#he ultimately became corrupted because of the isolation

[art-from-another-world]

so to match spider-connie, here's the main villain of the first arc: corrupted steven! he bled on a spider which then bit connie. tw for injury/blood under the cut

[hawkepockets]

actually. 🫷😀🫸 THOUGHTS ON AVELINE

i think aveline is a CORE da2 character, and her relationship with hawke is super super interesting. she’s hawke’s oldest friend in the game & by act 3, maybe the only enduring connection to their homeland & childhood besides the mabari. her voice, her bearing, her stated values are all very noble & movingly fereldan—but her actions both as guard captain & as a party member should be so profoundly disappointing to hawke almost no matter how you play them, which generates a powerful tension. imo it’s really poignant and adds a lot to the game’s central tragedy.

because how can hawke cut her off! but look at how she behaves: ignoring the serial killing & sexual assault of isolated older women and elf girls, baiting the arishok, slut shaming isabela, condescending to merrill. but how can they cut her off? the question is a privilege and a torment!

in this way i think she strikingly complements gamlen. like no matter what gamlen does and says to you, your love interest, leandra, the surviving hawke twin—he’s family and the only way into kirkwall. hawke is not permitted to sever those ties. and no matter what aveline does and says to you and all the women in your party, she remains your oldest friend and the only way back to ferelden, emotionally.

both aveline & gamlen will maintain a warm relationship with hawke as long as hawke tolerates their picking on those in proximity to hawke—but if hawke pushes back with aggressive dialogue options, both will tone match and became sour and hostile. aveline can be really quite awful to a red hawke, and will throw them to the ground and beat them at 100% rivalry. so there’s kind of an underlying challenge in both of these characters: how much will hawke, as gang leader & player character, put up with when it’s not directed at them?

of course, for all the nostalgia that seems to occlude av’s wrongdoings in kirkwall, she’s not really a childhood friend of hawke’s. she was a grown woman when they met, lothering was lost, and the moment was pretty heated thanks to aveline’s hostile templar husband.

and yet hawke is no more reliable & objective in their treatment of the past than varric is. and aveline is what they have! she’s standing in for all of ferelden, all of the past before the blight!

and likewise hawke for her! hawke is the only one left in act 3 who remembers wesley! aveline is the only one who remembers the dead hawke twin!

and as reprehensible as some of her decisions are, aveline’s grief for wesley and her enmity toward the old corrupt guard captain are sympathetic and her voice is sexy and husky and beautiful enough that. well im sorry i just lost the plot for a minute. uh

there’s also the act 3 subplot of the templars trying to take over the city guard, which sets up aveline as the only thing standing between kirkwall’s mages & absolute templar authority in the city. it’s literally her or cullen at his most brainwashed & violent. (to cullen’s credit he also thought it was a bad idea. but i won’t give him so much credit that i believe he’d turn down the position if aveline was removed.) between a knight-commander and a hard place, a pro-mage hawke has to choose the hard place.

so both of my playthroughs i’ve felt like hawke’s friendship with her is at the very least strained, if not completely ruptured, but they have to back her. how much that feels like fucking sandpaper may vary from hawke to hawke.

ultimately i just think she brings a lot to the table. i don’t necessarily understand why she’d be anyone’s all time #1 favorite companion, but you know.

[pumpkinfyre]

Being Rhaenyra's Only Daughter and Heir

Yandere House of the Dragon/Bastard! Velaryon! Reader

warnings: yandere content, platonic yandere, romantic yandere, reader is based on my oc naelys velaryon, but is a reader insert for inclusiveness, protective mama nyra, readers father is cole, hubby! aegon, daemon

RHAENYRA, who adores her baby girl! Oh, she would waltz around the Red Keep with her baby in her arms, showing the little Valyrian bundle of joy to anyone who crossed pathes with her. Her daughter, I imagine, would be the product of her time with Ser Cole, and while they no longer were close, and Criston seems to despise Rhaenyra now, she holds nothing but love for her precious daughter. Rhaenyra is very protective of her babies, but moreso of her daughter. Society is cruel to little girls, and she knows this very well. During the Dance, Rhaenyra became increasingly paranoid because her baby was stuck in Kings Landing. Her ultimate fear is losing (Name), and they are separated after the death of Viserys.

DAEMON is (Name)'s stepfather, and while she doesn't seem to like him very well, he holds a great fondness for her, as though she were his own daughter. He isn't very adequate as a father, and he often comes off as annoying and cocky, but he loves (Name) dearly! There is a theory that Daemon and Rhaenyra had Laenor killed so they could be together, and she hears these whispers. (Name) tries to keep a distance between her and Daemon, but he almost pushes himself into her life. As soon as Daemon and Rhaenyra marry, he starts to refer to himself as (Name)'s father, and this makes her upset because she still grieves Laenor.

JACAERYS, LUCERYS, AND LITTLE JOFF love their big sister! She's so wise and beautiful, and she dotes on them all like little ducklings. Jace is only a few years younger than (Name), so he takes on an almost protective role towards his sister. I imagine she's soft-spoken and sweet, much like Aemma was, so Jace feels like he needs to watch over her to make sure that no one corrupts his dear elder sister. Lucerys depends on (Name) for emotional support, as he's rather insecure. Both Lucerys and Joffrey follow her around and look up to (Name). I imagine she'd be especially close with little Joff, as he often clings to her like a suckerfish.

AEGON is (Name)'s husband and father of her children. Viserys marry them to each other in a bleak attempt to mend the differences between Alicent and Rhaenyra. It doesn't work, obviously, but Aegon is absolutely whipped for his wifey. He follows her around like a lost puppy and is willing to do whatever is necessary to keep her at his side. Once the war begins and their first son is murdered, Aegon becomes paranoid and forces his wife into isolation, for her own good, he says. He holds a hard disdain for her mother and tries several times to turn her against Rhaenyra. Aegon really just wants to take his wifey and babies to essos to life peacefully, but he knows he can't.

CRISTON COLE is (Name)'s true father, and despite holding disdain for Rhaenyra, he yearns to be close to his daughter. As a knight, Criston knows that he will never have a wife, nor will he ever become a father to happy children. He knowingly gave all of that away when he said his vows. Alas, Rhaenyra's pride and joy is a living reminder of his shame. She is innocent, sweet, and honorable, everything Criston is not. The pain of having to watch his child being raised by two different men kills Cole, as all he yearns for is to cradle her in his arms like any father would. Once the Dance begins, Criston fights with dedication. The dedication of a father.

the reader is based on my oc Naelys Velaryon from my fic 'prisoner of vows' (≡・x・≡)

masterlist ᡣ𐭩

[minhyeong]

NCT DREAM AS VILLAINS !

warning: a little dark? mentions of murder...

[ mark ] 

a cult leader who dreams of starting a revolution

was a former mental health counselor who got his licensed revoked due to unethical practices, but he knows how to read people well due to his background

feeds people water laced with hallucinogens under the guise of the water being blessed so they have an impaired ability to think and behave erratically around others

isolates people from their friends and family so he's the only one they can rely on

uses fear-based manipulation to create panic and control large groups of people at once

claims the world will end in 30 days with only a small number of people being able to survive this event

incites his followers to carry out mass murders by making them think they have to collect as many souls as possible in order to be part of the group that can survive the end of the world

[ renjun ] 

a siren who lives among the mermaids and mermen in order to more efficiently prey on unsuspecting people

others consider him mysterious and elusive as he often self-isolates and rarely says more than three sentences around others, but no one suspects him due to his beauty

tucks his sharp teeth under his lips in order to not give away his identity and get banished

has been forced to kill a few mermaids who accidentally found out about his identity and attempted to reveal his secret

has an alluring voice that others find difficult to resist as it seems to alter their minds

sings and lounges around on beaches and rocks to lure people near him before he leads them to a secluded area and drowns them to death at the bottom of the ocean

also finds joy in leading ships and boats into rocks so everyone onboard would crash and perish

digs through the bodies and takes any belongings that he finds interesting as keepsakes

[ jeno ] 

a fallen angel expelled due to his wrath, pride, and unwillingness to follow the rules of heaven

has an obsession with annihilation and a strong impulse to destroy that caused him to constantly get in trouble among all the angels who had pure intentions

ultimately wasn't able to resist the urges to sin and participated in a rebellion

helps build the kingdom in hell with other fallen angels after being outcasted and ultimately becomes one of the rulers

gets filled with an even greater craving for corruption of mankind and makes it his goal to elicit the darkest desires in humans

tempts people to engage in morally wrong activities and instills horrible values into the youth so they also won't be able to enter heaven

surprisingly treats the souls in hell really well instead of torturing them and convinces everyone to join him in another attempt to overthrow heaven

[ haechan ] 

a romance con artist who expertly plays with lonely people’s desperations to manipulate them

was born into an upper middle class family that fell apart due to a business scam, and he became an orphan who had to fend for himself starting at a young age

is absolutely unapologetic and justifies his actions because he believes he has been a victim of society so he considers his crimes revenge

frequents upscale clubs and resorts and spends a long time observing every person before deeming them an appropriate target

does extensive research on the backgrounds of potential targets in order to identify their areas of weakness

promises them a future and loyalty with the sweetest smile while convincing them to borrow large sums of money and transfer them to him

completely disappears from the surface of the earth once he takes everything from them; once left someone waiting for him at the wedding altar after he got them to empty out their bank accounts

[ jaemin ] 

a correctional nurse who believes he is getting rid of all evil in the world by eliminating those who have offended

his modus operandi is injecting lethal substances into the bodies of sick inmates after he renders them unconscious

gloats as he watches their bodies twitch in agony

travels between jails, prisons, and juvenile detention centers and leaves a series of deaths behind him but doesn't get caught for a long time because he stages them to look like sudden cardiac death

does really convincing acting when he tells other staff about the person passing away and even sheds some tears

generally targets inmates who have shown no remorse for their crimes but will target those who don't admit to their crimes either

ends up killing some innocent people who were wrongfully convicted as a result but he doesn't recognize this because he thinks every inmate deserves their sentence

[ chenle ] 

a notorious bandit who travels around the world committing burglary and has his face plastered all over wanted posters

part of a larger group of social outlaws who are tired of seeing the rich have too much power, so their principle is to rob the rich only

sells whatever they steal and anonymously donates a portion of the earnings to organizations that help underserved communities

really into challenges and taking risks so he has even attempted burglaries while there were people in the house just for the thrill

doesn't even try to hide his identity when he commits crimes and even looks directly at security cameras with an arrogant smirk

likes to leave taunting notes at every local precinct after he commits a crime

his partners in crime have asked him to tone it down too many times and believe his confidence will be his downfall, but he still evades the police every single time

[ jisung ] 

a parasitic flower that sustains his life by feeding off people's energy

starts off as a small, nearly indistinguishable bud and blooms only during certain months of the year to lure people to pick him and bring him home

emits an addictive, pungent aroma that quickly invades people's senses and causes bouts of euphoria

latches onto whoever picks him and absorbs all their energy insidiously until they become weak, fall ill, and eventually pass away

repeats the cycle and gains a human form when he becomes powerful enough

eventually opens his own flower shop and only sells parasitic flowers that are grown by him

detectives ruled all deaths as natural until they eventually noticed that all victims have the same flowers at home that would not wilt despite not receiving any care

[dross-the-fish]

What's your fave goth lit? Is it The Phantom of the Opera?

It isn't. I do love The Phantom of the Opera but if I had to pick a favorite it would be Frankenstein. Ironically I get invited to a lot of Phandom spaces and then end up doing nothing but lurking because they're all very centered around the AWL Musical, which I think is fine but not all that interesting. A lot of people assume that Erik must be my favorite Goth Lit character because I talk about him a lot but they're always surprised to learn that my main blorbo and the subject of most of my doodles is the Frankenstein Creature.

I think the reason I prefer The Creature comes down to his unnatural origins juxtaposed with the very mundane and ordinary humanity he displays throughout the novel. his desires are simple and relatable. He wants to be acknowledged by the person who created him, his parent. He wants love and companionship as any person does, and the way he tries to obtain it is so misguided and destructive that by the time his humanity is acknowledge by Walton at the end it's too late for him. He has become a monster in the way that only a human being can be. He was born innocent and then became flawed and corrupt, in part through his rejection by mankind and in part by his own choices. It was his fall from grace that ironically gave him the very humanity he was denied. This is largely my own interpretation but I feel like that's what ultimately make him whole, the capacity for great good and great evil. Had he stayed innocent and benevolent through his whole journey he would have been much less interesting to me and felt more like a martyr or archetype than a complete character with nuance. Despite his appearance and his superhuman abilities the being Victor created was a deeply flawed human at his core and when he fell from grace he fell hard and took innocent lives down with him. He taught himself how to walk, speak and dress and then he taught himself how to kill and how to regret. Victor created a monster and the monster created of himself a man. You can say this also applies to Erik but he is never as isolated as the creature, he has the Daroga, and to an extend Madame Giry. He manages to survive and if people think he's not human it's largely because that's what he wants them to think. He created the Angel of Music and the Phantom of the Opera. It's very interesting to delve into Erik's psyche and to cross examine him but in the end I am a little more moved and a little more compelled by The Creature.

[kuradoberijam]

Going to be a hater for a bit but sometimes it feels like literally nobody understands early style Tregear even though he’s probably the most easy version of Tregear to grasp.

A lot of people I’ve seen talk about him usually fall into two camps with one thinking he was always power hungry and jealous and the other thinking he was some helpless shrinking violet before his corruption. This misses the entire point of what makes his fall so tragic.

It’s true that Tregear absolutely had darker tendencies ever since he was a kid. He knew how to manipulate people by the time he was in school and was fascinated by darker subjects but also it’s pretty clear from his side story that it seems like no one ever really cared about what he was doing until Taro showed up (and while you could absolutely speculate about why that is and I often do that’s besides the point).

The real tragedy of Tregear’s story is not that he believed in something and became disillusioned or that wanting power got the better of him. He’s not Belial. The real tragedy is that Tregear wanted to believe in Taro’s dreams. He wanted to believe in the good of humans and in the land of light, and to be proud of being in the Space Science Technology Bureau but every time Taro wasn’t there, Tregear’s belief in all those things ultimately crumbled because those weren’t actually his values and dreams, they were Taro’s.

Early style Tregear is so desperate to hold it together for Taro’s sake, so when Taro isn’t there to save him, the beliefs he was trying to claim that he believed in his own head reached their natural conclusion and fell apart. Desperate to reclaim his one real true want of being by Taro’s side, Tregear, in his isolation and bitter loneliness came to the only conclusion he had left to think of, which was to become Taro’s equal opposite. The darkness to Taro’s light. That was how he sought to be “closer to what is considered light.”

[kairos-polaris]

JJK x TMA crossover

JJK characters and their entity alignments:

Sorcerers:

- Itadori Yuuji: Has a potential for the Lonely but post Shibuya and 212 especially I think he would lean to the Hunt, similar to Daisy or the vampire hunter guy. He would be marked by the Lonely, both pre and throughout the series but his desire to eradicate curses will be stronger thus making his alignment with the Hubt stronger

- Fushiguro Megumi: I don't think he would have a direct alignment. Not really for the Hunt because he isn't as devoted to killing curses like Yuuji or Maki. The Dark fits only power wise. He could also be marked by the Buried because of the current state of his soul

- Kugisaki Nobara: I can't think of an alignment but she would probably have affinity to the Web because of the nature of her ct

- Okkotsu Yuuta: Currently unaligned, leaning towards the Hunt. Would eventually be fully Hunt after years of killing curses, possibly sped up by Maki being Hunt too. If he never became a sorcerer, he could potentially become Corrupted, the hive preying on his loneliness/isolation due to Rika

- Inumaki Toge: Same as Nobara, the Web affinity because his ct is literal manipulation of others

- Zenin Maki: The Hunt 100%, she is Hunt aligned since the beginning and becomes an avatar after killing the Zenin clan. I was thinking slaughter but Maki has a motivation

- Zenin Mai: She would have an affinity to the Corruption, the envy and jealousy aspect of it. Maybe similar to Jane Prentiss? but she doesn't live long enough to actually get corrupted/properly be aligned

- Gojou Satoru: Would be the Lonely aligned if he hasn't discovered the joy of free falling and the beauty of the vast blue sky when he was a teen and experimenting with infinity. I also just think the Vast!Gojou is more interesting. fanon Satoru from certain shippers is definitely an avatar of the Lonely tho

- Higuruma Hiromi: Marked by the Lonely and the Web, but ultimately belongs to the Eye (credit to my beloved @raven-campanile-rb for this one)

- Kenjaku: He is a mix of the Eye and the Web. The Eye because of the merger and their general interest in knowledge and seeking new experiences, also having witnessed the progress of humanity over the centuries of existence. Their plan was set up over a millennia, carefully puppeteering everyone, perfectly aligned with the Mother of Puppets

- Uro Takako: The Vast, solely based on her technique and also her introduction panel

The curses:

- Mahito: As a curse of the hate humans have for each other his origin could be tied to almost any dread power, his skill set is more aligned with the Flesh (body mutilation) and the Stranger (uncanny aspect of it)

- Hanami and Jogo: Both are born from the actions of the Desolation folks (forest fires and volcanoes/everything fire related) but are aligned with the Buried (Hanami's earth related abilities; Jogo's domain is called a coffin and volcanoes bury things with ash)

- Dagon: The Buried. Dagon is born of water related fears and the Buried includes the fear of drowning

[camprell-art]

Does shadoo remember dimentio?

I thought about this for some time now.

So welcome to the "Camprell being mentally ill about his own fanlore" show!

I'm gonna put a read more here because it got soooooooo long.

1st option!

I can do it the extra painful way, that would be if they don't remember but still meet each other, and there is a probability that the whole ordeal with the Pixl Queen happens again, Shadoo is a living killing machine, she's locked behind all those walls and doors for a reason. But I don't like this one very much because it's too bland, and not just bland but a bit out of the plot, like, why would they even meet if nobody remembers anything?

2nd option!

This one can go in two ways, it could be like this story here, I would change some parts of it today, but essentially it's this, Dimentio goes there, says her name, she gets curious and then maybe they would talk... Buuut, this one would not make so much sense in the new characterization, my Dimentio was much more sensitive, more sad than insane? More depressed than psychotic or neurotic? I'll do better research about this, so you can correct me if I'm wrong.

3rd option!

This one is more tricky, because I would have to figure out what to do with the Dark Prognosticus, where the hell did the book go? Did it disappear? Was the Chaos Heart the ultimate point of it? Because I do believe that the DP, contrary to its Light counterpart, wasn't written by anyone, maybe created by something, however, considering that the thing can't keep its records forever (or else the book would be enormous), the only scenario that makes sense is that it is erased and written by itself, making the book more of an entity than an object.

If the DP is gone, then Dimentio can have other thoughts in his head that aren't obscured by the thing talking in it, so maybe some of his memories could slowly start to make sense, his dreams would come back to the "traumatic state", rather than blurry visions of a future that is near.

When I say traumatic state, I mean those memories that are very deep in his mind, the ones that actually explain all the actions and decisions he made in the past. Even the curse would have a meaning, he always thought it was some magic corruption because he kept coming back, but then, after a lot of dreams, he would discover that it wasn't entirely that.

Shadoo is literally what would happen to him if the curse was complete, in her case it was way faster, since the only reason she is alive was because she became a Pixl with the help of the Prognosticus. When Pixl Queen Shadoo dies again, all that is left is a shadow of herself, the thing in the end of the Pits is just her soul. If someone killed her for real, she would just turn into a glittery dust and fade from reality, no Underwhere, no Overthere. But I believe that for this immortal "creature" this is the best ending she could have.

So Dimentio would probably kill her just to end her suffering, and I think that Shadoo wouldn't even be scared if this does happen, all that she wanted was revenge, but there's no reason to do that when your brother came back and you finally can rest after so many years of isolation and loneliness.

Sorry for possible redundancies and grammatical errors + typos + wrong words, I'm so sleepy and I'm lazy to correct and read my own text. X)

[onebillionghosts]

@originalcharactersexyman

okay so adonis propaganda time. here's some more info on him

-he's an extremely powerful, human-eating, wyrm-like being doomed to one day cause the apocalypse, he rules his own underground city as the self-proclaimed "god" of wraiths (that is, ghostly undead creatures).

-although he was once a friendly, playful, and even kind person (though he always struggled with a quick temper, impulsitivity, and a tendency to run his mouth). however, the abuse he suffered growing up as a human (if he ever truly *was* one), the death of the only person who ever cared for him, centuries of isolation, and his own existence as a being called a "dire" corrupted him into a terrible, resentful, and sadistic person.

-despite his tendency to kill, eat, and torture humans, he still holds a playful, curious, easily excitable, flirty, and romantic streak (especially in his affection towards his late friend and lover, nacio). he is very eccentric, chaotic, expressive, dramatic, overdramatic, and easily angered. due to his own hidden insecurities and trauma, he hates feeling powerless or worthless or inferior to others, and will go out of his way to one-up or subjugate others.

-despite trying to put on the air of a seductive, cool all-powerful overlord, he's really at heart just an eccentric and emotional romantic who's a little too into violence and biting things. 

fun facts:

-he was born in the late 15th century. he's mixed irish and norwegian, and was born in ireland, but spent most of his childhood in south england. as a result, he has a strong accent that's a bizarre mix between west country, limerick, and medieval english. that and the fact that he's a rambling chatterbox with no inside voice means that he's nigh-incomprehensible when he talks, unless you know him well

-he was 19 when he became a fully-fledged dire, and he's stopped ageing since then… and he definitely acts that age lmao. that being said, he can shapeshift his body if he wants to

-his human form has wavy titian/copper hair (he's constantly changing up his hairstyle), droopy/downturned amber-brown eyes with golden sclera/pupils and long eyelashes, light warm-toned skin, a roman/aquiline nose, a beauty mark next to his mouth, and a very lanky body type. he also has a pretty high (almost kind of cute) voice, which is a strange contrast with his intimidating demeanor. don't make fun of it, he'll get mad

-he's an ExFP and 4w3/8w7

-his true form has snake, hookworm, and centipede traits. it can range anywhere from the size of a small garden snake to the size of mountains; whichever one he feels like at the moment. this is his actual real form; his human form is actually just a fleshy "shell" of sorts that contains his true form inside. 

-he has autism, adhd, bipolar-I, and pica. he will infodump to you for hours about flowers and snakes and nacio if you let him… and also whatever random things he's thinking about at the moment

-he has an older sibling named achlys, but that's a whole other can of worms. they completely despise each other, for complicated reasons

-he's a weird little freak <3 okay, well, not little, because he's actually 6'7 in his humanoid form… but you get the idea

-doesn't really give a shit about labels, but he's probably somewhere along the lines of homoflexible, and some kind of genderqueer that's vaguely along the lines of "fem-presenting dude". what gender is he exactly? fuck if i know. fuck if he knows either. he's his own thing. ultimate schrodinger's gender type character. he just defaults to male pronouns because that's what he's used to, but honestly he couldn't care less what you call him. (he *does* like it when people call him pretty though :] )

-he likes flowers, snakes, nacio, chewing/eating/licking random things, pretty things (like makeup/dresses/shiny stuff), warmth (he's cold-blooded), violence, blood, food (especially humans), cuddles, attention, talking, and being in charge.

-he dislikes boring things, the cold, being insulted, feeling bad about himself, feeling powerless, people who are better at something then him, people who get more attention or praise then him.

why you should vote him:

-to feed his ego

-he may try to eat the competition otherwise

-he will throw a tantrum if he loses and go melodramatically pout somewhere because he's a sore loser... though he is also a sore winner. 

-too many stereotypical "soft and sweet" autistic/adhd characters in the world, and not enough evil sexy bastardous ones that get bitches. i want to see more auDHD characters violently murder ableists. god bless

-because i love/hate him

-just look at him. weird evil sexy snake-worm-tipede twink. my beloved/beloathed unredeemable bastard freak who causes problems <3 there is something very wrong with him

-shitty one-minute doodle of him eating a flower. because i wanted to draw something new for this, but im too lazy so this is the best ive got:

[yes-i-write-fanfiction]

Since I’m currently kinda hyperfixating on Hollow Knight I couldn’t help but sketch up some random OC’s. Lore down below

Number 1 is called Skitterer. Isn’t her actual name but what everyone calls her because she skitters around so much. her actual name isn’t known by anyone. Used to be a regular bug until the Infection befell her village. The villagers decided to isolate everyone they thought were infected into a single building and sadly, Skitterer was one of those isolated (though she wasn’t actually infected).

Stuck in the building with infected husks. Skitterer was forced to kill them all in self defense. This caused her to go insane and afterwards she escaped the village and now she’ dwells in Kingdom’s edge.

2 is a former knight named Ité. He was a knight training under Hegemol until he became obsessed with void after he learned it would be used to seal away the Radiance. Thinking that the Hollow Knight would ultimately fail to contain the Infection, Ité decided to become a vessel himself, confident that he would be able to do it.

While void is normally lethal to regular bugs, Ité somehow managed to survive ingesting it, though it caused his body to transform into a giant shade (the Knight for sixe reference). Wishing to gain even more power, Ité now seeks a way to gain access to the Abyss, convinced that he will become a god if he does so. The void has corrupted him to the point that he has almost forgotten his original wish, ,sealing the Radiance. Now he’s just another powerhungry maniac.

Number 3 is a ladybug simply called Dotty! Dotty is a chef and is proud of what she does. She travels Hallownest in search of fresh ingredients and is always more than willing to cook up a meal and share it with whoever she comes across in her travels.

When she’s not travelling the kingdom she can most frequently be found in Dirthmouth (her home village) where she has her own little stand where she sells food. Her passion from food stems from a period of time where the Infection hit Dirthmouth hard and many people starved. She never wishes to see anyone go hungry ever again.

4 and 5 are a married couple who lives in the City of Tears. The flower mantis is named Ebbi’tra but everyone calls her Ebb and the cockroach is named Flo. Ebb is origianlly from a faraway land but traveled to Hallownest to meet with her cousin tribe in the Fungal Wastes. While visiting she met Flo, who had accidentally gotten lost on his way back home to the Roayl Waterways, and one thing led to another and soon the two of them were madly in love and married.

Together Ebb and Flo have a little shop in the City of Tears where they operate an inn. While there’s not a lot of customers they still find a lot of joy in what they do. Ebb is a fierce warrior that keeps the premise safe from any husks that gets to close and Flo is mainly in charge of taking care of all the logistics.

Number 6 is a firefly called Loga. She lives in Dirthmouth and has made it her personal responsibility to keep the village safe from any infected bugs that might get to close. She was taught how to wield a nail by Iselda and looks up to her a whole lot.

Loga can’t fly very well because her wings were damaged when she were young, at most she can glide and do things similar to someone who’s equipped with the Mothwing cloak.

7, 8, 9 and 10 are all young bugs that live in Dirthmouth. 7 and 9 are siblings and their names are Rivva and Esra, with Esra (number 9) being the older sibling. Number 8 is named Chack and number 10 is named Z’Tang. They are all friends and are almost always together, with Rivva trailing behind and copying the older children.

They are all very curious about what’s outside of Dirthmouth because they have never left the village, with Elderbug always warning them about how dangerous it is. Z’Tang wishes to become an mapmaker like Cornifer, Chack wants to become a warrior/knight, Esra wants to be an adventurer/explorer and Rivva, well, she just wants to grow up to be someone that helps people.

[marcyvamp1re-blog]

LURKS WITHIN WALLS

pairings ⸺ Yandere! Kurt Wagner x Mutant! Reader.

¿Request? No!

This is a Headcanon!

warnings ⸺ mdni! Dark themes, violence/death, blood, insolation, invasion of privacy, religion, scars, ¿kidnapping?, delusion, Angst, ¿OOC Kurt? Idk, murdering, Disturbing Content, Unhealthy Obsession, Gaslight, Mental Illness, Corruption, Isolation, Paranoia, Manipulation.

sinopsis ⸺ Beneath Kurt Wagner's sweet charm lies a dark and obsessive devotion. What begins as an innocent friendship transforms into a web of jealousy, manipulation, and constant surveillance. As he envelops you with his suffocating love, he lurks in the shadows, determined to protect you from everyone... even those who could be your friends. To Kurt, you are his angel, and he will not allow anything or anyone to take you away from his side, even if it means destroying everything you love.

A/N — English is not my first language—Spanish is— I have adored Kurt since I was a child. He is my favorite X-Men after Logan, who has also been my favorite since the Ultimate Alliance 1 game and from the movies (Simply Hugh Jackman). I've always been curious about what it would be like if he were yandere.

Well, this is the first Marvel post, and I hope you liked it because I can't be all about DC all the time since I am multifandom and I'm really eager to write about everything.

Enjoy!

Yandere! Kurt Wagner who... since the first night on the rooftop, under that blanket of stars, felt you as a blessing fallen from the sky. At first, his interest seemed innocent, a special connection between two misunderstood souls in the X-Mansion. Every time they shared those silent nights watching the sky, Kurt started to feel that you were his anchor, his reason to smile in a world full of chaos. "It's so peaceful here with you" he told you one night, with undeniable tenderness in his voice. But within his chest, a darker feeling began to take root.

Yandere! Kurt Wagner who... at first just wanted to see you happy. When he suddenly appeared in the places where you were, like in the library or the dining room, his eyes shone at the sight of your smile. However, he soon realized that he didn't want to share those moments with anyone else. The joy that surrounded you when you were with Rogue, Kitty, or Bobby disturbed him. "Why them?" he thought, increasingly distressed. They didn't understand your soul like he did. They didn't see the same angel in you that he saw. So he began to teleport secretly to watch you from the shadows, making sure you were safe... and ensuring that no one else got too close.

Yandere! Kurt Wagner who... began to stalk you silently from the walls of the Mansion, watching you when you thought you were alone. At first, he just wanted to ensure that you were safe, but soon he discovered that simply seeing you in your everyday moments, without you knowing he was there, became an addiction. From the shadows, he watched as you sat at your desk, reading or writing in your diary, how you groomed yourself in front of the mirror, or laughed carefree with your new friends. Everything you did was perfect; every little gesture was a work of art that he could not stop contemplating. It was his way of being close to you, of being present in every second of your life.

Yandere! Kurt Wagner who... one rainy afternoon saw you dozing in the common room, exhausted from training. While the others chatted, Kurt, hidden in the shadows, watched you with eyes full of devotion, completely still to avoid revealing his presence. The others didn't notice his proximity, but he felt every breath you took, every slight movement of your lips as you dreamed. "You are a fallen angel from heaven," he thought, his fingers trembling with the desire to get closer, but holding back. That distance, that invisible gap, drove him crazy, but it also filled him with ecstasy. Knowing that only he could see you that way, vulnerable and peaceful, made him feel that he belonged to you more than anyone else.

Yandere! Kurt Wagner who... one night, while you were showering in the Mansion's bathroom, teleported to a dark corner, just to see you through a crack in the wall. The water droplets slid down your skin; every movement of your body was a living poem that only he could read. He felt his breath hitch, and although he knew this was wrong, he couldn't stop. In his mind, he was there to protect you, to ensure that nothing harmed you, not even in those intimate moments. "No one will see you like I do," he whispered to himself. "No one will love you like I love you."

Yandere! Kurt Wagner who... lurked in the shadows, watching how you talked and laughed with your friends in the dining room. From the walls, hidden, jealousy boiled within him as another mutant, a boy who had invited you to train with him, made you smile. Every smile you gave to someone else felt like a stab. From his corner, Kurt whispered words that no one else could hear, "They don't understand you, my Engel. Not like I do." In his mind, those moments you shared with others were thefts, emotional burglaries that took away what was his.

Yandere! Kurt Wagner who... in the darkest nights, watched you sleep, sitting on the edge of the bed, his shadow barely visible in the dimness of the room. He called you his "Angel," but in his darkest thoughts, you knew that this love was a prison. Every night, he whispered words of eternal love, words that sounded like promises and threats at the same time. "I will never let you go, Mein Schatz" he repeated, and although his words were sweet, there was a darkness behind them that enveloped you in a sense of impending danger, as if you were trapped in a corrupt fairy tale, where the prince would never let his princess escape.

Yandere! Kurt Wagner who... one fateful night, after seeing you laugh with another, could no longer contain his frustration. He teleported to your friend's room, just a few seconds after he turned off the lights. In the shadows, Kurt watched him sleep, his breath heavy and innocent. "You are not worthy of her," he murmured before disappearing into the night, leaving a sense of unease in the air, as if the walls had whispered his condemnation.

Yandere! Kurt Wagner who... one early morning slipped into your room while you were sleeping. He stood by your bed, watching you in the soft glow of the moon that filtered through the window. You looked so at peace, so pure. Kurt couldn't help but lean in, and gently, he brushed his fingers close to your hair, without actually touching you. His breath was almost inaudible, but his eyes were filled with a feverish intensity. "You are mine, Liebling" he whispered almost inaudibly, the words floating in the air like an eternal promise. As he disappeared from your room, his heart beat with a dark satisfaction.

Yandere! Kurt Wagner who... began leaving small gifts in your room, things he knew would make you happy, but without revealing they were from him. A book you mentioned wanting to read, a mysteriously fresh blue flower on your pillow, all carefully planned to make you feel special. When you asked the others if they had left anything for you, Kurt, smiling in the shadows, delighted in the idea that these invisible gestures were his way of slowly possessing you, without you knowing.

Yandere Kurt Wagner who... on one occasion, while training with Logan, stayed watching from the upper beams of the gym, his body pressed against the shadows of the ceiling. The way Logan corrected your movements or guided you made him boil inside. In his mind, every touch was a transgression, every word an attempt to pull you away from him. "Don't let them confuse you, my angel," he thought as his claws dug into the steel structure, holding back. "No one else has the right to you... only I do." His obsession intensified with each passing day. "He doesn't understand you like I do." Although you tried to calm him, something in his eyes made you feel uneasy for the first time.

Yandere Kurt Wagner who... didn't take long to act when another of your training partners, a young man with powers similar to yours, began to spend more time with you. The boy seemed nice, and you enjoyed his company, but Kurt couldn't stand it. He started to watch every one of his movements, making sure he wasn't a threat to you... or to him. One night, he simply disappeared. The entire Mansion searched for him in vain, but Kurt already knew the truth. "You are safe now, Schatz" he told you softly as he hugged you by the shoulders. You didn't need that boy, or anyone else, just him.

Yandere! Kurt Wagner who... decided that the only way to fully protect you was to take you away from the Mansion. Genosha became the only option. "We can be together there, away from the complications," he whispered to you every time you mentioned how overwhelming life in the X-Mansion could be. The idea began to echo in your mind, especially when you saw the intensity in his eyes. He was convincing, his promises of a paradise where you could live peacefully and safely. Finally, you accepted his proposal, wanting a new beginning, unaware that this decision would tie you to Kurt in ways you could never have imagined.

Yandere! Kurt Wagner who... in Genosha, became your constant shadow. No matter where you went or who you wanted to talk to, Kurt always found a way to be present. "This place is just for us" he would say as they walked along the island's beaches, his tail possessively wrapping around your waist. Though the surroundings were beautiful, you felt increasingly isolated. Kurt's gazes, once sweet and full of adoration, now seemed to hold a shadow you couldn't identify. Every time you tried to socialize with the mutants on the island, Kurt intervened somehow, diverting conversations or simply taking you away with a gentle smile.

Yandere! Kurt Wagner who... little by little, began to isolate you from the rest. You couldn't have friends in the city, and every time you planned something with the few friends you made, he found a reason for you to spend the day with him. Every time you wanted to go out exploring, he suggested a walk along the deserted beach. "The world here is safer," he said with that sweet smile you trusted so much, while his tail lovingly curled around your waist. You never suspected that those little moments of isolation were part of his plan to have you all to himself.

Yandere Kurt Wagner who... when Logan came to visit you, knew that danger was near. Logan wasn't stupid; he had noticed the change in you and suspected that Kurt was the reason. "You shouldn't be so far away, girl. Something doesn't smell right," he told you, looking at you with a mixture of sternness and paternal concern. Kurt was there, close, watching silently. That night, when Logan said goodbye, Kurt hugged you tighter than usual. "I won't let him take you away, my angel," he whispered in your ear. Logan had an accident soon after that visit, and although he survived, something in his attitude changed. He stopped insisting.

Yandere! Kurt Wagner who... despite everything, gave you moments of sweetness. He took care of you, spoiled you, and showered you with affection. In his eyes, everything he did was out of love, for your protection. "We are together, my angel, and we always will be, Liebling" he would say to you every night, wrapping you in his arms as the stars shone above you both, just like at the beginning. Although the weight of his devotion sometimes suffocated you, you couldn't help but feel a strange mix of relief and resignation. Life with Kurt was a gilded cage, a soft prison made of obsessive love.

Yandere! Kurt Wagner who... although his love was overwhelming, sickly, and obsessive, beneath it all there was a disturbing tenderness. Kurt saw you as his salvation, his redemption in a cruel world. But also, without realizing it, you had become his prison of love. He loved you so much that he couldn't let you go free, but in his twisted mind, this was the right thing to do. "My Engel... together forever," he whispered to you on those starry nights, as the obsessive love he felt, lurking and protective, became the only possible fate.

A/N ─── Personally, even though it's short, I'm completely okay with it. I adore Kurt! He's such a sweetheart when he’s not yandere, of course 💕. His sweetness, his attentive nature, and his unwavering faith make him irresistible. He’s the kind of person who would say things like Liebling or Schatz with that warm and shy look that melts hearts. Although when he becomes yandere, everything gets a little... intense, to say the least.

Liebling - Dear, darling

Schatz - Treasure

Engel - Angel

Mein Schatz - My treasure

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Take a Bath!

[zeynatura]

i gotta be honest i am disappointed by the Lone Wolf's Passing event

i think it is a disservice to Sevastien's character and to us his fans that have been waiting for years for him to have an SSR

as if we didn't already have a really big event this year where a widow man suffers for many years, his sole purpose in life related to his late wife, a story tinged with revenge, love and a surprise offspring ... yes i'm talking about the anniversary event with Abrahmelin, Sabrina and Fenie...

Sevastien's story is so similar but on a smaller scale, because what can compare to splitting Bahamut in two with the help of Phoenix and learning new deep lore about granblue's universe!?

Not only did Cygames wrote a scene between two men be like "i like you, no, not that way, i only like women, and i am a mysoginist" they also made the mysoginist (Sevastien/Wolfe) change his opinion on women because he fell in love with the right one (Agathe) :x

then the no homo guy (Balor) killed her because he was jealous of her and now widow becomes a knight and tries to make his late girlfriend's beloved country great because it's what she wanted

Sevastien character development seems to be ultimately about Family, he was born in a family of scholars, he didn't want to be one so he left and became a mercenary cause he had talent with the sword and liked the challenge... pursuing a solitary life suddenly he gets company and people close to him die (Agathe and even his family before he was able to apologise to them for leaving) he focuses completely on being a righteous knight and purging corrupt members of the order, he becomes isolated and the lonelines he once liked now poisoned him, till one day he almost dies fighting a monster and that is when Charlotta's grandfather saves him (which was the only pice of lore we knew about him for years)

Sevastien was so injured Charlotta's family nursed him, housed him and gave him a new job as the family's butler for 8 years... they became the Family Sevastien NEVER had!!

You literally could have had the same story just without Sevastien and Agathe's love story, he could have had the same realization of women and people in general being not that bad out of friendship and camaraderie from Agathe, he could have learned about Agathe's past marriage and child to understand why family mattered so much to her (even maintaining the secret of her kid's name to have the same revelation of Cordelia being her grandchild), as well as learning she was adopted by the King of Lumiel, becoming a knight and devoting herself to make the kingdom a better place...

Why would they make him a man changed by romantic love and why does that bother me so much!?

[notdrifting]

RETIRED MUSES

under the cut are the characters i will be retiring for an indeterminate time.

「DESU PARĒDO」

DECIM

apparently emotionless and serious, his detached manner of speech and manners suggest that he'd rather not bring any personal feelings to the table, which is possibly due to the fact that he lacks understanding of human emotions. the bartender of quindecim and arbiter for the dead, he deals with people who died at the same time, having the victims to play a game to pass on judgement on the souls for them to either be reincarnated or be sent to the void.

「GAMES」

BUBBLE HEAD NURSE 「silent hill」

the physical manisfestation of james and mary's frustrations towards the american health care system, which was unable to identify or cure mary's fatal illness. when she fell ill, james expressed anger towards her doctor for "letting mary die". mary also expressed frustration, feeling the hospital was profiting off her suffering. the term "bubble head" is an insult used to call someone foolish and stupid, and could symbolize james feeling mary's nurses were incompetent and he didn't even bother or care enough to familiarize himself with mary's nurses, possibly because he already lost faith and hope in them.  [pansexual/panromantic]

CLAUDIA WOLF 「silent hill」

the high priestess of the religious cult known as the Order which is based in silent hill, sister claudia feels that humanity and society have become too evil, corrupt, full of suffering, and a lost cause. her mission is to save humanity from itself by hastening the rebirth of her cult's god in order to create paradise and begin a new world untainted by human immorality and free of anguish; this means cleansing the current world of its sins by hellfire. re!au: follower of mother miranda  [homosexual/homoromantic]

CYBIL BENNETT 「silent hill」

as a child, she saw her parents shot in the head, and this ended up influencing her decision to become a police officer. she is a police officer from brahms, a town next to silent hill. re!au: former s.t.a.r.s and current member of bsaa.  [homosexual/homoromantic]

EILEEN GALVIN 「silent hill」

the mother reborn, victim 20/21 - henry townshend's neighbor, living beside his apartment in room 303. eileen lived in room 303 before henry's arrival, as she knew joseph schreiber until his mysterious disappearance.eileen studied archaeology when she was in college and eventually becomes trapped alongside henry townshend in walter sullivan's nightmare world and is severely injured by walter before henry is able to rescue her. re!au: she was a discarded vessel for eva.  [bisexual/biromantic]

ETHAN WINTERS 「resident evil」

trained as systems engineer, he is one of many mutant victims of biological weaponry, winters was infected with a weaponized species of "mold" during the 2017 dulvey incident. he and his wife mia were rescued by the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance, and were placed under witness protection in eastern europe. this protection ultimately unraveled in february 2021 when their daughter, rosemary, was abducted by mother miranda. winters was successful in rescuing rosemary, but gave his life to save his daughter from miranda.  [pansexual/panromantic]

MOTHER MIRANDA 「resident evil」

biologist and cult leader who ruled over an isolated mountain village from 1919 to 2021. after losing her only daughter to the spanish flu, she discovered and became infected by the mold within a nearby cave. gaining vast knowledge and superhuman powers from the infection, she pioneered research on this mysterious fungus and used it to conduct experiments on local villagers over the next century, hoping to find the perfect vessel to revive her daughter.  [pansexual/aromantic]

MARIA 「silent hill」

born from a wish - she meets james sunderland in rosewater park in silent hill, maine, and stays with him sporadically after that. she is essentially a manifestation, mental construct or figment of james' seemingly delusional imagination. she was produced by james' delusions as a result of his inability to bear the weight of the crime of killing his wife, mary shepherd-sunderland. similar to a dream character, she is seen defying death and questions james's perceptions of whether or not her death actually occurred.  re!au: mary was a discarded vessel for eva but ended up dying, returning as maria with some mutant habilities.  [pansexual/panromantic]

ROSEMARY WINTERS 「resident evil」

an american superhuman. the daughter of mutants mia & ethan winters, winters' body was comprised entirely of mold, which was replicating human dna. following her rescue from an outbreak in eastern europe, rose grew up under special protection.

PYRAMID HEAD 「silent hill」

he is a manifestation of a person's desire to be punished for their misdeeds. he is the judge, jury and executioner for the mysterious dark powers of the town. while his actions are cruel and horrific, he is a driving force for someone to come to terms with what they've done, albeit in the most brutal manner possible.  [pansexual/panromantic]

「HANNIBAL」

LADY MURASAKI

the widowed wife of count robert lecter and aunt of hannibal lecter.  [bisexual/biromantic]

MISCHA LECTER

the youngest daughter of count lecter and simonetta sforza-lecter as well as the younger sister of hannibal lecter, as a little girl  mischa was innocent and adored by her parents and protected by her brother. after being captured by a group led by vlad grutas she was apparently killed and eaten by the grup. canon div! the child who was actually eaten was the albanian boy, mischa managed to escape but was heavily wounded, which later resulted on her having a limp. after being adopted by a family loosely related to her mother's family, mischa eventually became a criminal lawyer and keeps the in secret the fact that she's a lecter.  [pansexual/demiromantic] 

「HARRY POTTER」

SALAZAR SLYTHERIN

famous for his cunning and determination, salazar was regarded as one of the greatest wizards of the age. particularly skilled in parselmouth and in legilimens, he was one of the four founders of hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry along with godric gryffindor, helga hufflepuff and rowena ravenclaw.  [homosexual/homoromantic]

BELLADONNA MONTENEGRO 「original character」

exchange student from castelobruxo, slytherin, same family descent than the blacks. herbology genius.  [homosexual/homoromantic]

BELLATRIX LESTRANGE

the dark lord’s right hand, heiress of house black and proud slytherin.  [pansexual/panromantic]

「NARUTO」

SENJU SATSUKI 「original character」

in my jiraiya’s infinite tsukuyomi dream  he has everything he always wanted in life, the love of his life  by his side and a family of his own. everything is going well as they are all preparing to go to naruto’s ceremony as he’ll become hokage when the dream becomes corrupted and his two kids end up on opposite sides in a deadly battle.  [homosexual/homoromantic]

SENJU YOSHIKADO 「original character」

in my jiraiya’s infinite tsukuyomi dream  he has everything he always wanted in life, the love of his life  by his side and a family of his own. everything is going well as they are all preparing to go to naruto’s ceremony as he’ll become hokage when the dream becomes corrupted and his two kids end up on opposite sides in a deadly battle.  [asexual/aromantic]

UCHIHA HANAMI 「original character」

hanami uchiha is the daughter of the slug sage sakura and the head of the uchiha clan madara. despite her playful & carefree disposition, hanami can prove herself to be a ruthless adversary in battle. oc affiliated with shikkotsunin's sakura and uchiha-madara's madara.  [17] [homosexual/homoromantic]

ŌTSUTSUKI HIGURUMA 「original character」

the eldest son of hamura; fc: dio eraclea from last exile. under co.

[gch1995]

I know I don’t follow GFFA’s blog anymore, and we both have each other blocked, so it doesn’t matter.

I’m not denying that Anakin was a very bad father to Luke and Leia throughout most of the OT until the end of Return of the Jedi. They would have had every right to hate him for what he did to them as some of the people he victimized, regardless of his mitigating circumstances of his entire life being a hell of compromised agency under systematic abuse, increasingly terrible emotional/mental health, isolation, manipulation, oppression, and neglect under corrupt authority. I don’t think it’s fair to place the blame on just Anakin, but he also did have enough sense to still recognize right from wrong, regardless of the circumstances. He kept picking wrong because it became safer than doing the right thing.

However, the idea that Obi-Wan Kenobi was somehow a “good” father figure to Luke and Leia just because his mistreatment of them was less outright terrible than Anakin’s was by comparison at his worst as Darth Vader, is just absurd.

Excuse me, but the only reason why Obi-Wan is taking any personal interest in either Luke or Leia is because he feels guilty over his part in Anakin’s fall to the dark side and their mother’s death, and is trying to groom them to be weapons to take their father’s place so he can absolve himself.

For Obi-Wan, every interaction with little Luke and Leia is just about him trying to redeem himself and alleviate his own guilt over his part in Anakin’s ultimate downfall and Padme’s death. In another life where Anakin didn’t go dark, the Empire didn’t rise, and the Republic didn’t fall, Obi-Wan would probably be one of the people who pushed Luke and Leia to be taken in by the Jedi as infants.

Additionally, did GFFA and these Kenobists even watch the OT and PT movies at all? Technically, Vader did worse to Luke and Leia than Obi-Wan ever did, but that doesn’t mean that Obi-Wan was a good father figure either. In a way, he was actually worse. At least Anakin could admit that he fucked up with Luke by trying to use him to gain freedom from Sidious and turn him to the dark side, and selflessly saved him from Sidious, in spite of knowing he would die and get nothing in return as a reward.

For three movies, Obi-Wan spent his time deceiving, endangering, gaslighting, and manipulating an innocent Luke Skywalker, so he and Yoda could use him to kill off the monster attack dog/murder slave of a man they helped turn his biological father into for Sidious twenty three years earlier, even if unintentionally. Never once did he express any remorse for it, or try to save either Luke or Leia because he really cared about Luke or Leia as a person for their own sake. It was all about using him and/or Leia as pawns to try to absolve himself for his mistakes with their father.

[redphlox]

How Touya can be Saved

I’ve talked before about why I think Shouto will save Touya, and now I want to talk about how. No doubt saving the eldest Todoroki child will be a combined family effort, but I want to specifically talk about Shouto’s role in this because it will be the culmination of his character arc. I also want to tie in how Dabi can make himself seen and understood by crying tears of blood in front of his family. Finally receiving validation after desperately needing it his entire life will be the key to his salvation.

As of chapter 298, Shouto already empathizes with Touya; he feels Touya’s hate and even recognizes Dabi is the person Shouto himself was before the Sports Festival. Shouto is extending his empathy and understanding to his brother the same way he reacted to Iida during the Stain arc in chapter 53, “Todoroki to Iida.”

Having empathy for Dabi’s resentment is only the first step in reaching him, though. That shared rage doesn’t completely validate Dabi’s pain as an abuse victim, which is something Shouto has yet to recognize about himself. Shouto’s anger has always been about how Endeavor abused Rei to the point she had to be institutionalized and not how Endeavor isolated him, physically abused him, and robbed him of his childhood. Shouto probably hadn’t stopped to think about how the other Todorokis perceived their family situation because, like most families in this situation, no one talked about the abuse - Shouto even expresses surprise and agreement in 192 when Natsuo confronts Endeavor with the entire family’s pain. Shouto thinks back to the memory of wanting to play with his siblings and realizes that specific day didn't only stay with him but that his siblings remember it and were impacted by it, too.

Like Natsuo, Dabi knows the root cause of their family’s dysfunction was Endeavor, and while he had a problem with what he perceived as each individual member’s blindness to their abuse, he ultimately doesn’t blame the victims and instead assigns all the blame onto Endeavor. Even 10 years later, he still calls Rei ‘okaasan’, Fuyumi ‘Fuyumi-chan’, and Natsuo ‘Natsu-kun’ because he still cares about them and recognizes all of them as victims of a corrupt hero who never set out to be a husband and a father and only used them.

However, Touya's own victimhood has never been validated - in 301 and 302, it was seen that he was the scapegoat for his family, and no matter how much he tried to earn back his father’s approval or call his father out on his unfair treatment, no one was ever on Touya’s side. His mother told him to look away from his father as an example instead of standing up to Endeavor for herself and her children, and Fuyumi and Natsuo were too young to understand and couldn't relate to what Touya went through as Endeavor's prized heir. Touya needs validation that he was abused and neglected. He always has. He still does.

The person in the perfect position to understand what it’s like to be on the receiving end of Endeavor’s impossibly high standards, obsession with surpassing All Might, and quirk training is Shouto. But in order to fully empathize with Dabi and show his brother that he can relate, Shouto needs to acknowledge that he too was a victim. In 292, Dabi basically asks Shouto to validate the pain and suffering Dabi had just exposed in the battlefield, but his question still stands unanswered.

To reach Touya, Shouto also has to show Dabi what kind of person he is - as in, Shouto has to separate himself from Endeavor’s shadow and establish that he too has been holding Endeavor accountable for his actions. We as readers know that Shouto’s entire character arc has been about asking himself, “Who am I?” Often, children who grow up in abusive households struggle with their identity and Shouto is a perfect example of this. This is why he chose his hero name to be his name: Shouto. He’s learning who he is after years of trying so hard to not be his father and becoming exactly like him - cold, distant, tunnel visioned, hateful. It wasn't until he met Inasa that he realized this and wanted to right his wrongs.

Like Inasa, Dabi doesn’t know Shouto at all. Both Inasa and Dabi knew Endeavor and assumed Shouto would be just like him. Inasa had a valid reason to think this of Shouto of course, because Shouto was standoffish and dismissive during the UA entrance exams, but at the time of the provisional license exam Inasa hadn’t learned that Shouto had recognized this toxic side of himself and had begun working towards the kind of person he wants to be. Shouto had to show Inasa the real him, and in a similar way, he will have to prove this to Dabi. Dabi hasn’t seen Shouto struggle with his identity like we the readers have; Dabi only sees his usurper making headlines and willingly interning with Endeavor. He probably assumes Shouto is proudly training to carry their father’s legacy. Dabi isn’t privy to the nuanced relationship Shouto or their siblings have with their father. All Dabi knows is that Endeavor is seeing and paying attention to Shouto and Shouto seemingly submitting. Dabi has no idea THIS is how it really is:

Showing others who he is is a way for Shouto to process his own trauma and establish his identity. As the son of the #2 hero, Shouto has always had to prove himself to others - that he’s not his father. He’s even had to prove this to himself by accepting his fire side and making it his own in spite of his father repeatedly calling him a creation or a masterpiece. Not being like his father is such a defining trait for Shouto that he feels compelled to tell kindergarteners during the re-licensing exam his life story and his trauma. He literally bore his heart out to these kids because he knew he wouldn’t get through to them unless he was genuine. I think he’ll apply this concept to Touya, too.

The thing about Shouto is that, while he hasn’t reconciled with his own status as an abuse victim, he sees himself as a survivor. He sees himself as someone who managed through a difficult situation and wants to help others get through their struggles too. That's why getting through to these kids was so important to him, why he took it so seriously. These were problematic kids, and instead of calling them brats or trying to intimidate or manipulate them, he tries to get down to their level and relate. Notice he emphasizes how much he struggled in school at first, how his relationship with his father is strained - in his mind, it's something these kids may be able to relate to.

Shouto is someone who sets out to understand and make others feel seen and understood. It's what makes him kind. Shouto probably understands why his father abused the entire family - Endeavor's reasons don't excuse him or earn his children's forgiveness, but it's a reason that humanizes him to Shouto. He himself was a cold, bitter person who now believes people can change if given the right opportunity and self-awareness because this is a lesson he's learned from Midoriya and Inasa. This is also something Shouto can grant Touya: understanding, a listening ear, space to be wrong, and a chance to be seen.

Touya wanted and still craves to be seen, and he has to see in return. He has to realize Shouto isn't his father's puppet. He has to relate to Shouto much like Shouto is relating to him. Shouto will have to pull the same move he pulled on those kindergarteners and tell Dabi his struggles, and then show him he’s making his own path different from their father’s and that the family isn’t blindly following Endeavor anymore or letting him do what he wants. Natsuo has stood up to him, Rei has stood up to him, Fuyumi has admitted to herself she had been trying to play a happy family instead of fixing the internal mess - they as a family will have to show Dabi all of this, and he’ll have to wrap his head around it. He has to realize that his family is different from how they were 10 years ago. This is what I mean by allowing Touya space to be wrong - it’s okay for him to be wrong in assuming all these things about Shouto. Shouto won’t judge him for it.

I've talked before about how the narrative framing as of chapter 309 has set up that a person must express their feelings in a socially acceptable manner before they can be a candidate for saving, and that means crying. As soon as Midoriya saw a glimpse of little Tenko crying, he switched his mentality from "I'll never forgive you" to "I want to save that crying boy." When Toga ran away from Ochako crying, Ochako became concerned and curious. Following this pattern, it makes sense that Dabi also has to show his emotions, but it’s complicated because he can’t cry due to his burnt tear ducts. Every time we’ve seen him cry tears of blood, he’s been alone - he’ll have to cry in front of Shouto and the family for it to sink in that all of Dabi’s destruction and hate stems from deep-seated sorrow and feelings of abandonment. The family does not yet know how the fire that killed Touya started, and they have no idea that Touya’s emotions are linked to his fire and that he died because he was feeling overwhelmingly forsaken and sad. Once they find out, however, they’ll fully understand Touya (hopefully) and recognize they haven’t been understanding him at all. Saving Touya will be difficult because he has to be vulnerable and that's not something he's done as Dabi, but that's where the Todoroki family arc is headed: healing as a family.

As a side note: I’m not saying that the message the manga is giving is the correct one (how you express yourself shouldn’t be a determinant of the help you receive) but it’s what we have to work with. I also think saving Touya will be more complicated than this and will also involve Natsuo, but that’s a meta for another day! ;]

[a-queer-seminarian]

Do you believe that God condemns anyone to Hell, or are we all going to wind up in Heaven?

Short answer? do i believe in hell? hell no!

[id: a cross stitch of the infamous "Hell Is Real" sign in Ohio, but with the word NOT added so it reads "Hell is NOT real" / end id. I sewed this cuz i have to drive past this dang sign every time i drive home and it makes me so cranky.]

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Long answer?

The concept of hell has become less and less probable to me over the years. it seems like such a human solution to the problem of sin, not a Divine one.

This past year as i've studied the concept of prison abolition --

see Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis (free pdf online)

and, for a Christian view on how fundamentally messed up the US's prison system is, see Rethinking Incarceration by Dominique DuBois Giliard. (There are short vids and study guides for the latter, if reading isn't your thing / if you'd prefer those over paying for the book.)

-- and i find that many of the arguments against human prisons could also be argued against hell, which is really just The Ultimate Prison. Hell seems much like the punitive system we've got going on here, blown up to a supernatural size.

In Rethinking Incarceration, Giliard says that dealing with systemic problems and collective sin by choosing which individuals are The Problem and proceeding to Get Rid Of Them by chucking them in prison -- or hell -- is an unjust human solution, not a Divine solution.

He relates this to the harmful theology of penal substitution -- that the reason God became incarnate in the person of Jesus was simply to take the blame for all our wrongdoing -- to be the surrogate, or substitute, for the punishment all humanity would otherwise have to receive. But, Giliard writes,

Penal substitution is most problematic because it makes God’s response to sin too much like our own. It is a sort of recasting of God in our own image, as opposed to allowing the divinely inspired Scriptures to speak for God’s motives. Marshall also writes that “restoration, not retribution, is the hallmark of God’s justice and is God’s final word in history.”

God's justice is not that punitive kind of justice, but restorative. Jesus's whole life, and death, and resurrection together brings justice into our world because through all of it, the relationship between humanity and divinity was restored -- not because Jesus took the punishment that God would have slammed down on us.

{edit: I have a second post addressing how there are indeed parts of the Bible that depict God as punishing individuals or groups. Still, punishment is never the motive of Divine justice in scripture.)

If punishment is not God's justice, and neither is severed relationship, then hell, the ultimate punishment & place of isolation, is not God's justice.

Meanwhile, we can see the bad fruits of our punitive justice systems here on earth -- what happens when we accept that society is divided into "criminals" and "good people" or "citizens." As Giliard writes:

When we lose sight of the grace and mercy exemplified on the cross of Christ, people who have violated right relationship become irredeemable “criminals” to fear, avoid, and quarantine. When “criminals” are viewed as the social cancer infecting our communal health, safety, and thriving, we cease to see and affirm their humanity. Rather than fellow image bearers, we see “criminals” as hazardous elements contaminating our neighborhoods, and they thus must be purged by any means necessary. Michelle Alexander writes, “Criminals, it turns out, are the one social group in America we have permission to hate. In ‘colorblind’ America, criminals are the new whipping boys. They are entitled to no respect and little moral concern.” ...

I see similar things happen when people pretend they can guess who is going to hell, when they divide humanity into the heavenbound and the hellbound.

(I won't go into it here but it needs to be noted: think about who is seen as prison-bound, how our system sets up certain groups, such as Black and Latine persons & other persons of color, to end up in prison; and then think of who is often seen as hellbound, such as LGBTQA+ persons & non-Christians. Bigotry is tangled up in all this, which is what Giliard's book largely focuses on when it comes to mass incarceration.)

when we assume we know someone is doomed to hell, we give up on them. we cease to see them as one of us, and one of God's beloved children made in Their image. i'd rather assume there is no hell and find out i'm wrong about that later, than live as if i thought there were a hell if there isn't.

and of course, if we assume we ourselves are headed to hell -- particularly by fearmongerers who teach that being LGBTQA+, or Black, or disabled, or not Christian, any manner of things sends you there -- well. i think the bad fruits of that are quite clear, including how it leads us to despair, to fall into the pit of self-loathing. we either punish ourselves and isolate ourselves and harm ourselves by trying to fix what is not broken, or we say "fuck it, i'm going to hell anyway" and cut ourselves off from certain community.

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Prison is an easy solution, but not a fruitful one. Same with Hell. It's an easy fix, but not a viable one.

Throwing certain Bad Irredeemable Humans into the pit won't make the humans who are left fit for God's Kin(g)dom -- we all have work to do on ourselves and as a collective community.

God calls us to the much longer and more difficult work of repentance, reform, and rebuilding -- here and now and in the world to come.

Again I turn to Giliard:

Scripture consistently reveals that restoration, not punitive punishment, is at the heart of God’s justice. Biblical justice does include retribution, but not exclusively. Biblical justice cannot be solely defined by it. The more accurate description of biblical justice is restorative justice. Biblically, justice is a divine act of reparation where breached relationships are renewed and victims, offenders, and communities are restored. Justice, therefore, is about relationships and our conduct within them. Justice asks, How is righteousness embodied and exuded in how I live in relation to God, neighbor, and creation? In fact, Scripture could be read as the narrative of God’s restorative justice unfolding in the world.

No prisons. No hell. No punishment for punishment's sake -- but resources provided to make repentance and reconciliation possible. No severing of some humans from the rest of humanity, or from the Body of Christ -- but restored relationships.

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Will the restoration happen before heaven begins? Maybe. Then I'd say there is some sort of purgatory state in between (because purgatory isn't a place of punishment, but of, well, purging away all that is corrupt and harmful). But not a permanent hell. Not a place made for punishing or discarding.

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because the belief and fear of hell has done so much damage, i refuse to hold to a belief in hell. and hey, if it turns out there is one, fine! it doesn't change how i should live my life:

in the end, whether hell is or is not real, i should live my life the same way -- loving God, neighbor and creation with all that i am, and doing my part to live into God's Kin(g)dom where the oppressed are lifted up, and the oppressors have their own violence exposed to them for the evil it is so that they may begin the hard work of reforming their ways.

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For more excerpts from Rethinking Incarceration, see this Google Doc.

for more stuff about hell, see my hell tag over on my other blog.