#i don't think this is anti her but idk
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it’s so gross to me how c*roline stans have been running with this narrative that Elena is a horrible friend to Caroline and attacking her for getting involved with Damon after he r*ped Caroline while giving Stefan a free pass when Damon is literally Elena’s abuser too, and Elena was horrified and outraged by what Damon did to Caroline and did everything she could to protect Caroline when Elena was literally a teenage girl unfamiliar with the supernatural world being preyed on by two 100+ vampires and oh yeah DAMON WAS ELENA’S ABUSER TOO like literally what was elena supposed to do Damon was constantly inserting himself into her life and every time she’d reject him he’d do something like kill her brother like she had literally no power against him. Stefan was the one who could have done something about Damon and constantly chose not to but this gets completely ignored by fandom. also funny how the “elena is the worst” crowd had nothing to say about Caroline sleeping with the guy who killed Tyler’s mom (except for the people attacking TYLER for being upset lmao)
Listen, I'm 80% right there with you. You've hooked me. You're gonna get a whole essay out of me.
There are five (major) issues to tackle here. Let's start with the first one, which should be the most simple to understand.
Damon's Ongoing Assault Issue.
We all saw what Damon did. We all agree that him compelling Caroline removed her ability to consent to it. We are all aware of that. Here's the thing. In character, no one ever addresses more than the feeding and manipulation. Not even Caroline herself. We, as the audience, know the issue. But the issue presented in character is never as clear cut as "Damon raped Caroline, and she rightfully hates him for it." They never go there, and we know why. This also unfortunately means that Caroline never once says that's the reason she hates Damon so much. We're given the "he manipulated me, he fed off of me without my consent" which is still bad, but it's nothing he didn't do to anyone else. He killed Alaric multiple times. He killed Jeremy. He threatened and attacked Bonnie. He's killed Vicki and Mason and everyone else, and this is after what he did to Caroline. If he gets away with all of that, why wouldn't they forgive or tolerate him for something as 'natural' as feeding? By not acknowledging that his compulsion removed Caroline's consent, they never have to acknowledge that what he did was rape. And that means they never have to say Damon did anything worse to Caroline than he did to anyone else. Specifically, we also never see anyone call out the fact Damon compels Andie to be okay with what he is and to let him feed off of her while in a relationship with her as well. Alaric in particular never calls this out despite the fact he's an adult who should know better than the teenagers how wrong it is, because by that point, they've all reached a place where they're damn near complacent in what Damon does. But anyway, without them outright saying what he did and calling it what he is, Caroline seems very... obnoxious with her dislike for him, while everyone else has gotten over it. It kind of leads us into the next one.
The Stefan Issue.
You're completely correct. Stefan should have been the one getting Damon away. Both Elena and Stefan knew what Damon was doing to Caroline, and Elena demanded he deal with it. And he did. To do that, he used Caroline as a way to subdue Damon. While people often talk about how Stefan took Caroline under his wing, it wasn't before he repeatedly used her. Even after that, he uses her when it comes to Klaus and to Tyler. But focusing on the Damon subject, Caroline never once acknowledges that Stefan knew (which she knows) what Damon was doing to some extent or holds him responsible for it, or snarks at him about Damon as much as she does Elena. She all but outright absolves him of any wrongdoing as soon as he becomes her mentor. You see it in the way she personally roots for Stefan whenever it comes to the damned triangle, her own desire to prop him up overriding any and everything. Even after Stefan hurt Elena herself, she was still very aggressively team Stefan. This is partially because she's basically Julie Plec's self insert, and partially because she sees Stefan as the good brother, despite the fact he above all is the one who primarily excused and defended him during that time. People will not admit that Stefan is complacent in Damon's actions because they're obsessed with a 'good brother, bad brother' dynamic. On the flip side, people who do acknowledge Stefan's part of it claim Damon is better because he "owns up to what he is". The truth of the matter is that they're both assholes.
The Elena Of It All.
Like you said, Elena was rightfully disgusted and terrified of what Damon did to Caroline, and fucking immediately told Stefan to deal with that shit. For a bit after that, she (and Bonnie) were doing their best to keep Damon away from Caroline. Here's where the issue lies. Like I said before, we, the audience, know everything, right? Did we ever see a scene where Caroline tells her exactly what happened with Damon? This is part of the issue I mentioned with 'Caroline never outright says it'. All Elena has to go on is bruises and bitemarks. And she is mad about that, mad about the fact Damon fed on her without her consent, but that's all she thinks happened. She does not know Damon is her rapist. And yes, that is enough reason for Elena to hate him and be mad at him, but look at all the things I mentioned above. What did he do to Caroline that he hasn't done to others who, frankly, mean more to Elena? As bad as it is to say it, as far as Elena knows, there's nothing special about what Damon did to Caroline.
Part two of the Elena issue is that while you're right, while Damon was her abuser too, it gets wonky because of the sire bond and because of her eventual feelings for him. At some point in season one, Caroline is asking for the necklace back, and Elena goes "why? so you can give it back to Damon?" which is half a joke, half not. So already, Elena is joking about the situation. Which, Caroline doesn't remember everything. Elena knows that. Look, you can essentially take it one of two ways. One, Elena's trying to make shit seem normal because they haven't told Caroline about the supernatural, while feeling out why she wants it back. Two, she's being cruel. It honestly depends on how you view her character this early on. I'm not gonna debate about that, whatever.
Anyway, later on, in season whatever the hell, Damon jokes "have fun with blondie, I know I did" and Elena laughs. That? Was bad. Even without knowing the full extent of what he did, it was a fucked up thing to laugh at. I love Elena, and it was fucked up. You'll never see me denying that shit. Damon even fucking teaches her to hunt in the same way he picked Caroline out and it isn't called out, in canon.
Primarily, people's issue with Elena, is that it seems like she co-signs all of Damon's bullshit from even before they were together because she gets with him. For them, it's like Elena is immediately acknowledging and approving of everything Damon did because they're in a relationship. Some people acknowledge Stefan and Alaric do this as well. Some don't. Oh well.
I don't ship delena, or stelena. I think Elena and Damon's dynamic was terrible. I think her character changed when she got with him, for the worse. I openly admit all that, and you can take it as I'm biased if you want to. I personally don't think two people getting together means they cosign each other's bullshit, but whatever.
But the main issue lies in season one. They believe Elena should have done something to stop Damon from what he did to Caroline. What, exactly? I don't know. Damon was trying to compel Elena to fucking kiss him in season one and she smacked him immediately. She wanted him dead for what he did to Caroline. She said as much. I couldn't tell you what else people wanted her to do. By the time she had some kind of power against him, he had done bigger and worse things and yet he was one of their only allies with knowledge of the supernatural so they needed him. So, bluntly, Caroline's thing got pushed to the way side. One thing I see people mention is that Elena stopped Bonnie from personally killing Damon when they found out Caroline got turned and you can make your own opinions about that but Damon did not do that. Katherine did. He did deserve to die, but Elena didn't want Bonnie to be the one to do it. Opinions and reasons vary, but she also didn't let Damon kill Caroline (by directly putting herself in harm's way to protect her), so... whatever you want to think about that, think it, do it, bop it, I don't care.
My opinion on Elena being a horrible friend to Caroline is that she's not. At the end of the day, Elena is probably one of the people who treated Caroline best, if you step back and look at the whole thing from an objective point of view. People just do not do that.
I do think there's a certain point where "Elena couldn't do anything" stops being entirely true, but it's long after what happened to Caroline. And it's nothing that Caroline herself couldn't do after she became a vampire (much sooner than Elena did).
The Caroline-Klaus Issue.
Preaching to the choir, dude. People will go on all day saying how dating your friend's abuser is wrong (fair) and then say Caroline is better because she Just fucked Klaus (despite the fact they WANTED them to be in a long term relationship anyway). I, personally, don't see how the fuck that's better. I also don't see a point in "morality" arguments for this fandom, but let's just write it out. Fucking the guy who murdered your boyfriend's mom and his friends is better than dating a guy who manipulated your friend into doing his bidding and feeding on her (which as is as much as Elena knows)? Debatable.
People will often excuse this as "Tyler chose revenge over her" as if Klaus did not murder his mother and the fellow hybrids. If the roles were reversed and Liz had been murdered, there'd be a different talk. But hey.
Finally,
The Caroline Issue.
Caroline not only serves as Julie's self insert, but she's the self insert for a lot of this damn fandom. You see it in fics, where they either change her personality so she's more like Elena or Bonnie, and Elena/Bonnie is the friend who can't keep their mouth shut or is always commenting on their friends' lives or spilling secrets.
The Tyler thing? Caroline's a girlboss for telling Tyler to get over it! after she slept with his mother's murderer. But Elena's a terrible friend and "trying to make it all about her" when she tries to sympathize with Caroline over Liz's death and turning her humanity off. Caroline's a queen when she slutshames Katherine and Rebekah and literally any female character she doesn't like who she speaks about for more than two seconds, but when Elena throws it back in her face that Caroline INTENDED to sleep with Damon before finding out he was a vampire (which she did. It's why he got invited into her house), she's just so awful. This, in addition to the fact that Elena was under a sirebond, and Caroline is just regularly fucking like that.
You see my point. Anyway, make no mistake, what Damon did is an issue, but it's only as big of an issue in fandom because Caroline is the golden girl to them. They completely ignore the fact Elena has no full knowledge about what went down. They ignore that Stefan or Alaric should have been taking charge against Damon. They ignore that Caroline never so much as utters a peep about exactly why she hates Damon besides him being a "manwhore". Anything they can use to villainize anyone, but especially Elena, where Caroline is concerned? They will. Facts be damned.
#anti caroline forbes#anti klaroline#uhh#elena gilbert#i don't think this is anti her but idk#anti damon salvatore#anti delena#long story short. people hate elena and love caroline so logic doesn't exist there#people also just hate main characters in general#i personally don't fucking like caroline so :]#think that's it#anonymous
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If Rick changed Medusa for the Roman Myth in the TV show to be more 'sensitive', then he better do the same with calling out Calypso and what SHE did to Odysseus as well.
I still like PJO even though some of the changes Riordan did aren't great and make me sad but I feel like I can still enjoy it to a degree. But I am genuinely stumped and a bit disturbed by how he decided to make Calypso a sweet, sad, lonely "good person". Sure, she's sad and lonely but she is NOT sweet. To me, she reads off as cruel to Leo but even then, why tf does he write her as a good person or someone we should be rooting for?
Her only big myth is basically in the Odyssey where she imprisons and rapes Odysseus for 7 years. In mythology, others do that too but these immortals ALSO have other myths that define them. This one myth is practically her ONLY ONE!
At night he slept beside her in the hollow cave, as he was forced to do—not of his own free will, though she was keen enough. But in the daylight hours he’d sit down on the rocks along the beach, his heart straining with tears and groans and sorrow, as he gazed, through his tears, over the restless sea
(Ian Johnston, Book 5)
Another translation of the same passage by E.V. Rieu
At nights, it is true, he had to sleep with her under the roof of the cavern, cold lover with an ardent dame. But the days found him sitting on the rocks or sands, torturing himself with tears and groans and heartache, and looking out with streaming eyes across the watery wilderness.
Rick, dude, how did you read the Odyssey and see her as someone to sympathize with? Plenty of lonely people are out there and they don't do what Calypso fucking did!
It kind of freaks me out that Percy was near this woman as she's over a thousand years old and he's 14 at this point. Even if it WAS for a short amount of time. And pairing her with Leo? These kids should not be anywhere NEAR her!
idk, I doubt he'll fix this in the show but I can hope :')
#I hate her so much.#calypso#anti calypso#anti caleo#rick riordan critical#idk I still care about this series but there were...CHOICES#if the show tries to be like Miller's Circe when she eventually shows up I'll throw a FIT. She turned Percy into a guinea pig#simply for funsies as he's a dude. that's in character for her!#Mad rambles#shot by odysseus#like I wanna reread the series...but I don't remember certain bits and I know some of them will make me mad :P#If I remember correctly as well. I think he portrayed Helen in a 'ditzy' light I think. I think she was in one of Piper's dreams???#As Helen was another person gifted with Charmspeak if I remember correctly???#essay
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In light of the recent announcement of the Harry Potter TV Show and the fact that this is primarily a Harry Potter fan fiction blog, the below needs to be said.
I am not excited about this show.
If you told my past self 5 years ago this, I’d be shocked. Five years ago, if they announced a Harry Potter TV show I’d be doing everything in my power to be involved some way or another. However, in the last five years JKR has shown her true colors and spent her free time and money attacking the trans community. There are many reasons why I’m not excited about the show or looking forward to it in any regard, but to me the most important is that this show gives JKR more money and cultural capital to further her anti-trans agenda. This is unacceptable.
I think a lot of us raised on Harry Potter really wanted to separate the art from the artist, dive further into fanfic and fandom and just ignore that the woman who created a world in which we’ve spent most of our lives escaping into. However, we can’t do that. It’s come to my attention over the past few days that a lot of people aren’t even aware of the active harm JKR is doing to the trans community. Most people just say, ‘oh she said some weird stuff on twitter’ right?
Well, yeah. But, did you also know she launched an active campaign against a reform bill that made it easier for trans people to legally change gender? You know what happened? The UK blocked that Bill and Scotland now has to launch a legal challenge to the government block. She’s also funding a Sex Abuse Crisis Center that excludes trans women. Yeah, that’s right. She’s using her money from a book about love and acceptance to actively exclude a marginalized group from a crisis center. She’s also publicly admitted via twitter that she funds anti-LGBTQ political activity in the UK.
So yeah, there’s a direct line of fans supporting official trademarked Harry Potter anything and that money directly harming transpeople. Sorry for that rude awakening, but some of y’all are doing backflips to avoid seeing this.
Now, is there a way to prevent Warner Brothers (and Max, lol) from making this show? Probably not? After mergers and at a point when the tv and film industry isn’t booming, they need money. You know what makes money? Harry Potter. Which is why they’re rebooting it. Another question that’s been raised, will the looming writer’s strike affect this? I would guess probably not? Most UK writers (and International writers at large) are not in the WGA. JKR has always wanted the most amount of British people involved in Harry Potter adaptations, so they’ll use the strike to find a UK writer and get them to work.
So what can we do?
Don’t watch the show. Or, if you do. Pirate it. In fact, cancel your Max subscription before the show launches.
They’re going to spend A LOT of money on this. If the numbers aren’t there for them they will do what every other streamer does with an unsuccessful show and cancel it. They announced 5 Fantastic Beast movies, and yet...where’s that last one?
Anyway, thanks for reading this whole thing if you’ve gotten this far. Please share with friends who are excited about the show. Please engage in meaningful discussions with other Potter fans. Please support our trans friends and strangers.
Once again, this blog says FUCK JKR.
#harry potter#I don't know if I'm supposed to censor her name or not but tumblr's not like twitter so I don't think I have to ?#idk let me know#my asks are open for meaningful discussion#but any anti trans retoric will be deleted and blogs will be blocked#I know I spelled retoric wrong but it's too late now#trans rights are human rights
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Genuinely think some folks need to remove how we, the audience, see characters and relationships from an outside perspective from how those characters actually interact. Like y'all ask for nuance and I'm telling you that just because Nancy has gone through trauma and absolutely deserves to be as messy and complicated and hurt as she wants, doesn't mean Robin wouldn't think twice about dating her?
It's not about whose fault it is or centering a male character, it's about how Robin, the character, would interpret and internalize the facts she knows. She has no idea what exactly Nancy has been through, like we have. She encouraged Steve and Nancy in S4 to get back together, she comforted him when Nancy went straight back to Jonathan. Robin's place as Steve's best friend, someone she trusts implicitly, the person she wants to combine with, puts Steve as an important aspect of her life!
It's not that she hates Nancy! It's that even though they broke up a year and a half ago, there's some unresolved or redeveloping feelings there for Steve. It's not that I think Steve could/would/should be hurt or angry about his best friend dating his ex. It's that, in my opinion, Robin, from what we see of her, doesn't seem inclined to date a friend's ex. It's about Robin, and her personality, and that means her friendship and love of Steve.
#anti ronance#finda's rambles#stranger things#idk its about robin for me. she would put her friendship with steve above a romantic relationship with anyone#struggling to put this into words but its frustrating when people claim we're making it about steve when i dont feel that way#to me im prioritizing Robin. and stobin i guess#it also seems like people hate being reminded that robin wants to live in steves brain. and that WOULD factor into her choices#that may affect him. yknow. like dating his ex.#its got nothing to do with how i feel about the stancy breakup (messy but if they TALKED could be worked through)#i also don't think they're compatible and have multiple reasons i simply don't vibe with the ship#but those aren't misinterpreted just ignored i guess
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i wish hating colleen hoover was as universal as hating j.k. rowling.
#*carly chats#anti colleen hoover#anti jkr#mad that that movie is here don't mind me#i'm also still super bummed that taylor gave her the greenlight to use one of her songs#although it's not at all surprising to me that she did either#the moment they announced the project for the it ends with us movie i was like.... 'oh taylor's gonna want in on this!'#however i'm more surprised there's an ethel cain song in the movie#(or at least i think i read that somewhere a little bit ago idk)#this too shall pass but i wish it would pass by faster bc i am already so sick and tired of the gifsets coming out for this film#sorry not sorry
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One thing I don't like the most in Leah's Annabeth is the scene of betrayal.
What do you mean Annabeth AIN'T CRIED HER EYES OUT while listening Luke's words, his view?!
Fuck, Percy had more emotions than his alleged lil' sister figure.
#pjo#percy jackson and the olympians#pjo show#pjo tv show#pjo show crit#pjo tv crit#rr crit#anti disney#anti rr#anti pjo screenwriters#anti pjo director#idk why they couldn't make annabeth cry#why SO ooc#no hate to leah#but#i don't know what to think about her acting skills#annabeth chase#luke castellan#percy jackson
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When it comes to Penelope I feel like a lot of her fans take any valid criticism towards her and turn it into hate, which does her character a disservice. While some people do hate on her, a lot of it holds valid reasons. Admitting that she has hurt many people isn't wrong because she has, it's been shown on throughout the show and the impacts it can have. From labeling Daphne as "unmarriageable" during her first season and events that followed, her labeling Eloise as being part of a group of rebels, the terms she used to describe Kate [and Simon]-- which carried racial undertones no matter how you try to spin it, who didn't even know personally at that point, what she did Marina. All of these were very harmful and to say that none of these characters should feel angry, that they should just forgive Penelope without any work put into it is very laughable (especially because she's still writing as Whistledown and put many, namely women, at risk during a time where reputation is everything--something in which Penelope herself faces). With this being said, criticizing her actions, at least for me, doesn't come from a complete place of hate but more so from believing that she can be better if she puts in the work. By ignoring all that she's done and having her get her happily ever after so easily in the end, to be honest, would ultimately feel lackluster. I feel like she still has room to grow, but it will take a lot of work and, I personally, think seeing her renavigate who she is with who she wants to be outside of Lady Whistledown would be very interesting.
#bridgerton#penelope featherington#idk if this counts as anti but I'll label it as such too#anti penelope featherington#bc some people don't see it her referring to kate as a “beast” was wrong as hell and definitely side eye worthy coming from this yte woman#like she didn't even know kate and wrote that about her#and her ableist comments towards george were absolutely unnecessary as well#so deny that none of these things holds impact would be highly untrue and make the story very flat#i do think pen provides valuable insight to a different perspective of the ton and was helpful in eloise seeing a different view#so that's one [of very few] reasons that i think she should have a chance of redeeming herself#but that also doesn't mean that any of these characters should forgive her either#penelope stans and/or polin stans do not interact if you can't be respectful!#(also bc some people like to say “but the bridgertons are privileged and got their happy endings”#one just bc they got their happy endings in the end doesn't mean that what pen wrote didn't put them in difficult situations or that she#should be thanked as if she helped them [with daphne that was mainly her and her own mother's doing]#[for eloise that different bc it puts her and her family under political scrutiny as well bc do you honestly think being labeled as associat#-ing with rebels would be a good thing?]
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sorry, just had to get this off my chest but like
colin, a young and attractive guy, supposedly having a threesome and watching a sex show performed by professionals whom he pays for their service when he is single and exploring what he does and doesn't like is bad for penelope, somehow
but debling a 30+ year old man feeling all up on her waist in public when she is a teenager and he has power and privilege over her and has known her for a grand total of like a week and a half is good, somehow
like this fandom has legit called Colin, a 22 year old man with like. . .2 UNCONFIRMED sexual interactions in the past a groomer for getting with Penelope and maybe introducing her to his interests (after spending YEARS listening to her and cherishing her and thinking she's fantastic) but will root on the actual 30+ year old man with an enormous power imbalance over her via his money and title to have his way with her in a backroom somewhere after knowing her for like a month
make it make sense please
#if that 30+ year old man doesn't get his grubby paws off that teenager i will start blasting#anti debling#polin#one of these men is actively being weird with her and it isn't colin#'oh but he's courting her openly' he is feeling up on her in broad daylight in a time when so much as touching HANDS was scandalous#he is a 30 year old guy who showed up THIS YEAR with an enormous power imbalance between him and this 19 year old woman#she is a third daughter in an unpopular family who has to marry well to survive and he is a lord from out of town#looking for a wife and immediately went for the unpopular girl standing off to the side fidgeting with no one else paying attention to her#and y'all are out here DROOLING for it#i do NOT understand!!!!#idk he gives me the ick#and don't come at me about 'well that was normal for the time!!!'#i hated it when anthony did it to edwina i hated it when simon did it to daphne and i hate that fife did it with goring#it is WEIRD to be a wealthy and powerful man with a title going for a teenager#like do y'all think DEBLING is a virgin??? really
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It is interesting, in retrospect, how during and immediately after their encounter with Delilah in episode 77, you can see it actively dawn on Imogen that Delilah is a 24/7 voyeur to everything that happens to/around Laudna, including her relationship with Laudna. Delilah taunts them by saying, "I'm always here" and Imogen whispers to herself, "Always," like this is the first time she's realized it and then immediately starts trying to plan a way, any way, to separate them, including saving the gods from Predathos specifically to call in a favor from one of them. It's such a numb, sudden, harrowing realization. It build perfectly to her admission of disgust when they were in the Fey Realm a couple episodes later
#on today's episode of ''I was in the transcript search looking for something specific and then got distracted'': This!#like but actually in retrospect the way that scene plays out is WILD#anyway actually genuinely curious how this dynamic shakes out in the long haul#because liek yeah maybe it's possible to separate laudna and delilah! idk! pike seemed to think there was a minuscule chance it was possibl#and delilah obvi says there's not. but. who's to say.#if a god could do it i'll put my money on the matron both for fate-relating powers also because i knew she hates delilah so fucking much#i bet she'd love the opportunity to punt her from existence#but again. don't know where that leaves laudna. considering the matron's domain is so anti-undead#there's some interesting potential here though either way#cr tag
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Hello there 👋👀,
So I just found your blog and had a lot of fun scrolling through all the pjo show crit😂 I couldn't help but notice that one tag you left on a post where you said you had some beef with Annabeth's portrayal in the books 👀 Would you mind elaborating on that if you're comfortable with it🙈? Because I absolutely share that sentiment, but it's sooo veeeery rare that I see other people express anything like it... I've found that trying to be a part of the fandom can be pretty alienating most of the time, if you're not exactly the biggest most devoted Percabeth shipper...😅 And often any criticism leveled at Annabeth just gets you a smack with the "internalized-misogyny" hammer... it's even worse in the tv show now due to... obvious reasons...
Again just if you're comfortable with answering of course🙈 There is a reason I stayed on anon after all...😅😂
Really glad you asked because i finally get to ramble about this heheheh (going forward, know that i skimmed over The Last Olympian to have a clearer sense of what I meant because that's the book where Rick fumbles her character more than the others)
i'm gonna try to make as much sense as possible but short answer would be, she's underdeveloped. Long answer:
She really got on my nerves in the last two books, with the whole Rachel debacle and then the Battle of New York. I can't really remember a single moment in those books where she and Percy aren't bickering or having heated discussions, which really made me question their friendship status. Of course, it's not like friends can't fight and it obviously builds up the (romantic) tension between them, but it got unbearable at one point.
I understand she's a teenager in an incredibly stressful situation that didn't even get to have a normal upbringing- she grew up way too fast (run away at 7, head counselor at 12) while also not really maturing, which is not a problem for a character, if it is handled properly. Given the fact that I am writing this, Riordan did not.
On the surface, my biggest beef is that Annabeth is not exactly held accountable for her actions (ie. treating Rachel a bit like shit and going off on Percy for a bunch of stuff.) I know Percy is to blame a bit here: as far as we know, in TLO he basically cuts the greek world out of his life as much as he can as a coping mechanism. And while yes, he never apologizes either, he doesn't give her nearly half the hard time she gives him: always either giving him the cold shoulder (there must be at least one example of this in the entire series but i cant be bothered to look it up sorry) or starting an argument only to then storm off (see the "you're a coward, Percy Jackson!" scene, which is not the fairest example since she was confronting Percy about ignoring camp but also was a bit too harsh about it) (especially after finally reading the prophecy and being under the impression that he was absolutely going to die when he turned 16 lmao) or just straight up storming off (see, Annabeth reacting when Rachel shows up for the first time during the battle of new york). While most of these feel, at least to some degree, fairly justified given how the entire situation does an absolute number on her emotions, she comes off a bit brattish and like she's trying to rile Percy up, especially when it comes to Rachel, which in the context of a battle that could mean the destruction of the world.... Well, it reads as a bit childish to me, and i wouldn't exactly have that much of a problem with it if it was dealt with in some way (a two-way apology would be nice).
After that first impression, i realized that Annabeth is barely ever anything else other than a plot device (when relating to Luke) or a love interest (when relating to Percy). This might be because the books are on Percy's POV. Hell, on the third book he's even conflicted when Annabeth is considering joining the Hunters of Artemis, aka, when making a choice for herself would mean he loses her (which is fine and dandy but it feels like Percy is more upset about her choosing her own path rather than being sad about not seeing her as often); we really only get a few glimpses of her, as in, actually her when she's on her own.
Obviously it's impossible to talk about Annabeth without touching on percabeth, which also is, in my opinion, what hinders Annabeth's character the most. On paper they sound great. The guy whose fatal flaw is loyalty falls in love with a girl whose been let down by people over and over, and she decides to never give up on the boy whose always had people give up on him (can't find one of the million posts that talks about this right now but it always goes something like that) And yeah, the bickering is really well written! But that's literally as far as it ever goes: they don't ever seem to have fun together, because 8 times out of 10 the bickering ends up being passive aggressive, and mostly done by Annabeth. My biggest gripe about percabeth is that their friendship seems to be based off... shared trauma. Literally. Other than going on quests together we are given no examples of them hanging out, nor a reason why they would want to spend time together in the first place, not even a shared hobby. Yes, in the fourth book they had a movie "date" planned but of course they didn't even get to it, and surprise surprise, they had a minor discussion, and surprise surprise, Annabeth was passive aggressive again. It's hard to picture them having fun together when even the author doesn't write in any scenes in which they get along smoothly (and before you say anything, a scene in which they get along where neither of them is about to die, and they're not talking about previous adventures. Gets a bit hard then, doesn't it?) It's even harder to picture them as a couple when the moment she gets upset about something, she starts coming off as emotionally manipulative (see, again, literally any conversation with Rachel or about Rachel)
To be fair, the books are relatively short and don't allow many "filler" chapters, if you will; there's always something happening to keep the main plot or a minor plot point moving forward, but it's not like there is no room to develop the characters' relationships, especially when we're talking about the main char and what is essentially his endgame. As an example we have Percy and Clarisse, or Percy and Beckendorf. Their interactions are brief but still hold so much weight.
Worst of all, Annabeth could be one hell of a character; what's most interesting of all is how being a daughter of Athena she is still incredibly emotionally driven, which is displayed very clearly with her fatal flaw being pride: her telling the Sphynx that her questions were too easy was not smart nor strategic: it was completely impulsive. I seriously think she wasn't far from being the best character in the series had she been given more time.
I guess i have as much beef with Annabeth as i have with Rick for doing her dirty. I really could sum this up with: while her emotions are justified, she acts upon them quite poorly. And this is what i mean when i say she's underdeveloped, because it would've been nice to see her come to her senses a bit.
Would love to read anyone's opinions on her character though, feel free to comment, even (or especially) if you don't agree with me!
#pjo crit#anti percabeth#annabeth chase#percy jackson#tbotl#pjo tlo#the last olympian#percy jackson and the olympians#congrats anon on being my first ask!!!#sorry if it's too long or rambly i just have so many thoughts about her.#i dont hate her i dont even dislike her im just conflicted about her. sad that half of her conflict was being jealous over a boy#like yeah i guess said boy was the first real friend she ever had but also rick wrote it in a very “girls fighting over boy” kind of way#didn't really write it to make it seem like annabeth's reasons were anything more than just a hormonal teen acting out. there were no layer#sometimes i feel like im being unfair to annabeth and that maybe her being emotional and mean sometimes is her character and#she's actually written well and i just don't like her? but then i think over it and im not ready to give rick that kind of credit lmao#i truly believe he wrote her beef with rachel to entertain middle graders without really thinking twice about it#annabeth adds to the drama with her passive aggressive comments but at what cost.... maybe im reading too much into it idk#maybe i just find boy drama annoying..#but making it so that rachel is bound to maidenhood was such a lazy way to get rid of her as a romantic interest#the way rick butchered her character and any char dev for any of them in the tv show by rushing so many things... god. that's another story#if there are any typos i'll edit them later but my eyes are dry af right now and its late jdsjdfh anyway i hope my takes were interesting?#maybe i don't have that much beef with annabeth herself but the fact that percabeth is seen as the best endgame couple when i don't see it
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I know everyone else probably unfollowed her already, but did you see what Meghan Murphy posted on Instagram yesterday? I'm rarely on the app and I usually just post to my story and check on my friends' stories, but I was still following her even though she was pivoting to the right bc I thought she still had some things of value to say and I'm interested in how a self-proclaimed feminist and former socialist activist views right-wing politics and media as the superior choice. But I did just see her recent post and I am honestly so baffled. I know her and other women have felt abandoned by the left (not that we have a leftist party in the US) and the Dems, and we have been, the Democrats do not care for us and are unwilling to stand up against systemic misogyny, but to say that trump will be better for women? That he will be better for the working class? I honestly don't know how an intelligent person can listen to what he says, can look at what he did in his first term, and come to that conclusion. I understand women becoming disillusioned by liberal politics and abandoning political activism altogether, but genuinely can someone explain to me why they fall into the arms of right-wing rapists just because they want to flee the left?
#Anyway I don't think that her perspective is of any value anymore because she is so woefully disengaged from facts and reality#The same thing she berates liberals and democrats for#She had one sentiment that I agreed with in her post which was that we democrats journalists political scientists need to genuinely#Investigate what caused people to vote for trump because he definitely spoke to a deep dissatisfaction with the current status quo#And if the Dems want those votes back they should work on addressing those issues not by capitulating to the racist reactionaries#But by addressing the underlying fear of immigration like economic stability and food insecurity#Idk this is just my initial thoughts on seeing that insane post#I need somebody to do a theory paper or study on why seemingly progressive gc women are turning to#Right wing politics and conspiracy theories and anti-vax/Gweneth paltrow-type nonsense
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Random concept that just came to me but, sith! jedi. Not sith the organization, but the species.
Things were going bad, their people were at war with themselves, so some loving parents hide their child in carbonite so she wouldn't recruited for sith/darksider/war training. Then like a thousand+ years later some jedi archeologists find the carbonite and are like "wow intact artifacts! Wait- oh shit- is she alive???" She is. (The logic on how carbonite let anyone live this long is irreverent, shhhh.)
Now the jedi accept everyone and don't discriminate, so of course they take the youngling in! But there are problems with this too. Like she is the last of her species, what vaccines does she need? What does she eat? They have to dig through old records on sith purebloods to find this information but past jedi apparently didn't see it fit to record stuff like 'is it normal for sith children to lose their teeth or is she dying?'
I imagine she is just old enough to kind of remember her parents, her friends, etc. and has to deal with the fact that they are all gone, and have been for a very long time. She has to deal with the fact that she is the last of her kind. But she has a new family that loves her and helps her mourn and make peace with the past.
The jedi always try to raise their children with pieces of their native culture, but that is kind of hard in her case. A lot of what they know of the original sith culture is uhh not great, and the rest was mostly lost to history. But they try! Historians pour through documents to find stuff they can hare with a small child. "Apparently this style of jacket was popular (we think) so we made one for you!"
#this is a pro jedi anti sith post to be clear. Idk how you could take it any other way but I am sure someone will misunderstand me#The jedi don't hold grudges and would think nothing of taking in this sith child because it is the right thing to do#my headcanons#my fanfic ideas#sith culture is very fucked up of course but there are always good people who fight against that#so i imagine her parents tried to protect her from their war and infighting#which is something the jedi would have respected a lot#my posts
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I think some folks MAY have gotten the wrong idea about how I feel about Circe with some of my posts. So, to clear the air...
Homies, I love that fucked up sorceress.
I love how we're never given a reason why she turns people into animals. That's so funny and so awful. And another potion-making magic gal?!?! I love that she's just basically vibing on an island doing whatever she wants. I even love the fact that she scares Odysseus shitless! She's morally gray and that's why she's FUN.
I just sincerely hate when people try to girlboss her or have her be a victim of SA when she never was Looking at you, Miller. Especially when she was actually the one who coerced Odysseus in exchange for his men being transformed back into humans. And even then, while he was clearly afraid of her, (it's in the language of the Odyssey) she likely meant him no harm after a certain point. He just didn't know that.
Why does she need a reason to do awful things? Why can't she just be a goddess who does whatever she wants? That's the reason why I love her!!! She's fucked up!!! :D
I hate what the Telegony did to her as well! >:( You're telling me, this sorceress goddess, who makes potions (!!!) wouldn't have magic contraceptives??? Would WANT CHILDREN?!?! WITH THE PATHETIC WIFEMAN?! No. Fuck no. Eugammon of Cyrene, I have beef with you 🤬
Anyways!!! Understand all the "#anti circe" I have is simply Anti "Girlboss Circe" or the book. I genuinely think she's neat af as her morally gray, fucked up sorceress self and just get frustrated with...everything :'D
#I have these same feelings with Medea and Medusa and so many others. Penelope too. Let them do something fucked up just to be fucked up#I'm a “god forbid women do anything” in the sense of 'she did a fucked up thing. That's why she's fascinating. Don't take her awfulness#away from her!!! please! I wanna study her under a microscope!'😭#PLEASE#...I actually kind of don't like the idea of her actually caring about her nymphs :P maybe she “protects them” but like...#I see her as a “Why are all of you dancing? Oh. it's a birthday? hm okay. Just make sure your duties are done.” while not caring#whose birthday it is. She's not really shown to be close to them during the Odyssey and idk just seems in character for her to not give af#save me morally gray circe#<-making that a tag now because...yeah. She absolutely wouldn't save me though.#Mad rambles#shot by odysseus#anti madeline miller#anti circe#<-THE BOOK! I HATE THE BOOK! LET HER BE AWFUL YOU COWARDS#Why do women need to be SA'ed to be strong Miller?! >:(#...Ima say it. The pathetic wifeman is more relatable to me than Hot Snake Monster Lady when it comes to this stuff.😤#I just sincerely hate the fact that people erase what happened to him you know? It's silly but it means a lot to me.#Also I think she got bored of him immediately and simply let him chill at her place.#She's a goddess. She's got better things to do and she absolutely doesn't love him and he absolutely doesn't want her.#I don't have with Eugammon btw. He's dead and I'm exaggerating but I STILL hate the Telegony >:(#tw sa#kind of??? idk#barely mentioned but yeah#Calypso though?? Yeah. I hate her in practically everything except Pirates of the Caribbean because that's not Odyssey Calypso
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I have come to say chapter 17 was everything it was too good. Like I love my babies so much. Then bonding and that kiss had me spiraling. The only thing, I’m son nervous for what’s to come because there are three chapters left and there probably be more drama and angst. I’m preparing myself to cry.
Anyways I love love love your writing and am so excited for chapter 18. Is it coming out anytime soon??
Also final thing to say, you excited for part 2? Any theories or predictions? I’m so excited I genuinely can’t wait!!
Have a wonderful day!!
this is so sweet!!!! thank you so much 💛💛💛
there are only a couple more chapters left and they are probably going to be some of the longest chapters of the fic. there's a lot I want to cover before we wrap this up. and I'm not going to tell you there won't be angst. :)
as for chapter 18.... well, all I'll say is that it literally ripped my psyche to shreds, but .... it's almost there. I need to go back and forth about a few things and then have my beta reader look at it but it shouldn't be too long now.
and I am SO EXCITED for part 2!!!!! worried nervous filled with doubt and thrilled as well!!! my opinion of part 1 is INCREDIBLY high. i think the one thing I'll say is that I left part 1 feeling like the pates really understood what I loved about the characters and the show, and as long as I can confidently say that about part 2, then I'll be thrilled. I'm not super good at making predictions, mostly cause the pates throw shit at me that I could never expect, but I'm thinking we'll see a non-zero amount of jiara and cleope angst and I'll be eating it up.
also please for the love of god someone please please please get pope and sarah out of that rat infested hole in the ground.
#outer banks#obx#jiara#never cut out for prom queen#prom fic#I'm being purposefully cagey about how many chapters are left in prom fic mostly because I don't know ksdfajhlksfj#I know it's technically 3#but#I think chapter 19 might end up getting split#I really REALLY want to keep it to 20 because that's a nice even beautiful number#but hey#21 has it's appeal#maybe the fic will grow up enough to legally drink#we'll see#also re: prom fic angst#I mean#the next chapter's title comes from the Great War.#so#that's not an accident#or a misdirect#alkdsjfhlaskdhfjlaksdjf#I rewrote chapter 16 literally (LITERALLY) 6 times#also my biggest and most closely held anti-theory is about Sarah being pregnant#I know they've pulled shit like that before where they have girls deliver a very moving monologue about what they want#and then ignore it an episode later#(hello Kiara telling pope how they aren't romantically compatible only to kiss him in the next episode)#BUT#I think that having Sarah give a speech about how she's not ready for kids and then having her pregnant would be#uh!!!!! a narrative choice!!!!!#idk I mean let's be real I'm seated for the ride but I personally do not think they are going down that path
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new episode was good. i liked that deb was there. very classic night vale stuff
#wtnv spoilers#kinda i don't think it is but if you're really anti knowing anything then. y'know#i liked how cecil was out in the world and how we got a few new location names (i think)#i liked that there was a return of rattlesnake rest because. it reminded me of the episode with rattlesnake rest#also i didn't know madeline had a son! good for her. or not? idk#it was also pretty nifty that they finally had some armadillos. how cute
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You know what I wish we'd seen?
More positive actively involved magic users.
Like, we know the Druids support Emrys, though they seem more like a pacifist, non-combatant party (aside from some outliers like Kara, Mordred, Alvarr), and other magic users/beings like Anhora, Grettir, Mab, they all seem to be neutral. They acknowledge Emrys as a superior power, but they don't seem to actively participate for better or worse. And all other sorcerers are usually antagonistic. But why can't we have the other side? I'm sure there has to be some who decide to take Merlin's side. Maybe they don't entirely trust Arthur, maybe they aren't too certain of a Pendragon, but dude, it's fucking Emrys. If Emrys is supporting him, there's gotta be something to him, right?
Let Merlin have people helping him, other sorcerers who slip him spells that are too powerful for them, maybe he can do something with it, passing him information about plots they've heard through the sorcerers' grapevine, even helping him thwart some of the ambushes and traps. Maybe they aren't brave enough to live in Camelot 24/7 like Merlin, but they take turns bringing him messages and supplies, and to get their "marching orders," such as they are.
Also, imagine the look on Arthur's face when he finds out he has a magic Praetorian Guard that answers to his manservant.
yeah see, that's one of the big issues that's always bothered me. like we (the audience) are told that magic is not evil but rather is something as integral as nature. but more often than not, a lot of the antagonist we meet are magic users and most of the time they are power hungry people. i mean, i totally understand the sorcerers who seek out revenge for Uther and by proxy Camelot, but we only either get these types of sorcerers or the sorcerers whom the show portrays as only evil.
it is, frankly, impossible for the magic community to be full of only evil and vengeful sorcerers. there's got to be more diversity than that, bbc 🙄 you're telling me that there are no somewhat powerful magic users living in Albion helping others anyway they can and don't seek to help aid Merlin in anyway. and i mean aid him since s1. by s5 it looked like he was actually getting some help, but they were still sorcerers who fell a little bit in the gray area or just never interacted with anyone other than Merlin.
maybe have Lancelot befriend another sorcerer while he was away from Camelot and sort of sneak him in to help save the kingdom from Morgana and Morgause in s3. maybe Elyan, who had left Camelot pre-s1, have some magic friends that we meet in s4.
tbh, my big issue is that with how much the show tells us, the audience, that magic does have positive impacts and isn't evil, none of the characters besides Gaius, Merlin, and Lancelot actually know that (as far as i'm aware). literally any time Arthur considers that maybe magic isn't what his father claimed it to be, he ends up going back to those prejudices and ideas Uther propagated because "magic killed my father," "magic killed my mother" (still super salty), "magic corrupted morgana," "magic wants me dead." when in reality, that's far from the truth, and Merlin then has to continue to hide a part of himself from people he cares for and loves dearly because all they've ever known and seen is "evil magic people."
just....bbc, explain to me how Arthur was supposed to bring the so-called "Golden Age" to Albion where there's peace between magic users and non-magic users alike if he, himself, believed magic was inherently evil???? how is Arthur the Once and Future King if he never repealed the ban on magic or began working with sorcerers? and i'm saying this as someone who loves the character, but why did we, the audience, not get a chance to really see Arthur break away from his father's prejudices on magic until the series finale?
it just bugs me. there are so many moments where it looks like maybe Merlin has an ally that's pro-magic and pro-unity and wants to help fulfill the prophecy, but then they either become one-time side characters or fucking die. never seen or heard from again. maybe i just want a character or two to stick and maybe give Merlin the support group he needs?
por favor, bbc
#don't get me wrong i love the show but the fact that we barely get morally good sorcerers upsets me#idk seemed like an oversight#yeah i could maybe go on and talk about gilli and how he could have been a great character later down the line to be an ally for Merlin#i could go on about freya and how maybe we could have gotten more lady of the lake stuff or mentions of her (maybe by lancelot since he has#a connection to the the lady of the lake already in the legends. like his last name is literal Du Lac: of the lake. like hello????)#i could point out a lot#but i am prob not the first to do so#i understand that at the end of the day the show ends in tragedy; arthur dies in cammlan. merlin loses his best friend. gwen loses her love#camelot loses their king. and other very sad tragic stuff in s5 finale#but i think we could have still gotten the tragedy of the series finale with the inclusion of more positive sorcerers in the show#maybe that's wishful thinking but idk#we could have it be mid-s4 to s5 that arthur does begin the process of repeal decades of anti-magic laws but there's a lot of pushback#and/or bureaucratic political nonsense they have to do to finalize everything but it happens!#sigh#anyway#bbc merlin#long post#idk if this counts as#merlin meta#but just in case#asks#more of a merlin rant(?)#lol but yeah
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