#but THIS time the narrator directly impacted the plot of the story

[cryptvokeeper]

A thought occurred while watching night mind go through the welcome home update and idk how to articulate so I’m just gonna drop the thesis and hope ya'll get what i mean.

A big deal is made this update of how Julie woke up early for spring, but she didn’t. The narrator woke her up.

[love-is-a-pearl]

Alright, I will be honest:

I don't like Black&White saga cause it feels like flopoed retcon/reboot of pokeanime. Like, in the beginning it cut ties to previous sagas and regions. Like, after whole THE BUILD UP in Sinnoh, it felt like Ash got robbed. Also doesn't help that in beginning they isolated Unova pokemon from previous generations. And the thing is, is that 5 gen pokemon design already stylistically different from previous ones: more round, simplified.

Also, it didn't help that relationship with rivals are less close and tense than in Diamond&Pearl. Like, all other characters beside main trio feels shallow and caricatures. In Sinnoh, both Ash and Dawn learned something from their rivals, Paul and Zoe were REALLY IMPACTFUL to them. But when we compare Iris and Dragon huntress (yes, I don't even remember her name)... That's basic. Like, Iris's rival surved as plot tool few times at best.

But second part of saga is better (*cough - cough * cause Cynthia and Dawn came back *cough- cough*) : old pokemon are back, we see mythical pokemon in action. Also, I enjoyed Decolora arc!

Good points of BW:

I like Cylan and Iris. For Iris in particular... She feels like Misty's other version, but in a good way. I also like her story arcs with her team, like damn, homegirl got her own Suicide squad in pokeworld 😂.

Also, there's Team R... One one hand, it's was hard for me to see them drop comedy tone. On another hand, they demonstrated us how much dangerous they can be! Like, they got their business! Our trio was more menacing than whole Team Plazma, honestly 😅.

All in all, my main issue is that Black and White drop most of connections with Diamond and Pearl. Like, transition was too DRASTIC. But I do understand, that there ate people who adores 5 gen. I mean, I heard that 5 gen games was top tier. It's just, unfortunately, I stsrted to dwell into pokemon games since 6 gen, so I was unable to even play Black and White. Maybe in that case I watched anime in different context.

Also, I really like movies in that saga! Like Keldeo and Mewtwo (or Newtwo ( if you know you know)) put everything in their movies, and Victini's one with TWO DIFFERENT VERSIONS was low-key something in cinematic universe level.

... That was looong ask, but I really need that out of my chest 😅

Nah, dont worry, go and vent its the first step to overcoming trauma lol I joke but seriously, if everyone sat down to understand what they dislike and like about a season like that, things would be so much simpler :v

BW is totally an attempt to a soft reboot! But there's one thing I feel folks often forget: The games themselves were that too!!

The lack of pokemon pre gen 5 was something that came from the games, as unova was the first region outside of Japan. Pokemon company was trying to start anew from all sides and that ended up affecting the anime the most because for some reason, it was decided that they would star anew, but keep a familiar face in Ash.

And then we have the fact that the BW games got a sequel immediately after, Black and White 2, and the story on those was directly connected to the first games, showcasing an Unova 2 years after BW1 (highly reccomend them btw, some of the best overarching story in pokemon games ever)

And like, the anime started with the narrator just saying Ash was still 10!! Someone surely made that a rule in the background, so how could they tell the story of a Unova 2 years later with a main character that just couldn't age?

So the writers just had to do their own thing. And probably made up so much of it halfway and also explain why they just scrapped so many characters of the day post league. They just wanted some time for people to forget the first half of BW to try and implement things from BW2.

And that's the thing, this issue is not from BW only. We know for a fact that there were plans for Ash to leave the anime during Johto, but they couldn't just say goodbye to him, so he stayed. Black and White was just the culmination of that decision. And I feel like hating on it alone is just… not aknowledging that pokeani is flawed from the get-go yknow?

What made BW that weird is what made Ash and Serena and the Kalos loss weird, what made journeys weird and what made 2beamaster miniseries that FUCKING WEIRD.

BUT GOSH TRIO!! Now the way those 3 were handled in the season is one thing I can't excuse lmao

People love to talk how out of character Ash acts this season, even though is not even that OOC when compared to pre DP, but TR were the ones that felt like complete different characters! And while I enjoy the whiplash of Ash gang doing silly things overlapped with very serious evil dutiestm, I feel like that that was a bad decision throught and throught. I get that at first they wanted a Team Rocket vs Team Plasma situation, but doing that with the TRio is just so weird.

HELL YEAH, I LOVE THE NEWTWO MOVIE! It makes no sense but gosh Mewtwo2 and genesect's relationship is just so ADORABLE i love them so much. Is those kind of stuff that makes me sad about BW, folks see a mewtwo that is not the main one and they dont give it a shot, but is such a heartwarming story in the end.

[littlespoonevan]

Okay you did not steer me wrong with The Bear (you have never steered me wrong, but that was the most recent one, and I think the first one or at since the very first one that I directly asked you about first instead of just seeing it on your page and deciding to try it lol), so now I have to ask if you think I should watch IWTV.

I’m not usually into the vampire thing, and have not read or watched the OGs of it, and I can’t handle a ton of gore which it seems there’s plenty of from some of the GIFsets I’ve seen, and I don’t love too much of the toxic yelling at each other stuff (like that was my concern for The Bear), but the other aspects are intriguing. Like the last GIFset you posted of it got me and I started going back and forth again for the millionth time 😬😂

ahhh this is such a tough question because my instinct is always: yes absolutely you should watch it, it's perfect. it's one of the best tv shows i've ever watced.

however based on everything you've said i feel like the answer should probably be no??

i haven't read or watched the og either so that doesn't matter imo but with regards to the other things you've mentioned, i'm not sure it'll be your cup of tea.

the show is gory. it's about vampires so there's a lot of blood and a lot murder and a lot of eating people but to be quite honest the plot is so rich i personally barely even notice the gruesome moments. i'm usually more taken aback by the discovery one of the characters is lying or has been manipulating the story than by any of the violence lmao

(and i say this as someone that's not a traditional horror movie fan. i don't watch them, i don't like jumpscares, i don't like slasher movies etc etc none of that has ever really appealed to me so it's not just that it's a genre i like in the first place)

likewise it's not exactly a story of simple right and wrong. all of the characters are morally grey and/or toxic in their own ways. all of the narrators are unreliable and the show presents that without judgement. again, for me, i find that incredibly fascinating and think it's what makes the show so intriguing but the darker aspects of the show and the characters are too prevalent for me to say that wouldn't impact your enjoyment if it's something you could have an issue with. (it goes a lot further than just yelling at each other askdjhf)

ultimately i'd love to tell you to watch it because i think it's so, so worth it but if any of these things sound like dealbreakers to you then i think it might be best to steer clear and just enjoy it via gifsets ❤️❤️

[droppingartintotheinfinite]

watched the first episode of the live action atla adaptation and took notes:

-what is this opening. who are these people. am i expected to care about this random earth kingdom man because i really don’t

-opening fight is kinda meh :/

-sozin looks weirdly… nice? like he has “harmless old man” vibes. i don’t actually dislike this casting choice i think there’s a lot of potential to having him look friendly and approachable even as he does war crimes

-seriously did someone in the writer’s room watch rogue one before coming in and then go like “HEY I KNOW WHAT WE SHOULD ADD” WHAT is this plot doing here

-where is katara’s opening narration. like i get they aren’t adapting one to one but that’s such a loss. the opening cutscene from the original series was so good

-WHERE THE FUCK IS THE GAANG SERIOUSLY. WHY ARE WE STARTING WITH RANDOM EARTH KINGDOM MAN AND SOZIN

-all of these people are so fucking sweaty what is this

-sozin’s outfit is appropriately fuckable

-“my sights… are set… higher… because… it is… our time…” “[screaming]” wow very emo

-KATARA IS HERE!! MY BEST GIRL

-why did they change the narration. this is objectively worse.

-oh no this isn’t katara is it… dang :(

-air temple looking neat. why are we here tho. where are katara and sokka

-why is everyone watching aang jumping around like he’s a fucking celebrity. have they never seen an airbender before in the fucking air temple

-at least they say aang’s name right. step up from shamalalalam or whatever his name is. of course that bar is so low the devil declared it a tripping hazard, so

-these people do NOT talk like actual humans. have these writers never had to write natural exposition before

-genuinely what was the point of that first scene. WHAT does it add

-“when yangchen died the next avatar was born into the water tribe” what, does aang not know this. my fucking god this exposition is shit

-aang didn’t know he was the avatar?? and then didn’t immediately get an ego about it when gyatso told him??? who is this and what did you do with my BOY

-the acting isn’t bad but the lines are so shit it’s hard to tell

-aang is NOT sufficiently goofy

-appa’s kind of ugly :(

-TEAM ROCKET’S BLASTING OFF AGAIN (<— my unfiltered reaction to sozin going jetpack mode)

-unnecessary airbender fight scene. i think this is literally just here to look cool and honestly? 6/10

-aang just fuckin… wandered off? instead of willfully running away? bro you can’t take my boy’s agency like this

-i want a video of appa’s va making those noises into the mic. come on netflix do it it’ll be funny

-WHY is everything so WET all the time

-20 minutes in and i have yet to see the south pole. literally none of this is necessary to the story. you could cut all of it and nothing would change

-HERE SHE IS. FINALLY. IT’S HER

-no funny boat scene with sokka? insert no bitches megamind here

-oh they still have a boat scene. unfortunately it sucks ass

-WHERE IS PISSED OFF KATARA DECIMATING AN ICEBERG BY ACCIDENT

-seriously. they’re removing all the good scenes to fit more unnecessary action and/or melodrama filler in

-shitty zuko cameo

-WHAT is that scar. why is it so small. did he fall and get a scrape on his face? looks more like a scab than anything. 2/10

-baffling why the iceberg even reacted to katara when she’s apparently so fucking incapable she can’t even lift a water orb. they’re massacring my girl

-why does sokka want to leave this random child to die

-kanna!

-“it can’t be… this… is an airbender…..” i am rolling my fucking eyes

-iffy on this iroh so far but i’ll reserve judgement

-tumblr was right. zuko’s actor is absolutely putting his whole pussy into this. he can have rights

-how are NONE of these jokes landing. even the ones they directly crib from the original just… lose all impact

-why is kanna saying the intro dialogue randomly with no prompting. seriously these writers are SO. FUCKING. SHIT

-every emotional beat in this comes off more wooden than a fucking tree

-seriously. everything i could say about this just boils down to the wooden writing, unnecessary and poorly executed exposition, the action scenes shoehorned in for no discernible reason, inability to create any impact from anything ever, and the removal of all the good scenes from the original in favor of more unnecessary poorly written TRASH

-oh one more thing actually

-AANG TEACHES KATARA TO WATERBEND. GET OUT??

-basically

-they took all the good stuff out to fit in more melodrama and action, but their writing (and directing. and acting) is too shitty to actually sell said drama and their fight scenes are mid at best

-3/10

[longer-than-i-should-admit]

I saw @arlathen's post about making a speculation post and revisitng it later so...here are my thoughts. Some spoilers regarding some of the leaked footage released after the journalists' embargo was lifted. Avoid this if you don't want any spoilers that were dropped until 10/28 with the reviews bc that's when I started avoiding them as well.

I think the general plot of the game will follow like this:

Prologue stuff (which we've seen); stopping Solas, (presumably) getting that initial interaction with Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan (since parts of the cutscene have been snipped out of all the footage we've seen thus far), Rook wounded, seeing Varric okay and reassessing at the Lighthouse to figure out the course of action.

Companion recruitment (uncertain whether this is dictated in a certain order or not but I think it will be since we get dropped into Arlathan Forest to find Bellara, then the first memory of Solas' we see in the Crossroads is on the way to Treviso to get Lucanis, etc.), which seems to correlate to faction recruitment as well—this may all be wrapped up in locational missions and exploration as well since they're purported to be streamlined and revolving around stories pertaining to the areas themselves rather than open-world.

Reputation building. Other side missions if any? Like exterior stuff.

Probably meeting the Inquisitor at the end of Act One, maybe before Weisshaupt's fall. I can see Varric right after the prologue going "oh shit I need to call in backup" so he sends word out but maybe the Inquisitor doesn't get to them until then?

I think Act Two is focused on recovery in certain places, like Hossburg since it's upper level combat. One of the devs said it's more "bridging" Act One and Act Three, so I think this will be the point where we get all our ducks in a row, power up, find a way to free Solas from the Fade prison (which I think will happen in the middle towards the end of Act Two; partly because I really want him and Lavellan to have some time to mend old wounds before The Big Bad Battle that is apparently in Act Three).

Act Three is when Shit Goes Wrong. Idk exactly what but apparently Minrathous gets Blighted. All the clips in the most recent trailer with all the factions gearing up to fight (plus Solas present with the lyrium dagger and in Dread Wolf form) have that same red sky/eclipse effect. At first I thought this would be the end of Act One since the devs also said all the footage they've shown is Act One to avoid spoilers for late-game but I'm not so sure. That feels very end-gamey to me. However! I will gladly welcome being proven wrong if that is actually end of Act One and there is much more to do for Acts Two and Three. But based on the spoiler-free reviews I've seen so far the ending is very emotional and impactful, so I think the "high stakes" to which they've referred probably are directly related to it.

Of course I could be totally wrong about any and all of this. I have mostly concepts on the broader plot strokes rather than finite points, so I'm not particularly deadset on any order of the story.

As far as the companions go, I don't have a lot of ideas. I'm really curious to see what their individual storylines will be.

For Varric, I am so scared they'll sacrifice him in the end (since it has been confirmed that he survives his little "accident"), but unfortunately I think it might be very likely. He's the heart of Thedas in a lot of ways to a lot of people irl and in canon, and the reviewers have said the ending feels like a goodbye to the Thedas we know and love with the opportunity for new narratives and exploration later. I don't want to speak it into existence but I can hear Varric's last narration of how stories must come to an end or smth. I don't want this to happen, for the record, because I tend to be very anti-character death in general even if it is written well just for personal preference of sunset endings, but I acknowledge it's a possibility.

Solas' fate is hanging in Rooks' hands, I feel. I personally cannot find it within myself to antagonize him beyond in-character initial friction, so idk what the "bad" or "evil" ending might look like for him, but it would be naive of me to assume that they wouldn't include an ending where his views are reaffirmed with "bad" Rooks/Inquisitors. I worry that he's going to have to go through a "rebirth" process as a spirit, if he is a spirit, but as long as some aspect of him survives I'll be okay with it. But I just really don't want them to kill him off to "atone" or whatever; a lot of care needs to be taken with where he ends up, and the reviewers seem satisfied with it, as well as how Solavellan resolves itself. This gives me hope that he'll turn out to be okay, and they'll move forward together. However! This isn't to say that I wouldn't mind a little drama of him getting wounded and/or having to rely on the others (Rook, Inquisitor, Varric, the Veilguard, any DAI companion cameos, etc.). Near-death experiences can do a lot to help one adjust his worldview.

Speaking of near-death experiences! I want to see the Inquisitor get put into danger. I want to see Solas react to it, especially in the case of Solavellan (bc even if the Inquisitor is antagonistic/low approval, they are a weak point for Solas that Elgar'nan/Ghilan'nain could use to their advantage). I want to see the drama. I want to see Solas get emotional and lose his shit and maybe perhaps go full Dread Wolf to protect his vhen'an. Overall I think the Inquisitor will have a presence like Varric's (presumably) in the Lighthouse, and I can see them getting more involved near the end (like come on, they're definitely at the big bad final battle—at least I hope so). I want to see their interactions with Varric. I want to see them interact with the Veilguard. I want to see them interact with Rook, unwitting hero to unwitting hero! As well as the apparent cameos that happen (I've heard there are some DAO and DA2 ones, so I'm thinking Zevran is most likely out of those, maybe Fenris, not sure about any others though). (Oh, Sibyl, how I have missed you so...)

I'm really intrigued to see Rook's development as well, just by themselves. I know a lot of that will be determined by the player's choices, but the Inquisitor had a certain feeling (as well as the Warden and the Champion), so I can't wait to hear all the banter and dialogue and such. New protag! I'm so ready to meet you for real, Fenalan! (And Khalida!)

Other random thoughts:

I. Cannot. Wait. For. The. Crossroads. I want to see it all. I want to see Solas' memories. (And the achievement names? I want to figure out the side missions associated there! I'll probably spend waayyyy too much time there in the beginning tbh haha, so I'll try not to rush it!)

I'm so excited to see how the Lighthouse (and the Crossroads) will change as the plot progresses! We got a little bit of that with Skyhold, but I hope this will be more fleshed out! I want Solas' house to be restored into a home! (And I want to find all the mysteries and codices and puzzles and UGH!)

Elvhen lore! Elvhen language! Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain's POV on all this! The memories with the other gods (hopefully)! There are so many questions we've had for so long about Arlathan in general, and I want to see whatever answers given!

Cameos. We know they're there. I'm so fascinated to see who they're pulling in and involving. I have a couple of suspicions (like c'mon please tell me Dorian is in Minrathous), but!!! Not knowing is killing me!!!

Worldbuilding in general! The armors! The CC! Dialogue choices! It's all new and fresh and there are so many options! The romances seem so cool!

I am so ready to plunge into the combat even though I know I'll be slow on the uptake; it reminds me of Assassin's Creed Origins' style so I hope I won't do terribly! (It's just the primers/detonators that intimidate me lol)

There's probably tons more but I have so many thoughts it's difficult for me to articulate them all. I'm so scared and so excited and this will be such a unique experience for me bc I've sort of been a fan of Inquisition since it came out (but I was too young at the time to wrap my mind around it, so I didn't get into it truly until '20) and it has been my favorite ever since. These characters are so important and precious to me and I hope they're treated with the love and respect they deserve to get satisfactory endings. I'm not particularly attached to any one Inquisitor (since my canon one is basically a self-insert tbh) but Varric? Solas? Both so so so special to me. I already feel so connected to my Rook and I am so invested to see how Solavellan will turn out even though it's not technically my canon worldstate. Just. I get so overwhelmed when I think about it. I will never be able to experience it the same as this first time. I don't know most of what happens and the consequences terrify me, yet I want that unique experience of being in the dark bc I've almost always been spoiled on what happens in games I play since I usually learn about them via fanfiction or see clips online. I've been having trouble sleeping and I get so jittery when I think about the fact that my measly little four year wait (compared to the OGs who have waited for the full ten) is almost over. Inquisition will have an ending. My headcanons will either have to be scrapped, modified, or affirmed. My endings may turn into AUs. It's such an emotional time for me to get to do this because Thedas has been my escape for a long time; I got into the series during COVID and it has since been my most favored media. I think about it almost constantly; even during the lull of my oscillations I had it on the back burner in my mind. Now we're here, two days from release, and forty-something hours has never felt longer in my life. I get to go home. I get to see my family. (And I have to balance schoolwork on top of it all lol.) The reviews have soothed many of my fears, and I am fully ready to see what lies in store for me.

[centrally-unplanned]

I recently re-read Lost at Sea, the first truly-published work of Bryan Lee O’Malley (author of Scott Pilgrim), which is one of my favourite short-form comics. It's a re-read inspired by all my FLCL work; I commented before about the ways in which our main girl Raleigh is a distaff-Mamimi. I definitely still see it; she is what I am now referring to as a “Sadamoto Poet Girl”, those people who express their feelings in waves of metaphors they never truly clarify:

It helps that Raleigh is a teenager; it makes sure that any risk she might have of becoming pretentious is buried by how pathetically lost she is. She also may not be rocking any of the emo drip of the time but she has full depression vibes where it counts:

That mask you're wearing is bleeding black from overuse, frikkin hardcore Raleigh. This is definitely a teen angst book but I am highlighting the peaks here, a bunch of its silly chatter with her new roadtrip friends. She isn’t haughtily looking down on a world she knows is useless; she just has no clue, yet, how to make it useful. A key trait for the Sadamoto Poet Girl; their ambiguity of expression is how they cope with the ambiguity of how to relate to their own existence.

Which I think is what makes them work, both for me and in general; the actual ‘plot’ of Lost at Sea is that Raleigh has just meet up with her online older boyfriend for the first time, it went amazingly, and then he (probably) broke up with her and she has no clue how to deal. That is very concrete, and could be very basic - but by making the entirety of Raleigh’s emotional spectrum abstract and confused, the singular plot event becomes a drop in the ocean of her generalized ennui. This is a short story, and to make an impact it needs to be efficient in its expression. Abstraction is, ironically, very good at that; with no singular concrete meaning an abstract idea can hold a dozen simultaneously. Raleigh feels very real in a few short pages due to how much ground her in-her-head narration covers, without it being didactic.

Beyond being a proto-Mamami, though, what I was struck by was how similar she is to another Ash-favourite: Mara from Perfect Tides, a visual novel by webcomic artist turned game developer Meredith Gran (that, coincidentally, Bryan Lee O’Malley playtested as they are comic-artist friends). To start, how terminally online Raleigh is did not sink in for me the first time reading this, which is Mara’s defining trait in Perfect Tides; it's not as big in Lost at Sea, but her estrangement from her physical reality due to the superiority of the virtual is readily apparent. There are these two scenes in both stories that hit directly on that beat (“this place” being their writing forum in PT):

They share other traits too - both of them, being women online in the 2000’s, are fiction writers, and being fiction writing alt girls they both live incredibly in their own heads. I have talked already about how Raleigh does that; Mara has this great way of having an idealized version of *everything* that could be that she constantly holds reality up to. There is this moment in PT where Mara smokes a cigarette for the first time, and is shocked to find it is not an effortless habit:

The author in her playthrough cackles during this scene, and describes it as “some real foreshadowing”, and it absolutely is - Mara can never glimpse reality cleanly because her abstractions about reality constantly interfere. Raleigh is more self-aware, but equally cursed by her own hallucinations.

They also just cannot handle the few moments they break through their walls of awkwardness and socially “succeed”:

Mara hilariously abandons the entirety of her emo identity and thinks she has finally Found Her Tribe until the next time some inanity triggers her spiraling self-doubt, while Raleigh is mature enough to know it's not gonna last; but they both experience the same assault from the idea of social acceptance. They are both downstream of their anxieties, if that makes sense - they build castles of rationalizations in their heads in order to defend against the emotions that beset them from elsewhere. Its why the “poet girl” vibes work - they are (generally desperate) attempts at self-understanding as much as self-expression.

I enjoy typologies, and all of this is me saying that within these characters I see a type, and I see causal linkages to the context of said type. The way a girl in the 2000’s would build an identity out of forum posts and metaphors, because society ~sucks~ but she can build an alternative online, in writing, in her head, a place for the alts and weirdos. But the very limitations that attracted those weirdos in the first place also snap back to prevent that new world from being a full substitute. Reality always wins. That identity exists today, for sure, but there is something of the time and place, of the era, that cohered this identity with a specificity I see in stories (or even people) that capture it. It's structural, and the structure has changed. In things like FLCL I see it, but you see the differences too - how the structures of Japan & the US (and Canada, Raleigh represent) intersect and how they don’t. My kind of gap moe, I guess.

Though, side note: something Raleigh and Mara do not share is that Raleigh, typical for an alt-indie 2000’s teen girl protagonist, is effortlessly pretty:

I will credit the comic, ‘effortlessly’ is overselling it - another of the petty normalities that breaks through her emo shell is how she has favorite dresses and brought them to look hot for her boyfriend. Still, the 2000’s era reeks through here; audiences wanted hot leads, even indie audiences. Mara meanwhile is a full 2020’s girl in her squat, pallid normality; the relatability privileged over the aspirational. Her story may take place in the year 2000, but it's still written for today.

[mediaevalmusereads]

Foster. By Claire Keegan. Grove Press, 2022.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Genre: literary fiction, short story

Series: N/A

Summary: A small girl is sent to live with foster parents on a farm in rural Ireland, without knowing when she will return home. In the strangers' house, she finds a warmth and affection she has not known before and slowly begins to blossom in their care. And then a secret is revealed and suddenly, she realizes how fragile her idyll is.

***Full review below.***

Content Warnings: use of the g-slur

Overview: I decided to pick k up this book after seeing it on a YouTuber's best books of 2023. I was in a lit fic mood, and the high praise got me interested. Overall, I enjoyed this story, and though I wish certain things had been pushed a little more, it was a quiet, understated little narrative that I no doubt will be mulling over for a while. For those reasons, this book gets 4.5 stars from me.

WRITING: Keegan's prose is incredibly descriptive yet understated and reticent at the same time. The author manages to hide little details in every sentence that reveal how her narrator views the world, and yet, she never outright says much (either because the narrator is a child with limited understanding or because Keegan is making a point about silence or both). Personally, I found this style incredibly effective; not only does it do a masterful job of "showing" over "telling," but it allows the reader to do a little brain work and interpret the story for themselves. It also does much to capture big, emotional sentiment that can't be voiced directly, and the narrator says as much at one point.

This style does, however, mean that it can be easy to miss some things. Whether or not this style works for you will probably depend on how forthright you like your books; for me, I think it withheld just the right amount, and even though I doubtless missed some things, it doesn't necessarily bother me. It just means I want to go back and read again.

PLOT: The plot of this story follows a young unnamed girl who is sent to live with her distance relatives, the Kinsellas. The narrator comes from a large, poor family in rural Ireland, and the understanding is that she is being sent away because A.) the mother is pregnant again, and B.) the family is struggling to care for all the children. While living with the Kinsellas, the girl is cared for in a way that reveals the degree of neglect she experiences at home, and over time, she forms a bond with the Kinsellas, who come to love her as their own.

This story was touching and, by the end, left me quite emotional. Through the little details we can see how the girl's home life is lacking - she is taken aback by little luxuries such as a hot bath, clean floors, etc. and all this doesn't so much criticize the poor family so much as it filled me with an incredible amount of pity and sadness.

The bond that formed between the girl and the Kinsellas was heart-warming and became especially impactful once we learn of the Kinsellas' past. Knowing that they eventually would be parted filled me with some degree of dread, but mostly, it just made me appreciate their short time together and left me wishing they could have stayed together forever.

If I had any criticism, I would say that I kind of wish there was more in this story to drive home the neglect or the sense of safety and care at the Kinsellas; but in all fairness, something so overt would probably go against Keegan's style. My personal tastes tend to go towards things that are a little more blatant in their messaging, but this doesn't mean Keegan did anything wrong at the level of craft.

CHARACTERS: Our unnamed female narrator is not much of a character in her own right, but is mostly notable for being a filter or lens through which the story is told. Her most defining feature is that she comes from poverty and is thus unused to little luxuries, including hot baths, refrigeration, and even love and affection from her guardians. I honestly didn't mind this because the narrative was so short; if Foster had been a novel, it might have been a problem, but for the purposes of this story, the narrator is just as complex (or not) as she needs to be.

The Kinsellas are also fairly simple folk and show a quiet kindness that I could feel through the page. I loved that they treated the narrator as their own child and that they opened their hearts so fully to her. I also loved that the husband and wife seemed to genuinely love each other so that the whole household felt like a safe, loving environment - a stark contrast to the home where our narrator comes from.

Side characters were fine and did the jobs they needed to do. The narrator's father wasn't overly mean or abusive, but it was clear he was somewhat neglectful or at least reluctant to connect with his children emotionally. Various neighbors or acquaintances did enough to reveal to the reader that there was something going on with the Kinsellas, and they didn't overwhelm the narrative. The narrator's mother also felt warm and kind but overwhelmed, which created some interesting tension with the father.

TL;DR: Foster is a touching short story about the bond that forms between a neglected girl and a childless couple in rural Ireland. With a reserved writing style that manages to pull back the curtain just enough, the effect is a melancholy gut punch that showcases just how wonderful and fragile a peaceful, loving home is.

[astronautical-operatics]

the fifth season - n. k. jemisin

4.75 stars. this book. i feel crazy about this fucking book. obsessed. i have a feeling ill re-read this multiple times. the narrator is amazing, the story is just paced and written so well. ive been looking for something like this since the ADOFN. this is an epic black queer fantasy with cool stone earth mind magic shit i fucking love it. multiple perspective where every single character is interesting and no perspective hogs the book imo. i know all of these characters personally now.

from the very beginning of the book i’m grief stricken. before im introduced to anything im already experiencing this profound loss in a 2nd person POV. and god this is so effective and i’m into the story.

and the order of events and how past weaves into present as everything wraps up and you begin to understand why characters are the way they are etc ughhhhh. understanding a side character only by the impact they’ve had on a MC in current time and then going all the way back to meet them for the first time and see how the MC saw them at the beginning and on the agony.

i also like how the author inserts the reader directly into the story through 2nd person in just one of the perspectives (other two? i think are 3rd P). this is a very interesting approach and it works well. this is the first book i’ve read with multiple POVs that includes a 2nd person one. and i’m kind of obsessed with it. at least in the way jemisin does it.

side note: mad at myself because i tried to look up the characters bc i was getting a little confused and i spoiled a huge reveal. but it’s okay because 1) some people probably guessed it on their own and 2) it didn’t detract from my awestruck feeling from the way the narrative revealed it like i was worried it would.

this is a book that (mostly because of the genre i think and all the world building and the world specific language and geography and all that) at the end of the first read-through you’ve finally gotten comfortable with and immersed yourself in the setting and immediately want to start it over so you can really appreciate the finer details of the characters and plot. because all these characters are so special to me now.

also this is the first in a trilogy and it ends on a cliffhanger so effective i immediately got the second one.

[ettadunham]

the dontnod game that's... fine? i guess.

harmony: the fall of reverie is a 2023 visual novel type of narrative game from the studio that's most well-known for the mainline life is strange series. (making it the most recent title that came up during my random generated game picks so far.) despite the mainstream attention on those games, dontnod's independently published games don't always get much attention, so it's not all that surprising that this one managed to mostly fly under the radar.

...perhaps it's also just not a game that has the power to gain any additional buzz beyond its existing niche audience, but we'll get there.

the game's story is somewhat convoluted to explain, but it goes something like this. you play as a character with mommy issues, who returns home after 5 years to find your mom missing. upon finding a necklace, you get transported into an alternative world, where you can talk to the so-called aspirations, the physical manifestation of concepts like bliss, truth, chaos, etc. turns out, their world is in danger, and it's all somehow connected to your mom's disappearance and possibly an evil corporation. plot ensues.

let's start with the positives! harmony has a very colorful art style that's a joy to see in the bleary washed out world of modern gaming. as a visual novel, it also delivers on the character models - the aspiration of chaos for instance is portrayed as this nonbinary twink wearing a crown, and i have no notes! great job, everyone!

another thing i really enjoyed was the game's mechanics. most of the gameplay consists of small choices you can make in the story, which is displayed by a decision tree you can navigate. you can not only follow through where a choice would lead you, but if it locks you out of other choices in a given chapter, if it gives you items you can later use, etc. ultimately, the decision tree usually merges back together, so there's seemingly not that much of an impact you can make on the main storyline, but there are also consequences to your choices in later chapters, and it all adds together to determine your eventual ending.

in any case, i spent most of my time playing the game just looking at that decision tree, trying to figure out how to get the outcomes and scenes i want, and i had a blast with it! in a meta way, it's like looking directly at the algorithm tree that's behind the game itself, with its different twists and rules, that are fun to follow through and figure out - at least to someone who's just as puzzle-brained as me.

the game also has a very blatant and progressive political view, which is great, although it doesn't offer much incisive commentary in my opinion. in theory, i love that you and your gay leftist buddies are mostly just arguing between different anarchist methods to bring down the evil capitalist corporation that's literally called mono konzern - on the other, maybe bringing in some characters who are pilled on the capitalist propaganda would have helped open up the world, and make the struggle more tangible? idk, i'm not even sure, because the truth is, that's not the real problem with this or any other part of the game.

it's the writing.

and i know what you might be saying. 'a dontnod game with bad writing? gasp! never heard of such a thing!' but i don't think you understand. my issue with this game isn't that it has some cringey dialogue that is an acquired taste. no, my issue with this game, is that i don't think it does a good job communicating its own narrative through its writing.

for instance, there were situations where my impression of a scene was completely different from what the narration was telling me. i'm pretty sure that there were also contradictions in the story, that were just subtle enough that it drove me up the wall, because i wasn't sure if it was just me, misunderstanding something previously stated. our mother is simultaneously someone that nobody knew or cared about in the community, and a well-known poet whose work is taught in universities. also, she IS a big influential figure in the community after all. it may sound like a small detail, but for me, these small discrepancies kept adding up, and it took me out of the story again and again.

there was also a point early on that stayed with me, where i had to look up the game's 'codex' to figure out the relationship between two characters, because the game was trying to show-don't-tell-me but... sometimes you need some exposition, okay? if i spend an entire scene trying to figure out how two people are related instead of focusing on the scene itself, then you've done a bad job. (the relationship between the two characters btw was that our mother and her grandfather were living together and had a somewhat open relationship on our mother's end. good luck trying to write that organically into the scene.)

overall, it kind of felt like a script that was written by a freshman college student as a first draft. great achievement and all, but maybe do a few more edits? idk, i'm not a writer, you probably shouldn't listen to my professional advice, lol.

and to be fair, by the end, i think i actually got used to all the quirks, so it's not all that bad, but... yeah, i don't know how much i'd recommend this one. it takes a while to grow on you.

but hey, if you do decide to give it a shot, there is a bit of a surprise for the youtube video essay heads in the form of one of the actors voicing a pretty major role. so there's that.

the moral of the story is that girls don't want a career, they want a revolution and an nb twink chaos.

[claugeeee]

Traditional Book vs. E-Book

Digital publishing and ebooks have completely transformed the way we read and access books. In this digital age, traditional printed books are no longer the only option for avid readers. With the advent of digital publishing, books can now be accessed and enjoyed in a whole new way. Ebooks, or electronic books, have become increasingly popular due to their convenience and accessibility. They can be easily downloaded or purchased online from various platforms such as Amazon Kindle or Apple iBooks. This means that readers no longer need to visit physical bookstores or wait for deliveries to get their hands on a new book. Instead, they can simply download it onto their e-reader device or even read it directly from their smartphones or tablets.

The revolution brought about by digital publishing and ebooks goes beyond mere convenience. It has also opened up new possibilities for authors and publishers alike. Self-publishing has become more accessible than ever before, allowing aspiring writers to share their stories with the world without going through traditional publishing channels. This democratization of the publishing industry has led to a wider variety of voices being heard and a greater diversity of content available to readers.

The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen has captivated readers for generations with its enchanting tale of friendship and adventure. In today's digital age, this timeless story has been adapted into various digital formats, including ebooks, audiobooks, and interactive apps. Ebooks provide a convenient and portable way to read The Snow Queen on devices such as tablets, e-readers, and smartphones. With the ability to adjust font sizes and access to interactive features like bookmarks and annotations, readers can immerse themselves in the story while enjoying the benefits of modern technology.

Audiobooks offer a unique experience by bringing The Snow Queen to life through narration. With professional voice actors lending their talents to the characters' dialogues and emotions, listeners can engage with the story even while on the go. Audiobooks also provide accessibility options for those with visual impairments or learning disabilities. Interactive apps take the adaptation of The Snow Queen to another level by incorporating multimedia elements such as animations, sound effects, and interactive puzzles. These apps allow readers to actively engage with the story through touch-based interactions and mini-games that enhance their understanding of key plot points.

The ease of digital publishing sometimes leads to a flood of poorly edited or formatted content, impacting the overall quality of digital books available in the market. Different devices and software platforms have varying capabilities. Ensuring that the formatting and layout of an e-book are consistent across devices can be challenging. Not all readers have access to devices or stable internet connections, limiting their ability to embrace digital reading. Disparities in technology access among different socioeconomic groups and regions create a divide in access to digital content.

Publishers and authors often rely on third-party platforms (like Amazon Kindle) for digital distribution. Changes in policies or algorithms on these platforms can significantly impact sales and visibility. Ensuring that digital content is preserved for future generations is a concern. Digital formats can become obsolete, making content inaccessible over time. Digital platforms have led to changes in reading habits, with shorter attention spans affecting the consumption of longer, in-depth content. Navigating these challenges requires a combination of innovative business models, effective digital rights management, robust marketing strategies, and a focus on providing high-quality, engaging content to readers.

[daydreamerdrew]

Comics read this past week:

Marvel Comics:

Iron Man (1968) #73-75

In this batch of Iron Man issues I went from December 1974 to March 1975. All of them were written by Mike Friedrich. Issue #73 was based on a story idea by Tom Orzechowski. And all of them were penciled by Arvell Jones, with Keith Pollard assisting with the first two issues. Also, I’ll be skipping issue #76 because it’s just a reprint of issue #9.

In issue #73 it’s revealed that Tony’s company’s name is being changed from Stark Industries to Stark International, which is explained as because the old name “didn’t signify enough of my company’s global nature- like this food processing plant here in Manila!”

That Pepper now knows that Tony is Iron Man is discussed directly between them for the first time. She says, “It’s strange, Tony. Happy says he’s known your secret for years… Me, I still can’t accept that you really are the golden avenger! I mean… You’ve always been so warm… And Iron Man acts like a cold… Machine!” Tony tells her, “Believe me, Pepper, it makes me feel schizophrenic sometimes… Then again, there’s always the thought that I am two different personalities… Who knows?”

Later there’s an accident at one of Tony’s plants that requires Iron Man to intervene. He tells the group that formed outside, “Get that injured engineer to the hospital- and call the coroner about the other one! I’m sure my employer will want a full report on this accident filed with an hour!” The engineer being taken to the hospital desperately resists because he wants to tell Iron Man directly, “If you had not arrived, rI would have joined him- in death!” Iron Man’s response, right before flying away, is, “I will leave you in the Hogans’ hands- You’ll receive the best of care. I have other business- in Vietnam!” Happy says as he watches him leave, “Just like that, huh? Y’know Hon- Tony is different in that uniform!”

While in Vietnam a villain tells Iron Man, “I should re-inform you of your criminal status in this territory- if only for your association with the murderous Tony Stark, designer of so many of the munitions that that massacred soldier and civilian alike here!” Tony’s internal response: “It is rough having an entire part of the world think you’re a murderer! I’ve learned now my arms-research dealt too much in their fascinating abstractions- and not enough in human impact, namely indiscriminate suffering and death! But how will I ever convince these people that my head’s different these days, that I’ve changed… Never, probably…”

Later that villain callously fires at Iron Man with a weapon that Tony Stark designed which “launches fragmentation grenades, each particle containing a condensed napalm-like gel,” forcing Iron Man to abandon his pursuit of the villain to save endangered civilians. The narration on the splash page dedicated to Iron Man’s rescue efforts reads: “Iron Man knows he could never face himself if even once he let his pursuit of one evildoer override preserving the innocent lives of many… Thus, his heroics are innumerable this day- but Tony Stark will not long remember these feats… What will stick in his mind are his inevitable failures- the life-takers- and rage builds like a hurricane within him… First, at himself for spawning this holocaust’s origin- but even more at the man who pulled the trigger- and brought this horror into being.”

DC Comics:

Supergirl (1996) #5-9

These issues were published across November 1996 to February 1997. They were all, with the exception of issue #7, written by Peter David and penciled by Gary Frank. Issue #7 was plotted and penciled by Gary Frank and then the dialogue was written by both him and Peter David together.

In issue #1 the main character of this book had come to the conclusion that she was Mae Kent, the original Supergirl of the Post-Crisis continuity, who had taken over Linda Danver’s body and life. She had woken up seriously injured and didn’t remember how she got hurt or recognize where she was, which was Linda’s home. She instinctively prays but then thinks, “How… how odd… The pain… and the praying… Both of them seem… Odd somehow. Maybe I’m an atheist or something… but who doesn’t feel pain?” Linda’s friend Mattie is familiar to her after a moment a confusion and she’s able to remember her name, and then to remember that Linda’s last name is Danvers after Mattie calls her Linda. When she sees her reflection in the mirror, she thinks, “They always say eyes are the mirror of the soul. My eyes… I’m positive they were… brown.” Mattie says, “Linda, when I say, ‘Say something’, that’s your cue to talk. Not zone out for thirty sec… Uh… Linda? Since when are your eyes blue?” And the confusing response given is, “I was empty… and… and I needed to learn.”

Throughout the issue she experiences flashbacks of Linda’s past until eventually she remembers Supergirl being asked to rescue a missing Linda Danvers and then that rescue from two different perspectives, a scene in which “I am a simulation of life, feeling no pain… And I am all too mortal, my lungs burning, my mind numbing from agony.” As Linda dies she says, “Screwed up… everything… not… not fair… not ready… to die…” Supergirl thinks, “All the people I’ve known… loved… they hurtle through my mind, and they all say… ‘Accept it. You did your best. You can do no more.’” Above her is drawn the floating faces of both Linda and Mae’s loved ones. Then Supergirl thinks, “They don’t know me. None of them do. Don’t know my emptiness… I’ve had human sensibilities layered onto me… like a brightly painted statue. But that’s… all I am. For I have looked into my eyes. And I’ve finally realized… I’ve never seen anything looking back.” And as this is said we see Mae’s face, expressionless, from Linda’s perspective and then Linda and Mae fusing together.

The praying had come from Mae, that that was unfamiliar had come from Linda, as did the question of who would find pain unfamiliar. The idea that her eyes were supposed to be brown had come from Linda. And the idea that she was empty and needed to learn seemingly came from Mae. After this point the main character of the book has seemingly completely regained all of Mae Kent’s memories and only needs to learn about Linda Danvers. At the beginning of issue #2 she says, “My protomatter bonded with her dying body. It didn’t keep her alive… but it gave me- her life. Of Linda parent’s she says, “They’re Linda’s… they’re my parents… and I feel like… like I love them in a way I haven’t before. But they also seem like strangers.” In issue #5 she spends time with Ma and Pa Kent and thinks to herself, “How do I tell these two- who almost raised me on their own, who still call me ‘Mae’… about my other life? My other parents?” And during a fight scene in that issue, she gives herself the internal pep talk that, “C’mon Linda! You can do it…!”

At the end of issue #2, having learned more about Linda, she thinks, “I’d love to believe Buzz was lying about Linda… but deep down in my… soul… I sense its truth. He didn’t manufacture the darkness in Linda… he merely exploited it. Linda Danvers was a horrible, twisted person. God knows what atrocities she committed, and she’d be dead if I hadn’t saved her. But maybe… somehow she was chosen to be saved for some higher purpose… and I was chosen to be the instrument of that salvation.” She reconsiders this in issue #7, thinking, “I had thought I could redeem a life gone wrong… bring light to a darkened soul… and benefit us both. But perhaps that’s arrogant. As if I’m so perfect that making Linda more like me automatically brings her soul closer to heaven. Instead… we might both be dragged kicking and screaming, in the other direction.” Then, after learning even more about Linda’s history with Buzz, she sympathetically thinks, “Oh, Linda. You never stood a chance.”

In issue #9, believing that Buzz has orchestrated the murder of Linda’s parents, she thinks, “He’s dead. So help me God, he’s dead. I don’t want to be Supergirl anymore. Supergirl let him live… I don’t know why I did it, but I did, and I shouldn’t have… To hell with Supergirl. Supergirl died with the Danverses. I’m Linda Danvers. Linda, who died in flames, reborn in flames. I know evil. I was evil. And I know the only thing that evil understands. Punishment. Punishment… and death.” She further determines during the fight with Buzz’s pawn that, “Supergirl died with Linda, instead of saving her. We’re burning together.” When the person she’s fighting is able to cut her, she recognizes that he shouldn’t have been able to do that, but rather than considering if there’s a part of her that doesn’t want her to kill him, she thinks, “Was it… against my will? Or did I… allow it… as if I need the final pain to drive me forward… to do what my soul screams to do…” But when she does go to kill him, Linda’s consciousness appears and says, “No… You’re wrong… I was wrong… I… I’ve seen the world through your eyes… Seen so much… Seen what you aspire to… Seen what humanity aspires to… God, Supergirl, You thought you weren’t human… You’re the most human creature I’ve ever met.”

[cornus27florida]

Maybe before confirmation from LambCat that portrayed in the CPC.. You could read this Tumblr Posts to make sense

Blaine is redeemable, and with comparing to Whitney - he absolutely can and deserve redemption.. maybe not as an arc but like something that helps his youngest brother Frederick

Remember Isolde talks to Blaine and Lance at ep 144?

Lance remembers his mother's saying and already cooking

I still don't have a theory that I'm confident in for how Blaine will redeem himself. I believe the hint is from Isolde's line: "The greatest heights you will reach will be from the path you forge for those around you."

A literal interpretation of the line would be that Blaine helps clear the path for Frederick to reach Gwen. And as the hint of foreshadowing that Little Prince = Frederick, so in order to reach Gwen (his lover) means no matter what Frederick need to have confrontation with the Giant Serpent - main plot of confrontation that LambCat herself say as foreshadowing

The tiniest prince: clear that's Frederick

The rose, prince's lover: likely Gwen

The (giant) serpent: very likely gonna be Leland

But, who's gonna be the narrator?

The biggest trouble imho, who's gonna be the narrator??? The narrator in my own take is the role of someone that very close to the little prince that in the story do 'ridiculous silly things' together that begins with the prince asks the narrator to draws him a sheep. At the ending of the story, the prince tell the narrator to stay away from him as he just got bitten by the snake and the prince afraid that snake will back to attack the narrator too

I feel it's in the way of making the narrator = Blaine

And as instead the prince 'literally' suffers as getting bitten by the snake while suushing the narrator to go away for safety, what if Blaine now do the brotherly act and put himself between prince vs the serpent confrontation??? Reverse role of little prince to make the one that attacked is the narrator

That act will totally redeeming him instantly NGL, no matter what's the execution be it literal physical (take a shoot, Mikey!!!) VS metaphorical (like Blaine gives the whole "reasons of why my father sucks") - as the oldest plaid brothers he could do one of the options, or do both??

^ if a gala is huge foreshadowing, that means Blaine and Frederick interaction is also foreshadowing of him redeem himself somehow in the big confrontation VS TGS

I initially imagine so many options for the narrator: be it Aurelia that now like Frederick annoying bigger sister, Whitney that grows to be impactful older brother figure, Lilyth that show hints of helping Fred escapes the prison... But it's just now that I realized, why the narrator can't be Fred own blood brother? If so Blaine could fits so much

Their actions as plaid princes doing balcony serenade etc could be counted as "do ridiculous silly things together". Blaine and Frederick cares each other so much in their weird brotherly way, similar with the relationship between the narrator and the prince... Thus making Blaine as the narrator could happen, espc as oldest plaid brothers he directly see how Fred grows up (akin about how narrator learn about the adventures that the prince experiences offscreen)

Just share some good times when Plaid Princes being DUMB

i find it wild how many people love Blaine, am i the only one who hates him??

[chaoschaoswriting]

Point of View and Fiction

Writing is hard - there's no getting around that. The transition from telling a story to yourself or others to writing an effective short story or novel can be tough. From word choice to plotting, every detail of the process can feel like a slog from time to time. If there's one facet of writing that always stumped me, and sometimes still does, however, it's point-of-view. Choosing the perspective from which to write a story is absolutely crucial; the right narrative perspective maximizes the impact of your story, while the wrong one can ruin it.

Narration Options; 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Point-of-View

Broadly speaking, there are three different narrative perspectives that you can use when writing a story of any length: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person. Each of these perspectives has a range of benefits and limitations that bear consideration, of course, and this is what makes it so hard to choose for many people. This is why I'd recommend that you try to write a story or two in each style so that you can get an idea of how they work and what their unique features are. Each POV can be utilized in a number of ways and each version has a slightly different definition. Here's short definition of the basic form each narrative style:

1st Person Narration is the 'I' style of writing. Focussing on one character, the narrator, and generally taking place from within their person, 1st person storytelling uses I/me/we when discussinig the main character. The main benefit is the connection to that character that readers experience, the main weakness is its limited scope. (Read more about 1st person narration here)

2nd Person Narration is the 'you' style of writing. Told by a narrator who is relaying the details to the reader directly, 2nd person uses the 'you' form of address in the process of telling the story. This means it is also closest in style to oral storytelling, which many people find accessible. The main benefit of this style is the directness with which it lets you communicate with the reader. The main drawback is the stigma that 2nd person writing often has to deal with. (Read more about 2nd person narration here)

3rd Person Narration is the 'he/she' style of writing. Told as if the narrator is watching the events of the story rather than being involved in them, it uses he/she/they when discussing the character. The main benefit of this style is its versatility, while the main drawback is the slightly larger distance betwene the main characters and the reader. (Read more about 3rd person narration here)

Mixing Perspectives and Tenses: A Middle Ground

Many people will rail against the idea of mixing perspectives and tenses (especially tenses), but doing so can be both effective and powerful when it is appropriate and skillfully done. Read More

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 313: Deku VS Lady Nagant

Previously on BnHA: Hawks’s super-hot badass murder senpai Lady Nagant showed up to fire a cupid’s arrow into my heart, and a bunch of literal bullets into my son. Deku was all “oh shit it’s Hawks’s super-hot badass murder senpai, what do I do, let me think back to Hawks’s advice for a sec.” Flashback!Hawks was all “anyway Deku so if my super-hot badass murder senpai ever shows up you’re basically screwed so you’d better abscond the fuck out of there.” Present!Deku was all “lol idek why I flashed back to that conversation since I’m just going to do the exact opposite of what Hawks said” and charged directly toward Nagant because WHY NOT. Overhaul was all “waah I need to get back to my boss who I put in a coma out of love” and Nagant was all “jesus christ why did I even bring you here” and had a flashback to AFO who was all “ILU NAGANT IMMA GIVE YOU AN EXTRA QUIRK SO PLEASE CAPTURE DEKU FOR ME PLEASE AND THANKS” and yeah. Shit is all over the place right now and I love it.

Today on BnHA: All Might gets attacked by a pair of discount assassins and is all “Call an ambulance! ...BUT NOT FOR ME” and it’s really badass but also I really wish he would stop tempting fate like this. Lady Nagant is all “[casually flies around town shooting shit]” and I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t read an entire chapter of just that. Deku is all, “[gets shot (≥_<)]” and releases a giant Smokescreen which prompts En to show up. En is all, “( •᷄⌓•᷅ ) (⌣̀ Δ⌣́) ( •̀_•́ )σ (¬､¬) (눈_눈)” which I consider to be a high point of both the chapter and of my life. The chapter ends with Deku using the Third’s quirk to launch a bunch of random objects at Nagant so that he can jump up and grab her arm all sneaky-like, and I’m sure this is going to prompt another week’s worth of discourse that I don’t care about at all, but fuck it, I’m having a good time.

OH WE’RE CUTTING BACK TO ALL MIGHT WELL THAT’S NICE I GUESS. CONGRATS ON NOT BEING DEAD

you named your car??

you named it Hercules??

I love you so much??

please marry me you giant fucking dork???

lmao speaking of huge fucking dorks

who the fuck are you clowns. la dee da we’re gonna murder All Might with our synchronized spear attack!! I mean... they’re clearly trying their best... maybe I should just be nice and politely hype them up like All Might is so clearly trying to do

like okay, but we all agree that this is actually the least intimidating attack any of us has ever seen, right?? these guys zipped up their hoodies all serious-like and are trying to attack All Might and Hercules with their Walmart tiki torches, but just, no?? right?? like the only way this could possibly be effective is if they were trying to kill All Might with secondhand embarrassment

“those are assassins” this is a VERY generous assessment, All Might

OH MY GOD THE TIKI TORCHES ACTUALLY KILLED THE FUCK OUT OF HERCULES

[slaps roof of car] this baby can fit so many weaponized festive backyard lighting solutions in it

and yet, even after watching this with my own two eyes, I still can’t take these dudes seriously. idek what it is. anyways r.i.p. Hercules, I loved you a lot but I guess you weren’t actually a very good armored car were you

omg they didn’t know it was All Might??

okay 1) for a moment there I was like “oh hey maybe they’re not so bad after all” but then a moment later it was like “ah nope, they are.” like, that was an interesting .06 second emotional journey there. anyways 2) All Might you have my permission to kick their asses for this disrespect, and 3) anyone else all of a sudden getting “wouldn’t this be an interesting time for Stain to suddenly show up” vibes?? no?? just me???

(ETA: hmm tbh I’ve still got those vibes and they haven’t gone away lol. Stain?? you out there buddy?? do you want to be cool for just once in your life. ball’s in your court pal.)

OH SNAP ALL MIGHT ARE YOU REALLY GONNA DO IT ARE YOU GONNA KICK THEIR ASSES

PROTECTIVE DAD MODE ACTIVATED?? BECAUSE YOU KNOW I’M HERE FOR THAT SHIT, SO YEAH, FEEL FREE

omg he’s shouting at them about how much Deku has suffered lmao and they’re just like falling over from being scolded

so they have absolutely no idea what he’s talking about though, right? “SIR THIS IS A WENDY’S” well whatever, you killed his pet car so he’s in a bad mood now

OH MY GOD

LIKE, JUST SO WE’RE ALL CLEAR, THESE FOUR PAGES SO FAR HAVE MADE ALMOST ZERO SENSE. LIKE MAYBE 2% SENSE TOPS. BUT ASK ME IF I CARE. GO AHEAD AND ASK. I SAID GO AHEAD, IT’S OKAY. ...NO I DON’T CARE AT ALL THANK YOU FOR ASKING

(ETA: also, the more I look at this panel, the more I’m just like, why the hell would you phrase it like that though, sob. way to doubly tempt fate?? are you trying to give Horikoshi a challenge??)

and now back to Deku who is randomly bouncing around the city and narrating it to himself just in case he was confused about why he was doing this

who are you talking to Deku. but thanks we appreciate it

man you gotta love that overconfidence. the smartest guy in the world warned you away from this lady, so SURE, LET’S RUN RIGHT UP TO HER. “I APPRECIATE YOUR INPUT, FLASHBACK!HAWKS, BUT I’LL TAKE IT FROM HERE” well okay then!!

I think it would be funny if RHA.com put little Buzzfeed-style polls in between the chapter pages so they could survey people at random intervals as they read their way through the chapter. like, you finish this page and then there’s a little poll there asking “do you think Deku’s plan of catching up to Lady Nagant and finding out where Shigaraki is will work?”, and you click “no” just like everyone else and then nod as the results show that 97% of your fellow readers also picked “no”, and you chuckle to yourself wondering how many of the 3% accidentally clicked on the wrong option by mistake, and then you keep on reading

ANYWAY, SO

HOW’S THAT PLAN WORKING OUT FOR YOU SO FAR DEKU. nice kick, though!!

omggggggg

ouch

update: Deku’s plan not really working out. sources tell me my boy has been fucking shot. this is an ongoing story and we will keep you posted with the latest developments as they come in

wait what

feel free to explain to the rest of us what all of this “UNLESS...” and “THAT POSSIBILITY...” shit means anytime, Deku

oh lol did he realize she could fly??

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE, CNN’s John King reports that Deku is still fucked. eyewitness reports now coming in that Nagant is doing no-look shots and basically not even giving a fuck. sources described her mannerisms and expression as “sexy, but in like an effortless sort of way.” we will continue to bring you the latest

so now there’s basically an entire page of Deku being all “ah fuck so she’s basically closing in and she could already hit me with impossible accuracy even from Far Away, so if that’s the case then her being Up Close is probably going to be even worse!” making good use of that Big Hero Brain there, Deku

so now what, you’re doing some kind of spiraling kick thing?? how is that going to help

oh lol he’s using Smokescreen to create some cover. aww, good for you Deku you named one of your Smokescreen attacks

OH NO LADY DON’T TELL ME AFO DIDN’T EVEN FILL YOU IN ON THE BASICS

seriously, AFO?? you basically told her what Deku’s exact strategy was going to be but then couldn’t be assed to drop that little, small, barely notable piece of knowledge that Deku is rocking multiple quirks?? is it supposed to be a secret or something?? you dropped the ball here man

damn this is getting intense now

(ETA: the way En is poking Deku’s head in that first panel is fucking sending me, I love this guy so much omg.)

well then what are you planning, Deku?? I’m actually really curious!! I am genuinely starting to be invested in this fight scene not only in the “wanting to see who wins and how that impacts the plot” sense, but also in the “wanting to see how it happens because the choreography and strategy is actually pretty cool” sense, which honestly hasn’t happened for quite a while now! this is fun

anyway so what’s up Deku, are you going to use another quirk?? I’ve been speculating that he hasn’t actually unlocked the last two yet (since Two and Three didn’t exactly seem convinced when we last saw them), but maybe I’m about to be proven wrong

(ETA: well he clearly has Three’s obviously, but Two’s is still MIA, and that’s the one I am of course the most curious about. that’s the one we’re all curious about, let’s be real.)

OH SNAP???

AHHHH I’M HYPED LOL. ANOTHER SHINY NEW QUIRK LOL SHOULD I PUT UP THE USUAL DISCOURSE DISCLAIMER

(ETA: so yeah, after thinking on it, I’m not gonna say “please no Deku discourse on my blog” this week, but I probably will ignore any discourse that does come my way though, just because I don’t have much interest in getting involved in what would probably be a pretty repetitive discussion. like, I can just sum up my opinions (which is what they are) here instead. in fact here they are lol:

1) I like the SIXQUIRKS and I like seeing Deku be a badass.

2) I also don’t think Deku is too OP. more like he’s exactly as OP as he needs to be at the moment, given that we’re approaching the end of the series. I expect the other kids will also be pretty damn OP when we see them fight again. we’re just at that point now where they’re all badasses (as well they should be; they’ve grown a lot and they deserve it). it’s just that Deku’s the one we’re getting to see right now.

3) of course I miss Kacchan and the others, but for me this vibes much closer to the MVA arc where even though I missed them, I was still having a blast (as opposed to the dark days of the Basement arc where I was pretty much losing it lol). like, even though Kacchan’s my favorite, I still love Deku a lot and this arc has been amazing for him getting to shine on his own (for like the first time, really).

4) y’all know I love the OFA plot and I’ve never been shy about that lol. I like all of the Vestiges a lot. Banjou and his over the top personality; En and his “guy you thought would be serious and :| all the time but is actually hyper-animated and ALL OVER THE PLACE” energy; Shiro who actually is a :| sort of guy lol; Three who I still expect will be fleshed out in a more detailed flashback at some point; and of course Two, who, well. you know what I think about him lol. Bakuverse is still on the table and I’m still hyped. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we still have yet to see Two actually talk to Deku (as opposed to talking to the other Vestiges while Deku is distracted). did he lend him his power yet?? or is he still holding out?? either way it’s definitely going to be a Big Thing when it finally happens and I can’t wait to see it.

5) Lady Nagant is Everything and just because Deku grabbed her arm doesn’t mean the fight is over yet lol. Overhaul hasn’t come into play yet either. not to mention that even if the fight is over, the “where do we go from here” part still has me excited either way. her connection to Hawks and the HPSC is very intriguing and we’ve barely touched on that as of yet; she definitely has more of a role to play in this.

6) last but not least, I feel like every week the discussion is all about how much focus Deku’s getting, and how OP he is or isn’t, and OFA this and OFA that, but meanwhile I’m actually so invested in the character development here though?? the way Deku has distanced himself from everyone (except for the Vestiges, because of course they’re already dead so it’s not like they can die again lol)?? the way he’s pushing himself far too hard and we can see the shadows in and under his eyes, and the fact that he never smiles, and even All Might has remarked on how he isn’t taking care of himself at all?? the fact that he’s so single-mindedly obsessed with focused on stopping AFO?? the fact that he’s still the same sweet old Deku despite everything and was so kind to that fox lady with the umbrella, but there was also something so sad about that scene because it felt like a reminder of the type of hero that he wants to be, but that he’s not allowed to be right now?? because the stakes are too high and the world is falling apart?? and he feels like he’s the only one who can do something about it?? and that he has to be?? and that he is putting so much pressure on himself right now, and it’s absolutely too much pressure for any one person to bear, and I feel like no one is fucking talking about this lol goddammit.

anyway so yeah. I have feels about this, and every week that slow-burn angst is getting more and more intense behind the scenes, and I feel like it’s all going to hit a breaking point eventually. sooner rather than later. it really feels like a mirror of Katsuki’s post-Kamino arc. where all that angst was just churning below the surface for like twenty chapters and then it finally was like “okay it’s time” and it all came bursting out and we got the best five chapters of the fucking series (in my admittedly biased estimation lol).

basically, I know that most of fandom is billing this as either the “villain hunt” arc or the “solo Deku SIXQUIRKS fighting arc” or whatever. but for me, it’s always been and still is the Deku Angst arc lol. the cool fights are a sexy bonus (the worldbuilding less so because even though it’s interesting to see society at such a low point, it’s also very depressing and gets old pretty fast), but for me the thing that’s really keeping me engaged chapter after chapter is seeing Deku like we’ve never seen him before. seeing him all quiet and withdrawn and brooding and focused on AFO, AFO, AFO, and seeing that “he just doesn’t take himself into account” mentality taken to extremes. I am invested in that. I’m soaking up that angst each and every week, and I’m invested in seeing what comes of it. it’s a big picture thing. week to week this arc might just seem like a bunch of villain fight scenes, sure. but Deku’s emotional journey is the thread that’s going to carry this arc through from beginning to end, and for that I’m willing to be patient.

anyway that turned into a BIG OL’ RANT there but yeah! so those are my thoughts on the disk horse as it currently stands. and like I said, I’m open to discussion, but tbh I will probably just wind up repeating these same talking points endlessly so just a fair warning lol.)

anyway so Three says Deku has yet to use his quirk at ALL but now he’s trying to combine it with another quirk?? damn. also please check out En’s face here you guys

En launching a sneak attack up my favorite character list by the sheer power of his expressions alone. he really knows how to make the most of his screentime

OH DAMN DEKU

at this point the 3% from that hypothetical poll earlier are starting to feel prettttty damn smug, I’ll bet. well shit

what in the fuck

?? so like releasing his chi or whatnot?? isn’t that basically just like base OFA all over again?? also Deku did you seriously just apologize to Gran’s cape

update: Nagant has turned her eyeball into a gun

hm. hmmmmmmm. ...okay yep, still somehow sexy

anyway so she’s just floating up there building suspense, as one does. lord I sure hope she has good reflexes because something tells me she’s going to need them

OH SNAP HE THREW GRAN’S CAPE AS A DECOY WHAAAAT OKAY THAT’S SOME SMART SHIT DEKU

LOL SHE’S MAD NOW

JESUS CHRIST SHE JUST NEVER TAKES A GODDAMN BREAK FROM BEING AWESOME HUH

DEKU ARE YOU JUST THROWING EVERY DAMN THING IN YOUR INVENTORY

but without the cape and the hood how will you continue to look like an enigmatic badass. you really can’t. which means we might finally be moving on from the wandering nomad part of this arc, stay tuned

LOL YOU MANIAC

I hope he went full Kacchan with the dialogue there. his face sure looks like it lol. popped out of a building all mad fdskljlkj omg

well this was fun, shit. I still have basically no idea what Three’s quirk does though lol. like, can he use it to charge up objects with kinetic energy or something?? but then what was all of that talk about combining it with one of the other quirks?? or was that just because he was using Smokescreen at the same time??

(ETA: having seen and read an additional half-dozen explanations of Three’s quirk, I can say with confidence that I still have basically no idea what it is or does.)

anyway so!! Deku is a badasssssss but something tells me not to count Nagant out just yet even so. also I really enjoy seeing Deku flip out on people like he doesn’t have a fucking hole in his torso because it reminds me of A CERTAIN SOMEONE and I always love to see him channeling that feral energy; I feel like it’s been a while

anyways good luck to you both!! I truly wish that both of you could win. but if not, then maybe you can at least become friends instead. you have so much in common, you both can fly and have multiple quirks and you’re both badasses, and plus it would just be really funny to see the look on Hawks’s face lmao

[serpent-of-the-silver-plumes]

would you mind talking more about bart and unreliable narration? I always hear people say unreliable narration but I've never seen any concrete examples from media I actually consume so I'd love your thoughts

Oh absolutely!! I actually wrote a thing about this a while back but then went 'this is not well written' and it got buried in my drafts, so I’m glad to have an excuse to pull that up and rewrite it. (Also sorry, this got really long.)

Basically, at one point I was listening to a podcast (Be the Serpent, ep 4), and they categorize different kinds of unreliable narrators into three types: the narrator who knows they are lying to you, the narrator who is lying to themself (and therefore you), and the narrator who is lying because they are missing some key information. I would argue that the three main pov characters of the Bartimaeus Trilogy each represent a different type of these unreliable narrators.

Going in backwards order, Kitty is the narrator who lies because she is missing some key information, at least until the third book. As a commoner, even one who is part of a resistance movement, her knowledge of magic is extremely limited and biased. Were we to go off of her point of view alone, we would get an inaccurate view of this world and the power dynamics that exist within it: that magicians are somehow special in holding magic and that they have evil demons who work alongside them in shared mischief/hunger for power/whatever.

However, because the books include other points of view, the full impact of that unreliability is not realized.

Similarly, Nathaniel lies to himself, especially in the later books. He ignores how much he personally contributes to upholding a system that depends on the oppression and slavery of other sentient beings, and squashes down the last traces of his moral compass. I don’t think he ever really questions the system of government or if it should be there and work the way it does.

To some extent, we do see through his unreliability as well, because Bartimaeus is around to keep a check on him and tell the reader that no, the magicians and their imperialism are bad, that spirits have very good reason to hate humans, and give us other world building details that contradict what Nathaniel believes.

But some of it is about what is going on inside Nathaniel’s own head, so there is also a lot that can’t be fully seen by an outside perspective that has to be assumed by the reader. Like he will deny the sentimental feelings he has towards Ms. Underwood and the guilt he had over Kitty’s supposed death and the fact that he even remotely cares about Bartimaeus, but actions speak louder than words.

Because both of these characters’ unreliability stem from a lack of understanding, having other perspectives in the book in some ways cancels out their unreliability, and actually ties their unreliability more to their character development than as a plot/narration device. Kitty grows more reliable throughout the series while Nathaniel gets less so until the end. This doesn’t make that unreliability useless though, especially in a series aimed for children. By getting each character’s point of view, we can see where they are coming from and how the knowledge and views they have affect the way they act, but there is also someone else to point out how they are wrong, to make you question how true what each individual says is.

Bartimaeus is entirely different from the first two characters. His narration is told in first person, unlike Nathaniel and Kitty’s third person. He talks directly to the reader and goes off on tangential footnotes that are not necessarily part of the events currently happening in the story. Because of this narration style, he also has the power to lie more directly to the reader than any of the other characters.

Given his life, it is understandable how he has gotten into the habit of lying. Every moment of his existence on Earth is spent under the power of someone else, so he lies in order to protect himself. There are some instances where he lies to his masters in order to escape punishment or to lead them into danger so he can be set free, but he also lies about his feelings because he cannot afford to be emotionally vulnerable.

For the most part, I think it can be assumed that the dialogue and most actions that happen in his pov chapters are told as they are, since much of that lines up with what goes on in the other characters’ perspectives, and also there are at least a few things that show him in a less-than-flattering light that he would probably leave out or change if he could. Instead, the lies he tells are largely about his past and his emotions, often done through exaggeration or omission, and cannot be collaborated by others.

When lying about his past, Bartimaeus frequently exaggerates his prestige and role in history. In Ptolemy’s Gate, Bartimaeus says that he talked to King Solomon about Faquarl’s tendency to brag about his historical importance. Even beyond the obvious irony, in the prequel we see Bartimaeus’s time at Solomon’s court, and while it isn’t technically impossible for him to have talked to Solomon about Faquarl, the timing and circumstances make it extremely unlikely. Although his other stories cannot be proven or disproven with what we know, this instance and his general tendency to brag outrageously makes it very likely that Bartimaeus at the very least embellishes.

However, despite being super showy about his past, Bartimaeus doesn’t actually include much important information. He very rarely talks about his great feats as a thief or assassin or anything else. When he lists his accomplishments, he describes building walls and talking to important historical figures. There’s a post somewhere (if I find it, I’ll link it) that explains this as being a way for Bartimaeus to try to take control of his reputation and therefore his life; by associating with safer jobs, he is less likely to be summoned for very dangerous and morally reprehensible jobs.

He does generally try to portray himself as clever and collected and just generally more cool than he actually is. There’s a moment at the end of the first book where he describes himself as trying to calm Nathaniel who is freaking out, and then the next chapter is from Nathaniel’s pov which describes him as being the calmer one while Bartimaeus is a fly anxiously buzzing around.

I don’t remember the exact line, but in the second book there’s an exchange that goes something like this:

“____” I said calmly.

“Stop your whimpering,” Kitty said.

The way Bartimaeus portrays himself is straight up contradicted by the more factual account of the words and actions of someone else. And presumably there are plenty of other times that we do not see contradictory evidence where Bartimaeus straight up lies about how he is reacting to something.

But one of Bartimaeus’s most unreliable points centers around humans. Throughout the books, he constantly talks about the ways he has killed and would like to kill his masters, if given the opportunity. Nathaniel is an exception, one that Bartimaeus does admit to the reader, but even in the third book when he talks the most about how he would kill Nathaniel or even join a demon rebellion if Faquarl offered right then and there, Bartimaeus does not actually follow through on these threats when he gets the chance. Despite all of his talk about how much he hates humans, Bartimaeus has as much of a positive relationship he can have with as many humans possible, given the circumstances.

A lot of his unreliability centers around Ptolemy, which is what some of Bartimaeus’s biggest lies of omission are about. In the first book, we do get the sense that Bartimaeus has a soft spot for at least some humans. His excuses of saving and looking after Nathaniel in order to avoid Indefinite Confinement, while likely not entirely false, do fall a bit flat. We even get a mention of “a boy I had known once before, someone I had loved.” Although this is not explicitly connected to Ptolemy at this point, mentions of brown skin and the Nile make a pretty obvious connection to Ptolemy, especially as Bartimaeus describes taking on Ptolemy’s form several times later on. There is a less obvious hint too, “I sat on the ground, cross-legged, the way Ptolemy used to do.” Even without knowing much about what kind of relationship Bartimaeus had with Ptolemy, that kind of detail shows ‘a devotion to detail that could only come with genuine affection, or perhaps even love.’

It isn’t until the third book until we learn anything substantial about his relationship with Ptolemy, and even then he doesn’t tell the whole story. The fandom jokes about how Bartimaeus just casually mentions in a foot note that he prefers a lioness form because the manes are annoying, and it’s not until the flashback that you find out that the mane is part of what got Ptolemy killed. And even with the flashbacks, you still never see the time that Ptolemy visited the Other Place.

There are a lot of posts on this site that talk about how Bartimaeus absolutely was idealizing Ptolemy, and how there’s some evidence that he isn’t the perfectly sweet never-did-anything-wrong innocent child that Bartimaeus describes him as (notably that part where he was vaguely annoyed that people kept coming to him to ask for help and interrupted his research). Not that Ptolemy secretly sucks or anything, but it’s really easy to let nostalgia skip over the less dramatic details of Ptolemy being an actual human being with flaws.

In summary, I would argue that all of the trilogy protagonists are unreliable narrators to varying extents, and Jonathan Stroud is a genius for how he manages to make it all work.

[cervinae-canine]

The Narrator’s Story and Him as a Writer (Real Person Ending + the Museum Ending): (FINISHED)

I’ve implied a little of the Narrator writing a story, with it usually being contradicted by what the players want Stanley to do. So what is this story the Narrator is making that he fixates so much on, that he gets genuinely angry when you “mess it up”? Well with the Freedom Ending, you see his full intended story that he laid out for Stanley. And I get to talk about it because I do what I want and I wanna talk about the story within the story. This is gonna be the section where I analyze and criticize a fictional  character’s story; so uh you don’t need to read this. 

The general plot beats of his story goes as follows: 

(Stanley is alone in his office as he notices his coworkers suddenly disappearing with no sign of life around him. He walks through the building, wanting to know if his boss disappeared as well and to know what happened to his coworkers. When he discovers a hidden room in the boss’ office through a secret code, he finds that his boss heavily surveys him and his fellow coworkers. We don’t see Stanley’s boss directly but we can definitely tell how they are as a person by just this discovery. Stanley sees the button that turns the cameras on and off; and presses the off button. When he does so, a door opens up to show him a beautiful meadow. And when I say beautiful, I mean beautiful. Stanley hears the birds sing their pleasant melody, the gentle breeze blowing against his skin, the green grass all around him. Stanley was truly free, from the tyrannical surveillance of his workplace, from the stress of everyday life; truly free with the impeccable nature inviting him with open arms.)

This is the story the Narrator intended when he wanted Stanley to follow, or at least very similar. Without the baggage of how the story was executed, this was his story. And the story he made…was an optimistic approach to Orwell’s 1984. Look I know dystopias are common as hell to write, but come on. Generic premise aside, I do like how the ending went above and beyond to cause an emotional impact for the audience. To cause an overwhelming feeling of warmth and comfort when the story’s conflict is finally over. Seeing the response of the players who actually played this ending, the impact seems to work quite well. It even got me to have a stupid smile on my face when I first saw the ending. His narration of his story benefits the impact in the ending greatly, hearing his comfortable and soft voice describe the beauty around Stanley; was just marvelous. As well as the ending fulfilling its purpose of comfort, I also praise the interpretation of a dystopian society being written as a surveillance state. It’s not a rare interpretation in the slightest, but it is an interpretation that is most likely to happen in reality. Actually mass surveillance over the populace is quite common. At least in the U.S. The United States Government over the course of the Cold War and during the Civil Rights era, for example, did mass surveillance over targeted individuals who were suspected of supporting the communist movement. That’s not even the only example of mass surveillance in the United States; it’s just the most infamous example excluding the Patriot Act. 

Regardless, the most insightful type of dystopias are the ones that basically happen in real life; just turned up a notch. That’s why teen dystopias that were the written equivalent of ‘you can’t tell me what to do, mom’ went in and out as a trend, where dystopias that were commenting on the political and social issues during their time, became iconic pieces of literature. Dystopias at their core, are to be used as commentary and as a warning for what happens if a particular issue in society perpetuates. As someone who already knew of real life examples of mass surveillance before seeing this ending, it unnerved me. It does its purpose of discomfort over a real life type of authoritarianism quite well. The theme of an individual overcoming all odds to defeat their authoritarian regime and saving the people stuck in that system, is a soft spot of mine. As a general piece of writing, it’s simple in terms of dystopias and the ending gives off comfort. It could be better but I like it. But the execution of this writing, kicks the message of freeing oneself from authority in the balls.

What exactly do I mean by the execution of the writing? Well in my personal experience of engaging in critical analysis of stuff I like, it’s common to see a person misunderstand a theme or character. Sometimes, I see interpretations of the story’s text that feels like a stretch, so much that I think “How the actual fuck”. I don’t usually say ‘misunderstanding’ when the story depicts its contents as ambiguous, but I will if the story depicts itself as cut-and-dry and simple. At worst though, it can be annoying or mildly pretentious and it doesn’t really impede my enjoyment of the original text. At least, now that I’ve gotten older. Because usually the people who misunderstand the story’s themes and characters, are fans that had their life experience affect how they viewed the text. So it’s understandable why I think some fans may be reaching with their interpretations; because I haven’t experienced what they’ve experienced. But, what if the original creator misunderstood the meaning of their own story? That’s exactly what the Narrator does.

The Narrator wrote a solid, simple and endearing story of a person overcoming authority; but the Narrator is inherently a character that holds authority. By virtue of him being written as a narrator.Because of his hypocrisy, his pleasant and comfortable story became mid. Now due to that contradiction, to truly enjoy his story; you would have to reach for a very specific interpretation of authority that would make sense to him. Is his interpretation of dystopian authority being mass surveillance of a population? Well, he literally narrates and scrutinizes every choice the player gives out to Stanley. If this contradiction was never brought up in the game’s writing, it would probably infuriate me to no end. But the writers are incredibly self-aware when it comes to the Narrator, so they didn’t leave this contradiction up in the air. The writers did something with this flaw in the Narrator’s story, and his flaws are shown front and center in the Not Stanley Ending.

In the Not Stanley Ending or the Real Person Ending, it is the only time where the Narrator internalizes how his actions contradicts his own story. His reaction to this is complicated and he attempts to have the player be like Stanley at one point through an informational video. Basically, he defensively contradicts his story further until the story and thus the environment around you, deteriorates over the ‘narrative contradiction’. If the player continues to not be like Stanley and not follow his instructions, the environment completely breaks and by extension, so is the story he made. The player goes back in the room with two doors, the place incredibly dilapidated and ruined; which may represent his feelings of his story being destroyed because of your free will. He's in-between the feeling of anger towards the player for not obeying him and the feeling of disappointment towards himself for making this problem in the first place. Even when he’s shouting at the Player, he knows at the back of his head that he made this problem himself. The story that he worked so hard on ended up being representative of his cognitive dissonance. Everything he planned on with Stanley and the story he created, ended up having unexpected implications about the Narrator. His story was about the protagonist overcoming his faceless, authoritarian adversaries and finding freedom; and yet he now realized…he was that faceless, authoritarian adversary. He knows now that he was the antagonist in his own story; and he clearly did not want to be that. 

He had to do something to not destroy his story any further.

When the Ending of this situation draws near, the player is completely disassociated from Stanley when he is back in the room with the two doors. The player is no longer able to control Stanley; he is now a person with free will. Except, he was written to be controlled;  he is a fictional character after all. So when Stanley is granted free will and is able to be his own person, he freezes; unable to do anything. The Narrator decided, after all of this time, to give Stanley the chance to be free. And Stanley can’t even do anything without the player’ control. The Narrator’s demeanor in comparison to him berating the player earlier on, is and sounds very different when he talks to Stanley. It is as though the Narrator thinks of Stanley as an equal in this part; to truly make his story consistent. His voice is soft and soothing, sounding very gentle and even vulnerable when he asks Stanley to make his choice. But Stanley can’t do anything without the player’s input, so he stays frozen. The Narrator wanted now to finally give Stanley the opportunity to be his own person, but Stanley is a character. Characters are controlled by the narrative, as they are written with a direction in mind for their story.

As Stanley’s silence continues and he stays frozen, the Narrator breaks down. It isn’t in a fit of rage like last time however, but rather a quiet whimper out of desperation. It isn’t at all loud but you can hear his voice breaking as he explains to Stanley that he can make any choice. He even says to Stanley that he can go through either door and it would be fine by him; even though previously he would hate it when Stanley went through the blue door. He doesn't care anymore; he just wants Stanley to choose and be active in his story; to be a real person. For a long few moments, the Narrator sounds incredibly hesitant over himself and his story, just wanting Stanley to choose. At the very end, he says to Stanley to take his time; that he can wait for Stanley to make any indicator that he will be active in the story. The Narrator waits in silence until then, unaware of Stanley’s inaction as a result of being a character and not an actual person. He is left anticipating something that will never come.

Despite Stanley not being able to be his own person without the input of the player, the Narrator genuinely wanted to keep his story with Stanley. He wanted his story to be consistent with his actions, so he gave Stanley a chance to be free without his guidance. When he realized he contradicted his story with his actions, he chose to keep his story and change himself, the person; to keep it. It is indicative of how much the Narrator cares about his story; to not simply scrap it but rather to improve himself. This doesn’t particularly imply the Narrator is perfect by any means, but this does mean he isn’t always maliciously out to oppose Stanley. With this ending in mind, the Narrator didn’t even know that was what he was doing. This ending is tragic because he wanted to be better and treat the protagonist better but Stanley can’t acknowledge it due to how he’s written to be controlled.

It also brings up an interesting facet inherent in fictional characters;  they don’t have their autonomy. Even the Narrator was written by someone, so his actions are also not his own. The Female Narrator in the Museum Ending brings up a fascinating point about the Narrator and his authority. He doesn’t actually have authority. He’s controlled by the narrative as much as Stanley is controlled by his narrative. It’s a loop of being controlled and controlling another simultaneously. How they wish to control one another; but wish to be free from each other’s control. (I stole it from the Female Narrator in the Museum Ending; it describes my point perfectly) The person who wrote him decided to have the Narrator get the ability to grant free will onto Stanley. The Narrator presents himself with authority because someone wrote him to hold authority. The only person in this game that isn’t controlled by the narrative and can truly break the loop is the Player. Stanley and the Narrator cannot create unpredictable changes to the narrative due to them being fictional characters. But the Player obviously isn't a fictional character. The Player is a person. The Player is able to disrupt this self-destructive Ouroboros between Stanley and the Narrator; having them be free from the cycle of controlling and being controlled by each other. 

Uh I don’t know if it’s intentional but yeah, I just think that idea is neat.

The Narrator’s strong emotions over his writing is incredibly understandable in the perspective of a creator for any kind of field. For most creators, a common struggle we deal with is treating our work as sacred and something that shall never, ever be changed. The first idea of our creation is treated like the only idea and when our only idea doesn’t work out, we keep it regardless. Disregarding other potential ideas for our creation as a result. With the Narrator, he’s more willing to change himself as a person than to change anything from his narrative. Many of the flaws the Narrator displays can be a reflection of the flaws of some creatives, and I understand because writing is deeply personal. Some are unaware of this but if you write something long enough and it’s something that you care about, it’s going to feel sacred. This is especially the case when this creation is the only thing you’re working on at the moment. Writing can be incredibly emotional and it’s going to feel like a part of your identity if you put a lot of time in it. This is where I understand and relate with the Narrator, despite how obviously flawed I think the mindset is. I have three other writing projects outside of this Narrator essay, just to handle editing a few things out in this essay. I’ve heard the writing advice a few years ago along the lines of “sometimes you need to sacrifice your darling”, and that was something I needed to hear. If I worried about everything in my writing being perfect, I would finish nothing. 

The point is that creators often treat their creations personally, often too personally. So when the Narrator’s parable is disregarded by the Player, he’s going to feel hurt and offended by it. If I was in the Narrator’s position, even if I wouldn’t be as openly vitriolic, I would definitely feel upset. The words the Narrator says to the Player out of pure rage, is exactly the kind of shit I would think of while feeling upset but not saying directly. It’s something you want to say but you just can’t express it. The Narrator’s feelings about his story is something he can’t hide or ignore, and it’s even more so when someone dislikes it. Which in my case, is understandable. In my earlier times while writing and doing art with a story in mind, I would also feel pretty defensive about my creation and I would refuse to compromise or change my vision. 

I don’t think that many writers like leaving their story up to chance and working on it by the seams of their pants, so it’s incredibly common to plan everything and do it your way. And that’s what the Narrator literally does; he planned the Parable with a story in mind so he definitely thinks that he has superiority over everyone else about his story. It shows not only an incredibly flawed but an incredibly relatable mindset for a writer or a artist that needs to be figured out.

The Character of the Stanley Parable's Narrator

Alternative Title: Why the Narrator is my baby girl. My boyfriend. The love of my life if you will. My wife even. So beautiful.

Note: This is the Preamble.

Spoiler Warning: (FINISHED)

I think if you’re reading this, you probably know the Stanley Parable in at least a basic regard. As in like you know the gist of the game and you know the Narrator. I would say be careful if you do not want spoilers but talking about the game at all is a spoiler. As well as such, it’s required for me to go into spoiler territory to fully analyze the Narrator, so please keep that in mind while reading. You might see an ending you didn’t play or even knew existed. 

Introduction of the Narrator’s Role and Gaming: (FINISHED)

Before we particularly start on his specific personality, we need to understand the role he plays that make the Stanley Parable the way it is. If his name was not enough of an indicator, he is a narrator and more specifically; an omniscient third-person Narrator. This type of narrator knows and sees all; they know the exact motivations, beliefs, and internal dialogue of the characters in the story. This narrator type fulfills the similar essence of a deity. Narrators in fiction contribute heavily to the story, as they’re a common way for the audience to understand the situation the characters are experiencing. The Stanley Parable subverts this idea by having the audience fulfill the role of the main character, with the Narrator being forced to adapt to the unpredictable wants of the player. 

We see him as that type of narrator if the player follows the exact story the Narrator lays out for them. However a fairly common way people play video games is experiencing the world themselves, without any restrictions or guidelines. So normally, the player doesn’t see him as an omniscient third person narrator; rather an interactable being they can piss off. This lays out a specific difference between modern video games and written literature. Video games are expected to be adaptable to specific playing styles, where written literature is expected to have a focused/contained narrative. If a video game is unadaptable and rigid, it becomes tiring to the player and would require a hefty reward for them to keep playing. A common criticism for most AAA games is how they go under the facade of being open world but directly forcing the player to go in the directions the developers want them to take. If written literature has a confused or unclear narrative, it becomes difficult for the reader to keep their suspension of disbelief. The usual response if the narrative is all over the place and incoherent, is wondering if the writer has ever read a book.

This difference between the two mediums is crucial for the game’ conflict to work effectively as it does. The Narrator represents the expectations of written literature from the reader with everything else representing the expectations of video games from the player. The Narrator is written as rigid and unadaptable and Stanley is designed to be capable of the opposite. This could also explain the aura of poshness surrounding the Narrator, as reading literature had always been associated with the high-class and sometimes pretentiousness; even in the modern era. Additionally, narrators in fiction are expected to be authoritative; having enough knowledge to explain the story to the reader. This could be potentially noted how the Narrator has a voice that can be described as older and mature. This is why unreliable narrators invoke a strong feeling for the reader; as it forces them to be distrustful of authority. At least for a short moment. By contrast, the common expectation for gamers is to understand the story in their terms; without being told by a disembodied voice. And yet… 

The Stanley Parable exists and the game is incredibly popular for being an indie title. Looking up ‘popular indie games’, you get a list where the Stanley Parable is right next to all the other big fellas. 

Giving a slight glance at YouTube, you can see the first result when you look up the game garnering around twenty-three million views. It would be too easy to say “it’s because of Markiplier”,  but he has played the original game before and the most popular video of the original has only 6 million views. There is certainly a more recent, specific niche the Ultra Deluxe version filled, while the original game did not; at least not as efficiently. As such, I will be analyzing the most iconic facets of the Narrator in the Ultra Deluxe version since we see this character in more perspectives. There is something special about the game that is more than simply the additional content. It may be because you get to hear the Narrator’ smooth voice more but that might just be how the Narrator acts as a character. Also noting here, I will be talking about Sad-ist’s Clock 0ut at some point but for me to have this essay be sort of organized; I’m gonna write about it somewhere else.  (Note: I tried to make a Clock 0ut essay but that never happened; sorry)

List of Endings and General Observations / TL;DR for some of the endings (Work In Progress)

The Freedom Ending

“He had won! He had defeated the machine!” - The Narrator

Narrator as a Character: Pure Omniscient Third-Person Narrator

Notes: It’s an interesting contradiction that the only way Stanley gains “freedom”, is when you obey every word and direction the Narrator says. As beautiful as this ending is, it's also deeply ironic.

The Countdown Ending

“After they kept you enslaved all those years, you go and you try to take control of the machine for yourself, is that what you wanted? Control?” - The Narrator

(Kevan Brighting did not need to go hard with the monologue. He did though, and I love it)

Narrator as a Character: Antagonist 

Notes: Ever since I saw this ending + the Jack short film, it’s really fun to imagine a horrific edge to the Narrator. It’s cool as hell. The fact the Narrator’s voice borders on sounding like Brighting’s actual talking voice, actually makes him sound more intimidating. 

The Museum Ending

“When every path you can walk has been created for you long in advance, death becomes meaningless, making life the same. Do you see now? Do you see that Stanley was already dead from the moment he hit start?" - The Female Narrator

Narrator as a Character:

Notes: If I heard more of the Female Narrator, I’d  probably be as attracted to her as I would with the Male Narrator (Bisexual moment).

The Broom Closet Ending

“OH, DID U GET THE BROOM CLOSET ENDING? THEB ROOM CLOSET ENDING WAS MY FAVRITE!1 XD' ... I hope your friends find this concerning.” - The Narrator

Narrator as a Character: 

Notes: It’s funny as hell

The Apartment Ending

“This is a very sad story about the death of a man named Stanley.” - The Narrator

Narrator as a Character: Pure Omniscient Third-Person Narrator

Notes:

Not Stanley Ending (or the Real Person Ending)

“Wait a second, did I just see... no, that's not possible. I can't believe it. How had I not noticed it sooner? You're not Stanley. You're a real person.” - The Narrator

Narrator as a Character: 

Notes: I like how the ending shows a clear difference between the player and Stanley; and players still feel like Stanley in some of the other endings.

Zending Ending (or the S*icide Ending)

“If we just stay here, right in this moment, with this place... Stanley, I think I feel... happy. I actually feel happy.” - The Narrator 

(God I just want to stay in that place for him and sleep gently with him in my arms. I feel so bad for him. I want him happy and comfortable.)

Narrator as a Character: 

Notes: Hold up brb *cries in the shower*

New Content Ending

“If this is new content then I could just read you the entire dictionary, there's 20 hours of new content right there!” - The Narrator

Narrator as a Character: 

Notes: I'd kill someone in cold blood to hear him read the entire dictionary

Skip Button Ending

“You constantly have to stop doing anything so the narrator can catch up with his long-winded explanations of what's happening. I wish there was a skip button.” - Cookie9’ bullshit review

Narrator as a Character: 

Notes: God they really made my babygirl suffer in silence, desperately begging Stanley to not skip any further; losing his mind as more time slips by

The Sequel Ending

“So forget this Ultra Deluxe nonsense! I say we take it one step even further. Which is why I'm very proud to announce, for the first time ever, The Stanley Parable 2!”- The Narrator

Narrator as a Character: 

Notes: I love how this ending was barely an allegory for half-hearted attempts at releases of the once beloved games. How games corporations want franchises so badly, they pump out soulless nostalgia to their audience. Like it’s not subtle at all but I love the honesty.

The Figurines Ending

“It's just - it's those figurines. Those Figleys. I haven't stopped thinking about them since you nabbed every last one.” - The Narrator 

Narrator as a Character: 

Notes: I love how excited this old British man gets when he's talking about the Figley Wiggleys. He's such a babygirl

(07/16/23: Why tf did I write this???)

Little Clarification before I go Balls Deep (The Player =/= Stanley) (FINISHED)

In this essay, I will analyze the Narrator’s personality as well as how he interacts with other characters; but basically just Stanley. However I perceive Stanley and the Player as different entities, so this is here to explain my thought process. So Stanley is purely a fictional character and is in at least two layers of being controlled; by both the Narrator and the Player. The Player is not fictional  and can decide to have Stanley follow or disobey the Narrator. Despite the Player being the main cause of Stanley’s actions, the Narrator reprimands and rewards Stanley as if his actions are of his free will. Example; the Player chooses to put Stanley in the Countdown Ending, where the Narrator believes Stanley did it on his own accord. Aside from the Real Person Ending, the Narrator has no clue that Stanley is controlled by the Player. The Player is different from Stanley but the Narrator is unaware of this. So, I’ll write Stanley and the Player as different people in the context of the Narrator. I hope that makes sense because without knowing the game, you’re probably gonna be very confused. Especially when I talk about the Real Person Ending.

(Additional Note: The section about the difference between The Player and Stanley is how I made my self insert. Nothing too cool; I just thought it was neat.)