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goodbyeyellowbrickcloset · 4 months ago

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Taylor Swift and the Yellow Brick Road: A Queer-Coded Journey - Masterpost

Introduction

The Wizard of Oz is my all-time favorite movie. It has shaped the way I see storytelling, art, and the power of symbolism. At its core, it's a story about self-discovery, chosen family, longing for home, and stepping into a magical but often deceptive world. Over the years, I’ve grown to appreciate its deeper layers—particularly its historical ties to queerness and coded storytelling.

In recent years, Taylor Swift’s engagement with The Wizard of Oz has completely opened up a new perspective for me. Her references to Dorothy, the Yellow Brick Road, and queer-coded themes are not just random. They are braided into her storytelling, her visuals, and even her activism. When you lay it all out—the lyrics, the imagery, the performances, and the deeper cultural implications—it becomes impossible to ignore. This deep dive will also explore how the people around her—friends, collaborators, and industry figures—play into the story in their own way... and how all roads somehow lead back to Taylor.

So let’s follow the Yellow Brick Road. 🌈✨

The Queer Legacy of The Wizard of Oz

Before we talk about Taylor Swift, we need to talk about why The Wizard of Oz is one of the most queer-coded films in history.

1. “Friend of Dorothy” as Queer Code

🌈 Did You Know:

“Friend of Dorothy” became secret slang for LGBTQIA+ people in the 1940s-1960s. Because being openly gay was dangerous and illegal, queer people used coded language to identify each other safely.

Dorothy, played by Judy Garland, was loved by queer audiences because her story mirrored that of many LGBTQ+ individuals—leaving home, finding an accepting chosen family, and realizing that home (identity) was inside her all along.

2. Judy Garland’s Connection to Stonewall

🌈 Did You Know:

Judy Garland’s funeral on June 27, 1969, took place the day before the Stonewall Riots. Some historians believe her passing played a role in the emotions that fueled the rebellion.

Garland was one of the first mainstream Hollywood stars to be openly supportive of queer people.

3. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" as a Queer Anthem

🌈 Did You Know:

Somewhere Over the Rainbow was written by Yip Harburg, a closeted gay man. The song is about dreaming of a world where you can live freely and openly.

For decades, it has been a symbol of longing for queer liberation.

Who’s Behind the Curtain? Taylor Swift’s Oz-Themed Symbolism

Taylor has been referencing The Wizard of Oz for over a decade. And when you map the out the references, they tell a bigger story.

1. “Mean” Dreaming of Leaving Kansas – Speak Now (2011)

📺 Watch Here: Taylor Swift – Mean (Official Music Video)

One of the earliest visual nods to The Wizard of Oz appears in the Mean music video. While it may have been subconscious at the time, the imagery is striking:

📌 Key Visual Similarities:

The rustic, old-fashioned farmhouse setting in Mean resembles Dorothy’s Kansas home.

The wooden interiors, neutral tones, and rural landscape mirror the black-and-white opening of The Wizard of Oz.

Much like Dorothy, the protagonist dreams of something bigger, longing to escape a world where they feel out of place.

In The Wizard of Oz, Kansas represents a limiting world, one where Dorothy isn’t fully seen for who she is. Similarly, the Mean music video centers around characters who feel stuck, ridiculed, and misunderstood, before eventually stepping into their true potential.

If Oz represents self-discovery and queerness, then Kansas symbolizes rigid societal expectations.

Mean centers around struggling against judgment—a theme deeply resonant with LGBTQ+ experiences.

The journey from a restrictive, sepia-toned existence to a brighter, more authentic future mirrors Dorothy’s path in The Wizard of Oz.

The themes introduced in Mean—of feeling trapped in a world that doesn’t understand you, longing for something more, and finding your voice despite opposition—are revisited throughout Taylor’s discography + performances. Kansas in Mean mirrors Dorothy’s world before Oz—a place where she is underestimated, ridiculed, and told she can’t be more than she is.

📌 Other Key Visual in the Music Video:

In the locker room scene, the bullied boy (a key character in the video) is wearing lavender while being mocked by football players.

Lavender is one of the most significant colors in queer history.

🌈 Did You Know:

Lavender has been associated with queerness for over a century.

In the early 20th century, the phrase “lavender lads” was used as a coded way to refer to gay men.

During the Lavender Scare of the 1950s, LGBTQIA+ people were targeted and purged from government jobs.

In the 1970s, the Lavender Menace was a group of lesbian feminists fighting for inclusion in the women’s rights movement.

💡 The bullied boy wearing lavender in Mean could symbolize queer youth facing discrimination. The locker room setting mirrors real-life bullying that many LGBTQ+ people experience in school. I won't go into it here, but as some may know, Taylor references lavender several more times throughout her discography, most notably in the song Lavender Haze... and ohhh, does the sapphic lore run deep with that one.

2. Happy New Year! Blake as Dorothy & Taylor as Ariel—A Hidden Message? (2019)

Blake Lively, Taylor Swift, and Gigi Hadid dressed as childhood heroes to welcome the new year in 2019. Blake Lively dressed as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Taylor Swift dressed as Ariel from The Little Mermaid.

📌 Key Visuals in the Photo:

Blake, as Dorothy, stands above Taylor on a staircase—Dorothy, historically, is a guide to self-discovery and finding home.

Taylor, as Ariel, looks upward—Ariel, like Dorothy, is a character who longs for something more, fights for change, and ultimately reclaims her power.

The placement and dynamic could symbolize Taylor’s journey toward reclaiming her voice and true self.

At first glance, this seems like a fun, nostalgic costume choice. But given Taylor’s history of layering symbolism into everything, this pairing leads to questions:

Was Blake’s Dorothy a nod to “Friend of Dorothy” symbolism and queerness?

Was Taylor’s Ariel a reference to being silenced and struggling to reclaim her voice?

💡 In the context of queerness, Ariel’s story mirrors that of the queer community who feel silenced or unable to express their true selves. Given the themes in The Wizard of Oz, and Dorothy’s role as a gay icon, Blake and Taylor’s pairing feels too thematically perfect to be a coincidence. Take a little detour with me, I feel this must be included here.

⭐Ariel’s Story as a Metaphor for Queer Identity & Taylor’s Journey

📺 Watch Here: Ariel Losing Her Voice – The Little Mermaid (1989)

📌Key Themes in The Little Mermaid

Ariel longs for a different life—she feels out of place in her world and dreams of living freely.

She sacrifices her voice in exchange for a chance to become her “true self.”

She spends much of the movie silenced, unable to communicate her thoughts and feelings.

Eventually, she fights to reclaim her voice and identity.

🌈 Did You Know:

The Little Mermaid was written by Hans Christian Andersen, who was widely believed to be queer and wrote the original story as an allegory for unrequited love and hidden identity.

Disney's The Little Mermaid was released in 1989.

Taylor Swift has frequently expressed frustration over losing control of her voice, whether in the music industry (the masters dispute) or in her personal life.

Ariel’s story could reflect Taylor’s own experiences of being silenced—either by the industry, by public perception, or by personal constraints related to queerness.

⭐Connecting Back to The Yellow Brick Road & Taylor’s Imagery

Ariel’s story in The Little Mermaid and Dorothy’s journey in The Wizard of Oz share striking parallels, both serving as allegories for self-discovery, longing, and transformation. Just as Dorothy leaves the dull, black-and-white world of Kansas in search of something greater, Ariel dreams of escaping the constraints of her underwater world, longing for a place where she can be her true self. Both heroines sacrifice a part of themselves to enter a new world—Dorothy is swept away by a tornado, while Ariel gives up her voice to walk on land. In these new realms, they face obstacles, meet guides and allies, and learn that the world they once idealized is not as simple as they thought. This theme of searching for belonging, navigating a new identity, and reclaiming personal power deeply resonates with queer narratives, making both stories enduring metaphors for LGBTQ+ self-acceptance and the journey toward authenticity.

📌 Key Lyric + Movie Quote:

“But daddy, I love him”

One of the most emotionally charged lines in The Little Mermaid comes when Ariel, desperate to be with Prince Eric, defiantly shouts this to her father.

This moment is pivotal—not just in the film, but in queer-coded readings of Ariel’s story. It represents a young woman asserting her independence, challenging authority, and risking everything for a love that is considered unacceptable.

So when Taylor Swift lifted this exact line for a song on The Tortured Poets Department in 2024, it immediately raised eyebrows.

📌 Parallel Themes:

Defying expectations – In The Little Mermaid, Ariel’s love is forbidden. In Taylor’s work, the phrase could represent a love that is misunderstood, denied, or rejected by those in power.

A plea for acceptance – Ariel isn’t just declaring love; she’s begging to be understood. Taylor using this phrase suggests a desperation to validate something others refuse to accept.

Queer Subtext – The phrase has long been used in queer narratives where love is met with opposition. Could Taylor’s use of it be a wink toward a love that’s hidden, complicated, or unapproved?

I'll do a whole analysis on Taylor's storytelling inspiration from The Little Mermaid. When I do, I will link it here.

3. ME! Out Now - April 26th, 2019

Taylor Swift's ME! music video is rich with vibrant visuals and hidden references, some of which mimic scenes from The Wizard of Oz. Taylor announced the song and music video in social media posts that stated: ME! out now... This happened on April 26th. This day is significant because it has been nationally known as Lesbian Visibility Day since 2008.

📌 Key Visual Similarities:

Skipping Toward the Rainbow: In one scene, Swift and Brendon Urie skip hand-in-hand toward a magical rainbow and towering green building, reminiscent of Dorothy and her companions heading toward the Emerald City. In this scene, they're surrounded by people in pink suits lining their path strongly resembling the poppy field from The Wizard of Oz—the final obstacle Dorothy and her friends must pass before reaching the Emerald City.

Emerald City Imagery: At the beginning of the music video, as Taylor storms out of her home and begins approaching the outside world, the interior space she passes through is similarly detailed to that of the interior of Emerald City. Once she makes it outside, the video's colorful, fantastical setting continues to evoke the land of Oz, with its bright hues and whimsical architecture.

📌 Symbolism of Glinda & Taylor’s Role in ME!:

In The Wizard of Oz, Glinda serves as Dorothy’s guide, helping her navigate Oz and ultimately leading her to self-discovery.

In ME!, Taylor plays a similarly uplifting and empowering role—celebrating individuality and self-love, much like Glinda encourages Dorothy to embrace her own inner strength.

Glinda is loved by many and known for her charm, grace, and wisdom. Taylor’s larger-than-life presence in ME! echoes that same enchanting, benevolent energy.

🌈 Queer Interpretation & “Good Witch” Symbolism:

Glinda is often associated with queerness and camp culture—her over-the-top glamor and theatricality have made her a beloved figure in LGBTQIA+ media.

Taylor’s use of pastel colors, dreamy fantasy elements, and exaggerated femininity in ME! aligns with camp aesthetics, queerness, and a deliberate embrace of joyful theatricality.

Could this be Taylor symbolically placing herself in the “Good Witch” role—a figure of guidance, encouragement, and transformation?

📌 Key Visual:

In the ME! video, Brendon Urie wears a white floral suit with a large heart pinned to his chest, reminiscent of the heart-shaped clock that the Wizard gives the Tin Man at the end of the film.

In The Wizard of Oz, the Tin Man believes he lacks a heart, but the Wizard tells him that he had one all along—he just needed a symbol to prove it to himself.

The ME! video is all about self-love, individuality, and reclaiming joy—similar to how the Tin Man realizes he was never truly heartless.

Brendon Urie’s heart could represent emotional validation, much like how the Tin Man receives proof of his capacity for love.

💡The scene could also symbolize Taylor Swift’s own journey of reclaiming love—whether for herself, her art, or even her personal identity.

This scene from the ME! music video, featuring people dressed in black tumbling through the air while clutching broken umbrellas, strongly evokes the imagery of the Wicked Witch’s flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz.

📌 Key Similarities:

Dark, Winged Figures Falling from the Sky – In The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West sends out her winged monkey army to terrorize Dorothy and her companions, swooping in from the sky. In ME!, the airborne figures dressed in black mimic that chaotic, unsettling motion.

Umbrellas as Symbolic “Wings” – The tattered black umbrellas resemble the leathery, bat-like wings of the flying monkeys, further cementing the visual connection.

💡Taylor’s rainbow-filled Lover era could be a deliberate nod to Somewhere Over the Rainbow—especially since it never explicitly referenced queerness while being deeply associated with it. I'll elaborate soon.

4. Evermore Cover: The Braided Narrative (2020)

Perhaps the most overlooked queer-coded reference comes from Evermore.

📌 Key Visual:

Braiding in poetry has been used as a technique to reflect intersecting identities, hidden truths, and fluid perspectives, making it especially relevant in queer poetry and literature.

The braided structure allows for hidden narratives, nonlinear storytelling, and parallel experiences—elements that resonate deeply with Taylor’s songwriting, especially in Evermore.

If the braid on the Evermore cover is intentional, it could symbolize interwoven themes of identity, hidden meanings, and layered storytelling—just as queer-coded poetry often does. It could also reference a famous hairstyle from a famous icon... I'll let you guess who that may be.

🌈 Did You Know:

Evermore was announced on the birthday of Emily Dickinson, a well known poet. Many scholars believe Emily Dickinson is queer and had a lifelong love affair with her childhood friend Susan Gilbert.

💡Evermore is one of Taylor’s most coded albums, with “Dorothea” being one of its bigger Easter eggs.

⭐Dorothea - Evermore (2020)

📺 Listen Here: Taylor Swift – Dorothea (Lyric Video)

Dorothea = Dorothy Gale—the parallel is undeniable.

The song describes a girl who left a small town for Hollywood, but the narrator still longs for her.

Many fans (or at least I) believe Dorothea represents Karlie Kloss, with the song reflecting a lost romantic relationship.

“It’s never too late to come back to my side.”

📌 Key Themes:

Dorothy leaves Kansas to follow the Yellow Brick Road, longing for adventure but ultimately realizing there’s no place like home.

Dorothea is about someone who leaves a small town, finds success, but is still deeply loved and missed by the narrator.

This theme of longing for someone who has moved on, feeling left behind, and struggling with what that means is a deeply queer-coded trope—one that Taylor often returns to.

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I'd like to also mention, the It's Nice To Have A Friend / Dorothea mash-up that Taylor swift did on The Eras Tour in Edinburgh on June 9th, 2024. Guess who's birthday is June 10th? Dorothy Gale herself, Judy Garland. The implications of this. 🤯

📌Why Tupelo? The Yellow Brick Road, and The Ones Who Leave

I've always wondered about the significance of Tupelo, Mississippi, in this song. So, I started digging into possible connections between the narrator, the muse, and Tupelo, and—unsurprisingly—it led me to Sir Elton John. This won't be the last time I mention him, certainly not in the broader context of understanding Gaylor. There are plenty of reasons for that. But for now, humor me: assume that the ties between Taylor and Elton run deep, and follow me as I decode Tupelo in Dorothea.

I referenced this Reddit Post while deep diving Tupelo.

🌈 Did You Know:

Elton John has a song called Porch Swing in Tupelo. The song explores themes of leaving home, returning, and nostalgia—mirroring the journey Dorothy takes in The Wizard of Oz.

📺 Listen Here: Elton John - Porch Swing in Tupelo (2004)

As Porch Swing in Tupelo paints a lovely picture, Gaylor's have made a connection to an unreleased song from Taylor in 2003.

💡 Bridging This to Taylor's song, Me & Britney

📺 Listen Here: Taylor Swift - Me and Britney

While Dorothea and Porch Swing in Tupelo focus on someone who left, longing, and nostalgia, Taylor’s unreleased song Me & Britney adds another angle to this theme.

In Me & Britney, Taylor sings:

Britney made it to Memphis, and that’s where she wanted to be.

Memphis (home of Graceland) is where Elvis went after leaving Tupelo—and his story is often framed as one of fame, longing, and isolation. Sort've a side note, but definitely ties Taylor's old music to Dorothea and aligns with the same trope. Stay with me...

💡Dorothy, Elvis, and the subject of Dorothea all followed a road that led them away from home—but was it really what they wanted?

📌 Key Lyric in Me & Britney That Feels Queer:

I was just jealous of the boy that she fell in love with.

This aligns with a classic queer storytelling trope—where attraction is framed as “jealousy” over a male love interest rather than outright romantic feelings.

💡 Final Thought:

If Dorothy realizes that Oz wasn’t what she thought it would be…

If Elvis became trapped in the fame he once sought…

If Taylor keeps returning to themes of people leaving, longing, and hidden feelings…

🌈 Could the Yellow Brick Road be a metaphor for realizing that what you were searching for was already inside you—whether that’s home, identity, or love?

5. Elton John & The Yellow Brick Road as a Queer Metaphor

🌈 Did You Know:

Elton John—one of the most famous openly gay musicians—has drawn inspiration from themes of The Wizard of Oz throughout his career.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is often interpreted as his rejection of the expectations placed on him, including those of the heterosexual, traditional lifestyle.

The song describes escaping an artificial world—one where he was expected to play a role rather than be himself.

📌 Key Lyrics:

“You know you can’t hold me forever / I didn’t sign up with you.”

“So goodbye yellow brick road / Where the dogs of society howl.”

💡 How This Relates to Taylor Swift:

If Elton saw the Yellow Brick Road as a false promise, could Taylor also be questioning the path she’s been on?

⭐Taylor Swift’s Own Yellow Brick Road: The Fame vs. Reality Conflict

📌 Key Songs That Reflect This Theme:

“The Lucky One” (Red, 2012) – A song about the dark side of fame, where the narrator envies someone who escapes it.

“Nothing New” (Red: Taylor’s Version, 2021) – A reflection on the fleeting nature of fame, mirroring the “illusion of Oz.”

“The Archer” (Lover, 2019) – Explores feelings of isolation and longing for something real beyond the performance of celebrity.

💡 The Yellow Brick Road Parallel:

Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz follows the road to what she believes will be her dream, only to find out it was all smoke and mirrors.

Elton John realized the world he was chasing wasn’t real.

Taylor has repeatedly questioned whether the life she built is truly what she wanted.

Further connections between Elton John and Taylor include the release of Elton's documentary: Elton John: It's Never Too Late on Friday December 13, 2024. Taylor Swift's birthday? December 13th. Again, there is more to say about these two, but it's going to require its own post.

6. The Most Fabulous Closets in Oz: Harry, Taylor & The Magic of Bearding

I referenced this Reddit Post for this section.

In 2021, Harry Styles dressed as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz for his Harryween concert at Madison Square Garden, fully embracing the camp aesthetic of Oz with ruby slippers, blue gingham dress, red tights, and a Toto-filled basket. This moment was more than just a fun Halloween costume—it was a bold embrace of gender fluidity and queer-coded imagery, further aligning him with the broader queer themes of The Wizard of Oz.

📺 Watch Here: Harry Styles - Over the Rainbow - Harryween Night One

📌 How This Relates to Queerness:

Harry’s choice to dress as Dorothy plays into his broader exploration of gender nonconformity and theatrical self-expression.

The act of a male pop star dressing as one of cinema’s most famous female protagonists challenges traditional gender norms, something Harry has done consistently throughout his career.

This moment fits into a larger trend of Oz being reclaimed by queer artists as a symbol of self-discovery and belonging.

⭐The Taylor Swift Connection: A Relationship That Was More Than It Seemed? A Public Relationship with Career-Boosting Benefits

So what's the connection between Harry and Taylor you may ask? Maybe you weren't around for the pap walks and easter eggs these two gave us. Have no fear, I'm here to outline that, from a Gaylor's perspective of course.

Harry and Taylor’s highly publicized relationship in 2012-2013 came at a crucial time for both of their careers.

Taylor was transitioning from country to full-fledged pop, and aligning herself with Harry—who was breaking out as a global pop phenomenon with One Direction—helped solidify her move into a new genre.

Meanwhile, Harry was preparing for an eventual solo career and a public relationship with Taylor further cemented his status beyond being “just” a boyband member.

Their short-lived but highly visible relationship seemed almost perfectly orchestrated for media attention, which has led many fans to speculate that their pairing was a mutually beneficial bearding arrangement.

💡 The Bearding Theory:

Both Harry and Taylor have been rumored to be closeted, and many believe their relationship was staged to divert speculation away from their personal lives.

This would not be the first time high-profile celebrities have engaged in strategic PR relationships to control public perception.

If this was a double bearding scenario, it would mean both Harry and Taylor were using each other as a cover while pursuing their own private lives off-camera.

🌈 Queer Implication in the Wizard of Oz Narrative:

If Harry and Taylor’s relationship was about public image rather than personal romance, it fits into the Oz allegory perfectly.

The Wizard of Oz is about facades, illusion, and realizing the person behind the curtain isn’t what they seem.

Is Taylor revealing these hidden truths through her constant Oz references? One things for sure, these two have been creatively aligned from a distance for over a decade. Neither have gotten on a stage to profess their sexuality, but with a *sometimes* obsessive interest in the stories they tell, its hard not to see parallels in the queer undertones that have littered their work for years.

💡Take this for example: Harry Styles and Taylor Swift both have a song called Daylight. I will reference Taylor's song in the next section and will provide a deep dive into the parallels of Harry and Taylor's song in a different post. But for the sake of Oz, I must note - the chorus of Harry's song Daylight says:

If I was a bluebird, I would fly to you

Which feels pretty parallel to the lyric from Somewhere Over the Rainbow,

Somewhere over the rainbow Bluebirds fly Birds fly over the rainbow Why then, oh, why can't I? If happy little bluebirds fly Beyond the rainbow Why, oh why can't I?

No? Sure, okay... moving on.

7. Optimistic Voices Line by Line, Taylor’s Lyricism, & the Journey to Daylight

📺 Watch Here: The Wizard of Oz – “Optimistic Voices” & The Snow Scene

📺 Watch Here: Taylor Swift – “Out of the Woods” (Official Music Video)

📺 Watch Here: Taylor Swift – “Daylight” (Live From Paris)

There's a lot to unpack here. Let’s start with lyrics and move into imagery.

⭐Escaping the Darkness: Out of the Woods & The Journey to the Light

📌 Key Lyrics from Optimistic Voices

You're out of the woods, You're out of the dark, you're out of the night, Step into the sun, step into the light.

📌 Key Lyrics from Out of the Woods

Are we out of the woods yet? Are we out of the woods yet? Are we in the clear yet? Are we in the clear yet?

📌 Key Lyrics from Daylight

I've been sleeping so long in a 20-year dark night (Now I'm wide awake) And now I see daylight (I see daylight), I only see daylight (ah)

At its core, Out of the Woods is a song about living in a state of constant anxiety, uncertainty, and fear. While it has been widely interpreted as a song about a fragile, doomed relationship, when viewed through a queer lens, the song’s themes take on an even deeper meaning:

🌈 Queer Interpretation:

The fear of being found out.

The struggle of navigating a love that feels fragile and threatened.

The desperation to hold onto something that the world does not want to survive.

💡 Optimistic Voices tells the moment of reaching safety—it is the sound of emerging from a place of struggle into clarity. Out of the Woods, on the other hand, is still trapped in uncertainty, asking the question: Are we safe yet? Are we in the clear?

⭐ Where Daylight Fits in the Journey:

If Out of the Woods is about struggling to escape the fear, then Daylight is about finally arriving at a place of clarity and acceptance.

The lyric “I’ve been sleeping so long in a 20-year dark night” mirrors the journey of stepping out of the woods into the sunlight—into truth.

⭐ Stepping Into the Light: Visibility & Queer Self-Discovery

📌 Key Lyrics from Optimistic Voices

Step into the sun, step into the light.

📌 Key Lyrics from Out of the Woods

The rest of the world was black and white, but we were in screaming color.

📌 Key Lyrics from Daylight

You gotta step into the daylight and let it go Just let it go, let it go

🌈 Queer Interpretation:

The contrast between "black and white" and "screaming color" reflects the experience of queerness in a heteronormative world.

The “black and white” world is society’s rigid, traditional expectations.

“Screaming color” is queerness—vibrant, alive, but existing in stark contrast to what’s expected.

⭐ Daylight completes this arc:

In Out of the Woods, the sun is rising but it’s still a question of safety.

In Daylight, Taylor is fully in the sun, embracing its warmth and clarity.

It’s not just about stepping into the light—it’s about choosing to stay there.

📌 Much like the journey from Kansas to Oz, the transition from Out of the Woods → Daylight is about leaving behind a world of confusion and entering a new, golden reality.

🌈 Did You Know?

The Emerald City has often been compared to the idea of a queer utopia—a place where people who have been marginalized in the “real world” can be free. (I may have already told you this 100 times, haha)

Daylight being "golden" aligns with the Yellow Brick Road leading to Emerald City—a literal path toward truth, clarity, and belonging.

⭐ Holding On Through the Journey: The Final Push Toward Safety

📌 Key Lyrics from Optimistic Voices

Hold onto your breath, hold onto your heart, hold onto your hope, March up to that gate and bid it open.

📌 Key Lyrics from Out of the Woods

Remember when we couldn't take the heat? I walked out, I said 'I'm setting you free.'

📌 Key Lyrics from Daylight

My love was as cruel as the cities I lived in Everyone looked worse in the light.

🌈 Queer Interpretation:

Optimistic Voices is about reaching the final destination—the Emerald City—after a long, uncertain journey.

Out of the Woods describes a love that is filled with tension, fear, and the possibility of collapse at any moment.

Daylight is the final realization—that love doesn’t have to be cruel, it doesn’t have to exist in the dark, and when you step into the sun, you see things for what they truly are.

⭐ Final Thought:

Out of the Woods asks if the journey is over yet.

Daylight declares that it is.

Optimistic Voices sings the moment when you finally step into the light and let it all go.

Maybe Daylight is that moment of realization—that the fear, the hiding, the uncertainty—it was never love. Love was golden. Love was daylight. At least that was her hope for the Lover era. I will deep dive this when I write about the failed coming out of 2019.

9. Out of the Woods and the Snow That Awakens Dorothy: A Symbolic Parallel

Now let's explore how the striking visual connection between The Wizard of Oz and Taylor Swift’s Out of the Woods lies in the use of snow as a transformative and awakening force. In both stories, snow serves as an intervention—clearing a path forward and signaling a moment of clarity.

📌 Key Scene:

As Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion approach the Emerald City, they become trapped in a poppy field—a symbol of illusion, intoxication, and losing one’s way.

They begin falling into a deep sleep, overwhelmed by the enchanted flowers that prevent them from reaching their goal.

Glinda, the Good Witch, intervenes, sending a magical snowfall to neutralize the poppies’ effect and wake them up.

The moment marks a turning point—Dorothy and her friends can finally see the Emerald City clearly and continue their journey.

🌈 Did You Know:

The poppy field has often been interpreted as a metaphor for external forces that sedate or mislead people, from addiction to societal expectations.

The snowfall, then, represents a cleansing moment—a realization that breaks through illusion.

⭐The Snow in Out of the Woods: A Moment of Survival & Awakening

📌 Key Visuals:

The Out of the Woods music video follows Taylor through various brutal landscapes—fire, water, mud, and snow—each symbolizing the emotional turmoil of a doomed relationship.

The snowstorm sequence comes toward the end of the video, as Taylor collapses in exhaustion.

As she pushes through the deep snow, she appears more alone than ever—but also closer to breaking free.

At the end of the journey, she reaches the ocean and finds herself, leading to the final message: “She lost him but found herself, and somehow that was everything.”

💡 Parallels to The Wizard of Oz:

Just as Dorothy’s group was lost in a dreamlike haze, Taylor, in the Out of the Woods video, struggles through disorienting landscapes, lost and overwhelmed.

Snow acts as both an obstacle and a catalyst—it is the final challenge Taylor faces before she reaches self-discovery.

Like Dorothy waking up in the poppy field, Taylor’s emergence from the snow signals that she has survived the journey and can now move forward.

Many fans have pointed out that Taylor’s music video looks eerily similar to The Wizard of Oz's journey through different landscapes—leading up to a final realization of self.

💡The journey through these trials mirrors the queer experience of fighting through shame, fear, and external pressures to finally find one’s authentic self.

7. "Karma" Music Video: A Nod to Dorothy (2023)

📺 Watch Here: Taylor Swift – Karma (Official Music Video)

In May 2023, Taylor released the music video for "Karma," featuring Ice Spice. The video is rich with symbolic imagery, notably a segment where Taylor embodies a character reminiscent of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Dressed in a gingham-style outfit with braided hair, she skips down a yellow brick road, evoking the classic journey to Oz. This portrayal not only pays homage to the iconic film but also reinforces the queer themes associated with it.

The "Karma" music video is replete with Easter eggs and references, with fans noting the deliberate parallels to The Wizard of Oz, further emphasizing Taylor's engagement with queer-coded imagery.

💡 This could represent Taylor realizing that the world she built for herself isn’t real—just like how Dorothy learns that Oz is an illusion. To throw in some more imagery, the hour glass plays an important role in the life or death of Dorothy, In Karma, Taylor puts her "duel self" (oh boy, what a deep rabbit hole that concept is) inside of it. Further evoking connections to running out of time, anxiety, and the long journey of waiting.

8. Karlie Kloss as Dorothy: The Chessboard & “Mastermind” Connection

Karlie Kloss’s Halloween costume as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz may seem like a simple tribute, but the details of her social media post led to potential deeper meanings—especially in relation to Taylor Swift, “Mastermind,” and black-and-white chessboard imagery.

📌 Key Visual in the Post:

In Karlie’s Halloween Instagram photo, she’s dressed as Dorothy and positioned next to a chessboard.

This small detail immediately caught fans’ attention because chess and strategic planning are key themes in Taylor Swift’s song “Mastermind.”

Karlie’s decision to post a chessboard next to herself while dressed as Dorothy is too deliberate to be ignored.

Fans speculate that this could be a nod to her connection with Taylor—whether as an inside joke, a strategic message, or an acknowledgment of their intertwined histories. As of 2025, this post has been removed from her grid. Kinda fishy if you ask me...

📌Chess as a Metaphor in “Mastermind”

📺 Watch Here: Taylor Swift – Mastermind (Lyric Video)

In Midnights, Taylor Swift’s song “Mastermind” is all about strategically orchestrating relationships and events, using chess as a metaphor.

Key Lyric:“What if I told you none of it was accidental? / And the first night that you saw me / Nothing was gonna stop me.”

The song describes a calculated, almost fated connection between two people, a theme that many have associated with Taylor’s relationships—both personal and professional.

📌Black-and-White Imagery: The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show & Eras Tour

📌 Key Visuals:

At the 2014 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Taylor Swift performed while Karlie Kloss walked the runway, and the two famously held hands on stage.

The stage floor was a black-and-white checkerboard, setting the scene for the chessboard imagery seen in Karlie’s Halloween post 10 years later, lol. I know, sounds crazy but stay with me.

In The Eras Tour, Taylor replicates the black-and-white stage design, reinforcing the symbolism of duality, strategic moves, and interconnected paths.

💡 The chessboard theme in Karlie’s post, Taylor’s “Mastermind” lyrics, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show checkerboard stage, and the Eras Tour black-and-white motifs all tie back to themes of control, fate, and strategy.

Is Karlie subtly responding to Taylor? Is this an inside joke or an intentional reference?

One thing is clear: The chess pieces are still moving. ♟️✨

🌈 Did You Know:

Black-and-white checkerboard imagery has long been used in queer-coded storytelling as a symbol of duality, secrets, and transformation.

It is often associated with hidden messages, underground queer spaces, and coded communication—just like the way queerness has been subtly signaled in art for decades.

💡The black-and-white color scheme of the chessboard and Karlie’s setting mirrors one of the most iconic cinematic transitions of all time—when Dorothy leaves the black-and-white Kansas world for the vibrant, complex, and magical world of Oz.

⭐Black-and-White Transitions: From Kansas to Oz & Taylor’s Career

📺 Watch Here: The Wizard of Oz (1939) – The Moment Dorothy Enters Oz

📌 Key Moment in the Film:

The first 20 minutes of The Wizard of Oz are filmed in sepia-toned black and white, representing Dorothy’s dull, restrictive reality.

The moment she arrives in Oz, the world explodes into Technicolor, symbolizing her awakening, self-discovery, and entrance into a more complex reality.

⭐ How This Relates to Taylor:

The black-and-white Kansas vs. Oz transition mirrors Taylor’s career transformation.

Many interpret Taylor’s use of black-and-white motifs as representing her “Kansas” era (the media’s constructed, controlled version of her) versus her true, colorful, more authentic self (Oz).

Karlie’s chessboard post reinforces this theme of strategy, hidden messages, and transitions between different realities.

10. The Tortured Poets Department & The Aesthetic of Kansas in The Wizard of Oz

For this section, I heavily referenced this Reddit post.

📺 Visual References:

Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department (Concept Aesthetics) TTPD Announcement Video

The Wizard of Oz (1939) – Kansas Scenes Opening Scene of The Wizard of Oz

Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) era is characterized by a stark, desaturated, grayscale aesthetic, heavily focused on themes of melancholy, confinement, and longing. This muted, dreamlike quality bears a striking resemblance to the sepia-toned depiction of Kansas in The Wizard of Oz—a world of restriction, where one longs for escape but also finds deep-rooted meaning.

📌 Kansas in The Wizard of Oz

Dorothy’s life in Kansas is drab, isolated, and full of longing for something more.

The world is monochrome, reflecting both emotional and physical constraints.

The tornado serves as a rupture—transporting Dorothy from a limited reality into a world of heightened color and discovery.

📌 TTPD Aesthetic

Taylor’s album visuals are stark, black-and-white, evoking a feeling of nostalgia, loss, and self-reflection.

The concept of being “trapped” in a poetic department mirrors Dorothy’s confinement on a Kansas farm—both feel like places where creativity is stifled or existence is dull.

Fans have noted the “literary sadness” of TTPD—it embodies the idea of a writer trapped in their own melancholy, longing for something beyond the grayscale world they inhabit.

💡 Queer Interpretation:

Just as Dorothy dreams of escaping Kansas for something more vivid and fulfilling, TTPD could represent a moment of longing before stepping into a fuller identity.

The monochrome aesthetic could symbolize repression or living in a constrained world—before fully embracing one’s truth.

If The Wizard of Oz is a metaphor for queerness, then is TTPD the period before Taylor’s own “tornado moment”?

📌 Key Lyrics from The Tortured Poets Department

But you awaken with dread Pounding nails in your head But I've read this one where you come undone I chose this cyclone with you

Nod to waking up (as Dorothy does in the movie)

Nod to reading (reading about the journey which is undertaken in the Wizard of Oz

Nod to the cyclone (need I say more? Fine, I will.)

The Tornado as a Symbol of Disruption & Change

📌 How Tornadoes Function in The Wizard of Oz

The tornado represents a violent rupture in reality—breaking Dorothy out of the mundane and sending her somewhere new.

It is both terrifying and necessary—it destroys her former world but also leads to her greatest self-discovery.

📌 How This Relates to TTPD

If Kansas = TTPD, then where is Taylor’s tornado?

Could TTPD represent a moment of painful self-awareness before a transformation?

If Taylor follows the narrative structure of The Wizard of Oz, then what comes after TTPD could be a transition into something entirely new—a moment of “color” after the storm.

Visuals At The Beginning of The Eras Tour:

When considering this, I wonder if the intent is to draw attention to the era in which Taylor really began overtly queer coding, Lover, with the dark, swirling cyclones behind her? The screen visual feels like another acknowledgement of Kansas.

If this could be so, and it is true that Taylor connects Lover to Oz and TTPD to Kansas, it is worth noting theories that the costumes for the The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived segment of the TTPD set at The Eras Tour could be a callback to the ME! music video but with all the color removed.

📺 Watch Here: ME! Live From The Billboard Music Awards

In the ME! music video, Swift dons a pastel marching band uniform over a crystal-encrusted bodysuit, complemented by patent boots. This ensemble aligns with the video's overall colorful aesthetic, symbolizing themes of individuality and self-empowerment.

"ME!" Music Video: The colorful uniforms and lively marching underscore a message of joy, unity, and self-celebration.

During the Eras Tour performance of The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, she wore a white military-style jacket featuring epaulettes and frogging, accompanied by a synchronized marching routine with her backup dancers, who played drums. The act concluded dramatically, with Swift and her ensemble collapsing on stage, symbolizing the song's themes of vulnerability and introspection.

Eras Tour Performance: The white military jacket and structured marching reflect a more somber and introspective tone, culminating in a staged death that signifies the song's exploration of personal struggle and defeat.

📌 Key Lyrics from TTPD:

Taylor Swift’s use of animal imagery in The Tortured Poets Department carries striking parallels to The Wizard of Oz, specifically through references to the lion, tiger, and bear—three creatures that are deeply embedded in the Oz mythology.

These references mirror the iconic phrase from The Wizard of Oz:

“Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh my!”

In the film, Dorothy and her friends chant this line as they enter the haunted forest, anticipating unseen dangers. Each animal in the story represents a distinct archetype:

The Cowardly Lion – Symbolizes fear, insecurity, and the search for courage.

The Tiger – Represents strength, intensity, and a predatory nature.

The Bear – Associated with both protection and untamed aggression, embodying both nurturing and destruction.

💡 How This Relates to TTPD

The “coward claimed he was a lion” lyric in LOML suggests a false bravado—someone pretending to be strong but ultimately lacking courage, much like the Cowardly Lion’s arc in The Wizard of Oz.

The lyric “Way to go, tiger, you look ridiculous and you have no idea” suggests mocking someone who thinks they are strong or in control.

The bear in The Bolter represents the tension between control and freedom, echoing how Dorothy’s companions struggle with their own limitations.

11. Lions, Tigers, and Football Players, Oh My!

Follow me into this theory where I explore the idea that Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are both on that journey together—not as a romantic couple, but as two people navigating a carefully constructed public image while protecting their private truths.

🌈 Queer Allegory:

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy finds her people on the road—each struggling with their own identity crisis.

Similarly, if Taylor and Travis are indeed “walking the Yellow Brick Road” as a protective duo, then this relationship could symbolize two individuals working together to maintain a shared safety net in the public eye.

💡 Possible Implications:

If Travis is queer (or in a long-term private relationship with Ross Travis), and Taylor is also closeted, then their relationship becomes a shield—allowing them both to exist more freely behind the scenes.

This would align with other known Hollywood “double bearding” arrangements, where two public figures strategically date to deflect speculation.

⭐ The Kansas City Connection: From Allegory to Reality

📌 Key Connection:

The Wizard of Oz is set in Kansas, a place Dorothy longs to escape but ultimately learns to appreciate.

Now, Taylor is literally in a public relationship with one of the biggest Kansas City figures in the world.

💡 If Kansas has always been a metaphor for longing, escape, and self-realization in Taylor’s work, then does this relationship mark a return to something safe and stable, rather than a new romantic revelation?

Follow the Yellow Brick Road… to Arrowhead?

I just wanna note that I do not believe the Cornelia Street lyric below was premeditated to be referential to the Tayvis relationship, however, it's always peculiar how Taylor's life so stunningly imitates art.

As if the street lights pointed in an arrowhead Leading us home

Where is Dorothy trying to go? HOME! KANSAS!!

📌 How This Theory Could Fit the Timeline:

Khalen Saunders (former Chiefs player) is the brother of Kameron Saunders, one of Taylor’s backup dancers and close friends.

The theory suggests that Travis and Taylor may have been introduced through Kameron via Khalen, setting up a mutually beneficial dynamic.

If this is true, it would mean Taylor and Travis’s public debut in July 2023 was premeditated long before the world caught on.

Aside from the Khalen + Kam connection, it is worth noting that Karlie, originally from St. Louis, Missouri, has publicly supported the Kansas City Chiefs and Travis specifically.

In May 2022, Travis Kelce attended a Formula 1 cocktail party hosted by Karlie Kloss in Miami. This event indicates that they were acquainted prior to Travis's relationship with Taylor Swift.

🌈 Queer & Symbolic Interpretation:

In many ways, this fits a classic queer narrative of finding safety in partnerships that protect one’s truth.

The Wizard of Oz is about longing for a place where you are safe, understood, and able to be yourself.

Could Travis and Taylor’s relationship represent a way for them to exist more freely within their respective closets—while the world watches a different story?

⭐ Why This Relationship Works—Regardless of the Truth

Whether this theory is correct or not, one thing is undeniable: Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift have a public dynamic that feels mutually beneficial in ways that go beyond romance.

📌 What Travis Provides for Taylor:

A strong, masculine, straight-passing relationship to appease media and conservative backlash.

Genuine public adoration—he is protective of her and supportive of her success.

A sense of stability and safety in a relationship that does not threaten her independence.

📌 What Taylor Provides for Travis:

Elevated status outside of sports, making him one of the most visible athletes in the world.

A PR shield—any speculation about his private life is drowned out by their high-profile romance.

Increased crossover appeal—his branding now extends to pop culture in a way it never did before.

💡 If they are truly bearding for each other, it would mean they are not only protecting their personal lives, but also strengthening their own public legacies in the process.

This theory presents a compelling reframing of Taylor and Travis’s relationship as something more complex than just romance.

🌈 Is this truly Taylor’s Dorothy moment—finding her “home” with Travis in Kansas City? 🌈 Or is this another carefully constructed part of the larger story, walking the Yellow Brick Road together, knowing full well the truth that lies at the end?

Maybe, just like Dorothy, they already know the truth—but they have to walk the path anyway.

Conclusion: “Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain”

Taylor Swift’s repeated return to The Wizard of Oz—through imagery, lyricism, and visual storytelling—feels deliberate, layered, and unshakable. For over a decade, she has woven Oz into her art, a recurring thread in a larger tapestry of hidden meanings.

So what is she really telling us?

Is Oz a metaphor for fame—an illusion, an Emerald City that’s never as real as it seems? Is it about queerness—the journey of self-discovery, longing, and finding a chosen family? Is it a hidden love story—one written between the lines, only visible to those who know where to look?

The answer? Maybe all of them.

Taylor Swift is still following the Yellow Brick Road. And for those of us who have been paying attention, one thing is certain:

🌈 There’s more to the story than meets the eye.

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simply-simplid · 1 month ago

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Tell us more about the fey Yellowjackets campaign I would be interested in participating 100% I wanna know what you think the girls classes would be!

Okay so a few thoughts for this:

Modern Au where they play dnd:

Van is the dm. Obviously. That’s our master storyteller.

Tai doesn’t want to play, but Van is really good at getting her to crack down and eventually she relents, but she’s super stuffy about it at first. It takes her a while to loosen up and relax enough to do any role playing, she mainly is focused on winning battles. She plays a fighter or a paladin or something heroic.

Lottie and Nat have played before. So they’ll pick more exciting characters. Lottie as a half-orc bard/swashbuckler rogue. Nat as a changeling monk. Both of them have enough experience to know how to have fun with it

Shauna probably played once in middle school or something at a bat mitzvah.

She’s notoriously bad about relaxing though so she’s really quiet the first several sessions just observing and feeling things out before Jackie gets her to relax a little. Shauna plays a drow ranger because she secretly read a book about one that she thought was cool.

Jackie is initially reluctant just because the game has a stigma around it. But the other girls seem excited about it so she gets excited too. She plays an elf princess- which Lottie, Nat, and Van laugh about- cleric, because she likes the idea of a support class that helps everyone

They usually play at Shauna’s place after school because it’s usually empty while her mom works late shifts

They have way more fun than most of them would ever care to admit

DND fantasy au:

Shauna is a half-elf wizard. Puts far too much importance on her intelligence and views it as the one thing she can hold over others. Probably transmutation because of her control issues or abjuration because of her closed off and guarded nature

Jackie is the one I have the most thoughts on because there’s so much potential with that. I think she could have the classic trope of being a half-elf who pretends to be a full elf. Her mom had an affair with a human but pretends it’s her husband’s (another elf). Despite the deceit they still look at Jackie like she’s lesser because she’s got human blood.

I think she’s a sorcerer because of how that would parallel to Shauna. She’s charisma based because she’s lived her whole life needing to use her charms to keep people’s affections. Her powers are innate, born within her, and it makes for such deep-seated resentment in Shauna who studied and worked and trained and suffered to earn her magic while Jackie was just born with it.

Wild magic sorcerer Jackie would be interesting because it would be yet another aspect of her that her parents would sneer at. Unpredictability, chaos. Jackie has a complete meltdown every time her magic goes wild

Nat is a tiefling rogue because duh. Grunge. Moody. Burnout. Social outcast. Gay.

She was probably a street urchin. In a fantasy setting without the social pressures of keeping a family, it’s highly possible that Nat either grew up mostly without her family.

I like the idea that she was involved with a bunch of street rat kids, stealing to survive.

Maybe she was kind of taken in by Coach Ben- a dragonborn retired fighter who left the adventuring days behind.

She gets in trouble with the law and ends up having to go on the run, it’s Ben who suggests she group up with some fellow adventurers and try to make something for herself

Lottie is an elf Druid- probably circle of dreams. She’s always been flighty and different. She was probably born to a high class elf family- maybe her parents knew Jackie’s. But they kept trying to control or quiet her visions and connections to nature, so she ran away from home and they pretended that their daughter died.

Laura Lee- an aasimar, serves as the party’s quest giver. She receives messages from the gods and sends them off in the direction she believes they’re needed. Lottie believes in her wholeheartedly, the other girls have varying degrees of trust.

Misty is a gnome artificer because I said so. You could argue cleric but I disagree. She has just enough technical knowledge to be helpful in first aid, but she is an intelligence based character

Tai is a fire genasi fighter. She wants to be the leader of the group and often butts heads with Jackie. She’s stubborn and her temper can get explosive at times. Good thing Van is good at dealing with fire

Van is a dwarf bard. Because silly. And because of course Van is the stable rock and heart of the group, keeping it light with stories and songs around the campfire. She has devastating Vicious Mockery insults ready to use at all times. She made an owlbear cry once

Because they don’t have a cleric on their team- it’s a genuine disaster when things go wrong.

I think Jackie dies in battle, probably trying to distract an enemy so Nat could get a sneak attack or something.

It’s bad, really bad.

Everyone with any type of healing magic tries, but Lottie’s Druidic magic, Misty’s mending, Van’s cure wounds- none of it works. Because they can’t heal a corpse.

Shauna’s ballistic- absolutely insane, desperate and shaking Jackie to wake up while the others fall into varying states of shock and despair. She almost beats Lottie to death for suggesting they cremate her in nature.

They manage to escape the dungeon, carefully dragging their dead friend with them

Resurrection isn’t an easy commodity. There aren’t enough experienced or skilled practitioners anywhere around them to perform it, and even if they could find one- which is a massive if- they couldn’t even begin to scrape up enough gold to afford the material spell component requirements

It’s devastating, and it breaks the team apart

They go their own ways, no one able to cope with the failure easily

But Shauna spirals. She’s the one who keeps the body, insistent that she handle it because she knew Jackie best.

But Shauna doesn’t lay her to rest or return her to her family.

Shauna uses the forbidden dark magics she learned about in school, spending over a year practicing necromancy and praying to whatever entity would hear her

Jackie comes back- but she’s not the same. There’s this seed of darkness in her chest now, a coldness that she can’t escape from, the claws of death leaving its permanent marks on her.

I think she comes back a shadow sorcerer, multiclassed with warlock for whatever dark entity intervened with the ritual to bring her back

Shauna is beyond ecstatic when her best friend opens her eyes again

It takes Jackie over a month before she’s even able to speak, so lost in her own post-resurrection daze, lost in the feelings of death and undeath and this weird persistent shiver she can’t shake

She eventually tries to put on her mask of eagerness and excitement when she comes back to herself enough to learn how the team broke apart

Shauna refuses to get back together, adventuring killed Jackie, they can’t go back to that. But Jackie knows they were doing something important, and senses that this strange dark magic that brought her back connects to a larger evil beneath the surface that only they can deal with.

Shauna has never been good at saying no to her, so with enough arguing and crying and begging and guilt, she relents, and the two get the team back together

Anyways that got way too convoluted AHDHFJVKFKEKAKXICJC I didn’t even end up talking about the campaign idea that I have

#yellowjackets #jackie taylor #natalie scatorccio #shauna shipman #misty quigley #taissa turner #vanessa palmer #van palmer #charlotte matthews #lottie matthews #yellowjackets fanfic #yellowjackets fic #yellowjackets hcs #dnd #yj dnd au #lid yaps back

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audreyscribes · 1 year ago

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Ω PJO DEMIGOD HEADCANONS: 🌕 ARTEMIS: Goddess of the Hunt and Wilderness, Archery, Moon, Maidenhood and Childbirth 🏹

author's note: I had a sudden idea about writing some headcanons Camp Halfblood demigods being claimed and what it's like for each respective god and cabin, followed by a small blurb afterwards. Thank you for reading and please like and reblog! The order is not in order of the cabin numbers. [PJO DEMIGOD HEADCANONS MASTERLIST]

You’ve become one of Artemis’ ‘children’ as you joined the hunters of Artemis and became part of the sisterhood.

For the most part, it’s a pretty nomadic way of living. You’re constantly on the move, hunting animals and monsters with your fellow sisters and companions. It's pretty comfy and the tents they set up are great (they also have full blown washrooms somehow, so no need to forgo running water) so it feels like glamping. But every now and again, Artemis takes you guys to stop by Camp Half-blood.

Say what you will, there's something being stationary and sleeping in an actual building, in actual beds.

You see the curious eyes watching you and your group, but they keep their distance given boys are off-limits and girls either look at you with awe or disdain.

Y'know how the Apollo cabin often has archery matches with the Huntresses? Although they don't particularly become any closer, there is some sort of connection between your cabins. Probably because Artemis and Apollo are twins, and Apollo's children don't seem particularly attracted to your group, so there's something there.

You take part and help out with the annual recruitment at the Camp. Teaching other potential maidens about what it's like being a Huntresses. You're told that they always have one interested individual that joins them by the time they leave camp.

Braids are often a common hairstyle among the hunt, aside from ponytails. Being on the move doesn’t allow much time to dwell on hair aside from basic hair care, so keeping it in a braid is often more of convenience. There’s usually a mass hair-washing station and it becomes a group bonding experience. All the hunters help braid your hair and teach you other styles along the way, and it’s not uncommon to see a hair braiding train. This often also leads into storytelling time and devolving much like a sleepover, bringing a certain sense of nostalgia.

You know you’ve become part of the hunters when Artemis asks you to help braid her hair. Your hands will shake and you will stutter, but as she encourages your hands to weave her hair, you feel honoured and the barrier between her and you is less daunting.

Other than Dionysus, people feel envious and are curious what it’s like being around a god so often. Artemis accompanies you on your hunts more often than not, and usually is not around when she has to attend a council with the other Olympians or tend to her nightly duties. It’s a see-saw of perception being around Artemis; on one hand, you’re aware of who she is but on the other hand, when you’re hunting together or when she joins you with the other hunters, you forget she’s a deity.

If you joined in when Zoe is a lieutenant, she is strict but fair. She is the ultimate big sister of the sisterhood. She may seem a bit cold to you but as she helps guide your shooting stance and gives you tips, tells you to zip up your parka or checks your supplies, you know she cares for you like a sister. In fact, you notice she seems more at ease as she looks after you and your sister…it makes you think if she had biological sisters.

When Thalia is now the lieutenant, it takes some time to get used to. There’s a bit of friction and gap, since Zoe was in that position for over 2000 years. However, Thalia is confident and has the qualities of a leader, so her stumbles become sprints. She is different from Zoe in how they bond with the sisterhood, but if Zoe was the cool, proud sister, then Thalia is the fun, laughable sister that wouldn’t hesitate to give you a noogie.

You looked upon the silver lady, her entourage of people behind her. The moon was full behind her head, bestowing a glow on her and you were just in awe to be in her shadow.

A tall and graceful girl stepped forward and she regarded you with a pointed look. “If you wish to join our lady and our hunt, you must pledge yourself from romantic love and swear loyalty to Lady Artemis and our sisterhood.”

You nodded as she nodded back. “Recite this oath: I pledge myself to the Goddess Artemis. I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt.”

You recited this pledge and the girl with moonlike qualities smiled. “I, Artemis, accept this pledge. Welcome sister to the Hunt. As long as you remain as one of my Hunters, and are not slain in battle, you will not die under my watch.”

The other hunters cheered for you as you nodded. The other girl stepped forward with a warmer smile and held out her hand to you.

“My name is Zoe Nightshade, lieutenant of Lady Artemis. Welcome to our sisterhood.”

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crimsoncold · 10 months ago

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AEMONDSA: A crack ship with unexpected depth and appeal

A treatise (in four parts) on the intriguing parallels and complementary contrasting of Aemond and Sansa and the subsequent allure of them as a romantic pairing in Fanfic

- from the perspective of a sansa-stan, jonsa + sansa-centric multishipper, and someone who is generally Targ critical

Now while my general stance of "ship and let ship/don't worry so much about what other people in fandom focus on or ship/etc" still stands i wanted to do a little write up on what I've found so appealing about this particular crack ship.

Not to justify it (again fandom and shipping in general is just about enjoying/thinking about fictional characters and scenarios... no one needs to justify why their imagination likes to think about two characters interacting romantically) but because there isn't a ton of metas addressing the interesting parallels between these characters and the appeal of them as a ship so I wanted to make one so the handful of people who do ship it get to see some more positive engagement/responses to this pairing.

I just unexpectedly ended up loving this pairing so much and I always have a particularly strong urge to contribute to fandom content on the rare pairs/crack ships that I like....So here have a deep dive into the parallels, and contrasting but complimentary aspects of Aemond and Sansa, and the unexpected appeal of Aemond x Sansa as a pairing in fanfiction...

PART 1: MY EXPERIENCE WITH ASOIAF/GOT & HOTD FANDOM AND WHY AEMONDSA IS A PLEASANT SURPRISE

So I'm going to be drawing from both book and show elements when I consider and compare Sansa and Aemond's characterization and plot arcs (particularly since this tends to be how they are handled in fanfic- which all have differing combinations of book or show canon for both characters)

(this is a HOTD S2-free zone though... HOTD's writing has certainly not improved and it's inconsistencies even compared to their past writing and characterization of many characters including Aemond has made such an absolute mess so for this post I'm ignoring the worst part of HBO's attempt at making hotd fanfiction i.e. S2- and I am basing my understanding of Aemond on a combination of what can be gleaned from book canon and s1 because that was what initially interested me AND because that is what the aemondsa fanfic I've read has also been based on)

Now Just to set the scene for my journey as a stark fan, jonsa shipper, and generally targ critical person to become an appreciator of aemondsa...

GOT had a steep decline in quality in the later seasons and HOTD despite the incredible effort of the actors/sfx people was not particularly good to start with in terms of writing/storytelling...yet disappointing or poorly written shows are not without their appeal for participating in fandom and reading/writing related fanfiction, particularly when there is a handful of interesting characters-looking at you stark kids who suffered through the writing of GOT's later seasons and HOTD's team green-that fans want to rescue from the terrible writing/butchering by the showrunners and to explore alternative stories/endings for them... sometimes it is even one of the most appealing sort of set up for fandom/fanfiction to take over and fix things.

I was already a huge Sansa fan, and she was the original draw for me towards asoiaf/got fandom and fanfiction, and while jonsa has been and remains my favorite pairing for her I've always been open to dabbling in various other sansa pairings/crack ships.

(While the parallels don't take the exact form as the ones between Sansa and Jon- and obviously aemondsa isn't accompanied with the incredible foreshadowing and potential that jonsa is- this pairing still feels similarly compelling due to the sheer amount of parallels between the two characters and for the fact that its a ship that is appealing and seems quite fitting without fanfic writers having to stray too far from canon personalities/back stories to make them work as a romantic pairing- beyond you know the obvious aspect of them being alive at the same time)

When HOTD first came out and before i discovered Ameondsa was a thing I was staying away from HOTD fanfic for the most part despite my interest in a few of the characters

HOTD's most predominant focus in both it's fandom and fanfiction seemed to be Rhaenyra/Team black/ Daemyra centric- all of which I was at just personally not drawn. Aemond (hot dramatic anime antagonist transported into hbo's HOTD and personal favorite of mine) centric fics unfortunately tended towards shipping him with various TB characters or TB OCs but both as a concept and due to the handling/set up these fics were generally not appealing to me (more on this later).

Furthermore hotd fandom itself seemed to be shaping up into a new edition of targ stan centric fandom- specifically a new "team black only" brand of stanning... which is definitely not something I am interested in.

Being someone admittedly anti targ/targ critical in general who just happened to be more intrigued (and sympathetic) to the greens in HOTD it did seem that the bulk of hotd fandom was probably going to a similar if even more extreme form of what I encountered with targ-stan segments of the GOT fandom as a sansa-stan/jonsa shipper (ie. Less posts/fanfic that i would personally agree with or be interested in from these fans and potentially hostile and unpleasant responses or takes from the majority of these fans)

As a result of my general avoidance of hotd (i.e. the very pro targ/pro TB fanfiction that hotd fandom offered) Aemondsa, already an extremely rare pair and crack ship, wasn't even a pairing on my radar until one of the authors i was subscribed to started a hotd time travel fix it aemondsa fic...I have an appreciation for well written crack ships, and I am willing to give most pairings or fandoms a chance when I'm already a fan of either the story's main characters or of the author specifically ...but I was actually incredibly suprised how compeling Aemondsa was as a pairing in this story..as well as how much I enjoyed the other Aemondsa fics that I checked out afterwards..it seemed this was a niche segment of hotd fandom that i was going to absolutely obsessing over.

There was a lot of depth to them for a crack ship, which was achievable without altering their personalities and backstories very much from canon (dont get me wrong I love crack ships even ones where people and the plot are altered significantly to make a ship feel possible but there is something uniquely compelling when characters fit together without having to be too ooc) so I just wanted to write a bit about what is so fascinating about this ship since it's such a new rare pair that hasn't accumulated a massive audience or a ton of discussions or write ups yet.

PART 2/4. THE SURPRISING AMOUNT OF PARALLELS BETWEEN SANSA AND AEMOND (FANDOM, PLOT-WISE, but most of all regarding FAMILY)

(Uh ....Brace yourself? this section ended up way longer than expected)

For me the initial appeal comes down to intriguing Character parallels between Sansa and Aemond which fanfic at least offers the opportunity to explore in a story format ....

On a surface level they are (in the shows particularly) both intelligent and underdog figures with fantastic little sassy moments - true queens of dealing out backhanded and cutting compliments, or being unapolegetic critical towards some of the flawed and extremely privileged individual's they encounter who are used to receiving only coddling and fawning worship.

Both characters seem to get shit treatment, sometimes from the fandom other times due to the terrible choices/handling by the writers/showrunners.

Both were characters I personally found interesting and sympathetic despite how fandom- some of it for aemond and a significant amount of it for sansa- had deemed these essentially young and still innocent characters worthy of being reviled and harmed for the ways the adults in their lives had set them up for failure or abuse. Forever dismayed by the way they (unlike certain fan favorites) were somehow never deemed by fandom as deserving of sympathy for the horrible things that happened to them, and how notably they never recieve the same feverent forgiveness/understanding/support for their more dangerous or dark actions the way other characters did

Looking at the difference in fan responses to show!Arya or Dany compared to Sansa- though when it comes to the sheer amount of violence, destruction, and murder or the act of threatening their kin obviously despite what Sansa-antis say Sansa is the only one who should not even be part of the discussion, and how Dany or Arya always recieves excuses, sympathy, forgiveness, or outright praise from the core audience for their more questionable actions while somehow Sansa is deemed as the unforgivable, dangerous, evil, traitorous, and foolishly reckless character

How Aemond (and all of TG really) are set up and considered by TB stans to be unworthy of their house/rightful inheritance and the ones most at fault for the onset and destruction caused by a civil war... never victims mistreated or endangered by the more privileged and powerful members of their family... just the people who only ever deserved what was inflicted on them by TB for the crime of being forced to wed a disgusting and neglectful King or for being threats to Rhaenyra's family or throne simply by existing? How the morally questionable or violent actions of Rhaenyra, her sons, or more particularly her uncle-husband will always be seen as either justifiable, in the right, excusable, or literally worthy of praise the way Aemond's and his family's actions will never be viewed by this core audience

I think about how much like segments of asoiaf fandom bash Sansa by deeming her too southern/too Tully/Too Catelyn-like to be a real Stark (unlike her "truly northern" siblings) their are also segments of hotd fandom that have chosen to see Aemond and his full siblings as only Hightowers who are wrongfully stealing from TB/the "true Targaryens"

But there were even more striking parallels when it came to their characterization and plot.

Both younger (non heir) children, presented as being intelligent, incredibley dutiful and studious, with a very close relationship to their mother, in a sort of intense people pleaser manner - trying their best to excel at all the skills/duties that their parents/society deems necessary for their position and sex because that is the way they receive acceptance, attention, or praise from their family/the adults in their life

Aemond and his studies, his apparently dedication and success in training with the sword despite his own disability, his determination and recklessness to finally become a dragon rider like the rest of his Targaryen family- as it is what is expected and what he has long been mocked over by some of his targ kin, how despite his own ambitions and the way he thought himself particularly suitable for rulership he remained the dutiful and loyal younger brother who served as regent for his gravely injured older brother but did not attempt to stylize himself as King and steal Aegon's throne.

the way that Alicent seems to be the only family member he allows himself to be vulnerable with, the one with whom he turns to for consolation and comfort, Alicent being absolutely devastated and incensed over the loss of Aemond's eye and the lack of punishment for the assault on his person, the only one to demand recompense, the only one to raise a knife to the blacks when she is denied, how Aemond is the one person who tries to console his mother in the aftermath, how despite having just lost an eye he is the one who actually tries to sooth his mother to bring a stop to the increasing and dangerous level of tension and conflict that had erupted between the blacks and greens at driftmark, Aemond's own longstanding protectiveness of and devotion to his family- most especially his mother- that lasts until his own demise.

Sansa and the way she thrives and enjoys the type of world and training that is more of a noble woman's or specifically her mother Catelyn's domain- unlike her wilder other siblings she is generally a steadfastly proper and gentle girl- no doubt a comfort to her mother not just because she is generally so well behaved but in the fact that unlike her siblings she is not shown to be obviously or very publically close with Ned's illegitimate child- who for Catelyn would be the literal personification of Ned's infidelity, the disrespect and humiliation he puts her through by raising him in their house along side their children, and her deep seated fear that he loved and will prioritize another woman and her child more than his own wife and family.

Sansa is the child who seemed to love all things "southern" the most (though undeniably despite how Sansa is looked down upon for her love of romantic stories and song her other siblings also certainly enjoy legends and tales of Knighthood or Southern Princes and warrior Princesses) and to be fascinated by the environment her mother is from, the one who is drawn to and practice her mother's faith in addition to keeping to the old gods,

How Catelyn though she truly grieves letting her daughter go seems to accept it not just because her belief that Sansa would excel as a princess and future queen but because she thinks Sansa would thrive simply through getting to experience the south...Catelyn seems to grasp the things Sansa dreams about and unlike many other family members she does not view Sansa and her interests with the same condescension, dismissal, or disdain.

Catelyn loves all her children immensely but there is something so tragic and beautiful in her love for her daughters, the desperate lengths she is willing to go to to ensure the saftey of both of them while the lords/males in her family have already given them up as a lost cause and inevitable and necessary casualties in their war for vengeance and northern independence

Despite this affection though there is a lot of pressure on both of them... almost to the point that their treatment by the adults in their lives has a bit of a "parentification" dynamic- a manner that sometimes puts the onus on them to be a support and a comfort to their mother amid any tension in the family/marriage (Aemond) or to be the perfectly behaved role model or minder for their less dutiful siblings (Sansa)

Sansa, in everyone's eyes a lady at three and a queen destined to be, the determined effort she puts into excelling at being studious, accomplished, proper, and ladylike, how much she tries to exemplify the behavior praised and exemplified by her mother and her septa

set up by the adults in her life as a go between for the stark sisters...used as the benchmark for their demands and expectations of Arya, being held up as the bar for perfect, proper, and praise worthy behaviour that Arya is presssured to also attain, the daughter who gets censured on the few occasions she acts out while her younger sister typically gets away with her poor behaviour (at least when it comes to their parents)... Sansa isn't just under the pressure of the exacting expectations for a lord's daughter she also experiences the stress of being put in the position of exemplar for her wild untractable younger sister.

Aemond, apparent dutiful student in many areas expected as a child of nobility, who is expected to support Aegon in his rulership and war and (in the show) even takes responsibility for trying to keep his older brother in line, the one who after losing an eye takes the effort to comfort and console his mother's grief and rage when their father does nothing in response to an attack on Aemond other than threaten and intimate his wife and his children with Alicent in order to support his firstborn daughter, who becomes the human equivalent of not just a wrecking ball but a literal weapon of mass destruction sent out on behalf of the advancement of his family or later to enact terrible bloody vengeance on his family's behalf, his life his purpose and his death is all for his family's sake more than his own.

They put so much effort into being well behaved, to reach the exacting standards for a child in their position, setting an example for the less obedient/well behaved sibling(s) all of which in turn adds to significant strain or conflict between said sibling.

Sansa and Aemond are the sibling expected to and determidly striving to live up to the high expectations that the adults in their life put on them and to survive the extremely dangerous and high stakes scenarios they are put in (as a lord's daughter, prince's betrothed and future queen, a hostage and target for the machinations and ambitions of others, the older sibling, a ruling lady, and elected queen; a prince, dutiful son and brother, ruthless and dutiful defender of his family, and regent)

Meanwhile they have other siblings who struggled to meet said expectations or have given up attempting to all together (Arya, Rhaenyra, or to some degree Aegon)

Siblings who must from the perspective of Sansa and Aemond (who are still young, inexperienced, and have had a great deal of conflict with said siblings) seem to flaunt all expectations free to rebell, flaunt the rules, and generally ignore the high pressure expectations that children from their class face.

Undoubtedly frustrating since, much like their more rebellious siblings have failed to sympathize with the more responsible ones, Ameond and Sansa too have not (yet) been able to recognize the ways their less successful/dutiful siblings also suffer under the highly restrictive expectations of their class and position even if they do not choose or succeed in conforming to them.

They see that despite how they may excel in studying, striving and succeeding in their roles, and ultimatley exemplifying the high standards they were raised to it is these other siblings who seem to get rewarded (experiencing in their eyes at least what appears to be more freedom, less pressure, minimal censure or punishment for their misbehavior... while simultaneously receiving the bulk of the reward in terms of their inheritance, the attention they recieve, or even with regards to the amount of affection given by some of the authority figures in their lives, i.e. their fathers)...

To them it must seem that these siblings get to be not just easily forgiven for their mistakes and misbehaviour, but accepted as or outright adored simply the way they naturally are, whereas dutiful and non problematic children like themselves tend to be overlooked or underappreciated, and quickly criticized on the rare cases they misbehave... the acceptance and affection they recieve appears far more conditional on them behaving well according to the expectations of their family or various instructors/minders... whereas the affection their siblings receive, from say a certain parent, is show to be rather unconditional

Seriously they both give me such severe "easy" (i.e. overlooked) and "gifted" child trauma vibes... how much of their behavior is simply in their nature and how much is what they conform themselves to to make the adults around them proud... because as the quieter child or apparent outsider amindst their family/siblings this is the only action that comes natural to them and gets them some (hard earned) attention/praise in a rather large and loud family they otherwise seem a bit lost in... how much of their striving to succeed is dependent on the sincere belief/understanding that their saftey and potentially the future, saftey, and wellbeing of their family depends on it.

They both have a far more distant relationship with their fathers who favoured another sibling- a sister over them... father's who either didn't seem to know how to connect with them - Ned- or never really bothered to try- Viserys...

while i do believe Ned loves his children and they adored him in return i feel its obvious that he neglected in preparing any of them for the true dangers and realities of the world away from the satey and protection of winterfell and their Stark family, and he absolutely dropped the ball on keeping either of his daughters safe and supervised when he took them along into a very dangerous situation in kingslanding

Furthermore Ned never quite seemed to connected with or pay attention to Sansa they way he did with Arya... just something about the fact that when he follows the orders of his king/supposed best friend to kill Sansa's direwolf (the very symbol of their house) it is in replacement for Arya's Direwolf who was allowed to escape the cruel wrath of the Queen and Prince...and how he continues to fail Sansa in the aftermath

It's something about the gifts he gives his very angry and traumatized daughters to comfort them after- in lieu of truly trying to actually connect with and console both of them or to even properly mediate their increased fighting.

Arya (in the show and book) is given lessons with a "dancing" master who teaches her swordplay/water dancing, she was so excited and she always wanted to be outside learning to fight like her brothers got to, in this moment to her understanding she is not just seen by her father she is accepted and supported (a careful reader may see that Ned's attitude appears to be slightly condescendingly indulgent on the matter of her learning swordplay... but Arya gets the chance to do something she loves all the same)

Meanwhile (in the show) to try to console Sansa Ned gives her... a doll? (Honestly I can't recall any equivalent gift from Ned to Sansa in the books? the mention of her possibly getting harp lessons in Kingslanding was actually a promise Catelyn made to her on Ned's behalf rather than his own effort... and was something that Ned didn't actually ever arrange in the books)

But is this doll meant to be an appropriate gift to make up for the death of her direwolf? Is this gesture enough to comfort her and make amends after Ned killed her direwolf (notice its not exactly as spectacular, meaningful, or comforting a gift as arya's "dancing lessons"... certainly there is no indication that he has any particular understanding of Sansa or has given much thought into her talents, interests, or personality beyond the most shallow perusal)

In the aftermath of Lady's death Ned does nothing to truly protect Sansa or keep her away from the obviously dysfunctional and dangerous family he has promised her away to.

Yet he can take the time to comfort and have a frank conversation with Arya about how important staying together and supporting eachother as family is- especially when they are amongst dangerous people who mean to harm or separate them- and the specific importance her and Sansa will have to one another as sisters who share the same blood... further explaining how just as they will need eachother Ned needs them as well

Ned has no such comforting or distinctly meaningful exchange with Sansa... he doesn't explain the reality of the Lannisters/Joffrey/Robert (i.e. the truth of the people he has agreed to give his young daughter away to despite the fact that he either personally has no respect for most of them or has not been around them long enough to know anything about their true nature)

Yes it is the risk to his daughter that makes him willing to falsely confess to treason, yes eventually he decides its best to send his daughters back to winterfell, yes he finally wants to break the betrothal and he makes a beautiful promises to make her a match with "a high lord who's worthy of [her], someone brave and gentle and strong" ... but he is much too late to get both of his daughters away from the lannisters/kingslanding, way too late in his attempt to keep them safe, and he fails to handle Sansa with age appropriate respect and frankness and to actually tell her how dangerous things are in kingslanding and why joffrey (false prince -bastard born of incest) is such an ill suited match.

Maybe if he had put any effort into explaining things to her...or simply spending time with her, speaking to her, trying to understand her, comforting her amidst the loss of lady and the increased fighting with Arya, or doing literally anything other than just neglecting her and her saftey Sansa would have actually trusted his decision and seen it as him wanting what was best for her.

Maybe if he had been more proactive and focused on his daughters well being he wouldn't have brought both of them south after the altercation over their direwolves... or maybe he could have been successful at getting both his daughters out of kingslanding before everything went to hell.

Its almost like the whole point of the Ned/Arya/Sansa and the Ned/Cersei/Sansa dynamic isn't to show that Sansa is a naive girl who betrays her family for the lannisters but is instead to show that when you neglect your child emotionally they will turn elsewhere for comfort and will be particularly vulnerable to being manipulated or abused by other adults... its almost like this part of A Game of Thrones is more about the way even someone like Ned- a man who does strives to do what he thinks is right and a parent who does loves his children- can still fail.

Ned's treatment of Sansa is specifically intriguing, though i don't know if it will be addressed specifically since her relationship and dynamic with Ned is one that much like Robb ended with his tragic and unjust murder (leaving behind a grief stricken Sansa helplessly longing for the return of her family and home, grieving with a near devotional regard for her lost father and brother)... Sansa will never get to confront or reconcile with them over the many ways she was let down and left unprotected by her male relatives- and who knows if a traumatized and grieving Sansa will ever even recognize and admitt to herself the ways the people who she loved the most failed to live up to her expectations of them... how clearly that despite their love for her she was rarely their first priority ... how they both seemed to fail to follow their family mottos ... the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.... family before duty or honor... she was family yet duty and honor came before her in Robb's eyes... she was part of a pack but through Ned promising her to a marriage in the south, in him taking her and Arya away to kingslanding, in him failing to prioritize her saftey until they all were practically already on the chopping block, and in Robb abandoning any hope or plan of rescuing her she truly was abandoned by them ...to be a lone wolf without a pack to help her survive

Then there is Viserys who at the very least had a much stronger regard for Rhaenyra than all the kids by his second wife ...but can also quiet easily be accused of outright neglecting and mistreating them

The lack of guidance holds true for all his children really but with Rheanyra at least it is accompanied by an (ultimatley harmful) spoiled indulgence that he offers only to his eldest daughter- covering up her obvious blunders and threatening anyone who would speak the truth of her questionable actions and her children's legitimacy including his own wife and sons ... going against traditional succession not because he wants to promote first born succession/succession by "merit"/or treating daughter equal to sons in terms of inheritance or anything like that but because of guilt and unashamed favoritism.

Viserys refuses to give to his son what westeros society at least would deem as Aegon's birthright, while also failing to make arrangements for any his non-Rhaenyra children to have a future and saftey separate from the throne.

He doesn't arrange matches with other kingdoms and give them allies, protection, family, independence, or a power base independent of the crown/hightowers instead leaving them dependent only on the crown, vulnerable targets to be handled (i.e. no doubt killed on the orders of Rhaenyra and/or her uncle husband Daemon) as living they would remain the most significant threat to the legitimacy of their rulership.

Viserys looks the other way when Aemond specifically is permanently maimed by Rhaenyra's son...his only action after his son loses his eye is to threaten his second family, to intimidate them into staying quite on the topic of the legitimacy of Rhaenyra's children before he deems the matter concluded... as if the worst part of that altercation was Aemond calling them bastards rather than say four children ganging up against one and how one of these children attacked using a knife and cost the other their fucking eye?

That for Aemond more than anything must cement his understanding of his father's feelings about Aemond and his full siblings and mother. To Viserys they simply matter less than Rhaenyra and her children.

In fact their well being or saftey matters less than even an offense made to Rhaenyra's reputation... which shows Alicent and her children without question that they are in danger from the blacks and the King will do nothing to prevent the blacks from trying to severely physically harm Aemond or his siblings, and in fact that there will be no punishment for the blacks when they succeed in doing so.

A civil war between the blacks and the greens was inevitable... Viserys actions of protecting and favoring Rhaenyra while also not ensuring she is instructed on and practices/proves her ability to rule, willfully ignoring that she violates her own vows and that she passes off her obviously illegitimate children as trueborn heirs, of permitting her not just to inherit (and position her illegitimate son as the next heir to) what most considered the birthright of her brother but also for her to steal the birthright of her own cousins by supplanting them with her other bastard and demoting them to being simply their brides/consorts, him keeping her as heir not just after he has multiple trueborn sons but also after Rhaenyra gets remarried to the exact violent bloodthirsty man that so many feared and Viserys himself had previously removed as his own heir in favour for Rhaenyra.

Viserys doing all of this while still choosing to remarry and have MULTIPLE children with his new wife... the neglectful and disrespectful way he treats his second family... all of this ensured that the death of some (if not all) of his children, via either assassination or in outright civil war, would always have been inevitable.

There is so much hatred, fear, distrust, and tension between Viserys' family members... and not only did he fail to intervene or improve things he was the one most responsible for it ....so much of the environment Alicent lived in and Aemond and his full siblings were raised was permeated by not just a sense of deep injustice (particularly in Aemond's case with his treatment by not just the blacks but his own father) but also an undercurrent of desperate fear over what will happen to them and their family in the wake of a brewing succession crisis

The mommy, daddy, and sibling issues are so strong with these two and I'm so obsessed with how the complicated family dynamics and tragic family losses that Ameond and Sansa experience echoe one another in so many ways...there is just so much love, grief, rage, unpacked trauma, and hurt in them and I am always obsessed with stories that allow the narrative or characters to address such trauma.

PART 3/4. THE CONTRASTING AND COMPLIMEMTARY ASPECTS OF THEIR STORIES (SUFFERING AND GRIEF)

They were both were so young when they became targets of the wrath and dislike of powerful and corrupt "Queens"

Sansa who loses her direwolf at the demand of Queen Cersei, a queen who after long being abused by her own husband sees a perhaps more extreme form of that sort of violence in her own mad son being directed at Sansa, who rather than expressing or experiencing compassion or sympathy instead takes the chance to revel in the destruction of Sansa's innocence, to mock and emotionally abuse Sansa when she has lost her father and her only protection in Kingslanding, leaving her a hostage of war at the mercy of a violent and corrupt royal family

Aemond who after losing his eye to an attack instigated by Rhaenyra's children receives no apology or recompense...instead his own sister asks for her mutilated little brother to be tortured sharply questioned due to the offense he caused by accusing her sons -accurately mind you- of being bastards... Aemond and his siblings who were never truly ever treated by Rhaenyra as her siblings only ever the offspring of Alicent and thus obstacles and threats for her (and her uncle's) right to the throne.

Both were physically harmed or tormented by (or with the approval of) young members of royalty, with very little being done to intervene, stop, or punish those involved despite their own highborn status- which would generally deem them unacceptable targets for such abuse.

Young Sansa a hostage but still a high born daughter descended from two of the seven ruling houses in westeros, The Warden of the North and the Lord Paramount of the Trident, and niece/cousin to the rulers of a third kingdom, the Lord Paramount of the Vale. Who while under the "care" of the crown is tormented, stripped, and beaten in open court at the behest of a mad boy king... forced to look upon the severed heads of her father and household, forced into being an unwilling child bride to the house of her family's enemies, who is molested and threatened with sexual assault on multiple occasions

Prince Aemond son of the King who is mocked by his brother and nephews (or his king and father in the books) over the fact that he hasnt yet claimed a dragon, and when this makes him reckless enough to approach and claim the largest dragon in existence the torment doesn't stop it gets dangerously worse as the tension between the children of the blacks and greens escalate to the point of a violent confrontation between Aemond and his nephews and cousins... and the resulting loss of of his eye when one of his attackers brings out a knife. None of the children who banded together to attack Aemond would face any consequences, only Aemond himself and his mother and older brother would censure and outright threats from their King Father and Older sister. Whose earliest sexual experience- done at the behest of his older brother- was implied to be at the very least coerced, traumatizing, and humiliating- if not outright non consensual on his part.

Both Sansa and Aemond face a terrible sort of loss when they begin losing their family members to mass civil war ...often in a manner that is distinctly horrific or against all laws of decency in the 7 kingdoms

her father Ned unjustly executed for treason and whose decapitated head is displayed and used to torment her, her younger sister Arya gone missing for years and long thought dead, her home sacked and younger brothers Bran and Rickon supposedly murdered by her family's ward- a boy who grew up alongside the stark children- the burned/mutilated heads and bodies of two young boys being being put on display at winterfell, her older Brother and Mother slaughtered when their traitorous allies and bannermen men break sacred guest rights at a wedding, both their bodies desecrated in a mockery of their houses... Robb decapitated his direwolves own head placed ontop of his body while his enemies parade his remains around, her mother Catelyn's throat slit and her body dumped naked in a river and left to rot.

(In the show) Rickon being cut down before his siblings eyes by a madman who betrayed their house and had tortured Sansa herself, her "half brother" Jon betrayed and murdered by his men and later sent off into a lonley exile away from his family and home for the "crime" of taking out an invader who had just committed mass murder... Sansa being left to rule the north all alone with many of her family members long dead and the surviving ones being set on a path away from the north/winterfell while she is left to handle rulership in isolation

Aemond who after commiting the first Kinslaying of the "war of dragons" by attacking his own assailant and nephew Lucerys proceeds to lose all of the family that he loved.

Starting with the tragic murder of his innocent young nephew at the behest of his elder sister/uncle- who arranged for his mother Alicent to be attacked tied up and forced to bear witness to the gruesome murder of her grandchild,

His sister Helaena -who plead for her life to be taken to spare her son- forced under the threat of the rape of her young daughter to choose which of her young sons will be murdered. Only for all of them to be traumatize further when they kill Jaehaerys and leaving Maelor the son she "chose" to die to survive with the message that his own mother wanted him dead... the emotional torment this caused the whole family but most of all his sister who refused to eat, bathe, or look upon her remaining son due to her immense feelings of guilt

his older brother Aegon who has lost his son and heir, and whose sister/wife is in a grief so deep she cannot care for their remaining children, who is attacked and maimed but survives to live on in total agony,

the murder of Maelor, Aemond's remaining nephew at the hands of a mob

Aemond's last stand, sacrificing his dragon and his own life to take out his Uncle (the biggest threat to his family and the orchestrator of Jaehaerys' brutal murder)

The many tragedies that continued after Aemond's own death- his sister's eventual suicide, the death of his younger brother Daeron, his oldest brother outlasting all of his siblings and his own two sons only to be taken out by poison once the war is over, his mother spending the last of her years in confinement until she passes from sickness,

His niece Jaehaera, after the loss of her entire family, married off as a child in the name of "peace" and dying young and alone- of suicide or murder

There is just such fascinating potential when two characters would have so much mirroring grief and trauma ...there is such an undercurrent of helpess rage, guilt, and grief to them in their youth and a undoubtedly a feverent desire for either vengeance or justice against the many people who harmed them or slaughtered their family...

And here is where things begin to differ between the two in interesting ways

with Sansa who has these violent wishes/impulses but is not in a position to see them fulfilled herself- her desire to push Joffrey to his death even at the cost of her own life, her wish that someone will throw Ser Meryn Trant down and cut off his head, her hope that various people will fall/be unhorsed...

Sansa who recieves a direwolf, Lady, the very symbol of her house and potentially a companion that would have offered a connection that was an extension of her own soul only for Lady to be cut down so quickly and unjustly... Sansa who loses not just the connection/companionship she recieved from Lady but also the protection such a bond would offer her ... she is left vulnerable in so many ways and has no promise of reuniting with her own direwolf later on... that will never be a comfort or form of security offered to her after all the danger and trauma she experiences

While Aemond, who spent much of his young life similarly helpless to act or respond to insults and assaults on his own person or immediate family, (that his father/king either never deemed worthy of interference or punishment... that is when it wasn't the King himself who was the perpetrator of such offenses) unlike Sansa experiences a change of fortune in the form getting to bond with the symbol of his house

He gains (and gets to keep until his own death) a bond with a different sort of mythical beast companion... a dragon and as a result recieves all the potential for power and destruction that comes with being a dragon rider

By claiming Vhagar Ameond is the closest he will ever be to untouchable, not just from the harassment he personally experienced from his family but with regards to how grave and dangerous a threat/target he had now become for the blacks during the dance of dragons

Aemond now a dragonrider of the largest living dragon, a child and later teenager who is in control of the narrative equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction, and he is no longer held back from acting on his anger once the rule and interference of his neglectful father king is over,

he is in control of the most massive beast of pure destruction and unlike Sansa, who for now in the books- or for much of her story in the show- remained an unprotected hostage or pawn in the hands of those who mean to harm or use her... who handles her trauma very internally as she is not in a position to fight back, and must rely on her words, intelligence, and ability to read and strategically interact with people as a way of defending and keeping herself safe, Aemond is now in the position to enact every bloodthirsty impulse of revenge he ever experienced

He was held back from enacting vengeance only through his own will, which ultimately proves not enough- he commits the first kin slaying and soon the actions of each side escalated into a horrific bloodbath where nobility and small folk alike suffered or die en masse

While Aemond's story may be one of family devotion and loyalty, mistreatment, injustice, and suffering that ends by showing the terrible outcomes of revenge and uncontrolled cruel brutality Sansa's story feels like one where grief, rage, and mistreatment exist but where family, love, compassion, kindness, justice, and integrity will win out in the end.

Sansa was certainly developed into a more discerning strategic and ruthless figure in the show but justice, duty, and forgiveness were still very prevalent in her storyline

she does have ramsay killed in a fittingly horrific manner, but she later holds a public trial for littlefinger- who was responsible for much of her familys suffering, the death of her father, and her own torment and rape- before she has him executed,

She feels compassion and forgiveness for theon the man who had betrayed her family and drove her young brothers out of their home, who only after experiencing significant torture himself became devoted to protecting the remaining starks and was able to find the courage to disobey his own torturers in order to help Sansa escape,

She possessed a concern for other people that few ruler do in asoiaf/got... speaking up against Joffrey's cruelty even as a powerless hostage, being the person concerned with the more practical matters of caring for and feeding their people during a harsh winter- a notable development in comparison to say everyone else just focusing on battle tactics and the upcoming battles (as though feeding an army is not an essential part of warfare), and the invader who just burned westeros' food stores en masse and now expects others to feed not just her armies but also demands that her dragons be fed "whatever they want"

I think in the books however that despite Sansa's internal grief and rage and her burgeoning political acuity there will be a gentler end to her arc where her own innate sense of duty and her (now more discerning) sense of compassion will win out in the end when she takes back her name, identity, and birthright ... that she along with her surviving family will have justice administered in the name of their lost family and people... efficiently bringing down righteous and necessary judgement on those that harmed and betrayed them rather than simply dealing out some form of mass, bloody, cruel revenge on her enemies (I'll leave that for lady stoneheart) ... and that a satisfying ending for her and the other starks will balance them realistically addressing the dangers and betrayal they faced with their own personal resolve to hold true to the values imparted to them by their parents.

... yet after all her suffering (and the frustrating lack of trust, consideration, or support she was given by her own family in the later GOT seasons) there is something darkly appealing to the idea of her getting (not a hero precisely) but a ruthless and devoted sort of monster to support her and bring down unholy vengeance on her various tormentors

PART 4/4: THE RESULTING DRAMATIC AND EMOTIONAL APPEAL OF AEMONDSA FICS

This after their many parallels and complementary contrasts is what intrigues me the most...the interplay of a potentially wary, cautious, traumatized but still duty and justice oriented person and a companion or lover who is comparatively more ruthless, unhinged, capable of atrocities, and who is more equipped to dole out violence en masse... (guys the pipeline from dark jon/dark jonsa to aemondsa just makes so much sense)

the question in Aemondsa fics of what will win out in the end- the shared grief and rage or them both controlling/channeling such impulses into strategic righteous fury and justice is always fascinating... and most of all the idea of Sansa (after all the trauma mistreatment and grief she has experienced) attaining the interest and eventual devotion of someone who despite being capable of monstrous actions is also incredibly loyal, devoted, and ruthless in the pursuit of their loved ones interests ("I want you to put out your eye ... plan to make it a gift if it to my mother" indeed) is just as appealing as the idea where an isolated, lonely, traumatized, grieving, and dangerously angry young man like Aemond gets to find acceptance, affection, companionship, and belonging with an intelligent strategic but more importantly an exceptionally compassionate person like Sansa.

Its just a dynamic far too intriguing to ignore especially for someome who already loved Time Travel/Reincarnation Fix IT AUs in fanfiction

While emotional catharsis and Sansa returning home and having the dreams she had wrote off as impossible be fulfilled (i.e. building a loving partnership and marriage, having children with someone who loves and wants her more than her claim itself, reuniting with her family) is something I love- and what I want to happen in canon (hence my otp being Jonsa)- there is always an interesting/guilty pleasure aspect of fanfic where Sansa (or the Starks in general) get to wreck terrible bloody victory and vengeance on those who betrayed and butchered their family and people (not really the ultimate message or point of the book but definitely emotionally satisfying in fanfic)

Just like there is a sort of appeal that exists in hotd fanfic that is sort of the opposite ...ones that alter the violent senseless and tragic trajectory of the dance of dragons... to either change the course of a brutal civil war or prevent it all together

and the Aemondsa pairing's time travel or reincarnation fics provide an opportunity to explore both of these diverse dynamics.

Sansa will always deserve the world... in canon and in fanfic i want to see all her dream and hopes come true whether it is with a truly good and just partner with whom she gets to build the life and home she always dreamed of or through her getting her very own devoted monster who would do anything to keep her safe from the scores of people who wish to misuse or harm her

and I always wish that hotd fanfiction offered more Aemond centric fics with a love interest that you know actually likes, sympathizes with, or understand him? He feels too tragic a character for me to want him to experience the typical hate and love (enemies AND lovers) treatment he tends to get in fanfic... its not really satisfying for me seeing his typical pairing up with whatever team black character (or really TB character rewrite) or some Daemon's or Rhaenyra's daughter OC that is the frequent choice for aemond centric fics...him being portrayed as some impusive awful and villainous love interest who changes sides and abandons his family just to be with his lover/obsession feels so out of character in a way that erases the best, most compelling, and sympathetic parts of his canon personality, motives, and actions.

Luckily Aemondsa fics seems to be a pairing that offers everything I like in Ameond or Sansa centric fics....

In conclusion Aemondsa is surprisingly compelling and versatile dynamic in fanfic and I think that is why I've become such a fan of Firesteel/Aemondsa fanfiction (in a way I'm NOT at all a fan of the actual HOTD show writing lol)

I'm a proud support of crack ships/rarepairs and I'm always willing to add to the fandom appreciation of pairings that gets less attention or fandom related works... so expect to see the occasional Aemondsa fanart/fic recommendation post from me amongst my typical jonsa content (in fact expect one in the next in a day or so)

Otherwise I just hope established Ameondsa fans (or people who haven't ready any aemondsa fics but are fans of either character/curious about this pairing in general) have enjoyed seeing me fangirl about these two characters/this crack ship and feel inspired to check out or even make their own Aemondsa content!

-Crimsom Cold

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stillness138 · 5 months ago

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So Jinzee's video about the trailer brought me to a realization, it's kinda neat that Ciri has an association with the cat school in the light of this new direction.

Everyone is still screaming crying throwing up that Ciri having undergone the grasses is way too lore breaking but here's the counter argument again; her entire plot in the books is about her and only her getting to decide what to do with her life and with her body.

And not to get derailed too much but diverging from what Sapek or even cdpr themselves said before doesn't have to be a bad thing. Think about Thronebreaker - it's a great adaptation of Baptism despite not literally having the same storyline or the same characters because it's ultimately about the same things, a perilous journey to save what you care about the most, familial relationships and a family-like unit brought together by circumstance, how much war sucks. I think this new game is going to be about autonomy, something looming over Ciri's entire book arc. And again, it's okay to "break lore" in service of a good, meaningful story that still carries the spirit of what Sapek was trying to say; the witcher books certainly aren't about "adult women can't be turned into witchers", they are about, among other things, family, abuse, and making choices.

Jinzee in her video proposes that perhaps the lynx school is going to be a group of people who choose whether to undergo (likely altered/adjusted, re: the future potential of Uma's uncursing) mutations and that made me think about Gezras and the story of the cat school in gwent. Because it doesn't appear in the ttrpg it seems it was written specifically for gwent by the mysterious lorekeeper, so it is cdpr approved at least. I talked about Gezras quite a bit already (here, under Thaler) and concluded that his and the cat school's story is beside revenge about reclaiming the trial as something that gives mistreated people means to protect themselves. Autonomy and even ability to choose. It's not perfect in the cats' case, not at all, these are back alley mutations that leave them fucked up forever, but the concept is not unheard of.

I don't think Ciri would have forced anyone into it. The lack of much of a choice (Geralt does talk about choice being a factor in the trial but is it a real one when you're a literal child given up by your caretakers) is what makes it an abuse cycle and she's had enough experience with abuse - and with falling into a spiral where she becomes a perpetrator - to avoid doing it again (she also has an on-page mini arc of getting out of that spiral, with Vysogota, but it would be interesting if the game explored her history, especially the years spent in the Arthurian world). Maybe her mutation will be a one-off like i initially thought, but if not, choice is a word already attached to her by the game director and indirectly by the trailer itself. That girl's autonomy is a point in it too. She believes she has to sacrifice herself but only because she's been told as much by people around her. In that sense it's personal for Ciri, and probably why it's the plot of her first trailer to begin with.

And i guess the best closing words i can muster is that it also is just that, a first trailer - we don't know the plot of the game and can only speculate what it's going to be about and how it's going to explain the trial and even the medallion for that matter. Not to have expectations too high because cdpr is definitely prone to comically wasting their potential, but so far it's really not looking bad. The ground for good storytelling and even apt political commentary is there, we will have to wait to see if they walk it.

#the witcher #the witcher 4 #shut up elis #think about it. autonomy. choice. female protagonist. polish studio.#and then sapek sues them or something for yoinking plot points from his new book xd

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mewsmagic · 1 year ago

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Alright I did say I’d bring my infodumps and fantheying here to tumblr instead so lemme actually do this for once!!

Spoiler warning for Alrecchino’s animated short!

If you haven’t watched it yet, here’s the link!

Alright first things first! It looks like Clervie and Bulle Fruit girl were Alrecchino’s closest friends/sisters, which’s just so cute 🥺

From the visual storytelling and just how we saw Arle and Clervie together much more often than with Bulle Fruit girl, it also appears like Clervie was much much closer to Arlecchino, which’s so interesting!!

I love how Arlecchino is all about blacks, whites and occasional reds, she was always quiet and doing her own thing, and SHE HAD ACTUAL SHORT HAIR UNTIL RECENTLY ACTUALLY!!!! Gnc nation won!!!!

Anyway ahemmm LOL and Clervie was the opposite. A pink, outgoing girl, full of life and wonder for the world she lives in. Also, she was “girly” and wears dresses, while Arlecchino doesn’t seem fond of them (like me omggg)

Like, they’re literally opposites in everything, yet they were so close and so important to each other. Thinking about what comes next hurts my heart like nothing else just because of this.

Another thing I wanna bring up before we move on is: in this part, we learn that Arle’s deal with the black hand is indeed some kind of curse. And that’s probably why she was able to tell Furina’s also cursed, she had experience with one since birth after all

I LOVE THAT THEY HAD THEIR OWN PLUSHIES MADE IN THEIR IMAGE!!!! Arlecchino’s plushie is so cute!!! I wonder if she kept Clervie’s after all these years 🥺

In this part we also learn that their “mother” usually “argues” with her daughters, and for some reason Clervie has quite some injuries. From this, it’s not hard to assume she’s literally beating them up, which’s nasty.

A full grown woman beating up literal kids who cannot defend themselves? As a survivor of parental abuse, I felt this so hard, and I hate that hag so fucking much already.

This part I didn’t get at first, probably bc I didn’t pay attention to the beginning; when I watched it again, I caught it however. Their “mother” not only physically abused them but also made them battle each other to death.

Resulting in Arlecchino being the very one that killed Clervie, and potentially Bulle Fruit girl too.

Naturally, she was full of rage. I would be too, if I were in her shoes.

And that’s why I love her battle against “mother”. I didn’t take many screenshots because it’s a fast moving scene, but “mother”’s dialogue seems to hint that she’s the kind of mother that pretends to be caring and gentle but is actually cruel and ruthless in her actions. Which’s tbh the worst kind of mother probably.

Another detail that caught my eye was that Arlecchino was no match for her without her curse. But as soon as she released and embraced her curse, she not only defeated her “mother”, she blew up the entire building. Which’s epic as hell and I love that for her LOL

I find it interesting that Arlecchino was actually pretty close to becoming a criminal because of killing “mother”. Which’s so tragic when you think that she had already killed Fatui members before (Clervie and Bulle Fruit girl), but they weren’t ranked enough for it to be a big deal, like their deaths didn’t mean anything. But to Arlecchino they did… Aaaaanywayyyy.

For some reason I thought the Arlecchino title succession was much more automatic, like 1. Kill your parent 2. You’re now king. I think it’s because I’ve seen this in other shows before, but here she was taken to Snezhnaya to be judged by the Tsaritsa herself.

Luckily, the Tsaritsa not only pardoned her crimes but also promoted her to Arlecchino. Also I gotta say, her words… “My poor, mad, cursed Knave” hit me so hard. The Tsaritsa does seem to not be that cold and to empathize with her. Based of her tbh.

And at the end, we see a seemingly orphan child. At first I thought this was Freminet, but he has a more yellowish tone of eye color, so maybe this is a random kid?

Anyway, the thing that matters here is that Arlecchino says that she’ll be his strict and unfeeling “father”, which immediately stood out to me against her “mother”’s “kind and caring” approach.

Looks like she decided to be a “strict and unfeeling father” to not become like her own “mother”. This is so real of her tbh. I already knew the previous Knave was nasty, but with this animation it really hit home to me, as a survivor too.

I wanna pull her even more now LOL may all Arlecchino wanters become Arlecchino havers!!!!! I’m so excited!!!!

#mews magical texts #genshin #genshin impact #arlecchino #spoiler warning #spoilers discussion #spoilers

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seventeenlovesthree · 1 year ago

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@digimonadventureweek Day 6, March 6th - Favourite episode: #31 - "Raremon! Surprise Attack on Tokyo Bay"

I have once made a list of my "Top 16 favourite Digimon Adventure episodes" and no matter what I do, I always come back to this one. Not only is this one of the episodes my dad had recorded for me when I was a kid because I couldn't watch it when it first aired on TV, but it also basically contains everything that I love about Digimon Adventure as a whole. It also justifies a lot of my biases and headcanons in the process, but that's just a side note.

This is the closest we've ever gotten to a "slice of life" anime that includes the original cast, as it contains several of its typical elements while focusing on and mirroring primarily Taichi's and Koushirou's experiences on their first evening back home in the real world. I could have taken approximately 100 screenshots of it, because the storytelling and pacing are just so marvelous to me:

Even though it definitely IS a slice-of-life-ish episode, it doesn't lose the main plot at all, but intertwines it perfectly into the story: The kids are looking for the eighth child and Taichi, rightfully, suspects Hikari, since she had been with him during the Hikarigaoka incident. Thus he and Koromon ask her if she owns a Digivice already, which she denies. The viewer can tell that she does own one, it was just stolen and played with by their housecat Meeko/Miko - and she is the reason we're gonna get an action-packed chase scene later down the line of the episode...

Then there's the secondary plot - I refuse to call it B plot, because it is so in the forefront of everything that happens. As mentioned, it's all about Taichi and Koushirou reuniting with their families and trying their best to hide their Digimon from them. They're both having rather warm, heartfelt and happy moments that feel light-hearted (and even a bit comedic) on surface level. The difference here is that Koushirou's personal backstory is also given more space to bloom; while both Taichi's mother, Yuuko, and Koushirou's mother, Kae, sense that something about their sons is off, the latter seems to be ridden by melancholy and guilt about it. Koushirou has been acting nothing but polite and grateful towards her, but she feels like this is not how he should be like, that he is hiding something - which, as her husband, Masami, puts it, "is nothing we can blame him for, since we're hiding something from him as well".

It's the first time the viewer actually hears that Koushirou was adopted - we have seen him having flashbacks and getting somewhat distraught and sad about something, but we didn't know what it was about. One can tell that he means it when he tells his mother that he's grateful - we see it when he keeps smiling happily to Tentomon about everything -, but there is that barrier. He IS hiding something from them - and we know it's not just Tentomon, even if that is perfectly mirrored with Taichi hiding Koromon as well -, but Kae cannot grasp what it is. And he is burdening himself with it, everything: Caring for and hiding his partner, sneaking out of his room to deal with a rampaging Digimon in the middle of the night while (potentially) chasing the eighth child around town - on his own, because the others are already fast asleep -, having a one-on-one fight with an evil Digimon and almost getting impaled, while also trying to reassure his parents that everything is alright. A lot to bear for a 10-year-old, huh...

And why was he prompted to act in the first place? Not only because he was notified of Raremon being a threat, but also because the Yagami cat went on a stroll with the eighth child's Digivice and lost it several times over.

This episode simply has it all: It has a sense of happiness and peacefulness, it has comedic elements, it has a suspenseful fight and chase scene; the main plot and character development are perfectly intertwined and even though there is so much going on, it doesn't feel rushed, bloated or like anything shouldn't be there. The characters are pretty unreliable narrators while the viewer can see everything that happens - nothing gets resolved in this episode, it consists of a repeated "Almost!", but that is fine, because it contextualizes everything that will happen from now on.

It also tells us so much about the Yagami and Izumi family dynamics, including the fact that the mothers are very familiar with the fact that their sons are close friends who call each other at very odd times...

The adoption topic is rather heavy, not downplayed and presented in a light that makes you hope that all of this will eventually resolve.

It's just very dear to my heart and I would absolutely love a whole anime that deals with all of the kids and their backstories similarly, giving them all temporary main-character status.

#daweek2024 #digimonadventureweek #digimon #digimon adventure #koushiro izumi #koushirou izumi #izzy izumi #meta #my two cents #taichi yagami

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bengiyo · 2 months ago

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Theory of Love Romcom Rewatch Episode 9: The Last Moment (2008)

Once again I am watching Theory of Love because @lurkingshan gets specific pleasure out of making me change my mind about this show. This week we’re continuing with The Last Moment (2009), a Thai romantic drama that I can only assume is part of this series because it’s distributed by GMM. As usual, I had not actually seen this one before, and unfortunately may hate it the most out of all the films we’ve watched. @lurkingshan commented on how much she hated this film and how little it has to do with this week’s episode.

The Last Moment (2008)

The Last Moment (2008) tells the story of the dubious love triangle between Fah (Peak Pattarasaya Kreursuwansiri), Phayu (Pae Arak Amornsupasiri), and Naam (Koy Rachwin Wongviriya). Fah is dating a douchebag, Phayu is secretly yearning for Fah, and Naam is yearning for Phayu. Fah is sick with a nonspecific terminal drama illness, agrees to date Phayu before the end, but then breaks up with him when she learns that Naam has been burning a flame for Phayu. Naam, meanwhile, dates a man who eventually violently sexually assaults her, which also results in an unwanted pregnancy. Phayu agrees to marry Naam for appearances so she can keep the baby. Fah dies and says Phayu can only be with Naam. Naam moves to England, and returns to Thailand years later.

Honestly, this film was too much, and is yet another entry into something I’d like to explore about internal vs. external drama in Thai narratives. This film obviously sets up the drama for a love triangle, and yet almost all of the drama is inflicted on these characters from forces beyond their control (illness, rape, etc.), except for Phayu’s insistence on peeing on people or drinking piss (this is a literal thing in the film). This was such a dour film obsessed with primarily how Phayu felt at any given moment, and not one about how a trio of friends navigate the awkwardness of their misaligned feelings.

I found it quite dull to deal with the constant stream of external factors in what I expected to be a very internal film. The main reason why I liked Gelboys was because all of the drama came from those boys tormenting each other with how they responded to each other’s feelings. In any case, I loathed the experience of watching this film and do not recommend anyone else watch it.

Theory of Love Episode 9

Khai has completely made the turn at this point, and now finds himself in similar position to where we initially found Third: yearning for Third while trying to be a decent friend who shouldn’t act on any jealousy he feels about other people being interested in Third. Khai is recovering from his bike crash, and failing to care for himself properly. Eventually, Third steps in to help Khai with his physical limitations in what is totally not a setup for an adult scene scenario. Third, as usual, is avoiding anything Khai says about apologies.

I really enjoyed Khai having nightmares about his situation with Third, and was actually looking forward to his blowup at the party. I think it’s fun storytelling to have Khai be an awkward dork now that he really cares about someone romantically. Moreover, Shane needs to pick less gossipy games for his party! I was so relieved when we finally got to the blowup. I’m excited to see Third and Khai face each other again.

There were some other things going on with the sides, but I’ve basically stopped trying to remember because I don’t care. I remain frustrated with Un as a character. His relationship with Two remains relevant only because the show will want the audience to jettison attachment to Un and Third as a potential couple. As such, his characterization remains bland and inconsistent for me, and I generally found this show to be a waste of Earth. There really could have been something more in this story about Third finding connection with someone who also knew he was queer, and was maybe more out than Third, but alas.

#tol romcom rewatch #theory of love #the last moment (2008)#rak/saam/sao

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pers3phone399 · 6 months ago

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Fanfics That Altered My Brain Chemistry (In No Particular Order)

(Last Updated Feb. 1, 2025)

these will mostly be multi-chapter fics from ao3 bc if I included one-shots this would be too long and my quotev and wattpad libraries exist from a dark pre-ao3 period in my life and therefore are lawless lands better kept between me and god

note: these will primarily be oc x canon or x reader bc it is my preferred genre of fanfiction so if that’s not your vibe then this may not be for you

i tried to give proper credit to the authors as best i could but not all of them had socials i could find so please let me know if there's anyone i miss!

also make sure you read the tags of these stories as there are definitely some potentially triggering topics in some of them. i'll try and cover some important ones in this list but i may miss a few

DC/Justice League/Batfam

"Answer. That you are here-" by SecurityNotebook - Jason Todd x OFC

Rating: Teen and Up

Status: Complete (67 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: Halcyon Myles can see spirits and she doesn't realize until an amnesiac “ghost” saves her life. She is then forced to (begrudgingly) help him and all the other ghosts she comes across, accidentally stumbling across mystery and conspiracy and making friends in the process.

POTENTIAL TW: suicidal thoughts and self harmful behaviors (in the very first chapter especially), familial neglect and emotional manipulation, mental health issues, death and dying, hospitals, traumatic events and the recovery that follows

Personal Thoughts: This was my first ever batfam fic and it honestly ruined the rest of them for me. Hal is such a cool character and I'm always a sucker for ghost powers but the way the author writes them out and expands upon Hal's were really fun to see and experience. Romance is not exactly at the forefront of the story but her and Jason are still super adorable. I don't know a ton of the DC lore so I cannot speak to canonical accuracy but this is a very fun read and a nice mix of fluff, humor, and angst that I'm sure plenty of people will enjoy.

The Sandman

today i bury you in me. by thedarklings - Dream of the Endless x Titled!Reader

Rating: Teen and Up

Status: Complete (11 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: A cursed mortal reader, forced to wander the realms endlessly forever, falls into The Dreaming and develops an unlikely friendship with the Dream Lord himself. Their relationship told in vignettes over the span of centuries.

POTENTIAL TW: violence against the reader (some believe they are a witch and there are violent acts that stem from that in a chapter or two and are mentioned at times in others), depictions of blood and wounds, talk of difficulty sleeping, loneliness and isolation, ANGST

Personal Thoughts: The descriptions of this story are some of the most beautiful I've ever read. Despite being on the shorter side tibyim is a gorgeous piece with so much emotional depth and vibrant storytelling. Their reader character, only ever called by the title "Wanderer," develops such an interesting relationship with Dream and it is always so beautiful to read about over and over again. Reader does tend to be referenced as she and her as far as I can remember, so I hope that doesn't turn people off too much. The author also has some bonus content on their tumblr @the-darklings that I def recommend checking out if you enjoy the main story.

Jujutsu Kaisen

Until Gojo Satoru by NoBirdWithintheCage - Gojo Satoru x OFC

Rating: M

Status: Ongoing (Currently 145 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: Yuina Ema comes from a family of sorcerers who live outside of jujutsu society, until she is discovered by Gojo Satoru after murdering a few people and is forced to abandon her family and entire life lest she be labeled a curse user like the rest of them.

POTENTIAL TW: abandonment, death and grieving, gore, sexual content, complicated familial bonds, old fashioned traditions, sexism and misogyny, future fertility issues and feelings surrounding that, JJK typical violence

Personal Thoughts: This fic actually got me through the last few months of my senior year of college no joke. Ema is cool and cute but also weird and eldritch horror level terrifying. There's a lot more depth involved in terms of character exploration and world building and watching that through the lens of someone who knew about sorcery and was forced into playing the game against her will is such an interesting experience. So far the story exists in 3 parts and has only just sort of finished the events of JJK 0 but the pre-canon story lines are so interesting I promise you won't even care.

Two Halves; Hitotsu Marugoto by monowriter - Gojo Satoru x OFC

Rating: Explicit

Status: Ongoing (Currently 44 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: Juniper Smalls lands in Japan for the first time and proceeds to have a REALLY bad day. And it just continuously gets worse.

POTENTIAL TW: death and dying, gore, parental death, adoption, reincarnation bullshit, kidnapping, fairly graphic body horror mentions/descriptions

Personal Thoughts: Juniper is fucking hilarious and watching her take a no bullshit approach to Gojo's literal everything is wonderful in a way i didn't know i needed. Very OC lore heavy but it is integrated into the plot in a way that feels so natural. Learning about it at the same pace as Juniper really helps build intrigue and suspense and offers such a unique take on jujutsu society. honestly just a super great read all around. But just to keep people aware there is a bit of an age gap (Juniper is 22 and Gojo is 28 and it starts a bit after the prison episode in season 1).

Criminal Minds

Something Like a Star by recollins - Spencer Reid x OFC

Rating: M

Status: Ongoing (39 Chapters, but has not been updated since 2021)

Abridged Synopsis: College student Aria DiMaggio gets a once in a lifetime offer to intern at the BAU from the legend himself, Jason Gideon. But her first day on the job comes crashing down when she's fired not even an hour after arriving at Quantico bc Gideon hired her behind Strauss' back.

POTENTIAL TW: domestic violence and abuse, mentions of drug abuse and addiction, stalking, emotional manipulation and abuse from family members, death of a sibling, CM typical violence, be sure to read the tags and beginning notes as they do mention triggers as well

Personal Thoughts: Pretty sure this is the first fic I ever read on ao3. I was in a big CM resurgence and really liked Aria's characterization. The author pulled from their own personal experiences and the story was actually a personal project for them to work through their own stuff (which they do mention in more detail in the foreword of the fic). Aria is so sweet and her personality meshed really well with the team, especially with Spencer (WINK WONK) and I found their relationship development so enjoyable to read. WARNING: the last updated chapter ends on a not so fun angsty cliffhanger, and has not been updated since (baby please come home the kids miss you) you have been warned.

Naruto

Symphonies by JJGrace42 - Kakashi Hatake x OFC

Rating: M

Status: Ongoing (Currently 45 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: A time travel fix-it fic following Kiyoko Uchiha, a girl desperate to save everyone she loves from certain death.

POTENTIAL TW: death and dying, violence, child soldiers, time travel/reincarnation related trauma, Naruto typical violence

Personal Thoughts: I really love this story bc I feel like it's different from a lot of time travel fix-its. From the very first chapter we don't know a single thing about Kiyoko or her past bc it's not even from her POV until like chapter 3. And the non-linear aspect does a good job balancing Kiyoko's intentions with her new reality and showing why she's so desperate for that change. Also the Uchiha clan is so crazy strong and I always forget. Basically two awkward child prodigies trying their best to fumble through peer interaction. Find the author here on tumblr @jjgrace42!

The Year That Changed Everything by BlueGreenPurple - Kakashi Hatake x OFC (romance isn't the main focus at the moment but it IS there)

Rating: M

Status: Ongoing (Currently 30 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: A group of women are discovered beneath an abandoned building in Konohagakure several years after the Nine Tails attack, each in varying states of pregnancy. The fallout of this is astronomical in more ways than one

POTENTIAL TW: kidnapping, child death, child abuse, torture, birth related trauma, forced pregnancy, teen pregnancy, violence against women and children, Naruto typical violence

Personal Thoughts: This story is absolutely bat shit insane, fuck Shimura Danzo me and the homies hate Shimura Danzo. Very slow building but not in a way that drags the story down and although it follows a large group of OC's they are all very interesting and have pretty distinct personalities. It's not a traditional Naruto OC story but it is definitely intriguing and goes fairly into clan politics in a way that not many people might think about. The author doesn't have a tumblr but their twitter and discord is in their ao3 bio.

Great Ninja's Don't Make Great Parents by YuuTama - Kakashi Hatake x OFC

Rating: Teen and Up

Status: Ongoing (Currently 46 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: Hinode Uchiha is too tired for all of the baggage she has to deal with, but at least she's not dealing with it alone.

POTENTIAL TW: death and dying, parental death, child soldiers, blood and injuries, descriptions of blood and injuries, mentions of suicide, minor jutsu inflicted self injury but not in an intentional way, older sister/eldest daughter related trauma, Naruto typical violence

Personal Thoughts: A really cool take on the Uchiha clans curse of hatred on a more personal level and how the main character Hinode tries to deal with the legacy of an entire clan on her back while simultaneously adopting every single junior ninja in Konoha. Hinode also gets a little kid crush on Sakumo and it's a little bit funny considering the fact that Kakashi gets such an obvious crush on her later on. But I’m not gonna complain get that bag girl she's got a type and she sticks to it.

EDIT: ladies we literally just got into shippuden and i need someone to sedate me <3

Mana by Eiruwei - Shisui Uchiha x OFC

Rating: Teen and Up

Status: Complete (53 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: Reborn as a sickly Uchiha girl, Mana is forced to navigate the politics and customs of not only her clan but of her entire society. But dammit if she isn't gonna be the best housewife the clan has ever seen.

POTENTIAL TW: suicidal ideations, mental health issues, chronic health issues, death and dying, Naruto typical violence

Personal Thoughts: Naruto but make your civilian OC the perfect housewife. Another really interesting take on the Uchiha clan and the politics within wrapped in a really nice fix-it fic. Shisui is so adorable and his relationship with Mana is so naturally developing and very sweet to see. One minor hang up is that TECHNICALLY her and Shisui are cousins (her mother was adopted into Shisui's father's family and she married an Uchiha man) and I know that marriage within the clan is more normalized bc of their dojutsu and it's not super talked about but I wanted to at least mention it.

Attack on Titan

your friend's boyfriend's best friend by reinerispretty - Reiner Braun x Reader

Rating: M

Status: Ongoing (Currently 24 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: After breaking up with your long term boyfriend, Jean Kirstein, you need to find a new place to live and fast. Enter your friend and old college roommate, Annie, whose boyfriend Bertholdt has a best friend currently seeking a roommate. Too bad she didn't tell you your new roommate was hot.

POTENTIAL TW: post break up weirdness, mentions of divorce, mentions of parental death and illness, reader has an emotionally abusive mother, mentions of complicated family dynamics

Personal Thoughts: AOT but make it a modern day shoujo manga. Guys they were LITERALLY roommates and THEY ARE SO CUTE! I am an avid lover of the "friends-to-lovers" trope and reader and Reiner have a very seamless relationship that builds naturally upon really weird circumstances. Also reader has a cat named Toast and he's the best animal companion a shoujo protagonist can ask for. Find the author here on tumblr @reinerispretty!

Percolate by heichoe - Levi Ackerman x Reader

Rating: Explicit

Status: Complete (15 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: University coffee shop au! Reader is an overworked college barista and Levi is that regular with the really complex coffee order who slowly but surely becomes the bane of your existence. So obviously you end up super fucking into him.

POTENTIAL TW: none that are super overt, miscommunication? mentions of parental illness and family struggles? There is also smut so be aware.

Personal Thoughts: (Sort of) enemies-to-friends with benefits-to-lovers. (Minor spoiler) there's a chapter from Levi's POV and I think it actually fundamentally changed me as a person. When I read this for the first time I read it again IMMEDIATELY afterwards and am probably gonna read it again after I finish this list. This is just a really fun and light read that kinda gives late 90s/early 2000s rom com vibes in the best way possible. Be warned: reader and Levi have a bit of an age gap as well (it’s never specified but reader is a first year in undergrad and Levi is a grad student I believe making him like 22/23? But I don’t think it’s ever fully specified and if it is I missed it lol).

Resident Evil

props & mayhem by halfmoonmp3 - Leon Kennedy x Reader

Rating: no rating

Status: Ongoing (Currently 13 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: You are a secretary at the DSO and Leon Kennedy scares the shit out of you...and he thinks it's absolutely hilarious.

POTENTIAL TW: secret relationship? potential toxic co-worker but you don't really interact with her and she's gone pretty quick, potentially mild mentions of self worth issues

Personal Thoughts: OFFICE ROMANCE WITH OUR FAVORITE TRAUMATIZED EX-COP! I don't really have much for this one besides the fact that it's cute as fuck. Reader and Leon are kind of obsessed with each other but in a totally innocent, crush way. Local sad, wet cat man experiences genuine gentle affection for the first time; has no clue how to deal with it.

paint me like one of them dead girls by junieyes - Leon Kennedy x Reader

Rating: Teen and Up

Status: Complete (14 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: You are a nineteen year old living in Raccoon City when the entire world goes to shit. Good thing the hot rookie cop you meet in the police station has your back.

POTENTIAL TW: it's Resident Evil 2 bro they got some freaky shit goin on, RE typical violence

Personal Thoughts: This was one of the stories I found when I went on a big RE kick a while back and it's honestly really fun. Basically RE2 but if you had a companion that answered the question "what if your inventory was a stressed college kid with a really big backpack and they made lots of funny quips and also had to pee for nearly the entire game?" and it is just as entertaining as you think it's gonna be.

Fell by the Wayside by megumimidnight - Leon Kennedy x Olivera!Reader

Rating: M

Status: Complete (65 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: Your brother Carlos has been missing for 5 years and you have been spending each second working to try and find him. Too bad someone really doesn't want you too.

POTENTIAL TW: drugs, reference to suicide, espionage, kidnapping, drugging, weapons and violent acts committed with said weapons, RE typical violence

Personal Thoughts: I thought this was a fun take on the RE universe, especially considering that after RE3 Carlos just...fucks off and doesn't return. Its sourced a lot from canon but it's an entirely original story that feels to seamlessly fit into the RE universe. The reader character ends up working as a tech analyst at the DSO and is a little reckless but very self sufficient and confident in themselves and their skills which I think was really cool.

One Piece

Methyl Nitrate Pineapples by razbliuto - Trafalgar D. Water Law x OFC

Rating: M

Status: Completed (45 Chapters) with a currently Ongoing sequel

Abridged Synopsis: At 19 Strangways Sophie had never journeyed outside the walls of G-13 where she was raised. But it was her duty as a member of the World Government to help suppress the Revolutionary threats in Vira. Turns out the glorious justice she always imagined wasn't all it was cracked up to be and after being left behind in a war torn territory she was certain her life couldn't get any worse. The she was poisoned in the foot by a sadistic pirate doctor and nothing is ever the same.

POTENTIAL TW: government propaganda and abuse of power, mild sexual content (good and bad), deep internal conflict and self reflection, coming to terms with the bad things you've done and taking responsibility for them, depictions of mental illness, blood and wounds, scars, death, murder, mentions of child abuse, power imbalance, betrayal, torture, minor mentions of illness and illness related trauma, depictions of negative portrayals of women in media

Personal Thoughts: I discovered this in August, inhaled it in like 3 days, and then proceeded to re-read my favorite parts over and over for the next like month and a half like a mad woman. I still think about this story and the sequel all the time. Sophie and Law match each others' freak in a way that is somehow the dream and deeply concerning. They are so wonderful, I want what they have except not at all, you know? They're truly so weird and they embrace that weirdness fully and I adore them so much. Sophie's character development is so raw and real and so beautifully written. I cried multiple times reading this story and I don't usually cry over fics at all. It's funny and witty and balances the tone of OP that truly translates the heart and soul of the source material in such a seamless way and expands upon it wonderfully. Sophie's character may be a bit...annoying at first for some but it is a result of her growing up in the very clinical and isolating environment that is the World Government and personally I think it just makes her growth and the journey she goes on all the more satisfying to watch unfold. There is a bit of an age gap between Sophie and Law (she turns 18 in MNP and is 21 in the post-timeskip sequel to Law's 26), and it does come up a few times throughout. You can check the author out here on tumblr @fablecore, she does some beautiful drawings to accompany the fic and Sophie is such a cutie patootie I'm obsessed with her.

Heartstring Marionette by astrella - Trafalgar D. Water Law x OFC

Rating: Explicit

Status: Ongoing (Currently 14 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: Homura - The Worldspinner, is a young, promising Marine Captain with a lot of plans for herself and her future. But there's only so much she can do within the confines of her rank and under the watchful eye of the World Government. Enter up and coming Supernova captain, Trafalgar Law.

POTENTIAL TW: allusions and depictions of child abuse and neglect, murder, violence, fire, slavery, (seemingly) morally ambiguous oc, there are tag warnings for each plot arc within the story so I recommend reading those

Personal Thoughts: Flirting but make it weaponized. Homura is so funny and flirty and Law HATES it. I love watching that man suffer positively as opposed to every other way he suffers. She is a very interesting character with a lot of mystery surrounding her past and it's written in a way that desperately leaves you wanting more. Also the original content plot arcs are so well written and culturally rich, I love OP fics that create their own islands and cultures.

Oregano is for Savages by Berylthemanatee - (future) Sanji x OFC

Rating: M

Status: Ongoing (Currently 19 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: an anxious Kuja child runs away from home in search of her mother and things go SO WRONG SO QUICKLY.

POTENTIAL TW: familial abuse and neglect, anxiety, slavery, forced manual labor, child abuse, death, death of children, cannibalism, World Nobles, physical and psychological abuse, public execution, mentioned/brief depictions of manslaughter

Personal Thoughts: I have very few words to explain the absolute wild ride this story is. Oregano (our OC) has had a difficult life that continues to get more difficult as the story progresses, but it's OP what do you really expect. There's a lot of world building and character development currently happening at the moment so it's looking to be a long-fic in the making but the plot is so compelling that you can't stop reading. It kind of reminds me of the way your eyes can't look away from the screen when you're watching a horror film. I just wanna wrap my little girl in a blanket and hide her away forever. Also there's really pretty art that goes along with some of the chapters and you can check some of it out at the authors' tumblr @berylthemanatee!

EDIT: the editor for this story found me in the wild and i feel like a victorian woman who was just called upon by a privileged gentleman during the social season 🥰 @daemonerik you will always be famous to me

Surprise, You Ruined Everything by HippyMindy52 - Various Whitebeard Pirates x Named!Reader

Rating: Explicit

Status: Ongoing (Currently 23 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: Reader wakes up in OP on the Moby Dick literally the day after her college graduation with absolutely no clue how she got there and then proceeds to immediately ruin canon and engage in a three day long game of hide and seek with Whitebeard's top commanders.

POTENTIAL TW: explicit sexual content, mental stress, blood and gore, fire and fire related injuries and deaths, pretty graphic depictions of violence, drug induced states, emotional breakdowns, OP typical violence

Personal Thoughts: One feral college grad takes on several of Whitebeard's top commanders and she survives by the skin of her teeth. Polyamory is the name of the game folks but don't let the crack fool you this baby can fit so much lore and angst. I expected a regular isekai fic but I was so SO wrong and it took a turn that was so interesting. And our protagonist (who whips out the fake name Shellie bc she's a modern girl with a sense of self preservation) has such a fun and feral personality that makes you really wanna root for her. The author doesn't have a tumblr but there's a user @thekraftcryptid who has done some really cool art for the story that I highly recommend checking out, although there are spoilers and quotes from the story in their pieces so you have been warned.

Dive|rgence by SugarFeather - no romantic pairing, very focused on found family/platonic intimacy

Rating: M

Status: Ongoing (Currently 36 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: Elynna is in the Mediterranean Sea one minute and the East Blue the next...she does not handle it well for the next several chapters but she is so good at faking it. At least she can gain a bit of joy from terrorizing the World Government.

POTENTIAL TW: morally ambiguous OC, violence, gore, suicidal thoughts and ideations, trauma, grief and mourning, fugue states, severe emotional distress, minor body horror...in a clinical/medical way i suppose, OP typical violence

Personal Thoughts: It is such a realistic interpretation of the isekai genre that is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Elynna wasn't a fan before entering the OP world, her sister was, and her entrance was so sudden and jarring that she continuously deals with it throughout the entire story so far. For her it's not just about adapting to your circumstances and trying to recall canon that she's not super familiar with, there are actual physical and psychological repercussions to her entering a world that was not and never will be meant for her. AND THERE'S LORE ABOUT IT GUYS THIS STORY IS SO GOOD!

My Hero Academia

The Paperwork Has Paperwork by MirrorDaltokki - Shouta Aizawa x OFC

Rating: Teen and Up

Status: Ongoing (Currently 16 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: Chiyoji Tousha just wants the heroes to do their fucking administrative paperwork. But not everyone can be as perfect as Eraserhead, can they?

POTENTIAL TW: nothing so far, maybe second hand embarrassment? but it's fun so it may not really count

Personal Thoughts: Holy shit this story is so hilarious. Local former delinquent turned civil servant is obsessed with underground hero Eraserhead because he just...does his paperwork really well and on time. You know what respect tho I love a girl who knows what she wants. Chiyoji is honestly such a funny heroine, she scares professional heroes twice her size but cannot function normally through a conversation with Aizawa without choking on her spit I’m so obsessed with her. I'M ROOTING FOR YOU CHIYOJI! Also her quirk is super cool and he technically falls first. Author runs a FFXIV blog here on tumblr @mirrordaltokki!

A Nudge in the Right Direction by Vanya_Instance - Tamaki Amajiki x Reader

Rating: General

Status: Complete (6 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: It was impossible for anyone in the world to be as shy as Tamaki Amijiki. Turns out that's wrong, and his match is just a few classrooms over.

POTENTIAL TW: light mentions of body insecurities, mild angst, anxiety and spiraling thoughts

Personal Thoughts: Short and sweet and so!! cute!!! Reading this was a bit like watching two really shy turtles try to interact but instead choose to sit in their shells really close to one another. It was such a fun read and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Reader is in the support course and she is such an anxious little mess bless her heart. Tamaki is such a cutie patootie and reader in this story is equally cutie and patootie and they deserve to cutie and patootie together!!! The author doesn't appear to have to tumblr but their is a twitter linked in their ao3 account bio!

BBC Merlin

The Wanderer by thebipolarme - Gwaine x OFC

Rating: M

Status: Complete (31 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: Marian Ragnell is summoned through time from 2014 to Arthurian England, interacting with the legends of her childhood in ways she never could have even dreamed of, including her favorite knight Sir Gwaine. But it doesn't really help that they get off on the wrong foot.

POTENTIAL TW: era typical views on women, language that is very offensive to women, angst, kidnapping, assault, depictions of blood and wounds, torture, war, there are a few chapters with chapter specific tags so i def recommend double checking those, Merlin typical violence

Personal Thoughts: I will admit I am a sucker for the "modern girl falling through time to the past" trope. This fic literally reignited my love for BBC Merlin and Gwaine specifically so fiercely I’m actually a bit concerned for my personal health. The author did a really good job balancing canon and original content and based some of her original chapter and her OC on the actual wife of Sir Gawaine in the legends, "The Loathly Lady" Dame Ragnelle, which I thought was really interesting. One thing I will say is that I wish there was a bit more character development between Marian and a few of the other characters but the interactions we do see definitely make up for it. Especially her interactions with Gwaine (which very much give Beatrice and Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing vibes). There were times that I laughed out loud reading not only their conversations but her conversations with the other characters as well. Marian is a self assured, head strong woman who knows what she wants despite the times she's forced to live in and there is something about her character that is just so lovable. Overall the story definitely reflects the tone of the source material rather well and although I have a few personal hang ups about it, it doesn't change the fact that I've already had to force myself to pace my second full read through despite only finding it a few days ago.

Percy Jackson

Little Camper by PainfullyPisces - no current romantic relationships involving OFC but there is an eventual romance tag

Rating: General

Status: In Progress (Currently 18 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: Stephanie Overbaum has her entire world turned upsied down after discovering she is a demigod. A situation made all the more worse now that she has to live at a camp that's being overseen by her father, who she has never met in her entire life.

POTENTIAL TW: violence, child soldiers, monsters from greek mythology, parental issues and the emotions surrounding them, trauma, scary dreams, PJO typical violence

Personal Thoughts: I actually discovered this fic from TikTok. The author does some really cool artwork to accompany the story (and just in general) so I recommend checking them out at frogbee_studios and they have other socials tagged in the foreword of their story. Stephanie is so funny and so exhausted in a way that is entirely fitting for a child learning their dad is the god of wine and revelry and the (reluctant) guardian for a summer camp. It has such heard despite it being very early on in Stephanie's story an the comedy captures the heart of PJO perfectly. If you like creative demigod OC stories then this is one that I HIGHLY recommend.

Twisted Wonderland

A Million and One Minutia by GrayAthena - no romantic pairings

Rating: General

Status: Ongoing (Currently 30 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: A series of vignettes that highlight snapshots of the authors' Yuu (aka Gray) as they learn the differences between their world and the world of Twisted Wonderland.

POTENTIAL TW: TWST typical violence, angst, mentions of night terrors, mentions of trouble sleeping, mentions of death

Personal Thoughts: I really like vignette style stories and this concept is so interesting to me. When playing the game you don't really get a chance to explore Yuu's backstory (because it's designed for the player to be able to put themselves in the protagonists shoes), so I love seeing other people's takes on their characters and how they perceive Yuu to be. It's mostly just Gray talking about crazy things from the real world and the guys being so confused and I LOVE IT.

To Wish on Clouded Stars By AmuletRebel - OC/Various

Rating: Teen and Up

Status: Ongoing (Currently 21 Chapters)

Abridged Synopsis: Yuuna finds herself lost in another world with no way home but perhaps it's not such a terrible place to be.

POTENTIAL TW: TWST typical violence, angst

Personal Thoughts: TWST but make it the otome game it was meant to be! This is the story that actually inspired me to write my very own TWST fic (which will probably never see the light of day but whatever) and it's just such a fun ride. Their Yuu (Yuuna) is so funny and witty and give her a break bc she is so tired. Their story hasn't been updated for a while but I hold on to hope nonetheless. You can find her here on tumblr @amuletrebel and she has her YouTube channel and twitter linked in her ao3 so check her out. (IF YOU SEE THIS DARLING PLEASE RETURN FROM THE WAR (in your own time of course I would never rush you) THE KIDS AND I MISS YOU!)

EDIT: THIS STORY WAS UPDATED LITERALLY THE DAY AFTER I ORIGINALLY POSTED THIS??? IS IT LUCK??? PROPHECY??? WE'LL NEVER KNOW BUT A FANTASTIC FIC HAS REENTERED THE WORLD PRAISE BE!!!

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