#free material for writer

[lupins-hehim-pussy]

I wanna know ur Fontaine msq criticisms 👁️👁️👂I’m all ears

I'm not sure if you wanted me to talk about this secretly or publicly but! Here I go!

The TLDR: Fontaine MSQ aestheticised prison, poverty, child abuse, the justice system/court and didn't properly address any of it.

More:

Focalors/Furina has way too much of a sympathetic angle for a dictator who's lets people drown with her inaction.

Neuvillette feels Bad for sentencing some people to death/prison, but that's it. He's one of the most powerful people in Fontaine. If he felt like there are systemic injustices, I.E sending an abused Child to prison, he should be the first person to DO something about it, not just cry and be sad so the audience can be like aw, that's complex character writing isn't it? No it's not! And guilt doesn't absolve you!!!!!!! (These are stuff we deal with in OTCOJ read my fic now /j)

Meropide has children in it, both Sentenced there (Wriothesley) and BORN THERE (Lanoire), and this is just a quirk of the place. Not only that, Meropide accepts prisoners of all genders and crimes. There are abusers and abuse victims in one place. Do you know how bad that is? How much potential for crimes to happen in a place like that— oh wait, Meropide isn't under Fontaine's jurisdiction. If you are assaulted as an inmate it literally means nothing to the court.

Wriothesley had no qualifications when he took over. Depending on how long he lived on the streets, how old he was when he killed his parents, how old he was when he was first taken in by the orphanage, etc, the man might never have more than 4–5 years of formal education. Sigewinne probably had to teach him how to write reports. And do Meropide's spreadsheets. Edit because I forgot to elaborate on this one: This isn't a point brought up anywhere, which is bad, because when poverty and incarceration robs you of a proper education (and the rights to vote in many places too, too, by the way), it reduces your prospects for jobs, reduces many people's ability to get a home etc etc. Wriothesley was just, narratively, Given his position.

Meropide is an industrialized prison, and they portray this as a good thing. Prisoners are paid in coupons for their labour, and this is also portrayed as a good thing.

The One-Meal-A-Day reform was something Paimon gushed about being so great of a perk, that people might want to go to jail for food (could be interesting and reflective of systemic poverty if MHY had brains, but they don't, so I was just Pissed because essentially all Paimon wanted to say was "Prison isn't so bad, but still don't go to prison guys! Prison labour is really hard!"). By the way, in most real-world prisons they are obligated to feed you three meals a day. Because that's how much food a human needs. MHY went with one meal just so they can say "if you want to eat more, you have to work." And then the welfare meal is a goddamn gacha. So imagine you're a starving child who's too weak to work in the fucking robot assembly line, and you wander up for your first meal in 24 hours, only to luck in with a shit one. I'd kill myself.

They wrote Wriothesley, who's a victim of the system, into a guy who's say shit like "I'm the Duke I can do whatever I want" for a cool moment where he choke-slams an inmate (I know he was a bad guy. But also, in copaganda when cops are violent/disregarding protocols, they are always only portrayed to do that against bad guys, so what does our critical thinking tells us about this one?) They wrote Wriothesley, who was an inmate of a prison so bad, so notorious that it is the literal boogeyman of Fontaine, that has a legal (???) fighting pit, with an administrator who abuses his position to be unreasonable, to willingly stay in the place and become an Administrator who would choke-slam an inmate while saying a cool line about how he has the power to do whatever he wants. They wrote him, the guy who had to be fed on the streets by melusines, to think one-meal-a-day was a good enough reform (while he spends god-knows how much on his boat). This wasn't a victim-turns-into-abuser narrative either, they want all this to be seen as positive character growth.

And then, the final kicker is, they gloss over his entire abuse. You can only read about these shit in his profile, which most people don't because they don't Have Him or doesn't care to unlock it/read it online, and they jammed his entire backstory into a flaccid info-dump at the end of his character story quest. This man isn't Allowed to feel abused and neglected and show any reaction to it within the narrative of Fontaine itself, because if they actually Gave Weight to what happened to him, they'd have to confront THE FUCKING JUSTICE SYSTEM they had NO PLANS on criticising. I don't think they ever explicitly said the fucking Crime-Theatre nonsense was Bad either.

I could go on, but this is already so long. But yeah, I hope this gave you an idea.

[origami-butterfly]

I know the best way to avoid fandom discourse is to just not engage with the worst offenders, but I'm so fucking tempted to unblock [redacted] and send them anon hate.

[filmmakerdreamst]

TV!Lyra & Will: Friends to Lovers. Pure af.

Book!Lyra & Will: Enemies to Lovers. Surprisingly electric to the point many readers came out claiming they had sex so much that Philip Pullman had to explicitly write in tbod2 that they hadn't.

[stsebastiens]

Hi love whats your ao3 handle? it feels like the season to get back into captain america: the winter soldier

LMAO it’s the same as my tumblr x

[mimicic]

have you ever not (or only briefly:) watched/read/whatever some fictional story but developed a deep love/fascination/interest for a character solely because one of your mutuals writes them so well?

[zea9love]

I made a tweet about how I don’t want MCU Sharon to be a villain and a B*ckyZ*mo shipper was like “Sharon being a villain is an improvement to her boring character tbh”

Sharon-haters love to say they stan her now that she’s a villain, but I know damn well they’d turn on her the moment she does something villain-like. It happened during the Power Broker reveal in FATWS and it’ll certainly happen again if the MCU takes this stupid villain-Sharon storyline any further.

Also that person has the nerve to talk shit about Sharon when they stan Z*mo, who is a whole ass N*zi?! HELLO???!!!

[poisonandpages]

As a horror fan and a fanfiction reader I love a Scream AU as much as the next bitch but sometimes people will be like "Scream AU where this character makes the calls and that character does the killing 😈" and it'll be about two characters who in canon would likely need a third character's help to kill a spider.

[wordofculture]

SOME COMMONLY USED ITALIAN TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (1)

Please note: English is not my first language and this post has not been beta read.

Presentation: Hi, my first language is Italian and I'm also Italian (born and raised in Southern Italy). I was born into a Christian Catholic Family but I personally don't practice this (or any) religion.

Let me know (using the "ask/share" on this blog) if you would like to know more about the specifics of some of these words! Which ones are mostly used, which one is considered cheesy or creepy if in the wrong contest and such.

If you write a story using some of the information that you found on this blog, I would appreciate it if you shared it with us! As long as it is written in English/French/Spanish (so I can understand what it's actually written in the story, lol).

Please, always keep in mind that this not THE RULE of how to use these terms of endearment in Italian. Like most things, some people might have different opinions on the matter and will/could disagree to a certain degree or feel like these kind of lists are incomplete and until they give their opinion on it, the list can't be truly complete. :')

Will update this with a new post/edit in the future! Just wanted to get this out for now, to give you an idea of what to expect from this blog (at least, from me, idk if someone will eventually share their bits and pieces with us through the "ask/share" section, lol).

Please, remember to be polite in the comments/asks. Let's not make this corner of the internet a toxic one. Have some manners and always be nice to other people, don't be passive-aggressive, it just shows how problematic and angry at yourself you are. Ignore the trolls and/or obtuse people with a degradation kink, don't be that naïve. Don't play right into their game(s).

(f) = female, (m) = male, (n) = gender neutral,

(s) = singular, (p) = plural

(n) (s) amore: love (can be shortened to " amo' ". Used between couples, but just as much among young people and their friend's group of any gender, between cis males of almost any age too (I'd say it can stop around 40/50ish years old, but there are exceptions even there. It all depends on the person, their personality, and the degree of intimacy that they have with certain people around them. Here in the South, relationships of any kind can easily become skin-tight, tickier than blood, and deeper than someone's family bond. I will probably talk about this in more detail in another post(s)). It's used between family members too, but only if they have that kind of dynamic, usually from an older one to a younger one. Can be used instead of one's name to get their attention. (It is mostly used as an endearment, but it can also be used to be mean or condescending towards someone who is getting on one's nerves)

(n) (s) amore mio: my love (same as "amore")

(n) (s) amore bello: beautiful love (can either sound very romantic and almost corny but also be used in a condescending and mocking way, usually by girls (to each other) in their teen years or young women (to each other) or yet with their boyfriend or husband; usually it's a way to feel like they have the upper hand in the fight)

(n) (s) vita: life

(n) (s) vita mia: my life

(n) (s) tesoro: treasure (same as "amore" and "amore mio")

(n) (s) tesoro mio: my treasure (same as "amore", "amore mio" and "tesoro")

(f) (s) bella: beautiful/beauty (can be used as an endearment or cheesy and cringe-worthy pick-up line or in a mocking way between girls or women; in that case, it usually goes like this: "Senti, bella..." = "Listen, beautiful..." It usually starts with an aggressive confrontation between girls/women. On a similar note, it can be used in the masculine form toward a boy or man to convey that a girl or woman is annoyed with a guy: "Senti, bello..." = "Listen, handsome")

(f) (s) bella di nonna: grandma's beautiful girl (as in: you (my niece) are grandma's beauty and treasure)

(m) (s) bello di nonna: grandma's beautiful boy (same as "bella di nonna" but in reference to grandma's nephew)

(f) (s) bellissima: beauty (the superlative version)

(f) (s) bambola: doll (can feel very patronizing and of the patriarchal sort. Be careful with which character is going to use this and the personality of the one who's going to receive it)

(m) (s) bellissimo: handsome (the superlative version)

(f) (s) gioia: joy

(f) (s) gioia mia/gioia di mamma/gioia di papà: my joy/mom's joy/dad's joy (as in: you (my child) are mom's/dad's joy)

(n) (s) luce dei miei occhi: light of my eyes

(n) (s) cuore: heart

(n) (s) cuore mio/cuore di mamma/cuore di papà: my heart/mom's heart/dad's heart (as in: you (my child) are mom's/dad's heart)

(f) (s) piccola: baby (tbh, it's more likely for people to use their dialect's variation of this word. No one really uses this word in standard Italian because it sounds fake and is not natural to use in an everyday situation. So, if you want to know how this word translates in a particular Italian's dialect or language (ex. a Sicily's dialect, or the Neapolitan language, Rome's dialect, etc...), just ask me. I know how to speak some of Italy's dialects to a certain degree, but of course I have my limits (because I'm human, lol) and don't know EVERYTHING about each and every dialect of Italy (plus, there are so many that one would lose count. I don't think a single human being can know all of them on a very solid level, lol). Anyway, if I know the answer, I'll reply to you with the translation; if not, I will still publish the ask, so maybe someone else can answer it for you!)

(n) (s) splendore: beauty/someone that shines because of their beauty

[shijimamei]

finally locked all of my fanfics on ao3 for users only, because the idea of someone finishing my fanfic without my permission makes me feel not only very icky (ai or not), but also reminds me how much people doesn’t respect writers. and now respecting them less because they think ai is better suited to write than actual writers when the ai could not make anything without them.

[mexicanistnet]

Mexico's king of spirits, mezcal, boasts artisanal craft, wild agave luxury, and surprising connections — beatnik writers, hangover-free claims, and even an agave building material! Discover its history, secrets, and why it's toasting tables worldwide.

[buddy-is-my-ghost-name]

Fanfic writers should no longer feel bad about not being "professional" or "original" because y'all being ACTUAL FANS of the source material you're writing for means your LEAGUES ahead of like 90% of writers, showrunners, producers, whatever in Hollywood being PAID to create multimillion dollar shows and movies

[uluvjay]

Winner, Winner-L. Norris

Lando Norris x fem! Reader

In which Lando wins his first Grand Prix

Warnings?; smut, bathroom sex, quickie?, cursing, unprotected sex(a big no no), p in v, kissing, grinding, alcohol consumption, small mirror sex kink,uhh def some errors so i apologize, a week late bc writers block is a bitch!!, not the best ending.

You could feel your entire body shaking as you watched the screens, nails stuck between your teeth as the laps flew past. Jon stood next to you as you both felt your stomach’s twisting and turning.

When lap 57 hit the rest of the garage started to bounce, their bodies shaking with excitement and joy as your boyfriend turned that last corner.

You couldn’t help the tears and scream of joy that broke through when he crossed the line, cheers and applause filling the air as people jumped into each others arms.

You threw yourself into Jon’s open arms, hugging the older man as you both allowed the tears to freely fall.

“He fucking did it.” The man laughed as you two pulled away.

“He did, I’m so proud.” You smiled, lifting a shaky hand to wipe your tears.

“Go show him! Go, everyone’s heading out.” The man rushed as he pushed you away and you quickly followed behind the mechanics and engineers until you felt someone tug on your wrist.

“Y/n! This way, come on” Zak called pulling you behind him as he and Andrea rushed towards the barricades.

You made it just in time to watch your boyfriend launch himself into his crew, a laugh escaping you as they cheered for him as they held him high in the sky.

You watched on silently as he hugged Zak and Andrea, Lando hugging them tightly as they congratulated him and he thanked them for standing by him for so long.

When Lando’s eyes met yours he couldn’t help himself, quickly pulling away from his team principal he had you in his arms in seconds.

Your arms wrapping around his neck, hands diving into his wet curls while his hands gripped the material of your dress.

“Oh baby I’m so proud of you.” You spoke softly as you dug your head into his neck, one of large hands coming up to pull your head back.

“Are you crying!?” He laughed, his signature giggle filling the small space between you two.

“Yes! Leave me alone, you just won your first race I’m allowed to cry.” You laughed reaching up to wipe the tears.

“Aww baby.” He cooed pressing his lips against yours in a gentle kiss.

“I really am proud of you Lan, you worked so hard for this.” You smiled when he pulled away from your lips.

“Thank you baby.” He beamed dipping down to give you a few more kisses before he was being called to the cool down room.

“Go ahead, go do your champagne pop I’ll be right below waiting.” You pushed him.

“I love you!” He called behind him as he jogged off towards the people waiting for him.

You stood happily next to Zak as the boys came out, more tears brimming your eyes as god save the king played through the speakers.

Lando sending a wink your way as his eyes finally found yours, a bright smile on his face as he looked around the crowd below him.

You watched as max and Charles drenched him in champagne, the winner not even getting a chance to do his signature champagne pop before they attacked him.

But the second he was free his bottle smashed against the ground and was soon spraying the crowd, a wide smirk covering his face as he made sure to aim it at you.

Your head shook at his antics, a laugh breaking free as Zak stuck his tongue out for a taste.

Once the celebrations ended you made your way back to his driver’s room to wait, knowing he’d have a small debrief before the team celebration photo.

A little while later he finally stumbled into the room, his body drenched in champagne as he plopped down beside you on the leather couch, his head dipping back to rest against it.

“How you feeling champ?” You giggled running a hand through his sticky hair.

Lando opened an eye to look at you, a wide smile filling his face before he pulled you to rest on his lap.

“A whole lot of things, but right now sticky and hot and like I need three showers.” He laughed, his large hands coming to rest on your thighs.

“You wanna shower here or the hotel?”

“I’ll take a quick one here and a much, much, longer one at the hotel before we go out.” He replied, fully sitting up to look at you now, his fingers reached to fix your tangled necklaces, his thumb running over the golden four charm that hung on one of the three chains.

You smiled lovingly at him, unable to stop yourself as you leaned forward and captured his lips with yours, you hand reaching around the back of his head to pull him impossibly closer.

He groaned into your mouth, his hands sliding under the material of your sundress to grope your skin, his hips slowly beginning to buck up into your heat.

You whimpered as his bulge rubbed against your pulsing clit, moving your body to rest better over his cock as you allowed yourself to start grinding against him.

However your little moment was quickly ruined by the loud sound of his phone ringing, jumping back at the sudden noise you reached for the device on the table beside you.

“Just ignore it, already talked to my mum and dad.” He whined grabbing your hand to pull you back to him, his lips slanting over yours once again.

“Mmm, what if it’s important.” You spoke softly as you pulled alway from him once again.

“Then they’ll leave a message.”

You shook your head at him as he pulled you back in, his large hand tangled in your hair making sure you weren’t getting away again.

That was until the phone began to ring again, the sound once again disrupting Lando’s plans.

“Just answer it.” You laughed pulling back slightly, watching as he groaned dramatically but reached for the phone.

“Oliver what do yo-Oh! Hi Mila.” He quickly changed his tone seeing the face of his sweet niece on the other end.

“What do you say Mila?” You could hear his brother speak from the other end

“Yay lala won!” The young girl babbled.

“Yeah I won darling, thank you so much for calling.” He smiled softly at the girl.

You smiled at the heartwarming interaction, knowing how much he adores his nieces just never having much time to see them.

You slid off his lap, sending him a wink as he looked at you with a questioning look, moving around the room you began to pack up his and your things, leaving out a change of clothes for him after his shower.

“Okay bye bye, talk later love you all.” He spoke softly as he ended the call dropping the phone down he stood up and made his way towards you.

“Don’t even think about it.” You laughed as you saw him reaching for your waist.

“Go shower so we can get out of here, these shoes are killing me and I’d enjoy to change out of this dress as well.”

“Fine.” He groaned, stomping off into the small bathroom for a fast shower.

-

Two hours later you were stood at the sink in the hotel bathroom touching up your hair and makeup as you waited for Lando to finish getting ready for the club.

“Almost ready baby?” He questioned as he stepped up behind you, strong arms wrapping around your waist.

“Mhm just let me put some lip gloss on.” You nodded, leaning over slightly to reach for the small tube.

Lando whined as your movements caused your ass to rub against his still hard member, his hands reaching for the hem of your little dress.

“What time did max say to be there?”

“Nine, why?”

“just asking.” He shrugged, his lip tucked between his teeth as he took a peak at his watch.

It was 8:30, that gave him plenty of time to fuck yoy over this sink.

You gasped as you felt the hem of your dress get pushed up over your ass, the cold air of the ac hitting your exposed skin.

“Lando!” You scolded attempting to pull away from him however that only pushed you closer to the counter.

“What?” He chuckled, large hands palming your plump ass as he teasingly traced the band of your Lacy thong.

“We can’t, we have to go.” You whined feeling the material slide halfway down your thighs and the sound of his belt coming undone.

“It’s my win and my celebration, if I wanna fuck my girlfriend before going out, then I will.” He scoffed as he pushed your legs apart and slid his thick cock inside your awaiting cunt, filling you to the hilt.

“Feel so good baby.” He breathed into your ear, hands gripping your waist tightly.

His slow and measured thrust had your back arching as your cries echoed in the large bathroom, hands gripping onto the marble counter for some sort of leverage.

You gasp as one of his hands slides around your front, the pad of his finger sliding between your spread thighs as he found your clit with ease.

He growls at how wet you are for him, his fingers move in tedious circles as he coaxes even more moans from you, your body leaning on his as the pleasure began to become to much.

“So close.” You whimpered, feeling the heat in your stomach getting stronger and stronger as his thrusts kept up.

He hummed into the skin of you neck as his lips left a trail of wet kisses, sucking softly on the spot behind your ear earning him a purr of pure pleasure.

“Gonna come for me baby? Make a mess on my cock?” He teases, blue eyes finding yours in the large mirror in front of you.

You can see the hunger in his eyes, see the way he’s enjoying watching you fall apart for him, how your face distorts at any touch he places on your body.

“Fuck! Yes, so close Lan.” You cry as his hips speed up, his fingers matching the pace as he fucks you into your release.

A choked cry spills free as you reach your high, lando wrapping an arm tight around your waist in order to keep you up as your knees buckle from the pleasure.

Your moans get higher as he keeps fucking your, hips moving at an unholy pace as he feels his own release rapidly approaching.

“Cum for me.” You slur, a soft whine leaving you as his hands move back to your hips, nails digging into your skin as he comes inside you with a deep grunt.

His head tucked into the crook of your neck as his hips stutter a few more times before completely coming to a stop.

You reach back to play with his curls, his hands slowly moving around your body as he begins to leave chaste kisses to your neck.

Finally pulling away from you he smirks at you in the mirror, both of your cheeks flushed and hot, a post orgasm glimmer in your eyes.

“Just couldn’t wait till later could you champ?” You teased him slightly.

“No, you looked to good baby.” He smirked before placing kisses to your shoulder blade as he pulled out and tucked himself away.

He pulled your panties back up and your dress back down over your ass, giving it a small smack for good measure before turning your body to face him.

“I love you.” He hummed softly.

“I love you too my race winner.” You smiled right back before locking his lips with yours for a short kiss before the ringing of his phone once again ruined another moment.

“Shit it’s max.” He winced before answering the Dutchman’s call.

-

[moonstruckme]

It's me once again! Bothering you twice in a day, I'm annoying like that, ha just kidding. But yes James is soooo wholesome, it's crazy how he became my favorite boy. So Mae, I suppose you are super busy because being such amazing writer is no easy job when you have requests coming all the time but, if you have the time, whenever that is, could you write something about James? Like James being so wholesome, the best boyfriend, the fluffiest thing you can think of, maybe something with words or affirmation and kisses and hugs and just very lovely things, feel like I need that. If you can of course.

Hope you are having a very cool weekend and my username is basically my favorite colors and it has something to do with Van Gogh and my favorite singer but this kid knows something, haha it's so funny, kind of serendipitous if you ask me :) love that. Well, I'm going to set you free, read you soon.

P.S. Sorry this was so loonng

Hi lovely, thanks for requesting!! Sorry this took so long lol, I had to wait until I had an idea that wasn't already in my requests but I appreciate your patience! This is perhaps more hurt/comfort than straight fluff lol, but he is the most wholesome ever <3

cw: concussion

James Potter x fem!reader ♡ 603 words

James’ hand is especially gentle as he strokes over your hair. Your nose dents into his thigh, and his jeans are coarse and scratchy but the slight pressure is nice. 

“Still dizzy?” he asks, carefully quiet. 

“A little.” Your own voice is thin, fraught. “Not as bad.” 

He sighs, and you feel too weird to decipher whether it’s in relief or dismay. “I’m sorry, angel.” He lifts one of your hands to his mouth, kissing the side. “Is it hurting in one place?” 

“It’s my whole face. But most in my forehead.” 

James’ touch is featherlight, ghosting over the spot where you’d smacked your head on the stairs. “Here?” 

“Mhm.” 

He makes a worried humming sound in response. You sit in silence for some time, and it’s not uncomfortable, but nothing is comfortable for you right now. You feel terrible, unlike yourself and unsettled because of that and also weepy but not as much as you are embarrassed. And dwelling upon any of this for too long makes your head spin worse. You don’t think you’re dying though it feels like you might be. 

The warm bead rolling down your nose brings you to the realization that you’re crying. James’ coo follows a moment later, and his hand splays protectively atop your head. 

“You’re okay, sweetheart. Do you feel alright to sit up?” 

“Okay,” you mumble. 

He does the work for you, though it’s hard to keep track of the movements. One second your head is on his lap and the next you’re propped against his chest, one muscled arm supporting your back while James rests his lips against your forehead. 

“You’re okay,” he promises. “You’re okay, I’ve got you.” 

“I don’t really feel like going to dinner anymore,” you admit, tasting salt as a tear finds its way into your mouth. 

“Oh,” James lifts his lips to look you in the eyes, “honey, I didn’t expect you to. I’m going to call Remus and cancel in a minute, okay?” He brushes a lock of hair away from your face with his pinkie finger, stroking a sweet line down your cheek. “If you go anywhere, it should probably be to the doctor.” 

“No.” You close your eyes, too upset to care about the low whine that escapes you. “What’re they gonna do?” 

“I don’t know, baby.” James traces the same line again. “They might want to do an MRI or something. I’ve had a concussion before, they’re serious business.” 

You sigh, leaning your head on his shoulder. The material of his jumper is soft beneath your cheek. “I can’t think about it right now.” 

There’s a brief pause. 

“Okay. Okay, we can talk about it tomorrow, if it’s still bad then.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“You don’t need to be sorry.” James’ arm wraps around your middle, squeezing lightly in a gentle sort of hug. You think that he’s being very careful with you, which you appreciate. You don’t imagine you could handle much more sensation at the moment. “I know it sucks, angel, and you’re handling it so well. We’re gonna do our best to get you feeling better. I love you so much, you know?” 

You feel like you might cry again. You don’t think you have the energy to stop yourself. “I know,” you tell him. “I love you so much, too.” 

“Heaps and heaps.” He gives you another little squeeze, his ability to repress his affection tenuous at best. “Probably the most anyone has ever loved anyone, if we’re being honest.” 

“James.” 

“Yeah?”

“I can’t do that kind of math right now. I love you a lot, okay?” 

“Okay. Same here.”

[feyd-meowtha]

Some thoughts on Dune, media literacy and the way we interact (and do not interact) with difficult topics in fiction....

Buddy, imma say this with kindness in my heart.... If this gets you 'tweaking' then you aren't gonna like the ending of Children of Dune...

On the media literacy note.... big sigh.

It is explicitly said that Feyd and Paul were meant to marry and have a child had Paul been born a girl - obviously the natural reaction is to consider what the nature/implications of that would have been. The source material is EXPLICITLY telling you that they were made for eachother, destined to be together. This is also the text EXPLICITLY telling you that this relationship would be an acceptable thing in this world. Therefore engaging with this concept is not at all a reach and is very much backed up by the source material. People are not getting this idea from nowhere.

(Also if that still offends you, they're not actually first cousins but cousins once removed and 2 seconds of thinking about the family tree would have made that obvious, not that it really matters at all in the context of this story, but it is a very easy feat of inductive reasoning)

The fact is that this is a story about ruling families and (as they almost always do) it involves a degree of incest. This is ESPECIALLY true in the world of Dune where these people are being selectively bred like show dogs to have certain genetic characteristics, I hope I do not have to patronise anyone by explaining how that works. Especially given as Reverend Mother Mohiam says this, oh, 10 pages into the first book:

People who haven't read the literature love to lecture people on literacy, funny.

So, in conclusion, if this is how you feel then, with love, Dune is not the story for you. The fact is that a degree of incest IS normalised in this universe and if you're inclined toward tedious moralising based on writers exploring difficult ideas in fiction then I'm honestly surprised you ended up here in the first place. Dune is a story that constantly presents the reader with difficult ideas and invites them to critique and analyse them for themselves, including the morality of the Bene Gesserit breeding programme. In Dune no character is morally pure, no ideology is beyond corruption and no path is free of ugly choices. As adults we can engage with these difficult topics as we wish.

*Sigh* A few years ago these people learned the term 'media literacy' and they've been insufferable ever since.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

This is probably small in the grand scheme of things, but how did Emilie being noble play any impact in the story at all?

I mean, I'd get it if it was just a small detail to help deepen Emilie's character, but why nobility of all things? I don't know, from what I'm seeing so far, the whole "Emilie renounced her noble title" shtick just feels worthless if it's not going to impact the story or add depth to Emilie's character (like maybe upbringing or personal values?).

I don't know. Like everything else, the noble part just feels shallow and means nothing to the story, especially for a character like Emilie, who is the plot device for the whole show. Any detail about her, like her personality and life story, is supposed to influence the story and characters one way or another, namely Hawkmoth since she's his driving force.

So what was the point?

For context, this ask is about Félix's play which says that Emilie gave up her title to be with Gabriel. I'm gonna give a slightly larger section of the transcript of the play for full context, but the relevant but is at the end of the last paragraph:

Félix: The king and queen's twins grew up, each day as different in heart as they were similar in body. The firstborn, curious and brazen, despised life at court and escaped at every opportunity. The younger daughter, well-behaved and respectful, did everything she could to please her parents, and stayed quietly in the castle. Félix: (as Mr. Graham de Vanily) Oh, my queen. Did we entrust our legacy to the right princess? Kagami: (as Mrs. Graham de Vanily) She will fall in line, eventually. Félix: Confident that she would settle down as she matured, the king and queen allowed the curious princess to leave to study beyond the sea in another kingdom. There, she immediately found true love in a humble tailor. Félix: The tailor was making clothes so magnificent that they revealed the beauty of the soul of anyone who wore them. Although it made her parents furious, the curious princess gave up her rank, her wealth and her kingdom to live a bohemian life with the tailor.

Story wise, I have no idea why any of this was added since it adds nothing to canon. It's not like this finally explains why Gabriel and Emilie are poor while Amelie is wealthy. Along similar lines, it's not like Amelie's title has ever mattered. Prior to this play, I don't think that we even knew that she had a title or that she was the younger sister. The play is all about explaining things that we never had reasons to question in the first place.

My best guess as to why the writers wrote this pointless backstory is that they wanted to make Emilie seem even more pure and perfect so they went with the tired old trope of a rich girl giving up material things for the sake of love and art because good pure women don't care about material things! Only nasty, shallow women care about money. (Way to play into sexist tropes, guys.)

There may also be cultural elements at play here given that France doesn't have the greatest history with nobility, so giving up a noble title may be seen as good and pure to a French writer, but I don't know enough about French culture to say that with any certainty. If anyone who reads this blog is French and would like to chime in, then feel free!

While we're on the topic of the play, I wanted to point out that the above quoted passage is why I say that the Graham de Vanily parents can be as kind or as abusive as you'd like to make them. It's incredibly vague and you can read into it whatever you want to read into it. Were they good loving parents who were just upset about their daughter living in poverty or were they miserable controlling classist who Emilie fled England to get away from? It's up to you because you can get both reads from this. The play commits to almost nothing of value. Politicians could take lessons from this impressive level of noncommittal writing.

A better version of the play would have focused on things that actually matter to canon like the details of finding the miraculous and/or Emilie learning she's sick, but you could only have those details if they were coming from Nathalie or Gabriel. Félix is a terrible choice for a character to tell us the show's backstory because he knows so little of it, thus the play focusing on his largely pointless backstory.

[queenvhagar]

My perhaps controversial take on the HOTD characters, the GOT characters the writers are trying to mold them into, and the GOT characters they actually most resemble in the books (in my opinion - feel free to disagree).

Disclaimer: these are entirely disconnected series with unique characters, so it's impossible to do what the writers of HOTD seemed to be trying to do in season 1 i.e. mold the characters from Fire and Blood to fit the characters of GOT to try to recreate the success of the early seasons. Given this, I tried to choose one single character analogue from GOT that each HOTD/FB character is most like, but oftentimes the reality is that if any single character from Fire and Blood resembles a Game of Thrones character it is likely that they are a combination of more than one. All of this said, here is who I think the writers are trying to fit certain HOTD characters into vs the character they are actually most like (according to Fire and Blood):

Rhaenyra Targaryen: obviously the show wants her to be the new and improved Daenerys, a protagonist everyone can root for who wants to revolutionize the existing order. In reality, Rhaenyra is most like Cersei: a woman who seeks to use her three bastards to usurp thrones and gain even more power than she already has, all while committing incest with a family member and using her power to punish and silence her enemies. She uses the existing system to raise herself up and keep others below her. She does reach her goal of ultimate power but ultimately she is unable to hold it. In pursuit of holding onto power or gaining more of it, she watches as her children die early deaths. The smallfolk despise her for her methods of ruling. Eventually, she will cause her own downfall and die before her time.

Alicent Hightower: the show wants her to be Cersei, a mean-spirited, jealous woman protecting her problematic children and using her status as queen to put others in their place (they even used Cersei scenes as audition material for the role). In reality, I see Alicent as most like Catelyn - a flawed woman, mother to a king, seeking to further the rights of her son in the hopes of protecting her family from those who would harm them, guided by her own sense of justice, honor, and understanding of the laws of the land (and of course, hyper aware of the bastards in the room). All she wants is her and her children's safety, and she is willing to go to war for it. In the end, however, she watches as every last child is taken from her before she herself dies alone.

Viserys I Targaryen: the show wants us to see him as the ultimate father who loves his child unconditionally and always supports her, and that his view of right and wrong should be what guides the world. In reality, he is most like Robert Baratheon: a weak king unsuitable for rule whose mistakes and complacency lead to civil war after his death. His preoccupation with past events and people, and his role in a former love's demise, leads him to neglect his current wife and their children and make decisions that create long-term issues for his family and the realm.

Criston Cole: as soon as Criston turns away from Rhaenyra, the show wants you to view him as a Meryn Trant type of Kingsguard - a man unconcerned with honor and violently anti-women, more than willing to carry out terrible acts commanded of him. In reality, Criston is like more like Jaime: he seeks to make a name for himself as a knight, guided by his own sense of honor and justice, though he is judged by others as lacking such principles. His devotion to his position on the Kingsguard and his love for the royal family motivates him. Occasionally his self-confidence and delight in goading his enemies can make him appear callous and proud. Although he is not officially the royal children's "father," he has guided and protected them and their mother from early on in the absence of their official father.

Daemon Targaryen: the show wants you to both love and hate Daemon. It seems he should fill many roles that Jaime did - a sword fighter whose swagger and danger mix together, whose dishonorable acts follow him through the world. He acts primarily out of love or his pursuit of it, whether for his brother or his lover and her children. The viewer is supposed to see that deep down he is a good guy, no matter how many characters say that he's not. In reality, I see Daemon as a more capable Viserys III: a man adamant in his family's racial superiority, who believes he and his loved ones should have access to unchecked power because they're better than everyone else. A man who enjoys exercising his power over others and demanding obedience out of fear of his wrath. A man who uses his younger family member to further his own interests without much thought to her own wishes or agency and willing to hurt her if she doesn't act the way he wants her to.

Otto Hightower: the show wants you to view Otto as a new Littlefinger, someone sly about his intentions who uses spies, information, and unsavory methods to take advantage of the ruling family and further his own interests and increase his own power. I see him instead as more similar to Tywin: a Hand of the King seeking to put his family close to the throne in pursuit of legacy and advancing his family's station, a man who arranged for his daughter to marry the king so his blood would sit the Iron Throne and bring his family power for generations, a man acutely aware of the political world and how the game is played and willing to get his hands dirty to play it.

The Strong boys: the show wants you to root for Rhaenyra's perfect, good natured and pure intentioned sons as if they were the Stark boys (mixed with Jon Snow). Raised in a good family, these boys know right from wrong and love each other. Yet some people unfairly think less of them for their birth. In reality, the Strong boys are closest to Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella. Bastards set to inherit positions they have no claim to, they are coddled by their mother and protected from any consequences to their actions. When one attacks another child, their mother demands that the other child's family is punished for their actions (and doesn't even reprimand the child for his role in the conflict). The result is the child has no remorse for the harm done, and the other child's family festers resentment against the child. Some people uncover the truth of their birth and object to their place in the line of succession, and these people are killed for speaking the truth. Eventually, a war is fought to keep them and their mother away from the throne, resulting in all of them being killed.

Aegon II Targaryen: the show wants you to see him as Joffrey 2.0. A man interested in viewing sadistic acts for his own pleasure, who abuses women for his own enjoyment, and who is unfit to rule. In reality I see Aegon as closest to Robb: a first born son reluctant to rule as king once his father dies but who rises to the occasion to try to keep his remaining family safe. A king willing to fight his battles alongside his men, no matter the risk it might pose to him. A king who tries his best to rule but makes mistakes along the way that cost him dearly. In the end, he watches as he loses everything, and he dies young.