#a 'too much' character in every possible sense of the phrase

[reiverreturns]

john egan for the blorbo meme!

JOHN BUCKY EGAN my love for him burns hotter than a thousand suns. "maaaaaaaaarge" on a loop in my head 24/7. he's so insane what's with his hands i need to beat him up i need to kiss him on the mouth.

send me a blorbo

[keepingsecretstokeepyoutk]

This is going to be very long and sound a little crazy at first, and maybe a little mean but please hear me out…

I’m convinced that Taylor sometimes purposefully includes one line or multiple lines of poorly written or clunky lyrics in specific songs to make a point.

We all have seen some version of this with bearding songs like London Boy, a simple bop whose lyrics were immediately detected as sounding disingenuous, even with the general population (the locations she was signing about were the most touristy and too far away from each other to visit on the same day, etc, basically implying that she doesn’t actually have a long term local bf there that she spends a bunch of time with exploring the city with, etc).

But just like everything else on the album, I think she’s doing maybe a more in your face version of that. No holds barred.

So High School is an obvious example of this, with all of the early 2000’s hs imagery, she seems pretty blatantly to be mocking the idea the public has of her “living out every American girl’s high school fantasy” of dating the tall popular football player. With lyrics like “touch me while your friends play grand theft auto” (barf), etc, shes being clear enough that this is not a serious song.

This is the possibly controversial part, but I’m so curious to see what others think about this - I think another iteration of this on this album is the title track, The Tortured Poets Department. Hear me out.

(First, I want to reassure you that there are lines in this song that I really like and think are well written, like: “you’re in self-sabotage mode/throwing spikes down on the road” and “but you awaken with dread/pounding nails in your head/but I’ve read this one/where you come undone/I chose this cyclone with you”. And I fully agree with the idea that these sentiments are from Karlie’s perspective. Basically, when you take out the chunks I’m about to talk about this song makes way more sense and has a beautiful sentiment of undying love behind it - which makes the following parts stick out that much more!)

The first time I listened through the album, and this was the second song, I got terrified because I didn’t understand its place in the whole narrative and when I heard the first clunky line “scratch your head like a tattooed golden retriever” I got the ick. Then the bridge with no structure and no wit and no clever turns of phrase, no metaphor, just “you put my ring on the finger people put wedding rings on” and “that was the closest I’ve ever been to my heart exploding”. So over simplified and cheesy, and doesn’t sound anything like her writing, especially the caliber of her recent lyrics

I know art is largely subjective, but I insist there is no way that the same person who wrote Cowboy Like Me wrote these lines into her title track if she didn’t have a reason and a point to make. To make it clear that this isn’t a matter of genre personal taste, because I know CLM is a very specific sound and a style that music snobs often take more seriously - I love SO many of her candy pop bangers, they are infinitely more clever, articulate, and overall works of art by a true wordsmith than this. Karma, The Very First Night, etc are all a master classes in clever words and tight writing being tucked into an “unserious” pop song.

The lyrics I cited above to me sound like what haters believe her writing sounds like, even fans who make little jokey TikTok’s about her and make up a spoofy something to sing while in character - that’s what these lyrics sound like.

Im worried im being too harsh, but please stay with me because the more I think about the more genius I think it actually is.

In the context of the themes of rest of the album, (her being trapped, miserable, manipulated, ready to burn it all down, screaming to be seen) this theory became clear to me. I think she’s leaning into her public persona (in more ways than one, we’ve already seen it with the stunting), in a way setting a “trap” for her fans and the public, that will essentially call them all out on how they ignored the real her in favor of her pr narrative, making the album about paternity tests, etc, all of which I’m guessing will become very clear in retrospect, possibly after she comes out? (Of course it’s already clear to us now, which is another purpose of the beard songs including clunky writing - to signal to us that these are not serious and that she knows that we know that she knows (like Phoebe on friends lol))

Ultimately, this is (along with So Highschool) a classic beard song. When she writes in this voice, she embodies the most extreme versions of her public persona, not just the one she has cultivated on purpose, but also the one that people have of her that don’t know her (as she did in Blank Space), including those that don’t take her seriously - because her identity as a boy crazy psycho ex girlfriend is directly tied to people dismissing her art as vapid because, they’ve only ever heard her singles, they don’t know the full her.

That voice is the straightest, the most boy crazy, the most one note, and sometimes the most unsophisticated writer version of her that people have in their minds, including her fans - the fans that refuse to see her as a whole person, the real, that believe she is head over heals for big football boy, that believe “he knows how to ball, I know Aristotle” is a romantic line about how opposites attract, the fans that say they don’t “get” some of her most beautiful and well-written songs, the fans that don’t see her and haven’t been seeing her.

They didn’t see giant Taylor on the eras tour, they refuse to see all of her queer signaling, etc, and I think she’s making the bearding songs obvious to underscore the difference between her Taylor(TM) and Taylor(person) personas.

She knows that despite the fact that the lyrics don’t even come close to measuring up to the rest of the album, the public, and many of her fans, will make this song one of the most listened to simply because they are looking for evidence of her relationships from the past year. We’ve all commented on how insane it is that this layered, complex, devastating album is being reduced to the usual paternity tests. This is currently one of the top songs precisely because it is “about Matty”. And of course, So High School is one of the tops songs along with it because it’s “about Travis”.

The juxtaposition of the bearding songs alongside her beautifully written poetry of Prophecy, Peter, Whose Afraid of Little Old Me, Cassandra, How did it end, The Albatross, etc mirrors the juxtaposition of her two selves during the Midnights era.

She has proven the point that if they think she wrote every line of this song completely in earnest, then they see her largely no differently than her haters do, as a subpar writer who writes absurdly cheesy love songs praising trashy to mediocre, problematic men. By eating it up they tell her that’s what she’s good for, for being the subject of tabloids and warring fans who make this entire album about two (purposefully) mediocre songs and the men who “inspired” them.

She has proven her point - that a subset of her fans will be distracted by a lesser song simply because they think it’s about one of the greasy men that’s she been seen holding hands with. That they will ignore once again all of her pleas to be seen, that she’s in pain and caged, and has been driven insane by their willful ignorance. That they don’t appreciate her full potential and talent, that they don’t even see it, and just want to be confirmed in their ideation of her.

This song is essentially the “forget him(her)” pill at the beginning of the fortnight mv, but it’s a sedative for the fans, who are addicted to her straight narrative. Similar to Willow’s 13 chants of “that’s my man” that started off evermore, casting a spell of heteronormativity over everyone who wanted it, so that they could choose to just completely ignore the following 14 gayest songs ever written. Don’t pay no mind to her singing directly about women with zero male perspective - she said “that’s my man!” We’re good! She’s still straight!

Taylor in the fortnight mv had to a take a sedative to be able to go into the next room and write her bearding songs - ie she self medicates to deal with keeping up the straight persona and to get through having to release dumbed down songs to feed the masses. (I also see the pill as something forced on her, I think it represents both layers)

From the first time I watched the music video I thought the writing Taylor looked so miserable and the bearding songs are why.

In this room she’s trapped, churning out the songs that her fans expect of her, the songs that make her team money, the songs that make her money, but that she has to compromise her truth to create.

But when she frees herself she’ll burn the stories that weren’t true, the filler that doesn’t represent her.

I’m curious to hear other’s thoughts on this - have you ever felt like Taylor purposefully inserts off-sounding lyrics that are written in a different voice to make a point?

I want to reiterate that it’s not the entirety of either song that I think is terrible, I genuinely love bopping along to both So High School and TTPD (track). Like I said above, when you remove the clunky lines from ttpd (track), the song has another layer and likely gives voice to some Karlie insight that is beautiful and tragically profound. It’s the red herrings, the pieces specifically meant to tie this song to a bearding narrative, that I’m dissing, and the only reason they are suspicious in the first place is because I know how gifted Taylor is with the written word.

Taylor is such a skilled writer that she can embody the voice of the bad writer that dismissive ignorant idiots believe her to be, just to make a point!

I even wonder if maybe there is a second version of this song locked away in one of those drawers in the fortnight writing room that leaves out the red herrings and is a thousand times better than the bearding version we got.

I hope one day we get to hear it.

[alvivaarts]

Writing Tips For You (as if I don’t currently have insane writer’s block)

-Can’t start a scene? Write the setting instead. What is the lighting like? Is this place comfortable? Is it familiar or not? What should you point out now so it doesn’t suddenly appear when it becomes important for the characters? SET! YOUR! STAGE!

-Everyone says “show, don’t tell”. I like to think of that as “what are your character’s physical reactions? What are they feeling?” You can say “Character looked dismayed”, or you can say “Character grimaced with dismay.” See the difference?

-Struggling with dialogue? Talk to yourself while you’re writing. You might be blocking yourself if you subconsciously think some dialogue feels unnatural.

-Context, context, context! This applies to everything from the small interactions to the big plots. Every force has an equal and opposite reaction, allow interactions and events to grow as such.

-Context, context, context pt 2! But worldbuilding! If your character is performing an act, how does that fit into the physical reality they already exist in? How is it possible? Can you imply (imply, not explain) that these things are commonplace or why they wouldn’t be?

-Build the action. (Stealing this from theater class like twelve years ago.) You can’t just put a character into the scene and say ‘they made a sandwhich’. What has to happen for the sandwhich to be made? Your character has to walk into the kitchen, open the cupboard, get out a plate, get out the jam and peanut butter, get out the knives, open the fridge, get out the bread, close the fridge, open the bread bag, lay down two slices of bread on the plate, close the bag, open the first jar, pick up the first knife, scoop up the jam, slather it on the bread, put the knife down, close the first jar- and so on and so forth. Every small step is necessary for you to understand, and to engage your readers. You don’t have to go into ridiculous detail like I just did, but even understanding that for yourself helps remember the ‘state’ of your scene at any given moment.

-See above, but it’s not a scene and a sandwhich. The scene is your whole story and the sandwhich is your plot. What small steps MUST happen to reach the climax? Does changing one of those small steps change the result? How?

-Emotions are best portrayed when you have experienced them or can get insight from those who have experienced them. Let yourself get emotional in a scene. Allow yourself to be empathetic and vicariously experience what your characters are.

-Reread your own work! Your writing style and characterizations can change over time, but if you feel like you’re losing them, don’t be afraid to look at where you started to ground yourself!

-Proofread your own work 2-12 hours after you finish a section! Not while you’re writing! Don’t let yourself get carried away with writing things ‘right’, just get the ideas out.

-Have a friend or volunteer proofread for you too! This can help pick out things you repeatedly say, words you might misuse, grammar and punctuation that might need correction, and phrases that are hard to digest or don’t make sense.

-Make sure you’re making an effort to use regionally/era specific words and slang both in dialogue and in your writing. There are plenty of websites and videos online that list and discuss regional and era slang worldwide. Not to mention, we can connect with people all over the world using the web just to ask! Using incorrect phrases can really break immersion and make characters feel- well, out of character! I.E. an 80s jock saying ‘dope bruh’, American characters (generally) saying ‘lift’ instead of ‘elevator’, so on and so forth.

-Research research research! Research bloodloss limits, research how laws and jobs operate in different regions and countries, research weirdly specific myths and biblical themes, research as much as you can! You can only build a richer environment to write in!

-If you actively want to implement themes, allow them to reflect the experiences of your character. Example character is an Italian American who was orphaned at 13 after his orthodox Catholic parents died, he has been in and out of foster care his whole life, and the moment he got out his military job became strict and he allowed himself to be blackmailed to protect a child in a similar position. This has plenty of fun themes and symbolisms, like sacrifice, fate, lack of control, love, losing autonomy, etc, all of which can be framed under the impactful history of his Catholic childhood. This evokes the imagery of farm animals, servitude, animal tags/dog tags, holy spaces being used for other purposes. Play with it!

-Build three base playlists! One for your overarching story, one for songs that remind you of the main character and their story arc, and one for how you feel when you’re writing/songs that weirdly remind you of your story. You can cycle through these to help get into your mood.

-Consume other media! If all you do is focus on writing, you WILL lose steam and inspiration. Don’t be afraid to watch new shows, read new books, look at more artwork, read more poems, listen to more music. You might get a flicker of inspiration for themes, motives and ideas, and you’ll continue to fill yourself instead of dumping your focus out on your writing.

-Understand how each major character thinks and instinctively reacts to things. Some characters can stay calm, but others might instinctively react to things ‘angrily’, others might try to run away. This is an easy way to figure out character flaws and impliment easy conflicts.

And last but not least:

-Take breaks! Don’t worry about forcing yourself to keep a posting schedule (unless you’re being paid. I’m not. I’m doing this shit for free and for funsies) if all you do is spend all your time worrying about your writing, you won’t be able to relax your brain. Spend time with friends, play games, go outside!

I hope this helps!

[yuurei20]

How do you think Idia got his unique magic? Does it say if he was born with it or something, or was it inevitable he would get that specific unique magic? Is it possible to be born with a unique magic in the first place?

Hello hello! Thank you for this question!

Idia says that people born into the Shroud family all have the same unique magic!

A part of Idia's issues is how so much of his life has been decided on his behalf and there is nothing he can do to change his fate no matter what he does, so I think you are right and it was inevitable that one day "Gate to Underworld" would manifest! (Does this mean that every member of the Shroud family is guaranteed to be a mage? Interesting~)

I like your phrasing very much! Does "this unique magic was inevitable" equate to being born with a unique magic?

From what we have seen in the game and the second novel: I think so!

Both game-Leona and novel-Leona comment on how he was born with a unique magic that he never actually wanted.

Novel-Leona goes into more detail with the scorn he received back home due to the misconception that you have to desire and work towards a specific form of unique magic if it is to manifest, which isn't true at all:

"Unique magic that is inherited at birth has nothing to do with the person’s will, but humans wrapped up in their own superstitions are ignorant to common sense. Or maybe they think this is a power that I desired, and fought to obtain." - Leona in Twst the Second Novel

To answer the questions: Idia's unique magic passes down through the Shroud bloodline, so I believe it is safe to say that he was born with Gate to Underworld!

And it does seem possible to be born with a unique magic, as Leona explains, directly. (It is intersting that both characters also have parallel family issues: both of them born into elite families and trapped in roles they want to move beyond, but can't. In addition to their other various similarities)

But this might not mean that baby-Idia was opening and closing the door to the underworld while baby-Leona was turning people to sand!

It is possible that their respective unique magics manifested at whatever age they were when their magic itself made itself known.

As for what age that might have been: I think it has yet to be confirmed how old mages generally are when their magic starts to appear!

Riddle says that he was receiving special training in magic from the age of three, but Riddle is a special case and probably not a good frame of reference for what is "normal" in this universe.

Deuce mentions using magic in middle school, but in Azul's flashback we learn that he was experimenting with magic and spells from an even younger age: while removed from EN, the passage of time between Azul studying spells and sigils and getting control of "It's a Deal" are denoted via the labels "Child Azul" and "Middle School Azul."

The age at which your magic appears might just vary by person! If earlier manifestation = stronger magic, it might actually be possible that Idia and Leona were using magic as children. But one thing seems consistent: whether Riddle or Deuce, it seems that there are generally several years in between a mage coming into their magic and their unique magic manifesting. (But does this also apply to mages who are born with their unique magics, or do they have theirs from the start? Uncertain!)

What might be still vague is how this applies to faeries!

Malleus says that he lives and breathes magic, but according to Lilia Sebek's magic manifested late, with even Silver becoming capable of using magic before Sebek could.

This might mean that faeries, too, have a period of their lives before they become capable of using magic, but it also might just be an effect of Sebek being half human--I am not sure it has been confirmed as of this post!

Lilia mentions Malleus emitting puffs of flame as a baby, but this may be less a "magical infant" situation and more a "that is a dragon" situation.

Malleus himself explains that he once froze nearly the entire castle in which he lived, "back when (he'd) finally started walking on two legs," so it seems that he was wielding magic from very early on!

[croquis-el]

Differences in localization and the original pt.2

I noticed that you liked this topic, so I continue (I am very pleased to read your comments and tags)

Disclaimer (just in case): these posts will be written solely for the purpose of familiarization; I do not force anyone to play the game in Japanese, because you are free to choose the version of the game that is comfortable for you.

Today's post will be entirely dedicated to one case that made Hodo cringe as much as possible - Turnabout Big Top

Here, for some reason, they decided to get this for that (in every second phrase). Brace yourself, we are starting.

___________________________________________

Maximillion Galactica

No, his name is fine (it was kept from the original), but his exclamations were replaced with synonyms (why bother?)

In the Japanese version, for Max, everything is "gorgeous", and all good people are "honey"

ゴージャス! まさに、そのとおり!

Gōjasu! Masani, sono tōri!

Gorgeous! That's exactly what it sounds like!

フッフッフッ････。 よろしくたのむよ、ハニイ。

fuffuffu~tsu. Yoroshiku tanomu yo, hanii.

Hehehe... Nice to meet you, honey.

(ハニイ････って、 ぼくのことか?)

(hanii tte, boku no koto ka? )

(Honey... are you talking about me?)

In the localization: everything is "fabulous" and "sweetie"

Copy the homework, but not word for word, okay? So we have one text for both of us!

___________________________________________

Naruhodo's Hairstyle

We will all agree that Hodo's haircut is very expressive and memorable (thanks to his ancestors - Ryunosuke - for his unruly hair). Which creates a flight of fancy for the nicknames that Hodo is given.

In the original, Max (like many others) calls Naruhodo "hedgehog"

さあ、ハニイ。���んな ハリネズミはほっといて。

sā, hanii. Son'na harinezumi wa hottoi te.

Come on, honey. Leave the hedgehog alone.

In the localization, Hodo, for some reason, becomes "porcupine."

Was it worth the effort? Okay.

___________________________________________

Max's Psycho-Locks

After the appearance of the psycho-locks (and in the original they are exactly psycho, with an "o"), Naruhodo calmly repeats Max's favorite exclamation and is annoyed by the magician's deception.

ゴージャス! もちろんだよ!

gōjasu! Mochironda yo!

Gorgeous! Of course!

(ゴージャス! この手品師、 何かかくしてる、ってワケか!)

(gōjasu! Kono tejinaji, nanika kakushiteru, tte wake ka! )

(Gorgeous! So this magician is hiding something!)

In the localization, for some reason, he is unhappy that he repeated Max's phrase (you were normal with this, aren't you?)

Was there a need to change Hodo's reaction? To make a hole in his character?

___________________________________________

Shaved ice with syrup

In the original, when Mayoi begs Hodo for kakigori (shaved ice), and is unhappy with the lack of syrup on the snow he offers, he will simply think that you can eat ice just like that (without syrup). Literally - eat what they give you and don't complain.

なるほどくん。 かきごおり食べたい。naruhodo-kun. Kakigori tabetai.

Naruhodo-kun. I want to eat shaved ice.

････そのへんに

いくらでもつもってるだろ。

sono hen ni ikurademo tsumotterudaro....

There's loads of them around there.

わーい。････って、 シロッ���かかってないじゃない!

Wa ī. Tte, shiroppu kakattenai janai!

Yay... Wait, there's no syrup on it!

(かかってりゃ、いいのか････?)

(kakatterya, ī no ka?)

(Bring it on...?)

In the localization, a joke about "yellow" snow appears (you understand, I hope. Unfortunately, I also see this every winter in the city, so I giggled).

___________________________________________

Balloons with advertisements

And the last thing in this post (so that it doesn't get too long).

Commenting on the balloons with advertisements, Mayoi expresses the idea that they are no longer used often because children always try to climb on them.

In the localization, Hodo answers her somewhat vaguely, hinting at some other reason than children. (What exactly?)

In the original, his answer makes much more sense, showing Naruhodo's daily worries

アドバルーンて、あんまり 見かけないね。最近。

adobarūnte, anmari mikakenai ne. Saikin.

I don't see many advertising balloons these days.

子どもがよじ登ったら あぶないからね。

kodomo ga yojinobottara abunaikara ne.

It's dangerous if a child climbs on it.

(真宵ちゃんなら やりかねないな････)(mayoi-chan'nara yari kanenai na)

(Mayoi-chan could do that...)

He allows the idea that Mayoi could also climb on such balloons. He literally sees her as a child, a little sister who needs to be constantly looked after if there are constant dangers around.

___________________________________________

So, in my subjective opinion, 2 meaningless changes; 2 changes that create a hole in the Hodo's character; and 1 more as an understandable and rather dark joke for those who annually see snow lying on the street for more than, at least, a month.

P.S. If you suddenly want to support me, the link is in the profile description.

[envyenvys]

svsss | one-shot | T | 2.4k | ao3

This is. unreasonably long for what it is. I wrote this whole thing in a day bc I couldn’t stop thinking abt it and it’s so stupid but I hope it’s also as funny as I think it is??? So here, have some post-canon bingqiu nonsense from an outsider pov

What’s His Fucking Deal

#cucumber-spotting

dick jokes

[screenshot of a text from Peerless Cucumber that reads “Do you still take commissions?”]

passionate ranting

no fucking way

he’s still alive???

binghe obsession

of course this is how we find out

homoerotic undertones

maybe he really was dead and he just rose from the grave to commission art of lbh one last time

in a totally hetero way ofc

binghe obsession

ofc

passionate ranting

after a year?

homoerotic undertones

anything’s possible

binghe obsession

@ dick jokes what did he want anyway

?

homoerotic undertones

@ dick jokes

dick jokes

gimme a minute he’s still explaining

homoerotic undertones

still???

passionate ranting

ooo point for me

homoerotic undertones

no it’s not, that’s just how he talks

it needs to be pidw comment level ranting or it doesn’t count

binghe obsession

probably still a point for me though

homoerotic undertones

shut the fuck up

basically everything he says counts as a point for you

some of us actually need to put effort into our point collecting

binghe obsession

skill issue

your fault for picking one of the harder ones

dick jokes

how do you think I feel

binghe obsession

yeah you really fucked that one up

he’s only ever made like one dick joke

passionate ranting

famously

binghe obsession

famously

dick jokes

what the actual fuck

THERES NO WAY

he’s serious?????????

homoerotic undertones

context??

binghe obsession

what did he do now

dick jokes

he wants me to

how the fuck do I phrase this so it makes sense

he wants me to go to his stupidly expensive apartment to paint a portrait of him and his husband(???????) in sqq x lbh cosplay

📌 [passionate ranting pinned a message to this channel. See all pinned messages.]

homoerotic undertones

how gullible do you think we are

dick jokes

IM NOT FUCKING JOKING

[screenshot of a text from Peerless Cucumber that reads “Would it be possible for you to paint at least part of it in person? My husband would prefer the authenticity of a live portrait, though it can still be digital.”]

[screenshot of a text from Peerless Cucumber that reads “My apartment would be best, our cosplay will likely attract too much attention anywhere else.”]

passionate ranting

WHAT

HUSBAND??????????????????

homoerotic undertones

oh my fucking god

binghe obsession

did he marry a lbh cosplayer

please say yes

passionate ranting

SHEN QINGQIU??????????

what the fuck HAPPENED to him while he was gone????

homoerotic undertones

maybe he got fucking

binghe obsession

lmfao he wishes

homoerotic undertones

transmigrated

let me finish??

passionate ranting

I mean……

he did get married, so

it’s likely

binghe obsession

can we go back to the part where under suggested he got fucking transmigrated

homoerotic undertones

think about it

binghe obsession

oh don’t worry I’m definitely thinking about it

passionate ranting

wait no I kinda get it

PC is kind of perfect for a transmigration romance tbh

homoerotic undertones

he’d be so good at it

passionate ranting

like imagine he ended up in pidw, he probably knows that world better than the author at this point

classic op otome isekai protag

homoerotic undertones

exactlyyyy

binghe obsession

what if we had a normal conversation for once

passionate ranting

in the peerless cucumber discord server?

binghe obsession

yeah okay point taken

then can either of you two geniuses explain the lbh x sqq shipping

homoerotic undertones

see that’s where the transmigration theory comes in

otome isekai never has the protag end up with their character’s canon love interest, but in pidw that cuts out like every woman

binghe obsession

wait hold on

homoerotic undertones

which is fine bc we’re 99% sure he isn’t into women anyway, but I digress

binghe obsession

you think he got transmigrated into fucking LUO BINGHE????

passionate ranting

wait they’re onto something here

let them cook

homoerotic undertones

what’s more of an otome isekai plotline than the protag falling in love with a character they used to hate after actually getting to know them?

PC would be basically immune to all the bullshit sqq pulls in the early chapters, and with his encyclopedic knowledge of pidw he’d notice pretty quick if there was anything different about sqq

like the brothel theory and how he treats nyy

plus with the way he writes comments he’d be able to keep up with sqq’s snark pretty easily

passionate ranting

wait why is this kinda…… 😳

binghe obsession

we are NOT shipping peerless cucumber x shen qingqiu

dick jokes

what the fuck happened while I was gone

passionate ranting

don’t worry about it

what did he say?

dick jokes

well the good news is he’s paying enough to cover my rent for the next six months

homoerotic undertones

you’re fucking joking

dick jokes

the bad news is they want me to start tomorrow

binghe obsession

LMFAOOO GOOD FUCKING LUCK

What’s His Fucking Deal

#general

homoerotic undertones

@ dick jokes you have to tell us everything, we need to know if the transmigration theory is real

passionate ranting

it’s real to me

and honestly kind of compelling ngl

[passionate ranting created a poll.]

would you read the peerless cucumber transmigration romance?

☐ yes I need to know how his brain works [25%]

☐ fuck no he’d be insufferable [75%]

4 votes • 23h left

dick jokes

what happened to hello? how are you? good morning?

homoerotic undertones

good morning, how’s the commission going

dick jokes

bad

homoerotic undertones

didn’t you only get there like 10 minutes ago

dick jokes

yeah

┌ passionate ranting would you read the peerless cu…

passionate ranting

why are you all voting no

wait what’s happening with dj?

dick jokes

well first of all you’re both wrong, he didn’t transmigrate into lbh

passionate ranting

damn

dick jokes

second of all if I stop replying call the police immediately because the lbh cosplayer murdered me for looking at PC too long

it’s not like I’m a fucking artist who needs references or anything

passionate ranting

HES SQQ????

homoerotic undertones

villainess isekai……

passionate ranting

I can’t believe they sank scumcum in less than 24h

wait hold on

binghe obsession

where the fuck are you coming up with these names

also good morning

[passionate ranting created a poll.]

best PC ship

☐ peerless cucumber x shen qingqiu [100%]

☐ peerless cucumber x luo binghe [0%]

1 vote • 23h left

binghe obsession

there’s something wrong with you clinically

dick jokes

guys idk if I’m gonna survive this

homoerotic undertones

is the lbh cosplayer actually threatening you? bc I’m 100% willing to call the police right now

or book a didi to pick you up

actually what’s his address I’m coming to get you

dick jokes

fucking chill

(but ty I appreciate it <3)

I was talking abt the mountains of dog food they’re shovelling down my throat rn

binghe obsession

lmfaooo

dick jokes

I don’t think the lbh cosplayer has stopped touching PC since I got here

they’re like

nauseating

homoerotic undertones

honestly still a pretty good reason to just leave

I have the didi app open just say the word

dick jokes

six months of rent

homoerotic undertones

right

binghe obsession

I can’t decide if this is ooc behaviour for lbh or not

passionate ranting

the exhibitionism is accurate at least

dick jokes

ugh don’t say that

homoerotic undertones

bingge isn’t clingy though

passionate ranting

hm good point

binghe obsession

I’m just thinking, if the transmigration theory was true and PC became sqq, it would affect lbh’s behaviour

passionate ranting

omg we converted you

homoerotic undertones

oh that’s true, PC’s obsessed with lbh and he hates sqq… if he turned into sqq he wouldn’t be able to keep the plot on track to save his life

binghe obsession

actually nvm I don’t want to think about this anymore

homoerotic undertones

noooo come on, think of it as a character study!!

passionate ranting

yeah!! even bingge was obsessed with sqq for years, there’s no way a lbh with PC for a shizun could be normal about him

binghe obsession

ugh fine

passionate ranting

!!!

binghe obsession

well to start, it would depend entirely on what part of the novel PC transmigrated into, how much freedom he has to fuck around, and how hard he’s trying to act like original!sqq

canon lbh is an obsessive, horny perfectionist incapable of self reflection in any meaningful way bc he can’t accept that his life sucks and he’s miserable. He has mommy issues, daddy issues, abandonment issues, probably an inferiority complex and a superiority complex at the same time, and who knows what else. Basically anything airplane thought would be depressing enough to introduce in the first arc but then never resolved later on

homoerotic undertones

OK Peerless Cucumber

binghe obsession

YOU ASKED????

passionate ranting

under shut up I wanna hear the rest of the analysis 😭

binghe obsession

what I was GOING to say is that if the shizun lbh was always trying to get the approval of just turned around one day and started doting on him the way we KNOW pc would, he’d direct all his issues toward pc and then it’d probably dissolve into some endless feedback loop of obsessive behaviour

so yeah, the clinginess makes sense

passionate ranting

ohh you’re so right

hopefully a bingge with pc!sqq would have a happier ending…

this sucks, now I wish the transmigration theory was real :(

homoerotic undertones

probably better that it isn’t, since, yk, PC would have to die first

passionate ranting

only a little bit

dick jokes

thank fucking god I thought I’d be trapped in there with them forever

homoerotic undertones

are you already done??

dick jokes

lmfao god no

lunch break, I’m hiding on the balcony

there’s SO MUCH shit I need to tell you guys, you don’t even know

binghe obsession

they actually gave you a lunch break?

dick jokes

tbh actually I think the only reason I get a break is bc lbh wanted the time alone to feed pc

these two are literally insane

I’m eating off a takeout plate bc they don’t have enough dishes. they didn’t even offer me anything to drink bc there’s only one cup in the entire apartment and they share it

homoerotic undertones

what the fuck

dick jokes

RIGHT?

binghe obsession

thought you’d be full from all that dog food lmfao

dick jokes

ugh don’t remind me you’re gonna make me lose my appetite

which is saying something bc this is literally unironically the best food I’ve ever tasted in my life

lbh made it and I thought he was genuinely gonna kill me when pc told him to give me some

like I’m sorry bro you’re the one who hired me?? take it up with your wife

passionate ranting

what’s his problem 😭

you don’t need to method act for cosplay

dick jokes

I don’t think he’s acting though?? like this is 100% home grown issues

he calls pc ‘shizun’ unironically and refers to himself as his disciple

homoerotic undertones

wtf

dick jokes

AND they’ve been wearing the most beautiful, intricate, clearly handmade xianxia style hanfu I’ve ever seen the entire time, didn’t even take it off to eat which is CRAZY to me

like what if you dropped soy sauce on it and it stained??? I’d kms

passionate ranting

oh they weren’t kidding abt the cosplay attracting attention then huh

dick jokes

THEY WERE NOT KIDDING, NO

homoerotic undertones

we’ve got to get you outta there

dick jokes

six months of rent

homoerotic undertones

right

well. good luck I guess

at least the food’s good

dick jokes

at least the food’s good

What’s His Fucking Deal

#general

dick jokes

hey guys?

this is gonna sound insane but

I think this might be the real luo binghe

homoerotic undertones

what

dick jokes

I think we were right about the transmigration thing

I think peerless cucumber really did die and transmigrate last year, and he brought the real lbh back with him

it’s just… something about the way they’re talking? PC keeps having to explain things to lbh but it’s only the sort of stuff you wouldn’t know about if you, say, lived in a fictional xianxia world without modern technology

also I saw his huadian glowing, like LED bright glowing

you can’t do that with practical effects

passionate ranting

are you doing okay, dj?

binghe obsession

blink twice if you need help

dick jokes

I’m serious!!! there’s something really weird about them!!!

passionate ranting

that doesn’t mean they’re transmigrators??? they’re probably just hardcore larping or something

dick jokes

see that’s what I thought at first too, but then

HOLY FUCK

homoerotic undertones

???

dick jokes

[10 seconds of shaky footage of an icy portal opening in the centre of an upper-class apartment living room. A man in xianxia style hanfu stumbles out of it, followed by a much taller man with long, dark hair, and skin tinged faintly blue.]

passionate ranting

MOBEI JUN???????????

binghe obsession

is that fucking shang qinghua

homoerotic undertones

WHAT

passionate ranting

MOBEI JUN???? FROM PIDW?????

what the fuck. what the Fuck

homoerotic undertones

what the FUCK

this is so

passionate ranting

oh my god. you weren’t kidding. that’s the real luo binghe

oh FUCK peerless cucumber died last year and no one even knew

AND HE GOT TRANSMIGRATED?????????

homoerotic undertones

THEYRE REAL???????????????

wait why are they in OUR world?????

binghe obsession

I think I need to lie down for a minute

passionate ranting

why is shang qinghua there???? isn’t he supposed to be dead??????

dick jokes

PC just called him airplane

passionate ranting

AIRPLANE SHOOTING TOWARDS THE SKY????????????????????????????

homoerotic undertones

imagine getting transmigrated into your own novel and your biggest hater is there too and he’s fucking your protagonist

villainess isekai protag peerless cucumber is real and I don’t know how to feel about this

binghe obsession

I just know this is your fault somehow

all three of you

dick jokes

ME???

WHAT DID I DO??

homoerotic undertones

wait oh fuck this means airplane died too and no one noticed

how did it happen twice???????

dick jokes

……….. shang qinghua and mobei jun want me to paint a portrait of them too

passionate ranting

omg….. moshang is real……..

homoerotic undertones

DJ GO HOME??

JUST LEAVE

dick jokes

they’re doubling my pay

one year of rent is worth so much more than my sanity

binghe obsession

I just remembered when like two years ago PC said something stupid on weibo

and it was one of his “lbh deserves better than this shitty novel” rants so I commented something like “luo binghe isn’t gonna fuck you, dude”

he was so pissed at me

but like

homoerotic undertones

LMFAO

binghe obsession

he really did it. luo binghe really fucked him

[katerinaaqu]

Hello!!

Since I've seen that you've listened to both Epic and Paris the musical, I was curious to know what are your toughts on them! Did you like how the myths and characters where handled? What do you like best and worst? (If you'd like to share, what's your favourite song/moment in each?)

Thanks :]

My my you really wanna get me have an even bigger target on my back than the one I put already! Hahaha! Ok so be it! Hahaha If this gets waaaaaay too long or too runty forgive me! ^_^

You have noticed from many of my comments and my notifications, memes or jokes. I am not a fan of EPIC. Not at all. I believe I am one of the most disliked people on Tumblr on mythology matters because I so openly speak my dislike against EPIC and being annoying about it! Hahaha! XD The thing I absolutely love about it is of course the guy's passion with the project, the way the music works and all (undoubtedly the guy is a very talented composer and can combine the scene with music and emotions and the tricks he uses with music are great) but the way the plot of Odyssey was twisted beyond recognition and to the point that to me you can literally change the names of the characters to anything else and still have the story he presents with the Musical. Maybe that was his goal but in my head that is not what a retelling or an adaptation is about. A retelling to me is not something that seeks to change literally as much as possible from the plot to fit the modern standards or the fanbase. A retelling is something as the word says that "retells the story" aka adapts the story as loyally as possible and adapts it to the audinece by taking creative liberties that are still generic to the story as it was originally told so that it will fit more to the modern standards or ear.

I believe we have so much twisted the word "retelling" that nowadays "retelling" seems to be equivalent to "let's change the hell out of the story because the original plot is not even THAT important to be salvaged and no modern person would watch it anyways" which in my opinion is not the case at all. Unless of course one writes satire. Then it doesn't matter, as I mentioned to another ask of mine.

I lost interest and was massively disappointed from the end of second saga and the song "Storm". The first two sagas were a masterpiece. The creative liberties were amazing to make sense with the plot and give the characters motivation (for example "I'm just a man" was FANTASTIC! The way the myth from Iliou Persis that gave us only one phrase "Odysseus kills Astyanax by throwing him off the wall" is now transformed into a marvelous emotional dilemma and a painful decision). In this case the creative liberty work WITH the plot and not against it. I didn't mind it as much that they made Polites a fluffy guy for no reason to fit that stereotypical "innocence of the team" plot because Polites is a clean slate character in Odyssey. However after Storm I started seeing your typical "Hollywood film 'adaptation' logic with changing stuff at the plot". I was intrigued at how they decided to give Polyphemus an excuse to kill like the guys enter a cave that is obviously habitable and kill an animal that is obviously domesticated and they do not know someone lives there? In the original it was clear someone lived there which made Odysseus curious to interract with them. I was willing to ignore that because ok creative liberties but then Athena was there!? And she gave Odysseus every opportunity to kill him while Odysseus was just "TOO NICE?!" like since when? Odysseus was all about killing him but he had no guarantee he would plus he needed him to open the cave. And the way he revealed his name in the musical was so rush and almost "out of spite" for Athena not a result of a secclusion in a cave for days and days and then his pride speaking up when Polyphemus called him a coward (which I tried to capture to my fic, not sure if I succeeded but still). So anyways at that point I was sure we wouldn't see the last of it with the changes. Poseidon destroys the ships instead of the Laestrygonians (no surprise there, rarely ever see anyone even mention the Laestrygonians yet alone show their contribution to the Odyssey) but then Circe happened and I just knew that we would have to derail from the original more and more

Circe's role was incredibly diminished for the sakes of making her actions more mellow and pass the message of loyalty and kindness. Circe in the original gives Odysseus valid information for his trip provisions and much more. In Epic not only we do not see the importance of Odysseus selling himself to Circe and we have Circe for some reason seducing him to kill him (removing her humanity from when she got scared that her magic won't work on him, potentially thinking he is some kind of god, begging for her safety to then suggesting her bed as Hermes predicts) I mean she had lions and wolves to her disposal she doesn't need to seduce him to kill him. Then of course Jorge realized that a big chunk of plot is missing and so he made Odysseus find out about Skylla by the sirens?! Like...okay... Even Tiresias gives him almost nothing (in the original he also tells him how to break the curse) Which seems interesting how Odysseus breaks down with "Monster" in Tiresias when he has received an act of kindess before. Wouldn't it be more amazing if he had that breakdown AFTER he paid the price with Circe with his own body? That even kindess has a terrible price? Of course the most iconic scene of the Odyssey after the murder of the suitors and Cyclops, the Sirens were twisted to whatever we had there; Odysseus listening to their song was of massive importance to his natural curiocity and we didn't get that (not to mention how would the sirens spell work on him and have Penelope there if he didn't hear their song in the first place?) and of course the fact that he kills them?! Like...how that even works I have no idea and like in the original people were running for their lives. Didn't even look back. Apparently they had all the time in the world to capture them, they knew apparently exactly how many they were and then they kill them?! Like I won't even say that they used the medieval mermaid instead of the sirens and then they "leave them drown" (how you drown fish people is beyond me! Maybe they are sharks that need to keep moving lol) and of course again that scene seemed to me that it was there only to show that "Odysseus is a monster" which makes no sense Odyssey-wise for many reasons. and then of course again Skylla; Odysseus doesn't gear up to protect his men, he is the one who chooses the sacrifice out of spite etc etc

Many others got sped up like the Helios cattle but ok I guess that is expected up to one point even if it could be handled differently but of course then we have also Zeus being a jerk and again making Odysseus choose? The storm that took the lives of his men was a natural consequence, not some twisted thing to prove how "monstrous" Odysseus is. In fact Odysseus tried till the last moment to sail away and save the lives he could (see my other analysis here) and of course again as many people said on God Games and all how Zeus was twisted yet another time although in Odyssey he had zero reasons to object apart from the natural hubris nemesis sequence. He never called Odysseus "shameful" either. In fact he says he agrees with Athena that calls him the most pious.

I think the massive change that I believe is abused by modern retellings is the whole "monster to man" trope. Odysseus losing his moral compass and "becoming the monster" and the plot around revolving to it. That was never the pont of Odyssey in my opinion. Odysseus never really lost his moral compass it is just his morality was not all pure and lovey in the first place. Was he changed by his experiences to be more ruthless in general? Absolutely but he was never changed to a monster according to Homeric version (because post-homeric versions already treat him as a villain from the get-go)

As for the things I liked about it, I had made a post you can see here:

I do love the harmonies and the music in it and I love the passion and the talents of the people in it. It is just that the whole plot for me is just not it. Also maybe I am also mostly annoyed with how the "fandom logic" has taken over it. Like internet getting swarmed by it. Epic quotes or facts getting literally mixed up or associated with the original or the fact we can no longer speak on the original unless someone brings up Epic the Musical... This annoys me to no ends. Of course I recognize the passion of the fans of the musical. Is just a personal thing to me. I felt the same when people were using Percy Jackson or Miller's books to talk on mythology before. Is the same here.

Of course I need to say this all the above is my PERSONAL OPINION. I have literally NOTHING against people who love the musical and the original equally. I am just NOT one of them. Also i have nothing against the artist either. I just do not agree with his outtake. Still appreciate his hard work. However when I saw the firsttwo sagas I knew this guy KNEW his mythology which is why I feel so disappointed that his later sagas felt like "Hmm...let me use that knowledge I definitely have on Odyssey just to change the hell out of it!" And that had me very sad and lowkey annoyed because I think this guy had some real stuff to create an actual Odyssey adaptation and yet again we had your average hollywood film plot where you barely see any of the plot he ellegedly adapts

Now on Paris the Musical I had answered another ask you can see here

I will not take more space on this already huge and runty post that probably made me more annoying and irritating around Tumblr! XD Generally again has little to nothing to do with Iliad but I loved the music (it was arguably one of the most original choices for music for a musical) and the songs I mention to the ask. Apart from that I am ot ecstatic by it either (arguably stage musicals do not seem to work for me when it comes to the ancient classics to a large degree because of how much the plots need to be overly simplified to fit the time frame) but I am more happy that it din't get blasted out of proportions like Epic was so the plot of it doesn't even need to be pointed out that it is not accurate and all. It is self-evident. The fact that the creator of Epic needed to "warn the fans" on how inaccurate his work is, speaks volumes to me.

I will close this runt now because is already too long. I think both Epic and Paris musicals have little to nothing to do with the things they adapt but Ironically Paris the Musical changed less stuff than Epic in comparison to magnitude. Both are passionate projects with great potential and very good music but plot wise I am not anymore surprised that they do not follow the actual plots or character developments. I am surprised that Epic was more accurate to the character development of Eurylochus than the main protagonist Odysseus! Made me focus more on Eurylochus than Odysseus! Hahaha!

I am glad that the musicals make more people willing to read the originals though. For that I am grateful.

And if I have to pick one song from each musical I would say "Just a Man" and "Business" respectably but of course I like others as well especially from Epic such as "Horse and the Infant", "Will of the gods" and "Storm".

I hope this answers your questions! I will elaborate further on some of the points I make here if you want! ^_^

[ineffable-opinions]

Danmei tropes in My Stand-In

This is a quick introduction to some popular BL tropes that are fairly new to live-action BL:

wife chasing crematorium

substitute lover

transmigration

(Contains spoilers)

All corrections and critiques are welcome.

As you probably know My Stand-In is based on the danmei novel Professional Body Double. Specifically, it belongs to 188男团 (“188 group” where 188 cm is the height of every gong (seme) in the novel series). It is a shared universe of novels with characters from one featuring in another and almost all gong are very scummy (or “red-flag” so to speak) initially.

Trope #1: wife chasing crematorium

What 188 group novels all have in common is the trope popularly known among English-speaking fandom as “wife chasing crematorium”. This is a super-popular trope, not only in danmei.

origin 追妻火葬场 (zhuī qī huǒzàng chǎng; chasing his wife’s crematorium) derived from the longer phrase 傲娇一时爽，追妻火葬场 (àojiāo yīshí shuǎng, zhuī qī huǒzàng chǎng; Tsundere was on his high horse for a while, now chasing his wife’s crematorium.) Alternative form: 追夫火葬场 (zhuī fū huǒzàng chǎng; chasing husband’s crematorium) – usually involves scum shou (uke) chasing after his gong (seme) after initially abusing gong’s love.

The trope involves the love interest being initially cold or even cruel to the protagonist who is in love. This continues until all of that love gone. By then, the love interest would have come to his senses, eager to seek forgiveness and chase after the protagonist. In some cases, the love is already lost irrevocably, especially when the protagonist is dead – hence, literal crematorium. There are also works where the love interest is discarded all together and protagonist moves on to someone else. Rarely, there are works where the protagonist is the scum.   

In 188 group novels, this is how the basic structure of wife chasing crematorium:

Shou loves gong. Gong treats shou terribly.

Gong goes too far. Shou is fed-up and leaves gong, one way or other. Gong realises that he has been in love all along.

Gong regrets his action and chases after shou. Grovelling ensues.

Gong and shou gets back together. Gong dotes on shou and the couple face other challenges (family, villains) together, if any. Happy ending.

Fans are in it for the melodrama. They want to watch scummy gong to go too far, the relationship to break down and for the gong to grovel and make amends through various selfless deeds, until they reestablish the relationship and trust (as much as possible). Every one of those stories end with a happy ending with the gong endlessly doting on shou and the relationship having turned wholesome.

Trope #2: substitute lover

Other than the previous trope Professional Body Double and its adaptation My Stand-In involves the “substitute lover” trope.

Substitute lover trope involves, usually the gong, having a 白月光 (white moonlight): a person whom he loves a lot but can’t reach/touch. This is usually his first love and has a profound impact on him.

Aside: White moonlight in itself is a common trope. Both Vip Only and Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun used white moonlight trope to in a typical kishōtenketsu narrative structure.  

Since white moonlight is unattainable, gong finds a substitute lover.

The relationship between gong and substitute lover is usually just physical. This is because gong doesn’t plan to move on from white moonlight, instead stubbornly carries the torch. Gong doesn’t plan on betraying the pure feeling he have for his white moonlight by giving any of his love to anyone else. So, he tries to ensure that no love leaks out of the dam he has built to store his love for the white moonlight. This is, from gong’s POV, a kind of emotional fidelity which he extends to his white moonlight. A tribute of gong’s unshakable love for his white moonlight.

The substitute lover sometimes resembles white moonlight in some way –

in body – first ever live action BL (shonen-ai actually) adaptation Summer Vacation 1999 (1988) based of Hagio Moto’s The Heart of Thomas plays around with this trope, a lot. More recently, Playboyy sorta lampshaded it with the twins premise.

in spirit – a recent example is Love is Better the Second Time Around wherein prof. Takashi sleeps with his assistant Shiraishi Yuto because the assistant (or his desperation at least) reminded him of his white moonlight Miyata Akihiro.

Aside: There is only one live-action BL that actively subverted this trope: HIStory3: Make Our Days Count. The series introduced a doppelgänger of Yu XiGu (Xiang HaoTing’s white moonlight), a perfect candidate for substitute lover trope. But instead of pursuing it, they subverted the trope.

There are usually two outcomes to the substitute lover trope:

gong falls for substitute lover. In some cases, this involves white moonlight turning into rival or villain.

gong and his white moonlight get together. In this case, substitute lover turn into rival or get a lover of his own.

Itsuka no Kimi e, first ever live-action adaptation of a yaoi manga, employed substitute lover trope in one of its best executions. It is so brilliantly done that I can’t think of anything topping that, unless 4th volume (particularly the case-solving plot involving the photography club) of Takumi-kun series gets live action adaptation.

Trope #3: transmigration  

Basic premise of Professional Body Double and its adaptation My Stand-In revolves around transmigration of soul.

This too is a popular trope in BL. One of the most popular danmei Mo Dao Zu Shi and its adaptation The Untamed involves this trope.

Maybe I should say set-up instead of trope for this one. Transmigration involves soul of a character getting transferred to a body different from his own at the time of triggering event.

Own body, different time – either past or future. When past is involved, it is likely a do-over story where the protagonist gets to redo their life, change their love interest, make different life choices, take different course of action, etc.

Reincarnation – completely different lifetime but with retained memories of past-life/lives. Until We Meet Again; Choco Milk Shake (different lifetime for the pets)

Different body, present (near-present) time – character’s soul enters a different person’s body. The character gets involved in his previous circumstances but now in a different capacity. Revive (2016), that danmei adaptation no one ever talks about, went to town with this set-up.

Different body, different life – soul enters character in a book, game, simulation, etc. and would be primarily tasked to thrive there. One Room Angel (2023) explored a type of badro with this set-up.

With transmigration set-up, it is common to have one of these two:

Transmigrator retaining some connection to previous life.

Transmigrator’s previous life doesn’t matter anymore.

These Tropes in My Stand-In

These tropes are explored to varying degrees and with different levels of efficiency in Professional Body Double. In its live-action adaptation, there are a bunch of limitations. Primary one being the cultural difference – audience of a danmei novel are already familiar with these tropes to some extend but the live-action audience is one which has been primarily consuming sweet BL from Thailand that are inherently deficient in BL literacies.

Another is the khujin problem. Branded pairs are very important to Thai BL industry, so they cannot have two different actors playing before and after transmigration. (Actually, this was not impossible but there hasn’t been any precedent. Also, The Untamed enjoyed success by having Xiao Zhan play pre- and post-transmigration Wei WuXian. I wish they tried two khujin (UpPoom & UpWinner) one couple, since they chose to introduce Winner as pre-transmigration Joe. I don’t know, maybe that’s asking for fan wars and pitting actors against each other.) [In the tags, @deliriousblue reflects on what having two different actors could do with example from Cupid's Last Wish (a series I haven't watched) and its impact on audience on an emotional level. @myezblog has commented that Alchemy of Souls (another I haven't watched) is an excellent example of transmigration played two different actors.]

Third limitation is one that comes from medium – you can’t have long monologues in live-action. This deprives audience of the inner workings of character’s minds. Most of the motives, especially Ming’s trouble with warring desires of his heart, is inaccessible to the audience. @clairedaring have posted a deep-dive by Liltsu into some of that here.

Aside: Another interesting trope is giving watch (a taboo gift) – Chinese superstition rising from 送钟 (gifting watch) and 送终 (to bury the dead/attend funeral) being homophones. Taboo gift trope - white lilies associated with death and funerals - have appeared in Summer Vacation 1999 (1988) and Forbidden Love; both of these have substitute lover and death.

Ming’s characterization as a young master, coming from money and prestige that breeds arrogance and deficient in empathy (this post by @tungtung-thanawat is particularly enlightening) is a highlight of his cruelty as a 188 group gong.

While redemption of scum gong is what 188 group offers its audience, it is not necessarily what live-action audience would be wanting from the set-up. It is likely that a part of the audience was in fact looking for revenge plot.

As @lurkingshan highlighted in this post there is no exploration of identity (tied to Joe’s body pre- and post-transmigration) forth-coming precisely because this isn’t that kind of story and body is only treated as a temporary shelter for the soul for most part when transmigration trope is involved. Moreover, the novel is steeped in Confucian values. So, most of the resolution to what it means for Joe to have a mother now is dealt through his selfless gratitude and the filial piety he offers her.

The same is the case with his old body – a proper funeral for that body is what he owes his own parents for having given flesh and blood to the body which housed his soul previously. Remarkably, his own house figures prominently as an inheritance and as an enduring connection to his own parents – a bond more precious to that him than the bond he had to his old body. I am unsure how much of those core Confucian values they will retain in the live-action adaptation, given the cultural difference.

As @befuddledcinnamonroll discusses here, it is tied to cultural ideas of self, religious beliefs, etc.

@bengiyo has pointed out a weakness in execution of the transmigration trope over the substitute lover trope: the latter is a recurring and inverted trope in this series while the former plays out straight. Even though it is clear that coma!Joe is basically friendless and his career already dead (or that he has no career to speak of), it might have been better to hint at a lack of resolution and impending doom, and build anticipation by leaving clues about the troubles that coma!Joe has left behind. That way when the substitute lover trope peaks again, audience would feel as trapped as Joe.

This is where I think Revive (2016) did a better job with friends, colleagues, past-lovers and rivals especially with such similar set-ups: entertainment industry, classism, scum gong, and intersecting lives pre- and post-transmigration.

[phoenix-downer]

KH4 First Trailer

This is the first KH4-related translation post I've done (nearly two years late ;lakjsdf my how the time flies), and hopefully there will be many more to come. I'll be focusing on the dialogue and text in the trailer and not so much on the camera angles, character expressions, etc. this time around just because I want to keep the focus on the translations.

Here’s a general key for the kind of analysis I like to do:

JP: Official Japanese Dialogue

EN: Official English Dialogue

TR: My Translation (usually more literal and thus more stilted than the official English version. I’m not using natural-sounding English in order to stick as close to the Japanese versions of the lines as possible for the purpose of analysis)

Notes: things I found interesting, grammatical points, extra thoughts, etc.

One last note: media doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Every work of art must be viewed through the cultural lens of the people who made it. Kingdom Hearts, for all its ties to Disney, is still very much a Japanese game, so it should be analyzed in light of that.

With that in mind, let’s continue.

JP 自分が望む結末ではなかったと絶望するのならー

EN If this isn't the ending you desired—if it brings you despair—

TR If (this) wasn't the ending you hoped for—if (you) feel despair—

Notes: Sigurd is apparently the character saying these next few lines.

The word for "ending" here, ketsumatsu, is an interesting word choice. It is often used in the context of stories (though it also has other uses), which fits really well with how KH4 will play around with the concept of reality vs. unreality. So on a meta level it's like, "If you didn't like how KH3 ended, if you didn't like how Sora ended up, then help him escape Quadratum."

Also, the word the official English version translates as "desired," nozomu, can mean "desire, want, wish for, hope for," and it's an antonym of zetsubō, the word translated "despair." So there's this nice poetic contrast going on between hope and despair in this bit in the Japanese version.

JP 他の世界に退場すればいい

EN then leave this world for another

TR —(then you) should leave for another world.

Notes: This particular word for "leave," taijō, can be used for leaving venues, stadiums, parking lots, rooms, sports games, etc. It can also be used for actors exiting the stage. Take a look at definition #1, which translated states, "Leaving venues, stadiums etc." and #2, which translated states, "Actors etc. leaving the stage" (Source):

I thought that was really interesting, because using a word with these specific connotations makes me wonder if this is more of that meta commentary, this time about how we should direct Sora the character to leave Quadratum if we so desire. Sure, the general sense of "leave" or "exit" is the main meaning here, but I always get so intrigued by word choice and all the connotations a word has.

Also, the phrasing isn't exactly the same, but there is a euphemism in Japanese for the place your soul goes when you die, takai, that uses the same kanji as hoka no sekai that we see in "another world" here, it just uses the onyomi pronunciation instead of the kunyomi pronunciation for "another" hoka/tai and has no no particle.

Googling hoka no sekai brought up a lot of images about parallel worlds and the isekai genre, so that's probably the most accurate connotation given Sora's world traveling adventures thus far, but I still thought that was an interesting tidbit, even if it's a complete reach on my end. Like sure Sora can go to other worlds, but he's still dead, so he's still going to more places where he's dead and can't go home where he'd be fully alive.

JP 選択肢は無限にあるはずだー

EN Your options are endless.

TR (Your) options/choices should be endless/limitless—

Notes: I really like how the English version contrasts "ending" with "endless." You don't like the ending Sora got in KH3? Your options for taking him to other worlds are "endless." The Japanese version has this interesting tidbit too where the speaker conveys an expectation. He says hazu, which means "expected," "should be," "must be." So he expects Sora's options are endless, but it has a slightly different nuance than if he'd just said they are endless.

JP 心は魂に宿り　魂は運命によって在るべき場所へ導かれる

EN The heart resides within the soul which in turn is guided by fate to its rightful place

TR (The) heart dwells in (the) soul, (and the) soul is guided by fate to its rightful place (lit. the place it should be).

Notes: There's not really any difference between the official English version and my translation. It's just interesting to break it down. For whatever reason the "rightful place" of the soul has the verb of existence for inanimate objects (aru) instead of the one for animate objects (iru). Not sure if that's a set phrase or if the soul in this context would be considered an inanimate object (time to go down a rabbithole about animacy in Japanese).

This bit also kinda reminded me of how Xehanort talked in KH3 when he was recounting the cycle of light and darkness. The language has a very "mythological"/storytelling feel to me, which makes sense given whoever is saying these lines is talking about fate, destiny, the nature of the universe, etc. And then the floating text in the darkness also reminds me of the Dive into the Heart sequences with the disembodied voice as well, so it could also be a reference to that.

JP 選択は再び委ねられる

EN The choice is yours once more.

TR (The) choice is left (to you) once more./(The) choice is entrusted (to you) once more.

Notes: Once again, this bit of text seems very meta. It feels like it's addressed to the fans, given how we're the ones who will be controlling Sora in KH4. And of course the image shows his chess piece with his crown symbol on it, so the implication is that Sora's heart will be the one guiding him once more, and his heart will be guided by fate.

JP あなたはこの世界に来て7日間　ずっと眠っていたの

EN You've been asleep since you arrived in this world seven days ago.

TR You came to this world seven days ago (and you)'ve been sleeping (the) whole time.

Notes: I don't love my translation because nanokakan more literally means "a period of seven days," but yeah I think I get the gist across.

Strelitzia refers to Sora as anata here when the norm is to refer to other people by their names in Japanese, even when addressing them directly, so either she doesn't know his name yet or she's being very polite, almost distant. She also ends her declaration with no, likely to indicate she's offering more of an explanation (it also makes her sound pretty cute and feminine).

Also, as I'm going through this trailer again, I'm reminded that Sora doesn't talk at all. He has the battle grunts during his fight against the Darkside, but he doesn't have any dialogue. I just thought that was interesting, because Xehanort commented on Sora not having a voice in Melody of Memory as well. Somehow that also told Xehanort where Sora's heart is located (foreshadowing for this game I suppose). I wonder if Sora will be similarly voiceless at first in KH4 or if he just is for this trailer for dramatic effect because Nomura knows everyone wants to hear him speak.

And then of course I have to mention the significance of Sora being asleep in Quadratum for seven days. Seven has a lot of significance in the KH universe, given how there are seven guardians of light. Seven is also the length of a week, and it's a number that has connotations of wholeness and completion in certain cultures.

JP ここは クァッドラトゥムー

EN This is Quadratum—

TR (This is) Quadratum—

Notes: Not really anything to note here other than the gorgeous graphics, how Sora doesn't look at all like his usual cheerful self (no smile to be found), and the colors in Quadratum seem very warm/brown/earth tones/"real" and not super bright and colorful like in the "main" KH universe.

JP 生者の世界ではあるけれどー

EN It's a world full of life—

TR (It's) a world of living people/the living but—

Notes: Seija is translated as "full of life" in the official English version, but it more literally means "living people" or "the living." So Strelitzia is pointing out that all around them are living people and yet, for her and Sora, it's still a world of death because she and Sora should be dead.

JP 私たちにとっては“死の世界”ってことになるみたい

EN but for you and I, it's similar to an "afterworld," I suppose.

TR —for us, (it) seems like it's "a world of death."

Notes: This is where I wish the English version was closer to the Japanese version. "World of death" or "world of the dead" would've been a closer translation, and I'm not sure why it wasn't used (perhaps to avoid mentioning the dreaded "d" word). I do like the pun-like quality of "afterworld," combining "afterlife" and the oft-used-in-the-KH-universe "world," and since the translators have access to information I don't about the game's lore, I can't say whether crucial lore has been lost in translation, but I wanted to point out the difference here.

Also, the grammar pattern Strelitzia uses here, koto ni naru, indicates something that's outside of her and Sora's control. This being an afterlife of sorts for the two of them was decided by factors beyond their control, in other words. She also uses mitai to indicate her speculation/observation.

JP だがー

EN However—

TR However—

Notes: This is back to Sigurd speaking, and very ominously so.

JP 一度退場すれば元の世界に戻れると思うなー

EN if you do leave this world behind, don't expect to return to the one from which you came—

TR —once (you) leave, don't think (you) can go back to (your) original world—

Notes: This ends on a rather ominous note. Again the word taijō is used here for "leave" much like earlier in the trailer. I remember this dialogue when I first watched this trailer because it was such a wham line. What do you mean Sora can't go home? He can go to other worlds but he can't go home? What will it take to bring him home then? Something pretty drastic from the sounds of it.

Also, I like the formal wording of the official English version. Sigurd sounds like he's from a different time.

Then of course this next bit cuts to Donald and Goofy, searching for ways to find Sora presumably:

JP どこにいるんだろう？

EN I wonder where he is.

TR (I) wonder where (he) is.

Notes: Nothing really to talk about, just that the "I" and "he" is implied in Japanese (Japanese tends to drop pronouns in places they would be required in English because there's enough info provided by context, verb conjugations, etc. to figure out who the speaker is talking about).

JP 手がかり見つかるといいね

EN I don't know, but I sure hope he can help.

TR I hope (we) can find (a) clue.

Notes: A bit of a difference here, Goofy is focused more on finding a clue in Japanese whereas in English he's hoping "he" (Hades, presumably) can help.

JP おい

EN Hey!

TR Hey!

Notes: Hades' Japanese VA has a very distinctive voice, and so right from this word you know it's him a;lsdkjf and he's as snarky and blunt as ever lol.

JP どこへ行くんだ

EN Just where do you think you're going?

TR (Just) where (do you think you)'re going?

Notes: I love the sass and snark of the English translation, and it captures the vibes of the Japanese version well (Hades uses ~nda at the end of the sentence to indicate he wants more information out of them). They found Hades, but now they'll actually have to deal with Hades...

And that's what I have for now! I am curious about what promo material will be released next and what new tidbits we'll have to speculate on. Fingers crossed we get more info around the anniversary this year!

The Japanese trailer is here.

The English trailer is here.

[atthebell-moved]

hi, i completely agree that the fandom has a problem with misogyny and often fails at self-introspection. my question is, do you have any resources/tips/thoughts on how to be better about it? even, how to recognize it in yourself the first place? "ok i'll stop being a misogynist now" is a lot easier said than done, especially for people who might not be that educated on the subject, and majority of the people in this fandom are quite young as well.

this is long as fuck and possibly somewhat incoherent bc it took so long to write but i did my best

my biggest tip for people who don't know much about misogyny is to look at your own behavior and learn how to clock what you're doing as sexist.

are you criticizing a female creator? think about why you're doing it, what the actual beef you have with them is. if it seems to be just a sense of discomfort or thinking they're annoying or overly loud or pushy, think about male ccs who act the same way and why you dont consider them annoying. are you annoyed with them for being on a male cc's stream? why? does it feel like theyre taking up too much attention? do you get annoyed with them for talking too much or flirting with guys? for gaming especially-- do you get annoyed with them for not knowing something or being "bad" at a game? think about why that is and why its just funny when a male cc is bad at games or doesnt know something.

a HUGE problem i see in this fandom is the Madonna-whore complex, repackaged as the little sister-racist dichotomy (kudos to @yourlittlemenace for that phrasing).

if a female cc is deemed to be "playing nice" (doesnt talk too much, is "nice", streams with male ccs but doesnt flirt with them, isn't "overtly sexual"), she's the little sister of the group. all the male ccs "protect" her, she literally folds their laundry, she doesnt call out how people treat her, and the fandom pretends that this is a normal and cool way to treat women who are public figures. this also goes for mom/big sister/etc. if you think you haven't done this, think about all the aus where you've forced puffy into some kind of maternal or sisterly role when it made no sense. then think about how pissed people got when she decided not to be the server therapist and was "mean" to Tommy (in lore, with permission. that she didnt even need to get. see that clip i rbed earlier from her podcast.)

if the fandom decides she doesnt play nice, if she flirts with male ccs too much or stands up for herself or points out how unfair it is that she's being treated this way, she gets demeaned, harassed, and shunned by the fandom. consider, again, puffy. consider how niki flirted with wilbur and talked about misogyny and got called a racist for *checks notes* "speaking to schlatt and fundy" and "not being a native english speaker". she got called a slut and a queerbaiter for kissing another woman despite being bisexual.

consider how hard people went down on hannah for having said the r slur several years back versus how hard they went on dream for the same thing. and how people dug it up as a direct response to her being on stream with dream. consider how every time hannah talks about how unfair it is that the mcc subreddit treats her like trash, she has to delete all her tweets bc they harass her to hell and back and act like she's an asshole for pointing out their hypocrisy.

the fandom doesnt do this across the board; i shouldnt have to say this, but its not an everyone versus no one issue. some people do this outright and loud, some dont seem to realize theyre doing it, and a few people dont do it at all (incredibly rare, i can count on one hand the number of people who genuinely seem to try to avoid these issues, which is why im complaining).

in terms of lore, have you ever once done analysis on a female character? why do you think you haven't? the bechdel-wallace test is an (imperfect) way of gauging how a piece of media ignores women and prioritizes men. think about the fact that there are FOUR female ccs on the DSMP and they are continually ignored in favor of male characters. consider that puffy and aimsey both talked about trying to do genuine lore and getting shafted, either because no one was online and wouldn't put in the effort to stream with them or because they received insane amounts of criticism for breaking anything on the server, despite the clear lack of "no griefing" rules and the precedent that you can blow other people's shit up (tommy leveling one of puffy's builds, amongst many other examples).

a quick thing about ships: have you ever wondered why m/m ships are so popular? the general consensus amongst people who care about feminism and are into fandom studies is that for a long period of time, m/m was hugely popular because women are so rarely written as full and complete characters in any media. so people took to engaging with m/m ships and writing about them because they were the most fulfilling relationships, and because misogyny led them to be predisposed to be uninterested in female characters.

say an m/m ship is incredibly popular, something like, i dunno, john watson and sherlock holmes from bbc sherlock. lets also say the canonical media presents one or both of the characters with a female love interest. how do you think a fandom that prioritizes m/m ships and is primed to be disinterested in women as characters (either because of our society's role in teaching people that women do not matter or because of fandom's history in assuming female characters are not fleshed out) is going to react? if you said theyre going to send undue amounts of criticism her way and act like its an act of homophobia to give a canonically straight character a female love interest, congrats, you've figured out a huge component in fandom misogyny. take this, amplify it over several decades, and add the psychic damage that supernatural gave society. queerbaiting is bad but mistreating female characters in service of nonexistent queer relationships is also bad.

this is relevant in general but i also believe its relevant for the dsmp because of the complete lack of m/f ships. aside from phil and kristin, who are literally married irl and kristin isn't even on the server, there are no m/f ships that involve female creators. this is not, despite what you may think, due to the inherently yaoi nature of minecraft roleplay. this is because the creators, including the male ones, are afraid of the blowback of m/f flirting and how fucking awful people are to female ccs anytime it happens. once again look at niki. as another example, consider how notfounders harassed the living daylights out of mxmtoon for flirting with gnf on twitter. if i was a cc i would avoid it like the plague too considering how happy people are to dig shit up about them or accuse them of being a slut or an attention whore/"pick me girl" for speaking to a man.

one last thing, this is more about fanart than anything else but stop drawing women to look like teenage boys. the amount of fanart i see where i literally cannot tell if someone has drawn niki or tommy is fucking insane. niki has curves. draw her with them. if you cannot draw women or people outside a very specific body type you cannot draw. fatphobia and misogyny have a clear overlap.

i cant think of anything else and ive already spent forever on this. look into feminist media analysis. think twice about how you react to female ccs & female characters. consider not just what characters have interesting stories but who is allowed to have interesting stories. you might be neglecting someone who has a lot going on because you're dismissing a female character as inherently less likely to be interesting. you might not even know someone has an interesting story because the fandom neglects it so completely.

as a final little note: like i said earlier, if you're not familiar with gender & sexuality studies, you may not know this, but homophobia and transphobia are rooted in misogyny. the idea that gender is immutable and rigid is because of the patriarchy. this is why gendered slurs are used against queer people and why queer men in particular get accused of and demeaned for being feminine. your understanding of queerphobia is incomplete without considering how sexism plays a role.

also go read everything rayne fisher-quann has ever written but especially this piece on getting woman'd and listen to you're wrong about

[roachfun]

This is probably a wild thing to get but your “Gojo should stay dead” post has got my unmedicated ass vibrating.

(I’ve only read jjk0, besides that literally all of my exposure has been via 3 video essays and fanfic… I basically got into the series backwards and tbh it’s an interesting experience…)

And tbh I agree with you more than not. Even though the view I have of the character is so fucking warped because jjk fanfic is too the gills filled with smut.

Because what I’ve gathered from the video essays and the few bits of fanfics that actually tried getting into his mind… is that the man is gd tired.

A god complex the size of the sun, that’s only ever been challenged once by one of the few people he ever formed a genuine connection with, and it was challenged as that person was leaving him. That incident may have motivated him to change, but that change was predominantly if not exclusively external, he didn’t really do much self reflection.

After Geto left, Gojo did better (became a teacher, warding Megumi, not letting Yuta be executed) but he didn’t work on being better (god complex, recklessness, belief that his way is the only way with no real consideration for the effects those decisions have on others)

He’s selfish, arrogant, and reckless, he doesn’t seem to take much of anything seriously and that may be a persona (again, I haven’t actually read jjk yet… the ending of mha did the characters, narrative, and audience so gd dirty I need to know how jjk ends so I set my expectations accordingly) but I can very much see this man never really developing his sense of empathy because he never really had any stakes… like he has some understanding, but the god complex and the fact people around him constantly reinforce it… he can’t put himself in other people’s shoes, there’s a detachment from reality that would read as delusional for anybody else, but he has spent his entire life being told he is the strongest with nothing ever being able to prove him wrong.

Than on the flip side of that god complex, honestly for a good while, and still sorta kinda… to me he reads as passively suicidal. (I know “Word of God” can be controversial regarding character analysis because of its absence in the base text) but the fact Gege’s rough rundown of Gojo’s daily schedule was basically “he sleeps for about 3 hours and spends the rest of his time working, his sweet tooth is actually somewhat practical as he uses sugar as a stimulant.” That’s not good for your noggin. Add the isolation caused by his status and his god complex, I see him coming to the conclusion that the only way he should die, is in battle.

And he did! Even if wasn’t in the “final sacrifice that ensures he becomes a legend” sort of way I think he would’ve hoped for.

But that also felt… right? (Certainly not fair, Gege openly admitting he kills off fan favorites for the shock value does dampen the possible emotional impact that could’ve been achieved… but I digress)

Every time Gojo fights, and I mean properly fights, he’s smiling, it’s a game to him, a chance to show off, to assert his dominance and reaffirm his status… so him dying so suddenly that his legs are still standing as his upper half falls to the floor, he’s lying there choking on his own blood as he bleeds out and Sukuna saying it “cleared his skies” (weird phrasing, but I think that’s a cultural/translation thing) it could’ve been a gut punch of a tragedy that amped up the stakes of the final conflict! The protagonists’ trump card is gone in a handful of panels and a flick of the wrist! He’s bleeding out on the ground as the big bad seems to reach a moment of genuine inner peace! But the backtracking and Gege’s history lessened that significantly

tbh I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that Shonen Jump had something to do with it… the motivations for Gege’s writing choices are questionable to me (it feels spiteful and cheap) but they’ve been consistent until now, what changed?

Anyway it is… 5:45 am… I should be asleep, but I’m here vomiting character analysis based on partial information in your inbox… I hope you have a good day/night/whatever is appropriate for when you receive this

I hate that you had me read all that, but I couldn't agree more with most that you said (except maybe where you call him selfish and I lowk think geges killing system is fair and I like it a lot but🤷).

Anyways, I don't know how to really respond to this since you basically did all the talking lol (plus I'm tired from reading all that and just got out of school).

I do have a question tho. how did you start with jjk0??? Like how does something like that happen. Also you haven't watched the anime or anything😭???

Anyways, thanks for dropping this essay on me have a good day/night or life in case we never speak🩵

[eddiediazismyhusband]

i’m probably gonna get hate for this, but i think the argument that eddie having a mustache is a “clear sign that he is being confirmed queer” and saying that mustaches are “a clear symbol of queerness” in a show about firefighters is willfully ignorant, especially considering the fact that multiple non-queer characters on the show have had mustaches…

and when you take away the apparent “freddie mercury symbolism” (which i have yet to see from any of the photos we’ve gotten- he looks more like a corrupt cop than anything) then there is really nothing appealing about it. especially when the only other two ‘major’ characters who have had mustaches have been abusive and violent figures (not saying that this is the route they are taking eddie) but to look at the circumstances surrounding it in the context of previous characters with the same style of mustache, as well as the fact that mustaches aren’t automatically an inherent symbol of queerness as so many people for some reason choose to believe is (imo) a willfully foolish way to go into this season, as you are creating expectations around something that in every realm of possibility could be something reiterating his straightness and macho personality, just as much as it could be a symbol of his queerness.

im not saying that it won’t be a symbol of queerness, but to act like that is the only possible outcome of him having this mustache is just willfully setting yourself up for disappointment for choosing to put stock in something that has just as much chance of being an objectively awful stylistic choice (sorry not sorry to those who love it for some reason… it does not suit ryan/eddie at all and it gives me a massive ick every time i see it) especially when this show has not shown any sings of striving to infuse easter eggs like that into the narrative before, it seems rather naive to convince yourself that they are suddenly going to start doing that now.

there’s theorizing, and then there’s being willfully delusional (and i don’t mean in the lighthearted fandom sense). i know that we love to toss around the phrase “delulu” when we toss around theories of varying narrative possibility, but even then it is done with a certain level of acknowledgment that things could very well not go the direction they seem to be (as we have seen time and time and time again).

however, when you start tossing around theories and assumptions based on limited information as if it is 100% gospel truth that it means something, you are willingly setting yourself up to be disappointed by the narrative when they once again decide to back out in the 11th hour like they’ve done time and time again. it is baffling to me how often this show has gone the unconventional (to put it nicely) route over what makes sense narratively, just for everyone to then act like overnight tim has become this predictable writer who loves giving the fans what they want when in reality, he has given us mostly the exact opposite of what we have been begging for for years.

i see people saying “oh they would NEVER do ____, that wouldn’t make any sense! it’d be too crazy for them to risk that” only for the show to do exactly that, and the audience/fandom- instead of holding these writers accountable and being vocal about how we are actively being baited and dragged along- continue to ignorantly say every season“oh, well, it’s gonna happen THIS time…”

there’s a difference between optimism and bliny putting faith in something that has not earned it and unfortunately most of what i am seeing coming from the fandom right now is the latter and it makes me dread what the state of the fandom will he by the end of s8 if- in all likelihood- tim does what the show has always done and back out of committing to buddie canon at the last second

i don’t say any if this maliciously, or as a verbal attack on anyone… (hell even i am guilty of this to sole extent in certain situations) i say this to hopefully bring people down to earth for a moment, so that they can breathe and then look at things with s little more of a level head rather than setting themselves up for disappointment. i was the same in s7 and it wrecked my mental state and overall enjoyment around the show/fandom, and i don’t want to see that happen to other people when they- like i have- reach a point where enough is enough and they are too tired to deal with it anymore.

[1moreff-creator]

Now that you've had some time to cool down from the Fuckfest of Friday Night, I'm a little curious on what you think of MonoTV's whole deal, because I haven't seen anyone actually talk about it much and that makes me so upset because wow Dev somehow managed to get me to care about this piece of steel

Spoilers up to the end of CH2

Hey! Yeah, MonoTV, huh? With everything else going on, this thing kinda got pushed aside, but there's been some really interesting developments indeed. I agree though, it's genuinely pretty incredible dev managed to get me to care about what up to this point had been nothing but a device for plot and humor.

You know, I originally wanted to keep this brief to give my full thoughts on the full part 2 analysis I'm working on, but maybe it's better if I just talk about it in full here and just link to this post from that one. Let me start by the theory side, because that's easier for me to write about :v

While MonoTV's creation being connected to XF-Ture Tech was always a very real possibility, the confirmation that at least its personality drivers come from them is nice. And there doesn't seem to be any type of repurposing going on:

MonoTV: Whenever I make a decision, ultimately, I must make the choice that fulfills my purpose [to run the killing game until the death of every participant]. After all, that was why I was created.

While we don't fully understand how this all fits together yet, I'm glad XF is being brought up because that might mean Min content in the future? For me, please? :,D

Anyways. Having a clearly stated goal for the killing game (killing all the participants) is also pretty useful for theory-crafting purposes, so look forward to seeing that line referenced in mastermind discussions moving forward. Not to mention, the secondary purpose of MonoTV playing the villain, with the reasoning:

MonoTV: This so-called TV show is more about appearances than you'd think.

So... ignoring the weird phrasing of "so-called TV show" as opposed to just "TV show," because I will go crazy if I look too deep into that, the confirmation that the appearances of the killing game are important seem to confirm a suspicion Teruko had back in CH2 Ep2.

Teruko: And also, [MonoTV is designed the way it is] as a way to reference that "past killing game," right?

Assuming via context that she's talking about THH, MonoTV being specifically created and programmed to look and act sorta like Monokuma could have some interesting implications moving forward, especially given things like Duke Spurling being alive to see the Tragedy and maybe wanting a recreation of the THH killing game. Thankfully there's no character with a talent for recreating things, such as art, an art forger of some kind, because if there was this could realistically point to them as the mastermind. :)

Final note about theories: I... called it? Sort of?

[Extract from Vivisection of the David MV] What I think is the best idea [regarding the multi-colored "original"] is that all the characters [which includes MonoTV] got the word. [...] I think it makes more sense to relate them to the meaning of "original style" under my interpretation, where "original style" means a change of heart.

Well, MonoTV sure had a change of personality, albeit briefly, now didn't it? (Please ignore the fact that I dismissed the possibility of MonoTV changing in the lines following that one :p) Admittedly "characters in DRDT will have character development" is possibly my least wild theory ever, but a W is a W (?).

Alright but screw theorizing that's for insane people. Let's go for character analysis, because the fact that MonoTV has become a genuinely interesting creature to study is possibly even wilder than the XF-Ture Tech name drop.

Now, a lot of what we hear character wise is similar to stuff we heard in MonoTV's previous character building moment; CH2 EP3.

MonoTV: Does a toaster know why it toasts? Does a calculator know why it adds and subtracts? They are simply machines that do their job without needing to understand why. To that end, I don't know who made this TV show and why. All I do is carry out the directives programmed into me.

MonoTV: I have no conscience, no sense of morality, no will at all. I am merely a robot, subject to the laws of my code. I have no choice but to perform the actions that my creator dictated I must. [...] All the decisions I make were already decided by whatever entity created me, because I am a robot.

It's stated in a much more melancholic tone, given the music in the background, the sprite pose, and the generally less silly "default personality," but it's nothing really new. MonoTV is a machine, it follows programming.

Except.

MonoTV: Even if I feel pain or guilt, I cannot stop. That is the fate that I have, to make others suffer. And there is no diverging from that fate.

Hey MonoTV what the fuck does this mean.

"Even if I feel pain or guilt"? Instead of "I can't feel pain or guilt"? The choice of wording here is very interesting, because it seems to imply that MonoTV does feel pain and guilt over the killing game, regardless of how impossible that should be. The "fate" drop is pretty huge for thematic reasons, as I'm sure you're aware; Teruko explains her own feelings about it in the rest of the scene, there's Xander's speech to Teruko before he attempted to stab her, Ace talking about how he was too much of a coward to fight his fate, Arei actually defying a similar fate in a way, David with the LGI lyrics, Whit and J and Rose and so many other people, all interconnected by this damn concept. I think it'd be fine if this is all we hear about MonoTV in relation to it, but there's definitely fun parallels to explore regardless.

Given how little we have of these particular character details so far, there's not much I can say about it other than I love the concept of an AI being forced to do something it doesn't "want" to because of code, and I'm interested to see if MonoTV will act differently in the future. It's supposed to reset to its previous personality in the full reset, I imagine, but it's not like we can just ignore all the shit it said here. I'm very curious to see where dev takes this.

That said, I also wanted to point out how this vague allusion to feeling pain and guilt and possibly hopelessness against fate aren't the only feelings MonoTV exhibits. Because for some unfathomable reason, it seems to care about Teruko to an extent?

MonoTV: Is something the matter, Teruko? Everyone else has already left.

Like, maybe I'm misreading because the personality change is fucking with me, but this feels like a concern more genuine than I would expect from pre-2-16 MonoTV. And...

MonoTV: You have to decide the answer for yourself.

This, along with the little speech about Teruko's humanity that precedes it, again comes off as MonoTV genuinely trying to help her through her emotions. I don't see how this correlates with its purpose, unless it somehow "believes" that giving Teruko advice on this will somehow lead to Teruko killing someone or something to that effect, which makes no sense.

If it doesn't help kill the participants, isn't necessary for the killing game, and doesn't make MonoTV seem like a villain, then it's not related to any of its purposes. It isn't code making MonoTV say this things. It's MonoTV's... consciousness? I guess? It's very, very interesting.

I am genuinely super interested in where dev is taking MonoTV, and if you told me that was a sentence I would unironically type before this episode, I would have called you insane. The writing in this series is genuinely immaculate, I can't believe we're getting genuine basis for MonoTV angst and it's compelling. Dev does it again!

Thanks for the ask, this was fun to ramble about!

[venus-is-thinking]

DRDT Chapter 2 Episode 13: Initial Thoughts

We're back again! I'm probably just gonna do one of these for every new episode this chapter at least, just because there's so much to talk about in all of them!

Basically, I'm going to run through my not-live-but-sort-of-live-thoughts of the episode, then at the end I'll give my thoughts on any more overarching theories/conversations that are relevant.

SPOILER WARNING FOR DRDT CH 2 PART 2!

T/W: Murder, suicide, hanging

The Reactions

Knowing where Levi's explanation is going now that I'm rewatching, it makes sense that this is the first thing he'd think of in regards to the secret. It's not about the lives lost or his status of being a "murderer," it's the real, concrete consequences of his actions-- AKA, the law.

Just, like, 'cause, or...?

Honestly, this adds a really interesting flavor to when Levi does threaten Ace. He's like, "do you think I don't have limits to my patience?" The fact that there was any amount of patience in the first place is honestly pretty cool for Ace.

Also, I don't really have a good place to screenshot this, so I'll just mention it: the clock motif in the backing track is really cool!! Has that been there before and I haven't noticed, or is it new? I also definitely find it personally suspicious that we're getting clock sound effects while Levi is talking about murder (Eden killer/Levi accomplice moment??) but that's probably just my confirmation bias talking. It could also definitely be something about wasting time in the Trial, which a point is definitely made out of. It takes them a long time to start talking about the method, and Levi even mentions that he's sidetracking before he starts on this monologue.

Extremely funny reaction from Eden if they ARE in on this together btw. "Wait... you've killed, like, more people?? This isn't soul-crushingly deviating from the norm for you?????"

I get that this is the point, but lmao, Levi's really just saying these things like they're normal. Forget the murder charges, did you get in legal trouble for any of this stuff???

Oh Hope's Peak, always the shadiest people with absolutely terrible priorities. I feel like you could tell me Hope's Peak did, like, literally anything morally dubious in a fangan and I'd be like, "yeah, checks."

Shoutout to this anon for slam dunking it! The phrasing Levi used in the other scene makes more sense to me now that we know how Levi feels about all of this. The dialogue didn't imply any different feelings to Levi's father than the other members of his family because the fact that Levi killed him means, like, nothing to him.

Still, I wonder what actually prompted Levi killing his dad. Like, I feel like he must've been provoked, at least. Hopefully we'll learn why someday.

This episode had more of J being more vocally anti-murder than most. I still don't know if that's just because she's one of few characters who's both loud and has morals, or if it ties into some specific aspect of her character.

"I can't forget about the fact that Felicity died because of me under any circumstances ever!"

I hope Arturo and Levi talk more about their secrets in depth at some point. Totally get why they're opposites on the narrative foils thing.

"I mean, we all know why I tried to kill Ace."

Unlike Arei lmao /j /lh

(To be honest, though, I think David at minimum is upset about Arei dying though. More on that later. Eden too, possibly even if she did kill her.)

This is such an interesting thing to learn as a Levi accomplice theory truther. 'Cause like, on the one hand, it makes it more believable that Levi would do some thing that wild; if the other people don't really matter, it's easier to justify killing all of them. But, at the same time, if he doesn't care about Eden, either, why the hell is he helping her?

I'm gonna need to rewatch this episode once I know who this Trial's culprit is, because I am incapable of reading the Levi/Eden interactions as anything BUT horribly suspicious.

(Also, god, the good person jumpscare counter this episode was wilding.)

Nice to get a confirmation that Levi is still trying to be a good person, even if he doesn't understand what that means.

Wow. Didn't realize Ace was gonna throw some emotional vulnerability (???) into his fuck you Levi speech. Or that he actually genuinely believed they had more of a connection than he let on! Like I said to Accirax, he's such a tsundere that I didn't even realize he was a tsundere.

me believing you

*squints in Ace is canonically gay*

I hope we'll get to learn more about this guy at some point. I'd expect we will, if nothing else in the bonus episode that correlates with Ace's death (or in the main story, if he lives long enough to be a survivor). "His memory" definitely makes it sound like he's dead, though. Sad.

Shoutout to the AceVi shippers, though. This episode must've been a WILD ride for you.

Thanks for clarifying, Veronika! It's nice to have a character who likes to psychoanalyze the cast so that the writer can basically use her to clarify what other people are thinking. Useful writing tip.

This does provide some interesting context to that early scene where Arei manipulates and kinda makes fun of Levi, though. He really could've just decked her ass if he wanted to.

Oh my god. Has no one actually said that David isn't behaving like a good person anymore? Is Levi still following David's example???

If so, it's a really good example of how little Levi understands about other people. Like, damn. You can't even tell with David??

To be fair, maybe all the stuff about ending the killing game confused him. Teruko and David are arguing about whether or not Xander was a good person. If everyone else can't even decide, how is Levi supposed to know?

Ban her? I'm not a forum moderator, dude. Also, I hardly even know her.

(Idk if that was meant to be a reference or not but. Whit brainrot go brrrrr)

Thanks for the confirmation, queen!

okay I'm Running Out of Images so from here on out I'm including stuff as indented text and only doing pictures when I think the picture itself is relevant

Veronika: After all, my own so-called secret isn't even the worst thing I've done. Isn't that so utterly disappointing of the motive?

What have you done. Tell me.

I do wonder if this is somehow character commentary on Veronika. Like, let's say Veronika has also murdered somebody or something. Would this imply that this is something she'd be more concerned with others knowing, possibly because it's more personal?

I'm not really sure. It could just be that Veronika doesn't really have any secret she fears at all, so they were at kind of a loss.

David: Achoo! Ah-- Bless me!

what is he so funny for

David: Teruko. Own up to your goddamn secret already. You are the last person to do so.

I so think David knows Teruko's real secret. Like, there's no way.

Interestingly, though, I read Teruko's hesitation towards answering David as her trying to figure out which secret belongs to Min. It's easier for everyone involved if Teruko and Xander's are backwards rather than it being a triangle scenario.

Yay!!! Even if I still think it's partially wrong!

Eden: W... wait! Before we move on! I have to know. David... What happened between you and Arei?

I'm still inclined to read this as Eden having not believed Arei back when she declared she wanted to be friends. Eden is still trying to get at the truth of the matter, because she can't just have killed Arei without knowing how badly she fucked up.

There's definitely still an innocent reading out there, too, though.

Arei: If even a perfect inspirational speaker like you turns out to be an asshole, then there's no such thing as a "good person."

This was a really interesting direction to take this conversation, for both Arei and David's characters. It's true that they both lie about their personality often to get their way; Arei's lie is just WAY easier to see through. It makes sense that it's something they could bond over.

However, the INSANE thing is that this means that David probably actually cares about Arei. Like, to a meaningful extent. Maybe it's just the Kazui vibes, but I feel like if anyone actually understands David enough to see through him, that would be really impactful to him.

Also, the vibes on this scene were wild. The Arvid (????????) shippers sure could have a field day with this one.

But, of course, we can't forget:

...WHAT????

Okay, so first of all, I have no idea if David actually knows/remembers this or if it's just meant for the audience. But, either way, this thing is crazy.

The first thing I noticed was definitely the fork; is that the same fork that we see in the opening sequence?? The one commonly thought to be of when Xander lost his eye?

I know there's some LGI stuff with the fork too, but I'm not going to dive into that right now. I think Accirax is touching on this more strongly in hers.

The other thing is, I have NO idea what this says about Eden culprit theory. I definitely still think it's possible that this is a level of lore that's gonna follow Eden to her death and give her a reason to haunt the narrative, but this could also be something that we're going to explore later.

The main reason why I think this could lead into her death is because as far as we know, Eden doesn't remember anything included in this flashback. If Eden doesn't know about the lore, it's sort of weird if we, the audience, have this vague piece of knowledge about her that she doesn't. It's not a death sentence or anything, but I think it could still be in line.

I'll leave the speculation as to what exactly this means for another post/another theorist. Right now, my guess is that there might've been some kind of other killing game with this class before, or something. But, I'm DEFINITELY both alarmed and intrigued.

Arei: Even she must've made a mistake she couldn't take back.

The inclusion of "mistake" in this section is really interesting to me. Is that referring to whatever we see here? Was it a mistake she later came to regret?

Or, I also think this could actually be a reference to Arei. Not the image itself, but the mistake. If Eden genuinely believed Arei wouldn't change and killed her, only to realize Arei was being sincere, that's a mistake she couldn't take back.

I wonder if this is going to be Arei's last voice line (in the main series, I'd expect she'll talk in the bonus episodes).

If so, I think it's a nice way to end her character arc. Not only is she trying to be friends with Eden to be better, she's also able to reach out to someone like her and help them, too.

David: ...Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I didn't say anything to her, and she didn't have much to say to me either.

This was CRAZY. I was expecting we were all gonna have to play the "to what extent is David lying" game again, but instead, it seems like it all MUST'VE been real, because it came straight from his mind because he didn't even say it!!

It's funny to me that he says he didn't say anything to her, because from what we saw, that was... accurate, maybe?? Was David really just standing there bluescreening that entire time? Like, man loves his elipses, but goddamn, don't leave her hanging! /j /ref

It's also interesting that David is keeping this from the class, and more specifically, from Eden, who Arei clearly liked. Is it because the moment is personal, and he doesn't want to share it? Or, does he have suspicions about who her killer might be or how to catch him that would interfere with him sharing?

Anyways. Wild.

David: One hundred and one percent, I promise. Ace overheard everything, and what he told you all was the entire truth. Does that satisfy you?

I wonder if Ace stopped listening for real, or if there's a chance he heard all of this. If so, I wonder why he's not calling David out. Is he still coping too hard over the Levi thing?

Whit: Dang, we really got hung up on those secrets, didn't we? I thought you all would be on those for years. MonoTV: Years indeed. Some people had to wait one year and five months for you to get this far.

I KNEW MonoTV and/or Whit would make a joke about the time gap! Hope that one doesn't get lost in translation for the people who join the fandom after the hiatus, lol.

Teruko: They filled those jugs up with water and used them to increase Arei's weight.

Oh hell yeah.

Veronika: I'm not an expert, of course, but my intuition tells me that jumping off the top of the swing set isn't enough to break Arei's neck.

Whit: The way hanging normally works is that the victim is put in a noose with enough slack in the rope that they're unharmed. It's only when the victim falls from a high location to a low location that the rope becomes tight, and the noose strangles them.

Very interesting to have Veronika call attention to the fact that she's not an expert shortly before Whit goes into a long explanation of the mechanics of hanging, including with bolded words for emphasis/added ethos. I definitely think we're supposed to notice that he knows this for... some reason.

I know Accirax's theory is that Whit's mom might have hung herself, which is... dark, if true. Like, that means that after the fact, Whit probably hyper-researched how hanging works. Yikes.

Also, I honestly didn't get why people were saying Whit was so sus before the hiatus, but I feel like it's been cranked up afterwards??? Whit are you the mastermind I thought you were chill??????

Whit: It's not like you can grab the rope when she's falling to stop it at the right time. If she's moving at a speed fast enough to snap her neck, I'm sure trying to stop it would shred your hands.

Caught between "yeah that's why they used the stopper rope" and "IS THE USING THE GLOVE TO STOP THE THING STILL REAL???"

YEAHHHHH

Tape truthers rise up!

Teruko joins the murder diagram contingent!!!

Incredibly real though. You simply can't figure out what the hell happens in this thing and how it works without being able to See It.

Teruko: Now that we've actually discussed the mechanism of murder, I realize that I've seen this murder method before. Eden: You have? Teruko: That's right. And so have you.

Funny you remind us of that, Teruko.

YES! GYM MURDER METHOD ANSWERS! PLEASE TELL US WHAT HAPPENED THERE!

Wow. What an episode. We truly learned so much.

Theory Update/Analysis

Okay, so I already yapped about most of the character stuff for a while in here. Similarly, I don't think all too much changed for my murder theory.

I'm still tentatively on Levi accomplice, but firmly on Eden culprit. The way I see this going is towards a Nico bait that goes nowhere because they have an alibi, then eventually causing the class to realize the culprit has to be one of the people who saw Nico's original murder method (who doesn't have an alibi)-- Eden, Ace or Teruko.

From there, they can discuss the Arei murder method more thoroughly, eventually circling back to the fish. That confuses the time of death more than anything.

Eventually, the tape can be the damning evidence. Or that could happen before the fish, not sure.

In summary, I liked this episode a lot! It's exciting that we're finally starting to get answers to the murder method that we all went so insane over.

This was. A short theory update section. If you have any questions please feel free to send in an ask! I like talking to people :)

[merakiui]

Omg!! :0 neige i love seeing more stuff about him and just adding more to unknown characters because they give us so little about them T_T like idk about you mera BUT i am waiting (eagerly) for Rielle crumbs!! (definitely not because of all the ideas of him and the octotrio wanting the same darling) we don't even get his official appearance yet i personally think that Rielle is oblivious to everything and also some drawings of an artist i don't remember the @ of inspire more thoughts in me! Just Rielle being unable to communicate with anything else that isn't mer when speaking to his darling due to nerves? Amazing. In my balance of darkness i would say he is a bit similar to neige and not knowing much about human culture which could result in him not respecting some boundaries but he is the one who suffers in my head *cof cof by the octotrio cof cof* Rielle being an absolute himbo while the trio watch and mocking him because "As if thats going to work!... WAIT WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT HE IS TAKING DARLING ON A WEEK LONG TRIP TO THE CORAL SEA????" maybe this doesn't make much sense because i just toke my meds but Rielle <3

And i would absolutely love to hear your thoughts about just in general! I hope you are doing well :D

-Cuchito anon (possibly high on meds)

Omg yes!!! Every day I hope we will get a Rielle reveal. I must know what he looks like. <3 but I absolutely agree with your points about his limited knowledge of the human tongue, considering he's likely never been to the surface before or interacted with humans until eventually attending RSA! He definitely only knows mermish and he's doing his best to learn more words and phrases in the human language, but beyond that he really is lost when it comes to verbal communication. I like to imagine body language plays a big role in strengthening your bond with him, which Azul curses to hell and back because body language is his secret weapon and Rielle is ruining that by being unintentionally cute and starry-eyed and so precious and... Sea Witch below, he can't stand it!!!!! >:(

Azul tries so hard and here Rielle is, charming you by simply being his gullible self. The envy is so all-consuming that Azul begins to regret learning the human tongue, if only so he could rely on you and keep you close for translations like Rielle does whenever the two of you hang out. What he'd give so you could spend hours in the library with him, teaching him your language, smiling at him, helping him sound out every syllable... It's really not fair. If Rielle ever foolishly steps foot into the lounge to ask for Azul's help in winning your heart, you can be sure he is scamming him. Three days is much too generous. Azul halves that, boosts Rielle's confidence with all sorts of flowery words, and tells him he can definitely win your affections in such short time.

Unfortunately, by some miracle or curse, he does and it ends with you agreeing to visit the Coral Sea with him. Azul is in agony. T_T just what is he doing wrong? He's so heartbroken, too. Rielle has the ideal mer body, while Azul is stuck as a gross, slimy, clumsy tako (none of which is true, but to Azul that's all he'll ever be no matter how hard he tries to be better, slimmer, cooler, etc). He has to do everything he can to ruin your little trip with Rielle. He refuses to let the two of you get even closer, especially not under the sea! One day you'll be Azul's beloved and you'll live alongside him in the sea. There's no room for Rielle. In Azul's fairytale romance, it's just you and him.

[sarcophagid]

miscellaneous thoughts abt ithaqua's weibo post and trailer backstory

weibo post link | official wiki lore page

my translation (i'll be referencing this a few times, but it's pretty rough, and not significantly different from the official wiki translations, there's just a few semantic things i added from the original weibo post. i'll put the original chinese text besides whatever i'm referencing. lmk if there's anything i should change, my chinese is very very far from perfect 😭)

disclaimer: i doubt all of this is necessarily intentional, i just think it's fun to think abt. this is more of my personal interpretation 👍

Red, fire, life - are all connected symbols.

His heartbeat is described as being 'rekindled' specifically using a term (燃起) related to lighting fires.

His life with his mother is also likened to a bonfire in the blizzard (风雪中的篝火)

In this sense, ithaqua embracing the identity of an snow monster is also a departure from his identity while he was 'alive'. The night watch is cold, it's not alive. He also says 'no longer will living people come near you' (不会再有活人靠近你). 

Similarly, after the attack, he describes her humanity as having died. (母亲的人性死)

He uses these figurative terms of 'life and death' in his trailer too. he was born 'dead', and only upon meeting his mother was he 'alive'. 

In this sense, his mothers hair is red like fire, warmth, and life

Clerical cloaks are usually black, unless it's a special occasion. Nathaniel's cloak is also red. 

Occam's Razor says that red stands out more against the dark background, and in shots with just the two of them, makes the scene look more cohesive. 

But I have a problem, so symbolically, I think red in Nathaniel's context represents blood - both as a blood relative to Ithaqua and to indicate his violence and the violence of the society he represents. 

This is more tentative, but I think the concept of 'gods' is also related to this. When he 'regains his senses' (回过神) the character (神) used for 'senses/mind' is the same as the one used for 'god'. This is also the scene after he murders Nathaniel. However, this is also a very commonly used phrase with nothing to do with god (god, mind, spirit, are connected concepts linguistically; unrelated to this story) so it's likely mere coincidence, similar to the line about "becoming an adult/becoming human".

In this sense, red, blood, and violence are connected.

barbarism/civility

Leng is described as barbarous, but its practices have also been described as 'civility'. I think the first instance refers to the cultural lagging of Leng, being somewhat a figment of the past. 

This could be seen as a separation between two time periods - the civility that has these rules (the ones which hurt his family), and the older barbarism that does not. Ithaqua's "reverting to barbarism" could then be inferred to represent an even older time than the already old practices in the plateau. This is somewhat in line with his persona of an "old god", although fictitious.

Ithaqua, whether he shows it or not, has an understanding of politeness and etiquette. (heavy extrapolation but this is from the 5th anniversary video where he says "Do you believe someone who believes barbarism is better than civilization should be illiterate and lacking etiquette?") On this note, it's possible if not likely that his mother was well-educated. Regardless, I don't think he hates every aspect of society or humanity, but he also has a very limited understanding of it given the nature of the Plateau.

humanity/monstrosity

Monsters in this story aren't very literal* as much as they represent the unexplained and chaotic. 

*There were no real witches or demons, and Ithaqua is not literally an old god. He also rejects the existence of witches. (However, there are supernatural elements to the story, such as his mysterious survival and the wind power.)

A demon/monster/witch makes a concrete concept you can destroy to gain a sense of security. Leng is a hotbed of fear, not wrath. (perhaps hatred comes into the equation but it does not initially grow there.) It's isolated, has limited resources, harsh winters, and a constant sense of paranoia regarding survival. It wouldn't take a lot for the area to go out of balance, and this uncertainty drives the desire to have a tangible thing to blame because it's difficult to accept the idea that we have so little control over our fate. The Night Watch embodies the cold and alien that the people fear - but what scares him is familiar. A face that literally matches his own. 

Ithaqua spends nearly his entire life both mentally and physically separated from a nebulous 'other' civilization. I won't speculate on his personal philosophies regarding human nature and free will but he is terrified of the possibility that he, for all his differences, was not meaningfully different at birth from Nathaniel because they are both very human. This is all a story for another day though 😅

anyways thank you for reading! i haven't rlly checked enough for spelling and grammar stuff and it might be a little repetitive/rambly forgive me TOT but imma edit this later maybe