#banished from home

[olenvasynyt]

Does anyone else ponder on why they are so obsessed with a certain type of fictional man? Because I love Lucien. So much. I think about him 24/7. And ages ago I was trying to put my finger on why I’m so obsessed with him and then I remembered who my first book crush was as a little 8 year old reading fantasy.

And that is Dustfinger from the Inkheart series.

And I swear to god. These two men are so similar it’s not even funny.

A little summary with spoilers for Inkheart for those who haven’t read the series:

Facial scars. Lucien lost his eye and has a scar ofc, and Dustfinger has three scars on his cheek and eye area

Fire powers. Lucien is from Autumn and Dustfinger is a fire-eater

They are both redheads. Dustfinger is technically a strawberry blonde, since there are some descriptions of his hair leaning more to the ginger side. When he had a shruff it was described as ginger.

They both have very sly and snarky senses of humor. They often trick other characters.

They are both compared to foxes. Dustfinger’s first pov chapter ends with “the night swallowed him up like a thieving fox”

They are outcasts from their home in some way which is essential to some aspect of their character development. Lucien ran from Autumn, and then ran from Spring. Dustfinger was read out of his book and found it impossible to be sent back

Worked with the enemy at some point, either as a morally grey character or because they thought it was the right thing. And they eventually discover that they made a detrimental mistake and have to learn from it. Lucien worked with Tamlin to try to save Feyre from Rhys and in turn worked with Hybern. Dustfinger worked with the antagonist Capricorn to get the book so he could get back home.

They have a very dark and sad inner dialogue. Both are described to be hopeless and filled with regret and mourning, but they both hide them under a charming and snarky humor

Had a loved one they lost and are constantly thinking about. Lucien’s lover Jesminda was murdered, and Dustfinger had a wife named Roxanne who he hadn’t seen in years after he was read out of his book.

I count this as a similarity: they both pine over a woman but they keep their distance and let that woman make her own choice. Lucien lines over Elain ofc, and Dustfinger loved the main character Meggie’s mother Rita, but he still thought of his own wife Roxanne and he discovered that Rita was Mo’s wife. (I don’t know how to explain it if you haven’t read the book I’m sorry if it sounds confusing or weird lmao)

Lucien is very loyal and often sacrifices himself for others. And Dustfinger was not like that at all in the beginning of the series, and in fact he was very selfish and did not often want to put himself in danger. But then he makes the ultimate sacrifice (no big spoilers) and then he changes to a person who is very loyal to the main characters.

They both like to travel

Main differences:

Lucien came from a prestigious family and Dustfinger was an orphan who was homeless for the majority of his life. We can sort of apply that homelessness to Lucien but Dustfinger very much thrives in that sort of environment while Lucien feels disheartened by it.

Lucien has daddy issues with Beron being a shitty father and Helion being his true father. And Dustfinger does not have any parental figures but he is the daddy issues: he had two daughters, and the oldest daughter hated him for disappearing for years.  Wasn’t his fault for leaving, he didn’t have a choice, but it still formed into daddy issues for his daughter.  He was essentially the dad who went to get milk at the grocery store and never came back.  

Lucien has no animal companion, unlike Dustfinger who has his horned marten Gwin! But maybe Lucien can get a Pegasus in the future 👀

I love both of these characters so much and ugh man. It’s rare to find fictional characters that are like them. I recommend the Inkheart series for those who love Dustfinger and also to those who love fantasy and reading in general!

[fictive-explosion]

he's in a cage motherfucker

a cage motherfucker

;-;

[bisclavret]

like many who have suffered at the hands of bbc merlin before me, i recently indulged in a thought experiment in which i outlined my own version of seasons 3-5 that stay thematically and tonally in line with the show (except they're less fucking stupid). but then i quickly realized that focusing on details is pointless: all you need is to solve the one Big Problem the show has, and the rest will follow. the problem in question? ✨morgana✨

i like the first two seasons. s1 achieves what it sets out to do and has fun while doing it, and s2, while flawed, sets up a ton of potential that the following seasons unfortunately squander, beginning with the insidious season 3. you can only distract me with cute knights and goblins and fart jokes for so long before i start seeing through you, evil, evil season of television.

my hypothesis is that if the writers had crafted s3 morgana into anything more sympathetic than a violent half-alive poltergeist that can never be reasoned with because she's suddenly terminally off her rocker, everything would've fallen into place. a sympathetic morgana would've made real, valid arguments against uther (and arthur) that wouldn't just be the ramblings of a woman possessed. her betrayal of arthur would have stemmed from her feeling increasingly morally superior to him because of his complacency in the face of their father's tyranny. under morgause's guidance she would stop believing that arthur is capable of change, and the whole point would be that she might actually be right. arthur would have to actively try and prove her wrong, instead of getting praised for doing the bare minimum because the bar is on the floor.

furthermore, morgana's prophetic dream about arthur and gwen becoming king and queen and her decision to prevent this however she can is a direct parallel to merlin learning about that same prophecy and making it happen by any means necessary. merlin's desires about his and arthur's futures are subtextually fueled by gay love and devotion, so why couldn't morgana's be? why couldn't she properly express her bitterness that arthur gets to be with gwen in a way she can't "took gwen away" from her, instead of suddenly declaring that gwen is nothing more than a servant, after two seasons of demonstrating again and again that she loves, values, and respects gwen more than anyone else in that godforsaken castle?

following this, an angry and emotionally volatile but still sensible morgana asking gwen to stay by her side during the coup of the castle in the s3 finale and gwen going behind her back to help arthur and the knights would've hurt like a bitch. double-sided betrayal! gwen having a real plot! the proper beginnings of a toxic yuri that would shape a generation!

then there's the utter hubris of having morgana shoot arrows at the same civilians she worried herself sick over for 2 seasons — even morgan, her medieval counterpart that was rooted in every sexist trope in existence, doesn't just go around killing senselessly but instead has (often petty!) personal vendettas against gwen, arthur, and the knights. morgana had every right to be sick of the pretensions around chivalry in camelot (she was always quick to mock it, even in s1), and to lash out at the knights and soldiers after years of feeling powerless in a castle full of armed men that blindly followed her oppressor. the show conveniently forgets that morgana was victimized as a woman as well as a sorcerer those first 2 seasons.

but like i said, this is not just about morgana. allowing her to remain a real and multifaceted character even as she betrays everyone in pursuit of her ambitions would've given the rest of the core four more interesting conflict to work with: merlin because he would have to experience real consequences to his actions, arthur because he would watch his sister go against his father (and his knights, and his birthright) and experience some actual internal dilemmas about it, and gwen because she would be forced to choose between morgana and arthur without the pretense that it's an obvious or easy choice for her to make.

even morgause and gaius would come off more interesting as mentors: neither one inherently evil or inherently good, both jaded by events that happened before our protagonists were even born, both heavily influencing morgana and merlin into fulfilling roles that they think are appropriate, but that morgana and merlin may not have chosen for themselves had they not been under their care.

you get the gist. if the show followed its own setup, morgana's mistakes wouldn't lie in cheap and senseless acts of violence but in alienating the people she loves because she is too hurt and jaded to trust them. meanwhile, everybody else would feel guilt over "failing" her and yet they would be too caught up in their own (sometimes flawed!) beliefs of right and wrong to truly see her point of view.

arthur would convince himself it was sorcery that corrupted her. merlin would know that isn't true but he wouldn't be able to argue without confessing everything, which is the defining conflict between him and morgana and it's cheapened when she's just an evil witch caricature and merlin is framed as inherently virtuous in contrast. gwen, too, would become a more active participant in her own life by choosing arthur over morgana and choosing to rule camelot with him instead of just waiting politely to see where things go.

and, of course, uther's downfall and death would be quick, final, and completely earned — when and why did the show even decide he of all people was the sympathetic villain, anyway?

lastly, and perhaps controversially, i think morgana should've learned merlin's true identity by season 4. her being the first of the main characters to find out makes perfect sense considering their shared history and their interconnected and mirrored arcs. even the show seems to agree, considering she does find out a little before arthur. but the narrative itself tried pointing flashing neon arrows towards this way earlier — there is a whole entire episode in s4 where merlin being emrys is repeatedly spelled out for morgana and she still isn't allowed to see it. that episode makes her look like the stupidest person to ever live, which is pretty funny im not gonna lie, but also another frustrating thing in the endless string of frustrating things that make up this show.

morgana learning that merlin has magic would've transformed the source of merlin's anxiety from a crippling fear of being outed someday to the crippling fear of knowing she could out him at any moment. this would make him want to beat her to the punch (perhaps he'd consider killing her for a minute and decide against it because she isn't a cartoonishly insane evil person in my version of events) and maybe he would even feel some tentative excitement at the idea of coming clean, now that it seems inevitable. after all, he always intended to tell arthur eventually! and i think gaius would have to admit outright that he does not want merlin to tell arthur he has magic because he, gaius, simply cannot risk such a gamble. it would be so interesting to see gaius and merlin clash and disagree once it becomes obvious that it's not merlin that isn't ready for the reveal, it's gaius. delicious!

with morgana's knowledge looming, things would inevitably spiral into a magic reveal by the end of season 4. i picture this season as an absolute mess of miscommunication between everyone at camelot, which is, y'know, canon. growing increasingly cunning and vengeful, morgana would use this tension to her advantage, destabilizing the court from the outside while she creates alliances with other sorcerers outside of camelot (instead of living alone in a hovel for no reason — morgana le fay i'm sorry i'm so sorry they gave you agravaine instead of your all-female entourage oh my god).

and here's where the events would change beyond recognition (aka here's where the meta becomes the fanfic i refuse to write). picture it with me: a militia of sorcerers infiltrates camelot and arthur and gwen have to set aside their differences (assuming gwen kissing lancelot and arthur overreacting happens, which it should) for the good of the kingdom as well as for love. picture high priestess morgana in her element, side by side with a bunch of misfit sorcerers that aren't so easily vilified, chopping down camelot's soldiers and knights and assuredly making their way to the newly-minted king.

then, just as it starts to seem that all hope is lost, in swoops merlin (the actual merlin, not his old fart disguise) on dragonback (kilgharrah hates morgana so much i know his sexist ass would stoop to anything to stop her)!!! imagine merlin showing off the extent of his powers in front of everyone and preventing the sorcerers from getting any further, declaring loud and clear that camelot is protected by him, by emrys. imagine that display of power alone being enough to send everyone home.

imagine the loyalties clearly drawn: merlin on arthur's side, morgana on the sorcerers'. imagine arthur, feeling confused and betrayed by everyone at this point, banishing merlin despite everything he's done for him in the angstiest, most emotionally dysregulated scene the show had ever put to screen. imagine merlin starting season 5 free at last but very lonesome, an embittered dragonlord like his father. imagine the absolute mess camelot would become without him, even with gwen — now queen guinevere — there to pick up the slack. imagine arthur actually earning merlin back, finally growing into his role as king as he does so. imagine the reunion.

all this and more could've been not just possible but inevitable if morgana was allowed to remain a complex character that is neither inherently good nor inherently evil: it was undeniably the biased and one-note treatment of morgana's downfall by the writers that set the precedent for literally everything else that happened after merlin chose to poison her. the show wouldn't have even had to jeopardize its tone or the monster-of-the-week vibe, all it would've had to do is admit that even the "good guys" are capable of mistakes and what makes them good is the ability to feel remorse and change for the better. (as opposed to uther, who was miles beyond redemption since way before the pilot and deserved to lose everything and die alone. OBVIOUSLY???)

in a world where morgana remains multifaceted and sympathetic, mordred would get a better arc as well, so if we really wanted to, we could still end on the same tragic note that the show ended on. with so much harm inflicted onto so many innocent people by the pendragons for so long (including mordred and the many druids and sorcerers that raised him), it could realistically end up being a little too late for anything more than one shining glimpse of king arthur and the sorcerer merlin's short-lived golden age before fate catches up to them. glimpsing that reality just to immediately lose it would've been far more satisfying and far more tragic than whatever the writers thought they were doing with all that pointless carrot-dangling.

and finally, an ending in line with morgana's new and improved arc. in this version, rather than bleeding out on the forest floor alone, she would channel the morgan le fay we know from the legends: sobered up by the reality of her brother dying, she would use her high priestess status (and perhaps also her pendragon status) to be granted passage over to avalon alongside arthur on the boat — a one-way ride — just to make sure he gets there safely. this is her penance for the harm she has caused, the same way arthur's penance is to die and leave the true ruler of camelot (gwen) behind to achieve everything he was too slow and indecisive to build while he still had time.

merlin's penance, then, would be to stay behind and watch them cross over without him, waiting and waiting and waiting until they come back or until he can finally join them. which is a bit fucking harsh if i'm honest, so i'd at least make it slightly more faithful to the legends by having him return as an old man and letting him take a long nap under a tree by the shore, his body slowly enveloped by vines like the cobwebbed fisher king in 3x08, never fully sure if he's dreaming or if there really are strange shapes fading in and out of the fog over the lake. still tragic, but nevertheless a little more open-ended and whimsical than [TRUCK NOISES] THE END!

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

I've been wondering about something about Wally's "Warlock staff"....

What the heck is that? A crystal of some kind?? (I've been wondering for so long with the project I'm working on)

that would be a crystal - and a conduit for Home's power! Wally uses it to channel and utilize the magic Home gives him. technically he can cast without it, but casting without a "lightning rod" makes the magic undiluted when used - which is rarely a good thing when your power comes from a demon!

[immult]

side note. sam in 4sd saying he couldn't do most of cleric spells bc it felt like stealing other clerics' iconic move. but it's cute that Banishment is now becoming fcg's iconic move.

[johnconstantinesdick]

I’m thinking about my Big Three kid swap au (Nico is the prophecy child, Percy is a willow tree, and Thalia is caught in the Lotus Casino) again and specifically Percy is so funny to me. Turns into a tree when he has a found family daughter and almost-boyfriend and wakes up as a a single mother divorcee.

Percy is consistently bringing unhinged domestic spat energy to every confrontation. It’s a full on soap opera. The gods love it. Luke’s troops keep losing respect for him.

Percy kept aging while he was a tree (since we can’t have him join the Hunt) and everyone agrees he’s not the Prophecy Child because he’s fully twenty-something already. So he has no other obligations except conspiring with Annabeth to drag Luke kicking and screaming back home.

Percy keeps referring obliquely to “the divorce” which is very funny but confuses everyone around him. Multiple times he distracts monsters or Titan army demigods by complaining about his “failing marriage” and how “taking care of a kid alone is so hard, you know? I’m not even getting child support!”. Everyone comes out of the conversation sympathetic to the poor guy. Every once in a while Percy adds new lore to see the way Luke’s eye twitches. Luke is not coping well with the judgmental looks, side-eyes, and earnest advice about how to save a marriage. Annabeth keeps getting kidnapped by Luke’s cronies because they very earnestly believe she should get to spend some more time with her other dad.

Every Saturday there’s a truce where all three of them tensely eat cookies in Sally Jackson’s living room. No one has the guts to tell her they’re on opposite sides of a war. Luke tries to turn the tables one (1) time and ask her how she would feel about Percy getting married. Sally’s answer is so heartfelt and genuinely happy that Luke cries alone in his golden sarcophagus later and he never brings it up again. Percy’s smug look goes entirely unnoticed except by Annabeth.

[evilstalks]

michael being like no i dont want to interact or socialize with anybody can i just go to my room and the entity being like a mom and being like no you have to socialize and communicate michael, or youre getting grounded

[daenerystemper]

maybe i am rehashing old drama that has already been put to rest (doubtful !!) but it once again blows my mind that neither laenor nor corlys nor viserys care about the fact that laenor isn't the father to rhaenyra's kids but the greens/fandom repeatedly call them "the strong boys" meanwhile jon snow is repeatedly denied his targaryen heritage because "he is a stark" according to the fandom when, for all intents & purposes, he should be considered jon targaryen with the way this fandom views their mothers

rhaenyra is denied her name with jace, luke & joffrey but the same cannot be said for lyanna & jon. but despite the vehement denial that jon is anything remotely targaryen, he is not allowed to be "a stark" either who is not allowed to claim winterfell. & i guess you could say that "well he's acknowledged as a bastard" in defense of his treatment but i think i know what it is instead

[oreo-cookies-fan]

Something that will never leave my mind, but I'll probably never write: Rumbelle!AU. It fits Cherik so perfectly like nsbsjsban

Long post, so Imma cut it:

(For those who never watched Once Upon a Time, Rumbelle is a ship of Rumpelstiltskin and Belle and they're basically a retelling of The Beauty and The Beast.)

So medieval times, mutation doesn't exist naturally, it's a curse caused by black magic.

Schmidt is a king mercilessly using his subjects and imposing higher and higher taxes onto the poorest. Erik knows that his family won't be able to pay the next time the king's guard comes to collect the taxes, so to protect them, he goes into the Dark Forest to seek help. He kills the dark sorcerer Magneto and inherits his power, but by the time he comes back home, the king's guard has already burnt his village and killed his parents.

Devastated, he dedicates his entire life into trying to get his revenge and kill the king. When he's not executing his evil plans, he lives in a remote castle, all by himself.

Then, one day Raven ventures into the castle and tries to steal something. When she doesn't come back home, Charles goes after her to find out that she's imprisoned by the dark sorcerer living there. Erik agrees to release her from his dungeon if Charles stays with him as his servant for the rest of his life.

They obviously fall in love at some point, but the moment Charles kisses Erik for the first time, Erik feels his powers slowly leaving him because true love's kiss lifts the curse.

He pushes Charles away and accuses him of being Schmidt's spy, because he thinks that no one could actually love him. Then, he banishes Charles.

No idea about the ending, tho, it could be either sad with Charles waiting for the rest of his life for Erik to realise that what they had was real, or all fantasy-core one with big villain confrontation, Erik finding out the truth and happy ever after.

[your-local-grinning-cat]

would you still love me if i were a fly that hasn't left you alone since 2016

I have no idea what you are, but you certainly are NOT a fly.

Begone evil spirit!

[prettyboykatsuki]

i have many many many critiques about wylls story, most of them being about the fact it's just so lackluster in game when compared to other companions which is a shame. because wyll to me is and has the potential to be an even more emotionally compelling companion. and he was early access!! he was so gritty in ea please bring him back larian i beg of thee. the way he was rewritten has stripped him of so much nuance and depth. wyll to me is such a wonderful character to me because of what he represents, which is heroism so down to his core he never gives up on it even when he ought to

his goodwill and nobility are ceaseless. at the center of his story is betrayal trauma, his agency over himself vanished into thin air. mizora turns him into a monster and there is no turning back. he has become the thing he's despised, the things he's hunted for his entire life. and we know so little about that canonically because of the way his story is set up but its hinted time and time again that he struggles with his reality deeply and even that cannot make him turn away from the city he loves so much.

if larian would go back to clean up and fix his story (which im truly praying to god they do) i want them to touch on what wyll must be going through as he continues to try to ground himself and deal with his newfound reality. i want them to touch on the abandonment he experiences because of his father and the inevitable burden his title as blade and hero has on him. because these things obviously compel him, they're hinted at all the time but they were completely stripped of him in final release and its fucking disheartening... larian please im begging you. thats the love of my life. please.

but for now i will do it with fanfiction and gather enough wyll fans to make a fuss about it . peace and love

[cinemaocd]

Me at 5:00 a.m.: Why did they send Tash home? Her pastry puffed and was good. Matty's pastry was wonky. It was PATISSERIE week...Also she came last in technical because her crust was underbaked, which I get but like she was the only one of the four that nailed the flavor of the Frangipane...she should have gotten a leg up on that. Matty should have come last in technical, last in the showstopper...Matty should have gone home...

[royalboyixi]

petty about it bc I'm trans, but it's kinda hilarious that numerous Harry Potter characters were in the first round of JN's Halloween contest and it seems like none of them made it to the second round...

[mojaves]

the ghouls are not real and they cannot hurt me

[that1randomnerd]

I was scrolling the Danny Phantom tag despite never watching the show, but shh, and I saw a Maddie/Vlad/Jack mini comic, and I had an idea.

Danny: Stop telling me what to do! You're not my dad! You aren't even my step-dad!

Vlad: You're right.

Danny: *suspicious*

Vlad: I'm not your step-dad. Yet, at least. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date. *goes on a date with Jack and Maddie*

Sam, whose parents forced her to go to a fancy person restaurant with them for dinner: *sees Jack, Vlad, and Maddie* *urgently texting Danny "VLAD IS ON A DATE WITH YOUR PARENTS!"*

Danny: That son if a-

[miriatwstuff]

Not me bawling after reading Lilia's dorm vignette analysis