#also it wasn't just a destructive civil war

[hollow-keys]

Audio description: A clip from a Big Finish audio story told by Jamie. He says:

The Doctor waited until the guard's footsteps had died away before turning towards me with an indignant frown. "You're playing a dangerous game, Jamie McCrimmon. What are you trying to do, hmm? Get us all killed?"

"I can't just stand by and do nothing."

"Yes you can! That is precisely what you must do!"

"But we know what's going to happen. He's going to run away. We have to persuade him to fight."

"No, Jamie, we cannot- must not- get involved."

"The Doctor's right, Jamie," said Zoe reproachfully. "If the events of the glorious revolution are an established part of history-"

[Jamie cuts in.] "Do you even know why they call it the glorious revolution?" Zoe shook her head. [The Doctor responds.] "They called it the glorious revolution because virtually no one died. It was an almost entirely peaceful exchange of power. And because, Jamie- because King William was a much more popular monarch."

"In England!" I shouted. "No one died- in England! A peaceful exchange of power- in England! William was a more popular monarch- in England! The glorious revolution was only glorious for the English! And for the rest of us, in Scotland and Ireland, it was the beginning of a civil war. A war where thousands of men died fighting to free the country from a king who had no right to the throne. The English may forget all the years of bloodshed, but we don't. The massacre of Glencoe, The Battle of Boyne, Culloden, hmm! But now we've got a chance to change all that!"

i could title this “number one best most justified jamie mccrimmon anti-british moment” but it’s more than that… it’s also “number one most frustrating but wildly cathartic snapping-at-his-friends moment jamie ever has” <3

[fandomspacenqueue]

"Don't be like Sentinel."

Don't be like Sentinel, who put his own desires over the needs of everyone else on Cybertron and made their choices for them. (Was D killing Sentinel to fulfill his own desire for revenge with no consideration for what all of Sentinel's other victims might want not him selfishly making their choice for them?)

Don't be like Sentinel, who as a leader promoted values that made their society worse. (It was normalized caste discrimination for Sentinel, but is setting a precedent for brutality against those who get in your way or wrong you as acceptable "justice" really any better for a leader to be exemplifying? And becoming the new leader by killing the former, is that not effectively what Sentinel did?)

Don't be like Sentinel, who had just been planning to publicly execute D, Bee, and half the High Guard without a trial just like D is about to do now. (Executing someone without trial or due process, when he's already been defeated and is helpless on the ground, is murder, not justice.)

I'm getting tired of the Orion Pax slander. Orion wasn't even saying that D's like Sentinel at this point. He was pleading with D to not act like Sentinel when they're better than that. Claiming that Orion was saying "the act of killing the bad guy alone is enough to make D just as bad is him" is literally the most surface-level reading of that scene.

And this isn't even getting into Megatron's presumption in taking Megatronus' cog for himself to gain more power, which is exactly what Sentinel did, or his indiscriminate destruction of Iacon heedless of the collateral damage. Both of these happened afterwards but only serve to prove Orion's point.

Sure, D's motivations are more sympathetic than Sentinel's ever were, but when his actions are functionally similar, when they produce similar results, is it really wrong to say that D is behaving like Sentinel? Orion was right. Sure, maybe it wasn't the most effective way to get through to D, but regardless D has agency and he made a very deliberate and conscious decision to betray his friend and become a tyrant. That's not Orion's doing. I've also seen takes that imply it's Optimus Prime's fault that civil war happens because he banished Megatron, when it was Megatron that attacked Optimus when he returned, and it's Megatron who chooses to start the war.

Just real tired of the takes that subtly or even not-so-subtly blame Orion/Optimus for D/Megatron's own choices, or try to exonerate Megatron because he was angry and hurting. Megatron's feelings are valid. It doesn't justify his actions.

[massivechestplate]

Average Gacha Character:

FGO: This is Rider, Cyrus the Great, based on the real historical figure. We genderbent him into a her with big bazongas and a thing for literature. Thankfully she was added in a main story update so she has good writing.

Genshin Impact: This is Robespierre, a 17 year old cheerful politician with a passion for reform thus he has a Hydro Vision. His parents were brutally murdered in a separatist uprising. His best friend is a twink in short shorts who he is shipped with. You find out he has a hobby of collecting coins during an event.

Honkai: Star Rail: This is Gabriel, he's a Fire-Destruction civil engineer with a wrench gun. He's literally just some guy until you find out he has ties to the local criminal underworld and is secretly a Masked Fools plant.

Limbus Company: This is Perseus, a Fixer who must kill the Abnormality Stone-Gaze Queen to prevent his mother from marrying a Wing CEO. Or that's what I would say if this wasn't his alternate universe self who worked at dystopian Freddy Fazbear's.

Arknights: This is Foosball. She's a secretary turned mercenary after getting Rock Cancer because she had talent with knives. She went crazy after the war crimes and experiments but she's fine now. Probably...

Nikke: This is Jane, she's a military uniform imouto kuudere who was thrown into a metaphorical and literal meat grinder due to cyborg abuse but has now imprinted on the first person to show her kindness. Also her ass is-

[amiya-shirou]

Spoilers about Babel and Zwillingstürme im Herbst

I was thinking about Arknights' recurring dynamic of siblings who must confront each other no matter how important the other is for them and realized there are more parallels than I expected between Theresa/Theresis and Arturia/Federico - to the point the latter pair feels like a still growing, less actualized, somewhat inverted version of the first.

Arturia is Theresa: focused on emotion and empathy, has weird mental powers (that interact pretty well with Theresa's, as seen in her interactions with Amiya), her ultimate ideal is a level of connection that goes beyond the scope of her own civilization and in trying to achieve it she's at the same time dooming herself, her halo almost looks like the Black Crown (which I doubt wasn't intended, since the Law is definitely comparable to Civilight Eterna). The contrasts between them are pretty evident too: a white Devil who perfectly looks the part of the saintess and a black Angel who perfectly looks the part of the villainess.

Federico is Theresis: the more down-to heart, more serious, less idealistic brother, who has difficulties expressing emotions to others (or even understanding them in Fede's case) and is extremely close to his sister but also feels he must stop her as her ideals lead her down a dangerous path for others. Theresa/Arturia are going against the will of the Myriad Souls/the Law, and Theresis/Federico confront them by acting as protectors of that will for the sake of the people that would be affected. Even in this case, there are evident contrasts: Theresis is seen as a negative figure, the villain in Theresa's story, while Federico is seen positively and Arturia is presented as the villain in his story.

Despite everything, the siblings know each other best. Federico can tell if a crime is Arturia's fault or not because he understands her more than anyone else; when Arturia's ideals crumble after the discussion with the Witch King and she seeks death, Federico is the one she wants to be killed by. Years of civil war and aiming for the others' destruction didn't put a dent in the trust and affection that exists between the Sarkaz twins, and when they're reunited in Londinium they're once again betting everything on each other like it's the most natural thing do to.

Civilight Eterna chose both Theresa and Theresis as successors for the will of the Sarkaz; they were special, the legendary twins with the potential to change Kazdel's fate. The Law calculated the immense adversities Terra is going to face in future, and chose both Arturia and Federico as the next Saints, essential for Laterano to prepare against them.

The one advantage the Giallos have over the twins is that they're younger, less caged by the collective will of their people. They can still reach a good middle point and work together for a better future without needing to extinguish the other for their ideal to prevail. While Theresa and Theresis understood the value of the other's belief, they were fundamentally opposed because they acted as the symbols of two separated possibilities for the Sarkaz, possibilities that clashed with each other despite their continued survival being the ultimate objective for both. Instead, Zwillingstürme im Herbst shows Federico taking steps towards Arturia and learning to use emotion as a way to understand her even if he can't feel them the same way she does, while Arturia realized the value of Federico's logical approach and that his approach can make her objective more concrete rather than just an abstract ideal.

Federico helps Arturia give footing to her philosophical inquiries, reminding her that it is possible to find an answer and reach a conclusion and that her ideals do not need to remain abstract but she can actually take steps to realize them; meanwhile, for how strong the Kazdel twins' bond is, Theresis will always be an eternal reminder that most of the Sarkaz reject Theresa and her dreams for an hopeful future, and was never able to truly help her sustain Babel. And just as Federico one-ups Theresis on this matter, the same does Arturia to Theresa: she wants to see her ideal realized, she has learned that she also has a role in her utopia and that she shouldn't forget about herself while seeking it, in opposition to how Theresa can only see herself as a sacrifice, the soil upon which the flowers will grow after her death. Theresa and Theresis were doomed by the weight of Kazdel's history and suffering, but the two Sankta's story ends in a hopeful tone as their fate is not yet written, and in fact both of them are less a symbol of the will of Laterano and more clear outsiders in their society, rare different voices in a very conformist state and thus have the potential to change it rather than be shackled by their people's voices.

[milksnake-tea]

Imagine Yaoshi x Reader x Nanook. With how they act in lores and how there is not much canon information about the personalities + encounters or interactions yet. My brain already has so much ideas about what's gonna happen if we put them both together :)

pairing: nanook x gn!reader x yaoshi (general relationship hcs)

word count: 785

warnings: possible spoilers for hsr !! involves xianzhou stuff iykyk

a/n: it's the way that i knew this would be a request- also this got long i apologize HAHSHSHH

First off, congrats. I have no idea how you managed to coerce these two into sharing because the last thing either wanted was to share something with the other.

Compromise is absolutely fundamental in this relationship. Yaoshi and Nanook are Aeons whose ideologies are in direct conflict, and you'll have to act as their middle ground. Arguments aren't common (they both believe that they're above such petty disputes), but in the beginning of the relationship, the tension was undeniable.

Nanook firmly believes that civilization was a mistake, and neither Yaoshi nor you can change that. Yaoshi can pout and give Nanook the look all they want, but nothing is stopping Nanook from bringing planet after planet down.

Likewise, Yaoshi's gifts of immortality, along with their side effects of mara, tend to irk Nanook, only furthering their belief that destruction was the only salvation left for the universe (Yaoshi would continue to assert that the mara wasn't their fault).

But when you come into the picture, you force them to put their differences aside - because if there's one thing that the two of them can agree on, it's you. If it's for you, they're willing to push aside their ongoing war with one another. If it's you, they'll ignore the fact that they openly hated the other.

Yaoshi thought that such a cold being as Nanook wasn't deserving of a partner such as you. Nanook didn't love or embrace you like Yaoshi did, didn't cradle and pamper you like the Abundance.

As a result, Yaoshi loved to remind them of their negligence, although now, it's more of a playful jest if anything. They'd whine about how Nanook was barely home, despite Yaoshi constantly being on the run themselves, and the fact that as Aeons, they don't have a set "home".

For the most part, Nanook was unbothered by Yaoshi's remarks, with the most coming out of them being a roll of the eyes. They didn't care how their affection may have come across, the only thing mattering to them was that you were safe and happy.

The two of them used to fight over you all the time - Nanook would often snatch you right off of Yaoshi's lap, and Yaoshi would refuse to hand you over. But soon, they learned to tolerate the other's existence, and eventually that tolerance would turn into a begrudging adoration.

In this relationship, Yaoshi is inertly more affectionate (and possessive) than Nanook is. Nanook isn't... They're not exactly in tune with desires of any kind, much less the kind that comes with a romantic relationship. Yaoshi, on the other hand, is an empathetic soul who loves and sympathizes with creatures from all walks of life.

Yaoshi coddles you, and makes sure that not only are you loved, but that you feel loved. They are gentle and tender with you, often playing with your hands or hair, and pressing kisses wherever they can. They sing you praises to their Disciples and the Denizens, who adore you just as much as their Aeon.

On the other hand, Nanook's "love", if you could even call it that, comes in the form of protection. The Antimatter Legion, when they're not wreaking havoc upon other planets, become your personal bodyguards. Yaoshi in particular takes advantage of this, often using the Legion to fend off any Xianzhou ships looking to hunt them down.

But this isn't to say that Nanook doesn't have their moments. When they manage to pry you away from Yaoshi's arms, Nanook likes to hold you as they go about their business. You'd be laying in their arms, pressed against their chest as you watch the destruction of a planet as you would a movie. Rarely are any words said in these moments, but they are just as intimate as Yaoshi's affections.

The universe knows you as the Mediator, the tamer of the two most hated Aeons in the universe. Being the significant other of not one, but two Aeons certainly comes with its benefits - and that being that practically nothing can touch you. There are some who feel pity for you, others who envy you.

But there are also those such as the Aeon Xipe who are grateful for your existence, for you are responsible for keeping Yaoshi and Nanook in check. In Xipe's eyes, if such opposing Aeons as Yaoshi and Nanook can work in tandem, then there is hope for a unified universe.

All in all, this relationship can only work if each member puts forth the effort to make it work. It's rocky in the beginning, even more so than others, and requires so much more patience. But if you can manage to pull through, the rewards are sweeter than any fruit.

[cosmicjoke]

For People, Not for a Dream

Everyone always wonders about this panel, and why Levi didn't include himself when talking about what all his comrades fought and died for.

The thing is, Levi was never fighting for that ideal world, or to create an ideal world.

For him, it was never about a concept or an ideology, because he never believed in the possibility of an ideal world to begin with.

Even when he gives his monologue to the 104th, during the Uprising arc, and speaks about freedom and the chance to have a world without the threat of titans, he still says that both world's are hell, just that he chooses the hell of people killing each other over the hell of being eaten by titans.

So I think to understand Levi, it's important to understand that he never cared about or was motivated by any system of belief or philosophy. He never did what he did with the goal of creating some Utopian world or society. His actions were never driven by any sort of fanaticism.

He was only ever fighting for people. To help people. Even in their ugliness and with all their faults and failings. He accepted that about people and the world; he accepted their imperfection. He never tried to change anybody, he never labored under any sort of belief that he could weed out the bad elements of society and, as a result, force a better world into existence, or a more civilized society. He wasn't blinded to the ugliness of his own actions by a sense of moral righteousness or belief in the "greater good". He never believed any set of beliefs or principles or ideology was or could be made inherently superior to any other. He never believed people could be made better than what they were. And yet he still found their lives worth protecting, along with their right to choose what to do with those lives, whether it be good or ill.

I think that's a big part of why Levi never loses sight of his own humanity, why he never becomes cruel. Because he never loses sight of what he's actually fighting for. Not an idea or a set of beliefs or a dogma. But just people, even when they're not good people.

And we see that reflected in Levi's lack of any sort of dream for himself, and in his support of other people's dreams. He's not fighting for their dreams because he believes in them or their possibility, he's fighting for their dreams because he believes in the worth of the people who dream them. It's the people who have worth to Levi, not the dream or the ideology behind the dream. And he hoped to prove that worth by ensuring they didn't throw their lives away for nothing. That's why he lent his strength to those dreams. It was always for the dreamers sake, not the sake of the dream itself. To show their lives mattered by helping to realize whatever it was they gave those lives for. It's why he's so determined to kill Zeke, because those soldiers in Shinganshina gave their lives for that goal. It wasn't Zeke's death that mattered, but the lives of the soldiers that died for it.

It's why he says in the above panels that if it was going to be worth the price "you all paid", it would have to be an "exhaustingly idealistic world". Nothing less than that would be worth people's lives. I think it's also why Levi's expression is one of such sadness all through the final chapters, because he knows, and always knew deep down, that that idealistic world was an impossibility. That even without titans, the world would still be a hellish place, something we see proven by the final pages of the story, with the destruction of Paradis and the continuation of war. In the end, I don't think Levi believed the outcome was worth the price his comrades paid. It wasn't worth their lives. To Levi, the concept of a "greater good" isn't worth more than any, single life.

But it's also important to remember that Levi was never the type of person to tell anyone else what to do, or what to think, or how to live, and that in itself is testament to how much he values people. The worth he sees in their lives and existence is reflected in the respect he holds for their right to choose what to do with those lives, even if that choice is to give their lives for an impossible dream.

And so that's what he fights for. Not for any sort of dream, or for the realization of an ideal world, but to help people. To help them in whatever way he can, whether that's saving their lives, protecting their right to choose how to live those lives, or supporting the dreams they believe are worth giving their lives for.

It was never for the dream itself. It was for the people who dreamed it.

[cryptidghostgirl]

Lets say that Alastor and cat-demon! Reader are friends, both of them are staying at the hotel. Alastor gives them catnip just to mess with them.

A/N I love this mischief. Also, I am 100% basing the character off of Catra from Nate Stevenson's She-Ra remake.

Prepare for Battle (Platonic!Alastor x Platonic!Cat Demon!Reader)

Pairing: Platonic Alastor x Platonic Reader

Warnings: None but please correct me if I am wrong.

Word Count: 1,276 (Sorry it is on the shorter side, most of my fics recently have been super super long and I needed to do something different.)

Master Lists:

Master Lists 

Hazbin Hotel Master List

Y/n had showed up around the same time as Alastor did to the hotel. She was a cat demon, like Husk, only much more humanoid. The only real traits she had to show for it were the claws, tail, ears, and, of course, the wild mess of her hair.

Much to everyone's surprise, Alastor had greeted her upon her arrival with a genuine smile, even a hug. A warm welcome by anyone's standards, not just the frigid Radio Demon's. According to Husk, the two had been friends for longer than he'd known either party, possibly even when they were alive although neither spoke much of their pasts. She was never involved in his work as an overlord, but she was always there, according to him. Y/n lurked, waiting, watching for the opportune moment. A mischief maker were the exact words Husk had used.

Y/n and Alastor balanced one another out. Where she was practically feral, he was calm and composed. When he lost his cool, she kept an even temper. When the pranks had started, they had taken everyone by surprise, even with Husk's vague warning. She had just seemed so together in an odd way, so imposing. Not in the way Alastor was but she still held her own. No one expected this sort of juvenile behavior from either of them but once it started, there was no stopping it.

The first one had occurred just a few days after the cat demon's arrival. It had been small, nothing too crazy. Alastor's microphone had simply been replaced with a bright red and white striped candy cane when he had left it leaning against the fireplace to go handle something for Charlie. It wasn't often he left the device unguarded but, he was only a few steps away from it and had figured there was no reason to worry when all the hotel's inhabitants were people trying to be redeemed.

Y/n had watched giddily from the couch, her legs crossed and sporting a failed attempt at a poker face, as Alastor had picked it up again. It had taken him a second to realize the switch had occurred and when he did, his eyes went wide. Y/n had burst out into laughter.

"Here we go again." Husk had sighed, shaking his head slightly.

Thats when the inhabitants of the Hazbin Hotel learned two things. One was that Y/n was not in fact a guest in the sense that she was trying to check out of Hell and into Heaven but rather a guest in that she was there to visit Alastor. The second was that the two had been engaged in a war of practical jokes for the past several decades at least.

From that point forward, the game was on. Each prank became more and more destructive, more and more insane. They took turns with it too, a highly civilized format for an extraordinarily childish pursuit.

Y/n brought out a different side of Alastor, one they had never seen before. It was a youthful side, a side of non-threatening laughter and genuine smiles. While unnerving in some ways, it made them all a bit more at ease with the notorious Radio Demon, to know he had friends and a bit of a soft side beneath his persona.

After the microphone switch, Alastor had tricked Y/n into sitting on a stool beneath a bucket of water. When he had dumped it on her, he had not only made a mess for Nifty to clean up but caused the cat demon to shoot up into the air, hissing loudly. Y/n had gotten him back by changing the locks on the door to his recording studio and used some of her own special brand of magic to block him from teleporting within. The result of this was a very irritated Alastor who broke a fresh hole through the wall. Y/n had been forced by Charlie and Vaggie to be the one to fix it, it was her fault after all, but she insisted it was worth it.

Next had been the vacuum cleaner. The fucking vacuum cleaner. Charlie had had to repaper a whole wall to get the claw-marks to go away after Alastor had used the machine to chase Y/n up it. For her revenge, Y/n had been crafty. She had rounded up a group of several demons she knew had it out for her dear friend and set them on the hotel.

Vaggie had tried her best to kick the cat demoness out after that one but, Alastor had, surprisingly, stepped in. He had fixed the wall with a snap of his fingers and they had both promised to tone down their competition, but never to stop it entirely.

It was Alastor's turn now and as he approached Y/n with a cup of tea, everyone knew something was bound to happen. It was out of character for the man after all, the random act of kindness. She was cuddled up in a sunspot on the couch, reading. So engrossed in her book, she barley looked up at him as she took the cup from his hand with a muttered word of thanks.

Alastor had retreated to the bar beside Angel and Husk with a satisfied expression on his face.

"What did you do now?" Angel asked as he watched Y/n take a sip from the cup.

"Just you wait." Alastor hummed in response.

Five minutes was all it took for the cup to be empty and suddenly, Y/n was on the floor. She reveled in the sunlight, her book now forgotten on the couch as she rolled around.

"What the fuck?" Angel laughed, turning to Alastor, "What the fuck did you give her?"

"Cat nip?" Husk asked, his eyebrows raised, "Really? I mean, that's low. Even for you."

Alastor shrugged.

"Charlie and Vaggie made us promise to tone it down."

Angel shifted his gaze back to Y/n who was wide eyed, staring up at the ceiling intently. The sun reflecting off Angel's glass as he raised it to his lips shot across the ceiling over her head and she immediately rolled over onto all fours, her tail flicking back and forth.

"She's certainly 'toned down.'" Angel noted, laughing once again at Y/n's antics as she tried to grasp the spot of light.

"She's gonna kill you." Husk scoffed, shaking his head slightly.

Angel moved his glass again and Y/n shot forward, clasping her hands around the spot of light once more. It was ten more minutes of the guys laughing and Angel fucking with Y/n using the glass to reflect light before she finally came back her senses.

She sat up from where she had lain on the floor moment's ago, a hand to her head.

"Jesus." she grumbled, "Why... how'd I get down here?"

"Three." Husk said, crossing his arms.

Y/n took her hand from her forehead, looking around the floor of the lobby curiously. Her gaze shifted to the sofa. Her book, the empty cup.

"Two."

Y/n turned to face Alastor, her eyes narrowed.

"One."

"You fucking drugged me you dickwad!" Y/n exclaimed as she pulled herself to her feet, "Catnip? Really? That's low even for you."

"Your turn." Alastor hummed placidly in return, seemingly undisturbed by her anger at the situation.

"I..." Y/n trailed off.

With another look thrown over her shoulder at the empty mug, she marched up to him. Determination glinted in her eyes, Y/n smiled, her teeth bared.

"You are so fucking in for it now."

[utilitycaster]

the war of godly aggression is SO fucking funny, oh my god, thank you for that. Also very apt not just for the calamity in general but specifically the fall of aeor. like my man. come on

Thanks!

I have been thinking about this a lot in relation to the article I linked, because the thing is, (obligatory caveat that this is coming from a good high school education but no advanced history studies) the way the American south was treated post-Civil War and the way Germany was treated post-WWI by the victors were both, unfortunately, radicalizing factors.

As I and others have said a lot before, a consistent theme from both Matt (and Brennan, notably in Fantasy High Junior Year) is that steeping ones' self in resentment and the belief that you were robbed of something is often the catalyst for becoming a hateful and violent person. And that is both unfortunately far too relevant in this day and age, and also, it's a rough lesson for many to hear. Because the thing is that it wasn't good that Aeor was destroyed by the gods. I'm sure we'll learn more with Downfall, but Matt's repeated comparisons to the Cold War evoke the last-ditch concept of mutually assured destruction and I would not be surprised if it were a case of "the Factorum Malleus would have ripped apart the world and killed even more people, but there was no good option here and no one is happy with the outcome" because that's how wars are! There is no win condition, not really, not even for the victors! There's just losing slightly less!

Ludinus's anger and trauma are on their own valid, as they typically are for most civilians of any losing side in a war. The Calamity wasn't his fault, and he did live in a notably harsher world with fewer opportunities because of it. But he is also figuratively flying a Confederate flag in figurative 2024 so I can acknowledge and be sympathetic to his pain and also say "well, you're a fucking terrible person who wants to inflict that same pain or worse on others and it won't even make your life better so like, I am rooting for the people trying to stop you."

[danwhobrowses]

I've kept myself contained and (mostly) quiet as I consumed all of Downfall - knowing that each part would alter my previous perspectives and assumptions - but man, there is so much to discuss. Finally it's time to talk about it!

Spoilers for all 3 Parts of Downfall below

The TLDR of this essay is that it was awesome and it has both unraveled so much context while enshrouding so much more lore in mystery. The long answer is long so stock up on cake - but not Brennan's cake, he's very protective of it - or something to keep the energy up.

Let's start at the beginning: Tengar. What a start that was! The destruction of Tengar really does reframe the Gods from the get-go. They were lights, they were refugees, they watched the destruction of their home and the loss of their family just as mortals would in life, war, and Calamity - but in a place where those things had only just come into being. It poses many questions too; were they what the Luxon scattered themselves into? Is Dunamis the remnants of Tengar? Was Predathos - assuming that the 'fruit' was Predathos - a purposeful creation or one that got out of hand? We knew of two gods that it ate but there was more (Unless Predathos is Edun? It's definitely a theory). The prologue shows how the Gods ended up being forced into shape, how their traumas limited their possibility as they careened towards proto-Exandria. There's a parallel to be made with the Lights' response to escaping Tengar's destruction and several PCs', especially Bells Hells who are able or attempting to rise above their pre-defined traumas and unhealthy coping mechanisms, development and growth - compared to the gods who found themselves stuck in place: doomed to play the role and domain they became shaped into. It also makes me wonder about the Founding, Creation, and the Schism itself; did the Primes start creation in order to keep an essence of home (all the divine trees planted across Exandria could be parallel to the Orchard)? What are each Betrayer's views on mortals? Asmodeus and Lolth clearly have disdain for them, but Asmodeus hurts mortals with a 'jealously kicking down your siblings' legos' vibe whereas Lolth likes to make mortals look as ugly as she already sees them. In cooldowns it was mentioned that had Melora been willing to walk away from Exandria she might've been a Betrayer, so I wonder if all Betrayers are simply mortal-hating or some are just willing to just leave mortals behind? I remain super curious over what the Primordials' side of the story is too; asking Rau'shan and Ka'mort should be considered eventually, given how they have knowledge and experience with sealing Predathos, but how did they see the events leading to the Schism; was there a deal that was broken? Did the Primordials hate mortals? Were they aware of Tengar before the Founding? Did they aid the gods in adjusting to their fixed forms and domains? And did they treat them like children like the gods treat mortals? What in history is lies and what in history is lecture?

Then of course there's the mission itself, which commits to its title in many areas; the Downfall of a civilization and culture within Aeor, the Downfall of (more) Wizard hubris with the Factorum, the Downfall of splinter factions trying to end the war by thinking they're doing what the gods want, and the Downfall of the Primes' infallible reputation as their armies and followers felt abandoned by them, no longer willing to accept the 'I am the parent, you are the child' justification. In the end only the Betrayers succeeded because the city falls and mortals died, but they don't succeed enough because they didn't get the Factorum - and the Primes still cared enough for mortals to try and save them - and thus the Calamity resumes, which I suppose is another Downfall: they were once family and wanted to be family again, but the truce wasn't real. The Betrayers were planning to use the Factorum to win the war (perhaps the two who didn't show had a change of heart?), they wanted to go where the Primes would not because, at that moment, winning and being right was more important than family.

The characters to nobody's surprise are all fantastic; Ashley's Trist (Saranrae) and Noshir's Emissary (Proxy of Erathis) had my heart in a winch for all three episodes, reminding me of it every so often with a big squeeze of emotions. Laura's Emhira (Matron of Ravens), Taliesin's Asha (Wildmother), Abubakar's SILAHA (Corellon) and Nick's Ayden (Dawnfather) all flourished as their characters too, alongside Brennan's variety of NPCs both as mortal gods and Aeorians. I loved Trist's boundless compassion and her constant struggle with having to do something cruel to many for the sake of saving the people she loved, as well as being forced to choose between her mortal family and her infinite ones, I loved how Asha was prickly and cutthroat as Nature can be in desolation but also not without her own regrets, longings and her gradual softening towards the Emissary, I loved how Ayden was an embodiment of the Dawnfather's purest hope and desire to protect people - contained in the body of a teenage boy, I loved how SILAHA loved Aeor's culture and people so much that he couldn't even be angry at the archmages using their gift to build a weapon that could destroy them, I loved that Emhira played cold and detached in an effort to bond with her siblings but found that her connection to them shone greater in the more human moments, and I loved the Emissary's innocence, how with so few words you had an earnest encapsulation of what he was thinking or feeling, and how in death the deep bass became a childlike lightness when meeting the Matron in her domain. The short arcs each of these characters undergo was amazing to see and the combat the more they became divine was insane - like seriously Trist hit 500 damage from a Guiding Bolt! And Ayden's Sunburst killed 3 Dragons and more AT THE SAME TIME! And btw throughout all 3 parts the dialogue has been outstanding, good grief! You could make a small book of all the amazing, thought-provoking, and downright emotional quotes packed in these three episodes. These are true tour de force players, guided by Brennan painting a gallery of scenes as if he was speaking at the Globe Theatre.

I like that the Factorum Malleus is pretty blatantly an allegory to a Nuclear Warhead. With the problem being that dropping a nuke will only beget the sobering conclusion that it can be done again, by others too - much like the Ritual of Seeding: once you make god bleed, everyone will try to cut them. The Factorum should not exist just as Nuclear Weapons should not exist, and that plays a part in the horror of seeing Cassida present it to Trist as if it was a gift to win the war rather than a tool to kill her family, just as Oppenheimer saw the bomb as a means to end all wars until he realised after that it was just a new escalation to warfare.

We also found room for important non-God NPCs, mainly the tragic success and failure of two Aeorian Archmages: Selena Erenves and Cassida Previn. Both display acts of humanity which end tragically; Cassida fell into faith to save her son and was given the chance to try and erase the knowledge of the Factorum so that people could survive, but her good intentions was prey to Asmodeus' cruelty and she was tortured and killed for information that, had he maintained the Arcadia guise, would've been handed over willingly, then on the other side there's Selena, who accepted death and consequences before attempting to activate the Factorum while also successfully spreading the knowledge of its construction to every wizard in Aeor, effectively forcing the Primes into having to destroy the city, only to be embraced by Corellon, forgiven, spared, and left to live with her actions. It's ironic that Cassida was punished for her humility while Selena was spared for her hubris, and the only real reason for their fate is which god they were stood before at that moment. The celestials Garathran and Acastriel were solid obstacles for Brennan to flex his dialogue of embitterment and demonstrate humanity in characters deemed otherworldly but not so much human, Garathran's suicide was very visceral even if them killing themselves in front of the Death Goddess was dumb, and Emhira and Ayden both using themselves to shield a blow from Acastriel was great symbolism to pay off their arc of bonding as siblings. They and the Archmages also acted as a harsh reality for the gods that their 'children' don't want to be coddled anymore, they've grown enough to want to understand, and have at least a voice on the table. On the lighter side of NPCs, Slitch was a lot of fun, I hope he managed to survive - maybe ascending with the Matron since Emhira did willingly relinquish her mortal form rather than it being destroyed in the crash - and still serves the Matron somehow, he's just a funny lil' guy. Brennan playing as children is always gonna be heartwrenching too, but the Everchildren Haylie and Topher were both sweet and also so brave; they have their mother's courage, as well as her divine spark.

For the mortal god NPCs Brennan rightfully didn't have Arcadia (Ioun), Zaharzht (Torog), Umleta (Lolth) or Tishar (Grummsh) outshine the main cast, often guiding the story along or cracking wise with them, but that could not be helped when it came to Milo Cowst. Brennan's Asmodeus is spectacular, absolutely untouchable, and when I say that I mean every time he does something I want to punch his smirking shit-eating face so hard that my hand appears on the other side of his head, because fuck that guy! The continual torment he does not just to mortals but to his own family is just some absolute peak villainy; he conspired with the celestials to entrap Ioun and was willing to sacrifice her, his own sister, to get what he wants. He as Arcadia tried to convince Trist to go after her family, telling her 'I love you' just as Imri did before heading into the fire, knowing KNOWING that he was luring her away from Cassida - one of the few followers she had left - to try and run away with the knowledge of the Factorum, and then donning Trist's husband's shape while he revelled in getting Cassida to allegedly renounce her before eviscerating her at his feet for Trist to find, all this while he had already sent his forces to murder all the refugees in Hawk's Hill - targeting Trist's mortal family especially while this all happens - I hate him so much. As a side note, it's interesting how Brennan and Matt establish two different Major God villains in the world: Brennan's Asmodeus and Matt's Tharizdun. It's not a bad thing to have two godly villains, I shudder to think what would happen if they worked together (at least before the inevitable power struggle), especially since their villainy is in two different departments: Asmodeus is a villain to beings while Tharizdun is more a villain to the Material Plane, you could also relate that to Predathos who uses both of their methods in their own way. Since Tharizdun doesn't get as much in-person appearances atm Brennan's Asmodeus does truly feel like the absolute villain of everything right now, but Matt does have way more time than Brennan does to get his godly villain across.

The three episodes each had a unique flavour to them; Part 1 was very much about establishing the dynamics and setting the scene: Aeor in its militarized dystopian state and the characters as mortal avatars of a pantheon of siblings and lovers, refugee lights of Tengar, in a truce. Part 2 however flaunted the positives, negatives, and defiance of mortality; the Ars Elysia was wild as it was beautiful, SILAHA's monologue with Emhira was engrossing, and the episode excelled in showing the weight of knowing how many innocent, faithful and/or good people there were, paired with the horror of knowing how many lost faith in the Gods there also was, and the lengths both the devout and the undevout would go because of the Calamity's toll on them. And then Part 3 ramps up the tragedy to like 15: the dystopia dystopes again, the destruction destroys, and the disaster disasts, and we reach the boiling point of conflict for an episode that was a mammoth SIX AND A HALF HOURS! The visual of the gods slowly being forced to break from their mortal shells to keep fighting their creations, and each other, to different ends showed the physical and mental toll the mission had done to them, Ayden rapidly aging the more his divinity courses through him and Trist continually trying to hold onto mortality if but for a single second longer, and reaching a point of no return: a choice between sacrificing, at that point, one unknown god to potentially find a way to spare the rest of Aeor - as they had desired to do - or save their entrapped sibling - having already lost so many to Predathos and the Matron having replaced another - but doom all of its people by not stopping Selena's Wish, which she believed would be a victory rather than a damning of her city. Heartbreak after heartbreak, sacrifice after sacrifice, and betrayal after betrayal, but even in the dark and desperation there was still a faint measure of hope; a mother seeking to erase the scrolls to save not just her son but all families in her home, Primes seeking only to destroy a weapon and as the city falls offering acts of compassion where they could, and a Slingshot firing a Sending Stone across the sea like a shooting star so that a mother could protect her children one last time. It is the fact that the hope still existed that makes it a tragedy: it could have been prevented, but because of the way mortals are, and because of the way the gods are, it couldn't end that way. By Part 2 I was intrigued by the fact that the idea of the Divine Gate had started to take shape this early, the Calamity after all would last another century, but it was a greater surprise learning that by the end of Part 3 Aeor wasn't the start of the conversation but the conversation, the last straw. Everything leading up to the Divergence was the Primes attempting to corral their siblings - and the Chained Oblivion - so they could lock themselves away from their second home forever, for the sake what they had built, which was chronologically the final layer to the tragedy. The theme that will complete the trinity of tragedies would be the theme of sacrifice. The Emissary was Erathis' sacrificial lamb, how biblical it was that she sent her 'son' knowing that he would die because she was unable to defy her laws nor bear to watch her lover come to harm, just as biblical is how Pelor sent the best and most hopeful qualities of himself to try and help people, Asha sacrificed her mortal form to embrace Zaharzht even when he hooked and clawed her form away, SILAHA sacrificed saving Aeor like he wanted in order to save Ioun, and then all the Primes resolve to sacrifice their presence in order to protect what was left of what they made. The theme of sacrifice will be compared with the weight of whether it was worth it, but it's not something you can say was justified either way, Downfall doesn't feel like it should be about sides; it was always a Trolley Problem, it is a current fey-absorbing, war-criming, land-sundering elf mage who is trying to make it about sides.

On that note, we must wonder how Bells Hells feel about watching all this. I did like many others think about their reactions throughout; did Imogen think of her mother when watching Trist and Cassida? Did Orym relate to Asha given how stretched thin and pining for Erathis she was? Did Ashton perhaps relate to Trist a little having also felt broken and powerless, kept going by the support of their family? I know we joke about Braius probably having to be silenced for cheering and hollering for Asmodeus but did he really agree with all that? And will Fearne now worry about seeing Asmodeus' true nature, which she should (call them lawyers Dorian!), given how she has unwittingly (and I maintain that it was not said to be a pact, Fearne clearly didn't know it was one and Nanna Mori, who is versed in pacts, called it an 'invitation to trade') bound her soul to him for Dominox's dusty wikipedia page - which is more a redirect to a 2-line section in 'List of Demons Unaccounted for Since the Calamity' - that yielded less info than a Speak with the Dead spell with an Aeorian corpse did. Outside of individual thoughts, I wonder if the Hells collectively related to other events the Gods underwent; the loss and lack of a home, tension caused by one of them thinking they knew better, the constant attack of their sense of morality by others? Ayden's character may invoke an interesting pause - since the Dawnfather has been pretty cold and unkind to the Hells, mainly Team Trauma, and Deanna lately - I wonder if they acknowledge or soften towards this new light (pun not intended but welcomed)? I know he didn't show and wasn't gonna but I also wonder if the Hells kept looking to see if FCG was there, if only to get another glimpse of their fallen friend, or if any of them managed to spot FRIDA - who while we know is canonically present wasn't explicitly mentioned either.

I must admit though I'm in the camp of 'what does this achieve for Ludinus?' because Matt said in the Cooldown that there was parts that proved him right but honestly I don't see it. History knows that the Gods united to drop Aeor, but if anything the footage makes most of the Gods more sympathetic, even to the god-adverse Hells. Showing how they have been just as messed up, traumatized and conflicted as they are as they tried to limit the loss but in the end get put in a crossroads where they choose their family, without discarding or disavowing their creations because of it, isn't gonna endear them to Ludinus' already ill-thought plan. Honestly the only Prime Deity that seemed overly brutal was the Stormlord and like, why would you even try to use Control Weather in a storm made by a Weather God? In interviews Taliesin has mentioned that Ashton has conflicted thoughts on the humanizing of the Gods, though again I don't think it's in the way Ludinus expects - I anticipate that it's more of an 'it was easier to hate them when they were all-powerful, all-arrogant entities that ignored our prayers' kinda thing, having sympathy for someone they had grown accustomed to disliking - so I wonder if other members of the Hells have conflicted feelings and whether it smooths over their aversion or whether their resolve remains the same. I'm not saying they will, but imagine if the Hells decide to be more open to allying more with some of the gods because of this? Seeking the temple in Aeor to converse with them and get on the same page. They all seem pretty respectful towards the Matron already, but perhaps some focus on Corellon - if only to see if he rebuilt the Ars Elysia elsewhere for a post-Ruidus rager XD - and Ioun would be an interesting route; the Knowing Mistress would have answers for those seeking history and information, and the Arch Heart could have answers in curious and divine magics. In addition, imagine if the Everlight gains more followers through the Hells? She helped revive Laudna through Pike so the Hells shouldn't really have any negative feelings towards her, honestly I just think she deserves more followers after seeing all of this. Plus if they could get some of that Divine Prowess (Vitality and Potency at the least) for the final fight we could be in for some blockbuster and creative damage feats! Again, I don't see it as likely, but it's a thought. We could also entertain learning more about the non-god characters that survived; did the blood of the Everchildren continue to this day - there are theories they're tied to the Clay family? What did Selena do post-Aeor? Is Cassida's body still in a protective shield? These are questions fans would want answered that isn't 'was the silver dragon's name Bolo?'.

One has to wonder too if this presentation framed as validation for the atrocities he's committed just shows how divorced from reality Deludinus is. Was the point that 'they're family so they'll choose to save each other over entire cities'? Because many mortals would do the same in their position, the Hells themselves have inferred at times that they would prioritize each other over everyone else. You know what's not a way to avoid that dilemma? Unleashing a god-eating entity the gods even at the height of their power are afraid of! Because of this, Ludinus is painted as someone blind to the fact that it's his machinations that are trying to push the world into an even worse and bloodier Calamity than what he endured as a child, with him weakening the measures put in place to avoid such a thing rather than preventing it. Also he is almost like the Primes in that the people he's allied with secretly seek to remove him from the equation, though I think he's just arrogant enough to believe he can handle them. On the topic of whether Ludinus is Hallis Previn - spared by the Matron after having been healed by the Everlight - I'm not sure, it is possible but I don't think he needs to be Hallis, in fact it would probably be more interesting if he wasn't - since you'd have to jump through a fair amount of hoops to even begin explaining his motives and mindset.

But now we have to ask a question: what do we do now? The mission was to take down Ludinus, and we could still achieve that given how it's 10v1; but Orym isn't in the best of shape health-wise, the Toothy Maw and Dominox fights did cause a lot of the group's slots to be used up and Ludinus only really used 2 spells (Gate and Counterspell) since being encountered, deluded he may be but weak he is not. Laudna's haunting will permanently track him anyway and if he shows this to the world it'll likely emit similar results we and the Hells are having; some faiths may be shaken sure but others may be more supportive of the Gods. Right now there's no real reason not to show this footage. I suppose we could kill him and show the footage anyway - I mean it doesn't need to be shown by him explicitly - before handing it to Vassalheim or the Cobalt Soul's archive, honestly I would live for it if the first thing Bells Hells did after seeing the footage was Orym or Ashton just calmly walking up to Ludinus and decking him in the face, but the encounter in Aeor does feel designed for either Ludinus or the group to escape rather than fight to the death. Between the two, it would favour more for the Hells to stay; Aeor still feels barely scraped for them and Essek, who hasn't given Ashton any tangible answers about Dunamancy that he couldn't have gotten from a book yet - plus wild magic is rife within Aeor heck a beacon could be here, won't have much reason to stick with the Hells if they leave. If they don't use Essek's 'emergency escape' measure he's hinted at there could be something devised to let the group linger here a bit more such as finding the temple, the Ars Elysia, or another special room simply to explore more of Aeor - freeing the Stasis bubbles may not be the smartest or merciful option right now, given that all wizards within know how to make the Factorum. In terms of Ludinus, it'd be good to kill him now from a mission standpoint because he's the head honcho and the Hells need a big, convincing W to kinda make up for Otohan (which was more Matt's fault for rolling so high), but if we eliminate too many Exandrian enemies like Ludinus, providing that Liliana won't 180 again with him gone...which is a possibility, the endgame battle can risk turning into a more ugly Exandria vs Ruidus conflict rather than Life vs Predathos. So perhaps Ludinus should simply escape this time and we'll save the next major enemy to kill for Zathuda or one of the Five Imperium leaders.

Overall, and this won't be the last time we'll have to say it because some people have short memories and impulsive reactions, this is a prime example towards why we need to let CR cook. Yes, C3 has been scattered a bit, but this plot is a worldwide threat, which means you must show that it affects the whole world: this is a convergence of storylines from all 3 campaigns AND spinoffs, everything has its place and while we can be irked about the timing of things what we get is still pretty awesome. Just like the CK intermission, Downfall was an incredibly intricate and well-performed piece of narrative important to the main plot which honestly, as much as I still miss the Hells, could've gone an episode longer. Where we go next becomes further interesting because we have a greater grasp on the lore and characters of the gods, and it opens the door for more lore - such as what Corellon's strand of hair he left behind is - and context to be discovered in later episodes in this and/or later campaigns.

[maranigai]

For the character meme. I love your hornsent OCs and thus wanted to know your thoughts on Messmer!

Ah, thanks for the kind words about my guys, I love them and I appreciate it so much! And what about Messmer... ho-ho, that's a tricky one. Anyways, let's go.

favorite thing about them

First of all, I have a lifelong weakness for morally ambiguous red-haired spearsmen, as sir Ornstein can confirm. But fine, that was a joke, let's get serious for a moment. The key thing for Messmer, the core of his story and his character, is love. He loves his mother - quite simple, isn't it? But in fact no, it isn't simple. Because he loves her, more than anything else in the world, more than himself. This love is bigger than any destruction and harm it brings, even to Messmer himself, this love is the reason for all things, it's the basis of all things. And Messmer can't hurt what he loves so much, he can't deny this love, he can't deny his mother, because if he does, what's next? It was everything. Literally everything. So of course he does things for her, some things that he likes, some things that he doesn't like, some things that he would never do if not her. I think I can relate with this after a fashion, but this is not what made me love his story and his character. I love it because in the end of the day that love was hollow. It wasn't enough to overcome fear, hatred and vengeance. It wasn't enough for Marika to save Messmer, and he realizes it...

least favorite thing about them

...too late. I don't believe that Messmer sympathized with the hornsent in a slightest during his crusade, but I do believe that he had his doubts that grew as time - and war - went on. I'm sure he, unlike most of the crusaders, knew the truth about the shamans, about his mother's vengeance - and his mother was everything to him, right? He had no reason to sympathize with savages capable of such horrific acts - and so he didn't, completely ignoring how horrific and savage he himself was. It was for his mother and the new civilized world she was building, so what's wrong with a little hypocrisy here? But the war went on and on and on, and the lands were shrouded in shadows, and the mother stopped answering, and Messmer and his army were left in oblivion, alone with the deserved hatered, far from everything they had fought for. Their purpose got blurred, their guidance faded, and I believe that's when Messmer began to ask himself - why? Why is he going on, why is he fighting? And he could have answered that question - but he didn't, because the answer was "there's no reason", because answering meant acknowledging that nothing he had done really mattered, that all his love and suffering was a waste. Eventually, he was not strong enough - brave enough - to admit it before his dying breath, which was too late. I can't say I dislike his ending (I'm writing it in this paragraph mainly because I'm too curious to see an alternative), but I still wish he could overcome his fear earlier, when it could still change something - though it's a FromSoft game, so obviously it's not an option given their brilliant taste in tragedy.

favorite line

It's always hard to pick favourite lines in a FromSoft game, because... idk, I just love the dialogue and the voice acting in these games. But if I had to choose, it would be...

Embrace thine oblivion, as shall I.

Just because how utterly summarizing it is, for both the character himself and for the whole Land of Shadow.

brOTP

My glorious boar-riding man Gaius! I just love how Messmer, mommy's personal machine for eradicating everything graceless, befriended artificial (!) graceless (!!) dude who was persecuted by almost everyone in the Lands Between and made him his deputy. It's also mentioned that they had common ground in that they both were cursed from birth, so their friendship seems to come from a genuine understanding of each other's struggle. In general, I think that this is an interesting adittion to Messmer's overall portrait and a bittersweet dynamic of two cursed beings finally finding understanding in one another.

OTP

Rellana, because I'm a hopeless fan of the "liege and their a bit too loyal knight" dynamic. However, I hc their relationships as unresolved/platonic because both of them put their duty in the crusade first, and it's generally not a smart move to show open love when you're surrounded by people who'd gladly take away everything you love as revenge. I also don't like it when Rellana is reduced to just Messmer's gf instead of a fearsome sorceress and military commander in her own right.

nOTP

To be honest, I have yet to see a pairing with him that would straight up frustrate me. For the most part, my reaction is just indifference. But if I had to pick one, it would probably be Godwyn/Messmer, just because there are so many so much more interesting dynamics for both of them.

random headcanon

He was the son of Radagon and Marika, born during Marika's marriage to Godfrey, and was officially recognized as a bastard (this is why he's sir Messmer and not lord Messmer). In the beginning Godfrey wasn't a big fan of him for obvious reasons, but over time their relationship became more tender; by the time of Godfrey's exile Messmer sincerely viewed him as father, even without blood relation.

unpopular opinion

I don't thing he had a close relationship with Melina - in fact, I don't think he was even aware of her existence. Fandom often portrays them as twins for some reason, but the "younger sister" can be centuries younger when we're talking about demigods - and in my hcs, she was. So no cute Melina&Messmer fanart for me.

song i associate with them

Белая гвардия - Песня рядового

I know, I know, the language and all that, but just trust me, the lyrics hits hard considering Messmer.

favorite picture of them

I really love this trailer-based art by IvyJinna

[matrixbearer2024]

The more I think about it the more I realize how different my three takes on Ford are, three being how I see and write him as close to canon as possible- my time lord twins AU and my modernity AU. Just a cumulation of how many things can significantly change how a character is and I didn't notice by how much until I was talking about it with a friend and things made a surprising amount of sense. Case and point, this phrase!

"You're a good man."

There's three replies to that with how I understand Ford's character and please forgive me for rambling about this shit because I REALLY love picking up this man and dissecting him into atoms maybe I should make a youtube video-

Anyway, first off- canon!

"I try my best."

I genuinely think that after all of the things Ford's done, forgiveness is a barrier but not something impossible. In canon, ultimately he tries to make mends and he is atoning. For somebody who can hold a grudge for that long, I would think having your own faults must be hell on earth to live through as well. You can't exactly forgive yourself and you can only give as much as you have.

That's kind of the whole point to the series' ending in my mind. He just becomes more painfully aware of himself and the people around him not in the paranoid sense but just- how he is percieved or the consequences of his actions. He believes he can be good and is trying. Hence that response. Stanford's not refusing the idea, but he's not outright accepting it either because he's still working towards it.

Who said an old dog can't learn new tricks? Next!

"You don't know what you're talking about."

In my time lord twins AU, Stanford's hero complex and obsession with being special is cranked up stupidly high! On the run from Bill all across the multiverse he stumbles upon Gallifrey and realizes the state they're in is pretty damn precarious thanks to the Daleks and the Time Lords at WAR. In his mind at the time, all he could think of was saving as many people as he could.

Honestly, nobody would want to be in a war and frankly if it wasn't for the Time War and his Time Lord mentor things would likely be the same as canon. Ford believed too much that he was meant for great things and bit off more than he could chew!

Now carrying the title of the doctor, he doesn't believe he is a good man. He outright refuses it. A good man wouldn't have blood on his hands, a good man wouldn't have entire planets and civilizations kneeling at the mention of his name. A good man is respected, but that respect isn't born out of fear.

Stanford as the Doctor refuses this. He is not a good man. He damn well tries to be, but he knows not even forever could mend his mistakes and sins. He walks among the destruction of his own making, and he just lives with it.

Pretty depressing! Okay, let's look at something happier!

"I'm glad you think so. Thank you."

In the modernity AU, Ford hasn't done many if not most of the regrets that his counterparts often have. Yes he bickers with Stan a lot but it's never something that tears them apart, they could be having a word war over lunch but at the end of the day they're best friends again.

Ford still has his sense of justice and strong morals but in this case, it's not something he regrets and he doesn't exactly develop a hero complex because he doesn't believe he is special. He doesn't have that disparity with Stan and fundamentally that changes a lot of how he thinks.

It also helps that growing up, he's been humbled repeatedly by his brother or his peers. In this AU, he's always kept on his toes because the edge he has is only competitive enough against the many who are more than willing to work themselves to the bone for the same level of achivement.

If somebody tells him he's good, Stanford is just glad that's the perception of him and reacts accordingly. He's not often good at recieving compliments or god forbid flirting his poor brain can't keep up- but this much he is just thankful for the acknowledgement.

Tell me your thoughts or what you think about all this HAHAHAHA

[leportraitducadavre]

My interpretation of Itachi's character is fairly contrasting with yours. I pose my arguments against your analysis. I hope I would get a lead unto having an unbiased opinion.

Itachi's position in here between was a rock and a hard place. Having witnessed horrors of wars he chose to the stop war. It wasn't the best decision but even still he accomplished many things.

A new Forth Great Ninja war was prevented. Uchihas plan wasn't to reform the government it was to take control of them. Their desires were clearly reflected in their demands. While half of them was about freedom, the rest was only to control village. This, along with Obito's plan for revenge and war, will definitely start a war.

Madara, with the pact, was foiled for more than seven years long enough for the strong Shinobis like Naruto and Sasuke to grow up and defeat him.

Sasuke's life was saved. Itachi would go at all lengths to protect his brother. Afterall, its only obvious he would be over-protective of Sasuke since both loved each other a lot(as siblings).

The Uchiha's reputation were saved. Imagine what would have happened to the Uchihas after the war. The people were already suspicious of the Uchihas and now we will have never ending persecution and would be branded as traitors, doesn't matter if the coup won or lost. The coup wasn't about reforming anyway.

People in the village got to be safe too.

And despite all these he still regretted a lot enough that he wanted the person he adored the most to kill him. Also, no one here is trying to justify his action. A justification and a reason has a clear distinction. Just because there was a reason it doesn't make the acts were justified. He himself acknowledged that. The writer didn't try to justify nor did Itachi himself. People like, Hashirama and Naruto, appreciated the role he played and praised him as a Shinobi.(being seen as a villan while protecting the people isn't easy, btw). They weren't justifying or glorifying his actions in any instance.

He wasn't an absolute nationalist. He he was an idealist. His motivations most cases(especially while making big decisions)were to 'not beget war' and 'maintain peace'. Doesn't matter if Uchihas managed to control the village it still starts war, death, destruction and countless losses which is exactly what Itachi hated from when he was 4. He also wanted to reform the village by becoming a Hokage. He wanted to wiped out the entire ninja system since ninjas were the ones who were used as a weapon for the Diamoyo start constant wars. The Leaf was sort of obnoxious in the time of Tobirama and Hiruzen's regime. But even still, the Hokages were good and passionate and also the people were innocent.

A new Forth Great Ninja war was prevented. Uchihas plan wasn't to reform the government it was to take control of them. Their desires were clearly reflected in their demands. While half of them was about freedom, the rest was only to control village. This, along with Obito's plan for revenge and war, will definitely start a war.

How do you even know it was prevented? Shisui stating that hidden villages will take advantage of Konoha’s civil war to invade was just a fear that was actually constantly proven wrong throughout the series; when Suna invaded and Konoha was destroyed (forcing it to send their most powerful shinobi out of the village to collect money) no other village took advantage of the situation, not even Kumo or Iwa, two of the big five that were not struggling politically or militarily as Suna, Kiri and Konoha were. Kumogakure even tried to kidnap Hinata while in the middle of signing a peace treaty, yet they did nothing against the Hyüga clan nor the village during one of their most vulnerable state.

Furthermore, you mean to tell me that a civil war (I am using that notion generously because Konoha is a military state with a non-civilian population, specifically trained for combat) destabilizes the military and economic power of a city, yet the complete disappearance overnight of one of the village's founding and most powerful clans does nothing to its structure? Other villages wouldn’t see the absence of Sharingan-wielders as an enticing opportunity to strike? Do you mean to tell me that a village was left without police to control it overnight (and their job is considered super important by detractors), yet the city did not succumb to chaos?

Their desires were clearly reflected in their demands.

What were their demands? Enlighten me.

While half of them was about freedom, the rest was only to control village.

Where do you get this information from? There’s nothing of the sort stated in the manga.

This, along with Obito's plan for revenge and war, will definitely start a war.

Obito’s plan needed the annihilation of the Sharingan-wielders as he didn’t want anyone capable of obtaining the Mangekyou to jeopardize his plan to control the ten-tails, Itachi killing the Uchiha literally allowed Obito to start the war!! 

Madara, with the pact, was foiled for more than seven years long enough for the strong Shinobis like Naruto and Sasuke to grow up and defeat him.

… what? This doesn’t make any sense and has nothing to do with Itachi… you mean to tell me that Itachi killing his clan made Sasuke as powerful as he is? Because Sasuke has always been powerful and has always been Indra’s transmigrant, and as I’ve said, Obito wouldn’t have been able to initiate the war (or at least would’ve been incredibly difficult for him) with the Uchiha clan still alive!

Sasuke's life was saved. Itachi would go at all lengths to protect his brother. Afterall, its only obvious he would be over-protective of Sasuke since both loved each other a lot(as siblings).

An eight-year-old was tortured mentally by his brother through Tsukuyomi by watching his clan and parents get killed over and over again, was left to live alone in a compound destroyed by his brother’s actions, having to clean his parents’ own blood and fend for himself –but at least he’s alive… the circumstances and solitude in which he grew is abysmal, traumatic, negligent and inhumane, but we don’t care as much about children’s safety as we do children being just alive.

There were other children in that compound, children that knew nothing of and participated not in the coup to which Itachi didn’t extend the same kindness he did his brother.

The Uchiha's reputation were saved. Imagine what would have happened to the Uchihas after the war. The people were already suspicious of the Uchihas and now we will have never ending persecution and would be branded as traitors, doesn't matter if the coup won or lost. The coup wasn't about reforming anyway.

What “reputation”? The Uchiha were always constructed under a negative light within Tobirama’s system, you lot keep saying they were saved from being seen as detractors when there’s not a single panel that states they were planning to change the system as a whole (rather take down the current government, which is not the same).

Furthermore, to think that they cared about the rest of the population's mindset regarding them is so incredibly simplistic I have to laugh at it –they’re the strongest clan in the village, without Uchiha, there’d have been no village in the first place, and they were already aware of the unfavorable perspective in which they were regarded by others, nothing in itself would’ve changed.

The Uchiha being seen as loyal to the village helped no one but the current system as it is, as they’re seen as a government without opposition, it wasn’t about maintaining the Uchiha’s honor, but keeping the fragile credit of the structure and those in power -if Uchiha died in their own terms, then other clans will know about the clan’s discomfort with the current mindset, and those that feel uncomfortable with it might find a group that validates such sentiments:

Kakashi admits to being uncomfortable with the way he's viewed by the system, he even uses plural when referring to ninja ("we ninja") -meaning there's a communal uneasiness with the whole situation.

The fact that the government silenced detractors (Uchiha) by killing them will only deepen further the general shinobi population's discomfort, which is why is imperative to silence the truth.

[On another note, why do you keep using "honor" as an excuse to execute an entire compound of people? The entire clan was decimated and the whole "honor" of the family rested as another responsibility Sasuke had to endure all by himself thanks to "Itachi's love" -they were left with no honor as Sasuke was forced to restore it! Furthermore, they're all dead! What is "honor" gonna do for them? For the massacred innocents at least? They did nothing wrong and were killed regardless, their honorable nature wasn't even being questioned!]

People in the village got to be safe too.

Safe of what? When was it stated they were going to fight against those who weren’t in power? The problem is they rebelling against those they deem their oppressors but not the government refusing to renounce their power in order to keep the “population they hold so dear” safe? They are both willing to kill innocents (so I guess some people in the village weren’t safe, but in your book, they don’t matter as much), and use the rest of the military population to strike against Uchiha (which is also, never actually stated!). The idea of a “within war” was never confirmed as the Uchiha had no chance to strike, no one is to say they weren’t trying to take power through force yet quietly, no one is to know what was their actual plan as that was never brought to light!

The Uchiha are wrong for wanting to take the power but the government isn't wrong for wanting to keep it, the Uchiha are wrong for their methods to seek authority but not the government for defending the status quo. Uchiha having power would mean annihilation, somehow, despite them being against just their oppressors, not Konoha as a whole; while the government seeks to protect the village despite massacring an entire and most important portion of their militia and one of the founders' clans.

And despite all these he still regretted a lot enough that he wanted the person he adored the most to kill him. 

He regretted nothing, he wanted Sasuke to kill him in order to both give him an objective and to distract him from finding out Konoha’s involvement in the Uchiha Massacre, shouldering the entire responsibility of their demisse.

Also, no one here is trying to justify his action. 

But you are, you wrote point after point why he had to kill his clan.

A justification and a reason has a clear distinction.

What distinction? You need to expand on the notions you think are relevant to you own argument. 

Just because there was a reason it doesn't make the acts were justified. He himself acknowledged that. The writer didn't try to justify nor did Itachi himself. People like, Hashirama and Naruto, appreciated the role he played and praised him as a Shinobi.(being seen as a villan while protecting the people isn't easy, btw). They weren't justifying or glorifying his actions in any instance.

What are you even writing? I’m being honest with that question, claiming to have a reason to kill his clan is used as a justification for his actions! I can’t believe I have to explain that to you. He never said he had no justification (their coup was treated as such over and over, everyone took advantage of them wanting to coup in order to both order the massacre and carry it out!!).

How on earth can you write “People like Hashirama and Naruto appreciated the role he played and praised him as a shinobi but they never justified him”, so are they praising him or not? Them positively reinforcing Itachi and praising him for “his sacrifice” (you see, not only he is perceived as a villain, he is a villain, he killed an entire kin -again, innocents included, in order to maintain specific people in power) is justifying his actions under the notion of the “greater good for the village”. 

He wasn't an absolute nationalist.

He did everything for Konoha! He even claimed himself to be “Itachi of the Leaf!” What are you even talking about?

He he was an idealist. His motivations most cases(especially while making big decisions)were to 'not beget war' and 'maintain peace'. 

Yet his actions concluded in Obito being able to control the Ten Tails with almost no real opposition as the only other Sharingan-wielder was Sasuke.

Doesn't matter if Uchihas managed to control the village it still starts war, death, destruction and countless losses which is exactly what Itachi hated from when he was 4. 

How do you know? Do you have an entirely new manga written by Kishimoto about what would’ve happened had the Uchiha taken over the village? Itachi hated Uchiha since he was four because they brought “war, death and destruction” but not Konoha that actually provoked such wars, deaths, and destruction, what an intelligent boy! 

You have to be a troll because, man, “unbiased opinion” my ass. Also, did you just come to my blog with arguments coming from Itachi Shinden? The story not written by Kishimoto?

He also wanted to reform the village by becoming a Hokage. He wanted to wiped out the entire ninja system since ninjas were the ones who were used as a weapon for the Diamoyo start constant wars. 

Funny, under Hiruzen’s regime he would’ve never become Hokage, furthermore, when did he even hinted to want to become Hokage?? Never in the entire manga. Also, the Daimyo did little to nothing when it came to wars, those were all the Kage’s responsibilities! Dear Lord, did you at least read Team 10’s Arc? Asuma’s background literally explains how the Shugonin Jūnishi fought each other because six of them wanted the entire military power of the Land of Fire to be managed by the Daimyo alone while the rest, Asuma included, defended the Hokage’s existence. 

The Leaf was sort of obnoxious in the time of Tobirama and Hiruzen's regime. But even still, the Hokages were good and passionate and also the people were innocent.

Which people were innocent? The children and non-Sharingan wielders that knew nothing of the coup and were massacred regardless? How can you write “the Hokages were good” while they literally ordered the mass killing of people they swore to protect? How can you use “obnoxious” and “good” to describe the same two people?!

Gosh, the fact that you lot (Itachi stans) don’t comprehend that his involvement in the massacre of his own people alongside the protagonist’s endorsement of state-sanctioned genocide, makes the annihilation of an entire portion of a village a plausible option to handle internal disagreements is disastrous.

Committing genocide against the village’s own people sets a dangerous precedent where future governments can see and use such slaughter as a conceivable, even necessary, tool at their disposal whenever they feel threatened, making any clan vulnerable to the decisions of its government and guaranteeing the silence of possible detractors or even the censorship of constructive criticism of the political, military, economic and cultural system.

Jesus.

[bookatans]

This is probably going to be a very long post but the more I think about the rise (and subsequent fall) of the New Mandalorians, the more that I get wrapped up in not only the colonialism committed by Satine and the movement, how it began in such a horrifyingly understated way, but also how it paved the way for Mandalore to be destroyed thanks to the almost-complete erasure of their culture.

First of all, Canon verse deciding to remove the True Mandalorians (and placing the "Old" Mandalorians in a similar, though less prominent position) feels particularly underhanded and paints everything in a black and white manner. Satine: a sympathetic character who is the only one standing against Death Watch, the last shred of peace left for Mandalorians to cling to. Which. Last standing? Yes, definitely. But not the only one.

A war where Death Watch and the New Mandalorians were the major players, only to have Death Watch defeated – even with the assistance of the Jedi keeping Satine alive – makes little sense from a technical standpoint. Is it impossible? Probably not. All sorts of things can happen in history, pure dumb luck makes every difference, but it's unlikely. A party which seeks peace is not going to survive against another ultra violent, volatile party that's pissed off at you because you want to erase the culture that they so deeply value.

Which, yeah I don't buy it. Even with the Republic stepping in later on, it's fishy. But for the sake of my sanity, I'm mostly focusing on Legends, because the more you try to create a coherent timeline (seriously, how is Clone Batch Math easier than this?) for the Mandalorian Civil Wars, the harder it is not to give up entirely.

Anyways. Satine did not survive years of conflict due to mere smarts and perseverance, and did not end the war by being charismatic and having good people skills. She was the LEAST THREATENING PARTY in a three-party war, hunkering down with her Jedi protectors and playing politician while the actual warriors in the conflict weakened one another and – for the True Mandalorians – were wiped out.

True Mandalorians. Death Watch. New Mandalorians.

So, okay. The approximate dates of the beginning and end of the Mandalorian Civil Wars don't necessarily make sense with Satine’s age. She'd have been slightly younger, and Canon seems to have a tendency to just wave their hand in the general direction of a time period and deflect onto another topic.

Which, you know what? Fine. I can work with that without having to think too hard about the dates. It kills me not to delve into it further, but. No. It's not like Disney's gonna pay me to fix their broken timeline.

(But if I had to, I'd shift Jaster's death to 47BBY instead of 52BBY, and push the Battle of Galidraan a year back to 43BBY, and—)

Here's what's important to remember, though:

- There are two Mandalorian Civil Wars. The first being True Mandalorians vs Death Watch. The second being the much shorter, and quickly solved Death Watch vs the New Mandalorians.

- The massacre of the True Mandalorians happened shortly before the beginning of the second civil war.

- The True Mandalorians had already been dealing with Death Watch for years, and they were winning. Death Watch wasn't just on the run, they were weak, they had to resort to TRICKING THE JEDI into killing the True Mandalorians for them.

Who wasn't weak? The New Mandalorians, the people that actively choose to turn their back on a culture that had survived for centuries. And yes, Death Watch remained even after the True Mandalorians fell. Tor Vizsla targeted Satine and the New Mandalorians viciously after that, there was even more destruction, but it wasn't with the severity with which he'd prosecuted the True Mandalorians.

Here's what happened next: Jango Fett escaped his enslavement. He hunted down Tor Vizsla, and he killed him. Whatever strength Death Watch had regained in those few years didn't matter, because the second their leader was gone they were certainly left unorganized and at a disadvantage.

Giving the New Mandalorians the opening they needed to cement in people's minds to their beliefs and convince the House and Clan leaders that abandoning their old ways was the solution. After all, how much more of Mandalore was left to destroy? How many more had to be lost?

With the public's approval and the Republic’s help, Satine Kryze and the New Mandalorians scavenged the corpse of Mandalore, and they took what they deemed fit, left the rest to rot and – given time – be erased completely.

What's worse is that Satine's activism and speeches made it sound like that made sense (because, to Satine, it did make sense); abandon what Mandalore once was because that's the reason we've been destroyed, isn't it? (Not entirely untrue.) And these people, whose world had been ravaged, who's clans and families had wrecked everything with in-fighting, were tired and desperate enough that they listened.

Actually, here's what's really worse — Satine got LUCKY! The first time! It should not have ended like that. But because she got lucky, because it worked once, she tried to do the exact same thing when the entire galaxy went to war. And she ignored the suffering of people whom she should have known empathy towards, who were going through the very same torment she experienced as a child. Because her position of superiority where peace is the only answer was so ingrained in her beliefs, because she was ARROGANT.

And because peace was the only answer, because she'd disavowed any sense of warrior culture from her people, Satine had as much a hand in dooming Mandalore as everyone who went in with the worst intentions. Does it matter that it was doomed regardless, because Maul was the great evil that came to destroy them? No. Maul was just the most convenient means to an end the resurrected Death Watch could find, but if not him it would have been anyone — anything – else.

I do feel for her. She had to experience her father's death so young and step into a role he'd left behind, didn't get a proper chance to grieve because she had to be strong for everyone else who was grieving. She gave up the possibility of love for duty. Satine was a good leader, I won't argue that, and she was the last stand between Mandalore and total annihilation, but she was also deeply flawed.

[cece693]

Talk it Out (Steve Rogers x Gender Neutral Reader)

This is inspired by the Tony vs. Steve debates arising when Civil War premiered. I believe both were at fault—but what if there was a voice of reason who diffused the situation?

Summary: Being related to the genius Tony Stark had many benefits, but being stuck in an argument between him and your fiance, Steve Rogers, was never anticipated.

Being a Stark had its fair share of perks: a hefty bank account, influential power, looks that turn heads. But what the public was unaware of was the messy family drama, courtesy of Howard Stark. Despite the world applauding him as a genius inventor, at home, he was anything but wonderful.

Work seemed to be his one true love, leaving little room for the whole parenting gig. Affection and care for his kids, especially m/n, were as rare as a unicorn. And when the Stark siblings were paid attention, it was mostly due to the public image Howard wanted to construct as a loving father.

So, when Tony decided to start flying around New York as Iron Man, m/n wanted nothing to do with it. Don't get him wrong, m/n loved his brother, but staying out of the limelight gave m/n the peace they longed for since childhood. No image they had to uphold nor expectations they needed to live up to, m/n was content spending their remaining days working on the numerous charities and foundations Stark Industries supported.

M/n wasn't interested in the media at all, but he guessed being related to Tony Stark and dating fellow Avenger, Captain America aka Steve Rogers would throw that plan out the window.

Their relationship with the Captain had been a surprise to all; meant to be kept a secret from the public, with only the Avengers and Tony (obviously) knowing. However, when a picture leaked of them holding hands, the world went crazy.

With everyone, even news channels, speculating the nature of their relationship, it was m/n who ultimately decided to clear up rumors. Yes, they were dating Captain America, and what about it? The world had bigger problems than worrying about stranger's love affairs.

So, even if the public knew about their romance, m/n withheld that they were also engaged.

But as m/n said, the world had bigger problems. And indeed they had. After a failed attempt by Loki to take over the world, alongside Ultron's failed destruction of said world, their plate was full. It didn't need unnecessary drama thrown into it: like Steve and Tony bickering due to the recently written Sokovia Accords.

"You're being irrational!"

"Sue me Rogers for wanting to protect the world."

Rolling his eyes, m/n didn't understand how a friendship like Steve and Tony's was being destroyed over something as stupid as the Accords. If he was being honest, both men were acting like children.

"Can't you guys just talk it out?" M/n spoke, sitting up from his seat to glare at his brother and fiance. "I know Tony's a drama queen—"

"Hey!"

"But I expect better from you, Steve. Now, I'm going out with Pepper for lunch. When I return, you better have resolved this or else." Kissing both men's cheeks, m/n left the room. Looking at each other, Tony and Steve thought the same thing.

'M/n is scary when they want to be.'

[ophelieverse]

Can you write something angsty for my boy Jace please?🥺

₊˚ˑ༄ؘ My bones are your bones.

Jacaerys Velaryon x fem!reader.

The blacks won the war.After his mother,Jacaerys became king and still,after all these years,he’s haunted by the ghost of his first love.

Also Jacaerys,Y/n and Baela deserved better😭

I’m back with whatever this is!Please be gentle with me and thank you so much for all the love y’all gave me!💕🫶🏻

Sorry for the errors and let me know what you think!🥰

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The sound of the rain is delightful.

It beats on the roofs,it ticks on the windows,falls from the downhill streets and huddled people to find a shelter together. Sometimes,tired and melancholy it gets trapped inside a pit and falls asleep.The sun, then, akes the rain away.Only the scent remains, he sky returns to its usual blue and the joyful birds return to chirp.

That afternoon it smelled of rain on the asphalt,but it wasn't raining,not yet.Even if the sky was already covered with clouds and the wind that was blowing was able to carry the scent of lilies that were blooming in the big garden of the castle.

King Jacaerys Targaryen,first of his name,was in his thirty two years of living and seven years of reign.Many things had changed through the decades,he grew taller,wiser and dutiful embracing his birthright as the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.After a bloody and destructive civil war between his family members,between ashes and bones,dragons and brothers,his mother reign was short and not very welcomed by the people.

Jacaerys was like a breath of fresh air,a young and smart man that,since the beginning,knew what he had to do.In his seventh year of reign,he didn’t only changed his last name,like his grandfather requested before his death,but after the war he was a completely different person.

Even rain,the sound and the smell of it,the feeling on the bare skin and the waiting to see it falling for the grey sky was different for him now.

Rain became much more than just water falling from the sky.It is a very underestimated element of nature,whenever it started to rain the world changed.It was raining the first time he kissed her and it was raining the day she died.

For Jacaerys,rain was a similarity of sadness.The sky changes to accommodate the bad mood and then it starts to rain slowly,a heartbreaking slowness that leads him to think as he look at it from behind the window.Exactly like pain,which hugged him slowly and then invaded him completely,soaking his soul.

But the worst rain is the one that comes suddenly,unexpectedly,when he was around and it starts to rain suddenly and he didn’t know how to protect himself from it so he could start running desperately to find shelter.Equal to the pain that hits him straight to the heart like a bolt of lightning in the blue,he couldn’t expect it,he was not prepared for this kind of pain so it spreads in him sucking in every hope of being able to smile in the rain

Everything gets darker,the rain murmurs it’s sad music in his ears and he no longer distinguishes the various scents that usually hover in the streets.The rain covers everything, it covers the noises,the scents and also covers himself.

The dropps of water are short-lived,who knows if in the stretch they make from the sky to the asphalt they are sad because they know that in a few moments they will disappear or if they decide to be happy for their last moments of life.

Whether it comes slow or comes suddenly,rain is always dangerous but never as much as pain. Because the rain ends and then the sun returns but the pain continues because it got under his skin.He could wash his soaked clothes and then he put them to dry and it's like they've never been wet,but he will keep feeling the pain constantly and he’ll like to tear his skin.

The rain in Jacaerys life was sadness,but from the rain he could always find a shelter,from the pain he couldn’t protect himself.

During that time of the day,late evening,an ancient sadness came up from inside him and he knew he didn't have to let her get where it really started to hurt.In the place inside himself where she was still alive,breathing and dancing with his deepest dreams,hopes and fears.

When Jacaerys became King he was only twenty five years old and,for a moment,he was getting better.For a moment he felt good.For a moment he wanted to live.For a moment he had hope again.And in a moment,when he got back at her house,in the gardens and near the lake,he had lost everything again.

He had gone back,the day after his coronation,and everything seemed to have remained the same.The bright light of the sun hitting on the windows,the sweet smell of spring in the air,the crystalline water.It was like in the past,the time he had fallen for her.

He could see some of the roses still blooming in the garden.Brown on the edges and bright in other colors,their petals drooping downward, dying just as their lives have begun.

They stayed past their time,and Jacaerys realized that she have too.Y/n presence was everywhere and it took his breath away,in a second it all came back.

He liked to think that everything was going better,that he was alright and had a new life with a new love in it.But he was wrong.What lived and died between them was still haunting him.

«You promised to protect her!»her father had screamed to him,pure anger on his old face but in his eyes the empty feeling of the pain of having lost his daughter.

«She is gone because of you!»her older sister had sobbed,holding a hand close to her chest.

Death its terrible.So terrible to lose someone.And if he didn't face it,if he didn't deal with it,then he’ll just end up losing himself too.But Jacaerys didn't want to heal.He didn’t wanted to let go,because the pain was the only connection to what he had lost.

When we lose someone to whom we gave all the love we had inside ourselves,at that moment everything stops.We may have a lot of other people around,of course, but in our eyes they will be invisible.We are convinced that nothing will make sense anymore,that nothing will ever be the way it was before.Together with that person we also lose ourselves a bit, denying ourselves the chance to move on.We darken more and more,shrouded in the shadow of our loneliness,forgetting that everything that is not watered,sooner or later withers.

For a moment,Jacaerys closed his eyes.In his mind he was still fifteen,together and in love with her.He liked to believe that they have never been apart,so that he could invent a new past to remember.He could imagine how things would’ve been different if she had been with him.

He imagined what life could’ve been if that day he had decided to take her with him at Dragonstone instead of leaving her behind at Oldtwon.A tiny voice in his head liked to tell him that he did it to keep her safe,once the war started and he was called back to fight.Another part of him,the one that kept him awake at night,tormented him with the heart wrenching feelings that it was his fault.

Y/n death was his fault.

«I’m sorry it ended this way.»was the only thing he could breathe out.

Her younger sister was a Septa,closer to the gods that Jacaerys had stopped to believe in,and the only one that accepted his presence at Y/n memorial near the lake where her body was found.

«Y/n has been dead long before she died.»her sister stated,her grey vest blowing in the chilly wind and her voice soft«The time she had spent with you was the most happy I’ve ever seen her.She was alive for the first time.»she confessed,her bright eyes locked on the cold stone on the green grass.

Jacaerys fell on his knees near where little violets were blooming,his vision was blurry with the tears that were streaming down his cheeks and he almost didn’t noticed the words written on her grave:

“My bones are your bones.”

Jacaerys choked a cry,remembering the poem that they had read together as he whispered«When my time is near,i will be burned with you.So i had desired my dusts to be mingled with yours.Forever and forever,to be able to lay with you.»he prayed.

«Your grace-»her younger sister was trying to comfort him,but he didn’t heard her.

«I had never loved anyone,anything in the way i loved her.»he sobbed,his heart was hurting so much that he wanted to rip it out from his chest with his bare hands«I would never love someone else like this.I can’t.It only happens once.»his hands were trembling as he traced his fingers on the stone pretending it was her face.

Her sister placed a comforting hand on his shoulder,her eyes wet fro the tears and a sad little smile on her lips«For some people not even once.Y/n was very lucky to be loved by you.»she whispered«Your love made her immortal.»as she looked around,from the birds chirping,the blooming flowers,with the awaking of the spring her sister was there.

Jacaerys shook his head,his brain was pounding against his skull,the air was like fire in his lungs«She is gone because of me.»he cried her older sister words.

«Your grace,it wasn’t your fault.My-»the young Septa tried,holding back a the urge to cry with a sad and apprensive smile.

The king choked a sob«You can put the blame on me.I already blame myself.»his eyes burned,his breathe was short«She was there,all alone,and she shouldn’t have.She should have been with me!»the skin on his face was itching,he wanted to take it apart,feel physical pain to numb the one in his soul.

He didn’t wanted her to be immortal if she wasn’t there with him.It was selfish,to dream of having her just for himself and so painful to have loved something that death had touched so easily.

«The gods have reasons-»her younger sister calm voice was interrupted harshly by his.

«What reasons?»Jacaerys almost shouted,turning his head up to look at her«If the gods are so merciful,what was the reason?Why couldn’t they just took some else?Why my Y/n?»he asked as she knew the right answer.

Her younger sister,now that he looked at her better,had the same eyes of his Y/n.But hers were brighter,warmer and full of life.Y/n ones,the last time he saw them up close,were white like sea pearls,cold and empty,dead just like the rest of her.

Her sister knelt besides him,a gentle hand on his shaking back gave him a warm familiar feeling«When we were children,my mother used to scold Y/n because she always preferred to pick the flowers that my mother had just planted»the young girl told him,giggling at the old memory«She said she liked them most because they bloomed with the first day of the spring,they were untouched and they were the most beautiful in the gardens.»she continued with a little voice.

«She loved to paint them.»Jacaerys murmured,closing his eyes for a second.

Her sister nodded«I think the Gods picked my sister for the same reasons.She was the most beautiful flower.»she then said,looking up at the sky.

The clouds were darkening,the chilly wind was starting to blow stronger.It was about to rain again.

«Then why?»he asked again«Why did they made us met and fall in love,if they had to pick her?»he couldn’t understand,this was definitely a punishment for his family sins.

Her sister shook her head«All that i know is that intense love always lead to mourning.»she whispered.

Legend has it that there is always a reason why souls meet.Maybe they found each other for reasons that weren't all that different.They were two souls who sought and found comfort in each other and it is not possible to separate. The reasons why they are united are not incidents.Maybe Y/n needed someone to show her how to live and Jacaerys needed someone to show him how to love.

Memory was an agony,but he remembered everything about the first time he had laid his eyes on her.All the things they did together and even though sometimes he wished he had never met her to spare his heart from this pain,he would’ve been lying to himself if he didn’t wish to do it all again and again just to be with her.

Jacaerys was fifteen,betrothed to his cousin Baela,one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen,fearless and bold.She would’ve made a good Queen one day,ruling by his side with a good heart and an open mind.Even though he was promised to her,Jacaerys had never wondered if he was capable of it,of loving someone romantically.

He had always thought that,for him,a prince that life was already planned by his parents for him,love would remain a utopia,that he would never be able to fall in love with a woman and he did not believe that he would ever have the chance to bond with a girl,not enough to love her.He thought he wouldn't even be able to recognize love.

Then,Y/n had arrived and it was her that he had recognized.Love was not a word.Love was her silhouette.Her height that paraded away from him and reached him on the other side of the corridor and then became her hair and the contours of the light that caressed them.Love was her eyes looking for his mouth and her teeth biting his lips;it was her voice greeting him distracted,while in her throat she still heard my saliva.

The love for Jacaerys was his Lady Y/n and thousands had died because of it.

In the Long Summer of his fifteen years,young prince Jacaerys flew on the back of his dragon,Vermax,from Dragonstone to Oldtown.As the future King,he already had duties and responsibility on his shoulders,one of them was to know and embrace his Valyrian roots.He had heard the whispers,seen himself and his two younger brothers to know the truth that everyone was afraid to talk about.

His mother,Rhaenyra,suggested it would be a good idea for him to study in Oldtown where history and philosophy met daily,where all of his ancestors had learned and whose presences still lingered in the streets.

Lord Penrose house was one of the most beautiful in the Citadel,with ancient paintings,beautiful gardens,big libraries full of histories and the most beautiful thing the prince ever saw in his life.Lord Penrose house was a place were young Lords and Ladies from all the Seven Kingdoms stayed whenever they where in the city to study,but among all the people that crowded the big place,his young daughter,Y/n,was the only one that glowed.

A light green dress hugged her body,clinging to her wet skin,as she emerged from the warm water of the lake in the middle of the central garden.Roses,daffodils and daisies were the most beautiful frame for the most beautiful painting, “The birth of a nymph”he would’ve called it and in that moment Jacaerys wished he was gifted with the capability of painting,to capture that instant forever.Carving it in his mind,heart and soul.

She was one of those beauties he couldn’t forget,because she screams like an earthquake, or a thunderstorm in her impetuous force.She had the charm of an unpredictable destiny.And he had lost his heart.

Jacaerys was frozen,his dark eyes became big as two cups of tea,his cheeks redden as his gaze trailed on her small figure and on the exposed glistening skin.He had never believed in the gods,ora in any other form of deity,but right now he was more than willing to go down on his knees for just a taste of her.

«Are you in need of any assistance,my Lady?»the young prince just noticed the way the hem of her dress got stuck in the branches of the bush near the lake.

The girl didn’t looked at him,her wet hair were clinging to the skin of her neck and falling down her beautiful face«No,thank you.»she groaned as she tried to free herself and not reap the dress at the same time.

Jacaerys smiled at the sound of her voice,gorgeous just like her and only now he noticed that she was holding,in her left hand,two brushes«Are you sure?You seems like you could use some help.»he said with kindness and a bright smile.

Y/n huffed annoyed by the situation«I may be a damsel,but i’m not the distressed kind»she spit out«I don’t need your-»her voice stopped when she lifted her face to look at who she was talking to.

Jacaerys lowered his torso,leaned forward and with a gesture of his wrist broke the twig,then threw it in the middle of the lake.The girl immediately took steps back,surprised by the presence in front of her.She didn't know how to behave,she didn't know whether to thank him or pretend nothing happened.The focus fell on his stature,he was much taller than her and his shoulders could have lifted a trunk from how thick and wide they were.Immediately afterwards she lingered on his eyes,slightly closed for the first rays of the sun.She remained hypnotized by his eyes.Brown,dark.

And a normal person couldn’t add all the adjectives and facets of that color,but for someone like her it wasn’t just brown.Static, firm,her mind was motionless.She almost couldn't see the bottom of those eyes.

Brown and bold,yet rich and deep stood those eyes.

«Here»he said gently,offering his hand to here«Are you alright,my lady?»he asked then,with a worried tone.

Y/n nodded slowly,instead of accepting his hand she used her free one to lift her dress to walk out the water of the lake«Actually,there is something you could help me with my prince.»she said with a calmer voice.

Jacaerys smiled immediately«Of course»he said,«But first can i know your name?»he asked as he walked after her.

«I’m Y/n.»she informed him,barefoot and her dress wetting the floors of the porches«And you are princess Rhaenyra son»she continued.

He nodded«Indeed I’am.»

Jacaerys had visited the big as soon as he had arrived in the morning,Lord Penrose offered him a nutritious breakfast,a tour of the place as he introduced to the young prince all the brightest Lords and Ladies that were studying,but nothing of them could’ve compared with what he was seeing right now.

In a small room,away from the big art studio in her house,there was different canvases,canes of paint and dirty brushes.Y/n placed the brushes she had in her hand on a wooden table were they scattered some pencils and papers.

But what had caught his eyes was the painting right next to him.It was drew directly on the white - stoned wall,not on a canvas and it was not framed,but free on the bricks.

From the windows across the room the rays of the sun illuminated the work of art in all it full glory.A masterpiece it was,from the accurate paint brushes,the fluid technique,the colors that were chosen.It definitely showed that whoever paint it was an amazing artist with years of practice and love and devotion.

On the wall it was represented Gael Targaryen death,the thirteenth and last child of King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne.After the deaths of her parents,it was revealed that Gael had been seduced and impregnated by a traveling singer.She had given birth to a stillborn son,and overwhelmed by her grief,she had walked into Blackwater Bay and drowned.

Jacaerys stared at the painting,his ancestors,the young and frail princess was the center of the artwork.She is floating in a body of water.Her head is situated to the left of the composition,and her feet face towards the right-hand side.She is depicted in a beautiful,soft dress barely keeping her buoyant and her midsection is submerged in the water.

Her face is still out of the water,and he could see she had an almost listless expression;her eyes are staring out ahead and her mouth is slightly parted.She appears almost unaware of the fact that she is drowning.There is a necklace of purple violets around her neck and a small pink rosebud on its stem near her right ear.One of Gael hands is floating just above the water,her palm is facing up and her hand appear cupped,the other one is clinging to her empty and cold belly where once a life was supposed to be.

«Which one are you?»the girl asked suddenly,she was using one of the covers that were sitting on a chair next the window to dry her hair.

Jacaerys turned around confused«Uh?»he sounded lost.

Y/n giggled at his expression«I think one the princes is named Joffrey»she started,closing her eyes for a moment to remember better«The other one is Lucas or…no…i think his name is Lucien.»she murmured.

«It’s actually Lucerys and he’s my brother»he corrected her with a soft smile.

«I was close.»she sounded proud of herself and it made him smile even more.

«You were.»he reassured her.

«And you?»she asked.

«I’m Jacaerys.»he introduced himself.

Y/n stayed quiet for a second«Why are you here Jacaerys?»it was the first time someone asked him why he wanted to go to Oldtown.

The prince swallowed,licking his dry lips«I’m here to study,my Lady.»he informed her,standing still on his feet.

She pursed her lips,trailing her eyes on his regal figure«That’s what you told my father and perhaps what you told your mother.»she was reading him like a book without much effort«But why are you really here?»she asked again.

Her eyes were on him and for the first time in his life he felt seen.Something warm was spreading in his chest,his hands were sweaty as he looked at her coming closer to him.Her dress was still wet,hugging her perfect silhouette,as she walked past him.

«Why were you in the lake?»Jacaerys asked a question instead of answering hers.

Y/n was holding an annoyed expression but a little smile was forming on her face«I had thrown my brushes in it.»she explained.

The young boy looked even more confused now,walking around covered canvas with white sheets and empty easels«And,forgive me for asking,why would you do that?»he said with a chuckle.

«I will answer your question when you will answer mine.»she stated with a playful expression on her sun kissed face.

Jacaerys looked again at the painting on the wall,the purple eyes and silver hair that he never had and still,after all these years,were haunting him every time he looked at himself.The whispers,the nasty glances,the harsh words and his mother reassurances did everything and nothing at the same time to carve on him his true identity.

«I want to be part of something.»he immediately said,after taking a deep breathe.

His mother always told him that,not matter what,he was and always will be a Targaryen.He had a dragon that followed his orders and he was the heir of the Iron Throne.Yet whenever he looked at his family members he felt like an outsider,like he was admiring a beautiful painting from afar.If he knew something more about his family,maybe he could feel part of it.

Y/n sounded content with his answer but she didn’t added anything«I threw my brushes in the lake because my father wants me to marry Ser Gwayne Hightower.»she said suddenly.

Jacaerys cringed at the sound of his name«I can assume that it’s not what you wanted.»

The girl let out a frustrated sound,crossing her arms on her chest«All i want to do is to paint.»she murmured,looking around her small art studio.

«You can still paint after you get married.»Jacaerys stated with nonchalant advice.

«My father fell in love with my mother after he saw her paint in the streets of the Citadel.She was the most talented artist,but after their marriage she had never touched a brush again.»Y/n explained with a distant melancholy.

«We are not our parents.»Jacaerys started with a solid voice and a comforting expression«We can change and still decide what to be and what to do.Even if it’s all already planned for us.»he needed to hear these words as much as her.

«Don’t do that.»Y/n shook her head with a small smile.

Jacaerys smiled with her«Do what?»he asked.

«Make me become a optimist.»she answered«You will ruin my life and i didn’t invite you here for this.»she continued picking up the paint and the brushes that she needed for her next work.

«Why did you invited me here for?»he raised a brown.

As he looked at her,he realized that in a very short time that was a special feeling when he was with her,and he wished that wonder would remain in his life forever.

«I want you to pose for me.»she answered.

After a year in her house,that sensation grew stronger and Y/n was the one that showed him the city,Oldtown,in all its beauty.She was at his bedroom door one morning,a dark cloak in her left hand and a pile of commoners dirty clothes in the other.She was dressed as a boy,light brown pants that were too big for her and a maroon shirt.

«You have to be one with the city to enjoy it at it fullest.»she had told him,shoving the dirty clothes in his hands.

Something told Jacaerys that she was used to sneak out in disguised,to loose herself in the crowd and to be just like everyone else around.

«There is no other place like this in the world,my prince.»Y/n was walking beside him,the first lights in the morning and the ancient architecture framing them.«Sometimes walking in silence,I feel like I'm listening to the voices of those who filled these streets before me.Lives after lives,after other lives,for centuries,and I know that even King’s Landing and Dragonstone are made of centuries of history and people,but you can't recognize every moment of that story overlapping like this,one on the other.»she sounded so in love with the place she was born and grew up with,her eyes scanning every place that learned by heart in the years.

«I’ve never seen something so breathtaking.»Jacaerys confessed,but his eyes weren’t looking,weren’t taking in what the Lady next to him was talking about,they were fixed on the way her lips moved.

«Me neither,no matter how many times i walk here.»she admitted.

«Can i…will i be able to look at if forever?»he didn’t know what he was asking for,but he had to ask.

Maybe he was asking her to be always by his side,to always have something beautiful to look at.

Y/n nodded«Oldtown does not lose its pride,its sincerity,its sarcasm and the uncontrollable cynicism with which for centuries it has watched generations of the world fall in love with it,without ever breaking down.Breathe in Oldtown,Jacaerys,tomorrow it will already be different,tomorrow there will also be your smell,in a hundred years they will still feel it,here nothing is lost.»she reassured him with a gentle smile.

«We will be here forever?»Jacerys said,stood in the middle of the square,people all around them laughing and talking,different shades of colors and tunes of musics.

«We will be here forever.»Y/n repeated with a sincere and strong affirmation«Even when our bones will become ashes and our souls will leave this earth,you will always found us here.»then she took his hand,her fingers latching on his,their skins caressing each other,a silent promise as she started to walk again with him.

In the time they had spent together,Jacaerys had learned that one of Y/n older brothers became a Maester for the Citadel,her older sister was married to Lord Manderly son and was expecting their fourth child,her younger sister was studying to become a Septa and her younger brother was training to be a knight in the capital.

After the first kiss that they shared together,she opened up more to him«They already knew what they wanted,what to be in this big world.»Y/n said to him.

«And you?»Jacaerys asked her one evening.

They were walking slowly in the city streets,a cloak on their shoulders as she showed him all the beauty that history can offer them.Immortals and young at the same time.

«Me?»her sweet voice was surprised,her nose scrunching up in confusion.

«Yes.»he said quietly«What is it that you want?»he asked this time,keeping his gaze on her silhouette.

She seemed to think about,maybe a second or two,no one has aver asked her what she wanted «I want to live near the ocean,in a beautiful house with big windows so that i can watch the water.»she started with a dreamy look in her beautiful eyes«Oh and i also want a room,a small one,just for me where i can paint.»she continued with a small smile on her lips.

Jacaerys heart soared in his chest,a bright smirk on his face was burning his cheeks«Anything else?»he chuckled.

She nodded immediately«I also want you to take me fly on your dragon,»her small face heated up«to see the rest of the world with you.»she added.

«Thats what you want?»his heart was beating loudly in his ear,he almost couldn’t heard her.

But then she smiled brightly,like she was shy«Yes»she nodded again«Would you do it for me?»she asked with a tiny voice.

He pulled her to himself in the dark,under a building,an arch,a slit of the world,pushed her against the wall and kissed her.And if he had gone crazy,to kiss her under the eyes of so many people,she would let him do it and she would have been crazy the same way,or even more,if he had asked her.

«Sometimes,Y/n,»Jacaerys whispered on her lips,behind him the Temple of the Seven stood in all it magnificent«I get doubts about the existence of the Gods.»he confessed to her.

«What?»she murmured confused,opening her eyes to look at how beautiful he was so close to her.

«Shh,»he said,his hand holding her face and thumb against her delicate mouth,«I have doubts about the existence of the Gods.Then I look at you and think that the Gods,even just one of them,must necessarily exist,because Nature cannot be so diabolical to create something so beautiful and prohibit it.»He approached,squinted his thumb on her half-closed lips,and spoke in her ear in a hoarse voice that made her tremble«Nothing is like you and there is nothing that i wouldn’t do to make you happy.You want to see the world?I’ll buy it for you,i’ll give you every centimeters of this earth,every drop of water,all the clouds in the sky.»And it was almost a lament.

«Would you do it for me?»she asked again,she was breathless,cheeks red and hair messy but she was the most beautiful thing in the whole city.

Jacaerys nodded his head slowly«But i will only ask you something in return.»he breathed out,holding himself up with a hand on the wall near her head.

«What is it that you want?»Y/n nose brushed against his,her breath tickling his neck.

«You.»he said immediately«I want you to be my wife,i want you to be mine as i’m yours and even after our deaths our love can still remain right here where we stood.»his lips were on hers again,a way to keep this promise and to be forever tangled with her.

No matter how many squares there would be later,how many statues,staircases,temples, paintings or extraordinary palaces would await them at the end of that darkness,that smile of her as she pronounced a small«I do.»would always be a blasphemy screamed in the face of the Gods,or art,and nothing could ever be more beautiful.Oldtown was just a worthy frame.

Jacaerys never smiled again after that day.That’s was everyone said about him,a joyless man,severely marked by his experiences during the civil war that changed his life forever.The King could be graceful and courtly when it was required,but at the same time had a darkness within him that never went away.The guilt he felt over having abandoned and lost Y/n kept him awake every night.He had known love and it had broken his heart.

Even after years,when everyone moved on,how could he think of looking at and recognizing the same world as before,after loving in that way?How could he imagine going back to living any life after that,after Y/n? How could he think he was the same person?She had changed his name and stole his soul.There was nothing of him without her.

Jacaerys knew it wasn’t fair,not just for them,he had promised and dreamed a life with her but it also wasn’t fair for his wife,Baela,that was caught in the crossfire of a dying love that could never be replaced.

Jacaerys was a good King and a even better father for his five children,but he wasn’t a good husband.He tried his best,but that evening,the day before his thirty three Name Day,the Gods were indeed punishing for letting the day of his birth to also be the day he lost his love,he had spoken to his wife for the first time in the entire week.

Baela was wearing a beautiful dark red dress with golden embroiderers on,her curly hair were tied up on her head with the purest gems between them.She looked beautiful,the most beautiful woman in the Seven Kingdoms.

«What are you doing?»Jacaerys voice sounded distant,it made her flinch,stopping her hand before she could reach the handle to open the door.

«I was looking for you.»she stated,composing herself and taking a deep breath.

Baela stood right in front the door where Jacaerys kept hidden,on the inside,what his heart desired the most,something that he wouldn’t share with the rest of the world ever again so that no one could take her away from him again.

«I told you to not come in here.»his face was made of stone,always so serious and dark as he spoke lowly.

Baela nodded,never loosing her pride«I wanted to discuss the plans for your Name Day,before it is too late.»she cleared her throat and held her chin up.

«Not today,to now.»he simply answered.

«You always say this.»her tone was sharp,like her gaze on his taller and broader frame.

«And you never listen!»Jacaerys voice came out harsh,he closed his eyes for a moment when he saw her painful expression.

«Why would I?You never talk to me or even look in my direction if you aren’t forced to do so!»Baela accused him,it was the truth though,he couldn’t bare any of this.

Jacaerys let out a deep sigh«Just take the children to do whatever they want,let Laenor decide.I will join you later in the day.»he simply stated,moving across the room.

«Later in the day?»Baela scoffed,a sour laugh on her lips«She will still be dead tomorrow and the day after and for all the years to come,your children are here and alive and yet you rather spend your time in this tomb than with us!»her anger lashed out,but the silence her harsh words were met with hurt more.

Jacaerys had fire in his eyes.Baela didn't even think he knew how to scream and from that moment on she didn't understand anything.It seemed to her that she was no longer present: she was a spectator of the consequences of her stupidity and her profound naivety.Baela felt his hand squeeze her arm and drag her first along the the hallway,out of the room,and, then, across the lawn.She had always considered him calm,quiet,collected,he was yes taller,but she never thought he had so much strength.His gaze burned,he was out of his mind,yet his body remained calm,of an indefinite and chilling composure.

Hours later,as her husband locked himself in that one room,Baela was sitting in one of the terraces of the Red Keep,sipping some hot tea and looking at the beautiful city below her eyes. She was supposed to be a mask of frustration,humiliation and disappointment. Everything that had happened that afternoon went back and was rewritten,with the new eyes of deception and anger.Because it was what she felt and he understood it and repeated it:

«Not today,not now.» almost like a prayer.

«Hypocrite!Go to the seven hells,Jace!»she screamed as he walked away.Without voice, without strength,without momentum.Almost out of politeness.But he didn’t came back.

«Has he told you anything?»Rhaena asked with a small voice,sitting right across from her and a pitiful expression on her beautiful face.

«Jace never talks about her or the time he had spent at Oldtown.He never talks about anything.»Baela had whispered to her twin sister.

Rhaena gave her a sad smile,squeezing her sister hand«Maybe,one day,he’ll come around.You just have to give him some time.»she tried to reassured her.

«It’s been years and still he loves a dead girl more than he will ever love me.»Baela murmured,she felt bad for thinking these sort of things but seeing her husband,the man that she had always wanted so devoted to a girl that wasn’t there anymore made her heart crumble.

«You have to understand him.»Rhaena started,taking a deep breath«He wasn’t there to protect her and she died without giving him the chance to say goodbye.If i had lost Lucerys in the same way,i don’t know if i would be able to stay alive.»she confessed with a quivering voice and looking down.

Baela stayed quiet,swallowing the hard lump in her throat.She still remembered the night of her wedding,how happy she was when she first saw Jacaerys waiting for her at the altar in the Temple in the city,every girl in the Seven Kingdoms wished to have him but he was hers by the laws of the gods.Then,that same night,after he drunk all the wine he could’ve found,he went on top of her,did what he could and whispered in her ear a name:

«Y/n,my love.»

It was the first time that Baela heard it,the only time that he spoke about her,before closing himself in his private chambers.

Baela was a living woman,his wife,the Queen and the mother of his children.Y/n was a dead girl,a corpse that,just like the Targaryen House tradition,was burned by the fire of his dragon during her funeral.And yet Jacaerys was still completely in love with her.

Baela hated her,his love,his Lady Y/n.She hated her,a girl that she never met and never will,with all the pain she had suffocated in the last years of their marriage,because it was her, because it was him,for all that they meant to each other.Because Y/n represented what Baela wanted to be and she enjoyed the one thing she wanted to have:Jacaerys’love.

She didn’t knew anything about this girl,only a name that her husband whispered like oxygen.Baela also knew that they met in Oldtown when Jacaerys went to study,when she had begged him to take her with him,she often wondered if things would’ve changed of went differently if she went with him,if during that summer,during that three years he had fallen for her,his betrothed,instead that with another girl.

In the long summer of so many moons ago,when Y/n was just a young girl that hated to be called a Lady even though her voice,just like the princesses of the fairytales,breathed roses and Jacaerys knew nothing about love and was certain of not many things in his life,they met for the first time under the sweet dark trees and with the perfume of peaches and honey in the air.

Y/n was everything a girl of her age,of her social status was not supposed to be:loud,inconvenient,wild and with always something to say.She had always been as fragile as porcelain but inside herself she cherished something strong and indestructible. Inside her heart she lived on the sadness that over time had turned into art.

And now that she was gone,she was like the paintings Jacaerys detached from the walls of his room after she left.She stayed like the rectangular marks left on the walls.

Now he looked at her image like he did every day,at the same hour,from the same spot,letting his dark eyes memorize every piece,very small detail that he so meticulously had engraved in his brain,in his heart.

Over the long and painful years,Jacaerys would often dream of her.His bright light in an ocean of darkness,whose despair mirrored his own,and whose love brought him a joy he had never felt,and have not felt since.

Years ago,this room was supposed to be her art studio,a reserved place where it was always sunny and bright,where she could watch the ocean,the way the waters shined under the rays of the sun and the waves crashed on the shore.A place where she could’ve taught to their children how to paint,where she wouldn’t have to be the Queen,just herself,just the person that he loved more than anything else in the world.

Instead,it became a tomb for his memory of her.Jacaerys had conserved everything she had gave him,the flowers she used to pick from the gardens,the little silly doodles that she made of them and her ghostly and everlasting presence.He thought that if he painted what haunted him,he could free himself of her forever.In all these years,he had never been more wrong about anything.

She was everywhere,in the air that burned his lungs,in all the salty tears that washed down his face,in the sound of the rain,in the laughter of his children through the corridors,in the flowers in the meadows,in the sun that welcomed him every morning and in the moon that accompanied him to sleep every night.

In his private chambers,in that small and quiet room,away from everyone else eyes and presence,Jacaerys had let in only the best artists,the most talented painters he could had find in the Seven Kingdoms.

It took years,after his coronation and arranged marriage with his cousin Baela,to finally find someone who was able to represent his biggest fear,the only thing that made his heart ache and beat again,that made his blood flow in his veins,his eyes water and his lips trembling with the whisper of a faint name:

«Y/n.»

His Lady Y/n was as beautiful as the day he had lost her,pale and serene.

Her image was painted right on the stone wall,not on a canvas and definitely not restrained by any frame.Jacaerys wanted her to be free by any restrictions and to occupy all the space,every centimeters like she did with his mind and all of his memories.

She was there,so close to him that if he wanted he could reach forward and let his hand,even his fingertips trace briefly the curves of her frame.But he never did,to touch her it would be a sin,a privilege that he had lost and he’s punishing himself for it.

She was there in the middle of a lake,just like when he first laid his eyes on her,when he first met her and felt his heart skip a beat,his mouth dry and palms sweaty.Surrounded by the awestruck swans,a nymph she had been,a real nymph like the ones he used to read in the ancient books,submerging her skin like roses in the crystalline waters.Her hips like a flower shrouded by foam seemed to turn golden,bathed by the light coming through the leaves.Her collarbones like wings spread from the base of her throat to the ends of her shoulders.A bird held down by skin.

She was paler than dead,her eyebrows were smooth and thin and angular like in every antique portrait.Her lips were pursed,her mouth scarlet red and her teeth set close together,her soft eyes were looking right into his,shining with the sweetest melancholy.Her face was turned,up in search for the light like the most precious flower.

Her marvelous poetry,her splendid sensibility her tragic and beautiful mouth made him quiver.Jacaerys was the King,but in front of her,of the beautiful,young and full of life girl that she once was before she had became immortal before his eyes,he was nothing but just the young and naive boy full of love that she once met.

A broken porcelain vase and a now dry,light pink dress,that still smelled like her,was all that remained in that room of the first time they shared a kiss and understood what loving someone meant.

She was love,Y/n was his love.

Jacaerys loved her way of seducing him,a flirtatious look,an indiscreet smile,they wete part of her weapons as a beautiful lady,of which he declared himself defenseless.

These were things he loved in her,he loved her flaws,the nobility of her feelings,her way of seeing life,he loved her optimism and the way she encouraged others,she was a miracle that fate has sent to give him inspiration with a beautiful smile.

Like a beautiful flower that opens its petals to receive the sun's rays after receiving the morning tuft.Like a beautiful flower,the one on a cliff,it resists the weather,drought,rain, strong winds,strengthening one's being,to face day by day,opening the petals to beautify the landscape,always with a beautiful smile.Like a beautiful lotus flower,which,regardless of where it grows,rises with great beauty.This is how his Y/n’s love was,that with her mere presence she give beauty,her journey she begin to sigh to hearts.

Before that day,before kissing her for the first time,Jacaerys have not noticed love.

But for Y/n,he was so easy to fall in love with.He made her feel safe,he made everything feel like an adventure with a hand always on the small of her back to guide her.He laughed at things easily,he was kind,gentle,sweet and thoughtful.He listened to her words and to her silences.

«Come here.»he said to her one day,opening his arms wide,and she went.

«Stay.»he begged her,and she stayed,she wished she could had stayed with forever.

They were in her art studio,it had been months since they met for the first time and since she asked him to pose for him.

Y/n stood there,proud,never in awe and with a beauty so brazen as to intimidate the centuries of literature and art that framed her.Even though her house was a museum,not a single item could’ve compared to her.

«Don’t look at me.»she murmured,even though her eyes were set on the wall she was painting she could still feel his stare on her figure«Keep your chin down and look at the window.»she instructed him.

It was easy for her to say,but it was hard for Jacaerys to do it when the only thing he wanted to look at it was her.Y/n was a few feet from him,her hair were messily tied up her head,but some of them still managed to fell down on her beautiful face.Her body was wrapped in a delicate pink dress,a white apron stained with paint,she was barefoot as always.Nothing out there,outside the windows,was worth looking when she stood there like a little goddess.

Jacaerys was sitting on footstool and he was trying his hardest to remain still and to look where she asked.The marigolds,the daisies,the tulips were so plain,Y/n skin was smoother than any of their petals,her lips plumper and her scent enough to drive him crazy.

«I thought that she was the one naked and chained.»Jacaerys observed as he took a quick glance at was she was painting.

On the wall next the door,it was represented Argella Durrandon and Orys Baratheon.She was the daughter and only child of Argilac the Arrogant,the last Storm King.After her father was killed in Aegon's Conquest,she married Orys Baratheon,the first Lord of Storm's End,founding the new House Baratheon.

They delivered her to Orys,naked and chained. Orys,however,covered her with his cloak and treated her chivalrously,the next day he had married her.

«She is.»Y/n muttered,cleaning one of her brushes to use a different color.

Jacaerys hummed,his cheeks were a little red«He is too.»he noticed.

The two people were naked,their body fluids like they couldn’t feel the heavy chains on their wrists and ankles.Holding each other,trying to cover each other with his cloak,their eyes locked and their lips a centimeter away.

«They are the same,is what love do to us.»Y/n told him,taking a step back to admire her unfinished work.

«My bones are your bones.»Jacaerys whispered,getting up and quoting an old poet that they had read together.

«Where you go i go,what you see i see.»Y/n nodded,continuing it.«Argella was given to him as a slave,but he freed her and made her his wife.Orys was a bastard child,but for her it was the first man that treated her like a person.They were both chained all their lives,they were the same.»she said,her eyes were soft like the sound of her voice.

Equals,on the same level.That what Jacaerys felt when he was with her,understood.Like he was missing a piece and the hole was filled whenever she was near,like he was drowning and she was air.A balance,something safe and comforting.They were the same,Y/n was chained by her father choices and Jacaerys was chained by his mothers.

«If Gwayne Hightower won’t let you paint,he’s a total idiot.»Jacaerys said suddenly,surprising her«Because he will miss how beautifully and uniquely you view the world.»it pained him to smile to her like that.

Y/n eyes widened,her cheeks were rosy as she tried to hide the way her heart was beating.Jacaerys was so much closer now,she could feel his shoulder touching hers,see all the dark shades of his eyes.

«The world is always beautiful,you just have to look at it the right way.»she told him.

Jacaerys shook his head«The world is beautiful when you look at it.»he said,his fingers were trembling as tried to reach for hers.

Their invisible chains were entangling on each other,every ring was forged with heavy duties,promises and responsibilities.At both ends a marriage,unspoken words that were trying to drag them away from each other.

But we can't be with anyone,we're made for a few people.Jacaerys was made for being loved by Y/n,she was made for being loved by him.On the same level,equals.His bones were her bones.

«Jace-»she took a few step back,knowing where it was going to lead.

They both tried in these months that they had spent together to not give in,to suffocate the burning desire that was growing between them.Anyone could seen that something was blooming,something pure and soft that needed to be protected by the harsh weight of reality.He was to be married to his cousin and to become King,she was to be some else wife.

«I think i love the version of myself that i’am when I’m with you.»he confessed,his breath was rapid«I love what I become,what I no longer hide,everything you make me reveal.»he sounded relieved but also in pain as he took in her ethereal figure.

«I didn’t do anything-»she dismissed him,she was becoming shy.

«I love everything about you,that's probably why i love myself when i'm with you.»his heartbeat was ringing in his ears,but he could still hear hers perfectly in tune with his«Whenever i’m with you i feel like i’m part of something.»he breathed out almost killing her.

Y/n made him feel at home,like everything in him was right.That yearning feelings,that desire to be part of something became real,he was part of her now.They spoke the same language,breathed the same air.She looked at him with different eyes and he couldn’t help to give her his heart.

«I think it’s about to rain.»she said,picking up the porcelain vase where the dirty brushes where.

As she made her way out of the room,a hand placed on her chest to keep her heart in it,she felt like she was about to explode.For Y/n painting was the metaphor for control.Every choice was hers:the canvas,the color.As a child she had neither a sense of the world nor a place inside it,but art taught her that our vision is only achieved with the will.The same goes for life. As long as she didn’t allow someone to get in her way.

Jacaerys went in the way.He was everywhere,he was her.The other half.She didn’t had control whenever he was around,her thoughts became his,her choices revolved around him.For the first time in her life she knew what she wanted.And the incessant and tormented desire of love,for her,was him.

He was walking fast behind her«Stop following me.»she yelled,quickening her pace,her face was hot and she was right,it was about to rain.

«I’m afraid I can’t.»Jacaerys said«My heart calls for yours.»it sounded like a lament.

Y/n immediately frozen on her feet,almost tripping on the stairs that were leading to the gardens«Shh!»she whispered looking around to make sure nobody had heard«There can be people everywhere here!»she warned him embarrassed.

Jacaerys was in front of her now,so handsome that he looked like she had drawn him«Do you think I care?I’ve been hiding all my life,I won’t hide what I feel for you.»he stated proudly.

«What you think you feel for me.»she corrected him,but when he took a step closer she didn’t moved an inch this time.

The gesture encouraged him even more«I know what my soul is been aching for.My love for you can’t even be contained in it.»he chuckled.

«Love is not measured my prince»Y/n had told him that evening,holding the porcelain vase in her hands,her beautiful skin gleaming under the cloudy sky and her hair messy from the sweet wind«it is not in what we do or say.Love is what we are.And I know who you are.»she had breathed out,almost as she was shy to admit it out loud.

Y/n didn’t seem to have noticed love too.As Jacaerys eyes cried out “I love you”,as in a sigh his heart fell exhausted,as with a smile of hers or with her sweet voice his soul vibrates.She didn't notice it with a caress of the tips of his hands,with the touch of his lips on her skin,with the intention of caressing her heart and kissing her soul.She haven't noticed that with her presence alone she changed his days,spring is in his heart even though the long winter was upon them.Y/n did not notice that:Jacaerys breathe her breath,it is oxygen for his desires,food for his feelings,fertile soil where the seed of love grows,he breathe her breath,in the preamble of a kiss,before savoring the nectar of her mouth,putting an end to a drought,with this expectation to feel her lips next to mine,selling their love with silent promise.

«We wasted so many months.»he had breathed on her sweet tasting,cherry colored lips«All we did was talk,while we could’ve been doing this.»he said,angry for her mouth again.

Y/n smiled in the kiss,he was the first to lain in«Have you been thinking about this?.»she asked,a hint of teasing in her voice as she caressed his sun kissed cheeks.

Jacaerys nodded his head,his eyes hazy,his heart was beating so fast he thought that it could escape his chest«Every time that i was watching you paint,all i could think about was kissing you senseless.»he admitted with a light chuckle.

He had spent many evenings in her company,in silent,taking or arguing about something stupid in her little art studio near the lake.Watching her being so passionate about something,the way her hair glimmered,her hands moving,all of her attention on what she was doing.He felt stupid for being jealous,to wanting her to touch him in the same way,to paint him and being passionate towards him in the same way.

The girl in his arms gasped,a little laugh tickled the back of her throat«Don’t you dare.You would’ve ruined my concentration.»she scolded him lovingly.

«Am i that distracting?»Jacaerys asked raising a brow,already knowing the answer to his question.

Y/n seemed to became smaller in his loving embrace and he pulled her closer to him,sheltering her«When i look at you,sometimes i feel overwhelmed that you exist.»she whispered,only him could make her feel so self conscious about herself.

She had never tried to paint what she felt for him,because to do it she would have to invent a new color.Y/n simply find comfort in the fact that he existed.When she sees him she got this feeling of relief,to known that she was alive and near him.

«You were right,it's going to rain.»he said,noticing how the sky had become darker«In every drop of rain there is a little hope;isn't that how you said?But then,what does that mean?»he asked with a small smile.

«It means that every drop of rain holds the promise of regrowth.»she answered«Every drop has its purpose,even if it doesn't know it.I believe that it can happen to us too to feel purposeless,but we have it.»she continued.

«Well,i have one now.»he said,caressing her chin lovingly.

«Do you?»she giggled.

«Yes.»he hummed«May i kiss you again?»Jacaerys asked,filling his heart with the feeling of her skin,supple and fresh,not blemished with the sickness that is death.

«Now?»Y/n said,looking around as she heard the sound of voices coming through the gardens.

And he smiled,that bright and slow smile again«Now is preferable,but i can do it for the rest of my life too.»he murmured before kissing her again and again and again.

But it was a lie,a horrible and disgusting lie.They didn’t have that time and she didn’t have the rest of his life.As she became dissolving flesh and melting bones,Jacaerys grew up in a man that wished to be alone with her once again.To be in that gardens,to watch her paint,to hear her voice and touch her young and precious skin again.

Jacaerys had dream of it again that night.

Y/n face,her familiar eyes.In his dreams she was still with him.Sometimes,when he touched her,her warmth seemed so real that he was out of breath.The eyelids trembled,the heart stretched and then tore in pain.He was bleeding in the silence of the night,alone,suffocating in the pillow the agony that during the day I tried at all costs to suppress.

He dreamed to hear her laugh.

«I miss you and i’m so sorry.»he whispered.His voice cracked.He hated it when it happened, because it made it even more real.It was like admitting that she wasn't there.That she would never be there anymore.That those memories were the only thing he had left.

Her eyes,her sweetness and her good heart.It had been a piece of advice,a perfume,a secretly given caress

Coming closer to the stone wall,Jacaerys,touched it.His fingers trembling like he had felt the cold water that was hugging her body.He couldn’t bring himself to trace his fingertips over her small figure,but he felt the itching desire to touch the painted water,to touch at least something that she had been part of and that loved.He doesn’t indulge it or grasp at it though.He gently absorbs a fleeting glimmer of something delicate that she had left behind,her love for the water,ocean,the lake at her parents house.Something that was part of her and just like her,he couldn’t hold it anymore.

How many things he would give,his crown,his own life to be the water that touched her skin,that held her so closely.Just once again,it would’ve been more than enough for him,to touch and feel her skin,inhale her scent just for a second again.

He kept his eyes were his hand was,he couldn’t look into hers but they were all he could think about.He memorized her face as if it was his mirror or a prayer that needs to be said every night.He would forget his name before he forgets her.

Then like a ghost,a mournful memory,she seemed to walk through the room,a white halo following her.Soft like a holy flower,her body seemed to be carved out from marble.Sparkly and calm eyes,her beautiful eyes,ruby lips,rosy cheeks.All her grace was in her vagueness,her voice was distant and soft,her manner languid,her features blurred and dreamy.She looked like a cruel immortal,finding her spiritual feast in the agonies of his dying heart.

The last time that he saw her was when he came back for her,after flying back to Dragonstone when his mother throne was usurped by his uncle,she was dead.She was killed and he couldn’t erase the imagine from his nightmares.It felt like he was looking at the painting of Gael Targaryen on the wall in her art studio.

Such a cruel faith to be abandoned and to be killed by the two things she loved the most:his love and water.Y/n was dying,gasping for air,trying to breathe,falling deeper and deeper into the darkness as her fragile body sank under the cold water.One of the soldiers that sympathized for the Greens had his rough hands around her delicate,thin neck as he was drowning her in the lake of her house.Then he left her lifeless body under the cold rain for Jacaerys to find.A threat,a challenge.

That night Oldtown burned,thousands had died for his love.He did too,he loved her so much that he had let her kill him,he will always adore her like a drowned person adore the sea.

«You are here early.»her ghost spoke to him with a tender whisper.

Jacaerys closed his eyes,they were burning«I missed you.»he said with a shaky tone.

«You should stop to come here.»she told him,moving quietly behind him.

He shook his head«I can’t live without you,without seeing your face.»

«But i’m not here,i don’t exist anymore.»she remained him.

«My bones are your bones.»he repeated«This is more than enough for me,till what will remain of me will lay with you.»he gestured at the portrait he was looking at.

«I wish you shouldn’t be doing this.»she smiled sadly.

«Me too.»he suppressed a cry«I wanted you to be my wife,the mother of my children.I’m sorry that life couldn’t gave us this.»he was shaking.

Then he felt a caress,like the wind in the spring«I will find you in another one.Where we will be free by any chain and you can kiss me every time you will se me paint.»it was a promise.

He blinked.He felt the acrid sensation behind his tongue again.He tried to breathe but his heart slowed down with heavy,suffocating thuds,a bruise with every beat.He took a step back as if to withdraw from the pain,his eyes were squinting around,warm and lost.The pain of climbed into his heart and he tried not to deform under that weight,but it was useless.

The throat closed and the sight flatned.Jacaerys soul was crumpled.Y/n absence collapsed on me all at once again . Sometimes it didn't seem possible to him. Sometimes it was as if that day in the garden had never existed,as if he was still expecting to see her come in the door,greet him and take him home.Sometimes he even thought he saw it among people,behind a man's hat or over the window of his room.

It was just an instant,but his eyes deluded him and his heart fell for it.«Endure»whispered Y/n voice,and the pain reached an unbearable peak. He felt the rubble inside him asking him to scream,vent,burst once and for all.She was eroding me from the inside.

Soon Y/n would take everything:his soul,his eyes,even his voice.They say there are five stages of mourning.The first is negation.The rejection of the loss,the inability to accept such a radical shock.The others are anger, processing,depression and finally acceptance. Jacaerys didn't recognize myself in any.He didn't want to reject reality.He couldn't make it happen.He was under the illusion of getting by, suppressing a pain that then exploded like a caged creature.He had put a key to his heart, but suffering is not something he could tame.

It breathes with him.It feeds on his hopes.It drinks his dreams,his looks and his fears.It sits at the table and watches him eat.He could pretend not to see it,but it won't leave him. Every now and then it whispers something to him.It has the sweetest voice in the world,but it's a heart-rung song.He can't forget it.It learns to wait for him.And it fits him,just like a living creature.Learn to live in his own silence,fly through his nightmares,dig into the dark and take root.It looks more like him than anyone else.The suffering is him.I took a deep breath, crossing his reflection.The reddened eyes contained the pain that he could no longer suffocate.He kept strangling it,suppressing it, locking it up and gagging it in his most hidden ravines.

And looking at that familiar face in his soul,Jacaerys prayed that he could see Y/n again,one day.So as to show her the empty shell that he was without her — and then he would have caressed her,but with her own sweetness.Squeezing her until she merged with his heart,he would say to her:«Endure with me, because I can't do it alone.»

He had known love and it had broken his heart.

He had finally understood one thing:there are thousands of ways to die in the world.Those who kill you outside,and those who kill you inside.But there is only one engraved with your name and it beats in another person's chest.

«Stay»he whispered to her.«Stay in the room. Stay in this moment.Stay with me.»he pleaded.

But of course she never does.She wasn’t there anymore.She was immortal,stuck and framed forever in his heart and in between the art and history of the city they fell in love in.

[melverie]

So......about Solomon

Before we get started: Discussions on this post are more than welcomed as long as you keep it civil and constructive. At the end of the day, this is still a game about fictional characters, so there's no reason to literally harass others over liking or disliking a character If it truly upsets you that much--which is valid btw--than the best thing to do would probably be to simply not engage with the other party, and not harass them over it; you won't change anyone's mind that way. I know most of you aren't like this but unfortunately it still needs to be said Also, if you want me to add sources to some points, feel free to ask! I've tried to mention the chapters as I go, but I might still have forgotten some. Some of the arguments I make are also hidden behind certain player options; if you can't find them, fell free to ask about them and I'll gladly tell you Also also, general spoiler warning for both the og game and Nightbringer. I'm not really covering anything specific after lesson 60 in the og game and lesson 14 in NB, but I might still mention things from later lessons

Now, onto the actual topic. There've been quite a few arguments against Solomon in the past few days, but I mostly just want to focus on those three:

Solomon wanted to force MC into killing Lucifer at the end of season 2 in the og game

Solomon betrayed the brothers and keeps hiding behind "wanting to protect humanity" as a scapegoat for his actions (putting these two together bc I think they go hand in hand, but it'll make more sense later)

Solomon tricked Asmodeus into a pact without his consent

This entire thing is very long, so feel free to jump around if one point interests you more than another

Solomon wanted to force MC into killing Lucifer at the end of season 2 in the og game

[mainly 38-12, og & 38-15, og]

He did, yeah. But here's the thing

They were all forced into a corner since the fate of all three realms was on the line here, and with the Ring of Light's whereabouts still being unknown at the time, they literally had no other choice if they wanted to save everyone. It wasn't Solomon that randomly decided the only way to restore the Night Dagger's power was by killing a powerful demon, it's always been that way. And he can't just be like "Oh well, let's switch strategies then and focus on finding the Ring of Light" when the entire cast (minus Simeon) has no idea where the ring is and the last time any of them saw it was centuries to millennia ago, if not longer. They don't have the time to search for it considering all the destruction MC's Ring has already caused in such a short period of time

Solomon first tells MC to do kill Luci, only to add that he was just joking and knows MC would never actually go through with it. Then, he says that if they wouldn't do it, he'd do it himself. Which kinda sounds like forcing, right? Except this happens [38-15, og; pic below]:

He was prepared to, which doesn't clear him of trying to indirectly force MC, let's get that straight. But ultimately he drops it and accepts that maybe their only option really is to just die here. This is also the only time we see him acting against his beliefs btw

Also yes, Solomon might not have been the one that decided they needed to kill a powerful demon, but he seems to be the one that settled on said demon being Lucifer. The only other viable options would most likely be Diavolo and Barbatos. Don't know if the Demon King in his vegetative state still counts but similar to Diavolo, killing him would probably be seen as a direct declaration of war, so they're out. And from a strategic standpoint, Barbatos is the better option to be kept alive simply because of his powers. There most likely also is some kind of sentimental attachment at play here since Solomon is much closer to Barbatos than he is to Lucifer. None of justifies killing Lucifer of course, but we also need to acknowledge that everyone's hands were tied, they were out of time and given the circumstances, this was probably the best decision they could have come to (until Simeon showed up with the Ring of Light, of course)

Solomon betrayed the brothers and keeps hiding behind "wanting to protect humanity" as a scapegoat for his actions

First of no, he did not betray them. Ever since the end of season 2 Solomon has made it clear that his ultimate goal is to protect humanity and that he, similarly to Diavolo in regards to the Devildom and its denizens*, would do anything in his power to protect the human world and its inhabitants [38-15, og; pic in the point above] [38-19, og; pic below]

*friendly reminder that Belphie was charged with treason for planning to destroy the human world, since in Diavolo's eyes that would have severely damaged the chance of peace between the three realms [13-14, og]

Solomon continuously sticks to his beliefs. He said he'd protect humanity, and that's what he's doing. He never extended that kind of protection to the brothers, he never made any false promises, he didn't betray them in any way, nothing

I'd also like to point out he's not actively going out of his way to antagonize demons, or angels, or whatever. In fact, he even explicitly says that he does not wish to make an enemy out of either party [10-A, NB; pic below], which of course also extends to the brothers

You can even outright ask him if he's planning on backstabbing the brothers, and this is what he has to say [11-8, NB; pic below]:

And you know what? That is a valid concern. They can't say for sure what the future holds, and they just recently had to deal with the entire Ring situation that could have very easily destroyed all three realms, so wanting to be cautious and to be prepared for the worst makes sense. He also makes it clear that he does not wish to fight the brothers if it can be avoided, so there's that

And no, he's also not tricking MC into siding against the brothers in Nightbringer. Rather, he just wants to know that they're fighting for humanity should the relationship between humans and demons in general ever turn hostile. He puts the cards open on the table and gives a proper explanation to his reasoning for siding with humanity [11-8, NB], and once again goes a little further into detail before MC gives their answer [14-16, NB; pic below]. Plus it's up to the player if they choose to stand with him or not, and no matter what you choose, he accepts the decision

Also keep in mind that season 3 heavily suggests that the human world at large has no idea that angels and demons even exist, so MC is pretty much the only one he can even ask to help protect humanity alongside him to begin with. He can't just go up to a random guy on the street and ask them to fight something who's existence they aren't even aware of in the first place

Imo Solomon also seems to know more about where things might be heading than he lets on, with him actually knowing Nightbringer and whatnot, so granting himself some peace of mind by making sure he has at least one ally is perfectly reasonable

Also, Solomon is very much aware that he is not infallible. For example, he states that he realized he still has a lot more to learn about demons [60-20, og], and he even admits that he doesn't always know what the right course of action to any given situation is, which was part of the reason he first asked MC to help him with protecting humanity all the way back in season 2 [38-19, og; first pic below]. In season 2 he actually wanted for MC to be aware of what's happening, but it was Diavolo that decided it would be better to keep them in the dark for the time being [36-18, og]. He trusts MC's judgment and that they will help him make the correct decisions [14-16, NB; second pic below]

Solomon tricked Asmodeus into a pact without his consent

Before I get into anything, let's summarize the base situation so everyone's on the same page. This is based on the things Asmo tells us [53-16, og], as well as the things Sol tells us [6-18, NB]:

Asmo was trying to flirt with someone but their friends kept on telling him to leave them alone since he's a demon -> Asmo's dejected by this and goes to a tavern in Solomon's hometown

Solomon notices and feels sorry for him; he offers to talk to him and they chat for a bit

Asmo lets it slip that he's Lucifer's younger brother

they get drunk and end up forming a pact -> Solomon says that he was only able to forge a pact with Asmo because his judgment was impaired at the time

Right of the bat--yes, the way Solomon got his pact with Asmo is not okay. I'm not putting that up for debate. He fully took advantage of Asmo here, and there's nothing that can excuse that. I also want to make it very clear that it is in no way my intention to relativize this in any way. The way he went about getting this pact is, to put it simply, fucked up and I do not wish to condone that in any way. With the following points I simply want to explain how I see things. Maybe it'll put things in a slightly different perspective for you, maybe it won't. Now, I hope I made that clear enough, so let's continue

The way I see it, Asmo seems to be pretty okay with the pact. From the way he acts around Solomon in the present day all the way to him describing his reaction to the pact as just a "did I really sign that" [53-16, og], nothing seems to suggest that he holds any ill feelings towards Solomon, and personally I don't see any reason to be angry for someone who himself seems to take no issue with a situation that is directly about him

If it were as upsetting to Asmodeus as some make it out to be, surely he would have found a way to get out of it? Asmo is one of the most powerful demons in the Devildom; if he truly wanted to break the pact he could have just killed Solomon and that's it. And if the pact itself somehow prevented him from doing so, I'm sure Lucifer would have more than gladly stepped in. Heck, I bet all of the brothers would have made it into a family thing in a heartbeat if Asmo wanted out but couldn't do anything himself. As Thirteen told MC, Solomon is immortal, not unkillable

But speaking of Lucifer, shouldn’t the same sentiment about forcing others into a pact be held toward him, too? Because he basically did the same thing with MC. This is what happens when you tell him you don’t want a pact with him [20-14, og; pic below]:

Yes, this comes down to player choice and yes, you need to make the pact for story continuity, but it ultimately does not change the fact that in-universe he forces MC into a pact if they say no

Also speaking of forcing others into a pact--Mammon and MC, anyone? Yes, MC did it because Levi asked them to so he could get his money back. We know they had no ill intentions. But you never know what the future holds and Levi literally proposed to basically hand over part of Mammon's agency over himself for the money Mammon owns him, to someone Levi has met about 5 minutes prior, knows nothing about and who's only been in the Devildom for a couple of hours at that point, no less. Lucifer also mentions that demons literally cannot resist temptation [4-10, og; pic below], so there literally was no way Mammon could have just noped out of that pact. We all know how badly he wants his credit card back, after all

To top it all of, we have MC's and Mammon's conversation in Nightbringer where Mammon explicitly says that he would only want to forge a pact with someone that is special to him [2-9, NB], and that he'd make sure to be their first pact [2-11, NB], yet he is forced into his pact with MC. A pact that ultimately turns out to be exactly what he wanted, but nonetheless he was stripped of the ability to say no when it was forged

And for the record, I'm not saying "oh, others did it too, so we shouldn't be so harsh on Solomon!!!" No! Forcing a demon into a pact isn't something that should be taken lightly. A pact literally means a demon hands a huge chunk of control of themself over to a human for as long as the pact exists. And on the other hand, for a human, making a pact with a demon usually means selling their soul. Neither party should EVER be forced into it. We of course don't know if MC actually sold their soul to Lucifer when they made their pact, but even if they didn't, Lucifer's "I won't belong to you. You will belong to me" speaks for itself

What I am trying to say here is that if you want to be mad at Solomon for forcing Asmo into a pact without Asmo's consent (which, again, is valid), you should also be mad at MC for forcing Mammon, and Lucifer for forcing MC into a pact

Anyway, back to Solomon now

Solomon actually admits that he used to treat demons like collectables--more or less, at least since he immediately follows the confession up with "just kidding" [14-14, NB]. Judging by what we've seen in the og game though, he seems to genuinely make an effort to better his relationship with the demons he has made a pact with, or at the very least with Asmo and Barbatos. I mean, the difference between Sol's relationship with Barbs in the og game vs in Nightbringer is night and day

In the present time, Asmo and Solomon are also super close. I literally cannot think of a single instance where they did not get along (though it might have happened like once or twice). You can literally pic any part in the og game to see their relationship play out, but some highlights include Solomon saying he got a huge oil painting of Asmodeus as his "permit" to summon Asmo across worlds [39-13, og] (which is not something you would allow someone you hate to do btw) and both of them mentioning that the two of them repeatedly hang out together in the human world [Proud Brothers, devilgram on Asmo's page, og], the hickey on Solomon's neck that's most likely Asmo's doing [Who Left the Hickey?, daily chat with Mammon, og]. Asmo (while drunk) is comfortable enough to tell Solomon that his cooking sucks and Solomon actually takes it to heart [47-16 hard mode, og]. Then there's Asmo's excitement at Solomon being in the Devildom for the first time [Proud Brothers, devilgram on Asmo's page, og; both of the pics below]

There's also that infamous chat pic of them doing face masks together (that I unfortunately don't know which chat it belongs to, so if someone could tell me, I'd appreciate it <3)

I don't know about you guys, but that's not typically an activity I do with someone I despise

So it's clear that current day Asmo holds no malice toward Solomon

Which, finally, leaves us with the way they forged their pact in Nightbringer

[mainly 7-12, NB & 7-15, NB]

@impish-ivy already went over it in this post, especially in the tags (I highly suggest checking out the reblogs as well btw), but to reiterate--Asmo was IN NO WAY forced into that pact. His brothers tried to talk him out of it, but at the end of the day Asmo willingly agreed to it. Yes, they were in a dangerous situation, and yes, Solomon used that as a basis to ask for the pact, but as ivy correctly points out in the tags, Lucifer could have easily handled the situation by himself, yet Asmo agreed regardless. By implying that Asmo was in any way, shape or form forced into that pact you're not only taking away a huge amount of his agency, but you also deny him his character moment and development that came with this scene. Asmo himself says that forging this pact will finally help him accept himself as a demon. Taking this moment from him is doing him a huge disservice

Aaaand that's pretty much all I have to say

If there's anything else you'd like to add, OR if there's anything you don't agree with, feel free to share! And once again, I'd like to remind everyone that civil and constructive discussions are more than welcomed on here!

Anyway, thank you all for reading, hope you have a great day! <3