#and theives and redemption

[robottheodorlasso]

My hyper-fixations are converging

[a-roguish-gambit]

Random au thought for X Men Evolution

Au where Gambit is with the team from the begining, not as a student but as an employee of the institute.

So this is also a trans man gambit au just for clarification because reasons I will get I to.

So Gambit being there from the begining how does that work? Well it starts as Gambit taking a job as a thief for hire from mystique. In this au Gambit has been on the streets for a bit as a hired hand as the whole arranged marriage thing went south after Gambit came out as trans. While he theives guild was pretty accepting of their newly crowned prince, Julian, who he was betrothed to instead in this au, was none too happy at the idea of his bride becoming a groom. Duel ensues and he skips town after accidentally stabbing Julian.

At 17, he has been on the run for a while paying for his own transition via the jobs he's been doing (the the seedy plastic surgeons don't question you if you show up with 100k in cash, no matter your age) and has been on T for about a year. But T and other medications, and any potential future surgeries for that matter, are expensive and hard to keep getting regularly without a prescription or primary care physician, even for someone as well versed in the criminal underworld as Gambit, so he takes whatever jobs he can get.

That includes attempting to break into the Xavier institute and hacking their computers for all their info on their mutants for a shape shifting blue lady without questioning her so long as she offers the right price.

He nearly makes it out before being captured and pinned down by Logan. Thankfully for Gambit, professor x loves adopting street kids with dubious abilities.

But Gambit doesn't want to be a student. He wants a salary. And health care covering transition hormones without question.

Being the progressive person he is, Charles agrees and Gambit is charged with night security for the institute. Making friends, introducing other mutant 2000s teens to the concept of bisexuality and LGBT stuff without their parents' knowledge, teaching them ACAB and how to hotwire things, scaring the shit out of Charles in the process; and having a semi peaceful life where he gets to meet a sweet rough and tumble goth girl named rogue, who joins the team much sooner thanks to him, and doesn't have the painful one sided crush on scott for nearly as long.

....I feel Incredibly robbed we didn't get a Gambit redemption arc ok. We deserved 6 seasons....

[fantastic-mr-corvid]

confessional!!!

this is the three sentences and a vibe one<3 so i will also describe what im gonna write<3 Wotr Cecio, pre-game<3

A shadow walks past the walls of Cecios tent, short and lanky in a way that shows its one of the new recruits “He ended up injured because of me” “I'm just some criminal trying to atone and i keep fucking it up”

After the death of half of Cecio's group, new recruits has been used to fill the gaps, many of them theives and criminals who are trying to atone [or get a stable source of food]

in the fic, one of them comes to Cecio, because they slipped up and froze in combat, resulting in their friend getting injured. they feel like they dont deserve the redemption that has been promised.

Cecio comforts the kid, telling them everyone makes mistakes and that past does not dictate future, and that many people are forced in to a life of crime, adn it not the falt of them but the fault of the systems that make it the only viable way to live for some people.

Its totally not about CeliaTM!

jokes aside the aim of this fic is to show his kind side, and how he comforts and worms his way into peoples hearts, how he make people believe in him and trust him, as well as showing exactly what kind of person he is in detail pre-game, as well as planting the seeds for his talent in manipulation, in his ability to comfort people

[the-scottish-costume-guy]

Imperial plez. (Asky mathingie)

imperial: what film, in your opinion, has the best cinematography and/or special effects?

Oh fuck thats a hard one. Thing is special effects/cinematography are both things that can individually be impressive as hell - but also if they serve the narrative thats the best thing for it? Sorry I can't do one, we're having a list broken down into sections: Practical effects (puppetry, make up artistry, animatronics ect): 1) Jurassic park - probably shouldn't be up for debate here lads the animatronics were revolutionary 2) Star Trek Beyond - they were kind of robbed of the make up artistry award. Their alien designs, all practical effects, were stunning. 3) The childs play franchise - seriously its kind of impressive the technqiues they used and how seamless it is Special mentions: Dungeons and dragons honour among theives (I appreciate the dedication to practical effects where possible, but it wasn't as natural or seamless as the above), Megan (the way they made the doll face/mask was frankly pretty spooky and very well done.) Back to the future (flaming tire tracks are just cool). The haunting (subtle effects in this one, its an oldie but a goodie). CGI: 1) Avatar (both the first and second films) sorry but they are just innovative and look great. Plot isn't exactly as innovative but visually its stunning. 2) I do have a place in my heart for the 'live action' alice in wonderland - again it looked really awesome. 3) Pirates of the caribbean - it doesnt hold up as well as some, but damn that shit blew my mind as a kid. Cgi is a weird one, special mentions to: frankly all of the disney 3d animation department; Sandman, only not mentioned properly because its a tv show but its a perfect example of CG enhancing practical effects. Similair lines and I cant believe I'm saying this; Troy - again using cgi to enhance practical effects. Other blended films, one series that gets a bad time of it - Star Wars, and again Jurassic Park. Bad examples to me: The marvel franchise, Green Lantern - use CGI to do things that cant be done. Movies I dont know where to put them: 1) Who framed roger rabbit - not sure what to call what they did for this, practical effects with animation blended in? Either way the fact they had the balls to play with lighting - good shit? Cinematography: 1) The Batman - I really noticed how much I enjoyed the cinematography of the batman. Love it or hate it, stylistically it was really interesting. 2) The shawshank redemption - this is the film that got me invested in film studies in the first place. Cinematography is not an area I know or understand quite as well as some others. Again special mention ot the dnd movie it was good. There are hundreds of good examples of cinematography and Im taking the easy out now of stopping at 2.

[tab-the-goblin]

And you generally have to do it to complete the game.

Stardewvalley

Minecraft

Animal crossing

Dreamlight valley

Pokemon

Red dead redemption

Terraria

Fire embelm

FFxiv

Breath of the wild

Fortnite

Sea of theives

Need I go on

Controversial opinion.

But why does every single game have a fishing mini game in it.

I don't like fishing.

[sunbratz]

maybe its bc i am a villain lover but i will never forgive people for shaming ppl who like villains so hard that it causes the entire conversations around those villains outside of fiction to be toxic to the point that it completely kills the character

[between-two-fandoms]

Everyone should watch leverage redemption for free on IMDB TV

[neon-junkie]

Del Lobos best gang

[youwerealwaysmysecret]

TLH Calendar: Lucie Herondale

“i could read to you from the Beautiful Cordelia. I have some pages in my handbag. One never knows when imagination may strike“ April 1st- finish novel April 9th- Tea at Fortnum and Mason with Anna and Cordelia April 15th- Bridge leaping training with Cordelia (dangerous?) April 25th- Alphabetize books in the Merry Thieves’ library (they will be certain to appreciate this) April 27th- Keep evening free...just in case April 30th- finish novel

---------

I bet she’s hoping Jesse will show up on the 27th, but it’s after the events of COI so he might not be a ghost anymore? hopefully?

She’s so wholesome I love her ❤️

[un-official-artist]

Makin’ a break for it

[lupinus-bicolor]

i had no idea certain enemies would lob sticks of dynamite at you if you attacked them. Thought the del lobos threw a candle at me and i ended up getting launched into the river and drowning like a damned fool lmao

[pop-shocks-remade]

MY ANIME BOYFRIEND IS ALIVE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[yusuke-of-valla]

Unpopular opinion: I. Really do not like Sae Niijima? It kind of feels like a reverse Anakin Skywalker where she SHOULD be more conflicted/upset over the awful things she's doing, but neither her nor her Shadow are, so her redemption feels really unearned. I didn't really get a sense that she "envied" the Phantom Thieves' "freedom" or cared for Makoto/Papa Niijima.

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

If you don’t like Sae that’s fine that’s your prerogative and I’m not going to say “no you have to like her”

And like I’d agree with you that there should be more conflict in terms of the awful stuff she’s doing but like, full stop the game is REALLY FUCKING WISHY WASHY as to what exactly she’s doing that’s so bad?

Like, there’s threatening to take Futaba away from Sojiro which never comes up again and I don’t think the Phantom Thieves would even know about and Sae yelling at Makoto which is an isolated incident and then her Palace is like “well, she’s cheating in the casino… and Japan has a very high conviction rate so maybe I guess she’s forging evidence to convict people but if she is it isn’t going to come up outside her Palace”

And this is a side effect of Persona 5’s thing where like if you’re supposed to like a character they can’t have done something actually bad (Goro Akechi being the one exception here). I’d also say it’s a side effect of her Confidant being tied to plot progression rather than her actual character so she loses out on of the main methods of characterization

So like, while I’d say, “oh clearly Sae’s resentment of the Phantom Thieves is a result of her being angry that her father’s pursuit of justice got him killed without even getting the culprit arrested and her becoming a prosecutor is both her way of actually putting people behind bars and also giving her dad the middle finger, and also she’s terrified of Makoto going down that same path and getting killed like their father which is why she so strongly wants Makoto to stay out of this shit,” in all honesty that’s mostly my headcanon and the game is noncommittal either way.

What I think could have been cool is if we’d gotten a scene like in Ace Attorney Investigations where Sae’s shadow says she thinks Defense Attorneys are bad for getting criminals free, and thus her cheating is justified in the same way the Phantom Theives changing people’s hearts to force a confession is justified

Uh TL;DR: it’s fine you don’t like Sae, I wouldn’t even call what she gets a redemption arc because we don’t know if she’s got a pattern of behavior that’s bad enough to warrant “redeeming” vs just apologizing for the two shitty things she did, but I do think she cares about Makoto and Dadjima, she just doesn’t show it well because of her own issues around being forced to grow up too fast

[glorytoukraine2022]

Hey everyone! I’m back with another analysis! This time I’m going to do a comparison of reformed villains from Elena of Avalor and Tangled the Series. The main reformed villains I will be comparing is Cassandra, to four reformed villains from the two aforementioned shows. If you’re a fan of both shows, you probably might know who they are.

First up, will be Cassandra vs Varian. I know this is an obvious choice I’m starting off with, but given that these two are from the same show, they’re the easiest to analyze. TTS does everything it can to push comparisons between Varian and Cassandra and make them seem like parallels. However, these two couldn’t be more different.

Varian didn’t want to turn to crime. He only became a criminal because he was pushed to it. When Varian lost his dad, he asked for help not only from Rapunzel, but the entire kingdom as a whole. But because of a false rumor going around the kingdom claiming that Varian had attacked Rapunzel. Rapunzel never cleared the rumor, nor did she follow up on Varian’s request for help. The King sent guards to chase Varian out of his home in order to cover up the destruction of the rocks, isolating Varian from society and any possible aid. Varian was still wron, but he literally had no other options left.

Cassandra, however? She was faced with no such situation. Her life was pretty stable when she stole the moonstone. Was it perfect? No, but if she was so unhappy, than she could have left anytime. She was even offered an opportunity to become a warrior of the kingdom of Ingvarr, but chose to stay because of her friendship with Rapunzel.

Like Varian, Cassandra too was mistreated by Rapunzel. I don’t blame either of them for wanting to leave her. Yet the show didn’t use any of these valid reasons as her motive for Cassandra stealing the moonstone. Instead, they decided to have Cassandra victim-blame Rapunzel for her own kidnaping.

The entirety of season 3, we see Cassandra gaslighting an abuse victim. Gothel didn’t kidnap Rapunze because she loved her more than Cassandra. She only cared about her magic hair.

Varian realized his actions were wrong long before the events of season 3, but nobody in Corona gave him a chance, leading to him turning to a Terrorist Leader. But when the Saporians revealed that they were going to destroy Completely using Varian’s chemicals, Varian turned against the Saporians to save Corona and it’s citizens, despite how the kingdom mistreated him, because it was the right thing to do. Cassandr, on the other hand, was about to rip the Sundrop straight from Rapunzel, despite her clearly being in pain.

For my next comparison, it will be Cassandra vs. Victor and Carla Delgado. One could argue that Cassandra saw the power of the moonstone as a power conduit and a means of respect, similarly to how Victor and Carla saw being Malvagos. However, given that TTS does seem to give a clear or specific reason for Cassandra’s theft of the stone, it’s honestly hard to say if power, respect or anything, for that matter, is Cassandra’s motive. “Destiny“, is also given as a motivation, but it’s hard to tell. Whereas Victor and Carla’s motivations for becoming Malvagos is clearly stated that they saw it as a means to gain power, in order to gain respect, which, quite frankly, makes more sense than anything that came out of Cassandra’s mouth throughout her entire villain arc.

Yes, Cassandra and Carla were both abandoned by their naristsstic, power-hungry mothers, but the way each of them reacted to it couldn’t have been more different. When Ash betrayed Victor and Carla by turning Victor to stone, Carla was devastated, and who wouldn’t be? Yet in that moment she saw her mother for who she truly was and turned against her, standing by her father when he needed her.

Now Cassandra? Let’s see, she went on a rampage to hurt her friends and others innocent people and ATTACKED her father. See the difference? One could argue that Cassandra was four when Gothel abandoned her whereas Carla was 19, but Cassandr’s memory of Gothel’s abandonment was repressed until Zhan Tiri showed it to her in The House of Yesterday’s Tomorow. Even though it happened when Cassandra was at a young age, when she remembered it, she was a 24 year old woma, and should have handled it with the maturity of a young adult.

Nobody is saying that Cassandra isn’t allowed to feel hurt. Nobody is saying she isn’t allowed to react badly. That she isn’t allowed to confront her father on the truth if she feels that he kept it from her. But you’d think she’d react in a mature manner. That she’d be willing to hear her father out and talk to him about it rather than straight out attack him!

Carla clearly wanted her mother in her life. She wanted a relationship with her. Cassandra also clearly wanted to be raised by her birth mother, but their mothers made their own choices. Ash and Gothel chose to abandon their daughters for selfish purposes. They can’t change who their mothers are, as much as they might want to. The difference is, only Carla has the maturity to realize that. She also realizes that she has her father, who loves and cares about her more than anything in the whole wide world. Cassandra disregards all of this.

From what we know about Victor and Carla’s childhoods’ Victor had fun days at the palace racing Esteban down the halls, playing hide and seek and cooking with him and Elena. Carla had fun cooking with her father as a child. But some of their lines from “Don’t Look Now”, tell us that their childhoods weren’t exactly peachy. According to Victor, if you had seen him as a child, he would have “always had a frown” because he was put down by others and was “treated like a clown” whenever he tried to stand up. And let’s not forget that him and his family were banished by Shuriki while Victor was still in his teens.

According to Carla, she and Victor were “always on the move“ and that the only thing that never changed was that she would “always feel alone.” The reasons she and Victor could never settle down was probably because they survived as theives and con-artists. If they were alwlays on the move, than Carla probably nevertheless had the chance to make friends growing up. And we’re suppoesd to feel sorry for CASSANDRA?!

While it’s possible she might have felt looked down upon like Victor, Cassandra had a pretty stable life growing up. Growing up inside a CASTLE! She was even allowed to train for the Royal Guard at age six! Victor and Carla had to resort to becoming con artists for a living, and Cassandra is pouting just because she didn’t get the job she wanted?!

When Carla nearly fell to her death after she was knocked over a ledge, Victor was terrified that he was going to lose Carla right then and there, causing him to realize that power wasn’t worth the price of losing his daughter. This gave him the incentive and courage to stand up to Ash for Carla’s safety, and end dark pursuits right then and there. Ash responded to this by turning him into stone. Heartbroken and angered by Ash’s betrayal, and realizing her mother’s true nature, Carla stands against Ash and reforms as well.

Victor and Carla may have once believed that power would gain them the respect they’ve always wanted, but in the end, realized that they never needed power. All they ever truly needed to be happy was love and family. Each other. That’s what I call a true, remarkable redemption. Cassandra didn’t seem to learn or realize anything based on her experience. To this day, I still don’t understand just what new insights and changes resulted from Cassandra’s “redemption.” All Zhan Tiri did was take the moonstone from her. There should have been more than that to her redemption.

Now, last, but not least, Cassandra vs Esteban. Now, I saved this one for last, because Esteban is the one I’ve heard people compare Cassandra to, and while I understand where they are coming from, I still have my objections. I’ve heard people compare Esteban to Cassandra based on the fact that they both had a desire to be noticed. While I understand this comparison, I still feel like Esteban is the more sympathetic of the two.

As much as Esteban wanted to be listened to, he always loved his family deeply. But he always made the mistake of trusting the wrong people, first Shuriki, then Ash, and then the Four Shades. He trusted them, only for them to go after the people he loved and wanted to listen to him in the first place. Cassandra wanted to be listen to, but she didn’t care if it cost her everyone that had ever cared about her. We see this early on in season 1, during “Challenge of the Brave”, when she tries to sabotage Rapunzel’s chances in “Challenge of the Brave” by stealing her weapon of choice, and in “Great Expotations“, when she breaks her promise to Varian that she would be his assistant at the Science Expo if he completed her Handmaiden duties for her, just so she could be on guard duty.

Both Cassandra and Esteban are ambitius and have sought to undermine their family/friends if given the oppourtunity, but I felt that Esteban was always more misunderstood whereas Cassandra was just willing to screw over anybody in her way. Think about it, even after Esteban joined up with Ash, he NEVER EVER wanted to hurt his family, and was always going out of his way to protect them and migiate harm. Cassandra, on the other hand? Went on a killing spree to murder her friends and cause as much destruction as possible.

I have also heard people comparing their redemptions and complaining about how they were both “last minute.” While I would agree in regards to Cassandra, I would NOT say the same about Esteban. As I pointed out in previous paragraph, Cassandra was still hell bent on hurting Rapunzel before Zhan Tiri grabbed the moonstone. Just before that scene, Esteban had just sung a duet with Elsa about how remorseful he feels for everything he’s done and all the people he’s hurt.

Iv’e also heard people comparing their “deaths”, claiming that Cassandra dying was a self sacrifice. NO. I REPEAT. Cassandra’s death in the TTS finale was NOT a self sacrifice! A self sacrifice is when you knowingly put yourself in harm’s way for someone or something else, knowing that you’ll be killed, or seriously injured in the process. Esteban teleporting in front of Elena to take Cahu’s time grain, was a self sacrific. Anna choosing to save Elsa from Hans in Frozen was a self sacrifice. Cassandr’s death was NOT self sacrifice. Cassandra and Rapunzel didn’t believe they were going to die or suffer any consequences by uniting the stones. The only person who they bellived would die was the person who United the stones, that person being Zhan Tiri. Cassandra’s actions were not self sacrificial, in any way, shape or form. What Esteban did for Elena in that moment was more powerful than anything Cassandra did in the finale.

All of these people I talked about above were better villains than Cassandr, with much better motivations, and are More worthy of redemption as have becom better people than she ever will be. If Cassandra ever grows in the futur, sh’ll be lucky if she ever gets at least half to where all these wonderful people are today.

I’m sorry if this analysis isn’t as good as my others so far. I stayed up until 3:40 AM writing this, so I apologize for any sloppiness or spelling mistakes you might see. I still hope you enjoyed my thoughts!

[cinderelliee]

My final character opinions before Chain of Iron...

Just finished my reread of Chain of Gold ahead of Tuesday’s release!!! I am posting my thoughts/opinions of the main cast so that after Chain of Iron I can see how or if my feelings change. Spoilers: most of my opinions are going to be that I don’t know enough about them lmao. I love the big cast of characters, but that unfortunately also means less time is spent on each one.

Disclaimer: I know that I love some characters that people hate and vice versa. My intention is not to start anything, but more to be more open about what I think about the characters. It’s okay to disagree and just because I say I don’t like a character, it does not mean I believe they are badly written...

Alastair Carstairs:

One of my favorites of the series, and possibly TSC as a whole (let’s see how the series goes first). I love him so much and I can’t wait to see how his story goes. I love that he keeps everyone at arms length and pushes everyone away, but he would also go to any length for the people he loves. I think he has a gift of being able to see people as they are, and notice things others don’t. Probably why he was the one, not Cordelia, who saw what was wrong with his father and kept it from his sister. I’m sure he used to look up to his father like Cordelia did, but instead suffered great disappointment when he learned the truth. And then when he went to the academy, finally having some time away from it, all he found was more disappointment. He did what he thought he had to to survive. And I think along the way he sort of lost himself.

I do think Alastair should make amends with the Merry Theives, but less for their sake and more for his own. I think his journey is more about finding and forgiving himself. There are other ways to live and survive than hurting anyone who gets too close to you. I think he started that journey in Chain of Gold when he dyed his hair back to black and broke up with Charles. But fixing yourself is easier said than done, it’s not one choice, but something that you strive for everyday. His journey actually reminds me a lot of Matthew’s; they have a lot in common and I think their paths will parallel each other’s. I also think Thomas will be a catalyst for Alastair’s growth, as well as a helping hand.

I can’t wait to see his dynamic with the characters this next book as he tries to return to his true self. It’ll be interesting to see how his relationship with Elias plays out too.

Anna Lightwood:

I really like Anna so far. I think she’s very unique and exciting. I love how dedicated she is to being true to herself, but at the same time cares deeply about her loved ones and shows it. Often times I feel like characters like her often act like they’re above showing affection towards their family, so I was pleasantly surprised when she wasn’t. This is probably because her parents love and support her, so she never had to scorn familial love.

Romantic love is a different thing. Now, my two pieces about her life style is: why don’t we all just have a good time. I know there’s some people who didn’t like that she called her many partners ‘conquests’ and that she had a little black book. But I didn’t really see that criticism until recently and I’m confused as to what people thought Anna was doing? Would they rather her not keep track and forget them all? It’s perfectly healthy to explore your sexuality as long as you aren’t harming yourself or others. I know Anna is seen as older, but she is still only 19 (I think? 20 at most right?). She’s still on her journey to figuring out who she is. She is a bit self-centered and definitely privileged (see her relationship with Ariadne), but if she didn’t have flaws there would be nowhere for her to grow from. I highly doubt Anna will be living her seductress lifestyle by the end of the series

Personally, I cannot wait to see how her relationship with Ariadne plays out. Hopefully Anna will have some healthy confrontation with how she reacted to her heartbreak and why. Anyway, Anna is definitely one of my favorites.

Ariadne Bridgestock:

She seems like an interesting character, and I like how she’s not afraid to go after what she wants. I’d like to know a little more about her past and motivations. I also think she’s in a really difficult situation with her family and who she is/wants to be. I think she made a really understandable choice when she engaged Charles, and I support her journey in winning Anna back (I don’t not agree with the people who judged her for not backing off from Anna. She is fighting for who she loves and we are all fools in love). I think she has a lot of potential, but I can’t quite say that I like her yet since she’s probably the character we know the least about.

Charles Fairchild:

No opinion. I don’t love or hate him. No feelings whatsoever. The only thing I care about is the possible drama he will cause for Alastair and Thomas or the Clave as a whole lmao

Christopher Lightwood:

This boy is great! I have no complaints about him at all. He is precious. Honestly I’d just like to see more from him! His lines always make me chuckle. Also I’m not convinced that he would be able to create a antidote before the Silent Brothers would’ve been able to. But whatever, it’s just a story so who cares.

Cordelia Carstairs:

I just think she’s really neat. She is a fantastic protagonist and definitely on her way to becoming my favorite TSC lead, other than Tessa, obviously. I love her strength, kindness, relentless resilience, and how headstrong she is. I think it’s hilarious how straightforward she is. There’s so many scenes where she just says exactly what she’s thinking and just surprises everyone around her because they underestimated her or never expected her to so forcefully share her opinions. I adore her relationships with everyone. Her and Lucie are adorable. Her relationship with Alastair is so sweet and watching them rebuild their relationship was one of my favorite parts of the book, and definitely something I’m looking forward to. Matthew and Cordelia’s relationship is one of my favorites from the book; I love how they challenge and surprise each other (I think they could learn a lot from each other). Her interactions with the Merry Theives in general are perfect.

One thing I will say is there just wasn’t enough of her. I was very surprised when I read it that James and her were basically co-protagonists. I didn’t expect James to have such a prominent role, usually the split between the girl and boy lead is 60/40 at most, but this felt more like a 50/50 split. I just would’ve prefered more from Cordelia I guess, but that’s just me.

Grace Blackthorn:

So at first I was neutral towards Grace. I didn’t care about her at all, but after I came online and saw how many people hated her and acted like her was a villain, I started liking her more. She obviously is a victim of her mother’s manipulation and she doesn’t want to do what she’s doing to James. It’s clear to me that she is doing what she can to survive and to help her brother, the only person she truly cares about. Since she is also one of the few characters that it’s unclear where her story is going to end up, I am curious to see how her story goes.

I know there’s some people who just wanted her to be a villain, and I totally get that. But I feel like if she was, we would get a less complex character. Cassie’s villains, with the exception of Jonathan perhaps, tend to be one dimensional (which is fine because that’s not the reason I read her books anyways!). I also don’t really think she needs much of a redemption arc because she’s just trying to survive.

James Herondale:

This is where I’m going to get a little unpopular. I don’t love James, BUT I don’t hate him either. I am just not interested in where his story goes at all. I think I get what Cassie’s goal was with his character. He doesn’t have Will and Jace’s dark past and he’s not a morally grey bad boy like Julian. James is caring and sweet and noble and has a good family and I can totally see why people like him. For me, he still fills the same exact role that I’ve seen, not just from Cassie, but other YA books as well, and I’m just tired of it. His motivations are doing whatever he can to protect his loved ones and doing things because they are the right thing to do. He is willing to lay down his life for the greater good. I just can’t see anything about him that feels new. The only times I’ve felt anything towards him is when Jem, Cordelia, or Matthew were making me feel something for him.

It could be because I don’t really care for Cassie’s plots and his arc is so heavily involved with all the Prince of Hell stuff. And the bracelet just pisses me off in a bad way. The solution to it is so simple that it just frustrates me, but does not intrigue me at all. I will say I like him better with the bracelet off so I’m hoping in stays off this next book so I can enjoy his POV a little more. I really want to like him, but I just don’t connect with him at all. I wish Cassie had come up with something other than the bracelet as well.

Jesse Blackthorn:

Imma be honest: at the moment I don’t really care about Jesse either. I don’t know enough about him. But it seems like we’re gonna get more from him this next book so I’m reserving my judgement until then. In Chain of Gold I noticed most of his scenes were pretty expository or he was passing along information, but we never really got to know much about him. Hopefully I will like him in Chain of Iron though!

Lucie Herondale:

I really like Lucie so far! My favorite part about her is that she is so practical, but also able to loose herself in whimsical fantasies. She is totally 100% Tessa and Will’s child!! I don’t have much to say other than I love what I’ve gotten from her so far, but I just need a little bit more to connect with her. I’m hoping Chain of Iron really explores her darker side and her motivations. I kinda have a feeling this next book will either make or break my opinion of her.

Matthew Fairchild:

Anyone who has been following me for a while now could probably guess that Matthew is my favorite from TLH. I don’t know what it says about me, but I relate to him on a personal level. Although I haven’t made the same mistakes he has, (thank heavens for that!) I do know how he feels. I do know what it’s like to have something happen, that’s completely your fault, and have it change your life into something completely different than you thought it would be. I have made a lot of posts about him so if you want more in depth details, they are on my blog.

I’m just going to say that, very similar to Alastair, I think that Matthew has a lot of amends to make, to everyone in his life. And his journey is what I look forward to the most. He’s made a lot of mistakes, huge ones, and I know it’ll probably get worse before it gets better. But I hope his story isn’t going to be as sad as everyone believes, (I don’t think it will be, since a vast majority of Cassie’s characters eventually get happen endings) it just means a lot to me that his character doesn’t end up a tragedy. Like I said before his relationship with Cordelia is something I am really looking forward to. And his relationship with his family as well.

I love him your honor. *if I loved him less I may have been able to talk about him more*

Thomas Lightwood:

I really like Thomas!!! I favorite thing about him is that he can so easily see the beautiful and worth in everyone and everything (which makes him perfect for Alastair!). I love how gentle and kind he is. So far what I have seen from him has been so great. And how he was able to carrying on despite his sister’s death and then Christopher’s illness was really admirable. But I’m going to say for him as I’ve said for most: I want to see more from him!!! I have faith that his and Alastair’s relationship with be the best part of the book, so I have high hopes!

Okay!!! I think that’s everyone!! Let me know what you think?? Do you agree or disagree! I would love to get into some discussions with people to pass the time until the release!! If anyone wants to make their own post, please tag me!! I’d love to see!!! Do you think I have enough ‘!!!!!!!!!’?

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Nitpicking any part of the Bible and ignoring the rest of it is always an extremely stupid move to make. Jehovah is not all fluffy marchmallows and rainbows, letting humanity frolic and fuck around without consequence. Neither is He an overbearing totalitatian dictator that will smite you if you so much as sneeze in an unbiblical way.

He’s not a god that lets time pass without His guidance, or stands back and lets the evils of the world happen without consequence. Neither is He a strict and uncaring creator that micromanages every last choice to the point that any human is incapable of accepting salvation beyond his own ignorance or pride.

He’s not a father who halfheartetly tells his children to go play and be good without setting rules for their behaviour, but neither is He a father that produces children for the sole purpose of being an example to the others of His capacity for punishment.

I have seen so many Christians refuse to understand the middle ground, either through ignorance or malice. God is just in His wrath, but merciful in His judgement. He is strict in His rules, but kind in His enforcement.

He does not cause evil to happen to us, He allows us the consequences of our own actions. He never allows us to endure something He is not willing to help us through.

He doesn’t desire the deaths of homosexuals, sexual deviants, murderers, adulterers, theives, atheists, occultists, abusers or persecutors. He desires their redemption, and their salvation. Their demise only ever comes through their choice to embrace their fallen flesh, and their refusal to repent of their sins against His design.

Through the strictness of the law, though not without sympathy, all of humanity deserves to endure suffering as a result of our rebellion. But through the eyes and life of Christ, we gained His empathy. This does not release us from our responsibility to follow His rules in any capacity, instead it allows us a looser lead to follow.

Christ does not bind us to our choices before we make them, nor sentence us to death before our grandfathers were conceived. Neither is he ignorant of the intricacies of our decisions, and those that we will make. Limiting Jehovah to our perceptions of life and reality is- from my perspective, not Christ’s -the most inept level of arrogance a Christian can ever display.

Jehovah founded the concepts of time and space, He wove atoms into being with nothing but His voice, He built the foundations of the laws of physics and orchestrated the interwoven roles of every plant and animal without a second thought. His diverse creativity flows in every corner of our universe, even in nooks and chasms that humanity may never get to see or experience. He set the moon in orbit to influence the tides, He created the sun to give the earth warmth and light, and to give our plants feul. He defined the objective morality humanity should aspire to achieve, and designed us in His image as stewards over all creation. And when his creations rebelled beyond salvation, He saved those that were righteous and started again with a world that held the same creatures, but was now arranged to account for corruption and sin.

Jehovah did all of that, and more, and yet we limit His morality and mentality to our infinitely limited perceptions. We are wholly insignificant before the majesty of Christ and his creation, and yet he cares for us with such a deep passion and love that I truly believe we can never fully understand. We have the arrogance to contest his rulings because are so sure that we know our own flesh better than the being that designed every facet of our core selves.

Humanity’s capacity for self-importance is as fascinating as it is frustrating.