#bc it's really not she's exactly the same?

[dors-ee]

Oh yeeees it's the one where he's like "lots of mouths and teeth, yes so good" 🤣 Still laughing at it. And if I remember correctly you find it like on the island to kill Ghilan'Nain? Tension is high, you are toward the end, and you find that 🤣 (or in his temple which... same thing. Extra tense and stressful and you get him saying that 🤣) "my big dragon" "she wrong but eh. Will concess cause she sad.", "Give my drgaon lots of mouths and teeth. and bigger. Yeah so cool. My dragon is so cool. My dragon is the coolest" (him with Davrin and Emmrich, speaking of their kids. "Mine can fly!", "Mine learnt to talk!", "Mine is big and he'll get lots of mouths and teeths!") and showing a strange form of care for Ghilan'nain.

Some side thoughts -not joking :

like... for me it strips him of some of his prestance, BUT also gives him something more. and even this act of "taking" some mythos out of him thematically works bc well we are told again and again : they are no gods.

It is shown that he cares in a weird way when he gets Ghilan'nain in Hossberg, and here when he, in his weird and a bit condescending way, cares for her mood... There's also the codex fragment with Ghilan'nain, answering to him about Andruil. I don't remember what she says exactly, but it seems she answers him about... a concern? about this. Or just that he spekls of bringing back Andruil (I believe that's what she answers "no let her be" or something like that, for me, is a way of showing a sort of care.).

He also cares about his dragon size, "mine is the biggest! nah!" and seems to share at least a fragment of Ghilan'nain's love for "lots of teeth and mouths". Which if they really are siblings, I thought it was a nice touch to show that one. Both freaks... and both brilliant, even if now blighted.

He is a bit thicker of a cardboard with those elements. More so than when Mythal speak of him having been twisted too, as a spirit.

And I'd rather fight with such an opponent rather than just a cardboard villain that is just vile. Elgar'Nan has a bit of depth, even in his talk with Solas, it is interesting how he reacts. It isn't just pure villain mocking his opponent. Or at least didn't feel like it. speaking of this talk the subject of the other evanuris also for me there was something in how Elgar'nan reacrs and speaks, of that, of the past, etc. Does he only wants to bring his empire back for the sake of power and his ego as a god, like a pure villain... or bc he misses it and misses the other evanuris too? Maybe I'm reaching with this one.

It also is this dialogue bringing how Elgar'nan was brilliant too. and maybe it's just me but I did feel something at the mention of his descent and the dulling of his mind with the blight. Of the loss of this core element of him, and the brillance of him -representation of the brillance of the eleves, also lost?-. He lost his empire, his fellow gods and himself. Like... even what made him a good opponent, a good bad guy, is lost now. He lost himself first when he got twisted as a spirit, thrn became a god/slaver, where he still had lesst was a good bad guy apparently and would-be-wrong-God. But now he doesn't even have that. What a fall eh? for a "risen god".

Don't know if this passage is clear sorry. Writing not confusing and clear literary analyzes is hard enough in my language (my big issue I had during my bachelor degree in literature. Managing to write my thoughts clearly and with structure) so in english x).

Although why having a dulled mind would make him speak the common tongue? shouldn't it be rhe reverse and he's speak his native tongue only? (aka elven) isn't common a learnt secondary language for them?

Yet again : just a tad more development and scenes with him to flesh him not only as this very threatening scary guy but also as a character, as in more of a person, that would have been nice. Helped with the build up too.

elgar'nan, all-father, the eldest of the sun, he who overthrew his father, god of sun and vengeance: NOPE MY DRAGON WAS DEFINITELY BIGGER, HE SHRUNK IN THE WASH

[meteortrails]

forever thinking about nami and luffy…. they just. their relationship is so perfectly, consistently, and beautifully written?? (read more bc I care WAY too much about them).

like it would be so easy to slot them into the typical dynamic of her being a buzzkill and him being a reckless dick but that’s not them at all. she’s the first person he meets out on the sea who really, deeply understands what freedom means to him, how vital and important it is - it’s why she’s the one he lets hold and fix his hat, it’s why he waits until she asks him to help with arlong, it’s why he never begrudges her any of her actions in arlong park. he knows her autonomy is just as important to her as his is to him, that she fucking Gets It. she has the same joy and whimsy and protective instinct in her heart, and like recognizes like!!! so luffy lets nami run the day to day of the ship, order him around, hold his greatest treasure in her hands, bc he trusts that when the chips come down she will never abuse that power. she’ll have his back and follow through on whatever insane orders he has his heart set on bc she knows the weight of what she’s been entrusted with.

and like, in return, nami gets exactly as much responsibility as she wants for the first time in her life! she doesn’t have to be alone, doesn’t have to protect everything that matters all on her own - she has luffy and the crew for that now. she gets to be part of a crew, a family, while still remaining in charge of her own life. and in response to all that trust and love, nami is just as protective of luffy and this new home as she ever was of cocoyashi. he gave her back her freedom and put his dream in her hands without a second thought, and she will keep it safe come hell or high fucking water. like I don’t know how to express how emphatically I feel about this but she won’t betray him even to save her own life, even when he would never fucking know!!! nami often ends up being luffy’s primary pillar of emotional support bc she’s just such a consistently steady, faithful presence at his back; even when they disagree on important shit her trust in his judgement and ability to get them through the storm is unshakeable, and vice versa.

idk man I just really do not know how to express how much it matters to me that nami is canonically a ruthless, conniving, deathly stubborn, control freak bitch and that’s like. lowkey WHY luffy+the crew love her so much. idk how to explain how batshit insane the symbolism of her being his navigator and him being her captain makes me.

[bacchuschucklefuck]

dreaming abt sophomore year class swap bard!riz

[luck-of-the-drawings]

EDYN TIDESTRIDER, CHALLENGER OF THE UNDERSEA, RIVAL OF THE DEEP. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOUR BROTHER WAS CHOSEN TO BE A WEAPON OF THE GODS? HOW WILL YOU UNDO WHAT THEY HAVE DONE TO HIM?

[dreamspring]

#rbing again w ur commentary bc yes to all this like yes yes yes#and I wanted to add. antigone in her grief gets so wrapped up as you said#that she genuinely starts seeing anyone who opposes her as an ‘enemy’ in a way?#obviously this means creon for the most part but ismene too#and I think that a large part of ismene’s reluctance to act is not because she doesn’t necessarily agree with antigone etc#but because she’s aware of her and her sisters positions particularly as women#like not to bring gender into it (except im right)#but like. is ismene *just* a coward? or is there more to that.#and yes abolsutely on top of that and most importantly: ismene is the only one left at the end#she’s lost her whole family! and now shes in that position I wouldn’t be surprised if she wondered whether it was even worth anything#anyway also there’s the way that ismene represents duty to your state in a much more measured and subtle way than creon#like. the whole play is divine/gods vs man/state. creon ordains an order and antigone dies defying it because deference to the gods is#what she chooses instead. n remember that the whole point is that *neither* of them are completely wrong or completely correct!#like. Greek maxim n all that: nothing to excess.#they are both excessive in their respective devotions - gods or state#so ismene. idk it’s been a while since I read the play but she has always felt like the subtle middle ground#the compromise the negotiator. if antigone had been more receptive to being told to just hold on a moment#would the two sisters have been able to work out a deal of some sort with creon? who knows!#that isn’t really the point because the tragedy wouldn’t exist if it didn’t end this way#but. my point being. when taken in isolation#ismene is Antigone’s ‘mirror’ fulfilling the role of creon#but when taking creon and the context of the play into account#she’s more of the middle ground between them?#idk. sorry for the essay. im trying to avoid going to bed.

prev..... ur mind is humongous....... thank you for all these thoughts ur so so right. like EXACTLY i think ismene and antigone (but especially ismene) are both very aware of what will happen to them if they are caught breaking the law and its just that antigone is. suicidally and recklessly leaning into that whereas ismene simply does not want to die. like antigone being brave for doing what she does (which she is!) doesn't make ismene a coward it makes her nonsuidical. (i think!)

and ur point about gender... yeah exactly. and also (on an unrelated note! sorry for the tangent) it makes me think about the way that antigone sort of transcends gender boundaries in the way she turns her expression of grief (the burial of her brother) into an act of protest... when the performance of ritualised mourning + of grief itself was women's work, antigone's performance of the practical ritual of burial (which is not something women were supposed to be involved in) turns her personal act of grieving into a gender subversive protest against creon's attempt at controlling her/denying her ability to grieve. (which is also what her suicide at the end represents to me... idk. that was just a thought!)

AND YES.... that's something i hadn't even considered but ur SO RIGHT. the idea that ismene represents moderation or the middle ground between extremeties... nothing in excess!!! there's something about the way that both ismene and haemon try to talk antigone and creon respectively out of their brash decisions as the voices of reason but are both rebuked and shunned (ie. antigone dismissing ismene as not really loving her and being 'creon's champion', the same way creon accuses haemon of disloyalty and being a lovesick fool for antigone), ultimately leading to tragedy. tldr. these are all such good points thank you sooo much for sharing ur thoughts with me!! <3 <3 <3

ismene/antigone; on being left behind

all highlighted excerpts from sophocles’ antigone, trans. hugh-lloyd jones // other excerpts in order: louise glück - tango / jodi picoult - my sisters keeper / unknown / mine / halsey - graveyard / unknown / mine / seamus heaney - the burial at thebes / mine

[trashcreatyre]

So anyway, what if mephiles stole Elise's form instead? That'd be fun i think :)

[jamethinks]

on the topic of eyes, one of my headcanons(?) for anya is that she has really big eyes. I mean just massive round pupils. Very much like Donovan and Demetrius but without the strain of exhaustion and soullessness. Her eyes specifically look a bit like Ella Purnell like she's a real starer when she's ready.

and it is very important to her character. One it makes her look young (even as an adult), with a sort of doe like innocence. Keeps her un-intimidating and very trust worthy. But it also makes her look rather creepy, as if she is constantly looking right into your soul. the kind of eyes you cant lie to because one they look so innocent but also so knowing.

i think it would represent her character very well because she is all knowing but people don't know that so it's just kinda creepy. Also think it makes like her fresh out of the 70s giving shelly duval realness.

[virsancte]

good days aren't easy to come by

[aalghul]

i saw an account post that, unfortunately, if you are a jason todd fan account then you’ve most definitely gotten an ask along the lines of “if you like fanon jason then you’ll definitely like canon helena/steph/mia” and was wondering if you’ve ever gotten an ask like that

I've gotten a few about Helena specifically, never Steph or Mia so I'm going to talk about Helena rather than generalize what I'm about to say to both of them too (because I was actually thinking about this a few weeks ago!)

Those people are right...in a way. If you want christian guilt (that Jason does not in UTRH and should not ever struggle with) and genuine efforts to be accepted by the Bats? You want Helena. A character whose relationship with killing can be benefited by people bringing her into their light without rendering her previous choices pointlessly antagonistic? that's Helena.

Then there's also the factor of Helena often, in canon, being treated as unstable and untrustworthy, no matter what she does to prove otherwise. and that's seen as a continued failing on her part, even if it's others that refuse to believe in her. Jason constantly being pushed into those situations in fanon and canon is very Helena coded. He's got her good and bad.

But if you like the Jason from UTRH era, arguably the best written Jason post-resurrection (which isn't saying much because...we all know how he's written most of the time), then Helena would never work for you because they're so different. Even with fanon, there's only a certain extent it can apply to. Helena's not Bruce daughter, he didn't raise her, she was never family for him outside the costume (or in it. but that hurts me to say), and she certainly wasn't Dick's sister. So those dynamics should be different inherently, even in fanon where they're altered to resemble something like what Helena has. There's still a history that Jason has here that she naturally doesn't.

I think it's too vague and unhelpful of a thing to say if you're trying to make people interested in Helena or change their portrayal of Jason. But I do see the basis of it.

[murmurmurl]

I actually find gender swapping characters really interesting (what part of their expression is dictated by gender norms vs certain events in their life vs their personal preferences that wouldn't change either way, etc.) so now I wanna draw what that would look like in my ocs except I am in pain rn so I'm forced to just lie there and be plagued by visions

[hauntingblue]

Jayce telling vi she won't make it on her own.... okay mr. projector...

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

I am the happiest person on earth right now because I just went out with a friend to grab a late lunch and it was just supposed to be a quick casual catch up thing that turned into a 4 hour conversation in the car about things that happened to us almost a decade ago 🥲

[skyhawkstragedy]

so I wasn't the only person who found this treatment icky. great. good. awesome. thanks.

[rowenabean]

.

[void-and-virtue]

Writing fanfic is so dangerous bc whenever I see the name ‘Seth Gordon’ now, my brain just goes “SETH!! My man!!! My dude!!! Allison and Renee’s platonic husband!!!!” And then I have to take a moment of silence as I remember that oh. Oh, in canon, he is first an asshole and then dead

[gregmarriage]

oh, random thursday in october, i wish you’d go fuck yourself <3