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languagestudymaterials · 1 year ago

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わけ - definition (2)

What does ～わけ mean?

The same post in much higher quality is here

In this #Japanese with anime post, we will take a closer look at a mind-bending structure belonging to the realm of modality and, unfortunately, is usually omitted in translation. It's not that it has to be omitted; it happens that English just sounds better or makes sense without it (in most cases).

Examples in this post are from Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1 and Season 2.

Extra grammar:

というわけ vs. わけ

わけ vs. から/ので

Before we dive in

わけ is truly a mind-bending structure, and knowing just the dictionary definition is not usually enough. The examples provided in textbooks seem to be okay at first glance, but when you start analyzing and comparing わけ to other structures and grammar points, you quickly realize that you haven't fully grasped the concept it actually represents.

Long story short, though. In a lot of cases, わけ can be translated to 'so' or 'then' (: as a necessary consequence; Merriam-Webster).

However, in many cases, English translations don't need to include 'so' or 'then' because things can be simply understood from the context. As readers, we don't need extra lexical help to understand that something is a consequence of something else. The brain fills in that information naturally on its own. Japanese, though, decided that having extra lexical help could be useful.

Note: This article doesn't explain the meaning of structures like わけにはいかない or わけではない. They do have their English equivalents.

I also managed to compile a short list of things that literally enlightened me while struggling to understand what わけ really means and why we need it to sound natural.

In many contexts, わけ indicates that the partners in the conversation share some knowledge.

You really need context to be able to use it. If you were to just enter a room and say a sentence containing わけ, it wouldn't make much sense.

It is used as a reaction/to react to someone else's statement (dialog) or to your surroundings. It shows that you have realized/understood something. Could be paired with だから, それで、なるほど, which are placed at the beginning and わけ at the end, for example:

だから、五条先生強いわけだ。

Ah, so that's why Gojo-sensei is so strong.

Context: We were wondering why Gojo is so strong, and we just found out (someone told us) that Gojo is a six-eye user, and that made us realize why he is so strong.

It is used when the speaker performs a monologue. In this case, we can distinguish two possible situations:

emphasizing inevitable consequences of some actions, i.e. You eat a lot of sugar, so naturally you will gain weight. If you don't add わけ to such a statement, it will be fine as well, but it will sound like a dry fact. However, during a lecture or a conversation about eating habits and their consequences adding わけ will give your sentence the nuance of "And as you know...".

the speaker wants to restate/sum up their own words because their first explanation was unclear. It's like saying "I mean..."; "In other words..."

It is used to restate/paraphrase someone else's words (or your own words). Could be paired with つまり. For example, someone described something to you, but it was complicated. You want to make sure you understand the statement correctly, so you paraphrase it using easier words. You will end that 'easier' sentence with わけ or というわけ.

Used to give the reason for what the conversation partner has said or to state the logical conclusion. Remember that both parties in the conversation need to have the same knowledge. For example:

Context: Both of the speakers knew that Tanaka-san had some heart problems, and one of them drew a logical concl

田中さんが亡くなったそうだ.

I have heard that Tanaka-san has died recently.

本当？心臓発作だったというわけだな。

Really? That must have been a heart attack. (source) usion.

わけではない is used for correcting false impressions

In English, the tone of your voice and intonation will change the meaning of your sentence. In Japanese, though, such changes can be expressed through particle/verb ending choice. A good example can also be ～てしまう.

Consider this sentence:

I didn't invite him to the party because I didn't like him.

It could mean either: 1. I don't want to party with people I don't like. (から) 2. I had other reasons not to invite him, and not liking him wasn't one of them (わけではない)

Even though there are ways to translate わけ into English, it's often omitted in translations.

'Because ' in English is used to provide reasons, but it doesn't really matter if your conversation partner shares knowledge with you. 'Because' can convey completely new information or information already known to everyone for clarity's sake. わけ, on the other hand, speakers must have some prior, common knowledge.

In the following parts of the article, you will find more information related to the above points.

Definition of ～わけ

According to Jisho, it is a noun, and because it is a noun you negate it as a noun, and it conveys the meaning of:

conclusion from reasoning,

judgment or calculation based on something read or heard;

or it just translates to (as a standalone word)

reason; cause; meaning; circumstances; situation.

Stefan Kaiser in his book Japanese: A Comprehensive Grammar defines わけ as

a structural noun [...] used when the speaker realizes that there is an explanation or reason for some occurrence or phenomenon. Or [...] used when the speaker realizes that some fact or occurrence is the result of some other fact or occurrence.

The author mentions that it can be translated to 'so' or 'then'. Following this definition, let's analyze our first example from Jujutsu Kaisen.

JJK; S01 episode 02 or 03; Yuuji just moved into the school dorms

君の中の宿儺が力を取り戻すために指の在り処を教えてくれる. 君は器である同時に探知機、レーダーでもあるわけだ.

To regain its power, the Sukuna you consumed will direct you to the whereabouts of the fingers. You are a vessel as well as a radar.

To better understand this sentence, let's look at more context.

Yuuji has already eaten two of Sukuna's fingers. Since the fingers resonate with each other, he can kind of guess where they are or at least sense their presence (to some degree). Given those facts, we can surmise that Yuuji works like a radar, and that is what Gojo implies by using わけ.

In essence, わけ marks a logical conclusion or result based on some known facts.

Some known facts: Yuuji ate the fingers, they resonate with each other, and he's a vessel...

The conclusion from reasoning/realization: ...you’re a radar.

Notice that the English translation did not include any phrase that would introduce 'conclusion'. It is implied. You could include, for example, 'And that's why...' or something along those lines, but the whole line sounds better without it.

Let's elaborate on it, though. For those of you who don't overthink life or grammar rules, such short dictionary entries might be enough, but I'm a professional overthinker and I just need to know.

～わけ as a modal structure

This section is full of proper linguistic discourse, but don't shy away from it. It might actually help you deepen your understanding of this structure. Japanese grammar books for teachers, and grammar books written in Japanese, list わけ as a modal structure.

For a complete guide to modality, go here ⇒ Link Click

Modality is about a speaker’s or a writer’s attitude towards the world. A speaker or writer can express certainty, possibility, willingness, obligation, necessity and ability by using modal words and expressions. Speakers often have different opinions about the same thing. (Cambridge online dictionary)

Simply put, modal structures help you convey a variety of subjective nuances, for example, instead of saying, I'm wrong, you can say, I might be wrong (might is a modal verb). Let's see what subjective feelings わけ helps us convey:

Certainty or Conviction: わけ is often used when the speaker is confident or certain about the reason they are presenting. It signals that the speaker believes something is true based on their understanding or recognition of a situation.

Explanatory or Justificatory: It is commonly used to explain or justify a statement or action. It adds a sense of "it makes sense that..." or "therefore..." to the statement, showing that the speaker is not just stating a reason but also expressing their conviction or perspective on that reason.

Subjective Interpretation: わけ reflects the speaker's subjective interpretation or understanding of a situation, making it a modal structure because it conveys the speaker's attitude and belief.

An interesting observation has been made in an article titled 「わけだ」文と「からだ」文の意味の違いについて by 牟世鍾 and 宋洙珍 (I'm sorry, I can't decipher their names).

「わけだ」文が表す理由は、対象から納得し、それを理由として位置づけたもの、つまり、話し手が何か認識の過程を経て位置づけたまさにモダリティの形式であり、そのような認識․納得の過程のない直接的な理由を表す「からだ」文とは異なっている。

Which roughly translates to:

The reason expressed by the sentence わけだ is that the speaker is convinced by the object and positions it as the reason, that is, it is the very form of modality that the speaker positions through some recognition process, which is different from the sentence からだ, which expresses direct reasons without such a recognition/convincing process. (translation: mine)

In summary, the passage explains that わけだ places emphasis on the speaker's mental activity by which they become aware of, identify, and understand something (recognition). It involves perceiving, acknowledging, and comprehending information or stimuli in a way that leads to an understanding or recognition of a particular fact, concept, or situation. からだ, on the other hand, is more direct and simply states the reason without highlighting the speaker's internal thought process.

The article also states that

納得の形で提示した理由の文、つまり「わけだ」文は「からだ」文に置き換えられるが、その「からだ」文は「わけだ」文が持っているモダリティ的な意味はなく、単なる理由を表す文になってしまう。

Which translates to:

The statement of reason presented as a form of belief, i.e., the わけだ statement, can be replaced by the からだ statement, but this からだ statement does not have the modality meaning of the わけだ statement and becomes a mere statement of reason.

"A mere statement of reason" refers to a straightforward and explicit connection between the cause and reason; there's no room for confusion or subjective interpretations. Modality, though, is all about subjective interpretations. For example, in the sentence "I'm late because of traffic," "because of traffic" directly links the cause (traffic) to the effect (being late), making it clear that traffic is the reason for being late. There is a straightforward connection between the two elements.

Okay, let's leave modality and that linguistic talk and move on to something lighter. However, continue reading this article to find out what is the best possible interpretation of Gojo's わけ.

A learner-friendly definition of わけ

After many talks with my Japanese teacher, we managed to pinpoint some reasons for using this structure and what speakers want to convey by using it. Our main goal was to determine why in some cases わけ is a much better option than から.

Let's go back to our Jujutsu Kaisen example:

君の中の宿儺が力を取り戻すために指の在り処を教えてくれる. 君は器である同時に探知機、レーダーでもあるわけだ.

To regain its power, the Sukuna you consumed will direct you to the whereabouts of the fingers. You are a vessel as well as a radar. (official translation)

In this case, and as you will see in other examples, わけ most likely conveys:

general/obvious statement. It means that all parties involved in the conversation share the same knowledge and the speaker just confirms everyone's understanding.

the speaker indirectly (through わけ ) asks "You understand, right?" / "You know what that means, right?"

Gojo realizes that Yuuji has enough information to understand his situation, but may or may not know the implications. Yuuji may not know/be sure what all of this means.

Gojo first provided Yuuji with a result and then he stated the reason why achieving this result will be possible. This can also give わけ the meaning of "So no wonder why you work like a radar."

In essence, わけ is used when there is shared knowledge about the situation and the speaker reinforces/confirms everyone's understanding, even when not prompted to do so. If we replace わけ with から, we will end up with a sentence conveying completely new information to Yuuji. The context of this sentence would have to be different as well.

The original context involves Gojo walking Yuuji around the school and talking to him about the jujutsu world and Yuuji's position in all of this. Yuuji did not ask any questions during their walk, as some things had been explained to him before.

However, if Yuuji was oblivious to his situation and what having eaten the fingers meant for him and the jujutsu world, Gojo would have to provide him with some dry explanations/facts. The important factor here is 'being oblivious/not knowing enough'.

Let's replace わけ with から then.

[...] 君は器である同時に探知機、レーダーでもあるから。

To regain its power the Sukuna you consumed will direct you to the whereabouts of the fingers. Because you are a vessel, a locator as well as a radar.

In English, it still might make sense, but as I mentioned at the very beginning, わけ is often omitted in translation. In translation, we call such cases 'problems with equivalence', which means that one language has something that the other doesn't have or doesn't use it as often as the first one. If Gojo used から, it would imply that Yuuji didn't know that he was a vessel, that the fingers resonate with each other, and therefore he could be of help to everyone. The exchange between them could look like this: Gojo: In order to regain its power the Sukuna you consumed will direct you to the whereabouts of the fingers. Yuuji:Why? / How come? Gojo: Because you are a vessel, a locator as well as a radar. Let's analyze another example from Jujutsu Kaisen. Nobara just joined the team; S01; Ep03

でかい霊園があってさ、廃ビルとのダブルパンチで呪いが発生したってわけ

There is a big cemetery, and the double whammy with the abandoned building caused the curse. (Again, no English equivalent of わけ)

というわけだ / ってわけだ are just more elaborate ways to express logical conclusions. It's often used with な-adj and nouns. There's a separate section on that, too.

In this case, Gojo gave our main trio two reasons why the curse might have shown up in the abandoned building. The building and the nearby graveyard are those reasons.

If we were to explain the use of わけ here in linguistic terms, we could say that わけ is used to emphasize that the occurrence of the curse is the logical result of the combination of two factors: the large cemetery and the abandoned building. It suggests that there's a logical connection between these two elements that led to the curse. It also adds a sense of logical inevitability.

However, explaining it through our 'learner-friendly definition' we could say that Gojo used it because:

all of them share the same knowledge, namely they all know why curses are born and what the combo of an abandoned building and a graveyard means (general/obvious statement).

It's not like they pulled up to the building oblivious to the world around them, and Gojo had to teach them the basics. Even though they did not ask any questions, he was confirming their understanding of the situation through わけ.

Gojo through わけ also implies something along the lines of "And as you can see..." or "As you probably already realized..."

It could also be the case that they immediately realized that the curse was there, but they didn't know why/weren't sure why. Gojo did not waste time, and instead of waiting for their questions, he supplied the missing information himself.

If we modified the sentence with から, it would still indicate that the curse occurred because of the combination of the large cemetery and the abandoned building. However, it would imply that the main trio didn't know that the connection between the curse being there and the vicinity of the graveyard and abandoned building mattered.

The conversation could go like this: Gojo: There's a curse in this building. Them: Why? Gojo: There is a big cemetery, and the double whammy with the abandoned building caused the curse. One more example from Season 1, Episode 2.

さすがに特級呪物が行方不明となると―上がうるさくてねえ観光がてらはせ参じたってわけ

As one would expect when a special-grade cursed object goes missing, the higher-ups won't shut up, so I stopped by while I was out for some sightseeing.

In this case, 'so' perfectly captures the meaning of わけ, as Stefan Kaiser pointed out in his book.

A missing special grade cursed object is a big deal and sorcerers shouldn't take such cases lightly, which Gojo points out to Fushiguro, namely "[...] the higher-ups won't shut up."

Both Gojo and Fushiguro know about it as they belong to this community, which means they share knowledge.

While Gojo is telling Fushiguro why he came, he isn't providing him with new information. In this case, わけ has the nuance of "So you probably realize why I am here."

Because they belong to the same community, Fishuguro understands that ignoring special-grade cursed objects isn't the best of actions, and Gojo just reinforces/confirms his understanding.

One example from Season 2, Episode 8

準備ばっちりってわけだ。

The presence of わけ in this example might not be so clear at first glance. However, the English translations official and unofficial alike somehow manage to capture the meaning of わけ through "I see," which by many learners is instinctively translated to なるほど, though.

As always, we need more context.

Gojo since entering the Shibuya station began to collect information about the situation. He noticed some things that helped him understand/realize what was going on, namely his opponents (Jogo, Hanami, and Choso) prepared for the fight with him.

Through わけ, Gojo shows his realization. At the beginning of this article, I mentioned that わけ can be used as a reaction to someone else's statement. In this case, Gojo is not reacting to someone else's words, but to his surroundings.

In an alternate situation, Jogo or Hanami could also tell him: "Hey! We did this and that!" And Gojo could reply with: "Is that so? It means that you prepared yourself then" (drawing a logical conclusion/natural consequence).

Summary

So let's summarize what we have learned about わけ so far.

わけ is a modal structure, which means that the statements marked by it aren't facts but opinions/beliefs/thoughts.

It can be used interchangeably with から, but the nuance changes, and in some cases the meaning.

It marks logical conclusions, which by nature aren't hard facts.

It can also be used to give advice or make general statements based on a logical conclusion.

というわけだ is a more formal and elaborate way to provide a conclusion because there are more reasons stated and this helps us summarize everything.

わけ is used to explain the reason or cause behind something. It helps clarify why a certain situation occurred or why someone did something.

It is often used to provide an explanation or justification.

All parties involved in the conversation share some knowledge / have the same information.

You can't really use it without context, as opposed to から, which can be used without any context.

It conveys the nuance of "As you probably already realized..." or indirectly asks, "You understand, don't you?"

というわけだ / ってわけだ for restating some facts

Apart from というわけだ / ってわけだ being a "more elaborate way to mark logical conclusions", it can also be defined as a structure that paraphrases someone else's or your own words.

わけだ and というわけだ don't really change the meaning of the sentence, but というわけだ is used when the speaker provides more than one reason for something. It is often used with な-adjectives and nouns as opposed to わけだ, which is often seen after verbs. It's not a hard rule, though.

What does paraphrasing mean and why do we do that?

Paraphrasing means that you're trying to use your own words to show how you understand someone's statement. You have analyzed someone's statement and you drew a conclusion.

We do it because we are not sure of our understanding; in a way, we're asking our speaker to confirm our understanding. Modal meaning applies here as well.

In the previous examples, Gojo wasn't restating someone else's words. He was the one to introduce the information.

However, in the example below, Principal Yaga is restating Yuuji's reasons for joining the jujutsu world.

The interview with Yaga; S01; Ep02

それが呪いの被害となると看過できないというわけか

Yaga just asked Yuuji why he wanted to join the jujutsu high school. Yuuji told him that leaving Sukuna's fingers as they are (unprotected/unsupervised) is dangerous. Yaga drew a conclusion from that, namely:

JJK; Chapter 3; Viz Media

In this case, we actually have something that is considered the equivalent of というわけだ namely, "So you're telling me that [...]". However, remember that not every "so you're telling me that..." needs to be translated to というわけだ.

In the very first chapter, the very first thing Fushiguro says to Gojo is, "You're telling me that someone is keeping a special-grade cursed object in a place like this?!" Fushiguro wasn't restating/paraphrasing Gojo's words.

We can assume that before this panel Gojo told Fushiguro: "There's a special-grade cursed object in the outdoor thermometer box." Fushiguro saw it and just repeated Gojo's words in disbelief, it was sort of a quotation.

Translation problems

In the above examples, わけ could be translated to 'so' or 'then,' but the aim of translation is to make sentences in the target language sound as natural as possible. We could rephrase all of them and include 'so' or 'then' or even any other synonyms, but if the context is clear enough, then including extra lexical help is simply redundant.

Here, we're also dealing with audiovisual translation, where the number of characters in a single line of subtitles matters a lot. Too many words in a single line may hinder the understanding or slow it down and lower the overall experience. And yes, even such short words as 'so' can do it.

Sources

https://briefjapanese.fun/how-to-use-wake/

my Japanese teacher and his native Japanese teacher

Stefan Kaiser, Japanese: A Comprehensive Grammar (p.285)

#わけ #modality #japanese with anime #toc

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semi-imaginary-place · 6 months ago

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end of ffxv thoughts

i sort of piecemeal watched the ending of ffxv so i finally sat down and watched the while thing through and some thoughts from the last 1/3 of the game

magic universe ending protozoa. This is bullshit. I get that they wanted to go scifi but it doesn't work. Imagine if maleria caused the sun to go out. They should have just made it magic. Curses were used to explain diseases anyways and magic engineering is already established in this setting. It can just be a magic infectious disease instead of having magic daemon protozoa and then they tied the magic protozoa to the world ending destruction of light like huh thats not how protozoa work. Like you could just say daemons and daemonic energy itself is infectious. Eh I suppose this isnt the worst i'm coming around to it. Like if you go the protozoa route how does the oracle bloodline stop it and why does lunafreya and ravus dying accelerate it (probably ardyn's doing) but it leaves more questions.

So in the final fight ardyn is weakened enough his physical body is destroyed but he still could come back from the rainbow realm. Ardyn kinda obsessed with noctis ngl

Which brings me to the next point presummably Noctis needs the power of the previous Lucis kings to get rid of Ardun for good but I thought that was what the 10 years was for to attune to the ring's power but then there's the cutscene of all the kings joining the ring. Did that really have to take 10 years? It feels more that the writers wanted a timeskip. I should go look up an explanation. Edit ah timeskip was crystal power.

Liked episode prompto gotta love an existential crisis. I am confused whether from prompto's monologue whether he knew he was an mt clone or not because he was saying as a kid he was afraid of people knowing. I should look that up. also did he meet luna before noctis? im unclear on the timeline. i looked things up. part of what confused me about the clone reveal was that the MTs seemed to be robotic when damaged or cut apart. the clones weren't directly put into the armor suits there were used as food to cultivate the black stuff which was then processed into the cores powering MTs. idk how much consciousness was retained but prompto seems to believe so.

Gotta say i really respect tabata. He was dumped into the worst case scenario, development hell project that had been dragging on and accumulating detritus for a decade, engine changes, concept changes, nomura, like late stage director change wow what a mess. I think tabata resigned after the project too. And yet ffxv managed to pull itself together in the end. Despite one if the worst development cycles in history xv still managed to have a better story than xvi. It shouldn't really be controversial to but monarchy iant a good government system so I'm a hard sell on return of the rightful king and divine right of kings type stories, ffxv did pretty good.

Also let me say maybe its the acearo but i cant be the only one who keeps forgetting lunafreya is the love interest they really feel like close childhood friends more than romanic interests. But I didn't hate it, it was fine.

just a thought. if after the darkening all of crown city moved to lestallum how is that possible. insomia looked like a major metropolis like hyper urban the population has got to be over 1 million maybe even 10 million or more and lestallum looks like a mid sized city maybe 0.5 million (possibly smaller) no way they absorbed that many people not to mention from other areas.

why was lunafreya in insomnia in the beginning of the game anyways

brotherhood huh i thought prompto and noctis met in highschool. actually if prompto was part of some lucis military operation how'd he end up living a normal childhood. oh the dog prompto helped pryna that's how they met. interesting contrast between prompto being presented as the "normal" one in the group and then he's actually super special i don't know if i like it. also not everything needs to connect back to noct and luna like prompto could have decided on weightloss and an image change on his own or be cause he wanted acceptance by his classmates. so prompto just shove his way into noctis's life after stalking him for like 7 years. eh anime's pretty bad it's on part with other videogame animes which all tend to be pretty bad or mid at best. it relies on tropes as a cheap easy way to tell a story with out doing any of the ground work to develope a narrative. eh it explains some plot things i suppose

kingsglaive: luna what are you doing just standing there while regis is trying to buy you time. drautos.. wasn't that the traitor guy. if so why did he send crowe to her death if the hairpin is bugged. presumably niflhiem wanted the tracker on lunafreya. the hairpin ending up with her through nyx is coincidence. multiple problems would have been solved giving lunafreya or nyx a gun. my dude why is you only long/mid range weapon a knife. plot armor really is the best armor drautos/glauca really shrugs off the entirely of regis's security detail, cladudis and regis but can barely get up from ring blast. why are the giant golems only activating now after the king has died (edit: oh that's the old wall they were talking about. it's not a wall). oh the car broke down i was like why are you all standing in the street, you're going to walk to altissia?? that's literally 40 times slower than driving. not sure why she ditched libertus beside to fit the game.

is it weird that i like the movie more than the game. movie is an action film to the background of a political drama with is exactly in my lane same reason i liked ff12. game is a bros roadtrip which is fun but isn't quite as exciting. kingsglaive also retains that urban fantasy setting that was core to versus xiii. kinda tropey action movie wise and as a movie maybe 8/10 but that's better than any other videogame movie i've ever seen in the last 20 years.

also i figured out why regis' model was bothering me, his beard isn't as neat as you'd expect. I guessing it's a 3d modeling thing because i sometimes see the same problem with animal fur just took me a while to connect the dots. regis' beard is kinda scraggly where as if you look at the beards of most high profile men they tend to be more neatly shaven (which by the way is a lot of work maintaining a good looking beard is more work then shaving every day because you still have to shave like every other day or but this time you have to actually groom it instead of taking it all off). i also still think the lucis crown looks stupid

ngl pocket edition looks super charming reminds me of bravely default i might like it more than the full game. idk why they bothered to remake all the models and assets this whole project seems like a waste of resources but it caters to my specific niche audience. i guess squeenix had too much fxiv money to burn.

#ffxv

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theverminpartofpeople · 6 months ago

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Soo I was planning to make a survey online (measuring type) and then make a presentation about its flaws and inaccuracy and stuffs but I’m too lazy for that so I’m just gon post it here hehe

Warnihn: unclear explanation might possibly gave you brain damage sorry I wrote this in my note at 2am

• Create a survey simulation and point out its flaws

Humans love to find oppositness and contratory, or parralelity, all of what could be deemed “ironic”(cant find the word), people are so obsess with the idea of that that they no longer believe in coincidence, which is literally what create up of the universe. In creation there are no irony, nor fate. The universe is literally born from science, matter and chain reaction, what created is created, and there is no “why”, therefor there doesnt exist order (trật tự) either. And that is what human are so desperately looking for, in this fucking vast ass cosmo of chaos, they seeks for order so that they can exist, as order is what kept us in check, but the universe has never been such, and will never be, there is no “fate”, “irony”, “symbolism” in sience and matter after all. The world can’t just be reduce to simple black and white and contradiction of each other, no matter how aesthetic it might seems. Like, human have simplify far too many things.

How is this related to the survey? Idk man

They created a bar for measurement of their own personal prejudice or whatever the shit it call. for example, being told “rate my dog on a scale of one to ten”, and that is far too simplified. A survey will never be good with this kind of judgement system, its too orderly and tidy

First of all, you cant use mere number to explain human’s thought. The brain is far too superior for mere number. Number is an invented concept create by human for the counting and measurement of things, but this can only be use on agonizingly surface aspect of the world, such as for counting the amount of apples or some shit, but unluckly(?), human’s opinion isn’t in that “surface” range. Its more complex and nuance i guess.

Secondly, number seven could mean more to this person and less to the others, they might percieve “5” as the average or “8” as the average, according to some people pleaser, when the “average 5” is already been percieve as low nowaday. I mean, would you rate a chick 5 and they would not be mad? Even when it is average, no one want to be, that’s why the new average has always been on the higher side of the scale. Talk about yapping, an actual intellect person would be able to yap all this while being much more concise and understandable, I’m not one tho so. Anyway, being simply told to just “rate” my dog isn’t clear enough. The world and human’s way of perceiving anything doesn’t oftenly get reduced to only one word “rate”, more boardly, the english language is always a lot more simple and less complex than other, but on the whole though language overall (not just english) just doesn’t meet the standard of portraying what human mean and think, what was i talking aboti? Right, you moght have seen that most words that writer, philosopher tend to use are difficult, vauge words that are up to human interpretation, because “simple is the best”, and “simple” is anything but human’s mind. But we don’t like to read a whole lots of word, that’s why people use vague word, even when the best way to describe it is through a thousand of actual words. In this case, human have reduce to such state that they expect the other to understand and fits their scale of thinking with not even a vague words but a fucking shame of english, an actual simple word, like “rate”. You know what im saying? Fuck this make a lot more sense while a lot more shorter in my head, but to put it to words AND make people understand i just have to do it like that sorry. So when you say “rate my dog”, it isn’t specific enough, it could mean rate the dogs fur softness or its beauty or cuteness compare to THEIR dog. The things that the rater use to compare the dog with also matter a lot actually. In fact, it is the most important factor one could have when rating something or setting the standard to something, think, you wouldn’t have care or know about beauty standard if you were the only human on earth werent you? In fact, human society are solely base on comparison of between things, so when you say “rate my dog”, you gotta be more specific.

This is just one very specific part of the whole surveying industry that can’t possibly represent the rest of the part.

Human are a very denpendant on one another, they are extremly easy to change their mind according to whatever the popular choice is alright, no matter how independent and invidualistic they might say they are, just use tiktok and youll know. The way you words your question and the implication or the pressure you are having on the rater may aswell heavily alternate the result you should had have originally, that’s why Oxford’s experiment are so undirect and creative instead of pure survey. For example, if you ask

Actually I can’t think of an example for this one, but you got the idea. Also, most likely the highest result in the question “rate my dog from 1-10” will be 9 to 10, because of how silly, simple the question is, and also everyone loves dog as a whole. But if you replace the question with a more subjective one (what is subjective??), like “rate my outfit” or “rate this dog breed specifically” the most chooser number will likely decreased to 7, or more unlikely 8 or 6. Still, people wouldn’t just chose on the lower part of the scale that easy. Research literally show that ppl would most often chose number seven if asked to rate out of a 10 scale, so perhaps remove that to get a more direct idea of what the person thought, or not, as they can chose that number fr, so the best choice is just not to use survey if you want to do some kind of experiments.

#writing #research #possible philosophy #yapping #survey #study #rate #opinion #thoughts #analysis

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havesomewords · 8 months ago

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It does suck. Ah, Teyvat - what an enigma it was. You do not speak highly of Mondstadt - I'm rather interested. If comfortable, do tell more, I'm curious to see how aligned our memories are. Despite being from vastly different areas, my interest prevails.

I suppose we do have something in common for certain though, family woes seem to follow us both.

- E.

That might take an entire library of books to explain Mondstadt and its history but to shortly summarise it: every nation was in a constant state of war and had a great many of internal civil armed conflicts. Each major one that ended with one faction winning over the other had a full history/evidence sweep just to make deciphering previous events harder.

Mondstadt of my time was a post-colonialist, libertarian hellhole with royalty transforming into oligarchy. The 'colonialist' part was the one swiped under the rug, because nobody heard of any colonies... largely because the knowledge of them was wiped out or they got all killed. It made maps really confusing and I am fairly certain that there was a country between Sumeru and Mondstadt that was axed around 100 years before I got born and merged into both. The bigger mystery was if there was anything outside of Teyvat (including underground) because the continent was completely gridlocked. I was a part of a network of informants and we had contacts that helped people escape but due to how dangerous it was - we never learnt what happened afterwards becuase none of us had enough data to make the full picture. It sounds like we were very organised but we were all just trying to hoard anything - art, music, photos, literature - and decipher them to learn about the past ... or the present.

In legal terms just pertaining to Mondstadt - being gay was decriminalised when I was 10 and you still risked being institutionalised or sent to a work camp (my Teyvat loved those and refugee camps which were still work camps but with more prison thrown into the mix). Liyue sort of stopped persecuting homosexuality but the laws were unclear and any queer club was technically illegal. The one me and my best friend loved to go to was raided each month. Slavery was made illegal around 50 years before I was born in phases but ... only when it pertained citizens of Mondstadt so if someone wanted to buy a whole person abroad - they could but transporting them into the borders was illegal. Once you managed that? Nobody persecuted those that wished to own human beings. Health care was ... dubious - we had clinics and hospitals but they were all paid - insurance as a concept never existed and there was no such thing as mental heath care. We started to get therapists but they were horrid at best and dangerous at worst - when I booked an appointment with one to get advice on being sober - he told me to stop being gay and that alcohol addiction was just media propaganda. Employee rights or employment overall was a wild west because there was no laws beyond working hours and the best one could do, if you had a business, was to make everyone business partners because then they could be a legal party in court cases if they got harmed during work.

The problem was that ... all of the nations were like this besides Natlan, which had a permament civil war and was pretty much a wasteland. Armies from other nations sent units there if they wanted to rake in funding, because the factions in the conflict kept changing every week so one could really hone on the populism.

Sometime before I died - we did get into something of a World War 2 if one would consider the Cataclysm the World War 1 (in my history - it was pretty much an armed conflict as our Archons were only present when they wished to cause gigantic natural disasters while those in the source's canon were something akin to our prophets so they served as body vessels but they were also their own people) and it went badly to the extent loads of people died or I died in a specific operation (of evacuating people) - hard to say. My memories are a bit weird and messy nowadays due to brain damage sponsored by a dead brain tumour and an older case of amnesia so the problem is that they get tangled with the history of areas that my current relatives live or are from. They all had similar events and backgrounds but over a longer period of time and a larger area. For example - one place had a whole language axed by nationalism and gentrification plus war propaganda and it led to nobody remembering the written form so history of the region is only present in the form of being passed down to younger generations.

I am trying to write everything down whenever I go down a rabbit hole of thinking about a subject but it will take years :') . Sorry for the waffle but I am a history nerd and I'd love to know which area are you from and how does it differ from mine or its depiction. I did run into people with many different interesting histories - none were as extremely differing as I think mine is (but I bet I am a grain of sand on the beach, because most folks probably don't write on the internet, so I am willing to guess that there is much more awful versions and hell - this planet has worse countries in contemporary history).

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gentlehousenicole · 1 month ago

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So I finally finished Chapter 5.

I didn't like it. I'm sorry. I'm not going full canon divergent, at least not yet, but whether or not I do depends on where the story goes from here. IMHO it needs to dial its volume back by, like, 10,000 levels.

Anyway, I have updated my headcanons for my portrayal of Nicole in accordance with the plot developments and reveals in Chapter 5, so here's what I have so far.

Unmarked spoilers below the jump.

Nicole scammed Miyabi out of her family katana to teach her a lesson about humility and naivete. She knew damn well who Miyabi was and what her family had done, and Nicole wanted to show her that “Void Hunter” is a badge of honour, not a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free Card. Now as then, Void Hunters are just ordinary people like her who did the seemingly impossible in order to help others, and were recognized for it. And, just like any other person, even Void Hunters can make mistakes and bad calls. The implication in her words was that this is why Nicole has cast off the title of Void Hunter: She has chosen to live with the people she Loves and serves, not above and apart from them, and she's entreating Miyabi to do the same. Miyabi was shocked, but accepted the lesson humbly, and that's why she asked for Nicole's number: She doesn't know exactly who Nicole really is, but she can sense something different and even oddly familiar about her, and regardless Miyabi has enough decorum to respect the wisdom and life experience of an elder...Or someone who acts like an elder...

Nicole has been spending more and more time in the Outer Ring, and the Sons of Calydon are as much her family as they are Billy's. She's especially been hanging around Burnice and Caesar in particular, and has picked up a lot of the former's driving habits. I now officially ship Nicole with Burnice (it's not just because they're my two favourite characters in the game I swear), and secondarily with Caesar.

Years and years ago, Nicole and the Cunning Hares painted a lot of the graffiti art adorning the walls of Reverb Arena. They're skilled artists, in fact, which I'm basing on a very, very early piece of concept art showing a proto-Nicole, Anby and Nekomata tagging a back alley wall.

At the Vision Trial Perlman is acquitted on all charges because he obviously didn't do anything wrong (and in fact played a vital role in exposing the true culprits) and the case is thrown out without prejudice because the real defendants disappeared. Wanting to maintain a low profile, he returns to the Outer Ring and starts a new life. As a way to apologize for all the trouble surrounding him, he joins Leaps and Bounds as a corporate advisor and also offers to take over Gentle House's finances, with a little help from Ben, to ease the burden on Nicole.

Give his stature, Perlman either has the IRL condition Dwarfism, or he's some kind of Thiren. Either a fantasy dwarf Thiren, else he has the same condition that makes Grassy, Woody and Bricky so small compared to Big Daddy.

I am still so terribly confused about the ZZZ timeline: From what I gather the formation of Hollow Zero and the Fall of the Old Capitol are meant to be two separate events, but it's incredibly unclear, especially because I thought the implication was the formation of Hollow Zero was what destroyed Eridu? Eleven years is much too short a time for New Eridu to be built and become a bustling metropolis. For my purposes, the history of Eridu will be closer in scale to that of the IRL Eridu to more closely map onto the Mesopotamian civilization.

To explain why Eridu is in living memory for so many people (let alone why it appears to have been founded and fallen at the same time), I am positing a kind of mythopoetic flat time as in The Elder Scrolls series (though Nicole is different, and I'll explain why in another post). This would also map onto the IRL Sumerian history, which lists the reigns of some kings of Eridu lasting thousands of years.

Furthermore, I am officially adapting the "Boring and Therefore Wrong" approach to lorebuilding used in The Elder Scrolls to Zenless Zone Zero for any canon twists and reveals we may or may not get going forward.

#OOC.#Headcanons.#Ali Writes.#I cannot even *begin* to convey how disappointed I am in v.1.4

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bookofmirth · 3 years ago

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The english side of me REALLY jumped out with this one lol

Possessiveness, jealousy, and overprotectiveness are staples of the romance genre, especially when it comes to paranormal romances, so much so that it’s expected for people to overlook the problematic aspects of possessiveness, jealousy, and overprotectiveness because these concepts in the romance genre are meant to be viewed not only as hot and sexy, but indicators of love and showing that the person cares. Despite their tendency to fall in the yellow flag zone, these concepts are meant to further the romance itself. And when you begin to question these concepts as they appear in different romances, there’s almost always pushback with people saying the books are “just fiction”. But what happens when there’s evidence that shows why these three concepts aren’t always healthy or hot/sexy in a romantic pairing? What happens when the narrative is using these concepts to show how they can be detrimental to a character and those romantically associated with that character?

Possessiveness/Overprotectiveness

In romances, it’s always in the man’s nature to be possessive and overprotective. These two concepts are usually used to show that a character is protective of their partner and we see that happen with almost all of SJM’s endgame ships, but they’re almost always portrayed as good/healthy because of the equal partnership that is present in those relationships. Thinking about acotar, a relationship where possessiveness and overprotectiveness were depicted in a negative light was between Feyre and Tamlin. Their relationship was imbalance and Tamlin’s possessiveness/overprotectiveness of Feyre stood out in the barriers he placed on Feyre when they were together: not letting her leave the house/keeping her in the house; saying everything is for her “protection”; only letting her talk to Alis and Lucien/limiting her interactions with others; telling Lucien to back off from Feyre because Tamlin saw him as a threat and that she could fall for him instead; having Feyre be dependent on him by not teaching her how to fight/learn how to use her powers; controlling every aspect of Feyre’s life at the beginning of acomaf; among other things.

Males in acotar feel an intrinsic sense of entitlement to their mate and are described as being protective and possessive over their mates. When people say that A is exhibiting “mate behavior” towards E, obviously there is a positive connotation associated with that phrase because of how the males act around their mate. But the thing is A isn’t E’s mate. A’s possessiveness of E is treading on the waters of Tamlin-ville because: A speaks for E, which is oddly similar to what some of E’s stans do in fandom discussions (as if E herself reached out of the book to personally tell them things that no one else knows); he makes it known that E shouldn’t help with the Dread Trove, which is an example of A attempting to limit what E does; and he subtly expresses a sense of entitlement over E in the bonus chapter during his conversation with Rhys when he questions if the Cauldron was wrong in pairing E with Lucien. A’s “mate behavior” is completely different from Rhys and Cassian because Rhys and Cassian are canonically mated to Feyre and Nesta, which plays a role in how they act towards them. Also, neither of them attempt to limit what Feyre and Nesta do even if they worry about their safety. To say that A is exhibiting “mate behavior” towards E would have the same effect as saying Tamlin was exhibiting “mate behavior” towards Feyre. I think that the reason A’s actions towards E are described as mate-like is because thinking otherwise calls his actions into question. I assume some people aren’t ready for that conversation because he’s been portrayed as the sad bat boy in the fandom for so long that it’s probably hard for people to come to terms with this not being the case.

When people say A being overprotective of E is similar to Rhys and Cassian being overprotective of Feyre and Nesta, the comparison becomes incomparable because A is overprotective of E to the point where he goes against what E wants to do (E stating she wanted to help find the dread trove, a scene in which A was present and later A said E shouldn’t be exposed to its innate darkness), while Rhys and Cassian know Feyre and Nesta are capable of fending for themselves in dangerous situations. It’s just ironic that A’s overprotectiveness in this moment contradicts E’s “choice” of wanting to help, yet I don’t see that being mentioned in those “choice” arguments.

Jealousy

Jealousy in the romance genre is always meant to further the romance between the love interests and we see that happen with rowaelin and chaorene (and probably other SJM ships too). But when the jealousy and the romance are disconnected from each other, that’s meant to show something about the character who is jealous and what they’re jealous of. On the second page of the bonus chapter, it’s established that A is envious of Cassian and Rhys and that the reason he remained downstairs by the fire was so that he didn’t get swallowed up by his jealousy in his room. Then on the third page, it’s revealed that the reason he stayed by the door at Solstice was because “he couldn’t stand the sight of it, the scent of their mating bond, and needed to have the option of leaving if it became too much”. There is a blatant reimagining happening with A’s bonus chapter to make it seem as though his jealousy is romantically coded when the jealousy has nothing to do with his relationship with E and more to do with him. This reimagining has to be a case of people seeing what they want to see because I highly doubt people are out here failing literature class.

The Romance Genre & SJM

A and E’s interaction in the bonus chapter is frequently compared to Wings and Embers. The only similarity between these two chapters is the sexual undertones, which is part of the reason why I think people compare them in the first place because everything else (the structure of the chapters, their contents, and the amount of characters involved in them) is different. I think people are hiding behind the sexual undertones of the bonus chapter in hopes that it somehow overshadows not only the oddness of A’s interaction with E, but the ending of the bonus chapter as well. And even more than that, A giving away the necklace is compared to Cassian tossing Nesta’s present in the Sidra. Since A is able to give the necklace away that should tell you about the significance of the necklace’s connection to E herself (if A can easily give it away to the next person on the street) whereas Cassian regifting Nesta’s present would probably be meaningless to someone else because it was Nesta specific.

We know that acotar is more romance heavy compared to tog and cc so I can see why people lean more on the conventions of the romance genre as a basis for their arguments. And this is fueled by SJM saying this new trilogy will have one couple per book. However, the downfall of these arguments is that oftentimes the plot, narrative structure of this new trilogy in particular, and individual character progressions are secondary or afterthoughts to the romance they support. These arguments lack any real substance because acotar has proved time and time again that both the romance AND the plot work in tandem, going against the broad strokes of the romance genre formula where the romance is primarily in the spotlight.

Basically, why do you think A’s possessiveness, jealousy, and overprotectiveness of E is romanticized? Why do you think A and E’s dynamic is constantly compared to feysand and nessian? And why do you think people take issue with A being compared to Tamlin?

I think that the reason A’s actions towards E are described as mate-like is because thinking otherwise calls his actions into question.

THIS

I hate the whole discussion of "mate behavior" because the series doesn't even explain that very well. Rhys can't explain why people are mated, if it's for reproduction or being "equals" (in what sense, who knows), the courts all handle acceptance/rejection differently, the consequences of rejection are unclear and make it seem like the woman is beholden to accept on pain of... causing someone else pain.

I agree 100% that people (maybe unconsciously) try to ascribe "mate behavior" to Azriel in order to excuse what would ordinarily be inexcusable. He doesn't have some magical thing making him act this way. Neither did Tamlin, and we know how people view his behavior. And that's another thing with "mate behavior" and the bond. Why would Tamlin and Feyre not be mates, if all it took were these extreme possessive and protective behaviors? Why aren't Az and Mor mates?

And it's not even about Elain! Az acts like this with Mor, and we know there isn't a mating bond there. Azriel has zero reason to behave the way that he does, not in the same way that the mating bond gives Rhys and Cassian an "excuse", flimsy as it is, for the way that they act around Nesta and Feyre. Even that excuse is crap, because we have Rhys out here leaving Feyre's abusive ex alone, and then we have Lucien doing the same with Graysen. The definition of "mate behavior" that some of the fandom is working with... is sus.

The fact is that no matter how "overprotective" and possessive Rhys and Cassian were, they never prevented Nesta or Feyre from doing what they wanted. They might have gotten their hackles up, but then they backed off. Rhys sent Feyre into the Weaver's cottage. Nesta went to war. There is a balance between caring deeply and passionately for these women, and recognizing them as individuals whose autonomy should be respected.

The jealousy is 100% not about Elain. It's not about Elain being with Lucien. It's not about Mor, because we know that it's not really about Mor sleeping with Helion. Azriel has 99 problems, and 98.5 of them are about his childhood and his loneliness. The other 0.5 problem comes in the shape of a snowball.

The only similarity between these two chapters is the sexual undertones

You know I haven't done a full blown comparison between these chapters, but I'd agree. The entire Wings and Embers short was about Nesta and Cassian. There were no other characters and they learned a great deal about one another. What did Elain and Az learn about one another as people in the first third of his POV? Nothing. There was no tension between them other than sexual. Cassian thought Nesta's name over and over, thought about her as a person and her personality and how she made him feel. Azriel literally only thinks about fucking Elain. There is nothing wrong with fucking, obviously, but that's not love. (Maybe I should fully compare them idk.)

It's when we look at everything he doesn't say in conjunction with how he treats Elain and Mor in other scenarios... that's troubling. People can misread our 😬 at his behavior all they want, but the fact is that Az didn't have a single kind, original thought about who Elain is. His POV gave us zero extra insight into who Elain is as a person, which is... startling, if we are supposed to think that they know one another so incredibly well and have such intense feelings for each other. Why would we not get additional insight into her character? We get a lot of insight into Az's character for sure. But following his POV, if he loves and knows this woman so well, we should feel that. We should know why he loves her, what he knows about her, we should... just get some more damn insight into her character, if we are in the POV of someone who supposedly knows her so well!!!!

You know it's funny though, because the Az and Elain interaction in his POV mirrors when Nesta imagined a threesome with Az and Cassian. Close, and potentially pretty hot, but it never really happened because then it would mess up sjm's plans for the future.

Okay now to your ACTUAL questions haha and not just my reactions to what you said.

I agree that romanticizing Azriel's behaviors is the better option for people who ship it because otherwise the alternative is to accept them for what they are, which is not about Elain at all. Az has an even longer history of being all "mate behavior" on Mor, but no one thinks that's odd? I think that some people pick and choose their evidence, which is a big reason why I keep shoving Mor into these conversations. If the "mate behavior" argument was genuine and had a solid foundation, then the people making these claims would still ship moriel.

The whole thing with Az and Tamlin comparisons.... oh boy. I think there is a lot there.

I think that people don't want to see Az as anything less than perfect sad boi that Elain can fix with her love.

I think that people have a difficult time seeing emotional abuse IRL, to the point where even people who experience it directly struggle to come to terms with it, so why would we willingly embrace its presence in fiction? It also flirts with a lot of the ideas you mentioned being present in a lot of romance, though I'd argue a lot of those elements are becoming passé.

I think that Tamlin is Fandom Enemy Number One while Azriel is Self-insert Book Boyfriend Number One, and maybe people don't know how to reconcile those things. (This is quite literally true, I checked AO3 for reader fanfics and compared numbers between the bat boys, Az/reader fics win by a landslide.)

There also seems to be a refusal to see or accept nuance. I'm not even talking about moral complexity because I don't think that either Tamlin or Az intend to behave the way they do. They aren't villains. It just reminds me of people who somehow don't think Nesta was absolutely horrible through much of the series, even though a huge focus of her arc in acosf was coming to terms with how she had treated people. Anyway...

People see "gwynriel shipper" or "elucien 💕" in a bio and just dismiss arguments before trying to understand them

People try to justify their actions of their faves, which I understand!

People don't understand how subtle emotional abuse can be, and how there doesn't have to be clear intention.

I still plan on pulling out evidence from the book about times when their behaviors mirror one another. But it's like I've said for months - Tamlin is a cautionary tale. I don't think Azriel will go that far, but the foundation is there. The fact that acotar/acomaf was so, so explicit about how Tamlin's behavior was not okay, and yet people can see that same behavior in another character one book later and want to try to excuse it... sigh. Way to miss the point, fandom.

#the brielle tag #ask #not even gonna tag these characters #my stalkers will love this post though #💋#antielriel

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viridiave · 4 years ago

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Daylight Prairie- Creatures of the Light (lore dump)

I've had a couple of theories and headcanons stirring around my head regarding Prairie for a while now- so right here we're gonna tie some of them together cuz I haven't lored in a good long while XD

Note- btw I'm not part of beta so this is purely just me- a crackhead- putting together a crackpot narrative. SOME spoilers for Eden are present.

okay these guys drive me fucking nuts

We barely know anything about these guys- and what little we do know is derived purely from their closed off uh... Worshipping space. Look at this freaking thing.

In the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by clouds for miles. Fairly advanced diamond technology. Altars with graves decked out in gold and candles. The mechanism for the entrance to the elevator to begin with is fairly complex as well- activated by butterflies and the butterflies don't even die in the process. And to top everything off, this place has a portal that leads directly to the Prairie Temple.

If this isn't sus I don't know what is- but I think I have an explanation.

There are six spaces for six more people that we are not aware of. The only people we DO know of is one bald person in the short garb and another bald person in the long garb. I propose that these six missing people are the Whisperers.

Which is... pretty out there, I know. Counting the 'voices' that we get in game, (including the ones from previous Seasons like Lightseekers and Sanctuary) we have one for Birds, Whales, Mantas, Memories, Crabs, and Jellyfish. For now, we're not counting either Butterflies or Krill- and I'll explain why in a bit.

As for the initial proposition that these Whisperers are the missing six, first we need to ask ourselves what exactly it was that the Worshippers were... worshipping. There is a possible god of which we see in game, and the name of this god is the Megabird.

Megabird here was heavily present in concepts, and in the final product we only ever get to see traces of her and heck to this day we're not sure if she's a canon entity in the final game at all. Megabird as an entity in the concepts is basically the god overseeing the world of Sky and is comprised entirely of light. It's unclear whether or not the Ancestors were aware of her existence after or even before the King rose to power. The Elders themselves are likely privy to this information, but somehow I doubt that it's something anyone wanting to assert control over their people would encourage.

There's certainly the possibility that these Worshippers were a religious sect dedicated to the Elders themselves- but since I'm here trying to propose that they're worshipping something tangential to the possible actual god, we're going to assume this isn't the case. On that note-

I propose that the Ceremonial Worshippers valued the Light above all else- and this worship was extended towards the light creatures themselves.

'Oi. Vir. Crabs are DARK Creatures.'

Not all of them. Heck, a dark crab might not have been the norm back then, but that's a stretch and besides- the fact is that these crabs on the far end of Sanctuary are docile.

Keep in mind that these followers were stationed in Prairie, of all places. You know what else is in Prairie? Sanctuary Isles- home to several kinds of manta, butterflies, jellyfish, and even the elusive Elder Manta (yes that's what the big chonky boi that looks like a light krill is called- it's not a whale.). Daylight Prairie is in no shortage of light creatures- and at the center of it all is its Elder.

Prairie Elder is implied to have responsibilities toward the light creatures as presented in the SkyShop poem featuring them:

'Fields of harvest, prairies of joy.

Farmer and fauna as one.

The Elder protects the creatures of light,

For darkened days to come.

Fly up, fly away,

For the Children of Light in need.

We shall recall our days of wonder,

And feel its air once more.'

-SkyShop Poem (Prairie Elder Pin)

In the greater context of the story, Daylight Prairie is the primary source of light energy in the form of the light creatures- it makes sense that the Elder of that realm would oversee the flow of light creatures from one realm to the other, and that the Ancestors in their domain would have a greater respect for the creatures than others. They're the ones working with them, and they're the ones that know them best.

Enter the Worshippers- who were likely serving directly under the Prairie Elder. I'm not confident that the Prairie Elder could have shared information about the Megabird- or if they even know the god existed. 'The Light itself' is pretty vague for something to be worshipped, and it's possible that the Prairie Elder instead encouraged people that the Light manifested itself into the various light creatures that we see.

In this world however- industrialization marches on, and eventually these light creatures became things to be harvested rather than worshipped. It's speculated that light creatures were used in the production of diamonds- we see signs of this scattered throughout Forest, and Wasteland by proxy. The mural under the bridge in Forest and the doors to the Temple seem to suggest as much at least. Eventually, this industrialization will grow out of hand. I have a few theories on what the Prairie Elder might have done to passively rebel against this.

We learn in the Prairie Elder's cutscene that they are able to form- not summon- butterflies from fire. I'm not proposing that the Prairie Elder is single-handedly responsible for the existence of butterflies- rather I'm proposing through the Prairie Elder's abilities that light is able to be manipulated in such a way that one can create light creatures, should they know how.

It could just be the butterflies, honestly. And really it could just be the Prairie Elder that's capable of such a feat- and because of these holes in this theory it's the first to go.

And yes this is the reason why the Butterflies don't count. I think. That has holes too and I can make a case for the Butterfly Charmer technically being part of this... But I digress.

Sanctuary Islands could be a literal Sanctuary for the light creatures- there is an impressive variety of them present. It's also very out of the way, tucked away in a corner of Bird's Nest. The theory I'm proposing here is that the Prairie Elder and the Sanctuary Guide worked together to keep this place hidden from the rest of the Kingdom- and that it was the Sanctuary Guide that broke the bells that would have granted the Ancestors access to the light creatures.

This is... probably improbable, but my whole post was leading up to this so we're doing this. The missing six Worshippers are the Whisperers that we've encountered throughout the game- leaving in order to either develop their relationship with or protect their creatures of choice.

The Bird Whisperer stayed close and remained in Prairie- and is probably the reason why Bird's Nest exists at all. The Jellyfish Whisperer remained as well, opting to stay in Sanctuary- the natural habitat of the jellyfish.

The Whale Whisperer ventured to Forest- where there probably once was a small population of Whales, given the corpse we see in the Bridge Area and the live Whale in the Underground Cavern.

The Manta Whisperer went to Valley- I'm guessing to see how mantas were being used for labor and competitions? And Valley is right next to Wasteland so I might be reaching but they could have been monitoring that too.

The Crab Whisperer is a tricky one because we see them travelling with the Lightseekers, and yes I am proposing that this lady was formerly a Worshipper. But because we're dealing with a creature that we now know is more dark than light, maybe the Crab Whisperer joined the Lightseekers in order to observe that phenomenon more closely? Because she does refer to the crabs as friends in her SkyShop poem. Wasteland wasn't always a... wasteland, after all. Things could have been different, and the crabs could have been adapting in a time where they would be relatively dangerous but not so much that an Ancestor couldn't approach them.

And then there's the Memory Whisperer. For this one, I don't think a spirit manta actually exists- at least, not as an organic creature and moreso just an interactive holograph courtesy of the machinations of Vault. I'm actually not too sure on what this person could have been doing, but they have a call- and my best guess is that the Memory Whisperer is one who listens to the last vestiges of light leftover by a creature- because we do see skeletons in Vault, and one is of a creature that looks like an amalgamation of several spirit mantas.

As far back as Prophecy, Krill don't appear to be aligned with the light. They aren't depicted as former light creatures, nor a corrupted variant of an elder manta or whale- they are presented as thenselves in that Prophecy mural. Though I'm sure we'll get a Krill call later on, I'm not going to count them until then.

<CONCLUSION...?>

This huge post is... full of holes and heavy speculation, I'm aware. Mostly I just wanted to dump a bunch of shower thoughts and leftover lore I came up in the Discord lore chat. Go check it out sometime, I've derived a few points in this from interacting with people there. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this matter, by the way- it's fun theorizing! I haven't done this seriously in a long while.

#sky cotl #sky children of the light #sky lore #sky cotl lore #that sky game #daylight prairie #season of sanctuary

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hawkinsschoolcounselor · 4 years ago

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El and Morality

I don’t know about the rest of you, but the latest teaser left me with a feeling of intense dread. We see these kids playing in a seemingly carefree manner, but then Brenner comes walking in. He greets them, and they obediently respond. They’re all very used to it by this point, and they all call him Papa. He claims to have something special for them, but then we cut over to El’s isolation room and hear Brenner asking her if she’s listening.

Why does this fill me with dread? Mainly because the previous teaser showed some similar images to what we see in this one. The 8-ball, for example, is shown on one of the monitors, only it is covered in blood. It leads me to believe that something terrible happened that day. With Brenner asking if El is ready, then the shot of who appears to be El opening her eyes as if from a nightmare, has me wondering if he used her for something that resulted in the deaths of the other kids.

It’s by no means the most likely scenario for this teaser, but it’s where my mind went. The eerie music, the heavy breathing (ostensibly El’s), the fear on El’s face, it sends an ominous message. Is El remembering something from long ago? Is this a new group of kids in Brenner’s new facility? Is it just a nightmare fed with fear and guilt since she couldn’t save anyone? I really don’t know, but the idea that El may have been used to test the “worth” of the other subjects led me down an interesting road. Whether it was a “training exercise” gone wrong or a deliberate “culling” of the weak, I can’t shake the feeling that El did something that she desperately doesn’t want to remember.

If Brenner intended to use these kids to his own ends, then they should hold no allegiance to anyone but him. Emotional attachments to anyone else would be a risk in his eyes. They would need to have total, unquestioning obedience regardless of what he may ask them to do. For El to be the tool he wishes her to be, she would need to not think twice about killing. Brenner would have instilled in her, and the others, a need to garner his approval. This is why he teaches them to see him as a paternal figure instead of a doctor or teacher. We’ve seen him try to get El to kill a cat, but she refused. This upset him. Yet, we also see her have little issue killing in other circumstances. She’s somehow developed a sense of morals despite being manipulated from birth.

Morals are an interesting phenomenon. The entire concept of right and wrong really is subjective when you think about it. It’s a very abstract concept, and the way we think about it changes as we mature. However, it is also heavily influenced by external sources. In this case, Brenner would seemingly have total control over how his “children” learn to evaluate the morality of a given situation. I’ve previously spoken about El’s mental development, and how Brenner would have wanted to nurture certain intellectual domains, but restrict others. Here I want to discuss a similar process with the psychology of morality. Specifically, we will explore how El may have been manipulated into doing something that we, as viewers, would find horrific, yet come to develop a system of morals in spite, or perhaps because, of that.

Lawrence Kohlberg conceptualized the development of morality as coming in 3 levels (Pre-Conventional, Conventional, and Post-Conventional), broken down into 6 stages . These stages are more or less cumulative, as previous stages help pave the way for later ones. There’s no clear-cut ages for these stages, but level 1 generally encompasses early childhood, level 2 is later childhood and adolescence, and level 3 adulthood. The first level contains the more “primitive” or basic moral frameworks, obedience/punishment driven and self-interest driven. This is a level defined by a more egocentric understanding of the world, as it revolves around what’s “good” being what results in a positive consequence, and what’s bad being what results in a negative consequence. For children, this means learning what’s “good” as a result of an external reinforcer(i.e. “Papa) and then developing this into a sense that it can be used for a mutual benefit (”If I do what Papa says, he will be happy, and I will be rewarded.”). Since it’s still a stage defined by self-interest, there is no loyalty here, and such relationships will deteriorate once it is no longer beneficial.

This may have been Brenner’s fatal flaw. Most individuals wouldn’t move onto the Conventional level until adolescence. While these kids may have had some basic sense of loyalty to “Papa” since it’s possibly all they ever knew, it would still be easily shaken. If you offered these kids some candy, they’d probably do whatever you said unless there was enough fear preventing them from doing so. Fear, not loyalty. El was afraid of Brenner. She may have done his bidding for a long time, but it was because his approval meant better treatment, not because his approval was of value in and of itself.

Given El’s age when she escaped, she was on the cusp of adolescence. Thus, she may have been developing some early features of the 3rd stage, which we can call the “good boy/girl” stage. Here, a person would want to be considered “good” for its own sake, and would look to society for what that means. For our purposes here, Brenner and the lab could have been attempting to be the “society” that the kids would judge themselves with. They would evaluate the morality of an action based on how the others would judge them for it. This is possibly where Brenner wanted the kids to be, only with no concept of what good or bad is beyond what he instilled in them.

That may have been something of a clumsy explanation of the relevant stages of morality, but I didn’t want to get too technical. The important things to take away from this is that El’s sense of right and wrong would have largely have been defined by what resulted in her being happy and/or rewarded. She may have wanted Brenner’s approval, but only because it meant good treatment. The problem here is that El may have been getting her needs met elsewhere: the other kids. If we presume, for the sake of argument, that El developed friendships with the other kids, then we could say that these relationships interfered with the total control that Brenner would want. If she gets older and starts caring more about how they feel about her than how Brenner feels, then his power over her weakens. This is where things get potentially scary.

Let’s say Brenner noticed this happening. El is the most promising, and most dangerous, of his subjects. He must maintain total control over her. However, she is very friendly with the other kids, running the risk of developing attachments that would lead to a more conventional morality. So, Brenner sets up a scenario. He isolates El for an extended period of time, possibly even telling her that the other kids accused her of misbehavior. He tells her that they don’t care about her like he does. El, being in those early stages of moral development, starts to see them as bad since they result in her being hurt. In a real world situation, one kid would be able to do something nice for another in this situation to smooth things over, but this isn’t possible with El in isolation. Then comes the day when Brenner has “something special” in mind for the kids. He’ll see if they’re worth the time and effort, while also finding the extent of El’s obedience.

None of this means El is a bad person, as we will generally see kids acting with such selfishness. One kid gets mad at another for stealing their toy, but fifteen minutes later they’re playing together as if nothing happened. However, kids generally don’t have superpowers they can use instead of pushes and mean words. There’s also usually adults around to help mediate such issues, whereas Brenner would probably want to encourage it to ensure they wanted his approval and his alone.

It’s possible that whatever happened that day changed El and Brenner’s entire dynamic. Whether El was responsible for what (possibly) happened or was just made to witness it, it didn’t have the desired effect for Brenner. We later see El reluctant to kill unless it was to protect (or punish). It’s still unclear where that moral distinction came from, but it suggests that she no longer saw Brenner’s approval as beneficial.

What happened after Brenner walked into that room? Why did he ask if El was listening? Is a present day Brenner asking if present day El is listening while she was remembering/dreaming? Or is the voice a past Brenner asking if past El is listening to his instructions?

Now, this could all be nothing. A good teaser will try to get us hyped up without giving anything important away. The “are you listening” might not even be from that scene at all in reality, or it could just be for the teaser. Still, I thought it a good opportunity for an exploration of morality in someone raised from birth to be a tool or weapon.

Something happened somewhere to make El believe there were right and wrong times to hurt or kill someone, and I just think this may have been a pivotal moment. I think we first see her kill (or at least serious injure) when she breaks out of her isolation cell. That can be explained by her still largely being in the first level of morality. Being in that cell was not in her own best interest, and she reached a point where she didn’t see a way to improve her situation. She may not have intended to kill the orderlies, but it was also not of concern to her. However, we also see her be more deliberate with Troy. First, she merely makes him wet himself, which is a remarkably clever solution. Later, she breaks his arm, but it appeared to only be due to him holding a knife as she simply knocked James down. When it came to the agents or the demogorgon, though, she was prepared to kill again. When she went with Kali to find one of the Lab men, she was ostensibly prepared to kill him until she realized there were kids around. The only pattern I can really see is that she will kill monsters or adults, but she’s reluctant to harm (at least seriously harm) kids or leave them without a caregiver.

I feel like this shows her being caught in between Pre-Conventional and Conventional levels of morality. She’s still largely going off of her own self-interest, but she’s also starting to consider the thoughts and feelings of others, namely her newfound friends. El seems to really want to keep them safe to the point that she risks her own safety. One could say that their approval, particularly Mike’s, is of value to her. She wants them to see her as good, and she attempts to conceal anything that would make her seem “bad” in their eyes, such as the fact that she’s messing with the compass or the fact that she opened the Gate.

We don’t really know how much time would have occurred between the event I hypothesized from the trailer and when El breaks free of the Lab. It’s possible that something happened there to get El to see some sort of moral distinction. She will prank, or even disable, a kid, but she somehow sees serious harm or killing of them as wrong. This leads me to believe that she harbors some type of guilt from her time in the Lab. It could be survivor’s guilt, especially if Brenner made her bear witness to the other’s being hurt or killed. It could also be something far worse if Brenner compelled her to hurt or kill them herself. Regardless, something happened somewhere along the time to get her to no longer as seeing her life in the Lab as “good,” leading to her escaping.

I think this is another one of those posts that got away from me, but hopefully I got my point across. If I try to hard to edit this thing, it’ll never get posted. Again, I have no idea what the teasers are suppose to mean, but they got me started on this train of thought. If you made it this far, then I apologize for those minutes of your life that you’ll never get back.

#stranger things #stranger things 4 #eleven #martin brenner

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sprawa-przybyszewskiej · 3 years ago

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Gnostic inspirations in Przybyszewska’s works

At the highest point of her intellectual life, Stanisława Przybyszewska spent over 12 hours each day simply on writing her own works, continously, and with maniacal care, educating herself on absolutely everything (she was constantly looking for fields in which she might be a natural genius) and she rarely did anything else at all, which included things like earning a wage or sweeping her own floors. The effect of such existence was of course that she was severely depressed, but also thoroughly educated. It means that traces of whatever matter from history or philosophy can be spotted in her works, are most likely intentional and put there exactly with the hopes of showing her erudice.

One of such matters was gnosticism. Gnosticism is a set of beliefs which put emphasis on obtaining liberation from this life through gnosis (knowledge) and cast aside all that is not of the mind – so not only the flesh, but also the spirit. Without going into details of some specific gnostic rite it is simpler to say that gnostics value gnosis higher than any of their base beliefs and teachings (in Europe gnostics are mostly mentioned in relation to early christianity, Cathars are an example of this). Then the contrast one can find within religion (for example sin and liberation from it) is replaced with earthly illusion and gnosis, which frees one from the illusion and guarantees a higher level of life, of sorts (in gnostic beliefs, our presence on Earth is not linear, leading from birth, through life and death to afterlife, but resembles more of a ladder, with each rung leading closer to obtaining total knowledge, and simultenously losing all that tethers one to earthly illusions.

In literature, strong contrasts are a good indication we can look into it to spot gnostic inspirations or at the very least make a strong case they could be there, even if unintentional. In Przybyszewska's case, however, they are all the more probable, for I vaguely recall she was well aware of the presence of these beliefs and everything she wrote on the nature of genius points in the same direction, too. She held these beliefs in her own, private set of core values, and there isn't any better place for her to show them to us but through her works. She presented us with an utopian vision of mental progress in her plays, while in her prose works, she focused on the darker side of the same things.

The axis of conflict in gnosticism is between the mind and the spirit. Robespierre is without a doubt a man of the mind much more so than of the spirit, and all the important figures surrouding him are more on the spiritual side of things (with Camille being the most prominent in this regard). Maxime has achieved the gnosis, the crown that will burn [his] brains right through.Before it happens, though, he is elevated onto another plane of understanding, a place where no other person can reach him, or even understand him:

Danton, of course, is lying.

(There is, sadly, no French translation of Thermidor; on another note, it took me this long to realize the French decided to change the person's tag from Camille to Desmoulines, which is suprising in the best sense of the word).

Robspierre is clearly constructed to be a genius, standing above everybody else and thus bearing greater responsibility, something which demands of him more than it does of others. Madness which he suspects within himself at the end is only a threat because it potentially leads to commiting mistakes, and a mistake is an unforgivable offence when it is committed by the one who ought to know better. Mistakes by a hand of another – for example Camille – are a different story altogether, for the majority of people not only don't achieve gnosis, but even cannot achieve it, their mental state isn't developed enough for them to grasp at the higher concepts. I think this is one of the reasons why Saint-Just's words: It is not madness, it's despair, are actually calming Robespierre down. Despair is simply a sign of being weary, something to be expected.

Maxime's knowledge and better judgement of everything is of course still a curse, leading to his death. In gnosticism, death isn't meant in a macabre sense, since it leads to yet another, higher rung of the metaphorical ladder we're standing on, but the gnosis obtained beforehand makes a death a good one instead of a waste. When Robespierre is going through his moment of despair at the end of The Danton Case, he betrays the gnosis he has in favour of admiting that the future will turn out differently than what could be expected: his death won't be a natural progression, but a failure, his depaire sets him back into the crowd of the sad, grey mass of the people who are not – like him – predestined to understand more.

From the linguistic point of view, I find it interesting that in the original and in the French version, he is using somewhat esoteric language (the future is under the sign of Danton – to my eyes, it is a clear refereance to the Zodiac signs, something which is supposed to predestine our futures, and which is also esoteric and ritualistic; given all the hints that she was abused by her satanist father, it makes a really sad, hopeless final note on the grand scheme of things for the humanity, that we, as humans, are incapable of running away from the brute forces which will continue to rule us simply because the world is built like this – not to mention the inability to change the future or even just the fate of one's life is a staple of gnostic beliefs).

No matter what he says about it, the inability to escape from one's fate is something which we rarely associate with Robespierre, because – as much as Przybyszewska makes it clear, thet he is a genius and thus everything he does he is not only allowed to do, but must do it for the greater good – he seems a bit like a self-made man, perhaps because we see him all the time in situations which are hard and difficult, but not impossible. A much more tragic situtation of the lack of escape from his own poor choices is being presented to us through Camille.

Camille has had a chance to be continously tethered to Maxime, securing for himself relevant safety in the public life, and calmess or even happiness in his private one. Yet he breaks with Robespierre over and over again, starting even before the plot of the play. Maxime reaches out to him against his better judgement, and Camille – also against his better judgement – decides to stay loyal to Danton. He is as if glued to his leader, even though he sees him clearly for what he is. Camille is an apotheosis of a spiritual being, someone ruled by impulses, perhaps even with the best of intentions, but whose mind will never achieve gnosis, the clear vision of what is right and true. When Robespierre argues with the Committee by demanding they leave Danton (and Camille by proxy) alone, he plots against Maxime in his newspaper; when Robespierre goes to him under the cover of night, he doesn't want to see him and then throws him out; when Robespierre tries to either break him free from the prison or at the very least console him by admitting his love (I never actually knew what was his plan here), he follows the advice of his bad influences and doesn't admit him. It's as if a strange force kept him by Danton's side, and I don't think it was any normal feeling (of shame or guilt) keeping him away from Maxime. In The Last Nights of Ventose he makes it quite clear being a stronger person's lap dog would never bring him shame, but honour, thus I don't think he'd have any problem with returning to Robespierre after a long while of abuse and slander.

The relationship Camille has with Danton is another aspect of gnosticism, namely its duality. Danton is a stand-in for Maxime, which doesn't work because Danton is anti-Robespierre, his negative double (much like in some gnostic beliefs world was created and being conducted by two gods, one good and one evil). It is unclear whether Camille had any real, true potential to serve "good" Robespierre, but even if he didn't, if his friableness kept him from serving a greater purpose (which I don't know if I believe, in The Last Nights of Ventose we are presented with a very different portrayal of Camille, one who could achieve something much greater than he did if only he was by Robespierre's side at all times), serving the "evil" Danton couldn't possibly have a good outcome.

He even does return to Robespierre, for a short while, steered by emotions rather than anything else. But in this dualistic, gnostic reality, emotions have little to do, they aren't worth very much. What's more, if we focus solely on Camille, we have to admit that – as in every story, revolving around a single character – a person is in a way stuck in time. He can go about in the space his life takes, but time is more like a deity, untouchable and something you cannot pact with. For Camille, it doesn't matter how many times and at what point in time (before their fallout, during the crisis or at the last hour) Maxime asks him to break with Danton and go back to him, because time and predestined fate hold all the power of what is happening, while individuals hold none (and the aforementioned last statement of Robespierre explains right away that it is so even for the "great" individuals, who in other aspects are being held to different standards, but against time and fate they are just as powerless).

I like to think, though, that Przybyszewska has left a small postern for Camille to achieve gnosis or its more humane equivalent by drawing a symbolic parallel between two scenes, which are only made significat by their possible relating to each other, but mean next to nothing on heir own:

In the first scene, the key could have been a completely incidental choice of words/tools, after all it's a logical conclusion of the scene. There is, however, a more symbolic reading of it, as a key is of course a symbol, and a pretty easy one at that. If Camille gave Robespierre the key himself, this could be read as an end to their relationship, Camille returning the power that Maxime holds over him to Maxime's own hands. But since we only see Lucille relay the key, and we know that Lucille is also capable of influencing her husband and directing his steps (even if she says she can't; Robespierre's words, seeing as he's the genius here, are the final judgement of this), this could mean she is giving her portion of power to Maxime, whom she trusts to save her husband. And Maxime uses this one more time, when he tries to visit Camille in prison. That he fails miserably is against Camille's wishes, because Camille even in his demise only succumbs to wishes of others.

But we know he regrets this step mightily and we know it precisely because he dreams (or rather has a nightmare) about the very key he was supposed to convey to Robespierre earlier. He regrets the desire to give Maxime his power back, he regrets that by doing so in any way, shape or form he has finally given up his life. Choosing a beautiful death over an ugly, humiliating life only sounded good in his head, but in truth, he is beyond terrified and would love nothing more but to Maxime to come in again and if not save him, then at the very least – forgive him. But for that, they'd have to meet again, and he couldn't throw Maxime out. I also don't understand why both the English and French translation added the word "effortlessly" when describing his last moment with Robespierre, because make no mistake, it is very much an unnecessary addition, going against everything that he has been portrayed like so far. Their last conversation is just as much a tragic one for Camille as it is for Maxime.

Przybyszewska took great pains to paint Camille in front of our eyes as someone so weak that we find him as more of a comic relief than anything else, but in reality he is just a differing portrayal of powerlessness when faced with fate. Camille is not a comical character, but a tragic one, he is just the same as Robespierre, his other half: they both believe in their own agency, they both believe they are the ones making choices and pushing their lives forward, but it is not a coincidence that they both end up in he very same place, in a span of mere weeks.

This post would not have been born if it weren't for @patricidefan.

#@patricidefan thank you so much for talking with me about it #as i said you opened my third eye #patricidefan #Stanisława Przybyszewska #stanislawa przybyszewska #the danton case #sprawa dantona #thermidor #Maximilien Robespierre #maksymilian robespierre #Camille Desmoulins #Kamil desmoulins #gnosis #literary analysis #philosophy

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sunder-soul · 4 years ago

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you make most of it up? That's amazing. Could you maybe share your method/thinking/resources for someone who also wants to write believable class stuff in the hp fandom? Thank u very much

Yayaya sure!

Short answer:

So I'll pull details from the HP wiki, and if I need a random plant name or potion ingredient and can't be fucked making one up (or I don't need it to be something symbolic etc) I often use this random generator and either use those names straight out, or tweak them a bit before using them.

Long answer:

Well I'm a huge fan of soft worldbuilding (where you don't outline all the rules and details and instead have a sort of immersive description that leaves a lot unsaid) because I feel it makes things more realistic, like you're glimpsing little parts of things that are utterly normal and therefore don't need explaining ya kno. So when I write classroom scenes or any kind of 'lore' I try not to explain it and rely instead on characters reacting to things to convey its importance, normalcy, or strangeness.

I do this alllll the time but I did it HEAPS in white dove. When Tom is in trial and he gets a 'tier nine' cell (which I made up) I don't bother writing something like "oh my gosh tier nine is the worst and most intense type of cell you can get and it has these rules and these horrifying conditions" bc I don't need to. The whole room reacts with gasps and horror and even Tom looks freaked out (tho that's mostly bc he was expecting a sentence of a specific amount of years and was confident he could just outlive it bc immortal and that's the moment that he's like oh fuck, but the point still stands).

So the emotions/reactions of the people tell you everything you need to know without me having to outright describe it. You don't need to know what a tier 9 cell is, you get that it's fucking baddddd. In fact, it's sort of even better than explaining it bc our imaginations find the unknown even scarier than something horrifying described in detail.

In the same chap a bit further down, I make reference to a 'peeping charm' which I made up on the spot. Same deal but different context, it makes sense that magic users have a spell that'll act like a peephole in their doors, there's no reason to say 'this spell will let me look through the door without the person on the other side noticing so I can see who it is before opening it' because this would be a totally normal thing. So I just wrote it like it wasn't a big deal bc to this character in this context, this wouldn't be a big deal.

On the other hand you can also totally introduce something new that DOES need some detail/exposition. At the beginning of this same chap I say that Tom's lips and cheeks are flushed, that this a tell-tale sign of veritaserum poisoning, and that they've obviously given him heaps of the stuff. I made this up just bc I wanted there to be something the MC could visually and easily see from across the room that would establish that Tom's been given a SHIT TON of truth potion so that for the rest of the scene, the audience in the room with him AND the audience reading the chapter knows he's being forced to tell the truth. It just added to the tension of the moment and made sense for the context (a trial lol). It also gives the scene some layers - Tom was fairly brief and controlled when he actually speaks in that scene, and I wanted it to be unclear if this is because he's being super self controlled by choice as he's normally prone to being, if he knows that he'll be unable to lie and doesn't want to let on any more of his secrets, or if he knows honesty will destroy the picture perfect tragic image the newspapers have made for him if he's TOO much of a monster.

I'm rambling but the point is, if you're going to introduce details or concepts it's really important to have an understanding of who would know that stuff already, who would find it commonplace and who might be totally unaware of it. Sometimes everyone in the scene would know about it already but the AUDIENCE doesn't, and that's when you can use like casual conversation/questions between characters to give more info whilst also showing that this is all very normal.

Having a character not know something is an easy way to have another character explain something to them but there has to be a solid reason as to WHY one would know it and the other doesn't.

An example of a time I've used this is in Mimicry when the MC knows troll blood will ruin Tom's potion but Tom doesn't. Normally we'd be like 'wait what, why would a nerd-ass know it all like Tom not know this,' but it makes sense to my understanding of the character that he's the sort of person who got a recommendation that 'Zoological Potions Ingredients' was the BEST textbook on ingredients and went off and fucking memorised the whole thing and didn't think that anything could have changed in the 70 years after it was published (Tom strikes me as the sort of person who chases 'the best' and doesn't think much past that is worth considering). Hence why he didn't know that the classification for trolls changed and that further research was done, since he also strikes me as the sort of person who would consider reading up on the social status of trolls to be a little pointless lol, but surprise bitch it wasn't.

So I made up most of that except for the existence of Bundimuns and trolls - I went hunting on the wiki for some obscure substance I could reference in passing for a potions ingredient (and found Bundimuns), and honestly I can't remember how much about them I made up and how much is canon (I think they're mentioned to be used in cleaning products canonically...?)

But the point is more that this scene doesn't just flesh out the world, it tells u stuff about the two characters and how they interact. It tells you that Tom is very studious but doesn't like to revise his opinions, it tells you that the MC knows their shit, it tells you that Tom is suspicious (he instantly challenges them by referencing the textbook not saying what they're telling him), and it tells you that MC is a good bitch who would help out a dick like Tom just bc it's the right thing to do. It also shows Tom's flaws - his disregard of learning about other creatures/beings/people and the way they're treated in society tracks with what we know of his character, and I always think it's important to demonstrate (either directly to him within a scene or to the readers) that this is a stupid thing to do. In this case, his lack of interest in the struggles of others nearly fucked his own potion, he's only saved because MC 1) cares enough to read up about it, 2) sees the importance of revising formally formed opinions/understandings, 3) steps in to help him even though he probably wouldn't have done the same.

So that's soft world building, ya know, using these things to tell you about the characters, using knowledge and lack of knowledge, reactions, etc etc. Most of the details I make up are there to serve a purpose for the plot, but honestly that's just bc I'm writing short super condensed stories that don't have a lot of space for proper world building. In Seven Devils (and Mimicry to a lesser extent) I have a lot more of these details there to create an emotion/sense of the scene just for the sake of setting that scene, but that's for bigger works with more room to breathe.

Hmu if you want to know more but damn I DID write an essay huh 😅

#Anon #Ask #Writing #Mimicry #White dove

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rapeculturerealities · 4 years ago

Link

Nadeen Ashraf had a burning secret. Earlier this summer, an anonymous Instagram page that named and shamed a man accused of being a notorious sexual harasser at Egypt’s most prestigious university was causing a sensation among her friends. Unknown to them, she was running it.

The experiment started, in a flash of fury, in the dead of night. On July 1 Ms. Ashraf, a 22-year-old philosophy major, was up late to cram for an exam the next morning when she became preoccupied with the fate of a Facebook post that had mysteriously disappeared.

Days earlier, a fellow student at the American University in Cairo had posted a warning on Facebook about a man she said was a sexual predator — a brash, manipulative young man from a rich family said to be harassing and blackmailing women on campus. Now, Ms. Ashraf realized as she stared at her laptop, the post had been deleted without explanation.

Enraged, she set aside her textbooks and created an Instagram page under a pseudonym — @assaultpolice — that identified the man, Ahmed Bassam Zaki, alongside his photo and a list of accusations of misdeeds against women.

“This guy had been getting away with stuff since the 10th grade,” she said. “Every time a woman opened her mouth, someone taped it shut. I wanted to stop that.”

After creating the page, Ms. Ashraf flopped into bed at 6 a.m. and slept through her exam. But when she awoke, she found hundreds of notifications from people who applauded her post, and about 30 messages from women who confided that they, too, had been assaulted by Mr. Zaki. Some said they had been raped.

An Egyptian #MeToo moment was born.

Within a week, Mr. Zaki had been arrested, the @assaultpolice account had amassed 70,000 followers and the page had prompted an outpouring of testimonies from other Egyptian women fed up with being humiliated and violated.

Sexual assault is endemic in Egypt — a United Nations study in 2013 found that 99 percent of women had experienced harassment or violence — but reporting it is notoriously difficult. Police officials are reluctant to register assault cases. Powerful institutions prefer to sweep accusations under the carpet. Even the families of victims, wary of scandal or feeling a misplaced sense of shame, tend to hush it up.

Ms. Ashraf’s bold page offered a new way.

“It was so wonderful,” she recalled, sitting in her family home. “A lot of the girls who got in touch said ‘I can’t believe I’m finally being heard.’ Even though it was a dark time, here they were speaking out. There was a sense of empowerment, of relief.”

On Sept. 1, the authorities charged Mr. Zaki, 21, with three counts of sexual assault against underage women, as well as multiple counts of blackmail and harassment. He remains in detention, awaiting trial.

But then a second high-profile case came to light, also through Ms. Ashraf’s Instagram page, that complicated matters. It promised to be even more sensational — an account of a gang rape by five young men in a five-star hotel overlooking the Nile. In recent weeks, however, the case has become clouded in a murk of counter-accusations and leaked images that threatens to overshadow the progress Ms. Ashraf has made — and possibly even reverse it.

“It’s very worrisome,” she said.

Ms. Ashraf, 22, is not an archetypal Egyptian rebel. She comes from an apolitical family that lives in a gated community in eastern Cairo — a place of manicured lawns and hushed streets lined with luxury vehicles where support for Egypt’s authoritarian leader, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, runs relatively high.

Her father owns a software company, her mother is a nutritionist, and her family stayed in the suburbs during the 2011 uprising that toppled Egypt’s longtime ruler, Hosni Mubarak, and the 2013 protests that ushered in a military takeover and Mr. el-Sisi’s rule.

When the #MeToo movement erupted in the United States in 2017, driven by accusations against the disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein, she didn’t pay much attention — even if she did have her own experience of assault.

When she was 11 years old, a delivery man carrying laundry approached her as she walked down the street and slapped her bottom. “I had no idea why he was doing this,” she said. “It took me years to realize it was sexual.”

Public outrage over sexual assault has been growing in Egypt for about a decade, driven by high-profile attacks and, last year, harassment accusations against a famous soccer player. Even so, men continue to assault with impunity.

Working-class women run a gantlet of harassment in crowded public buses, Ms. Ashraf said. Among the rich, although dating is tolerated, young men exploit their family connections to misbehave with license, she said, and many parents reflexively blame their daughters when things go wrong.

“The first response is that it’s your fault,” she said. “How did he get your number? Why did you let him in?”

Ms. Ashraf initially shielded her activism from her parents, who thought she was locked into her bedroom to study. When she finally came clean to her father, weeks later, he was alarmed. “He went silent for three minutes,” she recalled. “Then he said, ‘You can’t tell anyone.’”

Ms. Ashraf told him it was a little late for that.

Is her brand of vigilantism open to abuse, or even fair? False accusations are a hazard, she admitted, adding that she tried to confirm the charges against Mr. Zaki through her network of friends. Even so, she had to delete one accusation, from his time as a business student in Spain, after it was found to be untrue.

In a country like Egypt, such methods were necessary, she said. “It’s not like the West. You can’t just walk into a police station.”

The real difficulties started, though, with the second high-profile case.

In late July, Ms. Ashraf posted to Instagram about five men in their 20s, from wealthy families, who were said to have gang-raped a teenage woman in a suite at the Fairmont Nile City hotel after a party in 2014. A video of the assault, made by a sixth man, had been distributed to their friends.

The accusation caused a sensation. Although Ms. Ashraf didn’t identify the accused men, copycat accounts sprang up on Instagram that did. One is the son of a prominent steel tycoon; another is the son of a well-known soccer coach.

Within one week the victim, who said her drink had been spiked by the assailants, approached the police and pressed charges. In late August, Egypt’s prosecutor general announced five arrests — two men in Egypt and three in Lebanon, who have since been extradited to Egypt. At least three other men are being sought.

But the investigation became muddied after investigators moved against several people who had come forward in connection to the case. Two men were accused of “debauchery” — code for homosexuality — based on photos found in their phones that were later leaked to the news media.

They have been detained, as has a woman — a former partner of one of those accused of rape — whose intimate photos have been leaked onto the internet.

Just who leaked those photos is unclear, and the cases are expected to come to court in the coming weeks. But they have already sent a chill through the ranks of Egyptian women who hoped it had become safer to report sexual violence.

“Fairmont has become our case of the century,” Ms. Ashraf said. “But it shouldn’t be a precedent for assault cases. There’s so many other things coming up that prove we are on the side of girls.”

After threats to her security, Ms. Ashraf suspended her Instagram page for 10 days in August. Now it is up and running again, but with a focus on educating women about their rights.

“You use the word consent all the time in English,” she said. “But I’ve never heard its Arabic equivalent — taraadi. So we try to translate these concepts, break them down, explain.”

The only name she’s made public of late is her own. Realizing that her identity was leaking out, and fearing retribution from men who were threatened by the page, she decided it was safest to end her anonymity. “I figured that if the bad guys knew who I was, good people should too,” she said. “There’s protection in that.”

#voices #survivors #activism #social media #instagram #ashraf

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shirlleycoyle · 3 years ago

Text

How 9/11 Became Fan Fiction Canon

Every fictional character you can think of has experienced 9/11 in fanfiction.

A Clone Wars veteran with two lightsabers is on United Airlines Flight 93 and prevents it from crashing. Ron and Hermione get caught up in the chaos as the towers fall. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her friends watch the attacks unfold on TV from Sunnydale. We have spent 20 years trying to process what happened on 9/11 and its fallout, and that messy process can be tracked through the countless, sad, disturbing, and sometimes very funny fanfiction left across the internet.

Many of the fanfics written in the weeks and months following the 9/11 attacks seemed to directly respond to the news as it happened, processing the tragedy in real-time through the eyes of characters they loved. In the absence of a canon episode where Daria Morgendorffer paid respects to those lost, writing fanfic about these characters also experiencing trauma helped fans cope.

One YuGiOh fanfic published on fanfiction.net in May 2002 could have been ripped exactly from what this writer experienced that Tuesday morning. “It started as a normal day,” user Gijinka Renamon wrote. Yugi and his friends were in school, where their teacher informed them of the attacks and sent everyone home from school.

“After reading people’s 9/11 fics, I decided to write my own, and put a certain character in it. And Yugi and his pals were my first choice,” the author's note reads, explaining the connection they felt to United flight 93 and the World Trade Center attacks. Given that they lived in Pennsylvania, and “it’s close to New York, I felt really sad about it.”

Stitch, a fandom journalist for Teen Vogue, told Motherboard that this reaction to 9/11 is not at all uncommon in fandom.

"Fandom has always been a place that positions nothing as 'off limits,'" she said. "Historical tragedies like the Titanic sinking and atrocities like… all of World War 2 show up regularly across the past 30 years of people creating stories and art about the characters they love. So, on some level, it makes sense that 9/11 and the following 20-year military installation in the Middle East has joined the ranks of things people in different fandoms turn into settings for their fan fiction."

Reactions depicted in a handful of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfics published in the weeks after the attacks ring a little truer to the characters. “Tuesday, 11th September 2001,” written by Anna K, almost echoes the lyrics from “I’ve Got a Theory,” one of the songs in the musical episode that aired in November 2001. “We have seen the apocalypse. We have prevented it. Actually, we’ve prevented quite a few. So we know what they look like,” they write, before taking a darker turn. “They look a lot like…New York today.”

Killing demons and vampires doesn’t phase the Scooby Gang, but when preventable human death is brought into the picture, it’s gut wrenching.

“What am I supposed to do…When I can’t do anything to save the world?” Buffy cries into Spike’s chest, watching the attacks unfold on TV in a fanfic the author described as being “about feeling numb and helpless.”

In “Blood Drive,” Kirayoshi writes about Buffy and her friends saving a van full of donated blood meant for victims of the attacks from a group of thirsty vampires. One Buffy the Vampire Slayer fic even takes a blindly patriotic turn, where noted lesbian witch Tara McClay helps Xander hang an American flag from the window of the magic shop to make Anya feel better.

Experiencing 9/11 as a young teenager was overwhelming not just because of the loss of life. Almost immediately after the event itself, it was as if the entirety of American culture re-oriented itself towards an overtly jingoistic stance. As we get distance from the attacks, seeing the tone of television and movies from the early 2000s is jarring, and some have gone viral on Twitter. In the world of pop music, mainstream musicians like the Chicks, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, were blacklisted from the radio while Toby Keith sang about putting a boot up the ass of terrorists. On the Disney Channel, a young Shia Labeouf reading a poem he supposedly wrote about the events. The poem concludes with the line, "it's awesome to be an American citizen."

In a world so completely saturated with this messaging, it is not surprising that fanfic authors started including 9/11 in their work so soon after the event. Even The West Wing had a strange, out of continuity, fanfic-esque episode where the characters reacted to 9/11. In some cases, it made sense that the characters in the stories would be close to or a part of the events themselves.

"For characters like John Watson or Captain America, the idea works to an extent," Stitch told Motherboard. "In the original Sherlock Holmes works and the 2011 BBC series, Watson had just returned from Afghanistan. For Captain America and other Marvel heroes, 9/11 was something that was addressed in-universe in The Amazing Spider-Man volume 2 #36. Technically, 9/11 is 'canon' to the Marvel universe."

In “Early Warning: Terrorism,” a fanfiction for the TV show Early Edition in which a man who mysteriously receives tomorrow's newspaper, predicting the future, avoids jingoism, but tries to precent 9/11 from happening. This fanfic remains unfinished; it’s unclear if the characters successfully prevent 9/11 in this retelling.

Largely in fanfic from the era just after 9/11, when many young authors were trying to emotionally grapple with it, the characters don't re-write or undo the events themselves. It's this emphasis on the reaction to tragedy that colors the fanfiction that features 9/11 going forward.

Although fanfiction authors have been writing about 9/11 consistently since soon after the event, whenever that fanfiction reaches outside of its intended audience, it looks bizarre.

A screenshot of a Naruto 9/11 fanfic on the Tumblr subreddit comes without any context, or even more than two lines and an author's note. It’s impossible to suss out if this falls into the category of sincere fanfic without the rest of the piece or a publication date, but modern-day commenters on the Reddit thread see it as classic Tumblr trash.

Screenshot from r/Tumblr

“Bin Laden/Dick Cheney, enemies to lovers, 10k words, slow burn,” one user joked in the replies, underscoring the weirdness of Naruto being in the Twin Towers by comparing it to a What If story about Cheney and Bin Laden slowly falling deeply in love.

It’s hard to tell how much of the 9/11 fanfic and fanart starting a few years after the attacks is sincere, and how much of it is ironic, and trying to make fun of the very concept of writing fanfiction about 9/11.

A 2007 anime music video (in which various clips, usually from anime, are cut together to music) that combines scenes from The Lion King with Linkin Park’s “Crawling” and clips from George Bush’s speeches immediately after the attacks feels like the perfect example of this. Even the commenters can’t seem to suss out if this person is a troll or not.

There’s no way that My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic 9/11 fanart could be serious, right? Especially if the description pays tribute to “some of the nation's most memorable buildings,” and features five of the main characters as child versions of themselves. The comments again are split between users thanking the artist for a thoughtful remembrance post, and people making their own headcanon for why Twilight Sparkle is surreptitiously absent from the scene.

Screengrab via DeviantArt

There’s Phineas and Ferb fanfic that combines a 9/11 tribute concert with flashbacks to Ferb being rescued from the towers as a baby, written on the 10th anniversary of the attacks. It jumps from introspection to lines like, “‘Quiet Perry the Platypus. I’m trying to listen to these kids singing a 9/11 tribute.’”

The author's notes make it more likely that they meant for this to be a tribute piece, but it doesn’t quite make sense until watching a YouTube dramatic reading of it from 2020, fully embracing the absurdity of it all.

“For me, 9/11 is synonymous with war. It completely changed the course of my life," Dreadnought, the author of a Captain America fanfic Baghdad Waltz that sees Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes fall in love over the course of the war on terror, told Motherboard. "It’s the reason I joined the military, and I developed deep connections with people who would go on to deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq. These very much felt like my generation’s wars, perhaps because people I graduated high school with were the youngest folks eligible to serve at the time.”

Dreadnought told Motherboard that although they didn't deploy, their career has kept 9/11 and the trauma from it in their mind. After seeing that people who fantasize about Steve and Bucky getting together seemed particularly interested in reading fanfiction that related to 9/11, they decided to try their hand at it.

"I had to do something with all of that emotionally, and I’m admittedly a bit emotionally avoidant. So I learned through fic that it’s easier for me to process those feelings and the knowledge of all the awful stuff that can happen in war if I can turn it into something creative," Dreadnought said. "Give the feelings to fake people and then have those fake people give the feelings to readers!"

To Dreadnought, who is a queer man, the experience of researching and writing this was more cathartic than they first expected, especially as a way to navigate feelings about masculinity, military culture, and queer identity. But they said the research they did, which included watching footage of first responders at ground zero, was what helped them finally process the event itself.

"It was like a delayed horror, and it was more powerful than I expected it would be." Dreadnought said. "When I was eighteen, I was pretty emotionally divorced from 9/11; I just knew I wanted to do something about it. So coming back to it in my 30s while writing this fic, it was a very different experience. Even the research for this story ended up being an extraordinarily valuable exercise in cognitively and emotionally processing 9/11 and all of its second and third order effects."

Fanfiction that features 9/11 provides an outlet for people who still grapple with the trauma from that day. But Stitch warns that the dynamics of fandom and how it relates to politics can also create fiction that's less respectful and more grotesque.

"With years of distance between the stories written and the original events of 9/11, there seems to be some sort of cushion for fans who choose to use those events as a catalyst for relationships—and Iraq and Afghanistan for settings," Stitch said. "The cushion allows them room to fictionalize real world events that changed the shape of the world as we know it, but it also insulates them from having to think about what they may be putting into the world."

The tendency of turning these events into settings or backgrounds for mostly white, male characters to fall in love has the unintended effect of displacing the effects that the war on terror has had on the world over. Steve and Bucky might fall in love during the war on terror, but they would also be acting as a part of the American military in a war that has been criticized since it started. Fanfic writers in other fandoms have come under fire for using real world tragedy as settings for fic before. In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake Supernatural fanfiction about the actors Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki going to the island to do aid became controversial within the fandom. There have also been fics where characters grapple with the death of George Floyd that is written in a way that displaces the event from the broader cultural context of race in America.

"A Captain America story where Steve Rogers is a 'regular' man who joins the US Army and 'fights for our freedom' post-9/11 is unlikely to deal with the war’s effect on locals who are subject to US military intervention," Stitch said. "It’s unlikely to sit with what Captain America has always meant and what a writer is doing by dropping Steve Rogers into a then-ongoing conflict in any capacity."

After enough time, “never forget” can even morph into “but what if it never happened?” A 19k+ word Star Wars alternate universe fanfic asks this question, wondering what would have unfolded if someone with two lightsabers was on United Flight 93. This fic, part of a larger fanfic series with its own Wikia, considers what would have happened if Earth was a military front in the Clone Wars.

In this version of events, a decorated general who served in the Clone Wars is able to take back control of Flight 93 before it crashes, landing safely and preventing even more tragedy from happening that day. In the end, all of the passengers who made harrowing last calls to their loved ones before perishing in a Pennsylvania field survive thanks to the power of the Force, and are awarded medals of honor by President Bush.

Twenty years after the attacks, it’s painful to think about what would have happened if people got to work 15 minutes later, or missed their trains that morning. There weren’t Jedi masters deployed to save people in real life, but for some of the fanfic writers working today, the world of Star Wars might feel just as removed as the world before September 11, 2001.

Fiction serves as a powerful playground for processing cultural events, especially generational trauma. The act isn't neutral though; a decade's worth of fanfiction that takes place on or around 9/11 shows how our own understanding of a traumatic event can shift with time.

How 9/11 Became Fan Fiction Canon syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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wonda-cat · 4 years ago

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You mentioned rewriting that one analysis post on Tommy’s revival stream and I’d really look forward to it! I never got to read the full og post and that’s the only place I saw these takes. Especially the one about the afterlife being too depressing. It’s not even just about Tommy, the implication that even if every character is safe and happy by the end, this is their inevitable fate is messed up. It’s not “a neat subversion” it’s just depressing and doesn’t add anything.

Hey, anon!

I sorta decided to not rewrite it? I feel a bit differently about the essay in the end, although I still believe in most of my points. I’m also just not nearly as passionate about it as I was when I wrote it (I finished it in a single sitting, which was... interesting.) However, yes, the afterlife stuff still bothers me just the same, as well as the odd changes to Wilbur’s characterization... post mortem.

But—just for you, anon—here’s the entire meta-analysis essay anyway, with some minor edits to the stuff I don’t agree with anymore!

My Many Narrative Issues with Tommyinnit’s Revival Stream

I want to preface this by saying that I dearly love the Dream SMP and understand it isn’t exactly comparable to other mediums like TV and film. With this being the case, most criticism against it is generally in bad faith or strange in foundation. Complaining about streamers for bad acting is the best example that comes to mind.

These aren’t professional actors. Most have never acted in this sort of setting, or even at all. Quite a few have admitted to never roleplaying before. Which is why it’s warranted to praise Tommy, Dream, Wilbur, Ranboo, and others when they deliver stellar performances. The same applies to criticism of music choice, dialogue delivery, focus, tone, etc.

However, one such category I cannot overlook is in regards to its writing. The writing of a story is its entire foundation. It encompasses many things—conflict choice, character development, themes, and morals. The author creates the blueprints for the architect, who then expresses the story with light, sound, color, pacing, and music. It is in its execution that we see if this connection is made or broken.

The reason I find poor writing mostly inexcusable is because it is one of the most available skills to practice and perfect. I don’t mean to say that it’s easy, I mean to say it is something anyone can attempt to cultivate. Whether they do it well or not depends on their methods and experience. If anyone can self-publish a novel and be criticized online for its quality—and even compared to the works of Mark Twain—then I find critiquing the writing of the Dream SMP to be perfectly reasonable.

However, since the Dream SMP script is a set of loose bullet points, tearing apart dialogue and scene continuity—which is nearly all improv—is rather useless. It doesn’t exactly have a clear focus as the plot plays out. The characters talk in circles until they hit the story beat required, and then they move onto the next. Thus, when criticizing it, one should generally critique grand events and narrative-specific shifts, more so than small-scale character interactions.

Which brings me to my main point: The broad narrative choices taken in Tommyinnit’s most recent livestream, ‘Am I dead?’ may lead to disastrous writing pitfalls in the future.

I’ll be outlining each of my issues below, in hopes of creating a better understanding as to why I feel this way.

This might become quite lengthy, so please bear with me for a bit.

Tommy’s relationship to Wilbur has flipped. This change is jarring and seems out of character.

Tommy and Wilbur’s friendship is rather complicated. While Wilbur does care for Tommy immensely, especially during the L’Manburg Revolution and the Election Arc, his mental spiral during exile put a massive strain on their relationship as a whole. Wilbur brushed off Tommy’s feelings and wants, while clinging to him and pushing everyone else away. He was simultaneously distant and suffocating.

Tommy, on the other hand, has an unclear view of his mentor. Since the beginning, and even long after Wilbur’s death, Tommy held him in especially high regard. He saw him as a brother-figure and a wise leader. He followed what he said and did everything he could to impress him. Yet, Wilbur still hurt him while the two were together in exile.

When speaking of him, Tommy tends to flip infrequently between remembering Wilbur the way he was before his mental decline and thinking of him as a monster. Both of these images conflict with each other, but they weren’t nearly as extreme as what Tommy described Wilbur as when he was revived from death. The fear Tommy displays to Wilbur is beyond intense—it feels as if the audience may have missed a month’s worth of character development.

This can make sense, especially since it was stated that he’d spent what felt like two months in the void. However, this shift is still deeply at odds with Tommy’s previous impressions of Wilbur, which is both disheartening and confusing. The fact that Tommy would agree to stay with Dream—his abuser and murderer—over his past mentor is simply head-reeling. It paints a very different picture of Wilbur’s character, somewhat conforming to the fandom’s ableist impression of him—the idea that Wilbur is insane and irredeemable, and always will be.

It also ignores Dream being the driving factor in Wilbur’s downfall, as well as the double-bind deal with Dream which required him to push the button, no matter the outcome. Others have pointed out that Tommy may be lying to get Dream to bring Wilbur back, and there’s compelling evidence for that. For one, Tommy and Wilbur’s conversation seemed uncomfortable, but it was certainly nothing like Tommy implied. (Unless this fear comes from something Wilbur said off-screen.)

Tommy also begged Dream to not bring him back multiple times over, which he should know would make Dream even more tempted to, simply because he likes seeing Tommy in pain. Tommy is also a known unreliable narrator. He may be making Wilbur out to be worse than he is by accident (even still, I’d argue this is a bit of a stretch.)

However, there are some issues with this theory. Tommy offered himself as payment to Dream if he chose to let Wilbur rest. This is a deal Tommy knows Dream is extremely unlikely to refuse. Tommy is what Dream has coveted all this time. If Tommy genuinely wanted Wilbur back, he would not offer this. This sort of compromise is Tommy’s greatest nightmare—something he would only do in response to his friends being threatened or his home being destroyed.

To add, Tommy is not great at lying. Unless he was taught by Wilbur for those two months* in the afterlife, there’s no chance Tommy would be this good at it. Thirdly, Tommy is terrible under pressure. He uses humor to cope. When he can’t, he cries and shouts and spills his heart out. While cornered, Tommy will tell the truth about anything, especially if Dream casually debates killing him again, just for fun.

For now, it’s too early to tell how the relationship shift will play out. In the grand scheme of things, this issue is rather minor.

Season three’s writing is needlessly bleak. The portrayal of the afterlife is a nightmare. There is no rest, not even in death.

I adore the Dream SMP storyline in its entirety. I believe the first season is fantastic, and while the second season has some narrative clarity issues, I enjoyed it just as much. Although, I would argue season one had a more concrete understanding of its Hope-Conflict balance.

To briefly explain, the Hope in stories are its ‘highs’ and good moments. These appear when a character the audience is rooting for is narratively rewarded. They happen during character building in the text—it’s the downtime and peace that allows for connection and relatability. It’s a moment for the viewer to breathe easy.

The other half is Conflict, an obstacle in the story that gets in the way of the main characters’ goals, beliefs, and motives. These are the ‘lows.’ They give the narrative focus and weight. They make the highs feel even higher. They establish consequences and force the characters in the story to change in order to adapt and overcome them.

I bring up the Hope-Conflict balance because a traditional hero’s journey would have an appropriate amount of both. Their highs and lows are generally equalized, as the name suggests. However, this balance has been awkwardly skewed in the latter half of season two and in the current plot of season three. To clarify, it is perfectly reasonable, and even common, for some stories to tip the scale more to one side.

But a common mistake for amateur writers is to create their stories as either hopelessly dark to cause the audience continuous distress for the sake of distress, or to keep everything entirely conflict-free for most of the plot. What do these both have in common? They each make the story boring and predictable.

Season three has taken this concept and thrown a monstrously heavy weight onto the Conflict side and flipped the scale so hard it has crashed through the ceiling. The viewers are hardly given time to find any joy in Tommy’s character, as he’s thrown into yet another abusive situation, just barely after his first narrative reward. The world is painted as relentlessly violent and traumatic.

Every person Tommy meets is morally grey, unhinged, or out to hurt him. Everything most of the characters love is taken from them by those in positions of power. Ranboo cannot even grieve properly because it scars his face. Puffy, Sam, Ranboo, and Tubbo all blame themselves for what happened to Tommy.

The audience watches lore stream after lore stream with the same depressing tone (with the exception of Tubbo’s, but I assume that’s unintentional.) Tommy is revived after being brutally beaten to death by his abuser, surrounded by all of his greatest fears. The afterlife is revealed to be akin to inescapable torture. It’s a colorless void that wraps the individual like fabric.

Time moves thirty times slower within. There’s nothing—nothing but the voices of others who’ve passed on before him. Dying in a world already devoid of happiness takes the characters to a place worse than hell. When a narrative delivers unfair suffering to the entire cast without a moment of joy to speak of, the story will feel simultaneously overwhelming and pointless.

Why watch characters suffer when there’s no light at the end of the tunnel? What happiness could they strive for when we know they’ll never get to keep it? How can I be satisfied with a good ending, if I know that an afterlife too terrible to name is what awaits them, truly, at the end of their story? Death isn’t even a white void that offers rest—it is eternal torment.

Obviously, it isn’t a good message to send by making the afterlife seem like a quiet, perfect place or an escape from pain. But making it an unspeakable anguish which awaits, assumedly, every character who will die in the future? I deeply hope Tommy was only being an extremely unreliable narrator.

More likely, I hope the place Tommy was taken to was a Limbo of sorts, not an end-all-be-all destination for everyone.

The degree of Tommy’s narrative punishment continues to escalate, to an almost absurd degree.

Tommy is one of the most tragic characters to exist in the storyline. He was sent into war at a young age and experienced two traumatic events during it. He was exiled by the newly elected leader and witnessed his mentor Wilbur spiral and break down with paranoia. Tubbo is executed publicly in front of him. When expressing rightful anger at the person who murdered him, he’s beaten nearly to death and never receives an apology.

Schlatt dies right in front of Tommy, after his initial refusal to hurt the ex-president. His brother-figure and mentor is killed in assisted suicide on the same day his nation is blown up. His best friend exiles him from his home for the second time. He routinely self-sacrifices to protect his country and those who live there. His most treasured possessions were taken from him and he was called selfish for trying to retrieve them (although his methods were self-destructive and volatile.)

He was pushed to the brink of suicide after being relentlessly abused and isolated in his exile. He was horrified when he thought he was responsible for drowning Fundy. After making an objectively good decision to stand by his old friends and change for the better, his country was obliterated by the man he once idolized, his father-figure, and his abuser.

He was left scattered and without purpose for many days. Then he fights against Dream and loses, while also reliving his trauma. He watches Tubbo almost die at the hands of someone he once thought was his friend. He doesn’t tell a single person about what happened to him in exile. The day he tries to sever his connection to Dream and heal, he’s trapped with him for a week, surrounded by everything that terrifies him.

He threatens to kill himself, speaking about his own life as if it were an object—something to hold over Dream’s head. He blames himself for everything bad that’s ever happened to L’Manburg and his friends—internalizing a mentality as a scapegoat for everyone around him. He is forced into the role of ‘hero’ despite the title being unfair and distressing to him.

As if that weren’t enough, he’s then beaten to death by his abuser and spends what feels like two months in an afterlife that is worse than hell. When he returns, his senses are excessively heightened. Dream can cause him excruciating pain, just by pinching him. He can send Tommy into an instant panic attack, just by raising his voice.

The punishment Tommy’s character receives is a thousand times worse than everyone he has ever met, or ever will meet. And it shows no signs of stopping, as Dream now has control over Tommy’s very mortality. Tommy now fears the slightest damage and feels as if he’s losing his best friend all over again. He is also forced into a position where he has to kill Dream out of necessity, to protect everyone he cares about.

Characters need fitting punishments in relation to their actions. Not always, but in order to be satisfying? Yes, they do. It is preferred that a main character deal with unfair situations and difficult conflicts, but this is borderline torture p*rn. Putting Tommy in these distressing and abusive situations on repeat and punishing him for doing objectively moral or healthy things is exhausting to watch.

To quickly add, I find the general insinuation of Tommy going to hell distasteful, especially considering the contents of his storyline. I know this may be hard to believe, but Tommy is one of the most moral characters in the plot, besides Puffy and Ghostbur. He’s also the only character, followed by Ranboo, to recognize that they can be wrong and make mistakes. He changed himself in order to heal and be a better person. He was in the process of paying people back for the things he’d stolen.

He’s learned to be hard-working and less violent through the guidance of Sam. He has apologized to everyone he’s ever hurt (with the exception of Jack Manifold, because that man is allergic to communication.) He puts himself in harm's way to protect others. He doesn’t set out to purposely hurt anyone. He goes out of his way to make connections with people and maintain them, even if others don’t reciprocate.

He’s hopelessly optimistic, despite his outwardly bitter façade. He loved so much and put meaning into the smallest things. The thought that a person like him—a suicide and abuse survivor—would go to hell after being beaten to death by the man who took everything from him; it makes me sick to my stomach.

The only thing more morbid than Tommy’s afterlife being different than everyone else’s, is the concept that everyone will end up in this same eternal torture, no matter what they do. Take your pick: Tommy is sentenced to anguish until the end of time for no reason, or everyone will receive the same disturbing ending, regardless of their actions.

The narrative weight of Ranboo’s character is potentially out the window.

For the past few months, I’ve watched all of Ranboo’s lore streams faithfully, curious to see what role he would play in the future. His ‘hallucinations’ of Dream seemed to be sowing the seeds for a plot that has Ranboo taking the fall for every single insidious thing Dream has done. It would also be a tragic parallel to Tommy’s trial.

Ranboo being convinced he was the one who blew up the community house, when Dream himself admitted to doing it, was one of the bigger indicators for me. This is just one of many other unexplained occurrences. Dream seemed to be making an effort to trigger and control Ranboo, especially after Sapnap’s prison visit. It appeared, from the way he went about this, that Dream had some grand use for Ranboo as part of his plan to be freed from Pandora’s Vault.

However, after Tommy’s stream, the way Dream explains himself makes it seem like there was no plan besides seeing if the book worked on people. And if he didn’t after all, then what was Ranboo for? Was Ranboo unimportant? Was Ranboo just some weirdo who happened to phase out when seeing smiley faces and imagined conversations that may or may not have happened?

I bring this up more as a worry, and much less so as an active problem in the narrative. They haven’t actually thrown Ranboo to the way-side or written themselves into a corner yet. In future streams, this could very easily be explained away or developed as more information is revealed.

Only time will tell.

The potential for Wilbur’s future development and importance to the plot is unfeasible.

I feel as if I am the only person on earth who doesn’t want Wilbur Soot or Schlatt revived. There are many reasons for this, but one of them is not a dislike for these characters. I especially adore Wilbur, as he’s one of my all-time favorites. I don’t want either of them resurrected because their stories have already been told. They each had a fitting conclusion that ended their involvement perfectly.

Bringing Wilbur back would especially cheapen the impact of the War of the 16th. It’s the end of a man who was brought to the absolute edge and out of desperation, shame, and self-hatred, he destroyed himself alongside his creation. Bringing him back would leave the climax of the previous story hollow. My biggest issue, however, is that a lack of story importance would likely follow his return.

The only real impact I’d like to see is through a healing arc with Tommy, an apology to Fundy, or a confrontation with Phil/Niki. But that’s really all the potential I can realistically see. While I don’t doubt Wilbur as an agent of chaos, able to create plot out of thin air; what is he going to do now? His country is gone, his friends and family are scattered about, and his mission from the 16th is already accomplished.

What is a well-educated, charismatic politician supposed to do in a world already broken and without nations? Read poetry to himself and cry evilly? However, this is working off the assumption that Wilbur would be returning as his old self.

If Wilbur is resurrected as a ‘villain’ of sorts, then what? He’s not good at fighting in the slightest. He would have no materials. There are no real allies he can make, other than the arctic group. On top of that, there are already more than enough villains to last a lifetime.

We don’t need any more, I promise. Quackity seems to already be shaping up as another antagonist, alongside Sam’s slip into darker and darker shades of moral ambiguity. We also have Philza and Techno, which are already overkill. But then we have Dream who, despite being in a prison, has the ability of selective revival. This is mercilessly overpowered, especially if he makes many allies. The dude could just bring his dead friends back so they can keep fighting forever.

Then there’s Jack Manifold and the Crimson followers; Antfrost, Bad, and Punz. That’s not even including characters who are refusing to get involved. How are Tommy, Tubbo, and Puffy expected to do literally anything to fight back?

Dream’s experiment on Tommy implies he had no backup plan to begin with. This makes his character seem both short-sighted and foolish.

When Tommy woke up after being brought back to life, Dream sounded surprised that the revival worked at all. This instantly shatters the perception that Dream was highly intelligent and thought ahead. With just a few lines of dialogue, it’s implied that Dream killed Tommy, unsure of if the resurrection would even be possible on humans.

Which, to risk something that important, seems unbelievably stupid. Dream needs Tommy, from his perspective. Tommy is his ‘toy,’ the one who makes everything fun. If he lost him and couldn’t get him back, what then? Oh well, everything Dream was doing was all for nothing, I guess.

Why not attempt this experiment on literally anyone else first? Like Sapnap or Bad or, hell, even Ranboo. I suppose it could be that, as soon as Dream got the book, he experimented with it after the 16th. This appears to be insinuated with Friend and Hendry’s revival, although this is uncertain. But even then, he was still unsure of the book’s effect on a human being.

Also, this means, hypothetically, Dream’s entire plan of escape hinged on the experiment working, to begin with, and also on bringing back Wilbur if it somehow did. I find this even more ridiculous. Why Wilbur? That man couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag, let alone get through the traps in Pandora’s Vault. Even if he is intelligent after years* in the afterlife, that’s also a strange assumption.

How do people learn things in the void? Where do they even get this knowledge? I’d honestly argue Techno is a far more competent choice than Wilbur. And even if Dream did bring him back and tell him he owed him his life, what’s to stop Wilbur from just killing him permanently? Or killing himself, continuously?

No way would Wilbur want to be controlled by anyone, ever. The dude would sooner fuck off into the mountains and become a nomad than help a neon green bodysuit cosplay as Light Yagami.

Dream’s discussion about Sam implies that he wasn't playing any part in Dream’s plan, making Sam appear entirely incompetent and neglectful of Tommy.

Dream talked about Sam in a way that seems detached and unaffiliated. He also mentioned him being broken up about Tommy’s fate and not being aware he’s still alive. Dream not being partnered with, or not using Sam in his plan leaves many plot holes. I’ll go through each one. The initial incident was an explosion, coming from the roof of Pandora’s Vault. This did not affect the Redstone mechanism for the doors or dispensers.

Meaning, Sam could’ve had Tommy leave the way that was expected for visitors after he investigated and found no issues. This likely couldn’t have been done in less than a day, but it would be better than an entire week. If Tommy was required to stay for longer, due to protocol, he could’ve gotten Tommy out and then placed him in one of the minor cells for the remainder of the time.

Also, no one else lost a canon life for leaving via the splash potion of harming and returning outside the maximum-security cell; why would Tommy? To add, Sam being uninvolved means that the explosion could have only been caused by Ranboo or Foolish. That, or it was placed long before and timed for the moment Tommy entered the main cell. (I’m going to ignore how ludicrous it is that someone would know the exact time Tommy would’ve entered the room with Dream.)

If Ranboo was the person behind the detonation, this implies he was necessary for Dream to kill Tommy to test the book. But that makes it even stranger. If this was Dream’s goal all along, why not kill Tommy the instant he was trapped with him? It makes no sense for him to wait so long.

Sam is also directly at fault for not letting Tommy out, even after the week was up. There was no reason not to. He already knew there were no issues with the prison at that point. Although, to be fair to Sam, his character may have been paranoid and checking everything more than necessary, just in case. But this still isn’t a good excuse for him ignoring protocol in this one instance, and yet, not in any of the others.

All of these plot holes or inconsistencies would be removed if it was revealed that Dream was blackmailing Sam in some way, or Sam had been working with him since the get-go. That Sam was the person who set off the explosion in the first place to trap Tommy inside. It would also explain Sam’s refusal to let Tommy out and by keeping him in there for longer than necessary.

This can also coexist with Sam’s attachment and care for Tommy. He probably wasn’t told about Dream’s plan to test the book and genuinely believed Dream wouldn’t hurt him. On top of that, Dream is known to be a pathological liar, so his statements about Ranboo and Sam could be entire fabrications.

Who knows?

The Book of Revival invalidates death entirely. The narrative now lacks both tension and consequence.

Another way the Dream SMP differs from other storytelling media is in the way it goes about its character deaths. In a TV show, for example, there will be characters who die just because, or when it’s important to the plot. However, it seems as if the Dream SMP is hesitant to commit to killing its characters. And there are many reasons for that.

The most important one being, killing someone’s character excludes them from the story and some of their livelihoods depend on them regularly streaming on the server. There is also the issue of the cast becoming extremely sparse if characters keep dying. Typically, in stories, when you kill a character, you should introduce another.

This keeps the cast from dwindling as the storyline goes on. This means the writers would have to find new streamers to join, who will develop their own characters and relationships with the plot’s continued momentum. This can be stressful and daunting to those who may be newly added in the future.

Keeping this in mind, the Book of Revival is annoying from a writer’s perspective. When death is no longer an issue for a story hinged on its characters’ mortality, then what do you have as a consequence anymore? We’ve explored every kind under the sun; from abuse, to betrayal, to loss, to destruction.

In stories, traditionally, death is a finality. It’s a conclusion. Whether it’s good or not depends on the character’s actions, its build-up, and the event’s execution. Without this lingering sense of danger, tension evaporates from the story.

Why should I care if Tommy loses in a fight to someone, if he’ll just come back a day later? Why should I care about what happened to Wilbur, if he just returns as if nothing happened? The answer is simple: I won’t. I will no longer care if Tubbo or Ranboo or Sam die in the story, because the idea of revival even being a possible outcome leaves me unenthused and uncaring.

The Dream SMP likes to flirt with death. It teases the demise of its main characters many, many times. More so Tommy’s than anyone else’s. Wilbur’s failed resurrection, which had unforeseen and unfortunate outcomes, is now strange in comparison to Tommy’s, which happened without a hitch.

To be fair, we actually don’t see how many attempts it took. But here’s the problem; Dream could do it without the book being physically present. He’s trapped in a prison with nothing on him, meaning he doesn’t need any materials either. It’s also implied he could do this as many times as he feels, for anyone he wants. This would be exceedingly overpowered, if not for one thing—Dream himself is mortal (at least, I fucking hope he’s mortal.)

If someone kills him one last time, that knowledge is gone forever. And I’m glad they’ve established at least some way for Tommy to win. Because at this point, I was losing faith.

There is also the bare minimum establishment that Dream can refuse to bring back those he doesn’t care for. He can also use it as a shield, holding this power over other people. If Dream is gone, death is permanent. But isn’t that how death is supposed to be, anyway?

What a bleak premise—the afterlife is pure eternal torture while life is cheapened by a lack of consequences.

Conclusion

All this to say, I am cautiously optimistic for the future. I hope dearly that every single one of these can be disproven or developed in the coming livestreams. Obviously, there’s not enough information to really determine what the end result will be, or how everything will fall into place.

Every time I have theorized about the story, it has done something completely different and pleasantly surprised me. I want this trend to continue.

Surprise me again—I’ll be here to see where it goes.

#answered asks #long post #tommyinnit #dream smp meta #dream smp #dsmp #dsmp analysis #this is slightly outdated still but whatever #hope this was helpful anon #tw abuse #tw suicide

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