Maybe he just picked the nicest-looking pieces out of a pile of pebbles for no reason other than amusement.

I think many of us want to try to think of reasons why something so horrible could have happened to someone (especially someone that we care about, even if they're fictional), and try to find logic in abuse, if only so it can make some twisted sort of sense in our heads: He was prideful, he was hardest to break, he reminded the abuser of himself, etc., but... abuse is kinda inherently illogical. More often than not, it's less about conscious choices, and more about opportunity.

I genuinely think it was on a whim that Astarion was the focus. Forcing him to ask to be made into a spawn, a slave, and having him claw his way out of his own grave was probably enough of a "putting the magistrate in his place" thing, and maybe the true reasons were literally only as frivolous as he says, that his screams "sounded sweetest", and Cazador just... liked seeing a pretty face ground into the dirt.

Sometimes it... really is that simple.

Yeah.😕

[aurorialwolf]

Oookay, so, ima yap about my next gen headcanon / oc for Vincent and Lovely's kid, if that isnt your cup of tea that is a-okay, now here goes :3

- Her name is Vivienne Solaire

- She's besties with Samuel Jr, the other next gen oc i made up, Sam and Darlins kid

- She loves cars, like her dad :D

- She's absolutely a daddy's girl, though not in a bratty way, moreso they are just very similar and enjoy sharing their hobbies!

- Vincent did buy her a car when she got her full license though.. because of course he did

- It was a pink 1970s Jaguar E-Type

- She tries asking her dad how he bagged girls back in his day and he absolutely refuses to tell her, worried that she'll become as shallow as he used to be to fit in

- ..Of course when she asks Sam, he gladly tells a bunch of stories about Vincent from before he met Lovely

- Vivienne secretly takes notes and tries it out, she's okay at it? But it doesn't feel good so she elects to adapt his style of flirting and is far more successful (consent is sexy folks)

- She learned electro energetic magic, soon before she was turned, and decided to continue trying to learn it after she became a vampire, and actually becomes pretty okay at it! Her and Samuel train using it, so she sends invisible lines of electricity through the air and Samuel uses his hearing to try to figure out where it's coming from to dodge it

- She can speak a bit of French, like how I hc Vincent can :3

- She did get fully turned by her own blood (at age 14), like how Samuel did but she wasn't able to regain her humanity because she's not part shifter (being part shifter when the blood thing happens helps imo, at least according to my hc cuz this is all made up lmao)

- It wasn't as hard for her because her parents are both vampires, so very little adaptations needed to be made, aside from alternate schooling

- Her turning actually went far smoother than Samuel's, mainly because her parents could isolate her during bloodlust properly, and she was not very upset about it, considering she wanted to be more like her parents anyways

- Also it would be hella depressing if she was mortal and never got turned and her parents outlived her :(

- If Vincent had never left the clan, she would have been close with William, and very trusting of him (..and super gullible regarding the darker side of things), more on this AU-within-an-AU later bc imo it fundamentally changes some of these characters

- She hangs around the pack a lot since she doesn't have a clan, but can't really be outside with them because of the sun :( so Samuel develops a temporary sun shield that lasts for about an hour so she can still be out with them, though there's physical drawbacks, as it takes a lot out of him to make, and she can feel some pain after (like a sunburn feeling except without the physical look) Thas most of it :3 lmk if u enjoyed!! Might reblog this talking about hers and Samuel's dynamic in more detail cuz that was second in the poll i made earlier Have a nice day / night and remember to drink water and take meds!!

[eluxcastar]

hello hello greetings! could i request a vampire reader x harbingers who offers to turn them into a vampire as well (how romantic to offer the concept of *forever* to their lover), its got the whole package of night vision/ immortality/ super strength/ speed/ etc etc but they'd lose the ability to use visions/delusions cause they're technically gonna be "dead" would the harbingers except or decline 👀👀 (excluding pulcinella and pierro)

Harbingers with a Vampire s/o

── ୨୧：harbingers x reader

୨୧﹑synopsis :: just me being absolutely off my head again talking about the harbingers' opinions on vampirehood

୨୧﹑content :: gn reader, vampire reader

୨୧﹑words :: I shit you not this post is 666 words long what in the My Immortal

anon baby you found my weak spot I'm so normal about this subject (it's my special interest) (sorry) ANYWAY this has been chilling in my inbox for ages, so it's time I finally write it. I started it a while ago but then I got busy and didn't post for a month and now I am suddenly two followers away from 400 so hi hello thank you

anyway back to the request I question the visions and delusions part because Qiqi is a Zombie an uses a cryo vision BUT I'M GONNA GLOSS OVER THAT BECAUSE YEs

Let's go lowest to highest in ranking like I usually do and start with Childe who, imo, would accept on the grounds that it is power and he will take anything to become more powerful even at a detriment to his health and physical condition. Though there is a price, he has accepted prices before and assuming that the pay off is good enough the use of a vision or delusion would be obsolete anyway. That, coupled with his love for you as his motivation is more than enough to sway him in your favour as he can see more to gain than lose from spending eternity by your side.

Arlecchino is a tough one because I can totally see it and it's really hot but Idk if she would. I wanna say yes, but I can also see reasons for no. The Vampire Arlecchino energy wins though because tbh I can see her being willing to make that sacrifice for her lover. I don't see her as fully whipped per se but like she's definitely loyal yk, probably pick you over the Tsaritsa and would want to spend an eternity with you at your behest.

Next is Pantalone. Cool vampire vibes. Someone gave me this wonderful headcanon that he is obsessed with his delusion, and I now love it to death so much that I based a character on it. So tbh yeah, there's benefits in this for him. He gets to be with you and have a little more power at a far lesser detriment. Plus like, you can't convince me this man wouldn't be lowkey into it.

Signora, I'm not sure. She has already lived a long time, and she has a lot of natural power already. Her delusion is what balances her, so I honestly think I'd have to say no. I WANNA SAY YES REALLY BAD BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE THERE'S OPPORTUNITY THERE, but I also just don't think so, but like she'll still be with you for a long time.

Sandrone, I honestly don't know either, because I don't know much from the two words she's spoken. If I remember, she doesn't care for other people, though, so she's likely very in love with anyone who managed to break through that and may be willing to make sacrifices for you.

For Scaramouche- well, bro is an artificial human, so tbh, I don't even think he would be affected by that. I'll skip him too.

Next would be Pulcinella, but I was told no Pulcinella, so Capitano (I almost forgot him send help). I like the abyssal creature Capitano headcanon, but even if he was just, a guy. I think the answer is no. HE'S WHIPPED AND WOULD DO ANYTHING BUT NOT THIS 😭 at least not at first, but give it a while and I can see it. It'll take time, though.

Columbina is also tricky because she has such entity vibes, but like also, seraph/vampire pairing would be so hot I can't even deny that. I should write that. Anyway, I feel like she's already immortal, so that doesn't matter, and she is indifferent to the power you offer. It's a matter of it not holding value. She has everything she could get out of it already.

Finally, we come to Dottore. Dottore is into it, don't lie, you know he is; this man is freaky. He'd enjoy the prospect of being a Vampire more than the perks of it, and that's enough to convince him. Besides it's 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓼𝓬𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓬𝓮 so he gets to excuse it. He couldn't turn it down even if it was just one of his segments because he's got to know what it's like and all the differences. He collects knowledge.

This was way more chaotic than usual 💀 Idk if I will write more like this but I did enjoy it so maybe, depends if y'all like this or my other styles more. I just like the chilled out casual chaos sometimes so lmk

[desdraculass]

Gotta say, as a black person from the US, i personally appreciate and kind of enjoy the inclusion and and treatment of race in the show. And i know relatability isn't the hallmark of a good character or show or whatever but it allows me to relate to, and feel more sympathy towards Louis as a character more than I could with him in the book because his situation is more complicated and soul-grating than Book Louis could ever comprehend, and I Understand.

And no shame, but if you're white and uncomfortable with race and racism being a factor, i think that is probably a good thing and you should perhaps investigate those feelings a bit. They made the choice to make Louis black and instead of shying away from the obvious tenison that a queer interracial relationship in the 1910s would create, they honored Louis' character and the experience of black people in the US, and embraced it.

I think there is something so powerful in having Louis finally be able to fight back after a life of forcing docility upon himself for the sake of his and his family's lives. It actually kind of reminds me of Gabrielle when she was turned in TVL; the impositions of human society no longer matter so she can dress how she wants, there's no longer anything to fear in the dark. There's nobody to have to make yourself smaller for. But, because Louis is still so tied to his humanity, and him and Lestat want to live within human society (for the time being at least), these are all still things he has to deal with; he still has to play by the rules, and i think reconciling these two lives/experiences is going to become increasingly difficult for him and will serve as one of the main driving forces of his development as a character.

I also find that it lends Lestat's character, and his relationship with Louis, more depth. To put it lightly, Lestat is very out of touch with Louis' situation in a way that I can only imagine a white man being--and his being a vampire and detached from humanity doesn't lend him any help. Disregarding race is only the white vampire's luxury. However, he does love Louis, and I feel them having these conversations about race (and sexuality) provide a great space for Lestat to develop as a character and as a companion/partner to Louis.

And also, during one of Lestat and Louis' confrontations in the iwtv book, i recall Louis saying something to the effect of him feeling like a slave to Lestat and Lestat admitting that he was keeping Louis weak/docile/whatever because it was easier for him to get what he wanted. (Sorry i dont have my copy of the book at the moment, otherwise I'd pull up specific passages). So, from that perspective i think their conversations about race are much more impactful and purposeful than their arguments in the book, which imo seemed to stem primarily from Louis' dissatisfaction with Lestat keeing 'vampiric knowledge' or whatever from him. And personally, these conversations about race are more preferable to me than book Louis, a slave owner, whining that he feels like a slave to Lestat -- just sayin'.

[cookinguptales]

I guess what's so frustrating is that it was almost everything I've ever wanted. I've always wanted Guillermo to not be content being a vampire or a human but some third unique thing. I've always wanted Guillermo to realize that he was pinning all of his hopes of change on being a vampire when really he had to learn to love himself as-is. I loved that Nandor was the only one who saw that Guillermo really wouldn't make a good vampire, and that's why he didn't change him. I just about died when Nandor pointed that stake at himself.

But christ, the details. I hate that Laszlo spent an entire season working on a cure when he should have known about the blood thing from Jenna and it was apparently also common knowledge that killing Derek would fix things. I hate that Nandor believed in s3 that killing the sire would kill all vampires (with no exclusion being made for young ones) and now he suddenly has this knowledge that killing a sire won't hurt Guillermo. They didn't even know if any of that stuff was real or a myth, but suddenly they know the nitty-gritty details?

(Why did he even summon the djinn if he'd already exhausted all of his wishes offscreen and had a way to return Guillermo to being a human? It's not like he minded killing Derek, who humiliated him. Was it just to remind us that they hadn't forgotten him?)

If we'd seen Nandor learning all this. Like if it had come out that the books he was reading were about Van Helsing blood or alternative turnings or what happens when you kill a sire or something. If we'd seen Laszlo learning this, so the rest of his actions this season would make any sense at all. If it had been more than "Guillermo didn't want to drink blood", which again, doesn't make a ton of sense. How would the doctors, The Baron, and Laszlo not think of that when Nadja talks about it like it's common knowledge in s1?

And to have Guillermo, instead of finding some power that's all his, going back to being not just a human, but one who takes orders. I always wanted Guillermo's arc to be about learning he didn't need vampiric powers to be who he really is. He has his own power. In this, he didn't gain power or true understanding of himself; the implication is just that he was too squeamish to have power and now he's... going back to cleaning up corpses when Nandor tells him to. He's going back to who he was before, not growing into someone new.

I'm frustrated because this could have been (and should have been, imo) an arc about Guillermo coming to accept himself and his power as-is. Realizing what he truly wants, and that being a vampire won't fix things. Realizing when crucifixes burned him that he was giving up his true power rather than trading it in for something better.

But instead it became less about claiming your power than it was about giving it up. They spent an entire season treating Guillermo better only to revert back to treating him poorly in the end. He spent an entire season gaining interesting powers only to give them up in the end and replace them with nothing new. He's... back on corpse duty.

So much of this series has been about Guillermo finding out that he had powers that were different from the ones he'd always wanted, but strong nevertheless. It's always been about him being just as powerful in the vampires, in his own way. This season... we don't really see that. And that's frustrating.

idk man, I'm just. Frustrated, I guess. It's so much more frustrating when you can see kernels of something great. I can't even feel satisfied with the parts I did like, not yet. I'm just disappointed, I guess.

[cbrownjc]

Hi! Hope you don't mind but I wanted to ask your opinion on some stuff we learned in ep 6 and possible repercussions for Daniel's character. So we get the super heavy-handed wink wink nudge nudge "body switch" line from Raglan, which imo definitely implies they are gonna go there at some point - body switching *will* be a thing.

Before this, I was actually pretty hopeful that at some point, Armand was going to turn old man Daniel into a vampire. Not sure yet how and when it would happen, but it felt like they were building towards it (also having not forgotten the super sus levodopa treatment from probably-a-vampire Dr. Fareed). But if they're going to introduce body switching (and it feels significant that this line was said to Daniel so I doubt it will NOT involve him at all), then that no longer makes sense, right? Why bother turning old man Daniel when they're gonna body switch his spirit with what I suspect might be a cloned younger version of him (played by LBF ofc)? I realize I'm making a lot of assumptions here lol but the hints are there, aren't they? Mostly I just really don't want Eric to be written out of the show - I'm so attached to his version of Daniel (though I also want to see more of LBF - I'm so torn lmao).

Where do you think they're going with this?

Hi,

Okay, so. IF older Daniel is turned and IF the body switch is still in play, I feel there are multiple scenarios going on as to where this could be going.

The first thing we have to look at is who we might see turn older Daniel if it happens. (And which I already predicted after last week's Inside the Episode for ep 2x05 gave away that the IWTV book was going to be published I think very likely is going to happen this season.) If it's Armand who does it, then it is 100% Daniel who is being turned. If it's Louis -- or anyone else -- who does it, then it 100% is not Daniel who is being turned IMO, but Raglan James -- no matter if it's Eric that we see getting bitten, drained, and turned by Louis . . . or any other vampire.

Because this show did not go to all the trouble it did in this latest episode (2x06) to specifically discuss how Armand has never once in his whole vampire life made another vampire and then not have him be the one to turn his one-and-only book-canon fledgling.

So if we see anyone other than Armand turning older Daniel at some point? Then that is Daniel's body being turned, but Daniel's actual soul/spirit/consciousness will for sure be somewhere else. Even if we don't actually see the switch happen beforehand.

If this is the case, Daniel's soul/spirit/consciousness will be in some other body -- most likely Justin Kirk's -- and I can see a scenario where Daniel doesn't want his older body back because it's now a vampire. So a new body is made for him -- via clone or whatever -- by Dr. Fareed that is younger, but not super young or something (and played by LBF -- whom I myself have already pointed out is 36 years old right now . . . meaning he could realistically play someone 40 years old IMO).

So this way, Daniel is still human, just in a different body now. And his older body is now a vampire and . . . IDK, goes off to join in on the Great Conversion thing, I'd guess. Or, maybe James just goes off to do what he did in the TotBT book but then, maybe something goes wrong with him in Daniel's older body -- maybe he's not fully anchored to it or something because this is the first time he's ever jumped bodies. Or maybe something else goes wrong (put a pin in this). And so James jumps bodies again, but he now wants to be a vampire again really bad. Which now sets up for him plotting to steal Lestat's body and the whole TotBT storyline.

However, if we see Armand turn older Daniel? I do think they could still be setting up for the body swap but, IMO, it might go more like this if they are:

Older Daniel gets turned and, just like his book counterpart, goes mad sometime very soon after he is. And I think the earlier in the show's run that Daniel gets turned the more likely we are headed toward the book scenario of Daniel losing his mind after he is turned. Because even I have kind of glossed over the fact Daniel being turned by Armand didn't lead to a happy ending for them both -- not right away. Things actually went really bad for them for decades afterward. Daniel went mad, and he and Armand were separated during that time he was, for over 20 years before Daniel finally healed and reunited with Armand again.

And while I don't think Daniel's turning on the show will lead to a +20-year separation -- because Armand and Daniel have already done that on the show -- we are very much not out of the woods on older Daniel going mad once he is turned IMO. I think Daniel going mad after he's turned is not only very much in play but will happen at some point if he is.

And, in the show? Daniel might not just go mad because he's unable to deal with what he now is or he's angry at Armand about, well, a whole lot of things. IMO, the body swap hints might also point to something, even more, being at play here. (Pin!)

This, however, is where my thoughts on these things get a bit more possibly depressing because -- I'm not 100% sure that turning older Daniel would cure his Parkinsons. Because Parkinson's isn't like cancer or being poisoned or dying from being shot or something. Parkinson's is specifically a neurological disease.

And one thing that the books have shown is that The Blood does NOT cure something neurological.

In the books, one of the twins, the vampire Maharet, was blinded before she was turned. And she isn't able to just take some human eyes and put them into her empty eye sockets and have that work permanently. The human eyes just continue to die within her eye sockets and that is because even The Blood can't heal the nerves connecting them.

We also see that The Blood doesn't help with neurological problems with the character of Mekare -- the other twin -- in the book Prince Lestat. Now, I'm only up to Chapter 15 of that book, but I have read past the part in that book where Jesse talks about Dr. Fareed examining Mekare, particularly her brain. Because while Mekare had her tongue cut out before she was turned, something happened to her mind as well. And this is what Jesse says was discovered after Mekare was examined by Fareed (via a CAT scan and other ways):

"They said Mekare was mindless," said Jesse. "They said the brain in her head was atrophied. They said there was so little indication of brain activity that she was like a human in a coma, kept alive by the brain stem alone. Apparently, she'd been entombed for so long, possibly in a cave, no one knew, that even her sight had been affected. The powerful Blood actually hardened the atrophied tissue over time [. . .]"

What this tells me is that there is probably not going to be any reversal wrt Daniel's Parkinson's once he's turned. Daniel's brain, and nerves, might just do like Mekare's did -- harden at the point they are at now. Keeping things forever in the degenerative state they are at whenever he's turned.

The Blood can kill cancer cells, destroy poison within the body, eradicate diseases like TB from the body, and even heal cuts and wounds. But it doesn't seem to be able to do anything for neurological issues, going by the books. It freezes things where they are when you are turned wrt that and does not repair them.

So older Daniel going mad after he's turned? Might not just be because of being unable to fully deal with now being a vampire. It might also be because he was turned while his body had health issues that even The Blood cannot fix. And while he will no longer age or die, Daniel might still have his body's neurological issues that were there when he was turned, just now forever frozen in that state where they were. Just like it remained so for the twins.

The show specifically focused on Daniel's shaking getting worse in episode 2x02 when he was under emotional stress/duress, which is very much a Parkinson's thing. As I know I've said more than once, I took care of my mom for 10 years while she had Parkinson's, and because so I've hyper-noticed these things -- the camera very much sometimes focusing on Daniel's shaking this season. Daniel's shaking was even commented on by Louis just last week.

And if Daniel is turned soon, well . . . imagine having to live with something like that for eternity?

And so just like with Maharet and her eyes, which Dr. Fareed figured out how to give her permanent ones that would never die in her head, (and also knew he could give Mekare a new tongue but, at least as far as I've read that offer hasn't been accepted -- and doing something for her brain was likely out of the question given that she was the Sacred Core at that point meaning her brain was fused with Amel's spirit . . . operating on that would very likely put every vampire in the world in danger), maybe this will have Dr. Fareed coming up with a new, cloned body for Daniel that don't have those neurological issues?

And then maybe that body gets stolen by Raglan James in a later season and we get the TotBT storyline that way? I can see being one way into it.

As it is, I know that making bodies for spirits to occupy does become a thing in the books after Prince Lestat. So their being able to do so is likely going to be established at some point -- and this could be one way they do so.

But, either way, if older Daniel is turned anytime soon, these are the two ways I can see it going afterward, and probably why they are also dropping body swap hints as well along with it. Because I don't think Daniel being turned is going to be simple, or lead to something happy right away. Again, it didn't in the books.

And really, this all just kind of backs up why I wasn't ever really feeling Daniel being turned anytime soon. But I realize now that my wanting the show to wait before they did so was the more happy way I was looking at it to go.

But this is Gothic Horror. And while I don't think Eric will be "written out" right away or something, I don't think whichever scenario I've given for all of this will lead to something happy. Not for a long time. There is just too much already in the source material that points to it not, IMO. And I think the show is very much setting up for that as well with the hints it's clearly dropping wrt all of this.

[spiegelgestalt]

Arc 4 of Re:zero is a really great Vampire story

One of the most fascinating relationships dynamics in re:zero is the shit show between Echidna/Roswaal/Beatrice. (In the anime, I haven't read the light novel yet). Because it's just such a good example of a Gothic tragic vampire story. Spoilers for season 2 under the cut:

so what do I mean with vampire story? Except for Echidna none of these characters are vampires. And it's not confirmed with Echidna (though she has the same eyes as Elsa. AND Garfiel mentions that one of the witches was a vampire and since his faction is really closely related to Echidna it makes sense that it's her).

BUT they are all very very old and at the same time unable to grow and move on. Echidna is literally (un)dead. Her soul is trapped in an old tomb. Beatrice is at the same time a little girl who can never grow up (the most horrific of the vampire tropes imo) and an old woman who survived all her loved ones, trapped in a library while the world passed her by. Roswaal is an eternal young man, obsessed with getting the past back. Obsessed with having his lover back even if she will never love him back the way he wants. (And isn't it interesting that he mostly remembers the fun he had with Beatrice...) His relationship to Echidna feels incestuous (mother/son) to me even if they are not related by blood. Roswaal too can never grow up (Emilia correctly notes that he is a huge child like Betty) at the same time he literally steals the bodies of his descendants. He takes their future for himself in a desperate bit not to die. For me this is what good vampire stories are fundamentally about: beings who rather burn in eternal damnation than let go of the past. Beings who sacrifice the future for the past because for them the past is all there is.

The second important things about vampires is destructive love/desire. And because re:zero is smart it seperates those things from sex and can make a better statement than just sex is kinda evil. Because here is the thing: I truly believe that Echidna loves at least Beatrice in her own fucked up way. On paper she does a lot of things correctly: she wants Beatrice to grow up, she wants her to chose a person for herself, she gives her all the knowledge that she has, she doesn't dictate her future. But at the same time she binds Beatrice in a fucked up contract, she experiments what Beatrice might do, she sacrifices Beatrice's best friend without regard to her feelings at all. She is unable to let her go. She has to give her an empty book of wisdom. Even Beatrice's free decision must somehow be part of her web.

And Roswaal? Actually we don't see that much of Echidna/Roswaal but from what we see she makes him dependent on her and into a willing accomplice of her schemes. She uses his love which after a while turns into obsession because he knows it can never be returned.

But the most tragic part are Roswaal and Beatrice. Because Roswaal desperately desperately loves Beatrice and he is no idea how to relate to her except through manipulation. He tried to be her person (she refused him) but because he wasn't open, because he didn't share his grief there was no connection between them. Just two bitter siblings sniping at each other. And Roswaal knew that Beatrice was unhappy and that is probably part of the reason why he tries to kill her. She wanted to die the same way he wanted to die (and is that not delicious: he plans to revive Echidna but he doesn't plan to be with her because he hates himself so much. He plans to die and he wouldn't leave Betty behind...). BUT I think the other reason is that he really is jealous of Subaru. Because Subaru manages to talk to Beatrice, get her out of her shell, and if Beatrice starts growing what would that mean for him? And still he doesn't want to make Beatrice sad. It fucking enrages him when Puck implies that this might be the consequences of his actions

And at the end? They stand together next to the grave of their mother (yeah I'm saying it fuck you) and are finally able to connect about their grief. And I know Roswaal doesn't deserve it but I really hope his relationship to Beatrice gets better. Because Beatrice needs people who see her for the old woman she is. And just: Re:zero is about forgiveness and these siblings have been lonely for so long and I want them to reconnect.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

it seems really unfair that the movies made edward's religious baggage come from carlisle. surely they could've put the "vampires have no souls" thing on someone else, like, idk, esme? her believing vampires are soulless might explain her whole head-in-the-clouds deal. if it's carlisle that thinks vampires have no souls then it makes him turning the others really questionable imo.

Believe it or not, I understand why the film team made this decision and in their position I probably would have done the same thing.

Adaptations, Films and Profits, Robert Patterson, and a World Without Risk

Let's start at the beginning.

The goal of the Twilight film series was to capitalize on the immense popularity of the books just as much (if not more so) than to tell the story of Twilight. Stephanie Meyer was decently involved and was pleased with the direction (as opposed to the original draft of the script, which Meyer strongly disliked, which is rumored to have featured among other things Bella as an FBI agent shooting vampires) but she seemed to have accepted it was an adaptation and things had to change for it to make sense in the transition. So long as the spirit of Twilight was captured, she was happy.

And here's where we run into an interesting dilemma.

In the novels, we see the characters through Bella's eyes. We hear what Bella thinks and understands why she does what she does (without this, Bella's not only very quiet but borderline incomprehensible). We're attracted to Edward because Bella's attracted to Edward, she finds his terse frowning and dark moods Byronic and romantic, she finds his arrogance and pride charming and sexy, she finds his vampiric nature dark and sexy. Bella puts on the greatest rose colored glasses imaginable to frame Edward in the way we're supposed to see him.

Films don't have that.

Even if they went full narration (which they did not), we would still see both Edward and Bella from a perspective that's not Bella's. We have to see him on camera, interacting with Bella in real time, and Bella can't tell us what we're supposed to see.

Which is a problem because Edward per his dialogue and actions towards Bella is not likeable.

He's constantly frowning, constantly in dark moods and a deep depression, and while he has his moments of happiness which shine for it, for all he says he's very interested in Bella he doesn't express it well. He says fucking bizarre horrifying things like his plans to murder all of Biology, or his plans to kill himself should Bella ever die, his comparisons of Bella Swan to ice cream and then uh heroin, his casually confessing to having planned Mike's murder in gruesome detail for the crime of talking to Bella Swan.

Now imagine if you saw this on screen.

Bella and Edward aren't in a cutesy teenage romance, they're not flirting (and when they are it's fucking weird), Edward's frowning all the time and is too interested in being miserable to be interested in Bella, Bella in turn is just sitting there not saying anything or doing anything, this is dark, boring, and... not something teenagers actually want to watch.

I don't know who exactly this was, my thoughts are likely the producers, but they took a look at the script and went, "Holy fuck, this won't sell tickets."

(Hilariously, this is where Robert comes in, as in I know why he did what he did in doubling down that Edward's this brooding mess, but he made a mistake explainable as it being early in his career: he didn't realize the production staff didn't want Edward at all. Edward better fucking smile.)

Both Bella and Edward had to be greatly changed from their novel counterparts without uh... changing the plot at all despite making them entirely different people.

Which means that we have to change things that are less important to make sure the plot still happens.

Let's Get Back to the Souls Thing

In the book, the only reason that really weathers the storm of why Edward won't turn Bella is that she'll lose her soul.

That she'll lose her human life is a weak argument when in Twilight, Bella had to go on the run anyway and was nearly tortured to death because Edward wouldn't turn her. Edward, in fact, risked her life and nearly killed her just so that she wouldn't become a vampire.

That she'll eat humans doesn't stand up without admitting (and not glossing over details) that most of the Cullens have accidentally eaten humans and Edward really did go on quite the bender. That's not something the production team would want to focus on in order to make Edward and the Cullens likeable. (Which is why the films spent about 0.05 seconds on both of these details).

On the other hand, if Edward has deep religious convictions that Bella will become a soulless husk and abomination on becoming a vampire... that's starting to sound reasonable.

Except that it isn't.

Because if vampires are soulless husks, then how are we supposed to like Edward and the Cullens. In the books, we get around this by characters like Carlisle denoting that he himself, a very religious person, believes differently but that he understands why Edward believes what he does and that he once did too as well as Edward realizing vampires do have souls upon Renesmee being born.

But the problem is, this makes Edward look overly dogmatic and unhinged in a way that you just don't want your romantic teenage lead to be in what's supposed to be a generic romantic teen film.

It makes Edward seem unrelatable to the teenage audience.

However, if Edward's beliefs are the product of somebody else, then the audience can safely remain enamored with Edward and treat him as a poor woobie whose tragic self-hatred is fueled by a) being a vampire b) his parents.

Teenagers get being fucked up by their parents.

So, Why Carlisle?

A few reasons.

One, the films really want us to like Esme. Like most the characters, Esme got a complete makeover in a positive direction. Esme is now the mom figure who's a mom appropriate age and acting like the cool mom we'd all like to have. She's a great character.

However, they don't want to make her unlikeable/as weird as she was in the books. They want you to like the Cullens, remember? Add onto this that Esme never was religious in the books and didn't have any meaningful conversation with Bella. They would be adding weird, unlikable, aspects to her character that weren't there originally. So, it can't be Esme.

Alice, while Edward's best friend and favorite sibling, has also gotten a makeover to chique cosmpolitan girl best friend who will gladly take you shopping. She can't be Edward's wingman to the same degree she was in canon because she's not. Also, see above with Esme, she was never a religious character so it'd be weird coming from her and nobody would like it.

Well, a vampire on the side of the road can't have told Edward this, as that would just make no sense and be a cop out.

Carlisle, however, is already a religious character and better yet gave the first half of the speech he gives in the film to Bella in the novel. He explains that Edward believes vampires are damned creatures who don't have souls. There's a "however" though as the part that was cut is Carlisle explaining he once believed the same, but in time came to see that vampires could be worthy of the afterlife and were not inherently damned. He notes that this is something Edward's struggling with and just how he views vampirism.

So they already took what Carlisle had said in the novel, they just cut out the last bit.

But isn't it a Problem Making Carlisle Unlikeable?

Not really.

Carlisle's a relatively minor character in the series. Certainly, far less important than Edward. No one really cares if Carlisle looks like a hypocrite or his motivations have changed.

He already said half of what he said in the books and nobody would blink if he left the second half of it out.

And, frankly, nobody did blink.

People wondered what the fuck was up with Carlisle turning people if they had no souls and were damned, but for the most part fans were fine with him being less than ideal if they thought him less than ideal at all in the films.

He's vampire dad, he really has very little bearing on Edward and Bella's love story, which is what the film was there to sell tickets for.

TL;DR

To make Edward look better in the films, they had to make everyone else look worse.

[zalrb]

hi, can i join the buffy S7 hate? i could write ESSAYS but i can’t rant at my sister who loves this show and spike, lol. imo, the most annoying thing about spike/spuffy is how the show manipulates the viewer (and buffy) to feel sorry for him. before S6 buffy’s feelings for spike were hate, contempt and pity, and her more positive feelings were basically her ”rewarding” him./1

and buffy-obsessed spike is basically like the trio of incels in S6 but spike’s behaviour is played for laughs or brushed aside or the show blames *buffy*. like, at the start of S7 spike makes a mocking comment about the rape attempt. then buffy finds out he has a soul and *she* has to rehabilitate him and *she* apologises when she understandably gets startled when spike unexpectedly touches her and then the whole ”you were just using me” when buffy tolerated and gave spike way more than he ever deserved. or her speech about how she wasn’t emotionally available even for spike when it’s like, no girl, spike was stalking and abusing and trying to rape you, you didn’t owe him anything. spike/buffy was all-around insulting. or the ”he’s the only one who has my back” when i’m sorry, was i watching the wrong show, because all i saw in S7 was spike being a useless dude in distress. the show increasingly woobified spike because it was easier than him earning things. i mean, just contrast angel/spike in S3/S7: angel more or less rehabilitated himself, unlike spike who put the onus on buffy. when angel was harassed by the first, he was ready to kill himself so he wouldn’t hurt anyone and he was ready to do it *alone*, without telling anyone. unlike spike who *did* kill people and then tried make *buffy* kill him, again leaving the onus on her. and p.s. spike had a lot better chemistry and more interesting interactions and potential with basically every character who wasn’t buffy so i don’t get why they wasted time on that. (and i'm so sorry, it did turn into an essay lol)"

well, that's the thing. buffy just becomes spike's caretaker and his apologist

feeling bad about him feeling bad about hurting her

and he doesn't actually do anything for her except bring up again and again how he got a soul for her, as if that's supposed to mean anything,

and it's not any different from when he was soulless and just told her he loved her like he was supposed to get a prize

so when she tells him that she's not ready for him to go, i'm like WHY, he hasn't done anything! he hasn't even been a comfort to you, in "conversations with dead people" a random vampire is the person you talk to about the things you don't want to admit to your friends

spike's just there like

or like this

or he's not there and it's like

so what does he actually do for you except be the one to tell off your friends when they act OOC and kick you out of the house just so he can say something people can point to to be like, omg he understands her better than anyone!

and this is why i have problems with storylines in which loving a "heroic" or "good" character is treated as a heroic act in of itself (or loving a morally grey character is treated as a dark act in it of itself) because that's not a redemptive quality on its own. and spike isn't redemptive.

people like to bring up his attachment to dawn as an example of him doing good or being good even when he's soulless but that attachment is directly linked to buffy rather than it being about dawn herself

which is why they don't have any scenes together or why he doesn't even ask about her the minute he and buffy become sexual. even when he gets a soul, there's no relationship there because it's not about actually caring about other people, it's about buffy.

AnGeL wAs JuSt GiVeN a sOuL - but like you said, he earns his redemption, the whole point is that he chooses to do good for the sake of good, buffy is a source of inspiration for him absolutely

but she doesn't determine whether or not he does something good.

and i just prefer that.

[beevean]

Changing Castlevania from a living Creature of Chaos to Dracula's Castle of Science was so lame

It is, and not just because you have such a cool concept of a castle that is actually an eldritch location that defies the laws of logic and reality, intimately tied with its Lord, and there was nothing done with it. (special shout out to LoS for actually doing something very cool with it)

Reducing Dracula to a "man of science" is a bit... I don't know how to say. My first word is "tasteless"?

One, I noticed the focus the story puts on Dracula's supposed holding on knowledge. Lisa going to him to ask him to teach him older ways to heal people is cute. Isaac wanting to protect him because his knowledge is more important than his own life is ehhh feels reductive IMO (and this is why making Isaac both a worshipper and Dracula's bestie doesn't work), but whatever. Alucard lamenting that with his madness and death the world will lose "a repository of centuries of learning" feels weird at this point. Like. Why is the main concern what Dracula can offer to the world? Why is he only worth something because he's a giant living library? Besides, the castle didn't crumble with his death unlike in the games, so all of his books and inventions or whatever he has still stand. What about him as a person? Don't you care about your damn father, Alucard?

Two, it's just another way to CHURCH BAD. See? Humans are stupid because they have the CHURCH BAD that holds them back! Vampires don't, so they get to have electricity in the 15th century! Ohhh, ahhh! And Lisa doesn't get to escape this, ofc, because she was the one who was offended at the idea of being seen as a witch - no no she wants to learn real science, thank you very much!

And three, tied to the above, it's yet another piece that adds to the elvification of vampires. I'm reminded of this scene:

Lenore: Mm. It's a lovely night, don't you think? Hector: It's a bloody chilly night. It was warmer in my cell. Lenore: That's because we channel waste heat around the castle with pipes. Hector: Really? Even to the cells? Lenore: I keep telling you. We're not monsters. Hector: Dracula's castle moved heat around with pipes. Is that vampire magic? Lenore: Actually, just science. Centuries old. The thing is, Hector, humans forget things and vampires don't. You have a lot to learn.

(yeah sure you're not monsters because you keep the cell warm, that's why you guys stripped hector naked and doused him in icy water, lenore you are such a bad liar and you're lucky hector was lobotomized after s2)

And this scene, where Alucard lights the lamps in the Belmont Hold and the Japanese not-twins are all amazed:

Sumi: Magic lanterns! Alucard: Lightning. Not magic. Taka: You put lightning into lamps and you tell us it's not magic? Alucard: It's really not. The Parthians were storing lightning in jars two hundred years before Christ.

Again, vampires are soooo cool because they have advanced technology to dazzle the inferior rac-- I mean, humans with. They have their own culture, their own books with their own "vampire philosophy", untampered by the stupid CHURCH BAD. That's what makes them worthy of being protected :) and that's why the Belmonts are mean when they kill them and their mysterious children :)

In some aspects, NFCV really reminds me of Twilight - and in this case, it's the insistence on both making vampires "creatures of science" (something something crosses freak them out because amazing predator vision) and elevating them to a noble, smarter race that is nothing but superior to the stupid humans. The only thing missing was Hector or Isaac going all Bella Swan and begging to be turned by Lenore or Dracula to become a superior creature.

[skylarstarlight]

Okay, I'm not often one to make predictions or theories, but this thought has been nagging me for weeks now.

-SPOILERS FOR THE BUNGO STRAY DOGS MANGA-

If we ignore Dazai and Fyodor in the prison for a second and instead look outside, more specifically at Jouno and Tecchou, we will see the desperation of Tecchou to find his partner [boyfriend] again.

He has gone as far as to team up with Kenji and proclaiming he'd "put Jouno above justice" (something he really does not take lightly), so it's clear to see he's not really thinking of anything else at the moment. Man is full-on laserfocussed on getting Jouno back, and will not stop until he does find him or dies trying.

So, we know how the Hunting Dogs' bodies have been enhanced via inhumane surgeries, giving them extra strength and resistance, etc. but their bodies also deteriorate to the point of needing monthly surgeries to keep it in one piece.

This is a side effect that minimizes the betrayal chances and keeps the Hunting Dogs loyal to the government, as they would die if they went against the whims of their superiors and were denied this surgery.

As we also know, Asagiri absolutely loves sprinkling in little details throughout manga chapters only for them to become a big deal later, as a form of foreshadowing.

So my theory (or hypothetical I'm really just spitballing here) is as follows:

What if, in his quest to find Jouno, Tecchou's body starts deteriorating due to how long he has been searching, and he keeps refusing to get help because Jouno comes first?

Jouno will most likely be safe from the effects of the surgery due to his vampiric regeneration, but Tecchou doesn't have that 'privilege'.

It is part of the Hunting Dog code that one must 'fight while injured and to the death' and 'sacrificing one's own bodies and souls for the people', in which Jouno would be 'the people'.

I don't think Tecchou would stray from these rules, not even considering current events, and I don't think the deterioration of his own body could stop him from going after Jouno, even if other people try to keep him from doing so- as we saw with Kenji. He literally told Kenji to kill him when he thought he had failed Jouno, so he'd rather die.

And in the end that could go any of the following ways (or iterations):

1.- Tecchou (or anyone really, but I don't think he'd stop until he saw it himself) finds and secures Jouno before Tecchou's body starts deteriorating too much. Then:

a. Nothing really happens, he just gets his surgery as usual and all is well.

b. He is proclaimed a traitor and denied his surgery

c. The government is in too much disarray to give him treatment at this point in time

2.- Tecchou (this time in the flesh for dramatic effect) finds Jouno when his body has already taken a toll and they meet face to face, in which case Jouno would most likely attack him. As a vampire Hunting Dog against a weakened regular Hunting Dog, he'd definitely overpower Tecchou, who would need allies in order to really win this fight- Either way this could end as any of the following:

a. Tecchou dies tragically at the hand of Jouno or his own body

b. Tecchou gets turned into a vampire by Jouno, in which case the worries about his physical state can be disregarded as the restoration from the vampires probably outclasses the falling apart

c. He wins against Jouno (most likely with ADA help) and secures him

d. The fight ends prematurely and Tecchou now only has an even stronger desire to save Jouno after seeing the state he's in and further disregards his own safety

3.- Tecchou or his allies do not find Jouno at all, before his body starts getting too bad to carry on. He'd still be determined to find Jouno, but physically cannot. This again has multiple possible outcomes:

a. Tecchou dies a (rather unsatisfying imo but tragic nonetheless) death, most likely with his last words being an apology to Jouno, since Asagiri just loves to hurt us in those ways

b. Tecchou somehow gets in contact with Yosano, who keeps him stable until he can be saved

c. Tecchou gets turned into a vampire on purpose (unlikely that he'd agree to that but desperate times call for desperate measures) to keep him from dying, and he'd get reunited with Jouno that way

4.- Jouno somehow dies before Tecchou can get to him

a. Jouno is killed by someone on purpose, in which case Tecchou would change his goal to avenging his partner's murder, health be damned

b. Jouno dies in a crossfire or as an accident, in which case Tecchou would mourn the death and set his sights on Fukuchi, along with the ADA

Anyway, that's my rambling for today. I feel a lot lighter to get that out

Skylar <3