#bonus points if they’re morally grey

[padchai]

*ahem* marvel… stop calling me out for being gay GODDAMN

[truetealtears]

‘Why is Gale depicted as the default leader in the animated short?’

Because he cooks

When you’re a rag tag group of people scraping by in the wilderness; you do not fuck with the guy who feeds you (minus Astarion who’s fucking around and finding out who he can/cannot feed on lmao)

Yeah you can tease him and make fun of him and you don’t have to like him (all of which we can see different characters doing) but you don’t make an enemy of the camp cook, not without very good reason (especially if he cooks well - Which he seems to, there’s no complaints. His dialogue tells you it’s clearly a hobby of his, so he knows what he’s doing, plus everyone saying he’s like fantasy Greek - I hear you and you’re right).

And we can see that because no one has major beef w Gale (that I’m aware of lol), some find him at bit insufferable but no one actively hates him (at least initially, idk what some of you are doing in ur playthroughs)

Not to say they’d immediately appoint him as Mr Leader Man after one meal but they’d definitely be more willing to listen to his ideas and consider them. Plus they know Gale is smart (book smart at least), they can all agree that he isn’t stupid and his plans are likely to be plausible/reasonable (for the group ofc, we all know what this man will do to himself if you let him). He gets bonus points for being quite sociable and generally approving of doing The Right Thing, while also having enough of a moral grey area to hear the others out on their more… eccentric ideas (see his dialogue about making use of the Illithid powers and stuff)

So yeah I think all of this would culminate in him being the default leader when there’s no player influence (aka when tav doesn’t exist and ur not controlling someone else)

Funny side note: the initial data larian released kinda backs me up in a roundabout way; with Gale being the most commonly chosen origin lol

To me this means that after Tav, Gale is the most likely candidate for leader. So imagine all the drama that plays out when he’s like ‘hey guys it’s been nice and I’m glad I could help you all with some of ur problems but my ex my goddess is telling me to go kill myself so’

Even when you’re playing as Tav everyone thinks it’s stupid for Gale to go kill himself because Mystra said so. They’re all like ‘that isn’t fair/what a waste’ (further evidence that no one truly hates him thanks). So now when he’s their leader I imagine they’re like ‘NOOOOOO’

[morallysuperiorlips]

5 Traits That Are GUARANTEED to Make Your Morally Grey Character More Interesting!

They’re constantly clocking themselves for what they do “right” and “wrong”: The beauty of a “morally grey character” is that what they do isn’t always so black and white. However, they don’t seem to be aware of that concept themselves. Every time they do something that one could dub “good” or “bad,” they overthink it—“I shouldn’t have been that compassionate, now they’re gonna think I’m soft.” Or, “I wasn’t amicable enough, now they’re gonna hate me.” Give us all the mental turmoil over how GREY they are.

There is exactly one very small thing they will break all their ideals for: It doesn’t matter what direction it sends them, but it’s one thing that’s probably very trivial in the face of their goals. Perhaps they’re a huge cat lover, and will stop a homicidal tirade to protect a stray. Or, maybe they’re deeply against the concept of social media and what it does to the human mind and will subsequently go on a homicidal tirade because of it.

They are perpetually changing their ideals: I don’t know if it’s just me, but I love a train wreck-y morally grey character who has such a shoddy sense of opinion that they flip-flop their own ideals the moment they hear something that goes against what they’re currently standing for. Perhaps they’re staunchly ready to defend their world’s government by any means necessary, but they hear ONE conspiracy theory that sounds remotely truthful, and the turns table real quick. Extra bonus points if they finally find a way to get their shit together by the end of the story.

Their actions are primarily based around a reckless self-destructive streak: They have things they seek to stand up for, whether it’s a goal or a set of ethics, but everything they do to cater to that goal or set of ethics is fueled by an innate need for reckless abandon that often results in an outcome that many would call self destructive. There’s no plan in place ever; they just see something, they’re fueled by their ideals, and they charge forward with absolutely no mind for their own well-being.

They’re morally grey because of pure observation: I’ve read about a lot of morally grey characters walking around with sad or downright haunted pasts, and honestly, I love that. But I’m also really into the idea of a morally grey character that’s seen no real hardships, and had no real bad things happen to them personally, but went down a path of morally grey based on their observations of their own surroundings. For example, they’ve never been a direct victim of government corruption, but after seeing how officials treat the common citizen, or really reading a book of their world’s fine print, they decide “oh, I don’t like this,” which in turn fuels their ideals and leads them down a path that might result in not so black-and-white outcomes.

As always, go fucking write something <3

[youareatragedy]

Why can’t people understand that morally grey characters have existed since before their grandmothers were born? The issue is when the characters do bad things, and neither the characters nor the author want to acknowledge it as wrong. Bonus points if the character thinks they’re morally superior and kind, and so does everyone around them. This is exactly what happens in ACOTAR and the fandom refuses to acknowledge it too, simply because the author doesn’t acknowledge it in the books. This somehow makes people who read critically, with their brains not 'turned-off', seem like the “wrong ones” for pointing it out.

Sometimes I want to give the benefit of the doubt that the hardcore stans who say there's nothing wrong with the bat boys, Feyre, and the IC are just young. But no, they're actually full-grown adults with jobs. They're parents etc. It's so so disappointing to see that they think loving a character means ignoring when these characters do wrong and selfish things. It's even worse when a character commits SA and fans turn a blind eye because they don’t want to admit they want a man who SA'd a woman to be their ideal "boyfriend."

No one said you can't like these characters, but what a shame that in the name of loving Rhysand for example, people just dismiss Feyre's SA and her lack of choice over her own health and body. What a shame that in the name of loving Rhysand, they don’t want to admit that what he did to Illyria and CoN is segregation and just want to say "Rhysand is a great ruler and he's oh so powerful." This fandom is childish and rude as hell.

[itselriel]

i feel as though the Gwyn ordeal within the fandom is giving the same as how some people are anti anything to do with the IC or Feysand (Feyre and/or Rhys) because of an unhealthy alcoholic Nesta’s opinion in the beginning of ACOSF and hear me out, the overt sexualization/self insert these “fans” have with Gwyn is giving the same as people only loving unhealthy Nesta because she is a self insert for all of the hatred they have for the series because in their minds it’s now “canon” these characters are “evil”, as though they don’t understand what morally grey means and same with Elain, she threatens specific people’s self insert with Azriel (or the others she’s associated with) the same way the Nesta stans have hatred for Feysand and Cassian because it threatens their “canon” of what Nesta is

(by over sexualization i mean shoving an traumatic SA survivor into BDSM fan art and completely ignoring how closed of and sheltered she still is by the end of the book because of her trauma and being re traumatized especially when she was in my opinion, anything but sexual in the book and rightfully so. in another way it’s feeling the same as people romanticizing Tamlin when he was physically abusing Fae Feyre to the point it would’ve killed Mortal her, they take a canonically traumatic thing and just rip the page of canon text in half while going “haha no, that’s not it silly” and then handing you essentially a fanfic as “proof” for their “theories”/their canon because that’s what it is- ‘their canon’ not Sarah’s. i just mean they’re taking Gwyn’s trauma away to have a character that wasn’t written into the story to serve their own needs as a reader instead of reading a different series the same way they took Feyre’s trauma away to go “awwww poor baby Tam-Tam” thusly taking the abuse he inflicted on Feyre out of him as a character to romanticize him. i don’t know if this made any sense, or if it was a decent comparison, my apologies. i just don’t feel like things would’ve gotten this bad if it was what is was, a crackship and nothing more because maybe then they would’ve at least- maybe, hopefully, been even a little more respectful of Gwyn having been traumatized. coincidentally, all the characters the hate is over, not including the Archeron sisters, are canonically side characters and i don’t why that pisses people off so much.)

The Archeron sisters and bat boys are the main characters of the series. That is clear and is shown throughout the series.

If anyone wants to comment on this post with their opinions of how people treat Gwyn and how they view fanon Gwyn as canon Gwyn, please feel free. In my opinion, Gwynriels depictions of Gwyn are disturbing. They sexualize her and it’s honestly wrong. After what she has gone through, creating art and coming up with “theories” that involve Gwyn in a sexual way make me completely uncomfortable.

Regarding Nesta, she went through a lot and dealt with her emotions in a very unhealthy way. There is no other way to put it. She was harmful to herself and was going down a very bad path. Had Rhysand and Feyre not stopped her, she would have still been going down a bad path and never would have healed. Nesta has also been very mean and rude throughout the series. That’s just a fact. Was there a reason for it? Yes. But does that reason excuse her actions and the way she acted before she healed? No.

I don’t know what you mean regarding the Azriel and Elain part. People could easily read the books and imagine themselves as Elain if they wanted to. Maybe then they would see all the buildup she has with Azriel throughout four books and a bonus chapter. They just choose not to do that.

Again, if anyone has anything else to add to this please feel free in the commets.

[hatsunevitu]

when kyle was 16, his parents (mostly dad) decided that he had to understand how money are earned by hard and honest work, so they cut off his pocket money and gave him an advice to finally find a part-time job. kyle didn’t mind it much, so after a week or two of choosing the right option he decided to stick to something as peaceful and less stressful as possible, so he chose to get a job at the local library as an assistant. he already had experience in working with literature and students books – he was tutoring his classmates for a year by that time, plus the librarian was his mother’s friend so he didn’t expect any difficulties to get into his way.

until cartman learned about kyle’s new work and decided it was his moral duty to go into the library that he has never visited before and pester kyle every goddamn day. because kyle couldn’t do anything to stop this since he wasn’t allowed to start conflicts as a worker there. it also was prohibited to shout at the library so most of the time he was cursing and threatening cartman in a whisper. neither was he allowed to kick him out because the librarian truly believed that every child has the right to be in this sacred temple of knowledge.

and it was terrible.

every day kyle was expecting another trick from cartman – either it was total reorganising of the books on shelves from alphabetical order to matching colours, or a request to find a very rare book that only was in the library in one copy somewhere in the farthest corner of the room at the highest shelf – only to realise cartman absolutely knows this book has been missing for, like, three years by now.

kyle: Can you please stop bothering me?! You don’t even read books!

cartman: Sure I do! But paper books are sooo last century, I’m into e-books now.

kyle: THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE LIBRARY EVERY DAY, YOU SADISTIC ASSHOLE?

cartman: Making your life even more miserable and complicated than it already is?…

kyle: Why am I even surprised? I should’ve really guessed.

AND THEN one day kyle sees cartman in the library and mentally prepares for another portion of mocking, but surprisingly for him, cartman doesn’t even look at him, says simple and brief “hi” and goes straight to the reading hall, grabbing one of the books on the shelf. kyle can’t help but feel curious, because he’s never seen cartman so concentrated and serious – at least not the last few weeks. he sneaks up to him from the back:

kyle: What, have you finally realised what you’re actually supposed to do at the library?

cartman, shivering a little: You’re not supposed to scare the shit out of your customers too, huh, Kahl?

kyle: What even is this book? Knowing your tastes, I won’t be surprised if it’s, like, fucking Mein Kampf or something like that.

cartman, rolling his eyes: It’s none of your fucking business. And I wouldn’t read Mein Kampf, who do you even think I am?

and then kyle grabs cartman’s book and with surprise sees that it’s one of his most favorite books (i’m not sure what exactly it is but my personal hc is that kyle is really into dystopias and stories with political controversial subtext…), and he really can’t help but start discussing it with cartman. after, like, a whole half an hour of kyle infodumping him with the history behind this book, he realises they actually have pretty similar taste, and cartman’s analysing skills are so great he really understands all of the hidden messages in books, and they, well…. eventually start hanging out in the library discussing books they’re reading rn. to the point where kyle almost forgets about his other duties at work ‘cause he gets really consumed by all these discussions with cartman.

and he tries to tell about this to stan and kenny but they both just laugh because these two nerds who have finally found a conversation partner are fucking hilarious.

+ bonus about their preferences: they both are really into morally grey and/or generally antagonistic characters. and although it’s totally predictable for cartman, he was really shocked when he realised kyle adores “bad” and “immoral” characters as well (we aaaaaall know why…)

also i think kyle is more of a “plot” person who really enjoys reading about how the world in the book works, meanwhile cartman mostly prefers digging into characters, relationships between them and their psychological traits and traumas, yk? and it really helps, because each of them often notice little details the other might’ve missed.

[time-is-restored]

oh shit i forgot here's another one, this time its an old neal caffrey analysis rant (this one fueled by insomnia, and written much earlier into my first watch of white collar - i think early season 3??):

im gonna be weird about white collar but the thing is so many people are weird about white collar in the wrong direction

like woobifying neal to hell and back or inventing whole new personalities for el or . i don’t even know how to describe what they do to peter

like the thing about neal is he Is a magpie he’s just a surprisingly loyal one, he flits from shiny thing to person to ideal, sure, but certain classes of ppl can fully hold his attention

peter holds his attention bc he is good as in skilled (it’s borderline canon that no one else can catch him, or even really come close), and extremely principled w a cunning streak which neal basically approaches as like. a puzzle box, bc like none of their principles line up so he’s curious how the apparent closed system rube goldberg machine of his morals work LOL

then it becomes a dedication through loyalty, in that peter sticks his neck out multiple times due to faith in neal, and neal is EXTREMELY weak to loyalty/consistency (gestures at the mess of his childhood)

and due to generally low self image (morals wise, he kind of thinks he sucks? like he’s competent and cool and charming and everything, but he also tends to consider himself a nuisance, w how he’s disruptive to ‘normal’ / ‘good’ people) that dedication can become disproportionate

we see through kate (and later, adler) that the easiest way to con neal/get him acting against his own self interest IS to cultivate that loyalty

there��s an easy archetype to it, even, in that u present him with a competent, smart individual (bonus points if they’re a conventionally attractive woman), but have her off limits in some way (uninterested, taken, stand off ish, whatever), activate his thief urge to ‘take’ what he wants, then when they are friends/partners whatever, his inadvertent guilt over like. corrupting/endangering this person/tricking them about who he ‘really’ is will loop around into VERY strong loyalty, and a commitment to being whatever they want him to be x2, bc he Cannot handle being left behind LMAO

peter simultaneously feeds into + challenges this framework, bc he clearly has the least biased opinion about who neal is, even though he’s still wrong about a lot of things. and beyond that, he REALLY likes neal, thinks he’s interesting and funny, but at the start of the show can’t deal with even 0.01% of his chaotic neutral methods

WHICH IN TURN!! actually breaks through some of Neal’s shit bc:

peter picked him out of prison before neal had changed at all

he essentially sees his role, from as early as ep 1, as tactically breaking the law where peter can’t/won’t, in ways that help them close the case faster

after peter (more or less) gives a thumbs up the first time he does this, neals puzzle box brain goes ‘oh?? morally grey bestie??? CRIME BESTIE????’ and now he’s trying to ‘solve’ peter’s moral code

this is actually almost in complete opposition to elizabeth, who is compete open and clear about her affection and friendship w him basically since they meet, and apparently has no prerequisites for it. which, again, pointing to the low self esteem, triggers the ‘oh god what have i done to deserve this i haven’t even CONNED her yet’ so he’s low key more invested in + comitted to elizabeth in a specific. 'i want to be on good terms w this person' targeted way than he initially was w peter (since their mutual obsession manifests so fucking frequently as 'what, you're gonna hit me? you're gonna hit me with that big bat? better make it hurt. better kill me in one shot!' style antagonism)

HENCE the constant check ins w their relationship, reminding peter about anniversaries and dinner times etc, though that’s also due to a general fascination he has w stability + permanence

we learn in s2 he was seriously considering proposing to kate, and that he genuinely wanted to take the ‘true love’ way out of the conman life, even though he wasn’t quite sure whether it would stick, hence we see a lot in s2 his fascination w peter + els marriage, along with june (crime aunty <3)‘s relationship w her passed husband

a lot of his dedication to peter circa s2 is, by my reckoning, explicitly because peter is so determined to stick with Neal, and doesn’t give up on him/their deal even when it would be entirely reasonable (neal admits to crimes, gets put back in prison, constantly breaks rules and goes looking for kate) which is like. neal HATES being trapped, but he also REALLY values consistency + competency

hence the complexes, y'know?

[changeling-fae]

G, L, Y, U for the asks!

Thanks!

G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?

Lol, boy, and how! I live and breathe otp’s. My very first otp was probably Seto Kaiba x Serenity Wheeler, from YuGiOh. They were the first fanfic I ever read on fanfiction.net, lol. First otp ship I ever contributed to fandom for was Sesshomaru x Kagome from Inuyasha, where I wrote my very first fics and did fanart.

Though if we want to get really cheeky, I could argue that my very first ship was the knife and the spoon, from cutlery and making them kiss as a tiny kiddo, lol.

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

Hmmm, this is weirdly tough for me, not the complimenting part, but because I have a weird metric of how I view characters. Hm, let’s go with… Mizora. I’m overall neutral on her but I appreciate her petty bitch energy. If I were a cambion, I’d like to be as ambitious as Raphael but in reality I’d be like Mizora and I do appreciate a good petty play. It’s the Gemini in me, lol.

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

I have many favorites but I’ll go with Harley Quinn from Batman, Grunkle Stan from Gravity Falls, and since brainrot be real, Raphael from BG3.

Harley Quinn has been a favorite character of mine since I was a kid watching Batman the Animated Series. I’ve always been a fan of theatrical aesthetics (circus, theatre, commedia dell’arte, etc) and she’s just such a fun character. I’ve really liked over the years how she’s waffled between villain and anti-hero and how she’s not a perfect victim. Also Harley Quinn x Poison Ivy is a top tier ship.

Grunkle Stan because one of my biggest weaknesses in fiction is a sad morally grey older man but who is also protective of his family. He’s fucked up in his life so many times but he keeps trying. I’m a sucker for that. But also he’s just a great character. He’s made me laugh and cry and honestly that’s just a good criteria for any character. I’ve 100% played the fanmade Grunkle dating simulator and no regrets or shame.

And speaking of morally grey, or in this case, completely terrible older men. Raphael, my beloved. I played BG3 in its EA days and the very first time he appeared I was smitten. His voice obviously but also he had my favorite introduction into the game (and still does). The fact that his devil transformation involved a snazzy belt and different shoes is what really sold him to me. He’s so stupidly extra and it calls to my theatre kid nature, lol. I do miss the EA days of him roasting our camp 5 sec after inviting himself.

All that being said, I just enjoy his character within the game too. I like that he’s obviously a villain but he’s chill with us. In part because he wants something from us but I like that it kinda transforms for him into a double obsession. Obviously, crown comes first but there’s something just so delightfully fun about him writing about our character in his journal (entry number 2 is the stuff ships are made of). That he’s a cringefail theatre kid with daddy issues while being thousands of years old is partly what makes him endearing. I loved finding his fanfiction in his house and I love how stupidly bad his hell domination plan is (you’re doing amazing sweetie).

And one other bonus to liking his character is I got to make new friends and moots in particular in his corner of the fandom. 💖

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)?

Hm, I’d say currently, Helluva Boss, I’ve got a couple friends into that show. It’s certainly on my list of things to eventually sit down and watch but for now I see it through what my friends show me. Looks good though!

[copaganda-clobberfest]

The Dalish elves of dragon age also count. In three different ways, all of which appear in the third game to try and maintain the series’ ‘grey morality’.

A group oppressed for wanting to live in their own land free from human colonisation, and having a religion that runs counter to the dominant human one? They treat their mages respectfully and are actually led by them? They don’t imprison mages in towers and handle the risks differently?

Perhaps showing by example that the prison tower system is unnecessary? Should we examine this? Admit that the chantry (fantasy christians) are the bad guys in this?

NOOOPE it smells like black and white up in here

Let’s retcon it so that if they have too many mages they cruelly abandon them, because they’re ‘dangerous’, in direct glaring contradiction to previous lore! Nailed it. Grey morality maintained 👌 And 2-for-1 bonus for making mages look bad!

Keep in mind their mages are their leaders. In past games, the problem was usually that they don’t have ENOUGH mages. To the point that surplus mages are sent to other clans so they can have leaders, e.g. Merrill in DA2. It makes zero sense for them to be abandoned.

POINT 2

And to further make the Dalish unsympathetic, and continue to push the *both sides* narratives, in DLC 1, we will disprove their whole religion as being born out of slavery by their own race! By EEEEVIL super mages! Further ‘proving’ that all mages are dangerous! And extra bonus, after these mages were stopped, the elves were weakened, which allowed the human nation of Tevinter to enslave them! So apparently getting (re)enslaved is their fault and they’re blaming humans for stuff they did to themselves! 🙄

POINT 3

But that’s not enough of a reason for the chantry to hate the elves. It can’t just be racism, that would be *bad guy behaviour*. Fear not, there’s always DLC 2, which is about the first Inquisition, and moreso uncovering that the first Inquisitor was a Dalish elf mage whose identity was erased by the chantry.

As part of uncovering this, we find out what led to the chantry marching on their lands and destroying the elven nation, causing them to split up into the Dalish clans.

The game makes out that it was in retaliation for the elves not helping them fight off a blight (world-ending crisis). Nearly every companion expresses this view, it’s not just one person with a flawed understanding of the situation.

How terrible of them, after escaping slavery by humans, to not risk their lives to assist another human empire which had been nothing but racist and degrading to them, and tried to erase their religion. Their subjugation is clearly their fault (again). Even though several nearby human nations also didn’t help, and remain uninvaded to this day.

Ugh.

.

[positivelybeastly]

💖 Nathaniel Essex, but specifically my Medici verse where he’s still a morally gray genetic genius but also an ally of the X-Men (and yes I have managed to fit almost all of Sinister’s major plot points in while still making him not outright evil, if you can believe it lol)

How likely they are to enter a relationship with them:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

(Much more likely if he's merely morally grey! Hank can work with morally grey, as evidenced by his relationship with Abigail, and if you say you've got him intact without making him outright evil, I do believe you! He'd probably try and reign him in, but hey, that might actually play into the relationship - I can fix him, as the cliche goes. :P)

Would they…

Make the first move? Yes | No (If he's still a weird fruity flirt, I could see Hank being emboldened and flirting back, intimating that he'd be interested, just to see what happens and work out if Essex will pull back or not.)

Say “I love you” first? Yes | No (This one, I'd need more context for, but it feels like Hank is almost always the one to feel things and express those things first.)

Cheat on them? Yes | No (Final meme, final chance for me to say no.)

Be the jealous type? Yes | No (With Essex, I don't feel like he'd worry nearly at all.)

Plan the dates? Yes | No (It's Hank's thing by this point. He was only defeated on this front by Scott 'Failure to Prepare is Preparing to Fail' Summers so far.)

Initiate the first kiss? Yes | No (I feel like this might be Nathaniel's, actually!)

Remember anniversaries? Yes | No (Hank's just the type, tbh.)

BOLD WHAT APPLIES:

Their Relationship Is:

friends to lovers | rivals to lovers | enemies to lovers | still just enemies | mutual pining | star crossed lovers | old married couple | perpetual honeymoon phase | stable and boring | stable but not boring | secret lovers | best friends hiding their feelings | and they were roommates | friends with benefits | coworkers avoiding HR | one-sided affection | weird sexual tension | it’s complicated | toxic relationship | a secret affair | an actual dumpster fire | other

PUBLIC Displays of Affection:

hand holding | kiss on the hand | kiss on the cheek | kiss on the forehead | kiss on the lips |  cuddling | hugging | affectionate messages or comments | pet names | pictures together | no displays of affection

PRIVATE Displays of Affection:

hand holding | kiss on the hand | kiss on the cheek | kiss on the forehead | kiss on the lips |  cuddling | hugging | affectionate messages or comments | pet names | pictures together | no displays of affection

Do they stay together?

yes, this is endgame | yes but someone is gonna die tragically | something is keeping them apart | they part ways as friends | they part ways as enemies | they’re on-again-off-again | they have a super messy breakup | it was just a fling | other

BONUS

What terrible pet names would they give each other?

I feel like Hank insists on Nathaniel pretty much always in this equation. Essex feels like he'd be the one to go in for nicknames, but how SFW they'd be, I couldn't say. :)

[joys-of-everyday]

On the Old Palace Master (and Huan Hua palace)

Alright, saga 2 of villain backstories (following this post on QJL).

Disclaimer. Villains don’t need to be tragic. Nor do they need to be less villainous than they are. 2D villains are fine! Villains with no backstories are also fine! But don’t you love brain teasers?

So the difference between a villain-with-potentially-interesting-backstory and plain-old-villain (possibly) is contradictory characteristics. We have

OPM is a rather scummy leader who scams people into fighting innocent Heavenly Demons and lusts after his own disciples.

OPM is a respected scummy leader who nobody questioned (???) when he basically started a war. And he was able to lock up SQQ by essentially pointing a finger and saying ‘look he’s sus’. And he had Gongyi Xiao – resident cinnamon roll – as head disciple. (The poor baby. Whatever did he do to deserve this?) He must have been doing something right.

So question: why the respect?

Bonus question: what are his motives? (Other than slobbering over his disciple’s kid.)

Switching perspectives for a second, we know that Huan Hua palace have a more military orientation and have the most connections to the mortal world. There’s no mention of their ideology, but it could plausibly be something like idk fight for peace, protect the common people. (I’m imagining something like Cao Cao from the Three Kingdoms.)

(Also note that Cao Cao – a fantastically morally grey figure, gotta love him – was known for doing things like killing one of his own as part of a scheme to encourage his men, as well as lusting after women. He was also known for being extremely capable and intelligent, had a great relationship with his wife, and put a firm foot down on corruption, before his much more dubious later years.)

They also seem to have vendetta against demons? OPM decided to do his shenanigans with TLJ and they had history with MBJ. Although maybe this is just a cultivation world thing.

Another small thing, this guy is pretty sharp. Other than the bits where he’s blinded by rage, he deals with developing situations quickly and does a fair amount of scheming (the thing with QHT and all).

Anyway *rubs hands* inspired by this, let’s go.

Since Huan Hua Palace allows families, a side effect is nepotism. Although the sect started with very good intentions, sometime after their establishment, they were seriously bogged down with corruption. This was when the Old Palace Master joined the sect.

In youth, the Old Palace Master was an extremely capable disciple (and I mean, intelligent + great leadership skills, rather than was a good cultivator), not from the best background but with a few family connections (think mid-tier aristocrat, or side branch of a top-tier aristocrat), which he used to rise up the ranks. Having fought through the rich kids and demonstrated his capabilities, he took over the sect.

In his first few years, he made sweeping reforms of the sect – fairer recruitment of disciples, streamlining the organisation of their now bloated departments etc. He focused on helping the common people, strengthening defences, and taking an aggressive stance against demons. This led to him gaining vast amounts of popularity among the citizens, as well as respect among other cultivators.

So now his power and popularity were based on making an enemy out of the demons.

At this point, he started getting ambitious. Instead of just defending against demons, in the background he started staging, or even inciting, demon attacks so that Huan Hua palace could come and swoop into ‘save’ the people. The argument he used to convince those involved is this: they’re ultimately working for the greater good. The cultivation world has become complacent after the annihilation of the sowers – there’s even calls for *le gasp of shock* friendlier relations with demons. But demons and humans can never live together – it’s us or them. It’s their duty to wake up the cultivation world to the dangers the demons posit.

And then the events with TLJ went down.

There’s a theory that the OPM was actually behind Juedi gorge + Jinlan, which (happily!) works in this framework (off-topic, but there’s this scene in LoGH where they kinda let a civilian massacre happen to be like ‘oh look how evil the enemy are’). I’ve also seen theories that he’d been working on ways to subtly make gaps in defences for demons to exploit. Maybe this was where he came into conflict with og!SQQ, who being #TheOnlyBrainCellInTheRoom realised the OPM was dragging them into war (which Cang Qiong would be right at the front lines of).

In terms of motives, possibly the OPM was just power-hungry (and slobbering over his disciple). I think in general an intelligent bad guy will be like… 80% good. To obtain power, you need people to trust you. To make people trust you, (on the whole) you have to be trustworthy. And when the people around you get complacent, when you’ve spread their networks of power… that’s when you can start doing bad things in earnest. (You know, get that decent looking slogan to rally up the gullible followers.)

Anyway, on the note of early days OPM, I kinda wanna see peak lord early days, when they’re all young and fresh and building their reputations in the big wide world.  Respected scholar!SJ anyone?

(Also also: speaking of parallels, Huan Hua is baby Lanling Jin sect right??? And the Lanling Jin sect had the whole thing about bringing down evil - that's how they got the rest of the cultivation world on their side.)

[jinxpologist]

i’m seeing a lot of hot dsmp takes on my dash so one thing i wanna say is that i think no character is inherently an antagonist or a protagonist because they all have their own unique stories. in their own stories they’re the protagonist just due to the nature of the medium and to call any character the protagonist or the antagonist is kind of antithetical to the entire format. the only true antagonist i think we get is c!dream and maybe c!schlatt, because we don’t get to see them as protagonists in their stories and don’t get their perspectives.

“x is a villain” and “x is not a villain” is sort of needlessly reductive in the context of the dsmp and i really don’t like it save for the two characters i’ve singled out, although things can get very dumb in terms of c!schlatt anyway. the reason things are so complicated with dsmp discourse and the plot is because we get to see everyone’s point of view, and in everyone’s point of view they are the main character. it’s not cut and dry at all.

also, moral greyness doesn’t imply that the person is 100% justified or isn’t “evil”, it just means they have SOME justification for their actions and believe at least somewhat that they’re doing the right thing. literally almost every actual human being is morally grey to some extent, so it makes sense that the dream smp would be “morally grey” considering we get a deep dive into almost every character’s psyche and motivations.

bonus round of more specific opinions: c!slime is an adult and c!wilbur is bisexual and c!tntduo are in gay love and c!sbi should have been real and c!dream is one of the most annoyingly terrible antagonists ever and c!techno is complicated

[jokobub]

Mobile Suit Gundam — 1979-1980

I have thoughts. Emotions. Feelings. I hope you’re ready.

This series is a delight from start to finish, full stop. I wish I could communicate to y’all how abnormal it is for me to down 42 episodes of a single series in two weeks. Like for me? That’s crazy. Especially out of a show that pre-dates the 90’s. I don’t think I’ve ever been this invested in a show this old. I’ve never been a fan of military sci-fi, either, but man.

Gundam 0079 has so much heart. It’s charming, with a story that feels authentic and characters that you just wanna fuckin hug the shit out of. The crew on White Base has so many dynamics that the plot actively wants you to question and explore, and there’s always enough time between battles to show off how unified they are both in and out of the field. When you watch them all brave through thick and thin together, it’s hard not to fall in love even with the people you thought you hated.

Balance is absolutely integral with a story like this, and Gundam gets it just right. Silly enough not to be constantly feeding you bleak messages, while taking itself seriously enough to effectively deliver the story it wants to tell you. Enough so that the occasional cheesy line read hardly takes you out of the experience in a negative way. I have absolutely nothing but positive things to say about this show.

Amuro’s my boy. Absolutely and wholly my boy. He’s such a goddamn good protagonist, never a better character to brave the rocky grey morality of the surrounding environment. And if nobody gets this kid some therapy, I’ll go back to college and start over and get my doctorate so I can fuckin do it myself, I don’t care.

Not only do actions in this show have lasting consequences, but they could be considered part of the plot’s main focus, and you see them reflected in Amuro’s actions and attitude as each arc wears on. It’s thrilling to see, and even more so to see the characters bounce back from their woes when they realize they have each other.

Probably one of my favorite character-centric aspects is how Gundam treats its female cast. These women kick ass, straight out of the gate, it’s insane. There’s hardly ever a plot point of a girl needing to prove herself, it strays from tropes like that, that are tired and old and miserable to watch because they’re so overplayed. Every girl you see, no matter which side of the fight they’re on, is a trusted and valuable member of her team. Even those in support roles work their asses off as the backbones of their squadrons, and the show is constantly taking time out of its day to show you that. It’s unusual, for an action show, and I adore it.

This is also just. Really fucking good for a space-centered show? You never feel like you’re losing track of the setting, each colony is thoroughly explained, recalled by the plot and characters, and easy to remember. It hits the perfect middle ground of being concise about where it takes place, without feeling so restricted that it may as well have just taken place on earth. This is a *huge* problem I had with Voltron LD, there were just too many planets and too many side characters that were never brought up again, and the way Gundam dodges this issue is 👌🏻

Of course, there are mini-arcs and characters you maybe see only once or twice, but they’re usually quickly resolved, and all point back to the show’s core message about war and the nature of the innocent. There are *so* many instances of characters crossing sides to help each other while the battle rages on overhead— beyond the core action of the series, Gundam is also heartwarming and emotional, and the perspective it takes on how it treats its characters under the circumstances of its own story is extremely unique. This is an easy 9/10, bonus points for the fact that “gundammu” is the perfect stim word. It hits all the parts of your mouth.

[alteredphoenix]

The past week I’ve been watching a streamer do a self-found run of Everquest Project 1999 on Twitch and it got me to check out the wiki. Naturally, there’s a scalie race (that’s Evil, but you know what, I have an Argonian necromancer on ESO I RP as morally grey so I have no room to complain).

Naturally, I’m also confused on one thing: What’s the point in giving Iksar the ability to play as shaman, warrior, and shadow knights if they can’t wear plate armor (up until the Velious expansion, but it’s still a negative bonus) and have an experience penalty (which doubles against the player even more if they’re going shadow knight)? Like I get fitting them into classes that fit their alignment, but is that more of a challenging aspect players can tap into if they’re for it?

[rose-of-oz]

I got some questions for your Tav’s based on the ask game! These ones are for your Tav Raven! The questions are 3,16, 23, 27, 32, 35, 44, 51, 62 and the bonus 70, my bonus questions is what are some headcanons for Raven and Wyll once they finally start a relationship together? And the bonus question to the bonus, what are they headcanons like for the poly relationship with Astarion?

Ahhhhh, thank you so much for asking about my sassy little bard!! Answers are under the cut! (And I’m also gonna tag the BG3 moots @astarionbae and @reyofluke-ocs. <3)

What is your character’s moral alignment?

I’d say that Raven is solidly Chaotic Good. They do want to do the right thing ultimately, but they don’t always want to do it for the right reasons, and they certainly have no qualms about doing some less-than-legal things in order to accomplish their missions.

Which of the companions does your Tav trust most?

Already answered this here!!

What is your Tav’s favorite moment they’ve had with their lover?

I think Raven’s favorite moment with Wyll might be the first dance they share. Raven hasn’t exactly been the easiest person to get along with up until this point, at least not with Wyll, but they’re just starting to come around to him at this point, so sharing this sweet little moment with him, with him teaching them a courtly dance while they show him the looser style they’ve picked up in taverns, goes a long way towards improving their relationship, and it’s probably the first moment when Raven started to genuinely like Wyll.

What is their sense of humor like?

I’d say it’s the closest to Astarion’s over all of the other companions - Raven is incredibly sarcastic and loves to make constant little digs at people they don’t like. A lot of their jokes and comments also tend to be very witty and creative, an indicator of their talent as a songwriter. They’re also not above quoting some of the many bawdy jokes they’ve picked up from performing in taverns, even if Karlach’s usually the only one who laughs at them.

How did your Tav get their scars, if they have any?

Before the whole adventure with the party, at least, Raven only has one scar, a thin slash travelling from their jaw up their cheek. They got it when they were still young, after a group of other street urchins cornered them and attempted to steal the money they’d just earned from one of their first jobs performing at a tavern. Raven managed to get away with all their money, but one of the urchins had a knife and managed to slash their face as they escaped.

How does your Tav react to wearing the Wavemother’s robe? How do they react to their partner wearing it?

Very unlike Nifara, Raven freaking loves this outfit. They’ve always loved a bit of style, and the Wavemother’s robe is without a doubt one of the most stylish and most elegant things they’ve ever worn. If it was at all practical for fighting it, they’d probably refuse to ever take it off (and it definitely helps that Wyll can hardly tear his eyes away from them when they have it on).

And Wyll wearing it? Oh, don’t even get me started. Depending on what point in their relationship it is when he wears it, Raven might tease him relentlessly for wearing it (but still with the occasional appreciative glance his way), but if he wears it after their romance has started? There will be enough drool involved to douse Karlach’s Infernal Engine, and there’ll be no chance of Wyll wearing it on the road because Raven will walk into many trees because they’ll be distracted watching him.

What song best represents your Tav?

Okay, this may be at least in part because a lot of Raven is based off of Lucy Grey Baird from The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but I really think that “Nothing You Can Take From Me” by Rachel Zegler is perfect for them! It’s representative of the kind of music they usually play and write, plus it speaks to Raven’s steadfast determination and refusal to let anybody change them unless they want to change as well.

What does your Tav want in their future? (domestic bliss, more adventure, a family, etc)

I really do think that Raven wants some kind of stability in their future - being essentially raised on the streets and having to live off of meaner pay from tavern gigs, combined with all the stress of the parasites and the party’s adventure, means that so much of their life has been in constant uncertainty, and they would really like that to change further down the road. They don’t really want kids, especially if it would involve getting pregnant themself, but they do want to hopefully be able to settle down with a partner and live a sort of domestic life - and luckily enough, they’re able to find that with Wyll after he marries them and takes over the duties of duke from his father.

What meme describes your Tav the best?

I definitely think that Raven’s whole friendship with Astarion and Karlach can be summed up by that one meme that’s like “local dumbasses knew what they were getting themselves into and did it anyway”.

Some headcanons about Raven and Wyll’s relationship:

They’re sort of a black cat/golden retriever couple, except Wyll also has a bit of cat energy, so it’s really more black cat/polite cat.

Raven calls Wyll “dukeling” when they first meet as an insult, but as their relationship progresses, it slowly becomes more of a term of endearment.

In return for Wyll teaching them the noble dances of his childhood, Raven teaches him some of the dances they’ve learned in taverns. He’s not quite as good at them as Raven is at his noble dances, but he does his best.

Raven writes a great many songs about Wyll after they officially get together, and in quiet moments Wyll can often be heard humming one or another under his breath. The servants, after the two of them are living in the duchy in Baldur’s Gate, finds this absolutely adorable, but Astarion and Karlach don’t hesitate to tease Wyll relentlessly about it whenever they visit.

Some headcanons about Raven, Wyll, and Astarion’s relationship:

Whenever the three of them cuddle or sleep in the same bed, Astarion is always in the middle, soaking in the warmth of his two lovers’ bodies.

After Wyll takes over the duties of duke from his father, he will often stay up much too late working or forget to eat, but Raven and Astarion will always make sure to bring him food or tempt him to bed with the promise of “some fun” (only to bundle him up in a blanket and tell him forcefully to get some sleep, and he somehow falls for the trick every time).

Neither Astarion nor Wyll can sing even half as well as Raven, but when the three of them are alone, that doesn’t stop them from joining in when their love is practicing or working on a song and turning their solos into group numbers.

Though most of Baldur’s Gate refers to Raven and Astarion as “the duke’s lovers,” Wyll will never hesitate to correct people when they say it in front of him, insisting that he belongs to the bard and the vampire much more than people as amazing as them could ever belong to him.

bg3 tav questions!!

[crittercreations]

Day 29: Fairy, and my birthday!!

So if you know anything about me, I’m a sucker for feminine magic men, bonus points if they’re a villain or morally grey..so today was going to cater to me no matter what.

Long story short, Ribombee is gay now and you can’t stop me

Also I’m 22 now