#aph too many characters

[umahumahumah]

Can you rate all hetalia ships and your fav

I'll try. Let's go alphabetical order!

America/Australia: 0/10

It feels incestuous. I do find it funny how apparently Australia, someone clearly younger than America, is apparently in his 20's while the latter is 19.

America/Austria: 5/10

I think the fun part about this ship is how America has the potential to annoy Austria so much. Still, I can't really see the appeal.

America/Belarus: 5/10

I like the concept of this ship because both characters have contrasting personalities and are on opposing sides! I'm a sucker for that type of thing, which is kind of surprising that this ship doesn't compell me too much. At least not enough to make content of them.

America/Belgium: 6/10

I think America would really like Belgium's waffles, that fatass...

America/Bulgaria: 5/10

Clearly Bulgaria has dedicated his heart to one man and one man only. I don't see any chemistry between him and America... Actually maybe a little. I like the dynamic between normie and pathetic loser. Though I think if Bulgaria is not with Romania he would kill himself

America/Cameroon: 4/10

I think America would take a liking to Cameroon due to their shared interests in sports, but Cameroon feels way too mature to take any of America's tomfoolery.

America/Canada: 0/10

Blatantly incest.

America/China: 8/10

It feels like an alternate version of RusAme, with one side clearly maturer than the other. Though tbh I think the fun of this ship would be seeing how long it takes for America to break China

(+1 Point for that Wash My Belly Dude! Roblox game)

America/Croatia: 6/10

I think I made fanart of this ship once. I never finished it and it's on my dead phone, so... From the very minor appearance Croatia made in the entirety of Hetalia's existence, he seems like a very lethargic character, a great contrast to America's personality. Unfortunately, since Croatia is less than bare bones, I can't rank it any higher. If he was developed more I could easily ship him with America.

America/Cuba: 7/10

Cuba has a very strong hatred for America, doesn't he? Though whether America reciprocates that hatred or not is up to question. Considering his other rivalries though, America is probably very dismissive or unaware about Cuba's hatred. Whether it is reciprocated or not, I love a good ol' rivalry!

America/Cyprus: 3/10

I guess there's nothing bad about it, but what can I say about this? Cyprus would probably be scared of America or at least uncomfortable with his presence.

America/Czechia: 6/10

Anything to cuck Slovakia.

America/Denmark: 7/10

I think these two would be a very chaotic duo! They'd get into all sorts of shenanigans and probably plant a stink bomb somewhere in the meeting room. Them in a romantic context doesn't compell me, but they seem like they'd be good friends.

America/Ecuador: 6/10

There's nothing wrong with it, but I can't say much about it since Ecuador's barely a character. I can imagine them being good friends though.

America/Egypt: 6/10

There's something interesting about the dynamic of someone who doesn't talk and someone who doesn't know how to shut up.

America/England: -100000000/10

We got to USUK.... Honestly man I don't think I can describe the absolute HATE BONER I have for this ship. Reading the world itself feels like a walk through the fiery coals that make up the ground of hell. The ship is a bastardization of the characters involved and I am glad that it is finally dying out. Putting aside the incestuous and pedophilic undertones, most USUK content I've seen heavily mischaracterize America and England. I could probably replace the two characters with Generic Yaoi Couple™ and nobody would be able to tell the difference!!!!

America/Estonia: 0/10

No idea why but Himaruya made Estonia 17... I know ages are almost obsolete in Hetalia nowadays but maaan still

America/Finland: 1/10

Honestly I've always imagined Finland acting more like a father figure to America than anything romantic.

America/France: 0/10

Incest.

America/Germany: 7/10

Couples with one wild party and one that keeps them in check are always fun!

America/Greece: 3/10

Honestly I'd feel bad for Greece if he has to deal with America all the time. Let him nap pls

America/Hong Kong: 0/10

Hong Kong is 16-17

America/Hungary: 3/10

I think she'd just be trying her hardest trying to set him up with Austria instead.

America/Iceland: 0/10

Iceland is 16-17.

America/India: 4/10

I think I see potential in this ship. The two are both described as pretty wild characters, with India still being pretty mature. I see America instigating India to act more upon his wild side. But honestly I don't know much about India to actually determine what the nature of their relationship would be like.

America/Indonesia: 6/10

Again, I see potential. I think these two might be cute together, but I can't really get invested in it.

America/Ireland: 7/10

I think America and Ireland would be really close considering the history of Irish immigrants in America. Maybe they could've lived with each other at some point? Considering there were a lot of Irish immigrants to the country back then....

America/Italy: 7/10

It sounds pretty fun! I like both characters, I think a relationship with each other is enjoyable. Dumb + dumb stick together!

America/Japan: 9/10

I think America and Japan have a pretty wholesome relationship, I really like them together. Their dynamic also interests me with it being extrovert x introvert. Also also cultural exchanges between the two are always fun

America/Korea: 0/10

Korea is 15-16

America/Latvia: 0/10

Latvia is 15

America/Liechtenstein: 0/10

Liechtenstein feels too young.

America/Lithuania: 5/10

Ehhh, I think it's fine. Most of the content I've seen of Ameliet falls into the pitfalls of typical yaoi tropes and I can't really get into it. It seems homey though so extra point.

America/Luxembourg: 0/10

Luxembourg is under 18... Apparently? I'm not sure where this age came from but I got it from the wiki.

America/Macau: 4/10

Ehhhh.... I guess it's fine. + Extra points for gambling

America/Malaysia: 5/10

This ship seems fun. Malaysia kun is such a cute character and he would have very funny interactions with America, I like imagining the latter helping him build his confidence.

America/Moldova: 0/10

Bruh

America/Monaco: 0/10

Monaco is under 18.

America/Netherlands: 2/10

I don't know, doesn't seem that interesting to me.

America/New Zealand: 0/10

Feels kind of incestuous but idk

America/Norway: 1/10

It's not bad but I'm not that invested in Norway.

America/Philippines: 0/10

There's a dynamic between them I built in my head that makes it hard to put them in a relationship...

America/Poland: 6/10

Dense Character x Cheeky Character? I wonder how long it'll take for either party to become annoyed.

America/Prussia: 0/10

While I think a ship between two characters with both of their personalities would be cute, it's important to note that Prussia was America's mentor during the American revolution. So it just kinda feels weird tbh....

America/Romania: 3/10

It's fine, I could see how it may interest some people but ultimately I don't really care about it.

America/Romano: 2/10

I think it's fine but explosive tsunderes aren't really my cup of tea anymore, I've grown out of that phase :( a platonic relationship between them would be fun though.

America/Russia: 9/10

OTP!!! Honestly though I've gotten quite bored of it, but I especially like this ship because America and Russia are my favourite characters in Hetalia.

America/Seychelles: 0/10

I think Seychelles is underaged... Idk

America/Singapore: 0/10

Singapore is under 18, I guess.

America/Slovakia: 2/10

I don't think Slovakia is able to be with anyone other than Czechia.

America/Spain: 5/10

It seems interesting! I see potential in it but I can't really bring myself to ship it.

America/Sweden: 1/10

Same as Finland, for some reason Sweden/Finland and America have been depicted in a lot of parental relationships in the fandom. Can't unseen it tbh.

America/Switzerland: 2/10

I think it could be interesting, but I really can't see these two work at all.

America/Taiwan: 0/10

Pretty sure Taiwan's underaged + shipping her with a guy feels wrong.

America/Thailand: 3/10

These two could be interesting together, but ultimately... ?idk

America/Turkey: 3/10

Don't see any romance between them but I think these guys would be pretty epic drinking buddies.

America/Ukraine: 2/10

I'm gonna be tbh guys I don't think Ukraine will be able to handle a manchild like America, then again, I don't think anybody can handle America.

America/Vietnam: 2/10

Idk most of the content I've seen of this ship involves Vietnam War stuff and sometimes it does feel a little messed up but... I do think that if I researched more about it it could be more interesting

[romaritimeharbor]

just to be very clear. these guys would not cheat under any circumstances:

childe (he's a family man i just know he would not ever dare to do something like that 🙏)

lyney (bro fought a fatui harbinger for his siblings. enough said)

kaeya (do NOT argue with me if you know anything about his character you know he fucking wouldn't) (he is NOT the #1 candidate for grandson in law for nothing 🙏)

diluc (you really think he would cheat after what he's been through? nah. sit down.)

baizhu (he's baizhu? why would he cheat? he's so kind and compassionate? it would not even cross his mind)

venti (why're you guys acting like he'd cheat when he literally took on his dead friend's form in his memory and has not abandoned that form for the last 2600 years 🤨) (dude if he didn't want to be in a relationship he would just leave)

xiao (he's XIAO) (hello?) (xiao the guardian yaksha? xiao forever loyal to liyue? that xiao? yeah. he would never)

alhaitham (he would be mature enough to just... break up with his lover if he wasn't attracted to them anymore 👍)

cyno (HE WOULD NEVER. END OF STORY)

neuvillette (dragon. Cheating would not even cross his mind, he would probably marry for life)

kazuha (i just don't see it dude? seems so ooc imo)

obligatory note: if your fave isn't on here, it doesn't mean i think they would cheat. the characters on here are ones who, i feel, have personalities and moral + ethical principles that cheating would go DIRECTLY AGAINST, so more morally ambiguous men like scaramouche (scara, not wanderer or kabukimono) etc etc aren't on here. also, only characters whose lore i know very well are listed here for accuracy purposes, so there are like no inazuma characters on here bc i don't know them like that. also sometimes i just forget about some characters' existence LMAO

[emperoryumemomo]

Yodel adle eedle idle ooo honey wake up new AU just dropped

go listen to the song NOW

[lord-of-tomatoes]

Can you draw Cyprus and/or Turkey pls ? I don't know if you ever draw them but Cyprus would be so cute in your artstyle

Or more Gregy if you prefer

I hate his haircut so much why does his hair look like that??? Bestie get another barber

Anyways i drew all of them cause I'm indecisive

[ifindus]

Hello, sorry if this is the wrong place to ask but you honestly know so much about Norway I figured I would try. I wanna write a fanfic with him as a major character, but I've never really written him before. Do you have any tips about him/his character so I can potray him well and not fuck him up? @_@

Hey! Sorry for the late reply. I'm honored you'd come here for advice, and I'll try to do my best, but in the end we all have different ways of writing/interpreting characters so I want to emphasize there is no "correct way" to write him ✨

I think my main advice for writing Norway is to not make him overly emotional - ik; I'm contradicting myself on this one - but what I mean is that to me, he is a character that mainly acts based on logic and not emotion. He does feel a lot of emotion at times, but he rarely shows it - something that indicated that he has good control over his actions and chooses what to show other people.

I'm sure you'll do great regardless though �� it's your own interpretation that matters anyway. I'd love to read it if/when you decide to post it 🥰

[vanessalocke]

Why is official APH France an underrated character?

Today, I would like to repost a post about France that I wrote a long time ago. Please note that this post does not reflect my current views. Next, this is considered my personal blog, so if you disagree, please click back. And this post will only talk about what I (used to) felt about France in the official version, not exactly the France in my current headcanon and fanfic (even though that is the foundation for today).

.

[This post is controversial and has a personal opinion. If you disagree, just skip over it. But also because this post is mainly to express my secret thoughts that I don't dare tell anyone, so it's completely hypothetical]

Okay, this is a post about why I like APH France, and why I don't see him the way most people see him.

In short, because his aura looks very bright and when he smiles he is very cute (like the photo below).

I wonder when I fell in love with him, because it's been so many years, I can't remember. I will never be able to remember exactly how I fell.

Yeah pretty sure when people first watch Hetalia everyone thinks he's the typical sweet badboy, some people even say he's ex f^ck boiz and I'm no exception. But... damn, the more I follow this guy, the more I see his stereotype being wrong.

At this point it should be noted that when I talk about APH France, I am talking about France from 2011 onwards. It must be clarified that in the early days of APH, Hima's expression was quite dark. Maybe at that time Hima drew APH to be satirical or something, so not only was the plot quite ironic at times (and a lot of times he was sarcastic wrongly) but also the characters he built were very... But c'mon, MORE THAN 10 years have passed, just 1 year is enough to change people's way of thinking, let alone 10 years. Not to mention, APH does not have a specific plot or spirit to be consistent from beginning to end, so the later APH compared to the first APH has a completely different atmosphere and attitude, otherwise I want to say that APH has almost transformed into a new shape and only takes the first period as the root to develop. APH later became much gentler, lovely and brighter.

(When I wrote these lines, I still liked APH so I still defended it. Oh, what beautiful old days)

And I'll say it straight out that I didn't like the early APH. I also didn't like the way Hima built his characters in the early stages.

Okay, back to the main point. France is a very special character in APH. Why do I say France, not Italy - the central character, Germany - the king carrying the team, or Japan - the artist’s mother country? That's because when I read the early APH comics, I had a pretty clear feeling that the artist didn't like France.

It's not that he hated him, but he didn't like him and looked down on France a bit. Not to mention that Hetalia is strongly influenced by America's point of view and men often dislike France, think that French people are sissy. Basically, back then the way this artist looked at France was no different from the way everyone make memes "the white flag is the flag of France", "France is useless", etc. It was like everyone feels that this guy is very perverted, very annoying, very colorful, like a vase and can't do anything else. But like I said above, more than 10 years is a long process. Although the entire APH series does not have a consistent plot, Himaruya had a "development" in the way he views the main character he created. Partly because this is a series that takes references from real life and is not completely fiction, it is completely understandable for Hima to change the way he builds or even the perspective of his own character.

That's why later on France had a few solo episodes, all the deep emotions were attributed to France - something that is very contradictory to the "dark humor" stories he drew about France in the beginning. I don't know if it was to "compensate" for Himaruya pushing France down too much before.

Anyway, that's about the background. Below I will list the reasons I like this character:

- As for the character's personality, as I said, France has a very bright aura. I'm not talking about literary history or French reforms in real life, but just in the main story alone, I can see that there's something very... intelligent about him. Not trivially clever, but intelligence like, knowing a lot and understanding deeply. The fact that he is sharp and intelligent is also confirmed by the strip where he holds a knife to Prussia's neck and laughs.

- Then there's the emotional aspect. From Jeanne d'Arc to Napoleon, it is completely obvious that France is a very emotional person, a bit childishly attached to those he loves. Yes, that's right, he always says "I'm the big brother of Europe" but when he's with people he loves, he's EXTREMELY childish, likes to act spoiled, likes to attract attention (For example, he was cheerfully excited when he was with Lisa or was chased by Napoleon).

- France's way of expressing emotions is very vivid. When he is angry, he will say that he is angry; When he feels sorry for himself, he bites the towel; If he likes attention, he acts like a clown;... but never once has he lost his temper to attack others just because he was hurt. I mean, from all the symptoms I've seen in France so far, I can determine that France can be arrogant, picky, and difficult to please, but I've never once felt like he lost control of himself.

- Yeah sure, when he broke into England's house, was talkative, wore a pink dress and had eyelashes, you can see that he no longer has any shame, but I like people like this. Funny, optimistic and extremely confident.

- He really likes to care and take care of others. This is based on:

1. He is very attached to his previous bosses (as mentioned above),

2, He cooks very well, people who like to cook and cook well are people who like to take care of and see joy from others,

3. On America's independence day, he not only patted America's head but also gave him the Statue of Liberty,

4, Italy often confides in France. France also works as a newscaster giving love advice to others, and he is one of the few people who not only is not afraid of Russia but even comes up to ask about the other person's health,

5. Do you remember the Christmas episode where England called and scolded France? That evening France was alone and looked down at Paris. In the episode about a soldier meeting France and wondering about the life and death of the nation, the ending is also a scene of France sitting and watching the flow of people passing by. France is not only proud of himself, he also loves being close to people and

6, I didn't include this but if you want to take an example from APH in the first few years, there is this scene: when England was so sick, France was really panicked and worried. Even without bringing a romantic perspective here, for me it is a genuine concern between human.

- He is mean, meticulous, and profiteering. Damn him. I don't understand how he can play with Spain. One person remembers that people owe him every penny, one person "Huh? Do I have debt? When did I owe it??"

- Actually... sometimes this guy's EQ is unexpectedly low, especially with things related to England. I don't know how, every time England shows a little interest in him, he always "?:D huh? What's going on? You're planning something with me, right? Let's get to the main point, why are you rambling on?". I don't know how many times Mr. Kirkland has sighed at this guy.

- He is only mean to other countries, but to ordinary people he is very gentle and loving. With women, he has distance but is not impolite.

- It looks radical but is actually extremely conservative. In fact, no matter how much his country reforms and changes, he always seems to be somewhat attached to the monarchy, always recalling his past. Not to mention that he is one of the oldest men in Europe, and he is always nostalgic for previous bosses. As an old man and a secret royalist, it can be expected that France is quite a conservative person.

- That's why the aristocratic blood is deeply ingrained in the personality. Except when he is in a joking mood, every scene of Hima drawing France always has something quite aristocratic. Not the type of strict and meticulous aristocrat like Austria, but the type of guy who wakes up and carries his messy hair out into the street but still looks beautiful.

- France has "an iron fist covered in velvet". He seems very easy-going and pleasant. There are many cases where others just need to beg him a little and he will give in. But in the cases where he said no, it meant no. When he is serious, he is very decisive and does not compromise. One time America broke down and asked for a drink, but he firmly refused (Yes, the fact that America doesn't know how to drink alcohol has been confirmed in official). When he met his idol's reincarnation, he disappeared completely after talking, leaving his idol to live her own life. When he collects debt from others, he is also very decisive LOL.

- He is very beautiful in a feminine way. Beautiful in a feminine way to the point of having to grow a beard and body hair to make people feel masculine. I bet he has endured sexual solicitation from old men.

- He has a lot of part-time jobs, from waiter to announcer to stylist. Was hired by England to be a chef at his place for a while => didn't go to work because of lack of money, but because he was multi-talented => liked to go on strike probably because he was "tired of being too good", because he is afraid that the world is not chaotic enough, because he is bored. He's not lazy, because if he was lazy he wouldn't go to work so much, and with his great body, I think he works out quite hard at the gym.

- Sometimes he's quite silly and weird. America just has a childish personality, but this guy is sometimes inexplicably euphoric. He cares too much about auxiliary things like clothes and hair accessories, but forgets about the main things. He argues with people about silly things. When he fights with people, he asks where the fabric comes from to make such beautiful clothes instead of focusing on fighting. When people asked his opinion, he always talked off topic. When people criticize him, he looks away, covers his ears, and whistles, "The weather is so beautiful today." He also raises dozens of silly birds.

In general, this man is not what he appears to be. He looks like a typical Don Juan but in reality he's mostly just an embellishment, seems mature but actually has a very childish temperament, seems to be sociable but is the type of person who can restore his own energy and doesn't need too much human attention. He doesn't seem to care about his appearance but is actually very proud. He seems heartless and shallow but is actually a thoughtful person. He likes to talk off topic, collect debts, drama queen- no, drama king. Extremely crazy and silly.

This guy's mind is so contradictory and complicated that the more I dig, the more interesting things I find.

And that's why Francis Bonnefoy is loved.

Ps: let me tell you a little about the Zodiac: Francis is a typical Pisces.

[fortunemars]

Hehe I get that, I am a forever garrence shipper bc it just makes more sense to me that they'd end up together instead of with aphmau, especially because I'm actually a fan of changing the narrative to show the bad stuff aphmau does as bad instead of brushing it off

Bc she does some bad stuff! She is absolutely not innocent of ,,any,, of her crimes but since she's the MC and also ACTUAL IRENE no one really says anything about it or teaches her to be better. They all just accept it and move on bc if they don't then they become an enemy to Aphmau and the PD alliance (which ive just realised spells PDA)

Paaaaaage break!

And yeah tbh I'd be the same way in aphmau's position (abt the love triangle), especially bc Garroth and Laurence (Laurence especially bc jesson think flirting must basically be harassment as we see with many characters- not even the women are safe!) are kind of pushy with their love.

Like laurence is the obvious example here, he is constantly flirting, doesn't really take no for an answer*, gets in her personal space, gets jealous and violent over other men being the same way, etc etc. he also has a couple scenes where he makes it seem like aphmau doesn't really have a choice between the two** and that is freaky! I wouldn't want to be in a situation where I'm made to choose between two people and am punished if I pick outside of them or if I stay single. It's an uncomfortable situation and I'd be upset too, I'd tell them to fuck off but aphmau never really does.

*which is just such shit writing and not in his character, he has several serious scenes where he apologises and says that he won't do it again AND THEN DOES IT AGAIN

**example- the forest scene right after the arc above where he basically says "Garroth has to reveal his feelings or you're mine" which always threw me off bc he basically implies that they only reason she isn't "his" is bc Laurence is holding off for Garroth which is FUCKING GROSS! He does this several times too. Like "well you aren't taken so I'm basically entitled to your hand" is so creepy and I hate jesson cause they basically condone it with how many characters act the same. Mostly in mystreet but still. Grody.

Garroth is similar in a really vague way? With how he's written in some scenes he's more like,, (redditor voice) "wow, you didn't pick me? Leave then, they always do!" (Mostly after he escapes the Irene dimension, he acts like he's entitled to aphmau's attention and trust and he gets mean when she doesn't immediately listen to him). This does not include the betrayal arc right before season 1 ends bc he has reason to have acted that way. I don't remember where it's said but I think somewhere someone reveals that Garroth had just told Laurence how he felt and larbo said that he'd give Garroth a chance to reveal his feelings before he swooped in but then immediately afterwards Zane + co made a mirage of larbo and aph kissing. Awkward...

But other times Garroth gets mad over aph "letting men talk to her that way" ("that way" being flirting) and aph always brushes him off with a laugh and it kinda ends there. But sometimes like in the Irene dimension when Garroth is finally telling aph abt his feelings and kinda just going "I have to tell you in case i die or never see you again" (which actually?? Might have been her first kiss?? Bc first garbo in Irene dimension scene is before werewolf arc) it feels like there's this pressure on aph to,, basically say she loves him or crush his dreams and send him off to die. Which I don't think is Garroth's intention but yk. Kinda intense lmao

Do I think it's good that they are pressuring her into choosing one of them and getting upset when she doesn't? No! Do I think it's just toxic jesson writing? Yeah! Does it even feel in character for either of them? No! Nor is it consistent enough to make sense!

Am I interested in seeing someone write it into their versions of Garroth and Laurence as a genuine flaw they have and have it be denounced, worked on, or turned into a new way to view them?

ABSOLUTELY!!!

Personally I'd rather rework it because it doesn't seem in character for how I write them but I'd like to see someone take the characters as they are with everything they say and write them having consequences or feelings of guilt or even NO guilt about it!!! If you can work it into their characters and make it make sense or at least be consistent in the character then PLEASE!!!

I will allow my blorbos to be bad people... As a treat... <3

^ i say as if they aren't actually bad ppl sometimes

^ and I even write them as bad ppl sometimes too

^ give them some toxic traits! For the funnies! They don't have to fit into the box of what other ppl think they do! Fanfiction can be whatever you want!

P.s. I wouldn't hate Aaron so much if he had actually gotten character development before he??? Died and then got taken over by shad??? If there was smthn there to justify or explain the stuff he caused then I'd actually like him, I probably wouldn't even be mad at him getting with aph bc then he'd have a real reason to! Instead of whatever the hell we got!!!

P.p.s. if you have any religious trauma (or generally good!) fics for any of the cast I am making intense grabby hands in your direction (i am starving for motivation to finish my fics rn)

@panicataphmausinsanity okay so Zane HC's LETS GOOOOOOOO

Before we start trigger warning for like, child abuse and torture and shit. Seriously this gets dark. Zane redemption must come at a price >:D

So. Something interesting to me in regards to Zane is how in MCD, He's like, this evil, terrible human being, but in Mystreet, he's like, a semi functional human being who can be a NOT bad person and NOT do bad things. And so I got to thinking.

I don't think Zane was born a bad person.

Personally, I kind of hate the way Jess wrote Zane. Like, yes, evil for the sake of evil is great and all, but like. In season one and two, Zane was this overarching antagonist who was always one step ahead of the cast and plotting and having a good time being a paice of shit.

And then season 3 comes around and now he's a shadow knight, on the run, has PTSD...

Look, I'm not knocking the guy for having PTSD. I'm just saying that the way it's portrayed kind of makes him seem like a whimpery coward. AGAIN, NOT KNOCKING PTSD!!

I think the position that Zane found himself in season 3 was a PERFECT set up for a redemption arc and it makes me SO MAD that it didn't happen.

So I guess I have to do it myself apparently -_-

I've been thinking a lot about Zane. I don't want him to stop being evil. Not right away. So we keep what happened in the first two seasons the same. He's a cackling maniac that has killed a shit ton of people and is on his father's payroll.

And then he dies.

(skill issue lol)

Anyway, Zane is dead. But he's also Zane, so of course he weasels his way out of being dead. And then he gets tortured and is subjected to the same suffering he condemned so many others to yada yada yada PTSD bleh.

Everything seems to be the same so far.

But then he breaks out if the nether. Still, we're on track, right?

He gets captured, he gets expedited to Phoenix Drop, he gets interrogated, it's all the same.

But here we find a canon divergence. Instead of being absolute dumbasses, they don't bring him into the nether. Let's scrap that plot point entirely.

Instead, we're going to let Zane bake in prison for a while!

Here are the main issues that make Zane irredeemable.

1. He's killed like, a shit ton of people, for funsies ig

2. He killed Vylad.

3. He destroyed Aaron's village.

Let's keep those things in mind.

So he's in prison. While in prison, Garroth starts to visit him (along with Travis but shhhh we'll get to him another day) and just. You know. Be angry.

Garroth has seen Zane as a spoiled brat his entire life. He's always been their father's favorite. He's always had everything handed to him on a silver platter. He's always been willing to do whatever it takes for power. He's greedy. He's psychotic. Garroth hates him.

But Zane is Garroth's brother. And Garroth is the type of golden retriever, gold hearted, kind type of character to still love his brother even if he hates him.

That doesn't mean he goes in and is like, nice to him though. Nope. Garroth goes to visit him and nine times out of ten it devolves into a screaming match where Zane antagonizes him the entire time and Garroth yells at him for being a shitty human being.

And then one day Phoenix Drop is attacked and Zane escapes.

They track him down eventually. When they find him, they strike a deal with him. Due to Irene related shenanigans they need his expertise as a scholar of Irene to figure out some more stuff for Aphmau. In exchange, they'll protect him from the Shadow Lord (who he pissed off by stealing one of his soul fragments lol Zane behavior).

Eventually they're able to establish a rapore with Zane. Garroth still gets a migraine whenever they have a conversation. Vylad still refuses to speak to him (oh btw he's visiting from his nether revolution vacation just so u know) and Aphmau still wants to tear out his guts for killing the love of her life or whatever, but he becomes manageable. They can like, stand him. A little bit. Slightly.

And then Zianna gets kidnapped or whatever. So they go rescue her. But when they get back to Phoenix Drop they forget to mention the fact that Zane is like. There and in the wild and not currently killing entire villages worth of people.

So Zianna rolls up to Phoenix Drop and gets jumpscared by her youngest son and also, notably, Zane is NOT happy to see her. He shuts the front door in her face. It's hilarious even though Garroth doesn't think of it that way.

So, now we have our key players all in one place. Garroth, Vylad, Zane, and Zianna.

Let's say they have to all go find an artifact toghether or something and they need Zianna there because it's related to something she knows and they need Zane there because of Irene lore reasons. they go on this mission. One day, they sit and set up for the night, set up bedrolls, whatever. They're lounging around the fire and talking when Vylad eventually mentions his time as a shadow knight in the nether and something about torture.

Zane blinks, and, having not been included in the conversation initially, buts it to say,

"Oh, please. Don't tell me getting tortured by those amatures was DISTRESSING for you. I would have thought father's methods would have given you thicker skin."

The others bristle and start scolding him, of course, because Zane is like, the reason Vylad became a shadow knight in the first place. But Vylad himself, who is very observant and hard to antagonize, latches into something Zane said.

"Methods? What methods?" He says. He says it sharply, too.

Of course, Zane doesn't pick up on this. He just rolls his eyes.

"Don't tell me you forgot. Father had a whole floor dedicated to torture and loved collecting new methods from around the region. I think he even had a historian employed who would research for him..."

"What?" Garroth says, stunned out of his anger.

Zianna has gone silent. So has everyone else, and now they're watching with baited breaths.

"So what? What would that have to do with me?"

And for the first time that they've ever seen, Zane looks... Puzzled.

"What, did he go easy on you? Didn't you talk back to him all the time? Once, after just asking him a question, he had two of my nails pulled. Shadow Knight torture was child's play in comparison," he shrugs, then takes a bite out of his stale price of bread.

There's silence.

Zane looks back at all of them, confused and now kind of pissed off. He looks like he usually does when he feels like he's about to be scolded for saying something crass. Except, that's not what happens. Instead, Vylad looks him in the eye for the first time since Zane killed him, and with the most emotion they've ever heard from him, says,

"What?"

Zane hums.

"Come on. Don't play dumb. He hated you. Im sure he must have sent you to the "torture basement" at least once. You got on his nerves constantly,"

Garroth makes an aborted movement, like he's going to stand up and rush him, but Vylad stops him with a flick of his hand. And then Vylad starts doing what he does best. Interrogating him.

So remember that list, right? Let's reframe a few things.

Zane was not the favorite child. Garroth was.

Garte was a paice of shit. Garte hated Vylad. But he also hates Zane. Why wouldn't he? Vylad was his wife's affair child, sure, but Zane, Zane was Zianna's spitting image.

When Zane was little, he used to take snails and out them in the grass after it rained. He uses to clamor for his mother's pastries just like his brothers. He was a normal child, and he was NOT born a psychopath.

But Garte had a thought, one day.

Wouldn't it be funny... If he made his wife think he WAS one?

Wouldn't it be funny to punish her that way? Wouldn't it be funny to turn Zane into a terrible person, and have her think it was for no reason? Make her think that she birthed a psychopath? How much would it hurt her? How much would she weep?

Garte used to punish Zane for Vylad's joy. One of Vylad's laughs would equal one slap to the face. One side remark in defence of their mother would equal one hour locked in his father's study closet in his office.

Garte turns Zane against himself brothers. And the best part in his mind?

He makes Zane believe that they know about all of it.

He tells Zane that his mother knows about it. That his brothers don't care that he's beaten. That Vylad does things so he gets punished on purpose.

Zane grows up thinking that his brothers probably go through this too. He grows up thinking that his mother just doesn't love him. And so he doesn't say a thing.

Garte starts having him tortured instead of superficially physically abused? He says nothing.

Garte makes him become a priest of Okasis even though the consequence of failing the academy is death? He says nothing.

Garte would encourage Zane to blugeon animals to death and bring them to Zianna and laugh at her horrified face from afar. Garte encourages Zane to say psychotic things while they're eating dinner, and watches as his family becomes more and more convinced Zane is a monster.

Until Zane is one.

But this reframes a few things.

The people Zane killed? It was under orders. He eventually became his father's right hand man. Most of his overarching goals have been in service of his father.

For Aaron's village, we'll stick a pin in that one, but long story short, Aaron's village had been planning a coup that night under his wife's orders. Zane had them killed under his father's orders so they could eliminate them as political neighbors. He let Aaron live out of pity.

And Vylad.

Basically, remember when I said that Garte used to punish Zane according to Vylad's actions?

One day, Vylad gets into an explosive argument with Garte defending Zianna. And Garte, again, without the other's knowing, has Zane tortured. Except this time it's for a WEEK STRAIGHT.

So when Zane gets out. He's. Very unstable.

And then he comes across Vylad in a semi secluded area.

And Vylad is acting like he did nothing, and all he's ever done is make Zane suffer, and Zane hates him hates him HATES HIM--

And so he snaps. And he kills him.

Keep in mind, though, Zane thinks this is all normal. He doesn't realize that killing his own brother has traumatized him. He doesn't realize that he's a victim of abuse. He doesn't realize that what his dad did is not okay because he THINKS HIS FAMILY KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED, and if they didn't contradict his abuse, then this must be normal. He thinks that Vylad has probably been tortured too. He thinks Garroth is their father's favorite because in his mind he's determined that Garroth not receiving any attention from their father is a GOOD thing because ATTENTION EQUALS TORTURE to him.

And this reframes a few things. His constant bid for power? It's not greed, it's DESPERATION. Power makes him feel safe. Hurting others makes him feel powerful because that's how his father had power over him.

His highly volatile and violent personality? It's l he's ever known. Do you have ANY idea what torture could do to a child? He has severe PTSD. Like, severe and repressed and his outburst are more common when he's uncomfortable or anxious or experiencing any negative emotion, which is often.

Garte took Zane's empathy from him. Turned him against his family. Made him into a monster. With these types of characters, I imagine it would probably be very difficult for them to redevelop their emotions and empathy because if they do that, they would have to face their whole mountain of trauma and the guilt of all the lives they've ruined.

I think eventually, after a lot of work, Zane does eventually regain his empathy. It probably finally sinks in during a small gathering. His mother makes her famous cake. Zane has long gotten used to being excluded during these sorts of things, but then...

His mother slides a plate of cake right in front of him.

Strawberry.

His favorite.

And she smiles at him.

This is probably after they found out about Garte being a peice of shit. Maybe a few months.

All Zane has ever wanted is to be loved. Maybe he didn't know it, but when he takes a bite of his mother's strawberry cake for the first time in decades and the nostalgic taste registers in his brain, something snaps.

And he becomes human again.

And he realizes:

Oh.

I'm a person.

I'm a murderer.

I'm a monster.

LMAO WAS THIS COHERENT SORRY PANIC I TRIED MY BEST I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS ONE OSIBWIBDIBSIBU

[theladyofrosewater]

So I was browsing the MCD wiki (which sidenote thank you @/lggy for maintaining the wiki you are a godsend) and I noticed that because of the sepia or whatever filter they used, Zianna and Aaron's wife Lilly look really similar so I thought "what if I made them sisters"

THINK ABOUT IT FOR A SECOND. If I make it so that Lilly and Aaron get married early that would effectively make Zianna the sister of the Lord of Falconclaw and a pretty valuable person to marry in terms of alliances so Zianna would make the decision to marry Garte and therefore O'Khasis would never move on Falconclaw and hey if Garte died early (most descendants of Esmund have a habit of dying young in my rewrite) that would effectively let Zianna rule O'Khasis as long as she had an heir that could wield Esmund's relic.

It also would make Aaron more involved in the plot because I will be honest, while I do not hate Aaron because I can separate him from Jason enough. Aaron feels like a character who would have been a one-off character or at least one who was a side character to the level of say Lucinda. I know the Divine Warriors and Irene are supposed to be the kinda main story but I will be honest with you the Ro'Meaves and their absolute chaos are way more interesting to me. Zane was the season one's villain, Garroth and Vylad were mysteries that we got to upwrap with both Ru'aun as a whole and some stuff about the Shadow Knights. In making Aaron Zianna's brother-in-law and the uncle of Garroth, Zane and Vylad to me, besides just making him more connected to the main plot, does two main things.

Aaron in current MCD canon is really only connected to two characters Aphmau and Zane. I'm changing his relationship to Aph to be more of a mentorship one because I think he sees the young daughter he and his wife wanted to have but never got too because of Zane. to me it makes the massacre at Falconclaw be that much more personal because instead of this random priest just killing your wife, child, and entire village for no real reason imagine this. You're a lord of a village and relatively recently two of your nephews have died and one of them quite gruesomely, you've got one nephew left and he requests a family visit and you accept because hey the kid has always been a bit weird but he just lost both of his brothers and he probably needs support right now so you extend an invitation for him to visit. He gets there and he somehow got to be the head of the major religion in your area and the kid's not even 19 yet and looks like he hasn't slept in days so you rush the tour and send him to your home, maybe your wife can get him to eat something, or your son might cheer him up for at least a little while. You think nothing of it and keep doing your job until you hear screaming and see so many dead. Your wife is dead, your son is dead everyone is dead and the only one alive is your nephew and when he looks at you he fucking smiles and says it "it was necessary but don't worry I'm sure you'll join them soon enough" before walking off leaving you to bury bodies for years. Making Aaron be related to the Ro'meaves in my opinion changes his story from just a fridging backstory to a classic tragedy because it becomes a betrayal bathed and forged from blood.

I think it would give him a better motivation to risk his life to get Garroth back and it would make him interact with the other characters because he wants to know what kind of man his non-evil nephew turned into. That causes him to be more and more social with everyone. Maybe he spars and trains with Katelyn, He teaches Dante and his kids how to fish because Aaron never got to teach Jacob how, but still wants to pass on that skill. Maybe he knows things about shadow knights that most people don't, and he promises to teach Laurance in case he might help him. Maybe he takes Travis hunting because Travis never got to go on hunting trips with a parent. And then he sacrifices himself. Katelyn ignores the painful feeling she gets when she looks at the spare chalk and wrappings she has for spars. The fishing poles in Dante's house get covered with dust and cobwebs, the strings rotting away and snapping. Laurance and maybe Vylad struggling with being shadow knights as the call gets stronger and wondering if Aaron would have known how to deal with it. Travis out of anger snaps his bow in half before realizing what he did and breaking down. I want Garroth to be horrified when he finally is home and realizes just who they lost to get him back. I want them to care about him and I want his sacrifice to be more than love triangle fodder

[peonycats]

Hey, so as a person who has in my unpublished works a story wherein APH Greenland is minorly featured, after I saw your post complaining about Greenland's current characterisation in fanworks, I realised that my story 100% fits all the things you were complaining about. And if it's not too much trouble how would you characterise Greenland in a way that is less problematic?

Or do you have any reccomendations for resources I can use to educate myself about Greenlandic culture?

So, I will preface this with the following:

I AM NOT INDIGENOUS. I AM NOT INUK. YOU SHOULD GO ASK SOMEONE INDIGENOUS OR BETTER YET, SOMEONE WHO IS GREENLANDIC INUIT.

However, in this post, I will primarily give some guidelines that are generally applicable to any nation personification of color that has experienced colonialism/imperialism by a Western nation and is still dealing with its legacy. Keep in mind that what you're asking for is a lot, however- we're touching on topics of national anthropomorphizations in political cartoons, the depiction of the colonized, particularly the indigenous, and the relationship between the colonized and the colonizer.

Don't make Greenland America and Canada's relative.

Don't make Greenland Denmark's kid, biological or otherwise.

Don't use sensitive contemporary issues in Greenland for fandom content.

Don't Make Greenland America and Canada's Relative

Every time I've seen this come up, this is usually justified one of two ways-

a) Greenland is related to America and Canada because the Vikings set up the first European settlements in continental North America, so they would be related via their Norse heritage. b) Greenland is related to America and Canada because America and Canada have a native parent, and Greenland is a sibling of that native parent.

To head things off- The first one is bad. See my next section for the issues of making Greenland a child of the Nordics/Nordic ancestors.

The second one almost always carries the implication of that the native parent of America and Canada is some kind of nebulous pan-American "APH Native America" personification; the issues with having the many indigenous peoples of the Americas as similar and interchangeable enough to warrant only one personification to represent them all are obvious, I should hope.

The slightly more plausible alternative is that America and Canada's native parent represents some Inuit group, and through that, Greenland is their sibling. Even if more plausible, we run into the same issue of turning a group into a monolith- there are many different Inuit groups, all with their own unique histories and cultures. Though Inuit groups may be more related than all Indigenous Americans to each other, they are still not a monolith, and determining their relationships to each other shouldn't be resolved with a blanket solution of "they're all related, nuff said."

If we want to dig into the weeds of historical accuracy, it makes no sense for America to have Inuit heritage, seeing as the United States began as the Thirteen Colonies in the Eastern Seaboard of the modern United States which doesn't overlap with the traditional lands of the Inuit. The Alaska Purchase was not made until 1867, hundreds of years after the establishment of the Thirteen Colonies.

I would also like to point out another issue I’ve seen with many “Auntie/Uncle Greenland depictions” in the fandom. Whenever you do see such depictions of Greenland in the fandom, almost never do we see the creator of such interpretations shedding light on any other indigenous characters (particularly ones not related to the USA and Canada). Therefore, such depictions are exceptionalizing and exalting an indigenous character above all other indigenous characters because they have more of a connection to major Western countries. 

Overall summary: The primary issue with making Greenland related to America and Canada is that Greenland is never allowed to exist outside of their links to these two. If you want to depict Greenland with respect, the most basic thing you can do is to not reduce Greenland into a tool for you to better characterize America and Canada and flesh out their background.

Don't make Greenland Denmark's Child, Biological or Otherwise

TW: racist caricatures of black, Latino, Native American, and Asian people

So first some quick historical background: Norse settlement of Greenland began around the 900s-1100s and died out sometime between 1450 and 1500 due to a variety of environmental and sociopolitical reasons. The surviving Norse settlers most likely either left or assimilated with the local Inuit populations, so there is some genetic legacy, but 85-90% of the population of Greenland today considers themselves Greenlandic Inuit.

For the following centuries, there were sporadic interactions between European whalers and the local Inuit. It was only until 1721 that another attempt at colonization was made, this time by the missionary Hans Egede, who founded a trading company and Lutheran mission near present day Nuuk, with the express permission of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway.

Greenland took on a special status in both Danish policy and imagination, a far-off land that was "vulnerable" to other nation's influences and in need of Danish protection. In line with that thinking, the Danish state held an exclusive monopoly on Greenland's resources and all trade with Greenlanders. It pressured Greenlandic Inuit to stay in their occupations of hunting and fishing so that Denmark could maintain access to resources Greenland provided, mainly animal products from local wildlife the Inuit hunted.

Additionally, the Danish also tightly regulated interactions between the Danish colonial population and the local Inuits. For a time, intermarriage was strictly controlled, limited to only Danish men and Greenlandic women of mixed descent and had to be approved by the colonial administration. When the US wanted to build military bases on Greenland for military purposes during WW2, a major concern of Greenlandic authorities was minimizing contact between the US soldiers and the local Inuits.

Of course, Greenland didn’t stay this way forever. Against Denmark’s wishes, Greenland did open up and become further integrated into the global economy and order of nations, and to this day a lot of Greenlanders have a Danish ancestor somewhere in their family tree.

However, to make Greenland (substantially) related to the Norse is to do a disservice to the hundreds of years of Greenlandic Inuit culture that already existed and then continued to thrive for hundreds of years in the absence of continued Nordic contact and influence. It implies that the ethnogenesis of the Greenlandic Inuit was kicked off by the Norse settlers, when in reality, the Greenlandic Inuit are largely descended from the native Thule people and later waves of migration of other Inuit people from modern day Nunavut and Nunavik. To make Greenland the child of Denmark is worse, and stands in stark contrast to the fact that compared to other nations and their settler colonies (think, England and America), Denmark heavily controlled Danish migration to Greenland and wanted to keep Greenland isolated and contained.

Now, moving past the issue of historical accuracy, there's been a long history in political cartoons starring national anthropomorphizations of allegorizing international relationships as familial relationships, or "mentor-mentee" relationships, especially when it comes to colonizer-colony relationships.

REPORT FROM THE FILIPINES Send more soldiers -Otis Uncle Sam: Balm in Gilead! Well, thank heavens both my new daughters haven't got the same disposition.

'School Begins', cartoon of Uncle Sam teaching a class in civilisation to pupils labelled 'Philippines', 'Hawaii', 'Porto Rico' and 'Cuba'

In these cartoons, the colonized is portrayed as child-like, infantile, in need of the US's benevolent guidance to be "civilized." After all, if the relationship between the colonizer and its colonial possessions was like that of a parent and their children (or a teacher and their students)- well, children need their parents, so therefore, the colonies need the colonizer and its guidance, right? By doing so, it portrays the relationship between the colonizer and its colonies as a necessary, benevolent one, one done for the benefit of the colony, and masks the inherently exploitative, unequal nature of colonialism. 

To make Denmark a parental influence on Greenland, then, is to replicate the same paternalistic attitude Denmark took to Greenland as a colonial possession in need of guidance and direction, and possibly whitewashing the toll Danish colonization has taken on Greenland. Even depictions of Denmark and Greenland that emphasize their “little brother/big brother” relationship are problematic, because they fall into the same colonial rhetoric of Greenland "needing" Denmark's civilizing guidance.

Moreover, sensitivity is another concern for depictions of Greenland. At the risk of speaking for groups I do not belong to, having a child Greenland be raised by Denmark and the other Nordics (esp if Greenland has a negative relationship w them) hews a little too closely to the real life kidnapping of Indigenous children from their families to be raised instead by white families, in an attempt to remove them from their heritage and culture. Unless you're actually Greenlandic Inuit or indigenous, I don't think this is your story to tell.

Don't Use Sensitive Contemporary Issues in Greenland for Fandom Content

Don't use sensitive contemporary issues for fandom content, especially as an outsider. Don't be like the person I saw making angst headcanons around Greenland's high suicide rate.

---

Recommended Reading

This video is a great introduction to Danish colonization of Greenland, and how I began my dive into Greenlandic history. Bear in mind that this is a 25 minute long video, so it's compressing a lot, but it's a jumping off point, not the end-all be all. Content warnings should be in the beginning of the video.

Phasing out the Colonial Status of Greenland by Erik Beukel

This is a report commissioned by the Danish government and Greenlandic Home Rule analyzing the period between 1945 and 1954, where Greenland's status was changed from that of a colony to an equal part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It's a series of political science essays looking at this period, but I found Chapter 2 the most useful, as it provides an overview of the relevant historical background factors in the relationship between Greenland and Denmark. Warning for some dated language (mostly because it uses Esk*mo at certain points) but otherwise there's not really any content warnings.

Worldviews of the Greenlanders: An Inuit Arctic Perspective by Brigitte Sonne

I haven't fully read this book so I can't totally vouch for this, but given the difficulty of accessing academic material of Greenland (especially as someone who doesn't speak or read Danish), this does fill in some much needed gaps in perspectives on Greenland. I realize the inherent problems of needing to read about Inuit perspectives in a book compiled by an outsider academic as well as the issues with the field of ethnography as a whole, but this may still be useful to some!

Articles I enjoyed that look at Greenlandic history and contemporary issues:

The Arctic Suicides: It's Not the Dark that Kills you

A Brief History of the Indignities Heaped Upon Greenland

How a failed social experiment in Denmark separated Inuit children from their families

[romaritimeharbor]

addiel try not to get attached to inherently nurturing & encouraging, and therefore either somewhat or extremely parental, characters challenge (impossible)

[little-estrellita]

Finished Mystreet and aaaaaaahh?

Spoilers up ahead

We saw Emmalyn earlier in the series, I'll never forget the scene with Garroth's feathers. So the reveal that she's "Ghost" was, eh?

It was obvious the team had to cut a lot of corners to make deadlines for the later half of the season. The animation sections became too many and suffered in quality... and the new season is meant to be fully animated.

Alot lost their lives, but it hurts that only the "side characters" were permanent. People who showed up just for this season and only to get picked off.

I also wish Aphmau's sperm donor did drown - he was right in saying he didn't deserve to be rescued. And him trying justify why he left guilty towards Aphmau and not Ein was BLAH. Even the main villain called him out. I love moments where you think the writing is going in a terrible direction only to be somewhat right, but at least 1 character acknowledges it.

I did like the ending. Aphmau couldn't save Aaron's memory. Love can't just undo that sort of thing. And the return of the not alone buddy.

But I wonder if Malissa lied about not knowing who Shu is or if the writers forgot she was already told? Melissa straight up talked about it with Aph.

I know I'm complaining alot but I do like the series.

Much more than I did when I was younger. Little me was a Dairies supporter. And for that preteen, I'm rewatching Dairies.. again. This time skipping season 0 {original season 1 where Aph plays with mods}

Ah. The simple times where the biggest dilemma was the WELL and the babe house. And everyone bullying the gaurds.

[hetalian-veteran]

Could Hetalia's Knights Templar still be alive?

Alright, bear with me. I'm going to go a little bit into conspiracy theory territory here.

So, I was beginning to wonder about the Knights Templar in Hetalia. While I don't believe it was ever explicitly stated that he died, it does seem to be implied in the comics. And while I can totally understand the idea of him being dead and gone, I'm not inclined to believe that this is exactly canon. This is partially due to the fact that I personally don't see something as canon unless it is explicitly stated in the text or shown through clear visuals. (i.e. someone literally telling us in the series that he's dead or seeing the Templar's dead body).

But I was thinking, what if he's somehow still alive and out there somewhere?

Granted, the Knights Templar were all hunted down, excommunicated, and in many cases even outright executed by the Catholic Church. This leads many to believe that aph Knights Templar went with them. And seeing as he was never a country, and rather a Christian military order, it would make sense for him to disappear with the order itself.

But here's the thing. There's a chance that the Knights Templar never really died. And I'm talking about both the aph character and the organization. And no, I'm not talking about revival movements that people have made. I'm talking about different groups that supposedly branched off of the Knights Templar after they were officially disbanded.

Some say the knights regrouped outside of Europe. Others say that there's evidence that they went and found sanctuary within Ireland or Scotland, and it was there that the Templars ended up establishing the Freemasons, which was, according to conspiracy theorists, just a rebrand. It was their way to live on and do their work without the Catholic Church butting in. And while I won't get into it now, there's at least some evidence out there to support these theories. But going into those will take way too long, and I fear I'm already sounding a bit crazy.

So, my conclusion is this; if the conspiracy theories are true, that would mean it's possible that aph Knights Templar could still be alive. As for where he is, no one knows. He's not a country, so he could really be anywhere. And if you think that he's no longer here because the name of the Knights Templar is no longer recognized as an organization, I should remind you that Prussia still existed as just the Teutonic Knights. A group that was also a Christian military order. And if the Teutonic Knights could change their name to Prussia, then wouldn't that mean others could do the same? I think so.

Any thoughts? I'm curious as to what other's think.

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

I know the post was mostly focusing on Gilf Garroth but I also just love the idea of an older Aph, one I'm her 40's or 50's because it makes the plot make sense and can be used to explain so much.

1. If an older woman lord adopts a bunch of children no one would bat an eye, as she is ensuring an heir. Also makes Alinas birth entirely more surprising as the likelihood of pregnancy can dimish as one hits their 40's.

2. Makes her entire identity of being a lord a whole lot more plausible. Simply put, if a random woman in her 20's became the lord of my village I would be deeply confused and mistrustful but if a woman in her 40's came in and took over I wouldn't think twice.

3. MILF JOKES

4. Realistically, all of the cast would be older than their early 20s, given the amount of experience each person has, and it can expand the timeline to actually make sense.

5. She is literally the Matron! There is no reason she should be a 20-year old but absolutely should be a middle aged woman who has a loving aura.

I am all for it, and even more for it if Garroth is also older because it could make Garte searching for his son be a lot more desperate. Garte is on his death bed and he knows that while Zane is amazing at politics, he cannot be trusted to lead a country. Garte is a senile old man searching for power fueled by his son who is giving very much evil brother to the dead king vibes. Giving Hamlet.

Seriously, I would love more information or ideas about it if you have them

Literally rambling about the implications of an older cast on the disc. lol. Crazy in my corner about this.

We were conversing on the concept of like if Garroth and Nicole were older. Because they would preferably both be older… considering the marriage thing.

And it could either go: they both ran away in recent years, the marriage was one done because neither agreed to marriage pacts on their own and the families had to intervene and decided this was for the best.

Or,: they’ve been gone this whole time, the marriage was decided when they were young, and they’ve both been away from their respective cities for so long that Garroth not really understanding much about Zane or his motivations makes sense, since it’s been probably a few decades since they last saw eachother. They’ve both grown into people separate from their pasts, but they can never be truly free of it. The reason they can hide so well so many years later is simply because people have just stopped looking. Until recently.

Like this whole idea of Garte being old and one sneeze from an embalming and yet without any viable heirs is a big deal. Because Zane is his only choice anymore. He’s too old to create new heirs. And it can’t be Zane. Even Garte can see that. Garte, who in his final years wants to conquer the region because it’s the last grapple he has of power before his bloodline inevitably dies out, can see in Zane something that not even he would risk giving that power. Zane cannot be his legacy. His legacy needs to be the other one.

And I’m just repeating what you’re saying but RAHH

As for older Aph. Oh my god. I love her.

I keep thinking of the Maiden/Mother/Crone thing in relation to her for some reason? Idk. I might do something with that. But either way, I’m kissing her on the mouth. You’re telling me some hot 40 year old woman comes to your village yapping on about ‘swag’ and being honestly probably clinically insane and you’re not going to ask for her hand in marriage? Bro.

I think some characters do benefit from the idea of being younger in relation to the rest of the cast. Like Dante. Just because he is meant to be very much the over-eager, super-skilled, but lacking experience type of character. Like he has the motivation and the ability, but he just doesn’t know enough. He’s gotta get knocked around by the other characters a bit before he gets his footing. He’s a blabber mouth who has technical ability but against someone like Garroth will always fail because he hasn’t really learned what real fights are like.

But again that’s just in relation to the cast. And he does end up older later on and it suits him later on. When he has that experience and has grown. And he’s wonderful.

I have more ideas I just keep thinking of older Zane in his little catholic priest fit and I can’t concentrate. I’ll say more stuff later if you have any ideas or want to know my thoughts on aging other characters particularly older or younger (in relation to the rest of the cast)

[stellisketches]

why? please explain the soldier, port, king in excruciating detail PLEASE

EDIT: ITS FINALLY DONE i'm so sorry this took me like six months I got really busy with school work and I wanted to make sure I wasn't half-assing this anyway thank you for asking please enjoy

For reference I will be quoting the “Poet Soldier King” test on uQuiz as I feel they summarize each role most succinctly.

"You wonder, sometimes, if anger is the only thing you can feel. Remember: love is passion too. You made your own rules and will follow them to death. You try and forget that there is only one rule, and that it is "FIGHT". You are tired of fighting. You try to forget that, too, and keep going. You dream of quiet. Your love is where you heal." -Soldier

It's a subtle element but Vylad’s entire character/existence is about enduring conflict. It's an easy thing to forget due to his calm demeanor, but Vylad has been fighting since the moment he was born (hell, even before). Fighting the ill-contrived gossip of being a bastard son, fighting to prove himself a genuine Ro’Meave, and fighting against Garte and Zane’s abuse over his childhood. It’s a subtler form of conflict, but it’s very interesting to imagine how he was able to put up with all of it (I’ve planned so many prequel fics about the Ro’Meaves you guys). Then there’s the whole shadowknight topic that really is indicative of itself. Vylad's whole arc was based upon leaving behind the violence of his past as a literal soldier within the Shadow Lord's army. Again it’s really easy to forget but this is someone who was revived to burn the world to the ground and slaughter any and every man, woman, and child that got in the way of it. He told Aphmau himself in season 2: “One good deed does not fix a thousand wrongs done. I'm not a good person, let's just leave it at that. Please.” We may not have seen it on screen, but who knows how long Vylad was traveling with Sasha and Gene. I doubt Phoenix Drop was the first village they targeted, and I doubt Gene or Sasha or even Zenix were ever like “oh yeah you can wait outside while we commit atrocities on this Lord and his family and burn the whole village to the ground.” Vylad has a very practical mindset (another trait indicative of a good soldier), and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was purposefully good at his job so it would land him more opportunities to get out of the nether now and again. He enacted violence well enough that he was trusted to be sent outside the nether to go fuck up the overworld. Vylad is a man thoroughly haunted by war and the violence he’s committed against others in a way his brothers just… aren't. Sure, Garroth knows fighting and violence as a means of protection and ensuring the safety of others, but he doesn’t know war. He’s never had someone he cared about die in his arms. He’s never seen a whole village burn to the ground and see innocent people slaughtered left and right. He’s never seen a child screaming at their dead mother to get up. He may use violence, but he was never a violent person. Zane, on the other hand, most definitely was, however, but he hardly ever enacted any of the violence himself. 90% of the time it was jurors or guards he’d given orders to. And while he was more than happy to get his hands dirty every once in a while, he never felt genuine consequence from it. 

Continuing on Vylad’s inner psyche, we see after he still keeps a very practical, soldier-like mindset out of the nether in company with Aph and Co: He gets annoyed at Aphmau when she puts off telling everyone about the Tuu’la invasion. He surveys Laurance from a distance and does not interfere even in danger because he’s aware of the long term effect of distrust it would cause him. Upon the chaos in Narhaka, he immediately goes to burn books that have important locations the enemy could use against them. This is actually one of my favorite scenes because of how subtly status-quo breaking it is. Tell me right now of any scene involving book burnings done by a guy the audience is supposed to root for. Vylad’s view of the world makes him incredibly pragmatic and able to calculate the win-loss ratio of his actions and let that decide whether or not he will go through with it.

Vylad may not have the typical surface-level look of the characters often put into the category, but if you really dive into his past, his mindset, and the way he views the world, he easily fits into the role of soldier; with the final line “Your love is where you heal” setting him on the path of redemption we see throughout the whole series.

"Loneliness. Strength. Joy. You are powerful, but struggle believing it. You think you're not enough. Here's the truth : you are. You sing songs and hope they carry faith, because you have run out of it, and yet you still throw your heart out to the world and hope it makes it through. You convince yourself that pain is art because at least then, you will always have something to create. You are tired of stumbling through life. You dream of a ground you can stand on. One day, you will dance. Your love is where you feel - without fear." -Poet

Now I admit for Zane it does require a more particular perspective to place him as poet, but I’ll start simple and slowly transition to red string and corkboard. Firstly, from the original song lyrics, “He will slay you with his tongue” applies in at least two different ways. The first being obvious: Zane is incredibly charismatic- you don’t just make it to High Priest without a certain degree of people skills included but not limited to negotiating, preaching, and being able to reason your way through any theological question a questioning sinner could ask you. It’s a shame we don’t see it put into use very often throughout the series, but I think his position gives enough testament to his people skills. The second way this line applied is a bit more literal and a bit more dark, which would be the sheer amount of people who were murdered not by his hands directly, but on mere orders. He can quite literally have people slain in just a few words to the right people. Moving to the more esoteric; the line “You are powerful, but struggle believing it. You think you're not enough.” seems like it be a hitch to his characterization, as it first invokes the idea of someone who lacks self-confidence, which is FAR from what we see Zane characterized as in the story. However I see this from the lense of artists becoming blind to the depth of their own skill. Zane is powerful, but it’s not enough for him. He’s become so accustomed to the level of influence he holds he’s become desensitized to it, like how you stop feeling the cold of the water once you stay in it long enough.The power he’s been swimming in his entire life no longer brings that vitalic shudder of control he craves. Thus he seeks power that goes beyond mortal influence to raw, unchanneled divinity, as that’s the only thing that he has ever been told is above him. He hungers the same as any artist— to be something greater than they already are.

“You convince yourself that pain is art because at least then, you will always have something to create.” The idea of creation draws back to Zane’s relationship with control and divinity. I think it's highly debatable as to whether or not Zane has actual “faith” in the divine (i.e, seeing them as gods he wishes to emulate or simply as extremely powerful beings minus the religious element), but in either case it again leads back to desire for more. (sidenote: Zane’s fatal flaw being lust is such a delicious piece of irony and I could make an essay of its own on it). Anyway, back to the point I was originally trying to make: Zane sows pain and destruction as a means of asserting his power/importance both to others and himself. The “pain” spoken of would normally belong to the poet themself— but this is no ordinary poet, and there is no specific indication where said pain emerges from. 

"Duty. Strength. Resignation. You were told to do things and you did them. The world is something that was put into your hands and that you must deal with - so you will. You have a rigid back and steady hands, either metaphorically or physically. Is it nature or nurture ? You don't know. You are tired of being steady. You dream of feeling alive. Not that you aren't, but, sometimes, it's hard to remember that there is a heart between your ribs. Your love is where you breathe." -King

God where do I start. “Duty. Strength. Resignation” It’s like someone just said ‘describe Garroth in three words’. Duty has been his entire life, wanted or not, which leads directly into resignation. “You were told to do things and you did them.The world is something that was put into your hands and that you must deal with - so you will.” He learned his history. He learned the politics. He followed the dogma. He believed in Irene and his father and the glory of O’Khasis and his divine duty to lord over its people. His people. He said it himself in episode 68 he wanted to be exactly like his father, and that he thought to be lord was an honor and a privilege. To him, the weight of the world has rested upon his shoulders for so long that he becomes accustomed to each additional hardship quickly and quietly, never kicking up a fuss about his growing stress and dissatisfaction, like a frog in a pool of water that is steadily increasing in temperature. He locks his festering disdain for glorification of leadership away from his father, his family, and the rest of the world because he cannot show that he is anything but the Atlas of duty he was born to be. 

Until, one day, he has enough. He saw what happens to his dear little brother, likely the only person he felt he could truly bond with, and despite everything he still dealt with it, for the sake of the people around him, but when his father commands him to marry a girl he has never met (likely while he is still processing his grief) in the name of ‘duty’, it is the straw that breaks the camel's back. He sees that everything he has worked towards is meaningless as he will never reach a point where his father will be satisfied with him. That his father will continue to take and take from him until there is nothing left but a soulless puppet that will continue to speak his words even after his reign has ended. Every burden he has carried, every grievance he has hidden, every struggle he’s overcome and the hard work he’s put into building himself a true heir of O’Khasis— it all amounts to nothing.

So he leaves. 

Now, let me ask you: what would you do if you were a runaway prince escaping the crushing weight of expectation? Take a bunch of money from your no-good dad? Buy a boat ticket and live a new life in luxury on the other side of the world? Never work a day again and dive head first into careless relaxation? Surely, you wouldn’t look twice at a dilapidated little village on the coast. Wouldn’t bother to stop by and lift a finger to help it. You're free, you have a whole life of sweet exemption to look forward to. You wouldn’t give it the time of day.

“You have a rigid back and steady hands, either metaphorically or physically. Is it nature or nurture?”

Garroth finds himself in Phoenix Drop— a rickety dead-end little town as far away from home as possible. He stays, and he helps. He keeps the village running, he helps the Lord wherever he can. He takes in the broken, starved boy he finds in the woods. He does whatever he can to improve the lives of the people around him. Why? He owes them nothing, he’s spent a lifetime crushed under the weight of people's expectations and he turns around just to find himself carrying the weight of more lives on his shoulders. He is doing everything he was taught and everything he ran away from. 

But this time it’s different. This time, he sees how he’s helping. There’s no more grating voice telling him none of the effort matters. He has a rigid back and steady hands, metaphorically and physically. For the first time in his life, he can see with his own two eyes that his effort is worth it. There isn’t doubt and lies and corruption floating in and out of his mind. Just the warm, honest smiles of the people he helps. He feels it and it is real. The question “Is it nature or nurture?” is genuine: Is Garroth helping these people out of the kindness of his heart or because it was what he was always told to do, and now that he is without the purpose he was assigned he’s leaning on something familiar? Personally, I think that’s for the audience to decide. I myself would say a mixture of both, leaning more so towards nature. But I digress. 

It’s better then, when he helps and can see that he is doing good, but of course, that peace is not to last him. With the Lord’s death and impending turmoil of Phoenix Drop, Garroth’s role in the village shifts drastically to closer resembling the role he ran away from. People are treating him with near as much kindness anymore, no. The most forgiving are losing faith and the least are blaming him. Blaming him for failing to meet their expectations. Now, as things are deteriorating, he has more than enough reason to leave. He gave it the good ol’ college try, and he failed. With the sentiments of the village becoming scarily familiar to that of his father, he should just say “fuck it” and head on off to that faraway land where no one will know his name.

But still, he doesn’t. We see him in Rebirth and how desperate he is to fix the village, to make it work. Even when everyone else is telling him to give up, he refuses. Even sinking, a captain stays on his ship. (Side note: it’s scenes like this that cause me to start tearing up people’s lawns whenever I see takes that label Garroth as having a “fear of responsibility”). And he is completely ready to either make things work or die trying, regardless of what stands in his way. 

‘You are tired of being steady. You dream of feeling alive. Not that you aren't, but, sometimes, it's hard to remember that there is a heart between your ribs.’

Aphmau wasn’t the first person he saved. Zenix had likely been around for at least a year beforehand. However Zenix was a hothead teenager in need of guidance, which simply made him become another responsibility Garroth set upon himself. Don’t get me wrong, he definitely cares for him, but their relationship is far different than the one he has with Aphmau. 

With Aphmau, he finally has someone who shares the burden. Not only that, but sharing it willingly and with a smile on her face. He’s not used to having a person who presents themselves as an equal sharer of responsibility. Much less, someone who is willing and wanting for him to put his burdens on her (At least, that’s how he sees it). He can’t remember the last time he truly allowed himself to be vulnerable with someone. All the desires he’s pushed down start to bubble back up again, and he starts to imagine things he’d long tried to do away with. He sees Aphmau as a strong leader, one whose idealism is a strength and not a weakness, and how she accomplishes things he never quite got around to doing. An admiration grows for her, yes, but that’s not what makes her different. The difference, he sees, is her vulnerability. How she allows herself to be vulnerable around him. How despite the brave face she puts on, she has just as much fear that she isn’t enough. And she tells him this, directly, because she trusts him. And all of a sudden he realizes that if she can be strong to the rest of the world, and yet still let him see her weakness, her softness, then maybe, just maybe

“Your love is where you breathe.”

He can take his armor off, too.

[mayordea]

screw it. i'm not a coward. detailed miitopia crossover blorbo cacophony poster i drew last summer be upon ye

anyway here's my beloved stinky miitopia party, i've been building up a crossover story in miitopia since i first played the game many years ago, and as my interests have evolved, so has my cast for every replay. (i have genuinely lost count of how many times i have replayed this game)

i'm cringe but free etc etc.... sayaka/lissa/alfred aka aph america have been here the longest (my legacy blorbos, if you will) and are always on my endgame team, so they have immunity. everyone else has been loosely swapped around until it's settled into the form it's in now (and it still might change when i get obsessed with miitopia again). the town/story npcs are not as important or consistent across playthroughs, they're easily swapped around with random characters i find in mii central. the only exception is the great sage, whom i've drawn here. i also think waluigi is my new main dark lord, since he was my first thief before therion entered the picture. never actually drawn him though

cirno is my main protagonist because she is my ultimate legacy blorbo. in my loose story adapting this adventure i like to think she gets the elf class as a mandatory story beat like an fe lord during the arc where the whole gang is getting back together in karkaton. (elf design here is kinda bad, i swear i had a design doodled of it in my sketchbooks but i couldn't find it so i had to improvise)

i had three other "travelers hub" characters in the mage/imp/princess class but i never got around to drawing them because to be honest my miitopia resurgence kinda faded once i finished these drawings........ but i'll get to them too! all these designs are either loosely based off of existing outfits in the game or ones i straight up pulled outta my ass lmao

i really wanna write fic for this ngl

[packcoventhing]

Some of the physical disability rep in me and @romeave-wives-club's rewrite because lets face it the lack of disability rep in MCD is unrealistic and even in MYS it was still "how do you know so many people and not one of them has a physical disability??"

[this isn't all of it, but it's some of it]

So, excluding the two entirely new OC characters because look they may be self inserts but Aph herself was one

Zane in both MCD and MYS has troubles with his balance, so, walking stick. In MCD he has this fancy and sleek one, while in MYS it's covered in stickers and paint and no that's not a pinkie cake sticker what do you mean. He's blind in one eye, in MCD it was from a relic incident and in MYS it's the infamous snowball incident. He finds it too much of a hassle to have it uncovered, that fucks with his perception of things more than it helps. He's also immunocompromised in MYS, which I thought was canon but now that I'm thinking about it it was never said in canon that he still gets sick a lot.

Laurance was partially blinded upon his return to the overworld, while Ungrth took the blunt of the void burns- he got a nasty one covering his entire left eye. It healed, slowly, but it left his vision severely blurry and hazed over with a dark-tinted film. He pulled a Zane, covering it with his hair or an eyepatch, for a while. But eventually that stops, and he adjusts to it the best he can.

Aaron was fully blinded when his village was wiped out, he was also very soon after turned into a werewolf. He can make out levels of light if the change is extreme enough, but that's about it- lets his hair cover his eyes, or a blindfold, just because the light tricking him into seeing movement was more of a hinderance in battle than a help. (Post S6 in MYS he's also blind, and either has a white cane or a service dog (or both) to help him around)

Post MYS S6, Travis is an ambulatory wheelchair user! He switches between his wheelchair and crutches, but if he's out and about he's probably in the wheelchair.

MYS!Aph has a walker, when she first got it she went over to Zane's house arms filled with stickers and "dragging" my OC along and the three of them had a hangout of just decorating their mobility aids

They're both background/more minor characters unfortunately, but both Nana's sister Shi and Blaze's sister Adira are deaf!

Some additions

Aaron has died 10 times over and will not stay in the ground, he has some form of chronic pain and will probably join the mobility aid crew at some point

Hayden uses a walking stick because yes

also there's a plethora of mental disabilities ranging from learning disabilities with Blaze's dyspraxia, all the meif'wa being autistic (this comes from the theory of cats not being able to be diagnosed with autism because they're all autistic, and you can pry this out of my cold dead autistic hands), dissociative disorders like MYS!Gene with chronic dissociative amnesia and Travis with DID

and more!