#he joined a genocidal racist cult

[martinskis-lydias]

If someone tells me they like Snape (as a person) and he wasn’t a bad person and was redeemable blah blah blah I will never fully trust that person

[nocontextlestat]

please speak on marius🙏🙏🙏🙏

I just want to say firstly that English is not my first language and when I get upset, I mess up how I express myself in this language. Just know that my anger is not directed at you.

TRIGGER WARNING//pedophilia, rape, racism, marius

I’m drinking an energy drink as I’m writing this. Because I’m pissed and triggered due to having to talk about that abomination. I don’t like talking about him and I don’t understand why people are asking my, a Lestat account’s opinion on that dumbass.

Marius de Romanus is the notorious pedophile of the Vampire Chronicles. He asked for Pandora’s (back then, known as Lydia) father’s “permission” to marry her when she was only 10. He had a harem of underage boys in his house. He groomed and beat/whipped and raped at least one of those children. And that one child was Armand. He “rescued”/bought this traumatized, emotionally and mentally vulnerable child and made a “child bride” out of him. He also sent Armand to various brothels to “learn sexual activities”. Armand wasn’t even 17 then (that was when he was turned). Also, when Armand was kidnapped by the Children of Satan and was forced to join their cult, even after Marius recovered from their attack, he didn’t go and rescue Armand even though he knew what happened to him. He used Armand for years from the age of 12/13 till 17 and then completely abandoned him. Armand never recovered from that. Lastly, Marius went against the vampire rules (like Lestat) and turned a 13 year old child named Benji and a 20 year old Sybelle, who were basically Armand’s children, into vampires without asking Armand, which caused him misery in return. Marius is one of the reasons Armand is such a traumatized character.

He’s also a racist piece of shit who thinks the western civilization is superior. He is a colonizer through and through. As someone here also mentioned, when he talked to Lestat about Those Who Must Be Kept, Marius brushed off Akasha’s genocidal tendencies as “taming savages”. He only went against Akasha when he realized she had never loved him back.

There are so many ugly details about this character and if I remember correctly, him and Magnus are the only VC characters I refuse to dismiss as characters, saying that “they’re all gothic characters”. I can handle gothic, gore-y, fucked up stuff but I cannot and will not get used to pedophilic characters because it’s highly triggering to me. I repeat, ME. This is MY opinion.

I don’t care that “it was normal for grown ass men to marry/fuck literal children during Marius’ time”. It is fucked up. Even in the books other characters make fun of Marius for having a harem of underage boys. It’s not like everyone accepted his behavior as it is in the books either.

I know I’m open to questions about VC in general but I don’t want to talk about Marius any longer, because if I do, this post is what happens.

[areyouafraid]

ive said this before but as someone who's read a lot abt cults it does always bug the shit out of me whenever people brush over the fact that the manson family were white supremacists as if it was an irrelevant piece of information. white supremacy was at the core of charles manson's beliefs. the entire reason he orchestrated the tate & labianca murders was because he thought it would instigate an apocalyptic race war. i dont really remember the specifics bc its been a long time since i read helter skelter but iirc he believed there would be a race war wherein black people would kill most of the white people (save the family, because manson was preparing them for the apocalypse) and then manson would reinstate slavery. it was obvious from the crime scenes that the family were trying to pin the murders on the black panthers. manson fed into fears amid the american civil rights movement that there would be a "white genocide". the people who joined with him more likely than not already believed something like this. they didn't just join a cult because manson was nice. i wish i could say i didn't understand why people would hesitate to call a crazy murderous rapist and cult leader a racist but i can think of a few reasons. i kinda hate to admit that for a long time i wondered why the LAPD dicked around so much on the manson murders. i knew the LAPD were fucking evil but why would they deliberate for so long? why would supposed purveyors of justice not care about solving such brutal and senseless murders? these were murders that left crime scenes so violent that hardened homicide detectives had to step off of the property to throw up. but now i think back and i think that they were likely content to assume or to let people assume that it was black panthers who had committed the murders. there arent a lot of other answers that make sense to me

[blackinquisitors]

Dutch is such an interesting and compelling character. and I think a lot of people don't realize that he's the true villain of this entire game and Micah is just a red herring. Micah didn't make Dutch go crazy or anything, he just told him what he wanted to hear and allowed him to do all the insane shit he's always wanted to do. bc previously, Dutch had Hosea and Arthur as his moral compass telling him "no Dutch you can't kill people" and I think Dutch started preaching that as well bc it goes along w his desire to the smartest, most moral man in the room. but that wasn't really him. then Micah joins and tells him "yeah Dutch maybe we should kill people maybe they deserve it maybe we're stronger than them" and it opens the door for Dutch to lose that facade he's been mastering all these years, and that comes out in blackwater

then Arthur and Hosea start doubting Dutch, start criticising him, but Micah is still there telling him everything is fine and he's doing a wonderful job. and Dutch loves that because he needs to be the big man in charge and he does NOT tolerate feeling stupid or weak or wrong. so he stops listening to Arthur (if he ever did in the first place, judging by how jaded Arthur is and how easily he kowtows to dutchs guilt trips, I'll say no) and half listens to Hosea. then Hosea dies and Arthur criticises him more, and Dutch truly reveals his colors

what tipped me off on his character the most was how he treats women. miss grimshaw was his girl, and now she's older and the matriarch of the gang, but I think all her stuff abt how vanity fades and how she's hideous etc is partially bc of how Dutch cast her aside. Molly says "am I getting too old for you? thats usually how it works with you isn't it?" which is what made me think that. Molly is also in her mid twenties whole Dutch is 44, and she left her life in Ireland bc she loved him while he only wanted her as a thing to fuck. then he started chatting up Marybeth who, if I had to guess, is about 20-22. quite literally old enough to be her father. so he's a dirty old man on top of all of this.

and also hes a closet racist since his grand plan was to paint a target on the wapiti tribes back despite the chief asking him to leave them alone. meaning he didn't give a shit if that whole tribe was massacred (which would have been the punishment for all the shit he made them do) as long as he and his loyal followers escaped. despite all his pro native talk, about how the Europeans are the true savages, how they destroyed this land, he still participates in that genocide gleefully.

he's nothing but a greedy, selfish megalomaniac but he's a damn good showman and that's how he's gotten everyone wrapped around his fingers. saved them, cared for them when no one else has. typical gang emotional manipulation, but also with cult elements like the requirement for faith in their way of life, the set of beliefs Dutch has constructed from the miller books. there's really nothing redeemable abt his character bc all the good bits were just acting, or they were something to hide how truly rotten he is

ofc it's nice to imagine Dutch as being the dashing rogue, father to everyone in the gang with Hosea his best friend at his side. but that's exactly what he wants you to see him as. and a lot of people don't look past that, so they do believe he went crazy bc of Micah or grief from losing hosea, or got a brain injury, or some other thing. but even Arthur says that he just became more of himself, the self he hid all these years

[gffa]

I'm pretty new to the sw tumblr fandom, would you mind telling me what the pro/anti jedi "discourse" is about? absolutely understand if you don't have the time for that of course haha

Hi! Oh, I’ve tried like five separate times to write a short summary of What Jedi Discourse Is About, but it’s hard for me to put into a nutshell, because I really want to try to be fair and objective, but also I have experienced a lot of shit in this fandom and I’ve lost a lot of patience for it.  (This is not aimed at you!  This message was totally fine, I’m just still disgusted with some people’s behaviors towards other fans..) As short as I can make it:  While people run the gamut from “the Jedi were monsters and a cult and they hated Anakin and it was their fault he fell and Order 66 was totally deserved” to “well, the Jedi were pretty awful, but the babies didn’t deserve to be murdered, I guess” to “the Jedi did some things wrong and some things right” to “the Jedi were right and their decisions were understandable because there just weren’t any good choices”, and many people are incredibly insufferable about it along the way, whether anti-, neutral-, or pro-, as all subsections of fandom are, and there is a very common tendency for pro-Jedi fans to get bombarded with people trying to argue with them. (There was a time when I literally could not make one single post about the Jedi without someone trying to tell me how wrong I was.  This is why my anon is off and why I block when people are only here to argue.  Things are calmer now, but sometimes people still get a bug up their ass and won’t leave us alone--sometimes for literally A YEAR they’ll keep badgering someone.) The discourse is usually centered around the definition of “attachment”, whether or not the Jedi were a cult, the idea that the Jedi suppress emotions, the Jedi were baby thieves, the Jedi were totally cool with slavery, the Jedi were corrupt and stagnant and bad for being drafted into the war, the Jedi were super mean to Anakin and it’s their fault he fell, the Jedi weren’t blood families so they don’t really count as family, the Jedi kiiiiiiinda deserved their own genocide because they weren’t nice enough, etc. There are plenty of people who are chill about their Jedi criticisms and I usually get along pretty well with them (babes, this post isn’t about you guys, I promise), but there are a LOT of people whose behavior is fucking atrocious towards pro-Jedi fans and that has kind of poisoned the water between us in a lot of ways, so when we’re talking about the shitty behavior in fandom, it’s about the people who just will not leave us alone or who constantly feel the need to come yell at us on our posts. Basically, it’s about a lot of different issues (I feel like if I listed them all, it’d just be starting things up again), usually centered on whether or not the Jedi were emotionally healthy, whether or not they were corrupt for fighting in the war, and whether or not they were responsible for Anakin’s choices.  Pro-Jedi fans feel that Lucas’ commentary is very “the Jedi are right about the Force and they really didn’t have any better options about joining the war and Anakin’s fall is his own fucking fault” and that a lot of criticisms the Jedi get are bad faith, unsupported by the actual source material, or outright racist because of their Buddhist influences and that much of what gets criticized is those Buddhist origins. But it’s a complex, many-tentacled issue, so that’s the best overview I can give, as well as, you know, I am pro-Jedi so my experiences are from the pro-Jedi side, I register these things far stronger than someone who has a different experience!

[travllingbunny]

Having spent a couple of years in The 100 fandom, one of the things that always strikes me is the gap between the canon characters and their fanon versions. Almost every character has at least one, sometimes two doppelgangers in fanon. These fanon versions often contradict each other, since the fandom has apparently been sharply divided for years. In other cases, there is one definite fanon creation that’s widely popular and mostly uncontested. 

Which of these fanon creations do you find most boring, and which ones may be actually kind of fun?

Fanon!Clarke 1: The show’s main villain. This character is completely selfish, spoiled, tyrannical, absolutely loves murdering people and committing genocide, and spends all her time scheming and manipulating people so she could achieve her evil goals (which are to keep her friends and family alive). Likes to risk her life and “sacrifice” herself just because she always wants to be the center of attention. Has always been abusive to Bellamy by.. telling him nice and supportive things about himself, but not nice and supportive enough, and cruelly allowing him to go on a mission that was his own idea and his plan (an example of how unequal their relationship is and that she always orders him around). Doesn’t care about anyone, except maybe her adoptive daughter Madi, which makes her annoying and a traitor for not prioritizing her friends’ safety over her daughter’s, except for the times when she’s prioritizing her friends’s safety over her daughter, which makes her a bad mother.

Fanon!Clarke 2: Minor character, notable for being Lexa’s love interest. (See below.) This young, occasionally confused lesbian was a damsel constantly in need of saving by the show’s hero, Lexa, and didn’t do anything important until  meeting Lexa, and learning from her how to be a leader. Still not too good at it, probably due to the bad influence of the show’s villain, Bellamy (see below), with whom she has an unhealthy, toxic platonic relationship but for whom she doesn’t really care, at the same time. Had a bunch of things happen to her, such as losing both her parents and a bunch of other important people in her life, having to mercy kill her first love minor crush (at the time when she still thought she was into men), constantly fighting for survival, being left almost alone on a deserted planet for 6 years, having her body stolen - but none of this ever traumatized her, the only thing she’s ever been affected was Lexa’s death, which she spends all her time talking about, 24/7, even 6.5 years later. 

Fanon!Bellamy 1: The show’s main villain. Evil, violent white man (as a consequence of having a younger, white sister, which makes him white because biracial people don’t exist), constantly angry, goes around killing people in bouts of rage. Racist and hates Grounders (who, naturally, are a race - as descendants of a group of people from a cult that used to live in a bunker). Super into killing civilians and committing genocide. Probably stupid and uneducated. Killed his sister’s boyfriend and somehow indirectly killed the show’s hero, Lexa. Is indirectly to blame for anything wrong that ever happened in the show. Also likes to abuse Clarke (see Fanon!Clarke 2). 

Fanon!Bellamy 2: A very unusual character that consists of two different people: in seasons 1-4: the sweetest, most sensitive and softest clean shaven boy in the world, who wore his heart on his sleeve and spent all his time telling Clarke how much he loves her (even without ever actually having told her anything like that, or asked her out on a date, and even while sleeping with other women, but that’s this character’s special power). Never killed people, except when he did, but that only happened because the writers hated him and he was OOC. As of the start of season 5, turned into a cold, unemotional bearded man who is totally in love with evil Echo (see below) and doesn’t care about Clarke at all (which makes his actions in a lot of season 5 and all of season 6 a complete mystery).

Fanon!Octavia 1: The most perfect human being in the history of the human race. Has never done anything wrong in her entire life. When she beat up her brother savagely, it’s because he deserved it, everyone she’s murdered deserved it, and she was never a tyrant - people just didn’t realize that, as the perfect leader, she needed to have absolute power. She was also a victim of manipulation by evil Abby (see below), who made her decide to force her people to become cannibals. But forcing people to become cannibals was also the right thing to do. Was betrayed by everyone, including her treacherous brother and all the other traitors who didn’t appreciate her leadership.

Fanon!Octavia 2: A monstrous epitome of white supremacy, this character enjoys going around beating up various people of color just for kicks, enjoys cultural appropriation, and even decided to be born because she knew this would be an act of aggression against her MOC half-brother, whom she emotionally abused by her very existence.

Fanon!Abby: One of the show’s main villains, this character is incompetent and clueless but at the same time a vicious schemer, manipulating and exploiting the younger women in the show. (See above.) Can’t take responsibility, as seen by the fact that she didn’t blame herself for everything Octavia ever did. Messes things up because she still wants to mother her 18-year old daughter, which makes her annoying. At other times, pays more attention to trying to save her dying boyfriend than to trying to mother her 24 year old daughter who seems fine and able to take care of herself, which makes her a terrible mother.

Fanon!Lexa: The show’s main character and hero. Even though she was in just 16 episodes, didn’t join the show until halfway through season 2 and died 4 seasons ago, the show is still all about her. A pure cinnamon roll who never did anything wrong, the greatest leader and strongest fighter, able to single-handedly defeat all the bad guys, but also a visionary peacemaker who did the unprecedented action of doing what Clarke advised her to do. Actions like betraying her allies, throwing people off the top of a tower, letting her own people die, were all wise leadership choices and therefore morally right. (Anyone who feels differently is probably homophobic.) Possibly a woman of color (because of a mismatched foundation and/or because you can’t be a part of a technologically underdeveloped society and be white). Will come back in the series finale to save the day, in spite of having been dead and cremated 131+ years ago.

Fanon!Echo 1: The show’s central character since the start of season 5. An epitome of pure, 100% unadulterated evil, this character has no appealing, redeeming or just human qualities, but nevertheless, possesses an incredible screen presence that makes the fandom obsess over any second of her screentime and talk about every single thing she does or says (or even about her hairstyle) more than about anything else in the show.

Fanon!Echo 2: The strongest  and most badass of strong female characters, as seen in the fact that she is good at fighting and killing people and at carrying out other people’s orders (including that of her boyfriend’s). Has never been portrayed as a villain or done anything wrong that could possibly make any of the viewers dislike her - the only possible reason for anyone to dislike her is jealousy over her great, epic romance with Bellamy.

Fanon!Pike: Worst person ever, this villain was just racist towards Grounders (who are a race, see above) with no reason whatsoever and never had a sympathetic or tragic backstory to explain his views and decisions. He imagined that his people were in danger when in fact, everyone else was peaceful and tolerant and it was just him ruining everything. Invented a story about Azgeda being genocidal against his people and murdering the majority of them, including 15 children, right after they fell on Earth - which never happened because we didn’t see it. Somehow he manipulated everyone else into remembering that, too. Probably a cannibal and definitely a Nazi and Donald Trump 2.0, comparisons which are perfect because Pike is the epitome of racism because he not only killed Grounders, he executed a black guy by shooting him in the head. Strangely, Pike also looks like a black guy, but he can’t be one or this is unimportant, because using guns makes you white and only Grounders can be POC because they use medieval weapons.

Fanon!Roan: Clarke and Bellamy’s best friend. Spends all his time hanging out with them just because he likes them and really wants to see them get together. May be an Azgeda king or something, but that’s not important, because it’s not like he has political motivations for his actions. Super loyal to Clarke and never did anything like break alliances or kill his allies or march on Arkadia to attack her people or do any political scheming. Probably has a secret “Bellarke Forever!” tattoo.

[dalekofchaos]

JJ Abrams inability to understand Finn

Finn being the one Stormtrooper who could break away had a lot of potential. That potential died within minutes.

The death of Slip, one of his comrades that turned him... That made him torn apart, so he refused to kill the villagers... But then, he kills other stormtroopers without hesitating, without any remorse? I get they were on the run, but this is so tone deaf.

Then JJ Abrams made him the comic relief by drinking the space cow water and making bad jokes. You can argue that Rian did it worse, but JJ still made him the bumbling sidekick and even made him the janitor. All the while JJ PROMISED John he was the new star of Star Wars.

But Finn’s time as a Stormtrooper doesn’t really make sense when you think about it and his defection ultimately doesn’t matter. Let me explain.

Finn is not affected despite a life of conditioning and indoctrination. Finn is a character who was raised as a Stormtrooper, but there doesn’t feel like any indoctrination to begin with. Finn’s defection could’ve been a great story but it is never brought up again. What was life like in the First Order? But instead, his Stormtrooper past is never brought up again. When he throws away his armor on Jakku is when any exciting character development is thrown away, too. His past as a Stormtrooper is barely mentioned and is hardly relevant. For someone who’s kidnapped as a child, why does he act so "normal” when he escapes the First Order? People that escape cults and child soldiers have difficulty adjusting back into normal society. Why is he never affected by his supposed “indoctrination” why are there no signs of trauma or PTSD? Why doesn’t he hesitate to kill his FO brothers and sisters? It honestly feels like it didn’t have any impact on the story whatsoever.

Finn seeing Han Solo, Chewbacca and Leia has no effect on him. Finn was taken and raised by The First Order. He should be raised to hate Han, Luke Leia, Chewbacca and Lando. Hell, he doesn’t even know what Wookies are. He knows what Raftars are, but not Wookies? You’d think that growing up with Imperial Indoctrination, he’d be raised to believe that Wookies were their slave race, but no. He was indoctrinated as a child, so Finn should be taught from childhood to adulthood that Han, Luke and Leia are terrorists and war criminals who destroyed over 20 years of peace and would be taught that Luke, Han and Leia are responsible for genocide(you know that “I had friends on that death star” joke) so he is taught to hate them from birth and to kill them on sight. But he wasn't....he even says Han is a war hero....what kind of fucking indoctrination do you call this?

Has no problem killing his brothers and sisters. Seeing Slip die was the breaking point. He was so affected by his friend's murder that he swore he would never kill The First Order again. Finn is meant to show that Stormtroopers are human....only to show that they are back to being cannon fodder. The message they were trying to tell was dropped immediately. Finn defects because his Stormtrooper friend is killed. So what does he do? Kills more of his old Stormtrooper friends! Throughout the entire trilogy they don't acknowledge or care about that "Stormtroopers are human and could leave like Finn" they don't give the other child soldiers a chance to break free, everyone else is just disposable as Red Shirts.

Jakku is his first mission. Really? You expect me to believe a life time of serving The First Order and he only has his only mission that conveniently is the mission where he decides to defect?

Poe killing Slip is never brought up again. Just think, the very person he is saving is the very person who caused his break down on Jakku. Not once is it brought up. You'd think Hux or Phasma would've used it against Finn. Just imagine, Finn finds out and we have tension and animosity between Finn and Poe. It gives us the possibility of Finn going back or Finn forgiving Poe. None of that is presented. It's just never brought up again.

Finn and Kylo’s tension and animosity is never brought up again. After the massacre of Tuanul and Finn’s refusal to fire, Kylo stares at Finn. Then Kylo immediately knows that Finn was the one who helped Poe escape. Then Kylo screams traitor at Finn. Originally I thought this was because Finn was the awakening that Kylo and Snoke felt and my theory of the Knights Of Ren being Force Sensitive Stormtroopers, this is why Kylo saw his defection as a betrayal. But Finn and Kylo never share the same screen again. Really....the easiest thing they could’ve done was make the Force Bond be between Rey, Kylo and Finn. If you have to have a force bond. Make it between all three of them. Finn and Kylo are obvious foils. Finn was taken from his family against his will into the First Order and realized on his own that murder was wrong. Conversely, Kylo willingly ran from his family into the First Order and consciously uses murder to gain power. As Kylo kills his father, Finn becomes a Resistance hero. Their storylines and development are inversely proportional to each other- when Finn moves toward the light, Kylo falls further toward darkness. Finn is the humanity Kylo rejected when he chose to kill his father.  Kylo is the darkness Finn could have succumbed to but ran away from. So why not have them being connected by the force. Keep the dynamic with Rey and Kylo, but with a force connection established between Finn and Kylo, we could have Kylo wondering why Finn would desert The First Order, while Finn wonders why Kylo betrayed his family, the Jedi and joined The First Order. Kylo wanting Rey AND Finn to join him in bringing a New Order to the galaxy. They reject. But just imagine Rey, FInn and Ben  unite to end Palpatine. The Trinity in the Force. I just....they did nothing with Finn and Ben’s staredowns/animosity. Seeing the three main characters in this trilogy  first become enemies, then allies and finally friends who unite and bring down the Emperor would’ve been great. But no, instead we get nothing to resolve their differences.

A defecting Stormtrooper was ruined when we have him be revealed as the janitor. Instead of a battle hardened Stormtrooper who breaks free after realizing what he's doing is wrong, we get comedic relief: he drinks dirty water made for animals, and he acts funny. But what truly sealed away his fate was the moment he uttered the word “sanitation” We know most FO do Sanitation as jobs, but the way JJ wrote the movie made everyone think that’s all Finn did and only did it as a joke. There are some serious racial undertones with writing Finn as a janitor. People saying Johnson’s depiction of Finn was racist, but JJ was the one who ultimately decided that the one Stormtrooper with a face, who just happens to be black, was a Janitor.

His defection has no impact on the rest of the trilogy. As soon as we meet Jannah, I was like "holy shit, his defection finally inspires something???" and...it did not. His defection was taken from him. Finn refusing to kill for The First Order got copied on to a bunch of other Stormtroopers. Don’t get why we couldn’t at least have had Jannah mention they were inspired by Finn. Finn’s defection from the First Order ultimately meant nothing in the end and that is just depressing. Finn doesn’t even get to have what made his character great mean anything. There is no Stormtrooper Rebellion nor is Finn a symbol. Finn’s defection is forgettable….that’s the final insult degradation of Finn’s character

Bad enough he doesn't even come off as someone who's been indoctrinated for his whole life. He declares Han as a war hero, he doesn't know about Wookies(you think Imperial indoctrination wouldn't brainwash him into thinking Wookies are their slave race???) in fact none of the Rebel heroes are terrorists that destroyed 30 years of peace in Finn's eyes. Finn doesn't have any problem adjusting, he instantly acts normal upon defecting to the good guys. I thought it would've made for a good story to see Finn struggling with indoctrination(even attempting to shoot Han and Chewie) resisting with conditioning and programming and ultimately Finn overcomes it and chooses what's right. Instead "haha silly man drinks cow water, haha he falls down and Rey kicks his ass. Haha he knows about raftars but not wookies. Oh you better talk to Rey or woman will find out they always do. He wants to run away, isn't that funny? Haha he's not a battle hardened soldier, he's a janitor, isn't that funny?" Apparently comic relief and wanting to run away was more important to overcome than over a decade of indoctrination and conditioning.

It bothers me that the first time we see Finn is when he’s compassionately holding his fallen fellow trooper, but then TROS shows him mowing them down with Poe without even the tiniest flicker of hesitation or reluctance. And With Poe, the person who killed Finn’s squad mate. This is never brought up again or resolved.

“Like all of them I was taken from a family I’ll never know and trained to do one thing” But JJ wrote it that he can run through the halls of a FO ship blasting troopers the same as him without any hesitation, nice one JJ

Like I understand they had to fight their way through the ship to rescue Chewie, but they could have given Finn a tiny second or flicker of doubt and remorse and it would have instantly give a load of character depth and emotion. Hell show Finn running into Zeroes and they have a confrontation and Finn makes the same decision on Jakku. He lets Zeroes go and we see Zeroes leading a squad of Stormtroopers against The First/Final Order and they all throw their helmets to the ground and declare themselves for Finn the "Phasma Slayer"

Like everyone thinks that Finn was ruined by Rian Johnson, but at least he never had Finn mow down his fellow child soldiers. Hell, he was even pleading with the one Stormtrooper not to turn them in or kill them, DJ was the one going for his gun but Finn simply talked to him. In that one deleted scene. He showed more compassion for a fellow Stormtrooper in a Rian Johnson directed scene than he ever showed in both JJ Abrams movies. Yet JJ is the guy who “gets” Finn.

When I first learned about Finn and that he was a stormtrooper, I was excited. I really wanted a character with a different perspective/moral conflict like that in the movies. And I really wanted them to explore the PTSD and trauma of being indoctrinated your whole life as a child soldier. But they just wasted his potential.

It just comes off as

"Hi I'm Finn. I don't want to kill people, and my best friend was killed by The Resistance. So let me free that Resistance pilot and kill more people to escape with him." That's totally how character development works.

Finn’s defection ultimately means he’s good, his past doesn’t matter and it doesn’t affect him and we can’t see his slow process of fighting and resisting years of indoctrination and programming, his defection does not inspire Jannah, the millions to billions of potential people like Finn and Jannah do not matter and they are all expendable and canon fodder. The potential of the Stormtrooper Rebellion was wasted. JJ Abrams did not understand his own character and reduced him to a meme who just screams “REEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYY”

What Finn should have been.

Finn becoming a Jedi and leading a Stormtrooper Rebellion would’ve saved the Sequel Trilogy. I really wish Finn got to lead a full on Stormtrooper Rebellion in Episode IX. I think it was a perfect ending arc for him after where his character went in TFA and TLJ.  Sometimes a few pictures say it all...

A Finn who was able to resist Stormtrooper programming because he was force-sensitive and went on to become a Jedi himself and force the First Order to crumble from within by encouraging the other Troopers to rebel would have actually made for an original Star Wars plot that wasn't just a rehash of the OT.

To Explain how this Stormtrooper Rebellion could work, let’s go from the beginning.

In the TFA novelization, it’s stated that Hux ordered that  Finn's mutiny is to be hidden from the rest of the Stormtroopers out of concern that the potential mutiny within The First Order  and for others to start catching ideas like "independence" and "individuality. The vibe I get is Phasma would want it to be personal. Hux wanted it to be a quiet execution. And Kylo being the dramatic slut that he is, would want it to be a public spectacle. From this post it’s clear The First Order would prefer quiet executions to deal with traitors and deserters. Hux is all about control, of himself and others, while Ren is just an asshole who wants to destroy the things which make him upset. He wants to put the fear of the Force into people while Hux just doesn’t want them thinking anything other than the thoughts he put there.

Finn had to fight against one of his friends in his unit, FN-2199 or “Nines” as Finn called him. Nines was unaware of why he defected and I’m sure Phasma fed Nines lies, so Finn was forced to fight his own friend. How much do you wanna bet that Finn will be forced to fight the last member of his squad, Zeroes?

As for Finn’s time in the First Order, he was one of their best Stormtroopers and one of the elite. Highly valued by Phasma and Hux, yet his defection shocked them.

Phasma’s alternate death scene

I will never understand why this was deleted. Finn calls her out about her betrayal of lowering the shields and when this information is revealed, the Stormtroopers near her look suspicious and it looks as if they are going to turn on her. Phasma like the ultimate survivalist she is kills them with no hesitation. Finn cuts her hand off and blasts her into the abyss, giving Phasma a more deserving and better send off. Seriously, this is way better than their actual confrontation.  What I really like about this scene is its direct connection to The Force Awakens plot point and that it acknowledges Phasma's survivalist attitude which was introduced into her novel.

Now finally to the Rebellion itself. This all ties into it. Hux hiding it from those who needn’t know, Phasma’s killing everyone who dare believe her treachery, Kylo’s tyranny as the Supreme Leader and Palpatine’s return will all lead to Finn leading a Stormtrooper Rebellion. I think Finn will possibly use his force sensitivity and letting everyone in the FN corps feel what he felt when he could not bring himself to pull the trigger. What he felt when Starkiller Base committed genocide and what he felt when he stood his ground and fought Kylo Ren. This will inspire everyone to rebel, the first one to throw off his helmet will be Zeroes and everyone follows through. Humanizing Stormtroopers and having one become a hero is was a stroke of genius, but the way they did it in Episode 7 made it seem like Finn was the ONLY good Stormtrooper, which has to be an impossibility. If one Stormtrooper can suddenly switch sides, what's to say that others couldn't? TROS fucked up by not showing the fall of the First Order, I personally think that Finn should’ve convinced all (or most of) the Stormtroopers to turn against Pryde and Hux, leading to a cool final scene where the First Order is ultimately destroyed by their own henchmen. That would be cooler and more unique, I think, than fucking space horses, idiotic and incoherent Star Destroyers with Death Star lasers, another Resistance vs. First/Final Order space shootout, or Rey and her possible Jedi apprentice army taking them down. 

The children the First/Final Order abducted and trained against their own will finally taking back their narrative and fighting back against their oppressors. The First Order will be burned down from the inside, and I think that’s beautiful.

But as the Stormtrooper Rebellion happens, just imagine if Finn got to stand alongside Rey and Ben. Just imagine if all 3 were bonded by The Force. The 3 main characters of the trilogy. It began with Rey and Finn being at odds with Ben and it ends with Rey, Finn and Ben united against Palpatine and together they end the Sith and bring balance to the force. 

This was the best possible way you could’ve utilized Finn and JJ Abrams squandered it. He’s not a Jedi, just hinted at being force sensitive and we don’t even get an ending of Rey beginning to train Finn. Finn doesn’t lead a Stormtrooper Rebellion, he just takes a group of already deserters and leads them on space horses while running on the surface of a Star Destroyer(yes it’s just as stupid as it sounds) Finn is not a symbol to  the Stormtroopers, hell Finn doesn’t even inspire Jannah. Finn doesn’t save his fellow brothers and sisters, he kills them off like they’re canon fodder. Finn doesn’t get to be the catalyst in destroying the very people that took him away from his family or even free his brothers and sisters. Finn gets nothing, like at all. JJ Abrams failed Finn more than Rian Johnson ever failed Finn and JJ is the one that John Boyega and the fanboys thinks that “gets” Finn

[snapeaddict]

Snaters keep telling us we cannot like Snape/should hate him as well because he joined a group of "racist, genocidal" ideologists. Well you know what? I have absolutely no problem with him being a death eater for like 3 years. I totally understand his choice in the light of what we know he went through. I don't even see what else he could have chosen to do, except suicide perhaps. If I had the power to forgive, then I'd totally forgive him for that. People do not know how easy it is to fall into radicalization when you're someone like Severus. And how hard it is to get out of it, and how brave you have to be to do so. To quit an ideology and start fighting against it. An ideology he grew with for seven years. So yes, you can repeat it as much as you want, to me it is another proof that Snape is a very realistic character and I admire the strength it must have taken to turn against Voldemort out of love, to turn against them risking his life, to become a spy, to go back when the Dark Lord returned, to a man who tortured and killed so easily.

To say to a former Hogwarts headmaster "Do not use that word!"

Because if he stopped being a death eater for Lily, he did not die for the cause Lily believed in. He died for a cause he believed in; he fought for many people and "only those he could not save" died.

Yes, he was a death eater. Then he wasn't, and I'll always admire him for that. It's literally like getting out of a cult, questioning all your values, and what you were taught, and what you learnt to accept. It is so, so brave.

[mahvaladara]

What happened to Gamall Sullyvan - A Lore of Astreia Oneshot

This story is being told by the POV of the Wanderer. The Wanderer is talking about Gamall Sullyvan to someone who asked. He gets a bit off topic here and there. 

Warning: Graphic descriptions of abuse, torture. It a point it becomes... bad. Baaad! Very bad!

“What happened to Gamall Sullyvan?”

“Gamall Sullyvan, you say?”

“This man, you know this man, don’t you?”

“Oh yes, yes I do!”

Gamall Sullyvan. I knew him.

I knew him intamately. 

His fears, his dreams, his ambitions.

35 years old in age, tall, flimsy, a bit of goof who’s not overly expressive. Not particularly smart or good looking. Not rich, nor wealthy, no over the top status. Avarage man, a good man. A family man. 

If you looked at him, you’d wonder if he was half Sillarin, his eyes certainly looked Sillarin, but his skin was too pale. Must have been those Aklory genes. He was Aklory, born and raised and dead for those lands. 

But he was a good man, you see. 

He was born in Calldragon. His entire nuclear family was expelled from the city and he lost right of citizenship. 

But he was the grandson of the Scholar Gamall Callarius. Yes, that Gamall Callarius, the one in the Royal CallDragon Archives. But he was no one. He dreamed of being a librarian like her, but he was not particularly smart or talented. He was curious and determined, but he wasn’t a genius. 

Gamall was not his grandmother. He only shared her name. 

Yes, I know it’s a woman’s name, but Gamall didn’t much care of things such as female or male. No, he was much more ambiguous when it came to these things. You see, he used to pretend to be a woman. When he took care of a bed ridden, demented mother he had to. He even dressed like his grandmother. 

When he met the woman who’d become his wife, at first, she thought he was an abnormally tall woman. He did things humans tipacally atributed to women and he never questioned it. He was eldest, his mother was sick, his father couldn’t do it, so of course it had to be him. He raised all of his siblings while his father worked. And then, when he came of age, he ran away with Caitlin Sullyvan. 

Let his mother to Rot.

I don’t think he ever got over that guilt. She did rot, you know. Not that he ever saw it, or looked for it. But time and illness so says that she did Rot.

...   

Anyway, Gamall didn’t catch it or anything. They were inoculated.

He met Caitlin and ran away. Caitlin, his wife.

He was a good man, understanding, caring, a good husband, who was wholly devoted to his wife and son. Everything he did was for them and them alone. 

Gamall was altruistic, he never thought much of himself. It was always Caitlin and Seimei first, and when it wasn’t them, it was his neighbors and his friends at Riverrend. It was what he did. That’s where they lived, where they moved to.

Riverrend.

If you talked to them they’d always have something nice to say about Gamall. How he wasn’t expressive, like resting bored face. But he always tried to say some witty joke or lighten up the mood. He always helped. Quick witted, quick tempered. He was a good man, poor and struggling and the people of Riverrend liked him, like they liked anyone else in town.

The people of Riverrend.

Riverrend is a cemmetary now. Ravaged to the floor by the Ainlienists. You have heard of them, the “Church of Burden”. Follow the prophet Ainlie and his message of salvation.

Delusions of a sick mind. I know, I spoke to Ainlie and this “religion”, though it’s more of a cult, certainly got his words wrong.

Salvation my ass. Being burnt alive doesn’t sound very salvating. 

Fanatical assholes. Zealots. Prejudicious, racist, sexist assholes. No respect for anyone or thier beliefs. 

If they were like every other religions on our planet who have this mentality of “you believe this, we believe that. It’s cool, we’re neighbors” it wouldn’t be a problem. But they have a “the only good heretic is a dead heretic” mentality.

Thank the stars the Wanderer whipped them from the face of Akloria and promised to wipe them from the face of the Astreia.

Yet people get mad at the Wanderer for that, can you imagine? People mad at me! 

They call me evil! That I committed the mass genocide of a religious group. 

No I didn’t! There’s still some left! In Valora and the 1001 Seas. 

But I am evil one. They forget these same Ainlienists were trying to burn the entire planet to ash and kill everyone. They also forgot they strapped bombs unto children and sent them to the walls of the capital. 

...

Yes, they blew up kids.

But sure. The Wanderer is the evil one for wanting to get rid of them.

And yes, I am getting off topic, bult talking about the Ainlienists is also talking about Gamall. So I’m getting there.

He was a good man. Avarage man, but most certainly not a member of a fanatical religious cult.

But you know, it’s their fault. It’s because of them that Gamall is gone.

He was a good man. Good, understanding, caring, selfless! All he wanted was to own a horse and they killed all the horses. It’s a good thing he didn’t say his life long dream was to be a librarian or they would have burned all the books - though they sure tried. 

People died, but I saved the books! That’s what matters!

But Gamall!

The Sullyvan name he actually picked from his wife. He lost right to a family name when he lost right of citizenship. So, Sullyvan was his wife’s surname that he took at the time.

Gamall was a lumberjack in Riverrend, worked in Caitlin’s Mill and did some hunting on the side. He had a dream of being a librarian but had given up on that dream. He didn’t have any formal education. He knew how to read but he couldn’t exactly work as a scholar at the time because he lacked education.

As he was now a father and a husband, a very poor one in a country at war, all that he cared about was providing for his family.

Gamall had a son, Seimei, who got sick. 

Boy got blood rot, didn’t eat enough meat, got anemic. The boy wanted to eat greens only. Vegan I think that’s what is called. Gamall called it bullshit! 

But the boy was against eating meat, and Gamall was a hunter. Meat was the easiest thing to come by and the boy refused to eat it. Gamall couldn’t afford a proper “vegan” diet for him. So of course Seimei got anemic. One can’t survive of lettuce alone!

And Gamall couldn’t afford to treat him. The iron supplements and even the blood strengthening potions were expensive. They were millers and they couldn’t apply for government aid because Gamall wasn’t a legal citizen. So they were struggling.

Gamall joined the war as a contract Archer. It could give him a lot of money as well as right of citizenship. And as a contract archer, he could abandon the war once his contract was over. So he joined the war.

He said he wanted to use the money to treat his son and buy a horse. Wanted to become a courier, and if he had a horse, he could gain some steady income that way. Make sure his son never got blood rot again. He could also buy the right of citizenship and if he had a honorable conduit in the army, he could even earn it.

But was he wrong. 

He was not a fighter! He was a lumberjack who hunted deers on the side!

Of course he got captured during the war! 

Amarintia. That’s where he was captured. That’s another cemmetary there. All thanks to the “Church of Burden”.

They say the Ainlienists tortured him, broke him. The Ainlienists did horrible things to everyone. You saw the cities the Ainlienists destroyed. The dissected dragons, the decapitated humans and the burnt witches. All in the name of their maker. 

Eventually he was rescued and kept fighting in the war. I saw him a couple of times. He was still hopefull there was something worth fighting for, and he did. But I could see it in the mirror, that spark, that “humanity” of his be broken down, piece by little piece. 

War does that to you.  

He was tortured. Oh, was he tortured!

Tortured by the enemy. 

Used by his allies.

Betrayed by the people he loved and fought for. 

Used, tortured, beaten and abused.

You see, at a point, Gamall became a weapon, because there’s something particular about him. He couldn’t die. And he was becoming powerful and he was even able to manipulate his appearance. 

Isn’t that handy?

Should be easier to hide the scars, don’t you think?

But he was captured a second time, and the Ainlienists realized they couldn’t kill him so they exploited that. They had fun!

I heard they locked him inside a iron bull for three days straight. You know, Iron Bulls. Those iron contraptions where someone is locked inside and you lit the fire and let the person slowly cook alive. They did that to him. Cooked him alive.

Then healed him up and locked him inside an Iron Maiden. The one’s with spikes. When they left him out, there was a puddle of his own blood under it.

I heard one night they had fun with him. Raped him, sodomized him, made him wish he was neither man or woman. Made him wish he could die. Heard he squealed and begged and begged they’d just grab a rock and crush his skull.

And they did it!

But of course that didn’t kill him. 

So they did worse.

They sawed him in half.

They grabbed a rusty saw, held it firmly between his legs and sawed him in half. All the way up, slow pull by slow pull until the rusty teeth of saw got stuck right in his sternum and they still tried to cut further. But they were pressed for time.

They left him there. Litterally rotting.

Left the bacteria in his shredded intestines rot his body while his immortal cells tried to fix it. Like he was locked in this endless torturous cicle of rot and regeneration.

And no one saved him.

He had friends, you know. Friends who knew he had been captured.

“It’s not like you’ll die.” That’s what they told him, when he found a way home and was properly healed and treated.

I heard he actually lost a few inches of his entrails, but I am going to be honest. I didn’t measure them.

I think after that. After that moment Gamall realized how truly meaningless he was in the face of it all. That’s when he lost that “kindness” and “caring" and “altruism” and “hope”.

His wife went on with life. 

She died during the war. He never saw her again, not even her corpse. Only words that she was dead.

His son? Heard he was killed by his own hand. 

And you’ll ask, what happened to Gamall Sullyvan? Well...

I think that’s when Gamall Sullyvan was finally lost. That day. That day he escaped the Ainlienist hands and had to drag his own intestines through a desert, while rotting, only to be told to his face, by the people he loved that they didn’t bother to save him. Because...

“It’s not like you’ll die.”

I haven’t seen him since.

...

He’s dead. 

I'm all that's left.

[catsnuggler]

Slavery, Holocaust talk underneath. Yes, I'm still fuming mad at the single, particular vegan who said that shit to me and never apologized for what they said. Because it isn't me who deserves an apology so much as the people they've wronged with what they said.

[[MORE]]

You do not give one inch to the fascist enemy.

You NEVER give a SINGLE inch to the fascist enemy.

I DO NOT CARE if you do so because you claim not to be attempting to demean the lives of enslaved Africans and Jews in camps, but to uplift the animals.

You are verbally putting them back in shackles just to guilt trip me into joining your cult, and you are doing so by equating them to animals. "But Thorn, you're speciesist!" - shut up! You're giving an inch to the fascists by equating human beings with cattle! You're one step closer to fascism! You just need someone to convince you, say, that the (((Zionists))) are causing "animal genocide" to "weaken the white race", by lowering the white population and increasing the Black population, "who, as everybody knows, is partial to meat, particularly fried chicken and fast food", or some other, similar antisemitic/racist fascist lie geared toward vegans, and then you'll be a fascist!

If you give an inch - and really, this is more like a few hundred metres, at least - the fascists will take a mile! Have you not learned the history of this? All the breaches of the Treaty of Versailles?

"They're just going into their own backyard."

"The Sudetenland is full of ethnic Germans. They should be free to join their fatherland."

"A strong Germany will keep the Soviets in check, even if Austria has been annexed. Well, Hitler's Austrian, isn't he? And the Austrians don't seem to mind all that much."

And you know what? Germany didn't just March into Poland. They faked a border incident. Made it look like Polish border guards fired at German troops and lost the skirmish, thereby committing an act of war without declaring it. In fact, the bodies were not of Polish border guards, but concentration camp victims in Polish uniforms. The Nazis just might have thought they could get away with Poland, too, or else why would they have bothered? They didn't, in the end, but by that point, it took a World War to stop them.

Because the Allies thought giving Hitler an inch would sate his thirst.

You.

Don't.

Give.

Fascists.

A.

Single.

INCH!

So if you're going to try to convince me to change my diet

Kindly don't guilt trip me, no matter what arguments you use

And don't use THESE ones.

Most of my extended family, much as I have loved them over the years, are people I, unfortunately, consider enemies. They are wed to nationalism; to capitalism; to patriarchy; to queerphobia; to Mormon puritanism; to settler colonialism and imperialism; to all sorts of social chauvinism. Thus, they are my enemies. Despite sharing flesh and blood with me. Despite sharing pasts with me.

Family ties to fascists weigh me down, but they do not sour my conviction. Don't become my enemy. Don't become a fascist just because I won't eat an entire bowl of salad for every meal. We will both regret it, but I will not give an inch.

[qethnehzul]

Dragon Priest HC II

ie: Ray’s collection of base info for the BASTARD SQUAD (from oldest to youngest)

Ahzidal

Male || 7′03″ / 2.21 m || 200 lbs / 90.7 kg Birth Name:  Bonranmirr || 29th of Frostfall, ME -241 || The Tower Lawful Evil || No Original Patron Dragon || Obtained Mask at 201 in ME -40 Questionable Sexuality || Questionable Romantic Inclination 221 at Miraak’s Betrayal || 221 at Death [Killed by Vahlok while trying to flee to warn Miraak that they’d been discovered]

Squad Dad. Born in Atmora and married young, and moved to Saarthal after traveling overseas from his homeland. Studied under the elves for 15 years, and was the first human to master their magic as well as the magic of man. A nightmarishly talented mage and enchanter, still rivaled by few in 4E 201. Tired and somewhat distant, and had a habit of dad-ing on the younger priests. Not racist towards elves. Never stopped being bitter and hurt over the loss of his wife, Frildal, and his daughter, Thiades, but did not wish genocide on the snow elves. A wonderful mentor to the most magically inclined priests.  

Ruled over the region of modern-day Winterhold.

Otar [Mulaag]

Male || 7′05″ / 2.26 m || 182 lbs / 82.6 kg Birth Name: Otar || 8th of Sun’s Dawn, ME -92 || The Lover Chaotic Evil ||  Vikvothvzin [Wyrm] || Obtained Mask at 30 in ME - 62 Heterosexual || Heteroromantic 72 at Miraak’s Betrayal || 78 at Death [Imprisoned by Torsten and Saerek in his temple]

Originally a very honored and renounced warrior, and well respected king. Was not a priest before obtaining his mask, and became a priest due to his status and how beloved he was by his people. Was very level-headed and reasonable through most of his life, though by the time he reached 60 his mental health started to decline. Sort of went off the deep end and was largely just a grumpy, crazy old man by the end of the cult. Some sort of outside influence seems to be the cause, but nobody is quite sure what. Most priests had enough respect based off of how he had been to keep him around, but also just sort of ignored his mad ramblings. His mask name was Mulaag, but as he grew older he apparently forgot it, leading to everyone just calling him ‘Otar, the Mad’.

Ruled over the region of modern-day Markarth as far as the northern river border (Druadach Redoubt) and as far south as the river’s south most end (Old Hroldan)

Konahrik

Male || 6′10″ / 2.08 m || 215 lbs / 97.5 kg Birth Name: Bormim || 10th of Last Seed, ME - 82 || The Warrior Lawful Evil ||  Paarlostnok [Storm Dragon] || Obtained Mask at 23 in ME -59. Became head priest at 39 in ME -43. Asexual || Demiromantic 62 at Miraak’s Betrayal || 67 at Death [Killed in the siege on Bromjunaar during the Dragon War. Body was destroyed]

A super strict traditionalist. Known to be a talented warrior and a brilliant tactician, earning him respect of his fellow soldiers before he worked on ascending to priesthood. Headstrong and a natural-born leader, making him the obvious pick to replace the previous leader, Sot. Popular among the older priests, and much less popular among the younger ones because of his strict traditional views. Very distant as a individual and very uninterested in making personal relationships with others, which was often a teasing point by the younger priests. Very focused on what would be best for the cult.

Ruled over Bromjunaar and the very immediate surrounding territory, as well as the Throat of the World and t he very surrounding territory.

Morokei

Male || 6′04″ / 1.93 m || 122 lbs / 55.3 kg Birth Name: Heksirr || 29th of Rain’s Hand, ME -66 || The Mage Lawful Evil ||  Kunsusaan [Arctic Dragon] || Obtained Mask at  20 in ME -46 Demisexual || Demiromantic 46 at Miraak’s Betrayal || 51 at Death [Killed in the siege on Bromjunaar during the Dragon War. Buried in the Labyrinthian]

A very talented mage from a high-ranking priest family. Trained from his early childhood to harness his magic, and followed in the footsteps of the rest of his family in becoming a priest. Studied under Ahzidal, and was a very aggressive rival of Miraak’s. A close friend of Konahrik’s, and one of the few who knew about or was allowed to access the Eye of Magnus when it was discovered under Bromjunaar. Well respected among the priests, and was always out to improve himself and rise above his family members - and above Miraak. Often competed for Ahzidal’s favoritism, and was furious that Miraak got it.

Ruled over modern-day Whiterun to the east river and to Robber’s Gorge and the northern mountain range with Eldersblood Peak.

Rahgot

Male || 6′11″ / 2.11 m || 247 lbs / 112.0 kg Birth Name: Mogneir || 19th of Last Seed, ME -65 || The Warrior Neutral Evil ||  No Original Patron Dragon || Obtained Mask at 26 in ME -39 Heterosexual || Heteroromantic 45 at Miraak’s Betrayal || 204 at Death [Committed suicide via poison at Skorm Snow-Strider’s siege on Forelhost]

Rahgot spent most of his youth as a soldier. He was renowned for his skills on the battlefield, and was awarded a seat amongst the priests for his heroism. He wasn’t at all skilled in magic, but most certainly was the most skilled in physical combat of the last priests. Well known for having a very short fuse and for being quick to lash out, and known for striking anyone who displeased him - especially subordinates. Always was eager for aggressive plans, and usually agreed and sided with Otar and Konahrik on matters. Distrusted Ahzidal and Miraak particularly, and only trusted Morokei because he tended to side with Rahgot’s allies. Almost always shouted. One of the few priests who were married and had children - though his wife was deceased by the time he reached priesthood, and he wasn’t at all affectionate towards his children.

Ruled over modern-day Riften, excluding the eastern mountain range.

Dukaan [Okaaz]

Male || 6′05″ / 1.96 m || 193 lbs / 87.5 kg Birth Name: Gol || 20th of Evening Star, ME -63 || The Thief True Neutral ||  Dokoorreyth [Ancient Dragon] || Obtained Mask at 27 in ME -36, renamed at 33 in ME -30 Heterosexual || Heteroromantic 43 at Miraak’s Betrayal || 43 at Death [Killed by Vahlok at Miraak’s temple while trying to defend it]

Dukaan spent his youth at sea on a fishing vessel owned by his father, though he would eventually turn to serving the temple after losing vision in his right eye in an accident. He was well respected amongst the masked priests until Dukaan’s refusal to sacrifice a innocent earned him the scorn of his patron dragon, Dokoorreyth. He was dropped to the bottom of the priest hierarchy and had his name changed to ‘Dukaan’ as punishment; something Dukaan never let down. The priests tended to ignore him after that, causing him to turn to Ahzidal and Miraak’s cause when he discovered it. He sought to see the dragons pay for, ultimately, for their unfair and cruel dictatorship.  

Ruled over the mouth of the river that runs through Windhelm and a stretch of land that has since sunk into the sea north east of Windhelm.

Miraak

Male || 6′09″ / 2.06 m || 224 lbs / 101.6 kg Birth Name: Vyr || Unknown, ME -60 || Unknown Lawful Evil ||  Zokgaaftu [Tempest Drake] || Obtained Mask at 18 in ME -42 Bisexual || Demiromantic 40 at his Betrayal || N/A

Miraak was found as a baby amidst the ruins of a burned village, the single survivor of the small settlement. He shifted ‘foster’ parents through the temple a few times before being left as a orphan until the age of 13, when he accidentally absorbed the soul of his village’s slain dragon patron. He was spared from sacrifice by Alduin himself, and was then taken in by the priests. He studied under Ahzidal, and was the youngest to be granted a position amongst the masked priests. He was a devout servant of the dragons until 26, when he first encountered Hermaeus Mora with Ahzidal. He was popular among the younger priests, though Otar and Rahgot never trusted him. His betrayal left deep resentment among the priests.

Was romantically involved with Krosis [Nonvul] for 7 years, which ended due to Miraak’s increasing seclusion in the years leading up to his betrayal of the cult and because of Zahkriisos’s interest in Miraak. Zahkriisos was interested in him, and while he didn’t turn her away, he did not share the same feelings. Had a fling or two with Hevnoraak.

Ruled over modern-day Solstheim, and is the cause of it being an island.

Nahkriin

Male || 6′06″ / 1.98 m || 235 lbs / 106.6 kg Birth Name: Skorreth || 2nd of Sun’s Height, ME -58 || The Apprentice Lawful Evil ||  Odstrunriik [Storm Dragon] ||  Obtained Mask at 25 in ME -33 Asexual || Aromantic 38 at Miraak’s Betrayal || 38 at Death [Sealed self in Skuldaafn for Alduin’s return after Alduin’s disappearance]

Nahkriin developed a bitter hatred for humans at a young age, between the treatment of his family by other townsfolk and his family’s ultimate death at the hands of bandits. He joined the temple explicitly to serve the dragons, and became well known for his absolute disdain and merciless attitude towards other people. He never visited other priests on his own, and was only seen in Skuldaafn or at meetings. He made his best effort to interact as little as possible with other humans. He generally disliked all the priests, but habitually sided with the older priests simply because their interests aligned most often with the dragon’s.

Ruled over the chain of mountains that make up Skyrim’s modern-day east border, and varying amounts of land on either side - including the basin around Bonestrewn Crest on the east side of the river fork.

Hevnoraak

Male || 6′05″ / 1.96 m || 162 lbs / 73.5 kg Birth Name: Matminald || 26th of Midyear, ME -55 || The Steed Chaotic Evil ||  Drundurdwiin [Nether Dragon] || Obtained Mask at 24 in ME -31 Bisexual || Aromantic 35 at Miraak’s Betrayal || 45 at Death [Drained his blood and sealed himself in Valthume to ascend to lichdom]

Hevnoraak was the only son of a very poor farming family. His mother passed early in his life, and he took to caring for his younger sisters. Known for causing trouble and lashing out, he was kicked out at 16, leaving him to fend for himself. He returned at his father’s death to save his sisters from debt collectors, leading to the death of his siblings and the collectors. Hevnoraak spent the next several years as a slave to the temple, during which he discovered his capacity to bend people to his will. He honed this and rapidly manipulated his way to a position in the masked council, killing one of the priests and ensuring that he was the one picked. Few priests trusted him, though he is unable to mind control any of the masked priests without help, but he became the backbone of the younger priest’s circle. Most priests kept Hevnoraak at arm’s length, fully aware of his severely sadistic and cruel nature, but he was not without his upsides. Hevnoraak was the most likely to snap back at Konahrik, and was often the one the other younger priests hid behind when it came to breaking Konahrik’s rules and traditions. If anyone was going to host a party or a leisurely gathering, it was him.

Had a fling or two with Miraak, and had flings with Vokun.

Ruled over modern-day Falkreath and up to his temple at Valthume.

Vokun

Male || 6′08″ / 2.03 m || 251 lbs / 113.9 kg Birth Name: Hilgaar || 30th of First Seed, ME -54 || The Lord Neutral Evil ||  Ereivurkrent [Dragon] || Obtained Mask at 25 in ME -29 Homosexual || Homoromantic 34 at Miraak’s Betrayal || 53 at Death [Killed by soldiers seeking to destroy the remains of the cult]

Vokun joined the cult young, a quiet servant who was rarely noticed. He became a important asset to his patron dragon and some of the higher priests because of how often he was ignored - he became very good at collecting information under other’s noses. This, ultimately, almost lead to his death. The discovery of another priest’s plans against the temple was brought to his attention, and ultimately Vokun’s involvement with its discovery caused the priest in question to attack him. Vokun nearly died and lost his right eye, but his devotion and skills were brought to light with the rest of the cult. This earned him a place among the priests, where he quickly settled into the background with the younger priests. He was not always thrilled to be breaking rules or going along with Hevnoraak’s shenanigans, but his voice was very frequently talked over. That said, he was often the voice of reason for the younger priests, and one of the few that could calm Hevnoraak without penalty.

Had flings with Hevnoraak and Krosis [Nonvul].

Ruled over modern-day Dawnstar and the marshland of Morthal to the river.

Zahkriisos

Female || 6′02″ / 1.88 m || 162 lbs / 73.41 kg Birth Name: Sval || 24th of Hearthfire, ME -54 || The Lady Lawful Evil ||  Mahkofus [Frost Dragon] || Obtained Mask at 25 in ME -29 Bisexual || Heteroromantic 34 at Miraak’s Betrayal || 34 at Death [Died protected Miraak’s temple]

Zahkrissos descended from a member of the 500 Companions, and had taken to the call of keeping Skyrim’s lands clear of Snow Elves. A talented warrior, she gained her position in the council after rampaging with a band of warriors across the countryside to clear lingering hoards of Snow Elves from Atmoran-controlled territory. She quickly became popular in the council, and was very outspoken. While she tended to agree with the older members, she most often sided with the others her age. She taught Miraak how to use the blade, and forced her way into their pact with Mora in search of power. She was often too happy to go along with Hevnoraak’s horrible plans, and was a little too straight forward in her desires for some of the other priests.

Had flings with Volsung, but was romantically interested in Miraak - though Miraak did not share the feelings. She did not reciprocate Volsung’s feelings towards her.

Ruled over a now-gone stretch of land that connected Solstheim to the mainland, before Miraak sundered and let the sea reclaim it in his fight with Vahlok.

Volsung

Female || 29 || 6′00″ / 1.83 m || 189 lbs / 85.8 kg Birth Name: Hiajifildr || 19th of Last Seed, ME -49 || The Warrior Neutral Evil ||  Draalliivgraag [Magma Dragon] || Obtained Mask at 22 in ME -27 Homosexual || Homoromantic 29 at Miraak’s Betrayal || 84 at Death [Dies protecting Volskygge from those seeking to remove the remains of the Dragon Cult]

Volsung was handed to the temple after showing astonishing magical prowess, and was mostly raised and tutored under the priests. She studied under Ahzidal as well, and took a shining to Miraak. Her and Hevnoraak particularly butted heads as Volsung was one of the few people who wouldn’t deal with his shit, but they were very frequently caught hanging around each other. She was second behind Miraak on Rahgot and Otar’s list of most hated priests, and she made it a point of proving herself to the others for what limited time there was before Miraak’s betrayal and the hard change in atmosphere.

Had flings with and feelings for Zahkriisos, but Zahkriisos did not reciprocate them.

Ruled over modern-day Solitude, the portion of modern-day Markarth north of the river, and the eastern most part of modern-day Morthal.

Krosis [Nonvul]

Male || 6′04″ / 1.93 m || 152 lbs / 68.9 kg Birth Name: Gyrrunmomth || 20th of Frostfall, ME -49 || The Tower Lawful Neutral || Gruthrathlir || Obtained Mask at 19 in ME -30, was renamed at 31 in ME -18 Bisexual || Biromantic 29 at Miraak’s Betrayal || 47 at Death [Dies protecting his followers while fleeing those hunting the Dragon Cult - his sarcophagus is dropped and abandoned on the top of Shearpoint instead of being buried]

Krosis ascended the ranks of the cult rapidly, deeply devoted to the religion and to his people. He was rather favored by his dragon patron, who even recommended him when the masked council sought a new member. Many of the priests saw him as too gentle and good-natured. He had a genuine interest in people’s well being and the relationship between man and dragons, and was too cheerful for some of the priests. He was a favorite for heckling by the younger priests, as far as Miraak would allow it. He was close to many of the younger priests anyways, and was often a voice of reason with Vokun. He was renamed from Nonvul to Krosis after his spiral of depression following Miraak’s betrayal.

Was romantically involved with Miraak for 7 years, until Miraak’s decreasing contact with him and Miraak did not turn away Zahkriisos’s very obvious advances. He had flings with Vokun after.

Ruled over the area south west of modern-day Windhelm, from Korvanjund in the west and the river’s border in the east, to the edge of the mountain range that contains the Throat of the World.

[sheparrrds]

dutch is... yeah he's basically a cult leader. and i don't wanna say when he took arthur in he indoctrinated him but yeah dutch absolutely saw a young impressionable mind who would owe him and exploited that for his own selfish purposes. sure it's not all quite as clear cut as that but yh that's the gist

he absolutely did that. arthur’s entire worldview is this.. existential conflict between what he feels in his heart, his artist’s soul, his softness, and the construct dutch brought him up to believe, the lieutenant dutch formed him into. dutch.. effectively collects vulnerable people. addicts (to both substances and to crime), outcasts, misfits, criminals. folks who don’t fit in with the society around them. 

whether that be because they’re an ex-serviceman struggling with living as a civilian after a life in the navy, not living up to any expectations of himself by his family, and coping with burgeoning alcoholism; the daughter of a freed slave who was kidnapped as a child and brought up as a gang’s plaything until she escaped by murdering her captor;

a clergyman with severe addictions to morphine and opium, both of which have stripped him of his career, his purpose, and his family; another ex-serviceman from an alcoholic family who was dishonourably discharged from the army due to his violent nature and alcoholism, who’s grown into an ignorant racist with a bad temper; a displaced revolutionary mexican freedom fighter who grew up seeing his family, community, and country being torn apart by despots, understanding firsthand what power does to people, an exile from his own homeland;

 a sickly austrian who found himself alone in new york city as a child and used his intelligence to become a remorseless loan shark; the son of a freed slave who saw his father murdered when he was barely a teenager, killed those responsible, and went on the run at 15;

a black native american who has relied on no one but himself in the midst of the white colonialists responsible for the continuing genocide of his culture and people, since the age of 13 when he ran away from his alcoholic father after the kidnap, abuse, and murder of his mother, leaving him with no concept of or connection to his own culture, heritage, and only family;

a conflicted career criminal whose penchant for scamming people was initially borne from his need to survive as a child alone, but since became a weary defeated addiction even lifelong love can’t break him from no matter how he tries; a young woman who so despises the world she lives in and that world’s treatment of women that she despises herself as a result, and turns to crime to punish that world, drinking herself through existence just to cope; a man who was his murderer father’s partner-in-crime all his life and has grown into an angry violent manipulative bigoted psychopath; prostitutes, immigrants, strays with nowhere else to go;

a 12 year old child due to be lynched by farmers in illinois

a 15 year old orphan whose petty criminal father left such a negative impact on him that arthur wishes he’d died years before he finally did

dutch collects vulnerable people. people who have, for one reason or another, failed at living in society. he preaches that there is no place in society for folks like them, and that by sticking with him, they will find somewhere they belong. a family. a safe haven outside of society’s laws and walls.

and because every gang member has.. Something that has made them an outcast in wider society, dutch’s politics and preaching appeal to them. to john and arthur, it goes even deeper. dutch is their only family. the father figure who took them in, taught them how to survive, fed them, sheltered them, supported them.

and at the same time, conditioned them into perfect gang enforcers. dutch took the fears and anger and confusion of two children and played on them, created a worldview where john and arthur would never be accepted outside his hold. in the beginning of the game especially, arthur believes there is no good in the world. he believes people and the lives people lead are inherently greedy, selfish, and violent. he expresses confusion and anger when he meets people who Don’t believe life is just Like That. the bad things they do, the things he knows are wrong, he believes are just part of the fabric of the universe. he’s damned, he’s a bad irredeemable criminal, and doing bad things makes little difference.

that’s the world dutch cultivated for him, in the end. perhaps not at first, when dutch span the tale of survival by any means, but that’s how it is when we meet arthur, and due to arthur’s familial loyalty to dutch, arthur doesn’t question it when dutch becomes less robin hood and more sheriff of nottingham. dutch has created two unerringly loyal soldiers. 

and even when arthur’s true nature conflicts with his hardened worldview, it takes his own impending death and knowing what’s in store for his brother john, for him to truly finally break out of dutch’s conditioning. to finally see the worth in the world around him. the beauty, the kindness. and to realise it does make a difference. that he has a choice, in all things. that being good is less about something innate that he was born with, and more about choosing to do good things from one moment to the next. to be kind, selfless, generous. to love. it won’t absolve what’s been done, and sometimes the world will be unkind and hard and painful no matter what, but good begets good. it does matter.

like.. i believe the events in game were the short term causes of dutch’s descent. but the wheel had been turning for a long while before we join the ride. dutch is a deadly cocktail of greed, anger, a messiah complex, a complete inability to deal with failure.. he was a ticking time bomb, and he always was.

and i believe dutch did genuinely believe in his ideal at first. he did reject society and did believe he could find the promised land and live free and easy, and if he had to steal a few things here and there to survive, that was forgivable, because his end justified his means. and i think it’s a human condition, to be.. unhappy with the world, to feel trapped by ‘society’, to long for some unknown unquantified freedom, the ever romantic ‘simple life’. i think many humans desire that, no matter where we are in history. and dutch managed to exploit that desire in people.

and we see how it ends, when that relatively simple ideal becomes a regime of violence and murder for the sake of violence and murder presided over by a maniacally out-of-touch dictator whose blind arrogance and paranoid hero complex get most of his ‘family’ killed.

[ziggory]

Riverdale Liveblogs 3x07 - 3x13

Instead of making you all suffer through six separate liveblogs as I was catching up, have them all in on post!

3x07, “The Man in Black”

Remember when Jughead was the biggest woobie ever with a bunch of sad shit happening to him. Fun times. Honestly, Jughead’s just really taking advantage of finally being on the roadtrip he was denied

Justice for Jingle Jangle. Why did we need a new drug? Or I’d be fine with it complementing the other but NOooOooOOOO. It’s trying to shove JJ out of the spotlight!

Elvis’ granddaughter could’ve just drugged the eggs but instead she chose to nearly give Archie a concussion. Hiram might chop her head off if his Archiekins gets permanent brain damage

Let Archie kill a man!! Jughead got to skin someone who was fucking up his life. Why can’t he let Archie take his shot!? I can’t hear you about consequences

Your business is failing because trading away the final piece of the Soutshide to open a vanity project in the form of a dry speakeasy was not a great idea. Also, gamers can give you business. I’ve seen it!

The show can make Veronica say all these supposedly empowering lines, but I’m never going to forget that she supported a for-profit prison

MAYBE MY DAD’S NOT SO BAD!!?!?

This voiceover was completely unnecessary. Honestly, it’s sort of a slap in the face to Lili’s acting as if they didn’t think she could convey certain things without some hand holding

I’ve seen movies. They make you swallow that shit on the spot

So many negative thoughts being awkwardly confirmed

Honestly, this is what happens when you keep exploiting the place for abuses to help your investigations but never fucking shut it down

3x08, “Outbreak”

Does Moose need drugs to get it up? He said Midge liked to get wild, but methinks he liked it of his own volition as well. And just what I wanted. Shadowy makeouts while high on drug laced childhood candy

Kevin needs to find out who put a curse on his dick. ANOTHER hookup interrupted by bodies in danger

I don’t know why a group of high school boys acting like typical jackass high school boys with loud laughing is cause for thinking they’re all high.

“good people like Archie” 

Gladys being a Jarchie shipper is pure. I will not stand for this no homoing

Wait, Cheryl did actually get to be Student Body President? I thought they were just going to let that circle the drain and disappear

MY FAVORITE INCOMPETENT EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATOR

THE PRISON WAS A FUCKING COVER?!?!? So all of S2 was just…oh my fucking god, I’m going to do drown myself

“good looking shortsatck” Love it. Goddamn, I love Gladys

Do they know that the way they write Hiram and Veronica feels like it’s been dipped in ten layers of incest? He talks to her like she’s the mistress he wants to bed

The affection the Jones women have for Archie is cute

The Gargoyle King being a hallucination is the most disappointing thing

TABLETOP RPGS ARE NOT FUCKING BORN OF MADNESS. Ugh, my inner geek is angry with rage

Oh, now you care about the kids in conversion therapy

So I guess they didn’t go to Toledo for Christmas??

Lili should get a raise for this Griffin Queen shit

I’m more emotional than I would usually be over these Fred scenes given Luke Perry’s recent condition

PROTECT THAT FUCKING DOG WITH YOUR FUCKING LIFE!! THROW YOURSELF IN FRONT OF A BEAR

I missed alcoholic Hermione. And lmao this Watchmen realness

I love Silent!Kevin getting nothing to say in that office! Just fucking great

we need to know more about this fucking Governor. Racist piece of shit who gets upset about vandalized statues of genocidal war criminals, AND he’s under Hiram’s thumb.

3x09, “No Exit”

Will someone get bit by a monkey? I can only hope

Oh fuck off with the Star Wars reference. IT DOESN’T FIT

Stealing from the rich to give to the rich. How very one percenter. And Toni, all your friends are living in tents by the river

KEVIN. WHY THE FUCK DO YOU ALWAYS JOIN THE WORST GROUPS

While the implication of Jughead sleeping over is nice, what the fuck was the point of last episode’s cliffhanger. This timeline makes no sense

I’M GETTING FIREWATCH VIBES

They’re so fucking low budget that they couldn’t even show the bear, LMAO

I forgot what Fangs sounded like. Didn’t FP retire? ARE THERE EVEN ANY ADULTS LEFT IN THIS FUCKING JOKE OF A GANG. But Damn, Fangs is good at crying. So pretty

Aww, I actually missed the hammy ass warden

Every time Joaquin’s name is mentioned, another dagger in my heart

The fact that the sisters have been fake nuns this whole time is just…what the fuck. AND THE FUCKING SOCIAL WORKER KNEW AND JUST LET THEM KEEP OPERATING!?!? LET THIS WHOLE FUCKING TOWN FALL INTO A HELLMOUTH

Remember when Jughead was outraged about the Serpents being paid security at the Pickens festival thing? Time is a flat circle

CHERYL, WHY DON’T YOU JSUT KILL HIRAM THEN

“SAVED”!??! REALLY NANA ROSE!?! IS THAT WHAT YOU CALL THE CHILD GROOMING YOU DID!? And uh, Fred and Sierra should know about that sordid piece of Penelope’s past

Damn, Veggie is hot as fuck

You know who else could’ve gone undercover for the Serpents to infiltrate the Gargoyle gang?!????? I HATE YOU FOREVER, RAS. ANOTHER AU FOR THE DRAWER

3x10, “The Stranger”

LMAO that they tried to make us think Archie died

Being attacked by a bear in Canada means not having to suffer through crippling debt because of the hospital bill for the rest of your life

Sidenote, but I really thought the painting of Veronica would have a bug or something. The fact that she just kept the painting instead of burning it says something

Oh so the core four are THOSE type of friends

Betty’s money >> those kids

Claudius just doesn’t want to do actual work

They let a kid pass the first grade when he couldn’t read? So the educational system has always been rather shit

Hey there, Silent!Kevin! Just sitting silently with your slowly developing biceps

Does Reggie know what PTSD is

I spy with my little eyes Kevin in the corner putting his PE clothes away! Once again robbed of a shirtless scene

FUCKING TALL BOY!?!? Lol, this is really good for my drawer fic actually. Keep sounding like a spiteful man! It’s semi feeding me

Wow, they really crammed in two Varchie sex scenes

Hiram deserved this and every agonizing second of pain he felt

Raw milk, huh? Yeah, that’s all you need to bait Kevin into this cult

Bye Claudius, no one will miss you

I want Hermione/FP to fuck

Jughead throwing a party to make things better is the biggest twist this series has ever done

Archie the alcoholic, eh. If this lasts more than one episode, that’d sure be something

3x11, “The Red Dahlia”

This is the noir episode, isn’t it. I’m…really bad with noir so an episode from THIS team is going to be…very trying

Awww, FP mentioning Joaquin is an extra pang. I wanted to know more about their relationship

I’d love to see the notes on this draft when Jughead tries submitting it to a publisher. Unless he goes the self pub route

Who even runs the newspaper now?

Betty, you’re like the last person to talk about black and white morality

Archie sounds like the protagonist of Office Space at the end when he finds his calling in construction

ELIO HAS SPOKEN MORE THAN MELODY EVER DID. EAT SHIT, RAS

I still need Jughead and Veronica arguing about classic cinema

I wonder where Penelope learned those crocodile tears, Nana. Like I never need a scene of her criticizing her ADOPTED DAUGHTER again

Cheryl is pretty forgiving of the uncle who sort of helped with her institutionalization

Have these boys never watched an episode of Breaking Bad? Put that body in a barrel

So has Veronica had a change of heart about Daddykins? I’m so confused

SMITHERS!?!? YOu’RE STILL ALIVE!? Protect this man

Remember when Betty was a camgirl for ten seconds and watched all of her fake brother’s porn videos

Josie’s voice is pure butter, and the show needs to stop pretending that we want to hear anyone else sing

Why doesn’t Toni have a job at Veronica’s dry speakeasy? She used to be an actual bartender!

“Kevin’s dad boxes at the gym” being a line from Josie is the most beautiful line in this episode

Well at least they explained the seizures.

YYYAAAAAASSSS, KELLY RIPPA!!

What is even the point of Minetta having faked his death just to be Hermione’s kept man

Well, damn, I really didn’t see this FP reveal coming. I wish he was the sheriff Hermione was fucking. And given all the things Jughead used to say and aim at Keller, it’s interesting to see him have to deal with his dad being somewhat in Hermione’s pocket

PULL THE FUCKING TRIGGER, ARCHIE

Lmao at this Bad Boys line. I see you, synergy

Honestly, how dare Archie shoot the person who was going to kill Hiram. I guess that’s one way to bury the Archie/Hiram grudge

Hermione’s trigger finger is life goals

3x12, “Bizarrodale”

So first off, fuck that title and everything it implies.

Second, this is the episode where I’m supposed to finally get fed, eh? FINGERS CROSSED

I forgot what Kevin sounded like after not talking for four episodes

WHEN CAN WE MEET KEVIN’S MOM!?!? I HAVE MANY FANCASTS

Veronica watches Netflix confirmed, and yet I guess she just scrolls past Orange is the New Black every time it’s recommended to her

Why are Kevoose makeouts always in shadow? Is it to disguise the fact that when they makeout it’s with their lips sealed shut

The actor who plays Major Mason followed me back on my burner instagram

Awww, Sweet Pea is a relationship guy with a gooey little heart!

Sierra pegs Tom confirmed. Love these two kinky fuckers

The way Tom says “Gargoyle King” goes straight to my nether regions

So does Britta have a kink for people outing others against their will? I swear this is a plot point in Ship It too

I feel like these issues are something they should’ve talked about way more. Making Moose’s coming out be an ultimatum is pretty gross

How DARE they not let us hear Josie sing?!??! Ohhhh, if we’d heard Josie sing then we would sent death threats to the fake Juilliard board. I never want to hear Josie’s teary little voice again because it hurts my feelings

Lmao, this is the second time a parent has been judgmental of how the Lodges involve Veronica in their business

Remember that time Moose and Cheryl made out? I’m forever traumatized by that

Hiram and Hermione strolling in like a fucked up Gomez and Morticia

I’m sure that Dilton would approve of his friend from another lifetime using his secret bunker to pop his cherry. But only Moose. Yes, I ship comics Dilton/Moose

Oh, HeeEYEEEEEEE, IT’S LIKE A BUNCH OF MY FIC DREAMS COME TO LIFE. Wow, I finally got pandered to. Kevin being in dagner is like…the basis of the majority of my drawer fics

I’M FUCKING PSYCHIC X2!!!! Well huh, this puts that earlier diner scene in a new light

Yesss, please keep calling him Tommy and talking about how Kevin looks like your old friend with that sad, wistful tone. Please feed my fic bunnies

Christ, Ashleigh has such a fucking amazing voice. I can actually bear KJ’s singing

Moose having to leave makes sense. ALSO MAKE SURE YOU WATCH CODY”S SHOW ON NETFLIX TO MAKE THIS WORTH IT

I never want to see Kevin cry again. Fucking Maramaduke

Gladys can step on me, and I’d apologize

3x13, REQUEIM FOR A WELTERWEIGHT

I’M FINALLY ALL FUCKING CAUGHT UP

I don’t think that bacon is fully cooked

So Veronica just decided to not move back out because the path of least resistance?? And she’s back in her Daddy’s clutches because....he got shot???

The Serpent with the awesome dreads is still there! Can he be an actual character with a name? He deserves it

Between last episode and this one, I am being fucking BLESSED with Daddy Keller content. 

VERONICA IS a FUCKING REPUBLICAN CONFIRMED. I guess we all know who scrolled right past 13th on Netflix! 

They’re really trying to sweep up their awkward plot mistakes from last season, eh

I need a flashback of young Alice in this ugly fucking wedding dress

This is some Rocky and Mickey shit. Hopefully Keller doesn’t have a heart attack while confronting Mr. T

YES, GLADYS!!! CALL OUT THAT LEADERSHIP!

San Junipero water, huh. 

Why is Archosie so perfect

Ehhhh, the last time they talked was eight episodes ago. Will this scene be about how Kevin’s recovering post-Moose?? Of course not. My hopes for investigative Kevin are once again yanked away. Though of course remember that time she got him to catfish a murderer without telling him that Chic had killed someone?? Fun times

“cute gay farmies”

Veronica is the opposite intimidating ESPECIALLY in the face of Gladys who we all know has actually fucked up a bitch

The monstrous Freeform ate Malachai, eh. Ghoulie jackets are still the best jackets

I’ve never watched Apocalypse Now so this scene is wasted on me

THUNDERDOME!!?!?

Keller looks like he gives good hugs

How the fuck did Jason learn about The Farm?

This is Polly’s revenge for being sent to the Sisters

It’s awkward how Choni just sort of disappeared from the episode

Damn, Archosie has everything going on

Hermione, you should’ve just killed Hiram when you had the chance

PROTECTIVE BIG BROTHER JUGHEAD!

Gladys doling out gang advice is just everything I wanted from her

[radfemandreadaly]

The news that Jorg Haider - the Austrian fascist leader - spent his final few hours in a gay bar with a hot blond has shocked some people. It hasn't shocked me. This is a taboo topic for a gay left-wing man like me to touch, but there has always been a weird, disproportionate overlap between homosexuality and fascism. Take a deep breath; here goes.

Some 10,000 gay people were slaughtered in the Nazi death-camps. Many more were humiliated, jailed, deported, ethnically cleansed, or castrated. One gay survivor of the camps, LD Classen von Neudegg, has written about his experiences. A snapshot: "Three men had tried to escape one night. They were captured, and when they returned they had the word 'homo' scrawled across their clothing. They were placed on a block and whipped. Then they were forced to beat a drum and cheer, 'Hurrah! We're back! Hurrah!' Then they were hanged." This is one of the milder events documented in his book. So the idea of a gay fascist seems ridiculous. Yet when the British National Party - our own home-grown Holocaust-denying bigots - announced it was fielding an openly gay candidate in the European elections this June, dedicated followers of fascism didn't blink. The twisted truth is that gay men have been at the heart of every major fascist movement that ever was - including the gay-gassing, homo-cidal Third Reich. With the exception of Jean-Marie Le Pen, all the most high-profile fascists in Europe in the past thirty years have been gay. It's time to admit something. Fascism isn't something that happens out there, a nasty habit acquired by the straight boys. It is - in part, at least - a gay thing, and it's time for non-fascist gay people to wake up and face the marching music. Just look at our own continent over the past decade. Dutch fascist Pim Fortuyn ran on blatantly racist anti-immigrant platform, describing Islam as "a cancer" and "the biggest threat to Western civilisation today." Yet with two little fluffy dogs and a Mamma complex, he was openly, flamboyantly gay. When accused by a political opponent of hating Arabs, he replied, "How can I hate Arabs? I sucked one off last night."

Jorg Haider blasted Austria's cosy post-Nazi politics to rubble in 2000 when his neo-fascist 'Freedom Party' won a quarter of the vote and joined the country's government as a coalition partner. Several facts always cropped up in the international press coverage: his square jaw, his muscled torso, his SS-supporting father, his rabid anti-Semitism, his hatred of immigrants, his description of Auschwitz and Dachau as "punishment centres". A few newspapers mentioned that he is always surrounded by fit, fanatical young men. A handful went further and pointed out that several of these young men are openly gay. Then one left-wing German paper broke the story everybody else was hinting at. They alleged Haider is gay. Rumours of an Indian waiter with "intimate details" of Haider's body broke into the press. The Freedom Party's general manager Gerald Miscka quickly quit, amid accusations that he was Haider's lover. Haider's close gay friend Walter Kohler - who has been photographed showing off a holstered pistol while Haider chuckled - declared his opposition to outing politicians. Haider - who was married and has two children - kept quiet while his functionaries denied the rumours. The revelation that he died after leaving a gay bar suggests these rumours were true.

On and on it goes. If you inter-railed across Europe, only stopping with gay fascists, there aren't many sights you'd miss. France's leading post-war fascist was Edouard Pfieffer, who was not batting for the straight side. Germany's leading neo-Nazi all through the eighties was called Michael Kuhnen; he died of AIDS in 1991 a few years after coming out. Martin Lee, author of a study of European fascism, explains, "For Kuhnen, there was something supermacho about being a Nazi, as well as being a homosexual, both of which enforced his sense of living on the edge, of belonging to an elite that was destined to make an impact. He told a West German journalist that homosexuals were 'especially well-suited for our task, because they do not want ties to wife, children and family.'" And it wouldn't be long before your whistlestop tour arrived in Britain. At first glance, our Nazis seem militantly straight. They have tried to disrupt gay parades, describe gay people as "evil", and BNP leader Nick Griffin reacted charmingly to the bombing of the Admiral Duncan pub in 1999 with a column saying, "The TV footage of gay demonstrators [outside the scene of carnage] flaunting their perversion in front of the world's journalists showed just why so many ordinary people find these creatures repulsive."

But scratch to homophobic surface and there's a spandex swastika underneath. In 1999, Martin Webster, a former National Front organiser and head honcho in the British fascist movement, wrote a four-page pamphlet detailing his 'affair' with Nick Griffin. "Griffin sought out intimate relations with me," openly-gay Webster explained, "in the late 1970s. He was twenty years younger than me." Ray Hill, who infiltrated the British fascist movement for twelve years to gather information for anti-fascist groups, says it's all too plausible. Homosexuality is "extremely prevalent" in the upper echelons of the British far right, and at one stage in the 1980s nearly half of the movement's organisers were gay, he claims.  

Gerry Gable, editor of the anti-fascist magazine 'Searchlight', explains, "I have looked at Britain's Nazi groups for decades and this homophobic hypocrisy has been there all the time. I cannot think of any organisation on the extreme right that hasn't attacked people on the grounds of their sexual preference and at the same time contained many gay officers and activists."

Griffins' alleged gay affair would stand in a long British fascist tradition. The leader of the skinhead movement all through the 1970s was a crazed, muscled thug called Nicky Crane. He was the icon of a reactionary backlash against immigrants, feminism and the 'hippy' lifetsyle of the 1960s. His movement's emphasis on conformity to a shaven, dehumanised norm resembled classical fascist movements; Crane soon became a campaigner and leading figure in the National Front. Oh, and he was gay. Before he died of AIDS in the mid-1980s, Crane came out and admitted he had starred in many gay porn videos. Just before he died in 1986, he was allowed to steward a Gay Pride march in London, even though he still said he was "proud to be a fascist." The rubber-soled friction between gay fascists and progressive British gay people sparked into anger in 1985 when the Gay Skinhead Movement organised a disco at London's Gay Centre. Several lesbians in particular objected to the "invasion" of the centre. They felt that the cult of "real men" and hypermasculine thugs was stirring up the most base feelings "in the very place, the gay movement, where you would least expect them." And this Gaystapo has an icon to revere, an alternative Fuhrer to worship: the lost gay fascist leader Ernst Rohm. Along with Adolf Hitler, Rohm was the founding father of Nazism. Born to conservative Bavarian civil servants in 1887, Ernst Rohm's life began - in his view - in the "heroic" trenches of the First World War. Like so many of the generation who formed the Nazi Party, he was nurtured by and obsessed with the homoerotic myth of the trenches - heroic, beautiful boys prepared to die for their brothers and their country.   He emerged from the war with a bullet-scarred face and a reverence for war. As he put it in his autobiography, "Since I am an immature and wicked man, war and unrest appeal to me more than the good bourgeois order." After being disbanded, he tried half-heartedly to get a foothold in civilian life, but he saw it as alien, bourgeois, boring. He had no political beliefs, only prejudices - particularly hatred of Jews. Historian Joachim Fest describes Rohm's generation of alienated, demobbed young men humiliated by defeat as "agents of a permanent revolution without any revolutionary idea of the future, only a wish to eternalize the values of the trenches." It was Rohm who first spotted the potential of a soap-box ranter called Adolf Hitler. He saw him as the demagogue he needed to mobilize support for his plan to overthrow democracy and establish a "soldier's state" where the army ruled untrammelled. He introduced the young fascist to local politicians and military leaders; they knew him for many years as "Rohm's boy." Gay historian Frank Rector notes, "Hitler was, to a substantial extent, Rohm's protégé." Rohm integrated Hitler into his underground movement to overthrow the Weimar Republic. Rohm's blatant, out homosexuality seems bizarre now, given the gay genocide that was to follow. He talked openly about his fondness for gay bars and Turkish baths, and was known for his virility. He believed that gay people were superior to straights, and saw homosexuality as a key principle of his proposed Brave New Fascist Order. As historian Louis Snyder explains, Rohm "projected a social order in which homosexuality would be regarded as a human behaviour pattern of high repute... He flaunted his homosexuality in public and insisted his cronies do the same. He believed straight people weren't as adept at bullying and aggression as homosexuals, so homosexuality was given a high premium in the SA." They promoted an aggressive, hypermasculine form of homosexuality, condemning "hysterical women of both sexes", in reference to feminine gay men. This belief in the superiority of homosexuality had a strong German tradition that grew up at the turn of the twentieth century around Adolf Brand, publisher of the country's first gay magazine. You could call it 'Queer as Volk': they preached that gay men were the foundation of all nation-states and represented an elite, warrior caste that should rule. They venerated the ancient warrior cults of Sparta, Thebes and Athens.

Rohm often referred to the ancient Greek tradition of sending gay solider couples into battle, because they were believed to be the most ferocious fighters. The famous pass of Thermopylae, for example was held by 300 soldiers - who consisted of 150 gay couples. In its early years, the SA - Hitler and Rohm's underground army - was seen as predominantly gay. Rohm assigned prominent posts to his lovers, making Edmund Heines his deputy and Karl Ernst the SA commander in Berlin. The organisation would sometimes meet in gay bars. The gay art historian Christian Isermayer said in an interview, "I got to know people in the SA. They used to throw riotous parties even in 1933... I once attended one. It was quite well-behaved but thoroughly gay. But then, in those days, the SA was ultra-gay." On June 30th 1934, Rohm was awoken in a Berlin hotel by Hitler himself. He sprang to his feet and saluted, calling, "Heil Mein Fuhrer!" Hitler said simply, "You are under arrest," and with that he left the room, giving orders for Rohm to be taken to Standelheim prison. He was shot that night. Rohm was the most high-profile kill in the massacre known as 'the Night of the Long Knives'.   Rohm had been suspected by Hitler of disloyalty, but his murder began a massive crackdown on gay people. Heinrich Himmler, head of the Gestapo, described homosexuality as "a symptom of degeneracy that could destroy our race. We must return to the guiding Nordic principle: extermination of degenerates." German historian Lothar Machtan argues that Hitler had Rohm - and almost all of the large number of gay figures within the SA - killed to silence speculation about his own homosexual experiences. His 'evidence' for Hitler being gay is shaky and has been questioned by many historians, although some of his findings are at least suggestive. A close friend of Hitler's during his teenager years, August Kubizek, alleged a "romantic" affair between them. Hans Mend, a despatch rider who served alongside Hitler in the First World War, claimed to have seen Hitler having sex with a man. Hitler was certainly very close to several gay men, and never seems to have had a normal sexual relationship with a woman, not even his wife, Eva Braun. Rudolph Diels, the founder of the Gestapo, recorded some of Hitler's private thoughts on homosexuality. "It had destroyed ancient Greece, he said. Once rife, it extended its contagious effects like an ineluctable law of nature to the best and most manly of characters, eliminating from the breeding pool the very men the Volk most needs." This idea - that homosexuality is 'contagious' and, implicitly, tempting - is revealing. Rohm is venerated on the Homo-Nazi sites that have bred on the internet like germs in a wound. They have names like Gays Against Semitism (with the charming acronym GAS), and the Aryan Resistance Corps (ARC). Their Rohmite philosophy is simple: while white men are superior to other races, gay men are "the masters of the Master Race". They alone are endowed with the "capacity for pure male bonding" and the "superior intellect" that is needed for "a fascist revolution." The ARC even organises holiday "get-togethers" for its members where "you can relax amongst the company of our fellow white brothers." So it's fairly easy to establish that gay people are not inoculated from fascism. They have often been at its heart. This begs the bigger question: why? How did gay people - so often victims of oppression and hate - become integral to the most hateful and evil political movement of all? Is it just an extreme form of self-harm, the political equivalent to the gay kids who slash their own arms to ribbons out of self-hate?   Gay pornographer and film-maker Bruce LaBruce has one explanation. He claims that "all gay porn today is implictly fascist. Fascism is in our bones, because it's all about glorifying white male supremacy and fetishizing domination, cruelty, power and monstrous authority figures." He has tried to explore the relationship between homosexuality and fascism in his movies, beginning with 'No Skin Off My Ass' in 1991. In his disturbing 1999 film "Skin Flick', a bourgeois gay couple - one black, one white - are sexually terrorised by a gang of gay skinheads who beat off to 'Mein Kampf' and beat up 'femmes'. He implies that bourgeois gay norms quickly break down to reveal a fascist lurking underneath; the movie ends with the black character being raped in front of his half-aroused white lover, as the racist gang chant, "Fuck the monkey." I decided to track down some gay fascists and ask them directly. Wyatt Powers, director of the ARC, says, "I always knew in my heart racist and gay were both morally right. I don't see any conflict between them. It's only the Jew-owned gay press that tries to convince us that racialism is the same thing as homophobia. You can be an extreme nationalist and gay without any contradiction at all."   One comment board on a gay racist website goes even further into racist lunacy. One gay man from Ohio says, "Even if you are gay and white, or retarded and white, YOU ARE WHITE, BOTTOM LINE! Instead of letting the white race go extinct because of worthless races such as the Africans or Mexicans popping out literally millions of babies a day, we have to fight this fucked up shit they are doing. They are raping our country." It's true that racism and homophobia do not necessarily overlap - but as Rabbi Bernard Melchman explains, "Homophobia and anti-Semitism are so often part of the same disease." Racists are usually homophobic. Even after reading all their web rantings, I didn't feel any closer to understanding why so many gay men ally themselves with people who will almost always turn on them in the end, just as the Nazis did. Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has a sensitive and intriguing explanation. "There are many reasons for this kind of thing," he says. "Some of them are in denial. They are going for hyper-masculinity, the most extreme possible way of being a man. It's a way of ostentatiously rejecting the perceived effeminacy of the homosexual 'Other'. These troubled men have a simple belief in their minds: 'Straight men are tough. Queers are weak. Therefore if I'm tough I can't be queer.' It's a desperate way of proving their manhood." 'Searchlight' magazine - the bible of the British anti-fascist movement, with moles in every major far-right organisation - offers an alternative explanation. "Generally condemned by a society that continues to be largely hostile to gays, some men may find refuge and a new power status in the far right," one of their writers has explained. "Through adherence to the politics espoused by fascist groups, a new identity emerges - one where they aren't outcasts, because they are White Men, superior to everyone else. They render the gay part of their identity invisible - or reject the socially less acceptable parts, like being feminine - while vaunting what they see as superior." But there's another important question: will fascist movements inevitably turn on gay people? In the case of the Nazis, it seems to have been fairly arbitrary; Hitler's main reason for killing Rohm was unrelated to his sexuality. From my perspective as a progressive-minded leftie, all fascism is evil; but should all gay people see it as inimical to their interests? Is it possible to have a gay fascist who wasn't acting against his own interests? Fascism is often defined as "a political ideology advocating hierarchical government that systematically denies equality to certain groups." It's true that this hierarchy could benefit gay people at the expense of, say, black people. But given the prevalence of homophobia, isn't that - even for people who don't see fascism as inherently evil - a terrible risk to take? Won't a culture that turns viciously on one minority get around to gay people in the end? This seems, ultimately, to be the lesson of Ernst Rohm's pitiful, squalid little life. The growing awareness of the role gay men play in fascist movements has been abused by some homophobes. In an especially nutty work of revisionist history called 'The Pink Swastika', the 'historian' Scott Lively tries to blame gay people for the entire Holocaust, and describes the murder of gay men in the camps as merely "gay-on-gay violence." A typical website commenting on the book claims absurdly, "The Pink Swastika shows that there was far more brutality, rape, torture and murder committed against innocent people by Nazi homosexuals than there even was against homosexuals themselves." Yet we can't allow these madmen to prevent a period of serious self-reflection from the gay movement. If Bruce LaBruce is right, many of the mainstream elements of gay culture - body worship, the lauding of the strong, a fetish for authority figures and cruelty - provide a swamp in which the fascist virus can thrive. Do some gay people really still need to learn that fascists will not bring on a Fabulous Solution for gay people, but a Final Solution for us all?

Johann Hari is a writer for the Independent newspaper. To read more of his articles, click here.

[dalekofchaos]

My problems with Finn's Stormtrooper past and indoctrination

Short story is there is very little effect on the overall story and Finn's defection does not affect him as a character or the story nor does it inspire anyone to rebel the FO.

Here is the long story

Finn seeing Han Solo, Chewbacca and Leia has no effect on him. Finn was taken and raised by The First Order. He should be raised to hate Han, Luke Leia, Chewbacca and Lando. He was indoctrinated as a child, so Finn should be taught from childhood to adulthood that Han, Luke and Leia are terrorists and war criminals who destroyed over 20 years of peace and would be taught that Luke, Han and Leia are responsible for genocide(you know that “I had friends on that death star” joke) so he is taught to hate them from birth and to kill them on sight. But he wasn't....he even says Han is a war hero....what kind of fucking indoctrination do you call this?

Has no problem killing his brothers and sisters. Seeing Slip die was the breaking point. He was so affected by his friend's murder that he swore he would never kill The First Order again. Finn is meant to show that Stormtroopers are human....only to show that they are back to being cannon fodder. The message they were trying to tell was dropped immediately. Finn defects because his Stormtrooper friend is killed. So what does he do? Kills more of his old Stormtrooper friends! Throughout the entire trilogy they don't acknowledge or care about that "Stormtroopers are human and could leave like Finn" they don't give the other child soldiers a chance to break free, everyone else is just disposable as Red Shirts.

Jakku is his first mission. Really? You expect me to believe a life time of serving The First Order and he only has his only mission that conveniently is the mission where he decides to defect?

Poe killing Slip is never brought up again. Just think, the very person he is saving is the very person who caused his break down on Jakku. Not once is it brought up. You'd think Hux or Phasma would've used it against Finn. Just imagine, Finn finds out and we have tension and animosity between Finn and Poe. It gives us the possibility of Finn going back or Finn forgiving Poe. None of that is presented. It's just never brought up again.

Finn and Kylo’s tension and animosity is never brought up again. After the massacre of Tuanul and Finn’s refusal to fire, Kylo stares at Finn. Then Kylo immediately knows that Finn was the one who helped Poe escape. Then Kylo screams traitor at Finn. Originally I thought this was because Finn was the awakening that Kylo and Snoke felt and my theory of the Knights Of Ren being Force Sensitive Stormtroopers, this is why Kylo saw his defection as a betrayal. But Finn and Kylo never share the same screen again. Really....the easiest thing they could’ve done was make the Force Bond be between Rey, Kylo and Finn. If you have to have a force bond. Make it between all three of them. Finn and Kylo are obvious foils. Finn was taken from his family against his will into the First Order and realized on his own that murder was wrong. Conversely, Kylo willingly ran from his family into the First Order and consciously uses murder to gain power. As Kylo kills his father, Finn becomes a Resistance hero. Their storylines and development are inversely proportional to each other- when Finn moves toward the light, Kylo falls further toward darkness. Finn is the humanity Kylo rejected when he chose to kill his father.  Kylo is the darkness Finn could have succumbed to but ran away from. So why not have them being connected by the force. Keep the dynamic with Rey and Kylo, but with a force connection established between Finn and Kylo, we could have Kylo wondering why Finn would desert The First Order, while Finn wonders why Kylo betrayed his family, the Jedi and joined The First Order. Kylo wanting Rey AND Finn to join him in bringing a New Order to the galaxy. They reject. But just imagine Rey, FInn and Ben  unite to end Palpatine. The Trinity in the Force. I just....they did nothing with Finn and Ben’s staredowns/animosity. Seeing the three main characters in this trilogy  first become enemies, then allies and finally friends who unite and bring down the Emperor would’ve been great. But no, instead we get nothing to resolve their differences.

Finn is not affected despite a life of conditioning and indoctrination. Finn is a character who was raised as a Stormtrooper, but there doesn’t feel like any indoctrination to begin with. Finn’s defection could’ve been a great story but it is never brought up again. What was life like in the First Order? But instead, his Stormtrooper past is never brought up again. When he throws away his armor on Jakku is when any exciting character development is thrown away, too. His past as a Stormtrooper is barely mentioned and is hardly relevant. For someone who’s kidnapped as a child, why does he act so "normal” when he escapes the First Order? People that escape cults and child soldiers have difficulty adjusting back into normal society. Why is he never affected by his supposed “indoctrination” why are there no signs of trauma or PTSD? Why doesn’t he hesitate to kill his FO brothers and sisters? It honestly feels like it didn’t have any impact on the story whatsoever.

A defecting Stormtrooper was ruined when we have him be revealed as the janitor. Instead of badass Stormtrooper who breaks free after realizing what he's doing is wrong, we get comedic relief: he drinks dirty water made for animals, and he acts funny, which is fine. But what truly sealed away his fate was the moment he uttered the word “sanitation” We know most FO do Sanitation as jobs, but the way JJ wrote the movie made everyone think that’s all Finn did and only did it as a joke. There are some serious racial undertones with writing Finn as a janitor. Johnson's depiction of Finn might've been racist as hell, but JJ was the one who ultimately decided that the one Stormtrooper with a face, who just happens to be black, was a Janitor.

His defection has no impact on the rest of the trilogy. As soon as we meet Jannah, I was like "holy shit, his defection finally inspires something???" and...it did not. His defection was taken from him. Finn refusing to kill for The First Order got copied on to a bunch of other Stormtroopers. Don’t get why we couldn’t at least have had Jannah mention they were inspired by Finn. Finn’s defection from the First Order ultimately meant nothing in the end and that is just depressing. Finn doesn’t even get to have what made his character great mean anything. There is no Stormtrooper Rebellion nor is Finn a symbol. Finn’s defection is forgettable….that’s the final insult degradation of Finn’s character

[red-queen-on-the-heathen-throne]

Skyrim is fucked up

Once you dig into the lore a little, you just kinda... want to burn all the factions to the ground.

The Empire because they’re sycophantic dicks who can’t get their shit together to defend their own citizens from what is, for all intents and purposes, a tiny island nation trying to force their (factually wrong, even) worldview on everyone.

The Dark Brotherhood for... okay, do I have to explain this one?

The Stormcloaks for being racist as fuck and also worshipping a dude who violently conquered an entire continent, slept with a woman he literally called a child, and then forced an abortion on her when her baby would have threatened his legitimate children’s position. I’m serious - Talos was an asshole.

The Companions for forcing you to join a daedric cult when they are afraid you couldn’t keep your mouth shut otherwise, and for their goddamn hero worship of a genocidal douchebag who decided killing every elf on an entire continent was adequate punishment for some elves killing a bunch of his people. Okay then.

The Blades are basically just Delphine trying to do whatever she likes. It just so happens to involve helping some people along the way. Also, she orders you to kill your dragon pal and is entirely unresponsive to any means of solving this mess in a diplomatic way.

The Thieves Guild are... I dunno, they’re still selfish dicks, but at least they’re not murdering people? Eventually?

I suppose the Mages Guild are all right, if for no other reason than that they barely ever leave the College anyway, and at least actively try to prevent any world-ending events from happening within their walls.

...fuck Talos and the Stormcloaks, though... >.>