#and it's just so interesting bc Both of those things were misogyny

[whinypupp]

heyy oh my gosh i JUST saw u respond to my ask about if u write for DN! well i have an idea! u know how in jjk nerd!gojo is a pretty common theme and hes just so cute and awkward and AHH, i think it would make SM sense for light and l to be both like that, ESPECIALLY pre deathnote light bc bro was rlly plain and boring and just studied inside his room ALL the time, so i was wondering about yandere nerd light when he maybe JUST gets the deathnote so he actually has time to think and want the reader (i feel like after the timeskip he is way too locked in and the power has corrupted him). im not sure about the plot at all but i was thinking them maybe being part of a club or gaming together or something nerdy :p like it would go so well with light bc hes this top student AND a nerd so you would NEVR suspect him to be INSANEEEEE.

۶ৎ CW ; wc. 1k, gn!reader but hints at femininity, the term "pretty" used in gender neutral way, misogyny & sexism for like one paragraph, one singular f-bomb dropped, fluff with feelings, mention(s) of murder, nerdgami is whipped for you!!! >.<

۶ৎ A/N ; I LOVE THE WAY YOU THINK BB, THE IDEA OF NERD LIGHT IS WORTH FAWNING OVER!!! forgive me if i make him seem a little incel-y, but he definitely has good intentions in mind with you!...

the evening light had picked up what was titled the “death note,” he was quick to believe that it was absurd and meant nothing to him. despite that, he was curious—reading on even though the first rule was enough to make him roll his eyes.

a part of him wondered if it could actually be used and work, but a bigger part doubted that. either way, he was willing enough to try, and settled for a widely known criminal who'd been holding a group of people hostage on a bus

he nearly choked on his own spit when it ended up working not long after he scribbled the name down. he adjusted his glasses, trying to decipher if it was merely a coincidence or if the death note had actually been the reason behind the man's sudden death.

...

the next morning at school, light's thoughts were almost entirely captivated by the death note (and you), which made things hard to focus.

you weren't the most popular student at tanikawa, but you certainly captivated the looks of guys and girls who passed by you in the hallways, which occasionally made light shoot them a harsh glare (and make him wish he used the death note on them as well.)

the two of you had a few classes together. therefore, he knew your name, but he didn't dare talk to you. he was awkward, shy—the classic nerd stereotype. you didn't seem like one at all, which meant that he didn't stand a chance.

he was quiet, always focusing on his work before anything else, with perfect grades and a face that'd make girls swoon.

“if only he didn't have those stupid glasses, he'd be gorgeous!” girls would cry out, almost pouting in complaint that he had bad eyesight.

light never really found himself interested in finding a partner until he caught a glimpse of your face, heard your laugh, etc. you were perfect! everything he ever wanted, if he really thought about it.

he never believed you and him would form any sort of bond until a girl after class was handing out pamphlets for club invitations in the hallway. he saw her get your attention, a pretty smile plastered on your lips as you walked over and took one for the anime club!

now, it might've been a whipped thing to do, considering light never found himself interested in anime (since he'd much rather focus on his studies), he couldn't help but rush over and quickly snatch a pamphlet as well.

“you're interested in joining the anime club as well? i think you'll love—oh! okay...”

light skimmed over it in his next class, pushing his glasses up in the process. he soon found out that the first meeting was two days, and all he could hope was that you'd be there.

when the awaited meeting was finally in order, he was the first one there—his leg bouncing anxiously as he kept an eye on the door. person after person (mostly boys with acne, braces, and a heavy lisp) walked in, and light was started to get disappointed that he got his hopes up in the first place.

seeing you walk through the door was enough to make his excitement once again skyrocket, and he felt blush unwillingly creep up his neck.

he nearly had a heart attack when you were approaching him—your eyes focused on his face with a curiosity he couldn't identify.

“hi...can i sit here?” you meekly asked, you voice a lot softer up close in a way that had his lips perking up in an unintentional smile.

“yeah—sure. i don't mind,” he responded with a subtle tremble in his tone.

as you sat down next to him, the boys whispered to themselves, and he nearly had it when he heard them refer to you as a “foid.” how much more creepy can they fucking get?

light noticed the uncomfortable look on your face, which made him frown. “hey,” he started, “don't focus on them.”

“they don't know what it's like to be around someone who doesn't hold their nose and run the other way.”

that comment of his made you laugh, and he felt his heart race.

“thanks. you're light, right? i've seen you in my classes before.” you tilted your head expectantly, and he nodded quickly.

“yes, i am. i...didn't expect you to know my name,” he admitted awkwardly.

“why wouldn't i? you're at the top of the class in algebra 'n chem!” you grinned from ear to ear, stating in a way that showed you were congratulating him. “i thought about asking you for help, but i was a little nervous. since we...well, didn't really know each other 'till now.”

his eyes widened at your statement, feeling prideful that he'd made such an impression in his classes that he unknowingly gained the attention of you.

“oh, really? i wouldn't have minded.” he reassured you.

“still! i jus' thought that if i asked out of the blue that it'd feel like i was using you and stuff.” he almost scoffed at the thought of that. why would he ever deny helping you?

“no way,” he chuckled. “i wouldn't mind helping someone as pretty as you. i mean—i'm not saying i'd help you only because you're attractive, i...i just meant that—”

you giggled, interrupting him with shushes. “shhh, light! people are staring!”

at the end of the club meeting, you two had established what was an early friendship, and light couldn't be happier. he let you type your number into his phone so you could talk more—his hands shaking while they rested on his lap.

he offered to walk you home, to which you complied with an eager nod.

the two of you talked about all sorts of things, mostly your grades, or which teachers you didn't like, which earned laughs from the both of you.

by the time you waved each other goodbye, light had completely forgotten about the death note and was more focused on plotting all the ways he could make you his.

[woman-respecter]

eh, I'm kind of tired of the relentless promotion of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood as feminist when all those female characters exist in relation to men, and that was the message I felt it sent to me: women are great but only if they don't forget their place. Those women are just better written than most because the original mangaka is a woman, but I've read a lot of Arakawa's stuff and it feels like she's really into this kind of promotion of traditional women in a way that has its pluses in showing how fully-faceted those women are, but never seems to really question those roles in a larger sense. I get why it appeals to people but I wouldn't exactly call it "feminist."

(I also have longstanding beef of how people use that to excuse the really fucked up messages about race in that show/manga, especially to dump on the original FMA anime which does that aspect much much better and whose female characters felt a lot more genuinely independent to me, but whatever. Neither is a bastion of feminism lol and don't want to make this about fandom beef)

It's also not necessary because there are a lot of anime that are outspokenly feminist and center women. Revolutionary Girl Utena being the obvious one, and got me through the 2016 election aftermath with episodes like when Utena beats Touga after he defeats her the first time, showing how women can triumph eventually even when the odds are wholly stacked against us. And it has a really probing analysis of the patriarchy and heteronormativity woven throughout the whole show.

A whole bunch of magical girl anime (not the entire genre, some suck and are made for gross dudes, but a lot of them, especially the 90s ones are aimed at women - Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura etc). Sayo Yamamoto's stuff that isn't Yuri on Ice - not that that show isn't great and gay and cute and doesn't say interesting things in its occasional one-off subplots about women, but it's obviously focused on men. But people who liked it who want great women-centric stuff should watch her Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine and Michiko and Hatchin, both centered on women and very feminist in their themes, albeit in a way that requires you to pay attention and think and watch the whole show so you occasionally get Tumblrites without reading comprehension missing the point of them. I was really surprised, given the kind of trashy title, by the anime Maria the Virgin Witch, which is all about fighting patriarchal ideas about sex in fantasy medieval Europe. Also, Yurikuma Arashi by the same creator as Utena is a really good analysis of the ways that lesbians are portrayed in Japanese media and by the broader patriarchy.

For as much misogyny as there is in anime, the stuff that does engage with feminism can often be pretty radical and smart and does it better than you'll see in a lot of other media. It's like having that low hum of misogyny in the medium as a whole builds up a rage in some of its creators that just explodes in the stuff they make. Same with how it often engages with queer themes, tbh.

And then there's just that anime has a lot more female-character-centered stuff even if it isn't "feminist" exactly. Like stuff about women where the story and world is centered on women that you can just put on as a comfort watch. Love Live or something lol

you do bring up a good point about fma, i kinda forgot about that bc i watched it like a decade ago. rgu is really great and i defo recommend it even tho it was directed by a man. yurikuma is actually my fave anime of all time but does seem sexist and fan servicey on the surface. and i love love live and the other cgdct anime but it feels like there is always an underlying misogyny of that genre, knowing how the male fans and creators are. if i were to recommend a comfort watch i would go with k-on bc it has a female director.

thanks for the recs!

[atopvisenyashill]

Hear me out.

Catelyn x Maegor

I don’t know if I sent this and if I did, I’m sorry you can ignore this. Now normally this is something I’d never admit but I do think of Catelyn and Maegor. Like AU where Catelyn was born at the time and became his 7th wife. Catelyn is brillant, dignified, composed, honourable. She was Hoster’s heir and she is no stranger to politics. Maegor for all the CRAZY BATSHIT INSANE stuff je did, he was terrible to all, no matter the gender. If you were a woman you could hold power (Tyanna was mistress of whispers even when she and him stopped sleeping together by 47 ac). So I do think Catelyn could exerce considerable power at court plus can you imagine Visenya and Catelyn in law duo? Catelyn can read people so I can see her knowing how to handle him. Now will it be enemies to lovers? Per chance.

tbh i think catelyn x villain character ships are just inherently interesting. catelyn is a person who is capable of violence and hatred selfishness, and rather unashamed of those inclinations in herself. she keeps them on a leash but she DOES possess them and WILL use them. shes also just in general, a very intelligent, forceful, and sexy lady lol and shes not vain about it but she certainly knows all of this too! so it’s always like….well how WOULD catelyn react to a husband like jaime? like tyrion? like roose?

the maegor situation is interesting because one thing cat also is in addition to “unpleasant and angry” she is very prideful. i don’t know that catelyn would be able to put aside maegor having another wife the way ceryse hightower was, for example. but as you say, while maegor is certainly a commentary on ~a certain type of momma’s boy~ he also isn’t a stranger to being around Mean And Prideful Women. imo he only starts getting insane about his wives’ behavior after things start going south for him (of course - what’s that post about robert & jaime both saying something “with loathing” in that their patience for cersei is wearing thin). but that’s interesting in and of itself - if he has a wife who is combative from the start, or more alyssa esque in that she will rebel but smartly, that changes his dynamic at least a lot. there’s also just several years where he’d be married to cat alone (assuming she’s the first wife) and that’s interesting too.

and of course i invented a whole unjust to give catelyn a witch girlfriend bc i think catelyn would excel at having an essosi witch advisor and it’s frankly misogyny that stannis gets one and she doesn’t!

[carlyraejepsans]

i lowkey disagree w u on ur position on fictional ships and certain portrayals of topics such as incest and pedophilia, but oh my fucking god to have the fucking. AUDACITY to accuse someone of real life pedophila and incest because they MENTIONED being NEUTRAL on a certain topic?? like you didnt even say you think fictional incest is cool and rad or wtvr u afaik (which. even if u did that ask would Still be abhorrent) but ur explicitly Neutral and are VERY carful to tag shit and i just. 1/2

cut for length and also sensitive topics

i cannot fucking imagine accusing someone of such a horrid act with such conviction bc u SLightly DIsagree on a topic. jfc. i block tags and if ur conversations ever drive me over the edge id Unfollow. im so so sorry people are such fucking assholes man. i hope people gain some sense abt these topics im so sorry

yeah no i completely respect your opinion. and i do know where it's coming from. to tell you the truth (basic decency of tagging triggers aside), i DO find most of those fanon portrayals to be cheap and uncalled for a good majority of the time, at least from a literary standpoint. things like dating a minor or your own sibling have serious implications on a character's moral code and interpersonal dynamics where most characters would... not fucking do that! and the moment you don't engage with those implications, it becomes either incredibly ooc or altogether shallow. some people act like a topic being problematic makes it inherently complex and rich, when it can be as tropey and flat as any other "safe" topic. being problematic doesn't make you interesting etc. my point isn't arguing over literary value, it's more like... there's people behaving horribly and cruelly towards the AUTHORS, and making disgusting assumptions like the one that was made against me, all because of fiction you can always filter out at the end of the day (assuming basic tagging etiquette is respected ofc) and like. that's too far. nobody deserves to be treated like this.

not to mention, the "incest fiction recs"/"pro incest posts" those freaks mentioned were literally 1) me gushing about revolutionary girl utena, a deeply feminist and self-aware series that unpacks the misogyny behind anime incest tropes by treating that abuse REALISTICALLY as patriarchal manipulation from a male relative and showing how the female victim suffers and emancipates herself from it and 2) me being annoyed that hs showed one of its characters suffering from csa without acknowledging it AS abuse, even when it would've been not just the morally decent thing to do, but also a genuinely good addition to his character arc (apparently it does do that in the endstory, but i didn't know it at the time). those are both posts about realistic, condemning, and well-thought depictions of incestuous abuse in fiction—which is the only way i ever enjoy the topic btw—but that didn't stop these people from deciding i had an incest fetish and harassing me for weeks on end to the point of accusing me of sexually abusing my teenage brother. like you said, it would be a ghoulish way to treat someone even if their assumption had been right (and it wasn't), but it's like they saw the topic being mentioned and that fact alone was unforgivable, regardless of context. and this crap happens to people all the time! if that's not fucking stupid i don't know what is

[alpaca-clouds]

The Dawn of Everything

I finished reading this very long book, after hearing it being recommended in a podcast a few months back. I thought to myself that it would be kinda nice, given that the topic (the origin of inequality) is interesting me, and the fact that I really like David Graeber. I started reading some of his other stuff earlier in the pandemic. Mainly Bullshit Jobs, a book that I will always highly recomment.

The Dawn of Everything was a very interesting read.

You probably know the story that inspires it: "Humans once lived as hunters and gathers in small bands when they were all very equal. But at some point they invented agriculture, and more and more inequality would rise." This is a thing that is considered to be common knowledge - especially in left wing circles. Meanwhile of course there is a right wing counternarrative that generally goes: "Back when we lived as hunter gatherers we had horrible lives, but ever since we invented agriculture everything got better."

Now, there is of course a big challenge with this: Humans have been around for about 200 000 years. And our actual understanding for history goes back for about 5000 years. The earliest written records we can translate are from Ancient Sumer and were written about 3000 years BC. Everything before that... We know humans were there. We can say something about how humans moved and lived because we find their skulls and tools and art. But the few humans before Sumer who have written anything down, have also used writing systems that we cannot decypher. So all we can say about them is stuff that we can know from the archeology we did.

You might also see where this is going: Doing research for this book, Graeber and Wengrow found, that neither of the "early humans" theories named above, were in any way based in research, but just were two people making up stuff that sounded right to them. So, because of that, they themselves tried to figure this out on the basis of what we do know for certain - both from the archeological record, and from what we know from indigenous groups.

And some of the things they bring up is quite interesting.

They base a lot of their writing on the writing of indigenous people over the last 500 years. Specifically also of how indigenous people compared their own cultures to the culture of colonizers. The book also goes into how early monarchies came to be and why people in some situations might have wanted to have kings.

Another thing the book goes very much into is into sexism, misogyny and also how those ideas often influenced the analysis of archeologists. If there were cultures, where a lot of the archeological finds very much suggest that the rulers were women, for a long while archeologist would go: "But that would be silly. Women cannot rule." One example named in the book is Minoan Greece.

I took quite some interesting things from this book - and I absolutely would recommend it to both my fellow anarchists and my fellow Solarpunks. Because I will once more say: We Solarpunks need to learn more from the past, rather than just hoping that we can solve all our problems.

I will write about some other stuff I learned from this book in the next few days or maybe even weeks, but generally I really enjoyed reading (or rather listening to) it.

While the writing style in this book is at times a bit too wordy, I learned a whole lot from reading this. Heck, while I originally got the audiobook, this is one of the few books I own now as both an audio book and a physical copy.

[theeternalcosmos]

please read this! ty<3 :

Intro

u can call me W or Cosmos or whatever else you'd like!!

I'm pan & genderfluid, so any pronouns are cool aside from he/him (yuck), bring on the they/thems! Bring on the she/hers! Bring on the it/its! Bring on ones I've not even heard of I wanna collect them like millennials collected pogs or whatever those things were called! I'll preface as well that I'm also a switch (vers irl, likely more sub on here lol), and in an open poly relationship w/ my partner.

What are you doing back here?!?!?

This is one of my repeated attempts at a blog for my horny side, though I expect to not be as active on this as the others I'd made before. I deleted the other two both pretty abruptly on a whim bc I wasn't feeling it anymore so if I disappear it's bc of that most likely. I also used to post pics, which I've not decided on whether I'll do again yet. I am moreso considering whether I'll post art here! Which if I do will be spicy, and bc of my style probably linkable with my other art if you do find it, just don't like doxx me or anything, otherwise idc if you know, it's just a form of creative expression like anything else. ;)

Likes:

Art/art history, loud music (I've been learning guitar :3), videogames (been playing a lot of No Man's Sky and DBD lately), ttrpgs (most familiar with 5e but wanna get into pathfinder/starfinder), tarot, reading, running a kink blog.

the over detailed and assumed kink/ick lists:

Kinks:

These kinds of lists are fluid and subject to change and definitely isn't everything, but in no particular order:

BDSM

Hypnosis

Edging

Petplay

Dom/sub or alternatively 2 switches beating the everloving hell out of one another.

Priest/nun kinks

Corruption

Pred/prey

Gender nonconformity!! (Less just a kink and generally also something I'm attracted to and admire deeply. show me your hairy, stocky tummy, 6ft '5 girl!! show me all your curves and soft features my masc! show me all your contradictions enby baddie!! Wear yourself with love.)

Breeding

Yaoi

Nsfw art/hentai/rule34

Degradation

Humiliation

Feet

Bondage

SOME transformation (don't talk abt turning me into like a shelf or article of clothing but I don't mind other kinds of changes to my features or personality, like [non misogynistic] bimbofication or dumbification or dronification. a lot of these resulted from my hypno kink and corruption kink as you'd imagine lol)

I'm uninitiated, but interested in omegaverse after strong recommendation from my partner and friends so if u have suggestions lmk.

If it's queer and freaky and not involving my icks, I'll likely dig it.

Icks

Raceplay (DNI)

Scat (DNI)

Piss (I've known many chill piss enjoyers it's okay to interact, just pls don't piss on me I'll cry.)

Sissy kink

AB/DL / ageplay (DNI)

Incxst (ik a lot of feuxcest enjoyers y'all are chilling just don't call me your biological relative and we're cool B). )

Findom (please for the love of the gods leave me alone I'm literally too broke to participate and it makes me uncomfortable. No one time fees, no paypiggies, ew. DNI)

Any/everything involving minors (if you have an issue with that you're probably a pedo and I will block you. So DNI)

Misogyny (if you have "a woman's place is serving men" kinda stuff, or bimbofication stuff captioned like "fixing women" I will literally throw up. Which is also a category of kink I'm not into!)

Ai porn

Welcome to my blog, thank you for reading this far!

DMs & asks are open, just pls be courteous and understand if I'm not active or immediately respond. If I do post more art I may open up commissions or something like that, if anyone would be interested? 👀 The tags to this will hopefully be helpful in seeing any future posts I make without 2 billion reblogs in the way.

[horizon-verizon]

You misunderstand me. I'm not saying it has no bearing on the story because it's from Yi Ti, I'm saying that since the Blood Betrayal hasn't yet been confirmed as the official reason why the Long Night began, HotD wouldn't be interested in referencing it. Also I doubt Condal and Hess read TWOIAF.

Anon speaks of this post.

Not sure why you think I misunderstood. I addressed your point about how "we can't know" that this legend explains or thematically explains the connection of misogyny to how we lose the dragons.

A)

Rhaenyra -- Amethyst Empress --- woman who lost her throne and life to an evil younger brother through force

Aegon II -- Bloodstone Emperor --- both usurp their elder, chosen sister

Daenerys/Amethyst Empress/Rhaenyra --- women of authority and power

Viserys (III)/Aegon II/Bloodstone Emperor --- brothers who have endangered, abused, or killed their sister and meant to displce them from their own rights, innate or sociopolitical, for their own power advancement.

As for Condal and Hess, they can't do pattern recognition, now? Condal especially said he was a "fan" of this series and world. He didn't read TWoIaF and he claims to be a AsoIaF "fan"?

It is similar here, with the Bloodstone Emporer/Amethyst Empress and that particular legend's explanation for the Long Night. This legend doesn't have to be totally real, and I mean that it doesn't have to be true that there was a 1000 year old emperor as the Yi Ti are told to believe abt some of the known Emperors. These are metaphorical in the first place.

All the legend is clueing us in on is that this betrayal, whatever it was, was one between relatives, a man undoing a woman's place, and thus speaking to how it threw off the balance of the world's magic. That women are a critical part of that balance. That's the central idea being conveyed, the purpose of this legend--everything points to Dany vs the Others (yes the others of the Big Five are still relevant, but they have no chance without her).

We don't need to know the actual details of who these particular people were and what they weren't when they loved or died, just that something like this usurpation definitely happened and there was a notable affect on magic in the realm those emperors ruled over, as Yi Tish people are also very active in magic wielding...most of Essos is, unlike Westeros.

I'm going to repeat myself in this post, but: this is not a real history book where we'll likely not know much of anything...GRRM provides more answers in his fictional history than real history books do.

All this is important to the theme of F&B: greedy men sideline, abuse, uproot women they are blood connected to for power (just as the Bloodstone emperor did), the women suffer for it/lose their political authority therefore their ability to as actively direct the direction of the House, and eventually the entire house and Westeros loses dragons to use against the Others and the world's magical & biological ecosystem is totally thrown off kilter until Dany literally sets it right again by bring the dragons back. The dragonglass candles at Oldtown, they light up again when she does this. The last of AGoT:

As Daenerys Targaryen rose to her feet, her black hissed, pale smoke venting from its mouth and nostrils. The other two pulled away from her breasts and added their voices to the call, translucent wings unfolding and stirring the air, and for the first time in hundreds of years, the night came alive with the music of dragons.

So again, why do you need "more" "confirmation" when there is so much evidence, when that's not how fiction works (that you need things totally spelled out for you to be true), etc?

Honestly, this seems a literacy and latent sexism issue that causes this cognitive dissonance in fans that makes them deny these types of connections as canon, real, whatever. Bc you have people caliming Jon is Azor Ahai up the wazzo simply because he's the son of a Targ and a Stark (fire and ice), male, the "sword" of the prophecy they take as literal, etc. etc. But "song" means "war" and Jon has done nothing/nothing has happened around him to predicate a connection the Azor Ahai prophecy in-text. Yet so many people ride for this stupid idea, this stupid unsupported idea!

This idea that has never been "confirmed" and never will be bc there is and has never been evidence to how Jon Snow, a Westerosi Stark through and through, relates to an Essosi prophecy when Dany--who grew up in Essos and was born in Westeros thus is a connector of the two continents; is actively dealing with dragons and having dragons dreams; in Essos where the Azor Ahai prophecy originates; comes from a dragonriding lienage ("fire"); the enemy of "fire" has always been "cold" and Jon is more Stark than Targ, so "cold" must be the ecological and magical threat that is the Others that even GoT has had us anticipate since its very 1st episode as THE enemy before that atrocious last season!!!; when we know "prince" is a gender neutral term form High Valyrian (Prince that was Promised)--has all the evidence of being Azor Ahai.

And why does it matter they they haven't read it when they could have asked GRRM or just read F&B to properly understand the point of the Dance?

Condal can't clock that this legend is narratively important just as much that the CotF/"those who sing the song of the earth's connection to Dany and Westeros' future? Just bc a thing is in Essos, doesn't mean it will not affect Westeros just as real life Ancient Asian societies have been able to make physical trade as well as intellectual "trade" or influence on stuff in the West. He can't clock Rhaena the BB and Elissa's connection to Daenerys? Condal read how Dany is connected to Braavos and how Dreamfyre's eggs went there and didn't put 2 and 2 together?

This is why you don't bring non-fantasy readers to write a fantasy show. who then, bc of said ignorance, want to somehow "make the story better" or different...the same story they don't even understand. Also why you don't bring a marketing guy to write any adaptive as intricate and rich as ASoIaF and to not understand the depth or the patterns of magical phenomenon that good faith fantasy readers have habitually done since their childhood (most readers anyway have read fantasy since childhood and religiously so to understand its conventions) when that's not what they look out for in the first place.

B)

The fact that Dany's eggs are Dreamfyre's also haven't been "confirmed" by GRRM or revealed in The Winds of Winter or A Dream of Spring. That doesn't make this any less true.

1- from his website

What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why did it become so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What is the origin of Daenerys’s three dragon eggs? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel

2- It's pretty much fact with how these are THREE eggs that petrified when they are away from Dragonstone; IIllyrio Mopatis had them to give to Dany and she eventually awakens them; F&B takes the time to painstakingly show Rhaena the BB's conversation w/Jaehaerys abt the consequences of THREE dragon eggs going missing. What other reason was there for F&B--a text that aims to contextualize Daenerys by telling the stories of her ancestors before the loss of the dragons and a little after--to do so hard abt 3 dragon eggs stolen during Rhaena's time, from her dragon's clutch, under her watch?! A text that traces the existence of dragons and their maintenance/use by the Targs? Then there is the fact that Elissa Farman--the egg thief--sold the eggs to the Sealord of Braavos, another thing necessary to Dany's arc. None of this is an accident or a red herring, esp since there is literally nothing as damning as evidence or suggestion for the argument of Syrax being the mother...at all. Nothing in the text.

Not everything in ASoIaF is a great and complex mystery; sometimes GRRM gives you clues to a simple "mystery" to deduce the truth of, esp when we already have much evidence of Danyxher dragons being necessary and critical for the coming Long Night against the "ice/cold" others. That she/her dragons are the "fire" in the Song of Ice and Fire, a coming magical war for the world. This is the type of chain of clues that are retrospective and not anticipatory. We already have the result (Dany and the eggs); you were tasked to recognized the line of causation pretty quickly. This is still a fiction series with correct answers.

All this is evidenced just in the main series, TWoIaF acts as a support piece...Condal is a fan, but he can make deductions? Sure.

[ophiedokes]

Hi Ophie,

I watch your Youtube videos and I like them, and I was wondering, as a feminist lesbian, where do you stand on the 'Trust Your Gut' Mentality in some feminist circles?

I ask this because I saw one of your Baldoni Bingo livestreams where you were watching the guy on Penn Badgely's podcast, and one part that kinda made me raise an eyebrow a little bit was when you said you didn't trust Badgly because of his a-hole tendencies, especially when it comes to how he views women who like his character from YOU.

I understand why, given his ties to Baha'i and probably runs in similar circles as Baloney, but I when you said that I was thinking of the saying "Trust your Gut, No Matter What."

I know your gut was right about Blake Lively when the smear campaign against her came out in the summer last year, but what if there comes a point in time when your gut ends up being wrong? Because our gut instincts are not infallible because they are influenced by our exterior environments and personal upbringings.

I guess I would like an in-depth analysis from an actual feminist mind- that being you- on the "Trust Your Gut" mentality that many feminists sometimes fall for and the flaws in that type of thinking.

Hi!!

I think I have a few responses to this, I'm going to admit I had to kind of talk myself through not feeling defensive because my first pass on this message my takeaway was that I felt like I was being maybe accused of being unfair to gossip Girl guy in a way that made me bristle lol. Both because I didn't say anything in public about not liking him prior to being able to list the things that you mentioned in your message, but also just.... (and i dont even think youre saying this just that its a thing in general lol)

because I don't think that it is unfair to not fall for a famous guy's whole shtick and I think for some reason around men in particular when they have a very cultivated image you get responded to, as if you're not being fair if you don't buy 100% into the image that they want to show you, even though you're allowed to form your own opinion and be critical of women much more freely.

But!! I reread this and I felt like I was kind of not being in the best faith if that was the only way that I responded to this, if I'm understanding correctly that it just made you think more about this broadly.

I think Laura crone has spoken about this before, in her video about the pink aisle of True Crime. Reading your message made me think of hearing her say how "trust your gut" isn't infallible because your gut can be racist. That's I try not to advocate for a "trust your gut" sort of feminism even though I do trust my own analysis of situations. I don't know if that makes sense, but to me there's a difference between a gut feeling and a takeaway from the lens that I'm already viewing situations through.

Like, there are youtubers who I just don't watch because I have a bad vibe and that's much more of a gut feeling thing than a " here's 3 hours about why the handling of the toxic gossip train and the Amber Heard trial made me stop watching swoop", right, so i tend to just not mention it unless a specific thing comes up (austin green, brother of nickisnotgreen, with a commentary channel he copied from like 5 other commentary channels and talks about the same thing made a Hailey Bieber misogyny slop video with a thumbnail like "SHE COPIED EVERYTHING" and that was a specific bad behavior i was willing to point to, dunk, say, "oh wait commentary boys think copying is bad now???? Bc misogyny slop is copying.") And in those cases I am willing to say, yeah sometimes I had a feeling that somebody will do misogyny slop and then they misogyny slop and I'm right lol. But even that I think is more recognizing of patterns than it is trusting in your gut above all else.

I don't know, this is interesting. I do like what Laura crone said and I agree with her about that, there's also even a multi-level marketing thing that pops into my mind. Its called damsel in defense. Pink girly self-defense items that are like maybe not entirely legal in some of the states they're selling them in if you actually look into it lol And that's sold the same way as the White Women Getting Human Trafficked In Walmart Parking Lot Stay Safe Mamas Trust Your Gut thing is, only with a slightly different veneer. Thats not feminism. But encouraging people to find patterns is.

If you haven't already seen it, I did a video with Kat Tenbarge and I think the way we both spoke about " never trust a male feminist" being too broad is also a bit applicable to this conversation.

Thank you for the brain teaser! this might be something that comes up in the future. I don't see it as being a video topic immediately which is also why I just kind of wanted to brain dump about it lol.

[lemonhemlock]

My favorite thing is TB stans calling you a sexist when you say Rhaenyra having bastards she passes off as legitimate (to the point of threatening his 11 year old brother with torture when he tells the truth) and plans to put on the throne is in fact, not the exact same thing as Aegon having bastards with whores in fleabottom.

speaking of myself specifically, TB hate it when i use the bastardposting tag. it gets them riled up like you wouldn't believe. it's always much easier to conserve brain power and chalk the whole discussion to misogyny and bastardphobia (LOL) instead of considering that the very material conditions of feudalism and manorialism, the lack of a diversified economy, the only way of obtaining wealth being via land ownership etc made inheritance laws the way they were. marriage between wealthy people being a literal financial contract that ensured the passing of goods and land and titles to a very specific person and not a rando child who is not related to both families. blood relation being considered the ultimate bond & deterrent from harm in the conceptualization of said culture (hello kinslaying).

they have a mental block in understanding that the reason (in western societies) today we have a much fairer distribution of wealth between living descendants, regardless of parental marital status, is because we are not so dependent on land in the accumulation of said wealth in the first place. generally-speaking, back then, the more you divided up a plot of land, the more power centres would appear - mini feudal lords who were much poorer than the previous generation and would engage in violent conflict with each other in order to acquire more land and wealth. on the other hand, when wealth is consolidated and a clear hegemon arises, the possibility of contestation diminishes bc it becomes much more difficult to displace that specific ruler.

does that make it fair? no, ofc not. there are many unjust aspects about that particular layering of society or about hegemonic stability theory. for instance, i stumbled upon an article that argues that feudal fragmentation sometimes generated technological advancements as a result of the reduced regulation capacity of landlords, which, in turn, stimulated competition between economic actors. however, as the author herself points out, "In the feudal period under investigation, the absence of a strong ruler who could abuse property rights may have made it possible to commit to investment in fixed capital, but the absence of contract enforcement may have thwarted those incentives". in addition, the historical period in question was characterized by great political instability, i.e. "warfare, the breakdown of authority, and a lack of central protection of property rights".

so, the topic is obviously much more nuanced and we should definitely leave some space for the discussion of actual avenues for lasting change, be they incremental or more ample in scope, but i'm not about to be having those conversations with TB any time soon, as they're too busy pretending that the laws and customs of a specific time had nothing to do with the technological advancements, the economic landscape and the interactions between different social spheres. that you could just click your fingers and change the world for the better, instead of considering for a moment that certain changes would require massive systemic upheavals that no one was interested in undertaking (or even had the resources or knowledge on how to initiate such an operation in the first place)

[yunwooz]

Damn, saw that apparently Sakura also talked about watching the show 😭 I'm not surprised considering its popularity. People are shocked, because she's a woman, while it can feel more bizarre it's definitely not uncommon for women to enjoy dark media. Take all the women who love problematic shojo with toxic leads and uncomfortable age gaps. I was also taken aback by my female uni friend calling the series interesting and engaging, but we have to remember that women can be problematic too or at least have questionable tastes and interests. This is not the time for misogyny though. Bg stans need to understand this isn't a gotcha moment, and gg stans got a reality check, because guess what "that's why you should stan women not men" isn't the gag they think it is. The truth is TONS of people read/watched that shit, famous people, people we know, so acting superior is just dumb as fuck 🤡

yeah atp now that i know the popularity of the show, i wouldn't be surprised if tons more have also watched it and are just being intelligent and somewhat doing the right thing in not talking about it to their impressionable fanbases. i'm surprised that people are shocked tbh bc like you said it's very common for women to enjoy darker media, which is why problematic shojo is so incredibly popular. i keep going all sorts of different ways in trying to find a firm opinion on it but as i'm learning more and reading more from people who both disliked the show heavily and people who enjoyed the show, it seems to me like a good chunk of those who critically engaged with the show were disturbed by it. not all, but many (if not all) of the people i read posts and such from who found issue with the show are ones who were critically engaged with it. those that seemed to sort of just watch it for the sake of watching something and not to really think about it beyond it being a dark fantasy adventure did not seem to find issue in it.

i agree, this certainly isn't a gatcha moment and it's not about trying to conduct a witch hunt to find the next idol who said something about the show, and gender shouldn't even be part of the conversation because that only serves to push the conversation further away from what's important which is the conversation about the blind consumption of dark media and where a line needs to be drawn for it

[la-principessa-nuova]

kind of a rambly addition, but i don’t have time to edit it down or reorganize it atm:

especially that part about not really experiencing anything like what guys do growing up. like think about the concept of “male socialization” and what it’s used to imply, that we grew up getting all the same ideas and habits and things instilled in us that men do, that we are in some way now forever more like men than women in some way because we were held to the expectations that men were.

But even for those of us who didn’t transition until adulthood, those expectations affect us *very* differently than they did boys, and not all of the “socialization” we received was more like what they did. I learned the expectations for girls and for boys and I felt like I had to live up to both. Yes, I had some behaviors instilled in me that were expected of boys, like making fart jokes or whatever, but the disgusting views of women that some of my classmates learned, i never was even remotely comfortable with, because they always felt like they were about me. I know there were a few jokes i made at times that I made to fit in that felt bad to say, but no more than my cis sister (in fact much less).

For instance, my experience of being in a boy’s locker room was pretty much exactly how I would imagine most girls’ experience would be being in there, not just in hearing what they said and being horrified but also like the feelings of being in a room full of rowdy bows and having to undress and feeling scared (except not fully realizing why). And as a fat trans girl, that even extended to knowing they’d start making comments about my boobs if i took my shirt off while anyone could see (i learned pretty quickly how to change my shirt without taking it off). And the comments they made were technically the same, so even though i knew they were teasing logically, i couldn’t help *feeling* the things i would feel if they weren’t teasing (the same way i couldn’t help but feel worried that certain male acquaintances — like people I was friendly with but didn’t know enough to fully trust — I was alone with would try to make a move on me even though it made no sense bc they were straight).

And I think there’s this assumption that on some level being held to male standards made me do male behaviors and the positive reinforcement for it caused me to internalize some of this and become more like that, and like maybe there are some very minor, surface-level ways that happened, like leading me to explore my interest in video games but not learning anything about makeup until I started transitioning, and like I learned some skills that I was expected to have, but only really where my innate interests overlapped with things that are acceptable for boys. Honestly all the examples I can think of are things I have in common with my cis sister, lol.

But for the deeper things, there was a balancing force of dysphoria that not only canceled it out but pushed me *far* away from those things. Because being told to do something that I like might get me to explore it more, but being told to do something that makes me feel bad (in an at-the-time-inexplicable way) makes me specifically hate that and want to avoid it at all costs. The times I tried to conform are the darkest moments of my life that made me hate myself and feel like I would never be able to progress in life socially or romantically.

Basically in my experience, all the things in my life that could be called “male socialization” were just things where I wasn’t held to one of the misogynist standards (e.g. one I didn’t internalize and apply to myself) and so I gravitated more towards that direction, and all the things that TERFs primarily mean when they say “male socialization” are things where I experienced something between the “female socialization” version and psychological torture.

So yeah, I play video games and use power tools and I don’t always cross my legs, but I still grew up tormented by misogyny and fearing being left alone with men. I still felt pressure to conform to what the other girls in my classes were doing and was always surprised when i met my friends’ sisters and kinda wished i was friends with them instead.

My “socialization” didn’t lead me to be in some way inherently masculine, it lead me to apply Occam’s Razor and realize that so many things that had never made sense actually made perfect sense if I was a woman.

Plus, it’s based around the philosophical idea of “Tabula Rasa” (Latin for “blank slate”), that the human mind is a blank slate and everything about who we are is determined through experience in life, known as socialization. If this theory were correct, it would mean that people are a product of their socialization and two people subjected to the same situation would behave the same way. But it’s not true, and evidence-based psychology does not support it at all. Obviously we are all the effect of some combination of our biology and our upbringing.

cc @psychicbirdstarlight (since i reblogged down the chain)

going to start using this for every dipshit post i see on here

[kerokasa]

i need honeyworks to quit fucking around and write more music for lipxlip… my documented lipxlip agenda aside, i just really like the take on the idol genre with those specific characters.

i think there’s always a little more leeway in portrayals of male idols vs female idols because of misogyny (complex female characters always face more backlash than their male counterparts). still, lipxlip (referring to their storylines across the movie, songs, light novels, heroine tarumono etc) is so interesting because the characters themselves are so averse to fanservice. the central idea has always been that these idols have this super popular princely ideal boyfriend image, but they’re actually just like. shitty teenage boys.

the movie is interesting as a depiction of teen idols that are completely and totally disinterested in fan perception. even as other confession executive committee works explore that side of the business, yuujirou and aizou range from… indifferent to hostile towards fans? yuujirou auditions because he wants to perform onstage and also prove his stepdad wrong; aizou auditions because it’s a way for him to do music and get away from his home life. and it’s great because they’re both selfish and rude and difficult! they almost come to physical blows when they first meet at auditions. because they’re assholes and the story never shies away from that.

heroine tarumono is just okay as an anime + it completely dropped the ball with the chuutan plot line, but one thing i appreciated was the working relationship between hiyori and lipxlip. it’s distinctly not a wish fulfillment fantasy; hiyori couldn’t care less about idols, and yuujirou and aizou go from being assholes to her, to professional respect, to begrudging friendship. it’s funny because the show definitely plays with expectations, and i think some people were upset that the show didn’t have hiyori pair off with either boy -> the big conflict ends up being an obsessed fan overstepping, feeling as if her dedication as a longtime fan entitles her to a personal relationship with an idol. and as much as i hate how that plot resolves, i appreciate that there’s no forgiveness from aizou or yuujirou in the end, because that’s really not how the idol/fan relationship should ever work. it often does work that way (idols apologize to their fans all the time) but especially when you’re writing something for younger/teen audiences, it’s good to have stories that establish boundaries between idols and their fans.

anyway i love you lipxlip… they are so annoying god bless. stream hitsuyou fukaketsu bc i like that song so much it makes me want to throw up i am so serious

[bronanlynch]

managed to keep most of the categories fairly concise this week, please clap (this is partially bc I was busy and not doing as much ~media consumption as usual but shhh)

listening (podcast): as usual I am keeping up with Palisade, which really does just keep being So Much. you would think things might calm down after disarming every single sun-destroying bomb and assassinating a god-emperor but no things have not calmed down and it's great

also continuing to make my way through the Great Gundam Project episodes on 0079, which is making me miss those characters and especially Sayla :( I miss my girl :(

listening (music): did a lot of driving this past weekend which means listening to car CDs which means no new music. shout out to classic staples like Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace and All Signs Point to Lauderdale by A Day to Remember, which is a genuinely good song but also the first line is literally "I hate this town" so adjust your opinion of my music taste accordingly

reading: once again reading The Death I Gave Him (sci-fi Hamlet retelling by Em X. Liu) which continues to fucking rule. I'm enjoying that the Ophelia figure is getting a little bit of a Laertes arc, which is fun, love it when Ophelia gets to be a bit vengeful as a treat

also, I've started reading The Imperial Uncle, a court intrigue danmei novel by Da Feng Gua Guo (published in English by the same people who published/translated Golden Terrace/Golden Stage, which is how I found out about it). I'm having a lot of fun with it so far, I'm always a fan of political intrigue, especially political intrigue that is also a family drama, and the premise of it is that the main character has a reputation as scheming & untrustworthy that he's leaning into in order to prevent a coup that his friends are planning, all of which is catnip to me personally. also I enjoy that not only is the main character married, as someone in his position in this context would have been expected to be, but he's also textually slept with people who aren't the love interest. I think that's fun! I like when characters have histories and exist in contexts! and also I sometimes get bored when the main couple have never had a single relationship other than each other sorry

watching: still keeping up with Bakeoff. I'm sad that Rowan & Nicky are gone because I really liked both of them, even if I think it was fair that they're the ones who left two weeks ago. I was a bit surprised that is was Dana this past week though, like I get why she was in the running to leave but I didn't think she did that badly, y'know? anyway, absolutely loved the theme. as a guy who loves desserts that aren't too sweet and also floral flavors, I enjoyed that they were doing botanicals. although I think more of them could've afforded to be a little more daring tbh like come on, hibiscus is a flavor that plenty of them already use in other challenges, get weirder with it. I don't blame people for shying away from rose because the judges are always talking about how they hate it when someone puts "too much" rose in something, but I love rose flavor so I think they're all cowards

we have also been watching more ZZ Gundam. we've gotten to the new opening, and I've gotta say, the first one was a lot more of a bop, but alas. I don't have a whole lot that's new to say because it's mostly like, I'm having fun, I like Judau and his friends, I miss Kamille and Char, I wish there weren't so much weird misogyny sometimes, I love to see Haman, etc. actually the main new thing I have to say is that the set of episodes where they're lost in the desert is like, it feels like they're trying to make a point about how it's bad that these people trying to live their lives have gotten caught up in the fighting between two imperial powers neither of whom care about the collateral damage because they're too busy trying to kill each other in giant death machines, but the show doesn't let the characters or the audience sit with that or allow much interiority for the people living in the village (other than the woman who was in love with one of the soldiers and wants to die while vindicating his choice to also pilot a giant death machine which. we don't have time to unpack all that) so Imo it falls flat as a critique and ends up wrapping back around to being kinda orientalist

also saw a play that was a comedy retelling of Dracula which was. well. overall it was mostly fun, it was campy, the costuming was delightful, I mostly had a good time despite a couple of pretty odd adaptational choices. however. there were parts of it that I did not enjoy and those parts were the transmisogyny. I wish I could say I was surprised that something that was billed as "gender-bending" and "for the gays and the theys" had some pretty uhhh blatant transmisogyny in it but. unfortunately here we are, and unfortunately marketing yourself as queer-friendly doesn't prevent you from having a running "joke" about how a female character played by a man is ugly & unlovable. it's uncomfortable and bad and kinda soured me on the play as a whole which is a shame because it could have been so good otherwise. what if we as a society decided to tell jokes that are actually funny instead of relying on transmisogynistic caricatures. what if.

playing: still on Ace Attorney 5, and now that Pearl is back it really feels like the people making this game were not confident that people would be invested in the new characters so they have to keep bringing back the old ones. I like Pearl! but we've had multiple games with Pearl already and Trucy has barely been in AA5 at all, so why can't we have Trucy as the assistant for the rest of this case? tbh I think this case especially would be stronger if the points of view you got were Athena and Apollo like, you can investigate as Apollo, Trucy tags along and then gives information to Athena even though he doesn't want her to, and then you play as Athena for the trial with Phoenix there for moral support. please Capcom. please I love Phoenix but it doesn't really feel like they're doing much with him here so I would rather focus on the new characters who haven't gotten as a much screentime instead

making: we've gotten to back to assembling Miorine. she has two eyebrows and a torso now (picture taken before we did the torso)

alas, poor Mi-Yorick

drinking: according to the internet some recipes for an aviation leave out the creme de violette which I think is a crime. that's the whole point. anyway. had a very good aviation which did in fact include the violette and it fucked. shout out to gin drinks that don't include tonic water

writing: worked on a fic for a zine check-in, got rejected from a different zine that I was really interested in. the epic highs and lows of trying to get your writing read by more people than your roommate and maybe a mutual or two

[rogueddie]

"Mate just attacked me for enjoying trans content because other people are being gross about it?? And implied that I'm homophobic bc I hc Eddie as gay?? What the f-"

i'm sorry if you felt like i attacked you and truthfully i don't remember a lot of the exact phrasing of my ask because i was really worked up. i sent the message to you specifically because i felt you had a larger audience if you did decide to address it other than the ask. i said it's sort of weird to hc eddie gay, then steve is a trans girl, so he's suddenly not gay or if someone actually says "she's his exception" or "i like men AND you" because it implies that he doesn't see her as a woman. not that YOU are homophobic, that it's homophobic to make a character gay just for the trope of he realises he's NOT gay, but that entire business is just straight up transmisogyny and that is 100% fact :/ one of your posts DID fit this formula and it was seeing it that upset me right after seeing the robin/steve thing, so i was upset and sent it to you. and i meant my concerns as a trans women are always dismissed by society and that means in fandoms... english is not my first language so maybe some of my phrasing was clunky but i knew this would happen so whatever. trans women will never be respected even to other people because we are not your sisters we are just tools for your arguments and bad headcanons.

I didn't feel attacked. You were attacking me. As you admitted right here, you were upset with me when you wrote that ask. Just because you didn't feel like you were attacking me, that doesn't change the fact that you were.

You did imply that it's homophobic to hc Eddie as gay. That's what you wrote. You finished making your point about how you see it as gross to use a trans woman as a gay mans exception, then added on at the end that you think "it's a little homophobic to hc Eddie as gay when his sexuality isn't confirmed in canon". It was a point you made separate to anything trans-related.

You tried to say in your original ask that shipping trans woman Steve and Robin is another way of saying that the only reason that canon Steve wouldn't date Robin is because she's "a lame lesbian". But that is something based on canon; in season 4 Steve said that he would date Robin, but she isn't interested in him.

That's not him dismissing her sexuality, it's him acknowledging that he does still find her attractive (it was weird and I, like you, prefer to pretend it never happened. But it did). If Steve was a woman, I do think it's likely that they could potentially date. That's not lesbianphobic, that's based on canon.

This is something I'm not willing to argue on because I've seen too many people arguing that Robin wouldn't be interested in trans woman Steve "because she's a lesbian". As if being a trans woman makes Steve less of a woman. Shipping Stobin if they were both woman isn't the problem here, the transphobia is.

The only person dismissing trans people here is you. The only person using trans women as a tool for an argument is you.

You fail to recognize that, as a trans man, I have faced just as much rejection, dismissal and fetishization. I have faced just as much transphobia, just as much misogyny.

You did make good points in the original ask. There is a lot of transphobia and fetishization in fandom. But, hey, maybe don't attack other trans people who have to suffer through those same issues in order to make your point.

[rahleeyah]

So random thing I've been obsessing over all day. Do you think there's any possibility that Rafa doesn't know about the circumstances of Olivia's conception? Like I get that it seems unlikely, but I don't think there's ever been a scene with him in it where it came up. Like she probably told him, right? But what if she didn't and he found out now especially after that thing he said in the finale? Like no one throws her "father" in her face like that.

ohhhh this is really interesting. i can remember nick first finding out, and i can remember a scene with carisi and amanda on a rooftop witnessing liv explain about her father to someone, but i am wracking my brain and i can't remember a moment when she said it to rafa. i really can't.

and you're absolutely right that rafa's line about her father doesn't make any fucking sense; it's unnecessarily cruel, and reductive, and frankly stupid for a man as smart as rafa to say to someone he cares about. now, i don't think tptb were thinking about it this hard - it became apparent towards the end of last season that whoever was in charge had the emotional intelligence of a rutabaga and a quiet sort of misogyny i'm sure they would never acknowledge as such - but if we seek to rationalize their shitty decisions in a context that would actually make sense for the characters, this tracks, actually.

what if she didn't tell rafa? elliot knew from the time she arrived but she didn't tell nick when he came onboard, even when he directly asked about her father; she finally tells him later on, when the circumstances demand it of her. likewise i don't think we got a revelation moment for amanda or peter or carisi; it just came out in the narrative as needed without any fanfare. what if olivia, who by that point has known for years who her father was and what became of him, at this point in time when both her mother and her father have been dead for over a decade, isn't telling people any more? it was necessary in the beginning that she be honest about her motivations in joining svu, but by s13 those motivations have changed. it's not the driving force for her any more, and she has the closest thing to closure she's ever gonna get. she doesn't have to talk about it any more.

and if all rafa knows is that her dad wasn't around? oh that shit is delicious. bc it explains why he made such a cutting, insensitive remark to her, and it deepens the divide between what elliot knows about olivia/what rafa knows. i am here for this actually.

[pammydawes]

Wow! Sry for the wait folks I’m at 4:31 hours left in Hell Bent and I have Thots

🛑!!!SPOILERS BELOW!!!🛑🛑

It’s been so long that tbh I’m a little fuzzy on the details of where I left off but DANG…….that trip to hell???? Everything I hoped it would be!

I absolutely loved getting so many of the main team’s POVs, I’m hoping that on the return trip we can maybe get some more!! I am so curious abt the meaning of Babbitt rabbit being threaded through all their…..dreams? Visions? Experiences? Idk it’s hell man

The insight into Turner’s background left me feeling pretty broken. Cannot personally speak to the accuracy of Bardugo’s representation of the experience of a Black detective, but I thought it was moving.

Tripp’s backstory was intriguing! I actually know how to sail so the whole thing was pretty visceral to me, I wonder if Leigh has experience with boats bc the accuracy was impressive! Also Spencer can eat shit!

Whew….hellie’s POV. That was excellent. Just hearing how much she loved Alex already had me, but it’s rly the details of their relationship that I think Bardugo hits uk? Loved hearing abt Alex from the perspective of someone who loved her, because in NH darlington was predisposed not to care for her, and 90% of the other insight she hears comes from people who are underestimating her, judging her, or trying to kill her! So I’m glad that we got a glimpse of a diff perspective. Still hurt to re-live ground zero tho

In turner, Alex, and to some degree pammie’s cases, I can understand why they meet the criteria for murder, as justified as it was in some situations. It’s a little blurrier with Tripp, though, and I think an argument could be made that Pammie didn’t really murder her victim. So that leads me to think that maybe the murder requirement to get into hell is based more on a person’s own feelings of guilt or regret rather than some objective external judgement, which I think could have some interesting implications!

LOVE that darlington’s personal hell is trying to rebuild a ruined Black Elm, I feel like that illustrates both his love and hate for the house really well!! Nice nod to Sisyphus in Greek mythology also!

FINALLY some good wheelwalker content!!! Basically crumbs but I LOVE the imagery of Alex and the blue flames. I wonder why they’re blue?? Blue fire is supposed to be the hottest after white, right???

Anselm has rly done a magnificent job of disappointing me, which is somehow still very satisfying!! Honestly if he’s the next murder victim…….my condolences to his family ig

Love how everyone basically drags themselves out of hell completely distraught, having come so close to success only to fail, and Mercy is like great job team let’s get them in the next half!!

The demons………oof. Alex reuniting with Hellie was ROUGH man. Kind of cool how as the reader, Leigh put us in hellie’s head, which meant that when you start clocking that something’s off it’s not just like “next logical plot point”, it was like actually realizing something was wrong the same way Alex did. The hellie we got a glimpse of would NEVER say those things to alex!!! And we knew that not just bc Alex told us, but bc we actually got to read it and draw those conclusions ourselves.

I would bet my entire family that my prediction abt Lionel and the praetor is correct. They were 100% in love back in their school days and now demon Lionel is gonna kill the praetor via some gruesome/emotionally manipulative manner as literary comeuppance for his misogyny!

The talismans? Excellent. Superb. Dare I say, delightful. MORE COSMO EASTER EGGS. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I cannot wait to learn what that little guy’s deal is!!

The vampire’s visit…..uh oh. My theory is that Michelle is working for him, bc I feel like I remember her having a white umbrella at some point?? It’s a toss up whether she’s being coerced or doing it for her own benefit, I really couldn’t say. Maybe he’s turning her into a vampire?? And that’s how she’s connected to the murders???

I paused halfway through the return of Eitan, which I have mixed feelings abt tbh. I still keep feeling like his storyline is kinda tacked on needlessly, but I also do think he’s a fascinating character, so we’ll see how the rest of the convo goes. It’s also just like….Alex literally killed a room full of people that WERENT actively out to get her. What is the hold up here.

Love a good Lauren tidbit!! I’m curious to see how the rooming issue resolves. I would like for them to bring her into the fold somehow, but I also feel like the direction they’re going in is that Alex and Mercy are ultimately going to leave her out for her own protection, thereby alienating her and sacrificing their friendship. That’s definitely NOT my ideal outcome, though. Ideal would be Lauren getting to join them and get some character development. What can I say, I have a soft spot for the vinyl girlies bc…..I am one.

Now, to see what eitan has to say for himself! Next you hear from me will be, gasp……the end. I can’t believe it, I’ve been waiting for this book so long and idk if I’m ready for the next wait!!! Hhhhhnnnnng ok bye