#dorothea brande

[palatinewolfsblog]

"A child's mind is not a bucket to fill, but a fire to be kindled." Dorothea Brande.

[stijlw]

at some point during september i read becoming a writer by dorothea brande (first published 1934). literal title: the target audience for this book is actually people who are very much not writing but would like to start. the advice is all terribly practical: try putting down anything that pops into your head and disregard the quality, maybe get into a routine, things going on around you = potential story fodder, coffee addicts might benefit from the purchase of a thermos etc etc. these ideas are presented here in a convincing way, dressed up in lovely language that is all about ~cultivating the three writers within: conscious/unconscious/genius~ hahaha. i am going to try the exercises brande recommends and will report back when i am an acclaimed author

[available on internet archive here]

[bo-jnr]

“All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this:

Act as if it were impossible to fail.

That is the talisman, the formula, the command of right-about-face which turns us from failure towards success.

Clear out, by an easy imaginative feat, all the distrusts and timidities, all the fears of looking ridiculous which you may hardly suspect of being treacherous troublemakers in your life. You will find that if you can imaginatively capture the state of mind which would be yours if you knew you were going towards a prearranged and inevitable success, the first result will be a tremendous surge of vitality, of freshness. Then - well, the only way to put it is that it will seem as though your mind gave a great sigh of relief, of gratitude for the liberation, and stretched itself to its fullest extent. This is the moment where one may be forgiven for feeling that there is something truly magical about the whole affair. There will appear an extension of capacity which seems more than normal.

Then the long-dammed-up flow sets in: directly, irresistibly, turned at last in the right direction, the current gathers strength from minute to minute. At first you may still harbor some fear that the spell which worked so instantaneously may break in the same way. It will not, simply because it is no spell; it is a reminder to yourself of the way in which work can always be successfully undertaken. If you remember that, far from your seeing the successful action stop, you will find that each hour of unhampered activity opens out into a promise of others in the future. There may actually be some embarrassment from seeing too many expanding possibilities until you have learned to organize your new life.

Those fears, anxieties and apprehensions, you see, were far more than mere negative things. By acting as if they were important, you endowed them with importance, you turned them into realities. They became parasitic growths, existing at the expense of everything that is healthy in you. While we allow them to sap us, we are allowing the nourishment which should go towards expanding growth to be used for feeding monsters, cherishing the freaks and by-blows of the mind instead of its extraordinary and creative elements. So that it is not that one is suddenly given wonderful new powers; by ceasing to let fear hold its frustrating sway we come into the use of already existing aptitudes which we formerly had no energy to explore. We discover that we already possess capacities we had not suspected, and the effect, of course, is as though we had just received them. And the rapidity with which these capacities make themselves known when once the aspects are favorable for them is truly somewhat startling. It is even more enjoyable.” - Dorothea Brande: The Will to Live

[justicespeared]

♡ lets go ladies!!

makin' babies ; accepting

You ever see a woman so beautiful you cry? Well. That’s their daughter, with one problem: she’s only beautiful until she opens her mouth. Or moves. Or really anything

Her confidence is a little shaky but she sees her moms and tries her best! (Idk if she’d know Dorothea’s confidence is false too) The problem is her best usually ends in disaster

She wants to be a songstress so bad but she can’t really act. If she could just stand still on stage then yes it might work but uh. I don’t think that’s how it works. She’d ruin the production and it would all go wrong and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

She expresses herself poorly. Her charm stat is 1. It’s amazing. Truly breathtaking. How can one girl be so charmless

She wouldn’t even be a unit. She’s a civilian. Please don’t make her fight

She’d have gorgeous, wavy, sandy hair down to her waist. Her long lashes flutter innocently over sea green eyes. She’d be a tall bombshell of a woman. 10/10. Then she speaks and it’s -10/10

[hannahhbic]

Leonie tries to hold a serious meeting of her favorite club. Her members, however, have other ideas. Here’s the transcript of their brief, ridiculous meeting.

(yes I had too much fun making the graphics)

[dewphox]

Hehe this is Dorothea UU I don’t have time to get into details just yet or do actual artwork instead of doodles but I had to get her out of my system.

The short story is she’s an ex rhythmic acrobat and varieté theater performer, who after an accident went to stardew valley with her grandmother to recover and escape the media. For the first years she’s rocking crutches or a cane and maybe a cast where all of the villagers will sign and draw on hoho.

Also her grandmother is the younger sister of the granpa and the actual ‘‘farmer’‘ that inherited the farm. But Dorothea would be my player character it’s just to spice the canon up a bit. Her grandmothers name is Elfriede, Elfie for short and she’d be the sort of lady you could find in the golden girls or a jessica fletcher from murder she wrote. If you know you know <3 She’s also the owner of the Varieté Dorothea performed in! When they moved to pelican town she only left a letter proclaiming her successor but they didn’t tell anyone where they went.

Dorothea is also an insect girly and likes butterflies perhaps a bit too much UU She has a pet snail (unnamed for now) and their dog is of the species Leonberger and called Joseph (a healthy dose of Heidi references are included :> you’ll know why later when i can draw her more hehe)

Their Farm is canonically an Alp and they specialize in goats, sheep, flowers and honey. I don’t know a ship yet, but just for the goth x girly girl aesthetic she’ll have some kind of relationship one way or the other with sebastian, even if it’s just unlikely friends, or something haha. She’s also albinistic! At first i just wanted to give her white hair just because, but when Alex dropped the line ‘‘you should go out into the sun more, otherwise you’ll get pale’‘ it would be just too funny if she is. I already have a few designs where i included funky sunglasses or sunhats and i’ll propably make some cute parasols too.

She’s very girly pop but more frugal and capable than most people would think at first glance. All her clothes are secondhand or upcycled she doesn’t buy or care for brands. She also doesn’t care if her clothes get dirty because she ‘‘only has nice clothes’‘ and if all her clothes are nice then all her clothes hold the same value to her and as such can be used as work clothes all the same.

She also has a mischievious streak and often plays into it when people don’t take her seriously, very ‘‘be smart, play dumb’‘.

As I said I don’t have too much time at the moment but I still already love her very much and am excited to get more in depth UU

[taylorklosscomeout138]

Okay I gotta ask because I keep seeing this phrase here and on Twitter too. What is yellow brick road in connection to Taylor? I’m new to this side of the fandom and would be grateful if you explain it. Thanks!

I would love to! So as we know the yellow brick road has direct connections to Dorothy. And in queer history we coined the term Friend of Dorothy as a way to say you are queer because the Wizard of Oz as a whole is extremely queer coded.

When evermore released, we got the song Dorothea and all of us knew Taylor's intention behind that was a nod to "friend of Dorothea". This became the overarching term besides gaylors that we began using for the community! Then a well known gaylor that Taylor has interacted with before, Tess, made a whole podcast called friends of dorothea.

This only encouraged Taylor to incorporate friend of dorothy more into her art! That's when we got things like the Karma MV where she is dressed as dorothy and she is walking the yellow brick road on the screaming color side rather than the dark gloomy "all you want is grey for me" side.

We also then got the mashup of it's nice to have a friend x dorothea when Taylor chose to sing "It's nice to have dorothea" as in it's nice to have a friend of dorothy! Dorothea being Karlie.

So flash forward, if you go to Taylor's instagram she has developed a consistent pattern where for the entire left side of her posts she is dressed in yellow. Not only that, but she is getting closer and closer in distance as the posts continue. All of this currently leading up to her pinned where she is holding the screaming color book, and the TTPD all you want is grey for me vinyl.

This is seemingly a direct reference to the Karma friend of dorothy visual. (Which btw in the MV is depicted as a book with 2 sides)

The purpose? Because at the end of the yellow brick road is the Wizard, where dreams come true. But as we know in the movie, the Wizard is a facade. And the curtain gets pulled revealing the truth....

So it is believed that Taylor is pointing to the fact that she is nearing the end of her Brand facade. And she is going to pull the curtain, revealing everything, and step into the daylight emerging as Taylor the person only!

In short, the yellow brick road is the road to her true freedom. And she is letting us know that she is almost done walking it!!!!

[rainbowdaisy13]

Lol, I guess that cranky Anon isn't aware that one of Karlie's great-grandmas was named Ella Dorthea, or that Karlie literally sells make-up and magazines like Dorothea does in the song as an Estee Lauder brand ambassador and as the lead investor in W Magazine and the owner of i-D magazine and Life Magazine lmao

[syrupwrit]

I think it's more than that actually. I'm doing the addict thing where you only ever want to do the thing that makes you feel good (achieve flow state). But I'm also running into technical hurdles, because the way I write is like an RPG Maker horror survival game where the character can only see in front of them a little ways with a flashlight. I have to write in order to make the map; I can't outline first. Like, getting words on the page is hard enough, and then you're telling me I need to backtrack? I can't progress if I don't put in consistent effort, but also most of my work is unusable?? This is so frustrating, how does anyone do it...

Intrinsic motivation is very annoying to have.

[halfbagged]

After finishing Crimson Flowers, one detail stuck with me: Edelgard and Hubert's ending. After finishing the route and choosing a spouse other than Edelgard, the game says that the two disappeared from the public eye after stepping down from the throne, but never acknowledged the depth of their emotion. They lived the rest of their lives together with an unspoken tension between them, but never voiced it. While this outcome seems very on brand for Hubert, it struck me as an odd choice for Edelgard, the confident emperor. I personally think that, free of stress and pressure, Edelgard would be free to share her emotions. What's more, this ending seems very deliberate on the part of the devs, as choosing not to cash in on the (directly stated) romantic tension between them is an unexpected path.

So maybe Edelgard doesn't love Hubert? I think this could be a solid possibility, but the wording of the final message seemed to imply that wasn't the case. Maybe Edelgard didn't realize she loved Hubert? This also isn't likely, since Hubert directly told Edelgard that he loved her, which would cause her to question that. Plus, a lifetime together without questioning the topic seems improbable.

I believe it's more of a metaphorical and thematic choice. They were put on a path together without their choosing, and learned to depend on each other for the future. This introduces a theme of parallel, but separate. As Hubert said to Dorothea, his path is forever parallel to Edelgard's. This theme, I feel, is much stronger when they do not acknowledge whatever it is between them. Though they need each other, depend on each other, and have fought side by side for decades, they were still placed together by their families and a broken society. There is still a power imbalance between the two. It is still very much a relationship between an emperor and her servant, even when those titles were laid to rest.

The two also contrast each other very strongly, adding to this theme. Edelgard is the pure idealist, strong, a leader; while Hubert is the skinny, dark, creepy assassin who does the dirty work of the empire. This strong contrast, while drawing the two closer together, also pushes them apart, necessitating habits of secrecy and divide. After relinquishing their roles, could the two have broken these habits?

Whats more, Hubert is a remnant from Edelgard's past, and vice versa. He is a constant reminder to her of her traumatic childhood, the old Fódlan, the broken caste system the two rose out of. Who might Hubert have been if he wasn't raised to be Edelgard's dirty right hand? If the two were born in a world of peace? Would they still be spending their lives together? The two were polarized and radicalized by their circumstances. Sure, it drew them together in turbulent times, but now the world is peaceful again, and they've come out of the war as two traumatized, polarized fighters in a world of peace.

[yohanseyebrowmole]

Dum Spiro Spero

Link to Wattpad

❛While I breathe, I hope.❜ 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦? ❝You were born reaching for your mother's hands, Victim of your father's plans.❞ The son of Hermes and the daughter of Apollo were always enough for each other. What happens when one of them starts yearning for more? ❝To rule the world.❞

✧ Pairing: Luke Castellan x Fem!oc

✧ Warnings: Violence, Major Character Death, possible mentions of substance and/or alcohol abuse, Mild gore, Language, Mature themes.

Any potential triggers will be marked as will any potential mature content!

✧ Status: Ongoing

Prologue

Character Aesthetics

Hannah Dorothea Anatolia Gibson

'I found myself falling before I even noticed I stepped off that ledge.'

19. daughter of apollo. beloved. sunshine and rainy days. credulous. sand by dove cameron

☀︎ Hannah meaning meaning gracious, merciful, one who gives or favoured of god. Named by her father.

☀︎ Dorothea meaning gift from god. Named by Apollo.

☀︎ Anatolia meaning sunrise. Named by Apollo.

☀︎Gibson meaning son of Gilbert. Name of instrument brand Gibson. Father's family name.

The name literally translates to 'the favoured gift of god given at sunrise.'

☀︎⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Luke Alastor Arlo Castellan

'Funny. I stepped off that same ledge willingly.'

19. son of hermes. amor. harsh winds at sea. excessive wrath. blue by billie eilish.

* Luke meaning luminous or light-giving. Named by his mother.

* Alastor meaning man's defender, avenger or vengeance. Links to his fatal flaw of excessive wrath. Named by Hermes.

* Arlo meaning fortified hill or between two hills. Signifying his stance between two world, mortal vs gods and his choices good vs evil or Hannah vs Kronos. Named by Hermes.

* Castellan meaning governor or warden of a castle/fort. Mother's family name.

☀︎⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Luke & Hannah

'Our story is woven in the stars.'

the star-crossed lovers. the ill-fated. doomed from the start.

☀︎⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

son of thieves and wind

daughter of sight and sun

doomed to love the other one.

fate has plans of other for them

their story forever condemned.

☀︎⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

[futurequibblerjournalist]

Would you mind giving my girl Charity some love? She's my fav Snapegang member and ur version is so special to me

Yes yes yesss I love my girl Charity so much I would love to talk about her!!!

Charity Grace Burbage was born on October 10, 1959, in her family home in Hodnet, Shropshire, England to Herbert and Dorothea Burbage (née Kelpis). She has one brother, Chance, who is I wanna say four or so years older than her??

Her father is a pureblood and her mother is a half-blood. I know many people headcanon her to be a muggleborn but her wiki says that while her blood status was unknown she was most likely a half-blood or a pureblood. Herbert was a Gryffindor like many of his siblings, though a handful of his siblings were also in Hufflepuff like Dorothea and her younger sister. I’m thinking Chance was a Gryffindor but I’m not 100% sure

Charity grew up with a father that valued academics and a mother who thought her best asset was her beauty. This has caused Charity to be partially conflicted when it comes to her intellect and you’ll be quite likely to catch her twirling her hair around her finger and pretending not to know the answer to something if it can get her something she wants

There are very few characters I think are truly popular at Hogwarts while also being actually cool and not just a nerd in disguise (as an example Sirius is a popular, cool person while James is a popular person who’s actually a nerd in disguise)

She’s always been very open and she’s adopted most of her friends tbh. Most people end up with a soft spot for her, often because she portrays herself as ditzy and a little useless?

She spent years trying to become friends with Aurora and when they finally managed to get a solid friendship going she was over the moon. She definitely got them friendship bracelets or friendship keychains or something except it’s not just made of braided yarn and cheap beads she got something hella expensive with fancy stones shimmering in there.

Charity is a yapper at her core. She can literally talk forever. Also, she talks "like totally like this, you know?" In the nicest way possible the girl loves the sound of her own voice. She loves herself. Not in like an egotistical way but she just genuinely loves herself and who she is as a person. She's naturally optimistic and it’s rare to see her without a smile

Speaking of things it’s hard to see her without,,,, pink. That girl is pink if pink was a person. With accents of soft yellow and baby blue. Honestly pan Charity is growing on me more and more. The girl literally dresses like the flag!!!

I cannot express how much she’s glitz and glamour. Her mother would have put her (and her brother) in pageants as children had they been American. And Charity would have loved it (honestly Chance might have too)

She’s got huge, blonde corkscrew curls, large blue eyes with long lashes and a mole on her left upper lip. Her nails are always done. She’s somehow always got glitter somewhere.

She writes a diary and she sprays the paper with sweet perfume before jotting down all her thoughts with a pen that’s got a fluffy end. She dots her ‘i’s with little hearts. She lays on her stomach as she writes and kicks her feet behind her as she writes

I think she gets along really well with Mary!!! She’s one of those girls with a lot of friends across houses and I could totally see her and Mary bonding over fashion, boy stuff, grades being annoying etc

If her jewellery isn't brand new it's something that's been in her family for ages, there's no in-between. She's got a lot of her grandmother's jewellery sets with matching earrings, bracelets and necklaces.

She wears cute matching underwear with fluffy lace on it and she walks around like that in the morning just to rile up Igor. She eats aesthetic breakfast with a cohesive colour scheme, frozen raspberries, chia seeds and almonds and modern au Charity is 100% an influencer

She names her animals after sweet treats/food such as Pudding the cat and Hollandaise (also known as Holly) the owl

Her room/flat is always a bit of a mess, not on purpose (she swears she’s a very clean person), but because she’ll put something down and forget about it before suddenly realising, moving it around and placing something new out of place lol

I've always found it interesting how Burbage is a, and this is a quote provided by the lovely Googlé, "habitational name from any of the places in Wiltshire, Derbyshire, and Leicestershire". It is never stated in canon where Charity is supposed to be from but she meets her end in Malfoy Manor which is canonically located in Wiltshire. Pulling from name meanings Charity also means dear; beloved; giving; kindness all things that I think shows a lot about who she is as a character (also I think people called seabunny Charity and her case, aka Charity Case lmao)

Also now that we're on the topic of seabunny vjfnjnnbg in aus Igor and Charity have a daughter called Evelina and she's very cute. I think Charity would love being a mother, she already values family a lot, but she would have to get Igor to shape up significantly because as he is rn he is not fit to be a father. I think no matter what she does there will always be a bit of the whole him valuing Viktor over Evelina. This is becoming more Igor stuff but he'd have an odd relationship with his daughter and Charity would very desperately try to fix it. I feel like he's the kind of guy who'd have both Charity and Evelina's names tattoed on him in fancy cursive but still be like "I'm gonna be home late today cause I'm taking Viktor to [insert sport]'s practice" yk??

[kimyoonmiauthor]

The source of the idea of "Nothing original under the sun" in writing.

Was most likely Lajos Egri who was trying to be an asshole to Dorothea Brande.

The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri (1946)

How to Become a Writer by Dorothea Brande (1934)

Originally I was giving him a break, but he does no citations, and tends to grandstand things suddenly so I should have known he was putting down another woman (yet again). !@#$

I originally made a note of it by going over Lajos Egri (and the fact he married a child and promoted it in his writing book) the first time, but now I understand why he spent so much time with it.

FU Lajos Egri. Seriously, dude?

See... unlike a lot of the structuralists and later structuralists who were mostly saying:

There's a formula for stories and success.

Originality? Don't even try.

Dorothea Brande spends a whole chapter basically arguing what Jerry Seinfeld argued about stand up comedy: In the specific is the general.

Dorothea Brande leans wholly into the toolbox ideology. There isn't conflict mentioned as a part of story. She isn't in conversation with Percy Lubbock. Can I get a 1940's-1950's cis man not slamming down on women?

This is why one needs to read and give advice in context of the time period and the writing movement they were a part of.

As for Originality...

I made a treaties about that. I think there are a few things to keep in mind...

Stealing other people's ideas when you cannot add a spin to it is often a bad idea because you have not through the philosophy or the depth. People often say it's all in the execution, but often when you steal, it lacks in the execution because you did not ut in the depth of thought and unlike what you've been taught, 100% readers can detect this. Look up Magic Kingdom, Sold by Terry Brooks. Then realize he doesn't really develop the idea more by book 2 he's into the same tropes he uses for his other books because his investment is low. (This isn't slamming him as a writer, but pointing out that you need to also develop your ideas so they have depth.) If he had developed it more thematically and tonally, the following books wouldn't have been as boring. I'm saying execution isn't the only thing you need with ideas, you also need to fundamentally develop the ideas further so you command on more than character and events, but also tone, and theme.

Gap theory

There is a gap in the market, exploit it. Someone went right and EVERY book went to the right path. But what if you went LEFT. This often gets you more money, but is riskier. The readers tend to like gaps over the same three things rehashed. What's more popular an exact remake of a movie, or a new movie? I've gone over the risks and benefits of this, BTW. Great for diversity, BTW.

3. Overlap theory

Usually three things and remix them, but the key is so they feel unfamiliar. NOT that they are this but a little different. The second one doesn't really get an audience following, the first often does. The obvious downside is that people try to play it too safe with this and the market can go stale as people follow people using the gap theory. But when you make things that don't seem to naturally mix then it can be exciting. "Pride and Prejudice only Bollywood." is BORING. I've watched that movie THREE TIMES already. Give me something more outlandish.

So YES, it is 100% OK to chase down new ideas and go all high concept if you like, but put in the time and research to develop those ideas further before you execute them. And I've said it before, but knowing a little philosophy and being a general nerd can help where to look on how to develop your idea.

And psychologically the contemporary research backs up Dorothy Brande over Lajos Egri, so stop repeating that there is no new idea under the sun. Development of your ideas is new and not always in the execution of character/s do events. Because story fundamentally is more than characters in settings doing events.

[quintessentialgaymutant]

A Queer Reading/Analysis on Claude in Fire Emblem Three Hopes

A long analysis I wrote about Claude’s writing in 3 Hopes, specifically in comparisons to 3 Houses regarding queerness. This is my interpretation of the text, and is not meant to be absolute for everyone but I felt it was worth sharing! It’s a long one and begins under the cut:

Claude was a character many queer men wanted before release, and right before the game released; there was a scene featuring a ball in the opening movie where Claude pulls in Male!Byleth’s hand in for a dance; leading many to speculate that he could be a queer option.

Once the actual gay options for men were revealed, there was massive disappointment. Many campaigned for Claude in particular, and even his VA commented on his unfortunate S support situation.

Claude differs quite drastically between Houses and Hopes. In Houses, he is an S support option for female Byleth only and has some of the most romantic endings with women, with many, if not all of his A supports implying romance before the ending.

Hilda, Petra, Ingrid, Annette, Hapi, Marianne, Lysithea, are all women he can support. In comparison, his male supports only include Lorenz, Raphael, Ignatz and Balthus. The opposite sex to same sex ratio of his supports may be amongst the highest, compared to the rest of the cast.

His support with Ignatz is also quite heteronormative with the two of them talking about female Byleth’s beauty, nothing similar is mentioned if you play as the male version.

3 houses does have some subtextual same sex supports and endings between many characters. Dimitri/Dedue, Sylvain/Felix, Caspar/Linhardt, Dorothea/Petra are some that come to mind; Claude has one such pairing that has subtextual potential; Lorenz.

However, even that specific pairing isn’t as blatant as many of the other subtextual ones.

3 years after the release of Houses, 3 Hopes was announced. It was revealed to be a brand new alternate universe story based in Fodlan, with a whole new protagonist to boot!

Fans speculated if romances would return and many queer men silently hoped for the possibility of better characters than what Houses offered. Claude was also back with a gorgeous new design and a more focused story.

Fast forward to now, and It’s been over a year since Hopes has been released and its stark change in perspective and queerness was something that still grabs me, and Claude sits neatly in the center of all of that.

It should be noted that 3 Hopes does not have S supports in the traditional sense; but I would argue that it still has romantic aspects, albeit more subdued but still effective.

First off is the merc whistle; an item you give to any character in the game, regardless of gender, when you receive an A support.

A support is poignant, not only because it’s the highest level but because even in Houses, many A supports were very flirty and/or romantic and that ranking was required in order for Byleth to give them a ring. Thus, this mechanic clearly draws from whatever the equivalent of an S support is in FE games that have it.

Once the whistle is given, the charcaters in question will have some special dialogue, give you a memento in return and then will write you a personal letter once you finish the game.

Many of these letters are very overtly romantic. With characters saying they want to spend the rest of their lives near you or that you’re special to them.

This is not unlike paired endings of past games and is an actual, direct precursor to the Pact Ring in Engage, the newest game in the series as of writing. It’s important to note that the Pact Ring in Engage can also be given to any character regardless of gender.

Beyond that element; the game also has the most intimate simulation setting; expeditions. These are essentially dates you can take any character on, and their dialogue will change depending on support level.

Once again, A support ranking comes with some overtly flirty and romantic dialogue, with blushing and all, and none of this is restricted by gender.

All in all, though the S support system doesn’t exist in Hopes, these alternatives clearly exist for the purpose of romance/shipping and have dialogue that in some cases, is more flirty and intimate than what we even got in Houses, barring direct confessions.

Claude has many unique qualities within this framework, specifically with Shez, none of which is restricted by gender, unlike his Houses incarnation, which was deeply heteronormative.

For starters, his A support expedition dialogue is some of the most overtly flirty and sexual amongst the cast.

If you look at his face, he boasts about how you’re into his face and that you can gaze at it as long as you like. If you look at his hair, he teasingly states that you’re also really into it and that it’s not going anywhere, luckily for us. And finally, if you look at his body, he teases us by saying that he might look scrawny but is actually quite fit.

This last line has a bit of a sexual edge to it in the Japanese version, in which he teases that if he takes off his clothes you could see that he’s not actually that scrawny and is decently built!

These lines imply physical interest and a desire to be gazed at in a more than platonic sense. He doesn’t just like that you think he’s cute; he *wants* you to stare at him and is inviting you in, in some cases, quite proudly and eagerly.

Once you leave the expedition; he says that he’ll be counting the minutes until he can do this again with you.

This level of flirtation and physical intrigue is quite relevant because it’s Claude. Even in Houses, he keeps Byleth at arm’s length in their S support; but in Hopes, a huge part of his story and development revolves around his inability to lean on and trust his friends. The fact that he’s this intimate and vulnerable around Shez after all they’ve been through is quite significant.

Beyond these blatant forms of flirtation, Claude in particular is the most influenced by Shez in Hopes. He arguably gets the treatment Edelgard got in Houses, in which she was clearly written as being romantically interested in Byleth, and is the most influenced by whether or not the player chooses her, regardless of gender.

To demonstrate this, we’ll have to look at Claude’s narrative and Shez’s role in it.

It starts early on, Claude takes an interest in Shez, similarly to how he does with Byleth in 3 Houses.

He views Shez as an “outsider”, like himself, which is the foundational point of their bond. This is brought up multiple times in their interactions, for example, when Shez asks why Claude wants him around, and in their B support when Shez opens up to him about his past and being disowned by his village - he sees a kindred spirit in Shez and actually organically wants to open up to him.

The inability to open up to others represents a large part of Claude’s inner conflict and the fact that it’s Shez who plays a direct role in mitigating that showcases how necessary their relationship is to each other.

He also is constantly lowkey flirty with Shez, beyond the very overtly sexually implied Expedition lines; he calls him “his favourite mercenary” (which he says even after meeting Byleth) and says “I knew we had a thing!” When you decide to join his house.

He also claims that he “wants you” when Shez wonders why Claude wants him to go to Leicster with him after the Monastery closes. He says this again during his paralogue with Judith and Nader, and says he was “laying it on pretty thick” if you don’t get the hint.

He notably doesn’t display this carefree, playful, teasing banter with many other characters, he will maybe jest at them but not be this affectionate and interested.

Things get tense when the Almyran army tries to invade Fodlan’s Throat a second time, now years after the first attempt. It’s an even larger army this time, and it happens as soon as Claude and his army are about to seize Gronder Field from Count Bergliz.

Claude recounts how this must be his brother Shahid. He is hiding the fact that he is Almyra’s Prince at this point and doesn’t tell Shez how he really feels despite Shez catching on that he’s upset.

After Shahid’s death and learning Claude was his brother, Shez feels a wall between himself and Claude; that he’s not being completely open and honest about his feelings. Arval implies that he is still “scheming” and that he’s an ambitious man who keeps to himself, but Shez will be important to him and he’ll open up eventually.

4 moons later, Claude creates the Leicster Federation, not telling anyone about this idea, including Shez.

It’s important to note that without Shez, he never gains the determination to create the Leicster Federation in the first place and it never forms if Shez sides with another house; once again, showcasing how important their bond is to his own story. He says that he apologizes for never telling him about it but asks Shez to promise to stay by his side.

Claude’s inability to confide in his friends comes to a head in his first mission as the federation king. He agreed to a contract with Edelgard; in which he aids her in her conquest against the Central Church of Seiros. The Federation’s first mission is to send troops to Aillel, the Valley of Torment, in order to help general Randolph defeat the knights of Seiros, lead by Thunder Catherine.

Instead of aiding Randolph when he needs it, he commands his troops to secure all of the strongholds in order to trap the Knights of Seiros, blocking their escape, while they focus their efforts on Randolph and his imperial troops. This is seen as a self serving strategy which treats the empire’s troops, whom Claude agreed to protect, as expendable, whilst the Federation’s army remains unscathed.

Claude did not trust in his own army’s (his friends, mind you) ability to both protect the imperial troops and defeat the Knights of Seiros. Claude’s own ambitions require him to think of the bigger picture; however his conscious is at odds with his techniques as he feels guilty after the fight, saying the decision left a bad taste in his mouth.

He says his own hands will never be clean after this and there’s no going back now. He views this as the only way forward, despite it feeling wrong. He is dealing with this inner conflict alone.

This whole time, Shez has felt Claude has been too guarded and unpredictable with his priorities. He cares for Claude but there’s always been something in between them. That tension culminates here; with Shez proclaiming that after this, he feels expendable to Claude and that he is no different from any other noble who views mercenaries as nothing but a means to an end.

Claude does care. He says in an incredibly sullen tone: “I could never do that to you.” His inner conflict is in full display here; he is attempting to balance the duties of an ambitious king but isn’t able to reach his loved ones. Then, Judith comes in, agreeing with Shez.

Judith is almost like a mother figure to Claude and it takes her and Shez to get Claude to see that he needs to not take the burden of leadership solely on himself and that he needs to trust his friends.

They effectively stop him from becoming a shrewd, detached strategist, something he can indeed become in other routes (Scarlet Blaze’s bad ending).

The interaction between Claude and Shez here is full of tension and has a lot to do with how they see each other. Shez wants to be close to Claude but at this point; doesn’t see him as someone who is trustworthy. Claude has always cared for Shez, and has viewed him as irreplaceable but wasn’t able to let him truly in, he never learned how to share his woes (not surprising considering his childhood).

Expressing certain intimate emotions seems difficult for Claude in general. He’s always having to lean on himself to get the job done. Even when killing Shahid, he didn’t expect himself to struggle with it. When he saw himself struggling, he was surprised and thought himself impervious to such emotions; despite it being his brother. Once again, it was Shez who helped him find his resolve and do the deed.

Before leaving for Garreg Mach to fight The Church, Claude thanks Shez for aiding him and asks if he’ll continuing supporting him even after all of this. Shez teases him saying only during the war, but Claude was unwilling to accept that. He wants Shez near him even after it; to share in the cultivation of his dream for Fodlan.

Overall, this is the most direct and personal impact Shez has on any character in the game.

Claude has said many times throughout the game that he yearns to open up to Shez, and that there is a natural chemistry there; the progression of the plot has this trust be at the crux of Claude’s personal development. It’s his trust and vulnerability around Shez that inspires Claude to create the Federation.

The fact that Claude has all of this and was the most vocally desired character by upset queer male fans may not be a coincidence.

Lastly, unlike Houses, Claude’s A supports with all the women he can support with have no flirty or romantically coded lines, most of them speak of Leicster and their roles within it going forward. He doesn’t really open up to any of them, he offers to support them and vice versa but the interactions feel more role centric than personal.

Meanwhile, not only does his A support with Lorenz retain some subtext, it adds even more; with the two of them opening up to each other, looking out for each other, with Claude feeling at ease with Lorenz on his side. They get a special CG, the only A support in the game to do so!

All of this showcases Claude’s unique differences regarding queerness compared to Houses. He is allowed to show the same depth of desire for the male player as the female player, which is relevant in this game as that relationship is at the crux of both the development of his ambitions but also his inner conflicts.

Unlike Houses, the endpoint of the relationship is open to both genders instead of just the female one. This openness to both genders regarding character endings, flirty dialogue, and gifting a special, exclusive item is relevant because it’s the same approach the series embraced in its next entry, showcasing a schema shift from Houses regarding queer readings in the series.

His romantic interest in women is much more obsolete in Hopes, while it is at the forefront in his dynamics with them in Houses. Meanwhile, Lorenz is the one character to retain the possible romantic reading, even surpassing Houses by giving the two of them a CG.

All in all, the schema shift between games not only did better by queer male fans, but also let Claude be more subversive regarding his character interactions and desires than what Houses provided. The series can and still should do better with more overt representation and diversity of queerness but this still meant a lot to me, personally.

[thegreatimpersonator]

Marjorie and Dorothea are such cozy and comforting songs for my soul

oh absolutely!! she branded it a winter album but evermore is so versatile she can be a fall girlie to me