#an evil dark urge character is not a nice person or somebody who is in any way mentally stable

[nebulousfishgills]

🌵

You know what, let's shake it up a little, snippet from my Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough fic since that's currently the only major thing I have going on that I've worked on recently (school, work, and getting on antidepressants saps you, aight?)

It was dark. The area around her rumbled and shook, although she couldn't pinpoint precicely where she was. There was a distinct smell, something putrid and... vaguely garlic-ish. She was aware of her body, standing somewhat upright in... something cylindrical. She flexed her fingers, her eyelids fluttering. It was disorienting, a distinct feeling of almost... emptiness.

She heard a hiss and the walls around her shifted. With a groan, she slightly sat up, her eyes opening. Her vision was blurry, but the world around her was dark save for the spots of fire in the corners. Purple light streamed from various places, lanterns of sorts. She studied the casing she'd been in, the texture something akin to a wet undersea creature. She recognized the structure of the pod, matching the architecture of the room beyond.

Il... Illithid... That's the term, right?

She pushed herself out of the pod and landed on her feet to the floor below. That's when the headache hit her, pounding and humming. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to banish the feeling. All that did was aggrivate the pounding. Though, when she tried to think past the headache, she found there was almost a fog. A void where a large part of her memory should be. It was strange, having no recollection of how she ended up in this place or... really much of anything beyond random bits of irrelevant information. She was able to pull Illithids out of the void, but how she knew such information was lost on her.

As for things about herself, only a few things sprung to mind. She felt magic thrumming beneath her fingertips, an inherent understanding of the... the Weave, that's what it was called. The fabric of magic. She was a sorcerer of sorts, and having rested her hand against her forehead in a futile attempt at banishing the headache, she felt scales. Her magic must have come from a draconic ancestor. The burn in her fingertips told her it was a fire dragon. Though, from the void all she could recall were a few spells. Basic ones as if she were some beginner. How old was she? Twenty-six? Twenty-seven? She shouldn't be a novice spell caster. Yet, all she could recall were five or six basic spells. Children had better knowledge than she did.

Lucky for her, her name didn't seem lost on her. Airetos. At least she had that piece of herself. It didn't come close to answering any of her questions, though. Who was she, how did she end up aboard an Illithid ship? Did someone do this to her? Who?

She felt the blood pulse in her head, somehow both sating and aggrivating her headache. Her limbs twitched, her sharp teeth ground against each other. If someone had done this to her, she would find them and ensure their suffering was long and painful. Airetos indulged herself in at least eight different methods of torture for her faceless attacker. Whipping them into a bloody pulp with their own spine stuck out as a favorite, leaving them to die slowly.

Killing. Now, that sounded like a good idea.

She pondered the beautiful image in her mind for a minute before her lips pursed. Now, while she had very little recollection of much of anything, she knew normal people didn't often indulge in such barbaric fantasies. Then again, maybe she wasn't normal. Something felt very... correct, almost gratifying imagining such things. As natural as breathing.

For the moment, though, such fantasies could only remain fantasies as long as she stood around like an idiot instead of getting her bearing and, perhaps more importantly, escaping. Though she knew little, she did know that nobody that ended up captured by Illithids by choice. It was best to escape as soon as possible, lest something far worse happen.

Whatever the slimy, tentacled freaks wanted with her, she wouldn't let them indulge. Of course, that raised the question of what they did want with her. Was she just another captive or was there something unique about her?

She pondered the question as she approached a brine pool nearby, glowing yellow.

[goodbyenorthernlights]

It's been a while since I read the book but iirc- well, the Archduke is an amputee and his prosthetic hands are, as you say, a metaphor, and highlighted a lot as being creepy and inhuman. Which isn't very nice when actual amputees who wear prosthetics exist.

Similarly (though again working off memory) the Necromancer is blind, due to a congenital issue where he was born without eyes. And the Necromancer in general is written as very... outside of humanity? He's almost like an evil spirit in the way he lives and the way other characters react to him, and he has a noticeable "darkness" motif which his blindness ties into.

I read the book at a time when I was particularly sensitive to this kind of thing, so if I'd read it two, four, etc. years prior it's possible this wouldn't be something that I would have noticed or been bothered by, but it hit me around the time I'd gotten hyperfixated on a blind character from a different franchise, which means I'd been thinking a lot about disability in stories and how it gets treated in plot devices.

(If you're interested in more like, general criticism of the disabled villain trope, here's a relatively short video I watched around this time: link)

For the record I don't think the author was consciously writing like "Yeah, FUcK amputees and blind people, they're creepy and evil," I think he was just... Trying to write a straightforward adventure story that uses a lot of classical tropes, especially ones inspired by Shakespeare. And I think in many ways this is one of the novel's strength, it's one that is very sincere and committed to telling this classical kind of story without succumbing to the urge to be self-consciously subversive or mocking itself, but it also means some more Problematic(TM) tropes slip through without really being examined.

I'm not against people writing disabled villains at all, or having their disability be more than an incidental trait, but I do think it's something people ought to be very, very, very careful about doing. When the only disabled characters in a story are the creepy villains, it sends a message, intentional or not!

This, in fact, can be broadly expanded to most marginalized groups- if the only black characters in your story are violent thugs, then you're sending the message "(I think) black people are violent thugs." If the only woman in your story is somebody's shrewish girlfriend, you wind up sending the message "(I think) women are annoying and exist only in a romantic capacity." If the only Muslim character in your story is a terrorist... Y'get the idea.

Sometimes the solution is to go really in depth on the marginalized character so that they feel more like a human being than a caricature, but I don't think this would work for the Graverobber's Apprentice, which by structure and tone kind of requires the villains to be thoroughly reprehensible and terrifying.

I think if I were to try and "fix" it I'd either remove the disabled traits of the villains (the only one that's especially relevant to the actual plot is the Archduke's amputee status which serves a role in the prophecy of his defeat, and you could probably come up with some other Seemingly-Impossible-Condition) or make some of the heroic characters have their own disabilities. For example you could have Hans also be an amputee (maybe he got injured during his Moses in the Bulrushes escapade as an infant, or growing up as a grave robber- if he got an infected wound, for instance, a period-appropriate solution would have been to cut the affected limb off.)

When you have multiple disabled characters (or characters from another marginalized group) and they have a reasonable variety of personalities and roles, disability simply becomes another trait someone might have, rather than a definitive statement on what kind of person would be disabled.

Hey so ya know that post you mentioned the Grave Robber’s Apprentice a year ago? What’s ur opinion on it :3 I’d like to know (there’s no fandom around this book I’ve been able to find :()

I had to google it to refresh my memory tbh, but I do remember liking it! Nicely paced adventure story with plenty of exciting peril and stuff.

I do have a caveat that I'm not too comfy with how the villains- the Archduke and the Necromancer- are both disabled in a way that's clearly meant to be othering and offputting, and that's unfortunately one element that really stuck with me. Other than that it was one I quite enjoyed though.

[purplebass]

Prompt 53 please 🥰🧡

Here it is! I hope it’s good, I tried to give my best 😘💜

Title: If They Only Knew Couple: Jesse Blackthorn and Lucie Herondale, Blackdale Prompt: “That wasn’t very subtle.”

“And then, the princess decided that it was time she took the matter into her own hands,” Lucie typed on her typewriter. “She needed to save the prince from his fate, otherwise he would die by the hands of his evil mother. But what could she do, as he lied, motionless, on the cold marble floor of the castle? She could only-”

“Interesting.”

Lucie jumped and looked up, accidentally clicking some buttons and messing up the sheet of paper inside of her writing machine.

“You scared me,” she said, putting her hand on her chest to stop her racing heart. Lately, her heart always beat faster whenever a certain guy was around her, and this time, it was pounding both because of the anxiety and the excitement. She really liked to see that boy around her, and she wondered if it was the same for him. She sighed.

Jesse appeared at the side of her mahogany desk. “I didn’t think a girl who can see ghosts could be easily scared, to be honest.”

“If you appear out of nowhere, she could be,” Lucie protested, then she tried to fix the typewriter. The paper was stuck in the middle of the machine, which meant she had to use another one and rewrite everything she had written over there.

As she adjusted the typewriter, Jesse gazed at her with amusement. Lucie didn’t know, but he took pleasure in seeing her write and in being so lively.

“I sense you’re angry with me,” Jesse said, but his voice was playful, not bitter.

Lucie pouted, trying to keep her stance, but it wasn’t possible. “I am not the resentful type, Jesse. Even if you creep up on me while I write.”

Jesse raised his once dark eyebrows, and he shrugged. “Now I’m creeping up on you,” he told her as he paced around her room, noticing she had quite a lot of books hidden in there, “but you aren’t angry with me.”

He tilted his head and glanced at her. She was still trying to get the sheet of paper out of the damned machine, but it wouldn’t budge. “Ugh,” Lucie complained. “The paper is stuck.”

As if on cue, Jesse moved swiftly until he was by her side. The paper was torn but it was indeed blocked inside the typewriter, and Lucie wasn’t able to get it out so she could go back to her writing.

She glanced about her room, expecting to see him near her bed, but he wasn’t there. She realized he was near her, a hand placed on her desk and his head bent on the typewriter, inspecting the mess she had just created with the crumbled sheet. Jesse turned towards her, and Lucie couldn’t help but be attracted to his green eyes, which were one of the only features of him who still gave him a semblance of a living person and not a ghost.

Lucie’s mouth fell slightly open as if she was startled by the nearness, but at the same time, in awe at the guy’s appearance. He was handsome, and she thought it was just a pity that he was a ghost. She felt sorry for him. He could have been married by now, had kids, living the shadowhunter life he was meant to live or becoming whatever he wanted to be. But he was dead.

“I wish I could help you,” said Jesse, taking her back to reality, and ironically linking his words with the thoughts she was having on him. “But we never had this thing at Chiswick, and I have no idea how it works.”

She nodded and broke the connection, checking the typewriter again. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered,” Lucie assured him, and tried to get back at it, and in the end the sheet was freed from the typewriter. She looked at it grimly. “Finally. But now I have to type it all again.”

“What were you typing, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I was writing The Beautiful Cordelia,” Lucie beamed, rearranging some papers on the furthest side of the desk. “I was about to say how the princess saved the prince from his evil mother. She was about to…” she said, then left her sentence hanging in the air.

“Interesting. What was she about to do?”

“Are you really interested, Mr. Blackthorn?” Lucie wondered, smiling at him, but not actually answering his question. The only people who seemed interested in her writing were her family and Cordelia, and despite they told her she had talent, she had never showed her work to somebody else. “I mean, I could be writing the next best seller, if you ask me.”

Jesse shrugged and sat on the desk. Even if he was almost a shadow, he didn’t lose his spark. He was not tangible, at least for others, but he still carried a strong presence along his translucent body. “You just called me Mr. Blackthorn,” he laughed. “And I’m sure your story is nice. But, haven’t you just said that your character was about to do something? What was it?”

“I called you Mr. Blackthorn because… never mind,” Lucie shook her head and rose from her chair.

“No, now I want to know, Miss Herondale,” he urged with curiosity.

Lucie, who, in the meantime had walked to the center of the room, stopped her anxious pacing and gazed back at Jesse. He still leaned on the desk, but he turned towards her, his hands folded on his long legs.

“Well, aren’t you older than me? You were born one year before my parents got married. There is an 8-year gap between us. If you weren’t dead, you’d be 24 now, Jesse Blackthorn.”

Lucie said that in one go, without stopping for a second to get air in her lungs. She hoped she hadn’t offended him – after all, he was a ghost. Despite the sadness of his situation, she was stating facts. Jesse was born on the same year as Charles Fairchild, her mother once told her, but the children were as different as night and day, despite they both had forest green eyes. Tatiana Blackthorn, Jesse’s mother, didn’t want her brothers Gideon and Gabriel to see her baby. Her aunt Cecily and uncle Gabriel had been disheartened by her choice, especially her uncle, but they couldn’t do anything.

Jesse seemed to mull over what she said, and he waited to give her answer, to the point that Lucie thought she had been rude. Maybe it wasn’t nice to remind a ghost that he stopped aging? Yes, definitely. She was about to say more when she heard him speak.

“I honestly don’t feel that old. I mean, I feel that time passes, but I don’t perceive it the same way the living do,” he explained, staring at the window in front of him. “So, I don’t think you should call me mister. We are the same age. And I thought…” he started, then sauntered to her, his hands in the pockets of his trousers.

Lucie did not move as he approached. “What did you think, Jesse?”

“We are friends, aren’t we?” he inquired with a placid tone.

“Of course, we are,” she assured him, looking delighted to hear so. “Of course, we are friends.”

Jesse beamed, and his eyes seemed to lit up with something Lucie had seen ever so slightly in him, ever since they had started meeting in secret. Hope, comfort. Warmth. How could a person who had been dead for seven long years, exude such glow?

“Marvelous,” he commented, then went to sit on her bed. “Since we’re friends, I expect you to tell me about your problem. About your story, I mean.”

“The problem with my story,” Lucie commenced, “is that I don’t know how to write the scene I was about to write.”

“How so?”

Lucie bit her lip and started pacing her room. “The princess is meant to kiss the prince to save him, since he’s dead,” she said. “Because they are fated and by kissing him, she can revive him”.

She thought how ironic that situation was. She, Lucie Herondale, hadn’t intentionally decided to insert what was happening in her real life into her story. She hadn’t realized it until then, with Jesse sitting on her bed. Jesse was dead, and…

“What is the problem, then?”

“The kiss. The kiss is the problem,” Lucie admitted honestly. She wasn’t shy, but she had to confess that speaking of kisses with a guy her age – he said so, made her cheeks heat. And it didn’t help that they were alone. In her room. At night. She dared to look at him, to see his reaction.

“You’ve never kissed somebody before,” Jesse declared, nonchalant. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said it. Pardon me.”

Lucie wasn’t somebody who hid her emotions, and she wouldn’t hide them in front of him. After a minute of deliberation, she decided that honesty, as always, was the best policy. “No, no. I’m not offended. Truly. And… you’re right.”

If Jesse was surprised, he didn’t let it show over his face. His expression remained neutral, tranquil, peaceful. And he was quiet even when he replied her, in contrast with her current mood. She was anxious. Suddenly, her stomach felt empty, as if something was in there. Butterflies?

“With this I can help,” Jesse murmured, grinning. “Or… By the Angel, I’m being too improper tonight, am I? I should just go.”

“No!” Lucie blurted out without thinking, realizing her voice was too loud. “No. Don’t go. I think it would be a nice experiment for me to practice kissing. This way I’ll be able to write it more realistically, even if I doubt Jane Austen or Charlotte Brontë had kissed somebody when they wrote their novels,” she answered him, trying not to appear too enthusiastic about it, even if she was indeed super excited for that moment. Not only because of the kiss, her first kiss, but because of him.

Jesse nodded. “Come here, then,” he patted the spot next to him on her bed. “Or you want to do it standing?”

Lucie tried to keep her mind clear. Focus, she needed to focus. How was better? “It’s better on the bed,” she finally decided, “since my prince is supposed to be on the floor, deceased.”

“Then how about we do it like that? I don’t mind being on the floor,” he proposed.

“Excellent,” she agreed. Jesse, as swift as usual, lied down on the Persian rug she had in front of her bed. She then followed him and sat next to his shadowy body. “Close your eyes, Jesse.”

And he did as he was told. Lucie didn’t know what to do exactly, and she tried to wrack her brain and think about one of her favorite novels. How did the heroine kiss the hero at the end?

She put her hands on the sides of his neck, then dove down onto him, closed her eyes, and pressed her lips on Jesse’s translucent ones. At first, it didn’t happen anything. His lips were soft, not warm but delicate. Then she felt his hand on her back, trying not to impose on her body too much, and his lips started moving slowly on hers. He was doing what she usually did whenever she ate her favorite cake, eating small bites, slowly, savoring each piece with delight to make it last longer. He was gentle, not urgent. It seemed endless, relaxing even, until she heard the door open behind her and she felt as if she was free falling from a cliff. Which was not far from the truth.

She luckily fell on the Persian rug.

“Did you scream earlier, Lu?” her father asked, getting into her room. “And why are you on the floor? Perhaps you fell?” Will wondered, and she could read worry written on his face as he knelt down and touched her head.

“No, papa. I was just mad because a piece of paper stuck in the typewriter, that is all,” she explained, hoping she didn’t have I’ve just been kissed by a ghost written all over her face.

Will glanced at the desk, then at his daughter. “Do you want any help?”

“No, thanks, papa.”

He seemed satisfied of the answer and stood up, offering his hand to her, which she accepted. She hoped that her hand didn’t give her away. It was sweaty.

“But you didn’t tell me why you were on the rug,” he said.

Lucie loved her father, but sometimes he was too… too curious like a cat. Or a child. While this amused her, she didn’t intend to reveal to him that she was alone in her room with a handsome Blackthorn, so she opted for a white lie, which wasn’t completely a lie.

“I was trying a scene for my book. The character faints, so I wanted to describe it well.”

Will nodded, grinning. “Ah, alright, I see, sweet Lu. Be careful.”

“I will, pap,” she agreed as he walked out of her room. “Oh, dad? Can you knock next time?”

“I knocked, Lucie. Three or four times. The fifth time I decided to barge in.”

Lucie was stunned. “Ok, well, then… goodnight, papa. Say goodnight to mom too.”

“Yes, my dear. See you tomorrow,” he said, then closed the door behind him, leaving her alone once again.

She sat on the bed with her hand on her heart and sighed.

“That wasn’t very subtle,” Jesse said, appearing in her room out of the blue for the second time that night. But he wasn’t sitting on her bed with her.

“It was indeed very close,” Lucie agreed, gazing at Jesse. He had a smug face, and he was laughing. “Are you pleased with yourself, Jesse Blackthorn?”

“A person like me rarely lives situations like this anymore,” he confessed. “Let’s be thankful I was a ghost, or your father would have thrown me out of the window.”

“My father? No, I don’t think he would have,” she replied with determination. “But my brother, maybe… and the other Merry Thieves…”

“Who are the Merry Thieves?”

“My other brothers,” Lucie conceded. “I’m the only one who can see you besides your family.”

Jesse nodded, but didn’t answer. She thought he probably didn’t know why she was the only one who could see him besides for Grace and Tatiana, and she hoped to find that out soon.

“Lucie,” he murmured after they stayed in silence for a couple of minutes. “Was the experiment alright? Did you get what you were looking for?”

“It was perfect,” she said, scanning his face to read his expression. He wore his quiet expression like a glove. She wondered if he also felt the same things she did, but didn’t dare to ask him. After all, hadn’t he said he was helping her for her writing research?

“I’m glad.”

“Thanks for the help, Jesse.”

“Anytime, Lucie.”

Lucie smiled at him and then went back to her chair, behind the desk. Now she had to write. “It’s better if I write the scene while it’s still fresh in my mind.”

“I agree,” he answered, approaching het desk with his silent gait. She was loading another sheet of paper in the typewriter when he spoke again. “Lucie?”

She glanced at him, expectantly. “Yes?”

“Can I stay? I mean, I’d love to see you write, if you don’t mind.”

Lucie couldn’t help but smile. Not only she liked the idea, but she also felt a sweet tinge in his voice, as if he was shy to ask her that. “You don’t even have to ask. You can stay anytime.”

“Alright. I’ll be quiet,” Jesse said, and Lucie wondered if he did know how true that statement was about him, but at the same time very wrong. Because despite Jesse was a ghost, a reserved ghost, he also managed to scream something very clear whenever she looked at him.

Jesse wanted to live.

Lucie didn’t know what she could do to help him. For now, she would just reenact their kiss in her writing, pretending for a moment to be The Beautiful Cordelia of her story, the princess kissed by the prince tortured by his evil mother until she could, hopefully, do it for real and for the whole world to see.

[sakuhai]

From the recent events of s3 of Castlevania and the extreme reactions of part of the current fandom I assume that most people are either unaware that this particular cartoon series version is rather a almost completely "interpretation as adaptation" case and not an accurate adaptation of the Castlevania series as it has been established in multiple video games,manga and novels since 1986.

Or they simply haven't looked so deep into the previous versions and what the story and the characters originally are about.

Alucard being a quite ambiguous character who has a completely different and very complicated long story and arc of his own in the particular arc Castlevania series is at this point his character was never a main character and his appearance was more like an "easter egg" and so the scriptwriters have taken many liberties on Alucards character making him almost completely different from what he was designed and composed by his original creator.

The original Alucard would probably not seem so appealing and wouldn't had become very sympathetic popular and relatable to the modern audience.Or would he?In my opinion he would but as mentioned before many liberties have been imposed to his character and storyline in the cartoon series which doesn't claim to be an accurate adaptation.

I think it would had been more interesting if they had kept his original traits and explored those more instead of writing his character almost from scratch.But I guess that's how it works with media in order to not have legal issues or sth like that?I'm not sure but the Castlevania adult cartoon series is free adaptation almost like a licensed fan fiction so having said that I will go to the real "purpose" of this post.

Cartoon Castlevania Alucard is not the "canon" one.Is just someone's interpretation and "take" on his character.And it doesn't go much beyond that at this point.

The original Alucard is a very strong assertive individual with extreme intelligence,very strong morals and beliefs,and a very sharp perception of himself,the environment and people.

He is not affected by others,he makes his own decisions,he's well balanced and grounded.He knows what he does and why.

Being so clever with a strong intuition but also he seems to have a square logic.He is aware of himself and that as a supernatural creature with the values of his time,and the fact that he is very mature and noble he feels the responsibility of defending humans as someone who isn't directly affected nor will he ever practically have the same problems as the mortals.

Alucard with his original character is someone who has established everything inside his mind and soul from a very young age and with his mothers love and words always in his heart and mind he goes forward.

He is not vulnerable at least not in the way he is in the cartoon.He doesn't need any guidance or advice by anyone.His judgment and actions are not affected by others.Because he is sharp and can see right through other individuals and situations.He seems to be more into spiritual and intellectual paths and he has complete control of his body and mind.He doesn't get distracted and his self control is adamant.

He doesn't seem to be ever affected by his natural urge of consuming human blood.He has expressed his thoughts and misgivings that if he ever tries it he would probably want more and he understands that with that the power inbalance between him and mortals would only be stronger.He is extremely powerful being a hybrid as it is,so he doesn't seem to want to explore what his abilities would be like if he consumed human blood.And Alucard is aware of everything.He knows what s*x is and he never seems interested in it.In the graphic novel I believe he has even been approached multiple times by a lot of people for that purpose but he was never interested.He knows when he received flirting from others,he knows when humans try to seduce him.Again he never reciprocated any of those.Even in the cartoon version he says "Gross" when he sees Trevor and Sypha kissing.He tells Trevor to f*ck off and he gives him a middle finger.

Alucard knows what's up.I get that,those were probably just for laughs but still it should mean that Alucard knows what it means when people kiss like that etc..So its not like he wasn't aware of what was happening when Taka and Sumi started kissing him...

So based on how Alucards original character was established through the years and people knowing that and accepting that,it should be understandable why some of us wouldn't take his character in the cartoon very seriously and make some rather sarcastic comments and humor about it,instead of being disturbed by it.

I hope that people will understand what I mean despite my probably awkward usage of the English language.

Its just that some fans know the original Alucard and this "alien" Alucard seems borderline a caricature or we would rather the producers had chosen other things from their unlimited choices for Alucard.

It did seem ooc for Alucard to be vulnerable and naive like that.His words towards Taka and Sumi that they shouldn't be like that because the world is not against them and that they still have other options and chances to better themselves and their lives,instead of seducing and killing people and supernatural creatures does sound like something the original Alucard would say but he would say it before the s*x and not afterwards.And the original Alucard would probably even kick them out for being "lewd" if they hadn't previously understood his lecture.Alucard even in his cartoon version had very clearly warned them that they should be careful because he is a vampire after all,so his reactions a few days later seem way too weird...

Alucard is sassy and he would had denied them and tell them off pretty intensely preaching them like an older sibling or even a father figure.

Also original Alucard is someone who knows who he is and what he is.He knows that great power comes with great responsibility.He knows his abilities and that his choices are unlimited compared to humans.Even if he would give in carnal pleasure he still wouldn't chose to slaughter humans for their weak bodies and minds.As a supernatural creature he has high standards for himself and like other cases he would avoid killing humans all the more so young desperate humans.He has many skills and abilities.Subduing them would had been a piece of cake for him.Alucard is someone who can even predict somebody's thoughts and moves before they make them.

Alucard's history of murders is in its majority reported in cases of direct battle and mostly he would kill other supernatural creatures and not humans.Alucard is very responsible and operates with logic but he also has empathy.

Like in the case with his father,he didn't only blame humans for losing their composure getting overwhelmed with terror and therefore taking rashed decisions which result to catastrophic events.Alucard also seems to think that his father also bares a huge responsibility for what happened to his mother.So ofcourse if Alucard ever committed such a mistake he would definitely take the entire blame and responsibility instead of turning evil and choosing to destroy everyone and everything as a copying mechanism.

So overall the character of Alucard originally doesn't have any obvious flaws or vulnerabilities.But still one way or another he would still be interesting and have his audience/fans.Its just that unfortunately or not the producers made that decision for Alucard's character in this version of the series.

As for his very personal life and romance or s*xuality,the original Alucard never engaged into any type of s*xual activity with anyone.And his relationship with Maria seems nice but I would say its up to interpretation.It's easier to say that Maria likes Alucard and sees him as a love interest.He doesn't seem to feel that way.He likes her and respects her and they work nicely together as partners in battle but other than that he never reciprocated her love signals.

But if the story of the cartoon Castlevania continues and catches that arc and since many fans of the revamped Alucard seem to consider him a baby who deserves everything good its quite possible that the creators will hook him up with a nice girl in the end.I predict that he will be considered "morally gray" and "worthy of redemption" in the end,though I'm not sure I would stan him if he turned evil in s4 even though Im pretty sure he will get "redemption" one way or another eventually.Unlike Taka and Sumi who seemed interesting and also could be considered "morally gray and worthy of redemption" but they weren't created for that purpose.That's very unfortunate in my opinion at least.

Despite that Castlevania has always been dark themed based on the most gruesome horror stories and creatures and things such as love and relationships are never truly touched upon.And that has never been the point or focus of the story.

In conclusion please don't get to flustered with people who are not so emotionally connected or invested to the 2020 cartoon version of Alucard.None of the things that happened to him in s3 have ever been in any of the games or visual novels.Some just may prefer his original character and original story line.And since this is only fiction and the situations during the introduction and conclusion of the TakaSumiAlucard fiasco are so ooc and uncalled for many people would approach it with skepticism or even sarcasm (because its way too ooc)and consider it just a move for shocking value and fanservice.It also should be understandable and tolerated that some people do not disregard the 2020 Alucard from his own fault and responsibility.All the skeptical comments and opinions on Alucard in s3 I don't think are more "toxic" or "nasty" and "disrespectful" than the comments and opinions saying that a good way to overcome a supposed trauma from a disastrous 3 way,would be engaging into another 3 way...

Thats my thoughts on the original character of Alucard based from what I gathered from the material I own and have experienced through the years with the series.Mostly video games and a few interviews of Ayami Kojima and Koji Igarashi who approved the "rewrite" of the story as he describes it.

[unikornu]

🌹, 🍂, 💐, 🌺, 💫, ☄️ for Lucy? 🍁, 🌸, 💦 for Harrison?

Thank you kindly for the asks! Let’s go:

Lucy: 

🌹 Where in the world does your OC feel most at home? Is there any reason why? If it’s not the place they were born, where were they born? Is there a certain somebody that makes them feel at home where ever they may be? What does home mean to them?

Home for Lucy is whenever she is sure no one from the fair distance and within same walls wants to stab her in her sleep. Nuka World under Harrison protection will be the most home-ish and safe place since also after the disciples wiping she did prove her worth and loyalty to the raider’s goals and now they no longer need to sleep with one eye open with Gage since Harrison is patrolling and staying up all nights and gang leaders might not have such a strong urge to betray her. Later eventually she will set up base back in Sanctuary in her mother’s home since they will need second solid base in Commonwealth and somewhere deep in the woods still lies a pre-war secret lab section  that will be important for Harrison in order to understand the experiment and maintain his power as well as his body. A place where she can put down her guard, where she can sense presence of her boss and be sure Gage is also nearby will always be worth calling home but there are few places like this since later on her reputation will be more knowledgeable to wasteland folks and she will be on wanted list of sort. 

So yeah what can i say...away from Nuka World home announcement for them would sound like so:  A small blond lady along with a raider thug and tall grumpy old man looking for a warm cave to duck in without worry of being pitchforked by angry local settlers and half of the commonwealth. Ain’t many places they can call home, poor fuckers. 

🍂 Does your OC enjoy hugs? What do they do as a show of affection for: their friends, their family, their significant other(s) or for strangers? Over all what are they like with receiving affection from others?

Oh she secretly loves hugs and affection of any kind but keeps in mind its better to leave them for very few and private moments. Besides how the hell that would make her look in society she is stuck with. Harrison and type of her job forced her to strip her mind from emotions as they were useless and making her weak but once the events calmed down they do come at peace and leave that part behind. With friends in public like Lizzie she will bump against their shoulder with a smile or chuckle, its safe in public and still reflects that she feels good in their company. With Harrison she will just bury herself in deep fatherly hug when gone for a few days, especially he is very tall and big so its like hugging a yao guai just in a brown thick coat. And because she never had a good father experience that hug will mean a world to them. With Gage she knows he has a hard time to be soft fucker but as the time goes on, the affection switches from small things, like checking his patch out and forcing to help taking care of his wounds too, not just hers, into letting down the bitch tough face and raider stiff attitude. Inviting him for the drink, just two of them, closing the distance and ending up just resting against his chest or sleeping hugged to his back. If the urge is strong and rules can go fuck themselves she will just charge at him and let all that sweet stuffed in her chest love drown him. 

As for people who didn’t reach yet friend level any kind of touching contact which doesn’t involve knife is for her a way to show affection. Be it soft fist bump in their arm, fast shoulder shake or very split millisecond side hug. Hell, even if she smiles at them its already a good sign, and in a humane soft manner, not the smirky bitch one. If her resting bitch face goes away its already a fantastic sign and promising future she won’t stab them later on. 

💐 How does your OC handle being unwell or forced to rest in bed? Who cares for them and in what ways? Does your OC enjoy being doted on or are they a terrible patient? Reversed: is your OC good at taking care of others who are ill or in need?

If you tell her to do that when there is shiet to be done and there almost always is in her mind you will see a constant middle finger, raised from the bed and the moment you turn around or leave she will be gone, sneaking away to get at least her knife and try to leave outside. She was raised to fulfill mission, no matter what so a stupid cold or broken bone is suppose to nail her in place. Fuck no, she can’t right? She can’t be that weak even if pain sweats her eyes. Gage learns slowly her urges as with each park taken he sees her taking extreme solutions to many situations, not thinking about possible bad outcomes so when the really bad cold catches her or she got badly wounded again he will be the one yelling at her to stop that shit. Aside from usual care like shoving injections or closing wounds and occasional cooking he will be constantly ensuring her that she can close both eyes shut and get an actual restful sleep, that he is on the watch and nothing out there waits to kill her when she ain’t looking. World neither will fall apart in flames if she will be gone in dreams for few hours. With Harrison come back that part is becoming easier as the simple sharp look in his eyes of mixed care and threat is convincing enough to put that knife down and shove her ass back in bed. With Gage guarding the Fizztop and Harrison overlooking the rest of the town there is no way of sneaking out and in this case it would be a bit ungrateful since they both put so much effort for her. 

She is better at taking care of others than herself tho if these are in her social circle. She doesn’t need to force herself, it comes natural to her. She will switch in a second from a vicious bitch to a caring bitch. Trying even to overcome her lack of cooking skills to deliver something warm and edible to that person if need. If she can’t get that fucking soup perfect for shit she will threaten and kidnap a local masterchef of sort to make and teach her how to do it. She means well but...ya remember her empathy can have weird and extreme outcomes.

Lol imagining like someone being under her care when sick and they go to the bathroom and spot a chef cook in a kitchen chained to a fucking stove cooking some good shit and Lucy siting at the table reading a cooking recipe and pointing a pistol at them.          

🌺 What does your OC do to calm down when they’re scared or after a nightmare? Do they have any special comfort items or need to be reassured by a specific person? How do they handle this if they’re alone?

Normally she would drink or take calmex right away but she slowly tries to give up on that addiction as they do more harm than good. Having Gage or Harrison around will help to break that thought if she can either crawl up to Porter’s bed or wake him up to ensure that everything is real and alright or kindly ask Harrison to watch over her as he doesn’t need to sleep. Maybe he looks like a nightmare in a dark but its her nightmare she is familiar with.

If alone tho she will struggle, she hates to be alone for too long. If fear strikes her at battlefield she will try to cover her fear and damp it down with anger instead, psycho or fury could help and she isn’t addicted to it as to calmex so that’s one way out but stupid. If its just a nightmare in a middle of a night she won’t go immediately to sleep but walk around, talking to herself and convincing it was just a dream, grab a mannequin, do a silly dance with it, anything silly to relax a mind and take it off the stress and that nightmare. A shot of booze won’t hurt as long as it ends up on just one but it rarely does. Reassurance is her best ally in these beside she is too big of a girl for comforting items like an old plush puppet found in some certain treehouse back in Sancturary....right...riiiiight? ._.

💫What is your favorite fact about this character and why?

I think the simple fact that she is kind of evil oc and she knows about it. I don’t think there is many characters of this kind out there but i might be wrong. Since childhood i was trying to strike best - peaceful outcomes in games and so on but later on i started to sympathize with actual villains, be it games and stories. They can be full of surprises and complex in a interesting way, prove to be actually powerful allies as well and in general they talk to me more than a basic superman trying to strike for a world peace.  

☄️ Does this OC deserve better treatment from you? Do you make them suffer just a little bit too much? Be nice to them!

Oh ye, ofc she deserves better, she wants hugs, friends, she is bad but she wants a warm treatment too from time to time, she still have emotions ;c  Me, the creator, Uni, i’m horrible to her. I burned her hands too, like noooooo you can’t just wear gloves all the time for no reason, lets do smth bout it that will fit with all that dedication ya willing to push yourself in a fight no matter the consequences. Get burned bitch. Anyway, i’m taking her off the calmex addiction, giving her Harrison back as a better man who wants to protect her and do braids on her hair and softening the stinky to a level of a warm wet piece of trash, maybe getting some actual friends on a way. The pages on a start were focus more on a action and game lore kind off and just parks themselves but now with last page i finally get to actually break down and slow the shit to get to more emotional level, at least i hope to get it that way. 

Now Harrison time:

🍁 Where does your OC go when they need to have some time to themselves? Would they ever have their own “comfort corner” filled with all the things they like? Do they have a favorite spot outside that feels like its theirs and theirs alone?

Sadly he will be very lost at the start to find this kind of spot as he popped into the world from nowhere, just finally doing the separation from Lucy to a nearby old synth skeleton in a heat of a fight situation. Since the disciples base got a vacancy and cleaning it up feels too much of an effort for the rest of gangs he decided to make this place his comfort zone as its fairly close to Feit base but still separated behind walls, no windows to peek in for curious ones. He can’t sleep so he has a plenty of time to make it his corner. The only things he posses are his memories so he will just meditate there and surround himself with all the good moments from the past, adding the new ones to the collection, keeping his humanity on check and all the urges balanced. Also trying new tricks with his powers feels safe to do it there, the telekinetic ones especially since the place is spacey and there ain’t much to break. He doesn’t want to go too far away even if he needs a moment, he always has in the back of his head the need to be close when problems arise.

Personally on a side note i struggle to think of an explanation to the Nuka World leaders and overall people there as to how Lucy will explain to them...who the fuck he is and why he is there and where he came from and why give him a disciple base. Like...saying a truth to Gage is easier since they run together but the rest? She can’t even say he is her lost-found father since they don’t even look like family. 

🌸 What are some of their favorite things and why? List as many as you can think of!

There won’t too many as he just got off but some basic stuff i know for now:

- sweet snacks, whiskey and smokes as he still remembers these tastes from pre-war: just being softie for these small habits and diet sins

- being in charge, keeping order around due to his profession, even if times changes he still keeps the attitude and he just likes it

- training the newbie raiders, pointing out mistakes to Porter, advising Lucy on some combat moves and tips: it might feel like he is being proud, all knowing but he actually is hell of a experienced smart fighter, don’t get fooled by his age either, he just enjoys training people under him and see them improve  

- proving Porter wrong: oh boy they really don’t like each other at the start

- doing dem braids, he starts to have a soft spot for going father mode

- even if he isn’t fully human he takes care of his “shell”, perfectly shaving, keeping his shirts clean and smooth, overall he enjoys that “self care” routine even it it might feel silly in the wasteland and due to the fact who he is 

💦 If you as the writer could erase one traumatic event from this OC’s life what would it be and why?

Probably killing his son. The experiment would get to him one way or another since he would get suspicious what kind of shady business is going on in police department and asking too many questions and stuffing nose in corners he shouldn’t would eventually lead anyway to his assassination and still giving his body for that experiment resulting in same outcome but the sudden trauma and speed of events is what pushed him out of there, taking control of himself and situation also resulting in his nature softening and toning down, knowing he doesn’t have much left and it can be lost at any moment. 

[villanevest]

You’re Mine [pt.2] - eve’s perspective in 2x08

welcome to part 2. again, i’ll be unpacking eve’s perspective in the finale in this post. i’ve already uploaded villanelle’s, and tomorrow, i’ll make a post about why i think the finale was, plot and character-wise, a great choice for the show going into season 3. let’s jump in. EVE’s thoughts and feelings in the finale. something that’s important to remember is that while villanelle has always lived a life of extremes, eve’s life was exceptionally ordinary until last year. in this past week or so, her husband has left (even if it was a long time coming), she saw someone murdered in front of her for the first time, has been confronted with the reality of aaron’s weapon, and has semi-hooked up with villanelle. she’s holding it together like the absolute legend she is, but just try and contextualise the finale within the sheer amount of upheaval eve’s undergone in even the last few days. for eve, the episode essentially kicks off with two almost simultaneous adrenaline shots: villanelle saying “gentleman”, and hugo getting shot. she nearly gets hunted down herself, and then makes her first major choice of the finale: to leave hugo and go after villanelle instead, who she assumes is in similar danger, and who, ultimately, she cares about more.

eve acts her way out of the hotel and into aaron’s house, all the while believing she’s probably headed to the even worse of two evils. she grabs the letter opener and goes in, prepared to defend villanelle, which is an important precedent for later. but then villanelle’s just… fine. she abandoned hugo, dying, and their world-saving (or so eve thinks) recordings of aaron’s dealings, for nothing.

then villanelle’s revealing aaron’s a killer, and aaron’s offering villanelle something eve is afraid she won’t refuse. and he verbalises one of eve’s deepest unspoken fears: that villanelle WILL get bored of her. that she can’t possibly keep villanelle’s interest once they’re no longer caught in a hurricane of external pressures. and then she has to deal with the absolute overload that is the question, push come to shove, would villanelle hurt her? while villanelle never considers hurting eve here, eve understandably doesn’t realise that. after all, as far as she knows, villanelle killed anna, as well as dozens of other people. villanelle thinks she’s been clear about how strongly she feels, but eve is caught at the crossroads of kenny, hugo, jess, carolyn, konstantin – all these people who promise her that no matter how real it feels, villanelle is a psychopath, could flip the switch in a second. that’s a terrifying possibility: that the woman you’re obsessed with, have given up everything for, might end you and walk away. shrug it off.

villanelle kills aaron, and eve’s currently up to seeing two bodies in about fifteen minutes. while she hates aaron and isn’t particularly bothered by his death, she’s abruptly sure that they’ve blown the mission entirely, and quite apart from carolyn crushing her under heel, eve’s afraid that their screw-up might result in aaron’s weapon going public, that he might have some contingency plan they weren’t authorised to know about. eve’s all messed around; villanelle’s surprisingly chill. but eve’s used to villanelle thinking of the immediate, small picture – eve is sure it’s up to her to get them out of all this. she’s concerned for both of them, and believes villanelle truly doesn’t understand the scope of the trouble they’re in. notice that she uses plural language. “we”, “us”. she’s already trying to plan THEIR way out of it. villanelle is a tacit premise, a guaranteed.

they escape aaron’s place, and then eve becomes set on retrieving the recordings. i think partly she needs a goal to cling to, but apart from, as she says, not wanting people to have died for nothing, she’s also considering that the recordings might be enough to buy back favour with carolyn. that she can barter her and villanelle to freedom if they get carolyn what she wants.

and then carolyn effectively says she’s been manipulating eve this whole time. that eve is so predictable, carolyn could build VERY critical plans around her behaviour. this brings in a whole question of free will – eve begins wondering how much of all this was ACTUALLY her idea, and how much carolyn had subtly suggested to her, nudged her towards. carolyn is something of a mentor, and even if eve never totally trusted her (e.g. she didn’t tell her that she stabbed villanelle), she was at least sure she knew HOW NOT to trust her. she thought she couldn’t tell her about how deep she was in with villanelle, but really, carolyn knew that, and was using it already. it’s a deeper betrayal than expected from an unprecedented direction. eve goes from thinking she’s in control to being totally lost in her own network of relationships. even kenny’s not innocent, and he’s supposed to be their good guy. so eve stays for villanelle. villanelle, who might be amoral, but has always been upfront about that. she doesn’t hide who she is. she doesn’t judge who eve is. eve takes a breath and decides villanelle is her ally in this. more than her ally. 

and then eve walks out of the room to find that last person she trusts being killed in front of her. that would make eve’s count 3 Deaths and 1 Major Betrayal in under an hour. so she picks up the axe, and at villanelle’s urging, hits raymond with it.

here’s the thing: eve isn’t ready for this. is she on an increasingly grey trek into darkness? absolutely. would she organically be ready to kill people one day? not sure. i think she has to be kicked into it by a high-stress situation like this, but she was definitely headed towards being completely unbothered by knowing of villanelle’s kills beforehand, helping her set them up, making who-lives-who-dies calls – she basically already was. 

this is kind of starting the car at two hundred miles. she doesn’t slip someone arsenic, or snipe them, or even push them in front of a train. she AXE MURDERS someone. yes, it’s in self-defense (or villanelle-defense), but that’s probably THE most brutal way to kill somebody when you’re not deliberately torturing/dismembering them. 

villanelle leads eve away from it all, but it’s implanted in her brain now. eve starts going into shock again and exhibiting a range of other trauma symptoms. villanelle’s there to pick up the pieces and take her away.

while they’re walking through the tunnels, the cool air and lack of other sensory input gives eve a minute to process. to get beyond the blood and gore and villanelle-almost-died to “i killed somebody”. yes, a bad person, but a person. one important difference between stabbing villanelle in 1x08 and killing raymond is that the stabbing was heat of the moment, chased by instant regret. but eve had second after second before hitting raymond with the axe the first time, and then even longer before killing him. there was time to think. time to stop herself. i also don’t believe that raymond, while followed immediately by disgust, is actually something eve regrets on a gut-level. she’s prepared to do anything to keep villanelle alive.

again, eve feels a little more control when presented with a goal: get through the slats. symbolically, it’s a staircase up from darkness to light. it feels like she’s literally getting herself and villanelle to somewhere things will be better. like getting to the end of this fucking terrible day. when they get to the ruins, eve is kind of stunned, staring around, because it seems like such a weird contrast: she feels horrible and dirty, but she’s surrounded by beauty. and then she’s beginning to realise that maybe she doesn’t feel that horrible, that dirty, and what does that mean for her? for who she is?

when villanelle asks what eve wants for dinner, she says spaghetti. yes, probably part knee-jerk response because they’re in italy and these are two images eve associates, but mostly because it’s comfort food. eve is seeking out something slow and soft and familiar after the last few hormone-and-tragedy fuelled hours. and then villanelle’s telling her about alaska and saying they could be normal, and right now, normal sounds pretty good.

she sees villanelle as offering salvation. they can keep this feeling of beauty. villanelle won’t judge her for killing raymond. she says yes to alaska because she wants all that; she knows she wants villanelle and she knows she wants to leave rome behind.

and then villanelle pulls out her gun, and everything goes to shit. eve just found out carolyn’s been manipulating her for her own purposes, so of course she immediately connects villanelle to that experience, and has the heart-crushing “realisation” that villanelle’s been doing the exact same thing.

as i said in villanelle’s 2x08 post, villanelle DID want eve to kill raymond, but because she thought it would be good for eve: liberating, exciting, relaxing. but in the wake of carolyn’s puppeteering, it’s very natural for eve to read this as villanelle attempting to sculpt eve, to pull her strings as well. like i mentioned earlier, eve wasn’t ready to kill raymond, which villanelle didn’t recognise (“you had it under control” / “no…”). she’s dealing with all kinds of internal turmoil now, and suddenly it turns out that this is unnecessary. that villanelle, who thinks nothing of murder, could’ve done it for her and spared eve all this. this comes back to eve’s sense of self. through season one, eve considered herself a Good Person. after stabbing villanelle, she went on kind of an identity bender (telling niko she’s not a nice person), and that was great for her, because actually, fundamentally, she’s not a Good Person. but eve’s not prepared to be a Murderer. we’ve talked before about how eve has a lot of classically narcissistic traits. what’s the most upsetting thing for her here isn’t killing raymond, it’s that she’s lost control of her own narrative. she could rationalise her slipping when it happened slowly, but now, eve is dealing with the full-velocity crumbling of DECADES of programming that has given her rules of who and how to be. 

“how did it feel?” “wet”. wet, and: not as bad as i thought; i don’t feel as much as i thought; or i do, but it’s the wrong things. asking eve to address how she ACTUALLY feels rather than how she thinks she SHOULD feel is just inadvertently rubbing salt in the amount of cognitive dissonance she’s experiencing between self-image and reality. 

“i’m proud of you.” and this gives eve room to breathe, because it allows the idea that maybe it’s villanelle’s fault. villanelle, who eve has already perceived as manipulating/betraying her by lying about the gun, can be the reason that this happened, and then nothing has to change. eve loved villanelle at X number of murders, what’s X+1? doesn’t make a difference. and eve gets to stay as the more-innocent one. 

so she presses that blame outwards. she decides that it can be villanelle’s responsibility – she easily defended villanelle’s killing aaron to carolyn, so no issues here with this. and then she says she wants to go home, and just like with the spaghetti, this is a bid for familiarity. to return to an old self-image that has been irreparably rattled by killing raymond and how she feels and doesn’t feel about killing raymond, which she hasn’t even had time to digest yet.

this is such an unintentionally vicious thing for villanelle to say, because on some level, eve KNOWS this (and understands it far more deeply than villanelle has even meant it). niko is gone. she turned carolyn away. kenny is in on it. hugo is probably dead. and now she’s killed someone. there IS no home – not the way it was. but eve has just lost this former home and now the promise of a new home in alaska, since that’s been directly and immediately juxtaposed with villanelle concealing the truth about the gun, which throws everything else about alaska into question too. is it a pipedream? did villanelle even mean any of it?

so she lashes out, reacts as ardently as she can against something villanelle didn’t even consider offering (“like bonnie and clyde? just go on a killing spree?”). she’s scrabbling back to that previous version of the self by staunchly standing against anything new, and exaggerating it to talk herself into alaska being less appealing, so she can let go of it. also remember: this entire time, eve is still in shock. she’s had a whole quarter of an hour to come to terms with this.

here, eve says “you want me to be a mess. you want me to be scared”. it’s a way of justifying her actions – eve would only kill if she’d been messed up and terrified, right? right? she’s projecting her fears about villanelle and herself onto villanelle, and then she has a physical sounding board to react against. eve can demonstrate to herself by demonstrating against villanelle.

no, eve hasn’t had time to cool off yet, but she’s adapting with the smoothness of we’d expect, given all the little flags about her sitting on the psychopathy spectrum. she’s able to push back against villanelle, step forward, reclaim control. 

the scene might’ve ended very differently if villanelle hadn’t emphasised that EVE wanted this. they’ve both confused each other and themselves, and neither of them is fully wrong or right. eve did want at least some of this, but less immediately, and she was barely consciously aware of it. at the same time, villanelle definitely wanted it too, and her being more vocal about it makes it seem more like HER idea to eve. she’s losing that control she desperately needs.

“you love me” is a truth that might’ve been easier for eve to deal with if it wasn’t in conjunction with other truths, like the fact that she’s capable of murder. in denying her love for villanelle, she’s trying to cast off her love for everything else villanelle represents – all the violence, the excitement, the extremes.

because if villanelle doesn’t love her, eve can walk away with some of herself intact. especially seeing as she now thinks villanelle’s been manipulating her, pushing her, and she’s wondering how that escalates, how can she trust someone who’ll shape her behind the scenes? niko was always cramming her into a tiny box she didn’t fit into, but now villanelle’s stretching her out of it, into the open space too much too fast.

there’s this beat here where you can see the devastation on eve’s face writ large. she feels abandoned and alone and she’s SO MAD that she put her faith in villanelle against the odds and in her mind, it was broken. this is a really charged sequence, so eve hasn’t really had a break to consider how villanelle might be thinking, which she usually does – one of the reasons they work is that eve understands how villanelle’s brain ticks. but she’s so caught up in her own trauma right now that she’s not being as patient with villanelle as usual, which is obviously understandable. but when villanelle calls out “eve!” all desperate and strangled like that, you can watch the emotional toll. she stops backing away. she pauses. this is the last possible moment where we could take the exit on the highway, and salvage these miscommunications. 

but then, as i said in villanelle’s post, villanelle blocks it out, blocks eve out.

eve cries. in the space of a few hours, she’s lost EVERYTHING. and now that fear aaron tapped into at the beginning of the episode is “realised” – she’s not enough for villanelle; she’s not special. villanelle has singled her out since 1x01, has said “like us”, has said “i’ll look after you”, and it’s all over. so the pause ends. she goes back to retreating, she turns away so she won’t have to look at villanelle and see everything that nearly was; see alaska. because yes, eve agreed to alaska while under a phenomenal amount of pressure (from circumstance, not villanelle; villanelle wasn’t pressing for an absolute answer), but i think it held a very real allure to her, too. time to breathe out. to spend that time with villanelle. to have all her questions answered. to see who she is entirely away from the trappings of ordinary life. for eve, villanelle manipulated her into killing raymond, then offered her alaska, then rescinded and decided eve wasn’t special, so perhaps the offer of alaska was never real, or villanelle was only going to offer it to eve after she’d murdered someone. villanelle only wants a particular eve, one that eve isn’t even sure is really her. is that true? no. villanelle was getting ready to pitch alaska before they even went back to the hotel. if she REALLY wanted eve to kill someone, she would’ve set her against aaron when she arrived with the letter opener, and she wouldn’t have told her to run from trouble, she’d have told eve to stand her ground. 

and killing raymond, in a lot ways, is who eve is, or who she’ll become. but eve can’t read villanelle’s thoughts. she’s been through an incredible amount in one day. she doesn’t know what’s real. who to trust. whether promises are made with crossed fingers. if anyone cares about her, or just cares about what she can do for them, what she can become for them. how will she feel about the murder once she’s had a bit more processing time? what will she think about villanelle confessing her love, then shooting her? what will their next meeting be like? i’ll get into that in my write-up about narrative choices for the show. i’ve also posted another one of these about villanelle, and how villanelle’s thinking and feeling (check #villanevest writes). inbox me, comment or message with your thoughts. take some time to mull over the finale. remember, it’s a slowburn, guys. personally, i’m really excited by all the possibilities, but like i said – that’s for another post.

[thetygre]

30 Day Monster Challenge - Day #20: Favorite Song/Musical Monster

1.       The Phantom of the Paradise

Phantom of the Opera has spawned plenty of spin-offs and parodies, but none are weirder and cooler than The Phantom of the Paradise. Born in that stage-musical wasteland between the sinking of Hello Dolly and the rise of Lloyd Webber, Phantom of the Paradise was a bizarre rock-opera that was a mixture between the Phantom of the Opera, Faust, and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Our Phantom this time around is named Winslow; he didn’t start off deformed, but got that way through prison experiments and a record press accident. Winslow just looks and sounds awesome; his teeth are made of iron, and he talks through a voicebox that sounds like a ghost screaming through a CB radio. The entire movie has a bird theme to its characters, so Winslow’s helmet winds up looking like a hawk. In fact, a lot of people probably only know about this musical through the comparison between Winslow and Griffith from Berserk. It doesn’t help that their stories are kind of similar; locked in prison, mutilated, deal with the forces of evil. It’s probably just a coincidence, but I’m not gonna’ lie and say it wouldn’t be a cool reference if it wasn’t. Still, people should give this movie a chance on its own merits, just because of what campy fun it is.

2.       Lilith Immaculate

Cradle of Filth is a symphonic black metal band with a distinct gothic horror bent to their albums. They’ve done several concept albums, including one based around Gille de Rais and another on Elizabeth Bathory, but Darkly Darkly Venus Aversa was an original story. At the center of the album’s story is the monstrous goddess Lilith, trapped by the Knights Templar during the crusades and now possessing a girl sent to a nunnery. It’s all so incredibly gothic; sins of the past, sexual frustration, religious oppression, graveyards, doomed love.

I might not be the best judge of character, but Lilith here hits the nail with the hammer as far as gothic monsters go, reminding me a little of The Great God Pan or Gormenghast. Part of Lilith’s appeal is that, for all intents and purposes, she wins; the album ends with her former lover realizing that he has unleashed something he could never control, and now the world is doomed. Lilith heralds the dawning of a darker age, the antithesis of everything Victorian values holds dear. You can’t help but cheer for her as she readies to make war on the world.

3.       Stanton Cree

Ghoultown is a gothabilly band, which means that it’s like rockabilly but with some Southern rock and it’s about ghosts and vampires and werewolves. Needless to say, they’re pretty great. Their best known song is probably Drink with the Living Dead, which tells the story of a cowboy forced into a drinking match with an undead gunslinger. The ghoul, Stanton Cree, shot a man for his beer and can’t rest until someone beats him in either drinks him under the table or beats him in a duel.

I love ‘Weird West’ songs, and Ghoultown is the epitome of that. Stanton Cree has gone insane from eternal life and is determined to find somebody to beat him, but he won’t go easy on his opponent. It’s the kind of story that belongs in Deadlands or some other cowboy horror setting. It lacks the morality tale aspect of Ghost Riders, but that’s a deliberate decision to emphasize just how bizarre the story is. It’s a perfect mood piece for a dark night out on the Wastes.

4.       The Erlking

Schubert’s Erlking is an old-fashioned fairy, the dangerous and wild kind that need to be feared. As a father rides through the forest at night, his son sees the Elf King trying to seduce him to come away with him. It’s always nice to be reminded that fairies and elves aren’t nice, that they can be as dangerous as any monster or demon. But it needs to be done with a certain degree of subtlety, at least for a while, a delicate touch before the other shoe drops.

The Erlking is of course also a metaphor for death, and the father believe his son is only hallucinating as he dies in his father’s arms. It reminds me of the old medieval stories about how Fairyland was sometimes just a trap made by Hell, or how fairies would appear in afterlife narratives for children. Whether death, fairy, hallucination, or all three, the Erlking is still a chilling figure.

5.       The Phantom of the Opera

I don’t claim to be in the Phandom, I only have a surface knowledge of it, but I feel like the Phantom is still an important monster/horror icon, even before becoming a musical star. The Phantom’s story, even from the beginning, has been about toxic people and learning to grow up. Born deformed, the Phantom embittered himself against the world, becoming a genius at music, engineering, and just about everything else, but a child socially. The lesson he learns is about putting another person’s wants and needs before your own, and that’s still a vital lesson that is incredibly painful to learn. Naturally, I don’t care about that; I just enjoy making fun of Love Never Dies and deciding which Phantom is the best based on grodiness of deformity. Obviously, that’s up to objective taste, but it’s Ramin Karimloo. Karimloo has the most extreme deformities, and is prone to fits of ACTING, so Karimloo takes top spot for musical Phantom. The best non-Musical Phantom is, of course, Lon Chaney, followed by Charles Dance, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. Again I’m… I totally don’t care about this musical. I swear.

6.       Mefistofele

I would argue that Boito’s Mephistopheles is the definitive version of the character, even more than Goethe’s. If nothing else, Boito’s Mefistofele defined the look of Mephistopheles, casting him in his famous red cavalier’s outfit. Mephistopheles here is also much more analogous to the Devil than his own separate entity here, since the opera begins with Mephistopheles challenging God to a bet over Faust’s soul. While Mefistofele might not be where the devil started enjoying his work, it’s definitely a far cry from Marlowe’s Mephistopheles urging Faust not to give up Heaven.

Still, despite the loss of complexity, Boito’s Mephistopheles is more personable, more charming, even a bit more human. There are situations he can’t control, and his relationship with Heaven is more casual. In the end, when Faust repents, you get the feeling that Boito’s Mephistopheles was enjoying the ride, and is almost as upset about not being able to have fun anymore as he is about losing his bet with God.

7.       The Water God

Anything by Dethklok kind of feels like cheating, since they were explicitly made to be a parody band of death metal. At the same time, though, I’m not going to sit here and pretend that the entire underwater setting where sea monsters have race wars with mermaids isn’t the dopest shit. And then one of these sea monsters finds a deep sea oracle and they turn into some dark ocean god and it’s all so freaking cool. It is unnecessarily cool for a joke band meant to shill for an Adult Swim show. But the entire epic of the water god here is genuinely more compelling to me than a decent chunk of the fantasy characters I have read about. Maybe I need to read better fantasy stories, or maybe everyone else just needs to get with the program and starting writing Metal epics about killer tritons.

8.       Ghost Riders in the Sky

Now this is the original Weird West song. Demon bulls, undead cowboys, nightmare horses; this song has got it all. And of course, this all goes without saying about how the song is also the unofficial theme song for Ghost Rider, one of my favorite superheroes. The song has that same ‘weird tale’ feel that Drink with the Living Dead has, which is probably because it’s based on an actual Texas folk tale. The image of a special Hell for cowboys is interesting, but I’m more fascinated by the prospect that Satan has livestock. Are all the Devil’s farm animals Metal like his steer? What about his chickens? Does Satan live on a giant dude ranch? Now I want some kind of Western/dark fantasy story where the Devil is a cattle baron all dressed in black and red.

9.       Red

All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 was… God, I’m really putting this on the same list as Mefistofele good lord, but All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 was, well All Dogs go to Heaven 2. I mean it wasn’t the worst direct-to-video cartoon sequel of anything ever, it kind of just drifts there around the middle, but like many DTV cartoon sequels it has, unfortunately, a really great villain with a really great villain song. Designated antagonist Red is a demonic cat who’s after the angel Gabriel’s horn. His design is actually pretty good, and I appreciate the implication that if all dogs are heavenly, then all cats are therefore demonic minions. This is of course a known truth to anybody who has ever had to clean a litterbox, but it’s always nice to be reassured.

However, that alone would not let Red make the list; it takes more than being the redeeming feature of a DTV cartoon sequel to get here. What clenches it is Red’s pedigree; Red is voiced by Broadway musical veteran George Hearn, who has been in everything from Camelot to Wicked, but is most famous for being Sweeney Todd during the musical’s performance in 1970, and stayed with the production through its national tour and its Emmy-winning TV performance. In short, this man was the definitive Sweeney Todd, at least until Johnny Depp. All Dogs 2 even acknowledges it by having an entire sequence set in a demonic barber shop and theater. And I’m just a sucker for that kind of reference, so the evil red cat edges his way in.

10.   The Beast of Pirate’s Bay

There are plenty of Voltaire songs I could have picked, but it figures I would pick the one about a sea monster. A variety of leviathans are conjured up to describe the Beast, without any actual answers given. It figures that like any good tall tale, the Beast changes from teller to teller. The truth is, though, that I find this to be one of Voltaire’s more sympathetic songs, and I can’t help but identify with the ending. Once upon a time there was a little me who loved sea life more than anything else too. The song takes a lower spot because of the actual nature of the monster, but the feeling still shines through.

[professional-anti]

Chapter Eight: Weapon of Choice

Heyyyyy!! Sorry, life has been cray, and it’s never gonna change, unfortunately. But guys, dw, I am dedicated. Also, weirdly, doing this has made me appreciate books even more? It’s so much fun to talk abt books, and I learn so much, even if it’s a book I hate. Okay, getting started (pray for me):

We last left off with Clary jumping thru the surprise door, like one does. Jace lands on top of her, yay, OTP moment, gag me. There’s a nice little detail where “Clary coughed hair (not her own) out of her mouth” which kind of captures the chaos and would be cute if it were an actual good ship. I hate when that happens. Jace criticizes Clary, FINALLY for a valid reason.

It turns out they’re at Luke’s house. Oh, classic, he lives in Williamsburg, the gentrified hipster paradise. Where else would a man who wears flannel live? Even more classic, he lives behind a bookstore. Clare is obviously one of those heavy-handed authors who has exactly two professions for her Intellectual Men™: bookseller and evil Giles.

I’m going to shake Clary. She doesn’t know why they’re here, despite having thought “I want to go where my mom would have gone” right before jumping. Like, bitch??? Do you have a brain? I’m cryingfff

Clary decides she wants to leave, even though there’s cleary something super sketch abt Luke. He’s so obviously protecting her, so he must know something, right? Well, Clary rubs her two brain cells together and decides, nope, nothing to see here! Time to go home!

Jace, being reasonable for once, is like, yo, maybe we should stay. They run into Simon, so you know there’s gonna be Dramaz. Jace and Simon apparently devolve into primordial wild dogs driven by the intense urge to fight for the girl dog so they can screw and produce puppies that are as annoying as they are. Here is what everyone is doing:

Clary is fixing Simon’s hair bc she’s a Woman Simon is pushing Clary’s hand away bc he’s Annoyed Jace is using his stele to file his nail bc he’s Not Paying Attention

There’s some horrible forced tension between Simon and Clary, where he’s all, “Clary, you ran away from me, I thought I and my dick upset you,” and Clary’s all, “Never, Simon, I love you,” and Simon cums. Not actually, instead he slut shames Clary:

“Yeah, well, you clearly also couldn’t be bothered to call me and tell me you were shacking up with some dyed-blond wanna-be goth you probably met at Pandemomonium”

On the one hand, draaaaag him, Simon!! Jace IS a peroxide blond who listens Evanescence (I almost wrote MCR before googling it and learning that if I wrote that, about a million punks would stream into my inbox in tears).

Simon’s eyes are “dark with suspicion”. which is just annoying. Yes, I would be so fucking annoyed if my friend ran out on me and then disappeared and then reappeared with a blond guy. But I’d also do some more questioning of the situation. Is she okay? Why is she with such a rude guy? Is he hurting her? Was she kidnapped? Is she being held against her will? Is this a drug thing? Does she need my help? Why did Luke cover for her? Is something deeper going on? Instead Simon is all possessive Nice Guy.

Apparently Simon spied on Luke packing a duffel bag of weapons. So he couldn’t give Clary any benefit of the doubt? It sounds like her family is caught in a bad situation! Maybe she had to hide for her life! Simon, use your brain!!

kajlkfaklsdjfalksdflk Clary tells Simon everything, and Simon asks if they kill all these different magical creatures, and Jace says ONLY WHEN THEY’VE BEEN NAUGHTY a;dlfjals;kdjfl;asdjfl;aksdjf hahahahahahahah This image that Clare is going for is just sooooo overdrawn. This dialogue, omfg.

Simon loses his mind and excitedly compares everything that’s been going on to D&D. Let’s totally forget abt the fact that Clary’s mom is missing, or that Luke just filled a duffel bags with murder sticks, shall we?

Jace and Simon have a bizarre conversation, and then they walk. In. The. Back. Door. Bc Luke doesn’t lock his back door. Bc that’s totally not something that someone who fills a duffel bag with weapons would do. At least the door to the bookstore is locked, though Jace opens it pretty easily with his stele. Why didn’t Luke have Jocelyn fix up some wards or something?

Simon asks Clary how she stands Jace, and she’s like “he saved me life” and he’s like “huh?” even though she told him everything that happened. Why is Simon so dumb. I guess all his blood is in his dick? Wouldn’t surprise me.

They find manacles in the wall, so either Luke and Jocelyn have (even more) hidden depths, or Luke practices

Luke’s apartment is filled with books. Of course. Look, I love books. I have about 500 in my room at this moment. I buy them constantly, I get from the libarary, I read and read and read. I think most of us on booklr do. But when every single Good Character in your book has books, it’s boring. And no one has unique book taste. What if all of Luke’s books were nature books? Jack London? Travel guides? That would paint a picture. Instead he has a bunch of fantasy and other fiction. That’s boring. I learn nothing, bc every goddamn person in this goddamn book reads fantasy. It’s so fucking generic. I totally approve of “good” characters admiring and liking reading bc that’s how you get ideas, and that’s how Lemony Snicket rolls, but there are more books than fantasy and mystery (the other main type that Lucas has) in the world. Justice Strauss has an inexhaustive library. Uncle Monty has all those books about snakes. Lucky Smells just has that one history of Lucky Smells. Already, you know so much abt each person (and place) by what books they have. We learn nothing about Luke.

Clary finds the overnight bag she leaves at Luke’s and changes clothes. I mention this only bc she puts on “a blue tank top with a design of Chinese characters across the front” bc of COURSE she is That Bitch. I hope it translates to something like “Radishes” or “Bridge”.

Luke’s bedroom has a shelf of “Indian statues and Russian icons” which, idk, makes me a little uncomfortable. These sound like things that are holy to someone. But I think the worst part is that Clary says, “Luke collects stuff. Art objects. You know … Pretty things.” I just googled it, and Hindu statues, like the one Luke has of Kali, are seen as actual avatars of gods. Clary is diminishing someone’s god to a “pretty thing”. It’s not a nick-nack or a trinket. (If you know more abt this, like if I’m wildly off-base, feel free to send me an ask!)

Jace finds the Metaphor known as a smashed picture of Luke, Jocie, and Clary, which Clary threw at the Ravener in her apartment, so realize that Luke went back through the apartment. Jace says that Luke must have gone through the Portal-potty last, so it brought them here. I’m still team Clary Asked to Go Where Her Mother Would Have Gone and Therefore the Portal did What it Was Supposed to Do and Brought Her Where She Wanted.

Luke and some warlocks show up, so Clary and co. hide behind the super convenient silk screen. Jace uses his sonic stele to make the screen transparent and we get this gem:

Jace shook his head at them both, mouthing words: They can’t see us through it, but we can see them.

Bc mouthing works that well. You don’t mouth compound sentences!! You mouth something simple like they can’t see us. Simon and Clary already know they can see Luke and the warlocks bc they’re looking at them right now! And this spell or whatever that Jace did takes the tension in the scene waaaaaay down. If they can’t see Luke, then everything becomes more tense. Are the voices getting closer to the screen? Is somebody about to reveal them? Instead, all the tension is drained in a dumb quick-fix.

Bc Clare thinks we’re stupid, she adds “It was frightening even though [Clary] knew [Luke] couldn’t see her, that the window Jace had made was like the glass in a police station interrogation room: strictly one-way.”

GD ARE YOU THERE??????? STOP THIS.

Jace realizes that the warlocks are actually Shadowhunters dressed as warlocks. Idk how he can tell, but whatever. He conveys this by whispering, so I don’t know what the mouthing nonsense was earlier.

The Shadowhunters are named Blackwell (redhead) and Pangborn (gray mustache). What sorts of names. It’s like Clare used a fantasy-name-generator. Who are we kidding, that’s totally what she did. Pangborn picks up the Kali statue and this conversation happens:

“Ah,” said Pangborn, taking the statue from his companion. “She who was created to battle a demon who could not be killed by any god or man. ‘Oh, Kali, my mother full of bliss! Enchantress of the almighty Shiva, in they delirious joy thou dancest, clapping thy hands together. Thou art the Mover of all that moves, and we are but thy helpless toys.’” “Very nice,” said Luke. “I didn’t know you were a student of the Indian myths.” “All the stories are true,” said Pangborn, and Clary felt a small shiver go up her spine. “Or have you forgotten even that?” “I forget nothing,” said Luke.

So the Shadowhunter mythology is that all religions are true? Inch resting. I vaguely remember this. Idk how I feel about this. The Shadowhunters are still gonna be super Christian no matter what lip-service Clare pays to other religions. She has angels! And demons! She’s trying to be inclusive, but it’s never really gonna work, bc she’s doing it in name only. But at the same time, I wouldn’t want her to mess with any religion but Christianity or, sigh, Judaism. Christianity bc it’s the dominant religion and can’t be marginalized (different denominations can be, but not Christianity as a whole) and Judaism bc she’s Jewish. There’s not very much Jewish in these books, though. Yeah, there are angels in Judaism, but it’s not really the Jewish Vibe. A book influenced by Judaism would have a lot of magic based on specific wording, and arguments, and Hebrew and Hebrew-derived languages. This book uses Latin and is into angels. It’s Christian-influenced, which is fine, I guess, but the lip-service to other religions doesn’t ring true. But also, saying “Christianity is the one religion!” is super upsetting and she shouldn’t do that. I don’t really know where I’m going with this, I’m literally thinking on the page. Do you guys have any thoughts on this? Please hit up my ask box or talk about this in the notes! This discussion really interests me, and I want to get diverse opinions.

Luke asks if Valentine sent them (he did) and if their clothes “are official Accord robes” “from the Uprising?” (they are). Wow. The Uprising. What a descriptive name! We don’t call things “the Uprising” in real life. It’s more like, “The French Revolution.” “The Cultural Revolution.” “The Revolutionary War.” “The Civil War.” Am I being unfair?” I guess someone right after one of the French Revolutions might just say “the Revolution.” But something about The Uprising is so boring. And aren’t there more than one Uprising? There should be. The Warlock Uprising. The Vampire Uprising. It doesn’t have to be all internal. Any organized group would rise against the Clave. The Clave is legit the worst.

It turns out Luke’s real name is Lucian AND. I. AM. DYING. Luke is Lucius Malfoy, confirmed!! Let’s do a list of what we know so far:

Clary: Ginny Jace: Draco Jocelyn: I’m getting Bellatrix vibes? Bc of the whole in-love-with Voldemort thing? Valentine: I don’t know?? I can’t think of who he could be??? We’ll have to leave this blank for now I guess :/ Hodge: Giles. Not a HP character, but this is a crossover event with Buffy. Isabelle: Pansy Parkinson Alec: I actually don’t know here. He’s the GBF. Simon: Does Harry make sense? They’re both boring nice guys (don’t @ me!)

This game is getting boring, let’s move on. Luke apparently used to fight with B and P, so we know he’s a Shadowhunter (or, if you’ve read this book before, you know he used to be one). Then he tells them he doesn’t know where the Mortal Cup is (they think Jocelyn hid it).

CLARY IS SO FUCKING DUMB OMFG. P and B talk about how Jocelyn hasn’t regained consciousness and Valentine wants to see her again (using her name) and Clary goes:

Jocelyn? Can they be talking about my mother?

NO THE OTHER FUCKING JOCELYN. CLARY HOW RU STILL ALIVE.

CC must think her readers are really dumb and can’t figure anything out on their own:

“I’ve never felt any way about [Jocelyn], particularly,” said Luke. “Two Shadowhunters, exiled from their own kind, you can see why we might have banded together. But I’m not going to try to interfere with Valentine’s plans for her, if that’s what he’s worried about.”

He might as well have said, “Jocelyn and I were both exiled. EXILED. We were exiled. We were exiled as fuck. Do you get it? Reading context clues is hard, so I’m saying WE WERE EXILED.” The quasi-warlocks should have responded like, “Yeah? We know you both were exiled? We were there?”

Blackwell refers to Jocelyn as “that bitch” bc institutionalized mysoginy is the absolute best! I love when vicious sexism is included for no reason! Bc also these guys aren’t any worse than Luke! Bc may I remind you that Luke was basically a supremacist! Just like them!

For some reason, these idiots believe Lucius when he tells them that he’s not close with Jocie. Then please explain why you both live in Brooklyn.

P and B threaten to make Luke stay in the city, and Luke threatens them, and somehow they let this happen? In other news, Clary is still dumb as rocks. She’s super hurt that Luke said that he doesn’t care about Jocie bc she has about 0 critical thinking skills. We’re talking none. She could have someone whispering the answers in her ear and still bomb the SAT.

Jace thinks that P and B think Luke “knows more than he’s telling” so why would they let him go???? Then Jace reveals that P and B murdered his dad, and this chapter is OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Someone bring me a Bloody Mary. It’s how I feel inside.