#i don't know if i should tag lenector

[beevean]

Another reason the "wonderful in a vacuum" scene of Lenore choosing to look at Hector in her last seconds of her life doesn't hit as it should, is that the show didn't do what it could have to build up this moment. And I'm not just talking about how Lenore never loved Hector in the first place so her final moment of caring feels mocking.

In S3E6, she says this:

Hector: Daylight can be nice, too. Lenore: I'll take your word for it. Hector: You don't remember daylight? Lenore: Never much cared for it. I was always a night person. Hector: You might be missing something, you know. Only coming out at night. Lenore: Oh, I don't think so. Just look. I can't see how the sun would improve this view.

Now, this is not a bad moment. First of all, it's all part of Lenore's manipulations to make Hector accept to work for them ("Look at this lovely view! Surely you'll want to stay here, won't you?"), and it's a good strategy because while Hector is a human and not afraid of the sun, he's already accustomed to living among creatures of the night. Plus, her preference for the night fits her and her attempted aesthetic of "sad winter princess". And, of course, I doubt they had planned her suicide by sunlight when they wrote S3.

But in S4, the topic never comes up again, when it could have quite nicely. Since Lenore spends the whole season feeling sorry for herself, repeating the information "Carmilla's plan makes me feel useless", for a change she could have snuck in something like this:

"You know, it's funny. I haven't seen the sun in two hundred years. I almost forgot how it looks like... How it would feel for the sunlight to hit my skin without it blistering. The moon has its beauty, of course, but..."

One, this could be a genuine bonding moment between Lenore and Hector. As I pointed out, she only strikes casual conversations with him in S3 for the sake of manipulating him: once she's "solved his problem", she mostly vents about her personal issues, and the only natural, mutually respectful conversation they have is the one about strength and power just before her suicide, which is far too late. Maybe they could talk about what they miss, what they'd like to see... with the added irony that Hector is trapped in that castle so he can't do anything he would like to do, and it's all Lenore's fault to boot. Maybe Hector's lack of concrete answer would not only hint at hidden resentment, but it could foreshadow how he actually didn't think far ahead because he's secretly waiting for Isaac to come and kill him, or that his only plan for the future is to destroy the Council, which he's keeping under wraps; but it would also be nice if he had a dream, like going to see the ocean again. hector in s4 sorely lacks a personality that is not his depressing love for lenore and i would love to fix it

Two, it could be symbolic of Lenore regretting her vampire nature, or perhaps even foreshadowing her flirting with the idea of killing herself if Carmilla's plan comes to fruition, since another criticism is that Lenore decides to kill herself with the same consideration one chooses which dress to wear for the day. Lenore, as her basic concept, wants to be the bridge between humankind and vampirekind, and there are hints of this, such as her makeup that make her look like a living human being (contrast her with Carmilla, who looks like a corpse), her declaration that she enjoys eating food equating it to living a good life, and her insistence to use diplomacy in a culture that thrives on war and conquest, which gives her the reputation of being soft and weak. So, it would make sense for her to, at one point, drop her mask and admit that she misses the human pleasure of the sunlight, maybe even expressing subtle envy that Hector can experience it; the Lenore in S3 was a bundle of lies carefully woven to lower Hector's guard, but now she is fully sincere and open, showing her heart to the one person who would listen to her. It would be cute and sad at the same time if she asked him to describe him what the sun feels like, and Hector gave a wishy-washy answer, because he has never cared about it - or rather, his own humanity, paralleling Lenore in yet another aspect.

Of course, during the same time Hector is taking advantage of Lenore's inability to stand in the daylight to study on his own and plot behind her back, so the scene would be even more tragic. Hector is already benefiting from his own humanity to cause Lenore's downfall.

And three, her final choice would have more weight. Not only, with the added context, Lenore's grief would be more easy to interpret as "no matter how hard I try, I'm a cursed creature doomed to live in misery and spread misery, I'm tired of living in the night" and not "weh i refuse to live in a cage :< sorry hector idc about you i refuse to live if i don't have a shred of power", but also, well. Lenore wanted to see the sun. She has found the courage to see the sun, knowing that it will nor reconnect her with her lost humanity, but it will only lead to her death. And then... at the last moment... she renounces it. Sure, the sun is pretty, much like the moon... but neither of them, in the end, can compare to Hector, who is one of a kind, who, unlike the sun, cared about her. Now it works, after more buildup.

(also it would be much nicer if Lenore melted like Dracula, instead of turning into pretty dust. Show her as the monster she never accepted herself to be.)

Now, this only fix only a fraction of the infinite and immense issues I have with Lenector in S4. It needs to be reworked from the foundations, and I focused too much on Lenore when the source of my anger is everything surrounding Hector and the sanification of Lenore's actions. But look at how easy it is to build a much more organic chemistry, when you don't waste precious screentime on dick jokes and rape apologism! The building blocks are all here! I'm just so profoundly sad when I see the botched attempt of a good story and it wouldn't have taken much effort to improve it, just respect for your own writing.

[beevean]

Rosaly: Finds Hector, gives him a place to be after he flees from Dracula and helps him heal; Julia: Helps Hector heal from the pain of losing Rosaly and helps him move on; Lenore: Beats him and rapes him. And yet, thanks to Netflixvania simply being more popular than CoD, Lenector is his biggest straight ship (I honestly don't know how any of his non-straight ones compare to it) to the point where I'm not even sure he has ship names with Rosaly and Julia

Hectaly is a tag. I checked it, and aside from my posts (lol), there are some posts made by people who were sure that Rosaly would appear in S4. oh those sweet summer children.

Helia doesn't exist, because no one ships them 😂 I wish I could, because I like their chemistry and the potential scenario of them bonding through their grief... but the circumstances of Julia looking like Rosaly and also being Isaac's sister and Hector wanting to kill Isaac in cold blood and indirectly causing his death are too uncomfortable for them to have a healthy relationship. Man :( I just want them to be besties. I love imagining Julia teasing Hector Isaac-style lol

(as for the non-straight ships, the two versions of Isaactor are by far the most popular ones, even more so than Lenector. Then there's N!Hectorcard. Hectorcard is mildly popular in Japan, from what I've seen. The others count as rarepairs :P)

Anyway. I have just finished writing to my friends a breakdown to explain why their sex scene is actually vile rape on Lenore's part (I can share if people are interested! I don't want to come off as obsessed lmao). It just... boggles my mind that shippers gloss over it, because they happen to have decent chemistry and parallels in S4. Y'all really think the writers did them dirty because they didn't live happily ever after????? the absolute fuck??????????????? WHY DO YOU THINK A RAPE VICTIM SHOULD HAVE LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER WITH HIS RAPIST Y'ALL SOUND LIKE THE PEOPLE WHO OPPOSED FRANCA VIOLA

It makes me sick. This is not hyperbole. I don't want to judge shippers because hey, whatever, you can't judge morality based on ships, but jesus christ I have not met a single Lenore fan/Lenector shipper that didn't try to bridge the contrast between S3 and S4 with some of the most nauseating rape apologism I've seen in the wild. I have more respect for those who say "idc lenore is hot", at least it's honest in its shallowness.

And then my poor girl Rosaly, who represents the best of humanity, who gave Hector hope and a reason to live on after his traumatic past, who appreciated my man for being kind and helpful and not just because he's handsome (although also because of that lol girl has great taste), is relegated to "that killed chick" that Hector gets over in a few days, because only five people read the CoD prequels. Life is so cruel.

Have some cuties, as a treat <3:

(i am the lil spidey on hector's head)