#bc i write redemptions not tragedies

[ipsen]

re 76 or smth idk

[crystallakec]

HI CRIS....cried a little while drawing this and cried a little more while reading your tags. thank you for leaving these it means so so much to me and I wanted to talk about him a little more😭

even if I want to believe, it's already too late.

[utilitycaster]

🔥 each member of vox machina

Vax: really the sadboy narrative for Liam has always been stupid but it's egregiously bad that it started with Vax, who is like, sad for maybe a fifth of the episodes and largely because Liam O'Brien's actual mother was dying, like, with all due respect what the actual fuck, fandom.

Vex: I am the founding and probably only member of the "Vex is my favorite character and also I am 100% cool with Colville's depiction of her." The generosity she shows even very early on in C1 is still a generosity borne of some degree of security - they have a keep by then - and I also just don't think you have to like a character to write them fairly. Granted it's been a minute since I read early VMO but nothing stood out to me as out of line with my understanding of Vex.

Pike: repeating myself once again but I like Pike a lot and wish we could have seen more, but because we didn't, people who say she's their favorite in C1 do tend to turn me off in that I feel they're looking for a relatively flat and widely praised character to project onto rather than a character who goes through more messy development.

Grog: I think he's often underestimated and I was guilty of doing so myself, to be honest, until I saw Travis play more and until I personally got better at D&D. Also I still maintain that playing INT 6 sensitively and well is infinitely harder than playing INT 16, all things considered, and this is yet another reason why people should play high INT more often.

Scanlan: Also underestimated; I do understand being turned off by the whole extremely horny playboy thing but as I've said before Bard's Lament is a major litmus test for me: if you think Scanlan is completely at fault here, you are wrong, and if you think he's not partially at fault, you are also wrong.

Tary: I genuinely love him and think he's a great character and one of Sam's best, but while his character arc is strong the Taryon Darrington Arc of the VM Campaign, through no fault of his own (and partly bc I personally think D&D Hell, especially pre-Descent Into Avernus publication, is kind of boring), is one of the weakest parts of the campaign because it's kind of a grab bag of loose ends. With that said I would happily watch more Darrington Brigade-one shots.

Percy: Percy is also generally a litmus test in that it's like. Is he a good person? Eventually I believe he becomes one, and even before that I think he's very sympathetic and deeply traumatized and like, 24, so I get it, but also, who the fuck cares. This ties into the Essek and the Ashton opinions and all kinds of other stuff but why are people so invested in fucking absolving their blorbo of all sins? I want someone who's lived enough of a life to have done some heinous shit because that's fun and interesting and it's pretend and also because then they can have a rewarding character arc by either working towards redemption or coming to terms with who they are or spiraling into tragedy.

Keyleth: I like Keyleth a lot but I am, as this post indicates, far more sympathetic to Vex, and so while I do think Keyleth is a fairly good person she is also extremely sheltered and naive and terrified of doing the wrong thing and I would have, like Vex, wanted to scream at her half the time were I just a random NPC wandering about the campaign. On the other hand C3-era Keyleth? fantastic no notes she has grown up in such an interesting way.

Tiberius: I think we, and by we I mean people capable of separating the art from the artist, can recognize that his concept actually fucking slapped and unfortunately he was played by someone who absolutely sucked in a myriad of ways. I would love to see the alternate universe in which the same general concept (prodigy sorcerer from Draconia who is full of themself) had to face not just the destruction of their civilization but the realization that they were taking advantage of the Ravenites and while they did not deserve to be killed by Vorugal, had done nothing to justify aid from those they had subjugated either. Like, the alternate world in which one of the current cast members or like, a close friend of the main cast (Ashly, Erika, Mary Elizabeth) played this is one I'd love to see.

[sorryimananti-romantic]

i read your reblog last night right before bed and i really shouldn't have because i couldn't fall asleep because of how damn giddy it had me like skjkdjjd kicking my feet with the biggest dorkiest smile on my face like this is MY WIFE FRFR we're 🤞😤🔐

i can't believe light was inspired by the absolute bread crumbs that i threw into your ask box like i had to go back and read what you could have even taken from that lmao 💀💀 what's crazy is that i remember being 🤏 so close to adding light to my favorite ateez songs (mostly bc of that yunho fancam iykyk) but yes, seonghwa is just soso made for angel fiction, it's woven in his dna.

speaking of light!seonghwa, your explanations do make much more sense now concerning his romance arc and the dynamic with reader. i'm also very prone to bad-boy-blindness so 😔😔 i can fix him frfr (reader is a scientist after all). and omg the sequel ideas, i think it'd be time to bring that betrayal arc to life. reader.. cleans up the angel with dr. choi's help and then he rids of them and all otherworldly messes they left behind once and for all. & goes public about his (and reader's) research under a heroic preface. 😈 and since the angel ended seonghwa's business by then. they can fight it out in heaven or hell, wherever they end up. everyone's happy ever after?

it's like the answer was there all along. if everything/everyone has evil and good inside of them of course there isn't one or the other to find balance with each other. only out-doing each other's evilness/goodness. 😮‍💨

you can use me anytime to yap your brains out. i love love love hearing about the behind the scenes, the process and (original) train of thought and how different our interpretations can turn out to be. i'd read it over and over again, like enrichment that gives the story more life. 🥰

still can't believe light was for me. like. huh? me? 👉👈 i caused this? and you did all the amazing work. 😭 this is one of the sweetest things anyone's ever done and you being so shy to mention it until the very end!! like skjsdfjkn i was already rolling around in bed and you had to put the cherry on top and break me 🫨🫨 is there another step after marriage because?? pls don't say divorce lmao

YOU'RE A GIFT! MOST PRECIOUS! ALL THE LOVE FOR YOU! MWAH MWAH 💖🫦 (tell me these essays we write aren't the modern way of handwritten loveletters)

○ chron 🃏

omgg stop that's exactly what happened with me when i read your reblog I SPENT AN HOUR ON IT A SOLID HOUR i did it for my wife frr 🤞😤🔐 and then i kept thinking about it and ugh readers like you make writing so worth it :'))

omg yes bruh bc i had no idea what to write next, and ever since your dazzling light reblog it got me thinking if i could write more angel fics and then you sent your preferred tropes and genres in the ask and i um cooked sth up with what i had hehe (seonghwa was the member of choice bc i hadn't written him in a while, and the title just fit so well even tho it was mostly unintentional lmao) and omg yes light is such a sweet song and yunho fancam hehe i think i know what you're talking about

bad-boy blindness is so real, me as the writer had it and then i had a few days off from writing in between and that's when clarity hit me-- that seonghwa is supposed to be the villain, the baddest. he gets no redemption, and that is his tragedy. and omg not you going strong with the betrayal arc AHAHAHA i mean... greed is a real thing. reader had it. dr. choi def has it too. he's capable of doing that heuheuheue. i don't think we could ever get a happy ever after in this fic tho 😭 we did it with hala hala we couldn't do the same thing here :')

aw that's literally so sweet of you. i mean it when i say, readers like you are genuinely what makes this site worth it and what makes me want to write and post. and honestly, talking about the process of writing a certain fic or the different interpretations of it etc makes me the happiest! it's my fav thing and i always look forward to talking about it in the reblogs, comments or anywhere (and i'm glad readers are able to pick them details or ask about it-- and you def do every time it's the best thing ever :')) thank you!)

YES. light was for you. i honestly should have tagged you (i'll tag you next time i promise) but i have to credit you for the trigger that brought this fic to life- the dazzling light reblog (which got me thinking about angels) and then the tropes/genres (which got me thinking what if seonghwa angel and angel bad) LMAO yes that was my thought process. and i'm very shy even tho i may not seem like it lmao

OMG did i break you AHAHAHAHA next step after marriage is definitely divorce (i'm about to say sth 18+ i have to stop myself but just read that rolling around in bed putting the cherry on top and breaking you line in a diff context-)

NO YOU ARE THE GIFT YOU ARE SO SOOO PRECIOUS AND THANK YOU FOR BEING YOU LOVE 💖💖 HOPE YOU HAVE A LOVELY WEEK!

[darkpoisonouslove]

You know all these books about enemies to lovers to enemies back to lovers in the end where the main character fell for the "villian" who is actually just missunderstood or the morally grey character? So Griffin and Valtor make me want to write a book where the main character is the morally grey character. And her love interest is actually the villian. They would both kill for eachother and both think they could always count on eachother. He would have his soft moments with her because he does love her but the love he has for her never stops him to be cruel to the world and she knows that. And she thought that the end justifies the means. But it doesn't and she left. And he hates her for that. He would offer her one last chance to come back to him. He was ready to forget what happened if she would finally see what he sees, what he thinks is right. But she doesn't. And every kill he does after that he did sure she knows that it's on her. And she would ask herself how she could ever fell for him while a part of her still loves him as a part of him still loves her. But obviously there woudl be no happy end bc there are roo many books out there where the "villian" becomes good in the end but that will not happen. He will not get a redemption arc.

Bc these vibes I always fot from Valtor and Grififn when I was a kid. Like we had almost none backstory but what we got was enough to want this and even more happen and we never got it! And there are like NO books out there like this and I hate that!

Yeah, redeeming the villain love interest is tired and boring and usually ruins them as a character. Especially when the author tries to justify some of their earlier villainous actions.

"BuT tHaT's ThE oNlY hEaLtHy OpTiOn!" Who cares! I'm not here for healthy relationships, which I do like but the enemies to lovers and/or lovers to enemies tropes are not the place for it. All the writing advice for enemies to lovers is just "don't make them actually hate each other and do truly terrible things to each other because you can't believably make them lovers then". No, you don't GET IT! I WANT the toxicity and the sense of "Oh, yeah, we're both out of our minds here" after everything we did to each other. One of the most appealing parts of enemies to lovers/lovers to enemies to me is love's ability to persist through all the horrible things they do to each other. The key is to just make it mutual, not have one of them (the guy; it's always the guy) be completely fucking unhinged while the other is just forced to take it.

Anyway, I personally champion the version of the story where the villain stays a villain and their love interest joins them even if they aren't necessarily a villain per se but if you want to go the full tragedy route where they're separated on opposite sides because of morals, that's super delicious too! What little we got of their story definitely sounds like that's exactly what's going on with them and we DESERVE more of that! Whether it's with the two of them or with different characters.

[kdrama-mama]

Well…DFF episode 11 was a ride. It gave me fucking whiplash, seriously.

I am still holding onto hope that Non is somehow alive. It didn’t stop me from feeling sick at seeing his supposed dead body, since I really don’t know, but I’m still holding onto hope, even tho I expected his death for weeks. There was something about the way it happened that felt incredibly anticlimactic compared to how the writing has been so far. Regardless, everyone in that boy’s life failed him. Everyone. He didn’t deserve an ounce of his fate.

Tee is such an interestingly grey character, though. He’s involved with his uncle, who he knows is a gangster, yet he’s surprisingly naive to the potential consequences for getting Non involved.

From the beginning of the flashbacks in episode 4, I had wondered if Tee was being setup as the one who wronged Non the most to later give him a redemption arc. What is interesting is how he tried to gain that redemption, with the part time job where he worked extra hard to help Non pay off his debt.

The thing about Tee is that he is ultimately a child with an unfair burden on his shoulders. He’s taking care of his father, who is not really lucid, although ambulatory and unpredictable. Add that to being forced to work for his violent uncle, it’s not surprising that Tee acted out as a bully to Non.

But he ultimately failed his redemption. Non died anyway (as far as he’s aware, because again, clinging to hope Non is alive). Yet Tee somehow found somebody he loves, who makes him want to be a better man.

It surprised me at how I was actually able to enjoy the TeeWhite montage. They are an adorable couple and I love how much of a flirt White is. The circumstances of their meeting (which, lol Internet cafe, not what I expected at all) make it seem less likely to me that White factors into any kind of plans. Which makes me actually concerned that something will happen to White. Their story just feels like it was primed for tragedy, Tee reforming himself because he met the boy of his dreams, only for that boy to be killed by someone with a grudge because of his past wrongs.

I had a feeling we’d end up with Phee pointing the gun at Tan bc he didn’t want to go through with any killing. I didn’t think he would be one to go through with that sort of thing, he only agreed to find out the truth & implicate the group. Love the turn of events with Tan drugging everybody to take control of the situation.

Next episode appears to be full of hallucinations that the group experience. I guess Tan’s plan is to let them experience terror before he kills them? Not that I want anyone in particular to die, but I feel like the setup promised to kill people on par with a slasher flick. I’m ready for the horror film part.

As much as I’ve enjoyed watching week by week and speculating, this is the kind of series where the ending is crucial to whether I say I liked it overall or not. That’s not often true for me. I’m not sure if I’m setting up to be satisfied with the ending, though. One more week to go.

[totally-not-here-for-the-smut]

How do you feel about Asrian? And Nadia x Lucio?

Well well, this blog was born for the main purpose of smut so it's not like I'll leave out some juicy juicy occasions for it. Asrian has a lot of drama potential (bc YES, their relationship is fucking mental, but hey, tragedy is the mother of all the good stories) and the Nadia x Lucio got me thinking about Vesuvian geopolitics because I couldn't wrap my head around their marriage. (Please mind that I didn't finish nadia and Lucio's route, I might change my mind about it).

Eventually, my HC is that Nadia herself arranged the marriage with Lucio for some political reasons. This is not weird, since Vesuvia seems to have a big economic power, and given how many people of different ethnicities are there it's probably in a strategic point, like in a geographic crossroads. Basically, it's vital to control it's place. Our countess realized that the ruler, Lucio, was an idiot so made her best to ensure that such an important point was under control. Yeah yeah, I know it's mentioned on the story that she was drunk when she accepted the proposal, but I feel like the whole thing was some kind of plot of hers to convince Lucio that it was his own idea. Or, at least, I like my version, and since this is my playgroud I'll believe it :D

About the Asrian, I think that wether it's liked or not it's important to recognise how harmful such a situation is. They're bot desperate and strained to their limit when they meet, and end up together in the crazy hope to soothe their pain. Julian is clearly looking for some real intimacy, or for a way to replace MC's love (it's implied that the two were close before MC's death) and Asra would do anything to run away from their pain (this is a common pattern for Asra), even though he clearly is torn by it and takes it out on Julian (why? Jealousy? Disruptive behaviour? Generic hate for the world?).

They get entangled in a messy hate/need situation they both use as a unhealthy coping mechanism. Eventually, it ruins their friendship, to the point that Asra doesn't move a finger to defend Julian when Nadia thinks he's a murderer.

I like the idea of them rebuilding a better relationship, maybe even a romantic one, after the good endings. I'm a sucker for redemption arcs and for seeing fictional people throw sweat and tears and blood into an apparent lost cause. I think that it has some symbolic beauty.

When all it's said and done, all this dynamics make for a wonderful tragic story... but for a shitty situation irl. Soooo yeah, it's all fun and games here, but I've been through stuff like that and it's boring and frustating. Precious years of my life and sanity of my mind I'll never get back. So Asrian is like horror movies, war novels, dark stories and greek tragedies. Lovely to read and write, but in reality they sucks and are to be avoided at all costs. Since there's lots of younger people here, I think it's worth to remember it sometimes.

[rosiethedragongeek]

(telling u here bc i didnt wanna hijack the fic post jdbddbbfskdvb)

the main reason I DON'T/WOULDN'T want a canon Spitelout redemption is because I'm not confident Dreamworks could do it well. Riders Of Berk and Race To The Edge do the job of making sure we understand that we are NOT meant to sympathise with Spitelout. Three's a pattern and off the top of my head there are atleast three "spitelout bad!" episodes ("Thawfest", "Snotlout Gets The Axe", "Notlout") and a couple where it is featured as a B plot ("Race to fireworm island"). The writing for Snotlout specifically is probably what I'd pin down as the best in the show, so i guess I never thought to narrow it down to bad writing. I knew that (apparently) it was never commited to one way or the other in the end, but Ive expressed numerous times that the constant back and forth is VERY interesting to me. I love that Snotlout keeps forgiving him. I love that Spitelout keeps getting worse. I love that even though Spitelout causes him pain, and its acknowledged that its wrong, Snotlout still admires him and pines for his attention. Its very special and relatable to me that it takes a lot for Snotlout to learn his lesson, that hes constantly optimistic, and that it always hurts him because he knows he should expect that by now. But he doesn't.

Dreamworks gave us a fair share of Spitelout episodes, seemingly testing the water of what they could get away with showing each time (High amount of pressure -> degrading him infront of his friends -> causing extreme delusion and paranoia). I think they knew that if we were going to get a conclusion, which we had to, it would have to be an important part of the episode - maybe even of the season. Maybe Spitelouts following them around for the episode, and Snotlout's doing perfectly fine, but Spitelout keeps criticising and jumping in to set an example. Maybe things go wrong and someone gets injured. Maybe its Hiccup, or Hookfang, or snotlout himself. and Snotlout has to stand there with a weapon - because I highly doubt Spitelout would take it seriously if there wasnt one involved - and say for the final time that he doesnt need him. That hes had enough of the criticism and the backhanded praise and the stupidly high standards. That he loves him like the father he has failed to be, and that thats what stings most. And Spitelout wouldve had to make a choice. And dreamworks did not have the anything neccessary to do that.

It would have had to been so carefully crafted. So many things would have had to be balanced. Snotlout shouldn't be too soft because then he wont listen - but he cant be too harsh because Spitelout is a survivor of the same mentality that he himself has. They cant put every single bit of blame on him - but to not do that would be irresponsible because they are his actions. They probably csnt use the word 'abuse' - but to use anything else would be downplaying it. It would have been so extremely difficult that I dont know if i wish they had even tried.

It just upsets me to know that they dont have a conversation. They never even have one. (english teacher voice) Maybe their relationship is less of a redemption arc, but more of a tragedy on the endless cycle of abuse perpetuated on war-ridden homelands like Berk.

DUDE

DUDE

This is such a thorough analysis I’m obsessed (and I am SO sorry it took me so long to get here omg)

They really do have a very cyclical, Snotlout gives and Spitelout takes type relationship. Most of their episodes include Snotlout looking up to Spitelout in the beginning, Spitelout being pretty awful to Snotlout in one way or another, and then a sorta positive interaction at the end that doesn’t necessarily address their conflict or what Spitelout did within the episode. It is then assumed that Snotlout and Spitelout have made up and are good again. Only for it all to happen over again.

It really upsets me too that they never have a real conversation where they actually talk about what’s going on, and that there is no indication that anything will ever change between them (aside from Snotlout’s character growth and his new complete understanding of his self worth and the fact that he can live his life outside of the box Spitelout’s created for him.

Thank you so much for this dude this is insane

[madameoni]

My current fave bg3 take is that you can't possibly justify playing durge as a cleric. Specially a good one.

My sweet bhaalbabe, maybe what you're missing is creativity- and reading comprehension.

Bc I ran into that dumb take while looking for inspiration to build Scipio's lore, I'll rant a lil bit down here, might help if you're building your own cleric durge.

From the idea of your durge being a cleric before the crash, not as a whim after losing their memory:

• If you rest right away after the crash you can ask yourself about your race and class. Both hint to a life before the urge, almost forgotten but there. The dragonborn remembers his people (you know their customs and even speak draconic in game), but haven't lived near them in a long time. The cleric feels foolish for praying, it's something done out of habit and it feels ancient. Note that you feel foolish bc your God doesn't answer but:

•God's can't interfere with durge's story. Withers just watches you stumble around, not even the butler can tell you your past bc the higher-ups told him not to. It is very probable that your chosen deity is giving you powers, but not directly answering your calls, because they can't interfere. So you can cast spells in their name, but papa bahamut isn't answering the phone. Your deity would probably hope for your redemption (if good) or your devotion (if evil) and give you power while you find yourself. If you go back to Bhaal- then he is giving you the powers.

•Haven't played but the Paladin storyline hints that it isn't the first time you take and break your oath.

•The butler hints heavily that durge needed guidance often. The worse thing you ever did, for him, was giving a beggar money for no reason. Any hint of mercy was scolded- but they were there. It is perfectly possible that teachings of another God remained either from your past or in search of getting rid of your urges.

•Durge didn't grew up in Bhaals temple, you had a foster family and nice childhood at some point, and you murdered said foster family at a young ("adolescent") age. That leaves your "biological" family, where you learned about your race, and a nice chunk of time to learn your religion. Most clerics start at a very young age, it is perfectly possible you had your teachings at a very young age and they just stuck. Maybe you tried to reconnect during the years as the Urge, but failed spectacularly.

•What I DO wonder is after your super lovely redemption arc, and daddy Withers pulls a fuck you to Bhaal, where you lie there. Because you're referred as faithless, because your father God forsake you. I wonder if that is meant as a you're now in a clean slate. Or you're liberally condemned as a faithless regardless of who you choose to worship afterwards (after all, you don't need to be a cleric to be a worshiper of any god).

Overall- the plot hole of the "ending" applies pretty much to every character that believes in any God, so it isn't a big enough plot hole for me.

Anyway, after coming from DA where we disregard half of the canon to make it work better, having so much canon to work with is a delight.

I think BG3 does a good job of giving you a nice skeleton to build the missing pieces of your durge to your pleasure. Were you a tortured child, lead astray from your path by your evil father? Were you always a monster and your urges simply exploited what already was there? Your choice.

Btw writing your durge to have a good deity and a good past doesn't mean you're erasing the Urge nature. Bitch is a murderer. But let them have an extra layer of tragedy.

It's crazy people seem to not understand this logic when SHADOWHEART is right there. You can drive parallels from her lore easily.

[wizardnuke]

im talking about the essay grade again and i got off topic and started talking about the lit analysis potential inthe vast majority of fanfictionbjust. Ignore

i feel like it's such a humblebrag for me to be like "i don't understand how i continually get really good grades in english" because i understand objectively that 1) i am very good at analysis and/or. finding quotes to support whatever the fuck thesis i decided would be easy to support (see: "good at analysis") (i think i honestly just randomly hit the jackpot on "good thesis" but on god i just looked at macbeth and gawain respectively and was like Ah. Women's Wrongs. Easy Peasy) and 2) i know from looking at other people's essays that i am just kind of. marginally-to-a-lot better at grammar and phrasing/understand the very specific madlibs-style layout i have to use and what vocabulary that i need to be putting out. it's madlibs. there's a really technical and specific layout that needs to be followed and i just kind of follow it. it's not hard. it is boring. if i could write academic papers on the shit i'm actually interested in they'd be worthless because it's niche and/or wild tumblr user conjecture. anyone who seriously writes on. hold on i need to generate a thesis. "the cyclic nature of abuse and its direct correlation to homoeroticism in cn's supernatural" could u fucking imagine. that's hilarious. that's some hackjob shit no matter how well i could keep a straight face on the matter because all that people care about is Old Shit. i have no real vested interest in actual literary works beyond "they're important and better than people think". i have extremely strong feelings on a lot of modern works, generally movies and shows and niche dnd webshows, i cannot make a career in that shit, my english prof thinks fanfic is bullshit and i see where he's coming from! i don't think it's bullshit. but. the academic perspective on fanfiction is like "they're not making original work" because the setting/adjacent themes and characters r lifted from another work and there's no real originality in it except that the best fics i've read are like.. an alternate form of literary analysis that is so far from actual essay writing that it's unrecognizable. but people can see the themes and the motifs and rehash them in a way that is absolutely a kind of analysis of the original work, but with flourishes and new ideas and batshit choices that the og media either couldn't make/didn't feel like making/tentacle sex wasn't really thematically fitting but an author decided "hey what if i put themes into this consentacles fic" and like, i want to argue that that's legit. sometimes. but i am not going to do that bc i sound objectively insane and also sometimes it is just not that deep and that will be brought up as an argument and i just don't care enough to explain that it's still an art form even if it's not that deep. is "fun and funky fresh" not a common motivator. if "new interpretations" of works like shakespeare and shit where they plunk the characters into a modern setting and fuck with the phrasing is seen as a viable art form/type of analysis then fanfic is an art form/analysis adjacent to that. not all of it though. some of it is something else that is worse. not that i think that is in itself bad. fanfic is a hobby. can't make a career out of that. but people have made careers out of that by changing the names and setting and publishing books. and that's viable apparently. i just personally am insane and enjoy writing very serious and/or emotionally driven meta on dnd shows. i like themes and motifs and i think that while a quickly written meta post on the tragedy inherent in redemption arcs that hit 50k is absolutely not as academically sound as a cited paper on a similar subject, there's Something To It and there's got to be some kind of potential in it. i like stories. idk if i could make a living out of talking about stories especially from the insane angle that i tend to hit stories at. the possibility of making it a genuine career is driven down below ground after i take into consideration my insanity about modern stories vs my neutrality on older ones. what am i talking abt. bf is yelling for me bye

[knightotoc]

The only Jedi who's ever gone to the Outer Rim and caused more good than harm is Kerra Holt. In chronological order:

- Tom Veitch foretold the trend (as he foretold everything) when he had City Boy On His First Mission Ulic Qel-Droma try to rescue the princess on Onderon (not technically Outer Rim in current canon but whatever), only to completely misinterpret the situation since the princess was getting kidnapped on purpose to marry her love. Ever since then every Core World Jedi going to the Outer Rim has also misinterpreted the situation and/or not assessed the needs of the people they are trying to help, leading to some dreadful cosmic tragedy. In Ulic's case, this small mistake was soon resolved, but in the back-and-forth of wars that resulted from this mission Ulic fell to the Sith and killed a ton of people, ending with a weak ass redemption of mansplaining forgiveness to a catgirl

- Nomi Sunrider stopped the Sith by... burning down a rainforest

- Revan (or as I like to call them, knock off Ulic Qel-Droma) did stop the Mandalorian takeover out there, but only after falling to the Dark Side themself. And what's worse, they took Malak with them. Half the time they clean up their mess, the other half they make it worse, and either way they go further into the galaxy -- bad idea!

- the Jedi Exile blowed up a planet out there. At least they felt sorry about it

- idk SWTOR 😅

- GOAT Kerra Holt goes to the Outer Rim for a specific purpose (free the people from the Sith governments) and works her butt off to accomplish this, even putting a stop to corrupt drug running from the unhelpful Republic. I have a theory that the only reason future Jedi don't learn from her is (not bc she got written just before the Disney merger but) bc she was never able to return home to Coruscant and teach the others :(

- reading The High Republic rn, and this seems to be the main theme of the series, or at least my main takeaway. In the main storyline, the Republic (+ Jedi) build Starlight Beacon for no specific purpose and do not set up any kind of infrastructure to allow the local people to actually reap its benefits. My man Tia Toon calls them out and nobody listens to him except me. Unconvincing post-9/11 villains the Nihil destroy the Beacon, which falls into a local planet and kills a ton of people. Of course the Jedi had good intentions, but so did Ulic, Revan, and the Exile

- in the side storyline, Cohmac Vitus tries to cleanse some evil artifacts and ends up unleashing the Drengir (aka, sanitized Yuuzhan Vong)! This is what inspired me to write this post bc I just read this, and wtf man! It's such a clear example of "don't mess with the dark side if you refuse to study it." This situation really was fine until the Jedi tried to help! He does feel sorry about it too, I wonder of he's gonna turn evil from guilt

- most famously Qui Gon went into the Outer Rim incidentally to his political mission, saved Anakin while he was there with an elaborate Ben Hur reference, but did not save his mom or consider the affects on the community not to mention the boy, which ultimately lead to Darth Vader

- anakin sand ppl

- you'd think Luke and Leia going to Tatooine and killing Jabba would make things better, but according to the Mando TV show everything is still pretty fucked over there

- I guess Rey caused more good than harm by going to Exegol and killing poor old palpatine; it is sad that Kylo had to die, but she forgot him so ig we should too lol

[mayxthexforce]

stop reblogging these bc i'm legally obligated to fucking yap

obi-wan and maul we have an insane amount of verses for these two. 'redemption' and kss are my favourites (tho i have a soft spot for the two grumpy old men on tatooine together). they're fun and weird and they shouldn't work but they really do. maul has haunted obi-wan since that faithful day on tatooine. not bc of what he did to qui-gon, but bc of what obi-wan did to maul. it's something that obi-wan never forgives himself for. it's something maul never forgives him for even tho, technically, it did free him. and then obi-wan has kept maul going through the worst moments of his life. a burning passion whether it's good or bad (it's bad), a reason to continue on, a purpose - aka the only thing he's ever wanted. they both go against everything they know when they love each other but they do and it works and it's so fun to write and explore. you and your obi-wan have really helped me develop maul so much in the past,,,, idk 10 months?? 11??

drakka and maul i like their origins. i love them chasing each other around coruscant and drakka pushing maul outside of his comfort zone. it's almost like a little romeo and juliet thing. maul Knows she's a jedi, but she doesn't really know he's a sith. they should be enemies, but they're not. they're just playing catch.

quinlan and maul our first ship!! i like these two a lot. there's something so soft about them meeting on tatooine before everything happens. quinlan characteristically ignoring what he Should be doing as a jedi and maul being swayed into ignoring what he Should be doing. quinlan giving maul the gentleness he's craved, but refused to acknowledge. treating him like something that isn't just a tool to control and use.

kilindi and maul quite literally the first person to ever show maul a shred of decency. i like them a lot as just besties who had some romantic tension as they grew up together. i like the tragedy of what Could have been, but what never happens. maul has to repress the whole thing to even be able to move on from it.

Who do you ship with my muse?

Bonus: Include why you like the ship!

MAUL'S ORIGINAL HAREM 😂 love to see them all in the same ask, it's like they're in a car trip (someone —probably Obi-Wan— would get thrown out of the car if that was the case). They're all so dear to me and I love how each ship unfolds in a completely different way despite the fact they all involve Maul. They all love Maul so much in such different ways. From the decade old obsession to the what could have been.

[haleigh-sloth]

Tbf i think your reasoning and endeavors choices would make more sense IF rei had not showed up last chapter to stop him (and i only say that endeavors choice makes sense bc hori has been slowly killing dabi and making ppl believe how "too far gone" he is for like 2342453 chapters now). So to at least some ppl i guess it might feel like endeavor just went for helplessness and a redemption by death for them both or at least for himself, which goes along with how self centered endeavor is still.

I’m not really sure what you’re saying tbh but I think Rei showing up proves my point

Endeavor didn’t win his arc, at least not in the way he was trying to. He wanted to look at Touya and the end result be him saving him—he even said he didn’t want him to die at the beginning of the chapter. Unfortunately this is where Endeavor’s choices led him. When he does finally LOOK at him it’s still not enough. It is in no way framed as a would-be happy ending for the two of them if Endeavor’s decision this chapter landed.

Also Endeavor isn’t going for redemption by death, you’re just assuming that with nothing even saying that.

Endeavor doesn’t get the satisfaction of being able to solve it all himself, he isn’t the only one who would be effected by Touya dying and the family jumping in to stop it from actually being a tragedy proves that. However, what I’m not sure why it’s so confusing is just acknowledging that Endeavor is looking at him now. Is it finally saving Touya? Nope. But he is. To say otherwise to me reads as “Hori is continuing to let Endeavor get off scot free by continuing to ignore his son” which I just don’t agree was the case here. Also the word “tragedy” was used for a reason. This chapter had a lot of irony to it and the takes coming out of it to me feel flat bc people just want to bad faith read and say once again that Hori is failing with writing Endeavor’s arc. I think Hori letting Endeavor try to be a dad and a hero at the same time and NOT letting that decision win is pretty stellar, idk.

He’s not getting off scot free because the result here would be Touya dying and Endeavor failing. And I just don’t believe that after this Endeavor is gonna peace out and live a happy life responsibility free like idk, that would be pretty stupid.

Rei jumping in is bailing him out from his passive pathetic decision but also her taking her own responsibility because she has a part in this too.

[ofpd]

“does [character] deserve a redemption arc?” is an uninteresting and virtually meaningless question and “in what way would [character] having a redemption arc inform the themes of the work?” is so much better

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

wondering if Shakesperean-style tragedy really is just a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing; because admittedly i've barely read any Shakespeare (shh it's fine, i plan to remedy this soon) but from what i understand, the deaths in tragedies are sort of... not as meaningful as you might imagine, from a litcrit perspective? please correct me/engage with this post if i'm off the wall here, i wanna talk about this! i just kinda think that might be how it works and so the "sound and fury" line is extremely meta in a way?

i'm specifically thinking of a few things in modern fandoms tbh; mostly Loki's death in Infinity War and Finnick Odair in Mockingjay (both of which i could Go Off about at length, and i actually have in the case of Finnick, but i don't have the mental capacity for that at the mo') because those are the two that instantly come to mind and just tear me up really badly. it seems so stupid and like it means absolutely nothing and that hurts worse than any metapoetic, meaningful death in fiction ever could and i just have to wonder: is that the point?

idk i'm hoping someone will add onto this (maybe specifically about Loki or Finnick my beloveds) because i am Thinking and i want to see what other people have to say on it. is tragedy, in the manner of Shakespeare and the like, inherently about sound and fury and signifying nothing?? is that why those types of deaths hurt so much worse than the ones we can say all kinds of beautiful things about?

[frumfrumfroo]

what do you think george lucas could’ve done to make the prequels as iconic and good as the original trilogy?

Collaborate the way he did with the OT. Let other people help write and direct them. Lucas is extremely strong on themes and concepts, but he’s extremely weak on character and dialogue (not just in screenwriting, but also in directing). He said once his ideal would be making movies with no people in them and doesn’t that explain a lot? Back in the day he acknowledged where he was lacking (there are a lot of old interviews where he talks about this), and he got help with those things. The other directors (ESB and RotJ), other screenwriters, the editors, and much uncredited input on the script of ANH from Lucas’s industry friends were all instrumental in making the OT films great cinema with great storytelling rather than an overambitious jumble of ideas and evocative visuals without sufficient emotional context.

The prequels are an auteur project where he did everything himself and was insulated from meaningful constructive criticism and it shows.

He would still be the absolute last word on the story he wanted to tell if he collaborated, he had 100% of the actual power, he’d just have people with the skills and interests he doesn’t share to help him execute it with greater effectiveness and coherence. That excerpt of him talking to Kasdan about character death in RotJ is a good example- you can be firm on what the story is and what it’s meant to say while still accepting creative input.