#he can't “trap” a “good” person with him forever so the relationship has to fail so they can be freed from him

[sigmasoyboy]

Does hunter's past of growing up in a cult/the abuse he faced still impact him or has he long since gotten over it? I can't remember if this was answered before but if it was, my apologies

(Also, fellow epileptic here, lol 👋🏼 I feel seen)

Oh yeah, I think that even if time and finding people who nurtured him blunted much of it there's still so much of it that dictates how he sees himself and how he acts.

Despite the support he received from the women who took him in as a young teen he has never stopped feeling like there was something intrinsically bad with him, even if he doesn't believe in demons anymore. And in turn this has led him to take in all kind of morally dubious jobs, part of it because his reality means that it's necessary to survive (he doesn't have the luxury of choice because of his lack of education + he wants to help support his moms for what they did for him) but deep down also because he feels like he's tainted already anyway, someone "like him" might as well do the dirty job so someone "good" doesn't have to. This all stems from what was drilled into his head during his childhood despite the fact he has long realized this was all unfair bullshit.

Outwardly a lot seems to have been resolved but the claws still left scars you feel me ? At least he doesn't have PTSD nightmares or flashback anymore (but he still avoid churches like the plague)

[tofics]

TOFICS FAVORITES

Below I have listed a collection of my favorite works of fanfiction that I have read in the past year. All of the creators on this list are absolutely incredible and a gift to the writing community. Thank you for doing all that you do and sharing the results with us. 💓

All stories are listed in alphabetical order. Please heed the warnings on the respective posts. 💘 - a special favorite 💭 - extra thoughts

Dean Winchester

How Dean, Beau and Soldier Boy would act while you're in labor by @zepskies Summary: How different Jensen characters would react to you being in labor.

If You Want It To Be by @zepskies Summary: When your car breaks down after a hunt, Sam and Dean tow you back to the bunker for Christmas. This time of year gives you and Dean a little courage to be honest about what you both want. And what you want, is for him to see you.

Imagine: Dean gives you an impossible choice by @zepskies Summary: Even though you're Sam's girlfriend, Dean is in love with you.

Ladies With Experience by @hintsofhoney 💘 Summary: When Dean makes an off-handed comment about "preferring ladies with experience", you try (and fail) to not let it get under your skin. You're a virgin, but you've done just about everything else, and when you talk to Dean about it, he offers to be your first. He's your best friend, and you've been in love with him forever... who are you to deny him?

Maine Coon by @artyandink 💘 Summary: Dean initially hated your small touches. He used to feel weird with them on his skin. But now he craves them. He craves the high of feeling like a human, and you’re the best hit he’s ever had.

Smoke Eater by @zepskies 💘💘 Summary: Dean Winchester is the cocky, but well-respected Lieutenant at Firehouse 25. He leads by example, but he's also known to break a few hearts. He's starting to crave something he's never had, though. Something stable. Something real. That's when he meets you, on a truly terrible day, trapped in a rickety old elevator.

Stitches by @dewwinchester Summary: Dean texts you for help, and you drop everything for him.

Too Many Beds by @mind-empty-just-fictional-people 💘 Summary: You want nothing more than an excuse to sleep next to Dean again.

Joel Miller

A Deeper Purpose by @punkshort Summary: Living in Jackson during the apocalypse doesn't do anything to curb your desire to have a child. The problem is, most of the men in town are unavailable... except one.

Bedridden by @strang3lov3 💘 Summary: Joel is sick and refuses to rest, so you knock him out the best way you know how.

Christmas After All by @mrsmando Summary: The holiday spirit has evaded you since the world ended. Now, you have a chance to enjoy it again - in Jackson - with Joel by your side.

Crave by @razrbladekiss Summary: There's only one thing that Joel craves, and it isn't the mental fucking torture of an overly stubborn twenty-something teasing him 'til he's blue in the face. And balls.

Dark Daddy!Joel by @strang3lov3 Summary: A dark and twisted version of Joel. 💭(My personal toxic guilty pleasure.)💭

Enough by @criticallyacclaimedstranger Summary: You daydream about what your relationship with Joel could be like. 💭(This is the fic that inspired Broken!)💭

Gimme What I Want: A Fic in Texts by @atticrissfinch ⁉️ Summary: The wrong number that texts you ends up being a man much hotter than you'd ever expect... 💭(I know the author changed blogs, but I can't find them anymore. If anyone knows their current @, please let me know so I can link the story accordingly!)💭

Have A Good Night by @punkshort 💘 Summary: Every week like clockwork, the same devastatingly handsome man comes into the grocery store where you work to buy flowers. It's not until he asks you out when you realize the flowers aren't for his wife or girlfriend.

Heavenly Bound by @ozarkthedog 💘💘 Summary: The world crumbled before you could experience the touch of another. Joel does his best to keep you innocent for as long as he can. 💭(I seriously think about this fic like at least once a week.)💭

Me On You by @luxurychristmaspudding 💘💘💘 Summary: After a night out dancing and a lift home turns into something more, you learn something about your dad's buddy. Joel Miller fucks. 💭(Quite literally one of the best literary pieces of fanfiction I have ever read in my entire life.)💭

older!boyfriend Joel Miller by @cavillscurls Summary: A collection of stories/imagines about older!boyfriendJoel & younger!girlfriend reader.

Phonophilia by @ozarkthedog Summary: Joel Miller loves how responsive you are.

Seeing Red by @strang3lov3 Summary: Joel's sorry that your period sucks, but he's reached the end of his rope with your attitude.

Sensational by @sinsofsummers 💘 Summary: You've tasked Joel with teaching you about all of the things you missed.

Stay Awhile by @mrsmando 💘 Summary: You & Joel are travelling to Jackson, and make the most of a well-needed rest stop along the way.

Roommates by @punkshort 💘 Summary: Your roomate, Maria, introduces you to her boyfriend's brother. You hit it off immediately, but when you find out the true nature of his profession, you both decide to remain just friends. But once the four of you eventually move in together, things get... complicated. 💭(Favorite AU!Joel!)💭

Texas Heat by @skbeaumont Summary: You've just finished a Masters back home in England, and, with little idea of what you want to do next, decide to spend the summer in Texas, staying with your mum's cousins, the Adlers. What you didn't bank on was living next door to Joel. The two of you strike up a friendship, and then something more, as the Texan summer heats up.

Weaved Around Your Finger Like Yarn by @moonlight-prose 💘💘 Summary: He never made space in his life for love in the aftermath of destruction. The after of his life he once thought would extend past decades of gray hair, smile lines carved in around his mouth now set in frowns and sneers. But snowfall and alcohol blur the lines for both of you when winter comes to Jackson.

Bucky Barnes

All the Apple Cider and No More Haunted Houses by @witchywithwhiskey Summary: You and Bucky Barnes have a love-hate relationship - you love him and you believe he hates you - but when your friends insist on going to the scariest haunted house attraction in the area, the experience ends up forcing your real feelings for each other out into light.

Only For Him by @witchywithwhiskey 💘 Summary: When you crash your brother and his friends' beach vacation, things get a little messy, but your brother's best friend Bucky Barnes is determined to take—and keep—what's his.

Wedded Bliss by @gutsby Summary: The marriage was arranged, and the sex is deranged. Bucky is so obsessed with your pussy that he almost forgets he’s meant to be faking this whole thing—and hating it, like sworn enemies are supposed to do.

[heretherebedork]

So Zo has now told us three stories in the show, one that he was recording, one to Joke and one to Nita. And I am not @respectthepetty to be able to make plot predictions from these shows but I want to look at the kinds of emotional beats we get in each show and what we're seeing in terms of emotional resonance and the weight the stories are giving to different kinds of relationships as well as what they're showing us about the different characters.

The rabbit story is the only one that isn't a legend in general, it's an original story for the show obviously, but that doesn't mean we can't connect the ideas. And we start with, well, the beginning.

With pain. With being trapped. With being isolated and unheard. It's a bright and colorful cartoon but that bunny is still trapped and still hurt and still alone.

And we get the instant connection to the Adonis story. Being alone, being injured, likely crying out... but this time, there is an answer. Aphrodite rushes to him. This is also the story that Zo tells when he's with Joke. He is not alone in a recording studio, he isn't by himself and speaking into the void. He is telling this story to Joke and bringing meaning to this.

The first story is alone and isolated and the answer, the rescue, doesn't come from love. In fact, she barely seems to even notice she rescued him. She simply leaves after she releases him. Which is compared to Aphrodite's failure to rescue Adonis but without any doubt of her love for him.

So we have one story where the boy cries for help and is not heard but is rescued by someone who doesn't really care about him and a story where the person is loved and rushed to the rescue of but the rescue is too late and the love isn't what makes a difference.

This is... y'all. This is isolation and loneliness and that feeling that no one cares about you and, even if they do care about you, it only hurts them in the end. Two stories about being rescued, one successful but from not affection and one failed but from love... It's about whether or not love is worth it, it's about if love can actually save you or just hurts you in the end. Is it worth loving if you won't be rescued by love or is it worth being alone if it means that no one will come when you cry?

Probably a good time to finally bring up the story he read to Nita, right? Nita, who is almost certainly (I believe) meant to be the girl knight in the original story as told by Zo if not by the narrative of the actual show... but the story that he reads her reflects the elements of the original story that are not reflected in the story he reads Joke.

Aphrodite and Adonis is about requited love that is still not enough to rescue someone. The original rabbit story is about falling in one-sided love with someone who saves you. The story of Sunflower Clytie is about unrequited love and pining after someone without hope.

This story reflects many elements of the original rabbit story as well. About not being seen by the person you love, about being ignored by the world, about feelings that don't matter and aren't returned and are too big to put down but that just makes them hurt more.

The idea of staring and watching but doing nothing is so powerful and the fact that both stories end with nothing changing and nothing happening and no love and no romance, just pining and waiting and surviving on nothing but the concept of hope itself, the abstract idea of love.

The three endings. Loneliness, red roses and a sunflower. Two trapped and one lost but meaning something bigger. The boy rabbit and Clytie are both forever trapped by their love, in loneliness and as a sunflower, while Aphrodite lost Adonis but will always symbolize love to the world.

Zo told three stories to us in this show so far. One about loneliness, one about loss and one about being left behind. There's so much there to everything in the show and I'm sure many predictions could be made.

But I'm just thinking about how the only story that included truly returned love was the one he told Joke. That the story he told Nita was about staring after someone so long that you rooted in place, so long that you weren't even looking at them any more because you'd become someone else. And that the story he told that ended only in loneliness was told to a friend who had already fallen asleep.

Zo might have friends and he might have people around him but how lonely is he? How much of himself is behind these stories and his own grumblings and the debate club and the people who know him but don't know about his issues. How many hidden agendas are here and how many are on purpose? Can you have a hidden agenda so secret you've hidden from yourself and forgotten about it entirely?

Look. Zo is obviously a storyteller. He communicates through words and not actions. Everything is about expressing how he feels indirectly, even to himself, through stories and debate and discussion and worries and fears and twisting words until they both do and don't mean what he's saying. And that's why he doesn't hear Joke's hidden agenda. Because Joke's agenda is in his actions and his words are a struggle for him, as we've seen and as is clear in his actions. They're speaking different languages.

This is the only time he ends a story wanting to say more but not saying it. Every other story simply... ends.

Also, the reactions. The first one is just teasing, Joke isn't able to respond to the story because they're not at that point in their friendship at all. This story is Joke saying he'd never leave the person he loves alone long enough to get hurt. And Nita's response is to criticize the story and point out that it hasn't aged well (you know, like his multi-year crush on her that's going away).

I just... it's all so good and so mixed and it's showing how Zo communicates and sees the world as well. It's great. It's beautiful storytelling within storytelling and an amazing way to show us characters.

The real question is becoming... why did the girl knight save the rabbit and was it at the hands of another boy rabbit who's been watching even longer?

[demonjunction]

I'm curious, what is Brutus' thoughts on what's viewed as the traditional route: Heaven's idea of a pure, straight cis marriage that later results in children? Would he be happy in that life? What makes him realize what he wants is with Cor?

I'm actually writing something about that right now, so thank you, as this will be helpful. The simple answer of weather Brutus would be happy is no, and I won't clarify as I sort of want the text itself and the explanation here speak for itself.

The thing is, Brutus realizes a hero and villain dynamic has the type of security he's looking for. Think about it. A hero and a villain are two individuals who push for the other to get better, swear the other their ultimate rival as a way of saying "I'm focusing most of my energy on you", and have differing personality traits that can really help balance each other out. It's exciting while still leaving room for self improvement, and, unlike a lot of the people in Heaven, Cor won't betray Brutus under the guise of "supporting the greater good" or "following protocol".

Hell, Cor is the first to be brutally honest with Brutus about how Heaven sees him. The first time they meet, Cor refers to Brutus as "Heaven's good boy" or "Heaven's guard dog". Though Cor is no longer that cruel, she still is very blunt when she believes someone is taking advantage of Brutus. In general, I'd say they point out the others flaws while also appreciating each other for their uniqueness and not caging the other down.

I've been expanding the cast to help explain Brutus' view on these sorts of things the same way I did for Cor in the past, so let's explore that further.

Adam and Eve serve as mentors for Brutus. They're an old couple who's been together for years, yet have managed to keep up the excitement with their love as strong as ever, and who still have a very good relationship with their son, even in adulthood. Brutus and Tempest's son, whom I still need to name, most likely was friends with Abel as well, and I imagine they're still fairly close. This is the type of marriage Brutus wants, one that balances fun with carrying out traditional responsibilities, or at least, it's the marriage he thinks he should have.

Yet, one of Brutus' other mentors is Body, a tough as nails playboy who scoffs at mushy romantic stuff, yet prioritizes order alongside Soul, with both of them likely encouraging Brutus to settle down for the sake of security and making a mark on Heaven, not just Hell with his job. Here's the thing about Body, yes he might not be into the mushy stuff, but he's definitely the brand of toxic masculinity that likes the idea of having offspring simply so he can have a legacy. You can't tell me he hasn't tried to get with Soul with the idea of being a power couple with children that'd mix both their abilities. Hell, one could even argue they're the perfect pair, Body being the controlling macho type, and Soul the shameful nurturing type, toxic masculinity meets toxic femininity, which is something else worth thinking about.

Finally, I imagine Brutus is friends with Willie, who I've talked about extensively, so let's delve into what example that is setting for Brutus. Willie was in a failing marriage in life, yet managed to marry someone similar to him, they had a kid, and now he's living a shallow happily ever after. Willie and Willow never challenge each other. Willow doesn't help Willie see the value in not shying away from the more difficult conversations, and Willie never challenges Willow to be less judgmental of those she sees as "trapped in boxes". Because they're in Heaven, those two can just stay petty together forever without having their marriage be challenged in anyway. It's the safe option, but not really the one that's good for either of them.

These couples can send good messages: It's important to focus on being a positive influence in your child's life over just pumping out as many kids as possible. Your children may reach greater heights than you, and that's okay. Getting married and having children doesn't make you any less of a free spirit, and just because your first shot at love didn't work out, that doesn't me it's over. Yet, there's also the bad: The best way to serve God is to have children. It's most important that your partner makes you look good over all else. The stereotypical married life didn't work for you? Well just try it again, I'm sure it'll go better with the second wife, especially if she's basically just like you! If you have a kid and can play the stereotypical role as a parent, that just cements the relationship! And that's the trend, isn't it?

Adam and Eve had children as a display of their loyalty to God's plan. To put it lightly, Body wants Soul to have his babies as a power move, and so they can feel superior to other couples, as their children would likely be very powerful. It becomes about putting on a show, gaining dominance, or flaunting to other couples rather than any genuine connection. With Soul and Body being such big influences, and basically his parental figures, I think it's fair to say that Brutus has been "raised" as if marriage and parenthood was some challenge he had to conquer for worthiness rather than focusing on the emotions involved. Which he did, but because the marriage wasn't maintained, they treat Brutus like a failure.

Though, I'm gonna excuse Adam and Eve from this one. Yes, they saw it as their God given duty to populate the Earth, but that was because they and the other first humans would have been the only humans on Earth ever otherwise. But, in the present, they are extremely supportive and glad couples don't need to feel obligated anymore. The love they have for each other and their child is also genuine. It's Brutus' perspective on this one that is skewered, rather than it reflecting Adam and Eve's true attitudes.

I think it'd be helpful if I created a character that was Brutus' perfect wife from this perspective. Tempest was not, as she turned out to be a rebel, so who would Soul and Body deem Brutus' perfect second wife? Instead, I think it'd be more fitting if there were three women that represented the ideals of each of Brutus' role models. The first wants to start a family with Brutus, the second sees the importance of his role, and wants to give Brutus someone who can help him reach greater heights in Heaven, and the third is very similar to Brutus. Spit balling names for them, Orchid, Clara, and Bliss. Thinking of characters and items that exemplify the ideas they represent, for Orchid, I think a dolphin is a good fit along with sand (passage of time), Clara a wolf along with gold, and Bliss a dog along with balloons.

I also think it'd be funny if they were big fans of the band, since it'd then look like a set up for Brutus, Cassius, and Antony to each get a girlfriend. Except, we know that isn't what happens for Brutus, Antony is aromantic, and Cassius is way more interested in his work, hobbies, and friends.

Cor's perspective on this is interesting, because, through Tina and Linden set good examples as a couple completely satisfied with their choice to remain childless, and the apartments are full of conventional relationships, Cor's main experience with jocks is being bullied. So Cor has to adjust to being in such a close relationship with a jock, and Cor has to adjust to being in such a close relationship with a rule breaker.

[yukidragon]

Okay, this is kinda linked to the last question I asked, but I remember you bringing up the possibility of MC being a reincarnation of someone else, what if the MC after talking to that former coworker, they ended up with a picture of their predecessor and Joseph together, how would Jack react? Would he be furious? Would he destroy the picture? Maybe even try to dismiss it? What would happen?

Ooh, that sounds pretty interesting.

Hmm... I think what might affect things the most in this scenario is if Jack recognized his sunshine as the reincarnation of his past lover or not.

If Jack recognized his sunshine as, well, his sunshine, then seeing past pictures of the two of them would probably give a strongly bittersweet feeling. Who they used to be, the memories they shared...

But I imagine Jack would quickly try to shake that off. He's not Joseph anymore. He's better. And MC isn't the same person either. What's most important is that they're both together and they don't have to be the people they were in the past.

Essentially, it might be easier on Jack's dissonance towards his identity if he got rid of the old pictures. I don't think he could bring himself to destroy it, since, well, it's his sunshine, but I think he would bury it someplace where no one else could touch.

If Jack doesn't recognize MC as being the reincarnation of his previous sunshine... I imagine that would cause a really bad sense of dissonance. This was the person he - Joseph - used to love. They're not the person standing next to him now, the person he promised to love forever (at least as far as he knows).

I imagine his reaction might be similar to the bad yogurt flavor in terms of trauma. The photo would call into question his love for his sunshine since there's no way Jack wouldn't feel a pang of the love he felt for his sunshine in the past, not unless they broke up and their relationship ended badly with negative feelings lingering.

If there was a breakup that resulted in bad feelings between them, then it might be more reason why Jack wanted to become someone clean and sees Joseph so badly. If he feels that he failed his sunshine in the past, it might explain why he's so desperate to be someone clean in the present.

If they were still together when they died and their relationship was good... then Jack has a problem on his hands. He loves MC, he knows he does, but these feelings that he used to have conflict with that. At the same time denying them is denying the person he used to love, a love that likely still lingered even when he died and was trapped in the tape for 40 years.

Mostly I think the key comes in why Jack feels that he wasn't clean when he was Joseph and how that might have affected the romantic relationship he had back then. Was he basically living for only the show and his sunshine, or did he lose that love? Does he know MC has been reborn or does he not? How does MC's love for Joseph in the past affect his negative view on himself? What about MC's feelings for Jack in the present?

Sorry I can't give you a more concrete answer. There's too many possibilities in play here, and too many unanswered questions in Joseph's past. I hope this at least gives you a starting point to consider an answer that feels right for you and your story. Good luck and I hope your next chapter goes well!

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur

[clairelsonao3]

Happy Storyteller Saturday!

Today I'll send two questions (which are connected):

Question 1 - Imagine that your characters enter a magic labyrinth that shows them their biggest dream (s) come true. What do they see? Is their dream something they can achieve in real life?

Question 2 - In the same labyrinth, your characters enter a room that puts them face to face with (an illusion of) the person they hate the most or their worst fear. How do they react? Are they able to put up a fight against the illusion or do they need to be rescued? How do they feel in the aftermath of the confrontation?

Happy last week's STS! I love the questions that make me think more deeply about my characters, and this is definitely one of them, so thank you! It took so long because I wanted to do a thorough job and find snippets to illustrate my points (because people seem to like those, I guess!)

Both my characters from Good Slaves Never Break the Rules, despite coming from wildly different backgrounds, dream of surprisingly similar things, and they both have to do with putting their fractured families back together.

Below the cut for snippets and mild spoilers for Ch. 6 onward.

Sadly, [Name redacted] can't go back in time to save his mother from dying or his sister from being sold, or to know and have a relationship with his father (which is something he's never admitted to dreaming of, but deep down he does), or for that matter, to have been born into a different life altogether where he'd actually have any chance of being able to do any of those things, so I would say, no, his dream is not really achievable. Within the course of the story, he finds other things to dream of that may be achievable, but they're not his BIGGEST dream.

From Ch. 5

There was a storm cloud forming in his amber-gold eyes. “You’re going to argue with me about this? I couldn’t even—” He turned away suddenly.

Louisa's goal at the beginning of the story was just to make it through university and her o-chem course in particular, but we soon find out that that's really just a byproduct of her attempts to cope with her dysfunctional family and make it on her own so she doesn't have to be dependent on them, or worse, some awful guy (Corey) she's only with because of his money. Thankfully for her, that is achievable, but if she had to choose, she'd rather heal them and bring them all back to the way they were. And thankfully, they're all still alive, so I suppose that's also achievable theoretically, but it's definitely not something she can do all on her own (which she comes to learn).

From Ch. 19

"...And I thought if I had just tried harder, just said something different, I could have made things okay, but I tried and tried and — “

Fears?

For [redacted], his loved ones dying/being tortured right in front of him and not being able to do anything about it. If that were to manifest as a person, I'm almost sure it would be in the form of the evil, sociopathic son of his first owner who basically ruined his entire life in the course of a month. And yes, it would be difficult, but of course he would fight back!

From Ch. 20

It was the fear behind her eyes, much as she tried to hide it; the fear that he once again had failed to prevent. Fearful, sullied, violated, terrorized, discarded, just like everything that had ever been precious to him. Maybe the streak could never be broken.

For Louisa, I had to think about it. My first thought was being trapped -- not physically, although that might be part of it, but just that feeling of a lack of choice and/or options. But then, her conscience also haunts her, especially because she feels she has blood on her hands from living in an evil, corrupt system for so long and doing nothing about it. So maybe "inertia" would be the best way of describing it. Not being able to grow -- to be forever condemned by the past and forced to repeat it or never being able to atone for it. Idk, maybe her fear would manifest in the form of Corey, because when she looks at him, she sees the person she's afraid of being or could have become. 😂 Fight back? She's already started.

From Ch. 25

She made a promise, then and there. If she ever got out of this room, she would do nothing but good, for the rest of her life. Wherever she found to do it, whether she owed it or not. And if she didn't get out? Well, that was just doing penance in a different way.

[ruffoverthinksthings]

There's something I have to ask you that has some of its roots far before Descendants, but seriously....wtf is up with Frollo?! I'm interested in his character because of his deep complexities for a Disney Villian (never mind the Hugo novel), but why cant he get a grip on raising children and building a healthy family? Even as a product of the medieval era , that can't be an excuse for his dysfunctional relationships with others(progressive people like Esmeralda and Phoebus existed back then 1/2

Mymain question to you is ,what do you think it is about him that cantsee the pain he causes to claudine/ not esme and the entire HONDcast? What ever happened to him in his childhood ( nature vsnurture), that makes him nearly impossible to reach past his veil ofdarkness. Even in his attempt to redeem himself in the eyes of hisLord, with Claudine, is he forever delusional? Can he change in thisuniverse and what would it take? 2/2

There’sthree key concepts that explain why Frollo still can’t redeemhimself, see the pain, the suffering, the wrongdoing he’s causingin the name of God and his ideas of what is “Good.” These are:

CognitiveDissonance

TheMyth of Redemptive Violence by Walter Wink, and

SexualSuppression in the Catholic Church, and the ideas of ReligiousLeaders being beyond the common man

Allof these are actually easily explainable using the lyrics ofHellfire:

BeataMariaYou know I am a righteous manOf my virtue I amjustly proud

BeataMariaYou know I'm so much purer thanThe common, vulgar,weak, licentious crowd

Thentell me, MariaWhy I see her dancing thereWhy hersmold'ring eyes still scorch my soulI feel her, I seeherThe sun caught in her raven hairIs blazing in me outof all control

Here,we see what Frollo thinks of himself: a saint among sinners, a man ofstrong faith in a land of unbelievers, someone who does Good whereasthe rest fall into Temptation and Sin.

Likemajority of the leaders of the Catholic Church, and especiallybecause it’s in the Medieval Era, he is seen as someone who isinherently above his fellow man, better, purer, more virtuous, whichis why he deserves to hold his position, and use all the power andinfluence that affords him.

Butthen, Esmeralda comes along, he is tempted by her beauty, and herealizes that he is not as invulnerable and incorruptible as hethought he was.

Unfortunatelyfor all of us, he refuses to take responsibility for it.

It'snot my faultI'm not to blameIt is the gypsy girlThewitch who sent this flameIt's not my faultIf in God'splanHe made the devil so muchStronger than a man

Here,he refuses to believe that there’s any fault in him, that he isstill prone to temptation despite his beliefs; rather, he engages inwhat is called “Scapegoating,” putting all the blame inEsmeralda, going so far as to irrationally cast her as some wickedenchantress with powers that he doesn’t stand a chance ofresisting, than just a woman he is fully capable of getting over.

However,that involves him admitting that he was wrong about his belief thathe is incorruptible and “holier than thou,” and he wants toprotect that idea, more than he actually wants to be it, simplybecause it’s less distressing for him.

Thisis called Cognitive Dissonance, the stress someone experiencesfrom having a belief or more than directly oppose their actions andbehaviours.

Otherexamples of Cognitive Dissonance are:

Someonewho believes themselves a healthy person despite having a pack-a-daycigarette habit;

Someonewho buys a product or a service and it doesn’t turn out nearly asgood as they thought it would, so they make all manner of excuses andjustifications to make it better (in their minds); and

Someonewho stays in a relationship that has long past its expiration date,because they don’t believe themselves to be someone who gets it“wrong” with something as important as romantic relationships.

Peoplesuffering from cognitive dissonance often find ways to “spin”things and defend their original beliefs, rather than reevaluate whatthey thought was true and their identity. Rationality, logic, orconsistency ceases to matter to them; sparing themselves from thedistress that they were wrong or are acting against their beliefstakes priority above everything else.

Withthe above examples:

Thesmoker convinces themselves that cigarette smoking isn’t reallythat bad for their health (it’s actually worse);

Thatthe price, the manufacturer, or some other quality of the product orservice automatically makes it better despite the reality of it, likewith the exploding Samsung phones incident, and people refusing toreturn them in spite of the danger to themselves and everyone else;and

Thatthey can still salvage the relationship, that all the problems andissues are not nearly as bad as they are, and that they simply haveto try harder.

WithFrollo, he chooses the Myth of Redemptive Violence.

Inits essence, it’s “Good Vs Evil,” “The Final Clash,” theBook of Revelations where the forces of the Righteous do battle withthe Wicked, purging all that is unholy and ushering in a new, betterworld, or bringing all those deserving into heaven.

It’sinteresting because you see this constantly with all of Disney’sfilms with a classic “Villain” antagonist: there’s PrincePhilip slaying Maleficent; Tiana and Naveen outsmarting Dr. Facillierand letting his Friends from the Other Side do their thing; andTarzan doing battle with Clayton.

Theymay or may not have a direct hand in bringing about theirdoom—Clayton accidentally hung himself because of his refusal toaccept Tarzan’s help, for example—but it’s always VERY clear tothe audience that A) the protagonists are “good” people, B) theantagonists are “evil” people, and C) there is no redeeming the“villains,” there’s only killing, jailing, or trapping them inan enchanted lamp, because they will never turn to good.

Asstated above, Frollo believes himself to be a righteous man, theepitome of goodness, the Holy Servant of God, and people that don’tfit into his worldview are declared “Wicked” and must beslain. He has killed numerous gypsies, has been responsiblefor the death and/or suffering of numerous innocent civilians, andalmost drowned Quasimodo in a well, if it weren’t for the ArchDeacon warning him of his hypocrisy.

Inhis views, there is no salvation, no forgiveness of the sinner, noramending for your wicked ways—there is only judgment, and yoursentence is death.

Protectme, MariaDon't let the siren cast her spellDon't let herfire sear my flesh and boneDestroy EsmeraldaAnd let hertaste the fires of Hell!Or else let her be mine and mine alone

Here,Frollo shows just how extreme and devoid of nuance his sense ofmorality is—either you live, or you die. He also shows more of hisCognitive Dissonance and Redemptive Violence once more, where hepleads that—against the customs and the traditions of the church,and the scandal that would erupt— Esmeralda be “given” to him.

Thisis especially poignant as the Catholic Church has a massive,well-known history of suppressing sexuality and policing the sexualbehaviour of their followers and especially their ordained leaders,usually to disastrous results.

Insteadof giving them a chance to it in healthy ways, or to treat havingsexual urges as a natural thing, the Catholic church paints it asweakness, a flaw in you, a sign that you have failed and that you areshameful, awful, and a sinner for having them in the first place.

“Shaming”someone is the BEST way to get someone to do the thing you’reshaming them for—as you cut their self-esteem, and make thembelieve that they are weak and deficit in some manner, the morelikely they will be to do the vice or the crime because they want tofeel better, and the more likely they will accept that they truly AREbeyond saving, that there’s no hope for salvation, so fuck it,let’s do the thing.

Itgets even worse in the ending of Hellfire:

HellfireDarkfireNow gypsy, it's your turnChoose me orYourpyreBe mine or you will burnGod have mercy on herGodhave mercy on meBut she will be mineOr she will burn!

Here,Frollo shows the depths of his hypocrisy and the amazing mentalacrobatics he’s performing, saying “God have mercy” whilstpromising the opposite of mercy: death, or enslavement.

Here,Frollo shows that he’s no longer following the doctrines, the laws,or the traditions of the church, what God decreed or Jesus relayed tohis followers.

Here,Frollo shows that all he truly follows is what he believes to beRight—what is Right for him.

Iassumed that this behaviour follows him onto the Isle, where he has avery warped sense of religious morality that is really just hisselfish desires, being justified in his eyes by tacking the name ofGod onto it, much like Richard “Rick” Ratcliffe.

Whycan’t he get a grip on a loving marriage, relating in healthymanners to people, and building a loving family life for Claudine?

Because,like the rest of the Villains, he wasn’t marrying and having kidsfor unselfish reasons, he was using his ex-wife Salome to satisfy hissexual needs, is still using Claudine as a means to fulfillhis broken dreams and ambitions, and is unconsciously using them bothto serve himself first and foremost.

Thesexuality that was Frollo’s downfall has not disappeared—it’sstill there, and I’d argue it’s actually stronger consideringthe constant state of stress and despair in the Isle that forcespeople to resort to their basest instincts, and engage in whateverwill give them some measure of relief.

However,instead of going the healthy route of acknowledging that he isflawed, and that he should return to attempting celibacy in spite oftemptation, Frollo merely twists his lustful desires into somethingthat would be acceptable in his beliefs, and that of hiscongregation.

Howdoes he achieve this? Marriage, with all the intercourse for thepurpose of reproduction, and reproduction only.

I’dimagine that, after becoming the only Catholicreligious leader alive or not yet renouncing his faith, and thedeplorable state of everything and the VKsbeing raised, he sees himselfas some kind of New Adam,meant to be the progenitor of anew race of “Good, Christian People” who would eventually becomethe inheritors of this wretched hell, take it away from the hands ofthe Demon Queen that rules it (Maleficent), and rebirth it as aparadise.

Beforeyou ask, yes, he could be the CELIBATE steward of this new world,taking care of his non-ordained congregation’s children, but thatwouldn’t let him satisfy his sexual needs, and is thus not anoption in his mind.

Andbefore you ask why he doesn’t get flack about this, all of thepeople on the Isle are criminals, and if you weren’t living in thedeplorable conditions they were BGU, you learn to loosen yourstandards right quick here.

That,and they can be manipulated easily and lead to believe that undercertain circumstances, marriage and sexual intercourse with Judgesare possible—a lot of these people can’t read, and have noconcept of critical thinking.

Whyis he like this with Claudine, raising her up to be an ideal ratherthan a person?

Becausehe know he’s old, he knows he’s weak, and he’s essentiallytrapped in his church and a small area around it in Temple Way—he’sunable to bring the fight to the Islanders (not including hiscongregation, because they’re obviously theexception), be it ideologically or especially physically, so he hasto raise an army to do it for him.

Claudineis not just his daughter to him, or his Flock—she is a Messiahfigure to them, the “child that will lead them” as the actualJesus Christ was, the true successor to Frollo’s church when heinevitably passes away.

Sowhenever she starts to deviate from his ideals (i.e. growing up to beher own person, independent of her father’s desires), he doesn’tsee it as cruel and manipulative to mess with her emotions likethis—he sees himself as a sculptor making sure that this livingclay does not end up malformed, that she is completely, absolutelyperfect in every waypossible.

I’dalso be remiss not to mention that poor nutrition, dementia, and oldage have taken a serious tollon him.

Ishis being a product of the Medieval Era an excuse for hisdysfunctional socialinteractions?

Itis, actually!

Phoebusand Esmeralda are shown to be progressives in the movie, but theproblem is, they’re still the exception,not the rule; the world ofFrance in 1482 is nowhere NEAR the level of multiculturalism anddiversity we see today.

Mostpeople of that erawill never even leave the towns they live in, let alone be able tohave the means to travel vast continents and entire oceans to meetpeople unlike themselves—and as European Spice Expeditions haveshown, the interaction is more likely to be lethalto the natives than friendly, let alone romantic.

There’salso the fact that if a foreigner lives in France, it’s usuallyfrom a slave trade of some sort or as part of a roving band of apersecuted minority, like Esmeralda and the rest of the Romanipeople.

Thetimes they live in are very xenophobic, with very black and whitemorality—there are only sinners and the faithful, and again, withFrollo, there is no room for outsiders like Esmeralda and the Romanipeople, whom he believes only deserve death.

Andagain, there’s also the fact that Frollo is a Judge, and alongsidehis religion and his authority, believes himself to be inherentlyabove and better than people, and that he cannot do anything wrongbecause he is of that high position, as only a “Good” person canhold that office.

Tohave a wicked, sinful man capable of cruelty and madness would beparadoxical, and would absolutely never happen! (/sarcasm)

Thisis why he can’t see the pain and the suffering he inflicts onothers with his actions—he simply believes himself to be BEYOND andincapable of doingevil.

Withthe question of nature and nurture, I won’t headcanon aboutFrollo’s childhood, since the Nurture has the lion’s share ofblame here.

He’svery old, he’s obviously a very senior member of the church, andhas a lot of respect—he has spent almost all of his life beingtreated as higher and better than his fellow man, he has massivepower other people, and the beliefs of his church (and consequently,himself) is that he is a reliable, infallible authority for what is“Good” and what is “Evil.”

Andas the saying goes, power corrupts.

Mostpeople behave in fear of some higher authority, be they the police,their parents, or that of your superior at work. Unfortunately forall of us, Frollo only really fears two people: the Arch-Deacon, andGod.

Thewords of the “commoners” matter not to him. Maleficent has longknown that these people are beyond reason or are not worth it, sodoesn’t exercise her authority. And even within hiscongregation—more of a cult, at this point, really—dissent isimmediately silenced, murmurs that “Father Frollo” might not beas virtuous and holy as they think he is shushed like a motherreprimanding her child during Sunday mass.

Toend this rather long, lengthy tirade, can he ever break free of thedelusion, and can he truly change his ways?

Realistically,no, and no.

Unlikeactual dogs, you can’t teach Frollo new tricks, especially onesthat contradict his worldview, and he’s already shown time andagain that he won’t accept any objective evidence that he’swrong—every action of his is justified to him, and that subjectivedecision is what makes it “Right.”

Itdoesn’t help that, as I’ve said in other headcanons and mentionedabove, the people of the Isle of the Lost tend to be the ones whohave lost all hope, and are desperately clinging onto whatever it isthey can for comfort.

Ifyou bring him to Auradon, and have him meet up with the (much sanerand reasonable, but not entirely) congregations of Auradon, it’dlikely end in shouting and claims of heresy and going against God.

Havingyour everything pulled out from under you and getting throwninto the great big unknown is terrifying and painful.

Andfor many people, they’d rather be wrong and not realize it, thansuffer that—thus, Cognitive dissonance, and belief in RedemptiveViolence, with both exacerbated by the Catholic Church’s stance on“deviant” sexual behaviour.