#and I do not believe that's a character flaw

[protect-namine]

YE6's butterfly effect. AKA: how did vein "die"?

I'm trying to puzzle out the butterfly effect in YE6, and here is my interpretation so far. if this theory is correct, it would also answer the question of who has the faking death ability and what exactly was liu xiao doing during the whole arc.

of course, feel free to correct me if I got this wrong. I could be missing some key information. I'm just writing this in an attempt to figure it out myself. also, this is gonna be a long post, sorry.

a lot of people are speculating that lu guang directly killed vein somehow through an ability, but I don't think that's what actually happened (although I wish that was the case). I also don't think the situation is as simple as "lu guang wanted vein dead" because I also think that liu xiao is interfering with the same events. there are two puppeteers in YE6, imho.

let's start with lu guang. for one thing, we know he can't directly kill vein with any of the abilities he has, since both scanning 12 hours of photo history and diving into the past require, well, a photo, which lu guang did not have. yingdu even stressed the rules of how both abilities work. if lu guang directly killed vein through ability use, this would imply he has another ability up his sleeve, and I really don't think we've been given enough evidence that points to that. if he always had this ability, why hasn't he used it before on vein in other timelines?

remember that yingdu has a lot of visual metaphors in its storytelling compared to other seasons. I believe lu guang caused the chain of events to happen in such a way that vein would die, but he was not the one to kill him, and that's why there's the animation of him orchestrating vein's death through wang qing, like a ventriloquist would control a puppet. in fact, I would go even further: lu guang and wang qing never got the chance to kill vein, although lu guang certainly thinks he did. we will circle back to this under the cut later, once we've built up the evidence to reach this conclusion.

another thing is the info we learned from an interview with director li. it is unfortunate, imo, that we had to learn this through an interview and not from the show itself (I feel this is yingdu's biggest writing flaw), but whatever. here are the key points to know though:

vein doesn't have an ability during yingdu arc

liu xiao has more than one ability (we know one of them already, which is interestingly enough, heartbeat related)

(not from the interview, but hinted in the show) someone has a "faking death" ability

before we go into the butterfly effect and how vein died, let's go over the details of his death:

from the autopsy report: vein's cause of death is myocardial infarction. aka a heart attack

xia fei later says there were no external injuries and no signs of poison

also, tiny detail, but vein was holding something like a tranquilizer gun in the clinic. the "bullets" he fired on both wang qing and cheng xiaoshi were meant to put them to sleep, not to kill them.

finally, let's lay out some character motivations. this will be important later.

liu xiao wants to get the notebook that belonged to cheng weimin. vein is working with him on this.

lu guang wants to avoid cheng xiaoshi's death node, and he plans to do it by killing vein

now, for the analysis. how did vein "die"?

let's establish something first. since xia fei doesn't know what happened to vein and is looking for the true culprit, we can rule out his involvement. he probably doesn't have the faking death ability, since it was used on vein. and vein doesn't have an ability. so the most likely person to have this ability would be liu xiao. he is also most likely the one to open the body bag with vein in it.

so we can now assume that liu xiao has two abilities:

he can sense someone's emotions and intentions through hearing their heartbeats

he can "fake death" (it is unclear how this works)

well. what an interesting combination! let's put a pin on that for now. remember this for later.

okay. now. let's switch over to lu guang. the big important question here is this: how did lu guang know that delaying vein from entering the clinic would lead to his death through a butterfly effect?

for full context, let's look at what lu guang says in his conversation with vein (I'm using ani-mi's translation, but I watched the bilibili one first and there aren't any drastic changes imo):

do you know the butterfly effect? in a dynamic system, event the smallest changes in initial conditions can lead to vastly different outcomes. I've been wondering, how do you alter a destined ending? what would happen if, before the conclusion, we added another fixed point? another unchangeable node? instead of avoiding deviations, why not let it deviate completely? I know I can't stop you. but I can make you stay a bit longer. now, you can go in.

two things here. first, the mention of an unchangeable node. aka a death node. lu guang for sure wanted vein to die. because if vein dies first, he can't kill cheng xiaoshi. simple logic; great plan.

next, from this speech, we can infer that lu guang planned to create a small change (a butterfly effect) that will lead to a big consequence (vein's death).

it's the second part that should clue us in. he said, "I can make you stay a bit longer. now, you can go in." he knows he can't stop vein from entering the clinic. but he can stall him. he can add a small bit of delay, long enough that it actually matters that vein went into the clinic later than usual.

lu guang knows the effect he wants (vein's death) so how does he know what event (stalling him) would cause the domino effect that leads to it? why does that small delay matter?

let's look at what that extra bit of time actually changed. by delaying vein, another important event happens: cheng xiaoshi has extra time with wang qing, long enough for him to meet his mom, shao yuanyuan. cheng xiaoshi then learns that shao yuanyuan is trying to save cheng weimin. he promises to wait for them and to stop investigating. it is after he makes this promise that vein enters.

we can now infer one more thing here: cheng xiaoshi did not meet his mom through wang qing in the original order of events. this event only happens because lu guang stalled vein.

most likely, in the original order of events, vein incapacitated wang qing too early for her to do anything to him. we don't know what her ability is, but it doesn't matter for this post. all we need to know is that lu guang believes wang qing could kill vein if she was never put to sleep. that is the point of stalling vein from entering the clinic early.

so here's part one of my theory. from lu guang's perspective, this is the plan to kill vein:

stall vein from entering the clinic

because vein entered late, wang qing was possessed by someone with better fighting abilities, allowing her to hold out during the fight

she is then freed from possession, and is still awake when vein tries to leave with the notebook

I don't think we have enough information to really explain what happens next, but what's supposed to happen, imo, is that wang qing kills vein, either through her own ability or someone else uses her to do it. it doesn't really matter how, but this is what is supposed to happen. this is what lu guang wanted to happen. for the sake of this post, we will assume wang qing has an ability to kill vein

vein dies, therefore he can't go to the time photo studio in the future to kill cheng xiaoshi

that's lu guang's butterfly effect. stall vein -> vein dies -> cheng xiaoshi lives.

simple? not quite. I did mention there's another person interfering with these events.

everything I mentioned above is from lu guang's perspective, and that this is what's supposed to happen. but let's look at the actual order of events.

wang qing wakes up (is freed from possession), notices the notebook on vein, and calls his name (interesting point: she knows his full chinese name). at this point, her eyes have NOT changed color yet.

vein gets a heart attack

only after that does wang qing's eyes change color

we know that changing eye colors is not diegetic, meaning this is more for the audience's benefit. their eyes don't really change color in-universe. sometimes they don't even show us eye colors changing. but when they do show us, we have to pay attention.

therefore, I believe that the timing of the shift in eye color matters.

so here's part two of my theory. liu xiao knew lu guang is going to interfere, so he already arranged a "fake death" for vein in advance (which he doesn't tell vein about lmao, but he seems to have figured it out when he gets the heart attack)

this is how, I believe, yingdu happened from liu xiao's perspective:

he wants cheng weimin's notebook. wang qing has it, but would never give it to him. but she might for cheng weimin's son

he baits cheng xiaoshi into going to bridon

he heard lu guang's heartbeat in the airport, which tipped him off that he's someone he should watch out for

he confirmed that cheng xiaoshi and lu guang are investigating cheng weimin

he assigns xia fei to keep an eye on their progress

he planned to use cheng xiaoshi to bait wang qing into giving up information about the notebook. this is why when xia fei told him that cheng xiaoshi was about to meet her, liu xiao reacts like this is the expected outcome

he assigns vein to get the notebook because wang qing is about to reveal the location. but he also knows that lu guang is kinda shady, so when lu guang stalls vein (and tells him! bro don't tell your plans to your victims! don't tell him you're trying to make a butterfly effect!), liu xiao either just knew this would happen or vein tipped him off before going in

now, notice that vein gets a heart attack before wang qing uses an ability (or is used, whatever) to kill vein. and what have we established before at the beginning of this post? liu xiao has a heartbeat related ability and can fake a death. we don't know the mechanics of the second ability, but we know that compatible abilities can combo with each other. it's not far-fetched to think that liu xiao can fake death with a heart attack

later, we see vein wake up after someone (most likely liu xiao) opens his body bag

so now who's fooled? the police arrives and even does an autopsy. they declare vein dead. lu guang is relieved, and for years he believes this. vein doesn't even visit the studio in 2021 (though li tianchen does, through liu min, but that's neither here nor there). he avoided a death node by creating another one. we can let him believe this lie for a little while...

TL;DR lu guang created a butterfly effect by stalling vein, and that creates a domino effect that should have led to vein's death. except he's not the only one interfering with the timeline. while this is happening, liu xiao orchestrates a fake death for vein before his supposed death actually happens, allowing him to act dead during the autopsy and "revive" later

[meanbossart]

I really love that du drow does not align with you morally (in most cases from what I’ve seen) and I think that’s why he’s such a captivating character. He’s not a cookie cutter “hero”. He doesn’t need to be a completely redeemed person who can do no wrong or water himself down to appeal to a general audience. He has personality “”flaws”” and does things that I personally don’t like. But I LOVE that about him. I can believe that he is his own character in this universe, he is authentic and has real nuance and you have written him beautifully (and almost disturbing to me in some cases.) Anyways sorry that was long, but thank you for embracing fiction and using even the uncomfortable parts to create ur DU Drow lol Luv that guy.

Good lord I hope nobody was EVER under the impression that I align with him morally LOL again we could not be more different.

Thank you! I know for a fact that I am not alone in creating complicated weirdos within the Dark Urge... Niche? Community? Whatever you want to call it. But I'm glad DU drow in particular is interesting to you! I really appreciate everyone who can enjoy him because of all of his flaws rather than in spite of them.

[mysterialistic]

Review/Ramble on Yingdu and Overall Thoughts

Okay, first of all, I think the fandom needs to chill a bit, especially on Twitter/X, because some people are overdramatizing the criticism from others. Criticizing a piece of media doesn’t mean you hate it, nor does it mean it’s bad—it just means it didn’t fully meet your expectations, and you have a different opinion. It’s as simple as that. Of course, I believe criticism should always come from an objective standpoint, not just for the sake of complaining.

Having said, let’s start rambling!

Yingdu had an amazing start. Those first few minutes, transitioning from the basketball game straight into the scene of Cheng Xiaoshi’s death, were so well done. Overall, the first episode was fantastic—the perfect mix of drama and tension. It answered some of our lingering questions before bringing us back to the Season 1 format, where they tackled individual cases, only for it to all build up to the arc’s main conflict. I won’t go into every single episode since that would make this way too long, but I had to highlight episode 1 because it was my favorite.

There were several aspects of these episodes that I really enjoyed. Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang’s bond was portrayed so well—every little moment between them, every dialogue exchange—it perfectly showed why these two are so willing to risk their lives for each other. I looked forward to seeing their interactions every week, and I was never disappointed.

Xia Fei was also a great addition, and I’m glad they didn’t kill off his character like many people theorized, because he has so much potential. I really enjoyed his complexity—he’s a spy, but he has his own morals and values. He dislikes Liu Xiao, yet he has a close bond with Vein despite his odd personality. He’s clearly intelligent, and I think that will really shine in Season 3. He already seems to suspect something, and I have no doubt he’ll get to the bottom of it. Right now, he’s angry and confused about what happened to Vein, convinced that someone killed him. But how will he react if (or when) he finds out that Vein was the one who initially killed Cheng Xiaoshi—one of his other friends, and probably the only truly innocent one? And don’t even get me started on how he’ll react when he finds out that Lu Guang tried to kill Vein or that Vein is still alive. I’m excited to see where this goes.

That said, I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see much of Vein and Liu Xiao. We mostly just saw what we already knew—two shady guys with their own agenda, pretending to be friendly. As an introduction, it was fine, but considering how much attention the promotional material gave them, I really thought we’d see more. Still, I don’t have a huge issue with it since they’ll obviously play a bigger role in Season 3. Liu Xiao, Vein, Li Tianchen, and possibly Xia Fei—a group of unstable individuals as antagonists… well, good luck, Lu Guang!

Now, something that does bother me about Yingdu is the inconsistencies between its plot and what we’ve seen in Seasons 1 and 2. For me, this was the laziest part of the writing, because no, Link Click isn’t flawless. In fact, no piece of media is. But in Link Click’s case, some of the flaws were painfully obvious. With every episode that aired, I kept thinking, “okay, this has to be an alternate timeline”, because so many little details just didn’t fit with the main storyline. The most obvious one is how Cheng Xiaoshi awakened his powers—he did it on his own, yet in Season 1, it was shown that he didn’t know he could do this. That makes absolutely no sense unless he has selective amnesia, which is definitely not the case lol. As for the inconsistencies with his parents, that could at least be explained by the promise he made to his mother to “not get involved any further.” He clearly remembers that promise and is likely just keeping everything he learned a secret.

Speaking of parents… Damn, Cheng Xiaoshi’s parents are awful lmao. I hated how his father acted like he was the victim, justifying his actions with, “yes, I abandoned my child, but now I take care of other children to make up for my mistakes.” That’s just… bad parenting. I actually made a whole analysis about it in another post. And then there’s Cheng Xiaoshi’s mother. The way she dismissed her son’s feelings and abandonment issues with a casual “oh yeah, it was wrong of me not to say goodbye, but who cares? That’s in the past” felt so off. The entire scene with her was weird—the humor felt misplaced. I was expecting something more emotional, more dramatic—anything but this. But based on what I’ve seen, almost no one liked her, so if the creators were hoping we’d find her eccentricity endearing, this introduction definitely wasn’t the best. Since Season 1, we’ve been repeatedly shown how deeply this abandonment affected Cheng Xiaoshi, and this is the reunion we got? It was… underwhelming.

Now, something I really, really loved was how they handled Lu Guang in this arc. From start to finish, it was just so good—his reaction when he first saw Cheng Xiaoshi again, his nightmares and PTSD, the way he carefully planned everything to manipulate events and create change. But my absolute favorite part? How morally gray he is. He planned and actually succeeded in killing Vein, eliminating the threat (though he’s definitely going to freak out when he finds out Vein is still alive). That cold smile? The scene where his hands moved like he was pulling the strings of a puppet? The way he said, “I hope we’ll never see each other again”? PERFECT. I’ve always said I wanted Lu Guang’s motivations and actions to not be entirely good. He comes across as someone selfish, willing to sacrifice others if it means protecting the people he loves—because he has the power and the knowledge to do it, and he wants his happy ending. Such a good character, I swear.

Of course, I wasn’t expecting every single question to be answered in Yingdu—that would be ridiculous lol. But I’m satisfied that the plot is finally moving forward. They gave us a piece of the puzzle—Cheng Xiaoshi’s parents, the origin of his powers, the antagonists’ apparent goal (some sort of notebook?), and hints at what we can expect in Season 3. That said, my biggest fear is that Link Click will lose its essence—the powerful message from Season 1 about how they shouldn’t intervene in the natural flow of time, no matter how painful it is, because the past and future should be left alone. Based on what Lu Guang said about the butterfly effect, we can argue that time itself is like another character—a force that, no matter how much they try to change things, always corrects itself somehow, some way. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what kind of ending I want for Link Click, but right now, I just hope it makes sense, that it isn’t forced, and that it unfolds naturally.

And… that’s all I have to say for now.

[cottoncandythunderhead]

aiura mikoto analysis!!

i feel that theres a big lack of miko analyses in this world and its bc ppl usually ignore or justify all her character flaws bc they js wanna see her as “the better teruhashi”, so here i am to right the world and attempt 2 do an in-depth analysis on miko!! pls forgive if im missing things, i will edit this as i get a better understanding of her character. and yes i mostly focus on her relationship with saiki soz abt that :p (this is NOT a saiura post tho and ull be disappointed if u go in thinking that)

aiura mikoto is a kindhearted and mostly selfless character who goes out of her way to help ppl, usually for no reason other than she cares, and shes willing to put herself in danger for the sake of others. shes blunt and knows the value of herself and her powers- though this can go a bit too far at times…

she plays the role of kokomis love rival which makes sense since her genuine desire to help others and expect no personal gain and her upfront and honest attitude sharply contrasts kokomis ingenuity and tendency to be kind to others for personal gain (at least as far as she believes)

miko is honest to a fault, blurting out whatever she thinks, while kokomi speaks carefully to curate her image. miko has a tendency to act first and think later, while kokomi thinks first and acts in a crafted way that aligns with her goals.

and they also have things in common like both being very self-sacrificial and being kind to others at their own expense, but again kokomi does this more out of desperation for validation while miko does it out of genuine kindness

their crushes on saiki r also a bit similar, ill talk abt this more but aiura goes into her crush not bc she genuinely has feelings for saiki but bc she believes hes her soulmate and so she makes up a personality for him that matches her desires while kokomi goes into her crush not bc she was actually attracted to him but bc she was confused abt her resentment towards him and wanted him to be infatuated with her. tho, we get to see teruhashi develop past and acknowledge this while aiuras misunderstandings r consistent until the end

then theres the chapter where they switch styles and we see how their typical selfish vs selfless bit can also be reversed in ways bc the main reason for their differences is that miko is so blunt and open while kokomi hides her feelings, bc although we do see kokomi thinking badly abt miko, shes never anything but kind to her aloud while miko despite thinking so highly of kokomi, ends up being the 1 who does something to directly affect kokomi negatively

its a little hard to tell whats going in this scene but by my pov it seems like the 1st part is what saiki wanted miko to tell kokomi, with how serious it is and how thats the main focus b4 we go into kokomis own thoughts and saikis reactions, and so the 2nd thing is NOT a part of saikis objective and is miko trying to take advantage of the situation bc its her going on and on in the background while the focus has already changed. by this point kokomi has already begun to move on from her jealousy and the little freakout she had, while miko is stuck in her jealousy and seeing kokomi as "the final boss" and trying to change kokomis feelings. tho her feelings r much milder than kokomis ever were, her approach is blunt and an attempt to effect kokomi while kokomis was quiet and would only affect herself. this is why their rivalry is so important, they represent the "good" and the "bad" that the other doesnt have

as for mikos relationship with kusuo, they have a good bond thats highlighted pretty immediately when they meet and they work so well together to keep chiyo safe. bc of this, hes able to trust her (and toritsuka) to help him out with things involving his powers that at this time he cant trust any1 else for

the chapter with meras dad has them clashing a lot, but it does end up working out. the chapter highlights mikos stubborn and reckless nature clashing with saikis pessimism and tendency to refuse to look past the badness of a situation

mikos intentions r entirely selfless, but her reaction here is stubborn and unreasonable :p saiki was also not entirely reasonable, and this shows their opposite values that clash so much yet come together in the end to get the best outcome for mera. in this moment tho, it feels hurtful that saiki genuinely confides in her his hesitations and concerns for others and specifically meras health after something miko did ended up hurting her and miko responds like this and only rethinks when saiki leaves. in the end she does show that shes thought abt what saiki says, so its not a “half-hearted attempt” anymore and she goes into it knowing itll be okay bc she saw that it will

but despite this, miko doesnt learn her lesson abt recklessly using her powers nor does she think past her misunderstandings and realize saiki does care abt ppl, she still moves past this believing she was right the whole time and saiki is unreasonable and selfish. imo these chapters were a chance for them to have a way better understanding of each other especially since saiki opening up to her abt his hesitations was such a rare moment but unfortunately she didnt understand and never rlly ended up doing so beyond having a doki doki moment abt saiki caring abt her after she was the one he had to save from the consequences of her actions

tho these chapters highlight how off her perception of him is their relationship is still furthered by them bc of how wonderfully they worked together even when they werent getting along, saiki clearly trusts her a lot since this ends with him asking her to help him stop the volcanic eruption

however when it comes to romance... for all my love for miko, im never ever gonna ship saiki with someone who tried to sexually assault him :p n yes, ik its a gag manga, thats not relevant :p if ppl can like and understand toritsukas character without shipping him with ppl he sexually harassed, i can do the same with miko!!

she was genuinely surprised when he caught her here which tells me despite knowing abt his powers she didnt think he would catch her, so if he were powerless or otherwise hadnt caught her she wouldve simply sa him here. ive seen some ppl say "she realized he wasnt into it after this so shes very respectful of his boundaries" and im kinda baffled at that interpretation :p its not a flex that she realized he didnt wanna be sexually assaulted. idk guys maybe sexually assault is js generally bad??? besides, even beyond the fact this shouldnt have to be an established boundary in the 1st place, it seems way less likely that she understood a boundary here and more likely that she js realized that strategy wouldnt work on him bc of his powers :p

the one where she undresses in his bed is more of a genuine misunderstanding but it still shows how badly she misunderstands him. she ignored most of his message and only read the part she wanted and expected and had clearly been waiting for, and immediately jumped into his bed and took her clothes off, ending up in him almost kicking her out

despite these situations where he clearly expresses disdain at the idea of sexuality, this misunderstanding of hers is consistent throughout her character :p the overwhelming evidence to the contrary never makes her stop assuming that he secretly wants it or smth

i think despite being into other men, she put a lot of stake in her idea of soulmates :p she scryed it and transferred schools to find him after all, and she has a lot of trust in her own self and power, so i think she made a lot of untrue assumptions abt soulmates and how perfect they are and thought she and saiki would immediately click and get along and thered be 0 incompatibilities at all- as if finding her soulmate will fulfill all her romantic n sexual desires. this is why she makes 0 effort to build a romantic connection between them b4 declaring them soulmates and lovers, several times claiming theyre already dating, she assumed itd already exist. therefore she thinks that since SHE is very sexual, her soulmate must be as well. they seem to have nothing in common besides powers and the drive to help others which she isnt aware of, especially in what they want in life and from a partner, which i think is another reason she decided early on based on no evidence that hes a very sexual sadist and latched onto the idea, unable to believe anything else despite all evidence otherwise, for the entire show. 

shes obviously wrong. shes js too fixated on her own desires and expectations to realize that.

she originally claimed to have “fallen in love” with saiki only after seeing his powers and deciding that his mild sassiness was somehow indicative of sadism or sexuality. in the same breath she expresses disappointment in who her soulmate is and doesnt like his personality, so its pretty clear she cooked that up so she could have something to latch onto. from that point forward, i dont remember her showing attraction to anything abt saiki beyond his powers and the sadism/sexuality she misunderstood.

miko deserves some1 she doesnt feel the need to project onto js to feel like her desires r being fulfilled, and saiki deserves some1 who doesnt continuously expect from him what he doesnt want to give and has expressed that.

the thing is they have WAY better chemistry when she ISNT trying to force romance or sexuality into their relationship and she tends to misunderstand every platonic situation with him as that so it makes it a bit hard to see past her misunderstandings and see their friendship through it

at the very end of volcano arc she ALMOST ruins the moment by misunderstanding the situation as romantic and asking to kiss him but the hug she ends up giving him after is much sweeter and more emotionally impactful. its ofc not wrong for her to ask honest questions, im not saying she was wrong for it and its also not wrong 4 her to want to kiss him in that moment, but it does show her inability to read him and the situation and how this limits the chemistry between them. her stubborn nature still came out here when instead of simply accepting the “no” she said ���AT LEAST let me give u a hug then” as if he owes at least something to her, but i dont fault her for this bc they both def needed and deserved a hug in that moment. saiki himself has also generally never been averse to platonic physical touch, often letting nendo or toritsuka etc to touch him without protest so this isnt any kind of boundary being broken. funnily, miko is the only person i remember him refusing to let touch him like him making her sit on the other side of the table and teleporting away from a hug but that seems to have changed by the end, or at the very least hell allow it from her in certain situations

miko is overall a good and genuine person, most notably how despite her jealousies of kokomi she still admires her so much, her defenses of kumi who was being bullied in a clothing shop, her expressing she doesnt mind helping kusuo for nothing in return (despite saying this immediately after implying she still wanted a favor after he didnt want to have sex with her, honestly not sure abt this part), and her mostly genuine intentions with her clients

this post will serve as my miko reference from now on and is subject to change!*

[zorlok-if]

Spirits and Inhibitors

Some contrasting viewpoints to give you a little context into some of the ways magic works (and doesn't work) in Zorlok. Full text below the cut.

Strength, Adaptability, and Rigidity of the Spirit in Magical Practice

Speech from Silenus the Elder, High Priest of the Magi from 1512-1523. Translation and Afterword by Luther Weiss.

It has long been acknowledged that Spirit—more importantly, the Strength of a person’s Spirit—plays a key role in one’s ability to sense magic and aptitude for wielding it. The correlation is undeniable—the Stronger the mage’s Spirit, the Stronger the mage. Until now, Strength has been used as our primary determinant for assessing a person’s potential as a mage and status as a member of the Magi. It is how we select which young we raise and which we take in. It is how we predict who will maintain the proper character needed to become and remain a member of our esteemed order. If a mage’s Strength falters or fades, it is a true reflection upon the character of their Spirit and an insight into potential moral and spiritual failings.

The importance of Strength is not something I wish to argue, nor do I think I could do so in good faith. Rather, I believe that we have limited ourselves by considering Spiritual Strength to be the sole marker of an individual’s potential—for better or worse. There is a separate, perhaps even more important trait we have yet to consider, a quality of Spirit I refer to as Adaptability.

The measure of a Spirit’s Adaptability reflects its capacity to alter or be altered. A highly Adaptable Spirit is highly receptive to change. It is able to mold itself to whatever situation it finds itself in or pressures it is placed under. This change is not necessarily associated with a change of mind or heart, simply a certain pliability or flexibility that allows for survival in dire circumstances or success in controlled ones. On the other hand, a Rigid Spirit has a fixed state of being. It is resistant towards or even impervious to change no matter the circumstance.

Picture a bowl of water. If a knife is stabbed into the bowl, the liquid merely bends around it, allowing the knife to pass through and then reforming itself without loss when the blade is removed. Now imagine a block of ice placed in the same bowl. If it is stabbed like the water was, either the knife will shatter the ice or the blade itself will break upon impact. This is the difference between Adaptability and Rigidity.

As I said before and will maintain now, Strength is the most viable quality we know of to determine one’s capacity for wielding magic. However, it is not relevant for determining how magic can be used upon or around someone.

Think of it, brethren. Are there not times when you were certain you executed a spell to perfection, but the expected result was weaker than it should have been? Or failed entirely? There could be different factors at play. Perhaps the connection to your magical source was weakened by distance, the material components were flawed, or your somatic performance was hindered by bodily restriction. There are many ways we can erroneously fault ourselves when explaining our failures or shortcomings. I often fall into this trap myself.

Nevertheless, several years ago I noticed that every time I was near a certain individual my magic would fail with impossible yet undeniable reliability. I assumed it coincidence at first, blaming myself when I knew in the back of my mind that the issue was not my own. After years of mounting frustration and evidence, there was only one possible conclusion. To put to bed any notion of coincidence, I performed a series of tests upon the individual. Without fail, my spells never worked properly around this person. More importantly, they did not work upon them at all. This individual was a mage themself—able to wield magic with only minor inconveniences they had learned to work around—but they were entirely immune to its effects. Their Spirit was very Strong indeed, but entirely Rigid.

As I’m sure you must see, this story having been laid plain before you, those with Rigid Spirits pose a danger to us all. A mage able to wield magic without fear of it being turned back against them is a mortal threat—not just to our order but the world at large. Brethren, I beseech you; we must find these Inhibitors with the greatest haste and deal with them appropriately. Furthermore, from now on, only individuals with Spirits that are both Strong and Adaptable should be permitted to join our ranks.

Afterword

This speech, originally given by Silenus in 1510 and printed shortly thereafter as “Adaptability and Rigidity, the Threat of Inhibitors” is the genesis of all prejudice against and prosecution of those with full or partial immunity to magic. It led to—for lack of a better term—a witch hunt against mages of “rigid spirit”. This eventually spilled over to hunts for rigid spirits in general, no matter the person’s background or abilities. I suppose the thought was, if a human couldn’t be controlled or subjugated through the use of magic, that person—without any spells or casting abilities to speak of—was a threat the Magi of old needed to eliminate.

Translating this piece of our history was not a task I undertook for the joy of doing it. It was a burden I took upon myself so that a greater number of people could perceive the true, unaltered face of this despicable man. To allow you to see and judge for yourself the danger his words posed then and the danger they pose now.

Conveniently, Silenus leaves out the fact that he captured, tortured, then murdered his child’s wetnurse—the first and only confirmed Inhibitor he discovered. He went on to launch a violent crusade against mages and humans alike and then as a reward was elected to the position of High Priest of the Magi. Silenus is irredeemable, and any contemporary mages who argue differently pose as much of a threat to our society as he was to his. Do not listen to the fearmongering of these few.

Inhibitors do not pose a threat and, even if they did, it’s been proven that they are few and far between. They were scapegoats used to explain away the faults of aging wizards with god complexes. Targets for senseless violence that—despite what some may tell you—continues to this day.

If you know of an inhibitor, protect them. Say nothing. If you are afraid of inhibitors, turn your gaze elsewhere and consider why you are being made to fear someone merely because you’re unable to control them.

When we think and act rationally as one, we are strong. If we fail in any of those pursuits, we are the threats. Look at history not through the lens of the one telling it to you, but through the lens of an observer, one capable of looking at all sides and finding the unbiased truth for yourself. I beseech you—my friends, my peers, my teachers, my fellow Magi—think for yourselves. Ask the questions they don’t want you to consider. We walk their halls. We read their tomes. We wield their powers. We inherit their legacy.

We cannot do so mindlessly. It is only through challenging what we’ve been told that we can better ourselves. And we can be better. I know it.

Luther Weiss

Luther Weiss, Initiate of the Fourth Order, Assistant Archivist of the Scarlet Tower

[darcytaylor]

When “Just Looking at the Evidence” Becomes a Problem

Before I get into this, I want to be clear - this is not directed at shippers who simply enjoy Luke and Nicola’s chemistry, those who appreciate them as people, or those who respect their private lives.

Shipping is a natural part of fandoms, and when done respectfully, I think it’s fine.

This post is directed at the people who have taken shipping to an extreme - those who have convinced themselves they are "just looking at the evidence" while weaving together wild, invasive, and often insensitive theories. At that point, it’s no longer shipping - it’s something entirely different.

Shipping vs. Fantasizing: Know the Difference

There’s a huge difference between harmlessly shipping people - whether fictional characters or even co-stars - and creating elaborate fantasies about real individuals. While shipping can be a fun way to engage with a story or fandom, projecting detailed, speculative narratives onto real people can cross into invasive territory.

Shipping: Enjoying the chemistry, friendship, or dynamic between people, often in a fictional or lighthearted context.

Fantasizing: Constructing speculative stories about real people’s private lives, often based on incomplete information (and flawed so-called "evidence") without regard for their boundaries.

Why Fantasizing About Real People Crosses the Line

When fans create elaborate narratives about real people, it can:

Blur the line between fiction and reality: Making it harder for others to separate speculation from truth.

Perpetuate false narratives: Leading to harassment or invasions of privacy.

Disrespect individuals: By reducing their lives to a storyline crafted for entertainment.

People are far more nuanced than the curated glimpses we get online or in public. Social media posts, photos, or even patterns of behaviour aren’t a roadmap to someone’s inner life or relationships. They’re just snapshots - fragments of a much larger, unseen picture. And often, those fragments don’t connect the way people want them to.

The Loophole That Isn't a Loophole

I’ve seen some people claim that Nicola saying "If you have an opinion about me, that's ok. I understand I'm on TV and people will have things to think and say, but I beg you not to send them to me directly" somehow gives them permission to speculate about things like pregnancy.

Let’s be real - that is absolutely not what she meant. She’s literally acknowledging that people will have opinions, but she’s also making it clear that things like that make her uncomfortable. Saying "Don’t bring it to me" doesn’t mean she’s fine with people debating her body - it means she knows shitty people exist, but she’d rather not be subjected to it.

And sure, maybe you’re not sending it to her directly - but you are still doing the exact thing that makes her uncomfortable. And by putting it out into public spaces, you’re making it far more likely that it gets back to her indirectly. So whatever justification people think they’ve found? It’s fucking moot. It’s still insensitive.

Belief Doesn’t Equal Truth

Believing you’ve pieced together the “truth” because some moments appear to align is misguided. It overlooks the unknowns - the context we’re missing and the layers that exist in people’s lives. Just because something can seem a certain way doesn’t mean it is that way.

Humility matters. Recognizing that no matter how much you think you know, you actually know very little. Taking a step back and saying, “I don’t know what’s really going on” is not only more truthful but also shows respect for the people involved.

It’s okay to want people to be together - innocent shipping of loving chemistry between people is okay - but it’s not okay to create wildly speculative stories that exist only in your own mind.

Humility in Speculation: Knowing What We Don’t Know

Here’s the truth - I don’t know the full picture. None of us do. I don’t know Luke and Nicola as people, and I don’t know the ins and outs of their personal lives. And that’s okay. I'm not going to piece together and come up with my own flawed story about other peoples lives.

What I do know is that certain theories and speculation can be harmful, even when people think they’re harmless. Just because something is being discussed publicly, or even “positively,” doesn’t mean it isn’t invasive. (Cough spreading invasive pregnancy rumors cough). It doesn't mean it is kind. The line between curiosity and intrusion is thinner than people think.

Even if you think you've “figured something out,” there is always so much more you will never see, hear, or understand. Just because an idea feels compelling or fits a certain pattern doesn’t mean it reflects the truth.

So before engaging in deep speculation, it’s worth asking:

Am I respecting their privacy?

Am I letting curiosity turn into entitlement?

Am I remembering that these are real people, not fictional characters?

On the Idea of “Being Duped”

I’ve also noticed some frustration in the fandom, with people feeling like Luke and Nicola somehow “duped” the public with their behaviour on tour.

What we saw on tour was not unusual for two people who:

Are comfortable with each other.

Work together (and especially in the acting world).

Have shared an intense, career-defining experience.

This kind of dynamic isn’t uncommon in the entertainment industry or in any field where people work closely together (I know from personal experience). Their bond is unique, but that doesn’t mean it has to be romantic. To me, it’s always read as a deep friendship, a strong professional partnership, and two people who genuinely enjoy working together. And it really is beautiful!

I think some people wanted their interactions to confirm a specific narrative, and now that things aren’t aligning with that, they feel misled. But that’s not on Luke or Nicola. It’s a reminder that interpretation is subjective, and that sometimes, we project our own expectations onto things rather than seeing them for what they are.

The Consequences of Unchecked Fantasies

Making up stories about real people and treating those stories as fact (even when you say that you are okay if you are wrong, or if you say that you are just speculating) adds to:

Noise and confusion: Amplifying drama and misinterpretation.

Unnecessary pressure: On the individuals involved, complicating their personal lives further.

Public harassment: Rumours often escalate, influencing others to unfairly judge or attack. Bringing it indirectly to the main people in your fantasies.

Sure, you can feel like you’ve pieced together a narrative in your mind that makes sense to you. But actors are human beings, not characters in a fan-fiction. They shouldn’t be stripped down to an idea of what you think they should or shouldn’t be doing.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again - people are nuanced. People are dimensional. If you don’t know them personally, you have no idea what goes on in their day-to-day lives. A few curated moments from interviews or social media will never give anyone the full picture.

I’ve seen a lot of people build theories around what they believe is evidence. But if you really looked at it critically, you would find that much of it is based on assumptions rather than actual confirmation. It’s worth asking - are you trying to make reality fit the story you want to believe?

Public speculation/fantasizing can have consequences that extend beyond the screen - impacting the real people you claim to support.

[flapmemelord]

THANK you @onelastskip for that suggestion.............. might be a little late but.... here's why I think ESFP fits Elio to a T (and I can't wait to see how his shortcomings get explored especially in regards to functions...) (it delves with a few hcs, but addresses spring semester and stuff adressed in blank-house asks)

SO !!! ESFP (Se-Fi-Te-Ni) Elio right? Dominant Se makes a lot of sense for Elio. Se is all about getting sensory enjoyment out of life. He likes expressing himself through his physicality (and is good at it), sports in part but not only. He's known for participating in more than a few events thrown by the SGB (to the point of having a nickname because of his infamous way of filling out forms / to the point deja said the wall climbing event was for him). Elio is very open to new situations and quick to say yes if invited, an on-the-whim kind of guy and liking it that way. He can come off as a showoff (cue him destroying everyone in bar holding spring festival game and/or challenging high confidence mcs) superficial ("I didn't know people could argue so much about a prize" / he feels like he has to justify himself and tells Deja he has layers when confronted about his music tastes) or comes off as childish (quick to guilttrip if he likes mc enough, pouts) which are traits Se doms are likely to be labeled as. Misuse of Se might include relying too much on immediate feedback and / or external stimulation for satisfaction, being careless with decisions or relationships (which is what I'm working on for Elilo (Elio/Lorelei)) It can also mean having no focus or defined goals (lack / misuse of Ni) which lead to insecurity (which i could see being explored on the meager chance Elio is the breakup route and he goes back home)

I believe Ni (intuitive connections, reflection on meaning and implications, generating visions of the future...) grip in Elio shows up in how clingy he is, probably as a consequence of some form of paranoia (misuse of Ni) (Bottom stack functions tend to be used as defense mechanisms) (Ni grip might come off as the person acting out of character, in here, him being so suddenly hit by a lack of confidence, and needing to be reassured through that clinginess) The best guess I can do right now is he has issues around emotional permanence, but it's a shot in the dark. Well, at least Ni grip in Se doms can show up as looking for meaning and/or purpose but in the wrong places.

Elio is shown as someone that will avoid confrontation and is described as one who holds grievances. There's failure, I feel, from his part to resolve negative feelings which push him to suppress. It looks like a case of Fi failing him. Despite that he's mostly empathetic, sensitive and displays emotional intelligence (has signs of healthy Fi expression) (he's good at calming down a situation where tension arises, cue mc and percy not getting along - and immediatly vouching for him, or easing down the discussion if mc calls him and percy out for getting distracted in the study room event).

Tertiary Te (imposes order and is about efficient behavior, pushes to make effective decisions based on data) loop is what happens when there's Auxiliary Fi resistance. Because Fi is the need for moral integrity and self acceptance, immature ExFPs can use Te to distance from it. It can show up as burying negative feelings under coarse expressions of power (like Elio did in the breakup!percy comic I made), self-image problems or insecurity (which Elio display). The grievance thing makes me think Elio might show to be quite vindictive which is another sign of Te loop. I personally hc he's the possessive LI, which would align with the fact being territorial / domineering is a common unhealthy tertiary Te trait.

Funnily I think his reading of Reynah can both be read as an expression healthy Fi yet a Te loop tendency. It's both him understanding where people could not like her (getting her flaws, her shortcomings) but it's also him believing critical judgement to be objective. There's the expectation in what he says for Reynah to meet him on his ground (for her to talk) the way Deja does, when that's not necessarily how getting closer to Reynah has to go.

Next I'll make both Percy and Rhys' type analysis since they're both ISTP

[duskdog]

This is probably the best-articulated description of one of the reasons why I hate Bruce Wayne. Words that I personally have never managed to explain properly.

If you don't treat a flaw as if it's a flaw, then it's not actually a flaw. This is why, if you've ever been in a situation where you're writing characters and having your work critiqued, you may be told that things like "working too hard" or "caring too much" aren't real flaws and should be avoided. They absolutely can be real flaws, but if you never actually show it impacting the character negatively, then you haven't given them a flaw -- you've either given them nothing at all, or worse, you've given them a stealth virtue in the guise of a flaw. When Batman is an asshole to everyone else, it's clear that he's being an asshole. When he's an asshole to people like Steph and Helena, he's not portrayed as an asshole, he's portrayed as being right.

People who dislike Stephanie Brown as a character are quick to point to her role in War Games as evidence of her weakness and unsuitability as a Robin and as a hero. But those same people either refuse to acknowledge Batman's role in causing it, or gloss over his role. And why wouldn't they, since the narrative itself paints Steph as fundamentally, fatally flawed and Batman as fundamentally, fatally correct? I would even argue that Batman himself created a self-fulfilling prophecy when it comes to Steph -- he disliked her from the outset, and from that point on treated her in such a way that it was inevitable that one day she would prove him "right". It wasn't even subtle. He very deliberately pulled her strings and brought her in and pushed her out over and over again as it suited him, breaking her down into a person who needed his approval so badly that she would do anything to get it. There is no excuse for this. There should be no defending it. And yet people do, constantly, because these comics were written to make us believe that a grown man jerking around a teenage girl is justified in doing so. Yet these same comics condemn Bruce for jerking around a teenage boy, and we're led to have sympathy for Dick and Tim (rightfully so). And Steph is the one who was emotionally tormented, tortured almost to death, and lost any semblance of her normal life for a long time. She came back, a shadow of her former self at first, to face backlash from Dick and Babs and Tim. She paid the price for any wrongdoing she may have done -- paid for it many times over -- and yet people refuse to give her credit for that. Meanwhile, where was Batman's backlash? Where was the price he paid? A little bit of superficial man-pain, at best? We're supposed to believe her death hurt him -- and, to be absolutely fair to him, I'm sure it did -- but any pathetic brooding on his part is undermined entirely by his refusal to accept any responsibility. He tells Tim straight-up that it was Steph's fault and she paid the price, get over it. When Tim had every right to still be grieving, by the way.

While the part of me that tries to be charitable to Bruce knows he probably was affected by her death -- or at least he felt sadness over it, because I do truly believe Bruce Wayne is a person who feels very deeply -- the narrative doesn't sell it to me enough for me to entirely believe it.

It feels like the literary version of "I'm sorry, but". You know how frustrating it is when you've been hurt by someone, and you really desperately need an apology, but what you get is "I'm sorry, but--" followed by a list of why it's actually your fault? That is exactly what Bruce Wayne makes me feel here. I simply cannot buy his feelings as genuine, when they're accompanied by a massive "but" that amounts to a refusal to accept responsibility for the role he played.

And why is that? Because that's the way the writers choose to portray it. That's the narrative: that Bruce wasn't wrong about Stephanie, and he wasn't wrong about Helena. His bad behavior is justified by the story being written in such a way that the women are the ones who are deeply flawed and deserve everything that's coming to them. And it's cheap and does a disservice to his character, too, because if his flaws aren't actually treated as flaws, they contribute no depth or interest. If you're going to write Batman as a misogynist, then you have to write it as the flaw that it is. It has to be acknowledged by the narrative by showing where he's wrong. His wrongness has to affect him in some way. Overcoming that would be a great development for any character!

But here we are.

Thinking about Bruce and his flaws again and the thing is while I can ignore most of the things he does in other comics because they're clearly using him to dramatically advance the stories of his kids (firing Dick in ntt, beating Jason in rhato, Tim's 16th birthday in Robin, his treatment of Cass during her Batgirl run etc.) it's his treatment of others in his own run especially women like Helena and Steph that kills me. Because several of the writers are clearly fully aware that they're writing him as a misogynist but instead of overcoming that character flaw the narrative ends up making the women atone and prove themselves to his unfair double standard (Helena in NML Steph in Robin) or suffer and die because the misogyny is as strong in the creative team as it was in Bruce (Steph during war games)

There's never any real reckoning with the flaws and attitudes they give him, likely because the writers see it as a character quirk instead of something that should negatively impact him and that he should overcome. Bruce Wayne murder fugitive has him hit Dick and later apologise. NML and War Games never have him take responsibility the same way. He's misogynistic, the women pay the price, he learns nothing because the message gets twisted to avoid the writer's own misogyny.

If you're a fan of Bruce you probably want to just pretend it never happened which is what a lot of writers choose to do. If you're a fan of the female characters affected you have to acknowledge it because it was a major story point for their character. And it wasn't even for them. They were were used and spat out to try and fail to make Bruce seem more complex.

And I say fail because it doesn't make Bruce more complex. The writers make him a bad person and then call it a day. No one around him actually holds him accountable. Everything goes back to the status quo. A new writer comes along and Batman is a straightforward hero again.

The only lasting impact is on the characters torn down to give him poorly written drama. All this to say if Babs Helena and Steph teamed up to murder Batman completely unprompted I would be their number one defender.

[zinnathe]

In case you're wondering how Two of a Kind Ch. 24 is going: I've got a planning document in front of me and, looking over it while hopped up on caffeine and sleep deprivation, said to myself "Ok, so it looks like Aizawa's character flaw is that he hates people who hurt kids."

I should perhaps not be working on this late at night because it took a couple seconds to register the absurdity of that statement

[did-sm1-say-catfish]

guys i know s1 chase is fatphobic and like is just a hater but like i could fix him

[bumblingbabooshka]

I hate when Chakotay is watered down to be Janeway's yes man because their disagreements are actually very interesting. [A lot of rambling analysis of this debate in particular below]

Chakotay in Parallax is very interesting in that he has to navigate a lot of different dynamics. Balance a lot of plates while being watched keenly by everyone around him. Immediately preceding this scene we see him ask B'Elanna for her opinion on the bridge - both as a chance to show her knowledge in his bid to make her chief engineer (because she wouldn't get a chance to otherwise as Janeway has clearly indicated that at this point she views B'Elanna as a troublemaker who won't be considered for the position) and because he just thinks she's a better engineer than Carey and wants the best possible chance of them succeeding. Janeway sees this as unacceptable. Carey is the chief engineer and so he should be called and Chakotay NOT asking for his opinion is an insult to Carey, Janeway, and might make the crew doubt Chakotay (and by extension the Maquis') loyalty to the Starfleet crew.

At this point it seems that to Janeway integration ["They're not your people"] means the path of least resistance, specifically tailored towards the Starfleet crew. She wants Chakotay by her side to keep the Maquis crew calm but also seems unwilling to consider them for important positions aboard the ship. Though she says that the Maquis are not Chakotay's people, not his crew, she certainly doesn't seem to consider them hers [Compare this to later instances where she stresses 'our' crew, here she simply says they aren't Chakotay's: Whose crew are they? Are they crew at all?]. This less leaves the impression of "We need to be a cohesive team" and more "You're not in charge here." She essentially accuses Chakotay of playing favorites. In her mind Chakotay's actions are not conducive to integrating the crews which would (again, in her mind) mean the Maquis being docile and accepting, obedient and content - not making trouble for the Starfleet crew. Chakotay counters Janeway's accusation with one of his own: That he IS trying to integrate them into the crew but her not allowing the Maquis any opportunity to prove themselves or succeed, not showing any trust in any of them (except, implicitly at this point, him) is making things difficult. At this point the Maquis crew are ready to mutiny on his word at any time. He knows this for a fact. Aside from that looming threat (the threat being that tensions are high and if nothing changes and they remain high there might be a mutiny even without his word) - Chakotay knows these people and trusts them. Though Starfleet and Janeway think of the Maquis as a violent bunch of criminal terrorists, Chakotay and a good number of the Maquis joined because they believed in the cause they were fighting for. These are people Chakotay knows WILL fight fiercely for what they believe in and conversely, AGAINST what they perceive as injustice. Even if they're not in the majority - they're used to picking fights which seem impossible to win. At this point Janeway admits that she ISN'T making it easy for Chakotay to integrate the Maquis - specifically talking about practical concerns; how she doesn't feel she can let Maquis crew have roles of importance on the ship because they lack the ability to hold them. "They don't have the discipline, they don't have the training," - asserting that they just aren't prepared for any such roles and it doesn't have to do with them being Maquis specifically. Ostensibly, she's treating them as she might treat anyone unqualified for the job.

Chakotay maintains that some of them, like B'Elanna, have the ability to be trained - challenging her point by saying that IF they're trained there's no reason for any Maquis member NOT to be given a more prominent role on the ship. He isn't suggesting they just unqualified people important jobs. If the problem is that they aren't trained, let's train them. These people have the ability to succeed if you give them the tools they need and a fair chance, he insists. Janeway then switches gears and her argument becomes not "The Maquis are untrained so they can't be given those jobs" but "The Maquis crew are unworthy of those jobs when compared to Starfleet personnel" saying that it'll cause insult and upset among the Starfleet crew if any member of the Maquis were to be promoted above them. Again, her idea of integration is based more on Maquis subservience to the Starfleet crew than it is the two crews working together. (Not that I believe she looks at it that way, it's just where her 'path of least resistance' leads) - though she accuses Chakotay of being too focused on "his" crew, she is admitting here that she believes her real crew are the Starfleet officers aboard, not the Maquis. She also admits here that the system she wishes to maintain (and is asking Chakotay to enforce) is one where there will ostensibly never be any chance of a Maquis crew member being promoted because no Maquis crew member will ever be more qualified, more worthy, than a member of Starfleet. We can see how it'd be difficult for Chakotay to convince his crew to remain calm under these circumstances. There's also Tuvok's behavior toward him at the beginning of the episode where the Vulcan nearly goes over Chakotay's head and when he doesn't do so (as Chakotay reminds him that HE'S the superior officer, the First Officer in fact,) Tuvok acts as if him backing down (partially) and conceding (partially) to Chakotay's authority is a favor to Chakotay.

Tuvok in this conversation is downright insubordinate to Chakotay. Despite Chakotay being the first officer, he doesn't take what he says seriously, argues that his own opinion on what should be done should be followed rather than Chakotay's, lectures the first officer about his conduct, and then almost seems to threaten him with a report. In Starfleet's rigidly hierarchical rules, acting like this to a superior officer (ESPECIALLY the first officer) wouldn't be tolerated and Tuvok knows this perfectly well. He isn't a rebellious character and clearly in other episodes adheres to these Starfleet hierarchies and codes of conduct very strictly. He values them highly. But Chakotay, a Maquis, shouldn't be First Officer. Why should he be given respect for a title he didn't earn? [Affirming Janeway's argument about how Starfleet officers won't be eager to follow a Maquis senior officer] Even though Chakotay tells Tuvok off for it ["I don't have to explain myself to you"] he doesn't threaten to put Tuvok on report or explicitly mention his insubordination. It's unclear if this is Chakotay's personality or if he just doesn't feel he CAN do that. Tuvok is one of the three most senior officers aboard and very close to Janeway. Chakotay has to think of the optics of any situation at all times - we see seconds after this conversation that rumors have already started swirling around B'Elanna being relegated to quarters that've fanned the flames of mutiny. Though we know Tuvok has personal reasons for behaving the way he does toward Chakotay (which he later admits), I really don't think it'd be out of the ordinary for this to be how most Starfleet personnel would treat the Maquis if they weren't outright hostile: Like they're only pretend crewmen. To a lesser extent we even see this with Janeway: In the following staff meeting, she clearly doesn't consider B'Elanna a viable option when Chakotay brings her up and almost ignores the suggestion entirely.

It also, again, leaves Chakotay in an impossible position. If he doesn't protect and fight for the Maquis crew, they won't ever be considered a true part of the crew and dissatisfaction will likely spread among them. Dissatisfaction which the Starfleet crew will then use to further label the Maquis as insubordinate, uncontrollable, unfit. Not to mention that if he doesn't advocate for them, he might lose their trust. However, if he DOES try to help the Maquis crew advance the Starfleet crew will view this as 'favoritism' and will further distrust him, won't respect the people he puts forth as worthy. Janeway seems to be intent on not advocating for any of the Maquis crew and also seems unwilling to ask that the Starfleet crew grant leniency. She implies that the Maquis crew need to learn to get in line and keep quiet and it seems almost like [we must remember the optics] she has Chakotay as the only Maquis in a position of power to facilitate that. Chakotay recognizes and pushes against that, saying that he won't just be her token Maquis - there only so she can point to him and say "See? We don't discriminate against the Maquis here." effectively a tool used to shut down any arguments of unfair treatment and a tool to quell the Maquis if any talk of mutiny DOES arise. In this model, Janeway can just tell Chakotay to calm them down and they'll listen because they trust him. She also doesn't have to really listen to anything he says: A token First Officer has no authority; his words don't hold weight. [Chakotay isn't Maquis anymore, they aren't his crew anymore - ok. What is he then? What are they? Nothing, without respect.] This plan seems untenable, as much as Janeway frames it as sensible: "I can't make it easy, Commander. Surely you can understand that," and alternatives as impossible "How am I supposed to ask them to accept a Maquis as their superior officer just because circumstances have forced us together?" - in the long run, how would this be sustainable? In any power structure, you cannot expect a group of people you're unwilling to grant trust or agency to obediently follow you forever. This proposed form of 'integration' in which the Maquis are kept on the bottom rung and told intermittently to stay there quietly by the only one of them granted permission to stand at the top would never be sustainable - especially with a group like the Maquis who again, were founded on the belief that its members should fight against inequity and are already on the verge of mutiny.

I specifically find the statement "How am I supposed to ask them to accept a Maquis as their superior officer just because circumstances have forced us together?" to be interesting because personally I'd say that being forced together for the rest of almost everyone's natural life is a pretty good reason to ask people to adapt and Janeway does understand this but only applies it to the Maquis - the Maquis are the ones who have to adapt, not Starfleet. The only thing the Starfleet crew have to do is tolerate their presence on board.

At this point Janeway again claims that if Chakotay can show her a 'qualified' Maquis candidate she'll consider them. I believe this is true but we already know that Janeway's standards for qualification will likely not fit the vast majority of the Maquis and Chakotay ignores the claim in favor of putting forth B'Elanna again, firmly. Janeway predictably dismisses her as unqualified and Chakotay disagrees, arguing that he knows her. He's worked with her. He KNOWS that B'Elanna can excel at the job even if she doesn't meet Starfleet/Janeway's qualifications. He doesn't value those qualifications over what he's observed about her - just as he didn't value Carey's title over what he knew about the gap between his and B'Elanna's abilities. Then, Chakotay switches gears. He admits that Janeway's right - he does view the Maquis as his crew but that's because Janeway (almost self admittingly) doesn't and if he doesn't, who will they have? [What kind of captain, kind of man, would he be?] "You're going to have to give them more authority if you want their loyalty." "Theirs or yours, Commander?" Janeway frames Chakotay's words pointing out the flaws in this plan which I outlined earlier, as almost a threat (if she doesn't have Chakotay's loyalty it'll most definitely mean mutiny). Chakotay asserts that it wasn't a threat, he's only trying to help by telling her how the Maquis crew will react to what she's telling him. "I'm sorry you can't see that" - not an apology for what he said but that she isn't willing to budge, not willing to listen to him and acknowledge that she might be as biased towards her crew as he is towards his. Chakotay is trying his best to acclimate his crew but if Janeway isn't willing to do the same, to talk to her people as he's talking to his, then this will not end well and that isn't a threat. It's just the reality of the situation. He then asks permission to leave, showing he is willing to observe Starfleet protocol (just as when he asked permission to speak freely), and Janeway lets him go, exhaling at the intensity of their debate when alone in her ready room.

[oinkoink04]

To preface this: I firmly believe Mel didn’t manipulate Jayce and I go on a yapping session anytime her manipulation of Jayce is mentioned. Every example of her manipulation either stems from misunderstanding her character, misremembering the scenes, misogynoir, or redefining what manipulation is.

So there’s a lot of ppl that see Mel as just a manipulative villain politician. That her entire arc is her manipulating Jayce left and right aka “being a noxian” (tf??) and then stopping manipulating him.

And for the people that actually care about Mel and watched her scenes, they know she’s all about her pragmatic pacifism, her struggles against her home origin, her mom, her last name, and her identity.

Yet when we defend Mel and say she never did what they accuse her of doing, then bc they don’t actually know her character, and dilute her to be just a manipulative politician, they see it as you just cleaning her of all her flaws.

Ever notice how fans of female (especially Black female) characters are expected to be fine with and even participate in the degradation of those characters otherwise they get called "agologists" and told they are ignoring/erasing the flaws of those characters?

[straycalamities]

the fixation of fandom these days on there always being a Black and a White. A Right and a Wrong. A Villain and a Victim. is soooo fucking tragic and frankly REALLY DAMN ANNOYING

especially in stuff where like..if THAT'S your priority? you've missed the entire damn point. and yet it always is. so loudly.

look beyond your blorbo. your kintype. your CC. your f/o. look beyond your otp. look beyond your found family dynamic and actually absorb what's going on with the other characters. i'm begging.

honestly do a study on the characters you hate most or care about the least. take a half an hour to put yourself in their shoes

no this isn't an anti-shipping, anti-kinning, anti-selfship, or anti-blorboing post, because i don't think those are the things that inherently ruin characters or tags or whatever other ppl think. but if you do do that, it'll make it even better if you look at a larger scope beyond that as well I promise

[dykedvonte]

I find the line "I have to believe our worst moments don't make us monsters." Fascinating because it comes from Anya, and I feel she really proves it the best.

For obvious reasons most people are in the "Anya did nothing wrong" camp and for good reason but there is a single action that I don't think she did well and it was her suicide. Specifically her method.

Realizing that Anya took Curly's painkillers was horrifying to me. As a Nurse I have no doubt that she'd know how terrible dying from overdose is. She had access to a gun which is well known for having a far more instant and far less painful death. And despite everything falling apart around her, knowing how bad Jimmy was, she still left Curly alive.

I don't think I thought about it much like that at first but the longer this game has sat with me the more horrified I am by the action. Curly is man who has been horribly disabled and is completely unable to help himself and he is very much a human being who does not deserve to be anywhere close to that amount of pain. Those painkillers were one that the few things that could give him any amount of relief and Anya took them.

She could have shot herself and left the painkillers for whoever was left to help Curly. She could've shot Curly and then taken the painkillers. She could've shot them both and quickly put an end to their misery, yet she didn't. Anya had a great amount of her agency stripped away from her, to the point that she didn't deem life to be worth it anymore and ended it, right next to a man who couldn't make that choice for himself even if he wanted to.

It is easily her most horrific choice and yet, she's still an angel.

(Please don't take this as Anya slander, I genuinely love her so much. I just find this to be an incredibly interesting thing)

I do subscribe to the idea that Anya realized that Jimmy was hitting Curly when giving him his medicine but didn’t intervene. I also don’t think her taking the pills from Curly as monstrous mainly because (while she knew he suffered worse with out them) she likely also knew they were basically bandaids on a bullet wound.

I have this sort of belief that that statement can only really apply to Jimmy in the inverse. Like some statements in the games aren’t meant to apply to all characters and not in every context of every action they do. It’s the idea that no one should be responsible for Jimmy’s actions but himself but they are forced to by him or the environment. Everyone is experiencing their worst moments but no one is a monster outside of Jimmy due to his inability to take responsibility and how he escalates the severity of the situation through his bad choices. Even then it’s not one moment that makes Jimmy a monster it’s the culmination of every moment that prove his inability to be anything but in this scenario.

With Anya you must remember she did have the code to the gun. Yeah, she could’ve broken it open but who’s to say how easy or how long it would’ve taken. Not to mention, there’s this misconception that she wanted the gun to kill Jimmy which isn’t true. She wanted the gun to defend herself in the case he got aggressive which is an important note of Anya being the only proactive person on the ship vs reactive. Locking the door, knowing there was no way in was likely a duel mercy for them both. A person in his state would die relatively soon without constant care and she has ample time to pass. It’s a hard decision to make for herself and someone else but it was the easiest even if it caused more damage than it was ever meant to cause.

It’s a sort of parallel to how Curly made choices he thought would help Anya and everyone but ultimately doomed them all further. Jimmy got what he wanted in both scenarios of crashing the ship and wanting Anya gone. What happened on the Tulpar will go down as a tragedy if they are ever found, a mystery if not but certainly not in a way that Jimmy wanted. Anya and the pregnancy are effectively gone but he’s still facing the repercussions for it.

There’s this idea that it’s controversial to say that Anya was anything but perfect and while I don’t think she did anything wrong, she certainly didn’t make the best choice in telling Jimmy but that again was because of the situation and environment she was in. We don’t know why she didn’t wait on Curly after their conversation in the cockpit, we know that was the plan and we know Jimmy finding out through her alone was the catalyst to the crash within like the next hour, yet you can’t really blame her. We don’t know why Jimmy came to medical nor what anyone else was doing. It can be considered her one mistake but then again we can’t blame a reasonable action on someone’s unreasonable response.

I think that’s a big aspect a lot of people look over in the characters actions. Most of them are normal, reasonable, human. But the systematic responses to them and Jimmy’s are unreasonably harsh and punishing.

This has gone off in a tangent from what you originally posed but I genuinely think of what might do happened if that confrontation happened with Curly there and away from the cock pit. I assume it’d happen in medical or even utility, hell, an area away from anything sensitive but what if? If the ability to do something awful wasn’t at Jimmy’s finger tips, if there was more than one voice in Curly’s head during that moment, what would’ve changed?

When I look at Anya I see her as having the best responses to anything happening during the events of the game but the environment, systems against her and even the other crew mates to an extent made it so it would inevitably backfire on them and mostly her hard.

[puhpandas]

I love ggy so much how did they accidentally make the most intriguing hypothetical gay romance ever

[citizen-grantaire]

the only thing the tags are right about is that Enjolras and les amis de l'ABC, as a group, were republicans in the 1830s, almost 200 years ago.. the addition is slightly better.

This wasn’t meant to be a serious post, but I do think that in a modern au, Enjolras should be a communist to remain comparatively thematically and ideologically consistent with canon Enjolras and his stance toward society and the times he lived in, in today's world. + I stress that I’m specifically referring to Enjolras here, not all characters. (e.g. this blog is named after grantaire, whom I love so much as a character, but no way in hell he's a communist)

Communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat [link to principles of communism by Engles] It is not just an economic system but also a sociopolitical framework that seeks, through the application of dialectical materialism and revolutionary action, to eventually achieve the abolition of private property, liberate people from all forms of oppression and exploitation, and establish a classless, moneyless stateless society after and through the implementation of a transitional period of socialism, during which the proletariat (or working class, for simplification) takes political power and works toward equity through what we call a dictatorship of the proletariat where the workers collectively seize and own the means of production and the socialist state works to serve their interests instead of that of the bourgeoise etc.. welcome to communism 101 (broad, simplified)

Authoritarianism/totalitarianism are just silly words really, you can define them however you like.. they just serve to make the current power structure seem "normal" instead of requiring constant enforcement, it's only called authoritarian when usamerica feel threatened. (surprise. it feels threatened by the mere existence of communists and does anything to literally kill them around the world.) anyway, I love communist authoritarianism yay

"the ability to pick your leaders" in a liberal democracy isn't real, I don't even think that we should have to explain this after the trump vs harris circus, they all serve the empire and are not different in any meaningful way. This type of democracy is an illusion, and not a well-made one.

Reform/public services within capitalism (the examples you mentioned), while good, is not enough and limited at best, especially in countries in the global north, and need to be implemented within a socialist system, otherwise you're treating some of the symptoms but not the disease.

Okay, back to Enjolras because this is getting long.. in the book, he was a radical republican in the 1830s and wanted to overthrow the monarchy, he had knowledge about the first republic like he witnessed it and ideologically followed the montagnard (robespierre, saint just.. the men of 1793), he symbolizes the revolution, believes in necessary political violence and his beliefs centers about workers and poor people despite being born rich.. etc which are all great positions from someone from 200 years ago, overthrowing monarchy and reestablishing the republic is revolutionary in france then.. so let's ask ourselves what is comparatively true to his revolutionary stances in today's world if he was born in the 21st century instead of the 19th? Sure some things have changed in the world. Of course, canon Enjolras is an idealist which is a fatal flaw but that's not the point right now (just like I'm ignoring dear Hugo's mess of politics)

If a modern au Enjolras isn't a communist then it's not a believable adaptation of the character to the modern world. You can argue for anarchism with him I guess but it'd be a strong argument..

What other 'form of government' is revolutionary and pursues the end of exploitation and oppression from the roots you're arguing for? Thinking of Enjolras as a liberal is laughable. Reactionary!Enjolras

But once again he's just a fictional character and it doesn't matter how you write him if you do, but happy to introduce you to the immortal science of Marxism-Leninism, I guess <3

A modern au Enjolras should be a communist btw. Non-negotiable.