#anyways feel free to discuss

[queenvhagar]

My perhaps controversial take on the HOTD characters, the GOT characters the writers are trying to mold them into, and the GOT characters they actually most resemble in the books (in my opinion - feel free to disagree).

Disclaimer: these are entirely disconnected series with unique characters, so it's impossible to do what the writers of HOTD seemed to be trying to do in season 1 i.e. mold the characters from Fire and Blood to fit the characters of GOT to try to recreate the success of the early seasons. Given this, I tried to choose one single character analogue from GOT that each HOTD/FB character is most like, but oftentimes the reality is that if any single character from Fire and Blood resembles a Game of Thrones character it is likely that they are a combination of more than one. All of this said, here is who I think the writers are trying to fit certain HOTD characters into vs the character they are actually most like (according to Fire and Blood):

Rhaenyra Targaryen: obviously the show wants her to be the new and improved Daenerys, a protagonist everyone can root for who wants to revolutionize the existing order. In reality, Rhaenyra is most like Cersei: a woman who seeks to use her three bastards to usurp thrones and gain even more power than she already has, all while committing incest with a family member and using her power to punish and silence her enemies. She uses the existing system to raise herself up and keep others below her. She does reach her goal of ultimate power but ultimately she is unable to hold it. In pursuit of holding onto power or gaining more of it, she watches as her children die early deaths. The smallfolk despise her for her methods of ruling. Eventually, she will cause her own downfall and die before her time.

Alicent Hightower: the show wants her to be Cersei, a mean-spirited, jealous woman protecting her problematic children and using her status as queen to put others in their place (they even used Cersei scenes as audition material for the role). In reality, I see Alicent as most like Catelyn - a flawed woman, mother to a king, seeking to further the rights of her son in the hopes of protecting her family from those who would harm them, guided by her own sense of justice, honor, and understanding of the laws of the land (and of course, hyper aware of the bastards in the room). All she wants is her and her children's safety, and she is willing to go to war for it. In the end, however, she watches as every last child is taken from her before she herself dies alone.

Viserys I Targaryen: the show wants us to see him as the ultimate father who loves his child unconditionally and always supports her, and that his view of right and wrong should be what guides the world. In reality, he is most like Robert Baratheon: a weak king unsuitable for rule whose mistakes and complacency lead to civil war after his death. His preoccupation with past events and people, and his role in a former love's demise, leads him to neglect his current wife and their children and make decisions that create long-term issues for his family and the realm.

Criston Cole: as soon as Criston turns away from Rhaenyra, the show wants you to view him as a Meryn Trant type of Kingsguard - a man unconcerned with honor and violently anti-women, more than willing to carry out terrible acts commanded of him. In reality, Criston is like more like Jaime: he seeks to make a name for himself as a knight, guided by his own sense of honor and justice, though he is judged by others as lacking such principles. His devotion to his position on the Kingsguard and his love for the royal family motivates him. Occasionally his self-confidence and delight in goading his enemies can make him appear callous and proud. Although he is not officially the royal children's "father," he has guided and protected them and their mother from early on in the absence of their official father.

Daemon Targaryen: the show wants you to both love and hate Daemon. It seems he should fill many roles that Jaime did - a sword fighter whose swagger and danger mix together, whose dishonorable acts follow him through the world. He acts primarily out of love or his pursuit of it, whether for his brother or his lover and her children. The viewer is supposed to see that deep down he is a good guy, no matter how many characters say that he's not. In reality, I see Daemon as a more capable Viserys III: a man adamant in his family's racial superiority, who believes he and his loved ones should have access to unchecked power because they're better than everyone else. A man who enjoys exercising his power over others and demanding obedience out of fear of his wrath. A man who uses his younger family member to further his own interests without much thought to her own wishes or agency and willing to hurt her if she doesn't act the way he wants her to.

Otto Hightower: the show wants you to view Otto as a new Littlefinger, someone sly about his intentions who uses spies, information, and unsavory methods to take advantage of the ruling family and further his own interests and increase his own power. I see him instead as more similar to Tywin: a Hand of the King seeking to put his family close to the throne in pursuit of legacy and advancing his family's station, a man who arranged for his daughter to marry the king so his blood would sit the Iron Throne and bring his family power for generations, a man acutely aware of the political world and how the game is played and willing to get his hands dirty to play it.

The Strong boys: the show wants you to root for Rhaenyra's perfect, good natured and pure intentioned sons as if they were the Stark boys (mixed with Jon Snow). Raised in a good family, these boys know right from wrong and love each other. Yet some people unfairly think less of them for their birth. In reality, the Strong boys are closest to Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella. Bastards set to inherit positions they have no claim to, they are coddled by their mother and protected from any consequences to their actions. When one attacks another child, their mother demands that the other child's family is punished for their actions (and doesn't even reprimand the child for his role in the conflict). The result is the child has no remorse for the harm done, and the other child's family festers resentment against the child. Some people uncover the truth of their birth and object to their place in the line of succession, and these people are killed for speaking the truth. Eventually, a war is fought to keep them and their mother away from the throne, resulting in all of them being killed.

Aegon II Targaryen: the show wants you to see him as Joffrey 2.0. A man interested in viewing sadistic acts for his own pleasure, who abuses women for his own enjoyment, and who is unfit to rule. In reality I see Aegon as closest to Robb: a first born son reluctant to rule as king once his father dies but who rises to the occasion to try to keep his remaining family safe. A king willing to fight his battles alongside his men, no matter the risk it might pose to him. A king who tries his best to rule but makes mistakes along the way that cost him dearly. In the end, he watches as he loses everything, and he dies young.

[10yearsofdnp]

March 26, 2015: Phistory was officially made 10 years ago when @danielhowell and @amazingphil surprise dropped the announcement for TABINOF and TATINOF! Where were you when this all went down? 📖👯‍♂️💥

[nellasbookplanet]

people have been fawning over how humanlike the gods are for a month now, but now its wrong to compare them to mortal powers because they're otherworldy beings that can't possibly be thought of in human terms? or is the suggestion that they're like mortals, but they're just an innately superior group of people that deserves to have power over everyone else?

Hello anon! Are you the same person who got all up in my askbox yesterday? You certainly seem to have an equally poor grasp on what I actually said and a willingness to make it somebody else's problem. However, I no longer have a headache and am feeling less cranky, so lets treat this as a genuine question.

I never said it's wrong or even inaccurate to compare the gods to humans/mortals. What I said is that some seem over-eager to equate them with groups or systems where they don't actually fit, or to project our own world onto them. This tends to lead to poor textual analysis. For example, equating the gods with mortal rulers (specifically tyrannical rulers, even), the one percent, a higher social class, rich people, or colonizers of mortals all read as comparisons made from the assumption 'gods are the most powerful sentient beings of Exandria; therefore I will compare them to the most powerful people of our world'. Do these comparisons make actual sense as parallels? No! Kings and rich people and colonizers aren't innately more powerful than others because we don't live in a fantasy world where magic is real. You can take said power from them and redistribute it fairly. You cannot do this with the gods.

Ultimately, the last few words in your ask neatly sum up the problem with this mindset: do the gods deserve to hold this power over everyone else? Lets look at this through a comparison: do sorcerers like Imogen deserve to hold power over everyone else? She, like most sorcerers, was born with powers others do not have and has no way to get rid of them. They cannot be taken from her and redistributed to the masses to make things more equal, because they are a part of her innate self. In using them, Imogen can do good, but she also sometimes ends up hurting people by reading their thoughts without consent or, at times, even meaning to. So, does Imogen deserve this power? By now, you might see the problem. It doesn't matter whether she deserves her power because you can't take it from her without killing her, no matter how unfair you think it is that she has it. 'Do they deserve their power' is an irrelevant question that people keep coming back to. What you're actually asking is, 'do the gods deserve to live', or even 'do we have the right to kill them' which is a lot more loaded.

The gods already evened the playing field as much as was possible by locking themselves behind the divine gate, severely diminishing their influence on Exandria. They can no longer cause any more harm than any mortal, because now they must act through mortals such as clerics and paladins, through which they do a lot of good (or have we already forgotten about c1 and c2, or even the resurrection of Laudna by a divine cleric and the actions of FCG in c3?). If this still isn't enough for you, you might want to ask yourself whether what you actually want is fairness and the good of the people of Exandria, or if you're just looking for pointless revenge for the sake of it.

[pomodoriyum]

James Fitzjames and the Island of Bird Shit: historical connections/references in AMC's the Terror, and what that might say about JFJ's character

finally had time to write this up; below the cut is a brief introductory discussion of historical happenings re: guano trade. by no means am i a historian or an expert, but its a topic that's highly important to me especially when trying to understand a character like james fitzjames. Just a head's up-- it's pretty damning, and continues to add layers to his character, especially what his arc has to say about imperialism.

So let's begin-- key here will be the phrase:

First, a few sources that serve as a good introduction to the topic. Below, I've bullet-pointed the most important aspects of the articles (at least, as they relate to this meta).

Key points/areas:

WTF is guano: it is poop. "Guano islands" are small islands that are inhabited by bats & birds, esp. for breeding, and are mostly found off the coast of Peru. they are (or were) giant piles of poop. literally the size of mountains. Andean people harvested guano from these islands for a long time-- at least 1,500 to 5,000 years before colonization.

The guano age (1802-1884): note that the 'discovery' of guano by westerners happened sometime in the 1500s, and that its popularity as a fertilizer (and material for gunpowder) didn't hit until the 1800s (and 1870's for the gunpowder?). this caused a farming boom across the united states and europe, and a massive demand to extract it via mining. this extraction was done in the most evil and foul way possible, of course, because of capitalism, racism, and colonial imperialism.

Guano was such a powerful trading tool and moneymaker that the USA (and other countries too, I think) passed laws that encouraged citizens to claim any guano island they came across (hypothetically, these islands had to be 'unclaimed' by other governments, but, y'know how those things tend to go & who the USA deigns to recognize as a government). I believe that the USA still claims ownership of at least 10 islands (many in dispute), and the Guano Act also ensured that it was 'legal' for the USA to hold lands without declaring them as part of the USA, all while taking resources, enacting &enforcing laws, allowing the US military to operate on these places-- without the benefits of statehood & representation for the people who live there. This was the act that created an excuse for continued colonialism and theft, all in the name of money & literal shit. (no hate to the birds & their poop, though! I <3 ecology). also fuck the supreme court they were the ones that really solidified this into law with the case Jones V United States (1890), which was about a labor revolt where the workers (black) killed their overseers (white). they added bricks to the foundation of USA as Empire

Imperialism & colonialism, displacement & colonialism, Slavery-- all of these were things that happened in lockstep with the guano trade. It was horrible. Details about it can be found in 1493 by Charles C Mann

Working Conditions, slavery, exploitation of chinese immigrants & hawaiians, exploitation of black american immigrants-- almost all of these people were tricked into signing false job contracts, then kidnapped and brought to the islands by force where they would endure unimaginable working conditions until they were worked literally to death. please recall the context of the opium wars, as well (1839-1860), which happened during the same time frame, and which JFJ participated in.

Ecological importance & links to unsustainable farming practices that are causing climate crises / pollution / loss of topsoil (beginnings of over-reliance of fertilizers, which stress soils and cause microbial problems when misused-- which is all the damn time, because massive monoculture capitalistic farms don't care (and frequently the farmers themselves can't afford to care due to bottlenecks in the packing market!) about maintaining their soil. that's a whole other can of worms though and is worthy of another post.) nothing to do with JFJ tho. Important to note that the ecology of these islands has been destroyed for mining, like almost every known mine industry in history. extraction has a really, really high cost, and that cost is foisted onto the people who are being exploited by richer nations. please remember that this pattern still happens today, and that the overconsumption and lavish lifestyles of the global north are directly to blame for the climate crisis that's causing untold misery in the global south. <- this part isnt in the articles, btw, and if you want a more thorough discussion on this i'm happy to recommend some places to start. i fucking hate US empire and the 'conveniences' of consumerism. ouuughhhh mad now. if youre in the global north please stop ordering packages from amazon and fight for public transportation near you. im begging. like obvs theres much to be done but those things are simple and easy places to start. unhook yourself from the 'joy' of 'purchase'. p l e a s e. p l e a s e. OK. back 2 post

Historical connections to the irish potato famine (the andean potato blight hitched a ride to britain in a shipment of guano, kickstarting the famine [which was then intentionally exacerbated by the english])-- how does this impact JFJ's relationship with Francis?

It's important to note that these mines are still active, though the labor conditions have improved since their inception (i havent done much research into the labor conditions currently, so keep in mind that 'improved' might not actually mean that the quality of worklife for miners is acceptable or humane!). I think Peru is the place with the most well known guano industry, and it's still one of their exports.

TLDR: 1. guano became popular as a fertilizer in the USA/europe. 2. this caused massive demand for guano mining and mine expansion, including voracious demand for workers. 3. slaves, prisoners, and immigrants were all forced to work in horrible conditions mostly to death to fill ships with mountains of unprocessed shit. 4. This guano also was a vector for the potato blight which started the Irish Potato Famine. 5. i love birds & bats and im so fucking mad that guano was used to create bad farming practices that destroys our soil

If you'd like to read a more detailed discussion of the guano trade and its impact on people, I strongly recommend checking out 1493 by Charles C. Mann -- very user friendly and good for people who don't enjoy super dry history (like me). i'm sure theres other great resources about this as well.

Okay, so now that's out of the way. You too, reader, have at least some idea of the broad horrors of the guano trade. So what's that to do with Mr. James Fitzjames?

Let's take a look at this picture again. I think it says all we need:

most importantly, this line specifically links James Fitzjames to an island covered in bird shit. this is absolutely a reference to the guano trade, which occurred beforehand and in parallel to the franklin expedition.

the next question is: in what way is JFJ linked to the guano trade? was he an overseer there? was he 'just passing by?' Did he act as part of a military enforcing terrible labor conditions? We don't really know and can't say anything conclusively as far as show!JFJ, but the implications are not great.

obviously crozier bringing this up serves to shut the conversation down. nobody likes that he makes this comment; it's reminding them of something distasteful. jfj never expands on this point about 'birdshit island'-- honestly, i suspect it's something he's got a great deal of negative feelings about. i'd read it as guilt, but im not a great person to ask because i have a really hard time being objective about JFJ (he's one of the people from the show that I'd most like to hit with a car)

Please note that one of the populations of folks being kidnapped and worked to death were Chinese people. taken in the context of the rest of that conversation, where JFJ brags and laughs about setting chinese people on fire , it's uh-- well, it really, really emphasizes just how much harm JFJ does to chinese people specifically. And sure, we don't have confirmation about what exactly he was doing on 'birdshit island'-- but if it's something he's bragged about before / told stories about before, I don;t think it was anything good, considering what he enjoys telling stories about. especially since the Navy is used to enforce authority on people and as a tool of oppression.

Fascinating to note that the trade of guano is intricately linked to the irish potato famines, as the guano both enabled the monoculture farming practice and acted as the vector from which the potato blight spread. Francis is Irish!! this is just such an interesting detail!!!

In conclusion, there's nothing really definitive that we can say about what exactly JFJ was doing at the islands-- except that it probably wasn't a good thing. i do think we can safely read that he was involved in the industry somehow, which is pretty fucking damning in terms of his own ethics (or lack thereof) and how much he embraced english imperialism. it's one of those tiny details that has so much to say when you peel the layers back, and i wanted to bring some attention to it, because i haven't seen anyone talking about this before.

also, i *just* noticed this, but slipping the word capital in there is so so fucking slick. right on the money, we could say. three big cheers for the people who wrote and performed the Terror, because holy shit is it so good

EDIT: there's some additional discussion in the replies section of this post that's critical-- it seems like JFJ was (peripherally?) involved in the guano trade in Africa, *not* Peru, which changes things forsure. bird shit island how you intrigue me....

[qiu-yan]

sensitive topic incoming

not a haterpost i promise.

sect leader yao is not a reliable source

further explanation/hypothesizing:

it happened exactly as sect leader yao said: self-explanatory. the version of events preferred by jiggy antis

he mercy-killed rusong: maybe rusong was already showing signs of a life-altering disorder as a result of the incest. or maybe jiggy just felt that, if the incest information ever came out, rusong would be doomed to a life of suffering in a heavily prejudiced society. jiggy himself had spent his entire life suffering and getting kicked around due to his own proximity to society's pariahs/taboos, so perhaps he felt that he could not subject his son to the same miserable existence. thus, jiggy gave rusong a more peaceful end, before (in jiggy's mind) society could force rusong to suffer.

he allowed rusong to die through inaction: this is really only a "kill" under a utilitarian moral framework. by this explanation, maybe jiggy found out in advance that someone was planning to kill rusong; however, for any of the other reasons listed here, jiggy decided to do nothing and allow the assassination to happen. thus jiggy would consider himself guilty of allowing rusong's death to happen through inaction.

he did it to justify eliminating an opponent of the watchtowers: maybe the advancement of the watchtower project, which jiggy knew would make society a safer place, had hit a deadlock because of a particularly stubborn opponent. so jiggy killed rusong and framed the opponent in order to engineer a situation in which his annihilation of the opponent would be entirely socially sanctioned.

and here is where the utilitarian arguments come in. perhaps jiggy knew that the watchtower project would improve the lives of millions of people and would make society as a whole safer. and he saw that one political opponent as the final major barrier. and jiggy could think of no other way to get rid of this guy. so jiggy weighed the lives of those millions of people against his one son, and concluded those millions of strangers were weightier; his son became his iphigenia.

of course, this is still a rather unhinged plan to just come up with on your own, so perhaps a better explanation of events is this reasoning paired with the "he allowed rusong to die through inaction" series of events.

rusong was killed by political opponents and jiggy blamed himself: now we reach the "he didn't do it" section of the potential explanations. jiggy has a habit of claiming kills he didn't strictly perform himself; so long as the chain of cause and effect can somehow be traced to somewhere near him eventually, jiggy will claim credit for someone's death. this is how jiggy takes credit for the death of jin zixuan: even though [novel canon] no one forced wei wuxian to lose control of wen ning and no one forced wen ning to attack jin zixuan, jiggy still acts as if he can call himself jin zixuan's killer, simply because he sent jin zixuan to wei wuxian's location.

jiggy, in pursuing the watchtower project, aroused a lot of public anger. jiggy made himself, and by extension his wife and his child, the political enemies of many, and thus political targets as well. thus, if an enemy targets the life of jin rusong because they are jiggy's enemy, jiggy is entirely justified in feeling as if rusong's death is his fault. after all, if he hadn't pursued the watchtower project, then maybe rusong would still be alive.

jiggy said "he had to die" as a Cope: losing your son sucks. perhaps jiggy, in the despair following his son's death, tried to cope with the new reality by telling himself that rusong would have had to die anyways, because he was an incest baby. if rusong was always slated to die, then the fact that rusong is now dead can now be survived. thus, "rusong had to die" becomes an emotional coping mechanism for jiggy.

no, jiggy himself is uncertain if he allowed rusong to die through inaction: this one is a a bit fanciful but bear with me here. on one hand, jiggy loves his wife and son. on the other hand, jiggy is horrified by his marriage with his wife and by the existence of his son, because his wife is also his sister and his son is the product of incest. jiggy lives with not only this horror but also the constant fear of exposure, because if this information ever got out, the lives of himself, his wife, and his son would all be over.

rusong's growth thus becomes a source of dread, not hope: every day lived brings the possibility of rusong developing some disorder or condition that eventually proves the incest. is it not possible that jiggy, living every day under such fear, might come to believe that things would be better if rusong stopped growing older? if rusong died--then gone too would be the evidence of the incest, would it not?

now along comes the political opponent who assassinates rusong. jiggy does not see it coming and jiggy is thus unable to stop it. but afterwards, upon beholding the corpse of his son, what does jiggy feel? rage? despair? no--relief! he feels relief! though he also grieves, the constant fear shrouding his entire life has, for once, lifted!

but if jiggy is relieved by the death of his son, what does this imply? can jiggy truly say, with full confidence, that he did not see the assassination coming? can he really say, with heaven and earth as his witnesses, that his failure to stop the assassination was not to some degree a choice? is there truly no small part of him that did in fact see the assassination coming--yet, knowing it would be so relieving for him, simply chose to do nothing?

but if jiggy did not see the assassination coming at all--if rusong's death truly cannot be pinned on jiggy at all--then what does that say about jiggy's power? about jiggy's safety? jiggy being innocent of killing through inaction means that jinlintai really is somewhere assassins can penetrate into. then jiggy's son really was killed by a force jiggy had no way of stopping. then, in this situation, jiggy really was powerless.

you can remove the ambiguity and argue the case either way: jiggy knew about the assassination and let it happen, jiggy legitimately knew nothing and could not have stopped the assassination. but the ambiguity makes this scenario more interesting to me. jiggy lives for the rest of his days uncertain if he chose to allow his son to die through inaction, or if he really was just weak enough to fail to protect his son. maybe jiggy's memories of the incident even manage to start distorting after a while, implying either one or the other depending on jiggy's own mental situation.

thus, when jiggy says "rusong had to die," he's uncertain if he's justifying his actions or delusionally coping with a reality he had no hand in making. when jiggy says "i killed my son," he's uncertain if he's even telling the truth or not.

ah well. this is basically original fiction at this point. it's just a potential scenario.

anyways, these are just a few scenarios based on various meta and fanfics of this subject ive read over the past few months. you can probably come up with all sorts of explanations. whatever you come up with, though, should be better than just blindly taking sect leader yao at his word.

[blluespirit]

ch: zuko and katara setting: post-southern raiders note: very ramble-y and not my best work - mostly vibes but oh well. enjoy! (or don't! im not the boss of u)

Katara realises later that Zuko thought she would kill Yon Rah. He was ready for it, he was waiting for it. She didn't think about the expression on his face once she turned away from first the Southern Raiders commander, and then Yon Rah, but she thinks about it now. Still, he never said anything to her, even when he hung back after she walked away from Yon Rah, trying to resist a temptation to do something, say something - he still didn't say anything.

She wants to ask him what he thinks.

That realisation alone is a strange one. She never thought she'd want to seek out Zuko's genuine opinion on anything, let alone something as personal as this. Still, she knows what Aang would say - that violence was and is never an option - but she doesn't fully accept that. Ozai doesn't deserve to rot in some cell somewhere for the threat of escape to linger over everyone's heads. He deserves nothing. Only the darkness of whatever lies beyond.

Maybe Aang isn't entirely wrong, but sparing Yon Rah also didn't feel good, or right, but the thing is, she's not sure killing him would have felt any better. The more she contemplates it, the more she runs in circles around herself.

Maybe there isn't a right answer. Maybe she needed to do it just to do it at all. To see him cower in front of her and beg for his life. To remove the fear of the monster that killed her mother that settled in the back of her mind and settled there like a stone. He is not scary to her anymore. He is nothing at all.

Katara thinks about Zuko and Aang. What does it say about them that one would do almost anything to stop her, and the other would do almost anything to give her what she needed - even if that meant cold-blooded murder? Zuko let her decide on her own terms - even if he thought she'd go a different path. He still accepted that.

She can't discount that he would've helped her do it if she'd asked. He nearly broke the commander's neck on the ship getting answers from him - all for her.

It leaves her breathless in a way she can't describe; more so that he also seems content to leave this wherever Katara wants to leave it. She's sure he'd never mention it again if she wanted it to be that way.

She eventually finds him skulking out the halls of his old holiday house. There's a gaunt, haunted expression on his face that Katara wants to probe, but she backs out at the last second. His eyes soften when they see her - grateful for the distraction.

The light struggles against the drapes, leaving only tendrils of light to soften an old carpet and harden Zuko's expression. She doesn't give pleasantries.

"Do you think I was wrong?"

She expects him to answer quickly, but he hesitates.

"I think he would have deserved it."

Katara bristles. "So you do think I was wrong."

He frowns, takes his time again.

"I think you did the right thing for you. If you'd killed him, it would just be another thing to haunt you."

The fight dies out of her as quickly as it rose. She stares at him and he returns it.

"If I asked you to help me do it, would you have?"

"I - yes." He looks down at his feet, shuffling. "I've never directly killed someone. But I would have helped you."

She doesn't know how to thank him, or if she even should for such a declaration.

It's a shock to her system - as if being plunged into arctic water - that someone would stand by her in such a way. Not judging, simply carving the path. What Katara decided to do at her destination is her decision alone.

"He -" Katara starts, unable to say his name and Zuko's gaze turns sharp, as if he knows what she will say next. "- may have deserved to die, or deserved to live and suffer. The world does not suffer consequences for my action or inaction."

Zuko breathes deeply. She can feel the heat of fire brewing in his exhalation.

"If Aang can't kill Ozai..." her words soften, but the persistence darkness around them weighs them down anyway.

Zuko leans back slightly, just enough so a strand of light burns his face, igniting old scar tissue in a brilliant orange. His eyes turn to the window.

"He's the Avatar," he says. There's a pain in his voice Katara can't help but notice. "He doesn't have the luxury of choice."

[vacalimpia]

i have no idea how people enjoy beer... sometimes i choke on my meds so i need to drink something fizzy to get them unstuck from my throat, and everytime it has happened the only fizzy drink we have at home is beer

i am very biased for multiple factors when it comes to beer but i genuinely will never understand what is the appeal😭 the second it hits your tongue you immediately have this awful taste... I only take a sip for me to stop choking on my meds but a sip is way too much😭😭 how people drinking cans of it

[inksandpensblog]

something about the majority of Sebastian’s possible interactions being negative when he’s the only interactive entity in the game. something about player engagement and the desire for exploration and how this is fulfilled via interaction. something about player interactions prompting negative reactions from Sebastian but reactions are still reactions and so the player is essentially rewarded for harassing him. something about how any attempt to discover more of what his character has to offer basically ruins any rapport you could’ve been building with him. something about how the only way to keep in whatever good graces he still has is to go against player instinct and and leave him the fuck alone and deliberately not attempt to engage beyond the ground rules he lays out.

[svartalfhild]

I caved and did the thing. Enjoy.

[starlingfawn]

throws more squid art at you

listen to this,,!!!!!

[iri-desky]

I love you characters who are an extension of other characters. I love you characters who are inherently defined by their relationship to other characters. I love you characters who people hear the name of and go "Oh, (name)'s friend/partner/enemy?" but barely ever the character's own role in the world. I love you characters who are defined by their relationships and who want to be something more but just can't, maybe because they just plain don't want to. I love you characters who love the character they're an extension of even if they do the most awful horrible things, even though everyone else hates them for it, because that's what they're meant for. I love you characters who just devote themselves to this "role" in such a painfully awful self deprecating way even though they could be so much more. I love you characters who even risk their life for it. I love you characters who still recognize it can be unhealthy. I love you characters who don't even know it's unhealthy to begin with. I love you characters who still burn bright regardless. I love you characters who might not even ask for anything in return. I love you characters who beg and yearn for what's due to them. God, I even love you, characters who aren't even truly all this, who FORCE themselves into this role out of sheer self deprecation, believing themselves to be an extension while absolutely everyone else sees them as their own unique individual in a tragic case of unreliable narration. I just plain love you characters who are considered an "extension" but in truth this existence as a flat "extension" is what makes them a richer character due to the complexity of their dynamic with the other character that initially seemed simple. I love you. Anyway, this is so sad. Alexa play Tightrope from the Greatest Showman soundtrack

[asterdust]

oh i absolutely cannot stand some people watching the show villainising kaori calling her homophobic and all.

if you were literally in her shoes and you got cheated on by your boyfriend with another man, wouldn't you feel like there's something wrong with you? because this would probably be a woman's initial reaction to it. "why a man?" no. what's wrong with me?

it's not because of the man. she would automatically point the blame to herself.

that's why for straight cis women, it's easier to deal with it (The Cheating™) if it's with another woman. it's easier to blame the other party and get back with their partner. im not saying this should be the norm, it's just what's observed in society IN GENERAL.

also saying she's a bitch for refusing hagiwara over and over and confessing that she would lose interest with sex eventually... again. put yourself in her shoes and think what kind of society she is in. a woman who is expected to be in a relationship and have family in the future.

that's what heteronormativity does to WOMEN (or anybody in the asexuality spectrum). that when you are in a relationship, sex should always come after. all the while, she must be thinking that maybe JUST MAYBE... "if i find someone i truly like romantically, i might actually be interested in them sexually in the future." so it makes sense why she stays with hagiwara for so long.

however, not a lot of people would know their label right away. and in asian countries, labels don't even have proper translations. some people would figure out their identities even in their late thirties, forties, etc.

and throughout their exploration, countless heartbreaks are inevitable.

[myfairstarlight]

A bunch of (unorganised) thoughts about an AU where Penelope never became Whistledown (i saw debates on twitter and it got my brain WORKING)

No concept of a diamond? No one is there to provoke and challenge the Queen, and Whistledown was the one to name Daphne the diamond

Daphne being forced to marry Berbrooke — it was the public humiliation that drove him away. If it had remained rumours that no one could really prove, he would have stayed.

Colin marrying Marina. Even if Penelope told him about the pregnancy he might have still married her because #HeroComplex

As a result Penelope would try to find a husband much earlier too. She does not have the Whistledown money to get new dresses behind her mother's back but perhaps Violet agrees to sponsor her since they're now officially family through Marina and Colin's marriage, and Eloise is also now debuting

The Featherington would not be ruined at the end of the first season, if anything they're in a better place with the proper connection to the Bridgertons, but they're still in debts.

No cousin Jack plot cuz one of Marina's children would become the new Lord Featherington after Archibald's death? Which still puts Colin as the de-facto head of the estate in the meantime lol

Which puts him in the perfect place to be tortured when Penelope starts to get suitors. As the new head of the family, he's the one who has to veto any suitor, after all

A less opinionated Eloise? Ultimately, it was Whistledown that reinforced her feminist beliefs upon seeing a successful woman fool the ton. Maybe she'd be more jaded and angry especially seeing her own brother force Daphne into a horrible marriage

She also never ends up meeting Theo. Neither does Penelope anyway.

No Pen and Gen friendship

Anthony marrying Edwina? Whistledown calling him a rake is one of the reasons Kate was so against him. But I think she would have clocked him anyway and would want to protect her sister so I think Kanthony is still endgame in this case. Arguably they'd get together with more ease too since Edwina wouldn't be a diamond, assuming the concept does not exist in this AU.

HOWEVER would she take an issue upon learning Anthony forced his sister to marry Berbrooke? She's very family oriented too, and maybe she'd imagine Edwina in Daphne's position.

Though "forced" is maybe a strong word, since Berbrooke ended up blackmailing the Bridgertons to get what he wants but it never would have happened if Anthony hadn't promised him Daphne's hand without consulting Daphne in the first place, so my point still stands tbh

Assuming from book plot, Benedict and Sophie would not be as lucky as Kate and Anthony without Whistledown though. Joining polin in the trenches

Philip would never know his brother's kids, and would have no reason to start some sort of correspondance with a certain someone since he is content in his recluse life

Francesca's story would be thoroughly unaffected at least

And other stuff I forgot, probably

[pyrosomatic-metamorphosis]

OH. okay so normally i dont touch discourse with a 20 ft pole, but this has been niggling at my brain tonight and i finally realized why

the people who are mad at qbbh for the memory loss and “dodging consequences” dont understand that he doesnt want to dodge consequences. Like they cant know that, they werent focused on him when he was literally feeding himself to the soul vultures and planning his eventual imprisonment and also. The Many Many Many hints he made towards suicide/sacrifice/Just Fucking Dying.

ccbbh is a subtle roleplayer, he’s been building this shit up for two whole months- it was day FIVE of the eggs going missing that he resolved to do whatever it took (hurting his friends) to get the eggs back. It was day three that he followed in dapper’s footsteps and started feeding himself to the soul vultures (and gaining a Massive headwound beneath his hood in the process- you can only see it if you go on namemc and remove the layers). He’s got impaired judgement. Even the memory issues arent a new thing- i cant remember exactly when they started, but one of the first big moments i remmeber was september 30th where he spent an hour falling into a delusional frenzy searching his base for cameras that he forgot he asked aypierre to plant.

The super murder of purgatory and the memory loss afterwards probably all feels very sudden for people who havent been following his story, but as someone who has been- all of this has been true to character. The only cheap swings he’s made have been combat-based in purgatory, and even the motive for those was built up in rp.

People are calling for consequences, but he has alrwady been experiencing self-inflicted consequences for months. The blue on his usual outfit is blood. This recent memory loss isnt a restart to get away with the atrocities - it is yet another consequence of his egg-protecting complexes and the ways he punishes himself for failing them.

he is NOT a moral character. he’s a demon hiding in plain site. he has eaten people. he has killed people. he understands the cruelty of his actions, and the consequences of them for the loved ones of his victims. but it matters when that harm is being done to his loved ones. he’ll still do it, because he will do anything for the eggs, but it matters, and that means that he has already started the process of self-inflicting those much-demanded consequences

[onyour-right]

Right, well, fucking hell guys lmaooo.

Cate & Sam becoming radicalised makes the most sense. Out of the whole group, they are the two that have been the most manipulated and abused by humans so I don't necessarily fault them, I just hope they don't take it too far. The relationship between Shetty and Cate was heartbreaking to watch play out, because underneath all the manipulation there were genuine feelings and love for each-other there. That moment when Cate called Shetty 'Indira' I actually got chills. Personally, Cate & Sam becoming anti-heroes to the group is very interesting.

Marie & Jordan. I feel like... their scenes together were really cute, and the way Marie went after Jordan when he was pissed, and then they had that half-hearted standoff before Jordan started laughing and kissed her, gave a great insight into their whole relationship dynamic and had me giggling. I also loved their detective scenes. BUT it's frustrating that they haven't had an opportunity to talk about their feelings for each-other, or even acknowledge everything that's happened between them. I mean, I also get that a lot of things are happening and so maybe there just hasn't been the chance for them to talk it out - which, again, I guess is sort of realistic - I just think that you can't ask an audience to fully root for a couple when you don't show the moments that it takes for them to become a them if you get what I mean. I still 10000% love & root for them; they are still my main draw, and Jaz, Derek & London sell those scenes. But I need more...

I feel so bad for Marie. The way she had to relive that trauma of her mother dying and being unable to help. Jaz really acted out in the scene where she was literally begging Cate to be able to help Shetty. That was the only part where I kinda thought Cate was wrong; because out of everyone Marie was the person who was most open to giving her another chance, and then she goes and betrays her like that.

I also liked the dynamic between Neuman and Marie (I wonder if she is the one who is Marie's benefactor) but I'm not putting my trust in her because there's something about her that's kinda suspect. I will say that I liked how she handled Dr Cardosa; I cannot truly believe that he actually thought he was going to walk away from that encounter alive... like c'mon now. I wonder if Neuman will get rid of the virus though or keep it somewhere else???

I expected Shetty and Dr Cardosa to die but I didn't think it would happen in the penultimate episode. Which means that the finale is gonna go even more crazy, and I have strong suspicions that someone else from the main group is gonna die or be locked up. Regardless of what happens though, the dynamics are seriously about to be changed which is quite exciting.

I also dont know how our main gang can go back to that school knowing that it's whole foundation is false, and that they're actually test subjects. It feels like either way they can't win; either they drop out of the school and go the independent route in regards crime fighting, or they continue knowing that it's all a farce and every step that they take is orchestrated.

[stratostella]

also my two cents we had an entire episode about how the protag has to be Strong and can't mourn his own relative because the woman on the team has 'never seen something so bad' and can't take it , and the feminist discourse is instead abouttt ......