#granted we are not shown that. we don't get the chance to see how her perspective may have changed in that year

[bayofwolves]

i dunno, if i was abeke (or rollan, or any of them), knowing shane was out there somewhere, i would be constantly looking over my shoulder waiting for him to reappear. so the moment a mysterious masked dude shows up and saves my life, i'm asking myself, even if only for a moment, "what if?"

i find it hard to believe that abeke and rollan didn't at least suspect that king was really shane before he revealed himself. like, i dunno. i get that king's redcloak disguise was supposed to be really good. and it had been a while since they'd seen him last. but if 11 y/o me could figure it out in immortal guardians, surely abeke could?

it would have been so cool if there'd been a part where the thought started to form in abeke's head. or she talked to rollan about it. and isn't rollan's whole thing supposed to be intuition? maybe he'd raise the possibility before abeke, who might have written off her suspicions as her just being paranoid and emotional. idk. just a thought.

[bluginkgo]

Another Nuzi rant. Don't mind me

Spoilers, duh

Since I've already done a quick character study/nuzi rant from N's side. Here's one from Uzi's side!

This is probably gonna be just me repeating things people have already said... again. But I love Uzi. (Just like every other character in Murder Drones, honestly.) But Liam did a wonderful job of making an angsty, emo girl, borderline maniac that we know as Uzi. Her character, to me at least, never became the annoying overdramatized and overused stereotype that follows her style. She has real reasons for being the way she is.

A loner, whose dad loves nothing but doors. School is not different, as her classmates pretty much forget about her existence on a day to day basis. No one to talk to, no one to connect with, gives her the angsty side that I absolutely adore. Because underneath all of that toughness is just a lonely little drone who was left by herself since early age. But guess who comes in and busts down those walls (literally and figuratively)?

Our good boi N! Despite their rough start, N never really gave Uzi a reason not to trust him. Their chance encounter, and a broken sensor, allowed them to have the talk that might have never happened. Their beginning might have been a lucky accident, but for the rest of the season, we can see how both sides had to work to make well... Nuzi work!

For Uzi, asking for help is like asking for a death sentence probably. After being on her own for so long, she doesn't expect anyone to help. With that information in mind, the first time she let's that wall crumble was episode 2, Heartbeat.

"Uzi, shoot! Or give it to me!"

Granted, we all know that was not our N. But in that moment, when Uzi was in an enough distressed state, she sought help in N. We all know how that ended, though. Absolute Solver took advantage of that and almost killed her, before N once again sweeped in to save her. The one and only notorious Nuzi misunderstanding was, for better or for worse, cleared up pretty quickly. Seeing as glitchproduction only has so much money at their disposal, they can't really drag this ordeal out. Personally, I'm glad that it didn't. The long drama that is just a misunderstanding after misunderstanding gets quite tedious to follow.

So, moving forward in The Promening, Uzi once again seeks out N when she's in distress. When she sees and hears about what Doll and Lizzy were gonna do, she books it to the only person she knows can help her.

N! Now don't get me wrong. Uzi, by herself is plenty strong. She's shown off her fighting and capabilities, and would have probably been able to take V on. She's taken J down before, aaaand Uzi does technically also take V down in Cabin Fever. But she still went out of her way to go find N. So they could work together and get this mess sorted out.

And then there's this. God I love Cabin Fever, and surprisingly no, not for the Falling.... for you? scene. No, I loved the entire Uzi going on murder spree because she can! The music was such a banger too. But back to Uzi. She recognizes V and briefly snaps back to her usual self. Curious isn't it? N and Uzi both tried reaching out to V, but because V is so untrusting (and we all understand why from ep 5, Home). Here Uzi tried to ask V for help... in form of N.

I find it interesting how ever since Uzi met N and V, she's been getting better at asking for help. Sure, V shot her down because, once again, V was scared. Uzi was turning into the monster that only Cyn has been capable of creating. This soon leads to N yeeting Uzi into the f*cking stratosphere and the two have a chat.

I love how the animators included Uzi hiding behind her bat wings.

Her metaphorical walls were back up. And guess who broke them yet again.

The bestest boi N! And ever since this moment, N and Uzi are way more open.

Episode 5 was taking place in N's memories. But episode 6 is where their trust and care shines. Yeah, sure, there was the hand holding. And it was a big moment! But I enjoyed the little things more. Uzi checking in on N, nodding at his little comments and jokes.

Summary: I love Nuzi. Send help they're on my mind 24/7.

[leoruby-draws]

Decided to add another member to the Training Wheels Outlaw team, Gillian Wahrman aka Wyldheart!

This spirited young girl is a very obscure character seen in Grant Emerson's 1994 book Damage! She's only ever seen in relation to Grant, and Grant's a bit obscure himself, so she has very little appearances in the comics.

From what little we saw of her, she seemed fairly nice and pretty naive, I'm guessing she was pretty sheltered in life. Her adoptive father, Abriam Wahrman , found her in a spacecraft as a baby, so she kinda has a superman style origin (in fact, I thought she could fit the team as the superman expy, but I ended up having other ideas...).

Her father is part of the organization that gave Grant his powers but are also trying to hunt him down. She and Grant ended up as friends, but are keeping their friendship a secret for now. For now it works, tho I doubt that'll stay the case. She and Grant get along very well, he helps ground her and tries to prevent people from taking advantage of her naivety. In turn she helps him lighten up a bit and have fun!

Anyways, when she learned about Grant hanging out with this strange group, she decided she wanted in! And so she did! Jason is amused if a bit overwhelmed by her positivity, he's not quite sure how to deal with her but at least he has fun with her. The rest of the team likes her cheerfulness, bit of a break from the more serious and 'edgy' members attitudes.

Here's a couple of extra doodles of Gillian meeting the others:

This last one is was a first draft of her, I'll be real her outfit is kinda strange, simultaneously both overly designed and yet super basic. I didn't really like it honestly, but I could see underneath all that there was a way to make it work. I'm not sure if I succeeded, might've oversimplified it but I tried.

Now I'm gonna stop right here and talk about something real quick. If you go over to the DC fandom wiki and go to Gillian's page, here's what you see in the sidebar:

Is this some sort of mistake? I don't know if I missed something, but in none of her appearances was she shown to be a New God or Genesisian. Was she planned to be one but the writers dropped that plot point? Or did they not get the chance since Grant's book got canceled? If not, why did the wiki put that in? I don't know man, but I really do like that idea, like a lot. In fact in my au, she is in fact a New God! Perhaps her parents got in trouble of sorts and maybe sent her away to protect her? I'm kinda wanna make up a story of the parents being on opposite sides and their Romeo/Juliet romance caused an uproar. I'm not too well versed in New God lore, so I don't if that would work but it's one idea at least.

Here's a page of Gillian finding out her heritage:

Everyone looks shocked! (btw that guy in the back is Iron Munro, who helps out Grant sometimes). If Gillian's a new god, what would she be the god of? Maybe something like Harmony or Joy.

Well I hope to draw Gillian some more, she's a pretty fun addition to the team, and I hoped you liked all this!

A correction! Gillian is a New God, it's explained in Damage #8!

This is what happens when you speed 'read' and completely look over the details. Sorry about that, I can be pretty spacey sometimes. Thanks to @isfjmel-phleg for the correction! Still isn't it cool and unique that Gillian's a new god? DC should bring her back!

[itsnothingofinterest]

I think that the LoV deserves to win in the Final War because if they win, they will be able to create a world for themselves. The Heroes never meant to deserve to win at all considering the fact that most of them are morally corrupted (like the HPSC) and they are more interesting when they lose all the time.

If Spinner were able to win against Shoji, that would prove that his point will be always right and he would be able to save Shigaraki. If Toya succeeded, it would be the punishment that Endeavor deserves for abandoning his eldest son. If Toga succeeded, she would be able to do anything she wants. If Tomura Shigaraki wins against Deku and destroys Deku along with the entire Hero Society, Tomura Shigaraki would be able to have peace with his friends.

If I may be allowed the opportunity to rant: I'm sure some will say this is crazy at this juncture of the story but honestly? I get where you're coming from. Or at least 90% of it.

I mean for starters, I sympathize with the League far more than the heroes (no surprise from a villain fan). I think they’ve earned the happy endings they want after how hard they’ve struggled against the towering odds they’ve faced, an area which I feel they far surpass the heroes. I want them to win, I want them to prove the strength of their bonds, all that fun stuff for them.

And just logically, if you look at the worlds both sides are trying to make…the villain's world kinda seems better? Because after all, isn’t the plan to just take the current world, tear it down, and rebuild it without a whole bunch of its glaring flaws? The easy world Toga wants where kids like her don’t fear for their lives. Where corrupt heroes like Endeavor and bigots like the CRC aren’t left to their crimes. In a warped way, they’re almost like young All Might.

Compare that to the status quo the heroes want back, the very one that brought us here, which I don’t see much reason to root for. I mean even if you say “but all the people who’ve died”; first off, I swear mha civilians frequently act like horror movie victims so I can only care so much for them. But if I did, they want back the very status quo that led to all that death in the first place so…it feels like it’ll just lead back here again. A return of the status quo? This chaos is part of the status quo by now, you sure you want it back?

(Granted this is all hampered a little bit by Shigaraki’s sudden decision to sink the country and really where did that come from? Did Tomura just say that to appear more inhuman? Did Hori make him say that to appear more threatening? Because that kind of interferes with a lot of the League’s goals y’know. Sure he doesn’t want to give the status quo loving heroes a chance to rebuild what he destroyed, but society still needs replacing as part of the plan. The PLF are still supposed to rebuild according to their desires. I may make a post about just this plot point soon.)

Not to mention that I totally get what you mean about the heroes not narratively earning a permanent win here. Not only have they as a whole not really developed and surpassed their old flaws, but just the fact that they’ve been doing their own war crimes in this arc (when you’re really supposed to stick to your morals and beat villains by the book against make-the-world-better-by-extreme-measures-type villains) really makes me think they just don't deserve the win because they kind of can’t be trusted going forward. I mean the final arc's supposed to show where everyone is ending up; how they'll be in the future. And the impression being left is that the heroes, even the kids to enough of an extent to worry, have shown the same corruption we know the HPSC for.

About the only thing I disagree with out on is that I don’t want Deku specifically to die. He can be, to put bluntly, a self-righteous moron about things he doesn't understand at times, and can be a bit of an AM clone a lot of the rest of the time; but I'd hardly wish his death for just that. Especially since it seems any hope for the heroes side not repeating their mistakes rests on him pulling his head out of his arse and getting a clue on how to be better than All Might. Not that I think that'll happen anytime soon, but that's why I keep insistently hoping for an MHA part 2.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Sorry I took so long with this. Mix of being busy with real life and being in a writing funk. Which is why this may not be my finest post either. Hope you understand.)

[kerryweaverlesbian]

The thing is. I've already monologued at length about this to my friends and family. The thing is that Final Destination 2 is a brilliant sequel that surpasses the original because they're just like "yup, everyone knows the premise, the audience is bought in, we can just get down to beezniss" and beezniss in this case is fun stupid unlikely gruesome death scenes where you laugh and cheer and try to guess what's going to happen based on the available clues. Like on BBC's Casualty, a hospital drama where 80% of the fun is trying to guess what the accident is going to be (and 20% is booing whenever Charlie Fairhead is onscreen. GO AWAY.) Spoilers for Final Destination 3 but I don't recommend it at all so.who cares.

For SOME bizarre reason, instead of following in the footsteps of objectively the correct choice when doing a sequel to a high concept horror romp, Final Destination 3 decides it actually would much rather try to convince the characters of what is happening so we get a series of almost identical circular conversations of the main characters trying to convince the side characters of what is happening. They aren't believed. They die. Only there are LESS of the death scenes because they skipped the gradual build up of one to do a fake out "the main characters might die out of order uh oh!!!". When they KNOW that I know they're not going to die out of order!

I UNDERSTAND that they were attempting to add some pathos. Which would have been fine if it. Worked. But the characters are so disconnected from the world outside of anyone on the list. We don't even meet the main character's parents, which are such an easy "here's someone who would be badly affected if this person died" outside of "literally everyone who is likely to die imminently". They also started a character arc for the main character ("You're such a control freak!" x3, always told never shown) and then dropped it. She neither embraced her controlling tendancies nor let go of control in order to win the day. If you're going to swap out campy fun for drama, make it a GOOD drama!!! And also, DON'T do that!

Also!!! The new death clue device of the photographs. It is. Annoying. As an audience member. To only be shown one of the photo clues after the fact. Give me a chance at guessing!!!!!! It's like in detective shows when we're not given the same information as the detective. Don't!!! Do that!!! It is me the Horror Film Viewer vs The Visual Language and Facts Of The Scene employed by the dastardly Film Creators who have set up a puzzle for me. Don't set up a puzzle with half the pieces missing! The way we connect with the protagonists of these films are that we are side by side trying to figure out "what IS death's order this time 🤔" and "how ARE they being set up to die and how could it be prevented 🤔". It's a thought excersize. But then so very early on in the movie, they tell me that actually this time they don't want me to try and figure anything out bc they're not giving me necessary information and they CLEARLY think I'm stupid (see: "You're a control freak" said three times out loud and also I'm a woman and I knowww what they think about women (see below)). It's infuriating. Do you know how much fun I could be having watching a final destination film. I do!! Because I watched Final Destination 2!

And they added a load of OVERT, overpowering misogyny. Which was not present in the previous two films. Fuck. off. Why do we see two genuinely nice young women screaming and dying while naked (after one of them explicitly says "I dont want people to see me naked") for what felt like 10 minutes in a tanning bed (not even really a series of mishaps...they got stuck and that's. It. End of mishaps). And then the perv whose been creeping on these (UNDERAGE they make sure to stress) girls gets an insta-death. Actually, all the men got an insta-death in this one and for the women it was prolongued. Granted it was a relatively small cast. Also the other creep who took an upskirt photo of a different 15/16 year old is one of our leads who gets to live :/ great im sooo happy for you. I don't need horror protagonists to be perfect but I also want their horribleness to say something if its there. Final Destination 3 wanted to be About something but it failed at that.

Anyway...maybe final destination 4 will be better...😩

[woodsfae]

B5 s03e21 Shadow Dancing previous episode - table of contents

I see the next episode is called z'ha'dum (dang I have been mis-spelling that a dozen different ways) so the "z-minus" must be referring to that. This coming at the end of season 3 also affirms for me that Sheridan must survive z'ha'dum despite the prophecy of death. Some heart-stopped-but-he-survived pedantry. I still think Dr Franklin is going to be pivotal. But that's next episode! 

Delenn is speaking before the League of Aligned Worlds or whatever their acronym is. She and Lennier are wearing somber brown and green-grey, as opposed to their usual jewel-tones. Are they trying to dress down to fit in with the lower species? LOL. 

Delenn is asking for more ships than the individual worlds feel they can risk, and is promising that the Minbari are commiting considerable forces as well. 

The Shadows have been driving refugees into sector 83 for months, and Sheridan thinks an attack on the corralled population is imminent. 

It's funny, I used to think Marcus looked annoying but now I'm always so happy to see him. He seems to have recovered from Neroon beating his face in. 

THE PLAN: Ivanova and Marcus are going to sector 83, going completely dark, and are waiting for the Shadows to turn up. Then they're getting out ASAP without engaging them, at any cost. Presumably to summon the rest of the waiting forces that Delenn has just negotiated to be waiting. 

The League is acquiescing to Delenn's request and lending the alliance all their spare ships and then some. Ivanova is in command of the White Star with Marcus as her leal interpreter and they're off! I'm not sure if I think this is going to work, or if it's going to be a miscalculation and they're going to be in a really bad position coming into the season finale. 

"Sometimes people walk away because they want to be alone. Sometimes people walk away because they want to see if you'll folllow them into hell."

Uncharacteristically insightful for Garibaldi, but also, don't play those games. You can't walk yourself into hell on the slim chance that the person you're chasing is hoping to be caught. 

Guest Star Barbara is not making a good impression on me, but we are also shown that Stephen Franklin is looking a little less rough than in his last appearance. 

Z MINUS SIX DAYS

I'm absolutely positive that's counting down to Z'ha'dum now. 

Minbari beds are...not ideal. And it would be pretty strange to wake up to another person at a 45 degree angle staring you (or not) straight in the face. 

"You're the most beautiful woman I've ever met," says Marcus, then claims it's just a greeting. 

"It meants...my words are inadequate to the burden of my heart."

"That's an unusual greeting."

"They're an unusual people."

Fingers crossed that Susan will remember the pronounciation and repeat it to some unsuspecting Minbari man. 

Fingers also crossed that Susan never ever dates Marcus.

LOL the Minbari beds' feet tip up enough to be almost flat. And then some. asdfkljahf. So you can angle towards either bulkhead based on preference? hah.

Minbari continue to be hilariouly bizarre. Delenn shares a Minbari custom that, when a couple has been flirting as long as they have been, they spend three nights together while the man sleeps and the woman observes his sleeping face. If she likes it, cool. If not, they're finished. 

Stephen Franklin just tried to intervene in a mugging and got a gut-stab for his trouble. Perhaps this will be how he finally meets himself. 

Rough stuff. He's dragging himself along in bloody handprints to try to find help. 

I guess I'd say I've met myself through injuries, but the end result has been me fixing myself up the vast majority of the time, and I'm not even a doctor. Though granted, the injuries have never been a gut stab.

Susan has finally got comfortable, by stealing all the pillows from the beds to make a pallet, and immediately gets an urgent page to the bridge. That tracks!!

The White Star has picked up a signature that's probably-definitely a Shadow ship, and they've come out of the moon-shadow they've been hidden in at the same time. badadadadada tension! 

In the splotchlights Delenn brought Sheridan to keep track of the battles, it looks like Sheridan's going extremely grey. Stress grey. 

Dr Franklin is chillin in a pool of his own blood, chatting with a hallucination of himself. Finally! Space AA can come to a conclusion and Stephen's final form can appear. 

I like how the Shadows' ships move in space. It's quite unlike anything else I've seen. 

Ivanova is returning fire on the Shadows ship, despite the direct orders to escape and not engage for any reason. 

And a whole fleet of Shadows ships are coming into view! Dozens, perhaps even a hundred or more. 

"Well, who wants to live forever?" Ivanova says, and they send the signal to the rest of the fleet. I continue to like her more and more. 

Hmmm. Hallucination!Stephen is a lot harder on Stepehn than I think is fair. This is a really harsh internal dialogue. And uncomfortably relatable? But this kind of negative self-talk can be really improved by finding a good therapist. 

Ahh, so the Grey Council's dramatic spot-lighting has a practical effect! It's also a holographic war-room. Sheridan directs the Minbari telepaths to jam the Shadows' capital ships, and deploys the waiting fleet. They got the message! The White Star's backup is on the way. 

"Don't you go passing out on me - that's just another kind of running away."

I BARKED with laughter at that line. Internal!Stephen is a dick. 

Hmm in the war room lighting, Delenn also looks like she's going grey, so I'm not sure if it's a stress-grey thing or a lighting thing. 

The battle continues. The CGI has noticably improved from s01 and s02. 

The Minbari beds make more sense when they're full of telepaths at work than full of humans failing to fall asleep. 

It appears that the League fleet has driven off the Shadows, but the music and Delenn and Sheridan's mien is somber. Injured personel from the fleet are coming in at the same time as Franklin is getting medical attention. 

"We did ok. Not great, but ok," Sheridan says. Frame it as a victory!! As Ivanova points out, it's the first time they pulled together the League. And they drove them off!! 

Z MINUS 4 DAYS

Garibaldi watches Franklin sleep. I ought to write the fic I have floating around in my head where they get together and only inflict their emotional idiocy on each other.

Garibaldi: "Don't ever do this to me again."

Well that isn't a deterrent. to me.

Delenn is out of the brown-and-green and back into her jewel tones. 

Ivanova thinks the Shadows have been deliberately leaving Babylon 5 alone and hearing this, Sheridan has a flashback to his vision of Ivanova, with a raven on her shoulder, asking "Do you know who I am?" 

Working out the vision - Susan is a latent telepath and said (irl) she doesn't know who she is sometimes. Sheridan also saw himself in a PsiCorps uniform, and Ivanova again in all-black with a veil saying "yuou are the hand." I remember this, but it's handy that they're recapping this because I didn't remember the exact specifics. But they haven't figured out what they think it means. But they better hurry up because a Shadow vessel is in hyperspace going places to do things!

Franklin is the CMO again. Apparently. Unofficial up to the point that Sheridan walked in and offered it to him again. 

Stephen's personal revelations are good - it's important to know yourself. And I like that he's realized he's always defined himsef by what he isn't, and how that didn't serve him well. Psychologically speaking.

hmmm cute. Sheridan's sleeping, and Delenn's watching him with a little smile. And danger is afoot on b5, going by the ominous music and shots of various humans and aliens. Zack Allen wakes up Ivanova to tell her someone's coming on board.

SHERIDAN'S WIFE. fuck yeah

But now I have a new question, considering the multiple shots of a shadow shuttle flying around: is she herself, or is she a puppet of the Shadows? 

Z MINUS 2 DAYS

*definitely not making high pitched noises right now*

Who in the fuck gave Anna the codes to Sheridan's quarters? Like. She's been declared dead and everything. I blame Zack.

z'ha'dum alert

[epickiya722]

You know what, seeing someone say Audrey is a "bitch" stirred some unwanted feelings in me because rewatching the first movie and comparing her to other Disney antagonists, Audrey isn't all that bad to me.

At most, what she did was make snide comments and that's about it.

She never tried to sabotage the VKs to send them back to the Isle. She only tried to make Ben jealous after he (being spelled) practically humiliated her in front of the whole school by declaring his love for another girl.

And she wasn't wrong about being cautious around the VKs (practically Mal) because Ben did get spelled, did he not! Didn't Mal use magic to manipulate Jane?

Even onscreen, we don't even see her be mean to other Auradonian kids.

And at the end of the first movie, she was the one to have a change of heart and even danced with the VKs.

And the thing about the Family Day scene, I don't even blame Audrey for not wanting her grandmother to talk Mal. I wouldn't either. That's the same girl who took her boyfriend away, the same boyfriend she known for years given the books and photos seen in the third movie.

Mal is the same girl who happens to be the daughter of Maleficent. THE FAIRY WHO SPELLED AUDREY'S MOTHER WHEN SHE WAS JUST A BABY TO HAVE A SLEEP-LIKE DEATH. Mind you, Maleficent probably did it because she could, not because she was hurt about being invited to a christening. Isn't Maleficent the "Mistress of Evil"? You really think a villain with that title would be like "woe is me, you didn't invite me, wah, *sad tears*"? Nah, she just wanted to cause some mischief. Look, some villains just want to be evil and cruel without any reasons, no sad backstory required. (Keep in mind, Descendants was following the stories of the animated films.)

Also, to me, watching the Family Day scene, Mal looked almost smug, kinda... it just didn't come off like she was being nice when Audrey told her grandmother not talk to her. Queen Leah didn't freak out until Mal made that face, probably getting flashbacks to when Maleficent cursed her daughter.

Granted, the VKs did deserve to have a chance to prove they're not like their parents and I like the VKs, I do. (In fact, most of my faves are the VKs, Sea Three included.)

But to me, Audrey really isn't all that bad that some people like to say she is. She was snarky, but let's not sit here and act like she was the only character doing it (just saying, she left no crumbs). She was cautious and had every right to be. But she never tried to sabotage anyone and she isn't shown to be mean to other characters until the third movie, but that was more so out of anger (after all the wrong she went through) and being corrupted by the scepter.

Collectively, throughout the three movies, the worst Audrey ever has done was steal the crown and scepter and use Maleficent's magic.

But not to excuse her actions, but I'm blaming Auradon for that one.

Why do they only have one guy holding down the museum?! Why?! Makes no sense!! Twice, twice someone managed to get into the museum undetected and the second time a lone person succeeded getting not one, but two items!!

Why was Maleficent's scepter not properly cased?! Oh, they be making sure FG's wand is safe and secured, but knowing how powerful Maleficent's scepter is they just leave out in the open! Just stupid! Stupid!

Expected though, since someone had the "brilliant" idea to have the barrier open and a bridge form through a button... but that's for another day...

[the-gateway-to-madness]

Elemental Spoilers

I noticed a couple of parallels or development tie-ins or what have you.

First of all, my sincerest compliments to the Elemental voice cast who made this movie work, especially its tenderest moments.

From minute one, Wade encourages Ember to be more open with him and with her loved ones and to relieve herself of that emotional weight.

When they're in the balloon, Ember teaches Wade the meaning of the Firish word "tìshók"- essentially, "embrace the light while it burns, because it won't always last forever" or, rather, because it's not guaranteed that things won't change or be lost. It encourages him to live his life more deliberately, like Ember does, but it's also focusing and condensing his views on how to interact with your loved ones, and helps him to pin down in words how he feels about expressing your innermost feelings later on- "you don't have forever to say what you need to say".

As a note, he also focuses her in return- literally, he focuses her light when he becomes a magnifying glass during the matchmaking reading, and just anytime he helps Ember root out the sources of her emotions.

so when Wade's talking to Ember on the beach, he says "I had regrets when my dad died" and pushes Ember to leave her comfort zone and be honest with her father.

And then, when they're trapped in the hearth, Wade tells Ember, "I have no regrets". Mostly pre-movie, but also during the movie, subtly, Wade has learned to fully utilize and embrace the ideology of tìshók. He's been emotionally vulnerable and honest with Ember. He loves her and he's taken advantage of every moment of it to care for her and help her.

Wade tries to show Ember the power of the one little word she taught him, a word she treated so casually when she explained it, every chance he gets. But it's not until she loses him that it sinks in. Not until she watches him slip out of her fingers, and she has true, deep, blatant, painful regrets, and he comes back with "I have no regrets. You gave me something people search their whole lives for" does she internalize all the time she's taken for granted, the time she's been telling herself throughout the movie she had, the time she used as an excuse not to be vulnerable- not to embrace the light.

It's at those moments of vulnerability, at the beginning and the end, with Wade, that we see her shining in a way like no other, revealing all the potential of the light inside her. Figuratively, of course, but also literally, with the refracted colors around them. They're never so intense as when Ember confesses to Wade that she loves him.

And then, Wade, in one sentence, says, "I love you, and I have loved each depth you've let me see of you, and I am so honored that you're willing to be so vulnerable and gentle with me", facing his own fading with perfect acceptance because he knew her and loved her with everything he had, and he understands that that's enough and he doesn't need to give her more.

And that one sentence hits because subconsciously it ties everything together, every bit of love and adoration he's shown her, every way he's brought out her light through the entire movie, every way he's tried to get her to love herself as much as he does.

"I really do love it when your light does that."

[daepicfirestar]

LB6.5 Traum Spoilers

Lostbelt 6.5 Traum Theory: Siegfried is not real

I could be biased, because this relates to one of the twists in the episode, and how I do not wish it was real. If that makes sense.

My Theory: The Siegfried shown to reunite with Kriemhild is not real.

Evidence:

1. Siegfried has no memory of being helpful to Master. Despite that he has in MULTIPLE times. There is also no memory he has of meeting Astolfo in Apocrypha, which is what Astolfo is implied to have.

2. The way he behaves is quite strange. I get that the original promise Siegfried made to Master was that if she was alive he would fight on her side, and this original promise would still make sense if the theory was true. However, the fact that Siegfried stops calling Master "Master" and instead by name. So suddenly. It doesn't fit his character. Ironically for a character who was betrayed to be the betrayer, a Servant known to be loyal.

His favor quote "I'm told you and I fought side by side once before. I'm sorry I have no memory of it. I only hope I proved useful in that battle... At any rate, I have a favor to ask you. Once I tell you what it is...I'll understand if you decide to kill me."

Siegfried again "I... I made a mistake. And, I'm about to make another one. ...Master. No... (y/n). Kriemhild will never use her demonic sword again. The mass of magical energy the Holy Grails were providing to her is gone. Our battle consumed nearly all of it. I tried to kill her and I nearly succeeded. And now, here we are. This is exactly what we agreed to. I...hope you can forgive me. You have my gratitude for granting this foolish wish of mine."

Later. Siegfried comes close to Kriemhild and says, "Your ambitions... Your dreams... Whatever you want to call them, any hopes you had of permanently establishing this Singularity are dashed for good and all. The Holy Grailed are now in our enemy's [Master's] hands." Then to Master, "I'm sorry to surprise you. But I decided this some time ago. If Kriemhild is still alive even after we stop her...then from that moment on, I want to fight for her. ...Even if that means you and I should become enemies. Even if it should result in my own death."

In Fate/Grand Order Siegfired's "My Room" lines were all having to do with loyalty and the like. Even in Apocrypha when he was serving Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia who wasn't very friendly to him he still showed better behavior. Plus it's not like memories are always wiped because the "My Room" Siegfried voice lines clearly remember Aporcypha. In my Room, he doesn't mention anything regarding the events in Traum (but Kriemhild does) His only line about Kriemhild is as follows: "I didn't expect you to come, but... you came, Kriemhild. I don't know what to tell you... no, there's no need to say anything... Huh? 'What can be put into words is put into words.'? I see...I love you, Kriemhild...Was it inevitable that you would bring out Balmung in this exchange?''

This pattern of mood indicated in Traum is very heavily resembling that of EMIYA in the Unlimited Blade Works route, where he betrays Tohsaka to serve under Medea for his own benefit (to kill Shirou) however even then this theory is justified through EMIYA's morally grey nature and "Independent Action" which Siegfried doesn't have neither. HE EVEN CONTRADICTS HIMSELF IN THE NARRATIVE SHOWING THAT he won't rebel when in actuality he does. "Do you desire to rebel against Proper Human History?" "No."

Kreimhild said in Traum before Siegfried's appearance: "If Siegfried was summoned here, he would probably rebel against Proper Human History. I don't want him to, I want the small chance he isn't. I want him to be my enemy before I kill him." (Kriemhild was on the side against Proper Human History) and then she also says "Chaldea didn't bring him" implying that she knows that Chaldea has him.

There is also a mention of every Servant having a different Master in Traum. As of where I am in the story, there is no detail mentioned about Siegfried's Master. When he was first found he was deep in a prison, stating "I was almost expecting to be put in an eternal slumber"

Then there is a twist that Traum actually takes place in Nevada, 2019 in Area 51. The Master behind it all is a Test Subject E. This may just further reinforce the theory.

Kriemhild's line to Siegfried after beating Traum is as follows: "Gyah! Apologies. I just lost my composure. You...I mean, Lord Siegfried. No, I didn't mind. You approaching me was all according to plan... A calculated move on my part. It was all for revenge. Why the defeated look!? Cut it out, you nincompoop! And Master! Don't just stand back there and nod! Do something about this!!!" Siegfried has no new lines after beating Traum.

The Siegfried stated was essentially a fake one, which retained his personality (hence Mash’s comment about his seriousness) and how his abilities are consistent to what is established (being able to endure a B+ rank attack is indeed consistent with his Noble Phantasm Armor of Fafnir does in Fate). However, his memories were wiped and his internal values changed significantly. Essentially, he behaves exactly how Kriemhild desires, it’s as though he was programmed to do so. If this theory was true it would explain the title of the Lostbelt being “Traum” how it is German for “dream” and how it’s basically a manifestation of her desires. Considering Siegfried and Kriemhild being the only German Servants this only makes the meaning more plausible. Why wasn’t this brought up in the plot? Why didn’t Sherlock Holmes catch this? They had little time together, and the times of Siegfried behaving most suspiciously was kept hidden from Holmes.

[hellcatinnc]

Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple Anime Movie Review

Includes Spoilers

I really liked this movie it did help add more to the story before starting season 3. I love how it really showed how much Dazai thought of Sakunosuke the sitting at the bar with a drink like they used to really tugged at my heart.

I also loved the connection between Atsushi and Kyōka, I mean I always saw it between them before but I feel like the movie plays on it alot more. It has a very good story line to it with all the power users get killed off by their own power. Was definitely something to pull you in and you can't stop watching til its done. I honestly for awhile thought we were gonna lose some of the favorite characters but glad that didn't happen. I mean seriously how cute are they together and the fact he sleeps in a closet to always be there for her how freakin adorable. I love how he looks at her and how she looks at him as well.

At first I thought Dazai had turned against his friends and although I didn't want to believe it he did it when he left alot of his friends behind when he left the mafia. The 2 guys he had lined himself with Fyodor Dostoyevsky & Tatsuhiko Shibusawa both are psychopathic creeps I didn't like either of them from the first time they appeared. Both have a unnerving feel to their presence. Then when they stabbed Dazai and he was bleeding and then was poisoned I was upset that they might actually kill his character off.

The fact you see Chuuya more in this I was happy for especially when he is the one that went to save Dazai in the end. I love the scene on the plain come on seriously the glove scene is too damn hot to miss. Then the fact he turns and punches Dazai to bring him back from death was priceless. That scene everyone is stuck on where it looks like Chuuya's head is in Dazai's lap to me I didn't see at is anything more than Chuuya being exhausted after turning like he has shown in the past and Dazai controlling the outcome in that moment it is not a gay scene to me at all. I think people see what they want to see. By this point Chuuya is really becoming someone you see more often why people automatically jump to them being gay for each other. I came into this with a open mind fine if they end up at least bisexual but I just think alot of people read into that scene more.

I do love you see Akutagawa work with Atsushi more and they honestly when they aren't bickering I think they are good together. I think in a platonic way they understand each other way more than anyone else. They both been in a dark place and work their way up that being said I even think Akutagawa has respect for Atsushi. I this time frame Akutagawa grew on me and became my 2nd favorite person in the show. He comes off hard ass but deep down I think he is a man that longs for affection and praise especially from Dazai. Granted I don't know what Dazai has to do with him yet hoping to in the next couple seasons however I do think they were damaged a bit more than you know especially Akutagawa by Dazai himself.

The cool effects of the fights with Akutagawa and Atsushi were probably some of the coolest effects and made the ending even better.

Honestly all in all I thought the movie was really good and got me plenty ready to jump into season 3 of Bungo Stray Dogs. I hope you give the movie a chance it really is worth it.

[backjustforberena]

Hi! I recently read your post where you say that Steve didn't have any info about the Hull Boys and I'm shocked. I don't like show!Corlys but I feel like it's deeply unjust for the character that the writers didn't clarify this issue. I really hope the next season addresses this by introducing Marilda, at least for a few scenes, so we can understand why show!Corlys would betray Rhaenys for so long with the same woman. I need answers, especially because aging up Alyn and Addam seems to push the timeline of the betrayal closer to when Rhaenys loses the crown. Whether intentional or not, this shift makes the betrayal feel even more deplorable.

Hello! Yes, I'm afraid I'm probably going to have to burst your bubble just that little bit more. I don't believe we'll be getting Marilda of Hull. I think that the (excuse the pun) ship has sailed, and, not only that, but the show has implied that Marilda is dead. Or, at least, the mother of Alyn and Addam is dead, as we have no name to give her within the show's canon.

I've come to that conclusion based off of a few things. It's probably easier and neater for the story not to have another character be introduced (I say this whilst also very much acknowledging that removing the one other person who could give this affair context is a mistake) - and it's likely one of the reasons the boys were aged up in the first place.

One of the major things that Marilda does is bring her boys to the court to become Dragonseeds. This, obviously, hasn't been done and the show has gone in a different direction. Alyn and Addam are grown, so they don't "need" their mother the same way that their characters would do if they were teenagers. It also makes it easier to illustrate the bond between brothers if you make them the sole companions of the other so that that is the priority for each of them, but especially Alyn, who is now the older brother. Removing the mother also makes it easier to have scenes with Corlys and show that dynamic without interference.

Then there are the implications within the show itself. Rather than living as a son of a woman with her own company, Alyn speaks of a life working, basically, hand-to-mouth from a young age. They live in poverty, essentially. He also asks Corlys what he knows of "grief", which implies Alyn's own awareness and experience of grief. This could be grief over his father's actions and mourning a relationship that could have been. But more than likely it is in regards to his mother. The other clue we have is when Rhaenyra asks Addam about his parentage. He answers:

"My mother was a shipwright. My father is… no one of consequence."

Addam refers to his father (Corlys) using present tense, but mother in past. There's also no maternal influence shown in the home, where we see Alyn and Addam live (though, granted, there's no requirement for them to live with their mother at all) and Addam seems to have the typically feminine tasks down pat, such as cooking.

Without the presence of the mother, I doubt we'll get answers. There seems to be little effort in giving the actors answers, and if we take away the chance of Corlys speaking to the mother, then there are no other (in my mind) characters to which Corlys could divulge this information. There's no one he's close enough to open up to. The only slim possibility is Alyn but certainly not as the relationship stands at the moment. There could have been Rhaenys, had she not died, but she did.

Again, as I've said before, I'm unwilling to speculate on what might make this betrayal more or less deplorable or more or less understandable. Again, without knowing the ages of the boys or the circumstances surrounding or prior to or after the Great Council, it's really tricky to know or judge, and we also don't know how much we can apply book canon to show canon either.

It could be a response to losing the Crown or it could be a response to Rhaenys's distress or it could be nothing to do with any of it. We don't know. You say "betray Rhaenys for so long with the same woman" when, for all we know, it was a relationship that lasted long enough to produce children, with nothing in between. We don't know what it was. Where it was. When it was. How it was. Literally, all options are on the table. Especially with the way this show treats the timeline.

Without anything concrete, there really is nothing to go off of, and that's why we get quotes like this, from Steve:

I am still working through it as to trying to find the reasoning behind it because exactly what you said is what I said… My thing was, “OK, yeah, one child. OK, great. He’s a sailor, blah, blah, blah. But he then goes back and has another child, so what’s that? … So, I am still trying to find the way through it.

How that [relationship] ended, I don’t know. That would be interesting; did she [the mother] go away, is she still alive? I certainly don’t know. When I spoke to Claire [Kilner] or Alan [Taylor] our directors about it, they weren’t sure either.

Steve didn't know until he read the scripts: he hadn't read the book, he wasn't told beforehand, and neither he nor Eve knew anything during filming and promoting Season 01. Steve has no information, that we know of, other than what is in the scripts and, provided no scenes were cut, that is the exact same information that we have as an audience.

[tempo-tales]

After a few hours of conversation between Eli and the two maestros, Tempo's magical artifact trembles slightly, signaling that it is time to use its power to return to the key moment that will prevent Elicia's tragedy.

Eli hands the completed watch to Tempo and the maestro attaches the protective casing. A small bow and with the watch in front of Elicia, she lets loose the phrase to whom all the vicitors to the test tell them.

"Elicia Gutierrez, I grant you the power to change destiny as a second chance.

Please, the blue light you must touch."

Eli determined touches the center of the watch and the time goes back. Balan stood there contemplating as time moves backward in film form in a dark expanse, for this is the first time the WonderWorld maestro has seen this spectacle in person.

"Amazing, Tempo's power is off the charts. What a show like this for reference will do me, haha!"

The clock stops after reaching the key point and Tempo puts her watch away.

"Eli...I congratulate you on your decision to take this test and also..."

"...For passing the Balance test."

Balan gives a bow dance and removes his hat, thus revealing his face.

"Ah"-Eli was so astonished that she froze for a moment.

"Eli?"-Balan approaches with an expression of doubt and concern for the visitor's astonishment.

"Dumb Balan!"

"What? Why?"-exalted the man at Eli's little tantrum.

"If you had revealed that handsome face, I would have preferred to be your wife and get you out of here!"

Eli approaches and flirts Balan with her gaze. Tempo didn't hold back letting out a few laughs and Balan was already feeling that awkwardness because the woman looks so much like Tempo physically that it was seeing the maestro herself.

"But Elicia Gutierrez, how can you say that! You're a married woman!"

Eli, with a sneer, pulls out of her jacket pocket her wedding ring and places it on her left hand index finger and shows it off to the maestros . Balan already knew this, but Tempo, who didn't dare to fully see Eli's life, ended up finding out at the end of the test.

"Oh, so you married .... with Margaret!"

"What? Balan, you know her?"-Eli's eyes widen in surprise.

A light laugh comes from the maestros and they look at each other, then at Eli-"We're maestros and we knew millions of people. Margaret we remember for her tantrums about marriage, but hey, don't tell her anything." Balan gestures for silence.

"Ho~hohohohoho~, the trouble she gave us over the engagement ring..." Tempo laughed as she agreed on the challenge they both had and that she grew fond of her despite Margaret's stubborn nature at the time.

Eli, relieved, let out a thin smile proud of her current wife.

"I'm glad Maggy's changed, and even more so since we adopted our little girl."

"Oh my stars, I'm an aunt! Balan!!!-Tempo shouts in excitement and shakes Balan by grabbing his left arm. Balan stops her with a small smack on the girl's head. The older sister was excited about so many things that her sister did throughout her life and were not shown in the opportunity test due to certain priorities.

Calmly, Tempo looks proudly at her sister, for the present she built with Maggie.

"I hope someday getting to know them better is possible."

"I hope so, sister."

Tempo clasps her hands to her chest and could feel her heart pounding inside her maestro suit.

"Ever since I came here, I knew that no one knows what the future will hold for us of challenge, but if we are able to change it if.."

"Sis..."

The pocket watch starts to chime. It is time for departure. Eli hugs her sister, and Alicia kisses on Eli's forehead.

"Eli, you are a wonderful and brave woman. Please take care of yourself and also think that there are people who love you like me, mom, your wife and your daughter...don't make rash decisions and talk about your doubts and fears with them, that's why you appreciate them so much."

Tempo hugs Eli tightly as Eli hugs Tempo. The maestro lets out a sigh and murmurs sadly, "If I could have been with you, I would have taken care of you as best I could and given you advice...but my role in WonderWorld prevents it. I implore you not to do crazy things, like I did."

"Yes, sis."

Eli separates from her big sister and hugs Balan.

"Balan, I thank you so much for taking care of my sister. I know now that she is not alone. You are with her through everything and thank you for giving us the time to talk to her."

"I insist to ask you not to take action without thinking about it first. Take care of yourself and be happy and maybe we will see each other again if your heart becomes unbalanced."

"Yes."

Eli turns away from the maestros and Tempo lets out a shout.

"Eli!"

"Sis?"

"Eli, please be Nicolas' big sister that present I couldn't be. I too would have loved to meet him and give him the love like the one I was barely able to give you..."

"-Alicia..."-the moved Eli tried to avoid crying again so as not to regret leaving Alicia.

"Whatever it is, we will always be siblings, after all, the three of us will always be Rosario Gutierrez's children. Consider that please, Eli."

"Hehe, I'm an unselfish person, but I'll do it for you. I love you sis."

"And I love you, my Ladybug."

Eli walks through the door and disappears inside in front of the blanket of light.

[kattahj]

Thoughts on Century of Love

It took me longer than expected to finish this, and even longer to write about it, but that's down to my own flakiness and not any fault of the show, because I loved it.

Spoilers, spoilers, here be spoilers!

Granted, at times it turned into more of a McGuffin chase than I could palate, and I could have done without that part of it. (Vee gets wounded trying to keep the bad guy from taking the stone, and San and Tao use up the stone to save him. Me: So... they could have let the bad guy take the stone, and that would have amounted to the same thing? All these people killed each other for no reason? Cool. Coolcoolcool.)

But on a philosophical level, I adore it. Raising the question of "What is true love?" and "Can we ever know our destiny?" and landing in "Whatever you want it to be" and "No". I'm deeply irritated by stories where characters are jerked around by destiny/outside forces, and this felt like the opposite of that. The goddess is fundamentally unknowable. We get dreams and chance happenings that may be portents, or they may not be, and it's up to the characters to decide what they mean.

San and everyone around him try so hard first to manipulate his fate, and then to follow the consequences of that and find his soulmate, only to land in, we don't know. Either Vee or Wadfan could have been Ms. Wad at one point, but neither one of them are her now, because the lives we live change us. We can't ever go back to what was, or know what lies ahead, we can only decide what to do with the present. And San and Vee choose each other, whether it's destiny or not.

This is fundamentally San's story, more than Vee's. I tend to ask about romances, "If they broke up tomorrow, would they still be better off than if they never met?" and in San's case, the answer is "most definitely", while in Vee's, it's more of a "maybe". :-)

But San's story is well worth telling. I never doubted that this was a man who had been alive for 100 years, nor that he'd spent those 100 years not actually living. San is stuck, rigid, unchangeable, until he is forced to question his own assumptions.

First, of course, the notion of loving a man, going from "absolutely not" to "only if it's fate" to "even if it isn't fate". San's internalized homophobia is juxtaposed right from the start with his own sexual longing, a familiar tale from earlier gay media, but well told.

Then there's the lesson that faces are not personalities, shown with Third as well as Wadfan. We don't know if either of them is actually a reborn version of the people San knew. Is Third Lord Trai working on his karma, or is just there to show how to gracefully deal with unrequited love? Is Wadfan Ms. Wad sunken really low, or just your average conwoman faen fatale? I love that she proved instrumental to the solution in the end, and that even in doing so, she still had self-serving reasons. Enemy, friend, lover, it's not so easy to tell.

We also get the interactions between tiny San and Vee, which force San into a different, more vulnerable position, and make him see Vee in a different light – a Vee who doesn't know that this is San, who reacts to a small child left alone in dangerous situations. The sides we show of ourselves are different depending on who we're talking to and how they react to us.

Then there's of course the class aspect, where San starts out as a poor man in love with a rich woman, and grows to be a very rich man in love with a poor man. For someone who is stuck in wanting to go back, he is then forced to confront a part of his past he's not so keen on, and reflect on what difference money and connections make to who we become.

As for Vee, he does take a bit of a backseat as far as story development goes, and is rather dragged into this whole mess, but he's interesting too as a character. His general disposition is sunny, which serves as a good contrast to San's stoic sullenness, and also shows off Offroad's fantastic smile. But he's also closer to tears, to emotions in general, and his heartbreaking circumstances are all the more effective for breaking down that smile.

It's a really good dynamic.

Then there are the backup characters, where Vee has his grandma (and coworker, hi, See!) and San has his grand... children? The subtitles say he's their grandfather, but I'm going to assume that this is either an honorary title or they're more distantly related, because it makes no sense for them to be his direct descendants.

Either way, they're all appreciated, especially Juu, with her cheeky modern perspective (she reminds me a little of long-time favourite Kenzi from Lost Girl), and poor Tao, who's the one who has to try and make sense of this madness. Perhaps the happiest ending of all is him finally getting to give up and roll with the punches. :-)

[hellsdisneyprincess]

Somehow a letter has been left upon the princess' pillow when she returns to her room. The envelope is sealed with wax: embossed with the image of the tree of Eden as it appears in The Story of Hell. This would be the first time she has seen this insignia in any sort of official form.

Dear Princess Charlotte,

Though I suppose you prefer to be called Charlie now, don't you? You do not know me, but I have known you since the day you were born into this world. Your mother and I were once very close, and she is a truly wonderful woman.

Your father is someone that I have always been eternally grateful to. He is a good man, and the both of them have raised you well.

From the moment I laid eyes upon you there is one thing I knew: you were something special in this world. You are something special. I will be completely honest with you within this letter: there is no reason for me to conceal anything from you.

When I laid eyes upon you as a child I thought you would make a perfect weapon. A tool that your parents and I could use to bring down Heaven for what they had done to us. I have always been a stubborn woman and my own rage had led me astray from the loving mother I had once been.

I was a danger to your safety, and was swiftly removed from the palace. However I have continued to watch you as you have grown. And my how you have grown.

You are one of a kind in so many ways. A child born of the union of an Angel and Human— and shaped by the influences of Hell itself in a life experience no others have ever had.

When you began with your hotel I thought the idea was silly. Not because I thought redemption impossible, but because I believed it Pointless. Why would a soul wish to give up this freedom in exchange for a realm granted to those who groveled before our Creator?

But I have recently been shown differently.

Charlie, you exist as proof of a simple fact of the universe that I have learned only hours before composing this letter.

Heaven and Hell are not meant to oppose one another. They are not enemies. And that is the key to success in the battle to come.

Heaven and Hell must come together to defeat the creatures our Creator intends to unleash upon us. As you are already aware, defeat will result in the destruction of this version of the world. Another will be created in its place.

You are not a parent, but you can understand this simple sentiment: no parent enjoys watching their children fight.

I intend to attempt to speak with Sera one last time before the battle tomorrow. If I fail to convince her to see my reason, I leave that task to you.

Bring together the children of our Creator under a single banner to take on our common foe. We are all His children, and we can set aside our differences for the world that we call home. For not only our own lives, but the lives of those who are yet to come. Those who have not had the chance to live past this point.

We now sit at the precipice, and I look forward to seeing you shine like the Morningstar.

May we get to meet once this is all over,

The Mother of Humanity and Second Woman once known as Eve: Roo.

Charlie quietly read the letter that appeared in her hand. Roo, huh? Another one of her parents' secrets she needed to talk to them about once all this was over. Funny how all manner of things were coming to light.

It was interesting that Roo seemed to have predicted some aspects of this that she was only just learning herself. The fact that she was being written like this now couldn't be a coincidence.

Damn, Charlie wished she had come to this realization earlier. She had focused so much on training that she had neglected what may have been truly important. Cooperation. Unity. She had trusted her parents to take care of things when maybe she should have gone instead. Maybe Sera would be supporting them now if she had. Well, there was no use now in dealing with maybes or what-ifs.

"Wherever you are Roo, I wish you luck." She summoned her violin and began playing, pouring her hope into it.

[space-kates]

Okay, I'm back, so let's get into this. Keep in mind I am an Anders apologist and absolutely delusional when it comes to him, so I'll think I'm right regardless of evidence. This is gonna be a long one and I hope it makes at least a little sense.

To start, I know Anders cops to being the mastermind of the explosion almost immediately, but honestly, his whole "I got rid of the chance to compromise" nonsense just doesn't make sense. At least to me.

As Hawke, we learn that Meredith is crazy and is seeing bloodmages everywhere, right? We KNOW she's tried to call an annulment of the circle even before the chantry explodes. Surely Anders would know doing such a thing would make her lose what little of her mind was left, and she'd lash out at the mages in the circle.

Not only that, but, in my opinion, the Grand Cleric was one of the only people keeping Meredith at heel during the heightened tensions between the Templars and the Mages. Now, granted, she did a truly terrible job at it, considering Mages were constantly being abused, put under house arrest, and turned tranquil for petty offenses. But her refusal to side with Meredith was a point of contention with the Knight Commander, considering she wanted to keep balance between the two sides.

All to say, it doesn't make sense for Anders to blow up one of the few people who could have been swayed to side with the mages against Meredith's tyranny.

Also, just LOOK at the explosion itself. There's loads of theories about the explosion being cause by Gaatlok, but we've seen Gaatlok. As of Veilguard we've even see magically augmented Gaatlok, and Gaatlok does not do what the chantry explosion did. It doesn't throw up pillars of light and suck things into it and make things float.

Not to mention that magic of that scale has been shown to need several mages in games since. Anders is one guy, and sure, he had Justice/Vengeance helping him out, but spirits really don't offer all that much additional magical ability as we have seen via Lucanis/Spite.

So if not Anders, WHO.

Quick answer. It was Meredith. I one million percent believe that it was Meredith who blew up the chantry.

Oh but how would she do that!? She's not even a mage. If Anders can't do that, then how was it she was able to?

Her lyrium idol.

The same lyrium idol that is actually Solas's dagger. The same dagger that he used to rip a hole in the fade.

It's confirmed by Varric in Veilguard that the Solas's dagger IS, in fact, the same red lyrium artifact that Hawke and company found in the forgotten Thaig. The same one Meredith got her hands on and turned into a red lyrium sword.

We already know that the dagger is capable of ripping open the fade, and it can be used by Rook to emulate her companions' abilities even if Rook isn't a mage.

And if you saw Solas's ritual at the beginning of Veilguard, you can see some interesting effects, magical pillars of light and solid matter floating everywhere. Sound familiar? It's very similar to what happened to the Kirkwall chantry if you were to ask me.

And Meredith had plenty of reason to do it. To start, like I mentioned, the Grand Cleric kept getting in her way with the mages and also with Meredith trying to make herself Viscount of Kirkwall.

And we also know Meredith was chomping at the bit to annul the circle well before the explosion.

So, I think, in order to get rid of the Grand Cleric and also give herself a reason to use the Rite of Annulment without permission of the Divine, she staged the explosion.

You see it as soon as the Chantry explodes. "The chanty has been destroyed by magic. I hereby invoke the Rite of Annulment." There's no investigation to see if the Circle mages are involved. She just jumps right to annulment even though, as an apostate and a Grey Warden, Anders should have been assumed to be acting on his own until proven otherwise. The circle mages didn't have anything to do with it. She was just looking for an excuse.

Sure, Anders admits it was him. But maybe he was just trying to shift blame from the circle mages to himself to protect them. He can't possibly want to see dozens of innocent people killed because of some psycho mad woman.

Anyway that's my unhinged and absolutely delusional take on the events of DA:2 and Anders. It's certainly full of holes and doesn't make a lot of sense but it's a hill I will die on because I refuse to believe Anders would do something that would put every mage in Kirkwall at risk of death against their will.

Someone share their most unhinged/delusional/out there Dragon Age theories with me.

I'll go first: I don't think Anders was the one who blew up the Kirkwall chantry in DA:2.

[hold-your-applause]

Can I request for a human!fem!reader who is friends with the owl house fam and has serious big sister energy but takes no shit and will throw hands w anyone who threatens her fam. But turns soft and real affectionate when she actually interacts w Hunter (when he's not in Golden Guard mentality)

I just wanted to say I really love your work and hope you continue. Your writing is really good!!!

My dear, I thank you for the praise. I apologize for the delay, but I would be more than happy to grant your wish.

Whiplash

It had seemed like only yesterday that Hunter had learned the truth about Belos and his entire world had been turned upside down. It wasn't accurate to say that he never knew fear before that night; it was more like he finally learned what true terror felt like. He knew he was taking a risk defecting, but if he could manage to stay hidden, he was safer than within his uncle's grasp.

That all changed when he helped the students of Hexside get rid of Coven Head Adrian Graye Vernworth.

Despite sharing what he knew with everyone to allow them to prepare for the Day of Unity, he refused to tell anyone what he discovered about his own identity. Gus and Willow accepted him as they currently knew him, but would that change if they learned the truth?

He couldn't be sure.

It had taken a lot of effort on his part to calm himself over the idea of them discovering who-- or what-- he really was, but he had managed to do it.

Only for his anxiety to spike again when they told him the humans were on their way.

Luz wasn't anything to worry about. The night everything happened, he recalled Luz wanting to offer a helping hand to him, but he was so frenzied that all he could do was run out the door.

You were a completely different story.

He'd met you a handful of times as the Golden Guard, and each one had been as unpleasant as the last. The first meeting had perhaps been the roughest, given he had captured your friend King and was holding him hostage in order to compel you to do his bidding.

The fight that ensued had him very worried that you would knock his head clean off his shoulders, and you didn't even need magic to do it.

Every meeting after that had shown you to be just as vicious, and he wasn't sure if that was your default state or if it was reserved for him personally, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't afraid to find out.

He felt his stomach churn as he watched you and Luz reunite with Gus and Willow, standing off to the side as he gathered his courage for the exchange he knew was coming.

Your eyes were on him before he had a chance to open his mouth, and he almost stopped in his tracks when you moved towards him. He flinched when he saw your arm move towards his face, closing his eyes to wait for the impact.

He yelped in surprise when he felt two gentle hands on his cheeks instead, his eyes snapping right back open to see your wide eyes staring straight into his.

"I can't believe you're okay!"

His mind was blank as you moved his head, looking him over.

"I was so worried about you. We thought they found you."

His mouth was dry, and when you threw your arms around him to embrace him, he felt his entire body begin to overheat.

For some reason, in that moment, he was suddenly very aware of the fact that you were a girl.

Where were his hands supposed to go?

It didn't matter, because you pulled away a moment later to look at him again. Your eyes held sympathy and your voice was soft.

"How are you feeling?"

He was so used to you shouting at him, he couldn't think of anything to say.

What was happening?

He finally coughed in response, his eyes still wide as he stared at you.

"F-Fine."

He mentally kicked himself at the way his voice cracked.

He didn't know why, but the relieved smile that spread across your face made his pulse quicken.

"I'm so glad. We tried to find you after--"

His sudden and loud, nervous laughter cut you off. "After finding out Belos is evil? Don't worry, I'm A-Okay!" He almost shouted, feeling a quick wave of relief wash over him when Gus reached over to do their own special fist bump.

You blinked, and when his eyes looked at you again, he silently begged you not to say a word. Luck was on his side, because he saw the recognition on your face before you nodded and closed your mouth.

As Gus turned his attention away from the two of you to speak with Luz, Hunter lowered his voice to keep him and Willow from overhearing.

"I haven't told them about--"

"You don't need to explain. That's your secret to tell, not ours. They won't hear it from us."

He let out a breath and nodded. As reassuring as those words were, it did nothing for his nerves.

He was still terrified of you, but in a completely new way.