#and that is completely justified and also justifies any women who know her story and distrust men as a class

[coyotewhore]

I think everyone who thinks that trans women aren't allowed to distrust and loathe men as a class should be sat down and have explained to them in graphic detail by cis and trans women what causes this feeling.

[the-daily-bugle-official-blog]

Everybody loves a good redemption arc, we seem to love them a little too much. Yet it seems that we always go a step too far trying to justify the actions of known criminals and murderers. Case and point: Daniella Romanoff, aka the Black Widow.

Miss Romanoff is the sister of Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova, two very dangerous women who have, as expected, been pardoned in the public eye. However she is also the granddaughter of mutant terrorist Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto. It seems her connections could not get worse, but the rabbit hole seems to just get deeper. She was formerly a member of the infamous Red Room, a collection of Russian assassins and spies trained from childhood to be ruthless killers. Along with her and her sisters, we have evidence that many more of these women still live in the United States completely hidden. It is bad enough that the U.S. government is simply allowing these women to walk around free as anything, but especially in Daniella Romanoff's case. She is also classed as an omega level mutant and a witch with extraordinary magical abilities. An anonymous source told the Daily Bugle:

"[Daniella Romanoff] is like a hurricane. She causes destruction and damage wherever she goes and is a threat to national safety" - Anonymous

Miss Romanoff is responsible for a number of famous terror attacks and murders, and her extreme powers cause doubt among the public about whether she is safe to be loose in the streets. She regularly commits mass murders under the name 'The Angel of Death', as well as previous alliances with her grandfather's Brotherhood of Mutants, a militant activist group who want to eradicate all humans .She has also been associated with a very powerful witch by the name of Nyx Dreadwood. New readers may not know who she is but she has been responsible for some of the worst natural disasters in America's history, including the 1900 Galveston hurricane, the Great Flood of 1862, and many more. Two powerful and deadly women working together? Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

One thing is for certain, the Daily Bugle will not let her critics be silenced. Here at the Daily Bugle we strive to deliver the truth the they don't want you to know, which is why we have expanded our services beyond print media to the internet. To join our daily newsletter comment underneath one of our posts to be added to the list. Be sure to comment your thoughts about the new and even more dangerous Black Widow below, or leave an anonymous submission to get potentially featured in a later news story.

– J Jonah Jameson

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Editor's note: Trust Mr Jameson to start a witch hunt, if you'll pardon the pun, over some random woman. Her being the sister of Natasha Romanoff does not make her ex-red room, nor does her being the granddaughter of Magneto make her a mutant rights extremist. The 'Angel of Death' connection is not something we have any evidence for besides a few potentially photoshopped images, and the connection with Nyx Dreadwood is only the word of our intern Alex, who went to interview the notorious witch and came back with no tongue. The fact of the matter is Mr Jameson loves nothing more than placing all the blame of the world on a mutant woman, and I'm afraid I may have to double lock the doors of the office tonight. Apologies Miss Romanoff, but outrage and fear sells, and Mr Jameson loves nothing more than to sell stories, no matter how tall. – J.E. - Lead Editor

@official-buckybarnes @the-good-redheaded-witch @random-hufflepuff-marvel-girl

[flowerandblood]

The Fall from the Heavens (23)

[ canon • Aemond x Strong • niece female ]

[ warnings: masturbation, sexual tension, smut, angst, manipulation, blackmailing and threats ]

[ description: A cool distance turns into friendship and more when two children see that they can find refuge and understanding in each other. However, naïve dreams collide with the reality in which every event has consequences and what once could have been love becomes a dark, newly painful obsession. Angst, sexual tension, obsession, violence, madness, very dark Aemond. ]

The story in this series is an alternate reality from the oneshot Stay and love, leave and die, in which Aemond reads the letters his niece has sent to him over the years. They are the same characters and it shows what would have happened between them − I have changed the background story from their childhood slightly for the sake of the plot.

Characters & Series Moodboard Lady Strong Moodboard Aemond & Lady Strong Moodboard Aemond & Lady Strong Childhood

* English is not my first language. Please, do not repost. Enjoy! *

Next chapters: Masterlist

_____

Alys had always known that, like any bastard child, she could only rely on herself. Her existence was merely an unfortunate accident to her father and brothers, with which they nevertheless came to terms, and she, in their minds, should be grateful for being allowed to stay and serve in Harrenhal.

Indeed, she never considered herself to have been significantly harmed by fate.

Compared to women who had to sell their bodies for money in order to survive, her function as herbalist and wet nurse completely satisfied her.

Milk filled her breasts along with the baby that one of the guards had put inside her. When he pressed her against the wall and lifted her gown, panting that he had desired her for a long time she did not stand up to him, even helping him by bending over and spreading the folds of her womanhood before him so that he could more easily hit the right spot with the thick tip of his length.

This particular man never aroused her desire, however, he supervised her chambers, and since she allowed him to enjoy the pleasures of her body, he closed his eyes to when and where she went out, giving her more freedom.

His wife, however, was not comforted by the fact that her husband had a mistress.

She could not conclude that her husband was a good lover; his hands only clenched greedily on her firm breasts, his thrusts violent, fast and deep. She knew that as he chased his fulfilment hissing that he would fill her with his seed, it did not even cross his mind to touch her between her thighs or ask what would give her pleasure.

She did not, however, resent him.

She recognised that this was how men were.

Although she tried not to think about it, the sight of his wife, one of her father's servants, filled her with remorse, for although she knew that this woman did not love him, she humiliated her every time she took away what belonged to her.

She had nothing to justify it, but she knew that if she told him to stop she would arouse his anger and his behaviour towards her would change.

He might want to take revenge on her for rejecting him.

She couldn't allow this to happen.

What he didn't know was that he wasn't the only man she allowed to sink between her thighs for the benefit; it was easier and sometimes even more enjoyable than trying to bribe them with money, which she didn't have much of anyway. What she was able to do perfectly was to observe people from the sidelines − their reactions and desires, coming to her own conclusions about what they needed and wanted.

Usually these men wanted not only sensation and elation, but also reassurance, a warm word and understanding; they lay with their faces cuddled between her breasts, muttering for her to stroke their heads, and she did so, allowing them to turn from men into innocent children for a moment.

The women in the fortress began to whisper among themselves that the ease with which she seduced men and with which she maintained her beauty despite her age was due to the fact that she was a witch.

She smiled piteously as she strolled through the corridors of the fortress, overhearing their conversations from afar, hearing about the potions she gave to poor, unaware men so they could not forget her, that she bathed in milk and blood to keep her face young and bright.

She did not deny the accusations, because she derived satisfaction from the fact that they feared and avoided her.

Fear, however, also tended to provoke interest and curiosity, and the young, newly arrived servants who were just learning their trade could not tell what they thought of her.

When she needed a break from the men's sweat and their aggressive, deep thrusts she sought peace and solace in the arms of young girls, much more gentle and understanding when it came to the nature of female fulfilment, their sweet moans and surprised expressions as she caressed them made her feel a pleasant pulsation between her thighs.

Although the prospect of becoming a mother did not fill her with particular joy, when she woke up one morning, feeling a pool of wetness under her thighs and saw blood, the squeeze in her throat and the tears she felt under her eyelids were proof that some part of her hoped she could love this innocent creature that was growing inside her womb.

This did not happen, however, and she, not wanting to waste her milk, from which her breasts had already swollen, decided to feed the children whose mothers had too little nourishment.

She considered her life quite prosperous and peaceful until her father and half-brother died in a fire.

Until Larys became the Lord of Harrenhal.

Everyone, including her, feared him.

He was like a writhing viper, tightening slowly around the necks of those who aroused his suspicions, his gaze black and completely blank, as if he experienced nothing, felt nothing inside himself.

He could not be seduced, appeased, pleaded with, persuaded.

He was like a stone, merciless, cruel, taking satisfaction in domination and power.

She never got in his way.

One evening, however, he summoned her to his chamber, and she feared what he desired.

When she stepped inside he was sitting at the table, having just eaten his evening meal. He smiled slightly at her in a way that made her feel the cold sweat on her back; his eyes remained indifferent, glowing mischievously in the firelight.

"Sit down, sister. I wish to discuss something with you." He said softly, and she swallowed hard, keeping an indifferent, satisfied face, looking at him from under half-closed eyelids. She sat down opposite him in one of the chairs, spreading out comfortably in her seat, sighing quietly and nodded for him to speak.

"We will have guests of honour. Prince Aemond and his wife will be arriving here within two days to spend the night here and then head off the next morning to meet Princess Rhaenyra and Prince Daemon." He said calmly, putting a few pieces of cake from the tray onto his plate, with a hand gesture he encouraged her to eat as well, but she shook her head, analysing his words quickly.

She had heard of them.

Prince Aemond had married and taken his niece's maidenhood on the same night he chose Maris Baratheon as his wife.

His brother the King, to save the situation, married them in the eyes of the Seven before an enraged Borros Baratheon could arrive in King's Landing demanding justice.

There would not have been all the commotion if Prince Aemond had taken her as his second wife, but he clearly only wished to have one, therefore, Maris was sent away with only a dowry and humiliation.

Her half-brother continued, seeing the lack of response on her part.

"I want you to host them well. Both of them, if you understand what I have in mind. Myself and his grandfather do not believe in the success of their mission. Like most of the kingdom we know how it will end: with a war. A war we wish to win. However, our Prince, if I may say so, does not think with his mind now, but rather with what he has between his thighs. He gives in to his wife and her persuasions to bring about a reconciliation. I know you are well acquainted with human nature and will surely win both her trust and his heart."

She chuckled under her breath, shaking her head in disbelief as she looked at her fingers, trying to hide the horror and squeeze in her stomach she felt.

He wanted to expose her, to put her head under the Prince's sword if it turned out that her attempts would only enrage him, and he could wash his hands of everything.

"In any case, in a few days' time the matter of the succession will resolve itself with the help of my birds in the Eyrie. They know what to do. Of course, I'll let our Prince believe that his decision matters, however, everything is already arranged. I hope this should settle the matter. With the help of the gods, the girl might try to take her own life for the second time. Let us raise our cups for that." He said lightly, as if indeed such a course of events would please him the most; she looked at him in disbelief, thinking that she had not even noticed when he had become such a disgusting creature.

A monster that, like a black, empty hole, was consuming everything around him, destroying it and crushing it.

She wasn't in a position to refuse, and he knew it.

That was why she walked out with him to greet their guests, thinking she would simply do what he ordered her to do.

She blinked as the figure of a petite, pretty girl jumped down from the shimmering blue and silver dragon, her long, dark hair of a shade similar to hers tied into a braid, its unruly strands dishevelled by the long journey through the skies.

She stepped out in front of them, breathing heavily, her eyes big, full of curiosity and uncertainty, her gaze warm, kind, her cheeks all flushed from exertion. She stopped in front of them and forced herself into an innocent, almost childlike smile, from which she felt a squeeze in her gut.

Gods, have mercy.

"Your Grace. What a joy." Said her brother. The girl blinked, not knowing for a moment what to answer, shifting from foot to foot.

"My Lord Strong. Thank you for being willing to host us." She muttered at last, clearly tense − her was voice pleasant, melodious, soft, the kind that gives comfort with ease, brings peace of mind.

They all turned their faces towards the approaching figure as they heard his footsteps; Prince Aemond in his long black leather coat and black eye patch indeed looked like someone menacing, commanding, as powerful as the great dragon he was riding.

What immediately caught her attention was that as his gaze traveled over their faces he stopped at his wife, assessing her figure from afar as if quickly examining whether she had suffered any damage after such a long journey and whether she was well.

He must have evidently concluded that she was, for his gaze turned after a moment towards her brother.

"Lord Strong. Take us to our quarters."

The Prince and her brother moved first, followed by his wife, looking around the interior of their fortress with genuine curiosity, not even listening to what her brother was saying.

She didn't even notice that her uncle was glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, checking that she was near and in no danger.

She thought he would sooner stab her in the heart than take her to his bed.

Her brother opened the door of the chamber that had been prepared for him, the largest in the entire fortress, not coincidentally located close to hers. The Prince, however, did not look impressed; his lips pressed into a thin line in disapproval when he heard that Lord Strong had assigned his wife other quarters.

"No need. My wife will spend the night in my chamber." He said coolly, as if the very suggestion was offensive and insulting to him.

He had kept her with him the whole time, she thought in disbelief, glancing out of the corner of her eye at the girl standing next to her.

She stood, gazing at her uncle as if she were looking at a statue of one of the gods; her bright, shining eyes large and filled with affection, devotion, longing, even though, after all, he was standing in front of her, at her fingertips.

She realised, swallowing quietly, that he had not taken her by force the night he married her or any night after.

How long had they looked at each other like this?

"As you wish, my Prince. However, I will leave the rooms I spoke of at your wife's disposal for her own convenience. I have also assigned her a servant to ensure that while we men are conversing, she will have company. There are several matters I would like to discuss with you." Her brother replied.

Prince Aemond then looked at his niece with a gaze as if he was about to explode − his wife pressed her lips into a thin line, immediately understanding what the expression on his face was meant to convey to her, her look of understanding and sigh was meant to add to his patience.

His gaze softened and after a moment he nodded, letting her go.

The girl looked at her, so she smiled quickly and pointed with her hand the way they should go to her quarters. Before moving behind her she looked at her husband, the Prince leading her away with a cold, sharp gaze.

Overwhelmed by this revelation, no longer knowing herself what she thought of it or what she should do in such a situation, she simply followed her into the room, closing the door behind her. She watched quietly as the prince's wife walked to the window, placing her hand on the glass, and smiled slightly, noticing something outside.

Had she been like this all the time?

"Do you desire to change into something…more comfortable, Your Grace?" She asked finally, recognising that she needed to start any light conversation, to try and understand who was standing in front of her.

The girl shuddered and blinked, as if forgetting her presence for a moment, turning to face her. She nodded, forcing herself to smile, unsure and embarrassed, playing with the fingers of her hands in a nervous reflex.

"Yes. What do they call you?" She asked lightly and kindly, willingly shortening the distance between them, which surprised her.

Usually women of her ilk took satisfaction in calling her Lady Rivers, reminding her every time that she was a bastard.

But she, even if she was married to the Prince, was also one.

She was her relative, her brother's daughter.

She swallowed hard at that thought, feeling a squeeze in her throat.

"Alys, Your Grace."

She lowered her gaze, as if pondering something for a moment, and then her bright eyes looked at her again.

She thought with pain that she was like a small flower, a daisy or a forget-me-not, which one picked to weave into one's hair, to feel as innocent as a little child again.

"I would not wish to… misunderstand who you are and what you have in common with Lord Strong, Alys." She muttered with some sort of embarrassment, from which she involuntarily burst out laughing.

Good gods.

"I am not his mistress. I am his relative, though I do not bear his name, as any bastard would." She said softly, amused; her gaze shifted, her brow furrowed in concern and curiosity.

She knew what she was going to ask her, she could feel it in her bones.

"Did you know my father?"

She named him as her father even though she was officially Laenor Velaryon's daughter.

She admitted to her that she too was a bastard without a grimace of embarrassment.

"Yes, Princess."

Her whole body tensed, her hands clenched into fists.

"His death wasn't an unfortunate ordeal, was it?" She asked in a trembling voice, and her lips involuntarily lifted in a dangerous smirk at the thought that her directness was surprising her.

Was this how she spoke to her husband?

Was this how she forced her way into his heart?

"There are no such thing as unfortunate ordeals, Your Grace."

A silence fell between them filled with the weight of their words and what they meant; she licked her lips involuntarily, feeling that she was incapable of denying herself the pleasure of having to see her reaction to her words.

To see if she was right.

"After the word has reached us here all the way from King's Landing, I have been looking forward to our meeting with impatience, and while I will admit that it is not what I expected, I am beginning to understand your husband's desperation." She said with amusement, feeling a tingle in her fingertips and in her lower abdomen at the sight of her flushed cheeks.

"What do you mean?" She mumbled quietly, embarrassed; however, it was not shame feigned and exalted, but more an expression of genuine surprise and excitement at her words.

"Men are easily driven to desperation, though it usually takes time. They like to gain and take pride in what they have conquered; the greater, in their mind, the value of what they enclose in their embrace, the less they are willing to let it go." She said calmly, turning her head away, immersed in her own thoughts.

"Your husband follows you with his thoughts even when he is not looking at you. His head, even when he is not speaking to you, is directed towards you so that he can see you out of the corner of his eye. When he feels discomfort, he involuntarily seeks your face to experience understanding and comfort."

She looked at her, wanting to see her reaction, and sighed almost imperceptibly, feeling heat in her lower abdomen at the sight of her parted, plump lips, her dreamy, hot gaze.

She knew that she had felt something at her words, that it had taken deep root in her heart and made her return with her thoughts to her husband.

Was this how she had looked at him when he made love to her?

She could not imagine that he could take her maidenhood brutally and cruelly, that he would allow her to cry beneath him in pain.

No, she thought − he surely took her with slow, lazy thrusts of his hips, letting her get used to his shape deep inside her, assuring her in a whisper that just a little more.

She felt a strong throbbing and tickling between her thighs at that thought and licked her lips, looking up at her again − her gaze lowered meekly to the stone floor, a soft, thoughtful smile on her face.

She decided on second thought, helping her change into one of her gowns, touching her soft skin, smelling the wonderful scent of vanilla in her nostrils, that she would braid the most elaborate hairstyle she could think of on her head, just so she wouldn't have to leave her chamber before supper.

She knew that her half-brother expected her to then take the opportunity to venture into the Prince's chambers to make sure he was not missing anything.

Therefore, she began to braid her soft, long, dark hair, creating a beautiful, complicated hairstyle surrounding her head.

She escorted her to the proper quarters and bowed, Larys gave her one impatient look.

She felt a cold sweat on her back, leaving immediately.

He was not pleased.

She thanked the gods that the Prince's wife had summoned her herself, wishing her help with her bath, giving her another reason not to head to her husband's chambers.

She thought that if she went on like this perhaps the situation would work out in such a way that she simply wouldn't have the opportunity to do anything, though even if she did she wasn't sure Larys would believe her.

As she walked into her chamber she saw that she herself was trying to untie her bodice, so she approached her, undoing the tangles with ease, looking at her face with curiosity.

"Was the Prince pleased with his wife's appearance, Your Grace?" She asked softly, noticing from the corner of her eye that the girl had lowered her gaze, ashamed and saddened.

"Yes. Though he expressed his opinion that he prefers it when my hair is loose." She said with resignation, and she couldn't stop the smile that appeared on her face.

Of course, she thought.

The sight of her loose hair reminded him fondly of how it had been spread in disarray around her head, shining in the darkness of his chamber as he fucked her greedily.

"Oh, that's understandable. He surely associates it with your intimacy and closeness, as any man would. The entwined curls and braids are for those around you, meanwhile the softness of your hair, the smell of them, the sight of them spread on the bed is something meant only for him." She replied lightly, for some reason wanting to lift her spirits and comfort her; she heard her move in place, the sweet blush appearing on her cheeks again.

She was embarrassed, she thought with disbelief and tenderness, as if she were looking at a small child.

She was so innocent.

Was that what attracted him to her?

The idea that he was surrounding her with himself like a dark cloak, devouring her again and again?

"You know a lot about men…don't you?" She heard her uncertain, curious voice; she looked at her in the reflection of the mirror, noticing that she immediately lowered her gaze, as if she could not bear the intensity with which she was looking at her.

"Yes, Princess."

"Have you seduced many yet?" She asked intrigued, and she smiled again involuntarily.

"Yes."

When her gown finally fell to the floor she saw her girlish, pleasing curves peeking through from under her nightgown. She watched as, with a light, confident step, she walked over to the bath and bore herself into the hot water, tilting her head back, sighing in relief, her head still adorned with the braids she had woven herself.

Such a pretty little thing.

"I would like to … make my husband happy tonight. I know he needs relief from what's about to happen tomorrow. However, I can't do it, at least for now, in the way I usually do." She mumbled out at last, looking at her with those big, warm eyes of hers, seeing in her apparently her guide, someone who could help her with these complicated and intimate matters.

She felt a pleasant squeeze in her lower abdomen at the idea that popped into her head.

"The easiest thing to do in that case would be for you to use your mouth." She replied amused, drawing out of her exactly the reaction she wanted − her cheeks turned scarlet, her gaze fled downwards, her tiny long fingers clenched into small fists.

She was wonderfully embarrassed, so sweet that he would have gladly shown her everything, step by step.

"I'm…inexperienced in these matters." She confessed with shame, and she involuntarily licked her lower lip with her tongue, feeling the throbbing between her thighs at her words, her nipples hardening under the material of her gown.

Gods.

"I see." She muttered, feeling her heart begin to pound like mad as she moved slowly towards her, her surprised gaze lifting to her as she knelt right next to her tub, cupping her wrist in her hand.

Her skin was as soft as silk.

Her gaze escaped involuntarily to her breasts, now perfectly visible through the wet material of her shirt clinging to her bare flesh; she felt a tickle in her swollen lips at the thought that she longed to lick and caress them.

She was sure that as he teased and sucked her nipples she moaned sweetly beneath him, begging for more, and he always, always gave in to her.

Because how could he refuse her?

"I can show you how you should do it, if that's what you wish, Your Grace."

She saw her pupils dilate in disbelief, her lips parted as she swallowed hard, her chest beginning to rise and fall in accelerated breaths.

"…How?"

She couldn't stop the smirk that appeared on her lips, nor what she did next.

She heard her sigh quietly, surprised and thrilled when her lips ran over her pointing finger, enveloping her skin with her hot breath.

"Imagine that this is his manhood. Men don't say it out loud because pride won't let them, but they adore it when a woman shows them with gentle, tender caresses." She whispered, running her swollen lips up and down her finger leaving a sticky, warm trail of her saliva on it, surprised at how wet it made her between her thighs, how wonderfully arousing it was, how obscene it was.

She heard her draw in a deep breath without moving away, but as she guided the tip of her finger between her lips, teasing and licking it lightly with her tongue, out of the corner of her eye she noticed that her thighs clenched in some helpless, subconscious reflex.

What other reactions could she draw from her?

"− and then − when he begins breathing faster − when you feel he's completely ready −" She sighed quietly as she suddenly slipped her whole finger deep into her mouth, feeling her swollen folds pulsate hard again and again as she began to suck it in slow, steady movements with the quiet click of her saliva.

She heard her gasp on the verge of a moan as her tongue began to trail over her skin with her low murmur of satisfaction, her free hand involuntarily sliding down to the material of her gown, wanting to slip under it and bring herself to fulfilment with her own touch.

She slipped her finger out of her mouth with a loud plop and looked up at her − her face all flushed, her gaze dreamy, hesitant and warm, as if she herself didn't know what she felt or why.

Something in her gaze made a pleasurable heat spill over her lower abdomen as she dug her own fingers into her fleshy folds, all sticky with her moisture, pulsing aggressively with her every stroke in pleasure.

"− you pretty little thing − it’s usually him taking care of you, isn’t it? − he can’t deny himself − I can’t blame him −" She whispered, trying not to move her hips so that she wouldn't notice anything; she lost the battle with herself as she felt herself getting closer and closer to fulfilment, pushing against her own slit with the tips of her fingers.

Unfortunately, it turned out that her husband was more vigilant than she thought.

When he burst into his wife's chamber she barely had time to remove her hand from under her own skirt and let go of her, standing quickly and bowing before him.

"My Prince."

"− get out −" He growled, and she walked out obediently, grateful in spirit to the gods that he hadn't stopped her to question her, that he hadn't noticed the glistening wetness on her fingers.

Or he saw it and it infuriated him, she thought with amusement, feeling her heart pounding like a mad in her chest.

She finished what she had started in her chamber, bringing herself to fulfilment with sure, swift strokes of her fingers, driving their tips into her sensitive, fleshy womanhood, able now to afford to moan and rock her hips, imagining her body peeking through from under her wet nightgown.

She imagined that she knelt before him to lunge and soothe him, that she barely fit his fat cock in her small mouth, all swollen from the desire she had always aroused in him, that this proud, dark, cold man whimpered before her like a small, innocent boy when he finally gave in, thrusting again and again deep into her warm throat.

She came with a low moan of relief, panting heavily, hugging her face into the pillow, rocking her hips for a while longer, slowly coming down from her peak.

She was sure that as she lay half asleep, feeling a blissful, pleasant peace, she heard their moans in the distance and grinned involuntarily.

Of course he forgave her.

He always did.

She often had dreams whose meaning she did not understand; she saw people she had never met before, observing events that might as well have happened in the future or in the past. That night, however, her dream particularly troubled and worried her, as she had no idea what it actually meant.

Two streams of blood finally merging into one, flowing like a river, which then, however, became a lake that reminded her of a dragon's head in a crown, only to spill over after a while, and she saw nothing but red.

Was this what was about to happen?

Would Princess Rheanyra and Prince Daemon be murdered and another dragon's reign begin upon their blood?

She swallowed hard, thinking of that young, cheerful girl, of how obvious it was that she was not aware of anything, that whatever her uncle-husband knew, he had not shared it with her.

She thought that if he betrayed her, she would wilt like a flower, fade like the sun in a setting sky.

She stood up and headed for his chamber.

His gaze expressed nothing less than disgust and rage at the sight of her. He reached for his tunic, dressing it hurriedly, tense and pale, knowing full well what was to happen if the negotiations did not bring the results he hoped for.

She wondered if he realised that even if he didn't give the order, they would be murdered anyway.

"You will betray her." She said indifferently, and he threw her a quick, horrified look, his nostrils quivering in disbelief.

He knew perfectly well what she was referring to.

She thought that sometimes all it took was a gentle push, putting a mirror in front of someone's face to make them think carefully again about whether they were ready for the consequences of their choices.

"You will betray her at the moment she trusts you the most. You will break her. You will achieve victory, but she will never let you touch herself again. You will come back here to face your nephew and you will take me, because you will decide that I am similar to her enough to satisfy your pain and longing. You will put your child inside me, your bastard son, who will rule Harrenhal after our death."

She said and grinned, seeing that he shuddered all over, that his mask had cracked, his lips parted as if he wanted to groan in despair.

She knew he saw it in his mind, felt it in his heart, and she left his chamber without a word.

She let out a loud breath as she walked down the empty corridor, thinking with some kind of hope that her words, the vision she had invented to break him would terrify him enough to make him fall to his knees before his wife and confess everything he knew.

And if he doesn't, if in fact he betrays her, it will prove that he was never worthy of her.

She had come to her summons when she wished to clothe herself; she saw, crossing the threshold of her quarters, that she too was frightened and anxious, only for completely different reasons.

She wished for them to come to an understanding.

She believed it was possible.

She felt a squeeze in her throat at the thought, at the realisation that she was alone in a world where everyone but her craved war, craved power, craved the throne.

She did not look at her face, at the clear command of her husband not allowing herself any closer proximity to her, which she accepted with understanding.

After she had fastened the buckles of her leather coat, however, she allowed herself to take her soft hand in her own, stroking it with her thumb.

She hesitated and furrowed her brow, but before she could move away, she began to speak, forcing herself to whisper, fearing that her brother's servants might have heard her.

"Do not return here. Fly from the Eyrie straight to King's Landing. I saw in my dream a river of blood taking the shape of a dragon's head wearing a crown. I saw red flooding everything around me." She said quickly, feeling a squeeze in her throat.

She thought in disbelief that she pitied this girl.

"This warning, these words, are my gift to you. Look after yourself. Trust no one."

[pruneunfair]

Hello, excuse me, do you think you can do an analysis of the characters: Rasha and Layla pleaseI honestly can't understand the hate that some users have regarding these two characters who are pitiful, I mean, both Rasha and Layla can have one or another questionable moment but I honestly don't think that's the reason to hate them to the point of commenting things like "Rasha deserves her end or she deserves everything she lived through" "Layla deserves to be abused 🍇 by Mattias for being stupid and being the lover"Note: With this I'm not justifying Rasha's questionable things or that Layla has mixed feelings about her aggression, although the latter is more Stockholm syndrome, but it's regrettable when people hate them but can't understand or see beyond the social context in which these characters find themselves, Rasha being a runaway slave and Layla being a commoner without any power... it's sad how they hate women who are victims more that men are the ones who practically plan everything and use girls for their own ends.Psd: Do you also think you can talk about Stockholm syndrome? I've seen that on TikTok they usually blame Leyla for having this syndrome.

Thanks ❤️

it would be my absolute pleasure to.

Layla and Rashta. Two characters on the complete opposite sides of morality yet they are so similar in terms of past, love interests, and receiving hate from other people who don't give anyone a chance if they have a title of mistress.

Rashta is very easy to hate at first mostly because of her constant crying and being a thorn in Naviers side. It annoys people so much that it successfully distracted you from the fact that she's still a runaway slave. Constant crying isn't viewed as a response to trauma if it's a character people hate, the desire to survive isn't seen as such because it's "greed" for what Navier has. Everything about her is designed to be hated because she's a mistress and mistresses are all viewed as evil temptresses.

I'd honestly even say that her crimes were just used as an excuse for wanting her dead before she did anything. Older comments on the remarried empress proved it was never about morality. It was just about protecting the territory from anyone in need, since in the online community, being nice or in need of help is seen as "cringe"

Layla is hated though not as much as Rashta, she is still seen by many to be a silly strumpet who put herself in that situation even though she was 12, even though Matthias was 18 and knew what he was doing when he was purposely making that child cry. She had her whole life ahead of her, she wanted to graduate and be a teacher. Matthias's obsession with her readings to her being SA'D in the woods and she is further lying 🍇 when she has to become Matthias's mistress. Keep in mind, it's only for the sake of her uncle, she does not want to be this creepers lover.

Yet at the end of the story, she falls in love with him? Is it bad writing? Yes, but do you know what it also is? Stockholm syndrome. A syndrome/theory that explains why abuse victims fall in love with the people who hurt them. One reason is that they are too terrified to tell anyone the abuse and normalizes it as a coping mechanism, they can also develop anxiety, PTSD, or depression, and Layla won't be able to recover in a world where her abuser has won and everyone sees the abuse as just a love story. She's going to have to live with the idea that Matthias did nothing wrong and that it was her fault for rejecting the idea that she could've "loved" him all this time.

Why is it common to hate on women like this? Because of both a lack of critical thinking and research. We often hear the term "mistress" or "concubine" and think "oh she's such a slut." But if we were to do a quick dive into history, theres more to it.

Concubines in ancient Chinese culture aren't all the sexy temptresses we think of now. The concubines who would have worn valuable clothing and lived the high life would've been high ranking concubines. Most other concubines lived in poor conditions where they had to fight for the emperors love for more favor so their living situation could increase, in many cases it was also so they could have more food and water. So in actual history, concubines fighting for the emperors love wasn't for love or even power. It was to live.

Even European mistresses weren't safe. Anne Boleyn is a great example of this. She herself was technically not a mistress since she did her best to reject Henry VIII and really only accepted because he was the king and who could say no to the king? Her telling him she'd only be with him if she could be the queen is even thought to be an attempt to get Henrry to go away, and as we know, he divorced his first wife and married Anne anyway. Anne was beheaded just 3 years later after failing to give birth to a son.

So while cry or better yet beg is a disgusting story, what they do get right even if unintentionally is the truth of what it's like to be a mistress when you are a commoner facing a Duke.

And Remarried empress would be a whole new story if the truth on how concubines were living in those days was known to all those commenters.

[flower-boi16]

Someone called me a hypocrite just because I want Stella to be an actual character and not a cheap excuse to justify Stolas cheating on her/make him look better as well as resenting the toxic behavior of how some insane fans in the fandom are way too defensive of Stolas then aggressively dumping and shitting on Stella/Blizt. They accused me of favoring Stella/want her redeemed by thinking that way, just because I didn't call her out enough like I did toStolas…

Look I agree Stella sucks too, I KNOW that, but why I'm more willing to call that damn owl out than her? Stella in the show is so cartoonishly evil that I can't take her seriously, her “evil”is intentionally designed that way in order to become a plot device that viv only uses to justify Stolas's BS and viv really wants us viewers to hate on Stella and blame her for everything but I'm not going to fall into that trap so easily.

I don't really know what is it with this fandom and having an intense amount of venom when it comes to people who just. Want Stella to be better written. The reason why people want Stella to have actual character depth is not only because it's more interesting than her just being a one-dimensional bitch, it's also because Stella being one-dimensional contributes to the issue of Viv demonizing any character that Stolas has hurt as a cheap way to downplay his actions and make HIM look sympathetic.

Stella was an evil bitch, so therefore Stolas cheating on her was justified, which is an awful writting decision because it removes what made Stolas interesting in Season 1. Season 1 Stolas was a man who sacraficed EVERYTHING he had just so he could satisfy his own sense of pleasure - not taking into account how it may have ended up hurting others. That was made Stolas interesting to me in the first sesaon, but then Season 2 came along and said "Oh no Stella was actually an abusive bitch so Stolas was right to cheat on her!" and then the rest of the first episode went out of it's way to remove everything Season 1 established so it can morph Stolas into a completely different character.

Stolas and Stella's conflict could have been very interesting and had many shades of grey thrown into it - but the show chose to go with the "evil women and UwU soft boy" route which is SO much less interesting than what Season 1 gave us. Obviously you can write a compelling story of an abusive victim breaking from their abuser but there are a million other stories out there that do this exact concept so much better.

Season 1 hinted at a completely different character yet Season 2 decided to change it out of nowhere, and turning Stella one-dimensional was one of the ways the season tried to turn Stolas into a "sympathetic" character when that was never going to work.

Just...what happened to Season 1 Stolas? What happened to him? Can we have him back please? Because he's a much more interesting character than whatever this is.

[lovemyromance]

How is elriel similar to feysand and nessian?

I actually don't think they're very similar 🤷🏻‍♀️

And the thing is, they don't have to be?

They do have one important thing in common though, kind of a non-negotiable in romances - they actually like each other and are attracted to each other

I like Elriel honestly because they're not like Feysand or Nessian. They're not screaming kicking enemies to lovers. They're not even mates (that we know of right now). But they still seek each other out. Bask in each others company. Find peace in one another. Understand each other without even words or that many interactions on the page. And god, do they have some ~sexual chemistry~ !!

It's refreshing to see a couple that's not enemies to lovers coming from SJM. She does a lot of the banter and fighting and angry fucking - but she rarely does the soft romance. I think Chaol/Yrene or Elise/Lorcan are the pairings I'd compare Elriel to, not Feysand or Nessian.

And again - Elriel doesn't have to be like Feysand or Nessian. Even if Elucien were to happen, I don't think it would happen like Feysand or Nessian. Simply because that's not Elain's character - end of story.

But people who ship Elucien like to say their ship is also like Nessian or Feysand which is why they think is endgame. Except it's not like them, in the sense that Elucien actively avoids each other and has no chemistry or mutual attraction (that we have currently seen). Eluciens tend to explain away their mutual avoidance of each other by saying "oh well that's how Feysand and Nessian started too" in an effort to justify their ship. Not realizing when they use that excuse, it's completely going against Elain's character as a whole.

Objectively, Lucien & Elain are nothing like the other two couples. And again - they don't have to be - but that's all I've seen antis use as an argument. Frankly I think trying to say Elain & Lucien are better suited for each other personality wise is a far better argument for Elucien than trying to compare them to Feysand and Nessian 🤷🏻‍♀️ (don't get me wrong I don't agree with that, but at least it's a stronger argument than saying Elucien is going to be just like Feysand/Nessian)

It makes no sense that people are comparing any pairing with Elain to pairings that are very clearly enemies to lovers, with both characters in the relationship being complete opposites of someone like Elain. People keep bringing up that oh "Rowan punched Aelin in the face" or "oh Rhys broke Feyre's arm" and I think it's just like comparing apples and oranges.

I don't believe it's in Elain's character to have any kind of "enemies to lovers" relationship. You can't compare her to someone like Nesta or Aelin or Feyre. Her personality itself is completely different.

In other words: If Lorcan had broken Elise's arm - or if Chaol had punched Yrene in the face - do you think either of those women would have then gotten with their LI? I don't think so.

An Elriel relationship fits perfectly with both their personalities. They don't have to be like Feysand & Nessian to still be endgame and still be a solid pairing.

Honestly if I do have to read another enemies to lovers, angry banter, borderline abusive couple from SJM - I might skip the next book entirely. Elriel is different, Elriel is fresh, and Elriel is coming 😍

[the-good-bad-truth]

Oh Right! Support a guy who threatened suicide over a phone call with his then gf and is on tape saying the N word. He also justifies his attraction to minors by saying Axl Rose and Jimmy Page did it so it’s ok. That’s disgusting.

Good job!

Really, find Peace. And maybe a little bit of brain.

Alright, then you want me to play into your little rage bait game. Ok. Let’s play this game then.

First, I want to correct some of the things you mentioned. The threatening, black mail suicide thing. Idk if you have ever experienced someone w/suicidal thoughts or is such in a bad, dark mental space that they are contemplating leaving this earth, but I hope you never do because it is one of the most sick to your stomach, heart shattering things. I have had thoughts like this since I was 13 and it fucking sucks. But I have grown to like some parts of living enough for me to stay and Colson may have felt the same way. One of these happy parts for him, could have been Megan, you know the woman he loves and had come to him as some sort of savior and healer in his life. But yeah, let’s act and pretend that he was doing some American psycho, Ted bundy level manipulation. Ok. that makes sense at least in your story.

For further context, his father that he had a strained relationship had just passed and he had not at this moment reconnected with his mother. So, he was alone, lost, no parents for him to lean on and heavily intoxicated. So, one would say that he called the first person he knew/thought of that could help him or ground him back to earth. Would you prefer he called his young daughter or rather a grown woman who is used to as per said in her Poem book that seems capable/or at the very least more tolerant to men with these issues.

Next, the N word. If you are referring to that one old, 12/14 years ago grainy, bad sound clip where it possibly sounded like the word, I have to ask what does that have to do with anything, really. Cuz I also remember the interviewer that was standing right there had come out and said that he did not say it. Regardless if he did, he has said in 2020 that if anyone is racist and a supporter of his to fuck off and burn his music, cuz he does not fucking care for them. But ok. 

Oh and the minor shit. Yes, was that stupid and completely inappropriate that he had said those things when he was 19/20? Yes it was. He is an idiot for that. But he has come out and said that he is ashamed and embarrassed of the things he said in the past. 

So, don’t try to use this as a gotcha moment for me or his fans. We know he has done stupid shit that I am sure he deeply regrets. And as far as I am aware, his REAL fans call him out on that shit or any other stupid things he does. What confuses me is that Megan fans/supporters refuse to do the same.

Let me use my brain for a minute. Megan fox, a woman who shames other women, feels threatened by other women, sexualizes bisexuality (a sexuality that already faces a lot prejudice in the queer community, some holding the belief it is not real at all, it is either straight people pretending, or they are just gay) for her own benefit, uses Japanese/Ukrainian woman as a silly little joke. Megan fox who did not talk about roe v wade until everyone else did it to fit in, who says world problems do not concern her unless they directly affect her, who did not wear a mask until she was hacked and then the very next pap photo was rocking one. Which is weird cuz she has three young boys who could have gotten sick, an ex-husband who had severe health issues and getting covid from her and her constant, unnecessary travels could have killed him or his new pregnant gf, Sharna could have also gotten it.  A woman who profits and benefits solely on her beauty while there are other actors/actresses that actually have to showcase and prove their talent/worth to get a role. Shit, a woman, a mother who refers to her son as a kamikaze (suicide pilot) or knowing that Casie (Colson daughter) was going to be on tour with Colson (her father who is a hated man) and what did Megan do? Oh, just post backstage passes that held sensitive information where some lunatic that was crazy enough could have copied and snuck backstage when she was specifically told not to or to wait until the info was covered up to post. But no Megan had to show us her breast implants, so fuck it, right? 

One last thing, He is a bad, racist, PDF, sad excuse, manipulator and abusive person to Megan. Then tell her to leave. Right now. Text her, go in her comments or something and tell her to leave him. He’s a monster, Right? Go, Save her, Save Jennifer. Get off my blog and go help her.

And you sent this to me at 2:37 am. Come on. At least wait till after I have breakfast.

[miela]

I do not think Jegulus is inherently misogynistic but I think their existence as a popular ship perfectly showcases the larger problem of misogyny in the Marauders fandom.

This fandom is painfully male centered with an unhealthy obsession with mlm ships, no matter how nonsensical they are. Jegulus, with all due respect, is a nonsense ship. I know some people like to ignore canon and make everything up but I don’t. Jegulus can work fine in AUs but not in canon compliant fics. And whenever Jegulus shippers speak about what makes them compelling, they always bring up tropes - brother’s best friend, sunshine x grumpy (don’t even get me started on thinking James Potter is a sunshine but that’s beside the point), enemies to lovers, etc. All that is meaningless to me. Shipping based on tropes is ridiculous because none of those tropes matter when James and Regulus, from what we know of their characters, are completely incompatible as people. I won’t speak on Regulus because we have little information about it and it’s easy to treat him as a blank sheet (although I think he’s too whitewashed) but we know a lot about James, including that he despised Slytherins, Death Eaters and the dark arts. So, in order for Jegulus to work, James has to become an unrecognizable character from what he actually is in canon. You are not writing about James Potter. You are creating an OC and slapping James’ name on it. Jegulus was born out of this weird necessity the fandom has for mlm ships. Take Drarry and Wolfstar as an example. Those ships aren’t canon but they have some canon basis because those couples interacted, had a dynamic together, had interactions and lore that could be interpreted in different ways. With Jegulus, it’s all made up.

And this leads me to Lily and by extent, the other girls. Lily was the main female character in the Marauders Era and Jily was the second biggest ship. Since Jegulus gained popularity, Lily has been sidelined, her story has been co-opted, even her own child gets snatched from her and given to Regulus. The girls that before had some developed (nowhere near enough because this fandom has always been misogynistic, let’s not get it twisted), have been shoved to the side or used as tools to further mlm ships. The reason why there’s such a pushback against sapphic!Lily, per example, is because unfortunately some people (definitely not all and definitely not sapphic women in this fandom) really only use that to get her out of the way of Jegulus and that’s the case for many wlw ships in the fandom. All they get is the yearly “I love [insert wlw ship]” tweet but get no more content or develop, unlike the men.

The general treatment of the girls is terrible too. The biggest Jegulus fic, Choices, has Regulus covering up Mary’s SA and James cheating on a pregnant Lily and yet we are supposed to root for them in the end. ATYD has Mary being routinely humiliated by both Sirius and Remus and we are supposed to be okay with it because they’re just two closeted teen boys navigating the world. Pandora and Dorcas have been placed in Slytherin and made besties with Death Eaters to make horrible men more sympathetic and so they can serve as therapists and saviors to people who joined a wizard terrorist group.

I could go on. I am genuinely not trying to be rude or aggressive, just giving my opinion. As I said, Jegulus shippers are not all misogynistic but Jegulus’ popularity showcases the implicit biases against women in the fandom. Other mlm ships and I will keep using Drarry and Wolfstar as examples have also led to the erasure and mistreatment of women. But it’s harder to justify Jegulus because unlike those other two ships, Jegulus is a completely random pairing that feels like was born out of the desire to pair James with a man rather than any interesting interactions those two characters had.

Hi!

Firstly, thank you for sharing your thoughts on it! I see your perspective well and agree with a lot of your points.

(Excuse my yapping below, it helps me get my thoughts out better and to better understand your points!)

For anyone reading this, please note that there are spoilers for atyd and choices below!

This fandom is definitely male-centered and I see your point on how focused the mlm ships this fandom is on. With the ships of wolfstar, the joke-gone-serious ship of jegulus, and the babygirlification and pairing of rosekiller, etc, etc...

I understand the canon compliant vs fanon complaint argument. I think that's where the lines get blurred when it comes to people's views on ships. Canon and Fanon are two completely different ball games when is comes with things making sense and what doesn't.

I lean more towards fanon compliant fics so for me that's where Jegulus makes sense to me because like you said, it's basically OCs with their names slapped on them. It's easier to mold them to work that way, so it's easier to ship them. Also I just love the idea of Sapphic!Lily too which was a concept I thought about before I even knew about Jegulus, honestly.

For canon-compliance, I am all for Jily 100% because it's canon-compliant. You can't fight with it. Even though wolfstar isn't canon, it makes sense to have them be something where as James and Regulus wouldn't have been anything. And I agree with you, they only work in AUs or fanon concepts.

With that being said, I also recognize the misogynistic nature of the fandom. I definitely don't agree with Jegulus raising Harry, because that's literally Jily's child (if anyone does, no hate towards you It's just doesn't sit well with me personally) and it begs the question, what happened with Lily that Jegulus has Harry?

I also agree with your point about how the girls/wlw ships in the fandom don't get a lot of development. I think it's a shame, truly. However, I have, recently, seen some people have different Headcanons of how they are as people. So I'm hoping that develops into something more than just ideas floating around. I also am not sure how they are in canon-compliant fics besides atyd (which I do have my opinions on too and im only halfway through it). I haven't read choices yet so I can only take your word for it.

I do at some point want to make a full long, academic-esque essay about the misogynistic nature of the fandom, because I do have A LOT to say, ESPECIALLY with the treatment of Mary. There's definitely a lot to unpack.

I'm fairly new to the Marauders fandom, so I'm trying to learn what I can. Again, thank you for sharing your perspective! I appreciate it!

[nanistar]

i saw ur nightheart posts and i noticed u hate him quite a lot and im curious for the reasons why! i hope it doesnt sound rude! its a genuine question out of curiousity not an attempt for you to justify ur opinion, personally im aloof when it comes to nightheart i think hes just an edgelord tbh

nah you're not rude dw i get it. tbh i don't hate HIM as a character, i mean he's kinda annoying but whatever. instead i hate everything about him as a written extension of the authors and their views. nightheart isn't real, and doesn't have opinions but they authors do and they speak thru him to a young and volatile audience that might not know better. (which is also why i don't buy the "unreliable narrator" thing)

they twist the female characters around him to fit their narrative of "poor misunderstood sadboy" surrounded by "cruel mean women". squirrelflight, sparkpelt and even finchlight already had personalities, squirrelflight especially is known for bending rules for what she views as "the right thing", so why would she turn around and scream at him for wanting to change his name? why would finchlight, in one book, support his name change and stick up for him, only for in the next book to completely turn around and call him disrespectful and selfish. they needed to create more drama for him. before his warrior ceremony, he pulls off dangerous stunts trying to show off during his test, and it ends up blowing up in his face and fails, and he doesn't see this as HIS failing, he blames squirrelflight and his mentor for "expecting more of him because he's related to firestar" which??? and for that plot point to be given to him instead of his mother sparkpelt who is multiple times described as the spitting image of firestar? but she's like, totally fine with it. she's never given anything to do ever until she becomes a mother, (except disagree with alderheart like once and be the "rude misunderstanding woman" for his story too.)

and speaking of mothers... sparkpelt lost her mate as she gave birth, two heavily traumatizing things happening simultaneously. she had post-partum depression for a while, which is a serious and debilitating illness that KILLS people. yet she was still able to feed the kits, she didn't abandon them. they had plenty of attention from their family and from the other nursery cats. they were never once neglected. she was only out of commission for about a month before squirrelflight helped her back on her feet but that doesn't matter, because for the narrative, (and by the fandom) she is treated like a horrible abusive mother who neglected her kids on purpose. which. first of all crookedstar couldn't even LOOK at his daughter for the first week of her life and he is heralded as nothing but a loving father. second, nightheart goes on and on about how she left him and how she is hardly his mother because (lilyheart? i dont remember) one of the other queens helped raise them for the first month. the erins tie the worth of their female characters to how good of a mother they are, and any deviations from the nuclear family with a working husband and a housewife are automatically bad in their eyes,( yet they killed off ferncloud because she was "too annoying" for being a loving nursery mom.) (also think about how anti-adoption they are. the second the po3 secret was out, suddenly brambleclaw and squilf were never their parents despite literally raising them) they are horribly misogynistic, and their female characters are just pawns for either manpain or to be baby machines. this doesn't even begin to touch on how boy crazy the female protags have been lately, bristlefrost was interesting at first but eventually just turned into a wife for rootspring and then fridged for manpain, and sunbeam suddenly deciding shes in love with nightheart even though he stalked her and creeped her out???

adding on to this point, during ashfur's takeover, sparkpelt is EXILED from thunderclan (after being mauled by dogs, and by who she believes to be her father btw) she BEGS imposterstar to let her stay because of her family but he refuses. finchpaw chooses to go with her mother but flamepaw stays behind. then in his POV parts, he goes on and on about how she walked out on him!

again, nightheart the character: not real. he's a puppet for the authors to speak their misogynistic rhetoric. i would LOVE if he was just kinda a whiny emo dirtbag, or an actual unreliable narrator and whenever he complained everyone around him rolled their eyes and was like "ok nightheart" . remember that scene in meet the robinsons where bowler hat guy is telling his tragic backstory and he's talking about ppl at school and his narration says "they alll HATED me" while everyone in the scene was like "hi goob cool binder!" or "hey wanna come hang out with me later?" THAT'S (hilarious) but also what an unreliable narrator is. if that was nightheart it would be so funny. but instead, he HAS to be right, he HAS to be mistreated by all these mean horrible women. sorry for ranting, i promise im not mad at you.

[the-owl-tree]

There’s so many toms that I hate because they were shoved into the plot to steal a she-cats story for themselves… it’s SO OBVIOUS when the Erins do this. The she-cats deserve to have just as much of an arc and character depth as the toms do, yet the writing team consistently devolves it’s female cast into accessories for their male counterparts.

Examples:

- Alderheart (blatantly having been written to strip sparkpelt of an arc that so clearly should’ve been her own - ie “the spark that remains” - sparkpelt is then twisted into a xenophobic jerk at the drop of a hat to make alderheart look better than her, when previously she was VERY MUCH in support of SkyClan’s return. What the fuck, Erins??? Sandstorm is also iced for this loser’s manpain.

- Nightheart (basically every she-cat has their personality altered to fit his victim complex, and we all KNOW that Finchlight would’ve been more interesting and deserving of a pov than him. If they kill off spark, finch, or sun to further his angst, I will be so pissed off…

- Tree (violetshine’s character growth, struggles, and arc completely disintegrates with his introduction. in tbc, she’s reduced to your typical background protag mother… while tree remains a major character, and is not only hugely valued by the plot, but also by its characters. violetshine deserved so much better than to be shoved to the sidelines by this random-ass character who was *totally not introduced just to make her into a a generic wife and mother*. that’s not even getting into how stupid the Sisters fiasco is, where ‘waaah tree was oppressed by all the women in his life and kicked out, isn’t he just so tragic and sad???’… good god. that was bizarre

- brambleclaw: probably one of the worst offenders of this, right alongside alderheart. Tawnypelt should’ve gotten his pov, considering her personality in TNP… it seems liked they flipped their stories around just because she’s a she-cat, and they just *had* to make the main protagonist of the arc a tom. very disapointing

- rootspring: bristlefrost’s character arc was absolutley DERAILED by this character, and it’s such a shame. even her most iconic scene, her sacrifice, was primarily focused upon rootspring and his pissbaby manpain. also… needleclaw, anyone? she’s the one who should have the sisters’ abilities, after all, but instead she has none… how does she feel about that? I think exploring that would be much more interesting than ‘whiny loser is upset and feels weird that he can see ghosts in a society that values the ability to see ghosts, gets a girl by being weirdly pushy and not taking ‘no’ for an answer, and goes through extreme manpain after she’s iced to further his development’.

- crowfeather: I don’t have any qualms with early crowPAW, but what I DO have an issue with is just how much feathertail’s death is twisted to revolve around *him*, when, in reality, it should’ve focused on Feathertail herself, as well as her brother. FeatherCrow was just awful in general though… especially considering that her name is only invoked later on as an excuse for crowfeather to be an abuser, implying that he’s justified in hurting his wife and son, as well as leafpool and her kits, ‘because manpain’.

real & true, it sucks seeing how many mollies in the series will have really interesting stories and potential conflicts then have the writing team choose whatever supports the main dude around them. more i think about tree the more annoyed i am that it wasn't violet, the big prophecy kitten who had survived the kin and would have more reason to want to keep the clans from tearing each other's throats out. the mediator role is a dumb one (i say with my mediator oc) but it would have been nice if it was actually a character who we followed who got the position instead of "my mommy is mean to me :(" rando dude who just shows up.

[winns-stuff]

LO RANT (MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNING):

Okay my rant for today is going to go into somewhat of a triggering topic which is abuse and normally I try to just be very vague about the more heavier things on Lore Olympus when ranting about them just so I don’t have to say the actual words or acts or anything but unfortunately for this rant it’s going to really be hammering into the more abusive side of Hades because this sort of situation between the fans have really been irking me badly.

I absolutely hate it when fans try and say that Hades is not abusive and all of his behaviors are just justified and excused because of all of the things he’s been through. The main argument I’ve seen with this topic is that he’s not an abuser because he’s never abused Persephone or Minthe or any of the women he’s been in a relationship with and honestly this sort of mindset is so incredibly flawed and sort of ignorant in the nicest way possible since abuse comes in many different forms believe me I know. You can be verbally abused, emotionally abused, sexually abused, and more it’s not only domestic violence and I just wish more fans would be aware of that and not just count domestic violence as a valid type of abuse (which granted I completely get and in no way am I saying that it shouldn’t be something that’s a form of abuse that shouldn’t be validated).

That way of thinking just makes no sense at all, if abuse only mattered in intimate relationships then abusive parents, teachers, counselors, etc wouldn’t be considered or validated at all. Just because he doesn’t hit women does not make his actions any less abusive, we’re talking about the man who constantly talks down on and willfully uses violence on those who cannot fight back. He has no problem exploiting his own citizens and cutting off their resources and transportation between realms at the drop of a penny and he definitely does not care about the well being of those who have to work for him. He’s an abusive asshole and his actions are absolutely heinous and incredibly distasteful.

Honestly this just makes me ask the question of why, why is Rachel even putting these elements in her story anyways if she’s not going to address it or try to explore these disgusting aspects of our very society. I’m sorry y’all but I do not believe that she doesn’t believe in half of the things she writes about, normally if someone does not agree with problematic elements in their story they’ll make it a point to try and point out its flaws or at the very least show people that “hey, please do not glorify xyz” you know? Like there’s evidence of the creator actively going against the things that they don’t agree with yet Rachel has never come out to say anything. She doesn’t address any of these problematic choices in her own story and instead of actually doing things with them she just keeps them in the story for no fucking reason. The nymphs (who are the lower class might I add and also make up the uncomfortable fantasy racism) should not be sexualized and used as objects for male pleasure. The satyrs and other non gods that live amongst Olympus and the Underworld should not be shown to be in hostile situations by their bosses for literally no other reason other than a few laughs. Persephone should not be sexualized by Rachel every other fucking panel, can we please talk about that soon because it’s getting fairly obvious that Rachel is just using Persephone only to be ogled at and heavily sexualized. The age gap never should’ve happened because again Rachel herself makes it a damn point to remind everyone that Lore Olympus is literally just a “cute” minor x adult fanfic, the whole thing reminds me of lolis and how people defend that shit by saying that they’re adults. And even more stuff but that would be about 400,000 words long at this point.

Anyways, I just want to end this by saying I’m not terribly angry at fans I’m just disappointed and honestly kind of annoyed I wish they would actually reread the things that they’re supporting and defending and actually start to think about what the comic is saying instead of just blindly going along with it. Another point is I do not believe Rachel is the best person and I’d love it if we could finally hold her accountable because I’m sorry but if she genuinely sees no problem with half of this stuff and she’s spreading it around in her award winning 4 million reader comic while there’s an entire fucking community trying to tell her how absolutely harmful and shitty the content is (that she keeps ignoring for a fucking reason might I add) I don’t find myself having much hope that she’s not a bad person, and maybe I am wrong although I genuinely don’t think I am because normally with good people you don’t have to keep wandering and convincing yourself that they’re good since they do that for you by their actions and how she’s been carrying herself these past years have not shown me otherwise.

Edit: With this rant though I do not want to incite any harassment or bullying Rachel’s way because that’s nowhere at all where I was trying to get when I said she needs to be held accountable. Harassment and cyber bullying is genuine asshole behavior and something I really don’t tolerate and besides there’s better ways to hold Rachel accountable that doesn’t require that kind of stuff.

[so-bitya]

kuro characters that would be better to me if they were just women:

bardroy

a rather crass, pyromaniac, middle-aged lady that doesn't know how to cook, makes old man jokes, and hides the sharp intellect of a military strategist, would be an amazing character to interact with ciel and sebastian in day-to-day life.

This would also fix bardroy's rather gross sexist comments he was making at beast "a gal he would've like to have met at a bar", when she's holding the dying figure of her family?? perhaps fem!bardroy would have been a bit more like jane, "a job's a job" attitude about it.

it would also make bardroy more sympathetic in my mind if she was a lady from America who lost her husband and child and decided to join the war at the front lines (perhaps as a nurse, taking every chance to fight) compared to a man who had better opportunities in life. HOWEVER she is still complicit in the genocide of Native Americans and it would take a lot more fixing up of bard's backstory to find him sympathetic again.

lau

lau's whole thing is acting unsuspected and clueless, way more than he knows right? then i think the average british man would be even more unsuspecting making business with a retired female courtesan running an opium den/brothel (which i assume so, i'm not sure if we ever got explicit confirmation lau's girls offer that kind of service)

if fem!lau has personal experience with brothels, even being raised in one, then we could explore an aspect deeply woven in the story that would connect her and ciel, human trafficking. How ciel justifies his actions as watchdog actively fighting against trafficking rings and the trauma he endured being sold in the black market.

She'll have intimate knowledge how human trafficking in england works and how it preys on the vulnerable, especially on minorities and children. a difficult ally to trust, because she could know a lot more about the earl and possibly what happened to him, all the horrible ways one can die in such rings or be abused to the point of envying the dead (perhaps all the girls working at the den are victims she has saved... or we could question if they were really saved without any other options... like a certain troupe i know...)

while male lau just comes off as a pimp. there's not much depth to be explored with his relationship with women even though so much is to be suggested, such as with ran mao and their pseudo brother-sister relationship. it's hard to take their relationship or even ran mao seriously with the constant fan service (the anime was egregious with this aspect). and it comes off so much worse with the sibling aspect.

wolfram

still appalled we had to watch all those women raise sieglinde and get mutilated for her fantasy roleplay, yet die in such horrific ways while wolfram gets completely off the hook? as well as not questioning if they were coerced by the military to go along the plan, just like wolfram was? why is he treated like the one who only cares?? how much agency did these women even have??

anyway, big werewolf hulking mama bear butler would be amazing to add to the cast. and if fem!wolfram survived, maybe this series wouldn't feel so slanted against women :/

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

I made a mistake last time, I said that I read chapters 22-30 when I only read 22-29, but now I have read chapter 30 and also chapters 31-34 so lets talk about those

Its so frustrating how Im more than halfway through this 700 page book thats ostensibly supposed to be about Feyre and Rhysand's complicated relationship developing and theres been no development because the things that should make their relationship complicated have just been completely handwaved. Like, if this book HAS to focus so much on Rhys to the detriment of Feyre, and he also just HAS to be morally good, atleast give him some kind of character arc of bettering himself, right now Im basically just looking at this stagnant statue of a guy through someone elses eyes which doesnt make for a rewarding reading experience

Ive also been noticing more and more weird retcons and idk what to call it, justifications for why Rhys is better even when hes doing the same shit as Tamlin I guess? The two big ones being, when Tamlin blew up that room after Feyre told him that he was suffocating her he did it out of anger, and, Feyre is fine with wearing dresses for the night court because she knows she can go back to wearing Illyrian leathers anytime, which is not how it was at the spring court.

First of all, I keep saying this, I am not a Tamlin girlie, I dont like him that much and hes doing a bad job dealing with Feyre, but you dont need to make shit up to make Feyre's choice to leave feel justified. Like, he was not punching the walls in anger, he felt so bad and guilty about hurting Feyre when all he wants is to keep her safe that his magic went haywire over it. And thats bad enough! I mean Feyre, who has a lot of trouble communicating her feelings, finally managed to tell him everything thats wrong and makes her feel bad and makes healing from her trauma difficult, and he reacts by basically having a panic attack which makes his magic react in a dangerous way. Idk about you, but I would not feel comfortable or even safe expressing my feelings to him, even if he didnt react like that out of anger

Like, Feylin could have just not worked out, it couldve just been disfunctional without being portrayed as abuse but it cant be, I guess because it needs to be abuse in order to justify Feyre leaving him. And thats so strange to me because the idea that women need any kind of ("serious") justification for leaving a relationship is completely anti-thetical to the themes of feminism and choice that this book is trying to go for. Like, why cant a woman just break up with a guy because she stopped feeling it, theres no reason not to break up with a guy who makes you feel bad even if hes not being outright abusive. Although, in this particular story there actually is a reason, which is that if Feyre left Tamlin without a "good" justification then Amarantha would win, she would be proven right about the fickle nature of humans and the pointlessness of their un-eternal love from beyond the grave and that would be a bummer because the first book is about how Love Conquers All, as is the case with pretty much all great romances. So Tamlin's unambigiously abusive now so that that beautiful idea of Love Conquering All doesnt end up being dragged through the dirt. ACOMAF essentially posits that the Love that was supposed to Conquer All isn't real because neither Feyre nor Tamlin were willing or able to truly love each other through their trauma, ergo it didnt actually Conquer All. Thats also why Rhysand isnt meaningfully affected by what should be traumatic events; because while Feyre can love someone through her own trauma, she cant seem love someone whos traumatized themself

I feel like the way I phrased that was pretty harsh, but I do think its kinda true, in a way. Idk man, the thing that makes talking about Feyre's new UTM trauma so difficult is that everyone, including the narrative itself, is expecting her to have worked through it within less than half a year when its like, shes immortal and also living in a world with no therapists, she can take a bit longer than that. I mean hell, everyone in the inner circle is like 500 years and all of their major traumata happened when they were very young and most of them have still not learned how to actually cope with them aside from killing/avoiding the people who caused it (atleast from what Ive seen, especially of Cassian), Feyre might honestly be doing better than all of them but she keeps dogging on herself which, remember, her perspective is objectively correct as of this book, so that sucks

Alright, three paragraphs to talk about that first point, lets move on to talking about the dress thing. I have already observed that it seems like Feyre might stop wearing pants entirely at some point despite how much this particular book keeps going on and on about Tamlin forcing her to wear dresses in conjunction with going on about Tamlin forcing her into a subserviant mother-role, implying that dresses are inherently depowering, and well. I hate that for Feyre but I do love being proved right

And like, okay, I think Feyre hating dresses is another ACOMAF retcon, but its a retcon in a weirdly circular way. Let me explain; in ACOTAR I didnt get the impression that she hated dresses, I thought she just preferred pants because its what she was used to and because for a pretty large chunk of the book she was thinking about fleeing or was in situations where she needed to run away from something and pants were just more practical for that. But when she trusted the fae a bit more and a special occasion came up or she wanted to make Tamlin feel flustered (? that one doesnt make that much sense to me tbh), she did ask for dresses to wear and only felt a little embarrassed about it because she didnt usually wear them. I didnt even get the impression that she hated the impractical rich noblewoman dress they put her in when she was sent back to the human world, just that she found it really silly and unfitting for her. And I do think her being willing to wear dresses was supposed to be a signifier of her healing journey and her learning how to be gentle and let herself be loved in that book

Then ACOMAF comes around and she suddenly hates wearing dresses, which also ties into her suddenly becoming some kind of adrenaline junkie when she previously wanted to live a peaceful and comfortable life. Now, granted, the difference is that in ACOTAR she wore dresses that she explicitly asked to wear, whereas in ACOMAF Tamlin just assumes that she will always wear dresses by virtue of her being a woman without asking Feyre about it at any point (I know Ianthe was actually more involved in the dress-stuff, but the narrative is making Tamlin responsible for it so Im just gonna go along with it for simplicity's sake). Thats reasonable enough

But then a little further into ACOMAF we have Rhysand doing the exact same thing, hes assuming that she will wear dresses for the sake of keeping up appearances and helping him with his politics (and also, he's assuming that she will let herself be sexualized via the apple-breast comment in front of Tarquin (and later the CoN-UTM reeanactment scene)) and hes right, because of course he is. But the reason its fine when Rhysand does it, I guess, is because he keeps reassuring her that she has a choice in these matters when she really doesnt. Like, did he pack some illyrian leathers just in case Feyre didnt want to wear the dresses he got her? If he did, theres been no mention of it. Theres also been no mention of him asking her if she preferred to wear pants or a dress for the Summer Court mission, even though it seems to me that harem pants are considered to be unisex in the Night Court while they seem to be considered distinctly masculine in places like the Spring Court

And then we get to the thing about this dress-stuff that makes me call it a 'weirdly circular retcon'; while Nuala is dressing Feyre up for her date with Tarquin, for lack of a better term, she looks at herself in the mirror and thinks about how maybe, after everything shes been through that forced her to become hard, shes starting to heal and can finally let herself be feminine and soft and pretty. If you'll recall from a few paragraphs ago, that already happened to Feyre in ACOTAR except it was more subtle, I dont remember her just straight-up thinking about it like she does in this scene in ACOMAF. So its the same thing, but instead of her wearing dresses that she excplicitly asked to wear, shes wearing dresses that her new bf picked out for her and all but made her wear

And honestly, thats a really good way of summarizing the differences between Feylin and Feysand and the way Feyre gets treated in these book, which is why I wrote so fucking much about this pretty insignificant detail

Surprisingly enough, Im not done with this monster of a post yet, because I have some stuff to say about the Summer Court

The way Cresseida was introduced and treated made me have what Im just gonna call an angry epiphany. Like, before she came along I just thought the feminism of this series was very shallow and very white, but after her introduction I was just angrily thinking to myself "How the FUCK is this series considered feminist in any way?! The three types of women that exist in this story are literally Protagonist's Sisters (characterized as Haughty Bitch and Infantilized Clueless Cinnamon Roll Who Can Do No Wrong respectively), Protagonist's Slaves Servants Who Are Inexplicably Always Darkskinned Women and Promiscuous Bitches"

Varian seemed fine, but I dont like that he seems to have something going on with Amren. I know I said I didnt particularly like her, but I did still kinda latch onto her as my aroace rep so I find that very disappointing. But I guess thats on me for having expectations like that of the most amatonormative book series Ive ever read

So, from observing this part of the fandom prior to reading the books, it seemed that if sjm critical people dont like Feylin, theyll usually like Feyquin as an alternative to the horrible but canon Feysand. Despite that, I didnt have the highest expectations because honestly, it not much harder for a character to be a better love interest than ACOTAR!Tamlin and Rhysand. Like, the thing about Tamlin is that he was a really boring guy but hes a very good love interest, and the thing about Rhysand is that hes also really boring and hes a very bad love interest, so I thought "okay, I know Tarquin is the youngest and he has that whole thing about actively wanting equality for faeries but no one taking him seriously because everyone thinks hes inexperienced, OBVIOUSLY hes more interesting than the guys who can access their power with no issue, and then he'll just be kinda flirty towards Feyre, as SJM MaLeS usually are and that makes him a decent enough potential love interest I guess" and thats all true but idk, actually reading about him made me like him sooooo much. Like, him and Feyre telling each other theyre easy to love? Mwah, gorgeous. I bet Rhys is really glad he has that mating bond because without it his sorry ass would NOT be able to compete with Tarquin

So now my list of m/f Feyre ships goes Feyquin > Feycien > Feylin and Feyre/Azriel are on about the same level to me I think > Feysand (not including feyssian bc I think its a crime to ship cassian with a woman sry)

I specify m/f Feyre ships because if I included all of the Feyre ships, Feyanthe would be at the very top followed by Feyre/Amren. Idk, I know its obscure, but when she was describing how Amren was wearing a crop top she said something like "a sliver of skin was left exposed, as tempting as a calm lake" and I was like oh? 👀 Those guys have potentialllllllll I mean who needs Mates when youre both Made amiright fellas. Also, Feyre/Mor would go above Feysand

Anyway, thats it from me again, I hope you enjoyed this

[the-most-humble-blog]

How Disney Turned Star Wars Into Boner Kryptonite: A Deep Dive Into the Feminist Force That Ruined the Galaxy

“The Rise of Space Wokeness and the Fall of Male Dignity”

Let’s be real: Disney didn’t just buy Star Wars—they neutered it, slapped it with glitter, and handed the reins to writers who probably think the original trilogy is “problematic.” What used to be a testosterone-fueled space opera has devolved into a pastel-colored girl-brand where the Force is female, men are morons, and any trace of male empowerment has been sent to a galaxy far, far away.

And now, we have The Acolyte: a masterclass in how to make straight men everywhere vomit in their popcorn. Let’s talk about it.

1. Lesbian Space Witches: “We Don’t Need Men, Except to Kill Them”

So, The Acolyte introduces us to the concept of “lesbian space witches,” because apparently Star Wars wasn’t edgy enough. These witches spend their screen time practicing dark magic, wielding the Force, and reminding us that men are the root of all galactic problems.

Disney didn’t just go for girl power—they went for girl annihilation. It’s like they sat down and said, “What’s the quickest way to alienate the OG fanbase? Oh, I know! Lesbian witches in space!”

It’s not that lesbians in space can’t work—it’s that these characters feel like someone’s feminist revenge fantasy brought to life. And when you pair it with the next atrocity, you get a franchise so off-brand it makes Ewok adventures look like cinematic genius.

2. The Acolyte and the Jedi Love Triangle of WTF

Let’s not forget the main storyline: a girl falls in love with a dude who MURDERED her entire Jedi shift. Like, brutally. I’m talking lightsabers and limbs flying everywhere. And instead of vengeance, she decides, “Yeah, he’s kind of hot, though.”

Excuse me, what? Is this Star Wars or Twilight fan fiction? Who decided that the best way to tell a compelling Jedi story was with a romantic subplot pulled straight from the “toxic relationships are sexy” playbook? Oh, but wait, there’s more!

3. The Simp Jedi: Master Sol, King of the Weaklings

Master Sol deserves a whole section to himself. Here’s a guy who raised the main character like a daughter, only to be Force choked to death by her while he whispers, “It’s alright.”

IT’S ALRIGHT?! My guy WTF? She’s killing you, and your last words are basically, “You slay, bitch!”? This isn’t character depth; it’s a PSA for male submission. Master Sol’s entire existence is a Disney wet dream of what they think men should be: apologetic, weak, and ready to die for the sake of “female empowerment.”

4. Harvey Weinstein’s Ex-Assistant: The Icing on the Shit Cake

Oh, and did I mention the show’s producer is Harvey Weinstein’s ex-personal assistant? Yes, because clearly someone with that kind of pedigree should be lecturing us about morality and misogyny.

The producer justified Master Sol’s death as “revenge against benign misogyny” and “a rite of passage for women to rebel against their fathers’ teachings.” Oh, cool, so Disney is now officially advocating patricide as a feminist milestone? Great message, guys. Let’s just skip lightsaber training and go straight to therapy.

Also, calling Master Sol’s behavior “benign misogyny” is laughable. Dude was the ultimate beta, and they still found a way to justify his death. What’s next? A Jedi knight getting canceled for mansplaining the Force?

5. The Bigger Problem: Disney’s Galactic War on Men

Disney has turned Star Wars into a shiny platform for feminist rage. Every male character is either a doormat, a villain, or completely irrelevant. Meanwhile, the female characters are written like they came from a Tumblr blog circa 2014: overpowered, underdeveloped, and painfully preachy.

The original trilogy was about balance—light and dark, male and female. Now it’s just dark-sided feminism with a splash of rainbow marketing. Where’s the grit? The stakes? The fun? It’s all gone, replaced with space witches and feminist vengeance fantasies.

Final Thoughts

Disney has taken Star Wars from epic space battles to soap opera-level drama with a side of woke virtue-signaling. And The Acolyte is the pinnacle of this mess: a show designed to make men squirm, women cheer, and the original fanbase run for the hills.

Want more unapologetic takes on the madness of modern media? Follow The Most Humble Blog for brutally honest breakdowns and enough laughs to make up for whatever Disney does next. Because let’s face it—things can only get weirder from here.

[hieronymph]

Hey, so I saw your most recent post and I don't want to argue because I completely get where you're coming from, I'm not trying to change your views or your mind, I'm just trying to show you a Hindu perspective :)

The reason people celebrate Hindu holidays so much in India is because that's a part of the culture, EVERYTHING is celebrated big. I do agree it's too much sometimes most of the time, and I also firmly believe governments should not be religious ANYWHERE, but the reason for this is because Indian Hindus are really really happy to finally be able to express their culture again! When the Mughals came, you were killed if you didn't convert, and being Hindu was frowned upon. When the British came, being anything but white, and most of all Hindu, was atrocious. We were killed and tortured and our history was erased all because of that. More people have died in the Bengal famine curated by the British than Jews in the Holocaust. That's how much we've lost. That's the reason India is in such a shitty place right now. In terms of numbers, India has lost more to colonization than ANY other country, and people want to avenge that by celebrating! I'm not saying it's an excuse, but I'm saying it's justified in a way.

Also, about Rama just saving Sita for pr and then leaving her, that isn't actually part of the Ramayana. And also, it was written to criticise Rama, and it was to show how powerful Sita was. She was able to walk through fire in that story, because she was so pure. In the beginning of the Ramayana, the reason her dad wanted to see who could lift the bow was because Sita lifted it when she was a baby. She was able to survive under the kidnapping of a man who took armies to defeat.

Once again, you're very much entitled to your opinions, but I do want to share my personal thoughts on behalf of the Hindus™ :))

I am literally a born Hindu 😂

We have been able to express our religion much better than other people at least in our country.

I am an atheist now after realizing how awful our religion is to women and people of lower castes.

The amount of victimization and supposed oppression you are talking about is not even a thing of today or at least for the past 100 years. Hindus have always been a majority in India.

I am in no way doubting Sita's strength. I'm calling out the supposed pure and noble God to be a deadbeat husband. It doesn't matter if he was forced or misled. He had enough power to support his wife and he didn't. If anyone does that in today's time, we would wholeheartedly be angry at them.

I don't know who you are fooling with such delusional thoughts. The government nor the religion has your back. They are as bad as organized crime.

Believing in Hindu Gods is one thing and celebrating supposed festival to such an extent that it causes people problem is another. Especially, when the supposed festival is clearly a PR move for vote bank politics by Modi who is very famously anti secular.

[atopearth]

Ikemen Revolution Part 17 - Dalim "Dum" Tweedle Route

It seems like I was so disappointed with the announcement that IkeRev wouldn't get any more routes translated (my Blanc route😭😭😭) that I didn't even realise I never did Dalim/Dum's route lol! I guess better late than never? I love how protective all the Black Army guys were the moment Dum kissed her hand hahaha, understandable if his nickname is the infamous playboy of Central though haha! I wonder why he gets sick from time to time, I haven't played this game in so long I've completely forgotten if it was explained in a previous route haha. Anyway, it was hilarious how Dum collapsing is such a common occurrence that all the women run to take care of him when it happens. He seems insistent on the heroine just because she's not like the other girls who fawn all over him lol. Of course she'll have to work at his tavern to get to know him better haha. Anyway, I wonder if the reason why Dum is always collapsing and stuff is because he's running out of magic power inside him and is going to die if he keeps using it? I forgot his circumstances and story since it's been so long haha. It's actually kinda cute how both Dean and Dum are so adamantly against the heroine calling them so identical that they've got to be related somehow hahaha.

I wonder, if the heroine agreed to run away with Dum, would he have left everything here and ran away with her, or would he have just thought it was an easy way to kidnap her to the Magic Tower? I'm inclined to think it's the former since he does seem fond of the heroine and hoped that she would pick that so she wouldn't have to suffer. I'm not sure how I should feel for Dalim because the fact that he's literally creating these test subject humans to harvest great amounts of magic because the Magic Tower can't keep up with the supply for the populace is just crazy. I knowww the heroine wouldn't abandon Dalim when he's in pain but it still frustrates me to see the heroine caged up not being able to do anything. I think what I'm having an issue with this route right now that gives me a sense of distaste is how it tries to justify Dalim's actions and reasoning. The banishment of Levie to the Land of Looking Glass could be understood as there being no choice because they couldn't handle his overflowing magic that already killed his mother when she gave birth to him, but the fact that they abandoned him not because they thought he was too dangerous to handle but because they found no worth in doing further research with him and getting any result from it? That's just cruel. They not only sealed the entrance to the place but left him isolated because they just didn't care for him. Then the Magic Tower's reasoning that they need more magic crystals because they can't keep up with the demand, understandable, but they're obviously in dire straits but what they care about isn't that the people will run out of magic supply but that they will lose the monopolised power they hold as the people who manage these crystals and distribute them. They're not concerned about people's lives, they're concerned about their place in society so having the heroine think that this is just an issue of different perspectives grates my nerves, because it's not, the Magic Tower or at least the higher ups have no regard to the people, otherwise they would discuss other ways and solutions and not focus on magic circuits. What also annoys me is the heroine's beating heart when Dalim does anything, like lady, whyyy, please have some respect for yourself. I'd say that Dalim is most interested in research of magic itself rather than helping people though which is not a problem, just not admirable considering what he does to achieve his goals. I guess the only solace is that the heroine is against Dalim's methods regardless, since it sacrifices people, but she'll help with the research just to lower the amount of sacrifices because that's the only thing she can do. Anyway, Dalim is probably doing all the stuff he's doing to protect his brother like Seth protects his sister, and he's caging the heroine to protect her in his own way but yeah, doesn't mean I like it. I won't deny that when Dalim protected her from Amon and was ready to cover her from a full-on magical attack, I was quite touched. I'm too easy like the heroine after all😂

I completely forgot that Oliver was from the Land of Reason and Amon and Dalim experimented on him! That's difficult to forgive. But obviously, Dalim is only doing his best to survive in his own way. He can't escape Amon, he either lives as a test subject or as his disciple and the latter is the only way to live like a person and survive, and one day kick him off his position, so honestly despite everything, I do feel bad for him and understand why he's done what he's done. He's never had true freedom to choose what he wants to do. I think it was kinda cute how the heroine said she'll be the prince who saves Dalim who is trapped in this tower, I think he needed those words. I'm glad that finally kicked Dalim to get Harr to save the heroine from being stuck in this tower. Well, I guess I should apologise to Dalim for thinking he actually did inhumane experiments in the past. I'm relieved to know that ever since he was a kid, he and Dean never compromised their thoughts and beliefs, the only sad thing was that they both failed escaping together, causing Dalim to sacrifice himself to be the sole test subject to protect others, and to allow Dean to live a life outside the tower. I guess this route encapsulates the whole idea of a revolution against Amon, freeing both Cradle and Dalim from his overbearing authority. It was sweet to see Jonah save Luka, I always look forward to the brothers getting along better. It was still sad to watch Seth turn against them though, especially since it seemed like Seth was actually going to hurt Luka. It was nice to see both Dean and the heroine save Dalim, and for Dalim to have a reduced sentence basically. I kinda thought I would look forward to the romance between Dalim and the heroine but I sadly didn't feel it at all so even though they finally got to get together, I actually found the heroine's boundless and all forgiving love rather difficult to believe in a sense. Anyway, I'm glad Dalim didn't leave to go to the Land of Reason with the heroine because that would have been disappointing for him as a person but interesting story-wise I guess lol. But I think that suggestion is exactly what makes me even more strongly think we had to suspend a lot of belief in the heroine's morality and views on what's right just because of "love". The only thing I liked was them working together forever in the bar lol.

Overall, I'm not a fan of Dalim's route. I had high hopes because I'm into "villains" but I think Dalim's route rubs me in the wrong way through the heroine's thoughts and perspective. I mean, I didn't mind his backstory and stuff because it was to be expected that he was protecting Dean and didn't have a choice etc but I really didn't like how throughout the whole route once the heroine got captured, even though she likes to acknowledge that the things Dalim is doing is "wrong", she is always justifying his actions and the way he did things. I feel like the romance made it difficult for me to like this route because the heroine always had a fluttering heart for the smallest things and even when he does questionable things to her and the world of Cradle, but it's like no, my heart is beating fast so I think he's not bad lol. I just feel like so many things the heroine ignored because of her "love" and honestly, if it was a love that made sense to me, whether it be evil or toxic or anything, I wouldn't mind, but instead it felt like she just downplayed everything that was done because of his "reasons" and then makes her life revolve around him? Anyway, maybe I'm just old and cynical lol, but I just didn't end up enjoying this route that much because I feel like so much of it was spent on parts I didn't care as much about. I never felt like I truly got to understand better and more of Dalim's thoughts and feelings towards Dean or even on the Magic Tower and everything. I felt like all we saw was a shallow side of him and I guess that's why I'm disappointed. I'll admit that he's hot though.