#he was noble and heroic in the way that only the best kinds of people can truly be

[jtownraindancer]

missing my second favourite revolutionary spy played by burn gorman tonight 🇬🇧

[paragonrobits]

so one interesting aspect about Metro Man kind of concerns his relation to the specific vibe of the Superman Parody archetype; the persona.

This is less specific to Superman himself (though it can be something he addresses now and then, and its often about the distinction between the way he acts as Clark Kent vs the way he acts while acting as Superman), than it is to his imitators, legally distinct equivalents, negative depictions that often voice the opinion that a Superman could never be actually heroic or noble, and sincere tributes or reflections to everything good about Superman.

It's a core aspect of, say, Homelander's character and what makes him evil. Its a core aspect of Omniman and his deep internal conflict about his culture's brutal attitudes vs him genuinely becoming that character and trying to convince himself otherwise. It's become an era-specific aspect of Aberrant's Caestus Pax (and may in turn reflect the changing attitudes of superheroes in a metatextual context), and it is perhaps the single most prominent thing about All Might in his relationship to Superman as a character, and it amount to this thing:

The Superman Icon and persona, and how they're seen in-universe.

Let's go back to Caestus Pax a bit. In the tabletop RPG of Aberrant, he is considered the most powerful nova (superhuman) in the world, leader of super team equivalent Team Tomorrow, and a popular hero. He's a background character for the most part, but an important one. The original Aberrant was a mystery-focused deconstructionist that was somewhat hostile to a lot of general conventions of superhero genre that only gradually went away, being heavily inspired by the likes of The Authority and its imitators. Pax reflected this, seen as an ultimate hero and paragon; in private, however, he is absolutely obsessed with his image, fixated on publicity and his image above all else, to the point that his skin was becoming plastic just like his own toys. He's even stated to care about a fight because it could prove that he's the strongest guy, which would solidify his rating.

(That said, he's not a villain in a conventional sense; he's obsessed with his image, but he's a fairly decent guy otherwise.)

The second edition, which is a lot more sincere about superheroics (reflecting the changes in perception over time; deconstructions have come and gone, and its just not that interesting to focus on that) reworks him considerably, making him a humble blue collar guy who is kind, friendly and wound up as the world's strongest hero, but ultimately still thinks he needs to be stronger to save people, haunted by the deaths of his family (who died in the same accident that awoke his powers, and even with his strength he couldn't save them). And this ties into the Superman Persona.

Here's what I mean by that; Superman acts a certain way. Sometimes he's a goofball as Clark Kent, and as Superman he is much more imposing; rarely threatening, but always affable, and above all else inspiring. Superman is everyone's friend, and he might be friendly, or he might be patient and have big Just Some Guy energies, but above everything, Superman is usually acting like that on purpose to chill things out. People respect him, and the way superman is perceived as an icon of the age is a big part of any character drawing on the same premise, with a meta aspect; Superman's role as the First And Best superhero is so integral to him, characters based on him must reflect this in some way.

So here's where Metro Man comes in.

Metro Man is fundamentally a guy who became Superman because he fits the marks; he's an alien who survived his home world with fantastic powers, beloved by all because he's good at playing to the crowd. We don't really get much of him early on, making him a mildly bullying suck-up who gets into a big hammy fight with Megamind that feels like a performance (because it IS), and mostly he exists as a Superman equivalent. When he turns out to still be alive, we see that he's profoundly unhappy as a hero, and fundamentally exhausted of a role he honestly never really wanted to do, but only did it because it was expected of him, for precisely the same reasons that Megamind became a villain. (It's also all but stated that he fully believes Megamind is the one who can be a real hero and he's trying to encourage him to do that, but that's another topic.)

So this is the point that's made here; Metro Man's persona matches the general aspect of a character who is being a Superman stand-in, but its usually a persona, playing to the crowd and acting like the big hero who inspires others. Metro Man is MUCH more of a performer with a distinct rock star vibe (as his costume designs also indicate); he is genuinely having a blast doing that, engaging with people and having fun, notably only getting tired of it when actual superhero stuff has to happen.

The relevant point is this: Metro Man DOESN'T have a persona. As we see in his dialogue with Megamind when he retires, and in his final scene as he shows pride in Megamind becoming a full fledged superhero in his own right, he acts exactly the same as he does when he's acting in-character. He does not put on a dorky attitude OR act more bombastic, he acts pretty much the same in private or not.

He's always a performer, playing to the crowd, because that's what he actually loves doing; the physical and action stuff is something he doesn't care for, and he is incredibly efficient at it. This probably indicates his experience, but it might also imply he just wants to get it over with ASAP, and it stands out compared to his more flamboyant attitude when he's zooming around, high-fiving crowds and so on.

He doesn't really cultivate a public/private persona distinction, downplaying his actual feelings to suit his persona (more common among evil Superman copies) or acting the part of the hero people expect him to be to give them hope and reassurance (a lot of takes of Superman himself and those similar to him, like All Might). It's literally just the way he normally acts.

[therummesoccupied]

IDW'S SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, ISSUE #70 - THOUGHTS

Keeping with standard Review!Tay tradition, I'm very late to the party again, but at least this time the new issue doesn't come out tomorrow, so I'll take the wins where I can get 'em.

You've likely heard by now, but this issue was really, really good. Like, I'm not sure I even could find anything to complain about, even if I'd wanted to. Every single aspect is thoroughly on point. The closest thing I could even fathom to complaint is that I don't really care for Sonic Riders, so this arc had to kind of win me over, but even that was accomplished early in the previous issue.

And just like last issue, the first thing that really had me in this one's corner was the art. I've already spoken at length about how much I adore Min Ho Kim's and Aaron Hammerstrom's pencils, and with the phenomenal showing from Kim in Issue #69 (nice), Hammerstrom has absolutely followed up.

Keeping true to his Uekawa-inspired style, his art manages to drive the intensity and motion of the high-speed scenes, while also utilizing strong character design elements and posing to really sell certain panels. He even gives us some real Henshin shit out of Sonic here.

The writing also continues to entirely slam in this issue. I think I remember Evan Stanley once talking about her reputation for writing fluffy, low-stakes, side stories, and seeking to show how well she can handle action and drama, and I'm really glad to say she totally pulls it off here. The action never feels dull or slow, and the characters all feel active and driven.

Speaking of the characters, this issue might have the strongest character writing in the entire comic, hands-down. It's been said by other IDW Sonic aficionados before, but every single character gets something to do here - something that matters to that character specifically.

We get Sonic as the Phantom Rider, which I absolutely love. I said last time that I like Sonic occasionally displaying some roguish behavior, letting the noble, heroic persona down for a bit and being the daredevil showoff the series sells him as. He spends the entire issue daring the authorities in charge of the race to do something about him, and doing everything in his power to piss Jet off. Sneering in the face of power and taunting his opponents until they're red in the face is what Sonic does!

And it's not even like he's being a total asshole here.

Like, people get to be in danger, and he still helps, but like. Even then he tries to hide that he's doing it. It's Good! This is peak Sonic!

Surge gets some interesting stuff here, chasing off the Phantom Rider and being met with unexpected praise and applause. This is a really neat angle to play for her, because she was kind of built to crave Hero Worship by Starline, and she is the way she is partly because, when she was working under Starline, every single thing she did was met exclusively with negative reinforcement - a reflection of Starline's time spent working under Eggman. It's kind of neat that Eggman's treatment of Starline continues causing him problems long after Starline's death like this.

Then there's Jet:

And Jet gets to be all pouty because, not only did the Phantom Rider steal his spotlight during the race, but now Surge is stealing the spotlight after the fact, despite the fact that he won! This seems to be setting up a budding rivalry between Surge and Jet, which was a story beat I had never considered. I'd always wanted to see what Surge would do confronted with another one of Sonic's rivals like Knuckles or Shadow, but seeing it happen with Jet, somebody with an ego to match her own, is really cool. Also they're both green. They're the only two Sonic "rivals" outside of Metal Sonic that haven't experienced some form of heel-face turn, and remain pretty explicitly bad, or at best neutral, guys. And they're greeeeeen.

Our big bad, Clutch, treats the whole thing with relative unease, but I like how calmly he approaches it. Once more, he plays this manipulative businessman villain archetype really well, keeping his cards close to his chest until he knows what he's dealing with. He also sends Mimic after the Phantom Rider, which has some really cool implications.

It's entirely possible that Mimic and Sonic are on their way toward some form of confrontation, which I said last time would be a really neat dynamic to explore since they've never really met, and neither is the kind of opponent the other typically deals with. But more than that, with Mimic being under specific orders to quietly unmask Sonic, I could see things playing out so that they learn of one anothers' identities, with neither being able to blow the other's cover for risk of blowing their own.

I could even see this breaking really bad for Sonic if he even tries to expose Duo as Mimic, as Silver tried to do that once before and was not only seemingly proven wrong, but also had the trust the other Diamond Cutters had in him entirely shattered, while their trust in Duo was only strengthened. Sonic is already putting a lot of good will on the line with his Phantom Rider antics, if he ends up falling for the same game as Silver, it's possible he could not only ruin the faith the Diamond Cutters or the Restoration have in him, but in the image he has with the world at large.

Not that I'm entirely certain he'd care, mind you. Sonic has already shown in stuff like SA2 or Black Knight that he doesn't really care if he's in trouble with authority or if not everyone sees him as a hero. He just does what he thinks is right and that's good enough for him. So who knows?

The Diamond Cutters are a little less present in this issue, mostly trying to bring down the Phantom Rider, but there is one subtle little bit of storytelling I really like here.

Lanolin, attempting to corner the Phantom Rider, knocks him into one of the course's glass tunnels, which shatters with the added weight of Clean Sweep's security crew, putting the racers inside at risk. The expression on her face and the small "no..." seem to reflect a bit of horror at realizing that her actions have directly put people in danger. A lot of folks have been hoping for Lanolin to face some kind of reckoning over her decisions as a leader, and while I really like Lanolin as a character, I think it would be interesting for this, and the eventual reveal of Duo, to really shake her faith in her skills and make her reevaluate her approach.

In addition to the Diamond Cutters themselves, we get a real quick bit with Jewel here:

Ever since Sonic and co. were disqualified from the tournament, Jewel has been trying to reach out to them to check in, but Duo, who appears to still be acting as her assistant - yikes - tells her over and over that he's tried every means of communication (which is, of course, a lie), and that he's had no luck getting in touch.

And here, we see our first little bit of someone within the Restoration having their doubts about Duo. I don't know what tipped her off - she seemed just as invested in him as anyone after the incident with Silver - but it's clear she doesn't buy everything he's saying here. She knows something's up. The question is: What will she do about it? What can she do? As Clutch pointed out last issue, she's got a lot of eyes on her. She's not an action-hero like Sonic or the Diamond Cutters. She's an organizer. But in this respect, she works as a perfect heroic foil to Clutch, who does not boast any special abilities of his own, just a diligent mind and a willingness to follow carefully laid plains with a subtle demeanor.

Lastly, we get a bit of Amy and Tails sneaking around the Restoration shuttle.

While Tails gets some nice bits here - namely a neat little nod to Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog with his dumpster diving - Amy is really the one with the best display here.

Amy has spent so much of IDW, and really a lot of recent Sonic media, being the collected one. The beacon of normalcy in a rag-tag group of child prodigies and daredevil speedsters. While she fills this role well, it also leaves her somewhat meandering for things to do in terms of character dynamics. There was a time when Amy had a hot-headed attitude to rival Sonic and Knuckles. She was a bit reactionary, and it gave her some neat character quirks.

There's a balance to be struck between these two extremes, but I think we're finally nailing it down with this arc. With Amy knowing her way around the shuttle after her time spent there during the Metal Virus, but then excitedly dragging Tails along, grimacing at his ruffling through the trash, shrieking with terror as a weird robot hand grabs onto her face, and barking in anger as she realizes whose hand it was, I get the sense that we have the real Amy here again!

Yeah, she's still "the normal one" (kinda, they've been playing up her ridiculous strength again lately as well), but she also has the spark that made her chase after Sonic on his adventures in the first place. I really like her here!

So, once again, this arc (Extreme Competition, as its been named in the TPBs) leaves me thoroughly impressed in way that I did not expect from a Sonic Riders-centric arc. This is some of the most on-brand Sonic writing with some of the most accurate art I've ever seen. It seems to me that, after all this time of IDW being good but not quite hitting the mark for a lot of fans, the series is finally hitting its stride. I remain excited to see what comes next, and hopeful that there's still lots, lots more to come after this arc wraps up.

One other thing to mention: It was revealed in the Fan Letters section at the end of the issue that there is currently an IDW Sonic crossover in the works:

Now, speculation has been rampant about what this crossover could be - TMNT, Transformers, MLP, even DBZ with the recently-announced TMNT/Naruto crossover setting a precedent for anime/manga crossovers - but I'm throwing my hopes and dreams behind what appears to be the popular theory: Godzilla.

It makes sense. Godzilla and Sonic are both properties IDW currently has the comics rights to, both owned by Japanese companies. Godzilla fits the notion of a "BIG threat" to Sonic and co., both in terms of size as well as the implication that the figure crossing over will serve some form of antagonistic role. Godzilla even works relatively well within a Sonic storyline, and Sonic is no stranger to kaiju fights. It'd be very easy to do a story about Eggman trying to awaken/control some kind of ancient, powerful creature, only to reveal that said creature is Godzilla, over whom Eggman swiftly loses control, and Sonic and friends have to find a way to stop his rampage and return him to his proper place.

Honestly, they could make it a canon story if they wanted to. Hell they should make it a canon story! I love Godzilla!! Make him canon to Sonic!!! FOR ME SPECIFICALLY.

Time will tell what the big crossover is, and where the comic will go next, and I'll be sure to be fashionably late with my review.

Till then, thanks for reading!

[mdhwrites]

What do you think of the Heroic Sacrifice trope? It's a trope as old as time: "no greater way to showcase the quality of one's character, the culmination of their growth, their worthiness as a hero, than laying down their life so that others might live."

I personally like it...most of the time. Other times it feels like it's executed for the sake of being executed. Take Superman's death in Batman v Superman - a noble act, but completely pointless because anyone with a brain writing this would see the context and go "just give Batman the kryptonite spear and have him kill Doomsday with it instead."

I'm also not a fan of the sacrifice being undone, either by the end of the story or the next film/chapter/whatever. For me, it takes away a lot of dramatic weight by simply undoing the character's choice to sacrifice themselves and have them come back fine and dandy. This is why I kinda like the way the Heroic Sacrifice plays out in Amphibia's finale: it's sort of undone, but elements are left ambiguous enough to leave the possibility that yeah, there is some kind of seriously existential consequence to come from that.

I sent this ask because I've been thinking about how, over the years, I've seen a lot of talk and fanfics about various works of fiction, lamenting and undoing a hero's sacrifice. And while most of this is obviously because it just feels better to see a character you love alive and well, some argue that, in this instance or that, it was more narratively fitting for the character to actually live instead of carrying out the trope. And that argument can have merit, if you ask me, provided you can prove it...was narratively fitting for the character to live.

So yeah, what do you make of the trope?

Character Death is maybe one of the hardest things to quantify for people because how each person feels about a death is going to come down to personal preference and the like. The only character deaths that are undone with no objection are the ones that are complete bullshit. These are usually shock deaths. Otherwise, the conversation gets a lot more complicated.

For me, I think your final sentence on this comes close to hitting the big question a writer should ask for which way to swing this. Can you make the resurrection feel like it fits within the reason for the sacrifice? It can't just be thematic to the whole story, it has to be thematic to the death itself.

THIS is actually what makes Anne coming back powerful. She dies as a culmination of her care for others and her maturity. First, that care for others has The Guardian offer her a job. Offer her a place amongst the gods. However, it is then her maturity that makes her turn it down and gives the Guardian the idea to give her her life back. For the same reasons she died, she comes back. It doesn't undercut her arc, it reinforces it.

I much cheesier example of this is the first Pokemon movie. Ash gets in the way of Mew and Mewtwo because they aren't battling like in Pokemon, they are waging WAR. So he does everything he can to stop it and loses his life in the process. When confronted with the cost, everyone has to stop and actually consider it. This shared pain of having gone so far is then what makes them cry and finding peace finds Ash his life. He did everything he could for peace and succeeded and rolling back his death fits with the idea that there was no need for this in the first place. To keep him dead would actually undercut the point because it would imply his death was necessary.

HOWEVER.

Why don't villains count as often for this? The redemptive sacrifice is made to atone for their sins... Which makes bringing them back kind of go against the point. The idea is that instead of the selfish or destructive ideals they have been motivated up until now, they no longer care about themselves and care for others. That they will throw away EVERYTHING to try and undo some of their damage. To give them back anything is pointless. The best thing to be done instead is to memorialize them. To agree that they in some way did make up for their mistakes and will be remembered fondly instead of hated.

As for my personal opinion... I am not a fan of character death. Unless it is the absolutely right thing for their character, I am usually against a character dying permanently. It is the end of all stories that could be told with them, done in a very brutal way, and that is far less interesting to me than having to deal with who they are going forward. As such, I would rather a heroic sacrifice lead to them being scarred in some way, usually literally not like they now have to deal with trauma, because just because you didn't die doesn't make the fact that you were ready to any less meaningful. If you are going to remove a character from a story and not send them off into the night gracefully to live their own life though, there are much worse ways to do it than a noble sacrifice. However, because I think the trope is unnecessary in the first place, I'm going to be ESPECIALLY critical of your work if you use it just for shock value.

Death means something, just as life does, and the passing between them should mean just as much. See you next tale.

======+++++======

I originally branched out to kind of how death and resurrection can be handled in general rather than just noble sacrifice but decided against it. This also kept Luz out of this since she didn't do a noble sacrifice. She didn't choose to die which is the whole fucking point of the trope. She just accidentally was killed while saving someone. There is a BIG difference.

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I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

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[too-destiny-panda]

Wyllvember Day 1: The Blade/ Favourite outfit

A/N: I have not posted my writing on here for literal years, and I overall don't write much anymore (mainly because of fear of writing OOC and my many inconsistencies), but I figured I might try my hand at this. Forgive me for the ugly formatting, I'm writing this on mobile and overall have no clue how to make it look pretty😅. Anyways, let's get this Wyll Ravengard appreciation started! The prompts are from @commander-yinello and @sagscrib -Blue WC:603

The Blade of Frontiers, the protector of the Sword Coast, and its people. The name is known to many. Some whisper it in reverence, shout it in adoration, or mutter it through gritted teeth in loathing. The name carries a weight, a meaning, a notion that one is either going to be saved and protected or crushed under the heel of justice. It inspired an image in one’s mind, whether they have ever seen the Blade in person or not. A picture of justice and righteousness, of gaudiness and pompous heroics. Some imaginings are closer, some further, from the truth. Be that as it may, all of them are right, at least to some extent.

The Blade is a hero, who accompanies his actions with flowery words, creative insults, and some slightly more puzzling phrases. He is a man of many qualities, and though not all are fond of his tendency for theatrics, they must admit he is good. Whether it be his combat prowess or as a person, he is good. Which some may believe to be a weakness, a soft spot to be exploited and bruised. Those people are proven wrong very quickly.

Despite his kindness, his willingness to help those that need it, he is righteous. And there are few things more destructive than righteous fury, accompanied by powers few possess. His white, stone eye blazing as he cracks mountains, calls onto fiendish abilities to burn his enemies from inside out, blast their torsos to smithereens with a few Eldritch Blasts, or poison a small army of soulless wrongdoers with deadly clouds. For no matter how soft his heart is, how embellished and poetic his words are, his fists turn into adamantine when faced with his foes, his tongue turns into a blade sharp enough to put all blacksmiths to shame as incantation after incantation reverberates through the air until not a single enemy is left standing.

And when he returns from battle, when he swoops in to save the poor victims of the monsters he has slain, some remark how the outfit he dons is splattered with blood and soot and ash and unidentifiable organic matter. A view many would find disquieting, terrifying. But the people will only remember his kind gaze, his ebony hair and warm skin as he extends his hand to them, remember the way light reflects off the belts and buckles of his armour, how the hue of the leather contrasts with the unblemished metal.

And later on, when a feast is thrown, when the tavern is filled to bursting with folks celebrating the return of their loved ones and the defeat of the dangers that plagued them, many an eye will watch with keen interest the man responsible for such joy, watch as he laughs, how the fabric of his Splendid Blue outfit tightens around his arms whenever he raises them to toast. Others, in a different region will recall how the simplicity of his Swarthy Wayfarer shirt made them dream of his collarbones like depraved maidens. Some more noble sorts will remark that a particular shade of a Solemnity outfit made him look delectable. If everyone that has ever seen the Blade in a different outfit other than his armour were to meet and a debate on what suits him best would occur, this author is afraid that a brawl might break out on account of the Blade's handsome looks and what best accentuates them.

And as much as this humble writer disagrees with violence over romantic matters, one must admit that such behaviour is not so surprising when faced with someone such as the Blade of Frontiers.

[knightofgalatea]

Jury's Out!

Ingrid’s normal fictional fare was stories of courage and bravery, heroes and noble lords and ladies. Yet at the behest of one of her classmates, she’d tried her hand at reading something a little new, a series of books that had recently surged in popularity. They were mysteries mostly, with the addition of rudimentary investigation, culminating in trials held against formidable legal opponents.

It was not something Ingrid would have picked up of her own free will, preferring instead to read of more heroic exploits, of powerful kings and valiant knights. But once she’d cracked open the cover of the first book, she had been utterly hooked, something about the fast pace of the writing drawing her in and refusing to free her from its hold.

She read through the first book quickly, and had grown utterly dismayed when she’d learned that the monastery library did not have the next few books available, with a waitlist so long for even just book two it could have encompassed the entirety of the Galatea lands.

So she did the next best thing, heading to the closest bookstore in the town below the monastery when she had a day free from classes and training. Whether she bought all of the books in the series was entirely between her and the goddess, but she would be lying if she said she’d only purchased one book.

It was about halfway through the series that Ingrid wondered about the usefulness of such a system. Two opponents battling with their words, trying to prove that their arguments were most valid, were most just. It was a system wholly new to her, and the novelty of the system was no doubt partially responsible for her interest in the series, and for how she’d been swept away in the current of its popularity along with what felt like nearly half the school.

But thinking on the applications of a judicial system such as what was written in the books kept her focused well past finishing her next read. She even found herself daydreaming, practically dozing, her focus nowhere near the assignments she needed to complete for class as she turned over the fictional law system in her mind over and over.

Could it work? It certainly seemed like it could. But if it could work, how could it be applied? And how would one get someone to defend people suspected of crimes? How would one even find someone eloquent enough to make such a case before a crowd?

It was a question that baffled Ingrid, who much preferred her actions to her words. She was not a poor speaker by any means, but it did not always feel natural, not like whens he was sparring, or when she was performing small acts for her friends. That was as simple as breathing, and it did not fail her the way words sometimes did.

Her curiosity plagued her for days, until she remembered that Marianne’s adoptive father was renowned as a phenomenal orator. He could speak with ease to so many of even the most frustrating of nobles. And Marianne was clever, and kind, and although she was quiet there was certainly much more lurking beneath the depths of her often grey countenance.

It was then that Ingrid made an impulsive decision, closing her book and setting it to the side as she bolted from her room. She raced down the steps from the dormitory, bolting across the cobbled ground of the monastery towards the stables. There were few places Marianne would be, and the sun was high and the air was warm, which meant that even she would likely be out, no doubt brushing down Dorte and some of the other horses housed in the stables.

Sure enough, perched like a bird on a stepstool next to Dorte, Marianne was murmuring softly, something Ingrid could not quite make out.

“Marianne!” She shouted to her friend, pushing her way into the stable, breathing in the sharp smell of hay. “Marianne, you know those books that have been popular lately?! The ones by Shane les Parodee?!”

She was breathless, but she didn’t give her friend a chance to respond. “So I’ve been thinking at great length over the legal system in the novels, and I was trying to figure out how someone could be eloquent enough to defend cases in such a system. Do you know what I’m talking about?!”

She was far too excited for her own good, but an idea was already brewing in her mind, beyond just speaking with Marianne on the details. Perhaps she could get some pointers, and then perhaps she could set something up, something that would make it possible to hold a fake trial much like in the books.

Ingrid clapped her hands together, feeling strangely giddy. Maybe she could even rope Marianne into it as well, which would surely create a fantastic opportunity for them to strengthen their shared bonds, so they could become better friends, better allies in the battlefield and in the future of their world. “What do you say?”

@cursedbluebird

[heretic-altias]

FFXIVWrite Day 16 - Jerk

Altais is very self aware that she is in fact, a jerk, lol. Yet somehow she still makes friends. This takes place at some point during Heavensward, as Altais spent that expac learning mch.

Don’t know my characters? Here’s a basic breakdown to help you out!

~

Ishgard’s ever freezing climate was not pleasant to an Au Ra. Altais’s scales frequently felt like ice against her skin.

It had originally been the simple warmth emitting from the manufactory that had driven her to see what Stephanivien had wanted. And maybe one could argue that had brought her back the next couple of times. But as Solar’s time in Ishgard went on, she found herself enjoying the work there. Designing and building weapons was a way to grow stronger, and she had a good mind for the magitek engineering involved.

Stephanivien was also the only Ishgardian who acted so friendly towards her. Sure, there were a couple of people who acted friends towards the Scions and Solar as a whole, but Altais had always felt those people tolerated her at best. She was not a kind person, and had never learned a lot of social niceties. She usually came across as blunt and rude, whether it was intentional or not. Combine that with a general mistrust of people, and you had a woman who was very difficult to befriend. Most people backed off fairly quickly. Ishgardians in particular with their general dislike of anything scaled.

So Altais didn’t quite get why she was wanted in the manufactory. She knew Stephanivien wasn’t like the typical Ishgardian noble in regards to origin, he would recruit anyone willing to spend time there. But how had she not scared him off with her demeanor like most others? He didn’t even avoid her while she worked, he would often stop to ask how it was going, or work on his own project nearby to make small talk. Altais could understand her talent being wanted, she had picked up on the craft faster than anyone else, but why did he value her company?

One day, tinkering with her newest weapon, she decided to ask.

“Why do you like being around me anyway?”

“Why would you ask such a thing? Do you have reason to doubt my intentions?” Stephanivien questioned curiously, stopping what he was working on to give her his full attention.

“I doubt everyone’s intentions to a degree, but you’re not exceptional there. Most people don’t like my company though. I’m not exactly friendly. Some people have told me I’m outright mean. Not that it matters to me, I am what I am, but you’ve been the odd exception in this city. Solar likes me, but what we have is something… different” Altais shrugged.

Solar was the group of people she constantly faced life and death consequences with. They knew she could fight alongside them and had seen that she would. That wasn’t an experience anyone else shared with her. It was hard to put into words exactly what, but that had built a special sort of bond between them. One even Altais could recognize.

“Well you and I share this interest in machinistry. That’s enough to start a conversation in itself I daresay. I try to talk with everyone here, but you keep up with my theories better than anyone else. You don’t share much about yourself, but when we work together I see a bright mind behind that harsh exterior that I’d like to get to know more” Stephanivien thought aloud, seeming to consider his words carefully.

“I’m not really sure what it is you think you see. I’m not a very good person and I come across exactly as I am” Altais answered back.

“Ah, but you’re not a bad person. ‘Good’ and ‘kind’ are not always connected. You may not be kind my friend, but I can assure you that you are good. Do you think I would have seen the potential I did in you if you weren’t?”

Altais had her doubts. She could see what he meant, this city was full of outwardly kind people who were rotten to the core. But just following some heroic types around didn’t make her good like they were.

“I don’t think I’ll ever understand your persistence in befriending me” Altais finally decided with a shake of her head.

Maybe someday she would. But she’d said pretty much the same thing to Akku early on, and while she liked him and considered him a friend now, she still didn’t understand his persistent attempts at friendship in face of her attempts to brush him away.

“You might just need more time to grow used to it. But if there is anything I can do to make you feel more comfortable here, be sure to tell me. I would hate for you not to return” Stephanivien insisted.

Altais turned away from her own work to glance at the project behind him.

“Well that gun certainly isn’t capable of shooting me in the back, so I think I’m safe for the moment” she pointed out.

Stephanivien feigned hurt, “You wound me! Worry not though! She’ll shoot perfectly well once I finish putting her together! But I believe the targets we have set up would be more suitable for testing than your back”

“Using those would come with less regret too I’d imagine. The targets don’t shoot back”

Stephanivien laughed, and while Altais’s face didn’t change, a slight upward lift in her tail gave away her amusement to those who knew to recognize it.

Altais didn’t have the answer to her question in the end, but she also didn’t have a reason to stop coming back.

[lorekeeper-backset]

I'm bored, here have these Fire Emblem: Three Houses What Ifs that accompanied the Author's Note of a chapter of my currently on-hiatus because I'm too lazy to work on it fanfic. They're free to use as story ideas but if you do use any them I'd appreciate you sending it my way.

What If… Edelgard Won? I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t this just the Crimson Flower route? But it’s not. When I say “Edelgard Won” I mean that straight up villain Edelgard (no, we’re not arguing this right now) from the other three routes wins. She trumps the Kingdom, Alliance, and Church and takes over Fodlan.

What If… Claude Became the Hegemon? In other words, what if Claude took Edelgard’s place as the main antagonist. Basically, somewhere along the line Claude decides that the best way to End Racism is if he takes control of everything. So we get to see how scarily competent Claude would be as a bad guy. Obviously, he’d have great strategy because, you know, Master Schemer, but also he’d weaken the other sides by outright stealing troops from them. Because evil or not he’s still Claude. He isn’t fighting to defeat one specific group or blaming one specific group for all the oppression. He just thinks that taking over everything is a faster way to change things than working with the system (which is basically Edelgard’s doctrine but she purely blames the Church for all this bull). And a lot of people will think that he makes good points and decide that, yeah, they’ll join this guy. In fact, the points he makes will be so good that they might even make the audience question who the bad guy is (it’s still him) which I think is something they tried to do with Edelgard (she is right, Crests are an issue) but she also caused way more bloodshed and joined up with Those Who Slither so it’s kind of moot. Claude, obviously, won’t use Demonic Beasts because he’s just as against Those Who Slither as he is as a good guy but he might use Golems he reverse engineered from the Church. Because of how scarily competent he is this will actually force the other three sides to team up for realsies to fight him and Those Who Slither might join in too as a third party (though nobody will actively help them because, you know, they’re Those Who Slither, and in gameplay terms it would function like the battle of grondor field) because Claude is a way bigger threat to them since he’s not only actively hunting them along with everyone else but their main base is in Alliance territory. Man, I really put a lot of thought into this one. Also, Hegemon doesn’t mean he’ll be turning into Fallen Claude or some such thing, just that he’s the bad guy in this scenario.

What If… Byleth Never Came to Garreg Mach Monastery? This one’s simple. Something happened that caused Byleth to simply… not come to the Monastery. Or maybe they did and they just kind of left.

What If… Byleth Woke Up Too Late? Basically, Byleth falls off a cliff as usual but by the time they wake up the war’s over. However, it didn't end in anyone’s favor, possibly due to Those Who Slither or just because Byleth was kind of a lynch pin, so Fodlan is s lawless post-apocalyptic waste land. We could have all sorts of cool post-apocalypse versions of the characters. Like a version of Lorenz who has decided that even though his noble house has fallen, that's no reason not to act like a noble and do heroic things and try to make the future a little brighter (sorry, but Ferdie’s dead in this universe so he can’t take that role). Or a version of Ashe who’s gone dark after one dead friend too many.

What If… Sitri Survived? This one’s also simple. The method by which Sitri survives could be any number of things. Maybe Baby Byleth dies before they can perform the operation or maybe the birth just goes smoothly. Who knows.

What If… Sothis Bonded to Edelgard? This one’s an interesting one. Maybe even more interesting than Hegemon Claude. So, somehow Sothis bonds to Edelgard instead of Byleth. Maybe instead of doing blood experiments Those Who Slither just straight up stole Sothis’ crest stone somehow (which unfortunately means neither Byleth nor Sitri can show up in this story) and for reasons that are probably similar to why their main timeline (for a certain sense of the word) experiment worked on her the Crest Stone takes and now she has Sothis in her head. Sothis probably first emerges sometime around when she first emerged for Byleth, maybe during the same confrontation with Kostis. This allows Edelgard time to develop her anti-Church and anti-Crest views. So now she has this being who may or may not be the Goddess in her head (since she’s not ignorant of Fodlan’s religion and politics like Byleth she immediately recognizes the significance of Sothis’ name) who’s also really abrasive towards her and that would obviously affect her character arc in a significant way as at first she probably searches for a way to get rid of Sothis and Sothis isn't all that fond of Edelgard either for obvious reasons but the two slowly warm up to each other and who knows what happens then. Also, since we need a third teacher and Byleth isn't available, I say we use a retired Jeralt who would also have changed quite a bit due to a lack of Sitri (or possibly, even more heartbreaking, Those Who Slither straight up ripping Sitri or Byleth’s hearts from their chests).

[thevoidstaredback]

I'm gonna be a bit more specific

You've developed a superpower. It's not common, but not so rare as to justify you suddenly going to ground the second you develop them, cutting yourself off from everyone in your life to drop off the grid as effectively as you can on such short notice.

The power is a generic one; healing both yourself and others, super strength, super speed, enhanced senses, -lepathy of some kind, -kinesis of some kind. (You decide, though you only get one)

Of course, every power has its weakness. Exertion of energy, faster metabolism, etc.

Though the power is not at first visible without use, it slowly mutates your body over time, slowly nudging you into the uncanny valley.

Powers in society aren't a new development. As far back as human record goes, there have always been humans who are more than the rest. Ancient people's called them Gods and Demigods, children of which were labeled Legacies.

The governments of the world have always had a branch to watch over these extraordinary humans. There's always been a space carved out for them

Examples, definitions, and expansions below the cut I'll ask again:

Superhero - A benevolent [fictional] character with superhuman powers - Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, Iron Man

Hero - A person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities - Civil Servant like a Doctor, Nurse, Cop, Lawyer, Judge, Military Personnel, etc.

Vigilante - A member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal authority, typically because the legal agencies are thought to be inadequate - Spider-Man, Daredevil, Nightwing, Batman

Anti-hero - A central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes - Deadpool, Punisher, Venom, Red Hood

Villein - A feudal tenant entirely subject to a lord or manor to whom he paid dues and services in return for land - Corporate CEO, Cop, Land Lord, etc.

Supervillain - A [fictional] villain with superhuman powers - Joker, Darkseid, Dr. Doom, Thanos Would you start a superhero team? (Justice League and affiliates or Avengers) Would you start a supervillain team? (Sinister Six or Court of Owls) Would you start a vigilante team? (BatFam or Team Red)

Or would you continue life as a civilian, hiding your powers as best you could, but using them for yourself? Maybe you'd continue life as a civilian, but you'd use your powers in the comfort of your own family and closest friends, not sharing with anyone beyond that closed circle. Or maybe you'd continue life as a civilian, openly using your powers to help the people in your community. But what if you went on the run, using your powers to help those you come across but not going out of your way? Or maybe you'd go on the run, hiding your powers from everyone and constantly looking over your shoulder, afraid that someone will see or you'll get caught by something.

But, why are you running? The government only wants to employ you. It's for the greater good. You use your powers to help the people of your country, and you'll get paid. You'll get all the pay and benefits of a government worker as long as you're a good dog

Doesn't matter the power you get, I'm genuinely curious. Explain your answer?

[spider-xan]

While I am still in TASM critical mode, I am once again going to bang on about how horrifically ableist those films are, especially with regards to their interpretations of Curt and Harry, and it drives me insane that very few people seem to recognize the ableism, even though the movies are explicitly pro-eugenics and not subtle about it - ffs the first film literally has Curt do that fashy speech about how disability and illness are weaknesses of humanity that must be genetically eradicated, you cannot get more explicitly pro-eugenics than that, and while it could work as a villain monologue that is challenged by the hero and narrative bc depiction is not always endorsement, it's not! The film presents eradication of the disabled as a class as a noble thing in the pursuit of equality (what) that the hero agrees with! It's only bad when he tries to turn everyone into lizards, but it would have been okay if he didn't go into comic book villain territory!

Like, as I have said many times before, no, I don't think Curt is some kind of gold star disability rep in the comics or other adaptations, but at least he isn't a fucking eugenicist trying to genetically eradicate disability as a class of people and this is presented as heroic and sympathetic in the comics or other works, and his character usually has a personality and other things going on in his life that isn't 'Disability is sooo tragic, isn't he pitiful for being an amputee? :( :( :(' where you would think he was terminally ill or something and there is nothing else to his character beyond being a tragic disabled guy where the tragedy is the disability in and of itself, anyway, yeah, can you tell I hate the writing for him in the film and it drives me insane that the most ableist version of him by a huge margin is now widely considered to be the best interpretation, and the way people praise him is like, idk it's bad out there when it comes to people's understanding of disability and ableism!!

[beatriceaware]

Review: Thaddeus of Warsaw (1803)

"Men who cannot ardently feel, cannot taste supreme happiness."

A bestseller in its day, Thaddeus of Warsaw is considered by some to be the first English historical novel, taking its plot from the very real Kościuszko Uprising in Poland against an invading Russia. It utilizes real events and real people, though I do have difficulty in labeling it a historical novel myself, when it takes place only about a decade before the story itself was written and published. (Kind of like someone writing a "historical novel" taking place about an event in 2014- it still seems too contemporary).

The story follows Thaddeus Sobieski, a Polish nobleman who finds himself a penniless refugee after a tragic defeat. The book opens with military-heavy scenes that, according to Devoney Looser in her biography on Jane Porter and her sister Maria (Sister Novelists), "a general had said, "No one could have described so well the horrors in Poland who had not been an eye-witness." Many couldn't believe a woman had written it."

Once Thaddeus reaches England, however, the plot becomes a little more familiar to the tropes of the time. The plot itself is complicated to explain fully, but involves a few sudden, dramatic deaths, multiple women falling in love with this "noble foreigner," misunderstandings that lead him to think he has been abandoned by a dear friend, money woes, swooning, and several unlikely connections that continue to stretch belief by the end.

It is not without its moments of enjoyment or insight, but as a modern reader -even one used to reading drier classics- it was not always easy to get through. The most difficult aspects for me, personally, are the overwrought emotion in both the prose and dialogue, and the way the plot points start stretching credulity like taffy.

Jane Porter crafted Thaddeus to be what she saw as a sort of ideal man: deeply sensitive and emotional, honorable, religious, and heroic (in the "literally running into a burning building to save children" vein of heroism).

From a social perspective, I found it interesting how Thaddeus's financial position was not much better than what you might find a young lady of time in; in fact, he actually resorts to doing the very same thing that Laura in Self-Control does: sell his paintings. He later becomes a language tutor for two wealthy young ladies, a job sent his way thanks to an older woman who has taken a motherly interest in him, Lady Tinemouth.

Speaking of Lady Tinemouth, she has one of the most dramatic backstories of anyone in the novel, as she is revealed to be the abandoned wife of a cruel man who basically left her for his mistress and then legally took their children from her, where he (and his mistress! the GALL) have raised them to hate her. Spoiler alert: we do find out later that her daughter never believed the lies against her mother, and the two are reunited on her mother's deathbed. The daughter, Lady Albina, ends up marring Thaddeus's best friend, Pembroke Somerset, who in the end turns out to be his younger half-brother. Thaddeus himself ends up marrying Pembroke's cousin, the lovely Mary Beaufort.

I'm starting to learn that that is the sort of drama you get when reading Georgian novels!

Over all, this is a pretty hefty tome of a book (it was originally published in four volumes rather than the usual three), but if you are brave enough, you can find a free copy on Project Gutenberg.

Wild fact is that apparently (according to Wikipedia) the towns of Warsaw, North Carolina and Pembroke, Kentucky get their name from this novel!

[smorko5]

The Top 9 Types Of Literary Heroes

In almost any story, the hero will fit into an archetype in some way or another.

Using character archetypes doesn’t mean the story isn’t creative, though! Archetypes are simply tools for writers to use and play with.

A story outline (like the three-act structure, for example) can be a good scaffolding for us build our story around. A character outline can be a good scaffolding for us to build a hero around.

As readers, we can train ourselves to spot these archetypes. As writers, we can utilise established archetypes to give a character more depth. Analysing archetypes is a great activity for a writer to do. 

We can consider archetypes when trying to understand more about the heroes we’ve already written. We can use them when planning a story to create the best character for the narrative and the world. 

Whatever the stage of your writing, knowing the different types of literary heroes can help you write better protagonists. Let’s dive in and take a look at nine common examples.

Hero type #1: Epic hero

What is an epic hero?

The epic hero is the first archetype that comes to mind when we think of heroes.  They are called to adventure, they face trials, they save the day.

They will begin their story at a point of stability and they will usually return to stability, only now they have been changed in some way.

For some, this means they have gained power(s) through their journey. For others, it means they now know more about the world at large.

What are some examples of epic heroes?

Epic heroes are classic heroes, and it doesn’t get more classic than Odysseus from Homer’s Odyssey.

Odysseus is challenged to complete trials; he shows courage, loyalty and smarts. Eventually he succeeds in his quest and returns to a period of stasis.

A more recent example of an epic hero could be Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings.

Aragorn was born noble, but at the beginning of the story he is in a humble state. Then he is challenged, and eventually becomes the king his people need him to be.

To go even more recent, we can consider Rapunzel from Tangled. Rapunzel begins her story at a point of stasis, but finds adventure when she becomes bored of her limited life.

She is keen to explore, which she does, facing trials along the way. Finally she ends the story as the returned princess.

How to write an epic hero

While many epic heroes are admirable or at least interesting characters, that’s not their primary function.

An epic hero doesn’t have to have as much depth and inner turmoil as some other types of literary heroes. Writing an epic hero can be more straightforward.

An epic hero will often be destined for greatness of some kind. That could mean they’re the long-lost child of royalty or even gods. 

Once you have your epic hero’s backstory, you can put them on the traditional heroic path, like Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, and they will complete their quest, save the day and return to a point of stability.

If they were long-lost royalty, their new stability could be happily ruling their kingdom. Maybe they return to the exact same point they started from, happy with their original, humble life.

Hero type #2: Iconic hero

What is an iconic hero?

The iconic hero is often bundled in with the epic hero, but they aren’t quite the same. 

Both the iconic and the epic hero are classically heroic. They are courageous, loyal and clever.

The difference is that the epic hero goes through a journey and comes out the other end changed in some way. The iconic hero is eternal and does not change.

It can be easy to think that this type of literary hero isn’t interesting, but that isn’t true. As readers, we like these characters. They can feel familiar and even safe. We know that they won’t change.

An iconic hero won’t die in their own story. The story’s other characters could change, die or simply leave, but the iconic hero is always what we expect and need them to be.

What are some examples of an iconic hero?

Literature is littered with iconic heroes. They’re especially popular in comic books.

Consider Batman, Superman, Hulk, Wolverine, Professor X, Captain America. These characters are defined by their respective traits. They may experience a character arc, but Batman is always Batman.

The comic book iconic hero works well because readers often jump into comics at random, not always starting with the very first issue.

The iconic hero archetype means we know what to expect when we pick up the next Batman comic, even if we’ve missed the last 100 or so.

This is also why writers can reboot these stories and franchises so frequently. 

The iconic hero is also popular among detective characters. Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Sherlock Holmes, and even Nancy Drew are all iconic heroes.

They hunger for truth, and they come out the other end the same way they went in. James Bond and even Geralt from the Witcher series fit this character type as well. 

How to write an iconic hero

Looking at the above examples, there’s something that links these heroes: they’re all stars of multi-volume series.

To write an iconic hero, your character must appear in many stories. Otherwise, they’re just a regular old hero, not an iconic one.

Start by getting to know your character. Understand them as best you can, because they aren’t changing.

You might feel that you need to change them to progress the story along. For example, the detective getting better at detecting in order to solve the crime.

But the detective doesn’t really need to get any smarter; they just find the next clue.

You can change the environment around your hero, however. You can have some fun with an established iconic hero by putting them in a new and foreign situation and exploring what they do.

Hero type #3: Anti-hero

What is an anti-hero?

The anti-hero has become increasingly popular over the past decade. The key feature of an anti-hero is their lack of typical heroic attributes.

While a typical hero is courageous and idealistic, and follows a moral code, an anti-hero does none of these things.

Anti-heroes may perform actions that are morally ‘correct’ according to the laws of their universe, but they don’t perform these actions for moral reasons. Often, they act for selfish reasons.

Anti-heroes do what needs to be done and don’t particularly care who they hurt along the way.

What are some examples of anti-heroes?

For a lot of people, the first anti-hero that comes to mind is everyone’s favourite science teacher, Walter White from Breaking Bad. 

Walter White is the hero of the story. He takes to a life of crime to save his family from financial ruin. But as he continues on his path, he makes more and more questionable decisions.

His antagonists are undoubtedly villains, but he is by no means a good guy.

For another example, we can look at the early version of Han Solo from the Star Wars franchise. 

Hardcore fans will always tell you that ‘Han shot first’, referencing a gun fight in the 1977 film, where Han shot Greedo first. In re-releases, this was edited so that Greedo shot first and Han simply retaliated.

Why is the distinction so important? If Han shot first, it’s an example of his moral ambiguity. He shoots first, asks questions later (or never).

We later see Han become more of a typical hero, where he makes moral and just choices, but throughout the first Star Wars film, he is only motivated by his own interests: he wants to get paid for his work.

He is a hero by his actions, but an anti-hero by his justifications.

How to write an anti-hero

Writing an anti-hero can mean writing a heroic path for your character to follow, and then writing a character who is not at all interested in that path.

They’ll go along for the ride if it benefits them, but they aren’t interested in acting without (mostly material) reward.

An anti-hero isn’t a reluctant hero (we’ll come to that archetype soon); they’re just someone who will only perform heroic deeds if they are benefited by those deeds (or who achieves good outcomes through not-so-good means).

Hero type #4: Reluctant hero

What is a reluctant hero?

A reluctant hero has a lot of similarities to an anti-hero. Neither of them really want to be there; they’re just forced to be there. 

However, while the anti-hero is there because of personal gain, the reluctant hero is forced to be there because to do anything else would go against their moral compass.

What are some examples of a reluctant hero?

There’s no better example of a reluctant hero than Shrek. He grows and shows his vulnerability and eventually makes heroic choices that don’t directly benefit him.

Throughout the original Shrek film, we are shown that he is rude because he is insecure, and expects people to leave him. Once he lets people into his life, he is loyal to them.

He saves Donkey from assumed death at the dragon’s tower because it’s the right thing to do. Leaving Donkey to die would distract the dragon, which would benefit Shrek.

He makes personal sacrifices to do what’s right, even though he doesn’t want to. 

Another great reluctant hero is John McClane from Die Hard. He just wants to go on a holiday, but he’s stuck in a building filled with terrorists.

He’s a hero because his conscience tells him that he has to do something about that, even if he’d really rather not.

How to write a reluctant hero

Writing a reluctant hero is similar to writing an anti-hero. You create a heroic path for your character, and then a character who does not want to travel that path. 

A reluctant hero can require a bit more character development than an anti-hero and often some backstory to go with it.

Hero type #5: Liminal hero

What is a liminal hero?

A liminal hero is a hero who is in between states or spaces. They might cross over with some other types of heroes, but this type of hero has some unique characteristics.

‘Liminal’ indicates a space, a state, a feeling that’s between two established elements.

Being a teenager is existing in a liminal state. A teenager isn’t quite a child, but they’re also not an adult yet either. Because of this, a lot of YA stories feature liminal heroes.

You don’t have to write YA to write liminal heroes, though, because teenagehood isn’t the only liminal state available to you.

A ghost is in a liminal state. They’re dead, but they’re still on this plane of existence. 

A liminal hero is a hero going through their own form of change and transition. This affects their story, their interactions with others, and their character arc.

What are some examples of liminal heroes?

Many liminal characters exist in the YA space because their transition to adulthood and their transition through another liminal space can reflect each other. 

Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight is such a great example of a liminal hero, she even named the book to reflect that state – twilight is a transition between day and night.

Meanwhile, Bella (our liminal hero) is in her own transition period. Bella is a teenager, transitioning into adulthood. Later she’s a human, transitioning into a vampire.

It’s not until the end of the saga that the transitions are completed and the liminal hero’s story is over.

Another great liminal hero is Spiderman. Peter Parker/Miles Morales/your preferred Spiderman is another teen trying to become a mature adult. In the midst of that, he has to be a superhero.

He can never be 100% himself (a teenager) or 100% Spiderman (a superhero); he always exists somewhere between those states.

Zoraida Córdova’s Labyrinth Lost (the first in the Brooklyn Brujas series) sees the hero, Alex, in a liminal space: the space between life and death.

Alex doesn’t fit in with her family, and she’s a bruja with magic, but she hates magic. She goes on an adventure to save her family after she made a terrible, magic-based mistake.

Alex remains in a state of flux for her entire story and only exits her liminal space when her journey is completed.

Remember, though: just because liminal characters often exist in YA literature, that doesn’t limit you as a writer. You can write whatever you want. (You’re in your own liminal space.)

How to write a liminal hero

Liminal heroes are inherently uncertain. They don’t really know what they want yet. They’re in-between.

For some, this means being in a literal liminal space (like life vs. death or normal vs. superhero). For others, it can simply be a transition time in their life. 

Liminal characters exist between the spaces of certainty. But uncertainty is a character trait as well. If you’re not sure where to begin writing a liminal hero, remember how you felt in key transition times of your life.

Hero type #6: Everyman hero

What is an everyman hero?

The everyman hero is an ordinary person, with no special abilities, who acts heroically. They’re not Superman; they’re just the person who’s here.

The everyman hero is almost an audience insert. The archetype is designed to represent the average person.

It can be hard to empathise with a superpowered hero of the story, but easy to connect to a regular person – an everyman.

The name ‘everyman’ is gendered, but this heroic archetype isn’t limited to men. Any character can represent the average person and complete heroic tasks.

Even characters made of plastic… (See below.)

What are some examples of an everyman hero?

One of the best examples of an everyman hero is in The Lego Movie. The hero of the story, Emmet, is nothing special. In fact, the film directly tells us that he is ordinary.

Emmet still acts heroically and saves the day, despite not being ‘special’.

Ellen Ripley from Alien is also an everyman hero. Ripley possesses no ‘special’ abilities besides her determination, and she still manages to overcome the Xenomorph and survive.

And who could forget Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee? These two heroes are just regular hobbits who find themselves on an epic quest to save the world.

Their compassion for others and determination allow these ‘everyhobbit’ heroes to complete their monumental task.

How to write an everyman hero

The everyman hero is a normal person, who finds themselves in abnormal circumstances. They face extraordinary challenges.

They may think themselves to be special in some way (the way that Emmet does), but the power of this archetype is that they are just like us.

To write an everyman hero, you need to write a character who cares and who will do the right thing.

If anything makes this type of character special, it’s their compassion, determination and willingness to sacrifice for others.

Hero type #7: Romantic hero

What is a Romantic hero?

The name ‘Romantic hero’ doesn’t refer to a hero who has romantic relationships. Instead it refers to the Romantic period of literature.

The defining features of a Romantic hero are their constant rejection of established norms and their sense of self-importance. They reject authority and rules and are often introverted and isolated.

It’s important to note that while these concepts may have negative connotations, they are not necessarily character flaws in a Romantic hero.

The heroic archetype of ‘misfit hero’ is a modern example of a Romantic hero.

What are some examples of Romantic heroes?

A hero who doesn’t conform to societal expectations and is self-important and moody? There’s no better example than Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.

Darcy doesn’t act how we (and how Elizabeth) expect someone in his position to act. In the beginning, at least, he’s somewhat rude and doesn’t particularly care what other people think of him.

This is in direct opposition to a lot of the other characters who are caught up in the many rules of Regency society.

Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games series can also be seen as a Romantic hero. Katniss doesn’t follow the rules of society, and she is better for that.

She tends to isolate or distance herself, but she thinks outside the box because of her isolation, and can succeed in her many trials because of her unique way of seeing the world.

How to write a Romantic hero

The way to write a Romantic hero is to give them lots of inner turmoil, broody behaviour and (occasionally unearned) confidence.

Romantic heroes know that they do not fit in, and they do not care. To write a Romantic hero (or Byronic hero – see below), you need to know what established norms they will reject.

And, importantly, you need to know why those rejections make them interesting and heroic. 

Hero type #8: Byronic hero

What is a Byronic hero?

Lord Byron, never satisfied with established archetypes, invented a twist on the Romantic hero: the Byronic hero.

The Byronic hero is a sub-category of the Romantic hero. The key difference between them is that while Romantic heroes are better off because of their rejection of societal rules, the Byronic hero has been hurt and rejected by society.

In their isolation, they become apathetic or even dangerous to themselves and to others.

What are some examples of a Byronic hero?

The best example of a Byronic hero is Lord Byron himself. He was overly obsessed with himself and his own work and everywhere he went, he left a trail of broken hearts in his wake.

We can also see this archetype in Bojack (Bojack Horseman), Loki (the Marvel Cinematic Universe), Mr Rochester (Jane Eyre) and Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights).

How to write a Byronic hero

Writing a Byronic hero is similar to writing a Romantic hero. They both live with inner turmoil, and as the writer, you’ll spend a lot of time in your character’s head.

To write a Byronic hero, you first need to know why they were rejected from society. What crime, sin or difference set them apart from their peers? 

Once your hero has settled down, isolated from society, how will they twist and change into someone who wilfully eschews tradition? 

You also need to know if your hero would return to society, if society would have them. For some Byronic heroes, returning to the group that rejected them is their ultimate goal.

Finally, you need to decide if your Byronic hero will change their behaviour and stop being a danger to themselves and others. Or will they embrace their fatal flaw, their story resulting in tragedy?

Hero type #9: Tragic hero

What is a tragic hero?

The tragic hero was first defined by Aristotle, and they are the central player in most tragic stories. 

Aristotle argued that any good tragic story needed emotional investment from the audience. We need to be sympathetic to the hero and feel catharsis at the end of their story (which was most commonly their defeat in some way).

A tragic hero is someone who is flawed in a major way and though doing their best, they still meet tragedy at the end of the story.

They may make poor decisions or do bad things. But at their heart, they are (or at least want to be) good. That’s why their downfall is so tragic.

What are some examples of tragic heroes?

Can you get any more tragic than Romeo and Juliet? Romeo is passionate, excited, in love. He would do anything for his love. He’s reckless, but that’s because he’s so passionate.

His recklessness is also what leads to his and his lover’s deaths. If not for that trait, both he and Juliet may have avoided death.

To switch to a contemporary example, what about Game of Thrones? (Spoilers for the last season of GoT. Scroll past the paragraphs between the stars to avoid.)

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We watched Daenerys Targaryen survive many hardships throughout the run of GoT, only to see her end turn tragic.

Dany’s whole journey was to become the ruler of the seven kingdoms. Her single-minded desire for the Iron Throne became her fatal flaw, and she ultimately died because of her actions.

Ned Stark also suffered a tragic fate where his downfall was his own moral code.

(He is perhaps an even better example of a tragic hero than Daenerys, who could arguably have been called a ‘villain’ rather than a hero in the end.)

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Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby is another tragic hero. Throughout the novel, we seem him constantly searching for more. For the American dream. For Daisy. For a sense of satisfaction that he will never find.

Gatsby is near-delusional, obsessed with the dream of the perfect life with the perfect wife. Because of his inability to accept the truth of life, to see beyond his idealism, he meets his tragic end.

How to write a tragic hero

Writing a tragic hero is hard! They have to be flawed and meet their tragic downfall because of those flaws. But at the same time, the audience has to care about them.

Keep in mind that a tragic hero must be virtuous as well as flawed, suffer a reversal of fortune, have the sympathy of the audience and (despite their best efforts or intentions) cause harm or come to ruin.

Should be simple, right?

Aristotle broke it down a bit for us:

Hamartia is the hero’s tragic flaw that leads to their downfall. 

Hubris is the hero’s excessive or unreasonable pride. 

Peripeteia is the sudden change or reversal of fortune. 

Anagnorisis means ‘recognition’ and is where the hero learns something important about themselves or the world. 

Nemesis is the unavoidable punishment for the hero. 

Catharsis is the hero’s inevitable downfall and where the audience can release their built-up emotions. It may also bring renewal or some positive change to the hero’s world.

This iconic structure is still present in today’s fiction, though many authors manage to create a tragic hero without all these elements. (Nemesis, for example, is often omitted in contemporary stories.)

Bonus: Combination heroes

Above are the key archetypes of literary heroes, but don’t feel limited to using just one type. And if you’ve already started writing a character, but they don’t neatly fit into one of these types, that’s fine.

Some of the most engaging characters are those that are a combination of different archetypes.

The reluctant everyman hero. The liminal Romantic hero. The iconic anti-hero. Or any other combination that suits your writing style and your story.

As a reader, you might not be able to categorise each hero you read as one of these archetypes. However, each hero will partially fit into at least one archetype.

Let these types of literary heroes inspire your writing. Maybe you’ll be the first to use a new archetype combination in your story.

[grandistragedia]

Ok so I DO know about traditional Isekai harems so I can explain a bit about how they subvert the usual tropes here, which I would like to clarify Re: zero is both a lot more and a lot less cliche than people give it credit for so a lot of the tropes are played straight just as much as they are subverted, generally speaking it's more of a balance of deconstructing and playing it straight

basically:

EMILIA is basically a mish-mash of generic light novel fantasy main heroine tropes: she is a kind, naive and happy Half-Elf wizard "princess" whom is the first person the main hero meets in his adventure, being an elf wizard is INCREDIBLY important here because in every other fantasy work being a female elf wizard pretty much permanently boxes you into the role of "love interest for the male hero" unless the princess takes that role (and she ALSO has the princess role so she's EXTRA "generic love interest), and I wanna say what I consider to be her MAIN deviation from the role: she isn't Subaru's Love interest, Subaru is HER Love interest.

to put it simply she's not the princess whose love Subaru will earn after rescuing her from the Dark lord after overcoming a thousand hardships, She's not the mage that will support the heroic Subaru in his battle against Evil who develops feelings for him along the way: She's the Hero, she's the Noble, Wise Ruler who plans to end the discrimination rampant in the kingdom, she wants to uncover the secrets of ehr past, she wants to prove herself to be her own individual and not just Satella 2.0, she's Aragorn, she's Luke, She's the Hero

She's not here to fawn over Subaru and tell him how cool he is while she supports her, Subaru is here to do that for her, HE'S the support, she earned his love after with her kindness after saving him, she's the one that battles evil while Subaru supports her while openly (and loudly) being in love with her while she's on the side half ignoring his feelings half sorta-reciprocating them (she basically treats him the way male heroes tend to treat their love interests)

this is more apparent when you realize that Emilia only starts to actually like him back when he stops trying to impress her and starts trying to actually support her, support her emotionally, support her in her goals, support her as a strategist, not just trying to be cool but being on her side, believing in her, the real her with her flaws and her virtues

this subversion is so important to re: zero that when Emi starts to act like a typical love interest it's a red flag (ie: the route were she goes insane, greed if)

even when they finally do become Lady and Knight their relationships is on completely equal terms, they fawn over how cool the other is, the try their best to help each other and be on each other's side, they're in love and it's cute

TL,DR Emilia is a subversion of main Heroines in the sense that she's actually the Hero and Subaru is her Heroine

REM

now I'm gonna be a bit brief here Rem is the PHYSYCAL EMBODIMENT of a trope called "Makeine" (Makeru=losing,Heroine) she's a the Betty to Emilia's Veronica, the black, brown or blue haried "more accesible" love interest that is DESTINED to lose to the blonde, white, sometimes red haired heroine that is more "difficult to earn" (the hair color is VERY important here), she's the childhood friend in a harem anime that loves the MC from the start and is always super nice to him and the audience REALLY roots for her so she get's really popular and then she loses so the audiences proceed to make a riot and get mad because she deserved better so the autor makes a spin off where she wins

it speaks to how trope-y Rem is that she plays this SO STRAIGHT that I can't even tell if Tappei did it on purpose to mess with us or if she just turned out like that due to fate, but to be blunt it doesn't really matter since this isn't the trope she subverts:

Rem is the embodiment of every single anime "my waifu" trope that weebs love, until she isn't.

but then she IS those tropes again, except NOT.

she's a cute, kuudere maid that is friendly to the mc alongside her flirty sister, until she kills him

SEVERAL TIMES

but then after some development of their relationship, she starts to fall in love with him very quick, she starts to admire him, to like him (all of him, flaws and all) to sacrifice herself for him, she starts to become.....his waifu.

an actual waifu, not a "real girl" like Emilia, she embodies ALL the fantasies about romance that Subaru wants to have, she's the cute fantasy monster girl that loves and supports him unconditionally, who understands him and is willing to do anything for him even while knowing all his bad qualities (her being an oni is also not a coincidence, Lum Invader from Urusei yatsura basically codified all the waifu tropes Rem embodies) every boundary that he can't cross with Emilia is a boundary that Rem wants him to cross, she idealizes him just as much as he idealizes Emilia, that whole speech Emilia gave Subaru about how he doesn't love her but the version of her inside her head could have never come from Rem's mouth, instead she gives him a speech about how much she loves the version of him inside of her head and tries to motivate him to act like the hero she thinks he is (a speech that helped at the moment but did more damage in the long run) all the things Emilia can't give him are constantly being given to him by Rem

Rem is too good to be true, a dream come to life, she's so perfect it's unhealthy, this is why it's inevitable that she ends up removed from the story.

Subaru cannot mature into the person the Emilia camp needs as long as she's around, she makes things too easy for him, her love is a crutch that must be taken away from him before he grows to dependent on it, and with her coma Rem goes from one cliche to another, she become Subaru's "Lost Lenore" she goes from the "Lum" to Subaru's "Ataru" to the "Eurydice" to his "Orpheus"

(btw Rem getting fridged for Subaru's development is the most painfully heterosexual thing in Re: zero)

And even when she "might as well be dead" Subaru continues to depend on Rem, it actually might have made it worse because now that the real Rem is gone he only has the Rem inside his memories, the version of her inside his head becomes more separate from her actual self and slowly becomes more of an abstract ideal that serves to motivate him

(SPOILERS START HERE)

and then her amnesiac self shatters that ideal violently (i haven't read the vollachia arc so I can't elaborate about this that much yet) but it basically serves as the final nail in the coffin for the old Rem and the final confirmation that Rem was too perfect to be healthy

(SPOILERS END HERE)

btw Rem IF actually contributes to the deconstruction, in order for this universe to exist two things must happen, Subaru has to be a coward and Rem has to be Selfish, by doing this they both relinquish the idealized virtues that they had in the other's head, Subaru stops being "Rem's hero" and Rem stops being "'Subaru's perfect waifu", Subaru becomes a deserter and Rem becomes just a selfish girl in love, they can now permanently indulge in their joyous "sloth" and stop trying to grow as people, at the cost of living with regret for the rest of their lives

tldr Rem subverts every Waifu trope by playing them completely straight, it's more the story itself that deconstructs her by showing her as unhealthy

CRUSCH

I'll be brief, Crusch subverts the harem tropes by not being one of Subaru's love interests.......that's it

Ok I'll be less brief, in a more cliche story she would be the third member of his harem and be the one that officially upgrades it from "love triangle" to a proper harem (her personality even fits as she foils both Rem and Emilia and fits the "lady of war" cliche) but because this is Re: zero Crusch decides that even if she could have fallen for Subaru that ship simply won't sail because she's too busy and he likes someone else, so she just doesn't become one of his Love interests (even post amnesia)

Yes I'm including Priscilla, not because I think she's seriously part of his harem but because she deconstructs some Harem cliches

Prisicilla deconstructs the "Arrogant Tsundere Oujosama" by playing it so utterly straight it loops back around to being original

She's not putting on an act, she doesn't have a nicer, softer side that the protagonist will slowly uncover as she falls in love with him (well, she does have a kinder side but she doesn't fall in love with Subaru, also bluntly speaking even her nicer side is not that nice), she's not secretly lonely or secretly unhappy, she is a Rich Bitch through and through

there is no "tsundere" about her, when she says "I hate you, you're a loser who's beneath me" she means it

even as she starts to legitimately like Subaru she still makes it utterly clear she views him as beneath her

tldr she deconstructs the Oujosama cliche by not subverting your expectations and legitimately being the spoiled, elitist snob she initially seemed to be.

I am being completely serious Reinhard is part the conversation

Reinhard subvert harem tropes by......well tbh just by existing at all

In a another story Reinhard would simply be the body Subaru is reincarnated in, not a character but simply a vessel for Subaru to live out his fantasies, here him and Subaru get to coexist and that makes their dynamic more interesting

Willhelm wishing Subaru was his grandkid is not a coincidence, by all the rules of Light Novels Subaru should be Reinhard

Without each other they are incomplete, without having Subaru's huge personality to fill him Reinhard is almost robotic, with zero ambitions and no drive to do anything beyond his duty, barely even a person, and without Reinhard's perfect body to be his vessel Subaru can't be the hero he wants to be, they need each other, they yearn to be each other, they aren't even soul mates they're just the two halves of a person who never existed

Instead they're sorta "stuck" as different people, but it also allows them to fall in love with befriend each other, Reinhard can be the pillar of strength that the insecure, weak Subaru needs and Subaru can be the pillar of mental strength that the lonely Reinhard needs

The above statement about how Emilia is the hero and Subaru the heroine applies also to him and Reinhard (which makes sense as Rein and Emi have a lot of parallels) but he also fits a different more modern love interest cliche, Reinhard is a Calamity Princess

these girls basically

the calamity princess is basically the (comparatively) modern counterpart to the generic light novel heroine thar Emilia represents , basically they were born from Highschool DxD's Rias Gremory and they were a sort of attempt at revitalizing Light novel Heroines

they are very specific to the 2010s era of light novels (and because of this they feel super dated now), they tried to make the MC's a bit less Gary stu by giving them some conflict about how uncontrollable their powers were or making them initially weak and then becoming stronger (very quickly), academic settings were mandatory, and most importantly they tried to give their main heroines more "personality"

rather than being perpetual damsels in distress or whiny sidekicks, the Calamity princess is actually supposed to be the MC's superior (or at least start as their superior), they are some one the MC is meant to strive for, to impress, to eventually Surpass, and they are defined by 5 characteristics

1)Superiority: as previously mentioned the Princess is meant to start of as someone above the MC whom he must eventually surpass, usually she's his boss, a more experienced colleague or sometimes a sort of rival before joining his side. She can't just be superior to the mc however, she must be viewed as a Superior by the world as a whole (justifying her an an objective to surpass)

2)ambition: the calamity princess has something to prove, a duty to uphold, usually in spite of her superiority she is also ostracized in some form by society at large (her heritage, a condition of her birth, inability to control her power) because of this she then sets herself a goal to prove the world wrong about her and become an important person at "insert thing here" or to defend the honor of "insert noble house here"

3) being royalty, or at least rich: this is just connected to her superiority

4) as mentioned before she is ostracized: in spite of her superiority she tends to be disliked by her fellow nobles or by the world at large due to "x reason"

5) a connection to the protagonists call to adventure: usually the calamity princess is directly involved in empowering/enabling the protagonists, she is sometimes a mentor or a rival

pretty much the only characteristic Reinhard doesn't have is not being a woman and not being the main love interest, and now you might be thinking "Isn't Emilia also a calamity princess?" and you'd be right except for the fact that the calamity princess's agency ultimately depends entirely on the protagonist (basically she's not the hero of her own story but an asset to the MC's story) and her superiority exists to make the MC look cooler when he wins her over, which is simply not true of Emilia.....but it IS true of Reinhard.

Reihard is the unachievable, perfect, redheaded superior to Subaru who makes his journey possible when he saves him, he is ostracized by everyone so the fact that Subaru is still nice to him makes him grow fond of him, Subaru constantly tries to be an equal to Reinhard

hell ayamatsu if is all about how Subaru feels inferior to Reinhard and is essentially a massive attempt at beating him at something

this being side I don't think Reinhard was made with this trope in mind, mainly because there's another Character that fits the trope better:

Theresia Van Astrea (specifically in her relationship to Willhelm) is obviously a riff on the concept, she pretty much fits almost all of the characteristics of the Calamity princess and she's even an actual redhead, she is the Superior that Willhelm constantly strived to equal all his live, she's the girl she loves, the girl he's willing to change himself for and the unobtainable shining idol who casts a shadow over her familiy, the reason why Reinhard resembles the Calamity princess is because him and Theresia have heavy parallels to each other so her archetype ends up bleeding into him a bit

it's also with her that we see the actual deconstruction of the archetype: Willhelm never manages to "earn" her, or he never feels like he does

Wilhelm is defined by his parallelisms with Subaru, he is also a "protagonist" of his own story and to be specific he actually represents the specific brand of Light Novel MC that existed alongside the Calamity princess back in the 2010s, he's not instantly good at everything and must submit himself to intense training to improve himself, he is hated by others because of his weakness and must search any opportunity to prove himself. they were sort of a mix between the usual light novel mc and shonen manga mc, they had the underdog aspect of the latter with the more quiet, self-deprecating nature of the later

so similarily his relationship with Theresia is pretty much a very classic "underdog light novel hero x calamity princess" with the caveat being that he never overcame any of his insecurities at his weakness, Theresia remained an unachievable image of perfection even when she always treated him as an equal, he neved stopped idealizing Theresia so when he loses her the self-hatred that had defined him for so long blows up, he takes it out on Heinkel, on Reinhard on all the people that remined him of her, and thereby reminded him of his failures

Subaru is the exception as he is actually a chance for Willhelm to fix his mistakes, with Subaru's help Willhelm manages to avenge his wife, with Willhelm's help Subaru's relationship with Emilia is mended and he can now start to properly court the real her, not the idealized version in his head (Which is important since Willhelm never got over the idealzied image of Theresia he had) and just as importantly Subaru's relationship with Reinhard is never plagued by the insecurities Will and Theresia's relationship was

Subaru manages to understand what the invincible hero actually needs: for someone to treat him like a human, not as an image of perfection, not as an ideal to strive for but as an 19 year old guy who can't and should not be expected to solve all the problems in the world by himself, he recognizes that his boyfriend, other half, soulmate friend has weaknesses, that he needs help covering those weaknesses, and most importantly, that it is perfectly possible for Subaru to help him cover those weaknesses (yadah, yadah, Subaru humanizes Reinhard, while Reinhard herofies Subaru, yadah yadah they make the perfect team yadah yadah, two halves of the same hero, yadah yadah THEY SHOULD KISS)

tldr.....Subaru and Reinhard are really fucking gay

ok this came out a lot less coherent than I wanted but I'm moving on to the last member

THIS HANDSOME FUCKER

Julius doesn't really subvert any "harem tropes" per se (I'm not familiar with BL harem's unfortunatelty), he's a subversion of the rival trope in the sense that his rivalry with Subaru only exists in Subaru's head

Like Julius does not reciprocate Subaru's animosity at all, he actually is kinda fond of the little bastard even though they started off in the wrong foot, like post white whale he's very clearly just fucking with him when he teases him

he spends more time saving him than indulging in any "rivalry", and by act 4 he's openly enjoying Subaru's company ("from the bottom of muy heart, your recklessness truly shocks me sometimes" *proceeds to shoot a literal rainbow laser powered by fairies*)

(SPOILERS)

any remnants of his rival status is further obliterated by the pleiades watch tower arc, they aren't even ribbing each other anymore it's just "OH THANK GOD MY BEST FRIEND STILL REMEMBERS ME, MY LIFE HASN'T ENDED"

(END OF SPOILERS)

also a lot of readers have read the constant flowery descriptions of Julius's handsomeness by Subaru as him having a crush on him but being in denial (which, fair)

on the other end Julius's constantly expressed desire to befriend Subaru and his obvious soft spot for him could be read as him liking Subaru, also his constant teasing could be read as flirting

fact remains that if Tappei were to decide that Julius likes Subaru or that Subaru has a crush on Julius and proceeded to change absolutely nothing about their relationship......it would work

tldr: Julius defies harem tropes by being a man and he defies Rival tropes by not being Subaru's rival at all and actually kinda just being a guy that's bad at flirting (or arguably he's good at it but Subaru's just dense)

this was way to damn long and took too much of my time to write but I hope whoever reads this can enjoy it

Most realistic part of re:zero is when Subaru makes jokes about his trauma that no one else can understand but he knows it’s funny

[tailhitch]

“Newsy, is the camera on yet??” An excited feminine voice called out. “And how do I look?”

“You look fine ma’am I guarantee it.”

“Just, like chill Cammy, I just need to remove the lens cap, besides I doubt he’s goin anywhere anytime soon.” The cap was removed from the camera revealing a light purple rabbit with a heart shaped nose, a purple button down shirt, and a blue skirt. In her hands was a simple wireless microphone. Next to her kneeled a massive blue black and gray robot with glowing orange eyes, a mask covering the lower half of its face and a blue metal skirt around its waist. “Alright you’re good to go Cams.”

“Hello everyone my name is Cammy the rabbit with Channel Ten News. Earlier today in the quiet town of Mellow Creek on the southern reaches of the isles we call home a devastating incident took place. An experimental robot belonging to an unknown manufacturer attacked the sleepy little town killing several critters and injuring dozens more.” If one looked carefully they would see one of the robots hands clenched into a fist at the mention of the casualties. “Thankfully before further destruction could occur a hero appeared from seemingly nowhere, no not our local super duo Splendid and Nutboy, but instead it was the mechanical giant you see before me. Sir, could you please tell us your name?”

“Well my name is Tailhitch ma’am, and I’m not that tall, I’m only seventeen feet'' the machine rubbed the back of its blocky head bashfully.

“A pleasure to meet you Tailhitch, would you mind answering some questions for us?”

“Nice to meet you as well ms. Cammy,” Tailhitch held out a finger which the rabbit happily shook, “and I’d be happy to answer your questions to the best of my ability.”

“Thank you, our first question is, what were you doing before the attack?”

“Well Ms. Cammy I was sort of just exploring the isles, see I’m relatively new here having only arrived a few months ago in the area around Happy Tree.”

“Why hadn’t you shown yourself before this?”

“Simple, I’m a little paranoid, the first day I got here I met Splendid only to be tackled through a building by him because he thought I was some ‘alien invader’ or something” Tailhitch did the jazz hands motion to emphasize his point.

“Fascinating! And how did you survive such an encounter with the hero?”

“Well, as it turns out my weapons had something of a negative effect on him as they don’t mix well with organic life. Add in the fact that even by my own people’s standards I’m freakishly durable and I was able to go toe to toe with him for a little while.”

“Your own people? Are you saying there are more like you?”

“Somewhere out there yes, although I doubt they exist in this universe.”

“What are they called and also, universe? You’re saying you’re from another universe?”

“We go by several names although the most common are cybertronian and transformer, and yeah, it’s kind of why I’m stranded here”

“What happened that led to you coming to the isles Mr Tailhitch?”

He sighed, loudly. “Look, I don’t really wanna get into it but let’s just say I had an incident with a fellow soldier and leave it at that, ok?”

“Ok, so you said that you are a soldier? In what army exactly?”

“I fight for the Autobots under the command of the legendary Optimus Prime.”

“Ooooh that sounds heroic!”

“He is, I’ve watched him throw himself in front of explosions just to save a handful of innocent civilians from a race that he doesn’t even belong to.”

“Wow, that's incredible! But getting back to the incident from earlier, is that why you threw yourself at the runaway robot? To be like your commander?”

“In a way, I guess. Optimus has always taught the rest of the Autobots to always protect those that cannot protect themselves. Seeing that thing attacking civilians I knew I had to do something. It wasn’t about emulating Optimus, it was about doing the right thing as a soldier. Be strong enough to be gentle, he’d tell us.”

“How noble. Could you please tell us how the fight played out from your side?”

“Of course. I first heard the screaming while I was in my vehicle mode and worried that something serious was happening. I sped around a corner only to be met with the robot on the other end of the street. I could see that it had someone in one of its claw hands so I knew I had to take care of that first. Driving up as fast as I could I transformed and extended the blade above my left hand,” he held up his left arm and a brilliant glowing orange blade emerged from the limb right above the hand before it slid back into his arm vanishing from sight. “After that I cut the arm off, retrieved the thankfully unharmed critter, and told them to get somewhere safe before turning to face my opponent once again.”

“Did you have any trouble battling the robot?”

He shook a hand in a ‘so-so’ motion, “the fight itself wasn’t the hard part, in fact it was quite easy to handle that thing, the actual hard part was keeping it from smashing into buildings or hitting any bystanders with its eye beams.”

“Yes, the footage captured shows you throwing yourself in front of blows that weren’t directly aimed at you.”

“Soon I found myself in close quarters combat with it, unfortunately that isn’t my specialty”

“What is your specialty then?”

“Demolitions work, I carry a myriad of explosives with me for various purposes, the problem was that due to the environment we were in I couldn’t risk a shot from my blaster or an explosive going wide and hitting a building or Primus forbid, a civilian.”

“Primus?”

“The primary god of the cybertronian race.”

“I see, carry on.”

“So I was forced into close combat having to rely on my blade and my fists, it’s a good thing that it was as clunky as it was otherwise the fight would have been more difficult. But in the end after a series of punches, kicks and swings of my blade I brought it down.”

“Truly amazing stuff, after the battle was over witnesses say they saw you examine the destroyed robot's body before crushing part of it with your bare hands and dragging it off, what happened there and where are the remains now?”

“I found the manufacturer of the machine and it made me angry, so to prevent them from recovering their little project I ripped it to pieces and threw it into the ocean which is right around the time you two found me.”

“And who exactly made the robot?”

“That is something I’m not willing to disclose simply for the fact that I do not want you getting hurt because of me. What I can say though, is that I probably made some very powerful people upset.”

“I understand, well we only have a couple more questions for you.”

“Ask away ma’am.”

“After you left the scene, Splendid and Nutboy arrived with Splendid saying that he always knew you’d make a great hero. How does that make you feel?”

“What he thinks of me as a hero is irrelevant, I was simply doing what was right and my job as an Autobot. I have no ill will towards Splendid, or his sidekick but I’m not doing this for money, fame, or fun.”

“And our final question before we let you go on your way is this, what will you do now?”

Tailhitch stood up and looked to the horizon. “Well, the secret’s out now so I can’t hide anymore. I’ll probably just keep doing what I’ve been doing, living amongst you all while looking for a way home. But at least now I’m able to openly help people.”

“Well I must say this has been a truly enlightening interview. Thank you for your cooperation and time Tailhitch.”

“The pleasure was all mine Ms. Cammy, stay safe and have a good rest of your day.” With that he turned and walked off before transforming into a pickup truck of an unknown make and drove off.

Cammy turned to her cameraman with excitement in her eyes. “I think this is it Newsy! This is our big break! Stop recording and let’s get this back to the studio!” Cammy dragged her partner along by one of his hands all the way back to the news station.

How fortunate for the partners that a mass casualty incident had already occurred that day sparing them from gruesome fates of their own.

[crossdressingdeath]

I hope later varric realizes how much of his foot he ate when he told quiz it's hard to see them as a person, and the only reason he can't apologize and explain himself to quiz is bc they're too busy 🤧

I really can't get over how that line comes from Varric, of all people. Varric whose main role in the story is knowing the previous Important Hero of the age and who talks a lot about how being a hero has taken enough from his best friend. But then, I guess you could say that part of Varric's character is that no matter how much he cares for people a part of him is always looking at them as fodder for his stories, and him seeing Quiz as an icon instead of a person could be part of that? There is sort of a weird feel to him making Hawke and Quiz the protagonists of his heroic tales about the events of DA2 and DAI respectively, especially if you play one or both of them as being an unwilling hero and miserable in their role. Like, "Is he keeping quiet about that because it's personal and the world doesn't deserve to know about it, or because it gets in the way of a good story if the hero openly, explicitly does not want to be there?" is a question that can definitely be asked about Varric and it's something that neither of his appearances thus far have really gotten into. He loves his friends, but his most famous book comes from treating his best friend's life as plot fodder, and there's no evidence that he ever... y'know, asked? Hawke and Quiz before he turned what depending on player choices may have been the worst periods of their lives into bestsellers? (Do they get a cut of the royalties at least?) And some things Varric comes out with are like... as an example, Varric pushing a romanced Bull for details about what Quiz is like in the bedroom is kind of fun especially with how Bull shuts him down immediately, but it's also... y'know, incredibly invasive. There's a lot to get into with a character whose most notable actions mostly involve turning our heroes' lives into books whether they like it or not and I wish Varric's DAI quest was about that instead of his shitty sort of girlfriend.

But yeah, it's really awful that in his friendship cutscene of all places Varric says that he struggles to see Quiz as a person. I mean, DAI is very much a story about Quiz's personhood being stripped from them! They're the Herald of Andraste, they're the Inquisitor, they're a religious figurehead, they're the hero to all the good little Andrastians, they are not allowed to just exist as a person. Especially if you're playing a non-human or a mage, but even non-mage Trevelyan has a huge number of expectations placed on them. Like... in DAO you have to save Ferelden, in DA2 you have to save Kirkwall (again, and again, and again, and- you get the idea), but it's really only in DAI where you are expected to be a specific person, even if you absolutely physically can't be because you are not a human non-mage noble! So Quiz is already in a situation where everything they are as a person is being denied in favour of this image the world has of the perfect Andrastian Inquisitor, and their inner circle are basically the only people who ever treat them as a person in their own right instead of just "the Herald of Andraste" (and even then only sometimes; for every time a member of the inner circle shows concern for Quiz's wellbeing, one of them comes out with something like "you're not allowed to believe Mythal is real because you're the Herald of Andraste"). And now one of said inner circle, one of the people Quiz is closest to in the whole of the Inquisition, is looking them in the eye and telling them he struggles to see them as a person. It's a horrible, horrible thing to think about someone who you claim to care about! It's an even more horrible thing to say! Varric looks someone he supposedly sees as a dear friend in the eye and tells them he forgets that they're a person and absolutely nothing comes of that! Like, that should've had a pretty serious impact on their relationship????? But nope, nothing, Quiz doesn't even respond to it. Like... I get that it's different situations, but it really does remind me of Solas's refusal to recognize the current people of Thedas as people. Except with Solas his failure to recognize others as people is a central part of his character and him being pushed to realize he was wrong via Quiz's friendship/love and being terrified of the fact that if Quiz is real that means everyone is real and bringing down the Veil will cause another apocalypse on top of the one he's trying to undo is one of the most fascinating things about him; with Varric it's just Quiz specifically he doesn't see as "a real person", and it's a throwaway line that the story does nothing with. If nothing else I would've liked to see more done with that parallel.

And yeah, I really would've liked a sequence where Varric realizes just how far he shoved his foot down his throat by telling Quiz, someone whose story revolves heavily on being treated like they're not a person (even if it's in the quote-unquote "positive" way of "You're more than just a person") that despite being one of their closest friends in the organization he also struggles to see them as anything more than just the "Herald of Andraste" and... actually apologizes for it. But it doesn't happen! Very sad.

[maxwell-grant]

Jojo bingo: Father Pucci

And that brings us our second bingo

If Jonathan and Dio are my favorite characters sharing a kind of number one position together, Pucci is in a bloody contest with Jolyne and Jotaro for number two. I would even argue that he's the best JoJo villain. Even with his significantly more nuanced and calmer personality compared to them, he’s just as gloriously over-the-top and ridiculously funny at points as the other main JoJo baddies. He has two of my absolute favorite Stands in the series (Whitesnake alone deserves a separate post for how much it’s personality and powers add to Pucci, who is already complex and fascinating and horrifying even without a Stand that has an entirely separate personality), he’s pro-active and vicious as a main villain to an extent the series hadn't seen since Phantom Blood Dio, he grows in power and scope and personality over the part, he’s psychologically disturbing and fucked up to an extent I'd argue surpasses Kira (y’know, the fetish-based serial killer), he adds a ton to Dio's character and his story culminates in him growing into a bigger, badder and better villain than DIO and, just, Pucci is incredible. There couldn't be a better villain to wrap up the original JoJo saga. One of the greatest villains of all time ever. 

I feel like out of all the main JoJo villains, Pucci is the only one who does pull off being morally grey (Valentine really isn’t, he’s a silver-tongued imperialist torturer and J.Geil-tier disgusting creep who’s just good enough at appropriating heroic imagery that he’s convinced himself and a good chunk of the readership (and the Eyes of Heaven writers apparently) that his deeply selfish and unfathomably monstrous plan is noble and selfless and patriotic. He’s a good and layered villain, but morally grey he isn’t). Having significantly lesser crimes compared to the others, more human reasons and more concrete goals, all of which doesn’t do that much to make him sympathetic, quite the opposite. Pucci is horrifying for a myriad of reasons, some of which have to do with the fact that we’re allowed to understand him and his backstory and his goals, and get in his headspace in a way that’s only really reserved for protagonists. Pucci is one of the best examples of how audience sympathy can be used to make villains more resonating and even more horrifying. Pucci is horrible, awful, even described as “the evil that doesn’t know that it’s evil, the worst evil there is”. And we walk through his journey every step of the way. 

Sometimes this moral greyness gives way to people arguing Pucci wasn’t so bad or that he was the only JoJo villain not motivated by selfishness, which I kinda disagree with. Because while it’s true Pucci doesn’t think of himself as selfish and genuinely believes he’s doing everyone a favor, Pucci’s plan is monstrous, and to pull it off he commits the most unfathomably selfish deed in the entire series. He quite literally breaks the universe and rebuilds it again in order to strip agency from everyone, HIMSELF INCLUDED (even if he does have more power over it than everyone else), so that everyone will accept the fate that’s decided for them and never try to defy fate. This, he argues, is born of “resolution eradicating despair”, which further cements Pucci as a Joestar-gone-wrong, in that he quite literally turns the driving ethos of the series against itself, against the universe and the Joestars. And he wins.

No one has any agency, no one's decisions matter, no one’s at fault for anything. Pucci rewrote the universe so that he’d fundamentally never be responsible for his sister's death, by making it so that she not only never really existed to begin with (since the dead do not carry over with their souls and personalities intact), but even if she did, she would have just learned it’s inevitability ahead of schedule and accepted it and be happy for it, just like everyone else, nothing anyone (certainly not him) could have ever done about it. And this? I find this to be a level of ghastly selfishness somehow scarier than anything DIO did, because it’s so much more human, so much more tragic, and so much more fucked up existentially. 

(People have argued a bit over whether or not this goal fits DIO’s character and there’s room to argue both ways, but even putting aside Eyes of Heaven (which is thankfully non-canon, but it’s take on Heaven DIO was designed with input from Araki himself, which counts for something), the plan outlined in DIO’s Diary was always meant to be fulfilled by a friend and not DIO himself)

And I think this is part of why I’m so strongly in that “Everyone is wrong about them” camp because, people consistently mischaracterize Pucci as only a couple of steps above the average DIO flunky, or someone motivated by a romantic love towards DIO (putting aside the age thing, DIO’s Diary quite literally states that Pucci would have been the wrong person if this was the case), or even non-canon spin-offs that depict Pucci as someone who’d immediately abandon Heaven if DIO was still around to boss him. I fundamentaly disagree with this because Pucci adheres to the same theme of legacy that defines Jolyne. And much like Jolyne, who has to battle for the sake of her lineage and the universe, needs to be better than Jotaro, needs to succeed where Jotaro failed (which she does through rescuing Emporio), Pucci has to be better than DIO. Stone Ocean is the glorious apocalyptic book-end to Phantom Blood, with Jolyne, at the end of the world, forcing herself into becoming the final Ultimate JoJo and wrangling along whatever reality-warping weirdos she can, as she desperately tries to catch up to the new Ultimate Evil who's running away with the plot so fast nobody can catch him until the end. 

Pucci surpasses DIO, in terms of power (he attains a Stand that surpasses all other time-based Stands, including the one that defeated The World), scope and accomplishment (he single-handedly disabilitates DIO’s arch-enemy with relative ease and then kills him by turning his time stopping power against him, as well as the current JoJo and the entire supporting cast that accompanied her, and recreates the world into one where the Joestars cannot do anything against him, and only loses because he, like Dio, goes too far and targets an outsider ally to the Joestars). Pucci isn’t DIO’s 2nd in command or partner or flunky, or DIO-lite, Pucci is superior to DIO, he’s DIO’s ultimate accomplishment, the supreme power he attains over Destiny and the Joestars, within the text. When they do JoJo mega crossovers like Jorge Joestar and Eyes of Heaven, they downplay Pucci’s agency and beef up DIO’s powers to be some multiversal world-challenging menace, just so he won’t be lagging behind Pucci, who already is that in-canon. 

Pucci is horrible because he makes use of every resource at his disposal, everything that the protagonists have, everything that the Joestar bloodline has used over the centuries, Pucci turns against them. Enrico Pucci’s endgame is to rewrite the history and ethos of JJBA itself so he may wrench defeat from the jaws of victory forever, and he succeeds, and I love that this is not at all an exaggeration of what he does. 

Pucci is horrible because everything he does stem from his complete inability to analze himself and admit wrongdoing, to even recognize his cruelty and malice as such, he has such a gargantuan moral and personal blind spot that even his Stand, the rageful melting spectre he bosses around to corrupt and kill people and strip away their memories or give them dangerous powers, is shown to be more introspective and reflective and humorous than the human who wields it, who has to yell at it occasionally to get things done. 

He compartmentalizes everything that comes his way and interprets everything so that he never has to have his worldview challenged, never has to question himself, never has to regret anything that ever happened to him or that he ever did. Everything was fated to be. Everything is a test that everyone, including him, must pass, ergo, he’s on even odds with everyone else. If he fails or fucks up, he’s being tested, ergo, he will eventually succeed. If others fail or fuck up, they’re to be disposed of, such is the order of things. If he succeeds or something goes his way, it was fated to be. If others get the upperhand, he’s being tested by fate, and since fate demands him to survive and complete his mission, he’s got permission to destroy and kill whoever’s holding him back. 

If he does horrible things, well, what’s a few corpses, or a hundred thousand, for the good of the entire world? Would you make their sacrifices meaningless by stopping him? Everything is fated to be, and fate is on his side, not yours. He’s DIO’s God’s chosen. If The Lord wanted him to stop, he’d have chosen someone else, he’d have died by now, but he didn’t, so it falls on him to drag mankind kicking and screaming into the better tomorrow his friend showed him. He barrels through the story with this mindset and even dies screaming it, screaming at Emporio and the vengeful power of the brother he murdered that they just don’t understand anything.

His backstory is so fucked up because we see how he was wronged by fate and circumstance time and time again, how he was just confused and looking for answers, but for all intents and purposes he was a good kid trying to do what was best for everyone. He went to a seminary to find answers, to alleviate his guilt over his (at the time) dead twin brother, to learn about how to find happiness for himself and others. A horrid situation was thrust into his lap by no fault of his own, and he tried to handle it with the least amount of harm to all parties, and he fucked up catastrophically. And that moment, that awful moment, where he finds Pearla’s body and has a moment of self-realization, where he briefly understands he is to blame and, is on the cusp of kickstarting the path that should have lead him to becoming a better person, a morally responsible person, and then

fucking

DIO

who immediately provides Pucci with the escape hatch out of the Painful Moral Growth path, who fills his head with poison and stunts his growth by giving Pucci absolution on the terms that Pucci wanted, not the terms that Pucci needed. What started as seemingly the most benign thing DIO had ever done for anyone (healed a young priest’s malformed foot and left him some parting words) spiraled into the actual end of the universe as said priest, well, no longer needed God, once he figured that DIO could play the part for him, could provide him the answers the church wasn’t giving him, could alleviate his guilt and teach him what brings people together and alleviate his guilt and teach what makes someone happy and alleviate his guilt and alleviate his guilt and alleviate his guilt and alleviate his guilt and

As much as I stand by the idea that Pucci is DIO’s superior and his ultimate legacy, because this is DIO we’re talking about and all evil in-universe springs from him (Araki said as much in the post-scriptum for Vento Aureo that DIO embodies Destiny and Fate), Pucci is also, to an extent, a victim of DIO. This is also part why I fundamentally disagree with the idea that Stone Ocean softened DIO. I don’t agree with the idea that his pursuit of Heaven was out of character either (it was essentially what he’d always been looking for, trying to attain happiness by taking control over his destiny in increasing bids for power and self-transformation), and I don’t agree with the idea that this was out-of-character. I’d argue DIO’s much-vaunted manipulative charisma, while always present, had never once been depicted as horrifyingly thoroughly as it is here, when he truly lives up to the dark messiah image his followers in Part 3 described and when we see how thoroughly he was able to corrupt Pucci, even while doing seemingly nothing but being the priest’s friend at a time of need. Stone Ocean, I’d argue, makes DIO scarier and more godlike in a way no other part (and certainly not those crossovers that did push Dio into actual godhood) did. 

I think Pucci is one of the few religious villains I’ve seen that I like because he’s much more interesting than just a condemnation of particular priests or the church as an institution, and he doesn’t go the obvious route of being an old white bigot (quite the opposite, since those types killed his family to begin with). Rather, he embodies so many kinds of thinking you see within religious circles or mindsets. “He works in mysterious ways”, “He saves all of us in the end”, “only His will matters”, “humans cannot possibly claim to understand His design”, “there is a point to the suffering”, “the suffering will be worth it if you trust Him”, “look out for His signs even if you don’t understand what they are for”, “your suffering on Earth will be nothing compared to how much better your life will be in Heaven”, “trust those that He sends your way to guide you”, “trust not those who fall into the path of evil, the path that is not His”, “your enemies deserve salvation as well even if they don’t know it”, there’s just, so much you could dissect here, in terms of how Pucci speaks to the experience of religious thinking, or even just believing in the existence of God even if you’re not specifically christian or religious (...see why I put up there why I’m a little scared to admit I relate to, or at least kind of get, Pucci? Sometimes I think of Pucci as almost a big Mr.Hyde to the collective experience of everyone who grew up religious and had that shape their worldview whether they wanted or not.).

Pucci, a man every bit driven by the same unsatiable black hole that DIO has (just replace “ambition” with “guilt”), takes all of these, and drives them to an unfathomably horrifying, yet entirely plausible, conclusion. Spearheaded by tangible proof that yes, Fate is real, Heaven is real, and he can make it happen, no, he’s the one assigned by higher powers to make it happen, so long as he just does this and that and gets rid of some vile enemies of his that would rather have all of mankind suffer before letting him win. But, no matter, the sinners always get their due, in the end. 

I hate that Netflix’s release schedule killed the Stone Ocean hype but, no matter, nothing can take away from how great it is and how great Pucci is. Not quite my favorite but one I’d easily argue is the best villain in the series, the perfect apocalyptic pilgrim JoJo needed to bring the end of all things and the birth of countless new ones.

Also, I always read Stone Ocean and applied DIO’s OVA theme to Pucci’s scenes. I love his anime theme, but I will always think of this as Pucci’s theme first and foremost.