#and don't anyone give me shit about how dragons remember stuff really good or comprehend time differently.

[salty-dracon]

I Think Hraesvelgr FFXIV Is An Asshole Actually, Explained Through Violent Fictional Suburban Drama

TW child death, animal death

...

Okay, so imagine you’re a person who lives in a suburban neighborhood and doesn’t own a dog. You don’t hate them, you don’t love them, and you’re just fine with them harmlessly existing. You’re dog-neutral. So are most of your neighbors. But a few of them have dogs, like that newlywed couple that lives down the street (miniature poodle) or that one middle-aged woman who lives near the stop sign (three-legged medium sized terrier of some sort), or that sports guy who goes running with his Husky every morning. That’s fine, you don’t interact with them much, and you’re aware that they live in the neighborhood, but you’re personally not a dog person.

And then there are some people who hate dogs. Old Man Jenkins down the road, for one. You heard from this lady named Marsha at the neighborhood Fourth of July party that Jenkins watched his little brother get mauled by a neighbor’s violent, unrestrained Labrador when he was like twelve years old, and that kind of fucked him up for life. I mean, it would fuck anyone up. You get it. Jenkins thinks dogs are a menace, and he’s entitled to those thoughts (your mom hates dogs too), but maybe he should really get some therapy.

And then one day the newlywed couple’s miniature poodle ends up dead. Someone fed her a dog treat with a nail hidden inside, and the poor thing’s dead. The couple’s distraught, and you’re not quite sure how to help them out. But you feel terrible for the poor poodle.

And then one week later, the middle aged woman’s three-legged terrier mix is dead, because it was out in the yard, sleeping in its doghouse, and someone unlocked the fence and somehow attacked it while it was sleeping. It couldn’t get on its feet fast enough to fight back. That’s awful. You talked to her, and you brought a meal, because you worried she wasn’t eating, and she said, ‘Buttercup never hurt anyone! What kind of monster would just break into my house and kill her?!’ before bursting into tears.

And then one day later, the sports guy’s Siberian Husky is found with a stab wound in its side. It’s pretty small, probably a rusty nail, but it was howling all night until its owner woke up and rushed it to the animal hospital. He’ll live, but when you went to go visit him, the dog whined when he saw you. Sports guy gave a sad look and said that he was scared of people now. Wow, that’s just awful.

So by now, law enforcement is getting involved. More dogs are being killed. It’s sickening to watch, and people want to move out. Even Marsha, who doesn’t own a dog but does have three kids, is scared of them being hurt. But eventually a stray security camera manages to catch someone in the acts.

It was Jenkins who killed all those dogs.

They’re formally questioning him, but everyone knows that it’s because of what happened when he was twelve, and he watched the neighbor’s dog attack his own younger brother. That was messed up. Still, the death toll is, what, nine dogs now? And you just can’t help but think that all of those dogs are innocent in all of this. Sure, you’ve never hung out with most of them, but the middle aged woman’s terrier mix was disabled, and you’d seen it have trouble walking before. Why would someone kill it?

But no, it’s because a Labrador killed his brother, he’s just got to kill all of those other dogs, who have committed no mortal dog sins of their own.

And all of your neighbors agree- what happened to Jenkins’ brother was fucked up. We know we’ve never met him, and we know we can never feel the pain he’s feeling, but what gives him the right to attack the neighborhood’s other dogs?

And these dogs had lives, families, favorite toys, memories, and some of them had owners who had gone to college and were waiting eagerly for their return or something. Some of them had doggy siblings. They were just dogs, and Jenkins decided they didn’t deserve to live.

So then at some point you go to meet Edith. Edith is Jenkins’ brother, and heard about everything that happened. She didn’t witness the murder of their brother, but she was devastated by it. She swore off dogs entirely... until her daughter fell sick with cancer, and asked her mother to take care of it for her. And then Edith fell in love with the dog (a Yorkshire terrier) and began to treat it like the daughter who’d left her home long ago. The two are practically inseparable now.

You ask Edith for her opinion on the situation, and she’s got Poochie on her lap, and she says “I think Jenkins was in the right.” And you’re like, what? And she’s like “Yes, those dogs are all a menace. They murdered my baby brother.” And you’re like, that was ONE dog. And she’s like “Yes, but they all deserve to die, honestly. They’re wolves inside. They’re all hiding their instincts to kill humans and animals.” And you look at Poochie. And you ask, “What about Poochie?” And she says, “I’m angry enough at those dogs to kill nine more. But, Poochie would be mad at me if I did it, so I won’t.”

So, your only reason to not kill a few dogs is because it would make your companion- a dog- upset. Despite all the hurt and pain that your brother has caused, EDITH.

Isn’t Edith an asshole?

Okay, now replace humans with dragons, dogs with humans, Jenkins with Nidhogg, and Edith with Hraesvelgr.

Anyway, yeah, I think Hraesvelgr is an asshole.