#but the parallels are there. they have to be intentional

[fuckyeahisawthat]

Okay I've been thinking about this second addition ever since you wrote it and today I went back to find it. Because I think you can still see the bones of how Viktor and Jayce were originally intended to parallel not Vi and Caitlyn but Vi and Jinx. The sisters and the "brothers."

Vi also gets pulled between her loyalties to her sister and to her romantic partner and the worlds/ideas they represent. A lot of her internal conflict in the show comes from her feeling like she is being forced to choose between the people she loves and being unable to do so. Vi and Jayce both deal with the person they love going to the "dark side," as it were; being transformed almost beyond recognition through something terrible and traumatic happening to them. They both deal with thematic question of: is this still the person I love? What do I do with the fact that they did terrible things? Is the person I love metaphorically dead now, or are they still in there somewhere? And I think Jinx and Viktor have a lot of their own parallels in terms of questions of agency and how much they're shaped by trauma/control or manipulation by outside forces vs. making their own choices, plus the parallel of wanting to help but unintentionally causing destruction.

Of course the two relationships were never going to read exactly the same, because that would be boring, and because Vi and Jinx are literal sisters who share a history of loss and adversity. Viktor and Jayce meet each other as adults coming from different worlds; the circumstances of their relationship certainly leave it open to a romantic reading even if the show hadn't made it so goddamn gay. But then they did. They made it so so gay.

If I had to guess I would say this happened through a combination of the dynamic you described above (cishet male showrunner stumbles ass backward into writing The Gayest Shit Imaginable) and various members of the cast and crew starting to actively ship it over the course of production. Which is why you have this mix of things that are insanely romantic while Not Technically A Romance (ie. "you saved my life as a child in a way that inextricably bound our destinies together so that one day I could save you from a fate worse than death") and things that fall under "this was obviously planned and intentional and there is no heterosexual explanation for it."

I feel like so much of the silly Mel vs. Viktor discourse when it comes to Jayce would be resolved if people realized that the plot was originally conceived as a basic morality play arc with Mel as the devil on one shoulder and Viktor as the angel on the other for Jayce.

The bones of Jayce's plot in Season 1 is of a good-guy scientist who is tempted by the allure of politics and fame, with a beautiful femme fatale politician seducing him towards power on the one side and his humble 'brotherly' relationship with his scientific partner representing Jayce's 'true self' that he is drawn away from by her machinations. It's a very, very old school, reductive, male-centric plot that literally boils down to "bros before hos".

It even makes sense for S2, with Jayce overcoming his corruption arc in S1 and returning to his "bro" only for his prior sins to tragically launch Viktor's own corruption arc as the Machine Herald only after Jayce has learned his lesson.

And then the Arcane writers and Fortiche subverted this plot. Here's how:

They made all three characters multi-faceted adults with their own agency and motivations. None of them are puppets for the others or, if they are, the time one character spends controlling the choices of another becomes part of that controlling character's sins that must be atoned for (namely, Jayce resurrecting Viktor against his will, Mel manipulating Jayce against his will, Viktor trying to control everyone against their will).

For example, they made Mel complex and interesting and a good person in her own right. Yes, she still has elements of the beauty, danger, and allure of a femme fatale but by making her her own person with her own plot and motives, none of which are malicious (at most, they are self-serving until she changes her views on Hextech and how best to bring peace to Piltover).

Jayce is still torn between Mel and Viktor but he also fully has his own agency, as many are quick to point out. He is often dragged around by the manipulations of others too (Mel yes, but also Marcus, Vi, and Ambessa influence Jayce into bad decisions). Part of his arc is learning how to be true to himself and his own goals after his time spent in the Anomaly future. But, even there, you can still see the bones of the original morality play arc, where the "Good Ending" for Jayce is to go back to his lab partner "bro" and bring both of them back to being true to themselves.

Viktor isn't just helplessly standing by while Jayce ignores him. In fact, Viktor often deliberately cuts Jayce out of his experiments. He doesn't tell Jayce about the Shimmer, or the self-experimentation, or even about Sky's death until after Jayce resurrects him with the Hexcore. Viktor has agency, he has his own goals, and while he frequently chastises Jayce for abandoning their shared dream in what I believe is another hint of the bones of the original morality play plot, he also has his own flaws and his own journey to go on independent of Jayce.

Much of the silly bickering I see between Mel and Viktor fans comes down to who "deserves" Jayce, who is "erased" by not ending up with Jayce, whether or not Mel is manipulative, or if Viktor thinks about Jayce at all when he's busy pursuing his own goals, and I think all of those are absurd arguments.

Mel is manipulative, it is part of the bones of the morality play plot that has her as the antagonist, but they made her so much more than that, that I think it's an active disservice to the character they made to reduce her story down to whether or not she ends up with Jayce. I get why people get hung up on it, because I do believe it's the core of the first draft of her plot, but the richness of her character comes from moving beyond that. Indeed, in S2, the least important part of her character is her relationship to Jayce. She has her own stuff going on.

Whether or not Jayce is a victim of manipulation or whether or not he pursued power for its own sake is also showing an understanding of the basic, core plot they built the richness on top of. Jayce was seduced by Mel's manipulation and he did grasp after power, but they enriched his character by making his goals more noble and more tragic. He's always trying to fight for Viktor, for Hextech, for their shared dream, and for making Piltover a safer, better place, but how he goes about it often makes matters worse until he learns, grows, gains wisdom, and makes terrible mistakes he arguably can never make up for fully.

Jayce also isn't fully a victim of Mel's manipulation, just as she is not fully a mastermind able to control his every move. He breaks away at a certain point and makes his own (poor) decisions in ways that frighten her and make her regret her actions, until he grows enough to recognize the wisdom in her advice (though he later grows again and recognizes the original manipulation, which leads to him breaking up with her in 2.08 because Mel's sins are still there and they are the reason she and Jayce don't have hope for a future together once he realizes he can't trust her because actions have consequences in Arcane).

As for Viktor, he doesn't like Mel. In that, I think we again see the original morality play roots, with him as the angel on the shoulder disliking the devil who is seducing Jayce. But they enriched his character by having him respect Jayce's choices even as he may have privately disapproved of them, and to have his own arc to worry about with his failing health, and his other flaws like intellectual tunnel vision/naiveté, and his tendency to self-isolate in the face of his terminal illness. He has his own stuff going on.

They also subverted the morality play arc to a certain extent by having Viktor stop being the angel in S2. Indeed, the framework more or less falls away entirely and it become Jayce trying to save Viktor from himself, and from Jayce's own mistakes of not destroying the Hexcore, while Mel is busy with her own story of politics, war, and magic.

Anyway, I hope some of this makes sense. But I think if people just recognized that yes, there are elements of Mel as a bad guy in the fabric of the story, of a story where Jayce is in a balancing act between his demons and his angels, but that good writers came in and layered real people over these simplistic plots, made it so Mel's story isn't just about Jayce, Jayce's story isn't just about getting corrupted by a femme fatale, and Viktor's story isn't just about being abandoned by Jayce, and thus elevated the trope beyond its tired-out, simplistic roots, there'd be a lot less wank.

[lime-bloods]

Watchmen, Issues #1-12; Homestuck, pp. 4167, 5585; Homestuck: Beyond Canon, p. 716

Naked White Jake is the fulfilment of something of an unspoken prophecy in Homestuck regarding a mustachio'd radioactive mutant. Like Manhattan, over the course of his life Jake's trousers have been shortening inevitably towards this point. But for Jake in particular, this development represents not Manhattan's increasing detachment from humanity, but rather an escalation of his ongoing objectification-as-woman. Specifically, I think the next chapter in Jake's story is to be an exploration of 'apotheosis' as a form of female objectification in fiction.

End of Evangelion (1997)

Beyond the superficially Manhattan, the most obvious cultural point of comparison for Jake's new form would seem to be the End of Evangelion's Rei Ayanami - colloquially dubbed the "Giant Naked Rei" by Evangelion commentators. The similarities are in more than just their pallid, luminescent, larger-than-life (be that figuratively or literally) and naked forms; pictured above, Rei caresses in her hands a meteorite which was at one time the birthplace of the human race and now acts as the womb toward which all human souls are drawn in order to be born again. The parallels to Jake's protection of the meteor in 8r8k - a meteorite from which the population of Earth C was born and toward which they seem to find themselves once more inescapably drawn - are obvious.

But it's not the literal events of the battle for the meteor that are necessarily most significant here; more relevant is what Rei represents as a cultural symbol. Rei's designated role throughout Evangelion is primarily as object, sexualised and maternalised both - sometimes simultaneously - and it is in her apotheosis as the Giant Naked Rei that this objectification reaches its logical extreme. Like Naked Jake - and in some ways like Doctor Manhattan, too - Naked Rei's transformation into Lilith places her at the furthest possible point from her own humanity, as a sheer force of nature. Within Evangelion's mythology, Lilith is essentially an artifact; she is called by female pronouns, but only on the technicality that she exists to facilitate this process of birthing and re-birthing. Within folklore, Lilith's role is hardly any more illustrious, an existence solely to submit to husband Adam's will and to mother his hundreds of children - but it's this lot in life that speaks particularly to Jake's own history of objectification.

(taking all that into account, the nurturing nature of Naked Jake's actions does strike me as worthy of comment. while all of Earth C appears subconsciously intent on claiming the meteor-egg at the center of the universe, Jake's actions are protective, even generative; I've commented already on how unintuitive it seems that his hope field causes angels to radiate outwards from the meteor when everything else is trying to impregnate it. he almost appears to go through the motions of performing acts which had previously belonged to the women on the battlefield: it's hard not to draw the link between his hope bubble and Jade's force field {which itself seems to call back to the "containment" dead Calliope set up for Earth C itself}, and the part he plays in Jade's revival had up until that point been solely the domain of Life-givers Jane and Meenah {who have their own long and complex relationships with motherhood}. Naked Jake's hope field is destructive, but only ever passively; his primary contribution to the battle's events is that of midwife.)

Doctor Who (2005), Series 1 Episode 13 "The Parting of the Ways"

A further point of comparison, which is less immediately apparent and has been far less widely discussed despite its broad cultural reach but I feel has equally significant potential ramifications, is to Doctor Who's Bad Wolf.

The gendered power dynamic between Doctor and companion is key to Doctor Who as a piece of art. By the very nature of the programme's structure she is disposable, interchangeable; and by the nature of the culture from which the story originates, the purpose of her existence teeters on the same precipice between emotional support and sex appeal that is usually occupied in our minds by the magician's assistant or the airline hostess. In reviving a 20th century concept for the 21st century it fell upon writers of modern sensibility to somehow make the programme's female deuteragonists just as 'special' as its male idol, and through the nadir of Doctor Who's relationship to gender politics (under self-proclaimed fetishist of "powerful, sexy women" Steven Moffat) this process came to be emblemised by the transformation of women with names into girls with titles. Following the example set by the prototypic "Girl in the Fireplace", "The Girl Who Waited" and "Impossible Girl" are stripped of human identity in order to sell their human identity: ascension to mythic status as the ultimate logical endpoint of the 'strong female character'.

Without delving too deep into all the nuances of Rose Tyler herself - who is just as worthy of being distinguished from the above examples as she is of being included among them, but this isn't quite the place for that essay - the Bad Wolf is easily identifiable as the genesis of Doctor Who's obsession with the (all-)powerful woman. Like Manhattan, Tyler is an ordinary human made unexpectedly omnipotent by exposure to exotic energy; but also like Manhattan, at least early in his life - and perhaps unlike the Giant Naked Rei - Tyler's actions as the Bad Wolf are still motivated by a recognisably human emotive impetus. Such it is that, even as-god, Tyler continues to be weighed down by the fetter of Doctor Who's intrinsically patriarchal dynamic: for a human (woman) to act above her station in such a way, by taking up the authority to control life and death which belongs traditionally to the Time Lords (gendered deliberately), could be not just her own undoing but the undoing of the whole (social) fabric of reality. The 'Bad Wolf' is referred to as if she/it is a separate entity from 'Rose Tyler' almost by necessity; a woman is 'allowed' to be a person or to be powerful, but never both simultaneously, because, crucially, a woman who is allowed to be a person makes mistakes.

Homestuck: Beyond Canon, p. 630

Jake's powers are - so like a woman, one might cynically add - intimately tied up in his emotions. A comparison perhaps more familiar to Homestuck's established repertoire of cultural touchstones would be the Jean Grey-Phoenix (two names which, very much like Rose Tyler and the Bad Wolf, have come over time to be used to refer to two distinct entities, out of fear for what it might mean for one human woman to wield such omnipotent power) of Christopher Claremont's Uncanny X-Men, whose transformation into cosmic force of nature goes hand-in-hand with her self-discovery as an independent, sexual woman. Significantly, Jake retreats into his own force-of-nature state seemingly in direct response to objectifying treatment. The hope field isn't just something he struggles to control; it manifests itself directly out of feelings of loss of control.

Though the explosion of energy that lays waste to Derse is the most dramatic manifestation of this retreat into hopelessness, Beyond Canon throws us hints at how these attacks can arise in less drastic, day-to-day scenarios: specifically, how Jake's "just wishing that [Tavros' nut allergy] would nix" causes it to disappear, completely by accident. Like Rose Tyler, Jake English is a character that the story has decided is simply too tiny-minded to comprehend the massive power he wields, and as a result he reacts to situations of misunderstanding and distress by simply warping the world into one that he does understand.

Beyond Canon, p. 716; Doctor Who, "The Parting of the Ways"

For the Bad Wolf, this shows itself in the resurrection of Jack Harkness. Gunned down only moments before, Tyler decides in her childish ignorance that he should be alive again, and the result is that Jack Harkness being alive becomes a fact of reality: just as Tavros will never experience another allergic reaction again, Jack is abandoned by the Doctor - who in all his patriarchal authority on the matters of life and death has decided his existence is a mistake - to live an eternity without ever knowing death.

Naturally we must then question the significance of Jake intervening in the same way in Jade's death. None of the same ambiguity surrounds Jade that has previously surrounded other victims of resurrection interference; having done little in the way of villainy, and being struck unceremoniously from afar by an unnamed gunman, there is little reason to believe Jade's death could have possibly been narratively significant enough to stick. So if the lack of clarity is not on our part, we have to assume it is on Jake's: what, then, are the possible repercussions of Jake bringing back from the brink of death someone whose circumstances he does not fully understand? If Rose's assessment is correct - that whether a god is deemed heroic or villainous depends on the internal judgement of their own complex and nuanced "moral grey matter" - what then are the potential ramifications of Jake praying that this moral grey matter be cured of what ills it?

What are the consequences of the apotheosis of the sex object?

[onlycosmere]

Real world inspiration in Brandon Sanderson's works

grandpa_fathom: As I’ve read Brandon’s books, I smile every time I come across allusions, borrowings, and references to real-world influences. I’m hoping the community can help me flush out this list (speculation welcome).

Kelsier as a Christ figure resurrected & starting a religion

Dalinar as Genghis Kahn

Shards as the Greek (or insert your favorite) pantheon

Wit as a Shakespearean fool

Chana & Shallan as Abraham & Isaac

Nohadon as King Benjamin

translation lenses (Alcatraz) as urim & thummim

Iriali exodus as the Mosaic exodus

etc.

Brandon Sanderson:

Kelsier as a Christ figure resurrected & starting a religion (More that he is trying deliberately to ape off of similar stories from Sazeds myths. Then ended up living, kind of, and now has to work with what he did.)

Dalinar as Genghis Kahn (More Subutai in military strategy and position. But I did intentionally include one Genghis myth for the history lovers in Dalinar's backstory. This is because one inspiration for the Alethi is the Yuan Dynasty, where the Mongols had to learn to rule China.)

Shards as the Greek (or insert your favorite) pantheon (Kind of, kind of not. More uplifted humans in over their heads. I wasnt looking at panthons here as they don’t really involve one another.)

Wit as a Shakespearean fool (Yup. See Lear and 12th night)

Chana & Shallan as Abraham & Isaac (Not intentional, but I can see it might be unconscious.)

Nohadon as King Benjamin (I doubt he was as silly, but this is an influence and a concious one.)

translation lenses (Alcatraz) as urim & thummim (Also not intentional. When I think about powers, I just wish I could speak and read all languages. But maybe there is something unconscious here? For all this looks like a slam dunk, I really think it was just me thinking of powers I wanted, and relating them to wearing glasses.)

Iriali exodus as the Mosaic exodus (Also not deliberately done...but you probably have something here. This is almost certain part of the inspiration.)

etc.

Dead_IM: Was the “Adon” portion in Adonalsium chosen because “Adon” means lord or god in Hebrew?

Would the same be true of Noh”adon”? Brandon Sanderson: Yes to both. I go to Hebrew and Arabic a lot for Roshar. The goal is not to create a full parallel, but to indicate a lot of these words have roots in world to older language variants that people would recognize on a subconscious level, same as we kind of recognize these morphemes.

[red-garden]

Dad jiu AU where Shen jiu molds/trains Binghe into being Shen Yuans bodyguard/protector.

But SJ and LBHs relationship is similar to the one pearl had when she first began training Connie.

If you haven't watch Steven universe basically when Pearl first began training Connie to sword fight she made Connie believe that she was only built to live for steven. To risk her life for steven no matter what. Essentially made Connie believe her life didn't matter unless she devoted herself fully to protecting steven. Which was the relationship pearl had with Rose quartz. Even when Pearl's relationship was unhealthy with rose because Rose kept on leaving Pearl for other people, Pearl stayed because what was she made for if not protecting Rose?

Every time he talks about Binghe living for Shen Yuan, he references his own devotion for Yue Qingyuan.

Anyways instead of making a perfect body guard for Shen Yuan, instead Shen Jiu just promotes all the unhealthy things that make Bingyuan. Making Binghe believe that he is a failure if SY disapproves of him/he can't protect SY.

And it's not like SJs training was purposely abusive. Infact he had good intentions he wanted someone to protect his son. But it just ended up being abusive because of SJs own traumas accidentally projecting onto Binghe.

Now listen to the song "Do it for her" since it's about this.

Beloved mutual I have binged Steven Universe at least three times and let me tell you: I have been waiting for this.

EXTRA LAYER:

Let’s have SY be a magic baby that was conceived with a bit of YQY’s dna SJ pilfered. Because I can’t bear to make them too sad, YQY is still alive and everything, but SJ is 100% sure he can’t have him and his son is the only way to hold on to a little piece of YQY.(extra Pearl flavor)

EXTRA EXTRA LAYER:

Bc of SY being conceived with magic, he’s technically a kind of demon. Yada yada Bingles and Yuan can fuse Stevoni style. And SJ, who can’t help but see SY as a little bit YQY 2, freaks the fuck out because THAT BEAST HAS THE NERVE. (He wants so bad to be able to fuse w YQY and be so close they couldn’t be cleanly separated into 2 people)

EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA LAYER:

The sword SJ trains LBH to wield is Xuan Su. Idk how it would work but the parallel to Rose’s sword is simply too good

[hrrtshape]

hi ema! i came up with an idea for a method, and it plays off of your anti-method so ofc i had to share. i also have a bit of an odd request

this is an extension (?) of your method, and some slight (okay, more than slight, apologies in advance) ramblings. if you wanted to take full credit and use this for a post, you can have 100%. i might throw a lot out there, so apologies in advance

a little pre context- i have adhd and maladaptive daydream a lot. i decided to try and find a way to use that to my advantage, to the fullest extent (im stuck home alone for a week, just came back from one dr, dying of boredom (my husband is away, its a travesty) and am currently setting up the next, and literally have nothing better to do)

in my hogwarts university vampire dr (if you want to hear more im dying to talk about it), adhd is a superpower. not literally, but, one of the things i altered about my dr is that the power to create spells and charms is manifestation based, no books needed. hogwarts is less hogwarts and more of a place that people who live forever or at least for a really long time can go to be updated on the updated knowledge of intertwining magic into society through art and music and architecture and astronomy and potions etc etc

sorry that was a total tangent- anyways, adhd is a superpower because it gives you the ability to focus on multiple things at once- in fact, sometimes its even extremely beneficial to have multiple stimuli- so this works in tandem with that, rather than fighting against it

in this reality, maladaptive daydreaming and adhd can be bestfriends, and that can also be so so beneficial when used with intention and present-minded focus. you can quite literally hold multiple existing realities in your head simultaneously while also going about your day to day life? like, thats bonkers, absolutely nutso

with that: you gave us the anti-method, and now i give you, the castle method

what is it? the castle method draws inspiration from the main character from the tv show, convientiently also named castle. okay so check it out, castle writes crime novels based (a near 1:1 ratio, like same circumstances different font) off of true stories from his life as a police-consultant who works with a detective

the castle method is essentially doing the same thing. the same way an author or any writer would do, you spend time interacting with your "creation" (creation in parenthesis since creation is technically finished and anything you can imagine already exists etc. etc.) while going about your day to day life. this would just be doing it with the intention of strengthening the feelable (through feelings, emotions, states) connection to ones dr self

i.e. use your 3d to aid in your creation, rather than writing it off

I also like to imagine inception vibes, where one reality is simply coexisting right on top of another one while doing this. its not about making one reality stronger than another, its about entertaining both simultaneously.

the part where it ties into your anti-method, is that while imagining these things throughout the day, you treat them as memories, because they are- that "scene" already exists as a memory, point blank period.

because law of assumption is all about assuming that the desire has been fulfilled, this is also good for people who feel the need to check the 3d. by connecting to the dr memories through the connected feeling or emotion or state, its just taking advantage of a natural bridge between realities that one can simply walk back and forth from

if you ever played jump the creek as a kid, its kind of like that. its a game where two jump ropes are layed parallel to each other. kids take turns jumping the gap, and once every person has gone, the gap widens

this method is like that- getting practice holding both realities simultaneously, in small and increasing increments, the same way shifters who've already shifted have and do when they come back from a dr- meaning it should also help shifters who haven't shifted with the "act as if" aspect, not only in regards to their dr, but their identity as a sucessful shifter as well

i hope this finds you well!

this is literally genius, oh my god. you’re taking what the brain already does.....compartmentalising, storytelling, daydreaming, and making it work for you instead of against you. love how it builds off the anti-method too, treating dr memories as memories instead of something far away. also, the jump the creek analogy??? MHM. stunning. shifting isn’t about brute force; it’s just stretching that bridge a little wider each time.

tl;dr for people who want to use it:

the castle method is about treating your dr like an author would treat their story. interacting with it through your 3d, instead of separating the two. think of your dr like a memory that already exists and let it coexist with your daily life, kind of like running two realities at once (inception vibes). the more you do this, the easier it becomes to ‘jump the creek’ and shift naturally.

[laissezferre]

I don't know what Terror is. I looked it up. Was it really one season? I watched two episodes and I'm not getting the hype yet. Does it get better?

The Terror is an anthology series and the first season is the one that gets the hype. But if you're watching it for "the hype" then you may have been given a highly skewed version of what it really is. It is not about gay sailors stuck on a boat, though there are. It's a show, fundamentally, about the damage dealt by colonialism despite the "good intentions" of the ones perpetuating it. And that even in the most brutish and miserable conditions there will exist among people, love.

To fully appreciate this thesis, you need to stick it out to the end. It's a slow burn, it demands attention and patience, or else you miss the thousand little nuggets that the showrunner has lovingly left for the viewers to chew on and whom he trusts would understand things without having it spelled out for them.

In my opinion the show only gets better the more you rewatch it. If you like parallels and themes, the show is chock full of it. And this I think is why the show's fanbase has only gotten stronger despite only having one season. The Terror is so rich, so meaty. There is So Much to digest. And that has spurred several discussions and analyses and personal realizations which are at the heart of a thriving fandom.

I don't know what types of shows you like, but give the third episode a try. It's monumental. Jump straight into that hole and see if you like what you find at the bottom. And if you're still not hooked, that's alright. The Terror has always been a niche show with a niche viewership, and although it had a devil of a journey getting distributed it still managed to find its audience.

[slitheringghost]

"Why does she waste precious seconds blocking the door when she should be running for the window" EXACTLYYYY. Note that the scene RIGHT BEFORE we see this memory is Harry and Hermione in an upstairs bedroom escaping Voldemort through the window... LIKE????

Glass cut his cheek as, pulling Hermione with him, he leapt from bed to broken dressing table and then straight out of the smashed window into nothingness, her scream reverberating through the night as they twisted in midair. . . . And then his scar burst open and he was Voldemort and he was running across the fetid bedroom, his long white hands clutching at the windowsill as he glimpsed the bald man and the little woman twist and vanish, and he screamed with rage, a scream that mingled with the girl’s, that echoed across the dark gardens over the church bells ringing in Christmas Day...

Interestingly it's even described almost like they're flying out of the window which is intentional because that is paralleled elsewhere (as I explain in my Lily meta here) - including when Snape escapes Hogwarts professors by flying out a window. And Lily can canonically do unsupported flight! (and other wandless magic which she obviously would have used to try to escape or fight, instead of begging Voldemort... unless, y'know, she had a plan).

So if Dumbledore was just making assumptions about Lily and not James being the madonna figure, how do you guys know it was her? Is it a combination of James's constant sneaking out with the invisibility cloak characterizing him as not particularly security-conscious (so not the kind of person who'd make backup plans), and the fact that Lily still died after him (meaning his death didn't trigger any protections)?

I don't.

@therealvinelle and I don't know anything, nobody does, we all have to guess.

It's a guess based on the fact that a) there's weird blood wards over her family (possible James or someone else did that but less likely) b) James died first and Voldemort didn't immediately explode upon killing Lily.

That's really all we have to go on which leads me to "Lily did something" but I'm just as shruggy face as the rest of you.

Anon, if you want it to be James, then James can be your Madonna figure.

[gondorosi]

Different boys, different Alfreds.

There's an aspect of Batman lore which flows under the radar of popular analysis - and that's Bruce's early years under Alfred's care, post tragedy.

Alfred is almost canonized by both the in-universe narrative, as well as the larger fandom collective - but the crux of the matter is that the Alfred who Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian experienced, is simply NOT the same man a young Bruce experienced.

And the kind of 'parenting', for a lack of a better word, that the rest of the boys experienced, is Alfred's second chance. The one he missed with Bruce.

Damian, maybe stop to think. Your father has never once downplayed Alfred's importance in his life. So why would he say that he had nobody to talk to about these complicated feelings that you are going through?

Yes, this panel is an example of Damian projecting. He makes the entirely understandable assumption that Alfred played the same role in his father's life as he did in Damian's own.

But.

"I grew up just fine without oversight."

There's a veritable ocean's depth of subtext behind that statement.

A seemingly common misconception within the audience is that Alfred was employed by the Waynes primarily for Bruce. This is categorically false - Alfred's primary function was always in relation to Thomas and Martha. Of course, he was one of young Bruce's constants - but certainly not in the manner of say, a nanny, or a governess.

Thomas had already named Alfred Bruce's guardian in case of emergency, and despite having no intention of staying the Waynes' employ for long, Alfred accepted the responsibility. Because he never considered, not even once, that he might actually have to fulfil it.

Thus it is no wonder that Alfred spent most of the next several years looking upon Bruce as ''the last living memory of Thomas and Martha Wayne". He wasn't taking care of Bruce as much as he was taking care of Thomas and Martha's boy.

And the crux of the matter lies in those two words - 'taking care'. Historically, considering that the Waynes are essentially modern nobility, the concept of a caretaker is an established reality in their world. If a parallel must be drawn, Alfred was like the castellan of medieval royal/noble households. In charge of day-to-day operations, one of the teachers of the royal children, and essentially the manager of the estate.

To Bruce, Alfred was his protector, a trusted adult who could, and did call him out when he erred. He provided comfort, and he ensured that all the needs of a young child were taken care of. And he never let Bruce forget that he owed it to Thomas and Martha's memory to be the best he could be.

But, and in this I push back, he didn't RAISE Bruce. He didn't have the guiding, formative impact on Bruce the way Bruce himself had on Dick, Jason and Tim. The way Bruce is still shaping Damian. The transition from a grieving child to an angry teenager to a determined young adult with an obsession was essentially shaped in isolation. If Alfred had been in any way aware of what had been plaguing Bruce for the ten years between Crime Alley and his leaving - well, he wouldn't have been so blindsided.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the "You were born 25 years old" line.

The comics (and there have been MANY over the years) have made it apparent that the line between family and employee was firmly maintained, even though blurred. Alfred defined himself primarily by loyalty to the Waynes - first to the memory of Thomas and Martha, and then to Bruce himself - but the latter only AFTER he came back from his travels.

(It's different in the DCAU - Alfred is much more of a steering figure in Bruce's life, and he has to be since it's mentioned that DCAU Alfred has been around since Bruce's birth. Ironically, this universe also has the least impact of Robin, though most of that can be attributed to Bruce Timm really not liking the concept of Robin, and being forced by execs to add him to the writing of the show. )

Bruce's decision to leave, the unspeakable torture he put himself through, and the decision to start waging a one-man war on crime in his city, would have forced Alfred to confront that perhaps the emotional distance and the 'lack of supervision" had a role to play in transforming Bruce into what he became. Thus, the relationship between an adult Bruce/Batman and Alfred is drastically different.

The paternal aspect of their relationship is something which grew only during the Batman years, where Alfred was finally privy to what has been driving Bruce ever since that night. And to a certain extent, in exactly the same manner that Bruce has been trying to make amends to the universe for living while his parents didn't, Alfred has been trying to make amends for not being as steering and involved as he perhaps should have been.

This drive to make amends is probably what leads to some extremely controversial decisions in order to save Bruce - an element which shows up the most in Scott Snyder's writing. His Alfred (both in mainline and the new Absolute series) is one of my favourites - he's got so much more depth and complexity than "batfam grandpa."

But while Alfred's influence on a grown up Bruce is unmistakable, he cannot turn back time. He cannot help the grief-stricken and traumatized little boy whose devastation and torment was largely isolated and internal.

However, he CAN help those who come after. He can be the balance against Bruce's intensity, and yes, his maladaptive coping methods. He can supplement Bruce's unceasing efforts to ensure each of the boys grows up to be better, happier, lighter.

(Maybe later I'll talk about how the first active guidance/moulding hand Bruce experienced since his parents' death was through his trainers, and how that formed his own parenting philosophy.

And how the fact that Dick and Damian came to Bruce already comfortable with the parent/trainer duality led to Bruce having the strongest, most nuanced, and most complex relationships with those two. )

[logansdogmotif]

yellowjackets 3x03 (specifically the last third/quarter of the episode) was kind of giving the andy muschietti 'it' movies? like from the advert until the end of the episode felt very strongly reminiscent of the style of direction from those movies and also the individual personalised hallucinations felt very stephen king. specifically in van's case with the arms grabbing her from behind the chair and the fire had strong similarities to the visuals of the scene of mike's first encounter with pennywise in 'it' (2017). and in the advert as well the man with no eyes showing up (i really don't think he (or somebody who looked identical to him) was actually in the advert, it was either tai hallucinating him there or him trying to reach her in a more upfront method than just hanging around in shadowy corners), was strikingly similar to the kid's show often on in the background of 'it' where pennywise projects himself, most notably to convince henry bowers to kill his father, also watched by sonia kaspbrak and al marsh. i'm really just reaching and rambling here but if the parallels somehow turn out to be intentional - all of the characters who watch pennywise onscreen in 'it' are villians, then that could serve as support to the arguement that a lot of what we've been seeing of adult tai this episode (and even all of season 3 so far) has been other tai? either way i find the similarities sooo striking and i have no idea what any of this means if it means anything? but if someone smarter than me could analyse this it'd be much appreciated <3 also the camera angles during the schoolroom dream sequences screamed the 'it' brand of kooky horror to me. ALSO how they keep literally calling the wilderness 'it'?? verrrry interesting. i've always been team 'there is nothing supernatural going on!! trauma!!' but honestly this episode may be changing my mind. especially the man with no eyes showing up in a non-taissa related sequence he's soooo pennywise for that i feel like the man with no eyes is gonna be so much more important this season. i really like the theory that he's working against the wilderness because that sets up a large scale conflict that doesn't have the same inevitability final-destination-core of the yellowjackets trying and failing to fight whatever 'it' may be.

anyway excited for coach ben's mock trial next episode i also wanna see more of the two other yellowjackets we were semi-introduced to this episode. new genlissa?

[pbandjelly]

Need somewhere to put these, have my (simplified) slugcat designs Monk has karma flowers on their tail but for some reason I made the background pale yellow so they're really hard to see

Survivor - She/they, very rabbit-like in nature and appearance, with thin ears and eyes Monk - They/he, just a little guy. Karma flowers start growing out of their tail at some point during his journey, when nature decides to give him some extra luck because idk they're nice. Monk is also a bit chubby and has short, round ears, inheriting both traits from Gourm. Gourmand - She/he/they, cool parent to everyone in the colony. He wears a batnip on his ear for extra ✨style✨

The messengers!

Spearmaster - They/it, Suns didn't leave them in the bio-engineering oven for long enough so they're smaller than average. Spearm can benefit from this though, being able to curve around predators easily and get into small crevices. They have spikes on their back to look less desirable to predators (though this doesn't always go so well), and its legs are a different shape, better for running. Also they have Suns' cheek markings instead of their forehead mark as a more subtle "LOOK THIS SCUG WAS CREATED BY SEVEN RED SUNS!!1!1" Rivulet - They/them, slightly taller than average, and equipped with a tail fin to be a bit more realistic. Said tail fin is kinda supposed to be rhombus shaped, hmm I wonder why? They also have a triangle on their face like Spearm because MMMMM parallels. Hunter - She/they, stocky with sharp fingers (paws?) and constant eyebags. Their green eyes slowly darken as their cycles diminish. I decided to put a rhombus between their eyes as a subtle hint to their creator.

Also these first 8 scugs all have a darker spot on their tail tips, which was only partially intentional

The ones with karma troubles

Artificer - They/she/it, the spiky things all over her are not actually fur, I have no idea what those are, I like to call it defying the laws of physics. She has large, boxy ears, scar "gloves" and blue eyes. Its eyes and nose are originally white, but they turn blue after Arti meets Five Pebbles. He accidentally left a mark on them lol Saint - They/she, I decided not to depict them as evil, they're just... sad. A very fragile slugcat. The dark spot on their tail tip is supposed to be a parallel-to-Arti thing, but you probably can't tell since it's on all my scugs now. Also their forehead markings actually aren't more eyes, wow!!!

Dark blue duo

Inv - Any pronouns because they have no concept of gender, very tired and paranoid due to the hell that is their campaign. They actually do have fur on their ears and cheeks! Also frill things on their tail because it looks cute, and they are the only scug with a visible mouth Nightcat - They/it, very blobby and lacking a visible nose. The end of their tail curls up, supposed to resemble a crescent moon. It also has eyeliner because it seems like the type of scug to have eyeliner. Watcher - Following the theory that Watcher is/was part of the OE colony, this is what Nightcat turns into after being separated from the colony. Exposure to the wilderness kinda destroys them. They turn into a pitch-black, strange being, covered in eyes that watch from all angles.

I'm not sure if this is an AU or just a bunch of headcanons piled together but yuh

[royonninjago]

Something Interesting about the Forbidden Five's Elemental Powers

We still have little in the way of the actual personalities of the rest of the Forbidden Five, but now that I'm pretty sure that we have all their Elemental Powers (assuming there isn't a mistranslation or something), I think I've stumbled across a pretty interesting link between all of them.

Domination.

Each one of their powers roughly translates to a form of control or manipulation, which could play into why they're so dead set on conquering every realm in existence. As for my why I think this, here is my reasoning:

Brute Force This power represents domination through violence and right of conquest. It is the oldest and rawest form of control, representing the concept of might makes right. From what we've seen of Nokt and his "everything is war" mentality, I feel that this is especially fitting.

Fear This power represent domination through sheer terror and psychological manipulation. This form of control is a lot more primal than Brute Force, as it exists inside everyone. We haven't gotten as much screen time with Rox, but what we have seen is that she is much smarter than Nokt as she not only is a prolific wielder of Theroxian magic and is the one who created the Wolf Masks, but I think that it can be inferred that she was a large contributor to the "Elements of Betrayal" plan, if not the mastermind behind it.

A quick aside, but since Doc Wyatt has confirmed that Nokt and Rox are the leaders of the Forbidden Five, I think what that means is that they take leadership roles depending on the situation. Rox is more of a big picture strategic and plan making type of leader that decides what to do, when do to it and how it should be done. Meanwhile, Nokt is the on the ground leader that leads troops into battle and makes quick on the fly decisions that affect the flow of battle. This especially seems to be the case within the context of that flashback scene of Rox making the Wolf Masks while Nokt returns from battle with Zarkar as a prisoner.

Also, from here on out it is purely speculation based on the rest of the Five's Elemental Powers and their designs and motifs surrounding them.

Swarm This power represents domination through mob mentality and group think. I know that in the teaser trailer it looks like they're just controlling a large amount of and turning into a swarm of insects, but since this Element is called "Swarm" and the one who wields it is a giant bug person, I think it's safe to assume that any insect that operates under a hive mind is fair game. Besides, this one seems to be pretty self explanatory, after all how many people have done something just because other people are also doing it? As the famous "I can't remember who said it" once said, "a person is smart, but people are stupid".

Misfortune This power represents domination through superstition and faith. For thousands of years, people have been living in a chaotic and unpredictable world, and to cope they have been turning to the supernatural to rationalize it. And, historically speaking, those who have claimed to be in control of these supernatural forces have become very powerful and influential within their communities. And, historically, not all people with this kind of power have used it for exclusively good intentions. I mean, look at the shit that went on during the dark ages and the crusades and you'll understand what I mean. A miscellaneous and not fully formed thought I've had is about the chains around Zarkt's body and his Element being Misforture paralleling Pandora's box being locked up and holding in all the world's evil and misfortune. If someone who knows Greek mythology could put the pieces together then that would be cool.

Decay This power represents domination through culture and tradition. I admit this one is a bit of a stretch, but I think that the best parallel for this power is how eventually all institution erode and lose their sense of purpose, eventually becoming ripe for someone to usurp their power and influence for their own selfish needs. It's a story that has been told and repeated for as long as civilizations have existed, and as a mummy person Kur would be perfect for this Element since they most likely have seen the rise and fall of empires and would know exactly what to do. Read into that how you want.

I'm interested to see how the other members of the Forbidden Five are as individuals and how they interact with the Ninja and each other. If you have any other ideas to add on or refute or whatever, I'd love to hear them!

[docholligay]

Re: the fma liveblog, I would recommend the dub as well, esp for later eps. The dub script is remarkable thoughtful and seems to have been written with a clear perspective on the US military in the early 2000s, and performances are surprisingly good in comparison to most anime. Parallels are there in the story either way but I find the dub is really intentional about it

I've heard great things about the dub! It doesn't have captions, and I can't do anything without captions.

[1000sunnygo]

Shanks and Rosinante are the same age.

Bless this tweet for putting their ages together.

These two men were born in the same year. At the same place. As younger brothers of morally corrupt older brothers proud of their Celestial lineage. Both became deeply involved with a young "D" approximately around the same time. Both stole a legendary devil fruit in the exact same year, 13 years before the start of the story, when Luffy was 6 and Law was 13.

I've been thinking about it all day.

[wowgrim]

No doubt you're right.

I went for a walk since my previous post and started thinking back to my past as a religious pacifist (a belief system I now reject)* and that might have given me some insight? Because I found a few similarities between the Dearborn interviewees and who I was in the past.

I thought about how insufferably self-righteous I was. I ascribed to a culture and set of beliefs that were in the extreme minority, and yet was unable to see outside of that view (despite being surrounded by people who did not subscribe to it). In fact, being in the minority helped me feel that my beliefs were even more righteous and correct, and anyone who disagreed with me, I viewed as inferior in some way (though I wouldn't have admitted so then). I could classify them as hostile, ignorant, well intentioned but misunderstanding ... but in any case, they were always wrong and worthy of some degree of disdain. So I shouldn't be surprised if the people in the video feel the same kind of disdain for outgroups and those who disagree.

As I experienced it, religious pacifism differs from strategic nonviolence (like Dr. King promoted) in that it is absolutist, much like the political beliefs of the people in the video. "Everything I believe is right and everything you believe is wrong" and/or "There is a certain way to do things and it's my way."

In my old worldview, my personal actions and moral purity were *more* important than the effect of those actions. It's very good I was never witness to an attempted murder, because even if I'd had the opportunity to intervene by whacking the assailant's head with a brick, I wouldn't have done it. I would have trusted that my refusal to act was the more righteous choice, even if it ended in death for someone. And i would have defended my lack of action as such. ... I think the parallels here are pretty obvious. The people in this video convince themselves that they were doing the moral thing, and now that they are faced with the hideous consequences, they are doubling down that they did the moral/right thing.

In short, moral superiority is more important than strategy. Which explains the lack of strategy.

Not expecting a response to this, just needed to spitball out loud.

*I don't want to derail this into a discussion of the pros and cons of religious pacifism. If somebody wants to respond to that part of my post, please start a new post and tag me in it or send me an ask or whatever.

This is a satisfying read.

[technically-human]

St. Hilarion's ghost story

[thatnununguy]

I guess better late than never, right?