#and sometimes information clashes between legends and canon

[spade-andthe-microwave]

I've finally done it. I bit the bullet and I am writing the backstory for one of my beautiful beautiful OC's, Sergeant Nightshade. The first two chapters are already up, and it will be updated inconsistently, but updates will be posted to here as they come out! A separate post will be made with her information, and will be tagged under #star wars oc: nightshade including further updates with the fic so if anyone actually decides to see her further, it'll be found in the mess that is this blog :3

[lindendragon]

Hunted Grimwalker au

Okay, another toh grimwalker au concept that was brought on by my musings about how Grimwalkers must have a lot of misconceptions floating around them, as well as demonizing and dehumanizing depictions in articles and media due to the fact that they are canonically implied to be creatures of legends in the modern era, and that clashing with a random thought about the initial plot of the movie "Space sweepers" and yeah… anyway thanks for @sergeantsporks for helping fix the initial concept in a way that it made sense.

Hunter somehow finds out about the draining spell sometime pre-canon and, after having a crisis over the fact that Belos wants to wipe out all life in the demon realm, he decides to leave, as he doesn't want part in having an entire nation die.

He isn't caught initially, but the Collector probably snitches on him but gives him a headstart cause it's more fun that way, so Hunter gets confronted by Belos on his way out the castle. During the confrontation, Belos says something about "having suspicions, but hoping it wasn't true" and "Grimwalkers being made for a purpose", but doesn't give further context before trying to kill Hunter.

Hunter does manage to escape, albeit with some wounds and heavy damage to his staff that makes it break completely soon after he escapes the castle. This is a blessing in disguise as, unbeknownst to Hunter, Belos had a tracker put in that staff.

Since Hunter didn't find out the truth about the Golden guards in this au, he still has some love and attachment towards his uncle despite everything, and even though he can't condone wiping out the entire isles, he still tries to tell himself that maybe Belos was so stricken by the tragedies wild magic causes that he came to the conclussion that this world is beyond repair and thus wants to put it out of its misery, so essentially that Belos is a man with sympathetic motives that went too far. Or maybe the Titan is unhappy with people living off of His dead body at all and wants them gone for it. Essentially, Hunter still refuses to believe Belos would do something maliciously. He doesn't have much time to think about the thing about grimwalkers Belos mentioned, until…

While he's in some town, freshly on the run, scrounging up a disguise and trying to figure out what to do next, Belos makes an isles-wide public announcement telling people about the sad discovery that who he thought was his nephew that he had taken in after his family was wiped out by wild magic was actually a grimwalker made from the bones of his real nephew by wild witches in an attempt to infiltrate the castle, and now he's on the run with vital information that could put the isles in jeopardy. Belos then gives information and description on the grimwalker, specifically noting the unnaturally intense redish-magenta eyes as a key difference between them and a real witch. So yes, Hunter has a massive bounty on his head, and is made out to be a monster you should not get deceived by as it tries to blend in with other people. Propaganda

Again, due to not knowing the whole story of the grimwalkers and Belos' family like he does in canon, and due to still having an emotional attachment to Belos and the belief that Belos at least cared for him- well, the "real" Hunter, he actually does believe the propaganda about grimwalkers himself. He just thinks that maybe some of the details have been exagerrated to make him seem more dangerous than he really is, but it's all based on truth. Belos wouldn't lie to people, he wouldn't be so harsh on his actual family, right? Big identity crisis and self-loathing ensues.

He hesitates to even think of himself as Hunter anymore due to the fact that it's supposed to be the "real" Hunter's name, and he's just a copy made from his bones. But he didn't know that, and this was the only name he'd ever known, so who is he then? Maybe it's not important, it's not like he really has many chances to tell anyone his name nowadays anyway.

Hunter manages to find some tinted glasses and goggles to hide his eyes.

He sleeps in multiple abandoned beast burrows and it's actually oddly comfortable due to being subconsciously reminded of the earth he grew in.

Remember guys, there is no Flapjack yet. He is completely alone at first.

He mostly survives off the foraging skills he gained in scout training and, with his selkiedomus skin, he dives into the boiling sea to retrieve items to sell.

He sells to Eda sometimes. She does not know he's a grimwalker at first.

Hunter knows about the Day of unity plans, but since mostly everyone is trying to kill him without even waiting for an explanation, that information is useless if nobody will believe him. So he knows the world will end in a year, and he's powerless to stop it, especially when he's struggling to survive at all.

Hunter believes the stuff about being created to infiltrate, thinking that maybe his nature made his betrayal of Belos inevitable, and he did complete his purpose now, so at first he's like: "Okay so if wild witches made me to infiltrate Belos, and it turns out that Belos is planning something bad, then maybe wild witches are okay? No, but if they still killed a kid to do this- but maybe it was a sacrifice they had to make, since everyone will die from the draining spell anyway? So, now that I know parts of his plan, do I find the wild witches that created me and report back to them? Will I be disposed of afterwards? Will I die automatically after the task is complete?!"

He spends some time going around trying to find his creators. It is a very weird experience for both parties involved.

Hunter, coming up to Eda: "Did you make me?"

Eda: "Did I WHAT!?"

If you couple this with the trans Eda headcanons that I saw a few times in the fandom, along with the fact that Caleb is actually related to the Clawthornes and Hunter does have some Clawthorne-typical traits himself, Eda could deadass have a moment where she's like, thinking back on some of the exes she had around 16-ish years ago, like "Shit, did I?"

She figures out he's a grimwalker soon enough, but boy were those some stressful few minutes. And then she realizes that that's the grimwalker she's talking to and yeah this situation's a mess. (This scenario probably won't be canon, at least not completely, but I put it in cause it was funny and the entire rest of the au is sad af)

Eda doesn't believe Belos is telling the true story about the grimwalker, but due to the fact that Eda was an urban legend junkie, she read up on a lot of misconception-ladden legends about grimwalkers, so she's still wary of Hunter at first. She has a talk with Bat Queen once the subject is brought up during a potion delivery, since Bat Queen was alive back when grimwalkwers were still around, and she confirms that most of this stuff Belos is saying is untrue. That and seeing the very obviously beat up and constantly on-edge kid convinces her that this is really just a kid in a really bad situation.

Both Eda and Bat Queen try to offer help, but Hunter is for obvious reasons distrustful and only ever accepts help with a metaphorical ten foot pole. They later accounted for that by providing help in equally roundabout ways.

There is more stuff to this au but that's all I'm writing for now.

[aion-rsa]

The Legend of Zelda: Are Zelda and Link Really Brother and Sister?

https://ift.tt/3vuGiAl

In a recent look at the many unsolved mysteries and urban legends of the Legend of Zelda franchise, I briefly mentioned the idea that Zelda and Link are somehow related. At the time, I felt that the idea that those two characters could possibly be related was simply an urban legend. However, it’s since been pointed out that some interpretations of their relationship actually make that idea something closer to an unsolved mystery.

It sounds crazy, but what’s really crazy is that a deeper look into this subject reveals that the nature of Link and Zelda’s relationship throughout the years isn’t nearly as clear as it appears to be at a glance. Actually, if you spend enough time diving into this topic, you’ll not only start to see why people think that Link and Zelda are siblings; you may even start to convince yourself that it’s true. 

Is it true, though? Could two characters most commonly associated with an epic romance that spans hundreds of years of history really be related? Here’s what we know about the long-standing mystery that has sparked a seemingly endless debate. 

Princess Zelda Was Link’s Mom and Sister in a 1989 Manga (Kind Of)

Let’s start with one of the weirdest corners of the Zelda universe: the 1989 Legend of Zelda manga written and illustrated by Yuu Mishouzaki. 

In that manga, Princess Zelda XVI has a forbidden relationship with an elf warrior named Rune. The two have a child (who turns out to be Link), but because the King of Hyrule is apparently prejudiced against elves, they decide to have Impa raise their child in secret. Later, Princess Zelda XVI has another child named (appropriately enough) Zelda XVII. So, in a weird way, there’s one Princess Zelda in that universe who is Link’s mom and another who is Link’s half-sister.

So was any of that information used in the games? Well, those early manga stories were technically based on the original Zelda games, but you have to remember that they were loose adaptations of games that were fairly light on plot. Their writers had to fill in a lot of gaps and were clearly afforded a lot of creative freedom in their attempts to do so. Still, it’s easy to see why these mangas have been dismissed as non-canonical over the years. 

Interestingly, though, there are elements of these stories that did survive in later games. For instance, Zelda disguises herself as kind of a “tomboy” in one of the manga stories, which is an idea that we saw in Ocarina of Time years later. Another manga story suggests that Link is represented by a wolf in the Dark World, which is oddly similar to one of the core story/gameplay concepts of Twilight Princess.

Even if Nintendo has brushed aside those mangas as non-canonical over the years, that doesn’t mean they weren’t potentially inspired by some of their concepts when they were designing some of the future Zelda games. So was the idea that Link and Zelda are brother and sister one of those concepts? Well, that’s where things get even weirder and even more interesting…

A Link to The Past Created a Lot of Confusion About Link and Zelda’s Relationship

I mentioned this in my look at the various Legend of Zelda myths over the years, but it’s fascinating to see how many of the “Zelda and Link are brother and sister” rumors can be traced back to a Link to the Past. 

To reiterate, there’s a scene at the beginning of the U.S. version of A Link to the Past where we see Link’s uncle say “Zelda is your…” shortly before dying. The dialog of that same scene roughly translates into “Y-you are the princess’…” in the Japanese version of the game. Both of those statements certainly seem to leave the door open for the possibility that Link’s uncle was about to say the words “sister” and “brother.”

Years later, the Game Boy Advance version of A Link to the Past seemingly clarified this matter somewhat by turning the Uncle’s line into the much more informative “You must rescue Princess Zelda. Our people are fated to.” That new line appeared to make it clear that the original confusion was the result of a questionable translation and old-fashioned speculation.

Still, some fans insist that it’s possible the Link to the Past writers knew exactly what they were doing. While it’s a very, very loose theory, it’s not technically impossible that the writers were inspired by the manga interpretation of these characters and decided to at least leave the door open for the possibility that Link and Zelda are brother and sister. Still, we have no way of knowing if that was actually the case, and most of what happens next makes it seem highly unlikely that Nintendo seriously considered officially making Link and Zelda brother and sister in that, or any other, timeline.

Ocarina of Time Is Sometimes Cited as The Most Likely Instance of Zelda and Link Being Brother and Sister

While A Link to the Past is the most commonly cited piece of “evidence” in the Link/Zelda sibling relationship debate, it’s very much worth noting that Ocarina of Time comes the closest to embracing that idea (at least in the minds of many fans).

Simply put, there are several moments during Ocarina of Time’s ambiguous story that at least hint at the possibility that game’s version of Link and Zelda are separated siblings. For instance, we know that Link’s mother delivers him to the Deku tree when he was just a baby in order to save him from the horrors of an ongoing war. She died shortly thereafter. Because we also never see Zelda’s mother in that game (or hear much about her), it’s been suggested that Link’s mother could have been the queen of Hyrule.

Later in the game when Zelda and Link meet, Zelda has a line about how Link seems so familiar to her. On top of that, one of the Composer Brothers mentioned how Link reminds him of Zelda. That last line also touches on the fact that Zelda and Link were clearly designed to look very similar in that installment. Put it all together, and you certainly start to see how fans could jump to the conclusion that the two were separated at (or near) birth.

Those who support the theory that the version of Link and Zelda in Ocarina of Time could be related often clash with those who suggest that Ocarina of Time was the game that actually strongly suggested that the two ended up in a romantic relationship. Those two ideas aren’t necessarily independent of each other (as Game of Thrones proved), but they represent the two most popular interpretations of the characters’ relationships in the revolutionary N64 game. 

The fact of the matter is that the events of Ocarina of Time are open to a fair amount of speculation. Whether intentional or not, there are a lot of questions that this game doesn’t explicitly answer. You could play this game with the idea in your head that Link and Zelda are separated siblings, and the events of the game alone won’t necessarily shatter your perception of their relationship. 

Having said that, the evolution of the Zelda franchise’s storyline beyond this point strongly suggests that the idea that Zelda and Link are brother and sister in Ocarina of Time wasn’t intended to be as aggressively implied as some believe it was.

Read more

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The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening Review – An Excellent Remake

By Bernard Boo

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The Legend of Zelda Artwork Reveals Canceled Retro Studios Project

By Matthew Byrd

Skyward Sword (the First Game in the Zelda Timeline) Established a Clear Romantic Relationship Between Zelda and Link

I’m willing to bet that the idea of Link and Zelda being related is most often immediately dismissed by those who assume that the two are eternally locked in a romantic relationship. Well, the truth of the matter is that kind of relationship is rarely forced into the Zelda games. Romance is sometimes implied, it’s sometimes denied, and it’s sometimes loosely stated, but few Zelda games are outright love stories. 

Interestingly, one glaring exception to that rule is the first game in the Zelda timeline: Skyward Sword. While it’s not the first game to suggests that Zelda and Link have a romantic relationship, it is the game that tells the clearest love story between the two in the history of the franchise.

With that information available, the question becomes “What does that tell us about Link and Zelda’s relationship in the rest of the series?” Well, considering that the Zelda timeline is one of the most confusing in all of gaming, the fact of the matter is that it’s difficult to say for sure. You also have to remember that the Zelda chronological timeline does not match the release order of the games themselves. That means that there could have been a time when Nintendo was open to the possibility of Link and Zelda being siblings or at least wanted to leave the idea open to interpretation. 

Having said that, the fact the two major Zelda games that precede Ocarina of Time (Skyward Sword and The Minish Cap) are also two of the games that emphasize the Zelda/Link love story the most would seem to imply that Nintendo eventually decided to really drive home the idea that the earliest versions of Link and Zelda were romantically connected on some level. The latter game implied more of a childhood romance but it was a romance nonetheless.

There are two ways you can interpret the Zelda/Link relationship we see in early games. The first suggests that future versions of Link and Zelda could be directly descended from the Skyward Sword couple. However, that interpretation requires a lot of leaps in logic in regards to what we actually do know about each character’s (largely separate) bloodlines and their roles in the grander lore of that universe. While the various Zeldas over the years are related by blood, only some versions of Link are directly related in such a traditional way.

It’s much more likely that Nintendo eventually decided to formally shut down the brother and sister talk by thematically introducing early examples of the Link and Zelda relationship which don’t necessarily lend themselves to that interpretation. 

Zelda Does Have A Brother, But He’s Rarely Mentioned

Link and Zelda’s families are rarely mentioned in any of the games (which is honestly a big part of the reason the “siblings” speculation exists), but there has been at least one notable reference to Zelda’s brother in the past. 

In Zelda II: The Adventure of Link a passing reference is made to Zelda’s brother: The Prince of Hyrule. It’s suggested in supplementary material that Zelda’s brother was either corrupted or possessed by a magician who eventually puts Zelda in the enchanted sleep we find her in at the start of the game. 

It’s not entirely clear what ultimately happens to the Prince of Hyrule, but that is really the only time that one of Zelda’s siblings is clearly featured (or at least referenced) in one of the Legend of Zelda games. Make of this information what you will, but Adventure of Link is one of the last games in the Zelda timeline. Then again, it may be more important to consider that Adventure of Link was always kind of an odd entry into the series. It influenced future games in the series in some ways, but it’s largely considered to be something of an anomaly across the board.

In the same way that many of Zelda 2’s gameplay ideas were abandoned by later games in the series, it’s entirely possible that Nintendo just never really liked the idea of Zelda having a brother or never felt the need to bring it up in any earlier games in the timeline. Then again, others argue that the implication that Zelda and Link are related in A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time (the next two major Zelda games for Nintendo consoles) suggests that Nintendo was interested in preserving that idea or were at least still playing with it.

So are Zelda and Link Really Siblings? 

When you’re talking about The Legend of Zelda‘s various timelines, alternate timelines, and mythological mysteries, it’s hard to get a straight answer on anything. That being the case, there’s always at least a small possibility that Zelda and Link are related either directly or distantly in at least some of the games.

Having said that, so much of the evidence that sibling theory relies on is circumstantial and dependant on ideas introduced before Nintendo seemed especially concerned with the grander Zelda mythology. Granted, some would argue that Nintendo has never really cared about Zelda’s mythology and timeline, but it’s been made clear over the years that early Zelda games weren’t exactly designed to serve as the basis of some grand story Nintendo planned out years in advance. 

That being the case, the most likely answer to that question is that if Nintendo ever intended for Zelda and Link to be brother and sister, they probably changed their minds at some point. Another possible explanation suggests that they looked at the interpretations fans developed in response to Ocarina of Time’s ambiguous plot points and decided to more clearly define the Zelda and Link relationships in future games. 

Ultimately, though, Nintendo has never explicitly stated that Zelda and Link are brother and sister and the only instances where that idea has been explicitly stated in Zelda media are considered to be non-canonical.

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The more important point to keep in mind is that Zelda and Link are often destined to meet each other in every timeline regardless of the circumstances. The nature of their romantic or blood relationship has always been second to the idea that they’re tied together by destiny and powers that go beyond comparatively traditional relationships. 

The post The Legend of Zelda: Are Zelda and Link Really Brother and Sister? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[lostsummerdayz]

Persona 5 Scramble Japanese Demo Nintendo Switch Review

Is it a Last Surprise or is it “too fast for eyes?”

By: Nay Holland

The Persona series has come a long way in terms of its success. What was once a spinoff of a series that is currently three decades strong is now a franchise all on its own. The latest game in the series, Persona 5, proved to be a financial and critical success despite the infamous “Winter 2012” meme. Five years later and the Persona 5 van still has a lot left in the tank.

With an anime series, a manga spinoff, countless audio dramas, a handheld RPG spinoff, and a dancing game spinoff, Joker has been around the world and back. At the time of writing, the updated re-release, Persona 5 Royale, hit Japanese store shelves in December with a Western release at the end of March 2020. 

There is one more game in the Persona 5 universe that has yet to be mentioned. Scramble.

When this game was first announced, it was met with a favorable, yet confused, response. Here was a Persona 5 title announced for the Switch; A game that was a Playstation exclusive. While many initially thought it was the highly requested Switch port, the Omega Force logo revealed otherwise. It was instead a Musou game. Or, a Warriors game for the Western audience. Several months later, a PS4 version was also announced, further nullifying the dreams of a Switch-port of Persona 5 for now.

Omega Force are the brains behind the long running Dynasty Warriors series. Can you believe that this series started back in ‘96? As a fighting game nonetheless? The climate was different in the mid-90s that’s for sure.

After countless, and I mean this quite literally, countless entries in the Warriors series, several spinoffs were released. This included Samurai Warriors, which featured Japanese historical figures substituting the Three Kingdoms characters, and Warriors Orochi, which combined both because why not?

It was due to the wild collision course between Oda Nobunaga and Lu Bu clashing swords that other possibilities began to bore fruit. Someone in the Bandai Namco office thought “What if we had Gundams engage in intergalactic battles vs hundreds of Zaku units?” Omega Force obliged.

Several years later, someone else, probably the same person as before, in the Bandai Namco office thought “What if we had Luffy fend off hundreds of pirates?” Omega Force went to work.

Long time partners, Koei Tecmo, pitched the idea of a Hokutou no Ken Musou game and OF was on the scene.

After a while, it did not matter what the source material was. Berserk? Fire Emblem? The Legend of Zelda? It didn’t matter. So long as Omega Force had a check to look forward to, nothing was impossible for them.

So to see the Omega Force brand assigned to the Persona series raised eyebrows, but those in the know nodded their head in approval. Fans such as myself were wondering how a game like Persona would incorporate their mechanics in a Musou game. With the Persona 5 Scramble public demo released on February 5th, our curiosities are finally sated. Or are they?

Turns out it’s not an English demo, but it’s a Japanese demo. Fortunately, it’s not awfully difficult to obtain nor play through the demo, but for the sake of convenience, I’m covering the Switch port. The main reason was that I already had a Japanese Nintendo account. The second reason was my curiosity. I wanted to know how the game played on a console with lesser specs. 

I played the demo on the Switch Lite, so I exclusively played on handheld mode. That said, the game played really well. If there were any slowdowns, it wasn’t noticeable for me. Controls were responsive and everything I wanted Joker to do, I was able to do with no hindrance.

When you first boot the demo, you’re introduced to a sizzler of sorts as you fight several shadows in Shibuya until the game cuts away to several cutscenes.

Now, this is where we reach our main caveat. These are first world problems, but I cannot tell you much about the story. Not because of spoilers although there are certainly here, but because the voices and subtitles are in Japanese. I could deduce what’s going on based on the original story however so, I’ll try my best.

Judging the time of the game, July, the game takes place quite some time after the ending of Persona 5. Several key giveaways are the props within Cafe Leblanc, such as Yusuke’s painting. All of your comrades are present and accounted for, with new attire and the like.

Immediately something is amiss as another app is downloaded on the phone. It is here where you can name your character. Remember when I said this was a Japanese game? Japanese characters and alphanumeric characters only! With very limited space as well!

I went with this. It’s a demo. Don’t judge me.

So, you’re sent to investigate any abnormalities in Shibuya with your best bud Ryujii when an idol appears to have a concert. Almost immediately you’re placed in the Metaverse. A few seconds later you’re fighting hordes of shadows with your buds in Shibuya. 

It is here that several mechanics are introduced, so, I’ll list the controls that are the most important.

X - Light Attack

Y in the middle of a combo - Heavy attack

Y by itself - Projectile

Just like in most Musou games, any combination of light attacks can be finished with a Heavy Attack to provide various results. If you use the Heavy attack by itself, Joker will use his gun.

ZR - Dodge

While walking and holding ZR - Run

R + Button = Spells

These are self explanatory. You can dodge and weave in between enemy attacks. Just like in Persona, he has access to skills. Each skill has a different effect within a different radius. The Eiha spell will hit enemies in a circle while Cleave will hit those in a cone.

X+A - Showtime 

This is this game’s version of the Musou attack. In Warriors games, these are the cinematic attacks that deal massive damage to those around the user. Not only does it look badass, but you’re also invulnerable while using it. This can be used as a way to form wiggle room when overrun.

Halfway through the first palace, as you are introduced to the palace owner and are disposed of, you come across a giant cube. As Joker interacts with the cube, a girl emerges from the cube. The girl tags along with you until it is revealed that this girl is nowhere near defenseless. She can hold her own in combat quite well. The cube she emerged from seems to be her Persona of sorts.

A - Grants you access to the interactable environment around Joker

B - Jump, press again to double jump Environmental attacks let you interact with your surroundings, like the streetlamps in Shibuya. These allow you to stay perched, away from harm as you swoop down on your enemies like a hawk to his prey. Hitting this successfully chains into another wide-ranging attack  for even more damage.

Utilizing the environment to your advantage can also provide a tactical advantage. There’s a moment in the demo where there are three powerful shadows. There’s an alternate path you could go to and sneak behind them. You could choose to fight the shadows head-on, but if you take the beaten path you’ll see a flimsy scaffold. If you use the environment attack on the scaffold, not only will the platform break, but you’ll  also surprise the enemy.

Weaknesses, critical attacks, and technical bonuses from Persona 5 are also existent here. If you hit an enemy’s weakness, you’ll be able to hit them while they are staggered to torment their surrounding foes. Tech bonuses, like in Persona 5, activate when a combination of elemental skills are used in succession. I wasn’t able to activate the tech bonus, but a tutorial prompt explaining the bonus did appear.

In Persona 5, you can negotiate with shadows to coerce them into joining your party as a persona. This game works a little differently. Sometimes if you defeat a shadow, they have a chance to join you as one of your Personas. This is good to cover your strengths and weaknesses.

As in Persona 5, certain enemies are resistant, weak, or invulnerable to specific attacks. The more personae you have, the better equipped you’ll become.

Eventually you’ll face a powerful shadow. This serves as this demo’s boss. These boss fights work a bit different from the rest of the fights thus far. The more you hit a shadow’s weak spot, the more you’re able to attack as they are staggered. Exploit their weakness enough and you’ll be able to do an All Out Attack, much like in the original game.

It is here that the demo ends. If you skip through the cutscenes you can easily beat the demo in about an hour. First impressions, I’m honestly surprised how integral the story is to the game. I’m surprised that I’m surprised, considering the source material is a story intensive game.

I wasn’t able to understand the dialogue, but it was great to travel through Yongen-Jaya and Shibuya once again. It was also nice to see that the game’s story seems to be canon to the main story. The combination of Persona’s mechanics with the twitch-reaction of Musou is like chocolate and peanut butter.

By the way in case you were wondering. The menu animations make a return and they look just as beautiful now as they did in Persona 5.

With the game’s release right around the corner in Japan, Western fans are still starving for so much as a crumb of information relating to a release date. Heck, even a confirmation that the game is coming out to the States at all! While it may be up in the air when fans will be able to look forward to news, there’s still a demo that we can enjoy.

Persona 5 Scramble releases in Japan on February 20th

[holywankenobi]

SW fandom rant

To be honest, I don't really know how or where can I start talking about this. If you aren't interested in any of the Star Wars drama that is going on then skip this post, cause its gonna be long... these goes for the SW fans we are concerned about the whole situation itself. I barely have the strength to do this and exposing my opinion about certain things makes me uncomfortable but it's been a long while since I'm keeping things to myself. There's much information I have to process so please be patient with me since I barely know how to express my emotions in the right way (that's why I'm holding myself back a lot here: it will seem I'm calm... but I'm not. I'm angry and tired at the same time).

DISNEY CANON

We all know where it all started. The Force Awakens premiere in 2015. We will start from there.

As ANY star wars movie, there will be people who liked it, people who loved it and people who hated it. And there is where some fans clash with the others. Fans who enjoy practically every movie or SW related things and those fans who demonize every movie (specially the ones from the new Disney canon) and the only thing that matters for them are the episodes IV, V, VI and the Legends canon (some of them also defend the prequel episodes I, II and III, fact which I'll talk about it later). And they bash against everyone who likes the Disney sequels.

BOI IM SCARED OF TELLING PEOPLE THIS WAS MY FAVOURITE SAGA SO FAR. And I already had problems with Legends hardcore fans.

Let me tell this straightaway... Star Wars are movies for kids. They've always been. George Lucas said it. They seem to be thirsty for feeling again what they felt when they were kids whenever a SW movie comes out but they always exit the cinema with a feeling of extreme disappointment.

I was talking about the last movie with my co workers at the beginning of the year and they complaint it was "too Disney". And that's precisely what I'm trying to explain! It's ok whether you like the sequels or not like them. Everyone has his own taste. I just find funny complaining for a whole saga originally made for kids for being "too Disney". I dont know if you get my point here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEsOqEpNF0k&list=PL8SlwcJuVWR2FNtL-6Wo5QUP6LMjpNJUA

LEGENDS CANON

Then there's those who hated the prequels, that said there was nothing worse than the phantom menace, those who hated on George Lucas for doing such a crap, but now praise the prequels because Disney is satan for them and they want the old canon back. George Lucas ended up selling SW to Disney because, he ain't no fool, he knows this fanbase is one of the most toxic and ungrateful that has ever existed. And he saw it with the prequels feedback... Then they now have the guts to demand him to continue the old canon? Smells like hypocrite-crying fanboys to me.

My whole point is....It's ok if you are a new/Disney sequels fan, it's ok if you are a prequels fan, it's ok if you are a SW original movies fan, Legends canon fan, OG fan, casual fan, hardcore fan... as always you understand that not everyone will agree with your point of view, not everyone will like or think the same way as you do, or live SW the same way as you do. There's a difference between respecting and agreeing with, concepts which sometimes get mixed and taken as the same thing, which is not. Respect other fans mean "I don't agree with you but I know how much this means for you, so I won't intentionally mock you" WHICH THING LEADS US TO THE NEXT TOPIC:

JOHN BOYEGA

*takes a deep breath*

Man. I dont know. He's a full grown up man and he's behaving like a 5 yo on his social media...... John is the actor who gives life to Finn (the ex stormtrooper). It all started with this sexist comment he responded to a fan in his IG. 

Then people (naturally) got offended, specially reylos. But instead of apologizing he kept on going, remarked what he said and also did a video to mock the reylo community.

You think I'm only defending a ship here but no. Its bigger than that. He has the right to feel left out in this saga because I agree with him IN THAT FACT. He is probably the actor which is more into the SW world, he was always a big fan (of the whole cast I mean). Thats why fans love him do much. And I did love him too. And he (naturally) wanted to have more spotlight on this saga ( I think Finn was one of the most wasted characters of these movies tbh) But instead of taking it the mature way he's having a tantrum on his IG because Finnrey did not become a real thing, he's trolling reylos and encouraging SW haters and antis to bully them whose are already having a hard time with TROS end (which I'll talk about later because I dont like their attitude about it either).

And it's not just raise the hate on shippers thing dude you could just apologize because you said something sexist and offended a lot of people who ship reylo and really means a thing for them. The whole thing that the greatest achievement a man can have with a woman is sex is just DISGUSTING. Rey kissed Ben but now he's gone Finn has the road clear and can fuck her? BRUH.

This is all so wrong and he was the one who started it.

ADAM DRIVER

I'm really relieved Adam does not have any social media because omg I would be suffering so much rn...

I honestly have never emotionally connected with an actor so much as I did with him. His whole acting is so good and I could really notice on this last movie. I'm starting to watch his other movies. And not just his acting, he's so professional off camera too.

I'm really happy and proud of him for his Oscar nomination, he really deserves it TT

But I'm worried this whole John Boyega thing affects him. Idk how I would feel if I were in his shoes, if my coworker was saying those things on social media and then smile at me like nothing is happening. But honestly what hurts me the most is he's having a worse time with "reylos".. I think the rumors of him having an affair with Daisy Ridley was what messed things up. I honestly dont know if its true, I've got some info but it's hard to believe. Because there are so many haters manipulating fake info that I dont trust anything and anyone anymore.

And this is where I talk about:

REYLOS AND DAIVERS

BOI OH BOI

This is gonna be hard....

First of all, I don't consider Daivers (Daisy x Adam shippers) as part of the reylo community. I'm sorry. But its fucking disgusting you going to demand Adam to divorce from his wife, abandon his son and then start dating Daisy because of this rumor or because you can't separate fiction from reality.... I read he even recieved death threats ARE WE NUTS??? They (Adam and Daisy) having a good chemistry working together doesn't mean they are in love, kids...

Driver has an awesome wife and a lovely son. Daisy is currently dating someone.

Infidelity is gross. No more. And I would be so disappointed at them if this turns out to be true. But seeing all what's happening around the actors and specially having all this haters out there... I'll say this was all false information.

Daiver is not real and won't be. So stick only to the fictional ship.....

About Reylo itself. I find REALLY funny how people who dont know shit about what this ship means say it's an abusive relationship. Bullshit. I wouldn't be shipping them if so.

Also the people still stating it's not real/canon hiding themselves behind the "Ben solo is dead lol" argument. Do you stop loving someone when they die?

Yes, they love each other. No, it wasn't always reciprocated love. They started being enemies in the force awakens, friends who understood and cared for each other through force dyad in the last jedi and ended up being lovers at the end of the rise of Skywalker. Rey wants to revenge her family (her falling to the dark side) but also wants Ben Solo back, and he wants to be the most powerful leader on the galaxy and still being kylo ren. But they eventually meet in the middle between light and dark and Leia finally reaches out to him to make him turn to the light.That's their fight. That's the angst. That's the tea. "No one is ever really gone" there's always hope. Star Wars is centered in HOPE. And their story represents it at its finest.

NOW. The reylo community.

Despite you liked it or not the end they gave to the saga... I think JJ Abrams doesn't deserve all the hate he's receiving... he probably did a lot of things wrong but seriously... just stop. Not only from reylos but the whole fandom.

Sending hate won't lead to anything now...

I enjoyed The rise of Skywalker. Indeed I spent half of the movie crying and I loved it.

You can cry as much as you want the loss of Ben (although I have hope for him still being alive in a way, there are plenty of theories) but that doesn't give you the right to death threat JJ. And I think I'll stop here cause I'm already tired.

Everyone has their own taste, preferences, favourite characters, ships, whatever. I pray for people stop judging others for their tastes, specially in this cursed fanbase. Sorry if I ever misbehaved trying to defend what I think or like. I just want this place to be supportive and safe for everyone and everything what's happening is not helping... We are all SW fans and that's our connection point. Dont discredit others for having another point of view...

I'll leave it here, but I'm open to debate or talk about anything I said in a respectful way.

[shadowedoracle]

An Unconventional Gift

Happy Rumbelle Christmas in July! This is my RCIJ gift for the lovely @moonlight91​. I’m sorry you had to put up with me and my poor communication when my life and health overtook me in the last month. Also I’m sorry I drifted over into the next day -- I’ve no idea what timezone you’re in but I’m sure it’s well in Sunday wherever you are.

I hope you enjoy your gift. This what happens when I come up with a new idea so you have a complete gift and write it all at the last minute. I enjoyed working on it even if it wasn’t my initial idea and is perhaps quite different to what you were expecting from your prompt. I’m planning on posting my initial idea too at some point so if you have any interest in seeing that I’ll hopefully post the prologue and first chapter soon.

Summary: Rumple brings a baby back to the Dark Castle.

Enchanted Forest AU and canon-divergent.

Prompt: Fairytale Murder

Rating: G

Notes: Fluffy and but also angsty because that’s what apparently happens when I decide to try to write fluff. 

Also because I decided to write this new idea at totally the last minute please let me know if you see any typos because I haven’t obsessively been through this as many times as I normally would before posting.

Warnings: Depression (not in any real depth or detail but it is there).

[AO3]

“And then I reached into her chest and do you want to know what happened next?”

There was a high pitched giggle that was answered by a happy little burble.

“Do you? Yes of course you do.” The high voice trilled. “You’re going to be the baddest and most evil of sorcerers when you grow up.” A scaled green-grey scaled hand reached into a carry basket and tickled light haired baby’s stomach. “Yes, you are. You are, you are.” An excited shriek echoed through the large hall.

Rumplestiltskin grinned at the baby. “Yes. You are and I’ll teach you all there is to know. It’s actually quite simple. You see, little one, the thing you have to remember is people turn to me in times of need, out of desperation, for things they can or won’t do for themselves. It’s amazing what people will ask an evil sorcerer to do for them. You just have to know how to extract the right price for your services. You will want to remember that for yourself later.”

The baby stared back at the sorcerer solemnly, then gave a little twitch of her head which, if you squinted at it carefully enough, you could just about interpret as a nod. The sorcerer’s grin widened and was answered by a small, almost wry, quirk of the lips from the baby. Could babies have a wry sense of humour?

Then again this one seemed to be one of those children who was born an adult in all but body. Her intense blue eyes gleamed with intelligence as if she was in fact taking copious mental notes. If she could have held a pen she surely would have been taking actual notes. She would surely grow up to be a scholar of great renown. Or would have if she had been born into a world that readily allowed women to become scholars.  

The sorcerer, snorted to himself, that was of course, a stupid a narrow minded view. Not that he expected anything less from the fools of this land any more. He’d been alive for centuries and how much had changed? Precious little. Women, rich and poor still, died in childbirth and far too many infants never lived to adulthood. The lands were still mostly ruled by the same noble families, mostly by men (although there were notable exceptions), the poor were still expected to give their lives in the battles the noble families fought between each other and occasionally existential threats such as ogres.

Which really reinforced to him how little had changed -- they were still fighting ogres wars of all things. He had always believed when he had been called up to fight them that they would finally have stopped the ogres in their tracks once and for all. Of course he’d been a naive fool back then and now understood something of the harsh barrenness of many of the ogres’ lands and the complicated nature of ogre politics. They weren’t nice and fluffy creatures (then again neither was he) but they weren’t all the rampaging senseless villains most humans believed them to be.

Well all humans he’d ever met in fact except perhaps the one living in his castle. He didn’t think he’d met another person in his life who so much as considered that perhaps not all ogres were monsters. Some would have mistaken such compassion for softness but then only one who had never clashed minds with Belle would have ever have thought her soft. She was gentle in many ways but soft implied that she was weak and malleable and his Belle was neither of those things.

She also wasn’t his Belle. She might have come with him as part of a deal and have been his maid (although with the all the Castle’s self-cleaning spells and other spells to provide food and drink she was barely even that at times) but she most certainly wasn’t his in the way he sometimes wished she could be. She would never look at him that way. If he was a better man he could have released her from her deal with him and let her go out into the world and find the happiness she deserved. But he was still a monster, a selfish one at that, and he couldn’t bear to lose the light she had brought back into his life.

He knew one day he would find his son but that seemed a long way off most days. Before her there had been so many times when he wouldn’t rise from his bed for weeks when the despair over the loss of Baelfire consumed him. But with Belle here even the darkest days were easier. Having someone who would smile at him and even if she was not able to fix his problems somehow made those days less unrelentingly terrible.

She also would not allow him to mope and feel sorry for himself for too long. The first time he had fallen into one of his dark spells after she’d arrived and holed himself up in his chambers, she had waited three days before hammering on his door and then barging her way into his inner sanctum when he didn’t respond. He supposed he could have used magic to lock his door but he’d been so startled it hadn’t ever occurred to him. He’d never bothered with any locks, magical or otherwise until he given her her own suite of rooms and wanted to make sure she’d feel safe from anyone, including him.

Even that first time Belle hadn’t asked him any questions and just taken one look at his pathetic form and walked out. He’d assumed that she wouldn’t be back --  who would after looking at his matted and wild hair, his crumpled night shirt and his twisted bedsheets from �� his nightmares? He sincerely wished the legend that the Dark One didn’t need sleep was in fact correct when the nightmares over took him. But his little maid had surprised him. She’d returned less than five minutes later with a glass of water and a book. She’d placed the water on his bedside and after looking around his room and discovering that he had no chairs in the room sat down beside him on his bed and began to read to him.

He supposed if he were a better man he would have summoned a chair for her but he wasn’t one. If this was to be the only way he would ever have Belle in his bed he would not pass up the opportunity. So he had lain there entranced by the sound of Belle’s voice and the tale of the hero Gideon. She had read to him for hours and while the heavy feeling in his heart and his limbs was still there somehow it wasn’t quite as bad as it had been before.

Hours later she laid down the book looked him in the eyes. She had smiled somewhat sadly at him and he felt a stab of guilt at idea he someone made his little Belle feel sad. But before he could apologize and grovel for her forgiveness, she had stood up an informed him in no uncertain terms that she didn’t think he’d eaten in at least three days (he hadn’t but hadn’t really noticed) and that she expected him downstairs for dinner. Since he could think of no way to reply to that or how to argue with the fierce and stubborn creature that was his maid he’d acquiesced.

Ever since then whenever he’d have one of his episodes she’d come to his room and read, sometimes out loud to him and other times silently to herself. Either way she would always sit next to him keeping him company. Sometimes she’d absent-mindedly reach out and stroke his hair and it was all he could do not to purr. He would have liked it if she touched him like that out of true affection and not pity but he couldn’t stop in taking comfort from them. They were a soothing balm for his ancient dark and misshapen soul.

She never asked him any questions during those times --  which was a good thing as he didn’t trust himself to answer them without soaking her shoulder in tears. She simply was there and all she seemed to expect was that he managed to magic himself from bed at least once a day to appear for a meal that she’d make with her own rudimentary cooking skills. Some of the concoctions she’d laid in front of him tasted truly terrible he had to admit. But the idea that she cared about him enough to try to make him a chocolate cake was to him a far sweeter gift than her simply instructing the castle to make one for her (and not just because she’d gotten the salt and sugar confused).

No his little maid was kind and compassionate towards him and he had found himself slowly opening himself up to her in a way he hadn’t to anyone ever before. Not even with Milah. Belle might have just been his maid and gradually becoming, dare he hope a friendly companion? He couldn’t hope to yet have met the bar for a friend yet but she was a constant in his life that even a year ago he never would have believed possible. Now he was about to change both their lives. He just hoped that she would be pleased and not mad at him about it. Maybe he ought to have consulted her first?

A loud wailing broke though his reverie. He looked back to the baby and took in the red screwed up little face.

“Hush now. Little one. Hush. What’s wrong now? I’m sure it’s nothing we can’t fix.”

He reached into the basket and stroked her cheek. She took a big breath and for a moment it seemed like that was all that would be needed to calm her. But then she let out an even louder cry and it seemed that that hope would be in vain. He sighed and took the tiny little one into his arms, sniffing her slightly as he did so. That wasn’t the issue it seemed.

She was lighter than Bae had ever been to hold even though he thought from some of the other signs that she must be at least a month or two old by now. Of course he hadn’t arrived home until weeks after Bae’s birth but he was certain Bae had never been this tiny even as a newborn. His anger stirred as he felt how thin the babe was in his arms.

A quick thought later and a leather bottle appeared in his hand and he shifted the baby in his arms slightly and tilted the bottle so that the teat was in front of its mouth. He hoped that the nipple shaped object in front of it would be enough for the babe to work the rest out but apparently he had slightly over-estimated its intelligence at this stage at least. He shook head, amused at his own stupidity and gently opened the baby’s mouth and placed the bottle’s nipple inside. For a moment she seemed confused but then she gave an experimental little twitch of her mouth and her whole being seemed to relax as she began to drink more enthusiastically.

“That’s it. Drink up little one. There’s more where that came from. Infinitely more, in fact. Now I should go back to telling you your story where was I? I was telling you about how I murdered that women who wanted to harm you. Yes? Now I had dispatched the first two and the final was one was choking on my magic when I reached into her chest and I out her heart.”

There was a crash from behind him and the large doors to the Great Hall flew open and Belle came rushing into the room.

“Rumplestiltskin, I didn’t realize you were back already. Do you want your tea now or later? And what was that noise just now? I could have sworn I heard a baby crying but...”

She trailed off as the sorcerer turned towards her and she caught sight of the small bundle in his arms. His generally soft and good natured maid’s countenance took on a much sterner and frosty appearance as she glared at him.

“And where, pray tell, did that come from?” She tapped the heel of her foot against the floor while he tried to remember how to make his mouth work.

“It’s not what you think, Belle.”

“And what precisely is it that you think I think?” Her stony expression almost made him cringe before he reminded himself sternly that he was the Dark One and he did not cringe to before his maid no matter how much her liked her or how sharply he could feel the points of the her stare piercing into his skin.

“Well… You probably think I broke my promise I made to you after that whole, er, um, incident with Jack and Jill’s baby. But I didn’t. I swear.”

“Then where exactly did it come from? It didn’t just appear out of thin air.”

He gave a nervous little giggle, “No, no, of course not my dear… I mean, dearie. I was getting to that. You see there was this village that called on me to help it deal with a problem it was having. The town’s babies had all gone missing from their cribs overnight. Their parents woke up pleased at first with a good night’s rest because of not having been awakened in the night to discover they had all gone. So I was called by some of the parents to help them find their children.”

“For a price.”

He rolled his eyes. “Well of course for a price. The Dark One doesn’t do anything for free and he most certainly does not do good deeds. But you needn’t worry about the price, it was just some gold the families offered up. Nothing more, er, exotic, this time.”

“Then how did you get her”, a quick nod of that beautiful head towards the bundle in its arms, “if not as the price?”

“I’m getting to that bit. Now I can see you’re not in the mood for the clever little bit of magic I did to find the children right now. But it was a particularly good piece of magic to find them so quickly, if I do say so myself.”

His maid didn’t look the least bit impressed with that.

He swallowed hard. “Right. Anyway, so I tracked the children to a cave in the middle of the Infinite Forest. A trio of those gnats who call themselves ‘Fairy Godmothers’ had taken them in the hopes of using their blood to enhance their powers. They weren’t the first ones, just the first time they’d branched out to taking a whole village. Which was foolish if they’d hoped to go unnoticed but it seems from what I found there they’d done enough experiments to ascertain that this would likely have worked. Well… I’m dark but I’m not like that.

“I dealt with the fairies then returned the rest to their homes but this one was well left over, nobody claimed her or even knew whose she was. I tried to track her parents with magic but there was no trace of them. There’s only one reason for those that particular spell to fail -- if they’re dead. So she’s an orphan, see.”

Belle’s face had softened during his explanation and while she still looked serious she looked more like her usual self. He became aware that the sucking on the bottle had stopped too. He removed the bottle from the girl’s lips and vanished the bottle.

“And so what are you planning on doing with her now?”

He gulped and stared down at baby to give himself courage.

“Well it seems that she needs a home.” He glanced back up at Belle but she seemed to be more focused on the baby in his arms. That was good. Maybe she wouldn’t be too mad about this after all.

“And well, I was, er, wondering if you wanted her.”

Belle’s eyes snapped back up to his face. She looked at him, startled.

“Me?”

He suddenly wondered if perhaps this was a bad idea and that maybe he should have asked her whether she wanted a child before bringing one back for her. She’d never wanted her marriage to Gaston perhaps she hadn’t wanted children either. It would hurt to give this child up if she didn’t want her. In less than a day he’d become rather fond of the little one. But he could hardly keep her if Belle didn’t want her, he wasn’t a fit and proper person for such a task on his own.

“Well… That is if you, um… If you want to of course. It’s just you seemed quite fond of that one baby but gave up on marriage and all that life to come here with me. We agreed that I wasn’t to take any as part of deals any more but I thought this might be, um, a mutually agreeable way for you to get that chance.”

“Rumple...”

“It’s fine if you don’t want to.” He hurried to add. “I’m very good at finding homes for babies.”

“Rumple...”

“I have experience doing it.”

“Rumple!”

“And I wouldn’t hold it against you in the least...”

“Rumplestiltskin! Will you let me get a word in?”

“Oh, right of course.” He swallowed hard of over the dryness of his throat and unconsciously ran a finger over the forehead of the baby.

Belle smiled at him slightly and took a few steps closer to him and the baby.

“Are you sure about this?” She reached out a hand towards him but stopped just short of touching the baby.

“Yes, yes of course.”

“You won’t mind a child running around the place all the time?”

“Why I mind that? Would I have suggested this idea, if I didn’t mean it?”

She shrugged. “You might not have fully thought this through.”

Well he hadn’t but that didn’t mean he was going to regret it if she wanted this.

“Does she have a name?” Her hand grazed the baby’s head as she said it.

“Does that mean you want to keep her?”

She smiled softly her gaze now fully on the baby. “Yes. Yes I want to raise this child with you Rumple.”

He opened his mouth but no sound came out. When she phrased it like that it made it sound like she would be letting him do more help her out every so often. Almost like she would let him help parent the child, almost like they were a couple. He was sure she didn’t meant the latter but perhaps this meant she viewed him as a friend of sorts now? He felt a dampness that felt suspiciously like tears begin to well up in the corner of his eyes. She held out her arms to him and he wordlessly transferred the baby into her waiting arms.

“Why, hello little one.” She smiled one of the most radiant smiles he’d ever seen down at the babe in her arms and she was answered with small little smile. “You’re beautiful aren’t you? What’s your name? Rumple, you didn’t tell me if she had a name yet.”

He didn’t think he could reply, he wasn’t sure he’d seen a more beautiful sight since he’d lost Bae. He swallowed a few times to force the emotions he was feeling down enough so he could answer Belle’s question.

“Yes… Well at least I assume it’s hers it might not be I guess. It was sewn into the blanket I found her in but I suppose that blanket could have belonged to another child first…”

She nodded, “Well let’s assume that it was probably her name then unless it’s truly dreadful.”

He shook his head, “it’s Alice.”

“Alice? That’s a good name. I think it suits her don’t you think?”

He nodded the sight of Belle cooing down at the baby was too much for him to trust himself with words right now.

“Well. Then I guess we’ll have to make a place for you to live, little Alice. We didn’t have much time to prepare but let’s see what the castle can rummage up for us shall we?”

He cleared his throat, “I um, might have taken the liberty of preparing the room next to yours as a nursery. At least until you decide how you want to decorate it of course.”

She smiled at him. “Well let’s start there shall we Alice?”

As she reached the doorway she turned and looked back at him and said, “Oh and Rumple, just so you know, this wasn’t the only way I could have had a child and remained faithful to our deal.”

He nodded wondering what her point was. He supposed she could have found herself some young man in town to get her with child. It didn’t quite seem Belle’s style somehow but perhaps he’d been wrong. She rolled her eyes slightly and he watched the slight crinkles form at the sides of them as smiled at him.

“Just the next time you decide you want to raise a child with me Rumple, perhaps consult me first? We could try the traditional route of acquiring one. I hear it’s a lot of fun.”

And with that she breezed out of the room while he stood gaping after her.

[aether-staza]

Sheith Angst Idea

In a canon divergence AU, Shiro doesn’t return to the team with the events of season 3. Years go by, and everyone but Keith has given up on Shiro even being alive. But Keith knows Shiro is still out there, still guiding him every day. Sometimes when Keith is in Black, he can swear he hears Shiro’s voice, watching his back, supporting him…and whispering right to his heart how much he loves him. Keith never stops believing that somehow, they will find each other. 

▪☆▪☆▪☆▪

JOIN THE SHEITH ANGST PROMO!

Send me the most heart-wrenching Sheith headcanon/scenario/etc. you have~

In a canon divergence AU, Shiro doesn’t return to the team with the events of season 3. Years go by, and everyone but Keith has given up on Shiro even being alive. But Keith knows Shiro is still out there, still guiding him every day. Sometimes when Keith is in Black, he can swear he hears Shiro’s voice, watching his back, supporting him…and whispering right to his heart how much he loves him. Keith never stops believing that somehow, they will find each other. 

 In the battle with Zarkon, Shiro’s entire being was strained, and put to the test, a mighty war of wills to bond with the Black Lion, but Shiro throws in everything he’s got to banish Zarkon’s hold over Black, knowing that no matter what else happens, Black needs to be freed in order for Voltron to win the war. Shiro is utterly spent, on the verge of burning out forever, and Black desperately tries to save her paladin, using all her power to transport him somewhere safe, somewhere he can recover. The Castle is safe…everything was safe before Zarkon was corrupted…Zarkon…Zarkon tries one more time to wrestle control of Black back, right as she transports Shiro…The former paladin is nearly out of strength himself, but his desperation is just enough. It give him just enough power to shake Black up before their bond is severed forever. The path to safety the lion has created diverges, cracks, sends Shiro to the Castle…the Castle of Lions over 10,000 years in the past, before everything had gone so wrong, before Zarkon had gone so wrong. 

He is in Black, but a Black that belongs wholly to Zarkon…he can only just barely make out his bond with her before her roar alerts the Paladins that something is wrong. Shiro is rounded up and confronted by five very suspicious and confused paladins…but they aren’t without reason. 

Given the opportunity to explain how he got into the Castle, let alone the Black Lion, Shiro explains that he is from the future, the current Black Paladin fighting to free the oppressed universe 10,000 years from now…but he knows he cannot accuse Zarkon of being the oppressor right in front of the man himself, so he carefully…edits the details of the future, about the evil that the universe faces in his own time. Reluctantly, the paladins of old are cautiously convinced of Shiro’s identity…after all, Black wouldn’t let just anyone in, and Zarkon admits that he feels a vague connection between himself and the stranger, leading back to Black. 

Shiro, now vetted and and somewhat trusted, explains that he has to find a way to get back, but Alfor is uncertain if they are going to be able to replicate the circumstances that sent Shiro here in the first place…after all, Shiro can’t be completely honest with them about what he knows…but maybe he can change the past…stop it all from happening in the first place. He can at least try; he has no idea how long he’ll be stuck here, and there is no reason to believe he can’t still try to make a difference even in the past, separated from his team…and from Keith by thousands of years. 

Its jarring for Shiro to meet Coran and Allura, pretend he knows nothing more about them than legends in his own time…this is going to be difficult, but he has to try. With Alfor and other scientists focusing efforts on trying to help get Shiro home, the Black Paladin finds himself being taken tentatively under his predecessor’s wing. Zarkon is not what Shiro expected; the man clearly has his flaws, but he is a devoted leader to his people, he loves his family and his friends dearly…Shiro doesn’t understand how it all went so wrong in the end. He isn’t opposed to spending so much time with the emperor, trying everything he can to guide him away from the dark fate that awaits…but time dragging them relentlessly towards their fate, and Shiro is losing hope of ever getting back to Keith and his team. All he can do is try and turn the tides now. 

With Zarkon’s interests inevitably comes the interests of Honerva…Shiro was brought into the past through the intervention of the Black Lion, and massive use of quintessence, and she is hungry to learn more. She has to know if more is possible, and Shiro holds so many answers, and she will have them no matter the costs. She will understand quintessence no matter what it takes. 

Shiro is getting nervous; he’s been with the paladins for a couple of years now, and he knows they are getting closer to the day that Zarkon tricks the team into entering the rift, Daibazaal getting destroyed, and a reign of terror spanning thousands of years begins. Watching the slow erosion of trust among the paladins is heartbreaking, and Shiro doesn’t know how he can stop this all from going to hell in a handbasket, but he is still doing his best to try…and his efforts are not going unnoticed. Honerva is suspicious of his motives, his intentions…before her inevitable collapse, she manages to get Shiro alone, eager to try out some of her research on this stranger from the future. 

Through a judicious use of druid magic, Honerva gleans enough information to know that Shiro is trying to stop her, trying to interfere with her husband, and she will not let anything stand in her way. She instead will make a loyal servant of Shiro, a mindless warrior to protect her, her husband, and her future child no matter the cost. Poisoning Shiro’s mind with quintessence is enough for now, and her team of devoted researchers take Shiro away for reconditioning…Shiro’s last thought was regret, knowing he had failed to make a difference, and never returned to Keith. 

In the chaos created by Honerva’s collapse, and Zarkon’s no one thinks to question where Shiro has gone, and too soon, history is made as the five paladins enter the rift, Daibazaal is destroyed and Zarkon and Honerva…Haggar…return from death to begin a war that will rage through the galaxy for years to come.

Shiro is gone, a running theme in his life, but a new servant has joined Zarkon, a dark armored figure that follows Zarkon like a shadow, fiercely loyal to the emperor and feared as his most ruthless commander…a commander that watches a Champion rise through the ranks in the slave pits with a rigid form, and though the shadow wears a mask constantly, Takashi Shirogane cannot help but feel like his soul is being peeled away every time that mask’s blank gaze falls upon him. 

But the pilot turned arena brawler has a savior, and the Blade gets the Champion back to Earth, back just in time to kick off a new era in the Legend of Voltron. Things are only slightly different this time…Allura and Coran squint when they see Shiro standing before them, four other humans in tow, getting the strangest feeling that they have met this calm, reassuring leader before…but 10,000 years of cryo-stasis have made details of their past a little hard to remember, like the fading images of a dream upon waking…what they do know is that they trust this man, even if the rest of these children don’t inspire much confidence…

Events play out as they should, time repeating itself in a strange way for Shiro…he lives through battles for a second first time, leading up to that fateful moment when he will face Zarkon for the last time, to break his hold over Black once and for all…

All Keith knows, is that Shiro is gone. His heart aches when he sees the proud Black Lion, collapsed in the hangar like a puppet with cut strings…he knows before he even enters the cockpit that Shiro isn’t going to be there, but he has to go. The ache becomes a crack that sends fractures through his heart, breaking the fragile organ into pieces that he isn’t so sure can ever be put back together.

Shiro is gone. He is gone again, and there is nothing he can do. 

He searches fruitlessly, avoiding picking up the torch that Shiro had placed beside him all those months ago, stranded together on a desolate planet…he could barely stand to look at Black, let alone try to pilot her…but the team was growing desperate. They need a Black Paladin, and the universe needs Voltron. 

When Black chooses Keith, his stomach bottoms out, and what is left of Keith’s fragile heart is crumbling to dust…he takes up the mantle, reluctant and unhappy…but after a few times of piloting Black, he starts to feel it…the ghost of a touch here, the whisper of encouragement there…it gives Keith a renewed hope that Shiro lives, that he is out there waiting. Keith is bonding with Black, and just like Zarkon could feel Shiro through Black, Keith is feeling that same pull. Shiro is alive. 

In the absence of Zarkon, Voltron is being kept busy by Lotor and his generals…as well as the master of a fleet that fights with more ferocity than Keith is prepared for the first few times. This shadowy commander has a scorched earth method that leaves destruction in his path every time Voltron clashes with his fleet, and it only gets worse when Zarkon returns and sets the empire against Lotor.

Through events fairly similar to current canon, Lotor and Voltron end up as allies, forced to work together or let Zarkon and his monster of a right-hand man salt and burn they’re way through the growing number or coalition planets in order to crush the rebellion. 

Every time Keith finds himself facing this mysterious commander, he cannot help but feel his heart ache a little, like something is wrong, and a few missteps have nearly cost them their lives. By the time Zarkon offers to exchange Sam Holt for betraying Lotor, Keith knows they have to do this with the utmost care, or they will lose everything. 

Keith and Lotor lay out the plan…Voltron will pretend to betray Lotor to get Sam back, but as soon as the exchange is made, Keith, Pidge and Matt will rush Zarkon, while Lotor will attack from behind enemy lines. The surprise of Lotor not actually being cuffed should give them enough of an edge to take down the emperor before the waiting fleets can move in and blast them all…once they’re in close quarters with the emperor, the fleet wont be able to risk an aerial attack. 

Planetside, Keith feels his heart go cold when he sees the shadow commander at Zarkon’s side, just in front of Lotor’s former generals…its too many for Lotor to fight on his own even for a moment, but it’s too late now, and they can’t leave Sam, not when Pidge and Matt are so close to having their father back against all odds. Keith feels like his eyes are glued to the commander in black the whole time it takes for Lotor to cross to distance between them, even though he knows he should be watching Zarkon, watching Sam, watching the Acxa and the others with the same level of care, but he can’t. This is his first time seeing the commander in the flesh, all their previous exchanges happening in the skies, in ships that kept them relatively shielded from one another’s scrutiny. 

Keith swallows, takes a minute to breath before the shit hits the fan; Zarkon’s inevitable double-cross comes, and Keith is not surprised. Keith darts forward immediately as soon as Lotor’s cuffs hit the ground and the prince pulls out his broadsword, going for his father with single-minded intensity while the others hurried to get Sam back inside the ship. He knows Pidge and Matt wont let that happen, so he zeroes in on the shadow commander. He cant let him interfere with Zarkon and Lotor’s fight; he knows that if the prince is killed their victory is going to be even more difficult. He glances to the right; Pidge and Matt are busting into the ship; they’ll get Sam…he shifts his gaze and sees Lotor get thrown back by his father just as the shadow commander’s right arm begins to glow with violet light…Keith’s stomach twists as he feels the pull and wonders…the commander is already running to stop Lotor, to kill him, and Keith doesn’t have time to question himself. 

He makes sure he is there to intercept, the glowing Galra-crafted hand coming down in a deadly arc only to be met by Keith’s gleaming black sword. The hit is powerful, and Keith feels the impact vibrate through his arms, but he clenches his teeth and he presses back, prepared to risk it all to make sure this mission is a success…the rest of the paladins are on their way, he knows…they can still win the day. 

Their battle is fierce, and this commander has Keith on the ropes, but the Black Paladin refuses to go down until everyone else is safe; he gasps and shudders when the impact comes. He looks down…the Galra arm is sunk into Keith’s side, and the Black Paladin can only think…oh. 

He drags his eyes away from his torso, finding his bayard sunk through the commander’s shoulder, and Keith smirks. He’s finally landed a hit that counts, and Keith knows he has to press the advantage; he slams the hilt of his Marmoran blade into the side of the commander’s helmet, hoping to stun the other; the sound of shattering glass fills his ears, and Keith pulls back to strike again…until he sees a shock of white hair, a scar and grey eyes that he would know anywhere. His heart stops, and he gasps…or he tries to…Keith feels like he can’t breath. 

Someone is calling his name, but he can’t move, can’t comprehend the sound beyond the vague buzzing of the words at the back of his skull. 

“Shi…Shiro?” he manages…he can’t believe it. Nothing makes sense, and the world feels like its falling away beneath his feet. Static is eating at his peripheral, and all he can focus on is cold, grey eyes, staring through him with no recognition, no warmth or love…Keith feels the tears welling up, and the ache in his heart threatening to tear him to pieces. He wants to say more, wants to plead with Shiro to remember…but he can’t force his mouth to make any sound as he realized that Shiro’s hand is now wrapped around his throat, lifting him off the ground. The former Black Paladin yanks his Galra hand out of Keith’s side, a gush of blood seeping into the armor, following the lines of the plates to drip on the ground in a slow, steady stream. Keith’s hand slipped from the hilt of his bayard, and his Blade dropped to the ground with a clatter…Keith thinks he hears someone scream his name, but all he can do is find the strength to reach out, to touch Shiro’s cheek before the world goes dark. Shiro’s arm tensed, like he plans to throw Keith away from him. 

“Shiro…I love you…always will…” he chokes out. Shiro’s eyes widen, and Keith hopes…maybe he’s reached him…but everything is going fuzzy, going dark…he can’t feel anything, can’t think. The Black Paladin is dropped to the ground like a sack of bricks, the echo of gunfire still rippling across the empty plane of this dusty planet…Lotor stands over the body of Zarkon, Matt and Pidge are landing the shuttle, their father safe and secure, while Coran, Allura and Hunk finish off the last of the Galra fleet above…Lance runs forward, his sniper rifle still trained on the Galran commander in black, praying that Keith is still alive. He calls Coran for medical backup as he runs, not even watching as the Galra falls over where Lance had shot him, intent on reaching his fallen leader in time. He collapses in the dirt next to the Black Paladin, trying to staunch the bleeding for long enough to get Keith back to the castle…Keith groans, trying to move despite his broken state, and Lance shushes him, reaching out to hold him still. “Its alright, buddy…we’ll get you back to the castle, just stay with me.” Lance pleads. Keith moans, and reaches…though its more of a pitiful twitch of his hand than anything…towards the Galran… 

“Shiro…” Keith croaks before truly passing into complete unconsciousness, going limp under Lance’s hands, the Blue-turned Red Paladin panicking, his eyes following Keith’s gesture, towards the prone body he had shot down moments ago. He went cold…Shiro. Lance had shot down Shiro. 

“CORAN!” he shouted into his coms. He couldn’t lose two Black Paladins in one day. Not if he could help it. 

***

Okay, I am so sorry. This spiralled so far out of control, and I know its a little all over the place, but I hope this is the type of angst that you are looking for. 

Thank you for humoring me

[aion-rsa]

10 Best Star Wars Villains Ranked

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Star Wars is a story about good triumphing over evil, the heroes overcoming all challenges before them and defeating the villains. But we love to watch the antagonists, too! What would the saga be without its iconic, larger-than-life villains?

The hum of a lightsaber echoes in a hallway filled with smoke. A mastermind works behind gilded walls against his enemies. A bounty hunter zips through the sky with his jet pack. A dark lord awaits her prey from the core of a dying planet. These are moments that stay with us long after the credits have rolled, and they’re the reason why a few of the villains on this list are considered some of the best ever created regardless of the medium.

We’ve ranked our top 10 favorite Star Wars villains below:

10. General Grievous

Like many characters and concepts in the Prequels, Grievous is perhaps most notable for his visual design and powerful presence. A spindly four-armed droid, he looks like a mix between a robot, a spider, and a dinosaur. This non-human form wields four lightsabers at the same time, all of which he stole from Jedi he killed.

While Grievous’ personality isn’t really the draw here (he has a brief backstory and a tendency toward the dramatic), you can see some of his history in the excellent The Clone Wars episode “Lair of Grievous.” But we’d especially recommend you check out his first on-screen appearance in Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars microseries. Scary stuff!

9. Grand Admiral Thrawn

Inspired by Sherlock Holmes and legendary military strategists like Alexander the Great, Grand Admiral Thrawn is the first character on this list to originate in tie-in books. He also has the distinction of being the first major villain of the post-Return of the Jedi era. The “Thrawn Trilogy” in the 1990s remain the most famous books of the lot for rejuvenating the franchise and introducing this tactical genius.

The epitome of working smarter, not harder, Thrawn is a no-nonsense thinker who can tell what a culture’s war strategy will be like based solely on their art. His clashes with characters from the Original Trilogy to the Rebels crew to his own Chiss Ascendancy are beloved as tactical puzzles and a showcase for his intimidating personality.

Stream your Star Wars favorites right here!

Fans love Thrawn so much that he was one of the first non-canon Legends characters to be retconned back into the Disney continuity after the House of Mouse bought Lucasfilm in 2012. The Mandalorian season 2 has even set up the Grand Admiral to make his first live-action appearance at a later date.

8. Kylo Ren

While there’s some debate among fans about whether Kylo Ren should still be considered a true villain after The Rise of Skywalker, his appearance in The Force Awakens is our favorite, and he’s firmly in bad guy territory there. From the intimidating crossguard lightsaber to his chaotic nature that makes the audience feel like even he doesn’t quite know what he’s going to do next, Ren’s vivid characterization and volatile personality (not to mention Adam Driver’s performance) helped sell The Force Awakens as a worthy successor to the Original Trilogy.

He sometimes borrows too much from Darth Vader in that first installment to be truly unique, but that’s the point: Kylo is a fan of the villains who have come before, a member of a new generation of characters who inherit the saga and choose which role they want to play. Ren joins the dark side knowing exactly where it will lead.

7. Asajj Ventress

Ventress has been many things. A witch, a bounty hunter, a Jedi, and a Sith disciple, but her different roles are all in service of finding what she really wants: A home.

Introduced as the acrobatic and creepy antagonist in the first and second seasons of the Clone Wars miniseries, she goes toe-to-toe with Anakin Skywalker on several occasions during the galactic conflict. Throughout The Clone Wars, we also see how her part in the war changes, all while she tries to fill the hole in her heart created by her separation from her parents and death of her mentor when she was just a child. Ultimately, she’s both a tragic and sympathetic figure but also a frighteningly unpredictable villain.

6. Kreia/Darth Traya

Knights of the Old Republic II features one of the most inventive and critical explorations of what it means to wield the Force. The game’s Jedi and Sith are conflicted, use their powers in unique ways, and hold personal philosophies about the light and dark sides beyond the beliefs of their respective orders.

Into the life of the game’s Jedi exile protagonist comes the mysterious Kreia, a Sith lord disguised as the hero’s mentor in the ways of the Force. And her teachings about the ancient energy are unlike anything else we’ve seen or read to date.

Instead of following the light or the dark side, Kreia feels the Force itself is a malevolent barrier between people and free will. Although her philosophy technically leads her to the dark, her ideas about going beyond that dichotomy entirely make her one of the most thought-provoking characters in the series. It’d be interesting to hear what she thought about the Force dyad from The Rise of Skywalker.

5. Boba Fett

Boba Fett began his Star Wars career as a mysterious cartoon character in The Star Wars Holiday Special and as a faceless villain in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, before making the jump to the classic Legends tie-in books and comics. Now, he’s back for the first time in the Disney canon, thanks to The Mandalorian, which gives a new generation of fans plenty of reasons to love the iconic bounty hunter.

Although he isn’t the first actor to portray Boba Fett, Prequel Trilogy veteran Temuera Morrison brings newfound charm and power to the legendary bounty hunter, whose armor, jetpack, and laconic personality made him a breakout star despite his relatively minor screen time in the Original Trilogy. On The Mandalorian, we finally get to see his legendary prowess as he single-handedly breaks stormtroopers with his bare hands before even regaining his armor.

Boba Fett’s history is almost as long as Star Wars‘ itself, debuting in 1978, and he’s been a fan-favorite ever since, living many other lives on the page beyond the movies. He’s worked for the Empire, teamed up with other bounty hunters, and even become the leader of the Mandalorian people. With his return to Disney canon, he gets a whole new future full of adventures for fans to look forward to, including The Book of Boba Fett.

4. Darth Maul

Maul just keeps coming back. While he was easily one of the best parts of The Phantom Menace, it’s his development in The Clone Wars that really puts him near the top of the list. A perpetual student always looking for a master, Maul’s tutelage under Sidious means he never really learned how to live outside the structure of the Sith order. That mentality clashes with the Jedi in one of the most dramatic confrontations in The Clone Wars, where Maul reveals he knows the Empire is coming and the Jedi are too late to stop it.

From a martial arts expert to the galaxy’s Cassandra, he’s played many different roles, including the secret leader of a galaxy-spanning criminal organization in Solo. In Rebels, his death serves as a moving capstone to what began in the Prequels, when Obi-Wan Kenobi finally ends his life in a battle not of martial skill but of the kind of mercy and solace only a Jedi at their best can offer.

3. Moff Gideon

While the villain of The Mandalorian hasn’t had nearly as much time on screen as many of the others on this list, he’s climbed to the top through force of personality. Giancarlo Esposito gives even Moff Gideon‘s expository dialogue a sinister life.

As an ISB agent, he differentiates himself from most Star Wars villains by not being a Force-wielding warrior first and foremost. He’s cool because he thrives on information, and frightening because of the lengths he’s willing to go to get it. And don’t forget, he’s willing to handcuff Grogu. You get in the Villain Hall of Fame for that.

2. Emperor Palpatine

The mastermind of many falls (Anakin’s, the Republic’s, Ben Solo’s), Emperor Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious, is the shadow looming over the entire saga. He has a hand in everything, from the inability of the Jedi to hold on to even their own Force powers (as they discover in the Prequels) to the rise of the First Order. He’s the ultimate example of ambition gone wrong, the desire to rule the galaxy for the sake of ultimate control in human form. And the performance by Ian McDiarmid through the decades has become a staple of pop culture.

1. Darth Vader

From the first part of A New Hope to the finale of Rogue One and beyond, Vader’s intimidating visage is synonymous with Star Wars. Designed by Ralph McQuarrie in part after the shape of a samurai armor, the apparatus that keeps Vader alive was made to look dark, intimidating, and “spooky.” He doesn’t have to run or use flashy lightsaber moves to kill you: instead it’s his inexorable approach and brutal moves that are so fearsome. And he has no problem Force choking his own men to get what he wants.

While part of what makes Vader number one is how frightening he is, that’s not the whole story. As Anakin Skywalker, he also brings pathos to the saga and inspires endless debate. His choice to turn to evil is the event on which the rest of the saga turns. Decades later, he’ll inspire Kylo Ren to start down a similar path.

Let us know your own ranking in the comments below!

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