#her being young informs her whole world view and way of thinking

[spicyraeman]

If you're headcanoning lae'zel as older than she is, you're missing a fundamental part of her character

[chocolatepot]

Hi! Can you elaborate on "Fuck GRRM's committment to 'historical realism' without knowing anything about medieval social history"? I would love to know about what GRRM gets wrong about medieval gender roles, specifically.

So Cersei learns at an early age that she has no agency, her only value is producing heirs and is barred from traditional routes of power so she has to use underhanded methods such as influencing men with sex or using underhanded magical means. I would love an explanation on why this doesn't reflect medieval queen consorts and noble women irl.

Sure! The basic summary is: GRRM "knows" the things that everyone "knows" about the middle ages, which are broad stereotypes often reflective of a) primary sources that deserve a critical reading rather than being taken at face value and b) the judgements of later periods making themselves look better at the medieval period's expense.

As Shiloh Carroll argues, building on the work of Helen Young, “readers are caught in a ‘feedback loop’ in which Martin’s work helps to create a neomedieval idea of the Middle Ages, which then becomes their idea of what the Middle Ages ‘really’ looked like, which is then used to defend Martin’s work as ‘realistic’ because it matches their idea of the real Middle Ages.”

Since you're mainly interested in Cersei here, I'd strongly recommend a book: Queenship and the Women of Westeros: Female Agency and Advice in Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire, edited by Zita Eva Rohr and Lisa Benz. It's an excellent read and speaks to exactly what you're asking about. The tone of the book is very positive and non-judgemental when it comes to GRRM and his depictions of women on the whole, but I think some of this is rhetorical positioning to not seem like "mean angry academics jumping on fiction for not being accurate," as the actual content turns the reader to thinking about how much agency and power medieval queens had in different European societies and how little of that worked its way into GRRM's worldbuilding.

It's true that women typically didn't inherit titles and thrones in their own right, and that they were usually given in marriage for political/dynastic reasons. However, they weren't seen as brood mares whose only duty was to pop out sons: both queens and noblewomen had roles to play as household managers, counselors, and lieutenants, actively participating in the ruling of their domains and in local and international diplomacy (women in political alliances were not just pawns sent to a powerful man's bed, but were to act as ambassadors for their families and to pass information back and forth), and they had to be raised with an understanding of this so that they could learn to do it. Motherhood was very important, don't get me wrong, but it's a mistake to assume as pop culture does that a wife's foremost duty being to provide heirs for her family meant that she was ONLY seen as a mother/potential mother.

Catelyn is a great example of what was expected of women in these positions. But in the books, Catelyn is basically the only woman who inhabits this role, and the impression given is that she's exceptional, that she's just in charge of the household because she's so great at it that Ned allows her to be his partner, and that he listens to her advice because she happens to be a wise person in his orbit - and also that Ned is exceptional for giving so much power to a woman, because in the world of ASOIAF, it takes an especially good man to do this. In GRRM's view of the medieval world, realpolitik and the accumulation of power are the most important things, so men in Westeros are extremely unlikely to give up any authority to their wives, even though this is historically inaccurate.

Cersei, on the other hand, is supposed to be a more realistic depiction of what would happen to an ambitious medieval woman. There's a chapter titled "Queen of Sad Mischance: Medievalism, “Realism,” and the Case of Cersei Lannister" in the book I've rec'd, and it deals with why this is problematic extremely well. (This is the source of the quote at the top of this post.) In it, Kavita Mudan Finn argues that Cersei embodies pretty much every medieval trope for the illegitimate wielding of power by a woman. She underhandedly gets people killed for opposing her, she seduces men into doing her bidding, she advances her family's interests and her own at the expense of the realm. She's made sympathetic through fannish interpretation and Lena Headey's performance, but in the text she's an evil woman doing evil things. Even when she gets to be regent for her son - a completely legitimate historical position that allowed women to handle the levers of power almost exactly like a king - she continues to do shitty things and not be taken seriously because she's just not good at ruling.

But even before then, from a medieval perspective she had access to completely legitimate power that she didn't use: she'd have had estates giving her a large personal income, religious establishments to patronize (giving her a good reputation as a pious woman and people she'd put in high positions being personally loyal to her), artists and writers to patronize as well, power over her household, men around her listening to her counsel. That she doesn't have that is a reflection of GRRM either deciding these things don't really exist in Westeros in order to make it a worse world than medieval Europe and justify Cersei feeling she had to use underhanded means of power, or not knowing that they were ordinary and unexceptional because he has a good working knowledge of the politics of the Wars of the Roses but little to no knowledge of social history beyond pop culture osmosis, and, imo, little to no interest in actual power dynamics.

There are a lot of books I'd recommend on this subject. There's a series from Palgrave Macmillan called "Queenship and Power" and nearly all the books in it are THE BEST. Theresa Earenfight's Queenship in Medieval Europe is a very readable introduction to the situations of queens in European societies across the continent. She also has a book, Women and Wealth in Late Medieval Europe, that also addresses non-royal women's power. I'm also a huge fan of English Aristocratic Women, 1450-1550: Marriage and Family, Property and Careers, by Barbara Harris, which really emphasizes the "career" aspect of women's lives as administrators and diplomats.

[insomniakisses]

An eye for an eye | One

Characters: Aemond x sister reader (platonic), Rhaenyra x sister reader (platonic), Alicent x step daughter reader (Platonic) (hotd characters)

Reader type: Female

Warnings / Notes: tw viserys, tw otto, tw daemon, events of driftmark, absent and shitty father viserys, metions of torturous, dragons, graphic violent scenes. I think thats it. Possable targcest in the future.

Parts: Two.

You couldn’t help the giggles that escaped your lips as you ran around the gardens, aemond chasing after you soft giggles falling from him two. The younger boy declaring he was going to catch you but he was at a disadvantage you were 4 years older than him, though even at the age of 10 he was gaining height and strength.

You begin to slow as tiredness kicks in and he smirks, using the last of his energy to surge forward catching up with ease as he wraps his arms around you and pushes you both to the floor. Laughter escaping you both on impact. Though its short lived when rhaenyra comes bolting over pulling you off the ground a hard glare fixed on her face.

“That is most un-lady like sister,” she hisses before her gaze fixes on your brother, “Aemond do you not know how to properly behave around a lady?” She scolds and you roll your eyes seeing jace and luke laughing behind her.

“I- we were playing! Only playing! Shes not hurt i promise-“ the young prince stutters clearly afraid of the much older royals wraith knowing just how protective of you your sister can be.

“Really?” She draws out with a scoff bringing ur arm into view and he sees the smallest of scrapes along your forearm his eyes widening.

“Rhaenyra!” You call shaking off her grip and moving to stand by Aemond, “its barely an injury, it doesn’t even hurt. You needn’t worry yourself!” You exclaim hand clasping Aemond’s as you continue. “He will take me to the maesters to get it checked out now, won’t you Aem?”

The boy nods with a small smile when you squeeze his hand in reassurance making sure he knows your not in the slightest mad at him and that everything is okay.

Spending the rest of the day inside the two of you resigned to the library reading up on family histories and practicing your High Valyrian. Save the brief interruption from Alicent, the queen asking to check your injury having been informed by Rhaenyra that her “undisciplined” son had caused you harm.

Though as soon as she saw you two laughing and joking around she knew in her heart that there was no way he would have hurt you. Especially not intentionally.

You simply smile at the queen greeting her by her title and allowing her to gently lift your arm inspecting the wound before she left you be leaving a soft kiss to both of your heads as she bid her goodbyes. On her way to the king no doubt.

— one year later —

The whole family was being taken to Driftmark, apparently for the funeral of Laena Velarion. Though the two of you had only spoken once, having accidentally ran into her and Rhaenyra, she seemed nice enough and you were sad that she had died so early into her life. Your half-sibling however didn’t seem to care. Aegon was ceaselessly complaining as usual, Helaena of in her own world like always and Aemond, well he was respectful enough to understand why you were going but he clearly wasn’t saddened by the news.

The king and Alicent were set to arrive by boat accompanied by the four of you, but Aegon having recently mounted Sunfyre for a real flight insisted he go by dragon back the king uncaringly agreeing and shooing of Alicent’s protests. Her visible worry evident the whole way as she picked and chewed at her fingers you and Aemond sharing a concern look before going over to her. Grasping a hand each you held her tightly and she smiled. You couldn’t tell if it was forced or not, but she let out a small exhale as she held you giving away she was more relaxed even if it was only slightly.

Once the ship had docked Alicent all but ran to Aegon though he rolled his eyes and told her to leave him be as he wasn’t a child anymore. He failed to see how she flinched when Sunfyre moved or how she stood still till the dragon moved away. One of her biggest fears dragons were, something you had picked up recently.

You latch back onto her arm when she’s beside you again, having grown rather attached to her in the years of Rhaenyras absence. She had left without warning or a goodbye. You can still remember the nights you laid crying for her hugs or her soft touch when she braided your hair helping you ready yourself in the morning. All of that was Alicent’s job now, not that she minded, she loved you as her own and enjoyed how you curled against her needy for a mother’s touch. She just wishes you wouldn’t call her Alicent, it always hurt her not hearing the word “mother”.

———— That Night ————

The funeral had been somewhat uneventful, Aegon had gotten drunk and was sent to bed early by Otto and Daemon had made a scene laughing during the ceremony. But that was all really, soon you were all sent to bed and you had fallen asleep as soon as your head hit the pillow. Exhausted from the day of traveling no doubt.

However, the sound of whooshing and a dragons deep roar had woken you, slipping on a cloak and your shows you had gone to investigate. By the time you came downstairs there was shouting and a trail of blood into the main hall. Following it you entered seeing Aemond holding his eye and the adults screaming at each other. Jace with bloody hands and Luke with a broken nose yet Rhaenyra, Daemon and Laenor were nowhere in sight. You rushed to Aemond side feeling Alicent pull u into her body your hand grasping her dress as you stares at the bloody sight.

Then in came Rhaenyra and you completely zoned out staying by Aemond’s side and holding his hand throughout the whole ordeal. Crying for your brother when the king seemed not to care and made no move to punish the boys for attacking him.

After all was said and done Aemond was given milk of the poppy and essence of night shade for the pain and to help him sleep. While the rest of you were ushered to your respective chambers though you slept very little worried about Aemond and so saddened at Rhaenyra’s intention of having someone torturing him. Afterall he had just lost an eye.

———— Back in Kings Landing ————

“ALICENT ENOUGH!” the king roared, having had enough of her nagging.

“THEY TOOK HIS EYE, YOUR GRACE, SOMEONE HAS TO PAY!” And he sighs sitting on his throne looking half dead.

“My dear wife,” he starts voice bored and tired. “Lucerys is just a boy. Children fight. Get over it.”

She scoffs at this, fighting the urge to yell again knowing his power out matches hers. “A debt is due your grace, an eye for an eye. He is your son!”

“What would you have me do?” He scoffs, “The boy is at dragon stone and he is my grandchild.”

“I dont care!” The queen protests, “You have to do something! Rhaenyra’s son has taken the eye of my own, a punishment is deserved. Someone must be punished!” If the queen had known her lack of precise words would lead to the events that would unfold that night she would never have been so careless.

“Fetch Y/n” is all he mutters and a guard sets of at once, Alicent so caught up in her thoughts not quiet hearing what he had ordered. Its only when a sleepy and confused you is escorted in that her breath quickens.

You stand there rubbing the sleep from your eyes, blinking away exhaustion as your blanket lays draped over your shoulders giving you a slight waddle when you walk.

“What is she-“ Alicent is cut of by the king. “Bring me her eye, a debt is to be payed and she is like a daughter to Rhaenyra. Lets settle this now”

Your heart fills with fear and dread as does Alicent’s as your grabbed by two guards another forcing his knife into your flesh. Alicent screaming protest as she herself is restrained tears falling down her face at your pained crys and shrieks. Your father simply holding his head in his hand as he feels another migraine coming.

“MOMMA PLEASE! IT HURTS MOM PLEASE MOMMY HELP!” you continue to scream and thrash around the knife in your flesh leaving messy cuts until your eye pulls out with a sickening wet pop and you scream loud.

You both released and alicent runs to you scooping you up and rocking you as you cry, hands balling up her dress as a mumbles mantra of “momma” escapes your lips she holds you as the maesters tend to your wounds and give you all the same teas and treatments Aemond had gotten in drifting mark. The king and guards now long gone.

“Im so sorry baby” is all she keeps saying kissing your head and carrying you to her chambers. You spend the night there, tucked into her embrace as she holds you swearing to protect you from this day swearing that one day the king will get what he deserves. And praying to the gods for all her children to be safe.

A/n. So this was part one hope u liked it 😁

[brucewaynehater101]

Do you think after BruceQuest the bat kids + Oracle and Alfred (maybe or maybe not Batman)

all but blatantly cut contact with the Justice League?

Even if Batman forgives them for leaving him for dead even with all the evidence in front of them, they've still shown themselves wildly unreliable to even their own members

Unless the Justice League forces themselves into a Bat's conflict or other situation or the bats genuinely have no other option

Bats lean towards each other for help, next best thing is Young Justice or other heroes of their generation, and as last resorts, mercenaries or villains, maybe even ex-LOA members

The Justice league (including Batman if he sticks with em) are the last last resort and are the last people to learn of Bat-involved incidents, if at all

Maybe rogues outside of Ra's learns what BruceQuest was, how it ruined Red Robin's reputation irreparably and uses it to annihilate the League's PR by showing the truth to the world?

I know Mr Lex Luthor would lap that shit up

Especially if Batman is still on good terms yet Red Robin is still dealing with the aftermath years later

Everyone is pulling their hair out because Lex is doing an objectively good thing for the wrong reason and when his villainy is toppled again—

Red Robin isn't going to live his life like his repaired reputation is gonna last

Ooh. How would the Bats react to the JL post BruceQuest?

Cass, Steph, Duke, and Jason do not have a relationship or rely on the JL. Jason probably is already upset at the JL for a variety of reasons. All that would change if the batfam is Team Tim would be those batkids being colder to the JL. Maybe they also pull off pranks.

In the end, those Batkids would be the equivalent of hearing your sibling talking about their toxic workplace and hating those fuckers (who you rarely see/interact with) on principle.

For Damian? It's a toss-up. It depends on how he views Tim and the JL. If Damian wants to become Batman, he might see the JL as a necessary step for that. He might need to have several conversations with various family members and his friends (like Colin and Jon) to understand his own position and thoughts on the JL.

For Babs, I hc she helped them a lot with their systems and other work. She probably feels guilty about Tim (not believing/supporting him and his traumatizing trip he did alone). If she was also on Team Tim, she would pass all system management to Vic and maintain a slightly frosty professional distance from them. Her Birds of Prey would become aware that she helps them, but she only assists the JL in dire circumstances.

Dick would have mixed feelings about it. He kind of told other heroes that Tim wasn't to be trusted and that he was having a mental breakdown due to grief. Now, what they did with that information is not Dick's fault. They should have supported the teenager and understood that Dick was also crumbling under his grief/responsibilities. So, Dick feels conflicted. He wants to make it up to Tim, though, and probably maintains a more professional distance from JL.

Alfred is also guilty of not being there for Tim when he needed help and care. However, I like to imagine he makes very pointed comments at JL members when they visit for their direct actions in that situation.

I do think that the batkids join together to mutually say "fuck you" to the JL, but in their own ways.

Batman/Bruce is iffy. On one hand, people like to use the BruceQuest as Bruce's kick in the pants to be a better father. On the other hand, he does his whole Batman Inc shit and is in Gotham less. So, it depends on how you picture him dealing with that trauma and his relationships with his family. If he's doing the less local Batman stuff, then he's probably more with the JL (and thus not on his kids' side).

The Lex Luthor theory you have going on? Brilliant 👏

[queenvhagar]

Can I get your personal thoughts and feelings about Criston Cole. I'm interested in hearing what you have to say about him.

My personal background is in sociology, so I'm really interested in social stratification and how different groups in society interact, as well as how intersectionality comes into play in societies. This comes into play for my media interests in that I find shows that explore sociopolitical issues to be most compelling to me personally. A side note is that I also studied medieval French society and concepts of chivalry and courtly love, so this also informs my perspective on how I view stories in medieval contexts.

Fire and Blood explores the history of the society in Westeros and tells stories of wide-scale societal conflict that impacts people of various social backgrounds. In this society, people are stratified by race, class, socioeconomic status, gender, ability, and more. When it comes to the adaptation House of the Dragon, one of my major gripes is that it's only interested in looking at one of these aspects of stratification, gender, and examining it on its own without regard to its intersection with race, class, socioeconomic status, ability, and other social markers that exist in this world. The show wants to explore sexism, but it does so in a vacuum without meaningfully and realistically taking into account how classism, racism, ableism, and other systems of power interact with and exist at the same time as sexism. The way the show handles the character of Criston Cole is a good example of how they fail to fully explore these aspects of world building.

Criston Cole is Dornish in a medieval, feudalist monarchy where Dornish people are looked down upon and discriminated against. He is lowborn in a society that values highborn people and royalty above all else. As he is not born to an important family, he lacks resources like money and land that could allow him social mobility. However, he does have skill at being a knight, a role highly mythologized, idealized, and romanticized in medieval contexts. Knights operate with honor and abide by a code of chivalry, and it is viewed as a noble and honest pursuit and means of living that any boy in that world could dream of embodying. It is Criston's skill with the blade and other knightly abilities that allows him to pursue this role and begin to rise in status and achieve upward mobility.

At the tourney for the heir that Viserys throws in anticipation for Aemma's birth of a son, Criston stands out due to his skill and due to him surpassing expectations of a Dornish lowborn man at a royal tourney. His performance and appearance lead him to be selected by the princess for Kingsguard, the highest position a knight could rise to in this society. Now, Criston finds himself as the highest of knights in service to the realm and particularly the royal family who rules it, the members of which who stand at the top of social hierarchies in this society: Valyrian race, royal blood, immense riches, power, and privileges available to them. And, of course, access to dragons, the ultimate weapons and safeguards of power in this world.

As Criston says himself, his position as Kingsguard is something he worked for his whole life and it's all he really has to his name and legacy, due to his birth and his family's position in this world. As a Kingsguard, at least early on, he takes his vows seriously and performs the job as he thinks an ideal knight would.

One night, the princess, the who promoted him to Kingsguard in the first place, reveals her attraction to him and pressures him to break his vow, and she does not accept multiple refusals as an answer. He implicitly cannot refuse her request, as she holds authority over him. Despite the fact that, yes, she is a young woman of 18 and he is a young man in his early twenties, it stands that she still holds an exceptionally higher amount of power than he does: she is a Targaryen, of the blood of Old Valyria, a dragon riding princess, daughter of the king, and heir to the throne that grants the best absolute power her father holds, while he is a knight from a lowborn family of Dornish background. In this instance, on a whim, the princess knowingly or unknowingly uses her power to take sex from him without considering what might happen to him as a result. The consequences of this event are potentially severe for him while relatively minimal for her. As it stands, if anyone found out, the consequence for him is to be slowly tortured to death. For the princess, if anyone found out, there is ultimately protection from the king. Criston would die an agonizing death, but at the very worst, she is disinherited, but only if her father wishes it (and she still retains her name and her dragon to help her survive in the world). Following this event, the princess tells him that she expects him to be fine with being used for sex whenever she wants, despite the severe risks to safety and well-being this poses to especially him.

Criston becomes disillusioned with the world he knew. He did everything he was supposed to do - endeavor to improve his position in the world through the righteous means of being a knight - yet now, everything he worked for is potentially crumbling before him. He tries to rationalize her decision to take advantage of him - maybe she truly loves him and that is why she would not accept his refusal? But the reality is that she views him as a plaything. His whole life of work to achieve upward mobility and make a name for himself in the world, and on account of his race, class background, and relative position of powerlessness, he is simply used and treated like an object by royalty. What purpose does he truly serve, if it is not to be a sworn knight abiding his vows and serving the realm and the royal family? Criston's grasp on his identity and purpose waver. When interviewed by the queen, he confesses his guilt and asks for a quick death. He accepts that his life may be over and that everything he suffered through in his life meant nothing. At the princess's wedding, he is threatened by someone he perceives as attempting to expose what happened, which would result in a torturous death. He snaps, killing the man to silence him. Having taken this life, resigned to death himself, he retreats to the weirwood to commit suicide. But it is there that the queen appears to stop him, and in Alicent, he finds a renewed sense of identity and purpose. In Alicent, he can relate to being thoughtlessly used by members of the royal family. In Alicent, he can believe once again in the idea of being a knight serving a queen who saved his life when it would have been easier for her not to. In Alicent, and in her children, Criston renews his identity in knighthood and his purpose in protecting the royal family. This time, though, these royals are not just using him without consideration and will not take him and his sacrifices for granted. Criston once again buys into the mythologizing of knighthood and royalty, which gives him identity and purpose in the world once more.

At this point, I'll address that many viewers and readers see his dislike of Rhaenyra as evidence of him being a uniquely misogynist man in this world where gender is heavily stratified. While sexism does exist at large in this society, there is only evidence of Criston disliking one single woman who used him and then discarded him at great risk and harm to him personally. In this regard, him hating Rhaenyra is logical given their past. He does not seem to be more exceptionally sexist than any other character in this story, yet fans focus in on him in particular for this. The "why" of it all likely has to do with the framing of the show: the writers emphasize the perspective of the royals and those with the most power in this world, and from their perspective, anyone in proximity to these royals should be grateful for it, despite anything that happens, because they are the sympathetic main characters. This is especially true for someone like Criston who apparently should be happy that despite his low birth and inferior (in this world) racial identity, the princess still offered to have sex with him and this is the best thing he could hope to ever achieve in his life. Once again, the show hyper focuses on sexism in Westeros but does not explore other systems of power that exist in the world and/or their relations to one another and the result is a skewed view of how the world really functions and who actual holds power relative to who. This, combined with the shows insertion of certain 21st century politics into aspects of the show when realistically no such things existed in historical or fictional medieval feudalist monarchies, results in fans insisting Criston is an incel, showing fundamental misunderstanding of the world of Westeros and also apparently the term incel itself, as Criston is tied for the character with the most sex scenes so far at 3 separate scenes so clearly he is not involuntarily celibate.

Post time skip, decades pass and Criston continues to fulfill his roles as knight and protector of the royal family until finally the day comes when the king dies. Then, he works with the Green Council to take action to protect his faction of the royal family from the perceived threat of the other and becomes "Kingmaker" by personally crowning Aegon. Following the murder of Jaehaerys by Daemon and Rhaenyra in retaliation for the death of Lucerys, he advocates for stronger, strategic military action in the then inevitable war while Otto Hightower insists on sending more ravens. This results in Aegon making him Hand of the King instead. His plan with Aegon and Aemond to trap one of the Black's dragons allows the Greens to take Meleys out, but it also allows for Aegon to become injured and bedridden, necessitating that Aemond take over in his stead as Prince Regent and Protector of the Realm.

As for season 2 additions and changes from the source material, I always saw Criston's relationship with Alicent as one of courtly love, and so far in the show the motivations of each character regarding a sexual relationship have been confusing at best. How did it even start? When? What does it mean for their long term relationship and how it's grown? How does it impact each participant's view on the world and knighthood and royalty and honor and loyalty? The show seems to not care to explore any of this beyond trying to paint the two in a bad light. I could maybe buy a sexual relationship if it was well-developed, but there was basically no set up or narrative reason for its addition beyond making the characters look worse and deflecting blame from Blood and Cheese onto them. In the case of a developed romance or sexual relationship, I would say that Criston's relationship with Alicent has grown for over a decade into one of loyalty and trust, and a physical relationship might come from that once the king died, although some amount of moral conflict would likely still occur for each character.

As for the plan at Rook's Rest, it doesn't make much sense for Aegon to be left out of the loop, just as it doesn't make sense for Aemond to willingly sabotage his own side of the war by taking out Aegon and his dragon, especially over something like bullying when the stakes are so much higher than that at this point. If anything, the animosity between the brothers should be about how Aemond's actions indirectly lead to the death of Aegon's son (if the writers allowed Blood and Cheese to have any major impact on the story, but their goals are instead to minimize Team Black's involvement and lessen Team Green's reaction to it, so it remains obscured and in the background).

In general, I might be interested in the writers potentially wanting to explore in season 2 Criston's relationship with his vows and honor and even showing some hypocrisy while highlighting the conflict between his righteous ideals and less than righteous means of accomplishing his goals. However, it's clear that their intent with Criston and Team Green is to point fingers and label them as dysfunctional, morally reprehensible villains in contrast to a righteous Team Black and that's all they're interested in. There is no meaningful exploration of character or growth to be expected from Criston Cole. Unfortunately fan vitriol will continue to focus on Criston above other members of Team Green for the reasons listed above, and the writing will likely only continue to add to that.

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

hi! i just saw your analysis of the “treasure of my heart” quote and omg you have a GIFT for analysis! In that post you mentioned the “Rare Spices” billboard Inej talks about in CK; I’d love to hear more of your thoughts on that!

Hi, thank you so much!!! I personally think that the “Rare Spices” advert is one of the most important pieces of information we get to further both worldbuilding and charactisation, so let’s talk about it.

The advert is massive sign painted on the side of a warehouse in Ketterdam, near Sweet Reef, and alongside the words “Rare Spices” it depicts two young Suli women in “scant silks”, mimicking those that Inej was forced to wear at the Menagerie. When she’s first liberated from Tante Heleen, Inej begins to explore Ketterdam and one of the first things she sees beyond the city centre is this advert. It terrifies her. It terrifies her so much that she stands there just staring at it for an unspecified amount of time, before turning and running back to the Slat faster than she has ever run before. In fact, it terrified her so very much that she has a nightmare about the girls on the billboard that night. In Inej’s nightmare the girls come to life but are trapped in the paint, banging on the billboard to get her attention to ask her to free them, whilst she is powerless to help them. Inej at the time comments on the horror of seeing this scene mere miles from where “the rights to her body” were bought and sold and haggled over (I think most of that is quotation but I don’t have my books to hand so I’m not 100% sure), and it tells us so much about how the Suli culture is exploited and fetishised within this community; whether it’s Ketterdam, the rest of Kerch, or the world at large (we could argue this is highly implied through Zoya’s POV, but it’s a whilst since I read KoS and RoW so if anyone wants to weigh in on Zoya in this then please do I’d love to read it 😁).

In my post where I mentioned the Rare Spices poster I was specifically focusing on the way Inej’s culture was sexualised for the purpose of being at the Menagerie, and how we know that other cultures are appropriated and fetishised by the Pleasure Houses as well (the Fjerdan girl at the Menagerie wears the wolf mask, an animal sacred to her people, and Nina wore a fake Kefta that was made in Kerch and is described to be a pale imitation of real Ravkan-made Kefta). But for Inej, up to the point of seeing this sign, that was a small part of the world; the actions of the few, a localised evil that she understood to be the opposite of the rest of the world because she still viewed everything with a childlike innocence. Seeing this sign breaks that façade for her and is arguably the first step towards what she views as the ultimate corruption of her innocence: murder. Because once she knew that the world on mass would see her and her people the way she was forced to present them, to appropriate her own culture, and to be fetishised for her “caramel” skin and “farcical mockery of a Suli caravan” she was forced to admit to herself that there was no way of returning to the person she used to be; not only someone who had been violated, exploited, and abused but also someone who believed that on the whole the world was a good place and that as long as you avoided the small parts of it that were dangerous you’d be okay.

And consider the wording of the sign. “Rare spices” next to two young Suli women wearing “scraps of mint-coloured silk”. There is a long history in our world of sexualising the so-called “exotic”; even the English/British idea, that I assume is what led to this same idea in the USA and much of the English-speaking world, that blonde women are more attractive, often leading them to be over-sexualised, can be drawn back to the Roman Colonisation of England because the vast majority of Romans were brunette or dark-haired and they saw the blonde Anglo-Saxons as “exotic” and attractive. (To be clear, in our own society this long history sexualisation has been mostly aimed towards people of colour and I’m absolutely not ignoring that, I’m just using this example because it’s the furthest back in history that I know of being as the colonisation was around 43 CE). The presentation of not only the spices but these women as “rare” to increase their sex appeal enhances this idea of ‘the exotic’ and by comparing them to the spices it, very similarly to all of the language surrounding Inej at the Menagerie, labels the women as stock, as produce, as something consumable like spices.

But something that I personally find really beautiful that Leigh Bardugo does surrounding this sign as well, is that Inej never condemns the girls on the billboard for the ‘suggestive’ outfits they wear, as long as they are worn by their own choice. She imagines that when she has her ship and begins to hunt slavers that the paint will peel from the sign and that she will have finally succeeded in freeing the girls, that they will “dance for no-one but themselves” and this is so beautiful but also so important as a declaration of female empowerment and autonomy because they have every right to dance and wear whatever they want to, but no-one has the right to force them to do that.

[sukibenders]

Some in the Bridgerton fandom will paint Kate as being in an abusive family, paint Edwina and Mary (even Lady Danbury at times) as these villainous people who make her life miserable just to make Anthony and his family the "better choice". Like, ignoring how this trope of "villainous poc family causing the poc female character to run away into arms of a white family" is so terrible it also makes no sense when in reference to these characters themselves. Let's start with the Sharmas: we have Kate who is the daughter of a man who remarried and had a child of their own. Now, from that alone people just outright use this as a way to paint Mary in a bad light, making up the most outlandish things, when Mary admits very adamantly that she always viewed Kate as her daughter and has/will always love her. Why do you think she was so outraged by Kate being willing to accept the deal given by the Sheffields?

Now, on to Edwina. Some will hang that "half-sister" line over her head but won't give the same action to Anthony, or heck, even Kate (though she doesn't deserve hate like Anthony more so criticism for some parts). Now the line was wrong, for sure, but that doesn't mean Edwina wasn't in her right. Here we have a young girl who lost her father, is aware of her family's social and economic status, and is informed from the beginning that her finding a suitable match will either tip or support the balance of her family's lives. Edwina is literally entered into the show searching for a husband to help support her family, that's first, romance came second. So enter Anthony who, infront of her, is so charming and kind and even though him and her sister are fighting at times he still seeks her out. He's wealthy and promises to provide for her family, something that she wants. Only to find out that none of it was real, or at least, real towards her and that she was hurt in the process (by this I refer to the Sheffields ordeal and Anthony's whole attitude and his lack of respect for her). Like that's messed up and anyone would be upset over it, forgive a woman (more so a young woman in Edwina's case) expressing their feelings. Some of you want her to be Kate's cheerleader 24/7, and it shows. And Edwina was always ready to comfort Kate, from her (Kate) being detached from the world (during her wedding) to her supporting her (Kate) and Anthony being together, so let's not go on and say the Bridgertons would be better.

Now, on to the main family themselves, what we see of the Bridgertons in s2 isn't even that positive when you really think about it. From the beginning, when Anthony is looking for a wife with the most horrible standards, Violet, who notes that her son isn't looking for marriage for the right reasons and instead of trying to talk to him about it, instantly goes and states she's disappointed by his outlook and fears he won't be happy, confused as to why he's this way. BECAUSE YOU PLACED THAT WEIGHT ON HIM. Like I understand losing her husband was terrible, it was, but to then put all that pressure and weight on to your eldest and then become surprised when it starts affecting him in ways you don't like, while taking hardly any time to actually talk about his feelings, is laughable (couldn't think of a better word). Like whenever Anthony is around with valid points, she looks exasperated at times. And the other Bridgertons aren't better from Daphne literally pitying him (even tho she knew about his feelings for Kate and could have eased the situation instead of letting it go on) to Bennedict laughing at him at every turn to the siblings joking about the situation he put them in (which they themselves could have prevented but didn't & aren't affected as severely by like the Sharmas), it makes no sense how people would view them as better than the Sharmas.

Now on to Kate and how this view affects her. One big reason being is the fact that it ignores her insecurities, only paints them in a different light. Kate didn't view herself as Mary's daughter because her father had been with someone before he met Mary, long after she was born. She didn't think Mary would love her as a daughter and is surprised when she finds out that she actually does. Kate accepts the Sheffields deal because it will help Edwina, because she (Kate) understands their social and economic status and is willing to leave the only family she has just for them to be secure and happy. That's the reason she has turmoil, not because her family hates her and is abusing her! Like where did that thought even come from? Kate has issues of not expressing her feelings, bottling them up and trying to handle things herself until it blows over, that's it. And when she does express them, do you know who actively seeks to reassure her? Her mother and sister. They don't make jokes or make the environment able to express these emotions nonexistent (like the Bridgertons with Anthony), they try to help her because they love her.

Honestly, the Sharmas deserve so much better because if it isn't the show doing them dirty than it's the fandom.

[Quick edit because people were taking some things out of context, by sneaking behind her (Edwina) back, I was referring to the whole Sheffield incident because, when it's revealed, it literally put her, and her sister and mother, in an awkward position and makes her and her family look like bad people, especially in front of the Bridgertons. I reworded my original post and added context, and admit I could have worded it better, but for those who saw it as me immediately trashing Kate's character, I will state here that was nowhere near the intent and never was, sorry for the slip up]

[miracles-and-butterflies]

Allow me to kickstart the SIX AU, because clearly we both want this. Modern day setting, but there's still magic and the miracle, Pedro still sacrificed himself during an attack, the Madrigals still help their town and all that. But, Bruno doesn't leave, because his vision shows the six grandkids confronting Abuela and performing onstage, he's very proud of them. He is intentionally vague, only telling Alma everything will be fine, but Alma is still paranoid and so still pushes Mirabel aside. Mirabel is a very observant and smart child, she noticed right away that people started treating her differently following her failed ceremony, and between her attempts to please Alma and her embellishment projects, she observed her sisters and cousins, watching them do their chores and noticing how they were also being treated. But, since that was all she knew, as Alma had raised both her children and grandchildren very sheltered from the world, she assumed it was normal. That was until Mirabel's thirteenth birthday, when she was allowed access to the internet. Now, due to being kept busy by their chores, none of the other grandkids use the internet or are online that much, but Mirabel has all the time in the world and is eager to soak up all the information the internet has to offer, so she dives in head first, researching any and all topics she can think of. Soon enough, the topic of family finds its way into her search bar, and that's where she first learns about toxic and abusive family relationships, and the more she researches it, the more red flags she sees in her own family, and it doesn't take her long to realize Alma is the root of the problem. One by one, she talks with her sisters and cousins, with the exception of Antonio since he's so young, and with her heaps of evidence both from observing them and researching mental health eventually gets them to open up about their problems and helps them realize how awful the way Alma treats them is. When Antonio's ceremony rolls around, the other grandkids realize Antonio is already feeling the pressure of Alma's expectations, and that it'll only get worse regardless of whether he gets a gift or not. They confronted Alma and the other adults the day after Antonio's ceremony, as they didn't think it was fair to deny Antonio his chance of getting a gift, telling them about the awful way Alma treated them and how unhappy they all were, Mirabel even pointing out the way the triplets were mistreated. Alma tried to rebuff their statements, but with Mirabel using her research to provide an extensive list of the negative effects of Alma's parenting style and pointing out examples of those effects in the family, there was no room to argue, and the whole family rallied against Alma and kicked her out of Casita. The town was shocked when they realized Alma was kicked out, and Alma began to talk with people, trying to sway them to her side, Dolores heard it all of course, and knew they needed to set the record straight and expose Alma for everything she did to them, between her, Isabela, Luisa, and Camilo, they decided to form a band and turn the story of their abuse and neglect into a performance, which eventually evolved into a competition as the four of them argued who should be leader of the band. Antonio was eager to join the band but Mirabel needed a LOT of convincing, and only agreed on the condition that she could design all their costumes, the adults fully supported the kids, their parents agreed to be the musicians and Bruno was in charge of the lights and set design. Finally, the day of the performance came, and it was a night no one would forget.

Dolores is Aragon, as she was also overlooked in favor of someone who was considered better, Camilo is Boleyn, their personalities line up perfectly, Antonio is Seymour, due to his age, he didn't suffer from Alma's pressure and abuse the way the others had and so has the most positive view of Alma, Isabela is Cleves, now that she's free of her restraints of perfectionism, she's showing off her power and freedom all while rubbing it in Alma's face, Luisa is Howard, she was used and overworked by many people in Encanto, and Mirabel is Parr, she has joined the band reluctantly and doesn't want any part of the competition, as she's the only one that sees that by continuing to fight over 'who had it worse' they are allowing Alma to still have control over their lives. Mirabel also came up with their version of the rhyme, obviously inspired by Henry's six wives, she sneaks in references to them whenever she can, as she sees herself and the grandkids in them, the rhyme is this:

Observer, Performer, Adored,

Perfection, Protection, Ignored.

I already have the AU planned out?

It’s just the fact I haven’t posted about it because it never came close to winning the polls, so I didn’t think people would be interested.

Being in a modern universe kind of defeats a lot of Encanto’s plot/story (Alma’s behaviour would have been recognised and she would probably have received some kind of therapy, therefore preventing any mistreatment of the family) but also ruins the idea of SIX. The queens are meant to be reincarnated, coming back to reclaim their stories for their own. It doesn’t land the same if the grandkids are still alive and saying this to Alma/her supporters in the present - they still have the chance to reclaim their stories and give themselves happy endings in actuality. The queens obviously can’t do that.

They’d need to live a life to have it get screwed over. Alma isn’t to blame for Camilo’s identity issues, so he has no leg to stand on in this competition; and Antonio is five, not mistreated at all, and not old enough to see SIX/get the joke of what they are doing. They would have to all live and die, in a similar fashion to Reincarnation - where the canon ending doesn’t happen and they all become miserable.

My two ideas for going down a SIX AU are:

Essentially a recreation of Tudor history but with the Madrigals. There are six queens - divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. They are reincarnated, form a pop group and compete to be the lead of the band based on who had the worst time because of their husband.

This wouldn’t include the boys, instead the mothers. *Most likely: Pepa - Aragon, Isabela - Boleyn, Julieta - Seymour, Luisa - Cleves, Dolores - Howard, Mirabel - Parr

Or, similar to Reincarnation, the canon ending doesn’t happen and everyone ends up dying. Not too sure what the order is. They are reincarnated, form a pop group and compete to be the lead of the band based on who was treated the worse by Alma/who had the worst time.

This has several options of who makes up the six

Option one - the same six ladies as seen above. They are the ones are the most under appreciated or villainised in the fandom, and would deserve a chance to clear up that misconception.

Option two - keep it to the four ladies of Reincarnation, as I’m already using the idea of SIX there anyways, and have this as more of a spin-off AU to that. *Most likely: Dolores - Aragon/Seymour, Isabela - Boleyn, Luisa - Cleves/Parr, Mirabel - Howard/Parr

Option three - use the six/five grandkids. (I might just abandon Antonio altogether because he is five). *Most likely (though it may change): Dolores - Aragon/Seymour, Isabela - Boleyn, Camilo - ?, Luisa - Cleves, Mirabel - Howard/Parr

*These may be subject to change.

[fablesuntold]

@musingmemories sent: ²⁵⁾ a kitchen counter whilst dinner’s being made — in hiding!James Potter x Lily Potter

Five months. Five whole months since Albus Dumbledore’s hasty warning to lay low with only the bare minimum information offered which had tilted James’ world on its axis. ‘You’re in grave danger, James. You and Lily both.’ How those few simple words haunted him , kept him awake at night when he should have been off on another wonderful adventure— honeymooning and planning out his future with his newlywed wife.

Instead, here they were.. forced into hiding and unwillingly putting their future on hold— all the joy of their wedding day and a glorious ceremony long gone and replaced by a sense of dread. Weeks turned into months, Autumn giving way to the bitter Winter ahead, the merciless storms rolling in and out only making the months spent in solitary confinement all the more miserable for both Potters. Hidden away in plain sight from the rest of the world under the Fidelius Charm, one should have felt content to close their eyes and feel somewhat safe and sound at night, right? Wrong. While Godric's Hollow wasn’t at all that bad and seemed like a peaceful little village where both wizards and muggles lived in harmony? That overhanging shadow of doubt still nagged away in the back of his head. Every little thump! or unanticipated creak in the night roused him awake, hand reaching for his wand at the ready on the nightstand. Forever ready to protect himself and Lily. Not to mention the churning in the pit of his stomach that always prompted him to look over his shoulder; always looking out for danger. What sort of danger? James wasn’t exactly sure.

All he knew was that if Dumbledore feared for both his and Lily’s safety? Then whatever this was must have been serious. This wasn’t how James had foreseen his future panning out. In a way, he guessed he’d gotten what he wanted; Lily all to himself— their whirlwind romance transpiring faster than both of them had expected— married, the second they’d turned eighteen and nobody could protest that they were far too young to be thinking about forever. But they were happy together. Were, until this.

However, not all was doom and gloom in their lives. As of recently, two quickly became three with Lily falling pregnant soon after their wedding night. James was ecstatic to say the least— even more so when their little bundle of joy arrived in the form of a baby boy whom they’d named Harry James Potter, unplanned given the circumstances of their on the run living situation, but a happy accident nonetheless. Already at just three weeks old, Harry had quickly become the centre of James’ world. The splitting image of his father but with his mother’s beautiful eyes. James could barely tear his gaze away from the sleeping infant as he carefully rocked him in his arms. Fatherhood wasn’t something he’d been prepared for at such a young age, and yet.. he’d surprised even himself at how naturally it had come to him. Who would’ve thought the once ‘self indulged prat James Potter’ would ever amount to this?

Smiling to himself, James placed a tender kiss to Harry’s forehead. “Let’s go find mommy, hm?” A soft murmur accompanied by a soothing hand combing through the thick tufts of his son’s unkept hair, James carefully rested Harry’s head against his shoulder and made his way into the living room area where the delicious aroma of whatever concoction Lily had been working on filled the space leading to the kitchen.

James wasn’t at all surprised with the sight he was met with when finally rounding the corner though; Lily perched upon the usual countertop that held the best view of the street, pensive stare transfixed out of the window with the usual far off unease darkening those spring coloured orbs. And of course, her wand was within reach right next to her. Keeping look out. That seemed to be their lives now. James was growing tired of it, brow creasing in concern. “..You know staring out of that same window every evening will only drive you mad, don’t you?” Crossing the small space between them, James wrapped his free arm around his wife’s waist and settled his chin on her shoulder, lips finding the spot between her neck and shoulder to place a soft kiss to her skin in hopes to distract and gain her focus.

“How long have you been sitting there..?”

[myemuisemo]

What pleasantly stands out for me in the next part of Letters from Watson -- the one where Holmes goes off to a violin concert and also acts on some of his suspicions to see if he can get some new information (so stop right here if you haven't read it yet!) -- is the lack of moral disapproval in Holmes' reaction when his ability to spot tells of character and history is utterly thwarted at a key moment.

“Old woman be damned!” said Sherlock Holmes, sharply. “We were the old women to be so taken in. It must have been a young man, and an active one, too, besides being an incomparable actor. The get-up was inimitable. He saw that he was followed, no doubt, and used this means of giving me the slip. It shows that the man we are after is not as lonely as I imagined he was, but has friends who are ready to risk something for him. 

Holmes is irritated that someone out-smarted him, but what he isn't is morally shocked in any way. If anything, he's admiring of the hypothetical young man's skill.

Since Holmes knows every criminal scandal (as established some letters ago), he would absolutely have followed the 1871 trial of Boulton and Park, a pair of AMAB actors who habitually went out on the town dressed as women (and also had a wildly popular stage act dressed as women), and who were arrested along with some friends for "public indecency" (a misdemeanor). They were ultimately tried on the more serious charge of sodomy, since in the eyes of law and society, they were gay men interested in intimacies with men. The trial was a huge spectacle which, in a weird moment of aptness, was presided over by a Judge Cockburn.

According to this article by The History Collection, the prosecution got all fired up about their view of the defendants' lifestyles but was light on evidence. Boulton's mother, meanwhile, testified so calmly about how everyone knew about her offspring's ways that the prosecution's claims seemed overwrought. Boulton and Park were acquitted. Fanny Park moved to the U.S., while Stella Boulton went on tour as a female impersonator.

The trial record is a tangle of crossed-out pronouns, according to the blog of the UK National Archives, citing a somewhat fictionalized biography by Neil McKenna.

Newspaper reporters, court spectators and the clerks were all unsure of how to refer to Fanny and Stella. As Neil McKenna observes, the trial transcripts are littered ‘with crossings-out and corrections, turning ‘he’s’ into ‘she’s’ – and vice versa’. For some, the duo’s identities were baffling. Others found them to be an entertaining spectacle, which helped after the trial as the two began to tour Britain once more as a theatrical act. But of course there were those that were more hostile and less accepting, evident in the change of law some 15 years later.

The change of law was the Labouchere Amendment, section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which passed the year before Doyle wrote this story. The main CLAA was intended to protect women -- it raised the age of consent from 13 to 16 and addressed various sexual offenses against women. The whole story of how Henry Labouchere rammed through his amendment that made it possible to go after gay persons for "gross indecency" when there was insufficient evidence for sodomy -- a law then used to persecute gay men horribly -- is so odd that you may as well go to Wikipedia and read it yourself.

It's at this time of homophobic hysteria that Holmes is entirely calm and accepting that an AMAB person can do a great job of presenting as a woman. This is an era when writers of popular literature did not hesitate to pause for a few paragraphs of moral edification. Yet Holmes and Watson are entirely blasé -- at minimum, they're men of the world who've seen drag acts at the Strand Theatre and think nothing of it beyond whether the act achieves its artistic purpose.

[maoam]

I hope you're alright.

U know how the fandom view kakashi right? The guy with the most tragic past in the whole show, one of the best senseis in anime history and is extremely wise and and wins every battle. yeah?

But not everything they claim him to be is true right? Like he's called wise but to me I never really saw that, the times he was meant to be wise like when he told twelve year old sasuke to give up on revenge... yea, wasn't the best advice to give since their pasts are different? As for them claiming he is op, didn't he have to be saved from Zabuza, which was like the first serious battle of the arc and part 1 of naruto?

Him having a tragic past yea I agree w that, but it never made him think of the system and how it was wrong? He's just content to follow with whatever.

And him being one of the best senseis in anime history, like I'm sorry but he didn't understand any of his three students, was blind to sakura's faults, didn't help sasuke with anything ( apart from teaching him chidori), projected on sasuke waayy too much, knew the truth about the massacre and did nothing w that information? ( unless I missed a bit where he did).

Idk this is just my opinion. What do you think of him? Thanks.

Him as a teacher is whatever for me, I mean he teaches Sasuke some things in part 1, and teaches Naruto couple things in part 2, but he is admittedly lacking in that department. The sannins take over his role in part 1 already.

As for why he is popular, one reason is because he is superficially a cool character, he is hyped up a lot, he has "1000 jutsus", he has sharingan, he has a tragic backstory, he also hides his face so even that is a mystery about him. Him reading erotica books is something people find funny, because it seemingly contradicts with his outer appearance. He is also a mentor character and those tend to become popular since young people find mentors reliable figures they would want in their own lives.

But yeah he doesn't really fight much despite all the hype, some fanboys also point out that his track record during the story is small compared to what one would expect.

What I dislike about his character is that he's a passive victim who never questions their system. His father killed himself because his community was brainwashed by Konoha's mentality, one of his teammates died as a child soldier, and another seemingly died as well. And that's not all, one of his students was a victim of a decades long alienating policy and a genocide and another of his students was a human container for monster that were seen as tools used for war so that the villages could profit from it. Yet he accepted it and submitted to it. And of course the fandom glorify this because what they care about is drawing flower crowns on their favorite characters and pretending the story is about kittens and puppies and not oppression. They don't like to see characters negatively and uncomfortably affected by injustice, unless it lasts like one arc and they are back to cracking jokes.

What makes it worse is that he does see it, he sees why Sasuke is the way he is, because of their world, yet his solution is to get rid of Sasuke instead of the system.

Generally, I don't think there is anything admirable about letting oppressors walk over you and putting up with it. It's sad if anything.

He is also hypocritical. When Sasuke's revenge was only consisting of killing Itachi, Kakashi was already against it, despite the fact Itachi killed not only Sasuke's family but his whole clan. And yet when Team 10 wanted to avenge Asuma, he was all for it, he even went to help. Is it because Asuma is someone Kakashi personally cared for? Because that's not a good look.

I also hate how he handles Sakura with kid gloves. I understand a character was needed to do this, because despite the fact Sakura is supposed to be an unlikeable person she is still part of the main cast and can't be outrightly condemned. There needs to be someone justifying her nonsense. But it doesn't change the fact it's annoying and doesn't make me favor Kakashi's character. A good example is when he tries to speak for Sakura, and he says to Sasuke that Sakura wants to save him eventhough he tried to kill her. He is of course conveniently omitting the fact Sakura came there to kill Sasuke herself. Lol.

Sakura isn't the type to brag or hurt others?

First arc.

Last arc. Yeah, no bragging to be found...

I don't think I need to add every single scene where Sakura has beaten Naruto up or berated him.

And to add to Kakashi's passiveness, he became a Hokage to warm the seat for Naruto because Obito wanted him to, like come on.

[invinciblerodent]

sorry i'm so deep in the Veilguard-planning mindset but I just thought of how it's kind of wild that my Rook and my Inquisitor are going to be roughly the same age during the game, but at DRAMATICALLY different points in their lives.

Ray went through hell when he was only 24, going straight from the silver spoon in his mouth to being the head of an international paramilitary organization. In just 2-3 years, he saved the world from the biggest threat they could conceive of at the time, fought dragons, traveled and fought his way through the bulk of Southern Thedas, radicalized irreversibly in his views, found the love of his life, had his whole "hero's journey", and speedran more fucked up experiences than most have in an entire lifetime.

Ten years later, at 35-ish, he's still by all means a traditionally handsome, young nobleman, but he's more or less retired, happily married to an up-and-coming Magister, quite wealthy (comes with having amassed huge piles of gold as an adventurer and being friends with the Montilyets), adjusted to the loss of his arm, and he's basically a living legend with many friends in high places, including one of the longest living leaders of the Grey Wardens (unless they kill Alistair off-screen which I don't think they'll do), the viscount of Kirkwall, the head of the Seekers of Truth, and the fucking Divine, whose election he most definitely had a hand in. Even without the Inquisition forces backing him up, that man could still conquer most of Southern Thedas within a year just by looking vaguely South, if he wanted.

Whereas Verbena is going to be like 32-ish from the start, and my plans for her include her working as the Shadow Dragons' "boots on the ground" kind of double agent and a rent-a-cop as a cover story, being single and broke, and having just a handful of kinda shitty, shifty "I know a guy" kind of friends where you're really not supposed to think too hard about how she even knows them.

Considering my little headcanon that the human Rook should be vaguely related to house Trevelyan, I really kind of like the thought of Ver's mom being not just of a very proud and kind of snooty person, but also being sort of distant cousins with Bann Trevelyan, Ray's dad.

That would mean that there was a really shitty stretch of time in Ver's life when she was just finding her footing in life as a young adult, living on her own for the first time, and yet she was being constantly compared to her cousin, the fucking Inquisitor, every time she visited home- and she couldn't even brag about her Shadow Dragon work, because that shit is top secret, and her mom keeps secrets about as well as a sieve holds water.

So the conversations with Mama Rook around that time went mostly like,

"Oh, Verbena, dear, did you hear that your cousin Raymond defeated three high dragons in Orlais the other week?"

".... Wh. What do you want me to do with that information, ma?"

"Nothing, nothing, I just thought it was interesting! What have you been up to lately, bunny?"

"......Well, I, uh.... I hung up those new shelves I've been meaning to...?"

"Ah, that's.... great. Still doing those guard jobs?

"Yeah, I'm... I'm still just doing those guard jobs at the moment, nothing... nothing else."

"Ah. Well, do you have a suitor yet?"

..... and then Ver scurries to the other room to play Diamondback with her dad to escape the conversation, because no she fucking doesn't have a fucking suitor, ma, and by Andraste's flaming fucking tits, please stop asking that.

(what do you mean our characters are a reflection of our own internalized issues. what do you mean all of mine are somehow disappointments to themselves and have betrayed their potential. what, noooo, how would that be possible.)

[dirtyvulture]

😎 So to add on some of my thoughts on the last post , especially the ones regarding R and just going for it with the women of the time while Esther didn’t. And I will add on a bit more on the whole Esther Hudson and Natasha Romanoff looking STRIKINGLY SIMILAR. I will have a whole separate post for the thoughts I put a pin in for the Sergeant Beef AU.

I think that when R was younger and before Her mutation hit she believed in god and was a christen like the rest of her family and most people who lived in that time period. She prayed and believed in Angels and Devils…. In a way R still does . When R’s mutation hit it really struck her ( or she really did believe) that this was a punishment from god , because R had acted in wrath and killed a man . Not only that but R herself ( she had really sat with this information after killing Thomas Logan that she learned that he was her biological father. That would give anyone ✨Daddy Issues ✨ so not only does R have Mommy issues but both Mommy and Daddy Issues) was the byproduct of an affair that broke the vows of marriage between a man and wife so that in and of itself self is grounds for punishment . R wasn’t even going to touch on the weird feelings she gets with when one of the pretty girls in the high society that R sees when their fathers brought them for when papa was discussing business with his business partners or at parties laughing and smiling at her ( real and genuine laughter and smiling) . A feeling that young R couldn’t name . R had stumbled into an old church still in her bloodied nightgown and still very much covered in the dried blood of the man she killed kneeling in front of the sanctuary with  Clasped bloody hands praying and begging for mercy and forgiveness. 

To R it made sense of how the once sweet, gentle and even tempered albeit sickly/ frail girl she was is now gone and a now was left with only an animalistic rage , senses that was now overwhelming her , these ……. THINGS coming out of her hands . She was fallen no longer her papa’s angel ( something John called her along with bird or little song bird) or the angel both her parents wanted her to be….. maybe she never was . She is like the devil who was once gods favorite angel before falling , she is now a demon or a beast. ( Baby girl had no idea that it was a mutation or that mutants existed 🥺😭)

So R decided when she got older that since she was all ready fallen might as well have fun with it and enjoy all the wicked and sinful debauchery that a being a fallen angel would have. If R was fallen then she will be THE FALLEN. That is why it was kinda funny to R when she learned that some people called her a guardian angel amongst all the other things that she was called when people tried to figure out what R was in the world wars . She always said that she was no angel but if she was anything she would be a “guardian devil” . R full heartily believed that Esther Hudson was an angel made flesh when she first saw her and when she got to know Esther she was convinced that R had meet an angel in person. When Esther died ….. it was the same situation as old Peggy and Cap ( minus the Alzheimer’s, Esther was sharp as a tack until the day she died….. because that scene really hurt and we are just not doing that ok ) , R would visit but like cap R found out over text . R backed out and then the next thing she knew she was kneeling in front of a catholic sanctuary and still covered in blood but this time didn’t have her hands clasped or was praying. She just stared blankly ahead with her arms / hands to her side and this is when she understood. This was her true punishment…. To have all of her angels taken away ( because she does love and view the Hudson clan and Esther as her angels. And everyone else Wolvie loves/ loved) and her being stuck in this purgatory of existence. * que the audio of “ What if I can’t get in ? How will I see you again?” * but R already knew ( or believes ) even if or when her existence comes to an end she isn’t getting in the pearly gates….. she isn’t going to see them again. Losing Esther Hudson was worse then all of the pain of R’s previous “ deaths” or physical injuries and R knows that losing her other angels will hurt just as much .

On a much lighter image. I love the idea that R was just laying there pretending to be asleep (because Nat refused to sleep until R did and R just wanted Nat to Sleep because Nat needed it ) while Nat was squeezing R’s arms or legs and in R’s head she is just like “ what the fuck ?!??! Are you having fun there ?”😂😂😂

Now on to answering some questions.

No I wasn’t implying that the kid with the knife was our Natasha Romanoff. Remember I said that R met the kid in one of her wars ( probably WW1 or 2 ) and that the kid was protecting her younger siblings . That kid and Nat just happened to share a first name and both happened to be European .

R didn’t see or recover the love letters in Esther’s life time and never knew that she loved R too ( Romantically , she knew Esther loved her but R always thought it was just platonic) . The letters could hav been recovered later on by some Hudson family members but they had no way of sending them to R because she fell off the face of the earth to them and R doesn’t remember them anymore ( or even Esther because the weapon x disaster robbed her of her memory of Esther. But not completely …… if anyone knows Percy Jackson it is a Percy remembering Annabeth after Hera takes his  memory situation . In after R woke up with no memories all she remembers is a name and vaguely a face but clearly Red hair and green eyes .)

This is a short post but it is late for me and I am not feeling the best ( I am prone to headaches and migraines and I have a headache) so I will do a part two of this post tomorrow morning when I wake up . It will cover SergeantBeef expanding /  additional thoughts and the thoughts on how the Hudson family members reacted to finding the box of Esther’s true feelings about the family wolverine. I promise that these thoughts are happy… happier than the ones up above. I also will add the whole Esther and Natasha looking similar next time as I just realized I didn’t get to that point as I started to feel really bad and tried so next time I promise.

Good night everyone I am going to sleep 💤

Have a good night, anon!

Do you think Esther Hudson and Nat have some kind of lineage that could be traced back? I know Nat was born in Russia, but maybe Esther's heritage had some origins in Russia as well before her family moved to America.

Young R must have felt so alone when her mutation first activated, especially like you said where it was not a commonly known (or accepted) thing. She probably thought was the only one of her kind for decades.

Esther was probably one of the first people who genuinely saw good and kindness in R too, even under all the layers of trauma. So even when R shied away from Esther at first and tried to convince her that she was dangerous and unworthy of love, Esther told her to shut up and hugged her until R was begging her to let go ❤️ (although R would eventually come around and be very happy with Esther's touch).

Not R getting news that Esther died over text 😭 It wasn't until I got older that I realized how dirty they did Cap with that.

Nat just casually feeling R up, thinking that R is asleep when in fact R is lying there fully aware and just 👁👄👁

Okay, that makes more sense thanks for the clarification!

I'm sure the surviving Hudson members are still searching for R. 🥺 Perhaps they get a big hint when they hear about some men who tried to break into a cabin in Canada, only for them to be "viciously mauled to death" by a creature with very sharp claws. 😉 So at least they know Wolvie is around and kicking (and slashing).

No rush to hear from you! I eagerly await any Sergeant Beef ideas and more on Wolvie!R. And yes, we definitely need more happy thoughts for both series. :)

[izzysarchivedblogs]

 💭tigra: motherhood  💭pepper: superheroics

𝓗𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓬𝓪𝓷𝓸𝓷𝓼 — send 💭 + a topic to receive a headcanon about said topic. -> ACCEPTING // we are gonna split this up cause it's long for pepper, and cause greer will have content warnings

SUPER HEROICS -> PEPPER'S VIEW ON THEM

Let's take a walk back in time to a young, twenty-two year old Pepper graduated from college, already having been working at Stark Industries, and now working directly for Tony Stark. Before we start there, we start removed from superheroics; existing in reality yes, but only impacting her own life through the papers, the news, tv and radio. A topic that comes up in conversation here and there. First, Pepper sees superheroics as something amazing. She liked superheroes, and respected superheroics; but it still felt like something that was outside of her sphere of existence. A rather neutral take to have.

When she starts working for Stark Industries, that is where Pepper is drawn in a little more closer with Tony Stark's bodyguard, Iron Man, and first? Sometimes, it terrified her. Iron Man brought into her world troubles she had never had, but there was still something she liked and than she would see how Iron Man would save the day, would save her save her boss, Mr. Stark. Tony Stark and Iron Man brought into her world troubles she may have never faced, but superheroics still amazed her and it was kind of exciting.

For a long while, that's how it was a little scary, but thrilling and than she learns that Tony Stark and Iron Man are one. It adds a lot of context to everything, but it does draw her and Happy in too close. When Happy start wearing the suit for Tony sometimes, that is when Pepper starts to have the conflicting thought of superheroics is exciting and wow, she's involved in this in a small way, to this is dangerous and get superheroes out of her life.

That is where Pepper sits for a long time of her life, but there those moments that draw her in closer to superheroics, when Tony start to rely on calling her for information, for tactical aid while he's in the stupid. It's big and exciting, more than herself and makes her feel like she mattered, like she was doing good as well, helping out. Trying to not let it consume her, or fly too close to the sun and get too involved, because it is dangerous and going to ruin her life like she has seen it ruin Tony's and seen it kill her husband.

Yet, I think it is at Happy's death that she knows she is in too deep to be removed from superheroics; it's simply a part of her. She's got more than her foot in the game with superheroes. That will go in with her feeling of when she accepts the position of Hera for The Order, she's already in the game; she's lost Happy and she's by on the sidelines of the whole Civil War, and she knows that Tony needs someone he can trust to be there, to start this; she does The Order, she's been Tony's girl in the chair before and now she's got a team.

THEN THERE'S HER RT NODE, HER SUIT, and now she really is in too deep; wants to be in this deep and she's a hero. She's her own superhero too. BEING RESCUE? Being her own superhero, that's incredible and way past the going back point, she'll always have that itch now like "i could put my suit on, i could help people too; i feel incredible when I fly her"

There is this jaded-ness that grows, that clings to her because of what she has lost, because there's no going back. She distances herself from superheroics as much as she can so she can live out her whole life; but her feelings on superheroics is a mixed bag.

She'll warn younger heroes about it, but she won't stop anyone because look at here; she's got her heels digged deep into this game. Yet it does not come without it's pain and salt in the wound.

AND CIRCLING OVER TO MAKE A SHORT POINT ON THE AVENGERS. When the Avengers start, she thinks its incredible and thrilling; and she has a soft spot for the avengers; they are her heroes, and she admires the many avengers that she has come to know. Like she loves Captain America, and Steve Rogers, he's a goddamn superhero that she respects a lot.

Pepper's view of superheroics is now seen as a tragedy, but something that once you are in; you are in. You are a superhero, and you have to chose it and that is your life, and it's sad but you do good, and you do incredible things. So there's that. :)

SHE'S JADED , YET SUPERHEROICS IS STILL THE MOST INCREDIBLE THING ONE COULD DO; BUT IT COMES AT THE PRICE OF PAIN

It comes at the forfeit of a normal life, of settling down.

[khodorkovskaya]

15.06.23

so today was eventful and uneventful at the same time. i had my lesson with lucien this morning, then went to the library, then there was the q&a session with the differential geometry assistant, then i went back to the library. so i was quite productive but it didn't really feel like it.

i started watching the new video lauren southern put out about her divorce. and likeee. she's so cringe idk. youtube's been forcing tradwife content on me lately. like i think it started with me watching fashion shorts, then i started getting a bunch of those like "dark femininity" and "old money aesthetic" videos and now it's straight up "here's how i became a traditional wife". like im so glad im not an impressionable teenager anymore. because imagine. like back in the day we had our fair share of brain rotting anti-sjw content but nowadays it's even worse.

but anyway, back to lauren southern. she's so stupid! like idk if it's her neurodivergency or what. and i want to be empathetic. but like. the decisions she's made and still makes like. girlie.

it's funny bc i skimmed thru a video essay the other day about like tumblr culture and microlabels and mogai and stuff like that. and it wasn't a super interesting video bc being on tumblr you kind of absorb all of this information against your will lol. but the person was saying that basically a lot of neurodivergent teenage girls found those microlabels and various neo gender identities comforting. because a lot of neurodivergent people feel the need to like organise everything into categories and assort and classify everything in their brains. and when the video essay author said that i was like oof i feel that so deeply. like my whole personality basically consists of lists and categories i feel very strongly about for no logical reason. everything i like or identify as has to be sorted and classified into "favourites" and "hate lists" and different levels and ranks and stuff. so i do think that if i grew up even more chronically online than i did, i could've definitely been some kind of surrealgenderkin neopronouns weirdo.

and i was thinking about that and how growing up with this kind of weirdly wired brain was very strange. because i could never like something in moderation, no, i always had to be obsessed. and i couldn't just be obsessed, there were always some kind of rules i had to follow. i had to classify my obsession, study it deeply and behave accordingly. i had to absorb it all and become my obsession.

and the funny thing about this, is that no matter how consumed id always felt by my obsessions, it was all very surface level. it felt like trying on an intricately made beautifully detailed costume, but a costume nevertheless. like when i went thru that lizzy-grant-i-like-older-men phase, it was never about actually liking older men or actually being attracted to them or actually believing that it was natural to be attracted to older men, or whatever bullshit i would say. it was about being consumed by the aesthetic of it, all while convincing myself that if i pretend and fit in hard enough into the cage i had once again forced upon myself, this lifestyle will finally make me feel at peace. and every time i would try on a different belief system, a different political point of view, etc, i would just try to follow the rules of it and force the dogmas of it onto myself, without digging deeper or asking myself why and if i actually liked the thing i was obsessed with.

like it's weird and it's illogical. but ive always perceived the world as something that comes upon you from the outside that you have to get used to. meanwhile in reality, your opinions, desires and beliefs come from within you. and ive only figured that out literally this year.

so i remember being a teen, struggling with trying to find peace with transitioning into a young woman, trying on different belief systems, convincing myself that one of them has to hold the truth. but it was the wrong way to look to begin with! you have to find your values first and then see if maybe they align with anyone else's. not the other way around! it sounds stupid when i say that, but when all you've been doing your whole life is classifying things and sorting all of your interests into boxes, you don't ever realise that your thoughts can come from within! you feel like an empty vessel, needing to be filled with obsessions from the outside world. but those obsessions will never make you feel at peace because you have to produce your own thoughts and beliefs and have your own values. and that concept is still very hard for me to grasp.

so now this is where i see the problem with lauren southern. i feel like she too was in the same scenario with her failed marriage. as a young woman she became an anti-sjw activist and then pushed herself further and further to the right, all while having the most basic and surface-level understanding of it. she followed all the steps laid out for her by the ideology she chose: be catholic, marry a man, have a child, be a housewife. and shocker! those weren't her values to begin with. so she became unhappy.

and there's something so relatable about that. like i remember being obsessed with B, the same way id be obsessed with anything. i pushed this obsession on myself and then tried to convince myself that it was for me, all while staying superficial, never questioning my choices or values. why did i like B? why was B a good fit for me? why did i have to be with him? i don't know, i just had to. it was some supernatural force i guess, convincing me that i had to follow those rules in my brain in order to be happy. but why? i never asked myself the question.

and now lauren is like "i married the guy bc he promised me i could be a housewife and he was catholic and traditional". like you see how superficial that is? it's literally the same story as collecting microlabels like pokemon bc your neurodivergent brain finds it satisfying. like catholic man? check. traditional catholic man? check. housewife status with traditional catholic man? check. baby with traditional catholic man? check. but now what's next? what's the essence of it all? why did you convince yourself that this was good for you? do you even know why you believe what you claim to believe? it's all for aesthetics and obsessive compartmentalisation.

anyway, i didn't watch the whole video because it's like an hour+ long and i have shit to do. but i did watch a bit of lana lokteff's reaction to it. and god she's such a vile woman. like as soon as i saw the thumbnail of her video in the recommended bar i had a vomit reflex lol. but in her video she was basically scolding lauren for making bad choices and not thinking things through, all while saying how marriage is so much deeper than what meets the eye and marriage is great basically. and yeah, you can't argue with that. marriage isn't just some life trophy to collect, it's a whole thing. but does the altright ever explain that to women? are those tradwives making tiktoks showing what marriage actually is? all rightwing women hear is "get married, have kids, it's great" and that's it. and if your understanding of the world is flawed because of the weird mechanics of your brain, you're gonna understand just that. and marry the first catholic man you meet like lauren southern. and be unhappy because you were never taught to question why.

[mystery-moose]

BOOKS: The Three-Body Problem!

Sometimes I read books! This time I read The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu!

This was an odd read! As a whole? I think this is a wildly interesting science fiction novel to unpack, and I’m excited to read the sequels!

As a single novel, with prose and dialogue and what-all? Eh! It’s kinda stiff and really expository (and I’m accounting for the translation here!) plus some characters get lost or go entirely unmentioned after a certain point, and there’s worldbuilding stuff that raises more questions than answers. It kinda feels like it suffers from problems of serialized fiction, in some ways, which makes sense since that’s how it was initially published. It introduces threads and characters and then quickly drops them when it doesn’t need them, or throws out a concept just to use it as a plot device and for nothing else.

That being said? Yo this novel’s got some STUFF to SAY, and that counts for a LOT.

(I liked it and would recommend it! If you want to read more detailed thoughts, hey, spoilers, wow!)

The opening is maybe my favorite part, or the part I feel is the strongest. We’re thrust into this depiction of the Cultural Revolution in China in the ‘60s, and we see and feel the trauma that this causes through the eyes of our protagonist, Ye Wenjie. It’s bloody and ugly and, more than anything, stupid! The depiction of the infighting between various Red Guard factions, the way they cling to ideology over reason or rationality or even basic sense, the way the young are driven to murder and madness in the name of some greater cause, echoes throughout the rest of the novel in some really fundamental ways.

But once we get past that opening and meet our other point of view character, Wang Miao, the story kind of loses momentum and the prose takes a bit of a hit. I give some significant leeway for translation, of course, but the sort of dialogue and conversations that Wang Miao has are often stiff and expository, and the transitions between scenes or chapters the same way. Sometimes I lost track of what time of day it was, or what day of the week it was, or how much time had passed in just a single paragraph. This made reading through the second act of the book, at least the non-flashback sections, a bit of a chore.

There are interesting threads to follow at least — the mystery of the countdown that appears only for Wang, the cold war that the world governments are starting to fight against the ETO, the nature of the ETO itself, why this other society of scientists wants him to halt his nanomaterial research… there’s a lot of cool mysteries to wonder about, and those hooked me to keep reading even through the occasional stilted conversation about some scientific concept or another.

The virtual reality game and v-suits and such were a sudden leap I had to simply accept to proceed, but their introduction felt kind of wild! I understand both textually and thematically why they exist — the concept of a virtual reality, one that can be authored and controlled and show only what it wants to show, is in conversation with the rest of the authorities in the novel attempting to control and manipulate information for their own goals. It also gives us a window into the history of Trisolaris, as it’s eventually revealed that we’re being shown an abridged form of their development. That being said… I dunno, anytime you just throw haptic-feedback full-dive VR suits into your setting, I immediately have a million questions! I guess it does more good than harm to the narrative, but it is maybe one too many flavors in the broth, metaphorically speaking.

Not every concept is awkward inserted, though. I appreciated learning how Ye Wenjie learned how to send a signal that could be heard by interstellar civilizations, and how she managed to do it basically under the nose of her command. I appreciated how there were political considerations to this as well — the symbolism of shooting a signal at the sun, when the sun is often used to represent Mao and socialism. Even after the Cultural Revolution had “ended,” there were still political considerations and aftereffects that lingered and caused needless complications.

Speaking of complications, the ETO! I loved how that organization broke down into factions, one devoted to mankind’s extinction and the other out to “redeem” mankind by saving the Trisolaran people, objects of their worship. I loved how you could understand, solely through the text of the novel and the events depicted, why people would give up on humanity as a whole, why they would become disillusioned both with capitalism and Maoist socialism, and why they would yearn for an outside force to save/destroy them. And I loved the nature of the aliens themselves! I loved that we never saw them, not really, only got the basics of their lives and societal structure. But how similar they were, or felt, to the Cultural Revolution idea, of devoting themselves to a single idea and how that devotion robbed them of compassion or emotion. And then how they send their supercomputers ahead to “lock” human science down, robbing us of our ability to know and advance, in much the same way the Cultural Revolution killed Ye’s father for daring to teach the science that came before him, even if it did not come from China, even if it was (by some strange rubric) “reactionary” science.

I also want to single out the sequence of Ye Wenjie living in the village outside of Red Coast, where she gave birth. The brief moment of happiness she has, the view of humanity that she gets from the hunters and farmers and their wives, the community that helps her and respects her. That was a beautiful little moment, and it did a great job making us understand her perspective, see the beauty that she saw, and wish that she would change her mind from the course she’d set. But of course she didn’t, couldn’t, because she could still see the deforestation, the injustices of the Red Guard, and saw no future in which humanity could allow its own beauty to flourish. That was a well-executed piece of tragedy!

The meeting with her father’s murderers was similarly impactful! How each of them had suffered from the Cultural Revolution, been punished and made miserable in their own way by the society and culture that had created them and drove them to what they did… that was handled with a great deal of nuance and understanding, both of the characters and of the circumstances that create tragedies like her father’s murder. And her mother! Oh, pushing her mother away because she refuses to take her own responsibility for what happened to her husband… absolutely tragic, but also absolutely understandable.

The ending is a bit abrupt, and does feel a bit unfinished, ending largely with the long expository sequence on Trisolaris where we see the alien’s plan (as deduced through the communications they kept with the Adventists). The building of the single-proton supercomputers created some extremely cool images, and was (I presume) based on a lot of very interesting and likely plausible science. The proton that unfolded into a giant eye that attempted to destroy them was probably my favorite part! Especially how it’s almost immediately dismissed as impossible to ethically untangle destroying sentient civilizations that are so alien they exist outside of our dimension, but they still spread that around as propaganda because it is useful to deaden the emotional response their people have to destroying other civilizations to preserve their own.

The themes of the novel feel so tangled up — history, science, knowledge, government, authority, propaganda, humanism — and yet they all hang together, all seem to be asking the same questions, pointing towards the same problems of power and authority and a lack of compassion, both on an individual level and a societal one. The book cares a lot about science, about what is “true” and “real” that cannot and should not be denied by any authority just because it goes against their ideology or is inconvenient. But it also goes to great pains to illustrate that even the most fundamental laws of our reality can be obscured by greater powers, that none of us are immune to propaganda, and that only unfiltered, uncontrolled knowledge can give us the truth that we need to make informed decisions about reality and the world we live in.

And it ends on a message of… if not hope, then a lack of despair! We’ve tried forever to eradicate bugs, and yet bugs persist. We each possess the ability to kill dozens, hundreds, thousands with the tools at hand, to protect crops or disease or annoyance, and despite everything, they persist. Resistance, then, is necessary, moral, righteous, even so woefully outmatched — because no matter how hard they try, they cannot defeat everyone.

I read a bit of the postscript the author wrote for the English edition, and despite their protestations that this is not a work about our contemporary world, that ending couldn’t feel more political to me.