#describing kindness in an otherwise cruel character

[the-insomniac-emporium]

almost anytime someone out of the blue likes one of my old stories (aka anything pre RE8/not on the masterlist) I'll go back and read it. sometimes it's a nice reminder of how I've improved.

other times it's like. what the fuck. did I let the devil borrow my soul for a weekend in exchange for what must have been the best thing I'd write that year??!!

anyway. I'm not going to reblog the post in question since it's from, uh, my more questionable era. but there's one line that has stuck with me ever since I wrote it: "a glimpse of God in the devil's eyes"

[vintagegeekculture]

"The Ayla Descent Theory" of Mary Sues

"Children of the Earth," Luis Royo.

After the success of Jean M. Auel's stone age novel Clan of the Cave Bear, there was a very lengthy trend in the publishing world of stone age adventure novels aimed at women that lasted for a decade and only really fizzled out in the early 2000s. After all, "Ayla," the name of the main character of these books, was one of the top baby names of 1987.

The target audience for these books were weird midwestern aunts....you know, the Mists of Avalon and the Mercedes Lackey/Valdemar audience. Therefore, the Clan of the Cave Bear imitators also featured things of interest to the weird aunt audience: Scotland, redhaired women with sharp tongues, commanding wolves, Ireland, Feminism, riding herds of wild horses bareback in scenic locations, Wicca, matriarchial religions, swimming with dolphins....but above all else, American Indians (a culture this audience finds interesting, as anyone who has seen the home decor of a typical weird midwestern aunt can attest), with many novels set in Ice Age America, like Children of the Dawn, Reindeer Moon and the First Americans. Decades later, this audience would form the core fandom for Game of Thrones, and the character of Khaleesi Targaryen in particular.

These books almost assuredly still have a place of honor on the book shelf of the weirdest woman at your job.

Nearly all of these imitators have two of Clan of the Cave Bear's defining traits: 1) a supremely beautiful, usually blonde athletic and statuesque main character over 5'11" who does not realize that she is so beautiful and desirable, who is good at a variety of different skills and is friendly with animals like hawks, dolphins, or horses, and 2) a love triangle between this aforementioned blond but innocent Venus and two bodybuilder muscular he-men cave hunks, one of whom is a blonde guy with long rock star hair (it was the 80s), and the other being a buff black guy with dreadlocks (or otherwise ethnic in some way).

The heroine usually picks the blonde guy in the end, but the audience usually picks the ethnic guy.

In the late 90s and early 2000s, in the broader culture of fandom, it was fashionable to dump on "Mary Sues" (indulgent wish-fulfillment author personas in fanfiction) and the people who wrote them. Accusations of creating a Mary Sue approached a kind of hysteria. Even at the time, when everyone else was getting swept up in this, I thought that getting mad about aunties writing fanfiction showed a loss of perspective, and was a bit silly. Thankfully, we've benefitted from moral evolution: the consensus in fandom now is that writing aspirational characters is a harmless activity that tests a young writer's creative muscles, like the half-Vulcan pretty new ensign on the Enterprise that Kirk and Spock both fall in love with, or a new archer girl who Legolas falls in love with joining the Fellowship. This hate walked hand in hand with insecurities, in the exact same way that people worried about their appearance or concerned with their weight are often cruel to fat people, and there were frequent tests if this or that character in your writing was a Mary Sue.

There was a running joke in this 2000s culture of anti-self insertion called the "Ayla Descent Theory of Mary Sues." The joke was that Mary Sues came into existence because Ayla, the beautiful, athletic heroine of the Clan of the Cave Bear novels, was the ancestor of their entire lineage, as the first known Mary Sue to ever exist in the historical record, described as being a statuesque blonde who did everything right and was always at the center of love triangles, and who changed human history.

According to the running joke, Mary Sues everywhere were descended from Ayla from Clan of the Cave Bear, and she was the first to exist, and Ayla was the explanation of where all the Enterprise's new ensigns main characters fall in love with come from.

[sepublic]

            I find it interesting that even in the epilogue, four years after Camila has had time to be more acquainted with the Boiling Isles under non-threatening circumstances, she’s still creeped out by it. And this is fine! The narrative isn’t condemning her for it. It’s not demanding that she enjoy these things like Luz does; It’s just asking for her to respect its existence, and to support Luz’s interest in it and love her too.

            In For the Future, we see Camila horrified by what she encounters in the Boiling Isles; But she also spends the whole episode pushing through it anyway for Luz’s sake, being there for her as much as she can. Because she knows these are just feelings and nothing more, and she’s choosing to be kind in spite of them.

            By contrast, in this same episode we find out Belos does feel empathy and guilt towards his brother and nephew, he wasn’t purely 100% only interested in what they could do for him; And yet, he’s still just as cruel and violent towards them. He’s still cruel and violent towards witches and demons, sometimes using the ‘tragedy’ of Caleb as a justification. Hell, he even resents the ghosts for making him feel guilty, telling them to “Shut up.”

       ��    Isn’t that fascinating? Disgust is portrayed as a morally neutral thing. It’s not an indictator of morality, it doesn’t mean something is bad… But it doesn’t mean the person who feels it is bad, either, people don’t consider that enough. It’s just a gut reaction. Sometimes people have internalized biases they need to work through, but other times, it’s pretty harmless as long as they’re self-aware and don’t do anything bad over it; This even applies to the process of unlearning the aforementioned biases.

            Likewise, empathy and guilt don’t actually, necessarily make you a good person. The example with Belos shows how some people will actually be crueler because of empathy, because they resent people for being upset, and thus making them feel upset because they naturally empathize. Hence those who get angry at people in pain and need for “ruining their vibe,” because now they feel bad too.

            There’s a juxtaposition in how Camila seems genuinely more scared and creeped out by the isles on a visceral level than Belos, and yet Camila has the common sense to still respect and fight for its existence; Whereas Belos chooses to make a mountain out of a molehill because it’s not just hatred, it’s pride. It all boils down to his ego at the end of the day. In many ways, other characters struggle with dilemmas more difficult than Belos’, yet still do better than he ever has.

            This all plays into my thesis that TOH is arguing your feelings are secondary to your actions, and that the latter is what decides whether you’re a “good” person or not. In the end, someone who’s had a good life and was a dick for selfish reasons, only to choose to be better, is more sympathetic and morally superior than someone who suffered a million unfair grievances, and proceeded to dole out a million unfair grievances, with no sign of stopping; Especially from an IRL perspective, and I think our IRL feelings sometimes influence how we engage with media, and vice-versa.

            That’s why the finale –and the show as a whole– emphasizes choices, over inherent, instinctual feelings. A decent chunk of Camila’s arc could be summarized by the word Squick; In the sense that it’s meant to describe things that one feels personal disgust and discomfort towards, but otherwise has no moral condemnation or problem with; It’s just a Me thing, is the point of Squick. Camila is like that sex-repulsed ace who nevertheless supports kink at Pride.

            That gets me to how my ruminations were prompted by a similar observation; How some people lump sex-repulsed aces in with the oppressive Puritans who hate sex in anything, but that’s not true at all. Obviously there’s the rare Exception, but as a whole, sex-repulsed aces are on the side of other queers who ARE sexual and are demanding to let these things be normalized; It’s not for them, but they have no moral condemnation and will fight for it in solidarity anyway, especially since both are hated by the system regardless. Sound familiar?

[subzeroparade]

lore question: do you think laurence had good intentions when he brought the old blood to yharnam, or do you think it was entirely out of self interest?

I think, like with any compelling/relatable character, it's a mix of both. 

(Caveat: the way I describe Laurence’s character here is mostly based on how I write him, since it requires the most engagement with lore while being thoughtful enough to build and shape a believable person with a compelling arc). 

I think there’s a significant degree of sincerity and good intentions that drive him to bring the old blood to Yharnam. Based on the info we get in-game, the scourge does not manifest immediately, and the effects of the old blood are real and miraculous. (He also benefits personally from the effects of the blood in my headcanon, so in a sense he sees himself as proof, and denial of that is unjust and frustrating). He seems to believe it’s worth abandoning a career/life at Byrgenwerth and drawing the ire of his mentor to bring this into the world. But surely there’s bit of ego there too, a bit of “if you won’t do it, then I will.” Part of the way I interpret Laurence is through personal experience - I left academia right when my career should have kicked off. So when write him, I write from that point of view of realising now that I’ve left, I need to do something to prove myself - to prove this wasn’t a waste. I think the old blood is the ideal vehicle for personal ambition, too. It’s for the good of the people, but also his own reputation, his own need to be important, to have done something worthwhile, to prove Byrgenwerth wrong.  Most of us who were at one time deeply entrenched in academia (professionally) can have a hard time seeing past it, and use it to measure our worth. When you leave, unless you have another kind of identity to latch on to, it’s easy to become unmoored. 

But I’d argue the way he went about it - via the Church and the acquisition of political power, and the kind of Foucauldian control of the definition of healing and normalcy vs insight and/or madness, for example - all these are obviously coloured by a kind of pragmatic cruelty. I don’t think any of Laurence’s bad or heartless decisions (the ashen plague if you attribute it to the Church, or the horrors of the Orphanage) are couched in wanton cruelty - wanton cruelty is usually not very smart. They are strategic sacrifices he thinks are justified in the pursuit of his goals. I imagine when everything is going well it's easy to point to the blood’s benefits and say they outweigh the cost. But upon the emergence of the scourge I think he would find greater need to justify himself, rationalise his actions, even the worst ones, by the notion that if we can just fix the blood, get ascension to work properly, this will have been worth it. Rather than back off, he doubles down. To do otherwise would be to admit failure. To admit that the whole enterprise, and everything that props it up, is worth nothing.

Someone left a comment on my work once describing Laurence as “cruel in a way you'd not expect” which I really like. I think he’s much more interesting without this dichotomy of blatantly tyrannical vs entirely good-intentioned. It’s a question of circumstance, of which buttons can be pushed and which sacrifices can be made, and how to weigh the value of whole city, or a single person, against the goal of ascension/a cure for the scourge. 

It’s also why I love thinking about the period where he starts to lose his grip on the situation, and begin to change; and why I write the Moon Deal going down as it did - another thing, perhaps the most critical one, that he thought he’d have control over - and instead that spirals out of his grasp, too, and he loses the thing he never really wanted to sacrifice in the first place. The shock of it, for a character so in control of the narrative, is irresistible.  anyway tldr I forgive him like the French forgive Napoleon. Ty for the ask! Here's a little recent holyvicar doodle.

[illarian-rambling]

Thanks for the tag @mysticstarlightduck!

Character Profile Tag

Full Name: Ivander Montane

Kind of Being: Mixed human, elven, dwarven, siren, and Daramakti (alien, but he doesn't know that) heritage

Age: 31

Gender: cis man

Appearance: Ivander is a man of medium height and an unremarkable build, with a hawkish sort of face. His skin is pale enough to show off the blue blood beneath, lending him a cerulean hue. His eyes, also, are a shade too turquoise to be human. His hair is black and slicked back, and he has a pencil mustache and goatee he keeps neatly trimmed. His ears are oddly double-pointed. All of this is an illusion, however. Ivander’s true face is ruined by a flesh-eating curse. He wears bandages under his clothes to keep the blood off, and much of his ears, nose, lips, and eyelids are beginning to be eaten away. The only sign of this in his daily life, though, is the cane he walks with and the gloves he wears to keep from leaving behind bloody fingerprints. His fashion sense otherwise is impeccable, consisting of beautifully tailored suits in flattering colors.

Occupation: A detective for the Unity Bureau of Arcane Investigation, a subsidiary of their police force.

Family Members:

Antonin Montane (estranged father who neglected him for his entire childhood and who keeps an abusive hold on the entire Montane family through controlling the family fortune)

Marius Montane (uncle who raised him despite the turmoil he endured as Antonin's younger brother)

Idrin Pashan-Baijahreet (mother who went missing when he was eight, a former merchant of the Flying City)

Tomas Montane (an older cousin he looked up to)

Eva Montane (a younger half-sister he doesn't know about, as she was born after he cut contact)

Pets: Hell no

Best friends: Ceyrel Gavorn is his partner at the BAI and has been his only friend for about a full decade now. She's an ornery hobgoblin with a crude sense of humor that one might think Ivander would turn his nose up at, but they both have a love of salacious gossip that bonds them together.

Describe their room: Ivander’s entire apartment is color-coded, so his whole bedroom is purple. The walls are an icy periwinkle with ivy patterns, while the curtains are a powdery mauve. His sheets and rugs are plush and a dark plum color, over a hardwood floor. Given how fastidious he is in everything else, it's a surprisingly messy space. Dirty clothes line the floor, and there's a mountain of old cups and pill bottles on his bedside table. His wardrobe is well kept, but very overstuffed. His bed is completely unmade and covered with bloodstains he just can't keep up with washing out anymore.

Way of speaking: Camp english accent - he sounds like a gay-coded villain in a kid's cartoon. He uses lots of big words and underhanded insults.

Physical characteristics (posture, gestures, attitude): Ivander’s posture is meant to lean. He usually drapes himself in some doorframe or another, or slouches onto a chair. From the way he moves, you can clearly tell he's in pain. From the way he moves, you can also tell he grew up at fancy dinners and investment meetings.

Items in their back pocket/purse: Eyedrops, bandages, meds, rune handbook, teeny tiny pistol.

Favorite sports: Ivander would rather die than do or watch a sport. If you tell him you're an athlete, he'll laugh.

Powers: The ability to pull miracles from a mostly unwilling god and to write an unbreakable contract.

Relationships (how they are with other people): Ivander is the king of intimacy issues. He's terrified of getting close to people, since the last person he was close to disappeared in the night. He puts up a jaded, bemused, and even cruel front to cover up his aching loneliness. He'd much rather hurt you than allow you to hurt him.

Fears: Death and damnation, living in pain forever, getting close to someone and proving to himself once and for all that he's incapable of overcoming the selfishness he was born into.

Faults: Ruthless, selfish, elitist, gossipy, cruel like a middle school bully. He can just be a real asshole when he wants to, and refuses to ask for help. He's also utterly blind to his positive qualities.

Good Points: Determined, brave, clever, cares deeply about the few friends he does have. Genuinely the last person you'd expect to be truly heroic, but he does manage despite himself. When he lets himself be, Ivander is a highly empathetic person.

What they want more than anything else: To cure the curse that's killing him.

I'll tag @the-golden-comet @leahnardo-da-veggie (this blorbo's for you, my guy) @sergeantnarwhalwrites @willtheweaver @finickyfelix and anyone else who wants in :)

Blanks under the cut

Full Name: Kind of Being: Age: Gender: Appearance: Occupation: Family Members: Pets: Best friends: Describe their room: Way of speaking: Physical characteristics (posture, gestures, attitude): Items in their back pocket/purse: Favorite sports: Powers: Relationships (how they are with other people): Fears: Faults: Good Points: What they want more than anything else:

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for trying to write a compelling story?

I (old, M) am a writer with a preference for tragedy. I just believe that tragic endings lend a certain kind of flavor to the story that cannot be captured otherwise. The emotions of sadness, hopelessness, and despair are just so fun to read and describe! As such, I primarily write tragedies, but some people REALLY have a problem with it. As in, killed me dead have a problem with it. So rude.

The last story I was writing before being killed remained unfinished. More than anything, I wanted to see that story end, but obviously, since I'm now dead (sort of, it's complicated), my influence on it was somewhat limited. The story was now taking place inside the real world. I'd changed reality to more closely resemble the story, but obviously, things were more than a little unstable.

Anyway, without me to write the ending, my protagonist got stuck in a neverending battle with the antagonist. They both got sick of this and the protagonist shattered his heart to seal the villain. At the time I thought this was brilliant; a truly heartwrenching twist that bought time. New characters took the place of old ones and I found a way to get the story going again. Obviously all this is wildly different from my original plan, but I was actually quite liking where the story was going! It was all set up for a truly spectacular tragic ending.

And then the characters started fighting back. Oh no, not against the villain, but against me, the very story itself! I know we all talk about characters having a mind of their own, but believe me, that's not the same when they also have their own bodies. They completely derailed my plans, switched their roles, and my grandson even took it upon himself to rewrite my ending entirely!

Well, admittedly, this story did have its own flavor, so I'll give them credit where it is due. But they were so mad at me for trying to write my own way, to my own preferences, acting as if 'imposing' tragic endings is 'cruel'.

I think they're being overly emotional and judgemental. Nobody should be judged for what they write or read. But they don't seem to agree, just because I 'tried to kill them' and 'tortured them' and 'made my own grandson stab himself through the hand'. (I didn't, by the way! He chose to do that himself!) I think they're overly involved with fiction and too emotional, but the little puppet I acquired from this story keeps hitting me in the shins with her drumsticks (long story) when I say so. AITA?

[wibzenadarksiderwithasoftheart]

Hey, what do you think about the mental health of Obi-Wan, Anakin and the others? Are they okay? Are they struggling with something? What's your opinion about it? Only if you feel okay to talk about this of course!

Dear Ano

Thank you for the question, although I am not sure that I am qualified to give a suitable answer. However, I would like to try anyway.

I have read countless fic that deal/work with their mental state to a greater or lesser degree, and I have to say that the general trend is that, no, they are not okay, far from it. Canon is very cruel and unfair to our favorite characters, unless you are a certain Sith master. The tragedy of SW is that there rarely, if ever, is a real happy ending for anyone, despite it being a space fairytale.

So to return to their mental health and start with the obvious character, Anakin.

Anakin grew up as a slave, always subservient to others and with no hope of ever becoming the master of his own destiny, yet that is exactly what he dreams of, freedom and power.

A friend and fellow fic writer recently described his basic character in a few words in one of her fics.

"With an upbringing that left him no control over the injustice he'd often witness, Anakin aspired to be the hero. He aspired to be the savior. He wanted to save others from hardship, because he understood firsthand what it was like to face them." @barmadumet in chapter 14 of A Strange Kind of Love

And then he is given the opportunity to gain power but with the price of once again being subject to the authority of others.

Anakin is a complex character we can take in many different directions from this point of the story. His character is affected (as is true in RL) by what he is exposed to, the choices he and others make and the development of the story. We know what happens to Anakin, and it's tragic to see how his otherwise promising opportunity to become the hero instead ends with him falling and condemning himself to a painful existence in slavery under one of the cruelest characters created.

Anakin is not okay and is always struggling with something. This is what makes him a great character, there is always plenty to work with whenever we enter his story to save/fix or to harm/destroy.

This brings us to Obi-Wan. Dear Obi-Wan, who loves strongly and more deeply than anyone else, but isn't willing to show it (even though he often does) and is bound by duty. He's not okay, but he does his best and refuses to give up. The stubborn man keeps going no matter what, not even death and worse can stop him. He's not okay, mostly because his fate is tied to the Skywalkers. I love his character, I want to save him, and that often means saving everyone else too, because he would never be so selfish to save only himself… sacrificing himself, now that is an entirely different story.

(This is also what makes it so fascinating to write him as a Sith, to twist his character out of shape, creating some truly evil from genuine good)

All the others, the many wonderful characters who all have their own destinies intertwined with these two, well they are not okay, they all have their own faults, flaws, good traits and challenges. I love them all and saving them (or making everything worse) is a time consuming but rewarding and entertaining occupation.

I have no idea if this was the answer you were looking for dear Ano, but hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much for asking.

[acourtofthought]

heyy! hope youre doing well i really enjoy reading your thoughts and opinions about these characters thanks for writing such detailed posts i share most of your opinions but im not nearly as good at putting words to it haha so i really do appreciate your posts!! <3 no pressure at all to answer this, just wanted to share some appreciation for the time your put to every post!!

but ive been thinking a little about the scene where feyre questions eluciens bond in acowar and i always kind of assumed she asked about az and elain bc she thought they looked good together, like physically, and gave no thought to how they're actually not compatible in any way otherwise and she really just want her sister to get better and also obviosuly had questions about the bond itself and it was an opportunity to ask rhys about it. it doesn't make sense that that scene is used so often to say its hinting at a bad match?? or am i really just that terrible at picking up hints?

this has probably been discussed plenty of time, but im fairly new to the fandom and im honestly just surprised to see so many shipping them and not elain and lucien when they are literally described to us as an perfect match and the moment he whispered "your my mate" i was hooked and the longing and tension is killing meeeeeee their romance have such potenial to be the most romatic and beautiful out of all of them

Thank you so much for your anon, it made my day!! 😍

Personally, I think your assessment of the scene is spot on. Feyre is struggling with the state Elain is in and she is blaming herself for it. She only just returned from the Spring Court with Lucien in tow and we know she's still dealing with the lingering bitterness over their history and his relationship with Tamlin.

The Night Court is Feyre's home, with her mate and her new friends, and wouldn't it just be so much easier if Elain could find happiness there like she did? Not only would that ease some of her guilt but it would also alleviate some of the pressure she has over what to do with Lucien now that he's in Velaris.

I think Feyre is looking for what to her would be the quickest and easiest solution that causes her the least emotional turmoil. Lucien (for Feyre) comes with a whole lot of baggage that she's not in the right frame of mind to deal with.

That she asked RHYS whether Elain and Lucien (her sister and her friend) would be a good match kind of proves she's not pairing Az and Elain off because she's got a good grasp on who would be best romantically suited to the other. The only reasons Feyre has ever given for thinking Az and Elain might get along is because they'd be a good looking couple and she might find peace and quiet around him.

......................................(pause for dramatic effect)....................................

Since when are those the building blocks for a meaningful romance in a fantasy book? Peace and quiet is a bit boring? I want to see passion, I want fire, I want an all consuming love.

Really, I think the entire point of that scene is to show Feyre is struggling with Elain's depression, her hesitation over Lucien being in her home when their relationship is still rocky, and to also show us that while there is always a choice in bonds, the two characters will always feel drawn to each other.

As far as bonds that are a poor fit, the examples we're given were because the males weren't respectful to their mates and they were generally cruel. Rhys's father whisked his mother away the same day their bond snapped and had her marry him that night, it doesn't sound like he gave her much of a choice or the space to decide. He was cold and vicious while Rhys's mother was soft and fiery. And Tamlin's mother never spoke a bad word against his father though he was a tyrant. Lucien is none of the above therefore there really is no valid reason for them not to have a happy relationship if they'd go the route of accepting their bond. When the author herself has said both Elain and Lucien are happiest in nature I'm not sure how anyone can question their compatibility.

I think there's also a good chance Sarah delivered the information about poorly matched bonds because it's information that she wanted the readers to tuck away for later. She's not often quite so obvious "What if Elain and Lucien have a poorly matched bond?" "Well, it can be rejected" then two books later, "Elain and Lucien have a poorly matched bond and they rejected it!" but introduces information in one conversation that she's going to apply to different characters at a later point.

Also, welcome to the fandom! It's hopefully the best time to be joining what with the possibility of an announcement soon.

[kismetrose]

Hurts So Good (+ Some Spoilers)

Let's talk about pain for a moment. Not the everyday kind that's endured due to unfortunate circumstances or the violent type inflicted by predatory people, but the sort that's carefully measured and consensually shared by adults for mutual enjoyment.

It's fairly common for folks to be uncomfortable with sadomasochism. Such practices aren't usually performed in public, after all, and when pain-giving comes up in the news, it's usually the criminal kind. Along with the way it's portrayed in fictional media, there's little wonder why people hesitate to believe it can ever be a good thing.

Sadomasochism comes up in all kinds of stories across many mediums, but anything beyond some light spanking is rarely shown in a good light. Even if the presentation starts off with signs of respect and understanding, from what I've seen, it may not take long before consent is ignored, caution is thrown to the wind, and someone is truly harmed. Villains tend to be the ones portrayed with sexual sadism disorder, while protagonists become their victims. Otherwise, it's shown for the lulz.

So it did my heart good to see sadomasochism handled differently in Sigh of the Abyss.

Malec isn't a cruel or manipulative man and the main character isn't a victim. He doesn't bring it up right away or impose anything on the main character. You can shut the topic down, as far as I could tell; I didn't for many reasons, but mostly because wanted to see how it would play out. If you allow it, it seems from the dialogue options that you can determine whether he enjoys giving or receiving pain, but I haven't tested this theory yet.

While it may seem extreme that Malec enjoys using a knife to trace designs in skin, he's shown in a careful, considerate, practiced light and nothing is described in graphic terms. I would have been happy with even more. Either way, when sadomasochism is shown in this visual novel, it's about consensual mutual pleasure and a special kind of intimacy, not fear or control - the way it should be.

[shoegazingmonad]

Classpecting the Candy / Omega kids

I've been hellbent on trying to classpect these 4 kids and after spending hours analysing every scene each kid appears in, the narration and anything used to describe them, and their conversations I believe I may have finally reached a conclusion for all 4 of them. Here's the fruits of the most arduous labour I've ever been put through in the form of a huge ol' text post then, I guess!

Tavros Crocker

Tavvy's currently my favourite and he's the one who started this classpecting spree so I'm going with him first.

At surface level he isn't visibly a very angry or aggressive kid like Rage would suggest, but the first time we see him in HS2 is when he's having to bother with Gamzee's corpse which leads to him screaming, kicking and punching his corpse and then feeling something he 'refuses to call fear' that, based on the description, seems to be some kind of repressed anger. Also in a similarity not-so-visible at first kind of way, he's a little chaotic unintentionally (or passively). It doesn't appear as the large scale destructive chaos Gamzee causes, instead it comes across as him simply being clumsy like when he breaks a jester on accident in John's house and gets Gamzee's shoe stuck on him which causes them all to fall in the school. Despite being a very orderly and passive person (thanks to his upbringing) he's shown enjoying a little bit of chaos and feels somewhat comfortable in the presence of confident people who actively cause it like Vriska.

Even at Tavvy's first appearance in the Epilogues at age 5, he's incredibly intuitive and pacifistic but whenever he's shown trying to pacify or reason (which comes off as very meddling adjacent) with another character it only makes them more angry, sad, confused or scared / worried, in a way that would suggest he 'Makes Rage' for others like how a Sylph of Rage would. There're a few instances where he makes 'rage', like Harry's birthday party in which it's said 'John's heart wrenches at the sigh of him (Tavvy)' and John tries to kidnap him because he pities his cruel homelife and wants to help Jake out, but he ends up so mad his breath powers destroy the room. It isn't always rage as extreme as that though, sometimes it's made in the way he's viewed as a wimpy loser by people like Harry, or when he tries to understand and explain why a person may be feeling unhappy or stressed about an event or the situation they're in (often with Vrissy). Over analysing and explaining people's feelings or words is a pretty big part of his character and it's one that makes the Sylph part terribly obvious.

However we've yet to see much hatred towards lying as described in the Extended Zodiac definition. He doesn't agree with his Mother's wrong and cruel views on trolls, even though he grew up pretty sheltered and probably should've picked those views up. He also understands Gamzee isn't a good person despite the attempts to instill otherwise through the whole 'redemption arc' propaganda, so maybe he simply notices lies easier than other people do and / or leans more towards just explaining / passively combating misinformation rather than committing to the destruction of it thanks to his nature as a Sylph? Gonna have to wait to get more on this it seems.

Harry Anderson Egbert

Harry's probably the one that took the least amount of time for me to get the gist of what he was about because taking his time (like a Thief of Time) is apparently what he does best. It, like time in general, is brought up constantly with him. He mentions atomic clocks the first time we see him, he takes too long talking to Vriska, Tavros finds him typically 'slow to respond', when he's trying to choose his strife specibus he struggles a little with the time limit, he has a car ride with John and apologises for how long it took for him to be done, in her recent appearance Vrissy mentions he 'can't go five minutes without pestering her over something', and his morning routine suggests he takes his time tending to his appearance. Though just time in general isn't the only thing associated with the aspect, in his conversation with Tavvy at night he asks 'what does it feel like to know someone who's died?', and death is another reocurring theme with Time.

He's a fan of remakes of old earth movies (remaking a movie involves taking the idea / liberties for yourself) and enjoys making costumes. Though the cloth, needles and stitching could suggest he's a space player as we've seen them take a particular interest in clothing / fashion, or things like the 'fabric of space', this could be because the opposite of a Thief of Time (someone who steals time for themself) is a Knight of Space (someone who serves space for others). But the costumes he makes take up most of his 'free time', and his sewing machine was given to him at 10 to stop him borrowing Roxy's all the time. In his little scarf sequence he's also shown wearing a scarf that looks Hephaestus themed, which is the Denizen of Dave's planet and presumably the Denizen associated with time players.

Almost everything about this guy screams 'Time' to the point I'm questioning whether they're making it super obvious to throw people off.

Though an issue I have with the Time aspect specifically here is that it wouldn't fit the 'aspects we haven't seen in the beta and alpha kids' trend we've got going on with the others. Mind/Rage/Blood/Doom but instead it's Mind/Rage/Blood/Time? Might make more sense in the future if there's any additions to the group to make up for that.

Yiffany Longstocking Lalonde Harley

Funnily enough, Yiffy, the kid we've seen the least of so far and haven't even gotten any proper dialogue from was still somehow way easier for me to classpect than Vrissy, the first kid we see and the one with the most appearances.

Bards, as Calliope (seemingly correctly, based on what we've seen of them) states, are a 'wildcard' with a spontaneous story-altering influence who can cause the 'spectacular downfall' or 'improbable victory' of the group. Bard of Mind would loosely mean 'someone who allows logic / mind to be destroyed or invites destruction through logic / mind', and from what we've seen of our new dog kid they sure do manage to bring about victory through the destruction of logic / the logic they impose because of their existence!

Their entire existence is quite literally an anti-logic bomb due to their creation, life, and character being a product of the Candy timeline's slow disintegration into nothingness now that there's no more narrator or space cherub looking after it. They're a character who shouldn't and couldn't exist if we're to consider the rules of canon, but they do and they kick ass because of it! Candy Jane, the fascist dictator billionaire baker baroness who seems to practically own or rule over everything that's within Candy Earth C puts them in a shock collar with enough volts to immobilize or kill - and they still get up and desecrate a shitty other-bards funeral, all whilst the panels of them show jolts of electricity with similar colour and shape to Terezi's mind powers!

Jane even starts listing all of the reasons Yiffy shouldn't be acting up during their revolt; from the assistance she'd given their parents, to what Rose and Jade would think of them if they saw them behaving like this, and that she has agents ready to deal with them if she continues. But Yiffy doesn't listen to a single one of them. They simply growl, slap the remote out of her hand, and proceed to boot Gamzee's corpse into the crowd. The logic and reasoning others try to apply to situations is something they blatantly disregard.

Also, steering into the aforementioned Terezi and Mind aspect territory here; when Terezi is discussing with Ult Dirk about how she's able to see his narration and why Rose can't despite also being a Seer, she tells him aspects that oppose eachother (e.g. Heart and Mind) 'define each other on a fundamental level', seemingly allowing the opposing aspects to pick up on the presence of the other better than non-opposing ones would. And the only mention of Yiffy by someone outside of the Candy timeline is when Dirk is messaging Hussie and it leads to a tangent about the implications and him saying 'her very existence feels like broken glass screeching over my frontal lobe' which would be a pretty fitting description for how he views another Destroyer class with the Mind aspect as a Destroyer of Heart.

Vriska Maryam-Lalonde

I've been struggling with Vrissy for a while now but since her reveal there's been this consistent 'I know a guy' theme for her that I don't think could mean anything besides Blood. Mage though? Not as sure as I am with her aspect considering we barely have any strict definitions for them compared to any other classes thanks to the lack of their presence in Homestuck. I do think that she's some kind of knowledge class though, and luckily we've got a Blood version of the Mage's accompanying knowledge-based class the Seer; Kankri. And comparing him to her, she doesn't actively participate in seeking out knowledge in the same way he and other Seers do, instead it looks like knowledge of her aspect comes to her more naturally like Doom does for Sollux and Heart does for Meulin.

Her first appearance in the epilogues is the scene where her and Harry are meeting up. They kiss, and Harry has to wipe a bit of blood off of his mouth. Vrissy proceeds to bring up Meenah and Karkat's relationship (which I'm gonna bring up again later), hinting at her affinity for close bonds between people.

The first time we get to see her in Homestuck 2 is when she's interacting with Vriska, who's a Thief of Light and not a Blood player or Mage, but she literally shares her blood colour and upon meeting her she immediately tries to befriend / form a bond with her. The scene that comes before this conversation, is one that involves her interrupting Vriska in the midst of the most blatant depiction of 'bonding' we could get (bonds being a huge part of Blood as an aspect) aka, sex.

Out of everything in Vrissy's life, it's reiterated that she thinks her relationships with others are the most practical and important part of it. Like Tavvy, her kismesis. He should have a typical tempestuous blackrom relationship with her, but they still genuine care about eachother enough that she feels like she 'can't lose him'. She trusts that he won't tattle on her and Tavvy knows that despite her cool indifferent front she's got some troubles of her own and tries his best to understand them. And in the same scene in the previous link, Tavvy also hints at Vrissy's frustration towards bonds being broken, specifically in reference to a 'mutual' bond online that he assumes is a 'sacred bond of trust'. Her matespritship with Harry is also very stable, and whenever they interact there's clearly mutual care and reliance on eachother even when we see some screw ups or arguing from either of them. Her friendship with Vriska is all good at first too, but she quickly realises that Vriska isn't trying to form a genuine mutual connection with her as much as she's trying to create a student of her likeness so she can feel smug about it.

Focusing a little bit more on the Mage part here, the scene where Jade and Rose inform the others in the tower about Yiffany; Vrissy and Kanaya are the only ones agitated and she mentions later in her texts with Tavvy that she feels like she was the only one who was mad about not knowing Yiffy existed, and for a Mage of Blood (a role dedicated to knowing about relations), learning you somehow weren't aware of a close blood relative like a half-sister must be infuriating.

Other general Classpect stuff

Anyway now that I've got all of the main reasons for why I think those kids are what Classpects; I just want to bring up the interactions between the 4 of them and characters outside of their friendgroup, parents, Vriska and how they might correlate to them.

Starting with Tavvy, currently his significant interactions with other characters have been with Gamzee, a Rage player, in the Epilogues and Kanaya, our only Sylph on Earth C.

Harry's not had too many important interactions with anyone outside the group, but when he's texting Vrissy at night he says he went to get some water but the adults were discussing something and he didn't want to interrupt. This scene is after the Yiffy reveal and John finds out about Dave's death when talking with Jade at some point we don't get to see directly, but according to Harry the conversation they were having seemed quite serious, so that could've been when they were discussing Dave. And besides Aradia, Dave was our only other time player on Earth C. He's previously had quite a few positive interactions with Dave as well, shown in Candy 23. There's also another interesting (and too specific for me to disregard) comment from Meenah about her going to Harry Anderson's birthday party, perhaps hinting at him as a Thief. However John has a lengthy conversation with Sollux, who has apparently been getting to know Roxy which could suggest he might be Doom if we consider that they're both Harry's parents?

Vrissy's meeting with Vriska should mean some kind of link with her as a Thief / Light player but so far she doesn't have any Thief of Light traits at all. Returning to Vrissy's first conversation with Harry in the Epilogues, the one where says that her and Harry could run away and join the rebellion and be 'wild rebels in love, like Karkat and Meenah', her comparison of their relationship to another between a Knight of Blood and a Thief of Life could imply that either of them share a aspect / class with one of those two; which I'm guessing would be Blood for Vrissy and Thief for Harry, because Harry says he doesn't have the 'rebellious stature of someone like Karkat' and he jokes about how he couldn't lose an eye like Karkat did, leading to a retort from Vrissy claiming she'll be the one with the eye patch. 7 chapters after this she actually informs Harry that she got a place in Karkat's rebellion thanks to her parents (who aren't blood related to her but she trusts and relies heavily on them like she does others). There doesn't seem to be any specific interactions for the Mage part as of now though.

And as I already stated earlier, Yiffy's linked with Gamzee (our only Bard) due to her presence at his funeral and the electric lighting we see from the collar used on them has a similar colour + shape to Mind abilities we've previously seen with Terezi, which is pretty much the best we can get with no Mind player available on Candy Earth C.

The last possible hints I'd like to bring up are weapons. We only know 2 out of 4 right now but Vrissy uses a pair of dice bound to each other and Harry uses what is arguably the slowest cutting weapon we've seen in all of Homestuck so far, a pair of scissors, which can also be to 'steal' things when used to cut off part of something you need for yourself.

That's all I've got. Took so much skimming between the Epilogues and HS2 but this was pretty fun and I'm looking forward to getting more on the kids and their classpects. I might end up adding more onto this at a later date when we're more well-informed and have a lot more text to make use of but as of now I'm done with this.

[chordsykat]

Mildy Devious but Very Practical Sorcery to Endear People to Your OC

So, you're doing it! You're starting a new fanfiction with an original character, self insert, or someone else otherwise foreign to the regular canon cast - good show! But! This is not your first rodeo and you know from experience that it can be a tough climb, getting readers to accept this new face into the fold. You realize such things take time, but for this fanfiction, you're looking to employ strategies that will get the audience on your new little baby's side, pretty immediately... what ever shall you do?

The following list of writing tricks is offered with the understanding that you, the writer, consider yourself fairly capable at the skill, and understand that this guide won't cover obvious things that so many other tutorials recommend -- like having an interesting backstory for your character and being relatively good at spinning a yarn. None of these suggestions are replacements for good storytelling! They are, in fact, merely supplemental to it.

That out of the way, let us begin...

Easy Tricks:

#1, Make Your OC the Villain

May seem counterintuitive, but hear me out. No matter what you think and believe about your own character, people are probably going to go into a story distrusting the new guy. It's just the way it is. So why not meet them where they are? Besides -- it's fun to see characters grow into heroes rather than starting them out that way. Wherever they end up, the people reading about them will be relating to them way more, by the time they get there.

#2, Pit Your OC and the Canon Cast Against an Irredeemable Villain

Nothing gets people on the side of some rando faster than a villain who is so unstoppable, so cruel, so utterly loathsome, the readers can't help but cheer on anyone who would stand against them. It doesn't have to be some all-powerful megalomaniac, either. Evil ex-girlfriends work great for this one. The slimier and more despicable the better!

#3, Torture Your OC (Kinky)

The author's barely hidden fetish suddenly comes out to ensnare the new guy and simultaneously flips a sexy switch in some readers' minds that makes them say "That's kinda hot". Is this one a bit unethical? Probably.

#4, Torture Your OC (Non-Kinky)

If you're not into sexual Jedi mind-tricks, then good old-fashioned antagonizing of fictional characters works wonders to bring an audience to care about someone, no matter how real they may be. Bonus points if they die (see tip #7).

Advanced Tricks:

#5, Make Your OC Insanely Attractive

This one needs to be handled with care, as making a character attractive and making them believably so, are two different things. Some readers straight up hate it when someone is described as too-pretty, too-popular, too-rich, or too-famous, so it usually takes time and a little finesse.

#6, Make Your OC Save the Day

As with the attractive-factor, you gotta score points in believability before you can just let this one happen. People don't like OCs who take the spotlight away from the canon cast until they've earned the right to do so. That said, if you do manage to pull this off, you may be rewarded with that rare and wonderful thing -- your OC having its own fanbase.

#7, Make Your OC Dead

If your fairly-likable character dies at the end of the story, you might find people elevating them to very-likable martyr status. That said, if your OC wasn't worth rooting for, for the entire time they were in your fanfic, don't expect their untimely demise to redeem them. Big gamble, all things considered, and you pretty much have to assure they're going to stay dead for at least one story arc... But people *do* tend to view the dearly departed in a more forgiving light, even if they're not real.

As was stated in the introduction, a lot of these do not make up for good storytelling and solid character development, but they can be great in addition to all that. Too, you may want to combine some of them, and see what kind of results you get. And as always, the longer an audience knows someone, the more they tend to trust them. Therefore, if you want to follow one big piece of advice and plan to go the distance anyway, then please... Don't stop writing their story!

[sleepingdeath-light]

bullied college student s/o hcs ; michael myers

requested by ; megangovier20 (23/03/23)

fandom(s) ; halloween / slashers

fandom masterlist(s) ; here

character(s) ; michael myers (ambiguous)

outline ; “Hi there, could I possibly have a lil request of Michael Myers X plus size fem reader who is 21 years old and goes to college but gets bullied and runs home, after she goes home Michael hugs the reader and makes her feel better, thank you & btw love the blog!👻🖤”

warning(s) ; canon-typical references to violence, references to bullying, otherwise mostly fluff + one suggestive bullet point

note ; for non-americans like myself college=university

michael isn’t exactly well known for his ability to provide any sort of tangible comfort to his partner — arguably he’s one of the worst people for the job

so when you, the only thing in this world that he cares about, come running through the door in tears — he defaults to what he remembers his parents doing when he was young

he gathers you up into his arms with ease and just falls to the ground, positioning you so that you’re curled up into his chest and he’s able to completely surround you with his body

he’s rocking gently to-and-fro and pressing his lips against the crown of your head as you sob and gasp and weep and cling to him like you think he’ll disappear the moment you let go

he may not know exactly what caused your strife yet, but he’s going to do whatever he can to calm you down and help out

and once you’re calm enough to explain what happened to you, he’s absolutely livid — and as this is one of the rare times where he forgot to grab his mask, you can see the pure disgust in his eyes when you’re talking him through your terrible day

even if he’s non-verbal, he’s much more expressive than he gives himself credit for — and you’re more than able to decipher what he’s thinking, what he wants to say, after being together for so long

he doesn’t understand how people can be so needlessly cruel to you — the person who managed to get through to someone deemed by everyone else as a ‘monster’

how they could look upon the mind that entrances him, the heart that was open to him and the body that he adores and offer you anything but adoration

even if that is a hypocritical notion for a serial killer like himself to take, he doesn’t care

and he wants to inflict that same cruelty back onto them — but he recognises that violence isn’t what you need right now, not when you’re still so vulnerable and upset

so for now he’ll stay with you, comforting you with gentle touches and a sympathetic ear reserved only for you

he’ll keep close by your side until you fall asleep — holding you when you need him to and giving you space when you ask

warm and kind and gentle in ways only you get to see

and maybe something more than that — a tangible show of his appreciation for parts of yourself that those cruel classmates of yours scorned — if only you ask

it’s not as if he’s opposed to the more physical aspects of a relationship

but the moment you fall asleep, michael myers becomes the shape of haddonsfield once again

he’ll hunt down each of the people who hurt you and… well… i’m sure that i don’t need to describe what will follow

michael is protective by nature, so even though he can’t go out with you during the day without risking being captured, he’ll do what he can to ensure that you’re safe

he wants you to feel safe, loved and comfortable

no matter how many deaths it takes to make sure that’s the case

[totally-not-here-for-the-smut]

During an rp we had a character that become blind. Overtime learned to use magic to sense their environment kind of like Tophs ability to see through the earth. It made me wonder how the M6 of the arcana would react to a blind Mc that uses magic to sense the world around them.

People's different auras helping Mc not run into anyone since a person's aura covers them, which would also give a gentle guide for what they look like. Details like scars, freckles, facial expressions being invisible to them. Since everything has a bit if magic in it their able to walk around fine usually, if an area is filled with too much magic it clogs the sense making it impossible to pick out specific things. Which effects how they set up the shop, making sure not to have too many powerful magic items just laging around.

I've always loved the idea of using magic to help with a disability!

I also think that actually some facial features would be clear to a blind apprentice: some traits and colors people carry are often full of meaning for the owner. I think about the delight that you get when you see the gold reflections catching the sun, or the shame that surrounds an unwanted feature, like those same lip shape a cruel parent had.

I picture that this features appear to the apprentice's magic eye, the more relevant the brighter, as islands of light and clarity in a otherwise dark and unclear face.

I like how this implies that a blind MC will be able to magically see the M6 appearances kinda as they see it - you know when you take a picture of youself and seems as you can only see that one particular detail of your face, either positive or "negative"?

Anyway, going back to your ask:

The M6 react to a blind MC

Nadia ♡◇

She won't ask or comment about your disability, but you somehow percieve that she picked up the information. Infact, the next day, along with your clothes you find a small, in-scale model of the palace. There's more: you find out that as soon as you think about going somewhere, a trail of magic that leads there appears at your fingertips. Maybe it wasn't necessary for you, but it's so extremely thoughtful that you end up using it just to soak in the deep care Nadia put into that thinf for you.

Asra

Magic eye isn't new to him: he knows exactly what to do. As soon as you enter in his gateway you realize that everything is perfectly clear to you. There isn't anything "visual" there: everything revolves around the other 4 senses, and is crafted in a way that doesn't overstimulate you.

Lucio

He starts asking a huge number of questions out of genuine curiosity. In a matter of days, he explains his dogs how to help you with anything, and after a bit he gifts you a magical creature you can link your mind to and experience the world through it's eyes.

Being a smal reptile, you soon realizes that you can't see the regular visible light, but infrared light instead. The thing excites Lucio, so he starts a quest to find the most curious-seeing creatures. Your favourite ends up being the shrimp who sees colors invisible to the regular human eye.

This doesn't resolve your blindeness, since no eyesight is similar enough to human's, but opens up a wolrd of discovery.

Julian

Buys a second eyepatch to wear and asks you to show him the world through your eyes. After this experience, he learns how to describe you everything you cannot see... and you have the impression that the world described by him is so much more than what you'd see with human eyes.

He also starts playing instruments way much more for you and you only, writing many songs for you.

Portia

She starts by asking many questions, if you're ok with it. After this, she decides to care for all of your senses, baking food and using so many different fabrics ans textures to sew you beautiful clothes.

Muriel

He becomes your guide in every magical place you go to. He makes sure to puts sigils and magical objects in positions where they won't bother you in his hut.

[zeciex]

Looking at the whole trajectory, it is rare that we see Daenera vulnerable - for herself - I have seen her suffer for Daemon, her mother, Luke, the usurpation …. but not for what she has lost as an individual person, which is basically Aemond. I have not seen her suffer that loss, she has clung to hatred and rage to feel nothing for him, so much as to put a curse on him. Maybe it's too far for them. I think her friendship with Helaena suits her very well, she is the only person with whom I can see the Daenera generous, kind, with good feelings and …. less angry with the world.

I understand her fear and desperation, but gods, it's only because of him that you are alive and not in a prison underground. I really hope that this attitude will soften with the baby, since is not only hers but also Aemond's, it is just unfair that she won't let him be a part of his son.

And that's it, that's the only complaint I have, otherwise, I think it's a perfect story, plot, canon, characters. Your way of describing feelings, how you have all the characters super nuanced is incredible. Sometimes there are fics better than books.

Daenera has sacrificed and suffered for Daemon and her mother. She has been rightfully angry over the usurpation, and she is grieving the loss of her brother... but she is also grieving the loss of Aemond. Her freedom has been stolen and her world has turned upside down, and she feels like she has no control over her life, so she has a right to be angry and annoyed with Aemond--which she was, but we still saw them have that connection and finding solace on one another. There were still love there. But then Aemond killed her brother. And she feels guilty and shame that she ever loved him because he killed her brother. And even more so, she feels guilt and shame because she still love him. How could she still love him? How could she still feel for him after what he has done? She feels betrayed by her own heart to still feel it, and so, she buries it in anger and resentment. And I think that's her right because HE KILLED HER BROTHER! And not only did he kill her brother but then he continue to make a mockery of his death by having a party thrown in celebration of that murder--he literally says that he will kill the rest of her siblings. And THAT is what drives her to curse him. I think her cursing him were her grasping for some sort of control as well as letting out her anger--and we see her connecting to something dangerous and powerful, but STILL she writes it off as a silly thing because why should her curse work? What makes her so special? She writes it off as a childish notion, but we know its more--she doesn't.

It is not to late for them. But as of where we are in the story, it has been like... 10-12 days since her brother was murdered. She's allowed to be fucking vengeful and angry. She's allowed to be cruel. And this will carry on throughout most of the pregnancy as we know it BUT there will be developments between them! There will be progression! Aemond is making an effort, and he won't ever right the wrong he did or undo the hurt, but Daenera realizes that she needs him to survive--which is something she realized before Luke was even killed, but even if she knew this she still had a right to keep Aemond at a distance given where they were.

By the time the baby comes, they're down the path of reconciliation--they're not fully there, but they're down it. And we'll get some fluff.

If we split up Act 1 of season 2 of the story we'll get these two era's for Dae/Aemond: --Daenera being deliberately cruel and rightfully angry, and Aemond enduring it. And --slow progression

But I think we should allow Daenera to be as angry as she wants because again; she is a hostage and has been robbed of her freedom, she's enduring abuse and vitriol, and she's married to the man who murdered her brother in what she thinks is cold blood. (and it partially is) Anyone would be pissed. And I think that for this, it would be Daenera's every right no neither want a baby with him or keep the baby away from him.

Logically, she KNOWS that her life and position hinges on Aemond. Logically she knows that having a child with Aemond gives her more power--but it also comes with greater risks and dangers; especially if its seen as a betrayal by her own family. But she is an emotional character.

Also, it's not only because if Aemond she's alive. The Hightowers would be fools to kill her, she's too great a bargaining chip, even if she poses a significant annoyance to them. Daenera would still be alive had she not been connected to Aemond and she'd likely have married Daeron or Gwayne or someone loyal to TG. And while yes, she might have been less comfortable as they'd put her in that chamber without a window, they wouldn't have outright put her in the dungeons. Again, that would make the people of king's landing pissed at TG and that is bad PR.

Aemond will be a part of their child's life--he will be there when it comes into the world and he will be there after. Aemond will also have some moments with Dae while she is pregnant.

Again, we'll generally candy bag full of emotions; some of them sweet, some bitter, some sour and so forth. There will be a slow, steady progression throughout the pregnancy where the relationship develops. And as Helaena said, anger burns bright and fierce, but eventually that will die out and what comes out of the ashes is a chance for reconciliation. Let Daenera burn bright and fierce, let her be depressed and scared, let her fight against the constraints placed on her, and let her be cruel. She needs to know she can trust Aemond again and trust is easily broken and tough to regain once it is broken. Aemond will have to work for it.

I hope you'll stick around through the tough part of Act 1. I promise you that there are fluffier and smuttier times ahead. Every storm breaks--she just need to rage and break some stuff before she does.

[lemonhemlock]

Jaehaera has a disability for narrative purposes, because GRRM needs to quickly explain away why the greens somehow stop demanding that Andal inheritance law be respected. Aegon III had to be king, so he's making his way backwards to fit his ending.

This gets even weirder when you realize that there's ANOTHER case of a young Targaryen girl getting passed over for the iron throne because of a disability - Vaella, who needed to get passed over because Aegon V was the one who is supposed to be King. Her claim is "immediately" dismissed despite the fact that she's the only child of the King's eldest son, presumably because of both her gender and her disability.

In fact, there's a... Weirdly significant number of Targaryen girls who are described as "simple-minded," or otherwise appear to be coded as intellectually disabled: Gael, Jaehaera, Vaella, and potentially Daella as well. Daella dies of childbirth at 18, Gael drowns herself at 19 after being "seduced and abandoned by a traveling singer," and giving birth to a stillborn baby, Jaehaera dies at 10, either by suicide or murder, and while we don't know what happens to Vaella, the fact that she's never mentioned at all after that event means either she lived an unremarkable ignored life and then died before present times, or that she died young. That's a weird amount of "simple-minded" Targaryen girls who die young. Idk if this pattern means anything, but I've noticed it before and it sticks out to me.

(while I do want Jaehaera in the show to have a character and not just be portrayed as an "simple-minded" little girl, I do hope they keep her as autistic. I think there's plenty of room to give her a ton of depth without simply erasing her neurodivergence and I really want the showrunners to realize that potential.)

Anonymous asked: not talked enough about how Jaehaera witnessed her twin's death. y'know the brother who grew up healthy and fit unlike herself. the brother who had a little too much of everything: toes, fingers. now he's down a whole head! I also believe Alicent was already planning their marriage when they were still kids lol. bedside reading time with granny Ali and she pulls out the tales of Jaehaerys and Alyssane again 🙄🙄 we get it grandma! tbh not so sure about the detailed timeline, but I thought it interesting that Jaehaera died shortly after ser Willis Fell (her larys-assigned KG) died from fever. like that was her guy! whom she had all for herself and now he's gone away commanding the KG, and now he's gone away for good. I'm probably one of the few who loves all 3 of Aegon III's little girl wives (tho Daenaera ranks lowest). I really felt for Myrielle and thought the whole doll-bit so needlessly cruel from Aegon III? his random af decision to marry Daenaera? he said fuck it we ball.

Anonymous asked: This fandom is so disgustingly ableist and no surprise here when many team green members have disabilities. And the show's treatment of disabilities is questionable to say the least. I have questions for GRRM too........

I received these additional asks about Jaehaera and was meaning to answer them, but I got distracted.

I want to clarify the fact that IMO the problem isn't if Jaehaera had a disability or was autistic/neurodivergent, the problem is that the author chose to incapacitate her so much that she is/would be incapable of taking care of herself. She is described as having some kind of mental setback ("she is eight going on four"), weeps inconsolably when she is corrected, wets her bed every night, doesn't laugh, has to be drugged to sit still at her own wedding. I cannot imagine how she could consent to a marriage or to marital relations in the future, with the whole trouble of child-birthing and rearing.

And what is the point of all this, I have to ask? Because this is very much not Jaehaera's story. It's not about how Westeros is so ill-equipped to handle mentally impaired individuals. In fact, the narrative doesn't know how to get rid of her quicker. After fighting a bloody civil war over Andal Law, the greens conveniently decide to disregard all that and don't push for her claim (that's how disabled she is). Everyone who could conceivably be on her side is quickly killed - her father, her grandmother, Ser Willis Fell. The new 15-year-old Lord Lyonel Hightower suddenly can't raise another army for the greens because he is too busy fucking Lady Sam. (?!) Jaehaera dies a horrible, graphic death, lingering in tremendous pain for half an hour. Couldn't she have received at least the mercy of a quick death?

This is why I see her being incapacitated for narrative purpose. All of this happens in favour of Daemon's freaking children - it's like they all had to band together to help erase Jaehaera from the annals (three of them at least). There is no reason for all of them to survive, considering how FB has no issue with inventing random events just to get rid of characters. Yet they do. Of course Aegon III becomes king at Jaehaera's expense, of course his brother Viserys II also gets to become king at some point, because why not? Daemon should get to have two kingly sons, not one, as a treat. Baela and Rhaena get this stupid gotcha moment at the Maiden's Day Ball when they bring their six-year-old cousin Daenaera to replace Jaehaera as Queen, as if that's some sort of triumph and not inappropriate AF.

This is why I dislike the introduction of characters like Daenaera and Myrielle - because they're been intentionally placed there to replace a traumatized and damaged little girl with a trauma-free, suitable, lovable consort. Don't get me wrong, these two girls don't get a chance at their own story either, they exist only to replace Jaehaera and to please Aegon III.

I also deeply dislike and do not understand why there are so many "simple-minded" Targaryen princesses - Daella and Gael have particularly awful stories. Vaella's story is just a repeat of Jaehaera's, but with less awfulness and violence. What's the point? Get some interviewer grill these questions into GRRM ASAP.

So, I do hope that they change this in the show somehow to make it less awful. I would not want Jaehaera reduced to an invalid, her claim passed over, and I would not want her to die. Of course, if she lives, then I would have to contend with her being the mother of Aegon III's senseless children, so, honestly, I don't know which is worse.

[finitefall]

Rhaenyra, tyranny and misogyny

I’ve got a few messages after talking with nonnie here and here. Instead of answering multiple times, I’m gonna answer in this post and say what I personally think about Rhaenyra, calling her a tyrant, and how people see it as misogyny. The following messages are from four different anons:

Anon #1: The thing about Rhaenyra “being a tyrant” is also that we’re literally being given the story as told by the “victors” and I don’t think we’re intended to take the words of Fire and Blood as unbiased documentation. She’s framed that way because of how Westerosi nobles view women (and targaryens) not because of how George views women. There’s *clearly* a deliberate POV being employed there

Anon #2: Different anon but I've also got issue with the word "tyrant" being thrown around for Rhaenyra. While it may fall in line with some limited official definition in like literally 1-2 of her latest actions, it is kind of tasteless to ascribe the term that fits actual Hitler in RL or at least the actual Maegor in ASOIAF, and all the intentionally, unrepentant cruel and inhuman actions they entail.... with a woman tragically described as mistreated and betrayed so much that assuming the worst and lashing out has become more natural to her than otherwise.

Anon #3: I admit I also agree a little bit with that anon,the way George wrote Rhaenyra feel a bit misogynistic,specially the Nettles thing and the implications,it’s something many people have said since F&B launched, and also how he favored Daemon to an extreme,for example he was the instigator of a heinous crime,killing a child,but the text never punished him in the slightest,on the contrary,he got the girl,had a last honorable deed and died a hero,he was definitely George’s favorite lol in comparison to Rhaenyra’s end the favoritism is staggering and I can’t help to think it’s a bit sexist.

Anon #4: It’s a disappointing you can’t see how GRRM was/is misogynistic in some aspects,and Rhaenyra was clearly an example of it. The man is an old dude it’s not very difficult to see where he is coming from,the story is misogynistic against Rhaenyra is not a woke point?is the truth, George felt more comfortable giving everything to Daemon and humiliating the female protagonist till the end,so feminist! He is probably gonna do the same to Dany.

Rhaenyra started as a good person, as far as we can tell. Known as The Realm’s Delight, she was described as proud, stubborn, quick to anger and never forgetting a slight. None of this made her a bad person: there’s absolutely nothing wrong with those traits and there are far worse people to deal with. She didn’t do anything wrong before the Dance: the story is literally about her being usurped because she was a woman. Alicent and all the Greens commited treason because of misogyny, and GRRM is very clear about this both during the Dance and in the ASOIAF novels (where Stannis calls Rhaenyra the usurper while Arianne knows she was the usurped). He’s not being very subtle about the fact that Rhaenyra was usurped because of the Greens' ambition, their greed, and of course their misogyny.

“She was my only daughter, and they killed her. They stole my crown and murdered my daughter, and they shall answer for it.”

Rhaenyra and the Blacks had every reason to not accept this treason. The Greens started the war, not them. The only right side in the Dance of the Dragons is the Blacks, not because of who our favorite characters are. Because it’s not a “who’s your favorite war criminal?” story, it’s the story of a woman who was usurped because she was a woman. I’m not sure we’ve read the same books from GRRM if you didn’t see the misogyny being pointed out. Rhaenyra’s line survived, while Aegon’s line didn’t. The message is pretty clear here too. GRRM didn’t make the Green’s line go extinct without reason while having Daenerys, a heroine in the ASOIAF novels, being Rhaenyra’s descendant.

Rhaenyra lost all her children except her two sons with Daemon. She could have been a good Queen, but her traumatic experiences led her down the wrong path. Can anyone say they would have been better, done better than her after what happened? Unless it happened to us, we can’t. Rhaenyra isn’t an example of what happens when a woman gets to power and let it destroy her, she’s an example of how someone can be destroyed and become a tyrant after going through too much. They didn’t exactly have therapy back then.

What’s a tyrant? Let’s just look at the definition. According to the Cambridge dictionary, a tyrant is a ruler who has unlimited power over people, and uses it unfairly and cruelly. According to the Oxford dictionary, a tyrant is a person who has complete power in a country and uses it in a cruel and unfair way. The other dictionaries all have a similar definition. Did Rhaenyra, as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, can be considered as the one having the most power over people and in her Kingdoms? I’d say yes. Was she cruel and unfair during her reign? I’d also say yes. Unless, of course, we decide that no, the taxes and fees making the people of KL suffering, the executions and feeding corpses to dragons, the heads upon the spikes above the city gates, ordering the murders of Addam and Nettles without proof of treason, is neither cruel or unfair. Or was entirely made up, in which case we can’t criticize HOTD writers for saying the events in the books aren’t reliable and that’s why they changed so much about, say, Alicent.

GRRM made no secret of Daemon being his favorite character, but he’s not framed as a villain for the simple reason that we already know he can do awful things. Rhaenyra was a good person at first while Daemon has always been a morally grey character. Literally no one is surprised by Blood & Cheese. We know what Daemon is capable of, especially when it comes to avenging his family. Note also that while his death is seen as heroic because he finally avenged Luke, he also dies as a kinslayer. I’m not gonna shed a single tear on Aemond, but being a kinslayer is literally the worst thing one can possibly be in Westeros. Who else is a kinslayer? Aemond and Aegon II. Not exactly good guys.

Rhaenyra’s story is a tragedy. I love her. She’s an interesting character as well as someone you still feel for no matter what she's done during her reign. She could have taken a bath with the blood of her enemies and it wouldn’t change the fact that we have absolutely no reason to believe she would have become a tyrant if not for the Greens’ treason. She could have decided to eat with corpses at her table and I would still feel for her and curse her half-brother for killing her, especially in this atrocious way. She could have done literally every cruel, atrocious thing you can think about: she’s still the usurped, Aegon II is still the usurper, the Greens are still greedy, misogynistic traitors, meaning the Blacks are still the right side of the Dance of the Dragons.

Now, if you believe GRRM is gonna write Daenerys the same way... it would mean throwing the previous ASOIAF novels out the window. Daenerys has already proven that even after all she’s endured, she would not become a tyrant. Her story is the exact opposite of a heroine turned villain: she could have, but she didn’t. And besides both of them being Targaryen Queens, Dany and Nyra just don’t have much in common at all. Daenerys Targaryen is literally one of the characters GRRM loves to write about the most (the first one is Tyrion, then it’s a tie between Dany and Arya).