#he WAS arrogant

[getvalentined]

Having a long chat with a couple friends about the dichotomy between two major deaths in FF7, both of which are technically assisted suicides, and what they mean for the characters involved.

Aerith allowed herself to be killed in the City of the Ancients in order to petition the Planet to activate Holy directly, because being half human rendered her incapable of speaking to the Planet directly. She didn't do anything wrong and she's given her all to do this any other way, but the flaw is in her blood. She can't change it. Her powers are very limited, she can't activate Holy on her own and she can't ask Gaia to do it for her because Gaia can't hear her—so in the City of the Ancients, she realizes that the only way she can save everyone is to die.

Particularly relevant to this discussion is that her first choice appears to be Cloud, who raises his sword over his head to strike her down because of Sephiroth's control over him, but is able to hold back. He's able to stop himself, to back off, to refuse to be responsible for her death. Sephiroth was going to let him do it, and when he manages to hold off, that's when Sephiroth literally jumps in to do it himself. Aerith was going to let Cloud kill her, and when he didn't, she let Sephiroth do it instead.

Important to remember here is that Aerith is a healer. Inherently. We know this from how she works in battle and the fact that she's able to grow flowers in the tainted soil of Midgar. She almost certainly could have saved herself, but she chose not to—even though she didn't want to die, she had always intended to come back, but finally realized that wasn't an option if she wanted to save everyone else.

Aerith's death was inherently and undeniably selfless, and that's the real tragedy of it: she wanted desperately to rely on others, but she couldn't. No matter how much they loved her, the only way that she could keep them safe was through her own death, regardless of how much she wanted to stay.

Aerith's death was an assisted suicide born from selflessness.

In contrast, Angeal demands assistance in his own suicide in order to rid the world of monsters, in order to support his own personal beliefs on what constitutes "suffering" and what honor really is. Angeal dies because he can't bear to live as he is any longer, he can't stand that the facade of an honorable and selfless hero that he spent his entire life building up was torn down—and not even by his own actions, not even because he slipped up, but because of what he is. It's in his blood. He can't change it.

Angeal appears to have chosen Zack to kill him because he thought he could get Zack on his "side," he could convince him that this was the only way. He believed he could convince him that this was the right thing to do. He couldn't, and Zack did everything he could to hold back, desperate to not be the one responsible for his death, but Angeal gave him no choice. Angeal forced him, not through some psychic control or mental manipulation, but by all but literally backing him into a wall and making it a matter of Zack losing his life or taking Angeal's.

Important to remember here is that Hollander states Angeal has full control over the diffusion of his cells, he can push and pull, he can distribute and reunite; if he can pull his cells back into himself, this means that Angeal could "turn off" his own degradation. He almost certainly could have saved himself, but he chose not to—in the end, Angeal appears to succumb not only to his injuries, but to a sudden and accelerated manifestation of degradation. He made sure that he was going to die, because that was the only way to stop being a monster.

Angeal's death was inherently and undeniably selfish, and that's the real tragedy of it: no matter how loved he was, no matter how hard the people around him tried to save him, the only way he could retain his flawed sense of honor and thereby his feelings of self-worth were through his death.

The concept of agency between these two characters and their respective deaths is super interesting to me. In Aerith's selfless death, Cloud was able to retain his agency, he was able to stop himself; in Angeal's selfish death, Zack was denied the right to his own, and was forced to help Angeal reach his goal. I don't think this is necessarily indicative of the difference between Cloud and Zack as characters so much as the difference in circumstances: Cloud had his friends with him and so succeeded in staying his hand, whereas Zack was entirely his own and thus he failed. It really drives home the core theme of FF7 being the importance of the people you love and the people that love you.

I don't really have a way to end this, it's mostly navel-gazing and ruminating, but it's so...interesting. It's such a dichotomy, such a juxtaposition. Aerith's death was selfless, and through it she saved the world by being where she was needed, by asking for help from the Planet itself; Angeal's death was selfish, and through it he condemned the world to Sephiroth's eventual wrath, by not being where he was needed, by refusing to trust the people who loved him to love him regardless of what he was. Tragic in every sense of the word.

[twinliches]

sometimes it's not even enemies to lovers. sometimes you get handed the leash of a snarling, barking dog against your will and realize with dawning horror that you are now responsible for teaching it not to bite

[bbbbbbbbatman]

Bruce gets accosted by reporters and one of them asks "Is it true that you're in competition with Superman to win Batman's affections?" and he is so taken aback bc what the fuck are they even talking about? There are a million questions going through his head such as, since when was superman into batman? since when was this public knowledge? wtf did bruce say to imply that he was into batman as well? And he doesn't have an answer to any of these questions so he just smiles and says, "No, I'm not. The word competition implies that Superman has a chance, which he does not."

why did he say that? Bruce doesn't know, it just felt like that's how Bruce Wayne would've responded bc what's more Brucie than fighting with Superman for Batman's heart? anyway, upon reflection, this was maybe not the best response in terms of long term consequences, but he's committed to the bit now.

a week after all this goes down, news reporter Clark Kent is caught saying that Batman deserves better than Bruce Wayne, so is a third suitor putting his hat in the ring to win over batman?

[keferon]

Biblically accurate Blurr~

Blurr's Spotlight was actually the very first Transformers comic I ever read. I remember looking at the first pages and being like, holy shit, dude why are you so ugly?? Ahahjcmgmg

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

do u think he has a shot

[regonold]

Danny's flight or fight response has quite the hair trigger for a few select phrases most being things vlad would say

One such being his full name a bit odd but there's a reason he always asks to be called danny

So really it's not his fault after joining the school in gotham he had been introduced to his class and he'd told them to call him danny

And he hadn't heard him all he'd heard was someone calling him danial and putting a hand on his shoulder

So really he can't be blamed for how he reacted he told everyone not to call him Daniel and he snuck up and called him daniel

How can he be blamed for breaking Damien waynes nose

[joejhang]

I LOVE JEAN "get my wife's pretty name out of your mouth" MOREAU

[reverentwormpriest]

bitches mad he can experience childhood whimsy and delight. CEO of moisturized and in my lane. "my gf is mad at me I hope I die" personified

[somewhereincairparavel]

'i hate jason grace because he thought he was worthy enough to compete with percy' I'm sorry have y'all SEEN jason. this man defeated a TITAN without weapons and his bare hands to the point the titan wanted to rise from the UNDERWORLD with the help of a GODDESS to seek vengeance over him. I think we can cut him slack for having some well deserved self respect bc I'd brag too wtf

[callmelyc]

Lance is just so good and so many forget it. He looks out for ppl constantly both in the show and in comics so here's a Lance appreciation post.

Him protecting pidge

Him protecting Coran who is a stranger

Him standing up for ppl

Him being there for Keith even through his reckless leader phase

And ofc him just breaking the seriousness up with silly

[starchaser45]

"You have proven yourself to be an allie against magic"

"What would you know Merlin you don't have magic"

"Merlin isn't a sourcerer I would know"

That's it that's the pendragon DNA test they're all blind 😭😭😭

[oappleofmyeye]

Do you think Bakugou would be instantly hooked on some sass? Like you’re some civilian who’s just really feeling themselves that day? Confident and on top of the world?

“Think you’re some hot shit, eh?”

You flutter your eyelashes. “I am, thank you for noticing.” And you flip your hair around and saunter off. Later when you come back down to earth you may be horrified and extremely embarrassed that you spoke to the number two Pro Hero of Japan like that

But I dunno. I think it would drive him crazy. What do y’all think?

[hi-there-buddies]

“The cell saga is bad because the z fighters were idiots the entire time”

that’s the POINT

THE CELL SAGA IS ABOUT ARROGANCE

EVERYONE IS BEING STUPID BECAUSE THEY THINK THEY KNOW WHATS GONNA HAPPEN

THEY THINK THEYRE AHEAD OF THE CURVE

BUT THEY AREN’T

THIS IS LITERALLY SHOWCASED MULTIPLE TIMES THROUGHOUT THE SAGA

IT STARTS WITH TRUNKS AND BUILDS FROM THERE

GOHAN LITERALLY LETS CELL LIVE BECAUSE OF HIS ARROGANCE

THE ONLY REASON CELL IS DEFEATED IS BECAUSE GOKU, GOHAN, AND VEGETA ALL LET GO OF THEIR ARROGANCE AND PRIDE AND FIGHT TOGETHER

GOKU STEPS IN TO HELP GOHAN, WHICH HE DIDNT DO BEFORE BECAUSE HE THOUGHT GOHAN COULD DO IT HIMSELF

VEGETA HELPS GOHAN AND LANDS THE PENULTIMATE BLOW ON CELL, DESPITE WANTING TO BE THE ONE TO END CELL HIMSELF

GOHAN FINALLY FINISHES HIM LIKE HE REFUSED TO DO BEFORE

THEY ALL LET GO OF THEIR ARROGANCE AND FINISH THE JOB

THATS THE THEMATIC POINT OF THE SAGA

RAHHHHHHH🦅🦅

[caycanteven]

You've been caught~ Pose idea thanks to @aylish91! This guy lives rent free in my head ya'll.

[dying-suffering-french-stalkers]

now that i finished the silm i am back on my lotr the two towers grindset. aragorn son of arathorn i am studying you like a bug. every other sentence is all “he was tall and beautiful like the sea-kings of old” and then he does something like get down flat in the grass to listen for just how many horses gandalf summoned for them (as though that will not become apparent in minutes). he learned rohirric bc he spent part of his youth soldiering with them and he took the time to translate their song-lore into westron and to sing before their lords' graves. he tries to pull kingly rank in another king's hall, to the king's DOORMAN (crucial to note he also knows this king!), bc he doesn't want to give up his sick-ass sword. i love him your honor

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

getting used to domestic life