#good always triumphs over evil

[klaufir]

quick PSA before pride month ends

[blujayonthewing]

myrkul: hi I'm an unambiguously evil death god of cruelty and suffering who has never had anything to do with you until right this moment, would you like to align yourself with me in exchange for the power to win this midtier combat you're already in the middle of winning and no other clear benefits whatsoever

eachthighern: um hey hi it's me your current patron, you know, the good god of protection and light who has only ever given you unwavering strength and hope and support through all your darkest hours and also extraordinarily powerful magic powers and the ability to heal? I am still here and have never stopped being here and I love you very specifically and personally? remember?

the warlock: hmm..... hmmmmmmm

[eliah]

[bohoteacher]

Navigating Betrayal: Reconciling Admiration with Disillusionment

Like many Neil Gaiman fans this month, I've been shocked and distressed by the news regarding the SA allegations. I won't go over the details, as they're readily available online. I'll start by saying that I believe the accusers, and even the most lenient interpretation of events is still troubling enough to discredit Gaiman. For a long time, I didn't know what to say. I was just shocked and, somewhat naively, felt betrayed. I don't typically idolize actors, authors, or other public figures—I'm here for the characters, they're who I love and believe in. So, how did I end up believing in this man and his rhetoric?

I only had a parasocial relationship with him, which is to say no real relationship at all. But I took his Masterclass on writing, spent hours taking notes, and learned from him. I feel betrayed by someone I saw as a beloved teacher. I know this is insignificant compared to what the women who came forward experienced, but it's a valid feeling, and I needed time to process it. My initial reaction was to throw out and discount everything he’s ever written or done—of course it was.

This isn't just about my love for Good Omens, although how can it not be? I learned so much from this man—about writing, about not being too hard on myself, about the creative process. I read his books to my middle school classes, and we all learned how to be better people from them. Today, I saw and bought Instructions, a children’s book by Neil Gaiman illustrated by Charles Vess, from the used bookstore where I volunteer. It was a used copy, so no royalties will go to him. It’s a beautifully illustrated book where the main character walks through a land that clearly symbolizes life, learning lessons like saying please and "if any creature cries to you that it hurts, if you can, ease its pain." How could someone write this and then do what he did? I asked myself. "What an evil hypocrite," was my first thought. But then I recalled a line from another author, Stephen King. In The Stand, a character is described as "awake at the lectern, but asleep at the switch," meaning they know the right thing to do and can talk about it, but in the moment of choice, they act without integrity.

I don’t know if I’m making sense, but I think it’s too easy to label Gaiman as simply evil, as if he intentionally manipulated us by saying the right things just to make us read or watch his creations. The reality is likely far more complicated. Within this man is the amazing, thought-provoking, life-affirming wisdom that many of us have tried to live by, but also the hard, thoughtless, selfish cruelty that led him to abuse young, vulnerable women. The wisdom does not justify the abuse, and the abuse does not nullify the wisdom.

I think it's too simplistic to say Gaiman is despicable and always has been, hiding it from us all along. This doesn't acknowledge the complexity of human nature—that there is potential for both good and bad within us all. As it’s said, possibly by Terry Pratchett or possibly by Neil Gaiman, “It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.”

Gaiman is a man who has done some fundamentally good things and some fundamentally bad things. I can’t forget either one.

This is just my opinion. I know some people want to cancel him, while others want to exonerate him. You do you. As for me, I will continue to love Aziraphale and Crowley. I will continue to read and create fan-fiction. I will continue to find comfort and wisdom in books that have meant so much to me over the years. But I will also remember that they were created by a very flawed man whom I can no longer trust.

I understand that opinions on this matter vary widely. I know some people might feel that not discarding everything associated with him is wrong, but this is where I stand. I’m not looking to debate this or be told how I should react. I just needed to process my thoughts in writing and move forward in the way that feels right for me.

[headcanonsandmore]

Doctor Who is about the human condition, it's about silly outfits, it's about the power ordinary people can wield, it's about ridiculous haircuts, it's about the abiding love for humanity, it's about one alien weirdo and their jealous girlfriend of a time machine, it's about helping the most vulnerable, it's about christmas-cracker-level puns, it's about protecting the innocent, it's about a butch Australian lesbian flirting with her alien scientist roommate, it's about how good will always triumph over evil, it's about two platonic besties passing their shared brain cell back and forth, it's about kindness and the intrinsic power of hope, it's about a sapphic alien making heart-eyes whenever her bestie talks about reversing the polarity-

[primofate]

Scara who has been taken cared of by Nahida, meets girl who he falls in love with. You know the whole "I don't need anyone" turning into "Yeah maybe I deserve this" but slowly.

"It'll be fun!" is what Nahida always told Hat Guy, whenever Holi came around.

It's that festival where people threw coloured powder at each other, if you were unfortunate enough, you might get coloured water thrown on you instead.

Scaramouche hated it.

Every year, he disappeared on the colourful day.

"Oh, there you are, I thought I might find you here," Scaramouche holds back a sigh at your voice coming from behind him. Somehow you had the knack of knowing where he was hiding.

The Aranara hovering around him scattered.

In some ways Scaramouche had found a sort of peace in Sumeru.

Something that he once didn't have.

In the few years that he had stayed here, under Nahida's care, his thoughts about "eternity"--thoughts that things should remain the same, should remain constant, that people should remain as they are--had shifted and turned into an understanding that change...is most definitely inevitable. Especially when knowledge was so abundant everywhere.

"What is it now?" He drawled, head lazily lolling sideways to look at you, all smiles and looking as if you had found a secret hiding amongst the trees and vines.

"Just thought you might need some company," but you don't approach him, and only peer at his face with the same smile.

He doesn't make any move to wave you away or wave you over and just huffs, prying his eyes away from your form. "I had some until you scared the little critters away,"

You guessed he was pertaining to the Aranara. "My apologies then," you humored him and finally sat next to him, the bark of the tree a little rough on your back. "You really hate Holi, huh?"

"I hate the colours,"

"So you don't particularly hate the tradition?"

"I don't have any reason to hate the tradition," Scaramouche is suddenly conscious of your shoulder bumping into his. His eyes briefly darts towards where they meet, and almost immediately darts away to look at the tree leaves swaying in the breeze.

Wordlessly, you lean over to reach the patch of grass in front of the two of you. There are some stray leaves and sticks right around the place that you gather in the middle. Your fingers snap, and quite quickly the flames of pyro lick the small pile alive.

Scaramouche raises an eyebrow in bafflement at what you were doing, but realizes what the purpose was when you sprinkle some sort of magical powder onto the tiny bonfire.

There's a quick burst of strong flame, then it simmers down. The orange turns into a medley of blue, red, pink, green, and many other colours that take turns appearing in the fire. For a second he was mesmerized at the sudden vibrancy of it, but he scoffs and closes his eyes, leaning backwards on the tree when the novelty of it wore off.

"Holi celebrates the triumph of good over evil," you explain, even though you were certain he knew of this already. Your eyes reflect the different coloured flames, dancing around beautifully.

He's silent.

Good and evil.

What really are they? Was he more evil than good? Or was it the other way around? Did it matter?

Scaramouche never pretended to be a saint. Never pretended that he was without sin. He never claimed that he was a good person. Never, and he never thought that he would be a "good" person. None of that was him. None of the word "good" was an inch of him.

"You're most likely celebrating it with the wrong person then," he peeks an eye open to watch you, but also fully opens his eyes to finally watch the flames with you. It's nothing remarkable really. Just a fire that wasn't orange.

"Because you're evil more than good?" You ask and voice his own thoughts aloud, but you follow with a laugh. "Get over yourself, Scaramouche. It's not just about you," The flames start to dwindle in size, the pile of leaves and sticks were scant to begin with. "It's about celebrating the good things in life,"

The good things in life?

He started to think.

Life itself was already so complicated to him.

Adding "good things" was almost something he didn't want to bother with.

What exactly were the "good things" in life?

He was surprised--even shocked--to come to the conclusion that he was able to think about a few things.

Being of use to someone. Being in a place where peace of mind was available. Having quiet nights as opposed to restless nightmares. Having someone go out of their way to look for him and--

The flames disappeared. He blinked back to reality and turned his head to look at you, who was clapping in small delight at the end of the little fire show you made.

"...I suppose I could celebrate that," he mumbled, almost too hard for you to hear.

"Of course you can!" You piped up, now standing and dusting your clothes in preparation to leave. You weren't actually going to bother him for the whole day, just this small celebration was enough for you. "Surely there must be at least one good thing to happen to you here in Sumeru," you shrug and point at the way you came. "I'll be off then. Careful on your way back, red is really hard to wash off,"

He watches as you casually turn to start heading back. "I'll come," he moves up, purposely not meeting your eyes, picking imaginary fluff off of his shoulder. He then crosses his arms over his chest, melding his expression into a grin. "I need a shield anyway,"

You roll your eyes, and walk ahead of him.

He watches your back, for a moment.

Watches, as he starts to accept that you are one of those good things, despite how annoying and persistent you are in trying to get him to celebrate those dumb traditions.

Excuse any mistakes, written in quite a hurry.

[artist-issues]

it’s the bane of my Halloween that there are so few good werewolf stories that aren’t just shock-and-awe, “let’s show you how many variations on sex and variations on the dismemberment of the human body there are!”

I just keep watching The Wolf Man & reading The Were-Wolf, and sometimes throwing a little Marvel’s Werewolf By Night in there.

Where’s the good stuff? Where’s the “man’s desire to be more than what he is leads him to a dark, twisted, out-of-control place?” Where’s the “pure sacrifice can slay the beast?” Where’s the “a seemingly good man struggles with the monster within?”

Why do I have to keep seeing weird twisted furry fantasies; or SURPRISE, the werewolf is a RELIGIOUS LEADER AGAIN; or look, we spent our whole budget so you can see this naked guy’s bones rearrange themselves; or look, he likes being a werewolf, it’s like a sadistic superpower for him; or look, what a unique twist—the werewolf can be the gooood guyyy as a tired old allegory for how “othered” vaguely “different” members of society can be; or look, “look, you don’t like any of those, we’ll just show you comically large werewolf talons stabbing through the face of a screaming human—in glorious red 3D! That’s what you wanted, right?”

No. No, it’s not.

And don’t suggest cartoon episodes about werewolves to me. Because those always hit the same trope; “the werewolf isn’t the real side of the person with werewolfism—they can be cured by being reminded of who they truly are through love!”

I mean that trope gets close. But it’s not werewolf fiction. Werewolf myth is supposed to be about a man who really is a monster—he wants what he’s not allowed to be—and then, as an object-lesson of that man-trying-to-meddle characteristic, the man gets to be “what he’s not allowed to be”—instead of a human, he loses all reason, all free will, all desire for good things, and instead can desire only blood. Then he has to slowly realize that. Then he has to either try, unsuccessfully, to protect others from himself—OR he has to be killed by purity. At it’s best, it’s the sacrifice of someone or something pure—but most iconically, that’s just “something silver.”

WHY DOES IT SEEM LIKE NOBODY WANTS TO WRITE GOOD WEREWOLF STORIES ANYMORE?

We lost the point. We lost the point. The monster stories are supposed to say 1) there is such a thing as purely evil things, so beware & 2) the purely evil things can be triumphed over, but not through the effort or acceptance of the purely evil things, themselves.

That’s the point! Why do you think we have all those myths and legends across cultures? It’s not to say, “try werewolfism, it’s fun.” It’s not to say, “drink blood!” It’s to say “beware, there are monsters out there, and here’s what to do about it.”

[inheartofwinter]

Drarry Fic Rec List: Us Vs The World

The list I want to show you to day is one I especially adore: fics with strong vibe of "us against the world". They could be good, they could be bad, they could save the world, they could destroy it, they could simply go on with their lives. No matter what, they will always have each other.

- Hell & Other Places (M; 2,5k) by @tepre

OR: 9 times Draco said ‘I love you’ and 1 time he didn’t.

Draco & Harry are sent to investigate a haunted Bed & Breakfast.

- Vis-à-Vis-à-Vis (E; 49999) by @vukovich

Harry's assignment was simple. Close out Draco Malfoy's missing persons case so he can be declared dead.

But who's making withdrawals from Malfoy's vaults? How is a death omen-turned-Unspeakable involved? Is an organization known as the Moirai to blame?

Harry brushes it off until he can't. Until The Prophet is flooded with sightings of dead people. Until Robards throws himself on his sword. Until Ron turns on his own family. Until Harry scarcely trusts his own reflection in the mirror and trusts the stranger in his bed even less.

Until all that stands between war and peace is Harry, a name plate, a stadium of murderers, and Draco Malfoy.

God save the Ministry.

- Basement Level 9 (M; 2k) by @fw00shy

Draco was behind the bomb that blew up Level 10, though they didn't talk about it.

- Stay with Me 'Til Morning (R; 8,4k) by Lucilla Darkate

In a once upon a time world, white magic would triumph over black, good would carry the day, evil would be vanquished, the valiant would stand and be true, and always, always, true love would end with a happily ever after.

- Purple Words (E; 67k) by FangirlWolfie

“High five me.”

James immediately put Harry down and gave him a high five.

Huh?

Oh.

- In Grey Worsted (M; 2,8k) by literaryspell

Harry's only chance at happiness is slipping away, one piece at a time. He isn’t about to give up, though.

- Ever Fixed Mark (T; 1,1k) by @shealwaysreads

In which Harry decides to burn the world, and Draco watches on with adoration.

Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O no, it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken

Shakespeare, Sonnet 116

- Dead Ends (E; 18,8k) by @toxik-angel & @melcarrianna

Head Auror Harry Potter is the best at his job. Head Auror Harry Potter always saves the day.

But someone has been picking off ex-Death Eaters one by one. Someone has been abducting Harry's friends right out of their homes. Someone is fucking the Minister for Magic.

The Minister for Magic and Head Auror are both very concerned about it.

- Because Potter Is Allergic to Poppies (M; 41,1k) by Lomonaaeren

Auror Harry Potter is in hospital being treated for a curse when someone tries to kill him. Obviously it is up to bored, trapped Apprentice Healer Draco, who was only admitted to the Healer Program in the first place to do the menial work, to find out who did it. Because then they will promote him. No, it’s for no other reason, thanks.

- Toujours pur (T; 21k) by Veralynn

"Malfoy would never confess truth to an enemy, and we’re enemies to him. That’s way I made a plan.”

“A rat,” Harry said.

“Exactly. Someone I can trust one hundred per cent about You-Know-Who. Someone who knows well Malfoy and his past. That makes you the perfect candidate.”

- REVOLVEVLOVER (E; 46,3k) by @firethesound & zeitgeistic

The work Harry does is justifiable. It’s justice. He works for his country, and his country is a republic—the magical side, anyway. It’s not laudable work, it’s not work he’s proud of, but it’s necessary work. Harry has always taken the necessary jobs that no one else has the stomach for.

It’s just that he’s never deciphered a kill sheet and seen Draco Malfoy’s name on it.

Career Choices: Harry: Hit Wizard; Draco: Anti-Government Extremist

- Who we are in the shadows (E; 99,7k) by @quicksilvermaid

What happens when you’re forced to become the very thing you despise?

Ex-Auror Harry Potter, tossed out of the Ministry for something he had no control over, has been looking for a way back to his former life. When he comes across Draco Malfoy in the criminal underbelly of Wizarding London and in need of protection, Harry figures bringing him in to face the Ministry's justice is his ticket back to everything he's lost.

But nothing is exactly as it seems. Not even Harry himself. And as he gets drawn further and further into Malfoy's world of honour and deception he finds himself questioning everything he thought he knew—about his childhood nemesis, the Ministry job he misses so much, and most of all, about himself.

What happens when you’re forced to see that you were wrong?

- Draco Malfoy and the Heart of Slytherin (T; 34,9k) by sabershadowkat

At the heart of every Slytherin.

- The Boy and the Sleeping Prince (E; 26,7k) by @phoenix-acid & @writcraft

Harry is miserable and tired of being an Auror, coasting through life until he’s forced to make some changes. Spurred on by his passion for drawing and working with best-selling author Draco Malfoy, Harry develops a charm which gives children a magical, interactive reading experience. But when it’s time to test the spell, the two men find themselves trapped in a nightmarish fairy tale world. Can they escape unscathed, or is Draco right in his assertions that there is no such thing as a happily ever after?

Career Choices: Harry: Illustrator; Draco: Writer

- When Death Comes Calling (T; 2,6k) by @mystickitten42

It’s All Hallows’ Eve and as Harry investigates a string of seemingly related deaths, there’s one he hopes to prevent.

He looks over Harry’s shoulder and Harry turns too. They both see it, the dark translucent figure making its way to shore.

~ Or ~

Getting together in the face of Death. Literally.

- Servile (E; 68,5k) by calrissian18

“I would love anything you gifted me, My Lord, but this,” silver eyes, the same shade as the dragon that marked Harry's arm, glinted in his direction under the Death Eater’s hood, “is exquisite.”

- The Corruption Sequence series (E; 94,2k) by beren

Harry Potter is captured by Voldemort and the Dark Lord has plans for him that involve the essence of many different dark creatures. What Voldemort cannot know is that the presence of Draco Malfoy will affect the outcome of his plots and change everything.

- More Powerful Then Experience (M; 89,7k) by flightinflame

Harry's life changes when he is three, when his parents are murdered and the Dark Lord takes him to raise as his own.

Draco's life changes when he is six, when he finds himself given to a strange green-eyed boy who speaks Parseltongue and casts impossible magic.

Remus's life changes three years later, when a chance meeting proves to him that somehow James and Lily's son is still alive.

- The Gryffindor Prince (G; 6,3k) by @mfingenius

“Do not come near us again, evil Slytherins!” he exclaims, pointing his wand towards them again. Pansy and Blaise look more amused than anything, really, but they hold up their hands in surrender. 

“Alright,” Pansy says, agreeably enough, a smirk on her face. “But Potter, Draco’s a Slytherin, like us. He’ll have to come back eventually.”

Harry’s eyes narrow, and, a moment later, he is throwing Draco over his shoulder, arm tight across the back of his thighs so he won’t fall, and Draco yelps.

Have fun reading!

[thetownsendsw]

Today marks the premier of #Pathfinder’s Triumph of the Tusk Adventure Path, so I’d like to take a moment to discuss a relevant topic near and dear to my heart.

ORCS!

While Tolkien was drawing on some linguistic antecedents, Orcs in fantasy originate from The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings, where they’re brutish soldiers of various forces of evil.

Initially lacking redeeming quality, Orcs have become a darling of pop culture, their thuggish nature explored from many angles across TTRPGs, video games, comics, novels, and more.

Now, when you picture an Orc, you no doubt imagine something akin to the Warcraft or Warhammer franchises: statuesque, green skinned humanoids with protruding underbites and looming tusks, often locked into a primitive, itinerant lifestyle, eschewing technology beyond what they pillage from other races.

Interestingly, none of this is in Tolkien.

In Tolkien, “Orc” was essentially another word for “Goblin,” or perhaps unusually large Goblins. Far from statuesque, Gollum (a (former?) Hobbit) could easily be confused for one. The Uruk-hai, a new, stronger Orcish offshoot were described as Orcish in appearance but only as tall as a Man, not taller.

Tolkien’s Orcs are described as deformed, but nothing as specific as green skin or tusks is specifically mentioned (Tolkien saved in-depth sensory detail for trees, and occasionally beards).

Far from being savages, Tolkien’s Orcs were–in his grand Romanticist narrative–stand-ins for industrialization. They were destroying the forests to build grand weapons of war, and soot-covered Mordor evoked the smokestacks of 19th century london.

In many ways the conflict of LotR can be interpreted as Tolkien pitting the noble myths and tales he studied up against his real experiences in WWI.

(the thought amuses me of a firmly medieval fantasy setting, except when we zoom in on the Orcish Badlands they’re all shelling each other from the trenches)

But while none of these traits are in Tolkien, there is a source where they are central.

The Green Martians, or Tharks, first appeared in A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, published in All-Story Magazine from Feb-July 1912, well before any of the kids Tolkien decided to tell a fairy tale to were born.

The Tharks are described as 15 foot tall nomadic savages, favoring mighty beasts and weapons salvaged from the more civilized races of Barsoom. They have green skin and tusks, as well as six limbs (interestingly, the middle limbs are described as functional as either crude arms or secondary legs, but art always just depicts four arms)

Culturally, the Tharks are clearly meant as extensions of the Apache raiders encountered in the early chapters of the book set in Arizona; i.e. some California ranch-owner’s idea of wasteland savages. Nomadic, inhuman raiders redeemable only when breaching their primitive traditions.

The parallels are almost uncanny, and I’ll admit I’m honestly not sure where the crossover occurs. Early editions of D&D–another driver of fantasy trends–depict orcs as pig-people, which is probably how tusks became so iconic. They later added gray skin, which persisted officially until the current edition.

Somewhere between there in ‘74 and Warhammer in the early 80s is when the pseudo-Barsoom look took over in broader culture, and at this point there’s no getting around it. Even the more recent Tolkien film adaptations can’t entirely escape the expectation of modern Orcishness.

Turning back the clock a bit, Tolkien notably was never entirely sure where Orcs came from. His first idea was that they were molded from clay by Morgoth, a dark mirror to Adam, but being a Catholic at heart, he disliked the idea of Evil being a creative force.

He flip-flopped for the rest of his life, whether Orcs were corrupted men/elves/hobbits, uplifted beasts, even (according to one post I saw) soulless bodies remotely piloted by demons. He could never quite square the need for unfailingly evil mooks with his own feelings on Good & Evil.

Personally, I find particular resonance in the parallel between what D&D used to call an “always chaotic evil” race and the very Catholic concept of Original Sin. Was Tolkien merely dancing around the idea that the Orcs only needed to be Saved?

I can’t say what Tolkien would think of modern Orcs, either their merging with an earlier, American space alien, or our attempts to humanize what was supposed to be fundamentally inhuman. But I think his insecurity speaks to the same source as our fascination.

Who among us hasn’t struggled with what it means to be good? Or to be evil? And if we are made to be evil, what does it mean to strive against that purpose or to surrender to it? Can we abandon the precepts of predestiny? Or do we reject that they were ever there?

Stare deeply into that Jungian shadow and tell me…

Is it green? And do you want it to be?

[intermundia]

Thank you for your answer about the SW shows. Did the showrunners (?) ever explain why they don't like the Jedi (order)? I mean they are the good guys. They gave us Luke, Obi-wan, Yoda and Co.

leslye headland said in this interview that she's always been "interested in star wars from the perspective of the bad guys," and since star wars is always about "rebels vs institutional threat" and "underdogs vs huge empire", she basically made a "what if" show where the jedi are the antagonist institution and our heroes are the villains. this is to me a form of transformative fan fiction, not part of the canon, but anyway.

it's frustrating because star wars is not simply rebels vs. institution. that fight is just the means for depicting the triumph of good over evil—evil looks like the empire which is an institution, but it does not follow that all institutions are evil. she's working off the idea that since the jedi are fallible, "not always perfectly nobly intentioned" with "cracks in the system," that means they can be treated like any other corrupt institution (aka empire, aka evil).

she's said "that's the story george told with the prequels, the fall of this group," which imho is not really correct, as the story of the prequels was about the revenge of the sith, the fall of the galactic republic and the corruption of anakin skywalker—the jedi were collateral victims in that fall, symbolizing the good cut down as evil rose to dominance. her jedi are just not the jedi of george lucas, they share very little with obi-wan, yoda, luke, and the rest. they're there to be the bad guys of the bad guys.

[baalfegorth]

x ⸻ : #baalfegorth .. and there will be blood. ❳❳ ❳ לְאַזֵן

Nero Salith Baalfegorth, son of archangel michael, son of devil lucifer and son of the lovely devil queen lilith. conceived by two, each one the opposite of each other, born by one that is cursed to never be able to give any other life, nero's soul's split into good and evil. lost in the loving arms of his mother, chosen to serve one of them, heaven or hell. they'll drag him into the abyss by his broken legs, they tear him into heaven by his heavy arms, to be the one to end all wars, once and for all.

ooc & tw » "own character portrait", independent. no 24/7 - be patient, only in character \ only 21+ minors dni, german preferred, thanks!

please be aware of any triggering content, plotting with me will end in pure gore, blood, sexual topics, mental illness,, death, violence, drugs, religious disputes and every kind of phobias.

to my mother, Lilith ⸻ forsaken. i crawled through the endless screams of the burning desert. drifted thirsty and lifeless over the murky depths of the never ending seas. i was swallowed up by the gusts of wind of the murderous bays without any hold. your love, fed by the hatred of the religious people i got from you, gives me the strength to let forgotten things burn again in the eyes of all people. even if the rotten gates to hell are closed, i always find my way back to you in my damned dreams.

to my fathers, Michael & Lucifer ⸻ divided, but one. never wanted, but forced to be. through the wrath of the devil and the charity of the archangel, an violent, eternal battle between life and death, hate and love, runs through my bloody fucked up veins. your life is worth nothing to me, i'll do anything and everything to bring an end to your unscrupulous, decayed souls. through you, i've become an unstoppable warrior who will tear your everlasting hearts apart.

And when everything falls apart, i'll stand up here and triumph with my flag held high.. forever.

[to-be-frank-i-dont-care]

Ok but during Playing With the Big Boys at the very end when the music is crescendoing, and you see the magician's snakes crawling after Moses' snake to kill it and there's no way it will survive. and the magicians are taunting Moses and laughing in his face and trying to overwhelm him with their evil magic and making fun of him and his Lord. and they're moving around him and throwing magic everywhere and telling him that they are the ones in power, not he, that his simple snake is nothing because they can do anything he can do, and they will always triumph over him with their gods. and then the scene shifts and the shadow of Moses' snake is thrown on the wall in the firelight, and it snatches and devours both of the magicians' snakes while the music swells to a finale. the magicians were only just boasting that they are more powerful than Moses and his God, and now their snakes are dead. devoured. their words no longer mean anything. they follow endless gods, and yet those gods could do nothing in the face of Moses' God, and and and

good food right there

[grasshopperdoingdogpaddle]

The chi-swapped versions of the characters work by removing the larger chunk of the user's chi, but doesn't actually add anything that wasn't already there.

It's interesting how the things they say are genuine thoughts in the back of their mind or stewing in the corner of their hearts.

Heylin Omi

"When I tried to lead, no one would follow. When I tried to speak, no one would listen. Only one person stood by me, believed in me, and trusted me. That is where I choose to go."

"I have no time to rest. I must fight. If only I did not have to sleep. I could fight 7-24. Hyah! Hyah!"

"As long as I get to fight, fight, fight!"

Good Omi

"Hello, my wonderful friends!"

"Yes, but it is not bigger than the joy I feel towards all of you! If I had arms, I would give you all a hug. If I had legs, I would leap for joy!"

good Jack

"Omi! I missed you so!"

"I say go for it! I know you guys can't lose! Because you have good on your side! And when you have good, you've got the world on a string!"

"Wouldn't want anything to happen to my number one guy (Master Fung)! Mwah!"

"Oh, Jack. It’s so good to see you! No, no, no. You don’t wanna go in there. That’s where Hannibal Bean lives. The last thing you need are more bad influences."

"I’m afraid my evil side’s about to get into a whole lot of trouble."

"Bad Jack went to visit… Hannibal Bean! I told him not to, but does he listen to me? Nooooooo!"

Heylin Kimiko

"Once I have both Wu, it’s evil domination, baby!"

Good Wuya

"If I win, I’m opening a home for birds without nests."

I've talked at length about how you can see Omi's loneliness and isolation and the utter depths of devotion he's capable of in Heylin Omi, as well as the hyperactive bloodknight energy he always has. It also shows how much Omi really loves Chase. It shows us that deep down, all Omi wants is to be with someone who he feels loves, trusts, and believes in him.

And you can see the overwhelming adoration and love for his friends in good Omi, when he doesn't have his other half to stifle how much he wants to gush over them. This half of Omi doesn't even mind comments about the size of his head.

Heylin Kimiko reveals that world domination is apparently just in the back of Kimiko's mind on a daily basis. She's a rich kid so nothing too out of the ordinary there.

Good Wuya reveals that Wuya likes birds, which is consistent with how good she is Ying-Ying and how she played nice with Chase's crow.

But Good Jack probably reveals the most about himself, I think.

Jack apparently believes that good always triumphs over evil, and he's genuinely worried about how many bad influences he has in his life. He's somewhat fond of the monks and prefers Omi good rather than evil.

And there's Good Jack's attachment to Master Fung, "his number one guy".

I don't think Jack already had this admiration for Master Fung buried deep down, of course. I think this is another show of how Jack really wants to cling to an older role model in his own alignment.

Good Jack idolizes Master Fung in the exact same way Regular Jack idolizes Hannibal, Chase, and Klofange (until he found out Klofange was wasn't evil and idolized Dyris instead.)

[teapetal44]

All For One should have stayed on the sidelines as a character after Kamino. His evolvement in everything after that significantly weakens the story. Building up Tomura as his protégé, framing him as the next symbol of evil, and then pulling the rug under everyone’s feet, is the worst writing decision Hori has ever made. In concept, All For One failing at passing the torch to Tomura is good, because it directly  parallels All Might and his mentorship to Izuku. Unlike All For One, Toshinori was aware the younger generation needed to take up the mantle. All For One is a selfish and controlling person, it makes perfect sense for him to be unable to give up his power to someone else. But in execution it falls apart the moment All For One continues to force himself upon the narrative, continues to serve as the big bad. All For One’s inability to pass the torch and Tomura as a main antagonist can co-exist without weakening the themes of the story.  

Like, imagine how cool it would have been if All for One was destroyed by Tomura after he tried taking control over his body and mind. Tomura realizes his master is holding him back from achieving his full potential and his goal, the thing he literally lives and fights for. Triumph over his master would be Tomura’s final step to becoming the new symbol of evil and his self-liberation. Then, he would truly be free of everything holding him back. AFO, the puppeteer, the man always one step ahead of everyone else, would be conquered by the very same person he molded – he planted the seed, but at last, what grows is out of his control. In a sense, he would be punished by the story for failing at passing the torch and Tomura would be cemented as the final antagonist, and his journey would feel satisfying.

All though, I see why Horikoshi didn’t write it like that – cause that would require giving Tomura actual autonomy as a character. Something he actively avoids doing every chance he gets. It’s easier to have a character who is crafted to be evil by one powerful bad man before he was even born, than to portray an abused child failed by a fundamentally corrupt society that values consumerism over actually helping those in need, who ended up in the hands of the powerful bad man because the child slipped through the cracks of said society. MHA conveys to the viewer that there are no bad systems, only bad people within the established systems.

Tomura couldn’t own his conception, nor his heroic goals, not even his abuse. Nothing ever happened to him because of society as a whole or because life is cruel and merciless. It happened because Anime-Satan said so.

[firstfullmoon]

“To understand the point in life we must first understand what it is to be human. It seems to me that the common agent that binds us all together is loss, and so the point in life must be measured in relation to that loss. Our individual losses can be small or large. They can be accumulations of losses barely registered on a singular level, or full-scale cataclysms. Loss is absorbed into our bodies from the moment we are cast from the womb until we end our days, subsumed by it to become the essence of loss itself. We ultimately become the grief of the world, having collected countless losses through our lifetime. These losses are many-faceted and chronic, both monstrous and trivial. They are losses of dignity, losses of agency, losses of trust, losses of spirit, losses of direction or faith, and, of course, losses of the ones we love. They are daily, convulsive disappointments or great historical injuries that cast their shadows across the human predicament, reminding us of the stunning potential of our own loss of humanity. We are capable of the greatest atrocities and the deepest sufferings, all culminating in a vast, collective grief. This is our shared condition.

Yet happiness and joy continue to burst through this mutual condition. Life, it seems, is full of an insistent, systemic and irrepressible beauty. But these moments of happiness are not experienced alone, rather they are almost entirely relational and are dependent on a connection to the Other – be it people, or nature, or art, or God. This is where meaning establishes itself, within the connectedness, nested in our shared suffering.

I believe we are meaning-seeking creatures, and these feelings of meaning, relational and connective, are almost always located within kindness. Kindness is the force that draws us together, and this, is what I think I am trying to say – that despite our collective state of loss, and our potential for evil, there exists a great network of goodness, knitted together by countless everyday human kindnesses.

These often small, seemingly inconsequential acts of kindness, that Soviet writer Vasily Grossman calls ‘petty, thoughtless kindness’, or ‘unwitnessed kindness’ bind together to create a subterranean and vanquishing Good that counterbalances the forces of evil and prevents suffering from overwhelming the world. We reach out and find each other in the common darkness. By doing so we triumph over our collective and personal loss. Through kindness we slant, shockingly and miraculously, toward meaning. We discover, in that smallest gesture of goodwill laid at the feet of our mutual and monumental loss, ‘the point’.”

— Nick Cave, from The Red Hand Files #204

[izunx]

4:27 PM

Osamu didn’t know how to feel about spending his day off with his loving, doting wife in a shopping mall on a blistering hot day.

“y/n my feet are beginning to ache.”

Osamu whined despite insisting on carrying the 20 shopping bags of items you diligently picked out.

“haya… come on my lovely you’ll live”

you were scouting the area for a food place -

“if you’re looking for a food place, just give up, nothing will be as good as MY onigiri shop” he puffed his chest out with pride.

you gave him an intense side eye, facing him and grabbing his cheeks.

“pfft yeah. whatever you say sweet cheeks”

“I promise you I’ll make you the best onigiri when we go home, so for the love of-”

“OKAY OKAY”

giving up, you sped towards the exit of the mall.

“see the kind of effect I have on you?”

“you’re so cringe, shut up”

“you’re the one calling me stupid cringy nicknames”

“sweet cheeks is NOT cringy.”

“delusion is a scary thing”

you were quick to smack his head top, not holding back on your strength either.

“was that supposed to hurt?”

“osamu, I swear i’ll poison you the next time I cook.”

“can you even cook, it’s always ME cooking”

“fine then, let me cook all by myself today!”

“if I let you do that we won’t have a home anymore.”

…

“I’m not talking to you anymore”

you opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat with your arms crossed, not making any attempt to help load the bags in the trunk.

“relax babe I’ll just supervise you then and make sure you don’t poison me”

“you underestimate me, I’ll find a way you just wait”

after loading the bags in, he started the car and smirked at you.

“I’d be okay with getting poisoned by you anyways.”

“YOU’RE SO CRINGE” but despite saying that, you had the cheesiest smile on your face.

“my bad mrs”

after arriving home, you were quick to change and put on your husbands love heart apron.

“are you sure you wanna do this? I can make something in 10 minutes”

“NO. I wanna do this myself since you think i’m a useless lazy housewife.”

“come on babe, you know I never said that”

“shut up, watch me cook”

manoeuvring the useless tools in your hands, you were shaking the pan with the old rice in it.

your feeble attempt at making egg fried rice, wasn’t actually the worst.

“I knew I married the best woman”

you had a smug smile on your face, conjuring up an evil plan to get back at him for his earlier comment.

“yeah yeah, everyone knows that” you loaded up the teaspoon with salt before placing some of the rice over it.

“here sweetcheeks, come try some of this”

you shoved the spoon into his unknowing mouth and you cackled at the horror on his face.

not even trying to swallow it, he spat it back out onto you.

“that’s DISGUSTING”

you pouted and stood over him displeased.

“don’t look at me like that, you almost tried killing me!”

your pout cracked into a smile and you went back to plate up the food.

“I’m NOT eating that.”

“I promise it’s not that concoction I fed you”

“oh so you purposely tried to kill me, that’s fine too”

“I’m sorry ‘samu, you’re my sexy husband I would never try do that”

“pfft, cringe”

“shut up.”

staring at the food in front of him, he was skeptical.

“It’s not poisoned man just TRY IT”

you shoved another spoon of rice into his mouth, but this time, his face was of delight.

“I told you i’m a better cook than you” your arms were crossed with triumph and you smiled brightly.

“I love being married to you”

your smile softened and you just stared at him.

“I love you too.”