#but on a more serious note him being so opposed to inheriting power is not necessarily that he lacks determination

[ilynpilled]

modern au jaime would be unemployed his ass would not be doing anything

​jaimes story in canon is actually about the tragedy of a man that is forced to have a job

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers DARK FATE ー Laito Maniac [Prologue]

ー The scene starts in the living room of the Tsukinami Manor

Carla: ーー I doubt I need to remind you, but we are keeping an eye on you two at all times.

If you try anything funny, or fail to carry out the plan on time.

My Familiars will have no mercy ripping both you and that woman apart as per my command.

Laito: Yeah, yeah, you don’t need to tell me a million times.

I thought you said yourself that I’m not an idiot, remember?

Carla: That is exactly why.

Laito: Eh?

Carla: Fools do not even think. However, you are different.

In other words, I realize that there is always the possibility that you will change your mind.

Laito: ...Hmー Well, thank you for the compliment. Although I think you might just be giving me a bit too much credit.

ーー Shall we get going, Bitch-chan?

Yui: Yeah...

( Is this really the best decision...? )

*TIMESKIP*

Shin: Nii-san, why didn’t you have him leave the woman behind with us?

Didn’t we need her as a hostage?

Carla: He is serious.

Shin: ...Aren’t you putting a little too much faith in him?

Carla: Think about what might happen after he kills Karlheinz...

Shin: ...

Carla: That woman might be our way to put a stop to it then. (1)

Shin: I see...

Carla: Either way, the Familiars are keeping a watch on them.

If an unforeseen situation arises, we can easily deal with it.

Shin: I trust you. However, I’ll head to the Demon World as well, just in case.

You should return to Banmaden, okay?

Carla: Yes, very well.

Shin: Well then, I’ll move with haste. I’ll lend you a few Familiars just in case something happens.

Carla: ...

ー The scene shifts to the forest in the Demon World

Laito: I didn’t think we’d find ourselves coming here, out of all places...

Yui: Laito-kun, where are we...?

Laito: It’s Richter’s castle.

Yui: Richter...He’s you guys’ uncle, right?

( If I recall correctly, he’s Karlheinz-san’s younger brother... )

Why would Carla and Shin tell us to come here...?

Laito: I assume that he’s working with the two of them.

He absolutely loathes that man after all.

Yui: Right...

Laito: My family is a mess, don’t you think? Fufufu.

Well, no point in standing here talking forever. I’m not too thrilled about this, but I guess we should head inside?

ー They enter the manor

Richter: ーー Welcome to my castle.

Laito: Thank you for having us, Uncle.

Yui: Pardon the intrusion...

Richter: I heard you will be staying for a while. You haven’t been in the Demon World for quite some time, haven’t you? Take it easy.

Laito: Heeh. You’re being rather kind.

Richter: I’m generous towards those who share the same objective as me.

Yui: ...

( Objective...Does that mean he’s out to kill Karlheinz-san as well...? )

Laito: Oh geez~ You gave me goosebumps just now. Please don’t get the wrong idea.

I’ll kill him for my sake, you know? Not for yours, or for that woman’s.

Richter: Do not refer to your own mother as ‘that woman’!

Laito: Fufufu, my ‘mother’, huh? I’m not quite sure when she ever acted as one though.

Yui: L-Laito-kun!

Laito: Ah, sorry, sorry! I can’t help myself in front of this guy, you see?

Richter: I’ve heard enough. Get to your room.

Laito: Good idea. That’d probably be best for both of us...

Let’s go, Bitch-chan.

Yui: Yeah...

Laito: ーー Aah, there’s one thing I forgot to ask.

Richter: ...What?

Laito: Are you sure you don’t want to do it yourself?

Richter: Do what?

Laito: You hate him, don’t you?

Richter: ...One cannot kill a fellow Vampire out of hatred. You know so as well, don’t you?

Laito: I see. You’re scared, huh?

Richter: ...!!

Laito: Sorry, sorry~ Slip of the tongue, you see?

Yui: ( Haah... Will things be okay like this...? )

ー The scene shifts to the bedroom

Yui: ...Laito-kun. Richter-san is letting us stay at his house, so you shouldn’t provoke him like that.

Laito: Haah, I’m sorry, okay? I just end up recalling memories I’d rather forget when I see him...

Yui: ( ...Laito-kun... )

However, I’m worried the two of you will get into a fight.

Laito: You’re right. I should have just punched him across the face instead of beating around the bush.

Yui: Y-You can’t...!

Laito: Ahー ...My bad. I honestly just got irritated...

I wonder if it’s because of the lunar eclipse? That woman’s face keeps on flickering through my mind...

Yui: I see...

ー She embraces him

Laito: Bitch-chan...?

Yui: ( I wrapped my arms around him without thinking... )

I was hoping I could soothe your anger even just a little.

Laito: ...If anything, it has triggered a little something inside of me...Nfu~

Yui: ...!?

*Thud*

On certain CGs, little black roses will appear on the screen. If you click on them, you get an extra line of dialogue.

“You really are a ‘Bitch-chan’, pulling me into a hug like that.”

“Say...You don’t mind, do you? Of course you don’t. I ‘love’ you after all...”

Laito: Woah there, you’re not getting away~

*Rustle*

Yui: Kyah!

Laito: You’re the one who enticed me, so you can’t back out now.

Yui: B-But...Right now is...

Laito: Nfu~ Is that a no? But just look at how much I love you...

Yui: ...!!

Laito: I want your blood. Right now...Please...?

*Rustle rustle*

Yui: Laito-kun, sto...

Laito: Bitch-chan...I love you...

Yui: ( This ‘I love you’ is different...He’s only saying it to silence me. )

( Just when I thought we were finally on the same page. )

( I don’t want him to take out his frustrations on me like this... )

*Rustle rustle*

Yui: Stopーー

Laito: Don’t・want・to!

*Rustle rustle*

Yui: ...! I’m serious, cut it out!

*THUD*

Laito: Wawah...!!

Yui: Ah...!!

( Oh no...I pushed him a little too hard by accident... )

I-I’m sorry, I acted on instinct...

Laito: ...

Yui: A-Are you alright?

Laito: Haah...I’m the one who should apologize.

It’d be fine if you were just pretending to dislike it as part of the fetish, but you were serious just now, weren’t you?

Yui: I...I truly am sorry...

Laito: Don’t sweat it. More importantly, why did you oppose me that strongly?

You have a reason, don’t you?

Yui: Well...

Laito: Tell me.

Yui: ...To me, it appears as if you’ve become desperate.

Laito: Desperate...? In regard to what?

Yui: Well...Yourself...

Laito: I see...

I see...That’s how it comes across, huh? Is that why you refused me?

Yui: I don’t want you to try and cover up a serious matter...By acting like your usual self.

Laito: I’m not covering anything up. Besides, what do you mean with ‘a serious matter’?

Yui: T-The thing about Karlheinz-san. Are you actually...going to kill him?

Laito: Good grief, you’re saying that now as well?

While it may come across as overly desperate because I decided it on the spot.

However, I’m calm. I will kill him because that’s what I want to do.

Yui: Uu...

Laito: There’s nothing desperate about it.

Yui: You’re lying...

Laito: ...I’m not.

Yui: I can tell...That you’re afraid of losing me...

That’s why you’re willingly going to face Karlheinz-san...

You’re hoping that...You’ll lose your life in the process, don’t you?

Because that’d be easier on you...

Because it’d liberate you from your suffering...

Laito: ...

Yui: That’s exactly why I’m saying you’ve become desperate...!

Don’t run away, Laito-kun...!

Laito: Haah...I’ve lost my touch.

Yui: ...

Laito: I didn’t think you’d ever be able to read me so well...

Yui: Laito-kun...

Laito: Bitch-chan, you see...I just want everything to end.

I don’t want to lose another person I hold dear.

Yui: ...Uu...

Laito: Of course, I won’t deny that the love I felt for that woman was nothing but lies and fables, that didn’t get rid of the sense of loss I felt when she passed.

I’m terrified...of experiencing that same feeling again.

The reality that one day you will pass and leave me behind by myself...It scares me.

Yui: Is that why you say you want to die...?

Laito: Exactly. I’m weak. Because I know that,

I’ve always lived in denial of love, never letting myself grow attached to anything or anyone.

...I figured it’d be easier on me...If I never had loved ones to begin with. I wouldn’t have found myself in this current situation either.

However, then you were thrown at me.

I’m stuck in your thorns... (2)

Yui: ...Laito-kun...

Laito: I wonder if I should just kill you instead...?

By doing so...I might be able to escape this fear...?

Aah, but when I think about what will happen to me by doing so, I feel like I’m about to go crazy.

I don’t want to lose you...Yet I’m contemplating killing you myself...

I realize it’s contradicting, but that’s just how much I feel driven up a wall.

Of course, I realize you might not understand as the one who would leave me behind...

ー He embraces her

*Rustle*

Yui: ...What should I do?

Laito: You don’t need to do anything. This is my issue, remember?

Everything will be resolved once I’m gone. If I die...No, I want to die.

Yui: Don’t say that...

Besides, I don’t want you to die. What will happen to me...? I’ll be left behind as well, you know...?

Laito: ...

Yui: ( Why won’t he answer my question...? )

You’re being selfish...

Laito: Yeah, you’re right.

Yui: ...I would never leave you though...

Laito: Fufu...

Yui: Why do you laugh?

Laito: I mean, that’s...Right.

ーー You liar...

Yui: Uu...

Laito: Fufufu...

Yui: ( Why would he say that...? )

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー 

Translation notes

(1) Carla says that Yui might become a ‘checkmate’. I’m not 100% certain on what is meant with this line, but perhaps Carla knows that Laito could inherit Karlheinz’ powers upon killing him and plans to use Yui as a back-up plan then.

(2) I found this line to be quite tricky. Literally he says that he can no longer escape the ‘thorn’ (いばら) being Yui/the MC.

→  LIKE MY TRANSLATIONS? SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI!

<- [ Dark Epilogue ] [ Maniac 01 ] ->

[four-loose-screws]

FE8 Novelization Translation: Book 1 - Front Cover & Other Introductory Pages

Happy 2021, ya’ll! We made it! Who knows what this year will bring? At the very least, we can get excited about another FE novel translation!

The title this time around is.... the Sacred Stones! This was the most requested title outside of Jugdral.

This novel, unsurprisingly, follow’s Eirika’s journey, as her route has more details essential to understanding the overall plot, and is in the third person, but primarily told from her perspective.

Also, for the names of the writer and illustrator, note that I usually tend to write Japanese names in “given name -> family name” order, as I personally find that that’s the most simple for Westerners to understand. Plus, that’s what the previous novels have done as well. But this book takes the “retain the ‘original’ order and write the family name in capital letters” approach, so I decided to stick with that and stay consistent with what’s printed on the book.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Book 1

Written by TAKASE Mie

Illustrated by SUZUKI Rika

Published by Square Enix

(inside flap)

Author

TAKASE Mie

TAKASE Mie was born on July 31st in Tokyo. She graduated from Waseda University. Her recent hobby is the cello, which she was inspired to start learning after watching a certain sailing movie. Though she has dreams of one day being able to play Bach’s cello suites, she still has a hard time with even basic scales.

Cover and Obi Design: atelier THiRD

Long ago, the Demon King was sealed away within the five Sacred Stones, and the continent of Magvell has since enjoyed a long period of peace. However, that peace was shattered in an instant. The Grado Empire, honored as the most powerful of all the nations guarding the Sacred Stones, began to invade the other lands of the continent. Grado had always maintained friendly relations with the surrounding countries, so why invade? The kingdom of Renais falls without the answer to this question. Because those still in Renais have lost contact with Prince Ephraim and the front line, Princess Eirika is entrusted with reviving her country, and flees on a journey to their ally, the Kingdom of Frelia...

(inside flap)

Illustrator

SUZUKI Rika

SUZUKI Rika currently lives in Yokohama. She is a freelance illustrator who has contributed to titles such as the Monster Collection TCG (published by Fujimi Shobo) and Angels of Dawn (written by KAYATA Sunako and published by Chuokoron-Shinsha, Inc.). She also created the manga Tableau Gate - Volumes 1 & 2 (published by Kadokawa Shoten).

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Book 1

Written by TAKASE Mie

Illustrated by SUZUKI Rika

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Day That Decided Her Fate

Chapter 2: The Blood of a Warrior

Chapter 3: The Stolen Bracelet

Chapter 4: The Pursued Cleric

Chapter 5: Fog of War

Chapter 6: The Castle on the Lake

Chapter 7: The Girl with Wings

Chapter 8: At Port Kiris

Chapter 9: The Heroes at the Fort

Chapter 10 The Secluded Sage

Character Introductions 

Eirika

The Princess of Renais. She is kind, and does not like war itself, but still dedicated herself to the current war without hesitation to retake her country, a goal entrusted to her by her father, the king.

Fado

The king of the Kingdom of Renais. In his youth, he was renowned for his military prowess, and he is adored by his people as an honest statesman.

Seth

Though he is the youngest of all Renais’ generals, his loyalty and superb skills in both combat and discernment make him the ideal image of a knight.

Franz

He may have just only become a full-fledged knight, but he has a very serious and earnest personality, and is skilled in combat as well, ensuring him a promising future.

Valter

A general of the Grado Empire also known as the Moonstone. He was discharged from the army for the crime of massacring ordinary citizens for fun. However...

Gilliam

A devoted knight of Frelia with a long history as a fearless soldier. He is a man of few words, but his power is known throughout the entire Frelian Army.

Tana

The princess of the Kingdom of Frelia. In contrast to her friendly personality that is beloved by all of her retainers and servants, she also has military experience, and is an active member of the pegasus knight unit.

Hayden

The king of the Kingdom of Frelia. His resourcefulness is unparalleled, and has earned him the title “The Wise King.” He is a long time friend of Fado’s and spares no effort in aiding Eirika and her allies.

Vanessa

An outstanding knight, even among the prided Frelian pegasus knights. She is very serious, but kind.

Moulder

A priest. Within his calm appearance lies a very intelligent mind. He can not only heal with staves, but is also knowledgeable in medicine.

Selena

A mage general of Grado, also known as the Fluorspar. One of the empire’s three generals. She has vowed her undying loyalty to Emperor Vigarde.

Ross

A boy living in Ide Village in Renais. He is saved by Eirika and her allies when his home is attacked by bandits.

Garcia

Ross’ father. A former troop commander in the Renais’ army known for his dauntless courage. When his wife passed away, he retired from the army to raise his son.

Neimi

A girl born in Lark Village in Renais. Her home was burned down by bandits. She cries easily, but undoubtedly inherited her grandfather’s famous skills with a bow.

Colm

Neimi’s childhood friend. They were the only two to survive the bandit attack on their hometown. He has sticky fingers, but is kind to Neimi.

Artur

He meets Eirika and the others while carrying out the orders given to him by his church to purge the lands of monsters. He has a deep love of learning and is a devoted monk.

Lute

Artur’s childhood friend. Though it is true that she is an exceptionally skilled mage, the words and actions she chooses as a result of her confidence in that fact are a bit detached from reality.

L’Arachel

A young woman with a strong sense of justice on a continuing journey to take out the monsters roaming the lands. She actually appears to be of noble standing based upon the way her companions talk to and act around her.

Dozla

A warrior traveling with L’Arachel. He cannot hide the fact that he is her loyal retainer, though perhaps it is more accurate to say that he is not really trying. He’s not one to sweat the small stuff.

Rennac

He is actually a master thief, and just under contract with L’Arachel, but all she does is drag him around everywhere.

Natasha

A cleric being pursued by the Grado Army because she was deemed a traitor. She asks to travel with Eirika so she can spread the word to other nations about the strange things occurring within the empire. 

Joshua

A skilled mercenary who loves to gamble above all else. He becomes Eirika’s ally after losing a bet with Natasha.

Ephraim

The prince of Renais and Eirika’s older twin brother. He is blessed with a strong sense of justice and decisiveness. He also excels in spearmanship, and his skills are highly respected by the cavalier unit.

Kyle

A loyal retainer who has served Ephraim ever since he joined the cavalier unit. An exceptional knight who’s skilled in serving as a guard.

Forde

Like Kyle, he serves Ephraim as both a guard and close confidant. He and Kyle have been rivals since they were young. He is also Franz’s older brother.

Orson

The commanding officer of the Renais cavalier unit. He is a devoted cavalier who has served the royal family for years, and that King Fado trusts deeply, however...

Innes

The prince of The Kingdom of Frelia. He always has a strong sense of duty towards his role as a member of the royal family. He is extremely confident in himself, and has the strength and abilities to back it up.

Myrrh

A girl who is neither human nor monster, but a member of the dragon tribe. She leaves The Darkling Woods to tell the humans about the abnormalities occurring across the continent.

Amelia

A girl who became a soldier because of her respect for General Duessel. However, she feels lost when she learns that he opposes the war.

Gerik

The brave leader of a band of mercenaries. He joins Eirika’s army because Prince Innes hired him as his guard.

Tethys

A dancer whose bewitching dances attract the soldiers around her and heighten their morale. Once she joined Gerik’s Mercenaries, she became an indispensable member of the group.

Marisa

A female mercenary is rare enough, but her beauty and skills make her even more of a diamond in the rough. She is registered in the guild as a member of the same mercenary group as Gerik.

Ewan

Tethys’ little brother. He aspires to become a mage, and convinced a renowned sage to become his teacher. He is at the age where he cannot help but want to be treated as his own person.

Saleh

The sage of Caer Pelyn, and the only person of this age to associate with those of the dragon tribe. His abilities are very widely known. He is also Ewan’s teacher.

Glen

A general of the Grado Empire who is also known as the Sunstone. One of the empire’s three generals. He also questions the current war…

[galactichen]

i’ll force the seas apart for you | bang chan

prompt #3. “You’re not hurting me, you’re not heavy. I’ve got you, love.”

description. because nothing is scarier than a captain fighting for the love of his life.

pairing. bang chan x reader

genre. romance, adventure, pirate au

word count. 2.3k

author’s note. decided that the world needed more pirate chan, so i delivered. enjoy pirate chan and his crew ;) this is definitely hinting at a skz pirate au hhhhh

warning. blood and gore. just pirate things

When Jeongin accidentally ate the last of their food rations, Chan didn’t get mad. He only expressed his disappointment in the youngest member of the crew before telling Jisung to steer the ship towards the nearest port to restock; they had a little extra cash from their previous raid to spend anyway.

When Minho drunkenly spilled about their next target in a bar filled to the brim with treasure-seeking pirates like himself, Chan didn’t get mad. He only sighed, quietly making his way back to the map he had built with Jisung, the crew’s navigator, to mark a big red ‘X’ over what once was their target. Jisung then proceeded to give Minho a piece of his mind when the latter arrived back to the ship, burdened with a terrible migraine, an angry Jisung, and a disappointed captain.

Chan still didn’t get mad when Changbin, in a fit of rage over an apparent spew over the captain’s ability to direct his crew, sliced off the arms of one of their allies, effectively initiating a war between the crews. It ended in terrible bloodshed; multiple casualties on both ends and a few of Chan’s key crew members badly injured with a frantic Woojin pacing back and forth between patients. They had to replace many of the planks in the ship, for they had been stained with far too much blood to simply wash out; it left them stranded on land for days and drained of gold for weeks until they could pinpoint their next raid for money. And yet, he only expressed gratitude towards Changbin, his first mate, mainly because the other crew was pretty shitty anyway and he’s been waiting all this time for a reason to cut off their allyship.

But when he sees you, all bloodied, beaten, and tied up to the mast of their enemy’s ship like some sort of sick sacrifice—that’s what makes his blood boil.

His knuckles turn a sickly shade of white from gripping the handle of his sword too hard, and it makes Woojin glance at him rather worriedly, for the mind of the medic was never not worried about the well-being of his crew—especially that of his captain.

“What is it that you desire?” Chan yells, and it makes the rest of his crew flinch because none of them were used to this kind of Chan; the kind of Chan who only appears when you, the love of his life, were in danger.

The opposing captain only grins—the sort of grin that sends shivers down one’s back because of the ferocity it holds, like you weren’t sure when they were going to pounce like an animal gone feral. He reaches up and tilts his cap back to reveal an even more ferocious look in his eyes, even in the glass one.

“Desire? What do I desire?” the opposing captain laughs, though empty of any humour. But then he stops abruptly, the silence that follows deafening before he slams his foot down, the look on his face suddenly contorting into that of a mad man. “Your ship. Give me that beaut’ of your’s,” he slurs, “and she,” he says, pointing to your unconscious form, your head leaning a little too far on one side to expose bruises that shouldn’t be there, “is all yours.”

The ship. Chan’s scowl only etches deeper into his face. His hands start to shake from rage. That’s what you were kidnapped and beaten and possibly—Chan doesn’t even want to think about what other unholy things they’ve done to you—all for what? His ship?

The ship that he inherited from his father? The ship that he and Changbin both sailed together by themselves to different landmasses, in search of the crew they stand together in front of today? The same ship that Hyunjin and Seungmin snuck into one night, seeking shelter and accidently got adopted by a whole crew of pirates instead?

The same ship that brought him to you and your brother Felix, where you were huddled in a corner with tears streaming down your face as Felix bravely tried to fend off a band of bandits by himself with nothing but a dagger before Chan and the rest of the crew arrived by chance?

“Don’t do it,” Changbin whispers quietly from Chan’s left. He knows how important both the ship and you were to the captain. He wasn’t about to make his captain choose between one or the other; the ship held an incredible amount of sentimental value to Chan, Changbin, and the rest of the crew. And you were, well, Chan’s biggest source of happiness.

They were going to find a way around this. Changbin was sure of it.

But he doesn’t get a chance to elaborate further when Chan quietly says, “Have it.”

Even the opposing captain looks stunned out of his mind when Chan accepts the offer of taking you back in exchange for his ship. Changbin doesn’t even try to hide the bewildered look that crosses his face. Was Chan out of his mind? That ship was so, so important to both him and Chan! That ship was gifted to Chan by his father. It held so many memories; why was Chan so willing to give it all up for this piece of shit of a captain?

Oh, how Changbin wished you were conscious so you could slap Chan out of it.

Felix taps Changbin’s shoulder and Changbin is met with a “is he serious?” look from the younger male, which makes Changbin shrug in response.

“That’s it?” the opposing captain all but shrieks, and his voice makes you stir a little, your head bobbing a little before you slip back into dreamland once more. “No fight? No ‘arrrgh you piss me off’ moment?” the captain flails his arms around for show, effectively demonstrating his shock.

“Quit pissing me off and give her back,” Chan growls. Don’t misunderstand; he’s pissed all right. He’s pissed that this joke of a captain was making him choose between his beloved ship and the love of his life. He wants nothing more than to slice that man’s head off clean with his sword, but the only thing that holds him back is the thought of the blood of his enemy splattering all over you—the thought of that ever happening to you made him gag.

But at the end of the day, the ship can be replaced.

You, on the other hand, could not.

The opposing captain halts his arm-flailing and turns only his head in Chan’s direction before hissing, “Nah.” He slowly lowers his sword and brings it close to his face, making a show of moving it across and even licking the blade. “Where’s the fun in that?” he asks, finally lowering the blade after a long, excruciating moment. “I came to see you get your panties in a twist, and I refuse to leave before that happens.”

Then he swiftly picks his sword up and makes a move to plunge it into your chest which makes Chan’s entire crew yell in panic, but Felix is quick on his feet and makes a frantic leap for the opposing captain, throwing the dagger that was in his hand and praying to god that it’d hit true and do something to stop what looks to be the inevitable.

Chan himself lets out an entire battle cry, throwing his own sword only seconds after Felix.

It’s slow motion as it happens, both blades flying in the air towards the opposing captain as he’s in the middle of thrusting his sword forward to your chest. 

The opposing captain’s sword strikes first, the blade meeting your body in a burst of pain that makes you wake from unconsciousness, mouth opening in a silent scream. But what everybody hears instead is the scream of the opposing captain instead, Felix’s dagger slicing into the skin of his hand clutching the sword, making him drop the blade before it could do further damage to you. 

Chan’s sword strikes next, the momentum of his arm giving it enough power to pierce through the captain’s neck as well as the crewmate beside him. Both of their eyes roll back and they tumble to the ground without another sound.

Then it’s chaos.

The sound of swords unsheathing fill the air, cries of men and women alike close behind as the bloodbath between two crews begins. Blood begins to fly and the ship they stand on quickly becomes a jungle as Chan and his crew try their best to dodge the flying blades and fight back, desperately defending their captain as he draws a second sword to fight his way over to you, guarded by two members of the opposing crew.

All Chan sees is red.

He was so close to being tricked and losing not only his ship, but you as well. All he could focus on at this moment was the developing bloodstain at the centre of your chest, your hooded lids fluttering open and closed as you frantically tried to get a gather at your surroundings. Woojin stands close behind him, waiting for the perfect moment to hop in and grab you so he could treat your stab wound as best he could, given the circumstances. Changbin’s not too far off either, but he was far too occupied with beating the shit out of anyone who dared to come within a foot of Chan and Woojin—the rest of the main crew was no different.

Limbs fly as Chan desperately swings his blade through the air, swinging at whatever dared to cross his path. Fortunately, the rest of his own crew was smart enough to stay far away from Chan’s line of sight so they wouldn’t accidently get mutilated by their captain.

“Quickly!” Chan shouts at Woojin just as he slices the head of one of your guards clean off. Woojin nods and doesn’t hesitate to dash forward in the path Chan has successfully cleared to you. Minho is at Chan’s side within seconds, and the two furiously fight to defend the mast of the ship where Woojin frantically works to carve at the ropes that bind you to the mast.

“Woo...jin?” you murmur weakly, recognizing the familiar kind gaze and sweet smile of the crew’s medic in front of you as he cuts through your ropes.

“That’s me,” he says with a smile despite the carnage behind him. He does his best to block your vision by making you look down at his feet, but then a head rolls along and—well, it’s the life of a pirate anyway. “You’re safe now,” he lets out a quiet huff as he cuts through the last of the rope that binds you to the mast, and with the little strength you have left, you push off the mast and fall into Woojin’s arms.

Another pair of arms lift you from Woojin and you fight back temporarily until Seungmin’s voice soothes you quietly, saying, “Hey, hey! It’s just me, it’s just me.”

“Hold her like that,” Woojin tells Seungmin as he reaches in his back pocket, likely for some spare gauze he always keeps on his person. He makes quick work of your wound, tying the gauze across your chest tightly as a temporary fix until he can properly clean and fix up the injury.

“Where’s Chan?” you ask the boys. You’re dizzy, you’re tired, and all you wanted was to be in the safety of the captain’s arms. Too long have you suffered in the cell of the enemy crew’s ship, beaten when you refused to let them use your body to their desire.

“Fighting for you,” Seungmin says.

“Either you die here, or you walk the plank,” you hear Chan snap at one of the remaining enemy crew members. The scream that follows is deafening and indicates the desire of the pirate to fight to the end; the deafening silence that comes after makes everyone breathe out a sigh of relief.

At last, the fight is over.

Bodies litter the deck of the ship, and it makes Chan grateful that he didn’t bring the entirety of his crew over, for they would have suffered even more losses.

Oh, but seeing you alive and breathing, Chan is reminded of why he came with his best fighters and medics in the first place.

“Chan!” you weakly call out when you spot him making a run over to where you’re being held up by both Seungmin and Woojin, for you were far too weak at the moment to be standing on your own. 

Chan chants your name over and over again when he finally reaches you, arms wrapping tightly around you as you cry out for him, desperate for his embrace because you were afraid you had forgotten what it was like after all your time in the cells. 

“My love, my love,” Chan whispers. Seungmin and Woojin quietly step away from the precious reunion, turning their attention to the rest of the crew to help the injured across the wide plank that connects their ship to the now-crewless enemy ship. Hyunjin, Jisung, and Jeongin all run across when they’re given the signal that the coast is clear, happy that all went well in the end.

“I-I couldn’t,” you start to say, but Chan hushes you, leaning forward to kiss you briefly.

“Tell me after we have you fixed up, love,” Chan says with a soft smile after he pulls away, his smile a stark contrast to his previously enraged self. He then proceeds to pick you up bridal-style, to which you gasp and clutch onto his neck in response.

“Am I too-”

“Shh,” Chan whispers, nuzzling his nose into yours. “You’re not hurting me, you’re not heavy. I’ve got you, love.”

You only nod in response, deciding to simply bury your face in the crook of Chan’s neck as he makes his way over to his ship, carefully stepping over the bodies that litter the deck as cheers erupt from the other side when the rest of the crew spot the captain making his way across with his beloved in his arms.

Because the captain’s beloved, was also the crew’s beloved.

[ashleyswrittenwords]

Subtleties of a Suitor (Part 2 of 2)

Summary: Pre-calamity AU where Zelda’s powers awaken in time, but not everything is back to normal after Calamity Ganon is defeated.

Note: This has NSFW themes (such as sex and really disgustingly sappy fluff), tread carefully!

------------

Later in the day, the Labrynna royalty retired to their chambers early. Understandably, due to their long travels and eventful day. Prince Tyrion had been among them, apologizing vehemently for cutting her explanation of Guardian mechanics off and bidding goodnight from Princess Zelda’s study. It was more of a workshop with all the gears and equipment lying about. The sun almost entirely over the horizon through the tall windows.

Zelda sighed when he was far down the hallway and allowed her shoulders to relax. The disadvantage to entertaining royalty were the constant expectations. The Princess was consistently on her guard with speech and posture that talking turned into an exhaustive sport. She absently stared at the detached Guardian sensor she had been showing him, although she wasn’t ignorant to his straying eyes and his bored gaze.

The door to her study made her jump as it opened loudly and her immediate thought was that Prince Tyrion had left something, but it wasn’t him.

“I’m surprised to see you alone,” Link said, genuinity in his tone.

She shrugged, a tad put off by his presence. “His Highness was tired before I dragged him here. My interests seem to put him to sleep.”

“I’m sure you showed no mercy,” he jested.

“Oh, surely not. He did yield to his bed.”

He matched her grin, but she let it devolve into a cough quickly after. She was all too aware of his footsteps crossing the room where he sat in the stool Tyrion had left vacant.

“Did you need something?” Zelda asked, defaulting into formality out of nervousness.

“Actually,” he started, weighing his words as he spoke. “His Majesty wanted me to see if Prince Tyrion was willing to join him for dinner since his family retired.”

“Oh. Seems that won’t be the case.”

“No,” he reached to scratch the back of his neck. Link’s eyes drew to the sensor on the table and his brow furrowed. “When did you get that?”

Tension in Zelda’s face relaxed and an involuntary smile graced her, “A month ago. I recovered it from Hyrule Field. Do you remember when Ganon’s malice began extending across the ground and the Divine Beasts began to act oddly?”

He nodded astutely, “I do. It was when that Guardian attacked us.”

“Well, I want to know how the malice infiltrated it’s mechanics. Since the sensor is where it operates from, I might be able to find something.”

Unabashedly, she began to ramble on about circuits and Sheikah technology. Topics that Link has heard hundreds of times, but he spurred her on. Most times he nodded at her points, smiling as she did, other times he asked questions that launched her into an entirely different science.

“I don’t get it,” he said, leaning on his hand.

“What?” she followed up with the full intention of explaining her points better.

“How he could get tired of you. I don’t understand that.”

Zelda blinked owlishly.

He shrugged and straightened at a realization. “I forgot that your father is waiting on me.”

“Unless that’s an excuse and you’ve gotten tired of me.”

His eyes widened when he stood, “That’s not the case at all, Zelda, I swear to Hylia.”

“I know,” she laughed, “Can you tell him I’m heading to bed, too?”

“Of course,” he said, sobering from her laughter. “Goodnight.”

When he left, she felt a warmth that hadn’t filled her in awhile. She found that she missed that feeling desperately. Zelda wondered if he felt that too. Her legs straightened as she stood and she allowed herself a long moment to stretch. A large sigh filled her until her eyes spied something that hadn’t been on the stool before.

Link must have left it.

It was a small paperback book that looked worn with use. The pages were rounded from being carried around often and she picked it up.

The title was “The Conduct of Courting” and everything made sense. His behavior must be off recently because he’s involved with someone else. I would have realized it faster if I had thought about it. Why else would he suddenly have the gall to be so preformative during court?

Then I realized it must be someone important. The visit a couple days ago is evident that he’s courting, and possibly betrothed to, Princess Aurra. This entire time must have been a show of sparing my feelings. It makes sense why he acted so casually around her. At the duel, he could have easily been looking at Aurra and not me.

Thus why Father invited him to dine with us for supper. Since that night, it’s become a regular event. From a political standpoint, it makes sense. Their marriage would be incredibly advantageous and agreeable. Princess Aurra wouldn’t be inheriting the throne and it’s typical that royal siblings marry nobility and now Link has a proper title. Sure, he’s in the army, but he’s elevated enough to attend our court. Why not a princess too?

Zelda paused, feeling anger rising in her. No, it wasn’t anger, but it hurt just the same. Sorrow built up from the pit of her stomach. She was tired, too, as this was the last day before the Labrynna royal family left for their home country. Maybe if she marries Tyrion, Link would be her brother-in-law.

No, wait, that made her feel sick to the stomach and exponentially worse. In a series of flurried words, she ended her diary entry.

Andthat’sfantasticforhimandIshouldbethrilledforhisfuture.

KindestRegards,

Zelda

She didn’t include a heart this time.

A knock at the door caused her to slam her journal shut with a jolt. She groaned. The ink hadn’t dried yet. With perhaps too much force, she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. That’s it, she was simply tired and will attempt to seem presentable.

Unceremoniously, she rose from her seat and opened the door a crack. The sight through the doorway made her want to scream.

Link opened his mouth before an odd look crossed him. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m perfectly fine,” she said, not fine and positive that red rimmed her eyes. Zelda allowed the door to open enough to fit her frame. Hopefully it politely communicated her desire for his goodnight wishes to end swiftly.

“You don’t act like you’re perfectly fine,” he deadpanned.

The mixture of annoyance, anger, and sorrow built up around her throat and beat down her previous inhibitions. She crinkled her nose and spoke curtly, “It would have been nice if you had told me about your courtship.”

He stayed silent under her searing gaze until, “I… thought you would be happy about it.”

So she was right.

The Princess swallowed dryly. That wasn’t the response she was expecting, but maybe he assumed she had recovered fully from their affair. After all, it had been months since. Three months where it was now apparent no progress had been made. Zelda straightened.

“You misunderstand me. I’m thrilled.”

Link tilted his head in the way he did when he was confused. “You don’t seem thrilled.”

Then, he paled and watched his feet.

“I mean, we can call it off if you’re opposed. I just assumed…” he said with pain tinged words.

Zelda winced. She hadn’t thought her opinion had that much impact. It was obvious he was happy with Aurra and here she was, angry at his good fortune.

“No, Link, I,” she faltered and placed a hand on his arm. “I didn’t mean it that way. I apologize. If you’re happy, I’m happy.”

Slowly, he shook his head, “Uh… are you sure about that? I must have misread something or misinterpreted. I want you to be happy for yourself, not just because I was.” He was miffed for reasons that escaped Zelda altogether.

Now, she was just as vexed. “No, no what I think doesn’t matter. I’m only happy that you managed to rebound  from what we had. In a solid relationship there are only two people that have meaningful input: you and her.”

“Wait, what?”

“I said, in a solid relationship-”

He shook his head, “No, Zelda, who do you think I’m courting?”

Her mouth fell closed and she looked at him as if he had two heads. “Princess Aurra.”

“Oh, Hylia,” he breathed out, putting a hand on his chest.

Zelda’s brows knitted together. “Am I wrong? Oh gods, I’m wrong. Who is it? Is it… the maid you always get along with?”

“No.”

“The woman who hit on you at court?”

“Gods no. Zelda-”

“Are you sure it isn’t Princess Aurra? She’s very pretty.”

“Yes,” he was laughing now. “Yes, I’m sure.”

Her shoulders slacked, “Stop laughing, Link. This is serious. I don’t know why you’re mocking me.”

“I understand and I’m sorry,” Link reasoned, attempting to bite down on his lingering smile. The grip on his arm tightened. “I thought about what you told me when you wanted… us… to end.”

Zelda watched his boyish smile upturn at the thought. So, her rejection was what caused him to look elsewhere.

“Of course, it made sense. Though I was beyond heart broken, I knew you were right. You always are,” Link pried her hand off his arm to hold it. “I took your father’s promotion. In that time, I felt worse than I ever had being away from you. You had told me the King would never approve, but I asked anyway.”

His fingers traced over her knuckles as he spoke. Green eyes widened and she could barely whisper out, “You did?”

He nodded with a short smile, “I did. And I was terrified. I told him about how I felt about you and he went so quiet that I thought he’d hang me. Then he asked if you loved me and I told him you’ve said so many times.”

Tears she had been holding back surfaced for an entirely new reason. Zelda’s face scrunched up and she held a hand under her nose. With a trembling lip, she bubbled out, “What did he say?”

“He said that as long as you still held those feelings, I have his blessing.”

She retched her hand from his grasp and flung them around his neck, bursting into a sob. Link buried his head in the crook of his neck and hugged her tightly as she cried.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, “I should have told you.”

“So… So…” she sniffed between her attempted words, falling into a sob and back. “So you’ve been courting me this whole time?”

She felt him nod into her.

“You love solving mysteries and I know you like surprises. I’m so sorry.”

“Are you kidding me?” she pulled back, a wide and watery smile met him. His princess was a mess. “This is the best surprise I’ve ever gotten.”

They sank into an embrace once more as reality fell onto her. Never was she so happy to be so wrong. Together, they stood like that in the hallway for a long moment. Zelda breathed him in all over again, her subconscious somewhat hesitant to dive headfirst back into the bucket of emotions that had been pooling for months.

“Zelda.” She heard him say, feeling his voice against her ear.

Full of reluctance, he pulled her away for a moment. His eyes met hers and his movements were small, but they were all too familiar. Link’s hand moved from her waist to her jaw and looked at her like she was the last thing he would ever see. It was so intensely reminiscent of their first kiss that her throat threatened to close up for the second time.

“There’s no Calamity,” she said with a sweet smile.

His thumb drew circles on her skin and he looked down at her with an emotion like no other.

“No,” he finally whispered. “There isn’t.”

Without intention, they drew closer. Her mouth tugged further upwards, “I can be with you.”

Link’s response was pressing his lips to hers and she fell into them easily. His hands cradled her head and pulled her impossibly closer. A whimper from deep within came from her and he swallowed the noise without care. The sound of someone approaching down the hall gave a jumpstart to her heart, but she was too intoxicated with him to respond with reason.

Awfully, his lips pulled away and in her ear, “Someone’s coming.”

His voice, gods his voice, was thick and almost raspy.

“Let them.”

All he did was let out a low laugh and let the heat of his fingers sear through her nightgown. The echoing footsteps were growing louder now.

“Can I spend the night with you?”

It could be her guard. It could be a servant. It could be the Prince.

“Please.”

Just like that, he heaved her into his arms with arm around her shoulders and the back of her knees. She yelped, falling into laughter as he hurried into the room and shut the door behind him. The closing hinges signified their safety and he peered down at her with pure adoration.

“I love your laugh.”

Zelda already had her hands in his hair, bracing herself for a bruising kiss. For a moment, his arms faltered and she thought she’d fall, but they tightened around her instead. When she parted her lips, he invaded her senses so greatly that she moaned in the ecstasy of feeling something she thought she’d never get the chance to feel again. Disbelief, overwhelming amazement, inexplicable happiness.

A groan against her lips sparked a deep burning in her stomach that made her sigh. Link’s tongue was gentle against her mouth. He wasn’t hesitant, but savoring and it made her want to cry from the simple fact that they were here.

She fell onto the bed with a light bounce and watched him remove his tunic, seeing skin tanner than when she last saw it. Emotion welled in her chest and a dry sob made her heave.

“I missed you,” she nearly whined. Her brows drew together as he dipped down to capture her lips again.

He parted shortly, “I missed you.”

Zelda’s hands felt down his shoulders, feeling everything from the smooth skin to rough scars and loved it all. She wasn’t blind to know that she was hopelessly attracted to him. The day where he sparred held a night where she held that memory while pretending her fingers were his, trying to resurrect the moment where they truly were and he whispered small encouragements in the nights where she doubted herself too much for his ears.

“I thought about you every night.” She gasped a gasp as smooth as the sheets she laid upon when his hands felt up her thighs.

His mouth laid claim to the side of her cheek and breathed hot breath over her ear. Link’s grip increased when she shivered. “In what way?”

Her nightgown had long hiked up to her hips. As he laid flush against her, standing between her parted knees, she wrapped him in an embrace that coaxed him to melt into her.

“Sometimes like this.” She smiled softly, sweetly enjoying his warmth and the fact that - yes - this was okay and he was hers.

Then she rolled her hips against his clothed crotch, the sudden friction making Link groan against her neck. Breath hitched in her lungs, the sensation so much better than she remembered.

Zelda sighed from the pleasure, “Sometimes like this.”

Link rose to swiftly catch her in a slow kiss that clouded her mind. His lips moved against her in slow waves, giving hints of what she knew he was capable of. Carefully, slowly, he took her hips and ground down against her heat. Zelda moaned and Link pulled away to watch her face. The warmth in her sparked and she tried to fill the space he left with her hips, and much to her frustration, he held them down.

Then, he looked upon her with reverence in his eyes. His kiss-swollen lips upturned to whisper hints of his mischief. Wheat blond locks were coming undone around his face and he was perfectly kissable if he were to let her.

Barely audible, she frowned and voiced her grievances. “Why’d you stop?”

The hints turned to undeniable devilment. “Can a man not watch his…” then his brow furrowed and he looked above her head. “It’s not suitor, right? Suitress?”

Her nose wrinkled at the word. “I don’t recall vying for your hand.”

“You don’t?” he gasped, extending his arms so that her view of his disbelief was clear. “Because I distinctly remember your many tears over how it was impossible for me to be with you.”

“Link!” she fumbled to the back of his neck, but there was no avail to her tugging. “I had the purest intentions!”

“Oh yes,” he sighed. “To turn me away so you could accept Prince Tyrion’s proposal.”

“Link! I wouldn’t have done that when I still loved you!”

“I can’t help but notice you’re using past tense, Princess.”

Zelda squirmed out of his grip and further onto the bed. Curiosity danced in blue eyes as she felt along the hem of her nightgown. Innocently, she tilted her head and let her long hair pool to one side. The change in tone was immediate.

“You know, Hero,” she leered, pulling her gown to her hips. His gaze followed it, searing up her thighs with his amusement. “I could have you arrested for spreading such slander about me.”

The fabric balled up between her fingers, inching to reveal her lacy white panties. Despite herself, she smiled when he placed his knee on the bed to follow her. It was hard to ignore the way his hard stomach flexed with his movements. Her gown tightened further in her fists and her innocent smile widened; his attention rapt to her suddenly revealed curves. Link’s mouth formed her name.

“Or perhaps…” Zelda bit her lip as his hands tried to coax hers to move faster. He was close enough for her to kiss his neck and breath out, “You would like me to show you my love?”

She couldn’t help the bout of giggles when he pushed her against the pillow and explored her exposed stomach. His smile was hidden from view, but it was in his words.

“Gods, I adore you.”

Zelda lifted her arms as he yanked the gown off, careful to avoid snagging her hair because he had done it before. She had always been somewhat self-conscious of her body. And now as her nipples hardened to the chill that tended to eternally linger in her room, she could only be reminded that there wasn’t the need to visit holy springs that required a certain amount of labor and that she didn’t feel the incessant want to leave the castle when there would be a man who wasn’t Link alongside her.

Surely, she had her fair share of sweets after Calamity Ganon.

The insecurity brought her hands to rest on top of her tummy and a thick blush to sweep up her neck. Link, however, didn’t pause for one second and planted a firm kiss to her collar bone.

“Is this okay?” he asked, enveloping her hands in his and enticing them from her body.

Zelda nodded, but followed up with an audible, “Yes.”

The way he touched her was both cautious and bold, kneading the flesh of her hips in a way that made her shiver. His fingertips surfed up her skin to her breasts and he tasted the heartbeat at her throat.

A million sweet nothings vaguely reached her ear as he felt the skin before the waistband of her underwear. Link didn’t allow breath to stay long in her lungs and she lifted her lips in the hopes he would be merciful. It should’ve been expected when he drew away.

“Please,” she breathed, reaching for the buckle of his trousers only for him to pull in back against the pillow above her head. “It’s been so long.”

Love was in his eyes when he came up from her neck. Link worried his bottom lip between his teeth and the sight turned her stomach in the best way. He searched her face and seemed to consider her words before deciding on a, “No.”

There was no time for her to respond because he wasn’t done with that special spot on her neck. He laved his tongue over the places he nipped at and she had no problem leaning her head away to make more room for him to work. Zelda bit down on her back molars to swallow a moan when she realized his intentions; he had never dared to do this to her before.

“You’re- you’re going to leave a mark.”

All he did was hum against her throat while her breath hitched as he palmed over her clothed folds. The hint of the pressure she so desperately needed was applied. Link paused his sucking, groaning at her wetness. The sound burned the need brighter at her navel. His movements grew hesitant, as if at war with himself before disappearing down her all at once and wrestling her panties from her body - a struggle due to how entangled her long legs were with his.

Cheeks already flushed grew darker as she watched him watch her. Link sunk low with eyes of blue fire, any signs of mischief dashed for determination. Anticipation burned with a fire she hasn’t felt for months and the way his hot breath smoothed over her navel.

The back of hers knees rested on his shoulders and he licked slowly up her cunt, making her head hit the pillow and a low moan dredged from her throat. Instinct brought her hands to his hair, but she refrained from pulling by using what was left of her sanity. The flat of his tongue made her fingertips tremble, further threading to graze his scalp.

Her chest heaved his name with the vulgar sounds and she could dimly hear the sound of his trousers falling off the bed. Impressions of his fingers pressed deeply into her upper thighs. Her Hero worked her like he did most things, with purposeful motions that made her lose all reason and allowed short gasps to escape her as he hummed a smile against her.

“Link,” she repeated, need and warning in her voice. Blue, blue, blue gazed at her. She hadn’t even noticed the absence of his dominant hand that had long left her thigh for what was between his own legs; his shoulder and arm making suggestive movements. It was as if Link did this for his own pleasure rather than her own. The thought snapping the coil that had been building with his tongue.

This gasp was different, sharper, mixed with his name and words even she couldn’t decipher as she shortly visited the heaven he took her to. Even enduring her climax, Link held her tighter. When she fell slack against the cushions and he finally released her, a well of emotion surged in her breast.

In a slight daze, she sat up and pressed a languished kiss to his lips, already wet. His arms securely circled her and she parted with knitted brows. Zelda’s lip trembled when concern crossed him.

“What’s wrong?”

Zelda held his face in her hands. A rosy glow was on her cheeks and warmth filled her breath as his eyes tried to decipher her thoughts.

“I love you.”

It barely registered to her that they were both naked. If anything, there was rightness in his soft azure gaze and the way their bodies touched beyond the intent of seeking pleasure. There was a slight lift to Zelda’s shoulders and his forearms fell on either side of her torso so Link could bear more of his weight. “That’s all,” she said. “I love you; I missed you.”

With a grin, he snaked his arms around her and buried his head within the crook of her shoulder. Strands of hair tickled her ear and his soft breaths pulled a series of giggles from her. Link’s embrace strained her laughter, only to cause more to burst from her chest.

He echoed her with murmured words, drawing soft circles on her shoulder blades. Zelda sighed into his arms and simply enjoyed his voice. As lovers entangled, every movement was languished. Time didn’t exist.

But she didn’t oppose the kisses that were now peppering her cheek. The fervent compliments from his lips conjuring a deep blush across her face that he tried to kiss away. It was a fruitless endeavor, of course, as it only permeating further on her skin as they touched one another in the way only familiar lovers could.

Their love was made in soundless motions. Learning one another as if three months were three years. It had been an affair that was born of fleeting touches and an impending expiration. It was a haunting kind of love that tended to plague more than pleasure. Now they had so much longer than months, a whole lifetime if they wished.

That was the fact they reassured  one another in breathy laughter and loving embraces.

Time drew on with or without them and as she peered at him over the pillows of the morning dawn, she saw him looking back with a happiness she could only pinpoint in her heart.

“I’ve spent all this time convincing I would go on without you,” she said, almost mournfully.

He spoke unabashedly, because nothing was left to hide in the state they were in. “You could have,” he smiled a smile that mirrored her tone. “And I was fully prepared to walk away at the door.”

He gathered her loose hand in his. “I don’t have much to offer,” he spoke with a languished grin, “I have a modest home and will inherit my family’s farm.”

Zelda watched him with an indescribable softness. A sleepless night brought a misty haze over her, but it couldn’t stop the thrumming of her heart. She didn’t need to voice her answer if he had been asking because the simple picture of them living modestly was one that made her curl into his side.

Eventually, he would need to leave before anyone would find out he was in the Princess’s chambers. They would need to arrange a formal announcement and the idea of a public wedding was another beast that needed to be slain.

But for now, Zelda let the morning bring its own subtleties of what subsequent mornings promised.

[jungnoir]

𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡!𝐛𝐭𝐬;

bts but as witches in a coven. discuss

𝐬𝐞𝐨𝐤𝐣𝐢𝐧: the supreme

ok not quite but he’s the most experienced in magic out of all the boys

his mother was a witch and she taught him everything he needed to know from birth to adulthood

his whole family is blessed with magic save for a few who didn’t get the gene but every family reunion they all dote on jin and talk about how powerful he’s become and how proud they are of him

the coven house where all of the boys stay is actually jin’s ancestor’s home from a long time ago

the place has brought up witches of all generations and jin was very eager to inherit it

while there’s definitely a lack of witches he’s been able to recruit, he loves his family of six so it doesn’t really bother him

he acts like he’s all serious but in reality he’s always casting spells on the youngins as tests (read: for fun)

jimin: why tf did you give me green skin

jin: if you had been paying attention during lessons you would know how to fix it :)

has definitely said this out of context more than once: ”any witch worth a broom handle knows how to get rid of poisonous snakes! you know back in my day…”

wears the flashiest outfits, but little do people know that they’re all homemade. he has a serious creative eye and seeks to make what simple human designers wish they could (taehyung is very eager to learn this talent from him)

goes all out on halloween with this talent too, creating uber realistic costumes

no he didn’t make a costume out of real human bones that year he went as a scarily realistic skeleton what are you talking about

no graves were robbed in the making of this outfit

if you couldn’t tell, his specialty is in glamours

honestly the guy should just tattoo “i’m a witch” across his forehead, he makes it so damn obvious

he openly practices magic too like it gives yoongi stress pains bc!! there’s still ppl who would very much like to burn witches still to this day!!! where is the self-preservation!!

jin doesn’t care. he’ll burn them right back. checkmate bitch

honestly charms anyone that comes in contact with him which is one of the things he never has to try at

the guys think he uses magic to do it but he’s honestly just, as jin would say, “born with it”

𝐲𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐢: the right hand man

*namjoon voice* and who do we got here right now??? ˢᵘᵍᵃ!!!

when it comes to magic, yoongi is pretty neutral

an awfully interesting feeling to have given that seokjin has appointed him the heir of the coven in case anything happens to him

he’s not obsessed with magic like tae, hobi or kook

he doesn’t spend his time learning everything about it like namjoon

and he’s not playful with it like jimin and jin

yoongi just… acknowledges it. its like it exists as something he can do and he’s proud but he doesn’t really care if that makes sense

most of his friends outside of the coven are human too and he has no reservations about telling them what he is bc if they cause trouble he is more than prepared to take care of it

they’re usually like “wow so cool! i wish i was a witch” but yoongi really doesn’t care lmao

with or without magic, yoongi is the same: he loves music, he loves making music, and he loves being a musician

yoongi, however, is guilty of having used magic to make his music just right before

sometimes a note just doesn’t sit with him right and it’s driving him insane

or maybe the bass doesn’t hit hard enough

he charms his music in a way that when one listens to it, they feel exactly what yoongi wants them to feel

people are always telling him he has a real gift in music and while he most certainly does, he feels he has to give credit to his magic for helping him along sometimes

but then seokjin will be like “isn’t magic your talent too? aren’t you just exercising it when you charm your music? it’s not like you can only make music well. you should give yourself props for your magic too”

it’s just. weird to him because he’s seen how much magic can corrupt people in much higher positions than himself and it’s Terrifying

he wants to know that no matter what he makes, it’s his and his alone, not attributed to any otherworldly advantage

this just kind of contributes to his need to be as detached from magic as possible

he’s too cheap to buy one of those coffee makers that automatically start brewing at a certain time in the morning and just uses magic to do it instead

“yoongi do you want me to buy you a new coffee maker for your birthday? they have ones that do all the work for you now-” “no”

he has to be extra, okay namjoon

jimin teases him sometimes but yoongi knows it’s all out of love

jimin understands yoongi in a way, and while the others are always like “yoongi you should have more fun with your magic!” jimin is always like “no no no, let him be”

besides yoongi could probably smoke all of them in a battle of magic if it came down to it lol

𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐨𝐤: the perfectionist

HERE HE IS!!! ITS HE

hoseok is probably one of the most talented witches in the coven

hoseok is a perfectionist to a t so if he feels insecure about how he’s doing a certain spell he will do it over and over and over until he’s got it right which makes him a pretty formidable opponent

like even the boys wouldn’t go up against him bc they know they’re just gonna get their ass handed to them

he’s a sweetie tho and very light-hearted and he never lets his power get to his head

he mainly uses it to bother the others tbh

also uses magic to give himself and the boys cool ass hair colors

currently he’s obsessed with this orange he’s got going on

calls it “pumpkin spice” bc it angers yoongi

“it really brings out the burnt sunset hues of a pumpkin ya know? or like a mix of changing fall colors, like golden crisp and warm crimson” “it’s fucking orange” yoongi can be heard chiming in from somewhere else in the house

but don’t get me wrong, hoseok loves himself some yoongi and vice versa

yoongi taught hoseok directly bc yoongi was the one that found hoseok

he was just an average college student and wasn’t really finding a will to live outside of paying off his student debts

he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life and was pretty dead inside, working at a cafe and serving coffee to other dead inside college students when yoongi came in and sensed his strong magical aura

yoongi kinda forced hoseok’s magic out of him by tossing a cup of steaming hot coffee to the floor, causing hoseok to freeze the entire cafe in time, save for the two of them. yoongi told him what he was and the rest was history

now that it’s been so long hoseok still gets upset that yoongi was willing to break one of the cafe’s mugs to prove a point

because of course, when time unfroze, the mug fuckin shattered all over the place what a fuckin jerk guess who’s going to have to clean that up does he really have no respect for retail workers seriou

seokjin also was opposed to yoongi’s method but since it resulted in hobi joining their coven, he can’t be too mad

it was hoseok’s natural ability that yoongi was able to help hone, and when hoseok found a love for it, he took it upon himself to be the absolute best witch he could be

hoseok’s power of stopping time is uniquely his own and he’s worked hard to perfect it

sometimes he just stops time to stop it

hob: *freezes a movie theater right before something dramatic happens on screen* hold on yall I gotta piss real quick

freezing time is also super helpful during *cough* stressful exams* cough*

𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐣𝐨𝐨𝐧: the scholar

he knows…. everything

not only did he do the reading, he did an 8 page analysis on it and corrected a few mistakes too

namjoon was aware of his witchy nature even from the moment he was a little kid, and his parents were both human and a bit scared for him since they didn’t know how to handle it, but they gave him the option of pursuing magic or not. they made sure to do all their own research into where witches could go to hone their craft just in case

in the end, namjoon grew curious and started reading books about magic and magical things

tho he didn’t actually start using his power until his mid teens

by then he was a bit shaky with it, but he knew a lot and was very determined so he got the hang of it very quickly

rarely uses his magic outside of it being necessary tho bc he’s gone so long without having to use it that he doesn’t rely on it for anything

he also likes to be independent from his magic in a way

while magic is very much a part of him and his being, he doesn’t want it to be like a crutch, you know? his biggest fear is losing his magic, bc he’s heard it can happen

he’s also aware that some witches lose important life skills and miss out on opportunities to build their character bc they’re so used to being able to just magic their way out of a situation

went from student to teacher real quick

teaches the other boys how to properly say incantations

“its levios-ah not levios-ar”

actually?? a pretty scary dude when it comes to using his magic for real

don’t put him in a situation where someone is getting hurt because he will not go easy on the aggressor. the other boys can attest to this too, having been saved by him far too many times than is acceptable in namjoon’s eyes

basically dont fuck with namjoon’s boys or u gon die

does cute things for the boys on their birthdays with magic

one time taehyung was sad that it wasn’t snowing on his birthday so namjoon made it snow for hours

may have fucked up the climate a lil bit

yoongi almost lost a toe

namjoon frequents a library and whenever a lil kid is struggling to reach a book he uses his magic to drift the book down to the little kid and when the kid looks at him in awe he just presses his finger to his lips and winks at them

flirts using his extreme wicca knowledge, of which is either a major turn off or a major turn on. you decide

𝐣𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧: the reluctant

jimin loves magic, but it wasn’t always like that

jimin kinda struggled with accepting his magical abilities at a young age bc he was really confused

like why wasn’t he just like everyone else? why did he have to be a witch? why did he have to have magic when he could’ve just been normal?

he often rejected it, never bothering to learn anything even to impress the family at reunions

but as he grew older, his parents grew worried he’d hate his magic and never use it again, putting him in a vulnerable position if his magic were ever to just come out when jimin isn’t in a place to control it, so they let him meet a slightly older witch that could help mentor him

his parents would’ve done it but jimin hardly ever listened to his parents about magic and they wanted to show him there were witches his age that were amazing people and embraced it, that it didn’t take away from jimin’s life but in fact added to it

in comes yoongi

yoongi, at first, really pities jimin

he understands the struggle between wanting to be normal and dealing with a part of his identity that won’t ever go away

where yoongi is concerned, that struggle for him was that he wanted to be himself regardless of being talented in magic. jimin... just hates it

but then jimin starts bashing magic and witches and he’s about to get angry at his parents for trying to force him into being a witch when yoongi just,,, slaps him upside the head

jimin’s shocked and yoongi is just like “respect your parents kid, they’re looking out for you. just because you don’t use your magic doesn’t mean people won’t know you’re a witch. its dangerous for a witch to go around with magic and not know how to use it”

jimin is shocked. he never thought of it that way

jimin feels embarrassed all of a sudden and apologizes and then yoongi cracks a smile and he’s like “no biggie kid, i’m just here to teach you the basics of magic and then i’ll be out of your hair”

jimin finds that learning magic with yoongi is really fun and soon he’s asking to be apart of the coven and embracing being a witch

he becomes carefree with it, like it’s another part of him, and he’s still kinda inexperienced, but he’s learning a lot from yoongi and namjoon

loves playing with temperature

the boys make him freeze their drinks for him, or ask him to heat up some popcorn while they’re all sprawled out on the couch on movie night bc no one feels like waiting two minutes for it to cook in the microwave

makes the water in the shower cold whenever one of the boys is taking way too fucking long in there which is Everyday

also jimin: *hitting on someone at the bar* *makes the room slightly warmer* “is it hot in here or is it just you?”

relates everything he learns back to naruto in some way, much to everyone’s complete and utter confusion

he just really kins the guy i guess

100% owns every single witch pun shirt known to man

“witch please” “witches do it better” “this is my resting witch face”

jungkook: by all means jimin why don’t you just burn us all at the stake yourself

it’s ok tho bc it’s his own little way of owning his identity, and if you want to avoid having your fingers frozen off, you’ll be sure not to step to him any kind of way

𝐭𝐚𝐞𝐡𝐲𝐮𝐧𝐠: the transcendent 

my favorite witch!!! i wrote this whole thing for him

tae is like jin in that his whole family is magical and he grew up surrounded by magic his whole life

in fact, he’s so familiar with magic that he’s kind of sick of it (no he isn’t (most of the time))

taehyung is unique with his magic bc he’s actually able to transcend realms oooh~

the information on how many realms and parallel universes and such are limited as hell so taehyung actively helps broaden that knowledge as he travels, a very Dangerous and Scary job to anybody else

but to him he’s like!! fuck yeah astral projection!

basically, he’s able to put himself into a deep sleep where he moves through different realms, some more or less magical than the others

he’s so good at it that he can project himself into someone else’s dreams too

he’s basically capable of seeing more than most magical beings, and he can perceive spirits easily, as well as being able to actually see a magical aura around someone

so for instance, if a witch who didn’t know they were a witch walked into a bar, he’d know what they were instantly. besides the general intuitive feeling that most witches get, he can see the auras physically, like swarming tendrils of smoke unique to every person

each aura feels and looks different than others which makes it easy for him to point out shape shifters and vampires and werewolves and all the other guys pretty easily

bc of this ability, taehyung also likes to mess with the boys like everyone else lol

“tae, i just saw the most beautiful-” “they’re actually an ogre in disguise” “WHAT”

“man my english teacher is a witch” “she actually is”

in case you couldn’t tell tae’s favorite victim is jungkook

casually tells people he’s a witch just for the #reactions

if you’re wondering, no. nobody in this coven cares about keeping this shit a secret

since he’s more sensitive to dreaming, a lot of his dreams leave him incredibly emotional because sometimes he really is there

he once had a dream where all magical beings were universally accepted in the world and were loved and happy and woke up sobbing into jimin’s lap

also nightmares take a HUGE toll on him so his sleep pattern is fucked for real

usually ends up eating cake with jin in the dining room at four am and talking about life together to get the nightmares off tae’s mind

tae uses his magic on humans in a different way. like he doesn’t prank them that much, but rather manipulates their moods. he tries to charm anyone he comes in contact with to make them happy or to make them giggly

he wants to use his magic for good, because it often leaves a very painful burden on him in turn

𝐣𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐤𝐨𝐨𝐤: the prodigy

honestly i feel like if jungkook was a witch he’d probably be an underdeveloped one, you feel?

he finds out his power late bc either his family didn’t know (they’re all human) or they just didn’t tell him in hopes of him never becoming one

but jungkook is being bullied by some guys in his grade and they corner him after school one day and jungkook gets so frustrated that he just,,, makes them all start uncontrollably burping

as dumb as it is, those kids never bother jungkook again

when he does get a hang of it, jungkook probably uses his magic for fun more often than not

jungkook is recruited by jin for this very reason. he catches jungkook messing with old people at the park on his afternoon runs and he’s like this kid is such a brat. i want him

jungkook is SUCH a fast learner holy shit

he goes to namjoon for every little question, to the point where namjoon is positive he’s become a better witch simply because jungkook has prepared him for any fuckin scenario known to man

he also makes himself float upside down in the kitchen at night so when hoseok comes down for a glass of water he almost pisses himself

“haha did i scare you” 

cue hoseok making jungkook fall down as he mumbles “little shit” under his breath

halloween is his favorite time of year and he likes to pull harmless pranks on the kiddies while scaring the mean teenagers ruining all of the children’s fun

like he sees this guy in a deformed mask holding a plastic knife about to scare a little boy so Jungkook just gives the dude a wedgie with his magic

all the kids are laughing at him and jungkook just smirks

honestly he doesn’t like reading about magic as much as he likes just doing it from intuition/namjoon’s instruction. he’s a lot like hoseok in that he has a lot of natural talent but not a lot of proper training when he first starts honing his ability

since jin yoongi and namjoon are in charge of teaching magic they all hound on him like “did u do the reading”

jungkook maybe glosses over everything and then just over-performs as compensation

they get on him abt it but there’s no lying about it, jungkook is a strong witch on his own

he hasn’t gotten a special manifestation of his magic Just Yet but he only gets stronger as he goes. the more he applies himself, the stronger he grows

[randomnameless]

Finshed VW!

It was... Honestly, I should have taken a break because I am kind of saturating with Fodlan.

Nevertheless, it was more interesting than CW and SS but not as character driven as AM.

I still... Don't understand Claude. I missed the point of the unification - why should the continent be more tolerant if it's united under a single leader - but apparently it's cool and everyone is okay so, uh... Why not?

Nemesis was focused on Seiros but didn't say a thing against cethleann or Cichol... Lorenz didn't say anything about Gloucester, it's the path to where Maurice paralogue was available so...

Meh point with Hubert though, as always he's complicated for deal with. Kuddos for him to prepare plans to deal with the Agarthians, but cucumber points for, uh, everything else?

Why are we supposed to agree with "wow Hubert is so intelligent he wasn't actually a bad guy the empire was being blackmailed by the aghartians :'(" when giving said letter explicitly confirms that they (the empire - Hubert and Elde at least) knew who they were alying with?? I swear everything and everyone is wearing effing blinders when it comes to the Empire' strike and unification of the world - expressing sympathy for a defeated foe is okayish, but when said defeated fore was using human turned into beasts, the very same thing that made everyone vomit back in the good ol' days at Remire?

Flamey said she didn't condone Thomas experiments, but in VW, she uses the results of his experimentations on her side, so again, what the fuck?

Lysithea is furious at the aghartians for what they did to her, she knows they're siding with the empire, and yet in her battle convo with Edel she expresses regret (maybe Edel suffered what i did?). Which is tlling because she (and everyone) acknowledges that the empire was used, but no hard feelings held against Edel for enrolling aghartians? (idk if lysithea knows that Edel knows (?) that her new friends were the ones who experimented on them - but elde knows what Lysithea went through - Lysithea knows that the aghartians experimented on her)

i maintain that lysithea in CF is in a Felix-tier of despair if she ever knows that she was actually helping the ones who made her life a limited shit - but it's highly suggested that no one save for Hubbie (and Emile??) take part in the aghartian extermination plan so...

I noted how Claude is furious at Rhea's refusal to spill the beans (@ultrakatua : you were right haha i never heard him so furious the jp VA really does his job which is a bit undermined by his sprite - he isn't shown to be Dimitri-tier of furious but he sounds like it!) but he notes himself that she didn't tell him everything about the children of the goddess.

Which made me laugh a little, Claude is used to get the things he wants (the diary incident) but when the nabateans avoid his questions he is pissed (in Rhea's case) or tries to jest around it but is still dead serious (in his flayn support) but in both cases he doesn't get everything he wants...  idk if it was here in the US version, but she says she's happy he turned out to be reliable/a responsible guy... which made me think, was she actually aware he was spying on her? or he was supposed to be the lolcalised memelord during his student days?

Anyways, she face tanks an explosions and she's out for the rest of the month... Given how Nemesis fixates on her, it'd have been awesome if she could join us but sadly it was not meant to happen. So no "we settle this old grudge with the two of us dying Claude (and billy because gfdi) i leave fodlan to you it is up to you to build a new future etc" :'(

I noted how her expodump felt like... an exposition dump and it was meh. Rhea said she was one of the children, said that walked around foldna searching for the remaining children - but Claude never notes on said "remaining children" (even if there's a possibility where Billy could suggest FLayn is a child of the goddess, Claude continues saying it might have been why her blood was used but nothing beyond that).

I didn't caught it the first time, but the ten dudes (+ momo) had their weapons before going to zanado, meaning that nemesis did his thing with Sothis, then his dudes did their things with some random nabateans, and then they made a bro trip to Zanado?

Rhea explicitly states that she could never forgive the ten dudes, so maybe Edel was right on that account, Seiros killed them but didn't kill their descendants (if jeralt is any indication they might have had great grandchildren by the time of their deaths given how their lives were expanded due to ingestion of nabatean blood)? This might be the breaking point that made Birdie cut all of his ties with his sister?

Nemesis dead Claude, now King of Almyra, fell in lovve with Marianne, Lorezn and Hilda married and Billy married the voice in her head because those characters can just eff themselves (which is the point of that support?).

That's it for Verdant Wind.

And I still don't understand Claude haha.

His "the world must be united to end racism" felt very... WTF, as WTF as CF suddenly telling us that we are fighting to unify Fodlan and not to first and foremost end the mad (?) dragon lady that tried to blast us.

Maybe because I've always wanted to see how a merchant republic/an alliance works as opposed to a monarchy, but we stay in the usual tropes "fig the republics". It's sad but this game has an hard-on with hegemony so whatever.

The almyrians angle was interesting (gdi i got the "you're not from fodlan you can't undertand" convo... Claude's problem is that he is from fodlan when the almyrians try to belittle him but he's a dirty foreigner when he tries to research and undertand the mysteries of the land he inherited and lived in/ran when it was under agression for at least 5 years instead of figging away to Almyra...) expect that it felt... shoe-horned? Yes he drops hints here and there, but Nader being his second in house leicester and being best pals with Holst who has been fighting him for decades is glossed over (or relegated to Gilbert's wife tier that is only mentionned but never shown despite its importance)

And poor claude being the Prince of Almyra feels like Aerone, that is being a prince of a country you don't know a thing of - the Cyril issue is glaring, and it's not because i like Cyril, but because hey, you don't know children are being used as meat fodder and captured by fodlanese people? Or just, they are effing used as meat shields on the border for "lol feasts" reasons?

Ultimately (bias talking) i still don't understand why there is this visceral need for Rhea to be gone - when he came to the conclusion that the academy was the most cosmopolitan place in the continent and that the tenets of Seiros don't prone isolationism - opposing Lorezn's dad's pov.

Which actually makes me think about his Edel comment "we had the same goals, not the same means", Edel's goal (well one of...) is to unify the continent, Claude's seems to want the same thing (again, just like Edel, this goal appears out of nowhere in the game script, it's not the official goal we start with (discover secrets/end racism/get rid of the dragon lady because she is mad) but the one we end with. And apparently, Rhea would be opposed to the unification of the country... for some reason?

Maybe i'm not reading enough between the lines - Rhea was here when Fodlan was an unified nation, she was there when it split, maybe she really doesn't want Fodlan to be unified again? Because it would diminish the "power" she has over countries?

idk.

Anyways, I need to wait for the last DLC.

[gavillain]

Joker Nicholson

Tied with the DCAU version as the “true” Joker for me. 

Is his rendition of the Joker basically Nicholson playing Nicholson? Yes. Is that exactly what this character needed to be? Also YES. Nicholson does a fantastic job of being a theatrical foe who's also a very serious threat. This adaptation bears the distinction of allowing us the chance to get to know Jack Napier before he becomes the Joker. We see Nicholson playing a ruthless mob enforcer and then later finally getting the chance to give into his melodramatic insanity. This, in turn, lets us see the layers of Nicholson's performance. We understand what kind of a person the Joker is behind his Joker persona, and, as a result, he's even more despicable to us. Yet he maintains his sense of fun that defines the Joker with him dancing and throwing money on a parade float before trying to gas everyone in Gotham to death. He hits all the notes the Joker needs to hit.

Both the original Batman film and The Dark Knight feature the Joker murdering someone with a writing utensil in the form of a joke, but while Ledger Joker just uses the murder itself as the punch line, Nicholson's Joker dramatically delivers a punch line: "The pen is truly mightier than the sword" after his kill. For Ledger's Joker, murder itself is a joke and amusing for him, a trait not especially unique amongst villains. But for Nicholson's Joker, murder and mayhem are the medium to deliver his humor. He doesn't kill people BECAUSE it's funny, he kills people WHEN it's funny.

The Joker, as such, is kind of the ultimate comedic villain when you get right down to it. He's funny, not just because he cracks jokes and one liners but because his villainy itself is funny. He's very much emblematic of a dark sense of humor that perfectly goes hand in hand with Gotham City's dark and gothic setting. This is even more appropriate given how brooding and serious our hero Batman is usually portrayed as. Their very color schemes illustrate this contrast perfectly with Batman favoring blacks and grays while the Joker's ensembles pop like a bowl full of skittles. They're perfect antitheses. While Batman is a serious enforcer of justice, the Joker is a comedic force of evil and cruelty. If all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players, then Batman and Joker are the players bearing the iconic theatrical masks of tragedy and comedy respectively. They incarnate that duality.

That theater comparison is no coincidence either. Batman, after all, is a classic dramatic tragic hero in the same vein as Oedipus Rex and Hamlet with all of the baggage and messy complexities that that entails. Joker comes from a very similar theatrical stock character place as Batman. Recall my earlier reference to the Harlequin? That's not just a cheeky allusion to his sidekick's namesake. The Joker is very much a reworking of the Harlequin stock character acting in opposition to the tragic hero. The Harlequin is a clever and mischievous trickster figure designed to work in opposition to the melancholic Pierrot, and many of Harlequin's qualities are inherited from the devil characters of medieval passion plays. And that's exactly the role that the Joker assumes: a devilish trickster to combat the melancholic Batman. Batman, in assuming his mask and a dramatic costume, takes on the power of the theater, and so his greatest enemy becomes an equal and opposite force also of the theater. What, did you think Clowns vs Bats was some arbitrary choice to represent chaos and order?

This version of the Joker also introduces an element unique to the Burton franchise that's also one of its most controversial decisions: it makes Jack Napier the man who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne. As the man personally responsible for the traumatic event that fueled Bruce's transformation into Batman, he's effectively the man who created Batman. And since Batman is the reason why Jack fell into the vat of chemicals, Batman effectively created the Joker. The two diametrically opposed forces of tragedy and comedy created each other. I really like that touch and how it adds sort of an interesting layer of the two not being so different after all. Also, it adds a very personal underpinning to the Batman vs Joker conflict, and I just loved it for that.

Send me a character, and I’ll give you my opinion on them

[davidmann95]

A different theory on the Master of Masters’ Identity

The consensus at this point has definitely settled on that the Master of Masters is someone we know - when Back Cover dropped I would’ve guessed he was a whole new figure, but in the wake of what III pulls at the end I’d say it’s reached a point where he’s probably gotta be a familiar face for it to feel like he’s been appropriately set up (though I’d also kind of dig if he was simply a resident of the ‘realistic’ world of Verum Rex who was screwing with the Disney fairytaleland). At this point, the two big theories are that it’s a time-travelling eeeeeeevil future Sora or that Demyx has been pulling a very, very long con, and while I’m not sure if either or both of them started as a joke (I swear I recall ‘evil future Sora’ being an idea tossed around for multiple mysterious figures in the past), they’ve got serious traction now.

I’m sort of ignoring the possibility of Demyx here; consider that a parallel track to what I’m thinking, as opposed to Sora which I’ll discuss a bit directly as a compare-and-contrast with my theory. I actually think it’s not totally unreasonable, but after Luxu, it’d be real, REAL hard to pull that particular trick and not have it feel like it was coming up with diminishing returns. Not impossible, but hard. And for that matter I think it being Sora could also work; if nothing else it’d be interesting to see how that guy of all people gets from THAT point A to THAT point B, which I suppose is the core of the appeal.

But assuming a couple of givens - that it’s someone we know, that the Master of Masters is indeed a very, very bad guy even if he’s doing what he’s doing for what he might consider good reasons, and that he’s either the endgame opponent of the entire franchise or that he’ll play a critical role in said finale - while I’d agree he’s a time-traveler who’s broken bad (in a series so much about growing up, what’s a better final opponent than the threat that you ‘grow up’ in all the worst, most cynical ways?), I don’t think he’s Sora.

I think the Master of Masters is more likely to be Riku.

I’ll list off what I’ve got below in two categories, the first being evidence. I don’t think I’ve got any real indisputable smoking guns here, but to be fair, unless you consider MoM and Demyx both pointing at people to be a clincher neither does anyone else, and I’d at least say there’s enough that if I’m right people won’t really be able to say that it wasn’t appropriately seeded, with one or two points I think really do solidly support Riku in a way that doesn’t quite fit with anyone else that we know of. After that, I’ll go into why I think it’s the more interesting option character-wise/thematically.

Evidence

* Right at the top, regarding the one bit of physical evidence we have: if we’re treating Sora and Riku as the only two serious candidates given only they’d pack the necessary punch, the Master definitely sounds more like an adult version of the latter than the former, at least going by the English voices. For that matter Ray Chase also voices Noctis, clearly the main aesthetic model for Yozora who’s himself repeatedly and explicitly compared in-universe physically to Riku. A stretch, but between Xehanort and Eraqus being Star Wars vs. Star Trek in BBS and then Spider-Man vs. Venom in III, it’s perfectly fair game to declare that Nomura enjoys playing those kinds of meta games with the castings.

* Obviously the Master’s personality doesn’t quite line up with anyone we know, but while his degree of over-the-topness is unique, as is that he speaks like a ‘real’ person instead of a Disney or Final Fantasy character (and given Xigbar, Genie, and Hades all act a lot wittier and more casual than the other characters and the Master’s probably in that 1000+ year old club too, we might be able to assume that’s just a trait it takes awhile to pick up in the universe of Kingdom Hearts), most of his other traits can be traced back to Sora or Riku. He’s playful and encouraging like the former, sarcastic and biting and full of himself like the latter used to be. It’s been acknowledged more than once that the two have been picking up each others’ personality traits, with Riku picking up some of Sora’s exuberance and free-spiritedness (though he noticeably tended towards the expressive, dramatic side all on his own when lost in his own darkness) while it’s hard not to imagine Sora’s gotten some of his snark in his attempts at being more like Riku. But the big Master of Masters personality thing when he’s actually apparently being sincere and serious? That “you ultimately need to do what your heart feels is right”? Sora may be the one to say May Your Heart Be Your Guiding Key after he learned about the phrase, but Riku’s the one who in both II and III argues for the right of allies to seemingly lay down their lives in service of where their hearts guide them.

* Biggie: the Master of Masters has a connection to Dream Eaters, being able to create the Chirithy. Riku’s been one.

* Another biggie: the Master of Masters presumably carries a great deal of light in him, since he’s able to pass among the other inhabitants of Daybreak Town and seems to value it when waxing mournfully about events to come, but given what he goes on to do he surely harbors a great deal of darkness as well. So much so that it would be difficult to not notice, especially in a world where it was an anomaly, unless he was able to hide it where it couldn’t be felt by others. Contained within himself alongside his light, in a way that very pointedly only one character we’ve seen has been able to do.

* Not as big, but still notable: if there are physical differences between the Master and Riku, or if the Master as some have speculated has lived through the generations by possessing others like Luxu, it’s worth noting Riku’s worn another body before himself.

* A stretch post-III where it turns out acquiring new Keyblades isn’t the biggest deal, but it’s worth pointing out that Riku giving Kairi Destiny’s Embrace is still the only time we’ve seen someone directly give someone a Keyblade the way the Master apparently gave them to the Foretellers, rather than potentially bequeathing one in an Inheritance.

* While the Master is manipulative in general, it’s his treatment of Aced that most clearly stands out as him setting the stage for these friends to tear each other apart, and it’s him playing on his students’ desire for power and significance just as Maleficent once played Riku. If it’s Riku under that hood pulling the strings of impressionable youth, he hardly could have had a better example to follow.

* Speaking of the Foretellers, each of their names corresponds with the Latin title of one of the seven deadly sins. The one that doesn’t belong with one of the six and therefore presumably lies with the Master himself would be Superbia - as eagle-eyed players have noticed partially scrawled on the mysterious Black Box - meaning Pride. And if there’s one sin that most clearly defined Riku at his absolute lowest moment, it’s pride.

* The Master of Masters acts in a way that suggests he has some manner of not entirely malevolent intentions, even if he’s perfectly willing to use the worst of means to get there. And again, when at his worst, Riku’s the one who tends towards Going Too Far for Good Reasons.

* It can be reasonably assumed the Master has some sort of massive, cosmic role of significance given all these other mighty Keyblade wielders hold him in unquestioning reverence, and while we don’t know what his power might be, it’s presumably tied in some way to Kingdom Hearts. Riku meanwhile was originally going to be the one to receive the Kingdom Key, a blade that, while it hasn’t been directly acknowledged yet, clearly has a connection to the X-Blade, marking him from jump as a figure of tremendous import above perhaps every other major character until he botched it and Sora wound up with that gig.

* Assuming the Master of Masters wants to get at Kingdom Hearts - and of course he does, what else do the villains ever want in these - and’ll get closer than anyone else because he’s the final villain, it means Riku wasn’t wrong in the first game when he said “It’s up to me. Only the Keyblade master can open the secret door and change the world.”

* The Dark Riku alongside Xigbar in the Keyblade Graveyard is the only apparent instance of pair-the-spares when it comes to the villains in the final battle rather than having any thematic connection...unless it’s actually the (offshoot of a past version of the) Master of Masters and Luxu. In fact, including Ansem since he starts off as part of that fight, that brawl would then be a reprise of you battling the first forms encountered by Sora of the three biggest villains in the entire series.

* Speaking of the Dark Riku, his crack about the Mark of Mastery is notable in this context, especially since it comes out of nowhere and Riku doesn’t seem to know entirely what he means. Was that something deliberate?

* And speaking of Xigbar, I’ve already seen fanfics and whatnot centering around Sora-is-the-Master retconning in that Luxu was actually ‘babysitting’ his master’s past self. Worth noting in that light that he spends almost as much time around Riku as Sora: he meets Sora personally face-to-face at the beginning of II and III, but every other time they run into each other it’s when Riku’s right nearby, whether in an upper level of the Castle chamber in their fight in II or fighting both in III or Riku being in Sora’s dream during their DDD confrontation (mostly stuff that’s clearly just meant in the sense of ‘Riku and Xigbar often show up during important plot stuff, of course they’d end up nearby a few times’, but it’d be easy for the creators to retcon as Luxu keeping an eye on him while misdirecting to make it seem like Sora was his real target). But as opposed to his loud, scenery-chewing confrontations with Sora, he was trailing Riku in the Land of Dragons once upon a time - the first time we ever see him face-to-face - quietly in a way that isn’t usually his style even given his noted skill at recon. And if Riku’s the Master, Riku being the last one to say something to him prior to his ‘death’, declaring him unworthy of the Keyblade when a version of him will go on to entrust him with the Keyblade most important to his plans, gets a major charge.

* As someone’s pointed out since, this, which Nomura joked is the sort of thing only the Master of Masters would do (though A Fragmentary Passage really has so far been the odd man out in the secret movies in how little has played out of it; I guess Sora vanishing must have been knowing foreshadowing in retrospect, but a lot of the rest hasn’t come to fruition. Abandoned plans for the series, or ones yet to materialize?).

* Not actually evidence, but if he was the Master then the end of DDD where he mutters to himself “I’m...a Keyblade master?” is another bit that would take on a delightfully ominous air with the benefit of hindsight.

Thematic reasoning

In terms of character, I feel like this opens up considerably more in a much more organic fashion than the possibility of Sora being the big bad. Not that that wouldn’t obviously offer a great deal, but to do so would involve reshaping or inverting a great deal of the character and thematic arcs we’ve seen thus far, while having it all come down to the final fight for Riku’s soul and by extension the world of light as a whole would by contrast do a lot to bring things full circle.

For starters, in the ‘full circle’ sense, along with Riku being the first major adversary of the series (while Maleficent was pulling the strings, Riku was the one dogging your heels, the rival with a personal stake in the conflict at hand) the most prominent imagery now associated with Xehanort, Luxu, and the Master of Masters began for the players with Riku. The Gazing Eye, the outfit and fighting posture later taken up by Vanitas (a connection that remains tantalizingly unexplored to this day), the dark but unmarked Heart symbol of the X-blade, the very concept that there could be multiple Keyblades; he’s even one of the two we see wearing black cloaks in their first appearance. In the world of the game those are all forces that battered Riku about amidst his fall that had been set in motion before he was even born, but as a story experienced by the players those symbols all trace their origins back to him as the first, most personal antagonist. While he’s redeemed himself about as much as one person possibly could - and I’ll say right here that I think when it comes down to it he’ll grit his teeth and stick to his guns on that rather than becoming whatever the Master is - he is and always will be inextricably linked with the series’ imagery for the forces of darkness in a way no other character can be. Dig down past all the layers of continuity and Norts to the most basic idea of what a Bad Guy is in the world of Kingdom Hearts is, and a possessed Riku in front of Hollow Bastion’s keyhole is what’s waiting at the bottom. Any feasible last boss is already on some level an offshoot of that.

But that’s just why it would be a nice clean fit in terms of visual symbolism. More substantially, the Master of Masters being a potential future version of him immediately answers the question of what to do with the dude character-wise. Yozora makes it very clear he’s still going to be important going forward, but as III also made clear, his existing character arc has been closed. He’s fought his way back into the light, been willing to sacrifice that light in himself and any hope of returning home to help the friend he once betrayed, still found salvation, came to terms with the person he was and wanted to be, and was recognized as having mastered his power and his heart. His story could in every way that matters be done, but obviously it isn’t, which means there must still be something for him to deal with; something more than saving Sora, which while as serious as it gets is still for him old hat.

(Going into Sora for a bit: him being the Master of Masters could no doubt be fascinating, in the self-reflection it would induce in Sora, in the conceptual scale of the threat, in the horror it would induce in those close to him, and in Riku in being put on the other side of the equation of having to save his friend from himself. But even aside from how radical a departure that would be personality-wise, it’s a prospect that doesn’t really address Sora’s existing fears or flaws. He’s filled with doubt, yes, but regarding his perceived lack of strength rather than a simmering moral rot; his darkness when glimpsed in a few of his forms seems to be something feral rather than actively malevolent, and he already has a plot-significant counterpart to explore the darkness in himself in Vanitas. Perhaps a desire for greater strength to protect his friends could be written as leading to him losing his way to the extent necessary to pull such a 180, but that’s already Riku and Terra’s misstep to pull themselves up from. It’s shocking in a way that’s enticing, absolutely, but I think part of why it would be shocking is that without either majorly reframing some basic stuff or retreading well-worn ground, it simply doesn’t fit as well as you want it to.)

But if Riku sees a familiar face under the hood, and looks at the blue eyes that once sat in his sword and in the mirror and realizes that there’s no outside force making him do terrible things to people he loves this time? He’s faced with a threat new to the series: that in the end, redemption might fail. Whether there’s timeline shenanigans that mean this guy lived a different life, if he backslid, if he’s clear-headedly making decisions he believes are for the best, or if he just had a really bad day that knocked him off the wagon; the counterpoint to the idea that there’s a light in the dark - the way III demonstrated in such an effective way in the Keyblade Graveyard with the endings of so many enemies - is that there’s a darkness buried down no matter what that still has a chance of breaking through no matter how mightily you’ve steeled yourself against it. It’s a completely different, far more visceral and meaningful fear than the idea of Sora being the one to break bad: in that case, the idea is captivating because it’s so alien and foreign and bizarre. Here, it’s frightening because Riku knows exactly how it could happen, and he’s grown enough to feel the shame and horror of that possibility when he’s already had to live with the consequences of it once. The Organization spent III trying to poke holes in the basic tenants our heroes live by, and this is the ultimate manifestation of that spiritual challenge - that the growth our heroes have seen might come undone by their own hands. And Riku fighting desperately to prove he can remain the person he’s fought so hard to become, and Sora and Kairi fighting to save him along with themselves and each other, is the final conflict.

It’s not just a prospect that would bring urgency back into Riku’s character, it’s a possibility that would reverberate through the whole cast with a severity that it simply couldn’t with Sora. Obviously Kairi and Mickey would stand with Riku and believe he would manage to turn out alright no matter what (though that loyalty is still complicated given an evil/morally-dubious Riku would likely go after Sora - he may have already if he had something to do with bringing him to the world of Verum Rex), but what about the rest of them? They all believe in Sora and his inherent goodness and owe him their lives, but for most Riku’s simply some guy they know, a friend of a friend. Roxas was a victim of his darkness even when he was trying to do the right thing. Terra’s already likely consumed with guilt and could likely see the prospect of his hand-picked successor once again falling to darkness like he did to simply be another on the list of his own sins. Ven might look at him when in his dark outfit and be reminded of his brother. And while Axel knows friends can come back to you, he’s a pragmatic dude who’s seen just how much they can change in the first place. When the battle lines are being drawn in a war even greater than Xehanort’s, would every last one of them really stand with him when they’ve been told he’ll betray them, as he’s betrayed those closest to him before? A prophecy of Sora going wrong would just be a catalyst to bind our heroes closer together to prevent that. That Riku might turn on them could strike at the fissure that would threaten to blow them apart, or if it doesn’t that’s an even greater display of good faith on their part than it would be with Sora. Hell, even on the antagonistic end, Maleficent as an opponent seeking to usurp the Masters’ ambitions is an immeasurably different conflict if she’s up against a Riku who’s gone down the path she first steered him towards.

At the end of the day, the question is why this would be worth making the story of Kingdom Hearts about when Sora is still supposed to be the main character. I laid out earlier some of why I don’t think Sora as the Master would work, but the real deal is this: not only is the Master of Masters a counterpoint to Sora, the Least Disney character in this universe whereas even when next to Mickey Mouse the spiky kid is distinctly the Most Disney, but more importantly to be the Master of Masters would undo the last of Sora’s original premise. For all that he’s become, he was still born, as Xehanort put it, a dull, ordinary boy, surrounded by Chosen Ones and unique entities of every stripe who joined their ranks and ultimately led them purely on the strength of his decency and determination. Riku was literally a Chosen One courtesy of Terra, blessed with one of the ultimate Keyblades and tearing the sky down by sheer force of his will to be more than what one world could contain, the vessel meant to open the Door To Darkness and the one who conquered his own darkness in a way no one else could, who in the end was selected as Master. He is Maximum Protagonist, in every way a Figure Of Destiny, whereas Sora is so much not that, so profoundly the spammer in the seemingly inevitable works of fate, that the first time he meets the first trilogies’ main villain the guy comments on how unremarkable he seems to be, and the last time they meet Sora’s ultimate rebuttal is against the idea of destiny as a straightforward thing any one person can control. For Sora to actually be the guy writing destiny, to have always really been the most important of them all, is to undo that. For him to fight the ultimate figure of destiny, for that to be the guy who was his counterpoint from the very first scene before your Xehanort’s and Roxas’s and Ven’s and Vanitas’s and Luxu’s - the cool guy and fighter and dreamer and Serious Leader-Type Important One to Sora’s cheery, insecure dork in shoes the wrong size who seemed born to be the sidekick - is to bring that story full circle. And it’s to give him the chance to do the one thing he fought for in I and II that he was never able to do himself: save Riku. Because saving his friends is what Sora’s story, and all of Kingdom Hearts, always has to come down to in the end.

[mymuseisacademia]

About

~Basics~

Name: Shoto Todoroki

Alias: Undetermined 

Age: 15 - 16 years

Gender: Male

Birthday: January 11th

Zodiac: Capricorn

Height: 176 cm (5′9″)

Hair Color: White (Right Side), Red (Left Side)

Eye Color: Grey (Right Side), Blue (Left Side)

Blood Type: O

Quirk: Half - Cold Half - Hot

~Personality~

Shoto originally had a cold, aloof personality which stemmed from his abusive upbringing. Focused and unemotional, Shoto preferred to keep to himself instead of hanging out with other people. After the events of the U.A. Sports Festival, however, Shoto has become noticeably more sociable, even gaining a sense of humor and occasionally smiling, although still retaining the remnants of a distant attitude. After the events in the Remedial Course Arc, he has begun to open up more to his classmates and has lightened up from his usually serious demeanor.

Despite his usual reserved demeanor, Shoto did initially possess a moderate level of arrogance, which, combined with his solitary tendencies, sometimes made him take the initiative without considering the opinions of others, as he was confident that he could take on any obstacles with his own strength. He used to be much more unfriendly as well, to the point of causing someone to resent him.

Shoto is quite seasoned in battle, being able to stay calm and composed even while fighting real villains. Though brutal in combat, Shoto is well-grounded on the ethics of heroism, only wishing to subdue his frozen opponents as opposed to killing them by prolonging their frozen states. Shoto appears to draw his heroic values from All Might, which is a trait he shares in common with Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo.

Shoto had a deep loathing for his fire abilities, which he inherited from Endeavor, as it symbolized his father's wickedness towards him and his mother as well as what he was born to be: a tool to surpass All Might, a fate that he detests. As such, Shoto decided to rely solely on his ice power and never use the other half of his Quirk in battles, going so far as to cover his left torso and arm with ice in his first Hero Costume to symbolize his rebellion against his father. His flames would be used only to undo his freezing moves.

During his match with Izuku in the U.A. Sports Festival, Izuku's speech made the memory of his mother's supportive words resurface, and for the first time since his childhood, Shoto used his fire power in combat. After the battle, Shoto had mixed feelings about using his left side, but after reconciling with his mother, Shoto eventually came to terms with the half he once hated. Despite being scarred by her when he was a young child, Shoto showcases no hard feelings towards his mother, visiting her often ever since the end of the Sports Festival.

However, Shoto still harbors a grudge towards Endeavor, even if he respects his father's ability as a Hero, admitting to himself that such resentment can't vanish so easily and that he was wrong in trying to bury it. Having been denied a normal childhood so that his father could train him to realize his own selfish ambitions, Shoto still holds various psychological scars, which tend to reemerge when others compare him to Endeavor. Because of this and Izuku's influence, Shoto now strives to become a Hero, but without walking the same path his father did.

Shoto still remains cold towards Endeavor and has made it clear that forgiveness for his past treatment of him and his mother is difficult, but has demonstrated worry pertaining to his father's safety. With Endeavor now attempting to improve his relationship with his family, Shoto has taken a cautious, yet hopeful approach to this development.

~Abilities~

Overall Abilities: Having been trained by his father at a young age, Shoto entered U.A. High School through recommendations, and has been established as one of the strongest students in Class 1-A. He earned 2nd place in both the Quirk Apprehension Test and U.A. Sports Festival (although the latter was because he deactivated his Quirk at the last moment due to inner turmoil). Shoto also has a great handle over his versatile and powerful Quirk, Half-Cold Half-Hot, which grants him incredible dual capabilities.

Using the right side of his body, Shoto can drastically lower temperatures and freeze anything he touches. Shoto is able to swiftly freeze entire buildings, as well as create large waves of ice instantaneously. Despite its incredible raw power, Shoto possesses great control and direction over his right side. He can restrict the ice to avoid fatally freezing someone, or use precision attacks to freeze only certain portions of a target's body. If fighting alongside others, he is capable of covering enemy territory with ice while simultaneously preventing it from getting in his allies' way. Shoto is capable of molding the ice into certain shapes to support himself, such as protective barriers, stairs to elevate himself or a moving wave of ice for him to surf through. Shoto has many mobility options too, like stacking ice shards behind his back to propel himself forward or freezing the ground to skate on it.

From the left side of his body, Shoto can drastically increase temperatures and release scorching hot flames. When Shoto ignites his flames, the resulting blaze covers his arm and the left side of his head. He is able to shoot out consuming streams of fire or protective short waves of it. After upgrading his costume to help him control his temperatures, the flames only ignite on Shoto's hand, displaying more command over his left side.

At the U.S.J., Shoto was able to easily overpower small-time villains at the Landslide Zone by himself, and later on showcased elite judgment, combat awareness, and athletic ability during the U.A. Sports Festival, particularly when Shoto effortlessly froze a Giant Villain Bot. During his battle against Izuku Midoriya, a fan claimed that Shoto was already stronger than the average Pro Hero. Due to Shoto overusing his cryokinetic abilities, the excess cold exposure caused him to reach his bodily limit, and slow down his attacks and his movements, allowing Izuku to overpower the dual-wielding student even more than he already was. Eventually, Izuku affirmed that the Half-Cold Half-Hot Quirk is Shoto's own power to use, despite the latter's kinship to Endeavor; with his passionate words, Izuku was able to force the hybrid Quirk student into using his flames. When Shoto and Izuku were about to have a final clash with their powers at the fullest, the collision would’ve either destroyed much, if not the entirety, of the U.A. Stadium and it's occupants, or at the least, killed them both, if not one of them. This was prevented thanks to the intervention of Cementoss and Midnight, but despite their interference, the whole stadium was still greatly affected by the shockwave generated by the clashing powers, signifying how powerful Shoto and Izuku are when fighting toe-to-toe. Izuku lost his battle against Shoto, but this was primarily due to Izuku propelling himself through the air at the time of the collision and being blown back by the resulting shock wave. Overall, if the climax of the battle went uninterrupted, it would’ve resulted in a draw between Izuku and Shoto.

Even though Shoto was defeated by Katsuki Bakugo in the Sports Festival, Katsuki acknowledges that Shoto could have won their battle if he had used his full power. After coming to terms with using his fire powers, Shoto was strong enough to hold his ground against the Hero Killer: Stain, a powerful villain who had single handedly bested various Pro Heroes. Stain himself acknowledges Shoto's prowess, as he found it more difficult to handle him compared to Izuku, Tenya Iida, and Native, especially thanks to the interchangeability of his fire and ice powers. This drawn-out confrontation caused the effects of Bloodcurdle to wear off for Izuku, giving the One For All inheritor a chance to join the fight, resulting in Izuku and Shoto tag-teaming to oppose the Hero Killer. Once Tenya regained his mobility and jumped into the fray (having discarded desire for vengeance), the trio of heroes-in-training were able to outnumber the Hero Killer, 3-to-1. Overall, it took the combined efforts of Izuku, Shoto, and Tenya, 3 of U.A. High School's strongest students, to finally defeat Stain. After defeating Stain, Shoto is recognized as one of the stronger students of Class 1-A, as noted by Pixie-Bob. Izuku stated that the entire Bakugo Escort Squad (consisting of himself, Shoto, Katsuki Bakugo, Fumikage Tokoyami, and Mezo Shoji) working together, have the potential to take on someone of All Might's caliber.

In the final stage of the Provisional Hero License Exam Shoto and Inasa Yoarashi faced Gang Orca, the No. 11 (formerly No. 10) Pro Hero. But due to the pair's personal conflict with each other, Inasa's Whirlwind clashed with the flames of Shoto's Half-Cold Half-Hot Quirk because heat compromises the airflow. This infighting resulted in Inasa and Shoto repeatedly being unable to land an attack on Gang Orca and were left at the mercy of him and his sidekicks. Soon after, however, Shoto and Inasa realized their mistake with being uncooperative with one another, put their differences aside, and the two of them finally worked together, despite being incapacitated. With their newfound camaraderie, Inasa and Shoto combined the elemental powers of their Quirks to create a tornado of fire that engulfed Gang Orca, nearly defeating the No. 11 Hero. Gang Orca acknowledges that if the battle had been drawn out any longer, Inasa and Shoto's teamwork would’ve successfully defeated him.

Enhanced Durability: Shoto has proven himself to be quite resilient, being able to withstand multiple attacks from Izuku, including a direct, One For All enhanced punch at 5% strength to the stomach, without sustaining major injuries.

Enhanced Stamina: Shoto has shown to be able to endure combat even while injured, such as in his battle with Stain, where he is able to continue fighting and supporting his allies despite suffering from multiple bleeding injuries on his arm and face, and still to drag the villain's unconscious body once the battle is over.

Enhanced Agility: Shoto is fast, agile and has quick reflexes. He was able to keep first place during the majority of the Obstacle Race during the sports festival thanks to his own athletic ability. He was also able to create ice walls within a split second in order to prevent himself from getting thrown out of the ring during his battles with Izuku and Katsuki. He is also able to partially dodge a knife thrown at his face and several other attacks by Stain, a notably agile opponent.

Keen Intellect: Shoto has proven to be very intelligent. During the U.S.J. Incident, Shoto surmised that the villains had a Quirk user among their ranks that could jam communications. He realized the villains attacking had some kind of agenda and interrogated some of them to get answers. Shoto's theory was correct as the villain's goal was to kill All Might. Shoto deduced Izuku had a connection to All Might after experiencing Izuku's power and matching it from his witnessing All Might fighting Nomu. While he was correct in deducing Izuku had a connection to the hero, he incorrectly believed the latter might be All Might's secret love child. He was able to work out the location of Izuku, Tenya, and Stain from an emergency call in and make it in time though he did complain it took a while. In spite of his training, Shoto is also very skilled in academics, having scored 5th place in the midterms.

During the match between Momo's team and Itsuka's team, Shoto realized that there was a flaw in Itsuka's precautionary strategy in separating Momo from her teammates. He pointed out that if she really wanted to be cautious of Momo, Itsuka would’ve had her entire team overwhelmed from the start of the match. After witnessing Izuku’s recent awakening of a second Quirk, Shoto deduces that the latter may be like him, but Shoto didn’t recognize the true depth of Izuku's new power.

~Quirk~

Half-Cold Half-Hot: Shoto's Quirk gives him dual pyrokinesis and cryokinesis, divided between his left and right sides, respectively. The appendages on his right side can drastically lower temperatures of anything they touch, enough so to create large waves of ice. The limbs on his left side generate heat and allow Shoto to create and shoot streams of fire. Until taken to his bodily limit, neither has any visible effect on his body.

The drawback to his Quirk arises from his need to maintain his own body temperature, as excessive use of his ice power causes Shoto to suffer from frostbite. The frost that covers his body slows him down physically and weakens the strength and speed of his ice attacks. However, this weakness can be counteracted if Shoto uses his left side to offset the low temperature. The side effect to the prolonged use of his fireside causes his body to overheat and burn up. However, this weakness can be counteracted if Shoto uses his right side to offset the high temperature.

As noted by Stain, one of Shoto's greatest weaknesses is his heavy reliance on the devastating power of his Quirk. Another shortcoming is that Shoto is unable to fully control the fire he generates. While he has predominately used only his ice power for the last ten years out of spite against Endeavor, allowing large and small-scale control over its abilities (i.e. creating ice glaciers and also only freezing Tenya's Engine calves without him realizing it), it is only after the Sports Festival that he begins using his fire as well. While he is capable of using these two abilities simultaneously, he has said that he isn't used to doing this and still needs practice in dual-wielding his Quirk. While training for his ultimate move, he claimed that using both abilities at the same time slows him down.

As part of his training, Shoto submerged himself in a barrel of water, and alternated between his ice and fire abilities to regulate the temperature of the water. His body becomes accustomed to the cold, and he learns to control the power of his flames.

He's also realized that using his ice as the opening move has become so natural he equates it to muscle memory, making him predictable. Because of that, he often fails to realize when using his fire would be a more effective tactic, such as during his fight against Class 1-B. During the said battle, Shoto unleashed the full power of his flames, which, according to All Might, are said to be as strong as Endeavor's own flames. Endeavor even stated that even though Shoto's flames have the potential to surpass his own, Shoto using his flames at full power is still dangerous, especially if he can’t control them.

~Super Moves~

Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall: Shoto creates an enormous ice glacier, that can either encapsulate his opponent or block the immediate field of battle in ice. This move is first used in his battle against Hanta Sero in the Sports Festival, but is unnamed until the Final Exams. He noted to Sero that it was more powerful than necessary, but he was irritated (from talking with Endeavor) and overdid it. A variation of this move, slightly smaller in size, but more controllable, is shown in his battle against Katsuki. He also used this attack on a repeatedly massive scale while attacking Mr. Compress.

Wall of Flames: Shoto uses his left side to generate a burst of flames that covers a large area. This is both a defensive and offensive attack like his Giant Ice Wall technique. It can be used to attack multiple opponents and create space between Shoto and his target. Shoto first used this attack against Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu during the Joint Training Battle with Class 1-B. 

Flashfreeze Heatwave: To use this technique, first Shoto cools the air around him with his ice powers. Then, by switching to his fire, Shoto rapidly heats and expands the air around him. This allows him to release a super heated blast.

~Gear~

Temperature Resistant Jacket: Shoto's blue jacket is made from a special fire-resistant fiber. There is a special device near the neck that senses Shoto's body temperature and supports the vest to help regulate it.

Combat Vest: The device on Shoto's back is capable of sensing Shoto's body temperature and automatically heats up or cools down accordingly. Shoto requested his original costume had a device that heated up.

Utility Belt: There are metal capsules on Shoto's belt that contain water, pain medication, and disinfectants, making up a first aid kit.

Snow Boots: Shoto is outfitted with a pair of white snow boots with spikes under the soles that prevent Shoto from slipping on his own ice. They are later upgraded with straps going across the front of the boots.

Wrist Guards: As an upgrade to his costume, Shoto received new wrist guards made from the same material as his vest. They appear to help Shoto control the temperature of his ice and flames by keeping the extreme temperatures from traveling up his arms to his upper body.

[jedimordsith]

More Gift Scraps

Too late for Sunday Six, but have another deleted scene from Gift.

“Have you thought about the Council's suggestion?” Leia asked, before taking a bite of pasta.

“About the Temple?” Luke finished pouring himself a cup of water and carried it back to the table.

“They're willing to deed it to you,” Winter twirled her own pasta neatly on her fork.

“In return for marrying the Queen,” Wedge pointed out. “Does that smell like bribery to anybody else?”

“How can they deed you something they don't own?” Corran asked.

“The Temple is property of the Imperial government.” Mara kept her tone and expression even. “When the Alliance takes the Empire's place as the recognized government, it will assume ownership of all such property.” She frowned slightly. “But the legal technicalities of accepting it will be tricky. There's a difference between it being deed to a single individual as opposed to an organization – though I imagine they'll be far less likely to accede to that suggestion.”

“Deed it to Luke and Trios could argue that any heirs they have are in line to inherit,” Winter agreed.

“I'm not marrying the Queen.” Luke said. Again. Then gave his sister a pointed look. “And we've talked about this – I'm not convinced I like the idea of planting the Jedi right back where the Order died last time.”

“Rostek would gladly have you on Corellia,” Mirax noted, pouring a goopy purple sauce of questionable constituency generously over her pasta before taking another bite.

“That's probably not gonna fly,” Corran shook his head. “The Corellian Five Worlds will be an entirely independent galactic power – the Alliance isn't going to be happy about seeing something as powerful as the Order headquartered in the heart of another major power, regardless of how relations end up between them.”

“Well, you have to go somewhere,” Han pointed out. “Whadda you think, Jade?”

Mara shrugged a shoulder and poked at her food. “I'm not sure it will make much difference for me. Between helping recover whatever resources can be salvaged from Old Order Temples and being on loan to the civilian world as a Coordinator, I'll only be bouncing through and then out again.”

We will be bouncing through, Luke corrected, firmly, in her head. I'm not going to get left out of the relic hunting, and you'll need a backup for Coordinating.

“But it'll be your home base, right?” Tycho asked. “So which do you think would be better for that?”

Mara frowned. “Neither, actually. They're both equally terrible fits for the proposed training model.”

Luke blinked and twisted his head around to look at her in surprise. It took him a moment to remember to finish chewing and swallow so he could ask what she meant, but Leia beat him to it.

“In what way?”

“Last I heard, the plan was to follow the Corellian Tradition.”

“Right,” Corran confirmed. Then added for the benefit of the others who might now have been in the loop, “training within families, with a fostering system for those who need it.”

“Coruscant is the primary hub of the galaxy,” Leia reminded Mara. “Everyone knows where it is and keeps tabs on it – it'll be easy to find, easy to access, and have plenty of accommodations for Jedi of every species.”

“Which is fine if you want to centralize power and control, like the Old Order,” Jade countered.

“Which we don't,” Corran frowned.

“It's also expensive,” Mara continued, “and largely adheres to morals that are more… lax than a lot of populations are comfortable with. That may not be a big deal when you're removing children from their families of birth altogether, but it's going to a serious issue in a hurry when you need to convince those families that you're worth the investment – and the risk.”

“Centralized facilities make you an easier target, too,” Kyle pointed out. “As the Emperor already proved when he all but wiped the Jedi out last time.”

Mara felt Luke's uninhibited stare and glanced sideways at him. Her brows knit. What?

He shook his head slightly. Just… I hadn't thought of any of it that way.

Her nose wrinkled in confusion. What were you going to base the decision on, then?

[multiverseforger]

Edit

Simon Williams is the son of rich industrialist Sanford Williams, owner of Williams Innovations. Simon inherits the munitions factory after his father's death, but the company's profits fall due to its biggest competitor Tony Stark and his company Stark Industries. On the advice of his brother Eric, Simon tries to embezzle funds from his company but is caught and incarcerated. Simon blames Stark for this and accepts the proposition of master villain Baron Heinrich Zemo after the Enchantress pays his bail, as a pawn is required to infiltrate the Avengers. The desperate Simon Williams agrees and is transformed into an ion-powered being with superhuman powers. His powers are tested, and he is shown to have great superhuman strength and durability, even defeating the Executioner. Called Wonder Man by Zemo, he is then sent to meet and join the Avengers, with instructions to betray them at a critical moment so that Zemo's Masters of Evil can destroy the Avengers. Zemo ensures Wonder Man's loyalty by advising him that as a result of the treatment his body now requires periodic doses of a serum to survive—a serum that only Zemo can provide. The Avengers are lured into a trap and captured. The plan fails when Wonder Man decides to save the Avengers and aid them against Zemo, apparently at the cost of his own life. Iron Man (Tony Stark) records Wonder Man's brain patterns in the hope that one day he can be revived.[9] Unbeknownst to the Avengers, Wonder Man's body has simply entered a catatonic state as it adjusts to the effects of the treatment.[volume & issue needed] Eric Williams becomes distraught over the apparent death of his sibling and, blaming the Avengers, assumes the identity of the Grim Reaper in an effort to destroy them. The Grim Reaper steals Simon's body at one point,[10] and attacks the Avengers three times before Wonder Man finally returns.[11]

Wonder Man remains in suspended animation for years, and it is during this period that Ultron, the evil robot creation of Hank Pym, steals the brain patterns recorded by the Avengers for use as a template for the synthezoid Vision.[12] It is later revealed that Vision is built from the original Human Torch, an android created by Professor Phineas Horton.[13] This only happened in mainstream continuity and other origins were possible courtesy of the Forever Crystal of Immortus.[14]

During this vulnerable time, Wonder Man is used as a pawn on three occasions. Wonder Man is briefly revived by Kang the Conqueror to battle the Avengers as part of his Legion of the Unliving,[15] and later "resurrected" as a zombie by Black Talon and the Grim Reaper to attack the Avengers once more.[16] On the final occasion, the Living Laser hypnotizes a now-awake but still very weak Wonder Man, in an unsuccessful attack on the Avengers.[17] After this encounter, Wonder Man was restored to true life and chooses to remain with the Avengers, aiding them against Attuma and Doctor Doom.[18] He also fought the Vision, and helped the Avengers battle Graviton.[19] He soon after defeats the Grim Reaper, who was intent on destroying the Vision as he was "artificial" and a "mockery" of his brother; Wonder Man at this point is revealed to have become a being of ionic energy.[20]

Wonder Man eventually joins the Avengers in a full-time capacity and becomes close friends with his teammate, the Beast. For several months after his resurrection, Wonder Man suffers from slight claustrophobia and a fear of dying in battle, as he did once before. Wonder Man finally overcomes his fear of death during the final battle with Korvac.[21] Wonder Man invaded his former plant which had been taken over by the Maggia, and fought Madame Masque and the Dreadnought.[22] Developing an interest in acting, Wonder Man stars in minor roles before moving to Hollywood, where fellow Avenger Hercules uses his contacts to establish Wonder Man's career.[23] Wonder Man also works for a time as a stuntman, an ideal vocation since he is invulnerable to virtually all conventional weapons.[24]

Wonder Man helps form the West Coast Avengers,[25] and his new-found confidence begins to become arrogance. He develops a serious rivalry with Iron Man, but sees the error of his ways after a brutal battle with the Abomination.[26] He also foils Doctor Doom's plot to control the world.[27] Wonder Man eventually accepts the Vision as his "brother", but there is a setback when the Vision is dismantled and rebuilt as an emotionless machine by a global conglomerate. The Scarlet Witch—the Vision's wife—asks Wonder Man to provide his brainwaves once again in order to rebuild the foundational personality matrix of the original Vision, but Wonder Man refuses, having feelings for her himself. The Wasp further deduces that the Vision's original relationship to the Scarlet Witch may even have been predicated by Wonder Man's initial donation for the original personality matrix; at this, Wonder Man confirms that several of his hesitations about making the attempt arise from these doubts and the subconscious desire he's felt toward the Scarlet Witch since her separation from her husband.[28] He is then ensorcelled by the Enchantress, and battles the Avengers.[29]

Wonder Man battles old foes Goliath[30] and the Enchantress,[31] before meeting his would-be sidekick "Spider" and battling Gamma-Burn, resulting in wrecking his jet-pack.[32] Wonder Man then battles the assassin Splice for the first time.[33] Wonder Man takes part in the Kree/Shi'ar War, and had his powers altered when he and the Vision failed to prevent the Shi'ar Nega-Bomb from detonating.[34] He battled Angkor,[35] and then journeyed to Hades where he battled Mephisto, Blackheart, the Enchantress, and the Grim Reaper; he then learned that he was immortal.[36] When Avengers West Coast (renamed) disbands after a dispute, Wonder Man becomes a founding member of its successor group Force Works, but is disintegrated in an explosion during their first mission against the alien Kree.[37] Many months later, the Scarlet Witch accidentally resurrects Wonder Man in ionic form; while in this form he appears when she is in need.[38] Several months later, the Scarlet Witch is able to fully revive Wonder Man and he now exists in an independent, more human form. It is also discovered later that the Grim Reaper - dead at the time - is also revived.[39] Wonder Man becomes romantically involved with the Scarlet Witch, but ends their affair during the Kang Dynasty saga, due to her residual feelings for the Vision.[40]

Wonder Man is blackmailed into working for S.H.I.E.L.D. during the Civil War storyline. Due to charges of misappropriation of funds in his non-profit organization, Wonder Man is pressured to work for the pro-registration side in the ensuing Civil War drama. In addition to capturing renegade vigilantes and criminals, Wonder Man is instrumental in creating televised messages to educate the public and yet-unregistered superhumans about the specifics of the Registration Act.[41] Wonder Man became a member of the Mighty Avengers.[42]

Wonder Man began a romantic relationship with fellow Mighty Avenger Ms. Marvel warning her not to use her position as leader of the Avengers to keep him out of potentially dangerous situations just because of their relationship.[43]

Following the events of the Secret Invasion, Norman Osborn created a new team of Avengers, effectively retiring Wonder Man during the Dark Reign storyline. Wonder Man later appears on television, lamenting his tenure as an Avenger, claiming it was all a waste of time, and that using violence to uphold justice has caused nothing but heartache and death. He ends his speech by sadly admitting that having Osborn in charge is exactly what the country deserves.[44] After this, Wonder Man is imprisoned as a member of the new Lethal Legion. This group opposes the tyrannical efforts of Osborn; Wonder Man joins to try to keep them from hurting innocents.[45]

Wonder Man has been seen alongside his old West Coast Avengers teammates, Ronin, Mockingbird, Tigra and War Machine in battle with a new version of Ultimo.[46]

During the Heroic Age storyline, Simon is approached by Steve Rogers to join the new team of Avengers. Simon refuses stating that the Avengers have caused more problems than they have solved and implies as Rogers leaves that he will make sure his old allies realize the mistake they are making. Simon also mentioned as having been in jail until Steve bailed him out.[47] After learning that Rogers had disregarded his advice, Wonder Man attacks the new team causing some damage to their base before inexplicably disappearing.[48] Thor and Iron Man later contact him to try and reason with him, but Simon refuses to listen to their arguments, stating that the dead heroes that have resulted from the Avengers working together should be a clear sign that the concept is doomed, departing as Thor and Iron Man try to argue that all heroes are aware of the risks when they begin. Significantly, Iron Man notes that Simon is 'leaking' ionic energy, suggesting that his current mental condition may relate to his powers rather than being simply a matter of choice.[49]

Wonder Man put together the Revengers, a team of super-powered people to stop the Avengers because he believes they do more harm than good, blaming the Avengers for Ultron's existence, the damage caused by the Scarlet Witch and the Hulk, the Civil War, and Osborn's Dark Avengers. His team subsequently defeats the New Avengers in a quick attack on the mansion before he moves on to attack Avengers Tower,[50] stating that he will destroy the tower unless the Avengers immediately disband. Although Iron Man manages to trap him in a prison specifically designed to contain his ionic energy with the Revengers being quickly defeated by the combined Avengers teams, Wonder Man has still successfully managed to spread doubt among the population about the merits of the Avengers as a concept particularly since Captain Rogers has yet to officially rebuff any of his arguments, asking Beast to remember his words simultaneously reflecting that he may be able to see the Avengers from the outside as he has not been 'real' since his resurrection before he apparently disappears from his prison.[51]

Wonder Man later reappears to Captain America (Steve Rogers), telling him that he feels sorry for his past actions and that he is trying to redeem himself. Before he can accept help from the Avengers, he is attacked by the Red Hulk. He managed to take him down and looks at Avengers Tower, claiming that he will "earn his way back".[52] He later plays a pivotal role in rescuing the Wasp from the Microverse. After this, Wonder Man is shown celebrating Jan's return alongside the rest of the Avengers at Stark Tower.[53]

At Wasp's urging, Simon later joins the Avengers Unity Squad. During conversations with Jan and Sunfire, he makes it clear has no intentions of fighting, and only wants to help use his PR skills to win over skeptical citizens.[54] He and the Scarlet Witch rekindle their relationship. During the final confrontation with the Celestial Executioner, he allows Rogue to absorb him to give her the power to oppose the Celestial,[55] but his essence remains in Rogue after Wanda expels the other absorbed powers from her,[56] leaving Rogue with Simon's powers and once again unable to touch others.[57]

During the AXIS storyline, Wonder Man's consciousness was still in Rogue at the time when the X-Men and the Avengers were inverted by an inversion spell. Rogue used Wonder Man's powers when helping the X-Men.[58]

At the time when the Avengers Unity Squad traveled to Counter-Earth to find Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, Rogue was captured by High Evolutionary's right-hand man Master Scientist who removed Wonder Man's consciousness from Rogue.[59]

After Rogue was unable to see or hear Wonder Man, he was still in Rogue's mind. When Rogue kissed Deadpool, Wonder Man was freed from Rogue's body as the result of Deadpool's healing factor acting like a circuit breaker that enabled Wonder Man to escape from Rogue's body.[60]

During the "Secret Empire" storyline, Wonder Man appears as a member of the Underground which is a resistance movement against Hydra ever since they took over the United States.[61]

During the "Empyre" storyline, Wonder Man, Quicksilver, and Mockingbird deal with the Kree and the Skrull's fight with the Cotati near Navojoa. When Quicksilver is hit by special spheres fired by the Cotati magicians, Mockingbird and Wonder Man come to his aid and help the Kree and the Skrull turn the tide against the Cotati.[62

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

During her decade in national politics, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has been profiled, ad nauseam, by any number of very important publications: The New Yorker, New York Magazine (a couple times), Vogue, The New York Times.

But her 2012 interview with Self magazine, three years into her Senate tenure, is among the most compelling and useful texts for the Gillibrand close-reader. In a span of 599 words, the senator manages to ruminate on fitness tips (her 40-pound postpartum weight loss being the ostensible reason for the story), touch on the difficulties of being a working mother, name-drop several across-the-aisle friendships, and plug, in the most deft of humblebrags, her tireless spirit: “I approached losing weight the same way I’ve approached any other challenge throughout my life: I figured out exactly what I needed to do to succeed and dove in. I was determined.” Through Self, Gillibrand was cleverly reaching beyond snoozy news stories to a voting public that would perhaps remember a young senator who talked food-journaling and breastfeeding.

But the interview also offers an oblique insight into Gillibrand’s ever so determined and calculating rise in Democratic politics: At the time, Gillibrand had a standing weekly squash date with Sen. Al Franken. Yet five years later, she was the first Democratic senator to call for Franken to resign, and became, by no accident, the face of a movement to clean House (as it were) of harassers in public office.

No one was off the table, including — or perhaps especially — political patrons. Gillibrand said Bill Clinton, husband of the woman whose Senate seat she inherited, should have resigned from office. That led Clintonworld capo Philippe Reines to tweet, among other things, “Over 20 yrs you took the Clintons’ endorsements, money, and seat. Hypocrite. Interesting strategy for 2020 primaries. Best of luck.”

But Gillibrand’s appetite for biting the hands that feed her might actually be just what brings her success in the Democrats’ all-but-free-for-all scramble for leadership. She sniffed out the direction of the party months, even years ago, and has been tacking hard to the left ever since. She is attuned to the base, fluent in the new mediums of activism and, perhaps most importantly, knows how to spin. Who is Kirsten Gillibrand and what does she want? The latter is easy to answer: She likely wants to be president.1 But the former — who exactly is this woman whose moment it is we’re all living through — takes a bit more to parse.

The Gillibrand biography has, at this point in her career, reached a calcified, rote state that is particularly advantageous to politicians: maximum schmaltz, minimum actual insight. Generally, what you’re meant to take away from a Gillibrand bio paragraph in a profile is this: raised in regular old America; strong female role models growing up (including a grandmother who seemed to be Albany’s own LBJ); driven; Dartmouth; fancy lawyer (but let’s not linger on that too long); loves her kids; loves God; loves working across the aisle.

She has been charged in print on not one, but two occasions with being less-than-reflective.

The New Yorker called her “not given to soul-searching,” while New York called her “not inclined toward introspection.” FiveThirtyEight is neither given nor inclined to say much more than that Gillibrand might just be well media-trained, or perhaps she’s the kind of person who really does just plunge ahead. Just a political animal with a goal in mind, as she told the good people of Self.

She’s sensed the identity politics vehicle of the era, and has settled into the driver’s seat for a long haul.

At her essence, Gillibrand would seem to be not an ideologue, but an operator. In order to win she has evolved her positions, changed her mind … flip-flopped, in less polite terms. She used to have an “A” grade from the NRA, when she represented a conservative upstate district in the House, and she was against protections for sanctuary cities. One New York immigration group, incensed by her 2009 appointment to the Senate, issued a press release noting “she strongly supported throwing more resources toward ineffective border enforcement but appeared to oppose any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.” Progressive members of New York’s congressional delegation were so incensed by her appointment, they threatened to run against her.

In 2017, things are different. Gillibrand supports a path to citizenship, and has called Trump’s border wall a “hurtful, terrible policy that will never work.” In 2016, she wept in an interview while discussing her former stance on guns. She has voted against Trump’s positions more often than any other senator and is the sole member to vote against every one of the president’s Cabinet nominees. Gillibrand is a co-sponsor of Bernie Sanders’s single-payer health care bill, widely seen as a new Democratic presidential litmus test. In the House, where she served from 2007 to 2009, she was among the least liberal members of the Democratic caucus, ranking 209th out of 241. But in the Senate, she has skewed left. In the last Congress, she was the seventh most liberal member of the 46-person Democratic caucus.

So what to make of this impressive litany of flip-flops, her ease in changing her mind? It would appear that Gillibrand is a Democrat above all else. As the party has shifted left, so has she.

In other words, she is good at politics, if by politics we mean sensing the direction of the populace, capturing their sentiments in rhetoric, turning that rhetoric into votes, fundraising off those votes, gaining power and popularity, running for re-election, winning, and doing it all over again.

And the membership of the Democratic Party has, after all, gotten a whole lot more liberal during Gillibrand’s time in office, a trend that is only likely to continue. In 2008, according to Pew, 41 percent of Democrats called themselves “moderate” and 33 percent said they were “liberal.” By 2015, the ideological balance had flipped in the party, with 42 percent of Democrats calling themselves “liberal” and 38 percent “moderate.”

As of 2015, 49 percent of millennial Democrats identified as “liberal,” meaning that it’s smart politics to evolve left. Gillibrand is on to something. When people write that it is Gillibrand’s moment, it largely has to do with her capitalizing on the #MeToo movement to call out harassers. (After Trump’s taunting tweet, for instance, her office sent out a fundraising email.) But Gillibrand has been at the political fore of feminism’s resurgence for years. Well before this year, she made waves advocating for changes to the way the military prosecutes sexual assault, and she has introduced a paid family leave bill every year for the past five years.

She’s sensed the identity politics vehicle of the era, and has settled into the driver’s seat for a long haul. A recent poll showed that 64 percent of Democrats thought that sexual harassment was a very serious problem in the country, and 86 percent of women college graduates thought it represented a serious problem in society. Should Gillibrand run for president, that group, which continues to lean ever more Democratic, would be an important constituency.

And while many public figures are tone deaf on Twitter or have fallen victim to equivocating on behalf of allies (as Nancy Pelosi has), Gillibrand understands the moral absolutism required to survive in the Twitter age. “I think when we start having to talk about the differences between sexual assault and sexual harassment and unwanted groping, you are having the wrong conversation,” she said at a press conference calling for Franken to resign. “You need to draw a line in the sand and say none of it is OK. None of it is acceptable.” Polls showed that about half of Democrats thought Franken should leave.

So if her 2020 viability as a candidate is attached to the cultural reckoning over harassment and women’s empowerment, would Gillibrand still face the challenges Hillary Clinton had as a female candidate?

Any election she’s in will feature gendered lines of attack, but Gillibrand’s advantages go back to the kind of assured wielding of soft power she showed in that Self magazine interview. A generation younger than Clinton, Gillibrand has had the luxury of refining her power, allowing it to reside not just in the Senate chamber, but also in the facts of her womanhood. Iron ladies aren’t entirely in vogue; relatability is. And the senator from New York has made her empathy something central to her persona — it might have even helped her get her current job. Then-Gov. David Paterson told The New Yorker that she was a great comfort to him after an “SNL” parody centering around his legal blindness. “I’ve never mentioned to her really why I picked her, but that incident played a role,” he said.

Empathy might have helped her rise in politics, but it’s that operator’s sense that has likely helped keep her in it. In the last week of a hard-fought 2006 election to Congress, a police report about a domestic violence incident involving Gillibrand’s Republican opponent surfaced. Gillibrand, New York Magazine later noted, “has never denied that her campaign was the source of the leak despite being asked about it several times. She defeated Sweeney by six points.”

Politics can be a nasty line of work, and Kirsten Gillibrand is good at politics. Maybe that’s all a person needs to make their moment.

[coffeeandcoldink]

The Use of Costume Colours in ‘HAMILTON’

HAMILTON is undoubtedly a musical that has revolutionised the musical theatre world. I was fortunate enough to see it’s West End Preview on 14th December and every single song was an exhilarating adventure. It’s a musical and lyrical work of genius. However, a personal favourite aspect of the show for me is the costume designs. To be specific, the use of colour throughout the costumes. I’ve always had a fascination with costumes as I believe clothes tell the stories of those who wear them. When watching Hamilton, I believe Paul Tazewell’s stunning costume designs not only reflect the historical period, but perfectly depict the emotional states and personal motivations of each character. 

Firstly, I’d like to state that this piece is simply my interpretation of the clothing and colours. I know everyone sees the world through different eyes, so may see different colours to what I see. With that being said, onwards!

Let’s begin with the man who starts it all in Act 1; Aaron Burr (sir)...

When we first meet this character, he is wearing 2 main colours; white and burgundy. These two colours tells us everything about who he is before any lyrics are sung.

The white is underneath the burgundy jacket which shows that it is the base of the character’s present state, but not the main feature of Burr. 

“White, an inherently positive colour, is associated with ... innocence, ... beginnings, ... possibility, ...The colour white can represent a successful beginning. In heraldry, white depicts faith and purity. As the opposite of black, movies, books, print media, and television typically depict the good guy in white and the bad guy in black.” - Jennifer Bourn

In this case, the white clothing reflects the fact that Burr has only recently graduated from college and is looking for a way to start the next chapter of his life. The white being associated with success also conveys his successful college career, since he only studied for 2 year before graduating. As a result of this, Burr has a reputation for being intellectually brilliant and his highly respected parents have given him a great deal of possible paths he could take in his life. Yet the white also shows his innocence and naivety, as he has now entered a work that looks for more than simply academic excellence. He is a young man who has a lot of life yet to experience.

Furthermore, the white costume in Act 1 serves as a piece of irony since it’s a colour commonly associated with purity and heroism. By the end of Act 2, Burr is wearing a black outfit and tells us that he is now remembered as a villain in history. 

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SIDE NOTE: I love that the chorus wear white throughout the show, as it’s relevant for every aspect of the story. In Act 1 it’s symbolic of innocent lives lost in the American Revolution, and the possibility for a future of happiness and independence. Then in Act 2 their white costumes represent the new beginning America has achieved by freeing itself from Britain. Plus, the fact that the costumes are mainly just waistcoats and undergarments creates a sense of unfinishdness that mirrors their new nation that everyone is attempting to build.

---

Now, Burr’s burgundy coat is the item that highlights who this guy really is.

“Burgundy is often associated with higher class society.” - Colour Psychology

So the coat conveys to the audience that Burr has a background of wealth and sophistication. He’s no ruffian. The burgundy being in the coat as opposed to another item of clothing is also important in my opinion. A coat is something we use to ultimately protect ourselves from cold, wind, rain etc. The burgundy coat suggests to me that Burr may also use the legacy of his parents as a shield which protects him from bullies and other types of enemies.

“It is seen as more serious than lighter shades of red and lacks a sense of fun” - Colour Psychology

Burr is a very serious character in comparison to the other boys in Act 1. He thinks carefully before he speaks and doesn’t act without purpose and assurance that it will result in a positive outcome for him. This is why he clashes particularly with Hercules Mulligan and Marquis de Lafayette who are outspoken and excitable. Both these characters wear blue and green coats that show they’re the polar opposite to Burr.

“Burgundy can be viewed as a colour indicating power. The combination of it’s psychological seriousness and powerful energy give it a sense of high ambition.” - Colour Psychology

This is the colour that best represents Aaron Burr’s main objective. After the song ‘Alexander Hamilton’, the song ‘Aaron Burr (Sir)’ involves Burr giving Hamilton advice on how to get ahead in the world and what tactics to use. “Talk less. Smile More”. Burr had a Mother and Father who were highly intelligent and revered. Burr’s college life makes it clear that he has inherited a sharp mind, yet he still needs to create some success of his own. Of course the success Burr wants has to be on the same level as that of his parents, since when they passed away, he believes he has a duty to protect their legacy and ultimately keep it alive.

This is what sets Aaron Burr apart from the other students like Mulligan, Laurens and Lafayette. Unlike them, everyone seems to have high expectations of Burr as his family is reputed for achieving greatness. Therefore, if Burr were to drink and speak crassly like they did, he would be burning the Burr legacy to the ground. He is serious about his ambition because recognises how important is that he does well. Although he is not entirely sure specifically what to achieve, he knows that he has to achieve something, and it has to be major, and he can not afford to fail.

In contrast to this, we are then introduced to Alexander Hamilton who has no reputation and nothing to really lose.

Unlike Burr, Hamilton enters with his coat open which already implies he is not as sophisticated as his counterpart. He too wears a white base which displays his freshness and potential to be great. It also conveys a picture of equality between him, Burr and the chorus. They all have the same foundation. Yet their coats are symbols of what Burr and Hamilton have managed to gain in their lives. Different journeys = Different coats.

When stood next to Burr, Hamilton’s humble brown coat shows that financially, he is not in the same position as this man. 

It is stated that brown,

“is a warm colour that ... represents steadfastness, simplicity, friendliness, dependability, and health.” - Jennifer Bourn

The brown coat reinforces the rawness that Hamilton has before joining the revolution. He’s unpolished and as far as he’s concerned, this is where is life truly begins; in America. He arrives at this new country and steps off the boat, his initial goal is simply to make friends and learn about how to make a good life for himself. He doesn’t have any concept of networking to advance his career and often accidentally neglects his etiquette.

The colour brown

“is the colour of our soil, growth,” - Jennifer Bourn

This is an important association as it depicts to the audience Hamilton’s social status. he doesn’t know anyone. He hasn’t yet done anything. America is a mass of soil and right now, he’s just a seed trying to figure out how to grow.

Moving on to the greatest trio in the whole show; THE SCHUYLER SISTERS!

This is where the importance of costume is clear as these women only have 1 song to establish their relationships with one another to the audience. There’s no lyric that tells us their age, so we have to use other things to figure this out (and the colour of the dresses help us to do this).

Now, yes, lyrically it is explained who is oldest and youngest; Angelica sings first as she’s the oldest and Peggy the youngest sings last. Although I believe that if you watched the performance without sound you could still figure out who these women are. Lets work from left to right of the photo...

ELIZA:

She is clearly the middle sister. She isn’t attempting to lead the group but nor does she feel the need to fight for attention. She is also the sister with the closest relationship to Angelica as she’s always on her right hand side. (Much like Hamilton becomes Washington’s right hand man, Eliza is Angelica’s right hand woman!)

The colour of dress she wears is a pale blue with a hint of green to it. The hint of green suggests inexperience, so she cannot be the eldest one. However the dominating blue shade depicts that she is both confident and comfortable with her position as the middle one. She is not young enough to feel like she’s falling behind her siblings, and she is not old enough to have any major pressure or responsibility.

“Light blue is associated with health, healing, tranquility, understanding, and softness.” - Colour Wheel Pro

This colour conveys that out of the 3 sisters, Eliza is the most compassionate and gentle one. She did not arrive looking for conflict and has a desire to help others and enjoy life.

This light blue colour is clearly an important factor in understanding Eliza’s motivations throughout the show as every outfit she wears has the exact same colour scheme. I believe that this not only conveys Eliza’s loyalty to others, but also her loyalty to herself. She never alters herself to suit anyone else. She never hides who she is from the world. She’s a beautifully honest character.

Furthermore, the light blue represents the kind of wife she is going to be to Alexander Hamilton as, she is steadfastly loyal and honest with him despite the humiliation she suffers as a result of The Reynolds Pamphlet. Moreover, the humiliation does not fracture Eliza’s strong sense of self, as she never once claims this situation has made her feel undesirable or inadequate in any way. She wisely makes no statement on the revelation and doesn’t allow any politician to use her pain for his personal gain. The blue she constantly wears symbolises all of her positive traits;

“It symbolises trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth,” - Colour Wheel Pro

One more thing, the colour wheel portrays blue and green being side by side These are the colours worn only by Hamilton and Eliza in Act 2 which reinforces the notion that they belong together, and that their personalities compliment one another. Hamilton’s desire to rise up in the world is always balanced out by Eliza’s peaceful and grounded attitude.

ANGELICA:

This one is definitely the oldest! Angelica is always at the centre, leading the trio. Plus the colour light reddish-orange shade of her dress suggests that she is the one most likely looking for a suitor (which is the most important duty for the oldest daughter during the time of HAMILTON); but only one who is able to match her both intellectually and financially.

“Red-orange corresponds to desire, sexual passion, pleasure, domination, aggression, and thirst for action.” - Colour Wheel Pro

Angelica is naturally an exceptionally passionate and powerful character. She is the one who makes her sisters explore New York and it is her who is always dominating the conversation whenever a character interacts with her.

However, the red-orange dress that Angelica wears does not tell us that she is a dangerous character. The shade is not a dark, bold, aggressive red. It’s a light orange with a soft red undertone that merely signifies her confidence that may intimidate the men of that time period. What is more,

“Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.“ - Colour Wheel Pro

This tells us that although Angelica is the eldest sister, she has not lost her sense of fun. She contrasts with Aaron Burr as she too has a wealthy father and major reputation, but does not allow that to make her serious, selfish and over calculated. (Perhaps if it did she wouldn’t be disgusted by him.) Additionally, this colour represents Angelica’s desire to make her mark in history. She wants to meet influential people and have influence in her own right. She knows she is intelligent and is determined to use her wealth and knowledge to do something great.

Angelica Schuyler is another character who keeps to a single colour for all of her outfits. I believe this is because she - like Eliza - is satisfied with who she is a feels no need to change herself.However, the fact that her dress colour is also symbolic of desire and passion, reminds us of the tragic part of Angelica’s story. She is a women well ahead of her time and so many of her political desires have to be sacrificed as a consequence of her marriage. The red-orange dress colour in Act 2 also serves as a reminder to us of the happiness she’ll never quite have with Alexander Hamilton. It tells us that Angelica is ultimately dissatisfied with her married life in Act 2, as she still wears colours that symbolise her desire for love and passion.

(and) PEGGY:

We only get to fall in love with Peggy for about 10 minutes altogether. Therefore it is so important that we get to know as much about her as possible to ensure the audience doesn’t just see her as ‘that other sister’.

What I get from Peggy Schuyler’s look, is that she is the youngest sister with a lot of pressure on her. We know that Angelica is very fierce and well-read. We know that Eliza is an extremely kind and positive force of energy. So what is Peggy? Who is she? I think that - being the youngest - she is still trying to answer that question herself. But she is more than aware that her older sisters have made huge impressions on everyone they’ve met and she has to be on their level. This is why she wears yellow:

“Bright, pure yellow is an attention getter” - Colour Wheel Pro

It’s implied that being the youngest, Peggy has to fight for the attention. “AND Peggy”. AKA ‘don’t forget about Peggy!’. Also having 2 older sisters with such strong personalities, she likely has to fight for attention a lot.

“the meaning of yellow was connected with cowardice“ - Colour Wheel Pro

While Peggy does love her sisters, it’s not unlikely for her to be at least a little intimidated by them, which subsequently makes her feel insecure. When the three women sing about the city of New York, all of the doubts and fears are sung by Peggy. She’s probably scared that she isn’t capable of measuring up to her sisters, who never have to remind anyone of their presence. It also highlights her inexperience as she isn’t used to sneaking out against her father’s wishes. Whereas rebelling is something Angelica’s probably done multiple times and that’s why she doesn’t care much about her father’s orders.

“Men usually perceive yellow as a very lighthearted, 'childish' colour,“ - Colour Wheel Pro

Moreover, yellow is a colour that draws emphasis to Peggy’s youth. Angelica being the oldest is wearing a colour that inspires romantic feelings from male onlookers, whilst Peggy is wearing a colour that isn’t particularly alluring. She is not yet as mature as Angelica and Eliza.

 Next we simply must discuss Thomas, THOMAS!

Okay. This is my absolute favourite costume of them all. It’s just glorious. It’s just velvety purple perfection. So I can’t wait to talk about it!!

“Purple’s rarity in nature and the expense of creating the colour and has given purple a supernatural aura for centuries.” - Colour Matters

So purple is definitely a colour that flawlessly defines the personality and objectives of Thomas Jefferson. We haven’t heard of this character at all in Act 1, so when Burr tells us about him in Act 2 it gives him a rather mysterious, mythical aura.

“Purple’s rarity in nature and the expense of creating the colour and has given purple a supernatural aura for centuries.” - Colour Matters

I would argue that when it comes to Act 1, Burr is the wealthiest and smartest character. Burr wears what is essentially a dark purple and that’s the closest we ever see to a purple costume in Act 1. So when Jefferson enters atop a staircase in a vibrant shade of purple that rivals that of Barney The Dinosaur, he immediately gives the impression of superiority. Instantly we sense that this character is bolder, richer, and more popular than the rest. He struts around with a cane as if he’s the ring leader. This purple clothing portrays an amazing arrogance that’s incredibly fun to watch. The fact that purple is reputed for being a difficult colour to manufacture and if commonly associated with royalty, displays exactly what Jefferson thinks of himself.

“The dark shades are more intellectual and dignified.The negative meanings of purple are decadence, conceit, and pomposity.” - Colour Matters

It’s worth noting that the velvet purple trousers and waistcoat are darker than Jefferson’s overcoat. It represents that outwardly he may seem playful and pompous; but underneath that, he is a genuinely clever politician who knows how to play with words to get what he wants. Jefferson comes back to America believing that he doesn’t have any form of competition. He is wrong.

Here we have Act 2 Hamilton. A man who’s been through a revolution with both his country and his wardrobe. The boring brown coat is gone and now we are presented with a shiny, full on green suit!

This is a perfect fit for Hamilton’s new job (Secretary of the Treasury) as green is a colour that is,

“traditionally associated with money, finances, banking, ambition,” - Jennifer Bourn

The consuming green cloth also reflects how Hamilton’s mind is now consumed with his new job and the pressures it brings. Throughout Act 2 he neglects his wife and son because he physically can’t stop himself until he finishes his work.

It’s also fitting that Hamilton’s costume has evolved from brown to green, as he is not longer a seed in America, but a healthy tree that is growing stronger with every line of rap. He has moved up in the world. And yet...

“With the colour green’s association with renewal, growth, and hope, often green stands for both a lack of experience and need for growth.” - Jennifer Bourn

Hamilton still has much to learn. Washington knows this. Hamilton knows how to do his job, but he doesn’t know how to be cunning and persuade other politicians to support his ideas. He also has a terrible tendency to get overexcited and lose his temper in a debate. Although the green also represents his still positive potential. There is hope that he can create a secure and stable financial system for this new nation.

Green was also the favourite colour of George Washington, so Hamilton being the only character in green reinforces the idea that he is Washington’s favourite guy.

George Washington’s costume has always been interesting to me. While Hamilton and Jefferson are both battling for the limelight with their bold colours and aggressive raps, Washington wears a simple dark suit and only every speaks when he has something important to say. This all supports the strength and power George Washington has as President. He never has to try to get anyone’s attention, because the second he steps on stage all attention immediately goes to him; because he is GEORGE WASHINGTON.

I believe that the black suit may represent the way that leadership can isolate someone. It furthermore portrays that presidency results in Washington being unable to show fear or vulnerability as he has to be a constant pillar of strength to the people.

“black is the colour that hides. It can be used to hide feelings, to separate oneself from the world,” - Colour Psychology

“Black is linked to power. It’s an intimidating colour that shows that the person wearing is setting themselves apart from others. It’s a colour that indicates strength and discipline.” - Colour Psychology

Furthermore, this colour choice could be Washington’s subtle way of playing the politician game. While everyone is plotting or manipulating or intimidating one another verbally, Washington is wearing a dark, intimidating fabric that warns them all to not attempt to play with him. It makes him look almost indestructible.

Black is also a colour traditionally associated with grief. George Washington constantly wearing black throughout Act 2 displays that he has not forgotten the many sacrifices that were made in the battles for independence. He always remembers (and mourns for) the soldiers that died fighting for him.

Now let us go from a man leading a country, to a woman who is leading a man to make all the wrong choices...

 Mariah Reynolds walks into Hamilton’s life in an fully red dress and red lips. To the audience it is immediately obvious without listening to words that this woman is going to be a major problem.

“ Red is often used to evoke erotic feelings (red lips, red nails, red-light districts, 'Lady in Red', etc). Red is widely used to indicate danger” - Colour Wheel Pro

Mariah is a walking, singing danger sign that Hamilton just can’t seem to refuse. His exhaustion and loneliness makes him see a red rose instead of a red light. For him, the lady in red ignites feelings of love, desire and seduction. But look at her costume against his. The colours clash and together they look hideous compared to Eliza’s light blue/green dresses that are made with similar material to Hamilton’s suit. On the colour wheel, red is on the opposite end to green which reinforces how wrong it is that the two characters are together. It’s also worth saying that red is the colour of destruction, while green is the colour of growth. This is foreshadowing how this affair is going to ultimately destroy Hamilton’s growing career.

Act 2 Burr is very different to Act 1 Burr. In Act 1, Burr only really has to compete with rowdy teenagers and soldiers who focus more on action than personal ambition. So when Aaron Burr is thrown into a political game of chess in Act 2, he has to work even harder to get anywhere. Suddenly his family background isn’t as valuable as it used to be, and it seems the best route to power is through manipulation. Consequently, Burr becomes extremely reserved and cunning. He feigns friendship with everyone and snatches any opportunity he can that gives him more influence as it seems that waiting for a purpose is not as rewarding as creating your own. However, in doing all this, Burr betrays many people who considered him an ally and ultimately reveals that Burr’s only ally is Burr. He is a snake slithering up a political ladder to reach presidency; and he’s not a little corn snake; he’s a well-dressed reticulated python with a show-stopping musical number to boot.

His Act 2 outfit reveals this development as his swapped white clothes for black. It’s like he’s gone to the dark side as black,

“is a colour often linked with the idea of evil. Black is related to mystery and concealment.” -Colour Psychology

Yet if you look under the tightly closed black coat, you can see the edges of a burgundy waistcoat. In contrast to Act 1, where Burr flaunted a big burgundy coat, he’s now made the colour barely noticeable underneath all the black. Burr is hiding his ambitions for power from everyone. He’s making himself undetectable. He doesn’t want anyone to know what he really wants, or what he’s willing to do to achieve it. Why? Because if nobody knows what you want, they have no idea how to fight you. In Burr’s eyes, it makes his goals more achievable as there are less enemies capable of defeating him.

Yet this burgundy seems to have a stronger tinge of purple than his Act 1 attire did. This may depict Burr’s desire to be as influential as Thomas Jefferson who sports bright purple at all times.

 Lastly, I want to look at Hamilton’s final costume. Basically, his colour scheme throughout the show goes from brown, to green, to black. Obviously he is wearing black to publicly show that he is mourning his son. However, Eliza eventually reverts to light blue but Hamilton remains in black. This is interesting to me as it implies that he is finished playing the game of politics and wants to hide away from that part of him because he never again wears green. His only objective now is to find inner peace since he’s lost his fighting spirit.

“it is the stereotypical colour that people who are lonely or antisocial wear.” - Colour Psychology

The black outfit also reveals Hamilton’s desire for privacy. He’s not wearing a colour that typically draws the eye to him. By this point in the show he’s even moved away and Jefferson refers to him as being ‘missing in action’, which means Hamilton is deliberately staying out of the election buzz and arguably politics all together. During the Election of 1800, Hamilton is reluctant to voice any opinions despite being asked by the people multiple times. It is ironic since he started the show standing on a box and shouting his political opinions to anyone and everyone.

I also love that Hamilton and Burr both start in white clothing and end in black. It symbolises how both their journey’s have resulted in them learning lessons that have completely drastically transformed them.

-Aaron Burr begins wanting to only further himself in the world; then ends realising that other’s achievements don’t actually hinder his own potential to succeed, and that he might actually have had more personal victories if he truly supported his colleagues.

-Alexander Hamilton begins all alone and desperate to fight, be heard and build a legacy; then ends wanting to rest and live a quiet life with his family.

Both character arcs involve them finishing the show with the objectives that are the opposite to what they initially wanted. Their initial wants and their final wants are so contrasting that they are quite literally black and white.

Finally, I love that Hamilton’s black suit is not dissimilar to George Washington’s black suit. Washington has always tried to help Hamilton comprehend the hardships of leadership, war and life in general. This black costume shows that after all of Washington’s teachings, Hamilton not only learns his lessons but finally understands and accepts them entirely. He constantly fights physically and verbally with anyone he can (including himself). It is only at the very very end that Hamilton learns how to rest and is willing to do so.

-

SOURCES:

http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html

https://www.colorpsychology.org/burgundy/

https://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-brown/

https://www.colormatters.com/the-meanings-of-colors/purple

https://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-green/

http://www.sensationalcolor.com/color-meaning/color-meaning-symbolism-psychology/all-about-the-color-green-4309#.Wk4231SFhmB

https://www.colorpsychology.org/black/

https://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-white/

[bartsugsy]

Is it just me or is anyone else so offended by Rebecca's character because she is such a pale shadow of female representation? I'm outraged that in the 21st century a woman can be not even a set of character traits, but literally a walking (nice dressed) uterus who bends in the wind. No agency whatsoever. Deplorable! Rebecca makes me miss the 90s and the riot grrrl movement. She makes me want to daub myself in blood and put on a baby doll dress and scream into the abyss. What were they thinking?

ah anon, you know i can’tresist a good rebecca ask. it’s my weakness.

and like... you’re really not wrong.

i mean, i don’t know if it offends me - well, yes, it does, buti think rebecca was brought in for a few specific narrative purposes and iguess that’s ok in and of itself, but they’ve never fleshed her out into muchof a real character beyond those purposes so she exists in her currentiteration as a supporting character and they don’t seem to have any desire tochange that. which. just makes it uncomfortable, the more you think about it. andapparently I’ve thought about it a bunch.

i think the other thing is… those narrative purposes she has aremostly related to male characters. they’ve fleshed this out a little but mostlyshe’s been fairly irrelevant to every storyline - except one. there is onestoryline in which she is completely necessary in her function and it is clearly entirely the reason why she was brought in in the first place.

what i’m saying is that rebecca white literally exists todevelop robert sugden as a character and prop up his relationship with aaron.

(you could maybe argue that she is important to the whitestorylines but those have had very little long term affects beyond the waysthat link robert to the whites. i want to go into this more but i need toactually rewatch her white storyline stuff first, so maybe i’ll change my mind,but tbh it feels more like… her relationship with her family is a by-product ofbringing her in for her main purpose of affecting robert and robron. again,that’s for another post)

but that in turn leads to her being written like an inconsistentplot device. i think i’ve sort of developed enough of a fanwanky reasoningbehind her actions so far, but it doesn’t work as well as i’d like. it doesessentially boil down to her being in love with robert, though - she’s, ithink, actually a very tragic character and i have a lot of sympathy for her -but it takes a hell of a lot of mental gymnastics constantly to bring me backto that place, because the show doesn’t care enough to do it for us. and it’sannoying. because i do think they could make her story so compelling if theywanted to.

but ultimately they wouldn’t, because robert is in many ways avillain in her story and the story they want to tell is more robert being avillain in his own story (and again, that’s another post all on its own).they’re not telling rebecca’s story. not at all.

anyway! basically. female character essentially being the toolthe show uses to explore male character robert and his relationships. great. gr e a t.

and because what’s the point in making big sweeping contentiousstatements if you can’t back them up:

so the big thing the show has tried to drill into our headsrepeatedly is that robert was with chrissie for her money and her power,largely. he loved her in his own way, but he loved himself way more. he flirtedhis way up the company through lawrence, exploiting lawrence’s complicatedfeelings about his own sexuality and attraction to robert (see: the iconicscene close to the beginning of ryan!robert’s introduction where he saysexactly that to larry and suddenly we are given a window into why exactlylawrence hates robert so vehemently, to the point of faking a heart attack tostop his first attempt to marry chrissie). saw an opening and got with chrissieand then rebecca and then eventually chose chrissie, who undoubtedly has moreof a pull in the running of the company and more access to the money, as opposedto free-spirited rebecca, who we’ve seen is not at all competent at working inthe business and has very little overall experience with it.

we see robert repeatedly reaping the benefits of the whites’money and power - and the position that we know he is in fact very good at,thereby earning his own money on top of that (but again - in a position hefasttracked his way to via chrissie and lawrence).

anyways (you already know this is gonna be long af bc look howmuch im rambling) we see, particularly in the argument after chrissie finds outabout the home farm robbery and his reaction to almost dropping the cheque shegives him - and really everything robert does in that break up with chrissie,when he’s desperate to get his old life back, that robert ultimately cares moreabout the money than he does about his wife.

fast forward to robert post-coma, post-redemption arc and nowfully committed to being in a relationship with aaron. he still loves money andfights hard to make as much of it as possible, usually still somehow at theexpense of the whites, but we as an audience don’t have any solid proof thatrobert really cares more about aaron than he does about his og love, money.

we’ll come back to this in asecond, but the other thing we see in robert’s relationship with chrissie isthat he never exactly had any compunction to remain faithful to her. he says to aaronearly on (in the barn) that he has had a bunch of one night stands, but neveranything beyond that, which is the first indication to the audience that somehowaaron is different for robert. we later learn that he did in fact also sleepwith rebecca multiple times. according to robert, it was all before he andchrissie got serious, whatever that means in rob’s mind , at which pointhe stopped, although we also know that he and rebecca had sex at rob andchrissie’s engagement party (side note, my best guess - that was the last time they slepttogether and also when he knocked her up the first time).

anyways, outside of rebecca and later, aaron, robert had alsohad a bunch of one night stands and just… generally couldn’t keep it in hispants.

again, robert and aaron later become a real couple, long afterhe and chrissie are over for the last time and robert doesn’t seem to beinterested in anyone else (at all, he basically puts his life on hold tosupport aaron throughout the first part of 2016). but - equally, he’s never putin a situation where he’s had the chance.

bringing this back to rebecca - one of the first things she doesis show that she is working with robert to take down chrissie - she’s angry atchrissie for not telling her about lawrence getting shot, or anything that’sbeen going on (and - it’s chrissie that she wants to hurt, not larry or lucky,so we’re once again treated to two girls treating each other like shit for abit, joy of joys) and she wants to help robert get chrissie her comeuppance andalso protect her inheritance. robert brought her in and robert is the onlycharacter she’s not lying to, when she first comes to the village. her sceneswith her family all have the undertone of the fact that she is doing thisbecause robert convinced her to - it’s all about robert’s revenge, narrativelyspeaking.

to bring back my earlier points about robert’s love of money andinfidelity, a lot of her early scenes exist to set the stage for robertproposing in ssw and to show the audience that rob has, in fact, changed - sheoffers him all of home farm, all of that power back, and he says no. she triesto sleep with him repeatedly and he turns her down again and again.

and this pattern continues - she keeps pushing him and he flirtsback, kisses her even - his stupid way of keeping her inside so that they caneventually clear andy’s name, as he says to her when he finally shuts her downonce and for all outside the courthouse. the lines he says to her repeatedlyare things about how important aaron is to him - the show starts to build upthis picture that aaron is special to robert, but also robert is still hisrobert sugden-y self and isn’t above doing stupid things or pushing his stupidplans too far in order to get his way.

like. god i’m not going to list them all THIS IS LONG AND EXTRA TM ENOUGH but there are literallygifsets that exist of all the ways robert proclaims his love for aaron torebecca. so much of their scenes are used to both strengthen our knowledge ofhow much robert loves aaron and also to sow those seeds that robert does stupidand reckless things at the expense of that relationship sometimes - that heloves aaron but he sure as hell also loves money too.

but - again - in the narrative, we’ve been shown repeatedly thatwhen push comes to shove, robert always chooses aaron, that he doesn’t have anydesire to be unfaithful to aaron and he won’t choose money over hisrelationship. even when he was unfaithful, it was basically the product of an emotional breakdown as opposed to his apparent motivation of eh this person is hot and i’m bored why not when he was with chrissie.

and rebecca is the tool that leads the show to show us that so so often.similarly, rebecca is the catalyst for aaron’s jealousy and his eventual prisonstoryline.

everything since her entrance has slowly allowed the show tobuild up to aaron and robert breaking up. every one of their storylines hastied into that, or somehow been driven by her presence. every single one. andthe thing is… it’s nothing to do with who she even is - beyond that initialmanipulative streak she had which has disappeared entirely, it seems.

i know i’ve spoken a lot about her lack of agency as acharacter (and... just about her in general... here here here here here here here here and here are some casual examples... jfc...), so i don’t want to rehash that aspect but… it is more than that,isn’t it? it’s not just her lack of agency - it’s that, while she is absolutelyCRUCIAL to everything that has happened to robert and aaron and the constantcatalyst for every bad decision they’ve made, to showing us the ways thatthey’re not working, it’s not about who she is. who she is is irrelevant. theonly thing she ever needed to be was in love with robert and passive enough tokeep getting pulled back into his orbit and to help him do his bidding,regardless of how he has treated her. she never needed to be more than that andshe really… isn’t, in all honesty. again, i spoke earlier this week about herlack of core characteristics and that plays into that. more than that, eventhough she is the character that has been driving robert and aaron into Troublewith a capital T over and over, none of it has ever really been about her.

mostly - mostly it’s been about showcasing problems that alreadyexisted between them, working towards potentially resolving those issues, or atleast highlighting that they exist.

one argument to the above - recently it has become more abouther in the sense that aaron says that robert sleeping with rebecca inparticular, as his ex and as the catalyst for aaron’s initial jealousy - androbert being tied to her in particular with a baby, was so much more painfuland untenable to him than it might have been, had rob instead slept with arandom.

(it would never have been a random though because as the showtold us, even robert and rebecca sleeping together wasn’t about rebecca - itwas about robert in pain and wanting to hurt aaron. rebecca was an easy targetfor robert - the only thing she needed to be, in that episode, was desperatelyin love with robert enough to ignore any moral compunction she initially had tonot sleep with an emotionally destroyed dude who was married to someone sheproclaimed to like, which she was).

again - it always, always comes down to aaron and in particular,robert. and MORE THAN THAT, we now have robert on screen, being shown in apretty sympathetic light (for rob), in agony over the loss of aaron, once againallowing robert to show character development, to show his absurd love foraaron. and getting into spoiler territory, we know he’s going to get pulledback into the white orbit in a particularly 2015, pre aaron’s good influenceway - something made particularly possible by this brand new unshakeable bondto the whites through his son, who is currently chilling inside rebecca

(although you would never know if from her outfits)

none of rebecca’s story has been about rebecca. she’s pregnantand they haven’t even shown that really - not much beyond the fact that herfamily are supportive and the ways in which it has affected aaron and robert.

she just. she exists for robert and aaron and their story.possibly also the end of the whites, but that’s to be seen. that’s it. andthat… kind is really offensive.

or at least, it’s just writing that is very careless towards afemale character - something which is incredibly prevalent across the show as awhole, but particularly irksome here because this is the storyline we reallycare about lmfao

[avelera]

Maggie analyzes Voltron Season 3, episode 1...

--

Including analysis of Prince Lotor’s introduction:

So far this episode’s opening is  a bit heavy on the exposition and telegraphing of what everyone has been doing and thinking since Shiro went missing. There’s also been a couple of awkward transitions of dialogue like “oh, btw, how is that main plotline going??” non-sequiturs when random people ask why the paladins can’t perform their emotional plotline - which is form Voltron/find Shiro.

That being said, I’m actually overall ok with all that. It really is the difference between adult and children’s programming where we need to be a lot clearer about what everyone is thinking and feeling, in my writing class it was basically summarized as the need to use “signposts” more in children’s fiction to guide the audience through what they’re supposed to be thinking and feeling about all this. This is in contrast to adult programming, which puts a greater emphasis on allowing the adult viewer to draw their own conclusions when presented with the more subtle actions and thoughts of the characters. 

That being said, this is also a first episode of a new season, which means they need to catch people up after several months away, and get everyone up to speed as quickly as possible. I’ve seen shows for adults that were far more awkward at the start of a new season when it comes to the reminder info-dumps. So actually Voltron is doing a very good job given its constraints.

What got me thinking about this was the “palace intrigue” scene where Galra Whathisname “He clearly isn’t going to matter because his character design isn’t interesting or distinct enough” decides to have a “secret” meeting in a public stadium to solicit his fellow officers to join him in a coup. The dialogue is painfully on the nose as he lays out a children’s version of a palace political plot, but because I eat plotlines like this up with a spoon and some whipped cream it was actually instructive to see how a children’s show introduces the idea of complex political backstabbing by having the characters be as blunt about their intentions as possible.

That conversation also gave an interesting, if blatant, opportunity for an info dump about Prince Lotor. Lotor has been a subject of controversy since he was announced, since there’s such a broad range of possibilities on the kind of person he could be. He could be even more evil than Zarkon, a sort of Ramsay Bolton of sadism, or he could be a total good guy who instantly aligns with everything the Paladin good guys believe (the latter seeming less likely since it prevents us from having a character arc). Every shade of gray in between was possible, and the fandom tied itself into knots with speculation. 

During the Palace Intrigue dialogue we learned a lot of details very quickly:

- Lotor is a political outlier - specifically, he stands at odds with the more warlike and conservative Galra planning this coup. He has liberal views of racial purity which are not limited to pureblood Galra, and often allows planets to rule themselves. So, he’s being set up to be a good guy, or at least a lighter shade of gray. 

Every since the Blade of Marmora was introduced, a lot of things have started to make sense in the VLD universe. Like with Avatar: the Last Airbender’s Fire Nation, we have an “evil” nation that has taken over a diverse world. However, since the bad guys aren’t zombies or otherwise mindless monsters, we probably can’t commit genocide in a children’s show in order to get rid of them all and free the universe. Which means there must be good Galra out there to whom the good guys can hand over the original Galra territories after the other worlds are freed. The Blade of Marmora was our first hint of this sort of schism existing within the Galra Empire which allows for a happy ending with Good Galra ruling. It adds a shade of complexity to the Galra which is an opportunity for drama - they must fight enemies from within as well as the paladins.

- Lotor is a half-breed, but most Galra don’t know this. 

Lotor was a half-breed in the original Voltron show, and that’s hinted at with the note that his closest officers are also half-breeds. So, it’s likely he is as well, but this fact is hidden. This likely means Haggar is in fact his mother, and since her true origin as Altean is hidden, Lotor’s must be as well (which also, interestingly, means Galra and Alteans can interbreed). 

This also sets up Lotor to be Keith’s foil, at least for a time. Without Shiro, Keith has clearly been set up as the show’s main character, which means the new introduction of a villain is going to be someone who opposes him but also mirrors him. In my opinion, Lotor is being set up as more of a “Zuko” villain, he’s going to fight the Paladins but mostly because he’s been told to and as he gets to know them better their differences will decline until, most likely, he ends up as an ally or at least a sympathetic enemy. Which brings me to the next observation:

- Lotor presents himself as honorable and representing the best qualities of the martial Galra culture. 

Lotor is a fighter. In his display in the stadium, he announced himself as someone who won’t stab you in the back, but he will cleverly stab you in the front. He doesn’t just confront Galra Whatshisname about his intended coup in private, even though he he already knew about it, and instead challenged him in a public place in a way designed to win the crowd and loyalty. So, Lotor’s a tactician of the mind as well as of warfare. We know he’s a warrior, he wants to expand the Empire but he does so in a way that lets people rule themselves, implying that he sees this manner as more efficient anyway (whether or not he sees it as morally better). 

So he’s presenting himself as someone who holds to the original “values” of the Galra Empire, its raison d’etre, which have since been corrupted by absolute dominance and power. The Galra couldn’t have expanded as far as they did if they didn’t at least seem like the good guys at first, which means they had a national myth they told themselves and their subjects about how their Empire spreading was a good thing, and I think Lotor buys into that mindset and still operates with it, even as many more jaded and cynical Galra including Zarkon are really just about the power and have no altruistic beliefs in their Empire anymore.

Edit: Ok I had to edit this a bit after finishing the episode. Lotor probably has a cynical view of the original Empire’s expansion. So, he may on some level believe that loyalty is a better way to expand the empire, but he may just see that as efficiency too. Either way, for practical reasons he’s a more reasonable despot than Zarkon, which is at least a little bit of an improvement?

So basically: Lotor is everything a Good Imperial Galra can be at this stage of the show. He’s still opposed to the Paladins because he’s still a wiling agent of the Empire’s expansion, but he can mostly likely be talked down from this eventually, unlike Zarkon. He’s probably being set up to rule the “Good” Galra Empire in the future OR to be the Black Paladin, albeit temporarily. He’s clever and devious too, which is something of a gray virtue, but at the moment he’s using it to defeat the REAL bad guys which are Galra hardliners, so I’d still say he’s set up to be a Good Imperial Galra, even if he is somewhat two-faced.

Lotor’s speech confirms pretty much his entire worldview: being overly aggressive is a weakness that is costing the Empire. This is his character’s opening mission statement - it allows him to be an adversary without being a monster. He’s still an aristocrat though, he has benefited from the system, and he speaks in elevated tones. He’s clever and devious, not above manipulating public opinion through grandstanding and we’re not entirely sure yet what his deeply held beliefs are. 

Actually, he could just as easily be the foil to Allura, he talks like her and looks quite a bit like her too. He’s clearly inherited some of the Altean skill at diplomacy, which he uses to blindside his more blunt Galra political enemies. An interesting  and formidable combination of skills.

However, he’s not naive, he doesn’t keep potential traitors around. So, he’s clever, devious, and two-faced. He’s got some things to learn to be a good guy.

His followers are good guys:

- They have a cat - pets are quick visual shorthand that people are good guys in any fiction medium. 

- They’re half-breeds, which means they’re probably not Galra hardliners.

- They’re women! Honestly, they’re the first women we’ve seen on the Galra side besides Haggar. Which implies that Galra don’t have their own women, maybe? All the women are half-breeds? I’m not sure but it’s something I’ll keep an eye out for.

A couple final notes:

- I was totally wrong. I thought the Galra Keith fought was his own mother, but I guess people were right that it really was Lotor. Damn I hate being wrong.

- I expect a ton of Keith/Lotor stuff guys. He’s giving off a serious Sesshomaru vibe, he’s going to be shipped with everyone.

- If they don’t put Allura in the Black Lion I’m going to be seriously peeved.