#he’s a problematic fave

[drksanctuary]

I love Jasico dynamic because it has Jason embracing Nico’s wierdness and also his own wierdness. Very cute.

I love Nicobaster dynamic because both Nico and Al are already weird and they just get along being lil weirdos together (maybe competitively weird bc I like it when they fight also bc Al is just very combative). Very stupid (affectionate)

Just 2 different flavors of Dorks in love. Excellent.

[secretmellowblog]

@pilferingapples Boulatruelle is the most underrated Les mis character and he did NOTHING wrong! At least That’s my Boulatruelle Fan Theory #BoulatruelleFansRiseUp.

(Ok I’m joking. But still.)

OK SO (for people who haven’t read Les mis in a bit.) Boulatruelle is a minor character who is an ex-convict, like Valjean. He sorta represents what might’ve happened to Valjean if Valjean hadn’t gotten Myriel’ed/committed identity fraud.

Boulatruelle works as a road-mender outside Montfermil, getting paid starvation wages. When we first see him we’re not (iirc) explicitly told if he’s done anything criminal since leaving prison but— like Valjean in Digne— everyone in town already hates him for being an ex-convict. It doesn’t matter if he’s “guilty” or not, they’d hate him either way. And also like Valjean in Digne, Boulatruelle is overly submissive/deferential to all the bigoted people around him because he has to be in order to survive. The threat of being returned to prison is always hanging over him.

He was subjected to certain police supervision, and, as he could find work nowhere, the administration employed him at reduced rates as a road-mender on the crossroad from Gagny to Lagny. This Boulatruelle was a man who was viewed with disfavor by the inhabitants of the district as too respectful, too humble, too prompt in removing his cap to every one, and trembling and smiling in the presence of the gendarmes,—probably affiliated to robber bands, they said; suspected of lying in ambush at verge of copses at nightfall. The only thing in his favor was that he was a drunkard.

When Valjean buries his money in the woods, Boulatrelle attempts to figure out where he’s hidden it. Which yeah, i guess it sucks he’s trying to steal or whatever, but hey he’s having a rough time. And stealing things from a saintly dude worked out for Valjean so

But here’s the thing— Boulatruelle KNOWs Valjean! He recognizes him from Toulon! We’re told he’s a “comrade from the galleys” and recognizes him in sight! He could give away Valjean’s identity!

People in the town—especially Thenardier— begin to get suspicious about Boulatruelle digging in the woods. They realize he must’ve seen someone bury money there and attempt to get the information out of him .

And because he’s a “drunkard”— or really, an alcoholic— Thenardier decides the best way to manipulate him is by getting him drunk. This is explicitly compared to another person’s suggestion that they torture the information out of him:

One evening the schoolmaster affirmed that in former times the law would have instituted an inquiry as to what Boulatruelle did in the forest, and that the latter would have been forced to speak, and that he would have been put to the torture in case of need, and that Boulatruelle would not have resisted the water test, for example. “Let us put him to the wine test,” said Thénardier.

But even with all that, Boulatruelle never gives up Valjean’s name. He stubbornly refuses. That makes it seem like…he really does have a conscience, at least at first?

Idk to me it seems that Boulatruelle starts out like Digne Valjean — but gets corrupted utterly as the story goes on. In his first chapter it’s implied he still can occasionally be driven by his conscience (not giving up Valjean’s name even under duress)…. but by the end of the book that’s sorta gone. We only get a couple very brief flashes of his life, but to me he seems like an alternate universe version of Valjean who wasn’t helped by the bishop, and instead was manipulated by someone who took advantage of how desperate and isolated he was.

The next time we see him is during the Gorbeau House ambush. It’s years later, and he is now part of Thenardier’s gang. That’s depressing but it makes sense— he made so little as a road-mender, everyone hated him, and if he was attempting to live even Somewhat “honestly” it wasn’t working. In that intro chapter scene with we’re shown that Boulatruelle is surrounded by people who want to send him back to prison and have him tortured— but Thenardier acts like his “friend” and easily manipulates him with alcohol.

But like …during the Gorbeau house ambush it sorta looks like Boulatruelle’s heart isn’t in it?

Boulatruelle is so drunk he barely knows what’s going on. (Which again, feels related to the earlier scene where Thenardier manipulates Boulatrelle to keep drinking more than he should in order to make him behave the way he wants.)

At the trampling which ensued, the other ruffians rushed up from the corridor. (Boulatrelle), who seemed under the influence of wine, descended from the pallet and came reeling up, with a stone-breaker’s hammer in his hand.

Iirc he makes no indication that he recognizes Valjean—hmmm— but is very easily defeated after receives a punch in the face from Valjean when Valjean is trying to escape, and is knocked out/sleeps through the rest of the ambush. Again it sorta feels like he doesn’t particularly care about any of it.

That’s unlucky for Thenardier because again, he’s the only dude there who could’ve told him who Valjean actually was. Idk it’s funny that if Thenardier had set basic rules like “don’t show up to the important ambush blackout drunk” he might’ve actually had an upper hand against Valjean— if Boulatruelle had been willing to share his knowledge this time, anyway.

(There’s also a line in a later chapter where he says “this prowler of patron-Minette has his reasons,” while talking about how he needs to find out where Valjean has hidden his money. I’m not sure if that line is referring to himself as the “prowler,” Or if it’s meant to imply he knew Valjean was the one Patron-Minette had ambushed and just hadn’t told anyone.)

(AND SIDE NOTE: we all talk about how Valjean is paranoid about the police in the Gorbeau House scene, but I’m just realizing he must’ve been so paranoid about Boulatruelle too?? Because in the chapter where Boulatruelle talks about him he makes it sounds like Valjean would also recognize HIM on sight. I think it’s also interesting that when Valjean is trying to escape by force in the first couple minutes, Boulatruelle is the only one he knocks out. It feels deliberate. Sure; Boulatrelle is so drunk he just kinda falls asleep after being punched. But it’s also not hard to see why Valjean would be especially afraid of him.)

But yeah Boulatruelle literally sleeps through the whole ambush! He’s like, the Anti-Grantaire. Drunkenly sleeping through the big event because he genuinely doesn’t care. He’s not being actively evil as much as he’s letting himself get dragged along.

He’s also the Anti-Grantaire in that, when all his allies get punished by authority, he’s spared punishment because he drunkenly slept through the whole thing. He doesn’t wake up to stand by them and accept punishment by their side, he’s totally cool with not going to prison while they do.

In the meanwhile, the agents had caught sight of the drunken man asleep behind the door, and were shaking him:—

He awoke, stammering:—

“Is it all over, Jondrette?”

I wonder if the weird barricade parallels are another relic of that earlier draft of the book where Patron-Minette were a bigger thing.

…and Interestingly, it’s only after the rest of Patron-Minette gets arrested that Boulatruelle seems to really become fully corrupted?

The last we see of him is a callback to his first chapter. He’s no longer with Patron-Minette or Thenardier— they were arrested and he was not— so he’s alone and a road-mender again.

Only now, everything is Even Worse? Hes no longer described as trembling and smiling and deferential, but as openly breaking things and robbing people. We’re no longer told that bigoted townspeople assume he’s robbing people with no proof other than “he’s an ex-con,” we’re told that he IS robbing people openly at every opportunity. We’re told that he drinks even more than he used to. The first time Boulatrelle saw Valjean (in his first chapter) he had considered following him, but later refuses to reveal his identity; this time, he follows Valjean with a weapon and an intent to kill.

…..however i do admit there is a possibility I’m overthinking this. XD I’ve mentioned before that I feel like the side Patron-Minette characters are often the weakest part of the book, and feel like relics from early drafts (because they are.) It’d be incomplete to talk about Boulatruelle without admitting that his alcoholism/state of constant drunkenness is often played for comedy. His final scene where he discovers Valjean has dug up his money, and angrily shrieks that he’s a Thief, is also played for comedy. There’s something really interesting about the way he’s set up as a foil for Valjean, but if I’m being honest I don’t think Hugo follows through on it completely.

It’s like he’s set up as a character foil for Valjean, a “what if Valjean had fallen in with Thenardier instead of Myriel” —but yeah while I do think that’s there, I also think Hugo doesn’t seem as interested in exploring that idea as I am XD. Like a lot of the side members of Patron Minette, Boulatruelle feels a bit incomplete.

But there’s really a lot of potential in a character who represents the Corruption Arc Valjean might’ve had without the bishop? To me it seems like Boulatruelle first chapter focuses on the tragedy of being newly released from prison in ways that pretty explicitly echo Valjean’s — the way he’s isolated, a victim of bigotry and all these systemic barriers, “trembling and smiling” in the presence of the police. But in Boulatrelle’s case all the bigoted things the townspeople say about him in his introduction end up being true— he does end up affiliated with “robber bands,” he does plan to ambush Valjean in a dark forest at night. And I feel like it’s in large part as a result of falling in with Thenardier as a “friend.”

Idk I feel like the point is supposed what Valjean says earlier— “there are no bad plants and no bad men; there are only bad cultivators.” Boulatrelle ended up kinda sucking as a person, but he didn’t have to.

I sorta wish he managed to attempt to rob Valjean that first time, because Valjean might have been to Boulatruelle what the bishop was to him? And In AU where he redeemed himself it would be Good for Valjean to develop some kind of healthy friendship with someone who was dealing with the same “ex-con” struggles as him? Maybe the reason I stan Boulatruelle is because Valjean needs a friend and I want him to be redeemed for Valjean’s sake? And anyway that’s my fixit fic, thank you for reading XD.

[timethehobo]

In Life, Love. This one goes out to the Davrin fans!

[sarafangirlart]

“What if Odysseus adopts Astyanax 🥰” tf happens to Andromache in that timeline then?

[samijey]

WWE's Bash in Berlin, 2024

some really multi-layered acting from Kevin here that we haven't gotten to see in a while and I absolutely love: starting with the restless look when he's first clinging to Cody, slight conflict still clear in his body language. then Cody firmly pats him on the back twice, and that smallest bit of violence (the thing which fuels so much of who KO is as a wrestling character), seems to provide either a distraction or a relief from the indecision. we see Kevin's stare move a thousand miles away, until he remembers there's a camera in his face capturing a rare moment of vulnerability and his brow instantly turns in anger as he shoves it away, breaking the moment for both himself and the prying viewer Kevin Owens may never win the war against his impulse to turn on those close to him, but he's won the latest battle and that might be enough for now

[stardustedknuckles]

Ludinus is a tumblr user who "got a bad vibe" and went digging through a very old blog to make a callout post about a popular user who may or may not have once held some shitty beliefs but who has been a neutral to good presence since most anyone else has ever heard of them. And when people rightfully go "hey that's fucked up" Ludinus goes "you're all being deceived! Only I and the people who Get It understand that this Big User is abusing their station! I'm going to keep putting this old post in people's faces until they see and turn against this person!" The fact that this is being entertained as a legitimate argument in-game on top of the fact that the gods are being mostly kept out of the picture and can't speak up for themselves has the part of my brain that DESPISES intentional miscommunication as a plot device very agitated. It's stupid when it happens on tumblr and it's stupid now.

[scripted-downfall]

I think about HuaiSang and I'm like haha funny little clown man. he's so smart for making everyone think he's incompetent while actually being seven moves ahead of them in five-dimensional chess. falling over LXC and JGY while sobbing in one move? peak comedy, 10/10, love episode 40 so much. "The problem has resolved… but new problems have appeareddddd" he's just like me for real

And then I remember that he misses his brother and was made to help kill him, that he wanted his old friend so much that he brought him back to life so he could make everything better. That he has spent almost twenty years behind a mask of his own devising and that he might not even know who he really is anymore. That my little lad who just wanted to be an artist and paint willow trees and collect fans has become as much a warrior as the rest of the Sunshot generation. And then I want to cry

[ineed-to-sleep]

Well you see they're just very good friends

[achairwithapandaonit]

he is a blorbo to them

[outtheoiseaux]

This dude was SO aware of what he was doing the entire time. there’s no way he was locked in alpha wolf instinct state like the masked man was, this bitch REMEMBERS

[hey-its-sybarite]

“Let's tell more stories. Let's be monsters and enjoy it. Let's be problematic. Give us the space to be a problem.”

[atlasblue85]

the thing about Armand calling what he did at the end of ep6 his one act of cowardice is like... babe ALL your acts are acts of cowardice, every single one of them!

he let Lestat destroy the original Paris coven because he was too afraid to make any change himself, whether out of fear of retribution from Rome or fear they wouldn't follow or whatever other reason.

and then trying to let the same thing happen with Louis, trying to let his presence destroy it again when Santiago got out of hand, he was too much of a coward to ever face Santiago directly but he was more than willing to sit idly by and watch it happen.

in San Francisco he's too much of a coward to say I love you to Louis for Lestat. he's too much of a coward to let Daniel go and only does it when Louis invokes The Dynamic. and whether you believe Louis actually did ask for his memories to be erased I feel either way doing it is cowardly. either he didn't ask and Armand was too afraid of him remembering everything and it ruining their carefully constructed relationship, or he did ask for it and well honestly the same thing, plus being too afraid to deny Louis.

even his whole distaste at making a fledgling I think on some level has to do with him being cowardly, he's seen the emotional toll it takes and doesn't want that for himself or anyone else but I also think fears not being able to read the mind of someone around him, because he wants total control.

everyone on the show manipulates those around them in a desire for control, but in different ways and for different reasons. for Louis it's to have a sense of control and power he never fully had in his human life as a black gay man in Louisiana, for Lestat it's because he believes his way of life, whatever it happens to be at the time, is the best and only way and needs everyone around him to do as he does, for Santiago it's because he wants power and i think also feels he has something to prove as the youngest of a very old coven. and Armand does it out of fear and need for control. he wants everything exactly in its place because he has to keep up the carefully constructed facade of his life, if he lets anything slip the whole thing could come crumbling down so he gets more and more desperate to keep it as is because that's easier than confronting himself.

[daniclaytcn]

The most insane for me is when people who stan tommy uses what taylor did to bobby to hate on her. Like, okay that was absolutely fucked up, and I'm not a fan of her either, but i feel like if you still use this reason even though bobby was fine with her after (even inviting her in his house), then maybe there's something you should hold against tommy too (no matter if hen and chimney look friendly towards him) ??

the funny thing is that hen and chimney are...pretty lukewarm towards him, actually. you have chim who only contacted tommy like twice when he needed his help and didn't invite him to his wedding...you have hen who, in 3x16, was very emphatic about not being friends with any of the guys who used to work at the 118 when she joined; and even tommy makes a crack about not getting her christmas cards. not saying they hate him or anything! i think they're fine with him, honestly. but it's not some great friendship like people like to pretend, sorry 🤷🏽‍♀️ and yeah, i definitely think it's weird that all the female love interests, taylor included, have gotten so much shit for much less. i still remember that one person who tried to say that tommy being brought back was better than lucy, because lucy made "a terrible first impression" on the audience. worse than the guy who was introduced as being part of the white man status quo who was complicit in racism and misogyny? hm.

[gazpacho-deluxe]

i don’t think death threats and shit are justified ever and people ought not send them, especially over motorsport, but it does irk me how some norris fans are straw-manning this into ‘we just think it’s toxic to hate on ANY drivers for existing and doing nothing wrong’ as if people who don’t like him have no developed reasoning and they’re taking a stand against hate broadly when i dislike norris for valid reasons based on his past behavior, not just for shits and giggles

[notacluedo]

Complicated man

[tragicotps]

Random gifs of Marisa Coulter smiling [8/∞]