#but it wouldn't be a tragedy in the way ned's was

[mysecretlittlelibrary]

A New Home

Pairing: Platonic! Peter Parker & Reader; Reader x Bucky (but that's not really plot relevant)

Word Count: 2.2k

Warnings: uh none really just mentioning of all the tragedies MCU Peter has endured lmao

Genre: it's pretty fluffy- there's minor angst

Summary: You happen to be the only person who still remembers Peter Parker exists and you are not about to hang him out to dry. So what happens when you take Peter in and basically become his guardian? Well- nothing is simple where super-teens are involved, but you and Peter can certainly handle whatever comes your way. Right?

***

You're worried. You know you've been gone for months and things can change a lot in a few months but it shouldn't be this hard to find Peter. Flying down the streets of New York you finally spot the kid through an open window in a rundown apartment building.

"Parker! There you are! Dude, I've been looking all over the city for you what the hell?" You lean against the window sill, startling Peter when you speak.

"Miss y/n! You know who I am!" Peter blinks at you.

"Well duh, why wouldn't I? And what are you doing in this godawful apartment?"

"Well-" Peter trails off, avoiding your gaze.

"Peter, what did you do?" Your eyes widen.

"I- made the entire world forget who I am?" He says hesitantly. You blink at him for a moment.

"Wh- ho- why would you- what made you think that was a good idea?"

"It wasn't a good idea it was the only idea." He says.

"I- how'd ya figure?" You tilt your head.

"It's a... long story." He mutters.

"So start telling it. Been lookin' for you all over the city so I've got time."

"Okay- it all started when I went on a summer trip to Europe and I met this guy- Mister Mysterio, and it was right after Mr. Stark died and you know, he was pretty important to me and you were away and Mr. Stark left me so much tech that I didn't know what to do with so when Mister Mysterio basically offered to take me under his wing I dunno I thought it'd help me deal with the Mr. Stark thing but he ended up being a super bad dude and I had to fight him and just before I defeated him he like released a video telling the whole world I was Spiderman and also painting me like a bad guy and it totally ruined my life. Like when I started senior year in the fall there were people literally protesting outside of my school! Some wanted me to pay for what I did to Mister Mysterio but others thought I had a reason for what happened since I'm like a neighborhood hero-"

"Well did you?" You ask cutting off Peter's frantic 2x speed recap.

"What?" He blinks at you.

"Have a reason. For whatever happened with Mysterio."

"Of course I did! He wanted to use Stark's tech to take over the world!"

"I'm just pulling your leg kid- I know you'd never harm a dude for no reason." You chuckle. "I'm just dispelling tension because you're speedrunning. So this guy ruined your life by telling the world you're Spiderman. What happened next?"

"Well with all the chaos it caused me in my daily life I went to Mr. Strange to try and fix it."

"You went to Strange." You repeat.

"Yeah cuz he's got that magic stone and with you gone, he's like the only person I know who might've been able to do the thing I was thinking of." Peter shrugs.

"And what was the thing you were thinking of?"

"I was going to see if there was a spell that could make the world forget that I was Spiderman but while we were doing the spell I remembered that there were people I had already told independent of the whole Mysterio thing and I didn't want them to forget because it's so much easier to not have to lie to Ned or MJ or Aunt May so I kept fixing the spell to be more specific than 'everyone forgets Peter Parker is Spiderman' and did you know there are other Spidermen in other versions of reality?!"

"That makes sense." You nod.

"What?"

"I travel through time and space a lot, I've seen hundreds of versions of hundreds of people- there being other Spidermen makes sense. What was your spell?"

"Well I altered it a few times while Mr. Strange was creating it but the last thing I said was something like 'everyone who already knew before should still know' and somehow it brought people who knew other Spidermen here. Specifically two other Spidermen and of course, they were all villains because I guess those guys do not have friends back home-"

"Peter!" You gasp barely holding back your laughter.

"Sorry- that was rude but I was really overwhelmed okay there was a dude who could like control electricity, and a guy made out of sand, and a huge freaking lizard monster, and a guy who dressed like a goblin and he killed Aunt May and there was a dude with gigantic mechanical tentacle arm thingies that came out of his back it was- terrifying."

"Oh honey." You sigh.

"We almost died in the process but me and the other Spidermen managed to kick them back to where they belonged, but Mr. Strange's botched spell was causing a collision of the multiverse so to reverse it we- had to make the whole world forget Peter Parker altogether." Peter says. There are a few moments of silence as you contemplate what to say next. Scolding him seems harsh, he's been through too much since you've last seen him.

"When did that happen? The forget-me-not spell part."

"Like- four months ago." He shrugs.

"And you've just been on your own here since then?" You frown.

"Aunt May's dead- no one else knows who I am- I- I didn't have anywhere to go." He shrugs.

"Do you want to stay here?" You ask.

"What?"

"I- hate this apartment, I don't really like you living here it's- tiny and probably not up to safety codes but if you'd rather stay I can't force you to move I just- I'd feel better if you moved in with me. So I'm asking."

"I don't wanna be a burden."

"Oh don't be ridiculous I could never see you as a burden and you've had a hard enough time in the last year there is no reason for you to have it any harder than it needs to be. If you want to move in with me there's plenty of room." You tell him.

"You mean it?"

"Absolutely." You nod.

"Okay- I'll- pack my things I guess."

"Good." You clap your hands together and climb fully into the apartment to help him.

It takes a few hours but eventually, you get Peter out of that shoebox of his and set him up in what used to be your guest room. He spends a little while in there unpacking until he's apparently too overwhelmed to do any more of it and takes refuge in the living room to watch TV. You're in the kitchen when he comes out and declares unpacking will have to wait and while you don't want to bring his mood down you feel like you have to check in before you can finish the baking you were doing. You take a seat in the armchair next to where Peter is perched on your couch.

"I- didn't get a chance to ask earlier but, how are you dealing with the whole Aunt May thing? You barely got to grieve Tony before it all went to shit it seems."

"I- haven't really had a whole lot of time to dwell on it actually, but I've been to visit her a couple of times."

"If you need anything Peter please ask and I'm serious. We've been family for quite a while as far as I'm concerned but especially now. Can't have you thinking you've got no one left in this world."

"Thanks y/n. Although I seriously don't get how Mr. Strange's spell didn't affect you too." Peter frowns.

"Dunno- maybe I was traveling through time when he did it. Or somewhere in space, outta range." You shrug.

"Lucky for me I guess." He says.

"Very." You stand and ruffle his hair before returning to the kitchen. You're glad he seems to be getting comfortable in your home already. You want him to be comfortable here, he deserves a little comfort after all that's happened. Some time later you hear the lock to your front door click open as you pull cookies out of your oven.

"Y/n?" Bucky's voice calls from the door.

"Kitchen!" You call back setting the tray on the counter. You can hear Bucky making his way down the hall before he enters the kitchen. His smile turns to a look of confusion and he retreats from sight for a moment and then pivots back into the kitchen.

"There's a boy in your living room babe." He points out.

"Yeah, I know that's Peter." You say with a laugh.

"Do we know Peter?"

"I know Peter."

"How?"

"He's-" you pause for a moment. Bucky won't remember him. He barely knew the kid in the first place. "He's my godson." You say. That's probably believable.

"You have a godson?!"

"I have a few godchildren actually- he's just the oldest." You say. Truth.

"He's got siblings?"

"No, he's an only child but I am a godparent to multiple children that are not related to each other."

"Including that one?" Bucky points down the hall in the general direction of your living room.

"Yes including that one. He's moved in with me." You say.

"What?!" Bucky's eyes widen.

"It's a... long story- he's not my nephew or anything I actually didn't know his parents. I was friends with his aunt who ended up responsible for him after his parents died and she made me her- for lack of a better word, successor if anything happened to her once she became his only living family."

"Well, where's his aunt?"

"She died while I was gone." You say. You'll have to make a point to visit Aunt May's grave soon.

"So where's he been?" Bucky asks.

"In a dingey little shoebox of an apartment." You grimace.

"He's old enough that he got his own apartment?"

"Well, he's eighteen but I don't believe in throwing kids to the wolves once they turn eighteen so I told him he could come stay with me because there's no reason for him to be in a shitty apartment struggling to support himself when I have space. Plus he's got basically no other family now, I don't want him to be alone."

"Alright, but you can't make me talk to him." Bucky says.

"My love he's a teenager I don't expect you to have a playdate. I'm looking after him, I'm not making that your responsibility." You chuckle.

"Cool." Bucky snatches a cookie off the counter. "I'm headed to your room for a while." He kisses your cheek and disappears up the stairs. A couple minutes after Bucky disappears Peter comes shuffling into the kitchen.

"Godson?" He asks sitting on one of the stools by the island.

"Hm?" You frown.

"You told Mr. Bucky that I'm your godson."

"Oh- well, it was the first pretty believable thing I could think of. And I think if May thought something would take her from us so soon she'd probably have planned for you to stay with me or Tony." You shrug.

"I think so too." He says after a moment.

"Don't worry too much about Bucky, you know how he is around new people."

"We didn't really get to know each other the first time around but- do you think he'll warm up to me?" Peter asks.

"Aw of course he will. He'd never admit it but Buck's got a secret soft spot for chosen families. It won't be immediate but I'm sure you'll be ganging up on me in no time." You shrug.

"He doesn't seem all that open."

"Well- you know how when kids bring home a puppy they 'found' and their parents grumble about a new responsibility but end up falling in love with the animal anyway?"

"Yeah?"

"Not that you're a stray dog or anything but Bucky's kind of seeing it in the same way. He probably thinks I'll need his help looking after you. Which- on a pretty much unrelated note sweetie, are you still Spiderman?"

"Yeah- just now no one knows. Is that... a problem?" Peter asks hesitantly. 

"Now why would that be a problem? I'd be quite the hypocrite to suddenly decide you can't be Spiderman. That's how we met after all." You chuckle, reaching forward and pinching his chin affectionately. "And helping people is what you do. It's what we do. I'd never ask you to stop. But we'll need some regulations."

"Regulations?" His tone makes you giggle a bit.

"Within reason. I just mean I need you to keep me posted. Holler before you go on patrols, and call me if you have any emergencies. Oh, and any time you tell someone your secret I'd like to know."

"Oh, I don't plan to tell anyone. Well- maybe we can tell Mr. Bucky eventually. I agree with those regulations but I don't have anyone else to tell." He shakes his head.

"For now but if you go to college and make friends-"

"Do you think I could?" Peter's eyes widen hopefully.

"Make friends?" You frown.

"Go to college."

"I think you've wiped yourself from the memories of everyone you know- it gives you a unique opportunity to start over however you see fit. I know college was something you were really looking forward to so- if you get your GED you can enroll next fall or this spring if you're ready to start earlier. I'll help you in any way I can if that's what you want." You say. There's a stretch of silence as Peter considers your words.

"I'll think about it." He says.

"You do that. In the meantime just- let's get used to living together. Deal?"

"Deal." He smiles.

"Good. Cookie?" You slide the tray towards him and he takes one happily. You really think this is going to be good for him and it might even be better for you than you expect.

***

A/N: if I wrote more of this would y'all want to read it? It would be anthology style but I think the concept is real cute!

[esther-dot]

IMO, I don’t think A stans who attack Sansa for her classism truly cares about it. I mean, they want A to be queen/lady (and there’s nothing wrong with wanting that) but such an ending would only be reinforcing the structure they’re critising.

And it’s great and important that A plays with lowborn children and tried to defend Mycah but that doesn’t make her a marxist revolutionary lol, it doesn’t erase her own classism. All nobles are classist, a few of them bother to treat peasants relatively well (the Starks, Edmure, etc) but that unfair system still exists. You can’t have nobility without inequality.

And I'll paste this one in too:

Unpopular opinion but if Arya’s stans genuinely believed in her as someone who isn’t classist, they would imagine her leading a social revolution that topples and destroy feudalism. Not someone who serves the conception of hereditary monarchy, serfdom (despite treating them with humanity), hierarchical social categories, etc. Arya as QITN would be a reformist, not a revolutionnary.

(These are so old, I can’t remember which post prompted them, apologies!)

So, I never thought more than being a good leader within the system was a possibility? During GoT they played up this idea that Dany was gonna change the system, "break the wheel," but that was mainly to hide the fact that going to war for a crown was a selfish thing to do, that she wasn't a hero for choosing that path. Considering how Martin has written about the tragedy of the Starks losing Winterfell, the little boys being chased from their home, I never imagined that his ending would involve a king or queen turning around and doing that to another noble child? IMO, there was never going to be any seizing and divvying up wealth.

In ASOIAF, it seems like the focus is much more on having a leader who will be capable of maintaining peace and delivering justice and taking care of some practical concerns. It never even occurred to me to expect an end to feudalism? So, yeah, I would agree that the most anyone could be was a reformist, but I didn't even think that was the idea (in the way fans would mean it) that Martin was tracking. It didn't seem to me that he was gonna do away with nobles, only that he was saying a good noble won't allow his smallfolk to be mistreated and wouldn't ruin their lives for the sake of a crown. I thought that's where the Robb criticism comes in. Robb should have chosen peace, not more fighting.

I also thought the good noble was being presented with Ned. Protect the vulnerable, be horrified by the death of the innocent, adhere to these personal values even when they are in defiance of what your world demands, even when it means betrayal of a "brother" or treason against your king. Obviously, Ned fell short of the ideal, but that's why his children will rise to power, because they have the same core values that Martin wants us to look at as good.

Personally, I think Arya being rebellious and kicking against the rules that annoy her is fun? My little sister was a tomboy, and I have sympathy for Sansa, but I'm amused by Arya. However, I do not attribute as much, uh, let's say, virtue to her behavior as others do. Nor do I attach the same amount of condemnation to Sansa (who recognizes class distinctions) that others do. To me, Martin used the Trident incident to illustrate how the class differences worked because it's a grievance of his that writers ignore them:

And that’s another of my pet peeves about fantasies. The bad authors adopt the class structures of the Middle Ages; where you had the royalty and then you had the nobility and you had the merchant class and then you have the peasants and so forth. But they don’t’ seem to realize what it actually meant. They have scenes where the spunky peasant girl tells off the pretty prince. The pretty prince would have raped the spunky peasant girl. He would have put her in the stocks and then had garbage thrown at her. You know. I mean, the class structures in places like this had teeth. They had consequences. And people were brought up from their childhood to know their place and to know that duties of their class and the privileges of their class. It was always a source of friction when someone got outside of that thing. And I tried to reflect that. (link)

With that in mind, I thought Martin wanted to impress upon the reader the severity of what the hierarchy meant, the prince can do whatever the hell he wants, the noble kid is in danger of being punished (Arya might have lost a hand, Sansa loses Lady), Mycah is killed. We were meant to understand, this world isn't ours. Arya in an important way, didn't understand how the world worked, not really, which is a tool the author was using, her grief and horror, to guide us through learning about station in ASOIAF. We needed to see and feel the disparity.

Obviously, Martin doesn't think that's a good system, but the author slapping us in the face with, “this is horrible but this is the way it is” doesn’t mean we’re to expect a total transformation of Westeros as a whole in the last few chapters of the final book. Martin wants to have some verisimilitude to (his perception of) medieval times, so imo, the idea was never turning Westeros on its head, but for people who cared to end up in control and be better. Not like a modern anarchist, but be good within the confines of that world.

Anyway, because of how many Arya fans hate Sansa/Sansa fans, I never did much with that side of the fandom, but I never had the impression they truly thought anyone would be revolutionizing things. It seemed to me that they believed her ending up QitN was revolutionary not in the sense that she would upend the system, but to them, having a girl who rejected societal norms come out on top felt like an important rejection of a traditional princess “winning.” I assume that's why so much of their focus is on Sansa and how she ruined Arya's life even though she and Arya have been separated for books. It isn't so much what the particular character will do as a leader, which theme is upheld by them ending up in a position of leadership, the "revolutionary" bit is determined by defiance of (what they believe are) genre norms, not societal overhaul on the page.

Now, if we accept that a total societal revolution is off the table in ASOIAF, and knowing that Martin opposes violence pretty vehemently, isn't in favor of imposing your will through violent means, how can someone who rejects society encourage gradual improvement? Wouldn't the "realism" Martin wants be found in a person, who say, can function really, really well within the structure of society but cares enough to try to make things better for others? Someone who can change it all from within because their societal position confers a certain amount of power, but also, they have a notable ability to win admiration, even when it is begrudgingly given? Someone whose compassion, even for enemies, is highlighted? Isn’t that someone who would be able to gradually bring about the kind of realistic change Martin would permit in his world?

[askmeaboutmyoctopustheory]

hey!! can i just ask what AD=JR means? in terms of asoiaf theories. i've never heard of it before i don't think

Ashara Dayne=Jyana Reed!! Ashara isn't dead, she's happily married and alive and smoking weed at Greywater Watch! Here's the lowdown:

We know that Ashara perhaps spent some time in Ned's tent at Harrenhal, we also know that Howland shared that tent. We're told that Ashara had an allegedly stillborn daughter who would have been conceived around that time. We're also told that Ashara allegedly killed herself from jumping off a tower at her family castle, but her body was never recovered.

We also know that Howland has a daughter who is about the same age as Robb and Jon. Howland was a bachelor at Harrenhal but he would have had to conceive Meera around the time he was traveling with Ned in the rebellion. While it's entirely possible to have had a quickie wedding and bedding like Ned and Cat, the Neck is out of the way and difficult to traverse. Howland likely wouldn't have been able to really slip away and get married and rejoin the party easily. Was Ashara's baby not in fact stillborn, but Meera Reed?

Howland's wife Jyana is listed in ASOS without a family name, she's just listed as "of the crannogmen". His daughter Meera is introduced in ACOK as his heir, which is a uniquely Dornish custom; the Daynes are Dornish(albeit "stony Dornish" who sometimes follow customs of the rest of the continent) and Ashara could have kept absolute primogeniture alive for her daughter.

That's the basics, here's a few more things that I also like to point out:

-Greywater Watch , the seat of House Reed is literally "Howl(and)'s moving castle". Howl in the novel catches falling stars. Ashara Dayne, of Starfall is symbolically a "falling star" caught by her own Howl.

-The Dornish retained the titles prince/princess when incorporated into the 7K and the crannogmen are closely associated with frogs, making Howland and Ashara the princess and the frog.

-One of the historical Daynes we know of is Dyanna, remarkably close to Jyana. Jyana could also be Jon&Lyanna, the secret that bound the survivors of the Tower of Joy.

-Jojen Reed has the unnaturally green eyes of those with greensight, but we're never told the color of his eyes prior to gaining the gift of the sight. Because he is usually portrayed with lighter hair, some fans of this theory speculate that he had purple eyes and light hair like the Dayne we know of close to his age, Edric.

In Deep Geek on youtube also has a great video hashing all this out but I don't think I missed anything in this post, still a great video! Don't know if you wanted this much of an explanation but clearly this is one theory I fully buy into lmao. I just love the idea of two very unlikely people finding love amongst immense tragedy.

[dreadwulf]

I wonder if part of it is landscape of media at the times, because I don't recall this being the issue when 2011 rolled around and a whole new audience was introduced via the show. It very much was a fun time of analyzing the story as something more meaningful then gritty fantasy.

But then the show got worse over time and around season 5 and 6 there was a shift in perspective. Because it did become more about the killing and unexpected deaths as the focus, and people then took that lens and put it on the books. So they're looking at the books with a lens of a story telling method that isnt there.

But because it's also so popular it means these people all look at their own stories to tell and use that mistaken lens of dark and gritty as their focal point when it is not about the death. Neds death wasnt there to be shocking and author kill happy because SO many moving parts had to come together and lead up to it.

But people were shocked by it, and that mistaken their shock as authorial intent and it has started a chain reaction of souring story telling as gritty sells. When it doesnt. GoT only did well when it had thr heart of the story in mind, as soon as it became about the death around season 5 did notably was not the cultural phenomenon it once was and nothing thing to mimic that grit has succeeded like early GoT.

If you read agot and then adwd youd be like "are these even the same story?" Because so much of that world was meaningfully filled out in between. Robbs death wasnt memorable because it was shock value, it was memorable because if EVERYTHING that led up to the character he had grown to be and the tragedy of having it taken away.

I think part of it is just really, general audiences only took away the violence and shock value and mistakenly decided that has always been the intent. When asoiaf and even early seasons GoT were using death and violence as a tool to tell a greater story, not to be the story itself. But that became the popular take away of the series and people both use it to wrongly judge asoiaf and also use it as a template for their own stories when that takeaway is entierly incorrect.

I think you're right and the dividing line you have noticed is right where D&D lost interest in adapting the books after they finished A Storm of Swords. There was still a great deal of misreading of the series before that, but they went completely off-book after that point and the series became exactly what I'm complaining about: feeding characters into a meatgrinder for shock twists!!! and not to serve the narrative, and not progressing character development past the point it reached in ASOS. Just repeating the same beats after that. Lack of follow-through on consequences of anything, like Cersei can just blow up the Vatican with the president and vice president inside it and there's no fallout. Everyone reverts to roughly where they were at in Book 2 having learned nothing. Big setpieces that wrap up in ways that are visually dramatic but make no thematic sense (I'm still mad about Arya killing the Night King, wtf was that). Etc.

I think it's entirely possible to misread the books this way all on one's own -- just visit reddit -- so I wouldn't blame it all on show-onlies. But the TV adaptation did not help, absolutely.

edit to add: I very much remember the "evil santa" and "GRRM loves death" memes in the early years of the show, though. I don't think that was new, it just got worse.

[la-pheacienne]

What do you think Condal and Hess think about people on both teams and casual watchers hating on Viserys? In a post-episode interview, Paddy Con and Condal both tried to bring up points that he did his best with a shitty hand dealt.

Ohhh another delicate question. Anon you are really putting me on the spot here. I hope my mutuals/followers won't absolutely hate me for this : Viserys was actually maybe the most fascinating character of the first season for me. There was one inconsistency with him though, the way he treated his brother was a bit weird. They should have explained it better, this bitterness he had towards Daemon. The way I saw it in the TV show (maybe that wasn't at all the intended message though) is that it was 100% Otto's fault, he poisoned Viserys' mind against Daemon like Wormtongue poisoned Theoden's mind against Eomer. That's how I interpret it anyway and it makes Viserys look very weak and naive, which he was anyway.

Why was he the most fascinating character to me? Well Viserys (along with Daemon) was the reason I started watching the show. I didn't want to watch it in the beginning then I saw one or two of his scenes with Daemon and I was sold. I loved the originality of the character : he was self-indulgent like Robert but had none of his strength, he was kind-mannered like Ned but without his honourable nature. He was a Targaryen so he had the inherent arrogance and sense of superiority that all Targaryens have, still he was the mildest, most down-to-earth, least megalomaniac version of a Targaryen ruler we have ever got. I adored that antithesis. His devotion to his daughter is easily his strongest redeeming quality, along with his endless guilt for the torture he put his first wife through. What he did to her was despicable, but in the end you get the sense that he paid the price, the slow painful decay of his body resembles his mental state after all. I also did like the fact that he didn't really want to get married, he was convinced that he should, and being weak and self-indulgent, he chose Alicent.

Of course he maritally raped her. That is disgusting. I don't really like the way the show went with the marital rape of the much younger Alicent, when in the book they were much closer in age and she had agency and ambition in this marriage. I don't think that introducing rape to a story that didn't have that and also showing it on screen is a valuable contribution. It seems like torture porn for me (same goes for Aegon, I don't think it was necessary to show him a rapist). It would be relevant if it was Alicent's villain origin story, but it wasnt. Still, it happened in the show. Despite that, I still find the character fascinating for the reasons mentioned above. And in his context, he was King, he needed to have heirs, she needed to provide him heirs, that was kind of her role in all of this, and he wasn't the worst possible husband she could have had under those circonstances.

I wouldn't say he tried to do his best with a shitty hand dealt, it was his own hand that made one mistake after the other. I will say that overall, Viserys had good intentions. His actions weren't good, despite his intentions. He shouldn't have tortured and killed his first wife, he shouldn't have married again and even worse Alicent, he shouldn't have continued to have kids with Alicent, further undermining his first daughter that he so loved. He should have cut the Hightowers' feet early on, he should have imposed himself on Otto, he shouldn't have neglected his other kids making them hate Rhaenyra. All of these were terrible mistakes. Still he had good intentions and genuinely tried to be a good King and a good father. Most of the best scenes in the show are easily his.

So yeah for these reasons I'm not exactly hating on Viserys, he is the only character there that gives a Greek tragedy vibe to the story. He was too weak and his weakness gave power to the treasonous Hightowers.

[griefpersevering]

the ripples they cause

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Chapter Fifteen: Strangers Again

Notes:

hello everyone!! I hope you've had a lovely week :D

the title from this chapter comes from the song Strange by Celeste!

I'm going on holiday next week, so no new chapter, but I should be back after that!

Sneak peek:

Until now, Peter had done his best to avoid the hundreds of articles, thousands of social media posts, and a handful of conspiracy theories about what happened in London. But now that the public opinion of Spider-Man could affect the lives of hundreds of people like him, he starts looking.

Other than the few MJ shared on the school's rooftop to make him laugh, the internet paints him as the villain in his own tragedy; a power hungry, sub-human monster that destroys monuments for fun and killed Mysterio for his own gain.

So, Daredevil is right. The government wants to use him as a reason to go after other vigilantes. And, in turn, Mr. Murdock was also right — the only solution is to fix the way the public sees him.

"Whatcha looking at?" MJ asks, nudging his arm. "You look like someone just ran over your dog."

Peter locks his phone and shoves it in his back pocket. MJ raises an eyebrow, but the door to the cafe opens before either of them can say anything else.

"Hi," Ned says, ambling over to his usual seat and tossing his backpack on the floor. "No Craig today?"

MJ glances at Peter, narrowing her eyes, before turning to Ned. "He has an appointment with his divorce lawyer," she says. Peter's glad his wife is leaving him, but he's more glad that he won't be there to bother them for an afternoon.

"I didn't know lawyers worked on a Saturday," Ned says.

MJ shrugs. "Crime never sleeps."

She grabs a jelly donut for Ned and slides it to him, leaning on the counter. He smiles back at her and takes a bite, covering his face in powdered icing.

Even though they both used to be his friends, Peter feels like he's intruding on a private moment. All of their old inside jokes and shared experience is gone now, and he's left feeling like a third wheel in a friendship he used to be the center of.

"So, Peter," MJ asks, her voice poison-sweet. "What were you looking at on your phone?"

"And how's your hand?" Ned adds, his voice muffled by the donut in his mouth.

He should've known she wouldn't drop his weird behaviour. "All fixed," Peter says, holding up his hand to show Ned. "And I was looking at the new vigilante laws they want to pass."

MJ nods, the corners of her mouth turning up in pleasant surprise. "I heard about that. The government is desperate for control after the Sokovia Accords fell through."

Ned holds up a hand to get their attention. "Did I miss a big announcement, or...?"

MJ picks up a cloth and starts wiping the kitchen surfaces. "They want to crack down on enhanced individuals who are acting outside the law," she explains. "If they commit an act of 'vigilantism', they get arrested and their identity publically revealed."

After everything Peter has done to hide his identity, he can't let it happen again. At least this time, if everyone finds out he's Spider-Man, no one else will be affected.

Ned frowns. "But that's not fair! They're superheroes."

"As soon as you're on the list, you don't count as human anymore," Peter adds. "No more human rights, so they can treat you however they want."

Ned looks down at his donut, frowning. "That's terrible."

MJ hums in agreement, dipping her cloth in the washing up bowl. "I was thinking of organising a protest."

Peter's head snaps towards her. "What?"

"They're putting these laws into place because of what happened with Spider-Man and Mysterio," she says. "But Spider-Man has saved our life a few times, so I feel like we owe him something in return."

Peter swallows. He wasn't sure if they'd remember that. "You've met Spider-Man?"

"He saved our class while we were on a school trip in DC. The elevator in the Washington Monument fell, and he caught it."

"He also saved us in London!" Ned adds. "Mysterio's drones were coming after us. I saw him get attacked by them, so he couldn't have been in control like the news says!"

MJ frowns. "That was also on a school trip."

"He's my favourite superhero," Ned continues, beaming. "He got me a Christmas present, too, so we're basically best friends."

Oh, if only Ned knew how true that used to be.

"What was the gift?" MJ asks, pausing her cleaning to scrutinise Ned's reaction.

"A Lego Star Wars set."

He was never supposed to find out where the present came from. "How do you know it's from Spider-Man?"

"He gave it to my neighbour and she dropped it off," he explains. "Lydia is also a huge fan, so she totally freaked out."

MJ tosses her cloth into the sink. "Did it have Iron Man wrapping paper?"

Ned frowns. "How did you know that?"

"I think I also got one," she says, rubbing her temple. "Someone left a present on my windowsill, but I'm on the tenth floor. I had no idea how it got there."

Ned whips his phone out of his jacket pocket, his eyes growing wide with excitement. "I'll text Betty to see whether it was our whole class, or if we're just Spider-Man's favourites. This is so cool!"

MJ shakes her head. "I'm guessing you didn't have a vigilante-ridden Christmas?" she asks Peter.

He scratches the back of his neck. "Not unless you count the fact that Daredevil rescued my neighbours once."

Continue reading on AO3!

[sdwolfpup]

Just sitting here, thinking about Brienne of Tarth out there doing good in a world that constantly tries to tell her good isn't possible or worth doing, and by sheer force of will changing the world around her. Reshaping what can never be into what is.

[befooremoonrisee]

stannis baratheon is such an underrated and misunderstood character. he is the literal definition of a middle child, always overlooked and ignored.

since he was a child, he was overshadowed by robert's strenght and renly's charm. he lost his parental figures and his older brother went away to the vale. he had to step out and act like the lord of storm's end.

then, the robert's revolution happened.the storm's end's siege started and he bodied the targaryens. he was barely an adult and he managed to keep the castle during years despite all the adversities and his lack of charisma as a leader. he was like 18 and he fought until the end, never giving up. he was an essencial part of robert's victory.

stannis has daddy issues. he just needs to be reassured by an older male figure, but he never got that. his brother was away, parents dead and then robert came back and he was an asshole. he not only overlooked him as lord's of storm's end, but he humiliated him by having sex in his bed during his wedding. he grew resentful, but he was always loyal to robert until the end.

he was a sad, lonely man whose only true friend was an ex-smuggler, not the type of person you imagine a lord associating with. he was wedded to a woman he did not love nor respect and his only daughter and heir, the only person he loved, was almost killed by a toy he bought. his life was always full of tragedy, resentment and self-pity.

he was the perfect person to be targeted by a cult and so he was. he was completely brainwashed by melisandre and the religion of r'hllor. imagine if all your life you have been the second choice, the one no one likes, that dude who is only kept around because he is useful and then a beautiful woman comes to you and tells you you're the chosen one and your fate is to save the world from complete destruction, who wouldn't have become a religious fanatic? melisandre was giving him the respect and appreciation no one gave him before.

he singlehandedly defeated renly and joffrey with just one death. and that death broke him even more and made him madder. he just killed the brother he practically raised and that was the point of no return. if he wasn't azor ahai renly's death would just be for nothing. the war he was fighting would be for nothing. all the death, all the suffering would just be for nothing.

he was possibly the best strategist and military man in the war of the five kings. tywin is just ruthless polician, not that good in the battlefield, he was constantly beaten by 16-year old robb stark. robb stark was a talented warrior and strategist, but he lacked the experience. renly was just vibes and balon greyjoy was an old man with dellusions of grandeur.

however, by no means is he innocent, he killed people in a horrific way, but he was brainwashed by a cult. he burned people and children alive, but he thought that those deaths had a purpose. what is the life of one person compared to the survival of the human race? he was not the only monarch in westeros to sacrifice people for the greater good. dany uses fire as a means to punishment and she sacrificed a person to give birth to her dragons. aegon v killed half of his family trying to get back the dragons, but we don't see those deaths that badly because we understand the endgame. dragons are needed to defeat white walkers. stannis believes he is needed to defeat white walkers.

i think most of the misunderstanding that comes with stannis comes from two places: he has the charisma of a stick and we are never in his mind. we witness his mistakes and tribulations, but we don't see why he makes that decisions. the character see him as a self-righteous prick and that's how we see him, but ned was also kind of a self-righteous prick, but he had certain middle-aged-dad charm and we were with him, we understood him.

stannis is the only king who says "fuck the iron throne i have more important stuff to deal with", he gets his shit together and he heads north to try to help the night's watch with the white walkers. no one else did that. no one else gave a fuck. just him. and book!daenerys won't be so eagered to help north immediately because she will have her own dance of the dragons to deal with, fighting the only kingdom who has a dragon body count. stannis will probably be the only king who sticks around to help in winds of winter.

stannis' fate in the books will be sad, he will probably have a horrible demise. probably in his death he will realise that all the people he burned alive was for nothing and his conscious will make him feel immense pain. he will die knowing that he lost himself trying to fulfill a prophecy that was never meant to be his. because prophecies in the world of ice and fire only bring pain, misery and death.

disclaimer: i don't condone any of his actions, i just think that he's more complex and interesting than most people give him credit for. and every girl deserves to have her middle aged villainous character she will defend until the end.

another disclaimer: in this house we stan book!stannis, if he kills shireen just for defeating the boltons, he's dead to me. (i think he will burn shireen but like for a battle against the white walkers, like a last resort kind of thing).

[cappymightwrite]

Do you think Dany would be a tragic hero? Or she would be an anti villain?

Apologies for the late reply!

I'm going to refer back to an ask from a while ago that lays out some useful definitions regarding villains/anti-heroes etc, but in particular @a-dance-with-wolves 's great addition 😊

Now let's look at the definition of a tragic hero:

Aristotle's Tragic Hero

First and foremost, a tragic hero is the protagonist of a tragedy. In his Poetics, Aristotle suggests that the hero of a tragedy must evoke a sense of pity and fear within the audience. But the focus of the hero should not be the loss of their goodness. Instead, Aristotle establishes that the concept of pity is an emotion that must be elicited when, through their actions, the character receives undeserved misfortune, while the emotion of fear must be felt by the audience when they contemplate that such misfortune could possibly befall themselves in similar situations.

Misfortune is therefore visited upon the tragic hero not through vice or depravity, but through some error of judgement. In this way, in AGOT, I'd say that Ned Stark fits the mould of a tragic hero quite well!

Aristotle's tragic heroes are flawed individuals who commit, without evil intent, great wrongs or injuries that ultimately lead to their misfortune, often followed by tragic realization of the true nature of events that led to this destiny. This means the hero still must be — to some degree — morally grounded. 

In Ned's case, the killing of Lady, for example, is one such great wrong, as talked about above, it is an affront on the old gods — "If the gods had sent these wolves, what folly had he done?" (AGOT, Eddard IV). So, Ned makes several errors of judgement, without real ill intent, that lead to his tragic downfall. But D@ny?

Tragic Hero or Anti-Villain?

Looking at the above... I don't think I could classify her as a tragic hero, because despite the misfortunes that happen to her (being sold to Drogo, SA, abusive relationships etc) rightly elicting sympathy and pity in the audience... I think her character's relationship with fear is far less passive and far more interesting.

Instead, imo, D@ny is a far more active participant — "fire and blood" — in elicting fear in others and in the reader. It plays into themes of domination, suppression, and a way of keeping power and gaining control. By ADWD at least, we do not fear what happens to her happening to us, we fear what she does or may do happening to us (if we were a part of the story). So, with that in mind, my read of her is that by the end of the series she will fall most neatly into the anti-villain, or sympathetic villain, category. The hero of the other side.

But it's all a slow progression towards GRRM's endpoint(s), such is the nature of a narrative, so I wouldn't say she's "fully formed" in her anti-villainy quite yet... but we're heading that way. And also, I say neatly not completely because GRRM does love his blurring and moral greyness. It's easy to give characters labels to better understand them, but some of the most compelling characters are full of contradictions and only the text and our own intrepretations can tell us what we really think, and that's a different thing to each reader.

At the end of the day though, for me, as a political leader, I find her hypocrisy (which is where her villainy rears its head most) very difficult to swallow. I can't get past it or justify it as part of a greater good. And yet I do find her sympathetic and I do find her compelling. But as with any person seeking out power, I can't turn off my critical approach and I don't think GRRM wants us to.

Thanks for the ask! 😊

[asoiaf-essays-collector]

I can't stress enough how it frustrates me that people just don't see the layered subtlty of asoif series. Majority of fandom seems to blatantly hate or ignore or misunderstand completely at least one character that is often so obviously suffered so violently in favour of more popular and conventionally "interesting" characters.

The way that some people, it seems, just paint a numb puppet if a character doesn't get enough "screen time"...

Read between lines, you people! Information found between lines can take you to the beautiful land of character arcs and conflicts you ignored before!

The thing is, princess Elia is a very tragic character and the fact that nobody from the "main cast" noticed it (apart form maybe Ned - but he still was more shocked by tragedy of Elia and her children death more than acknowledged the tragedy of her life) makes her story even more tragic.

In fact I think her story is far more tragic than Lyanna's - because her doom was almost inevitable, if it makes sense. Lyanna's fate was more of a chain of events and decisions, whereas Elia was doomed from the moment she married Rhaegar - the thing she had no free will over. She had no control over her fate and couldn't escape it no matter what - even if Rhaegar didn't kidnap Lyanna and Robert didn't rebel she still would die from yet another childbirth or Tywin would have her killed so that Cersei could marry Rhaegar.

And even if we take aside the fact that Great Houses in Westeros are treated like actual kingdoms and Great Families are standing higher than a common nobility in the same way as common nobility stands higher than common folk in social hierarchy.

I did a little bit of fact check before writing and here's a list of little things that makes Elia's story even worse and that some of fans forgot or ignored:

- Elia's health was very poor ever scince she was born prematurely. And it was in Tyrion's chapter, so kinda common knowledge amongst great houses. So yeah, it was this shitty of Rhaegar to start baby-producing campaign with her right after the wedding.

- When Martells suggested to marry Cersei to Oberin or Jaime to Elia Tywin Lannister with his own "cosplaying royalty" quirk refused and suggested Elia to marry his son Tyrion. Yes, it was taken as a great insult. Yes, the insult part was also in the books.

- His rasist highness king refused to touch her firstbourn child because of her Dornish origins. Complete quote because "she smells Dornish". Yes, this racist.

- After giving birth to the first child she was sick for 6 months, after giving birth to the second one she nearly died. Yeah, she was supposed to give birth to royal descendants, but I assure you that as a daughter of the Great House she was also supposed to be treated not as just baby-producing woman. We can see throughout the asoif events that while yeah, descendants are important, sometimes connections via marriage (or holding a wife hostage) hence wife's well-being is also crucial. Even Targs wouldn't want Dorn with its army of 10 000 men as their enemies if they were in their right mind. They weren't in their right mind but luckily managed to piss off another 3 Great houses before they pissed off Martells entirely. So yeah, fan favourite boy Rhaegar absolutely could wait for a little bit longer before pushing through Elia yet another child.

- Tournament incident? Yeah, apparantly a year after their marriage and not long after the birth of first child, you know, the one that sickened her for 6 months.

- Because Elia was being held hostage Doran had to aid Targs - the very same family that mistreated her so badly. If not Dornish army - they wouldn't stand a chance, cause Lannisters remained neutural and Tyrells are known opportunists, they wouldn't have fought for the lost cause.

So imagine being nearly dead from childbirth, your husband openly not just fucks around but fucking leaves you even if "leaving your spouse" thing just doesn't even exist yet and your crazy in-law makes your family send an army to die for him so he doesn't kill you. But, yeeeeeaaah, we don't really know if she was upset or angry. Wtf?!

- Well, I suppose she could be not upset nor angry if she was in the state of mental shock or even if she were completely emotionally dead after near-death experience with second birthgiving.

- I don't even wanna talk about her death, it makes me physically sick.

So yeah, Elia Martell tragedy is hugely mistreated by fandom. Just because she doesn't have this saint girl halo around her in memories of pov characters she somehow becomes less sympathetic.

And all of that being said:

I actually disagree with you - there are NO blanks.

Like, what else information do people need? She was openely insulted from the start, her family was pissed off and we don't get any "but she was madly in love with him" excuse that could possibly suggest she could have any other feelings about the whole thing. There are no blanks.

The only way it could be said any louder is if Martin wrote with actual words that "Elia was upset and angry".

Had to see another post in Elia Martell tag about how Elia is a silent victim and how we don't know if she was really angry or upset with Rhaegar's infidelity.

A woman who was a Princess of a progressive kingdom which values women for being more than child incubators

Had to move to a racist court to marry a man who was delusional and who forced her to become a broodmare and got her pregnant in quick succession even after she was bedridden

Had to deal with said husband being a deadbeat father who didn't protect her and their daughter from his racist father and stayed silent

Was kept as a hostage by her racist FIL so he can blackmail and extort from her brother to send her kingdom's men to fight and die in a war that wasn't theirs

This definitely sounds like something a woman from a progressive nation, who is ridiculed and treated with distrust for her race, would be ok with. Right?

There are so many blanks in the books about so many things yet we all come up with detailed and nuanced theories to

fill those blanks.

Yet, some of yall can't fill the very simple gaps left about Elia's response to her husband's infidelity, disrespect and forced impregnation.

You operate under this belief that GRRM didn't mention that she wasn't upset so of course, she wasn't angry at Rhaegar or his actions.

Sure that is exactly the way to digest whatever content GRRM writes.

Are yall deliberately this obtuse?

Please get out of Elia Martell tags with such shit takes.

[omegas-spaghettios]

NO WAY HOME SPOILER DISCUSSION

I'm not lying to you: major spoilers!

I loved this film. I'm going again tomorrow but I just need to talk about it. I'll make future posts about themes and shit but for now I wanna talk about characters.

Happy/Flash/Betty/Old Supporting Cast: They were good, not really new on anything, but i really liked them before anyway! Just, these characters and the teachers and such, they aren't the main takeaways and I don't wanna spend much time with them tbh.

Mysterio: I'm glad he wasn't still alive or pulled from other universes, as people theorized. He is better dead, it works with the themes of the trilogy about murder and death to have him be dead. He was fantastic in FFH, I'm glad we didn't use him too much and left room for this movie's rather huge cast.

JJJ: Only character I have more negative than positives about. I know he isn't the same as Raimi's, but he had so little presence and it was sad to me? In the ending when they showed him talking about Spider-Man's identity, I kinda got shocked cause wow, he really was in the movie and I forgot. Simmons' JJJ has been the best comedic character out of ANY Spider-Man film and it made me kinda sad to realize his return left so little impact.

MJ: Not a whole lot to say, she was really cool and really supportive, it was heartbreaking to see her forget Peter. She is very solid and enjoyable, just not any intricate thoughts, what can I tell you, she was awesome and that's all I need to say.

May: I called her death with my friends, just wanted to add that. But she really got her dues here, the previous movies pretty much reduced her to hot aunt and I'm so happy she took a much more central role. She pushed Peter to be better than he was, to really own up to his power by taking responsibility, and I'm so happy for it. Her death was heartbreaking, but my goodness, she was better here than in any of her other MCU appearances.

I also love how, even right before she died, she demanded that Peter saved her killer. THAT'S the Parker way, just, UGH.

Ned: I liked that he showed a knack for wizardry and, while not the biggest loss by the end of the movie, it makes me sad that the climax ensured he wouldn't be able to pursue his talents, you know? A layer of tragedy to an already tragic ending, but it made him very happy. I'm glad that in his final days with Spider-Man (for now), he finally got to stop living the superhero life through Peter and got a bit for himself.

Eddie/Matt: Very faithful proper introductions into the MCU. I know this Matt technically isn't the Netflix one but I still was FLOORED when he appeared. Catching the brick, the glasses, it was him. Eddie was a mess, confused, looked like shit, they truly knew what we loved about him. Very faithful cameos that enhanced the overall multiverse feel without being overpowering. Also, the Symbiote tease is incredible. Peter has a huge darkness in him now, the Symbiote can really prey on that. I'm excited yet fearful for their futures together.

Wong: Wong got his due and it made me so happy. He deserves to be Sorcerer Supreme and I'm very happy that he is, at least for now. I also like that the trailer was misleading and that Wong in the movie was more sympathetic. He knew how dangerous it was to make the spell work, but he didn't condemn it like in the trailer, and it added a great deal of empathy for him as he acknowledged that yes, it's dangerous, but this kid is suffering and he has done so much, they can try and give some back.

Strange: This is not a Sinister Six film by any means, but Strange does make six antagonists, and he certainly is an antagonist. He is in character, this is him. He's a bit meaner than the Avengers appearances yeah (but look at how different Steve is from TFA to The Avengers, crossovers stretch characters), but he is not ooc. With full knowledge, he let Tony die for a greater good, I totally buy that he would not care for these 5 villains lives. And I think his arrogance and bite does come from being demoted, that probably wounded his pride. He was harsh, but in the end he said "those who love and care for you, we won't remember you". He said "we". He cares for Peter, despite his, uh, more extreme reactions.

Lizard: Got a design upgrade, a slight one, but he did. He looked more reptilian and less live action Goomba, his voice wasn't as deep, and overall I was satisfied with the few moments he got. I have a real soft spot for Curt Conners in TASM 1, and while I knew he wouldn't get as much attention, what they did do felt faithful and loving all the same, and I was happy.

Sandman: His redesign was interesting, it helped him stand out. His constant sandy form did help keep the scenes from being "a bunch of guys in weird clothes standing next to a guy with octopus arms", it kept the scenes of them all together feeling more otherworldly. I also love that he worked with Peter on the spot, very faithful to his redemption. Idk why he went villain again and I'll look for it tomorrow, but yeah. Also sidenote, I'm glad that the lines about "them all dying to Spider-Man" was cut, it was inaccurate for 2 of the 5 villains and I'm glad it got a bit more nuance than they all died.

Electro: He was certainly much better than he was in TASM 2. I'm really glad that they brought Jaimi back and let him play a version of the character he liked more, it shows respect for the old movies BY changing them. They honor what the actor wanted and I think that shows so much more love for Spider-Man and the team behind the Amazing films, they allow them to improve on things they didn't like rather than stick strictly to the past. I loved his presence, he felt like a cougar ready to pounce at any moment.

Doc Ock: He was reduced to laughing stock a lot but I think it fits. Otto is an incredibly prideful man, so him being so thoroughly disarmed by a 17 year old boy (and laughed at by him and his friends) would certainly make him indignant. Either way, he has many stand out scenes. His introduction was incredibly tense, particularly when he started pulling the helicopter into Peter, trying to shred him. Alfred Molina was so damn good when Otto was cured. You could see the disbelief, the shock, then suddenly the relief and joy, it was incredibly beautiful. I also am very glad he got to build a relationship with Norman, something they didn't get to in their own trilogy. His rescue of Peter 2 and 3 as well as his discussion with Peter 2 was incredible as well. Overall a very faithful adaptation.

Norman/Goblin: Tied for my favorite character, he was just raw. Willem Dafoe is the most stand out performance, he was incredible in this film. Also fun fact, Willem only came back on the condition that he did all of his own stunts. This 66 year old man was doing the stunts of the main villain of one of the biggest superhero films of all time, just, wow. Norman was so kindly and I felt for him, his fear, his confusion. The way he nearly cried when he mentioned that his son no longer existed, I just, it hurt. I know he showed more kindness and love in this than in Spider-Man 1, but you really appreciate what you have once it's gone, and that makes you appreciate what you do have. His relationship with May was also adorable.

Well, until it wasn't.

Goblin is mortifying, easily a top 3 MCU villain and a STRONG contender for the best, idk I haven't thought too hard about it. He brought something out of Peter that we haven't seen. Even before he killed May, Goblin made Peter fight so much more brutally, their fight in the apartment complex is chilling. Goblin cackling as Peter beat him down was so damn terrifying. I also loved how Willem portrayed Norman/Goblin leading up to Goblin taking control. Every mention of Goblin made Norman seem a bit more off, especially on my second watch it created such Dread, seeing Goblin come slowly, piece by piece.

I'll save most of the discussion of his fight with Peter on the Shield in Peter's section, but Goblin did that. Goblin brought our Peter, the MCU hero most against killing, to absolute blood lust, and that alone makes him a monster.

Peter 3/Andrew: The second character tied for my favorite (one of three). Andrew legitametly was so good in this. I am astounded that he was honestly more cool to see show up than Tobey, his introduction was so much better.

Let's take a sidenote real quick: I don't like TASM 2. I loved Andrew in the first one. He didn't quite know how to explain his genius, he lacked some tact with time, he had anger issues, but he did everything he could in the end to do right by his uncle and the world. His Spider-Man was initially so mean and aggressive but you can see it mellow out as he comes to better terms with Ben's death. He was incredible and definetly not too cool. Yeah, he was hot and skateboards, but he was so bad at interacting with his classmates that I can see why he was bullied, but he was so smart and kind that I can see why he grabbed Gwen's eye. TASM 2 ruined that. There are multiple instances in fights where he fucks around needlessly and people die. In the opening fight with Rhino, he gets on the truck and messes around for half a minute before jumping off to help people. If he had just stopped Rhino instead of goofing off less people would have died, as right after he jumped off Rhino plowed through an intersection, undoubtedly killing the occupants of the cars he hits. I also hate how he refused to help Harry because of potential consequence, Peter saves everyone he can, even his villains. Speaking of, he straight up murdered Electro and no one cared. He also just stalks Gwen? Gwen's death was very well done, but I can't stand Peter in that movie otherwise. I don't mind Peter being in the wrong, but the movie never makes any attempt to paint these things as wrong or mistakes, and that is what really irks me.

In NWH they refine both interpretations very well. He is clunky and weird and anxious, even more so than the other two, but he's so endearing and you can tell that he has more confidence despite not quite nailing interaction with other people yet. He has the failings of TASM 2, but this time they are shown as wrong. He mentions not pulling his punches anymore. Now, that doesn't exclusively mean killing, but if a guy who can throw cars is going all out on a regular crook, well, 1 + 1 = 2. But it works for this movie! His guilt, his regret, he hates what he has become. He wants to stop Tom's Peter from becoming what he did, and he is reminded of what Spider-Man is himself.

I also love him catching MJ. I don't view it as a redemption, really, it isn't. Gwen is still dead, the people he killed are still dead. But it shows that he's back on the horse. He learned and he is genuinely trying to save someone he views to be his younger brother and his loved ones. It was a catch of love for his younger brother, not of redemption for himself. And the way he cries, it's painful to remember, but he's guarding his brother's loved ones. I just, I love Andrew in this film so much. He also saves Electro in this film and shows a genuine want to be his friend, his true friend, which again, shows his growth from the dark path he went down.

Peter 2/Tobey: He was really cool to see! He had mad Youth Pastor vibes and I loved his interactions with his villains, especially how he saves Norman. I'm going to keep his section brief because God this is long, but I adored him.

Peter 1/Tom, who I will call Peter: the third favorite in the three way tie. His arc is incredible. I love how sinister his final confrontation is with Goblin, how brutal it is. It's chilling that when Tobey stopped him he didn't immediately stop pushing, he kept going for a bit, he was trying to go through Tobey, he was willing to kill him to get to Goblin, if even for a moment. But he doesn't. I have a post here if you want to hear my extended thoughts on Peter and his arc in the MCU about murder.

His final decision is strangely optimistic. He is hurt deeply that no one remembers him, but he isn't crushed. He seems almost optimistic about the future. MJ and Ned are in MIT and he is happy for them. He is in no rush to get back to where he was with them, he seems content to give it time. He also seems happy to be in his own apartment finally. He is a young man ready to keep going with life, despite all of his losses, and that is also core to Peter Parker, how he keeps going despite the hell he goes through.

I also love two of his new suits. The inside out look was just to sell toys, but the other two? Amazing. I love that the upgraded suit was really just a gold piece of armor over his FFH suit. I love that it is a symbol of what he stands for, Ock gave it to him as a gift for curing him. I also love his final swing suit. It's homemade so it looks cheaper which I love, but I also love how he designed it to look more like the other two Peters' suits.

[sweetestpopcorn]

Hey popcorn, do you like Sansa? Thoughts on her? What would you like to tell the Jonsa stans.

I have heard so much from Dany antis, that Dany is unsuited for Jon, her temper, her actions. Now I'm a great Dany fan, don't care at all about Jon and his arc, and not a fan of Jonerys. How is their pairing bad Incestuous but Jonsa a good Incestuous pairing - something Ned stark would have approved of.

Hi there 🤗

Well those are a lot of questions XD

I do like bookSansa, not showSansa (not a fan of Sophie or how Sansa was written in the show, sorry), but bookSansa I do. In a way I think she is a good representation of how self centred young people are and how they will hurt others significantly without that being their intention. I like flawed characters like her as I think they feel very real. And back in the days of seasons 1 and 2 most people I knew couldn’t stand her. I had a friend who called her Sonsa instead of Sansa (sonsa is Portuguese for a person who is kind of fake and posing). And my general impression was that people were too hard on her. Yes we have other young characters, sometimes younger, that are not immature like Arya and Dany, but to me the surprise isn’t someone Sansa’s age acting like she did, it’s someone of Arya and Dany’s ages acting so mature and having such a deep understanding of the world and such a high emotional intelligence.

At the same time, I also feel for the tragedy of her story. She had a highly privileged and sheltered life that did not prepare her for what the world would throw her way, and the mistakes she made all came with a very high disproportional cost. I feel this is true of many of us out there. Our parents try to protect us, but in protecting us too much they do not prepare us for life, and this makes growing up much more painful. 

Besides this I also like that her story mostly focuses on court drama #dramaalert which as y'all know I LIVE FOR THE DRAMA; and many of the characters around her are very VERY interesting like Little Finger and Myranda Royce which is a queen - if only Rhea Royce was like her, Daemon's marriage wouldn't have been such a sh:t show XD change my mind!

So all in all, I am interested in her story and I am here to see her trying to seduce Harry the Heir like #majordramaalert and what exactly Little Finger will do next.

Do I think she will ever be queen or queen of the North?

But I still want to see how it goes for her yes 😂

As for Jonsas…

First, I see no problem with people having crackships. Like ship whomever you want I don’t care 🛳⛴🚢 as long as you don’t come to me and make or want to force me to also like it. I don’t care what you like. I might be puzzled at a few choices but it’s a free country so what I think of other people’s ships is my issue not theirs. Personally in the asoiaf series, I don’t think I have any non canon ships currently (though in the past I did like the Theon/Sansa pairing in a like weird AU - don’t you dare judge me). And this was WAY before season 5 btw so not show induced. In other series I do like some crackships, like in Harry Potter I love the Hermione/Draco crackship especially in movie canon and I blame the incredible chemistry Tom and Emma had because WoW the possibilities. Plus a slytherin and a griffindor together makes all the sense in the world but ok JK 🙄 have it your way 😂

Second, around the time of seasons 1 and 2 when I wanted some fanfiction the majority of pairings I saw were either Dany/Jorah (wtf was wrong with the world 🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮 oh wait this is the same world who ships Rhaenyra with Criscel… yeah makes sense) or Dany/Jon. I also saw a lot of Arya/fAegon. Like vast vast majority.

I don’t remember ever seeing a Jon/Sansa fic and in fact, I remember I was not only shocked at more recently finding out how many people shipped them (good for you if you like them and can see it) but how they actually (trying not to laugh here and failing) tried to justify it with the books?!

Hello?! Excuse me?! Did we read the same sh:t?!!!!

How?! Just… just how?!

Like back to me for a moment, I love Draco/Hermione fics (movie based ok? In the books he was pure trash, Tom made Draco so much more charming and funny), but I am not going to try and justify this with book or movie material (past the actors looking good together). I accept this only exists in an AU. The fact that Jonsas try to justify it it’s just… and the abuse they inflict on ACTUAL people because of a crackship is nothing short of disgusting.

What I would say to them you ask?

Nothing. I don’t know them. I don’t want to know them. They do them and I do me.

What I would say to everyone, however, is, you don’t have a right to go and pester others. You just don’t. Nor to insult someone because you don’t agree with them. Nor to chase them. Stay in your lanes. Like is it so hard so see something you don’t like and just unfollow or block the person? What gives you the right to insult someone to their faces and stalk them to no end?

Fandom is something for us to enjoy. We should focus on what we love not what we hate. We should try to find people who share our views or that we can have healthy debates with. And it is absolutely not ok to bully others.

I think when something is doing us more harm than good it’s when we have to stop. And this is what I advise many Dany antis who spent more time obsessing over her than their faves. But this is my view. I would never go into another person’s blog to tell them this and I appreciate that if I bother any of you, you make good use of the block/unfollow button. Friendly reminder that I do not answer haters or trolls <3 I laugh at them and delete. I come here to have fun not fights, and if I want a fight, I have one face to face. I put my money where my face is and I am not a keyboard warrior.

Now to end this on the positive note of wincest ❤, again, I struggle to understand how anyone who is bothered by incest - even if it’s “only” cousin-cousin, uncle-niece, aunt-nephew - and big age differences and underaged marriages can appreciate the asoiaf series, I just do. Like dude, go watch/read something else, but don’t get outraged at things the author clearly enjoys writing about and does NOT portrait in a negative light. 

Also friendly reminder to any anti-targ fan who is a fan of other houses and that is very bothered by incest that house Stark had two uncle-niece marriages. You’re welcome besties <3

Also, also, Anon let me hug you because I am a major Dany fan that - at the risk of being cancelled - admits they don’t care about Jon all that much. I mean, it’s the Dany show I am here for all the way!

All the best to you Anon! And sorry that I took so long to answer 🤗

[orbital-obvious]

I really enjoyed reading your input. Thank you for the comment! Some notes: (which I'm putting in READ MORE because at this point, it's gonna clog the feed)

"They don't do that to favour Rhaenyra. They don't even like her. They erased and downplay the abuse she went through to make the Greens look better. But at the same time they have to cater to a certain audience and simplify Rhaenyra's character to appear woke. They don't actually support her, they don't acknowledge her story is a tragedy."

I have a hard time understanding this. Please elaborate, if you will.

"Rhaenyra is not a feminist and she doesn't need to be. There's something called a precedent, her reign would've helped many women instead her usurpation made it worse for every woman after her death."

HARD agree with Rheanyra setting a precedent, I wrote what I wrote becasue ppl seem to favour the Blacks as the "Feminist side" and I just don't see it. I see Rhaenyra sitting the throne as an act of Targ Exceptionalism - for her and those like her, not for Westoros at large. Though I do think it might have helped women's rights (depending on the way Rhaenyra would rule, which is yet to be presented in the show). idk if the usurpation made it worse after her death IN SHOW CANON.

"Again, Rhaenyra's rule would've created a precedent that would've helped all women"

You know what? Your'e right. I agree. But I think, to me, it's not ABOUT helping women, which is why I phrased it the way I did. Again, my commentary is more about audience perception. Either way thank you for pointing that out and setting it straight.

"One of the stupidest opinions about book or show If. Daemon wanted them death, he would've done it when they were children and it wasn't suspicious. This theory complete underminds Daemon's intelligence in favour of making him a mustache twirling villain."

I have very low opinion of Daemon, so it's not unbiased. I think he hadn't tried to do that yet he it's because he is too busy securing Rheanyra's rule (and his influence, besides). IDK if he would have killed Jace (considering he is to be married to his daughter and therefore his blood ends on the throne anyway) . Either way, having those legitimate, fully targeryan looking children is a risk to Rheanyra's children who are not that.

One last note: I differentiate the book and the show - What happened in the books but not in the show/what was not shown in the show is irrelevent to in-story discussions. It's a point we'll agree to disagree on. I didn't answer your points that are seemingly book driven, becasue imo it's a completly different narrative.

"He did. Which is the reason he sneaked out to do it, because he knew they wouldn't have let him. ... ultimately they are monitored by the head of the house and you need their permission to claim or have one."

Yeah? That was never established in the show. Also, real talk, it brings you again to "are dragon property" and I guess the answer is yes?

"Dragons are like the direwolves, "

Ok here I have to dissagree. Putting my own theories/headcanon aside for a moment, the Stark kids getting the Direwolves was an unprecedented event (or, at least, not a tradition actively practiced by Ned's time). Direwolves WERE viewed as pets of sorts, even by Ned, and the idea was that their number and sexes was a match to Ned's children and their genders. We didn't see anything about inheretence - Dragons outlive humans for many generations so it's a much bigger deal than Direwolves which I presume do not have the lifespan of a dragon. It's a very different situation, imo.

Throwing my hat to the Team Black/Green Discourse

I'm bad bound due to shoulder pain, and I've been reading Team Black/Green takes and you guys, it's so fun. Here are my personal takes:

While exploring the changes from the book (and the reasons those changes were made) is interesting in a meta way, you can't assume book only details apply to show characters. What you see is what you get, for better or for worse

The show clearly favors Rhaenyra and tries to weave this "girlboss won't let the MEN put her down" narrative, and at the same time does her a great disservice because Rhaenyra and her faction are boring as fuck as a result. The greens faults are not only acknowledged but highlighted - which make them more interesting, human, and multidimentional, but then again the narrative goes and minimizes their fears and hurt, so, well, double edged sword.

Aegon only cares for his legitimate children. I also don't think the greens as half as unified as they are precived to be.

The question of "Did Aemond steel Vaghar?" is actually "are dragons property?" with extra steps.

Aegon was a usurper, and the Greens (Otto, if we're real) used the inherent misogyny of Westeros to instill him on the throne.

WITH THAT BEING SAID, I have a hard time thinking Rhaenyra is this feminist queen. It's freedom for Rhaenyra, and maybe other women with dragons. I think it makes Rhaenyra a better character, actually.

How can Alicent or her children trust Rhaenyra which never acknowledged that Luke maimed Aemond, and acutally DEMANDED Aemond to be further hurt via questioning? The messege in Driftmark was clear: Rhaenyra (and by extention, her children) are more important than you, they can hurt you, maim you, even kill you, and you will STILL be at fault. There's an element of survival in the Green's usurpation, not only greed.

Rhaenyra suffers from misogyny. I don't think she would have no problem ascending the throne if she were a man and she is one of the most privileged people in the realm, but there are challenges she faces for the crime of being a woman alone.

I don't think Alicent thought that by serving the patriarchy she'll be the exepction - not consciously, anyway. I think this requires an understanding she does not possess. and, again, Rhaenyra being put on the throne isn't a big win to all women, just Rhaenyra. To side with Rhaenyra meant siding against her family -that was Alicent's decision in my eyes. The world is bleak and one must use any power that they have - same way Targaryan used dragons, Alicent + greens used the built in sociatal norms.

I don't know who needs to hear this, Aemond is not a little kid anymore. I'm not saying his life is perfect and no one is mistreating him, but he is not defenseless and he does have that cruel streak to him and he did very much undermines his brother, grandfather, and mother.

Aegon is implosive, Rhaenyra hardly acts. Aegon coronation started the war, and his decisions have propelled the war forward . Rhaenyra refusal to act pushed team black into a position where the only advantage they had was dragons, ergo, they had to get dragons involved and voila- bloodshed.

Daemon would not have let the Greens live, even if they had bent the knee. TBF, Daemon would probably find a way to kill Rhaenyra's older children to put his on the throne. "Rhaenyra would never allow this!" Rhaenyra can't control Daemon. We've seen it time and time again.

I really hate the "Rhaenyra put her children at risk because their bastards". Rhaenyra was married to a gay (possibly infertile) man and if she had no heirs of her own, it itself would weaken her claim more than having bastards (ask if most of the realm would know or even give a shit they are not legitimate - that's mostly house Valeryon's problem and people in their immidiate surroundings that see it as "immoral").

No, Rhaenyra did not put her children at risk for having bastards. She put her chidlren at risk by having trueborn, perfectly blond and Targeryan children with Daemon.

I said it in my last post, I'll say that again: Raehnyra fucking off to an undercover mission in King's Landing and not telling ANYONE about it was a dumb move in a list of dumb move. She essentially left her side without a ruler at a time of WAR, not to mention the panic of a queen being gone closely after an assassination attempt on her life that was barely stopped.

Alicent was one of the most powerful people (if not the most powerful) in the years leading up to Viserys death, practically running the kingdom while Rhaenyra never visited even once. Alicent was changing Kings landing in her own image (changing Targ decoration for the Seven symbolism). Alicent had power, authority and the ability to rule that neither Rhaenyra nor Rhaenys exhibited.

Viserys failed Rhaenyra for not teaching her how to cement her throne and make connections and allies. Rhaenyra grew into an adult who never had to fight for what she was given, a so called heir who sceluded herself in Dragonstone and never bothered to cement her claim which she would have needed to do even if she was born a man. The cycle continues, with the hints she never worried about securing Jace's spot or his legitimecy (Jace wanted to learn high Valerian and was clearly concerened, Rhaenyra doesn't see the issue and that itself is a problem)

Honestly kudos for Jace for securing the North/Vale. The show paints supporting Rhaenyra as "the right thing" and we never got to see Jace working and using his diplomatic skills. God forbid the boy will have a personality.

Criston Cole was a man of ethnic minority (Dornish, most cast is Andal/Valerian) from lower class and the power imbalance with Rhaenyra would not have flown if the roles would've been reversed. She pushed him to sully his own life work (becoming kingsguard) and he is right to be hurt about her not taking it as seriously as him - she does not have to face consequences, he does. I'm not even talking about the weird state of consent of the relations between them.

WITH THAT BEING SAID, that does NOT justify Criston Cole calling Rheanyra "Whore" and "Cunt". He uses her gender to hurt her - the only power imbalance in his favour in this relationship is him being a man and her being a woman, and he weaponizes it. "but it's accurate to the society he lives in!" cool, the society is shit.

There's probably more, but I'm tired and need to lie down. So. yeah. Feel free to comment, I'm interested in others thought about it.

[weirdboi]

||Wich The Bad Guys character are you||

Enjoy :>

Rules:

No looking at the results,first answer the questions and then you can look at the results

Don't do this quiz if you necer read the books or you'll get confused

Answer honestly no lying

Enjoy

What would you do if a child was starring at you?

💛I would smile at it

💚I would say "Boo"

🧡We would have a starring content

💙I would just turn around

🤍I would just wink

🖤The child would just start crying,I know it bc that always happens

2.If yiu found a wallet on a street, what would you do?

💛I would try to find the owner

💚I would take it,I mean no one leaves a wallet on a street unless that don't need it

🧡I would ask everyone in town and if it's nobody's i would just leave it on a street

💙I would gave it to the police

🤍I would try to find the owner but I think they would got scared so :')

🖤 Depends

3.If your friend is upset,what do you do?

💛Ask them what is wrong and if they don't want to talk about it I'll be ok with it

💚 Pretend like I don't exist

🧡Ask them what's wrong until they tell me

💙Make them some tea to feel better

🤍Give them a Biiig hug

🖤Still Depends

4.If your friend comes out as LGBT+

,what is your reaction?

💛 I'm glad you found your true self

💚Good for you I guess

🧡WE NED TO CELEBRATE THIS

💙I always knew that your gay

🤍Give them a hug and promise that I'll suport them no matter what

🖤Gives a big hug that they can berley breath

5.You didn't learn for a big Monday test,what are you going to do?

💛Learn at the lunchtime

💚 Depends from wich subject the test is

🧡Panic and scream in bathroom

💙I try to learn for test very fast

🤍I accepted my future

🖤It wouldn't be the first time so

6.It's movie 🎥 night,wich film do you want to pick?

💛 I'm ok with everything except horrors

💚 Anything without clowns

🧡✨Drama✨

💙 Romance

🤍 Something with romance and tragedy like Romeo and Juliet

🖤 Horrors something like Mr.Babadook(2014)

7.Someone wnats to fight with you,what do you say?

💛No way!Call me a pussy but I ain't fightin with you

💚Ok when,where and are any weapons allowed?

🧡BRING IT HERMANOO!!!

💙Just walk away

🤍Bites him and job is done

🖤Ummm hi 911?There us a guy I had fight with and now he can't stop bleeding

8.You have a crush on your best friend and how will you tell them that?

💛I like you,more than friend,I really like you and I think we could work out

💚Hi I like you

🧡 Marry me 😍

💙I like you,do you like me back?

🤍*Writes on paper* I luv you be mine pls

;)

🖤*Kiss* Your welcome

9.There's a fire,who do you save?

💛 Family

💚 Myself

🧡I try to save everyone in the place

💙The children

🤍I save everyone except myself and die slowly

🖤I caused the fire so

Results:

💛If you had most of the yellow hearts,than your Mr.Wolf.

You are fun, loyal and always there for your friends.You'll always believe in them even when they don't believe in themselves

💚If you had most of the green hearts,you are Mr.Snake.You care and love you friends,but you don't show it that much.You have a bit bigger ego than theirs and you would do anything for your friends even if that means becoming Satan's batler

🧡If you had most of the orange hearts,you Mr.Piranha.Yoy are a funny and sometimes a bit annoying person.You are full of energy 24/7 and love Mexican food.And you also have stomach issues

💙If you had most blue heart,your Legs/Mr.Tarantula.Your a small person with big brain.You always want to help and you are ready to give people second chance (Only if you believe they deserve it)

🤍If you had most white hearts,your Mr.Shark.You're a quiet,shy and big person who isn't the main character of the group but you still help.You have some issues that mess with you but you're still trying to get up.Also you have an amazing taste in clothes

🖤If you had most of the black hearts,your Joker Black (my Tbg Oc). Your a bit creepy but funny person.Sometimes you do some evil things to help others and you like hanging out with boogie mans and clowns.You have some amazing powers and aslo daddy issues :)

Tell me in comments wich characters did you turn out to be

Luv you 💟

[theliteraryluggage]

First sentence thing

The funeral was supposed to be a quiet affair.

And it was, really, for the most part. The mood solemn and somewhat shocked between Happy and May's colleagues from FEAST and all the people May had helped and supported and inspired, all the people whose lives she had made better. It wasn't a huge crowd, but it was big enough that no one was paying any attention to Peter, standing some distance away between the graves and the trees, watching people say their goodbyes to the last of his family. Peter wished he could be closer, could be right beside May on her last journey, as she deserved, but there was no way for him to explain who he'd been to her, and he thought if someone were to ask him how he'd known her, he'd fall apart. It was a gentle, suffocating sadness in the pit of his stomach that Ned and MJ weren't here. But it was a sharp, fiery rage in his chest seeing and hearing the news crew from the Daily Bugle outside the cemetery, capitalising on a tragedy. Reporting on the demise of Spider-Man's latest victim, milking it for all the views and clicks it was worth. Peter couldn't even disagree with them calling him a murderer and a bringer of ruin anymore, but the fact that they had not an ounce of respect for May Parker on the day of her burial, May Parker, who had been the best and the brightest and had done nothing but good for her community ... It was all Peter could do not to smash all their cameras and equipment, to drive them away for their disgrace, their utter shamelessness. But even if it wouldn't just draw attention to him and risk his identity all over again ... May deserved better. May deserved so much better.

Hope you're proud of yourself, anon 😭

Leave the first sentence of a fic in my askbox and i will write the next five.

[esther-dot]

People thinking that Jeyne was assigned to Sansa as a companion, and that Ned and Cat must have neglected finding a companion for Arya make makes me want to laugh. Is it really that impossible to believe that Jeyne just became Sansa’s friend because they were close in age and she liked her? Do they have to make up theories to explain that Sansa seems to have had friends when she was SO unlikable?

However it began, theirs was a relationship of mutual love by the time we meet them:

"Sansa dried her own tears as she struggled to comfort her friend. They went to sleep in the same bed, cradled in each other's arms like sisters." 

(AGOT, Sansa IV)

Sansa ignores her own distress to comfort her friend, so antis pushing the idea that Jeyne was obligated to be Sansa's friend totally ignore the nature of their dynamic as it is depicted. We can infer a lot about their relationship (and Sansa) from this moment in which Sansa prioritizes Jeyne's feelings over her own. Sansa misses her throughout the series and calls Jeyne her "truest" friend (ACOK, Sansa II), so even if what antis say were true, it isn't how the girls view each other. 

As for their claim that this is somehow evidence of neglect towards Arya, I think we as readers look for explanations in-world that enforce what we already think, when in reality, there are external reasons why the story is the way it is. It's a pretty common critique in the Sansa fandom that Martin didn't flesh out the life of women well enough/didn't give them enough friends. This isn't a Sansa or Arya specific issue.  @karynlibrarian pointed out that there are 20+ men listed as members of the Winterfell household and only four women. Four. Clearly, there's a failure to round out this part of the world on the author's part. Considering how important the Starks are, you'd expect more close relationships between the ladies of their house and others, but I suppose the in-world explanation is that the North is vast and sparsely populated with the true explanation the above: it's an oversight.

But, even if we come up with headcanons/rationalize it, I guess I’m just confused about what they think they’re pointing out about Arya’s story. The author’s point isn’t that Cat is a bad mom or that there is a simple solution and no one cared enough to offer it. The point is that Arya doesn't want to do what their society expects ladies to do. If they didn’t get that with the really subtle part of Arya running away from the sewing circle/refusing to take tea with the queen, that's hammered home when Ned outright tells Arya what she will do when she is grown and she rejects it. That's not her, and it wouldn't be her even if Ned/Cat brought a dozen more girls to Winterfell. Are her stans saying that if there had been a nice girl (unlike evil Salsa as they call her) Arya would have “behaved”? That’s gross. The point of Arya's behavior is that she as a person wants a different life than the one society has chosen for her. And it is their society that is the problem, not Arya, not Sansa, not Cat. What’s really strange is that Lyanna is right there showing us the tragedy that comes from the desperation some women felt that they could not escape that life. Arya stans really love the parallels with Lyanna, but these kind of accusations feel like they’re just missing the big picture, doesn’t it?

Anyway, I don't really know what to say about this obsession antis have with arguing that Sansa is bad with people or doesn't have friends when that is the opposite of what we are meant to understand. Even Arya denotes Jeyne as Sansa's friend (ASOS, Arya VI, Arya VIII) or "stupid friend" (ACOK, Arya IV), so I'm not sure why her stans would argue that Jeyne isn’t really.

Their girl says she is.