#accepted: goneril

[thedome-rp]

HILDA VALENTINE GONERIL FROM FIRE EMBLEM: THREE HOUSES HAS WOKEN UP IN THE DOME.

we're so happy to have you here! ... enjoy your stay.

What about you? Are you going to join them in The Dome too?

How about taking a trip to the VISITOR CENTER today and check out our HISTORY and LAWS. Maybe we can entice you to join our RESIDENTS too...

We'll see you in THE DOME...

[randomnameless]

Just thinking about it but -

UO : MC learns the "greater" plot that explains the reasons - and their origins - why things happen, and picking the right choices, is rewarded with the best ending.

FE16 : Claude gets some infodump, still puts in danger the remaining Nabatean (granted Rhea dies off screen so it's not that important!) for being hunted for parts, still uses the shiny bow he got despite learning what, rather who it was, grows as much as a beansprout in a dark closet regarding his beliefs about isolation and acceptance, even after listening to Rhea's history about how humans fucked up her people and why she needs to hide her identity.

UO : Alain talks to Gilbert and Hodrick, learns his country is pretty privilegied compared to the other ones, doesn't want to take advantage of this position but wants to create a lasting peace between his kingdom and the other countries

FE16 : Claude spends between 3 weeks (Nopes) and 1 year (FE16) at least at school, doesn't bother to learn anything (or it doesn't show!) about Fodlan and ends up with some hilarious takes like "Church BaD and promotes isolationism but my slave holders besties from House Gonerils are chads", complete with "Fodlan is to blame when it comes to having relationships with its neighbours when they just want to engage in one little bloodbath every thursday" only discovering water to be wet when the goddess' avatar becomes his teacher.

Guess which game is praised for its "complex" and "masterpiss" of a writing?

[slotumn]

Thoughts and ponderings on how to make the Golden Deer eviler™ and more involved in Fódlan politics and the war and why that would be good for the worldbuilding (note: GD are my faves)

First and most obvious imo: war profiteering. It would help establish their character as mercantilists who can be just as cruel as others even without direct bloodshed, if they sold supplies and weapons to both Adrestia and Faerghus over the five years and profitted off said bloodshed.

Extension of the above: price gouging. Oh your country had bad harvests this year? That's so sad. So, how much are you willing to pay to make sure your troops don't starve?

More extension of the above: loan shark shit. Especially cruel if Adrestians and Faerghans are forced to borrow from a Leicesterian cartel just so they can buy stuff from... another Leicesterian cartel.

Possibly the final boss of "evil shit to sell during a war": drugs. The frontlines are said to have been in a stalemate for a while, meaning the soldiers are just stuck there up north without making much progress, for a couple years. That must be painful both physically and psychologically. Thankfully, your good friends from the Alliance have juuuust the thing to make you forget the painful reality! Ever heard of opium?

If that's not enough action, then how about: Leicester doing various operations to keep the conflict going and ensure that it can't end, either by compromise or surrender. Sabotage potential deals, do false flag operations, anything to make sure the Kingdom and Empire both fight until the last soldier, because that way they won't have any left to attack the Alliance with.

There must be desperate people escaping Kingdom and Empire and coming to the Alliance for various reasons. But it's difficult to feed all these new mouths, not to mention that it might aggro the Empire if they accept too many people from Faerghus or defectors from Adrestia. What's Leicester to do? Use them as slave labor in some remote place like the Goneril mines, obviously. They've trafficked Almyrans, they'll gladly do it to Adrestians and Faerghans, too.

Aside from making Leicester more involved in the politics, I think this is a good way to justify and set up a true three-way conflict instead of Kingdom vs Empire feat Alliance.

For the Empire, it gives a good reason for them to go on an active military campaign against Leicester (as in CF) before heading to crush the Kingdom. "Evil underhanded motherfuckers are trying to destroy us by selling us drugs and sabotaging our operations, we can't let that stand for the future of Fodlan" + stomp on them to make sure they don't try any funny business in the future.

For the Kingdom, well... I think it makes it somewhat harder to justify the Derdriu rescue part in AM*, but I do think it gives more justification to why they're totally unwilling to cooperate with the Alliance at Gronder, even aside from Dimitri being feral. Like from their POV, tf you mean "what does it achieve," you put us in debt and destroyed our economy and now you're trying to imply we should team up?

(*If it's presented the same as in canon, I think it can still work if it's framed slightly differently, like Leicester growing desperate enough to grovel for help from the same faction they were previously trying to sabotage and Dimitri decides to do it for the greater good and the future of Fódlan instead of holding a grudge)

Also a good way to fuel tension between Church and Alliance in VW even though they work together; Alliance uses the fact they've got the money to basically blackmail Church into giving them legitimacy for propaganda purposes, Church thinks Alliance is dangerous and unfaithful, partially because they've got sticks up their ass but also because they are, in fact, kinda fucked up. (And Byleth is just stuck mediating between the two rip)

Most of all, this is my personal taste but I like that it makes Fódlan even bleaker than it already is. Like if you take a step back and just look at the factions as nations instead of focusing on the virtues of the individual leaders, it's: superiority complex irredentist imperialists vs inflexible outdated zealots vs greedy backstabbing opportunists, feat. religious institution that has long since grown corrupt and complacent. If you are a random person (probably commoner) in Fódlan who does not know the leaders personally, war would look pretty bleak, especially the longer it goes on. It would look like no matter which faction wins, the average person would lose.

And I think that would make it all the more impactful when Byleth appears and ends the war, especially in SS. The chosen one and savior isn't a noble raised to lord (lol) over others, it's someone raised as a commoner* doing the dirty work (fighting and killing) for others. When they get to lead and/or the leaders listen to them, something finally changes. I have issues with how Byleth was handled as a character in base Houses (even though I grew to like them eventually), but I still think their existence and role is nice symbolically and thematically.

(*You can argue that Byleth isn't a "regular commoner" considering the Crest + their heritage, but like, they don't know about the Crest until they've lived ~20 years as a merc and in some routes they don't even fully learn about the heritage so for all practical purposes they lived and grew up as a commoner)

Think I went on a bit of a tangent but the point is: let the Golden Deer and Leicester be evil, I think it would have been really fun if they destroyed the other two countries' economies with the power of money and friendship* then had a feast afterwards like a bunch of psychopaths (*among themselves I mean, not friendship with the other factions).

[raxistaicho]

"White Clouds spends the whole section making you suspicious of the Church and Rhea only to turn around and tell you it's a red herring and actually it's the student you should have been suspicious of; which the writers confirmed in interviews"

Interviews a majority of the fandom probably have not, and never will, actually sit down to interact with, leaving their only source to be the original text. If your need interviews from the developers to support your argument that a character is good or bad or morally gray, then your argument is not strong enough to rely on the main text.

I shouldn't have to do homework and dig for interviews from five years ago to be able to play a game an analyze its themes and nuances and decide whose side I think is worth fighting for or which characters I want Byleth to end up with at the end.

"but this fandom has either the reading comprehension of wet paper or projects their Western centric views so hard onto a eastern style game that follows the path of enlightenment with Byleth to a t"

Okay, so where exactly does the whole "no acts of violence" part come in because that's kind of an important early step and it technically doesn't happen until the very end of the game, and even then, in multiple endings Byleth is shown to still have to use harmful/violent means to suppress smaller attempts at insurrection across the continent for years to come. Also, the path of enlightenment also involves not being involved in trades that would hurt people, like weapons trade or animal slaughter or being involved with people who are owning/trading slaves (looking at you House Goneril). There's a lot of other steps in the path that Byleth skips over, but these two are particularly glaring. If Byleth really were "following the path of enlightenment to a t", then we wouldn't be playing a Fire Emblem game, because Byleth wouldn't have agreed to fight in the war to begin with.

"they ignore the text and thus we still have discourse over the church being bad. It's very tiring and why I refuse to talk about 3H because so many have turned it into something it's not."

The biggest issue with this is that this is the entire point of the game!

The game is asking you to analyze it. To dissect it. To talk about it. To make your choices and replay different paths to find the answers you seek. To show it's not black and white and to understand why it isn't black and white. That things are complicated. And no one in this war is free from blood on their hands. No side is 100% right or wrong. It's up to the player to use their critical thinking skills to determine which they believe is the best path forward for Fódlan.

In order for us to fully interact with the text, we sadly have to face some harsh truths, just like Byleth does. Among them being that the church IS bad. Even if most of its intentions aren't and it still does some good, the fact is that it is bad, and it's a major reason why this war started in the first place. To deny that is to deny the text as it is presented to us, and to deny the actual point in the game.

Edelgard is more than just an attempted conqueror. Rhea is more than a seemingly benevolent religious leader. Dimitri is more than a charming prince. Claude is more than a seemingly suspicious stranger. Yuri is more than just a gang leader. Sylvain is more than a playboy. Dorothea is more than a sexy opera star. Lorenz is more than a pompous noble. Hubert, Dedue, and Hilda are more than just retainers to their lords. Seteth and Flayn are more than just members of the church. Alois is more than just Captain of the Knights. Hanneman and Manuela are more than just fellow professors. Sothis is more than a voice in our head.

And it's only through accepting this one truth, that the characters and institutions are not black and white cut outs, that we can get the most full picture of what exactly the true conflict is.

You cannot interact with the text of Three Houses by denying the nuance that makes the story happen in the first place.

The writing is messy, and complicated, and not always well done. But it's also simple, straight forward, and brilliant. It's a contradiction and compliment of themes. It's so very human. And that's what makes it so engaging.

(Apologies for the long rant but that anon sparked something in me and I had to put my two-cents in.)

Nah, don't apologize, this was great, thank you very much for sending it! :D

[beikonsims]

Although Goneril still wished her son would pick a more "serious" career path, she was impressed with his musical talent and knew she will support him no matter what.

She also tried to show more support to Desdemona, since she was the one left with her younger siblings during the difficult time of Hal's disappearance. She was surprised to find out her daughter was engaged to one of the Goths and was supposed to move in with him after graduation.

Goneril also reminded Arin about her offer. He was reluctant only for a moment and ultimately accepted it. He wasn't going to move back in with the Normans and didn't have any plans like his older siblings, so it was worth a try.

[emblemxeno]

Cyril (a 14 year old with trauma): believes that he needs to work to prove himself worthy of living at Garreg Mach Monastery

Idiots: HE HAS TO WORK BECAUSE IF HE DOESNT HE WILL BE DEPORTED!!!

^actual thing I saw brain dead Twitter users saying

It's INSANE.

Like, since he was a kid in Almyra, he had to work to survive after losing his parents since the king wouldn't do shit about it. And he was enslaved and forced to work in House Goneril.

Working has been imbedded into his very idea of self worth and security. Cyril doesn't know a life without work. Day-to-day conversation makes him uncomfortable and standoffish because that's time he could be spending working. People offering to do his work for him or even just help him at all is, sounds to him as a threat to his being, his entire life. Why spend time learning how to read or asking people to teach him when 1) that's a flaw that people can use as an excuse to toss him out and 2) that's time spent not working?

It's why when Seteth asks and encourages him about finding purpose and happiness beyond working for Rhea at monastery, Cyril responds with dumbfounded confusion.

"You mean there's something to life outside of working for someone out of gratitude for taking me out of slavery? Hmm, sounds fake." I joke, but that's not even far off tbh. Children are extremely malleable to accepting a life that's severely lacking enrichment and full of maladaptive behaviors, just because hardship is all they know, and like you said, Cyril is only 14 at the start of the game. He lost his parents when he was 5, and was enslaved at 12, for at least an entire year. It takes a lot of fucking unlearning to help him see there's more to life than work.

And since Seteth is the only person who really tackles that aspect of him in a one to one conversation, it should be natural to assume he's truthful in saying that his sister, the archbishop whom he's known for centuries, would support Cyril finding life that isn't working at the behest of others, including her. No amount of bigoted NPCs in 3H or wierdos on Twitter would change the fact that Rhea would never allow Cyril to be removed.

[mountain-dew-tickledpink]

debby ryan hair tuck

christine for the ask game

How I feel about this character: I ADORE HER SM

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Chloe, Brooke, Jenna, girls who don't even show up in the BMC musical and are only mentioned, Jeremy

My non-romantic OTP for this character: MICHAEL CHRISTINE FRIENDSHIP!!!!!

My unpopular opinion about this character: she's honestly pretty insecure. I know people are finally talking about it now but she doesn't feel totally comfortable in herself and puts on that front to try and seem like she's okay

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: She should've kissed a lady guys /hj

my OTP: probably with Chloe. It's an interesting ship and I like exploring it in so many different ways

my cross over ship: Christine/Zoe from DEH would be so powerful but the woke wouldn't accept that fact.............

a headcanon fact: she makes playlists for every character she's played!! Her favorite playlist to get in the mood is her Goneril playlist because she thought being in King Lear was very fun

[poorlittleyaoyao]

i've always thought of jin guangyao as being very parallel to edmund from king lear

DEFINITELY. JGY and Edmund do have a lot in common! There is a FANTASTIC gifset out there using the “god, stand up for bastards” speech. They’re both bastard sons of noblemen who chafe at the limits their birth puts on their advancement, and they gaslight gatekeep girlboss their way into power. They both even end up in the employ of a hotheaded feudal lord prone to acts of extreme violence! My favorite portrayal of Edmund I’ve ever seen was this wide-eyed, babyfaced actor who was maybe 5’7” max who played up the “pwease hewwp, I’m baby 🥺” aspect to Edmund’s manipulation and delivered his villain monologues with gusto—basically, JGY as he lives in NMJ’s memories.

That said! They're fun to compare, because I do feel Edmund is more unambiguously villainous than JGY is. I say this with utmost affection, because he is SO fun to watch when he's played by someone with charisma. Edmund wants power for its own sake and is, by his own unabashed admission, here to cause problems on purpose. Gloucester's jokes about Edmund's conception to Kent at the very start of the play are callous, but he acknowledges Edmund as his son and they seem to have a good relationship, as do Edmund and his half-brother Edgar. Edmund's entire scheme hinges on the assumption that he has the respect and trust of not just his family, but the nobility as a whole. Edmund doesn't lack for anything; he just wants more power, and he wants it immediately. He also is having a grand old time throughout the play (which is what makes him so fun to watch!), and only has regrets at the very end of the play when he is actively dying.

By contrast, what drives JGY to such extreme lengths is the fact that he isn't accepted or respected. He causes problems primarily as a means to avoid other problems he considers worse for him. If JGY enjoyed the same security, respect, and affection from his father's family as Edmund has from his, everything would be fine! And even if JGS is still JGS, we'd STILL be fine as long as JGY met up with Cornwall instead of NMJ. Cornwall genuinely thinks Edmund is a sweet delicate babygirl who did nothing wrong ever in his life, and Edmund doesn't even have a tragic backstory. Edmund's not even demonstrably good at tasks other than schemes (and, accordingly to Goneril, sex). Imagine what Cornwall would do for JGY! If JGS mistreated JGY on Cornwall's watch, it's on SIGHT. Or not on sight, I guess, since Cornwall's whole thing is ripping out eyeballs. Anyway, everyone's better off and JGS can smell his way to Langye.

[longitudinalwaveme]

King Lear vs King Leir

King Leir (written by an anonymous playwright in the 1590s) is one of the sources Shakespeare used for his King Lear, so I decided to track it down, read it for myself, and compare the two versions. Here are my thoughts:

-Let's get the most obvious difference out of the way first. Since Shakespeare added the Gloucester subplot, and the tragic ending, to the King Leir/Lear story himself, King Leir does not contain any characters who are analogous to Gloucester, Edgar, or Edmund, no one gets blinded, King Leir gets his throne back at the end, and no one dies. Seriously---even Goneril and Regan (or rather, Gonoril and Ragan) are alive at the end (though more on that later).

-Also, all of the shared names between the two plays are spelled slightly differently (though this is probably more down to non-standardized Renaissance spelling than to Shakespeare deliberately changing the names)--we have Leir, Gonoril, Ragan, and Cordella instead of Lear, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. This is convenient as a way for me to distinguish between, say, Shakespeare's Cordelia and the anonymous play's Cordella.

-Now for the more interesting differences.

-King Leir opens with so. Much. Exposition. In Shakespeare's King Lear, there's a brief conversation between Kent, Edgar, and Edmund, and then Lear comes onstage and immediately divides his kingdom. In King Leir, there are five straight pages of exposition before the love contest starts. Admittedly, we also get some interesting character dynamics, but it makes for a very different opening.

-In King Leir, all three daughters are unmarried at the start of the play, and their mother (Leir's wife) has apparently just died. Leir plans to marry them off, split his kingdom between them, and retire. Amusingly, he also informs us that "Although ourselves do dearly tender them, yet are we ignorant of their affairs; for fathers best do know to govern sons; but daughters’ steps the mother’s counsel turns", and that, surprise surprise, he really would rather have had a son instead of a bunch of girls. But since he has no sons, this is the next-best plan.

-Leir also has two advisors. One of them, Perillus, is basically a proto-Kent (and seems to be where Shakespeare got the character from, as the versions of the Lear story from Monmouth and Holinshed don't include a Kent equivalent); the other is named Skalligar and basically exists to be evil and drive the plot forward.

-Anyway, in this version, Leir comes up with the love test not because he wants to have his ego stoked, but rather because Cordella has sworn that she won't marry someone she doesn't love, and so has been ignoring her many suitors. Leir is essentially using the love test as a trap: he assumes that Cordella will swear that she loves him more than her sisters, and that once she does, he can say "then, daughter, grant me one request, to show thou lovest me as thy sisters do, accept a husband, whom myself will woo." I...actually can't decide if this is better or worse than Lear's motivation for the love contest. On the one hand, at least he has an actual political motivation for it. On the other hand, he's planning to use the love test to trap his daughter into a marriage she doesn't want (more specifically, he wants her to marry the King of Hibernia, which seems to be a stand-in for Ireland), which is really skeevy on his part.

-Leir also plans to marry Gonoril to the King of Cornwall (which doesn't have an exact equivalent) and Ragan to the King of Cambria (which is explicitly a stand-in for Wales). So yes, King Leir gives the Goneril-character Regan's husband and gives Regan an entirely new husband (in the earlier versions of the story, I'm pretty sure that it's made clear that Goneril marries the Duke/King of Albany and that Regan marries the Duke/King of Cornwall, so it's not just Shakespeare who has the opposite setup).

-Perillus doesn't seem crazy about this plan, but doesn't really say anything to Leir about it (like Kent probably would have). Skalliger, for some reason (I guess we can assume hope for political advancement?) decides to immediately tell the two older sisters about the love competition.

-Unlike in Shakespeare's version, where Goneril and Regan are not fond of Cordelia but seem to be more quietly bitter about her than actively jealous, King Leir's Gonoril and Ragan are openly, angrily, and explicitly jealous of Cordella, because she's more beautiful and accomplished than they are and they're afraid that she'll marry before (and better than) they do. So they're kind of the evil stepsisters from Cinderella. Interestingly, Leir doesn't seem to play favorites between his daughters like Lear does---he doesn't call Cordella his favorite, and Gonoril and Ragan likewise don't claim that he favors her over them.

-Skalliger the Sketchy Advisor then comes in, tells them that their father plans to marry them off to the King of Cornwall and the Prince of Cambria (the men to whom they are already apparently in love with, or at least fond of), and that he wants Cordella to marry the King of Hibernia, and informs them of their father's brilliant "entrap Cordella into marrying my choice of husband for her" plan.

-Gonoril and Ragan immediately decide to cheat on the love test. Since they know ahead of time that their father is going to marry them off to the men they like anyway, they can promise that they love their father so much that they'll willingly marry any man he wants them to, leaving Cordella, whom they know will not say anything of the sort, facing Leir's wrath alone. This is all a noticeable contrast to Shakespeare's play, where none of Lear's daughters seem to have known the love test was coming before he announced it.

-Things play out exactly as the two older sisters plan. They make their extravagant declarations of love, Cordella refuses to do so, and, egged on by Gonoril and Ragan (in another contrast to Shakespeare, where the two older sisters don't speak at all about Cordelia until after their father has already left the room), Leir disowns Cordella for not playing along with his devious plan to entrap her into a marriage she doesn't want.

-Perillus also doesn't speak up for Cordella at all. So far, he's zero for two as Proto-Kent, but he'll get better soon.

-We then cut to the King of Gallia (France), who is planning to pay suit to one of Leir's daughters. He's also bringing along his pal, Mumford, whose main defining character trait is that he wants to scope out all the British women. However, because the King of Gallia is a romantic, he decides that he and Mumford will disguise themselves as pilgrims, so that, presumably, he'll know if whichever girl he decides to court will love him for himself and not his title.

-The King of Cornwall and the Prince of Cambria (whose real name is Morgan, apparently), who are going to be married to Gonoril and Ragan, respectively (remember, the sisters' husbands got switched around in this version), run into one another on the way to Leir's palace. Both are eager to marry their new brides. We will also eventually learn that these two have the combined IQ of a turnip.

-The two of them are married off to Gonoril and Ragan, and then Leir promptly divides his lands between the two of them. Both married couples seem quite happy with the arrangement and will stay that way throughout the play (which parallels Regan and Cornwall's relationship in Shakespeare's Lear but is a noted contrast to the trainwreck of a marriage that Albany and Goneril have.)

-Perillus finally tries to speak up for Cordella here, but it has no effect--though Leir doesn't actually banish him for doing so, possibly because he, unlike Kent, does not say anything like "What wouldst thou do, old man" while arguing Cordella's case.

-Meanwhile, Cordella is trying to figure out what to do with her life now that she's been disowned when she runs into the disguised King of Gallia and Mumford, who are calling themselves "Will" and "Jack". A+ fake names, guys.

-Cordella and the King of Gallia have a chat, wherein Cordella explains what has happened to her and falls in love with the King, whom she thinks is a random pilgrim. She plans to marry him even without him having any title, and then is pleasantly surprised to learn that he's actually the King of Gallia. The two then leave to get married and go to France together.

-So, you know how in Shakespeare's version Goneril gets mad at Lear because his 100 knights are destroying her house and harassing her servants? In this version, Gonoril essentially gets mad at Leir because he keeps scolding her for buying expensive dresses and throwing a lot of parties. So she kind of comes across as a rebellious teenager, and as a lot less reasonable than Shakespeare's Goneril.

-Also, instead of telling her father that he'd better get his knights under control or she'll get rid of some of them, she's already dismissed half of his "portion" (not sure what this means, exactly, as Leir doesn't seem to have an entourage of knights) and is planning to get rid of the other half to "encourage" him to leave. Man, can you imagine how Shakespeare's Lear would've reacted to this Gonoril?

-Skalliger the Sketchy Adviser encourages Gonoril in all this. But don't get used to him, because after this he's going to cease being relevant to the plot.

-Leir is talking to the King of Cornwall (the Albany equivalent), and they seem to be getting along pretty well, when Gonoril suddenly storms in and accuses her father of trying to turn her husband against her. The King of Cornwall tries to calm her down, and Leir's all like "maybe she's moody because she's pregnant". Gonoril reacts to that about as well as you would expect, and then the King of Cornwall just sort of leaves to avoid the argument.

-As soon as the King of Cornwall's gone, Gonoril tells Leir to pack his bags and get out. Which Leir....does. And Perillus goes with him. No horrible curses of infertility or anything! He just goes off to Ragan's house and assumes everything will be fine.

-One similarity between the two plays is that in both cases, the confrontation with the oldest daughter makes Lear/Leir feel guilty about his treatment towards his youngest daughter. The noticeable difference, however, is that while in Shakespeare's play Goneril is being mostly rational and Lear's the one causing friction and shouting insults, in the older play Leir's maybe mildly embarrassing at worst and Gonoril comes across as a spoiled brat.

-Ragan then gets a soliloquy that conveys, in essence "I can do whatever I want, and it's great! I'm so glad my killjoy dad is with my sister and not me!"

-Meanwhile, the King of Cornwall asks Gonoril where her father disappeared to, to which Gonoril replies "Oh, he went off to see my sister with no warning. He's impetuous like that. Don't worry about a thing, honey." The King of Cornwall plans to send a messenger to Ragan's to make sure Leir arrives okay, but otherwise questions none of this. Remember how I said he had the IQ of a turnip?

-Gonoril intercepts the messenger and tells him, to, basically, deliver a letter full of lies to the tune that Leir has been causing problems at her house (she explicitly says she'll lie about her father in her letter). In other words, she wants Ragan to believe that Leir is behaving in the way that Shakespeare's Lear...actually did behave.

-The messenger, as it turns out, is a low-down scumbag (and proud of it), so he's all too eager to deliver a letter full of lies.

-Then Cordella gets a soliloquy about how, although she loves being Queen of France, she misses her father and wants to see him again.

-Leir and Perillus arrive at Ragan and the Prince of Cambria's house (Cambria being the Cornwall equivalent. If Cornwall wasn't an eye-gouging psychopath but did have the IQ of a turnip).

-Cambria is pleased to see Leir, and Ragan pretends to be glad to see him too (though obviously she wants nothing to do with him). This actually is a little reminiscent of the interactions between Lear and Regan in Act II, scene iv, although the fact that the Cornwall-equivalent isn't acting and no one's been put into the stocks are obviously differences between the two scenes.

-Ragan's opinion of her father is naturally only worsened when the Messenger gives her Gonoril's letter full of lies, and, when the Messenger guy casually offers to murder her husband or father for her if she wants him to, she eagerly takes him up on the offer and hires him to ax her father (and Perillus). She tells him that she'll ask her dad and Perillus to meet with her at a specified location tomorrow morning, and that he can kill them there.

-Well, that escalated quickly!

-Cordella and the King of Gallia have another conversation about how much she misses her father and hopes he's okay. The King of Gallia is understandably confused by the level of concern she's showing for her jerk of a dad but agrees to send a messenger to the King of Cornwall's place to check on the old man anyway (since they don't know Gonoril booted Leir out of the house).

-The King of Cornwall and Gonoril are having a conversation, during which the King is wondering what's taking that messenger he sent so long to return with news about the king, when the French messenger shows up and asks how Leir is doing.

-Gonoril and the King both tell the Messenger that Leir isn't at their castle right now, but that they think he'll be back soon (the King really believes this, Gonoril is of course lying), and the conversation then turns to Cordella. Gonoril not-so-subtlety hints that she hopes her sister's not doing too well, and the Messenger immediately picks up on the fact that she's all sorts of sketchy (The King of Cornwall doesn't pick up on this fact, but we've already established that he's got the IQ of a turnip, so that's not surprising.)

-Leir and Perillus are waiting outside for Ragan when the Messenger she hired to murder them shows up. He announces to them that he's going to murder them, and also tells them that Ragan was responsible for the whole thing (after Leir initially assumes that Cordella must have hired the murderer since she's got the best reason to want him dead). Interestingly, the Messenger also claims that Gonoril hired him to kill Leir even though we only saw Ragan doing so. He does have a letter from her with a commission to murder them, though, so maybe she wrote that alongside the letter she sent to Ragan.

-Leir takes the news...shockingly well, all things considered. What's even more shocking is that the two of them manage to talk the Messenger out of killing them. Seriously, he just gives up and leaves, never to be seen again in the play (though presumably richer thanks to still having money from Ragan for the hit he didn't carry out).

-Leir and Perillus then decided to set sail for France and the last remaining daughter. They exchange their fancy clothes with the clothing of some mariners to pay for the passage on the ship.

-The French Messenger, having determined Leir's not at Cornwall, decides to go look for him at Cambria.

-In France, meanwhile, Cordella, the King of Gallia, and Mumford decide to go for a walk on the beach together...in disguise! Apparently the King of Gallia just loves disguising himself as a common person. It's actually kind of an endearing character trait.

-Mumford also gets his second fake name in the play. For their beach walk, he's going to be called Roger.

-The Prince of Cambria, who has noticed that his father-in-law has gone missing, is getting kind of worried about where he might have gone. Ragan replies by telling him that it was probably her evil sister Cordella who was responsible for his disappearance. She puts on a bravura performance of mourning her father's fate, and Cambria, who has the IQ of a turnip, immediately buys it.

-Then the French Messenger comes in and asks them where Leir is. Ragan replies by basically accusing Cordella of murdering Leir. The Messenger is not impressed, but Cambria seems to think his wife's story is true (because, again, he's got the IQ of a turnip).

-The French Messenger makes it clear that he thinks Ragan is responsible for Leir's disappearance, which prompts her to slap him. The Ambassador wisely chooses to get out of dodge, and, as soon as he leaves, Ragan starts fake-crying and claims that Cordella is probably trying to steal their land now that she's totally murdered their father. Her husband, who, bless him, totally believes her, promises that he'll punish Cordella for what she (allegedly) did to their father. He may have the IQ of a turnip, but at least he means well.

-Leir and Perillus, upon their arrival in France, are close to starving for want of food (probably because they couldn't pay for food on the boat). By sheer coincidence, they run into the disguised Cordella, King of Gallia, and Mumford, who are having a picnic on the beach.

-Cordella and the King of Gallia immediately recognize her father and invite him and Perillus to eat with them (which is a good thing, because Perillus was trying to convince Leir to cannibalize him rather than starve! There's the proto-Kent we all know and love!)

-After they eat, Cordella reveals her true identity to him and they reconcile. Leir having also told her and her husband about Gonoril and Ragan's plot to murder him, she and the King of Gallia immediately promise to invade England and restore him to the throne.

-The invasion is a complete success, in part because the two soliders on watch decide to abandon their post and get drunk rather than actually doing their jobs. It also helps that most of England is still in support of Leir.

-That being said, Cambria and the King of Cornwall do manage to raise armies against the King of Gallia's army, and they and their wives confront King Leir, Cordella, and the King of Gallia.

-Gallia accuses the two daughters of plotting to murder their father. They of course deny this and claim that he's just using that as an excuse to justify the invasion. Cambria and the King of Cornwall still back their wives up, which is nice and all, but you'd think they'd be getting at least a little suspicious by now (especially Cambria!). IQs of turnips, the both of them.

-Leir even has the letters that they wrote to have him murdered! Sure, Ragan tears them up (in a scene reminiscent of Goneril trying to tear up her letter to Edmund in the end of Shakespeare's King Lear), but still neither of them get suspicious. Nor do they seem to be suspicious of the fact that Leir is with Cordella in spite of the fact that presumably at least Cambria should believe that she tried to murder him! Seriously, how are they possibly that stupid?

-Anyway, the two sides fight, and the King of Cornwall and the King of Cambria both run away (presumably with Gonoril and Ragan) when they lose. Leir is restored to the throne, and he gets to be happy with Cordella and the King of Gallia.

-Except that his daughters, who tried to murder him, are still alive. And so are their idiot husbands, who are still presumably in total support of them and would be on board to fight against Cordella and Gallia again as soon as they manage to regroup and gather up new men for their armies. And no one seems intent on doing anything about that!

-And then the play just ends, as if we're operating under the assumption that Gonoril and Ragan are just going to go "Oh, well. Our plan to kill our dad and take his crown failed. Guess we're just going to do something else with our lives now." or something.

-Seriously, Gonoril and Ragan's husbands are unbelievably stupid. Albany and Cornwall aren't geniuses, but they're a million times smarter than the King of Cornwall and the Prince of Cambria from King Leir!

TL; DR: Shakespeare's play is obviously more complex and better-written, but there's something very entertaining about reading this earlier play that tells the same story in such a wildly different fashion.

I honestly think the three daughter's husbands may be the best part of King Leir. They all clearly love their wives, the King of Gallia's passion for disguising himself is great, and I can't help but kind of smile at how stupid the King of Cornwall and the Prince of Cambria are. They may have the combined IQ of a turnip, but they mean well.

[lilias42]

Coucou, pour les questions j'aimerais demander : 2 pour Pyrkaïa, 29 pour Aliénor, et le 20. S'il y a un perso de ton projet de roman que je ne connais pas, tu peux le choisir pour cette question :) Sinon le perso de ton choix :D

Coucou ! :D Merci pour les questions ! :D

2 : Quel est le souvenir préféré de votre personnage ? / What is your character's favorite memory?

Pour Pyrkaïa, vu qu'elle vécu trèèès longtemps, je pense qu'elle aurait plusieurs souvenirs préférés qu'elle n'arriverait pas à départager.

Pour son souvenir d'enfance, c'est quand elle rencontre d'autres sorciers que celui de sa cité, Drus, lorsqu'ils viennent à Lakkos après les Jeux Olympiques sur son invitation. Elle s'y est faufilée en cachette étant donné que les femmes n'avaient pas le droit d'y assister et elle a failli d'avoir d'énormes ennuis quand elle s'est fait prendre mais, cela lui a permis de rencontrer Kelon / Riegan qu'elle connaissait déjà grâce à l'Iliade alors, c'est comme rencontrer un de ses héros dont elle connait l'histoire par coeur, surtout qu'il est très gentil avec elle et accepte très vite qu'une fille soit en train devenir une sorcière. Mais surtout, c'est ce jour-là qu'elle rencontre Metaheta / Goneril. C'est la première fois qu'elle voie une femme sorcier (elle apprend même que le mot "sorcière" existe vu qu'elle l'utilise au lieu d'utiliser le masculin pour se définir) et elle voie à quel point Metaheta est respectée et même crainte par tous les sorciers présent, surtout qu'elle arrive à vaincre Drus sans difficulté ni effort pour le forcer à la laisser devenir une sorcière. C'est ces deux rencontrer qui l'ont encore plus motivée pour devenir une sorcière (et autre chose qui est arrivé ce jour-là mais, ce n'est pas un bon souvenir pour le coup).

Ensuite, elle aurait pu dire aussi quand tout le monde l'a accepté comme sorcière lorsqu'elle a vaincu Drus dans un combat à la régulière mais, elle ne pense pas que ce soit un si bon souvenir que ça. Drus a tellement refusé de perdre qu'il a passé outre les règles de la sorcellerie, ce qui l'a fait se corrompre et elle a dû l'achever avant qu'il ne blesse quelqu'un et abréger ses souffrances alors, même si elle le détestait (c'est quand même le responsable de la mort de son meilleur ami) ce n'est pas un bon souvenir pour elle, elle aurait préféré qu'il n'y ait pas de mort et qu'il accepte qu'elle soit une sorcière plutôt que mourir en refusant d'admettre qu'il avait été vaincu par une femme (et elle vient de perdre coup sur coup son meilleur ami et son petit frère qui n'ont pas survécu à leur sorcellerie, elle a pas vraiment envie de s'en réjouir...)

Il y a aussi le moment où elle voie Daphnel s'envoler pour la première fois sans tomber (enfin, de base, elle voulait la surnommer Daphnè car c'était la saison des lauriers et que la gamine ne voulait pas lui dire son nom mais, vu qu'elles ne parlaient pas la même langue, la petite a compris "Daphnel" et s'est restée. Quand les autres de la nouvelle cité l'ont vu la prendre sous son aile avec la petite qui suit ses traces, ils ont commencé à la comparer à Galateia mais, ça n'a pas duré longtemps car, même si elle a les cheveux blancs, sa peau est noire, là Galateia est censé être blanche comme le lait à cause du marbre dans le mythe). ça a été très dur pour elle d'arriver à développer la sorcellerie, surtout qu'elle a commencé en voulant imiter Pyrkaïa ce qui aurait signé son arrêt de mort et Pyrkaïa a eu très peur que l'histoire de son frère et de son meilleur ami se répète mais, Daphnel a fini par comprendre qu'elle devait développer sa propre manière de faire pour progresser et a fini par apprendre à maitriser les vents et sa consécration pour elle, ça a été d'arriver à voler en marchant dans les airs, même si elle peut aussi planer en tenant les ailes sous ses bras tendus grâce à un grand baton et ainsi, elle a pu commencer à rentrer chez elle pour retrouver son peuple. La voir survivre à sa sorcellerie a vraiment énormément soulagé Pyrkaïa qui a eu très peur de perdre quelqu'un d'autre à cause de ça quand elle s'est rendue compte qu'elle l'imitait, et elle a toujours été très fière de la "gamine" comme elle le surnomme.

Enfin, tous ses souvenirs avec Oengus sont de bons souvenirs pour elle, de leur rencontre jusqu'à leur dernière journée ensemble avant que les agarthans ne détruisent leur bonheur. Elle le trouvait un peu étrange au début vu que leur manière de vivre est très différentes (ils viennent de deux peuples complètement différents après tout) mais, ils ont appris à se connaitre et elle a été heureuse d'aimer et surtout de trouver quelqu'un qu'elle pourrait aimer sans avoir peur de perdre son indépendance, s'étant interdit de se marier pour ne pas risquer de finir sous le joug d'un homme et de peur de devoir se soumettre, ce qui était hors de question pour elle.

Aliénor : pour elle, ce serait sans doute le jour où elle est rentrée à Egua avec Guillaume après que Clovis ait été enfin vaincu et décapité. Elle a enfin pu être de nouveau en paix chez elle avec ses fils et son mari sans avoir peur qu'une nouvelle crasse ne leur tombe dessus alors, ils ont dû bien profiter de leur temps tous ensemble, même si les jumeaux ne s'en souviennent pas vu qu'ils n'avaient que deux ans. Sinon, elle dirait quand elle a enfin pu tenir les jumeaux dans ses bras pour la première fois car, elle est arrivée à terme sans faire de fausses couches comme lors de ses précédentes grossesses et c'était assez magique pour elle d'enfin tenir ses enfants dans ses bras, surtout en se rendant compte qu'ils avaient fait coup double ^^

Gwilim : ça risque surement de changer mais pour le moment, c'est soit quand il est arrivé à renverser le cours d'une bataille avec ses camarades alors que les généraux étaient bien partis pour sacrifier son bataillon afin de tendre un piège à l'ennemi, soit aussi quand ces propres jumeaux sont nés, soit quand ses fils sont revenus vivants alors qu'on les croyait morts (et ils l'ont été pendant un certain temps, ils se sont fait assassiner dans le dos par leur meilleur ami sans savoir pourquoi mais, leur rage, leur envie de revoir leur famille et la magie environnante les ont sauvés et ramener). Même s'ils semblaient un peu changé, ils sont restés les mêmes dans le fond et il était heureux de voir qu'ils avaient réussi à survivre et à revenir. Il a également été très satisfait quand le "petit" s'est enfin réveillé du sort qu'on lui avait jeté pour usurper sa place car maintenant, il sait que tout ira bien pour le royaume.

29 : Quel serait le plat préféré de votre personnage ? / What would be your character's favorite food?

Pour Aliénor, je pense qu'elle n'est pas très difficile de base, elle mange à peu près de tout mais, elle a un petit faible pour ce que Guillaume lui cuisine, surtout que c'est souvent du gibier qu'il a chassé lui-même.

Même si c'était encore assez compliqué entre eux à ce moment-là malgré leur amitié qui se développe car, il y a les fiançailles arrangées entre eux qui les gênent énormément vu qu'ils n'ont pas le choix et se fréquentent de base uniquement pour apprendre à se supporter afin d'éviter un mariage catastrophique, elle a été touchée quand il lui a cuisiné un bouillon de viande et de légume alors qu'elle était à l'infirmerie. Elle s'est pris un coup de poignard perdu quand un groupe de chevalier de Seiros corrompus (surement par un de ses camarades de classe) tente de tuer Guillaume et il s'en est énormément voulu qu'elle se soit retrouvé mêler à tout ça à cause de leurs fiançailles car, même s'il n'assume pas encore vraiment (et c'est normal, il a quatorze ans, c'est un ado dans une situation compliquée qui a l'habitude de ne jamais faire confiance à personne, en particulier à ceux qui sont près de lui à cause d'un ordre de Clovis, et Aliénor n'est pas mieux vu qu'elle le trouve assez grossier et bourru au départ et refuse d'admettre qu'elle commence à apprécier son fiancé arrangé vu qu'il n'a pas le comportement qu'on attend d'un noble, encore moins d'un duc, tout le monde trouve que Nicola fait plus noble que lui à cause de sa retenu), il commence à vraiment s'attacher à elle et à la considérer comme son amie. Alors, il va lui chasser une perdrix qu'il prépare entièrement lui-même et lui cuisine pour lui dire - sans vraiment lui dire ou à sa manière bourrue qui a du mal à exprimer ses sentiments même si Nicola a déjà compris ce que ces deux-là refusent de se dire - de se remettre au plus vite et qu'il s'occupera d'elle en attendant. Elle est très touchée par l'attention et dira par la suite quand elle assumera plus ses sentiments que c'était le meilleur bouillon qu'elle n'a jamais mangé, même avec un coup de poignard dans le flanc.

Pyrkaïa : les olives, directement. Elle adore manger une bonne tartine de fromage avec de bonnes olives fraiches, ce qui constitue une bonne grosse base de ses repas, surtout qu'elle n'a pas les moyens de s'acheter de la viande et encore moins du poisson mais, ça ne la gêne pas, elle adore ce triptyque. Quand elle est arrivée dans le futur fief de Charon, elle a dû être vraiment déçu en se rendant compte qu'il faisait trop froid pour que des oliviers poussent mais, la connaissant, elle a dû utiliser ses pouvoirs pour réchauffer les champs pour qu'ils puissent pousser, surtout que c'est quand même la base de la cuisine grec. Il fait d'ailleurs assez chaud à Charon grâce au reste de ses pouvoirs, ce qui permet à des arbres préférant un climat plus chaud, même si c'est sur une très petite zone.

Gwilim : lui aussi, pas difficile, il mange de tout. Je n'ai pas encore les détails mais, vu où il habite et comment il va finir, il aime beaucoup la viande et le poisson. Si le schéma de l'histoire ne bouge pas trop, il va finir par se retrouver au bord de l'eau alors, il pourra gouter pas mal de poissons différents avec sa famille. En fait, pour lui, le plus important, c'est pas tant ce qu'il mange mais, avec qui. Il aimera bien plus son repas s'il peut le dévorer avec sa famille en étant en paix tous ensemble. C'est aussi le genre de grand-père qui laisse à ses petits-enfants les morceaux qu'ils préfèrent, quitte à avoir moins de nourriture pour lui-même.

20 : Quelle est la chose la plus surprenante à propos de votre personnage ? / What is the most surprising thing about your character?

Pour mon projet de roman, je vais prendre Gwilim [soit Fontanges comme la famille noble française ou Aqmency vu qu'ils ont aussi un rapport à l'eau, je ne me suis pas encore décidé + oui j'aime beaucoup ce prénom vu que ça va parfaitement à des personnages protecteur de littéralement s'appeler "volonté de protection"] qui est le premier héros de l'histoire (j'ai hésité entre lui et le dernier membre de la famille mais, je suis pas sûr s'il aura un rôle plus de protagoniste ou s'il sera surtout un enjeu de l'histoire vu que normalement, il a max cinq, six ans et agit surtout comme un enfant et une donnée aberrante à cause de ses pouvoirs étranges et surpuissants).

C'est un tout petit seigneur qui est aussi médecin mais, ce qui est le plus surprenant à son sujet à mon avis, c'est qu'il aurait aussi pu faire escroc de profession. On est à un moment où les impôts extraordinaires (soit ceux que collectent le roi en dehors de le domaine pour financer le Royaume alors que de base, il n'utilise que les impôts dit "ordinaires" - soit ceux qui collectent dans le domaine royal - pour tout faire fonctionner normalement) se généralisent et deviennent habituels mais, il y a des résistances dans tout le royaume contre la hausse de la fiscalité - surtout que ce n'est pas utilisé pour le bien du Royaume mais surtout pour celui du roi - et il en fait parti. Même si en tant que noble, il n'est pas soumis à l'impôt, il est passé maitre dans la maitrise de l'évasion fiscale afin d'éviter à ses sujets de se finir exsangue à cause des impôts royaux. Il a un côté assez opportuniste pour protéger son fief et les siens, surtout sa famille alors, s'il doit faire des entorses à la loi pour atteindre ses objectifs, il le fera. C'est également le genre à mentir les yeux dans les yeux à des gens d'armes du roi, en affirmant que le gars qu'il vient de ramasser à sa porte est un de ses malades et qu'ils ne doivent pas entrer car il est très contagieux, même si ce n'est pas le cas. Malgré son côté bourru, il est également un assez bon parleur pour convaincre les gens de le suivre ou les manipuler, ce que les gens ne soupçonne pas en le voyant parler de manière très franche et sans aucun filtre.

Pyrkaïa : je pense que c'est sa patience pour certaines choses. Même si elle a le sang chaud (littéralement) et n'a aucune patience pour les conneries misogynes des hommes / son époque en général, elle sait attendre son heure pour obtenir ce qu'elle veut et élaborer des stratégies afin d'atteindre son objectif. Elle sait qu'elle ne sera jamais recrutée comme forgeron dans une forge car c'est un métier d'homme ? Qu'à cela tienne, elle se fait d'abord recruter par un atelier en difficulté financière en lui proposant de chauffer leur four pour qu'il économise du bois et éviter les brûlures vu qu'elle maitrise les flammes, apprend discrètement comment forger en les regardant puis, quand quelqu'un ne peut pas travailler pour une raison x et montre ce qu'elle sait faire. Même si ça doit prendre du temps, quand elle a un objectif en tête, elle déploie des trésors de patience pour l'atteindre.

Aliénor : même si c'est peut-être pas très étonnant, elle peut lâcher une grossièreté quand vraiment, elle s'énerve mais, comme elle a une bonne maitrise d'elle-même, elle ne le fait que quand elle est sûre que ça touchera juste et sonnera son adversaire. Les gens sont habitués que Guillaume soit grossier alors, ça ne les étonne plus quand c'est Aliénor qui lâche la grossièreté étant donné qu'elle est assez à cheval sur les bonnes manières et a une présence assez calme qui impose le respect.

[lasudio]

VeronaHills, Round Eight: Capp (Uni)

Juliette's grades had been nothing to write home about - that was Hermia's bright torch to carry - but the Capp family's place on campus had been confirmed with the graduation of the heiress.

Her proposal for her university lodgings to be renamed Capulet House had been accepted, along with a generous donation. Her name would beam from the plaque and her smile would be frozen in time in the photograph with the chancellor. Future Capp family members (and adjacents in the socialite class, by invitation) could enjoy the benefits of guaranteed housing - and Juliette was just getting started.

"I have so many ideas," she revealed to her Capulet House sisters, on the eve of her final day on campus. "Auncle Goneril's articles got me thinking - what if we went into media? Then Junior told me he's looking at the toy business... oh, I just don't know what to do next!"

The gushed ramblings of the heiress made Sandra feel nervous, so she excused herself from the dinner table to buttonmash her handheld in the powder room. As a Roth, she'd been invited into the Capp circle, but her recent academic probation would potentially put that in jeopardy if word got out - or worse, if she failed again.

Pressure to keep up appearances sure didn't feel like a privilege.

[deathbysatellite]

Capp 1 Household: Week 1 - Part 1

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Less than a minute into actual gameplay (after spending ages trying to get my game to read my graphics card), and Juliette is already swooning over Romeo.

While Tybalt is already trying to pick a fight with him.

Hermia tries to hang out with her brother by attempting to play red hands I believe, but Tybalt wasn't interested. This is just the start of him being the least agreeable sibling.

Consort is apparently a pretty lonely dude, because he kept rolling Wants to Make a Friend, and he doesn't even have Popularity as either aspiration.

That evening, much of the Capp clan head downtown.

Surprisingly, they all fit at one table. In addition to our main Capp members, we've also got Goneril, Albany, Cornwall, and Miranda.

The whole family then heads over to Gothier Green Lawns.

While the adults play poker, Tybalt keeps shoving Juliet.

This quickly escalates into Juliette attacking her brother, cementing their relationship as enemies, which has yet to recover.

They fight again once they get home.

Juliette sneaks out that night with Romeo.

When it comes to chance cards, I try to pick the option I think that Sim would go with. Given the history between him and Patrizio, I figured Consort would try to sabotage his president's chances. Unforturnately, this backfired on him, and he lost a whopping 3 logic skill points!

Juliette is having much better luck though, as a random even grants her a charisma point.

The welcome wagon shows up shortly before the teens get home from school, consisting of Waylon Menon, Jace Mackarevick, and Vyn Scott.

Meanwhile, one of the kids (I think Juliette) brings home Juan Harris, who seems to be the first person to get along with Tybalt.

Tybalt and Hermia head out, as Tybalt wants a cell phone.

I don't recall why I sent Hermia with him, but nevertheless, she runs into her crush, Puck Summerdream, and manages to snag her first kiss with him.

Once home, Tybalt calls up Benjamin Long in the hopes of striking up a friendship.

Everyone has apparently decided the best place for catch is the family graveyard. At night.

Thankfully, they all head inside right before Caliban decided to make an appearance.

Cleo, a dog that Juliette adopted, joins the family that night. While that was the name the game gave her, I like to pretend that Juliette named her after her great-great-grandmother, Cleopatra Capp.

Cleo starts off quite the destructive things, and manages to destroy two pieces of furniture in as many days.

Alas, poor chair.

Consort attempts to befriend Cleo, but she is rather slow to warm up to anyone. She's not independent or aggressive, but she just wouldn't accept many positive interactions for a few days.

Out to get more electronics; this time it's a handheld game for Juliette.

Hermia does her best impression of the Not-Things from Doctor Who.

Tybalt continues to antagonize Juliette, and amusingly shoves her through a door.

Apparently all is forgiven once they get back home, in a rare instance of them getting along.

[randomnameless]

Outside Byleth, who do you think the Three House Leaders would naturally pair with instead in-canon assuming all recruits are allowed? And which ships would you prefer for them if you were in control and could change the writing a little?

?

Pair as in "ship romantically" or hang out with and spend a lot of time?

Hubert already exists, even if his presence must be erased for "alone b4u" shenanigans, but I suppose that Supreme Leader might be spend a lot of time around Doro, given how she's a prime "commoner who raised above her stations thanks to her talents" token and they really seem to get along, as much as Supreme Leader can get along with people.

If the writing could change, I'd still pick Doro and have her accept that even if she might realise Supreme Leader's war is not so super awesome for everyone involved and the orphans Doro might relate to, she finally found someone she would support until the very end and is sure of her feelings, regardless of Supreme Leader's status. Sure it'd mean non-recruitable Doro, but I think it'd give her closure in some way, as in instead of trying to find a rich dude to care for her until her old days, she prefers to trust Supreme Leader, regardless of what future has in store, even if she grows old and loses her talents.

Claude is, by design, supposed to be closed off thanks to his secret, but the devs are really pushing (even in Nopes!) the idea that he and Hilda might be a thing... Dark humour would be of them having grand plans for the future and talking about warming the Almyran-Goneril relationships - while being served by captured Almyran children because none of them seem to give any fucks about those kids and it'd be a perfect "I think of the people and the future as a concept, but ignore them in my everyday life" cycle to close the Supreme Leader parallel -

In an ideal world where Claude could grow, I'd still pick Hilda and have them face, together, their own prejudices and bias and grow as persons.

As for Dimitri, tbh I don't really have a pick for a "romantic" pair - Nopes already delivered on the "be surrounded by his friends and allies and let them in even if it's small baby steps".

If I had to pick a ship though, both games push hard the "Dedue/Dimitri" ship and I really have no imagination, but I really dig the "Flayn has a one sided crush on him" thing lol, both because she loves romance but also because she could confuse her feelings of wanting to help him - since he might remind her of Seiros and we know how that ended, something Flayn is apparently aware of! - with romance.

FWIW though, in the "ship but not in romantic way", I'd tweak the writing team's arm to have him talk - on-screen - to Rhea, with either them playing an endless loop of "how are you - no you how are you" to avoid talking about themselves, or have Rhea, knowing fully well what Dimitri might be feeling, trying to encourage him to do everything she didn't do back then (but that'd imply giving more than infodumps and ominous lines to Rhea, so at this point, it'd be a straight up rewrite of the plot lol) while Dimitri sort of guesses Archbishop Rhea isn't a "mere" Archbishop but ultimately doesn't mind.

[butwhatifidothis]

Seeing as he's mentioned in your blog title, have you ever posted your thoughts about Holst, now that we have Hopes giving us a version of him? (Searching his name on your blog only gave me pre-Hopes posts, so if you have talked about him before, I haven't found it, sorry!)

No need to apologize! I haven't talked about him much lmao, mostly because he's... in a bit of a weird spot? In that he's about everything that I expected - and wanted! - him to be in most areas, but he still ends up being kind of a let down just because of how GW is structured.

He's pretty battle-focused, he's smart and intuitive in some areas while not-the-brightest in others, he lends his experience in leading and fighting while still giving respect to those he feels has earned it, he can be pretty damn funny at times, his care for Hilda is evident and sweet - I like him! Like him a good bit. I just wish more was done with him in regards to Almyra.

Like, GW taking the hardest swerve away from Almyra and back onto Fodlan is easily one of the worst decisions in all of Hopes' writing. Even ignoring the obvious disservice it does to Claude by depriving him of a personal narrative focus, it also ignores how Holst can contribute to the narrative of Fodlan and Almyra's feud given his and his family's ties with it. I had really, really hoped (lol) that GW was going to make mention of the whole "yeah House Goneril has Almyran slaves lol" thing that 3H mentioned and then bizarrely did nothing about.

Is Holst responsible for taking any of the soldiers and forcing them into servitude? If so, is it out of a misguided belief they'd be better treated as "servants" of Goneril rather than disgraced soldiers in Almyra? If not, does he have any say in taking them, or is this all Duke Goneril's doing and Holst feels he has to keep his head down? And if that's the case, then would Duke Goneril be more than the daughter-spoiler he's ever really said to be in 3H? Does Holst have a tumultuous relationship with his father in this hypothetical? Does Holst know that the slaves are treated so terribly, like Cyril was, or is he ignorant on how bad the problem is? Would he try to do anything for them after bonding with Nader? Would he be partially motivated to do so in order to be a sort of role model for Hilda? Hell, does Holst even know about how Hilda feels towards Almyrans by this point in time? And once the slaves are freed, would they even like that the man mostly responsible for them getting enslaved (whether through directly doing so himself or by defeating them in combat and setting them up to be enslaved either way) helped free them, or would they understandably want nothing to do with him or Fodlan afterwards? Are there any more like Cyril who, once freed, prefer to stay in Fodlan over Almyra? And if so, what would they do once they were freed? And would Holst help them, and would they accept it?

There's a lot of interesting things that could have been done with Holst, with just this scenario alone. But like most things in Hopes, and especially GW, it's a completely missed opportunity. It's not even mentioned once! Like, dude! And then Claude apologizes to the Gonerils for making them defend the border by themselves, and it's like, yeah, sure, but hey maybe can literally anyone mention the slaves??? PLEASE??

That and just the miscellaneous ways GW ruins characters by making them all dumb as rocks and violent as agitated hornets just to make A Certain Character look better kinda makes me more sad thinking about Holst than anything if that makes sense lol. He had the setup for some really interesting (and lowkey necessary ngl) routes for his character and story to go down, but the very nature of GW holds him back from being anything other than a neat character that I like. He could've easily been more than that imo! But it just wasn't meant to be sadly

[delicatevalentine]

"Well, well, well. Look who it is! My favorite Goneril. How'd your birthday go? Get everything you wanted?"

Claude shuffled his feet a bit awkwardly, holding a parcel wrapped with a little silk bow. "Look, um--I figured it was kind of lame of me to miss your birthday. Usually, I'm like, the birthday guy, you know? Remembering the dates and being really good at getting gifts. Kinda missed the ball this time. So... I got you something to make up for it. Happy belated birthday."

Claude hands Hilda the gift, waiting for her to open it. Inside was a little pale pink porcelain tea cup and a matching mini plate, showcasing delicately painted floral decals and accented with gold. "Not sure if you like tea, but you like fancy stuff, right?" He asks with a smile, putting his hands on his hips and tilting his head, "If you ever feel like you want to test it out, then let me know, you know? I'm, uh... always up for tea."

The sound of a familiar voice drew her attention in the Golden Deer common room; or, rather, decidedly unfamiliar, given that he was dead to her. She met his cheerful gaze with a glare. Though... with even just that brief glance into his eyes, she could immediately tell that the geniality was false. For once, Claude felt... uncomfortable. Her heart softened just a smidge.

Her eyes fluttered down to the neatly wrapped gift: a rare show of careful attention from her House Leader. She accepted it as he rambled his apologies, each word chipping away at the ice of her demeanour like a pick. By the end of his monologue, she was holding the most adorable teacup and wearing her brightest smile.

"Aw, Claude, I can't stay mad at you!" She set the teacup down and stood up to throw her arms around his neck (which was no small feat with their height difference). "Thanks, I love it. And I'll forgive you for missing my birthday... this time." She pulled back far enough to point a stern finger in his face. "But next year I won't be so gracious... Got it?"

[beikonsims]

Next day, Goneril returned with yet another promotion. She was a little less ecstatic about it, realizing she's been getting ahead of Mary-Sue and it might've been a little upsetting.

It didn't matter, though. Goneril didn't want to waste any more time and the women decided to make their relationship official as soon as possible. They invited only their closest family - children and siblings.

They expected some weird rumours about two divorced workaholics finding love so late in their life, but it didn't matter. They were happy and their children were old enough to understand and accept it.