#ask hamliet

[hamliet]

Excited for your thoughts on the bnha ending

Also I’ll be honest I dropped this like 200 chs ago and I’ve just kept up through your metas because I was so disillusioned with the manga 🥲 I even sold my copies

it's a bit bittersweet to see bnha handled this way. sometimes i think we'll get a promising continuation from the author which is major cope for me T.T

fix its are otw but damn it doesn't mend that it ended this way rn

Diff asks, answering together.

Not saying too much because there's not much to be said besides that a friend who wrote a meta who won't post it (to all our detriment!) said it best last week: this story is cowardly. It's afraid to say or do anything because it wants to make everyone happy and realized it can't, so now it just wants to make no one upset, but everyone's upset.

I feel sad for Horikoshi. His recent interviews are quite depressing, and he seems burned out and done with his own manga in a way that makes Gege look enthusiastic about JJK.

Like, he doesn't confirm Touya dead or alive--which frankly I will take--but leaves it up to the reader to decide. Is the doctor's word final, or is Touya crying a symbol of healing since he previously couldn't? I know which one I choose to believe, but this way people can choose to fit the manga into their personal beliefs. He's trying to say nothing to avoid rocking the boat. And that's just sad, especially when we consider what likely contributed to that.

Which is to say, on a purely story level, the story has no power. There's being open to other perspectives and then there's not having a message. This is sadly the latter. It's a mess. Deku "heroes save" doesn't save, but he's still heroic, but that line isn't demolished or destroyed. AFO may be dead, but he won in the end because what he used to taunt Deku came true. Deku's character is nothing more than a vehicle--no struggle, no emotional climax, no principles. The ships are not even confirmed because the story can't even commit to the obvious Ochaco/Deku (which I dislike even!) for fear of angering other loud shippers. Society is the problem, but also the answer. The hero system is the problem, but also the answer. It's not a paradox because it doesn't explain the layers at play here. It's just noodles that have cooked far too long and turned into a congealed mess.

The only message I can take from it is "yay authoritarianism" which I'm going to hope Horikoshi is saying accidentally (and most likely is). It's as meaningless as GoT season 8, and TROS, and that's not good company to be in.

[hamliet]

I also wanted to add something here about the symbolism of the brothers in Alyx's workshop: namely, two dragons, one winged and one serpentine. This is almost certainly directly lifted from alchemy. Nicolas Flamel (the real guy, not the HP character) notes:

"Looke well upon these two Dragons for they are the true principles of the beginning of the Philosophy.... the wingless dragon is sulphur because it never flies away from the fire. The winged serpent is quicksilver... these two must be united." Their union, however, is "a most violent and bloody copulation."

Jung comments:

... two dragons eating each other [symbolizes something] paradoxical: it is itself a created thing, but it brings all creatures out of a potential state of existence in the world of ideas... into actual existence.

The dragons/brothers/gods create humans out of their disagreement/fight (here symbolic) and it's in that that there is beauty. The goal is not to become like the gods, a la Salem (who committed literally the oldest sin in the book). The goal is to be fully human, fully yourself, because the beauty of humanity is in change and growth. The gods themselves embody this via an eternal fight.

Mirror Mirror

Well, obviously Vacuo is gonna be an inversion and mirror of Atlas, right?

[horizon-verizon]

Lyanna & Rhaegar "Master Post"

*Will be updated probably many times*

Yes, this is narratively/IN-WORLD a love story and a love pairing. This post gives the reasons why it is meant to be so, and does so from a Watsonian vs a Doylist approach.

A List of Different Posts to Consider

hamliet's Rhaegar as Hubristically Idealistic & Relyin on Prophecy to Carry the Day [reblog]

ozymalek/Phoenix Ashes's Breakdown of How the story of Rhaegar and Lyanna is MEANT to be a Love Story, with Evidence from Text

A Claim that they were similar to Aemond and Alys under the War Prize = R*pe Context

My Reblog of a Thread: The Actual Timeline of Rhaegar, Lyanna, Aerys, etc to show how Aerys and not Rhaegar is Responsible for Elia's being in KL; Elia's Possible Reactions to Lyanna and Rhaegar; Political Marriage; The Dornish's Relationship w/the rest of Westeros

la-pheacienne's Words abt how fallacious it is to expect war from Rhaegar's actions alone....Aerys caused the war, not Rhaegar; The Queen of Love and Beuaty; "Ethical Authenticity" when Rhaegar Ran Off w/Lyanna // MY REBLOG OF IT -- this post

la-pheacienne's Response to my question: "What do you think about Rhaegar and Lyanna?"

Duty vs Love in ASoIaF

Consummation & Age of Majority in Westeros

An ask to ladymorgana91: "Do you think that Lyanna and Rhaegar were seriously in love?" -> ORIG // MY REBLOG

Cersei vs Elia & Fandom's Love for the Dead Ladies

More Reiterations of Certain Textual and Contextual Evidence for it Being a Romance Pair

An ask about how Game of Thrones Muddled People's View of Legitimization vs Acknowledgement, Polygamy, and Jon Snow being Rhaegar's Heir or Named "Aegon"

Elia is not PoC, bc the Dornish are not "PoC" but "spicy whites" even with there being discrimination against Dornish people..."white" people can be racist/ethnically dehumanizing against certain other "white" people; but even with all that, Rhaegar the man himself has never displayed any disfavor towards Elia purely or partly from her being Dornish just because Aerys did...we must remember that these two (Aerys and Rhaegar) had a very strained relationship, possibly and likely abusive, so it's very unlikely that Rhaegar shared his father's complete disregard for others in this way, esp when all his description form both not-so-great to pretty moral characters have thus far described Rhaegar as melancholy do-gooder

an ask to dragonsfromthemoon: "It says a lot about the hypocrisy of fandom when they hate Rhaegar for "abandoning" his wife and kids to fight in war but don't hate Ned for doing the same to his pregnant bride Catelyn. Rhaegar was an able-bodied prince who knew how to fight and ride a horse; to not fight would have branded him a coward. The reason Jaime and the other Kingsguard stayed behind is because they are sworn to protect the royal family which is why Rhaegar tasked them to protect Lyanna and Elia." // MY REBLOG

a reblog about Wuthering Heights and how people tend to approach Love in fiction, by la-pheacienne // MY REBLOG of it

Further Notes

One can argue that there is a power imbalance for every single relationship or relationship-to-be in this world, because women almost never have the same authorities or access to resources that a man automatically can inherit and use to exert authority over women...that's how feudal-monarchial hierarchies work. Rhaegar and Lyanna's age difference reflects a common Westerosi phenomenon that comes form this particular real-world and Westerosi phenomenon. Dany's relationship to Irri doesn't have an age difference nor a gender inequality factor, but many have also cited how Dany's position over Irri (both are former sex slaves but Dany is Irri's queen and Irri is Dany's handmaid) has troubling possible issues for Irri anyway....but this relationship is very clearly written to be 100% consensual, and just bc Irri/people might not be exactly in love or attracted to Dany or other people, doesn't mean she can't consent to sex (as many asexuals are not attracted to their partners but they can def consent).

Obviously, when we are trying to say what actually happens in the story (not from a writer's perspective, but literally what are the characters-as-if-Westeros-were-real), we need to look at the books/the "text" with some degree of remove from out own world to understand what the characters are doing and why they do it. Our own expectations of social context is not going to inform the entire text...bc this is not a text/work/series set in the modern era, thus that characters are not going to have lived under your modern context for them to really think X is this and that. That's not to say predators don't exist in Westeros & Planetos; GRRM gives very clear examples (Robert, Craster, Roose Bolton, Walder Frey, those slave masters who have child slaves, etc.). It's to say do not rush to label some characters as a very specific sort of predator when some textual details tell us both directly and indirectly that some situations show they functionally cannot.

All in all, yes GRRM frequently includes large age differences in romantic relationships as he wrote during a time where he and many others weren't really thinking about how such a power imbalance often spells trouble for the much younger (esp teenaged) partner, esp when its older boy/man and younger woman/girl...

BUT

"I don't think GRRM should have presented a 16 yr old and 22-24 year old as a tragic love story, esp when it resulted in her being physically separated from her family & dying from childbirth at such a young age."

DOES NOT EQUAL

"Rhaegar groomed, raped, & imprisoned her in a tower to force her to have his child or just because he's a pedophile and left her to die. He didn't understand true responsibility and duty. And he hated his wife and kids.

because the latter says that this actually happens in the actual narrative. The first one says GRRM PRESENTS a story that:

they think could have detrimental effects on some readers' perception of real-life relationships

or/and it makes them too uncomfortable with the very notion of such a age difference for what they know would be a power imbalance out of context/the story (esp when people frequently ignore context, which leads to misunderstandings to misunderstand)

Both readings still don't really absorb or consider the textual and ASoIaF/Westerosi social contexts both out and in the specific events before Robert's Rebellion, but they still aren't the same bc the second one is claiming that it is what is actually happening in-world.

What specific details prevent LyannaxRhaegar from being straight up grooming/rape? Because:

Lyanna clearly did not want to marry Robert; she was very likely the Knight of the Laughing Tree, who Aerys was looking for to likely kill; Rhaegar is very much her type, considering how she had a specific outlook on justice compatible with Rhaegar's goal towards refashioning Westeros from its destructive historical actions, including in the hands of his own family -- she more than likely (read "definitely") ran away with Rhaegar

we know intimately abt how power imbalances where there's a teen involved has disastrous effects we take measures against it with laws preventing what we've constructed are "teens" marrying non-teen adults (bc the concept of "teen" didn't exist until very recently in human history) and these people do not have such a concept to even be held accountable for staying away from 16 year olds, who were considered adults [however, even for them and I mean Westeros not real history, certain age differences are not favorable or good]; this is a fantasy series set in a pseudo-medieval feudalistic society whose characters cannot exist in their own world without the author's intent...they literally do not exist in our world]

You can dislike some of the characters & GRRM, but to misinterpret them as searching for teens for the mere sake of searching for teens in the way real pedos and groomers do and thus make Rhaegar the same as someone like Craster is ridiculous. The story is about particular nuances of feudalistic duty vs romantic/platonic/altruistic/self love versus how one approaches "fixing" the world/people but bungling it up bc you left too much up to a grand sense of "purpose".

Rhaegar failed bc he was way too idealistic that he let ideas of heroism carry him away from observing issues with is own acrions or how e implemented a lot of them. So he was both irresponsible in one sense and was obsessed w/fufilling an ultimate level of "responsibility" through a prophecy I think he took as way to justify/redeem te corruption around him. Yes, he wanted to be "authentic", but went about it unfairly & disastrously under that inevitable weight.

[class1akids]

Ok so I gave up on this manga long back before the war arc as the story inconsistencies were disappointing me but I kept up with the leaks just to see if it’d go interesting or if HK would fix the plotholes. After reading yesterday’s leaks I am super super pissed and disappointed. As a big bakugou fan, the boy got emotional development but it was made all about deku. He was given a total pointless death that didn’t achieve anything? Why do it? He didn’t save anyone except all might. No feelings shown towards anyone except deku n all might. My expectation was both him n deku trying to save shigaraki but the latter was killed in the most random manner. At first I thought maybe the leakers left something out but no, one punch and he is gone. No is mourning him, no regrets from Deku, he didn’t even speak with the villain. Ever since Deku unlocked Blackwhip, HK stopped showing his emotions, he lost his heart and it’s a pity all BKDK fans think that the manga achieved everything they asked for(PS: No it didn’t, it totally ruined your favourite characters and made them fodder feed, removed all the substance that made them lovable)

Iida wasn’t given much and sidelined (hello stain did you interact with this kid??), Shouto’s storyline went well but at least show him helping in the final fight rather than a single panel and uraraka’s cutest smile thing? Surely he could have written it so much better? Tokoyami, Kaminari, Mina, Kirishima and poor Momo, every kid was shown with lacklustre writing. Given a moment to shine and then faded to background.

And the way HK handled league of villains.. oh man, poor kurogiri, poor tenko, he managed to turn a complex characters into sacrifice.

This was a really sad ending and out of all the directions to go I have no clue why he chose to write this way. He clearly was trying to move the story in a good direction before so I had some hope but the execution of it butchered everything.

Yeah, I agree. I think Hori didn't do Deku or Bakugou justice, and generally what could have been a satisfying celebration of the great bonds of Class A, as well as the LoV, he barely allowed any meaningful interactions.

It's still bonkers to me that he made All Might fight AFO in an asspull mecha suit with the kids' quirks, while Class A got a single chapter of a combo and for many of the kids that's like their ONLY highlight.

As for the LoV , Tomura dying without even knowing if his friends are alive or being able to do anything for said friends right after he said he wanted to be the hero of the villains? That was just so weird.

I'm really not sure what happened in 424 - it felt like a narrative whiplash that Deku killed Tomura and Bakugou and Deku (presumably) killed Kurogiri all of a sudden. And not in a good twist way, but more like a "let's get this over with" way.

I think I tend to agree with hamliet who wrote a post about how Hori's greatest weakness is trying to please everyone and also the suspected editorial / WSJ meddling. I don't know what to think.

I mean you are correct to say that it's not the first time Hori dropped the ball - to me the decline starts way back at the Overhaul arc. But he still had good spots and there was a set up. All he had to do was put the roof on top of the bricks he built.

[foundouthatdabiistouyatodoroki]

Despite my many frustrations with how the series is headed, I am grateful that I became invested in it, it gave me anger but joy at the same time I never forgot the time when I lost my shit when 290 came out I felt so happy and excited I couldn’t keep still I will never forget that No matter how the series is ended I am grateful to meet many wonderful people in the fandom 

redphlox, hamliet, rainygirl2399, darkonekrisrewrite thank you for giving me the best experience I can ask for 

[haleigh-sloth]

Hello! So I am very late to the “meeting” haha, you can dismiss this since it’s a bit out of the blue. But I wanted to ask if you ever shared your thoughts for the ending of MHA? I kind of fell off of it after seeing spoilers, but then looking back into it, I didn’t really get to see the op of some meta blogs I followed since they’ve posted a lot since then. That and when trying to search up “ending” or meta, there was just a lot of vague posts that did not help. Even then, it seems like everyone had a united agreement that know one liked it (don’t blame them either. Toga’s death sucks along with Shigaraki, it’s vague about Spinner and Compress being or not being in jail, and Dabi unknown, but hey that’s better than nothing. Like to think he and Shoto are able to eat soba together even if Dabi is or is not under house arrest) 😅 Did your friends Redphox, Transhawks, and Hamliet ever share their thoughts? Or other meta blogs you know? Or did everyone kind of just drop it…

Sorry for the late response. I've mostly disconnected for my sanity but I can answer.

All my friends did share their thoughts yes. You can probably search their blogs and find them. But also a lot of us just....dropped it.

The manga went so south so fast in such a shocking and unexpected way that there wasn't any time to process it. Truly a horrible experience that I don't ever want to deal with again lol. I sound dramatic but really, 4 years of my life being so emotionally attached to these characters and the dynamics and it all meaning nothing in the end. It really did hurt!

The re-readability is completely gone because of the ending. It's not even a mediocre "passable" ending, it's just....the kind of ending I pretend doesn't exist. I really do, except when I'm forced to remember it.

I think a lot of us shared our thoughts as we could and then just dropped it for our emotional health because we all were going through it pretty bad. And even still it's hard to even look at content for the series.

I think what hurts the most is the recent visuals used for the OP for the 7th season. Like...putting the kids with their villains, showing them happy, or the "what could have been", or just showing them TOGETHER, and for what? For nothing, and that sucks bad.

I'm trying to get to where I am with every other series I've been attached to and hated the ending, where I literally just forget the ending exists and it doesn't bother me. I'll get there one day, which is why I'm not getting rid of my merch or my volumes. I love the characters and 420 chapters of the story. That's enough for me, I just need time. Sorry idk if this answered your question. If I had it in me I'd search for posts and link them here but I definitely don't have it in me to do that. Thanks for the ask though :)

[evax3]

Heya! I wanted to ask you… do you have any hope that the books will come out and we’ll finally know the real ending? And what do you think Jon and Dany’s endings will be? I keep on being optimistic we will get the real ending. And all I need for it to be perfect is Dany and Arya and Jon (my three favorites) surviving and being able to find peace and happiness after the hells they all suffered. As much as I want Dany and Jon to be King and Queen, I’ll settle for them living. But what do you think?

Hello my friend, thank you for the ask!! :)

regarding the books, I'm sure we’ll get to know the ending some day, one way or another. Whether they'll ever be published, I have little hope, but never say never. At least I assume that after his death there will be a "GRRM – Unpublished Works" collection or something similar in which we can read chapters from Winds and Dream of Spring as well as many other short stories about our faves. 

As for Dany and Jon’s ending, I highly recommend @hamliet 's meta’s. I love reading all of them but especially the analysis of Dany as a romantic heroine. It tells us so much about what we should expect for her endgame and why (it all makes so much sense!!). 

I assume Dany will set King’s Landing on fire. Not intentionally, but because her father hid the Wildfire under the city and Daenerys will accidentally blow it up with her dragons fighting against f!Aegon. I don't see her killing innocent people as some collateral damage, but I see her fighting her enemies with fire and blood (which imo makes all the difference).

The incident in KL will throw her into a crisis and I think only with Jon's help she’ll get out of it and pick herself up to fight with him against the real enemy aka the Others (I’m sure their decision to form an alliance is one of the last scenes of TWOW and in ADOS they’re already a couple romantically involved with each other). 

So I guess Winds will be about Dany conquering Westeros while Jon is a little lost, has to deal with the aftermath of his mutiny and then later his parental reveal, while A Dream of Spring will be more about their relationship and the Battle for the Dawn. I think Dany will be Azor Ahai and save Westeros with Jon by her side, but no one will thank them for that because of what happened before in KL (and also the general prejudice against their family). And that this is one of the essential elements that make the ending so bittersweet (as George has indicated). 

She and Jon will be the true heroes, the bastard and the exile, but no one is going to see it or give them credit for that.

GRRM describes himself as a romantic writer and romantic literature is shaped by the fact that it focuses more on the inner conflict than the external conflict. So I assume that all 3 (Arya, Dany and Jon - who are also my favorites) are mainly dealing with their identity crises in the following books. What is their purpose in this world? How do people's expectations fit with their own desires and ambitions? By the end of the story, these questions should be answered.

I think Arya is pretty safe, when it comes to staying alive. I'm not quite so sure about Jonerys/Snowstorm. As much as I want it, because of course I wish for a HEA for my favorite ship, I actually don't see the two of them ruling together. I think they'll fall in love and Dany will get pregnant (because them having a family with each other has been hinted at way too much and unlike D&D, George isn't just doing that only as "clickbait"). But my fear is that only one of them will be able to see their child grow up… 

And I'm not even sure what I actually want for their endgame if anything were possible? Probably to pack up their baby, Ghost and the dragons and then emigrate, lol. Maybe to Lys or somewhere warm? But they both have too much of a hero complex to ever pull that off ❤️

[megashadowdragon]

bnha chapter 393 adds to my theory of decay being izukus original quirk

izuku x ochako is obviously being pushed  people comapred shigaraki and ochako quirks due to them requiring all 5 fingers touching and now ochakos evolving to extending to things she hasnt touched just like with shigarakis quirk evolution

if  decay  was izukus it would mean that that both ochako ( a quirk that would help with construction) izuku ( help with demolition/destruction) and both can work as a rescue  with izuku after evolving it would get rid of inanimate objects that would bury someone ( if he trained it to control what he destroys

“

there are parallels between   Tomura Shigaraki and Izuku Midoriya (who are of the same generation) Just as Midoriya is chosen to be All Might’s successor, Shigaraki is being groomed as the successor for All Might’s archnemesis all for one(AFO)

for more on izuku and shigaraki being foils check this post out :

hamliet . tumblr . com/post/182207900119/hero-vs-villain-foils-shigaraki-tomura-and-izuku

at the start of the story both of them are pretty terrible at what they try to do and have to learn from their mentors. Izuku is trying to become the worlds greatest hero, Shigaraki is trying to become the world’s greatest villain at the same time. (shigaraki is the evil  counterpart to izuku midoriya)

so it would be an interesting parallel if shigaraki was like izuku originally quirkless   and their respective mentors all for one and all might gave them their quirks but all for one gave him a quirk decay unwillingly and without his knowledge  so that he would accidentally kill his family

this person gives a lot of evidence for shigaraki being given the decay quirk by afo though makeste thinks afo stole shigarakis quirk and replaced it with a new one instead of being quirkless :

makeste . tumblr . com/post/183799846838/bnha-222

.

AFO engineered this entire situation in order to traumatize Nana’s grandson and manipulate him into becoming the deranged little villain boy we all know and love today.

evidence:

it’s safe to say that Tomura’s quirk isn’t anything like Nana’s, or else All Might and Gran Torino probably would have put the pieces together a lot sooner. so that means that Tomura either got his quirk from his mother’s side of the family, or else this isn’t his original quirk

AFO just happens to find Baby Tenko in the aftermath of him having accidentally murdered his entire family. and he knows exactly what happened. and the circumstances just so happen to line up perfectly for him to gain Tenko’s trust and manipulate him to hate All Might and heroes in general. what I’m saying is, clearly none of this is actually a coincidence. which means AFO either killed Tenko’s family himself and then fudged Tenko’s memories to make him think he did it, or else he engineered things to make it so that Tenko would kill them

Tomura admits to having no clear memories prior to meeting AFO, so he was either traumatized to the point where he suppressed all those memories for his own self-preservation, or his memories were purposely manipulated by AFO. I don’t doubt AFO is capable of this, and right now it seems the more likely option to me. AFO seems fairly confident that Tomura won’t regain those memories but will still retain the emotions

lastly, AFO and Ujiko were clearly not above “tinkering” with him, since Ujiko asked AFO whether or not he should do so after Tenko had his mini-breakdown upon seeing the hands. idk about you guys, but I got a feeling they had already done something and he was talking more about fine-tuning whatever it was, but AFO decided against it

afo stole decay quirk from izuku as an infant maybe the doctor found a way to detect what a kids quirk will be during infancy and allow afo to steal it and gave it to shigaraki  who was actually born quirkless. or izukus quirk first appeared  when  izuku was a baby

I mean the first quirk user was found in a glowing baby so its possible

and it would make an interesting connection between shigaraki and izuku

and add to the parallels between them

while izukus quirk was stolen shigaraki was given that quirk and neither of their fathers wanted them to be heroes

“

All For One having been the one to give a Quirkless Tomura Shigaraki the Decay Quirk would be a good story decision and another great parallel to Izuku Midoriya and All Might.

“the itching being his body rejecting the quirk because it’s not his own or the random stranger who found Tenko on the street and just after that the quirk got activated)“

I may be reaching this theory may be crack  but hey bnha is ending soon so I just want to make at least one more theory post of my own 

[mercyandmagic]

Heya Mercy! I'm the person who made the teen!wangxian fic rec list yesterday and it wasn't until you reblogged it that I remembered YOU WROTE ONE OF MY FAVORITE FICS EVER (i.e. The Oriole Behind You) so anyways if you don't mind, I would love for you to talk a little bit about that fic. I know it's been a while since that fic was published, but how did you come up with the idea? How did you come up with the ships? What was the process like when you wrote it? How did you come up with the twists and turns?

Anyways, thanks for being awesome. Keep slaying!

Oh! Thank you so much!!!

I didn’t come up with the forced marriages part. My sister @hamliet came up with the idea of Wen Ruohan setting up all these pairings. We both adore Wangxian, Xiyao, Xuanli, Nie Mingjue/Wen Qing, and Sangyu. I’d recently written a fic with Jiang Cheng and Mianmian (Sentiment), and Xue Yang/Chang Ping (Everything But a Father), and Hamliet pointed out that Jiang Cheng and Mianmian is perfect because he always blamed the fall of Lotus Pier on Jin Zixuan and Lan Wangji defending her. If his siblings married the respective defenders, it only fits for Jiang Cheng to marry Mianmian, and I love that idea.

As for Qin Su/Wen Ning, and Su She/Jin Zixun, I’ve written them in Brothers and Sisters and I adore the respective two cinnamon rolls and enemies-to-lovers aspect to our two bitter boys (Yes, I stan Jin Zixun because if I don’t, who will?). 

Hamliet asked me to write it instead, and I was all to happy to oblige. I initially set out to have a happy/cracky tone.

And then... Writing the twists and turns was really one of those things where characters take the pen and run with it. I opened with Meng Yao, and by the end of the first chapter, it was entirely different than the idea I’d had when Hamliet first texted me. A-Yao started revealing all this angst, and then Xue Yang arrived and still revealed more angst. Lan Wangji gave me even more angst with his pain in the second chapter. 

I wrote it faster than most stories, and the characters just kept choosing where to go. Some plot points remained unchanged: Wangxian had to have their questionable ‘first time,’ Xuanli needed to have Jin Ling. When I began to realize how many characters were having kids and that it wasn’t realistic... that’s when I side-eyed Meng Yao and realized it would make perfect sense for him to have slipped a potion in Qin Su and Jiang Yanli’s food. 

Jiang Yanli as the one orchestrating the rebellion was a surprise, but I really liked the idea of the gentle but brave Yanli as the driving force. She may be nice and sweet, but she’s incredibly brave in the novel, and I think she’s the type to risk everything for her son, just like she did for Wei Wuxian at Nightless City. 

I’ve always felt a little less comfortable with Songxiao, but diving into the stoic Song Lan’s feelings was really fun to try out and led to the surprising and humorous (to me) reveal at the end that he and Xiao Xingchen had never actually defined their romantic feelings before.

I think I was able to write it so quickly in part because this story was a great retreat during the tumultuous Spring of 2020. A comforting distraction from the outer hellscape. And... everything just kept falling into place based on how the characters worked out. 

Thank you for the ask – it’s been really fun to remember. :) 

[lurkerwithcomputer]

Hug Me Like You Mean It

A/N: Ever since I read @hamliet 's TG highschool AU I've thought about something similar but with ghouls still being a thing.

"Would you go out with me?"

She puts her tall glass of blood down on the counter, with a clunk. The question makes her feel like the world is on pause for a moment, although there's not much action going on in the dorm's common room to even pause in the first place. It's dead empty, actually, and probably a good time for asking someone out.

She can't help but wonder what kind of human would ask out a ghoul.

She doesn't know that many humans. At least, not on friendly terms, except for Yoriko, and a few people from her dorm - her roommate Akira mostly. She's not counting the ones who used to be human - they still confuse her, tying her feelings into tangled knots.

But Yoriko's middle school friend, Takeomi, is standing across from her, cheeks a bit pink. She's seen enough of him in gym class to know the logical reason he'd ask out a ghoul, instead of the human girls he seems pretty popular with. As humans go, he's a rare kind of strong. The ghoul kind of strong. I bet he'd like someone he can give a real hug to without cracking her ribs. On the other hand, he could've asked out any ghoul. She knows her personality is all spikes and sandpaper on the outside, so...

"Why me?"

He winces and his shoulders slump.

Shit. I gave him the wrong idea.

"Hey. Look at me. This isn't a no, really I think you're a good, solid kind of guy. I'm just curious, 'cause you could've asked anyone, and I know I'm pretty abrasive."

He's quiet for a moment. She can almost hear him thinking through her words.

"Two reasons, I guess. One is that Yoriko says a lot of good things about you. The other is a piece of dating advice from my dad: 'if you find a good woman who doesn't know it, pick her and show her' is what he always said."

She feels her face go hot, she has to be bright red.

"Well I think it's working, because I've been much less grumpy with you than I usually am. One more thing," and she watches Takeomi perk up, "I bet I know why you asked out a ghoul."

He blushes heavily but doesn't say anything. She opens her arms wide.

"Come here and hug me like you mean it."

[hamliet]

the notion that bnha is pro authoritarianism or social hierarchies is nonsensical not to mention acting like being pro cop is bad

Err... BNHA is pretty pro-authoritarian. I actually find it pretty disturbing. And that's even if the story turns out with the League alive at the end.

As for being pro-cop--cops are human individuals, yes. But people have in recent years in multiple countries (including Japan, by the way) protested against cops being used as tools to maintain social hierarchies wherein people who are not part of that hierarchy suffer for daring to want to be treated as human beings. When I say I'm anti-cop, I'm not saying I hate anyone on the basis of being a cop. But I am saying that the ways in which the police force are used in many countries does societal harm. Critical thinking, yo.

Honestly I feel like this whole story (BNHA) and fans reactions throughout (especially when compared to other stories) demonstrate how people are not using critical thinking. And that can have real world consequences, though it doesn't have to.

I just find it weird that people are okay with a story where the ruling class is always right and always wins. Like... how have they not? I mean, even stories that end up suggesting the ruling class isn't entirely wrong or show flaws in rebellions generally don't go hard on the authoritarianism. But Horikoshi... is doing this.

The whole thing is so weird to me personally, too, because Horikoshi's wishy-washy framing and switches in coding generally seem to be the result of him caring, deeply, what his audience thinks and feels. Too much, really, but it also seems like he genuinely doesn't want to hurt people. Except this ending--even if Tenko does reappear as New Character and saves the League--is the exact opposite. (If Tenko doesn't reappear, then everything I'm about to say is multiplied by a thousand.)

It's catering to mean-spiritedness, and while I do understand fiction isn't reality, the side he's catering to now is making the argument that fictional crimes are real crimes and thus must meet real penalties.

I can play this game too.

If people are gonna make those arguments, I'm going to say they're the problem and the reason we have wars, genocides, assaults, and more.

If you ever want a cycle of violence/abuse to stop, someone has to accept that they've taken the last punch. Not keep going until the other side is WIPED OUT.

If you equate justice with equalizing losses, then you are enacting Dazai from BSD's statement on justice: justice is a weapon. You can never heal by it.

If you want to heal, you have to stop fighting and bandage wounds. And maybe you are too injured to do the bandaging. That's okay. But someone else can, and if you try to stop them on the premise of "but no one bandaged my wounds" you're a bitter person who makes the world a worser place.

If you say a tragedy is the story, sure. But you have to set up tragedies from the start. See, Attack on Titan, which's ending I love. It began with someone crying and an ominous message to the future. You don't set up your first chapter with "this is the story of how I become the greatest hero!" spend 200+ chapters criticizing hero society and have the hero fail at the goal he'd been repeating for 200 chapters in the end and join hero society and still think you wrote a story that delivered in what you promised. You failed.

Either you wrote a tragedy and are trying to pass it off as a happy story (see how well that works usually) or your understanding of a happy story is pretty much just fascist propaganda. And yes, BNHA does have fascist themes at this point. Way more than AoT ever did. But they have smiles and cute frog girls so it's not nearly as dangerous, right? (sarcastic).

The thing is, this is where the lack of critical thinking comes in. While I've seen people talk a bit about how BNHA seems like copaganda, it's taking things much, much further than other stories usually do and into territory where I'm frankly disturbed.

Yes, BNHA started out as a clever critique of hero society and of the very idea it's now seeming to uphold: that the human instinct (which is universal in real life to) to idolize people leads to a lack of humanity for those who do not have those traits we idolize, whether their fault or not, and for people to become villains in response. But not only has it failed to deliver on this premise by upholding society (hey, Naruto and to a degree Tokyo Ghoul also failed to completely change society), it's gone so far as to endorse what it previously criticized.

It's more akin to Game of Thrones Season 8 upholding racism, sexism, and classism, than it is to Naruto or Tokyo Ghoul. GoT ended with a joke about prioritizing brothels being open, as if the misogyny was actually a good thing and not what caused a lot of the problems. There's no critical lens here. It's just like "hey, there was no point in struggling. Monarchies that abuse women, rah rah, let's go!"

BNHA seems to be going a similar route. Deku's murder of Shigaraki, Ochaco's crying over Toga, the way Shouto reaches out to Touya--it's sad, but not framed as something the audience should see as a wrong done on behalf of heroes. In fact, the heroes are not criticized at all. Frickin' Edgeshot, whom no one cares about, is fine. All of them are fine. Their statuses are generally fine, too, except maybe Enji's and even then he's not like going to face the fate of the League and die alone. His family still supports him. Hawks is completely fine and framed positively. His regret over Twice is pure lipservice. Deku really did just need to kill Shigaraki, and all his "I want to save" spiel, much like Ochaco's, is for naught. He just needed to learn to grow up and get in line.

Even if Tenko comes back, and even if Deku like... somehow knew this would happen via vestiges or whatnot (let's be real, he will if this is the case), and the message is just that society isn't ready to move forward, but at least they can live, then... I don't know, y'all. That's still depressing. I don't see how Deku is a hero for that, much less the greatest number one hero. He decided to be a hero at the cost of his own integrity, and if this was a gritty story about the realistic struggle of living in a capitalistic society where ethics are always compromised that would make sense, but... it's not. Even until the final battle, the characters were endorsing idealism.

At the very least, Horikoshi didn't deliver on his promise in the first chapter. At the very worst, he's endorsing fascist ideals.

Like, I'm sorry, but "kill this person for the good of society," the violent upholding of oppressive societal hierarchies, the importance of being a cop hero and the way the military hero brutalities are worshipped, the way heroes are lauded and everyone who doesn't get in line with this is punished, went from being criticized to being endorsed. Those are all central elements of fascism.

The little guy deserves to lose, but, but Deku is the little guy, so it can't be! Except it can be. Because it's actually pretty common irl even to trot out examples of people like Candace Owens to be like "hey, you can't possibly say Republicans are racist!"

And don't you dare say "but Japanese culture makes it unreasonable to expect a non retributive justice!" The Japanese people are not a monolith. Not to mention... Naruto, Bungou Stray Dogs, Monster, Hunter x Hunter, Yu Yu Hakusho, Mawaru Penguindrum, Oshi no Ko, Dragon Ball, Attack on Titan, and Tokyo Ghoul all say hi.

I hated the TG ending, and still hate it, but I'm not going to say that it upheld the CCG as right all along because it didn't. BNHA thus far is doing that with hero society. And even if the answer is for the League be revived and to leave society or whatever, then how can we be happy Deku is a part of this society? How can we root for him, or his classmates? Is he going to work from the inside to change it? Why wasn't that emphasized beforehand as a theme or struggle?

tl;dr Horikoshi has cooked his story no matter what he does now, and I don't think it's salvageable. Either way it has themes that are disturbing especially considering real world events across the globe, and that people should be more aware of instead of focusing solely on stories that have fascism and monsters in them but don't uphold it.

[hamliet]

Hope you are having a wonderful day! Just wanted to ask, what's your take on Rhaegar Targaryen? What kind of person do you perceive him as? GRRM has so many characters praise him but many of his actual actions were so shitty

Good question! My interpretation: he's a person.

No, but really. I think he is neither the conniving groomer many view him as, nor the heroic, romantic prince with a heart of gold. But I think he started out more as the heroic, romantic side than the other.

Do I think Rhaegar loved Lyanna? Yes, I genuinely do. I realize that take isn't popular but my guess is that it fits better with Martin's view of a Romantic world, and also fits better with Lyanna's character. That said, I also don't think Martin will ever clear it up and will leave the idea of whether this is love or not up for debate--because it can be debated. I guess I should say I think Lyanna and Rhaegar both believed they were in love and felt that way until they died. However--

However, love doesn't magically make the world better. This is the part where Martin's view takes a melancholy semi-deconstructionist look at Romanticism. Martin's MO in doing this, through other characters like Sansa, is showing us that fairy tale logic-- "knights are brave and faithful" "love saves the day" and "true power is kindness"--doesn't work on a daily level, but it doesn't mean there is no value to the ideals it teaches.

Idealism seems to be at the root of Rhaegar's character, honestly. He's kind of like Sansa, but if Sansa was still unwise as an adult with a lot more power and agency. Idealism of romantic love. Idealism of being a brave heroic king who fulfilled the prophecy to save the world. He fully believed in these things, and they made his life and the lives of everyone he loved worse.

Rhaegar is married to Elia and essentially ditches her and their two kids to run off with Lyanna, who is a teenager facing a marriage she doesn't want with someone who claims to love her but isn't faithful to her during betrothal, much less marriage. The tragedy of it is that Lyanna runs off with someone essentially doing the same thing to his wife that Lyanna didn't want to be done to her as Robert's wife.

Still, I think Rhaegar was probably genuinely fascinated with Lyanna when he found out she was the Knight of the Laughing Tree and promised not to reveal her. Thus, true love was all that mattered, right? Except... that's not how the world works.

But did Rhaegar really love Lyanna or was he just using her for the prophecy? Again, I think why can't it be both? I do think the prophecy idea played a role in Rhaegar's motivations to pursue Lyanna. He wanted a third child and thought he had to have one for the prophecy, but Elia could not have more children physically without killing her.*

So, my thinking is that grinding to determine whether his motives were prophecy or purely love miss the point and negate the tragedy of the situation. He loved Lyanna but yes, he also saw opportunity and assumed destiny would guide him. And that hubris ensured that both Lyanna and Rhaegar died.

Rhaegar is an idealistic man who believes so strongly in his sense of purpose--a purpose greater than himself that genuinely will save people--that he forgets to look down and look around him at the life he's actually living and the lives around him in favor of the potential lives he could save. His hyper-focus on prophecy is his tragic flaw that brings about his downfall and death of so many people, and it didn't need to happen this way.

In focusing on a dream idealistic forbidden romance and coming child, he neglects his living wife and children, who are then assaulted and brutally murdered. Instead of true love idealistically triumphing, he actually loses to the man whom Lyanna did not love but who was betrothed to marry her, since Robert kills him. In his belief that the prophecy would be fulfilled through him, he forgets that he is himself human and all humans have weaknesses and die.

Rhaegar had the best of intentions but the worst of the worst of implementation, in other words. Or maybe more accurately Rhaegar was all about theory, and he forgot practice and everyone around him paid the price, particularly the innocents like Elia, Aegon, and Rhaenys. The questions that stem from this drive many of our characters and are at the heart of the questions Martin wants his readers to ask.

And: his life wasn't entirely in vain, because his son Jon lives.

*(Aside--to his credit, Rhaegar does not force Elia to have sex and have another child even though he could have. Like, bare minimum yes, but it's also not a coincidence that we're told that Aerys the Mad King routinely brutally assaults Rhaegar's mother (and one of these attacks leads to Daenerys's birth) because in Westeros it's not assault if you're married. Side note: also not a coincidence that what isn't seen as assault but is leads to Dany while what is publicly seen as assault but isn't leads to Jon.

Even throughout Fire & Blood, we read about husbands who unquestionably love their wives having sex with them and conceiving kids strongly against medical advice--Robert and Alyssa, Jaehaerys and Alysanne, etc. Rhaegar doesn't do this, showing that he's trying to do less harm to others around him. But, he still humiliates Elia by taking off with Lyanna--and his actions do lead to her death and the death of their children. And even if they hadn't, there's an emotional toll. So, did he really do less harm, or more? These are the sorts of questions I think Martin wants his readers to ponder more than answer.)*

[hamliet]

Has Attack on Titan always been plagued by a fascist ideology embedded in its story and characters?

It's anti-fascist and one of the most anti-fascist stories I've read--that said, it's ultimately a story centered on thematic questions of free will and what we owe each other as individuals who make up a society, a psychological dive into what it means to be human at both an individual and collective level, rather than critiquing political ideologies. Of course this plays into it, but it's not the main focus.

See MHA if you want an actual fascist ideology purported by a manga. But most people don't look that deep because cute stuff doesn't make them want to consider what the actual message is as much as edgier stuff does, and MHA's message is incredibly disturbing and honestly one of the most blatant examples I've ever seen, to the point where I genuinely wonder if Horikoshi is just burned out or actually red-pilled.

I've talked about my thoughts on fascism as it relates to both of these stories previously; you have a search function so please use it before sending me further asks on this topic, which given current world events, is very sensitive right now.

[hamliet]

Do you have any thoughts on how RWBY handled the white fang storyline?

Unpopular opinion: it's decent?

Now, now, before people come at me with pitchforks: yes, it's overly simplified. The entire story is a fairy tale, though, so that's not out of place. It also complements the rest of the story thematically, and manages to incorporate nuance and complexity in despite the simplification of issues.

I think it's a mistake to look at the White Fang as a 1=1 of the real life struggles of marginalized groups. That said, there obviously are parallels, and so people aren't mistaken to note those. I just think it's not meant to be an instructional manual and shouldn't necessarily be viewed as one, but rather a conversation starter in some ways. And yes, those conversations can and should include critiques.

So I'll go over the points that I think it did well and how those ties into real life, but also specifically how they work for RWBY's overall story. This does not negate criticisms, especially those by marginalized groups.

In contrast to some other fictional depictions, RWBY actually is better as well because it avoids the number one pitfall of such issues: the X-Men fallacy. I've talked about this in terms of Attack on Titan before, but essentially it's the idea that the problem with depicting discrimination against superpowered people is that, well, there is a logical reason for people to be concerned about superpowers; hence, it almost justifies that very discrimination it seeks to condemn. This isn't present in the faunus/human divide. They are both capable of superpowers.

It also doesn't fall into another common pitfall: the idea that people have to be perfect to be victims of discrimination. The White Fang... has senselessly and cruelly murdered people; doesn't mean faunus discrimination isn't also cruel and senseless and doesn't justify it. And this is something that we do see in real life too--people trying to either completely whitewash the actions of radical anti-oppression movements, which can do awful things, or trying to use these awful things as evidence that these people deserve discrimination when really it's a result of rage and desperation at a society that refuses to give them anything. That doesn't justify the pain of the victims of the awful things (see, Weiss) but nor does it negate the righteousness of that anger.

It does portray the faunus as a fairly diverse group too, when fiction often portrays marginalized groups as a monolith. That's not true. People from one group have very different ideas about what liberation looks like, and what they want to achieve. People in marginalized groups are people, and they can be motivated by a variety of selfless principles and egotistical validation, and neither negate the other. See, Sienna vs. Ghira vs. Adam.

Now, of course within RWBY Ghira's more nonviolent principles more or less win out. That's because RWBY is again a fairy tale where you have to fight to live, but that also doesn't endorse violence. If you expected otherwise, wrong genre. Of course the real world is far more complex, but it's not as if there is no real world basis for this either. Peacemakers exist, and nonviolence has accomplished a lot before. Whether or not that's the be-all-end-all of the faunus struggle in RWBY isn't even clear, so I don't think it's intended to be the be-all-end-all preached moral as it applies to the real world either.

Story-wise, the White Fang functions as a Jungian shadow of society. If you do not take charge of your own life, you are letting others decide for you. The faunus who disagree with the White Fang take it back, because they have to acknowledge it to move forward in society. They have to integrate with it, and accept their own humanity: capable of good and what they might rather deny.

This faction--the faunus who don't like the White Fang--are represented in Ghira, who becomes passive and steps back from aspects of the movement. However, when Blake arrives in Menagerie, this changes, because Blake's entire arc is about integration. Ghira then becomes active, working for the rights of the faunus and for the White Fang to be better rather than simply disavowing the White Fang in an attempt to be a good person, because doing nothing isn't exactly good.

On a more character level, the White Fang exists for Blake's arc. Her Jungian archetype is the Shadow. Like, it's literally her semblance's name. Hence, the idea of the shadow is gonna be important. If you want more on this, @aspoonofsugar has written a meta on it here and another here.

So, for Blake, on a personal level the White Fang (especially under Adam) represents the parts of herself she doesn't like. The part that ran from her family. The part that is violent. And yet, she cannot abandon it or simply disavow it. No, the answer is instead:

We’re not going to destroy the White Fang. We’re going to take it back.

She has to integrate with it, take the good--the righteous anger, the focus on justice and equality.

The White Fang also comments on the microcosm/macrocosm of alchemy.

For the unaware, RWBY is an alchemical story, and the principles of alchemy are represented in the symbol for the philosopher's stone, as seen above. Microcosm: the smaller circle enclosing two people in the center who come together (hence chemical weddings). The square is the four elements: water, earth, fire, air. The triangle is body, heart, and mind. The larger circle is the macrocosm.

The Shadows for Blake on a personal level--microcosm--is Adam. The Shadow on a worldwide, big picture scale--the macrocosm--is the White Fang. Integrating with the shadow isn't only an individualistic endeavor, but also one that benefits society as a whole and brings life to the entire world. The main point of alchemy's philosopher's stone, which Blake, along with the rest of RWBY, are symbolically being transformed into.

I think the main issue with the White Fang, by the way, is its handling of Adam. Typically you don't kill the shadow, though I do think Blake kinda had no choice. Still, I don't think the show fully explored him.

Yet what does work with what we have is that Yang has to face Adam, Blake's shadow, to be with Blake. Yang losing her arm to Adam parallels her being upset about losing Blake to fear, because symbolically Blake can hurt her deeply in the way only a lover can. Blake has to stop running from her shadow and allow herself ot be known and seen by Yang to be with her.

[hamliet]

what do you think of Cherri bomb and Sir Pentious as a ship?

I love them. I think their arcs offer a great contrast and that they will likely end up together.

I think the key to Cherri's character is in the pre-canon song "Addict."

Yeah, you fell in love But you fell deeper in this pit While death rains from above So count your blessings 'cause this is it You're not letting it go So what if I misbehave It's what everybody craves You already know So come if you're feeling brave And fancy yourself a mate You want it, I got it, see what you like? We could have it all by the end of the night Your money and power, my sinful delight A hit of that heaven and hell, a hell of a high

Cherri's addiction is more than a physical drug--it's to the idea of love, but it's never actually love. She knows this as well, but she plays the part of the desperate lover to get what she can (money and power), because "this is it"--ie, it's the best that she can get.

The way Cherri acts is very much in line with this persona she has. As much as everyone may gasp and express shock over her antics, that's really what they crave (and the parallel to how the real world treats women they pin as hypersexual and tsk at as "messy" is certainly deliberate). They don't want Cherri; they want her image.

That's why Cherri is so unamused by Pentious at first. He's no different from the rest, right?

Well, wrong.

Pentious seems to really be driven by the idea of money and power, but in a neat juxtaposition to Cherri with love, he doesn't actually seem to want these things so much as he likes the idea of them. What Sir Pentious seems to actually want is love--of any sort. See:

He created the Egg Boiz ostensibly to help him in his quest to take control in turf wars, but he loves them and weeps when he's supposed to send them away. He becomes incredibly loyal to Charlie and everyone at the hotel after she forgives him, not remotely holding a grudge against Vaggie or Angel even--to the point where he dies to save them.

His death also emphasizes what he pretends he wants vs. what he actually wants. He tries to do a big heroic sacrifice, but... it does nothing. He's snuffed out before he can even strike. But, what he did was love in action, and he did it because he knew the hotel staff loved him too. Essentially, reailzing he is loved helps him to show love. He shows love not just with a sacrifice, but with a kiss and a farewell confession to Cherri--the first hit he's actually made on her that went over well.

Sir Pentious's idea of love also contrasts with Cherri's in that it's neither founded on sex nor repulsed by it. He doesn't really seem to understand most of Angel's nonstop innuendos. At the same time, he expresses sexual interest in Cherri. When he first proposes that he and Cherri have sex, he fails because he says exactly what Cherri's used to:

Cherri: I'm sorry, why would we have sex? Sir Pentious: ...because I'm having sex with everyone!

In other words, he says Cherri's just another face, an idea, no one special. But in the end, when he kisses her, he says this:

Miss Cherri Bomb, I love you. Remember me!

Thereby acknowledging both Cherri as a person whom he actually loves, and his own desires--in other words, loving and expressing that love to Cherri helps Sir Pentious become more fully himself. This is then further emphasized by his rebirth as an angel in heaven.

[hamliet]

Do you think Horikoshi left Toya's end ambiguous for a reason?

I feel Dabi was always more worthy of a redemption arc than his father as he was more than willing to abandon his hero goals if it meant seeing them again after his coma.

Something feels missing, and I know the series is going to end soon, but it feels like something is missing.

I don't know that Hori is doing anything with any intention at the moment.

That sounds negative, but I feel pretty negatively. Even if the new characters is Tenko, and even if he heals Touya and Toga, I still feel like the manga is a thematic disaster with some distasteful and honestly... somewhat disturbing themes. Like, kinda weirdly pro-cop and pro-societal hierarchies and pro-authoritarianism. Tenko saving them wouldn't fix this, but it would at least provide closure on a character level, so I'm crossing my fingers and toes!

Technically, the above scenario is most likely based on what we have, but Hori has already kind of proven we can't rely on what's previously happened in the manga with the last hundred or so chapters, which are pretty much throwing things at walls and hoping it makes a Jackson Polluck work when it really just makes a mess.

So, I don't know. I don't disagree with you. I just don't know what Hori is doing anymore, and I kinda doubt he knows either.