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lucky-clover-gazette · 5 months ago

Text

kings rising highlights & annotations

chapter 7

edit: there is much better analysis in this follow-up post, although it does build on the stuff i wrote here

indented text is from the book. some quotes have commentary, some do not. some comments are serious, and some are definitely not. most of them will only make sense to people who have read the series. and, like, there are spoilers. so please read the books first if you're interested!

also: part of the reason i'm doing such a close reading is to study cs pacat's style, especially in terms of how she does romance and erotica. there are "craft notes" that might seem weird, like i'm being redundant or restating something rather than analyzing, but those are more things that i want to remember/take away from the writing!

i'm going to tag these longer posts with "sam reads capri" in case anyone wants to read them all at once.

this is a google doc i wrote with overall content warnings for the captive prince series. it's not perfect, but i do think it's important to include.

There were very few problems, the public killings having been good for the soldiers’ morale.

so where are the people like me in this world who would like pass out witnessing that. just too desensitized to care?

The Veretian herald was named Hendric and he had very strong arms, because banners were heavy.

Damen and Laurent were to ride alongside one another. Neither one of them had the better horse.

THEIR HORSES!! BACK TOGETHER DESPITE ALL ODDS!! because they’re definitely the same ones that fell in love during prince's gambit shut up

Damen was taller, but nothing could be done about that, Hendric had said with an impenetrable expression. Hendric, Damen was learning, had something in common with Laurent, in that it was never a simple matter to tell when he was joking.

give laurent a comedically large hammer and he’ll find a way

‘I hope the injured boy was returned to you safely.’ ‘Thank you, he returned with Paschal,’ said Laurent. For a salve? Damen opened his mouth to say, and didn’t.

throwback <3 but kings can’t have inside jokes :(

In the next moment, the horns rang out, triumphant and lonely at the same time, the pure sound absorbed by the sky and the wide open landscape around them.

“triumphant and lonely” nice detail

He remembered exactly how it had looked, and that was why he didn’t recognise it at first: the forest of broken spears was gone, and there were no gouged ruts in the earth, no men face down in the churned mud. Marlas was now a tumble of grass and wildflowers in the blowy, sweet summer weather, shifting back and forth in the gentle air. Here and there an insect droned, a drowsy sound. A dragonfly dipped and darted.

i like this :) we don’t get a lot of love for nature in this series, so i’ll take what i get. especially nice when nature represents healing and the passage of time.

Lining the hall were two dozen slaves.

oh this is going to be a headache. but it’s a headache worth having, because i’ve approached these annotations so far with integrity and fairness, and i refuse to treat this subject any differently. i don’t want to just ignore the things that are more difficult or less fun to unpack in order to get to the fun shipping stuff, i want to analyze them to the best of my ability and feel as comfortable as i possibly can moving forward.

so let’s set up some context:

1) damen has come a long way from his stance on slavery in book 1. he is actively refusing to partake in this expected custom, and finds the institution disturbing and triggering. he has developed a new appreciation for sex with truly consenting (not trained) partners, aka laurent, and can’t really go back. still, his reasons for refraining here are almost entirely based on his evolving sense of morality, not really relating to his relationship with laurent at all. for more on that moral evolution, see my analysis in chapter 4. further proof of this Really Mattering to damen is the fact that by not taking slaves, he is losing points with his own people. another great hint of his development as a king, making his own authoritative decisions rather than upholding tradition.

2) laurent does not like slavery. he does not think it is morally correct, and has made many jabs at damen throughout the series for disagreeing. he is disturbed by idea of people who have been groomed into relinquishing their own free will. if put in the situation of damen in book 1, laurent would not have been nearly as compliant or allowing—honestly, he probably would have tried to kill his master, and failing that, kill himself.

HOWEVER. vere does not do slavery. slavery had never been a relevant issue to laurent, at least until he was gifted a slave of his own and was made to deal with them in negotiations with patras. slavery is a thing other countries do, to laurent, and his current objective is make nice with a country that keeps slaves. therefore, he knows that his only real option is to keep the appearance of partaking in the custom, even if damen can get away with refusal. and i think we can safely assume that in laurent’s vere, there will be no slavery, even if he’s taking up the appearance of a slave owner now. additionally, i think we can also assume that there will be reform of the country’s pet system, which is an issue much more relevant to laurent’s lived experience.

if the stuff with laurent and slaves here was simply performative and un-indulgent, i wouldn’t need to be writing anything more here. but it is, as it is, one of the few things in the series that makes me feel very conflicted (see also: the garden scene in book 1). because while it’s true that laurent doesn’t actually use isander as a sex slave, and does have this kind of passive disdain for slavery, he does use isander in another way. he uses isander, a non-consenting brainwashed slave, as a way to make damen, who has never actually been a slave, jealous. this is an abuse of power that directly conflicts with laurent’s stated and assumed values regarding free will and individual personhood. we’ve seen things like this before, in arles, but laurent had known that damen was a prince and not a slave the entire time. but isander is a victim of this system—even if isander himself doesn’t know that, laurent damn well does. and laurent historically is someone who advocates for victims. so the fact that his morals here are being set aside in favor of a petty gesture against damen, is… disappointing. everything i said in chapter 3/4 about laurent’s mean girl era still stands: he knows he’s being shitty, and he’s doing it because he doesn’t want to be vulnerable and insecure. better to be a villain than a victim, etc. but laurent being a villain to damen, who laurent knows is perfectly capable of defending himself, is distinctly different from laurent parading out isander the slave just to hurt damen’s feelings.

it’s wrong for the obvious moral reasons, which laurent perfectly understands in the abstract. but it’s not a hill he’s going to die on here, and that’s not just because of the political advantage. this is 100% about personal shit with damen too. and sorry laurent, but slavery does not stop being wrong when it’s useful in creating drama with your ex. in fact, indulging in it for that reason specifically trivializes all of the legitimate problems with the practice. it makes laurent a hypocrite and it crosses a line, in terms of his mean girl schtick. i just want to make that clear—that there is very much a difference between laurent just being kinda cunty to damen in general, and specifically using a slave as tool in that cuntiness.

laurent is, and always has been, a morally complex and often hypocritical character. he has done things that have made me feel uncomfortable to read, like the way he treats damen in the garden scene. and that’s okay, and it doesn’t make him a bad character, or even a bad person. and to be fair, he isn’t doing any practical harm here—if he hadn’t chosen isander to kinda just vaguely flirt with in public and then leave alone in private, someone else probably would have done far worse. and that is an easy cop-out, and it’s not wrong. but still.

the problem isn’t with laurent's actions here, necessarily, but the principle. which is usually what laurent himself cares about the most, as he often values the ends above the means. politics aside, i think that laurent would readily admit post-mean girl era that the ends of making damen jealous did not, and should not, justify the means of using another human being who does not possess free will. maybe he even does that in the text, eventually, and i’ve forgotten.

(also, let’s not forget that isander may have been trained to not have his own feelings, but definitely still has them, because he’s a human being. and it probably makes him feel pretty bad to be chosen and then ignored by laurent. not that it should, because the entire thing is super fucked up, but it’s what he’s been groomed to believe. like, i did just want to throw that in somewhere, even though it’s obviously predicated on brainwashing and a lack of free will. it’s still what he’s feeling, and his feelings matter. just as much as damen’s or laurent’s.)

basically: laurent is failing to be honorable in his usage of isander, even if he’s not using isander as a sex slave as intended. his abstract values about the wrongness of slavery take a back seat to the political and interpersonal advantage of not only passively partaking in the custom, but actively using it to make damen jealous. even if laurent needs to pretend to take a slave to be politically accepted, he does not need to do All That. and honestly, with laurent’s ability to convince and command a crowd, i think we all know deep down that if he didn’t at least want to do this at least a little bit, just to piss damen off, he would find a way out of it. and that is a reality of laurent’s characterization here that i have to deal with, similar to his actions in the garden scene.

and then there’s the other thing that laurent's "performance" with isander has in common with the garden scene:

it’s hot. it’s wrong, and hypocritical, and could have been done in a way that would better suit my personal tastes, but yes, it’s hot. and on top of that, it’s also VERY funny. laurent’s performance, damen’s reactions, and isander’s obliviousness are all very, very funny. and i do want to be able to enjoy them for the petty gestures they are, and joke about them, without constantly having to throw in a “but also this is bad.” so doing this initial disclaimer feels like a happy medium to me, where i’m not ignoring the complexity of the situation entirely, but i’m also conceding that it’s not necessarily meant to be taken seriously, and it’s ultimately written for the reader to enjoy. like, don’t get me wrong, most of the slavery stuff in this series has NOT been written for the reader’s enjoyment—the values here are very clear, especially in damen’s arc—but there are still some indulgent moments. and it is fiction. and these characters aren’t perfect, nor did they create the culture of the kingdoms that they’re about to rule. and they do ultimately change the things that they, and we the reader, know are wrong.

but just like with the garden scene, i can’t quite get myself to write “so it’s totally fine to just have fun with the whole slavery thing” as a conclusion. and honestly, i feel pretty okay about that hesitancy. when i make jokes about this subject in this specific context (laurent and isander), i don’t want it to be forgotten that the subject itself (slavery) is still entirely serious. so instead, i’ll say:

this is fun because manipulative petty lamen mind games are fun. this is hot because manipulative petty lamen mind games are hot. this is somewhat intended as a backhanded insult and display of moral superiority—laurent showing damen how awful he and his culture appear to non-slave owners—but that moral superiority ultimately falls short due to laurent’s hypocritical use of a slave to make damen jealous. all of those separate pieces of analysis are true to the overall experience of reading and interpreting these scenes. it’s a mixed bag, we know it’s a mixed bag, laurent knows it’s a mixed bag, and damen knows it’s a mixed bag. the only relevant person who doesn’t know it’s a mixed bag is isander, because he’s a slave and isn’t allowed to think for himself, and that fucking sucks.

Isander was olive-skinned and lithe as a fawn, with dark hair and eyes: Akielon colouring. He shared that with Nikandros; with Damen.

yeah i’m sure that’s just a coincidence

Male, either in deference to Veretian customs, or to suit Laurent’s assumed preferences.

akielon slave owners, trying to assess laurent’s preferences:

(can you tell my heart still isn’t fully in the humor here…)

Nikandros would never offer royalty anything less than a slave’s First Night.

god, the first night thing is fucked up. in general, i love the lack of like… uh… traditionally conservative (read: christian) attitudes about sex in capri, so the few similarities especially give me the ick. i haven’t read or annotated the erasmus short story yet, but i know it’s going to piss me off too. basically, the closer we get to the handmaid’s tale, the more i want to read complicit characters dying horrifically on the page. nikandros and the other akielons are skirting by for now with the plausible deniability they have re: fully understanding how slaves are trained, but they’re on thin fucking ice.

also, lighter side question, what’s the recommended reading order for the short stories?

sweet grace of a palace slave

gag

‘I like that one,’ said Laurent.

>:(

‘Slaves are trained in the arts of pleasure, but they do not lie with another until their First Night,’ Kolnas said. ‘Here we use the same strict, classical training that is used in the royal palace. Skills are learned through instruction, and practised with indirect methods. The slave remains wholly untouched, kept pure for the first use of the Exalted.’

imagine if real-life cultural customs were built around grooming a certain group of people to be sexually submissive and modest as a thinly-veiled way to control their sexuality and ensure that they are attached to dominant societal figures from a young age without the education or free will to consider themselves actual human beings, so they can unquestioningly spend their entire lives as sex machines and domestic servants defined entirely by their responsibility to the family, and then they die and their headstone identifies them by their status as a possession of their dominant partner. wouldn’t that be fucked up

‘I never did learn how to command a bed slave,’ said Laurent. ‘Teach me.’

guys i wish i could find this hot or funny but now i’m just mad about disturbing stuff in real life that i can’t analyze out of existence. i’m taking a break and eating a chocolate strawberry greek yogurt popsicle and then i’ll try to refocus on the funny toxic gay people

‘They cannot speak Veretian, Your Highness,’ Kolnas explained. ‘In the Akielon language, using the plain form of address is appropriate. To command any act of service is to honour a slave. The more personal the service, the greater the honour.’ ‘Really? Come here,’ said Laurent.

laurent go sit in the corner.

Laurent extended the tip of his boot. ‘Kiss it,’ he said. His eyes were on Damen.

god this is so good. i hate it so much.

to be fair, there is no way to do this that would be more effective than laurent using a slave. because, y’know, damen was his “slave.” it wouldn’t hit the same with some random non-slave guy. laurent wants to fuck with damen’s head, and part of that is making him miss something he most certainly should not be missing. laurent is also fucking with my head, because this gesture is so conflictingly wrong and compelling, a word which in this case means "something i’m embarrassed/ashamed to say that i find hot."

��Good boy,’ said Laurent, reaching down to pet Isander’s dark curls, while Isander’s eyes closed and he flushed over.

(easy joke to make, but we’re all probably thinking it) damen:

(also, this being the only “good boy” in the entire series is just diabolical. but i get why it is, because i think it might not be the only one—and if it isn’t the only one, that means the regent says it at some point, and that’s exactly why it’s never used in a lamen sex scene.)

Kolnas preened, pleased that his selection was appreciated. Damen could see that the fort’s household around them was also pleased, having gone to great lengths to make Laurent feel welcome. They had considered with intense thoughtfulness Veretian culture and Veretian practices.

i sense some slight snarkiness here—not even from damen, but from the narrative itself. there’s palpable irony in the “great lengths” and “thoughtfulness” of akielions considering veretian culture while presenting laurent with slaves, all while veretian culture doesn’t have slavery.

It was pointless. There were two dozen slaves here, while the number of times Laurent had had sex in his life could probably be counted on one hand. Laurent was just going to be dragging twenty-four young men back to his rooms to sit around doing nothing. They wouldn’t even be able to unlace Veretian clothing.

according to damen:

this is stupid.

laurent is, in all ways but physical, a loser virgin.

he’s going to set out board games for those sex slaves. he’s going to throw them a pizza party. he’s going to answer emails the entire time.

they don’t even know how to unlace laurent’s clothing like i do.

this is stupid.

‘Can he also serve me in the baths?’ said Laurent.

CUNT.

‘And at the feast for the bannermen this evening when they give their pledge, if that pleases you, Your Highness,’ said Kolnas. ‘It pleases me,’ said Laurent.

damen is about to throw up on the floor

Cloth wound around his waist and over his shoulder, the sort of ceremonial Akielon garb that you could unreel from a person by taking hold of one end and pulling while they rotated.

looney toons-ass imagery

He could feel their discomfort, their need to debase themselves; this sort of proximity to royalty permitted only the extreme submissiveness of slaves.

thank you damen for being the only normal person here. you've come a long way.

“discomfort, their need to debase themselves” is something book 1 damen would have found adorable and charming. he definitely wouldn’t have worded it like this, back then.

“this sort of proximity to royalty permitted only the extreme submissiveness of slaves” building on the damen vs. kingship theme, he thinks he can’t have real love or intimacy or vulnerability if he’s a king. he can’t truly be paired with an equal, because he needs to be exalted.

He had sent away the slaves.

damen you’re the only one i’m not at mad at in this chapter. actually i liked the funny banner guy, we’re chill too. and isander is just trying his best

Laurent, he knew, was rooming in the adjoining suite, separated from him by a single wall. Damen was in the King’s chambers, which any lord who built a fort installed, in the hope the King would stop there. But even the former lord of Marlas’s optimism had not stretched to the idea that the heads of two royal families would visit simultaneously. To preserve their arrangements of scrupulous equality, Laurent was in the Queen’s chambers, beyond that wall.

i’m getting so much whiplash from this chapter like yeah this is funny and cute but also is the slavery stuff just normal to people like i’m aware the series started from a specific subculture and kink and body of literary work, so i guess i’m the weird one and the outsider here for being so distracted??

Isander was probably tending him, gamely doing his best with the laces. He would have to unhook the lacings on the back of the neck of Laurent’s riding leathers before drawing them through their eyelets. Or Laurent had taken Isander into the baths, to be undressed by him there. Isander would be flushed with pride at being chosen for the task. Attend me. Damen felt his hands curl into fists.

i don’t think i need to point out in a note, every single time, that damen being jealous of isander is funny and his possessiveness of laurent is hot. but i will still highlight the passages where it happens.

He turned his mind to political matters.

good call buddy, you and i are going to get through this chapter together

Men and women reclined on couches

(said apprehensively, given the overall themes of this chapter) ...women?

Makedon leaned, selecting a slice of peeled orange. Pallas, the handsome officer-champion, reclined with the easy posture that spoke to his aristocratic blood. Straton had hitched his skirts up and drawn his legs onto the couch, crossing them at the ankles. Everyone whom rank or office entitled to be here was assembled, and with every northerner of standing gathered to give their pledge, the hall was packed full. The Veretians present were mostly vertical, standing awkwardly in small groups, one or two perched gingerly on the edge of a seat.

There was no trumpet flourish or herald’s announcement, as there would have been in Vere.

okay i didn’t realize there was a trumpet flourish in vere. that is very funny in retrospect. a trumpet is not the instrument i’d choose to announce laurent’s arrival. in arles especially, i personally think that a halloween sfx cd would have been much more appropriate

Laurent didn’t rise. He wasn’t required to. He just watched from his reclining couch, as the hall prostrated itself. He had cultivated an elegant sprawl, with his arm draped over his couch back, and his leg drawn up, revealing the arc of an exquisitely clad thigh. His fingers dangled. Silk rucked around his knee.

laurent lean #14. kings leaning.

Isander was prostrated, an inch from Laurent’s casually draped fingertips, his lithe body bare. He wore a brief garment like a Vaskian man’s cloth. His collar fit him like a second skin. Laurent sat relaxed, every line of his body arranged tastefully against the couch. Damen made himself stroll forward through the silence. Their twin couches were next to each other. ‘Brother,’ Laurent said, pleasantly.

no comment

The eyes of everyone in the hall were on him. He felt their gazes, their underfed curiosity. He heard the murmurs—it really is him, Damianos, alive and here—accompanied by the brazen looks, looking at him, looking at the gold cuff on his wrist, looking at Laurent in his Veretian clothes like an exotic ornament—so that is the Veretian Prince. And beneath that the speculation that was never spoken aloud.

at least one akielon politics rpf truther is losing their mind rn. we have gaylor, this world has gaymianos

Laurent was scrupulously correct in the face of it, his behaviour immaculate, even his use of the slave was an act of unimpeachable etiquette. In Akielos it pleased the host for a guest to make use of his hospitality. And it pleased the Akielon people for their royal family to take slaves, a sign of virility and power, and a cause of great pride.

narrows my eyes

Barieus stepped forward. ‘I want assurances that Vere does not hold undue influence over Akielos.’ Undue influence. ‘Speak plainly.’ ‘They say the Prince of Vere is your lover.’

found the gaymianos truther

‘Who we take to our bed is not your concern.’

well i mean if you’re using the royal “we” to represent the kingdom, then yeah… it kinda is?

‘Shall I tell them what really happened between us? They want to know,’ Laurent said. Laurent began to unlace the cuff of his sleeve, drawing the ties through the eyelets, then opening the fabric to expose the fine underside of his wrist—and then the unmistakable gold of the slave cuff.

Laurent leaned his wrist elegantly on the curved arm of the couch, the open sleeve reminiscent of a delicate open shirt collar, its laces trailing. ‘Do I have the question clear?’ said Laurent, speaking in Akielon. ‘You are asking if I lay with the man who killed my own brother?’ Laurent wore the slave cuff with utter disregard. He had no owner, the aristocratic arrogance of his posture said that. Laurent had always possessed an essential quality of the untouchable. He cultivated a faultless grace on the reclining couch, his chiselled profile and marble-chip eyes those of a statue. The idea that he would let anyone fuck him was impossible.

and damen is so into it. love love love the contrast with the description of slaves in this chapter. damen doesn’t want them, he wants laurent. he sees laurent as a complete and compelling person. there is honor in laurent’s performative submission—wearing the cuff—because damen respects laurent’s personhood. but he’s no longer able to see the submission of slaves as honorable, because he knows they’re fucking slaves who have been robbed of their personhood entirely.

Barieus said, ‘A man would have to be ice-cold to sleep with his brother’s killer.’ ‘Then you have your answer,’ said Laurent. There was a silence, in which Laurent’s gaze held that of Barieus. ‘Yes, Exalted.’ Barieus bowed his head, and unconsciously used the Akielon Exalted, rather than the Veretian titles Highness or Majesty.

a vine boom echoed through the court

‘Well, Barieus?’ said Damen. Barieus knelt two steps before the dais. ‘I will pledge. I see that the Prince of Vere stands with you. It’s right that we swear to you here, on the site of your greatest victory.’

“he is simply too cunty for us to deny his authority.”

Slaves brought the food. Squires served Damen, since he had made his preferences clear. It was an awkward arrangement that displeased everyone in the hall.

YES DAMEN!

Isander was utterly in love with his master. He strove continuously to do well, selecting each delicacy for Laurent to sample, bringing him only the best, in small, shallow dishes, refreshing the water bowl for Laurent to clean his fingers. He did it all with perfect form, discreetly attentive, and never drawing attention to himself. His eyelashes drew attention to themselves. Damen made himself look elsewhere.

but that’s not real love, and damen knows it. laurent knows it too. and damen did it way better in nesson-elroy

Laurent said, ‘Play The Fall of Inachtos,’ and a murmur of approval passed over the hall. Kolnas, the Keeper of Slaves, congratulated Laurent on his knowledge of Akielon epics. ‘It’s one of your favourites, isn’t it?’ said Laurent, transferring his gaze to Damen.

diabolical. need this energy for the lamen divorce playlists (they each have their own)

He had always liked the depiction of Akielons cutting down their enemies, as Nisos rode out to kill Inachtos, and take his walled city. He didn’t want to hear it now.

yayyy character development

It was Loyse and not Guion that Jord was approaching. She gave him a cursory look. ‘Yes?’ There was an awkward pause. ‘I just wanted to say . . . that I’m sorry for your loss. Your son was a good fighter.’ ‘Thank you, soldier.’ She gave him the token attention a lady might give to any servant, and turned back to her conversation with her husband.

loyse hiiiiiii loyse (said with appropriate sadness for her current state of grief)

Jord gazed at him for a long moment, then indicated Laurent with his chin. ‘I’m glad you two are friends,’ said Jord.

jord always knows exactly when to show up and make ill-timed commentary on damen and laurent's relationship

‘I thought when he found out about you, he’d swear revenge,’ said Jord. ‘He knew all along,’ said Damen. ‘It’s good that you could trust each other,’ said Jord. And then: ‘I think before you came, he didn’t really trust anyone.’ Damen said, ‘He didn’t.’

also isn’t it like SUPER awkward for jord to be around guion and loyse right now

Isander was bringing Laurent a sprig of grapes in a small dish. Laurent said something approving, and gestured for Isander to join him on the reclining couch. Isander glowed, shyly besotted. As Damen watched, Isander picked a single grape from the sprig, and lifted it to Laurent’s lips. Laurent leaned in. He twined a finger around a curl of Isander’s hair and allowed himself to be fed, grape by grape, a prince with a new favourite.

damen is about to start scratching the walls like a cat confronted with a closed door

He lifted the wine blindly. The cup was empty. Straton wasn’t the only Akielon departing with a slave; men and women throughout the hall were availing themselves. The wine, and the slaves enacting the battle were breaking down inhibitions. Akielon voices grew loud, emboldened by wine.

between the heavy drinking and sex practices, the akielon court actually sounds like my living hell. and we haven’t even gotten to the naked sports chapter yet

Laurent leaned in further to murmur something intimately into Isander’s ear, and then, as the recitation reached its climax, the clash of swords like the hammering in his chest, Damen saw Laurent tap Isander’s shoulder, and rise. I’d wager you never thought a prince could be jealous of a slave. At this moment I’d trade places with you in a heartbeat. Torveld’s words. He said, ‘Excuse me.’

The entire court around him rose as he pushed up from his couch-throne.

“couch-throne”

Trying to follow Laurent out, he got tangled in ceremony, the hall a stifling press of bodies and noise, and, as a blond head disappeared towards the doorway, he was stopped by party after party blocking his path.

okay i’m so curious what he’s meaning to do when he catches up to laurent. yell at him? yell at isander? throw up?

He ought to have brought a slave of his own, then the crowd would have melted away, understanding: the King wished privacy.

i am begging the protagonists of this book to stop using human people as objects. again maybe that’s just a me problem, this isn’t my usual genre and the akielon slavery system clearly doesn’t align with my kink sensibilities, but COME ON

The corridor was empty when he strode out into it. His heart was pounding. He turned the first corner into a section of the passage, half expecting to catch Laurent’s retreating figure. Instead, he saw a stark, empty arch with all its Veretian lattice stripped away. Under the arch was Isander, standing with his fawn eyes, looking confused and abandoned. His confusion was such that for a moment he just stared at Damen with wide eyes before he seemed to understand what was happening, and folded to the floor, forehead to the stone. Damen said, ‘Where is he?’ Isander was well trained, even if nothing was happening as he had expected tonight; and even if, rather mortifyingly, he was being asked to report this fact to his King. ‘His Highness of Vere has gone for a ride.’

well at least if “going on a ride” is laurent code for “feeling morally and emotionally troubled,” that’s… less disappointing, i guess.

also, i do realize that this is the place where laurent’s brother was killed, currently taken over by the nation that orchestrated and benefitted from his death. so there’s probably a twisted vindication in learning exactly how fucked up their culture is (asking about the first night, etc), and getting whatever kind of enjoyment out of the whole situation he can (pissing off damen). but there still had to be a crash, and as soon as laurent was excused from his duties he dipped to deal with it alone.

‘At the stables a handler might know his destination. This slave can inquire.’

i caaaaaan’t stand the way they’re denied use of personal pronouns

Closer; the approach was difficult because it was sharp with memory. Here was the place where their left flank had fallen. Here was the place where he had ordered men to attack the lines that would not fall, the starburst banner that did not falter. Here was the place where he had killed the last of the Prince’s Guard, and come face to face with Auguste. He dismounted from his horse, looping its reins over the cracked stone column of an overgrown pillar. The landscape was old, and the pieces of stone were old; and he remembered this place, remembered the torn soil and the desperation of the fight. Clearing a last jut of stone, he saw the curve of a shoulder in the moonlight, the white of a loose shirt, his outer garments stripped, all wrists and exposed throat. Laurent was sitting on a stone outcrop. His jacket was discarded uncharacteristically. He was sitting on it.

this is a beautifully set scene.

A stone slid under his heel. Laurent turned. For a moment, Laurent looked at him wide-eyed, young, and then the look in his eyes changed, as though the universe had fulfilled an ineluctable promise. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘perfect.’

a moment of surprise and vulnerability, and then practiced cool again. onto Some More Bullshit, i guess

this isn’t the chapter to really tackle this, but i will eventually write a long essay about how laurent goes through his own mini character growth arc, completely off the page, during the lamen divorce era. it’s just that damen has custody of the reader, so we don’t get to see it—only hints, like this moment here. laurent must have had a lot on his mind, too, ever since their last heated conversation. i have some ideas about what that “a lot” might be, but again, i don’t think i’ve gotten quite enough from laurent yet to really start forming a conclusion.

Damen said, ‘I thought you might want—’ ‘Want?’ ‘A friend,’ said Damen. He used Jord’s word. His chest felt tight. ‘If you’d prefer me to leave, I will.’ ‘Why cavil?’ said Laurent. ‘Let’s fuck.’

ON YOUR BROTHER’S FIGURATIVE GRAVE WITH HIS MURDERER????

‘That isn’t what I meant.’ ‘It might not be what you meant, but it’s what you want.’ Laurent said, ‘You want to fuck me.’ Anyone else would have been drunk. Laurent was dangerously sober.

yeah, no, he’s definitely being going through Some Shit on his own. lots of self-loathing, especially due to the fact that he can’t hate damen as much as he knows he should. yearning, more self-loathing because of that yearning. companionship withdrawals, a return to isolation. a revived sense of grief for his brother, and nicaise, and damen (not damianos) and even his relationship with his uncle, who he hadn’t thought would be capable of trying to kill him. hating himself and blaming himself and regretting things he’s done to push people away. just an all-around bad time, but a necessary time of reflection that he needs to experience on his own. damen can’t just swoop in and fix laurent, laurent has to decide that he’s worth saving first. he’s not there yet, clearly, assuming that damen only wants him as a sexual object. whiiiiich was probably why he went so hard on the eroticism with isander easlier, it was an easy victory to get damen hot and bothered. a game he could win, among the many other games he knows he’s losing—especially the ones against himself.

i’ll put together something more coherent before the divorce era ends. tbh, i kinda think this scene should have been a separate chapter, because there is some pretty massive whiplash here. although maybe not, maybe the buildup of emotional and sexual tension was the point. yeah, it was. the slavery stuff just made it more frustrating to read. never mind.

‘You’ve been thinking about it since Ravenel. Since Nesson.’ He knew this mood. He should have expected it. He made himself say the words. ‘I came because I thought you might want to talk.’ ‘Not particularly.’

it almost sounds like laurent played himself, for the millionth time, by getting himself worked up with isander when he just really wanted damen

He said, ‘About your brother.’ ‘I never fucked my brother,’ said Laurent, with a strange edge to the words. ‘That is incest.’ They were standing in the place where his brother had died. With a disorientating sensation Damen realised they weren’t going to talk about that. They were going to talk about this.

"yes, honey..."

‘You’re right,’ said Damen. ‘I’ve been thinking about it since Ravenel. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.’ ‘Why?’ said Laurent. ‘Was I that good?’ ‘No. You fucked like a virgin,’ said Damen,

deserved

‘half the time. The rest of the time—’ ‘Like I knew what to do?’ ‘Like you knew what you were used to.’ He saw the words impact. Laurent swayed, like he’d been dealt a blow. Laurent said, ‘I’m not certain I can take your particular brand of honesty just at the moment.’

oh well this is particularly horrifying with [redacted] context. also i think the quote “i’m not certain i can take your particular brand of honesty just at the moment” says A LOT about how laurent has always viewed damen, for better or for worse. laurent can count on damen to tell him what he needs to hear, not what he wants to hear. so it makes sense that he’s been avoiding damen lately, because laurent is going through his own crisis of personal reflection

Damen said, ‘I don’t prefer sophistication in bed, if you were wondering.’ ‘That’s right,’ said Laurent. ‘You like it simple.’ All the breath left his throat. He stood, stripped, unready for it. Will you use even that against me? he wanted to say, and didn’t. Laurent’s breathing was shallow too, holding his ground.

is “that” just laurent making fun of the way damen is earnest in bed? seems like an overreaction from damen if that's the case, so it’s probably something else i’m missing. maybe laurent is accusing damen of keeping the secret of his identity, even when they fucked, to make things simpler between them? that would support my previous theory that laurent is convinced that damen wouldn’t want him how he really is, as damen really is, with all the complications between them. or it’s a dig about auguste somehow, and i just can’t figure out how it connects.

‘He died well,’ Damen made himself say. ‘He fought better than any man I’ve known. It was a fair fight, and he felt no pain. The end was quick.’

like i said—what laurent needs to hear, not what he wants to hear. even if damen thinks that it’s going to make laurent hate him more, he still has the integrity to say it.

‘You sent your men out to look for me too?’ said Laurent, his mouth twisting. ‘No,’ said Damen, and pushed Laurent hard out of sight, into the shelter of one of the huge, crumbling blocks of stone. In the next second, the troop was on them, at least two hundred men, so that the air was thick with the passage of horses. Damen pressed Laurent firmly into the rock, and held him in place with his body. The riders didn’t slow, even on this uncertain ground in the dark, and any man in their path would be trampled, tumbled, kicked from hoof to hoof. Discovery was a real threat, the rock cool under his palms, the dark shuddering with the pounding of hooves and heavy lethal horseflesh. He could feel Laurent against him, the barely contained tension, adrenalin mixed with his dislike of the proximity, the urge in him to prise himself out and away, stifled by necessity.

throwback <3 i think this is very intentionally placed in this conversation, as a reminder that they are the same people they were in prince’s gambit

‘I know you’re not cold,’ said Damen. ‘You weren’t cold when you ordered me tied to the post. You weren’t cold when you pushed me down on your bed.’

more true things laurent does not want to hear right now! also i like the use of warmth, as the opposite of cold, to signify both vengeful rage and romantic/sexual passion. two sides of the same coin

‘A fair fight?’ said Laurent, turning back to him. ‘No fight’s ever fair. Someone’s always stronger.’

rewinding to their previous argument. aren’t they both tired? i’m tired.

#this might be the most mixed bag chapter for me so far #curious what other people think #might just be personal taste and an unfamiliarity with reading stories about this kink #or even like historical fiction/fantasy in general that might have systems like this one #if i'm reading about stuff like this it's probably something like the handmaid's tale #or a crime/thriller novel #so #shrugs #sam reads capri #capri #captive prince #laurent of vere #damen of akielos #lamen

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aspoonofsugar · 2 months ago

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Hello. Been a while since I last sent an ask to you. I wanted your take on why Vaggie's wing design is different from the other Exorcists. If you look closely, before and after she regained her wings, she is the ONLY exorcist with a single stripe while everyone else (including Adam, I know he's not an Exorcist but still something I've noticed) only have one.

Hi!

Thank you for the ask :) I love Vaggie's design and there is so much to say about it!

Since discussing the whole design would probably need its own meta, I will just focus on the detail you mentioned: Vaggie's wings.

I think their unique pattern comes down to our girl never truly fitting in with the exorcists:

Vaggie: When I saw your face You made me feel like a stranger in a brand new place And it felt so good to be understood

She states Charlie makes her feel understood, which implies she never felt accepted by her previous clique. This makes sense, as the exorcists are a cult, which forces its members to repress their selves. In this context, Vaggie's single black line shows she is different in two ways.

1- The exorcists' black lines mirror Adam's white lines:

Both Adam and his soldiers share two lines per wing. However, the leader's are white, whereas his followers' are black. This difference in color marks the hierarchy within the organization. Adam is white and gold, whereas the exorcists are black and white/silver. He frames himself as superior and forces the girls to be weaker imitations. Well, even in such an environment Vaggie can't completely repress who she is. So, she only gets one line on her wings, which marks her as unfitting, strange and flawed. She does not completely conform to Adam's wishes.

2- The exorcists' black and white color scheme is a metaphor of their black and white morality. Lute is a perfect embodiment of it:

Lute: Angels don't make mistakes.

Vaggie, Lute and all their sisters are taught killing sinners is holy. Angels are good and demons are bad. No questions asked. Still, Vaggie can't accept this mentality and she dares to show pity:

This kicks off her arc, which is all about overcoming the white and black vision that was forced on her. She needs to integrate her shadows:

She sees her shadow covering a terrified child and lets him go. A moment later Lute's shadow looms over her before she is attacked. Vaggie has to reconcile she is both the terrifying exorcist and the wounded child. She is both angel (white) and sinner (black).

Our Hotel Manager's new wings are a physical representation of this integration:

Vaggie gains them, as she channels her energy into love and protection instead than hate and revenge. In particular, she learns to value her own life and survival:

Carmilla: Well, look at that. You might just survive this.

She makes a step into forgiveness and acceptance. The brainwashed victim and the murderous warrior start coming together into someone new and stronger: the real Vaggie. As a result:

Her new wings are silver and gray, rather than white and black

Her new wings have a single line, which is much paler compared to her original black one

In short, Vaggie's wings symbolize her ongoing process of integration with her repressed self. They showcase her evolution and growth into someone new. From pigeon to moth :P

At the same time, something else can be said about Vaggie's stripes. Not her wings' though, but her hair's. Vaggie's hair is shaped after her angelic wings and it has two stripes on it. This is an interesting detail and might symbolize Vaggie's inner desire to belong, either with her old group (the two stripes exorcists) or her new one (the Hazbin Hotel demons). So, she has hair, which:

Hides her scars and identity, as they cover her missing eye and the spot where her wings used to be

Highlights these same things, as her hair is stylized after angelic wings and Vaggie puts an X over her missing eye. It's no surprise that Carmilla easily guesses her identity:

Vaggie: Wait… you know I'm an exorcist? How? Carmilla: You have a giant X over your eye and wield an angelic spear. It's not rocket science.

Just some food for thought! What's sure is that Vaggie's struggle with her exorcist identity is far from over and it strongly impacts her appearance.

Thank you for the ask!

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel meta #vaggie #vaggie hazbin hotel #asksfullofsugar #phoenixlionme

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baileypie-writes · 2 months ago

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~My Thoughts on Wonderful Pretty Cure!: Episodes 36-40~

~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~

This will be updated weekly, so be sure to come back if you want to see my thoughts on new episodes!

~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~

Episode 36 - A Special Kind Of Wonderful:

I’m going absolutely feral. I’m crying, screaming, throwing up and everything else.

I’ve never been this happy for a Precure episode. This is definitely my favorite Wonderful Precure episode so far. And it may be my favorite episode in the entire franchise.

I can believe they’re canon. I really can’t. Pretty Cure does not have a good track record when it comes to romance(straight ones anyway). So I fully expected Toei to pull a Happiness Charge, and just make their relationship implied at the very end. But I was pleasantly surprised!

I was worried about how Iroha felt. From the preview, it wasn’t obvious. But I’m glad she realized her feelings! The chase scene leading up to the confession was beautiful. The animation, the atmosphere, the internal dialogue. I really felt Cure Friendy’s emotion.

I’m really excited to see her and Satoru’s relationship develop further during the rest of the series. Next episode looks really cute and wholesome, so I’m definitely excited.

My only concern at this point is Komugi. No one has explained romantic love to her yet. And on top of that, I’m worried that she’s gonna feel jealousy. It’s a pretty high probability. But I have high hopes for the outcome!

My rating for this episode:

10/10 - A+

~~~~

Episode 37 - A First Date With Everyone:

This episode was cute, though I expected better.

I really wished it focused more on Satoru and Iroha’s date. There was a lot of focus on the others. I was just super hyped for a purely date focused episode.

That being said, it was still super cute! I loved how awkward they were, but still happy. Iroha yapping about animals when she was nervous was so sweet.

My rating for this episode:

7/10 - C-

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Episode 38 - The Place Komugi Calls Home:

I was honestly terrified for this episode. I had no idea what to expect. But I was pleasantly surprised.

First off, I had no idea Komugi and Iroha had only known each other for 2 years. I assumed it would be more like 5. But whatever.

I had always assumed that before meeting Iroha, Komugi lived in Niko Garden. I thought the same for Yuki. But they could be just normal animals. I guess we won’t really know for sure unless the show reveals it.

I was really surprised when Iroha admitted to not wanting to give up Komugi. I definitely assumed she’d pretend to be okay with it, but the old man would allow her to keep her. I liked that part. It’s much more emotional and realistic to me. Also, I love that kind old man. He’s so nice to let them be together.

Finally, we got a teaser for Niko’s human form! I already got spoiled for it, but I’m still excited haha.

Next episode looks like it’s gonna be a major plot point. Not only is Niko’s human form probably gonna be fully revealed, but if I’m not mistaken, it looks like Komugi might get turned into a Garugaru!

My rating for this episode:

8/10 - B-

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Episode 39 - Niko Evolution:

This episode was pretty good! I was super excited!

We finally get the actual reveal of Niko’s true/human form! She’s so pretty! We also get the full reveal of Gaon. He looks really cool!

I was terrified when Komugi almost turned into a Gaogaon. But of course, she would be the one to break out of it. Good on her!

I’m really excited for next episode! It looks really fun. And hopefully, we’ll get more lore.

My rating for this episode:

7/10 - C-

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Episode 40 - The Great Wanyan Incident:

While this episode may have been completely pointless, I still loved it!

It was really random how they ended up turning into animals. The idea was clearly for cash grab reasons, but I don’t mind too much.

Iroha and Mayu’s animal designs are absolutely perfect! I’m not so sure about Satoru’s though…

Another thing, it was really random how the gang ended up at the shrine. There was no talk of it prior to this episode. We just open with them there.

Other than that though, I really liked this episode! I loved seeing the owners enjoy being animals. Satoru’s bit was definitely my favorite. He was so happy! We also even got a cute little moment between him and Iroha, which is always great.

There was also a little hint to Torame possibly reforming? Maybe? He likes playing with the Pretty Cure, and he’s always bored at home. So it’s possible!

My rating for this episode:

7/10 - C-

~~~~

Overall Score for These Episodes:

78% - C+

~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~🎀~~~

~~baileypie-writes

#baileypie-writes #precure #pretty cure #wonderful precure #wonderful pretty cure #komugi inukai #cure wonderful #iroha inukai #cure friendy #yuki nekoyashiki #cure nyammy #mayu nekoyashiki #cure lillian #satoru toyama #daifuku toyama

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blazinghotfoggynights · 8 months ago

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It is totally possible to be a Buddie endgamer AND still support Buck/Tommy. It's possible to never be shaken from your stance as Buck and Eddie being soulmates while supporting every relationship they have been in, regardless of how dysfunctional it was.

Here's my take:

I want to see both Buck and Eddie explore life and find their true paths independently of each other, Christopher, and the 118. They are more than just each other's best friend/coparent, Christopher's fathers, and firefighters/part of the 118 family.

Since we know there is a season 8, and I would guess a season 9+ if these ratings keep up, it would be awesome to watch a full season, or more, of character evolution. We could watch Buck dating both men and women openly, learning his value, and discovering what he wants for his future.

Buck, as Bobby pointed out, doesn't enter into relationships of his own accord. He stumbles and falls into them without a clue how he got there. One day, he wakes up and he's someone's boyfriend or living with someone and isn't sure how it happened. Buck simply goes wherever someone will accept him. He misconstrues that acceptance and tolerance as genuine romance, feelings, and love.

Abby was bored and lonely and horny. I could say a lot about that relationship. If the motivation strikes, I may post about how that relationship was toxic and manipulative on Abby's part. If there are any Abby fans, you need to know your girl was showing some tendencies that were red flags.

Ali? Buck was single. She showed interest. That's it.

Taylor? Great sex and she kept coming back to Buck. She was there for all the wrong reasons and had questionable morals, but she was there. That was enough for Buck.

Natalia, again, was simply in front of Buck. She was obviously only interested in Buck's death, not Buck as a person, but Buck didn't care. He tried to make it work anyway because Natalia gave him time and attention.

So, we have an established pattern of Buck dating whoever will give him the time of day when he needs it most.

Enter Tommy. Buck is feeling left out. He's probably slipping into loneliness and spiraling because he feels the most important person in his life for the last six years is being taken away from him. (That's Eddie, for those in the back.)

Tommy shows up, sees Buck is spiraling, and kisses him. (Tommy fans, canon has established that Tommy has bad guy capabilities. Stop trying to gaslight the fans who are saying he may not be the good guy his sudden fandom claims he is. He isn't and Hen and Chimney forgiving him doesn't change that. People who are capable of consciously being a-holes are just a-holes. Mmkay?) He doesn't just hit on Buck. He physically initiates contact, giving Buck no doubt the man is open to other men. He showed Buck attention in a moment of crisis and he's a safe option after Buck openly admitted he was jealous and trying to get attention.

Buck stumbles into the next relationship. (Again, I could examine that situation, but if I do, it will be in a separate post.)

The show could give us Eddie admitting he let the expectations and influences of third parties control his destiny and he has no idea who Edmundo Diaz really is outside of what was expected of him, what he was taught, and what he did out of a sense of duty instead of doing what he wanted to.

He was with Shannon because she was pregnant and the right thing to do, per their parents and his faith, was marry her. I think he loves her for giving him his son, but nothing he has ever said or done indicates he was in love with her. I think he thinks he was. I think he wanted to be.

He was with Ana because Christopher needed a mother, per what he was told and taught, and she had an impressive resume and knew Christopher.

He is with Marisol because she fits the perfect mold of what his parents would like and she gets along with Christopher.

Should we talk about Eddie's relationships timing up perfectly with when Buck enters a relationship? No?

That man has never once in six seasons made a believable statement about genuine attraction to or sexual enjoyment with women. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have straight male friends who are in their 20s or 30s, you know you will be subjected to more details about their sexual history than you ever wanted to know. (Many of my close friends historically have been straight men. Conversations with them have been interesting and eye-opening. Sometimes traumatic, too, but I knew what I signed up for when I became their friend.)

Eddie canonically is in his early 30s and has been on the screen since his late 20s, but went without sex for years, never seemed to miss it, and now he's suddenly "pent up"? That is not the whole story and there is more going on there.

I'd love to see Eddie figure out he isn't into Marisol and hasn't been into anyone genuinely, except maybe Shannon. There could easily be a demisexuality arc for Eddie. Keep in mind, the term demisexuality was coined less than 20 years ago and is still not widely known. Eddie could spend a season, or more, working through the feelings he's ignored or been unable to put into words, dealing with overbearing parents, and how his faith has quietly, and unbeknownst to him, guided his choices. He could spend a long time wondering why he never feels an instant connection with anyone, except Buck and Tommy. (You seeing a pattern here?) This season has openly pointed out Eddie is in therapy.

The road to Buddie can be filled with satisfying detours, aka other relationships, leading to the realizations that open their eyes to each other. We don't have to negate the Buck and Eddie's experiences with others to support Buddie.

The part of me that wants instant gratification would love to see Eddie and Buck dancing at Madney's wedding and figuring out they are what they have been looking for all along. Cut to them in a room going at it.

But, the part of me that loves a great story, and doesn't mind waiting if the writing is great, is fine with a slow burn that gives us deep storylines and episodes that grip you from beginning to end. Let's say we have the rest of season 7, season 8, and maybe a season 9. There would be so much possible material.

Buck could go through a relationship with Tommy, a breakup, confusion, dating again, multiple amazing conversations with LGBTQ characters like Hen, Karen. This would also allow for giving other characters more depth, backstory, and more time on-screen. (This would be an amazing time to bring back Rockmond Dunbar as Michael and have him and Buck discuss figuring your sexuality out later in life!)

Eddie could spend that time working through his Catholic guilt and separating his actual needs and desires from what he was taught to need and desire. He could realize he makes excuses to stay with the women he dates then finds an excuse to escape when being with those women gives him anxiety. He could begin questioning if he is gay, bi, pan, or what. Then he could ask himself why he never really gets to know the women he dates. Who has he been close to? What was different? What gives him a feeling of safety and security and home? He needs to figure himself out.

So, yes, I do believe Buck/Tommy is acceptable and I support it, just not as endgame. I think, if written well, it could be integral to a great growth plot that takes us through Eddie and Buck diverging on their paths to self-discovery only to converge later on, a little more scarred but more in tune with themselves, to see their future in each other.

#911 abc #911 on abc #9 1 1 buddie #buddie #buck x eddie #eddie x buck #buddie 911 #eddie diaz x evan buckley #evan buckley x eddie diaz #buck/tommy #911 tuck #eddie diaz #evan buckley #evan buck buckley #911 #911 show #911 season 7 #LouEng's take

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twistedtummies2 · 10 months ago

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Top 15 Video Game Villains

Before I get into this list, given the topic, I have to make a very simple and honest confession: I’m really not much of a gamer. I’ve played some games, but not really that many. I’ve honestly WATCHED more games than I’ve actually PLAYED. There’s a lot of reasons why this is, but at the end of the day, the fact is that video games are just one of those forms of media where I’m really not an expert.

With that said, I have a great respect for video games as a medium, and I know a LOT of people are EXTREMELY into them. Video gaming has gone from something of a niche subculture to a MASSIVE market and piece of major pop culture in and of itself, just as generally respected, lauded, and appreciated as movies or television. Games themselves have come a long way: back when they were new, no one really cared about story or character, it was really a matter of just making things fun to play as a pastime. Over time, however, the medium has evolved, and the storytelling and characters in some of the greatest games have become just as important as the actual gameplay involved…which is why I’m able to say that, despite not playing many games, I can still make a list like this in good confidence. See, you don’t need to play something to understand how good a character is…and every game needs an obstacle. Something for the player to overcome. Like any other great story, one needs an antagonist…and sometimes, you need a villain. Many of the villains of video games, like games themselves, have become just as popular as the games themselves, as well as many other great and glorious villains throughout history. Through the ones that have lasted the longest, you can really trace the evolution of gaming itself, and with the ones that are more “one hit wonders,” you can see glimpses of some interesting moments in the grand pantheon of video games. So, despite hardly being an expert on the subject, I felt it was time I give these characters some time in the spotlight. Keep in mind, my opinions will DEFINITELY differ from those of a LOT of other people, simply because I have a different perspective on things. Also, with two exceptions, I’ll only be including one villain per game/franchise. With that said, let’s waste no more time! These are My Top 15 Favorite Video Game Villains!

15. The Phantom Blot & The Mad Doctor, from Epic Mickey.

This is the first exception I mentioned in my preamble. I couldn’t decide which of these two to include, so I just decided to include both. The Epic Mickey games - which were sadly cut short by various behind-the-scenes shenanigans - were Disney’s attempt to bring Mickey Mouse to the forefront in gaming, and to try and find a way to make Mickey “cool” again. The games are sort of a love letter to the Mouse’s long history as a character, as well as to Disney’s history as a whole, and while they are far from perfect, they still have a bit of a cult following, for various reasons. The main antagonists of the first game were these two scoundrels. The Phantom Blot - also known as “The Shadow Blot” or simply “The Blot,” in this specific title - is a character who has had a long history in Disney before this title. In comics and cartoons prior to the game, the Blot was a masked supervillain. In the games, the Blot is reimagined as a ravenous ink monster, who essentially acts as a force of pure destruction, with no apparent purpose but to spread ruin wherever he goes. The Mad Doctor, meanwhile, first appeared in a Mickey cartoon by the same name; in the games, he is a cyborganic mad scientist who started out as a friend to some of the characters, but ultimately revealed his true nature and joined forces with the Blot in a bid to become the greatest villain of all time. While the Blot never returned in any of the sequels, the Mad Doctor did, and the Blot’s impact was still felt even after the beast was defeated. Both were fun twists on classic, somewhat obscure characters, and more people know about them because of these games than anything else. I don’t really think that’s a bad thing.

14. The Crooked Man, from The Wolf Among Us.

This was a title released by Telltale Games, who specialized in games that were interactive “choose your own adventure”-type stories. The player’s choices would determine how the stories went, above all else. In the case of “The Wolf Among Us” - based on the comic series “Fables” - the story was a sort of fantasy and film noir blend, with Sheriff Bigby Wolf (guess who he is) trying to solve a case of mysterious murders in the city of Fabletown, where characters from fairy-tales, folklore, and mythology all live. At the end of this long and twisted case, it’s revealed the mastermind behind it all is this fellow: the Crooked Man. From the moment we start realizing his involvement, the Crooked Man seems like a total and pure nasty…and he is. But here’s the genius of the character: after going through so much to reach him and finally confront him, when the time finally arrives, he isn’t depicted as a dark-hearted monster, but instead a reasonable, intellectual, and EXTREMELY persuasive gentleman. The brilliance of the Crooked Man is that he doesn’t just get into the heads of the other characters in the story, but has the capacity to get into the head of the player, and make them doubt the decisions they are making. You know he can’t be trusted and has to be brought to justice, but he’s very skilled at twisting things around, making every moment tense as you wonder whether you’re making the right choice or not. His demeanor of composed, collected rationality almost never falters, making it feel like he’s in control even when you have the upper hand. In a game all about your choices and their consequences, that’s an EXTREMELY powerful villain to have, and no other main antagonists from other Telltale titles, in my opinion, are quite as effective in THAT regard. He may not be one of the most iconic villains in history, but he’ll always be one I hold in high esteem.

13. The Moon Bear King, from Puppeteer.

All of the other villains after this character are from series or franchise works. There are multiple installments in them, and so there are often many villains to choose from. The same goes with the previous two entries, as well: Epic Mickey had three games to its name, and a sequel to “The Wolf Among Us” is in development as we speak. “Puppeteer” is an oddball, as a result, because it’s a one-and-done deal: it’s not part of a major franchise or series, it’s just one single, lonely title, and it’s not necessarily one that tons of people would know. I doubt you’d be seeing cosplays or highly-viewed videos about this game anywhere of note. However, as far as one hit wonders go, it’s a VERY good game: it’s got a wicked sense of humor, simple and addictive gameplay that still manages to be challenging, and a very unique sense of aesthetic style. It also has a very fun main antagonist: the evil and bombastic Moon Bear King. The King is an evil, gluttonous monster who has taken over the kingdom of the moon. It’s eventually revealed that he was once a humble little teddy bear, who suffered from deep insecurity, and desperately wanted friendship. The Little Bear stole the Black Moonstone, a dangerous artifact, which corrupted his desires and transformed him into the beastly Moon Bear King: a literally power-hungry demon who longs to devour the souls of all of Earth’s children. Aided by his Twelve Generals (all themed around animals from the Chinese Zodiac), the King’s plans are challenged by the hero of the story, Kutaro. The King is one of those wonderful villains who mingles humor, menace, and pathos perfectly: he’s actually EXTREMELY funny, but he’s also extremely nasty, capable of some truly horrifying acts of evil. When you learn the truth of his origins and motivations, he becomes a sympathetic character, which only adds to the layers of his personality. On the one hand, it would have been nice to see more of him, and the world of Puppeteer in general. On the other hand, I think this is one of those games where its singular status is part of what makes it so special. If a sequel or spin-off ever does come out, I shall be curious…but as it stands, the King and his source work are perfectly grand on their own.

12. Kefka Palazzo, from Final Fantasy.

I’ll come right out and admit it, I’m not really super familiar with the Final Fantasy series and a lot of its characters. And that, very frankly, is why Kefka is so low on the list: he’s one of the very few characters from the franchise I do feel I know pretty well, even if I do say so myself. This is good for him in terms of his own merits, but it’s also why I don’t think I can honestly and justly place him higher. With that said, he IS a really fun villain. I know a lot of people praise Sephiroth as the greatest antagonist of the series, and he’s a good villain, too…but in my opinion, Kefka is even more interesting, as well as just a lot of fun. One of my issues with FF, and why I’m not really familiar with it, is that a lot of characters (among those I know) feel very similar, in terms of both personality and design. Kefka, however, is truly a one of a kind figure: he’s a wild, chaotic, childish, brightly colored jester who walks, sounds, and generally behaves in a way that is extremely unique compared to all the rest around him. As far as villainy goes, he’s wonderful in how he’s such a paradoxical character. Kefka is a nihilist of the highest order, who has no purpose in life other than to inflict suffering and death. While he can be manipulative and cunning, there is no end goal beyond just making others feel pain and seeing things perish. On the one hand, this makes him one of the most thoroughly vile figures in the franchise, and in some ways one of the most frightening. But at the same time, there’s a sort of sadness to Kefka: the reason he is so obsessed with destruction is because he literally cannot understand the ideas of love, compassion, or even hope. When others express those concepts, his physically incapable of comprehending them: he sees no meaning in life, because in his mind, there IS nothing but death looming on the horizon. His flamboyant and vibrant facade is exactly that: a sort of armor that hides an overwhelming emptiness, which only making others hurt seems to satisfy in any way. He is funny and frightening, tragic yet despicable, and those kinds of layers always make for fascinating antagonists. He would be MUCH higher if I just knew more about his universe in general.

11. Pagan Min, from Far Cry 4.

I should point out that Far Cry 4 is the only Far Cry game I know especially well, mostly because it’s the only one I’ve actually played. I have not played nor even looked at much from the other games in the series, so I really can’t comment on them. (I say this because I know there are some villains from other installments people might list over Pagan. In my case, he’s really the only one I know well.) Initially, when I was planning this list out, Pagan was a bit further down…but after revisiting FC4, I discovered he was a lot greater than I already recalled. He’s a villain who really works best IN a video game world, as his presence is felt through the gameplay and various other things that can ONLY work in a video game setting. Most of his time in the game is spent on the peripherals, but his impact is felt throughout the whole adventure. He’s also an intriguingly layered sort of villain: Pagan is a tyrant and a psychopath, with a flamboyant sense of style and a very freewheeling, jocular personality. However, as the game goes on, we quickly realize more sides to his personality. Perhaps the most notable is his relationship with the main character, Ajay: he actually LIKES Ajay, and doesn’t really want to kill him, because our protagonist has ties to Pagan’s past. Pagan seems to see Ajay as a sort of surrogate son, but unlike other “father nemeses” in fiction, he never goes down the path of “you may be my son, but I will still kill you because too far gone into evil and so forth.” Instead he just…kind of gets annoyed we’re playing with “naughty children.” Right up to the end, though, he’s jolly and sympathetic with the protagonist, which honestly makes the cruelty he shows towards others all the more unsettling. A lot of this game revolves around the question of loyalty, and of rightful leadership. Pagan Min represents the nightmare of absolute power, but he also represents a sort of strange temptation…and hey, it’s not like the alternative rulers the game presents are any nicer, at the end of the day. :P

10. Skull Face, from Metal Gear Solid V.

Most MGS fans would probably place a villain with longer standing here - such as Liquid Snake, Revolver Ocelot, or possibly Psycho Mantis. And all of them are fun villains, but I am not most fans. Skull Face may only appear in one game (well…technically two games, since MGSV was released effectively in two parts, “Ground Zeroes” and “Phantom Pain”), but that doesn’t negate him placement by any means. This character seems to be one fans are polarized over: depending on where you look and who you ask, he’s either one of the best villains from the series, or one of the worst. As you can imagine, I fall into the former category. Skull Face is an extremely messed up bad guy, with a very depressing past and remarkably twisted motivations. You feel sorry for him in some ways, but in other ways, he’s one of the most utterly reprehensible villains the series puts forth. His demeanor is equally paradoxical: his physical design and some of his mannerisms are rather over-the-top, but there’s a seriousness and a subtlety to him at the same time. He’s kind of everything you want from a villain…and to top it off, he’s the kind of villain who I feel really only works in a video game. (A bit like our previous pick.) See, part of what makes Skull Face so great is that, even when he isn’t onscreen, his presence is felt: what he does in the game affects the player even when they aren’t physically facing him down, and a lot of who he is is presented in things you find hidden throughout the game. It’s these little nuggets of intrigue that make him so fascinating, but even on a superficial level, I think he’s still a pretty great baddy. The only problem with the character I have, and why he doesn’t make the top ten, is that we never really get what I feel is a satisfying conclusion for him: his story ends, make no mistake, an what happens to him isn't WHOLLY disappointing, but I feel like a final boss fight against him would have helped him make even more of an impact. Maybe that’s one of the reasons some people have a problem with him, but for me, it doesn’t ruin him entirely.

9. Jack the Ripper AND Bartholomew Roberts, from Assassin’s Creed.

Here is the other exception I mentioned earlier, and it’s admittedly a somewhat more glaring example. With the Mad Doctor and the Blot, they at least appeared in the same title together, the first Epic Mickey game. Roberts and the Ripper appear in the same franchise, but in two completely different titles and storylines. There are lots of great villains in AC, from historical figures to totally fictional characters, but when trying to decide between my favorites, I knew it would have to be at least one of these two…and after revisiting their respective appearances, I couldn’t decide between them. The issue is that I like both for similar reasons, but also for totally different ones. Both are historical criminals of great infamy, and both are my favorite fictional depictions of those figures. Each is interesting in different ways, and also despicable in different ways. Roberts is one of the main antagonists of the game “Black Flag,” and is a prominent figure throughout the story, with a big impact on things that happen. He’s also a unique villain in that he is neither an Assassin nor a Templar, but a Sage; someone caught in-between the two feuding factions. Roberts also starts out as a sympathetic character, and even becomes an ally, before eventually showing his colors as an antagonist. In the Ripper’s case, he’s only the villain for a DLC package, which is optional; it doesn’t really affect the story of the main game for his title, “Syndicate,” if you play it or not. So in that regard, Roberts has him beat. However, Jack’s setup - as a former Assassin turned rogue - gives him a similarly unique status in the universe of the games. Plus, gameplay-wise, Jack is much more fascinating; first of all, you actually get to PLAY as the Ripper throughout the DLC. Second of all, his boss fight is probably one of the best bosses in the whole series. The battle with Roberts is nothing to scoff at either, but it’s comparatively much more standard; it’s great in its historical accuracy and grandiose nature. Between the two, I found the pros and cons of each evened out; I kept going back and forth on who really earned the spot. So, end of the day, I decided to just let both of these dastardly gentlemen have it.

8. Flowey/Asriel Dreemurr, from Undertale.

So, talking about this character/these characters means delivering MAJOR spoilers, just to warn everyone. However, since Undertale is such a big deal at this point, and since it’s now been ALMOST A DECADE since it came out? I think it’s okay for me to speak candidly about the subject. In “Undertale,” your main character - whose name is eventually revealed to be Frisk - winds up in a mysterious world populated by monsters. The game subverts the trope of RPG titles, where you boost your powers and abilities by slaying beasts in random encounters; you absolutely can slaughter every monster in sight, if you WANT to, but if you do that…well…“you’re gonna have a bad time,” as the game says. Most of the “enemies” you encounter in the game are actually friendly, or simply acting on a sort of misunderstanding, or otherwise able to be reasoned with. There is, however, one exception: throughout the game, in all of its different paths, you are plagued by a mysterious, talking sunflower simply known as “Flowey.” Flowey is a sadistic monster who revels in death and quite literally hungers for power. It’s eventually revealed, if you take the “True Pacifist” route - which is typically regarded as the “True Ending” of the game - that Flowey is the reincarnation (or something like it) of this character: Asriel Dreemurr, the long-dead prince of this underground world. Eventually, his true form is revealed, which leads to an epic final boss. (Though, to be fair, Flowey’s own boss, found in other routes, is pretty crazy, too.) Along with it comes his backstory, which is…really quite gut-wrenching. Asriel is both one of the most dangerous enemies you face, if not THE most dangerous, and yet also arguably the single most tragic character in the entire game. There’s not enough time and space for me to go into everything about him, but suffice it to say, when you learn why he is the way he is - both as Flowey and as himself - it’s honestly pretty heartbreaking. He’s the only character who one could argue doesn’t get a happy ending, in the True Pacifist route, and yet he’s also the character who you wish could have one the most, despite all the terrible things he does by the end of the story. Between both his true form and his appearance as the demented Flowey, he manages to kind of be everything you could want out of a villain: he’s powerful, menacing, rather creepy, and yet also shockingly sympathetic. If any villain on this list most exemplifies the idea of “sympathy for the devil,” it’s probably Asriel.

7. GLaDOS, from Portal.

This evil AI is another rather paradoxical villain. Most versions of the “Evil AI” concept - whether it be an out-of-control robot, or a computer program gone mad, depict the AI in question as somewhat morally ambiguous. They typically are just trying to carry out their programming, or see themselves in the right and humans in the wrong, seeing people as flawed and themselves as perfect. There’s a coldness, a detached-ness, to such creations, typically speaking; they aren’t necessarily EVIL, they’ve just gone to an extreme measure. GLaDOS, however, is different: she IS evil, plain and simple, and it’s not entirely clear why. She is openly sadistic, cruel, and murderous, and uses her power and presence to manipulate others in various ways. GLaDOS actually has a conscience, unlike most characters of this sort, but she deliberately ignores it, and her personality and desires go well beyond simply furthering science as she claims to do. What’s fascinating about GLaDOS, however, are the complex emotions that arise between her and the player’s main character, Chell. On the one hand, the two are arch-nemeses, but on the other hand, the two are almost friends. GLaDOS yearns to kill Chell in the first game, but Chell also relies on her a lot in both Portal games. GLaDOS is cynically sarcastic, passive-aggressive, and bitter towards Chell, in lots of ways and for lots of reasons, yet she also admits to thinking of Chell as “her best friend.” Indeed, GLaDOS seems pretty pissed at the player during the final boss in the first game, and after her defeat when we meet her in the second game, but not in a “How dare you, mere peon!” way so much as a feeling of bizarre, genuine betrayal. It’s the twisted emotions of GLaDOS, and her unique nature among other characters within her own archetype, that makes her so intriguing. She is, once again, a villain who melds so many different layers - humor, horror, and surprising empathy (if not necessarily sympathy) - making for a well-rounded and memorable antagonist.

6. Xehanort, from Kingdom Hearts.

“Kingdom Hearts” is one of my two favorite video game franchises (we’ll get to the other of those two soon), so it seemed only fair I place the main antagonist of the entire series high up. I nearly gave him a spot in the Top 5, but...well...when you see who DID take the number five slot, you'll understand. In some ways, having said that, I think Xehanort is one of the most underrated video game villains: despite the popularity and success of the KH series, I rarely hear Xehanort’s name mentioned when people bring up famous video game baddies, and I also don’t typically see much cosplay of him or anything like that. For me, though, he’s definitely one of the greats, and also one of the single most persistent buggers. It would take FOREVER to describe EVERYTHING that goes on with this guy, because, essentially, describing Xehanort’s story and setup in any meaningful way would mean going into the lore of the entire KH franchise, and…yeah, we’re not doing that here, if ever. XD For now, suffice it to say he’s a marvelous villain in how he permeates the whole franchise: everything that goes wrong in the heroes’ lives is either directly or indirectly thanks to Xehanort’s meddling, and with multiple different forms of himself - from Xemnas to “Terra-Nort” to the Seeker of Darkness - you can’t turn a corner without running into some version of this guy causing trouble somewhere. His motivations and character archetype ride a fine line between mad scientist and dark wizard, and despite causing all sorts of havoc across many different worlds…when his story comes to an end, you do sort of feel sorry to see him go. It’s been indicated Xehanort’s ultimate defeat may not be the end to KH as a whole, so time will tell what other villains could come in the future. And who knows? Considering how many times this character and his many forms have cheated death before, maybe we still haven’t seen the last of him…

5. Dr. Eggman, from Sonic the Hedgehog.

I’ve only actually played one Sonic game, that being “Sonic Unleashed.” (Apparently, that game is sort of a polarized one among fans.) However, I have looked at things from other games, as well as come to understand the franchise through its other outlets, such as television and movies. So while Sonic isn’t necessarily a universe I’m a pure-blooded expert on, I know a lot more about it than, say, Final Fantasy. One thing that’s consistent in every version, in my opinion, is this: Dr. Robotnik, also known as Dr. Eggman, is ALWAYS my favorite character. Eggman is one of the most iconic of all video game villains, perhaps second only to Bowser from Nintendo’s core lineup. He is the quintessential mad scientist: a greedy, ambitious lunatic and robotics expert who seeks to, of course, take over the world. If only he could just smash, shoot, or otherwise scuttle that annoying hedgehog who keeps ruining his dastardly schemes! Eggman is one of the most versatile villains in gaming, I would say, as well; different depictions of him throughout the Sonic franchise have handled the kind of villain he is in different ways. Some takes on Eggman are honestly VERY scary, making him a truly threatening and grotesque villain with no redeeming values whatsoever. Others make him into a clown, a sort of roly-poly goofball who isn’t really a threat so much as a persistent nuisance. My favorite ones, however, blend a bit of both; making Robotnik a character who can be funny, and perhaps even sympathetic, but is nevertheless totally capable of committing absolute atrocities. I always love villains who have that kind of multi-layered aspect to their personality, being empathetic and entertaining while also still able to pose a decent threat and act as a true obstacle to the hero. If there’s one thing that Eggman is consistently shown to be in every depiction, it’s determined; some might even say stubborn. No matter how many of his machines get ruined, no matter how many plans for global domination are foiled, he always comes back ready for more. He’s basically the Wile E. Coyote of video games: forever chasing a super-speedy foe, but seemingly destined to always come second place. Sometimes, that simple formula is all it takes to make a character fun.

4. Count Dracula, from Castlevania.

Alongside Kingdom Hearts, “Castlevania” is one of my two favorite video game franchises, and…to be honest, one of the single biggest reasons why is this guy. The Castlevania series started out as a tribute to classic horror and monster movies, featuring various references to both Universal Monsters and Hammer Horror. While it hasn’t abandoned those roots completely, over time, it’s become more and more its own thing, and most of the really famous classic monster figures - such as Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mummy, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon - while certainly persistent figures throughout the franchise, have always sort of remained background figures. The one great exception is the king of the monsters: the Prince of Darkness, the Lord of the Vampires, the Count of Transylvania…the One and Only Dracula. Castlevania’s Dracula may not have the automatic recognizability of some film versions, but over time, he has become more and more iconic, as he is the main antagonist of the whole franchise. And considering the franchise has been around since the 1980s, and has not only had multiple games under its belt but two very successful animated series adaptations, it’s not hard to understand why. Even when Dracula isn’t the final boss or main antagonist of a specific game, he’s always present in some form or another, and the different paths the franchise has gone down have evolved this villainous vampire in all sorts of ways. He’s gone from a pretty straightforward villain, to a sympathetic and tragic antagonist, to even getting to be a protagonistic anti-hero figure. And with every interpretation, he is always interesting and intimidating. He’s easily one of my favorite interpretations of Bram Stoker’s greatest creation, and has earned every ounce of respect as one of video gaming’s most classic adversaries: he’s just as immortal in those ranks as anywhere else.

3. Bowser, from Mario Bros.

Well, you can’t have a good list of video game villains and not at least mention this guy. As I said before, alongside Dr. Eggman, Bowser - the King Koopa himself - is quite possibly the single most iconic antagonist in video gaming history. Heck, whenever people bring up video games in general, the Mario Bros. series is probably one of the first examples to come to mind. Just as Robotnik will never seem to give up chasing Sonic, Bowser is thoroughly unceasing in his desire to abduct and wed the beautiful Princess Peach. No matter how often she spurns his advances, he always comes back to try a new plan to conquer the world and gain her hand in marriage…and every time he does, Mario is there to stop him, along with Luigi, Yoshi, Toad, and all the rest of the plumber’s playmates. Also, much like Eggman, Bowser is as versatile as he is iconic: some versions of the character depict him as a genuinely monstrous threat that needs to be beaten, others show him as more of a buffoon who tends to be more annoying than truly dangerous. Once again, like Dr. Robotnik, I like Bowser best when he’s somewhere in the middle: able to be funny and perhaps even sympathetic, but also still being a genuine menace and a villain to be reckoned with. What boosts Bowser above Eggman is primarily that I know and understand the Mario universe better than the Sonic universe, and I have a slightly bigger attachment to Bowser as a result. (Plus, I…sort of have a crush on him, I’ll confess. I can’t help it, he’s a big, burly, man-eating monster with a deep, powerful voice, I’M WEAK. >///> )

2. Carmen Sandiego.

You won’t find Carmen on a lot of other people’s video game villains lists, admittedly not without good reason, but there was never any doubt in my mind she’d rank highly here. If you only know this character through the Netflix television series, and its spin-offs, then you’re probably confused: in that version, Carmen is the main protagonist, and was depicted as a sort of misunderstood heroine. She’s akin to Arsene Lupin or The Saint: using crime to battle crime. That is NOT the original interpretation of Carmen Sandiego: Carmen had a loooong history before the Netflix reboot, and it started with a series of computer and console games, where she was the main antagonist. The games were “edutainment” packages: meant to offer educational value as well as entertainment. They were primarily focused on teaching children social studies, like Geography and History (although some other fields got covered, too, such as Math and English). I grew up playing a LOT of “edutainment” games (my mother was, and still is, a schoolteacher), and most of them were kind of “eh.” But the one series I absolutely loved, and STILL love, was Carmen Sandiego. The premise of the games had Carmen as the World’s Greatest Thief: the leader of a secret cabal of robbers and spies known as VILE, who sought to plunder the world’s greatest treasures. Everything from the Statue of Liberty, to Elvis’ Pink Cadillac, to the Mona Lisa…Carmen and her cohorts would steal everything rare or one-of-a-kind under the Sun, no matter how implausible the crime seemed. Throughout the franchise, Carmen was consistently depicted as a glamorous and mysterious character, a sort of teasing incentive: we wanted to capture this illusive, fascinating, shadowy woman in her fine red outfit, and the urge to know what it would be like to go toe-to-toe with her directly kept people playing. As time went on, Carmen’s character was developed further, giving her a more morally ambiguous personality, and a backstory that was both revealing…and yet still full of tantalizing holes. You never really knew why Carmen did what she did, or what she would do next, or where she could pop up. It was the eternal mystery of the character that made her so interesting. While her career has had ups and downs, she’s never really gone away, and while I do like the Netflix version and its more heroic depiction of her…I will always prefer the Classic Carmen, and all her villainous ways. The thrill of the chase she provided always made learning fun.

1. Joker, from Batman: Arkham.

As I think I’ve said before in the past, the Joker is quite possibly my favorite villain of all time. And as I ALSO think I’ve said before, Mark Hamill’s take on the character is my favorite version of the same. So it stands to reason, just by that logic alone, that the Batman: Arkham series would have my favorite villain in video games, since it features Hamill playing my favorite baddy, and it’s arguably his greatest work with the character aside from the DCAU. (Oh, and Troy Baker also took the reins a couple of times; he’s freaking awesome, too.) While the Joker was not the main antagonist of every single game in the franchise, he was always - as the character ever is - a persistent and impactful thorn in the Dark Knight’s side. The series focused a lot on the twisted, strange relationship between these two arch-enemies, and their seemingly eternal duel with each other was what drove much of the plot in each game, and provided many of the most interesting moments. Even after dying in-universe, officially, the Clown Prince of Crime would continue to plague the Caped Crusader from beyond the grave. You can really see the whole series, overall, as an exploration of the rivalry between these two characters, from where it started to how it ended. Other villains came and went, and were portrayed in a variety of ways - some better than others - but the Joker was consistently present, and consistently well-handled, making for not only one of the best versions of the comic book creep that’s ever been, but one of the most iconic and lauded villains in video game history. He is part of the reason the Arkham games were a success, as much as any of the gameplay and atmospheric elements, and there is so much you could analyze or say about the character - both onscreen and behind the scenes - to explain why. It’s therefore no surprise at all that he takes the cake as My Favorite Video Game Villain.

HONORABLE MENTIONS INCLUDE…

Albert Wesker, from Resident Evil. (I just don’t know a ton about these games or this character, so despite his iconography, it didn’t feel fair to place him in the ranks.)

SEVERAL Villains from American McGee’s Alice. (The Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, and the Dollmaker from “Madness Returns”, in particular. All are great villains, but when I really looked at things, I felt other characters earned it more, and I felt like three villains at once would have been MAJOR cheating.)

Doc Ock, from the PS4 Spider-Man Game. (Wasn’t sure how else to credit that title. Also, I haven't played the sequel yet, but I hear Kraven the Hunter there is AWESOME.)

Ganon, from The Legend of Zelda. (Same issue as Wesker.)

Gruntilda, from Banjo-Kazooie. (Very nearly made the list, but I just have a bigger fondness for Epic Mickey.)

Rollo Flamme AND Fellow Honest, from Twisted Wonderland. (Oh, you all know I couldn’t ignore this one. These two are the most antagonistic characters so far, one could argue, as we really haven’t seen them become protagonists - at least not yet - and they do arguably the most reprehensible things of any character in the game. However, because of the way this whole game works, not sure if they really count enough to make the list.)

Shao Kahn, from Mortal Kombat. (Same issue as Gruntilda.)

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luvdivy · 5 months ago

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it's never you vs you

I was watching a youtube video by profound pondering titled “it’s not you vs you, it’s you and you” and I wanted to do my own personal take on this in connection to his perspective.

A lot society and self improvement culture fuels this idea that it is always you vs you. And while this has good intentions, it can send people down a path of self hatred. We cannot always set this expectations upon ourselves to always be in the 1%, because the truth is, we’re more than that. Something I have dealt with is struggling to forgive myself even for simple things like missing a workout or waking up late. These things are natural but this constantly competition with myself clouded my vision to see that. Missteps in your journey are bound to happen and to place expectations of being perfect is simply unattainable. Acknowledge where you are to progress to where you wanna be. “You can’t heal a wound you haven’t acknowledged”- Profound Pondering

I understand the perspective on life of “it’s you vs you” however, I don’t believe it is the true way to make peace with yourself. This mindset enhances competition with yourself, and while it has good intentions, I believe that after some point it can become tiring and ineffective.

The mindset that you are only in competition with yourself reminds us to focus on our own individual improvement and to steer away from comparison with others. It reminds us that self improvement lies in the concentration of self and that life is a journey of evolution with ourselves. However, to believe that there is a constant internal battle within oneself can make it incredibly difficult to make peace with our flaws. True peace arises when we learn to accept each and every version of ourself and welcome it with open arms. It’s improtant to not want a certain side of yourself to prevail, but it’s important to accept that. When you acknowledge this, you don’t fight yourself but understand that this version of you if simply one that needs to be healed, one that is flawed and can be improved. Because in the end, no true part of ourself will ever disappear, but rather it is set aside and improved to make way for the versions of us that we want to nurture. This is why I think it’s so important to recognize how restricting “you vs you” is, and how open and mature and healing “you and you” can be for the self.

This also ties back to our consciousness and soul. If we perceive that certain parts of ourself are inferior to others, we can often breed more into self hatred rather than self love. While laziness isn’t the most desirable trait for unlocking the highest version of ourselves, laziness exists within us for a reason. We need laziness to relax and unwind, otherwise we would be exhausted all the time. Anger has a time and place, so does jealousy, so does gluttony. These are natural emotions. While we shouldn’t encourage such behaviors, we also shouldn’t demonize having them and rather aim to heal these parts of ourselves. Obviously if you do something negative you should recognize the wrong in it and feel negative about it, but don’t villanize yourself. Don’t let such actions define your character. They are a part of you but they AREN’T YOU. I believe that when we recognize that these not-so-pretty facets of us with an open heart, we can truly make the effort to better ourselves. Not being in competition with yourself makes this whole journey of life a whole lot less stressful. As profound pondering said, “in that comparison to the self, we steal our own joy”.

All in all, I know this was kind of a rant but I hope this makes sense! I want everyone to know that life is not a race, nor a competition, and that it’s okay to accept and be at peace with every part of yourself. Let go of the expectations for yourself, but hold yourself accountable, do your best. Ultimately, you choose who you become, but never fall into the trap of stealing your own joy in that process. Lead with love, and have a wonderful day <3

“When you’re constantly living in a world that’s you vs you, you can never win” -Profound pondering

#life #self concept #love life #self improvement #self care #manifestation #hopecore #profound pondering #thoughts #thought daughter #self healing #healing journey #peace #inner peace #peaceofmind

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mrawkweird · 8 months ago

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My history with the X-men is very limited, only catching reruns of the trilogy on FX, having that bootleg of X-men origins Wolverine that had the unfinished visual effects, First Class, Apocalypse, Days of Future Past and of course Logan. A film so sad it was engraved in my mind and I no longer will ever feel the need to watch it.

The only X-men comic I remember reading was some story where Logan got mindfucked into acting like a little bitch, here's some some pages/panels without context

And when it comes animation, I saw like one episode of the OG 90's show on xfinity on demand and a handful of X-men Evolution

All this to say I have very little attachment to the X-men brand so believe me when I say with no bias X-men 97 is fucking amazing and 100% worth your time

Just one episode in and immediately understand why people love not just the X-men, but why they love superhero stories. The crazy exaggerated powers and characters that can be silly but still have heart and real stakes. All that without some snide remark about how some other series or movie got it wrong. Like I know My Adventures With Superman was great but sometimes it does feel like it's trying to overcorrect for the Snyder Superman. X-men '97 just simply is.

Also, HOLY FUCKING SHIT, it looks amazing.

Like damn, if Invincible looked as half as good as this show has looked every episode so far it would be perfect. It's the quality I expect outta western shows now that they cost so damn much. This show much like Monkie Kid (there I go mentioning Monkie Kid again) looks like I imagine 90's kids felt when they watched it. Cause when you watch the OG show outside of the intro the animation is super stiff but in '97 when the action picks up it's on the level of high tier anime ova, like film quality good. And even then just the shot composition and direction is great almost never flat.

My only gripe was that at first I thought because the show wanted to resemble the OG that it used really flat colors to make it look like it was from the 90's without doing something like Megalo Box which lowered the resolution to feel like a 90's anime. But by the third episode I got used to it.

Anyways yeah, this shit's amazing, fantastic, astonishing even. And if they cooked this good for the X-men, then I got high hopes for that Spiderman show, should it still exist.

You know, there's a lot to be said about how My Adventures With Superman needed to make sure they let several people that's been covering the character for the last decade know he doesn't have to become an op in order to be interesting but that's a whole conversation for another day.

One of the cool things I noticed coming out of X-Men '97 is it reminded some people that before there was ever a whole Avengers craze X-Men was the ultimate team of superheroes for Marvel to a lot of people growing up. It's why it has so many projects and connections or why MCU wants to cap now and say Ms. Marvel is a mutant instead of an Inhuman. Everyone wants to sit with the cool kids. There's actually several things I want to say about this show but I'm going to wait till the end of the season.

Also, with the character designs of that Spider-Man cartoon they almost have a responsibility to release the series just so everybody can see what that looks like in motion.

#X-Men 97 #X-Men #Marvel Animation

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gale-gentlepenguin · 1 year ago

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Gale Reviews: ML Season 5 episode 23 Revolution

Spoilers below

-Chloe being puppet as the new dictator of Paris. Outlawing super heroes and monarch. So cringe

-ladybug and chat noir debating on what to do but think since Chloe isn’t akumatized they would look like villains if they did something. Ummm, she has a robot army and declared herself leader, I’m pretty sure you got a free pass to beat her ass

-Pffff! They are trusting adults. Yeah, cause THAT always worked for you guys.

-of course that Racist cop is fine with Chloe being in charge!

-meanwhile Plagg talking sense to Adrien

-he was going to tell her, but in her defense this stupid ass situation is kind of important

-It’s really sad that the reaction to Chloe being a dictator is really not surprising. I could go in depth but if I think about our current society I will just get annoyed.

-Chloe at least tried to have monarch arrested… before then immediately listening to him and getting powers BUT pretending she didn’t have an akuma.

-A political puppet that’s a hypocrite. What a twist. (Said no one)

-Queen mayor, at least Chloé gets some sort of outfit change.

-So the Resistance is doing a protest. How French. I hope they involve a guillotine.

-… if this were anymore on the nose it would be a face hugger.

-I will give Astruc one thing, he nailed what a typical politician is like. Corrupt, arrogant, being told what to say and do, and lies all the time. I could go on but I hate politics.

-chloé and evolution, and Chloe being the only one in class yet NOT paying attention. That’s actually kind of funny. Like why even go?

-How did they get a Statue like that built in such a short time?

-did Chloe just Legislate love?

-and she just arrested Marinette’s parents and captured her.

-Adrien still can’t communicate with Marinette cause of the situation.

-Adrien found out what Chloe did and is PISSED!

-Chloé knows about London.

-At least Adrien didn’t cave. But now he’s captured.

-Sure is Big brother up in this bitch.

-Plagg being like (want me to take a crack at the screens) Plagg is best boy

-looking at it, the jail/detention isn’t that hard to escape.

-wait did chat noir use cataclysm 2 times already? Well we can assume he detransformed and retransformed.

- Chloe yelling about threats to democracy, yet never knowing what the word meant.

-Ladybug and chat noir step in to tell her. Perfect.

-invincible prisons, oh damn.

-Gabriel and Tomoe out here waiting for the detransformation and taking back control.

-welp, I guess this makes Queen mayor the most effective akuma. She captured them both and now they will detransform. Unless someone shows up? Maybe Su han will finally be useful. I’m kidding. My bet is they get a power up

-ladybug coming in clutch with hero speeches

-Did he just say super underpants?!

-They just willed their transformation back! So I guess they are all grown up now?

-Monarch is shocked by the power of plot convinience.

-chat noir didn’t need to do that, he just wanted to show off and I don’t blame him.

-Was ladybug going to give Chloe a charm? I don’t think she wants one.

-And the mayor steps in to finally ground her.

-Lila took the robots.

-so the kids encourage Ms. Bustier to run

-Chloe is being taken by her mother to have her education Re-evaluated. And now Chloe is going to expose what she knows to Marinette as one last act of spite. Though for a brief moment we saw her pause on Sabrina, perhaps contemplating something. But for what reason, we may never know.

-meanwhile, Adrien is being forced to leave now by his father. He can’t say no because Amok.

-Nathalie is there, Nathalie do something!

-no Nathalie Kick Gabriel’s ass! Don’t just stand by!

-wait so Chloe never called her. Adrien got to tell her. Well at least that.

-Break my heart why don’t ya.

-they sold enough Alliance? Oh dear that can’t be good.

-G being a real G and letting Adrien go.

-FINALLY! A canon Adrinette kiss. Too bad it’s absolutely tragic

-G no! You have to seperate them now.

-Ah there goes my heart.

-Oh bonus scene.

-Marinette telling Chloe to F*** off was great.

-Lila or whoever she is has that suitcase and is likely going to mess with the plan Tomoe and Gabriel have

___________________________________________

Honestly this episode was cringe for most of it.

Chloé being dictator was jumping the shark, ladybug and chat noir can use their powers multiple times now which is about time but probably not useful now.

Lila has the pieces she needs and finally

ADRINETTE KISS!

That last part alone keeping this episode from being the worst of season 5

I give it a 6.5 out of 10

The 6.0 being awarded cause of the Adrien kiss

The additional .5 being Adrien and Marinette standing up to Chloe.

Though Andre got off easy

#miraculous ladybug #ml #ml spoilers #ml revolution #ml revolution spoilers

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iwatchthingsandstuff · 3 months ago

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It's September which means legally I can start 💀👻🎃Halloween Posting🎃👻💀

So let me give you a list of Doctor Who episodes I think are great to watch on October 31st while you're waiting for trick or treaters to show up! And my justifications for each episode which means if you haven't watched any Doctor Who, this list may have spoilers! (Probably not though)

The Doctor Who SpookyList (Part 1)

S01E01 Rose - This episode is an introduction to the show through the perspective of an average 19 year old girl. It utilizes horror tropes exquisitely, and is framed a lot like a horror B film. So, SpookyList it is!

S01E03 The Unquiet Dead - Zombies, ghosts, possession! Very spooky, great for the holidays! Perfect candidate for the SpookyList!

S01E09&10 The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances - Now this is a two parter, and the second part does not make the SpookyList on it's own. But given the utterly terrifying horror movie vibes of the first part, and the whole fear of the unknown and contagion aspects, the second part makes it on the list by default because it's the wrap-up, so SpookyList it is!

S02E02 Tooth and Claw - Werewolves!!!!!!! It's also fairly scary in it's own right, of course, but you're kidding yourself if you think I'm not putting WEREWOLVES on the SpookyList, like literally even if they were cuddly wuddly they'd get on the list!

S02E03 School Reunion - This episode has such Goosebumps vibes, it's not super scary but it's got all the right ingredients. However, it is also a "teachers living in the school and eating students" horror, so SpookyList it is!

S02E07 The Idiot's Lantern - This one's got a lot of fear of the unknown horror tropes, and a mysterious thumping coming from the attic because something unthinkable has happened to grandma! But the scariest thing about this episode is the domestic abuse. SpookyList it is!

S02E08&09 The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit - People dress up as the devil for Halloween all the time. Also possession and shit and stuff naturally, and fear of the unknown, and also all the horror movie "one by one last survivor" stuff. Another for the SpookyList!

S02E11 Fear Her - Scary little girl with unnatural powers that freaks her mom out? I've seen trailers for that horror movie before. But again, the scariest thing about this episode is the past domestic abuse! So SpookyList it is!

S02E14 The Runaway Bride - I know it's a Christmas Special. I don't care. The horror movie vibes are STRONG with this episode, and also I have arachnophobia. 'Nuff said, SpookyList!

S03E02 The Shakespeare Code - Witches!!!!!! They're straight up just witches!!! Like sure it's scary or whatever but more importantly they're ACTUAL WITCHES IT'S A WITCH EPISODE, happy holidays, this is prime SpookyList material!

S03E04&05 Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks - I try to avoid the robot heavy episodes in my list, because it just doesn't jive with my mental perception of Halloween. But that's bullshit and this two part story is soaked in horror movie vibes and fear of unknown monsters. I think, again, that part two is less of a fit for the SpookyList, but I can't put only one half of the story on the list so there.

S03E06 The Lazarus Experiment - Horor movie vibes!!! Science has touched bounds it should never have horror!!! Also vampire tropes!!! Anyway this makes the SpookyList for sure!

S03E08&09 Human Nature/The Family of Blood - This one's got all that spooky mystery horror stuff that people love to play with when characters have amnesia. It's also got living muderous scarecrows which is terrifying, but a beautiful and lovely fall mood. Happy holidays! Anyway it's also extremely upsetting so have water on hand! The scariest part of this episode, however, is the racism! Tragic.

S03E10 Blink - You knew this one was coming, don't even lie. Like why wouldn't it make the SpookyList? Give me one good reason.

S04E07 The Unicorn and the Wasp - Okay this one's a stretch. But I just like murder mysteries in fancy mansions! It's literally Clue but with monsters! You have to let me put this one on the SpookyList. Actually, you know what, I'm doing it anyway, I don't need to listen to anybody else, LALALALA!

S04E08&09 Silence in the LibrarytForest of the Dead - Yeaaaahhhh I'm outing my phobias, I know. But this one's SCARY okay!? The dark literally eats you! "Who turned out the lights" haunted my dreams! SpookyList material in a heartbeat.

S04E10 Midnight - Ahaha the monster is trapped in a box with you and you don't know who it is horror! Have fun~ it's totally SpookyList material.

S04E16 The Waters of Mars - Unknown pathogen zombie shit, you KNOW this made it onto the SpookyList. Anyway have fun with your terrifying water zombies!

S05E01 The Eleventh Hour - I tried not to put too many first episodes but like... come on. Shapeshifter horror alllllllllll the way, like up the wazoo and everything. Total SpookyList material.

S05E06 The Vampires of Venice - Literal actual vampires this time! Finally! Yes I'm aware they're actually fish aliens or something, but let's be real the werewolf wasn't a werewolf either, and neither were the witches. So vampires! At last! Definitely SpookyList stuff!

More to come in a part 2

#doctor who #doctor who 2005 #nuwho #fairy's doctor who spookylist #halloween vibes

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heymickyursofine · 5 months ago

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JONAS TAYLOR, THE HERO.

— CHAPTER 3.

Anastasia was in the med bay with Doctor Zhang as Heller was giving Jonas a checkup, making sure he was able to able to do the rescue, but she was pretty sure he'd be going either way.

The tension in the room was to the roof, Heller checked Jonas' blood pressure under his piercing gaze. "He's in perfect shape,"

"Just like the last time you examined me."

"Suyin took a glider fifteen minutes ago." Mac informed, walking into the med bay, "She's planning on taking the Origin back up."

Oh god.

Ana didn't know much about rescue missions but she figured bringing the Origin up in a glider was not a good idea.

"Take me to the sub." Jonas ripped the the cuff off.

"We're not done here."

"Yeah, we are. Lori's running out of air, and we're in international waters, which means legally, I can beat the ever-loving shit out of you, and get away with it."

Ana's eyes widened, she barely knew Jonas but she thought he was awesome.

He had the level of confidence and a take-no-shit attitude she so desperately wished she had.

She was shocked with herself about what she said to Morris earlier, she had come in contact with countless people like him, and some who were even ruder, but never once spoke back. She always rolled over and let them treat her however they pleased.

Heller turned to the other three in shock. "It's true," Ana and Doctor Zhang looked over to Mac, "Legally, I mean. Good thing he doesn't hold a grudge."

Anastasia was in the dive control room, ready to watch Jonas' rescue mission. Mac checked in with everyone, making sure everything was prepped and ready.

"Evolution, we are go for dive."

She watched Jonas on the screen, he turned the sub on and was dropped into the water.

"System go for descent."

Jonas stayed put, not listening to the automated voice, he was hesitating, understandably.

"System go for descent."

"Hey, brother. We're good to go."

"System go for descent."

The voice repeated, for the fourth time, and Jonas still hadn't moved. Everyone was looking around unsurely, was Jonas not going to it?

"Jonas." Mac was now wondering the same thing.

A few seconds later and Jonas started the descent, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"Evolution successful launch."

Jonas got to work, moving around the sub.

"Evolution now passing 1,000 meters."

Jonas was descending quickly, causing his blood gases to drop, but Jonas disregarded Heller's worry about him blacking out.

"Suyin be advised, Evolution is now en route. Request you return to Mana One immediately."

"Negative. He can give us an escort on our way up."

"Tell her to get out of the way, Mac. More people means more risk and she's in way over her head."

"Jonas, you just told her yourself."

"What?"

"The little green button on your intercom, that's for single channel communication."

"Brilliant."

Suyin entered the Thermocline, and passed through the "bottom", while Jonas stated he needed to cut communication due to how fast he was going, leaving the crew puzzled.

Minutes later Suyin found the Origin, "There it is. I've got visual on the Origin. I can see most of it."

"Okay. They're alive." Anastasia let out a sigh of relief, knowing that her friends were mostly safe at that moment, Mac patted her on the back.

"I'm going to set up to tow."

"Range to target. Six meters...Four meters."

Ana's eyes were glued to the screen showing Suyin, feeling antsy at how close Suyin was to rescuing them, wanting to yell, hurry up!

"Target locked."

"Firing magnetic hook. Three. Two-" Suyin was cut off by her own scream, a loud thudding noise accompanying.

"Suyin? Are you okay? What's happening?" Mac's tone was too calm, Ana was freaking out on the inside, biting the inside of her cheek to try and calm herself down, to no avail.

"There is something down here. Something just hit my ship." Suyin's whisper made goosebumps flourish all over Ana's arms.

Suyin yelled out again seconds later, "Suyin what's happening?"

"It's a huge squid. It's got the glider."

"Warning. Capsule pressure."

"Mac, it's crushing me. It's crushing me! I don't think the glider can take it." Suyin's tone was full of panic. Anastasia's anxiety level rose, the alarm blaring in the background didn't help either.

"It's not gonna hold," Jaxx informed the obvious, but hearing it from an expert made it all the more terrifying.

"Suyin, engage the pressure compensator."

"Compensator will not engage."

"Capsule breach in ten seconds."

Tears pierced Anastasia's eyes, was she seriously about to hear her friend die?

"Capsule breach in five sec-"

The automated voice stopped, and silence took over.

"Oh god. It's a shark. It's like 20, 25 meters."

"It's a Megalodon."

A Megalodon?

When Anastasia was just a young girl she was obsessed with sharks, the theme for her eighth birthday was sharks. If eight-year-old Ana knew that Megalodon’s were in fact not extinct, her mind would've been blown.

"Impossible," Suyin whispered in shock.

"I'm so glad I'm not crazy." Jonas was speaking directly to Heller, who stared at Jonas through the camera, not believing what he was hearing.

Jonas made it to where Suyin was located, "Suyin, power down. It's drawn to the light. Shut everything down and stay dark."

"Shut down in 30 seconds."

"Shutting off everything but comms." The sonar started beeping rapidly, detecting the Meg coming back around. "It's circling back. Turn them off. Now."

"Shut down in 15 seconds."

"Mac, I have no control." Anastasia should've known the chaos wouldn't end when the squid got eaten. "Hurry," The shark was coming fast, faster than Suyin's glider could shut down.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five-"

The beeping stopped, and so did the countdown, Suyin was safe. "Now's your chance, blow your tanks." "No. I can help you save the crew."

"Your glider's damaged, there's nothing you can do. Blow your tanks now."

"Damn it."

"Doctor Zhang, your daughters clear. I'm heading for the Origin now.”

This time the sigh of relief wasn't internal, it was hard to know exactly what was going on down there, the cameras didn't show everything and had been cutting out occasionally, and only being able to hear Suyin's reaction to the once unknown creatures and not know what exactly she was encountering was the worst.

Anastasia felt only a tad bit relieved, she still had more friends down there, and Jonas, who she hoped would be her newfound friend, and only when they came back up safe would she be fully content.

It was the second waiting game she experienced that day, both involving Jonas, but this was the most nerve-racking.

The sonar alarm started blaring, again. The Megalodon was coming for the Origin, again.

No one seemed to be speaking, whether that was because Ana was so laser-focused on the sonar and tuned everyone out, or there was no one talking, all silent as they watched the Meg.

Then, right at the last second, the Meg sped away from the sub, and the beeping stopped.

Anastasia assumed that was a good thing, if the shark had swam away that quick then there was a good chance it got spooked by something, which meant all was well...?

Jonas was radio silent, and his video signal was off, so no view of what was happening on the inside. The beeping started back up, snapping Ana out of her thoughts, and once again, for what felt like the millionth time, the familiar blob popped back up on the sonar, coming for the Origin.

But this time, there was a visual on the Evolution coming back up, so good news.

Or not.

"Where's Toshi's vitals?" Ana stood behind Doctor Heller, pointing to the screen in front of him.

"They aren't showing," Heller replied, lowly, as if he already knew what happened, or was guessing.

She looked at Mac.

"Come in, Evolution."

No answer.

"Jonas, come in."

Silence, panic rising again.

"Are you all okay?"

Maybe Jonas lost the comms connection?

"Doctor Heller has vitals on Lori and The Wall, but we don't have Toshi."

Please be a lost connection.

"Is Toshi okay?"

Please.

"Jonas, is Toshi okay?"

TABLE OF CONTENTS. PREVIOUS<<. CHAPTER 4. Coming 7/3

READ ON WATTPAD: controversiallyoungf

#fanfiction #the meg fanfiction #the meg x reader #james mackreides #james mackreides x reader #mac x reader #full length fanfiction

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stillness-in-green · 2 years ago

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Chapter Thoughts — Chapter 382: Don’t Let Him Go

Two big lengthy segments today (guess what about) and some shorter observations. I'll just go ahead and put the jump here, shall I?

On Toga:

It’s hard to talk rationally about the drama with Toga this week, both because

(A) The early leaks led to a lot of discussion centered on Toga and love and why—as the leaks expressed quite baldly—she doesn’t love Shigaraki and Dabi, and the bad takes are like unto a lingering poison I have to shake.

and

(B) It feels so overwhelmingly like a copout.

There’s so much that can be theorized about Toga's dilemma and to what extent Tsuyu's assumptions about her love are correct, but I find it difficult to engage in good faith because it just feels so cheap. This is an almost Platonic example of arbitrary complications that are only a problem because the author says they are, not because they flow naturally from previously established facts. If the Shigaraki that couldn’t make his quirk go off were a Toga-disguised-as-Shigaraki, that would be one thing, and you could move into discussion of her feelings freely. But so far as we’re presented with, it’s not—it’s just a clone Shigaraki, exactly like any other Jin could have made himself.

Jin never had any problems with creating incomplete doubles. If he didn’t understand something well enough, it wouldn’t look perfect on the surface despite missing core aspects internally; it would just immediately turn into sludge, like his attempt at replicating Overhaul’s quirk-erasing bullet. Likewise, the various members of the League Jin doubled never manifested Jin’s own psychological need to cover his face to keep from splitting; that always remained unique to him and his self-doubles.

So why do doubles Toga makes have her emotional restriction? Well, because the author said so. Because Horikoshi couldn’t have this whole field of heroes be annihilated by a single double—even though, from all we knew about how Double worked before, that should be exactly what happened—so he had to come up with some arbitrary explanation why dozens of people haven’t been dusted where they stand.

As far as (A) goes, I think the real translation is more nuanced than the blunt statements in the leaks, and certainly the chapter as a whole is much more nuanced than the wild leaps people started making when all they had to go on was Tsuyu’s hypothesis—that people immediately took as fact—that Toga doesn’t love Shigaraki and Dabi. For myself, I’m not inclined to second-guess Toga on her own experience of her feelings of love, what qualifies and what doesn’t. She says she loves Touya and Tomura; I have to read that as at least as credible a claim as her love for Ochaco and Deku.

So where does that leave me? Well, I think there are two major possible explanations for Toga’s problems that aren’t just the incredibly reductive and insulting, “She doesn’t love them.” Both have some sub-issues of their own, but, well, that’s what comes of this whole development being dictionary-definition Arbitrary.

Theory 1: Toga’s love always been tied up in her sense of wanting to become more and more like the objects of her affection. She doesn’t just love Ochaco; she wants to become Ochaco. So maybe the issue is that, while she loves Shigaraki and Dabi, she doesn’t particularly want to become them, and it’s the desire to emulate, rather than the love, that actually defines her ability to use quirks.

That would be consistent with the way her quirk evolution was portrayed in Chapter 226—much more consistent, even, than the idea that her “love” is the key factor. Back then, the thought that’s on her mind as Curious comes in for the kill is, “I wanna be just like you.” When she uses Ochaco’s quirk to kill, her spoken line is, “I wanna be even more like the people I love.” Love is a factor, certainly, but it’s filtered through that additional qualifier. This would mean everyone involved[1] has misread Toga’s condition in a small but crucially important way.

I can see two immediate problems with this theory, but both are fairly minor.

First, Toga never showed any particular desire to emulate Jin, but she’s obviously using his quirk—not without issues, but using it all the same. This one’s fairly easy to get around, in that it would be very easy to say that she didn’t want to become Jin before he was killed, and her desire to do so now is inseparable from the fact that he was murdered. Does she want to become him so he won’t be gone from her life? So she can carry out revenge for him? That’s fairly immaterial; as long as she does want to become him, his quirk becomes accessible.

Second, Toga has shown signs of emulating Shigaraki and, to a more debatable extent, Dabi. While it’s not as full-throated as for Ochaco, obviously, Chapter 226 ends with Toga thinking that whatever she hates must be destroyed—right, Tomura? Likewise, people have pointed out that Toga’s pose on the 339 color spread could be her copying his Frankenstein’s monster hands pose from 191. So there’s at least some basis for Toga mimicking or adopting aspects of Shigaraki and Dabi, which would undercut the idea that she doesn’t want to become them ergo she can’t use their quirks. A single line of dialogue and a highly interpretable pose in a non-canon color spread make a pretty thin objection, though, so I don’t regard them as hard evidence against the theory.

Theory 2: Toga’s transformation into Twice is flawed, so his quirk isn’t working to its fullest. A flawed transformation would line up with that extremely unsubtle page of Toga agonizing about why she can’t become Jin overlaid against a background of thoughts about hero mass extinction that are highly un-Jin-like. It would also point to the Sad Man’s Death Parade not being made up of Togas-transformed-into-Jin, which I had thought was the explanation for why they were so deathly silent compared to the riotous clamor the Sad Man’s Parade raised in Deika. Rather, they are clones of Jin, but they’re flawed clones, strained through Toga’s grief and overpowering hatred, choking out Jin’s actual character: chatty, protective, desperately loyal. If those distorted copies have Toga’s emotions, it makes a certain amount of sense that they’d also have her restrictions.

This one runs into serious trouble with my (B) objection, above, particularly the idea that Twice’s own quirk was always very all or nothing—it either works or it gloops, no in between. If Toga’s attempt to use Jin’s quirk is reflecting a flawed understanding of Jin, she shouldn’t really get usable copies at all, just sludge. As for explaining away this problem, well, we might say that quirks are pretty weird, so Transform and Double having some unpredictable interactions isn’t entirely out of bounds. It’s just, again, deeply arbitrary.

I can't help but think, whatever the explanation, that there are ways around a hero massacre that wouldn't have required kneecapping Toga with nonsensical quirk restrictions. It's not as if we lack precedent for clones being way less dangerous than the real things! The Shigaraki/Dabi/AFO clones were probably made by the bazillionth Himijin clone, so are about as strong as wet paper. They'd also take longer to make, because it always took Jin longer to make clones of other people than clones of himself. Just get Hawks off of AFO-sitting-duty and back down to the field to put feathers through any League/AFO-clones that are reaching out their hands in dangerous ways.

Heck, you could even further the teamwork themes by having Hawks—who's probably a bit low on feathers to do that whole thing himself—be the eye in the sky to coordinate everyone else! (This might then leave him open to Actual Toga, who still deserves to knife him and has inexplicably not gotten to do so yet.)

Anyway. I guess we’ll see how it develops. I’m not against Toga having some good crunchy anguish, heaven knows, but it would be nice if it didn’t feel so mandated by the need to stop her from murdering a dozen acres’ worth of on-the-ground heroes.

One other thing, though, before I leave Toga and move on to the other big headache this chapter. Tsuyu says, “It seems like Himiko-chan’s own restriction applies to the doubles she makes after transforming into Twice. (...) In an extreme situation like this, a single emotion could override that restriction at any second.” That’s extra dangerous because of—and I don’t know if Tsuyu knows this or not—one of the factors in how Double works, or at least could be read as working.

Recall that back during MVA, we were told that the doubles Twice makes of other people are limited to what their real selves knew at the last time real!Twice saw them, but that this limitation doesn’t apply to Twice himself. I never could 100% parse that, but one of the logical explanations is a sort of instant knowledge transmission—that anything the original knew, any double of him made would also know, even if it was itself made by a double that wasn't present for whatever new thing just happened.

Would this have applied only to new clones, each created as an up-to-the-minute copy of Original Jin and then lagging behind as they slide into their own experience? Or is every clone updated moment to moment such that they stay accurate reflections of Jin? That’s unclear thanks to the vague phrasing, but if the knowledge transmission works the same way for Toga, and she resolves her crisis and suddenly becomes able to create quirk-capable clones, then whether every Himijin on the field can abruptly do the same or only newly created Himijins, it’s an instant ticket to The Worst Situation either way.

(I’m rooting for you, Himiko! Resolve that crisis! Go go go!)

On Shinsou and Gigantomachia:

On the one hand, this is the exact opposite of arbitrary authorial handwaves. I can look back over Shinsou’s arc all the way back to the Sports Festival and see the groundwork being laid for this. Indeed, I’d say all of his major appearances, combined with what we know about Machia, contributed to the setup for this.

At the Sports Festival, we learned that he could take control of people by tricking them into responding to them. By the Joint Training arc, he’d picked up a support item that allowed him to mimic others’ voices. In MVA, Machia was shown to be fanatically loyal to AFO, a trait that could be particularly guided by the sound of his master’s voice.

After the traitor reveal, Shinsou mind-controlled the Aoyamas through their phone call with AFO. Since he can’t force people to do anything that requires much mental engagement (here meaning he couldn’t just order the Aoyamas to respond to AFO the way AFO expected them to), we must assume he needed to be able to hear AFO’s side of that phone in order to respond to it properly. Thus, that phone call enabled him to learn what AFO’s voice sounded like such that he could later mimic it.

It all fits! It fits extremely elegantly, more so than the vast majority of the late-stage twists have done thus far.

And yet... And yet.

And yet it’s morally dubious and frankly, the Machia we were introduced to in MVA deserves better than this.

I know most people don’t care about Gigantomachia—indeed, the post-MVA series has not gone out of its way to encourage us to do so—but imagine for a moment that this wasn’t Machia attacking AFO. Imagine it were Mister Compress. He’s much too chatty to not trip into responding to Shinsou, and then he could be dropped in front of, say, Toga in hopes that seeing him would cause her to drop her guard long enough for Mr. Compress to be ordered into marbling her.

Wouldn’t that feel incredibly shitty, manipulative, and even outright villainous? Especially for the kid whose entire character arc is about proving that he can use his quirk in non-villainous ways? Like, Shinsou immobilizing Machia would be one thing, making him walk back into his cell, something like that would entirely fine. Actually forcing him to attack his own allies, however, is many, many steps past fine.

And it’s not like AFO doesn’t deserve to have a mountain thrown at him, but does Machia deserve to be forced to throw it? Well, I could talk about that,[2] but as I see it, it’s a moot point.

Forcing enemies to fight their own allies, just so we’re all clear here, would be considered a war crime if this were a duly declared war situation.[3] It isn’t a war, not least because the heroes are a nominally civilian force fighting against their own nation’s criminals, but, hot take, anything that would constitute a literal war crime in an international conflict is not something that should get readers cheering for the wholesome good guy heroes just because the crime’s being perpetrated against their own people.

Even if you set aside the ethics of the situation, though (which you by no means should), I have to ask about the tactical wisdom of bringing Machia to the field as well. So Shinsou's controlling him now, awesome; we’ve weaponized one of the villains against their own side.

What happens when that control wears off? Or Shinsou gets wounded (or worse) and loses focus? Or AFO warps Machia out of there, likely out of Shinsou’s range of control? Or Machia breaks himself out of the control because that’s just how much it agonizes him to be forced to fight his beloved master? Or AFO breaks him out of the control because Machia is conditioned to respond to his voice, and he’s got the right smell to go with it? Or literally anything because this is not a permanent solution but now Machia's out of prison and on the field with AFO, great job, team!!!

Another issue a chat friend brought up: Machia’s basically just retracing the path he took before—from the Villa to Jakku then back again. Given how incredibly destructive that was before, how destructive was it this time? Did they swerve around every settled area on the way? Just run over it again because, heck, it’s not like anyone’s had time to repair it anyway? ‘Cause like, back in Chapter 282, when the radio was running through the list of places that needed to be evacuated, the announcer listed twenty names before Uraraka picked up her line of dialogue, interrupting any further roll call of affected areas.

Furthermore, all the places listed were called cities—shi in the Japanese, the largest of Japan’s three municipal categories. There are also towns (machi) and villages (mura), neither of which were mentioned in the broadcast, but which must surely also be scattered along Machia’s route. That’s a lot of municipality to swerve around; would it even be feasible to do so and still reach the battle in a relatively timely fashion? How much time has elapsed since we saw the Jakku battlefield in 353, at which point Machia was still down and dreaming? How much time is that compared to how long it took Machia to clear the villa and arrive at Jakku in the previous war?

Machia’s travel times have always been a frankly impossible abstraction,[4] but seriously, it ought to take considerably more time to navigate around every clutch of houses in his path than to just plow through them.[5] Unless, again, the kids just said fuck it and ran back over the path he took before, trusting that it was still an evacuated wasteland. Which, while it doesn’t account for those who declined to evacuate to begin with, might be a fair bet—I can’t imagine the government’s shelling out much for repair and construction with things still so unsettled—but would still be a pretty bad look for Team Hero.

Stray Thoughts:

O The layout of the narration boxes on the first page is very fun.

O AFO is obvious, but I wonder why Dabi and not Shigaraki for Tsuyu’s pick on people they’d be doomed if Toga had chosen to transform into. Shigaraki’s ranged Decay is by some measure deadlier, and that’s not even getting into everything else Shigaraki’s packing now. Meanwhile, Dabi has still yet to kill a single named character.

O Tsuyu calls Toga Himiko-chan, which is certainly A Choice she’s consciously making, given that last time they met, Tsuyu was still rebuking Toga not to address her by her given name. Suffice to say, it’s a pretty strong suggestion that Tsuyu and Ochaco have had at least one serious conversation about Ochaco’s intentions towards Toga. I wish we could have seen it, but I suppose there’s always a chance of flashbacks.

O The panel of “Twice” with Toga’s eyes is a very nice touch. I assume it’s not meant to be literal—the “Camie” the reader first meets at the License Exam also has Toga’s eyes, which are wildly different from Real Camie’s eyes, a discrepancy you’d think her classmates would have noticed if it were meant to be a true depiction of her appearance.[6] Anyway, Ochaco doesn’t recognize her by the eyes; she recognizes her by the tears.

…Which is ironic, really, given that Jin was by far the most openly weepy of the League.

O Teen AFO is great, but what I find most striking is the shadows beneath his eyes. Specifically, the way they so strongly resemble the hollows beneath Shigaraki’s in e.g. Chapter 373.

I don’t know if this means anything, but it’s an interesting visual parallel. I wonder if Yoichi was not the only brother prone to frailty as a youth?

-------------------- FOOTNOTES --------------------

1: Tsuyu, who makes deductions based on it this week, Toga herself, who states it in Chapter 289; Ochaco, who heard it from Toga’s own mouth in the same chapter; and Dabi, back in 241, who probably also heard it from Toga at some point post-Deika.

2: Mostly I’d say that since we know neither what AFO did to earn Machia’s loyalty nor how much say Machia had in the walking disaster he’s become, we don’t actually have enough context to say what he “deserves” and what he doesn’t, and that it’s not the heroes’ job to unilaterally dispense that justice regardless.

3: Article 130 of the Geneva Conventions, which includes “compelling a prisoner of war to serve in the forces of the hostile Power” as one of several “grave breaches” of the Conventions that constitute a war crime.

4: As has been the case for all the travel times this arc has flippantly handwaved.

5: Because if plowing through them would take him longer than running around them, he would have run around them the first time, the sooner to make it to Master’s side.

6: Oddly enough, “Camie” only has Toga’s eyes for the first phase of the exam. Once Toga switches transformations to Ochaco to target Deku and then shifts back into Camie after, her eyes look the Real Camie’s. I haven’t done a thorough hunt, but she manifests Ochaco’s and Deku’s eyes normally at Deika and the Shie Hassaikai raid.

#bnha #bnha 382 #toga himiko #gigantomachia #purplezawa #quirk mechanics #stillness has salt #chapter thoughts

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