#as someone also in the Kingdom Hearts fandom and has been since the first game…this is exhausting beyond what Kingdom Hearts 3 release ever

[ngc-5194]

yknow i could very easily accept someone not liking the mobile kh games if people actually gave... understandable reasons??

mostly i've heard that they're 'inaccesable'. which. they're in general more accessable since the console they run on is a phone, a device more people have than a ps4. though, granted, it is the offline version of both games only.

however, if you don't have a phone, have limited space on your phone, or are uninterested in a mostly unplayable game, all of which are understandable, there are cutscene compilations (ux (story important, all), dr) available on youtube too!

if the lots of reading is the issue then there is a completely dubbed version of the cutscenes of ux and you can easily find voiced playthroughs of both union x and dark road on youtube as well.

(for instance, here is a playthrough of dark road that i watched as my phone needed repairs by the time i had caught up with the series enough to move onto khdr. but, of course, there are many more options if you simply search up 'kingdom hearts [dark road/union x] playthrough' on youtube. find whichever one suits the kind of videos you like to watch best!)

if you don't have the time to sit through all of the cutscenes, there are summaries also avaliable! here is a video one for union x, and though unfortunately i can't find a similar one for dark road, it is also always acceptable to just read the wiki section on the story of the game! (here is the union x wiki section as well)

the other major complaint i've heard is that it's 'too confusing' or that the story 'doesn't make sense in parts'.

to which i first must ask, what part of kingdom hearts does make sense to you then? many many signifigant, heavily important parts of this series can be the most mind boggling things you have ever read or heard. so much so that we are known as the fans of that overly complex and insane disney game. that is what we are known for!!

and more to an actual point, there are many many people out there in this fandom who would be thrilled to talk to you about parts of the plot you found confusing. who have posts pages and pages long on minute details.

we are all fans of this weird ass game series and we all can. i don't know. help each other, newcomers and people who have been here awhile alike. us fans who like the mobile games are no different. we are willing to share and help and explain anything you need.

and as for the take that the mobile games are 'unimportant'.

strelitzia, someone deeply important to marluxia, larxene, and ventus' backstories, is seemingly implied to be one of the main characters in kh4 and if you have no knowledge of union x, then you likely have zero idea who she is.

the foretellers and the master of masters are being set up as potential villians in the next arc of the series. all of these characters were introduced in union x, four years before back cover released. and while yes, back cover gives the perspective of the foretellers more while union x is from the eyes of the keykids, there are many interactions with the foretellers in union x, beyond the scope of back cover, that are deeply important to the plot and establishment of their characters.

while yes, dark road has drastically less set up for the future in it, as all of the characters featured are now dead, it gives a lot of depth to xehanort and eraqus both. eraqus' behaviours and motivations are given reason—not necessarily morally good ones, and certainly not ones that always provide justification for his actions, but actual fully defined reasons for it all.

as it has always been with kh, every game is important to understand the story. you couldn't simply play kh1 kh2 and kh3 and expect to understand everything, and you can not expect to understand everything if you don't at least know surface level of the stories of the mobile games too.

you do not have to play them yourself. they do not have to be your favourite games in the series. if you are reading this and you hate them, you can stay not liking them even for all i care.

but you have to accept that they are important to the plot of the series. that they can not simply be ignored if you want to grasp the entire story of kingdom hearts.

[sly-s-n0nfusion]

Hello octopathers I woke up in the mood to share opinions online so today it's the time to talk about

💫 Erhardt's War Crimes 💫

as well as explaining why I don't, never did, and will never like him as a character

/!\ Disclaimer: I'm not here to judge anyone who likes Erhardt, truly. I'm 100% okay with liking morally gray characters in fiction (and I do myself, as a fan of characters such as Ogen, Oshka, Kaldena and Ceraphina, which are pretty bad/terrible people as well, some of them are much worse than erhardt lol) so if he's your favorite character and your little sopping wet meow meow, that's great (you're also part of like 98% of the octopath fandom so if someone has to be the weird one here that'd be me lol) so this post is completely judgement-free 🙏 /gen

I just felt the need to address the full extent of his actions in game as some sort of reminder because I feel like the actual consequences of those are often overlooked or straight up not acknowledged, also because we see a lot of that in CoTC and many people who played OT1 did not play that one, and because I have seen quite the number of fans out there being like "Erhardt did nothing wrong" or "I'm an Erhardt apologist" or "regicide ain't that bad" when I think what he did was actually pretty bad and here's why!

TW children death, spoilers for Olberic’s story and CoTC Bestower of All

Okay so we can all agree with the fact that what happened to him was horrible. Man had to watch his hometown (and family, too) perish in a fire while Hornburg did nothing to help and he's been indoctrinated since he was just a child by Werner, who we know as being great at manipulating and inducing fear in people. Like no wonder he wanted revenge.

In Ot1 we only see him killing King Alfred and thus causing the fall of the whole kingdom of Hornburg as stated by Olberic at the beginning of his story, and then his "redemption" speech during Olberic's chapters 3 and 4, and that's pretty much it. We aren't exactly told what happened to the people of Hornburg after that.

Well, Champions of The Continent tells us as the fourth chapter of the Bestower of All storyline is set in Hell, where Hornburg and its ghosts still stand. And I say ghosts because those are all that's left of its population, with the exception of a few other NPCs we encounter in game who were lucky enough to flee in time.

Now the part of map we can walk on is quite big but it’s still a small fraction of the Hornburg capital (as we can see from the huge amount of buildings around the castle) and there are approximately 30+ npcs’ souls wandering around the streets, inside the castle and outside the capital (again, they’re just the ones we’re allowed to see)

(Don’t let this image fool you, he’s dead. All of them are dead, he didn’t make it out alive)

The most tragic part of all of this are obviously the souls of two children that can be found in a house, discussing which one of the Twin Blades is stronger. And honestly this piece of dialogue broke my heart

I’m afraid to inform this poor kid’s soul that Erhardt actually played a major role in the events that caused them to get killed.

And this brings me to the conclusion of this saying that no matter how strong Erhardt’s desire for vengeance was, and how manipulated he was, it still doesn’t excuse what he did. “Regicide ain’t that big of a deal” well no it isn’t, but the consequences of it are. I refuse to believe Erhardt didn’t foresee what would happen to all the inhabitants of Hornburg, children included, after he’d killed king Alfred and gave complete access to Werner’s army. Of course the ones who couldn’t flee in time would get killed. Of course he knew, but that wasn’t enough to make him think about stopping his rage.

He’s not a war criminal because he killed a guy with a crown, he’s a war criminal because he sentenced to death the whole population of a capital city and if we had doubt at first, cotc gives us undeniable proof.

Yes he lives hating himself. Yes he does regret all of it. But he had a choice. And yes, being afraid of Werner hunting him down is a solvable problem when you’re at the apex of one of the biggest kingdoms’ military force, he could’ve asked for help if only he spoke. Causing the death of so many innocent people isn’t going to bring his family and hometown back and he knew it.

That’s why I think what he did was, in no way, excusable.

“Erhardt isn’t a villain” doesn’t stick with my view of things.

Now, on to the personal reasons why I don’t like him in particular as a morally gray character lol

And that can be summed up as “Olberic’s first two chapters made a pretty damn good job at making me hate him”

But no for real it has to do with me valuing trust more than anything else in life and having the habit of self-projecting a lot on every character I play. I tend to ask myself “what would I do in this situation, how would I feel” etc, so it came natural to me to wanting to punt Erhardt into the sun instantly as soon as I saw Olberic (the guy that was my main character in his ch1) literally start his story having nightmares and being depressed because of this guy.

Of course it was instant, deep hatred from me I swear I’ve rarely wanted to kill some guy in a jrpg as much as I wanted to make him pay for what he did (even if I knew well that Olberic’s main goal was just to seek answers).

Now imagine my utter disappointment when the game didn’t let me kill him lol (just kidding, of course after his backstory traumadump I ended up sympathizing a bit with him).

Also no, Olberic never forgave him for what he did, as precisely stated by him in his chapter 3, but he does give him another chance to redeem himself because Olberic is a much better person than I am.

I… have been wanting to write this long post for a while now. I hope I didn’t upset anyone with it as that was not my intention. I get why erhardt has so many fans, with the whole emotional trauma he has and his pretty face and fabulous hair, I really do and I don’t think you’re weird for liking him. I just like to ramble about fictional characters from time to time lol

Peace ✌️

[anosrepasi]

10 Character/10 Fandoms/10 Tags

Tagged by the wonderful @aeide :)

Nil (Horizon Dawn Zero/Forbidden West) - My current obsession I'm rotating around in my mind. What's not to love he's charming in the sense that his most common AU occupation is "Serial Killer." Will he kill you? Depends! Only if you suck, and he promises to never stab you in the back, he wants to look you in the eye if he tries to kill you. But actually, I find him utterly fascinating and in the context of HZD he's just. so nuanced it destroys me. This man has decades of c-ptsd and asks the question of what happens when someone drenched in violence is suddenly expected to stop fighting- the answer is, it takes a lot! I adore him.

Kassandra (AC:Odyssey) - Look the more I think about Kassandra and like the canon quests in that game the more I'm like. They did you wrong, girl. They did you so dirty. SHE JUST WANTS TO GO HOME. IT TAKES DECADES. HER STORY IS A FUSION OF THE ODYSSEY AND THE ILIAD. YOU CAN APPLY THEMES FROM BOTHA ND IT DRIVES ME INSANE. And. And then they say, all thsi you worked so hard for? Well. We have other things we need from you. I am going to chew through my arm.

Mizu (Blue Eye Samurai) - Look. I could link thousand upon thousands words of meta about Mizu and her/they're relationship to gender and existence as a mixed race individual in isolationist Japan. And it still wouldn't capture it all. And past that it's hot person brutally murdering people in absolutely fantastically animated fight scenes.

Vincent Valentine (Final Fantasy VII) - Look. He's my original blorbo. I saw 10 minutes of screen time of him in Advent Children and have been insane ever since. I bought and played through Dirge of Cerberus for him. Something about him apparently just imprinted on me as a child, I've been a lost cause ever since.

Xaden Riorson (Fourth Wing/Iron Flame) - These books are still relatively new so I'll hold my tongue since a lot of what I am obsessed with re: him is spoilers but oh my god. oh. my. god. buddy.

Axel (Kingdom Hearts) - Also an original blorbo from childhood, imprinted on him like a baby duck. His death in KH2 made me bawl. His entire storyline makes me sob, he's the reason why every single aspect of Roxas' story was a gut punch cause like. The best way to make people care about characters is give them someone who loves them then make it sad.

Charles Milton Porter (Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den) - Look. This dude's DLC made me cry. big cry. I still kinda get choked up when i think about it for a while. it's about the grief.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits - I can't choose a characters from this, so I just advise everyone to play this game. It's so good. You're going to be emotionally devastated. It's also about grief. Every character in this game is so so good and you will feel things.

Joe Miller (The Expanse) - He was not the first but he was my defining love of shitty noir space detectives. I loved him from when he was introduced to when he left the series and my love was rewarded so much. Holden and Amos were the runner up characters for this fandom.

Death (The Book Thief) - I read the book thief for the first time in 7th grade I think? Every day of my life since them on my commute to work or when on break I look at the sky and think about how Death would describe the taste of the colors. This book irrecoverably changed me from the day I read it and firmly cemented this Death as the death i hope is there at the end of everything, i love this version of it so much. This death is like. look. go read the book if you haven't had the opportunity.

Tagging for anyone who wants to do it: @ongreenergrasses @lobstermatriarch @airmidcelt @tirsynni @aevallare @duesternis @salsedine @avelera @thehoundkeeper @green-nbean

[scalacaelumxx]

Who are your top 3 favorite KH characters? ✨

I'm going to try not to ramble on this forever but thank you so much for sending this ask in! I apologize in advance for the can of worms you have opened.

Vidar (Spoilers for Dark Road incoming) Probably the least surprising thing, but currently Vidar is my top favorite. I'm fairly new to the mobile games, and full disclosure, I did not like him when I first saw him. Eraqus was so upset by Vor leaving (even though it was her own choice) that I genuinely felt for him, and therefor didn't approve of Vidar "taking" her away. But continuing the story and learning that he and his friends were so close to achieving what they had been training for for years, only for it to end in the death of not one of his friends, but four of them. And he can't bring himself to strike down what caused their deaths, because Baldr is just a kid and he (presuming that one line was about Hoder) can't bear to face her if something happened to him after she died trying to protect him His character is interesting, he's got a killer design, you can tell how much he cared about his friends, and the tragedy of risking everything to save someone for your friend, only to die by that person's hand trying to protect the friends you have left. I could talk about him for 22 hours a day.

Saix/Isa I know I don't post about him a lot, but Saix (or Isa) has been one of my favorite characters since my friend introduced me to Kingdom Hearts when I was a kid. If it wasn't for Vidar, he'd still be in the top spot! There's just something about how ruthless he was in kh2 and Days. How brutally honest and blunt his deliveries were, and how his boss fight involves catching you off guard with mechanics that don't seem to suit what you've seen of him until you really look at it and realize it does. His relationship with Axel is hilarious on surface level and depressing when you go deeper. His relationship of being Xemnas' right-hand man (next to Xigbar) while also plotting to betray him is so intriguing. And then seeing those sharp eyes and the barbed words and the ruthlessness in him and seeing those compared to the kid who made fun of his best friend and wanted to explore places he wasn't supposed to be in and help someone he had just met is heartbreaking. I loved his redemption in kh3, subtle in the background as it was, and I'm hoping to see more of him trying to be a better person and make it up to Roxas and Xion in 4.

Zexion/Ienzo This one caught me so off guard. I had gotten back into the fandom after a long while and was replaying through the old games to get caught up and Zexion blindsided me in Re:CoM. He was secretive and quiet, but really held no animosity towards Sora or Riku. Which, compared to the rest of the Organization in the castle, stood out a lot. Considering this, he really didn't deserve the death he got, which is still pretty brutal for a Kingdom Hearts death. Then he comes back and immediately throws everything he has into helping the heroes. They were more of a means to an end before, rather than true enemies, and despite their reservations about him he has no problems spending all of his time and resources into helping them stop Xehanort. He was just a kid when he helped start the fall of Radiant Garden but he still feels so guilty and wants to atone so badly. Plus you get extra angst in the "didn't have a heart for 10 odd years and now suddenly has one and is feeling" department.

Runner ups include: Baldr, Vali, Xaldin/Dilan, Vexen/Even, and Terra!

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

Amy Propaganda

"Despite the fact that Sonic has said outright that she is important to him and someone he's glad to have around, fans choose to ignore that she is shown to be a good friend and has lots of friends- Cream, Big, Tails, Blaze, Knuckles, Shadow, Rouge(? They didn't seem to get along, but she invited Rouge to her birthday), Vector, Espio, Silver, E-102 Gamma, Elise, Belle, Sticks, and again, Sonic- in favor of pretending that she is a creepy, obsessive fanatic and a stalker who forces herself into Sonic's life and the lives of those around him without ever being wanted. It's quite frankly disturbing."

Kairi Propaganda

"The Kingdom Hearts game series is about Mickey Mouse battling the forces of Darkness with an alliance of fashionable anime boys. Kairi is a major character, and one of the few female characters. She is part of a trio of childhood best friends, with the protagonist Sora and their other friend Riku (who had a villain arc and then a redemption arc). Though Kairi is constantly and clumsily sidelined by the canon narrative, she arguably has more backstory going on than any other major characters. She is a refugee from another planet. She implicitly lost her beloved grandma at five years old in the traumatic destruction of their hometown. She was kidnapped and experimented on by an evil wizard-scientist—she escaped thanks to having a magic charm that basically teleported her to her soulmate(s). Then she had to adjust to living on a new planet and being adopted by a new family. In the very first game, when she's 14, she turns out her pure heart is one of 7 in the entire universe to be free of Darkness—she shows a full emotional spectrum of fear, sadness, frustration, defeat, but she isn't vulnerable to corruption. In KH2, she becomes one of the Chosen Ones who wield a magical weapon called a Keyblade. She loves her friends very much, and she has the unique talent to instantly recognize them even when they've been transformed into monsters. She has saved them several times with nothing but the Power Of Love in her heart randomly manifesting in, like, telepathy and teleportation and resurrection—she doesn't even consciously know that she has powers, her love is just so great that it's accepted as a tangible force of nature. She is frustrated and ashamed by her role as a damsel in distress, and she wishes to be stronger and combat-capable so that she join her male friends on their adventures instead of waiting around where it's safe. Also she was kidnapped by an evil assassin clown who's ten years older than her, and then they became friends. NOT ONLY does the fandom plug its ears and claim there is nothing interesting about this character and no potential in her story—Kairi has been demonized by the fandom for about 20 years. Somehow Kairi is useless and boring while also being a Mary Sue at the same time. She was called a bitch and a slut and a whore. She was hated for wearing too much pink and wielding a girly weapon with a floral design. She was criticized as a slut for wearing a short skirt, and for THE PLAYER being able to manipulate the camera into a contrived angle to look up her skirt to see her panties in the first edition of KH2. You can find nearly 20-year-old fanfiction and fanart of her being twisted into an evil schemer driving her friends apart, and of her being gleefully brutalized and insulted. Haters STILL comb for every crumb to make elaborate anti-canon theories about why she's an agent of evil, even though canon has FIRMLY ESTABLISHED for TWENTY YEARS since the very beginning that she's THE ONE CHARACTER incapable of growing Darkness in her heart. The theory is that she exists only as a puppet sent by the main villain to sabotage her friends (the plot for two out of the four main female characters) for all ten years of their friendship. The theory is that she's been using her powers to force her friends to love her—and their Power Of Friendship that is the EMOTIONAL BACKBONE OF THE STORY, and THE MAJOR FORCE OF GOOD IN THEIR UNIVERSE, and THE MOST CONSISTENT MOTIVATION FOR THE HEROES is all Just Misdirection LOL building up to a shitty Plot Twist. The theory is that she's secretly a custom-manufactured Chirithy (a cute talking animal companion that serves and guides humans)—and not a human girl with her own natural feelings and aspirations. AND THEN after stripping her of every important trait and role, these fans claim they're making Kairi more important and interesting than she is in canon. I don't know what causes the fandom to so desperately hate a sweet 14-year-old girl who literally canonically never did anything wrong."

[rustyvanburace]

you know I gotta suggest Navarre for the character ask! and asahi if you’re feeling up to it :^D

Thank you so much!

favorite thing about them: I love how much PIZZAZ he adds to the early game! How can I not like a character with such a flamboyant, demanding personality whose very presence is enough to make everyone react with shock, contempt, laughter, and awe? Navarre is an ass, but a necessary ass to carry the early narrative and add so much excitement to it. I cannot help but giggle to myself everytime he appears. AND THEN, all that character growth in IVA towards becoming a better, more self-aware ghostie. Ohhh I love he so muuuch~

least favorite thing about them: Definitely the unnecessary perversion in IVA. Enough said.

favorite line: The "dawdling Casualries" line will always hold a special place in my heart, but I am also really fond of the stuff he says when you speak with him during the training drills in one of the rest spots,

"O-Oh, it's you… I thought you to be a demon. Don't start me so… I've never carried a blade any heavier than a knife before. If Mother were to see me dashing about with such a weapon in hand, I think that she would faint…"

And

"I landed a critical blow when I accidentally tripped… The next quest was much simpler, since as you might expect, money is no object to me. 'Twas actually easier than the first. But the final challenge all depends on one's strength, and that's a field I'm particularly lacking in… S-Someone else may have first place, I care not whom. Merely let this debacle of a training exercise be done with!"

brOTP: Nanashi and Navarre are best BROS!

Bad edit aside, can't forget the actual bros, Navarre and Gaston lmao. I really enjoyed their sibling relationship and it opened up so much insight into their familial life and personal struggles. I'm so so happy they got to rekindle at the enddd, it was so sweet

OTP: Everyone knows that I am the sole resident of the Issachar x Navarre Crack Ship Kingdom!! Idgaf that they've never canonically met nor even know of each other's existence, the POTENTIAL between them is enough to keep me content and well fed! We support random rarepairs in this house!

I also really like Flynn x Navarre too and they're my second fave Navarre ship, for much the same reasons!

nOTP: Needless to say, my NOtps would be pairing Navarre with his brother or any of the IVA kids. Eeeugh. Enough said.

random headcanon: It's something I've been wanting to analyze in more depth, and IDK how much of this is actually canon or headcanon considering, but I very much fancy the idea of Navarre always having close connections with the Samurai seniors and keeping close tabs on the Rite and new inductions. He's very astute with the going-ons in Samurai business and likely has been anxiously watching them for quite some time.

unpopular opinion: I understand that Navarre is a very unlikeable character, and he's supposed to be! But it honestly does get really bothersome seeing how much dismissal, if not outright hate, he gets in the fandom. Navarre IS an important character within the early game! It is his very antics that adds the necessary tension and tone needed to carry the early narrative and worldbuilding. It does admittedly make it hard for me to approach other SMTIV fans because I like this bean so much.

But that is okay. I am perfectly content with those who seek out, stick by, and enjoy my bean musings. :)

song i associate with them: Tbh I'm pretty bad at that sort of question, lol. I don't really have one for him right now, so pass? (Open to suggestions though! I want more tunes to listen to.)

favorite picture of them: SO MANY panels of him from the Prayers manga FOR REAL. He's SO expressive in that and has TONS of good moments!! But I am especially fond of the mini bonus chapter that features Navarre~

Masataka Miura can agree: Navarre can have a little moment in the spotlight as a treat~

Thank you again so much for the ask! I think I've written quite at length here, lmao. I'm a bit tired now and I don't think I can fit Asahi here, but I could post hers later on!

[moonsheen]

fic writer meme

1. how many works do you have on ao3? 112. And thank god that doesn't include the REAL old stuff.

2. what's your total ao3 wordcount? 552,904 ...that's...both more and less than I was expecting

3. what fandoms do you write for?

...a...lot. Most recently? MDZS/SVSSS, Trigun (er, sorry for the weird stuff), and 13 Sentinels (PLAY 13 SENTINELS). Long term oldies but goodies? Kingdom Hearts, Devil May Cry, Overwatch, Supergiant games, Evangelion

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Recovery (SVSS, Qijiu --woah, that one pulled ahead in the last few months) Husband x Husband (Hunter x Hunter -- I did this as a yuletide treat to make up for defaulting one year and it's the gift that keeps giving) Minor Delays (SVSS, Qijiu -- wait really?) The Way Back Home (SVSS, Qijiu -- ....Qijiu nation represent. This one doesn't surprise me though, Chira did an amazing comic for it) Hold the Baby (MDZS -- okay this one was just where I was dumping the old twitter threads of a VERY specific Xiyao fix-it AU but you know what, thanks everyone)

5. do you respond to comments?

I try to. If I don't succeed it's often because life kicked my ass.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably On Your Six (Reaper & Soldier 76, Overwatch)

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

This is hard mostly because all of my fic tends to be some kind of fix-it in some way to give someone an obscenely happy ending. If you had to have me narrow it down based on what my most blatant fix-it to some miserable canon character ending was? I'd go with either Happiness Exists (As Long As You Believe in the Possibility) (Qijiu again!), and the Recovery-verse as a whole, or maybe Abstraction White Rose (Revolutionary Girl Utena), because by god I needed Utena and Anthy to kiss and I MADE THEM DO THAT, A LOT.

8. do you get hate on fics?

Xiyao troll hit me once or twice and I got a few cranky dudebros who got mad at me for my Eva fic on a message board once, but nothing all that bad if I'm honest.

9. do you write smut?

...well, I've tried but the plot gets in the way.

10. do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you have written?

The first that come to mind are the MDZS/TGCF crossovers, but those are the same authors so I don't know that that counts. I DID write a very silly How The Grinch Stole Christmas/Nightmare Before Christmas short once upon an internet. It has since been lost to the great yawning of time and collapse of several social media platforms.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Someone once scraped the awful Naruto fic I wrote when I was like 15 and changed the names to make it a Samurai Champloo fic which, um. Why? But that was pretty damn funny in hindsight.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! In Russian, Chinese, and French. And I love every time it happens.

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

My dayjob these days is cowriting with people. But on the fanfic side -- well, in short, yes. With the usual suspect (that would be Chira) and with my wife, who has once or twice dictated an entire story outline to me which I write in a day.

14. what's your all time favorite ship? Internet, I am old and you cannot expect me to pick one. Utena/Anthy maybe?

15. what is a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I still need to do the last story for the A Troublesome Charge series which I SWEAR will happen it's just I had a literal baby.

16. what are your writing strengths?

Character voice. I love character voice and I am told I am good at it.

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

Smut.

18. thoughts of writing dialogue in another language in fics?

To be honest if I don't know it I don't try. But I like bilingual writing when it's done well (see also: Everything, Everywhere, All At Once) -- but when it comes to fangirl Japanese or Chinese, I tend to leave that to the experts.

19. first fandom you wrote for?

mumblesBeastWars and thank god that was on a platform that crashed and burned. The Beast Wars fic I wrote for Yuletide was way better.

20. favorite fic you have written?

On Your Six, despite how I feel about Overwatch nowadays, I feel was probably one of the punchiest stories I've ever written. I would have absolutely used this story to audition to write for Blizzard's tie-in novellas if Blizzard hadn't...well, read the news on what happened at Blizzard.

The other one I'd probably say is Ghost Roads in my Troublesome Charge series (MDZS). I just feel like I nailed all the multiple plotlines and characters involved in that one and I'm super proud of it. I'm not tagging anyone because I have anxiety about this kind of thing, but please feel free to do this meme yourself if it crosses your dash!

[aluckiicoin]

6!!

What other fandoms are you in, apart from this one?

Tl;Dr?: I fit's not participating it's: Star Rail, Genshin (are the ones I RP in), Dragon Age (I adore, no way I step into rp there), Digimon, SMT (+persona), Kingdom Hearts (but kh3 ruined it), Shadowrun, DnD, Servamp, Bungo Stray Dogs (but only the anime sources), Devil May Cry, League of Legends and more

if it is participating? Well, only HSR by now.

I'm never really active in any fandom, I'm the silent lurker unless I rp and since I exclusively rp'ed OCs until Aventurine I usually slipped under the radar there too. (And Ven is a very special exception I feel, I mean, look at Blade or my Multimuse, they're wastelands xD). But when we go for fandoms I enjoy? Then, oh boy, there's a lot.

Now, first of all, what will always get me talking is Dragon Age, I have the novels (or read them), I still want all the comics, I played all games. It went as far that I wanted to weep over Baldurs Gate 3 because that one finally gave me the “hd, new content” game I wanted from Bioware in the dragon age universe for years. We can even say centuries now.

The second one that comes to mind is Digimon, I claw for every Digimon game I can get, I adore the idea in most iterations. It's always fun.

And while we're at Digimon it's easy to say: Shin Megami Tensei. Yes, also, all I can get my hands on except of the next fucking persona 5 spin off because listen. Persona 5 was awesome, yes, but I suck at rhythm games and I don't have a ps5. But I especially adore the digital devil saga. I want a HD remake of that.

Also, I have to mention Persona separately now given per 5 it's officially not a SMT game anymore, funny, given they finally brought the demons back. And when we're at persona, I played P2, innocent sin and couldn't get my hands on either P1 or eternal punishment. I will never forgive p5 for using the butterfly theme on someone and it not being a connection to persona 2.

I used to love Kingdom Hearts but then it just became more and more of buy this console too, do that thing too and I really didn't like how KH3 looked despite giving my favorite char a keyblade. Such a waste.

I put Shadowrun in all my futuristic RP characters, I love delving into a world that is worse than our own. It just happens that we come always closer to it being real. I hate how we got scammed out of magic though. Any augmentations I put on my characters can usually be found and described on the shadowhelix.

Well, I couldn't find anyone to rp Shadowrun so I settled on DnD and I've been reading up. Still preferring Pathfinder pantheon/lore though.

League of Legends has been a part of my life for a really long time. With HSR and Genshin having actually valuable dailies I haven't played a game in months. But I adore the lore, the world, and I wish I could play in it. The first time I tried the fandom was really nice. But damn I fear I that won't be the case anymore and I don't wanna flood my HSR blogs with league rp'ers so I'm not following anyone from there anymore (not that the ppl I liked are still around to begin with).

[girlwithakiwi]

20 Questions For Fic Writers

Tagged by @elder-flower

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

32 (20 are user-locked)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,238,164

3. What fandoms do you write for?

For the past five years, it has been iterations of A Song of Ice and Fire (the book canon, Game of Thrones, and House of the Dragon). Prior to that, I've written fics for Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, Kingdom Hearts, Fushigi Yuugi, High School Musical, RENT, The Dresden Files, Harry Potter, Glee, and BBC Sherlock.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

the gather, the bend, the bringing forth (Game of Thrones S8 canon divergence)

some nights the lighthouse, some nights the sea (transatlanticism) (Game of Thrones S7 canon divergence)

the silhouette of a single memory (Game of Thrones reincarnation AU)

all the ground beneath with tears and blood (Game of Thrones/The Vampires Diaries fusion)

where ruin also exists (A Song of Ice and Fire, post-ADWD)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Even before I started writing in the ASOIAF fandom, I did tend to write bittersweet endings. Loss and grief is a fascinating frame of reference for an otherwise happy ending and I've always liked being able to write about those conflicting emotions. That said, it was probably never let me go.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Haha, lmao—this is definitely the silhouette of a single memory and its adjoining prompt ficlets.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

My canon divergent fics for Game of Thrones sometimes get the rare grumpy butt but honestly, I pay too much in taxes to be bothered by someone trying to be snide behind the anonymity of a computer screen.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Sure? I think my smut is pretty tame compared to a lot of stuff I read but I do write it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Yes, I've written plenty. Sailor Moon/Gundam Wing and Game of Thrones/The Vampire Diaries might be the craziest though, considering how ridiculously dissimilar the two canon sources are.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

the gather, the bend, the bringing forth has its beginning chapters translated into Russian here

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes and no. My old RP partner @lyrangalia and I used to email RP during slow days at work and through that was born the AMD and Silvered Lightning universes. But since these technically never started as fic, then it's kind of in that weird uncategorized space.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

All time? I'm not sure if I have a single one that takes the top spot. I've liked Tomberly (MMPR), Willabeth (POTC), Neal/Sara (White Collar), Parker/Eliot/Hardison (Leverage), and Jonerys (ASOIAF) but I love them all equally.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Hands down, Arcana. The reason I won't finish it is because I fell out of love with the source material (it didn't age well) and the author of said source material (he's kind of an asshole!). I do still love the character that this fic revolves around and it's removed enough from the source material that I could finish it but...

16. What are your writing strengths?

Characterization and dialogue, probably? Who knows.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Characterization and dialogue, lmao.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Eh. It can be done and I've done it a few times honestly. I don't make a habit of it because it's just a bit of a headache to translate.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Sailor Moon.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Based on re-readability? a silhouette of a single memory and where ruin also exists

No pressure tags: @jellybeanficwriter @moondancer71 @zavocado @kiaxet @luthien-under-bough @calenlily

[worst-teenager-competition]

Does Vanitas count as a teenager? Like he's been around since birth by sleep, that's a good 10 to 15 years before kh1, let alone 3 where he's actually a threat. Maybe I'm reading too much into it

I'm not sure? I am not in the Kingdom Hearts fandom, nor do I personally know anyone who is in the fandom. I have literally no knowledge of the game's lore, so I could be wrong, thanks for bringing it up! If anyone else also has an issue with this please lmk, I do have a replacement contestant ready, and he isn't in the first half of the first round (aa spoiler) so I do have a day to switch him out for someone else if need be!!!

[crowns-and-keys]

'Form of Darkness' AU

Here me out. If Sora at the end of KH1 got a body of Darkness instead of Light. If Ansem was around and saw his potential, saw that he still retained some memories and he taught Sora how to reform himself.

...I want Riku to not be possessed by Ansem though, so gremlin Sora can be the antagonist instead. But Keyblade wielder Kairi Vs. the boys is also like - very good brain candy. (Look just, Ansem leave the 'Road to Dawn' boy alone. You a heartless - you got a body of darkness. Get out!)

Make Sora and Riku the 'Best Buddies of Darkness' - competitive, chaotic, destructive, and having the time of their lives. Their relationship hasn't been this great since before Kairi showed up.

Let the Kingdom Key pass on to Kairi for a short time. Sora steals Kingdom Key D from Mickey, or he now has the Keyblade of Hearts. So, he's out doing his heartless thing releasing hearts because - he feels great - why not share what his newfound freedom is like with others.

Riku gets Kingdom Key D or Soul Eater. (Heck this is fandom, let the boy dual wield.)

...Let Roxas and Sora be a Duo.

And if Riku hasn't been yanked out of the darkness’ grip by Kairi yet, let those two butt heads because Sora is my best friend / my Other! (I just think it would be so utterly ironic if Riku is the first to come to his senses when shaking off the grips of darkness. He's still got a body / is human after all.)

Then bring Xion in ‘cause they need a more Sora Sora on the team. (Currently he is chaos incarnate, and Roxas, who has access to light magic, is very useful; they could use another like him.) But as per usual they mess up and she becomes her own person.

And of course, throw Axel into the mix because these gremlin children need a freakin' keeper. (Even though we all know he's just as much of a troublemaker as they are.)

Mostly I want to see sassy/edgy Sora enjoying his dark powers, and picking on reformed Riku. (Make him worse - make him worse! *chants* ) And then, through the power of the Sea Salt's friendship he starts to realize this isn't the kind of person he was, or wants to be.

Riku's gone. Roxas and Xion aren't interested in playing his 'games' anymore. They say he's hurting people. That heartless aren't all like him and being forced to be a Nobody is cruel. If Repliku exists he's still quickly disposed of at some point - and he was fun but he wasn't his Riku.

And then there are the memories. Xion tells him about them, Roxas too, and he's met Namine, knows she's got some kind of mind powers. She's his favorite witch - they always have so much fun reminiscing about... about the past... but that was Kairi... or was it Namine?  Kairi always made things worse right??? Sora couldn’t stand that she got between him and Riku… or was it the other way around?  But now Riku has chosen her over him! And he has all this love for someone but it's. Not. In the right - place.

Xemnas and Ansem have no more patience with him. Never really had any in the first place to be honest.

...It's not a game anymore... he misses his friends. He misses Riku and Kairi. And he doesn't know what to do.

__________________________________________________________

Update: Somehow I lost this note about the artwork from before. :/

But this looks so good - I'm always impressed with artist who can keep the form without adding shading. Like, I love looking at a good ink and color piece.

So hat's off to you - you funky little artist! 👍

come to the dark side we have cool clothes

[invertedfate]

What are your thoughts on a Frisk/Lilac pairing? Are you opposed to the idea?

Frisk and Lilac iiiis an interesting case of being murky in terms of how I feel about it. I personally see them as a bit more sibling-like, but also there was an undeniable toxicity/codependency that was never quite resolved- honestly, they kinda wound up being a parallel to the way Chara and Asriel's dynamic pre-death, right down to Frisk pushing Lilac into a plan she was uncomfortable with and her getting hurt in the process.

So in my mind, them being romantic is shaky because when it's come to hashing out backstory details with them, it was always a case of like, "Are they basically found family type sibling dynamic, or is it a childhood besties/possible first crush scenario?" At this point, I lean the former, but since the comic only has so much in terms of content for them right now (that being Frisk's flashback, the two secret pages with Lilac, and recent stuff), I'm definitely not gonna scold or yell at anyone who thought the idea of them is cute. Y’all aren’t mind readers, and I don’t like the aggression that stuff can bring anyway.

I'd say it's iffy for me in the same way Charisk is uncomfortable for a lot of people in the fandom due to how many people prefer Frisk as part of the Dreemurr fam, whereas I personally feel like that should be taken on a work-by-work basis due to the existence of places to go and other in-game choices. Ftr, I totally get why folks feel this way, though in IF's case, Frisk and Chara did not form a sibling bond, and Frisk is going to end up staying with Papyrus, which certainly helps avoid some awkward shit (tho may not please everyone in that area). And despite me not going in with ships in mind, they ended up having a really cute dynamic that appealed to tons of my readers and got my neurodivergent brain goin' "this is now a cute, G-rated comfort thing. >:|" Only in the context of this AU- please, please don't ship Charisk in AUs that do have 'em as siblings. That's a big nope. D:

But also, I'm the kinda person who doesn't expect people to like all the things I do, and hell. My favorite Kingdom Hearts ship is Riku and Kairi. Antipode ships Ringabel from Bravely Default with Aqua completely on accident despite BD characters never being in the actual KH games, and Ven and Sora ended up with accidental chemistry there too. :P I'd be a huge hypocrite if I said people can only like the canon or accidentally shipteased stuff in Inverted Fate.

Frisk and Lilac just sits in a place where I just dunno, y'know? And I dunno how I should feel when for over two years, the specificity of their dynamic has been left kinda vague. Though I will say, if there is one IF Frisk ship outside of the usual suspects (e.g. Fr*ns and shit) that I'm really not comfortable with, iiit's Frisk and Asriel. Not keen on the idea of Frisk falling for someone who manipulated and traumatized them, plus the murkiness of Flowey's mental age. Like w/ Charisk, this applies specifically to IF- I'm not trying to attack it in other non-sibling contexts, even if it's not my thing.

But yeah. I just dunno when it comes to Frisk and Lilac. It probably doesn't help that the chapters where she interacts with Frisk aren't out yet, so there's a lot you guys have yet to see. Plus with Lilac being adopted into a whole different family, it's also just "what do we classify them as???" Does it count as inc*st vibes at that point? Genuine question here. :( Especially as a csa/inc*st survivor I don't wanna seem insensitive, y'know? I don’t like shipping adoptive siblings, and Ch*sriel is a big nope for me, and since Frisk and Lilac feel parallel to that in some respects, it’s just ???.

Also, apparently some people crackship IF Berdly and Frisk. And also Berdly and Lilac. This amuses me immensely.

[fireemblems24]

Why I Never Really Talk About Claude

Because there's nothing to say. As much as I hate to say it.

NOTE: I love Claude, and this is in no way meant to say anything bad about him, but Verdant Wind and how it handles him. I didn't tag him, but I want Claude fans to give me their amazing meta analysis and help me indulge in his character. So if you see this - no hate. Please send love.

Gronder Field was obviously a huge turning point for AM and Dimitri - and trust me, I'll definitely get to that - but ironically it was also an eye-opener for VW.

This game is four routes, and at first I tried to give all four their dues, but lately I've talked almost exclusively about CF and AM. With CF on hold until the other routes are also at their final chapter(s), it's become more apparent how little I mention SS and VW.

SS is obvious. It lacks a strong central figure. Rhea is MIA. Edelgard has no presence. Claude and Dimitri weren't supposed to be big characters here, and they aren't. Byleth is too much of a non-character (by design) to pull the weight of a route on his own (my SS is M!Byleth).

But what about VW? What happened?

Initial Impressions of Claude

Claude's writing, before any other character, got my attention. Edelgard I was already biased towards before even opening the game, fueled by her stark difference in design/unit type than other FE leading ladies and knowledge that her route had a split. Hilariously, Dimitri's the one I paid little attention too. But once I actually started the game and heard the characters talk and such, it was Claude who stood out the most.

Claude was witty, promising, and mysterious in a natural way and not the "yeah, sure" way I felt towards Dimitri's "darkness." 😅Edelgard turned out exactly how I expected (and not in a bad way); it was Claude who proved unexpected. It was his prologue dialogue I enjoyed the best, his class introductions that made me laugh.

But sadly that interest burned out.

Edelgard continued to demand my attention throughout part 1. I didn't always agree with her, but I did stay invested in figuring out what her deal was, what she'd do next, etc . . . She surprised me, intrigued me, made me want to discuss her ideas.

Dimitri blindsided me. He tore at my heartstrings without even trying. Ever since the Lonato rebellion, Dimitri got my attention and never let it go. His empathy and stark contrast with his revenge, the truth about his darkness, and so, so much more took him from "there's a third guy" to hands down favorite.

But what did Claude have going for him? Looks? Sure. A fun personality? Definitely. But what about plot, conflict, growth? Throughout part 1, I wanted to know more about what Edelgard planned behind the scenes and her ideals. And during that time, my heart ached for Dimitri as I watched a battle he kept losing and felt so conflicted about his desire for revenge.

What did Claude feel? What did he want? I still kind of don't know. Lack of prejudice between borders? Me too! But what does that have to do at all with what's happening in the game? Nothing. Nothing at all.

Gronder Field

Gronder Field made it just how apparent Claude and VW feels like an awkward third wheel.

During the cut scene, Dimitri and Edelgard had parts that made me (or would've made me) desperate to know what on earth was going on with them. Why is Edelgard invading everyone and, once again, trying to kill her classmates? If she's sad about it, why did she start this war? WTF happened to Dimitri? WTF is going on in the Kingdom? If I wasn't in the middle of it, I'd plan to get to CF and AM asap.

Claude says nothing interesting. Nothing intriguing. It's a throwaway line any character could've said about how this is such a bad class reunion. Honestly, it feels like he got dumped with the lines they needed for advertising because the other two were too caught up in having an actual storyline.

Throughout the game, there's moments that would've made me desperate to play CF and AM, but Claude really hasn't gotten the same treatment.

Claude Deserves Better

The thing is, I like Claude. Writing this reminded me what a fantastic impression he made initially. I love his drive for knowledge, the almost idealistic world he lives to create despite his world-weary character, and how he seemed far more mysterious than the other two (and still is frankly), and didn't get used as a tool to pander to the player self-insert nearly as much either.

But he's been given nothing to work with. Rhea, Edelgard, and Dimitri all have desperate stakes in what happens. Claude doesn't. Or it feels like he doesn't. Even more of the students and faculty have more going on than poor Claude. Things are desperate, emotional, full of conflict, growth, and action. This is what makes someone connect to a story, but Claude feels so disconnected that it's hard to invest.

VW feels less like a cohesive story that could stand on its own and more like a series of battles strung together. Claude has neither Edelgard's strong motivations and active presence nor Dimitri's strong motivations and dynamic development.

It's in the details too. In CF, people are fighting for Edelgard and the Empire. In AM, people are fighting for Dimitri and the Kingdom. In SS, people are fighting for Byleth, Rhea, and the Church of Serios. In VW, people are fighting for . . . Byleth.

I mean, even in FEH Claude doesn't get special treatment. It seems Legendary Edelgard got a giant advertisement video for her release, and Legendary Dimitri got his own mini-foreging bonds with full voice acting. Legendary Claude got nothing. Maybe he's not as popular are the other two (I've stayed out of the fandom outside of my blog for obvious reasons - so I don't really know), but maybe the reason he's less popular (I'm assuming) is because there's a lack of emotional resonance compared to the others.

Honestly, it makes me irritated. Claude has so much potential as a lead character. There's so much to work with, but the game just doesn't play to his strengths, doesn't connect his desires and goals to the plot, ignores Almyra, and has him remain distant from everyone - including the plot. He deserves better.

Claude Fans, I Need Your Help

That said, I know, for fact, I am overlooking parts of his character. Claude fans, please help! Send me your analysis of his characters, what you admire, what his faults are etc . . . (please just no spoilers post Gronder, if you let me know I need to read it later, I'll like it go back to it).

I'm playing all 4 routes at the same time, which means I'm doing monastery weeks back-to-back-to-back-to-back - which means lots and lots of supports all at once. It's impossible for me to retain all that information. There are definitely Claude moments I've overlooked and forgotten.

I also know, for fact, that when you love a character, you can write an entire essay off of one line of dialogue/scene (yes, I've done it 😅). Please send me those essays. I want more Claude love on here, because I'm quickly remembering how much I loved Claude.

[dj-of-the-coven]

Well nothing can top the other stories here but since we're being invited to share I might as well...

I discovered the game series relatively recently through Kingdom Hearts. Although I got into KH around age 15 or so, and DDD was the first game I played in the series (don't judge me), I didn't actually realize that the side characters from Traverse Town actually had their own game until a lot later--all I knew was that Neku and Beat were my favorite side characters in the game series, basically just because they had such cool designs. Beat in particular was my lil unknown guy. Squimbus from my polls before either of those things existed on tumblr. I really loved how much he cared about Rhyme, especially because I've had so much fatigue over every single guy-girl pair in anything being a couple. It seemed obvious to me that what they had going on was not romantic (duh, because they're siblings), but still very emotional, and that slapped.

So fast-forward about 4 years and I'm sitting around being dumb in my room when someone I followed for KH content posted some art of the twewy characters with other twewy characters that I hadn't seen before. I go "wait hold on what the fuck. there's more?" and manage to search the tags for the name of the game series: The World Ends With You. Since I'm depressed as shit and looking for a new way to waste time, I go to the switch E-shop and find out that there are actually two games in the series. And both of them were on sale for like $15. "Sure, let's do it," I say, unaware that the game was about to ruin my life for the better.

Some things you need to know about me in order to understand why the game clicked:

I had an emo phase in middle school

Rock and Metal are two of my favorite music genres

I like to go tagging in my free time

I used to skateboard

I'm gay

I fucking hate my parents

I have a special interest in 2000s fashion, music, and technology

Needless to say, it immediately drew me to latch on to the thing. I loved everything about it, from the aesthetics to the music to the character design. And finally, finally, I found a character that I could relate to more than basically any from other media I've seen before: the guy himself, my squimbus, Beat Bito.

It's a little embarrassing that I can't claim to have good childhood memories of the series like a lot of other fans can, but I have a lot of good memories of it anyway! I started playing it while I was still attempting to go to college, so I played it in the 2-hour break I had between classes, and while I was on the train, and when I'd go to a coffee shop after school and have myself a little beverage. Sometimes I opened the game just to listen to the tracks when I had nothing better to do, just chillin' and vibin'. All around a good time! I can still remember how I felt and how I reacted to almost everything in the game, and where I was when it happened.

Twewy is the first game that's ever inspired me to produce the amount of fan content and analysis that I have. It's truly a very unique experience, even after having been in the KH fandom as an observer for many years--I think I just like it when characters are able to be a little bit more real, and it's also nice to see myself in something for once, in music and fashion and characters... I see so few representations of teen characters with shitty home lives like how I was at their age, or even characters obsessed with the same kind of music and fashion and art as me. Beat's family life, Neku's problems with understanding people, and their hobbies/aesthetics spoke to me in a way that most Kingdom Hearts plots never could. Basically the only thing I didn't like in the game was Joshua, but not because I think he isn't a well-written character; he and I just have mlm/wlw hostility between us and I just think it's so much fun to hate him. Like disney villains or something.

Well anyway, it's been about 7 or 8 months and this game still has me by the balls. I don't think it's gonna stop any time soon, so send fucking help.

twewy fans when and how did you find out about and get into twewy

For me the way I found out abt it was very silly it was through flipnote Hatena LOL. Flipnote animations weren’t the only thing on there and one thing popular artists there liked to do was post Question Games. In which they write down fun questions on each individual page of a flipnote and post it unlocked (meaning anyone can download and edit it) and encourage their followers to add their answers and then upload it for the creator to see.

Around early 2010 ish I found one of those from an artist I liked so I downloaded it and near the end of the flipnote the creator put in a quiz of naming random characters from animanga and games and having the person filling out flipnote write the name of the IP the character was from to test their Knowledge. A lot of them were from popular shows but the final one (which the creator called a Bonus Round) stumped me it was asking me to name what IP the character “Daisukenojo Bito” was from and I had No idea. Later after I posted my answers I went looking at other ppls flipnotes that were uploaded as a response and I found one where the person knew Every character from the quiz section (though in hindsight they probably just looked up every name online) and I saw the answer to what Daisukenojo Bito was from: The World Ends With You.

Just the title alone caught my attention bc I found it really cool. I thought it might’ve been the name of an anime or something so I looked it up and went on the Wikipedia page and got really interested to see it was a DS game. I tried to read through the article but everything (thankfully) went over my head and the only thing that Stuck in my brain was the one screenshot showcasing the dual screen battle system in the Combat section of the article. I was curious so completely on a whim I downloaded the game onto my TTDS card just to have it on there and started playing it a few days later. Then my life was changed forever lmao

anyways pls tell me how you got into twewy I’d love to knowe 🥺🙏

[didon]

Rashta, Navier and the true villain of The Remarried Empress

Listen, I don’t like Rashta. I don’t think I really need to explain why as most people clearly don’t. I think that she’s using very underhanded techniques to get what she needs and more. Because we all need safety and she comes from a place and status where she clearly need reassurance and that’s understandable. I find her annoying though because of the way she act and how she manipulate people. That’s my opinion. Navier clearly isn’t the only one she has hurt though so we can maybe stop using a sexist term like “Mary Sue” to describe her. The same way we need to watch our language about Rashta.

Now, I do believe that most of the hate should go on the Emperor even though it won’t because fandom is always more willing to hate on a “handsome” man rather than on any woman no matter how beautiful they are. Especially if they uses that beauty like Rashta does which was very common and still is. Not only is he the one truly being an ass to his wife, but he could have easily had people teach Rashta how to behave from the get go. Instead, he enjoys her ignorance because it satisfy his idea that he is this great person that everybody would love if they met. He cannot understand why Navier hasn’t fallen for him, despite not loving her himself, and need someone to reassure him that he is the gift to humanity he was probably told he was a thousand times growing up. He’s the true villain because he hurts both of the women, uses them to get what he wants, etc. For those that have read to the right part, let’s remember what is divorce plan actually is and how ridiculous it is.

I don’t think though that people should blame Navier for being “cold” (not that I’m seeing it here but still). She’s a young woman who was raised with an immense amount of pressure on her and she was probably taught that every single one of her actions have consequences. They actually do because whoever she talks to can be seen as favored and therefore will probably boast about it. The clothes she wear have an influence, her hair, etc. She can’t even unburden herself on anybody because that would be seen as weakness and as the Emperess she’s not allowed to have any. She has “everything” but not really because she is alone and not allowed to truly want or need for anything. Heck, people would probably talk if she were to express anything because how dare she need/want for anything, her who already has everything. She’s not even allowed friends that don’t work for her per her husband driving them away. She’s a bird that’s locked in a cage at all time and yet isn’t allowed to sing because it would make the free birds outside cry. She didn’t choose her life either, she was forced into it by her family.

That wasn’t my point while starting this though. I wanted to ask since when did slavery = bad become a hot take? I get that this is fiction, etc. but what is fiction but a reflection of our world and our values. Yes there are places were men can have multiple wives and mistresses and the women can’t say anything about it, but that’s not the case in South Korea. We’re also not talking about adultery. We’re talking about the very fact that somebody can “own” another’s life and impose their will and desire onto them. No matter if it’s fantasy or anything like it, it’s never okay. I don’t know in which universe people live but seeing an abject crime against humanity done and go “but it’s fiction” isn’t a good reasoning. The same way pure racism isn’t okay because of “fiction” or abuse isn’t okay for the same reason. I get that Rashta isn’t the most pleasant character but still. Especially since we are told here that she might be paying for someone’s else crime. Imagine how ridiculous that is. Your ancestor stole a loaf of bread or flirted with the wrong woman and the leader of your country decided that generations after them must pay for them. I know we are told that only a true “horrible” crime result in slavery but that all depend on the leader and their view of what categorizes a horrible crime. For some historical leaders, being born was a crime. That’s not counting a mad leader deciding to make their enemies disappear by selling them into slavery. Does someone really deserve to be treated as less than human because they or their parents did not agree with the political leader?

Rashta is a victim of that and is a villain sure but at least we have actual reason for her doing what she does. She evolved from the naive and trustable person we met at first, but how can she not when she’s trust in a political world with no idea how to swim in it. She’s also very much aware that her origin make her less in everybody’s mind around her. Now, does everything she does is okay or the right course of action? Of course not it isn’t. She quickly loses her innocence and start playing the game just like everybody else but she doesn’t deserve hate for that. The same way she doesn’t deserve hate for trying to survive in a world of sharks. It’s not a question of not trusting the Emperor, which she is right to do by the way seeing how he’s treated his wife and how others are treated for doing less than she is, but a question of trying to come out of all of it with her head on her shoulders and enough to live on. Does she eventually get greedy? Maybe and in my actual opinion yes, but she didn’t start wanting to steal a husband and a kingdom from someone else. Men are constantly manipulating her and using her for their own wishes and she can’t turn toward any of the ladies either because she is very much aware of how precarious her situation is. Unlike Navier, she can’t rely on being raised for the role of mistress or even her losing her status causing a political problem. She’s a nobody being used by rich men as a plaything and trying to not come out as a loser. She might be going at it wrong, but she was never taught how to do it right and you have to remember all the men that are filling her with lies and mistrust. Because pretty much every single of her “schemes” have come from a man telling her a lie or giving her a bad advice.

What I think is very interesting in this webtoon is the duality of Rashta and Navier because in a way, they end up in similar situations. They are both women that have to survive court and nobles being faker than plastic while men are trying to use them for their own gains and who have nobody to truly be able to turn to. Eventually, Navier gains people like that, but the tragedy of Rashta is that she doesn’t. She might think she can trust some people, but none of the people around her truly have her best interest at heart. The best thing for her would have been for Navier to take her under her wing while Rashta refuses to be the Emperor’s mistress (I can never remember his name sorry). By having the very same position that grants her the “security” she so need and desire, Rashta put her best ally in an enemy position and that’s what’s going to be her downfall. She might be annoying and pushing it sometimes, but we know she will drown because she’s never been taught otherwise. That’s why the true villain will always have to be the Emperor because he’s not only the one who pitted the two women by taking one as a mistress while married to the other one, but he never took the time to truly help his mistress, expecting others and especially Navier to do so for him. He could have brought her back to the palace as a guest only and Navier would have probably taken Rashta under her wing like she does for many others, but by making her a rival to Navier, he destroyed any chances she had to be able to leave him and survive which I think was something he did deliberately. There’s no way he wouldn’t have known that this would be the actual ending. He wanted to keep Rashta bound to him until he was done with her otherwise he would have asked Navier to help set her up with housing and maybe even a job. Instead, he probably held her status and her gender against her and decided to use her beauty for himself.

The lesson of this story in my opinion isn’t that beautiful women shouldn’t be trusted or that you have to be pure of heart and your history a blank slate to be worthy or anything like that but instead a lesson for women on who to trust and that we are stronger together than separated. It’s also a very clear lesson on how appearances can be wrong and it asks us the reader to truly wonder what makes someone a villain. Does wanting to survive in a hostile world make you one? Does not wanting to let someone take what is yours and what you have worked for your entire life does? Or does wanting to use others for your advantage, control them and force them to need you make you a villain?

[cute-angi]

Tagged by @esperata​

Rule: list your favorite (male) characters from ten different fandoms

That's very difficult

SSDD - Same Shit Different Day

Stephen King's Dreamcatcher - Douglas Cavell

Duddits! There's no explanation there. It's Duddits! Love him!

The Riddler: Edward Nashton (Nigma)

I don't think it needs a big announcement that this was coming. As soon as I lost myself in Arkham and heard his transmissions, I was blown away. That's when I fell in love with him.

Final Fantasy XV - Verstael Besithia

I know what everyone is thinking right now. Why doesn't it say Ardyn? He's the cool villain after all. Or where are the chocobros? Nope... I already liked grumpy Verstael and then episode Ardyn just made me see pink-red as soon as I saw the trailer. (My interpretation of him, of course, has only become so "cold-hearted" over the years. You know how it is with fangirls...)

''The artist has a duty to seduce the ear and delight the spirit.... Say hello to an evening with Sander Cohen!''

Bioshock - Sander Cohen

I thought about it for a long time. And first I wanted to mention the Lutece twins. Those two are always my favorites. Then I thought of Augustus Sinclair. A man of honor! I love Sinclair. And Bioshock contains so many more brilliant characters. There are no bad ones. But then I just had to go with Cohen, because Fort Frolic won't let me go. Especially after reading Rapture and having more insight into his character. This man just so often reflects what most of us are like at our core. We are artists of the world and so vulnerable because of it. We walk the narrow path between madness and genius.

Because we're talking about artists...

The Evil Within - Stefano Valentini

I am, after all, someone who likes Tchaikovsky. And yes, of course the first game, was often better than the second. The second one didn't cost me much effort. I hardly managed the first one on easy at first. And Ruvik is one of the most interesting characters ever. But Stefano, like Cohen, has something ... strangely great about him.

Strange... I'm about to be hated by everyone.

Avatar The Last Airbender - Long Feng

Okay... okay... listen to me, please. Of course Iroh is the best character in the series and has helped me through so many stages of life.But I have a thing for really bad guys and as I get older, tastes change. Well, Long Feng is just sneaky? But he runs the Dai Li and through it he owns Ba Sing Se!  Hello? Of course I watch AsianDramas and yes please make me your queen. So I finally live behind safe walls.

"There is no war in Ba Sing Se" Okay... can the Dai li please adopt me as a lost princess?

Now that we have the embarrassing behind us, here comes something all too understandable:

Resident Evil (Village) - Karl Heisenberg

Instead of Male Characters, the rules should say, "Favorite Daddy Characters."

Okay...I have to do it...break the rules....

Mommy? Can I please stay up late and play with Bela, Cassandra and Daniela? I love this woman. Mommy!

Okay...don't forget the love for Donna!!!! Donna Beneviento~!!!!

Let's get serious again.

1, 2, 3, 4... Did you miss me, Monte d'Or?

Professor Layton - Descole

I triggered you guys with that quote, didn't I? Randal is really wonderful.I have just replayed Miracle Mask. But I've been in love with that damn guy since part 4. Descole is My childhood love that comes back every year.

Kingdom Hearts - Xehanort (And Eraqus)

Here again my love for evil. I never dared to admit that I love "Ansem" so much in the first game. Well..... now I'm allowed to and it's just the character around Xehanort that enchants me. But Xehanort doesn't exist on its own either. Only with the best of the best: Eraqus!

And now we come to the anime track:

Attack on Titan - Willy Tybur

I really like Levi a lot. But I'm also someone who tries to jump off the hype train. I like Levi. And I love Zeke Yeager. But with the first appearance of Willy Tybur in the manga... phew my heart. I was hoping at the time that he would still be the Warhammer. There' s a lot of content lost on his family.

Because we are talking about manga:

Naruto - Tobirama Senju (and Izuna Uchiha)

It's been a long time since I watched or read Naruto. But it helped me through my "most difficult time". I have the sign of the Senju clan tattooed on my back. And it always gives me strength to get through everything. And with Tobirama you also have to like Izuna. With him you love Madara and with this Hashirama. Oh these four... my heart.