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that-ari-blogger · 2 months ago

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"Do It" (Destiny Part 2)

When you interact with a lot of similar media, you tend to notice patterns and recurring tropes. Most notably in this example is the final season darkest hour.

Typically, when a series wants to ensure that the stakes are higher for its final arc, it will end the previous in a very dark place. Avatar: The Last Airbender does this, and I just covered The Owl House doing a very similar thing.

But She-Ra has a lot more to it than just the singular convention. This is an incredibly cerebral series with a ton of moving parts. So, for the season four finale, I would like to examine a few of them, and what they do for the story.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger, A Christmas Carol)

Context is important, and stories have an understated ability to draw together disparate elements into a cohesive entity through a consistent theme.

Here, that is twofold. The series as a whole has been about the cycle of abuse as portrayed through tragedy, specifically in its antonymic relationship with genuine love. But Destiny Part 2 zeroes in on the chronological geography of this. As in, there is a distinct sense of time in this episode, and a discussion of the past and future and their impact on the present.

Everything in this episode revolves around these two ideas, and so everything must be analysed through those lenses.

Starting with the runestones, which are an idea original to the 2018 reboot.

“It’s like…”

“…connection.”

Throughout this season, we have seen the princesses glow when they achieve camaraderie, and that glow is near identical to that of the planet balancing itself. Near identical. The runestones are shown to be more powerful than regular camaraderie.

We don’t actually know the origins of the Runestones, with the exception of them being native to Etheria. The Legend of the Fire Princess graphic novel has one in it that was created by the first ones, which implies that the others were not. But I am here to talk about the main series. (If you want me to discuss the book or any other supplemental media, my ask box is open).

As such, I find it important that the power of the Runestones, much like that of She-Ra, predates the First Ones, which means that it was not theirs to use.

In my previous post about She-Ra, I commented on the First Ones as colonialists, and this adds to that symbolism.

The First Ones co-opted something that was, by all accounts, sacred to the people of Etheria, or at least of significant cultural value. It was repurposed into a weapon that would, as a side effect, wipe out the planet. Cruel and uncaring. The First Ones viewed Etheria as a tool that could be cast aside when it was no longer of use, a worthy sacrifice.

In terms of our themes, this is most definitely abusive behavior, and that continues into the cyclical nature of that abuse.

I have also discussed how it doesn’t matter if the First Ones were the aggressors in their war or not. If the First Ones were under siege, then they felt the only way to defend themselves was to inflict more suffering on bystanders. The abuse they received turned them into the villains of this season. But I think the most important moment for this part of the episode is this:

In her desperation and powerlessness, Glimmer tries to destroy the Runestone.

The anger at being used has been turned against the First Ones, but they are using the culture of the people they have colonized as a shield. To get to us, you need to stab yourself.

It’s forcibly disconnecting the people from the symbol of their culture, metaphorically and literally breaking their connection and leaving them weak and in a place of vulnerability.

This wasn’t even intentional. I don’t think the First Ones sat down and schemed about how, when this master plan goes off, there will be one princess who tries to break the runestones. It was a side effect. All of this was a side effect.

The main role of this was to destroy a different force entirely, Etheria was never part of the equation. The First Ones were fighting a war with someone else, and Etheria was just a sacrifice that could be made.

Glimmer is technically surrounded by the corpses of her enemies here. That is the context for her statement that "we are the good guys". Yes, they are robots, but Emily is sentient, so...

Abuse is fundamentally selfish. To the abuser, it isn’t about the victim, it’s about the anger and often pain that needs to go somewhere. It’s about the power and control. The victim was just there. My feelings matter, my heart, my obsession, my anguish. You are a convenient scapegoat.

It is important to understand that this mindset is built on a misunderstanding.

There is a reason for it. Of course there is. Everyone has a reason for their behavior. That’s what the cycle of abuse is. You get so wrapped up in your own mind that other people stop existing, and you are left with empty shells around yourself. But having a reason does not make you right.

There are real people around the abuser and the abused. She-Ra is a series about those real people, hence why it is so human in almost every character. It is about the real people who are hurt by someone else’s drama, the real people who get burned by being too close, the real people who get caught in the crossfire.

The Runestones are symbolic of those real people en masse. Used as pawns, corrupted, and destroyed.

In that sense, they also relate to the episode theme of time. They are monuments of a distant past and a history even greater.

At the risk of oversimplification, Runestones in the real world are a Scandinavian concept that emerged before the Viking age but gained traction during it. The vast majority were dedicated to the fallen, but a fair few discussed everyday life and stand as monuments.

They also look nothing like those in She-Ra.

In She-Ra, the Runestones are aesthetically just gems and crystals that are big and look cool. So, why go with the name?

First and most obviously, it sounds magical. Runes sound magical and as any architect will tell you, a large part of any creation is the emotions it inspires. If you want a story about magic, saying “this is a glowing crystal called a runestone” is an easy way to do that.

Although, that does bring up an interesting meta question of why there is magic in this story? As in, what does it do for the themes?

I plan on delving into this question in more detail in a later post, so you have that to look forward to.

For the moment, however, the She-Ra has made a point of connecting magic to nature, and so the name “rune-stone” entangles magic to the ground itself. It is the bedrock of these civilizations.

The other reading is that the stones themselves serve as runes, which are in turn a form of written language and communication. They are the words of people long gone, although crucially, their descendants are still there.

This is how culture exists in a very real sense. Not merely through written words, but through the language and communication itself. Mythology and religion, history and philosophy. Word of mouth and art. Culture is not a static thing of aesthetics but a dynamic manifestation of shared ideas, and sometimes it dies out, but usually it just continues and evolves into new forms. It is everything that has come before and every word that is spoken.

I mean that literally. Every single word has a history and evolution that makes up its current form. The word "Silhouette" comes from a French who didn't like to spend money. Language is the manifestation of history and how it informs the present day. It’s part of everyday life, it is context.

The Runestones are that language as a physical manifestation that literally grants power, and the First Ones use them to destroy people. In this way, what the First Ones did was cultural appropriation, and I don't think my opinion is unpopular that this is, in fact, bad.

Moving on to Light Hope.

“Mara. Mara would not want me to… Mara was a traitor. She turned against her people.”

We have seen two sides of Light Hope. The one who Mara befriended, and the one whom has manipulated her way through half of the series. The weapon of war who couldn’t escape. The cycle of abuse come full circle.

We have seen Light Hope get humanised, and then cast that away. But as best we could tell, it was the system itself that overrode her free will.

This line, however, muddies the waters, because it reminds me of another in the same episode.

“People have hurt you, haven’t they? They didn’t believe in you. They didn’t trust you. Didn’t need you. Left you.”

Of all the people to draw a connection to, Light Hope’s dismissal of Mara is strangely reminiscent of Catra’s antagonism towards Adora.

The cycle of abuse hasn’t just happened before on a grand scale with the She-Ras themselves being destined for tragedy, but this specific plot has happened before, and look how it ended up.

Catra has spent the entire story addicted to power like a safety net. She craves being the highest ranked one in the room because it’s safer, but there isn’t much room at the top of the pyramid. You end up alone, and isolated, and with further to fall.

Catra has been trying to claim power like Shadow Weaver taught her, but has ended up like Light Hope. Alone in her tower, scheming, reminiscing, caught up in memory and spite.

This is a warning to Catra. Most obviously, change your ways. But just to be safe, don’t ever cut your hair and don’t ever start wearing white.

Once again linking back to the themes. The cyclical nature of this series is best exemplified by the threat of another season. This is a story that wants to end, to be free, but it keeps coming back to a song and dance.

I mean this as a compliment. This is the only series that makes me fear another season, but stay glued to my seat as I watch and love every moment. The screen protects me from what is happening inside, and the fact this is a story means that I can stop at any time. That isn’t a luxury the characters are given.

The aim of the series is to end.

And it will, that’s the key thing here. Everything ends. The cycle of abuse is not a true circle but a spiral that winds in on itself until disaster.

Light Hope and Mara are the emblems of a previous cycle. Their story ended in tragedy they couldn’t avert and that left naught but shattered people and places in its wake. Light Hope was Catra, she was someone who was happy. But now she is an instrument of the system that drove them apart, unable to understand or take comfort from Adora until the end, begging for Adora to "do it", begging for death. This is who Catra will be.

Don’t believe me? There is only one other person who uses the words “do it” in this episode. Can you guess who that is?

“What are you waiting for? Do it. Looks like we're both alone, Sparkles.”

There is, however one majour difference between the old story and the new. This rendition isn’t over yet.

I haven’t seen nearly as many Marvel films and TV series as I should have. I saw Infinity War and End Game, I saw Thor: Ragnarok, and I watched Moon Knight, but other than that, I mostly never cared for the series as a whole. I didn’t dislike the films, I just never cared that much.

Which is honestly weird, because I read comics on the regular, and got into comics through Marvel. I started with a Spiderman one shot in the Clone saga, and while I wouldn’t call myself a comic nerd by any stretch of the imagination, I was enough in the spaces to know who Jeff the Land Shark was before Marvel Rivals was a thing.

The reason I bring this up is to recommend a series I left out of the above list, Joe Pokaski’s Cloak and Dagger, which ran from 2018 to 2019.

I had read a few comics featuring the eponymous heroes before I saw the series, so I knew vaguely who these people were, but this was one of those series that got me at just the right time to leave a lasting mark on my psyche.

Most notably, this is the place from which I get the phrase “There’s always a point of no return. It’s called the end.” But there’s a little more to it.

The premise of this series is that Luisiana is always saved by two kids, and that one of them will always die in the process. Tyrone and Tandy (Cloak and Dagger respectively) spend the series trying to find a way to escape this cyclical tragedy.

The season one finale will always break me, because we see the moment when Tandy comes the closest to being the one to die, and it’s not in an overly violent fashion, it’s in a phone call.

The two are trapped in a surreal, timeless landscape, and Tandy is presented with a phone using which she can call her deceased father a moment before he dies. She picks up the phone, has a brief conversation, and then the line goes dead. She picks up the phone again and has the same conversation. Again, and again, and again. Just one moment.

Tyrone asks her to leave, she refuses, so he asks her how long she has been there, a question to which she has no clear answer.

If Tyrone hadn’t rescued her, Tandy would have as good as died there and then. Lost to a memory. Lost to the trauma of losing her father playing back to her over and over again.

Cloak and Dagger are played by Aubrey Joseph and Olivia Holt, and while Holt's performance as Tandy in this scene is the showstopper, it would be remiss of me to not mention Joseph's portrayal of Tyrone as he realises what is happening and tries to stop it.

There is always a moment of no return. It’s called the end.

You lose when all hope is lost. You lose when you give up. You lose when you let everything consume you. You lose when you stop trying to escape.

Cloak and Dagger keep getting told that one must live and one must die, and their response is “how about no?”.

Light Hope lost. She became the monster that created her. But that cycle ain’t done for the here and now, Adora and Catra can fix this.

This actually moves really nicely into the third and final element of this episode that I would like to discuss. The title.

Destiny and fate are funny things, aren’t they? They don’t actually mean anything. Not tangibly, anyway. Yes, yes, your fate and your future are one and the same. But that isn’t a fair metric, is it?

Is fate inescapable? Was I fated from birth to write this post? Was my future laid out for me? Or does it work slightly differently?

I am partial to the dichotomy between fate and free will. That being, a person with free will has the autonomy to make their own way in the world and decide their own fate, whereas everyone else is just pulled along by the strings of time. I think this is sweet.

In practice, I have found one way of writing destiny that I like. Nature.

For the record, I am including nurture within this. A person’s nature is just who they are, their history and goals, their fears and hopes.

Specifically, life experiences make up a person. If I find an arachnophobe and I give them a spider, I can be pretty sure how they will react. That is your destiny. It is the path set in front of you by yourself. There is freedom to wiggle within that, but everyone has a set of key components that make up their personality, and in the right circumstances, this can be manipulated.

I could go for the obvious here and talk about how God Of War: Ragnarök leverages this to talk about trauma. I could. It would certainly fit with She-Ra’s discussion of that concept through the cycle of abuse.

But instead, I am going to recommend you the video by Overly Sarcastic Productions (@comicaurora) about that very topic (link) and go further into the past with Charles’ Dickens’ A Christmas Carrol, or more photogenically, the Muppets film of the same name.

“Are these the shadows of things that will be? Or are they the shadows of things that may be only?”

A Christmas Carrol delves into themes of redemption and capitalism, and I will die on the hill that Charles Dickens had a wicked and very dark sense of humour that was brought about by the time in which he was writing. But for the purpose of this post, the book wields the future like a threat.

“Your chains are forged by what you say and do.

So have your fun, when life is done, a nightmare waits for you.”

In A Christmas Carrol, fate is just consequence. Cause and effect. The book is about three ghosts appearing to a miserable old man who thinks he is alone and unimpeachable and showing him multiple occasions when his life was directly impacted by others, for better and for worse, and the effect that his life is having on others.

It opens with a warning from the ghost of Scrooge’s business partner/partners. Cause: Greed. Effect: Chains. Easy one two punch.

It is crucial to me that when Scrooge finds his grave and asks if the future can be changed, the spirit gives no response. It doesn’t give him comfort, but it also doesn’t tell him his future is set. You can try and change your fate. Go for it. If you don’t you will end up here. Alone even in death, but still buried like every other man. There are no coins in your coffin, just memories.

The point of no return is called the end. You decide what that will end up being.

Adora and Catra have been thrust into this story by their natures, and they have been positioned in such a way that can only lead to destruction.

It was in Catra’s nature to take Adora leaving as badly as she did, because she has grown up being told that affection is exclusive and that a person can only care about one other person. She has been taught love in an incredibly dysfunctional way, and she is just a traumatised child, but she’s a traumatised child who is actively wrecking other people’s lives.

Similarly, Adora is a hero in the most self-destructive way possible. She has to save everyone, has to destroy herself for everyone else’s happiness. She is a pawn in a war and she will burn herself to the ground to feel any kind of warmth and it will kill her.

It is these two’s destinies which clash. The cycle of abuse is a spiral that leads to destruction. The tragedy is tragic. So, what do?

To change your fate, you make the decision to change your nature. An arachnophobe can overcome their fear, Scrooge could become a charitable man, Adora and Catra can escape.

If we lean back into the path metaphor. Your nature is a road that itself is moving towards a destiny. If you try and get off it, you will fall over. But you can reach the edge. You can break free. You can start moving in a different direction.

It is always possible to change.

Before I finish up, I want to discuss Horde Prime’s introduction, because he is fantastically incurious in a way that leans into what I have been saying about the inherent self-centredness of abuse.

“You have forgotten who you are. You truly think you are worthy to stand beside me, could be equal to me?”

If Horde Prime was reading Hordak’s mind, he would have seen the portal and the source of the energy reading. He would have been curious as to its use. But no, he projected.

It didn’t matter what Hordak did, it would never have been enough. The fact that he gave himself a name was sufficient to warrant animosity. Prime didn’t need a reason, he needed an excuse to show off his power to Glimmer, but also to himself.

Side note here, Horde prime is played by Keston John, who also plays Darius in The Owl House, and has a voice that can melt butter.

I say this because he turns that off like a switch as he shouts down the powerless Hordak. That grace and smoothness is gone for a horrible growl.

This tiny little gesture as Prime draws back his hand before he strikes. He's deliberately offering Hordak grace and kindness, deliberately making it clear that they were an option and he chose violence. He is giving hope so that it stings even more when he takes it away.

Which presents a question: Is Horde Prime actually put together? Is the snarling monster a tool that he uses? Or is it the real man? Does the distinction matter?

Prime has to be told about the weapon. He doesn’t think for himself, he just coasts off everyone else’s misery.

This man is a physical threat, sure. We have seen that in previous episodes. But here he establishes himself as a thematic force in the narrative. He is an abuser, he is a manipulator, he is selfish.

Horde Prime is terrifying.

Final Thoughts

I had meditations about Arcane and Shakespeare in this that I had to cut because this is one of the longest posts I have ever written.

I want to stress that She-Ra as a series didn’t go places. It didn’t cover new ground as it progressed. Episode two of series one shows a home destroyed by the trauma of a war and the psychological damage that the cycle of abuse can do to a person. She-Ra started here, it just got blunter as the characters got more and more wrapped up in their own heads. Eventually, the show literally wrote its themes on the walls.

This is a tragedy desperately trying to happen. That’s what’s so compelling about the final season yet to come. The character’s have one last moment to get their arses off that road to the end of the world.

Last chance. Last stop. The point of no return is called the end.

Next week we are diving straight into season five, so stick around if that interests you. Let’s do this thing!

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tomlinfonda · 2 years ago

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Inside me there are two wolves.

One who thinks that the writers are either stupid or cruel, and that the finale was so incomprehensibly bad that I shouldn't try to make sense of it. And that I should move on.

The other one is a subtext-and-metaphor-hungry beast that is manically obsessed with finding a reason, at least subtextually, for the incomprehensible mess they made out of these characters, especially Ted, in the finale.

Everyone is so right to point out that Ted in previous episodes would not have acted like this. I think the reason for the sudden regression in his character is Dottie.

That morning, full of smiles, in a good mood, Ted starts his walk to work.

He cheerfully strolls through the streets, saying hello to his neighbors, making chit-chat with them. He is (as Trent said it in 1x03) out there in the community. He is, more importantly, part of a community. Until suddenly-

"Mom?"

Dottie's arrival changes everything. Ted gets worse and worse throughout the episode. In the hotel room in Manchester, the football anthem "Blue Moon", with the haunting lyric "You saw me standing alone" plays over Ted's lonesome figure, in the shadows, depressed.

Juxtapose that with his first scene: the lively neighborhood and daylight.

At the end of the episode, his conversation with his (manipulative) mom hits him deep. He feels immense guilt over not being there for Henry. And he's been torn over this for the entire season.

His mom, and the way she acts, and the way she manipulates him, push him in the wrong direction: Kansas.

I think Ted has disassociated for most of the finale. But I also think that he is intentionally pushing people away. Maybe he thinks that this will make it easier for him to leave, maybe he thinks that this will make it easier for them to let him go. Maybe he just hates himself so much that he cannot accept their help. Maybe he feels guilty that they're showing him so much love, when he knows he will abandon them.

Either way, he quits. Something that he would not have done, even in season 1. So his regression goes farther than the first episode, deeper into his past. He goes from:

to having doubts on the plane about leaving without winning the whole fucking thing

but leaving anyway.

And this is one of the most curious things to me. Rebecca offers to bring Henry to him in England by helping relocate Michelle:

And yet, he refuses. So, sure, this is about being there for his son. But given the choice between his son with his beloved community, and his son without his beloved community, he chooses the latter.

I've heard the argument that we don't know for sure that Ted doesn't have a support system in Kansas. But from a narrative perspective, it's important that we haven't been shown that hypothetical support system at all. And given that he actually returns to Kansas without the one person who we know supported him before coming to England, it comes across as a terribly isolating situation.

So why would Ted choose to part from his found family, even though bringing his son into that family would be an option? My theory is that he just really fucking hates himself. I think he wants to punish himself, maybe for being away from Henry for so long, maybe for something else. I don't think he believes that he deserves love or even credit for how he helped the club.

I mean, Rebecca and Trent offer him exactly that this episode: credit for what the did for the club.

And he rejects them both, choosing instead to remove himself from their lives, to erase himself from the narrative.

I think he's lower mentally than we've seen him for a while.

I think he's in his dark forest.

So the plane departs and then lands. And Ted is back in Kansas, driven through the prosaic, picket-fenced, isolating, depressing American suburbs to the house where Henry and the ex-wife who doesn't love him are waiting for him.

And the light might be golden, and he might be reunited with his son. But as we close in on the last shot of the show, you can see his smile try to fight the sadness in his eyes and you know.

He's not happy.

#ted lasso #ted lasso spoilers

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acaptainbyanyothername · 9 months ago

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Moc Weepe is an incredibly done antagonist and I love him so much.

First up, straight off the bat: he sucks. He sucks really bad. Willy Swinzy apparently was responsible for a lot of deaths just for funsies. Moc Weepe betrayed Saskia and the entire Breach just to fuel his own greed, abandoned Midst to a tearror (that he’s indirectly responsible for…), then decided it would be swell to helm a cult so he can kill MORE people. He’s selfish, greedy, megalomaniacal, and cruel. So yeah, he’s a good antagonist because he actively furthers the plot in negative ways.

But here’s the thing that makes him so special: we’ve been personally following him as a character since the very beginning. He’s an antagonist protagonist! And he is so fun, and so human. He’s the only one of our three protagonists with a sense of humor. We see him “sing” with Saskia, be confused at brunch and manicures, roll his eyes and poke fun at Imelda, and be the weirdest fucking person alive at the post office. On the flip side, we see him deal with chronic pain. We see him cry out in pain while being tortured. In the most recent episode, we see him sob and beg and plead for a loved one not to die. He represents both a sense of fun and whimsy while also being literally and metaphorically consumed by darkness. That’s incredibly cathartic, actually.

Moc Weepe is so fun to watch. He’s so, so desperately human. He is not intrinsically bad, but he continuously makes terrible decisions. We can relate to Weepe while berating his choices. We can enjoy every minute he’s on screen while he’s actively making things worse for everyone else. He’s a a victim and a perpetrator, often both at the same time. Weepe is an incredible antagonist because he is as human as every other character and feels just as loved by the narrators.

All this to say: I love Moc Weepe and I can’t wait to watch him die <3

#Midst #midst spoilers #moc weepe

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coraniaid · 1 month ago

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I really don't understand how popular it seems to be to suggest that Cordelia was a Potential Slayer (and that, somehow, despite not being an teenager when Buffy died in The Gift, she might have been called at that point?). Or that Dawn should have been a Potential in Season 7, either. (I don't really get the appeal of Willow as a Slayer either, as I gather happens at some point in the AU comics, but I don't see anybody arguing for that in regards to the original show.)

The only characters we see on the show who are not identified explicitly as Slayers or Potentials that I think make any particular narrative or thematic or in-universe sense as (Potential or former) Slayers are, in no particular order:

Drusilla. Season 2 establishes Buffy and Drusilla share a lot (including cryptic visions of the future and shared dreams, something Buffy otherwise only ever experiences with Faith, a fellow Slayer). Not something I think hugely credible -- Dru was having her visions as a human, but Slayers don't get them until after being called and it seems pretty clear that Drusilla wasn't a full Slayer when Angel[us] sired her -- but, still, not inherently ridiculous as an idea I suppose.

Ampata (or, rather, the girl whose real name we never learn but who pretends to be Ampata in Inca Mummy Girl). Her fate as a living human sacrifice to ward against evil pretty obviously parallels Buffy's own situation as a Slayer, especially in light of Prophecy Girl which aired just a couple of episodes prior to Ampata's appearance. More of a metaphorical connection than anything else, but ... I guess it's possible?

Sunday (the vampire from The Freshman). No real reason for this except that I once saw (somewhere?) a suggestion that this was the original plan for her character (or, more specifically, that she'd be a former Slayer turned vampire, which I think might have been interesting to see? Okay, okay, I just wish there was more Sunday in Season 4.

Kit Holburn, the girl Dawn befriends in Season 7's Lessons who never appears on the show again. I can only assume there was some sort of casting issue, because the plot of Potential works a lot better if Amanda is somebody Dawn already knows. This also helps set up Dawn, Kit and Carlos as (to some extent) a 'next generation' version of Willow, Buffy and Xander, which I think fits Dawn (we know how much she looks up to Willow).

Gwendolyn Post, Faith's unnamed Watcher and Giles's grandmother. Yeah, these are my dark horse picks for ex-Potentials. We know that the Watchers train some Potentials for years who are never called as Slayers, after all, and what else are they going to do with them later but recruit them as Watchers? (Also notable that Giles and his dad were both explicitly Watchers because a parent was, but we don't get a similar suggestion that that's why his grandmother was a Watcher.) Would also provide an in-universe explanation for why an otherwise intentionally male-dominated and patriarchal organization like the Council might accept women as members. Don't think it's an intended reading, and it's not something I really find that interesting, but I think it makes sense?

Oh the other hand, characters like Cordelia and Dawn -- despite a lot of people suggesting them as plausible Potential Slayers -- make absolutely no sense in this role, because they both (in different ways) literally exist in the story for the primary narrative purpose of being versions of Buffy who are not Slayers.

Cordelia is the popular but self-centred cheerleader who Buffy repeatedly admits she used to be herself (and, at least until the Season 1 finale Prophecy Girl and arguably all the way up to Season 3's Homecoming still sometimes wishes she could become again). Dawn is, quite explicitly, the part of Buffy who never had to be a Slayer, the innocent girl who got the normal childhood and the relationship with her mother that Buffy wishes she could have had. Making either of them Potentials adds nothing to their story -- the whole point of Cordelia's arc after leaving Sunnydale is that she grows up and moves beyond her high school persona and her similarity to Buffy, and making her be secretly a Potential after all reverses so much of that --and robs them of a lot of thematic consistency.

(Dawn not being a Potential is one of Season 7's better decisions, frankly. I don't think the lack of focus on Dawn is great, but I do think that focusing on her by forcing her into the Potential role would have been worse.)

#btvs

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randomfoggytiger · 7 months ago

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The X-Files: the Madonna-Whore Complex

(Credit to @cecilysass, whose comment got these thoughts going.)

I have a theory.

In the fandom, the Madonna-whore complex is often attributed to Chris Carter's handling of Dana Scully. And, while I didn't give it much weight at first, going through his old interviews gave me pause.

THE CHRIS CARTER ANGLE

From 1993 to 1998 (where I stopped reading), Chris repeatedly stated that Mulder and Scully were (are) both sides of himself: “I’m equal parts of both characters,” says their creator. “I’m a skeptic like Scully, but I’m also ready to be enraptured, like Mulder.” Mulder represented his want to believe (and inner darkness-- which he doesn't outright state... but doesn't dissuade others from thinking, either) and Scully represented his skepticism with the paranormal or faith. A lot of his personal details leaked through into their lives-- Hegel Place, California childhood, a sunflower seed habit-- and his personal philosophy-- “Trusting people, generally, is bad,” he says with a slight smile-- became the backbone of the show. He used interesting turns of phrase when discussing his characters' names: "I grew up in L.A. where Vin Scully was the voice of God. Dana is just a nice soft woman’s name I like" and Carter gave The X-Files’ Mulder his mother’s maiden name.... And, as we all know, the repeating 10/13 and 11/21 are his (and Mulder's) birthday and his wife's birthday, respectively.

It could be as simple as a showrunner incorporating himself into his work... or it can make a lot of sense regarding Mulder and Scully's sexual misadventures.

Does this point to Chris Carter being a "puritan", shunning all sexual allusion? He seemed to be willing to hint at more-- letting Tea Leoni suggest a naked Gillian be cheek to cheek with David Duchovny, and teasingly gazing at David's deleted rear shot-- and was even persuaded to leave in the Millennium and Existence kisses (not to mention writing or cosigning the I Want to Believe "scratchy beard" scene.) But does a little lip-locking or a little nudity knock down the "never-nude" angle?

Ultimately, I think speculations on CC's "quirks" are fruitless: unless the man himself sits down and gives a clearer "yes" or "no", it would be equivalent to shooting blanks in the dark. Besides, the parallels don't need to be directly tied to his personal life to inform the decisions of (and for) his characters.

The parallels, though, can't be denied.

MADONNA-WHORE, SCULLY-MULDER

To draw back to the main point: both Scully and Mulder had complicated sexual hang-ups.

Scully wasn't "allowed" to definitively have sex with Ed Jerse while Mulder was only "allowed" sex under duress. Scully was "allowed" to go on normal dates while Mulder was only "allowed" porn fantasies (Chinga, Kill Switch, First Person Shooter) and an on-call phone sex operator. Scully was "allowed" past healthy relationships (except for the one Gillian created, ahem ahem) while Mulder wasn't "allowed" to have anything resembling joy or stability in his past.

All this to say: I think Mulder and Scully are two sides of the Madonna-whore complex: Scully is the Madonna, Mulder is the whore.

It makes sense, too: Scully followed the rules and was "too smart" to get entangled with people who degraded or hurt her-- which made her a little inhuman (according to Morgan, Wong, and Gillian.) Mulder too easily blurred professional lines-- which made him easily seduced by those who intended to harm him. Phoebe Green-- as written by CC-- mentioned Mulder's illicit past activities to draw him back in; and Never Again-- as vetoed by CC-- kept an element of denial about Scully and Jerse's bedroom activities.

(Scully herself was compared to the Virgin Mary once in canon-- though it was not, it appears, Chris Carter who gunned for the imagery; nor was it the writers' and director's intent to be anything other than a metaphor that was "on-theme" for the seasonal episode:

March 14, 1998

Q #16 – Hi, my name is Deborah. Two of my favorite episodes from this season are “Christmas Carol” and “Emily” and I found myself in some heated discussions with other fans who felt Scully was turned into a mere victim, that the religious iconography was heavy handed, being beaten over the head with the Virgin Mary / Scully kind of thing. None of which I agree with. I wondered if you could talk a little about the religious iconography in those two episodes and how you work that kind of thing in and was it as self-conscious as everyone else thinks it is?

FS – ...When we began again, we also took the Dickens story, A Christmas Carol, as our lead. So suddenly the story came together very fast and actually was one of the most satisfying to write for the three of us.

The use of the manger at the very beginning of “Christmas Carol” was deliberate. The idea of a “virgin birth” was conscious. I think the one image in that two parter that people really felt was heavy handed or was laying onto Scully as Virgin Mary idea was at the end of “Emily” there is a very slow dissolve to the stained glass and that was an image that the director chose to use because it was there on the set that day and all of us liked it. But I don’t think that we meant to suggest that she was anyway equivalent to the Virgin Mary and simply thought that, you know, it was a Christmas story and those parallels deepened the story we were telling.

Still.)

The Madonna-whore/Scully-Mulder complex explains a lot a lot a lot about their complicated sex lives.

If that be the case (whether consciously or subconsciously), it makes sense why Chris Carter only wrote a kiss for them after the world didn't end. Biblical mythology and fate were always his favorite tools, after all.

A RUN DOWN

The Jersey Devil-- written by Chris Carter-- is the first episode to tackle the boundaries of this theoretical complex.

Mulder introduces the theme with a porn magazine, at work.

Scully has to drive back to a birthday party, and Mulder immediately balks over the idea of her on a possible date.

Scully considers "a life", agrees to go out with Rob to a perfectly respectable establishment, and dances around the topic uncomfortably with Mulder later.

Mulder wants her to cancel-- not out of romantic jealousy, but because their working relationship might be hindered if her interests were divided elsewhere.

"Unlike you, Mulder, I would like to have a life"/"I have a life" brazenly slaps that motif down; and Scully on her respectable date, Mulder drawing nude jersey devil women at work, Mulder forming a charmed connection with a wild woman, Mulder getting peeved over Rob's call, and Scully leaving Rob for a place by Mulder's side continues to nail it home.

Mulder lunges for the lurid, the alluring, the impossible, with nothing but empty promises and unfulfilled expectations to show for his efforts. That pattern holds for romantic-- Fire, 3, War of the Coprophages, Syzygy (to a degree), The Field Where I Died, Kill Switch, Amor Fati, First Person Shooter-- and platonic-- Deep Throat, Krycek, CSM, Diana Fowley, sundry allies in-between-- relationships. "You think he [Deep Throat] does this because he gets off on it?" he challenges Scully, stunned when she responds, "No. I think he does it because you do."

Scully strides expectantly towards the normal, the stable, the predictable; and leaves all unsavory entanglements before they besmirch her dignity or self-worth (including the unconsummated romance with Daniel Waterston, according to Gillian Anderson.) Ed Jerse is an outlier, a symptom of how out-of-control Scully felt her life had become-- a rebellion against her expected or self-imposed or self-inflicted Madonna pedestal. "Hard to imagine, this day and age, someone having sex with a perfect stranger" plays well with the medical concern of the AIDS epidemic and her distaste for losing control completely in the throes of passion.

When the Gender Bender detective states, "Guy blew an artery-- must be some roll-in-the-hay", Scully is immediately annoyed while Mulder is immediately intrigued (and amused.)

CONCLUSION

I rest my case, Your Honor.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

#txf #The Madonna-Whore Complex #xf meta #CC #no “hate” in this post #only sincere speculation #Mulder #Scully #Madonna-whore complex #interesting #thoughts #mine #meta #x-files #the x files #xfiles

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thecomfywriter · 2 months ago

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arcane season 2 rewrite

okay hear me out. this season was MESSY. so so so messy. not only did it lose the plot, but it lost so many plot devices by introducing new elements without proper explanation, expansion, or impact. it rather undid the effort invested into certain plotlines or straight up abandoned them. like for example, the shimmer, the prince and the importance of the tattoo thing he got on his leg, isha, vander silco backstory, the entire cait dictator arc (reversing that lowkey felt cheap in my opinion because it happened so instantaneously??? tf??), "i gave her a cupcake", mel and the thorn stuff (she was an empath so why tf was she making shields around people and when did she learn to do it that well and intentionally???), WHY WAS JINX SUDDENLY A HEROIC SYMBOL, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DYING TREE, VANDER'S MEMORIES? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF MADDIE?

i feel like the intrigue for arcane for me in season one was the focus of the plot, but the layers and symbolism behind it. it wasn't overly trippy or bright with glow. the glow was a symbol of magic and arcane--of something wrong. shimmer glowed purple. hextech glowed blue. jinx had her glitchy glows whenever she was off her rocker because she was hallucinating again, but the use of colour, explosions, her brightness... it all felt intentionally contrasting to how dark and dreary the undercity was. remember that scene in season 1 where vi is hurt and cait brings her to that shack where all the "forgotten" people cast aside by piltover made tents, all addicts of shimmer? remember how shimmer was used as a power booster, as a metaphor for drugs that are used to oppress and suppress masses? remember when the plot was about the wealth and priviledge disparities between zaun and piltover? silco, this guy who took advantage of the city's destitute state to rise to power, was also the same force who held it together. jinx's trauma of being abandoned is what drove her towards action... vi's desperate protector desires, cait's curiosuity and desire to prove justice or uncover injustice?

i feel like abandoning the shimmer plotline was season 2's biggest mistake. because it could have explained EVERYTHING in every way that made more sense. because why tf did viktor become a messaih, and jayce and viktor switch ideologies out of no where? if i recall correctly, viktor wanted to figure out a cure for himself, but he too admitted to feeling himself "erode away" and it was JAYCE who wasn't letting go of using hextech to save him. how tF did that switch? and a last minute scene at the end to explain the rune stuff and who the sorcerer was that saved him and his mother?

ALSO, the overuse of colour comes with the overuse of MUSIC. the most noteworthy scene in season 1 for me was the ekko jinx bridge battle, where for every big explosion, they took us OUT of the action and the loudness and let us watch the pop of colour in the darkness from afar. there was music in the slow childhood parallels, but when it flipped back to reality and the real fight--NO MUSIC. SILENCE. JUST THE FIGHTING ITSELF. THE RAW EMOTION. THE HESITATION IN EKKO'S ENTIRE EXPRESSION WHEN JINX CLOSES HER EYES AND YOU KNOW HE'S IMAGINING POWDER WITH HER TEARS.

anyways, here's my suggested rewrite:

remember in season one, where victor was struggling to touch the arcane rune cube thing, so he injects himself with shimmer to do it, and it starts poisoning him? why not have the shimmer be the thing that causes the corruption of hextech. and in that discovery, that insanity, jayce watched his friend get lost to the very things that ruined the undercity. the battle that happens in the last episode isn't between viktor the messiah and all his followers--it's the follow up of the highly intense feud between zaun and piltover as a consequence to jinx's season 1 finale actions. the war begins, the undercity's use of shimmer increases to supplement themselves with enough manpower to meet the hextech of piltover (but also because silco iisn't here anymore to selectively bargain it off to people or control its spread and use), shimmer starts infecting the people in piltover as a result (like the prince using it--that could have been a bridge into shimmer being introduced to above the undercity), jayce realizing corruption comes from the misuse of power by watching viktor succumb to the power inside of him and the corrupted hextech, and that being the eyeopener that helps piltover realize they created the "monster" they are continuously trying to subdue. the class wars are enforced by their barriers. zaun's destitution is an extension of their desperation--first and basically always to survive. i don't think jinx should survive at the end of this type of ending, to be honest, just like how she didn't in the og season 2. cait's dictator arc, the way trauma made her almost like a jinx 2.0 was honestly genuinely a very cool parallel that showcases how piltover isn't "better" than zaun just because they can see the sky. pain and power can even corrupt someone like cait, who believed in justice and forgiveness so strongly. seeing that fall from grace would have almost solidified how it's not a moral failing, it's an institutional and systemic failing--pain, a loss of family, grief, the horrors of war... piltover and zaun needed to see their reflections in each other to finally shatter that barrier.

arcane is a story about love, yes, but it is also a story about corrupt power systems. forsaking that for magic and random storylines feels cheap.

idk if i made any sense right now. womp womp. i'm going to go shower and go back to writing my book. cheers

#thecomfywriter rants #thecomfywriter rambles #thecomfywriter's thoughts #arcane #arcane season 2 #thecomfywriter writes #thecomfywriter #writing community #writers #writers on tumblr #writing #wip #writerblr #writers blog #writblr

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jedisandspacepirates · 2 months ago

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I have things to say about the finale.

Now that I've seen it, now that the emotions are settled down.

Spoilers for 1x08, so under the cut in case somebody's not seen it yet.

So I'm actually pretty happy with the finale. Really happy because it ended with the victorious people being who it always should have been, the kids. Fern, KB, Wim, Neel, working together and their parents too in their way, to save the day.

I absolutely loved the hug at the end, when they all went to find KB and just that exchange of "Did we win?" "Yes!"

We did NOT get a huge expansive backstory for Jod, but neither were we promised that. All Jude hinted at was a bit about his childhood and how or why he's Force-sensitive. Well, Mr. Law, that last part wasn't quite...we just know that Jod is actually able to use the Force, but the how or why hmm. Unless by that he meant that his Jedi master had taught him how to use it, I suppose.

Anyway.

I actually loved the information they chose to give us. The picture of a (presumedly) orphaned Jod (I wonder what happened to his parents...did they abandon him, were they killed?) living in a metaphorical (or maybe he was literal here) hole depending on the next meal and living a damn rough life. Then a Jedi finds him, teaches him a little about the Force, and she MUST have said that thing to him that he says to Wim, the Qui-Gon idea. (Of course that's a Jedi principle, not solely Qui-Gon's words, but where would Jod have picked that up if not from her?) And this is the tragic part, she took him under her wing and taught him their ways, but then he was forced to watch when they killed her.

That scarred him and definitely damaged him in a real deep way. I am not excusing his behavior departing from 1x05 and his descent there. That's not okay and I'm still mad at him for all that, but the past they've given him tracks with that, I suppose, and it makes sense that Jod would develop such a dark outlook on life from his experiences. Seeing the galaxy as a dark rotten place with only a few pinpricks of light etc...

And, here, look it comes. I, who have argued for Jod's redemption until blue in the face, am content with the way they ended it because I admit, if they had made him do another heel turn or come to some sort of decision as I thought he might have, I don't think it would have been done so well. It wouldn't have been convincing or felt very real to me. That sort of thing needs time. But what I absolutely adore almost above everything else is--and I don't know if it was purely just the writing or Jude's own decisions with acting, his expressions, etc--the nuances of his actions in that last episode.

I saw a post somewhere saying that Jod had "messed up" by not killing the kids because if it were Anakin, he'd have had At Attin under his boot in ten seconds or something like that. That just caught my eye, and it's worthy to note that Jod didn't harm them. He could have, but he didn't. Yeah, he was trying to pass himself off as the emissary and all that stuff, whatever. But when it was just Fern and her mom with him? He could have killed them.

This interview sheds a whole lot of light on stuff like this, and I'll have you know, the showrunners--the creators of this blessedly amazing series--the creators, people, were saying "those small gestures, his tiny bit of hesitation when he fires", referring to the moment he shot at Fern. The interview perceived that he had intentionally missed Fern, and that's when the creators comment on it. Seriously, he's him. He could have hit her squarely, but I really don't think he intended to. If anything, I believe he did mean to miss or shoot just shy of her.

Also, again, the creators saying he's in "a morally gray" area, "tortured by his behaviour". Whether that means conflicted because he has 'greed treasure I will be rich forever and happy' on one hand and 'i care even a little bit about these kids and don't actually want to hurt them' on the other and those are two forces warring in his soul, I don't know. But there is conflict there, and in any villain I've known in TV shows, movies, books...if there is conflict of evil and good in them, they aren't 100%, completely and irredeemably gone.

Just all of this complexity put into Jod and pulled off by Jude Law was completely and utterly amazing, and that is something I really enjoyed about the finale.

I'm saying it's not the end of road for Jod, and that's what's fantastic about fanfiction.

#skeleton crew #jod na nawood #star wars: skeleton crew #jude law #skeleton crew spoilers

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delicatebeauties · 1 month ago

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a bit brain fried by all the 👄..

Symbolisms in the heart killers - post ep 8

interrogations ?

- any religious hints or symbolism post virgin mary & religious elements in the island?

- Fadel tattoo and the triangular ascention symbolism in kant studios leads towards at least one death or metaphorical death??

Triangular dynamics

Christ Kant Lily

God Son and Spirit?

Mary Magdalena / Mary mother of James / Virgin Mary

Keen Fadel Bison

Ruerat.... smthg.. Lily

Keen/Fadel/Bison parents?

Elder child (Fadel) / Middle child (Keen) / Youngest (Bison)

> middle child used to be the baby, and resents the youngest for taking away his or her role.

Narcissistic family dynamics

> additional roles of children in narcissistic families are: “hero/responsible child,” “caretaker/placater,” “mascot/clown,” and “mastermind/manipulator.”

The three roles assigned to children in narcissistic families are: “golden child,” “scapegoat” and “dutiful/invisible child.”

Zeus James / Thunder tattoo

In Mark 3, Jesus calls twelve men to be His apostles. Among them are “James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder)”

For the Zeus connotations before.

Triangular elements

@benkaben

"The alchemic elements of fire, water, air, and earth are depicted with variations of upright and upside-down triangles."

The inverted triangle is simply an equilateral triangle turned upside down. In alchemy, it means "water," which is emblematic of purification

Triangles :

The past, the present, and the future

The mind, body, and spirit

The beginning, middle, and end

Birth, life, and death

Fadel/Kant feminine associations

Inverted triangles are thought to symbolize womanhood, motherhood, and the moon.

Alchemic / Elemental associations

Fadel is water

Kant is Air

Bison is Fire

Style is Earth/Nature

On Bison / god of Death - Call me the destroyer

Bison fight club jacket ~ creator destroyer

Style as the healer (and also a // to bison healing)

If style is nature/earth coded (skin toned outfits, animal based ones or food symbolism). It harks back to persephone in hades/hell territory for me, also his willing kidnapping.

Despite being bold harsh he is nurturing and caring protective healing fadel with force.

Their previous scenes happening in an empty bathtub / swimming pool (no water) while now style drags himself willingly into fadel territory and the dark deep water after having taken a bite of the food hades gives to him (pandan bread).

He is a mechanician so will open identify what's the issue and fix it and appreciate it with love like imo he did with kant car after fixing it.

On political/social elements

land grab & corruption, work/sex work/service in capitalism/freedom, grooming dynamics (wish they had included ideological grooming), either a local thai corruption reference or an indigenous land metaphor vs external powers

meta commentary on performing desire or sexually for an audience (hosts role of kant bison style?) (even the caddies in golf being victims of that sexual harassment)

Iceland as a lost paradise

An island is a refuge, a place distanced from crowds and noisy civilization.

Kant has a turtle shell tattoo on his shoulder. Turtles are the symbolism of earth and mother earth in native symbolism

A tipi as a home

In Native American cultures, the triangle means "home," so it makes sense that traditional teepees are shaped like them. The triangle is a symbol of protection, shelter, community, family and stability.

Kant home has the home symbolism in his studio as well as Fadel as their home?

Buddhism reveres triangles as the three bodies of Buddhahood (Trikaya). These are the Body of Essence, the Body of Enjoyment, and the Body of Transformation. The three must all be in balance to achieve true enlightenment. They represent knowledge, Heaven, and Earth.

#Trying to think of religious symbolisms after jesus rebirth..#the heart killers #thk meta #kantbison #thk keen #thk christ #khun lily #James is also the name of one of Jesus apostles #Both fadel and kant are female meta coded?#fadel with the inverted triangle and kant with using a woman name?#possibly some more elements for kant?#feeling like in a refresher over indoaryan symbolisms #The lyric destroy love haunts me #bc shiva is the destroyer of world's #Date at the planetarium/space symbolism #the secrets of the universe song imo isnt also for audio #thinking also the old caretaker has some symbolic connotations.. trying to piece it #there is something about khun lily virgin mary that tickles my brain #thai horoscope follows the vedic ones #Also interested in Shakespearean meta on the socio polítical elements #kant pattanawat #Thinking he might be a widow?#the heart killers meta #fadelstyle #thk meta bait

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sokkastyles · 11 months ago

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I read that post you reblogged about Katara using bloodbending to heal Zuko during the final Agni Kai, and honestly I would have loved it if that happened too. I've mentioned before in a previous ask that I wish bloodbending had been explored more in the narrative, especially Katara's complicated feelings about bloodbending. This is going to sound a bit morbid, but I'm kind of wondering if, after the encounter with Hama, do you think Katara would be kind of hyperaware of the water flowing throughout her own body or anyone else's? Would she feel tempted to try bloodbending again? Even though the first time she had to do so was to prevent Aang and Sokka from hurting each other, so she bloodbent Hama, and she found the whole thing disturbing, there's a part of me that wonders if Katara would still have a bit of morbid curiosity about bloodbending anyways. I know this sounds like I want Katara's character to be a bit darker, but what I really want is for Katara to be allowed to have these thoughts or this type of curiosity without her being made to feel like she's a bad person for it. Idk if any of this made that much sense, but I'm curious to know, what are your thoughts?

Katara unconsciously being hyper aware of the water around her and in other people's bodies after Hama is something that has made itself into my fics. Because bending is depicted in atla as part of who the person is, and I think keeping a bender from bending is like keeping someone from being allowed to move their arms and legs.

And once Katara knows this ability exists, not just bloodbending but everything Hama taught her that goes with it, like how to find the water in everything, she will find it impossible to not have this completely alter her bending and how she sees the world.

And, like with firebending, it's not the bending itself that is bad, it's what you do with it.

I love zutara fics that include bloodbending, not just the dark ones, but something I've explored a little in my fics is how it makes her more aware of Zuko's body and heightens her physical connection with him.

Bloodbending can work as a metaphor for consent, because it's not that it's inherently evil to have that kind of knowledge of another person's body, but it's about consent and trust. I see no reason why bloodbending can't be used to heal the same way that medical knowledge can be used both to heal or to kill and torture. (I'm thinking of that particular analogy because I'm reading Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer currently).

Like, I get that the show writers were trying to add complexity by showing the dark side of waterbending with Hama, but the thing is that while waterbending was always portrayed as good before, it was also portrayed in a very limited way. Katara is the last waterbender of her tribe, who had to learn on her own. "Some waterbending is bad, actually," isn't really a lesson she needed to learn, especially not from the only teacher she's ever had who can actually tell her about her own heritage. The unintended message is that Katara exploring a culture heritage that has been denied to her through war is bad, and it actually ends up limiting things instead of making them more complex. It's also another weird way the show dichotomizes combat waterbending and healing. Despite Katara gaining Pakku's respect, she is still getting the message from things like the Hama episode that using her bending for combat and not healing is wrong. The obvious solution is to make waterbending healing a form of bloodbending, and now that Netflix has made healing an actual learned bending form instead of something Katara is naturally good at, I have hope that this connection might actually be made. And this is a win win, because making healing a form of bloodbending actually achieves the complexity the original show was going for.

#katara #bloodbending #zutara

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modernmessydisaster · 5 months ago

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Agatha All Along Theory

Aside from the Funko spoilers (HOW CAN YOU MESS THAT UP!?)

I've been thinking about Teen's identity, Nicholas Scratch, Agatha, and Wanda.

I think we are good to assume that Teen is Billy, but the question now is, how is Billy alive? What does he exactly "remember"?

And why does Agatha have an immediate attachment to him?

●

So, with spoilers from Episode 4. (From here, it's just my own rambling)

Agatha murdered her coven & her mother and we all assumed it was because of the Dark Hold

BUT

For some reason, I think Agatha got the Dark Hold AFTER the events of her trial. She was dabbling in dark magic but had not aquired the Dark Hold yet. It was after her trail that she truly sought it out.

Perhaps her travels led her to meet Rio and began their situationship. Aka, aside from being more than "coven-sisters" (QUEER WIN), I think Agatha & Rio made a vow in not only that neither could harm the other. But also quid pro quo.

Agatha gave Rio bodies. Witch bodies after she took all their magic or people she even killed. Cause maybe Rio is DEATH!? Truly, the way into an entity's heart OR Rio is related to Death in some way.

Either way, if Agatha supplied bodies for Rio, what did Rio do for Agatha? That I do not know, maybe protection? From what then? Maybe the Dark Hold?

Well, whatever Rio had to protect Agatha from, she made the decision even knowing it would hurt Agatha. That decision!?

Rio sacrificed Nicholas Scratch, Agatha's son, to Mephisto to save her.

Personally, I think Agatha was dying or being horribly corrupt by the Dark Hold that her soul was close to being owned by Chthon. So, Rio made a deal with Mephisto to save Agatha's soul and gave up Nicholas in exchange/payment.

Thus, the breakup & lover to enemies between Agatha & Rio.

My points against it!

Agatha's vision in Ep 2, the Dark Hold in the baby cradle. It's implied that Agatha did do it.

But, it's still vague enough that it could have a different meaning. She did look so emotional gazing at it, even shedding tears. Then, absolutely horrified seeing it was the Dark Hold instead of her son.

Perhaps it's a metaphor for Agatha's pursuit of the Dark Hold made her blind or arrogant to what be the consequences for such dark knowledge. The loss of her son.

●

I would also like to point out the possibility that Agatha doesn't even know what exactly happened to her son? She might actually believe she sacrificed him for the Dark Hold, but she herself isn't sure.

Hence, why the sudden attachment to Teen. She grows to believe that Teen is her son, that she/Rio didn't sacrifice him. That Agatha put the sigil on him and gave him up instead.

Either way, Agatha has doubts about what actually happened to her son.

Teen

Rio confirms that at the end of Ep 4 to Agatha, that Teen isn't her son.

And yeah, obviously Teen is Billy, Wanda's son BUT my crack theory.

Wanda tried making Billy & Tommy real after the events of WandaVision with the help of the Dark Hold. But she thought she failed, hence why we have Doctor Stange MoM. But it actually worked!

Wanda did bring Billy & Tommy into existence but unknowingly had help from Mephisto. He gave her Nicholas' soul to use to bring her sons to life. Might explain why Agatha believes Teen is her son. She senses something about him that makes her want to believe.

BUT why would Mephisto do this? Honestly IDK, maybe he has plans to use Billy & Tommy as leverage against Wanda to get her soul, and maybe her powers to bend reality at his will. Instead of only doing so when making deals. Maybe to use her & the boys against Cthon or the boys are sleeper agents that he's waiting to use one day.

Moving on,

Teen even asks Agatha if she put the sigil on him, so Teen has doubts about his identity!

Teen even starts to question if he is Agatha's son, but why?

It's because all the memories Teen has about his suppose parents & life aren't "real"

It's either fake memories implanted in him and people "acting" in their roles to keep it up.

Since in the trailer, we see Teen in a hospital gown? Along with Agatha in a type of prison cell. I think the government or some type of organization found Teen/Billy and had him locked up monitoring him since he does give off some type of energy/magic. Agatha will probably unlock the truth to Teen and even break the sigil.

I'm ending it here since I am tired, it is late. Well, here are my theories. I am probably horribly WRONG, but I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in.

#agatha all along #agatha harkness #rio vidal #billy maximoff #a theory❔️

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hellbrainrot · 21 days ago

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The writers are crafting Daemon and Aemond's arcs as a Hero's Journey.

Daemon's Season 2 arc was essentially this, and next season once Aemond arrives at Harrenhal he will start his.

Interviewer: "When you're processing House of the Dragon, what are some other big mythologies that you're thinking of when you're making sense of this story?

Ryan responds by naming "The Hero of a Thousand Faces" by Joesph Campbell and Arthiuan Mythology as key influences.

— Ryan Condal on Season 2 of House of the Dragon | House of R

Geeta Patel also references the "Hero Journey" in regards to Daemon:

“When he gets to Harrenhal and all these crazy things start happening, he’s the first guy that’ll say, ‘This is weird. These are crazy.’ He’s that guy. He’s a realist. He’s a scientist. He doesn’t believe in all that stuff,” Patel shares. “In that moment where he’s with Rhaenyra, he is being chosen to be heroic. He’s always thought heroism is violence. I think in that moment, he needed to actually be heroic in a greater way. Ryan and Sara always wanted this to be a moment where he’s humbled by how small he is in the greater scheme of things, and he is called to action. That’s why he becomes a hero. That is the simple definition of a hero’s journey. It’s the first point.”

This type of narrative arc echoes a deeper pyschological theme often discussed in mythology-- the confornation with the "shadow" self

"A key stage in the hero’s journey is the confrontation with the shadow – the dark, repressed aspects of the psyche that we deny or project onto others. Jung believed that facing and integrating the shadow was essential for psychological growth and maturity"

"Carl Jung saw the hero’s journey as a metaphor for the process of individuation and integrating the conscious and unconscious selves"

Ewan has multiple quotes where he talks about his shadow side:

["In season 2, what's been exciting for me to explore is that shadow side, seeing that vulnerability behind the facade, you know, this hard exterior that he manufactured over the years. You know, have a little peek behind it, see if that kid is still the neglected bullied boy, and explore the nuance on the upcoming episodes," he said."] -- Ewan Mitchell

[“I made a very conscious decision to really just push for the villain in season one,” he says. “But now you’re going to see all that shadow side. What I love about Aemond is that he has an ambiguity. He could be looking at someone thinking about how he wants to cook them a meal and take them on a date or he could be looking at someone thinking he wants to make them the meal and take Vhagar [his dragon] on a date.”] -- Ewan Mitchell for Esquire

And lastly the reference to the Season 2 trailer where Larys says the quote “The enemy without may be fought with swords, the enemy within is more insidious” (he says this directly to Aemond in Season 2 of Episode 6) followed by the scenes of Daemon in Harrenhal and Aemond lying in the brothel madam's lap, seem to emphasize the internal struggles both characters are facing.

The enemy within is often the shadow, the repressed and rejected parts of ourselves that we avoid.

Both Aemond and Daemon are grappling with their shadow sides, which drives them to be act recklessly and become dangerous forces within their respective factions.

The internal enemy is more insidious because it’s subtle and deeply personal. It operates on a level that , in order to overcome it , requires self awareness and introspective growth---a transformation.

I'll break down each step of the Hero's Journey and explore how it aligns with Daemon's transformation (which I believe is still ongoing):

The Call to Adventure – Blood and Cheese Aftermath

Daemon sets Blood and Cheese in motion, but when it backfires, he flees to Harrenhal. His journey begins with an attempt to escape responsibility, but his stay at Harrenhal forces him to confront it.

First Vision--Young Rhaenyra sewing Jaehaerys’ head -- (Season 2 Episode 3, The Burning Mill)

Instead of facing his mistakes, Daemon isolates himself at Harrenhal, refusing to admit his guilt. The vision shows his subconscious blaming himself for abandoning Rhaenyra and making her clean up his mess.

Refusal of the Call – Daemon resists confronting his past and responsibilities.

He refuses to send a raven to Rhaenyra , too proud to admit his mistakes.

Second Vision – Rhaenyra’s Accusation & Decapitation --(Season 2 Episode 4, The Red Dragon and the Gold)

Rhaenyra Targaryen: It's been said that Targaryens are closer to gods than to men... In my eyes, you were a god, Daemon Targaryen. The Prince of the City, the Lord of Flee Bottom. I was an innocent. You exploited me and abandoned me. You sullied my name at court. You empowered my rivals. You tried to make my ruin. You put me on that throne. And you love me, and you hate me for it. You created me, Daemon. Yet you are now set on destroying me. All because your brother loved me more than he did you."

Rhaenyra in the vision tells Daemon that he “created” her but is now destroying her.

She accuses him of exploiting her and setting her up for ruin.He reacts by killing the vision of Rhaenyra, symbolizing his initial rejection of his guilt.

Instead of reflecting on his role in her suffering, he lashes out, further proving his unwillingness to accept responsibility.

Supernatural Aid – The visions and Alys Rivers guide Daemon through his internal struggles.

["The higher mythologies develop the role in the great figure of the guide, the teacher, the ferryman, the conductor of souls to the afterworld. " ]-- A Hero with a Thousand Faces Chapter I: Departure, Section 3 : Supernatural Aid

["Protective and dangerous, motherly and fatherly at the same time, this supernatural principle of guardianship and direction unites in itself all the ambiguities of the unconscious—thus signifying the support of otir conscious personality by that other, larger system, but also the inscrutability of the guide that we are following, to the peril of all our rational ends" ]-- A Hero with a Thousand Faces Chapter I: Departure, Section 3 : Supernatural Aid

The Supernatural Aid understands that the hero has to go through tough trials and tribulations and will push them to a spot where they are uncomfortable. Though the transformation process may be painful, these figures see comfort and discomfort as essential for growth.

Alys Rivers is a mysterious woman with foresight and is linked to Daemon’s visions. She is a seer with knowledge beyond ordinary understanding.

Third Vision – Aemond’s Manifestation Leads Him to Alys -- (Season 2 Episode 4, The Red Dragon and the Gold)

Daemon follows what appears to be Aemond but finds himself in Alys’ chambers.

Alys gives Daemon a potion, which results in his visions continuing even when he's awake-- blurring the lines between reality and the subconscious. This symbolizes a forced awakening by Alys, making it impossible for Daemon to continue ignoring his struggles.

Symbolism: Aemond serves as a mirror to Daemon (both are ambitious, second sons, and unpredictable warriors).

Crossing the First Threshold / Belly of the Whale– Daemon fully enters his subconscious and past traumas.

This stage of the Hero's Journey often personifies unconscious fears, repressed desires, or unresolved conflicts.

["With the personifications of his destiny to guide and aid him, the hero goes forward in his adventure until he comes to the "threshold guardian" at the entrance to the zone of magnified power. "]

These guardians are often symbolic of the hero’s fears, societal constraints, or unresolved issues that keep them from advancing on their journey or transformation.

Fourth Vision – Laena Confronting Him About Their Daughters-- (Season 2, Episode 4, The Red Dragon and the Gold)

Laena’s ghost asks, “Have you looked after our girls?”

Symbolism: Daemon has neglected his daughters, proving his inability to balance power and family.

His estrangement from his daughters can be seen as Daemon neglecting his familial duties, something that prevents him from fully embracing responsibility.

Road of Trials

So far each vision that Daemon receives is a part of his psyche

Guilt over Jaehaerys.

His role in shaping (and hurting) Rhaenyra.

His failure as a father.

His unresolved need for power and validation.

["ONCE having traversed the threshold, the hero moves in a dream landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms, where he must survive a succession of trials" --- Hero Journey The hero is covertly aided by the advice, amulets, and secret agents of the supernatural helper whom he met before his entrance into this region. Or it may be that he here discovers for the first time that there is a benign power everywhere supporting him in his superhuman passage."]-- A Hero with a Thousand Faces Chapter II: Initiation, Section 1 : Road of Trials

During this stage is where the supernatural helper (Alys) aids him on his trials.

["But I’ll cross you no further. I’m sure your tactics are, after all, approved by the queen"]-- Alys (Season 2 Episode 5 , Regent )

If Daemon's actions harm the innocent or are seen as overly brutal, it could tarnish Rhaenyra's cause once again and make it more difficult to gather the support he needs.

She is subtly guiding him toward a different tactic, where instead of raising an army through fear and violence, Daemon should focus on a more thoughtful and judicious strategy.

Meeting with the Goddess/ Woman as the Temptress – Daemon's Vision of his "mother" (Season 2 Episode 5 -- Regent)

["The remembered image is not only benign, however; for the "bad" mother too —(1) the absent, unattainable mother, against whom aggressive fantasies are directed, and from whom a counteraggression is feared; (2) the hampering, forbidding, punishing mother; (3) the mother who would hold to herself the growing child trying to push away; and finally (4) the desired but forbidden mother (Oedipus complex) whose presence is a lure to dangerous desire (castration complex)—persists in the hidden land of the adult"]-- Chapter II: Initiation, Section 2: Meeting with the Goddess

["And the testings of the hero, which were preliminary to his ultimate experience and deed, were symbolical of those crises of realization by means of which his consciousness came to be amplified and made capable of enduring the full possession of the mother-destroyer, his inevitable bride. With that he knows that he and the father are one: he is in the father's place."] -- Chapter II: Initiation, Section 3: Woman as the Temptress

["You were always the strong one. The finest swordsman. The fearless dragonrider," he imagines his mom telling him during this twisted encounter. "Your brother had great love in his heart, but he lacked your constitution. Viserys was unsuited for the crown, but you, Daemon, you were made to wear it. If only you’d be born first. My favorite son."]

Symbolism: A disturbing vision where Daemon seeks validation through power and intimacy, exposing his unresolved trauma and ambition. It tempts him with the idea that he was the rightful heir.

But after hearing "My favorite son" Daemon reacts with a look of horror and confusion. Although part of him desires the validation and recognition that the vision provides, another part of him recoils from it.

His reaction could signify that he’s aware, on some level, that the type of validation he’s seeking is unhealthy and unsustainable.

After this scene, in the same epiosde, Daemon says this to Alys:

Daemon Targaryen: "She cannot succeed, Alys. Even if I willed it to be so. The people who support her will not be led by her. They look to a man for strength. Who’s better suited to it? The Hightowers with their scheming? Or Viserys’s first true heir? When I take King’s Landing… Rhaenyra is welcome to join me there and take her place by my side. King and queen… ruling together" ]

Alys Rivers : "It’s a pity, don’t you think, that you never knew your mother?"

Alys knows that Daemon had a vision about his mother and saw how he reacted to it. Her response to his words is a subtle nudge for him to remember the vision and how he responded negatively she knows uggesting that Daemon’s ambition for power and control is tied to his emotional needs.

After her words, there is a brief pause in Daemon's actions, and the expression on his face shifts. Alys uses her understanding of his unconscious to subtly prompt him to reflect more deeply on his words.

Atonement of the father-- (Season 2 Episode 6 -- Smallfolk & Season 2 Episode 7-- The Red Sowing)

Sixth Vision-- Viserys on the throne

Daemon Targaryen: Brother?

Viserys Targaryen: Did you say it?, “The Heir for a Day, " Did you say it?

Daemon Targaryen: You can’t possibly still be angry about this.

Viserys Targaryen: My family was just destroyed.You should’ve been at my side.But instead you chose to celebrate your own rise.Laughing at me… laughing with the whores and lickspittles.And everything I’ve given you, you’ve thrown back in my face!I have decided…

Daemon Targaryen: Don’t.

Viserys Targaryen: …to name a new heir. You are to return to Runestone and your lady wife at once, and you are to do so without quarrel, by order of your king.

Daemon Targaryen: No!Open the door! Open the door. Please. Please. Please

We start to see the further cracks in Daemon's psyche that are pushing him to confront his issues with his brother.

This vision is where Daemon is getting all of his failures thrown back in his face directly from someone who he sees as his father figure; Viserys words expose Daemon's shadow - the darker aspect s he prefers to ignore and run from--his selfishness, the abandonment of his family, and his deep insecurity about being replaced as heir.

Daemon's desperation to return t his brother and explain himself offers a self-realization for Daemon.

Following this vision, we see Daemon go through an emotional breakdown.

Within the same episode,it leads to the this stage where he opens up a bit to Alys about his issues with Rhaenyra.

Daemon Targaryen: She never even wanted it. The crown. She spared it no thought.

Alys Rivers: Well, that's perhaps why your brother gave the crown to her. Perhaps those who strive for it are the least suited to wear it.

Daemon Targaryen: Don't lecture me!

Alys Rivers: Viserys never wanted it himself, if you recall. It came to him, and he did his best. It's not a prize to be won, but a burden to bear

"It is in this ordeal that the hero may derive hope and assurance from the helpful female figure, by whose magic (pollen charms or power of intercession) he is protected through all the frightening experiences of the father's ego-shattering initiation. For if it is impossible to trust the terrifying father-face, then one's faith must be centered elsewhere (Spider Woman, Blessed Mother); and with that reliance for support, one endures the crisis—only to find, in the end, that the father and mother reflect each other, and are in essence the same"-Chapter II: Initiation, Section 5: Atonement of the father

During the Atontment of the Father Stage of the Hero's Journey the hero often receives guidance from a female figure , who aids them through their ego shattering initaiton.

Alys plays this role for Daemon , helping him navigate his inner turmoil.

In this exchange, her words “Viserys never wanted it himself, if you recall” seem to echo his subconcious, touching on parts of him that are still in denial or that haven't been fully confronted.

Deep down Daemon knows that his brother never truly desired the crown.

Aftering their converstation it leads us to his:

Seventh Vision –Where Daemon Comforts Viserys Over Aemma’s Death

Symbolism: Daemon holds Viserys as he cries, a moment where Daemon acknowdgles that he should have been there for his brother.This is a pivotal moment for Daemon, both as a character and in terms of his relationship with Viserys.

He acknowleges his past failures and missed opportunites to be a supportive brother

Eighth Vision – Viserys Telling Him the Crown is a Burden - (Season 2 Episode 7-- The Red Sowing)

Daemon realizes that ruling isn’t the ultimate prize—the burden of the crown destroys those who wear it.

This is a turning point—Daemon no longer resents Viserys but understands the weight of his choices.

"And then that opens the door for Daemon sitting with old Viserys and Viserys literally offering him the Crown. The thing we all think that Daemon has always wanted, although I say its a little more nuanced than that, I think he just wanted Viserys to say "It could be yours" so he could say, "No, no, that's too much responsibility.--(HOTD: Official Podcast: S2 Ep. 8: Ryan Condal on the Season Two Finale )

"Really to us, the major scene is that challenge that Viserys gives him with the crown, "Do you want it still?" Because that's really where he has to make the choice" (HOTD: Official Podcast: S2 Ep. 8: Ryan Condal on the Season Two Finale )

Apotheosis (Enlightenment)/ The Ulimate Boon (The Reward)

"When the envelopment of consciousness has been annihilated, then he becomes free of all fear, beyond the reach of change." --- A Hero with a Thousand Faces Chapter II: Initiation, Section 5 : Apotheosis

The final vision of the prophecy is Daemon’s moment of enlightenment.

"The idea was that [Daemon seeing Aegon’s prophecy] was the reward for the journey he went through." (HOTD: Official Podcast: S2 Ep. 8: Ryan Condal on the Season Two Finale )

Ninth Vision – The Prophecy (His enlightenment and Ultimate Reward ) —(Season 2 Episode 8--The Queen Who Ever Was)

After all his trials, he's rewarded with seeing the vision of the prophecy that Viserys was obessed with.

He realizes that his destiny isn’t to rule, but to serve the greater cause of House Targaryen’s survival.

This moment aligns his purpose with something greater than himself.

Symbolism: [“He can have a role in this , it’s very important .. even if it's not the top role and he can have a major role in the future of the Targaryen dynasty as Rhaenyra's king consort and as her justice and as her hand and the leader of her massive dragon host to put her on that throne”] -- HOTD: Official Podcast: S2 Ep. 8: Ryan Condal on the Season Two Finale

["And he now sees something bigger out there , and he wants to be apart of it"]

Final Thoughts:

Daemon was forced to confront the emotional wounds he caused by coming to terms with his role as a father, brother, and husband. A promising aspect of Daemon's upcoming arc in Season 3 is that his journey in the Hero's Journey appears to be ongoing. It seems like we will see more of what he's learned from this experience next season. Ryan has hinted that that Rhaena will have an "impact" on Daemon. Given the direction in the book, it's almost certain that she will get Nettles's role, and they will explore the dynamic between the two.

Also, considering Aemond's character and the fact that he's heading to Harrenhal next season, it makes me think that we will see him undergo a similar process, though I don't think it will have the same story beats as Daemon's. (I will make a separate post about my predictions with the structure of the Hero’s Journey in mind)

#daemon targaryen #aemond targaryen #ewan mitchell #alys rivers #asoiaf #hotd s2 #hotd season 2 #house of the dragon #character study #rhaenyra targaryen #hotd #ryan condal

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miminmimikyu · 8 months ago

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Prodigy episodes 11-12: Jankom you hero! You know that those anger management classes were good if Jankom managed to de-escalate a conflict between a tactless angry Dal and an absolutely livid Chakotay in a room with no Janeway

Jesus episode 11 got really dark really quickly.

Gosh that opening sequence of Chakotay’s life on Ysida was so beautiful. The gentle piano and strings music accompanying this montage was so understated and pretty. The soundtrack on this show...

ngl when Chakotay carved that third chess piece I thought it represented a child

TEN years! That’s longer than Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant! If anyone of the ex-Voyager crew can survive 10 years on an isolated planet, it’s Chakotay, but oooff. I guess 10 years of solitude and the deaths of your entire crew weighing on your mind constantly will do that to a guy. I think that the closest he’s ever been portrayed as this.. callous(?) was in Timeless, where he also lost all but one of his (& Janeway’s) crew. It was so satisfying to see Chakotay get so many emotional moments this episode (still, quite shocking to see him try to attack defenceless kids).

The scene in the cave was so perfect, everything came together— the moody blue of the cavern, Dal’s initial shocked expression and inability to speak, Adreek’s skeleton just sitting there and protecting the antimatter for god knows how long.. and then to top it off the two-hit KO of the incredible animation conveying Chakotay’s horror and grief and guilt, and Robert Beltan’s voice acting!. (I’m so used to his clocked-out performance for a large part of Voyager, I was taken so off guard by the emotions he conveyed in this episode (and the next).…. God that was beautiful

Please.. I’m already dead π_π

I love how it’s not a sense of sudden responsibility for some children but the kids just earnestly working away that gradually drags Chakotay out of his shell. Worn down by their work ethic (and them finding the corpse of his first officer for him 💀).

Yet again: what a cool planet!! A lot of the planets the kids have visited this season have been devoid of humanoid life but each of them is so unique and interesting. Not the worst place to be marooned, if not for the beasts.

I really like the reversal of the Janeway-Chakotay dynamic here. On Voyager, Chakotay kept Janeway in check, now holo Janeway does that for Chakotay. It’s cute how he looks back at her for input from time to time.

Dal and Chakotay actually make a great duo. I really liked their heart-to-heart. Also the way they clash, definitely a different dynamic compared to Dal and Janeway. I didn’t expect Dal to confess his insecurity re:the peek at his future so soon. I don’t think that this solved it but I’m glad that he was given a bit of a confidence boost.

These two episodes sure reminded me of Resolution… stranded on a planet, the planet is plagued by ion storms, Chakotay/Janeway infected vs. the Protostar infected. Chakotay is resigned to his fate while Janeway/Adreek is set on fixing the situation (Janeway didn’t manage but Adreek did).... and then in episode 12 Chakotay tells Dal about how he always felt lost (as a child on his homeworld, in the maquis as an adult..), until he met Janeway and became her number one… that’s almost exactly the same thing that he told Janeway in Resolutions (minus the metaphor + heavy romantic overtones). Hell, episode 12 even starts with Vice Admiral Janeway getting her shoulder massaged (/manhandled. by the doctor. and she hates it. unlike when Chakotay did it on New Earth ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ). Only Janeway isn’t actually stranded with him on Ysida…

Chakotay and Holo Janeway… do you think they explored each other’s bo-

Beverly Crusher is k i l l i n g me being all “Jean-Luc? Dunno, you know him, always working!! Hahaha, let’s talk about motherhood” while hiding her now 4-year old secret lovechild.

Anyway. So if Voyager is nearby (ish), that means that this is present-day and Chakotay crashed 10 years in the past? So besides fixing the protostar back up, they need to wipe holo Janeway’s memories, crash the Protostar in the past and I guess Chakotay just loses 10 years of his life now?

#where did he get that cowboy hat from?#star trek prodigy #star trek prodigy spoilers #prodigy spoilers #prodigy s02e11 spoilers #prodigy s02e12 spoilers #long post #mmnmmq.txt

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