#i am here to inform you that they are in fact Just Like That

[ms-boogie-man]

"As we speak, Andrew Tate and this brother Tristan are on their way from Romania to the US. The Tates are suspected of rape (including of minors), human trafficking and money laundering, not only in Romania but also in the UK. Despite the travel ban, they were able to travel to the US under pressure from the Trump administration. This is the kind of people the Trump administration, including their new saint Elon Musk, is protecting. Anyone who condemns abuse of women and minors is "a liberal" and "a retard". This isn't a conspiracy theory like Pizzagate, these criminals are for real. Anyone who corrects fake news, false information and lies by the president himself is a "liberal" and a "retard", even if they are famous historians. The Republican Party, which has become a cult, wants to re-write history for the next generations to come. As far as Imane Kheilif is concerned, she was born as a woman and is still a woman. She may not be the prettiest woman on earth for some and that may trigger real Adonises like Trump and Musk, of course."

@musicandoldmovies … your comment 👆🏼 in the Notes landed in my Activity Monitor so I assume you are speaking to me I will try to keep this short. If not, that will be the only thingy I fail at in here

The Tate brothers are suspected — your wording — of rape, human trafficking, and money laundering. From what I know of the case, there are accusations only, no actual proof has been produced. Too, from what I have heard, the accusations come from corrupt people. Meaning, the accusations began with officials, then the 4 women were produced. That is a little suspect IMO… this coming from a female yo I am not siding with the Tate bros, nor will I argue their case any further until that case has been seen thru to completion. If that never happens, the case never was to begin with. HERE is something though. In this article, 4 women accused the Tate bros. For some reason, the case was thrown back to the prosecutors. That is a bold move by anyone in any country. There must be a reason for it. In the meantime, if it is understood by the brothers that they will return if the case resumes, why should they observe a travel ban? That travel ban is just law-fare, simple. And… it looks to me like the case itself might have been Pizza-gate, on the other hand, is a fact. Every item in the scandal has been proven out as fact. There is not any conspiracy theory to it… only conspiracy fact. There is a mountain of physical, factual evidence. I myself researched this and dug up facts in the matter as far back as ‘013/014… and that is before Trump even announced his first run for president, and that is back then Elon Musk was still a liberal darling to you all The Republican Party (GOP) does not apply here. The GOP is compromised and run by the same people who run the majority of the DNC… also proven fact. Too, re-writing history is the territory of the DNC, so like many other thingys, you have that backwards. We in the MAGA movement are constitutional republicans (lowercase ‘r’) and that means we are of and for the constitutional republic, and not part of the current GOP. Full Stop. We are not a cult. And the facts are on our side. Deal with it

Re: Imane Kheilif… this person’s history and record are built on claims. Even wiki resorts to word salad and virtue signaling to speak of this person, and it all seems to be an attempt to win sympathy while skirting actual issues. Stating someone was born and raised a girl does not prove anything. I can walk out my front door this morning and tell everyone I was born and raised as a dragon … this does not mean anything. You would look at me like, Angie, sorry, you are just a little girl *I find it a little odd that you are siding with 4 women and their allegations of rape — which have remained unproven over the course of several years, then turning on your heel and siding against women when experts have accused a man of getting in a boxing ring and putting a beating on them. When it comes to fact checking services siding with this person, Imane Kheilif and their XY issue, every one of those services has sided with establishment lies in the past and I would not take their word for anything at this point

M&OM, you may want to consider just sticking to the original premise of your blog-thingy: music and old movies. You are good at that. Your jump into the political, socio-economic, and cultural realm is based in about as much fact as those old movies… which are just amusing little stories Too, if you wish to return here and debate me … I assure, you will get much, much more than you bargained for yo

Angie's Current Player Rating Power Exerted: < 25% Accuracy: 100% Damage To Opponent: 75-80% Angie's Life Level: 100% Mode: > BOSS

I am undefeated, on and off Tumblr too, btw

🦇🙃

(bat smiles)

MANIFEST

MANIFEST

[noxiatoxia]

Komaeda Nagito, and His Tendency to Use Filler Words

I've talked about this here and there, but I want to make an in-depth post with examples.

So, something that's always bothered me about the Eng release of SDR2 is the fact that Komaeda...does not use filler words as much as he should.

Let me explain.

I'm sure you know words such as "uh" "um" "ah" "er" and suchlike. When you don't know something or are thinking, you tend to say something like, "Um...yeah, so..." or "My, um, appointment is tomorrow."

These words add no "value" to the sentence, and are only placed involuntarily while speaking because you are trying to think as you speak.

Japanese has plenty of these, too. Words like えーと(etto), あの (ano), ううん (uun), ええ (ee), and so forth.

But there's other "filler" words out there. Like our earlier sentence, "Um...yeah, so..." "Um" is not the only filler word. "Yeah, so" is also a filler word, as it adds nothing to the overall sentence. It can be removed.

Really, any word can become a filler word. "You know" and "like" have real applications, but if you, like, start, like, talking like this, it's, you know, kind of repetitive, you know?

I think the vast majority of people on Earth are guilty of speaking like this in their day-to-day lives. It's just easy to do. But when it comes to media, you'll notice characters rarely stutter or repeat words. When they do, even if it's a small amount, it's noticeable because the surrounding context is that nobody else is doing it.

With all this information in mind, let's talk about Komaeda Nagito's dialogue.

実はさ、ボクは入学前に、ネットでみんなの情報を調べてきてるんだよね。

さ(sa), is a normal sentence particle in Japanese. It's used for a myriad of purposes, although many people seem to liken it to the American "Valley Girl" accent when overused, especially with another conversation particle, ね (ne).

It is a misconception that sa is "masculine". It used to be masculine way back, but nowadays it's more or less gender neutral.

This will be the topic of the post. Komaeda tends to use sa and ne in a way that is seen as "filler". These particles can be likened to "you know?" and "like" in the sense that they are real words that serve purposes, but can be repetitive.

In the sentence above, I would say the ne is not being used in a filler-like way. Sa, however, is.

"So, to be honest, before I arrived at this school, I, um, did a little research about everyone on the internet."

In this way, sa, ne, or any other particle when overused (な na is another big one, and I see Souda using it a lot) can be any filler word. Some would argue that the sentence should maybe look more like...

"So, you see, to be honest, before I arrived at this school, I did a little research about everyone on the internet."

And this is equally as correct. It's more in-line with how sa as a particle is normally used, but when translating it as how it's being used here - as a filler word - "um" may sound more appropriate in English. Neither is incorrect however, and there's a myriad of other ways you could go about writing this.

"So, you know, to be honest..."

"So, like, to be honest..."

"...I kind of did a little research..."

"...I, well, did a little research..."

etc.

ううん、いいんだよ。複雑なのはボク自身もそうだからさ。

Here, I wouldn't describe sa as being a filler word...necessarily. It adds emphasis, but it's still completely optional. Thus, I wouldn't translate it as a word imperative to the sentence's meaning.

"No, no, I totally get it. I have pretty mixed feelings about this, too."

最初はね…恐れ多いって断ったんだよ。でも、どうしてもって言われてさ。

Here is an example of him using ne in a filler-like way. You've probably caught on that particles which stand-in as filler are used usually at the beginning of a sentence before a comma or ellipses.

Komaeda actually uses ne in this manner fairly often. One of his default voice lines is "boku wa ne..." - I am unsure how this was recorded in the English dub. Probably just "I..." but personally I'd go with "Well, I..." or "I, uh..."

And unlike earlier, I would say the sa here at the ending is indeed more filler-like (not entirely still, though. Akin to the usage above).

"Um, honestly, at first…I was humbled, but I refused. But, well, they wouldn't stop insisting on it…"

By the way, Komaeda is not putting himself down in this scene. Japanese culture emphasizes being polite in a way Western spaces do not. "I don't deserve it" is a very direct translation, but in English, it makes more sense to read it as "I humbly declined".

And all these examples are just in the first conversation you have with him! You can imagine how many more there are through the whole game.

Now, here's a big question I'm sure you're thinking: "Why was this left out?"

I don't know to be honest, because...they did it with other characters.

Such as Koizumi in the same game:

だってさ、なんだか変なヤツばっかりじゃん。天才だか超高校級だか知らないけどさ…

Although Koizumi suffers from some of the same translation choices made with Komaeda, hers appears to be more consistent.

Finally, we need to talk about Naegi Makoto. He and Komaeda share beyond a voice actor - they talk the same, too. They both use the same self pronoun and you pronoun, use the same script, and also have a habit of using ne and sa in excess...though Naegi maybe does it slightly less.

Also confusing, this sometimes gets translated, like here:

そうそう、こんな危険な学校だしさ、何があるかわからないでしょ？ だから…念の為にさ。

The only reason I can think it only happens sometimes or, in Komaeda's case, not at all, is some translators on the team either didn't feel it was important to include/didn't think about it, while other translators did. Game translation typically has more than one person at the helm. A lack of good management can lead to weird discrepancies like this.

Anyways, that's all I got for now. I hope you find it interesting, because it's one of my absolute favorite character quirks of Komaeda and I am so sad it doesn't get any love in English...

[thatnightlamp]

warning: English is not my first language, I am very bad at writing in English so I will use everything I can to translate from my mother tongue to English.

You leaned against your rain-soaked car, take a deep drag on cigarette, the city stretching before you like an open wound. Nights like this, the weight of the years presses heavier on your shoulders. You’ve been chasing him for too long. Too many bodies, too many sleepless nights, too many moments staring into the abyss questioning yourself.

Konrad Curze. Night Haunter. The Boogeyman of Nostramo.

You don’t know what’s worse: the fact that no one believes he’s real, or the fact that you know he is. They call him an urban legend, a ghost story whispered in dark alleys and horror stories to scare children. A serial killer so precise, so methodical, that he leaves no evidence - only fear.

But you know better. You’ve seen his work. The crime scenes are a symphony of horror, every cut deliberate, every corpse an accusation. The media doesn’t see the pattern, but you do. It’s not random. It’s judgment. He doesn’t just kill - he punishes. Corrupt cops, abusers, untouchable criminals - every victim had it coming. Some people call him a necessary evil. You call him a monster.

And he knows you’re hunting him.

The first letter came three years ago. A single sheet of paper, crumpled and dirty, folded carelessly, slipped under your apartment door. No fingerprints. No DNA. Just a message, written in slightly shaky handwriting, the pen tip almost piercing the paper:

"You’re wasting your time. But I admire your persistence."

You should’ve stopped then. Maybe you should have walked away before he got into your head. Before you started understanding him.

Before you started dreaming about him.

The second letter came after your partner, Ronald, went missing. It wasn’t a warning, not exactly. Just another message, this time written in red:

"You should thank me."

You remember the way your stomach churned when you read it. Ronald was dirty, you knew that, he tried to flirt with you a few times and stopped after seeing you throw down a guy twice his size. But did he deserve whatever Curze did to him? And did it matter?

You clench your jaw and get in the car. There’s a lead tonight. An informant swears they saw something - someone - at an abandoned building on the west side of the city. You shouldn’t go alone, but you don’t trust anyone else with this.

The elevator is broken, of course, so you take the stairs, boots echoing against cracked concrete. The building smelled musty and moss grew everywhere, but you press on. The higher you go, the more the city lights vanish, swallowed by the dark.

And then you feel it.

That familiar prickle at the back of your neck.

He’s here.

The air is different, heavy with the weight of his presence. A shadow moves in the corner of your vision, just enough to set your pulse racing. You draw your gun, turning slowly-

"That won’t help you."

His voice is a whisper in the dark, but it cuts through you like a knife. Low, smooth, almost amused.

You don’t let yourself flinch: "Step into the light, Curze."

Silence. Then, a chuckle.

"And ruin the mystery? You have chased me this long, detective. Are you sure you want the hunt to end?"

You exhale slowly, steadying the grip on your gun. The air between you two is thick with something unspoken - dread, anticipation, maybe even fascination.

"Justice," you say, voice low. "That’s what you think you’re doing, isn’t it?"

A pause. A rustle of movement somewhere beyond the shadows.

"Justice?" His voice carries amusement, but underneath, there’s something else. "A pretty word. But tell me, detective, do you believe in it?"

You grind your teeth, scanning the darkness. "I believe in the law."

"The law~" He lets the word linger, stretching it like something fragile between his fingers. "Men in suits, selling morality to the highest bidder. How many times have you seen it fail?"

You don’t answer. Because you have seen it fail. Over and over again. Victims denied justice, murderers walking free. People like Ronald, rotting from the inside out but protected by a badge.

Curze hums, as if reading your silence. "I give them what they deserve," he says. "Do you?"

You grip your gun tighter. "You don’t get to decide that."

"And who does?" He steps closer - just enough for you to sense him, but not enough to see. "A system built on lies? A court that serves only those who pay enough? Tell me, detective… have you ever wanted to do what I do?"

The question hits too close. You have had those thoughts before - brief, fleeting moments where rage burned too hot, where you imagined pulling the trigger on the ones who got away.

But you never did.

"I’m not like you"

"Aren’t you?"

Something shifts in the air. A breeze? A trick of the light? Whatever it is, instinct kicks in. You lunge forward, boots scuffing against the cracked floor and-

But he’s already gone.

The sound of your own breath fills the space he left behind.

You curse, running down the stairs, bursting out into the night. But the streets are empty, the city swallowing him whole once again.

You should be angry. Frustrated. But all you feel is that lingering weight in your chest, his words burrowing deep where you don’t want them.

Because the worst part isn’t that he escaped.

It’s that, for a split second, you weren’t sure if you wanted to catch him.

---------------------------------

tag: @kit-williams

[lidicanread]

a huge throughline in iwtv is that Louis is not a reliable interviewee, both because of the fallibility of memory, memories being tampered with, and straight up lying or omitting information (eg claudias missing diary entries). Before they even start the Dubai interview, Daniel acknowledges that there are discrepancies in the original interview that he fails to ever follow up on. In 2x5 we see how Louis lets his emotions impact how he describes his memories of lestat contrasted with how he describes him in Dubai. He seeks out Daniel to tell a story that paints him in a favorable light and lestat in a bad one. Throughout the narrative we’re reminded that he’s not reliable when Daniel presses him to remember specific details, eg if it was raining that night, or when we see a more damning retelling of a scene, like Claudia being turned. It’s an excruciatingly reasonable interpretation to think that he did in fact harm the baby and I’m sorry it’s frankly a ridiculous perspective to think that people can’t have that interpretation. It’s a story, and Louis not eating the baby is not an objective fact in this story.

Except that everything else that you just listed here was made clear to the viewer as being refutable and not objective. We see a different point of view of the things we’re supposed to question, as part of the narrative - Claudia’s turning, the events of 1x5, Louis’s telling of his story in 2x5 and how it differs from the current interview. Louis himself essentially saying that he wants to tell the truth this time.

What is ridiculous is to see all of the evidence - Grace picking the baby up from the floor, Grace saying to Louis the words “your nieces and nephew” years later during their mother’s wake, Grace “burying” her brother and mourning him because she can’t accept what he’s become, Grace inviting him to his tombstone to say goodbye (which was witnessed and written about by someone else - Claudia).

If you think that Grace - daughter of Florence - would do any of that for Louis AFTER he ate her child, then I am sorry but you watched a completely different show.

Or you’re missing the point of what that scene was supposed to represent about Louis and his new nature.

[bwat5-blog]

A Look At The "Nothing Character" Who Broke Our Hearts: Isha

**Spoilers For Arcane**

I must say, there was a time not so long ago that if someone were to tell me there was a whole tag devoted to the hatred of a cute, tenacious, brave little girl character who died tragically trying to emulate her hero, I would have found the idea completely insane. However, since becoming a part of our little community....

Before we get into this a bit let me say, I am not formally educated in writing/literature/creative story telling or any of that. So what I discuss and list will as usual be the research I could find on my own with sources provided. I know for a fact through some of my interactions on here there are some very educated people in this area, so if any of you see this and care enough, please chime in! I'd love to learn more.

What Is The Complaint?:

"Isha isn't a real character!"

"Isha did nothing except get blown up!"

"Why was this kid even in the show?"

"Isha's only purpose was to give Jinx a reason to be happy then take it away!"

You get the idea. Overall people seem to hate the character because they feel she really wasn't one. They see her as being more of a singular plot device with no real information or depth given and not having any real purpose. While it is true we don't learn a ton about her, I completely disagree as to the worth and impact of her character on the story. In doing some digging, I came across the following term:

Catalyst Character-

Per Reference.com: "A catalyst character, also known as a catalytic character, is the character in a story who causes the protagonist, or main character, to move toward some kind of action or transformation. This character is usually the person that spends the most quality and influential time with the protagonist."

Okay, rather or not you agree or think it matters I'd hope at the least that that explanation is fairly clear. So moving forward, why do I think this applied to Isha? Because she is in all aspects a MASSIVE agent of change in the narrative. I understand not liking her. That is totally individual. But to imply she didn't matter is complete and utter nonsense.

The Ventilation Chamber Battle:

The brawl between Vi and Jinx has come to a head. Vi sits atop Jinx with one gauntlet around Jinx's throat and the other poised to kill her. Jinx is telling her to do it... she's glad that Vi is the one who is going to end her. When out of nowhere Isha leaps between them pointing a gun at Vi. '

Concrete Impact:

Stops the fight cold

Jinx immediately screams no betraying her actual fear for Vi's safety

Snaps Vi out of the fight where it appears she was quite possibly pulling back her hand to finish the fight

Isha's presence is what makes Vi get in front of Caitlyn's rifle leading to their separation and what occurs for them afterward.

Jinx clearly is "seeing" Vi again for the first time when Vi leaps to stop Caitlyn

2. Life With Jinx:

We return to Jinx after the time skip. It turns she has been living quietly in hiding with Isha since the battle. She is staying out of the bloodshed, focusing on her relationship caring for the young girl. She seems more at peace than we have seen her the entire series, even declaring "Jinx is dead" when Sevika comes to demand she get involved.

Concrete Impact:

It's strange to say for something I list under concrete but just the obvious and clear effect she has on Jinx herself. We see it expressed in many ways, such as Jinx saying Isha reminds her of Powder, Jinx saying she doesn't want to screw up what she has with Isha when in Silco's office, and so on. I feel like we could do an entire analysis post on Isha's effect on Jinx mental/emotional state but that is for another time.

The fact that Isha is masquerading as Jinx during the occupation is HUGE. We have to remember, Jinx is not actually getting involved at all before the events of the rally. The people of Zaun have made her their symbol because of what she did, and because Piltover has made Jinx their symbol of why they are doing what they are doing.

It is only because Isha went to the rally and got arrested that Jinx rejoins the fight.

3. Jinx Comes To Stillwater:

Isha has been arrested along with a large group of Zaunites during the rally. Sevika limps back to the hideout and tells Jinx who is immediately extremely upset. We see her seriously glitching in full for the first time since the time skip. She and Sevika mount a rescue mission, and because of Isha. Jinx rejoins the game since the occupation began.

Concrete Impact:

Without Isha being taken Jinx doesn't get involved which quite literally changes the trajectory of the entire story. Meeting Vander again and everything that stems from that would be impacted which quite literally could effect every character in the story. It is too much to list or "what if".

4. Reuniting The Family:

In the wake of meeting Vander and rescuing Isha, Jinx goes and finds Vi in the fighting pits, telling her what she has found and together with Isha they set off on a journey to find him. Leading to the all-too-short reunification of their family, with their newest member of course.

Concrete Impact:

Of course to state the obvious, they wouldn't be here if it were not for any of the things we have already been over.

When Jinx and Vi start to fighting, once again it is Isha's involvement that stops it cold.

Seeing Jinx's care for Isha is what helps Vi start to see her sister in a new light.

It is Isha's bleeding from getting whacked that draws Vander to them. Vi immediately leaps to save her life and Jinx can see the Vi she knows is still there as well. Also being thrown into Vander's path like that leads to his regaining control and the scene we see above.

5. The Commune:

After their family is reunited Vi, Jinx and Isha take Vander to the commune to meet with Viktor. Hoping his healing gifts can save their father. Of course, it all ends in soul rending tragedy with Vander losing control and Isha sacrificing herself to save her new family during a Noxian attack.

Concrete Impact:

Isha brings Jinx's gun. Without the gun the plan to save Vander could have gone a hundred different ways.

Isha pocketed those stones. If she hadn't done so once again it is impossible to list all the ways that incident could have changed in the end.

The impact on the story from Isha's sacrifice is so far beyond "making Jinx sad" it is mind-boggling. It stops the attack in its tracks. Without Vi getting injured saving Jinx from the explosion, Caitlyn and Jinx may have never found even that microscopic bit of common ground between them we see. There is so much more and that is to say nothing of the impact on Jinx mentally/emotionally

Conclusion:

So again this is not a true deep dive or anything. And I do understand the complaint that we really don't ever learn a ton about her. But I absolutely do not understand or agree with the complaint that she is meaningless/unimportant/inconsequential to the story. Her actions and presence drive a massive amount of change in the course of season two, and without her it very likely could have all ended quite differently. To close, below is an English translation of Isha's farewell posted to reddit for you to enjoy. (I have no way of knowing if it is accurate so if not forgive me).

Child, don’t fear the thorns; walk barefoot, And you’ll find something precious. Look at this darkened sky; see how beautiful the fireworks are. There’s no need for so much sorrow. People flourish and wither, But even stubborn rocks and debris will bloom.

Part the mountains, Let her see me. Tell the stars, Hurry and shine on me. Blow away the dark clouds, With a stroke of blue. Even if the world is full of desolation, We can look up and see the moon.

While we still have the hearts of children, Even as lone blossoms among millions, we must bloom. Don’t be troubled or sad. Don’t forget: Even if tears fall, we must keep running, Run to where even time can’t find us. Be the birds that soar at the edge of the sky.

Part the mountains, Let her see me. Tell the stars, Hurry and shine on me. Blow away the dark clouds, With a stroke of blue. Even if the world is full of desolation, We can look up and see the moon.

While we still have the hearts of children, Even as lone blossoms among millions, we must bloom. Don’t be troubled or sad. Don’t forget: Even if tears fall, we must keep running, Run to where even time can’t find us. Be the birds that soar at the edge of the sky.

Don’t keep searching; Just give me a hug. Let’s quietly forget, For this is good enough for me.

[amethystfairy1]

Sorry to continue adding to the backlog of asks but I wanted to inform you of last nights dream because you do not understand the amount I am affected by your tippy taps--

So we're in TTSBC, which I know exclusively because my brain said, "Oh hey, it's ttsbc!Tango!" At the start of the dream. He's, for some reason, currently topside, although it is dead night. We're in a car dealership. All of a sudden, Tango locks eyes with some random person who's vaguely wearing blue (the whole rest of the dream is in third person as a spectator except for this moment, where I'm Tango and lock eyes with this guy-- by which i mean our faces are 2 inches apart and we're staring each other down for all of 0.5 seconds-- and then I spawn in as a seperate character next to Tango). Tango looks at me and him and I start booking it down the car-dealership now turned parking garage (which is how ik it's night, it's one of those multi-story garages and the level opens to the sky and it's a deep midnight blue outside). We're running and absolutely leaving the guy in the DUST, but then he starts catching up. Dreams. Good news, Tango, apperently is a really good pickpocket because he stole BMW keys at some point! So we get in the BMW and drive the heck away. (I know nothing about cars, but upon googling, the car looked most like a BMW XM. This is irrelevant, but I remember it too well not to share. Why is it a BMW? No idea. I don't drive one, I don't think about them ever, and I only know it's a BMW because the letters BMW were plastered on the front)

We speed away like crazy in the same direction we were going (this parking garage is like over 50 miles long atp honestly) until the car breaks down, at which point we get out, completely casually as though nothing just happened, and I wake up, roll over, see it's only 5 am and I can sleep for another hour, and clonk back out, but not before vaguely going "huh. Didn't know Tango knew how to drive a BMW" which committed the dream to memory.

Fun fact about me: I very rarely remember my dreams. At all. Let alone in the VIVID detail I remember this. Now I'm wondering how many such dreams I've had about these characters loll. I know I had one involving Ren in some capacity at some point, but that's it.

Anyway, I think I got a prophetic dream about there being a Tango-based chapter today. I'm just that in tune with the world apperently loll.

I have provided reference photos of the dream. Basically:

Except imagine Tango looking sly asf holding car keys and being visible through the windshield in every shot

(Just now realizing it also involved cars, I'm so good at this /j)

Anyway, thank you for providing me with entertainment both while conscious and not apperently! I was going to send this ask when I got home from school, but the new chapter took full priority, and I forgot about it until my mother asked for her car keys back just now, so here we are!

Wait this is SO FUNNY!

HOW DID TTSBC!TANGO KNOW HOW TO DRIVE!? THEY DON'T HAVE CARS IN THE UNDER-CITY! OH MY STARS!

I'm so glad my tippy taps have so deeply wormed their way into your brain 😅

[neverenoughmarauders]

Let's talk! So I agree with most of this!!!

However... there are a few things I would challenge, because this post is based on a lot of interpretation, which is consistent with canon but it is only one interpretation. And I love canon. I also love opening up everything that isn't canon to explore multiple universes and situations that could be true (and see how that has ripple effects for our understanding of the story).

We do not know when the war started, but we have a window from 1965-1975

While we do not know when the war started, there are a few pieces of evidence to suggest it started in 1970, which is a year before the Marauders started, not long before.

“You can’t blame them,” said Dumbledore gently. “We’ve had precious little to celebrate for eleven years.” [Nov 1981]

Now 'little to celebrate' doesn't necessarily equate with the war, either way. Things get bad before wars break out, and things can have gotten a whole lot worse a few years into the war. Yet this is one of the first pieces of information we get in the series, so it seems probable it is JKR giving us the time of the start of the war.

In fact, late 1960s/1970 seem like a strong marker to fit other anecdotal evidence. For example, we know that by the late 1960s (which is when Molly and Arthur married) things were clearly not that well in the wizarding world.

“Well, that’s not very long! I know why it’s happened, of course. It’s all this uncertainty with You-Know-Who coming back, people think they might be dead tomorrow, so they’re rushing all sorts of decisions they’d normally take time over. It was the same last time he was powerful, people eloping left, right, and center — ” “Including you and Dad,” said Ginny slyly. “Yes, well, your father and I were made for each other, what was the point in waiting?” said Mrs. Weasley.

Another piece of evidence we have for any sort of timeframe is that Voldemort returned to England after Dumbledore became Headmaster. We know Dumbledore was not Headmaster when Remus was bitten, in early 1965. While I am a firm believer that Voldemort made bad stuff happen before he returned to the UK, I doubt we can say that the war started before his return.

Finally, we know that Eugenia Jenkins was ousted in 1975 because she wasn't seen as sufficiently capable of handing the situation with Voldemort, so it feels unlikely the war started later than that.

In any case, it is my interpretation that the war started in 1970 because that's the most direct piece of evidence we have ('last eleven years') - and my key point is that the fandom isn't wrong for interpreting it as such or around the time the Marauders started school in 1971.

Lily and James as people who made chilling choices during the war

I keep seeing this interpretation that James and Lily murdered people, and while I agree with the idea that Harry does not have the full picture of his parents during the war, it is just this - an interpretation.

Here are some of the things I rarely see discussed in relation to Sirius' view of the war, and which I (again just interpretation) view as likely to be similar to James' own views, given how close they were:

'Well, times like that bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. Crouch’s principles might’ve been good in the beginning — I wouldn’t know. He rose quickly through the Ministry, and he started ordering very harsh measures against Voldemort’s supporters. The Aurors were given new powers — powers to kill rather than capture, for instance. And I wasn’t the only one who was handed straight to the dementors without trial. Crouch fought violence with violence, and authorised the use of the Unforgivable Curses against suspects. I would say he became as ruthless and cruel as many on the Dark Side. He had his supporters, mind you — plenty of people thought he was going about things the right way, and there were a lot of witches and wizards clamoring for him to take over as Minister of Magic.' 

'I’ll say this for Moody, though, he never killed if he could help it. Always brought people in alive where possible. He was tough, but he never descended to the level of the Death Eaters. Crouch, though ... he’s a different matter ...'

To me, it seems clear that Sirius does not view himself in the same boat as Crouch. 'Crouch fought violence with violence' 'he became as ruthless and cruel as many on the dark side'. At no point does Sirius say 'and so did the rest of us Harry.' In fact, this is very much part of Sirius' 'she’s got the measure of Crouch better than you have, Ron' speech to the trio.

Moody, on the other hand, Sirius seems to want to exonerate by pointing out that he never killed if he could help it. As Sirius puts it, Crouch, though... he is a different matter.

Tangent... Sirius really appears to dislike dark magic. He doesn't like people who aspire to it, and he rates people who distance themselves from it.

'Snape’s always been fascinated by the Dark Arts, he was famous for it at school. Slimy, oily, greasy-haired kid, he was,'

'Crouch fought violence with violence, and authorised the use of the Unforgivable Curses against suspects. '

'And Snape was just this little oddball who was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts and James — whatever else he may have appeared to you, Harry — always hated the Dark Arts.'

Going back to the POA scene, I think it's an entirely merited interpretation that the fact that Sirius finally stops his plan to kill Peter, something he has been obsessed with, is because Harry is right. James wouldn't want them to become murderers.

“Get off me,” Harry spat, throwing Pettigrew’s hands off him in disgust. “I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it because — I don’t reckon my dad would’ve wanted them to become killers — just for you.” No one moved or made a sound except Pettigrew, whose breath was coming in wheezes as he clutched his chest. Black and Lupin were looking at each other. Then, with one movement, they lowered their wands.

I get the fun with interpreting it as them not having the heart to tell Harry that James would have been okay with murder, but it is again, an interpretation, and one which relies on interpreting how the circumstances of the war would have changed them, rather than relying on anything in canon that points to this being directly true of Lily and James. (In fact, Sirius' distaste for the unforgivable curses makes me think Harry goes further than Sirius and James by the end of the war, and that's also interesting to explore.)

In canon, we see a Lily who cries when Order members die, a Lily and James who are not at all prepared for Voldemort turning up at their doorsteps, a Sirius who still judges Crouch for using the unforgivables freely and murdering DEs unnecessarily, and a Lily and James (and Sirius) who trusts Peter with their lives (and we don't know if Lily or James ever suspected Remus). If anything, an equally valid interpretation of Lily and James is two people who grew up in war times and never let it change their values.

Hello! We need to talk about the marauders era war!

The war during the Marauders' time was far worse than most of the fandom portrays in fanfics. When Voldemort rose to power, long before the Marauders were even in their first year, it plunged the wizarding world into their version of a civil war. The Marauders grew up seeing headline after headline about the damage Purebloods (or muggles depending on your household) were inflicting on their world. They lived through supplies shortages, canceled Hogsmede trips, and saw Muggleborns hunted even in everyday spaces like Hogwarts’ halls.

At the end of Prisoner of Azkaban, Sirius and Remus wanting to kill Peter wasn’t just about revenge for betraying the Potters, though that certainly was part of it. The war had left them with trauma that Harry, only a third-year at the time of the Shrieking Shack events, couldn’t fully comprehend. It had left them with callousness, grief, and the knowledge that Harry didn’t have: James and Lily Potter would have 100% hunted down Peter and killed him themselves if they had survived Halloween.

Loyalty to the Potters—especially James—was everything. To Remus and Sirius, Peter wasn’t just a coward; he was a deserter, a double-crosser, and a murderer who had caused more death than just James and Lily’s. Peter’s spying had likely led to many of their friends dying—Remus and Sirius were smart enough to piece things together. Betrayal was the worst crime in their eyes, and they knew far more about Peter’s war crimes than Harry did. They had spent countless hours with the Order, hunting men like Peter, and knew now that Peter had ratted everyone they loved out to Voldemort.

Harry, on the other hand, grew up in a time of peace after Voldemort’s first fall. When Harry entered the wizarding world, everyone praised his parents. Everyone called them hero’s. James was brave and loyal, Lily was kind and courageous. Harry came to believe they were perfect, putting them on a pedestal and imagining they could never do anything as terrible as killing someone.

Harry told Remus and Sirius that he thought James and Lily would never want their friends to become killers. Harry told them to spare Peter’s life, in the name of his parent’s honor.

What Harry didn’t realize—at the time anyways—was that his parents had been raised by their experiences in the First Wizarding War. They, like the other marauders, had killed to protect themselves and fight for their friends. The Potter’s had defied Voldemort three times before turning 21, they were on the front lines. Although James and Lily were good people, they had to make tough choices during the war. With their lives and their loved ones’ lives at stake, their decisions weren’t always about what was “right,” but about survival.

The real difference between Harry's war and the Marauders' war wasn't just the time period in which they fought; it was how each group perceived the consequences of their surroundings and the outcomes that followed their responses to those circumstances.

For Harry, the war was about lost innocence and a chance to do things differently, to live up to his parents’ legacy. Harry’s belief that his parents would want mercy for Peter was noble, but it came from a completely different world and time.

For the marauders, the war taught them that surviving often meant making tough, sometimes chilling choices. Loyalty was everything, and betrayal at Peter’s level was something that couldn’t be forgiven. This is how the war shaped Sirius and Remus into a “loyalty or death” mentality that was shown in Prisoner of Azkaban.

[sae-mian]

on today's walk i learned you really can't go a moment without these two being adorable together.

(thank you @wrenanigans and @abstinencesupreme for sitting still just long enough for me to take this. JUST.)

(and thank you @humblemooncat for another great walk!)

[front-facing-pokemon]

[iliiuan]

She had ten years with her bestie as Amyrlin. She had access to the two largest libraries in the world. It is in fact possible to glean substantial information about a topic in a library without announcing what you're doing. (And it's not like the libraries would have some saidin section, anyway, with how prejudiced everyone was about it.)

Step 1. Choose a tangential but related topic. False Dragons through History would probably work. If she wanted to be more opaque, perhaps Grand Accomplishments of the Age of Legends. Whatever. Bonus points if it relates in any way whatsoever to your red herring mission that everyone thinks you're on.

Step 2. Befriend the Brown Sister studying the red herring topic you chose. Take all meals possible with her and let her babble unfettered about her studies.

Step 3. Go to the library. Read every book, scroll, scrap of paper you can find for the topic you chose.

Step 3a. Spend time going down the wrong rabbit holes. This is firstly normal in research and secondly gives opportunity to grab tidbits that you'd miss otherwise.

Step 3b. Make notes about male channeling in your little notebook that you keep in your pouch. Bonus points for using some sort of code.

All of this could have been accomplished in something like a couple hundred hours, all told, spanning a few months in Tar Valon and another few months in Cairhien.

Let's be real, the most she was going to find is that

Saidin has to be grabbed and controlled

Saidin has five elements like saidar does

Men and women can link together

Which would have given Rand a start. Because the real key to him channeling proficiently was to embrace Lews Therin as himself, which is not anything she would have found in a library. It's her lack of preparation that I criticize here. She didn't even try. She lacks practicality in her approach, even though she pretends to be pragmatic.

Frankly, she also sucked ass at studying up on the Dragon Cycle, and that's some pretty readily available information, relatively speaking.

Moiraine sucks at studying, is what I'm saying.

(An alternate, though probably more dangerous approach, would be to befriend a Red Sister. They surely know something of male channeling. She's annoyingly incompetent at even shielding him, or cutting his weaves, or anything that you might consider a relevant skill for dealing with the Dragon Reborn. Even just spending some time around male channelers could have helped. But not tipping her hand would be so much more difficult with that approach, so I don't criticize her for not taking it.)

((Or she could have joined the Red Ajah, but we already hashed that option to pieces.))

As for empowering, it's far more practical than that. Why put up with earthquakes when you could be producing a competent channeler? Also, as a reliable mentor, she would have had considerably more influence. (See Lan.) As it is, she lost his trust pretty early, he relied on her as far as was necessary since she was who was available, and she eventually regained influence only by groveling. Her ego was her downfall.

Also, since maybe it was less obvious, if *I* was searching is a statement of how I, personally, would do things. I am so completely opposite to Moiraine in bearing and disposition that no one would ever mistake one of us for the other. I would make radically different choices at every turn, and I frankly don't know that I would be more successful. Given my irl success rate, well, I wouldn't bet on it. But I would have had him channeling proficiently, damn it all, because I do know how to study.

If I spent 18 years searching for the Dragon Reborn, I would have dedicated at least part of that time to learning everything that I could about how men channel, and then I would tell him that information when I met him.

[starcurtain]

respectfully the reason people mischaracterize aventurine in the specific way you mentioned in the tags of "canonically not caring about wealth or power" at least is a lot more simple than you'd think; because the devs said otherwise. in the livestream where acheron and aventurine were revealed (so right before we actually got that tb quest where we learned everything) the ceo and the writer outright state that he seems to have an obsession with amassing wealth.

now obviously we can now look back on this with hindsight, they said a lot of things in there that make more sense with context (example; mentioning that his original kit being focused around dodging left him the only party member alive was scrapped even though they joked about it being fitting might have made him look like a jackass, but now recontextualized as being about his luck only saving him) but i would argue that when the writer of the story and the ceo of the company look into the camera while revealing behind the scenes details and say he has an obsession with wealth (even if there are now multiple interpretations of that, from thinking he intentionally plays into that facade to thinking that's how he coped after losing his reason for going on) and that is the first impression a lot of people had of his real character if they didn't follow leaks, it's kind of no wonder that it's so common of an interpretation.

Yeah, I think I take this with a strong does of skepticism though, because:

A) Everyone knows the devs lie in previews in order to keep secrets about characters, and, as you note, what they say about characters tends to be wildly out of context. We all remember those comments about Gallagher not being plot relevant at all lol. Should we still believe that just because it was said by the devs once?

B) At this point, why would you be engaging in the fandom for a character if you skipped or put off doing any of his content in the actual game? Playing through 2.0 alone, let alone 2.1, would reveal to anyone paying attention that Aventurine is a very duplicitous character who puts on a specific persona as a mask to hide the fact that he thinks of himself very differently on the inside.

I feel like we can use the "the devs said this" as an excuse for a little while, but once the character's content has been out for months and provides a completely different picture of the character, if you're not willing to update your "first impression" of the character to an more accurate portrayal of them based on what's actually in the game... then like... why be in that character's fandom at all?

That's just my opinion anyway. This might not be the nicest thing for me to say, but I do feel like if people refuse to move on from an impression they formed of the character before the character was even released... then what they've created is an OC, not a portrayal of the actual canon character anymore.

[ef-1]

girlhood

[spoolziecore]

you dont know how much that question means to me.

OKAY. SO. the characters pictured are like. artistic depictions of me and my friends characters in this minecraft smp were in (RebootSmp) that is a moreorless peaceful server (with no griefing allowed, keep inventory on and overall just a peaceful vibe to it,) but what it lacks in in gameplay, it makes up for with lore!!!

The lore for RebootSMP is really long, but TLDR; back then, before the tribes existed, hybrids and non hybrids lived peacefully, some friends, some neighbors, some even lovers. Until, a group named the Reservists was formed, a group of non hybrids that despised hybrids and saw them as overpowered. Years and years flew by as the Reservists grew and grew— until, chaos struck.

The Calamity; devastating event that destroyed the human and hybrid connection forever. By that point, the Reservists had gained enough members to take down several communities; and so they did. They targeted the strongest hybrids, seeking to make the go extinct - but not without getting what they desired most first.

All hybrid species lost a significant amount of members, but several went completely extinct, these being the cave spider, elder guardian, endermen, ender dragon, warden, iron golem, piglin brute, wither and wither skeleton hybrid species. These species now no longer exist, yet remnants of their past can be found throughout the world. At most, it's possible that one or two have survived, but it's highly doubted.

The fish (the sun in this depiction) is named Deez. Copy pasted from his official lore that the creator of Deez sent; Deez was a literal doorstep baby, aka orphan. Ended up on a sweet old lady(who lived alone)'s door one day and he was taken in, he doesn't know who his real parents were and is pretty clueless about it. After he grew up, he moved out. Trying to find a place to settle and stuff, where he met Rowan. The reason why he was like. ditched and stuff; They (Deez's parents) were blessed with this dumb little shit and were happy one day, until they realized "hey maybe our child could grow up and have elder guardian features." And just had to find a new home for him, obviously he didn't inherit the cool features but they didn't knew since, he was still just a little fish fetus. So, they just put him in a basket and put him on a doorstep. Why didn't they choose to put him at an orphanage? I don't know, maybe because they didn't trust him with an organization that's run by non hybrids.

Rowan is the cat (the moon in this depiction), i havent exactly made a full backstory for them yet, but, heres what ive thought of so far; Rowan was a golden child, winning competitions left and right, being loved by their parents, until they found out who they really were.

They tried to come out to their parents, but their parents told them what they are is 'disgraceful' and 'going against gods order' or whatever, and kicked them out at 17 or so years old.

They wandered the taiga forests for a while, their fur growing to adapt to the cold, unforgiving winters and snowfalls, that was when they found Deez.

yeah. thats it!! this post is. so long i am so sorry UMMM BUT YEAH!! also sidenote Deez and Rowan see eachother more as siblings compared to partners in crime so do with that information as you will ^_^

heres them in minecraft :3 ignore the fact deez is headless his skin is literally a fish. ummm. Their duo name is Inverted Duo because blue inverted is orange!

like. this is literally his skin.

Bore the shadows that you made, With ⠀ no ⠀ light ⠀of ⠀ my ⠀own.

[wriokitty]

you are most definitely a menace for the way you speak about ayato let’s be honest here

I give the dash a fun fact. A singular factual statement if you will.

And the dash turns on me and calls me names what sort of sick scheme is this

[medicinemane]

.

[pepprs]

hi update things are fucking terrible and my eyes hurt from sobbing. lol