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marisol993 · 3 years ago

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For some time now I've seen, over and over again, that the Qunari in the Dragon Age Universe are apparently some kind of racist caricature of black people, muslims and other types of poc's, bipoc's, minorities, ....

From a personal perspective I never saw them as such, but since a personal view of things isn't very objective and can be skewed by ones life-experiances I was completely willing to admit, that I might have been wrong about that and had an opportunity to learn something new here.

The more I thought about it and critically examined this statement though, the less I agreed with any of it. Especially since a lot of arguments in favor of this view seemed to boil down to "this person of [insert relevant minority here] said so". I.e. another "personal viewpoint".

So let's get into a critical analysis of the Qunari and why I think that they are so very far removed from any kind of "minorty" (from a western point of view) coding that you couldn't even see it with the power of the Hubble and James Webb space-telescopes combined:

First of all, who are the Qunari? The Qunari are tall, medium to heavily built, horned (or unhorned, if you only played Origins) humanoids, that come in varying shades of grey skin, with whiteish hair. They are more intensly sexually dimorphic than the Dwarves, Elves and Humans of Thedas, with the males being sometimes nearly twice as wide (especially in the shoulders) and much more muscled than the females. They call themselves the Qunari as they are followers of the Qun (their guide to life and society), though the word is more of an umbrella-term, since anybody of any race is called a Qunari if they "convert" to the teachings of the Qun.

Here's a picture:

At this point some people might already remark, that the Qunari are very obviously "black-coded" since apparently nowadays any deviation from natural, real-life human skintones automatically has to mean, that the fantasy-race in question is meant to reflect black or brown people (even if they are green or bright purple), unless you literally give them a complete and utterly snow-white skintone. If that is the argument you want to go with, I would like to redirect your eyes to the picture above, as it already disproves this. As it is shown there (and in the DA:I Character-Creator), the Qunari can come in a complete spectrum of skintones (from very light grey to nearly ebony), just like all the different races of Thedas (even the dwarves for some reason, which doesn't make much sense for a race that lived underground for most of their history, but what can you do..). This basically means, that yes there are dark-skinned (or "black") Qunari, but there are also those that could be better described as "light-skinned", so the coding-qualifier goes away.

Then there are the people, who might want to say, that because they are tall and "burly", together with the unnatural skintone makes them "black-coded" which is something I never really understood, since the tallest people in the world by ethnicity are the Dutch and if you look at heights in correlation with body-weight the Russians take first place. Both countries not really know for their large populations of darkskinned-humanoids. Another coding-qualifier that goes away.

And then there are the people (who I would seriously suggest should maybe review their own "racial" views, if "black and brown people" is the first thing they think about when it comes to this), who say, that they are a stereotype of the "savages and natives", which is something that is actively contradicted in canon. One of the most prominent traits of the Qunari is that they are efficiant to a T, use every resorce at the disposal to it's maximum (including their people) and that they are more technically and scientifically advanced than many other race in Thedas (except maybe the dwarves) . This is shown through their mastery of gunpowder (which they call gaatlok) and the fact that they can use chemicals and drugs to literally warp the mind of people without needing magic. They are in no way presented as "savage" and if they are named such, it's usually by people who they are actively at war with, who want to insult them. They are also not "natives" of Thedas. Even their so called "homeland" in Thedas, which is called Par Vollen, was colonised by them, when they landed at it's shores in 6:30 Steel-Age and started converting the original population of Tevinter humans and elves, with whom they have been at war with ever since. Let me say that again: The Qunari are active colonisers and at war with the Tevinter-Imperium, who's people are the original population of the land. Not exactly a typical "native or black" stereotype in western media.

So who do I think the Qunari are actually modeled after?

Well let's summarise:

The Qunari came from across the ocean in their ships filled with cannons and guns, to colonise the land and convert the native population towards their beliefs. They are currently fighting a war against the Tevinter-Imperium, an old and powerful empire, that engages in widespread slavery and practices blood-magic by sacrificing said slaves, sometimes also to one of their many gods.

(If you can't guess who I think they are supposed to be modeled after by now, I would recommend to maybe picking up a 7th-grade history textbook again)

Yes, you can make a very strong case for the Qunari actually being these guys:

The Conquistadors (heck, if you cross out a few letters you can even anagram the word "Qunari" out of the word Conquistador). Who also came from across the sea with ships, cannons and guns to colonise the land (south- and middle-america) and convert the native population (to christianity) and fought an ancient and powerful empire with slaves and blood-sacrifices (the Aztec-Kingdoms).

So after pissing of one half of tumblr with that, let's start with the other half by talking about the apparent "muslim-coding" and how I disagree with that too.

Let's start with a rough definition of what a muslim is and how I think that that alone shows how the Qunari are in no way coded to be them:

I would define a muslim as somebody who is an active member of the religion of Islam. Islam is defined by it's holybook (the Qur'An), which was revealed to the prophet Muhammad by an all-knowing and omnipresent abrahamic god.

This in and of itself basically already disqualifies the Qunari from being "muslim-coded" since first and foremost the Qunari are not a religion. They do not have a god and they don't pray to any, the Qun is not a "holy-book" and Ashkaari Koslun (the guy who wrote it) was not a prophet, who wrote down the word of god, but a philosopher who basically crafted a "guide to life and society" with his works.

If you really wanted to find something that is slightly "muslim-coded" in the world of Thedas, you might actually have more luck with the chantry-stuff, since they do have a prophet (Andraste) who could talk to god (the Maker), they have a holy book based of her teachings (the Chant of Light) and they believe that the whole world should follow those teachings, so god will return to them (singing the Chant from all four corners of the world). They even have their own flavour of jihadist religious warfare with the Exhalted Marches (though all in all I do think that the Chantry can be better viewed as a take on christian religions since the split between the Imperial Chantry and the original one is similar to the split of the (western) christian church into catholics and protestants).

So what do I think is a better representation for the Qun in the real world?

Well lets look at it in the simplest way possible that the canon gives us:

The Qun is a guide for the life of the Qunari (the people of the Qun) that ecompasses everything from laws, legislative guides, too how society should be struktured and how everyone has to fit into and function in that society, from the most mundane and simplest tasks and jobs to it's highest administrative bodies. Everyone in this society is evaluated, so that they can be put into a position that is best suited to them and their skill-sets. There they will then each work according to their abilities and each be provided for according to their needs (see what I did there). Yes, the Qun can in my opinion be best described as a take on an authoritarian-socialist guide to life, written by somebody with a similar philosophie as Karl Marx.

So all in all, I don't think that the Qunari are in any way black-, brown-, bipoc- or muslim-coded, but a fantasy take on the Conquistadors, if instead of a bible they had all carried around "A Guide to Life, Luck and Community, written by Karl Marx (during one of his more productive weekends)", visually represented by giant Minotaur-People of many colours.

Also I find this obsession with finding every and any kind of reflexion of our real world in some random fantasy setting, by people who are most of the time actively looking to get offended by at least something and mostly every- and anything, quite contrived most of the time and that the day people on tumblr learned the word "codeing" a significant part of the internets critical-thinking skills and will just shrivelled up and died.

Thank you for coming to my TED-talk.

#dragon age #dragon age origins #dragon age 2 #dragon age inquisition #qunari #the qun #thedas #tevinter imperium

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jewfrogs · 4 years ago

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What was the place of trans people in Ancient Greece? I don’t mean myths, but accounts of irl trans people. I once read something about priests of Aphrodite whose initiation ceremony was castration and wearing women’s clothing, which could be reinterpreted through a modern lens as Ancient Greece’s version of trans women, so to speak. Perhaps even non-binarism, though I don’t believe there was basis for escaping the gender binary and the very much enforced roles in the Greek patriarchy.

this is another great question! i’m going to broaden our scope a little bit to include some discussion of rome as well, because there’s a lot of useful stuff there and the two are interlinked.

discussing trans people in any historical context is difficult, because the framework through which we understand it doesn’t exist. that isn’t to say that people who didn’t conform to their assigned gender didn’t exist (gender variance has been documented for about as long as history), but that applying modern labels and understandings to them doesn’t always work, and there’s a lot of overlap between some categories (e.g. could we understand this individual as a trans woman or as an effeminate [gay] man? what does that mean when neither of those identities are contextual during the individual’s time?). all that to say: there isn’t a lot that directly corresponds to trans people from antiquity, but there’s certainly not nothing.

one reference to trans people in ancient greece comes from lucian’s dialogue of the courtesans (c. 120-190 CE), where the character megilla/us seems to be remarkably like a trans man: “I was born a woman like the rest of you, but I have the mind and the desires and everything else of a man.” this is an excellent post that discusses this passage in depth.

according to pliny the elder, there was a noted phenomenon of women turning into men: “The change of females into males is undoubtedly no fable. We find it stated in the Annals, that, in the consulship of P. Licinius Crassus and C. Cassius Longinus, a girl, who was living at Casinum with her parents, was changed into a boy; and that, by the command of the Aruspices, he was con- veyed away to a desert island. Licinius Mucianus informs us, that he once saw at Argos a person whose name was then Arescon, though he had been formerly called Arescusa: that this person had been married to a man, but that, shortly after, a beard and marks of virility made their appearance, upon which he took to himself a wife. He had also seen a boy at Smyrna, to whom the very same thing had happened. I myself saw in Africa one L. Cossicius, a citizen of Thysdris, who had been changed into a man the very day on which he was married to a husband.” (Plin. Nat. 7.4) it seems likely that this is discussing intersex people, since pliny references them immediately before, but it is interesting to see evidence for at least some form of transition and for the acceptance of said transition—arescon has a wife! that’s pretty neat! these people seem to be fairly well-accepted, which does make one think about how transition in general might have worked or been seen.

with regards to the priests, i haven’t read about anything like that with aphrodite (although i would be remiss not to mention aphroditos here, particularly her mention in macrobius’ saturnalia), but i’m guessing you’re thinking of the galli, priests of cybele (a phrygian goddess, often correlated with rhea and with the intersex deity agdistis) as well as her lover attis (who was castrated as well—catullus 63, which i am going to write something about one day, is a retelling of their myth). they were castrated and generally wore women’s clothing, and many sources refer to them with feminine language. firmicus maternus (c. 4th century AD) said of them negant se viros esse, et non sunt <mulieres>: mulieres se volunt credi (“they deny that they are men, and are not <women>: they want to be believed as women”). there are certainly parallels that can be drawn here!

in addition, there can be a lot of blurred overlap between gay readings and trans readings. in ancient greek & roman thought, the categories of men-who-are-penetrated and women-who-penetrate (or, well... hump, since one of the latin words for these women is tribades, or “rubbers”) are almost genders in their own right, or perhaps the intersection of two genders: men-who-are-penetrated are like women but not, and women-who-penetrate are like men but not. (it can definitely be interpreted, to some extent, that these people want to be read as the opposite binary gender to the one they were assigned—which raises the question of whether we simply don’t know some of these stories because people did pass and therefore it wasn’t outwardly transgressive.)

this is probably best encapsulated by an excerpt from the fables of phaedrus (a first-century CE roman author who is supposedly adapting aesop’s work), where the question tribadas et molles mares quae ratio procreasset (what reason brought [lesbians] and [effeminate men] into existence?) is asked, and this is the answer:

The same Prometheus, creator of the clay crowd (which is broken the moment it offends fortune), had made those parts of nature which decency hides with clothing apart from the rest for the whole day. Just before he could fix the parts to the right bodies, he was suddenly invited to dinner by Liber; when he had watered his veins well with nectar, he returned home late at night on faltering feet. Then, with a half-awake mind and a drunken mistake, he applied maidenhood to a type of man and affixed masculine members to the women; thus desire now enjoys perverse joy.

there are different ways this can be read, because “applicuit virginale generi masculo” and “masculina membra applicuit feminis” can both be taken as an aetiology for either tribades or molles mares. take one: the first line refers to molles mares, making them men in body with women’s spirits, and the second line refers to tribades, making them women in body with men’s spirits. take two: the first line refers to tribades, making them men in spirit with women’s bodies, and the second line refers to molles mares, making them women in spirit with men’s bodies. these are both really interesting readings that both resonate to some extent with transness and specifically with the space in between gayness and transness.

as an example, take the figure agathon (a fictionalized portrayal of a real playwright) from aristophanes’ thesmophorizusae. agathon is notably effeminate—he’s first introduced by a character saying εγώ γαρ ουχ όρω άνδρ’ ουδέν ενθάδ’ όντα, Κ��ρήνην δ’ όρω (“I see no man, but I see Cyrene”, in reference to, as one commentary puts it, “a dissolute woman of the day”). that is to say: agathon is read as a woman. when another character in the thesmo needs to dress up as a woman, he doesn’t borrow a woman’s clothes—he borrows agathon’s. could we read agathon as a trans figure? perhaps! but his effeminacy is tied to him being, as the greek puts it, ευρύπρωκτος—literally “wide-assed”, but often translated simply as a certain six-letter word that starts with f. agathon isn’t a woman, exactly, but he’s not quite a man either. i wouldn’t necessarily call this in-between space trans, but i don’t know if i could call it cis either.

tl;dr: there are few depictions of people we might call trans as we understand it today from ancient greece, but there are a lot of interesting questions we can ask and consider with regards to gender that touch on transness and antique experiences analogous to modern-day trans ones. also gayness and transness are very much intertwined.

#i didnt include any myths bc this is long enough already and u said not in myth BUT.#mythological depictions do also add another layer to this #bc there are stories like iphis or leucippus or tiresias or hermaphroditus that Smack of transness to varying degrees #ancient greece #classics #anonymous #ask

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marshmallow-xphile · 4 years ago

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My thoughts on the sexuality of some of my favorite X-files characters.

I posted this in my X-files amino back in June as part of a LGBTQ pride challenge and for some reason I only just thought to post it here as well.

Fox Mulder: openly bisexual

Mulder is so open sexually that I really don't think gender matters all that much to him. He does seem to prefer females but I wouldn't be even remotely surprised if he had a boyfriend or two in the past. I don't think he's flamboyant about his sexuality but I don't think he'd hide it at all either

My evidence:

In the season one episode "Ghost in the Machine" we meet an Mulder's ex-partner, Jerry, and I absolutely feel like there is an ex-lovers vibe to the both of them. They hug upon first seeing each other, Mulder looks incredibly happy to see him, when Mulder says they worked together Jerry corrects him to say they were partners at which point Mulder looks over at Scully as if to see her reaction. Mulder has this real guilty look to him. When Jerry acts a little self conscious Mulder is real quick to jump in and reassure him. They get in each other's personal space. It just really leaves me with the impression that they care deeply for one another and broke up for other reasons, perhaps the different career goals as Mulder tells Scully.

We also have Mulder with Krycek. From the very beginning of Krycek's involvement with the X-files I feel like the writers went out of their way to make a correlation between the change in partnership and a new partner in a relationship. There is a scene in Sleepless where Mulder and Scully are on the phone and Mulder tells Krycek he'll be right there, the rest of the conversation feels reminiscent of two exes chatting about the change brought about by the new relationship. Scully even brings up that it must be nice having a partner who doesn't question his every theory.

There were many scenes in Sleepless, Duane Barry, and Ascension in which Mulder and Krycek were alone but that we never got to see who knows for example what the two of them got to talking about while they were stuck in traffic during the drive to New York in Sleepless. Or how often they hung out between Sleepless and Duane Barry.

During Mulder and Scully's partnership Mulder only called her 'Dana' on a few emotional occasions. He started casually calling Krycek 'Alex' almost immediately.

Let us not forget the infamous speedo scene. While yes it definitely showed more of a Krycek attraction to Mulder than the opposite. It does make one wonder what led him to wear such a revealing bathing suit. How many straight men do you know who wear speedos? My guess is few. How many straight men wear speedos when they can reasonably assume their male partner will show up looking for them? Not many would be guess.

And then there is their relationship after Krycek is revealed to be a traitor. They both tend to act more like scorned lovers than enemies and notice that it's Mulder, not Krycek, who cannot seem to keep his hands off the other. Seriously it's like every time Krycek shows up, Mulder immediately grabs him.

Now here's a couple quotes from Mulder,

Krycek tells Mulder he most be losing it because Krycek beat him with one hand. Mulder's immediate reaction: "isn't that how you like to beat yourself?"

When the little man in Humbug is lined up pretty much exactly with Mulder's crotch he says that Mulder would be surprised how many women find his size alluring. Mulder's immediate reaction: "you'd be surprised how many men do as well"

How many straight guys do you know comfortable enough with their sexuality to make a gay innuendo? I personally cannot think of any.

Dana Scully: bicurious

I believe that Scully is sometimes attracted to women. It definitely is not as blatant as with Mulder and I really don't think she's had any past girlfriends but I definitely think that there is an attraction.

My evidence:

In the episode "Ice" I really felt like there are a few tender moments between her and Felicity Huffman's character especially while they were examining one another for the worms. That examination had a sort of sexual energy to it I thought.

In the episode "kill switch" theres a moment where the Invisagoth asked if she could have her handcuffs removed or if she should type with her tongue. Mulder mentions that she doesn't want a vote there and the look on Scully's face and the way she licks her lips, I definitely get the impression that she would have been perfectly happy to see what Invisagoth could get up to with that tongue.

Some people point to Scully's relationship with Reyes as evidence of her bisexuality, I personally don't see any attraction there on Scully's side but I don't think its outside the realm of possibility.

Monica Reyes: Closeted lesbian

This one's probably a surprise I know there was something between here and Brad as well as a flirtation with Doggett so you would probably think she was Bisexual but honestly was either one of those even remotely convincing? To me they weren't. I believe that Reyes is a lesbian.

I kind of go back and forth on whether she's open about it. Reyes is very spiritual and open so it seems strange that she would be in the closet but maybe she has a reason, fear of it affecting her career in the FBI perhaps? It just seems strange that she keeps pursuing these heterosexual relationships she has no passion for unless she is trying to hide her true passion.

My evidence:

I admit I really have very little evidence but look at the relationship between Reyes and Brad Follmer. It had all the chemistry of two people who got really drunk once and cannot remember sleeping together. I don't for a second believe she was ever in love with Brad nor he in love with her.

Then you've got the same thing between her and Doggett. Yes the writers were obviously trying for a romantic angle with the two of them but to me it never came across as convincing. It seemed more like she thought of him as a good friend and figured she might as well date him, I saw no evidence of love or attraction.

On the other hand look at her and Scully. While I feel like the attraction there was one sided I definitely feel like Reyes was into Scully or Dana as she would call her. Reyes was willing to risk her life for Scully and yes that is her job after all but Reyes seems to take that above and beyond and it's not just Scully herself but also William. Look at how protective Reyes is of William in The Truth and of the sacrifice Scully made in giving him up. She seems to care even more than Mulder on that.

Cigarette-Smoking-Man: Asexual

CSM has probably had sex at some point, he is of course the father of at least three children but I do not think that he was ever in love with any of these women or even attracted to them. I believe they were all just a means to an end.

I believe that CSM's only love was for his cigarettes

Evidence:

There is a little bit of evidence that he might have actually felt something for Teena Mulder but I don't buy it. He freely admits that he felt nothing for Cassandra Spender but he must've been convincing if he got her to marry him and we have seen him fake emotions more than once. He also seemed to show an attraction to Scully in En Ami but that too was just a means to an end. Perhaps he does feel something towards all the women he has impregnated but I wouldn't call it love. I don't see any real attraction there either. My bet is that CSM needed some "help" in order to produce his offspring.

Alex Krycek: Gay

While Krycek did have an obviously sexual relationship with Marita Covarrubias he definitely didn't have any real feelings for her and I don't buy attraction either. No I'd say they were both just trying to use sex to get what they wanted. His anger at finding the Russian boy gone wasn't because he was heartbroken at her betrayal. Merely mad that she'd managed to get the upper hand.

Whether Krycek is open or in the closet I'm not sure, I'm thinking it probably depends on the mission hes on at the time.

Evidence:

Of everyone on this list I'd say Krycek is the one I'm the most sure of. There is no doubt in my mind that Krycek was attracted to, perhaps even in love with, Fox Mulder. From the very beginning there appeared to be a bit of longing in his eyes.

There was the speedo scene wherein Krycek was definitely checking Mulder out. There were several scenes where Krycek could've killed Mulder but chose to help him instead.

As I've seen pointed out before, Krycek's crazy motivational choices don't make any sense at all unless it's all in an effort to be around Mulder more.

Look at his sense of style and his obvious love for lip gloss. I am not saying that straight men cannot love lip gloss and dress themselves in Krycek's fashion but it is uncommon and it was especially so back in the 90s

The infamous kiss in The Red and the Black could certainly be explained away as some kind of Russian custom but it isn't one that I am aware of and he hasn't really shown any other signs of his Russia heritage.

I would say my best evidence of Krycek's sexuality is in Essence and Existence, just look at the look on Krycek's face when Mulder trusts him to protect Scully. Krycek knows what Scully means to Mulder and then look at how seriously Krycek takes the job! I definitely feel like that moment meant a lot to him and he would have protected Scully with his life for Mulder.

There's also the fact that Krycek's unwillingness to kill Mulder lead to his own death.

Of course asking Skinner to shoot Mulder goes against this theory but I do have a couple thoughts on that, the most sensical being that he knew there was no chance Skinner would shoot Mulder and he probably knew there was no chance he would survive anymore. Maybe he made that request in hopes of sparing Mulder any pain he might have otherwise felt at his death (I know it's a bit of a stretch but my other theories require a long explanation of my thoughts on where the series had planned to go next)

The lone gunmen: no one knows....not even them

Three (I don't count Jimmy for this) single adult men who all live together in very cramped quarters and are, at least in Langley's case, perfectly happy to be around each other without thier clothes on certainly makes it seem like there's something between them all but I really don't get a overtly gay impression with any of them, even Langley who as mentioned doesn't like to wear pants and is the only one who hasn't had a love interest. They just have this sort of Vegas-esque thing. "What happens in the bachelor pad/newspaper room stays in the bachelor pad/newspaper room.

I would love to hear other people's thoughts on these and any other X-files characters you think might be somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum.

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ivanaskye · 5 years ago

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I’ve been thinking about making this post for a while, since I finished reading Wheel of Time, a series whose first book I read many years ago and hated, a series which ended up being very much one of my favorite of all time if not my single favorite, a series that has my two favorite characters ever.

A series that is very flawed.

So behold, my long answer to the question...

Should you read The Wheel of Time?

I’ll split this into three sections (but not three posts): What Even Is The Wheel Of Time, Some Likely Dealbreakers, and Tl;Dr.

Under the readmore, of course.

1. What Even Is The Wheel of Time?

A system of circular time in which the same rough eras of humanity repeat

However, the fact that time in the series operates this way... doesn’t actually matter that much.

And out of seven total repeating ages, we only spend time in one, and only know anything at all about four others.

The last three? A mystery

Don’t worry about it

Okay, that’s probably not what you were asking. You were probably asking something more like: what’s the plot of this series?

Let me be straight with you about that one.

It’s a Chosen One plot.

But,

It also has a very large cast of characters, many of which are very Protagonist in their own right

Including the main character’s immediate foil, who is absolutely not a “Chosen One” except for the fact that she freaking chose herself, basically manufacturing her own call to adventure out of the main character’s.

The six Most Main characters (by most fans’ understanding), can IMO be divided exactly into three foil-pairs: the Central Saving The World one, the Self Awareness Whomst? I Hate People Of Course I’d Never Help Anyone (Trips over 139289131 Pictures of Helping Other People) one, and the Study In Leadership one.

And remember that Chosen One I mentioned?

Yeah, he actually has a shit deal with being Chosen

Specifically: he is 100% prophecized to destroy the world. Whether he also saves it is a little more up in the air.

He’s also almost certainly fated to Go Insane.

(...Which is why the first ~3 books of the series are just him Running Away From His Fate at Full Speed, which--spoiler alert--Does Not Work.)

See also: Alienating All Your Friends 101, How NOT To Accept Being Polyamorous, It’s War Crimes Time

(Yes, there is canon polyamory.)

(...And a LOT of canon war crimes.)

But. In order to go any further, I have to talk about the Possible Dealbreakers of these series.

2. So, About Those Dealbreakers

Broadly speaking, I’d say there are three: length, The Gender Binary, and Oh God Why Is Everyone Such A Dumbass.

Let’s go at these one-by-one.

Length

Let me be very clear here: WoT is over four million words long in total.

This has at times been calculated as perhaps the longest word count for any series... ever? It’s certainly one of the longest English-language series that occurs to random statistics geeks to look at the word count of.

For reference, in case you needed it... that’s longer than Homestuck. This is true even if you translate images, videos, and so on into equivalent word counts. And include the epilogue. And... yeah.

It’s like, shonen-long.

The upside of this, however... is that it’s really long.

That might seem like a weird upside, but if you’ve ever wanted to get really immersed in a series... especially if you read very quickly and usually get through things fast... well.

To put things in perspective, I often read 300-page books in one sitting without trouble. WoT took me about six months.

So uh

Do you want your life, mind, body, and soul to get eaten by a book series?

The answer to that question will probably tell you if you should read Wheel of Time

The Gender Binary

Okay, so here’s the thing: in the time period WoT takes place in, only women can use The One Power (the main form of magic in the setting).

The reason for this is that the One Power, despite being called one right there in the name, is divided into the Female Version and the Male Version. Only women can use the former, only men can use the latter. And the latter has been tainted such that any man who uses it goes mad.

Our main character is a man who can use the power.

The upside is that things actually go very un-sexistly from here. The different ways to access male (saidin) vs female (saidar) power don’t actually correlate to any consistent difference in personality or attitudes between men and women.

The fact that the MC is The One Man Using The Power and The Most Powerful, Because Chosen One... is actually also played shockingly un-sexistly.

However, there very much always is that binary. Trans people? Nonbinary people? Uh... you can headcanon if you want, but the canon is not giving you that much to work with.

To make matters a little worse, men and women distrust each other to an almost hilarious amount in the setting. (My guess is something about Mostly A Patriarchy + Women Are The Mysterious Powerful Magic Users has really frayed gender relations in this society.) There are many, many in-character statements of “All men are [x unflattering thing]” “all women are [y unflattering thing]”, but these do not seem to in any way reflect the author’s beliefs, and are never actually true in-world; the characters are just Bad At This.

(A common example of this is “Women are all gossips!” *cut to a group of women* “Men are all gossips!”. Of course, the truth is that there are both male and female gossips and non-gossips in the series).

You would think this situation would lead to more just-women and just-men groups, but except from Magic-User Stuff, there isn’t that much of that, becaaaaause

~Heterosexuality~

Sigh, yes, this series is very het.

It’s not as het as it is binary; the Aes Sedai (female magic users) have a word for women who are having sex with each other, and there’s an onpage FF kiss in the prequel.

But it’s... not a lot.

So if you need a hit of sweet, sweet LGBTQ rep, it’s... not going to be here. Sorry. (Thankfully, a very large amount of fantasy books coming out today do have rep! It’s not that hard to find!)

Thankfully, most of WoT’s het romances are pretty good and believable/shippable. Though not all are.

And, the final likely dealbreaker...

Everyone Here Is A Dumbass

Listen. Nobody in this series drank their Having Brain Cells juice, uh... ever.

(Okay, exactly two characters--Min and Loial--did, but that’s it)

You know how I was talking about the gender mistrust? That’s just one example of an endemic problem of absolutely no one trusting other people, telling anyone things, or in any way having functional conversations

Min Literally Saves Lives By Being The Only Person Who Tells People Things

In addition to interpersonal problems, the characters’ problem-solving skills are uhh

Uhhhhhh

Uhhhhhhhh

Well, as I said, Rand, our main character, spends three books running away from his problems at full speed

After that, he’s only uh... dodging! Jogging away! Yeah

Meanwhile, basically everyone is doing the I Must Put Myself In Extreme Danger To Protect My Friends Who I would Never Accept Doing The Same (bonus points for when two people are doing this to protect each other at the same time) thing

And I Will Face God And Run Into Danger At Mach Speed

The upside is... you might like reading about these kinds of characters

But if you prefer characters who are not walking trash fires

Then I’m sorry

WoT is probably not for you

3. Tl;dr

In summary, Wheel of Time is an almost comically long series about a large cast of characters who have never functioned in their life trying to prevent the end of the world and having a really bad time.

(For some reason it doesn’t have a reputation as a Dark SeriesTM, but it actually is very dark at times. Although far from grim--every action seems to really matter, nothing is meaningless, it’s just that sometimes those actions are war crimes and people dying and a shit-ton of torture).

IMO, some of the other series that might be good predictors for liking WoT are Homestuck, Hunter X Hunter, and ASOIAF. In other words, other very long, large-casted series about trash fires.

If you want one other bit of enticement, the main character has the lowest nadir of any character arc I’ve ever seen, followed by the most impressive high and resolution. So if that’s your kind of thing, and if the dealbreakers don’t break your deals. Go ahead and give it a try.

#wot #wheel of time

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strawberrysoup · 5 years ago

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Let’s Review || Chapter 21

Peter Parker knew that his big sister would do anything for him to be safe and happy. She’d given up everything for him twice over already and would do it again in a heartbeat. And that’s why, when the criminal mastermind Tony Stark started inextricably following him around, he didn’t say a word. Because he knew without a doubt Penny would do whatever she had to if it meant keeping Peter safe. He had to protect her, just like she always protected him. He never considered what would happen if Stark decided both Parker siblings were worth taking. Never considered who else in Stark’s inner circle would agree. He just wanted to protect her and yet somehow, they both ended up with needles in their necks.

relationship: Steve Rogers/Original Female Character/Bucky Barnes, background Peter Parker/Tony Stark rating: Explicit warnings: Dark Steve Rogers, Dark Bucky Barnes, Dark Tony Stark, Dark Avengers, kidnapping, non-consensual&dark sexual situations, underage Peter Parker, emotional and psychological abuse, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat more warnings: you know what? there’s really not anything. except like... this ones gonna hurt 🤙🤙 good luck

read this: fuck guys this chapter was draining and insane, please reblog and comment if you liked it. pleeeease.

The anxiety had been building for a week now, but as the final day of Penny’s stay in the tower progressed Peter found himself practically vibrating with panic. He’d been trying, desperately, to make Tony change his mind—he’d spent an entire day not talking to the man, had screamed and raged against him, he’d cried and begged, offered anything in exchange for Penny to stay. The older man had held his ground remarkably, gently admonishing him for all of his misbehavior and brattiness and explaining, every time, that it was what was best for Penny.

In all fairness, Peter realized about half way through the week there was no hope for convincing Tony, but he had to keep up the behavior lest he rouse suspicion. Thankfully it wasn’t exactly hard to be depressed and angry and petty, not when Tony was endangering his sister.

The garbled piece of technology in his pocket felt heavier than ever, in his head the iridium electrodes were ten thousand degrees. Peter didn’t want to use it—kind of. He didn’t want to make Tony sad or angry, but he kind of did? What he knew he wanted was for Penny to escape, with or without him. Any disappointment or anger would be worth it, he’d revel in it just a bit, and Penny would be safe.

“Come here baby.”

His feet moved before he even thought of it, trailing over to where Tony was standing at the bar with a finger of scotch in a tumbler. They were getting ready to head down to the soldier’s floor, freshly showered after a day in the lab and just waiting for it to be time. Peter didn’t understand why they couldn’t just go early, why did they have to wait all day anyway? He could’ve been with Penny hours ago, he could’ve helped her escape hours ago. The clock was ticking and his nerves were rising.

“You are freaking out,” Tony told him pointedly as he drew Peter into his arms once he was close enough, tucking the boy against his chest, “I can feel your brain going nuts. What do you need baby?”

“Penny.” It wasn’t a belligerent or angry response, just short and desperate.

Tony sighed heavily, weight settling on his shoulders at the teenager’s words. He’d been conflicted for the last week, ever since Steve told him the ‘plan’. The plan to take Penny a thousand miles away and tuck her away inside of a cabin until they could condition her to behave. He understood the method to the madness—he’d considered spiriting them away before too. But the keyword was them. He had considered taking them both off to some secluded cabin. It was the same sensation Tony had gotten when he decided he would steal Penny away along with Peter; they were supposed to be together.

But that wasn’t to say he didn’t see the necessity.

Tony was fully aware that Penny was not adapting the same way his boy was. Where Peter had fallen into tolerance and was moving towards acceptance and potentially even appreciation, Penny was still actively resisting most of the time. Steve revealed that she’d started to break after reaching her pain threshold, there had been small cracks in the surface and the soldiers were managing to pry their way through the gaps. Had it been Peter, they would’ve had him calm and docile and perfectly behaved by now—but Penny was a completely different animal.

It was slow going though, agonizingly slow. And her reluctance caused a correlating reluctance in Peter, who generally matched her opinions and emotions but at about a quarter of the level of passion. Not to say Peter wasn’t passionate about things, the kid was, but Tony still wondered if the teenager realized the gravity of what had happened the way Penny did.

For all of his intelligence, Peter was still young. His ability to think logically was great, but his immaturity hindered him; Penny had shielded him, a lot, from the realities of the world. The idea that he was with Tony for the rest of his life likely didn’t mean much, it was a concept but Peter didn’t have any way to conceptualize the future like that. His brain was perpetually stuck in the present, just like most kids his age.

Penny understood consequences. She understood harsh realities and disadvantages and unescapable struggle; she’d lived it for so long. Three jobs, no bed, no insurance, no degree, no— Tony had to stop himself. Penny understood suffering in a way she hadn’t allowed Peter to, had protected him from. Penny knew what forever meant and she knew it was crippling. Peter was in the early chapters, still in his exposition and living in the moment. His sister was at the end of her story, a tragic dénouement of everything she’d ever known.

Peter had retained his rose-colored glasses, whereas Penny’s were smashed when she was thirteen. Hard stop, no condolences for the loss of her childhood—they were obliterated when she could barely comprehend what life was and the difference between the pair was palpable.

If they kept the siblings together, Penny would never adapt beyond protecting Peter. She wouldn’t be able to see the future as an opportunity versus a loss, not while she felt like she had failed him. Seeing Tony touch him, talk to him, look at him was enough to make Penny fall into a pit of existential dread over her failure to protect her brother. The separation had to happen; him and Peter needed to develop away from the soldiers and Penny—there was no other viable solution.

The way Tony’s arm tightened around his back for just a moment, a quick reassuring squeeze, told Peter that despite the silence the man hadn’t changed his mind. He wouldn’t relent. He wouldn’t fucking fix it.

“Here, you know what? Let’s peek in,” Tony gestured towards the TV with the tumbler, tugging Peter around the bar to stand just behind the sofa, “JARVIS, how’s Penny and the Popsicles?”

“Ms. Parker has just changed clothes and is awaiting your arrival, sir,” the AI responded smoothly, “shall I pull up the camera feed?”

“Yeah, throw it on the TV,” Tony wrapped his arms around Peter and pulled him into his chest once again, resting his cheek against the side of his head while they focused on the screen, where Penny was walking into the living room.

She was wearing a long sleeved shirt that dusted her knuckles and leggings, her masses of hair pulled into a bobble on the top of her head. The camera was focused on the living room as a whole, angled to see the front of the couch and armchairs, Penny’s daybed just barely visible in the corner. Bucky was sitting on the armchair, phone in his flesh hand while Steve skirted the top corner of the screen, walking around the kitchen and dining room.

Peter clocked that something was amiss immediately. Penny was hugging herself around the waist, shoulders hunched towards her ears as she crossed the room. They were able to catch her profile as she came to a stop in front of Bucky and waited until she had his attention, a hint of the expression on her face something Peter recognized to be heart wrenching. When he put his phone down and sat up slightly, looking almost concerned, Penny immediately tucked herself into his lap—of her own volition. Bucky was visibly in disbelief, arms snapping up to help settle her, tucking her close when she rolled even further onto her hip and pressed her chest against his. She went so far as to press her face against the slope of his neck, arms tucking around the back of his neck and shoulders tightly.

Bucky had followed all of her movements valiantly, helping her adjust and tugging her knees to rest between his thigh and the arm rest. Steve even crept further into the corner of the screen, looking at Bucky with raised eyebrows and signing something with one hand while absently holding up a pitcher with the other.

There was something crawling under Peter’s skin; he could feel it slithering over his muscle tissue and insinuating itself into his being. A sharp tremble ran down his back and he pulled away from Tony, pretending to turn to wipe away tears when instead he was trying to get a handle on his shaking. He couldn’t identify it, didn’t know what was going on, it felt like his blood was bubbling in his veins and he tamped down the shiver fiercely before Tony could tug him back into his chest.

“See baby, Penny’s fine, she’s just waiting for us,” he murmured gently against the side of Peter’s head—Tony didn’t know, didn’t recognize how sad she looked— “I know this is going to be hard. It’s gonna be hard for all of us, but Penny won’t be gone long baby. They’ll be back before we know it.”

Penny would break before they knew it. Penny would break. Penny would shatter. Something viscous was festering in his chest, constricting his organs. His heart was pounding but blood was oozing rather than pumping through his veins, it felt thick and congested—he felt sick, he was going to puke but Tony was shuffling him towards the elevator already. Peter swallowed hard, allowing himself to be ushered inside while the man followed behind.

“Soldiers’ floor, J.”

“Of course, sir.”

Tony cursed before the elevator doors closed, sticking his arm out, “I forgot Penny’s present, wait here baby.”

And all of a sudden the blood was rushing through Peter’s veins. He didn’t even think—the moment Tony was out of sight he ripped the piece of tech from his pocket and opened the tiny pocket that allowed whatever little physical maintenance that was necessary for an AI enhanced elevator. He couldn’t have imagined such a pristine opportunity, hadn’t had any idea how he was going to execute his plan.

“Mr. Parker, I do not—”

“Sorry JARVIS,” he gasped, on the verge of a panic attack as he hastily connected the circuit board to the elevator system and, by proxy, JARVIS’ system.

Peter had just closed the panel before Tony returned and the teenager found himself gasping for breath, leaning against the railing in the elevator. Tony sighed upon seeing his distress, obviously believing it was a result of Penny’s impending departure—it wasn’t like JARVIS could explain otherwise, Peter glanced towards the red dot in the corner of the elevator, once again apologizing to the AI in his mind.

When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, he stepped into the foyer where the soldiers’ front door was located and waited, shaking, to see what happened when Tony stepped off. He let the man shuffle him along, listening for the sound of the elevator doors behind them. Tony didn’t seem to notice that it stayed in place, open, an anomaly for either of the tower residents’ personal elevators.

The front door opened and Penny burst through, immediately jumping up to wrap her arms around Peter’s shoulders to tug him into the biggest hug she was capable of. He could feel her shaking, Tony’s hand rested on the small of his back and the soldiers were standing inside the apartment, waiting to welcome them in. Peter reeled with scenarios, looking to the side at Tony’s face, his eyes. He let his eyes trail over him for just a few seconds before shifting.

He made eye contact with Steve for all of four seconds before sweeping Penny up and darting back to the still open elevator, “JARVIS! Down, now! Fast!”

He slid through the doors with Penny clutched to his chest just before the door closed and the elevator started to descend at the fastest rate that was safe for unaided, standing human transportation.

“PALTI CHAYIM WHAT DID YOU DO?!” She was screaming in Hebrew, words flying from her mouth so fast he couldn’t even keep up—something about stupid, why, what they’ll, safe—

“PENNY—Fuck! You have to run! Stop screaming, listen! When we get to the floor you run!” He shouted back, trying not to shake her too hard while they continued to descend uncomfortably fast, “I don’t know how long it’ll work!”

“Peter why did you do this?” Penny was sobbing into his chest while he struggled to get them both to their feet, “Palti Chayim, I—Fuck! Fuck—”

Her hands dug into his shirt roughly and she shoved him into the back corner of the elevator, falling against him just a moment later. Peter’s arm lashed around her waist when she almost fell while trying to turn, her back pressing him further into the corner and he realized the elevator was starting to slow. Penny’s hands gripped the railings to each side, trapping him in the corner. His eyes snapped to the blue dots over the doors and his heart seized in his chest—they were only on floor 35, for the elevator to have slowed so much they would’ve needed to be on the 20th floor minimum to stop on the 1st floor at the current rate of deceleration.

JARVIS was back in full control, carefully dropping their speed until it came to a complete stop on the 12th floor. Penny’s body locked up like she’d gone into rigor mortis when it started to ascend again, her breathing coming in frantic pants. It was going up at the usual clip and Peter realized that every second it took made his heart beat faster in his chest. He was light headed, dread setting in.

Tony had told him multiple times that anticipation was the real punishment sometimes, the overwhelming paranoia and fear and desolation. His thoughts immediately began to spiral and his knees weakened slightly.

“When it stops you stay in here,” Penny’s voice shook as she spoke.

“Wha—”

“Shut your mouth!” She screamed, once again defaulting to Hebrew, “Be quiet. Do as I say. Do. Not. Move.”

“Penina—”

“Stop.”

Peter swallowed down a sob, head dropping to rest on her shoulder. The passing of floors was marked by a soft tone and between the two of them, they were barely able to remain standing when the silence between beeps started to lengthen. Penny’s grip on the railing slipped, her hands sweaty from sheer panic, her knees just barely holding up the extra weight. His arm was still slung around her waist, but his hold was too slack to keep her up despite the strength with which he clenched her shirt in his fist.

“Stay.” Penny managed to choke the order out just seconds before the door opened, a panicked sound escaping her lips when she realized her legs weren’t moving the way she needed them to.

It just amped the anticipation, Penny’s brief but agonizing hesitation before she forced her limbs to react and lead her out of the elevator. He nearly gagged on a sob, watching as she put her hands up and out to her sides, just slightly. Penny was vibrating with fear, her fingers almost blurry from a distance.

“P-Please—” Peter couldn’t see them, they must’ve been standing to the side of the doors, in front of the second elevator, “it’s m-my fault.”

“No—!” He launched himself forward, only for his sister to turn faster than he thought she could move.

Penny had never laid a violent hand on him, but the way she shoved him back into the elevator bordered on it, “SHUT UP!”

He’d never noticed the way Penny’s voice cracked when she screamed before. It had always been there, he was aware in the back of his mind, but he’d never really noticed. It hurt in a special way, when the bottom seemed to fall out of her words until she could rally through the rasp. Penny had been smoking some combination of weed and cigarettes for almost as long as he could remember—had she been fourteen or fifteen? He was only eight, maybe nine at the time. Did her voice crack like that before?

His thoughts spiraled once again while Penny turned forward again, putting herself between his seated self and the three men’s towering forms, “I’m his guardian. His actions fall on me, not him. I should’ve stopped him, I shouldn’t—if I had stayed inside t-to wait, it wouldn’t have—”

“Babydoll,” Steve sighed, shifting to step closer but stopping short when a full body cringe racked her form and her hands lifted to cover her face, just for a second before she clasped them tightly in front of her chest, “Penny…”

“You—you can just… p-punish me, okay?” Her voice was shaking as badly as her body, hitching every few words and she shuddered violently for a moment before lowering herself onto her knees, “H-He’s just a k-kid, I should’ve—”

“Okay, precious, come here,” Tony scooped her up under her arms, bringing her back to her feet before tucking her into his chest, “I know that this is just what you do. It’s a compulsion, trying to take the blame like this? But we both know nothing you did could’ve stopped him. He grabbed you and ran before Steve could get to you, sweetheart.”

“N-No, I—”

“We had audio and video in the elevator the whole time, doll,” Steve cut her off gently, “JARVIS was translating to Tony’s phone. We know what you said, and we know what he said.”

A choked sob escaped Penny and her fingers dug violently into Tony’s old t-shirt, her nails scratching him through the fabric. Bucky immediately darted forward and snatched her out of Tony’s arms, spinning them around until Peter couldn’t see her around the bulk of his body. It had been preventative—if they got to her before she did damage, there didn’t have to be a punishment. He could see her legs kicking and the sound of her crying but not much else.

“Peter,” his attention snapped to Tony, who’d stepped directly in front of him, “we’re going to go inside, everyone is going to calm down, and we’re going to have a good night. Do you understand?”

His breath froze in his chest for just a moment, whooshing out when the man crouched to look him dead in the eye, “are you willing to calm down so that you can be with Penny this evening?”

It took him a half second longer than he intended to nod, murmuring a quiet response. He was rewarded by a small smile and Tony helping him up, the older man immediately wrapping an arm around his waist once he was on his feet.

There wouldn’t be any opportunity for escape, of course, whether Tony was physically holding him or not. He’d give the kid one thing: he never thought Peter would get so close. Never thought Peter could get so close. He wondered how long he’d been working on that particular piece of tech—something that overrode JARVIS’s response to his orders. It only worked in the one elevator and it was corrected within two minutes of the breach, but it was still incredibly impressive. Especially considering Tony had been very careful not to provide him with any parts or pieces that could facilitate a runaway attempt.

Inside the apartment, Bucky was still cradling Penny tightly to his chest but now in the same position that they’d seen on the security camera. Tony could feel Peter tremble against his side at the sight, his chest jumping with a suppressed sob. There were a pair of kittens worming their way around Bucky’s ankle, the little white one particularly loud in its’ efforts to be noticed.

“It gets upset when Penny’s upset,” Steve stated from behind, startling Peter for just a moment when he walked around the pair and towards the chair, “here you go, doll.”

The super soldier scooped the tiny cat into his hand and deposited it right against the exposed crook of Penny’s neck before swiping the orange one up as well, setting it on the arm of the couch a few feet away.

“That one doesn’t?” Tony questioned, guiding them over to the couch and pressing Peter sit before sitting next to him.

“It doesn’t like to be touched as much,” the blond answered, already walking towards the dining room again, “food should be up soon.”

Tony knew that Steve was doing his best to distance himself at the moment, lest he lose his temper on Peter. He was pissed, practically steaming in irritation and honestly Tony appreciated the lengths he was going to. The orange cat let out a squeaky meow from where it sat, looking hesitant to be on the same surface as other people. It very carefully hopped from the arm of the couch to a seat cushion, toeing the very edge before backing away nervously.

“Here, I’ll put you down,” Peter murmured quietly, reaching over and carefully picking the kitten up, relieved when it didn’t protest and sat it on the ground gently.

“Do you need a cat too, baby?” Tony nosed his temple gently before pressing a kiss there, watching Peter smile when the orange cat went up onto its back legs to knead its little paws against his ankle.

The teenager reached over and picked the kitten back up when it continued to meow and scratch at him, obviously looking for attention. As soon as it was on his lap it started to squirm, but only until his hands weren’t wrapped around it. The little thing was sniffing around him curiously, stumbling across his lap on unsteady paws.

A tone sounded near the front door, alerting them that the food had arrived. Steve was quick to respond but Penny didn’t even shift and Peter certainly didn’t look much inclined to move while the kitten was, adorably and painfully, clawing its way up the front of his shirt.

“How about we eat around the coffee table,” Steve suggested as he walked into the living room with two large, brown paper bags full of food, having evidently read Tony’s mind, “Tone, can you get everything out? I’ll go grab plates.”

Tony started absently digging through the bags and pulling out the styrofoam containers. He was definitely checking what was in everything and stacking it around the table depending on who’d be eating what, but his eyes were mostly locked on Peter. The kitten had made its way up to his shoulder and was furiously rubbing its face against his cheek, purring up a storm.

“It usually only lets Penny touch it,” Bucky’s voice rumbled from the armchair, his eyes also focused on Peter and the cat while his hands absently roved over Penny’s still form, “even then not for long.”

“Maybe it has discerning taste,” Tony reached out and tried to scratch it under the chin, only to jerk back when it lashed out with sharp little kitten claws, “exquisite tastes, I guess.”

“It’s cute but those claws are sharp as hell,” Steve returned with plates and silverware, two six packs balanced on top and a few bottles of soda tucked under his arm, “Bucky would be covered in scars if we didn’t heal.”

“I was trying to play with it, I didn’t think it would turn into a psycho killer and go for the jugular.”

“Says the psycho killer who regularly goes for the jugular,” Tony muttered under his breath, making Steve and Bucky both snort in amusement while Peter wondered if an actual ice cube going down his spine could make more goosebumps than that statement, “why not get it declawed?”

Steve and Bucky exchanged looks, both cautiously glancing towards where Penny’s face was tucked into the brunet’s neck, “it’s not—”

“Declawing a cat is cruel,” Penny’s voice was watery and angry, “they’ll be in pain for the rest of their lives. You want them to stop scratching but all it does is make them angry and mean and they’ll spend the rest of their lives hating you. Making your life as miserable as possible until you give up and either euthanize them or give them away. It’s what you get for ruining their fucking lives.”

#steve rogers x oc #bucky barnes x oc #steve rogers x oc x bucky barnes #dark!steve rogers #dark!bucky barnes #dark!tony stark #dark!fic #dead dove do not eat #let's review chapter 21 #let's review

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pendragonfics · 5 years ago

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Darling, Are You Going to Leave Me?

Paring: Frank Castle/Reader

Tags: Female reader, heavy angst, break up, Frank Castle angst, infertility, vigilantism, minor character death, babies, accidental baby acquisition, swearing, canon-typical violence, idiots in love, Frank Castle cares, angst and hurt/comfort, whump, fluff and hurt/comfort

Summary: After trying for a while, and finding negative test results for fertility, Frank and ________ hit a rough spot, and split. But that doesn't slow her down: she turns to a life of vigilantism, becoming East Wind, a courier to those in need. However, not all nights are as rough as this one on the job...

Word Count: 3,348

Current Date: 2020-03-10

The worst pain of all came across you when the conversation ended. It could have been all shouting, for how sadly you felt, but it had only been words shared at barely above a whisper. Claire had taken a sample of your reproductive product and anonymously, the same from Frank. That had happened a month ago and now having read the information revealed, it felt like a noose had lowered from the ceiling above and was slowly stringing you above.

“Say something,” you whisper, throat thick. Frank kept quiet.

The apartment groaned with the wind outside, and Max whined at your feet and inched toward your feet, which even in socks, felt as cold as death itself. It was a feeling that you somewhat wished for, in the silence waiting for Frank to share what he had read silently on the paper. It had been two or more years since cohabitation and a little less than that since you had first fallen for him, the man that most knew as the Punisher.

“…” He looked up but said nothing. A hand wiped across his face, and it was then you noticed that it was bristly with multiple days' worth of stubble across his chin. He took a deep breath, and then, gravelly, he spoke, “…’m sorry.”

You blink, unsure of what he means. “Frank?”

You move to him. He had chosen to sit on the coffee table - a salvaged chunk of timber from an alley, and you on the dilapidated couch, but as you slide to the edge, he stands, leaving the paper with the test results that he had read from.

But he’s already in the fridge and has cracked open a can by the time you read the paper. When you look up, he’s downed nearly all of it, and while you know he’s not usually one to drink, it must be bad. You know it is, but that’s only because now you’ve read the results.

You don’t quite understand what all the jargon means, but if you read into it...your sample is good, apparently normal. But Frank’s isn’t. He was sample B, and it seems that from what you understand that -

“You deserve someone who can give you what you want,” his voice is shaky, unsure, and looking to Frank, you’re sure that what he’s saying is not what you want to hear. But he doesn’t let you interrupt, and cracking the tab of another beer, he stares off at the other end of the room. “I’m - I’m not good for you, babe.”

“There has to be another way,” you try reasoning.

“I can’t put you through all that, ________ - you deserve the world -,”

“Oh, fuck the world!” you cry. The paper is crushed in your hands, and you sink back to the couch. "I want you!"

But the night didn't end that way. He didn't hear your words as pleas, and you perhaps didn't get through to him, because in the next day, you had gathered your things from his dresser, and took yourself to a hostel in Hoboken for cheap. It hadn't ended with a fist through a wall, just enough tears to have a hard time finding your Lyft. By the time you manage to find sleep, you can’t help but feel like you’ve been suffocating all evening, and by the time morning comes, your cheeks are wettened still.

---

In a year, you are stronger, and not just physically. The days where you find yourself caught on the opening line of the news broadcasts are few and far between, and the name of the man you had loved, trusted and fought for is no longer on your lips. Spider-Man looks over Brooklyn, Luke Cage is known as Power Man in Harlem, and there’s no reason to return to Hell’s Kitchen when Daredevil prowls the district. There’s a trickle of information that comes from the whisper trail you keep, and when you hear that he nears your operation, you pick up and leave to another place.

You’re no superhero, but to some people, you are a hero. Dressed your signature hoodie and jeans - being inconspicuous is best - you’re essentially a ferry to remove people from bad situations. It’s mostly kids from abusive households, victims from other heroes’ exploits that you lend a hand in helping. They’re people, vulnerable people, and every day when you feel like quitting, when it’s too hard, you remind yourself that it’s something that anyone with your connections would do.

It’s not like you’re on a first-name basis with the freakin’ Avengers.

Your client is a young mother. You don’t know the details, but she didn’t want the child and had been kept against her will by a family. By the time you arrive to make the window, as swift as ever you collect her, hide, and begin the process of extraction. She’s terrified, and clutches her newborn, and moves slow. You don’t know what pain she’s in, but from what you can tell, it’s recent since her delivery, and she must be stronger than you to be moving with you. But you must keep quiet to evade those seeking you both, so you don’t confess your admiration to her.

You rarely work this high up in Manhattan, but from what you can tell, she’s desperate. Something about crossing a powerful family, but you’re not sure how that correlates to the bundle that she clutches at in her arms. Luckily this end of the city is so densely populated, as it’s easier to hide when there are others around. That’s what makes a good spy chase; being hidden in plain sight. Hundreds of thousands of people around you and your client; the best camouflage that money didn’t buy.

You’re crossing the street, briskly making the tail end of a walk light when you smell tyres, hear yells, and gunshots. Looking up, you barely make it in time, yanking the young mother by the fabric of her sweater onto the curb as a trio of black sedans roars past. How was it that rich, bad people all had the same cars? One of the windows opens, and in the split second that they pass, the person inside makes eye contact with you, with the woman you are helping, and you know.

You’ve been made.

“Come on!” you yell. You feel bad, but there’s no time to waste. “We’ve got to go!”

Pushing through the crowd is hard; nobody parts for you in everyday life and they sure as hell aren’t parting now. You try to muscle your way through, but they are resistant, and it’s slow. Eventually, you make it through to the nearest alleyway, and it’s empty enough to sprint.

“I - I can’t!” she wails, weeping. “Please,” she pleas, “take Jude.”

You turn back, about to bolster her, but you see the agony on her face. She’s made it this far, so recently after giving birth, but she leans against the building for support, her legs buckling underneath her. Rushing back, you scoop the baby from her arms. Grateful, she almost weeps, but it’s then she cries out in a shout of pain and falls to the earth beneath her.

There’s no noise of a gunshot, but you know what a silencer sounds like. You turn the way that she had fallen, holding Jude closer to your chest. Your heart beats faster when you find that you can’t see the killer at first, but then they come from the shadows. A white man, 40, dressed down from a suit stands there with a sardonic smile. The pistol in his hand is raised to the sky, waiting, and the way his feet are pointing, you know that you’re the next one to be shot.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he drawls. Boston accent.

“You killed her!” you shout. However loud you are, it’s still lost to the wail of the city around you both.

He lowers the gun so it’s facing you, and you feel your breath catch. He starts to laugh and takes a step toward you. “And you took her from us. She was living a good life, you know. Best that money this side of the river could buy,” he shook his head in disbelief, “and you meddling bitch got her killed.”

Despite the pistol on you, you bite back. “She didn’t want your dirty money.”

“She could have had the life of a queen!” he roared, his other hand coming up to support the gun. You brace yourself, turning away so the baby in your arms is away from the gun’s line of sight. “I’m not to be crossed, don’t you know who I -,”

BANG!

He crumples to the pavement, the gun misfiring as he lands unceremoniously. The shot clatters off a dumpster and disappears into the alleyway, and you almost cry out in fear, afraid. Never in your life have you had such a night go so badly! Shakily, you fold back the blankets around the swaddle and peer inside. Jude sleeps on, unphased from the events that have transpired, exhaling and inhaling as normal. By the time you look to the mobster, there’s another man there.

“East Wind?” he says.

You blink because it’s him.

At this distance, you know it’s him from the marking on the vest, from the smears of red that you remember washing off with loofas back when you shared a shower. You know that voice, and hearing your code name from his mouth, it sends a chill down your spine. Only clients knew of that name, that, and people who spoke of ghost stories of the hero who carried people from danger like an Angel of Death.

“You saved me,” you breathe. He can’t hear you but saying it doesn’t make it feel any more real than it is.

Frank Castle nears, seemingly not looking your way, but instead at the fallen man he had taken down. The way he stalks around it, like a vulture inspecting a carcass is foreign to you, and you watch, silent. He kicks him over, and the face of the man is smothered in the pool of his red. He kicks him once more, but you look away at that, only hearing him when he spits.

You start to walk away. The contact on the outside is still expecting you at a strict time, even if you just had a delay. But you’re not three feet away when you hear him calling after you.

“You can’t go walk away like nothin’ happened,” he shouts. You stop in your tracks, still facing the way that you’re going.

“I’m not the kind of person like you.” You reply.

“There ain’t nobody else like me,” He fires back, and you can tell he’s getting impatient. “Look, lady. There are other guys, more guys like this pisshead - you ain’t safe to do what you do. I mean, all due respects.”

You feel a smile tug up on the corner of your lips. God, how you missed him. It was like returning to a thrill, a drug, an endorphin rush, something so very good and nice after going cold turkey, and it took all your power to stay where you were. You could hear his big combat boots thumping their way toward you, approaching. He seemed to slow as he neared, and for that, you were grateful.

“All due respects,” you draw the last word out, “I can take care of myself.”

He huffs. “Look, East Wind - you’re some hero, but -,”

“I’m not a hero!” you burst, turning to him. The hood falls off, and your face is unveiled.

“________,” he’s as disarmed as you, but unlike him and his guns, your weapon is your wits.

It catches Frank off guard; he almost takes a step back, but steels himself. This close, you can see uneven patches of stubble across his face, the way his eyes look raw and sore, the cuts up his forearms. There are more dings to his vest than ever; even the spray-painted skull looks morose. You try to keep it together, but you can’t break down. Not now, not here, and especially not with your dead client’s child in your arms, considering what the last words shared with Frank were about. A beat passes, and both of you stay quiet until the little one in your arms begins to fuss.

“Is that a -,” he begins.

“A baby, Frank,” you snap, diverting your attention to the child. In her wrap, she wriggles unhappily.

It seems to be that time where her small baby belly aches for sustenance, and unfortunately for you, there isn’t anything to quench her thirst on hand. In your time, you’ve taken care of many different ages of children, from this age to voting age, but you’re not sure if any stores sell formula this late at night.

“I know, I know,” you whisper, fussing over her, “it’s okay.”

Pulling out your phone with your spare hand, you try one-handedly to type. Apart from the fact it’s not your more dexterous hand, you’re tired, and can’t focus on searching for a nearby late-night bodega. You don’t notice Frank closing in until he’s taken your phone from under your nose. He completes the search quickly, and at this point, you’re more focused on taking care of the child in your arms than worrying about being this close to the estranged antihero slash the love of your life. That, and he’s getting smudges of red on your phone, but hey, you’re due for a new case anyway.

“There’s a place, about a block from here,” He says, quietly.

You look up in time to see him looking at you, and your breath catches; it’s so natural, and he’s so attractive, and you can’t help but yearn for him while he’s so close. You don’t say anything, just holding her close, unable to keep the eye contact with him. Frank Castle is a difficult man. He didn’t cry openly and shouted at the TV, he killed killers, had a feud with the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, and in all the time that you shared quarters he wasn’t the most open of all people. You can’t blame him, but now, it’s hard; you just want him back.

“Was this hers…?” he asks, looking to the woman.

“Yeah. I don’t usually…I didn’t even get her name,” you bite at your lip, feeling awful. You’ve never been this close to being caught, being killed, and it’s shaken you. You turn, taking your phone from Frank, and type a slow text to your contact, and walk away. “Lead the way. This girl’s hungry.”

He’s quiet, but he throws a jacket over his red-dirtied torso, hiding it. Once you both merge with the main thoroughfare of the city, he leads the way through the considerably less busy streets. It’s late, and yet the lights are still bright at this end of town. Frank moves toward a 7-11, and waits outside when you go in, and fill a basket with a tin of formula and the last doughnut on the shelf, half-stale from sitting there all day. The clerk who scans barely looks your way, tired, but you’re sure if a soccer mom saw you buying the formula, you’d get an earful of mommy-blog politics about it. But they ring you up, and you lead Frank to a Burger King, where you order a drink to sit at the table and start mixing up the formula in a paper cup for baby Jude as best as you can.

All the while, Frank is quiet.

It’s unnerving.

“…you know, I’m good at my job. And even if you didn’t show up, I would have been fine.” You talk, to fill the silence. If not, all you’d hear is the couple in the corner arguing about who cheated on who, and the probably teen hacker who types faster than you think at a beat-up laptop by the door. “But thanks. I’m just paying it forward - you won’t have to see me again.”

“Don’t go,” he says.

You pause, not sure you heard right. “Frank?”

“I fucked up,” his voice is gravelly, perhaps on the verge of emotion. If you didn’t know any better, this was as close to tears that you’d ever seen him. “It’s been hell without you. Can’t eat, or sleep. Max misses you. Karen stopped talking to me when she found out, same as Claire. Life sucks without you.”

“Frank…” you intone.

“I - I was after that family for the last month. Lousy bastards, the lot of them.” He growls. You don’t even realise that you’ve stopped mixing until Jude whines, and you keep at making the formula. You’re not a pro by a long shot, but it’s hard to focus on it, and Frank. “That guy got away from the scene, and when I saw - I had no clue you were East Wind.”

“East Wind is a fantasy made up by people who want a hero,” you mutter, testing the consistency. As you begin to feed Jude the mix, she laps it up, and you fixate on her, trying to focus on feeding her. “I’m not a hero.”

“But you are,” he rebuts. “To me. Baby, ________, please,” he pleads, leaning closer to you over the table. “I need you. I’ve been to hell and back but being where you ain’t is worse.”

You’re quiet, silent, taking in what he’s saying. Jude finishes lapping up the mix, and you position her on your shoulder, close to your neck. The couple arguing has stopped talking so loudly, and the kid on the laptop has stopped clacking at the keys. Even the machinery and noises of the Burger King are quieter, or so it seems.

“I -,”

“________, sorry I’m late,” Misty, your contact comes in, her street-clothes looking just as worse for wear as you feel. “Traffic was hell. This is the kid?” She asks. She looks between you, and Frank, and purses her lips. “You’re goddamned lucky I’m off-duty now, and too tired to care that I’m seeing the Punisher before me,” she grits between her teeth, glaring at Frank.

“Friend of yours?” he asks you.

“Have you been to the scene yet?” you ask her, and she nods.

“I’ve sent my guys that way, it’ll be taped up in no time,” she replies, and motions to Jude, where she’s snuggled against your chest. “I’ll collect this little one now. Direct the heat off you and whatnot.”

“Has anyone said you’re an angel?” You smile.

“They’ve said the opposite, but then again wasn’t Lucifer one of them?” she grins and reaches for the baby. You’re hesitant to relinquish her; she’s grown warm in proximity to you, and as soon as she’s in Misty Knight’s arms, you feel slightly empty, like something’s missing. Damn. You never got this attached. “I see you’ve been busy.”

“You’ll be needing this stuff,” you replace the formula in the bag the cashier gave you. With a nod and a silent goodbye, Misty doesn’t spend a minute more in the building.

“I know how much you can’t give you that,” Frank whispers, glum. He takes a deep breath, and exhaling starts to leave. But you can’t help it but reach to him, hold him from going.

“You’re right,” you reply. “You can’t give me that. But there’s more than one way to have a baby. And there are too many damn foster kids, homeless kids, kids in vulnerable spaces that need caring for before I can even think of having one myself.” You lick your lips, wetting them for further exposition, but Frank interrupts you, closing the distance across the table with his mouth on yours. It feels good, tastes like black coffee and smells like iron, but it doesn’t fail to disarm you. “Frank…” you moan.

“I’m an idiot for letting you go.” He says, quiet. Just to you. “Come home. Please.”

You nod. “Okay,” you agree. “But Frank…” you tell him, looking into his eyes. “With you, I’m always home.”

#frank castle/reader #frank castle x reader #frank castle #punisher x reader #the punisher #marvel fanfic #marvel x reader #pendragonfics #chaotic--lovely #Female reader

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sometimesrosy · 5 years ago

Note

who is/was your favorite “villain” on the 100?

You know what? That question is too hard. Because there have been some great villains, and then sometimes those villains don’t STAY a villain, and what makes them great might have been what makes them great non-villains. So in order to answer that appropriately, I’m gonna have to go by season.

Season 1-- Bellamy Blake. He most definitely WAS a villain. He was the main villain on the ground for the first half of the season. And the same qualities that made him the best villain made it so Clarke could bring him to her side. Setting up the essential dynamic of learning to understand your enemy as your own shadow, making peace with them, and in so doing, becoming a whole and healthy individual. He’s not the enemy anymore, but that yin yang push and pull gave season 1 it’s energy.

Season 2--Lxa. Wow I never thought I’d say that. But I am. For much the same reasons as Bellamy. The enemy shadow within yourself thing. She might not have stayed a villain (although I maintained she was Clarke’s love interest/antagonist through s3 because she was an obstacle to her getting the peace and unity that she wanted,) but she started one. She’s the reason the grounders attacked the delinquents. She was ready to annihilate them at any moment. Revealing that the water girl was the heda was SUPER bad ass and great female empowerment. I don’t personally like Lxa as a character, but as the villain/antagonist of s2, that’s some good stuff. And tbh, the alliances she made with Clarke, the FRIENDSHIP, the ROMANCE are part of what made her a good villain. Because we thought something good could come of it and then. OMG THE WORST BETRAYAL OF THE WHOLE DAMN SHOW AND THE TRAUMATIC EVENT THAT SET CLARKE UP FOR NEAR DESTRUCTION. Maybe I can say this now because she came back in season 5 and apologized, admitted she was wrong and said that love wasn’t an enemy, thereby allowing Clarke to process and heal from that trauma. hmm.

Oh wow. Wait a minute. There’s a correlation between Clarke’s shadow being Bellamy in season 1 and her shadow being Lxa in season 2 and 3. [symbolism and deep analysis coming up you may want to look away until s3 villain also yes, it subordinates CL in the story to BC, tough noogies. CL is subordinate in the story to BC.] Okay. The same dynamic is set up with BC and with CL with Clarke attempting to win L to her side with the same techniques as she did B. It didn’t work. L refused to partner or give up her power or honor her agreements, leading to that terrible trauma of betrayal, genocide and horror, which she ran away from and was dragged back kicking and screaming to face. I think they used the Clarke’s shadow story of CL to actually deepen the connection between Clarke and Bellamy. They couldn’t have had him betray her that badly and have it come back to be something like a healthy true love relationship. But I think they needed Clarke to sink to the dark side while letting Bellamy rise from his dark side, in order to create the symbolic balance that has them spinning around each other... like binary stars, right? She needed the pain from love but he couldn’t be the one to give it to her. Therefore they brought in another love story to punch Clarke in the heart. Very cruel. Very hard. Intensifies everything. Wow I don’t know if I could do that to my characters. But it was effective. In the long run. Even bringing her back for that resolution after 6 years of healing. (all of this is really about a way to tell a story and make it deeper and more difficult without harming the essential romance irredeemably. Use a mirror of the relationship that plays out some of the possibly harmful elements. Make that relate subconsciously, but not really. you guys can all ignore it. it’s not really about villains. although i like it because you get the enemies to lovers thing but the harmful parts are shifted into the secondary relationship.)

Season 3-- PIKE. I LOVE PIKE. LOVE. I get Pike. Pike is a teacher and he will do ANYTHING to protect his kids. And he was a really good leader and managed to keep Farm Station alive despite being hunted across the mid atlantic. Hey. This also follows the shadow villain theory, because Pike is BELLAMY’S shadow. He is who Bellamy could have become without the balancing element of Clarke. He is a good man at heart who has demonized “the other” in order to protect his own. (This is also what Lxa did, btw. Although she did make alliances when it was in her benefit.) He would not have become as violent as he did if he hadn’t been attacked, but in reaction he became a xenophobe. I mean, I can’t say this isn’t a reaction to the trauma that he experienced. Being hunted by Azgeda. I do think that he could have changed if he’d lived. He was already cooperating with Indra, and while he’s biased and bigoted against grounders, he was not blind. He recognized, I think, that he was wrong and there was room for him to learn. Alas, Octavia took care of that. Also, other than Bellamy and Clarke, he’s tops on my own “hot” list. I know he’s too old for all y’all, but not for me. :)

Season 4-- The real villain is Praimfaya, so I’m gonna pick Roan as my favorite villain. Is he a villain? Is he an ally? No one ever knows. One minute he’s working with them, the next minute he’s capturing someone. One minute he’s making deals with them, the next minute he’s putting roadblocks down in front of them. One minute he’s refusing to be allies, the next minute he’s allying. MAKE UP YOUR DAMN MIND. If he weren’t raised in Azgeda under Nia, with all that politicking and power plays he might have been a good guy, but he can’t help wanting to replicate the domination of his mother. Too bad because he’s funny and insightful and sarcastic and I think he really LIKES Clarke and Bellamy.

Season 5-- TOUGH TO DECIDE. Is my favorite the awful truly awful Octavia who mucks everything up because she’s gone to the darkside. Or is my favorite the awesome Diyoza who is no longer a villain by the end of the season, but was formidable and quite the opponent, and really another shadow of Clarke, who Clarke could have been if she had been pre-apocalypse. I think I’m going with Diyoza, because she’s funny, and reasonable, and she likes everyone and Octavia is just so damned grim and vindictive. It might make a more evil villain but as for who I like better? I think it’s Diyoza. Both were fun, but Diyoza is fun as in I liked her character, and Octavia was fun as in, OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE SHE DID THAT. Octavia also has that storyline of being the symbolic representation of the toxic state of humanity, caught in the cycle of violence and perpetuating it. She’s definitely more important in the storyline but I like Diyoza better.

Season 6-- Hands down: Josephine. We again have the shadow aspect of Clarke, trying to TAKE OVER Clarke. She’s not as arrogant as Russell, but she’s more psychotic. She’s also funnier and more charming. Kind of combines the fun and evil aspects of Diyoza and Octavia from last season. And she probably edges out Pike as my all time favorite villain because she is both evil AND likeable, whereas Pike was misguided and likable. Well, maybe less likable.Some of him was likeable. And he wasn’t writing pro eugenics books. He was volunteering to go down with the delinquents.Anyway. Josephine has a fantastic story. The way she refused to relinquish Clarke’s body like the entitled brat she was, and then tried to mess with everyone around her to get her way. Of course, when Bellamy had her, and she started digging into his relationship with Clarke that was great for story momentum, and then we had the sympathetic True Love story of Josephine/Gabriel, even though you knew it was wrong. Sympathetic but also toxic. Is true love really good if it enables such evil to be done? ANywAY. Loved Josephine. Also, great outfits. A+ for getting Clarke into some decent clothes. That tailored coat was great.

#the 100 #villains #josephine #pike #diyoza #octavia #bellamy #lxa #roan #i put them in order in the tags #but the top 3 are really my faves josephine pike and diyoza

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dulcetminds · 6 years ago

Text

some (concept) playlists

find my spotify here ✨ & my fandom character/ship playlists

this page is updated monthly!!!!

💫 monthly, yearly & get to know me playlists:

monthly mixtape: updated daily and refreshed every month with no correlation to anything what so ever.

twentytwenty: a song for each day of the year

the soundtrack to my life

my favourites

pass the aux cord, fool: car vibes

🍾🌉 playlists based off cliché concepts:

coming of age indie romcom soundtrack: cigeratte burns on film, a first kiss that tastes like beer and chapstick, and laughter falling on train tracks

not another coming of age soundtrack: red party cups and the never-ending feeling of nostalgia

Mother Nature reclaims: a soft apocalypse mix

tragedy in the dark: set in the 90's, you're driving at night on the highway, passing under street signs and street lights that illuminate your lovers tired face as they trace circles on your thigh

rise up!: (a futuristic teenage rebellion playlist) you live in a world full of holograms and plastic food, the government is corrupt and somewhere out there is a bunch of rebels that are fighting back

an angels kiss in spring: it’s the roaring 40′s and you hit the town in bold red lipstick, curled hair, flared dresses & traditional swing

a wispy field of sunshine: there's something alluring about falling in love under the sun, sipping on raspberry lemonade & kissing someone who tastes like chapstick

the air is fresh out here: i am lost beneath the earth; dirt and moss fill my lungs and i cough up ivy and rose petals as the trees whisper my name so soft, it gets caught in the wing of a butterfly floating by

3am dancing with my lover: fairylights are hung low around the kitchen, my lover has tired eyes full of wonder and we trip over our own two feet, laughter pumping our hearts alive

the last dancers at midnight: my prom could have been better so we're gonna visualise it like a teen romance movie; tired feet, starry eyes & a tender kiss under the disco ball in your high-schools' hall

even my phone misses your call: 'hey, this is [redacted] please leave your message after the beep!'

you’re so nice to come home to: finally moving into a small apartment with your lover; succulents adorn the windowsills and you both have a love for vintage polaroids and dream catchers — a dreamers dream

I've been in love with you forever: best friends that live next door to each other & know one another like the back of their hand, connected windows, rooftop talks, sleepovers, & everything that comes along with we're best friends & i don't want that to change but i am definitely in love with you

found you in this life: my mother once told me that some of the people we meet in this life, we knew in a past life and it’s up to us to decide where it goes from here

raspberry stains: spring flings includes squashing raspberries between finger & thumb, and dancing under the sun

rollerskating disco rink fever: we're twelve years young & there's a disco ball highlighting our hair as we dance the night away & i'm pretty sure we've happened to scuff the linoleum floor

endless summer afternoon: hopping from shadow to shadow, blisters on our feet; summer, summer, summer!

summer ate me alive: and I want nothing more than to sleep through the next three seasons

ragtag band of misfits from the year ‘87: group of four trying to solve the murder mystery of their late best friend / everyone’s hiding something / he might be in love with the boy he’s known since childhood

[our hands are brushing against each other as we walk]: i want to slow dance with you in the middle of the street

hey, new kid!: its highschool and life is full of rumours and giggling girls & boys with sharp teeth and then english class rolls around ━━ and did the principal just introduce a new student?

🧚🏻‍♀️ specific concept playlists (mostly based on moments and emotions that I've experienced & can’t get over):

head’s a buzz!: stoned out of my mind, I'm pretty sure I met the girl of my dreams last night

I should be sleeping: but i am walking aimlessly under street lights trying to forget your face, your taste, your voice; with vodka stained cheeks and chipped nail polish

pity party for two: the sudden realisation that the future is scary and we're two lost souls stuck in love with people who helped us grow

we’re under the same stars: It’s talking under the stars till the sun breaks through the trees with him, who makes your stomach ache full of laughter and although the wind is cold against your skin and the sleeping bag is thin, he burns just as brightly as the stars in the night sky, and you want to exist between 3 and 4am forever.

I fell in love for one night: he kissed my shoulder & held me tight

moments left unsaid: I love every part of you when it’s loud, when it’s silent, when you don’t know it at all (basically falling in love with your friends in the moment over the smallest of things like the way they dip their head back to laugh or hide their smile behind their hand or when they slow down waiting for you to catch up or pull you aside to ask if you’re doing okay, etc)

angel in disguise: can angels fall in love?

skate park shenanigans: I spent a the hours 8-11pm at a skatepark with my friends and we don’t even skate but this is the specific energy those hours gave off

you’re dreaming beside me: & I’m dreaming of you

how to be soft, sad & content at 4pm

I wish we could live forever: knowing someone you love is gonna die is the one of the hardest things you’re ever gonna witness

remember when we were in love?: 2015: yellow. open roads. a boy. a girl. my house. high school musical. clouds. stars. a pillow. sunflowers. beauty and the beast. skype calls. a bear. / 2017: a girl. blue, blue, blue. / 2019: a girl. a boy. picnics. skateboards. burgers. your house. an empty promise.

the pretty reckless: my friends fall in love too easily

the ceiling is staring back at me: it’s 1am and I'm thinking about everything and anything

me against the world, vol. 1

me & my apathetic brain: basically Russian roulette with I’ll die anyway by girl in red & just a girl by no doubt

🏳️‍🌈🌈 lgbt+ playlists:

this is for the gays!: for pride month 2019, gay bops to rock your socks to

all I see is her: girls r great!

we should fall in love or something: just kidding... haha... unless?

I don’t wanna b ur friend, I wanna kiss ur neck: yeah, it’s based off I wanna be your girlfriend by girl in red & also my ex but we’re gonna take the former

please look at me the same!: my bisexual teen angst

🦋🏹 ‘old groovy, 70′s, 80′s, 90′s etc music’ playlists:

butterfly dust: old time music that goes together

groovy, groovy: 70′s, 80′s, 90′s

lovestrucklovestruck: nothing goes wrong when you live in your head

she’s gold dipped & cherry wine kisses

funky glow

🥁🍒 genre specific playlists:

metamorphic: rock n roll

devils advocate: it’s like white noise before you enter hell (mostly ghostemane)

you’re not indie till: you skate, own a pair of hot converses, have good fashion taste, drink ice coffee and and and

monsters live amongst us: hiding in plain sight, the people we call our friends / a horror pop playlist

hazy affection: anxiety reducing songs and study beats

softly, sweetly: relax your eyes & dream of simpler times

bubblegum pop: the radio is overrated but here we are

glazed eyes, cherry skies

darkness looms overhead

magic under fingernails / under veins

state of mind: kinda like rap but not, definitely an easy listen to while stoned

moon rockets: fly me to outer space where we’ll become another star in the night sky.

dream & folk pop

my dreams reach the stars: my mind is far away from here / starry-eyed and captivated

local neighbourhood party: songs I'd bang my head to at a party

heavenly hymns

fluorescent heartbeats

take me away, into the night

if you see me listening to this, look away: literally Disney musicals mainly Disney’s descendants & zombies

autumnal breeze: a mix of bedroom pop & 80′s tunes

blueberry feelings: is this soundlcoud or tiktok?

untamed glory: the songs dont vibe together as well as they should but i guess thats ironic given the name of this mixtape

all strung up: my favourite female pop songs & then there's sunflower, vol. 6 by harry styles

candyfloss kisses: baby pop

and that’s on tiktok luv: literally what it says

candle lit afternoons: candles + rain = a gentle quiet in it’s purest form

tenderness: soft, quiet, yielding; murmurs at dusk & the playing of hair

my bed is the warmest place: for rainy days & the chill in your nose

🚀🍁🍓 playlists to listen to when your doing this specific thing:

classic picnic bitch: (cute songs that give me picnic vibes) and we bond over a pack of UNO cards and strawberry-filled desserts

beach bums, baby!: a beach-y playlist

hotboxing ur friends car: get high w/ me!

🥺💫🌞🌻🤩🐝 playlists to grow & fall in love with yourself to:

falling in love w/ myself !!!!!: I'm still learning how I work

then I defy you, stars!

seventeen: I made this when I was seventeen and getting over my first heartbreak and realising that I should never wait for people who can only give half back

no negative vibes here!

💌💖 my romance / love centred playlists:

dancing in my room to the sound of you, you, you (middle school crush vibes)

love cluster: and i guess there are lot of love songs out there but there are also a lot of songs that aren't about love that got me feeling like i'm in love so which is it

lovelorn: (a unrequited love playlist) and we yearn for the hearts we cannot hold; lovelorn, lovelorn, lovelorn

our love has gone cold: I love & I loved

whimsical lovers falling out of love

baby boy blues: fell in love for a day with a boy whose smile is contagious and ever-lasting

you gave me panic attacks & I called it love: unsure if you’re in an unhealthy relationship? leave them.

regret in the simplest of forms: I could have loved you / I think a small part of me did

my favourite ‘what if’: soulmates who weren’t meant to be

seeking love among cruel hearts: perhaps we were friends first and lovers second. but then perhaps this is what lovers are.

it’s a long way down from your window: everyone’s favourite secret relationship trope

heartbreak hotel

i’m yearning for his heart while he gives me his body: I love you, don’t you love me too?

make out w/ me?: songs I'd kill to make out with someone too

miss you forever: sad pop love letter

I liked you better in my dreams: the idea of them has taken root in your mind and it’s much different to how they really are

little bit in love with u: alterous attraction? we KNOW her

drowsy cacophony of love

tracing you back to the roots of my house: I'm sifting through the memories of us, where did we go wrong?

love; a choice or a feeling?: and it is both I suppose, it is a feeling, it’s happiness and soft giggles, faint blush. and then it is a choice, a choice to stay with them or leave. it is a choice to not only love them, but yourself too.

tenderly, tragically: this used to be a collab playlist with someone who loved me fully and unconditionally, things have changed since, but this is whats left; it's our story compiled into a playlist

second chance at love: you make me hard, but she makes me weak

lonely in love: (it was supposed to be just casual sex but fuck, I think I'm in love with you)

silent lovers: skinny love (n.) a type of love where two people are in love with each other but are too shy to admit it

my first love: they say your first love never dies, and love, they’re right

my lover is a liar: victim to broken promises and false truths by a boy who died when he gave me his heart

love locket type of love: I loved you in secret !!

the charms of love: don’t fall in love with the moment & think your in love with the girl! (yes, she’s american by the 1975 lyrics)

almost lovers

💸💄💅🏻⛓ playlists that give off bad bitch energy:

rich girl$: my cash flow will never ever end

kiss the boys n make em die!: femme fatale, girl revolution, girl power

GIRLS. FOOD. GEAR: loosely inspired by people by the 1975

girl, interrupted

you’re like a rhinestone pick-up line: picture this — a girl with a hard attitude that you can’t just seem to get off your mind

back on my bullshit: just got my heartbroken; revamped!

👻👽 my halloween inspired playlists:

hallohalloween: basic halloween playlist

the fae know my name: humans beware the manic pixies & lip curling fae for although they don't lie they are cunning creatures with kind eyes!

frothy vampire chick meets soft green witch: red fanged lover & a green house full of potions, spells & succulents

sirens lament: sharp teeth hidden under a pretty face

murder at the casino: (in breaking news: monster hunters just cant seem to catch a break!)

the howling

witchy renaissance

fuckin vampires, man!

🥀 if I were series (playlists that only feature one artist based off something specific):

if I were to dance in a faerie ring to hozier songs: maybe I want to fall in love with a faerie and be under Hozier’s rule

if I were to live my teenage years to Lorde songs

if I were to get high by the beach to skeggs songs: BIG greening out energy

if I were to fall in love to tom rosenthal songs: tom rosenthal songs that make me feel like I'm in love!!

if I were to reminisce about heartbreak to LANY songs:

Hogwarts Houses:

🌻 Hufflepuff

🥊 Gryffindor

🐍 Slytherin

📘 Ravenclaw

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fantasyresident · 5 years ago

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Stereotypical Labels

All across media and in our daily lives we experience the utilization of stereotypes, and they are quite obstinate in our culture. From race, to religion, to sexuality, and gender, all of these broad topics and more are narrowed down by people into stereotypes in some way. Perhaps stereotypes only exist because it is better for many of us to have something easy to remember. But this becomes a problem when we weaponize our stereotypes to label other people and insult them. Even in video games (which is a topic I will be discussing) stereotypes persist. Myself, I’m quite peeved about the use of stereotypes, although I must admit I have once (and occasionally still do) become temporarily vacuumed into them. Some of us break the mold, and others make the mold stronger. My purpose in bringing this up is to simply create discussion among everyone who is aware of the stereotype epidemic in our society.

LGBT Self-Labeling

Anyone who watches or has watched The Voice and keeps up with the news may be aware of the past Kelly Clarkson controversy regarding gay contestants. After the performance of Molly Stevens, Kelly Clarkson compares her voice to the voices of Melissa Etheridge and the Indigo Girls. While the average mind isn’t going to see any “controversy” here for miles, Stevens did and took offense to her comparison (even though Kelly clearly liked her voice.) Stevens blamed Clarkson for “labeling” her and made her dissatisfaction known to the public and to Clarkson. What’s ironic about this situation and others like it, the one who cries wolf is the one who called the wolf in the first place. The only one doing the labeling is Stevens herself. (Thankfully the two got everything cleared up eventually.) It’s sad, because the LGBT community means well in promoting their message, but sometimes members of the community are a little too self-aware of the labels society has placed on them and continuously label themselves as well. At the end of the day, the LGBT community is just a bunch of people. They aren’t “gays”, or “lesbians”, they’re people who love. This annoying problem is carried over to other forms of media including video games and t.v shows such as sitcoms. Too many times, I see the media tapping into overused stereotypes to describe or express the idea of same sex love. Like for instance, a comedy show would introduce an obviously gay character, make them say something humorous and over-the-top about their sexuality, and make the audience correlate their appearance with laughter rather than taking on same-sex love seriously. I get it that comedy shows are supposed to be funny, but not all gay people are over-the-top, feminine (or masculine if we’re talking about lesbians) or party animals. Not all gay people excitedly and openly announce to the world that they are gay, some are less open about it simply to not make a big deal out of it. In far too many video games, gay characters are either swept to the side and easy to miss the existence of altogether, or they fit into a stereotype label. This isn’t to say that nobody does LGBT right or if you happen to fit into a stereotype that you aren’t genuine, but I just feel like too many people are labeling others or themselves too much.

A fantastic example of LGBT characters in gaming done WITHOUT stereotypes or rubbing the fact that the characters are gay in the viewer’s faces are Fang and Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII. (If you don’t believe this is canon, then research it. The game itself makes it clear enough.)

Female Stereotypes

The history of labeling females is rooted centuries ago when gender roles developed. The women had their place and the men had everything else. They were supposed to look pretty, say little, keep the home tidy, and deliver children. While this stereotype has eased off and many women are expressing their rights openly, they haven’t gone away entirely by any means. People still claim that women shouldn’t be into gaming, women should dress “appropriately” etc. Let’s not forget gender discrimination when it comes to equal pay at work and the lack of benefits for women who are pregnant while working. There are countless gender-related issues concerning stereotypes and society’s expectations of women. If a woman comes to work with just a little cleavage showing, she’s slut-shamed by a co-worker because of the persistent stereotype that a women who dresses loosely is a whore. Again, this is a problem and it doesn’t end there. In media such as video games, the same stereotypical labels are put into use, only for characters rather than people. If a female character is designed with slightly revealing clothing, they’re labeled as a sex symbol even if their personality is far from such. This has always bothered me as a proponent of human rights and a designer. If you’re shamed for what you wear because you like a certain style that has been placed under a harmful label, you’re not living a free life. That’s why it bothers me so much when the same happens with fictional characters. There is, thankfully, a silver lining. Society has gotten better (but far from perfect) at treating women and portraying them in video games. Some good examples of phenomenal female icons in gaming are Lightning, from Final Fantasy XIII (a game that shatters many stereotypes), Primrose from Octopath Traveler, and Lara Croft from Tomb Raider (not the Capcom version).

Lightning showed the players that beauty nor strength has to be compromised in order for a woman to be a woman. Primrose rebelled against the man who kept her in chains, and Lara expressed great courage and strength in her endeavors while often risking her own life. There are more good icons out there, but these 3 women are some of the best representations I have been made aware of.

Most female characters are stereotyped by their “emotional strength” or their smarts. While emotional strength is undoubtedly important, it’s not the only strength a woman is capable of having. So few women in gaming are portrayed to have physical strength without falling into some other stereotype (like the busty women epidemic) Women have different body types of course, but to some extent they have become a key role in marketing for male gamers for quite some time and that is indeed contributing to more and more stereotypes regarding women. Any woman who happens to be naturally big-built will be shamed for her body due to the stereotype developed by media. Just some food for thought.

Male Stereotypes

The next topic I’d like to discuss is something I think is equally important. Society has placed its own set of expectations upon men, much like women. However, these expectations are far different but cause the same damage. Men are often expected to hide feelings, participate in “manly” activities like hunting, and to like certain things deemed “masculine” by our culture. A boy cannot play with barbies (which makes my existence illegal to them because I grew up with Barbies all around me.) These expectations we place ends up making the male culture toxic at some point. If a boy does not grow up being taught to respect women, be who they want to be, and to express their emotions, they will grow up to deal with emotions through anger towards others and criticize others who show emotion. This is likely why many boys don’t get along with girls, because they aren’t taught gender equality and they have to find other means of expressing themselves. This leads to other more serious issues later in life like demeaning women, sexual harassment, among other conflicts. It’s much easier to accept others when you are raised to accept yourself no matter who you are. Media, like always with stereotypes, doesn’t do a good job at breaking this pattern, but there are some great examples. Again, referring to the stereotype-shattering Final Fantasy XIII, Hope Estheim is a good example from my personal experience of a male character who doesn’t fall in line with the expectations of who a man is “supposed” to be.

Race Stereotypes

Racial stereotypes (commonly known as racial profiling) is very much a part of our culture today. While racism has been largely criminalized (and rightly so), it still persists as much or more than other issues like the ones I discussed earlier. The best example of this issue, is police brutality. Too many police officers have personal bias against African Americans even if they aren’t noticeably racist themselves. They see a man or woman of color, and they instantly feel endangered by the “unknown”. They fear that someone different than them is posing a threat to their well-being. Instead of approaching them like anyone else, they react with force because of the label their subconscious has placed on the person in question, even if said person in question doesn’t pose any threat whatsoever. Automatic assumptions of threats (like seeing someone hold a gun when it’s really just an everyday object) are made because of their fear. It’s no secret that this is a problem, so I don’t feel the need to explain this any further. There are countless of characters in video games and tv shows to represent the people of color, so I think for the most part the media does a fair job with representing them equally.

I realize that the media and the world aren’t perfect, and I don’t expect stereotypes to disappear any time soon. I understand they may be easy to fall victim to and difficult to eradicate from your mind due to the longstanding culture we’ve developed. But just take some time to think about what labels you’re placing on people and to separate that label from who they truly are, or better yet, ditch labels altogether. At the end of the day, we’re all human regardless of color, gender, and sexuality. So treat others like it.

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thesilverheroineproject · 6 years ago

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The monomyth known as

the Hero’s Journey

has become widely popular. Unfortunately,

the original

was clearly intended for men and not women. In response, some feminists have created their own, female-centered version, called the Heroine’s Journey. Lucky for us storytellers, both can be abstracted into a structure that works for a wide array of stories.

I’ll take you through a tour of The Heroine’s Journey by Maureen Murdock. She created this journey to help real women through life’s hardships, but it has a lot to offer as a story structure. In honor of its feminist roots, I will refer to the central character as the heroine, with female pronouns. However, it applies to male characters just as well.

To show you how it might work in a story, I’m going to develop an ongoing example. I’ll name my heroine Mara. As we go through the steps of the structure, she’ll ride beside us.

Why Use the Heroine’s Journey?

Like other mythic structures, you should use the Heroine’s Journey if it fits the story you want to tell. The structure of the Heroine’s Journey is particularly well suited for:

Character arcs: The stages of the original framework correlate with how the heroine feels, not what she is doing. I’ve externalized this framework, but it’s still a strong choice for a story about an internal struggle.

Quests for identity: The heroine may battle dragons and claim treasure, but the real core of the story is her struggle to find herself.

Themes of privilege and oppression: The heroine taking the journey must triumph despite living in a society that undervalues who she is. You don’t have to include privilege and oppression in your story, but if you want it, this framework will help you bring it out.

Most of all, the Heroine’s Journey is about a heroine who must find balanceas she struggles between the sides of a duality.

Finding Your Duality

First, identify the duality that lives within your heroine. It might be obvious. If you have a half elf, half human caught between those races, that’s clearly your duality. It can also be abstract concepts – perhaps your heroine’s caught between membership in a group and following her individual path. Or between the excitement of travel and the comforts of home. Whatever it is, both sides must be essential to her wellbeing. If you use the light side and the dark side of the Force, you’ll need to portray the dark side as constructive when used in moderation.

The structure refers to one side of the duality as the feminine, and the other as the masculine. Your next step is to pick which side of your duality is which. Use your discretion, but in general:

The feminine is the side of the duality that your heroine identified with as a small child. However, society undervalues the feminine. The story begins as the heroine chooses to reject it.

The masculine is the side of the duality that your heroine adopts as she comes of age. Society prizes the masculine, but in many tales it has been poisoned, misinterpreted, or taken to such extremes that it has become harmful. The heroine sets out on her journey by embracing it.

Example

Mara is a war orphan who was raised by the Sali people. They’re a peaceful farming culture that meditates every day and values quiet and contemplation. However, they’re a minority in the nation they live in. Their culture and society will be Mara’s feminine. Though they raised her, Mara is actually descended from a warrior culture, called the Barock. Once nomads, they’re now the ruling class. They will be her masculine.

The Eight Stages of the Heroine’s Journey

Here’s an overview of the stages of the journey. I lightly modified the stages from Murdock’s original structure to create a version that was easier for writers to follow.

1. Shift from Feminine to Masculine

During stage one, the heroine rejects the feminine in favor of the masculine. She may still be tied to the feminine, but she increasingly resents that attachment.

The Mother

She could have any number of reasons for rejecting the feminine, but a unhappy relationship with a feminine role model, known as the mother, is chief among them. To the heroine, the mother represents the worst of the feminine end of her duality. She might be powerless, unhappy, flawed, or just interpreted that way. The mother is threatening to the heroine because she’s afraid of becoming her, just as Luke Skywalker fears becoming Darth Vader.

Alternatively, the mother may be intimidating in her strength and perfection, particularly if you decide to make the feminine more privileged than the masculine in your story. The heroine may reject her to avoid feeling inadequate next to her.

The Father

As she rejects the mother, the heroine will embrace a metaphorical father. The father represents whatever the heroine admires in the masculine. He may have a dark side, or be a despicable person altogether, but she isn’t aware of that yet. He opens to the door to a path that leads away from the mother, and makes the heroine feel like she could succeed on that path. In turn, she does her best to gain his attention and approval.

He offers an escape from the mother, but at the same time he might rub in that the heroine is tied to the lowly feminine. He could praise her strength and brilliance as he tells her the feminine makes her weak and stupid. This will only spur her harder to prove herself in his eyes.

As a result of this dynamic, the heroine discards the feminine, and any part of herself tied to it.

Example

Mara has no memory of before she came to live with the Sali. She is content to live with them until she turns twelve, and is allowed to go into town to trade at the market. There she learns that everyone thinks of the Sali as cowards, because they hide behind their walls when the swarm comes, instead of helping to protect everyone. She also meets the Barock. They look like her, and they appear powerful and confident. She’s curious about them; the older warriors humor her by showing her how to handle their weapons.

But her Sali guardian doesn’t approve of the way Mara has begun to prize possessions she gained in the marketplace, or how she runs off to the market when she has nothing to trade. He forbids her from going to the market for a month, instead mandating regular meditation. This only makes her more determined to leave the Sali and join the Barock.

2. The Road of Trials

In stage two, the heroine sets off on a journey, departing the ordinary of the feminine and fully embracing the masculine. This might mean she actually leaves home, sword in hand, or it could just mean that she abandons sewing classes and goes fishing instead.

Regardless, she has something to prove to herself and others. In her new journey, she is surrounded by masculine allies. They still think she is less, or at least not one of them. In her heart, she believes they’re right. But that doesn’t mean she’ll give up. She’s fixated on showing everyone that they’re wrong.

For that, she needs big victories. She wants something to show others, like a trophy or treasure. In pursuit of her prize she will face threshold guardianswho try to deter her, and battle real or metaphorical monsters.

In her enthusiastic pursuit of the masculine, she forgets to stay in touch with her inner self. All her actions are designed to make her look better to her masculine allies; she never does anything because she simply wants to do it. She’s always compensating for the feminine lurking within her.

Example

At sixteen Mara finally comes of age. She forgoes the Sali coming of age ceremony, and abruptly leaves to join a band of Barock warriors. She wants to help them protect others against the swarm. The group agreed to take her, but not all of them think it was wise. They’ve been training with weapons their entire lives, and their skill is superior to hers.

So she trains day and night. Whenever there is a fight, she is out in front; no one can call her a coward. The mark of a great Barock warrior is the stinger of a swarm queen. She’s determined to capture one of her own.

3. The Illusion of Success

By stage three, the heroine has faced great trials and emerged victorious. She feels the thrill of success, and her confidence is bolstered by the applause of others. She has built an impressive, masculine reputation.

But that does not dull her appetite for adventure and victory in masculine pursuits. On the contrary, as soon as she finds success on one quest, she immediately sets out on another. Her victories are never enough, so she tries to do more and more to distract herself. She must maintain the outside validation and applause that makes her feel justified as a person.

Somewhere inside, she begins to realize that something is missing from her life. She feels stretched thin. She looks in the mirror, and isn’t sure she knows the person looking back. Even her victories seem empty. She counsels the great and powerful, but does not feel great and powerful herself.

Example

Mara collects her first queen stinger, and then another, and yet more. In her twentieth year, she destroys an entire swarm with a fire trap, and is hailed as the savior of the town. The Barock remark that she is remarkable despite her Sali upbringing, and she’s given a pass to watch as the High Council deliberates.

But the stingers and praise feel small and trivial to her. They were too long in coming and too hard won. Mara spends her spare time pouring over her battle maps, devising new strategies to try against the swarm. She never stops to rest, because she doesn’t know what she would do with herself if she did. She is nothing without her endless hunt of the swarm.

4. The Descent

In stage four, tragedy strikes. It could be a cataclysm that shakes the world, or a private matter that no one else knows of. Regardless, she is suddenly made aware of what’s really important to her. When her allies come to usher her along on the next adventure, she turns them down.

They tell her she is a coward. Or perhaps that she is selfish, impulsive, or whatever despised quality the masculine attributes to the feminine. But she doesn’t hear them. She is already far away, undergoing her own inner turmoil.

She begins a period of voluntary isolation, descending into a metaphorical cave. There time passes slowly. It’s dark; there are no sights or sounds to distract her. There she searches for herself.

She may have to sift through a maelstrom of emotions. Anger, remorse, and grief may all set upon her. She might be afraid to follow her thoughts and feelings to their conclusion, but she knows she must.

Example

Mara and her warriors are battling against a large swarm that is precariously close to a village. A lookout catches sight of the queen in the distance. There is just the barest of openings to pursue her. Mara takes it, leading a group after the queen.

She succeeds, but on her return, Mara finds her departure opened a breach in the defense. As a result, a nearby Sali settlement was overrun, killing everyone inside. The old memories of being in the Sali come back to her and she weeps over the fallen. She tells her warriors to move on, but she stays to bury every one of them. The Barock think she’s lost her nerve, but they eventually leave. She continues her work alone.

5. Meeting With the Goddess

The heroine begins stage five in her darkest hour. But she is rewarded for her struggle when she encounters the goddess.

The goddess symbolizes the true nature of the feminine, and the best of what the heroine left behind. The goddess imparts a great truth to the heroine about herself and the feminine.

When the heroine parts with the goddess, she feels reborn.

Example

Mara spends weeks burying the fallen. She leaves the destroyed settlement, but does not return to the Barock. Instead she wanders aimlessly.

Then Mara sees an old Sali city, abandoned since the invasion of the Barock long ago. She goes there and walks through what’s left of the ancient Sali temples and streets. Everything is familiar from her childhood, yet greater than it. She is filled with nostalgia and wonder. She remembers the happy days in her Sali settlement, and begins to miss it.

She is perplexed by how open the city is. It has no walls to block out the swarm. The only thing marking the city borders are enormous braziers. She can only conclude that before the Barock came, the Sali did not struggle against the swarm like they do now.

6. Reconciliation With the Feminine

In stage 6, the heroine heads back to the familiar surroundings she left behind. She finds and nurtures her inner child, the part of her left from before she rejected the feminine. She may seek to bond with the mother, and to gain new understanding about her.

She spends her time on simple tasks of a feminine nature. She receives no glory for her toil. Former allies find her and try to convince her to return to the way she was before her descent. Even the mother or others of the feminine may not welcome her back, remembering her rejection of them with bitterness.

But she continues her humble work. She maintains hope that if she continues down the path that feels right to her, she will be redeemed. She waits patiently for improvement.

Example

Mara returns to the settlement she was raised in. They tell her she is not a member of the Sali, because she did not undergo the coming of age rite of their people. But she refuses to go. She sits on their steps and fasts until they allow her to work the land beside them. She speaks with childhood friends, but they hesitate to socialize with her.

Her Barock warriors find her there. They tell her to get herself together and come back with them. She refuses. They warn her there is a swarm that is coming soon. She says she has other, more important work. Slowly, the Sali begin to trust her again. She undergoes the coming of age ceremony she missed.

7. Reincorporation of the Masculine

In stage seven, a crisis erupts in the realm of the feminine. In dealing with this crisis, the heroine once again faces the masculine side of herself, ready to emerge and dominate. She now understands the inner need that the masculine fulfills, and why she lost herself in it before. She recognizes that while the masculine was not her true goal, it was an important part of her journey.

And she refuses to let it take control. Instead, she channels her masculine impulses to positive ends. She solves the crisis with serenity and grace. When it is over, she asks for no rewards.

Example

There is a weakness in the wall around the Sali settlement. When the swarm comes it breaks and they leak through. Mara does not have her sword, so she grabs a staff and runs out to fight them. She blocks the opening in the wall, allowing the Sali to fall back and reach safety. She is tempted to continuing fighting, to see if she can outlast the swarm. But the Sali call her to retreat behind the next wall. They will survive without the crops the swarm will destroy. She listens, and retreats.8. The Union

By stage 8, the heroine has found balance between the feminine and the masculine. But she is not finished until she helps others find that balance as well. She uses her synergy of the feminine and masculine to bring everyone, on either side, together. If they are embattled by a great enemy, her leadership guides them to victory.

If it fits your story, this is also the time to discard your duality altogether. The heroine could reveal that it is false, arbitrary, or destructive.

Example

With permission from the Sali leaders, Mara acquires a new set of weapons. They are not flashy, but functional. However, she does not think that simply cutting down the swarm is the answer. The Sali traditionally burn a special incense when the swarm comes, but only inside because it’s not allowed elsewhere. She thinks this incense repels the swarm, and that is how the Sali used to survive before the Barock came. Mara convinces the Barock leaders of the town to try it.

The Sali gather the ingredients for the incense in large quantities, and prepare bonfires. Because there are no large and protected braziers to burn it in, Barock warriors must protect the fires from the swarm when it comes, or the creatures might put them out too quickly to have an effect. The swarm comes, grouping together and rushing at the fires. The warriors stay firm. Soon, the whole area is filled with the fumes from the incense. The swarm weakens and retreats. The town is completely undamaged.

The town leaders mandate the construction of large braziers immediately afterwards. The Sali and Barock design and build them together.

The Union With the Hero’s Journey

If you’re a structure-phile who’s been wondering this whole time whether your story could be both a hero’s and a heroine’s journey, your answer is “yes!” Mara just did it.

Here’s how the stages of these two structures match up:

Heroine’s JourneyHero’s Journey

Shift From Feminine to MasculineOrdinary World; Call to Adventure

The Road of TrialsCrossing the Threshold; Tests, Allies & Enemies

The Illusion of SuccessThe Approach

The DescentThe Ordeal

Meeting With the GoddessThe Reward

Reconciliation With the FeminineThe Road Back

Reincorporation of the MasculineThe Resurrection

The UnionThe Return with the Elixir

Because the hero’s journey focuses on external struggle, and the heroine’s journey focuses on internal struggle, they have a lot to offer each other.

Applying the Structure to Your Story

It’s important to remember that the Heroine’s and Hero’s Journeys aren’t recipes that should be followed precisely. Don’t add a literal goddess to your scifi story just because the Heroine’s Journey has a goddess stage. Instead, find a world-appropriate story element that symbolizes truth, and use that. It’s these larger, more general concepts that make the structures strong. Use them to find meaning and inspiration for your story, and bring them out. If breaking the rules of the journey makes your story feel stronger to you, do it.

#thesilverheroineproject #strong female characters #complex female characters #silver heroine #the heroine journey

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fauzhee10069 · 5 years ago

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Caato Higashikata, the case of a character getting overhyped

aka. Caato Higashikata, the most overhyped part 8 character or Caato and Jobin, the perfect mother & son duo.

Warning: This contains JoJolion (part 8) spoilers, if you are a fan of JJBA but haven’t caught up yet, I suggest to ignore this post (and/or save it from later). This was written when chapter 92 is the latest chapter in JoJolion. I’m not responsible for future errors and contradictions in this post caused by the retcon from the chapters onwards.

Yeah, currently she is one of the potential main villains nominated by the fans, besides Jobin and The Head Doctor.

However, lately Caato hasn't made any new appearance, but the hype from her fans is still raging. She is pretty cool character but sometimes her hype is getting annoying lately. It’s similar case with Suiryuu from One-Punch Man back during the Super Fight arc, when his fans were hyping him to be one of Saitama’s greatest threat, even as strong as Boros. Now, what is left is only the meme (“Suiryuu’s leg band is his limiter LOL”) and I don’t want Caato to be left as a meme.

This post is not about bashing Caato, it explains the problem in overhyping her. It contains about my thought about her, how I view her current role, the character study and how we should take her character at this moment.

Read carefully because if you’re speed-reading, you likely miss my points and accuse that I’m bashing her.

Contents:

What do you think about Caato?

Why don't you think that she will be the main villain?

What are the common reasons for Caato’s fans who want her to be the main villain and what are your thoughts?

What does Caato really need to be a proper main villain?

How about the other main villain candidates, Head Doctor and Jobin?

So how do you see Caato’s role currently?

How shall we consider Caato’s role right now?

<TL;DR is available at the end of the post>

What do you think about Caato?

Like what I said before, she is pretty cool character. Her first appearance is pretty iconic, when she was just released from prison and she coolly called her son. The way she threw away her wedding ring, symbolizes that she has left the past behind.

Then when she casually slipped into the Higashikata house, shocking her children and especially her ex-husband, owning Joshu for humiliating her. It’s pretty fun, reminds me of Joseph and Lisa Lisa’s interaction before he realized that she is his mother.

Then came the flashback, about her and Jobin. Her desire to save her son but on the other hand she also had the desire to live a long life. Resulted in her success in saving Jobin and staying alive by sacrificing the lives of stranger’s son, but at the expense of going to prison and becoming a criminal. Thus, sacrificing 15 years of her life, away from her family and freedom. And instead of lamenting, she casually returned to her normal life without considering her ex-husband’s objection while still supporting her son by providing information.

Her design is quite unique and attractive, though I don’t consider her being that hot and enchanting (not on Lisa Lisa and Lucy’s level). Her style and the way she dresses tends to be more eccentric (like any other Higashikatas).

Yeah, I ended up liking her character. She is normal as a character in JoJo standard but very fun as a mom character in every anime/manga. She is already a fine character, her portrayal is solid. She is already perfect as she is. Therefore, she does not have to be the main villain.

Why don't you think that she will be the main villain?

I have written my reasons before, why I won't like it if she becomes the Main Villain. To be honest, I don’t think her character concept and designation role are suitable for a main villain.

Introduction

First, her cool introduction. I like how Araki drew the angle and prespective in the day of Caato’s release scene. Her face that partially hidden then the angle trick that only reveal a little hint of how she looks. This surely gives us the vibe of major character, that she would be important in the future. Who is she and what is her role? Not only that, he also drew her fairly attractive in contrast to those ugly extras. The chapter also implied that there is something dangerous will be brought by this character.

Then does this mean that she is main villain? Nope. Araki’s introduction of how the main villain (and other major characters) appears is pretty unpredictable. Remember Lucy Steel? Her first appearance is “she was just there” besides Stephen Steel with no dialogue, her design (and face) also looked pretty generic (with that Steely Dan’s hairstyle). I didn’t expect her to be important, she was just a random girl happened to be Stephen’s eye candy (like Yuuya’s girlfriends). But then, fast forward later, she becomes the best girl in Steel Ball Run with prominent roles. Once she becomes important, Araki also draws her later as the hottest JoJo chick since Lisa Lisa.

Then, there is Sandman. We started the Steel Ball Run chapter with him. We saw his POV, he was greatly misunderstood by his fellow Indians from reading the white men’s books. If you are not familiar with JJBA and just happened to read this chapter as your first introduction to the series, you likely would misunderstand Sandman as the main protagonist. As we all know, the main protagonist must belong to the Joestar’s bloodline.

Then what about Caato and her cool intro? I can guarantee that she is important as a character. That’s all. I think between Caato and Lucy’s introductions, it’s only a matter of when Araki decides the role for his characters.

Conclusion: Caato might be a character with important role, full stop.

Character Background

What is Caato’s background? She is introduced as the mother of four Higashikata children, ex-wife of Higashikata Norisuke IV, the current patriarch of the family and the head of its family business (The Fruit Company). An ex-convict as her interesting background. Kinda weak character background for a main villain imo, but this does not automatically debunk her to be the main villain. Some JoJo main villains have very flashy backgrounds, we got non-human entity like The Pillar Men and that flashy vampire, mafia boss, the priest and U.S president. But we also got a mere salary man who wants a quiet life. Jobin himself is just an heir to his family (and business).

However, let’s compare their respective settings, especially in part 4. Kira Yoshikage is just a salary man with his hand fetish who wants a quiet life. Let’s focus on his salary man part first. While Kira only held such ordinary occupation as a main villain, the setting of part 4 in JoJo doesn't have anyone else in more glorious positions. Okay wrong, there are grandpa Joseph as a real estate tycoon and Jotaro as marine biologist. But what do their careers have to do with the plot and main goal in part 4? Nothing. Those career are not required to chase a serial murderer, it requires Stand users.

What about part 8? At least there are currently two people who hold more prominent occupations than the Higashikata mother and son duo. They are The Head Doctor and Holy Joestar-Kira. There was also Damo as the head of the smuggling cartel in the Locacaca Organization but he was already ruled out from the main villain candidate. Is there any correlation between their occupations and the main theme in part 8? Of course, because the main focus in this part is The Locacaca fruit. Both Head Doctor and Holy have conducted research on the fruit as scientists. Just like Caato and Jobin, all of them need (and are fighting over) that fruit. But Head Doctor and Holy were few steps closer in utilizing the fruit for greater purpose. Not only that, the Head Doctor is also the presumed mastermind of the Locacaca Organization and its members are extremely knowledgeable in the nature of the Locacaca.

Besides come from the rich family who can buy that worth hundreds of billions fruit, the lack of prominent position held by Caato and Jobin weakens their potential as the main villain, but that doesn't mean I eliminate them as candidates.

On the other hand, if I really want a female to be the main villain, surely I would prefer Holy over Caato. Sadly but fortunately (and just as I thought), chapter 92 seems to have debunked Holy as the potential villain.

Conclusion: Caato’s character background got challenged.

Objective and Motivation

What is Caato’s objectives likely? What I know so far are: she wanted to save her son’s life, freeing him from the Rock Disease. But it had been solved in the past. After she got released from prison, she wants the Higashikata’s fortune, to take back what she thinks her right. She holds revenge on her ex-husband due to him abandoned her. Her other possibly objective is helping Jobin to get the New Locacaca fruit to save her grandson, maybe… but so far she is still MIA.

Okay, let’s compare her objective with the other main villain’s candidates. What about The Head Doctor? What exactly is his goal? His goal is not very clear yet, but being the presumed mastermind of the Locacaca organization makes me feel that he has grand plan. We can guess that among of them is to gain the power of the New Locacaca's equivalent exchange along with the refinement of Locacaca fruit for medical applications. Also, his current objective is to secure the New Locacaca for its medicinal properties along with the benefit of at the very least the members of his organization and possibly the Rock Human race at large (implied by Urban Guerrilla).

With this, Caato’s motive becomes very personal and ordinarily plain but also more humane and relatable to us whereas the Head Doctor’s motive sounds more grandiose and idealistic. Though personally, I’m more interested in the Head Doctor’s objective because it sounds more interesting to be challenged by our protagonists. Besides that, I'm also not interested in the Higashikata family drama that Caato will bring likely. To get the family’s fortune and take over its business (by controlling her son ala queen mother?). Why would I bother to read a seinen battle manga with a conflict like this if I could just watch some TV dramas with similar plot? Not that I completely reject this plot, but for me this kind of conflict should not be the main focus (and goal) in this story.

Then, what about Jobin’s objective? He finally got the grafted branch and betrayed the Locacaca group. His priority right now is to save Tsurugi and cure him of the rock disease. He is also motivated to improve his family's business with innovation (with this, he often at odds with his father).

Caato might shares similar goal with Jobin, but for me her motivation to achieve one of her goals (in saving Tsurugi) sounds rather weak. I'm not saying that she doesn't care, of course she cares about her family. But I do not feel that her will to save her grandchild would be as strong as her will to save her son years ago. Because for me the family bond between mother and child is definitely stronger than grandmother and her grandchild.

Unless when she has lost all her children and her grandchild is the only offspring left for her (coughErinacough). Of course at this time Caato does not experience that, all of her children are still well and there. Moreover, we haven't seen her interaction with her grandchild yet, how could she develop a strong bond with him? But for Jobin, he was feeling a great urge to save Tsurugi, a feeling similar to what Caato has felt in “Mother & Child” flashback.

So, Caato’s motivation in fulfilling the objective to save her family is more likely for the sake of Jobin than for Tsurugi. Chances are, she will help Jobin due to her empathy. She might just do anything for her son Jobin, including saving her grandchild Tsurugi. But that is because it started from Jobin who really wanted to save his son. Because her motivation is not based on her own will, but from her son’s urge, this motivation is not suitable for a main villain but perfect for a supportive character (either for villain or protagonist).

But what about Pucci? Isn't his motivation and objective largely due to DIO’s influence? Yeah, that’s true. But in my opinion it is also because Pucci and DIO are already match-made-in-heaven (beginning with their friendship). I mean, they are perfect as friends. Before Pucci met DIO, he was already the person who would do anything he can to accomplish his goals, even kill and manipulate others, because he really believes it is for a greater good for everyone. After DIO influenced his belief, Pucci aspires to implement a plan long formulated by DIO to "achieve heaven" to obtain the true happiness. So, from the beginning they have the same goal and when Pucci can fulfill it (with DIO’s help posthumously), why not?

Even if you are not satisfied by this explanation, let’s say that Pucci and Caato's motivations are equally weak, the role of the main villain still favors Pucci more since DIO is posthumous character in part 6 (which is already dead and only appeared in flashbacks), unlike Caato and Jobin which are both still alive and exist in the storyline. Pucci’s objective also sounds grandiose and idealistic just like The Head Doctor. This is fit for the main villain. He achieved heaven by speeding up the time until the universe reset itself. Then the souls of the living would be transferred over to the 'new' universe. Everyone in the new universe gained a sort of clairvoyance, predicting the events just before they happen, something which Pucci believes is true happiness. Pucci’s desire is to make sure everyone knows about their destiny and have them accept it. Demanding alimony and divorce settlements or saving her family member is relatively small goal compared to attaining heaven.

If so, how about part 4 Kira? He doesn’t have any motivation besides wanting a quiet life with his girlfriend. Again, the theme in part 4 and part 8 is completely different. The main objective of part 4 is to pursue a serial murderer who cleverly manages to hide his identity and crime. That serial murderer is Kira Yoshikage, he is the main target in the story. Prior to become a target, he was casually committing his crime. Only when he realized that people began to hunt for him, he developed his new motivation to protect himself. Then, what is the main focus in part 8? It’s about breaking the curse and the Locacaca fruit. The target is not an individual, but rather an object. If so, how will we get the main villain? Either we get none or it will be someone in a high position and has a very big influence, someone that is closest to take the advantage of that fruit, the biggest mastermind or… character that we’re already very familiar with, Jobin. So, comparing part 4 and part 8 wouldn’t work (besides they took in the same setting).

Conclusion: Caato either needs motivation that will affect many characters or a high ground. It doesn't have to be grandiose, but her motivation must be independent from anyone especially Jobin.

What are the common reasons for Caato’s fans who want her to be the main villain and what are your thoughts?

”Her Stand had space-themed ability, just like D4C.”

Caato's Stand appears to take the form of a simple deck of playing cards. However, by placing an object between two cards of the deck, she can store that object in the deck itself as if nothing was there. She can store objects that are considerably larger than the deck, as seen when she brings forth a chair. Currently, its name is still unknown. “Placing an object between two cards” part kinda reminds of D4C in application. Many people also consider Caato's Stand to be space-themed like D4C. Considering that the main villains’ Stands were time-based on the original verse, many fans assume that the main villain’s Stand in the rebooted SBR verse will be space-themed. Thus, the hype of Caato's Stand and conspiracy theory of Kaato as part 8 main villain began.

Not only that, Caato also successfully surprised her family when she managed to sneak into his residence suddenly. How can it possible? Did she use her Stand? It's possible, but this is not always the case. Instead of Stand ability, it could just be a simple comedy scene. You can’t really judge the character’s power from a comical scene, do you think that Nami is physically stronger than Luffy just because she can punch him occasionally? Seriously. Judging a character’s power would be more accurate if that happens in a tense/menacing moment. This is just another fun dynamic of The Higashikata family, but this time also featured the mom/grandma. Come on, she just wanted to be reunited with her family.

If you still demand in-universe explanation, well... JJBA has a rule that Stand users with the same bloodline are be able to feel each other's presence. Since all members of the Higashikata family are Stand users, they should be able to sense each other's presence. But as Joseph from part 3 had said that they are unable to tell exactly whom and how many they sense.

SC chapter 138: DIO’s World - Part 5

if this rule still applies, it would make sense that those Higashikata did not even realize that someone (who is related by blood) had sneaked in their home and they were not aware that their numbers were increasing.

The D4C-alike theory sounds nice but let's look at the facts we have currently: has it been confirmed that Araki will use space as the new theme for his main villain’s Stand? Or will he try out new creative ways by not sticking to the theme? Time-based Stand started in part 3 and we could only see the pattern after at least two villains onwards have the same type of ability. But what about part 1 and part 2? The main villains did not use Stand at that time didn’t have time-based ability, are we going to ignore this possibility in the future?

What I see so far in Caato's Stand is that it works similar to Enigma but limited to her 52 deck of cards, of course it’s still early to judge that its ability is only limited to that, given that the first time we saw D4C, it wasn't very impressive either. But it’s also too soon in hyping that she will demonstrate OP ability. It’s hard to predict whether we will see further into her Stand again or not, but we need to if we really want her to be the main villain. However, problem is that we are getting closer to the climax and end-game. Is there still enough time to hype Caato? Speaking of further abilities, do you remember when Jobin said that there is hidden ability from Speed King that he had not demonstrated yet? Flash forward, we finally have seen more of Speed King ability in his fight with Ojiro.

In addition, there are also those who say that Caato uses cards as medium for her Stand, her French playing cards are used to symbolize the game and she likely holds the trump card, meaning that she would be the master of the game and likely would be the winner. What is the game? The main plot in part 8: the race of the Locacaca fruit. This also related to her name being named after “Card”. But wait, doesn’t Daiya’s Stand also use a game namely chess as a medium? Even compared to playing cards, chess game is closer to symbolizing strategy and mastermind. Moreover, California King Bed’s ability deals on memory, it's more fitting for mastermind.

Read further: Caato’s Stand and its mechanism so far

”Her eyes look split, she could be rock human, or fusion human like Josuke.”

Due to her strange eyes close up in her first introduction chapter coupled with her youthful look, a quite popular theory emerged that Caato’s having the split eyes like Josuke due to the strange dark shadow in the middle of her iris. Speculation that she is a rock human or fusion human of two individuals like Josuke had sprung up (and it still continues among her fans).

However when the official colored JoJolion chapters got released, the coloring team didn't color Caato’s eyes in two different colors. Why did they decide that?

I had tried to break down it and this is the result:

For further explanation, please click here.

”She looks young and the reproduction between human male and rock-human female is possible now, she could be rock human.”

What about her youthful look? Sure, she indeed looks young for a 52 years old gilf compared to Holy who’s also 52. But unlike Lisa Lisa who is indeed considered to be ageless in the story (being a hamon user, Joseph estimated her being around 20s and was shocked when he discovered that she was actually 50), Caato’s sudden appearance in front of her family only surprised them and made them wonder who she is? No comment about her supposedly youthful look, Hato even immediately mentioned her age correctly.

Not only that, her youthful look seemed to have been debunked once Holy made her new appearance in recent chapter and she is no less young looking than her. In the end, this is just a matter of Araki’s new art style. In short, Caato’s youthful looking ended up being irrelevant to the plot.

Read further: Caato Higashikata, is she Lisa Lisa 2.0?

Apart from those matters, chapter 81 also stated that rock humans are able to have sex with humans, but they’re always incompatible (相容れない) with them. It’s still not known whether it means “they can’t reproduce” or “conflict will be inevitable”. But chapter 46 actually said in the pages about Rock Humans that they can’t have children with humans. Unfortunatelly, I could not check whether there is a translation error or not because I can’t find the Japanese raw with the size large enough to be able to read the kanji.

However, recent chapter of JoJolion (99) updated the information regarding the rock-human that only rock-women and humans can have children, but it also showed us how rock-women give birth to their children. If Caato was a rock-human, then that would've meant everyone except Norisuke and Mitsuba were rock-humans, and Tsurugi wouldn't have existed.

Read further: Is Caato a Rock-Woman?

”She got that menacing Aura and she might has hidden agenda, what if she is the mastermind behind all this?”

Based on the theory above, it develops into conspiracy that she becomes the mastermind behind The Locacaca Organization, even she is allegedly the Head Doctor’s superior. I don’t know what basis could have produced this theory other than the assumption that she is a rock human. Could it be due to her menacing aura and being full of mystery? Or how Jobin is being respectful to her? Or maybe is it because her little charm as the officers in the prison like her, because main villain always needs charisma (but Kira and Diavolo). But, of course when you’re leading something, you need charisma (except Diavolo).

We all know that menacing aura, especially among JoJo females, is not limited to villains or people with very high positions. Remember Lisa Lisa’s cold glare to Joseph during his pillar training?

Or Yukako’s horror aura to Koichi in that window scene which is so iconic till it becomes a meme?

Even though menacing Caato looks the best thanks for Araki’s evolving art style, her simple cold glare and menacing aura do not guarantee her to be the main villain… just not enough yet. Yeah sure, her family were wary of her, but it's more because Hato heard the little info about her mother that she was in prison for a murder that she doesn’t recall the full story, Joshu was wary of this unknown woman and Norisuke IV was surprised to her sudden arrival as she did not notify him first. Nothing about her being ultra dangerous.

What about Jobin’s respect for her? Isn't it nice to have a main villain who is well respected… by one person? Why is being respected by Jobin making her potential main villain? Most likely because after all this time the fans predicted Jobin as the main villain, they saw at him as he is subject to her. I think the train of thought like this is still too hasty. For me what's wrong with a child respecting his mother? Of course Caato deserves his respect, she is a loving mother, wanting to save her son’s life from the rock disease. It might sound selfish since she didn't want to sacrifice her life but it’s also very humane. Perhaps she thought that Jobin shouldn’t lose his mother figure too young. Moreover, Jobin is not the only child she had. What about his younger siblings if they have to live without their mother. Although this very ironic, because despite being alive, she eventually left her children and made them grow up without mother figure. Jobin’s respect to his mother is exactly the same as Joseph’s respect to his grandma Erina.

Then, since Jobin shows his respect to Caato, there is also emerging rumor that Caato is controlling Jobin as the mastermind. Does this mean that all this time Jobin's actions have been under her control? How is that possible? Since Jobin might had been the only child who had ever visited her in prison, do you think she often instructed him to do something at that time? So far, have we really seen Caato give any instructions to him? I do not remember. What I can remember the most is when she called and warned Jobin that:

“There is something fishy between Norisuke IV and Josuke but actually I don't really know what. I was married with him for years so I know his habits. There must be something your father is hiding now, you must be careful!” (JJL ch 59 "Dolomite's Blue Lagoon - part 1")

What I really take in her character based on this scene is that she is very supportive mom, taking her time to help Jobin while she also has her own business with Norisuke IV, not controlling him. This reminds me of Yoshihiro’s role in part 4. She even caught their suspicious behavior from them based on her spending time with Norisuke IV as his wife. This kind of intuition commonly can be felt by any married women, no need to be the mastermind to be able to do it.

Is it possible that Caato is the true mastermind? How does she take care of her organization? If indeed she is secretly managing a secret organization, since when? If it's been a long time and she was very busy with it, why did she married a human who is fruit parlor owner, wasting her life for around 17 years and produced 4 children with him? For what purpose? How does she manage of her organization while hiding this fact from her family?

”Surely she was very busy managing the organization.”

If it's been since she was being incarcerated, how was it done? More importantly, does Jobin know? If Caato is indeed leading a secret organization, there's still a lot we need to see: what kind of organization is that? How does Caato run it? What is its main goal? Who are the members? When will they begin to act?

I also hate when they treat Caato as if she is omniscient. One thing that is certain is that she did not know about Mamezuku Rai, the plant appraiser employed by Norisuke IV a year after she was incarcerated (unless Jobin tells her later). Then:

This could have double meaning as well, either she really just learned that the house has been renovated or simply commented about the renovation (I still bet the former). Take a note that the renovation was done 2 years ago (she was still incarcerated atm). But if Caato already knew about renovation (and that shaddy business), how could she not figure out the details of Norisuke IV and Josuke’s secret plans?

As for Locacaca, we still don’t know whether Caato knows about it or not. However, Holy is already ahead of her as Holy even tried to do scientific analysis of it.

Lastly, I also don't think that Caato is really that powerful (as in influence/not Stand) as she was unable to get out of prison earlier (unless you argue that she did it on purpose). Even being a model prisoner didn’t grant her remission. In fact, I become suspicious, is there anyone who intentionally keep her in prison?

”Caato is the true mastermind who led/works with Damokan group as Jobin is just a gofer.”

There is also theory that Caato is the true mastermind from Higashikata family who works with Damokan group in money-laundering and smuggling the Locacaca, instead of Jobin. How so? I bet the theory was born because of this little panel:

They said the timeline with Jobin does not match, I don’t know it doesn’t match with what? I guess it’s about the time between “when Jobin first met Damokan group” and when “Kira discovered Rock Humans’ existence and their illegal fruit business”. Regarding the timeline, actually I've just compiled the timeline of JoJolion events. The thing is that Jobin met Damokan group around 2008 whereas Kira discovered the Rock Humans & it’s shady business in 2009. The key panels here:

JJL chapter 30: King Nothing

JJL chapter 72: The Northern Higashikata Estate, The Orchard

JJL chapter 49: Hato-chan Brought a Boyfriend Over – part 3

So, the time is still match if Jobin is the one who started cooperating with Damokan group. Even if Caato was the actual perpetrator, shouldn't she was still in prison at the time? Can you guarantee that she can act in the outside world while incarcerated? If we look at her backstory, we don't see her using her Stand at all, so we can assume that she didn't have Stand yet at the time (or that her Stand was useless).

They said that this could be a hint:

I think she just meant: “I was helping your business too, how dare you ignore my merits just because I went to prison?”

Her claim that she also helped the family business running smoothly for 15 years is a hint that relates to smuggling, perhaps because the 15 years she said happened to coincide with the length of time she was in prison. However, this word still have double meaning, it’s still possible that 15 years she meant is the time during her marriage with Norisuke IV prior to her incarceration and divorce. When she got arrested, Jobin was a teenager who was around 15 or older (hm… actually he was 17 at the time).

Even if her 15 years of contribution was done during her time in prison, how is that automatically related to the smuggling of Locacaca? I don’t think that Damokan group started operating as long as 15 years ago, at least there is no hint yet that the Rock Humans (and Locacaca) had been invading Morioh 15 years ago.

Read further:

JoJolion Cardspiracy: Caato and Damokan group

What actually happened in Mamezuku Rai’s past? (chapter 99 spoilers)

”She already got her flashback.”

First, what is the purpose of flashback? Flashback is a literary device in a story that provides some background information on events, situations or a character's past history; flashback’s often used to reveal some important truth about a character's past. Have we ever seen Kaato on a flashback? Yes, on JoJolion chapter 64 “Mother & Child”. What did we get from that chapter? The reason why Caato went to prison. She wanted to cure Jobin of his Rock Disease through Equivalent Exchange without sacrificing her life. When a random boy (who bullied Jobin) was dying (due to Speed King’s attack), that's when the opportunity arrived. Jobin successfully cured and Caato was still alive. Alas a few years later the boy's body was found and Caato became the only suspect (and went to prison).

The question is: who is this flashback about? Certainly Jobin and Caato. But who does this flashback actually belong to? If we look at whose point of view was being used in this flashback, this actually used Jobin’s point of view. How so? Surely this flashback have been told by Tsurugi’s POV. But let's think of it, where did he hear this story from? Certainly from his father who is none other than Jobin. It makes no sense if Tsurugi got this story directly from Caato, Tsurugi is currently 10 years old whereas Caato was incarcerated 15 years ago.

That sounds possible, but are you sure? Unless Tsurugi ever visited her grandma in prison so that Caato got a chance to tell him this story in her version. But I can tell that chapter “Mother & Child” uses Jobin’s perspective. At the beginning of the flashback we saw Jobin and Caato in one location. They were still in the same place until Jobin finally joined the scout group. After that we see how Jobin was bullied by the Boy-scout Bully.

Until finally the bully got attacked by Speed King and Jobin rushed to his house and went to see Caato in a panic. Jobin who was deeply scared and did not know what to do really needed his mother’s help. That's when we see Caato took an action and made her decision to do equivalent exchange for Jobin. Jobin had constantly been seen in this flashback whereas there was moment where we didn't see Caato. We have never seen what she was doing when Jobin was away.

The flashback tells us nothing about Caato or Jobin’s motivations, but it serves well in showing the growth of a certain character. Who is it? Of course it’s Jobin. What we got from Caato is that she wanted to save her son but also wanted to stay alive, she succeeded but had to pay for her action by going to prison, full stop. What we got from Jobin is that this incident and what his mother had done have evoked his ambition, he aspires to do innovation for his family business, expanding the trade, getting rid of his competitors and elevating his family’s social standing, to be on top. Despite her absent for 15 years, Caato is the parent who had the biggest influence on Jobin, becoming what he is today.

If to be a main villain requires flashback, sadly this is not her flashback, this one belong to Jobin. Most people focus on the theme of Stand ability as the main villain pattern. If we really rely on pattern to determine the main villain, we shouldn’t forget the flashback that shows the growth of main villain, aka childhood flashback.

Then, whose childhood flashback did we get in part 8? Of course it’s Jobin, again.

Read further: Caato Higashikata, 34 chapters (8 volumes) MIA and still overhyped

What does Caato really need to be a proper main villain?

Her own motivation which does not depend on anyone and will affect all players on the game

In her case, a motivation that is not shared with Jobin and the motivation/objective that will interconnect with other characters, affecting their actions and in this part 8, it shall be related to the Locacaca.

The Higashikata alimony dispute can’t be the main villain’s objective because that objective will only have an internal impact on the Higashikata family, not on the Head Doctor, Holy’s side and Locacaca Organization. The desire to cure her grandchild Tsurugi which requires Locacaca is also not good enough to be her main villain’s motivation because it more belongs to Jobin. Caato requires motivation that comes from her individually and that is not the kind of motivation "to help muh family."

However, those two motivations/objectives do not devalue Caato as a character, the alimony dispute makes her stand out as a character that has her own motivation and doesn’t depend on other characters. Helping Jobin will make her a very supportive character that's a solid role.

Flashback that really tells about her, preferably her childhood (or at least her origin that is outside the Higashikata)

We still need to know more about her a lot, where was she born from and where was her social standing prior to her married life with the Higashikata? How was her childhood life? Her origin? Why did she marry Norisuke IV? And most importantly what past events caused her to be the individual we know today?

How her current position can work to achieve her goals

Will being an ex-convict and Higashikata widow really help her achieve her goals? If not, is there any other status/position that she is currently hiding?

Further ability of her Stand

We need to know the name of her Stand and what else it can do? Of course she also needs ability that must be very difficult to be challenged to by most Stand users.

How about the other main villain candidates, Head Doctor and Jobin?

Head Doctor Akefu (Tooru?)

The head doctor (which his real identity might be Tooru) already seemingly has a grand objective that sounds grandiose and idealistic. A rock human being, allegedly he was the leader of the Locacaca Organization and the mastermind. Even if it’s false, as The Head Doctor working in T.G. University Hospital, it was clear that he’s holding a high position. His Stand, 「Wonder of U」 is already considered dangerous, seeing how our protagonists are struggling with it.

However, his real identity and his origin as an individual is still unknown, his personal motive is also still in the dark. How about his personality? What things he likes? What is his hobby? His relationship with other characters? Daily habits outside his role as villain?

Even so, slowly but surely, his identity is being revealed. Chapter after chapter increasingly assures us that Tooru will be the actual “Head Doctor” that is undercover. Chapter 99 confirmed that he is a rock-human and also the perpetrator who ruined Rai's family & his life in the past. It's clear that Tooru also wants New Locacaca. It’s also implied that being a rock-human, he is older than he looks, which means that there is still a possibility that we will see his connection with the pasts that have not been revealed yet. We need to see more about him and I’m sure we will, because Araki is putting his focus on Tooru’s character arc right now.

Jobin Higashikata

We already know who he is and are pretty familiar with him, we know what thing he likes, his relationship with his family, and his background is pretty clear. We have seen his flashback, we also have seen plenty enough about Speed King. The motivation is not grandiose and idealistic but very humane, he only cares to his family and it’s always about his family. He has a pretty good standing but his position making his relation with the Locacaca less direct compared to Head Doctor. Although he is my best main villain candidate, he is still a wild card in reality. He is closer to be a villain but there is also possibility that he would be reluctant ally for Josuke.

So how do you see Caato’s role currently?

Despite her relatively small appearance, Araki really wrote her character pretty well. We can see a little of her personality, her little background and her relationship with her family. I’ve seen her own motivation as stand-alone individual. Her character is humane and relatable, wanting to save her son while wanting to stay alive as well. Her character is established based on the mother’s role. Like all mothers, she was willing to sacrifice her life for her son. However, her action makes an interesting contrast to Norisuke IV and his mother, both of them chose to sacrifice their own lives. By sacrificing other people's lives, she might be seen as a selfish person. But perhaps because she had more than one child, she needed to stay alive so that they won’t lose their mother figure too young. Eventually she had to pay for her action by going to prison as another form of her sacrifice. Ironically, her selfish way in saving Jobin made her lose 15 years of mother role for her children. Nevertheless, she readily accepted that consequence.

Caato is the parent who earned Jobin’s respect more than Norisuke IV. Her sacrifice (which Norisuke IV did not do) had a huge influence on Jobin and his growth, her action had shaped him, making him the man we know today. Even at this present time, as a mother, she remains supportive for Jobin by trying to warn him and provide him information as best as she could. Jobin often mentions her positively.

Caato’s portrayal might be largely based on the mother’s role, but her characterization doesn’t always revolve around her being a mother. This is shown by her personal intention who wants half of the Higashikata fortune as the payback for her sacrifice. She wants to take back what's rightfully hers.

Only appeared in a few chapters, Araki successfully wrote Caato as a solid character. As a character with "the mom" role, she is already in relatively high tier compared to the other JoJo moms. Regarding her role against the protagonists, she is still the wild card. We do not know yet whether she will fight them or help them later, what's clear is that she's on Jobin’s side. However, I agree with JoJo wikia which compares her role to Yoshihiro (part 4 Kira’s dad).

How shall we consider Caato’s role right now?

I think we should just wait and see, surely she is an interesting character. There is nothing wrong in wanting a female gets a major role, especially as the main villain. Because so far we have never gotten a female as the main villain in JJBA and this is the era where a lot of entertainment media become "woke" and sided with feminism. However in Caato’s character, her potential to be main villain is still weak and not visible yet, although I feel there is already the potential of her to be a villain. My suggestion is we should treat her as a wild card character for the moment.

So for those of you who want Caato to be the main villain, please shut up, just wait and see! Stop overhyping her in every JoJo thread that she will be the main villain, at least don't treat her like she already is, especially when JoJolion's focus is on the Head Doctor right now. Sure, I still want to see more of Caato again as I believe that her role is not finished yet.

To be honest, I also want a JoJo main villain to be female, but with how Caato was created and established, I don’t think that she is set to be the main villain. Sure, it's still too early to say, if indeed Araki would make her the main villain, hopefully he could play it correctly. I also want to see a female main villain in JJBA, but I won’t be disappointed if the main villain we get in this part 8 is another man. Because honestly, I don’t want JJBA becomes woke just for the sake being woke by putting political correctness and feminist agenda over the quality of storyline.

Caato are you ok?

So, Caato are you ok?

Are you ok Caato?

They don’t want you

They don’t think you

Will be main villain

”I’m okay, so what?”

TL;DR: Caato is already a well written character, she doesn’t have to be the main villain to make her standing out and be a prominent character, not being the main villain doesn't make her lack of anything. It’s fine if you hype her as the main villain but we still need to see her further. So please don't tell us that she will definitely become the one as if it becomes a fact. There is still long way to go and we need to see more of her.