#also I have like 8 other rambles to do with tdp

[quodekash]

An Analysis of Soren (and maybe other stuff too)

(sorry for bad photo quality that will inevitably come up)

I feel like people have said/thought that it took his father betraying everything and all the stuff that happened to him in seasons 1-3 for soren to properly be a good person (if no one’s thought or said that ever… I’m here to prove it wrong anyway). But I would like to say that soren has always always ALWAYS been a good person. He just didn’t realise he was on the wrong team.

(ID: A photo of a paused moment in The Dragon Prince. Subtitles say “They’re here” (assassins are here to kill the king). Callum is in the middle of the image, and behind him is Soren, who is holding his shoulder defensively. End ID.)

Assassins came to kill the king, and his immediate reaction? Protect the only person in this room who can’t defend himself in a fight. And I know Soren’s a crownguard so it’s like part of his job, but Callum’s not blood royalty (as Soren often points out) and he still protects him. And I have a feeling he’d do that for anyone at all, he’d see danger, assess the people in the room, and immediately defend those who can’t defend themselves.

soren always felt like his dad didn’t treat him right (one day I’ll make an entire post on this alone cos there’s so much to talk about there), but he probably thought neglect was normal, or made excuses for V*ren.

Soren is kind to everyone, no matter their gender, race, age, social status, whatever. Yeah, he bullies Callum but, as he says, Callum had a good dad and Soren never did (again, I’ll talk about this another time), so Soren projected it on to Callum, which is no one’s fault (except for V*ren). Yeah, he hates Rayla and elves when they first meet, but that’s bc a) he’s been taught all his life that elves are the enemy, b) he thought rayla had kidnapped Ez and Callum, c) they killed his king, and d) he just didn’t know any better. And yeah he annoys his sister a lot but that’s his job and he shows how much he ultimately cares about her (he was ready to flipping k!ll Callum cos he thought he’d hurt Claudia)

he is kind, and good, and noble, and doesn’t get enough credit for it, isn’t appreciated for his pure and lovely heart.

That was the… “Soren is a good person” segment. Now we’re on to the “holy bajoolies Soren is impressive” segment.

and it’s something that I’ve never properly understood. He’s literally a crownguard at 18. He’s above all the guards in Katolis, yet he’s barely an adult. Everyone else would surely be like 25-40 (idk if that’s historically accurate, don’t quote me on that) with years more experience and stuff than Soren has, and he’s higher up than all of them (note: and he still treats them all the same way he treats everyone else: with kindness).

But why is he crownguard? Is it because his dad is influential to the king? Maybe, but he’s a very very skilled swordsman, and it seems like the other guards genuinely respect him. And I can’t see Harrow showing any kind of favouritism, (remember the Lady Justice dream). So that means he genuinely earned that place somehow, and there probably would’ve been more than physical tests but also mental tests to make sure he’s smart enough to like know who to trust and when to expect an attack at unexpected times and everything else being crownguard would entail. Which means Soren is not only more talented and brave and skilled than anyone gives him credit for, but he’s also so much smarter than anyone ever acknowledges.

(ID: Soren from The Dragon Prince. Text says “Soren” and underneath in smaller text, “youngest crownguard in history”. End ID.)

[magioftheseas]

I saw that you did some tips for how to write komaeda how about some for kamukura?

Kamukura is honestly a lot tougher to give advice for because a lot of his writing is from theorizing and personal headcanons… I mean, I got there via observing canon closely but still, there are liberties taken!!! Mostly because Kodaka is fucking dumb.

*cough cough* Anyway. Let’s try to give some…solid-ish advice that isn’t just “please just write him the way I like to see him written” even though I can’t act like there isn’t some subjectivity to this because that’s just how it goes.

Ahhhhhh, well, there’s your disclaimer. Let’s roll.

Kamukura Izuru, even if his actual character typically avoids focus outside of Chapter 0, has consistently been shown as someone with a lot of presence. A lot of this is because potentially speaking, Kamukura Izuru could be (if he isn’t already) an unstoppable force that’s just…very intimidating and demanding of notice when he makes his involvement clear. I think capturing that, even without going into any detail about what he’s personally like, can achieve a strong impact. While he certainly isn’t a mindless monster, it wouldn’t be inaccurate to portray him as a looming shadow that evokes unease and anxiety. This is, of course, from an outsider perspective, that said.

If you are writing through Kamukura’s perspective, things are a bit different. He’s very subdued and gives off an air of mostly detached. I say mostly because like, in the case of both DRAE and sdr2, he showcases a sense of anger and resentment towards Junko. So, no, not emotionless, not at all in the two appearances he makes in-game.

There’s also TDP where he does show that, yeah, he has personality even if he seems to be plagued by depression, nihilism, and bitchiness the entire time which… I’ll admit, if you can portray that, I’m all for it. TDP Kamukura is an absolute joy and I adore him.

For my writing personally, I always keep a few base traits in mind when writing Kamukura. Traits that I detail and build upon depending on the situation.

Logical - Kamukura often views things as following through a logical thread, and sometimes, said logical thread is emotionally-based! He is aware (after Junko) that people still follow predictable patterns, even if their behavior is “seemingly” completely irrational. He’s more than capable of identifying what drives people emotionally, so it’s actually a lot more difficult than people think to retain his interest. Again, though, this is something he picks up with time, either after Junko or…after observing Matsuda for long enough, in some cases. Cough, cough.

Sentimental (?) - Kamukura largely presents an overwhelming sense of apathy. He words emotional situations coldly and calculatingly in a way that conveys no sympathy nor empathy. He’s definitely emotionally repressed. That said, when he does feel, he feels overwhelmingly strongly, which I base on the fact that in the games he’s purely driven by anger and spite even to the point of being potentially willing to recklessly throw his and others lives away in order to accomplish his goals. In some ways, I guess you can say Kamukura is similar to the game of Russian Roulette. If that makes sense.

Nihilistic - Unsurprisingly, Kamukura is very cynical and hopeless in not just his situation but the situation of the world at large. He views humanity as trapped within destructive patterns in a loop that will always re-rail itself in spite of every attempt made to stop it. In his case, he doesn’t see what purpose he has outside of being a tool for other people’s use. It’s a pretty depressing worldview, but one shaped purely by the reason he exists in the first place.

Childish - And this is all to say that Kamukura is extremely inexperienced and thus, he’s actually really childish in how he acts and thinks. His worldview is just way too overly simplified! And it’s so limiting! But he stubbornly sticks by it like a kid who doesn’t fully understand the nuances of the world. And he’s just so bratty about it! A brat! He’s a complete brat!

These are the traits I work with when writing Kamukura, but obviously you can choose different ones. Like maybe having him be a bit haughtier (although I would say Kamukura doesn’t think highly of himself so much as he just thinks lowly of everyone), or maybe focusing more on just how spiteful he is because he’s definitely pretty spiteful. You don’t have to follow my blueprints to the letter!

And… Well… There’s…that… Hopefully this helps you get some kind of idea!!! If any specifics confuse you, don’t hesitate to shoot me another ask!

But also… 

THE REST OF THIS IS UNDER THE READ MORE BECAUSE I STARTED BITCHING ABOUT THE ANIME AGAIN BUT LIKE, FEEL FREE TO JUST IGNORE EVERYTHING PAST THIS POINT.

Fuck the anime. Look like, even leaving out the dumb contradictions, Kamukura is a dumb fucking character just…on his own, in dr3. You wouldn’t use a building that’ll collapse from its own faulty structure down the line as a reference for your project. Fuck the anime.

Okay that’s not entirely fair. Like, Kamukura’s first appearance to the end of the first killing game is like, actually not terrible. I would even say it’s fairly good setup, especially with what’s established in Chapter 0 and tne epilogue of DRAE. But everything after that is fucking trash. Although if you build on the shooting scene in episode 8, I would be the biggest fucking hypocrite to criticize that. Everything else though is so incredibly bad and joyless that I just…don’t. I can’t recommend accounting for it. That would be the exact fucking opposite of self-care. I just can’t do it. I mean, you can still write that but don’t expect me to enjoy reading it because I fucking guarantee you that ANY enjoyment I otherwise had in your writing would completely fucking fall apart on the spot I hate it THAT much. I’m sorry but that’s just…how it is. But real talk: you shouldn’t be writing for me and what I prefer anyway you should be writing for yourself and what you prefer. And I honestly can’t fathom why anyone partial to dr3 Kamukura would turn to me for advice when I’ve made it clear many many times (and will continue to do so until the end of time) how much I fucking hate dr3, zhen especially but like… Now I’m rambling.

I failed to keep this from being very noticeably subjective. I’m sorry.

Uh… Let’s try and achieve more balance so that I don’t look completely unreasonable… Uhhh…

The way Kamukura’s VA in the dub is actually pretty good from what I’ve heard. He’s portrayed as most of a sassy, bored genius than emotionless beep boop (until waifu) and that’s a way more engaging character. In my opinion. Yeah.

But TDP actually makes that explicit in the actual text, so…really why not just… Read through his TDP events instead… Mmgh…