#anyways thoughts on the morality of being hailed as a hero when all you do is kill

[otaku553]

A doodle of nebula knight (Kirby hero of yore oc!)

Lots of thoughts about writing narrative foils for characters that are paragons of light and goodness (galacta knight)

[somerandomcryptid]

More Dream&Cryptid in smp interaction (this is actually just a later part of the bit of conversation I posted yesterday)

they are very healthy and normal and Dream is not a paranoid possessive mess, nope, definitely not

He has no problems with Cryptid having other friend :), not at all

Ok now that I'm done being sarcastic I can ramble about them more, also explain the Tommy thing a bit since I have yet to properly draw him for this au

Basically long story short, Tommy's one of the people on the smp who adopted Cryptid as their sibling

Cryptid made a run away attempt on their first night in the smp and ran into him and Ghostbur (who they are also close with!)

And they've been friends ever since, despite having their rough patches due to their clash of morals and personality (Tommy keeps swearing he doesn't actually care about them, he does, he very much does)

It's actually on the day that Cryptid runs into Techno that Cryptid aquires some of his wardrobe, they forgot to bring a jacket, so Tommy gives them his sweater(which is way too big for them) and just kind of never asks for it back, the bandana was specifically given though, it's a match of the one he had back in the day before he and Tubbo swapped bandanas some time in the L'manburg independence war

Cryptid wears the sweater often(despite it being too big for them) and they barely take off the bandana, it's comfy what can they say?

This... pisses of Dream quite a bit

He wouldn't like seeing them in any of his enemies clothes, but he especially hates that they're Tommy's

And for Cryptid, Cryptid thinks sides are bullshit in general, everyone's just people why do they have to pick a side when both are right and both are wrong at the same time? They'll just be friends with whoever they damn well like thank you very much

Dream absolutely does not think that way, and to him, them being friends with Tommy means they're abandoning him in the process

And it's Tommy, Tommy of all people, he made this server hell and then he just gets to steal his friends and leave him to rot alone? And be hailed as a "hero"? It's all bullshit to him, and he is absolutely not letting him "take" his sibling, no fucking way, they're good, they want what he wants, a world of peace, Tommy doesn't just get to take them and fuck everything up all over again, to make them just as chaotic as himself

If you cannot tell, Dream's mindset is very very unhealthy, and Cryptid's own agency is not a thing that pops up in there a whole lot at this point in story

He does basically everything he can to isolate them from people that are not him and his allies, he also does a similar thing with Wren, but that's more a matter of making sure that Wren will not meet anyone on the smp in a at all friendly way unless he wants her to be friends with them

Wren's harder to control though, Dream knows that he can guilt trip gaslight girlboss Cryptid into doing or not doing things if he tries hard enough, but Wren actually has enough of a backbone to call him out if he tried anything like that on her

So he tries to manipulate the situation more than her directly

I think that's all the rambling that I have for now, I was absolutely not kidding when I said I was going to make him a gigantic bastard, he has a lot of issues, a lot of issues

Also in this comic is what I was talking about when I said he moves Cryptid manually a lot, he tilts their head to him, pulls them onto their tips toes, pulls them against him, over all he's just very... Touchy.. in a very platonic way(obviously), but touchy none the less, it's often on the gentler side, but sometimes it's definitely closer to manhandling

Anyway now I'm actually done, I have so many thoughts about all my blorbos though, it's very hard to shut up :p

(Dreaming of death is an au of the fic Penpal by @calamari-minecraft-corner)

[aboveallarescuer]

#that happens even when the person isnt trying to argue that shes a mad queen/villain but that she has both 'good' and 'evil' in her#and is meant to fail#(e.g. that meta about how dany is a tragic shakespearean hero; which annoys me more bc it sounds convincing when you don't remember what#happened in the books very well...

Can you talk more about your problems with that essay? I thought that it sounded plausible... I don't want those things to happen to Daenerys, but I don't trust GRRM either.

Anon, thank you for this ask and sorry for the delayed answer. I was already planning to write several posts as a response to the arguments of “Daughter of Death: A Song of Ice and Fire’s Shakespearean Tragic Hero” (which you can read here), but I couldn't find the time or motivation for that lately, so thanks for giving me the opportunity to counter-argue it in a single answer. I tried to be brief by summarizing some of my notes and by linking to a lot of metas instead of repeating all of their points, but the response unfortunately ended up becoming long anyway.

In the context of that essay, Dany is considered a Shakespearean tragic hero because the writer thinks she fits five requirements: 1) Dany’s chapters contain supposedly deliberate references to Shakespearean plays; 2) Dany is “torn by an internal struggle”, namely peace versus violence or companionship versus rulership or home versus the Iron Throne, all of which also drive the external conflicts. Choosing the second options will lead to her demise; 3) prophecies and “influential accidents” - that is, events that “have roots in a character’s motivation”, as well as “the sense of ‘if only this had not happened’” - will “heighten and exaggerate [tragic flaws that] already [exist]” in Dany; 4) Dany will (according to the essayist’s speculations) take actions that produce “exceptional calamity” and her demise will be “her own choice and doing”; 5) Dany “[rose] high in position” and is “an exceptional being”, which sets her apart as a character that fits the mold of the Shakespearean tragedy because her reversal of fortune will highlight “the greatness and piteousness of humanity”.

I would argue that the points that the essayist made to justify how Dany supposedly fits these five requirements are all very skewed.

1) When it comes to requirement 1 (Dany’s chapters contain supposedly deliberate references to Shakespearean plays), the essayist is conveniently cherry-picking (as they often do throughout the meta). Bran Stark wants a dreamless sleep just like Dany: “Sweet, dreamless sleep, Bran thought.” (ACOK Bran I); “That night Bran prayed to his father’s gods for dreamless sleep.” (ACOK Bran II). Indeed, @marinabridgerton argues that that’s most likely tied to the fact that they’re the two characters most heavily associated with prophecies. Even Sansa is said to have a dreamless sleep: “Sometimes her sleep was leaden and dreamless, and she woke from it more tired than when she had closed her eyes” (AGOT Sansa VI). And yet, where are the essays about how these quotes are teaching the readership to interpret Bran’s and Sansa’s characters, storylines and trajectories based on Shakespearean tragedies?

2) When it comes to requirement 2 (Dany is “torn by an internal struggle”, namely peace versus violence or companionship versus rulership or home versus the Iron Throne, all of which also drive the external conflicts. Choosing the second options will lead to her demise), the essayist is right to point out that those dilemmas exist. However, they portray Dany’s struggles in a way that makes it seem that 1) there are “good” options (peace/companionship/home) and “bad” options (violence/rulership/Iron Throne) for Dany to take and that 2) choosing the latter ones will lead to Dany’s downfall. There is a lot to question about these assumptions.

2.1) When it comes to Dany’s conflict between peace versus violence, the essayist takes everything that Adam Feldman’s series of essays “Untangling the Meereenese Knot” says for granted when it shouldn’t be. I’m not going to delve into all the problems/inaccuracies/double standards with those essays. For our purposes here, it’s enough to say that they: 1) dichotomize Dany’s identity into mhysa and mother of dragons to argue that the former represents her desire for peace and the latter her violent impulses; 2) assert that the peace was real; 3) conclude that, by rejecting the peace, the Dany of ASOS is gone and from now on she’s going to be a very different person because she will have chosen to follow her violent impulses.

As already argued before, though, 1) Dany’s character can’t be dichotomized in that way because these facets - mhysa and mother of dragons - actually complement each other (as @yendany made clear in her most recent meta). Because Dany was the mother of dragons, she was able to act as mhysa way before she was hailed as such, which we see, for instance, when she kills the Astapori slave masters to free the Unsullied. Both of these identities manifest Dany’s fierceness when faced with great injustices. This is why, in ADWD, locking her dragon children prevented Dany from properly defending her human children… She needs to integrate both parts of her identity to be able to protect them. But Feldman couldn’t recognize that because 2) he accepts the peace deal that Dany made with the slavers as valid. Doing so would mean, however, ignoring the re-enslavement and suffering of thousands of marginalized people, which GRRM continually emphasizes in Dany's and Tyrion’s final ADWD chapters (read more about this here and here) to hammer home that the peace is false for prioritizing the slavers over them. Finally, 3) Dany is not a violent person nor does she have violent impulses. Feldman decontextualized the moments in which Dany uses violence from the standards of her time and place (read more about this here and here and here and here) to portray them in a more negative light than how they are actually meant to be viewed. Additionally, he conveniently left out all the moments in which Dany chooses to be merciful, from when she spares Yunkai and most of the Meereenese slavers (she didn’t do the same in Astapor because she was outnumbered and needed to protect her retinue) to when she doesn’t punish people who threaten or disrespect her to her face (such an envoy who spits at her face, a boy who tries to attack her, Xaro after he says he wishes he’d killed her), to give a few examples (read more about this in @rainhadaenerys's comprehensive meta). I would argue that Dany’s conflict is less about peace versus violence and more accurately about her tendency to be merciful versus her desire for justice (which, especially in the particular context she finds herself in, is unattainable without violence). In fact, I would go further and say that it’s distasteful to characterize Dany as someone “violent” or with “violent impulses” when, so far, she’s only used violence to a) defend and protect victims of (physical and systemic) violence and/or b) in circumstances in which her actions are no more problematic than those of any other leader of her world. And yet, the essayist portrays them as if they were (“To choose indiscriminate destruction over peace tends toward the evil”).

It’s also convenient that the essayist only talks about fire negatively (“Dany wields unmatched power that can “make or unmake at a word”—Dracarys—villages, armies and kingdoms”, “in the words of Maester Aemon, “Fire consumes.””) when it's also connected to life, rebirth, healing and enlightenment. And dracarys in particular is explicitly associated with freedom by the narrative while Dany frees the Unsullied (her decision, in turn, is associated with her future actions in the War for the Dawn). But acknowledging these things would make it harder to portray Dany as a Shakespearean tragic hero.

2.2) When it comes to Dany’s conflict between companionship and rulership … Again, the dilemma exists, but not in the way that the essayist presents it. What I mean is that they go out of their way to make it seem that Dany’s loneliness was the main factor driving her decisions, such as the liberation of the Unsullied (“She feels for the forced loneliness of the Unsullied, and it is loneliness that convinces her to commit violence in the plaza to free the slaves—just as it is in loneliness she chooses violence amidst the Dothraki Sea.”)... And not, y’know, her compassion and sense of justice (“Why do the gods make kings and queens, if not to protect the ones who can’t protect themselves?”), which are rarely acknowledged in this essay even though it’s arguably the main aspect of Dany's characterization. Why does the essayist do that? Because, since they are arguing that Dany is a tragic hero, they need to present Dany’s loneliness both as the reason why she achieved greatness and as the reason that will lead to her demise when she (supposedly) starts distrusting people, closing herself off and choosing violence (“the moral conviction she feels for her abolitionist crusade is part of the greatness that is also her tragic trait [...] She feels for the forced loneliness of the Unsullied, and it is loneliness that convinces her to commit violence in the plaza to free the slaves—just as it is in loneliness she chooses violence amidst the Dothraki Sea.”). As I said, however, doing so requires downplaying Dany’s compassion, as well as ignoring the fact that she does not close herself off to people in ADWD, nor is there any sign that this was seeded as a serious issue for her in future books (especially considering that her governance is meant to be contrasted with Cersei, the character who actually does close herself off to people. But more on that below when I talk about why Dany doesn’t fit the essayist’s third requirement).

Also, singling out rulership in particular as a reason for Dany to feel alone is conveniently selective (“Returning to Westeros means ruling Westeros - and ruling means loneliness”). All the major characters have reasons to feel lonely and isolated in their society because GRRM chose to focus on the underdogs. Their social standings are already enough to make all of them feel alone. As he said, “Tyrion of course is a dwarf which has its own challenges. Dany is an exile, powerless, penniless, at the mercy of other people, and Jon is a bastard”. You can also throw in Arya for being a young girl struggling to adhere to gender norms and Bran for being a disabled child. And that is just one example… There are a myriad of reasons and situations for various characters to feel lonely and isolated, but the essayist specifically chose to talk about how rulership causes that for Dany. And, considering that the essayist thinks that Dany’s rulership -> growing isolation and loneliness -> her ultimate downfall, it really feels like they’re punishing Dany narratively for acquiring and wielding power. Which leads me to the next point...

2.3) When it comes to Dany’s conflict between home and the Iron Throne, I would argue that that’s not really a conflict. Dany (like any feudal leader) believes she needs to retake the Iron Throne to stay in her homeland just like the Starks believe they need to retake Winterfell to stay in their homeland. Whether Dany finds herself at home in Westeros or not is irrelevant to that fact. And yet, the essayist only presents the former as being in the wrong for fighting for her birthright. However, as it's been already explained before, the Starks’ claim to the North isn’t morally righteous. They only have dominance over the North because, for thousands of years, their ancestors fought against, drove away and killed most of its indigenous population (the Children of the Forest), as well as multiple families who were also vying for control over the region. With that in mind, Dany fighting for her birthright isn’t any more problematic than the Starks enjoying the lands and privileges obtained with conquest and bloodshed, as well as the labor of peasants. One could argue that GRRM may have a double standard against Dany in this case (though it's been argued before that he doesn't intend to present the Iron Throne as a source of greed and evil like how fandom presents it) because of the order of the events and depending on whether he holds Dany accountable for more problems for waging her war than the Starks for having done/doing essentially the same thing, but that’s not what the essayist is doing. Instead, they a) take for granted that Dany is doing the wrong thing for fighting for the Iron Throne ("To delay the call of the North and continue to divide an already weakened realm is to give into dark desires.") and b) center all their speculations about her eventual demise based on that belief.

Ultimately, I would argue that none of these three dilemmas - peace versus violence, companionship versus rulership, home versus the Iron Throne - come with easy answers. When it comes to the first conflict, it’s important that Dany prioritizes the lives of the slaves over the privileges of the masters, but that causes more war and bloodshed. When it comes to the second and the third conflicts, it’s worth noting that the first options (which the essayist presents as the “good” ones) are actually the selfish paths for Dany to take. After all, she would rather live a normal life with a husband (companionship) in the house with the red door (home) - “She would rather have drifted in the fragrant pool all day, eating iced fruit off silver trays and dreaming of a house with a red door, but a queen belongs to her people, not to herself”. But, as the quote shows, instead of choosing these selfish goals, Dany accepts the burden of rulership and the fight for the Iron Throne because of her duty towards her people and ancestors. And, while this path leads to war (either in Meereen or in Westeros, though the former is morally righteous and the latter, while not inherently justified, is not any more problematic than Robb fighting for Northern independence), power is also the means through which Dany can make changes that benefit the common people.

With all that said, it’s ironic that Dany fans are often accused of flattening her character or her choices when it’s actually her detractors or “neutrals” (like the essayist) who do so - they are dead set on portraying Dany’s available options as either “good” or “bad” and on speculating that choosing the latter ones will lead to her downfall, but the text actually gives her conflicts in which all the options have their pros and cons.

The essayist also makes a mistake that isn’t really up to interpretation or difference in opinions. They say that, in AGOT Daenerys III, “after admitting this difficult truth [that Viserys will never take back the Seven Kingdoms], Dany assumes the goal for herself (and at the time, her son)”. That is incorrect. In AGOT Daenerys V, moments before Viserys’s death, Dany says she would have allowed him to have the dragon eggs because “he is my brother … and my true king”. Jorah doesn’t think she should still acknowledge him as such, but she tells him that “he is all I have”. So no, Dany hadn’t assumed the goal for herself at that point, she only took over his campaign in her son's name (not hers) after Viserys's death. But the essayist needs to exaggerate Dany's ambition to justify her demise, since they speculate that “in that hurt and betrayal, all that will be left - she will think - is the crown”.

3) When it comes to requirement 3 (prophecies and “influential accidents” - that is, events that “have roots in a character’s motivation”, as well as “the sense of ‘if only this had not happened’” - will “heighten and exaggerate [tragic flaws that] already [exist]” in Dany), the problem is not in cherry-picking or in double standards against Dany, but rather in the essayist’s lack of knowledge about Dany’s characterization. It’s simply not true that Dany’s distrust of people grows to the point that she closes herself off to them. Instead, I would argue that Dany is actually portrayed as someone with a healthy distrust of people. We know from the books (1, 2, 3, 4) that she finds it unlikely that Barristan, Grey Worm or Missandei would ever betray her, but that she doesn’t think she can rely entirely upon Reznak, the Green Grace, the Shavepate, Hizdahr and Daario. Do Dany’s doubts about these people’s intentions lead her to, as the essayist says, “push people away”? No. Through almost all of ADWD, she (wrongly, though understandably) believes that "until [freedmen and former masters stand together, Meereen will know no peace". Accordingly, Dany is willing to listen to the counsel of all of her advisors (both the ones she trusts and the ones she distrusts) to ensure that she makes informed decisions. To give some examples:

Dany allows “well spoken and gently born” people (i.e., not the typical condition of most former slaves, who are glad that Dany freed them) to sell themselves into slavery and imposes a tax each time men chose to do so like how it happened in Astapor (ASOS Daenerys VI). By making this decision, she agreed with both Missandei and Daario.

Dany employs the Unsullied to ask the Blue Graces if someone showed up with a sword wound and to ask butchers and herdsmen who’s been gelding goats (ADWD Daenerys I). By making this decision, she disagreed with Barristan.

Dany chooses not to punish any noble in response to the murder of Stalwart Shield and only increases the amount of gold for whoever gives information about the Sons of the Harpy (ADWD Daenerys I). By making this decision, she agreed with Reznak and disagreed with the Shavepate.

Dany gives up on banning the tokar and wears it herself (ADWD Daenerys I). By making this decision, she agreed with the Green Grace.

Dany (rightly) refuses to reopen the fighting pits for a while until she later relents in the name of the peace with the Meereenese nobles (ADWD Daenerys I, II, III, VI). By making this decision, she disagreed with Hizdahr, Reznak, the Green Grace and the Shavepate and agreed with Missandei.

Dany delays the choice of a husband until it becomes necessary later (ADWD Daenerys I). By making this decision, she disagreed with Reznak, the Shavepate and the Green Grace.

Dany chooses to pay the shepherds for the animals that they say their dragons ate (ADWD Daenerys I). By making this decision, she disagreed with Reznak.

Dany pays Hazzea’s father the blood price (i.e., one hundred times the worth of a lamb) for her death, lays her bones to rest in the Temple of the Graces and promises to pay for his children each year so they shall not want (ADWD Daenerys II). By making this decision, she disagreed with the Shavepate.

Dany allows the Shavepate to torture the wineseller and his daughters for information about the Sons (ADWD Daenerys II). By making this decision, she agreed with the Shavepate.

Dany imposes a blood tax on the noble families to pay for a new watch led by the Shavepate, takes the gold and the stores of food of any nobleman who wishes to leave the city and keeps two children from each pyramid as hostages instead of letting the nobles go unpunished after nine freedmen were killed by the Sons (ADWD Daenerys II). By making this decision, she agreed with the Shavepate and disagreed with Reznak.

Dany has Barristan and Groleo and his captains and sailors to inspect Xaro’s ships (ADWD Daenerys III). By making this decision, she agreed with Barristan.

Dany chooses not to go to Westeros despite being offered ships to do so (ADWD Daenerys III). By making this decision, she disagreed with Barristan.

Dany doesn’t kill her child hostages despite the Sons’ ongoing attacks (ADWD Daenerys IV). By making this decision, she agreed with the Green Grace and disagreed with the Shavepate.

Dany agrees to marry Hizdahr if he’s able to give her ninety days of peace in Meereen (ADWD Daenerys IV). By making this decision, she agreed with Hizdahr, the Green Grace and Reznak and disagreed with the Shavepate, Barristan, Missandei and Daario.

Dany refuses to gather the masters and kill them indiscriminately (ADWD Daenerys IV). By making this decision, she disagreed with Daario.

Dany doesn’t allow the Shavepate to continue his tortures due to their unreliable results (ADWD Daenerys V). By making this decision, she agreed with Hizdahr and disagreed with the Shavepate.

Dany refuses to use her dragons in battle (ADWD Daenerys V). By making this decision, she agreed with Reznak.

Dany decides not to take the field against Yunkai (ADWD Daenerys V). By making this decision, she agreed with the Shavepate and disagreed with Barristan.

Dany brings the food to the Astapori refugees instead of sending someone else to do it (ADWD Daenerys VI). By making this decision, she disagreed with Reznak, the Shavepate and Barristan.

Dany burns the dead among the Astapori refugees, bathes an old man and shames her men into helping her (ADWD Daenerys VI). By making this decision, she disagreed with Barristan.

Dany refuses to allow Hizdahr’s mother and sisters to inspect her womb and to wash Hizdahr’s feet before he washes hers (ADWD Daeneerys VI). By making this decision, she disagreed with the Green Grace and Reznak.

Dany decides to marry Hizdahr by Ghiscari rites and to wear a white tokar fringed with pearls (ADWD Daenerys VI). By making this decision, she agreed with the Green Grace and Reznak.

Dany allows Hizdahr to reopen the fighting pits (ADWD Daenerys VI). By making this decision, she agreed with Hizdahr, the Green Grace and Reznak.

Dany goes along with a peace agreement with the Yunkish slavers in which she’ll let Yunkai and Astapor reinstall slavery if they leave Meereen intact (ADWD Daenerys VI). By making this decision, she agreed with Hizdahr.

Dany holds court in order to, among other reasons, meet the Westerosi men that came over from the Windblown (ADWD Daenerys VII). By making this decision, she agreed with Daario.

Dany doesn’t accept Quentyn’s marriage proposal because she doesn’t want to abandon her people (ADWD Daenerys VII). By making this decision, she disagreed with Barristan.

Dany doesn’t ride a horse in a tokar to meet Hizdahr (ADWD Daenerys VII). By making this decision, she agreed with Missandei.

Dany decides not to sound out the Company of the Cats (even though she wanted to) because Barristan says he's untrustworthy (ADWD Daenerys VIII). By making this decision, she agreed with Barristan.

Dany attends the reopening of the pits (ADWD Daenerys IX). By making this decision, she disagreed with Missandei.

Dany allows the Brazen Beasts to guard her because she wants to show that she trusts them so that her people can trust them as well (ADWD Daenerys IX). By making this decision, she disagreed with Barristan.

Dany prevents Tyrion and Penny from fighting against lions with wooden swords. By making this decision, she disagreed with Hizdahr.

I didn’t include all of Dany’s decisions because she makes many of them on her own and/or without someone explicitly supporting them or opposing them (in fact, many of the ones above were made without any advisor giving her their feedback, but I listed them if they’re seen agreeing or disagreeing with her onpage anyway). That being said, note that Reznak is the one that Dany is most suspicious of (because he perfectly fits the description of one of the treasoners), but that five of her decisions follow his recommendations, in contrast to Barristan (the knight who she actually trusts and who keeps all her secrets) only having his advice followed twice. Also note that Dany “trusted Skahaz more than she trusted Hizdahr”, but she agreed with the former three times and disagreed with him eight times, in contrast to having agreed with the latter four times and disagreed with him twice. The list clearly shows that Dany listens to everyone’s feedback (including from people she distrusts), considers it carefully, makes her own decisions and handles dissent extremely well. Her actions reflect her own words (“A queen must listen to all. [...] One voice may speak you false, but in many there is always truth to be found”, “It seems to me that a queen who trusts no one is as foolish as a queen who trusts everyone”).

There is, however, one character who is seen only listening to people who agree with her and who distrusts and closes herself off to almost everyone - Cersei Lannister. And it’s especially worth noting that Cersei is meant to be “directly contrasted” with Dany, that the author was “doing point and counterpoint” with them and that each of them is meant to show “a different approach to how a woman would rule in a male dominated, medieval-inspired fantasy world”. In other words, Dany and Cersei are narrative foils, but Cersei’s traits are being transferred to Dany in this essay.

Also, I could just as easily create an entire narrative about how Sansa will end up closing herself off to people based on what we see on canon. She thought she could trust Joffrey, but she ultimately couldn’t. She thought she could trust Cersei, but she ultimately couldn’t. She trusted Sandor, but he left her. She tried to trust the Tyrells, but they ultimately disposed of her after she was no longer necessary. She tried to rely on Dontos, but he was a disappointment and was ultimately murdered. She doesn’t trust Littlefinger, but she needs to stick to his side because she has no better option. She considered telling the Vale lords her identity, but she doesn’t trust them. All of this feeds into Sansa’s distrust of others and will lead to tragic consequences. Indeed, as Sansa herself says, "In life, the monsters win". I bet that the essayist would find this whole speculation biased considering that they favor Sansa's character. But then, why is only Dany singled out as the one who is going to meet her demise even though it’s made clear that she continues to trust people through and through?

The essayist needs to say that Dany starts distrusting people to an unhealthy degree (“As Dany gains more power, [...] her focus on the treasons causes her to push people away, widening the gap between rulership and companionship”; ”The more power she gains, the greater her isolation and likely her fear of betrayal. The fear of betrayal is, of course, human. But GRRM has stated that he likes to turn dramatic situations up to 11, which is necessary to create the Shakespearean tragic hero. Dany’s fear must be larger than life.”), as well as to judge her campaign to take back the Seven Kingdoms based on double standards (“Dany’s great sin within the story’s moral order will have been focusing on the war for Westeros against Aegon VI before she turns to the enemy of the North”) compared to the Starks. If they didn’t do so, there wouldn’t be a reason to justify Dany’s demise. If they didn’t do so, the entire speculation that she’s a Shakespearean tragic hero falls apart. But saying that something is true doesn’t necessarily make it true, you need to provide the textual evidence (which they barely do … They assume that the reader will take almost everything they say for granted. After all, since there’s a prophecy foretelling that Dany will be betrayed three times, of course she’s going to distrust people way too much from now on).

There’s also another aspect of Dany’s relationship with prophecies that the essayist portrays inaccurately. They say that “the effect of this prophecy on Daenerys is multifaceted” for “[promising] greatness” (which, along with the also inaccurate statement that “part of Dany’s pursuit of the Iron Throne is born from a sense of destiny”, implies that Dany wants to be great or that she thinks of herself as great, none of which are true) and pushing her “further from the people who surround her”. I already questioned the latter statement, and the former is inaccurate too. After all, Dany has doubts that there are men in Westeros waiting for the Targaryens to return. The birth of the dragons has to do with the fact that Dany was able to put two and two together with clues from dragon dreams and Mirri's words, not because she thinks she's exceptional. Dany is not really sure that the red comet was meant for her. She followed its direction because the other paths weren't reliable and, even in Qarth, she's unsure that it was meant to guide her to success. Then she never thinks about it again. I'd expect otherwise from someone who thinks they're exceptional. Dany is surprised when told by Quaithe that she's the reason why magic is increasing in the world and never thinks or brags about it after their interaction. I'd expect otherwise from someone who thinks they're exceptional. Dany doesn't think she won any victories in the House of the Undying, she credits Drogon for burning the Undying Ones. She only allows Jhiqui to add a bell to the end of her braid because "the Dothraki would esteem her all the more for a few bells in her hair". Dany refuses to sit on the throne inside the Great Pyramid's audience chamber and chooses to sit on a simple ebony bench that the Meereenese think does "not befit a queen". Dany refuses the offer to have a statue in her image to replace the bronze harpy in the Plaza of Purification. I'd expect otherwise from someone who thinks they're exceptional. Dany is highly self-critical and, later in ADWD, thinks that she "was as clean as she was ever going to be" after taking a bath because she holds herself accountable for the upcoming slaughter in the opening of the fighting pits. I'd expect different from someone that thinks they're exceptional. Dany doesn’t think that the people who came to the reopening of the pits wanted to see her - “it was my floppy ears they cheered, not me”. I'd expect different from someone that thinks they're exceptional. Most of Dany's titles (the Unburnt, Mother of Dragons, Mhysa, Azor Ahai, etc) are given to her by other people, they're not self-proclaimed (not that there's a problem if they were, I'm only saying it to reiterate that Dany doesn't think she's exceptional). The ones that she assumes on her own are the ones that anyone who believes in birthright (i.e., everyone in her time and place, regardless of family, regardless of whether they're Targaryens) would assume.

4) When it comes to requirement 4 (Dany will (according to the essayist’s speculations) take actions that produce “exceptional calamity” and her demise will be “her own choice and doing”) … Well, we now enter the realm of speculation. It’s not impossible that Dany “will feel like a villain to the Westerosi, as she burns their villages and crops ahead of a hard winter” in the future. The problem here, once again, is in the double standards. Look at the way the essayist describes the likely reascendance of the Starks in the upcoming books - “With the death of “good” characters like Ned, the injury of innocents and moments such as the Red Wedding, ASOIAF as a story is not concerned with justice. But as the story progresses, we see that the way Ned ruled his people and raised his children contrasts with characters like Tywin and his methods. Much of the North seems to continue to rally behind the idea of the Starks, some with less “honorable” methods than others, while Tywin’s legacy begins to fall apart. Like in Shakespeare’s tragic world, there appears to be an order that arcs towards a higher idea of goodness that instills a dramatic satisfaction”. Like I said above when I questioned requirement 2, the Starks’ claim to the North is no more justified than Dany’s to the Seven Kingdoms. They have the advantage of having had their rule normalized throughout the thousands of years they ruled the North, but it doesn’t change the fact that, because they’re feudal lords, they still maintain a system rigged in favor of the nobles that promotes social inequality and extreme lack of social mobility. It doesn’t change the fact that there's no righteous form of feudalism. But only Dany is criticized in that sense by the essayist - “By nature, power breeds inequality, when one party has the ability to decide the fate of another. That inequality creates distance. As a queen Dany wields absolute power over the rest of her subjects and her court”. Which is pretty infuriating not only because the Starks are also morally grey in the sense that the essayist describes, but also because GRRM specifically mentioned that Daenerys is the ruler "who wants equality for everyone, she wants to be at the same level as her people". Additionally, if Ned left a legacy that motivated his people to fight against his enemies, so did Dany with the former slaves. But the essayist needs to ignore all of that to paint Dany as a Shakespearean tragic hero.

Even if we don’t take into account what TWOIAF reveals about the Starks’ ancestors, the main story itself often paints House Stark’s actions in a negative light. We see a peasant spitting at the mention of the Starks and saying that things were better with King Aerys II in power. We're told that Northmen looking for Jaime on Edmure’s orders burned a village called Sallydance and were guilty of rape and murder. It’s no wonder that the High Sparrow mentions the wolves along with the lions as threats to the septas. Also, thousands of soldiers died indirectly because of Robb’s decisions, as well as lots of people who remained north and became vulnerable to raping and pillaging due to his inability to hold Winterfell. And finally, when winter comes, the smallfolk will be affected by the actions of the northmen, who (like Dany might do in the future) already helped to disrupt the harvest and to leave the continent short on food. And yet, why is their future success framed as “an order that arcs towards a higher idea of goodness”? Why is Dany the only one who is said to be “giv[ing] into dark desires” by “divid[ing] an already weakened realm” when the Starks (framed as the heroes in the essay) did the same thing? This double standard gets infuriating when one remembers that Dany is the one fighting a war in the name of the disenfranchised (even though she is not connected to them by blood or lands or oath of fealty and doesn’t gain anything by helping them), while the Starks are (and will be, if they want to retake Winterfell) fighting a war because of personal injury (which, sympathetic as it may be, doesn’t justify the damage that they caused to the smallfolk). It gets even more infuriating when, as @rakharo pointed out to me, one remembers that, while Dany is trying to right the wrongs of the Valyrians by ending slavery in Slaver’s Bay, none of the Starks have acknowledged, much less tried to make amends for injustices perpetrated by the First Men against the Children of the Forest. It gets even more infuriating when one remembers that Aegon the Conqueror united Westeros in preparation for the War for the Dawn (something that GRRM himself confirmed), while the Starks’ ancestors conquered the North solely because of their greed. That's why Dany’s story can’t be effective as a tragedy: she’d be punished for starting to do what everyone else was doing after doing more than almost everyone else was doing.

5) When it comes to requirement 5 (Dany “[rose] high in position” and is “an exceptional being”, which sets her apart as a character that fits the mold of the Shakespearean tragedy because her reversal of fortune will highlight “the greatness and piteousness of humanity”), again, we’re in the realm of speculation. But there are some things to question as well. First, the essayist validates the criticisms that Dany “too easily ascends to a position of power” by using them as proof that she’s a tragic character. But that’s not really true, which becomes clear with a few comparisons: the Starks lost their father, mother and older brother throughout the story because of the Lannisters, which Dany also did; but her losses go beyond them: she also lost another brother, her first husband and her first child. The Starks had their direwolves given to them, Dany had to use her intuition and then literally walk into a fire to birth her dragons. Aegon the Conqueror used dragons to take Westeros, Dany conquered three cities without barely using hers. Jon Snow’s conflict in ADWD involves conciliating the Free Folk and the Night’s Watch after he makes decisions favoring the former group, while Dany’s involves conciliating the freedmen and the slavers after she makes decisions favoring the former group, which has a worldwide impact; Jon’s conflict has relatively low stakes (because it hasn’t involved the Others so far), Dany’s conflict leads to “half the world” wanting her dead. As these examples show, Dany suffered more losses than the Starks. Dany had to do a lot more than the Starks to find her animal companions. Dany became a conqueror primarily because of her military strategies and resourcefulness without relying on dragonfire like her ancestor. Dany faced greater opposition than her male counterpart Jon so far. As we can see, gaining power and retaining it has not been easy for Dany at all. Every single one of her accomplishments has been earned. But it sure is interesting that Dany’s supposed future tragedies must stem from her actions, but that her victories aren’t given the proper credit and acknowledged as being a result of what she also did as well.

And then the essayist declares something even more inaccurate: that Dany “overcame each obstacle that came her way” and that “Robb and Jon paid for their mistakes while Dany did not” (which, to the essayist, is evidence that “Dany’s fall is meant to stand in contrast as something grander than just one slip-up”).

First of all, Dany clearly did not overcome every obstacle that came her way. Saying so means ignoring all of her ADWD storyline (and it’s funny how Dany's detractors go from saying that she’s overpowered and hasn’t suffered consequences to accusing her of being a bad ruler precisely because she dealt with the negative consequences of her choices, lol). To recap, Dany had an indirect part in the wars outside Meereen because she left the Yunkish slavers’ wealth intact, which leads to terrible consequences - multiple city-states and sellsword companies joining forces against her, Astapor’s fall, the pale mare’s outbreak, the emergence of refugees from Astapor outside her city and the upcoming Battle of Fire. Dany had an indirect role in the wars inside Meereen because she left most of the Meereenese slavers alive with most of their wealth intact, which leads to terrible consequences - the Sons of the Harpy’s attacks and dozens of freedmen’s deaths. Additionally, Dany had an indirect role in Hazzea’s death because Drogon was allowed to roam freely and she had no way to train him or her brothers. All these problems culminate in Dany agreeing with a peace deal that, as already explained here, was inherently unjust for prioritizing the slavers over the freedmen. Dany had to learn that, as much as she wants peace and to plant trees, there are situations in which she can’t be merciful because violence really is the only way to achieve justice for the disenfranchised. (On the flip side, that’s one of the reasons why I’m critical of the theory that Dany accidentally burns King’s Landing. When she was merciful, as I just listed, great tragedies occurred (which is fine, it was a realistic exploration of what happens when you abolish slavery and try to do good). When she used fire and blood, great tragedies will occur too? Even though she would be acting just like the Starks or any other feudal lord by fighting for her birthright? The theory narratively punishes Dany in a way that it doesn't do with the Starks, which is why it's no wonder that it was created by someone with Stark/Stannis biases. Additionally, it validates the common belief that Dany is only meant to be a wartime queen, even though she’s already showed that she’s a good peacetime ruler.)

Second, is dying the only way to pay for one’s mistakes (considering that only Robb and Jon are listed as examples of characters who did)? I don’t think so. Consider Sansa. Didn’t she pay for the mistake of going to Cersei to tell her of Ned’s plan? I would say she did. I would say the author agrees - “Sansa was the least sympathetic of the Starks in the first book; she has become more sympathetic, partly because she comes to accept responsibility for her part in her father's death”. Similarly, Dany had to accept her indirect responsibility for the tragedies that I just listed (Hazzea, forgive me; No marriage would ever bring them back to life, but if a husband could help end the slaughter, then she owed it to her dead to marry.; “I should’ve gone to Astapor. [...] I am the queen. It was my place to know.”; “What kind of mother has no milk to feed her children?”). I would argue that Dany and Sansa both paid for her mistakes, which were acknowledged, made them suffer and influenced their character developments. But the essayist needs to say that Dany didn’t pay for them (or that she had an easy rise to power) to help to paint her as a Shakespearean tragic hero.

6) Now that the essayist’s five requirements have all been questioned, I would also like to mention positive prophecies and speculations related to Dany that are never brought up in this essay.

First, Dany is AA/PTWP/SWMTW. That was heavily foreshadowed (read more about it here) and built up to and, if it doesn’t happen, it frankly would be bad writing. After all, haven’t readers praised GRRM for the foreshadowing of Ned’s death (e.g., a stag having killed the mother direwolf in the beginning of AGOT)? Haven’t readers praised GRRM for the foreshadowing of the Red Wedding (which we see from Tyrion’s to Theon’s to Dany’s chapters)? And yet, the essayist thinks that Dany’s death will cause “the forces [to] become more even, making victory less sure, or the Others surpass the side of the living in strength” and that “the White Walkers gain Drogon, becoming one-on-one but with the White Walkers having the larger dragon.”

Second, Dany and Bran both have dreams in AGOT leading up to their magical awakening. Bran needs to fly to escape from the “cold” of the darkness below, while Dany needs to run from the “icy breath behind”. Both of these dreams culminate with Bran and Dany learning to fly and accepting their magical destinies, which will be important in the War for the Dawn. And yet, the essayist thinks that “by understanding that the concept of warmth is tied to companionship, we can understand that the cold, “icy breath” must represent the opposite: loneliness” to justify Dany’s demise. Instead, it's clear (especially considering the parallels with Bran) that "icy breath" is an allusion to the Others. But they can't acknowledge that Dany will have a crucial role in the War for the Dawn, otherwise their entire speculation falls apart.

Third, Quaithe was presented as the third of the three Qartheen envoys (after Pyat Pree and Xaro) that came to find Dany in Vaes Tolorro, which heavily implies that she breaks the norm and is the one person that Dany can trust. And yet, the essayist takes for granted that Quaithe’s “narrative connection to betrayal is already established”.

Fourth, Dany might as well be the prophesied betrayer, not the one who’s betrayed by three people (after all, she’s already been betrayed by more than three people - Jorah, Mirri, Pyat Pree, Xaro, Brown Ben, the person that gave her the poisoned locusts, etc). It would fit with the pattern of Dany being an active participant in the prophecies rather than a passive one (e.g. Dany is AA/PTWP, not the one who gives birth to the AA/PTWP or the one who dies as a sacrifice to AA/PTWP) even though, at first, the readership is expected to think otherwise. And yet, the essayist takes for granted that Dany will be betrayed because otherwise their entire speculation falls apart.

Fifth, Dany is foreshadowed to have a positive relationship with Jon because “the blue flower” from the “wall of ice” filled the air with “sweetness”. And yet, the essayist needs to say that Dany "[will push] Jon away [...] from fear of betrayal and hurt” and from worries that he might be a “usurper” (nevermind that they are mischaracterizing Dany as someone overfocused on retaking the Iron Throne and who closes herself off due to prophecies, none of which are not true, as I already showed above) because otherwise their entire speculation falls apart.

7) Finally, I would also like to ask: what’s the point of giving Dany a storyline like this? Not only because it would be unearned due to the double standards and the changes that would have to occur in her characterization, but also because Dany has a special place in the narrative. She is 1) one of the two women (along with Asha) claiming power in her own right and the only one that we actually got to see rule, 2) one of three Chosen Ones (along with Bran and Jon) and the only female one, 3) one of two POV revolutionaries (along with Jon) and the only female one (and the one whose storyline arguably has the most political messages since she’s fighting against human slavery), 4) one of two POV female rulers (along with Cersei) and the only one who’s been depicted as competent (because she subverts the Good Princess Evil Queen dichotomy), 5) one of two Targaryen conquerors (three, if Young Griff does indeed take Westeros) and the only female one - “Aegon the Conqueror with teats”, 6) the only major mother who isn’t sure to be doomed and/or hasn’t gone mad, 7) one of two Targaryen queens regnant (along with Rhaenyra) and the only remaining Targaryen woman who gets to have power after a long line of Targaryen women - Rhaenyra herself, but also Rhaena, Aerea, Rhaella, Daenerys (Alysanne’s daughter), Rhaenys the Queen Who Never Was, Baela, Rhaena of Pentos, Daena - who were disempowered. GRRM already has a terrible history with female leaders in particular. If he causes the downfall of another one (especially one who is also one of the five main protagonists) for such unearned reasons like the ones that the essayist laid out, there would also be sexist implications. It would make the only she-king that we saw wielding power onpage overly defined by violence and destruction in a way kings don't have to be depending on their actions, it makes the only competent POV female ruler look incompetent in comparison to the other POV male rulers and it makes her conquest a disaster while the other male Targaryen conqueror (two, if Young Griff takes Westeros) gets to succeed. And yet, death by childbirth is the only speculation that the essayist calls out as problematic (“death by childbirth is a uniquely biologically female phenomenon and would be punishing Daenerys for her sexuality”).

8) What I find insidious about essays like this one is that they pretend to be unbiased (I do not argue for the death of Daenerys as a judgement on her ethical/moral goodness as a character nor of the world she inhabits. I argue it on the strength of her characterization and story, that she should be able to encompass such intensity and greatness as to be considered as complex as all these other single-name headliners in literature.) even though they really aren't. To recap, the essayist portrays Dany as someone with "violent" impulses even though she's a merciful person in general, accepts the peace deal with the slavers as valid even though it prioritizes the slavers' privileges over the lives of marginalized people, only talks about the negative connotations of fire, downplays Dany's compassion and sense of justice, argues that Dany is losing her ability to trust others even though she isn't, says that Dany is negatively affected by promises of greatness even though she isn't, argues that Dany had an easy rise to power and didn't pay for her mistakes even though she did, paints Dany's campaign to take the Iron Throne in a negative light without doing the same with the Starks having dominance over the North and ignores Dany's foreshadowing as AA/PTWP, as well as her special place in the narrative. So it’s not that Dany stans are unable to accept Dany’s mistakes and flaws, it’s that people who dislike her can’t understand her characterization or acknowledge the double standards against her or accept her particular place in the story. At the end of the day, an essay like this one is no better than jonsa metas mindlessly hating on Dany because, just like them, as @semperty and @niniane17 made clear, it also creates speculations with the intent of making Dany self-destruct and become irrelevant to pave the way for their preferred characters. The only difference is that it's more successful at appearing "neutral" to someone who doesn't remember what happened in the books very well, especially because Dany has become a polarizing character for a variety of reasons and it's easy to buy into the Appeal to Moderation fallacy.

Also, as I said before, the fact that these Twitter 'neutrals' all misunderstand Dany's characterization, downplay her struggles and judge her by different standards actually makes me somewhat hopeful that she's getting a better ending, because how can their speculations come true if they don't know Dany at all? But then, it's hard to trust GRRM.

[whirlybirdwhat]

AU where Morgan reign of terror traumatizes Coby and he leaves with Luffy and Zoro instead of becoming a marine.

ANON I LOVE YOU YOU HAVE INSPIRED ME!!!! I don’t know how to make this a comprehensive story yet so have some headcanons about 

~~REVOLUTIONARY COBY!!!~~~

Coby is disgusted by way marines are run

He has a “THIS ISNT JUSTICE” Revelation like in Marineford, but on a smaller scale. He sees how thin Zoro is, from being starved and crucified for saving a young, and how happy the people are now that Axe Hand is gone and is like - this isn’t the justice I wanted.

“I want to catch criminals, not harm innocent people.”

Coby starts thinking about his new companions and thinks Luffy’s rough and luffs feral, but he hasn’t hurt anyone. Axe Hand Morgan and his son have.

So Coby follows Luffy and Zoro into the great unknown.

He’s not entirely sure he wants to be a pirate however. Unlike everyone else he does have a moral compass.

“I don’t think I want to be a pirate.” He says after watching Zoro keep calling Luffy Captain.

 “Then be a bounty hunter? Go after whomever you want” – Zoro, who does not give a shit about Coby’s internal crisis, but wants to support him.

⁃Coby: “Huh. Okay”

⁃Cue nights where cobys just thinking about his future as he drifts in the waves with Zoro and Luffy being dumb idiots together and just heading for their dreams

HE doesn’t know if he wants to be a bounty hunter, because how can he tell which bounties are for genuine crimes and which are for people the government wants to kill?

Potential other au lmao coby becomes a bounty hunter

⁃At orange town, he panics at Buggy and hides - he doesn’t know how to fight, but he does get the key from chouchou the dog. He’s helping, in his own way.

⁃Zoro sees this and is like “NO. You need to learn how to fight cmon we’ll teach you.” Like Luffy, he has an aversion to people who cant stand up for themselves, but he likes Coby so he’s gonna help.

⁃So Zoro and Luffy tag team each other and teach coby how to fight. He learns a weird mix of swordsman ship and punching that really don’t go together, but its better than what he had.  

⁃In the meantime, Coby keeps on seeing all the places the marines dont reach and keeps losing his faith in the system. He starts wondering why the Marines are hailed as this awesome force when really a lot of the times they just abuse their power or do nothing to help people.

⁃At Syrup, he helps get Kaya to safety with Usopp, still unwilling to fight, but starting to regain his resolve to do something – to reclaim a dream thought lost.

⁃Coby’s disgusted at the Fullbuster guy on the Baratie and punches him. 

⁃“YOUR FIRST CRIME!” Luffy says, cheerfully. The chefs applaud. Go Coby.

⁃Now, Coby isn’t advancing as fast in training, because one, luffy and zoro (and Sanji, eventually) aren’t Garp, and two, he doesn’t have that drive anymore. Why does he want to be a Marine who punishes justice?

⁃But when Arlong shows up Coby figures out his new dream. He knows what he is going to do.

⁃“I’m gonna take down the Marines - they can’t be this corrupt forever, and how many people are just innocent people? I want to give the world justice again!”

Luffy doesn’t really care about anybody else, innocent or not, unless his crew cares, but Coby cares. He’s not a pirate, but maybe if the law isn’t right, being free to do as he wish shouldn’t incriminate him?

⁃THEN the Strawhats run into Vivi and Chopper and suddenly there are more caring people like him, and more evidence that the system is corrupt which he already knows but how can he change it. He’s able to fight off some men now, and helps fight off some of Wapols men and the Whiskey Peak people, but that isn’t enough.

⁃All his friends have goals that seem impossible but they are so sure they alone are going to reach it, even without the crew there. Coby doesn’t feel like he can do the same.

⁃But hen theres alabasta - He’s stronger now, can through a punch, hes more lean with more muscle. He helps fight, and maybe it doesn’t do much, maybe the man (Luffy) who opened his eyes to the world is still there bleeding out, but he did something.

⁃And Ace and Robin have a hint for him, for his dream.

⁃(Who is this, Ace asks, referring to Coby. He has no role on the ship, but Luffy is proud to call him my friend, and say he wants to change the world for the better. To bring back what Justice really is. Ace cringes at the thoughhht of Garp but hums, and says theres a group of people who will do that – The Revolutionaries. Look for them, Ace says, and leaves. They will help you)

⁃(Robin, who knows all, tells him about Dragon unknown in the East Blue, his home, buth the most wanted man elsewhere. He has a plan, to take down the World Government, and perhaps Coby can find equal footing.)

⁃The Revolutionaries -  Dragon, Luffy’s father.

⁃Coby has a goal now.

⁃He doesn’t want to say goodbye to the Strawhats, but he does, taking a boat lent to him by Vivi, and setting off to find the Revolutionaries. Pirates don’t care about fair fights and Justice, but Coby does, and the Revolutionaries do. His dream will grow there, but he will always be an honorary crew member of the Straw Hat Pirates (the first in some stories).

⁃At sea he runs into Helmeppo, whose drifting at sea stranded due to the marines, and helps him. They bond, and Helmeppo has done a little growth in character as well, and decides to follow Coby, much like Coby decided to follow Luffy.

⁃They run into Garp who is losing faith in the new generation and believes that maybe his son is right, gives them a few fists of training after asking about his grandson, and goes on his way.

⁃They save a town or two

⁃Coby punches several people in the face.

⁃Still no sign of the revolutionaries, but they have heard things from the grape vine that a pirate ship has fallen out of the sky into a navy base. Coby assumes at least Luffy is doing fine.

⁃Finally they run into - guess who – Sabo, on a information recovery mission, which Coby helps with. He questions them at first and learns their story.

⁃And knocks himself the fuck out when Coby says “Ace” “Luffy” and “Brothers”

⁃“OH SHIT THEY ARE GOING TO KILL ME” - sabo,after waking up, to a confused Coby and then profusely thanking him.

⁃Sabo agrees to let Coby and helmeppo into the Revolutionaries and trains them (wow Coby’s been trained by a lot of ppl at this point) if Coby helps him find Luffy and Ace.

⁃CUE WILD GOOSE CHASE WHICH ENTAILS COBY BECOMING THE HERO OF THE REVOLUTION just like Garp is the hero of the marines!! They just fight ppl but instead of in the name of becoming the pirate king, its for REVOLUTION and JUSTICE because Coby has a working moral compass.

⁃Coby develops new moves combining all that he’s been taught into a rather weird fighting style with a mix of weapons and martial arts. He gets a bounty, and it’s the worst day of his entire life and also the best. He can’t decide, Helmeppo Sabo and Koala (whom he met when Sabo had to explain why he wasn’t on his mission) laugh at him.

⁃Then Sabo runs into Ace, ands that reunion goes as well as you would expect, but that not the important thing, because its still not enough to not send Ace to Marineford. But they don’t know this. Yet.

⁃Sabo and Ace both get news about Ennies Lobby at the same time. Coby, when Luffy mentions knowing Coby to his visiting grandfather, receives a shudder down his spine as if he has narrowly avoided a horrible fate.

⁃But its whatever. Sabo contacts Dragon and plans to meet with him and Luffy at Sabaody, to keep an eye on the Supernovas and let Sabao and Coby see Luffy again.

⁃They never get a chance, as the Strawhat Pirates have disappeared by the time they arrive… and Ace is on the execution block.

⁃Sabo has to go save him and drags Coby along for the ride, who eagerly awaits the opportunity to THROW DOWN SOME MARINES

⁃Luffy still goes through Impel down and all that, but Sabo and Coby still arrive late to the battle.

⁃You know how Sabo saves Luffy and Ace in that one excerpt? Cue coby punching akainu in the face for trying to hurt his friends then dodging the hell outta there as sabo saves ace and luffy.

⁃He Learns his haki! Is like oh shit my crush is gonna die, better do some shit about that! The haki allows him to actually stop Akainu for a second, and stop the fighting, as he attempts to question the people – is this what justice is?

⁃Coby meets trafalagr law and also buggy again. He isn’t afraid anymore, and doesn’t hide. People are quietly proud.

⁃Luffy gets saved and ASL reunion happens.

⁃Luffy decides to train, and tries to get coby to come along with him.

⁃Coby Is just frustrated because he has a moral compass and Luffy is just here saying he’s now best friends with corrupt war lords and the pirate kings right hand man, who is a cool dude, but why luffy, coby is hurt, please stop punching people because you feel like it.

⁃(Coby’s just putting on appearances)

⁃HEs just a good boy who wants to tear down corrupt systems why do you make friends with criminals luffy why do you hurt coby like this

(Again, appearances, he’s not insane, thank you very much)

After leaving Luffy to train and after helping him due his oxbell thing, he leaves with sabo to FINALLY MEET DRAGON

He goes through his own two year training with helpmeppo who is along for the ride. Who Coby has now decided is stuck with him for life.

Training is hell, because Coby wants to find his own fighting style which means a lot of different stuff and seeing what works best and it HURTS

 “Just be grateful im not my father-“ – dragon

 Coby feels the shudder again

Yknow how The revs have that steam punk theme? Well

 STEAMPUNK COBY!!!!
 this is. so cool oh my gosh

 Coby goes around freeing people and when they asked what inspired you hes like “rubber bastard who doesn’t have a moral compass fkdjsha,dk”

Hes gay for luffy he cant deny it

Luffy fanclub #1

Anyway, Coby goes on to take down Akainu and corrupt governments across the world, and makes his dream of tearing down the marines a reality post Pirate King Luffy

[artsynimbus]

hello! and welcome to my tedtalk about how racism is rwby is godawful/godawfully executed :)

inb4 if this subject makes you uncomfortable, don’t read, move on to lighter posts----

anyway M&K and their ‘Racism’ in RWBY disgusts me- not to full on rant.. but I just find it funny how even in 2020 its very much a fact that racism is alive and well but also a very foreign concept to people who genuinely have never experienced an inkling of it in their lives.. these same people though love the idea/thought that being ‘aware’ of what the word means and how its overall construct is bad, is kudos enough for them to walk around with a fake woke badge hence the title..

Miles and Kerry dance around the subject of racism and drop sprinkles of it in the form of Blakes cat ears lowering when someone doesn't like her for being a faunus or the reoccuring old man with the bald head/busted hairline putting up a sign that says ‘no faunus allowed’.. thats it. The real damaging stuff that ends in black coded characters being abused, tortured or murdered via this very real construct in this fantasy world- ignored, never shown, told or roughly implied.. Also M&K had a whole character whos hatred of humans was born from this construct, branded on his whole face- but rather than get anything from that- they switch up his character from a menacing villain with a vague goal ( like cinder and roman) and hate for humans to an emotionally broken fuckboy pissed off that his ego was bruised by a girl who left his side.. and then to top it off they kill him.

Yeah all of that , while making sure the construct of racism is alive and well, and our main (human/whitecoded) characters who aren’t affected by it at all, move on and do fuck all- ignoring/aiding the problem that has been introduced since V1, addressed by only blackcoded characters, and solved by no one.. What is the overall message people are supposed to take from that? Suppress, write/kill off characters who have been affected by racism if they’re being ‘mean’ about it but keep the construct around cause why not- and our ‘heroes’ dont have to give a shit about it cause, it doesn’t affect them so why bother??? what a goofy mess and a grim overall image of the world of remnant and how similar it is to parts of the real world... but im not surprised the writers have a weird interest in fetishizing lesbians so i wouldn’t be shocked if they have a weird fixation getting off at the idea of oppressed people suffering just cause it mirrors real life.

but going back to our heroes and main characters who arent faunus.. Are these the heroes im supposed to like?? all of them doing nothing to address or even attempt to change a system that affects their faunus friends?? one of them is matter of factly related to one fo the main sources of the problem that plagues the faunus, but she hasn’t done anything about it right? Nah can’t have her do anything to aid that, cause then how will she and her family continue reap the benefits from this obviously terrible construct that allow black coded characters to suffer and her family to prosper? (Not gonna lie her growth is nice but why isn’t she doing anything about her family's dust company profiting off illegal faunus labor? Why hasnt that been addressed since v1? No ones talking about it anymore so its magically gone now??)

M&K: oH bUt ShE sPoKe Up AnD dEfEnDeD bLaKe WhEn PeOpLe WeRe BeINg MeAn To HeR!

yEs tHaNkS To tHiS, ThE RaCiSm iN YoUr eMoTiOnAlLy mAnIpUlAtIvE AnD MoRaLlY BaNkRuPt sHoW Is gOnE. hooray.

but whatever right, its not a big deal cause you hear about the suffering but don’t see it, that must mean its not important right? Yeah that message is just gonna fly over the heads of the people who seriously don’t get it cause the concept of racism is so foreign to them because again they’ve never been affected in any type of way by any form of said racism.

but yeah whatever, your only racist radical character was a mean scumbag and ppl didnt’ like him anyway, so lets get rid of him, oh and that character with the beautiful melanin and tiger ears, yeah lets kill her too cause while she wasn’t as terrible as the former we can’t have any faction leader exist that hates our human/whitecoded happy go lucky heroes or race of people, even though the story establishes half of them being super fucked up and the implication of our heroes silence on the subject of racism aids faunus oppression, but yes expanding further lets have our prominent character hailing from a company that benefits off this shit literally do nothing and address nothing all of the time she is at home and around her father--all the while lets keep dangling people being mean to the cute cat girl and call it racism and never find any means to solve it- that probs won’t trigger the fans that have experienced anything but this diet form of microaggression and beyond right?.. fuck our feelings right?

but no ones ready for that conversation- its okay for certain characters to get revenge but not others- its okay to forgive certain characters for their misdeeds, misgivings and misinformation but not others, its okay for certain characters to be straight up manipulative and evil, but not others- and the cherry on top of this fucked up parfait is being mean to cute faunus girls is perceived as a great way to present racism to fans who still don’t get it or care :D This just exposes how the writers do not know a damn thing about the subject they keep reminding you exists in almost every volume that they won’t remove or have white coded characters fight against... the only thing you’ll get is a bunch of sad sympathetic faces to the racism and microaggressions aimed at blake,and weiss being the main one saying “hey thats wrong youre rude.” What an ally.. forget anything i said prior to how her character could’ve dismantled 1 large part of faunus suffering, this right here is that good shit! Right?... but again, no ones ready for that convo.

Miles and Kerry are actual trashcans which makes sense as to how they’re garbage writers lul. anyway this has been my tedtalk. :)

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 244: Have You Read This Book

Previously on BnHA: Deku visited his mom on New Year’s Eve and was all “here’s a new letter from my ever-expanding fanclub of adorable preschoolers whom I saved from trauma” and Inko was all, “I’M SO PROUD OF YOU IZUKU I FEEL LIKE I DON’T HAVE TO PROTECT YOU ANYMORE” because she doesn’t watch the news at all or keep track of ominous plot developments I guess. The next morning, a.k.a. New Year’s Fucking Day, while other kids their age visited shrines or sat at home watching TV, Izuku, Shouto, and Katsuki were bussed off to go be child soldiers at Endeavor’s hero agency. Katsuki was all “HEY ENDEAVOR YOU’RE KIND OF A DICK,” and Endeavor was all “SHOUTO IS THIS VULGAR AND PUGNACIOUS YOUTH REALLY YOUR FRIEND” and Shouto was all “TOO LATE DAD, YOU SAID!!” and Endeavor hmmphed and booked it out of there and the kids all followed him and there was this old dude with a beard floating around screaming about END TIMES!! and Hawks was there and, what?? Seriously does anyone actually know what’s going on?

Today on BnHA: Endeavor chases down the old man (who may in fact be an actual prophet, though? Horikoshi what games are you playing) and sets him on fire and tackles him and it’s all very violent. Hawks then appears out of nowhere and breaks up BakuDeku’s tag team effort all “SAVE IT FOR THE MOVIE YOU TWO!” and is then all “hi Shouto” and “hi, you must be Midoriya, Tokoyami told me all about you, I wanted to work with you too, BUT -- [stares off angstily into the distance].” Then, because I forgot that Hawks never shuts up, he’s all, “Hey Endeavor have you ever heard of this book, ‘Paranormal Liberation Front’? Don’t let the really dumb-sounding title put you off, it’s actually a rousing tale full of hidden clues about all the bullshit I’m actually up to. I highlighted the relevant portions if you can’t be assed to read it, well anyways, Hail Hydra.” “Well that was a strange conversation,” Endeavor thinks to himself as he stares uncomprehendingly into the void. Sob someone please help them why are they so bad at this oh god.

(All comments are my unspoiled reactions from my initial readthrough of the chapter. I did a quick edit for grammar and clarity immediately afterward, and added a few ETAs in the process, but aside from that there are no changes.)

so thanks to that little stunt Horikoshi pulled two weeks ago, our chances of finding out Bakugou’s hero name any time within the next dozen chapters are slimmer than ever. probably he’ll reveal it at the end of the arc instead. it’s like he doesn’t even care about the databook. whatever I’ll have plenty of time to sulk more about it after I get to readin’

anyway the title of the new chapter is “Recommendation”, so... actually that does sound fairly promising, though? am I just eternally doomed to get my hopes up? is this referring to Shouto pestering his dad to take on his two best friends as fellow interns? what’s going on here

anyway so we’re opening with this

I love that it’s the two supposed goody-two-shoes kids who are actually being vocal about blatantly disregarding Endeavor’s orders. Shouto is just not having it to begin with, whereas Deku at least is trying to rationalize his own reckless behavior. Katsuki meanwhile is too focused on doing this fancy kick move to switch his suitcase from his left hand to his right to bother talking right now. reminds me of him playing with the soccer ball as a youngling

also the fact that his case is number 17 and Deku’s is number 18. have I talked about this before? I think I have but it was with some other numbered thing. anyways love the symbolism of him trying to stay one step ahead of him and Deku always being right on his heels. or maybe I’m reading too much into it but anyways rivals, yay

damn Endeavor is really determined to get ahead of them though

uh oh Horikoshi how much action did you pack into this chapter. starting to run out of time to finish all your panels again huh. you had a whole extra week! how fucking insane is this arc going to be holy shit

anyways Endeavor way to leave your brand new interns behind minutes after meeting them for the first time smdh. this is exactly how it went down with Hawks and Tokoyami

okay so like, I know a flash fire is an actual thing, but for a second I started wondering if in this kind of context (with him speeding off), it might also be a reference to the DC hero. then I remembered that the name of Endeavor’s technique is different in Japanese and the pun probably doesn’t translate. ah well

anyways dude is fast. but I wouldn’t count the kids out yet, they’re all pretty fast too!

so now we’re back downtown with Old Man Doom And Gloom, and oddly enough it seems that this isn’t actually an out-of-the-ordinary occurrence?

fucking quirk society. you guys are just so desensitized to the most bizarre fucking things. but I guess we in the 21st century are hardly ones to talk ourselves sigh

anyway now he’s being a bit more extra than usual and they’re starting to worry

?? the fuck is that? that sure as hell isn’t Hawks or Endeavor lmao. IF IT’S SLIDIN’ GO I SWEAR TO GOD

or wait, is it still the old man talking? should I actually be paying attention to his ramblings, my bad

is that a fucking Spirit Bomb

(ETA: in truth this is the most badass attack name that has ever existed or will ever exist and I should give it its proper due actually.)

so now I guess he’s hurtling it at them??

...hold up one sec

“revelations from the universe, I have received. flee, flee good citizens. the Dark Lord’s lips curl into a wicked crescent” -- holy shit, this all tracks?? IS THIS DOOMSDAY CRACKPOT MOTHERFUCKER ACTUALLY RIGHT ON THE FUCKING MONEY HOLY SHIT. ARE YOU A WITCH GOOD SIR. DID YOU WRITE A BOOK OF HIGHLY ACCURATE AND DEVASTATINGLY WITTY PROPHECIES BY ANY CHANCE

“the end is nigh! the wicked stars are conspiring against us! we must stop them! the earth is on the verge of being engulfed by darkness! flee, my fellow citizens! I am the one who shall destroy this source of darkness! be revealed! servants of the dark lord, come forth!”

okay listen. if he’s aiming this fucking thing at Hawks, though, after a speech like that? fuck it, I’m a believer. I’m sorry old man, I wrote you off without a second thought and here you are being the only one who’s actually like “HELLO!!!? PEOPLE!!!? THE LEAGUE OF VILLAINS!!?! THEY HAVE AN ARMY!!? AND NOUMUS!??! FUUUUUUUUCK”

and I don’t know where you’re getting your information, but those are some legit-ass universe revelations. fucking even talks about the “Dark Lord” specifically only describing his lips. because he doesn’t have anything else to describe nowadays, face-wise. shit that is spooky

anyway so that sure was unexpected. let’s see what shenanigans Master Roshi here is gonna get himself into next

did my boy just get fucking flashfired. jesus Endeavor show some fucking mercy

...

someone want to explain to this man the concept of a proportionate response? anyone? ...

fucking Todorokis I swear to god. if they weren’t all so good at being amazing superheroes, they could easily fall back on a career of being dramatic bitches for hire instead

anyways when did Endeavor change his clothes. this dude was wearing a turtleneck and slacks thirty seconds ago. did he literally just burn them off. how. what. fucking plot holes left and right

lol imagine if like on the next page the interns finally catch up and they’re like holding his fucking jacket and looking peeved

-- holy fucking shit, Endeavor

not cool, dude!! what the fuck. this isn’t a fucking Noumu for fuck’s sake THAT IS A HUMAN PERSON

(ETA: I guess he ended up being okay, but shit, for a moment it looked like we were going full blown Raiders of the Lost Ark over here. anyways the moral of this story is that Endeavor is terrifying, fuck.)

so now of course Nostradamus is trying to get the fuck out of there, because if he sticks around Endeavor apparently has no qualms about burning him alive. fuck me Endeavor, I’m still rooting for your redemption arc my dude, but tbh if Dabi happens to pop up out of nowhere here looking for some revenge I’m not gonna say no to it right now. quit burning people alive!!

so now 12/21/2012 is zooming down an alley and Endeavor is zooming after him and telling some extra with a sword to stay and lead the evacuation

oh??

Endeavor have you flown yourself right into a trap?

oh my god what the fuck is this

it’s like Dabi VS the Liberation Army all over again. fucking check all these motherfuckers who apparently want to get themselves deep fried. this one guy really thinks he’s going to clock the Number One with a piece of fucking PVC pipe

LMAOOOOO

LOOKS LIKE WE GOT OURSELVES A RUCKUS, BOYS! you better believe I have the Powerpuff Girls theme song playing in my head right now

-- !!!

HAWKS!! I WAS STARTING TO WONDER IF YOU REALLY WERE THERE TOO OR IF THE PANELS IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER WERE DELIBERATELY MISLEADING

LOOOOOOL

pour one out for these poor sobs who somehow got themselves caught up in an accidental pincer attack between the dynamic fucking duo and fucking Angry Bird here. where the fuck is Shouto btw. or is he the one that got stuck carrying Endeavor’s jacket

loool look at Hawks out here making friends

SURPRISE BITCH

oh my god though you guys look at this??

HELLO SURPRISE NEW FAVORITE SERIES OF PANELS, CAN I JUST TAKE A MOMENT TO LOVE ON YOU A BIT HERE, BECAUSE

1. Bakugou and Deku IN PERFECT SYNC, not even thinking about it. just effortless. that was an amazing tag team thing you guys had going on before SOMEONE stepped in and ruined it all omg. do you want me to talk to Hawks for you. I’ve been meaning to discuss some other things with him anyway so it’s not like it’d be going out of my way. can you believe this fucking pigeon blocked my number. WHERE IS JEANIST YOU BASTARD

anyways 2. “I thought Endeavor might have been in a tough spot” that’s a funny way of saying “I was lonely and missed my angry arson dad”! and fucking look at this ridiculous bantering between them. “did it look like I was in a tough spot?” I FUCKING CAN’T YOU GUYS PLEASE STOP

and 3. Shouto just watching. is he impressed by his dad? or just trying to figure out whether Hawks is his dad’s adopted son or boyfriend. I’m pretty sure it’s the former, Shouto, but I don’t blame you for being confused, Hawks just has that kind of energy with everyone

oh my god

somebody arrest this man. I can’t fucking deal with your cheeky fucking face Hawks

is Skeptic getting all of this?? are they sitting there with bowls of popcorn back at the League of Pliff HQ trying to figure out whether Endeavor and Hawks are dating

...and shit, I just realized the League officially knows now that the disaster trio is interning with the number one. so that’s fucking great. not that it would have been a secret for long, but still, things are officially starting to get real. in hindsight, after the Kamino arc we had a nice long stretch of chapters in which Deku, Kacchan, and Shouto were not in immediate danger from the main fucking villains, so that was nice while it lasted I guess. those days will soon be behind us

ahhhklkljkl

fucking shit Hawks could you be any more ominous. oh my god this arc really is going to kill me

so now we’re cutting away to somewhere. Pliff?

-- oh, nope, still in the same place, we just fast-forwarded to the part where the police came to haul all the bad guys away

and now the manga is being all clever and foreshadowing-y and would you look at this

BUT IS HE TALKING ABOUT ENDEAVOR, OR HAWKS omg. or hell, he could even be talking about Deku. or AFO even though he’s not actually there. point is, you know he’s not actually wrong. but what is he actually trying to tell us ahhhhhh Servant of the Stars please reveal your secrets

(ETA: in all seriousness you guys, I’m fully down for counting this as a prophecy. it’s already canon that future-seeing quirks are a thing, so. the only problem is that this is some Game of Thrones-level ambiguity as far as who he’s actually talking about. it seriously could be anyone. anyways at least we’ve got some shiny new theory material to play around with here so that’s nice.)

LMAO

HAWKS YOU BASTARD, JUST LIKE THAT I’VE FORGIVEN YOU FOR THE FUCKING JEANOCIDE

how does every single person Deku meets not greet him this way?? I sure as hell would. “well if it isn’t the kid who just. fuckin blew up his own hands on live television, multiple times. salutations”

anyways where’s Katsuki, the boy whose previous hero mentor you murdered in cold blood but he doesn’t actually know that yet. when are we gonna start in on that?

Hawks says he’s heard about Deku from Tokoyami. and he even says he would have liked to work with Deku too, wow. that’s high praise

ffffff here it comes, THAT GOOD HAWKS ANGST. WE WERE WAITING FOR THIS BUT IT’S STILL BRUTAL GAH

is this entire arc just going to consist of Hawks saying cryptic things with double meanings known only to him and then glancing sideways at the camera all broodingly omg

AH, THERE HE IS

Katsuki’s natural instinct to dislike 100% of newcomers on sight might work out to his advantage here. Hawks’s maxed-out Charisma stats VS Katsuki’s middling Perception stats which nonetheless have a tendency to land high whenever he performs an ability check! I might need to back off from this metaphor though before it becomes really obvious that I don’t actually play D&D

lol

omg Endeavor can’t a guy just drop in on his grumpy pal out of the blue to make sure he’s doing okay without having some sort of ulterior motive? why are you so sure that Hawks showing up means that plot must be happening. because you’re not wrong, is the thing. but he’s probably just being standoffish for show

holy shit and now Hawks is just pulling out the Liberation Army’s book just like that?? IS HE ALLOWED TO DO THAT

(ETA: “let’s see, what’s a subtle way I can try and clue Endeavor in on the fact that I’ve become an undercover agent in the Paranormal Villain League of Liberation Front Armies. ... ...shit I’m not good at this.”)

and since when was this book called “Paranormal Liberation Front”?? did they change the title to match the new name?

and what’s Hawks’s game here, though? is he going to play it as though he’s secretly investigating Pliff? you know, like he actually is doing? is this some kind of hiding in plain sight thing or what

guys. is Hawks just... actually really bad at being a secret agent. omg

so he’s all “DESTRO’S IDEALS ARE EVERYTHING WE COULD ASK FOR” and lol what. fucking look at Endeavor’s face though

this motherfucker could use a boost of his own wisdom stats, fff

(ETA: swear to god he’s two seconds away from a Katsuki-style “hah?!”)

oh my god

fucking fuck me. he better have highlighted a really obvious section of that book, because otherwise I’m not gonna hold out hope for this message getting across at all. at least we know what that “recommendation” title was referring to now I guess

(ETA: Endeavor: [reading the highlighted section backwards] “‘‘it’s fun to smoke marijuana’!? what in the --”)

loooool

the fate of the world now rests upon Endeavor’s abilities to See Underneath The Underneath and somehow decipher that when Hawks says, “ENDEAVOR I CHASED YOU DOWN IN ORDER TO GIVE YOU A COPY OF THIS BOOK THE VILLAINS WROTE, I THINK IT’S REALLY KEEN AND YOU SHOULD CHECK IT OUT”, what he’s really saying is, “ENDEAVOR I NEED YOU TO INVESTIGATE THIS SUSPICIOUS ‘LIBERATION FRONT’ THAT’S BEEN COINCIDENTALLY GATHERING A LOT OF ATTENTION SINCE THAT SHADY INCIDENT IN DEIKA CITY WHERE ‘TWENTY GUYS' BASICALLY DESTROYED AN ENTIRE TOWN. IF YOU’RE TOO DENSE TO PICK UP ON ANY OF THAT, I HIGHLIGHTED THE RELEVANT PORTION OF THE BOOK SO HOPEFULLY EVEN AN OBLIVIOUS DUMBBELL LIKE YOU CAN FIGURE IT OUT.” jesus christ

at least Endeavor now has some nerdy interns who fucking love to read. hell, Deku has probably already read the book. please help this dumb jock to understand his bird son’s coded message, Deku-Wan Kenobi, you’re our only hope

and that’s the end of the chapter! except that I heard there was a new poster for Heroes Rising that was released as well! how come it wasn’t included here now I have to go hunt it down

son of a bitch is this really the best quality that’s available? damn

well all right. not really much going on here that’s a big revelation or anything, aside from the surprise inclusion of Hawks in the upper right hand corner. did we know he was going to be in this? and like, even if the anime does make it as far as his debut in season 4, will it have reached that point by the time the movie premieres in December? glad I caught up beforehand if they’re gonna start spoiling things like this

so that’s all she wrote for this week! databook is due out next week so that should be fun! we’re finally going to get Hawks’s real name from what I understand. so I can start yelling at him using his full name like a disappointed mom. I have a feeling that’s going to come in handy a lot during this arc. go to your room young man

(ETA: and just watch it be the Japanese equivalent of “Judas McMurder” or some shit. smh. y’all. we stan a shady bitch.)

[tb5-heavenward]

I'm very curious to read your thoughts on What Was Wrong With Lost Kingdom

you know, I did hope you would be and I think you so very much for asking

so!

To put it simply, what was wrong with Lost Kingdom is that it should have been Tunnels of Time 2. They had all of the same pieces, they were at approximately the same place in their second season, and it would have been the perfect excuse to take the themes and concepts and characters from Tunnels of Time, and repeat and reinforce them.

This is something that tends to be wrong with a lot of TAG episodes that otherwise have a lot of potential: the writers don’t know when to lean into repeating their ideas. Or reiterating their ideas. Or revisiting, reimagining, regurgitating, reinforcing, reducing reusing recycling their ideas.

Tunnels of Time should have been to Lost Kingdom what Runaway was to Hyperspeed, and you better believe I’m gonna elaborate. Under a cut.

A QUICK REFRESHER ON THE COMMON ELEMENTS SHARED BY RUNAWAY AND HYPERSPEED

here are some key points shared between Runaway and Hyperspeed

A Runaway Train that Goes Extra Super Fast

Scott

Brains

The line, word for word, “It would be like hitting a brick wall”

this is how you know that they knew exactly what they were doing

An All Hope Is Lost moment

A Last Second Hail Mary Solution

A silly, soft ending

Japan

Other Things I’m Sure

They are, at a fundamental level, the same episode. The basic problem is the same in both, even if the cause and the ways they approach and solve it are different, the same sorts of things happen. What those similarities do is allow us to measure the differences in the way the same problem they had then is approached by these characters now. It allows us to perceive the ways the show has changed on a technical level---Hyperspeed LOOKS fucking amazing. The sense of danger in Runaway doesn’t quite compare, at least in part because the visuals aren’t yet as finely honed. They’ve come a really long way, in more ways than one.

Because Scott is still the same action hero type he always is, and he recognizes that this is a problem that he can’t solve without Brains---but he’s also matured past the point of forcing Brains out into the field with him and expecting the same level of performance. Brains is allowed to provide a proxy for his presence that’s more effective than he ever could be (this is something that was first established in Recharge), and it legitimately helps save the day. 

As an extension of that, when they come up to that moment in the episode where they’re nearing the point of no return, and the question of whether or not they’ll be able to pull this off rears its ugly, predictable head, Scott doesn’t step to the controls to put his hand on the button that’ll slam on the brakes and kill them all---basically forcing Brains in both the literal and the narrative sense to rise to the occasion and save the day---instead he steps into that moment himself, and insists that there IS no point of no return, there is no moment when all hope is lost, he believes that it’s always possible to push through to the other side of a problem. And that last second miracle happens, and it’s happily ever after again.

Watch the two episodes back to back sometime, and look for repeated themes. If I had time I would do a side by side comparison of the two (and I’ve wanted to do an in-depth rewatch of the series for ages now, and maybe I should do one ep a day or something to get me back into the swing of things), but the parallels are all obvious that even just a casual surface viewing should be enough to pick them out. Runaway was a good episode. Hyperspeed is a great episode, because it got to stand on Runaway’s shoulders.

Now. On to the question of Lost Kingdom.

What I said at the time was specifically this:

What is deeply and immensely frustrating is that, in the time since I said this, the writers and the series have proven that they know how to do this. Runaway and Hyperspeed, remember. They have done it to brilliant, absolutely flawless effect, with a pair of episodes that run in parallel to each other, and in doing so reinforce fundamental truths while simultaneously demonstrating growth. Anyway.

A QUICK REFRESHER ON THE COMMON ELEMENTS SHARED BY TUNNELS OF TIME AND LOST KINGDOM

Old, ruined temple of an ancient civilization

Really, just gorgeously rendered models for both, these two are definitely spiritual sisters in at least a visual sense.

Getting trapped in the old, ruined temple of an ancient civilization

Penelope

Specifically, Penelope interceding on behalf of World Heritage in the case of somebody fucking around with something of historical significance.

Parker

Parker is at his best when employed as a Greek Chorus.

Gordon

notably, Gordon fresh off the events of Up From the Depths and preciously protective of his lil yellow sub. this isn’t relevant, it’s just really sweet how worried he gets.

Peril

Water

Self-Absorbed and Self-Aggrandizing Asshole Jeopardizing Everyone Else for His Own Ends

Big Golden MacGuffin

ELEMENTS DEEPLY UNNECESSARY TO LOST KINGDOM BUT INCLUDED ANYWAY FOR SOME FUCKING REASON

Brains

MAX

Sorry

no, i’m not

 brains got plenty of air time in S2

go away brains

come on, 

I know S1 was Kayo’s season. 

And I know S2 was Brains’. 

And it looks like S3 is shaping up to be Penelope’s. 

But Brains was really extraneous here, and the themes they chose for him were weaksauce compared to what they could’ve been for Gordon and Penelope.

who puts gordon and penelope in an episode together and doesn’t further the groundwork of their relationship

honestly

who does that

i wouldn’t have done that

if you’re not familiar with my biases and agendas by now, you should leave

The above is a bit tangential, but if you pare those elements out, what you have instead is an episode that cleaves almost exactly to what Tunnels of Time was, in the same way Hyperspeed does to Runaway. If Brains is no longer there to take the focus, then the focus necessarily falls on Gordon and Penelope. And, crucially, Gordon and Penelope vs. Madelaine and Francois LeMaire.

Here’s the thing with Gordon and Penelope vs Madelaine and Francois: Gordon is 100% the Madelaine and Penelope is 100% the Francois. And this episode should have been about these two couples echoing each other, and laying some serious groundwork for what a relationship between Gordon and Penny could be about.

Because one’s always going to find a reason to be in the collapsing ancient temple, and the other is always going to be the one running in after.

And the problem for me in talking about this episode is that I want to talk about the version that exists exclusively in my head. I want the episode where Penelope’s the one who’s chased LeMaire further into Atlantis towards the Solarkytheria (not BRAINS ffs), and Gordon and Madelaine are both left with no choice but to go after them, as the cautious, sensible better halves of these relationships. I want Penelope and LeMaire yelling at each other about exploration vs preservation, and Madelaine and Gordon in the background both trying to make it clear that they really need to leave.

As the episode is, it’s too far from what could’ve been to remap exactly onto Tunnels of Time, but if it had been patterned after it more closely, what I most would’ve wanted would’ve been a moment between Penelope and Francois, forced into FAB1 together in order to bail out, and her like, chewing him out for being so selfish and self-aggrandizing, and him suggesting that she had no moral obligation to follow him in, and that she must have had her own motivations, and maybe the pair of them aren’t so different after all.

And Gordon and Madelaine in TB4 right behind them, having a conversation of their own to the tune of “no offense, but your husband is a reckless asshole and I don’t know why you put up with this”. And her telling him why, and making it clear that when you love someone, you don’t really have a choice but to follow them when they need you. That’s the sort of thing that would really land with Gordon.

Gahhhh, I wish I had articulated all of this when it was still fresher in my head. It’s currently closing in on half past midnight and I need to be awake again in six hours (it’s fine), but all I know for sure right now is that these thoughts were much clearer in my head when they weren’t two years old. Anyway! now it is closing on 1AM, so I had better get to bed. Thanks for asking

[wolfcrunch]

32.

i didnt get a character or angst/fluff decision so i went with bakugou!! hope that’s alright!

Prompt #32 - What did I do?

read on AO3 - request a prompt and character(s) for me to write!

What did I do?

Crimson coloured eyes stared blankly upwards, tracing patterns into the clean, white tiles overhead. Silence rung in his ears, but thoughts and memories weight heavy on the young hero’s mind, the events of the previous two days playing on rewind.

What did I do?

He could still hear the cries for help, the yells of his friends, screaming at him to move. To do something. He could still taste smoke and blood, on the tip of his tongue despite it being cleaned off long ago. He could still feel his tattered costume sticking against his sweat-laden body, covered in soot and dirt and all sorts of debris.

What did I do?

He remembered he had been facing a tenacious villain, one that he and Deku had been essentially ‘hunting down’ for the past three months, at least. A man who could outmaneuver even the proclaimed Wonder Duo, of all heroes.

Katsuki and Deku had only been heroes for around five years now - and in all of that time, they had not yet come across a villain who could make them chase tail for more than a week, the League excused.

All except the man they had come to know as 'Torrent’.

A dangerous man who seemed set on stirring up trouble, the heroes who had faced him weren’t entirely sure on what his quirk really do, except it was some sort of extreme weather manipulation. He’d been shown to cause a vast arrangement of weather - from storms, to hail, to snow and even fire tornadoes.

Even with Katsuki and Deku working together - it was almost as if the other man had several quirks, with how quickly he could change the weather and make his escape.

They’d run into the villain again, and Katsuki had decided enough was enough. The man in question had sent a blast of dangerous high wind through some apartment buildings, leaving the buildings almost destroyed and civilians in need of saving. Their job had been to get the civilians out safely first…

But then Katsuki had seen him. And his vision went red.

He’d screamed at Deku to start evacuating victims before blasting off after the escaping man, his explosion quirk boosting him along. Deku had tried to stop him– but there were people in need, and he couldn’t just abandon them.

Not when the buildings looked as if they were going to fall.

Despite having grown and mellowed out…Katsuki still had a bit of a short fuse. And here, it had decided to come and bite him on the ass.

He didn’t know how the guy’s quirk worked, let alone a way to possibly take him down and immobilize him long enough for Deku to catch up…he hadn’t been thinking straight, he could admit that much. He could admit defeat.

Failure.

So…what did I do?

Nothing…absolutely fucking nothing.

Katsuki had been no match for the villain, not even with his rage-filled mind that made him act before thinking. The explosive hero prided himself on his reaction times, on his prowess, on his fighting experience, years of that skill honed into his very bones.

But it still had been no match, not alone.

Torrent had toyed with him. He’d batted the hero around as if the two were playing cat and mouse - as if Katsuki was the prey, in this scenario.

Torrent knew Katsuki - the hero, Ground Zero - was no match for him, and it had only served to make Katsuki angrier as the minutes ticked by. As Katsuki got worn down, expending all of his energy into firing off blasts…he’d been so angry, that he hadn’t accounted much for his surrounding area.

Of course, collateral damage was usually never an issue…his PR would chew him out for it, but it was something he could pay off…

…but the lives at stake…

Katsuki’s calloused hands gripped at the light, scratchy blanket laid over his body, an all-too-unfamiliar burning beginning to build up in his eyes. He hated, hated, hated this. This feeling….

Complete, utter failure.

Katsuki could do nothing. Nothing as Torrent sent a huge gust of wind clashing into him, making the hero crash into an unstable building. Nothing as a shrill cry sounded from within its walls, breaking Katsuki out of the rage-filled cloud overhanging every nerve.

He did nothing as Torrent sneered at the sounds emitting from the once-thought abandoned building, calling out something Katsuki couldn’t hear over the roar of vicious winds.

Nothing as heroes arrived on the scene– Red Riot, Pinky, Uravity, Deku– screaming out for the explosive hero to move.

To save…

Katsuki couldn’t move…and two children, eight and three, had perished as Torrent brought the building down upon him. Katsuki hadn’t known…but that didn’t make the weight in his chest any less heavy.

He’d been lucky that he was alive - Deku having jumped into the fray and chasing Torrent off as Red Riot, Pinky and Uravity dug him and the children out, as the nurses said once he awoke.

According to them, no one had been to visit yet, even though Katsuki hadn’t been too critically injured, surprisingly…

Not that he deserved their company.

Ground Zero was suppose to be a hero, yet two children lost their lives because of him. A couple was never going to hug their children, see them grow up…he knew that all heroes lost someone at least once during their careers…

But this was all utterly Katsuki’s fault, he knew. He was the reason that Japan had lost two lives that day.

He was the reason Torrent was still on the run. If only he had waited–

If only he hadn’t run in like a damn intern on his first patrol…those two kids might still be alive.

The blond scowled, lifting a hand to slowly run through his dirtied hair, wincing at the tiny shards of glass still stuck between its strands. He’d told the nurses to piss off after checking his vitals after awaking not a mere three hours ago…now he was kinda starting to regret that.

Ugh…the sooner I can get out…

Katsuki knew that to wallow in his own self-pity was…pathetic. He didn’t deserve to feel so sorry for himself. No, because those kids–

They had needed him in that moment. They had needed to be saved, by a hero.

And Katsuki had been still, sealing their fates.

He scowled to himself, before carefully propping himself up with his arms. The IV in his arm felt uncomfortable, and his eyes stung at the light coming in from the window. The sooner he got out, the sooner he could do something - he wouldn’t be very surprised if the parents tried to press charges because of their children.

He’d deserve it.

His body, aching, protested against the blond’s movements, but he ignored it to force one leg over the side of the bed, gritting his teeth at the harsh movement. The nurses would have his head if they saw him trying to get up.

But he couldn’t sit here and do nothing. He needed to make up–

“Kacchan!”

The blond gave an indignant squawk as a hand settled on his shoulders, before his brain clicked with the familiar name. “Deku, what the fuck?!”

“Shh, the nurses are gonna kick me out-”

“As they should, shitty nerd!” Katsuki’s raging words held no real bite to them, despite the way his red gaze pierced through the over. Deku at least had the decency to look sheepish. “How the hell did you get in here?” he lowered his voice, slightly.

His hero partner glanced at the door of the room, which he had carefully shut completely to make sure no one was peeking in before looking at the older man. “I….distracted a nurse and managed to sneak past?”

“Deku–”

“They weren’t gonna let us see you!” Izuku insisted, waving about his hands - one which held a plastic bag. “After the thing with Torrent, I got some stuff and came back to the waiting room. They didn’t give any word about you having woken up and I got worried-”

“I don’t want your stinking ass in my room!” Katsuki hissed. “And what do you mean we? What about all the civilians?!”

“They’re fine!!” Katsuki’s cause for his newest headache assured him. “I’ve already dealt with the paperwork and the press…well, most of it. Kirishima and some of the others are still in the waiting room for when you get released - your entire fight was on the news!”

“Fucking– Deku, you’re number fucking one, it’s your job to go out there and detain Torrent, ain’t it?!”

“Kacchan, I wasn’t going to risk going after him alone.”

Now Katsuki knew that Deku was stronger than him - three years together in U.A, and five as hero partners…he’d be stupid to not say that Deku had surpassed him in terms of strength - although when exactly that happened was muddled and forgotten…

Deku had always been stronger than him in moral, too. Even before inheriting One For All.

“Anyways…no one’s seen or heard from him in the two days you were out…I think for now, its fine to take a break,” Izuku then grinned, shaking the bag in his hand. “Anyways, I got some of your clothes from the agency. I don’t think anyone wants to see your ass when you finally get out of here.”

Katsuki paused, the words sinking in. He blurted out what was first to conjure into a sentence.

“What, my ass not good enough for the bunch of you freaks, huh?!”

“N-no, Kacchan!” Izuku couldn’t help but snort, shaking his head. “I think Kirishima would call it manly-”

The broad-shouldered hero got an angry shove at that, the injured one of the two fuming at him. “Eat shit and die, nerd!” he nearly screamed, causing Izuku to laugh louder.

“Come on Kacchan, it was a joke!”

“Yeah? Your whole career is gonna look like a fucking joke in a minute, asshole!”

Katsuki couldn’t help the smug grin that crossed his face as the door to his room was slammed open, two fuming nurses standing outside and setting their sights right on Deku, who looked up like a deer in headlights.

Not even the Number One hero could escape punishment by a couple of angry nurses set out to make sure their patients were comfortable, Katsuki supposed…good.

[lovelypieceofjade]

Long post

I’ll try to put a read more but I don’t know if it’ll work, just scroll pass if you don’t care.  This is a bit of writing I quickly did for a Zarya bio, which recalls one of her battles in the Siberian Front of the Second Omnic Crisis.  This is all headcanon, but I like to think it’s not too far from reality.

"Get down!"

That was the last thing she heard from her sergeant, when he tackled her to the ground.  She laid there, stunned, feeling his blood run down his body and soak her frozen uniform.  

"Sergeant! Corporal! Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, sergeant Kuznetsov is dead.  Help me up" Zarya said, tossing her dead leader's body aside.  Her squad looked at her, stained with the blood of their sergeant, and his body, already freezing on the ground of the trenches. One of them shook himself faster than the rest and took Zarya's hand, lifting her with a grunt.

"Looks like you're in command now, Corporal Zaryanova" he said as he crouched down with the sound of bullets zipping overhead.  

She took a moment to pick her rifle up from the ground, and another to assess the situation.  Her squad was 3 men down, communication jammed by Omnic interference, and they were soon out of ammo.  She didn't know the state of the rest of the trenches, but she imagined it was about as bad as here.  

Just as she was about to talk, their radios started all at once, interference making listening difficult. "... all squads retrea... next villa... rep..... all squads retreat to the next vill... lost..."

"Sounds like command got through" said Kristov, with a sigh of relief.  "Better follow orders, I don't want to stay here".

"Negative soldier, we are not moving an inch" Zarya interjected.  Every squad member looked at her, like she was some sort of crazed woman.  Why stay?  It would be disobeying orders, and would just end with everyone dead!

"The village behind us doesn't have any kind of defense, and the tin cans won't leave anything standing.  I won't let that happen!" At this, she started shooting her rifle over the trenches, killing a humanoid Omnic that was about to ambush them during their talk.  "We are in terrible condition, but so are they!  The cold is killing them slowly, and we are helping it, so I won't leave until every piece of scrap is dealt with!  And I won't leave Sergeant Kuznetsov's body here, he deserves better" she said, already feeling the cold slipping into her bones due to the frozen blood on her.  She looked at everyone's faces, some scared, some numb, some already grinning.  "I told you all why I joined, so if you think I'm going to run away because of some fat general telling me to, you better put a bullet in me right now and carry my carcass back, which no one here is strong enough for anyway".  At that, laughter emerged from everyone, and she looked with satisfaction as most of the fear washed away from their faces. "Mohammad, go fetch the last of the ammunition in the jeep, everyone cover fire with me!"

~

"'Some fat general'? I'm glad you think so highly of me, Corporal".  General Sokolov's smile was wide, but his tone left nothing to the imagination.  Zarya had crossed a line. "I said what I thought was needed to keep my men fighting, sir" she said, sitting upright in her chair before him, in his office.  The wall of trophies and the number of medals on his torso reminded her acutely that she was in deep waters, deeper than she ever had been.  The itching of her bandage on her forehead wasn't helping at all, and she fought savagely to not touch it.  Her helmet had been hit and exploded, the shrapnel giving her an X incision above her right eye.

"And what about the moment when you thought it was a good idea to charge the remaining Omnic force with your squad's jeep, crashing it, then removing the gravity gun from it and cause major damage to the village you disobeyed orders to protect?  Was it needed?"

"With all due respect sir, if I had let the tin ca-the Omnics march through said village, it would not need repairs from the gravity gun, but a bulldozer to wipe the rubble" she said, feeling a drop of sweat running down the back of her uniform.  She twitched her right arm and winced, the stitches on her shoulder tugging at her shirt.  

"Yes yes, what a save!  A small village filled with Ewenkis people, only needing hundreds of thousands of dollars from an already strung thin government!" He threw his arms in the air, as if preaching, then pointed his finger at her.  "I should say this to you in court martial!  You're a disgrace to the military, to Russia, and the world!  Even now you come to me with your pink hair, like just this isn't enough to have you thrown to the dogs!  You-"

"That is enough, general" said a voice at the door behind Zarya.  She jumped about just as much as the general at this, and turned to find none other than Katya Volskaya standing there, with 2 soldiers waiting out the door.  Zarya noted that they both had arm braciers with the Volskaya Industries logo on it, part of the regiment given to the company as part of their weapons deal.  "I will take it from here, why don't you have a walk, maybe this will help you cool down a bit".

Sokolov, still red after his tantrum, quickly got up and walked out, not daring to look Katya in the eyes.  She then briskly walked around the office table and sat down, looking at Zarya with intense eyes.  "You know the gravity gun was designed by my company, right?  A wonderful piece of warfare, but how you are able to handle it barehanded is beyond me.  The recoil from the Graviton surge is hard to bear even on a mounted jeep, yet your battle report says you got 3 GS's before the energy cells died".

Zarya was taken aback.  She was about to be eaten alive by her superior, and now she was recieving praise from someone who evidently had more power than a general?  "I'm sorry ma'am, but if you don't mind, I was less confused by someone screaming nonsense at me than you telling me about the specs of a weapon you designed".

"They told me you had a mouth, I like it!" Katya put her elbows on the table and crossed her fingers, never breaking eye contact, and continued: "You singlehandedly stopped a supposedly unstoppable march of Omnics, rallied 3 other squads to your rebellious efforts, saved at least one village and probably multiple towns behind it, carried your dead Sergeant's body on your back the whole time, and hailed as a hero by around 70 soldiers after 10 hours of grueling battle.  You're a hero, Corporal.  One not seen since Overwatch fell.  And I want you to keep being a hero".

At that, Zarya felt like someone struck her in the belly, emotions she didn't know could exist together bubbling up.  Joy, regret, pain, mourning, excitement, shame, curiosity, and hope sprang up all at once.  "I, uh, I just did what I could to stop further destruction ma'am"

"See?  You even have the attitude of an exemplary hero!  Maybe you don't know, but your story is spreading around the military like a wildfire, and soon it'll be out in the open.  By your actions, you set yourself up as the beacon of hope against Omnics, the example for the rest of your comrades!  People will want to talk to you, interview you, know you.  I want to help you navigate this land, and I think you need it".

Zarya didn't know what to do with all this, the information was overwhelming and her pain medicine didn't help.  She could only shake her head and mumble "I, I don't know..."

"You were a successful athlete before the war, I'm sure you know how hard it is to be in the spotlight" Katya said, pointing at the soldier.  "Trust me when I tell you, you need me.  And I need you.  We could stop the Omnic Crisis once and for all with enough publicity about you and enough morale for the troops".  She stood up, took a box out of the pocket of her coat, and put it in front of Zarya.  "A gift, as well as my private number.  Think and call me, we will make a great team".  At that, she took off, leaving Zarya alone in the room.  

After a moment, she opened the box with her left hand and first saw a paper with a number on it, which she pocketed, and under it found brand new Sergeant grades, as well as a nameplate for her uniform.

[musekicker]

Mark inviting Fenton to be his "arm candy" at a charity ball/gala. Fenton doesn't think its a good idea but - oh my! It would be so lovely to actually be out with somebody

Slightly different from the prompt, but this has the general idea.

The charity ball was not something Fenton was going to miss. And as Gizmoduck he had agreed to the auction that was set up to help fund a local food kitchen. It hadn’t even taken him a minute to agree to it. Any way he could help out after all.

For the duration of the ball Gizmoduck would keep company with whoever won the auction. Something Fenton was sure he could do without a problem, who ever won. Even if Fenton wasn’t use to big events like this, but for charity he would certainly try.

When he had arrived at the ball they had been in the middle of setting up. But what he saw was shaping up to be looking elegant and lovely. He was curious to see what the grand ball room would look like once finished being decorated and with the hum of a ball going full swing.

But now first, the auction itself. It was set up in a room off to the side of the main ball so that the music and the sound of the ball goers would not interrupt the auction.

Fenton was not the only person to be putting their personal time up on auction. A couple of celebrities who hailed from Duckberg had gone up before him. The same celebrities put up personal memorabilia for auction as well.

It was all shaping up to bring in a lot for the food kitchen.

“For our next auction we have local Duckberg hero Gizmoduck. He has graciously offered up his personal time to accompany the winner for the duration of the party. Shall we start the bidding at a thousand?” the auctioneer started up, breaking Fenton out of his thoughts.

The auctioneer was doing his work at a lightning pace. Fenton could barely keep up with what was going on. One moment the price was at a thousand, which is where the auction price had started at. Suddenly it was a series of prices that Fenton barely heard or when he did, believed.

And then it another moment it was over.

“And we have our winner. Number seventy has won this auction. Please come up to the stage sir.” the auctioneer said.

Fenton searched the crowd, waiting to see just who had spent so much money to spend time with him. A movement from the back of the crowd and the winner was sauntering up the aisle.

Sheer disappointment and a tinge of disgust filled Fenton when he saw who it was.

It was Mark Beaks.

The tech giant ceo was dressed in a very obnoxious purple tuxedo and did not look like he belonged here at all. He also looked very pleased to see Fenton.

“Hey there, long time now see?” Mark said, sounding very chipper and not at all like someone who had used someone only mere months ago.

“No, no way.” Fenton hissed.

“Hey there, this is a charity thing. You’re not going to back out of a charity obligation are you?” Mark asked, a smirk on his beak.

Of course Mark would use his sense of integrity against him. People like Mark would do that without a second thought. And there was nothing Fenton could do about it. Nothing but keep to his promise.

“You know I’m not going to.” Fenton said, barely keeping the anger out of his voice.

“Good!”

Mark offered the crook of his elbow.

“Shall we then?” he said

Fenton had to resist the urge to slap Mark’s arm away. It took all his self control to prevent himself from doing so. Instead he sighed deeply before putting his arm into the offered arm.

“What are you even doing here?” Fenton asked as they left the auction room.

“Not my scene, I know. Too stuffy for my style. But there was some buzz online about you being here and when I found that out I had to come.” Mark explained.

“Of course you did.” Fenton sighed.

“I did what I had to. You weren’t exactly answering my social media messages.” Mark said.

“And I wonder why that could be.” Fenton said.

“Are you still mad about the whole using you for my own ends, basically taking away your control of self, and then trying to take the armor for myself, thing?” Mark asked.

“Yes!” Fenton cried.

“That was so months ago. Let it go.” Mark said.

Mark’s clear apathy at the situation just burned. Much more then the actual situation that happened.

“You’re not even the least bit sorry?” Fenton asked, glaring down at Mark from behind the visor.

“Actually I am sorry.” Mark said.

Fenton skidded to a halt.

“You… are?” Fenton said.

“Oh yeah. I mean I totally messed that up. Taking the suit was a terrible idea. Too dangerous and honestly now that I think about it, a ton of work. Who needs that? Besides you I guess. You make it look good.”

Fenton scowled.

“Right, of course. That’s what your sorry about. Not the actual issue. Should have known.” Fenton said.

Fenton pulled his arm away from Mark, pulling forward to put at least a tiny bit of distance between them. He may have to accompany him the entire night but he didn’t have to look at him the entire time.

The wheel of the Gizmoduck suit may have seemingly accidentally ran over Mark’s foot.

“Ow!” Mark cried.

“So sorry, these ornate tile floors can be so slippery.” Fenton commented, managing to keep a smirk off his beak.

Fifteen minutes into the ball and already Fenton was wishing time machines were indeed invented and that he had one. Anything to get through this night faster.

After the wheel thing Mark was more careful about keeping Fenton close, often putting an arm around Fenton like he was his date or something. And time to time Mark would lean against him and gaze up with an awestruck look. Like he didn’t believe this was happening himself.

Fenton wished this wasn’t happening. Last time they had met things were very tense and understandably Fenton had not come anywhere close to an emotion even resembling forgiveness since then.

It still burned so much, being used and lied to like that.

“You had me fooled you know.” Fenton said suddenly.

“Oh, about what?” Mark asked.

“That you might be a decent person.” Fenton said. “Instead of a total jerk.”

“I’m not that bad.” Mark said with a roll of his eyes.

Mark couldn’t see Fenton’s expression but he could only guess that Fenton had an not pleased look on his face.

“Really? You actually think that?” Fenton asked.

“I didn’t pay for you to try to push morals on me.” Mark said.

“You paid for time with me. You didn’t pay for me to not tell you the truth.” Fenton said.

Mark rolled his eyes.

“Fine, whatever. Just smile while I take a selfie of us would you?”

Two hours in and Fenton was growing more and more unimpressed with Mark.

After the earlier conversation, Mark had tried speaking with other ball goers, arm firmly around Gizmoduck as he started up conversations. Those conversations didn’t last too long though, the people he was talking to either not at all getting what Mark was saying or finding Mark to be an annoyance.

Mark’s arm was still ever present when attempting to talk to these people.

Then Mark started to talk more to Fenton.

Mark had spent most of the night talking about himself thus far. Not a shock to Fenton. Mark was always one to talk a lot about himself.

Though Mark talking about himself was better then he attempting to get to know Fenton.

“So… tell me more about yourself?”

That figured he wanted to know more now the moment Fenton had that thought.

“Which self are you referring to?” Fenton asked.

“I don’t know. Both I guess. I mean, I saw what you really looked like already. So that’s not a mystery.” Mark said.

“You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t want to share personal details about myself with you.” Fenton said.

Mark shrugged.

“Maybe I’m just trying to get details because I am actually trying to act like a caring person. Maybe some of your moralizing got through. Ever think of that?” Mark asked.

Fenton frowned. As much as he hated Mark, he did want to try and see the good in others. Or at least try to give them the chance to prove they had a good streak somewhere. Maybe somewhere really, really deep down. But there.

“I… guess that could be possible.” Fenton said.

“Oh anythings possible.” Mark said.

A buzz noise sounded from Fenton’s helmet. It took his a second to realize Gyro was contacting him via an built in communication device in the suit.

“Pardon me, I need to take this.” Fenton said. “It might be an emergency.”

“I feel you.” Mark said, drawing out his phone, possibly to check up on some apps as he had been doing time to time during the night.

Fenton willed the suit to pick up the call.

“Why are you with Mark Beaks!” Gyro’s shrill yell echoed in his helmet.

Fenton quickly turned down the volume.

“I’m sorry, but he won the charity auction an- wait, how do you know i’m with Mark Beaks?” Fenton asked.

“Because apparently there are pictures all over the net. And it’s going what do the kids call it… virus? Ugh, anyways, where was I… oh right. Not only are you in pictures with that hack, but you’re dating him?” Gyro shouted.

“What!?” Fenton cried, voice a little shriller then he intended. “I am not dating Mark Beaks! Why would you thi-”

Fenton froze, it all coming into place.

“I’ll call you back. I need to talk to someone.”

Fenton hung up the call before turning to Mark.

“You posted those pictures of us on the net and said we were dating!?” Fenton cried.

“Well yeah. I mean, we would make a great couple don’t you think?” Mark asked.

“I… I don’t even know where to begin with this! You-”

What Fenton had to say was interrupted by an announcement.

“Tonight we have raised so much for the Duckberg food kitchen. Thank you all for your kindness.”

Fenton glared at Mark a moment before turning to leave.

“Oh look, party is over. And so is my obligation to you. Now if you don’t mind I have to go. Possibly wash off the suit a bit.” Fenton said.

“Sure you don’t want to join me at the after party.” Mark asked.

“Balls don’t have after parties… I think. Either way, the answer is no.” Fenton replied.

For a split second Mark looked annoyed. But he quickly regained control of his emotions and shrugged.

“Cool, cool. Whatever. See you some other time soon then?” Mark asked.

Fenton was already gone, helicoptering away into the night and trying to figure out how he was going to deal with this possible fallout.

[aewenaiyana]

Rescue Chapter 1

Tashi limped into the dark saloon. Sickly-sweet smoke of lacchsa pipes wafted through the room; she almost gagged. She'd always hated the stuff, and didn't know exactly why she was here, except for the tip she'd gotten about a hero of the rebellion, Zaraj, snatched away in the night.

Trying to stifle her limp, she sauntered up to the bar and sat down on the bench. She rested her arms on the counter and gratefully stretched out her injured leg, which had still not recovered completely despite the medpatch and the best doctor she could afford. She suspected it had not healed correctly and it would never be the same again.

The bartender wobbled up to her. A man—unusual. She felt a sort of kinship with him just from his imperfect stride, an old injury perhaps.

"What'll it be?" he said. He had dark circles under his eyes as if he'd been up all night, and he wore a grease-stained gray shirt and an apron over his pants.

"I'll have a Noontide."

The man nodded and hobbled away to pour her a glass, then clunked it onto the bar so that a bit of foam spilled out onto the stained, pockmarked wood.

Tashi sipped the drink, and struggled not to make a face. She never drank alcohol if she could help it; she didn't know why people wanted to dull their senses, especially with something that tasted so foul. At least this was the lightest drink she could get, and so it would not make her drunk on one glass.

Tashi scrounged for a question to command the bartender's attention before it could be diverted. She had to know if Zaraj had been kidnapped; she'd been scouring the countryside for the past two days, working ever westward on the trail of vague rumors. She hoped it was not true, but there was no one else who felt that it warranted the time and effort. Just because he was a man.

If it had been her father, she would have gone to the ends of the earth for him. She had her father back, though wounded. Jet was safe at home, an infinite distance from this world. Zaraj had nothing, no one. He deserved a better fate. Now that things were settling down, the rebels were carving out a domain free of Lapparan, but it was still a bit chaotic. Zaraj had fallen through the cracks. But this district had to be one of justice—that was what they had fought for. Not least, for justice for slaves, like Zaraj. He did not deserve to be a slave; he should be hailed as a hero, just as much as the women. As much as Jet.

"So have you been working here long?" Tashi asked.

"Two years." He polished a glass. "I know what you're thinking. It's strange for a man to be in my position. But that's the good thing about being out here. A man has more opportunities, more freedom."

Some don't, she thought, though she figured that, as a man, he'd probably be sympathetic.

"How's business?"

He waved a hand. "Slow at the moment, as you can see."

A few scattered women sat at tables, smoking, drinking, conversing. There were several men as well, sitting next to women. The activity was quiet, muted, but then, it was early afternoon.

"How is it in general?"

"Good, for such a remote place. We're pretty much the last outpost before the untamed wilds."

She nodded. This dusty frontier town was her last stop; she had no idea where to go if she didn't find Zaraj here. How could one man disappear so thoroughly? It wasn't as if the west was densely populated.

"Do you have any…entertainment?"

"Oh, yes. Any bar worth anything has that. Just not at three-quarter in the afternoon. Come back at ten and five, that's when the action starts. We've got some real beauties, unlike the other bar in town."

She winced inwardly at his obvious marketing ploy. Women exploiting men was abhorrent, but they did it because they were in power; for men to have no shame about exploiting their own sex—she didn't understand it.

She leaned forward, setting her half-empty glass on the bar, and arranged her features into an expression she hoped looked eager. "What sort of entertainment?"

"Oh, all kinds. I tried to get the best possible, as far out as we are. It's why I'm the top of my game—even competing with women in the area."

She nodded. That explained what he was doing. You had to trample others down to get ahead…or at least, that was one way. Tashi had to believe that was not the only way to succeed.

The bartender leaned his arms on the bar, setting down his oilstained towel. "So, what's your pleasure? We have singers, dancers—this gorgeous creature called Masanai who does both. And then we have the more…private kind of entertainments. You can rent a booth in the back—" He waved a hand toward the door that led behind the stage—"and one of our dancers will strip for you. Then we have our upstairs rooms, where you can spend an hour with the company of your desire."

Revulsion cut through her; she fought to disguise it with mild interest. She had to admit, she had been quite sheltered—though she doubted she'd ever think this kind of thing was okay. "So, how much do these…encounters cost?"

He gave a laugh. "Encounter—that's a good one. You must come from the East."

"I did…when I was younger."

"Out here, we are a bit looser with our language, and our diversions."

That's not the only thing you're 'loose' with, she thought. In the east, they at least keep up the pretense of morality. Though even I got a hint of what went on behind closed doors, the degradation of some of those poor men, before we moved when I was ten….I thought it would be cleaner in the west. Less stifling and corrupt. In a way it is…in some quarters. Other places are filled with tyranny…still others with lawlessness. And then there are the decent, honorable people….I admit, there are still more in the west than the east, proportionately anyway.

"It costs more to bed a man than it does to just stay the night alone. In some inns it doesn't, but here—we've got top quality, and so we bill for it. Believe me, you won't be disappointed. A third of our business, in fact, comes from our beautiful young men who know how to please. They would be honored to entertain a lovely young woman such as yourself." He regarded her judiciously. "You look like you've been far, and you have some money to spare on a bit of relaxation."

She turned away so he wouldn't see the disgust on her face. Or the blush that warmed her cheeks. At least she was tan enough it was probably invisible…. She hated to think of herself in such a role, because even if she was the kind of person who went in for…that sort of entertainment, she could never imagine herself enjoying another's suffering. Because she knew this much: Most of the men were coerced. They did not choose this life. Even if they did, they were often beaten and wanted out, but their owners would not let them. If they were not slaves to start out with, they became slaves by default.

But she had to at least feign interest for the sake of Zaraj. She hated the thought he might have ended up here after all he'd suffered under Lapparan.

"Would it be possible to see the…merchandise?" She tried not to choke on the word. "I would like to see a selection of what I am purchasing before I make a decision."

"Of course, of course. Would you like to see them now, or order another drink first?"

She couldn't stomach another drink. And dreaded what would happen next. But she might as well get it over with. If she didn't find any trace of Zaraj here, she'd try out the other bar in town, and every other place until he was safe under her protection.

Beneath her long coat, her pistol hung heavy in her belt. She hoped she would not need it.

"I'd like to see the men," she said.

The bartender nodded and waved to a young woman, who came up and took his place at the bar.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Rancasal. You can call me Ran."

She followed him back behind the door, past booths draped with gaudy red and yellow curtains. At the very back was a private "group viewing room," as Ran called it, with a velvet-lined bench along the edge near the back door, and a small stage with a more elegant red curtain.

"Go ahead, take a seat." Ran motioned to the bench. "I'll go get the men. They're resting up right now, but they're always ready to entertain a guest." He smiled and disappeared behind the curtain.

Tashi sat down, leaning against the wooden wall. Her leg ached; she wished for one of those magnificent medpatches that Jet had given her. But even her tansa leaf had run out, and so she'd just have to make do for now til she could scavenge more.

Creaks and groans from the floorboards above. Pounding of bare feet, boots. Voices, some languid, some energetic, some fearful. Then footsteps down the stairway, and the curtain rustled. Ran emerged and walked down to stand on the floor between Tashi and the stage. A moment later, two women stepped out and stood on either side of the stage. They were clad in elegant black and silver uniforms, their hair bound back with a hint of glitter.

A line of men filed out and stood on stage, side by side. They had a lot less on than the women—just tight black and silver pants. Some were tall; some short; some heavier, some thin, but Ran was right—they were all especially good looking. They had handsome faces and toned, pleasantly-proportioned bodies, which were sheened with a faint shimmer, and they moved with an effortless grace.There was even a Fed among them; he had the typical golden-brown skin and black hair of his race. Most of them had pleasant expressions; few seemed to have scars. Perhaps this was one of the rare brothels that treated their men well. If so, it was probably due to the fact that a man ran it, one who seemed to have the well-being of his charges in mind, despite his focus on profit. Perhaps because of it—as men who were happy and willing would probably perform better.

Zaraj was not among them. It was a relief, in a way; if the men here were not slaves, then he would never have come to work for such a place. Hopefully he was not at the other inn either; she doubted that both bars in town treated their men well.

"Any of these interest you?" said Ran.

She let her eyes flit over the men who sold their bodies each night, and wondered how anyone could willingly accept such a job. Though there were few ways to make a living this far on the frontier…

Tashi stood, knowing that to just leave would arouse suspicion. And she had to be absolutely certain Zaraj was not here. "Mind if I get closer?"

"Go ahead."

Shoving down her trepidation, she strode across the red-carpeted floor and up the steps to the stage. She felt out of her depth pretending to be interested in buying a man’s body, something she had never imagined herself doing. But the men looked at her with mild interest, and she had to feign interest in return.

She gave the line of ten men a cursory glance, then strode over to a man in the middle. He was tall, blond, muscular, tanned. His blue eyes boldly appraised her. He gave a bow as she stopped in front of him, holding the position, but still meeting her eyes.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Masanai."

"How do they treat you here?" She spoke barely above a whisper, not wanting Ran to hear.

"How do they treat me, mistress? What matters is how I will treat you. I would be delighted to minister to your every need. I am well-versed in the art of pleasure; I can be what you want of me—rough, gentle, subservient, dominant…anything in between. There is nothing I will not do, no new thing I will not try. I am one of the more experienced men here, but if you want me to act virginal, that's within my repertoire." He flashed a brilliant smile.

She gave him a smile back, a bit disconcerted. He was a charming creature. She'd never been propositioned so boldly…but then, she'd never been in a brothel before. She was not tempted in the least—she would not give into immorality—but she couldn't help but feel an attraction toward him. Probably more disarming because she was not used to such situations. She forced herself to put on the invisible steel armor of professionalism. She didn't want to get sidetracked or worse, found out, because she got caught off-guard.

She walked past the blond man and stopped in front of the Fed. He was smaller, about Tashi’s height, and instead of exuding boldness and good humor, his eyes did not meet hers. He held his hands crossed in front of him, almost a protective gesture. Scars laced his chest.

"Do they mistreat you?"

"N-no, mistress," he said, in a barely audible voice. "They are very good to me here."

His response hardly reassured her. She whirled to face Ran. "Do you mistreat your men?"

"No, no, they're very good, very obedient. We only punish them as a last resort. Don't want to scar them up."

"What about this?" She touched the Fed's arm, near a hash of scar slashes. He flinched, but did not pull away.

"He came with those. It's a trademark of all Fed slaves—they don't exactly serve us willingly."

"He's a slave?"

"Yes. A very obedient one."

I'm sure. You wouldn't give him a chance.

"How many of the men are slaves?" She tried to keep the accusation out of her voice, though she caught a hint of it in her tone.

"Only about four or five of them. My bar attracts the best; I don't need to force them."

"Do you have any others?"

"Are none of these to your satisfaction?"

"I asked if you had any others."

He bowed. "Yes, my lady. We have others. But they are in training, and not ready for your perusal."

"I want to see them."

"I'm sorry, it's simply not our policy."

She dug in her inner coat pocket and brought out the pouch of silver coins. Not many remained. She dug out two of them, tossed them to Ran. He caught them in midair, then inspected them. "I don't think—"

She tossed him a heavier silver coin—an arkris, with the portrait of the Empress on it—and he nodded. He beckoned her back behind the curtain, down a hallway, and through a door to the outside. Sunlight blinded her for a moment. She caught a glimpse of her horse, Nadiras, tied in front of the bar. Then Ran led her back over gravelly ground, sparsely populated with grass, to a log shed. He opened the sturdy steel door, enclosing her in darkness. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust. Sunlight filtered through the cracks between the logs. In the center of the room was a bed. And face down on the bed, his arms and legs tied to the bedposts, lay a man. His back was raw from a recent whipping. He had shaggy, shoulder-length brown hair.

He opened his eyes, and even in the dimness she could see their brilliant blue.

Zaraj.

-

you can read the rest here.

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[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #174: Captives of the Collector!

August, 1978

I’ve been kind of excited to get to this issue. Because this was the very first Avengers cover I ever saw.

Back when I was a tiny bibliomancer, perhaps a novellamancer or even a pamphletmancer and I didn’t know what the Avengers even were.

My conception of superheroes was mostly X-Men, Spider-Man, and Batman. Because of cartoons.

But I had a few issues of Wizard magazine and there was a price guide in the back. Because this was back in the heady, foolish days where the speculation market was booming and comics seemed like a real investment.

And the price guide sometimes had tiny images of covers to keep it from being just a page of letters and numbers. And I saw this cover and thought ‘I have no idea what’s going on here.’ I think I might have thought it was a Justice League thing.

In fairness, Justice League would totally have people in tubes on the cover.

So I don’t really have anything to say about this cover because I just get drawn into a vortex of memory. But I do have to point and laugh at Hawkeye who tied a cable around himself so he could swing around like Flynn but it doesn’t seem like its long enough for him to touch ground.

Anyway, lets get down to business. To review. This comic.

Last time: the Avengers met the Guardians of the Galaxy and agreed to help them with a time traveling cyborg called Korvac. Unbeknownst to anyone, Korvac married a supermodel and settled down in Forest Hills to pursue his dream job of taking over all of existence.

Meanwhile, the Avengers have gotten into shit with the government and gotten their sweet governmental perks withdrawn because their security is shit and the asshole Peter Henry Gyrich won’t brook that nonsense.

They’ve also been dealing with a strange rash of disappearances that have taken all their members and tangentially related characters until all they were left with was Thor, Iron Man, the Wasp, and Hawkeye. With the Guardians’ help, they tracked the disappearances to a non-TARDIS orbiting Earth where they discovered... THE COLLECTOR!

And now... the rest of the story.

The Collector gloats that actually the Avengers finding his secret hiding spot is a good thing because now his collection is complete and he’s not at all worried that now they’re in punching range.

When Iron Man and Hawkeye point out that they’ve been through this song and dance before, the Collector menaces them with a shake weight.

Or apparently a Vandarian Power Wand.

Which apparently only has one charge because when Iron Man deflects the Vandarian power blast with his iron abs, Collector just doesn’t use it again.

In fact, when Thor comes at him (the Vandarian Power Wand having been explicitly stated to be able to harm even Thor), the Collector (or Acquisitor as Thor calls him) summons... THE ENERGY CREATURES OF ERDILE!

They look like lightning peeps with kirby krackle but they are in fact, probably not lightning.

When Thor hits one in the krackle with Mjolnir, Mjolnir becomes stuck and Thor becomes unable to release his grip on it.

According to the Collector, hitting the ENERGY CREATURE OF ERDILE in the tum caused Mjolnir to pass into another dimension where it is held fast by the dimensional interface. And if Thor manages to pull it free, IT WILL DESTROY THAT ANOTHER DIMENSION! DOOMING BILLIONS!

The Collector is fun, provided you have a tolerance for villains whose whole thing is pulling new powers out of their ass. Like a kid in a sandbox who keeps making up new powers so they never lose make believe. Or like Gilgamesh from Fate.

The Collector is more fun than Gilgamesh though. Get rekt, Archer.

Speaking of archers, Hawkeye hangs back to help Thor... with morale support? while Iron Man tries to tackle the Collector.... ‘s hologram.

FOOLED YOU

Such a troll.

He then attacks Iron Man with “a simple child’s toy” he acquired on the planet Dergos, where the children MOVE FASTER THAN THOUGHT ITSELF. Which is good because this simple child’s toy shoots dozens of missiles which burst open to release gas on impact.

Iron Man seals off his armor from the gas but it wasn’t a poison gas or sleep gas. It was a gas that locks up metal joints, imprisoning Iron Man in his own iron, man!

FOOLED YOU!

The Wasp tries to distract the Collector by giving him a chance to exposit. Its the best thing for distracting villains, usually.

The Wasp: “Why are you doing this? What do you want from us??”

The Collector: “Why, a complete set! A perfect collection -- of Earth’s mightiest heroes! The only such collection of its kind -- that will survive the time soon to come!”

And then - not distracted at all - he shoots Thor and Hawkeye with a positron cannon. Because by this point, Mjolnir had absorbed enough negative energy from the ENERGY CREATURE OF ERDILE that the sudden positive energy knocks him the hell out.

And the Collector was lying about the other dimension.

FOOLED YOU!!

The Wasp has had just about enough at this point so she shoots the Collector in his wrinkly mug.

So he unleashes a flying roomba that catches her in an electrified net.

And now that just leaves Hawkeye.

The Collector: “Now, archer -- you are the last Avenger... and the least!”

Hawkeye: “That depends on whether you’re judging by raw power or skill, Collector! I may not be much in the first category! On the other hand -- in the second... Hawkeye is the best there is!”

Disarmed with a clamp-arrow (because of course Hawkeye has a clamp-arrow. He has a bouquet arrow and an antigravity arrow, a clamp-arrow is baby stuff), the Collector flees deeper into his not-TARDIS and unleashes a not-pterodactyl at Hawkeye.

Hawkeye manages to dodge its SKAW swoop and then uses a bola to ground the lethal flying lizard.

Oh how the table is on the other foot now. Before, it was the Collector who was pulling out new toys to triumph over every challenge but now Hawkeye is doing the same with arrows.

I guess the third best superpower (after squirrels and ants) is just having an indeterminate amount of stuff on your person.

Or, I guess. Versatility? Fear not the man who can punch really well, fear the man that carries arrows for esoteric purposes.

The Collector is starting to warm up to Hawkeye. In his own way.

The Collector: “You are resourceful! Perhaps you are even worth collecting for yourself -- and not just for your membership in the Avengers!”

But he continues fleeing and Hawkeye continues chasing. And the Collector is like hey rude, I’m going to prepare something horrible for you so stop follow.

And he drops some incendiary capsules which burst into flame.

So Hawkeye grappling hook arrows over the fires.

The Collector is apparently really spry because he’s already way ahead of Hawkeye but on a lower platform.

So Hawkeye gets a wonderful idea and summons his inner Flynn.

He uses his sharpened croissant arrow to cut a cable so he can swing down in front of the Collector. And now he has him cornered on a catwalk. Not able to grab any new collectibles. And if he had something on his person that was better, he would have used it by now.

So I guess Hawkeye wins. Although this is only page 12. Weird.

The Collector gives Hawkeye one last chance to surrender. Which. I mean, he must have something up his sleeve, right? Perhaps some last collectible that he didn’t want to use because it was mint in box.

Hawkeye: “Sorry, pal, I don’t buy it! I figure our surprise entrance caught you more off-guard than you’ll admit! You lucked out against the others, with gadgets you had lying around... but if you had anything to throw at me now, you wouldn’t be standing there flapping your lips!”

The Collector: “Bah! One needs no gadgetry -- who commands POWER COSMIC! I am old beyond your ken, insect -- and it has been eons since I wielded the energies I possess! It is a chore at my age! I resent being forced into this!”

And he or she who possesses the power cosmic can do all kinds of things like breath in space, talk to squirrels or apparently cause the catwalk to warp and wrap around Hawkeye to crush him.

Hawkeye: (*Uhh* What an idiot I am! Why didn’t I try to free the others? Why did I try to take him alone? Now we’ve all had it! Why did I have to be... the last?)

But he fires off one last hail mary arrow on one last physics baffling bank shot.

Except I was lying. It wasn’t a hail mary arrow. It was a taser arrow. And it hits the Collector right in the shoulder, causing him to collapse in pain.

Victory: Hawkeye!

He goes to revive the other Avengers and free them from their comfortable tubes.

And now it looks like the Collector has some ‘splainin to do.

The Collector: “I -- ? Explain to such as you? Absurd!”

He then proceeds to explain his entire backstory and motivation.

Because. Villains CANNOT resist. Exposition.

He explains that he is one of the Elders of the Universe. Extremely old people that have obsession based immortality. Basically, as long as they’re obsessed over their one thing, they’ll stay alive to do that one thing. Like the Grandmaster and his games. Or the Collector and his collecting.

Although much of the nuance of the Extremely Old People of the Universe is something we learn later.

The Collector explains that although his brother roamed in search of games, he only wanted to study the simple creatures of the universe. I guess he started off as more of a the Zookeeper or the Botanist than a hoarding the Collector.

But the Collector also had the gift of prophecy and he foresaw the rise of Thanos, a power that would rival the Elders and threaten universal death.

Concerned over the fates of the primitive creatures he loved so much but afraid of challenging Thanos, the Collector set out to preserve them. Gathering samples. Collecting, basically.

But to his surprise, Thanos was destroyed. Turned into stone by Adam Warlock.

The Collector might have stopped collecting then (which would have killed him, as losing your obsession can make an Elder just drop dead) but he foresaw the coming of another, even more dangerous power.

And this time, he chose to interfere.

Annnnnnnnnnnnd that brings us back to Forest Hills where Carina is confessing to Korvac that she was to betray him but couldn’t bring herself to.

She confesses that her father sent her to spy on him and that he is a prophet who foresaw that Korvac would be cruising for a date at a fashion show.

Korvac is peeved.

Not that Carina was sent to spy on him, it doesn’t seem.

Korvac: “If he is a prophet, can he not see that this troubled planet is destined to find peace only under my proprietorship! Nothing... no one can be allowed to interfere!”

And even as Carina begs him not to, Korvac finds the Collector’s hidden not-TARDIS in orbit and reaches towards it crackling with energies.

Back on the Not-TARDIS, the Avengers are still quizzing the Collector.

Iron Man: “-- So you were playing a sort of galactic Noah, huh? Preserving us helpless ‘lower lifeforms’ from a horrible fate!”

Indeed. But the Collector feared that just preserving the creatures he’s so fascinated by won’t be enough.

This newest enemy might cause a war among the great powers of the cosmos (your Odins, your Zeuses, your Mephistos, your Eternitys. Those guys) in his attempt to achieve universal sovereignty. And such a war could obliterate all reality.

Which is why this time, he interfered. He sent his daughter to spy on the enemy in hopes of finding a weakness.

Iron Man: “You sacrificed your daughter?”

The Collector: “Perhaps... and it seems she now returns the favor!”

But before the Collector can reveal the name of the enemy (Korvac), a bolt of energy strikes him from out of the blue, disintegrating the Avengers’ old foe.

RIP the Collector. You were one of the greats.

The Avengers are horrified that the unnamed enemy (Korvac) so easily struck down the Collector, just when he was about to reveal the enemy’s identity.

Iron Man: “And right before our eyes -- as if to show us how insignificant we are! Fleas compared to a being -- who can kill a god!”

And the issue ends back in Forest Hills, with Korvac telling a crying Carina that she is now an orphan.

Because he just killed her dad.

So here we are on issue #174 of the Korvac Saga which started in issue #167. For the first time, the Avengers are actually aware of the nature of the threat. They heard from the Guardians that Korvac was up to something but his machinations are so subtle and so above the Avengers, they likely never would have found out until it was too late if it hadn’t been for the Collector.

Although Korvac is the big overarching threat of this saga, the plot has been driven by the Collector reacting to it, rather than Korvac himself.

And that’s interesting to me.

The Collector goes back to issue #28 of the Avengers so he’s about as classic an Avengers foe as you can get. And this saga is kind of his story too.

Its backloaded into this issue because mystery. But we learn so much about the Collector here. A little about his origin, about his secret powers, that he has a daughter, and his motivation.

And considering what a nerd he’s been, ranting about his perfect collection of Avengers (was collecting complete runs as much of a thing back then?), he has a surprisingly sympathetic motivation.

Its even a little bit of a retcon given how he’s acted before. But as of this story, all he wanted was to preserve the things he loved. And that included the Avengers with all their daring and adventure and melodrama.

Although, its kind of hard to ignore how much the Collector was just worfed. He was never a powerhouse but as I said, he is a classic Avengers villain from their third year in print.

And he got new, never mentioned powers in this issue. THE POWER COSMIC. The same juice that makes Silver Surfer and Galactus so peppy.

With little effort, Korvac killed him from afar. How scary he must be to manage that. Even when the Collector saw it coming literal miles away.

Oh, speaking of retcons. It is interesting to me to trace the Collector going back and forth from fantasy to sci-fi.

In his first appearance, he used flying carpets, giant summoning beans, potions, and a catapult. At the end of that appearance, he used a time machine though.

In his second appearance in Avengers #51, he has a spaceship and he uses aliens and robots to fight the Avengers.

In Avengers #119, he strikes during Halloween and uses the legendary coats of Hercules, the birthstones of the half-mythical Vultures of Nepenthe, and two rocks that summon infinite bats.

And now in this issue, he has a not-TARDIS that hides in another dimension and uses power wands, energy beings, a child’s missile launcher, and a positron cannon. Plus he reveals his sci-fi origin as one of the oldest beings in the universe.

I don’t think this means anything but its interesting. I think the Collector is more solidly on the sci-fi side of things going forward but its interesting to see his inspiration sine wave like this.

Next time: the Korvac Saga starts to wind to a close. The Avengers now know there’s a mysterious enemy who threatens all of reality. What do?

There might be a delay in new posts. I’m taking a trip to the cold lands this week and I don’t think I’ll be able to get two more posts done before I have to leave.

Use that time to not google ahead for spoilers. Also, maybe follow @essential-avengers. That would be cool of you.

[hellyeahheroes]

Secret Empire: Top Ten DUMBEST Moments

As far as events go, Secret Empire is probably one of the worst. And considering both Civil Wars, Ultimatum, Amazons’ Attack and Countdown are events, that bar has been set pretty low. So as it finally comes to an end, seven months too late, let us showcase some of the worst decisions made during the creation of this story. They made it into such colossal trainwreck.

Honorable Mention: Dress Like a Nazi To Work Day

Out of all moronic decisions in this event, this was the one that irks me the most because it slipped into real life. Marvel tried to get their retailers to not only dress in Hydra shirts the day the book premieres but also dress their entire store in Hydra symbols. At least one store owner told them they hire LGBTQ and Jewish people and will be dropping Marvel. Hard to blame that person. Who in their right mind tells people selling his product to dress like a Nazi?! And don’t tell me the old “Hydra isn't Nazis” crap. First of all, even if they’re not, they’re still a fascist death cult that had absolutely no moral qualms about working with the Nazis during World War II, copying from their style and being effectively taken over by remnants of Nazi Germany multiple times. At this point, it’s splitting hair. And two, Marvel, you had Steve Rogers say Hail Hydrand a whole year before. Since then you were constantly trying to tell people Hydra isn’t a Nazi organization and NOBODY BOUGHT IT! At this point, you should have looked at the “Hydra Takeover” idea and realize it might backfire. That this wasn’t recalled but went through only proves that Marvel’s head is so deep up its very ass they no longer see the reality.

Number Ten: Captain America Walking Out Of Himself and Standing Nearby

It is undeniable that Marvel did horrible damage to Captain America in this story, basically twisting the guy into everything he wasn’t. I was honestly afraid how, if ever, they manage to fix the character. But I was not expecting them to pull out the good, old-fashioned chickening out by having an identical copy of the character before he was ruined appear to take over. While seeing real Captain America beat the shit out of Captain Nazi is really cathartic, one cannot forget it came to be through rather...ridiculous means.

Number Nine: Tony Stark

Okay, this one is simple. Tony Stark is in this story. Despite being in a coma. Tony Stark holographic A.I. from Brian Bendis’ Invincible Iron Man is filling in for him. Only here he parades around in Tony’s old armor all the time without anyone commenting on it, recalibrated his personality to be constantly drunk and at one point Steve Rogers tries to decapitate him, a hologram, talking some technobabble about how Hydra made it possible for Tony to die this way.

He’s just Tony Stark. He is Tony Stark because Spencer had scenes requiring Tony Stark to be there and instead of killing his darlings like a good writer, he just wrote clearly human Tony Stark and threw some half-assed explanations and lampshades. It’s silly and makes every scene with him impossible to take seriously.

Number Eight: All the Fucking Quislings!

This one is bad. And I mean, just simply bad. Okay, it’s multiple problems, not a singular one. But it makes my very insides turn at the thought. Nick Spencer asked how can he threw some moral ambiguity IN AN EVENT ABOUT HEROES FIGHTING LITERALLY NAZIS and the best idea he had was to have some random heroes join Hydra. I’m not talking here about those who were brainwashed, like Wanda and Vision, although that is a conversation to also be had by their fans about how often this treatment occurs. Although I wonder - if they are too powerful to let them roam freely, why even HAVE them in this event? It’s not like every superhero was there, currently, heroic Victor Von Doom could probably break Hydra at day one and he was nowhere to be seen.

No, the real problem is with the fact they made some heroes join Hydra willingly. Sometimes they tried to throw flimsy reasons in. Punisher joined to get his family back...even though in previous stories he refused the same offer from less evil people. I feel it’s kinda funny they did this with Frank, considering the man who more or less defined him, Chuck Dixon, has thrown in with real-life Nazis like Milo Yiannopolus. Meanwhile, Deadpool and Thor just go along with letting Nazis rule the States because....Steve Rogers said so and Steve Rogers is always right. That’s just a plain stupidity and total lack of compassion on their side. I’m sure don’t feel like buying any book starring them ever now.

But the worst one is, by far, the Hulk. Who also comes back to life for this event, only to smash for Hydra and immediately die.But that is not the worst part. The worst part is how they build up to it. By having Hydra Steve give Bruce Banner long speech over how Avengers and everyone mistreated him over the years and with Hydra he will finally be accepted for who he is. And Banner calls him a Nazi and tells to go fuck himself. And it is a very powerful moment, Bruce Banner symbolizes everyone disfranchised by the society being offered hand by Nazis and heroically rejecting it... Nah, turns out Rogers was talking to Hulk who felt like changing his catchphrase to Sig Heil. I don’t think Spencer even realized what message he sent by this one moment. He basically said that everyone who has been screwed over by the system secretly agrees with the Nazis, but are “too PC” or “too weak” to say it out loud. It’s stupid AND extremely insulting, two for the price of one.

Number Seven: BARF!

How to properly seed a classic Chekov’s Gunman and yet STILL make him feel like a Deus Ex Machina? Make him ridiculously fucking stupid, that’s how!

Enter Barf, a random Inhuman with the power to vomit up things he needs. He shows up in the first issue, is absent through the entire story only to reappear in Captain America #25 and vomit out a fragment of Cosmic Cube. Because why let people work for their victory and earn their happy ending when you can just have all their efforts blow in their faces and just have means of victory handled to them on a silver platter in the most blatant way possible! If Nick Spencer knew he’s going to write himself into a corner, couldn’t he simply change the plot to avoid it instead of setting up something so stupid?

Number Six: Thou Shalt Not Kill, Miles

After Civil War II we were left with a vision of the future where Miles Morales kills Captain America. Once Secret Empire rolled around and we saw Rogers go full Alt-Right on the country, many were hoping this will actually happen. And Miles, with a handful of friends, does join Black Widow in her efforts to off Captain Nazi. And she spends most of the series training them to be more like her....then talking how she doesn’t actually want them to be more like her and how her generation screwed things up....then taking them on the assassination day anyway only to lock Miles up to kill Rogers herself and when that fails, give up her life trying to stop their fight. Which, in the classic refrigerator fashion, pushes Miles hard enough to actually do this. Only to be given one of the most hollow, lazy-written speeches about how killing is wrong. It hits all the old, tired notes. “Heroes should be better than villains”. “If you kill him, you will be just like him!” (a reminder that “you” in this situation is a Black-Latino and “him” is A FUCKING NAZI FOR CHRIST”S SAKE...). “Natasha wouldn’t want this for you.” (she showed it in the strangest way).... It’s especially bad when you have a character who has a backstory of being trained to kill but rejecting those ways, like Nadia Van Dyne, delivering this speech. Despite her background and personality none of this sounds like her words. It reads like she was going through a checklist of tired cliches.

This is why I came to hate this Aesop that superheroes shouldn’t kill. Because nine times out of ten this isn’t done to actually be a piece of a character driven narrative. It’s done to give a bunch of excuses to let villain live when he deserves to die.

Also, that entire plot point dragged since the previous event, in the end, amounted to BUG FUCKING NOTHING!

Number Five: Who Cares About the Civilians, Right?

So okay, the day is saved, villains are defeated, Captain Nazi got his ass kicked by Steve Rogers and Kobik, a sentient cosmic cube, undoes all this damage. EXCEPT FOR FUCKING VEGAS, WHICH HYDRA LEVELED AND LEFT NOT SURVIVORS! Seriously, I don’t care about the explanations given. Someone should have asked her to do it. And no, some “leave it as a reminder” excuse doesn’t work, Kobik is mentally three years old, she isn’t some wise all-powerful being like Odin or the Stranger from whom we could buy this shit. This is pretty much done only so that Nick Spencer can claim he kept his promise to not undo everything by the cosmic cube. He didn’t undo EVERYTHING, that counts, right? It makes all the heroes look like morons and assholes. Even Z Fighters in Dragon Ball have enough decency to ask the dragon to resurrect all dead civilians when they undo everything after every arc. Marvel heroes, for all the “lessons” this even taught them, couldn’t be assed to do even that.

Number Four: Ultron the Centrist

I’ll be honest with you, Pymltron wearing “Kiss the Overlord” apron, forcing Avengers and Hydra to sit and roasting all of them was one of the best parts of the event. But then it also comes off as paying lip service to the “both sides are as bad” mentality that we saw being used by people of today to desperately try to equate alt-right and those opposing them in real life. It’s pretty much justifying this approach in this story and it doesn’t matter one saying that is a fusion of mentally unstable man and a genocidal robot - he never gets challenged on this position because, for all his talk otherwise on twitter, Nick Spencer apparently cannot think of a compelling argument against it. I guess he secretly agrees with him...

And it doesn’t help that while Ultron ends up aiding the good guys, he does say it’s because Hydra became too strong and might pose a threat to him. Sending a message that any outside powers that show support to those opposing Nazis, in reality, wants America’s destruction...

Number Three: Nazi Pandering

Do I really need to explain this one? The entire event does nothing but bends over to kiss Hydra, and by the extension, Nazi ass at every possible opportunity. They beat up all superheroes because the plot says so, while the narrator goes on and on about how NAZI STRONK! We’re told they were supposed to win the World War II and that Allies “cheated” by rewriting reality...but for some reason let the Holocaust in?! Their rule is shown as being the strongest, which is water to the mill of real-life Nazis as their philosophy is based on “might makes right” and they beat up pretty much everyone, even Wakanda. Every victory heroes have against them must be immediately undermined by giving Nazis another win for consolidation. And while the heroes win at the end, this comes after several issues portraying them as absolutely pathetic losers who didn’t really earn their happy ending but it was handed to them by a random inhuman and Deus Ex Machina device. Which brings us to the next point...

Number Two: Cosmic Cubes

All the dumb shit going in this event can be tracked back to Cosmic Cube, be it as Kobik or the shards. She causes Crazy Steve to emerge, launching this story. And she fixes this mess at the end. Shards of Cosmic Cube serve as a distraction to put both good and bad guys on a wild goose chase because Spencer couldn’t think of any actually interesting plotline for this event. All dumb shit evil Steve pulls out can be explained by them. When it’s time for heroes to win, Barf vomits out a shard. And It undermines everything. A story that entirely revolves around this crap doesn’t have any time to actually show things it’s talking about. Maybe instead of running after Dragon Balls, more time should be developed to show how lack of trust and resentments between the good guys gets in the way? You know, something the narration keeps talking on and on and on but never is reflected in the book? Or show more of them acting like an actual resistance would? Worse, thanks to them heroes no longer win because they’re heroic but because they’ve been handed the I Win Button. Any easy win of the villains can be explained by them holding the Fuck You That’s Why Button. Making you wonder why even care if everybody wins only by writer’s fiat?

Number One: Bown Down To the Gary Stu

Most of the problems in this entire story can really boil down to just this. Steve Rogers is a gary stu. He wins because Nick Spencer wants to show how cool and badass he is. His plans always go without a hitch and he never has to adapt or improvise, under him, Hydra wrecks everyone's shit, even if he loses he still wins and in the end, the only man allowed to beat him is...another Steve Rogers. All other problems in the story can be traced back to Spencer’s desperate need to make him look strong. And believe me, he tried soo damn hard. Up to have him go full Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Four Madara Uchicha with Cosmic Cube Dojustsu on everyone’s ass at the finale. I don’t think we’d see a guy being shoved down our throats so hard if Roman Reigns joined Ultramarines! This is where the book truly falls. Nick Spencer could not let go of his fanboyism over the character and it twisted everything he supposedly wanted to say into a parody of itself, often sending the exact opposite message to accommodate the need to make evil Steve Rogers look good.

So, these are ten dumbest moments in the series. As far as events go, this was one of the worst. It looks like it might have ruined Nick Spencer’s career at Marvel and maybe in general, and will probably make it very hard to look at certain characters for years to come. The only good thing you could say is that it finally ended.

Fuck this book.

- Admin

[mab-hatter]

Little Soldier Boy - Part 1

I have been writing this for AGES, (both due to procrastination, and just general life being a pain in the butt and getting in the way), but I've finally finished it and can share it with you guys. 

This is a meta that in its simplest form is comparing the two fictional worlds of Star Wars, specifically the Sequel Trilogy and Avatar The Last Airbender. And Yes, there is a reason it is first and foremost tagged as 'reylo'. So, obviously, there are going to be MAJOR spoilers for the entirety of Avatar The Last Airbender (Atla), as well as a few spoilers for its sequel The Legend of Korra (LoK), and I recommend you go watch both if you haven't already, especially the former. There are also obvious spoilers for Star Wars episode VII - The Force Awakens, (though I don't know why you'd be on this tag if you haven't watched it) as well as some potential spoilers for Star Wars episode VIII - The Last Jedi, and even some Clone Wars call backs. Anyways this is going to be extremely long, so you have been pre-warned. Also have fun.

There is no way I could completely sum up Avatar the Last Airbender or Atla in just a short overview. It's got too many variables and complexities for that. It would truly be a dishonour to try without showing you the actual show or telling you to go watch it yourselves. Simply put, Atla is a hero and heroines story wrapped up with redemption arcs and great villains. The main hero is a boy called Aang who was trapped in a ball of ice for 100 years and in those 100 years a war was going on, and still is when the story starts. It's set in a fantasy world with four nations representing the four elements (Air, Water, Earth and Fire). In this Universe there are people called Benders who can control their respective element, bending being that universes form of "magic" (it has a lot to do with the Asian concepts of balance, chi/ki and flow of energy - bending styles being inspired by different martial art forms and variants of tai-chi). The Avatar (Aang) is meant to represent balance by controlling all four elements. The story is about Aang and his friends going on a journey, set in a time of war with the Fire Nation (against the Fire Lord - whose voiced by Mark Hamill) who are trying to conquer "the world" - Its most definitely a morality tale, and in many ways a Fairy Tale too, and has essential themes about growing up, forgiveness, hope, love, following ones destiny and most importantly finding balance in a world tipped towards chaos and destruction. (I SERIOUSLY recommend you  go watch it, no NOT the horrible movie...ugh I wouldn't put you guys through that on purpose, no I'm talking about the miracle Nickelodeon Cartoon series If you haven't seen it already).

Now what does this have to do with Star Wars, Kylo Ren, redemption and reylo? Well when I first went into the movie theatre and watched The Force Awakens I was also taken aback at the serious hints towards Kylo Ren (the marketed villain) getting a redemption arc. I know there are so many wonderful and intelligently beautiful meta pieces about the in-movie and literary reasons etc for Kylo to be redeemed. Though for me initially, from the very start of the movie when Kylo spared Finn, to his behaviours and seemingly complex history, right to the jaw dropping 'holy shit' moment I had when he took off that helmet (I literally said in cinema - "whoa, was not expecting that" to the raised eyebrow of my Dad (an eternal star wars fan since 1977)) and just how the story ran his character - it reminded me quite nostalgically and strongly of one of my favourite fictional characters. This character, in my opinion, has one of THE BEST redemption arcs in all of fiction and I don't say that lightly, I've read quite a few (there might be better, but this one is certainly my favourite). I introduce you to Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation...

and I'll explain why me comparing Kylo to Zuko was the initial reason I thought Kylo was going to get a seriously awesome redemption arc.

Redemption.

First off, I'm going to compare their characters, backgrounds and personalities as well as their character relationships; going off of their character-portraits in their respective first acts. Whilst also taking some developed-traits and differences that Zuko displays later in the series that also link to Kylo. This is NOT me saying that Kylo is Zuko 2.0 or something like that, they're their own characters and I wouldn't have it any other way, this is me saying why the ways in which Zuko and in general Atla paralleling TFA and SW have lead me to believe that there are going to be some truly amazing things coming out of this trilogy of movies (that hasn't already been noted from TFA).

Zuko and Kylo are BOTH born of royalty, they're both Princes.

Zuko is the son of the Fire Lord, a prince of the Fire Nation and connected to the royal family through powerful bloodlines (Sozin's bloodline from his father Ozai, - Sozin being the Fire Lord one who originally started the 100 year war, and Roku through his mother Ursa - Roku being the previous Avatar).

Then there's Kylo, and although Han may have been a scoundrel and an orphan whose bloodline had no significance and wasn't force sensitive at all, his mother Leia is force sensitive, a Skywalker... so powerful blood from Anakin, as well as Leia being a Princess of (a destroyed) Alderaan. Furthermore Kylo being the Grandson of Padme Amidala a Queen of Naboo, as well as J.J's commentary of Star Wars being a Fairy Tale and him saying 'this' about Kylo, which also tie the hypothetical 'princely' bow nicely on the Skywalker present...

"But when his mask comes off, you see Adam Driver, and he just looks like a sort of prince. And it makes no sense. Why would he need to wear a mask?" - J.J Abrams (TFA commentary)

They both hail from families who have a history of good and evil, light and dark. Through them, Zuko and Kylo were both born into luxury and comfort due to their blood and high standing in their in-universe societies. Zuko and Kylo were also both born into dysfunctional families, Kylo actually more than Zuko in some respects and Zuko more than Kylo in others.    

When Zuko was born, his father despised him and thought him a 'blight/shame', because he didn't think he was a Firebender (even though he was) and even threatened to kill him by throwing him over the walls of the palace (what the fackity fuck Ozai?). Which is a direct contrast to Han who was weary of Ben/Kylo BECAUSE he was so force sensitive and Han wasn't and didn't feel he could connect with Ben due to this (as indicated in one of the Aftermath books I believe). Though don't worry I'm not saying Han's like the Fire Lord - god no. I love Han, it's just a bit ironic - a reversed mirror. Anyway, when Zuko was very young the only person who truly LOVED Zuko (apart from his Uncle) was his mother Ursa, who disappeared for "reasons" (it's in the series, though let's just say it was Ozai's fault), leaving Zuko alone with his powerful and cruel father and his evilly manipulative and snake like sister Azula. This turned Zuko, a youthfully innocent and kind boy, to become emotionally broken and incredibly angry due to the mental and physical abuse he received at the hands of his family. (Ozai and Azula were both hugely cruel dickheads to Zuko when he was young, leaving him mocked and alienated without his mother). Zuko is a very passionate and emotional character, and at 13 years old in a meeting he spoke out against his father  and a fire nation General. They were talking about strategically sacrificing innocent lives as a diversion in an attack against one of the nations. Zuko was called to have a fire bending duel (Agni Kai), to fight for his honour at having outspoken against his father's Generals and also having an opposing opinion of compassion compared to cold calculation, but instead of the General it was his father Ozai who came to fight him... and when Zuko refused, his father called him a coward, BURNED HALF HIS FACE and then proceeded to banish him. Yes, ZUKO has a burn scar on one side of his face... A scar (now I'm going to get to that later). You could also parallel that to Kylo seemingly not wanting to become a Jedi, if you take into account that Leia had to 'SEND' him away instead of him wanting to go - and how in the end, this led to Ben going down a dark path to become Kylo Ren and left him potentially feeling more abandoned than ever.

Although Kylo having those 'special powers' and being a force sensitive prodigy in a sense is actually more akin to Azula who was a fire bending prodigy, whereas Zuko had to work to become good at the in-verse "magic", and due to his lack of natural talent in bending, he actually became a master swordsmen at a young age and could be considered a prodigy of the sword (whereas I believe because Kylo focused so much on using his power in the force, his skills with a Lightsaber suffered a bit - as he uses only Form 1, the most basic Lightsaber fighting form - even though he is a good fighter, though I believe his 'lack' of training has a lot to do with that too).

I think that says more about the difference in the in-verse magic though. I've always thought that the difference between Benders is a person is simply born as a bender or a non-bender, and if you are a bender you could be more naturally akin to learning something and picking it up with practise than say another bender, even though technically they could become just as powerful as each other. Whereas in the Force there are people who are just born with more power when it comes to the manipulation of the force and mastery of its many nuances. That on some level everyone is force-sensitive, but depending on who you are that sensitivity varies, whether that's due to their bloodline or the will of the Force itself.

Now not much is known about specific events or what Ben/Kylo was like as a child (yet), but from this quote given by Adam Driver you can deduce quite a lot.

“If you really imagine the stakes of him, in his youth, having all these special powers and having your parents kind of be absent during that process on their own agendas, [being] equally as selfish,” said the Girls star. “He’s lost in the world that he was raised in, and feels that he was kind of abandoned by the people that he’s closest with. He’s angry because of that, I think, and he has a huge grudge on his shoulders.”  

Which says a lot. Both Zuko and Kylo felt 'abandoned' by their respective families, they both felt 'pressure' to be the best because of the bloodlines they were born from and the responsibilities they were born into. Therefore, because of this in Act 1 for both they share this arrogance and feeling of superiority over others (Kylo playing cat and mouse with Finn, mocking Hux, "You know I can take whatever I want" etc/Zuko calling people a peasant, pronouncing his need to reclaim his honour above all else and being just a general bully to those he deemed beneath him).

I believe they both have a grudge on their shoulders for both their families, for the same reasons. Their feelings of abandonment - making them feel lost, alone and unloved. At the start of their stories (and for a lot of Zuko's character arc) they are both angry, EXTREMELY SO.  Angry at the unjustness and unfairness of the world they've been born into, angry at the people they're supposed to be closest too for making them feel so alone and unwanted, and angry at themselves. I think that's something a lot of people misunderstood initially about Zuko, and some still do not understand about Kylo. They may lash out verbally and physically at the people and world around them, but really (though there are exceptions) they're not usually angry at what's around them or the people they meet, they're angry and frustrated at themselves. I saw that in Kylo, because I saw the exact same thing in Zuko.

They both actually use this anger to fuel their own power. Kylo uses his rage to fuel his power over the dark-side, and Zuko uses his anger and fury to make his bending more powerful and to produce fire more potent and additionally dangerous.

Both are desperate to belong somewhere, after feeling so lost for so long; making them extremely impatient and short tempered. Kylo wants to find that in the darkness, where he believes his Grandfather found belonging and a purpose, found strength. 'Supreme Leader is wise' he said, though I think he's trying to convince himself more than anything; a mantra that comes out of his lips that aren't actually his words, but someone else's falsities and fabrications, a fraying rope he's desperately clinging to even though his feet are literally inches away from the truth. He thought that being with Snoke and the First Order was the best place to be, that Snoke offered him a place at his side when everyone else left him behind...even Luke most likely (waiting for TLJ to give more details on their past and relationship, though I have a feeling what happened may have been Luke creating his own self-fulfilling prophecy). In the Aftermath books and Bloodline there are hints that Snoke has been targeting, grooming and manipulating Ben to come and be his puppet  before he was even born; which is extremely unsettling.

Excerpt 1: Luke. She reaches for him but doesn’t find him. The dark, now lit with stars. One by one, like eyes opening. Comforting at first, then sinister as she worries. Who is out there, who is watching us? Hands reach for her, hands of shadow, lifting her up, reaching for her throat, her wrists, her stomach - Inside, the child kicks. She feels her baby turning inside, right-side, up and down, struggling to find his bearings, trying so hard to find his way free of her. It’s not time, she thinks. Just a little longer. Leia.

Luke, she wants to cry out. But her words don’t come. Her mouth is sealed, a hand pressed over it. One by one, stars go dark again, winking out of existence as if by a hand slowly closing over them -

Leia! She gasps and wakes. Han. It’s just Han. He’s by her side of the bed, rousing her, gently shaking her shoulder. The dream recedes like a wave going back to sea. Hi, she says, her mouth tacky, her eyes full of sleep. Her middle twists too - it’s not the baby. It’s some unseen fear uncoiling. The remnants of the dream haunt her - but they break apart like a sand castle as she sits up and clears her head, doing as Luke taught her to do. Breathe in breathe out. Be mindful of the world, the galaxy, your place within it. Everything will be OK. The Force will be your guide. Excerpt 2: He is less a human shaped thing and more a pulsing, living band of light. Light that sometimes dims, that sometimes is thrust with a vein of darkness. She tells herself that it’s normal - Luke said to her, Leia, we all have that. He explained that the brighter the light, the darker the shadow. Right now, her son is upset, tumbling inside her as if he can’t get comfortable. His light, flickering with dark. She centres herself and concentrates. The walls of the room fall away. Everything is white and then it’s black. Then she’s in the calm, airless void. As Leia finds her peace, so does her son. He stops turning… Then he gets the hiccups. Hic.Hic.Hic. She sighs and it brings her out of it. But she laughs, too. Because the hiccups tickle her. They are like bubbles inside - a curious effervescence like nothing Leia ever felt before. My son is alive. The future is bright. … The baby turns inside her again, troubled by something she cannot feel and cannot yet understand.

Star Wars and Atla both have their "Big Bads"...

Obviously we don't have all three sequel movies yet, so I'm only going off of information said/shown and given in TFA and the canon TFA books about Snoke. To me the surface level of Snoke is him being, at least aesthetically, an Emperor 2.0 for the general audience. He's the giant hologram, the deformed baddie sitting above everyone on his 'throne' of command. It's to get them to think and recognise 'oh this guy's the Big Bad that's got to be defeated like the Emperor or the Fire Lord', and I think it was intentionally done to have this ancient evil giant hologram 'supreme leader' so the audience can essentially feel like it's Star Wars - to get them familiar with the franchise again. Although if you look a bit deeper, it's actually pretty weird... Why would they reveal the big bad in the first act? Both the Fire Lord and the Emperor were only physically introduced (not through hologram) to the audience in the third Act, like their character hype was seriously built up for the audience before the big reveal. With the Emperor having his giant Hologram moment during the 2nd Act/movie, and only once. Snoke is revealed in his 'giant hologram form' multiple times throughout the FIRST ACT of the story (no shadowy cloak or cleverly using camera angles to partially hide him - only lighting choices, and even then beams of light are mostly illuminating him from the back), and from rumours that there's going to be a physical life-size puppet of Snoke in TLJ it seems we're going to physically meet his character in the 2nd Act. Also although just like Palpatine and Ozai, Snoke is similar to them in terms of his snake like manipulation, grooming somebody whose very powerful into becoming their own personal puppet and wish to conquer and dominate their respective world/galaxy - Snoke is quite different. His personality, as one dimensional as it is in TFA, is not the fun and powerfully evil emperor of the original or prequel trilogy, or the cruelly brutal and mocking presence of the Fire Lord. Snoke is presented as this almost omniscient, crookedly "wise" and creepy father figure, who uses no physical violence as of yet, only his words and his use of a 'dark power' and the influence they have over others - especially to Kylo and even Hux (obviously this could change, but I have a feeling they wouldn't destroy a foundation they've already started and will instead build on the characteristics I mentioned).

^Snoke's full speech taken from the audio book of TFA to Hux and Kylo and reveals a lot about his character, ideals and motives as well as The First Orders and even Kylo's own knowledge and denial towards his inner conflict (his compassion).

Also, unlike the Emperor or Vader, Snoke isn't actually a Sith - as said by J.J and Pablo there are no Sith in TFA as all the Sith are supposed to be dead (thanks Anakin), which leads me to believe Snoke may be something far more ancient and far worse than a Sith (because why would they introduce a big bad that's less scary/powerful than previous villains?). This could lead into the theories that he's from the unknown regions, but its yet to be seen what his history is, apart from 'ancient evil'... (I'm not going to go into the 'Who is Snoke, potentially, theories' because I don't want to give myself more of a headache about it than I already have).

"No it was Snoke, he seduced our son to the dark side", is an interesting quote from Leia in TFA. Snoke has been manipulating and seducing Ben against his will to become his puppet for longer than the Emperor ever did with Anakin, and he succeeded because like the Emperor, Snoke was clever and wickedly patient. He exploited Ben's vulnerabilities (like a true child groomer), and used them to control him even though Ben at that time might not have been fully and or consciously aware of it.

Also the implied personal connotation of Leia knowing who Snoke is, most likely as a fellow political power since in Bloodline she has a huge role to play in galactic politics as a populist, and this means that Snoke parallels the Emperor in that way as a true puppet-master who has immense wealth (especially going off the TLJ Lego leaks that Snoke has a golden dressing gown - which is extremely humorous). As well as the potential spoilers of Snoke living in luxury which would all fit to this idea, and would explain how The First Order can afford all of the high-tech and dangerous "toys" they get to mess the galaxy up with. The fact that Snoke's character was revealed so early on, and that he has such strong ties to Kylo and his reasons for becoming an antagonist, is actually also a huge hint to Kylo's redemption. The Emperor and the Fire Lord didn't need to be revealed early, because they were just the big goal for the protagonists to defeat at the end of the story to complete their arcs and receive that happy ending (the proverbial dragons in the Fairy Tale being killed by the hero/heroine before winning the Princess/prince and having that 'they all lived happily ever after'). They didn't need to be revealed early on, because in the OT you had Darth Vader who was a faithful villain till the last moment of the third act, and in Atla you had Azula and her cronies for the second act and most of the third to carry the Villain title as Zuko went into his redemption. The fact that Snoke needs to be there, shows in itself that Snoke doesn't trust Kylo not to turn back to the light (confirmed by the fact he was given a 'test' to prove himself and that Snoke didn't complete his training), that without his presence he would most likely rejoin the 'good guys' and not be a self-sustaining Villain like Darth Vader or Azula. He's like a controlling parent, he has to be, because Kylo (unlike Vader or Azula) doesn't have clear motivations to have him act independently as a villain without Snoke's supervision (I mean he has a tracker on his belt - Snoke has SO much confidence in Kylo it seems -_-); and the fact that it conflicts him to the point of wanting to be 'free of this pain' show it wouldn't take much to push him one way or the other. Kylo's motives are a bit of a mystery to us apart from feeling 'abandoned' and wanting to be 'strong' and not 'weak like his father' (though I'm pretty sure there's more to it than that), or he does have clear motives but they're motivations that conflict between bad and good and we could say they do have some conflict with Snoke's plan; aka that entire thing about Hux saying,

"Careful Ren, that your personal interests not interfere with orders from Leader Snoke."

Which was about the map, which has connections to Luke and the first Jedi Temple...so we can assume a lot of his motivations have something to do with one or both of those things and assumedly whatever happened/Kylo did/Kylo learned/Kylo saw/Kylo ??? at Luke's temple (TLJ give me answers please). In essence neither is he truly good or truly evil (<- "there are no Sith in TFA")... which in my book makes him a beautifully crafted character and an interesting antagonist (at the moment), so much drama, like an ionic lattice of compelling story writing compared to the simple covalent character structure of other villains I can think of. (<- If you understood any of that, congrats).    

Anyway -  I don't really like Snoke's character as a villain, yet, because I feel like I need more to work with...But going off of what was said in the TFA novelisation (link above) about him always being there, watching the empire rise and fall, pulling strings, I can definitely say I hate him for what he did to Ben - what Snoke did to Ben is actually worse than what the Fire Lord did to Zuko, because for all the abuse Zuko received, the Fire Lord never really gave Zuko a reason to love him. Apart from Zuko's own sense of loyalty to his family, that he feels in his own naive thinking that, that is where he belongs - because his own morals and honour are important to him. Snoke not only makes Kylo turn away from his own family and turns that loyalty against them, but he nurtures it, grooms Kylo into feeling that what they're doing is morally justified. The fact that Kylo felt abandoned and lost was what Snoke wanted, and snapped Kylo right up into his proverbial jaws at the first chance he got - and Kylo let him, because he probably thought that nobody else cared. He'd convinced himself through Snoke's own 'offer' and manipulation that somebody actually cares about him, when in reality "Snoke is using" him and sees him only as another piece of clay to be moulded in order to attain his goals. Now will this deluded concept that Kylo has remain? Well in TFA it's already cracking. Like I said before he's trying to re-convince himself that what he's doing is right. And Kylo may be reckless, but like Zuko he isn't stupid - he's just lost, he doesn't know what's right or wrong anymore and that makes him feel SO conflicted. "I'm being torn apart...It's too late", he knows, god he knows, but just like Zuko in his reckless misguided naivety he thinks that by passing a test and achieving a goal all that conflict will go away - that he'll finally feel like he belongs.

The fact that Kylo actually shows such heavy signs of conflict in his first Act was astonishing to me, like he verbally pronounces it. For Zuko, who has a REDEMPTION ARC, there are practically no verbal queues to the audience from Zuko for a season and a half that heavily imply his redemption/inner-conflict. It's actually other characters like Iroh that say things such as,

"Your critical decision, what you did beneath that lake, it was in such conflict with your image of yourself that you are now at war within your own mind and body", - Iroh to Zuko after commits his first redemptive act towards the mid-point of the second season.

What I'm trying to say is that Zuko was actually less conflicted than Kylo at the start of their respective stories, which is amazing and really shines a light on the fact that the pacing for Kylo's redemption will be a lot faster/pushed forward more (which hopefully gives us more screen time of Kylo on the side of the 'good guys'/'neutral' depending on how they go about it- I can't wait for all the incoming snark, it'll be glorious).

We all know that the sequel trilogy (like the original and prequel) will be compromised of three movies/3 acts you might say. Atla is also compromised of three seasons (Three books) or 3 Acts and each act was crucial in Zuko's redemption, just as I'm sure the three act structure will be crucial to Kylo's. Let's get one thing straight, Zuko in the first season of Atla was a VILLAIN. He had goals that were conflicting with the Protagonists and he was one of their main antagonists during that time. Zuko had plenty, although not as many as Kylo, hints towards his redemption; but I'll get to that later. Obviously Star Wars will have to speed up Kylo's redemption a little more than Zuko's in Atla, that's just a given fact. A TV series of 20, 20 and 21 episodes with about a 20-25 minute run time per episode - in comparison to three movies with about a 2 hour run time each - can take it's time a bit and be a little more subtle. I'm not saying that Kylo's redemption can't be subtle, compelling and amazing; cause I have no doubt it will be. I'm just saying that for Kylo in his first act his hints are far less subtle than Zuko's, meaning the pacing's going to be run its course in a shorter time-frame.  

In Atla Zuko's turning point or where he redeemed himself is actually in act 3, but I think due to having less time Kylo's turning point will (quite naturally in the context) happen in the second Act/The Last Jedi. (Ach-To = Act 2 <- lmao). Although Zuko was actually supposed to have his turning point at the end of the 2nd season, but for some reason instead of it being his redemption it was turned into his test/rejection of a redemptive act/choice. (I'm not sure why the creators of Atla, Bryke (Bryan (Bryan Konietzko) and Mike (Michael Dante DiMartino)) decided to change this, but I guess it gave the story a few more twists and choice-encounters so whatever). Kylo may also have a rejection/a betrayal that he commits within TLJ too, just to show that characters redeeming themselves isn't usually a straight path from start to finish - and that characters do make mistakes and sometimes have a relapse in judgement, just as real life people do. At the very least I believe, there will come a point in TLJ where Kylo will have to make a choice...To redeem himself, or to be once again seduced by a false sense of belonging? We'll just have to wait for Christmas to find out I suppose (I'll go further into this idea later in the meta).                                      

Now both Zuko and Kylo have these 'goals' that they become obsessed with - and a 'test'. Zuko's goals are finding the Avatar and therefore restoring his honour so he can feel like he belongs. Kylo's goal is finding that map to the first Jedi temple - for both the Supreme leader and his own personal agenda. Although we still don't know what his agenda is, having something do with "I'll finish what you started" - aka whatever Anakin Started (the destruction of the Jedi? creating Balance? an extreme hatred of sand?????) but its either about Luke and or The last Jedi temple on Ach-To as I've said above - and not being tempted back to the light in order to prove to the Supreme leader and himself that he belongs somewhere.

Zuko's "test" is actually him rejecting the call to join the 'good guys' and he completes this test by betraying his Uncle and all his Uncle tried to teach him about doing good and finding oneself , by fighting the Avatar (there was this big coo with Azula and basically Zuko is pronounced to have killed Aang even though Aang was still alive...), and achieving his goal therefore returning his 'honour' and going back to his father and the Fire Nation.

Kylo's "test" was on that bridge, and although he didn't achieve his goal of getting the map (it's Rey's fault, he's just too recklessly curious about her, but I believe that he will get to Ach-To anyway and confront the protagonists; though that has stuff to do with Fore-Bonds and we're not talking about that at the moment), he did achieve his test albeit it almost accidently. Also his test and rejection to redeeming himself happen in the first Act, unlike Zuko's, also a sign at a faster paced redemption arc. He confronted his father, and killed him which was what the supreme leader wanted - but he did it out of rage and being pushed by the dark side. As J.J said, Kylo WAS being convinced to come back to the light, just as Iroh and even Katara started convincing Zuko to be on the side of good before he betrayed them. Zuko and Kylo both do these acts, and make these choices, believing that it will solve their conflicts and they'll finally feel like they belong - Zuko with his honour and Kylo in the dark side.

Guess what? It won't. For Zuko, even though he was accepted back by his father and reclaimed what he thought was his "honour", Zuko did not feel belonging. Redemption is not something that is deserved, or forced upon someone. Redemption is a decision that a person makes. Anybody can redeem themselves if they want to, but they have to want to, nobody else can decide that for them. They can influence* them but in the end it is their choice. This was the point in Atla that a lot of people realised Zuko's anger and frustration was directed at himself, and that what he had done didn't "magically" fix everything. In season 3 there's this episode where it becomes abundantly clear...

Zuko:

"For so long I thought that if my dad accepted me I'd be happy, I'm back home now, my dad talks to me, ha, he even thinks I'm a hero, everything should be perfect right? I should be happy now, but I'm not, I'm angrier than ever and I don't know why?!"      

Azula:

"It's a simple question you need to answer then, who are you angry at?"

Zuko (bold) - Azula, Mai and Ty Lee (normal):

"No one, I'm just angry"..."yeh who are you angry at Zuko?"..."everyone, I don't know" ..."is it dad?"..."No, no."..."is it your uncle" "No, no, no, NO"..."then who, who are you angry at?"..."answer the question Zuko"..."talk to us"..."who Zuko"..."who are you angry at"...

Zuko:

"I'm angry at myself.”

This. This is the result of Zuko completing his test and achieving his goal. He was being eaten up with guilt over what he did, and what he thinks he lost. It made him more feel more conflicted and lost than ever, he felt deep regret and emptiness at his own actions instead of the fulfilment and confidence in himself he thought he would feel if he proved himself. It is a false honour he had regained, because he thought honour was something that was given, not something that you proved through your own choices instead of others making them for you. And this pinnacle of conflict made him so angry and unbalanced that it lead to him making the ultimate choice - to want redemption.

"For so long, all I wanted was for you to love me. To accept me. I thought it was my honour that I wanted, but really, I was just trying to please you!" - Zuko confronting his father Ozai in Book 3.

Kylo is the same. Snoke implies to Kylo that by confronting his father, and in turn killing him and passing his 'test', he will become fully enveloped in the dark side, and become strong like his grandfather (Vader, not Anakin - it seems Kylo is seeing the truth as Obi-Wan said "The truth is often what we make of it" - his own interpretation/believing what he wants to believe. Seeing his own personal truth, not the objective truth when it comes to his grandfather, choosing to ignore how he came back to the light - as I believe he knew of Anakin's story, but Snoke twisted it for his own purposes). Snoke will then 'trust' him enough to "complete his training" and to Kylo this means that he will no longer be lost and unwanted. He will FINALLY belong. Of course I think that Snoke was lying, and 'using' Kylo by wanting to make him feel more conflicted in both the light and the dark as Snoke wants Kylo to be the epitome of both - as he believes that will be MORE powerful (not a Sith, not a traditional Jedi, something more), but will also make him easier to manipulate just like Palpatine did with Anakin. Kylo deep down knows he's being manipulated, he knows he's being used, and he WAS being convinced to go back. I believe he feels he, like Zuko, has no choice. That "it's too late", and he's done too much. He thinks he knows what he has to do to belong, and it's his 'addiction' to this idea of proving himself, of not being conflicted and finally being accepted that overrides his 'pull to the light' in this moment. They're addicted and obsessed with this idea of being accepted by proving themselves. Zuko is described as such in his first act...

'So that's why he's so obsessed, capturing the Avatar is the only chance he has of things returning to normal' - A random Fire Nation soldier talking to Iroh about Zuko.

That says a lot about Zuko's Act 1 and Act 2 mentality. "Only chance" and "normal", that also reflect Kylo's mentality too, because Kylo's never really felt normal; and that this is his "only" chance to feel welcomed. As even in the First Order, Kylo was different. A Knight of Ren, separated and segregated from the rest - treated as if he really is a freak/creature/monster, still as alienated as ever. Above not among, which at the same time can make them feel like they're beneath. Just like Zuko, who was alienated from his nation and his people by his father, banished, still different, never welcomed.

"I know what I have to do, but I don't know if I have the strength to do it" - this is his conflict warring within himself, it's almost palpable. He knows what he thinks he must do but he's starting to have doubts, and he hates himself for that. It directly parallels with this line from Zuko in season 1,

"Stop it Uncle. I have to do this".

Further solidifying the feeling of having little choice, that there are no other roads or paths that they feel are available to them that they think they can really go down. Kylo really is afraid he can't be as strong as his grandfather, not power no (I don't think he cares so much about that - he's more prideful then greedy), strength is something he seems to value and strives for just like Zuko strove to be strong and worthy in the eyes of his father. Kylo wants to be strong and worthy in the eyes of his grandfather, somebody he feels he can relate to. It's this fear and self-anger and frustration at himself that I think are the things that push him into committing this horrible patricidal deed. And let's be honest...what Han said was pretty emotional, but if you think of the years that Ben felt abandoned by his father (since it's pretty obvious Han hadn't seen his son since he was a boy/teen), you'd think Kylo wouldn't trust him over the 'wise' supreme leader who in Kylo's eyes actually gives a shit about him. Now we know that's not true, and Kylo realises it as well at THIS moment...

(Although this also links to Kylo feeling Leia's anguish at Han's death through a familial fore-bond I believe Kylo and Leia share, as well as Leia's general force sensitivity, Leia feeling Kylo's immediate regret and guilt which is reflected in Kylo's face and him reacting to what he's done). With that final swift hand touch (I know it was improvised, but Harrison Ford wouldn't have done it and J.J wouldn't have kept it in unless it was confluent to the scene and canon), and with evidence from the Junior novelisation of TFA Han 'forgives his son', because he loves him. In the script it says...

Kylo in his first act, after his 'test' of loyalty and proving thou self to the Big Bad, it does not make him stronger - it makes him WEAKER. Snoke lied to Kylo, in a way he betrayed him, someone Kylo thought had accepted him, and just like with Zuko it was not at ALL what he expected. Like Zuko he feels regret and shock and emptiness at his own act instead of the self-fulfilment and confidence that he was expecting, that Snoke promised him. He's 'horrified' at what he's done, just like Zuko felt horrified and guilty at himself for betraying his Uncle. I believe just as Zuko's act of betrayal to his uncle was the eventual thing that helped him make the choice to redeem himself, Kylo's act on this bridge and Han's sacrifice will be the deciding factor that will begin to turn Kylo back to the light, and redeem him as Ben Solo.

Kylo very literally does feel weaker by doing this, his act creates more conflict and confusion in him, which I actually think overshadows his usual rage with sadness and regret. Even with him being angry at Finn, and battering his wound to both stem the flow of blood from Chewie's Bowcaster wound though to also cause pain to fuel his anger, it's not enough anymore. With that diminishing rage his practised power/skilled control over the force diminishes significantly. He really does become weaker, because his reason/usual power that he draws on isn't as reliable as he thought. What I found incredibly interesting was that something very similar happens to Zuko. When Zuko decides to join the protagonists, because he's no longer hunting his goal to regain his honour, and has finally accepted himself for who he is, his usual rage and anger that powered his flames before when bending - it was gone. That well of power had been diminished, and it leaves Zuko being unable to bend/use his bending to anywhere near the level he could before. Zuko was also 'weakened'.  Now in order to become even more powerful than he was before, and regain his bending without drawing from anger (which btw is reminiscent of Sith teachings), Zuko has to go on a small journey of, I guess you could say 'enlightenment'... and I think Kylo's going to have a similar journey as even though drawing on the dark side and anger can be powerful, I think the sequel trilogy is introducing an idea of something even more powerful that Kylo will have to discover just like Zuko did - but I'll get to that later. Kylo must find a new reason, just as Zuko did.  

Going back to Kylo's decision on that bridge, Han forgives Kylo before his death, but he's also afraid for his son that he will never find his way home to the light. Zuko's Uncle Iroh, when betrayed by his nephew instantly forgave him because he loves him like his own son, but he was afraid for Zuko and that his nephew would never turn to who he truly was - a good person.

Zuko redeemed himself. He did it by himself, by making his own choices through realising his mistakes from his own feelings of regret. Kylo's guilt and increased feeling of conflict isn't going to go away any time soon, it's actually going to get worse. As Adam said in the Vanity Fair interview about TLJ...

"I feel like almost everyone is in that rehabilitation state. You know, I don't think that patricide is all that it's cracked up to be. Maybe that's where Kylo Ren is starting from," Driver teases. "His external scar is probably as much an internal one."

This quote sums up what I've been thinking about ever since I first started comparing Kylo to Zuko in 2015, and what direction Kylo's character would potentially be going. Kylo is trying to heal after what happened in TFA, but those internal scars aren't going to be healed with a bacta tank. Those scars of regret and sadness and conflicting emotions are going to eat Kylo alive in The Last Jedi, just like Zuko's started to just before he realised his mistakes and chose to change. I believe in TLJ we're going to see Kylo realise just like Zuko did that proving himself to be accepted by his 'master'/'abusive father figure' hasn't actually done anything. He doesn't feel stronger, he doesn't feel more confident or more powerful, he doesn't feel accepted. He doesn't feel like he belongs. Kylo's going to feel more isolated and lost than ever at the start of the Last Jedi. It's nothing like he thought it would be, and that's going to make him confused and angry. On the inside he'll be suffering, a self-inflicted wound that began with his parents, had started tearing open inside him with whatever happened at Luke's Jedi temple and with this act/refusal to be redeemed has instead of sealing the wound...he's torn it to reveal a chasm. What happens when a wounded animal feels cornered, wounded and alone like he must be feeling? They lash out. 

Kylo is not towards the end of his redemption arc just yet, actually he still needs to go through quite a bit before he concludes his arc. This is where the pacing of Atla and the sequel trilogy differ, with Zuko's test being in the second Act and his turning point in the third, Kylo's test was at the end of the first act and I believe his turning point with be somewhere in this second act. Zuko completed both the goal and the test as one and the same, well technically he completed his test - but since Aang was still alive his goal was still incomplete, though for a while nobody knew that. This makes Zuko incredibly anxious and worried, and he sends an assassin to finish the job (due to his sister being a political and manipulative snake, and using the knowledge that Aang may be alive as potential black-mail/insurance against Zuko for later). Kylo may have completed his test, but obviously as I've stated above he will not feel fulfilled and centred where he is. Kylo's failings I think are going to be heavily addressed at the start of TLJ/act 2, just like Zuko's were at the start of the second season of Atla (Ozai sends Azula to kill Zuko for  his failings - siblings am I right?) and I'm predicting there's going to be a very angry and disappointed scene with Kylo and Snoke at the start of TLJ. Kylo like Zuko is going to be kicking himself, his frustration and anger at himself are going to reach a fever pitch, it's not going to be pretty unfortunately. Combine that with Kylo's sadness, regret, guilt and increasing conflict and you have yourself one very misguided, confused and furious Kylo Ren. I believe he's going to be feeling all of this at the start of TLJ, and at some point that's where this is going to come into play...

The Broken mask. The fact that smokes coming up from it, means it's likely been destroyed by a Lightsaber, and I can't imagine why it'd be Rey or Luke (I don't think they'd specifically target his mask in a rage) - so it makes sense that Kylo's the one who shattered it. Now what I always found really interesting is that both Zuko and Kylo have personas. Now I'm not saying that the persona of Kylo Ren will be shattered with that mask, I think shattering the persona he's created will be a lot harder than simply destroying the mask. It will take time. Ben Solo became buried under the Dark side persona of Kylo Ren, using this persona to commit horrible acts on and to others (although the persona and the person underneath are one and the same, the person with the persona still feels a disconnect between the two if you get what I mean). Ben has Kylo Ren and Zuko has the Blue spirit.

They both use these personas to hide their own faces, to feel disconnected from who they truly are, so they feel morally justified in committing acts that aren't really very morally 'good' - similar to the 'split' between Anakin and Vader as personalities even though they're the same person.

Though Zuko never did anything nearly as bad with his as Kylo, you have to take it with a pinch of salt. Although Atla can get very dark at times and covers some really heavy themes and tackles really meaningful issues and philosophies it gets nowhere near as dark as Star Wars does, because that's just how they're both written - simple as saying Star Wars is just an incredibly dramatic space opera in comparison to Atla, not saying that Atla can't be dramatic because it can be, but nowhere near to the level that TFA is. (blowing up Hosnian Prime/5 planets with a giant red sun laser of death...). These personas represent the darkness in both these characters, and the outer-mask of strength they want the world to perceive them as and fear them for compared to the vulnerability within...or a "Vulnerable Warlord" - cheers official Star Wars Databank, loving the descriptive oxymoron, very Kylo... Zuko got rid of his mask just like Kylo's going to shatter his, after Zuko used it for the first time for good instead of bad, and it leaves him feeling so conflicted, yet wanting to keep using it cause it makes him feel powerful -  that Iroh tells him to let it go. That's where Zuko really starts to change, linking back to Iroh telling him he's at war within his own mind. That's why I believe that Kylo will in a way mirror this, trying to crush the conflict and feeling of weakness he feels after TFA by destroying the mask that he hides behind, and possibly feeling frustrated with what he couldn't do in the past, but with what he also must do in the present/future. (There are theories that the mask being a relic contains dark side energy/Sith energy, so by destroying it Kylo might actually be helping himself more than he knows). 

Uncle Iroh. Throughout Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko's journey and story through both the first and second Act's and towards the end of book 3 - he is always there by Zuko's side. He supports Zuko, helps him, guides him in a way that is unbiased and completely selfless. Iroh is funny and wise from experience and extremely humble with kindness. He is also strong willed but softly peaceful, and incredibly open-minded. It is shown through Atla that Iroh experienced much pain and a lot of heavy responsibility in his life, but he unlike Zuko at the start of his arc, had come to terms with who he is and his place in the 'cosmos', and had found soulful peace and a deep connection to the spirit world.

He dedicated himself to teaching Zuko, to being the family the banished prince never really had, and to be the friend Zuko needed in order to realise what was really important. He mentors Zuko about the world, using his experiences of its many different cultures and all his vast knowledge, trying to open Zuko's closed minded and prideful views of his own reality and the people in it; to show him its diversity and complexity. That people don't have to stay on one path, but have the freedom of will to choose their own. He is (especially for Zuko at the start of his arc) one of Zuko's main character foils, who is also an 'antagonist' though I've never really viewed him as an antagonist, and more as a neutral character. The voice of reason, the lighthouse in the storm. He is Zuko's true father figure, who has really been a Dad to Zuko more so than his actual father -

"After I leave here today, I'm going to free Uncle Iroh from his prison, and I'm going to beg for his forgiveness - he's the one who's been a real father to me." - Zuko during his big speech to Ozai in Book 3.

I believe not just Zuko, but everyone, should have an Uncle Iroh in their life...and his Tea jokes.  

Especially Kylo. This is one of the main ways in which Kylo and Zuko differ as characters at the moment. Kylo doesn't really have an Uncle Iroh in his life - instead he has Snoke, and as I've talked about that's not a good thing. He didn't have one when he felt abandoned by Leia and Han as a kid, he may have had one in Luke but whatever happened at that temple unraveled whatever had been built between the two it seems (I need answers Rian!)...and in the last 6 years in the timeline since he joined the First Order, up to the present canon in the sequel trilogy of TFA and the start of TLJ it seems, Kylo is still very much alone. Zuko always felt nobody understood him, when the person that could understand him the most was literally standing right next to him the entire time, and his realisation of this is one of the big reasons he turns to become a protagonist. Just as romantic love turned Anakin to the dark side, it seems Kylo has the same conundrum with his familial bonds - in that the mistakes of his family are what pushed him to Snoke and the dark. Though that doesn't mean family won't play a huge role in his redemption, because it already has, and I believe there are characters in this sequel trilogy that will be Kylo's representation and will partially evoke the characteristics and story-relevance of Iroh and how they will influence Kylo's redemption like Iroh did Zuko's.

Han Solo (The Father).  

I've already talked above about how Kylo killing Han and Zuko betraying Iroh were their 'tests', and the relevance this had for Zuko and his redemption and how it already has and will impact Kylo in the future. As Iroh was the catalyst and the over-arching reason for Zuko to want to join the good guys, apart from his own moral conclusions, Han's death at Kylo's hands will be the catalyst that eventually redeems Kylo and pushes him towards that turning point and so on... as I've already explained before, so I think you get how Han and Iroh's characters parallel each other in that sense. (Unfortunately for Han and my heart, Han unlike Iroh with his nephew will never get to see his fully grown Son redeemed, and in a sense that's extremely tragic and makes what happened even more sad but powerful and important).

Now there was a line in TFA that always really stood out to me.

"Take off that mask, you don't need it", Han talking to Kylo on that bridge, wanting to see the 'face of his son' beneath, who he thought he was (Ben), not who he had become (Kylo). It stood out to me, because it always reminded me very fondly of this line...

"I wonder who could be behind that mask?" which was Iroh talking to the Blue Spirit, knowing it was Zuko underneath and wanting to see his nephew, not the beastly looking persona he was hiding behind.

In Zuko's case, after Iroh says this to him and sees straight through the persona, after finding Zuko in front of the protagonists pet bison Appa (who means a great deal to them and is actually what is driving the story at that point in the season - to find Appa) where Zuko was thinking about taking Appa as ransom... Iroh calls Zuko out on his short-term thinking and reckless actions. He worriedly and angrily shows Zuko that what he is doing is obsessive and could potentially get him killed - and then Zuko says,

"I know my own destiny", (Zuko) and,

"I have to do this", (Zuko) which very much sounds like a different way of saying that he has no choice, or,

"It's too late", (Kylo) and or,

"I know what I have to do, (but I don't know if I have the strength to do it).", (Kylo) - in my humble opinion. Iroh has this big speech, and part of it goes as such:

"Is it your own destiny, or is it a destiny someone else has tried to force on you?".

Which also sounds very similar to Han saying,

"Snoke is using you for your power".

The words may be different, but the themes and meanings behind the two sentences are the same - that Kylo and Zuko are being used. Kylo and Zuko at the start of their arcs are blinded by this 'destiny' they both believe they think they have - and they do have destinies - just not the way they first believe and for Zuko this comes full circle by the end of his arc, just as I think it will for Kylo in knowing what their 'true' destinies are. One of Kylo's script prompts was -  

*Eager to fulfill his destiny* before landing on Takodana, and Zuko saying in Book one when he's the main antagonist -

"I want my destiny!", so both of them do have these notions of achieving their own destinies in order to be accepted, not realising that by chasing this false destiny, (although in real life I don't personally believe in the notion of destiny, but both Star Wars and Atla have pretty strong themes of it - so I'll go with it for the moment) they instead stumble onto their true destinies, Zuko's being that he joins the protagonists, and Kylo's will be the same in that he'll help Rey.  

Also Iroh says in his speech "I'm begging you prince Zuko! It's time for you to look inward", paralleling Han practically begging Kylo on that bridge that "No, my son is alive/Come home, we miss you", to find himself again, to step away from this dark path and become Han's son again - Ben.

A redemption arc essentially is taking a character that's antagonistic/done wrong, breaking their character down through different decisions/choices and events (which usually isn't a straight line, but has many twists, turns, rejections and conflict/regrets) and then building their character up again into a protagonist or someone who is more neutral through redemption. For both of them, the parts in which these quotes are taken from are the start of the breaking down of their characters into their redemption’s, like really announcing it if the hints hadn't already been obvious. Although Kylo has already taken his mask off for Rey, the removal of the mask in front of Han has its own weight. Han seeing beneath the persona and seeing his son/his vulnerable boy all grown up and buried in darkness whilst struggling not to drown really tugs on the heart strings, for the audience and Han himself. That scene on that bridge with Han, without the barrier of the mask, is the first time that Kylo really shouts out the obviousness of his redemption. There were hints throughout the movie, his 'pull to the light' when talking to Vader's helm, the obvious foreshadowing of 'I will not be seduced', cause let's be honest when a character (especially a Skywalker) says that the total opposite is going to occur. His sparing of Finn ('saving the cat' as others in the community have expertly noted with their over worldly screenplay knowledge, and yes I have read the book "SAVE THE CAT" by Blake Snyder, I highly recommend it if you haven't read it). The script ->

...scenes with Rey and his 'compassion' for her, his clear want to not use Star Killer and something else, something big that I'll save for later - etcetera... bam bridge scene! (and then links to everything I've talked about above, including Han's death as the catalyst). Han, although he may be gone, will be one of if not the most important character influence for Kylo's redemption and in turn will give Han's death meaning. In the points I've shown before, he has already been a major Uncle Iroh type character for Kylo and will continue to be even in death. He was supposed to be the 'weak and foolish' part of Kylo that his son wanted to destroy on that bridge, and although I expect others and Kylo to punish himself for what he did (for what he did was a terrible thing, and he needs to face its consequences which I'm pretty sure he will as 'patricide isn't all it's cracked up to be'), it will instead be the thing that makes Kylo wiser, more humble, and ironically stronger.

Leia Organa (The Mother).

Iroh never gave up on Zuko, not once throughout the entirety of Atla. Sure he became frightened/worried for his nephew, but he never turned his back on him, nor did he say anything as final and defeatist as "If Luke couldn't reach him how could I?" and or "We lost our son. Forever." which is what Han says. And then guess who stands her ground and says "We can still save him", and then goes on to say this...

"There is still light in him. I know it." Yeah Leia does. She believes he is still good, she hasn't given up on him, and she wants him back ("You think I want to forget him? I want him back!"). She still holds out hope, whilst fighting for what she believes in -  the rebellion/resistance - as she always has done. Just like Padme who said something similar about Anakin ("There is good in him."), and she was right, because "Women always figure out the truth - ALWAYS!". And just like Iroh, who continued fighting for what he believed in, through another secret organisation/'resistance' called the White Lotus alongside the other oppressed nations, he still held out hope his nephew would return and become good, even after he was betrayed by him - until Zuko and him reconciled later and his hopes were proven to not be futile.

"You have light and peace inside of you." Is a quote from Iroh talking about Zuko, to Zuko, that I thought paralleled Leia's quote about Kylo's inner light beautifully. Both are talking about the light they know and hope is there in these characters that they unconditionally love, who have taken a wrong turn and gone down a dark path. They believe and see their potential for goodness, where no one else does. When everyone abandons Zuko, Iroh is there, still believes in him, still hopes. Just like how when Kylo turns to the dark, everyone abandons him, even Han to an extent, except for Leia who although cannot be there with Kylo, believes in him and hopes he will come home. Her hope even convinces Han that his "Son is alive". All Leia wants is for someone to find Kylo and "Bring him home," Whether that's her, Han, Luke, Rey or anyone - even Kylo himself. In the same vein, all Iroh wanted for Zuko, was for his "Little soldier boy to come marching home...", in the absence of his own son, and he was shown that his hope that Zuko had potential for goodness and the freedom to make his own choices was not in vain. Atla is all about hope, and seeing the potential in people to be better. Star Wars is also about hope and seeing the potential in people for good, and Iroh in Atla and Leia in the sequel trilogy represent these ideals (whereas in the OT forgiveness and seeing good in people was more along the lines of Luke's character, whilst Leia and Luke together were more about Hope in times of darkness). I believe George Lucas once said something along the lines that the original trilogy was Leia's story, or as much her story as it was Luke's. She has always been fighting, even before the first movie introduced her, and she never EVER gave up. She was as tenacious then as she is now, and she will never give up on her son. (Ah~ I'm sorry if this is making anyone miss Carrie, I miss her too and I always will - it's just a really terrible thing, that has no positives for anyone).

Anyway, some people have speculated that Leia and Luke might meet in The Last Jedi. There's no hard evidence for this (cheers Pablo), but if Luke and Leia were to meet in assumedly the second act (since Leia's part of the resistance plot and Luke, Rey and Kylo are part of the 'force plot') of the movie, then there's a high chance that Kylo might be there with them. Now this is just pure theory and a 'hope' of mine I guess you could say, but I would love for a reconciliation scene between Leia and Kylo like the one Iroh and Zuko had. Just like in Atla, the scene would have so much power and emotional weight to it, and would be really compelling and interestingly heart-wrenching to watch. If this were to happen, it would also align with my thoughts on the sequel trilogy having a faster paced redemption than something like Atla, as straight after Zuko's turning point he meets the person he loves that he betrayed and Iroh forgives him, so if Kylo as I've speculated has his turning point in Act 2 of the story arc rather than act 3, then a reconciliation between Kylo and Leia would make sense. Also it's pretty obvious that Kylo cares for his mother, a lot more it seems than he did for his father. He felt closer to here as a child since they were both 'force-sensitive' and Leia understood him in that sense, (same excerpt where Han felt he couldn't connect with Ben) and Kylo is against using Star Killer BECAUSE the resistance planet (D'Qar) they were going to blow up after Hosnian prime potentially/almost certainly had Leia on it, and in the books as soon as Snoke mentions Leia's name Kylo immediately changes the subject. So although Han coming to and forgiving his son on the bridge was an emotional blow for Kylo, Leia coming and forgiving Kylo would for the character probably feel much more important. Not for the audience cause both Han and Leia are equal in that sense - but for Kylo it would be something he thought impossible and would show how Leia has evolved as a character even from her fully resolved arc in the Return of the Jedi - in that she understandably couldn't acknowledge or forgive her father and only did years later (with probably a lot of influence from Luke). Unless a character dies, even if they have a fully resolved arc, they are still always changing, always making mistakes, always growing even if it's not written. Just like in reality people have arcs of growth, but life isn't just going to be like 'yep, that's it your done, have a cookie', life is a series of character arcs that make up our own story, just like these characters, however fictional and that's what makes a character feel more realistically three dimensional/human.

Leia showing Kylo forgiveness would not only bring Leia's arc of forgiving full-circle, but would bring both Leia and Kylo that sense of peace, as it did Zuko and Iroh. They may not do this, and they may not meet at all, which would be a shame since It won't happen in episode 9 as Leia will not be there anymore (there's also a potential-spoiler that Leia might/will get seriously injured in TLJ, I don't know how early or late in the film this would be, but it'd be really tragic if Luke and Kylo did get to her only to find her in a coma or worse, unable to speak to/see them ever again even with them right there). She will still always be an Uncle Iroh type character, with his themes, with her silent support, forgiveness and hope as well as her will to fight evil from across the galaxy for the people who can't fight and her son - but if they do meet, then like Iroh her hopes will not be futile. Just like Iroh, finally, she'll be able to see her little soldier boy come marching home.

Luke Skywalker (The Uncle).

Talking about life still going on for characters who've already had fully resolved arcs, it seems Luke's gone on quite a bit of a tangent. Having his face the biggest thing on the poster; which is usually saved for the villains? Being doused in red which is a representation of the "dark side", just like Kylo our current antagonist (whose face on the poster is smaller/seemingly more passive or sad compared to Luke's aggressive facial expression)? Isolating himself on an island? Not coming to the aid of his friends and dear sister? Looking like a grumpy old man whose tired of the worlds shit instead of a wise peaceful and accepting Jedi? having his new order burn down? from which a presumable lapse in faith or an enlightenment ensued and so then wanting the Jedi to END?    

Ok I do actually like where Rian might be taking Luke's character, and how compelling it might be for the story and its ramifications on not only him, but Kylo and Rey too, as well as the whole of the Star Wars verse. The possibility of the old and seemingly corrupted ways of the Jedi being scrapped and a new order of force users being formed with their own code  aka grey (general term that's not canon) Jedi? Hell yes that sounds amazing! (also I enjoy the idea that either the force or the island itself is keeping Luke there, and once you land it doesn't let you leave or something along those lines).  

In Atla Iroh was one of the most neutral characters in the entire series, even when he was supposedly with the 'antagonists' he still found time to help those on both sides of the war. He supported Zuko in his quest for the avatar, but he also helped characters like Aang, Toph and Katara - the protagonists. He never discriminated between nations, he was always compassionate and kind to those he met, and never used violence unless it was absolutely necessary. If you've watched the series you'll know what I'm talking about when I say he was the grey between the black and white and a physical representation of balance, just in a different sense than the Avatar. Nothing can be confirmed till The Last Jedi comes out and reveals Luke's current character, but it would seem Luke after isolating himself on Ach-To due to whatever happened at the temple, has become a similar representation of neutrality. He has stayed on Ach-To, studying ancient force-user and Jedi scripture (those books in the trailer), trying to find this balance in the force, which is what I believe he is going to try to show/teach to Rey and potentially Kylo. Luke will not be on 'one side or the other' rather he will be a neutral character who only wishes to restore balance. One side conquering the other does not bring balance, as we've learned from both the prequel and original trilogy, just like how Iroh only wished for balance and peace; and is why he strove so fervently to have himself and Zuko try and help the avatar in book 2 and 3 instead of hindering him.

Through the Original Trilogy, Luke was one of, if not the most forgiving person in the entire galaxy. He forgave his father, Vader who had slaughtered and destroyed so many and so much, and returned him to the light. I don't know how much has changed with Luke's character, but I wonder if that forgiveness is still there, as there were rumors that Luke would order Rey to 'kill' Kylo if he landed on Ach-To. Life can do that to a person, it's not impossible or unrealistic for real life people, so it begs the question if this would happen to a character in Star Wars....but Luke's forgiveness was a powerful thing, and if like Iroh who forgave Zuko of his transgressions and betrayal that could have potentially doomed the world, then maybe if through Kylo slowly starting to show he can be redeemed through his own actions, Luke can forgive Kylo for what he's done and move forward as Iroh forgave his nephew after Zuko made his own decisions. If not to bring balance, then for Han and Leia's sake. Family has always been important to Luke, and I don't think that will have changed. Unlike Han, Leia or Rey, I don't think Luke's going to be one of the MAIN reasons Kylo will redeem himself, since Han already has said "If Luke can't reach him how can I?".

I say Luke could have the 'biggest' Iroh type role towards Kylo, because theoretically if Luke were to forgive his nephew and they were to reconcile, or even just tolerate each other as allies...Luke could take on the guide/teacher type role to Kylo as he had before the temple incident, only this time he will encompass all of the force instead of what I assume was just the light - as he will probably do to Rey, and the same role Iroh had to Zuko - to broaden their knowledge/minds and show them that instead of 'light' and 'darkness' it's "so much bigger" as Luke puts it in the trailer. In Atla it's revealed Iroh has learned bending techniques from every nation, after all his travels, in order to become stronger and more fluid/knowledgeable in his own element. This could link the idea of Luke using both sides of the force, or at least learning all branches of what makes up 'the force' instead of like the Jedi beforehand limiting themselves to only the light, trying to cut themselves off from basic human emotions/needs, which lead to their destruction in the first place. Iroh then uses his expanded knowledge of the other benders/cultures, specifically water bending techniques, in order to teach Zuko how to redirect lightning (lightning-bending is an advanced form of fire bending) which is incredibly important in terms of not just Zuko learning to defend himself from deadly attacks, but also an important lesson in understanding the elements and in turn the world aren't isolated from each other, but rather connected to one another. I don't know if this will happen or not, but like Iroh, Luke could be the guide Kylo needs in order to balance himself in the light and the dark, and rather than 'tearing himself apart', help him find the calm and belonging in the grey between the dark and light of the force. This is all speculation, and we'll just have to wait and see for the answers. I was hoping that Leia would take on an even more supportive/familial and guiding role for Kylo in ep 9 (which from things Kathleen Kennedy and even Carrie herself had said seemed possible), but due to Carrie's unfortunate passing, it looks like that role will most likely be passed onto Luke instead.

There is actually another character in Atla I could compare Luke to as a neutral, mysterious, god-like figure connected to the 'universe' as a whole through meditation and isolation. That's the Guru.

He helps to teach the main hero Aang how to unlock his full potential, just as Luke can teach Rey and possibly Kylo how to open themselves up to the world around them and learn to balance themselves in the entirety of the force, and be connected to it on a level beyond 'crude matter', just as Iroh was deeply spiritual in Atla.

We know practically nothing about what transpired that day at Luke's Jedi temple, what we DO know is that it shook Luke so heavily that it led him to believe the Jedi must now end, whatever students/acolytes Luke had (apart from Kylo) were killed, the Knights of Ren (and presumably Snoke) were involved, and this event has heavy links to both Luke and Kylo Ren and his 'turning point' to the dark side when he was seemingly 23 years old. Kylo/Ben would have been in his teens when he was 'sent away' to Luke to become his apprentice, so let's just say he was around 15 at the oldest. From 15 to 23 would mean Kylo spent at the very least 8 years under Luke as his student (compared to 6 years in the First Order). Add to the fact that they are family, would most likely mean Kylo and Luke in that time did have a friendly/familial bond between them and that they cared for each other on some level. When Luke and Kylo meet in the Last Jedi, and it's almost certain they will, ALL of that history is going to come to the forefront. I have a feeling that whatever is revealed is going to show either Luke is not as innocent as others may believe, or that Kylo was not as guilty as was first thought, or perhaps both - especially with how Luke's been marketed in posters and how Mark Hamill initially 'didn't like' where Rian had gone with Luke. In bloodline there was a 'dirty' political move made on Leia, where her and Luke's familial connection to Darth Vader was publicly broadcast throughout the galaxy; which both destroyed Leia's political career, but would also mean Kylo found out about his family heritage (which Leia or Luke hadn't revealed to him) most likely in public, surrounded by people who most certainly hated and feared Vader for what he had done to the galaxy, and would in turn be hateful/fearful of anyone related to him - especially if they were force-sensitive. In Atla, book 2, when Zuko goes on his own journey in the Earth Kingdom, he comes across a village where he is accepted and stays/works for a while, but when he reveals he is a fire-bender and is recognized as the Prince of the Fire Nation and his heritage/bloodline is revealed, even those who were kind to him in the village suddenly hate and fear him because of what he represents to them as the 'enemy'/a fire nation 'monster'. Zuko is shunned again, first by his own nation,  and now by others, both because of his family. The same with Kylo, in his mind he was shunned by Leia and Han and sent to Luke, and after this event he was probably shunned by the entire galaxy - no wonder he turned to Snoke. Both Zuko and Kylo are judged for their families mistakes, and not seen as simply themselves.

To conclude, Han is the one who is the representation of Iroh as a catalyst for redemption, and a parental figure of forgiveness. Leia is the representation of Iroh as one who has unconditional love, forgiveness and hope for her son. And Luke is potentially the familial support (instead of Leia) and voice of reason/the guide for Kylo, as Iroh was to Zuko (as well as family drama, and someone who potentially has all the answers).

Aesthetic.

Kylo and Zuko are very similar in their looks and personality, Zuko is the oldest in the group of the main 'kids', tall, quite mature, handsome, but his personality shows he can be vulnerable and emotional. Kylo is also incredibly tall, fit, looks like a 'prince' handsome and can be incredibly emotional/vulnerable... I mean...

^that's Kylo.

^realistic depiction artwork of Zuko.

I think you get the point.

What I want to talk about is how Zuko's aesthetic actually changes, as is normal when characters develop, through each Act of Atla and how that relates to Kylo. Visual story-telling is incredibly important in a visual medium, and this is especially essential when it comes to characters and the designs of their costumes and general look. Below is an image of what Zuko mainly looks like linearly through each of Atla's three books/three seasons. I'm going to for the most part ignore how his hair changes because it doesn't really apply to Kylo, and actually has more to do with Anime tropes and how an anime characters hair will change drastically as they develop (as I said Atla has heavy Asian influences, and some animators who take their styles/are from Korea and or Japan).

In book 1, Zuko wears heavily plated fire Nation armor that has many layers and covers him up almost completely. It has dark red and grey colorings, that incite imagery of fire and smoke - and it has always seemed like something that would be very suffocating and restrictive. Sharp angles and hard lines. His hair is shaven off all except for the pony-tail at the back, which gives monk like imagery in correlation to his exile, and the ponytail has links to the Fire Nation culture and his honor and loyalty to his nation. Also his face is usually pressed into a scowl, because book 1 Zuko almost never really genuinely smiles). 

Compare this to Kylo in TFA. Kylo wears heavy robes, and has many layers of clothing, that cover him up almost completely except for his head which is covered by a mask - it always felt like it restricted his movement and was incredibly suffocating, as if under all those layers he was making himself suffer, since wearing it constantly couldn't have been comfortable. The coloring is black and dark grey to elicit the visual metaphor of being enveloped in the dark side. He is described by some as a monk-like figure, uninterested for the most part in normal human carnal desires and behaviors, completely focused on his task (except for Rey, but even she is linked to him wanting to find the map, though loosely). There is only one point throughout TFA that Kylo actually smirks/lifts his lips upwards slightly, for the rest of the movie it's pretty obvious his mood is not one that invokes a happy face.

Both Zuko and Kylo in their first Act's metaphorically and physically are wrapped up in layers of 'armor' and their own walls, masks and personas they've created to hide themselves from the world in order to seem  stronger and not actually shattering apart on the inside and making themselves go through hell. Kylo taking off his mask was such a big deal, because it was a metaphor for him showing a part of himself that nobody else sees and making himself vulnerable, and no pure evil/villainous character would ever willingly show their opposition weakness, which makes it all the more strange that Kylo did.      

From the breaking down of a character through both their personality and their aesthetic, and then through redemption, they can slowly be built back up again - which is something that happened to Zuko and is what I believe will happen to Kylo.

In book 2 of Atla, after Azula has attempted to kill Zuko and he seemingly 'cuts ties' with the fire nation completely, he has to go into hiding. He loses the bulky Fire Nation armor for more common clothes, which are quite layered, but nowhere near as heavy as the armor. They're green and brown, colors that are more connected to the Earth and plants, and are much simpler and less grand in design. They represent Zuko 'coming down to earth' for a bit, or getting off his high-horse.  By wearing commoner clothes, he is no longer 'above' the people, but among them. It allows him to see from a whole new perspective/angle, and realise the world is a much bigger place and not everything is about him. It's about him learning and expanding his understanding of the world, and by shedding those extra layers he is metaphorically showing more of himself/being more like himself - which is ironic as he's hiding - by starting to accept himself and the world around him a bit more, but not completely (that only comes to full fruition in Book 3). He is less angry, more confused, lost and just trying to find himself.

Now from images we've been given of Kylo from the Battlefront II The Last Jedi heroes pre-order images, the TLJ poster, Vanity Fair and the TLJ trailer we can see the similarities of what happened to Zuko happening to Kylo.  He's lost the cowl to shadow his head and features, and replaced it with a billowing cape (like a true Skywalker). There has been a loss of some of the layers that were on his original outfit, giving him a lot more freedom of movement and should be less suffocating, including more of his neck and legs showing. From what we can see from the trailer and all the promotional stuff (including the broken mask), Kylo will not be wearing the mask for most, if not all of the movie, showing us his face which was considered a vulnerability to him in TFA. He's starting to strip away those physical and metaphorical layers, and from all the stuff we've been given off his face, rage hasn't really been the main emotion. Mainly it's been seriousness, lost and sad looks and even more vulnerability. It's possible in the movie, they may use less makeup and make him look a bit more disheveled like in the image above, in order to get across the point that on all fronts he's falling apart and off kilter. Also the coloring may still be dark, but it's leaning less towards black, and more towards grey (including the cloak), which could also be a visual queue for him starting to move towards the 'grey' area of the force that encompasses both dark and light. This is the stage where he'll be lost and trying to find himself, less confident and far more desperate. He's becoming more vulnerable, and will be showing more of himself rather than the character who just wants to be a Vader 2.0. It's indicating that instead of Kylo, we're going to see more of Ben Solo.

That's about as far as I can go in terms of comparison between the current aesthetic of Kylo in Act 1 and 2, compared to Zuko, as I'll need to wait for Act 3 or episode 9 in order to completely finish it, and by then I'm sure it'll all be confirmed anyway. But, since I do have what Zuko looks like in his Act 3, I'll try and make a prediction of how that'll link to Kylo in his own Act 3.

In book 3 of Atla, Zuko's main outfit for most of the season is that of 1 or two layers of light fire nation garb, the coloring of the clothes are that of light/dark reds and golds. His clothes at this point are incredibly light, non-restrictive allowing him to use his Chi/Ki more fluidly and really breathe (as fire bending is of the breath) instead of suffocating him. By stripping away all those metaphorical and physical layers, he's showing himself for who he is, and by wearing the colors of his nation and his ancestry it shows he has come to know who he is and should be (as he discovers his ancestry is not only to Sozin, but to Roku as well) and that he accepts himself - and therefore has found a harmony within himself (<-'The Fire bending Masters' episode) . He no longer cared about disappointing his father, for he realised there was no true honor in being a puppet to a father who didn't love him, and that he would only find honor by doing the right thing. And by doing this, accepting himself, he found belonging.

"We've created an era of fear in the world, and if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness."

- Zuko, The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse, Book 3. (his speech to Ozai)  

If Kylo follows this pattern by ep 9, and I'm not an expert on clothing, but I'm going to assume his clothes will be far less restrictive with different shades of grey and brown aka a lot lighter/less 'pure' dark side colours - I may be wrong, but we'll just have to wait and see. But more importantly, instead of being lost and confused, like Zuko he'll finally be able to have the truth instead of all the lies and mistruths he's probably been told by Snoke or not told by others, if he doesn't already figure them out in the Last Jedi (there are rumors that there will most likely be force ghosts in TLJ so let's hope they help straighten out the truth, especially Anakin). Instead of striving to be strong like his grandfather, or wanting to please the Supreme Leader, or hide from/fight the rest of the galaxy due to his heritage - he'll finally be free of those mental chains and able to see that he in fact does have a choice. And hopefully he'll finally accept himself for who he is, instead of trying to be someone else like Kylo Ren, and instead Ben Solo will finally find the belonging he's always been looking for... in unexpected places. And like Zuko, ironically it will make him stronger but also more humble and hopefully, kinder.

Act 1 = Villain/antagonist/anti-villain Act 2 = Conflicted anti-hero Act 3 = Byronic Hero/protagonist

Now I've been saving the best till last...their scars.

In terms of general aesthetics for characters, especially Byronic heroes, scars give the characters complexity and depth. There's history behind those wounds that can make them far more compelling. In the case of Zuko and Kylo, their scars come from very different circumstances, but the metaphorical weight behind those scars is still significant for each. The fact that Rian changed the scar for Kylo, moved it and made it smaller (cat-scratch) to be more aesthetically pleasing doesn't really scream 'ugly sith villain' now does it? More like 'I want this character to be complex, but not so much that he looks purely evil and loses that "princely" look' unlike Zuko that has quite literally a huge horrible burn across half his face, yet somehow makes him a far more beautiful character, in my eyes anyway.

Zuko's scar comes about when he dishonors his father at the young age of 14, and his father severely burns half of his face - he receives it before the story of Atla even starts. It was one of the many cruel lessons Ozai gave Zuko, a Punishment, and had the most lasting effects. He would hide it, wouldn't let anyone touch it/get near to it, he despised it - like a mistake in an otherwise perfect painting. It was first a blemish to Zuko, something that represented all his mistakes, all of his weakness. It represented everything Zuko didn't want to be, but as the series went on, his scar eventually turned from his weakness to his strength. By the end of the third act, Zuko no longer cared for his scar, it was a part of him, a representation of all he had endured and survived and risen above. By accepting it, he was accepting his flaws, and accepting himself.

Compare that to Kylo, who when we first see his face, it's of this handsome 'prince' like figure, no scar, nothing. Whereas with Zuko we never got that 'holy shit' moment, because to the audience he always had that scar, that was just who he was to us. It would be hard to see Zuko without it, as it was such an integral part of his character.

It's Rey that gives Kylo that scar in the First Act, different from Zuko in Atla, but in a sense very similar. Rey giving him that scar is a representation of Kylo's supposed 'weakness', his compassion. If he had killed Rey on that ledge it would never have happened, but he didn't want to - he wanted to teach her, and that lead to his face being burned and in a way Rey teaching him a lesson instead. Kylo's scar is a physical representation of the compassion and pull to the light that Kylo wants to crush and so desperately be free of. It's almost as if Rey made a crack in that wall of his, the lie of his persona being broken apart leaving him vulnerable, and now his 'mistakes' and 'regrets' a permanently etched on his face.

I read somewhere that the scar runs along the place where Han touched Kylo's face, and that it was some universal punishment for what he did. I like that idea, because not only is the scar physical, as Adam Driver has said it's also metaphorical, and it's a symbol for Kylo's own walls of confidence and denial starting to crack, due to what he did to Han and what happened in that forest with Rey. Zuko was burned because he refused to fight his father, Kylo was burned because he refused to kill Rey. It's his 'antagonistic' character starting to break down, as well as giving Kylo a personal link to the protagonist, Rey, and how they are personally connected through what she did to him. She didn't go for the kill, she could have but instead she went for the face, and there's a reason she did it.

Unlike Zuko's scar, which has nothing to do with attraction and more to do with honor and weakness, Rey sliced Kylo's face because she was attracted to him, and the fact he didn't look like a monster - and she hated that. She probably wanted him to look as monstrous on the outside as she thought he was within, as she thought she would see when he took off that mask. It was about lessening his beauty, and de-humanising him, just as Zuko is de-humanised and only seen as 'The banished Prince of the Fire Nation' instead of an actual person. The irony is, Kylo's scar may be a symbol for his weakness and compassion, but Rey gives him that scar because she too is trying to stifle her own compassion for him (aided by a petty revenge she was trying to enact due to her taking strength from the dark side at the end of that fight). It makes me wonder how she'll feel when she sees it in TLJ? will she try to stifle her compassion further, or will she feel even more guilt?

Anyway both Zuko and Kylo's scars represent their imperfections, physically and metaphorically, and weaknesses that have the potential to turn into strengths. I find it curious that they are both 'burned' by things linked to their respective in-verse 'magic'. For Zuko is was the flames from his father's 'fire bending', and for Kylo is was the concentrated plasma (superheated flame/the 4th state of matter + Kyber crystals are found in the heart of stars, giant balls of flaming gas, and that's how light sabers are powered) of his grandfathers Lightsaber - so they're both burned by fire that was created by one of their family members that they don't want to disappoint and prove to that they are strong - to sum it up simply. Kylo's scar, just like Zuko's, will be the symbol that he will at first see as the pinnacle of all his weaknesses, but then eventually come to realise it represents what can actually make him strong, and he will through that learn to accept himself and all his scars and mistakes, physical and or psychological...a reminder of his guilt at what he's done, so he doesn't repeat history and instead strives for better; bringing balance to the force. The fact that they gave him this scar AND he lost the battle with the hero in the first act are both key pointers towards setting the groundwork's for a complex character whose going to have a compelling redemption.  

Kylo Ren's "Failure" as a villain.

This is one of the main things I noted that indicated to me that Kylo was going to get a redemption arc, when I first viewed TFA, and re-watching ep VII only confirmed it for me. Zuko and Kylo in their first acts fail to be strong villains. Not strong in the terms of the characterization, because Zuko and so far Kylo are strong characters in that sense, more so in terms of us taking them seriously as antagonists.

Below I'm going to bullet point how Zuko and Kylo "fail" as villains within their first Acts, and why that's the point.

Zuko and Kylo are both Funny.

It's true, watching through TFA and Book 1 of Atla there were numerous times where I laughed aloud at these two characters, whether it was a silly/clumsy thing Zuko would do, or that Iroh would say to him, and don't even get me started on the humorous bits within TFA that come from Kylo and his character interactions (his sarcasm to Hux and Mitaka, his outbursts of rage always seemed very comical to me as a watcher, etc). Within their first Acts, Kylo and Zuko are constantly undermined and made fun of, which if compared to Vader or the Emperor, or even Azula would never happen. Sure there's dark humor, but usually from villains you don't get comedic relief like you do with Zuko or Kylo, because villains are supposed to be built up to be intimidating/feared and sure Kylo and Zuko can be powerful, intimidating and scary, but they don't evoke it in the way that Vader or Azula would.

Secondly, some things Kylo tolerated throughout TFA would have been instantaneously crushed if it had been Vader, but Kylo unlike Vader takes it out on the inanimate objects instead of his crew. Similar to Zuko, even when he was an antagonist, towards his opponents he was still honorable, unlike Azula who was cunning and very tactical. Like Zuko, Kylo always takes the direct path, he's not manipulative like Azula, and he's incredibly honest to his enemies just as Zuko was (aka not lying to Rey about her friends instead of lying in order to blackmail her). Sure you can have an honest villain, but you don't introduce antagonists who will stay antagonists by making them less threatening by undermining them and making their characters intentionally comical, ESPECIALLY within the first Act when you're trying to build up your villain. Sure, the rebellion won and blew up the first death star in A New Hope, but Vader still attained a victory by defeating one of the two last Jedi, and his former father-figure/master Obi-Wan and not having Vader himself physically defeated or even confront  the main hero, and NEVER was Darth Vader used intentionally as comic relief.    

Thirdly Kylo and Zuko are immediately undermined by the protagonists at the start of their stories. Zuko and Kylo both enter on large loud ships, surrounded by masked sometimes incompetent stormtroopers/fire nation soldier with ominous music playing, into a small isolated village that was hiding something important. After first showing up, and threatening the people there in order to attain the thing of importance (the avatar/the map) Zuko defeats Sokka in hand-to-hand easily and Kylo stops Poe's blaster bolt. Immediately after, Kylo is undermined by Poe when he's asking him about the map, talking back to him and not taking him seriously with the mask on. Similarly, Zuko is undermined (first by Iroh not bending to Zuko's commands) and by Sokka who humorously hits him round the head with his boomerang at the start of Atla - then by Aang straight after sending him on his backside. By undermining them at the very start of the story, the audience subconsciously takes them less seriously as 'scary' antagonists. You've made them amusing to us, and so we see them less as detached pillars of evil, than we had originally. Instead by making them tipped of balance by others/making mistakes, to the audience, you actually make them see more human.  

Fourthly, his continuous inability to retrieve the map. This is less important, because this mainly happens because him not getting the map is what moves the plot forward, just as not being able to apprehend Aang was what motivated Zuko and the plot of Book 1 Atla. Though just like Zuko, Kylo is thinking about his own personal goal of why he wants the map, just as Zuko wanted to get back Aang, rather than prioritizing his Masters orders, which shows Zuko and Kylo had a knack for being disobedient - especially when you consider Zuko turned his back on his Nation in Book 2 (although that was because his sister tried to kill him). The only order Vader ever disobeyed was when he redeemed himself at the very end of the story, and Azula was cunning but never disobedient when it came to her father Ozai. Not following orders, and getting sidetracked, such as capturing Rey instead of the droid because Kylo personally wanted to, were some of the reasons why he failed and allowed the resistance to not only win but find their way to Luke first, which was a huge blunder. And Azula only tried to kill Zuko and Iroh because they were apparently 'disobedient' and went against orders whilst being unable to fulfill the goal Zuko had been banished for in the first place, whereas villains like Azula or even Zhao had a better track record of victories than failures. Disobedience within the first Act is a clear foreshadowing to them turning their back on their "masters" completely later on, just as Zuko did to Ozai, and hopefully Kylo will do to Snoke.

Fifthly, one of the earliest clues supporting Kylo's potential redemption, and his first failure as a villain, was sparing Finn - one of the trilogies main heroes. He knew Finn didn't shoot, he can read people minds and intentions, so he knew why and he still let him go out of compassion instead of alerting someone or killing him. This Act, in terms of a domino effect, allows the resistance to win and get the droid. In the same vein, within Book 1 Zuko also saves Aang. The Avatar had been captured and was being held by Zhao, and although Zuko did it for personal reasons, under his persona as the blue spirit he saves Aang and frees him (not thinking about his Nation, but himself) and after this act, that was the first time Aang ever offered to be friends with Zuko. Even though he refused, putting that option on the table in the first place was proposing the idea that maybe they COULD be friends, which was huge. Them both having these "save the cat" instances are foreshadowing and a set-up towards their eventual turn to becoming good, but  are also moments that make us again see them as more human and less as "villains".

Finally, Kylo and Zuko both being utterly defeated at the end of their stories first Acts. At the end of TFA, although the fight was pretty close at times, Rey towards the end kicked Kylo's ass. She overtook him in the force, burned him, disabled his Lightsaber and all in all at the last moment completely overpowered him - granted there were many reasons Kylo wasn't fighting at full capacity, but he still Lost. Zuko at the end of the first season of Atla, gets his ass handed to him in the final fight. He gets completely overpowered and defeated by Katara after a back and forth battle, and altogether it's a victory for the good guys. With villains in stories, you DON'T have them get utterly defeated like that within the first Act. Usually the antagonist always needs to have their own personal victory, or the protagonists lose but live to fight another day, because if you have the antagonist lose in the first Act there is no tension later on. The hero has already won, there's no drama there, no build up towards a second potential fight because you know the protagonists have beat them before - they're less of a threat (and unless they're a onetime villain aka a mini-boss, this doesn't work). That's why with normal villains who are present through the majority of the story that doesn't usually happen, because that's just them being a failure of a villain and makes the story less compelling (lowers the stakes); UNLESS that "villain" is going to have a redemption arc. By having the protagonists beat an antagonist whose going to have a redemption, that allows for the antagonist to be knocked off their podium of pride, and re-evaluate the world around them/what they're doing wrong. It allows for a crack in their psyche, in which a character  can naturally be broken down and then built back up again as a protagonist.  

Looking at how many hints there are towards Kylo getting a redemption arc, it makes me wonder... Who is going to be the main "force" villain in either Act two or Act Three? Sure we've got Snoke, but he's the "big bad", the final boss. In Atla, we had the main villain in Azula, who was only introduced at the very end of the first act, and then towards the end of the third act the protagonists faced the final Big Bad - The Fire Lord. In the Original Trilogy, you had Darth Vader as the main villain who was present throughout the trilogy, and the heroes had to face the Big Bad - the Emperor - towards the end of the third act. In these stories there is always what I like to call the Beta villain to the Alpha Villain, usually this Beta Villain is the subordinate, student or underling to the Alpha Villain - they are powerful, and face the main protagonists on usually an equal footing, but they are still a servant to the Big Bad (This would be Kylo if he weren't going to be redeemed, but if he weren't I'd would be comparing Kylo and Azula instead of Kylo and Zuko, but I haven't since Kylo's character resembles Zuko's far, far more). When you've got a character you want the audience to root for/an antagonist you want to redeem later, you always introduce a villain that's worse. Aka in Atla it was Fire Lord Ozai and Princess Azula, and in the original trilogy it was of course the Emperor. We've got Snoke, but is that enough...

If Kylo is being redeemed, he's going to be fighting alongside Rey and the protagonists, not against them. Sure we've got Phasma and Hux, but Captain Phasma is more of a personal antagonist for Finn, and for force users like Rey and Kylo I'm not sure she'd stand much of a chance. There is Hux, but Hux is more of a Zhao type character, with some of the sibling rivalry that Azula and Zuko had - but not really the same. Zhao was one of the other minor antagonists within Atla Book 1, and just like how Hux is an antagonistic rival for Kylo who dislike one another immensely but are technically on the same side, Zhao was a power-hungry and villainous pain in the backside for Zuko, constantly undermining him and trying to rival him -  above all else wanting to win the Fire Lords favor and destroy Zuko's chances - even if that meant killing the banished prince, and so Zuko and Zhao also both hated each other; they even had an Agni Kai (fight of honor between fire-benders within the fire nation). Zhao was "taken care of" in Book 1 (by a giant blue fish), and was as I said above, a 'mini-boss' - aka not very impactful to the story overall. If Hux had died in TFA, (apart from the fandom and all the Millicent and hair jell jokes), for the story it really wouldn't have made much difference - and people are making bets as to whether he dies (and even how he dies - though that's more for fun) in the upcoming episode. So unless Hux is some secret dark side force warrior, and he's just been hiding it all this time, I don't think he's going to be the 'force plots' Beta villain either. I mean, they don't HAVE to have a beta villain, there are some works of fiction that follow similar story arcs which don't, and they could have Rey and Kylo simply mowing down Stormtroopers, taking out space craft, dominating battlefields, doing co-op undercover missions and using their skills on non force users till they get to Snoke, but it's extremely unlikely - why have Rey and Kylo train to become skilled in Lightsaber fighting and force powers only to have them fight enemies who can't also use said powers? This is Star Wars, one of the biggest space-operas and dramatic Fairy Tales in modern fiction, and having an opponent(s) who are on equal footing, can use the force and fight with a Lightsaber against Rey and Kylo is much more compelling, much more personal for the characters, and far more fun and dramatic to watch. I mean who doesn't love a force-warrior Lightsaber/force fight, especially in a "force plot" where you can have the resistance take care of less powerful threats and political maneuvering? There needs to be more to cause chaos than just Snoke, and it sounds unlikely that Kylo would be Snoke's only powerful piece on the board with how "wise" he seems to be.

There's a few options (they could do as I said above, about not having a Beta "force" villain, however unlikely). Either they're going to give an already established character a major upgrade or reveal (maybe one of the Knights of Ren? one of Luke's acolytes that survived? etc) - or they're going to Introduce a completely new character - and début them in the second Act/ep VIII, or even ep IX, just as Azula became the main antagonist/the Beta villain in Book 2 of Atla. Or...Snoke isn't actually the Biggest Bad, and there is surprisingly something far worse/far more powerful with the potential to be something we've never seen before in Star Wars, possibly something that exists outside the influence of the force (though unlikely), or something just plainly nightmarish. It's food for thought at least until we see for ourselves, I trust that whatever we're given at the very least it'll be a good story.

Betrayal.

In terms of paralleling Atla and The Last Jedi, I've been a bit all over the shop due to the differences between the two stories, but in this case linearly these two events would fall into the same place. The end of the second Act. I've talked about Zuko betraying Iroh before, as well as Katara and Aang in the finale episode of Book 2/the second Act "The Crossroads of Destiny", and how it really put a spanner in the works in terms of Zuko's redemption. Zuko and Katara even fight each other, after Katara becomes confused, angry and hurt over Zuko betraying her trust and saying something along the lines of 'I thought you'd changed'. I've always paralleled Zuko's betrayal of Iroh at the end of Act 2, to Kylo betraying Han at the end of Act 1 of the sequel trilogy. In TFA, Kylo although on the side of the First Order is tied to this continual theme of inner-conflict. Similarly throughout book 2 of Atla, Zuko spends the entirety of the second Act within his own conflict, between both good and bad. He struggled with it, just as Kylo was struggling with the light and dark. Zuko then has a moment where it seems he's going to join the protagonists, but then betrays them for the antagonists. The same thing happens to Kylo on that bridge, for a moment we think he's going to come back to the light, but then betrays the protagonists for the darkness. Only after did Zuko find his way to redemption in the third act, just as I believe Kylo will find his way to redemption in the second Act. I've already talked about the parallels between Zuko and Kylo, so why am I going over it again now? Well as I think I've said before, Zuko's redemption wasn't simple, it has twists and turns. Actually most redemptions in good stories are usually never as straight forward as that, it's just a general rule of basic compelling story telling; you make the character make mistakes, so they feel more human and it's even more satisfying when they eventually do the right thing. There has been speculation that if Kylo were to join forces with Luke and Rey, there's a possibility that at some point in TLJ he may betray them for Snoke and his manipulations. I have no doubt that he'd continuously be tempted to go back to the dark completely, but full betrayal is another matter. For one it would put another twist into Kylo's redemption arc, create even more drama between the characters and set up some interesting plot points for episode IX. However, Atla was able to have such a prolonged development and have multiple twists in Zuko's redemption, because Atla was a TV series. In movie form, they may simply not have enough screen time to break down Kylo's character, build him up in redemption then break him down through betrayal AGAIN and finally have him fully redeem himself. It's a bit convoluted, especially since I'm sure Kylo will be a protagonist by the end of this trilogy. I believe they're going to spend a lot of The Last Jedi having Kylo a bit on the fence like he was before, except this time he won't betray those he has compassion for, especially Rey.

This entire trilogy is about balance, as in all 3 acts will be metaphorical representations of this balance. If the first Act - The Force Awakens - was about light conquering darkness, then the second Act - The Last Jedi - will be about darkness conquering light. And finally in Act 3 there will be balance between both. In TFA, Kylo's light was  beginning to conquer his dark, that's why he was so conflicted. So in TLJ, perhaps instead it will be Rey's dark conquering her light? There have already been theories about Rey facing her inner darkness, and possibly her past being connected to some form of evil in the galaxy. It's very speculative, and it's more likely than not that it won't come true, but...what if Rey becomes the one who betrays the light? In TFA Snoke already ordered Kylo to "bring the girl to me" and had sensed that there was an awakening in the galaxy after Rey left Jakku. Assumedly, either Snoke is going to send Kylo to dispose of Rey, or he's going to send Kylo to retrieve her again for his own uses. The Last Jedi is going to end in a dark place. In terms of a story telling arc, as the second part of a trilogy it has to end badly for the protagonists, and be either a win or a bitter-sweet victory for the antagonists. So in the third act the stakes become higher and the story more compelling, or else there's no tension. There have been jokes and theories of Rey "going dark", but... If at the end of this second Act, a scenario occurs where Rey gets captured but this time by Snoke, or she goes with him as someone she cares about is in danger, or Snoke (or an even darker entity) manipulates her using her past and vulnerabilities as well as her own natural pull to the dark side as shown in TFA - it could set Rey on a dark path at the end of the second Act, or at least an extreme temptation to the darkness. Just as Zuko had a betrayal at the end of the second Act, perhaps Rey instead will parallel Zuko as the one who will betray. As Kylo begins to become more connected to the light and out of the darkness, Yin becoming Yang, perhaps Rey will fall more out of the light and into darkness, Yang becoming Yin. If anyone reading this knows of the Knights of the Old Republic, you know a similar scenario occurred between Revan and Bastila when they were on the Star Forge. One was a Jedi of the light, then fell to the darkness, before becoming more grey in terms of the force, though still good (Revan). Whilst the other was of the light, but fell to darkness before returning to become good, but more 'grey' (Bastila). If Rey turns to the darkness at the end of The Last Jedi, it will be Kylo who will not force her, but give her the choice to turn back to the side of good as he will understand what it is like - and show her the same compassion she will most likely show him. Where they can both become neutral/'grey' in the force and be balanced. Just like Revan gave Bastila the choice to either go back to the light or have him join her in the darkness, and just like Zuko gave Katara the choice, freedom and support to do as she needed in Book Three of Atla. Again this is all hypothesis until proven fact through evidence. Though it would be interesting to have one of the stories main heroines go through something like this, I'm skeptical about her going full dark and then coming back to the light, rather I think she'll be severely and rigorously tempted, but she is a strong willed and stubborn character, so I feel her compassion and natural affinity for kindness in the end shall prevail.

At the end of this trilogy, balance should be achieved. We know that when there are two opposing forces, even if one conquers the other, as the Original and Prequels taught us, that will never truly bring balance. That's why the idea of the "grey Jedi" is so important, and Lor San Tekka was right in a sense - "Without the Jedi there can be no balance in the force" - Jedi, just not in the original sense of the term, because they would encompass all of the force, and they wouldn't be tied to one side or one political group/government like the Jedi of the Prequels were. No more restrictions. They would be neutral warriors who not discriminate and or side with one thing, all they do is fight for what is right using what the force gives them naturally. Instead they'd focus on keeping balance and peace in all corners of the galaxy with their own freedom, no longer chained down to a corrupt creed. At the start of Atla, Zuko was the banished Prince, and by the end he was the Fire Lord that brought balance and peace. I believe by the end of this sequel trilogy, in a tragically flipped mirroring of Zuko, Kylo instead will be the banished Prince - as retribution for the sins he's committed, and he has done wrong there's no question about that, so he will need to have some sort of recompense in some form. A wondering neutral warrior helping those and bringing balance, mirroring Ben Kenobi the man he was named after, who spent 20 years doing the exact same thing. Who in that time did not consider himself a true Jedi, but never turned his back on his duty to watch over Luke, or help those who needed it.

Only this time, I don't think Ben will be alone.  

Well kriffing hell, cack me! Cheers for reading the First Part of me trying to type down the stuff inside my head about these two fictional worlds and their characters before I become (even more) insane. There is more but it was getting so long I decided to put it into a two part post, the second will expand more on general parallels and the ships rather than just redemption, so go to part two (when I finally get it up) in order to read more and become further engrossed in the dark side mwahahaha.

p.s If any of the Star Wars Connection People are reading this, first off hello there! Second off I was actually towards the end of writing this meta when I saw your videos on my notifications come out detailing similarities between Atla and Star Wars. I know parallels have been drawn in the community plenty a time, but it still blew my mind a little bit  that you guys were talking about something I’ve been furiously typing down for weeks - lol.

 If any of you guys haven’t already, I seriously recommend you go check out their Star Wars Connection Podcast on YouTube - it’s got some pretty funny yet brilliant analysis on Star Wars, especially the sequel trilogy. Including ships, symbolism and general theories. They’re a testament to the community and some of the stupendous people in it, and they’re only a small fraction.  

[popcultureadventures]

Comics Critique: Thor: God of Thunder 1-11

There is a lack of in-depth comic criticism going around, isn’t there? I understand why: just between Marvel, DC and Image there is far too much content to review on a monthly basis considering what I assume would be a very small readership. But still, I can’t help but be disappointed with the lack of smart, critical writing going around about contemporary “pop” comics. Expect to see a few think pieces pop up around the launch of a new #1 from a current indie darling, or a progressive super hero book, but expect even more to see that media attention immediately vanish.  Talk about self defeating. If no one can be bothered to put real thought into critiquing these books, then why should the writers and artists and editors ever put any effort into making sure they can stand up to real thought? Anyway, why sit around feeling bad when you could be providing a good example? I’m going to try and write at least a few words about each comic I read. And what I read and when will be all over the place and with no real rhyme or reason :)

Anyway, let’s get on with it and cross the Rainbow Bridge to Asgardia, shall we?

Thor: God of Thunder is the starting point for the current Thor run, written by Jason Aaron and here pencilled by Esad Ribic. You’ve probably seen it in the news as the origin of the “female Thor” that caused the usual boring arguments that we should have worked through in the 90s. But that’s all I’ll say about that. This book I’m actually reviewing comes well before female Thor, and stars regular dick and Mjölnir wielding Thor in a fairly classical adventure. Actually, it stars three Thor’s with dicks, but only two with Mjölnir. But I digress. There are two main ideas Aaron is playing with here: The first is that of a new villain, the God Butcher, who is a seriously powerful and ambitious entity dead set on killing every “God” in the universe, whether they be from Earth’s pantheon or others. The second is the way Aaron splits his story between three different iterations of Thor, the past, present, and future, in the first arc before bringing them together in the second arc for a multi Thor beat down.

Unfortunately, I think Aaron seriously missed a trick or two in his execution of both these concepts. When you’re sure a story is going to go one way and it instead veers off into another well developed direction it can be a nice surprise. What’s more disappointing is when, after developing an interesting idea, the story abandons it and doesn’t find anything of substance to replace it. These issues suffer from just such disappointment. The direction of Aaron’s set up seems fairly clear. Past Thor is arrogant, and prone to making stupid mistakes. In 893 A.D. his initial encounter with the God Butcher is going to go horribly wrong, and instead of owning up to his mistakes he will hide them, so as to protect his pride. Present Thor has to pay for his previous incarnation’s hubris, proving again his moral compass has evolved since Odin banished him to Earth. Meanwhile future Thor, now king of a destroyed Asgard, is going to foreshadow future stories and be a snarky bad ass. This is what I had pegged from about issue 2, and indeed, this is kind of what happens. But it’s all very muddled. Let’s examine the text in detail.

In this page we see one of Gorr’s victims explain to present Thor that “Everything he’s doing now, it’s all because of this cave and what you did to him there.” Keep in mind this is before we find out what past Thor did.

Later, we see past Thor captured by Gorr and seemingly about to give in to torture. He’s rescued in the next panel, and so Aaron sustains the question of "What Thor did in the cave”.

Here’s are the pages crossing between past Thor’s showdown with Gorr post rescue, and present Thor putting up with Gorr’s evil plan exposition dump. The explanation provided doesn’t really explain why we should blame Thor for Gorr’s current actions. It just adds up to “I was killing a lot of God’s, but then Thor almost stopped me, so I realised I had to kill even more and also create a crazy evil master plan”. So we’re meant to blame past Thor for, what, not checking for a body? Can we really expect a viking in 893 A.D. to be genre savvy? It seems Aaron is building up to past Thor having committed some kind of shocking “Original Sin” (haha), but all that foreshadowing doesn’t amount to anything. Except...

And so we finally see Thor’s infamous pride surface. He demands that “we will never speak of this day again.” At first this confused me, due to the lack of direct explanation for what exactly he wished to keep secret. But I guess he just doesn’t want word getting out that he was defeated and held prisoner?

Now, it’s always tricky when you get the feeling that your preconceived notions of a text have influenced your reaction, positive or negative. In this case, I know that nu Thor is coming. I know that original flavour Thor is going to be deemed unworthy and lose Mjölnir. The specifics, I have no idea of. But I was expecting Aaron to begin seeding this development with some hints as to Thor’s flaws, flaws which could easily be consistent with many prior characterisations. And he really does’t. Even when past Thor appears next to Thors 2 and 3 in the second arc through timey wimey machinations, he isn’t characterised as stupid or arrogant as he has been by other writers. He’s just a little more rash, and his no holds barred heroics even come off kind of cool?

I mean, space shark!

Unfortunately, I think that by not following through on his setup for past Thor Aaron severely limits the potential for Gorr the God Butcher, who could have been a great new villain in an era where such creations are in short supply. Villains are almost always more effective when their point of view has a twisted (or even perfectly sensible) logic to it. If past Thor had done something actually heinous than Gorr might have a decent reason for wanting all God’s extinct. I hate to sound like too much of a backseat writer when I should be discussing what’s on the page instead of what’s not. There just seems to be a lot of missed potential here.

Gorr’s grand motivations provide the main thematic backbone of the text. He hails from a barren, perhaps post apocalyptic planet where he and his tribe struggle to survive. He loses his mother to predators, his partner dies while pregnant with one of his children, and he struggles to provide for his remaining children. All the while, his culture demands complete fealty to their pantheon. The fact that Gorr’s people often sacrifice what little resources they have as offerings to these God’s angers him, when no matter how much anyone prays the call never seems to be answered. Eventually Gorr is abandoned by his tribe for being a heretic, and just as he resigns himself to death he encounters cosmic beings locked in combat. After stealing the power of one of these beings he takes to the stars  and goes about killing Gods, convinced that they do the universe more harm than good.

It’s certainly interesting that during issue 1 the reader is introduced to present Thor in a sequence that reverses this story. On a similarly barren planet, albeit one where the resident culture is without belief God, a thirsty child prays to any God’s out there in the universe to bring rain. Thor, hearing the prayer, provides amply in an heroic act. This alien species also provides a striking resemblance to Gorr’s. 

So, two conflicting stories with conflicting morals. Gorr’s story will jive well with an atheist outlook, while Thor’s story will seem ridiculous. But Thor is a comic about God’s, and thus it’s going to be about faith, and every comic that truly works with the character is going to be directly addressing this issue and either asking the reader to believe or question. Here, Aaron seems to be asking us to believe, if not in an ultimate God, then in Thor the comic character. Thor, who even in his supposedly most flawed incarnation is heroic and fair. Thor, who answers a child’s prayer from across the universe. Thor, who will fight for Asgard until the end of time.

Gorr’s story ends when it becomes clear that, by destroying all God’s, he has become a de facto God himself. Ever in denial, the only way he can admit this obvious fact is through a family created from his powers, seemingly built from different aspects of his psyche. Aaron telegraphs Gorr’s fate as the “God of Hypocrisy” early on, and while the reveal might have been a cute twist in a 2 or 3 issue story, as the conclusion to 11 chapters of build up it feels too convenient as a way to quickly justify Gorr’s defeat.

So, rather then providing a deconstruction of the Thor character, these issues of God of Thunder seem to instead be a celebration of the character in a few of his different configurations. The fact that Aaron consistently rejects or fails to address criticisms of the character, after decades of post Watchmen comics deconstructing iconic heroes, could almost be said to be a fresh subversion in itself. And yet it can’t help but feel slight, because it’s a story missing a serious dramatic arc for its hero. I’m still excited to see what Aaron does with Thor next, but I hope he does get around to properly testing his protagonist.