#and the present is bc it would be a huge betrayal of her character to dress her in something 'traditionally' feminine from that time frame

[xfindingtrouble]

so in one of my recent posts, I mentioned that Percy has the mentality of ' how effective are my actions ' over ' how will my actions affect things ' & I wanted to dig a little deeper into that. so here we are.

we'll start with top 10 most brutal anime betrayals: Percy leaving Cassandra behind. he assumes she's dead without checking because this is the most effective course of action. in this moment of brutal survival, he chooses survival over emotion. there is of course the instinct to care for his sister, the desire to scoop her up & take her with him. but in reality, he knows that would have just gotten him caught or killed as well. he doesn't have time to weigh these decisions, he just makes one & it establishes this instinct if that makes sense? yes, the stakes are high but I feel like it speaks to such lengths that this is where he went when there was no time to think. he chooses the most effective path to change his present, to keep pushing on regardless of the implication of what that means. for not only him but also his sister if she WAS dead [ which she was, I just think Delilah brought her back but that is a conversation for another day ]

of course, we can't talk about Percy's decision-making process without bringing up his invention of ' The List ' as it is such a huge part of his character. it's stated over & over again that Percy knew what bringing guns into the world would do & he did it anyway because he knew he could use that kind of destruction to his advantage. In a time when he is powerless, he figures out a way to have power regardless of what it costs. for the bigger picture, for the people who would be affected by it, he didn't even read into what it would cost to create it. Of course, he didn't know his soul was in the mix but I don't think that would have deterred him. again its effect vs affect. if he's getting his revenge, why does he matter after that?

which we can sort of see through the Whitestone arc as he starts to understand that something is going on with his gun but chooses to use it anyways. we can see it super clearly in him giving Grog the cursed, talking sword because it can be used. in grog's hands, it's borderline unstoppable & vox machina can use that to their advantage. regardless of what it costs Grog or the people around him. which is soo ironic coming out of a place where he was fighting possession??? it's almost a moment of ' we no longer have THIS evil power so we need THIS one in its place'. bcs i have nooo doubt in my mind he would have kept using the list if scanlan shorthalt wasn't a genius. but the violence is a part of the appeal of it! because the violence adds to its effectiveness, the brutality means it will accomplish what he needs it to.

how could I make this post abt percy not thinking about the implications of things without mentioning the temple of the raven queen. exhibit (a) in how his impulsiveness hurts people. about how him having this tunnel vision surrounding what they can use to succeed, thus blinding him to how it can hurt the others involved. he see's this vestige, so close he can almost taste it & doesn't think about the implications of reaching out to take it. He gets vex killed! gets vax tangled up in the clutches of the raven queen! [ i think she would have got him regardless but percy was the spark that lit the fuse here ] & his inability to go ' wow how are people going to be affected by this ' hurts the person he wants to protect! the person he wants to impress! the person he wants to survive it all! it is the first real wake-up call when he looks at himself & reassesses how he does things but he simmers on things sooo long before approaching internal battles like that. the longer he can put it off, the better in his book. but this isn't sustainable, this doesn't work in the longevity of relationships!

then we're going to revisit his stance on weapons, again, because retort is a whollle big part of this too. he's looking at this weapon he can use to replace the one he's lost. to get that power back that he feels is no longer in his hand. he doesn't read between the lines because he doesn't want to see what they say. this attempt to avoid any emotions connected to wielding anna ripley's gun drive him to be impulsive, stupid & only look at how he can use this weapon. how effective it can be on the battlefield vs. any emotional backlash he can get from where it came from. this leaves a massive opening for ripley to continue listening to them through the weapon & actively work against vm. this being said, i do think this is The Big Moment where he realizes how this approach cannot be sustained. dying is just the kick in his ass that makes him think ' ok maybe i SHOULD do something about this

looking at the moment in bard's lament when he calls kaylie a miserable girl & threatens scanaln with being miserable like her. he doesn't think about the emotional implications of this. he doesn't think of kaylie who might hear him say this, he doesn't think of how it will affect scanlan. all he can think is 'How can i make him feel what i'm feeling' bcs he thinks, somehow, that will pave the path to scanlan wanting the same thing as him. but it doesn't work that way!! & logically he knows that, but that's not the instinct. the instinct is to lash out, to hit him back & hope it works. except it doesn't & for good fucking reason.

i also have the theory that he picked up this mentality from ripley & observed / mirrored it because he sees how effective it is & that is part of why he's like crippled emotionally. because if he reflects these bits of her, what is stopping him from reflecting other bits of her??? but again, that is another conversation for another day.

there are soo many more examples of this that i will probably dig into some other time but, to sum it up.. we know percy is willing to do some unconventional things. we know he operates in this moral grey area where he weighs his personal goals against the overarching good. he likes to choose good but it is not always the choice he can make. especially when looking at it from what he believes to be a logical place? which is not always the case.

but i think this place also comes from so long suppressing so much of himself. when he feels something, it often translates as fear which translates as frustration there is always this cycle when he gets emotionally invested in something that is sooo hard to beat. so instead he boils it down to what he can do with something, what he can accomplish if he throws those bits out of the window??? which is a habit he tries to break but is ingrained sooo deeply inside of him that all he can do is find a way to balance it. it is always going to be a tool in his arsenal he just learns how to wield it with more grace as he grows older, loses friends, understands his emotions so on & so forth. but anyways that's my two cents on the subject

[dragonsbone]

Hi!! I've fallen in love with your GoT oc Joanna and I was wondering if I could please be added to the tag list?

I was also wondering if you could say how Joanna's going to get along with Elia Sand! What's their relationship going to be like? Oh and is she going to have any time with the Tyrells? Or Sansa? What's her relationship going to be like with Oberyn? I'm so excited for all the edits and gifs you make!!

hi there !! and yes ofc i can add u, thank u sm for asking !!

so i haven’t met elia sand in the books yet ( i have just started reading the series too so it may take me a while to get to that point ), but from what i read on the wiki, josana and elia would definitely bond over their love of horses. josana grew up loving horses because of her mother, laissa. she takes the time to read and learn the different breeds, diseases, best ways of riding, etc. it’s one of the many things that sets her apart from her uncle and it’s a part of her childhood that remains untouched and tainted after years of tywin crafting her into being his pawn. elia is definitely no lady by any means, so there would obviously be a difference in that aspect, but i think their dynamic would be interesting to reach at some point !! elia seems super fucking cool and i absolutely love this quote from her “i am almost a woman grown, ser. i'll let you spank me, though ... but first you'll need to tilt with me, and knock me off my horse.” like how iconic !!

funny how u mention the tyrells because i am in the process of really deep diving with brainstorming to formulate their dynamics. i will be including willas and maybe garlan, but probably only by mention. not sure yet. most definitely willas bc he’s the heir to highgarden and josana was former queen of the north and bore a male heir. now that sansa is wed to tyrion, josana is the next option for the tyrells to undermine the lannisters. it doesn’t go as far at all like it’s quickly snuffed out by tywin and gives josana a truly awful match, but it’s all part of my plans ehehehehehe. anyways, for the rest of the tyrells, the dynamics are still tentative as i need to understand who these characters are from show vs books. once i have those similarities and differences figured out perfectly, then i can easily plot it !!

so,,,, sansa,,,, this one is complicated bc i made a huge change to josana’s story ( for the better to reinforce my themes, but it’s an even angstier change ). starting off in the beginning when they’re both in winterfell, sansa wants to impress josana as she does with princess myrcella, joffrey, cersei, etc. josana is to marry her brother and they would become family, so they are spending time getting to know each other and bonding! josana always liked sansa and vice versa !! very very good terms. and then the war happened. sansa being alone in king’s landing surrounded by lannisters is not pleasant by any means. and her opinion on josana changes drastically over time bc of all the scandalous rumors, but most importantly,,,, the red wedding. a cliff note’s version: josana is outed by lord walder frey for her treason against the starks, which he knew bc of tywin. he makes a toast to her after everyone’s been slaughtered except robb and catelyn and says “this is the fruit of her labor” and from then on, she is known as a traitorous bitch, the queen who lost the north, the widow queen, etc. though sansa is never present at the red wedding, word travels fast and rumors spread like wildfire. i do have positive plans in the future for josana and sansa, but i really need to plan out the best and most realistic approach to tackle my changes since i didn’t initially plan on josana’s betrayal to ever be revealed, especially in that horrible situation. it’s tricky, but hopefully i can come up with the best option to have a brighter future for their dynamic bc i love sansa so much. her and josana go through similar ( yet still wildly different ) paths and female friendships mean sm to me !!

i LOVE josana and oberyn SO MUCH !!!!!!!!! my partners in crime and sexy fwb !! i have a whole ask dedicated to them here, but i’ll happily talk about them more if u have any other questions specifically !!

i apologize for how long this is, i got carried away. but thank u so so so much for asking all of these questions !! i am super tired so i apologize for any rambling or spelling/grammar errors, but i hope these provided some insight on josana’s story !! if u would like to know anything else, feel free to shoot another ask, and i’ll happily answer anything <3

[lmanburgseulogy]

DISCLAIMER THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE I HAVE A HUGE BIAS FOR LMANBURG!!!!!!!

Okay so everyone PLEASE go read this

It explains why c!eret betrayed l’manburg. very good and accurate def recommend!

I think when it comes to the final control room there’s three main factors you have to consider for c!eret. It’s reason, regret, and redemption.

But I also think it’s important to note the way it effected the victims, because no matter how many reasons eret had for it, it can’t really erase the fact they were killed and betrayed. It sucked very bad.

Eret had many reasons to betray l’manburg, and a lot of them were from dream’s manipulation. That’s something that gets brushed over TONS. I’m not gonna expand on this much bc I put the link at the top but yk.

c!eret seemed very ignorant when it came to the real after effects of the fcr. and that could’ve been out of fear or distraction. This ignorance became apparent to me when she talks about having peace again/ or reuniting the server. I think c!Dream distracted him so much with those goals, to the point where he didn’t even realize the fcr would only split the server more. It’s also not hard to believe she could’ve just been too scared to acknowledge the real consequences, and she would figure it out later. This ignorance made the regret a lot heavier on Eret.

(The regret Eret dealt with is one of my favorite parts about the character hehehehehh)

Immediately after the fcr, Eret appears to not regret it at all. The wars still going and she’s sided with the dsmp. L’manburg bars her out (literally) and she seems pleased. But I honestly don’t think it’s a hard jump to make that the guilt was slowly getting to him. I also think he was realizing the true gravity of it all, how close they were to winning, it could’ve been over if she didn’t betray them. (THAT PART MAKES ME SHAKE MY FIST AT ERET. THEY COULD’VE WON AND IT WOULD’VE BEEN NORMAL AGAIN!!!!! but obviously it was too late to back out, dream would’ve killed her lol) But now the wars still going, l’manburg’s not giving up, and all she’s done is killed her best friends. Eret clearly regrets it, it’d be impossible not too.

As the story goes on we see Eret’s regret surface as she goes into her redemption arc. We see Eret realize what she did was horrible, and how the reasons were pointless in the first place because dream didn’t even hold them up. So she begins redeeming herself by acts and apologies.

But here’s the thing

c!Eret did a lot of great things. I mean that so genuinely. she put everything she had into making it up to her old friends. His life became fixing her legacy. To the point where her self esteem crumbled, and began to idolize the people she hurt. She wanted to give her friends justice and closure.

But with things as big as murder, forgiveness can’t be earned. The trauma of the fcr changed their lives so much, they shouldn’t be obligated to forgive Eret. Eret’s redemption is because she wants to fix things, not because he wants forgiveness. And I think she truly tried to understand that. Even if she slips up every now and then.

That’s my very summarized take on c!eret. She’s not a saint, but there’s a lot of things to remember when talking about the fcr. Yeah

Okay now onto how I feel about the fcr room in general as a l’manburg truther because oh my GOSHHHHHHHHH. THEY WERE SO CLOSE GUYS THEY WERE ALMOST WINNING THE WAR. WE ALMOST HAD INDEPENDENCE AND THEY WERE ALL SO EXCITED THEY DIDNT EVEN CONSIDER C!ERET LEADING THEM INTO A DARK HOLE IN THE GROUND WASNT SAFE. AND THEY DIED AND IT EFFECTED THEM FOREVER. DO YOU GUYS EVER THINK ABOUT C!TOMMY’S ANGER TOWARDS C!ERET. BECAUSE THEY LOST ALL THEIR TOOLS AND WERE FORCED TO SURRENDER. BUT TOMMY COULDN’T GIVE UP BECAUSE HE WAS ANGRY AND HIS BROTHER TOLD HIM TO SACRIFICE IT ALL FOR THEIR HOME. AND HE WAS WILLING DO YOU GUYS THINK ABOUT “your life matters more than the revolution,” AND HOW THAT PROBABLY SOLIDIFIED THEIR TRUST IN WILBUR. ONLY FOR HIM TO DIE IN A ROOM DESIGNED TO LOOK LIKE THE FCR!!!!! HOW IT MADE WILBUR SO PARANOID OF EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING. DO YOU GUYS THINK ABOUT C!FUNDY BEING SO YOUNG IN THE FCR. ARGHHH THEY COULD’VE ALL BEEN HAPPY GUYS.

Counterpoint to the previous ask: ceret knew damn well the lmanbergians would die, he just didn't realize how badly it would affect him

This is a lot more accurate, but to repeat myself once again eret was manipulated by dream. I think their ask was mainly from a headcanon stand point

[sanstropfremir]

Omg! I saw you briefly mentioned Tomorrow in an ask and I just finished the show. I have so many thoughts about it and not sure if they’re all good but I would love to hear your opinion about the overall show (especially the distinct costume design of each character and the set design!!). For a show that navigated some heavy material — it was full of such bright color and fun fashion decisions! Unsure if you talk about shows but I thought to ask because you always provide such interesting and thoughtful critiques.

THE COSTUME DESIGN IN TOMORROW!!!!!! it's soooooooooooo good it was one of the things that kept me watching bc yes there some glaringly obvious problems with the script. the production/set design are excellent too, especially for jumadeung. literally framing it as a company is a.....choice, but visually framing it with art deco style architecture a la the chrysler building is a smart way to keep it feeling outside time, because our brains still interpret art deco as a relatively modern style because of its scarcity and association with wealth, but in reality art deco is approaching it's centennial in just a couple of years.

ok i'm gonna talk about some major plot beats so spoiler warning for anyone who hasn't finished the show or cares about that kind of thing.

tbh i actually think the best costume design was in the scenes with all the team leaders because they were so quick and so infrequent but each of them had such a clear signature that tbh i spent like five minutes stopping and starting that first intro scene where we see everyone just to try and pick up all the little details.

other than that though, they do such a good job with koo ryeon, joong-gil and ryung-gu and interpreting how very old/essentially immortal characters would interpret clothing and what they would be comfortable in. jun-woong is fine, but the show itself kind of acknowledges by the back half that really he's the vehicle for the rest of their stories, so imo his design choices are all intentionally wallflower-y. but koo ryeon, joong-gil, and ryung-gu all share some key character traits: they're all extremely loyal, dedicated, defensive, AND they all lived their formative lives pre the invention of the zipper and stretch fabric. i know this sounds like a very weird point to make, but trust me on this one, i'll get to it. and all three of these characters embody all of these traits in their clothing. many of the creature comforts that we associate with fashion are very very modern, think within the last 100-150 years. zippers? the 1910s. spandex/lycra/synthetic stretch fabrics? 1958. hell, even the concept of sportswear and leisure clothing only started cropping up in the mid 1800s. for a lot of cultures and for long periods of history, clothing consisted of a lot of layers and a fair amount of internal structure, by virtue of fabric being a solid weave. for a significant portion of their lives, all three of these characters were wearing anywhere between two and probably five layers at all times, with koo ryeon and joong-gil for about 250yrs longer and also with much more intricacy due to their higher class. clothing plays a very big part into how someone presents themselves to the world, and it can be a protective measure. this might be a bit difficult for some to understand for some, especially in our modern 'comfort first' fashion culture, but the structure and weight of a lot of layers and the rituals around getting dressed a specific way can be both a defensive mechanism and also a physical comfort. you see it with older generations and their likelihood of wearing older styles/styles that were 'on trend' in their youth; think grannies who still get their hair permed and put on lipstick every time they leave the house, or someone like my grandfather, who never stopped wearing the same style of highwaisted slacks and dress shirts from the early 60s. and i think it's a very fair trait to extrapolate to characters who 1) have had particularly traumatic lives, 2) have spent a very long time wearing the same thing, and 3) have a textually noted extended/different understanding of time.

let's start with joong-gil, who exclusively wears a three piece suit post-becoming a reaper. this means he's wearing at least three well structured layers, and i'd be willing to bet that he'd be the type to wear a singlet/underlayer as well, which brings that total up to four. he's also frequently shown wearing an additional jacket (five layers) and gloves, another further barrier. given the fact that jumadeung appears to have 'westernized' aesthetically when korea was freed from japanese colonial rule***, three piece suits were still standard business attire. and he's very strict about his own dress code, he's either in white shirt and three piece or a black shirt and three piece. obviously this is also a physical manifestation of his discipline and dedication of the 'rules', as we can see that when he deviates from that uniform it is as a specific character point for him. the most notable instances of this are in the last episode, where he's wearing a turtleneck (but still a waistcoat) when jun-woong goes to try and reason with him, and then again later in the episode when joong-gil is taking his punishment in his shirtsleeves. and then for a third time at the very end of the episode, where his black three piece has been exchanged for a grey one, signalling his softening and the merging of his two selves (his pre-reaper self that wore mostly lighter colours, and his post-reaper self that wore mostly black).

unsurprisingly, koo ryeon is also a very defensive dresser. all the same observations from joong-gil apply here, but with koo ryeon instead of her being a dedicated rule-follower, her dedication manifests as rule-breaking in order to achieve her goals; as you can see she wears a lot of colours in counter to joong-gil's monochrome. but i think the most interesting of her visual 'rule-breaking' is that she doesn't particularly follow the convenions of 'feminine' coded dressing. this is most noticable in when the rm team goes on 'assignment' in different workplaces, where ryeon will wear nearly identical suits to jun-woong and ryung-gu (interestingly, it's pointedly not her wearing men's clothes, she's always wearing a 'female' version even if the cuts are virtually identical. you can tell bc the button closures are opposite). she also dresses very 'modestly', she doesn't show any skin at all and more notably, she doesn't wear anything form fitting. she favours boxy and bulky shapes with a predominance for longer lines and wider shapes on her lower body. now there's two reasons to speculate for this: the first is the same as for joong-gil, that she's very used to layers and a specific silhouette, especially considering that the shape of female hanbok is not even close to being form-fitting and has heavy skirting. and the second is that her trauma is directly tied to people's perception of her femininity. literally the reason ryeon died is because she was stigmatized for 'using her femininity to get out of an adverse situation' even though we are explicitly shown that that is emphatically not the case. thus her rejection of more western feminine silhouettes is directly related to how she wants there to be no question that the reason she is so accomplished at her job is purely because of her skills, and not for any other reason.

and ryung-gu! more similar to koo ryeon in style than joong-gil, but again they all share that propensity for numerous heavy and obscurative layers that echoes a more traditional style of dress. because ryung-gu is younger (literal age wise but also i'm pretty sure he died younger as well) there's a little more flexibility in his materials and cuts, and because he's of a lower class than koo ryeon and joong-gil, he tends towards less formal shapes too. although i would not describe koo ryeon as a 'formal' dresser, she wears a lot of blazers and two piece suits, as well as heavy wools and fabrics that are generally associated with business and formalwear. ryung-gu however, almost exclusively picks his shapes from garments that have a working class or blue collar origin; lots of jeans, informal but still structured jackets like bombers and denim jackets, and a fair amount of casual sportswear, practical wear, and synthetic fabrics. and although ryung-gu is framed as being rebellious like koo ryeon, unlike ryeon his rebellion always comes as an active response to something that upsets his internal or external systems. as a child he is dutifully and lovingly reverent of his mother, she's the centre of his world, and even as a reaper he isn't shown to have any real issues with authority. sure he clocks out right at eight hours, but that's not being rebellious, that's just following the rules to a technicality. it's only when his mother is taken from his life and he loses that external structure that he actively 'becomes rebellious', and even then i think rebellion is the wrong word; it's actually just self destructive behaviour that is 'morally' grey according to the wider societal system. when his story arc finally concludes and he has his mother back in his life (sort of), he visually sheds some of his more 'rebelliously' attributes by cutting and redying his hair to the 'standard masculine' haircut and showing up to work in a suit and/or less flamboyant patterns and garments. but he does still keep the same number of layers and shapes as he did before.

---

***when japan surrendered in 1945 it ceded all its territories to the us, so really korea was actually just colonized again. you can see in the korean war vet episode that in flashbacks joong-gil is wearing a western style suit as a reaper, which would have been between 1950-53, but in the comfort women episode he's still wearing hanbok, which would have been at the earliest 1930ish. also it would makes sense logistically as jumadeung is supposed to mirror the 'real' world. i also think this is where the framing of it as a 'company' comes from as well.

[latinforlight]

NHIE S2 SPOILERS!!!

Never Have I Ever season 3 wishlist:

Soft Daxton moments where Paxton really puts in effort as Devi's boyfriend

More of Paxton interacting with Devi's friends (especially Fabiola, the small interactions they had bc of the mock trial i liked)

Ben and Aneesa relationship growth

If Ben continues to pine over Devi: Aneesa breaking up with him (I would prefer it if he just got over Devi, but I don't think that will happen)

A conversation between Devi and Paxton about sex, Paxton being understanding if Devi doesn't want to

I want to see Aneesa play a soccer game with Devi and friends support. Ben too.

A follow up to what the fuck happened with Aneesa at the mock trial and why that was so awkward and it happened in the first place.

Bisexual Paxton!! Please,,, he wears plaid, cuffs his jeans, and wears vans.

Paxton developing more academically.

Ben getting closer with his family, if he and Aneesa work out I'd love it if she met his parents and they paid attention to her.

More about the other characters' cultures! I loved diving in more with Paxton's background. It'd be nice to have a similar interaction between Daxton where the roles are reversed? (Devi complimenting Paxton). I don't know how connected the other characters are with their cultures like Eleanor or Fabiola but I would like to see at least one other character's background.

ADHD Paxton? As a person with ADHD i resonated with a lot of his academic struggle this season and honestly he shows a lot of symptoms that I share with him outside of just school and stuff.

Maybe a conflict between Aneesa and Ben where his grades are negatively impacted? That's not really something I want to happen but I think it'd make sense.

Quadruple date between Daxton, Fab and Eve, Trent and Eleanor, Aneesa and Ben.

Devi REALLY addressing her grief head on.

As much as I love Paxton, Devi needs a break from boys. I don't think she's healthy enough for a relationship. I think this season should be true self-improvement and developing relationships that aren't romantic. And I hope that relationship ends without some stupid betrayal from Paxton, he's really growing.

If Ben and Aneesa don't work out, and Daxton breaks up for Devi's self improvement, I'd love it if Ben helped her instead thinking she was available. It'd help me actually like Benvi (I'm pretty neutral about it if I pretend like they weren't extremely offensive to each other at the start or that Ben apologized for it ((ik Devi apologized for the death wish thing))), and it'd show that they can exist as a nurturing relationship with respect for each other without it being romantic and that they can improve one another instead of JUST challenging each other. Or the way they challenge each other is healthy. It'll present Benvi as compatible and healthy and set them up for endgame, which isn't really what I want but I know it's probably more likely than Daxton and is the preferred ship.

Point out that Devi doesn't idolize Paxton the same way anymore. Or if they decide to keep that, point out how she shouldn't for the better of both of them. Paxton should notice and talk to her about it. If she's unreceptive then maybe that's a way the relationship could end without making one or the other a huge asshole.

More Devi and family moments.

More growth between Devi and Mom.

No more Kamala love interests??

More of Nalini and Dr. Jackson. Ik it's still early and she's still grieving but I liked them a lot.

That's what I want! I know I won't really get any of it but, fingers crossed. A lot of this is Paxton related because I relate to him a lot, so sorry about that. Honestly, as long as they don't make Paxton a shitty person I will be happy.

[hostilemuppet]

thoughts on c!eret? (and c!slimecicle if you want :D)

Erect is an odd one. I really like the concepts, I personally love stories that deal with topics of redemption as the central theme and not just a side plot for a previously minor antagonist (my comic is. All about it LOL) but I feel like with eret it kind of. Falls a little flat? Like how the cc keeps insisting the character did it bc she wanted the war to end, I didn’t watch erets early pov so take what I’m saying with a grain of salt but I’ve seen even eret stans say that she was actually coaxed with the promise of power? It feels like a retcon to make the character more sympathetic which does nothing but make the arc about redeeming herself to the people she hurt feel less effective (not that her having good intentions erases the hurt she’s done to others, but it’s hard to root for her journey to forgiveness when it’s unclear what she’s supposed to be forgiven for)

And during the stream where she was gathering supplies for the ambush of Sam, she kept making jokes about how Awful sams betrayal was and how you’d have to be a Huge Asshole to betray someone like that. Which just... made any sympathy fizzle out, at least for me. And it became super unclear whether it was meant to be the character saying those, so the audience knows the character is a massive hypocrite, or the cc saying it, in which case it’s just jokes.

For slimecicle, MWAH perfect. I love the different take on immortality than what we got with foolish; while foolish was active, Creating destruction, Charlie was passive, Watching it happen. The way they have such different histories that culminate in opposite viewpoints on the world and humanity is such a good aspect of each of their characters to analyse. But specific to Charlie, his development, albeit quick due to the format, was very good. The “everyone ends up bones and dust so nothing matters” outlook to cherishing the time he spent with someone who would die some day, because he learns to appreciate the present instead of seeing it as just a stepping stone to the barren future. You root for him to grow past his nihilistic outlook and develop an optimistic one, which is a good contrast to purpled, who doesn’t and ends up taking his first life.

There are no major faults for me to pick apart for him, the only things that irk me are random things, like treating him like a child for his autistic traits or acting like he’s dead when he just lost the one life and is off somewhere doing god knows what. Cmon guys. There’s “missing subtext” and then there’s “ignoring what was explicitly stated in the text itself”

[a-master-procrastinator]

Long ass post about the Eternal family not being a copy-paste from ATLA (aka I like the memes but my god can you please stop)

Because some people truly think that Vaylin is off-brand Azula, Arcann is Zuko and so on.

It's. Called. A. Trope. (I mean how often do we come across abusive manipulative fathers in media? Mothers who couldn't much to change anything? Children, desperately looking for their parent's approval no matter what?)

Of course, you have to consider the fact that the writing of ATLA is simply better than of KotFE/ET, so this might have been one of the reasons why people say that.

Spoilers for Avatar: The Last Airbender, Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne expansions!

Okay, so here's my unprofessional, maybe biased, not super deep take.

(not going to mention that all of them are members of royal, ruling family, kinda obvious)

What roles do they play in their stories? Well, both Valkorion and Ozai are main antagonists, but their presence throughout the story is very different. Ozai is rarely shown in first two seasons, we don't even see his face until season 3. He doesn't have a direct connection to the protagonist, they only meet at the very end of the show, and Ozai's role is to pose a threat to the world, while Aang's is to save it. Valkorion, on the other hand, is constantly on the screen, interacting with the main character, challenging their viewpoint and influencing them directly. His end goal is similar to Ozai's (destroy everything and be the only ruler of the his nation), but with one major difference - he's trapped in Outlander's mind, so to achieve his goal Valkorion attempts to take control of the main character. Their interactions play important role in the story, and we spend a lot of time with Valkorion.

In addition to that, their relationship with children are also not exactly the same. It seems like Azula is Ozai's favorite and Zuko is a failure in his eyes until he meets his expectations, and the same goes with Vaylin, Arcann and Valkorion, right? Well, partially. Indeed, Valkorion and Ozai's treat their sons in similar ways (are disappointed in them until they meet their expectation by doing something that goes against their morals), but when it comes to Vaylin and Azula, it's not that easy. See, Valkorion claims that Vaylin was always his favorite creation (even though we know it's actually his empire), and he certainly seems to take pride in her potential in the Force. But her power is the very reason he's afraid of his own daughter, and in this fear Valkorion literally locks Vaylin away and allows to put her through physical and mental torture just to make sure she won't become a threat, won't overpower him. Maybe he thought of her better than of Arcann, but she wasn't his favored child for sure. I don't want to say that Azula hasn't experienced abuse from Ozai, but for the most part he clearly favored her over Zuko. He has never shown fear of Azula's power and abilities (or at least I haven't noticed), quite the opposite - allowed her to do a lot, as long as she brings results.

I could also mention their slightly different characterization (mostly that we get more characterization of Valkorion, get to learn his motivations, views, philosophy and all that, also he's portrayed as more nuanced, even if he not really is) and role in their respective governments (ozai is one of many Fire Lords and arguably not the greatest, while Valkorion is a god to citizens of Zakuul, their only Immortal Emperor), but those are details, and I think you get the point.

What's similar: role of the main antagonist, manipulative and abusive father, goal of destruction of everything that isn't their nation/empire, relationship with disgraced son.

What's different: presence in the overall narrative, relationship with the main character, relationship with daughter, role in their societies.

Senya and Ursa are even less similar. Yes, they both are mothers who love their children, but have to leave them, but these are probably the only things they have in common. Just as with Ozai and Valkorion's presence throughout the story, Ursa is only shown in flashbacks (for obvious reasons), and Senya is one of major characters in KotFE and (a bit less major) in KotET. Ursa leaves because she has to kill Azulon in order to save Zuko, and later isn't present in the story (I'm aware that her fate is told in comics, but we aren't talking about it). Senya leaves because when she tries to take children with her, they refuse, and she understands that she can't force them to, nor she can help them to break free from Valkorion's manipulations. For a long time she's absent from Arcann ad Vaylin's lives, but at the time of game events she attempts to save her children and stop the madness and destruction they've caused, and it isn't a small part of the story.

I also want to add that their relationship with Ozai and Valkorion are also different, but can't say much about Ursa. I heard that she didn't choose this marriage and suffered emotional (and maybe physical???) abuse from Ozai. I can say with confidence, though, that Senya genuinely loved Valkorion, and strangely enough, he seems to at very least respect her. But, of course, this wasn't the best marriage either.

Plus, we see more of Senya's relationship with Vaylin than Arcann or Thexan, but with Ursa we see her more with Zuko than Azula. Just a detail to remember.

(also Senya is simply a better character but that besides the point, moving on. in this house we stand Senya)

What's similar: role of loving and caring mother, abandoning their family at some point.

What's different: presence in the overall narrative, relationship with husband, characterization in general.

Boy, where do I even begin. Vaylin and Azula are similar in that they are both extremely powerful (one is firebending prodigy, the other is potentially stronger than Valkorion), both are cruel "craaaaazy" (i hate that cliché), both are younger sisters, have serious mother issues (seemingly more so than father issues), both go through betrayal of people they could always rely on, which eventually leads to their downfall. But when I took a look at their personal arcs, it became clear that they aren't the same (unfortunately, Vaylin's arc is very rushed and underdeveloped, but we'll have to go with what we have and my personal view, sorry).

There's a really good video about writing corruption and madness, and I'm going to base my thoughts on it. To summarise it: a good corruption arc should have 4 components:

- the character has a specific goal (or a goal and subgoals);

- in pursuit of said goal they become the cause of a significant event that brings serious consequences;

- as the result of these consequences, character abandons their morals, ideals or a code in pursuit of goal;

- character either will not achieve their goal or will succeed, but it won't be enough to satisfy them.

And then the author brings Azula's arc as one of the best examples of compelling story of corruption (so basically, she represents it perfectly). In short, Azula's main goals are perfection and control, and subgoals help achieve the main ones. In pursuit of these goals, Azula causes Mai and Ty Lee to betray her (by pushing them too far to do something they wouldn't do), which then causes her to become paranoid, which makes her to attempt controlling everything and everyone around her, *breathes* which makes her lose control over herself and ....

Now, I thought if Vaylin's arc could fit into a corruption one, and next part will be based a lot on my assumptions and personal view of her character (plus rushed writing doesn't help), but I think yes (or at least mostly). The difference is in goals, ideals and details.

While the story strongly makes us think that Vaylin's goal is freedom (or control over her life and everything around her) or power and destruction, I think it's actually self-determination (which was said by Tenebrae in 6.2) and feeling safe. Let me explain (and here I thought this would be a short comparison). Sure, when Valkorion caged Vaylin on Nathema, he took choices and control over her life from his daughter. But let's not forget whom Vaylin blames for this (even more than Valkorion): her own mother, and I think this details tell us that the most important thing that Vaylin lost on Nathema is feeling safe. Then, after Arcann brought her home, I assume Vaylin still didn't feel safe enough under Valkorion's rule, still too afraid that he'd simply send her back to that hellish place.

It's when Valkorion is struck down Vaylin finally has a feeling of personal safety, even if she isn't the one on the throne. Why? Because back on Nathema there were two people who haven't turned on her - Arcann and Thexan (yes, this is also a huge assumption, bc the game states that only Thexan visited her, but it doesn't make much sense).

I've always noticed (and I'm not alone in this) that her behavior in Fallen Empire is different from the way she acted in Eternal Throne. Most likely bc of rushed writing, but I see a character driven reason here. In first of these expansions, Vaylin is the second person in power on Zakuul, and with Arcann being in charge, person she can trust more than any other living being, she feels safe - she can test her power, and now Valkorion won't prevent it, she can do pretty much everything she wishes, and the most Arcann will do about this is mildly complain (without blaming her). Really would be nice if we got to see any normal hobbies of Vaylin (like wasn't there something about books or art?), but I digress. She might have some questions about Arcann's tactics, but they get along just fine. The important thing to note is Vaylin not seeking to hunt the Outlander personally, to rule or conquer the rest of the galaxy, or trying to achieve absolute freedom or power. She's kinda there.

This, however, changes when Arcann doesn't allow Vaylin to kill Senya. Their relationship was getting somewhat worse towards the end of KotFE, but this is a turning event Vaylin caused by attempting to strike her mother. By saving the person Vaylin blames for all the trauma from sending her to Nathema, Arcann threatened her feeling of safety. And now Vaylin starts to believing that to achieve safety she now needs to kill people who hurt her (that's why she's so determined to find Senya and Arcann), take the throne and hunt down Outlander (she was manipulated by SCORPIO to these subgoals).

(The following is the weakest, I'll admit, but I hope I can at least express what I see). So, in trying to achieve goals she didn't want before Vaylin loses in self-determination, being either driven by overwhelming anger or manipulated by others (SCORPIO or Commander on Odessen), desperately trying to accomplish anything, or even goes against her morals (like by erasing GEMINI's free will protocols, when earlier she agreed that freedom to choose is important; or breaking the deal on Odessen). All of these result in her downfall.

But even this isn't the end. The key difference between arcs of Azula Vaylin lies in it's resolution, or that Vaylin have a chance to overcome corruption in the main narrative (and Azula doesn't. again, not including comics here, sorry). After death, Vaylin is again controlled by Valkorion in Outlander's mind. First time physically (she can't resist it), second time mentally. This is where Vaylin has to choose - kill brother who betrayed her and Commander who killed her, or go against Valkorion, person responsible for almost all of her pain and trauma. She has t choose by herself, and I think it's a good start.

Now, before 6.2 we all thought Vaylin was dead for good, but that story update hinted at possibility of her coming back to life. What I like to think is that now that she dealt with people responsible for her trauma (helped defeat Valkorion and actually for once listened to Senya), Vaylin can now have a different life, finding herself with support of someone she doesn't hold a grudge against and who treats her well (Satele, I mean).

I'm so sorry for going into details, but I needed this long explanation to present the point (and I suck at explanations). As said before, this is my version of her arc, and most likely wrong interpretation, but even with personal freedom of choice, Vaylin character differs from Azula a lot.

Need I mention that Vaylin relationship with Arcann and Valkorion are drastically different from those between Azula, Zuko and Ozai?

(Also a little detail - with royal family of Fire Nation, Azula is the golden child, while with Tiralls it's actually Thexan, not Vaylin).

What's similar: role of extremely powerful, emotionally damaged daughter with little to no regard towards others, close people betraying them, resulting in their downfall.

What's different: characterization, role in the narrative, relationship with father and brother.

Arcann and Zuko is the most difficult part, but I still believe that calling Arcann just a cheap copy of Zuko is incorrect.

So, they fall into role of less successful son, always getting disapproval from father, being in shadow of more talented sibling, both obsessed with capturing the main character but ending up helping them end the war after going through a redemption arc with help of caring family member. Even both have scars on left side of face. Yeah, seems similar. I still think they are different characters.

Let's start with their relationships with family. In Valkorion section I said that his attitude towards Arcann is similar to that of Ozai towards Zuko, so not going to spend too much time here. However, there's slight difference - Zuko didn't kill his father even he had a perfect opportunity (bc it wasn't his goal), Arcann did (bc it was one of his goals), which says something about their characterizations.

Zuko and Ursa were shown to have a good mother-son relationship, and it played a role in Zuko's character. With Arcann and Senya, we don't really know (not much was shown in expansions). We know Arcann didn't hate his mother, but possibly didn't have warm memories of her either. The reason is most likely, like Senya said, her children wanted nothing to do with her (which is a bit untrue about Vaylin, but okay) and leaned more towards Valkorion. We need to remember that on Zakuul Valkorion isn't just one of many great leaders, he's the greatest, and seen as a god by most citizens, so safe to assume the same would apply to his children as well.

Zuko and Azula's siblingship (i'm out of words) is a bit similar to Arcann and Vaylin's in way of brother knowing that his sister isn't good, but still caring about them (even if not showing). At least it's what I saw. What's different is how Azula treats Zuko, compared to how Vaylin treats Arcann. I think Azula showed compassion or concern for Zuko maybe twice, but I'm not entirely convinced that it was 100% sincere. Vaylin, on the other hand, seems to trust and care about Arcann (with bits of sass and questioning his life choices), and switching to complete opposite after him saving Senya. Also, I don't she ever called Arcann a failure in their father's eyes.

Now I want to say that their roles in stories aren't the same either. Sure, both are introduced to us as antagonists, but in reality, Zuko was never a true antagonist (we get to learn this somewhere mid-season 1), when Arcann remains the main antagonist for whole of KotFE. Zuko didn't start a war and didn't participate in conquest of other nations too much, his main goal was to capture the Avatar so to restore his honor (and deserve his father's forgiveness). Honestly, I think it's safe to say the Zuko is one of two main protagonists of ATLA. Why does Arcann want to capture the Outlander? Solely because his father's spirit still lives inside this person's mind, and the best solution to keep Valkorion away from the galaxy is not letting the Outlander free (hence the carbonite freezing). And Arcann doesn't want or need Valkorion's forgiveness when he attempts to kill him (or kills him, depending on your choice. anyway, his action directly leads to Valkorion's "death"). And right after that he becomes a ruler of Zakuul and begins the conquest of Republic, Sith Empire and everything he can reach (the reasoning behind this is still unclear to me though; maybe because he was raised with ruling Zakuul in mind and he didn't anything else, idk). Point is, he's responsible for war and main's character imprisonment, which makes him the main antagonist of KotFE. They have it the opposite ways - Zuko starts as disgraced prince, supported by a little group of people, and in the end he's recognized and appreciated by his nation, and Arcann starts as respected by his empire, later becoming less and less loved, until some groups start rebelling his rule, and in the end he doesn't get to rule Zakuul again.

This leads me to their morals. See, Zuko didn't have the worst morals in Fire Nation, even more, he expressed care for loyals soldiers of his nation before getting punished by Ozai. During first season (and about a half of second one) his views on other nations are what he was taught before. However, these views are challenged by travelling in Earth Kingdom, witnessing people suffering from war Fire Nation started and hating its people (you already know all of this), and with this he comes through final stage of redemption when he's back home. Unfortunately, Arcann doesn't go through this, and he's shown to be more ruthless.

Alright, when it comes to their redemption arcs, well let's say they are different (both in quality and the way they go through it), I'm just a bit tired of long explanations at this point. Zuko's arc is one of the best ever put on television, and Arcann's... well, it definitely has potential, but is criminally underdeveloped (there are other people who will explain it better than I ever could).

What's similar: role of disgraced son, living in shadow of their sibling, serious injuries on the left side of face (though with different meanings), obsession with capturing the main character, having a redemption arc.

What's different: role in the narrative, role in their society, characterization, relationship with sister and mother, different end goals (before redemption), paths to redemption.

[deadmunds-ghostbee]

Do you have more sensible thoughts on the “love triangle” news? I was pretty mad initially, however, I think it won’t ultimately be that big of a deal…I am more bummed that the book dynamic of Anthony and Edwina being comically indifferent to each other isn’t happening than I am worried the sisters will be “fighting” over him. I also saw some (naive and futile lol) speculation that Edwina is gay after all but she convinces herself she’s in love with Anthony because she should be…we can dream

I do have some new thoughts but they might not be in the same lane as the general discussion about this.

Most of it has to do with theme, arcs, and about the higher ups that make decisions.

I think the easiest place to start is Edwina. From what we’ve heard she’s super optimistic, sees the best in ppl, doesn’t speak up for herself. She’s a romantic and wants a love match and can be a bit wild.

We know she’ll be taken advantage of by the queen and by Anthony bc of these traits, and the betrayal will probably ultimately lead her to make impulsive and stupid decisions. But with all of this, her arc just sounds like a lot. Meaning they have time to focus on this thing with Anthony, this thing with the Queen involving gossip and LW, make her have a fulfilling “soulmates” relationship with Kate and eventually end up happy with someone/no one. It’s a lot for our little side character and we all know (and they’ve made it very clear) that this isn’t the Edwina show so either these subplots will overlap (Maybe the queen meddles in the courtship to cause drama to trap LW?? Who knows) or some of it is getting less screen time than the other. All this being said I think it’s great that Edwina has depth, but I don’t like short selling her with the naivety. Why can’t our diamond be more aware of the world around her? Overall this doesn’t upset me much I just wonder about how they’ll present it all!

I too am feebly clowning around hoping for an Edwina comp-het-hey-wait-let-me-kiss-this-girl-arc. Which really brings me to another point:

If we have genuinely this many NEW characters in addition to a huge principal cast and still have no queer characters???The higher ups can just like. Fuck way the hell off. Especially when, to put it poorly, it would be a great subject to mine for the show. They’d get their diversity clout, we’d get a love story. But moving on.

I think most of the article was great but there was one part that got a little lost in translation for me: the head/heart dichotomy EW was really driving home. I think most people would agree you need both in your relationship to even have a fighting chance to be successful. The stuff on how one sister represents each of them was just so pedestrian and vaguely demeaning to the characters and the audience. BUT I’m also sure the show wont be condemning duty, just critiquing societal expectation and Anthony’s fucked up head.

I also def think the head and heart will “align” so to speak in the end for Kathony, so maybe my problem is with EW and the talking points. whatever.

Last thing I’ll say is that I like that they’ll show things Edwina and Anthony have in common. It’s not romantic to understand someone else’s situation and sympathize. It’s a good idea to add something to that relationship beyond comical indifference. In-law relationships are great and it’s great to love them for more than just your sibling! Anthony and Edwina deserve that. Built-in homie, basically. There are other ways to to preserve the comedic tone of the book without details like that, that was very clear with that one group photo we got.

***

Also I closed asks again bc I don’t feel like answering more than three today and I’m not good at ignoring things so here we are.

[firelxdykatara]

Touching Zuko’s Scar

It’s entirely possible that someone has written meta on this before, and possibly done it better/more eloquently than I’m about to. However, I have Things To Say and I’m going to say them, and hopefully my point comes across! This post is largely spurred on by a few posts I’ve seen in the tags lately which have... rather baffling takes on the whole ‘who touches Zuko’s scar and why’ situation, particularly in regards to feeling the need, for some reason, to diminish the scene in which Katara touches his scar and the importance of that moment for both of them.

From what I can tell, this was done in an attempt to prop up Maiko, which I suppose makes some amount of sense since that is a ship which can barely stand on its own without tremendous amounts of headcanoning to fill in the gaping holes left by the fact that the entirety of their relationship development happened off-screen (and the glimpse we do get into it in the ‘going home�� midquel comic leaves a lot to be desired in terms of why Zuko would even want to be with her, but that’s another discussion entirely). But it still doesn’t quite fit, because the scenes with Katara and with Song are so much more meaningful, both in terms of Zuko’s arc and the way the girls relate to him (and it also ties into Katara feeling so hurt by Zuko’s betrayal, and needing more than any of the others before she can forgive and accept him into the gaang).

Now, that out of the way, I do want to say up front that the intention here is not to be particularly anti Maiko, but to examine the situations in which Zuko’s scar is touched (or almost touched), and the similarities two of these scenes have which are not shared by the third (at which point, you’re obviously free to draw your own conclusions).

Also, please bear with me--I can’t take screenshots or anything, so I’ll reference scenes and the episodes they come from but there won’t be images.

Under a cut bc this got long

To start off, there are three moments in the entire series where a character touches, or tries to touch, Zuko’s scar with her hand. (I say ‘her’ because all three instances occur with girls near Zuko’s own age.) The first moment is in The Cave of Two Lovers, the second episode of book two--this is the moment where Song sees Zuko’s scar, recognizes it for the intentional burn from a firebender that it is, and reaches for it.

Song: Can I join you? I know what you’ve been through. We’ve all been through it. [looks at Zuko’s scar] The Fire Nation has hurt you. [she slowly reaches for his scar, but before she can touch it, Zuko grabs her wrist and stops her; she puts her hand back in her lap] It’s ok. They’ve hurt me too. [pulls up the leg of her pants to reveal the burn scars there]

The second moment comes at the end of book 2, in The Crossroads of Destiny, in a moment that is a deliberate parallel of Zuko’s connection with Song--but this time, he lets Katara touch him.

Katara: [she holds up a vial] This is water from the spirit oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties, so I’ve been saving it for something important. [moves closer to Zuko, standing in front of him] I don’t know if it would work, but... [Zuko closes his eyes, and Katara’s fingers touch his scar; the scene holds there as the music swells, before they’re interrupted]

Like Song did, Katara felt a connection to Zuko via a similar trauma he suffered. However, unlike Song, Katara knew who Zuko was--the banished prince of the Fire Nation, and someone who had been her enemy for most of the past several months. However, she still feels compassion and empathy for him, and it is for this reason that she takes his subsequent choice harder than anyone else in the gaang does (and why it takes more for him to earn her forgiveness).

Now, the third moment is... rather incongruous. There is neither compassion nor understanding involved in touching his scar, there is no real emotional connection, and it comes right on the heels of his girlfriend--someone we’re supposed to believe cares about him and his emotional wellbeing, since they’re in a relationship (which happened off-screen, but I digress)--shutting down his attempt to talk about his feelings, something that will present a conflict in their relationship later on.

Mai: [yawns] I just asked if you were cold, I didn’t ask for your whole life story. [she moves forward, smirking, and then chuckles, putting one arm around his neck and pulling his face towards her with her other hand] Stop worrying. [they kiss, and then Mai walks away, leaving Zuko to stare out at the horizon again; the wiki transcript says he looks relieved, but to me he looks resigned more than anything]

What’s interesting about this moment is, for one thing, it’s unclear if Mai is even supposed to be touching his scar at all. Giancarlo Volpe, the director for this episode, put the original storyboards for the scene up on his DeviantArt, and in them, it seems he was fairly careful to make sure Mai was not touching Zuko’s scar. This would make sense, considering that touching Zuko’s scar was presented as a very big deal--he specifically prevented a girl from touching his scar in the beginning of book 2, and at the end, he allowed another girl to touch him, showcasing vulnerability and trust in that moment. It is the culmination of one small part of his character arc, and that makes the moment that Katara touches his scar even more meaningful.

Of course, I can’t say definitively that it was an animation mistake or something that was deliberately changed during production (which, considering there is a moment later in the book where Bryke mandated a change, isn’t outside the realm of possibility), but it does present interesting implications.

However, even if you take the scene at face value and assume that Mai was intended to be touching his scar....it’s still presented in an entirely different framework than the previous two scenes, despite occurring almost immediately after Zuko’s moment with Katara in the caves (at least as far as episode count).

The different framework being, of course, the fact that it.... doesn’t mean anything at all.

In the first two scenes, Zuko’s scar and his pain--as well as the pain of the girls who are forging an empathic connection with him based on understanding each other’s trauma--is the focus. Touching, or attempting to touch, Zuko’s scar is the point--it is very deliberate, and there’s no way to argue against it because the writing is very explicit, and nothing else would make sense for those scenes. On the other hand, you could take out the moment where Mai touches Zuko’s scar and lose absolutely nothing--because the focus is not on Zuko, but rather on the fact that he was attempting to open up emotionally to his girlfriend (and note that this is the first indication we get in the show that they are together--take out the kiss completely and no one would even know they’re dating, let alone supposedly like one another even as friends), and was shut down with a sarcastic quip, ostensibly because Mai simply didn’t want to hear it. (This is in keeping with her later characterization, where she would much rather distract him and keep him from actually talking about any of his problems, but @araeph goes into the nature of Mai and Zuko’s emotional intimacy [or lack thereof] in much greater detail in this essay, so I won’t get too deep into it here.)

Mai touching Zuko’s scar doesn’t mean anything to the audience because it doesn’t mean anything to Zuko. He doesn’t react to or acknowledge it in any way, it’s as if he doesn’t even notice it happening (perhaps because it wasn’t supposed to? but again that’s speculation), and nothing in the scene would change if it didn’t. It simply doesn’t matter. On the other hand, Song nearly touching Zuko’s scar and then Katara actually touching his scar? They matter to him--and to the show, and therefore the audience--very much. Both moments are incredibly important to Zuko’s overall arc, because together, they show how far he had come in his own emotional journey over the course of the book.

Of course, it isn’t enough to keep him from choosing to side with Azula, because his journey was far from complete--but the fact that he was able to show such trust and vulnerability to a girl who had been his enemy not very long ago? That was huge. Because Zuko didn’t just let Katara touch his scar--he closed his eyes. She could have hurt him in that moment, but he trusted that she wouldn’t. He trusted that she was willing to use special water she’d been saving for something important--and he trusted that, in that moment, he was important to her.

It wasn’t just Zuko showing trust either, though--Katara showed trust in him. She trusted, after a few minutes of conversation and learning about the loss of his mother (and, specifically, the fact that the Fire Nation was responsible for the loss of his mother, just as it was responsible for the loss of hers), that he had changed--that he was different, and she could trust him. She was willing to use the spirit water she’d been carrying around for months on someone who had recently been so much an enemy that she fled from the tea shop, convinced that he’d somehow infiltrated the city and was planning something.

The fact that she trusted him in that moment is exactly why she took his next choice so hard, but it is also why their relationship cemented itself so solidly after The Southern Raiders, giving them quite possibly the strongest relationship in the gaang outside of Katara and Sokka.

Anyway, that was a lot of words for what essentially amounts to this: Song attempting to touch Zuko’s scar in the beginning of book 2 is explicitly paralleled by Katara being allowed to touch his scar at the end of it, and both moments occur during scenes where Zuko’s pain and trauma are acknowledged and validated, and where the person he’s speaking with feels a connection to him because of that shared trauma--because they understand what he has been through. It’s likewise important to note that while Song didn’t actually entirely understand, because she didn’t know who Zuko was or what being traumatized by the Fire Nation actually meant to him, Katara did--and she still was able to feel for him, connect to him, and want to help him.

By contrast, the moment with Mai occurs in a scene where Zuko’s pain and trauma are invalidated and dismissed, where his girlfriend attempts to distract him rather than help him through what is clearly a moment of great emotional turmoil. No, she shouldn’t have to be his therapist, but emotional support is vital in any relationship--especially when one party is traumatized and desperately needs support and love--and it is notably lacking from Maiko, starting from their very first romantic scene together.

Make of that what you will.

[liberons]

so anyways have a weird pseudo-meta on the 239894 ways levi’s character could’ve been better used story-wise

tbh i do believe yams had it in him to write a nice, tight, cohesive story where everything could’ve fallen in place well enough -- at least to the point where actions made sense with reference to established character personalities and arcs within the story. i have no issue with regression, but you can’t make it half-assed or just. entirely left-field and leave it at that and ok moral of the story i’m like, 90% sure come from being far too invested in the fandom as an author. NEVER change your story because of someone else’s opinion when it’s SERIALISED y’all.

SECTION  I .     KILL  HIM  OFF  !

let’s be honest !!!  this is the most obvious !!!  we get it he’s popular, you’ll get backlash, yaddi yadda ya girl’s tired.

(  i .  )   why didn’t eren kill him.

why

remember what levi was actually established to DO early on? the whole “i’ll take care of eren if he goes manic”? his WHOLE NARRATIVE PURPOSE? would be great if we, you know, played with that At All.

how fucking FRIGHTENING would eren’s final form be if it just fucking nipped levi in the bud? if levi, completely fine and uninjured, stayed true to his word and lead to handle eren, just to be fucking annihilated? eren has like 60 fucking titans inside him INCLUDING the activated founding. I THINK IT’S PRETTY FAIR TO REDEFINE HIM AS BEING FUCKING OP NOW.

just define some real form of tension come on.

this could’ve also just. so naturally shifted the tension in mikasa’s direction. literally everyone instinctively has mikasa jotted down as second-best-next-to-levi, both in and out of canon. it would make sense for other characters to just eye awkwardly in deciding mikasa ‘has’ to be the next one to try through the framing bias that presents. 

right now it’s like it’s not even her choice but everyone decided it would be for no goddamn reason. why does mikasa need to be ok with killing eren at all??? why cant one of YALL do it????????? and like mikasa kills him but then presents absolutely no real conclusion in doing so. we get 0 insight into what’s really going on in her head and WE DONT EVEN GET TO SEE IT !!!!!!!!!!

(  i i .  )   zeke if yOu’Re goNnA do it dO it RIGHT

to stay more true to canon, here’s way better ways zeke could’ve actually been rid of him that aren’t. regressing and dumb lmao:

zeke’s still a war chief, he’s had YEARS of troop strategy / planning up his sleeves. why didn’t he use turning levi’s squad into a means to set up some real traps because what’s he gonna do to a bomb, huh? Fight it?

or better yet, spike more than just levi’s squad and just have swarms and waves of mindless titans coming in to provide that distraction.

or have more help?? there’s all the yeagerists at your disposal and not ONE can secretly set something up with you?

overall like zeke should know levi’s skill and levi shouldn;t have to assume zeke’s not ?????????????? “willing to die”??????????? WTF????? AREN’T YOU WHY WOULDN'T HE BE?????

god anyways

zeke kills levi u know what that sets up? the fact that he’s pretty fucking clever and powerful on his own???? so now when eren & zeke team up to cause the rumbling, regardless of zeke’s original intent, would make them Far more horrifying to the rest of the crew; 

tbh i feel like this should mean moving the ‘reveal’ of eren’s betrayal to the very end of the manga when eren explains everything through path visions bc at least it keeps his moral grey area more.... grey. 

we know by the end that he betrayed zeke so it’s like ok So Yes He’s Doing Summ For The Greater Good But What and at least this would balance the scales of mass murder a lil by not snipping all the men i fucking Guess lmao god

(  i i i .  )    RUMBLE HIM

step on him 

but really he can just??? die during the rumbling???? point blank??????????? why were there not more major character casualties lmao boi

if the colossal titans are just far too many and far too boring, all the previous titans on eren’s back is so delicious and should’ve been drawn out im not sorry about it.

where’s the 349873 iterations of character x character teaming up and slowly getting better at absolutely Slicing these bastards? WHERE ARE THEY? 

i want my warriors x stray marleans x survey squads just dedicated to keeping the 9 titan iterations out of eren’s neck.

he could’ve finally killed zeke here too but i’m gonna get to that whole thing lmao god.

we've also established him getting wounded when others are involved (à la leg injury helping mikasa) so have him??? sacrifice???? to help others like finish his empathy arc

let him sacrifice himself by keeping the titans back while armin blows up idc

and for all of these — it doesn’t even have to be a quick death. let him lose a body part and die of blood loss. let his organs fail. let him get infected like yo not every death has to be in 3s flat.

SECTION II .     OR  DON’T  !

like. let’s just say there’s absolutely no way your publicist is gonna let you kill this character. you love him too much / he’s become a weird self-insert. ok sure. YOU CAN STILL DO SOMETHING.

( i .  )  why does he just. not grow.

he’s five three but does his heart have to be?

anyways fr he’s literally a huge fucking asshole and he doesn’t grow out of it. no one ever point out that it’s terrible. the biggest blacklash he gets is historia punching him like pew. and it’s not even addressed why she did that. it’s just like haha, yep.

can we get him some uhhhh??? clear empathy ???? some actual growth?? like we know he went from the guy beating eren up Excessively to forcing historia to be queen to giving armin the colossus, and then back to just slicing zeke up uselessly and caring about one (1) thing. like he was clearly on a path somewhere.

like first of all, holy fuck get over it. it’s like he had a manic episode for 4 years just obsessing over killing zeke when the game changed buddy??? it’s been established that the issue is No Longer zeke why are we so hard on this. his entire character just becomes kill monkee because his arc is DONE so if we’re going to keep him around find something else?? or CONTINUE to develop him.

make him grow his soft skills as a leader. make him learn how to stick around his team and know exactly how to fall back. 

if he’s injured, make him LITERALLY stay back and learn how to handle those he has to keep back with him.

make him struggle keeping morale. 

make him argue with some of the non-paradisians, or even those from paradis that are like what the FUCK and just learn to offer his perspective.

if he’s so obssessed with zeke maybe uh?? address that with someone???? talk it out with your therapist buddy you’ve clearly not come to terms with the fact you let erwin die and he has no reason to be so caught up by that and if he does like lmao ok let us see and understand it???

( i i .  )   do something with the ackermans

that’s it that’s the post

idek what else to put here i want this fucker dead

[salamoonder]

hi i have some Thoughts on caduceus and character development.

@your-turn-to-role just made an excellent post and if it’s not too forward of me i wanted to write sort of a related response.

i have been thinking a lot for a long time about what would majorly develop caduceus as a character. that isn’t to say that he hasn’t had any character development; taliesin’s hit a lot of nice beats with them and i am always delighted with how caduceus reacts and responds to new things, especially as that happens near constantly. and getting his family back was pretty big and i have lots of thoughts on that but that’s a different post.

so far within the nein we have seen jester kidnapped and tortured, be unable to save molly when she was the only healer in the group at the time, realize that her god is not a god at all, figure out who her father was and then realize he wanted nothing to do with her, and have to leave yasha behind.

veth has had to contend with her best friend being an ex member of the group who kidnapped her husband, OH YEAH her husband being fucking kidnapped and tortured, her child being briefly scared of her, having to choose between her family and the nein, and realizing that her transformation was not going to work the first time around.

yasha has been kidnapped and tortured extensively, had her best friend die without her present (AGAIN), have her will and agency stripped from her and been forced to kill and destroy, and has nearly killed beau twice.

caleb has had veth turn on him (and felt he deserved it), had to face his abuser and people he knows rub shoulders with him regularly a few times now, faced his old classmates, and is now on an island literally ready made to simulate some of that abuse.

beau has experienced perhaps the most helplessness in the nein and is frequently in situations where she is forced to conclude that there is nothing she can do bc of her lack of magic. she has had her mentor almost die, and has recently had to see her abusive family (and additionally was hit w the realization that her brother literally replaced her). 

fjord has been kidnapped and tortured, both by the iron shepherds and essentially by his patron as well. we know he blames himself for the whole iron shepherds fiasco. he's had to deal w the loss of his powers, nightmares that will likely never go away, and an extremely traumatic greater restoration. (not to mention yasha's "betrayal" right after she tried to kill him.)

now, i'm not saying that caduceus has never had anything bad happen to him ever. but i did intentionally put together a list of big, tangible moments that happened onscreen or mostly onscreen-i'm not talking about nott drowning or yasha grappling with her grief over her wife or jester's continual, but less tangible, struggles with learning a world outside of her mother and the traveler. i mean big life changing moments that can be clearly pointed to. we know caduceus has dealt with extended isolation, continual fear for the lives and wellbeing of his family (and the denial of that fear), and is probably grappling quite a lot with the same kinds of things veth is right now (family, now that they're safe, vs the being). what we arguably haven't seen is a huge, life changing, world rocking moment for him.

i've been trying to figure out what such an event would look like for MONTHS. in my wip notebook i've written the following:

"I can't figure out how to do character growth for caduceus ...There's something there about him being judgmental but also in having faith in people and not gods? Something with Caleb and the innateness of magic? What would the wildmother direct him to do that would make him uncomfortable. What makes caduceus uncomfortable? (discomfort = growth)"

i was trying to come up with a situation that would shake his worldview--shake who he is as a person--would lead him to do something “drastic” (for example, throwing a sword into a volcano and giving up magic or offering to leave the nein forever) and i think this might be literally the only thing that would affect him in this way, for all the reasons in your-turn-to-role’s post. they put it in words better than i ever could. (also i know tal has been Waiting to sink into something like this and i’m excited.)

[wordybee]

#the white book scene still does not sit well with me #(and if anyone wants me to write up an essay on why that is #i will do so at the drop of a hat) - I would love you to do that, please and thank you. (I've read a few takes on why it sucked but I am always ready to hear YOUR take on a thing bc I like your brain.)

I’m sure my take isn’t unique, but I’m full of thoughts and everyone in my life has grown too wary of every conversation I have with them turning into “And Another Thing Wrong with Game of Thrones…”, so I’m gonna just leap on this opportunity granted by your curiosity, Bethany, and damn the retread ground.

Going to tuck it all under a Read More (or try to; I don’t know if Tumblr’s still buggy about Read Mores on mobile) because I, as I said, am full of thoughts.

A huge part of why I don’t like the scene is how it frames everything. Cutting out the books’ version where Jaime writes his own story and acknowledges Brienne for his safe return, then having Brienne essentially save Jaime’s honor by concluding his story with a respectfully worded cause of death, frames the relationship between Jaime and Brienne as significantly more one-sided than it should have been. In the books, there’s clear regard and admiration between the two of them and it’s relatively even. Jaime sees Brienne as a shining example of knighthood and honor and credits her as such where it matters; Brienne sees Jaime as a man of honor despite his reputation and credits him as such where it matters. It’s pretty much their whole thing after their initial ordeal together: this long-distance, chivalrous devotion in which they try to fulfill promised oaths and both of them are simultaneously the noble knight and the fair maiden, in turn defending each other’s honor and being the person whose honor needs defending. They’ve taken it upon themselves to act as shield and sword for each other, and that protectiveness is completely organic and completely balanced in its presentation.

But in the show, Brienne is reduced to Jaime’s cheerleader and the keeper of his legacy, while she herself gets no credit from him, no regard, no significance in the conclusion of his story despite having such a pivotal role in it up to the point where he abandons her. Yes, she’s been raised to Lady Commander of the Kingsguard (which I’ll get into the issues of that shortly) but in the personal and specific relationship between Jaime and Brienne, it’s knocked completely off balance. In Jaime’s last scenes, he has no dialogue about Brienne and Brienne has no role within the context of his remaining story; she isn’t mentioned in relation to him at all, even though it would make perfect sense for Tyrion, for example, to raise a huge “what the fuck” when the last he heard, Jaime was happy to sit out the rest of the war in Winterfell specifically because Brienne was there and suddenly he’s in King’s Landing, ready to die for Cersei. Meanwhile, one of Brienne’s final actions of the show is ensuring that Jaime goes down in history as a knight who died with honor despite the fact that… that was not the case. At all. Jaime died selfish, forsaking the innocents of the city and cutting all ties with everything honorable or noble about himself in order to return to his “hateful” origins and Cersei.

And maybe this is actually the way things go down in the books. I don’t know how (though I do have more theories now after thinking about this damn series far too much) but it’s possible the end of the story for Jaime really is a straight plummet from the peak of the redemption arc he’s been traveling. It’s a cynical end, but not an impossible one.

But regardless, the books at least have the balance between Jaime and Brienne up until that point, and considering that Brienne experiences something of an implied fall from grace in A Dance with Dragons, it’s not improbable that Jaime would further mirror her in his own fall, even if I can’t fully grasp the details of how Book Jaime would end where Show Jaime does. However, the loss of a huge chunk of Brienne’s ASoIaF story and editing out the respect Jaime has for her being made explicitly clear when he takes it upon himself to credit her in his own White Book entry – that all furthers the show’s depiction of Brienne as nothing more than a stepping stone in Jaime’s abysmally cynical narrative. She becomes a way for him to get his good name back after death, even though he doesn’t actually deserve it, and her value stops there.

Here’s the crux of it, though: I don’t like the White Book scene, specifically, because the show wants me to like it. It wants me to ignore all the aforementioned issues I have with the relationship imbalance between Jaime and Brienne, and the discordant show portrayal of Jaime Lannister, and it wants my appreciation for Brienne’s selfless loyalty to let that scene wipe away all my misgivings and accept it as a pretty little bow to tie up the Jaime/Brienne story. It is manipulating me through Gwendoline Christie’s superb acting, Ramin Djawadi’s heartwrenching music, and the very fact that Brienne is the one in the scene at all.

Because she was chosen for a reason, and that reason is not just because she’s the one with a connection to Jaime. She was chosen because Brienne is a Good character. In a show full of gray morality, she’s done very little to besmirch her heroic label and she’s always presented as an upright person whose actions are basically always justified and acceptable. As a result, the audience tends to agree with what Brienne does, even subconsciously – she acts as a shortcut to right and wrong that viewers can latch onto, which is not uncommon in storytelling. Excluding the last couple episodes, her opinion of Jaime follows pretty squarely with his character arc. Jaime is loathsome while Brienne finds him loathsome, pitiful while she finds him pitiful, admirable while she finds him admirable.

So, the writers have this character who is defaulted to Agreeable with audiences and they have her forgive this other character for his selfishness and betrayal, thereby making it so audiences can more easily forgive that selfishness and betrayal. Because why, exactly, did Brienne abandon Sansa Stark to a lonely rule in the North in order to serve in the southern Kingsguard? She had no actual ambition to be in the Kingsguard. She wanted to be in Renly’s Kingsguard not because she loved the title or the position, but because she loved Renly. She swore herself to Catelyn’s service not because she wanted to serve the Starks, but because she wanted to serve Lady Catelyn. Again, she swore herself to Sansa and not to King Jon or Queen Dany, because Brienne doesn’t swear to positions – she swears to people. There is no logical reason why she would go to King’s Landing to serve Bran, a king she doesn’t even really know, and leave Sansa at Winterfell.

No reason, except as a tool for the writers to use so that viewers forgive Jaime through Brienne.

In conclusion, the White Book scene is an act of manipulation that aims to polish up the writers’ complete disregard for Brienne and it uses our regard for Brienne to do so. It unbalances the careful balance of respect struck between the Jaime and Brienne characters that has been (at least subtextually, in the show) at the heart of their relationship by reframing Brienne as little more than a subplot in the “bigger” story of Jaime Lannister, and further highlights how much of Brienne’s story from the books the show tossed out because they just didn’t care – in their eyes, Brienne was nothing but a vessel for Jaime’s legacy, not a character with a legacy in her own right. And that’s why I don’t like it.

[psi-psina]

sorry girls

I can’t stop thinking about Dany and how this ending may reflect her ending in the books and what might happen to get her to that point. :/

I think it’s not just possible but honestly even very likely that Dany will, at the very least, bring down The Red Keep completely and posssiiblllyyyy raze King’s Landing in one of the two following books but I have a VERY hard time thinking that that will be the final denoument of her entire character arc in the books, like I genuinely can’t see it happening like that. Even in the show where they did  (purposefully? idk if they even deserve that much credit) give her these more entitled/egomaniacal traits whenever she had to be commanding/regal, it still doesn’t makes sense even in the show, but that is primarily because they failed to give her even a slightly believable motive for doing such a thing after she had already conquered the city? They can claim she is “mad” and try to equate her actions with Cersei’s all they want but before that moment she has never shown a hint of having such ~madness~ in her lmfao. It’s ridiculous. Not to mention because her distrust of the people around her is literally completely justified because they all turn on her the second they smell an alternative to the foreign dragon lady. Like, Jon betrays her then Varys betrays her then Tyrion betrays her. One two three. I do find that interesting because I think this could also possibly be a thing they’ve mangled from the books...Quaithe warns Dany repeatedly of the three betrayals she will endure and Dany assumes she has already experienced two of them (Jorah and...whom?) but this could point to it being otherwise, which would be totally in line with how Martin treats prophecies in the narrative. It seems very likely the prophecised betrayals will be commited by far more significant characters at far more crucial junctures.

I’m certain she will lose one of her dragon’s to Victarion/the dragonbinder and since Victarion is basically already in Slaver’s Bay in the book’s, I would expect that to happen in TWOW if it’s gonna happen (which it has to...chekov’s gun and all), and I think that loss could definitely be a huge hinge for her character and prompt a much darker turn. We know she will be back with the Dothraki for a while and almost certainly will burn all the Khal’s in Vaes Dothrak and probably be named the stallion that mounts the world or some such by the Dosh Khaleen (would be poetic + epic), and she also has two other priests coming for her to name her Azor Ahai reborn...but aside from that I have very little idea as to where she will end up in the next book. I have a feeling she will at least end up in Volantis, but possibly even back in Pentos? Idk. Unless she gets news of Aegon and literally drops everything and legs it back to Westeros because him lol, who knows.

Like I feel almost certain that Dany will die in the end in the books, but I ALSO was certain that JON would die too, especially because he is literally a fire-wight now bc he’s already fucking dead? Like? He’s gonna be brought back for a reason and nothing in the fucking world will convince me that that reason is to kill Dany until I am forced to read it with my own eyes. (Obviously I expect that in the books Jon’s character arc will like somehow meaningfully tie in with the fight/defeat of The Others as well lmao)

Also like, I just need a moment to get off my chest how shitty and awful I think Sansa’s scripting is, like it’s even worse than last season and like with all the characters, I absolutely hate that this is what they turned her in to. It’s fucking stupid to start with, the Starks and the north want independance  from the Throne, yes, but also specifically (in the show) from Cersei with whom they have a rather large grudge. So in waltzes Dany who has a giant army and presents a whole host of possibilities for the north as a powerful ally/alternative and is also acting AGAINST her own interests in order to like, save them all from the ice zombies and Sansa is too stupid and small-minded to even show basic courtesy, but actually cannot WAIT to tell Dany what an inconvenience she is? Bitch what is WRONG with you, as if Lady Sansa would ever behave in such a rude, dumbass way in a fraught political situation, let alone one in which they NEED THE HELP ON OFFER which she and Arya openly acknowledge kajsndf lmfao I can’t its too stupid. It’s the dumbest soap opera bullshit. Like sorry! Ya’ll going on about Sansa pouring dumb bitch juice in everyone elses cup is ridiculous, she shows no more political savvy than Jon does, overseeing the running of a castle day to day doesn’t make you some political genius, she’s literally just a fucking asshole now and I can’t stand her. Like some of the shit she wanted to do last season was beyond stupid. But like obviously I also know she is only written this way in order to ~seed~ the sudden emergence of Dany’s maddness lmfao they could give less of a fuck about Sansa as a character than like....actually IS there a character they give a single toss about? Bronn and Euron, we know they love Bronn and Euron and care about them, huh. And Tyrion I suppose. A pity they couldn’t bring themselves to feel the same way about like, Jon or Dany or Bran.

 It’s not like Dany’s scripting is any better when it comes to their interaction’s though, every single one of them made me want to scream lmao I hate it so much.

I already RAGED about Arya’s scripting last season, like that season was the final death knell for her character and this season it’s Dany and Sansa’s turn but ho boy no one in this entire show got done dirtier than Dany. Not Stannis or Dorne or Meereen or Catelyn or Oberyn or Barristan, none. Because in comparison to Dany these characters and settings simply aren’t at the heart of the story like Dany and Jon are lmfao.

[marvelthismarvelthat]

So I’ve been rewatching AoS and I’m like the middle of season 2, and I just don’t like how Mack and Bobbi acted. I love Mack and Bobbi later and before the shield mess but I just can’t justify how Mack treated Daisy and Bobbi just I dunno there were so many ways to do what they did. Hunter and Daisy and Lincoln and Fitz and May are by far my favorites in the season. Also!!!! I wished they’d done some romance between fitz and Daisy or trip and Daisy :p

i think the important thing is that bobbi and mack ultimately realized they were in the wrong–they say as much during the sparring scene they have a few episodes after the betrayal is revealed. 

as for how mack treated daisy… it’s always left a sour taste in my mouth, but at the point they were at mack had just suffered a huge trauma at the hands of the alien city (which, fun fact, is right under my home town lmao). and that’s where daisy went through terrigenesis, in the alien city that had made him hurt his own friends. so everything about what daisy was going through was a reminder of the violation of his mind and it set him on the defensive. trauma makes us act in ways we wouldn’t normally act, and this is how it presented for mack. plus with everything he’d coulson do bc of the issues caused by the kree serum… yeahhhh. listen, i don’t like what mack did, nor am i okay with it, but i get why they had him act like that towards her.

it’s no secret that may is my second fave character on this show lol. but good god i hated her characterization in the back half of s2 lmao. yes there were a few magnificent may eps in that stretch but they just could not make up their minds on what they wanted her to be. but i’ve written about this before so i’m not going to really dive into it now.

i feel the same on the tripdaisy front!!! i was only really starting to ship them when he died and i’m still upset that he got taken from us :( as for fitz/daisy, i’m an FS fan at heart but i certainly wouldn’t have been opposed… though i would rather they do fitzskimmons if they were gonna go down that road ;)

[carterhaughs]

Tulip & Viktor’s Relationship

I love that this show has very explicitly neurodivergent protagonists who nevertheless are presented as heroes within the context of the story. We see all three of them become somewhat childlike in the face of realities of life they’re not equipped to deal with bc they never developed the tools in the first place or lost them along the way. The fact that all three of the main characters on the show are allowed to be these damaged mentally unstable people realistically working through trauma but also heroes is a huge deal - I cannot think of many shows that have done anything remotely similar. Usually if it is in a show, it’s not handled realistically or sensitively but they’re really making efforts here. And most importantly they show that they can still have relationships, be heroes, do good things, etc. - they’re not demonized for being fucked up and in fact the viewer should very easily be able to tell why they are the way they are. And their bad actions aren’t excused, but they are explained, and we see them making efforts to both better themselves and weaponize their darkness for their own survival and that of those they care about. I wouldn’t love them as much as I do without their flaws - that’s what makes them so sympathetic and real and makes their relationship an amazing commentary on the human condition and gives the three leads the opportunity to act the hell out of every scene they’re in.

It was particularly interesting to see how Tulip handled her situation over the last two episodes and I’m interested to see how she will deal with it now. 

Tulip’s very much been written as a child of the foster care system. We saw that as early as the Jesse/Tulip flashback in s1ep7 (”He Gone”) where we find out she wets the bed, which is something lots of kids with horrible stressful childhoods do. A lot of her arc reminds me of certain aspects of Sarah Linden’s in The Killing - very different characters but they deal with problems in similar ways and have very similar pasts - she was also someone who got shunted through the foster care system and came out of it with a whole bunch of abandonment issues and a strong personal sense of justice. Her partner and friend said this to her once - "This is like a pattern with you, you know that? You always leavin’, runnin’. You never stay… ‘cause if you did, then you’d want it. You’d need it. And then you could get hurt. And left…or not left. Why don’t you stay? Stay.“ And ultimately, her response to that is “I never had a real house to grow up in. You know, home. I never belonged anywhere. And all my life, I was looking for that thing you know. Thinking that it was out there somewhere. That all I had to do was find it. But I think, maybe that home was us. It was you and me together in that stupid car riding around, smoking cigarettes. I think that was everything. I’m sorry. I should have known that you were one person who always stays. And you were my best friend.”

That is what Tulip has been looking for all this time. Something reliable, something consistent and reciprocal and loving, something like family because she’s never had one, not really. And after Jesse abandoned her, she might’ve had something approximating that with Viktor and his daughter. As Ruth said, “Tulip feels so strongly for Viktor. He was something steady in her life and I think she’s never had that. To his credit, he sort of rehabilitated her. But also, that was the worst thing he could have done because then she was ready to go back on the road again. I think it broke his heart, really.”

So Tulip climbed out of her depression and decided to redress the problem that started it all - Carlos’ betrayal of her and Jesse and everything that followed. There are all these lingering issues between Tulip and Jesse - he hasn’t told her about the abusive maternal side of his family or how he feels he damned his father to hell for sending her away and that is at the root of all of his behavior and hangups. He has told NO ONE about any of that, ever, and naturally that was going to color any effort he made at moving forward. He loves Tulip dearly but he’s got issues that scare him so much he’s in denial about even having them, and I think that when she miscarried he felt this was just another part of his curse coming back to haunt him which necessitated his return to Annville to fulfill his father’s mission…but they’re going to give us more backstory next week in the “Dallas” episode which may enlighten us further about anything else that may have happened in the wake of Carlos’ betrayal and how it affected the Jesse/Tulip relationship. It’s easy to tell that this whole season is about family and the lengths people will go to find it or reclaim it or maintain it, which is an extension of themes about contentious intergenerational relationships carried over from s1. 

Tulip’s uncle Walter was all Tulip ever had, and that was never enough. She was taken away from the Custers and later she had Jesse but that was precarious and unsteady. She was happy with that but he left her when she was at her lowest point emotionally. As my friend @hermouthslipped put it, “I wouldn't say that Walter wasn't enough, because he was never on the table as being enough - in his eyes or Tulip's. He was always dying - and in that sense, Tulip has only ever had a dying family, if she were to even count it as one at all. This means that what Viktor offered - complex relationships, established dynamics, a LIVING family - was more than even the promise crushed with Jesse. Something that neither Jesse nor Tulip ever imagined them as having - they were just too orphaned to imagine belonging to something like that. It was maybe the only thing that could have rehabilitated her.” We’ll see how she handles the reality of her situation now that she’s moved on in some ways but Viktor hasn’t. And I think it’s pretty clear why she was afraid to tell Jesse - Ruth said it was because she was afraid of how he might judge and shame her but from a practical perspective it also wasn’t a good idea bc like she told Cassidy it would, it only made things worse - because his reaction was to shut her out and sate his own jealous defensiveness over his relationship with her - the only loving one in his life.

[fanesavin]

Name an animated Disney character that your character has the most in common with - explain why.

Okay, you can’t give me a question like this and not expect me to yell a bit about several characters because TBH I CAN AND I WILL because I’m a huge HUGE Disney fan like I still am at 20. I grew up loving these films so?? How can I NOT go off on one about it? But like, honestly Fane could be several since he’s an amalgamation of so many different sources and personality traits so I really can’t just give you one and say that’s the one best for him because… honestly I can’t?… Let me tell you this is 100% going to get long winded and no one will probably read it but hey what can you do?

Let’s start with the obvious choice, Lumière: charismatic, kind-hearted rebellious servant to the Beast; SUPER DUPER social and hospitable to all he meets with a tendency for disobeying the hard set rules in place by his superiors which tends to lead to controversy between him and those ranking above or possessing authority above him. Despite this, he’s likely the closest individual within the household itself (excluding Belle) to the Beast and the one chosen to provide advice in various measure. Lumière is Cogsworth’s foil considering cogsworth is a hard-fast rules clock himself. 

Often depicted as a chivalrous and generally successful romancer he’s also the one that the Beast goes to for love advice in dealing with his feelings for Belle i.e. that time he convinced the Beast the best way to make Belle happier would be to bestow the castle’s mahousive library upon Belle due to her love of reading and books. Add on top Lumière’s tendency towards flirtation and choice to speak in suave smooth tones it’s no real surprise that he’s immediately one of the main characters I’d say Fane has a lot in common with. Fane loves France, he’s lived there for practically a century at one point in his life and knows the language fluently.

Throw in Lumière’s fussiness and need for an event to look absolutely spectacular down to the nitty gritty details… Yep. I definitely see Fane in him as a character but his more superficial aspects.

Next, I have to mention Roger Radcliffe; bachelor songwriter living in his bachelor pad with his dalmatian Pongo bc how can I not mention Roger with Fane’s ridiculous adoration for dogs? I can’t really. Much like Roger Fane’s a workaholic and dedicates himself entirely to any piece of work or task he takes upon himself until he completes it to the ABSOLUTE best of his ability. 

The only reason he ends up meeting/marrying Anita is because for once he dragged himself away from work long enough to go on a walk with Pongo where he ironically gets soaked in the Lake after they both fall in (PARALLELS ANYWHERE TO ANOTHER FIRST MEETING AND TENDENCY AFTER THE FACT FOR SOMEHOW GETTING SOAKED? I’m looking at you Scully, yes you). Anyway, later on in the film Roger’s show to be a kind man who cares deeply for his family and pets and isn’t afraid to stand up against Cruella when it comes to the well-being of his family. So yes, Roger is definitely another character I see parallels with in regards to Fane.

On the dad note, you can’t miss Mufasa because I MEAN COME ON WHAT A DAD. Much like Mufasa Fane’s kind-hearted and playful and respects all creatures even those perceived as lower than himself. He’s not the sort of dad who’s all strictly business; often playing games with Zazu and shows a lot of affection with Rafiki happily hugging him before presenting Simba. Now, another reason I pick Mufasa is because of the royal connections the characters share: Mufasa is a king, Fane was a potential prince (the highest rank equivalent to a king in Transylvania when the principality still stood and wasn’t abolished) Mufasa is instructive and wise, taught by years of experience and instruction and his rule much like Fane’s time in charge of his own castle was a period of prosperity due to his reasonable and responsible approach to leadership taking the stance that every person must be respected for order to be maintained. Thus, Fane and Mufasa also share the understanding of responsibility and willingness to set aside personal gain to benefit those under his care.

Both are fiercely protective of their family, ready to throw themselves into danger to keep those he loves safe and ultimately if needs be sacrifice his life for those he loves – Fane’s love for his family and their well-being again, much like Mufasa’s far outweighs his own love for himself.

Another similarity between them is patience and their optimism - never giving up on hope even despite the obstacles that might come up and get in their way. This extends to betrayal- Mufasa unlike Simba with Kovu would never have banished someone from his life without having heard their explanation first which is another thing Fane does his best to mimic when people cross or hurt him. His issue arises when people hurt his family and loved ones, do that and it’s an entirely different story.

Tadashi comes up next: the epitome of a great big brother, nephew and student, always there when people need him and energetic with a sense of humour that can be silly and excitable. Both of them are goofy and have a great sense of humour.

He’s incredibly hard-working and doesn’t believe in ‘dead-ends’, there always has to be a way out. Again, Fane despite being born into his wealth– there’s no way he would have been able to maintain it over all these years considering his lifestyle if he hadn’t worked for it. Which is what he did, he went out and sought the necessary contacts to expand his network to keep his money flowing into the bank. Though Fane is more lax about such things he can be because he’s done the legwork in the past and it took a LOT of hard work to get where he is today. Fane values work to accomplish goals which is something he also adopts in his parenting style; if Dani wanted something they would have to work to earn it for themself unless it was a special occasion in which yes they would get their gifts generally without work.

Fane also feels like he carries the responsibility to be a good role-model for Dani, having to care for them alongside his progeny they are both gentle & understanding characters but also not afraid of scolding their younger family members or becoming upset with them. One difference between the two is how Tadashi when he gets frustrated he will show it, whereas Fane tends to internalise it. Much like Tadashi encourages Hiro Fane encouraged and supported Dani in all their endeavours.

They both also share the philosophy of “looking at things from a different angle” something that both tend to apply to solve their problems (Tadashi’s being trying to activate Baymax after 84 tests) and Fane’s being his attempts to help other people.

Alright, there’s no talking about parental figures without Delbert Doppler our wonderful pacifistic sort of smart useless scholar coming up? He let Jim and Sara stay in his home after their own inn got destroyed by pirates. He’s excitable and LOVES to make new discoveries and go exploring which is why he was so excited when they realised that Jim happened to find the map to TREASURE PLANET HOLY SHIT TREASURE PLANET, yes. This is very much what Fane gets like when there’s a new discovery in a field he’s interested in. They also both don’t take too kindly to insults, though Fane takes it a bit better than Del does.

Then how can I NOT mention Kala, like calm, gentle, kind loving Kala who adores Tarzan so unconditionally despite knowing he would never replace her firstborn (incidentally killed by Sabor). Despite her tendency towards displaying a calm rational behaviour she’s capable of aggression when provoked to it and is also super brave when she faces Sabor again to protect a young Tarzan.

Bing Bong comes up next because we’ve talked a lot of positives and we need a bit of angst thrown in here to even it up, okay so Bing Bong when we meet him is drifting around Long Term Memory collecting happy memories in his bottomless bag. Bing Bong severely misses his time shared with Riley and was so utterly desperate not to be forgotten which is when he runs into Joy & Sadness who got themselves ejected from HQ. The reason I put Bing Bong on here is because to be honest Fane’s greatest fear is being forgotten by people, by not being memorable or important enough to be considered or given a reason to be recalled ESPECIALLY by people he loves or considers close friends. This is part of what played into him seeking out immortality; to have a way to literally build up his own legacy and history to be something worthwhile and memorable.

In this case the largest instance of this feeling comes in terms of Dani; who is a great source of both love but also anxiety considering in watching them grow up and move on in their life (a fact that he accepts needs to happen) he can’t help but feel like he’s being left behind in a way by them as they seem to move ever further away from home and in turn him with Sam. He by no means holds it against them knowing they are an adult now, but much like Bing Bong sort of felt himself fading away in terms of their memory. And just ugh I get emo over Bing Bong fading into oblivion.

Other characters that remind me of Fane: Prince Charming (Cinderella), Jack Skellington (The Nightmare Before Christmas) Tigger (Winnie the Pooh) due to his eccentric tendencies and overly energetic enthusiasm for things, he means well but his tendency to view himself as the only tigger in existence has led to a little bit of ego. The notable thing is this ego is never meant to be intentionally malicious, but occasionally can frustrate people and Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio).